When Rarity woke, she could hear muffled voices around her, however she kept her eyes closed, fearing what she would see if she opened them. She was just starting to pick out voices over the loud buzzing in her ears. She wished that buzzing would go away, it was truly annoying, She began to shake her head, softly at first, then escalating to furiously as she tried without success to rid herself of the annoying sound. She then began to shake her entire body trying to rid her mind of the incessant buzzing. Then she realized she was not shaking her body, but somepony was shaking it for her, somepony with exceptionally strong hooves. Somepony like...
"Applejack..." Rarity finally opened her eyes to see the very concerned face of Applejack looking down at her.
"Oh thank god, she's awake" Twilight said as she stepped into Rarity's field of view.
"Rarity, uhh, Applebloom told me what happened the other night, and i'd just like to thank yah for savin' my little sister in the forest there, it was awfully brave of ya, and i'm really sorry about what happened ta Sweetie Belle" Applejack whispered the last part, although Rarity did not understand why.
"Umm, Applejack, darling, why exactly are you sorry for Sweetie Belle, I'm positively ecstatic, she's finally received her cutie mark, I've never been so proud in my life"
Her friends looked at her quizzically, then suspiciously before finally resting on pity.
"Umm, I'm sorry to tell you Rarity, but Sweetie Belle died last night saving your life" Twilight said softly looking sadly upon her friend.
"Oh" was all Rarity managed to let out before collapsing once more and blacking out.
When Rarity awoke she continued to keep her eyes closed once again. It was night, Applejack was sleeping in a chair beside her, she could tell by the snoring. Keeping her eyes closed, she once again heard the strange buzzing noise, like a bee's nest had been kicked in her skull. This time however, after listening to the sound, she started to hear a voice, a sweet little voice. Sweetie Belle's voice. The voice was whispering in her ears, surrounding her thoughts, coating her mind in an artificial bliss. She continued to keep her eyes closed.
The voice in her ears was now beginning to tell her things. Mostly things of little importance, tedious bits of gossip, small snippets of news from around Ponyville. Then in an echoing voice that seemed to scramble her mind came the words "Kill her, Kill Applejack". All Rarity could think about was how strange this sounded coming from Sweetie Belle, she didn't even realize she was getting out of the bed and looking at Applejack. Rarity tilted her head, 'I suppose the neck would be a good place to start' she thought to herself as she approached Applejack. She was readying herself to strangle Applejack when she let loose a yawn. Realizing how tired she was she got back into bed. Closing her eyes, she resolved to water her plants the next day, they did need a little care. "Maybe Applejack could help" she mumbled as she drifted of into her dreams again.
Rarity woke the next day, judging by the sun, approximately mid day alone and back in her bedroom. She did not know why she was in her bedroom, in fact she did not know why she was in bed either. She got up, got dressed and went downstairs. Sweetie Belle had probably gone to do some crazy thing with the Crusaders so she had the entire afternoon to herself. She did not feel like going to see her friends, so she grabbed a book, lay down on the sofa and began to read. While she was reading, she was aware of Sweetie Belle calling out to her from the landing, all Rarity heard was that Sweetie Belle was spending the night with Applebloom, and all that meant to Rarity was a night to herself. Rarity continued to read her book when she heard Sweetie Belle again, this time from right beside her. Rarity looked over and smiled at her sister, who smiled back, showing her brilliantly white, pointed teeth. Rarity often wished she could have teeth like her sister, they would be so useful for ripping and tearing. Above all else however, Rarity wished she could have her sisters eyes, pitch black and marked with a red X though the iris, they were so beautiful.
"Come downstairs with me" Sweetie Belle whispered. Rarity smiled, she loved doing things with her sister, plus Sweetie Belle always had something exciting planned.
"What are we going to do dear?" Rarity asked as she tailed her sister down the stairs.
"Get the matches, then you'll see"
Rarity went into the kitchen, grabbed the matches and went to find Sweetie Belle sitting in the middle of Rarity's latest creations.
"Throw them on the ground Rarity, It'll be fun, trust me" Sweetie Belle said as she walked away.
"Well, Ok, if you say so" Rarity wasn't sure how throwing her dresses on the ground could be fun, but she was willing to give it a try.
