[----TAKEN FROM RARITY'S PERSPECTIVE----]

You say 'Good afternoon, Finn.'

Finn says 'Afternoon!'

Finn says 'I'll be right back..'

"So." Finn returns, pausing a moment to catch his breath after that run, slowly moving to plop down near you. "How goes it, you?" He glances over at her.

You say 'It's getting better, slowly. I've finally gotten a few shipments of new material for dressmaking in.'

"Oh, way cool," Finn smiles at her, folding his arms behind his neck now that he's settled down a little, relaxing. "Oh! That reminds me!" He slowly moves to pull his backpack around to his front, flipping it open and digging through it.

With a nod, Rarity's turning her attention to the backpack, tilting her head in curiosity. "Is there something you'll need me to do?"

"Where is it..?" A pause, so Finn can look back up at her. "Huh? No, no, not yet anyway." He chuckles, before.. ta-da! A sketch book is produced. "It took me a little bit to get it proper, but.." He slowly moves to hand her the sketch book. It has a few dresses drawn and colored on a few of the pages. "Not sure how much they'll help you, but it might inspire you. They're dresses that a few of the Princesses back home wear." And.. they're drawn surprisingly well.

"Why yes! These will make excellent templates for a new line!" As she catches sight of the sketchbook, Rarity's eyes seem to light up as she takes the book with magic. "The proportions are all so accurate... You did exceptionally well, Finn darling."

"Cool. Glad you like them," Finn nods a bit at her, smiling. "I did? Heh." He blushes a little at that. "I knew them really well back home, and they always wore that stuff, so.." He rubs the back of his neck. "It's easy to draw it from memory. But I'm glad you like it."

You say 'Now, I might be keeping this sketchpad of yours for a few days so I can copy the designs exactly as they're drawn, but I WILL return it to you once I'm finished.'

"Sounds good," Finn nods at her again. "I'm looking forward to see what you come up with, but I knew you'd be interested in seeing those." He chuckles, closing up his backpack again and setting it aside carefully, moving to lean back again, relaxing. "I'm totally down to see what you come up with."

With another nod, Rarity's tucking the sketchpad away in her saddlebag, preparing to return to the Boutique. "Well, I shouldn't wait any longer, because fashion certainly doesn't!"

"Huh? Oh, can't wait, huh?" Finn laughs a little, moving to stand up, so he can see her off properly with a wave. "Good luck! Err.. have fun!" He's not sure how best to wish her off there.

Before she can turn towards the Boutique, however, Rarity's horn and Soul Gem light up almost in tandem, making her stop suddenly and warily look around. "There's something coming... I can't identify it yet, but it's rather ominous... So much for getting to work..."

Finn blinks at her as she stops, not able to even make it out of the square. "What's wrong?" He moves over to her, not really catching on that something ominous is approaching. At this rate, Finn's just not even going to bother coming to the fountain anymore. Yeesh!

Gradually, dark fragments come together near the fountain to form a portal. A male human figure steps out of it, wearing a gray robe that covers his entire body except for his head. He raises his right hand on level to his chest and proceeds to recklessly toss his cyan soul gem a few inches in the air before catching it. He continues to do this over and over as he glances at the unicorn then focuses his eyes on the human boy. A sick grin forms on Dusk's face as he lets out a quiet maniacal giggle. "I feel something here. Don't you feel it? Hehehehe..." Dusk says towards Finn. He knows that one of the two figures before him have made a contract, but surely the horse looking creature wasn't the one.

Taking advantage of her already-active magic, Rarity's levitating her own deep purple Soul Gem out from her saddlebag, watching Dusk with a semi-irritated expression. "How impolite... I was hoping to get some work done on my new merchandise, but YOU had to show up and start causing trouble. Oh, IT IS /ON/!"

Finn blinks as he hears a voice, and he turns back, noting Dusk. "Oh. It's you." Needless to say, he doesn't seem particularly happy to see Dusk. "What're you doing here? Didn't have enough people to assault, had to come here?" He reaches back, snagging that Demon Sword. It's an impressive blade, to say the least, and he grabs the hilt with both hands, grip tight.. and business end pointed at Dusk. He glances at you, seeing how she's eager to fight. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

Dusk blinks twice as he changes his gaze beteen Finn and you, "..the horse is the one who made the contract? Ahahahahaha! I guess that cat will take anyone after all!"

Dusk then puts his soul gem away, "I suppose it's no surprise, considering he even granted -my- wish. I've been watching the others around here. You're the first one I've seen, all alone..so..helpless!" he says as he makes a gesture with his right hand. Suddenly, a black circle spreads out the ground before him for a couple of feet. Three small figures climb out from the portal as well as a lightly armored one. "I've come for your gem. And I intend to leave with it."

