Warmth and silence filled the dusty storeroom. Shafts of light peaked in from the cracks outlining the wooden door. Aside from that all was darkness. A musty, cloying sent filled the air, somewhere between mothballs and clean linen. The whispers approached from a distance, just on the edge of hearing, high and a little fearful. The scant light from just outside the door was suddenly blocked, plunging the storeroom into an impenetrable gloom. If anypony had been inside, they would have been blind, but their ears would’ve heard the following.
“Don’t be a chicken Sweetie Belle. This is a great idea and you know it,” whispered one voice. “Besides, you said this is where she puts the stuff she’s not using. Rarity will never miss one or two things and even if she did we’ll have them back before she notices!”
“Keep yer voice down Scoots,” came another voice, slightly less brave. “Ah might agree that this is the best way fer us ta practice, but Ah don’t want to get caught anymore than Sweetie Belle does. Rarity can get awful mad in a polite, but firm kinda way, if'n ya know what Ah mean.” There was a sound as the latch on the door was turned and it slowly swung open with a soft creak. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, better known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, stood outlined by the light of a single bare bulb. Their large eyes grew wider as they tried to adjust to the shadows in the storeroom. “Land sakes...Ah really don’t think she’ll miss one of these, ya’ll. Ah’m not sure she’d miss fifty...”
They glowed gently, white under the illumination of the bright bulb, motes of dust dancing between them as the three fillies stepped into the storeroom. Crammed from floor to ceiling, Rarity’s dressmaking dolls and mannequins were piled one upon the other. Some were arraigned in almost military fashion where others were just strewn about the place in various states of assembly, mere torsos with bits and pieces scattered here and there. A shelf of heads stared eyeless at the trio as they edged into the room, when without warning, Scootaloo tripped against a box full of legs and gave a little scream that Sweetie Belle quickly muffled with her hoof.
“You promised you’d be quiet!” Sweetie admonished the orange pegasus with big teary eyes. “I’m always getting in trouble for borrowing things without permission. The only reason I agreed to this is because you said we’d be quiet and we’d only borrow them for a little while. Well you’re already breaking your first promise...are you going to break the other one too?” She lowered her hoof so the other filly could speak. Scootaloo gave her friend a reproachful look.
“I was just a little startled, that’s all. Lets grab what we came for and get back to the tree fort. We’ll be in and out of here in two shakes of a foals tail, and trust me, Rarity will never know.” Mollified, Sweetie Belle helped Scootaloo pick up one of the mannequin’s while Applebloom gathered up a few odds and ends of old fabric, string, and boxes. Then, quiet as they came, they left the store room shutting the door as silently as possible as they left with their prizes.
“We’re gonna get our cutie marks for sure this time!” said Scootaloo.
“Shhhh!” hushed the others almost immediately.
With practiced precision, Sweetie Belle raised the straight razor with a flourish. Giggling manically, she went about her work, giving her customer the fastest and closest shave that the pony had ever had. Unfortunately the stack of boxes she was standing on to do this wobbled, and without warning, she fell hard on the rough wooden planks beneath her. Her prop razor landed in the mud in front of the makeshift stage. “Cut, cut, cut! Scootaloo, Ah told ya ta make sure that Sweetie Todd could reach the mannequin’s face without fallin’ down! Didn’t you check to make sure those boxes were secure after you piled them up!?”
The sun was shining brightly through the multicolored leaves. A chill autumn breeze tempered the warmth of the sun and played with the curtains around the stage that the cutie mark crusaders had erected for practicing for their upcoming show. “We don’t want this ta be like the talent show all over again!” cried Applebloom, helping Sweetie Bell off the floor. “If we’re goin’ to do ‘Sweetie Todd, the Demon Barber of Trottingham’, we need ta take this seriously!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s not my fault she’s so clumsy. If you’d let me play Sweetie Todd I wouldn’t fall down.” Said Scootaloo as she gathered up the fallen boxes and cleaned off the prop razor. Applebloom gave her a hard look.
“Not this again!” she sighed,”Ah done told ya once Scootaloo, you can’t play the lead character. She has to sing! Ah don’t mean to be rude, but ya sound like a parakeet gettin run over by a tractor when you so much as hum a few bars. Sweetie Belle is the best suited for this part of the production. Ah’m already letting ya play practically half of the rest of the cast! Next you’ll be tellin' me ya want ta be a victim too!”
“Well you can at least let me handle the special effects! I’m getting bored watching Sweetie Belle just sauntering around singing about how depressed and angry she is and pretending to cut these dolls throats.”
“Fine. If it will make you happy. But make sure it’s safe for Sweetie Belle!” The shouting match done for now, Sweetie Belle dusted off her costume. She’d made it herself, along with all of the other outfits they planned on using in the play. They were a bit rough, but a huge improvement over their outfits she'd designed for the school talent show. She hadn’t intended to have the lead role though, and the thought of all of those ponies from her school watching her on stage had frightened her out of her wits! That’s why they had gathered up some of Rarity’s dress making dolls to serve as a stand in audience and also to play the role of Sweetie Todd’s victims.
