And the Cat's in the Cradle

“Yeah… sure.”

Those were their exact words. Rarity needed to leave town for a few days to spend time with Sweetie Belle and their parents. However, without someone to take care of Opalescence, the trip was out of the question. She was so glad that she had two caring friends that agreed to watch her “baby”. Rainbow Dash had agreed since she had nothing better to do, and Tom had agreed simply because he was there. But of course, how hard could it be to take care of a cat?

Rainbow was capable of breaking the sound barrier without even breaking a sweat, and her human friend hunted monsters for a living. Between the two of them, a few days spent babysitting a walking ball of fur should have been no problem.

“Make sure to keep her fed and keep her water dish filled up.” Rarity reminded the pair while dragging a suitcase behind her.

“No problem.” Rainbow Dash said.

“And don’t let her in my room… she gets hair everywhere.” Sweetie Belle huffed in annoyance while walking over to the door with her sister.

Tom nodded, glancing behind him to see the ball of fur herself walking by in the background. “You got it.”

Rarity paused by the door, straining to think of everything the pair needed to know to handle their important task. “Oh, and be sure to keep her groomed. She doesn’t like her hair getting messy.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Rarity, we’ve got this handled.” She said, putting a reassuring hoof on the stressed unicorn’s shoulder.

Rarity eyed the pegasus and the human intently for a moment before softening her expression. “Well… alright. I left a note on the fridge just in case you forget what to do.”

Rainbow Dash and Tom started nudging her toward the door. “We’ll see you Monday morning,” Tom said dismissively.

Rarity resisted the pair pushing her along stubbornly. “Goodbye, Opal! Mama will be back soon!” She called to the cat passionately, while Opal was licking her paws and seemingly paying no attention.

“See you guys later.” Sweetie Belle waved to the pair as they finally managed to get her sister out of the boutique.

Tom and Rainbow Dash waved to the two unicorns before closing the door on them. They stepped back and took a moment to think about their situation. They would be spending the weekend at the boutique, and they had a cat to take care of.

“So…” Tom scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “What do you want to do?” He asked, turning to his cyan companion.

“Heh… I know what I don’t want to do.” Rainbow Dash smirked impishly. “Who’s gonna’ be sleeping on the couch? One two three not it!” She exclaimed frantically.

“Not…” Tom started, before realizing that it was already too late. “Dang it…”

“Hahaha… Let’s go see what’s in the fridge. I’m starving.” Rainbow Dash suggested, walking toward the kitchen eagerly.

Tom groaned as he followed the pegasus. “I swear if you suggest anything with hay in it… I will not be held responsible for what happens next.”

The pair walked through the boutique, barely even paying attention to the thing they were supposed to be watching. Meanwhile, Opalescence was keeping one eye on them as they walked. The cat stopped grooming herself and stared off into the kitchen as the pair disappeared from sight, a slight swish of her tail and an intrigued look about her.
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Over the next couple of days, the pair got settled into the boutique and made themselves at home. Tom tried his best not to make a mess of things, while Rainbow Dash didn’t really care. Although they had to make good on their promise and take care of Opal, things weren’t as bad as they expected.

After they got done with the veritable list of tasks that Rarity had assigned for them, which mostly consisted of treating the fluffy freeloader better than most princesses, they went off on their own and found some means of entertaining themselves.

Be it a rousing round of hoof to arm wrestling, or seeing who could slide down the railing to the stairs without falling off, they mostly kept themselves occupied and even managed to have a good time. Occasionally they had to see what Opal was messing with, but for the most part the cat kept to her own devices, and that was fine with them.

After finishing their daily routine of cat chores, or rather, after Rainbow Dash watched Tom complete their daily routine, they both sat down on the couch provided for them and relaxed. It was Sunday already, and tomorrow they would be free to do anything they wanted.

“Man… I didn’t think owning a cat would be so easy.” Rainbow Dash said, her body gradually sinking in and becoming one with the couch.

“That’s easy for you to say… you’re not the one that has to clean out the litter box.” Tom stated, shooting the pegasus a slight glare.

Rainbow chuckled to herself before glancing over to the human. “I told you not to leave it up to a coin flip.”

“As opposed to what, letting you decide who does what yourself?” Tom asked with an unimpressed expression. “I would be stuck doing all of the work then.”

