“Be…our…guest!” screamed Pinkie Stick, finishing singing ‘Be Our Guest’ for the eighteenth time in a row. “One more time!”
“Please no!” yelled Rarity, grasping the candlestick and shaking it mercilessly. “If I have to hear that song one more ti—I mean… You don’t want to wear out your voice. You have been singing a lot… So very much,” she muttered.
“Okie doike lokie!” chirped the candlestick. “We’re almost at the dining hall anyways. Oh! And we need to introduce you to Tankardjack and Rainbow Cup as well! They’re going to be so excited to see you again!”
“See me again?” asked Rarity, giving Pinkie a strange look. “I don’t recall ever meeting a ‘Tankardjack or a Rainbow cup before. Are they objects, too?”
Pinkie’s face turned pale, even for wax. “Did I say again? I meant for the first time ever and everything!” She laughed nervously. “It’s not like you’ve ever talked to a household item before.”
“Yes,” giggled the unicorn. “That would be rather odd and I think that I would remember something like that.”
“Phew…” sighed Pinkie Stick under her breath. “That was a close one.”
“What was a close one?”
“Oops! Did I say that out loud?” gulped Pinkie. “I mean to say… Cupcakes!”
“Cupcakes?”
“Cupcakes,” she nodded, jumping ahead of Rarity and Flutterbench. “Flawless recovery,” she snickered under her breath, making sure no pony could hear her. “Anyways, we’re here!” she said, presenting the large wooden doors to the kitchen. “Shall we?”
“Let’s,” smiled Rarity, as she pushed open the door.
The kitchen smelled of fresh and recently cooked food, the aroma of freshly baked bread and biscuits. Flats of food and gems were spread and displayed on the counters or thrown into the sinks and garbage bins. On one of the counters next to a bubbly sink, a large metal tankard seemed to be chasing a small tea cup around.
“Now come now, sugar cube,” said Tankardjack. “Do we have to go through this every time it’s bath time?”
“I don’t need a freaking bath!” shouted Rainbow Cup. “I had one yesterday!”
“Because y’all were filthier than a pig in a manure patch,” mentioned the tankard cup. “And to be straight. Y’all don’t smell like a bundle of petunias today either.”
“What do you expect?! I have to hop around everywhere! But that doesn’t mean I have to bathe every single day! And I especially don’t need you to help me!”
“Oh, don’t be so fussy,” said Tankardjack. “Y’all just like to be difficult. You always were a hard one.”
“What are you talking about?!” growled the tea cup. “When did you get this delusion that you were my mother?”
“Hush it, missy, and get in the bathtub.”
“No! Nononononononono!” screamed Rainbow, throwing her tantrum as Tankardjack grabbed her by the rim. “I don’t want to have a bath! You can’t make me!”
“Quit wiggling,” she grunted. “You’re going to chip the rim of your head!”
“I hope I do!”
“Now that’s a lie, and y’all know it,” Tankardjack said. “Now into the tub.”
With that, the large tankard glass threw the smaller tea cup into the soapy sink. Rainbow screamed as she splashed into the water, sinking to the bottom almost immediately. She lingered there, looking disgruntled at the bottom of the pool, her cheeks puffed up with air. However, Rainbow eventually floated back up to the top of the bowl and exhaled her breath.
“I hate you so much, you know that right?” She said.
“Now don’t be like that, little darling.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, are we interrupting something?” Rarity asked. “I didn’t realize we were interrupting something.”
“What the—Oh my, Celestia!” Gasped Tankardjack. “Shoot my barrel, it’s actually you!”
“Yes… It’s me…” wondered Rarity, a little confused at the talking jug’s statement. “I’m sorry, have we met before? I’m terribly sorry but it seems like everypony…umm, object in here knows me and I’m afraid I haven’t the slightest idea who you are.”
“Well of course not,” chuckled Tankardjack. “But we heard that somepony was in the castle but I didn’t believe it. I guess I was wrong on that one. But shoot, where are my manners? The name’s Tankardjack, and this here little thing is Rainbow Cup.”
“It’s Rainbow Dash!”
“Hush!” Shushed the tankard glass. “Don’t mind her. She’s fussier than a chicken in a frying pan.”
“I see…”
“But here I am, blabbering like a rooster when you’re starved to death!”