That they were performing this particular play had actually been Scootaloo’s idea. She had been hanging out with Pipsqueak, the new colt who’d moved to Ponyville not that long ago, and the two had gotten to talking excitedly about plays that were popular in Trottingham. Neither Applebloom, nor Sweetie Belle, had heard of Sweetie Tood before. But when they had listened to the plot as described by the orange pegaus, they had instantly agreed that it would be a lot of fun to give a try. It was a little more violent than the kind of plays Sweetie Belle had been in before, but that had made it all the more thrilling. A real adult production, none of that silly filly and foal stuff, was just the thing to finally shrug off their childhood and get their cutie marks!. What a cutie mark for being a Manehatten starlet might look like none of them could guess, but it would have to be a grand thing indeed. Or at least that was the going theory.
Slowly, the sun was sinking down in the western sky. Their shadows were growing longer and they wouldn’t have much more daylight left to practice if they didn’t get back to it soon. “Alright, lets try the same scene again. Sweetie Belle, Ah need ya ta really get in there with the razor this time, yer gonna need to sell to the audience that yer cuttin’ this ponies throat...even if it is just a doll.” She said giggling to dispel the discomfort brought on by her own words. Scootaloo gave the filly back her straight razor and helped her on top of her pile of boxes. With a quick ‘break a leg’ the orange flier skipped off stage smiling.
The infamous Sweetie Todd drew up to her full imposing height. “A shave guvna’? Why to be sure! It will be the closest shave ye have ever had, I'll warrant!” Flourishing the blade with practiced precision, the mad eyed barber brought the blade across her victims throat. As the razor bit deep into its white flesh a massive shower of blood spurts from the wound, splattering a squealing Applebloom and startling Sweetie Belle so bad she fell on top of the dress makers doll. Her all too sharp razor cut deep into the prop, but thankfully not into the little unicorn as both landed in the mud at the edge of the stage. On the side of the stage, Scootaloo was rolling in the grass laughing her tail off.
“Oh that’s priceless! I can see why Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are doing this kind of stuff all the time now! You should see the looks on your faces!” The pegasus smiled at her friends, tears of laughter in her eyes. When she saw the hurt look on her friends faces though, her smile fell. “Hey, come on guys, laugh. It’s just a few fake blood packets, I thought it would be cool if we could use them in the actual play...and you did say I could be in charge of special effects.” Applebloom glared at Scootaloo.
“Ah meant like wind and lightning! Just look at Rarity’s doll, it’s ruined! It’s covered in mud and fake blood and... you gave Sweetie Belle a real knife! Without telling her! Do you realize how bad she coulda hurt herself or somepony else!?” The two filly’s began to fight one another, rolling around in a cloud of dust as they tussled. Meanwhile Sweetie Belle tried to suppress tears as she looked over the ragged thing her sisters mannequin had become. She was shocked that the knife had cut clean through the wood underneath...either it had been very sharp or the wood was much softer than she would have thought it would be. Trying to pick up the doll so she could get a better look at the damage, the head rolled off. Looking into the stump of the broken dolls neck, the unicorn nearly fainted. Instead she screamed.
Her friends stopped fighting each other, panting, as they heard their friends wail. Putting aside their momentary tiff, they came quickly to see what was wrong. “What’s the matter?”
“Th-th-the head! It fell off and...and...” the pink and purple haired filly was paler than usual. When her friends took a closer look at the dress makers doll, they saw why. Grey shriveled meat and tendons, and what could only be bone, poked out of the dolls neck. The burst blood packet that had been hidden beneath the material were the only color besides the stark whites and pale greys, but it still looked like blood was seeping from the horrible wound in a very real ponies neck. The smell was like old mothballs and something else...something spicy sweet and cloying that none of the filly’s had ever smelled before. Formaldehyde.
“Scootaloo, if this is another part of yer prank, you are one sick little pony.” said Applebloom, unable to tear her eyes away.
“Hey, I had nothing to do with this I swear! Maybe Rainbow or Pinkie did this but not me!” Scootaloo tried to look anywhere but down the half collapsed esophagus. The gaping hole would haunt her dreams for weeks.
“Bu-but...look...the stitching is only frayed where Scoots slipped in her blood packet. It...it almost looks like the fabric was sown around the...the...” Sweetie Belle was too shaken to finish her though.
With wide eyes, Scootaloo went over to the mannequin’s head, still in the dirt. Carefully she peeled away the fabric. Beneath the soft felt, stiff grey muscles glistened in the dying light of the day. The severed head looked up at the trio of fillies with empty sockets, its lips drawn back from black gums and yellowed teeth in an absurdly broad grin. All three girls screamed and shrank back from the severed head. “Who would make a doll out of a dead pony!?” squealed Sweetie Belle. As they trembled together in the gathering twilight, the trio looked one to the other for answers, but none were forthcoming.
“Where...where does yer sister get these from? Maybe there was a mistake down at the factory wherever these are produced or...or something?” asked Applebloom.
Sweetie Belle just shook her head and replied,“I don’t know...I never thought to ask!”
“Well one things for sure,” said Scootaloo, stepping towards the severed head. “Whoever she was, she’s been dead for a long, long time. We’ve got to tell somepony about this. She may be a missing pony.” A look of panic stole over Sweetie Belle’s face.
“Bu-but won’t that look bad for my sister? If it gets out that some dead pony was found inside one of her dress making dolls, it could ruin her business! No pony would ever want to buy from her again!” Hesitantly at first, she moved to the side of the carcass, then turned back to her friends. “We can’t do that to her! Please...let me talk to my sister about this before you tell anypony else. If nothing else, we can find out what happened to this poor pony without starting a panic until we have all our facts straight.”
“Ah don’t know,” started Applebloom doubtfully, “This isn’t something we should keep secret Sweetie Belle. Who ever this here pony was, if it were me, Ah’d want any family that might be looking for me to know what happened first and foremost.”
