Insanity

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, with clear blue skies and perfect weather. A young blue unicorn was walking down the street, balancing two mannequins as well as four rolls of cloth and a bag of accessories. She was headed towards Carousel Boutique, home of the famous fashion designer Rarity, whom was know all throughout Canterlot and other fashionable cites. Despite the warm weather, the mare appeared to be shivering, and seemed nervous as she approached the boutique. All feelings of unease disappeared entirely when the door opened to reveal Rarity, and so the mare immediately relaxed.

"Oh Clairessa! How are you today?" Rarity asked.

"Umm, fine Rarity." Clairessa said in an almost Fluttershy-like fashion.

"Are these the new designs?"

"Uh, yea. I finished them last night, and got some new mannequins, and... stuff."

"You know you can use my mannequins dear. You don't have to buy them all the time. Why, I don't even pay you!"

It was true. Rarity had never paid Clairessa for any of the work she had done, or shared any of the profits with her. She had refused to take any of Rarity's money, and that was that. How she made a living was unknown.

"Well, um, here."

Clairessa handed Rarity her sketchbook, filled with many intricate drawings of dresses for their line.

"I-I'd better g-go now." Clairessa stuttered.

"Why don't you stay for some tea?"

"I-I don't f-feel that, um, great."

"Oh, alright. You'd better go then. A pony wouldn't want to fall ill!"

"O-okay. Bye, R-rarity."

As Clairessa trotted off, Rarity noted how much thinner she looked.

A slight breeze had begun, and it lazily drifted past Clairessa and through her mane, making small strands of it float up and out of her braid. For a moment, it seemed to calm her. She let out a deep sigh, and kept on walking. Only a yard or so from the outside of town though, Clairessa found herself face-to-face with a crowd of ponies. Her hooves slowed and she suddenly felt the coarse gravel underneath them. The breeze now seemed cold, sharp. The picture dulled, and the ponies' faces blurred and merged together. Wails of despair filled Clairessa’s ears, and drowned out all her other thoughts. She was drowning in an abyss of darkness...

"Claire?"

The voice, which came from a pale gray pegasus, jerked Clairessa back into the real world with a snap. Yellow, unfocused eyes peered down on her, but not too close to feel threatening. Apparently, Clairessa found them intimidating all the less. She cowered, and the fear radiating off her was so strong one could not help but feel sorry for her.

"I-I hurt them..." she wailed softly.

"It's okay Clairessa. Calm down." The gray mare said soothingly.

"Nooo..." Claire moaned painfully.

The look in her eyes was crazed, distant. Almost instantaneously, the pegasus knew what was wrong, and she pet Clairessa's head softly with a gentle hoof. Slowly, the pony beneath her stopped convulsing and her breathing slowed. Nevertheless, Claire's eyes could not focus on the gray mare's yellow ones. When both pairs of eyes met, the blue ones were still iced over with complete terror.

“Are you alright Claire?” the gray Pegasus asked with a concerned tone.

“I’m o-okay Derpy,” Clairessa stuttered.

“Come on, get up.”

As Clairessa slowly climbed to her hooves, Derpy looked around. A few ponies were staring at them quizzically, but other than that, nopony else had bothered to notice Claire’s spell. What they were all gathered in a crowd for, Derpy was uncertain. Deciding that it was not essential for her to find out, Derpy continued to help Clairessa.

“It happened again, didn’t it?”

What a silly question. Derpy Hooves knew exactly what had happened, but she just refused to believe it.

“Yeah,” Claire shifted under Derpy’s gaze. “Can we, um, go now?”

Sensing her friend's utter embarrassment, Derpy Hooves put her hoof on Clairessa's shoulder.

“Of course. Let’s go now, before the ponies start breaking up and wandering around, ok?”

As Derpy and Claire left the town of colorful cottages, the same breeze whispered past them. This time, it made Clairessa shiver.

A knock on the wooden door of the tree house cottage alerted a green unicorn to the arrival of Clairessa and Derpy. Looking up from her work, the unicorn mare raced to the faded cottage door, rattling the wooden floorboards. Swinging open the door, the orange-eyed mare panted.

“Clairessa?”

The mare in question was slumped against Derpy’s side, blue eyes focused on the floor.

“Hey, come on, let’s get to your room now,” the green unicorn gently lifted Clairessa from Derpy’s side with her orange telekinesis. The blue hooves that belonged to Claire began to move slowly, and she shuffled to her room supported by the unicorn’s magic. The floor beneath both pairs of hooves was squeaky and covered with an inch of dust. Patches in the roof were merely thatch, and broken glass littered the short corridor. At the end, there were only two doors. One with peeling white paint, and one made just of bare oak wood.

Entering the oak door, the green unicorn slowly and carefully helped Clairessa into a plush, white canopy bed. Although the bed was intact, the rest of the room was in shreds.

Glass littered the floor under windows, torn bed sheets were thrown about everywhere, and the only chair in the room was stained and dirty. Every other piece of furniture was scarred with hoof-marks. Looking back on the room before closing the door, the green unicorn was filled with disgust. Clairessa didn't deserve this... she would come clean up later.

Entering the hallway again, the green mare made her way to the main room of the sad-looking cottage. Derpy Hooves was waiting for her on a stained turquoise couch, worried but not out of place. They had gone through this before, and the procedure was nothing new to them. The green mare just wished it was.

"Pitch?"

Pitch sighed. It was time to talk.