One month later

“...and we have received word that the Diamond Dog nation as a whole is requesting refugee status in Equestria,” Luna informed her sister as the pair sat in the gardens having an informal meeting.

“Do we have the room?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, barely,” said Luna. “Their new leader, Long Strider, has offered to cede the entirety of the Badlands to Equestria in exchange for taking his people in.”

“Long Strider,” said Celestia. “Isn’t he the one that...”

“Tried to break Rarity out,” finished Luna. “Yes, he is. He was also left crippled from that attempt.”

“Speaking of Rarity, have you seen her today?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, Valiente and Tabula should be here shortly,” said Luna.

“You mean Rarity and Twilight,” said Celestia in a firm voice.

“No, sister,” said Luna just as firmly. “They have had so much of their self-determination taken away from them. I will not let that last scrap be taken as well. For now, at least, they are Valiente and Tabula.”

“I’m sorry, Luna,” apologized Celestia. “You are right. I’m just frustrated. We’ve been trying for weeks now to restore them with little in the way of success.”

“It frustrates me as well,” said Luna. “Particularly in how willingly subservient both of them are to me. I could tell them to jump off a cliff for me and they would. Valiente might pause for a moment, but Tabula wouldn’t even slow down.”

“Twi - Tabula is really that dependent on you?” asked Celestia.

“Both of them are,” said Luna. “Valiente lives purely in the moment. Never stopping to consider consequences or plan for events. Tabula has almost no initiative of her own, except when it comes to trying to please her mistress.”

Celestia’s eyebrow almost rose into her mane, “That sounds...interesting.”

“ ’Interesting’ is certainly a fine way to put it when you wake to a pair of mares trying to...” Luna broke off, blushing. “Did you know that I had to place cushions at the foot of my bed for them to sleep on.”

“Really,” said Celestia, gaining some humour. “That sounds terribly inconvenient.”

“They wouldn’t sleep in their rooms, or their beds,” said Luna, with a touch of exasperation. “I kept on finding them snuggled up against me. I tried forbidding them, but they looked so pitiful when I said ‘no’ that I compromised with the cushions.”

“Lulu, you are taking such good care of them. You are so strong for them,” Celestia breathed into Luna’s ear, bending close so not even the nearby guards could hear. “If you ever need someone to be strong for you, ask. I’m here for you.”

Luna’s blush deepened, whatever she was about to reply with was cut off as two mares trotted into view. Tabula and Valiente. Tabula had a brace over her healing leg. Her shattered wing still held in a rigid frame. Valiente walked at Tabula’s side, letting Tabula rest her braced wing across her back. The pair had become inseparable over the past few weeks.

They caught sight of the princesses and headed in their direction. As they reached the lunar princess, the pair supplicated themselves to Luna. Forelegs flat, noses to the ground, rear legs straight, elevating their plots with tails high. “Good morning, Mistress!” both ponies said together in happy, chipper voices. “How should we attend you today?” they asked.

“Take your places at my side,” said Luna. Obediently, the duo moved to sit behind Luna and to either flank.

“Hello girls,” said Celestia. “You are both looking well.”

“Thank you, Princess,” said Valiente. “Would you like Tabula to brush your mane while I take care of our Mistress’?”

“Thank you, no,” said Celestia. “Have you had any success getting Rarity to come out?”

“I’m sorry Princess, but no,” said Valiente, casting her eyes down. “I know she is there, but she won’t come out. I can’t find her. I know she is in there, somewhere. But she’s hiding from me. I think she feels ashamed for some reason. That she deserves what’s happened to her.”

Celestia sighed and nodded. “And you, Tabula? You are a nice mare but I would really like to see my Twilight again.”

“Thank you, Princess,” said Tabula from Luna’s side. “If I could bring Twilight back for you. I certainly would. I know it would make my Mistress very happy and anything that makes her happy is something I want.”

“Excuse me, Your Highnesses,” said a guard approaching. “You have a visitor.”

“Please, show them in,” said Celestia.

Into the pleasant garden strode the form on an older dog. He had definitely cleaned himself up for this meeting as he was groomed well beyond normal standards. He wore a vest and a proudly worn collar emblazoned with Luna’s crescent moon.