“Please girls!” beseeched the wild eyed unicorn, “Just one day is all I’m asking! You have to promise me you won’t tell anypony! Let me talk to my sister, please. I couldn’t take it if it turned out borrowing my sisters stuff ruined her business all because I was clumsy and stupid and...and...” She started to cry then, out of sheer terror and apprehension. Scootaloo draped one little wing around her, trying to comfort her.
“Shhh...it’ll be okay,” she said, then turned to Applebloom. “It’s getting late. We should all be heading home now anyways. I know it doesn’t seem right Applebloom, but let's let Sweetie Belle have her day. Since her parents are still out of town on vacation, she’ll see her sister tonight. She can tell Rarity about this when she gets home and we’ll figure out what to do tomorrow at school.” Reluctantly, the red headed filly nodded and moved over to Sweetie Belle to hug her and help calm her sobs. Working together they hid the dead body beneath their rough wooden stage, then parted each others company with quiet farewells. Each walked a little slower on their way home to dinners they could barely eat and beds that they couldn’t sleep in. Every time the filly’s closed their eyes, all they could see was the haunting smile of a long dead pony, and wonder who she could have been and what twisted accident could have turned her into a dress makers doll.
The bell rang load and clear, signaling the lunch break. In the yard, colts and fillies gathered to talk and laugh together. In a little knot far from the rest, two thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked about warily for their third. Neither Applebloom nor Scootaloo had been able to sleep a wink last night. Neither had found it easy to stay awake during lessons that morning and it had not helped that both were distracted by Sweetie Belle’s absence that day. When they asked Ms. Cheerilee if she knew where she was, their teacher had told them not to worry, that their friend had been sick that morning but would be coming to school for afternoon lessons. So it was with wary looks of weariness that the two waited in the yard for their friends arrival.
Anxious as they were, they almost missed her. Instead of coming into the yard with the other ponies as they thought she would, they caught sight of her slipping into the schools back door. They followed after her, even though the bell had not yet sounded to call them back to class. They found Sweetie Belle sitting at her desk, her face buried in her hooves as if she were crying.
“What’s the matter Sweetie Belle?” questioned Applebloom.
“What did your sister have to say?” asked Scootaloo, far more bluntly. Slowly, Sweetie Belle lowered her hooves. The welt on her face was obviously not as red as it had been, but she had been clumsy in trying to cover it up with makeup. Her eyes were red rimmed and watery. From lack of sleep or crying, who could say?
“Nothings wrong...my sister...my sister said that what we ...st-stole from her shed was an old Nightmare Night decoration she had been using as a mannequin.” It was plain that talking was hurting her sore cheek but she soldiered on anyways. “She was very angry you guys. She said we’re not to touch any of her stuff anymore. She...she also said not to spread lies a-about finding a dead body. That if we’re bad and tell lies we’ll never get our cutie marks and she’ll make sure I get sent away to magic kindergarten...” The little unicorn shed a few quiet tears then. She panicked and smeared the makeup over her face that she had vainly applied to conceal the welt on her face. One of the tears trickled down, leaving a sticky white trail and a pale glob sitting accusingly on her desk.
“That tweren’t no Nightmare Night decoration Sweetie Belle,” said Applebloom darkly. Scootaloo nodded in agreement. “We need ta tell Ms. Cheerilee about what we saw. And you need to show her that mark on yer face. We might rough house a bit, but my sister never struck me across the face and your's sure as sugar shouldn’t have! Come on!” She grabbed her friend by the wrist and tried to drag her outside where her teacher was watching the other students.
“NO! You don’t understand! I promised her I’d be good. If we...if we tell anyone she’s going to send me away! I know she will...mom and dad always listen to her, she’ll convince them that Canterlot is the best place for me and we’ll never see each other again for years and years, until we’re all out of school!” She yanked away from her friends grasp, backing away from them both. “I wanted to get our cutie marks together! I don’t want to be sent away!”
Scootaloo looked down at the floor, wings drooping sadly. “But Sweetie Belle, this just isn’t right. We know what we saw. If we don’t tell the teacher, we’re going to have to at least tell our families. You ought to tell your mom and dad when they get back from their vacation too. I know you’ve said they pay about as much attention to you as your sister does, but I’m sure they’ll listen to you if you show them what Rarity did to your face. They won’t let you get sent away if you don’t want to be.”
The unicorn shook her head, “You don’t understand...you just don’t understand! If you tell anypony...ANYPONY, I’m gone!” Tears streaming from her eyes, the little pony ran from the classroom. Before her friends could stop her she was bolting down the road. Neither filly knew what to do as the bell for lessons to resume rang and the halls filled with happy smiling ponies. They finished out the days lessons, pensive, but conflicted about what to do next.
After school they decided that they’d tell Applejack about what had happened. She listened, incredulously at first, but then with dawning concern as her little sister and her friend told of what they had thought they had discovered and how distraught Sweetie Belle had been. She believed Rarity’s explanation that what they had seen was just a realistic Nightmare Night decoration, but she still agreed to let the filly’s lead her to where they had hidden it all the same, just to put their fears to rest. When they got to the clearing in the woods where the Cutie Mark Crusaders often played, however, not only was the doll gone, but so were all the others, and every costume and scrap of fabric. The sight had been cleaned out, all except the wooden stage.
