Blood and Chains

Rarity groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding. “S-sweetie,” she slurred out, trying to grasp why everything felt so… off, suddenly. She had just woken up. It was time to get started on the days orders, help prepare breakfast,take Sweetie to school…

“O-Oh, thank goodness…” Her heart stopped as she heard that innocent, sweet sounding voice in the darkness. Rarity’s eyes shot open. Darkness all around, still. “I-I’m so glad you’re awake,” Fluttershy said softly. “I thought I had given you too much… N-Now we can continue. Pinkie’s still asleep, though… D-do you think we should wait for her,” she asked softly, timidly.

Rarity groaned as she registered the tension and pain in her hooves dimly. She was stuck on some sort of hanging device, her hooves reaching up towards the ceiling. She shifted around, wincing as each movement brought her body more pain. “F-Fluttershy, t-turn on the lights.” She cleared her throat, trying to keep back that trembling fear that had stolen her voice.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry Rarity… I would have let them on, but… Well, I didn’t want to frighten you…” Rarity was puzzled - and, as much as Fluttershy was trying to ‘not’ frighten her, she was not succeeding.

“W-why would I be frightened,” she said, struggling to think. Whatever Fluttershy had hit her with, it was strong. Her mind felt boggy, almost like she had just woken up. Rarity supposed she had, but not in the usual way. She tried to use magic to create a light, but gasped in pain as useless sparks came out.

“O-Oh, don’t hurt yourself now!” Rarity bit her lip. It sounded more like a command than a warning. “The medicine I gave you blocks unicorn magic… If you try to escape using it, you’ll only end up hurting yourself…”

“Uugh…” Rarity jumped at the sound, her mind flashing to monstrous beings all around her, shuffling around without her being able to see them. Animals that Fluttershy kept, ready to feast on her bones. But, on her right, she soon heard a softly mumbled, “what day’s it, Gummy”.

“P-Pinkie Pie,” she sighed in relief, her heart still beating fast. At least there was her. Nothing had happened to her. Yet. “Darling, I am so relieved you’re alright…”

“Rarity?... Why’s it so dark?...” She heard an exhausted gasp of excitement. “Is this a… a reeeeeally hard game of hide and seek?”

“No, no, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said in the darkness. Rarity’s attention flashed back to… whatever all of this sneaking, all of the things unsettling her meant. There had to be some logical reasoning as to why Fluttershy had had so much blood on her floor. Any reason at all… Probably the same reason why she couldn’t move now… and the same reason Fluttershy had drugged her… She knew the reason. She just knew it couldn’t be that. Fluttershy would never. No, never. She was too kind.

Rarity sniffed the air. There was a strange scent around them - she’d gotten used to smelling strange things, after suffering Sweetie’s cooking. It smelled like… iron? Metallic and… a bit like Hearths Warming Eve. What was in this room? “F-fluttershy… Turn on the lights…” She gulped slightly as silence seemed to follow. Had Fluttershy left?

“O-Oh! You’re right! Both of you are awake now!” Rarity didn’t know whether to be relieved or not at the voice. Both ponies heard shuffling around them, echoing around the dark room. In a flash, light flooded the scene. As it did, Rarity’s mouth flooded with bile, and she hardly heard Pinkie gasp as she grew dizzy and sick. Somehow, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Blood. More blood than she had seen in her life. It surrounded her in crimson, her sight seemingly becoming only scarlet; it was all there was below her, and even splattered against the walls around them. Metal contraptions held them in place - three restraining hooks on the ceiling, chains coming down to keep them controlled. Only two hooks had weight today. Rarity gagged as sight and smell overwhelmed her. She tried to block out the sounds of Pinkie vomiting beside her, trying to avoid that path herself.

Fluttershy clicked her tongue lightly at Pinkie. “I had hoped you wouldn’t get sick… I-I can clean up later though. Don’t worry about it,” she said with a reassuring smile. The tender curve of her mouth left something to be desired as Rarity made out the small speckles of blood still staining her teeth; she felt fresh sickness wave over her.

Pinkie groaned, half limp against her shackles. “F-fluttershy… W-what is all of this?...”

Rarity’s eyes hardened into a glare. There was no sense being in denial anymore. “You’re the murderer, aren’t you? You killed that pegasus…”

Fluttershy brought her bloody hoof up to her mouth, almost in fake horror - or was it real? Rarity could hardly tell. “How mean… They’re calling me a murderer?” She pouted, a usually heart wrenching sight. However, Rarity felt no sympathy; anger took it’s place as her friend pretended there was nothing wrong with what she most certainly did.

“Fluttershy… H-how could… How could you of all ponies ever…”

Fluttershy walked directly up to Rarity, staring her deep into the eyes. Rarity felt her very breath catch in her lungs as Fluttershy’s kind demeanor changed to one of seething wrath. Like a slowly boiling pot of water, the anger surfaced slowly, and Rarity could see how her friend’s eyes seemed to lose all sparks of good she had always known to be there. “How could I? How could I, you ask…” Fluttershy smirked, and slowly began to giggle, turning her back on the two paralyzed mares.

“How could I,” she continued, “the precious little doormat of Ponyville, ever work up the courage and strength to put those foals in their place? How could I, the sweetest, kindest mare in Equestria, become a murderer? How could I ever hurt a pony?” Fluttershy spun around, her wings flared in anger. Rarity and Pinkie both gasped in fright as they saw her demented eyes, and that horrible murderous grin filling her face. “How could little Fluttershy ever kill? But none of you ever realized I’d been doing that for years! I just took the next step, now. I went beyond that kind little doormat and became what you all have wanted me to be these past few years.”

Rarity shook her head. The medication’s symptoms were finally beginning to wear off - she was still weak, but she could think again. “D-doing this for years?... What we’ve wanted you to become? Fluttershy, who in Celestia’s name would want you to be a murderer?!”

“No… You never said a murderer… but this is such a lovely way… such a lovely, simple way… and I have you two especially to thank for my newfound knowledge.” Fluttershy smiled as she walked to one of the three doors lining the side of the room. Rarity took a deep breath, horrified to know what was behind door number one. To her relief, Fluttershy opened the door to reveal a chair. Above it were a few shelves, each with various boxes on them, and behind it a folding table. Fluttershy hummed as she pulled out the chair, resting it in front of the two chained mares. “Now… for the second part of my fun with you two... Who wants to go first?”

“F-first in what,” Pinkie stuttered out.

Fluttershy’s grin only grew. “Well, Pinkie, since you’re so eager to speak up first…” Fluttershy crossed her hooves and sat back. “What questions do you have?” Rarity and Pinkie watched their captor in silence, bewildered. “Well? I’m willing to answer your questions… U-unless you’d rather get straight to the best part,” she said, timidly yet excitedly.

“No,” Pinkie said quickly, twisting in her chains - her hooves were beginning to grow stiff from lack of use. “I-I have the first question t-then…” With a gulp, Pinkie began to think of questions to ask about their predicament. For some reason, she knew she wouldn’t like any of the answers.