Chapter 7
Twilight guiltily entered Rarity’s back room and sighed. “Alright, lets get this over with. Who is it this time?” Sweetie Belle stared up at Twilight from the floor with her beady, sad puppy dog eyes, tied up with bright red ribbons. On either side of the sobbing white filly were Applebloom and Scootaloo, bound and gagged like their friend. The three little fillies squirmed desperately, even though their chances of escape were slim to none.
“Oh my Celestia!” Twilight shouted. “How could you?!?”
“Her friends found out," Rarity stated matter-of-factly, "And I lost control of Sweetie Belle. I had no choice.”
“They’re just fillies! And one of them is your sister for Celestia’s sake!” Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all weeping uncontrollably.
“Think of it this way, darling. After Sweetie Belle and her friends are turned into mannequins, that will make an even two dozen, and I will no longer require your services.”
“I’m sorry, Rarity. I’ve been nothing if not cooperative these past few weeks, but murdering fillies is where I draw the line.”
“Twilight, you agreed…”
Twilight stared sternly into Rarity’s eyes, trying her best to keep her voice level under the extreme emotional pressure. “I am aware of the agreement, Rarity, but I refuse to murder your sister.”
Rarity looked disappointed in Twilight. “Well… I guess I can let you out of your contract early.”
Twilight’s ears perked up as she gave a slightly disbelieving smile. “Really? You’ll give me back Spike?”
“I never said that.”
Rarity’s horn lit up white, a magic inhibitor clamped over Twilight’s horn, and a spool of ribbon snaked around the purple mare’s legs, sending her falling to the floor. “I’ll just have to dispose of the four of you the old fashioned way.”
“Rarity, please! Don’t do this!” Twilight wailed. “I’m your best friend!”
Rarity gave a condescending glance down at Twilight. “Oh please, Twilight. This was going to happen eventually. You didn’t honestly expect me to trust that you would keep quiet about this operation when I was done with you, did you?”
Twilight’s cheeks turned a shade of pink similar to Fluttershy’s mane. “Well…kind of?” Her answer came out as a barely audible whimper.
“Wow, for somepony so intelligent, you can be really foalish sometimes.”
Twilight’s horn sparked, but the inhibitor immediately shocked her, faltering her focus. She gritted her teeth, and tried again. She collected her immense magic reserves into a single spell, and her horn glowed blindingly bright, lighting up the room as if it were the middle of the day. The inhibitor beeped harshly as a rain of sparks connected with the top of Twilight’s head, but she held fast to her spell.
Several sparks flew out of the top of the inhibitor and shot randomly around the room. It stopped beeping, and a wisp of smoke curled up into the air as its circuits overloaded. The black metal box glowed purple and exploded, freeing Twilight’s horn, which immediately began another spell.
The ribbons unraveled from Twilight’s legs, and Rarity’s backup inhibitor flew off of a nearby shelf, clamping onto Rarity’s horn. Rarity was smothered in Twilight’s purple magic aura, and she was lifted off of the ground. She flipped over, slammed down onto the floor of the room, and was pinned down by Twilight’s magic. The angry white unicorn’s back was flat against the floor, and her front hooves were lifted above her head.
Rarity attempted to repeat Twilight’s success with overloading the inhibitor, but she couldn’t even hope to match Twilight’s level of magical strength. The inhibitor absorbed Rarity’s magic effortlessly, converting every last bit of magic into a powerful jolt of electricity, surging directly into Rarity’s head.
Twilight directed a portion of her magic to Rarity’s sledgehammer, drifting it in Rarity’s direction.
The detained white unicorn squinted. “You don’t have the guts.”
“Don’t be so sure about that, Rarity. For almost a month I’ve done nothing but watch you kill ponies, and I think it’s time I tried my hoof at it.”
“Go ahead… I bucking dare you!”
Twilight brought the heavy iron hammer over Rarity’s body, and it hovered there motionless for several moments.
Come on, Twilight, the purple unicorn thought to herself. This has to stop. Killing her is the only way to bring all of this hurt to an end. Twilight closed her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Rarity. But at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to drop the hammer. It loomed several feet above Rarity’s body, and refused to move any closer.