Though this alarmed Scootaloo and Applebloom, Applejack laughed off their concern. “Ah reckon Rarity wasn’t too happy about you youngins leavin' her stuff outside all night. She probably came 'round while y'all were in school to reclaim her property. Ah’m sure if we go and see her we can settle this here matter once and fer all. Come on y'all.” So saying that, she led the girls back out of the forest and towards Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s shop and home. It was still early afternoon when they arrived, but even so, they were surprised at how busy the store was. It seemed like every pony in Ponyville was there, even the Mayor herself. As the trio drew closer they could hear her trying to speak over the crowd.
“Everypony settle down!” She said, “Chances are we’ll find her on the roads, but just in case we’ll send a few teams into the forest. Each group will have one pegasus pony so that you can fly back here quickly if you should find her. Remember, she’s only been missing for a day, so chances are she’s still close by. Don’t range too far just yet! We may find out she’s been staying with friends, so myself and my staff will be searching the town proper. Any questions?”
“Ah got one yer mayorship,” Said Applejack as she shoulder her way through the crowd. “Just whut in tarnation’s goin’ on around here?”
The Mayor adjusted her glasses and smiled. “Applejack, so good to see you! Have you come to help with the search?” When the farm pony gave her a blank stare the Mayor continued. “Oh, that’s right, you probably don’t know yet. Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, has been missing since yesterday! We’re organizing a search party to find the poor dear. You haven’t seen her today, have you?”
Both Applebloom and Scootaloo looked shocked, but Applejack just shook her head. “No ma’am, though Ah heard tell she was with friends yesterday and that somepony called in sick for her at school today. Is Rarity around?”
Mayor Mare inclined her head towards the shops door. “Why yes, she’s inside, quite beside herself with worry I’m afraid! You should comfort your friend. We’ll get on with the search. Just find me afterwards if you want to help out!” Applebloom was about to speak, but Applejack glared at her and shook her head, pushing her and her friend inside the shop.
“What are ya doin’ sis?” whispered the red maned filly. “We saw Sweetie Belle at school today, we ought ta tell them!”
“And sit fer hours while we try to find her by committee? No thank you little missy. We’re gonna talk to Rarity and get her side of the story before we go tellin’ pony tales to the Mayor.” She led the way into the shop, her sister and Scootaloo having little choice but to follow. Inside Rarity’s wails could be heard clearly before they even saw the pony. She was surrounded by her friends; Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and even Pinkie Pie, were all there, trying to comfort her. It was no use, however, the elegant unicorn cried loudly into the cushions of her ornate fainting couch.
“Oh where could she have gone!?” she sobbed, “My poor sweet sister! Where, oh where, could she be!?” Sprawled as she was, her mane a mess of tangles, it was clear from her red rimmed eyes that she had been crying for some time.
“Rarity...” The unicorn rolled over and stared at the trio of newcomers forlornly. Pouting slightly, she raised herself on the cushions of her chair. “It’s about Sweetie Belle. Applebloom and Scootaloo say that they’ve seen her at school just earlier today. We don’t know where she is right now, but Ah reckon the little filly will be safe enough for the time bein'.” The reaction from Rarity was immediate, a smile spread across her face and she clapped her hooves together.
“Why that’s wonderful news! Oh, but please, I’ve been so worried about her, won’t you help the others find my poor little sister? Since you girls seem to be the last ones who saw her, I’m sure you probably have a good idea where she might be hiding.” Applejack held up one hoof.
“Hold yer horses there darlin'. That’s not all what these fillies had to say ta me today. Seems there’s a bit of a discrepancy in one or the other of y'alls stories and Ah aim ta get to the bottom of whut's what here and now!" Applejack turned to her sister. "Applebloom...you go right ahead and you tell these folks what you told me.” That got everpony’s attention and they turned to Applebloom.
So Applebloom, timidly at first, began telling everypony about how the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been planning to stage a play to see if showbiz was their special talent and finally get their cutie marks. When they got to the part about how they had borrowed some of Rarity’s things to help prepare, the purple maned unicorn gasped as if this were the first she were hearing of it, but otherwise remained silent. As the filly got to the part where Scootaloo had played her prank, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash started to giggle until she told them what they had inadvertently uncovered. The corpse of a dead pony was no laughing matter, especially one found inside one of Rarity’s mannequins. Or so it seemed. Then both pony’s burst into roaring laughter! Even Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were having a hard time suppressing their smiles.
Blushing, Applebloom soldiered on, telling how they had promised not to breath a word of this until Sweetie Belle had a chance to talk to Rarity about it. As she got to the part of her story about what Sweetie Belle had said at school that day about Rarity threatening to send her off to magic kindergarten, Twilight Sparkle’s eye twitched...but it was Rarity’s face that turned a deep red. “Lies...lies and slander! I’d never do something like that to my little sister. You’re making this whole thing up! Sweetie Belle never came home last night, and she certainly never told me about your grizzly little discovery! I can assure you, I would never use some...’nightmare night decoration' as a mannequin!” She rose from her couch in a huff, “Each of my dress making dolls is hand crafted by moi from the finest white willow and birch! You can inspect any of the mannequin’s here in my show room for yourself!”
Scootaloo and Applebloom backed away from Rarity’s sudden rage. Applejack and the other pony’s looked at the duo as if they’d sprouted an extra head. “Girls, I’m disappointed in you, “ said Twilight Sparkle. “Telling such fibs when your friend is missing. This won’t help us find Sweetie Belle any faster.”
