Cleaning Carousel Boutique
By Game-BeatX14
It was a hectic morning at Ponyville’s most prestigious dress shop, Carousel Boutique. Rarity was frantically packing her bags for an impromptu clothing design meeting in Baltimare, but she was surely going to miss her train if she stayed behind any longer. There was no time left to vacuum the living room, which was in desperate need up a cleanup. Dirt and crumpled draft papers littered the floor and furniture. Reluctantly, she decided to delegate the task to Sweetie Belle so it would already be done when she gets back. Or so she hoped… Her younger sister had a knack for messing up the simplest things, but vacuuming was pretty straightforward. She finished packing her bag, and called for her sibling.
“Sweetie Belle? Come here darling; I need to ask a favor of you.”
The tired filly trotted into the living room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“What did you need?”
Rarity pointed a hoof to a large vacuum cleaner sitting in the corner of the room.
“I need you to take that shop vac and use it and clean up the boutique. I’ll be gone for a few hours so you should have plenty of time to finish. Just be careful; it’s very powerful.”
Sweetie Belle grumbled in annoyance. She hated vacuum cleaners... They were so loud, and scary. She shuddered, vaguely recalling the time Rarity had been using it and accidentally sucked up her favorite blanket. Though to her dismay, it seemed like there was no getting out of her cleaning chore for the day, no matter how much she despised the required tool.
“Goodbye, Sweetie! I’ll be back in the afternoon.”
Rarity burst through the front door and slammed it behind her, leaving Sweetie Belle alone in the messy living room. Sighing in frustration, she decided to simply get to work.
“Alrighty then…”
Sweetie Belle scampered over to the machine, and quickly studied it. She had never used the shop vac before, since it was usually Rarity’s job, but it looked pretty simple to operate. She clicked the large red power button on the front of the machine. To her confusion, nothing happened.
“Hmm… This is the power switch, right?”
She flicked the button on and off several more times with no results, growing frustrated. It looked to be in working condition, so what was she forgetting? The stupid thing only had one button.
“Ugh, why does everything have to be so difficult? I just want to get this over with.”
Suddenly, she remembered that she was a unicorn, and got a bright idea.
“Oh, I know! Maybe a little magic will jumpstart it!”
She backed up and pointed her horn at the vacuum cleaner, channeling her limited energy to cast an electricity spell.
BZZZZTTT ZAP
The spell fizzled out, and nothing happened.
“Come on your stupid thing, work! Why won’t you turn on!?” She yelled.
She fired another spell at the vacuum, this time feeling a bit angrier as she cast it. The color of her magic increased in saturation and intensity. The aural bolt simply hit the machine and sparked, causing it to glow neon green a little bit for a few moments. She waited, but there was still nothing. Her spells were useless.
“Ugh! Dumb vacuu-… Oh, wait a minute.”
She suddenly realized what was wrong. It wasn’t plugged in. Sweetie Belle buried her face in her hooves, feeling like an idiot.
“I’m too tired for this; I just want to go back to bed…” She moaned.
She unraveled the long cord and plugged it into a nearby electrical socket. She jumped as the machine turned on and the room filled with the loud hum of the motor. To her shock, it started rolling around and moving the hose all by itself, as though possessed by some sort of entity. It quickly swallowed up a few crumpled papers nearby.
“What the hay?” Sweetie scratched her head, completely unsure of what was happening. It took a few seconds of thinking, but then it dawned on her. She recalled a magic lesson Twilight had given her a few months back, about the relationship between magic and emotions.
“Just remember Sweetie, magic can do unpredictable things when you’re angry or upset. Be very careful about your mood when casting spells.”
Sweetie’s jaw dropped. Her angrily cast spell had made the vacuum cleaner become sentient. However, it didn’t seem to be much of a problem. The device continued its duty, harmlessly picking up all the dirt and trash.
“Whew... Maybe it won’t be so bad. It’ll make my job easier, that’s for sure.”
However, it was only when the now sentient vacuum cleaner finished cleaning the mess in the living room that she realized what was wrong. It kept rolling around and sucking with greater power, looking for more loose items to consume. The hose flailed erratically, and the hissing sound grew louder. It rolled into the sewing room. The vacuum used the suction of its hose to cling onto a large drawer and pull it open, exposing the contents inside. Sweetie Belle squealed in alarm.
