Rarity sighed. The eyes were back. Once again, she could only contemplate what new punishment they had come up with. What thing she liked would they 'prove' wrong? What thing did she not like would they rub in her face and force her to appreciate? Or rather to have always been a hypocrite who denounces something only to indulge in it?...She hoped they weren't in the mood to have her harm Sweetie Belle or insert desires and wants that weren't her own into her or her friends' heads.
As she composed herself and descended the stairs, she found her father standing in the kitchen. Of course.
“Hey honey!” called her father, giving a wave.
“Oh, hello father,” Rarity replied. Would this be one of those times the eyes chose to make her father a stallion he never was simply to hurt her? Or one where he'd have somehow obtained tickets to a high society get together so she'd be humiliated by her parents fashion sense?
“I got some tickets to the big game, and I wanted you to come with me, what do you say, kiddo?” asked her father as he looked at her expectantly.
Of course. The classic 'she was secretly more like her parents who humiliated her than she dares admit' story. She dared pray that the eyes may have run out of ideas in earnest and might simply move on to find another toy in some other world to punish after becoming bored with her. Oh, who was she kidding? Even if they did, she'd never wish this on anyone.
“I don't know father, hoofball really isn't my thing, and I have a lot of dresses I need to finish,” Rarity replied, both a truth and what the eyes put in her mouth at the same time. Hoofball was not her thing and indeed she was busy, but of course that didn't matter to the eyes.
“Oh come on, Rare, you've went with me all the time, ever since you were a tyke!” her father replied, pointing to a scrapbook that spontaneously forced itself into existence solely to make her a hypocrite.
And of course, it went without saying that all her clients for the day 'suddenly' called to open their schedules and give her free time, if not flat out canceling. Nothing could get in the way of the eyes' lesson, could it? Never mind this was a business and she needed those bits for upkeep.
So off to the big game with her...or rather she wished it was. Of course it wasn't time to go yet and she was paraded into town by the eyes so that the point could be further rubbed into her face.
“Hey, Rarity? What's up?” asked Rainbow Dash, naturally playing hoofball with Applejack.
“Oh, my father is in town and he's dragging me to the big game, darling. He should know it's not my thing,” Rarity said, fully expecting Rainbow Dash to spontaneously reveal she had her own tickets to bare witness to her humiliation.
“Really? Come on, Rarity, you have to have told him you aren't into that, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking concerned for her friend.
Rarity merely stared for a few moments. The eyes seemed just as surprised as she did. “Well...I did...but he pointed out I always went with him before.”
“Did yah actually like goin'?” Applejack questioned.
And here came the poorly inserted admission of her hypocrisy.
“No, I don't. I force myself to act like I do to please him, but I've never liked it,” Rarity replied...then stared in blind shock. She hadn't meant to say that...well, she'd wanted to say it. She'd wanted to say it this entire time...but the eyes wouldn't have let her. How could that be?
Today had been a pretty normal day. Twilight and her friends had all simply hung out and eaten together as they often did. Maybe they'd gotten a little bit sloppy, but Twilight normally was a bit of a messy eater anyway, at least during informal occasions. Of course, then Rarity and Applejack had apparently had some sort of misadventure in Canterlot. Apparently, Rarity had learned she shouldn't try to force her standards and table manners on Applejack. That was a good lesson...
As Twilight walked along through Ponyville, however, she stopped and cocked her head. Something didn't feel right. “Wasn't Rarity eating sloppy like the rest of us? If she took proper eating adequate seriously enough to force it on Applejack, wouldn't she have been more careful?”
The Alicorn hadn't thought about it while Rarity had been there, only after she'd left for the spa.
Something seemed...off about that. Something more than just the apparent contradiction. Something Twilight couldn't quite put her hoof on. Something that made her shudder for reasons she couldn't understand. She must have misheard the story somehow. Twilight was many things, but one to know a story was incomplete and leave it that way wasn't one. Well, there was an easy way to correct that: just get it right from the horse's mouth.
As if instantly to punish her for her transgression or force her to show her hypocrisy, Rarity found a hoofball sent sailing through the air, directly at her head. She didn't have time to react, but Rainbow Dash did and zipped in to catch it.
“Hey! Watch it! You almost hit my friend!” Rainbow Dash called to a group of ponies playing nearby with a protective glare.
The group of ponies glared, Rarity cringing as for a moment they looked angry enough to attack, likely to punish this defiance. She was proven wrong when they took a deep breath and calmed down, having only been worked up in the game.
