//------------------------------// // 36 Even the toughest of hearts have their weakness // Story: Blood Curse Boutique // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash was always the fiercest of the six friends and the most loyal pony in the land. Combined with the fact that she was a daredevil in both heart and mind, and one had a pony who could stand herself in battle perhaps better than most. Though behind the tough exterior that she always showed to everypony, there was a secret which laid deep in her heart. The fact that she had a small heart and an even bigger fear for something that roamed among the darkness of night. The fear that came forth and was for one of her friends. The fear that all began that simple day Twilight knocked at the door of the boutique and she happened to have drifted over it during her sleep. It truly was a day that the pegasus regretted with her entire life. It were her own suspicions that got confirmed almost right before her. The very day on which she figured out that Rarity had been turned into a dreaded, illusive and elusive vampony. Being a mare of trolling and joking around, she often would portray herself as one for the laughs she could and possibly would get. Rainbow would have a set of fake fangs in her mouth and together with her weather bending abilities, she was able to scare a lot of the townsfolk. That was until the well-known snickering of the pegasus fell in their ears. Yet all of that changed the very night that followed after the day she had visited the boutique. It became a night she would never be able to forget as her mind constantly let her remember it in a cruel manner. And almost every night it was the very same. ~~~~   The night had fallen once again over the land while the pegasus was walking around her cloud palace in a nervous manner. She was wondering about something that had happened. Her magenta red eyes kept going into every single direction. They monitored all the windows and doors for something even she didn't knew. She had not a clue what it was that she was watching for. The clouds outside had blocked out most of the moons magical light and the pegasus was forced to just stay close to the light of the candles that stood in her house. A deep sigh left through the nostrils of Rainbow Dash before she dropped down on her couch that stood in the living room. The pegasus allowed her mind to roam free before her eyes closed themselves a little bit. The memories that came to here were the ones that made her relive the day she had. Or better said, she wanted to remember that one day where everything got turned around for her. That one day, where everything seemed to have done south. The day that she had left the Carousel Boutique with the assuming of her being something supernatural, impossible and out of the world. Something that was not supposed to be. Some minutes had passed by before the cyan mare shocked up from her light slumber under a loud yelp. She found herself panting on the couch as her right forehoof made its way over to her chest. Her heart was beating like crazy and she tried to calm it down through a set of breathing exercises. “E-Easy Dash, it, it was just a dream right... right? I, I mean, Rarity a vampony? Come on, you are not that crazy, or are you?” she spoke in an attempt to try some odd psychological game on herself. It was a game that Twilight taught her once. The librarian almost did it every single day to remains as sane as possible. Through a series of questions and answers she would be able to find new paths on the imaginary road one is walking. ~~~~   For half an hour she kept muttering in herself but no matter where her mind went to, it always came back to that one simple accusation. The accusation of her friend of fashion being a vampiric pony drove her to the path of insanity, anger and above all, fear. Rainbow stood up from the couch and made her way over to one of the many windows under the company of a deep sigh through her nose. “Just what are you, ‘darling’..?” she spoke in a soft tone to herself. Yet her eyes just stared to the world visible through her windows. “...What is it that you truly are? One of the demons..?” Through the strain of thought it was the fear for both Rarity and vamponies alike that became ever more present and slowly turned into a phobia of the pegasus. A phobia that would have dominated her life from the night on and was created in mare seconds. Yet the seeds had been planted hours ago during their last meeting. “The stories were never stories or rumors then,” she added. After those words got rethought everything in her mind there was one point where the eyes sprung open as wide as possible. Rainbow literally jumped away from the window and while she was in midair and she used her wings to turn herself around before the mare managed to land safely upon the ground again. “Oh no, no, no, no, sweet Celestia, what have I done!? Poor Scootaloo, all the stories I told as a joke! Oh buck me!” she yelled to herself. In a moment of pure and blind rage for nopony else with the exception of herself, she turned over into a galloping pace. A pace that was leading her directly over to a wall. Her head crashed right into it but given it was created from clouds, the impact wasn't as hard as she would have liked. Rainbow fell down on her behind with tears that tears rolled over her cheeks, only to meet the clouds that made up the floor. “You, stupid, idiot! You scared a filly for the rest of her life!” she spoke