Sleep.
Those little slices of Death.
How I loathe them.
-Nevermore, poet.

Monday morning, 2 AM.

Rarity wakes up to an odd combination of sensations. One is a pitiful whimpering combined with wet sniffles and...something dripping? Another is a smell she is all too familiar with from learning the hard way to manipulate sharp objects a safe distance from herself. Why is something bleeding?

BLOOD! Her fabrics could get stained! She jerks awake and rolls out of bed immediately while charging a quick telekinesis spell to pull off her blindfold and turn on the lights. This order of events brings about a hoarse squeak from right next to where she lands, as well as a wet squish when her forehooves contact her rug. She blinks away the blindness that comes from a rapid change of lighting, and finds bile rising in her throat as she looks at the source of that squeak.

Sweetie Belle is sitting there with her mouth hanging open and blood running out of it. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying and the fur on her face is matted with both blood and tears. Her tongue is lacerated, the tip of it nearly severed and hanging by a thin ribbon of flesh. The blood, so much blood! Her mouth closes slightly before jerking open again as she lifts a foreleg to point at it; her cheeks are both sliced open to the joint, with both the upper and lower sections of flesh hanging limp. Before she can even try to speak, her eyes roll up and she flops bonelessly to the soiled floor.

Rarity releases a shockingly restrained scream of fear before gently lifting her sister onto her back and bolting for the door. She maintains a gentle grip to avoid causing further trauma to her injured sister while galloping for the hospital as if Tirek himself had reappeared behind her. So much blood, and her poor sister's mouth! A quick glance at the limp form on her back has her stumbling as the thought crosses her mind that Sweetie Belle may never be able to talk again, if she even gets to the hospital in time! The only thing stopping her from screaming in panic the entire way there was knowing that it wouldn't help.

Seven AM

Rarity finds herself pacing in the waiting area of the Emergency Room and sits back down while stealing a glance at the nearest clock. Five hours with little news about Sweetie other than that her tongue was healing slowly despite the spells being used on her to accelerate the process. Five hours with nothing to do but worry about what had happened back home. Her ears flick to the left as somepony walks up to her, a Unicorn if the faint hum and buzz she hears is a telekinesis spell. A mug is held in front of her before she can turn her head to look; the aura keeping it aloft is peach and maintains its integrity without any of the characteristic wobble of a distracted caster.

"I suggest you have a drink, miss. You're going to want your head perfectly clear for the foreseeable future. It's a special herbal blend from Roam, imported by Celestia herself." The clipped tone from the stallion makes it obvious that this is not a request as he walks to sit a few feet in front of her.

Rarity sees a laurel green coat with a fuscia mane and tail, marked with a magnifying glass and wearing the white and gold cloak of an official Inquisitor of the Royal Guard. Her expression hardens into a pained grimace as she weaves her own magic around the mug to accept the 'offered' beverage. A single sip is taken out of politeness at first, and then the cooled infusion is gulped down quickly as it proves to be as refreshing as the guard described. She takes a minute to collect her thoughts and regain her composure before setting the empty vessel on the floor. "Thank you for that. I hadn't realized just how much this morning had taken its toll on me until now. I assume you have some questions for me, so let's start by answering the obvious one. I have no idea how Sweetie Belle got hurt at two in the morning. I was too busy galloping to the hospital to stop in her room and look for clues."

"Miss Rarity, I'm hurt that you would think that I would even entertain the notion of the Element of Generosity intentionally hurting her little sister only to rush her to the hospital afterwards. The truth is that I have already searched the boutique to find out what happened." His face remains calm, but his voice is slightly shaky. "What I found was a fair amount of blood on your guest bed and a pair of trails. One leading from her room to your own and the other leading from yours out the door. There is no sign whatsoever of any sharp or otherwise bladed object in her room, bloody or otherwise, and no sign that anything else was in the room with her when this happened. I did, however, notice a sound dampening enchantment weaved into the walls and door. Can you explain that for me?"

