Act II - 07 - And I Will Strike Down Upon The

Act Two:

"For What I've Done"

Chapter Seven

"And I Will Strike Down Upon Thee"

Meanwhile, in Griffinheim, villagers ran in fear from the rebel forces. Diamond dogs broke into random homes and dragged their residents out, lining them up for execution. Herzlos the Griffin stalked in his tent, set up nearby a burned out building. His troops were busy picking random victims out to be shot or tortured, depending on whatever came to his mind at that moment. He was particularly fond of disembowelment, deeply enjoying the way his victims suffered a nice and bloody death. He had racked up five kills himself today, so he felt content.

A random shout from one of his troops distracted him from his meditations on the nature of his killing habits. “Ugh, what?” he asked, turning to his second in command, a chubby diamond dog.

The diamond dog dragged a particularly terrified young griffin in front of him. The griffin had a broken wing and his face was the very portrait of fear. “What is the meaning of this?” Herzlos asked, looking at the diamond dog. The diamond dog babbled on in his native tongue.

“So he wanted to be a hero huh?” he said, shooting a steely glare at the griffin prisoner below. “‘Tis a shame. He looks like he could have been useful to us.” He sighed. “Oh, well. Can’t let foolishness of this manner go unpunished.” With these those words Herzlos proceeded to slice the younger griffin’s throat with his claw.

“Take it away.” He said, motioning to the corpse. Two diamond dogs appeared and dragged the body away. “Do you have anything else to show me?” he said, looking at the fat diamond dog. The diamond dog shook his head.

“Good. Then get out.” The diamond nodded and turned tail and left, barking orders to his troops.

Herzlos took a sip of his coffee from the makeshift coffee maker. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. “Ugh, what now…” he mumbled to himself as he pulled it out from under his wing. “Hello?” the voice babbled something. “Really?” he said, his characteristic devious smile spreading across his face. “You certain? I don’t have to answer to that metal faced freak either? I can do what I want here?” his face became like that of a child in a candy store.

A child who liked to kill and mutilate, but a child nonetheless.

“Tell him I’m very pleased. And thankful." He said to whoever it was on the other end of the phone. “Alright then.” He hung up the phone and tucked it back under his wing.

He cracked his knuckles. He was certainly going to enjoy himself now. He strode out of his tent, ready to wreak havoc. He stretched his wings and leaped into the air. The townsfolk below where too busy either being shot at or generally running for their lives to notice as he pulled out a submachine gun and opened fire on the mob below. Damn I enjoy myself to much, he thought.

He picked off random creatures below. A griffin here. A diamond dog there. The occasional zebra even.

Just as he was reaching the peak of his enjoyment, a loud boom ripped through the air. “What the...?” he muttered as he looked around looking for the source of the noise. From the sky above, a strange purple and silver object descended and landed in a cloud of dust and smoke. As the dust cleared, it revealed the object a gleaming silver and lavender robot in the shape of a unicorn with a disk of light shining from its chest.

Herzlos simply hovered for a few moments. Then all hell broke loose below.

///////////////////////////////

Meanwhile, on the ground, the diamond dogs and villagers simply gawked. The monster turned towards them, the disk glowing menacingly. The fat diamond dog commander barked orders at his troops who, obeying, let loose a hail of gunfire. Suddenly, an unearthly glow emitted from the strange glowing rock in the creature’s chest. Its horn glowed, and what looked like a bubble of light surrounded the creature. The bullets simply bounced off the magical bubble, seemingly to no effect. The creature lifted one of its hooves, and a glow emanated from the end. Suddenly a burst of energy burst from it, blowing several troops away. The diamond dog commander turned and ran like a chicken without its head, as his troops started firing wildly at the monster.

Fire exploded from the monster’s legs. It lifted off the ground, and proceeded to destroy everything in a hail of missiles and energy blasts. Surrounded by fire and smoke the creature landed once more. It stared at the remaining troops who stood behind a row of prisoners, pointing their guns at them. The monster suddenly stopped advancing, stood still for a moment, seemingly pondering what to do next. “Sorry.” A strangely feminine voice said from inside the monster.

