//------------------------------// // Act I: Chapter 8 // Story: Miss Sparkle, Psychopath // by Adda le Blue //------------------------------// The Everfree Forest sang with birdsong, chattering, and a thunderous crashing through the underbrush. Rarity's hooves dug furrows into the earth as she juked around trees and vaulted over bushes. She broke the treeline and leaped over the brook beside her friend's cottage, too distraught to care when the sticky olive river mud splashed over her fetlocks. Down the path she ran: past her boutique with its door knocked free from its top hinge and the crowd that had gathered there; through the marketplace and the milling masses of startled shoppers calling for apples; on she ran until the library came into sight. A burst of speed and a burst of telekinesis brought her face to face with Twilight Sparkle in the doorway. Twilight squeaked as she jumped back from the door and held a huge woodbound tome before her like a shield. “Watch out!” Rarity caught herself on the doorframe and held her chest, but she had enough energy to spear her friend with an icy stare. She glanced around the room. “Where is Rainbow Dash?” she said quietly. She looked toward the basement. “She stayed up with me all night, so I told her to take a nap while I–” “Good.” Rarity spun on her hooves. “Come with me!” Rarity's anxiety was enough to make Twilight drop her book to the floor – though she couldn't suppress a wince at the crack of wood on wood – and follow her into the sunlight. Twilight chased her friend across the square and through the marketplace. “What's going on?” she asked. “Have the Princesses arrived?” Rarity didn't answer. Soon the town hall came into view, but judging by their angle, they were going to run right past it. “Aren't we meeting them at the town hall?” Rarity growled low in her throat. “Don't try to play innocent with me!” she panted. Twilight heard nothing over the sounds of her own exertion. “Aren't we meeting the Princesses?” She put on an extra burst of speed to try and catch her friend's attention. “Rarity, please! Why are we–” “You know why!” “That's it!” Twilight stumbled to a halt halfway across the town square. “I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what you want from me.” Rarity dug her hooves into the dirt; the pebbles within scratched her hooves unheeded as she killed her momentum. She turned back to Twilight Sparkle with bared teeth and a dangerous glint in her eye. A blue light pulled her friend toward her by her bangs. “Run, Celestia damn you,” Rarity snarled, “or I will tie that rope around your neck and drag you behind me!” Together the unicorns ran, leaving behind them a trail of ponies with a new respect for Rarity's temper. It didn't take Twilight long to realize their destination. As the pair sped past Fluttershy's cabin her hesitation fell away, replaced with the worry-fueled adrenaline rush that had become so familiar to her. “Applejack?” she asked. “What happened?” “You tell me,” Rarity wheezed. Twilight bit back a few choice words. “If you think I did this, then why would you ask for my help in saving her?” “Because we need you,” she spat sourly. “Your magical ability is much greater than mine. I'll take even a slim chance over none at all.” “Is it bad?” Rarity's thighs and shoulders burned from the exertion and the wind of their passage made her blink away tears. She gritted her teeth and kept pushing. Twilight wasn't so durable. “Wait,” she panted. “Hold on, I can't...” “You can and... and you will!” She stumbled over a root but managed to keep her balance. “I don't care what you feel for her anymore. If she ever meant anything to you, you–” There was no saving herself this time. Her hoof slid on the moss beneath her and she tumbled heavily onto her chest. Only Twilight's quick reflexes kept her from trampling the fallen unicorn. Twilight yelped as she hurdled the poor mare. She skidded to a stop and lit her horn. “I've got you!” Rarity's eyes widened as she felt bands of magic like iron close around her barrel and lift her from the earth. “No!” she yelped. Cornflower blue magic burst forth from her horn in a dome that pushed Twilight's magic away. She landed unsteadily on her own four hooves. “Don't touch me.” “I was only trying to help!” Twilight groused. “I don't want you to help me!” She limped into gear. “Help Applejack!” Twilight gulped for air, let out a groan of agony, and chased after her. Rarity zigged and zagged through the forest, trusting instinct to point her in the right direction. “We're almost there,” she called. “Rarity!” breathed the wind. Twilight spun to her right. “There!” she cried. She disappeared in a cloud of vapor and reformed halfway to the horizon. “Come on, Rarity!” “We're over here!” Another burst brought Twilight to the foot of a young maple tree, and what she saw there was such a shock she forgot to breathe. Applejack beamed at her from her place within her self-made prison. “Twi! You made it!” she crowed. Her unsettling eyes shone with joy. Twilight approached with care, shock evident on her features. Applejack