in a desperate voice. It was her self-hatred which had been consuming the always so joyful pegasus for far too long. A self-hatred that came forth out of nothing but her very own fears. She remembered the things that were said to the orange pegasus filly as clear as crystal. The revelation she then came across for herself only made it worse as she started to sob loudly. Time didn't had to pass long before the screams of emotional pain filled up the living room of the cloud palace. Nopony had ever seen her like that. That the tough mare she always showed herself as, was now no more and got replaced with a scared little foal. Maybe it was also for the better the nopony saw her in that manner. Just to save them the sheer pain she was going through. ~~~~                 Through her many tears did she still manage to make her way over to her bedroom. But with every step she took, she tried to wipe them away the best she could. A wiping that went together with the praying that no new ones would come. Under a loud sniffle she found herself before a closet on which her eyes had locked themselves upon. Without much hesitation were the doors flung open. The near mentally broken pegasus watched to the content it held and even went searching inside. Her eyes stopped looking and fixed themselves on a box, an old box that seemed to not have moved in a long time due to the collection of dust that could be found on it. She took the box out of the closet and placed it next to her. With her forehooves she opened it with care while her mind went back to days of long ago. Days of joy and nothing on her mind, came to her mind. Days that were filled with nothing but dreams and hope for bright days ahead. The days of her very own foalhood rushed back to her. Rainbow allowed herself to relive the days of long again and it calmed her down by a lot. A thing for which  she was more than thankful that at least some happy thoughts still could enter her mind. But she didn't just wanted to bring back up old memories, she wanted to find her protector. “Where are you..? D-Don’t tell me..! No, mom wouldn't do such a thing,” she mumbled to herself. She gave her eyes the cost inside the box. But hidden under a couple pictures and drawings that appeared to be made by a young foal, she found that one thing where she was looking for. Her companion, her protector, her true, “Wing-Pony.” A bright smile of joy and youth sentiment appeared below her muzzle as she took out a stuffed up Wonderbolt plushy. “I am so sorry, Wing-Pony. I promise you that you will never be put in that box ever again. Come, we have a lot of catching up to do,” the pegasus spoke to it before she rubbed it against her cheek. Within a few seconds Rainbow found herself in bed with the blankets ruffled over her body and Wing-Pony next to her. A plushy who was resting against her head to be more precise as that smile still stood on her face. “Dismissed private, time to hit the bunks,” said Rainbow under a loud yawn. She took the plushy close to her with her foreleg and held it against her chest as her eyes closed themselves off from the world, waiting to go into the realm of the dreams or nightmares. ~~~~   “Huh, uh, what?” echoed through quietly through the dark mess hall of some structure. Not a single, living soul could be seen or heard in the entire room but the lights were still on above the cyan coated, rainbow maned pegasus mare. A mare who had shocked up from her slumber. Before her stood a plate of unfinished, and by then cold, dinner. Her eyes made a repetitive blinking motion as she tried to figure out just what would have happened. All of the sudden there was a shock went through her, a shock of realization. “How could I forget!? I got the night shift today here at the factory! Heh, and already sleeping on the job. Yeah, tonight is going to be great. Let’s do this then. Couple quick rounds, make sure everything is safe.” Rainbow moved back with her chair and sent a screeching sound through the quiet room while she took her construction helmet with her. The pegasus placed it on her head and took the flashlight that was standing on the table as well. She was ready to begin on the night shift through the building of one of the many weather factories of Cloudsdale. Though it seemed to be a little unnecessary since nopony even dared to break into the place that created the very weather of the land. On the other end was it needed to watch on the many machines which were housed in it. And who better than a pony that knows them through and through? Rainbow left the safe-haven of the mess hall and she entered the dark, cold hallways of the massive building. A building that was built out of clouds. Despite being created from the fluffy substance, nothing bounced with the steps she took and the floor was sending cold shivers through her. Almost as if the hooves were trotting over solid metal. With a flick of the button, the magical circuit had started to run in the flashlight. It sent its beams of light to the outside world. The pegasus smirked a little bit as she spoke to herself. “Hehe, this is going to be easy. First stop, basins for the rain.” It took her quite the long trot through the building of the factory. The massive basins were located at the far end and on the very bottom of the facility. The architects of the place thought that it would be the safest spot to place them. If it would ever burst due to whatever reason, none of the remaining floors would be flooded as the leaking