Stepping out of Rarity's Boutique, Twilight re-ignited her horn and summoned her rain shield.
She though about Rarity's parents: She had never before met them before, but she thought them to be quite the lovely couple, if a bit odd.
She had just been escorting Spike to Fluttershy's cottage when the rain hit. The little dragon had promised he would take care of all the animals and the cottage while Fluttershy was away on Discord related business in Canterlot. She was on her way home when she noticed two other ponies caught in the weather. Their trailer had tipped in a puddle and the luggage had fallen in the muddy street. She had offered to clean it up with a little bit of magic and then escort them to wherever they where going. And that's how she learned they were related to one of her friends.
She could see where Rarity got her massive compulsive to pack so many bags from. But that was also the only thing she saw in common. They seemed like they could not be more different from their daughter as far as style went.
They also seemed to lack a bit of Rarity's manners, as they had just wanted to bludgeon right into her home like it was nothing wrong with that. (Apparently they expected Rarity to be use to them letting them selves in.) But Twilight had insisted on knocking. Since the "closed" sign where put on the door.
Thinking about it, should Rarity's shop not be open at this time? She was a very professional business mare after all. But now she had closed the store and all her curtains where drawn closed. That would usually mean she was working on some secret project. And she did have a lot of orders on her hoof given the upcoming holiday. So maybe she simply did not want to bee disturbed. And the last Autumn rain was pouring down over Ponyville. So she probably just wanted to shut out the gray weather outside.
Then again, it had also been awfully dark inside the Boutique. How could she work under such circumstances?
Twilight was broken from her thoughts when she caught something moving in the corner of the eye.
Something was speeding through the rain. Something that looked like two fillies on a scooter. And it was moving very fast towards the Boutique.
Her ears just barely managed to catch a sound coming from the speed demon.
“Cmc Robot fighters ... !”
***
Rarity was just starting to comprehend what her parents had said. But the thought refused to process in her mind.
Its time...
“T - Time for what? If you want the time you need only to look at the watch.”
Her fathers smile started to melt from his face.
“No Darling. It time we told her.” he said in a more serious tone.
“Tell her what... Whom?” Rarity said with a sheepish smile as she started to back away from her parents.
They both exchanged a worried look.
“Sweetie, dearest” Mom said and took a step closer. “Its time we told her the truth.”
“T...Truth... about what?”
Now her parents where looking really worried.
“You know about what.” Dad said, as he closed in from the other direction.
Rarity shook her head in denial.
This could not be happening. There was just no way. Not now. Not ever. They had all agreed to put that horrid thing in the past and move on and never ever speak of it again. Why would they break that promise? Rarity had not! She had pushed it all out of her mind and buried it under fifty hooves of concrete. But that concrete, that foundation of her life was now beginning to crack. And a lot of ugly things that should have been forgotten began to surface.
She continued to back away from her parents. But they circled around her like two pack-hunters surrounding a prey. Without realizing it she had backed away from the door, where her mother now was standing. She was creeping alongside the wall like a mouse trying to escape a cat. But her dad moved in from the other direction and blocked her exit to the stairs and the kitchen.
She came to a stop in front of the uncovered window. The gray light from outside fell on her face and made her shadow reach far into the Boutique.
“Are you crying?” Mom said.
Rarity touched her cheek. It was moist and sticky. Her mascara was running down her cheek. She thought she had covered that up? But now it was streaming down her cheeks again. New tears where streaming down her face.
Yes. She was crying. On the inside she had never stopped crying.
She had simply taken that part of herself and bottled it up. But now the tears where pushing the cork away and leaking out over the edge.
“Rarity? Whats wrong dear?”
Rarity continued to back away but soon reached the end of her retreat as she backed into the window frame.
She did not want to be here. She wanted to buck out the window behind her and run. She wanted to get away and reinforce her foundation and keep those memories from ever surfacing again. But her retreat was cut of. She was surrounded. Reality was staring her right in her face. This really was happening.
And if this was real, then that other thing in her nightmare must also have been real.
The closet door broke and the skeletons started to pour out as she had not been dreaming.
No, not dreaming, but she was still very much caught in a nightmare.
“Sweetie ... She ... She ...”
The foundation burst beneath her metaphorical closet as the final barrier in her mental defense shattered, and she screamed:
“SHE KNOWS!”
The window behind her exploded. Glass went flying inwards and a scooter sailed through the air right over her head. Then something landed on her back with such force that it knocked her over.
“...YAAAAAAAAY!”
the scream of a dramatic duo filled her ears as she rolled around on the floor. She tumbled with an unseen assailant all the way to the pyramid of luggage, where she came to a stop by smashing into it.
She tried to rise from the sea of bags, but found herself pinned on her back, staring up at two little rain soaked familiar fillies in their best Rampony getup.
Applebloom had removed her bow and instead instead tied the hair-band over her forehead like a bandana. Scootaloo had put her hair up in big spikes, and had a belt over her unbuttoned jacket to which she had strapped a number of waterguns and slingshots. Applebloom had two of the utility belts crossed over her chest and where holding one watergun in each hoof. Plus they both had donned big dark sunglasses and where chewing on lollipops whose sticks stuck out like cigars from their lips.
After a few moments of screaming Twilight busted back into the Boutique.
"Is everypony alright?!" she screamed as she took in the scene. "What is going on here!?"
“SHE IS A ROBOT!” Scootaloo Screamed.
"Wut?"
Rarity was so shocked that she could not say a single word. Frankly, Scootaloo's hooves in her stomach was making it as hard to breathe as it was to think. She did not understand how Scoot could think that they where robots... unless she had run into Sweetie after she jumped? the horror of that thought stole even more breath from her.
Before Twilight could ask any questions mom and dad had moved in front of her and started to frantically wave their hooves in front of them in a dismissive manner.
“Oh nothing! Nothing! Nothing at all!” they said through nervous smiles as they tried to shove Twilight out the door.
"Children will be children. We will take care of this mess. Bye, bye!"
"DON'T BELIEVE THEM! THEY ARE ROBOTS TOO!"
"Robots? What robots? Awww, she has been watching to many movies that one. Yes she has. But that's nothing you need to concern yourself with miss Twilight. Now of you go!"
Twilight backed away from the nervous couple. She was about to be shoved out the door but was stopped by another pony who suddenly appeared in the doorway.
A far more hysterical pink mare with three flowers for a mark. She looked like she had been running marathons through the rain. Yet, despite being out of breath she screamed something at the top of her lungs.
“Omgimsogladifoundyousweetieismissingandivelokedeverywhereforherandihpedshehadcomehomeisshehere!?
Nopony in the room looked like they could make out the words of the hysteric school teacher Cheerilee.
Even Scootaloo had to pause until Cheerilee stopped to catch her breath.
Twilight tried to calm her down and figure out what she had to say. But then Cheerilee started screaming incomprehensible again. The Scootaloo resumed as well. Screaming that they where all like changelings pretending to be ponies! Applebloom joined the chorus, screaming that Sweetie was a robot. And Rarity's parents did their best to drown out the voices of the others with their dismissive claims.
