Rarity looked into Twilight’s freshly opening eyes, seeing if there was still life. There was, to the unicorn’s luck.
“What in the world?! Darling... Darling, get up!”
Twilight’s pupils finally dilated, showing life and consciousness. “Wha... what...” she murmured, almost sleepily.
Rarity looked to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who had decided to go over to Rainbow Dash as soon as she had fallen. The mare looked up to the patient pony that was Applejack. She had been laying next to Twilight the entire time that the purple pony seemed as though she was not breathing. They thought she had died. So did Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie with their pony.
Rarity blew a breath of small relief. “I would never want to have a funeral at this time... not two either...” she said with a hint of obvious sarcasm.
She looked to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash’s general direction. Fluttershy’s small giggle bounced against the walls as Pinkie Pie smiled and laughed her adorably cute laugh that sounded only slightly insane. Rainbow Dash burst into laughter too, obviously realizing that she shouldn’t overreact to the situation or it would scar Fluttershy, as the rest of the group had noticed.
Rarity cleared her throat. “Now... you’re alright... right, Darling?” Rarity smiled a little, but still looked worried.
Twilight sat up, leaning on the couch that five of the six friends had been laying on moments ago. “Ye... yeah... f-fine... just l- a little...” Twilight’s face looked sleepy, and her head lolled a little. She suddenly jerked back up. “I’m just a little shaken up!” the unicorn replied quickly.
Pinkie Pie’s voice was suddenly fast and high pitched again, no longer mopey, probably from the giggling and laughter from the group. “You know what I always find funny? The fact that the word ‘fun’ is in the word ‘funeral’! I mean, am I supposed to have a party there or something?!”
That pink pony was most definitely back to her normal self.
“You sure do sound tired. You okay, Hun?” Applejack asked after Rainbow Dash’s group of ponies quieted down there laughter.
Twilight hiccuped a little, strangely. “I was in R... Rainbow Dash’s dream... I think... and... and I think I told her that she had a choice...” Twilight announced a little gravely, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie suddenly snapping their attention to her. “A choice of whether or not she wanted to... um... to die and go to heaven...” she said a bit roughly and her words a little cut.
Rarity nodded, feeling sympathy as the pony spoke, having a small thought of instant shock at her words.
Rainbow Dash nodded to the curious, unsure Pinkie Pie.
A doctor opened the door a little, suddenly. He cleared his throat. “I am sorry to interrupt everypony, but... Rainbow Dash needs her rest, as you can expect, so you all need to leave so she can get better faster.” He stepped back into the hallway, walking away as he expected them to leave.
Rarity looked to Twilight who had already left for the door, waving a hoof at her thankfully. Everyone quickly filed out of the room besides Rarity, Fluttershy, and, of course, Rainbow Dash. Rarity left the room. She quickly remembered that she had forgot to say goodbye, and Rarity quickly turned back to the closed door. It was always very rude to not say a good goodbye or simply wave! Especially at a pony in pain! How could Rarity have forgotten her manners in the mix of things?
She opened the door a peak but quickly saw Rainbow Dash having a conversation with Fluttershy. Even though she wasn’t a huge stalker or peeker pony, Rarity didn’t interrupt them and listened to their words.
“See you later, Fluttershy. I really am thankful that you were there to get me to the hospital.”
Fluttershy nodded a little as she uncrossed her legs and jumped off the hospital bed. “It was no problem... You would have done it if I... crashed, I guess...” Fluttershy smiled shyly, still.
They continued to talk until Rainbow Dash waved to Fluttershy.
One specific part interested Rarity.
Rainbow Dash’s voice leaked out into the hall. “Can you help me?”
Fluttershy paused. “With what?”
The other voice turned into a whisper. Some parts were spoken loud enough for Rarity to hear, “Understand...” the voice cut off. “Better...” Hm... What a cryptic message Rarity probably wouldn’t decipher later.
Rarity quickly walked into a closet that connected to the hallway she was in, closing the door. She heard Fluttershy’s hooves until they were a little down the hall. She decided to poke her head out then.
