The Final Test

”Congratulations, Rarity, you failed."

The words rung through the white mare’s ears. She looked down at the body of her friend. Fluttershy gave a few weak spasms and let out a couple gasps before she fell lifeless.

"Thanks to you I have proven that magic is only as powerful as the ponies who wield it. As promised, you’re more than welcome to return to your home in Ponyville and seek whatever punishment for me that you deem appropriate. Though, given the fact that my magic has picked your friends off so easily, I caution you to choose your vengeance carefully. If I were you, I wouldn’t anger somepony that powerful.”

Starlight's words fell on practically deaf ears. Rarity felt ill. Her betrayal... it had been a last-minute choice. She originally planned to go through with hers and Fluttershy's plan, but impulse won and she'd chosen Choice. She'd just wanted to live, to see her sister again, to do what she was meant to. She didn't realize the consequences of her decision until she was watching Fluttershy gasp for air. It made it all worse that Fluttershy had died knowing Rarity had betrayed her.

"Before you go," Starlight added, "I need you to do something for me. It's just one little phrase, and then you're free to go."

She lifted the parchment she'd been documenting on during the whole test in her magic and brought it to Rarity, making only the last line visible. When Rarity read it, she felt more hate toward the unicorn than she had ever felt toward anypony in her entire life.

"Need help?" Starlight taunted, clearing her throat. "Here, I'll start it off for you; based on thorough investigation and experiments, it can be concluded that."

Rarity's mouth refused to open for a few moments, but the thought of freedom was like a carrot on a stick in front of her. Despite everything, she still wanted to breathe in fresh air, to know what it was like to feel the grass below her hooves again.

"Friendship isn't magic."

"Perfect!" Starlight chirped happily. "Now, this will hurt."

A sudden sharp pain shot through Rarity's head, and then the world went dark.

Rarity shot up and pressed a hoof to her chest, gasping for air. She felt claustrophobic, like everything was closing in on her. The recurring nightmare had been returning to haunt her nearly every night for the past six months. On the few nights that she'd been spared from the nightmares, she'd awoken in tears after dreaming of her friends. The friends she had selfishly turned against in order to save her own flank.

Rarity pulled herself out of bed and patted her hooves on the floor a couple of times in order to steady herself. The white unicorn trotted over to her desk and pulled a mirror off of it to look at herself. The previous day's mascara was smeared below her eyes, as she hadn't bothered taking it off. Her usually kempt and pretty mane was messy, like it had been for months. Bags were visible below the smudged mascara.

Rarity sighed and rubbed her face. She kept the mirror in front of her with her magic, then searched for her hairbrush. She brushed her mane just enough to get the knots and tangles out, but not enough to make it pretty like it used to be. She didn't see the point in bothering.

No pony thought it was uncharacteristic for her. The day Rarity had returned, she'd awoken in her bed after being knocked out by Starlight. There was a note on her bed stand. Friendship isn't magic.

Rarity had angrily crumpled up the note and tossed it in the garbage.

Ponies had begun questioning where her friends went, and Rarity couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth. Instead, she pretended to be as oblivious as them. She allowed everypony to think they were simply missing. Her grieving and mourning process was easily just excused as her mourning her missing friends.

She'd shut down her boutiques and spent most days locked away from the world. She hid the burn scar on her cutie mark with a dark cloak, which was the only piece of fashion she ever bothered wearing anymore. She'd betrayed the ponies she loved for freedom, but she was still a prisoner of her guilt. Sweetie Belle often came to check on her, but she spent a good portion of her time with the other crusaders searching for the missing ponies.

Rarity dampened a cloth with the water bottle sitting on her bedstand and rubbed it on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror for a few moments. The pony in the reflection made her feel nauseous. This wasn't the pretty pony who had once been so confident in herself, the pony who had friends who were equally confident in her. This wasn't the pony who made the citizens of Equestria happy with her unique designs.

This was the pony who had robbed Equestria of its saviors.

This pony was a murderer.

Rarity looked away and shuddered. Hesitantly, she trotted over to her bed stand and dug through the drawers. She pulled out a tube of mascara and her eyeshadow palette. She brought the mirror to her face again and applied the makeup, focusing only on her eyes.

"I choose Twilight!"

"I- I was going to let you anyway, Rarity."

"I- I didn't want you to have to be brave for my sake."

What a pitiful excuse, and the look in Twilight's eyes had told Rarity that she knew that, too. Luckily for her, Twilight was willing to go through any amount of pain for her friends. It eased the guilt a little, but it still sunk in Rarity's belly like a heavy rock at the bottom of the ocean.

Focus on your eyes, Rarity told herself as she finished her eyeshadow. Focus on your eyes.

"If I were to choose the blade, where would I have to stab Pinkie?"

...

Rarity took the rod in her mouth and brought it down hard on Rainbow's back. The pegasus whimpered in pain at each strike.

...

"My, my, that was awfully lucky, wasn't it Rarity?" Starlight cooed as Rarity cried out in pain and gasped for air.

...

"Every test was designed to eliminate a player."

...

Rarity pushed the button that corresponded to Twilight's tank. She struggled to keep her muzzle above the water, all the while seeing her friend in the corner of her eye thrashing around and searching desperately for air.

The test of her own element, and she had failed.

...

"The decision you made will be on the bottom of the mug for the other pony to see."

Rarity froze in shock, pausing mid-sip. All color drained from Fluttershy's face as she looked at the bottom of her mug.

"Fluttershy..." Rarity choked out.

Her friend could barely manage any words as her body jerked with hard, raspy coughs.

"I'm so sorry!" Rarity wailed, watching her friend. She was helpless, unable to do anything to help.

No.

She wasn't helpless.

She was guilty.

Rarity shouted in anger and threw the mirror across the room. It met with the wall and shattered instantly. Rarity was panting, her legs trembling. She gritted her teeth angrily.

She couldn't even get revenge on the pony who had caused her all this pain. She knew Starlight was nowhere near as guilty as she was, but the unicorn was the indirect cause of the deaths of her friends.

Her spell had killed Applejack.

Her precious little gas creation had killed Pinkie.

Those were the only things Rarity could blame her for. Everything else she had contributed to or directly caused.

Tears threatened to escape her eyes.

Rarity sniffled and wiped her nose. Revenge wasn't even a possibility. She couldn't possibly take on Starlight. Sure, her magic was strong, but she had never studied magic. She knew just enough to do what she needed with it, but it was nowhere near enough to avenge her friends.

And how would she explain her sudden act of violence against Starlight? No pony knew how guilty both unicorns were, and if they did, they would never forgive her. And grief did odd things to ponies, blinding them to common sense and paving way for only what they believed. They would deem her guilty for even the things she couldn't control.

Rarity took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

Guilty and helpless.

Revenge had been a recurring thought in Rarity's mind, but nothing would be enough to avenge her friends or even be something she could go through with. She was powerless to take on Starlight alone.

Alone.

Something in Rarity's mind clicked, something she was surprised that she never thought of before. For the first time in six months, she felt a spark of hope. It was tiny, but there, nonetheless.

Perhaps she vengeance was a possibility.

But she'd have to come clean to a couple ponies first.