“But I take no prisoners.” A little object extended from its shoulders and fired several small bullet-like objects at the raiders, killing them with a precise shot to the head.

The diamond dog commander, who had ran away and hid during the chaos, watched terrified from his hopefully unknown hiding spot in an old building. Suddenly he was enveloped in a strange bluish glow, which caused him to be levitated several feet off the ground and dropped in front of the once terrified villagers. He turned to see his captor, the same monster as before, hovering in the air, held up by its fire spouting legs. The voice spoke again. “He’s all yours.” It said towards the villagers, and then turned and flew off, leaving the commander alone, unarmed and surrounded by the now emboldened villagers.

///////////////////////////////

Rarity turned towards home. No longer was she a helpless victim, or a useless snob wallowing in her money and one night stands. She thought about the fact that she had just killed somepony. Instead of sympathy or guilt, however, she felt pride. Pride in the fact that she had done something. Something to better the world, no matter how dangerous.

This must be how a bungee jumper feels. She thought. The image of the somewhat confused yet grateful villagers ran though her mind over and over again.

Those faces. All strange to her. The gratefulness in their faces had been genuine, if apprehensive. The image filled her with meaning.

Of course, that’s when the universe decided to throw her a loop. Out of nowhere, her world was rocketed by a sudden impact that sent her flying. She spun around and tried to stabilize herself. A familiar gravelly voice came from behind her. “Nice to see you again.” Rarity turned to see the griffin hovering in the air in front of her, his typical evil grin plastered on his beak.

“You.” Rarity spat back, her hate burning inside her.

“I see you made a costume change.” The griffin said, crossing his front legs.

“Yes. Yes I have.” Rarity said, her fear of him now replaced by hate. The griffin suddenly lunged at her, claws ready to their worst. Rarity ducked out of the way and turned to return fire. The griffin dodged and weaved, somehow avoiding every shot. The griffin then dived to the ground and grabbed an abandoned missile launcher.

Aiming the missile launcher directly at her, the same wicked smile he would smile during her torture sessions crossed his face. “I’m really going to enjoy this!” He shouted out as he fired the heat missile.

Rarity’s proximity alarms went wild. Rarity turned and tried to dodge the missile, which followed her like a bloodhound. “Flares!” Rarity commanded, a small disk popped up from her leg-joints and fired a round of flares.

She spun though the air in an attempt to spread them as widely as possible. The blood rushed to her head, making her dizzy. The missile followed the flares and exploded. Rarity evened out and let out a sigh of relief. She seemed to have lost him.

Wrong.

The griffin came roaring from behind her and hit her like a flying freight train with all his strength, which was at least 5 times that of a pony. They both went tumbling into a cliff side.

Rarity shook off the dust and rocks. Her helmet had fallen off in the crash and her eye hurt for some reason. She immediately went looking for her helmet, ignoring her body's protests. Behind her the griffin recovered from the crash and shook himself off, wiping the blood dripping from his broken beak.

The griffin leaped towards her again, screaming like a demon had possed him. Rarity’s eyes widened and she tried to duck out of the way but he hit her dead on, throwing her to the ground, claws clenched around her neck.

“I should have killed you back in that cave!” The manicial griffin hissed, sounding increasingly manic. “I knew this would happen! They didn't listen to me! Well, time for me to finish what I started. Time to slay the vampire!” he grinned a disturbing grin and raised his other claw high above his head, ready to deliver the final blow. Rarity choked and struggled underneath him.

“No. You. WON’T.” Rarity grunted. With these words, Rarity’s diamond arc glowed brightly along with her horn and both fired massive beams of energy straight into the griffon’s chest. His body flew back fifty feet and landed violently. His neck was bent back over itself and his feathers where completely burned away. Rarity walked over and looked for life signs. There was none. He was finally dead.

Rarity, exhausted from the fight, recovered her helmet, put it back on and flew home.