The whole boutique became filled with their cacophony as everypony was screaming louder and louder to be heard.
The only one to not join into the loud mouthed madness was Rarity. all she could do was to stare up into the roof and wonder over how quickly her world had came crumbling down.
“EVERYPONY BE QUIET!”
Twilight's magically enhanced voice echoed over the others, and a wave of magic washed over the Boutique. Instantly it became as silent as the grave. Except for the rain which could still be heard smattering against the windows.
Everypony's mouths kept moving until they realized no sound was coming out of them. Except for twilight who could be heard caching her breath. She must have cast some spell of silence on the rest of them.
She gave everypony a stern look to be sure she had their attention, then took a deep breath to calm herself.
“One at a time.”
***
Twilight had to magically silence the crowd three more times as they all started yelling at each other.
Eventually she had to let only one regain the ability to speak at a time.
She could not believe what she was hearing.
What everypony said made no sense. It all sounded like some kind of joke. A sick twisted joke. But everypony around her looked dead serious, distraught, depressed and downright borderline catatonic.
She pulled her hoof through her hair. She had been doing that a lot for the past fifteen minutes. and her normally straight combed mane started to look a bit messy.
“Okay. We take it once more. From the beginning. One thing at a time."
She let her eyes sweep over the crowd. She had made them all sit in a half circle in front of her to be able to easier observe everypony. Her eyes came to rest on the far left side. Where two painted youngsters where sitting. A quick spark from her horn told them that they had regained their ability to speak. And her eyes said that it was time to exercise it.
"When did this all start?”
Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at each other before both fillies hung their heads in shame.
“It started with that we went to see a movie...” Applebloom began.
“We where playing. Trying to get our marks.” Said Scootaloo.
“And... There was a little accident and...”
“That's when we saw it. Saw that she was all metal underneath the fur!”
Scootaloo shivered and hugged herself tight and shivered a bit. Twilight could just sigh.
“Come on girls. There is something you are not telling me. A little accident does not just rip the skin of a fetlock.”
The girls diverted their eyes. Both from Twilight's cold glare and from the red hot stares of Mr and Mrs Belle.
Particularly Mr Belle looked like he wanted to give the two a piece of his mind. And if his voice had currently not been on time out, he probably would have. This was after all about as far as they got last time. When Scootaloo mentioned that Sweetie's entire fetlock had been exposed was where she and the Belle's had started screaming at each other.
Twilight did not know what to make of the elder pair. For how dismissive they had been of what the girls where trying to tell her, they also seemed very eager to hear what they had to say for themselves. As it that information was for them, as parents, alone. Twilight suspected that if she had not come back to the Boutique there would have been little to stop Mr Belle from picking up the the fillies in his bare hooves and shake some answers out of them.
In fact he still looked like he wanted to do that. And if it had not been for his Daughter Rarity sitting between the two groups he probably would have.
Twilight proceeded in pressing the two girls for information her own way. Verbally. She had noticed a nervous twitch in their eyes when she talked about "Ripping the fur of". She decided to press the subject.
“What where you girls doing? Playing with high explosives?” she said with half a laugh, not really believing in her own question.
But the girls hung their heads even lower. Their ears flat to their skulls.
“You have got to be kidding me...” She said in disbelief. “Where did you girls even get explosives? The store does not start its sale of fireworks until after Hearts warming eve. And don't try to tell me that you just happened to find one of Pinkie Pie's stashes ”
It was more or less common knowledge that the party pony stored secret stashes of everything around town for all sorts of "emergencies". However, Twilight found it hard to believe that anypony could, even by accident, find these stashes that pinkie had hidden only-she-knew-where. Say what one would about the pink menace. When she wanted something so stay hidden - it remained hidden.
Furthermore Twilight could not believe even Pinkie would be so irresponsible as to lend out dangerous fireworks to minors. Specialty the CMC.
But then another possibility worked its way into her mind.
“Don't tell me you tried to make your own fireworks!”
Again the girls hung their heads in shame.
“How...?” Twilight began. But a realization dawned on her.
A frown formed on her face as she gave Applebloom a cold stare.
“Applebloom. You have yet to return my Big book of minerals.” It was a statement. Not a question.
“Um...Yes.”
“You had leftovers from your mineral excavations.”
“Yes.”
"Charcoal and Sulfur?"
“Yea.”
“Explosive powder?”
“Yes.”
“Unstable compound?”
“Apparently.”
“Firecracker accident?”
“Eyup.”
“A big one.” Said Scootaloo. ”And that's when we found out...” she flew of on a tantrum again "...That they are not real ponies but machines in pony flesh! Twilight you got to stop them or something before they destroy us all!”
Scootaloo jumped from her seat and onto Rarity. She did not even resist as Scoot once more pinned her to the floor.
“I'm telling you. They are coming to destroy us all!” She bent down to yell into Rarity's ear. “What did you do with the REAL Sweetie Belle!?”
Twilight had to levitate The orange little Rampony of the fashionista.
However. Being relieved of the orange menace did not improve Rarity's mood. Despite being the only one Twilight had not have to renew the silence spell on She was also the only one who had not attempted to speak a single word.
Twilight had never seen Rarity so down. Her normally so graceful friend had been reduced to a nervous wreck that looked like she was suffering shell-shock. Even as her father helped her sit up again she remained silent. Indifferent to both her helper and her attacker. She did not want to acknowledge any of them. She did not want to acknowledge that any of this was happening. She simply swayed slowly back and forth. Her wide open eyes stared at nothing, and she was pulling at one of her curls. Not playfully as she usually had a habit of doing, but tugging, hard enough to straighten it out.
Not even when her parents were allowed to speak had they gotten any response out of her.
Twilight pulled her hoof through her mane again and got back to the sprawling little Pegasuss in her magical field.
“One thing at a time Scootaloo” Twilight said as she put her down. "When did you say this happened? How long ago was this?”
"It was during the weekend. About two or tree days ago."
"And how could she possibly walk around with that kind of injury? how could she walk at all when she should have been hospital bond?"
"Um... Because she is a robot?" Scootalo said meekly.
That explanation was far to simple for Twilight. She looked around the room for conformation. Did they really expect her to believe that Sweetie had suddenly become a robot with an explanations as cheep as that? Because he did not. She only took it as conformation that this was all some sort of scheme to fool her.
She looked of conformation in the others. She canceled the spell on Mr and Mrs Belle and gave them the same glare she had given the younger pair. But despite having their voices back Mr and Mrs Belle remained tight lipped. They diverted their eyes with the same guilty innocence as a foal who choose silence instead of lying.
Twilight gnashed her teeth at their unwillingness to cooperate. But she knew she could not actually force them to speak.
Mrs Belle gave an troubled look to the mare beside her. There, on the far right, sat Cheerilee. She had a blanket wrapped around her Rain soaked body and a coffee mug in her hooves. They had yet to understand a single word of the hysteric teacher. But the Belle's where clearly uneasy about her presence. They where uneasy about all of their presence.
