Rainbow Dash grinned as she placed the last block of cloud into the walls of her newly made castle. This was gonna be so sweet! The girls were gonna be so proud, so awestruck! All of them would probably even fall in love with her! Dashing was her middle name, after all. Rainbow Dashing Dash. She thought for a moment, fluttering in place. No. That was lame. Rainbow Daring Dash sounded better. Yeah! Rainbow Daring Dash. Now that was a name to admire.
She laughed triumphantly, flying back a little bit and letting her eyes sparkle at her own work. The Rainbow Castle was in business, baby! A room for every pony's favorite things! You bet! Rainbow was loyal to her friends, wasn't she? Every pony needed their own room.
There was the critter corner for Fluttershy, containing a forest complete with wildlife and grass. Does anypony even know how hard it is to get grass to grow on a cloud? Really hard! Anyway, moving on.
There was even a dressmaking boutique for Rarity. The cloths were gathered from all over Equestria, bought from the best markets. Eh, might as well buy them all. I've already missed almost all of the birthday presents I was gonna get her. The jewels were fine, too; just not the finest. They did get a bit dinged up when Rainbow tossed 'em around for fun. But, what's a pony gotta do, you know?
Parties non-stop! Music blaring from bass-amplified subwoofers! Laser light shows and bumpin' punch! You know who this room is for, right? Twilight, of course! Ha. No. Just kidding. Pinkie's room was a gigantic conglomerate of streamers and lasers. The cake was alright, as Rainbow didn't want to spend too many bits on just a cake. It's not anypony's birthday or anything.
Applejack's room was complete with ingredient to all sorts of sweet treats! There was sugar, flour, pie tins, of course there would be apples of all kinds, even whipped cream! This bakery was stocked full of whatever Rainbow Dash could find in the grocery isle that was in any possible way related to bakery. It's not like Applejack would toss a can of tomato juice into a pie, would she?..... Would she? Rainbow smacked her snout with a hoof. She should've got the tomato juice just in case.
Twilight had her own room dedicated to books and magic and stuff. Blah, blah, blah. It was bad enough that Rainbow had to find somepony with the knowledge of magic, but to find a library's load worth of books? Dear Celestia! It took forever to find and bring up these books! I swear, it took maybe half the time of the construction of the Castle itself to do all of that book work! How does Twilight keep up with being a librarian and all? Can't the Daring Dash get a break?
Of course, Rainbow made her own room. The Dash needed a release of some sort after all of that construction, right? Her room of delight contained multiple training machines and all sorts of obstacle courses. A treadmill if she ever felt like using her hooves and even a fan-accelerator so she could fly in place. It took a good bit of planning to get all of the course arranged, but it was worth it in the end. It looked so cool!
Rainbow Dash trotted to one of the most ingenious parts of her castle; the Rainbow Factory. It was this little waste-basket, basically. But bigger. Maybe four times the size of a pony. But, if you tossed something in there, it destroyed it completely. But, the thing is, after the object was destroyed, a rainbow would appear from the side of the castle, the color that the object held illuminating quite noticeably. There were more factors to the color change, yes, but she couldn't explain it. Ask that old coot of a unicorn who helped her with Twilight's room and the Factory itself. He did all of the work. Besides the decor; that was all the Rainbow Daring Dash's doing.
Rainbow then grinned at her spectacle once more before taking off from her Rainbow Castle. The moment of truth was now! Time to see the look on those mares faces! Rainbow giggled. Little did she know, something crept in the shadows right next to her.
And it wanted her help. So to speak.
The flight seemed slow, but the intent to get to the current destination was true and steady. The balloon trailed behind Rainbow Dash as she flew at a leisurely pace. Everypony chattered and gossiped. Rarity discussed her new fashion line with Fluttershy while Applejack and Twilight Sparkle stared wide eyed at Pinkie Pie as she complained about having to use the little filly's room. Fluttershy happened to glance in the direction of their destination, and her eyes went wide. She gave a squeak of astonishment. "It's beautiful!"
