Chapter 4
Morning broke, and sunlight shone into Sweetie Belle’s bedroom. The unconscious filly lay in her bed beneath the neatly made sheets, as the effects of the tranquilizer finally wore off.
“Rarity!” The young white unicorn’s eyes shot open as her head rose up, pivoting her eyes around the room. “Oh, thank Celestia. It must have been a bad dream.”
Sweetie eyed her perfectly arranged sheets, and raised an eyebrow, finding their uniform tidiness intriguing. She flicked them off of her body with a hoof, and trotted downstairs for breakfast.
“Good morning, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity chimed, working away at the stove with her magic. “Would you like some French toast?”
“Yes, please!” Rarity’s sister licked her lips as a thick slice of bread drowned itself in a bowl of beaten eggs, and then leapt into the piping hot frying pan, simmering into a delicious morsel that made Sweetie Belle’s mouth water just thinking about it. Delightful fumes wafted over to the little filly’s greedy nostrils as the sweet treat finished cooking. Rarity’s magic aura pulled the piece of French toast out of the frying pan and onto a plate, which then floated over to the kitchen table. Rarity sat down with her sister and her own plate, and the two sisters eyed their breakfast hungrily.
Sweetie Belle grabbed the small silver syrup pitcher in her teeth, then brought it over her plate, and cocked her head to one side, spilling the sweet brown nectar all over the plump slice of bread. Rarity used her magic to wipe off the handle of the pitcher with a napkin when Sweetie was done with it, and then the aura lifted the silver grail over Rarity’s plate, pouring a much more modest amount of syrup.
Rarity reached for her silverware with her magic, slicing a small square of toast away from the rest. “So, did you sleep well, sister?” She placed the juicy delicacy into her mouth, letting the syrup squeeze out onto her tongue.
“Well,” Sweetie began, mulling over how much to reveal of her nightmare. “I had a pretty bad nightmare last night.” The unicorn filly nudged the thick piece of toast towards her face with a hoof, and bit out a large chunk of it, getting almost as much syrup on her face as in it.
“Oh, really?” Rarity was secretly very relieved. “That’s too bad.”
Sweetie Belle licked the sweet brown syrup off of her face. “But the weird thing was, when I woke up this morning… it looked like the sheets had just been made, even though I had been sleeping in them all night. And, I had a nightmare, so you’d think I would’ve been tossing and turning a lot.”
Rarity swore under her breath and her horn lit up. A bottle of Diethyl Ether floated out of a nearby cabinet, pouring a portion of its contents onto a piece of cloth.
“What did you say?” Sweetie asked.
“Oh, nothing.” It was then that the rag flew over the filly’s face. At first, Sweetie Belle thought it was just Rarity being Rarity, and cleaning the rest of the syrup off of her face. But by the time she realized that wasn’t the case, it was too late. She fell out of the chair down to the kitchen floor, unconscious once again.
When Sweetie Belle woke up, she was in her bed again. She couldn’t believe that Rarity expected her to fall for the same trick twice. And judging by the neat sheets on the bed, she didn’t do any better of a job this time.
The white filly tried to pull out a hoof to remove the sheets, but found her legs unable to move. She was tightly cocooned in the first layer of sheets, and the second was securely fastened to the bed, helplessly pinning her down. Sweetie Belle groaned and groaned as she struggled fruitlessly to free herself.
Rarity heard her sister’s cries and entered the room.
“Get away from me!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “You’re a monster!” The way her voice cracked when she was emotional made it very difficult for her to sound forceful.
Rarity’s horn lit up. A piece of ribbon floated over to Sweetie Belle, and tied itself tightly around her snout. “No, Sweetie Belle. I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen.” She had no trouble sounding forceful. Rarity looked intensely into her sister’s eyes, and Sweetie Belle stopped squirming.
“So, the cat’s out of the bag. You’ve discovered what Twilight and I have been doing after hours. You are now presented with two options: you can tell nopony, and you can help us make the mannequins, or you can be the next pony on the list.”
Sweetie Belle was equally frightened by both options. Sweat ran down her forehead as she held her petrified gaze locked onto her sister, afraid that she might make her sister mad if she so much as looked away.
“Keep in mind,” Rarity continued, “that if you opt for the latter, the best case scenario is that you end up like Bonbon.” Her horn twinkled, and a dress mannequin floated through the door and into the room. Sweetie Belle could practically see the terrified pony that the mannequin used to be, now reduced to a cold, lifeless statue. The very thought made her cringe.