“Miss Twilight. Please. Could we ... speak in private?
Her husband looked at her like she had just lost her mind. Twilight herself was surprised by the sudden change in her manner.
“DON'T listen to them Twilight!” Scootaloo shouted “They will drag you away and turn you into a Bloodbot”
Twilight's horn lit up, and Scootaloo recoiled to the notion that her ability to speak could be put on time out again.
“Ok Twilight said "But I'm not finished with the common questions.”
"What is there left to ask about?" Said Mr Belle. Still with a disappointment look at his wife.
"How come nopony noticed a big hole in Sweetie's leg ... ?"
There was suddenly a reaction from Rarity. She let go of her hair (which snap rolled back up into a perfect curl) and gasped.
"Her socks! She was hiding it behind her socks! ... Oh my ... The whole time!"
Cheerilee suddenly nodded. Twilight noticed the reaction and released the spell on the final pony in the row.
Applebloom covered her ears in case their teacher was about to start screaming again. Twilight could not blame her. It had taken five cups of coffee for the hysteric mare to finally calm down. And a blanket to dry her up. She still looked terrible cold. She really must have been running circles around Ponyville in the rain, and Twilight hoped she did not catch a fever. Thankfully, when she spoke up, it was in a slightly raspy but at least no longer hysteric tone.
"She had warped her leg in bandage. She said she had broken it and wanted to go home. But with the nurse there I thought I best that she look over it. And then... "
***
The entire Belle family went pale at the story Miss Cheerilee had to tell.
“You saw?" Mr Belle shuddered in disbelief "They saw? ... They all saw?”
He actually got up from his seat in order to slowly back away from everypony. As if that would somehow make Cheerilee take back what she had said. His knees where shaking like they where about to give out under him.
“Yea we saw” Said Scootaloo “We saw that you are all a bunch of robots!”
Twilight herself was stunned by Cheerilee's story. A part of her wished Cheerilee would take back what she said. That she would just stand up and yell "Surprise!" That everypony should just yell "Fooled you!" and then merge together into Discord. Then her friends would burst in through the door and laugh and say "You should see the look on your face" and then there would be cake and...
Twilight dragged both her hooves threw her mane. She had been doing that a lot for the past half hour and it was starting to look like a shaggy mess. About the same kind of mess her sanity was starting to look like.
Everything had just been dumped on her in one big heap of insanity. Everything had been a clouded mess of shouting accusations and weird statements.
Her head hurt. She pulled a hoof through her shaggy mane once again.
If this really was some step by step procedure to drive her insane, then it was working all to well.
She glared over at Cheerilees seventh cup of coffee. She felt like she needed a few cups of the strong stuff herself. Unfortunately the coffee pot was now empty. And she did not feel like going out to the kitchen brew another round. Not with all this crazy in so close proximity.
If only spike was here. Unfortunately he was not.
In truth it felt like all her friends had currently left her. They had left her all alone in this nuthouse of a town.
Spike was currently occupied with watching over Fluttershy's animals at her cottage during her trip to Canterlot. And she had taken Discord with her. So as much as twilight wanted to blame him for this sudden outbursts of insanity she wasn't sure that she could.
Rainbow Dash was of in the skies to oversee the last Autumn rain that was currently sweeping over the town. In truth her involvement would be minimal, since the storm was a collaboration between the nation wide weather management of every region. And would be passed from weather patrol to weather patrol as they pushed the entire weather front across the country. Rainbow would be working besides the weather teams from neighboring regions as no one mare could be expected to carry a whole stormfront alone. But As Ponyvilles only weather manager she was obligated to attend.
Pinkie pie had also left. She had gone with Rainbow Dash, as she had figured that every Pegasi would need a lot of cheering up after their hard work. And so she had turned her balloon into a flying fast food stand, from which she would be providing refreshments (both food and jokes) for the workforce.
She had figured that Ponyville could survive her absences for a few days.
Looking around her Twilight had to wonder if that was really the case. Was this really the mood people here succumb to when their jester left town?
More shouting dragged Twilight from her thoughts and back into the nuthouse that was suppose to be reality.
Once again the little orange Pegasus had jumped at Rarity, knocked her to the floor, and climbed up on her back. She was screaming at both Rarity and her parents. And when they tried to pull the crazy Pegasus of their daughter she fought like some wild animal protecting its prey, Biting and kicking and shooting with her watergun (revealing that it was in fact full of glue) and slingshot. Both parents had to dodge to avoid getting the sticky substance all over themselves.
”Twilight!" She screamed "Don't you know any check-for-robots spells? Don't you know the x-ray spell the Nurse used? You must know! You know every spell in the world!“
Twilight hardly knew every spell in the world. But she did know that spell. Even though she was reluctant to use spells so casually she had had just about enough of this crazy situation!
In frustration her horn lit up. A Purple light washed over both Scootaloo and Rarity. Revealing their interior.
Their fleshy and bloody interior.
Applebloom covered her mouth with both hooves as the two ponies transformed into a lovely meat pasty of muscle and meat.
Scootaloo just deflated as she looked down at her own vein riddled muscle tissue, and the red meat of the mare under her.
To angry to leave anything to chance Twilight let the ray sweep a second time over the pair with greater intensity - Revealing the squishy organs - and a third time showing nothing but bones.
To tip it all of she let her spell shine three times over the elder couple as well, Showing the same result.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief she did not realize she was holding when she ended the spell.
”They are... Not robots?” The deflated Scootaloo said as she slid of Rarity.
Of course they where not, Twilight thought. And neither was Sweetie Belle. She just could not believe for a second that the lively little wight and pink filly was anything but a living breathing pony like the rest of the crusaders. She actually felt a bit of joy in having proven the crazy filly's crazy statement wrong beyond doubt. A bit of relief that reality was still intact.
Scootaloo did not share in her newfound optimism. The revelation looked like it had broken something inside of her. She looked at Rarity's parents with the saddest eyes and said with a voice that could made all of their hearts crack.
”Why?”
The question hung in the air.
“Yea. I wondered that to.” Said Applebloom.
"Indeed" Twilight thought. There was a lot of "Why's" in the air right now.
Everypony stared at the Belle's. Stared at the dressmaker they thought they knew. Stared at her her crazy mother and father. Twilight had thought they where odd. But she could never had expected this.
The entire family backed away from the staring ponies. They looked like they where about to break under the pressure.
Mrs Belle looked like she wanted for the earth to open up and swallow her. She shewed on her lip and weighed an answer in her head.
”It's complicated.”
”It's complicated huh?" Twilight moaned in displeasure. Less than satisfied with that answer.
Why was everypony acting tip top insane all the sudden? Why where they all so reluctant to cooperate? Why did it feel like she had to drag every single word out of them? And why did not a single one of those words make any sense?
The only pony who had been willing to cooperate was Cheerilee. And that was only made possible after several cups of coffee had made the mare calm down enough to start speaking coherently. Twilight had dared to hope that she would be able to sort out this mess.
But the story she had told sounded just as insane as the rest where acting.
"Where is she now?"
