Crystals Grow on Rainbows

"Why are they just waiting there?" Rainbow Dash had been gone for at least ten minutes now, and Chrysombra continued to watch the pair from that position. It unnerved Opal to no end, Rarity didn't like it much either. It seemed very strongly that this was all part of their plan. Were they bait for the other Elements of Harmony? They could certainly give a decent fight, but if they had found a way to resist the most powerful force in all of Equestria...

"Now!" Opal had split seconds to grab her mother and speed out of the way as the monster crushed their ice shield to powder. The sudden rush was completely unexpected, exactly what had been planned undoubtedly. Opal didn't have much time to place Rarity back on the ground before the wind began to drag her off course. They had to hurry; time was growing very short for them.

"Fools, you're only delaying the inevitable. You see Opal, Celestia was stupid enough to give your mother some of her own magic. And it is that magic which will allow us to consume even the most powerful of ponies!" Rarity couldn't speak. They were going to absorb her magic? For food? Her eyes settled on Opal's, purple as her own mane. There was the tiniest droplet of water starting to form in the corner.

She couldn't help but hold her tightly. Things were going downhill at an alarming rate, and her own little filly had to watch it happen. "I'm so sorry Opal. After all those times I pushed you to be more of a princess than a pegasus." Opal remained silent. Only now, the memory that had been lost to her for so long was returning. The flicker of a vision of what was to come. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. All with the Elements of Harmony, trying to stop Chrysombra. No Rarity, and now she knew why.

A warm feeling on her chest made her panic for a moment. Had the magic of Equestria opened itself up to her in the hour of need? "Mom! The Element of Generosity! They're on their way!" Rarity was distracted by the sudden appearance of her Element, and thus unable to stop Opal from taking off into the air. There was a tiny sliver of hope for them yet, she hadn't expected that the Element would go right to her.

Chrysombra was moving to attack again when Opal flew up to confront them. It was an unexpected change, but not one that would be a huge bother. "Do not be a silly filly; accept your fate as our Princess, and this will all go away much faster. We will even make you sleep until it is done, so you will not have to watch..." That was met with a firm kick to the nose. There wasn't much she could do with magic, but a few months practise of apple bucking certainly did come in handy.

"Just try it!" One clear advantage that she had was her wings. If she minimized her time in the air, it kept the wind resistance to a minimum, leaving her more strength to kick with. And Chrysombra was struggling to keep up on top of that. Sure, she was only an annoyance to them, but it was buying them time. "And here's one for good measure!" She punched the corner of the green eye hard, causing the head to rear up in great pain.

Rarity was unsurprisingly horrified by her behaviour. Even for a life and death situation, she seemed to be taking great pleasure in hitting and kicking the beast. But it seemed to be working, what good would complaining about that do? And still, she felt so helpless. Her magic wouldn't do a whole lot to help, unless of course Chrysombra had a severe allergy to good fashion. At random, an arm emerged from the smoky mass, aimed towards Opal.

Rarity was quick to her hooves. That couldn't be good at all. "Opal! Look out!" Opal was in the middle of kicking right between the eyes when the point of the arm flashed briefly. A spear of dark crystal, aimed right at her. There was no time for the princess to react. The speed at which the spear flew through the air was incredible, though it was drastically slowed once it had Opal's body to push forward.

Falling back off the tip of their nose, she fell down towards the snow where the spear dug itself into the ground, holding her there. It had gone through the right side of her chest, narrowly missing her spine, but still through the smaller right heart. Her wings splayed out to the sides like a dying bird, as did her mane and tail. A single breath escaped her skewered lung before her entire body shut down.

That was it. Rarity couldn't believe it had just happened. They had just gone and killed her filly. She was meant to be a princess, and have a wonderful life in a beautiful city, and be forever known as the one who protected the Crystal Empire from harm. All that, gone. And she was next on the menu for the terrible brutes who had done that.

"She'll live, eventually. Alicorns are near impossible to kill permanently. I hope you take some small comfort from that Rarity, before you leave Equestria for good." Rarity didn't have the strength, or the will to fight back as the cloud picked her up. Her gaze was set on Opal's body. Crystal blood, not unicorn or alicorn blood. Liquid crystal, forming around the terrible spike in her body.

Her body convulsed as Chrysombra began to draw the magic from her body. The Element of Generosity had been shining brightly, but now it had started to fade in waves. In tune with her heartbeats. They continued to slow as she weakened further. No chance to say goodbye to Rainbow Dash, or Sky Dancer. Half of their family would be gone; she couldn't bear to think of what that would do to her beloved mare as the last of her life was sucked away altogether.