“I knew it,” Rarity said. “You would never kill me. You’re too nice. You wouldn’t harm a parasprite!”
Twilight’s eyes drifted around the room, and all of the memories of the past month of pain and suffering flashed before her eyes. She saw twenty-one terrified pony faces in every single mannequin around the room.
She looked up, and noticed a new edition to the room. Rarity had taken Lyra’s disembodied head and mounted it on a wooden plaque, which now hung from the wall. Twilight looked deep into the green mare’s empty eyes, and flashed back to that horrible night. Bonbon’s shrill, mortified screams as Lyra was bludgeoned to death echoed through Twilight’s head, just as they had done every waking moment for the past forty-eight hours.
Twilight’s eyes fell down upon the three trembling fillies, still bound and helpless on the floor. Twilight locked eyes with Sweetie Belle, and then returned her attention to the other white unicorn struggling on the floor.
“You’re right,” Twilight said, “I wouldn’t harm a parasprite. But you’re lower than a parasprite.” Twilight raised the hammer higher, and finally brought it crashing down on Rarity’s chest.
Rarity screamed as every one of her ribs simultaneously shattered. Her cries of pain were cut short by a vicious coughing fit. She hacked up ounce after ounce of crimson blood until she was finally met by the sweet mercy of death. She shut her eyes one final time, and blacked out.
Twilight removed the magic aura from around Rarity, and untied the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applebloom and Scootaloo immediately galloped over to Twilight and clung to her legs like newborn foals to their mother. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” The two fillies praised. They would have broken down crying out of sheer joy, but their eyes had run dry thinking about what Rarity had planned to do to them.
While Applebloom and Scootaloo groveled at Twilight’s hooves, Sweetie Belle remained completely silent, still staring at Rarity’s pulverized ribcage. She looked down at the floor around Rarity, and saw her sister’s blood splattered all over it. She turned away and closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at her sister; especially after all she’d been through these past few days.
Twilight draped a foreleg over Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, shaking the trembling orange filly off of her leg in the process.
“It’ll be alright,” Twilight assured, only half believing herself. “It’s all over now.”
Sweetie Belle waited a moment before finding the courage to speak. “But…Rarity was…And…You j-j-just…” Sweetie Belle was too traumatized to finish a single sentence.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I did what I had to do. You and I both know there was no other way to stop her from killing innocent ponies.”
“But where am I going to live? My parents won’t be back from their vacation for another three days.”
“It’s okay. You can stay with me and Spike at the…Spike! I almost forgot about him. Do you know where Rarity took him?”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I wasn’t even aware that Rarity had him.”
Twilight trotted out into the main room of the boutique. “SPIKE! Where are you?” She heard a faint, muffled voice, and put an ear to the ground.
“Twilight! I’m down here! In the basement!”
Twilight galloped down to the basement, and found her purple dragon friend jumping for joy.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled in elation. “Thank Celestia you found me! Where’s Rarity?”
“She…She’s dead.” Twilight broke the lock on Spike’s cage with her magic, and Spike ran up to the purple unicorn, clutching her leg with all of his might.
“It’s okay now Spike. I’m here, Rarity is dead, and everything is going to go back to normal.” Twilight and her faithful assistant shed tears of joy from their long awaited reunion.
Twilight, Spike and Sweetie Belle filed into the Ponyville Library, and Twilight tucked the little filly into her ad interim bed. Twilight came back downstairs and called out to Spike. “Spike, take a letter.”
“Wait a minute,” Spike said. “You’re not actually going to tell Celestia all of this, are you?”
“Well… yes and no.”
Spike grabbed a quill and parchment, and transcribed Twilight’s every word:
Dear Princess Celestia,
I apologize for not being able to write you for the past month. Spike has been rather tied up lately. But I assure you; I have learned something very important over these past few weeks. Friendship requires a give and take, and that means doing favors for your friends. But the generosity of a friend has its limits. A true friend should know what request is too much, and should do what is best for them, even if it may break their heart.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle