A dim light coming from seemingly nowhere flicked on, and a dirty white unicorn raised her head. The room was quite large compared to the others, and from each three of the walls (the ones next to and behind the prisoner) were about forty or fifty chains keeping the unicorn from escaping, making the poor mare look like a fifty legged robotic spider. The muzzled and chain-covered pony howled with laughter. Rarity smiled, red goo dripping from her eye. She pointed her capped and covered horn at the stuffed mares and shouted something. Instantaneously, the once-dead ponies sprang back to life, their straitjackets now gone and staring straight ahead at the filthy pony. “Who is she?” Bellastage asked. “No need to ask Mommy who she is, darling, for I AM RARITY, the magically talented one in this room!” Rarity replied, making her fellow unicorn scowl at her and shiver. Twilight paused and began to ask her once-friend something. “Why-“ “WHY is the all-sane” the diamond-cutie marked pony twitched as she said this and shivered, making her look even less sane than Twi. “…RARITY here? Well I assure you it was a mistake. Bonbon was simply LAUGHING at me for my worthless clothes when Mommy here simply couldn’t stand it any longer. I socked her straight across the mouth and she kicked poor Mommy in her stomach. THAT’S when Rarity here…” Rarity shouted in a somehow lady-like fashion at her visitors, confusing them with her calling herself ‘Mommy’, ‘Rarity’, and such. “That’s when I PUSHED that stupid Bonbon into the nearest wall. The impact simply KILLED her, which gave my eye a prickly feeling. Oh, it’s not bleeding again, is it, dearies?” the filthy one jabbed at her own eye, squirting blood elsewhere. The bloody pupil was at least half the size of the other perfectly normal eye, or what was close to a perfectly normal eye. Rarity stretched her neck, which was held back by a metal turtleneck cuff connected to five chains, and reached for a beautiful antique set of flower and jewel-engraved scissors which was next to a full set of matching “tools” for designing dresses and such. A mannequin was nearby, along with an entire closet of some of the most gorgeous dresses in all Equestria. A bead of cold sweat passed dried drops of blood on the dusty white mare’s cheek. The instant it touched the floor she relaxed, the shackles causing her to rebound a few feet away. “Oh, so close, never there.” She muttered to herself, sighing like the old Rarity would. “Would you like me to help you with ANYTHING, as a GREAT friend of yours would do!?” Twilight said to the locked up friend of hers who was now struggling to get a hairbrush on a dresser. The purple one cast a simple levitation spell on the hairbrush, but it refused to move. “Sweetie, wouldn’t you know that they would absolutely torture me here in this…” Rarity surveyed her homely surroundings. “Homely DUNGEON?” “Hey, I can just walk over there and get it for you if you like as a GOOD friend would do!” Twilight piped up, her ear flicking and her right eyelid shivering. She calmly walked past her frizzy-haired friend who was now watching her anxiously, her beady eyes burning through the back of the purple one’s skull. Bella, who had been standing to the side the entire time, gulped and pressed herself against the door, trying to stay as far away as she possibly could from the sadistic almost-albino pony. The instant Twilight laid a hoof on the hairbrush, and electric shock surged through her skeletal structure and she collapsed on the ground. Rarity sighed. “Oh yes, I merely forgot to tell you…these beauty products with GREATLY HARM anypony who isn’t the one desiring them who touches them. I apologize for the inconvenience, but you still have to retrieve my new brush, darling.” The electrocuted pony pushed the perfect hairbrush towards her friend, which had landed on her head in the commotion. “MINE! It’s all MINE!” Rarity yelled, grabbing her lovely new brush and stroking her mane gently with it. The moment it collided with her hair, her entire mane became tangle-free and smooth, the frizz and out of place hairs now gone. Five of the chains shrank back into the wall, disconnecting themselves from their prisoner. She them smoothed out what little coat was left bare of metal restraints, smoothing out her coat but not removing the scum. She then flicked her tail onto her back, brushing that out too, and tossing the seemingly indestructible brush back in front of her, which was still within her reach. Rarity then nodded daintily at the table. “Could you get the rest of them for me, dearie?” Twilight groaned and shuffled her way over to the marble table, delicately carved so that the legs were Greek