“Yowl-E,” said Luna. “So good of you to come. Have you met my sister, Princess Celestia?”

“No. Greetings, sister of my Princess,” said Yowl-E as he knelt before the alicorns.

Celestia raised her eyebrow again at Luna and mouthed, “Sister of my princess?”

Luna merely grinned and turned back to her Moon Dog, “Can I assume you are here because you found it?”

“Yes, my Princess,” said the dog, who pulled a flat wooden box out from his vest. “It had been kicked under a building near where Raarg fell.” The dog opened the box to reveal the bridle that had created Valiente, and eventually had forced Rarity to a hidden place within their shared mind.

Valiente reacted to the presence of the bridle with shocked horror.

“No. Please, Princess,” she begged. “Please...Mistress.” Valiente literally crawled on her belly to Luna. “Do whatever you want with me. Anything. I will do it. Willingly. Just don’t put that on me again.”

“It may be the key to -” began Luna, trying to explain.

“PLEASE!” Valiente shrieked. “Don’t hurt us again. Don’t hurt her again. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease,” Valiente trailed off, eyes closed as if to shut away all the pain and strife the bridle represented to her.

Luna lifted the limp form of Valiente and hugged her close with hooves and wings both. For long minutes she did her best to calm Valiente as the unicorn clutched herself to Luna’s chest. “Oh, my little pony,” said Luna softly. “I swear to you that there will be no pain. We need this...this thing to help coax out your friend and mine, Rarity. Do you trust me?”

Valiente looked up from where her she had buried her face in Luna’s chest, soaking it with her frantic tears. She looked up into the eyes of her princess and her mistress. She saw only love and understanding of her fears in Luna’s wide eyes. She nodded, “Y-yes, I trust you.”

“We will do this together then,” said Luna. “Yowl-E, if you would...”

“Mistress, one last thing before you begin,” said Valiente. “If it comes down to a choice between me and Rarity. Choose Rarity. These past few weeks have been wonderful, but it’s Rarity’s life - not mine.”

“And now I know a large reason why Rarity has refused to come out,” said Luna. “You would choose Rarity over yourself. She chose you over herself. You are reflections of each other.” Luna nodded to Yowl-E, who slipped the bridle over Valiente’s head. Luna fused the straps in place and once again, the bridle was locked onto the head of the white unicorn. But with one important difference. This time the bridle had not been prepared for use. Its magic was spent. Its enchantments were without power. It only contained the echoes of of it’s previous actions and it was for those echoes that Luna had asked that the bridle be found and brought to her.

Luna closed her eyes and powered her horn. As she touched Valiente’s horn with her own, Luna once again entered the mindscape of Valiente/Rarity as she had several times over the past month. This time was different however. She could feel the echoes of power from the bridle, subtly influencing the shape of the mental terrain around her; giving her clues of which way to go.

Valiente appeared at Luna’s side. Her mental form wearing the bridle in mirror of her physical form. “Follow me, I think I can feel the way to go,” said the white unicorn as she too felt the subtle guides of the bridle.

“Wait!” came a different voice. Celestia appeared in the mindscape near the two mares, “This is your domain Luna, but I can provide an anchor for the two of you and a tether should you become lost in the mindscape.” With that, a pair of golden lines of power came forth from Celestia’s horn. The lines looped and wrapped their way around both Luna and Valiente, forming a pair of tightly secured harnesses about the pair.

“Sister, I did not know you...swung this way...I believe the term is,” said Luna, only half in jest.

“Perhaps later, sister,” said Celestia with an impishly playful expression that warned of an interesting conversation later. “But for now, these will allow you to return to yourselves no matter how turned about your journey takes you. Also, should you need it, I can strengthen you should I feel either of you begin to weaken. Good luck.”

With that the pair headed into the dark fog of the mindscape. Deeper and deeper the pair walked, their only link back the golden threads strung out behind either of them. The mental terrain became harder to traverse; Luna and Valiente climbed great cliffs, crossed gorges, bypassed strange monsters and a host of other things. The barriers grew ever harder to cross, which told Luna they were on the right course.

Finally, they crested a great cliff and looked down upon a fortress set into a mountainside. It was Canterlot, but a dark reflection of the city Luna knew and loved.

“Mistress, can we do this?” asked Valiente. “Can we make it through to Rarity?”