Everypony turned to see that Cheerilee had spoken up. Only now did they realize that she had never actually finished her story. but had been aborted when she talked about the X-ray event.
"After that everypony scattered. I must admit that i was quite shocked myself. After I regained my composure i ran back and forth through town looking for everypony. Sweetie was my main concern. I wanted to know what has happened to my student. But i could not find her. I even went to the clubhouse but nopony was there."
(scoot and apple looked a bit shocked that their teacher knew about their clubhouse)
"We must have left by then" Said Apple
"And then I ran here hoping to find her. But nopony will actually tell me where she is!" she said accusingly.
Now everyponys eyes fell on Rarity. The one pony who had yet to contribute anything to the conversation. Twilight had to agree with Cheerilee. Sweetie was the piece missing from this mad puzzle. With her she would at least be able to confirm the true state of her being for herself.
But rarity did not look like she wanted to share that information. She started hyperventilating and only seemed to retreat further into herself.
"Honey?" Her mother stroked her mane as she cautiously "Where is Sweetie?"
"I ... I don't know"
"Don't know? What to you mean you don't know?" her father asked.
"She came here and ... and ... She knew ... She shoved me that she knew ... and then ..."
Everypony leaned in closer, wondering what had happened. But the only sound that left Rarity's mouth was a wheezing breath. As if recalling the event was actually hurtful.
Her father screamed at the crowd.
"For goodness sake everypony, give my daughter some space! You are choking her!"
Twilight caught herself beginning to feel weak in the knees. A cloud of worry was beginning to cease her mind. This was not right. This was not the mare she knew. Rarity was always in control of the situation. Even when she got kidnapped she managed to take control. Never before had Rarity so completely lost her self control. Sure she might cry and overreact a little from time to time. But never like this.
She needed to regain control. Less the cloud would black out her mind and her judgement would be compromised.
She turned to Cheerilee.
"Is anypony else missing? Or did you manage to get a hold of everypony?" she asked hopefully
Cheerilee however, dashed even that little hope.
"No. There are still several colts and fillies missing. And i know some of their parents work the whole day, so there will be nopony home waiting for them at this hour.
The horror, Twilight thought. Of being caught out in that rain. Scared and alone.
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Ok. Here's what i want to do. We need to organize a a search party."
Hopefully we can contain this thing before panic spreads, she though.
The last thing she wanted was the rest of this town turning as mad as these ponies
"Cheerilee I want you to ..."
“NO!!”
Rarity threw herself over Twilight. Grabbing her around her right foreleg with both hooves. Her reaction was so sudden that twilight found herself knocked over.
"Don't tell anypony else!" She cried in her face. "Please don't. There is no telling how anypony would react! They ... They don't know what they are dealing with!”
"Ok" Twilight stammered nervously. She rose and Attempted to loose herself from her friends grip. "We can be discreet. We can just get in touch with Rainbow dash and Pinkie pie ..."
"NOhohoooooo!" Rarity bellowed.
She started clinging harder to Twilight's leg. There was fear in her voice. Tears where streaming down her cheeks and her eyes where filled with panic.
“Please... Please don't tell them. Please don't tell anypony. They can't know. They must not know. Nopony else can be allowed to know. There is no telling what would happen if they found Sweetie first. They might hand her over to the authority. Or kill her!"
“Rarity, they would never....”
“And there is no telling what Sweetie will do!" Rarity Shrieked even louder. Her voice was now hurtful to the ears. "She is not herself anymore... there is no telling how she will react.... She might …hurt others ... Kill...”
“Kill!?" Twilight was shocked “Rarity, what you are saying doesn't make any sense to me! Why would she...?”
“You didn't see her twilight! She was furious! She was practically shooting lasers out of her eyes! … She tried to tear her own circuits out of her!"
Her parents gasped in horror.
"And she... She... She must have short circuited herself... It was... Horrifying!”
Twilight could barely make heads or tails out or Rarity's mad rambling.
The could in her mind was about to blow up into a storm.
She did not want to believe that Rarity was talking about her beloved little sister like some piece on nonfunctional machinery. A part of her simply refused to believe it. But another part of her. Her logic part. Said that she could just not deny all these ponies sharing the same story. They, at the very least, fully believed that Sweetie was a robot. Their story's where all to cohesive to be a coincidence. And the fear in their eyes was all to real.
In nothing else she had to take her friends own words for it. They had been through to much together for Twilight to deny her cooperation.
And If Sweetie truly could shoot lasers from her eyes, then it would be really, really bad for anypony who tried to approach her unknowingly.
Twilight found herself in center of attention. Everypony in the room was currently looking to her for advisement. She felt herself becoming the one being choked by their pleading eyes as they sought guidance.
She felt torn between her friend who pleaded subtlety and caution. Her parents who pleaded understanding. and the fillies and their teacher who pleaded for answers and action.
Could she really balance out all these wishes?
She took a deep calming breath hoped she had Celestia's ability to provide it.
Wait a second. Celestia. She would be able to provide answers. She would be able to tell if Discord had slipped away from Canterlot. or maybe never arrived at all.
She magically summoned a piece of paper and a quill, then gave the Belle's a begging look of her own.
"Can i at least get to write to Princess..."
The answer should have been given. But it still came like a hurricane as not just Rarity, but her parents as well. threw themselves over Twilight.
"NOOOO PLEASE! Don't tell the Princesses!"
Twilight tried to tilt and turn the matter at every angle she could think of. She felt like it was her duty to report something as big as this to Celestia.
But the Belle's pleads where relentless.
”NO! They are gonna take Sweetie from us! We do not want them to take Sweetie from us.”
"I do not want them to take my sister from me!"
Rarity was practically climbing up Twilight's leg. She felt her skin burn as Rarity pulled and pulled. She tried to back away but Rarity just let herself be dragged over the floor.
”They can't find her ... They can't know about her… they don't understand … We don't know what they might do! What if they lock her in a tower? Or banish her to the moon? Or banish the tower they locked her in to the moon? Or what if they start experimenting on her!?”
Rarity was hysterical. And her parent where joining her. Twilight had little choice but to throw another spell of silence.
“Ok! Ok! OK!" She screamed.
She immediately dispersed the spell. Then she pulled her hoof through her already Shaggy mane, and sighed.
"Ok, ok, ok.“ She repeated as she simultaneously ensured the Belle's of her cooperation and calmed herself down. “I'm going to keep silent. I wont tell anypony.” (At least not until we find Sweetie. She thought)
She took an extra deep breath. And began again.
“We need to contain this. And we need to be discreet” She looked around her. To make sure no pony would interrupt her. Then she spoke, this time with authority.
“First things first: Miss Cheerilee would you kindly escort these two back to their respective caretakers. And please. Be discreet with what you tell them." She added before Rarity jumped at the teacher as well.
“Yes Miss Twilight." Cheerilee said, and went to open the door. The bell above it made an unfitting happy tune as she pointed out into the rain.
"Now come on you two!” She said to the fillies. The authority of a teacher returning to her voice.
“But we want to help to look for Sweetie to!” The duo shouted.