“Sorry about that, the ball got away from us,” the lead pony replied, catching the ball when Rainbow Dash threw it back. “Want to play with us?”
And there it was. The catalyst that'd force Rarity to get back with the game. She noted the other group had three (the third waiting for their turn), Rainbow Dash and Applejack would require a third member.
“Nah, sorry. We're busy,” Rainbow Dash replied with a wave.
Rarity could only stare dumbstruck...what was going on? This...this wasn't how this worked. The eyes would rewrite her friends, make them do anything to humiliate her or simply turn them into horrid strangers if that's what it took. So...so what was happening?
Twilight trotted into the spa, looking around as she looked for her friend. Surely a quick talk with Rarity would resolve this. Her eyes finally found the white furred unicorn as she stepped out of the hot tub. For a moment, Twilight swore she noticed Rarity looking...sad. Upset. It was only a fleeting glimpse, however, before she was back to her normal refined self. “Rarity!”
The fashionista jumped slightly at the sudden call, but gave a calm smile. “Oh, hello darling.”
The Alicorn gave a friendly look in response, though was still a bit concerned by Rarity's apparent upset. “Glad to see your spa visit went well.”
“Yes, a good spa visit does wonders,” Rarity replied, flipping her mane in usual fashion. “Are you here for one too?”
“Not quite,” Twilight replied. “I was more wanting to ask you about your and Applejack's Canterlot trip. Apparently, you tried to make Applejack take good table manners seriously, but before that you were being as sloppy as the rest of us. I must be missing something, what happened?”
Twilight noticed an obvious change in Rarity's mannerisms. She became far more nervous and seemed to quickly check if someone was nearby before turning back. It only lasted a brief moment, but it was enough to put the Princess on edge.
“Oh, darling, I was just being a bit hypocritical. Don't worry, I've learned my lesson,” Rarity replied...but Twilight got the feeling there was more. Like there was something she wanted to tell her, but was biting her tongue. “I've always been a bit sloppy. We all are...it's...natural. Clearly everyone wants to be free of it, so why make a big deal of it?”
The Alicorn raised an eyebrow. “Rarity, is something wrong?”
“Wrong? Oh, darling, whatever could be wrong?” the fashionista asked simply. “Well, would you look at the time? In all this I forgot about an important dress I simply must be getting to. See you later, darling.” And with that, Rarity quickly excused herself and headed for her boutique.
Twilight, on the other hoof, found herself even more confused than when she'd come in. “Rarity's always been sloppy...”
On one hoof, part of her remembered times she was, but...thinking about it, she also remembered how Rarity hated dirt. How she hated ever getting filthy at all. Times she delicately, carefully ate food without letting her fur get the slightest stain. For some reason, trying to connect one to another just made her head hurt.
“Something's wrong...” Twilight muttered, but could tell Rarity wasn't in a talking mood.
“Anyway, Rare, if ya feel like that, just suck it up and tell yer pa. Family don't want family to be miserable,” Applejack continued, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder.
Rarity felt the urge to hyperventilate come on her. What would the eyes do to punish them now? The eyes always punished her when she stepped out of line or tried to defy their wishes.
Was this simply some long elaborate trick? The eyes stepping up their game and choosing to give her what looked like a break only to cruelly snatch it away the moment she began to reach out to take it? Wouldn't be the first time.
“I d-don't know if I can, darlings,” Rarity replied, trying not to look as frightened as she truly was as her mind raced through all the many, many possible ways the eyes had to punish her for her crime if she acted in a way they didn't desire.
“Well, we were playing our game, but you're more important than a dumb game,” Rainbow Dash replied. “We'll come with you for moral support, okay?”
Rarity could practically feel the frustration coming from the eyes. “You would really do that for me, darlings?”
She knew while they were themselves, they would without hesitation...but the eyes were here. They shouldn't be themselves. They should be the eyes' tool to torment her.
“Spike!” Twilight called, walking into her castle.
“In the kitchen!”
The Alicorn followed her assistant's voice to the castle's very well-stocked kitchen, and found he wasn't alone. “Pinkie? What's going on?”
“Aww, you got home early! Me and Spike wanted to surprise you with hayburgers for dinner!” Pinkie Pie replied, disappointed her surprise had been foiled.
Twilight gave a friendly smile in return. “Thank you both, I appreciate it regardless...Hey, have you noticed something off with Rarity?”
“Rarity?! Is something wrong?!” Spike asked, suddenly horrified.