She decided she wouldn’t say goodbye after all. She had important business to attend to, anyway. She would probably say sorry later, though, so it was fine.
Rarity marched down the hall and into the first room that a pony would come into if they took the main entrance. Many sick and injured ponies dotted the chairs up against the glass that exposed Ponyville’s center. There was a pony with a broken hoof, his face buried in pain. Another looked very green, his nose snotty and disgusting; Rarity nearly gagged from it. A third looked confused, her eyes crossed and her tongue sticking out. She was very small and childish; her parents still with her on both sides. The father spoke to her with soft words. The mother looked to Rarity for a second, avoiding eye contact out of obvious embarrassment, annoyance, and pure anger.
The unicorn finally got outside after looking at many other ponies over quickly. She was out the doors and heading home. She had to get the drawing so then she could go to Pinkie Pie’s to check up on whether or not the pony liked her sketch for her dress.
She went home and quickly collected the sketch, saying a quick hello to her little kitty who had poked her head up for a second as Rarity did so, setting its head down the second she stopped talking to sleep again.
Rarity turned around and was met by the bulging blue eyes of a pink earth pony.
“My dear... you nearly gave me a heart attack...” Rarity said after gasping and nearly screaming.
Pinkie Pie looked so happy at Rarity’s relieved smile. “I’m so~ sorry!” Pinkie Pie yelled, swooping her tone down to up on the “so”. “It’s just that-- I’m so~ excited for the party-- the dresses, the food, and-- oh, oh-- the fun we’ll have!” Pinkie Pie was almost squealing in excitement.
A little winged mare strolled into Rarity’s house through the front entrance, almost pushing herself towards the ground because of her wilting ears at Pinkie Pie’s loud voice.
“Flutty!” Pinkie Pie turned, gasping. “I’m sorry that you have to wait just to help me! We’ll bake muffins, pies, and cakes-- especially cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie turned back to Rarity. “But~ I’d absolutely love~ to see those drawings of dresses you made!”
Rarity levitated the sketches, showing them to Pinkie Pie who smiled all the same as she looked the pictures up and down.
Pinkie Pie was positively buzzing with excitement.
“Well..?” Rarity questioned lightly.
The pink pony nodded. “I love it, Rarity! The dress itself looks fun!”
Rarity was now giddy by Pinkie Pie’s praise. “I am so happy you think it is good! Now, you two may leave, I have plenty of work to attend to!” The unicorn watched as Pinkie Pie turned with Fluttershy close behind. “Best of luck to the both of you!” Rarity called after them as they left.
Rarity didn’t have plenty of work to do. She had nothing to do. All the dresses were finished, down to the last touch of silk. She just looked around, feeling useless. What was a pony supposed to do when a pony had nothing to do? Go over to a friend’s house, perhaps? Well... Fluttershy was with Pinkie Pie, too busy for her. Twilight was probably too busy, too. Rainbow Dash was... well... most likely in pain. Finally, Applejack had zap apple picking to do, which Rarity hoped she would never have to help with in her life.
Maybe she could create a new dress design? Rarity felt so stupid and bored.
“My dear Celestia...” Rarity shook her head then sighed. “Have I been meaning to do something?” Finally, Rarity just decided to go outside.
She lied down on a tree, wrapping her hooves lazily around her waist. She looked towards the sky. All the white, puffy clouds lie there, looking as bored and hopeless as Rarity. She stared at the ground. To Rarity, each blade of green grass was the same.
Looking towards the one closest to her, she stared at it intently. A single drop of fresh dew began to slide down the little thing. The sun reflected on it, and Rarity swore she could see her own image inside of it. She was as sad and bored as she imagined she looked in the drop of water. Tiny drops of water slid down something’s face in the image. Rarity didn’t want to look up, but decided to do so anyway.
“Applejack?”
The orange pony was looking at Rarity, and probably had been for a while. Her little freckles were covered in salty droplets that slid down her face silently. Applejack fell to the green ground, folding her legs beneath her. “I don’t mean to startle ya’ll or nothing...”
