Chapter 66

Rarity could see it already, the bright orange fire raging from the upper floors of an apartment building just outside of downtown Canterlot. The smoke billowing up into the night sky carried the dark orange light from the blaze with it, making it appear that a massive demon was standing over the city, stalking it like a feverish nightmare.

Rarity was alone again that night. It was Tuesday, October 11th, just before 12:30am. Twilight Sparkle had returned to the city to continue with her schooling, but not before making the commitment to start her training, which Rarity was happy to hear. There was only so much she could teach her, however; lesson one, as always, was to learn to purge the intrinsic fear that each of us has as a vulnerable mortal. Twilight had been given ‘homework’ in a sense, which was to do her best to learn to avoid flinching, and to stand her ground.

Once Golden Arrow was home, her real training would begin.

The masked fashionista heard about the fire on the police scanner app, and decided to make her way over to watch from out of sight to see if she could be of any assistance. She made her way to the buildings by way of the rooftops, using her magic to create platforms of diamond so she could run across the alleys and streets from one roof to the next.

When she finally reached the building adjacent to the one that was on fire, she crouched down at the edge to look down at the fire trucks in the street. They had a ladder truck with the crane raised, spraying water into the windows on the front side of the building, however, it seemed a futile effort by that point. The entirety of the top five floors had every window glowing with the hungry orange blaze, consuming every hard-earned possession and precious memory of the unfortunate inhabitants of the doomed building.

Rarity sighed as she scanned the building, a pang of sadness echoing through her chest as she watched dozens of homes being destroyed simultaneously.

She cocked her head suddenly to listen to another radio transmission from the firefighters over the scanner.

“There’s people on the top floor still…we can’t get up there, there’s too much damage to the floors below.”

Rarity looked closely into the windows on the top floor, but all of them were full of fire. “Maybe on the other side?” she wondered as she stood up and sprinted to the left edge of the building she was on, then conjured up a sparkling, blue platform to bridge the gap between the rooftop she was leaving and the one she was headed for, which faced the next side of the burning building.

Once she able to see the next side, she saw three windows at the far end that weren’t completely lit up by fire, but rather a dull haze created by thick smoke and a few small flames.

“That must be it,” she thought, reaching her hand forward to erect another sparkling bridge across the alley that led directly to the center of the dark windows. She quickly ran across the platform, then dove fists-first through the window and into the apartment, reaching back immediately to fill the opening with a sheet of diamond to avoid a backdraft, which would cause the small amount of fire in the room to burst forth when fed a fresh dose of air from outside.

Rarity somersaulted when she hit the floor and was back on her feet in an instant, looking around the hot, hazy room for the people mentioned over the radio. Sure enough, she found them near the opposite wall, coughing and disoriented, lost in the thick, airborne soot that filled the room. It appeared to be a mother with two pre-teen daughters, huddled up together with watering eyes when Rarity approached them and placed her hand on the mother’s arm.

The woman looked up and promptly recoiled when she saw the masked girl standing above her, unsure if she should be afraid of the sudden intruder in her home or whether the smoke inhalation was causing her to hallucinate.

“Not to worry, darling,” Rarity reassured her, raising her voice over the roar of the fire in the next room. “Is this everyone?”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“You must come with me right now,” Rarity continued as she brought the woman and her children to their feet, then helped them make their way across the room towards the window.

“Come in close to me,” the masked fashionista instructed. She reached around their shoulders with her arms to gather them up close to the window, then she then waved her hand around, creating a curved, blue wall that sealed them off from the rest of the apartment. Next, she let the sheet vanish from the window, allowing a gust of cool, fresh air inside the small enclosure that she had created for them.

“Go!” Rarity ordered the mother, motioning for her to head towards the window. When she approached the window, the woman was shocked to see a sparkling blue bridge outside, complete with simple railings, stretching from the window to the roof of the next building.

“W-what is that?” the woman croaked, her voice barely working after all the smoke she had drawn into her lungs. “Where’d it come from?”

“It’s your path to safety,” Rarity replied. “Please go, and I will bring your daughters across behind you.”

The mother looked at the two young girls for a moment, then nodded at Rarity. She climbed out of the window and tentatively let her foot rest on the blue surface to test its solidity, then stepped out with her other foot. She stiffened up suddenly once she saw the alley far below them, making her even dizzier when the vertigo combined with the lack of oxygen in her lungs, and she quickly reached out to grab the railings with both hands to steady herself.

