Don't Starve Miss Sparkle

         It was a quiet morning as the unicorn trotted down Ponyville’s Mane Street. Ordinarily she wasn’t one to exert herself physically while in public, however today she had made an exception. An exception not made lightly mind you, as she would be quick to remind anypony who questioned her uncharacteristic appearance, but after pulling an all-nighter to finish perhaps the biggest order of the season without having so much as a biscuit, Rarity permitted herself this rare lapse in grace in order to fetch a morning snack.

It must have been around nine in the morning she reasoned as she approached the wooden stand, where a familiar orange earth pony stood looking bored. “Good morning Applejack,” Rarity greeted loudly, snapping her friend out of her stupor and hoping the volume would distract her from the breathless way in which she spoke.

“Wha… oh, hey Rare,” Applejack responded once she realised what was going on, “didn’t expect to see you here of all ponies. Ah take it you got your order finished then?”

“I did indeed, thank you for asking,” Rarity replied, leaning next to Applejack on the stand. “It was a trial, but I got there in the end. Although I am utterly famished.”

“Ah’ll bet,” Applejack commented, fishing out the juiciest apple from her stand and tossing it to Rarity. “Here you go sugar, that one’s on me; you look like you need it.”

“Thank you Applejack, I’ll admit it’s nice to be on the receiving end of generosity on occasion.” The pair shared a laugh before standing in brief silence as Rarity munched on the apple.

“Ah tell yah girl,” Applejack began as Rarity neared the core, “you work yourself too hard sometimes.”

“I really must be bad if you of all ponies say I’m working too hard,” Rarity retorted with a smirk, “but you’ll be pleased to know that with that order out of the way I now have some free time before winter rolls in.”

“Ah take it the first thing ya’ll’s gonna do with your free time is go straight to the spa,” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes.

“Oh Applejack you can read me like a book,” Rarity chuckled before catching sight of herself in shop window and flinching. “Although now that you mention it I suppose I could have cleaned up a little before heading out.”

“Oh yeah, ‘fore ah forget,” Applejack began suddenly, “ah ran into Pinks yesterday, she’s plannin’ a party for this Friday and wanted me to let yah know if’n when ah saw yah.”

Rarity quirked an eyebrow at this before replying. “This Friday? Didn’t she just have a party a few days ago?”

“’Course she did, this is Pinkie we’re talkin’ about,” Applejack said laughing, “she’d party everyday if the Mayor would allow it. Besides, she wanted to throw this one because you didn’t go to that one a few days ago.”

“Oh, how considerate of her,” Rarity stated a little taken aback, “well then yes I suppose it would be nice to see all the girls again. I’ve been dying to tell Twilight about this stallion I met in Canterlot the other week; I think she might know him.”

The effect was rather instantaneous, where mere moments before Applejack had been smiling along politely, the moment Rarity uttered Twilight’s name, the smile faded and was replaced with an odd look. “Um, Applejack?” Rarity asked, not missing this change in expression, “is there something wrong?”

Applejack opened her mouth, seemingly about to speak, only to close it again, adopting an expression of intense thought. Rarity was beginning to worry before Applejack finally did speak. “It’s nothin’ Sugarcube,” she tried to say, however the look Rarity gave her made it clear she wasn’t convincing anypony so she continued. “Well, it’s just…” she said hesitating, “when was the last time you saw Twilight?”

Rarity was a little thrown by the question, truth was she didn’t know what she had been expecting, just that it wasn’t that. “Well, I’m not sure,” she said honestly, wracking her memory. “I’ve been so busy with work lately, but I do remember visiting her little over two weeks ago to pick up book on Unicorn fashion before the founding of Equestria.”

“Did… did she seem alright to you?” Applejack asked in a low voice.

“Of course she did,” Rarity replied, now thoroughly confused. Had something happened while she was working? Had something happened while she had visited her that she had failed to notice? “Well she might have seemed a little distracted,” she admitted eventually, recalling Twilight’s behaviour on the day in question. “But that’s hardly uncommon for her; I probably just interrupted one of her study sessions.”

Applejack shook her head not looking convinced by Rarity’s optimism. “Ah don’t know Rarity, thing is, nopony’s seen her lately,” she said, her voice tinged with worry, “and any of the girls who’ve been to the library say she’s acting a might bit more than distracted.”

Rarity stared at her friend, concern slowly creeping into her mind, however she quickly dispelled it. “But I’m sure if something really was wrong then Spike would have told us,” she reasoned, again receiving a slight shake of the head from Applejack.