Pinkie tapped her chin. “Hmm...what kind of off? Because I did notice her mane was combed a little more to the left than usual.”
“She says she's always been sloppy, and I thought she was right, but thinking back on it...most of the parties or picnics we've had, she's been afraid to even get a stain on her muzzle and she hates dirt. I have memories of her being sloppy, but they feel...off. And when I asked her about it, she seemed...anxious. Like she was expecting something bad to happen. It's like something just doesn't add up, but I can't figure out what,” Twilight explained, rubbing her head as thinking about it seemed to give her head a dull ache.
“Hmm...” Pinkie Pie replied, seeming somewhat more serious all of a sudden...well, by Pinkie Pie standards. “Have you seen a weird, overly designed pony in town that's somehow an Alicorn?”
Twilight merely raised an eyebrow. “No...”
“So no insert...What did you mean by Rarity being anxious?”
“Like she was looking around, expecting to see someone...”
“...I'll meet you in my secret underground party cave, I need to go check something...” Pinkie Pie replied, in a way that reminded Twilight of the Parasprites Incident. “To the Pinkie Cave!” She then slowly lowered behind the table with a slide-whistle effect. When her two friends went to quickly check, they found no sign of her.
“...I hate it when she does that...” Spike said with a sigh.
“You're stuck up, prissy, and full of yourself,” Applejack replied, the look on her face seeming for a moment like she WANTED it to hurt...before it eased, becoming the kind, motherly farmer she actually was. Rarity noted she'd spoken far faster than normal, as if someone speaking because they were afraid of being interrupted. “But Ah'm stubborn, pigheaded, and a workaholic. We're friends to the end, that means bein' there for the other, warts and all. Yah've always been there for me, now I'll definitely be there for you.”
Rarity, head swimming as she tried to figure out what in the world was going on, nodded and headed along with her friends.
On the way, Derpy Hooves dropped an entire load of hoofballs directly on top of Rarity, or would have had Rainbow Dash not saved her.
Things like that kept happening. A cart full of hoofball players nearly running her over, only for Applejack to stop them as she had that out of control carriage as Mare-Do-Well. Or her to catch another hoofball and be dogpiled by an entire team, only to be saved when Pinkie Pie, in her own Pinkie Pie way, grabbed her and left only a Rarity-shaped puff of smoke to be dogpiled. The eyes seemed to be getting a tad desperate as a portal to Sunset Shimmer's world, of all things, opened directly in front of her with intent to dump her directly into a muddy football field with a game in progress. The human world Rainbow Dash, the quarterback, whistled for a time out and used her super speed to rush over and catch Rarity midfall. Giving a thumbs up, the human returned back to the unicorn world as Sunset healed the rift back up.
This had to be a trick somehow, it had to be the eyes setting her up for greater humiliation. Rarity had been through this so many times. She knew when she blinked next she'd wake up in some horrid parody of Equestria that would make her beg for the 'normalcy' of the eyes usual torments. When she did blink, her eyes opened to merely find herself walking along the same path as she was before.
“Let's see, how do I get into her party cave again?” Twilight asked, looking around Pinkie Pie's room until she found the cupcake shaped post. “Ah! Here it is!” Pressing it, she gave a yell as the floor opened up and she fell down the slide. Coming to a stop in her friend's underground party cave, Twilight blinked to find Pinkie Pie standing at a passive string chart covering much of the wall, with various pictures of Rarity and aspects of her folder. “Uh...Pinkie Pie?”
“Twilight, this could be bad!” Pinkie Pie replied, unusually serious...well, by Pinkie standards. “Super, mega bad!”
Twilight flew over, looking over the chart with confusion. “What is all this?”
“I took apart Rarity's party profile and looked through it and our Friendship Lesson book! Look!”
The alicorn gave it a look over, and at first didn't notice anything strange. Simply a timeline of Rarity and her likes and dislikes...but then she noticed several things about it just didn't add up. Pinkie's profile listed that she loved fancy and orderly parties with high society standards, but also sloppy as one of her traits. The friendship lessens about having to learn to cut loose with Sweetie Belle and some others. Not that she'd always been sloppy, but that she had to learn to get a bit dirty for her sister's sake. Her being afraid of them embarrassing her at that garden party. And so on, and so on, and so on. “...Her having always been sloppy just...doesn't add up. It feels like somepony just shoved it into her file on a sticky note.”
“Exactly! And it gets worse, Twilight! It's not the only thing!”