columns and the tops had a light design of two lions roaring at each other, paws up and swiping, surrounding the letter ‘R’, which she already knew stood for ‘Rarity’. As the sizzling unicorn tilted the table over, the ultimate pain reached her skull. As her skeleton flashed in the room as if she was in a cartoon, Rarity hovered over the variety of items that lay before her. “Diamonds…jewels…shampoo…” She muttered as she looked over everything. “YES! I’ve got them!” As Rarity popped the rusty copper cap off of her dainty little horn, she moaned in despair and flicked the cap away from her. Using her magic, which she hadn’t used for ages since the accidental murder scene, she yanked each chain from the walls, one at a time. Clangs of the chains bounced around the room, and the white unicorn stylized herself, shaking off the metal “armor” that kept her from reaching her heart’s desire. A small case that resembled a miniature version of the carving on the table had appeared in front of Rarity, which she opened in a hurry as she began to work on Twilight Sparkle’s horrid appearance. “Sweetie, please don’t get yourself electrocuted so often, alright? It makes you look absolutely DREADFUL.” She stated to her as she pampered her. After her fellow unicorn looked as pretty as she could make her in a minute’s time, she barged through the door with her shining horn. As fragile as it looked, Rarity’s horn was actually as hard as rock and it smashed directly through the door. The guards that were once outside were nowhere to be seen. But the second that the trio (Yes, Bella made it out safely without getting smashed by Rarity) exited the cell, a siren flared and announced their escape. Quickly, they galloped as fast as they could possibly go, the white unicorn holding her marble case in her tail, the mint blue pegasus fluttering inches from the ground, and the purple unicorn leading them to safety. Once they zipped past the fortunately open front doors, Bella screamed. The trio crashed face-first into one of the asylum’s van, identical to Twi’s asylum van. The blue one looked up at the hidden door, then at the driver’s seat. She smiled hideously. A flame burned behind her eyes. “You guys, get in the back!” She screeched, flinging open the back door. Rarity and her friend looked at Bella like she was crazy but obeyed her. As they shut the door, they felt their driver hit the gas pedal. The unfortunate back seat occupiers were flung against the back, their lives depending on the crazy pony driving them. “Well…this –oof- is the WORST –ugh- driving service I’ve –ouch!- ever experienced!” Rarity stammered in between bumps. Twilight Sparkle sat upside down on her head, her hind legs slumping over her head. Her horn poked through her tale. She sighed. The other unicorn wasn’t as lucky; she was stuck horn-first in the wall. She was also upside down. Bellastage checked her review mirror and chortled. “Having fun, girls?” She hit the wheel in her laughter and sent the vehicle spinning off to the side near a white and blue house. As she skidded to a stop in front of the house, the details became clear. There was a black and a white column near the front door, with a blue roof and porch. The door had an intricate imprint of a pair of Comedy & Tragedy masks, obviously stating that this was the blue pony’s house. Bella tripped over her “Welcome” mat, suddenly remembering something. She lifted the mat, revealing a large butcher knife. The other mares shuddered as she used the knife to slice the lock open. After carefully positioning the knife back under the “Welcome” mat, she kicked open the door. Unlike the outside of the house, every single bit of the furniture was black and white. The walls were white and the floor and ceiling were black, the armchairs were half white and half black, even the food in her refrigerator was colored black and white. As Rarity ambled over to the kitchen, claiming that the food served at the asylum was meant for prisoners and RATS, which left the others alone. When Twilight switched on the TV, she saw a blonde news reporter with a familiar building in the background surrounded by police cars. “Earlier today,” the reporter began, “Three young ponies had escaped. No one knows where they went or how they got out, but they have not been found yet. Police are on the lookout, so be warned. Keep your loved ones hidden and your doors locked. Goodnight, Equestria. Sleep safe.” The television switched off on its own. With a flabbergasted look on their faces, the two viewers stared at one another. Finally, Twi spoke up.

“That’s the asylum. They’re looking for us.”

PART 1 FINISHED

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