“Don’t look down,” Rarity called out to her. “Take a deep breath. I’ll be right behind you. One step at a time!”

The woman did what was told and breathed deeply, then looked ahead while she held the smooth, sparkling railings as she started taking small steps across the bridge.

Rarity sent the first young girl out onto the bridge, then held her hand as she reached back to grasp the other child and pull her along through the window.

They crossed the diamond bridge slowly, but surely; the mother leading the way, followed by the first daughter, who was reaching back to hold Rarity’s hand, who was reaching back herself to hold the hand of the young girl at the rear.

Once they reached the roof of the adjacent building, the bridge suddenly flashed out of existence, as did the curved enclosure just inside the window, causing bright flames to erupt suddenly inside the apartment.

The three victims collapsed on the roof together, coughing uncontrollably and hugging each other close as their home was consumed by fire right before their eyes. Rarity sighed as she watched them weep together, until the mother finally looked up at her, prompting the daughters to follow suit.

After the family stared at the masked hero with blackened faces for a moment, the mother finally spoke in a hoarse voice. “Thank you…for helping us.”

Rarity felt the warmth of the mother’s words, as well as the looks of gratitude the she was receiving from the daughters, but she still couldn’t help but feel saddened by the fact that this family, as well as many others, were now homeless.

“Oh…t’was nothing, my dear,” she said flatly, trying not to look affected by the scene before her. “I am…sorry,” she continued, letting her shoulders drop when her defenses went down.

“But you saved us,” the mother coughed. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

“For the loss of your home,” Rarity explained. “I am…truly sorry.”

“Oh…” the woman replied, slowly turning her head to look across at the burning building.

Rarity could feel a lump beginning to form in her throat, but she knew it wasn’t solely caused by the situation that lay before her. She took in a deep breath to speak in a more authoritative tone, not wanting to appear weak in her bold outfit.

“Here,” she said as she approached the door to exit the roof. She created a small dagger with her magic and used it to cut the lock out of the wooden door, then kicked it open. “You can make your way downstairs from here. Once outside, the fire department will look after you,” she instructed quickly, turning away and walking towards the edge of the roof that faced opposite the burning building.

The mother had started to speak when Rarity stepped off the edge, watching the bottom of the dark alley rushing up towards her, the voice of the mother fading quickly as the roof rocketed into the sky above Rarity’s head.

After landing with a hard thud, sending up a thin cloud of dust around her, she made her way out of the alley to the street that ran along behind the building. She walked along the dark street alone, heading towards a more run-down and abandoned part of town, eventually ending up in the fenced-off loading yard of an old warehouse.

Rarity picked out a spot in the dark to lean against the wall of the old building, then took a long, deep breath to try to clear her head. “I almost cried in front of those people,” she thought to herself. “What is wrong with me?”

She shook her head, pondering the reasons why she was doing this. Was it because Golden Arrow asked her to? Because it made her feel good to help people? Because it was fun? Or because she was trying to fill the space in her soul where something was now missing…

Fluttershy.

Rarity knew that’s what it was. Her best friend was missing, and there was nothing she could do to help. Even with all this power she possessed, she was as helpless as the shy girl herself. She was just as helpless as her boyfriend and Sunset, who were, the last she heard, trying to locate an impossibly secret organisation where Fluttershy was being held at that very moment.

The masked girl's back slid down the wall as she crouched into a sitting position, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them as the tears started streaming down her shiny, black mask. As she tried her best to hold in her sobbing, her shoulders quaked gently; each sharp breath inward felt like a stab to her heart, causing her bottom lip to tremble uncontrollably as she sat there in the dark, weeping for her long lost companion.

“F-Fluttershy...” she cried quietly to herself. “Why?” She put her head down, letting her forehead rest on her knees while shaking her head in despair. “Just when things seemed perfect, why did they have to take you away?”

No answer came back to her. Instead, she heard only the sounds of the city in the distance, surrounding her with the complacency of all the other people in Canterlot who had someone to hold close when they felt alone.

Rarity continued to weep in the dark, feeling utterly alone with unbearable misery wrenching her heart into a knot. The cool October air kissed her chest, with the tears adding an extra chill to her skin where they had landed then ran down inside the tight black outfit.

After spending what seemed like hours in despair, surrounded by the empty yard, Rarity’s breath suddenly caught in her throat when she heard a male voice somewhere close by.

“Target acquired.”

Rarity lifted her head quickly to look around the place, her heart thumping in her chest, searching the shadows beyond the moonlit parking lot. Finally, she saw several black figures silhouetted against the night sky at the far end of the yard.

With a quivering jaw, she took a deep breath to gather herself, trying to suppress her emotions. Something was about to happen, and she needed her wits about her to deal with whatever it was going to be.

She quickly wiped the moisture from her mask and face, then stood up to make her way into the yard where the moonlight was at its brightest, which would put her on display for whoever was out there. This is the way Rarity had always preferred to conduct herself, to be the center of attention, and tonight was no different.

“Show yourselves!” she commanded.

It was only a few seconds before the same male voice returned an answer to her. “You will come with us peacefully, or you will be restrained.”

Rarity stood for a moment, her eyes darting around, scanning the darkness for more of the dark figures. “No,” she replied flatly.

She waited for a response, wondering how many intruders were actually hiding in the darkness. “Night vision, I assume?” she wondered.

“Don’t make this difficult for everyone,” the male voice replied.

“I asked you to show yourselves,” she insisted.

She was met with only silence.

Rarity let out a frustrated sigh. “Very well.”

She reached up above her head and created the largest cluster of small diamonds she could muster, accompanied as always by the bright white flash that occurred every time she conjured up the magic.

The yard was bathed in light, and she immediately saw a large group of men in dark uniforms with weapons and equipment attached to their person. She wasn’t able to take in much more detail in the short amount of time that the light lasted, other than the fact that there were far more of them than she originally thought.

She heard the majority of them groan as the unexpected bright light was amplified through their night-vision goggles and beamed directly into their eyes, rendering them unable to see anything but a flood of bright light through their visors.

The light faded away as quickly as it came, leaving the masked fashionista standing in the moonlit yard once again. “I can do this all night!” she sang. “Come into the light and take those silly goggles off, or I will continue to flash your eyes out of their sockets until you do.”

She could hear the shuffling of feet all around her, along with the clicking of equipment and weapons. Finally, two of the figures emerged into the pale light of the moon directly in front of her from where the voice had been coming from a minute earlier. They were dressed in black outfits, with belts and harnesses that held a plethora of items clipped onto them; guns, magazines, what appeared to be flash or smoke bombs, hand cuffs, and so on. On their heads they were wearing something like ski masks to cover their faces, except these were thinner, and over their eyes they were wearing very elaborate looking goggles, with a multitude of lenses that probably served many different uses in many different conditions, none of which Rarity knew or cared about at that particular moment.

“Oh dear,” she teased. “All dressed up and no place to go?”

“Whether you cooperate or we have to restrain you, you will be coming with us,” the leader repeated.

Rarity rolled her eyes, then turned to look around. More and more team members were appearing from the shadows, surrounding her completely as they formed a circle, most of them aiming small machine guns fitted with silencers at her. Finally, she was left no choice but to assume they were all visible once the formation they had created seemed complete and even.

“My my,” she quipped. “One, two, three, four…” she began to count the men as the leader spoke again.

“I’m giving you to the count of three. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way,” he warned. “It’s your decision.”

Rarity looked back at him after a moment with a smirk on her lips. “I’m afraid whatever we choose is going to be the hard way, darling…for you.”

The leader turned to face the guy beside him, who was holding a strange looking rifle. That man stepped forward and raised the weapon, pointing it towards Rarity, but then paused once more.

“One,“ the leader counted.

“I don’t suppose you would be the same pack of ruffians who have taken my dear Fluttershy?” Rarity asked suddenly.

The man with the gun turned to look at the leader. Rarity couldn’t see his face behind that hood and goggles, but she could tell by his reaction and his body language that he knew who Fluttershy was.

“These ARE the ones who have her,” Rarity thought, her heart rate elevating in anticipation of what was about to happen.

“Irrelevant,” the leader replied sternly. “You will be removed from society, processed, trained and deployed. You belong to ‘Us’ now. Two.”

Rarity slowly shook her head. “You did take her. That was your first mistake,” she said, cocking her head to the side as she spoke. “And you haven’t yet realised your second mistake.”

