Pony vs. Pony

Rarity vs. Pinkie Pie

Rarity was busying herself cleaning and polishing her valuables. There was the stainless steel tea kettle, her favorite for the pattern of sparkling jewels inlaid into it's handle, leading up to the spout. There was the tea set, priceless, and one of her most prized possessions.
Though certainly not her most prized possession, not by far. No, her most valued of the contents of her home were the twin daggers, curved like crescents, with a finely honed, serrated edge nearest to the handle, a smooth slashing edge taking up the upper portion.
'such barbaric times...' thought Rarity as she lifted the blades for polishing, gems of high quality studding the hilt, sparkling brightly in the setting sun.
'but such an elegant piece. Beautiful but deadly...' she thought, transfixed by the craftsmanship of the hilt and handguard, appearing as though intertwined vines of gold.
~~~
Rarity had not relished the idea of the weapons at first, but she'd found them more beautiful the longer she looked until, soon, they became her mantelpiece.
Those blades had sat there for weeks, not moving or even recieving the same thorough cleaning as the rest of the house, her attention slowly migratin to focus on them until she, one day, took the blades in her hands, getting a sense of the weight.
They felt good, the way to steel pulled down lightly on her hand as she felt the perfect balance of the weapon. She was so entranced that she did not realize what she was doing until she had done it.
She did not feel herself throw the blades into the air, spinning in their sparkling arcs. She did not consciously register the blades balanced carefully in her fingertips, she did not hear as she threw the blade into the wall, embedding it in a stud.
Only after the events occurred did she realize what her body had done without her consent. It was as though she had been doing it for years, done without though or conscious thought. She had tugged the blade out of the wall, looking over the weapon in her hand more intently before her eyes fell on the Latin inscription on the blade, which read simply as: demon slayer.
~~~
That was many a month ago, and since then, she had taken to training herself, preparing for the day when she came upon one of the enemy. She had not seen any, but she remained vigilant. The demons were crafty, and they could disguise themselves well...
Rarity absentmindedly stroked the cutting edge of the blade she was polishing, inadvertently cutting herself and hissing sharply in pain, suckling the wound and berating herself for being so careless, the pain clearing her mind to a sharp focus.
And that's when she felt it. Much like the feeling of being watched, followed by her body moving automatically, as though she were called from a great distance, her legs carrying her towards her unknown destination. This was it! A demon, at last!
Suddenly, Rarity got a faceful of pink. Pink and a set of wide, bright, energetic blue eyes, belonging to her friend, Pinkie Pie.
"Eek! Pinkie, what in Equestria are you doing sneaking up on me like that?" Rarity queried, her legs no longer carrying her forcefully along.
"I just saw you smiling all big and happy and I thought to myself, 'Pinkie, did you make Rarity smile?' and myself said 'nnnnope!' so I just had to come over and ask you why you were smiling so I know what to do next time, so Rarity, what's going on?"
One breath. One sentence. It always amazed Rarity how her gaudily bright pink friend could do that, but like everyone else who knew her, she had always put it down to Pinkie Pie just being Pinkie Pie.
Rarity sighed, somewhat drained by the party pony's energy and antics. "It's difficult to explain Pinkie, and I have some business to attend to. I'll have to tell you some time later today..."
Rarity ended her statement with a parting wave and began to walk away, her friend cheerily bouncing in the opposite direction.
And then she felt it. A gentle tug at her feet. Something within her was pulling her back, back in the other direction.
"That's strange... It must be close by... But how could I have missed it? It would have had to walk right past me..." Rarity said to herself, utterly perplexed. "Then how in Equestria did I miss it?"
Rarity mused at this as her legs carried her once more, inexorably towards her target.
"But wait... Pinkie went down this way... No, no, it has to be a coincidence. She couldn't be in cahoots with monsters such as these..."
Slowly, inescapably, her feet dragged her along, following the steps Pinkie had taken, obvious by the trail of smiles left on the faces of passers by, proving slowly to Rarity's mind, filled with denial as it was, what she feared was true as she saw her through the crowd, her own steps tracing her friend's perfectly: her true form.
It wasn't hideous or ugly or deformed as most might suspect, but it was not the Pinkie Rarity knew. No, this Pinkie's coat was a redder shade of pink than her friend, and a black mane and tail with a streak of dark pink running through it.
She was still recognizable as Pinkie, and the way everyone else around her suggested that she was no one else. And yet her legs brought her closer and closer, stalking her friend silently and invisibly, Rarity watching with horror as her own body stalked her friend with practiced ease, ducking behind barrels, synchronizing her walk with passing crowd members, casually walking into shops and out the back door, anything to avoid being seen by her prey. Finally, Pinkie left the main square of town after saying hi to what Rarity guessed was half of the town, making a beeline to Applejack's orchards, obviously on her way to catch up with her hardworking friend.
It appeared she wouldn't get the chance...
