Author's Note

Am I the only one who thinks Rarity gets the short end of the stick? She's on hardly any merch (here in the UK at least), she's often pigeon-holed as excessively girly, self-obsessed and kinda useless - despite running at least two successful businesses and caring for her younger sister - and doesn't get nearly as much attention as she deserves.

I'm sure y'all know who Upper Crust, Jet Set, Lavender Bloom and Diamond Cutter are, but just in case; Upper Crust and Jet Set were the Canterlot ponies who looked down on Rarity because she was from Ponyville in the episode Sweet and Elite, and Lavender Bloom and DIamond Cutter are the ponies who gossiped about her over brunch in Fame and Misfortune.

So yeah, enjoy the slow descent into my messed-up mind.

Madness of Rarity

Upper Crust awoke to a monstrous headache. One too many glasses of apple champagne, no doubt. She could feel a liquid on her head and immediately assumed it was the results of an ice pack melting, likely placed there by her darling Jet Set. She reached up to move the ice pack, but she couldn’t raise her hoof high enough. That’s when she saw the metal restraints on all four of her limbs, containing her to a hospital bed. She looked around the room she was in, and realised it wasn’t her bedroom.

It was a sizeable area, with an air of coldness and sterility like that of a hospital operating room, completed by the fluorescent lighting glaring overhead. A set of double doors and a long stretch of windows were on the wall she faced. On the other side of the windows were rows upon rows of lecture seating, indicating that this was some kind of observation room, though no pony was observing her. Beneath the windows was a long, deep black chest, possibly a freezer owing to the power cable attached to it being plugged into a nearby outlet. A sinking feeling struck Upper Crust in the pit of her stomach. She glanced to her left, and saw three other ponies, also restrained to hospital beds, but she didn’t recognise them. She took a closer look at the pony next to her and immediately heaved, spilling a small amount of fluid that smelled of the alcohol she drank the night before. The lilac-pink mare had both back legs amputated, and the staples were still dripping blood. Unlike Upper Crust, whose forehooves were restrained to the bed, the mare beside her had her forelegs stretched upwards, apparently chained to the ceiling.

“Ugh, what a hangover…” Jet Set moaned.

Upper Crust looked to her right and saw her beloved husband… minus his unicorn horn. She once again felt the acidic thrust of liquid escaping her, upon seeing the jagged, bloodied remains of his magical appendage. As she leaned over the edge of her hospital bed and choked on her own fluids, she noticed blood drops falling into the bubbling puddle on the floor. She came to the terrifying conclusion that she had been disfigured like her husband.

“Upper Crust, is that you?” He mumbled dazedly.

“Yes, Jet, it’s me!” She squealed.

“Where are we-” Jet Set gasped in horror. “holy Celestia! Darling, your horn is gone!”

“So is yours darling!” Upper Crust wept. “I think we’ve been abducted!”

The frantic voices of the Canterlot ponies soon roused two of the other ponies in the room.

“Diamond Cutter!” cried a light-magenta coated mare to the stallion in the bed beside her. “Please, wake up! Something’s very wrong!”

“Lavender Bloom?” Diamond Cutter asked groggily.

“Oh, Cutter! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Lavender Bloom squeaked. “We have to get out of here!”

“Where is here?” Diamond Cutter wondered, catching sight of the butchered pony in the bed next to Lavender. “Bloom, keep looking at me, DON’T look at the bed next to you!”

“What?” Lavender Bloom, unable to resist the curiosity and glancing at the lilac-pink mare. “Oh…”

Lavender Bloom’s face blanched, and she passed out upon seeing the horror that Upper Crust and Diamond Cutter had also seen. Diamond Cutter called out to her, desperately trying to wake her while being restrained himself. Suddenly, a hooded figure entered the room, pushing a stainless-steel cart through the double doors. The three conscious ponies started yelling at the figure, thinking they were somepony who could help them.

“Quiet!” The mare shouted, pulling down her hood.

“Rarity??” Jet Set yelled in shock.

“Who were you expecting? Nurse Redheart?” Rarity snapped. “Don’t let your surroundings fool you, this isn’t Ponyville Hospital; this is an abandoned building that I’ve outfitted to act as a makeshift clinic.”

“If this is a horse-napping for ransom, we can pay you anything!” Upper Crust insisted. “Just let us go, please!”

“We won’t tell the authorities, we promise!” Jet Set swore.

“I don’t want money – I don’t need money!” Rarity barked. “You’re more valuable to me here.”

