Harmony Divided

The sun rises. Two days have passed since the incident. Twilight opens her eyes, pushing branches out of her way. She fell asleep in a bundle of bushes near Rarity's house just for the sake of not having to walk in the morning. She stands, multiple bones popping into place. She walks to the door but is immediately hit in the nose by it swinging open. "Twilight darling! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. What brings you here so early?"

"Rarity, we need to talk."

"Um, ok, come in come in." Rarity holds the door and shuts it behind them. Twilight skips a breath out of surprise. The room is cluttered  with clothing articles that litter the entire room. The floor that was here is no longer visible, being replaced by multi-colored shirts that either have no neck hole or several extra holes for the wearer.

"Rarity, what happened?" Twilight asks, clearing a pile of clothes to sit on a couch.

"It's been, hard, in recent days. I've had so many orders requiring articles of clothes in memory of Sky that I've been struggling to get even one done, and if I do get it done then it's done wrong because I'd think I'm working on another order rather than that one. It's been, difficult to say the least." Twilight finally sits.

"I came over to talk with you about Sky actually. Are you aware that someone started the fire?" Rarity drops the needle that she is holding.

"Someone purposely killed her?"

"Yes. And I'm trying to find out who." Rarity walks over. "Have you heard about a cave to the right of the building that was burnt down?"

"Why of course, that's where I found my first diamond to decorate some of my first clothes, why?" Twilight starts pacing.

"I was there yesterday and I found something of interest." Rarity goes to talk but Twilight immediately cuts her off. "There were three diamonds in the cave. They weren't anything special, just three, simple, little, innocent diamonds." She walks up to Rarity. "In the shape of a certain cutie mark I know." Rarity processes this.

"W-wait darling, you're not accusing me of anything, are you?"

"I never said that, but you just did." Tension builds in the air.

"You can't be serious darling, I would, no, could never do such a thing. To take another living life? It's just, just-"

"Sensical?" Rarity gasps. "It would only make sense for you to burn it down, regardless of life. The building was selling clothes, albeit with other accessories, but still had a much better business than you. And it would be such a shame to loose business over a single family making a great living, so why not take out the competition?"

"I can not believe you Twilight Sparkle! Accusing one of your best friends of murder, I can not believe it! This is not how Princess Celestia taught you!" Rarity tenses up.

"And this isn't how I had hoped this conversation would go. You're guilty, admit it!"

"The only thing I am guilty of is being friends with a cynical vigilante!" Rarity uses her magic to throw kitchen supplies onto the ground. She throws a costume on Twilight and rushes out the door.

"Get back here!" Twilight yells, chasing after her. They run through the town, one chasing another, knocking over ponies and stands with items being sold on top of them. Twilight uses her magic to drop multiple barrels in front of Rarity, but Rarity just teleports to the other side. Twilight does the same, gaining ground slowly. They run to a cliff, stopping in their tracks. "Not guilty?! You are going to have a lot to answer for Rarity, a lot."

"I am innocent, you're chasing the wrong pony!"

"If you were innocent then I wouldn't have to chase you! Admit you killed Sky!"

"It wasn't me! It was-" she cuts herself off.

"What? Too afraid to admit it?"

"N-no, it's just, it wasn't me!" She kicks up dirt and begins to run. Twilight grabs her tail and pulls her to the ground. She blinks away the dirt but is bucked off and Rarity runs away.

"Wait, no!" Twilight looks around the area but to no avail. She sighs. Maybe Rarity really didn't do it, maybe she was framed. But why would anyone frame her?

"Twilight." Twilight turns and flinches. In front of her is Rainbow Dash, her coat different shades of blue and her mane almost completely black.

"Rainbow, you look awful. You should be-"

"I know who did it, and you just let them get away." Rainbow stands still, staring with cold, dead eyes.

"How do you know she did it? It could have been a pony that looked like her, or-"

"No, trust me, she did it. I saw her run away when I dropped to the ground, I tried calling to her but she just kept running. Her tail was partially burnt but I thought it was because she was too close to the building. I was wrong."

"And how do you know you were wrong?" Rainbow hands her a picture.

"This is the picture from the newspaper. Look in the bottom right corner." Twilight squints at the picture. There is a steady, small flame going to the right. Near it is a white blob with purple on top and behind it.

"I can't believe it. I've seen this picture a thousand times, but I never looked there before. She really did it."

"Yes, yes she did. But I can almost assure you she didn't work alone. Rarity doesn't have the backbone to just kill someone for biussness." Rainbow walks forward.

"Do you know who made her do it?"

"No, but I know how we can find out. How about we go serve some justice?"