///////////////////////////////

Exhausted and her suit starting to short out, Rarity came for a landing. Her suit was covered in scratches and dented all over. She levitated the helmet off. “Oh snap.” She heard a voice say. Rarity turned to see a shocked Spark Plug. “What the hay happened?” Spark Plug said.

“Huh?” Rarity turned to Spark Plug. “Oh, nothing dear.” Rarity said turning towards the table with the coffee machine.

“That doesn’t look like nothing.” Spark Plug said, levitating a mirror in front of Rarity. As it turned out Rarity’s right eye was completely swollen and black and her neck was bruised.

“Holy Celestia, I look as if I just got run over by a car!” Rarity said as she levitated off pieces of the suit, walking over to the worktable, wincing with every step.

“Care to explain what happened?” Spark Plug said, sitting down next to Rarity.

“Nothing dear. Just got a little roughed up that’s all.”

Spark Plug gave her an unconviced look “‘A little ruffed up’” she said, using her hooves to make air-quotes. “You look like you got punched in the face and choked! Are you sure you’re okay?” Rarity refused to answer.

“Come on, Rarity. You’re covered in bruises and you got a black eye. What happened?” Spark Plug said, suddenly very serious. “Didn’t you use the force field I installed?”

Rarity sighed. “Yes. Yes I did. But,” she took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, sighing once more.

“But what?” Spark Plug said, with obvious concern in her voice.

“Well,” Rarity sighed. “After I took care of the diamond dogs, I was on my way back right? So I’m flying along, when suddenly the griffin that had been my tormentor in the cave came and attacked me! We fought...”

“And that’s when you got that black eye?” Spark Plug said.

Rarity nodded. “Yes. We had been fighting and I lost my helmet. He grabbed me and started to choke me.” Her hooves started to shake slightly. The shaking slowly became more obvious and various thoughts of her near death filled Rarity’s mind. She held back sobs.

Spark Plug put a hoof around her. “Relax,” She said steadily. “Tell me what else happened.”

Rarity held up a hoof. “It’s okay,” She said, starting to calm down. “I want to tell you. I just needed a moment.” Rarity inhale shakily and swallowed a sour lump in her throat. “Okay.” She sighed, doing her best to hold back all the emotion. “While he was choking me, I fired the uni-beam and my horn at the same time.”

Spark Plug winced. “Wow. That must have been pretty rough on you.” Rarity nodded. “What happened to the griffin?” Spark Plug said.

“He was killed,” Rarity said shortly. Then she started to cry.

Spark Plug instantly put her hooves around her. “It’s okay. It’s over.” She said, gently rocking her back and forth. Rarity clutched onto Spark Plug, tears running down her face. The feeling of somepony hugging her was comforting, like a warm blanket, protecting her from the outside world. It was strange and foreign. But it was a good kind of strange.

“Look,” Spark Plug said, pulling back and holding Rarity’s head up. “Do you want me to leave? Maybe give you some time to think things over in private?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, I think I’m okay…”

“Well, look, I think some tea would be good for you. That okay with you?” Spark Plug asked leaning back slightly.

Rarity nodded. “Yes, some Chamomile that would be wonderful.” She wiped a tear from her eye. With that, Spark Plug stopped hugging her and quietly walked out of the workshop.

///////////////////////////////

Rarity put her head in her hooves. I nearly died for the second time. How many times can I do this?

She looked around the room, taking in the mix of the various pieces of her old life and her new one. Suddenly everything having to do with her old life seemed meaningless, like an adult looking at kindergarten toys. She suddenly knew what she had to do. She started by levitating a bunch of left over fashion tools and such into a large pile in the center of the room. She then opened the window and started dumping everything in the dumpster she had used throw away bad designs. She then slammed it shut. No longer would she fill her life with such useless things. All of it was trash to her now, and it was where it belonged. She turned and looked at the new workshop. It was now only filled with her new life. Content with her personal exorcism, she lit a cigarette and finally allowed herself to notice the savage ache that enveloped her whole body. I need to rest, She thought. She got up, ignoring her body’s protests, closed down the workshop and went to her room.