water would fall to the grasslands below the mighty pegasus city. ~~~~   The doors that were leading over to the department were flung open and in the opening she stood. The cyan coated pegasus with her flashlight tight in her hoof. She had assumed a pose of toughness while the light made its way passed the tanks themselves. Though Rainbow had never seen the actual tanks where the water got placed in with her very own eyes. It was true that she had helped with bringing it to the place and read about on how to work with the machines, but never truly watched the process afterward or had any practice with them. Her jaw literally fell open at the sight of the tanks. “Sweet Celestia... This, this is massive!” she said while her eyes had fallen on the tanks. Her eyes were granted all the time in the world to see what went where. Rainbow instantly became interested as she made a mental note to herself, a note about asking the foreman of the department just how things would work around here. What the true process was in order to get the water into the clouds. Even though she knew the machines, it were the processes that were unknown to her. She could only guess to the best of her abilities for the most part before asking. There was another shock went through her when she realized just what she had to be doing there. She made her turn through the room with an unusual haste. The only sounds that would be heard were the clopping of her own hooves and the waving sound of the water in the tanks. For the rest it was as silent as a cemetery. The sounds of the sloshing water, its very rhythm had a strange but positive and relaxing effect upon the mare. If she didn't pay attention to her work, she found herself moving back and forth with the current of the waves. Rainbow had assumed that the waving water in the tank was meant to keep it fresh and sweet. She knew that if it stood still for too long, it would become sour. From time to time the mistake had been made to let sour water being pumped into clouds and got released over the land, creating the ever so hated ‘sour rain’. The corporation had to fill in dozens of forms and files explaining just what went wrong and those got send to the princesses as an official explanation and the highest officials of the company had every desire but to do something like that. For one, they never liked paperwork. And for two, it dented their pride more than anything. ~~~~   She was done with her turn through the department and had made the adjustments to the devices to make them run on their optimal performance. Rainbow would have left through the same set of hinging doors through which she came in. They closed behind her with a clapper or two. Yet back in the dark room was a set of sapphire blue, ice cold irises that revealed themselves in a slow manner. They could be found ever so high on the ceiling and had been following the pegasus through her little journey through the room. Irises had been watching that were of course attached to a body which crawled its way down with great care. Then they disappeared once again from the sight of everypony. As mysterious as they came, they had vanished again. The attention of Rainbow got caught by a second clapping of the doors and turned herself around quickly, willing to see what happened. “Who goes there?” she said while her flashlight went over both of the doors. But all that could be seen was the clapping door that slowly came to a hold. The pegasus tilted her head a little bit before she just shrugged a little bit and shook it off. Rainbow then continued on her way through the building. “Maybe they left a turbine open or something up there,” she gave herself as an explanation. Willing to know if her theory was right, Rainbow decided to break off of the normal regulations. ~~~~                 For the next department she would be going to were the drivers that were used to create nothing but the sheer wind. Those drivers were located within the sidewalls of the building. While it was true that they occupied all of them, it was the northern wall which held the most of them for whatever reason. When Rainbow entered the department through another set of doors, she was treated with a sight that made her heart fill with joy. Her eyes caught the many fans that occupied the wall and almost went the entire height of it. She knew that through their massive propeller powered turbines, the very core of the wind got created and released into the air. The air currents would take it over from there and guide it all over the land. Once again she let her eyes fall over everything that was to be seen. Rainbow looked over every single thing that she could possibly catch in her light. But there was nothing to be seen that seemed to be out of place and Rainbow’s curiosity took over as she wanted to know what caused the doors to clatter again. “Just shake it off, Dash. Do your job and do it good,” she mumbled up to herself as she wasn't in the true mood to chase ghosts. With the shake of a head had the mare one last look over the massive fans and she then continued to do her job like normal. But every time she had her back faced away from the turbines, it where those ice cold eyes that emerged in between the blades of the fans. Eyes that fell on the pegasus and those eyes weren't looking for any sort of candy there might have been laying around. These eyes were preying upon the mare as if they were preparing for a hunt to be taken place and haunt her until the end of time