The Trap

"Sweetie Belle! Could you get out of the boutique for a few hours? Inspiration time and all that..." Rarity leaned her head into Sweetie's bedroom, smiling like an angel.

The squeaky-voiced filly jumped up and hugged her sister. "Sure, sis! Maybe later Scoots and Applebloom can come over after?"

"Hmm... Alright. Now hustle along, Sweetie. Things to do~" Sweetie Belle galloped past her sister and out the door, slamming it behind her. Rarity's cheerful smile turned into a devious smirk as the door closed. Her bulging saddlepack stuck out at odd angles as she trotted to her room, closing the blinds. She un-clipped it and emptied the contents, almost bubbling with excitement. Hoof moisturiser, hypodermic needles, paralysis potion, and assorted medicinal equipment were among the objects within. A small, quiet cackle escaped her lips, and she covered them, a mew came out from the corner of the room. "Opal, baby, come to mama!" The cat hissed disobediently, and Rarity tried again. "Come on, Opal" The cat swiped a paw at the mare, who frowned. "Come on. Get over here." The can began to walk off, and Rarity scowled as she turned her magic on. "You stupid cat... Always disobeying me... I am above such nonsense..." The cat yowled as Rarity picked her up. She filled one of the needles with the paralysis solution, aimed it carefully and stabbed it into the cat's fluffy chest. It hissed weakly before almost freezing in place. Rarity began to giggle, before full-on cackling. "Oh, Opal, you have no idea how much you get on my nerves... It's been a while since I did any good dissection..."

~~~~~~

"But y'all're the best at singin', Sweetie!" Applebloom encouraged her friend to the front. "We gotta learn a thing or two from you first!" Sweetie belle sighed. "Oh, all right." She stood up to the front of the group, and cleared her throat. The ponies who bustled by glanced, before stopping to take a look. "U-Uh... I..." She faltered, and the ponies  "Aww'd" In disappointment. A blue, curly-maned mare threw a bit into the box and said, "Nice try, doll."

"I don't like the idea of Cutie Mark Crusader Buskers... Can we just go back to Rarity's boutique now? I hate singing in public..."

"C'mon, 'bloom," said Scootaloo, "Let's go back with Sweetie Belle. Even though I'd love to strut my singing ability..." Applebloom sighed in defeat. "Alright. let's go." The trio happily trotted back to Carousel Boutique, Scootaloo flinging the door wide open as Rarity's head popped out of the trap door to the cellar. She froze solid, thinking of something to do. "Uh, Oh.. Hello, girls..."

"Heya, sis! I didn't know you had a cellar" She gasped loudly, jumping a little. "Can we become Cutie Mark Crusader cellar explorers?"

A devious, gruesome and sickening idea came to Rarity's mind, and he put of a falsetto smile. "But of course! I need help lifting a valuable fabric down there. Go down and fetch it for me, won't you?"

"Uh, couldn't you just use your magic?" Applebloom cocked her head.

"Darling, it's very... uh... dusty down there."

Applebloom looked down the hole. "It's dark, too."

"Pfft. Look who's the chicken now?" Scootaloo sneered at the farmpony.

"You two! C'mon, it's not that bad. Let's go!" Sweetie waved the rest of the group down, and they followed begrudgingly. They were right to have a hunch as the trapdoor above locked shut, leaving them emerged in the dark for a few moments. Sweetie Belle yelped slightly. "S-Sis?!" A light suddenly flickered on overhead, and the three fillies screamed. This was not a cellar, but a laboratory. Along the edge of the room were stretchers, the corpses of mares and stallions devoid of life littering them. Their flanks, bloodied, the cutie mark missing. Desks smattered with diagrams and research lined the walls occasionally. In the centre of the room was an operating table, a large desk with magical equipment beside it. Rarity stood beside the horrifying centrepiece, grinning manically. "Welcome to my... other workroom!"

"R-Rarity! How.. How..." Applebloom stuttered as the CMC huddled together, Rarity approaching slowly. Her magic activated, cold, iron manacles clamping on their legs. They were wooshed upwards, now hanging from the celling. "I wished to study cutie marks." Rarity trotted beneath them, beginning a story. "It was simple reading, really, gaining knowledge and prodding about into theories. I told Twilight of my interest, and she happily assisted me, showing me her own research. And the amounts of study and information!" She held a hoof dramatically to her forehead, gasping. "It made me jealous! I could be that smart! All of her work was external, mere examination, like mine. I then thought it was time to take it to the next level. I began my work, raising funds, building this, Installing the equipment. So much dirt..."

Rarity shook her head, the girls above her beginning to question the sanity of the dressmaker. "I began with the worthless. Nothing to live for, handing themselves in voluntarily. Oh, I tried to make it painless and quick, but the magic in ponies bodies seems to wear off once they die. I simply didn't have the resources to buy anaesthetic, so I just kept them alive. The cries of pain, the gushing blood, just..." Rarity made a happy noise, reviling in the violent feelings, "I grew to like, no, love them. But my supply of victims were running low. Ponies were beginning to notice me. So I moved on from the hobos, and to my customers. Eventually, anypony I could get my hooves on!" She laughed. "I became dubbed, 'The White Death'. Witnesses only saw the pure white coat of mine. Oh, how fun.Then, you three came along earlier than I was expecting!" Sweetie Belle looked aghast, staring at her insane sister. "B-But why now? Please don't, Rarity!"

Rarity cackled menacingly, eyeing up the fillies. "Why not?! I've never studied a Blank Flank before!"