“Well, I am a bit hungry,” Rarity admitted. “And if you were to spare anything to eat, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“Of course we can, sugar cube,” smiled Tankardjack, hopping over to the table and to the leftover banquet of food. “We still got lots of food leftover. It’s a little cold, but feel free to help yourself.”
“Why thank you, dear,” said Rarity, walking over to the table of food. She scanned over the delicacies that caught her interests and began to put a plate together. “This all looks incredible. If you knick knacks could have cutie marks, yours would definitely be in cooking.”
“Be sure to eat up, ya hear,” the beer mug said. “Now if y’all excuse me, I have to get little missy here to sleep. It’s much past her bedtime.”
“No!” whined Rainbow. “I am not going back into that cupboard!”
“Rainbow, do we have to do this every time?”
“Yes! Because I hate that cupboard and I hate tea cups!”
“Now see here, Rainbow Cup,” Rarity said, levitating her full plate off the table and turning towards the sink. “It’s very rude to talk to your mother that way.”
“She’s not my mother! That’s the problem!” yelled Rainbow, hopping out of the sink. “She’s gotten this delusion that she’s my mother and won’t stop treating me like a child! And no pony is doing anything about it!”
“Oh…” gasped Rarity, looking back and forth between the two as the awkwardness of the situation grew. “Umm, Pinkie Stick, didn’t you have to show me something important?”
“I did?” Pinkie Stick wondered. “Wow, even I didn’t know that. C’mon Rarity. Bye Tankardjack, sleep tight Rainbow Cup!”
“Fall off a bridge, Pinkie,” grumbled the tea cup.
“See, now you’re all cranky,” mumbled Tankardjack, picking up Rainbow by her handle with her teeth. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you stay up so late.”
“Let go of me!”
The two continued to argue and fight as Rarity, Pinkie Stick and Flutterbench quietly snuck out of the kitchen. Rarity carefully closed the door, making sure not to make a noise and disrupt the two cups.
“Are they always like that?” she asked.
“Oh yeah!” giggled Pinkie Stick. “And that’s not even the worst spat that they’ve had. I remember this one time Rainbow Cup got sick and Tankardjack refused to let her out of the cupboard until she got better. They even had soup and everything, which is weird because TJ carried it around in her head… so it was like she was drinking her brains… Oh my gosh! Rainbow Cup is a zombie!”
“Yes… Well, that’s a mildly disturbing image…” mumbled Rarity. She looked around the castle halls as she took a bit out of her sandwich. It was the first time that she had gotten a good look at the sheer size of the damp, dusty castle. The sheer size of it was almost intimidating to the little pony, making her feel petite in its presence, just like how she felt in Spike’s. “This castle is rather large, don’t you think?” she asked. “And it’s just the six of you living here?”
“Uh-huh,” nodded the quiet Flutterbench.
“Why, there must be a thousand rooms in this castle.”
“More like ninety-three,” said Pinkie Stick. “I got bored one day and counted them all… Twice.”
“Really? That many?”
“Yeah… Hey! Do you know what would be fun? If me and Flutterbench take you on a tour of the castle! Yeah, we haven’t had time to do that yet! Oh, it’s going to be so much fun!”
“Umm, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Pinkie…” whispered Flutterbench. “After all, Spike didn’t even want Rarity to leave her room, let alone go exploring the castle.”
“Fiddlesticks!” laughed the candle stick. “I’m sure that he won’t care as long as we stay away from the West Wing!”
“What is in the West Wing exactly?” Rarity asked.
“Nothing! It’s boring! Who said anything about a west wing? I know I sure didn’t!” Pinkie Stick panicked. “Why would you want to go there when there are so many other wonderful rooms to visit? Like the library… Or the trophy room… Or the fashion studio!”
Rarity’s eyes lit up. “You have a fashion studio in this castle?”
“Yes! With sewing machines and mannequins and everything! Would you like to see it?”
“Yes!” Rarity happily said. “Oh, it would simply mean the world to me if I could practice my dress making again! I was quite the fashionista back in Ponyville, if I do say so myself.”
“Then to the fashion studio! Lead the way, Flutters,” piped the candlestick, jumping on the back of the yellow hoof rest. “Tally ho!” The candlestick rode the hoof stool down the hall and around the corner, disappearing from Rarity’s sight and leaving her alone in the hallway.
“Umm…” she wondered, slowly following the two down the corridors. By the time she rounded the corner Pinkie Stick and Flutterbench were gone. “Hello? Did you two forget about me?”
There was no response.