The leader snorted arrogantly in response. “And that is?”

Rarity began to pace around in the center of the large circle of intruders, letting her hips sway seductively with each stride, displaying an air of confidence, appearing unconcerned of the threat that surrounded her. “It is bluntly obvious that you boys are unaware of the can of worms you are about to open,” she said as she turned her head to face the leader again. “Sad really, if you weren’t so ignorant to the fact that you are about to bite off far more than you can chew, I assure you, you would have brought much more than these fifteen unfortunate men.”

The leader shook his head in disgust at the masked girl’s defiance. “You’re pretty brash, darlin’,” he said, “But rest assured, you WILL be coming with us. And if push comes to shove, we will drag you away in chains, just like we did with your little friend.”

Rarity’s jaw clenched when she heard these words. Her mind filled itself with the image of the innocent pink-haired girl, the love of her life, being dragged off into the shadows, reaching out with her hand as she cried for help.

What was left of the sorrow in Rarity’s heart quickly turned to rage, and she balled her fists tightly, preparing to reap a terrible vengeance on these men.

“How about a counter offer?” she proposed. “You return my friend to me, and everyone walks away. No one gets hurt. And DON’T call me darling, darling.”

The leader paused for a moment, then raised his hand to the man with the large rifle.

“Choose wisely,” Rarity warned, “for it will NOT be a simple ass-kicking that you men will receive.”

The leader shook his head. “Three!” he shouted, signalling the man next to him to take action.

Without hesitation, the second man aimed the long weapon at the masked girl and fired.

A large bundle fired out from the end of the gun, spreading wide as it flew through the air to reveal a large net with metal weights on each corner, meant to carry it effectively through the air towards its target.

Rarity casually put her hand up to create a large, flat wall of diamond in front of her to stop the net, which hit the sparkling barrier and slid harmlessly to the ground.

She then raised her right hand above her shoulder, then dissolved the blue wall before her just as she flung one of her projectiles at the man with the rifle, where it buried itself deep into his forehead with a dull thud. The weapon dropped to the ground as his arms fell limp to his sides, then he tipped backward slowly and landed on the asphalt with a heavy crash.

The leader looked down at the dead man, then back at Rarity, who was grinning smugly at him.

“Let the countdown begin,” she said playfully. “That’s fourteen…”

The leader grabbed his machine gun, which was hanging by the shoulder strap ay his side, aimed it at the masked girl and fired.

She was still a step ahead, however; just before he pulled the trigger, there was a flash of light at the end of the barrel, leaving a large ball of diamond blocking the discharge, causing the weapon to backfire out the side with a loud bang.

He dropped the gun, startled by the noise, but was luckily uninjured. He looked back up at the girl to see her wave her hand around above her head, sending a row of flashes around the circle of soldiers, covering the barrel of each of their guns with a ball of blue diamond, rendering all of their weapons plugged and worthless.

The masked girl then held her right arm out to the side, and with a quick flash, a sparkling blue sword appeared in her hand. Holding it pointed towards the ground on her right, she charged forward suddenly, bringing the blade up as she approached the leader, who, in a panic, put both his arms up in front of his face to shield himself.

She swiped the weapon across him with grace and elegance, swiftly and efficiently slicing both of his arms off just above the elbows, as well as his head. The blade passed though his flesh and bone with such ease as she followed through the swing that she wasn't sure if she'd even hit him at first. Once she felt the warm sprinkle of blood on her cheek, she was positive she'd hit her mark.

The rest of him collapsed to the ground as she turned to her left, facing the next soldier about to meet his fate. She swung the sword up the center of his torso, incising a large opening all the way up his body, spilling his intestines onto the ground as she brought her foot up and planted her boot in the center of his bloody chest, knocking him onto his back with a tremendous kick. A warm splash was felt on her bare chest, prompting her to look down to see a spattering of crimson on her pure white cleavage, making her cringe as she looked back up to continue the fight.

“Thirteen, twelve…” Rarity called out as she turned around to see another soldier with his gun wound up, ready to swing the butt-end at her face. As he thrust the weapon at her, she ducked under it and spun around behind him to wrap her arm around his throat. She peered over his shoulder, noticing several of the others closing in, so she raised the sword up and flung it towards the nearest one.