“No girls. I think you have done enough.”
"But. But..." Scootaloo hung her head in utter defeat as she walked out the door. The energy she had once had seemed drained from her body. Even her wings hung limply at her sides, ans it was only their small size that kept them from dragging on the ground.
Applebloom followed. But she stopped for a second to look up at the two adults.
“Please don't tell ma sister!” she pleaded. "About the firecrackers."
“Its kind of to late for that Applebloom.”
She sighed.
“I'm gonna be grounded for a month.”
With the two fillies by her side Cheerilee left the Boutique.
The Belles where reluctant to see them go as the three of them were now witnesses of their little secret.
But before they could stop them Twilight magically slammed the door shut, and then teleported herself in front of it.
“Now. I want some answers!”
***
There where a lot of questions in Twilight's mind.
She started with the most simple one.
WHY?
"Why the secrecy? Why these desperate pleads for silence? Why the distrust of everypony? of our friends? of me? And of the princesses of all ponies?"
Rarity's father swallowed hard. He looked back at his wife and they exchanged a nervous look. She in turn looked at Rarity, who had been left lying on the floor when Twilight teleported out of her grip. She slowly rose, picked up the blanket Miss Cheerilee had used, and warped it tight around herself. Looking into Rarity's tired heavy eyes was like looking into the eyes of a stranger.
Twilight mentally pleaded to her friend to open up to her. She prayed that the bond of friendship and trust they had spent so long building meant something. But Rarity only diverted her eyes and instead looked to her mother and father. Twilight didn't know if something was transferred between them in that look. But when her mother looked back at her husband, she nodded.
Mr Belle let out a big, heavy sigh as he turned back to Twilight. He fumbled with the words as he began to speak.
"Because ... We couldn't tell."
“Why?” She asked, gritting her teeth. Still feeling like she had to drag every answer out of them.
“Because..." He mumbled "Can you imagine what would happen? Can you imagine a Little mechanical filly roaming around the town”
Twilight frowned. No, she could not. Because she could not believe Sweetie was mechanical.
“We where scared of how would ponies would react. Because if we where to reveal the truth ... It would be like a changeling revealing itself. We where afraid that many would try to hurt her. That they would hate her."
“Why would they do that?”
“Well ... Do you know the saying “When a mare and a stallion loves each other very much, they wright a letter to princess Celestia”?
“That's the explanation for foals!” Twilight stated. “Its what we tell them before we think they are old enough to handle the real truth.”
“That may be. But there are those who believes in things not far from it. Ponies who believe that life is an essence we are not to tamper with. Or at least that only our royal highness should be allowed to delve her divine hooves in."
Twilight recoiled a bit at this. She knew that there where those that put Celestia on a godlike pedestal. But Mr Belles way of about her was sounding almost scornfully.
Before Twilight could voice these thoughts on the matter Mrs Belle continued
“Even though we know that Celestia certainly does nor really creates a hundred little foals every day. There are still those who at the very least believe Celestia should have the final say in such matters."
"But we believed we should be the ones to decide about our daughters life.” Her husband shouted “WE! Nopony else!”
His tone of voice rose until he almost became aggressive.
“That's why we never dared to go to Celestia with this. We where afraid she would say no”
"But why?" Twilight wondered. "Why would Celestia say no to a research project like this?"
Mrs Belle Walked up to her husbands side, and answered.
"She is not the only one who would say no. There are Ponies who would see our attempt to bring our daughter to life as us playing with this holy essence of life. That would view her as something unnatural. A crime against nature."
“Furthermore. What we did was highly controversial...”
Mr Belle became silent. A dark shadow fell over his eyes as he pulled his strawhat down.
“Like... what.” asked twilight, almost dreading the answer. “What was so controversial?”
All their eyes had gotten darker. Mrs Bell shivered at her husbands statement and Rarity was practically vibrating. They all looked so pale and tired. It was as if all the warmth had suddenly left their bodies. Even Twilight felt as if the room had suddenly become colder. There where so many questions she needed to ask, but the oppressive silence was effecting her as well. She could only plead with her eyes for further information.
Mr Belle bit his lip and started shewing on it. Finally he said.
“We did things twilight. We did things you would not believe.”
Mrs Belle put a hoof on her husbands shoulder and shook her head.
“Things we rather not talk about.” She said. "Just know that... Because of this taboo... Because no pony else would help, we had to use more ... Secluded sources.”
“Secluded” sounded the same as “shady” to Twilight's ears. She was more than a little taken aback by all this. She realized just how little she actually knew about Rarity's parents
Where they actually mad scientists?
Did they have a secret lab somewhere? Did they have subordinates? How did one hire staff for such a secret project? Where would they have gotten their funding and resources from?
The word "shady" appeared in her mind again.
That's when it hit her. These Ponies where not just hiding a secret. They where running from the past.
Whatever story they might carry with them was for family members only. It loomed over them like some dark curse.
Yes, the whole thing was bizarre indeed.
She tried to shake the images of Frankenpony out of her head. But something about the way he talk about creating a new kind of life drew her thoughts to such fiction.
Whatever research these ponies had committed they where serious about it. Serious enough to go against these taboo's they believed existed. Serious enough to keep it a secret from everypony. From doubters and skeptics, authority and purists, from everypony they believe would be out to get them.
It was perhaps an admirable endeavor. Manny great visionaries had at first been shunned for their unbelievable ideas. More or less forced to work in secret, and without support until people where ready to believe them.
But if they had really made a fully functional mechanical filly, should that not be something to be celebrated? It would after all be the biggest mechanical achievement of the century.
Yet. There was one thought, one question that lingered over it all.
Scootaloo's torn voice echoed in her mind.
“Why?”
“Why make a mechanical foal in the first place?" She asked "Well, I can understand the thirst for knowledge ans science..." She said with a bit of a blush "But if you wanted a child so badly... Why not just... Make one? … the natural way?”
The Belle's looked at each other.
With great reluctance the mother answered.
“We... could not.”
“What do you mean?”
The mother looked like she wished for the the ground to swallow her. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. The father put his hooves over her shoulder.
“We don't want to talk about it”
Twilight wanted to grit her teeth to this secrecy, but there was something about their statement that made her swallow her frustration. A sadness so heavy she felt herself weighed down by it.
Could they truly not have foals?
She knew there where cases when parents could not conceive. But none of them looked old enough to have reached menopause just yet. And they already had a beautiful daughter, she thought, and looked at Rarity. Could infertility really develop after a couple has had their first foal? Due to the great look of shame and regret on their faces she decided to let the matter rest for now.
But even if they could not conceive, she had never heard of anypony who wanted a second foal so badly they had to go and make one the artificial way. It all seemed a little to extreme.
Mr Belle continued.
“Please understand. These things are not easy for us to talk about. There are things about this project that we never wanted to talk about. Things we tried to forget. We tried to put all of this past behind us." He let out a heavy sigh "But I guess it was destined to come out sooner or later.”
“That she is a …” Twilight searched her mind for a better word, but came up empty hoofed. ”...Robot?”
