Monster's Sacrifice

Rarity dragged Sweetie Bell along towards Carousel Boutique. Her tears flowing down her cheeks as she saw the horror that Ponyville had become. She had split off from Pinkie and the others, her heart overwhelmed with worry that her friends had to face this all without her and her without them. But the tree of Harmony was clear. The ones that would help them could only be approached singly, and only by a specific element. Her tears were for her friends and for the tree as well, listening to it die, seeing the corruption take it. It's last words a cryptic message to each of them.

"Rarity, slow down!" Sweetie exclaimed.

Turning to her younger sister, she saw the bruise beginning to form on Sweetie's wrist. Pausing and releasing her sister she sighed.

"I'm sorry Sweetie, I allowed myself to get a little frantic."

Rubbing her wrist her younger sister snarked back. "Only a Little, huh?"

"Yes, well at least we seem to have avoided the notice of any of these horrors." Rarity replied.

"Uh, Sis?" Sweetie said, looking behind her older sister, terror clear on the face of the young filly.

"I really should keep my big mouth shut." Rarity swore.

Jumping forward she grabbed her sister as a leperous tendril lashed out, turning she shuddered as she saw a morass of horrid mass, moving with vicious intent towards her and her sister. Lesser masses sought to cut them off to the sides. Grasping her sister tight, the Fabulous Fashionista shot straight for her home. On all sides the vile things reached to grab them. But still she dodged and avoided them. Just as she was within the last stretch one of them got ahead of her, blocking her path. Sweetie pushed away from her sister and ignited her horn, straight into the central of the things many mouth's

Rarity fell to her knees as she watched the thing swallow her beloved sister. Watched as it swallowed her whole. Her tears fell as the ones behind her approached. Their was no worth to winning now, not without Sweetie.

A Voice echoed out from the thing before her, "Full release, Total Nanovirus conversion. Engage!!!!!"

The horror before her began to scream, bloating obscenely as a glow began to form. The dim glow rose in intensity as it's pure intensity engulfed the thing, converting it to ash. Floating before Rarity was her sister, but instead of flesh and bone she was metal and ceramic. Jets of fire flowing from her back provided the thrust for the flight, smiling at Rarity the one before her snarked.

"I didn't get any on you, Sis, did I? I now how you hate getting dirty."

Rarity got to her feet, she did not now how, but her sister had come back to her. In what form she did not care, how it was done she did not care, it only mattered that she was back. Charging forward, she passed her sister, reaching the doors. Finding them weirdly unlocked she turned to Sweetie.

"C'mon Sweetie, we need to get inside. We need to find the one that can help us."

"Sorry Sis. If I don't hold these things back than you won't have the time to do what you need to do."

"Sweetie, I can not lose you again! Please get inside!"

"You're the element of generosity Sis, you don't get to be selfish. I became a robot, just to save you. Whatever is in there will only come out for you. So I have to stay out here. Sorry Sis, I love you." With those being her final words to her sister Sweetie spun and extended her hands. Again her horn glowed, the doors slamming in Rarity's face, then vanishing, the windows becoming nothing more than walls.

Sweetie turned to those before her, "I gave up my form to protect my sister. You will not get by me, I will protect my sister as she always protected me. I am not the element of generosity, I DO get to be selfish"

Rarity heard Sweetie's words through the wall, smiling she turned to go and find what they needed. She needed to make her sister's Generosity count.

"You're wrong Sweetie, you may have had selfish reasons, but your actions have always been nothing but generous, even when you didn't get them right."

Walking deeper into her boutique she reviewed the message that the tree had sent her.

"The One That Suffers In Silence Waits For You Were Both Your And It's Dream Begins And Ends." She said to the darkness of her house. Smiling and shaking her head she moved directly to where she needed to be.

"There is only one place that fits that description. Turns out it and I share a dream, well there is only one place my dreams begin and end."

