Cheerilee laid in bed, staring vacantly into the wall as the early morning light crept in through the windows. When the alarm clock rang, she didn’t flinch. It no longer felt like she was inhabiting a body. She was some sort of vapor cloud spread out thinly across all of existence without power or will or consequence.

She rose shakily to her hooves and shambled over to the mirror. I don’t even know who that is, she thought, staring into the empty holes she called eyes. Her mane was an insurmountable mess. It wasn’t particularly worse than it was any other morning, but she sure wasn’t going to be able to tame it with only fumes of patience and energy left.

I can’t do it, she thought. I need a day off. No. it’s too late to back out today. She rubbed her face, trying to get feeling in it and maybe somehow stimulate her brain.

“It’s fine. I don’t need sleep,” she mumbled, walking into the kitchen. “I just need… lots of coffee.” The jar on the counter was empty of grounds so she reached up and opened the cupboard. She yelped in surprise as the contents of the shelves cascaded down upon her. When she looked down at the floor, she saw a pile of tiaras at her hooves. Diamond Tiara’s tiaras, dozens of them.

Cheerilee’s eyes widened. “What the…” She lifted her gaze slowly to the counter where there sat more tiaras and then up to the cupboard where even more tiaras were stocked, stuffed inside haphazardly with nothing else in sight. Where was her coffee and her baking ingredients? It was all tiaras. She nudged an adjacent cabinet open and gasped as more tiaras clattered to the floor.

“What is this?” she whimpered in confusion. She yanked open a drawer only to find that it was filled with tiaras. Then another and another. Everything was tiaras.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door. Her heart began to race. “Miss Cheerilee,” called a voice from outside. “Sheriff’s department. We just wanted to ask you a few more questions about the missing pony case.”

Her voice died in her throat. “Just- Just a minute!” She looked back at the mess of tiaras in horror. How do I hide all of this, she wondered. A big trash bag? She looked under the sink only to be greeted with another pile of tiaras vomiting itself out onto the floor.

There came another knock. “Package delivery,” called Ditzy.

Creerilee squeezed her head between her hooves in distress. “Leave it on the porch,” she cried, whirling around madly in her kitchen as she looked for a solution. Before she could settle on a new course of action, there came a third knock at the door.

“Cheerilee!” shouted Filthy Rich. “Where’s our daughter?”

“I don’t know!” she pleaded, tearing at her face with her own hooves. “I swear I don’t-” She was cut off by the sound of Diamond Tiara.

“I’m in here, daddy,” she called.

Cheerilee’s eyes grew huge in terror.

“Miss Cheerilee’s keeping me in her icebox.”

Cheerilee turned about slowly to face the icebox, all the while the knocks had turned into a constant angry battering and even the windows rattled as if sompony were banging on them as well. Her mane stood on end as she pulled open the door of the icebox. Needles shot up her spine when the twisted, decaying face of Diamond Tiara appeared on her shelf. Her mane was matted with dirt and writhing with maggots. Her pupils were lost beneath a haze of milky white and her mouth... her mouth was hanging open to the side in a silent scream.

Cheerilee slammed the door closed, gasping for air. “I-I didn’t do that!” she spat panickedly. “Why would I do that? Did I do that?” She didn’t even know anymore.

“You need to put new boards over those holes!” shouted Applejack through the still growing cacophony.

Cheerilee covered her ears. “I will, I just need-”

"Miss Cheerilee, this will only take a few minutes."

“I’m not here,” she argued. “I’m late for school!”

"It's a really big package. You have to sign for it," moaned Ditzy.

“Miss Cheerilee, we found a clue!”

Cheerilee threw up her hooves and shrieked so loud that for a moment it was all she could hear as the piercing sound reverberated through her very soul. She turned to run but stumbled on the tiaras, falling flat on the floor. She scrambled, panting and wild-eyed to the back door where she burst outside, screaming with wild abandon down the street.

The entry to the schoolhouse was usually propped open at the beginning of school, but it wasn’t today. The door cracked open and Twist entered alone, warily. The curtains were still drawn, leaving the room unusually dim. For a moment she thought there was nopony else there until she noticed the soft noise of shakey sobbing. On the floor, in the midst of the desks sat a huddled figure heaving quietly.

"Um, Miss Cheerilee?” she called softly. “Are you-"

Cheerilee looked up at her pitifully. "Twist, please help me," she whimpered. "It hurts so much; I can't do it. I can’t- Can you do the other one for me?"

Twist's eyes landed on the floor where sat a pair of scissors and Cheerilee's severed ear in a smattering of blood. More blood streamed down the side of her face from the stump on her head where she held one hoof tightly in place, both trying to stop the pain and the sounds.

"Take the scissors," she sniffed, pointing to the implement. "Cut off my other ear and make them stop talking." Her plea devolved into a fit of sobbing.

Twist shook her head, backing away, fear gripping her throat and taking her voice.

"Twist, please," she cried, reaching out her other hoof in a beggar’s pose.

Twist turned and ran as fast as she could, whimpering to the door.

"Twist!" screamed her teacher in desperation. “Help me!”

Author's Note

"I didn't ask what time it was, you little ginger-headed dork," was the first line I wrote in this story. The whole appeal of the tale for me was to transform Cheerilee into someone angry and paranoid so I set this quote from her blowing up at Twist as my destination and then drove there.

Thanks for reading!
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