“Well, you know what they say… fair is fair.” Rainbow Dash added with a smirk. She leaned her head back and placed her forelegs behind her to rest on them. Letting out a deep and relaxing sigh, she closed her eyes and absorbed the moment for all it was worth. “Getting to spend all day lying around and eating free food… Y’know… we should do this more often.”

*CRASH*

*MrrRROOoow*

The sudden sound of something big falling shook the walls of the boutique, followed by what the pair loosely identified as the nightmarish screech of a howler monkey. After sharing a hesitant glance with each other, they both got up and walked into the other room to find out what was going on.

As they silently walked into the main room of the boutique, they were met with the last thing they expected to see.

One of the heavier looking mannequins that Rarity used to model dresses had apparently fallen over, and lying underneath the hefty object was a familiar white cat.

Tom and Rainbow Dash stared at the scene before them blankly while still processing what they were looking at. The feline’s body was thin underneath where the mannequin was lying on her. Her tongue was sticking out, and she was still and unmoving.

“That is a dead cat…” Rainbow Dash stated the obvious.

“That is… Rarity’s, dead cat…” Tom added.

Rainbow Dash furrowed her expression as she slowly started piecing together what she was looking at. “Rarity’s cat is dead…”

The pair looked at each other for a moment before finally making the next logical conclusion.

“WE’RE DEAD!”

“Oh man…!” Rainbow Dash rushed forward in a panic and hoisted the mannequin off of the cat’s body. She knelt down and gently took ahold of the unresponsive animal by its tiny shoulders. “Come on, Opal! Don’t you die on me!” She shook the cat gently, desperately trying to wake it up. Opalescence merely jostled in her grip before settling back against the floor limply.

“I don’t think she’s waking up, Rainbow.” Tom stated uneasily.

Rainbow Dash slowly backed up and fell to a seated position. She placed her hooves on her head and stared at the lifeless animal with wide eyes. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh… Rarity is going to kill us!”

“Well… she’s going to kill you. She’ll probably have to bury me alive…” Tom said, growing more uneasy by the moment.

“This isn’t the time for joking around, Tom! We just killed Rarity’s baby!” Rainbow yelled while pointing out the dead elephant in the room.

“How were we supposed to know the cat was suicidal?! Who just knocks over a mannequin three times their size?!” Tom replied.

“Ok… ok… let’s calm down here.” Rainbow suggested, struggling to prevent herself from hyperventilating. “Can’t you just… I don’t know… use your powers to bring her back to life?” She asked with a hopeful expression.

“Ignoring the fact that that would probably kill me… and assuming that it worked, it still wouldn’t be a good idea.” Tom explained.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion. “What…? Why not?”

Tom glanced down at Opal before sighing in frustration and looking away. “Animals are different than people… err… ponies. If you bring them back to life, all sorts of bad things happen.” He explained confidently. “I’ve seen Pet Sematery, and it is not a good time, trust me.”

“Wh…” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she struggled to comprehend what the human was saying. “Pet ceme… what the hay is that?” She shook her head in confusion.

Tom groaned as he realized who he was talking to. “Nevermind… Just… just trust me when I say that it would be a bad idea!”

Rainbow moaned in frustration while wiping the sweat off of her face. She let her hoof linger on her mouth and looked back over to Opal. They had a dead cat in Rarity’s house; not only a dead cat, but a dead cat that was possibly more loved by the unicorn than they were. “What do we do…?”

“Ok… umm…” Tom paused for a moment to think. He gestured toward the cat with his hand while leaving his mouth open, seemingly still stuck in contemplation. “What if we… just hide the body?”

“W-what?!” Rainbow shook her head in shock. “We can’t just hide the body! What, do you expect Rarity to just forget about her cat?!”

Tom recoiled slightly from the upset pegasus. “We could… just tell her that Opal ran away?” He suggested timidly.

“Ugh…” Rainbow face-hoofed in disbelief. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Tom thought for a moment longer before shrugging his shoulders. “Alright… hear me out on this one,”

“Ok.” Rainbow Dash nodded, giving her friend the benefit of the doubt.

“We hide the body… and then, we go and get a different cat that looks exactly the same as Opal. Everything will work out, and Rarity will be none the wiser.” Tom suggested, confident that his plan would work.