“Yeah, but ya gotta admit, it's one heck of a practical joke!” laughed Rainbow Dash. She quieted as her friends glared at her. “Well...if it were under different circumstances of course. You know what I mean!”
Applejack just shook her head. “Well Ah gotta say, hearin' the story again, it is soundin' a might thin. Specially since it seems you two are the only ones who’ve claimed ta have seen Sweetie Belle at all recently.” Applebloom’s eyes began to tears up. “Now hold it with the water works there sugarcube. I’m not ready ta believe my sisters fibbin' just yet. Seems ta me if we’re gonna sort out this misunderstandin', we’re gonna need to find yer friend. Now if ya know where she is, I reckon ya better spill it so we can let all them fine folks outside know they can go home.”
“If we knew where Sweetie Belle was we would’ve gotten her before we came over here.” Said Scootaloo, her wings flapping in agitation. “We found out when you did that she was missing Miss Applejack! I swear, we’re not fibbing, and when Sweetie Belle ran of it was cause she was afraid of what Rarity might do to her if we told you about what happened. The pony you ought to be questioning about where Sweetie Belle is, is her sister!” Rarity glared at Scootaloo then with so much hatred it made the filly gasp. The look, however, passed so quickly from Rarity’s face that no other pony ever saw it.
“Please...don’t fight,” whispered Fluttershy, teary eyed. “I agree with Applejack, we need to find the poor dear. She might be lost and frightened, or hurt. We should all go and search for her right now before it gets dark.” Everypony seemed to agree with that. It was decided that Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack would search the Ever Free Forest while Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy would joined with Big Mac over at Sweet Apple Acres, and together, search Froggy Bottom Bog. Meanwhile Rarity and the remaining two thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders would stay at Rarity’s Boutique just in case Sweetie Belle came home on her own. The girls protested at first, but Applejack was firm with her sister and Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo she’d just slow them down. Rarity sank into sullen sobbing silence as her friends left, each promising her that they’d find her lost little sister. Once they were gone, Rarity demanded that the two fillies that were being forced on her get out of her sight.
“I want to be alone!” She cried, so they left the front shop and went into the back rooms that made up Rarity’s home. There wasn't much else they could do after what they had accused her of doing to Sweetie Belle.
“This is just great! Stuck here with little miss drama queen while Sweetie Belle’s run off to who knows where!” Scootaloo kicked a small, half finished dress making doll in what passed for Rarity’s kitchen. “We should be out there looking for her! She’d be able to convince the others we weren’t lying and that Rarity’s got some serious explaining to do!”
Applebloom’s brow was knit close in thought. “Ya know, yer right. And if mah sister was missin', Ah wouldn’t be sittin' at home crying while everypony else went out searchin' for her. Ah know it makes a lot of sense for somepony to be here in case she comes home, but Rarity didn’t even try to argue with anypony about it.” The red maned pony leaned against the small mannequin, chewing her lower lip. “Somethin' just ain’t right here Scoots, and it’s giving me the willies, I’ll tell ya that for free. We have ta find Sweetie Belle and fast! Ah’m really worried about what might have happened to her!” A soft, urgent sound came to Applebloom’s ear, making it flick slightly. “Did you say somethin' Scootaloo?”
“No...not yet anyways.” Scootaloo kicked the mannequin again. “I’m just so angry! You know she just called us liars in front of all our grown up friends!? I mean, I know we’re just fillies and everything, but that was completely uncalled for!” Applebloom put a hoof to Scootaloo’s mouth to silence her. They both heard it then...a soft, silent sobbing. They had both taken it to be coming from the front where Rarity was but, though the sound was muffled, it was clearly coming from a closer source. “Where’s that coming from?” whispered Scootaloo.
The color drained from Applebloom’s face all at once. Reaching for a pair of scissors that were left sitting on the kitchen counter top, she brought the sheers over to the dress makers doll that was standing all alone, the only such doll in this part of the house. Working carefully, she cut away the fabric around the mannequin’s head. The fabric came away easily, revealing the white polished wood beneath. A look of confusion mixed with relief suffused the filly’s face. But she screamed and dropped the scissors when the head began to move. It was stiff and slight, but just enough that the ponies could see where the head piece joined with the neck. As they pulled off the wooden mask, thick goopy strands of white, half dried glue stretched between the seams. Beneath the mask was Sweetie Belle’s swollen face.
Her eyes were wide and frantic, red and raw from tears and the purple and red welts that covered her face. The soft, wailing moans that they had heard, however, were only barely louder than they had been before. Someone had sown the little pony’s mouth securely shut with black, coarse thread. “Wh-what the hay is this!” cried Scootaloo as she and Applebloom worked desperately to get Sweetie Belle free from her wooden prison. Working madly with the scissors, Applebloom cut away the rest of the fabric. That’s about when their friend wobbled off the stand that was holding her up, falling to the floor in a crying heap. All four legs had broken beneath her as she struck the tiled floor. Or more accurately, fallen apart at the seams. The glue hadn’t had time to dry on her new wooden legs. The white pegs clattered and rolled away from her body, sown up stumps wiggling in the air, the rest of her body still encased in a wooden sheath. That was when the trio realized they were no longer alone.