Rarity shook her head. “You aren’t at all, Dear...”
Applejack looked up to Rarity’s shaking head then quickly looked down again, her little brown hat tilting down slightly. “My ma and pa are comin’ sometime this month...”
The white unicorn looked to her. “What’s wrong with that? You should be excited...” Rarity spoke softly.
“As ya’ll prob’ly know, I was adopted by my gran’ma after my parents gave me up,” Applejack said, pausing. “Now... they’re comin’ over to the apple farm.” Applejack looked towards the ground again. “The real problem is that this is... so sudden... so emotional to me, Applebloom, and even Bigmac.”
Rarity looked up, towards the sky. “Yes. I understand your occurence. I was not adopted, but I think I can sympathise with you.”
Applejack looked towards Rarity again. “That’s the reason I came to ya’ll at this time. You are prob’ly the most understandin’ of the group when I think of it.”
Rarity almost blushed but ducked her head down to avoid eye contact, trying to appear modest to the complement.
The orange pony looked away from Rarity, letting her almost embarrassing moment slide. “Though... there’s another reason I came over... I, uh...” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck slightly. “I need someone to... well... sorta...” Applejack paused, spitting out her next words in one quick breath. “Help out with the farm.”
It took a second for Rarity to process the garbled sentence, but as soon as she did, she was a bit frustrated and confused. “Me? Why... Applejack, you know there are more... ‘outdoorsy’ ponies here, right?” Rarity tried to smile to get herself out of the situation somehow.
“I guess I can... if ya’ll really don’t wanna...” Applejack looked sort of bummed out.
Rarity thought for a second. She did have nothing to do. She did want to be at least a bit helpful to most ponies. She sighed, unsure of what to do. It was possible that she was only overthinking it when she thought of a farm as being full of dirt, muck, and a bunch of unsanitary hooves. It was an apple farm... so there probably wasn’t much dirt there, right?
“Eh... well... I’ll...” Rarity still thought, then looked up to Applejack’s sparkling, pleading green eyes. She sighed again. “I’ll do it,” she said, almost bummed out.
Applejack looked to her. “Thanks so much!” she said excitedly, despite understanding that Rarity probably didn’t want to.
The orange mare glanced around and then finally sighed.
Rarity found out quickly that the orange earth pony sitting besides her had no words, and stared ahead of her. Blades of grass continued until the mountains that stopped Rarity’s magnificent view. She looked towards the singular patch of grass she had been staring at before. The little dew on the specific blade had long before slid down, off the little thing and onto the ground with smaller, more even green that Rarity was very careful to cut.
She looked up and, yet again, there was another pony stood before her. A mail pony looked down to her position. He was green all over, almost identical to the grass that was set below him. His eyes were a delicate blue and his mane and tail shining a lighter shade of green. His cutie mark was a simple, little sliver of mail. Jobs could be associated to cutie marks specifically, they were unnatural, as Rarity could recall, but they could occur.
The winged male pegasus looked to Rarity as she made eye contact. “Good day, miss,” his charming voice called, with a hint of an odd accent. “Got some mail for you.” He handed it to her with his hoof. “A pony gave that to me, no mailbox in order. They looked very busy, too, so you should read it soon, I suppose.” With that, the pony went away, his wings fluttering a little to gain him speed.
Applejack had noticed the entire ordeal, and was now looking to Rarity with some expectancy. “Not’ta be nosy or nothin’, but you mind me tellin’ what that’s basically ‘bout after y’all ‘er done?”
Rarity looked at the note slowly. “No problem, darling. It’s probably nothing special.” The unicorn doubted her own words as she looked at the little shiny gold clip on the front of the letter. She opened it slowly with her horn, pulling a piece of paper out.
The ink was completely black, the writing nice and neat.
