Author's Note

Now it's starting to get bloody. I apologise if it gets a bit scientific in mentioning various body parts, I'm trying to allow you to visualise exactly what's happening.

Rarity's Tests

“So, where’s your little bootlick?” Starlight spat. “I’m surprised he isn’t helping you.”

“Are you insane?? I couldn’t drag poor Spikey into this!” Rarity corrected. “He’s such a delicate thing, and the poor dear hasn’t been quite right since you decided to screw us all over for your own amusement.”

“I’m inclined to agree – this kind of work is not for the faint of heart, and Spike was far too young and inexperienced to handle this level of visceral activity,” Phoenix stated, looking at Rarity. “while it is true that he worships you and would do anything for you, it would be irresponsible to subject him to such a trauma-inducing pursuit.”

“Why do you care so much? I thought you came from Tartarus?” Starlight cautiously asked.

“I do have standards you disrespectful mule!” Phoenix snorted derisively. “Lesser demons have lied and cheated their way up the ladder, certainly, but I got to my high rank through sheer grit.”

“Are you quite finished??” Rarity snapped at Starlight, growling indignantly. “I have a job to do, you know!”

Rarity cantered over to Phoenix and pulled a scroll from the cart. She unfurled it and showed Phoenix what was on the paper. The two tormentors muttered among themselves for a moment, with Rarity pointing at various things and Phoenix nodding approvingly. He licked some of the blood from her face, tickling her and causing her to giggle coquettishly. Rarity fished through the items on the lower shelf of the cart and pulled out a dictation device. She held it up with her magic and pressed a button.

“Horn removal of subject three successful,” She said. “subject was awake and suffered greatly – the removal of the horn not only resulted in copious amounts of blood, but also strange spurts of an unidentified liquid the same colour as the subject’s magic aura – perhaps the aura is a liquid contained within the horn that manifests as a gas when magic is used.”

“I did not know this was a scientific project,” Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “I had the impression that this was a sewing exercise.”

“It’s a little of both, sweetheart,” Rarity touched her horn to his. “I am documenting this so that you may replay it whenever you wish, to remind you how much I love you – this is a wonderful opportunity for me that would not have been possible without you.”

“How very considerate.” Phoenix affectionately nickered and booped her nose with his.

Rarity stood up, the dictation device drifting behind her, and she sauntered over to Jet Set – much to Lavender Bloom’s relief. He fearfully pushed himself away as much as he could while being restrained and tried to avoid eye contact with her. She grinned wickedly.

“Subject one had his horn removed while unconscious, and expresses extreme fear when approached,” She described. “in addition to attempting to buy his freedom, subject one expressed an insincere apology for past transgressions toward the purveyor of the sacrifice; six limbs are required to complete the sacrifice offering, so subject one’s responses to the upcoming questions will determine how many of those limbs will come from him.”

“What are you talking about?” Upper Crust wondered, mildly confused by Rarity’s words.

“Clarification required for subject two,” Rarity said, looking at Upper Crust. “subject one – aka Jet Set, your husband – will be asked a series of questions, and if he does not answer honestly to all of them, there will be physical consequences.”

Lavender Bloom, Diamond Cutter and Upper Crust stared at Rarity in disbelief, simultaneously dreading what those consequences were. Rarity turned to Jet Set with a toothy grin.

“Jet Set, I have three questions for you, and you MUST answer them with complete and total honesty,” Rarity glared at him. “failure to do so will result in additional pain – do you understand?”

Jet Set nervously nodded in response.

“Question one; did you, or did you not, bribe a member of the Canterlot guard to escape punishment for a crime you committed in your youth?”

The navy stallion hesitated, wincing as he recalled the incident Rarity was talking about. Like many ponies who grew up with wealth and status, Jet Set went through his colthood breaking rules and behaving badly, fully justified that he was allowed to do those things because of his family’s standing in society. He was ashamed of his behaviour as a colt, but as he looked at the sinister expression Rarity gave him, he realised that his belief in his untouchable standing hadn’t changed.

“Yes, I did.” He admitted shamefully.

“Subject one has answered the first question correctly,” Rarity noted. “question two; did you, or did you not, have a sugar mama during your university years?”

He squeezed his eyes closed, fearing that was going to come up during this sick game.