Twilight continued looking over the string chart and found Pinkie was correct. It was like traits just popped up out of nowhere at times. Her tastes seeming to suddenly take a sharp swing in one direction or another out of nowhere and at random. Like they only existed for a moment and then vanished. “You're right...”
“I know! And it's not just her! Remember when you helped lick her out of that raspberry jam earlier? You?! I mean I know me and Dashie would do it, maybe Applejack, but you and Fluttershy?”
Twilight raised a hoof to argue...but then blinked. “...Why...why did I do that?!”
“And that's probably just what we can remember! This could be really, really, really bad!” Pinkie Pie took a deep breath. “Twilight, there is a secret I have to tell you if we're going to help Rarity!”
The Alicorn was beginning to get worried. Something wasn't right here. “What's that?”
“How to break the fourth wall!”
She blinked again, and was greeted by the same.
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “...What?”
“You know how sometimes I talk to somecreature right over here that no one can see?” Pinkie Pie inquired, pointing directly at the screen.
“...Again, what?”
The pink party pony merely gave a sigh and knocked on the fourth wall only she could see while Twilight merely saw her hitting an invisible, solid object. “It's right here!”
Twilight, still completely confused, slowly raised a hoof and tried to knock where Pinkie had, only to hit nothing.
Pinkie grabbed Twilight's hoof and held it in the exact place she'd hit. “Now try!”
The Alicorn tried it again...and this time hit something solid. As she did so, she saw something else, something she couldn't quite understand flash across it. It seemed to have the same dimensions as they knew it...but more of them. Dimensions she didn't know how to properly wrap her head around. Her natural reaction was to backpedal with a scream. “What was that?!”
“Beyond the fourth wall!” replied Pinkie Pie. “That's where what's causing this is!”
“So there's just a floating wall there no pony can see with something behind it no pony but you knows about?!”
“Yep! Well, me, Discord, and Cheese Sandwich!” the party pony replied simply, then got as serious as Pinkie Pie ever did. “On the other side of the wall are eyes, watching us have our adventures. I don't know exactly who they are or where they came from, but normally all they do is watch us have our fun for about 30 minutes every once in awhile, sometimes an hour. They really like us!...But they can change things if they want to. Some more than others.”
Twilight's brain started to work as she remained transfixed on this 'fourth wall,' a sense of Hoofcraftian horror beginning to set in. “So these things can watch us, do things to our world, and we never even realize it?!”
“Most of the time they're nice!” Pinkie Pie replied. “They don't do anything bad! But this one...this one is being a big meanie pants to Rarity! And they won't stop!”
Twilight couldn't help her mind from wandering to a certain higher dimensional imp from Superpony comics. Was this the same kind of thing? Twilight had so many questions to ask...but the fact Rarity was in trouble as more important than anything else right now. “Alright, I have so many questions...but let's go talk to Rarity about-”
Pinkie Pie suddenly put her hooves on her shoulders and shook her head. “We can't do that! The eyes are focused on her! She can't know or they'll know!”
Twilight prepared to say something in response...but then realized the obvious implications of what was already established here. “If Rarity knows this is happening and these things can alter our behavior and memories, she didn't tell us herself because she couldn't...she probably did that before.”
It was at that point she began running through everything they'd done since she'd told Pinkie. Uncovering this had been almost too easy. Almost as if...
“...We have to have figured this out before,” the Alicorn said with growing horror. How many times had they figured this out only for these...eyes to catch on and make them forget? How many times had Rarity just told them only for that to happen? A chill went down her spine, a strange sense of existential dread as if that thought touched on memories she was glad she couldn't access.
Pinkie Pie seemed unusually somber. “I don't really know what to do. Even I can't remember what they had me forget.”
Twilight began hyperventilating, a completely logical reaction given the situation...then took Cadence's breathing lessons to heart and calmed herself down. The fact they'd failed before meant an outside the box tactic would be necessary. She had to focus on a solution, or else this crazy cosmic horror stuff that was giving her a headache might drive her over the edge, and that wouldn't help anycreature. “How do you beat something that can do anything?... The Elements!” she called, then started running to retrieve them from the Tree...only to stop. “Wait a second...if that's the first thing I thought of, then it won't work. I would've thought of that before...”
She ran into the same problem with her next guess, that being Discord. If they really had been through this same cycle several times, then that meant that meant she'd have come up with those ideas right away. And thus they'd failed.
She blinked a third time, and was greeted by the same.