Rarity scrunches her face up as if biting into a lemon before answering as calmly as she can. "My sister loves to sing. Unfortunately, I don't always have the luxury of having time to listen, and the wrong notes can be quite a distraction when trying to create something new and fresh. I asked Twilight months ago to put a dampening spell on her room so that she could sing to her heart's content without the sound disturbing me while I work. This also helps when her friends are over to visit or play as the girls can be quite loud. The enchantment works both ways because I have the occasional long night of work on a project and would rather not disturb her when she is sleeping if inspiration strikes me at an odd hour. I also have several alarm spells laced into the room in case of injury that are disabled when the occupants are asleep because fillies aren't supposed to get injured while they are sleeping!" She blinks as she hears herself practically shouting that last bit and blushes while looking around. "I'm sorry, I just don't understand what's going on."

"Frankly I'm surprised that you aren't balking at the fact that I openly admitted to already searching your home and place of business without so much as asking your permission, but that only goes further to prove that nothing that happened to Sweetie Belle last night was your fault. I also assure you that any, ah, recreational devices that I found in my search were handled with care and will not be mentioned in my official report to Princess Luna."

Rarity has the grace to blush only faintly at this mention of her private things, and nods graciously at the admission that they wouldn't be mentioned. "I had anticipated that there would be a search considering a filly was injured, especially since she has issues with being bullied at school on occasion. She has been getting better with her telekinesis, but there is no way she would take the coward's way out, so that particular notion never crossed my mind. I must ask one thing though. Why are you reporting to Princess Luna about this matter? I would imagine that a magical mishap like this must have been would go to either Celestia or Twilight."

"You mentioned that the alarms regarding injury only deactivate if the entire room has nopony awake inside, correct?" At a brief nod from Rarity, the stallion continues. "I detected no trace of magical residue from recent spells inside the room. She didn't do this to herself with magic, and no spell from an outside source breached the walls of the room to act upon her. According to the doctors, the damage to her tongue was far too extensive to have been done by her own teeth, or by any normal pet, and her other injuries were impossible to inflict without a blade. All the evidence gathered, therefore, points to only one conclusion: your sister was attacked in her dreams, during a nightmare, by a being powerful enough to cause those injuries to transmit to reality. I am going to recommend that we look into Tartarus to see if any other inmates escaped alongside Tirek that are known to operate in this manner. We pretty much have it narrowed down to two possibilities at this point, but without confirming if a Greater Feyr has escaped we can't be completely sure."

"Was this random? Some kind of dream animal attacking my sister just because she happened to be having a bad dream to begin with?" Rarity struggles to hold her own fear back at the idea of a predator stalking dreams, making sleep itself possibly unsafe.

"I wish I knew, miss Rarity. As of four days ago, there have been seven cases of ponies dying in their sleep, but five of those were elderly enough to raise no alarm and one was a stallion with a heart problem and a fondness for fried food. The last one was a foal up in Trotston, and Princess Luna is reinstating an old segment of her guards as a result of it. If this attack on your sister was caused by the same being, we may be able to capture it soon. Princess Luna will need to speak with her as soon as she is capable of speech again."

A door opened up on the far side of the room, followed by a nurse clearing his throat. "Miss Rarity? Your sister is stable and healing. We finally got the spells to take root and her tongue should finish...rebuilding itself in the next few hours."

Rarity nods and stands up quickly to step closer to the door, but stops before managing to move more than a couple steps. "I can see her now, right? There was so much blood that I didn't dare look at her face before. I mean, I know she's probably asleep right now, but she's my baby sister." The nurse nods and smiles while stepping to the side to hold the door open for Rarity, but the Element of Generosity turns back to the Inquisitor before proceeding. "I just realized that you never mentioned your name. I want to thank you for at least telling me what you know about what's going on."