“That…” Rainbow Dash started, holding the human’s eager attention. “… is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say.”

Tom immediately deflated as yet another of his ideas was shot down. “Ugh… fine, you can come up with a plan by yourself for all I care. It’s not like we don’t have time to think… Rarity won’t be back until tomorrow.”

“Yeah… that should be plenty of time to figure something out.” Rainbow nodded while taking a calming breath of air. If anything, she could have a meltdown tomorrow when the unicorn would actually be returning.

Suddenly, the pair heard a noise from outside, followed by a faint voice that was alarmingly familiar.

Rainbow Dash raced to the window by the front door, with Tom following close behind. As they peered out of the window, their eyes collectively widened as they saw the last thing they wanted to see.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle were just down the street. Apparently, Rarity had dropped one of her larger suitcases, making the noise and causing her to have to pause and pick up all of the loose items that had fallen out.

Rainbow Dash mentally screamed while her jaw hung open. A tiny squeak of fear escaped her mouth as she stared out of the window. As the two unicorns briefly looked up, the pegasus felt a hand roughly pulling her to the side.

“We’re so dead! I’m too young to die… I still haven’t joined the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash broke down on the floor. She was frantically babbling to herself while slowly accepting her fate. The only thing missing was tears, and they didn’t look like they were far off.

Tom grabbed the distraught pony by the shoulders and shook her. “Rainbow Dash! Pull, yourself, together!”

With her head and its contents still settling in place after being jumbled back and forth, Rainbow Dash took a moment to at least look up to the human and listen.

“I’ve got a plan…” Tom said reassuringly.

“Oh yeah, because the last two were so well thought out,” Rainbow remarked with an eye roll.

Tom glanced out of the window. Spotting the two unicorns and realizing that Rarity was almost done collecting her spilled luggage, he turned back to the cyan pony with a serious expression. “There’s no time for arguing! It’s either do or die now.” He stated bluntly.

“Ok… what’s your idea?” Rainbow asked while fighting the urge to cry. Her only hope of not meeting the wrath of a fashionista scorned was to trust the person that suggested replacing the unicorn’s cat with another.

“I’ll take Opal upstairs and sneak out of a window once Rarity and Sweetie Belle come in. I need you to stall them as long as you can so I can climb down and get that doornail out of here.” Tom explained.

“But…” Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Why not just go out the kitchen?”

“They might see or hear me if I do that,” Tom replied. “Trust me, it’s not like this will be my first time climbing a building.”

“Ok… ok…” Rainbow Dash nodded. Her confidence swiftly melted as she pictured having to confront Rarity and talk to her like nothing was wrong. “But… what if she asks about Opal?” She asked nervously.

Tom placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and looked at her with a reassuring expression. “Rainbow… you go up to that dear friend of yours… you look her in the eye… and you lie your tail off.”

“W-what…?” Rainbow stammered uneasily. “I can’t… just lie to her about her dead cat. It would be horrible.” She looked down shamefully.

“Hey, honesty is Applejack’s bag… you’re the loyal one. And as the loyal one, you have to protect your friend from figuring out that you neglected and indirectly killed her cat.” Tom stated while walking over to Opal. He pushed the mannequin back to its usual position before slowly and hesitantly picking up the cat’s corpse. “Ulgh… it’s still warm.” He flinched with disgust while holding the body away from his face.

Rainbow Dash stared at the human in disbelief as he walked toward the stairs. “But… but…” She muttered while racing her thoughts to try and come up with a better solution. Anything had to be better than what they were doing, but for the life of her, she couldn’t think of anything.

The pair heard the voices outside getting closer. Rainbow looked out of the window to see Rarity and her sister walking up to the front door.

“Hey, do you want to destroy Rarity emotionally?” Tom asked while slinking toward the stairs and lingering on the first step. “Better question… do you want Rarity to destroy you physically?” He raised his eyebrows while giving her a wry expression. “I didn’t think so… now get to stalling!” He said before rushing upstairs.

Rainbow Dash reached out to the now empty space where the human used to be with her mouth hung open in the midst of starting an objection. However, the sound of the unicorns outside walking up to the door and fishing around for keys drew her attention away. “*Sigh*… here we go.” She muttered to herself before putting on the best casual expression she could manage, which was probably more of a doofy nervous smile than she intended, and opening the door.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle brightened up as they saw the pegasus greeting them. “Darling! It’s good to see you!” Rarity said while giving her friend a brief hug.

