Sweetie Belle and the Mannequin

The faucet turning on in the middle of night sounded like a waterfall full of screaming fish. It's a strange phenomenon that things get louder when it's four in the morning, but Sweetie Belle didn't mind. In fact she didn't even notice. She lifted a glass out of the upper cabinet, knocking it against all the other glassware inside. After filling it with water she started walking back to her room, but a siren like voice caught her attention right before she reached the stairs.

"Sweeeeetie Belle," the voice whispered.

"Huh?" she almost instinctively said out loud. "Scootaloo?" Being curious as she is, she decided to investigate and walk into the main room of the Boutique, avoiding eye contact with the mannequins as the dim moonlight gave them an eerie and uncomfortable look.

"Scootaloo?" she asked again, "If it's you... Rarity doesn't want me sneaking out at night anymore." Sweetie Belle stopped with her back turned to one of the mannequins and looked around the shop.

"Sweeeeetie Belle," the voice whispered again. Although this time it sounded like it came from right behind her.

She jerked around quickly only to look at the blank face of the pony mannequin. She backed up, being slightly creeped out by the faceless pony. "Luna? Is this another dream?"

"You aren't dreaming, Sweetie Belle," the voice said, this time sounding much more like a normal pony's voice.

Sweetie Belle's eyes scanned the room from left to right. "Wh-who said that?"

"I did."

Sweetie Belle fixed her eyes on the mannequin. She didn't want the voice to be coming from the mannequin, but in the back of her mind she knew it was. "He-hello?"

"You can hear me?" the mannequin said back.

Sweetie Belle felt a little less afraid. "Yeah, I didn't know mannequins could talk."

"They don't," it replied back, "I've been trapped inside this mannequin for many years, and no one could hear my cries for help. But you can! You can free me!"

Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up and she dropped her drink. "I can! Hold on, Rarity has lots of scissors in her room. I can cut you out."

"Sweetie Belle no," it yelped just as she ran off.

She stopped at the base of the staircase. "Huh?" She walked back to the mannequin.

"I'm not literally trapped inside this mannequin," it explained, "Look, many, many years ago I was the owner of this Boutique when it was first built. But while tending to my dresses like your sister does now, a witch walked into my store. After not giving her all my gems she put a curse on me, and confined me to this mannequin... But you can free me, Sweetie Belle. I can finally be at peace."

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry that happened to you, Mr. Mannequin."

"Please, call me Quin."

An awkward silence followed the two. "So..." Sweetie Belle said, "how can I free you?"

"I need some ingredients for a spell..." Quin replied, "items that used to be in this house back when it was built by me and my husband."

"Ooh, that shouldn't be too hard, what are they?" Sweetie Belle asked hopefully.

"A book that used to hold all the names of the ponies who walked into this store, a green emerald given to me by my mother, my old wedding dress, some old silk fabric I received from overseas, and a golden crown I gave to my daughter."

Sweetie Belle stood there for a few seconds trying to process all the items. "Those are... oddly specific."

"They are," Quin continued, "but they're all very personal items, and they may be strong enough to pull me out of this prison."

"Oh, okay. We're bound to have some of those things in the old closet," Sweetie Belle said, quickly turning around and heading for the closet door.

"I don't think it will be that easy," Quin said depressingly, "Your sister is the element of generosity, no doubt she might have given away some of these items... unless, you steal them back."

A red flag shot up in Sweetie Belle's head as she opened the closet door. Come to think of it, this whole situation was a little shady. "Stealing?" she asked turning back around, "I don't think that's right."

"There's right and there's wrong, and somewhere in between there is life. You're the only one who can help me, Sweetie Belle."

Sweetie Belle walked back up to the mannequin and thought for a second. She was compromised, there was no guarantee that Rarity had given away all those items, but in reality she probably did. Stealing is always a terrible thing, but if she could convince the ponies to get the items back then it wouldn't necessarily be stealing.

Quin then interrupted Sweetie Belle's deep thought, "You know, Sweetie Belle... you and I aren't that different."

After hearing that Sweetie Belle let out a delayed, "Huh?"

"Yes, we're both the same color, we both live with Rarity, and we both have blank flanks."

Sweetie Belle looked back at her blank flank. "Huh, I guess we do."

"Of course... I might be able to change that," Quin said soothingly.

"You can change my color?"

"N-no Sweetie. But think about it, you're the only pony who has been able to hear me. You're the only one who can free me, almost like it's your-"

At that moment Sweetie Belle had a sudden realization, "my destiny!"

Quin continued, "And with destiny comes..."

"Responsibility?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"A cutiemark."

A short high pitched gasp came from Sweetie Belle. "If I free you I'll definitely get my cutiemark!" She started jumping up and down and inadvertently spilled her glass of water. "I'll go check the library for that old book right now!"

"Not now!" Quin shouted. Sweetie Belle immediately stopped bouncing. "Not tonight. Remember? Rarity doesn't want you to sneak out at night anymore."

"Oh yeah, right," Sweetie Belle said.

"Tomorrow after school," Quin said excitedly, "come talk to me then. I may have an idea on how to get the old sign-in book back."