"I may be well-mannered, but I'm hardly a weakling in a fight, I'll have you know, you RUFFIAN!" With the sudden arrival of the unfamiliar figures via the ground, Rarity's pulling gem deposits from the ground and holding them aloft in front of her as projectiles. "I don't know what these things are, but you won't be getting my Soul Gem. /LET'S DO THIS!/"

Ruffian? Finn can't help but stifle a laugh at that word, before he gets serious again. The appearance of the Heartless from before aren't surprising.. but the lightly armored one is a new one. Might as well follow the theme: the Demon Sword bursts into jagged crystals, thanks to Gnome's blessing. He moves forward, preferring to take a more physical approach to it, sword coming down in an attempt on the life of one of the Heartless and, with their proximity, he slashes over quickly toward another of the lesser ones.

The heartless leave Dusk's side and begin to approach Finn and you. One of the grunts melds into the ground and attempts to move behind you as the other two move in front, one of which is dispersed by Finn's rocky sword. The last grunt attempts to move away from Finn to make room for the armored heartless. It dances its way towards Finn, almost taunting him.

Dusk places his hand on his sword, but doesn't unsheath it just yet, "Surely you've heard by now that making the contract means that you have no hope? Just give up! The darkness isn't what they say it is!"

Shaking her head, Rarity's sending the sharpened gem fragments flying at the other Heartless in front of her with a magical trigger, narrowing her eyes. "Be that as it may, I refuse to believe that there's no hope, even for us Wishborn. And, as a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony, I WON'T give up!" Even though she can't see it, one of the unicornista's ears flick backwards, at the exact moment she kicks out with both hind legs.

Finn is content to ignore Dusk's words, needing to focus on the other Heartless. He's got two left, besides the one that tried to flank you, and he demonstrates surprising acrobatics, a flip into a slide toward the last of the nearby lesser Heartless, attempting to strike it down with a blow from the crystallized Demon Sword. He's been fairly successful so far, and he wants to thin the herd so he can focus on the lightly armored heartless. He's trying to take as much pressure off of you as possible. "Hey, you, can I be the Element of Awesome?" Is he.. taking the fight seriously anymore? It's hard to tell.

The grunt behind you takes the full impact of her hind kick, dispersing instantly. Never get behind a horse..er..unicorn! The final remaining grunt takes the gems head on as well as Finn's strike and disperses as well. Dusk snaps his fingers, "I never can find a use for those guys. How about these, then?" With that, a few more heartless appear before him. This time, three flying magic users: One red, one blue, and one yellow. The red veers off to your left, the blue to her right, and the yellow straight for her. Each of which prepare an elemental spell.

Much as she does with her dress-making, the entrepreneurial part of Rarity's calculating the position of the three elemental Heartless closing in on her, even as her horn glows to conjure a magical barrier and pull more weaponized gem shards from the ground simultaneously. "Hm... I'll take these down, as well."

Finn seems a bit surprised at the summoning of new Heartless. These ones seem to float, and have different colors. Different spells, maybe? Still focused on the armored Heartless, Finn turns in time to see a clawed swipe come at him. Not able to move in time to avoid it, he simply lifts an arm, allowing dark claws to rake against it. Better than a body blow, no doubt, and now that he's close, he pulls the crystallized blade back, and jabs it forward, attempting to use brute force to run the Heartless right through!

The red and blue fliers shoot a fireball and icy blast towards you as the yellow fires a thunder bolt towards Finn instead. Finn's blade stabs through the armored heartless despite its protection. It glances at the blade briefly then back up to stare Finn in the eyes before slumping over and dispersing. "Look alive, boy!" Dusk shouts as he unsheathes his sword and charges straight for Finn!

As she watches the dual elemental attacks close in, Rarity's once again firing the shards at her assailants, even while turning to raise a 'carpet' of sharpened gems from the ground directly in Dusk's path. "My, my... Difficult fight, isn't it, Finn?" Even with her attention focused on Finn, the unicornista's still maintaining the magical barrier, and as such, feels the impacts of both ice and fire against the thick dome.

With the Heartless run through, it saves Finn the trouble of pulling his sword from it, which would have been a pain with all those jagged crystals.. and a hell of a shadowy mess, too. He shoulders the blade carefully, not expecting the Thunder spell. ZAP! It's not immensely powerful, but it's enough to singe poor Finn. He heaves a puff of smoke, shaking some of the ash off of himself.

As Dusk comes in to attack, Finn hunkers down.. and notes the crystals appearing in Dusk's path. He uses that to his advantage, dashing forward, sword held high as he leaps up, bounds off of the carpet of jewels, and attempts to bringh is weight, momentum, and that jagged crystal sword, down on top of poor Dusk! "YAAAAHH!"