She slowly walked down the hallway, cigarette hanging limply from her mouth. She finally reached the door to her room. She magicked the door open and flopped onto her bed and feel instantly asleep.

///////////////////////////////

Braeburn closed the door behind him. It had been a typically boring day for the earth pony, having to sit in on yet another glorious business meeting. How ponies could be horrified by the prospect of how two colors interacted, he would never know. He put his keys on the little hook he had insisted be installed after Rarity lost one too many keys.

He made his way to the kitchen. “Coffee. I need coffee,” He muttered to himself. He started brewing himself a pot when Spark Plug walked in.

“Oh hey Braeburn, how you doing?” she said as she sat down behind the island in the center of the kitchen.

“I’ma doin’ fine. Just a little bit tired after tha meetin’,” He said as he sat down. “Where’s Sweetie Belle? She usally tackles me whenever I get home.”

“Oh, well she wanted to go to the park. I couldn’t cause I was working on the suit, so Starburst took her,” Spark Plug answered.

Braeburn noticed she looked surprisingly somber for some reason. “Well, what about you? Y’all look a little depressed.”

Spark Plug said nothing as she levitated a pot over to the sink, and turned on the faucet. Once the pot was full she silently levitated it over to the stove.

“Sparky? What’s up?” Braeburn said, suddenly concerned.

Spark Plug sighed. “It’s Rarity. She actually tried it.” She replied as the tea pot began to whistle. “Hey, where do we keep the chamomile?” she said as she rummaged through one of the cabinets.

“Next to the coffee grinder.” He replied. He had a sneaking suspicion of what Spark Plug was talking about, and it wasn’t where the tea was.

“Tried what?” he asked, hopeing that Rarity hadn’t done what he thought she did.

“Tried going on a mission,” Spark Plug said, dropping the tea bag into the water.

Braeburn groaned and facehoofed “Aw, damn it.”

Spark Plug looked confused. “Wait,” she turned. “Didn’t she tell you?”

“No. She didn’t. She’s not prepared fer this.” He said as he got back up and made his way to the workshop.

He pounded on the workshop door. “Rarity! Rarity y’all in there? It’s Braeburn. I wanna talk ta ya!”

No response came from behind the door. “Rarity! Hello? Y’all in there? Don’t tell me ya magicked tha’ door shut.” He tugged at the door. He stepped back and took a deep breath. “Calm down Braeburn. Y’all freakin’ out over nothin’.” He muttered to himself. He turned and walked towards Rarity’s room. Usually if she was not in her workshop, she would be in her room. Braeburn knew that.

He arrived at Rarity’s room. The door was shut. He knocked gently. “Rarity? Y’all in there?”

He heard the sound of somepony stirring inside. “Rarity?” Braeburn said, once again knocking gently.

“Hold one moment please.” Rarity said from behind the door. The doorknob glowed blue and the door opened to reveal Rarity, her right eye swollen, bruises around her neck and cigarette in mouth. “Oh hello Braeburn.” She said, obviously tired. Braeburn simply stared at her. The anger inside of him immediately went down.

“Rarity…” he said. “…what did y’all do?”

Rarity sighed. “I take it Spark Plug told you.” She turned back towards her bed.

“Um, yeah, she did. She said y’all went on a mission without tellin’ me,” Braeburn said sharply, making his way into the room.

“I’m an adult mare, Braeburn, I don’t need to tell you everything. Anyways, you knew this would happen.” Rarity started rummaging through the various papers that were scattered throughout her room and tossing them into the wastebasket.

“Y’almost got yerself killed!”

“Oh come now. This is most certainly not the worst thing you caught me doing,” Rarity said, whipping out another ciggarrete. Braeburn tugged it out of her mouth.

“Now hold on there. Y’all stop this.”

“Stop what?”

“This!” He motioned violently to her bruised face and neck. “This ain’t safe! Not physically or mentally! Think about it. Y’all haven’t even been in public fer a week, not since y’all pulled that fast one on me and got me promoted.”