He just nodded.
"Please understand Twilight. It is ... was, a family secret. No pony was to know.”
“Not even Sweetie?” Twilight asked sceptically.
“Especially not her.”
Rarity walked up behind her parents. She had picked up the blanket Miss Cheerilee had used, and warped it tight around herself. She looked like she had recovered a little bit of her senses after the outburst. Even if she was no less sad.
“It was a secret we all agreed to keep. A past we promised to put behind us!” She cried, like her parents had broken the worlds most sacred promise. ”Why would you break that? Why!?”
“I agree with Rarity." Said Twilight “You have kept this secret from everypony for, I assume, as long as Sweetie Belle have existed. So why did you suddenly decide to reveal it? What changed your mind?”
“Well ...We where only gonna tell Sweetie.” Mr Belle began defensively.
“No we were not!” Rarity yelled. “We were never to tell!”
Mrs Belle hushed her hysterical daughter.
“It was only a matter of time anyway deary. Sooner or later we where gonna have to tell her.”
She tried to stroke Rarity's mane again. But Rarity moved away and shook her head in denial.
Twilight could only shake her own head.
“You are dodging my question again. What made you decide to suddenly come here and reveal a secret you had kept for as long as she have lived?”
Mr and Mrs Belle looked at each other and gave a collective sigh.
“Because... Well. This might sound strange. But... She needs a heart transplant.”
“Wut?”
That statement came so out of nowhere that Twilight actually could feel her grip on reality slipping. Or at the very least feel a few straws in her mane curl up from the mental strain of trying to process that information. Everypony had just spent half a rainy dark hour trying to convince her that Sweetie was a robot. And now they where talking about organ transplants?
Mr Belle continued.
“You see. She has a component inside her, called a Heartdrive. I don't know all the fuzzy details. But simply put its a device that allows her to feel emotions like you and me.”
"The problem, however, is that this devise wont last forever. It is imperfect. And it is slowly deteriorating.
In fact we feared we might never be able to find a replacement.“
He locked up and smiled. “But we did.”
Mrs Belle pulled up her purse. The one piece of luggage she had not removed from her person.
From it she pulled a rock. A big glittering rock of that shimmered in all the shades of red and pink, and even a few spots of dark purple. It was a rough crystal that still had many pieces of gray rock attached to it.
Mr Belle turned his attention to Rarity.
“We traveled far and wide, searched high and low. But we finally found it. The perfect crystal.”
Twilight just stared at the stone in miss Belle's hoof. It was neither an organ nor a electronic component. And more straws on her mane started to curl up from trying to place it into all of this. The gears in her mind grinded so hard that she almost missed what was said next.
“... Though. It must still be sharpened to fit inside her. That's where you come in my dear daughter.”
Rarity flinched. “Me. Why me?”
“Because you where the one who gave Sweetie her heart the first time. You are the only one who can do it again. You are the only one who know how.”
“W...Why?.” Rarity stammered. "How. how can i do something like that?"
Her mother moved up to her side.
“Because you can shape and refine gems like nopony else. Your specialty is crystals and gems.
“I don't understand what you are talking about. My talent is making things beautiful. To create beauty!”
The mare embraced Rarity in a hug “And you did Rarity. You gave Sweetie the most beautiful thing of all. I don't know how you did it. But you did.
“I don't know what you are talking about!” Rarity insisted.
“Yes you do Rarity.” The mare was starting to hug tighter. "You where the only one of us who where taught how to cut these crystals, how to mend them, because only you have that talent. "
“No!”
Now the father was putting his hooves on Rarity.
“Rarity deary, please try to remember.”
Rarity shifted back and for the trying to tear herself from her parents.
“No! NO! I don't know what you are talking about. I don't remember anything.”
“You must! For Sweeties sake you must!” They shouted. Desperation was beginning to creep into their voices.
“EXCUSE ME!”
The Belles turned to look at Twilight. She felt like she had just averted a family feud.
She did not understand what they where arguing about. But she had to stop them before they started fighting.
“WHY!... I mean what. What will happen if Sweeties doesn't get this new … heart?"
The Belle's looked at each other.
“We don't know.”
Twilight felt even more hairs in her mane curling up. That excuse was weaker than Scootaloos.
“You don't know!? How can you not know? I thought you made her!”
“WE DID!” He shouted. ”I mean... We where part of the process, yes. But we are no mechanics nor programers. We didn't understand a quarter of all the things that went into our little girl."
“So you are not mad scientists then? “Twilight said. To mentally strained to realize she had just called them mad out loud.
Apparently Mr Belle didn't notice either.
“Scientists? I wish” He laughed. “My best subject in school was volleyball.” He slapped his flank, which bore the mark of three volleyballs. Not exactly the mark of a mechanical genius.
“That's how I won the heart of this beautiful mare.” He said. Hugging his wife “And that's how two more beautiful mares came into being.
Mrs Belle put a hoof on her husbands mouth with that look in her eyes again.
“And before you ask.” She said. “My mark is three cookie’s. Nothing special. Though my little girl had always adored my baking.”
She did actually not drop her pants to show the truth of that statement. Neither did twilight tell her to. Twilight was sure she was lost in some mad realm that was the result of breathing in the fumes of poison joke.
“So … You know nothing about your daughter? You cant even explain how she was able to run around with her leg blown off. Should she not be in insurmountable amount of pain?”” She said. More or less expecting to make them to expose the plothole in this joke.
Mrs Belle got a very serious look in her eyes.
“Well” She said. “She has... safety features. If the damage was indeed as severe as the two fillies said. Then it's possible that it triggered a fail-safe. Basically It will turn off her senses in the case of catastrophic damage.
Twilight just stared at them. That was a pretty convoluted explanation for two who had just claimed to be ordinary ponies. Mr Belle saw her confused look and elaborated.
”Understand twilight. She can feel everything like a normal little filly does. But only to a point.”
“We wanted our daughter to be normal. But we did not want her to suffer.” His wife said in a very final matter.
“But... How can a robot feel anything at all?”
Well...” Said Mrs belle “Her skin is connected to a series of sensors that registers everything the skin feels. And if she really got her skin burned off ... " She shivered at the thought, "Then the sensors would not be able to pick up anything."
“As for her emotions” Mr Belle took a deep breath. “From what little I do remember it was like … Well. Do you know that you can store energy inside a vessel ... A crystal for example. And do you know about emotional energy? The things that changelings feed on?”
Yes. Twilight did know of these things. She had experienced a few run-ins with the changelings to know about emotional energy. And she had witnesses artifacts filled to the brim with magic. (She was the carrier of one such artifact for Pete's sake)
"Well ... Basically we took this energy ... and we put in in a crystal" Mr Belle struggled with the words.
"And that became Sweetie's heart?" Twilight finished.
"Yes! thank you. I'm so glad you understand"
Twilight did not understand a single thing. She thought the straws of her tail was starting to curl up.
"However." Mr belle continued. Whatever joy he might have felt was quickly washed away by worry.
“...If this emotional energy is allowed to slip. If the heart deteriorates to far It might actually bleed out. Or simply cease to be.”