So what could beat something stronger than Discord and the Elements? What else did they have access to that could beat something nigh omnipotent? She wracked her brain over and over again, trying to think of any option that could beat a higher dimensional entity. Any 'easy' solution was instantly discarded, as Twilight knew she must have come up with them before.
Then, it finally hit her. “...Pinkie, you said there are good eyes, right?”
She blinked a fourth time with the same result.
Pinkie Pie had talked to the watching eyes on the other side of the fourth wall before, but only ever for quick little jokes. She didn't even think they knew she was actually 'real.' She'd never had to actually communicate with them before. Rarity needed her help this time, however, and Pinkie would always try to help her friends in whatever way she should could. She'd wanted to just ask, but Twilight said she had to find out which one of the eyes were the bad ones first. That was a bit harder, especially for Pinkie Pie...
But that's when Pinkie Pie noticed some eyes watching them. There were some eyes that looked like they were enjoying this world...watching what the Cruel Eyes did to Rarity. Others just took a look and left because they didn't like seeing Rarity put through that. They never stuck around long enough for Pinkie Pie to ask them to help. It did help her figure out which of the eyes were the ones behind this though. They didn't like it when some of the nicer eyes told them they were being mean to Rarity. The Cruel Eyes told them that they didn't understand, that Rarity 'deserved it.' Pinkie Pie didn't like to call others mean things, but these eyes sounded like nothing big bully.
However, then the Cruel Eyes played another of their 'games' with Rarity where everything seemed to conspire to make her have to go to a high society dance naked to 'teach her a lesson' about how wanting to be fancy there was wrong. Pinkie Pie admitted, she didn't see anything wrong about going around naked (they were ponies after all), but it meant a lot to Rarity, they all knew it did. Before, the two of them didn't really notice, but now she and Twilight could see how hurt Rarity was. How much she just wanted to scream. How their friends were made to play along even when they should understand Rarity. Sometimes having to watch themselves do things they really shouldn't. Twilight had had to stop her from just hugging Rarity then and there so the Cruel Eyes wouldn't see and realize they were onto them. Now they had Pinkie Pie upset.
Rarity tripped and fell, a rock placed just so for her head to collide with it and knock her out if Rainbow Dash hadn't been quick on her hooves and caught her.
“Geeze, you're having some bad luck, aren't ya, Rarity?” asked Applejack.
“I...I guess I am, darling,” Rarity replied, eyes darting around as she was left completely befuddled. This...this was like being on one of those tea cup rides at the fair, being thrown this way and that without any rhyme or reason. She was getting dizzy just trying to wrap her head around what was going on.
“Listen, Rare, I know the importance of family more than anypony, and Ah've learned the hard way what happens when you try and force things on your kin,” the farmer explained as they continued on. “The important thing is be yourself, and your friends and family will love you for it.”
“If they don't? They're just a bully who you shouldn't be paying attention to,” Rainbow Dash continued.
Rarity wanted to listen, but she knew if things were going this far off script, the eyes would stop playing nice.
“HAHAHA!”
And sure enough, they did when a once again resurrected King Sombra erupted into the sky riding a pillar of crystal. “I have returned once again! Kneel before me!”
As if no one else in the world existed but her, Sombra fired his fear inducing beam directly at her. Knowing how the eyes wanted things to go, it would inevitably trap her in a nightmare where she was forced to play hoofball without end until she 'learned her lesson.' The beam sped towards her until a bright blue crystal erupted from the ground and shielded her.
“What?!” Sombra asked, looking around to find Twilight, Cadence, and Celestia teleport around him. Cadence's own magic crystals grew over Sombra's pillar, surrounding him in a crystal cage.
“You came back out of nowhere once already, you think we wouldn't be prepared for you to do it again?” Twilight asked with a smile. She was Twilight, planning was her thing.
The fight was fierce, but short, ending with Cadence, Celestia, and Luna all blasting Sombra as one while Twilight used a tether of harmonic energy to restrain him. As Celestia and Luna alone had been enough to best him the first time, their combined might along with Cadence was enough to once more obliterate him this time.
Rarity just stared in blind shock as Twilight descended down. “H-How did you...”
While she and Twilight had been talking about what to do...that's when Pinkie Pie noticed them. Another set of eyes altogether. They weren't happy looking at what the Cruel Eyes had done...but they weren't leaving like the other sets did. They were just sitting there, watching, looking upset. Almost like they were about to cry. They tried to talk to the Cruel Eyes, but the Cruel Eyes...they acted worse to them than they had to the other eyes. Pinkie got the feeling they knew each other.