The yellow flier seems excited as its attack hits Finn, but totally doesn't see your stones as they plow right through it, causing it to disperse. The red flier seems to roll its eyes as it sends a signal to the blue. Both of which then turn their attention on Finn and begin to prepare new spells. Dusk, on the other hand, observes the spear formation and Finn's footwork on them. Not a bad combination. He narrowly avoids being skewered, but still manages to shamefully trip over the crystals, his glasses falling to the ground below Finn's landing point. He glares towards you and starts to rise to his feet.

Once the duo breaks away to attack Finn, Rarity's dismissing the defensive barrier and narrowing her eyes once again in concentration, just before the ground beneath the elemental Heartless rips open to reveal a large variety of weaponized gemstones cocooned in the Generosity-bearer's magic. "I'll thank you to stay away from my friend, you ruffians. Oh, and DON'T look down." There's a flare from her horn, just before the bombardment goes flying UP.

*CRUNCH* It's a shower of metal and glass as feet come down on them. Whoops. Finn lands, as he manages to miss Dusk with his last attack. He looks underfoot, noting glasses.. and he blinks. "Oh. Sorry." Why's he apologizing? He kicks the useless metal and glass aside, keeping the crystallized blade pointed at Dusk. Seems he's forgotten about the elemental Heartless, content to focus on the major problem. "I think you're outmatched, and outglassed.. I mean.. outclassed! You should beat it while you've got the chance! I won't let you hurt my friend!"

The blue flier looks down and blinks twice before glancing towards the red, who doesn't seem to notice. The blue nudges the red in an attempt to get its attention, but not before both are impaled by the glorious display of crystallized weaponry. Dusk grits his teeth as he changes his glare towards Finn. Dusk forms one last puddle as a large, fat heartless climbs out of it. "Get the unicorn! I've got the boy." The fat heartless scratches its head, not quite sure what a unicorn is. But seeing its master walk towards Finn, it settles on you instead. It slaps his stomache hard before charging at her at a surprising speed for its size. Dusk then slowly advances on Finn as he reaches for his soul gem, "I almost saw you, you know. In the darkness. When I reached Truce, I saw a single wishborn depart with a grief seed. I heard it was quite the party. You must have a lot of respect for them to fight so hard for her." With that, he grasps his gem tighter as hard plates of cyan armor form around him. Dusk then beckons for Finn to make a move, "So how does it feel knowing that you will die by one of them?!"

Even as she's charged by the final Heartless, Rarity's closing her eyes and glowing faintly as the ground near her starts to rip open. "It seems I'm left with one option..."

You use a royal purple Soul Gem.

After levitating her Soul Gem into the air, and pouring a small trace of her magic into it, a large amethyst rises up from the ground to encase Rarity, though her body is still visible through the translucent facets.

From within the massive amethyst, there's a build-up of magic, triggering a physiological change in Rarity as she closes her eyes. Suddenly, the unicornista's body seems to crystallize entirely, before cracking and shattering to reveal her now-humanized figure. Shortly afterward, the large amethyst encasing her shatters and falls away.

Once the amethyst shatters, Rarity's pulling the fragments in to fuse them into a scimitar as she opens her eyes and sidesteps the charge calmly. "It's time to end this pointless fighting, and show that I am, indeed, far more formidable than you originally realized. As the saying goes, 'Appearances can be deceiving.' Shall we... 'Dance'?"

Finn narrows his eyes, keeping his hands gripping the hilt tightly of his blade. The jagged crystals disappear from his blade, leaving it just the normal, red Demon Sword, for the moment. He shoulders the blade, and grins a little at him. "I personally didn't think I'd get myself stuck in Wishborn affairs, but as long as I have friends that are Wishborn, I'll do whatever I can do to help them."

"But I learned a lot from the last few encounters," Finn continues, flicking his sword outward, the blade bursting into a whirlwind of tornadic energy, this time, Jinn's blessing embuing his sword with cyclonic power. "I might not be able to win, but I can at least hold you back for a little while, 'til Rarity can finish you off." He grins, lifting that sword up high..

The ground cracks from the impact of downward movement, releasing a burst of wind energy as it does. It's clear Finn's been getting better accustomed to the Mana Spirit's blessings, as he's using them more cleverly. In this case, he summons a wild dust devil. It's hardly a twister, but at forty-five miles per hour, it's still an impressive whirlwind. It looks to twirl and spin right into Dusk..

The dust devil isn't liable to stay around for long, and so Finn moves to try to flank and distract Dusk, using Jinn's blessing to not get taken off balance by the swift winds, himself. Still, he saw your transformation.. praise will come later, no doubt!