The Rainbow Castle had many types of Spectra flowing from almost every crevice and tremor within its surface. The clouds seemed as if they were at the beginning stage of becoming a raincloud, however. Was it just that the weather was going to be a bit wonky later? Who knows. It was Spring, after all. Rain is to be expected. Everypony decided to shrug it off. Pinkie, however, in desperate need of self-relief squealed at the top of her lungs. "Hurryhurryhurry land this thing already I'm going to explode hurry hurry hurryhurrygogogogogogo!"
The balloon pulled up next to the cloud platform which led into the entrance of the Rainbow Castle. Pinkie bolted off behind a corner, leaving imprints on the light-grey cloud surface. Everypony looked at eachother as they heard a loud sigh of relief come from a certain pink pony around the corner. Pinkie came trotting back towards the group. "I'm fine now. Now, let's do this!" She screamed a cheer and pumped a hoof in the air. The other girls gave a slightly-less-enthusiastic cheer, but a cheer nonetheless.
Rainbow Dash led the posse in front of her latest construction and grinned. "Here it is! The Rainbow Factory!" The banner in front of the Rainbow Factory prominently displayed the name in clear, colorful letters. The girls blinked. Wasn't it the 'Rainbow Castle' not long ago? Oh well. Probably meant nothing.
Rainbow Dash laughed aloud, apparently very proud of her work. "There's a special place for all of you. Each is a surprise!" Her voice cracked as she cried the last statement, a grin visible on her otherwise emotionless face. "I'll bring each of you into your respective rooms when I've shown the others theirs. No particular order. Prolly just gonna pick all of you in a random order to show their rooms to." She whipped her rainbow mane out of her eyes to observe the elated looks of her friends, who immediately started to chat as they followed Rainbow.
Rainbow gave them a tour of the main lobby, showing them all of the different appliances and entertainment methods that were available to them until they were each introduced to their specified rooms. Each mare took to conversing and using the random electronics within the room. Pinkie Pie clicked all of the buttons on the microwave to see what would happen. Applejack looked around and noticed the redundant image of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark plastered on the cloud walls every now and again. Rarity had begun to groom her mane as usual; it did get a little dinged up on the flight here. Fluttershy sat on a nearby cushion, opening her book from earlier and letting the small blush play at her muzzle once again.
Twilight was about to open her novel when Rainbow Dash strode up and gave a mysterious grin. "Twilight! You're about to see something that you're gonna love! Your own personal Magic Study! You can study there, and... do magic! At the same time!"
Twilight's eyes sparkled immediately and she hopped up, novel forgotten on the cloud-floor. "Let's go! I can't wait!" Twilight followed after a certain rainbow Pegasus, grinning and waving back at all of the girls still in the lobby, who returned her wave with affectionate waves and smiles of their own.
---
Twilight was introduced into her room through a corridor filled with star-like curtains and dim lighting. Without the magical aura that seemed to fill the corridor, it would've seemed almost romantic. Rainbow pushed aside the final curtain, leading Twilight into her new Magic Study. The purple unicorn's eyes twinkled and she squealed in delight. She immediately began to examine the bookshelves packed full of Tomes and Spellbooks. Her hooves carried her to all of the magical items in the room, some of them amazing her just by a glance.
Perhaps the only thing that she didn't notice was that Rainbow Dash was gone.
Twilight was being completely and utterly absorbed into a tome on Illusionary Magic when she heard a noise. Her ear pricked. Was that a hoofstep? Probably just Rainbow Dash. Or something. She continued with her reading, lying down with the book open in front of her.
That's when it hit her.
A flash of light and a rushing sound greeted Twilight's eyes and ears, a splitting pain blasting through her right flank. Twilight instinctively swallowed and screeched, getting blasted back about a foot. Her eyes were hazy, but she was still fully cognizant of her surroundings. The tome of magic flew away from her, but that was the least of her worries. A weak Twilight Sparkle managed to lift her head and examine her flank where the stinging pain shot through her. Her eyes went wide and she screamed, flailing her limbs as she saw that her cutie mark had been ripped from her coat. The exposed flesh bled profusely, her bloody cutie mark close by. She got light-headed and nearly threw up from the sight. Her heart began to race as she began to search the room for the unknown assailant. She called weakly, "Hello? Who's there?"