“We’re really sorry about what we said, Rarity,” Diamond Cutter chimed in, with a pleading voice. “we didn’t mean any of it, we were just joking.”

“We would also like to apologise,” Jet Set added as Upper Crust nodded in agreement. “we always knew you were a quality pony; we were just testing you.”

“I said quiet!” Rarity repeated. “What do you take me for? I’m not stupid! Now shut up!”

Rarity approached the lilac-pink mare in the middle bed, and with her right hoof, slapped the mare across the face a few times. When that didn’t work, she roughly pulled on the tri-coloured mane, accidentally pulling out a chunk of purple, dark purple and pale aquamarine hair. The mare groaned as the pain of being handled so roughly jerked her into consciousness. She scowled at Rarity with her furious Persian blue eyes, and saw the clump of hair in Rarity’s grasp.

“How dare you pull on my mane!” Starlight screeched, as a headache developed from where Rarity had tugged on it.

“You were taking too long to wake up!” Rarity pouted. “And I have work to do!”

“And what in Tartarus happened to your face??” Starlight Glimmer yelled.

“You mean this beautiful scar?” Rarity chuckled, brushing her hoof past a heart-shaped scorch mark around her right eye. “You’ll find out soon enough…”

Starlight immediately went to use her magic, only for her horn to splutter and remain powerless. She glared at Rarity.

“So, you finally figured out how to block another unicorn’s magic,” Starlight sneered. “took you long enough.”

“Oh, please, I’ve known that spell since I was a filly!” Rarity stuck her nose in the air. “You think your magical ability is so much better than everypony else’s but look at you now, powerless as my captive; it’s a beautiful sight.”

“Pfft, whatever,” Starlight spat. “so, how did a pathetic waste of magic like you manage to get one over on me.”

“Oh Phoenix…” Rarity sang.

A loud stomping of hooves could be heard on the other side of the double doors, and the temperature of the room went up. There was a crackling sound as the giant stallion came through the doors, scorching and burning them as he went. Starlight gasped. She immediately recognised the beastly pegasus who had broken into her home, only now seeing that the pegasus was in fact an alicorn, as a long, sharp horn on the top of his head began to glow. He was twice the height of Rarity, had a dark orange coat and a white blaze from his horn to the tip of his nose, and a strange green gemstone was embedded in his chest – distinctive details she had not noticed earlier in her fear-stricken state. His mane and tail were a glittering silver and flowed in the same way that the Princess’s did. His wings were a gradient of red to orange to yellow to white, and his eyes were like balls of fire. He snorted at Starlight indignantly.

“This is the one?” He questioned in a deep, demonic voice.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Rarity purred, as he lowered his head so she could nuzzle his cheek. “I’m sorry to bother you when you’re resting, but it’s time now, and I don’t want you to miss it!”

“What is that thing??” Jet Set gasped in horror.

“Thing?? How dare you speak that way of alicorn royalty!” Rarity growled, trotting over to him and placing both her front hooves on his chest. “This stunning beast is an ancient evil that I summoned from Tartarus – a magnificent being that taught me all manner of dark magic – so behold mortals, as I present to you, Phoenix Blaze; Prince of Healing!”

Starlight burst into uproarious laughter.

“Healing? You have got to be kidding me!” She guffawed heartily. “What’s he gonna do? Put an evil band aid on my boo boos?”

“Shut up! If not for your little test, it would be Suri Polomare in your place, but after what you did, you more than earned your participation in this event, and besides,” Rarity snickered. “you’ll need more than a band aid to fix what I’ve done to you…”

It was then that Starlight realised that her legs were so numb she couldn’t feel them. She glanced down and instantly started screaming. There were two, long, bloody lines of staples at the base of her torso where her back legs should’ve been. She continued to scream and stared wide-eyed at Rarity with a mix of horror and outrage on her face.

“As the Prince of Healing, Phoenix is going to keep you all alert and alive while I perform the sacrifice.” Rarity boasted.

“Sacrifice??” Diamond Cutter whimpered.

“Yes, you tactless colt! Sacrifice!” Rarity snarled. “I made a special promise to Phoenix when I first summoned him, and I intend to make good on that promise.”

Rarity suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, Phoenix darling,” She said, cantering over to the cart she had brought in. “I have another tribute for you.”

“Another? So soon?” He mused. “You spoil me, my little amethyst.”

She retrieved two unicorn horns from the box on lower shelf of the cart and presented them to him with a sincere bow. Upper Crust soon recognised the horns as being those of her and her husband, Jet Set. They had been cleaned, had a hole drilled through them and been threaded onto a gold chain. She very nearly threw up again, as Rarity proudly placed the chain around Phoenix’s neck like some demented trophy.