“Well, how rude,” the mare huffed. “I guess I’ll just have to go and find it myself… Wherever it is.”
Rarity started walking around the halls looking for the fashion studio, but the castle halls and rooms all looked the same. Dank, dark, and daunting. Not the kind of atmosphere that inspired confidence and self-assurance. She could have sworn that everything in this castle had an inch thick coat of dust on it and the statues of armour were watching her every move. Perhaps Pinkie Stick and the others weren’t the only enchanted objects in this castle.
The unicorn eventually found herself staring down at a crossroad of the halls. There was one passageway leading left down to the East Wing, and one leading to the right and into the West Wing.
“Oh, I really shouldn’t…” Rarity whispered to herself as she started heading down the left hallway. “But what is he hiding in that wing?”
Her curiosity got the better of her. She turned around and headed down the West Wing.
It was much darker and creepier than the rest of the castle. The banners that hung from the ceiling were torn to shreds, and the walls had soot marks from fire blasts. The hallway reeked with the smell of blood and brimstone and Rarity was hoping that the bones that scattered the floor weren’t from any domsestic animals or ponies. She should have turned away, but her curiosity kept her leading forward.
When she got to the end of the hall, she stopped. She stared at the large steel doors of the hall, and the large dragon scratches on them. She knew it was a terrible idea to open them, yet she found herself slowly pushing them open.
“Hello?” She whispered into the dark room. “Is anypony there?”
There was no answer.
“Goodness, it’s dark in here…” Rarity said. She focused her magic to illuminate her horn, providing a source of light for the unicorn. “That’s better… Oh my…”
The pony’s eyes widened with horror as she looked at a destroyed gallery of her own image. The walls were littered with torn painting of what looked like to be her, and the stone fragments of her face that were scattered among the ground. They were all sculpts and shots of her life over the past year. Pictures of her shopping, sketches of her working, statues of her sleeping, all of her and all were destroyed. All but one simple statue of her in the center of the room.
She slowly walked up to it. The stone was aged and weathered, so she knew it wasn’t newly made. It was almost like looking into a stony mirror.
“What… What is this?”
“What are you doing here?”
Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a shift in the shadows, and the eerie green shine of the dragon’s eye cutting through the blackness of the room. Spike’s ever intimidating presence emerged from the darkness.
“I asked you what you were doing here!” he sneered. “I told you to stay away from here!”
“What is all of this!?” Rarity barked back, pointing a hoof at the statue of her. “Why does this look like me? Why do all these painting have me in it? Are you stalking me? Am I just some sort of sick game to you? Answer me!”
“I DON’T OWE YOU ANYTHING!” The dragon roared. “I tried to be nice, I try to be a gentledrake like you always wanted me to be! But you never could love me BECAUSE I’M JUST A MONSTER TO YOU!”
“What are you talking about? I don’t even know you! And I certainly do not love you! You’ve done nothing to deserve my love aside from letting me stay in one of the spare rooms rather than a dungeon!”
There was a slight pause as the dragon slowly walked towards her. He stopped right next to the statue of Rarity and placed one of his massive claws on its head.
“You’re dead to me…” he whispered, his grip tightening on the stone head of Rarity. “Get out of my castle…”
“Excuse me—“
“GET OUT!” he roared, the stone head of the statue shattering into dust in his claws. “Get out of here before I roast you alive!”
Rarity ran out of there faster than she had ever run before. Her face was in tears from the terrifying experience as she desperately searched for the exit of the castle.
“I shouldn't have come here! I shouldn't have come here!” the mare cried, bolting down the hall to the main exit. “I need to get out of here!” She rushed to the large doors of the castle and started to push them open.
“Rarity?” a voice behind her asked. “What are you doing?!”
The unicorn peeked over her shoulder to see Twiclock standing behind her.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here anymore!” Rarity cried as she slipped through the crack of the door. “That monster’s been stalking me and tried to kill me!”
She disappeared behind the cold steel of the entrance and disappeared in the snow, leaving Twiclock confused and jumbled.
*****
Spike panted heavily as he stood in his quarters, his blood still hot from Rarity discovering his little secret. Every unforgiving muscle in his body ached with the desire to go after her, to finally end her, and with it any hope of breaking the spell and returning everything back to the way it was. It would at least give him the small satisfaction of finally having her out of his life.
“I should have killed her,” he said to himself. “Finally end this nightmare… That’s all I wanted right?”