A pompous giggle greeted her ears. "I ripped off your cutie mark and you still act polite in the face of danger? How droll. I was hoping you were going to try to put up a fight."
Twilight's eyes began to tear up as she felt the warm, sticky fluid travel down her hind leg. "I'm g-going to report you to the guards! And I'm going to f-find out who you are and g-get the Princess to put you in jail, p-permanently!" She tried to get back up, but her injured flank shot a pain as she stressed a nerve, causing her to scream in agony and fall over. She sobbed and crawled in no particular direction using her forehooves.
The high-strung, strict voice spoke in a familiar tone. "Twilight, Twilight! Where did your manners go? You were such a behaved little filly just a few moments ago."
Another swooshing sound played against Twilight's ears and another splitting pain blasted through her right flank, causing the purple unicorn to screech at the top of her lungs. After she squeezed her eyes shut, she let go of her bated breath, beginning to hyperventilate. Her vision grew more hazy. She went against her best judgement and looked again at her right flank.
What Twilight saw caused her to vomit unexpectedly, her wrenching causing the pain to split through her flank again. She screeched once her vomit stopped coming, collapsing into her own stomach acid. A large chunk of flesh was gone from her flank. It lay close by, bleeding buckets of blood itself, let alone the lakes of red liquid pouring from Twilight. Her head was spinning and she felt no more energy within any of her limbs. Her neck wrenched to look at her assailant.
Trixie?
Twilight's eyes poured tears and she let out a choking sob, flopping her head back into the vomit. Trixie trotted over, flipping her cape and grinning wide. "I've been wanting to do this for ages." The blue unicorn stepped over to the chunk of flesh, tapping it with a hoof. She giggled as it rolled a little towards Twilight. She continued to roll it until it rolled through Twilight's upchuck, covering it with her stomach product. Trixie grinned and moved the flesh chunk near Twilight's mouth. "Here comes the train, darling! Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, woo!" Trixie flipped her cape again as she pushed the flesh into Twilight's gasping mouth. Twilight vomited once again around the flesh ball, but that didn't spit it out. She breathed heavily through her nose, still trying to maintain at least her breath. But then, Trixie picked up Twilight's nearby cutie mark. Strings of flesh and muscle hung from its underside, making Trixie grin sadistically. The blue unicorn trotted back over to the slowly-dying Twilight, a mischievous look on her face. She slapped Twilight across the face as hard as she could with the underside of her own cutie mark, which didn't create much of a response from the delirious unicorn. Trixie frowned again. "Looks like somepony's getting sleepy."
Twilight's eyes poured tears, her eyes becoming red and raw. She looked up from her current position at Trixie, her mouth forced open by her own flank-flesh. The blue showsmare leaned down and held Twilight's cutie mark close. Trixie stared into Twilight's eyes. She grinned, and muttered, "Your eyes really are beautiful, you know." Then, the purple unicorn's own cutie mark was plastered tightly around her nostrils. Her eyes went wide, and she tried to breath through any access point at all. She tried chewing through her own flesh, which only brought a terrible ache in her jaw. The sparkle in her eyes ebbed, and she struggled valiantly using the last of the oxygen that the rest of her blood would give her.
Twilight Sparkle moaned through her own flesh, unable to keep her own dignity anymore. A pool of urine flowed around Twilight's dampened tail. Her heartbeat slowed to obey the laws of a stop sign. She looked up at the grinning Trixie, and let out one last tear.
Her heart beat for the last time.
A trapdoor in the ceiling flung open, and Rainbow Dash hovered inside the stench-filled Magic Study, her nostrils greeted by the reeking scent of blood and vomit. It was an almost welcome addition to her day so far, her grin betraying the dull glint in her eyes. She fluttered down, only glancing over at the showsmare nearby and giving a grunt of acknowledgement. "Uh, yeah. You can go now."
Trixie almost scoffed, glaring at the Pegasus with daggers in her expression. "Trixie just killed that ingrate, you fool. Where's Trixie's payment? You promised a payment for Trixie."