“And our daughter might become nothing more than a machine.” Said Mrs Belle with a shiver in her voice.
“Whats worse. We have no idea how to replace such energy. We don have the technology or the knowledge. In fact we don't even think its possible. The emotions in Sweetie are unique to her. Its what she has lived with her entire life. To replace someponys emotions would be like replacing their personality.
This was all to much for twilight to take at once.
"But ... I thought you said you where gonna replace it." She mumbled, and pointed at the rough crystal in Mrs Belles hooves.
"Not the energy!" Mr Belle howled "The thought was to transfer what is already left in the heart onto this new devise. before the old heart drive's integrity becomes compromised. "
“It was just a prototype." his wife continued "It was flawed. It wont last forever. And if it goes. We fear that all the things inside, all the emotional energy that makes her the lovable little mare she is, Might disappear... Our daughter might disappear!”
“So can you PLEASE let us out of here to look for our daughter!”
Twilight just nodded dumbfounded and opened the door. She could feel a few more straws of hair curling together and sprawled out of her mane and tail at the pure insanity of everything she had just heard.
It was not enough that they claimed one of the most lively little mares in the town was a mechanical construct. Now they also claimed that all her emotions came from some sort of battery that needed to be replaced.
And if that battery was allowed to run out, Sweetie would go from a living machine to a … regular machine.
A machine... It was all to absurd to believe. Living robot ponies where not suppose to exist.
The most mechanical ponies Twilight had ever seen was a few moving mannequins used in storefronts in by some clothing stores in Canterlot.
In an attempt to focus her thought she began to once again sort the pile of bags into a well organized pyramid.
True that there where ways to make an inanimate object appear alive. With magic one could make anything come to life. One could make a flower sing or a table dance. If one had the knowledge one could control any object Just like a Puppet-masters could make their dolls preform any manner of task.
She had read about one show pony , a summoner, who could create life like animations. Ponies of clay and wax so true to life that one could not tell the difference. He toured the nation to show of his skill and made them interact with the crowd by letting them talk to them all on its own.
But no matter how lifelike, they would never be sentient creatures. They wold always be soulless (for a lack of better word). To create life out of an inanimate object, was impossible.
Because in the end, an animated life-form would always be restricted to the instructions the creator had given them. And would only be able to preform whatever tasks the summoner had in mind at the time. Such a thing could never pass for a living thinking individual. Because they could not think. Try as one might to input as many instructions for its behavior as one could think of the doll would still fail to fool anypony. At least for any extended period of time. Because it was impossible to predict all the different things that could happen in life – such a simple thing as asking a question that the creator had not thought up an answer to would make the animated doll reveal itself. The unnatural nature of the animation would make everypony suspicious of it. (the show pony summoner had eventually been caught trying to sett up multiple bank accounts using his dolls. They where found out because the dolls failed to answer some of the bank clerks questions.)
The alternative was to take direct control of the puppet wit magic. With The puppet-master directly controlling the creations actions and speaking through its voice to make it sound more lifelike.
In extremer cases she had red of some puppet-masters that sat themselves into a hypnotic state to remote control the doll by projecting their own mind onto it.
But to actually make an artificial construct with a mind of it own, with feelings of its own was a thing of fantasy.
At best such a thing could be some form of sentinel. Like a gargoyle or set of armor made to guard ancient treasure in some Daring Do novel. Otherwise they would always be some form of puppet dancing under the puppet-masters mental strings.
Sweetie Belle had not appeared to be any puppet.
As if trying to prove everypony wrong. Twilight went to Sweeties room.
A most troubled sight awaited her in there. The window was smashed, allowing rain and cold to blow in. The bed was covered in mud and the carpet had been stained with something that upon closer inspection appeared to be some sort of oil.
Twilight allowed herself to magically repair the window and clean the room while simultaneously searching for any things that might be personal to Sweetie. If they really needed to find her fast, and without asking the locals for help, the a scrying spell was the best bet.
The spell would make any object pull towards its owner, like a piece of metal to a magnet.
It worked because a pony's touch would normally rub off on a personal item. Their aura would leave a mark on it. Sort of like a magical hoofprint. That could then be used to track that pony. The more personal the item the better. Preferably one that only they had touched. So no other sticky energy's could interfere with the spell.
On the middle of the floor she found a piece of discarded bandage. She reasoned that it must belong to Sweetie from the tale about how she had covered her damage. And there was blood on it. Perfect. Nothing could be more personal than blood.
But she got nothing. The Piece of cloth was empty to her magical scans. No magical aura must have rubbed of on in. It was like if Sweeties blood had no magic.
That thought chilled Twilight to the bone. All living things had auras. All ponies had magic in their blood. Why did not Sweetie? Was her very blood artificial? Did this mean she was truly not alive?
Desperate she searched the room for any other items. Toys, clothes, some piece of jewelry, anything that could belong to a little filly of Sweeties age found itself caught in Twilight's magic. She scanned each item carefully. In some cases finding only a small, and worse, old aura on them.
With a dreadful sensation already brewing in her mind she magically shrunk all these things down to pinhead size and put them inside a sphere of magic, then threw her spell over them. The response was week, but the combined collection of items made it strong enough to get a reaction. The items started to push up against the side of her magical sphere as they where pulling towards the owner of the touch upon them. With this magnet floating in front of her Twilight ran out into the rain.
She followed her compass several blocks until she heard the sound of Rarity calling out for Sweetie.
Realization already upon her she ran up to her friend, finding her standing unprotected in the ice cold rain.
"Twilight ... You got to help me find her." She stammered.
"I will" Twilight promised "but..."
She magically erected an aura to shield the rain above herself and her friend. At the same time she let her magical Sphere spin a few circles above Rarity. As she had feared, the items inside shifted position with the spheres movements - always pointing down towards Rarity.
"Rarity... Do you sometimes clean up Sweetie's room?"
***
In times when a foal gets lost there where certain procedures to follow. Look for your foal yourself. Check all the places they are known to play in. And if everything fails. Alert the authorities. Go to the police. Put up missing posters. Ask the locals for help, Organize a search party. Or several search party's. The more pony's who are looking the faster the one missing will be found.
The Belle's where gonna do none of that. They where gonna look for their daughter alone.
Twilight decided to stick with Rarity. Though the mare said little as they walked through the rainy streets of Ponyville.
They searched high and low throughout the town, and eventually managed to find all of the missing children. Some cowering in bushes or hiding in dust bins. The only thing they did not managed to find was Sweetie.
With the children they went to school to check if maybe Sweetie had come back for her forgotten stuff. But all they found was her Schoolbag, a dirty lunchbox, a belt, and a little purple and pink striped sock.
These items to remained useless to Twilight's spell.
It took a lot of convincing to get Rarity to go back home. She insisted on continuing the search. But both Twilight and her parents could see that the mare was on her last legs. She was exhausted. Both mentally and physically. she had apparently not even slept properly since the night before, but worked until she passed out under her own creations and continued working when Sweetie woke her up this morning.
