Blue.
That was the first thought Rarity had as she emptily took in her surroundings. The ivory teen stood at the heart of an ornate blue rose garden. Elaborate black iron bars separated the garden from the outside world, the space beyond obscured by a thick curtain of fog. At its heart stood an ornate hickory table with a blue velvet tablecloth. On each side of the table stood a lounge couch, both crafted elaborately from the same material, and adorned with blue velvet cushions. A woman dressed in a dark blue business dress stood to the left side of the lounge facing her, a white masquerade butterfly mask hiding all but her blood-red lips, the cream complexion of the lower half of her head, and long, straight, raven hair that reached the middle of her back. What truly held Rarity's attention was the figure that occupied the lounge the woman stood next to.
Said figure was an eerily ghoulish sight.
Were he to stand, Rarity was sure the top of his head would've barely made it past her own. He was dressed in a fine black suit with an excellently tended to red tie and white dress shirt. His small shoes were equally immaculate, both polished to a brilliant shine. What unnerved her was the goblin-like features of his face. With his long nose, wide piercing eyes, pointed ears, eery smile, and ring of messy silver hair surrounding a balding crown. His fare complexion was the only objectively attractive thing she could say about him that didn't put some part of her on edge. At the same time, an overwhelming part of her felt drawn to him. As if a part of her soul was telling her to trust the strange man. That he held the key to answering all of her questions.
Questions? What questions? Where am I? Why am I-
"Talk to him," a faint female voice urged.
She flinched, but showed no other signs of discomfort. Trusting the voice and seeing little else to do, she took a step towards the figure. It was then that she become aware of what she was wearing. Looking down at herself, she found herself wearing a black funeral gown, her hands decorated by a pair of matching black gloves that went up her arms to her bare shoulders. Matching dress shoes held her feet, the soft leather so light, she barely noticed their presence. Brining a hand up to her hair revealed it to be bound not in its usual glamorous spiral, but a rather charming bun. A wave of melancholy washed over her at the discovery, but it did little to stop her from approaching the strange man.
Taking a seat across from him, she rested her hands on her lap and locked eyes with the grinning figure, brilliant sapphire meeting the small black dots that swam in the whites of his manically wide eyes.
In an eery, yet polite voice, the figure broke the silence.
"Hello my dear and welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor and I am the Proprietor of this space."
"The...Velvet...Room?" she asked, tone dreamy with a hint of confusion. "What...?"
"Is the Velvet Room?" Igor snickered. "I am glad you asked. This is a space that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter."
Rarity nodded, only half following what the man was saying. Her mind felt so foggy, so drained. She wanted to rest, but felt as if she was already sleeping. She would've been so frustrated if she had the energy for it.
Igor chuckled, the sound pulling back the fog just enough for her to hold her focus on the man.
"I must say, it is rare that someone as interesting as you is drawn to this world. As if the strings of fate have decided to bring you here."
"Fate?" she asked, eyes sluggishly blinking.
"Yes," he chuckled, reaching for something under the table. "Tell me my dear, to you believe in fortune telling?"
As he said that, he lightly placed a stack of cards onto the table.
Rarity tilted her head in drowsy thought for a moment, then nodded when she fully registered his question. Igor chuckled at that and placed four cards onto the table, From Rarity's left they were arranged vertically, vertically, horizontally, and horizontally. With a casual flick of his wrist, the cards flipped face up and a collection of artful, yet foreboding images greeted her. In the same order, the first card showed a pair of lovers embracing with a pink heart hovering above them. The next card showed a black tower being struck by lightning, the top falling down towards the ground below. The first horizontal card showed a green wheel, three odd creatures seemingly caught in its spokes in a clockwise-facing fashion. The next horizontal and final card in the arrangement showed a sword with a scale's dish hung from both sides of its hilt in the direction the blade was pointing.
"Love is a powerful thing, is it not?" Igor sighed, staring down at the first card. "Under its sway, many have done both great and cataclysmically foolish things. Yet, as powerful as it is, it is often brittle in the face of betrayal."
