Rarity sat next to her little sister's bed. "Don't worry, darling, there are no mares under your bed," she whispered reassuringly.
Sweetie Belle still gripped her blanket tightly, covering a little bit of her face with it. "But there are mares under my bed!" she protested quietly.
"Would you like me to check?" Rarity offered, trying to comfort her younger sister.
Sweetie Belle reluctantly nodded. She shut her eyes tightly afterwards, still holding the blanket up to her face firmly.
Rarity lowered her head, squinting her eyes in the darkness. Nothing was under Sweetie Belle's comfortable bed, obviously. After a good minute or two of checking for mares under Sweetie Belle's bed, the white mare raised her head, no longer squinting her eyes from the darkness.
"No mares under your bed, Sweetie Belle," she confirmed.
The pink-and-purple-maned filly opened of her eyes hesitantly, then she opened her other eye. "Are you sure, Rarity?" she questioned.
"Yes, I'm sure," Rarity sighed, smiling.
Suddenly, the fashionable white pony heard a crack downstairs.
"Good night," Rarity wished her little sister hastily, rushing downstairs afterwards.
Sweetie Belle watched her older sister go, fear darkening her pale green gaze again. "...Rarity?" she murmured.
Rarity slowed down to a walk as she reached the floor downstairs in her boutique. An unknown voice startled her, getting her attention.
"Rarity. We must talk."
The white mare could barely see in the darkness. "What?" she called softly.
The unknown voice spoke again. "Come forward. I am over here."
Rarity obeyed the strange, unfamiliar voice's order, walking forward. She stopped at the sight of a mannequin facing her. What startled her was its ability to speak.
"We have to talk to you."
Multiple mannequins appeared. The lights turned on, a light switch being turned loudly. Rarity jumped back with a yelp. A black liquid was seeping down their plastic bodies, their mouths purely black, with the substance dripping down from it onto the floor with a sizzling sound.
Rarity made a run for the stairs and up to Sweetie Belle's room. She shook the filly frantically.
"Sweetie Belle," she whispered. "We're leaving."
Sweetie Belle woke up in an instant, confused. "Why?" she asked, slipping out of her bed as Rarity stepped back. She yawned drowsily, and rather loudly.
Rarity grabbed her little sister and ran down the stairs again. "It's dangerous here."
The white mare ignored the ominous snap and abrupt change to a lack of brightness in the room, in which the mannequins could still be hiding in the darkness. The door was in front of her. She put down Sweetie Belle, but the instant she did, the lights snapped back on. The door was locked as if it was quickly locked by an invisible pony.