With both her hands now free, Rarity reached around the soldier she was holding, grabbed his chin with both hands and yanked his head to the side, snapping his neck, then dropped him to the ground in a lifeless heap. As his body fell at her feet like a pile of rocks, she looked ahead in time to see the sword she had thrown bury itself into the chest of one of the other men. He was knocked backward as blood gurgled up in his mouth behind the mask, but before he hit the ground, the sword disappeared from his body and a fresh one appeared in Rarity’s hand as she stepped over the dead man at her feet to approach the next victim.

“Eleven, ten…”

Rarity quickly turned to the left to meet her next combatant. Without hesitation, she thrust the sword through his chest, then quickly withdrew it, twirling around to the right in a full circle -- making sure to see where the next closest soldier was as she spun -- then swung the blade at the man’s neck as she came back around. His head was cleanly separated from his body and rolled off his left shoulder, but was caught mid-fall by Rarity, who thrust the blade through the disembodied skull, skewering it like a piece of meat as she turned towards her next opponent.

She swung the sword upwards, letting the head slide off the tip of the blade to fling it into the air as she gauged the distance of the next charging soldier. Rarity leapt off the ground next, spinning around quickly as her foot snapped up, kicking the head out of the air with the toe of her boot. The severed skull rocketed towards the next victim, smacking against his forehead, which caught him by surprise and knocked him off his feet in mid step. Rarity’s feet came down to earth again as the soldier fell backwards, and she reached her hand out, creating a large, jagged diamond spike that protruded from the ground behind him.

He landed with his full weight on it, arching his spine as it impaled him between the shoulder blades, bursting through his chest when his back slammed against the asphalt. As she listened to the final breath bubbling from his throat, Rarity quickly looked down at her thigh.

Her eyes opened wide, shocked at the sight of the red splatter across the three light blue diamonds adorning her right thigh. The sight of it thrilled her, sending a tingle down her spine as she relished in the ruthless punishment she was giving these men; the people involved in taking her shy lover away, the unfortunate souls who were about to regret they were ever born.

“Nine, eight…” the masked fashionista called out, feeling a tingling spark of arousal begin to smolder between her legs when she was reminded of the man who had given her the ability to bring down this level of revenge onto her enemies.

Rarity turned back to her right in time to see the next soldier charging ahead, holding his diamond-plugged gun by the barrel with both hands as he wound up to swing the butt-end at her. She calmly tucked the sword behind her back, holding it with the handle close to her rear-end so the tip of the blade was showing just above the back of her head. She waited patiently for her opponent to swing the gun at her, then reached out with her free hand to catch the weapon by the handle, stopping his attack.

Now holding the gun with her finger on the trigger, she let the diamond disappear from the end of the barrel, which was now pointed at the soldier as he maintained his grip on it after the swing. Rarity fired, letting his own weapon betray him as it violently rattled her arm, each bullet tearing a ragged hole in his body, rendering him lifeless within seconds.

She released her grip on the machine gun, letting him fall with it to his final resting place as she turned to her right to face the next soldier, who was charging at her with a large serrated knife.

She spun herself around and stepped to the side, gracefully swinging the blade from behind her back in a circle, then crouching down to swipe it across the back of his legs, slicing them off at the knees as he ran past her. As he quickly toppled face-first to the ground like a ton of bricks, screaming in agony from the pain of his missing legs, Rarity calmly walked up behind him to thrust the tip of the sword into the back of his skull. The tip of the blade protruded from his open mouth and jabbed into the asphalt, allowing her to pry forward, using the ground as a fulcrum as she pushed the blade ahead until it sliced its way out the top of his head, splitting it in half.

“That’s seven and six!” she counted gleefully, glancing around at the rest of the group, who were now appearing reluctant to approach her. “Who wants to be number five?” she asked with a diabolical giggle. “Any volunteers? Or shall I choose for you?”

The masked killer suddenly turned her attention to the next closest pair of soldiers, both of whom her backing away nervously. She twirled her elegant, crimson-coated blade in circle and began walking quickly towards them, prompting one of them to pull a smoke bomb from his belt in a panic and throw it towards her, hoping it would obscure her vision enough to allow them to retreat. It landed a few feet ahead of where she was walking, but she simply held her free hand out and created a small blue dome over the bomb, under which it popped harmlessly, the cloud of smoke contained within as she stepped past.