was buried from neck to ankle among the layers of rope. Only her right forehoof poked out from the mass, and even that had no fewer than four different lines tightened around it. She recognized the rope itself; she could make out black fibers mixed in among the strands of hemp and jute. It would take ages to tear those pliable plastic fibers apart with her magic. Applejack's breathing was shallow and labored and her hat was nowhere to be found. Most startling of all, her eyes were neither somber violet nor their natural green, but instead streaked through with both. “Look, Twi,” Applejack beamed. “I don't think even I could get me out of this one!” After a moment Rarity appeared at her side. She lowered her head and gulped for air. “You see... what it's come to,” she said firmly. Twilight took a shuddering breath and nodded. “Now fix this!” Rarity barked. “If you ever cared for Applejack, you'll get her out of this mess.” Twilight's horn flared to life. “I will,” she promised. The plant fibers nearest Applejack's head began to split. Satisfied, Rarity plodded to Fluttershy's side. “Any... Any trouble?” she asked. “A few older timber wolves tried to get to her,” the pegasus whimpered, though the words were difficult to make out around the knot in her teeth. “However did you get out of that one?” Rarity breathed. “The Stare?” “N-no, I...” Fluttershy blushed. “I promised to make them supper for a week.” Rarity couldn't hold back a high-pitched giggle. “Oh my stars,” she muttered. “Am I the only sane pony here?” Meanwhile Twilight was focused on splitting the plastic fibers wound throughout the rope. She gritted her teeth as she fought with one such strand, but it stretched and flexed stubbornly in her grip without giving. “So what do you think, Twi?” Applejack asked casually. Her voice was rough from overuse. “Did a darn good job, didn't I?” “Oh, Applejack...” Twilight's eyes began to water as she ran the touch of her aura across and under length after length of rope. Applejack's grin took on a self-impressed slant. “Took every bit of my know-how but I finally tied it so even I can't get myself out, just like you wanted,” she beamed. “I didn't want this,” Twilight sobbed. “And look!” she continued. “If you mess with the tension, like fraying the rope or playing with them knots like Fluttershy's been doing, then my weight shifts a bit. The more my weight shifts, the tighter this noose 'round my neck gets!” Fluttershy yelped and jerked her hooves away in horror. “Tell you what, it's getting mighty hard for me to breathe!” AJ finished with a laugh. Twilight gaped at her. “Applejack! How could you do this to yourself?” she cried. “Give me enough rope and a few weights and I can do just about anything,” she said proudly. “I might be nothing but a simple farmer, but I know my science too!” “But who knows what could have found you if we hadn't.” Twilight's magic flowed between the lines to find Applejack's neck and, as she'd said, a noose tight enough to leave a mark. “You're lucky the girls found you when they did.” To Twilight's surprise Applejack lowered her eyes at the thought of rescue. “Look, Twi, I'm sorry about that. I thought Fluttershy would listen to me when I told her not to follow me out here.” “But AJ, you could have died!” “Aww, ain't no thing, Twilight,” her friend said tenderly. “I'd do anything for you. You know that.” “Then tell me...” Twilight carefully slid a line free; a hefty chunk of stone fell to the earth, one end of the rope looped tightly around it. “What happens if I untie this end and try to pull it back through, little by little?” “Huh,” AJ said thoughtfully. “I don't rightly know.” “Is it going to hurt you?” “Probably,” she admitted. “I wound things up so any little tug on it might tighten the line elsewhere. Might pinch the veins in my neck shut, for all I know.” Twilight looked to the other mares for support. One couldn't watch; the other stared back as if waiting for her to make a mistake. “You said you'd do anything for me, right?” “That's right, anything!” Applejack agreed with an emphatic nod. Twilight's brow furrowed. “Well, I want you to help me get you out!” “Why bother? Hay, you can just kill me now, if you want.” The rope jerked in her grasp. “Applejack!” she yelped. Her friend looked down at Twilight from her nest of rope with eyes damp with emotion. “No!” she said firmly. “I will save you, I promise!” The only warning the three mares had was a soft choking. AJ smiled at them through her tears as her cheeks grew redder and redder. “No,” Twilight whispered. She dropped the line and backed away from her handiwork. “No, no, no, no...” Applejack blinked, sending a droplet cascading over her freckles. “Love you," she mouthed. A concussive blast knocked Twilight from her hooves. She rolled to a stop a good ten yards away. Rarity took her place before Applejack, blue eyes and bluer light blazing. Her magic held the rope fast in three places as she followed the twists of the noose. "I will get you for this, Twilight Sparkle," she hissed, teary-eyed and snarling. "No..." She struggled to stand, but