“Oh no no no! That’s where Rarity keeps all her threads and gem decorations!”
She tried to use her magic to unplug the cord, but the aggressive appliance swung the hose and hit her, knocking her to the ground before returning to the open drawer. Sweetie Belle got back up and tried to tackle it, but she was too late. The vacuum stuffed its hose into the drawer, sucking up piles of gems, spools of thread and sewing needles. There was a series of loud rattling sounds from the dozens of small objects clinking through the hose. To her dismay, the possessed vacuum only took seconds to slurp up the entire contents of the drawer. She stumbled backwards, feeling terrified of the consequences to come.
“Dear Celestia, Rarity is going to kill me...”
Within a split second, the omniscient princess appeared out of nowhere, stuffing her head through the open window and leaning into the room with a grin on her face. She was munching on a banana, and her lips were covered in cake frosting.
“Frankly, *nom* I wouldn’t blame her. You are pretty stupid sometimes.”
Sweetie Belle glared at the trollish princess with death in her eyes. Celestia curled her mouth in annoyance.
“Go away!” Sweetie yelled.
Celestia ignored her, peeking across the room.
“Pssst, I think the vacuum is trying to eat your sister’s dresses...”
Sweetie Belle looked in horror as the shop vac rolled and flailed its hose, homing in on the nearby gown displays that Rarity had been working on. As the nozzle came in contact with the first dress, there was a loud fwoomp sound as it slurped up the intricate attire with ease.
“Yeah, Rarity *munch* is definitely going to kill you. I’m out. *braaaaap*”
Celestia hastily threw her banana peel into the room, letting the vacuum inhale it before she lifted off and darted away.
Sweetie Belle was now in full panic mode. The greedy abomination still didn’t appear to be satisfied, creeping towards the next dress and putting the nozzle tip over it. Sweetie snatched it just as it was being inhaled into the hose and held on for dear life, challenging the machine to a game of tug-of-war for her older sister’s prized designer clothing. The suction was unending, pulling it in inch by inch, but Sweetie Belle wouldn’t let go if her life depended on it.
“No! You can’t eat this!”
The soulless machine kept pulling and tugging, stretching the threads in the process. Suddenly, it switched into high power mode and yanked the hose back, doing everything it could to ensure the dress would be devoured.
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhggg!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she felt her hooves slide out from underneath her. She clung on for dear life as she was dragged along the ground, but she quickly realized what a mistake that was. The vacuum finished sucking in the gown and her tail was pulled into the hose along with it.
SHLURPFWOOOMP
The next few moments were a blur. Sweetie Belle cried in terror as she was swallowed by the voracious rubber suction hose. With no opposition left, the vacuum quickly consumed the remaining clothing and other loose objects in sight, all of which pilled inside on top of the perturbed filly. When everything had been cleaned, the appliance finally powered down, leaving Sweetie Belle trapped inside the dead silent canister all alone.
“Oh, come on! Now I’m stuck in this stupid thing until Rarity gets home. And I didn’t even get a chance to eat breakfast!”
To her surprise, she felt her hoof touch a small crinkly package.
“Oh hey, a bag of cookies.”
Rarity trotted up to Carousel Boutique and opened the door, feeling rather tired after a long day of meetings and discussions.
“Sweetie Belle, I’m home!”
There was no answer. She ambled inside, feeling confused.
“Sweetie?”
“I’m in here Rarity!”
The elder sister suddenly looked around the room, and her jaw dropped. Everything but the bulky furniture was gone. The only thing in the room was her industrial vacuum cleaner, looking like it was about to burst open from the contents that were inside.
“W-w-… WHAT? Sweetie Belle, explain yourself!”
“I will. Just please *ouch* open the canister and let me out first. I think *ack* I have sewing needles stuck in my hoof...” She whimpered.
Rarity sighed.
“Okay, but you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Suddenly, the vacuum turned back on. Detecting something in the room, it turned its hose towards Rarity threateningly, quickly rolling towards the enemy. Unlike Sweetie Belle, Rarity was more agile and prepared to fight the evil machine.
“Oh no you don’t!” She shot a burst of magic, but it grabbed the blast with its hose and engulfed the aura. She could faintly hear Sweetie Belle yelp over the sound of the loud motor.
“Oops. Sorry!”