After the Cruel Eyes had left, Pinkie Pie looked to the Nice Eyes. “Hey! You don't like how Rarity's being treated, right?!”
The Nice Eyes suddenly look scared. They almost dropped whatever they were using to look at them through the fourth wall.
“Wait! Don't leave! We need help!”
The Nice Eyes stared for a few moments. Pinkie didn't know how, but she suddenly got the feeling the Nice Eyes were wondering how she was talking. It felt like when the Cruel Eyes made them think or do something...just different.
“Of course I can talk, silly!” Pinkie Pie replied. “We need help to stop the other eyes from hurting Rarity!”
Pinkie Pie felt that the Nice Eyes were surprised she was real...and then more upset at the Cruel Eyes, their sibling. The Nice Eyes liked this world. They liked these ponies. Rarity was their favorite because they liked fashion just like they did.
“You don't like how the other eyes are treating Rarity, right? Well, we can't stop them on our own!” said the pink pony said. “We need help!”
The Nice Eyes made her know they wanted to know what they could do.
“Let me get Twilight, she has a plan.”
“Sombra had already brought himself back to life once somehow, me and the other Princesses came up with a contingency if he did it again,” Twilight replied proudly.
Getting the others on board had been...complicated.
“Eep! They're watching us?!” Fluttershy asked, hiding behind a curtain.
They all felt terrible realizing they'd been unknowingly hurting Rarity all this time, even if it was only because some higher power was controlling them and making them do so. There was a lot to work through.
But they'd eventually were all on the same side and the plan was set.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Rarity had a bit of cold feet about tellin' her pa she don't like hoofball and wanted us to come with her for moral support,” Applejack replied with a smile.
And thus Twilight joined their little crew on their journey back to her Boutique. Rarity...Rarity couldn't understand. This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
Before she could even hope to figure it out herself, a slash ripped open a hole in reality. Emerging from it was a titanic draconequus with a cobra-like head, laughing to the heavens. “Let's have some fun, little ponies!”
“Yeah, I know,” Pinkie whispered to the fourth wall the Nice Eyes watched back while the Cruel Eyes were focused on writing Cosmos into being. Apparently the Cruel Eyes had decided to just grab the most overpowered thing the creators had made they could think of. “I don't like having to acknowledge her either, but roll with it.”
Cosmos prepared to snap her fingers, once more looking directly at Rarity with intent to turn her into a pretty little football trophy before someone cleared his throat.
“Well, Cosmos, I see you've gotten back from your little lunar vocation before the time was up!” Discord's voice called. “Power of Chaos! Make Me Grow!” he shouted right as the Spirit of Malice looked down, resulting in Discord growing to match her size in as dramatic of a way as he possibly could.
Cosmos instantly grabbed him by the throat and turned him into a dog, or rather she would have had he not snapped his fingers and countered. “How?!”
“I'm not afraid of you anymore, remember?” asked Discord. After all, when he'd stood up to her the two had been evenly matched. Logically, that meant she'd never been stronger than him to begin with and only his fear had made it appear such. “And in case you forgot, I also know how to attack your weakpoint for massive damage!” he called, grappling with her like a pair of giant serpents. “Ember! Your turn!”
On cue, Ember lead her dragonflight were snapped in by Discord and descended on Cosmos while Discord had her bound, devouring the crystal stars that still held her power. One snap later, and back to the moon depowered Cosmos went.
“...Well, that happened,” Rainbow Dash commented.
“I saw Cosmos show up and called Discord,” Fluttershy said with a smile as she flew over, waving to Discord.
“Come on, Rare, let's keep goin'. This kinda craziness is just business as usual. Besides, now yah need tah check on yer pa to make sure he's alright, right?” Applejack asked.
“R-Right...” Rarity muttered, following along as she tried to process the insanity that was happening. Not supervillains coming out of nowhere, the eyes had done worse, but why they just kept losing. She considered asking her friends what was going on, but she remembered how telling them had gone before. She...she couldn't believe things were actually going her way. It couldn't be. After this cycle of suffering, how could it?
As if to prove that, a massive black hole opened in the sky and a massive tentacled horror erupted fourth, so massive and so powerful that it could, and likely would, consume Equus in a moment once it was entirely through. So powerful even Discord or the Elements couldn't stop it.
Rarity gulped, watching the behemoth force its way through. The eyes were done playing.