“Well, well, well...you two are about as much of a pain as my sweet sister.” The filly’s whirled, horror in their eyes at the sight of Rarity looming in the kitchen door. Her mane and eyes wild, a look of pure hatred on her usually regal face. Her horn began to glow, magic lancing out and seizing both pegasus and earth filly in a vice like grip of magic, slamming them hard against the kitchen wall. Sweetie Belle wiggled the bloody stubs where her legs had once been urgently, as if she were trying to get away. Her sister looked down on her with abject disdain. “Futile, as ever, dear sister. I would have thought you would have learned by now you can’t escape your punishment. Now I’m afraid your friends will have to join you...won’t that be lovely? You may not get your Cutie Marks together, but at least you can meet Death together, eh?” She laughed then, sharp and cruel, kicking her squirming sister hard in the face. This made the puncture wounds that had been so hastily threaded on her mouth burst open and run afresh with bright red blood.
“Wh...why!?” managed Applebloom, though the iron bands of magic were forcing the air from her lungs. Rarity whirled on her, eyes blazing.
“WHY!? You insufferable little maggot. You would never understand! Although, I’m sure your older sister would." Rarity smirked as she narrowed her eyes. "Do you have any IDEA what it’s like to always have somepony under your feet all the time? Ruining everything you’ve worked so hard to build, everything you hold dear? Worse, taking away the love and adulation of your parents and leaving you with nothing but the cast offs of their affection!? My dear, sweet little sister, has done all THAT and MORE! And frankly I’ve had quite enough of it.” With a slight gesture, several drawers in the kitchen opened with Rarity’s magic. A needle and thread floated from one while several pairs of scissors and pins rose from another.
“How...how could you...she’s...” Scootaloo said as she struggled, unable to break the hold the unicorn had over her.
“How could I? How could I not?! You and your little friend saw to that.” Her horn glowed brighter as she brought the tools of her trade closer to the struggling pair of fillies. “My talent is finding rocks. I had to work hard to be a fashion designer. I had to fight for every scrap of fabric, every bit of knowledge. Do you think my parents could afford to pay for all these supplies? For any kind of training? Do you think they bought me this shop? No! I worked myself to the bone to make it where I am today!” She turned away from them, glaring at the wooden mask that she had used to cover the face of the sister she had so recently disfigured. “When I was first starting out, I could barely afford fabric. If my teacher hadn’t let me borrow the schools sowing machine, I would’ve had to stitch all my creations by hoof! But no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to make a dress that was even remotely wearable. I needed a model, badly." The crazed unicorn looked down, as if ashamed of this fact. "I tried to get friends to help but no pony had the patience! I could never afford to buy a mannequin unless I could sell a few dresses, but I couldn’t make any dresses worthy of selling without one either. So, I decided to make a doll myself.”
The scissors whirling through the air opened, their sharp blades glistening with magic. “But I could barely make a decent dress, how was I supposed to make an anatomically accurate doll? I won’t bore you dears with the details. I know fillies your age have quite the short attention span. Suffice to say I was about as good at carving wood as you three are at getting cutie marks. I tried and tried but it just wouldn’t take shape under my hooves. I despaired...until I realized I didn’t have to use wood for the base of my dolls!” The grin that spread across the unicorns face was thoroughly unladylike. “After all, there were several beautiful mares just moldering away in the ground. Their bodies were no use to anypony anymore, least of all them...why couldn’t they be of use to me? What you found in my storeroom was one of my early creations. An old, tired corpse, painstakingly preserved and stiffened into the shape I would need to make my true masterpieces! Later on I found it faster and, well, less dirty, to just make a pony or two disappear and make my dolls with fresh materials. Naturally, whenever they started to smell, into storage they would go and blissfully out of sight and out of mind.” She looked up then, eyes cold with hate, her smile gone and her mouth hard. “Until you girls had to go and steal from me.”
Gritting her teeth, Applebloom spat, “You’ll never get away with this! Applejack and the others will figure out what you’ve done!”
“Oh my, will they darling? You have no idea how treacherous the Ever Free Forest can be.” Opalescence, Rarity’s pet white cat came and nuzzled her leg. “By the time they find you, you will have long since died from dehydration, starvation, and exposure. I’m sure the animals will have been worrying at your tiny bodies by then. Any wounds I give you now will be quite obliterated. My little Opalescence will see to that, won’t you my little snookums! Yes you will...” She stroked her kitty cat, getting a delighted purr from her attention. “Tragic really. I think I may even find time to write a note explaining how you three made a suicide pact, that you’d get your cutie marks by surviving in the wilderness or die trying! So noble, so brave...so utterly stupid. I’m sure no pony will have a hard time believing it, given how much you insipid girls obsess over your flanks!”
Scootaloo started to scream then, but Rarity reached out and cracked her hard across the face with one hoof. “None of that now. Fillies should be seen and not heard.” Saying that, Rarity forced the pegasus' mouth open with her magic and slammed a sharp pair of scissors into her mouth. Blood gushed bright red and black as the blades shore through the thick muscles of the little filly’s tongue. She screamed, mouth wide as bits of meat were flicked into Rarity’s waiting sink, the blood flowing in little globules floating after it, swirling down the waiting drain. Not a blotch of blood could be allowed on her perfectly clean floors, after all, so Rarity removed the mess before it could start with her magic. Of course she couldn;t concentrate on that and still cut away at Scootaloo with anything like precision. A few scraps of gum and cheek, a tooth or two, were bound to be lost in the process. But this was the price of cleanliness.