Once all of the dresses were on the ground, Sweetie Belle turned to Rarity "Now light them on fire, throw a match on them" Sweetie Belle suggested. Rarity simply lit the match and threw it into her dresses. The effect was stunning, Oranges and reds and yellows burst from the pile of fabric while Rarity sat and watched. The sight was so beautiful, she turned to Sweetie Belle to thank her for the idea but she had left. Rarity's eye's started to tear up and then she coughed twice and fell to the floor. She closed her eyes.
Rarity opened her eyes immediately this time and completely ignoring the shocked looks from her friends got out of bed and left the hospital. She turned back, she had thought that she was at home in bed, not at a hospital. She wondered why she was at the hospital, but couldn't seem to find an answer. She finally got home, closed and locked the front door and once again went and lied down to read her book. She closed her eyes.
"Rarity, wake up it's not safe here"
Rarity woke to the sound of Twilight's voice and looked up at her, then the room she was in.
"Why don't be silly dear, this is my bedroom, there's no other place i feel safer" Rarity replied.
"But Rarity, since the fire last night, all the support in your house is gone, there's really nothing left holding this place together"
"Oh, i don't know what your talking about, there was no fire here last night" Rarity laughed at the absurd statements Twilight was making.
"But i saw it from my... wait, Rarity, what did you do last night"
"Oh, me and Sweetie Belle had a magnificent light show downstairs, you should have seen it, it was magnificent"
"Sweetie Belle... Umm, Rarity I have to go, I'll see you later ok?"
Rarity didn't even have time to answer before Twilight had run out the door.
"Silly mare.." Rarity mumbled as she continued her book.
SECTION 2, TWILIGHT
Twilight looked back, you could still pick out Rarity's white coat amongst all of the burnt wood and still smoking pile of dresses on the floor. Twilight had some idea of what had happened to Rarity. Obviously, Sweetie Belle's death had affected her deeply, to the point where she was imagining her sister being there with her, maybe even suggesting to her things that she should do. Twilight had read about somepony else who had gone through the same type of ordeal, with the same effects and the book was somewhere in her library. She knew that if she could find that book, then she could save Rarity, and hopefully before she causes herself too much harm.
Twilight reached her library in her usual state of frenzied panic as she immediately began tearing books off the shelves, causing a certain baby dragon to tumble down the stairs and slam into the far wall.
"Can't you come in quietly for once, Twilight?" Spike yawned and stretched while he spoke, distorting his words slightly.
"Can't you be awake for once when i come home?" Twilight snapped back "Now help me look for that book about the colt who watched his brother die and went crazy"
"Why do you want that one, it's so sad" Spike asked
"I think it'll help Rarity... AHA! here it is, no thanks to you" Twilight stuck her tongue out at Spike who laughed and went to get some new candles for Twilight's reading
Twilight sat down at her desk and lit a candle. The cover of the book had always scared Twilight, it depicted a colt staring into the eyes of a decapitated pony. Knowing the events described in the book were much, much worse, Twilight braced herself, took a deep breath and opened the book, hoping to find an index or something to let her skip through the more gruesome parts. Unfortunately, like in most hand written books, there was no such thing and Twilight swallowed hard, knowing this was going to be a long night.
Many hours later, Twilight found herself dreaming. She was walking in the Ever-Free forest with Princess Celestia. They were casually talking about Twilight's studies, and Twilight herself was being more casual than normal when she was speaking with the Princess about magic, though this was a dream. Twilight watched herself having this conversation with a mix of boredom and inattentiveness, which was also strange for Twilight, and yet again she had to remind herself that this was a dream. After a while the setting began to turn dark and Princess Celestia turned towards Twilight, not the dream Twilight but the real Twilight looking at the dream. Celestia began to glow with pure with light that burned Twilight's eyes causing her to look away. When she looked back, she was looking at a hideous rendition of Princess Luna, with sharp white teeth and horribly black eyes with red X's in them. And when she spoke, she spoke in such a voice you couldn't help but agree with her.
"The book is full of lies, burn the book and cast it away. It is not safe"
Twilight's eyes shot open. She caught the scent of smoke and a flare of orange, the she passed out
Twilight woke in the hospital.