Her hooves clicking on her hardwood floor, she walked back into he work area. Then she went farther in, to a place not even her friends knew of. Her Private Sanctum, were she worked on things that needed her full attention. Where she planned all of her seasonal lines and had her breaks. Where she could just be Rarity.

As she approached the door, she could hear movement inside and the sound of someone working.

"Well, it's got to be now or never I suppose." She said to the silent room.

Taking the door in her hand she stepped into her inspiration room, only it wasn't. The room was cluttered with dolls of every description, amazing in detail. She could swear that they were made of flesh and blood, instead of ceramic and cloth. Hearing the wiring of a machine she moved deeper into the room, the dolls her only companions in the darkness. She soon saw a small figure hunched over a machine, all but its shape cast in darkness. Pausing the figure spoke a soft pleasant sigh sound echoing forth.

"You really shouldn't be in my workshop, darling. I am rational in the moment, but who knows how long that will last. Best be on your way.... Rarity?"

Charging forward Rarity found herself being hugged by a small feminine form, seemingly a living Doll. It held her close, concealing its face against her chest. Rarity found herself hugging the creature back, she had no idea were she knew it from, but it definitely knew and cared for her. Soon though the creature stepped back and Rarity got a look at it's face. Entirely porcelain with glass eyes the mouth was painted a bright cherry red. A sigh echoed from the creature and somehow, even though it could not change its expression, Rarity saw its disappointed expression.

"Sorry Darling, You are not the one I thought you were. Merely this cycle's version. You even share here Element."

"This Cycle, Darling?"

The creature sighed, mysteriously conveying infinite sadness. "Yes, my Rarity belonged to the previous cycle, for all things repeat throughout the ages of the world. We spirits that shape our bodies from the inanimate and possess those we have a need of are well aware that such is the nature of things. I am older than the founding of Equestria, from a time when magic did not exist. When there was only one intelligent species. Then Magic entered the world and where there was once one there was many, as well as a gathering darkness. A darkness that would have extinguished all the good things. One of those dark things I took into myself so that my Rarity would remain untainted. I then turned my darkness against things that were much worse, in time those things were defeated and Rarity was forced to seal me away, lest I lose all that I was.
You should go, be glad that after all these years I have learned to live and suppress my darkness, but I can not do so forever. Go back to the world, leave me to my prison."

"Darling that is why I have come, a greater darkness has once again arisen. It will taint everything. The elements have already fallen. I am the element of Generosity only in name now. Please help me save everyone I love. Help me save my sister."

"I am very weak, if what you say is true then I will be destroyed and all your hopes will be lost. Any way I would have to regain my power would be horrific." Looking behind Rarity, the creature pulled her behind it. Horrible figures stood inside the shop, the were skinny and pale, they bore wolf like muzzles and stank of rotten meat.

"Give the former Element to us Geist, she is not the one you want. Give her to us and we will not bother you again. We will leave you to your solitude." The Dog Thing in the front growled.

"I will do no such thing! I may not be able to leave this place and remain, but this place is mine and it is me."

The creature in front of her collapsed, as if it had been a puppet whose strings where now cut. Rarity gasped as the Dog things surged forward only to be met by an army of dolls. Everyone working in unison, governed by the same terrible intelligence. They tore the intruders apart with unnatural strength, somehow absorbing the blood into their fabric bodies. Soon the Foul Dog Things were no more, the bloodless mummified remains vanishing to what horrible purpose Rarity did not want to know.

A soft blue light beckoned to Rarity, out of that lite the same soft voice of the spirit echoed.

"I am Coco Pommel, long have I been sealed, but know this. What you see is my lifeforce. Take it willingly into yourself and you will be gifted with all of the power you need. All the power I had when I was young and my Rarity still walked this earth. Do this so that my soul will have a chance to move on, perhaps to once more met the one that I miss the most. My most beloved, either in what comes after, or in the next cycle."

Rarity stepped forward and took the glowing doll in her hand, considering a moment, she made her decision.