“I thought you liked the promotion,” Rarity said sullenly.

“Don’t you dare change the subject!” He practically shouted. “What about Sweetie Belle?”

Rarity gave him a confounded look. “What about her?”

“What would happen iffin’ y’all actually got killed?” Braeburn demanded. Rarity stopped throwing papers in the waste bin and stared at the window solemnly.

“Then tell her that I died doing something good with my life and not wasting it like a fool,” She said somberly.

“That’s not enough! She’s just a little filly.” Braeburn said. “And what ‘bout yer parents huh? What are they gonna do when they find out? They’re gonna be destroyed.”Rarity simply huffed and continued to shifting through papers, ignoring Braeburn. “And I mahself am getting worried fer ya.” He said.

Rarity began shifting through papers again. “Well don’t be. I’ve found my purpose. You have no need to worry.”

“Rarity, ya may know what yer purpose is, but we don’t! Cause if this is just a phase, yer gonna destroy yer life with it. And just yer life, but ours as well, me, Sparky, Sweetie, yer parents-”

Rarity suddenly stood to her hooves and strode up to Braeburn, shoving her face right up to his. “You really want to know?” She hissed. “Before this mission all I had was Kili’s last request. ‘Don’t waste your gift,’ He said. All this time I’ve wondered what he meant. This is what he meant! When I went over there today, to do something to help those strangers, I saw that they didn’t thank me because of my money or my fame, but because I was their savior. And somewhere deep in me I felt like a cavern was filled. I no longer felt empty.”

Braeburn said nothing. He hadn’t expected any of this. Deep down he’d feared that this wasn’t simply a phase Rarity was going through. But this time, this time he could tell she was sincere, he could feel it in the very bottom of his soul.

“Rarity.” He said. Rarity turned to look at him. “I just wanna to make sure ya understand. There’s no turning back. Nothing will ever be the same. Ya know that right?” Rarity sniffed.

“Yes.”

He suddenly felt very tired and sat down on the bed. He couldn’t quite figure what to make of what had just happened. She was actually sincere about something for the first time in her life. What would happen if he took away the one thing that had kept her going all this time? Would he be killing her by taking it away?

“Braeburn, I need to know what you’re going to do. I know Spark Plug will support me, but I keep thinking you’ll just leave me here...” Rarity said, looking at the pile of papers in the waste bin.

Braeburn waited until she looked back at his face. “When have I ever abandoned ya? Not once. Ya’ve done some crazy antics and y’all been a little frustratin’ ta get along with. And ya know what?”

“What?” Rarity said, looking back at Braeburn.

“Deep down, I’ve always wanted ya ta improve yer life and… if this is the best way…” He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He suddenly pulled Rarity in for a hug.

Instead of resisting, she hugged him back, tightly, almost as if she was clinging to a life raft.

“Now,” Braeburn said, looking at Rarity. “I think you oughta’ tell yer parents’ ‘bout this.”

“Why?” She said, her voice returning to its customary petulance. “All my mother is going to do is find something to criticize with it.”

“So?” Braeburn said. “Ya’ll constantly tell me ya don’t wanna be controlled by yer mama and how ya wanna be yer own mare, but if yer constantly worrying bout what yer mom thinks of ya, yer still being controlled by her. Ya gotta tell her. Would ya rather her find out from somepony else? Like if ya got killed and the news found out.”

“She wouldn’t care.”

“Now that’s a lie. I bet, that even though she may seem cold hearted and mean, deep down she still loves ya. Ya can’t keep alienatin’ them. Same with Sweetie Belle, if nopony else, y’all should get things right with her. It ain’t right fer sisters ta act like that with each other.”

Rarity sighed again, looking at herself in the mirror.

“An if you don’t tell her, I will.”

She shut her eyes. “Let me think about it. I’m honestly very tired and I really need some rest.”

“Sure thing. But I’m serious ‘bout you and yer mom.” He quietly turned and walked out, leaving Rarity alone with her thoughts.

"I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them."

• Ezekiel 25:17