“Spike’s away in Canterlot,” she informed her, “he left shortly after you started work on your order.”

“So Twilight is currently alone in the library, hasn’t been seen out for weeks and causes concern to anyone who visits her?” Rarity summarised, now sounding thoroughly worried herself.

“Ah’m not tryin’ to stir up any mass panic or nothin’,” Applejack said quickly, “and it could be nothin’ to worry ‘bout. Ah really hope it ain’t nothin’ to worry ‘bout, but just in case…”

It wasn’t much later that the pair arrived in Sugarcube Corner, Applejack having hastily packed up her stall, not having had many customers that day anyway so she didn’t feel guilty closing up early. The bakery was a little more crowded than the market had been, and to the pair’s relief the three ponies they wanted to see were all gathered around the counter.

“Oh, oh, Applejack! Rarity!” Pinkie called out as she saw them enter, gesturing with her hoof for them to join. Walking over they found Fluttershy eating Swiss roll, Rainbow Dash slumped over the counter with a half empty mug of coffee in front of her, and Pinkie Pie managing the till. “Hey Rarity,” Pinkie declared loudly earning a groan from Rainbow Dash. “Is your order all finished? Does that mean you can party down this Friday?”

Applejack opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Rainbow Dash. “Seriously Pinks, can you turn down the volume for one minute,” she begged.

“Rainbow Dash, are you hung over?” Applejack demanded, temporarily forgetting the reason they came here in the first place. Rainbow Dash snapped around at this accusation.

“No!” she exclaimed, turning the heads of a few other customers. “For your information the weather doesn’t just stop at night, I don’t have some cosy nine to five job.”

Rarity and Applejack exchanged a wide eyed look before looking to Fluttershy for some explanation. “She gets a little cranky when she hasn’t slept,” Fluttershy offered meekly, earning a series of low grumbles from Rainbow Dash who now had her head flat on the counter again.

“Right, well as much as that sucks for you,” Applejack said flatly, making it clear she wasn’t in the least bit sympathetic, “we’re actually here to talk about Twilight.”

If Rarity doubted the legitimacy of Applejacks worries before, all doubt was immediately dismissed when her other friends heard Twilight’s name. Fluttershy gave a frightened squeak and hid behind her mane, Rainbow snapped up, all anger gone only to be replaced by what Rarity imagined was the closest Rainbow’s face could express to fear.

Only Pinkie kept smiling and was the first to break the uncomfortable silence left in the wake of Applejack’s statement. “Oh Twilight’s just going a little loopy loo again,” she said like it was an everyday occurrence, “she’ll be fine in a day or two, and if not a party will surely set her right.”

“Pinkie darling, what do you mean ‘a little loopy loo’?” Rarity questioned.

“Well I popped into the library a few times since I noticed she wasn’t hanging around town as much, or at all in fact, and she kept muttering to herself and constantly running to and from the basement.”

“The basement? Why is she going there?” Rarity asked looking to the other two.

“We don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted quietly, “she refuses to tell us anything, just keeps saying it’s something big, something important.”

“And she freaks out anytime we try to go down ourselves,” Rainbow continued, “but trust us Rarity, whatever Pinkie says this is more than just ‘a little loopy loo’, and I don’t see Twilight just shaking it off.”

“If it was this bad then why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Rarity demanded, she was now visibly panicking now.

“You were so busy, we didn’t want to disturb you,” Fluttershy said, scared by Rarity’s change in tone.

“Besides, we still don’t know exactly what we’re supposed to do,” Rainbow added, “Applejack suggested we tell the princess, Fluttershy wanted to try talking it out with her, I thought we should just remove her from there by force, and Pinkie… wanted to throw her a party.”

“Well then it’s clear some decisive action needs to be taken,” Rarity stated, assuming command of the situation, “I would hate to bother the princess with this, especially if it did turn out to be nothing, and without Spike we have no way of contacting her. I think if we all go together now and talk to her as Fluttershy suggested, keeping Rainbow’s idea in mind if we decide it’s gotten really bad and she won’t cooperate.” Rarity finished her plan and looked expectantly to each of her friends for some sign of approval. Applejack looked to be mulling it over, while Rainbow and Fluttershy both nodded approvingly, and Pinkie…

“Mrs Cake!” Pinkie shouted up the stairs, “Can one of you manage the till? I need to take a break to go have an intervention for Twilight.”