“Hey Rainbow.” Sweetie Belle smiled up at the cyan mare with such innocent joy. She would probably love to hear that her sister’s pet had been violently crushed under a mannequin while she was away.

“H-hey guys… what are you doing here so early? Heheh…” Rainbow Dash mentally kicked herself while smiling awkwardly at the pair. She probably sounded as natural and organic as the kitty-murdering mannequin behind her.

Rarity let out a deep sigh while letting her suitcases flop to the floor beside her. “Oh, my father thought it would be a good idea to skip reservations at the last event we were going to, so we decided to just call it a day and head home sooner rather than later.” She explained before looking around the boutique. Her gaze wasn’t suspicious or judging at all, but it cut through Rainbow Dash like a hot knife through butter. “Where’s my little pwecious bundle of fluff? Opal…? Opal darling? Mama is home!” She called through the boutique, eager for her baby to come running up to her, or at least she would like to think that. Even before she was stiffer than Rainbow Dash’s nervous smile, Opal didn’t usually show much affection to her owner.

Rainbow Dash had a mini panic attack, on the inside of course, as the unicorn immediately sought out her pet.

“Opal…?” Rarity tilted her head in confusion as there were no signs of the cat anywhere. “Where is Opalescence?” She asked, looking to Rainbow Dash and trying to refrain from looking too paranoid that something had gone wrong. Her friends were reliable after all, and in no way would cause any harm to her baby.

“I-I’m sure she’s around here somewhere,” Rainbow stated while glancing toward the stairs behind her.

Suddenly, a muffled creak came from over their heads. The three ponies looked up, curious as to what could have made the noise upstairs. Well, two of them were curious, one of them already knew what the noise was, and she had hoped that she wouldn’t have heard it.

“What was that?” Rarity asked while looking at the ceiling with a puzzled expression.

Rainbow Dash quickly raced to steer the conversation back to somewhere manageable. “It was probably Tom… I think he was taking a nap up there last I saw him.”

“Oh really? I didn’t think he slept very often.” Rarity raised an intrigued eyebrow.

“W-well… he’s probably exhausted from… spending so much time with Opal!” Rainbow stated, sweating internally as her web of lies grew deeper by the minute.

“Wow… I didn’t know Tom liked cats so much.” Sweetie Belle said.

“N-neither did I!” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly. “You should have seen him… brushing her hair, trimming her nails… I could barely tear him away from that cat. He must be really attached to her.”

“Hmm… well, as long as he isn’t planning on sneaking off with my cat under his arm, then everything will be fine.” Rarity jested with a slight giggle.

Rainbow Dash laughed, probably more than she should have. “What? That would be crazy… haha…” She felt her eye twitching slightly as she glanced upwards.

Meanwhile, while Rainbow Dash was crashing and burning, Tom was upstairs doing the dirty work of moving the body.

With Opalescence in one arm, the human opened the window in Rarity’s bedroom and slowly stepped out onto the small ledge outside. The harrowing heights below didn’t bother him due to his extensive knowledge of climbing on things and his inability to die from falling.

“Alright… let’s get you out of here you little… furball.” He muttered to himself while cringing slightly at what he was doing. He had seen many terrifying things in his lifetime, but this was just morbid and wrong. Still, the deed had to be done.

Carefully shimmying to the side, he started working his way toward a good place to step down and start his descent. He kept the dead cat firmly in his grasp while using his free hand for balance.

Finally, he reached the edge of the ledge he was on and looked below. The sloped roof of the boutique meant that he could probably slide down if he wanted, but that would probably make noise. Either way, it was the only option he had.

He turned to the cat in his arms, frowning regretfully at what he was going to do. “Sorry, Opal… but I’m going to have to put you in a hole somewhere. You wouldn’t mind… right?” He asked rhetorically.

Much to his initial confusion and surprise, he heard a noise coming from the cat in his arms. He looked down, only to hear the faint meowl growing louder. All at once, Opal’s eyes popped open and stared up at the human as she hissed at him fiercely.

“W-WHAT THE H- AHH!” Tom screamed and recoiled in a panic as the once motionless cat wriggled angrily in his grasp.