Rainbow Dash placed her mouth over Twilight's damp tail, absolutely soaked with blood and stomach acid. Rainbow's tongue sure didn't seem to mind, though. Dragging the violet unicorn through her own bodily fluids, Rainbow replied through matted tail, "Jussh shhut uph. It'ssh on duh phillur, on yerr lefft wen yeh leff owt duh baak door."
Pulling a hoof to her chest and almost flaunting her cape once again, Trixie stared at Rainbow Dash with an analytic eye. She adjusted her hat, turning her head slightly away. "Trixie doesn't recommend putting your mouth there... The poor filly urinated all over herself just before she died." A pompous giggle escaped her muzzle. "It was kind of funny, once Trixie mentions it."
Rainbow Dash rose a brow at the magician, her mouth still firmly gripping the tail of her unicorn friend. She spit it out for a quick second, laughing aloud and knocking Twilight's face with a hoof, knocking off the crusted and bloody cutie mark from her nostrils. "Your point?" She picked up the sparkled cutie mark and shoved it in her friend's mouth, slamming down the top of her jaw and creating a crude crunching sound. Rainbow Dash shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't want that thing to fall out in the body bag, now, do we?"
Trixie wrinkled her snout in disgust, raising a brow of her own and stepping back a pace. "Trixie may be a murderer, but she doesn't deface the dead." She then blinked, shrugging and adjusting her magician's hat again. She twirled her body around, trotting in the direction of the back door to the Magic Study, snatching a few magical items on her way there. "You know what? Nevermind. Trixie will just let you get on with your business... She has better things to do with her time." With a puff of synthetic smoke, Trixie made her so-called 'getaway', clearly visible through the smoke as she galloped through the door.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed in relief, roughly grabbing Twilight Sparkle's soaked mane and dragging her along the floor, creating a streak of blood and vomit in her path. The spots where the chunk of flesh and cutie mark landed were still visible, splatters of muscle and blood nearly covering each ground zero. The warm, red liquid poured from the unicorn's mouth, both from the ball of flesh and the newly broken jaw, fracturing the skull in the process. A hint of blood was leaking from her eyes, still wide open and quickly loosing its glint. Rainbow Dash grinned through her mane. To think; four more to go.
This was going to be fun.
Rainbow Dash lugged the dead student to the corner of the room, shoving open a secret door hidden in the wall. Chugging along with the bloody corpse, the stench of urine still clinging to it, Rainbow examined her surroundings. She couldn't be far now. Going down a poorly lit corridor, nonetheless having Rainbow's cutie mark painted crudely on the walls, she trudged through the bouncy cloud floor until she reached the doorway at the end. The cloud floor and walls were black and stormy. A hole occupied the middle of the room, which Rainbow Dash gleefully peeked down into. The Rainbow Factory. Pulling with her neck as well as her wings, Rainbow fluttered above the hole with Twilight Sparkle still in tow. Rainbow took one last look at her dead friend, and then giggled sadistically, dropping the body like a stone.
Thump.
---
Rarity fiddled with a curl of her hair, examining it in a mirror provided by the many bits and bobs of the waiting room. Her lips were posed into a pout. Why was Twilight first? Well, save the best for last, as they say. Rarity looked on as Rainbow Dash strode into the room, looking spic and span. Did she just take a bath? Oh, wow! That scent is heavenly! Is she using some sort of conditioner? Her mane looks absolutely ravishing!
Rarity almost didn't notice the rainbow Pegasus when her name was called.
"...ity! Rarity, you're up!"
Rarity snapped out of her daze. Quickly but carefully setting down the mirror, she let out an excited squeal, even if still mellifluous. Trotting over delicately and calmly, she took her place beside Rainbow Dash, her eyes sparkling. In a long and soft call, she waved and said her goodbyes to each of her friends still in the waiting room. Pinkie only responded by typing a silly sentence on the computer, making the synthetic voice speak it out to her. Rarity's face wrenched a little, but she said a magnanimous goodbye, no matter how weird Pinkie could get. Everypony else seemed to be staring in awe out the window, a beautiful rainbow spreading across the sky.
The violet was especially vivid. So was the red.
And, finally, she followed Rainbow Dash into one of the six corridors.