As he said that, his eyes wandered towards the second card. A thin trail of tears slid down Rarity's cheeks, countless sweet memories of her time spent with Sunset drifting in and out of the fog that clogged her mind. The most painful of all being the last time they spoke. Or rather, the last time they spoke without the others being present.
She flinched when a white handkerchief appeared in front of her face. Blinking back her tears, she saw the bony hand holding the offered fabric. With a weak smile and thankful nod, she took the offering and whipped away the tears.
"Fear not my dear," he chuckled. "For even in the ashes of disaster, there is still hope!"
As he said that, he gently tapped the first horizontal card.
"Fate can be as fickle as love, but much more flexible. Should you make the right choices, it is possible to turn things around."
"R-Really?" she slurred, swaying slightly in her seat.
"Oh yes," Igor chuckled. "But be warned; just as you may seek to change what is to come, there will be those who seek justice for what has passed."
He tapped the final card, an ominous weight filling Rarity as she absorbed his words.
"Justice will need to be served, but who's sense of justice will have command of the scales?"
Rarity wanted to ask him what he was talking about, but the fog in her mind prevented her from finding the words. She noticed that, for a brief second, Igor looked at something behind her. His smile grew slightly at that as he reached for something in his inner coat pocket.
"It seems our time together has come to an end. Before you go, please, take this with you on the way out."
As he said that, he pulled a gold ornate key from his pocket, a silver card hanging from its keyring by a small silver chain. With a drunken nod, she took the key and finally fell over in her seat. As everything faded to black, she heard Igor cackle one last thing.
"Until we meet again, my dear. And please, stay safe."
***
Rarity awakened with a groan, her vision blurry as stared blankly at a dark ceiling. Feeling as if she had just had a hammer slammed into the side of her head, she tried to rub the haze out of her eyes. When she did, she became aware of something metallic wrapped around her right wrist. Confused, she pulled her hands away from her face and investigated. Wrapped snuggly around her wrist was a silver chain with two simple charms held safely in place by the simple links. One was a gold key while the other was what appeared to be a sapphire tarot card, the vague shape of a wheel carved into its surface.
"Where did this come from?" she blinked, sitting up.
The simple accessory held her focus far longer than such a thing truly should've, the young girl more than use to such fineries. However, the way it shined in the dim light of her room put all of the other trinkets in her collection to shame. When she finally managed to pry her eyes away from it, she was able to take in her surroundings. What she saw put a cold chill down her spine.
Instead of the familiar sight of her bedroom, she was greeted by dilapidation and decay. Wallpaper peeled from rotting red walls, once white carpet corroded until it resembled brown fungus, and what had once been fairly expensive furniture was now nothing but rotted piles of moldy wood. Even her bed hadn't been spared, the rotten frame seemingly being held together by a prayer while the rest of it was just a sliver of a degree less stable than that.
All of that, under a dim blood red light that came into the room from an open window.
Scared and confused, Rarity staggered out of bed, a disgusted grimace crawling onto her face when her bare feet made contact with the wet and rotted carpet. Looking down at herself, she was relieved to see that whatever befell her room had not done the same to her pajamas, the ivory silk still shining just as brilliantly now as it had the previous night.
She didn't allow herself to be distracted by that for long, as she ran towards her bedroom door.
With a loud bang, she slammed the door open and ran out into the hall beyond.
"Mother?! Father?! Sweetie?! Can you hear me!?" she cried, running through the now deteriorated echo of her home.
Her fear spiked when she came to her parents' room, or more specifically, where her parents' room should've been. Where a door had once stood was now nothing, but solid wall, her sister's room having fallen to that same fate when she ran to it seconds later. Taking a deep breath, she nodded stiffly at the wall and made her way towards the kitchen. Her hands were shaking, panic struggling to fight past her forced calm as she tried to take note of what resources she had at her disposal.