He looked at the headless statue of Rarity, next to him. The dust of the head still coursed his palm and small pebbles still laid in his hand.
“That…that’s what I wanted…right? I’m just a boogyman, a freak… A monster…”
"Inside my blackish heart,
That she has torn apart,
There is not a slightest sight of love left…
And yet I sit in here,
Rarity is so near,
I see within her is, utter kindness…
Wonder…
Could I be wrong?
Wrong all along?
But it’s far too late,
Thinking… But pointless…
Cold and heartless,
It was my own fault…
No pony could love me,
No goodness left in me,
Not past my face, not my friends… or her
Why was I so bitter?
How could I not love her?
It was a choice for she and she alone to make
And not made by me.
Long ago I should have seen,
My eternal love for thee,
Careless and so greedy I moved onward!”
“What have I done?! I-I could have hurt her!” he cried, falling to his knees, trying to wipe the ash from his claws. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I sorry!”
No, goddess redeems me!
No, pain undeserving!
No point anymore, if I can’t love her
No time to say sorry,
Is this the end to my story?
How I wished it could have ended with her and me together…
But it's not to be,
If I can't love her,
Let the world be done with me…
“I’m so sorry, Rarity…”
*****
Rarity tried her best to press against the blistering wind of the stirring blizzard, her hooves buried in the snow. She wished that she had taken the time to grab a scarf or a cloak to help protect her from winter’s grasp but she dared not to go back to the castle and the monster within. It was a shame that those poor enchanted items were stuck in that castle with that beast, she would have to inform the proper authorities once she got back to Ponyville.
Ponyville… it was her home, her parents were there, as well as her little sister and her… her home… What did she really have back at Ponyville besides those three things? It was a little sad to admit but those knick knacks back at the palace were the first things that she had had a conversation with other than her parents or a customer since she was a foal.
She shook away those thoughts from her head. Right now was the time to focus on getting back home through the snow.
But little did she know, she wasn’t alone. From the shadows of the trees and in the mist of the white ice and powder, several pairs of glowing yellow eyes glared dimly in the forest, staring at the lost white mare. The Timberwolves of the Everfree forest stalked the unicorn with hungry eyes. The biggest wolf, most likely the alpha male stepped up to a nearby old tree stump.
And picked up the radio sitting on top of it.
“Mother Den, this is Big Bad Wolf,” the Timberwolf said. “We have visuals on a lone sheep wandering off the path, I repeat we have a pony taking the quickie route.”
“Big Bad Wolf, this is Mother Den,” said a voice that sounded a lot like Princess Celestia. “Could you repeat that last bit? We’re getting interference from the storm.”
“We have a pony that taking the old road through the Everfree Forest, probably trying to save the ten minute travel time and bypass the Hay’ n’ Eat hay station.”
There was a sigh on the radio. “When will ponies learn…?”
“Mother Den, I request permission to engage the target,” the wolf said.
“Threat level?” The radio asked.
“Minimal, just one mare, probably just got lost in the snow. We’ll scare her back to the main roads on the other side of the forest.”
“Roger that, Big Bad Wolf. Be advised that you are restricted against using any force of any kind.”
“Read you loud and clear, Mother Den,” the wolf said. “I’ll dispatch a team immediately. We’ll report back in few minutes with an update.”
“Roger that. Good luck, Big Bad Wolf.”
The timberwolf clicked the radio off and placed it back on the bench and then turned around to face the rest of his pack. “Alright, Beta Pack, you know the drill, scare tactics only and keep your claws to yourselves, we don’t want another Isaac incident.”
“Umm, what happened to Isaac?” a young wolf whispered to another.
“You don’t want to know, kid,” the other wolf said.
“Sergeant Bruno, what are you doing?” the wolf leader asked.
“Sir, I was just informing the rookie about the Isaac incident.”
“Rookie?” Wondered the wolf leader. “Wait… You’re from Johnson’s unit aren’t you? What was your name again?”
“Martinez, sir,” the young Timberwolf said.
“Well Martinez, stick to my orders and you should do just fine,” the leader said. “I expect big things from you, kid.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Now get out there and scare that filly!”
“Hoorah!” chanted the wolf pack, running past their leader and immediately began to surround the mare, putting on the fake façade of snarling and wild carnivores.
The wolf leader picked the radio back up and changed the channel to his team’s channel. “Good form, boys. Ezekiel, more snarling, Martinez, look at what Bruno is doing with his teeth, do that as well… Good, good. Alight, Lee, I want you to do the lunge.”