Silently, as she found it difficult to speak, she pleaded with her body or whatever forced her body to follow her friend, that forced her to the back of her mind, unable to control anything, as if she was watching it all happen on a theatre screen.
"Please! Anything but my friend! There has to be somebody else! Anybody!"
But through all of her begging, her body never stopped performing its mission, stalking Pinkie Pie until finally she was all alone in the middle of the orchard, still making her way to Applejack's home some 2 or more miles away.
Now her body switched attitudes. Something had judged their distance from Ponyville sufficient to make its move. Suddenly she was standing straight, sprinting for Pinkie as the knife flew out of its sheath, Rarity's hands moving without her volition.
'Nononono! Not like this! I can't do this to her! Please! Stop!'
40 feet, and closing fast.
'How can I stop this? I have to warn her! Give her a chance to get away!'
20 feet, her legs are tense, preparing to jump.
'Oh Celestia, please no!'
10 feet, a mighty leap sent her catapulting through the air.
"PINKIE!!!" Rarity screamed, a desperate energy pushing the words past her lips and out to her friends ears.
'It's too late.' Rarity thought solemnly as she flew through the air, the knife pointed towards her friend's spine, shining dimly. 'I couldn't act, and now I can't save her from myself...'
Rarity blinked. That was all it took, and suddenly the pink mare was gone. She had simply disappeared, the knife slashing through open air, the dark orchard making it difficult to see her surroundings as her eyes readjusted to the dim lighting.
"You've made a terrible mistake, slayer." said a voice from nowhere. Pinkie's voice, but with a tinge of cruelty in it. "I have tried successfully to live in harmony with the residents of this place. Leave me be now, and we can both go home. I will defend myself if I must." the voice implored Rarity, obviously unaware of her being controlled.
"P-Pinkie?" Rarity rasped, regaining control over her tongue for the moment. "It's me, Rarity."
There was a long pause before Pinkie spoke again.
"Rarity? What are you doing here?" Pinkie dropped down from a tree above. "Why aren't you in Ponyville back at the boutique?"
"I-I... I'm sorry Pinkie..." Her hands readied both blades. "I can't stop myself. I'm trying so hard, but I simply cannot..."
Rarity's hands lashed out, her control utterly lost as the daggers weaves through the air, making aggressive slashes at the party pony, who nimbly jumped back.
"Rarity, what in Tartarus are you doing?" Pinkie cried out, dodging her friend with practiced, if confused, ease.
"I-it's these weapons! I'm not in control anymore!" Rarity strained, trying to gain a semblance of control over her slashing body, her shuffling advance, anything to give her friend a chance to survive.
"I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Rarity hung her head, her body perfectly aware of where the pink mare was without looking up. "I can't help you. I'm resisting, but I can hardly slow down. You'll have to kill me."
Pinkie gasped, horrified. "B-but-"
"Pinkie, you're going to do this, or you're going to die! Do you understand that?! I can't let myself hurt you, no matter what you are. Now kill me while I still have control and sanity left!"
Reluctantly, Pinkie hopped away, sidestepping yet another slash, which was followed by a narrowly avoided trip kick.
"I understand. I'll... I'll try to make it quick."
Pinkie hopped out of sight behind a tree, perhaps to catch her breath, Rarity's body silently stalking towards the towering resident of the forest. It was a thin tree, just enough to hide Pinkie from sight.
Rarity's arms were spread wide, daggers held sideways, slipping noiselessly towards the tree. She felt everything. She felt her legs tense up, her body fly through the air in a lunge, her grip tightening on the specialized blades, her arms wrapping around the tree, daggers ready to lop off the head of the person on the other side... But swiped at nothing.
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing was behind this tree. No other trees to run to to hide behind or climb, as they were at the edge of the orchard, without even a tall section of grass for sanctuary.
The blades had dug deep gouges in the tough bark, and they were stuck fast, a moment's hesitation before Rarity's hooves began to tug at the blades to loosen Nature's hold on the cold steel.
"Not so fast!"
Pinkie's voice came from above, attracting her attention.
Looking up, she got a face full of hoof for her trouble, the kick sending Rarity flying backwards, slamming her into another tree, making her see stars, her personal sense of orientation thrown completely out of whack.
Her body, however, did not have this problem, launching itself to its feet quickly.
"I really don't want to do this... But if I must... I'll do it my way!" Pinkie lamented, reaching behind herself, and though she wore nothing in which to conceal it (if, indeed, such a massive thing could be concealed), pulled a large glaive from behind her back, setting herself into a combat stance.
The glaive was an elegant, yet powerful weapon, the blade on one end glinting in the faint moonlight, a black obsidian blade, the edge glimmering a bright, bloody crimson, as if foreshadowing the inevitable.
"Pinkie... I'm sor-" Rarity's mouth slammed shut mid-sentence, her mouth stretching into a wide, malicious grimace, the control of her face lost to the possession of the weapons. The time for talk was over.
Rarity's hands weaves through the air, cutting at her friend with a renewed ferocity, an expression of grim determination and effort painted onto her face.