---
Rarity gazed about her in awe. She quickly zipped around looking at the razor-sharp scissors and luxurious silk spread about the room. Her eyes drifted to a nearby sewing machine, those azure irises sparkling with the clarity of a diamond. She zipped over to each bin filled with cloths and gems, mixing and matching the clean materials with an examining eye. Perhaps the only thing she didn't notice in the mirror was that Rainbow Dash was missing from the room.
With a glance around her worktable and another examining tap with a hoof on the mirrors, she continued her mixing and matching, taking her time with pairing up the gems and fabric as well as the spools of differently colored threads to feed into the sewing machine. Dragging a mannequin over to her workspace using a telekinetic grasp, she briefly marveled in the sparkling of her own working and quickly got a hold of herself as she slapped some colors onto the mannequin's side, observing how it would clash with certain body types.
Scritch-a, scritch-a.
Rarity perked her ears. What was that sound?.. Maybe it was Rainbow Dash fooling around with a shelf or something. The side of Rarity's muzzle twitched and she instinctively frowned. The pristine mare almost felt like telling off the rainbow Pegasus for messing with the supplies, but she quickly caught herself. Rarity was the guest here; not Rainbow Dash. This, in essence, was Rainbow's home. Or, hotel. Or establishment. Whichever it was. Rarity gave a light sigh, continuing her work. At least the noise had stopped.
Strich-a, scratch-a.
There it was again! Rarity whipped her head around, searching the room for the source of the noise. Everything seemed clean; nothing out of place. Except for one thing... Where did Rainbow Dash go? Probably to go see the other girls to their specified rooms. Oh well, it's only fair for the poor fillies! They must be absolutely dying to see their specialized rooms! She grinned, and turned back to her desk, taking a particular interest in a cobalt sapphire. It had a certain sparkle that looked just absolutely adorable on this one piece of silk...
Thump. Scritchascritch.
Rarity jumped at the sound of the sudden scrabbling noises as well as the loud thump. Something wasn't right here. Turning around slowly, she again searched the room around her for any disturbance. Her face was one of concern. A prominent, yet careful call came from her lips. "H-hello? Is anypony there?"
Oh, wow. She sounded like such a damsel. She pouted. None of that nonsense today. This was her special day. She didn't want anypony messing it up.
"Excuse me. Who's there? I'd kindly like to know."
Rarity waited for a response. To her dislike, there came no response. Looking back once more at the workspace she had created, she sighed, shrugged, and stepped away from it for a moment, a serious expression on her face. "Show yourself!"
Scritch.
There it was again! Rarity's heart jumped as she had swung her whole body around to confront the noise, her tail swishing into an almost full 360. Her mane bounced back into place as she hastily searched around.
Swisha scritcha!
A flash of white. Was that who she thought it was?
It was!
Rarity nearly cooed her delight. "Oh, Opalescence! Get over here, you nearly scared mommy to death!"
The white cat didn't respond immediately, her telltale frown getting the best of the like-colored Unicorn. A brow half-rose on Rarity's forehead. "Opal, are you okay? You seem a little out of it." She giggled slightly and leaned forward a tiny bit to make a kissy face, reminding one of being almost duck-like. "Did Rainbow Dash fly too fast for you? Oh, I'll have to talk to that filly later to take better care of my pets, I'll promise you that!" Which was, in fact, the truth. If that Pegasus had injured her cat in any way, she was going to get the once-over!
A hiss, a swipe.
Rarity screeched and doubled back, holding a hoof to her face and crying in pain. Slamming her haunches down onto the ground to gain herself some support, she clenched her eyes shut and let tears seep through her eyelids. Taking her hoof from her face, she dared to open her eyes.
Blood!
Rarity squealed and immediately put the hoof back to her muzzle. Her eyes seethed with rage, but she slowly calmed herself. It's not like Opal hadn't injured her before. This was normal.
... But, she normally didn't draw this much blood... How curious.
Taking deep breaths and waiting for the pain to die down, her face took more of a grimacing smile than a scolding frown. "Now, Opal, we don't scratch other pony's faces. It's not nice. In the slightest. Remember when you'd chopped some of Sweetie's mane off?"
Opalescence's face stayed emotionless. Well, cats will be cats. Rarity sighed.