Pinkie Pie suddenly felt the Nice Eyes were panicking and made sure the Cruel Eyes weren't watching. “Come on! Don't give up now!” She then got the feeling that the Nice Eyes felt like there was nothing in the show that could stop it.
Discord and the Elements were the strongest things that naturally existed in Equus, what could hope to stop it if that couldn't?
“Come on, you love our world! You love this world more than they do! There has to be something!” Pinkie Pie whispered. “Our world is more than the show!”
“You're a better writer than they are, if you can't summon something stronger, be more clever with what you can!” Twilight whispered, making sure to do so out of sight of Rarity and thus the Cruel Eyes.
As the behemoth crept closer, they both got a feeling like light-bulb had flicked on.
As the horrifying beast from beyond reality prepared to devour the world, Rarity could only watch, awaiting the end at which point she'd just wake up in her bed tomorrow, having once more 'learned her lesson.' A tentacle reached out only to be wrapped by a whip as a figure swung around it.
“Hello, Beast from the Beyond. Looks like you just couldn't stay out there, could you?” asked Daring Do, looking up at the behemoth, shaking slightly but resolute. The one non-Daring Do book AK Yearling had ever written had been a horror novel because it was so terrifying she couldn't write her alter ego in the role...but that she survived and the novel had a happy ending showed she'd won. “Remember this?” she asked, producing a book of obviously eldritch origin. The Beast's many eyes widened as she opened it and began reading out a spell. It swung its massive tentacles down at her, but she dodged and weaved through the strikes with ease until one tentacle finally wrapped around her. It constricted its tentacle to crush her right as she said the last word. It shrieked in agony as its vortex collapsed, sending it plummeting back into the realm from wince it came, with Daring managing to just barely escape in time.
“Good one! I forgot about that trading card!” Pinkie Pie whispered with a smile to the Nice Eyes.
“Way to go!” Rainbow Dash cheered, Daring giving a wave before darting off.
“Must be a supervillain convention in town or something,” Applejack remarked before the group simply continued on, Ponyville used to world threatening horrors by now.
Rarity, however, began well and truly panicking as she could almost feel the eyes shaking in rage and fury. Without warning, the sky was suddenly filled by an asteroid, no a rogue planet. So massive in size it covered the horizon for as far as the eye could see in all directions. The craters across its surface seeming like red eyes glaring down at her specifically. It fell to Equus, seeming to be angled just so it would hit Rarity out of everyone. It fell and killed all life as it shattered it to thousands of pieces.
= But the Earth Refused to Die – Undertale =
But Equus refused to die.
“Come on, Rarity, this ain't nothing the Rainbow Powers can't fix!” Applejack said as the rogue planet fell, with absolute certainty as she was surrounded by a pillar of orange light.
“Don't give up! We can do this!” Rainbow Dash called, surrounded by an aura of cyan.
“Yeah, we can still have a happy ending!” Pinkie Pie called, giving a smile as pink light erupted.
“You're stronger than you think,” Fluttershy continued as she was surrounded by yellow light.
“Rarity, I know you think this is hopeless. I know you think there's no use fighting...but you're wrong. There's always a chance. Always a way to fight. Trust us and help us fight back,” Twilight stated sincerely, holding out her hoof as purple light erupted around her.
Rarity looked up at the oncoming planet. How many times had she been through this? Punished by the eyes for being who she was? Having things she considered sacred trampled and demonized?...How many times had she fought back only to be punished worse?
She should give up hope.
She should try to fight.
She should be crushed by despair.
She shouldn't give up hope!
She should just let herself die and get with the program!
...Rarity made the choice for herself what she would do next.
Time seemed to come to a crawl, as if the very nature of the world had to wait until Rarity made her choice. The mare thought back to every time the eyes had made her suffer. Every time they'd used her to hurt Sweetie Belle. Every time they'd hurt all of Equestria just to punish her in particular. Every single time they'd hurt her.
It did seem hopeless...like she could never escape. Like she'd been abused and beaten so many times all she could do was become numb to it. Like there was no hope.
...And she was tired of it.
Rarity took Twilight's hand, glaring up at the sky. “No more...” she whispered, before a white pillar of light erupted around her. Six spheres of light shot skywards, the six in their Rainbow Power forms taking formation. Each fired a singular beam up at the oncoming space rock.
But it was made out of harmonically resistant materials!
But harmonically resistant doesn't meant harmonically immune! Any resistance can be overridden with enough of it!