For a moment, Rarity hung limp on top of the black cloud, before being dropped into the snow below. Opal's flight had carried them away from the outcrop, how ironic that the Crystal Empire wasn't too far in that direction. It didn't matter to Chrysombra of course; they now had a morsel of Celestia's magic to feed from. "Let us take the Crystal Empire my dear." With that, the terrible fusion of Changeling and dark unicorn began the final path towards the city. Victory was at hand for the alliance.

"Twilight!" A flash of light blinded Chrysombra for a moment as the Elements of Harmony were teleported into the area right in their path. Twilight had mere seconds to run out of the way before being swept up in the thick cloud. Rainbow Dash moved to protect her from another attack, which seemed likely when the cloud turned back to face all of them.

"Well well, the Elements of Harmony finally make their appearance. Such a shame that the dear Element of Generosity won't be helping you." Dash faltered for a moment. What did that mean? Had they taken the Element from Rarity? Or was it more than that... "Go ahead; we are far too powerful to be stopped by simple trinkets now!"

Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie re-joined the pair in that moment of uncertainty. Rarity didn't have to be in the general vicinity for the Elements to work, but what if she was out of range? "Twi, Dash. We need to stop them, before they do more damage. Rarity wouldn't give up the Element without a fight. Let's take these two down before they do more damage."

Rainbow Dash still took a moment to look back at the direction Chrysombra had come from. She saw no figures, no signs of magic. In those moments, their enemy was getting closer and closer to attacking. "I... I don't know. What if something did happen to her?" Twilight pulled her back around firmly. It seemed that she wasn't going to let doubt get in the way of saving Equestria.

"Everypony, formation!" A snigger came from the cloud's direction as Twilight powered up the Element of Magic. "Remember! No matter what happens, we are more powerful than anything evil can throw at us!" It seemed to be working; each of the Elements was focusing their magic towards her. "You're finished Chrysombra! Just wait until Celestia gets here!" As her eyes opened, a bright beam of rainbows fired right at the smirking face looming in front of them...

Before flickering, and finally going out altogether. Twilight landed with a heavy thud in the snow. It had worked for a moment, but why would it suddenly cut out like that? No explanation she could come up with seemed to fit. Rarity had to be wearing hers for it to have worked at all, otherwise there would have been no beam. Unless, she was still wearing it, only...

"No, she can't be gone." Rainbow Dash fell back onto her flank in shock. She had felt the other Elements, except for Rarity's. Chrysombra would be the ones to blame. Rarity and Opal had stayed to hold them off after all. It didn't matter how or why they had been struck down, at least to Dash for that moment. Only that they had, and she had to avenge them.

But there wasn't much left to avenge on. Both Chrysalis and Sombra had been forced apart by the brief exposure to the Elements, now lying unconscious in the snow. There was no celebration among the ponies however. Not even as Princess Celestia arrived at last, banishing both evil leaders into glittering dust.

Twilight's head was so low; it had literally come to rest on the snow itself. "I'm sorry Celestia... We haven't found them, but we think... Rarity and Opal are gone." Celestia too lowered her head. There was always the slim chance they had survived, but Celestia knew better than to hang onto the smallest of hopes. Twilight had already lost one close to her already, and had gone through the terrible ordeal following it. She didn't need to again.

"Celestia! Over here!" Twilight quickly got to her hooves, following Celestia as they galloped towards Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy put her hoof around Pinkie Pie to keep her warm, Applejack taking the moment to lower her hat in respect. It took a few moments for each of them to gather up the strength and determination to follow. They didn't know what lay beyond the ridge, but they owed Rarity enough.

Celestia was removing the dark crystal spear from Opal's chest, quickly closing up the surface wounds with her magic to prevent further bleeding. Dash was digging Rarity desperately from the snow. The Element of Generosity at first seemed to be lifeless, until Twilight got closer. There was a faint, but definite pulse to it. "The Elements of Harmony... They put the energy into saving Rarity..." By then, her hooves were in danger of freezing off altogether. But that sliver of hope had become something she could hold onto.

"I'll need everypony's help to get them back to safety. They're both going to require a lot of attention if they're to pull through. I don't know if I have the ability to help them." None of them had expected Princess Celestia to admit there was something she couldn't do, but there it was. It only served to highlight just how desperate things had become. The sight of Dash cradling the near-death Rarity in her arms proved to be the final tipping point, even Pinkie Pie couldn't hold back the tears as they came.