Dear Ms. Rarity, the letter began. We are unfortunate to tell you so suddenly that you must leave to the realm of Hearth with a pony you may be with familiar with, Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia would like to have someone accompany her student to this dangerous place. The reasons for this, however, will be withheld from both you and Ms. Sparkle for various reasons. Suddenly, the words on the little letter became much more curly and a bit sloppy. No, it will not be another party or anything. The words changed back to their normal arrangement. Celestia is telling the truth; it will not be yet another surprise party. Ms. Sparkle will get the same basic letter as you, Ms. Rarity, as to make it simpler and easier for the both of you to travel.
She looked back to Applejack. “I--uh--well--you see...” Rarity quickly mumbled to hide her words, “I’m going to a different world--realm.”
Applejack swished her tail back and forth as though this was a game. “Was’ tha’, Hun? Say it again.”
The unicorn sighed, the purple curls in her hair bouncing slightly. “I am going to a different world or realm. I am going to Hearth, Applejack. I can not accompany you in the picking of apples.”
The pony’s hat slid off her head a little as she laughed. “No, really, what is it?”
“I’m telling the truth, Applejack. I’m going to Hearth with Twilight.”
Applejack looked up, probably realizing that Rarity wasn’t joking around. “Oh... Uh...”
Rarity stood up. “I’m sorry to tell you that so abruptly, Applejack. I... No, may I go now? You can tag along.”
The pony stood. “Nah, it’s all fine and dandy. I guess there’s not gonna be much zap apple jam after all... That’s fine, though, what remains’ll be delicious.” Her little hat swayed as Applejack went back to the Apple Family Farm.
Her eyes glinted in the sun as Rarity hoped with all her heart that she had had at least a teeny effect on Applejack.
She turned around and headed to Twilight’s home. Her tail swished as she passed through the central point of Ponyville, where there were some markets set up. She even saw Granny Smith picking out some little apples and such, who she immediately waved to. Granny Smith came over to her and gave her an apple, saying it was free of charge to anypony that was a friend of her family. Rarity finished the apple off while speaking to another pony she knew, her being just an average pony.
Rarity’s knees buckled as she emitted sound with magic on Twilight’s door. She fell to the ground as the world ahead of her swerved and swirled.
She bit her lip as she heard the unicorn’s hooves from inside, trying not to let anything in her mind slip out as words. As soon as Rarity closed her eyes at so much pain coming over her like waves, she saw a pony in the darkness of her mind. The little flash of a pony showed was only a single second, but Rarity saw every tiny detail. Her mane and tail were straightened flat, sucked of all color and drowned in gray. The coat of the mare was entirely gray overall, no speck of color on the frowning pony. Her face was so deeply marked with the lines of a set frown that had been worn for much time, the eyes of the pony stained a deep black with everything else in the image that was almost black and white. The mare’s eyes seemed hollow, but the little irises laying inside told Rarity they were still there. It seemed like the pony had been crying for so long, so, so long. She couldn’t identify the pony without any color in the eyes, coat, mane or tail, and since the cutie mark seemed to be blurred out and smothered into the rest of the gray coat. The saddest thing was what was in the pony’s hoof... a knife that was marked with blood.
She was still on the floor as Twilight reached the door after exactly ten seconds, which seemed like an eternity for Rarity.
“Hello?” Twilight almost tripped on Rarity, who was too low to the ground for Twilight to see. “Oh my gosh! Rarity, are you okay?!”
Rarity’s eyes continued to droop and her teeth clenched as more images of the mare drained of color continued to haunt her in her mind. She finally opened her eyes, looking at the ground and then at the green grass that was to the left of Twilight’s house. The gray pony was there, too, standing there with teary eyes and a knife, always switching poses and positions like in a picture album. Suddenly, the horse came forward slowly, as though this was a movie playing before Rarity. She looked to Rarity with her eyes swept with tears. The pony’s voice sounded so sad as she spoke, “I don’t want to... I can’t, can I? W-why... why am I so weak? So defenceless? So vulnerable? So... so, so terribly confused..?”
The world around Rarity started to clip and rotate, turning suddenly. Her eyes were playing tricks on her, that was all... It wasn’t, Rarity wasn’t buying her own words. The pony in front of Rarity got closer and closer, until she was a single width of a fine hair from her ear.