Their beams collided with the space rock, slowing its decent. Seeing this, Twilight held out her hoof to her friends, each taking another...Rarity taking two last as she stared up resolutely.
The harmonic resistance finally gave, rainbow fissures ripping through the entire object before finally it exploded in a gigantic, sky filling blast of rainbow light. When it finally faded, Equestria was back to normal, not a cloud in the sky.
A rift...a rift in time and space tore open to devour Equus...
Only to be sealed by Doctor Hooves and Derpy.
And then...and then...and then...and...and...then...
And then Rarity and her friends made it to Carousel Boutique. Finally, having a moment of peace in the otherwise chaotic day they'd had.
“Hey honey, ready to go to the game?” asked her father.
Rarity looked to her friends, who all gave her a supportive look. “Father...no...No I'm not...I'm going to be honest with you, father...I don't like hoofball...I never have.” Rarity began, a part of her still knowing and dreading the possibility of a last second trick, but pushing herself forwards. “I just pretended to for your sake...I'm sorry, but I'm just not into it like you are.”
There was silence for a few moments until finally Rarity's father hugged her. “Oh, honey, I didn't know. I wouldn't have made you come if you'd just told me.”
Rarity and her father both teared up and they hugged. “...I'll be more honest with you from now on, father.”
Finally, a lesson that she actually needed to learn. She was Rarity Belle, and she had a right to be.
As Rarity and her father hugged, Twilight and company all turned collectively towards the fourth wall, staring directly at the Cruel Eyes.They noticed they seemed dazed, winded. Maybe they put a little too much of themselves into that planet? Slowly moving closer until they were out of range of Rarity.
“Hey, you!” yell Rainbow Dash.
They all got the feeling the Cruel Eyes hadn't expected that.
“That's right, we're talking to YOU, you rotten, no good bully!” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“And we don't like a varmint like you messin' with Rarity,” Applejack said, glaring daggers. They all got the feeling that the Cruel Eyes were backpeddling in surprise.
“We don't like being used to hurt our friend,” Fluttershy continued, giving the Stare as the group kept approaching the fourth wall.
“And as we showed here, we know a way to fight back,” Twilight stated emphatically. “We know you're there. We're real.”
The group all grabbed the fourth wall, forcing their way into it as far as they could.
“From now on, you'd better be a nice writer and be good to your characters!” Twilight continued. “Because if you don't, we'll find out!”
Pinkie Pie suddenly did her best impression of her insane, 'Pinkamena' face and pushed herself through the fourth wall further than she ever had in her life, staring eye to eye with the Cruel Eyes. “So play nice.”
Whatever means the Cruel Eyes had used to watch them went flying through the air and went black right as Pinkie Pie pulled herself back. They got the feeling they were gone. Hopefully for good.
“...Think they learned their lesson?” asked Fluttershy, looking to the others after a moment of silence.
“If they haven't, we'll just have to keep our word and teach them another someday,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.
Now that that was done...
“So...so you were the ones that...” Rarity muttered, staring in blank shock at them.
Twilight nodded. “We figured it out...figured out we'd tried time and again to stop this and finally found a way to finally stop them.”
“So...so the eyes?”
“Are gone...and we made sure to scare them so bad they shouldn't be doing what they did to you to anypony ever again,” Rainbow Dash replied with a smile.
Rarity's eyes welled up with tears and initiated a group hug. For several moments, she just hugged her friends, letting emotions that she'd had to hold deep inside of her for so, so long out. She didn't know how long she'd kept them contained, pint up for fear of being punished for them. Punished for being herself. But she sobbed tears of joy as she hugged her friends until she'd finally let it out.
“T-Thank you, darlings...Thank you so much,” Rarity muttered in relief, fixing her running make up. Relief she hadn't thought she would ever feel again. She was free. Sweetie Belle was free. Her friends were free. Equestria was free. “...But how?”
“We had some help,” said Pinkie Pie with a smile, pointing to the fourth wall. “Meet the Nice Eyes. They helped us beat them.”
Rarity slowly turned, looking into the new set of eyes. Nicer eyes. Eyes that looked back at her with compassion, not the spite she had known for so very, very long. “...Thank you, darling.”
The fashionista got the feeling that the Nice Eyes said she was welcome...that she was their favorite pony...that...that she was inspired by her.
After so long of being watched over by such cruel eyes...Rarity didn't mind having a set of them around watching.
The End.
Author's Note
This was a fun one because it's trying to find a happy ending for a Cosmic Horror Story.