She could hear her friends talking in the background, but couldn't make out any words, her throat was still raw from smoke and she could smell the suspicious scent of burnt hair, it didn't take her long to figure out what happened. She sat bolt upright, receiving some stares from her friends as she started to babble.
"The library, the books! Fire, there was fire, and smoke! Smoke too! The books, are the books ok? what happened, WHERE'S SPIKE!!??" Twighlight sounded like a maniac.
"ho ho there sugarcube, but you need to calm right down, there was a fire but only one of ya books caught on fire, and Spike's right here" Twilight calmed down a little after that but was still shaking from exaustion and fear.
"Spike, you need to tell me what happened... after I sleep" And she closed her eyes.
"Twilight, wake up, you're having nightmares"
Spikes voice broke through Twilight's dreams, causing her to sit up suddenly, nearly smashing her head into Spike.
"What? Spike, why am I in the hospital? and why is my mane half gone?"
"Umm, the fire, remember? in the library?" Spike replied tentatively, looking questioningly at Twilight, who looked confused.
"What fire, there was no fire, I was reading that book about that man who went insane then climbed up into bed, there was no fire, i made sure i put the candles out as well" Spike must be confused, thought Twilight, she knew that there had been no fire. Not in HER library.
"But I saw you! You were reading that book, when all of the sudden you screamed and threw a candle on it before passing out!" Spike's voice had raised out of concern and nearly yelled loud enough to shatter the windows.
"Shush, Spike, I'm sure you're telling the truth, you never have lied to me in the past. So, tell me, what burned in the fire, are the books alright?" It was now Twilight's turn to be concerned, those books were her pride and joy and if any harm had come to them on her behalf, she could never forgive herself.
"Weird thing is Twilight, the only thing that burned was the book you were reading" Spike looked nervous as he spoke, he most likely thought Twilight would think he wasn't telling the truth, but Twilight knew this wasn't the case. Spike would never lie to her.
"I believe you Spike. There's some strange magic here, and I have a feeling it doesn't want to be stopped"
Twilight woke the next day and headed back to her home with Spike by her side. As soon as she stepped into the house, she immediately confirmed that Spike hadn't lied about the fire. The floor was streaked with scorch marks, which all seemed to emanate from her study. The door of her study had been burn't beyond recognition. It had gone from it's usual deep purple to a pitch black and as she studied it more, she found it was also marked with a red X through the center, on both sides. The X struck her as familiar, though she did not know where she had seen it before.
Twilight next went to inspect her study. Spike had once again been telling the truth, nothing but the book seemed to have burned, not even the loose papers littering the floor and the desk. Although none of the books or the papers had been burnt, every single surface in the room, from floor to ceiling had been turned pitch black, and marked with the same mysterious X that had appeared on the door. Twilight knew something was wrong, something terrible was causing these problems, first with Rarity, now with her. She backed out and closed the door.
"Spike, I want you to bring my list of all the books in the library, i want to make sure everything is here" Twilight sat down wearily. There were hundreds of books in this library, all of which needed to be accounted for.
"Twilight, ummm, I was wrong when I told you that the book you had been reading was the only thing that burned"
"WHAT!? What else is gone? Tell me Spike, this is important!" A panic was starting to grip Twilight's heart, whatever it was she was dealing with, did NOT want to be found out.
"Ummm, All of your files... they're gone" Twilight flew down the stairs and into her records room. Every piece of work she'd ever done had been in that room. Copies of all her letters to Celestia, essays she had written on various subjects, every award she had ever received and most importantly, her list of all of the books in the library.
"oh my..." Twilight nearly collapsed as she entered her sacred room. Every file was gone, every single memory she had stored was torn away, all piled into a heap of ashes in the middle of the floor. All except for...
"What's that paper over there Spike" Twilight whispered. She had a feeling that whatever it is, it was not good news.
Spike handed Twilight the letter. All that was written were two words in an untidy scrawl, two words, less than eight letters and yet when Twilight read them, she smiled as an overwhelming calm swept through her mind. All she could think about where those two words and how satisfying it would be to do. She smiled.
And said "Kill Spike, what a fabulous idea"
New chapter coming soon!