She flipped her hair and rubbed her face once more, glad to find she wasn't bleeding as profusely as before. It still stung, but, what can you do? A dab of hydrogen peroxide, a couple of bandages and it'll be good as new.
Her worktable was still as neat as she had left it, which received a sigh of relief on Rarity's part. She put a hoof to her chest. Every day has their ups and downs.
Trotting back to the workspace, Rarity rolled her neck back and lightly rubbed on the stinging cuts on her face, wondering how the rest of the girls were doing.
A cat's howl met her ears as Rarity fiddled with a piece of fabric for a few moments. Whipping around, she found Opalescence to be flying through the air at her.
It was too late.
The cat latched onto Rarity's face, making the modiste yelp in surprise. A tearing and burning feeling filled her muzzle and cheeks as the cat scratched up her features, tearing deep gouges and ripping the muscles. Rarity gasped and screeched, pounding at Opalescence with a hoof and tearing her off quickly, throwing her half-across the room with a new-found force. She started to hyperventilate, putting both hooves on her face and taking them off, immediately wanting to see the results.
Blood. Everywhere.
Her hooves were covered in the red, sticky goo. It was dripping onto the floor. It drizzled down her chin and onto her chest, staining her pure white coat. The searing pain radiating to the rest of her body was the least of her worries.
She was permanently ugly!
Her face was scratched, gouged, torn. Bits of her skin hung off. Thankfully, her eyes were still intact, not a scratch on them. But, the forehead above them was less fortunate as it dripped the red liquids down into her eyes. Another scream escaped her throat as she gripped her face, collapsing onto the ground and bursting into tears. The pain racked her brain, making her thoughts almost incomprehensible to herself. She lay on the ground, bleeding from her face and shuddering in both pain and misery.
Another cat's howl.
Rarity couldn't bring herself to look up at the cat as she came flying this time. She knew what was next on the agenda.
Opalescence landed on her back, digging her claws into her side. Rarity screamed yet again, feeling herself to be a little redundant, even within the situation at hand. The cat traversed Rarity's torso, plunging her claws into the mare's body at every chance she got. And then she was at Rarity's stomach area, just above her delicates.
Rarity's eyes widened as she looked at her cat, who seemed to grin back at her. She rose a claw and traced it all the way up the base of Rarity's rib cage, which made the white Unicorn cry in realization of what was about to happen. She begged, she pleaded. Her blubbers were incoherent, sent out in such a flurry that it was saddening to hear in the first place.
And then, it happened.
Rarity screeched. The cat's claw dipped into Rarity's skin, tearing the flesh and getting through the muscle. And then, Opalescence dragged down with her claw. Rarity went delirious with pain.
The blood poured everywhere. Stabs were all over Rarity's body, as well as the now-gaping hole in her stomach area.
She was still awake.
The cat climbed into Rarity, making her gasp, which wasn't very well appreciated since there was less space for her lungs to breath. Breath caught in her throat. She screamed in half pain, half confusion. Her blood-flooded eyes cried red tears of absolute misery. She watched on in terror and hopelessness with her hazy, red gaze as Opalescence proceeded to remove the organs from her body, first coming the stomach, then the intestines, which snapped with a loud 'tsh' as the blood filled her body.
The white Unicorn tried to breath, only receiving blood in her lungs, from both her nostrils sucking it in from her facial lesions and the organs making her bleed internally.
Before she knew it, she heard another 'thump'. Opalescence pushed the sewing machine off of the table, making sure it was still connected. It took about five seconds to work out what her devilish cat planned for her next.
She would've gasped if she had the room in her lungs.
Her cat was going to sew her up.
Rarity let out heavy breaths as the cat, with surprising strength, brought over the sewing machine and placed it between her hind legs, on the inner parts of her thighs, where her most precious lay. Rarity stared at her cat with those azure eyes, now turned purple by the blood coursing through them.
And then, she laughed.
Rarity began to laugh.
Her short breath made her laughter quiet and unbearable, splutters and blood flying from her muzzle. Irony coursed through her veins.
If she was going to die, she was going to die laughing.
For once, not being serious in her life.