Luna thought for a moment. They were both tiring, but it was clear that the core of Rarity’s personality was in the castle. As she thought on this, Luna felt a tingling warmth flow around her “body." Looking down she saw the glowing lines of the harness Celestia had locked upon her. The glow pulsed softly and, as Luna watched, the lines changed in colour. From Celestia’s golden glow, they changed to the colours of the rainbow. Individual strands of colour woven into a single cord about her.

“Oh Tia,” Luna breathed. “You sneaky, underhanded, wonderful, sister.” Turning to Valiente, Luna said, “Yes, we can do this. We will do this. This day, Rarity returns to the waking world, follow me.”

Together the two mares descended toward the castle. They saw no one, but they as they entered the castle they began to hear a regular outcry of a pony in pain. As they neared the throne room, they could begin to make out the sound of a whip crack prior to each outcry. Valiente and Luna looked at each other and began to move faster. Soon the identity of the pony crying out was clear, Rarity.

Luna and Valiente broke into a sprint and entered the throne room together. There, they were greeted with a sight of horror. Piled around the walls of the throne room were the broken, burnt and bloody bodies of a great many diamond dogs. Hanging from the rafters and the walls were banners reading, “Shame," “Your Fault” and “Murderess." In the center of the room was Rarity herself.

She wore a wide silver collar about her neck that was tethered to all four walls. Keeping her in place in the centre of the room. Rarity was pivoting about on the collar, as surrounding her were four faceless dogs, whipping her. As one dog would swing his whip, Rarity would try to pivot away from him only to fall under the lash of another. Blood dripped from her hooves and patterned the floor around her. Her cries of pain as each whip fell filled the room.

Valiente was stunned, “This...this shouldn’t be happening. She should be safe here.”

“Look at her body, Valiente,” said Luna. “See how it is unmarked by the whips despite her outcries. The blood on her is not her own. Look at the banners around us. Rarity is doing this to herself. She is punishing herself for some great sin she feels she has done.”

“How do you know that?” asked Valiente.

“Search your shared memories,” said Luna. “Remember my Tantabus.” Valiente nodded in understanding.

"I remember," said Valiente. "None of us involved in those events could ever forget them."

Finally, Luna could stand no more of the scene before her. “Away,” she commanded and suddenly the room was empty of diamond dogs and bodies. Rarity froze suddenly and looked around frantically.

“No!” she shouted. “Why are you here? You can’t be here. Go away.” She tried to run away herself. Luna had left the collar in place so Rarity went nowhere.

“Why are you doing this, Rarity?” cried out Valiente, crossing the floor to Rarity. “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“Because I deserve it. I’m a horrible, terrible pony.”

“What do you mean? You’re a wonderful pony. Brave, smart, fashionable...”

“And a murderess a hundred times over and more.”

“Rarity,” said Luna. “I know full well, that other than the battle at the camp, you have never killed another being in your life. And that fight was kill or be killed. You had no choice.”

“I’m not talking about that, Princess,” said Rarity. “I’m talking about the one hundred and twenty-nine Moon Dogs who died in that battle. I chose to encourage them to fight. If I hadn’t, they would still be alive. I filled them with ideas of glory and honour, never once considering I was pushing them to their deaths. I killed them. Me. Rarity. Not Valiente. She deserves life. Not me. Not some bloody hooved murderess.

“Sister,” said Valiente, looking Rarity directly in the eye, “you are no murderess. Those dogs chose their fate. And if we could talk to their spirits, I am sure that each and every one of them would thank you for the chance to die as free dogs, rather than experience a living death as Sombra’s minions.”

“I...I,” stuttered Rarity, searching for words.

“Now, Tia,” whispered Luna up the tether binding her to the waking world. “Send them now.”

Luna felt a pulse from the harness around her and suddenly the three mares in the room were joined by five others. The forms of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Tabula Rasa were there. Rarity and Valiente looked at the others and Luna in surprise.

“My sister is ever subtle in her ways,” said Luna. “While we delved to reach you, Rarity, my sister sent for your friends and had them ready to join us.”

“So, that’s why the harness changed to a rainbow,” said Valiente in understanding. “It was our friends joining the link Princess Celestia set up.”