“Roger that,” whispered Lee the Timberwolf as he pounced in Rarity’s direction, narrowly missing her. On purpose, of course. It was a common but effective tactic used to scare the ponies back the way they came.
“Good pounce, Lee—Hey! Be careful of that tree, you’re backing her up into it! Agh! No…” he sighed, watching his team accidentally back Rarity up into a large oak tree. “What is this? Amateur hour?!”
“Sir, awaiting orders,” Bruno said through his headpiece, staring into the mare’s eyes.
“Okay, okay…” the leader said to himself, observing the situation. “Alright, here’s what you’re going to do. We need to give her an opening so she can run away. Martinez, I need you to do a flying butterfly to her left. If she takes the bait, she’ll swat you away and then Bruno and Ezekiel can swoop in for the feign kill. Hopefully, she’ll see her opening and get out of there.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” the wolves said as they followed their leader’s orders. Martinez did the flying butterfly, an easily predictable flying lunge that was always aimed too high. Just as the leader predicted, Rarity instinctively swiped her hoof at the Timberwolf, and smacked him off course. With Martinez down, Bruno and Ezekiel both ran in with snarling and foamy teeth, causing Rarity to run in the opposite direction.
“Alright, now keep the chase up for about half a mile and we’ll call her gone.”
“Did you see that?” laughed Martinez. “This girl thinks we’re actually going to kill her!”
“You did good kid, but don’t get cocky,” Bruno said to him. “And keep up the—what the hell?!”
“Is that a dragon?!”
From the shadows of the trees and snow, Spike came running into the fray. He grabbed the stunned and horrified Martinez and threw him into a nearby tree.
“This is bad!”
“What do we do?!”
“Captain! What do we do?”
“Son of a—“ muttered the leader, switching the channels of his radio again. “Mother Den, this is Big Bad Wolf. We have a situation!”
“We hear you Big Bad Wolf. What’s your status?”
“We have a dragon here and he’s looking for a fight! Requesting permission to retaliate against the hostile!”
“… Permission granted, Big Bad Wolf,” the radio voice said. “But only against the dragon.”
“Okay…” said the leader, switching the channels once again. “Timberwolves! Attack!”
The Timberwolves did just that, jumping up against the dragon and lashing out with their claws. They tried to sink their teeth into his hide, but he kept swatting them away. He seemed determined to protect the mare at any cost.
Bruno managed to get around behind the dragon and jump on his back, where he attempted to bite at the dragon’s neck. But Spike stopped the bite with his arm and shoved him off. The dragon started to breathe fire, terrifying the Timberwolves as they tried to run away. However, Martinez wasn’t so lucky. He was caught in the full blast of the dragon’s inferno.
“Martinez!” Gasped the leader. “That’s it! Retreat! Every wolf retreat!”
Spike watched as the cowardly wolves started to flee, dragging their burnt comrade with them. He gave a bellowing roar of victory before collapsing in the snow, exhausted and weak from the large gash in his left arm.
“S-Spike?” Rarity wondered as she slowly walked up to the fallen dragon. “Spike? Wake up!”
*****
Somewhere far away from the dragon and the pony, the Timberwolves gently placed Martinez on a snow bank.
“Ezekiel, get a first aid kit, now!” ordered the leader, looking down at the injured wolf. “Stay with me, dang it! Don’t you dare close those eyes, Martinez!”
“Si… Sir…” strained the young wolf. “I… I’m so cold… I c-c-can’t feel my legs…”
“That’s because they haven’t regenerated yet,” whispered the leader. “Ezekiel! Where’s his legs? Why haven’t they re-attached themselves!?”
“His legs were burnt to a crisp from that dragon’s fire,” Ezekiel said. “He has no legs anymore and he’s lost a lot of tree sap!”
“Tell me something I don’t know!” He roared. “Can you fix him?”
“… I’m sorry…”
“No…nonononono!” the lead Timberwolf said, gritting his teeth in anger and frustration. “You’re going to be okay, Martinez. We’re going to get you new legs.”
“Captain… It’s okay…” whispered the dying wolf weakly. “It’s all part of the…of the job.”
“I…” the leader tried to say, but he couldn’t finish his sentence. “This world isn’t good enough for you, son.”
“Captain…”
“Yes, soldier?”
“P-p-permission to die…?”
“… Permission granted.”