Twilight eventually managed to convince her that Sweetie might have returned home. And that they both should go and check while her parents continued the search outside.
The walk home that evening was slow. Rarity wobbled like she was drunk and frequently leaned her head on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight could feel her trembling when she did.
Twilight's own head was spinning from the tale and she still could not believe half of what she had heard. That Sweetie was some sort of machine with organic skin pulled over. She had considered doing truth spells on all of them, but there stories matched together far to perfectly for it all to be coincidence.
Part of her still wished this was all a joke. But if it was. It was the most well collaborated, Trauma inducing, unfunny joke she had ever had the misfortune of experiencing.
During their walk she tried to ask Rarity a couple of questions, but receiving only vague nods and mumbling answers.
“They said they could not have foal. What did they mean?”
“I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!” Rarity exploded. Causing twilight to jump back.
Rarity hung her head in shame.
“I'm Sorry... I just... don't want to talk about it” She said with barely more than a whisper.
“Ok.” Twilight said, a bit shocked by the outburst.
She walked Rarity the rest of the way home. She repeatedly comforted her that Sweetie Belle had probably returned home by now. If not they where gonna look for her tomorrow, together.
But first she needed to make sure Rarity got a good nights sleep.
“I don't think I can sleep. Not knowing she is somewhere out there. Cold and alone!”
“Don't worry. I'm sure she has returned home by now. We'll walk to the Boutique now. We start looking there. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief that she had managed to restore some hope to her friend.
She even dared to hope herself that Sweetie had returned to the store. There wasn't much reason for her to go elsewhere. It was either home or to some of her friends. All children run away some time. But they always return home. At least so Twilight told herself.
As they approached the Boutique she saw that the door was open. She had been in a bit of a hurry out but the clearly remembered closing the door when she left.
“See? She is probably home already”
But the Boutique was eerie silent, and the closer they got the more Twilight got a feeling something was wrong.
Every window was dark. And she could not remember turning of the lights as she left.
There where hoofsteps of the doorstep. Big muddy hoofsteps clearly not those of any little filly.
"H ... Hello!"
No response greeted them as they stepped into the pitch black Boutique. Twilight magically fumbled for the light switch and managed to turn the light on.
Both mares gasped in horror.
The entire store had been vandalized. Every drawer and box had been pulled out open and its contents shuffled across the floor. Every roll of fabric had been pulled from their shelves. Every manikin had been tilted over, and the dresses on them had suffered for it. The mirrors in the dressing corner had been tilted and the podium had been flipped.
Yet the worst mess was in the middle. The Pyramid of bags, that Twilight so clearly remembered stacking, had been destroyed. Every bag had been turned inside out and the contents spread in every direction.
Twilight was so shocked that she dropped the magical sphere she had been holding in her magic. Every item in immediately Swelled up to its original size and only added to the chaos.
"Sweetie!?" Rarity pulled herself from twilight and Screamed "Sweetie! Tell me its you that have done this and I will forgive you!"
Twilight walked to examination the rubble. Why. Why would anypony have done this? She thought as she lifted one of the broken bags. She fought back the cloud of horror by attempting to rationalize. Whomever had been in here had been searching for something. And they had left no stone, or furniture, unturned. It must have been at least two ponies, judging from the number of hoofprints. And they must have been in a rush. They could only have had a small time window to search a place as big as this. But what where they searching for?
She only now remembered that the only bag Mrs Belle had not removed from her person was the purse containing the rough crystal. And she had taken it with her as she left the Boutique.
Only now did Twilight question where they gotten it from. Did it have something to do with this break in?
The words "Shady sources" appeared in her mind again. The feeling that the Belle's where running from something. She had not actually believed somepony was out to get them. But now...
Twilight could feel the cloud darkening in her mind as she picked up another bag.
A photo album fell out of it.
Curiosity peaked up like a ray of sunlight above the cloud. Particularly since it was an album of the Belle's possession. She picked it up and began examining it.
It was indeed an old family photo album. Dating back to the time where Rarity was just a little filly. Twilight quickly flipped through it and the loose pictures. She found that the album was missing a lot of photos. In fact there was not a single picture of the little wight and pink filly named Sweetie Belle to be found. Even counting the loose pictures there was at least half an album left empty. Particular the later half who dated to the time when Sweetie Belle should have entered the family. Somepony must have removed them in a hurry so great they had accidentally loosened some of the other photos. Was it the burglars? Why? What had those pictures actually shown?
Twilight began to sort through the loose stack of pictures. Finding nothing out of the ordinary she began to, with some level of respect, try and place the photos back into their respective places. She was just about to place the last picture into album when something about it caught her eye.
It was a simple family picture taken in front of a new house. It showed a younger happier stallion and his happier, very pregnant wife. Between the two of them was the unmistakable little Rarity. Beautiful already in her youth.
… Wait a minute!
Twilight could not help herself from letting out a dry, joyless laugh. This had to be a joke. It just had to be a joke. Because if her parents could not conceive then ...
“Rarity!”
Twilight held up the photo and pointed at Mrs Belle's swollen belly.
“Who is this!?”
Rarity looked at the photo and her eyes went wide. In a single blow all the sorrow and shock of a repressed memory came crashing down on her.
***
Little Rarity could not be happier. She had gotten her mark. She had made everypony in class the most beautiful dresses for the school play. She was the toast of the school. And she was gonna open up her very own boutique.
The cherry on top of her already creamy life was that she was gonna get a little sister. Her parents had left for the hospital earlier this day. Rarity was old enough to stay home alone yet not enough to be allowed into the natal clinic. Not that she cared. She got to make sure everything was in perfect order when they coma home. Cause when they did they where gonna have a most beautiful little foal wrapped in a bundle.
Rarity always imagined that little foals were warped in bundles when they came. That's how they where packaged when they where sent from Princess Celestia said those young enough to believe in that stuff. Rarity did not. She knew that her sister had been growing in her mothers stomach for the past months. and now it was time for her to come out. And when she did she was gonna need new clothes. Lots of clothes.
She was already sketching up designs of dresses for the infant when she heard the door bell ring. Signaling that her parents was home with the happiest of news.
She flew down the stairs, out in the hall and into her mothers bosom before she had even taken her coat off.
Her mother did not hug her back.
Then she noticed that mother wasn't smiling. The red eyes and the wet cheeks. She was trying not to cry in front of her child. But her whole body was trembling.
Father stood beside her, one hoof on his wife's shoulder to support her. He did a little better job at standing straight. But he had the same tear filled eyes as mother.
“Whats wrong?”
”Mother? Whats wrong?”
“Whats wrong?”
***
“Whats wrong?”
“Rarity! Whats wrong?!”
"Whats wrong?!"
Twilight stood above her friend. She had collapsed onto the floor at the sight of the photo. Her eyes had rolled back in her head so that only the whites where visible.
Rarity had always been a drama queen. But this was serious. She hadn’t fainted so much as she had gone into shock. She hadn’t even bothered summoning her fainting couch. She had just collapsed onto the floor in some kind of seizure.