itself. ~~~~                 It didn't matter just to which department or room the rainbow maned mare went in and through, it was always when she left that the second clapping of the doors got her on her nerves. There wasn't a coincidence anymore and Rainbow Dash knew that fact all too well. It drove her nearly to the edge of crazy during her nightly patrol. When she returned into the hallway that was leading to the mess hall again, she heard the clapper again behind her. And in a moment of fear she turned herself around and shouted towards the door. “I don’t know who you are! But stop it! Stop it Thunderlane, Sky Racer. Oh if it is you, Snow Flake, I will shove a ‘yeah’ right up your flanks!” A deep huff of irritation left through her nose while the flashlight still went over the door and the hall itself. But a response she never got back and that was something that scared her the most. It had to be said that it was also her very first night watch and perhaps it was a rite of passage that the other workers pulled on her. Things like that were done almost all over the facility for good sports and joking around. And from all the ponies which were named by Rainbow, she was sure that they had been doing the nightshift before. Which was her biggest lead in the case. Little did she knew that it would be something of a much more devilish nature that was lurking in the dark and caused the doors to move.   With the passage of time did she walked through the last set of doors for the night. The set of doors that would be leading her over to a catwalk suspended in the air. And not just any walkway that walked through the facility. For the particular one walked over the vats of unprocessed spectra. The very ingredient out of which the color of the rainbow has being made. A mysterious substance that literally brought color in the lives of many ponies. The smell that came from it was hard to resist for its unique mixture of the most unpleasant scents known to ponykind. But it was safe to breath normally on the altitude pegasus found herself on. For the pegasus found herself around thirty hooves up in the air and the more deadly vapors never came higher than ten because of their weight. Both of Rainbow’s forehooves got placed upon the railing in the middle of the catwalk. She let her eyes fall down upon the many vats of spectra beneath. Each vat had one of the colors that was used to create a rainbow and Rainbow just loved that particular part of the facility. There was something between her and the very rainbows of Equestria that she just found mouthwatering. Though she never could pinpoint just what it was. She always said it was a part of her that made her who she was. Given the way she looked, not many dared to argue it. The substance itself just swirled around on its own strength and it always had been fascinating her just how it was made. Rainbow always wondered of the fact from where it truly came from. If there was something else aside from the mythical waterfalls she always had been told about by employees of the department. Of course had she seen them more than enough in her life, the majestic and magical waterfalls that were to be seen by Winsome Falls. For in her eyes there had to be another way to make so much spectra as that was stored in the vats below her. Just rainbows in general fascinated her and it would never die down. There was a song had been made up and was quite known in all of Cloudsdale to the supposedly true origin of the spectra. A darker secret that was kept deep within the building and she softly hummed the tune first before a soft singing of the words left her throat. “...How you ask, are they up to the task, to which the answer is in this simple facility! In the Rainbow Factory, where all your fears and horrors come true. In the Rainbow Fac-” Then her ears perked themselves up to another voice that did its turn through the room. A voice that found itself on the same altitude as the pegasus. A voice that Rainbow remembered all too well. “...Factory, where not a single soul gets through...” ~~~~                 “R-Rarity!?” the rainbow maned mare spoke in surprise. The flashlight got turned on again and was being pointed into the exact direction to where the voice came from. Revealed within its light was indeed the unicorn who stood there and was smirking like monster. “W-What are you doing here, why are you here to begin with!? Don’t you know how dangerous this place is at night!?” Rainbow questioned her. She even blinked a couple times in disbelief. It was just impossible for a unicorn like herself to even walk on clouds unless she had cast the spell over herself that Twilight once used. But the unicorn wasn't powerful enough to summon that kind of magic, at least that was what Rainbow thought. “Hmhmhm, Dash, Dash, Dash, it goes like the song: not a single soul gets through,” the unicorn spoke up in a tone of sick joy. She did a step on the catwalk and closed in on the distance between the both of them. The words spoken by Rarity managed to scare the pegasus at first. She even did a step or two back. But then she erupted out in a small laughter. “Now that is a good one Rares, but seriously, why are you here?” she managed to speak after her snickering had died down. She smiled over to her friend with a slight shake of her head. “You never were quite the joker, were you?” Within a near instant found Rainbow herself pinned down on her back to the catwalk with the unicorn who stood right above her. The pegasus tried