Rarity broke into a full run as a second sword appeared in her other hand, causing the two men to flee in panic. They ran into each other first, almost knocking themselves over before they turned to run in opposite directions, but it was too late by then. Rarity leapt between them, spinning through the air with her blades outstretched like a helicopter, lopping both of their heads off with the utmost grace and precision.

She landed on one knee after the attack, then looked up to see who her next victim would be, only to see the rest of them turning to flee the yard in retreat.

This irritated the fashionista. She proceeded to reach out with her arms, holding the blades into the air as she gritted her teeth, summoning all of the magic she could muster to create a large, then-foot diamond wall around the perimeter of the yard, trapping the remainder of the men inside.

“Ah, ah, aaah!” Rarity scolded, wagging her index finger at them as they were stopped by the wall, then turned to face her. “Don’t start something if you can’t finish it!” she sang.

The four remaining men put the backs against the wall, trying to keep their distances from her as she approached. This was no longer an ambush, a capture, or even a battle; it was now a full-on massacre, and unfortunately for them, they were on the receiving end of it.

Just then, one of the soldiers seemed to have a sudden rush of adrenaline; figuring he was doomed anyway, he decided he might as well go down swinging. He hollered out a shrill war cry as he ran towards the masked girl as fast as he could, pulled a knife from his belt and held it above his head, ready to use it once he was within stabbing range.

Rarity’s eyes got wide with excitement when she saw him coming, and with a smile spreading across her face, she said: “Ooh, feisty. I like that.”

Before he even got close however, she erected a monolith of diamond directly in his path, which he slammed into face-first at full speed. He bounced back, staggering and disoriented, pain ringing through his skull after hearing it crack against the hard surface that had sprung up out of thin air.

Rarity gave him no time to recover. The monolith vanished as quickly as it arrived, allowing her to step towards him, winding both swords up over her left shoulder, ready to strike as she closed in on his position. He looked up just in time to see her swing both blades from left to right, one passing through his neck, the other through his abdomen, slicing him to pieces, resulting in his body falling apart onto the ground before her.

Rarity grimaced as a wave of hot blood splashed over her face and kept her lips pressed tightly together as she spat, trying to prevent any of it from seeping into her mouth. “Who'd have thought murder could be so bloody disgusting?” she thought with a giggle as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“Three!” she called out, realising then that she’d missed five and four. “Well, so much for a perfect performance,” she joked to herself in silence.

It was then that she felt something cold splash onto her chest. One little pinpoint, then another, and another…

She looked up to the sky as the heavy raindrops began drumming all around her, pelting the steel roof of the nearby warehouse, drowning out the panicked murmurs of the remaining soldiers trapped within Rarity’s thunderdome of shimmering blue diamond.

She looked down at herself, watching as the water began to rinse the blood away from her skin, creating dark red beads that ran down the length of her shiny black outfit. Each raindrop poked a white hole in the layer of crimson on her chest, creating a translucent pool of diluted blood in her cleavage as red-tinted drops of water fell from her chin and the tip of her nose.

Two of the men were to her right against the wall. The third was alone on the opposite side with his back to the wall, watching her, too frightened to try crossing the yard past her to join his comrades.

Rarity brought her attention to the two men on the right, one of which had climbed onto the shoulders of the other and was about to make his escape over the wall. She was still, observing them like a predator watching over its prey, keeping tabs on them as they desperately clamoured to their freedom.

Suddenly, something occurred to her. Something that drove the temperature up inside her outfit, radiating heat from between her legs; heat that spread across her lily-white skin as the raindrops tried in vain to keep her cool.

“This is why Golds told me stay home,” she thought as a lustful smirk crept across her half-hidden face. “He knew they might come for me, and that I would easily have them at my mercy, which lends me the opportunity to get my hooks in them to learn the location their little institution.” The fashionista shook her head at the realisation. “Oh Golds; you little devil, you.”

The masked girl shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. She glanced up at the man who was about to grab the top of the wall to make his escape, then quickly wound up with her right arm to fling one of the swords at the man on the bottom, who was giving the escapee a boost.

