Discolored

Twilight sighed. Another dead end. She had searched the entire clinic, and every twist, turn, and prolonged path led to nothing but darkness, silence, and a new disharmony to smell: mold. All around, the cracks of the tiles on the floor were black as night, while the white tiles glowed in the dark. They were the only way Twilight could tell where she was walking. Her hooves clip-clopped to the sounds of intense flickering from the broken fixtures above. She looked head on, defiant as can be. She was confident, despite the lack of employees and cleanliness, that her hunch was correct: Rarity was still here.

"Rarity!" she called, her voice echoing down the hollow beast.

Twilight's voice was the only reply.

Twilight's muzzle twitched. "It's five-thirty..." A pause. "There can't be no pony here."

She slowly walked down the path of doom.

I hope I'm right...

As she walked, Twilight imagined how Rarity would be in her hospital bed: alone, terrified, blood gushing from her hea--no, Rarity did not lose her horn. No, no, Rarity did not.

"Rarity!"

Twilight stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Another gauze... two--"

"I-Is anypony there?" Twilight shakily asked. She heard a new noise, her ears twitching in response.

"Leave the... she'll be..."

The alien sound made her ears stand upright. The eerie faintness of its voice had made her warm blood turn cold. Whoever it was was distressed about something; she could feel its intensity run through her veins. "Hello?"

"Rarity... condition!"

"Rarity?"

Down the hall, a door suddenly swung open. Twilight jolted as the door smacked against its frame before slowly creaking to a close with a loud click. It rung proudly in her ears.

At that moment, Twilight knew what she had to do.

She had to get into that room.

Light wore through the curtains. After Rarity's sudden outburst, Nurse Redheart had no idea what to do with the poor mare. Rarity's horn, fragmented by the illusion that magic had unlimited use, now had been worn at the tip to a calm crescent instead of a normal sharp cusp. She...

Nurse Redheart opened the door to Rarity's room with a kit in her maw. She sat it down beside Rarity's bedside, while she gazed at the aftermath of the operation: the dried blood stained her once loving coat, the stitches criss-crossed and met directly underneath her horn, which had not been damaged since her last outburst, and--are those tears?

She quietly watched her patient as small little droplets slowly slid down that now tarnished cheek. Those eyes were closed tightly, and her subtle whimpers did not help Redheart's own waters. They were going to flow soon, releasing that infection once again.

"Rarity..." Redheart's hoof slowly reached for a glove. "If only you knew what a spell could do to you."

A pin dropped and a sudden click made Redheart drop her sad sob story. She turned, less eloquently than a talk host, and spotted her co-worker towering above her. "Yes?"

It was Nurse Tenderheart, her third cousin twice removed. "Red..." A blue hoof swiveled onto Redheart's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." A tear trickled down her cheek. "I'm fine." Nurse Redheart wiped away the infection from her face. "It's just another day at the office, t-that's all." Shoot, I stuttered!

Tenderheart smirked. "So, mind telling me why you were crying?"

Redheart could feel her heart stop. "I..." She turned to Rarity. "See for yourself."

Tenderheart raised an eyebrow and passed by Redheart, leaving her to her emotionally charged thoughts. However, it wasn't long before Tenderheart understood the situation. Her once innocent, pristine blue cheek was matted with the liquid pain of seeing a shortened horn, a matching tear streak staining it for hours to come. "I-I see what you saw," she said, before leaving the room.

Redheart sighed. Another split, another disease. It was all the same. All the same, except for Rarity.

Twilight stood in front of the large oak door. It wasn't like all the other doors: a smaller brown door with an even smaller glass center. No, this door had no glass and only a small brass knob. It was free from the bark the other doors had and it wore a shiny copper plated sign that was directly on the center of it. The sign read "For Special Patients" in a light grey ink, which made Twilight promptly groan. Although Rarity was a bit dramatic, there was no reason to label her as special. Really? Special? A shiver raced down her spine. What type of cruel pony made sure to label them as special?

She took a deep breath and let herself be free from thought. With the confidence of many, she gripped the knob, turned it to the left, stepped back, and slowly opened the door. She carefully crept her head around the corner and saw the devastation that laid on the bed.

Or, for a lack of a better term, was on the bed.

"Rarity?"

Inside, a musky, abhorrent scent filled her nostrils. It made Twilight cough, and her nose tingle. "She's not here," she murmured, and took in the room's essence. Inside it was a grey fill, color being thrown into disarray. The grey sheets, pillows; even the small desk beside the bed was grey, yet, on the bed was something odd. Something different.

"What's this?" Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side. She carefully used her magic to get a better look at her discovery. Yet, it wasn't just one discovery. Two--no, three light blue diamonds levitated in a triangle in her purple aura, trapped in her grasp. She looked at them in awe, astounded by their glitter and chic. They looked real to the naked eye, but something felt off when she touched them. They were dull, cold, and lifeless.

Twilight gazed at the sheets and gasped. There, where she pulled the diamonds from, was blood. Red as can be. It appealed to her eyes. Yet, like the diamonds, there were only three little drops that tinted the sheets.

"What happened here?" Twilight said as she continued to search the immediate area. Not finding anything but grey, she turned towards the door. However, a ghostly feeling grazed her face, and shattered the fixture above her. Tiny bits of glass rained down upon her, making her gasp. She froze as the pieces cut her. She shielded her face with her hooves, blocking the one thing she did need: sight. Sight of what was in front of her.

Twilight slowly removed her hooves from her face, and when she looked at the door, she saw a pony who she knew well. Knew so much that the sight of her made her shriek in terror.

It was Rarity, eyes wide too.

"Rarity!"

She didn't react.

"Rarity?"

Not even a smidge.

"Rarity!"

She disappeared abruptly from Twilight's sight, but not forever; Twilight would remember that face of shock. It scared her, plagued her. She knew, right at that moment, that she'd be tossing and turning tonight.

Twilight quickly bolted out the room, her focus honed in on her brand new project.

Project: Find Rarity.