her vision swam and her inner ear couldn't decide which way was up. "Applejack." "Hgnk..." The farmer ignored her would-be savior; she only had eyes for one pony. The rope began to loosen inch by creeping inch. Twi burst into tears as she lost her balance and drove her knee into the dirt. "Applejack!" she wailed. "Kgk." "There!" Rarity yells triumphantly. Suddenly the end jerked free, writhed like a tawny snake in her grasp, and crawled backward along itself until the noose began to unravel. Soon Applejack fell to the earth, her left foreleg still leashed to the tree. She coughed as the air burned her throat. "Gimmit!" Applejack whined as she futilely stretched toward her rope. Her hoof wavered as the world spun around her. She was buried in Fluttershy's mane as the pegasus rushed to cradle her in her hooves. The rope leaped away toward Twilight, and in no time at all the unicorn was hogtied, blinded and dropped heavily to the ground. “It was an accident!” she wept, shifting her head on the grass in an attempt to see through the layers of rope. “I swear on my mother's life!” “As if a pony like you could care about her mother,” Rarity needled her. “Princess Celestia's, then!” “You like to think you know everything, don't you, Twilight. Well, do you know what we call a pony like you?” She lowered her head until it was level with Twilight's. “Psychopath,” she hissed. “You are dangerous and not to be trusted.” “It wasn't me! Rainbow and I were locked in your guest room all night!” “That's what I had thought as well,” Rarity remarked, “...at first.” Twilight's muzzle lifted out of the grass. “Then why?” Instead of answering directly, Rarity turned to Fluttershy. “When did you see Applejack enter the forest?” A teary teal eye peeked out from between the strands of Fluttershy's mane. “Shortly after dawn.” “While I was locked in your guest room!” Rarity ignored her. “Tell me again what Rainbow Dash said to you.” Fluttershy twitched her wings. “She said, um...” “Well?” Rarity said impatiently. She finishd in a whisper. “She said the window was big enough for two ponies to fit through,” “And how would Rainbow have found that out, Twilight?” Rarity nagged. “Perhaps by climbing through it with you?” Twilight felt the blood drain from her cheeks. “We never left the Boutique!” “Then what kept you up all night?” “I was reading, and we talked,” Twilight whimpered. “That's all we did.” “I'm sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I didn't want to believe it, but I just can't fight it anymore!” “Don't feel sorry for her, Fluttershy,” Rarity muttered. “Psychopaths are chronic liars and utterly without remorse. Of course it sounds like the truth. She's been practicing for the better part of two decades.” “Why would I hurt AJ?” Twilight shrilled. “Why would I do it so extravagantly? This isn't like me at all!” The rope swirled around her muzzle and tugged it shut. It was tight enough to pinch her nostrils. “No more talking,” Rarity spat. “No struggling, either. If I even catch a glimpse of your aura I won't hesitate to smack you over the head with this rock until it stops, understand?” She hefted the other end of Applejack's rope and the weight held therein. Twilight pulled in shallow breath after shallow breath, but she could feel herself getting lightheaded. She grunted anxiously through her bonds. It was a waste of oxygen. “I said, do you understand me?” She was hyperventilating, she couldn't breathe... She set her horn alight. “You... Augh! Fine!” Rarity shrieked. “Have it your way!” Looser she pulled it, looser... Rarity pulled it tighter, so tight. There was no fighting it. The world went dark. The magic faded. Twilight's hoof twitched as the lavender glow disappated. “Good,” Rarity said faintly. She could hear the blood pumping through her veins; it was strong enough that she wondered if she might burst at the seams like an overstuffed dress form. “Good. Now, don't do that again, or I'll...” She glanced to the rope floating to her left, and the rock swinging slowly at its end. Rarity swung the rock into a tree near the villain's limp form. The unnaturally loud crunch of stone digging into bark made her flinch. “Next time, I'll do it.” “Twilight...” Rarity's neck twisted around so quickly she had to endure a moment of vertigo. Applejack was unconscious and Fluttershy was creeping toward Twilight's prone form. "Stay back, Fluttershy," she barked, turning back to the sorceress. “It's not safe.” “But it looks like she's sleeping.” Rarity blinked away the fury clouding her vision and stared down at her friend... no, her nemesis. Twilight Sparkle's chest was twitching erratically. “So she is,” she said. A minor adjustment to the ropes made Twilight gasp. Fluttershy squeaked at the sudden noise. “W-we should take them back to town now, before she wakes up,” she said nervously. Twilight's chest found its rhythm. “Shouldn't we?” Blue light enveloped the rope around her mouth and freed it from its bonds. “Do you think we can carry them to my cottage by ourselves?” Rarity watched her breathe with a distant look on her face. “Rarity?”