Once this had been accomplished, a needle and thread drew close to the filly's mouth. Scootaloo struggled as best she could to keep the ruined hole that had once been her mouth clear of the probing needle. She even tried to spit blood on her tormentor. “Don’t fight me you squawking little chicken or I’ll cut your head off! My dolls don’t need to have heads to be of use to me!” Pins and needles rose from the kitchen drawers and slipped into the orange pegasus flesh then, filling her like a pin cushion and literally pinning her to the wall. The shock allowed Rarity the time she needed to bring her other, far more dull needle to bare. She worked slowly, pulling the rough thread through bleeding holes in the filly’s ruined lips. Rarity silenced Scootaloo once and for all. That done, she turned her attention to Applebloom.
“I’ll be happy to be rid of Sweetie Belle and I doubt anyone will miss Scootaloo, but you are correct that your darling sister and her rather bulky brother may ask some hard questions about what happened to you. Still, I think she'll be happy to be rid of you! She'll be the youngest then, the baby of the family once more.” She smiled cruelly. “Oh, but I suppose if they were to try to cause some trouble for me, I could find a quick solution. It’s not just fillies that go missing in the Ever Free Forest after all. Maybe I’ll let you watch as I turn them into a matching pair for my shop window. Won’t that be fun? You three can model my new line of farm fashion wear!” Rarity forced open the red maned filly's mouth and brought the bloody scissors to bare on her trembling victim. The taste of her friends blood was sharp and metallic on Applebloom's tongue...or maybe that was just the cold metal of the sheers as they began to cut. She’d never now for sure as Rarity’s shop shook with a sudden explosion.
“OR maybe I can just KICK YOUR ASS!” In a blinding surge of rainbow light, Rainbow Dash slammed into Rarity, sending both herself and the girls tormentor crumbling to the floor. Rarity lost her grip on the implements of her craft and the fillies at the moment of first impact. She temporarily lost the ability to see when the second impact, that of Rainbow Dash’s hoof smashing her in the mouth, rang home and filled her own mouth with the taste of blood. Applebloom slid to the floor, but Scootaloo sagged against the wall, her skin ripping as the pins and needles that held her against the wall struggled to bare her weight. Applebloom went to her first, helping her down from the wall as carefully as possible. It was only after she had done this that she realized there was an unfamiliar lump in her mouth. Spitting, the tip of her tongue splattered against the kitchen floor. The sight made her retch, but all that came up was blood, bile, and a few bits of half digested apple.
Meanwhile, Rarity had recovered enough to force Rainbow Dash off of her with a pulse of magic, slamming her into the ceiling. “RAINBOW DASH! You’re almost as big a brat as these three! I’m going to enjoy tearing you to pieces! Forget making you into a doll, I’ll roast you alive and pull you apart and make it look like an unfortunate ‘lightning’ accident during one of your training sessions!” As if to make good on her word, Rarity began to magically pull at each of Dash’s limbs, demonstrating how easily she’d pull her apart. The sound of bones popping and grinding against each other echoed through the kitchen as Rarity dislocated each limb from Dash's sockets, one by one. As Dash screamed in agony, a ball of pink and orange smashed through the kitchen window and slammed Rarity to the floor. The look of righteous anger on Applejack’s face made Rarity tremble as Pinkie Pie took hold of the unicorn from behind and Applejack started to kick.
Rainbow Dash fell into a heap on the floor as Applejack shattered Rarity’s ribs, kicked in her guts, and kicked her repeatedly over and over till blood started to stain her white coat red. She probably would’ve killed her there and then but a blast of magic from the unicorn sent both earth ponies sprawling away from her. “THAT’S ENOUGH!" Rarity staggered to her hooves, legs bent at unnatural angles. Only the sheer force of her will, her rage, holding her up. "You worthless, ill bred, ill mannered cretins are all DEAD! I will show you what it means to raise the ire of a UNICORN!”
“No...I will show you, Rarity.” Twilight Sparkles eyes were blazing pools of light and her horn shown just as brightly. With a single pulse of mind crushing magic, Rarity slumped to the floor, blood running from her ears, nose and eyes. The clash had left the kitchen a complete disaster. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders lay trembling together, crying as blood dripped from their mouths, Fluttershy held them close and wrapped her wings protectively around them. She sang softly, “Hush now, quiet now...” How could she know just how inappropriate her song was?
“We got lucky.” Twilight Sparkle was talking to a pair of Royal Guards from Canterlot. When a unicorn went rogue, it was the crowns responsibility to put them in check. “It turned out that Applebloom and Scootaloo were not the only ponies to see Sweetie Belle running from school. A mail pony was finishing up her morning deliveries around the same time that Sweetie Belle ran into Rarity’s shop. She thought it was odd seeing a filly as young as her not in school, but would’ve completely dismissed it if she hadn’t noticed that she was crying. When Rainbow Dash found out about it there was nothing anypony could have done to stop her from rushing ahead of the rest of her team. Fortunately Applejack had the foresight to send the mail pony to inform me of what had happened, or it’s likely that everypony who had confronted her would’ve been killed.”
The guards nodded gravely. “We found over a hundred and fifty dead bodies on the premises in various stages of preservation and decay. It seems she’s been at this for a long time now. It’s a wonder no one noticed before, but who would suspect a seamstress of being a murderer?” Another royal guard trotted over.
“Bad news. We were able to get a positive identification on two of her...more recent victims. They were her parents. Near as we can tell they came back from their vacation early. The perp isn’t talking, but this has bad blood written all over it. What she did to her mothers face...” The guard shuddered, “Anyways, we’re going to have to find someone to take her sister into custody after she’s out of the hospital. A bit of good news there, she’s expected to recover, though she won’t be doing any singing or dancing anytime soon.”