“Help... me...”
As though her brain had shut down, the world went black. Unlike what she had heard before from people who had lost consciousness, though, the drape of blackness turned red. As red as fresh blood that had just been drawn. Rarity’s eyes suddenly flashed open, seemingly without her control. Everything was so wrong. The corners of her eyes were blinded by blood, new streams of the stuff dripping into the tops. Her ears were ringing like a bell was being struck next to them eternally. All she could smell was something metallic and terribly strong. Her mouth identified the smell as soon as she could taste the iron in the blood that seemed to cover Rarity.
The tip of a purple horn came into focus through the separating of sticky blood drops on Rarity’s left side. Instantly, everything cleared up. As though they had suddenly evaporated or disappeared into thin air, the little droplets of red that speckled her vision left and cleared out. All the odors, tastes, and the ringing in her ears were gone. They were now replaced by the smell of books from the library, her own saliva in her mouth was the only thing she tasted, and she heard Twilight’s slick voice along with the chirping of birds perched on trees near Twilight’s house.
The unicorn’s voice slowly got louder in Rarity’s ears, “...rity... Rarity..! Rarity! Rarity, do something!”
Rarity still felt too weak to get up, but cleared her throat and opened her mouth after humming for a second or two to see if she could still use her vocal chords. “I-I... I’m... I’m okay... I think...” she spoke weakly.
Twilight looked terribly worried. “What happened?”
To clear her mind, Rarity shook her head. “I don’t know...”
She was pulled to her hooves by Twilight quickly, being basically dragged into the main room of the unicorn’s house.
Finding a seat almost immediately, Rarity plopped down in a small living room chair. Twilight went out of the room for a short while, returning with a little notebook and a quill feather to dab into the small jar of ink she had brought. After sitting in the chair that was across from Rarity, the purple pony began to levitate the feather and dipped it in the ink, quickly looking back to her.
“Sorry for the fancy-looking stuff and everything,” Twilight said politely. “I’m just gonna take a few notes of your stance and all that. You seemed to be in a very... I’m trying not to sound mean or arrogant... Let’s say... a unique type of... ‘pain’?” Rarity shook her head as Twilight glanced up at her, smiling as she almost begged Rarity for a more accurate description.
Rarity sat herself into a more comfortable position, lying her head down on the arm of the seat as Twilight began to write a bit on the paper.
“Plausible Cause...” Twilight whispered to herself as she finished connecting the quill to the sheet. The purple pony in front of Rarity cleared her throat, then looked to her with relaxed yet expectant eyes. “Okay. Now... I think I’ll start off with... Hm...” Twilight seemed to scratch her chin in thought with her right hoof. “What happened before you came to my house and... ‘freaked out’?” She paused again. “Yeah... freaked out.”
Rarity thought back as Twilight already began to levitate a book from a random shelf, bringing it over to her own chair. She had made a dress for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie... Gone to the hospital for a certain reason... Been told some stuff from Applejack... Got a letter then told some stuff to Applejack... Went to the market... Came into Twilight’s house after flipping out... Nothing really seemed too suspicious to her.
She lifted her head up to Twilight, who seemed to be in a small little world of her own as she continued to read a book with one pony on the cover, the colt having one side of his face full and bright while the other was dark and angry. She began to emit sound but was immediately shut off by Twilight’s sudden gasp, quickly followed by the book, quill, paper, and jar dropped to the ground from being disconnected to her magic or from being hit by her thrashing hooves.
Twilight began to giggle embarrassedly. “Oh my gosh... Rarity... you made me seem like a big chicken!” She began to climb off the chair and levitate the stuff onto various tables while staring at the small streak created from the ink jar on the wooden floor.
Rarity looked down to the little black mark on the planks. “No...” she whispered. “Twilight, please get that stain cleaned... right now...”
The streak on the floor began to change, seeming to get larger and larger. It slowly leaked over to where Rarity’s chair was set, Twilight leaving the room in a run to get something to wipe up the mess.