“Yes, I did.” He confessed.

Upper Crust gasped. Why would Jet Set have needed a sugar mama when he came from a wealthy family?

“How disgusting!” Upper Crust wrinkled her nose. “Selling your body to an older mare!”

“I had to darling!” Jet Set tried to explain. “After the close call with the guards, daddy cut me off! I had to do what I could to maintain my standard of living! But it was before we got together, I swear!”

Rarity beamed with satisfaction.

“Subject one has answered the second question correctly,” She remarked. “final question; did you, or did you not, continue your relationship with the sugar mama within the past three years?”

All the colour drained from Upper Crust’s face as Jet Set looked away from her.

“No, of course not!” He denied.

“Subject one has answered the final question… incorrectly.” Rarity laughed as Upper Crust burst into floods of tears and Jet Set attempted to explain himself to his wife.

“You vile, filthy peasant!” Upper Crust wailed. “It’s that whore Spoiled Rich, isn’t it? Isn’t it??”

“I’m telling the truth!” He lied, not noticing Rarity go back to the steel cart and then return to his side. “I would never betray you- ahhh!”

Jet Set shouted as the restraints holding him down became taut and pulled him flat onto his back. Rarity magically yanked on the chains so that Jet Set’s limbs were stretched out into a star, exposing his entire underside like a plucked chicken waiting to go in the oven. But he would not get the pleasure of a quick punishment. Rarity used a shining scalpel to cut into the flesh connecting Jet Set’s legs to his hips. Jet Set yelled in agony, as Rarity began cutting through the skin on his right leg, deliberately slicing through muscle tissue and tendons until she hit the bone. All the ponies screamed in abject horror as blood spurted out from the incisions.

“How is it looking Phoenix?” Rarity asked, once again wielding the rotary cutter’s spinning blade.

“Fear not, my love, I am stemming the flow; he will bleed, but he will not bleed to death.” Phoenix confirmed.

“Thank you, darling.” Rarity said gratefully.

“Please don’t!” Jet Set shouted.

“If you had answered the questions correctly, you would only be losing one back leg,” Rarity elaborated as she sawed a circle around the acetabular rim of his pelvic bone, keeping the leg-hip joint intact. “because of your lies I will be taking both!”

Jet Set shrieked out of pain and absolute revulsion as the situation sunk in. Rarity used the scalpel again to cut around his flank so the two incisions met, and pulled his leg away with a sickening pop. Upper Crust vomited on herself and blacked out at the mere sight of it. Lavender Bloom soiled herself in fear while Diamond Cutter tried desperately to comfort her while trying to stay conscious himself. Starlight Glimmer was willing herself not to react, despite her stomach turning. With a wave of magic, Rarity placed the severed limb inside the chest freezer by the far wall and began to perform the same procedure on Jet Set’s other leg. Blood and flesh were flying everywhere, and Rarity soon disconnected the left back leg, placing it in the freezer. Phoenix approached Jet Set and reared up onto his back legs, and the hoof walls of his front hooves slowly began to glow like a blacksmiths forge. Before he could protest, Jet Set’s bloody wounds were seared shut as Phoenix planted his hooves over them. He bellowed a throat tearing shriek with each passing second, until the red-hot hooves were removed, and he took deep, panicked breaths. Phoenix cooled his hoof walls instantly and ambled back to his previous, reclined position on the floor.

“Subject one’s back legs have been successfully harvested and put on ice,” Rarity spoke into the dictation device, grateful for the smell of seared flesh that countered the dreadful odour of sickness. “subject two has passed out and will have to be tested later; in the meantime, subject four will be tested in her place.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Lavender Bloom repeated over and over as Rarity approached her.

“Ugh.” Rarity put her front hoof over her nose, as the smell of burning could not mask the strong ammonia of Lavender’s urine.

She retrieved some of the ice from the freezer and dumped it on the light magenta mare to try and douse the awful smell of bodily fluids. Lavender squealed in shock from the sudden coldness but continued crying, with the sound of Jet Set hyperventilating echoing around the room.

“Don’t touch her!” Diamond Cutter growled. “You, you, psychopath!”

“Are you offering to be tested before her?” Rarity goaded.

“Yes!” He snapped. “Take me first!”

“Cutter, no!”