In spite of the kitchen's decayed condition, all of the food was in excellent shape. Grateful for the small blessing, she fixed herself a simple bowl of cereal and tried to make sense of her current situation. Before she could make any progress on that venture, a loud banging at the front door caught her attention, the sudden break in the silence enough to make her jump to her feet. Not entirely sure what to expect at this point, she cautiously made her way towards the door.
Gulping back her nerves, she cracked the door open a bit and peeked out. What she saw put a chill down her spine, her grip on the door loosening just enough for it to fully open on its own. All of the buildings still held their familiar shapes and sizes, but where made of what appeared to be mirror glass. The roads and sidewalks were now made of diamond and a blood red moon hung high in the sky. What truly chilled her was the massive tower in the distance, the structure looking more like a twisted horn from some demonic beast than any structure built by mortal hands.
That barely held a candle to the monster that stood before her.
It had the general shape of a teenage girl, but that was where the similarities ended. It was thin with long gangly limbs and short, gray ratty hair. A white mask featuring two dark holes for eyes and a twisted smile for a mouth covered its face while a dress made from a discarded brown potato sack covered its jet black body. The creature's head twitched as high pitched giggles escaped its dark maw.
Rarity quickly slammed the door shut and ran back to the kitchen, fear and adrenalin pouring through her veins as she frantically looked for anything she could use as a weapon. Less than a second later, the sound of shattering wood announced the creature's presence, twisted giggling telling Rarity exactly how quickly it was closing the gap between them. Grabbing a knife from the counter, she quickly hid under the kitchen table, praying to every god that was listening that she hadn't taken to long to do so.
A split second after that, the monster staggered into the kitchen.
Rarity forced a hand over mouth, trying to make as little sound as she could while the table cloth hid her from sight. Her heart hammered in her ears as she watched the creature's feet step past her hiding place, each staggering step punctuated by more maniacal giggles. Shaking, she listened to the creature drunkenly stumble around the kitchen, all the while, silently begging it to leave. The creature continued its inspection for several long minutes, ignorant of its prey's wishes, before the sounds of its steps and giggles faded out of the kitchen.
Not wanting to let this chance go to waste, she crept out from under the table and quietly crept towards the front door, knife held tight and at the ready should the need arise. Just when she started to close in on the open doorway, a scream of fury echoed through the house, followed by the creature's rapid uneven gate.
Her cover seemingly blown, Rarity abandoned all pretense of stealth ran out the front door into the streets beyond. Picking a direction at random, she ran as fast as her bare feet could take her, the creature's mad giggling not far behind her.
This can't be happening! This has to be a bad dream, r-right?!
A pained gasp flew past her lips as something ripped into her back, almost staggering her as she ran. The moist feeling she felt sliding down her spine quickly putting an end to her previous line of thinking.
Not a dream. Oh my god, THIS ISN'T A DREAM!
She ran harder, desperate to get as far away from her hunter as humanly possible. All the while, the monster's laughter continued to haunt her senses, growing closer and more fanatic by the second. Thinking fast, she bolted into a nearby alley, just barely avoiding another strike from the creature's claws. The girl took as much advantage of the creature's confusion as she could, knocking over trashcans and whatever debris she could as she ran. Irate growls merged with the creature's laughter as it tried to keep up with her.
The sound brought her a small sense of triumph. If she was destined to lose this encounter, then she was going to at least make the monster work for it. She hugged corners like they were long lost lovers as she continued to put distance between herself and the monster.
Her sudden turn of good fortune took an equally sudden nose dive when she rounded a corner into a dead end.
"N-No," she gasped, staring blankly at her reflection.
Her already chilled blood turned into solid ice when a now familiar giggle graced her ears. She turned, just in time to see the creature round the corner, the demon seemingly savoring her fear as it slowly rounded the corner. Trembling in terror, Rarity slowly backed away from it, her knife pointed forward in vice-like fingers.
