Rarity was sitting on a chair inside of the Manehatten Hotel, sewing together a beautiful piece of dress for an upcoming performance. She was humming to herself, when suddenly a knocking on the door interrupted her. “Finally, my fabric is here!” Rarity said as she rushed to open the door. When she opened it, a tall mail pony with a package placed on his back and a clipboard held by one of his fetlocks awaited her.
He looked down on the clipboard with all of the orders written down, then back to Rarity. “Miss Rarity, I presume?” He asked, as he grabbed the box and held it in his hooves..
“Yes, that’s me.” Answered Rarity, eyeing the package nervously as she bit her lower lip. “Do you by any chance have a package full of the gems that I’ve ordered? Also I hope I’m not being rude, but why did this take so long to get here?”
“Manehattan’s traffic makes it a little hard to deliver packages on time. And the fabric was heavier than it looked.” He then allowed himself in and placed the boxes in her apartment and turned to go. “ Oh yeah, you also got a gift in the small box over here. Almost forgot.” He then handed her a smaller box. “I will be on my way. Goodbye, m’lady.”
“Thank you.” Rarity called out as she put a ruby into his pocket. “Have a good day sir, I got work to do.” Closing her door, she began to unpack her fabrics, placing the third box on the desk with her sewing machine..
“Now hopefully I’ll be done by tonight. I don’t want to miss Twilight’s birthday.” Looking through her dress patterns, she placed a spool of thread inside of the sewing machine machine. “Now, let’s see this mysterious gift.” She unfolded the box revealing a music box with a small note taped to the top. “Ah how lovely of her.” She said, taking the note off the box, holding it in her magic as she began to read.
Dear Rarity, greetings. I know making these dresses must be stressful for you. As a token of appreciation for your efforts, I sent this music box to listen to while you work. Its melody always helped me concentrate, and I think it will help you as well. Sincerely, director Page Tale.
A warm glow filled her cheeks, setting the note and the box down on the table next to her sewing machine. “Hmm, the score isn’t written on the box or note. Strange.” She said, cutting up layers of her new fabric while also setting them in piles as she adjusted the size of the next dress.
“Now with no interruptions, I’ll be done by tonight and a little tune will help.” Winding the music box until the handle couldn’t turn, she watched as the top opened up and played its song. The melody moved along to what seemed like small bells and piano dropped in. “Nice and calm, perfect!” Humming to the melody, she began sewing the fabulous dress.
The machine carefully lined the thread, connecting each fabric together, adding patterns, and adjusting the size as needed. “Looking fabulous! The director is going to love this!” Rarity gleefully said as she added sequins to it. “A little sparkle won’t hurt. It will shine on stage. Can’t wait to see what they think.” Her excitement seemed to be never-ending, not noticing the distorted sounds coming from the box. She calmed herself down by breathing in and out several times, focusing on fine-tuning the dress as the light flickered above her.
Paying no mind to it, she added the finishing touches as the distorted music just started to hit her ears. “Hmm? I don’t suppose this is how the tune was supposed to sound.” Rarity said, stopping the music and closing the box. Then she suddenly noticed her strength quickly disappearing, and she let out a yawn. She lifted up the ribbon and set it onto the dress and turned it into a bow while sewing it on with her magic and a needle.
“I honestly did not expect to be this tired, but I admit I’ve done a lot of work today.” Stretching her hooves, she admired her work and decided that what would happen next would be a well deserved rest. She then went into her bedroom and slipped in between the bedsheets. Casting on her sleep mask, the wrapping of sleep taking its hold on her. Lying cozy on her bed, she began to enter the world of dreams…
Rarity started to shiver. A chill wind moved across her body, causing her to sit up and wrap her blanket around her. “Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?” She wondered while taking off her sleep mask. The room was pitch black, so she had to cast her light spell and have it stick to her horn. The outside was incredibly dark, with bits of snow falling down across the windows. “Strange… it wasn’t winter the last time I looked out of a window.“ Shining her light around the room, Rarity noticed how the room seemed to look a little rotten, the colors seemingly faded away.
“This doesn’t make any sense! What’s going on here?” She got out of her bed, her eyes being cast on to her desk which was bare. “This is so bizarre. Also, where did the box go?” She said, shining her light along the floor. The boards were covered up in dirt and muck, creaking heavily as she stood up from the bed and approached her closet. Taking out a ragged scarf, the smell of it so revolting she gagged as she wrapped it around her neck. “How disgusting but, looks to be the only scarf here. Great….”
She then walked out of her room. “Why is everything so quiet? The streets were roaring a few minutes ago.” She said as she looked out of the window, vision limited severely due to the darkness outside with snow falling down.
“Hello? Anypony here?” Rarity called out, but didn’t receive a response back. She approached the room next to her’s and knocked on it. “Hello? Is somepony in there? Can someone explain what is going on?” No response… the place remained dead silent. “There has to be somepony here.” Rarity said unnerved, as she walked over to the fire exit as a cold breeze ran under the door. Her body shivered as she entered and started walking down the rotten stairs, smelling in a way that made Rarity put the scarf against her nose with her magic. “Sweet Celestia… where am I?” Her voice echoed as she kept walking down while on edge.
Rarity walked a few floors down until her ears caught the sounds of bells and a melody quietly played along with it. “Wait, is that the music box? It’s coming….from that door.” She carefully approached the door and set her ear against it. “Hello!” She called out and only the sounds of the melody played out. She opened the door slowly, the song growing in volume as a gust of wind followed it.
“Going down even further. Great…” She said while walking down the stairwell. Following this tune, growing louder as she was getting closer to another door.
She approached it and stopped a few steps away. Letting out a shallow breath, she opened the door to see the music box on a table with a mirror behind it. “The box? How did it get here?” She placed her front hooves forward into the room and focused her eyes on the table. “Wait, wha‒?” She blurted out as suddenly the door slammed behind her, pushing her in and sending her crashing into the table. “Owww!” She screamed as she tried to regain herself, the music becoming distorted to her ears.
As she was setting her front hooves onto the tabletop to balance herself, her eyes went wide open as the music box wasn’t on the table anymore… but on the other side of the mirror. “What, what is this?” Once she got on her hooves, she raced for the closed door, grabbing the handle and putting as much force into it as she could muster. “Locked?! Let me out, whoever you are, now!”
She bashed her hooves against it for a few seconds, the wooden door not moving an inch. Oh celestia celestia, please open! She screamed in her head, recoiling back as a black mist circled around her horn. “Ahh… my head…” Rarity held her head as she faced the mirror. The light within it dimmed as a black liquid started leaking out of the mirror. Unconsciousness overtook her, collapsing down onto the floor as everything went dark.