Rarity cast a second spell, hitting the top of the machine, which instantly caused it to power down and return back to a normal non-sentient state. She quickly unplugged the cord and opened the canister, letting her sister out and bringing the situation back to normal.
“I came home expecting a clean workroom, and instead had to face off with a possessed vacuum cleaner that ate my dresses and swallowed my sister whole. That was not my idea of a warm welcome, Sweetie. It’s going to take all day to sort this stuff back to its proper place!”
“Yeah, I know…” Sweetie lowered her head in shame.
“Next time I ask you to clean, just use a broom, since apparently you can’t handle simple household appliances.”
“Trust me; you don’t have to tell me that again. I’m going to have nightmares about that thing...”
Rarity suddenly realized how terrifying the situation must have been for her.
“Oh, right… I bet that was pretty scary, getting sucked up and all, wasn’t it?”
Sweetie Belle nodded her head slowly, still looking rather frazzled and shaken.
“Yep…”
Rarity smirked.
“Don’t worry, deary. It’s going back in the storage closet, so you have nothing to worry about.”
Later that night, Sweetie Belle tossed and turned in her bed, with dreams of being swallowed alive by evil vacuum monsters plaguing her mind. She was abruptly woken up from her nightmare by a familiar, whispering voice.
“Sweeeeetie Bellllle. Wake up...”
“Huh?” She darted up, holding her covers in front of her but unable to see anything in the darkness.
“I’m coming to get you!” Rarity jumped, turning on the vacuum and pointing it towards her sister, using her horn for illumination.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Sweetie Belle took straight off like a rocket, flying up and crashing through the ceiling in a fearful jump. Rarity turned off the vacuum and fell to the side laughing. It wasn’t until she stopped that Sweetie Belle came falling back down through the hole in the roof and landed next to her with a loud, painful thunk.
“Oh Sweetie, I’m so sorry… Wait, no I’m not. Because that was hilarious! Hehe!” Rarity squealed.
The anger she felt towards her older sister for scaring her like that boiled inside, completely wiping away any fear she previously felt. As Rarity continued laughing like an immature foal, Sweetie Belle hoped onto the vacuum and dominantly stomped on the power switch. She pointed the nozzle at Rarity’s tail, and it quickly began to inhale her.
“Wha-?”
SCHLURROOOOPP
Rarity was swallowed right up through the hose in seconds. Sweetie Belle turned off the vacuum and unplugged it from the wall, twirling the cord menacingly.
“Sorry; you had some dirt in your mane!”
In a burst of strength and rage, she bucked the canister as hard as she could, causing it to careen across the floor and smash through the glass balcony window on the far side of her room. There was a loud crash as it flew over the balcony railing and clattered to the ground outside.
“GOODNIGHT, SIS!” She yelled, before climbing back into her cozy bed.
Meanwhile on the ground, Rarity used her magic to open the lid of the canister and grip the edges, coughing from clouds of dust.
“I *cough* might have to *hack* return this model for something less powerful. Something that can’t eat up a pony, for Celestia’s sake. UGH!”
As she climbed out, Princess Celestia immediately came down from the heavens, landing casually next to Rarity. She had a smug grin on her face, and walked confidently.
“Well, now that we’re done here, I guess you could say this story really -“
“Don’t you dare say it!” Rarity groaned. Trollestia lowered her head in disappointment.
“B-but…”
Rarity glared daggers at the goddess.
“Noooooooo.”
Suddenly, Discord popped out of the canister, looking rather annoyed.
“Really now? She flew all the way from Canterlot to make a punchline, and you won’t let her say it? How rude of you, my little pony.”
Rarity beamed at him.
“How’s this for a punchline?!”
She smacked Discord in the face, knocking him backwards against the wall of the Boutique with all of her marshmallow strength.
CRASH. The draconequus felt disoriented from the impact, seeing stars dance around in his vision.
“Ow… That hurt.” He whined.
Celestia rolled her eyes, crouched down next to Rarity, pushed her head close, and whispered into her ear tauntingly.
“That… punchline… SUCKED.”
Discord summoned a microphone out of thin air, and it conked Rarity on the head, knocking her unconscious. She fell over onto the dirt, her body motionless.
“Ohhhh, mic drop!” He shouted.
Trollestia smiled.
“My man!”
The two gods of opposite powers shared an epic hoof-to-claw fist bump, giggling like foals.