Pinkie was in trouble. She was fending off her friend's attacks well enough, but the force that possessed her did not tire. She would. This hand to end soon, and she knew it. She put a plan into action that would hopefully end it quickly and painlessly.

Rarity could feel the exhaustion. The fire in her limbs, and the heat of the sweat on her brow. If it were her, she would have dropped from exhaustion right then and there.
But it wasn't her, and she knew it. Whatever this thing was, it definitely wasn't her doing. Small comfort, knowing that it was still her body trying to drive a blade trough her friend's throat.

Pinkie sidestepped yet another slash of the blades, blocking it with the pole of the glaive, the tough wood hardly scratched by the blade. Now was the time to act, or she may not get another chance to save her friend.

Rarity struck, and Pinkie jumped away, ducking behind a tree. Not wanting to let her escape again, her body quickly peeked behind the tree, blades at the ready, not giving her the shortest moment to escape... But she was gone.

Pinkie ducked behind the tree, and began her plan. Darkness folded in around her, and she disappeared into the shadows.
The other realm. She had no idea how, but her kind could move in the shadows. From shadow to shadow, she could move, the world that was her own frozen and darkened.
She could see the snarl on Rarity's face , still registering the empty space behind the tree. She could see her legs, tensed to pounce.
She could see her guard left wide open on her back.
Pinkie settled herself into the shadow of a large apple tree, whose shadow stretched right alongside her friend and raised the glaive, tensing her muscles for a mighty swing.
'this should be over shortly.'

Momentarily confused, Rarity saw that her friend was gone once more. But how could that be? Her body had not allowed even the best climber time enough to scale another tree.
Then she saw it. Red. Just a glimmer of blood red out of the corner of her eye. The rest happened so fast, she simply couldn't register anything but the end result. There was her friend, on the ground, and she was bleeding. She was bleeding a lot.

Pinkie started her swing. She put all of her speed and power into that one stroke, before noticing her fatal mistake: her friends head was turned just enough to see the irises of her blue eyes. She had been seen.
Before she could put a guard up, before she could lower the pole in even a half attempt at blocking the attack, Rarity batted away the glaive with one dagger, and she felt eight inches of cold, merciless steel driven into her gut, just below her navel.
Before she could cry out in pain, she felt it once more, this time higher, just below her sternum. The scream caught just on the edge of her lips as she felt the warmer, wet steel point pressed against her throat, heavy tears in her friend's eyes, apparently having gained control again, however fleeting.

In a rasping voice, as though it were a strain to speak, Rarity whispered.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry..."
Pinkie smiled a smile. It was the same smile she gave to a foal to say everything would be alright. The same smile she used to comfort a friend in need.
"It's alright... I forgive you..." Pinkie wheezed, coughing bloodily, the crimson fluid spattering Rarity's face as she stroked her cheek gently, wiping away one of the many flowing tears from her cheek.
Rarity could feel her control slipping. Her muscles were straining to push the blade into the abomination that was the demon before her. She could feel her face beginning to slip.
"Goodbye."
All control lost, the blade plunged deep into Pinkie's windpipe, choking off her supply of air.
Horrified, Rarity could only watch, an audience member to the grisly scene unfolding before her.
Suddenly, her hands wrenched the blade to the side, tearing open her carotid artery, then back to the other, ripping open the jugular vein, the spray splattering against her closed eyelids as her body stood, showing no signs of remorse.
She wasn't going to survive. Satisfied with this, her body continued to act against her will, cleaning the blades on the grass and walking away towards town, sheathing the weapons, the image forever burned into her mind.
'It's almost morning.[i]' said a voice in her mind. 'you have a business to run.[i]'
Accepting her fate, Rarity made her way to her boutique, mourning the loss of her friend. She would need to sleep. There was going to be a lot to do tomorrow.

Start suggesting ponies now! As usual, I'll inform you of my choice as soon as one clicks for me.