to struggle out of her grasp but for some reason seemed Rarity  to have been stronger than she ever expected. That whole fact alone was frightening. Rainbow released a loud gulp. “H-Hey, quit the j-joking alright,” she said in a desperate tone. Whatever Rarity tried to do, it wasn’t fun anymore for her. Yet perhaps, that was the point? “Joking? You think I am joking around? When was the last time, I even told a joke?” The lips of the mare curled themselves up high enough for the fangs to be caught in Rainbow's eyes. With the vats of spectra giving off light themselves did the face of Rarity become like that of a demon while the thoughts ran through the mind of Rainbow. She thought about just when she had made a joke for the last time. “N-Never,” the pegasus brought out in a fearful voice. She know where it possibly went to. “Exactly, I have been waiting ever so long for this moment, and now it is finally upon me... I will enjoy this so bloody much!” replied Rarity in a near sadistic sounding tone. “W-Wait!” But it was too late as the deed happened in another flash. The head of Rainbow got pushed over to the side and the fangs of ivory unicorn were drilled into her neck and veins. But then the mare did something unexpected, something that nopony could have ever expected from a lady like Rarity. Instead of just drinking the blood from her friend, she just ripped and tore the entire neck to shreds as if it was nothing. Skin got torn away like paper before she rose her head up in a triumphal manner. She then proceeded to just spit the torn away skin out of her mouth and let it drop down in the vats below. Letting it fall into them in order to just be consumed by the acidic substance. Screams of agony came from the pegasus as she cried in both physical and emotional pain while her neck bled heavily. “W-Why!?” Rainbow managed to speak through the winces and shedding of her tears. Blood was pulsing out of her neck with every beat of her heart. She could feel the warm liquids travel in her burning neck. Rarity lowered her head back to Rainbow and she glance in a cold silence for a few seconds. “Why you ask? Because I never liked you, I never even wanted to your ‘friend’, but I only did it out of sympathy for a near heartbroken, worthless pegasus. And now, years of missed opportunities and build up hatred shall be done their justice,” the unicorn answered in a cold voice. The more she heard the words, the more Rainbow lost blood thus making her weaker and weaker. But she also lost her hope bit by bit. No words were spoken for the events that would happen next as the unicorn nudged and rolled the bleeding pegasus over to the very edge of the catwalk. The gap that was between the floor  and the first bar of the railing was big enough for a pony to fall down from. Though only if the pony in question just laid on its belly. Almost right away after the first nudge, Rainbow knew what the plan was going to be. In time she wouldn't be any more, she would be consumed by the highly acidic unprocessed spectra. There wouldn't be anything left of her if she would fall into it. All done by the monster she once called friend and she would go free out with murder. ~~~~                 A couple nudges and pushes later Rainbow had given it all up as found herself falling down towards the light of the red colored spectra. Time itself slowed down to near nothing and Rainbow managed to turn eyes to those of Rarity who just looked with an ice cold stare down towards her. Rarity looked right into the broken, tear filled eyes of the cyan coated pegasus. The world around the rainbow maned mare became darker and darker while each passing heartbeat that felt like it was an hour. Some drops of blood still left the wound and fell against one of her forelegs where they splattered against the fur as the pegasus. A pegasus who kept her eyes on the mare who did it to her. Within her ears she could hear the very song the six of them sung on Heart’s Warming Eve after their play. Sung by her closest friends while her life flashed before her very eyes. Her birth, her foalhood, her school time, her friends, family, everything passed them and made her cry even more in emotional pain. She wanted to close her eyes with all her might. Yet also wanted to give the unicorn one last look. Dooming her with the image of a falling friend on the retina. “~The fire of friendship lives in our hearts~” princess Celestia sung softly in the ears of Rainbow with her soothing voice. “~As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart~” Spike sung as he smiled and he got a hoof of Twilight over his shoulder. “~Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few~” Applejack sung without her southern accent and was thus clearly audible. “~Laughter and singing will see us through~” Pinkie sung full with passion as she kept jumping up and down. “~We are a circle of pony friends~” Fluttershy sung loud and beautiful, something that she never did. “~A circle of friends we'll be to the very end~” Twilight finally sung in the ears of the pegasus and the last line was repeated by all of them. With their voices echoing through her ears did Rainbow finally close her eyes in order to just let it happen. Then she hit it, the very tips of her mane made contact with the red spectra. The pain in her body almost became unbearable for those few seconds. A pain that would soon disappear as the red light became brighter. Though her world became darker until it just stopped. It ceased to exist.