The sword hurtled through the air, spinning end-over-end as it flew on an angle, creating a spiral of water droplets around it as the rain was flung from each end. It found its mark on the bottom soldier’s back, diagonally slicing through his torso. His upper half slid off to one side and landed on the wet asphalt, followed by the man on top, whose fingers were tantalizingly close to reaching the top just a few seconds earlier, but was now landing on his back in a puddle of crimson-dyed water.

He tried to stand and run, but was overcome by pain after he'd landed on a chunk of asphalt with his hip, and was unable to get to his feet. Instead, he settled for crawling on his hands and knees in a hopeless attempt to distance himself from the deadly fashionista.

Rarity walked calmly, but with purpose, easily catching up to the injured man. Raising the sword above her head with both hands, she spoke loudly so her voice would be heard over the pitter-patter of the loud rainstorm.

“What’s on your mind, number two? Let’s have a look, shall we?” she joked, before dropping the sword down on him like an axe. The blade passed effortlessly through the back of his skull, just above his ears, and the top of his head slipped away from the lower half, rolling along the ground a few feet before falling onto the flat, sliced side with a sloppy splat sound.

She then swung her foot up and connected her boot with his nose, kicking what was left of his head and flipping him over onto his back. The soldier’s body came to rest on the wet ground, raindrops beating gently on his chest as a river of blood flowed from the top of his head and across the pavement. Rarity turned toward the final victim, who stood frozen, looking at her for a moment before turning to run.

To his surprise, the large wall that encompassed the yard suddenly disappeared. Relieved and desperate for an escape, he adjusted his course to head for the closest shadow to make his retreat.

Rarity watched as he went, her dripping wet face free of emotion as she stood still, waiting for the right moment to deny the last soldier his freedom.

Without warning, she raised her right hand, and with a flash, gripped the spike from the air and launched it towards the fleeing survivor.

It sunk into his calf from behind, causing him to misstep wildly as he staggered for a few more feet, then fell onto his side and rolled over twice before he came to rest in a pool of mud at the edge of the yard. He sat up and clutched his leg, breathing frantically as he looked up to see the woman approaching, her petite frame wrapped in that shiny black material, beading with water in the darkness, her hips swinging as she sauntered closer.

There was a sudden flash in the sky behind her as a bolt of lightning touched down, silhouetting the dark mistress as she continued to slink along, followed by the loud roar of thunder that shook the ground, frightening the poor man out of his mind.

His heart pounded in his chest as she quietly squatted down to her left knee beside him, resting her forearm across her right knee as she looked him over. Up close, he could see that she still had cloudy stains of crimson across the blue diamonds on her thigh, and there was still a tint of red on her white chest and face that had yet to be washed away from the rain.

Evidently she noticed it too, lowering her head to look at herself, then bringing her sapphire eyes back up to meet his. “That was becoming quite icky,” she giggled. “I do hate making messes so very much, thank god for this lovely cleansing shower.”

He grunted in response, trembling with fear as he stared back through his water-beaded goggles at the deadly vixen.

“No sense of humor I see,” she said with a smirk, to which he remained silent.

Rarity pursed her lips and looked around the yard for a moment, scanning the dead bodies that were strewn about, making sure none of them were moving. Unsurprisingly, they were all motionless.

She finally looked back at her captive, taking a deep breath as she watched the trembling fear in his movements, revelling in the satisfaction of dealing such a blow to the people who were keeping her dear friend away from her. She was reminded again where she had learned the skills she’d just put to use on these men, who had taught her to use her magic effectively, who had given her the gift of inextinguishable life, and who had the foresight to put her in this position, where she was able to make a real contribution to rescuing Fluttershy. She felt an overwhelming gratitude, endless love and insatiable desire towards her boyfriend in that moment.

Rarity closed her eyes, shaking her head briefly. “Mmm,” she hummed. “When Golds gets home, I am going to fuck him senseless all night long.”

The soldier’s breathing slowed when she spoke, his body language displaying a look of confusion, obviously not expecting her to say such a thing at that moment. His expression snapped her back to reality, and she giggled bashfully at him.

“Oh goodness, I suppose that wasn’t very lady-like,” she said, before taking a deep breath and putting a more serious look on her face. “Now then, number one, shall we get to know one another a bit better?”

The solider continued to remain silent.

“Hm,” she mumbled, rubbing her chin, which resulted in her inadvertently smearing a bit of fresh blood along her jaw line. “Perhaps you would like to tell me a little bit about your employer?”