Opalescence turned on the sewing machine grinning at her mistress, who was still laughing the rest of her breath away. She held a hoof to her chest, and couldn't help but splutter one last phrase. "Opal... Opalescence, heh.. I'll.. I'll sure make one... I'll make a dress to die for... won't I, Opa... Opal?"
A wheezing cough followed afterwards, and a loud groan after that. The sewing machine moved closer to her nether regions, Rarity's gaze unmovable.
Vzzzzzzz. The noise Rarity was most familiar with.
Now becoming her demise.
Charming.
It started between her thighs, sewing the two sides of her body with a crunch. Her tailbone snapped and her pelvis came next. Blood flew from the punctures made by the sewing machine, seeping through the threads. As it made it's way up, the stitching made it's way to the beginning of the feline's own work, the hole that had been opened only minutes ago. Opal made sure to place the sides back together, entrails and organs still laying to the side of her body and getting sewn through the middle as Rarity was stitched back up together.
Crunch. Her spine, broken, shattered.
Rarity couldn't breath. Her heart stopped beating. She was sewn from the front to back.
More red tears flowed from her eyes.
She'd miss her friends more than anything in this world.
The sewing machine veered to the right. It had punctured her heart.
Rarity's eyes lost their twinkle, those azure blue irises never to look another pony in the eye again.
Her mouth hung open, blood pouring from her face and every crevice imaginable.
She moaned and twitched a hind leg. Her tail and mane were covered in the sticky red fluids that came from her body. The mascara was long gone, replaced by bloody red streaks flowing from her eyes. Shreds of muscle and organ tissue lay around her, some near her face and a few jutting from the new stitches. A few of her broken bones jutted out from her skin, also bleeding profusely and severely distorting her body shape. Fabric and gems lay all around, all of them blood red, regardless of what color they were before.
The Element of Generosity then let out her last piece of bated breath.
Rarity was no more.
A figure watched from the shadows. The ascend began as a slow crawl from the corner of a barricade in the Rainbow Castle. A strange creature, this thing was. He almost looked like some sort of imp. His claws slid out, razor sharp. The material was almost that of an eagle's talon. The tips of them glowed a radioactive green, dripping some sort of fluid that burned cloud as it landed. His tiny bat-like wings carried him stealthily through the air, allowing him to soar above the currently-stagnant Pegasus with ease. His slimy, fish-like lips curled back to reveal large, yellow, dripping fangs. He dropped slowly but surely, hovering right above Rainbow Dash. It was time to strike.
The imp-like creature stretched out his large talons. Rainbow Dash heard a small clip of keratin fibers clinking, as if somepony tapped their hooves together. She whipped her head around, but it was too late. The creature thrust its hand at Rainbow Dash's neck, receiving a rather displeased noise come from the Pegasus' throat. Her eyes turned wide as she stared the creature right in its tiny, dilated eyeballs. Her instinct was to plead for her life, but she couldn't speak, let alone breath in her current predicament. Her wings went limp, but the creature held her in the air effortlessly. Its hands began to tighten around her neck, creating a gurgling noise which traveled from her lungs. Then, the creature adjusted its hands and plunged the talons into her neck. Rainbow cried in pain, squeezing her eyes shut as the talons dug deeper and deeper into her throat. Blood gushed from her wounds, small strings of her muscle beginning to squeeze out. And then, her eyes lost their sparkle, and she went limp.
The imp giggled a maniacal chortle, tossing the Pegasus towards the cloud palace. Its job was done. It chortled one last time, zooming back into its place in the shadows.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her head, shaking her mane around and tenderly feeling her sore neck. Was she stabbed in ten places at once? In the neck? No matter.
Her friends had something very similar in mind for them.
Rainbow Dash grinned. Her purple eyes lost their sparkle. Her expression hardened into one of no regret. A face of no remorse. A face of no loyalty. Her wings picked her up, blasting her back into the air. She turned tail to take off back to the Rainbow Castle. Her wings became a blur, a rainbow trailing behind her. She had some 'renovations' to do.
---
"And then, as Daring Doo placed her hat back onto her head, she heard a deep rumble. A turn of her head is what saved her from the horrible fate of a rolling boulder. She began to dash in the direction of the entrance, Atrenia's Horseshoe rattling in her saddlebag. Freedom was in sight. She was about to slide outside the slowly shutting entrance when..."