“Wow, such a loyal friend,” Rarity said, side-eyeing Lavender Bloom. “looks like I may have been wrong about him, but we will see.”

Rarity went to the right side of the bed where Diamond Cutter was being held down. She smirked at him in such a way that his blood ran cold.

“Subject five has volunteered himself to be tested in place of subject four,” She stated. “in light of this loyalty, I have decided to change tack and offer subject five some options which may allow both of them to survive… unless his loyalty falters, in which case, subject four will pay the price.”

Phoenix whinnied in approval, much to Rarity’s delight.

“So, Diamond Cutter,” Rarity grinned. “let’s see how much pain you will absorb on behalf of your friend.”

She produced the scalpel once more, with a fresh blade attached to it. Diamond Cutter and Lavender Bloom looked at each other worriedly.

“You have a choice; one cut for Lavender Bloom and three cuts for you, or both of you get two cuts.” Rarity offered.

The choice seemed easy for Diamond Cutter. Almost too easy.

“I’ll take the three cuts.” He said with determination.

Rarity gave Lavender Bloom a quick slice on her shoulder, which stung so badly that Lavender let out a whimper, but otherwise produced no blood. Rarity then turned to Diamond Cutter and made three long, slow cuts on Diamond’s chest. Diamond flinched and hissed at the drawn-out pain as beads of blood appeared and then oozed down his body.

“Subject five selected the most loyal option, opting for three cuts for himself and only one cut for subject four,” Rarity said. “let’s try something a little more challenging; four cuts for you and two cuts for her, or you both get three cuts each.”

Diamond hesitated. He saw the difference between the types of cuts that he was getting compared to Lavender, and considered making things even, but remembered that he had to prove his loyalty, or risk Lavender being punished for it. Having seen what Rarity was capable of doing to them, he was determined not to let his best friend suffer such a fate.

“I’ll take the four cuts-” Diamond started to say.

“No! Cutter, I can’t let you do this!” Lavender Bloom wept.

“Hush!” Rarity snapped. “He’s a big colt, he can make his own decisions.”

Rarity swiped at Lavender’s chest with two diagonal slashes, creating a barely bleeding X on her sternum. The demented white mare then pinned Diamond down and made two long, deep cuts on each of his cheeks that looked like jagged cat whiskers. He closed his eyes and his whole body shook with pain as the blade dug into his skin.

“Subject five once again selected the most loyal option, taking twice the pain and punishment as subject four,” Rarity’s already sinister grin suddenly became more twisted. “now for a more difficult choice; will you choose to have your left ear cut off while she has only a quarter of her right ear cut off, or will you choose to have your cutie mark mutilated while she has both ears removed?”

Diamond Cutter and Lavender Bloom both went pale and looked at each other in shock.

“What kind of stupid choice is that?” Starlight criticised.

Rarity used her magic to fling the original, bloodied scalpel blade at Starlight. It landed in her eye with a horrifying squelch, and Starlight produced a cacophony of stunned screams. Lavender Bloom looked away just before the blade hit, while Diamond Cutter swallowed the bile that threatened to rise from his throat.

“Subject three is attempting to interfere in subject five’s test, therefore preventative measures had to be taken,” Rarity growled, turning to Diamond Cutter. “well, what do you choose?”

“Take… take my ear…” Diamond whispered, sweating profusely.

A second tool appeared, surrounded in Rarity’s magic – a pair of bolt cutters – which she used to cleanly snip off a quarter of Lavender’s right ear. She dropped the tool and raised a piece of rope, which snaked under Diamond’s chin and around the bed, tightly pinning his head to the pillow. With a fiendish laugh, Rarity stabbed his left ear at the base of his head and used the scalpel to jaggedly saw his ear off. The pouring blood and Diamond’s chilling shrieks, mixed with Lavender’s frantic pleading, made the room sound like a horror movie. Phoenix was really enjoying this; under his tutelage, Rarity seemed to truly understand the fine points of torment.

“Please, no more!” Lavender Bloom cried again, as blood trickled from the wound on her ear.

“One more, and then we’re done,” Rarity insisted, Lavender wept hopelessly. “subject five is now facing his final choice, and here it is; I can remove your cutie mark and one of your front legs, or I can remove her cutie mark and take one of her back legs.”