“Just stop it... Quit messing with me...” Rarity whispered to herself, trying to calm her mind like it was just a bad headache that could be easily avoided.
It was no use, of course. The blackness began to spread all over the floor, looking as though it was climbing up objects to get as high as it could. Darkness began to eat away at the roof above Rarity, slowly devouring the walls until it got to some of Twilight’s furniture. Rarity only felt a gooey, thick substance surround her as she looked left and right just to see more darkness beginning to destroy all of Twilight’s little library.
She looked up, hoping to see a beautiful, clear blue sky that would almost lift away all the ink that had spilled. The sky was black, though, and not from it just being night. The chair beneath her finally disappeared, the ink that had covered it spilling to the black floor in a splash with Rarity following close behind, quickly getting drenched in the dreadful stuff.
Rarity landed with a terribly hard thud, looking down to the floor to see most of the black ink, to her horror, turn a different color and then seem to infect the rest of the slow moving black to a new color of blood red.
Everything looked to be covered in the bloody red that was Rarity’s. A pain struck from the skin that touched the newly red floor. Rarity opened her eyes that had closed because of the sudden strike of pain to see that the red on the floor was crawling onto her, ready to deteriorate her to the nothingness of the furniture and walls that were no more.
Before the terrible bloody ink got to cover Rarity’s nose, though, a new shape seemed to form from the floor, looking to be a mare... a very familiar mare.
The shape quickly changed back into gray, her flat mane and tail dripping as it looked to push away the blood like water off a duck’s back.
She opened her mouth, her black eyes glinting in random light as she stepped forward, moving towards Rarity so slowly that the red ink surrounding her hooves had enough time to settle before getting mixed up again by her movement. “I’m so sorry for you...” she whispered, still walking at a very slow pace. “I can have empathy towards you, though...” she seemed to smile timidly. “I-I know what it’s like... like to go crazy...” her voice quivered slightly as she spoke.
Rarity took much offense to the gray mare’s words. “I-I... I am not crazy!”
The pony in front of her shook her head, closing her eyes but smiling all the same. “You... you are seeing blood destroying everything around you... You imaged that black goo into all of this...” the horse didn’t even slightly gesture towards the ink surrounding her, simply smiling with her eyes that were slowly getting wider for some reason.
In front of her, the mare suddenly turned around, seeming to gasp and scream in rage at the same time. “Y-your friend is back...” her voice shook in odd uncontrolled rage. “I... I think... think it’s time to say goodbye...” The gray horse was still staring at Twilight, who was now emerging, the tip of her hoof in view. “But...” She turned her head, facing Rarity as she stood still completely. “Not...” One hoof came forward very slowly, shaking. “Before...” Another came after the first, the third leg already tensing as it got ready to move. “You...” The pony didn’t continue her words, and disappeared from view as ink moved over Rarity’s eyes.
As she gasped in sudden horror, she swallowed at least a pint of blood colored ink. The ink began to move like it was wanting her to see every second of what was about to happen. Clear as day, the gray pony charged towards Rarity, her hooves working like the back wheels on a cart when a flying pegasus began to lift it from the ground. “Die!”
Everything was in slow motion from the fright that lifted up to Rarity’s heart. Twilight was moving so slow, like nothing was happening that really mattered, and only now began to touch the small sheet of tissue paper to the spot of ink that really existed. The pony in front of her was now hairs away, her face burning with rage and adrenaline yet still wearing a terribly disturbing smile. Her eye glinted in light as she moved her head down to hit Rarity in the face.
What should she do? Rarity panicked. There were only a few seconds until her skull would be smashed by this tough pony. Suddenly, something clicked in her brain, she knew what to do. She moved her head down slightly and then closed her eyes.
Rarity heard a gasp. Then she heard the sound of a shriek. After that, all that she felt, was blood splattering onto her eyelids. She opened her eyes as she breathed in suddenly.
What in the world?
“-arity! Rarity! What’s wrong? Rarity, just wake up or something!” Twilight almost screamed in Rarity’s face.