"St-Stay back!" she stammered. "I-I'm warning you!"
The creature's giggle took on a deeper pitch, seemingly mocking her as it staggered towards her. With each step it took, Rarity took one back , every fiber of her being telling her to run away from it. She wanted to, she needed to, but when her back made contact with the wall behind her, even those thoughts became fleeting dreams.
Wether she liked it or not, this was where she was going to die.
Resolved to her fate and with nothing left to lose, she let out a strangled battle cry and charged towards the monster. The creature flinched back for a second, seemingly taken by surprise by the sudden desperate act. It was just the opening Rarity needed to run her knife into its chest. A split second later, pain shot threw her gut as she flew back-first into the wall behind her. The creature leered down at her, its laugh holding a much more sinister weight as it closed in on her.
Rarity's vision started to blur, blood loss, pain, and exhaustion starting to finally catch up to her as she slid to the floor. At the same time, she felt something inside her slide into place, as if shaken awake by some force she could not properly describe. Before she ponder on that feeling, a female voice softly echoed in her mind.
"A most unfortunate fate. Should nothing change, your punishment will be quite intense. Are you satisfied with this result?"
"N-No," she weakly croaked.
"Then you wish to pull upon a different thread? If so, let us form a contract. I am thou and thou art I. A fickle web, woven with infinite possibilities. Let fate's crew threads be woven with beauty beyond the skill of the god! Say my name and let us bring an end to fate's cruel design!"
Nodding, Rarity raised her right hand, the charms on her bracelet glowing brightly in the dim light of the red moon. With a brief flash, the key-shaped charm vanished, only to turn into a life-sized replica in her raised hand. The second her finger wrapped around that key, her vision cleared and a power greater than anything she had ever experienced ran through her.
With fire in her eyes, she dragged herself to her feat, stared deeply into the monster's eyes and cried, "Disend, Arachne!"
With a simple twist of her key, a door wreathed in webs appeared above her. With a light creak, it opened and a being of elegant horror stepped through the opening into the word. From the waist up, the being looked like that of a young woman, her skin a dark sapphire that shined with an etherial glow. Her hair was a straight curtain of silver that crept past her bare shoulders. She sported a red leather corset that emphasized her modest bust, but not so much as to be deemed indecent. Her lower body was that of a sapphire spider, a horrifying contradiction to the beauty her human features presented.
Arachne lowered herself to her mistress' side, a cold fire burning in her green eyes as she stared the monster down. The monster took a step back, fear creeping into its laughter as it met the Persona's glare. Led by instinct, she pointed at the monster and in a voice as cold as ice, gave her command.
"End it. WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"
With a nod, Arachne pointed a palm at the monster.
Seconds later, threads burst from the walls and floor, all of them wrapping effortlessly around the monster in an elegantly intricate web. It struggled frantically against its bindings, but it couldn't escape their steely grip. Then, Arachne closed her open palm into a tight fist and the web turned into solid ice, the frozen magic running through it instantly freezing the monster to its core. As her hunter crumbled away, all of the power she gained from Arachne's summoning suddenly left her, the world turning into a colorful blur as she fell over. A spike of pain shot up her spine when she hit the cold hard ground beneath her, but even that wasn't enough to keep her conscious. As everything faded to black, made one last prayer.
Please, let the others be okay....
***
As Rarity laid, back bleeding across the snow covered ground, a woman stepped around the corner into the scene. Her skin was a vibrant shade of tangerine while her hair was fiery blend of red and yellow styled into a loose ponytail. She wore a jet back cocktail dress that hugged all of her lithe features like an anaconda with a slit cut into the skirt's left side that came up to her hip. The woman took in the sight with some interest, her teal eyes soaking the scene in like a sponge as she took hits off of a cigarette from an ivory holder. When she noticed the key in the young girl's hand, a hint of excitement filled her eyes.
"Looks like I found a guest," she drawled, her voice a soft mix of sensual and sweet. "Looks like Igor earned himself a drink."