The fat heartless tries to stop its charge but trips and rolls a short distance. As it stands up, it turns to face the now humanoid you, slightly confused. It then proceeds to steadily advance on her. Dusk is lifted up off the ground and thrown a moderate distance by the whirlwind. He rises to his feet and attempts to fire three 'soul blasts', courteously of his soul gem, towards Finn.

With a soft sigh, Rarity's breaking into a sprint at the Heartless, with the gleaming amethyst scimitar held out in front of her. "Only an hour ago, I was excited about a new line of dresses... Now I'm stuck fighting you Celestia-forsaken brutes. That really DOES make my day a great deal worse."

Content that he'd atleast thrown Dusk off, the dazed Soul Blasts are either avoided or deflected. The interesting thing about a sword forged from demon blood is that it's particularly resistant to dark and demonic forces.. so deflecting the blasts harmlessly aren't particularly difficult, not when they're thrown so inaccurately. With you still busy, Finn levels his sword at Dusk. "Is that all?" He grins playfully.

The fat heartless seems to grin as it watches your frontal assault. Its proceeds to use his massive stomache harmlessly take the scimitar and send her back. Proud of its glorious stomache, the fat heartless takes a second to rub it and dance around. It's back is open!

Dusk lets out a 'Hmph!' as he watches Finn. Finn was trying to use his own strategy against him. Using his soul power on these two would be a waste of his time. He proceeds to keep his guard up as he briefly turns his attention towards the incompetent fat heartless.

Even without her horn, however, Rarity's still able to use magic. So, as the Heartless launches into an impromptu celebration - and a rather narcissistic one - the humanized Element-bearer is pulling more shards up from the ground by lifting her free hand, then sending them flying at its' unprotected back with a single sweep of her hand. "Clearly, this disgusting abomination isn't very bright, if it feels the urge to actually DANCE."

Finn, relatively unaware of the fight as he's focused on trying NOT to die here, notes that he's got an opening. Whether or not Dusk did that on purpose is yet to be seen, but he rushes in quickly to try to bridge the gap, so he can deliver another swipe from his blade! It's still got the cyclonic wind energy surrounding the blade, making it look a bit more like a tiny twister with a hilt.. but it contains a sharp red surprise inside!

Once the shards bring her opponent down, Rarity's calmly stepping forward again, with the scimitar glowing a bright blue as it fuses with her Element of Harmony. "I'm laying this eyesore to rest, so that none of us have to worry about its' pain." Her expression turns emotionless as she raises the enchanted blade to the Heartless' chest, then thrusts it forward at the same time she turns to Dusk. "You're outnumbered, and you've seen that your summoned allies fell rather easily."

Finn is largely unprepared for offensive maneuvers, and so Dusk manages to parry the attack. It doesn't do much to deter the boy, as he quickly finds his feet again, skidding to a stop, and jumping in again quickly, attempting to deliver a solid slash to the man! The focus is clear on his face.. he's intent to distract Dusk as long as it takes for you to reinforce him. "I tried to warn him," Finn calls back to you.

"Hmm. So it would seem." grunts Dusk as he reaches his leg up to kick Finn back. He then looks to his right and waves his off hand to open a dark portal. Strangely, the portal appears in the exact same place it did before. Could there be some connection? "I forgot that some of us have actually chosen to stand and fight the witches. But know this! The heartless do not need to rest. My limited control over them is but a taste. Soon you will see for yourselves!" The fat heartless then disperses into thin air as Dusk steps through the portal, his voice coming out of it as it closes, "You're good, boy. But you had better stay away from the contracted, else you just might CONTRACT your own death! Ahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"And we'll be ready to defeat them, too. Count on it." Rarity's, with this, gripping her Soul Gem tightly and channeling magic into it, as her body once again begins glowing.

You use a royal purple Soul Gem.

With a soft sigh, the amethyst encasing erupts from the ground once again at Rarity's command, surrounding her long enough to provide cover for her regression back to her 'normal' form, as her body once again crystallizes and shatters. Only a moment later, the larger amethyst also splinters into small shards around her.

Finn tries to block the kick with his sword, but it's strong enough to send him sprawling back from the impact, displaying more of that surprising agility as he pushes hands against the ground as he rolls, bounding up and onto his feet, recovering quickly. He's ready to attack again, but he's waiting a moment to see if Dusk decides to retreat.

You say 'Well, even the elegant have to fight, and, to that end, I bring elegance and style to fighting.'

"You're not kidding. I was surprised," Finn admits, before he pauses. "I'm going to go get patched up back home. You know where my Tree Fort is if you need me." He smiles at her, turning to head back home.

Rarity nods, once again turning to return to the Boutique for work.