Back downstairs, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were listening to Rainbow Dash going off on random tangents of thought. The pegasus would talk at length about just about anything. It was almost like she was trying to keep them busy.

“Well, I would love to keep chatting with you, Rainbow… but I need to drop off these bags in my room.” Rarity said while starting toward the stairs.

Rainbow Dash jumped in front of her frantically. “Wait! You can’t go up there right now!” She stated while shaking her head at the unicorn.

Rarity started to formulate a confused and wary response until another noise drew all of their attentions away.

“AAAHHHHHHOHMYGODZOMBIECATAHHH-"

*THUMP*

A mighty crash came from outside. The ponies turned to the still open front door and looked outside, only to see Tom lying on his back on the ground. A second later, a familiar white cat gracefully landed on its feet right on top of the human.

“Tom…?!” Rarity raised a surprised and slightly concerned eyebrow. Although she was confident the human was alright due to his powers, the fall probably hurt like the dickens.

“Holy hay, Opal is alive!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in shock. She suddenly caught what she had just said and froze up.

Rarity turned to the pegasus in confusion. “Of course Opal is alive… why would you-” She paused and narrowed her eyes as the puzzle pieces clicked together. “Rainbow Dash… did anything happen while I was away… anything that you might want to tell me?” She asked, bringing her face close to Rainbow’s and leering at her suspiciously.

Rainbow Dash sweated nervously as she felt the unicorn’s stare burning into her. “Umm… uh… heh…” She recoiled as far as she could without falling over, only to have Rarity follow her. “It was his fault!” She finally exclaimed while pointing to the human.

“You… little… traitor…” Tom muttered painfully from his place on the ground, still out of breath and staring up at the night sky. Finally, he got up and dusted himself off, only to look ahead and see Opalescence walking over to Rarity and brushing up against her legs while purring. “I thought that thing was dead!”

“Ok…” Rarity took in a deep breath and composed herself. “One of you… explain… now.”

Rainbow Dash sighed while looking down sadly. “We were upstairs, and we just heard a noise from down here. We came down to see what happened, and we found Opal lying underneath a mannequin. She wasn’t moving or anything… and we thought she was dead… so we tried to get rid of her before you showed up.” She explained.

Rarity looked between the human and the pegasus with a stern expression. Finally, she softened up and stifled a chuckle. “Oh my… Opal, were you being naughty again?” She asked while kneeling down and patting her cat on the head.

“What…?” Tom and Rainbow Dash asked in unison while cocking their heads to the side.

Rarity gave Opal a few more pats before looking back up. “You see, Opal has a tendency to play pranks on people that watch over her. Normally they aren’t so elaborate, but she is persistent when she wants to be.” She explained. “I’m just surprised she managed to convince you that she died… I mean, you did check for a pulse, didn’t you?” The unicorn’s words hung in the air for a moment before smacking into the pair like a verbal ton of bricks.

Rainbow Dash and Tom widened their eyes. They both looked at each other silently, with expressions that were less than thrilled.

Rainbow Dash was looking to the human in livid disbelief as if to say, Are you telling me that you didn’t check for a bucking pulse, you moron?

Tom was looking back at the pegasus with an equally irritated expression which seemingly communicated, Of course I didn’t check for a pulse. I thought you checked for a pulse, you birdbrain.

While the two were staring daggers into each other, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were standing nearby watching them.

Rarity cleared her throat to interrupt the uneasy silence. “Well… thanks for watching Opal for me.”

“Sure thing…” Rainbow Dash said, still not looking away from glaring at Tom.

“Yeah… what she said.” Tom added, also not removing his intense stare from the pegasus.

Sweetie Belle hummed pensively for a moment before turning to her sister. “You know, Rarity… we do need to go back up there for mom and dad’s anniversary next week. Maybe they could watch Opal again for us?”

“That sounds like a lovely idea, Sweetie!” Rarity said, offering the filly a smile for her suggestion. She turned to the pair, only to see them staring at her now, with terror and disbelief on their faces rather than anger. “So how about it, do you want to watch Opal again?”

Rainbow Dash and Tom glanced down to the cat still sat down next to the unicorn. Although logic would tell them otherwise, they could almost swear that they could see Opal smirking at them slightly.

“NO!”

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