The stallion waves a foreleg towards the door with a smile. "Go to your sister. Family bonds should all be as strong as yours. As for my name, call me Glass."

||||

Silver Spoon is enjoying herself while watching her father work. She had learned how to make spoons from him, and it was still the only thing he let her do since they didn't involve sharp edges or points. His hammer rises and falls in a steady rhythm. She doesn't know why he insists on shaping the blade of the knife like this instead of just using magic to clean up the edges after taking it out of the mold.

The unfinished blade is removed from the anvil and plunged into a bucket of water that bubbles and hisses as if injured by the intrusion of hot metal into its comparatively cold body. Copper Knife pulls it out once the bubbling has ceased and runs the outer edge of his hoof along the actual blade portion of the knife. Upon feeling no noticeable imperfections in the shape he buries the piece in hot coals again to heat up one final time and burn out any remaining impurities.

"Why do you do that, daddy?" Now that the hammering has ceased for the moment and bright sparks of metal are not being forced off by the blows; it is safe for her to approach the miniature forge. She hopes she'll get a straight answer out of him this time instead of his usual cryptic response.

Copper Knife looks down at his daughter and smiles while raising a hoof to caress the side of her muzzle. "Pumpkin, I've told you before that we reheat the metal until it glows as bright a red as the oldest Apple sister and quench it one last time to strengthen the crystalline structure. This means that the resulting utensil or tool is less prone to bending or otherwise deforming under pressure. It's called heat treating."

"Daaaaaddyyyyy! You know that's not what I meant! Why do you beat the knives like that but not the forks and spoons? They all get molded, but you never seem to get knives right without all the hammering." She pouts and gives him The Look that all daughters know will break down every parental barrier unless they just did something particularly naughty. It's never worked on him before but maybe this time he'll break. Then her face scrunches up in confusion at something he said. "Wait...Applejack isn't red."

Her father got That Look on his face, the expression that adults get when they realize they just said something that children aren't supposed to hear. He is saved from immediate further inquiry by a knock on the side door of the workshop. "Can you see who that is, Silver? I have three more unfinished knives to work on and it's almost time for you to go to school anyway."

She nods and trots over to open the door while her father pulls the next knife blank out of the cooler portion of coals where it had been heating during the last part of forming the previous one. Once the pink face of her best friend is revealed on the other side of the door, she quickly steps through and closes it as the ringing sound of metal striking metal resumes behind her. "Good morning, Diamond Tiara. Why are you here so early? We usually meet up at the old pine tree on our way to school."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about some things before school and we wouldn't have enough time if I waited until we met up at the pine." Diamond Tiara looks particularly dejected, her face losing the sincere smile that had formed at the sight of her friend. "My dad heard about us teasing those blan...Apple Bloom and her friends again. He said that, if I don't stop, he's going to send me to a rock farm for a year to teach me some humility, and reminded me that our family wouldn't be anywhere near as important as we are without all the stuff we buy from them to sell elsewhere. I-I don't want to live on a rock farm, and I don't want to be away from you for a year either."

Silver Spoon walks over and gently nuzzles Diamond Tiara to cheer her up a little. "That's okay, really. You won't get sent away because I was getting sick of teasing them ever since they beat us in the flag bearing competition. What we said stopped working, and it started getting less fun when it stopped working. Why don't you come inside? Mom's making waffles, and there's usually some extra batter left over."

"I can't. Daddy said I need to apologize to the yellow runt before school today or else he was going to cancel any celebration of my birthday this year even if I just stopped bullying her around. I guess he got an earful from one of her older relatives because he was really mad. I think he even meant it. I have to go. See you at school." The pink filly turns and runs in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, leaving a slack-jawed Silver Spoon staring at her fleeing flank.

