That Which Darkness Sends

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Rarity sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"Hi, Rarity," Megan said with a feeling of deja vu for some reason. "What just happened?"

"Oh, my head," Rarity groaned. "I just knew for a second there we would be goners."

"Oh, but you will." The familiar voice of Tirek echoed around them. "I don't know how you have done it, human, but you have managed to break my spell of Darkness. I will see to it that it does not happen again." The moon was blotted out by the night of the sky. Nine beams of antilight struck the ground. Rarity was on the receiving end of one of the beams.

Megan somehow knew that trying to move at this point was fruitless, so she didn't try. She just stared, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Remember, human. I will be watching." Tirek vanished, as did eight of the moonbeams.

Megan tiptoed forward. She almost remembered something about a pony becoming smaller. But her memories were somewhat off, as when the non-light faded, the body she saw that was Bowtie's had turned into a much sleeker form. Much to Megan's chargin, Rarity's mind was in a much worse state. As Megan approached, an eye opened.

Before either of them could blink, Rarity had moved into the trees. The movement was not like galloping, Megan saw, but more like slithering. Hearin a rustle of leaves behind her, Megan whipped around and saw a pair of glowing emerald eyes. The eyes closed and reappeared somewhere off to Megan's left, leaving only a whisper of disturbed branches in its wake.

The eyes closed again, and Megan spun around, this time finding Rarity crouched on all fours, inching toward her. The blue of Bowtie's fur was being replaced with hideous reptilian scales as black as night. Her mane and tail had become finlike like a dragon's, except much, much uglier. Rarity pounced, moving more like a shadow than anything solid.

She swiftly went through Megan's pockets, always moving on to the next before she could react. Finding nothing, Rarity looked upward at Megan's neck and saw a beautiful heart-shaped locket. She lunged for it and retreated with it in her mouth. Tirek came in from nowhere, pleased with Rarity's  results. He bent down and took the locket from her mouth.

"The Rainbow of Light. Such exquisite beauty." He held it up by the chain for Megan to see. "I have heard stories about this. It's a shame it didn't work on me. I've often wondered what it feels like to get hit with it. Oh, well. I can't exactly have this lying around, now can I?" He started to crush the locket with is hand.

In the heat of the moment, Megan bent down and chucked a rock at Tirek's hand. The rock sailed under his hand, but caught the necklace with such force that the Rainbow of Light was wrenched out of Tirek's hand. It flew over a few trees and disappeared from view. While Tirek was distracted, Megan rushed past him toward where the stone and locket landed.

"You scrawny little imp!" Tirek yelled. Rarity looked up at him, waiting for a command. He nodded. An evil grin grew on her face, and she chased after Megan.

Megan knew she was being followed by a being faster than her, yet continued to run. She could hear the almost invisible black hoofsteps pounding on the ground, getting louder by the second. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something shiny at the bottom of a lake. Just as she was nearing the edge of the water, she was tackled by the dark Rarity.

The two thrashed around in the water. Each tried to get away from the other and to the Rainbow of Light. Rarity was the first to attempt to grasp the necklace. She reached out with her hoof, hoping to catch the chain with a scale. Megan pressed a hand on her chest and pushed her away.

Megan got a finger hooked on the chain and broke the surface of the water for fresh air. Rarity rose and delivered a buck to her gut. Megan keeled over and let the locket slip out of her hand and somehow on to Rarity's neck. Her orange shirt was now shredded in several places.

Satisfied, Rarity turned around and swam to Tirek, who was standing at the water's edge. She looked back one last time to see Megan almost absolutely defeated.

"Rarity..." she moaned weakly.

Rarity frowned at her shirt, which had a gaping hole in the front. She looked down at the locket, seeing a piece of orange fabric caught on it. She took it in her mouth and approached Megan.

"What are you doing?" Tirek shouted. "Come back!"

But Rarity couldn't hear him. She was too busy thinking of the only thing she knew how to do. She thought of how she could sew the patches back together, what she could use to work, and what would look good with it.

She held the cloth with one hoof against Megan. Megan didn't object. She was too tired. With her teeth, Rarity pulled out a slim scale from her unoccupied foreleg that was closest to a needle. She worked efficiently, stitching the fabrics together in a matter of seconds.

She took a few strokes, back admiring her work. It was missing something though. Ahh, of course! She took the golden necklace and put it over Megan's head.

"Thank you," Megan weakly said.

"It's fine, my dear," Rarity said. Her voice was raspy and rough. She frowned. She gasped when she looked down into the water's reflection and saw the beast that was herself. The realization and memories slowly came back to her.

"No! What have you done?" Tirek yelled.

"Her shirt..." Rarity started. "I couldn't have left it alone like that..." She looked down into the reflection again and filled with seething anger. "Have some respect, you ungrateful ruffian! Not only did you turn me into a monster, but you twisted my mind against my will!"

Tirek realized he was fighting a losing battle. "Now, now, let's not be hasty..."

Rarity's eyes glowed a deep purple, fueled by her rage. "I will be hasty as much as I want! I will not stand by while others lose what they have! *For I am Rarity, Element of Generosity!*"

The sky went from black to violet as the detonation of an amazing light explosion came from Rarity.

The light cleared, and there lay Rarity, the ivory white unicorn.

Megan had that strange sense of deja vu again, but ignored it. As the two were walking to the moonbeam, Megan recapped the events that had just transpired.

"Really, I did all that?" Rarity asked. "Huh, it sounded much less sinister when I did it. In any case, here we are at the darkness beam. I think it could use more light."

Megan chuckled. "I think we can both agree on that. If I remember correctly, we just walk in."

"Remember? Whatever do you mean?"

"I... I'm not sure. Maybe some questions will be answered when we enter it."

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.