//------------------------------//
// Chapter Seven: Rarity's Dismay 
// Story: Paper Spike and the Thousand Year Door 
// by Sakunyan 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Seven: Rarity's Dismay


The room was a blur to the dizzy mare who lay nearly unconscious in the center of the room.  She attempted to remember where she was or how she had got here, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.  She blinked and looked around.
The room was done up simply, yet neatly.  There was a bed made with fresh sheets and a small bookshelf with a couple of novels lined up on it.  The room had no windows and a steel door which seemed out of place in the room.  Struggling to stand up, she dragged herself over to the door and tried to find a way to open it, yet it had no handles or knobs.  She attempted to use her magic on the door, but remained trapped inside.
"Hello?  Is anyone out there?  Where am I!?" she yelled into the door, hoping someone could hear her on the other side.  Confused and lightheaded, she sat down with her back against the door.  As she held her head, still trying to clear her mind, she heard a noise of a mechanism working.  She turned to see what it was.
A slot she hadn't noticed before on the wall had opened.  She ran over to it and tried to look through, but found in vain that she couldn't.  A try was being pushed through the slot.  Before it had a chance to shut, she used her magic to try and keep the panel open.
"Tell me where I am!  What's going on here?  I demand some answers!!"  The mechanisms were too strong for her as the slot eventually shut itself.  She growled and stamped her hooves in frustration.  "What in Equestria is going on??" 
Restless, she looked at the tray to see what had been left for her.  It appeared to be a basic meal of vegetables and some sort of fruit drink, nothing out of the ordinary.  She inspected the food carefully to ensure it couldn't harm her before consuming it.  To her surprise, she was famished and began to wonder just how long she had been trapped within the room.  
After finishing the meal, she began pacing the room, looking for some possible way out.  She used her magic to move furniture and look for an escape, but her efforts were all in vain as it appeared there wasn't even a visible ventilation grate.  She let herself fall onto the bed as her memories began slowly coming back to her.
She remembered being ambushed with Sweetie Belle in Rogueport.  She remembered working on a project in Rogueport.  Staying with Cheerilee.  Something about Diamond Tiara and her Element of Harmony.  She remembered that now.  
"Filthy Rich..... Where are you, you coward?  Why are you keeping me here?  Give me some answers!"  She was hoping there was some sort of microphone or camera in the room to allow someone to hear her cries.  Sadly, though, there was no immediate response to her calls.  She sat back down on the bed.  "Why won't somepony tell me where I am???"
She sat up abruptly as she heard more mechanism sounds, this time coming from the door.  She jumped off of the bed and ran over to the door, which was slowly rising up.  In moments she found herself standing face to face with Filthy Rich, the unicorn from Ponyville.
"You did hear me." she whispered.  Her expression changed to a glare as she stamped up to him.  "Why am I here?  Let me go, you filthy-"
The door quickly slammed shut and the stallion put his hooves on Rarity's shoulders to hold her away from himself.  
"Now, Rarity, hold on, no need to resort to violence so quickly!"  She ignored him and pushed his hooves off of her.
"Don't you dare touch me, you mule!"  Angered, she pointed her horn at the stallion and using her magic, levitated the surrounding objects and began sending them flying towards him.  He warded off the objects and walked towards Rarity, lifting a hoof and smacking her in the face.  She held her stinging face as she winked away tears.  "How dare you...."
"Rarity.  You have to listen to me.  Like I said, there's no need for violence."  He watched her sternly as she came to, standing up and glaring at him.
"Go on, then.  Tell me why I'm here."  He cleared his throat.
"YOU'RE here because we need your Element of Generosity, if you seem to recall from earlier.  Your sister didn't seem to want to hand it over, though, and that's a bit of a problem for us.  Well, mostly for you."  She leered at him, remembering how she had told her younger sister to not let go of her Element.  It was hard, but she was trying not to regret that decision.  
"Ah, I also would like to mention that you seem to have a little crusade running around trying to save you.  Just thought I should mention that."  Filthy Rich coughed, thinking about what his angry daughter had described.  "They seemed to be giving Diamond a bit of a rough time, if I recall..."  Rarity's eyes widened.
"Who is it?  Princess Celestia?  Is Twilight coming with the others to rescue me?"  Filthy Rich shook his head.
"No, no, I believe she said it was your little sister and.... I believe she said she was accompanied by a young dragon?"  Rarity's heart sank a little bit.  She knew exactly who he was talking about.  Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but she would have much preferred if the Princesses were coming to her rescue, or her best friends.  
"Well, lucky for me, I have lots of faith in Sweetie Belle and Spike!  I am quite certain that they'll be able to save me!"  Of course, she wasn't certain at all, but she wasn't about to let him know that.  He chuckled.
"Very well.  We'll see about that, won't we dear?"  Rarity glared at him again.  
"You know, I am a Unicorn you know?  I could overtake you with magic whenever I wanted and just get out of here now."  He laughed at her threat.
"Oh really?  And overtake the guards, too?  I highly doubt that."  She gulped, knowing he was probably right.  Of course, she was taking his word that there were even guards out there.  She turned her back on him.
"You have my permission to leave, now.  I request not to speak to you any longer."  Filthy Rich raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're a bit too confident in the others coming to your rescue, aren't you?  Well, you just keep believing that you'll be safe and sound back in Ponyville then, dear.  It's only a matter of time until they falter and help us find the remaining Elements instead of getting them for themselves.  They will fail."  After not receiving response from Rarity, Filthy Rich turned and opened the door, exiting the room.  Rarity turned to see the door shut itself quickly.
Now with a major headache, she tossed and turned on the bed.  She had no concept of what time it was or even what day it was, still not knowing how long she had been passed out in the room.  Nevertheless, she finally managed to get herself to fall into a harsh sleep, dreaming about her friends successfully coming to her rescue.  
Morning wasn't that much easier for her either.  She ate her breakfast, which was the same as the meal she had the previous night.  After forcing herself to eat, she heard a noise behind her and realized the wall had slid open to reveal another room.
She entered the new room to find that it was a bathroom with a plain interior.  Thinking of how relaxing a bath sounded, she began to draw one up for herself.  
She tried to relax herself in the bath, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.  Her headache still hadn't left her from the previous day and thinking still seemed almost impossible.  Her thoughts were only on Sweetie Belle and Spike, hoping that they could somehow, by a stroke of luck, manage to come to her rescue.  Feeling helpless, she held her face in her hooves and began to cry.