The sight of the library gave Rarity chills knowing what could possibly lie inside. The truth was it looked perfectly normal on the outside, but somehow that didn’t ease Rarity’s nerves. The five approached the door without a word to one another, the silence only broken by Pinkie’s humming and the comical ‘boink’ noise that sounded every time she bounced off the ground. Reaching the door Rarity looked back at the others who all watched her expectantly, apparently they had come to the silent agreement she be the one to knock, and so with a held breath that’s exactly what she did.

The clop of Rarity’s hoof upon the wood of the door echoed thrice before silence once again descended upon the group. Twilight didn’t answer the door, they couldn’t even hear the sound of approaching hoofsteps, they had expected as much.

“Ah guess it’s a public library,” Applejack reminded them, “suppose we can just walk on in.”

Rarity nodded and tried the handle, to her and all the other’s relief the door was not locked and swung open slowly, giving out an ominous creak. The interior of the library was almost pitch black, the air thick with dust. Rarity coughed as she entered, looking to the windows where the curtains had been drawn.

Together the five had the curtains thrown open and the room illuminated fairly quickly, allowing them all to gaze around in shock at the state of the room. Saying it was a mess would be putting it lightly, books were strewn everywhere, some even lying open with pages ripped out, Rarity couldn’t imagine Twilight ever treating books this way. Not only books were scattered across the floor and shelves, but various junk items had found their way among the pile. Searching through Rarity found the oddest assortment of items such as mismatched buttons and brass gears. The others too were clearly disturbed by the state of the library, causing Rarity to wonder when exactly they had last been here, or how recently this had been caused.

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you,” Rarity began, breaking the silence, “but I would say this is definitely something to be worried about.”

“Ah’m with yah there Sugarcube,” Applejack agreed, fiddling with a section of sheet metal. “It was nothin’ like this when ah was here.”

“Yeah, I saw her carrying a lot of weird stuff around, but even I think this is a bit crazy,” Pinkie chipped in dashing around the room, trying to take in as much as she could, as quickly as she could. “Next thing you know they’ll make a reality TV show about her called ‘Equestria’s biggest hoarder’.”

“As interesting as that notion is Pinkie, we’re here to find Twilight now,” Rarity reminded her.

“Um, girls,” Fluttershy whispered in a voice that normally wouldn’t have caught their attention, but in the eerie quiet of the library they all heard and turned to see Fluttershy pointing to another door lying slightly ajar.

“The basement,” Rainbow whispered, fluttering over and opening it further. The rest joined her and looked down to see some light emanating from bellow, accompanied by various clanging and clinking noises.

“Alright girls, no time to waste,” Rarity said trying to rally them before leading the way into the initially dark basement.

The others followed quickly behind her and together they descended the carved stone staircase. As they travelled further down Rarity began to make out the room beneath them, she had expected something similar to the tip above, but was surprised to see the basement looking particularly neat and tidy, certainly more in accordance with the Twilight she knew. There were several wooden tables lining the walls, stacked with more scrap metal as well as tools large sheets which Rarity guessed were designs for something. But what stood out most, and captured the attention of all five mares, was the towering structuring filling almost the entire room.

Reaching the foot of the stairs they all stared up in awe at the thing now taking over Twilight’s basement. Rarity had seen Twilight’s lab once before, and was impressed at the time with the different machines she saw then, this however was a whole new level of awesome. The best way she could describe it was a simple cuboid constructed from wood and metal, then had an abundance of valves, gears, flashing lights, monitors and wires attached, and at the top sat what appeared to be a giant wheel. Rarity couldn’t begin to fathom what this device was, and by the wide eyed looks of her companions, neither could they.

But they didn’t have long to ponder the mystery as at that moment a figure stepped out from behind the machine, several tools held aloft in her lavender aura

“Twilight!” They all exclaimed upon seeing her. She snapped up, apparently only realising they were there, her eye gave a small twitch and her mouth stretched into a wide smile.

“Oh girls, what impeccable timing,” she exclaimed sounding far more energetic and upbeat than Rarity had been expecting, indeed the others seemed thrown off by this as well. “You arrived just in time to see my masterpiece in all its glory.” Flinging her tools to the nearest table where they landed in a heap she gestured to the machine in front of them whispering something they couldn’t make out.

“Yes, it’s very… um, great,” Rarity said in a falsely cheery voice.

“Yeah, great,” Applejack agreed sounding equally phoney, before elbowing Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, uh… I really like it’s… wheel,” she said uncertainly.

“Oh I knew you girls would like it,” Twilight squealed, sounding over the moon at their vague and possibly false praise.