A knock at the door. Twilight Sparkle blinked and wrenched her head back to look at the window. Was that Rainbow Dash? Twilight got up from her sitting position, dropping the book gingerly on the table, receiving an exasperated groan from the baby dragon she was reading the book to. "Hurry, Twilight! I want to know what happens to Daring Doo!"
Twilight giggled and waved a hoof at him. "Be patient! You can wait for your Daring Doo until I answer the door." Spike crossed his arms stubbornly, provoking Twilight to giggle, putting a hoof to her snout. "That's what I thought. Now wait there." Twilight trotted to the door, opening it with a bit of her magic and grinning at the rainbow Pegasus in front of her. "Hey, Rainbow! What can I do for you?"
Rainbow Dash grinned and tilted her head, nodding. "Hey, Twilight! I just wanted to tell you that I finally finished the Rainbow Castle and you should come check it out! I'll bring everypony there! Just meet all of the others below my house in thirty minutes. I'm sure they'll all be there!" Before Twilight could even respond, Rainbow Dash waved and said, "See you there!" She blasted off, a trail of rainbow greeting Twilight as she blinked.
Twilight grinned. The Rainbow Castle! Rainbow Dash had been building this for months! Almost a year, even! It has bound to be good! No, not good. Fun! Exciting! Excellent! Stupendous! Perfect! It has bound to be perfect! Twilight giddily clapped her forehooves together, dashing back to the Daring Doo book and shoving it into Spike's possession. He rose a brow at Twilight as she bolted out the door, leaving a quickly scribbled note on the floor. Spike shrugged and said to himself, "Silence is a virtue." He opened the book where Twilight left off, and kept reading.
---
Within the thirty minute mark, Twilight Sparkle had set up a picnic blanket under Rainbow Dash's cloud house, thankfully not forgetting a book as she waited. Pinkie Pie bounced around, finishing a cupcake that she balanced on her nose as she flipped it upside down every now and again. Applejack snacked on an apple fritter as she sat on the picnic blanket, observing everypony. Rarity sat on the blanket as well, observing herself in a small mirror as she pulled the imperfections out of her hair with a brush. Fluttershy sat besides Twilight, reading from a book as well, but not the type of fiction Twilight read. It was more of a romance; it sure explained the slight blush that played across Fluttershy's muzzle ever so slightly.
Rainbow Dash zoomed towards the five mares, Twilight's balloon trailing close behind her. Her expressionless eyes observed all of the ponies, nodding in approval. "So, is everypony ready to have some fun!?" All of the ponies cheered in glee, except for the shy yellow Pegasus, who gave more a mewl than a cheer and the refined white Unicorn who gave more of an applause than a cheer. Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. "Hey. You guys will have to walk on clouds. Could you cast that spell that makes non-Pegasi able to do that?"
Twilight Sparkle shrugged, and could only comply. Casting the spell on every pony, which took quite a lot of energy and time, she muttered, "This 'Rainbow Castle better be as awesome as you're saying it is." The end time of the spell casting was about two minutes in total, which means it took around forty seconds for every non-Pegasus pony to get enchanted.
Pinkie Pie blinked and wiggled around, suddenly bursting into a laughing fit and falling onto the grass next to the picnic blanket. "Pff, Twilight, take this spell off of me it tickles so much oh my gosh no hahahaha! IT TICKLES, NOOOOOOO! DEAR CELESTIAAAHAHAHAAAA..." Pinkie trailed off, breathing heavily. She then got up with a zip and bounce of her hair, grinning wide. "It's gone! Let's go, everypony!"
Applejack and Rarity stared at Pinkie as they all stepped into the balloon. Fluttershy took a liking to a corner of the balloon carriage and decided to sit there. Twilight shook her head as she helped a giggling Pinkie bounce into the balloon. Rainbow Dash adjusted the harness, and gave a mischievous grin to the group of mares. "First and only stop, The Rainbow Castle!"
The rainbow Pegasus chuckled and muttered under her breath, "And no return flights are available."