“Why are you doing this to us?” Lavender Bloom said as she regained consciousness.

“Because of her,” Rarity pointed at Starlight accusingly. “I’ll admit I’d been planning some form of revenge on you four anyway, but she was the incendiary factor that made me realise I could utilise my stress sewing for a greater purpose.”

“Ponies will soon realise that we’re gone!” Diamond Cutter fearfully yelled. “We’ll be missed by our friends and family, and you’ll be found out!”

“That’s right! Our disappearances won’t go unnoticed!” Jet Set said, suddenly gaining confidence. “So, how about we write you a blank cheque, you let us go, and we’ll say no more about it.”

“I already told you I don’t need money!” Rarity snapped. “Besides, you’d be amazed at how easy it is to cover your tracks once you know how to – a false memory spell here, a house fire there, a vanishing spell to erase one’s hoofprints…”

“Now what?” Starlight spat.

“Now the fun can begin,” Rarity smiled. “I may have removed your legs while you were unconscious, but for what I’m about to do, I wanted you to feel everything.”

Rarity used her magic to place a surgical mask over her muzzle. She then retrieved an electric rotary cutter from the steel cart and approached the hospital bed Starlight was constrained to. She lowered the bed using a pedal that she stepped on with her back hoof. Her left front hoof pressed down on Starlight’s chest, and her right hoof pushed Starlight’s face sideways against the pillow. Rarity eyes narrowed as she made a sinister grin beneath the surgical mask, and with a flick of her cornflower blue aura, the diamond-tipped sawblade whirred to life. She held it threateningly over Starlight’s face. Rarity savoured the fear and hatred in Starlight’s blue eye, as she pushed the blade into the base of the unicorn’s horn. Starlight screamed in diabolical agony as the vibration of the machine shook her very skull while it severed her flesh and bone. Lashings of red blood and droplets of light turquoise fluid splattered across the mask protecting Rarity’s face, and she laughed maniacally, enjoying every dulcet tone of Starlight’s pain and suffering.

Phoenix settled himself on the floor, happily watching his sweetheart as she indulged in the mutilation of another pony. Just a year ago, she was shy and retiring when it came to dismemberment – afraid of the blood that could stain her pristine white coat, unsure of her capabilities in this area – but now she was really throwing herself into the spirit of the art of sacrifice. Of the few ponies that ever dared to summon him, Rarity was the only one whose company he truly enjoyed. Lavender Bloom gave into her urge to vomit, spilling her dinner and stomach bile over the side of the bed, while Upper Crust and Jet Set merely looked away and flinched at every pained scream, and Diamond Cutter curled up as much as he could to hide away from the reality of what was happening. So enthusiastic in her work, Rarity cut clean through the horn and accidentally went into the pillow, and blood-spattered feathers exploded outwards. She quickly turned the rotary cutter off and returned it to the steel cart, then she excitedly jumped over to Phoenix.

“Darling, isn’t it just beautiful?” Rarity admired, offering the bloody and slightly feathery horn to him. “Would you like this one also?”

Phoenix smiled widely at her.

“You may keep it, my love,” His deep voice declared. “we will clean it and make it into a fine necklace befitting somepony of your calibre.”

Rarity blushed and giggled, placing the severed horn in the cart. Starlight lay on the bed in complete shock. Rarity; the weakest, most girlish fop of a unicorn that she’d ever known, had delved into the deepest depths of madness, aligned herself with a demon, and happily butchered Starlight’s horn and legs. As the blood dripped from the wound and rolled down Starlight’s face, she realised that she had underestimated her opponent. When Rarity was released from the Friendship Test, she appeared heartbroken and lost – Starlight expected her to be too traumatized to go on. But she had gone on, she simply took the trauma with her, and it had obviously begun to eat away at her sanity. In addition to running her boutiques and still creating high-quality couture, she’d also been studying a dark, ancient magic that Starlight herself had only scratched the surface of.

“Is… is that all you got?” Starlight choked out in her astonishment.

“I beg your pardon…” Rarity glared at her with a face like thunder.

“So, you took my legs and my horn,” Starlight whimpered. “is that all you have for me? After what I put you and your friends through?”

“Don’t worry, sugar plum, I have plenty more in store for you…” She sneered, turning to look at Lavender Bloom. “in the meantime, perhaps somepony else should have a chance to play.”

“Please… no…” Lavender cried.