“Even so,” said Luna.

“All it means,” said Rarity, “is that my dearest friends are now aware of my shame.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “You fought against one of the biggest bad guys ever, outnumbered six to one and then you totally blasted him. That Was Awesome!”

“Rarity,” said Applejack, “you were stuck in a right pickle of a spot. You fought using yer head and yer heart. I even hear you used some of yer style as a way to fight back. Even when you gave up, it was so’s you could take that sidewinder down. Ah’ve never been more proud to call you mah friend.”

“Um, Rarity,” said the soft-spoken Fluttershy, “death is a part of life. Nopony wants to die. But those dogs didn’t die because you pushed them. They died following their hearts. Because they loved Luna, because they loved freedom, because they loved you.”

“We threw parties for them,” said Pinkie. “All the dogs. We had a giant party for all of them. Alive or dead, both sides. It went on for days. And in all that, the only sad thing anyone had to say, was that Rarity wasn’t there to party with them. Please, we all need you back. You make us better. You make my parties better. You make me better. Besides, if you come back, we can have another party all over again!”

Tabula Rasa said nothing. Merely sitting on the floor, with her head bowed. But around her, a duplicate of her own form was superimposed; the spectral, translucent image of Twilight Sparkle appeared. She too said nothing, but looked directly at Rarity, then smiled and nodded to her friend. As the others gaped, the ghostly image simply sunk back into the mare that was Tabula Rasa.

“Did it work?” Tabula asked. “I tried to clear my mind and let Twilight come out like Celestia said. Did it work?”

“Ya,” said Applejack with a suspicious sniffle, “you did just fine sugarcube, just fine.”

Valiente could sense that Rarity was wavering. She was nearly willing to give up her self punishment and take her proper place in the world. She only needed one more push.

“And, if you don’t come back to our friends, right now, I will have to take drastic measures,” said Valiente.

“What...what sort of drastic measures are you thinking of?” asked Rarity.

“I’m going to dress us in purple and yellow spandex. Like in one of Spike’s comic books. With neon green tassels and glitter,” threatened Valiente.

“You WOULDN’T,” said Rarity.

“Well, maybe someone should stop me,” smiled Valiente, knowing at that moment that the battle for Rarity was won.

“Fine. I’ll come back,” said Rarity after long seconds. “For a little while. That’s all.”

“As you say, Rarity,” said Valiente, smiling. The pair touched hooves in agreement and the rainbow harness on Valiente slithered over to wrap Rarity’s mental form.

“You aren’t coming with us?” asked Rarity.

“You’ve left quite a mess, darling,” said Valiente. “I’ll be along in awhile. You go get reacquainted with life while I clean up.”

"One moment," said Luna, approaching the pair. She reached her hooves up to Rarity's neck and with a tug, literally pulled the wide collar through Rarity without harm, dismissing the tethers as she did so. As both white unicorns looked on, Luna split the single, wide collar into a pair of narrow, elegantly engraved, silver collars. Luna held a collar in each forehoof and turned to address the others who looked on.

"Where there was once one mare, there are now two, yet they are still one," said Luna. "They have suffered for each other, bled for each other, fought for each other and have each offered up themselves so that they other might live. Greater love hath nopony, that she give her life for another." The collars in Luna's hooves began to glow with power and a dim line of silver power connected the two.

"Rarity, Valiente, once you step forward and accept this bond between you, know that the pair of you can never be separated again and that - in truth - each of you belongs to the other." Luna lowered the collars so they were at throat height. Neither mare hesitated for an instant and stepped forward into each silver circle until they simultaneously locked about their necks with a firm "click". The silver thread between the two brightened and became glowed bright enough to light the room. The joined mares looked at each other and hugged.

"Go now, my Rarity, my sister," said Valiente. "Return to the world with our friends."

"It's not like you can get away from me," said Rarity with a smile, tugging slightly on the line connecting them. She watched, pleased as Valiente's eyes flared a little with excitement. "Let's go, girls. A lot of ponies are waiting for us." With that, seven mares began to rise up and away, trailing a silver cord back to the one willingly left behind.

Author's Note

Okay, Rarity is restored. Changed, as anypony would be after her experiences. Twilight next. I will be doing a very long afterword in the next and final chapter.