“And the worst case… You end up like Lyra.” Rarity’s magic left the mannequin, and a yellow wicker basket drifted into the room. It hovered just above the hoof of Sweetie Belle’s bed, and emptied its contents.
A pile of blood stained plaster pony parts tumbled onto Sweetie Belle’s bed. All of them were stark white, save for one bloody green leg, and the glassy-eyed head of a pony that she had seen alive and well just a few days ago.
The little filly squeaked with terror, and recoiled away from the mutilated mare. A dark circle formed between Sweetie Belle’s legs, spreading outward as she voided her bladder.
“Now,” Rarity smirked, “Are you going to be a good little filly and help your big sister…” Her horn glowed, and a loaded syringe floated into view. “…Or am I going to have to put you under again?”
"Mmm hmm!" was Sweetie Belle's immidiate reply. She nodded vigorously, almost as if her head was shivering.
Rarity used her magic to place Lyra’s dismembered body back into the wicker basket. She then shed the ribbon coil from Sweetie Belle’s snout, and removed the wet sheets from her bed, freeing her sister from her cloth cocoon. The white mare produced a laundry basket from the closet, and placed the sheets into it.
“That’s a good girl,” Rarity praised. “Now take these down to the laundry room. We don’t want your little accident causing a stain, now do we?”
“Yes, Rarity, right away,” Sweetie Belle replied nervously. She grabbed the rim of the basket with her teeth, and quickly dragged it backwards out of the room, cheeks glowing bright red.
Later that day, Rarity called Sweetie Belle into her room. The skittish white filly entered her sister’s bedroom, and noticed an extra decoration amongst the usual fancy decor. Hanging from one of the walls was a quilt, each square a unique color. Some of them had red Velcro X’s on them, and all of them were marked with unique symbols. She noticed a beige square with three pieces of candy, and a green one with a golden lyre, and it dawned on her. This quilt was Rarity’s hit list.
“Well,” Rarity began, “Lyra and Bonbon are finished…” her horn lit up, and two Velcro X’s lifted into the air, landing on the beige and the green squares. “Now let’s see who our next victim is.” She raised a dart into the air with her magic, closed her eyes, and tossed it at the quilt. The white magic aura around the dart dissipated in midair, and it flew through the air on its own momentum, sticking itself into a square of the quilt. The square was yellow, and had three bright orange carrots on it. “Carrot Top it is.”
Carrot Top was strolling through the Ponyville Market, doing her weekly shopping, when Sweetie Belle came up to her.
“Hey Carrot Top.”
“Hi Sweetie Belle.”
The young filly paused for a moment, and delivered her repeatedly rehearsed line. “My sister’s looking for you.”
“Really? Why?”
Sweetie Belle didn’t anticipate that question. She had to think on her hooves. “Uhh… She didn’t say.”
“Well, where is she?”
“She’s back at Carousel Boutique.” Sweetie Belle was extremely nervous. She couldn’t bear the thought of what she was getting Carrot Top into.
“Tell you what, I’ve got a few more errands to run around town, but I’ll swing by to see her on my way home, say… Sevenish?”
“Umm… th-th-that should be fine.” Sweetie Belle quickly scampered off, already feeling sorry for the horribly unlucky mare.
As promised, Carrot Top made her way into Carousel Boutique later that evening, saddlebags full of groceries. “Hey Rarity. Your sister said you were looking for me?”
Rarity was once again at her sewing machine, wearing her signature red work glasses. “Ah, yes. Could you come over here for a moment?”
“Uhh… Sure. What do you need?”
Rarity stuck a syringe into Carrot Top’s flank, injecting her with tranquilizer. “I need you to lie down.”
The yellow earth pony turned around and noticed the empty needle. “What was that?”
“Never mind that. Why don’t you rest a while?”
“What? But I’m not… even…” Carrot Top yawned as the tranquilizer took effect. She collapsed onto the floor, spilling her groceries all over.
Rarity picked up a ripe red apple from the floor with her magic, wiped it off with a rag, and took a large and rather unladylike bite. “Free food. How nice.” She found room for Carrot Top’s groceries in her kitchen, and dragged the unconscious mare into the back room. She then made a call to Twilight, and promptly resumed her everyday business.