Rarity’s head and heart were pounding in rhythm. “Don-... don’t scream in my ear...” she said as though she were tired, despite the adrenaline and blood rushing through her veins.
Twilight seemed to be embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Rarity... I’m also sorry that I didn’t clean that ink quickly... it just looked like you were fine on the chair... I didn’t think you were freaking out until I noticed your eyes opening and closing, getting wider and smaller, and you finally moving your head down slightly... But that was after I had cleaned the ink up and everything...”
“Wait... so I didn’t move?” Rarity questioned.
The purple pony thought for a second. “If you mean that you didn’t fall off the chair or something like that, then yes.”
Rarity put her hoof to her head, too tired to laugh. “What were we doing again...”
Twilight looked down to her notepad as she sat on her chair across from Rarity. “Plausible Causes... So what’d you do before you began to... hallucinate..?”
It took only ten seconds for Rarity to remember what she was going to say. “Nothing too suspicious...”
“Well...” Twilight pursed her lips in thought. “It’s typical that you eat something and then you get a spell cast onto yourself.” She smiled.
“Then... I did... give me a second...” She had eaten some bread, one or two cupcakes, and an apple today. The most recent thing being the apple, but it could’ve been anything that had just acted up slowly. “Bread, cupcakes, and an apple.”
Twilight thought for a second, then smiled as she came up with an idea. “It’s probably the apple or the cupcakes. I’ve never heard of a spell cast on bread, but that would be... knew, I can give that to you...” She paused. “Anyways... I’m putting my bits on the apple.”
Rarity nodded. “It sounds like it would work.”
“Okay... give me a moment...” Twilight pulled a book out from the shelf on a wall. “This is the spellbook.” She came over to Rarity, levitating the book as they both scanned the pages for hallucination spells under the illusion category.
After much page turning and going back and forth between the one section, Twilight sighed. “It’s just not in here.” She thought for a second, putting the book on the table in front of the chair. “Oh...” Twilight seemed to frown. “It’s probably not in there because it’s a, uh... a dark spell... or evil spell, if you really want to call it that.”
Rarity wanted to hit herself in the face. “Just get this over with, then... pull out your dark spell book or something...” she almost began to whine.
“Well... uh...” Twilight paused, not wanting to continue.
Rarity looked at her intently. “Go on...”
Twilight sighed. “You see... the problem is... I don’t have a spellbook for dark or evil spells...”
“Where are we going to get one, then?” Rarity asked Twilight.
“There’s a lot of options...” Twilight thought for a few seconds. “Zecora probably has one... Princess Celestia and maybe even Princess Luna... There’s probably one in that Hearth place... And probably a ton of other places we could check out.”
Rarity sighed. “I don’t think I can go to Hearth.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight...” Rarity said, but decided not to be rude or mean. “I’ve been hallucinating, recently... and, uh... Stuff like that...”
Twilight looked to Rarity. “Sorry. I guess I forgot or something... Anyways, let’s get back to that spell and all that...”
After some talking, the two ponies figured that Twilight should go to Hearth by herself while Rarity goes to the hospital or at least stays with somepony instead of being by herself at all times. They also agreed that Twilight shouldn’t leave for Hearth until at least tomorrow to a few days, just to get ready and everything.
Rarity left and went to her own home. One day in her house wouldn’t hurt her, right? She had killed off that gray mare, or at least she thought so. Rarity was certain that unless she did something that reminded her of blood or gore, she would be absolutely safe.
She sighed as she sat on her little bed, her cat purring as Rarity levitated a brush and pulled it delicately through her fur.
“Okay...” Rarity spoke aloud.
After Rarity was all finished, she sat on her bed, staring at a wall. Once she turned around to look at her window, though, something white and shining was set on the sill of it, the shape below it was completely gray and somewhat large. Black eyes were set just above the white object.
“Oh no...” Rarity whispered as she recognized the shape as a certain gray pony.
The white thing moved quickly as a shaky voice spoke, getting wider and then smaller to every syllable as the eyes above it did, “Hello, lovely... I’ve missed you...”