Twilight Sparkle glared at the insensitive guard and made a mental note to include his remark in her next letter to Princess Celestia. “I’ll be taking the child into custody. With time and practice she should be able to learn to magical manipulate prosthetic limbs to replace the ones her sister took. Her highness, the Princess, has commanded that I see to her rehabilitation and training personally. She has a long hard road ahead of her...I’d appreciate it if you would keep any jokes at her expense to a minimum.”
Four Royal Guards, two pegasi and two unicorns, then lead the prisoner out of her shop. The paparazzi were everywhere, bulbs flashing as Rarity tried to hide her face with cuffed hooves. Her horn glowed dimly as if she were trying to use magic to shield herself as well, but the ring around her horn suppressed her magic to the point it was little more than a bit of a light show in the middle of her forehead. Where she was going, no magical outbursts would be tolerated.
“She did a lot of damage. I don’t know that Dash or the girls will ever be the same after this. How could they be?” Twilight Sparkle watched as they loaded Rarity into a waiting armored carriage. The raw pain and hatred in her eyes as she glared at her former friend hurt Twilight to see. She had learned something new about friendship today. You never truly knew what was going on behind your friends smile. You never truly knew just what they were capable of.
Sometime much, much later...
“Who’s there!?” It was dark and foul smelling where Rarity found herself. Chains hung from the ceiling, but it was so dim that was about all she could see. She knew she was not alone, however. She could hear laughter and distant voices, and there was a sweet smell just beneath the stench of rot and decay. All four limbs were secured to an inclined wooden table, so when the spot light came on, she had a good look at what was illuminated by the pool of light.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? You’d never guess who made this dress, I’m sure, but I’m told she was a friend of yours. Rather unfortunate about what happened to her, but then bad things happen! Can you tell me...what’s missing?” Missing. Rarity missed her powers. They hadn’t removed the ring around her horn once since her capture. After the trial they had drilled several screws into her horn to hold the ring permanently in place. Without access to a power drill, Rarity would never use magic again. They had thrown her to rot into the dungeons beneath Canterlot Castle, so the chances of her getting her hooves on any power tools were slim indeed. She wasn’t sure her lot had improved what with being strapped to a rough wooden table, but either she was hallucinating or the person speaking to her had a very familiar voice. As to the dress she was showing off, it really was breathtaking, if a bit sloppily designed. A necklace of horns, a mix and match quilt of fabrics, and a decolletage of multicolored feathers that looked as though they had once been whole wings. It was a bold outfit, clearly intended as a party dress. Yet there truly was something missing.
“Well, you need something to balance out all of these bright colors. You need something soft. Something blue perhaps. Maybe with a splash of rainbow color to draw it all together?” Her mind was still on Rainbow Dash and the savage beating the pegasus and her friends had given her before Twilight Sparkle had put her down. As Rarity’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw with dawning interest that the different fabrics were actually mismatched hides, inexpertly cured, cut from the flanks of different ponies. Why hadn’t she ever thought of that? Such a marvelous idea had never occurred to her! Surely whoever had designed this dress was an amateur savant!
“Something blue...with rainbows?” A glamorous blue maned pony loomed out of the shadows, grinning from ear to ear. “I think that can be arraigned!”
Rarity gasped. “Sapphire Shores! Wh-what are you doing here? Where am I?”
The pony pop star laughed warmly. “What am I doing here honey? Why I live here of course! Your in my home...or a small part of it I should say.” She stroked the side of Rarity’s face tenderly with one hoof. “When I heard about what happened to you I just couldn’t believe it! Throwing someone like you who’s so talented into prison? It’s absolutely absurd! Who would I buy all my wonderful dresses from for my concerts!?” The pony turned, fading back into the shadows. “So I had a little word with the Princess. She’d never dream of saying no to the pony of pop, especially after my little ‘donation’ for the good of the kingdom! So here you are honey, in my private workshop. You’re going to make me look SENSATIONAL! OW!” Her smile lit up the room, literally, as the lights came on revealing several other ponies bound, blindfolded, and gagged in the room. Many very sharp pairs of scissors, needles, and thread, along with a few more esoteric tools, were splayed before their slightly trembling bodies. All the supplies a daring dress maker could ever need. “Starting with a new dress made from very special material.”
Rarity’s eyes lit up, gazing over the bodies of those ponies who were bound as she was. She saw so many wonderful possibilities! None quite as enticing as the chance for escape and revenge if she played along. “Why of course, Sapphire, I’d love nothing more!”
“Excellent...make me five more dresses just like this one before the end of the week!” Said the pony of pop as two burly guards in black suits and sunglasses stepped forward from the shadows. They began to unbind Rarity as Sapphire Shores left the room.
Rarity smiled, her eyelashes fluttering coyly at the guards as her limbs slide free from their bindings and she fell to all fours with a thump. Her eyes burned with malice and a deep seated hunger as she gazed at the bound ponies, the fabric with which she was to work. Upon each she imagined the face of one of her former friends...but the first she intended to flay was a small pony, barely more than a filly. Her, she couldn’t help but see as her sister. Perhaps she could feel Rarity's burning gaze on her soft, supple flesh, for she began to shiver all the more violently as Rarity stalked toward her.
“Consider it done.” Rarity reached one hoof down, picking up a rather bulky tool, and placed its tip against one of the screws that bound the anti-magic loop around her horn.
The high whine of a drill was the last sound in that room...before the screaming began.