“So this is what you’ve been doing? Building this?” Rarity asked, gesturing at the machine.

“Oh yes,” Twilight breathed stroking her own tail, “all I did was hit dead end after dead end, it was as if my studies were doomed to come to nothing… but then I was shown this.”

“Twilight we’ve been really worried ‘bout you,” Applejack informed her, failing to drag her attention away from her invention, “heck ah’m still worried, you look like you haven’t eaten or slept in days.” Indeed Twilight was looking quite thin, with heavy bags under bloodshot eyes.

“There’s no need to worry Applejack,” Twilight assured her laughing, “it’s fine, everything’s going to be fine.” Her words trailed off into frantic murmuring that none of them could make out as she rubbed her forehooves together.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy screamed catching sight of her left hoof which was wrapped clumsily in a filthy blood-stained bandage. “You’re hurt.” Twilight looked momentarily panicked and tried to hide her injury but Fluttershy rushed over and grasped her hoof eliciting a cry of pain from Twilight. The others hurried to Fluttershy’s side as she unwrapped the bandage to reveal the injury.

As soon as the spoiled cloth was removed a putrid stench hit Rarity causing her to twist her head away and gag. She didn’t see the wound but heard the others gasp; mentally preparing herself she turned her head back and looked down at Twilight’s hoof. The gash was deep and caked with scarlet blood as well as oozing a rotten puss like substance.

“Twilight this is terribly infected!” Fluttershy exclaimed, “This needs to be treated right away.” Twilight was struggling against Fluttershy trying to free her hoof.

“How did that even happen?” Rainbow Dash demanded, sounding both angry and scared. Twilight didn’t answer but Rarity saw her eyes briefly glance over at one of the tables. Following the line of sight she quickly found the tool, a brutal looking, blood-stained kitchen knife. This had gotten too bad, the time for talking had passed long ago, they needed to get her out of here and into hospital. Looking to the others she saw they reached the same conclusion she had, and with one nod, Rainbow and Applejack walked to either side of her, taking hold.

“Now don’t struggle Twilight,” Pinkie pleaded, her eyes missing their usual light, “we’re going to take you some place safe, some place you can get help.”

“No!” Twilight screeched struggling against the two athletes, bucking wildly with her hind legs, catching Fluttershy in the jaw who was still trying to tend to her wound. While Rainbow and Applejack were distracted looking to see if she was okay, Twilight’s horn lit up and she blinked out of their grasp. They looked around wildly, finding her quickly enough, standing panting next to the machine, her non injured hoof hovering over a giant novelty lever.

“Now Twilight slow down for a sec,” Applejack said in an uneasy tone, “don’t go doin’ something silly now.”

“I have to do it, he keeps telling me to pull the switch,” Twilight said weakly, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Who’s telling you?” Rarity asked while crouching next to Fluttershy. Twilight didn’t answer, just shook profusely. “Whoever it is Twilight, don’t listen to him. You’re stronger than that.”

“I can’t,” Twilight whined, still griping the lever.

“Think of the princess Twilight,” Pinkie exclaimed desperately, this seemed to strike a chord with Twilight whose eyes widened in horror. Slowly, very slowly she withdrew her hoof, shaking all the while. Rarity let out a sigh of relief, satisfied that everything was going to be okay, until a booming voice shouted out around them.

“DO IT!”

Twilight screamed in surprise and quick as lightning reached up and pulled the lever all the way down. Time seemed to hold still for a moment as the lever came down; Rarity sat nursing Fluttershy who was clutching a bloody nose, Rainbow Dash and Applejack charging forward in a desperate attempt to stop Twilight, and Pinkie looking on in hopelessness. Then all hell broke loose as the machine awoke, lights flaring on, bolts of electricity firing up the wires, all to the melody of echoing laughter from the voice that had shouted mere seconds before.

Rarity watched as the wheel atop the machine began spinning and the front wall of the device cracked upon like a door, revealing a swirling vortex within. None of them had any time to take this in as just then the floor beneath them erupted in a pool of darkness, tendrils of show spouting out to form phantom hands reaching out for them. The first thing Rarity felt was Fluttershy get torn away from her, but she had no time to react as a split second later she felt something cold wrap around her waist and knew one of the shadow hands had gotten her.

She tried to struggle, tied to call out for help, but deep down she knew it was all in vain. Very quickly she found herself being dragged into darkness, her vision drowning out instantly before very quickly it became hard to breath and her head began spinning. As she slipped out of consciousness the last thing she was aware of was the continuing laughter all inside her head.