"Wow, and I thought mom was mean just taking away my dessert last night when she heard about all we did. Being told you might not get a birthday? That's cruel." Silver Spoon turns and takes a step towards her house before freezing in place. That's not her house. The building in front of her is much bigger. It's still two stories tall, but it's bigger than before, and the wrong shape...and colors! A look to the left, then a look right confirms that her neighbor's houses look normal, so she walks up to the partly-open front door and shoulders the oversized wood open. "Mom? Daddy? The house looks all weird..." Her eyes widen in shock as the door creaks closed behind her, and a sudden trickling sound on the floor is heard as her bladder betrays her at the sight in front of her.

Her father is sitting in his normal chair at the dining room table, but he isn't moving. He isn't moving because the front half of his body is blackened and smoking and his head is missing. Well, it isn't exactly missing, really, since it seems to be on a plate in the center of the table with an apple shoved into his mouth.

Her mother is in her normal seat as well, but she won't be moving any time soon either, at least not with the two chopping knives stuck mouthgrip-deep in her eye sockets and the cleaver intersecting her neck. The stench of burnt meat, blood, and her own piss is so thick in the air that she gags and backs up a step, only to bump into something that just barely shifts at the impact. She tilts her head up to look back, praying that it's Celestia, Luna, Twilight, or some other adult that will take her away from this.

Instead, she beholds the visage of some bipedal beast that looks down on her with a face that seems almost devoid of skin and fur with pure glee in its eyes as it drinks in her terrified expression. It holds up an appendage with flexible protrusions tipped with long talons as it reaches down to pick her up. "Hello there, you little shit. I lost one meal this morning when she woke up in the middle of my cuts, but you're a bad girl who sleeps in and then pisses on my shoe."

Silver Spoon can't even find the breath to scream as she begins hyperventilating and squirming to get out of this beast's grip, but the tears come to her eyes quite readily as those claws are run along her nethers and then up her torso in four fiery trails of pain. She feels suddenly empty as her guts begin to slide out of the openings in her belly and pool on the floor with heavy, wet splats.

"Tell me something, kid. Did you and your friend ever play 'skin the cat?'"

Silver Spoon feels another cut across her throat before she can respond, and the world begins to feel cold as a faint tugging feeling starts somewhere deep inside of her. The last thing she sees is a talon heading for her eyes while thinking that it looks like one of daddy's knives, only backwards.

. . . . .

Gilded Lilly sighs as she heads for her daughter's bedroom. Silver Spoon's alarm has been going off for five minutes now, and she was getting a headache just hearing the bell down in the kitchen. "Silver Spoon! Can't you hear that thing? Wake up!"

No response comes from within the room, not even the faint but cute snort of her daughter being startled awake from a deep sleep. Gilded raises a hoof to knock on the door, resulting in a wet and meaty dripping sound from the other side. Her eyebrow rises in concern and confusion at this and the handle is quickly between her teeth and turning to pull the door open. Why does it feel so heavy today? Did she bring home all of her textbooks or something over the weekend?

With the door finally open, she steps to the side and opens her mouth to begin calling her daughter's name again, only for time to seemingly freeze altogether at the sight of what was making the door so heavy.

Silver Spoon is hanging from the door with the back of her head impaled on the saddlebag hook. Her eyes are missing from their sockets, her throat is transected with a cut deep enough go leave her spine exposed, and her entire abdomen is sliced open with her intestines pooled on the rug and hanging from her body like some kind of meaty streamer. The walls of her room are covered in blood and there is an impressive pool of it in the middle of the room.

It isn't until her neighbor, Berry Punch, drags her away that she even realizes she's been screaming.

Author's Note

No, this is not a cop out. I had never planned for Sweetie Belle to die at this point, if ever. No spoilers here, I'm not going to tell you ahead of time who will die.

If a character is going to die, they are going to be killed graphically unless Nothing is Scarier.

The quote at the top of this chapter, in case the pony version of the name doesn't tip you off, is an actual quote from Edgar Allen Poe. The same quote was used to open the third Nightmare on Elm Street movie, considered to be one of the best of the classic portion of the franchise.