Today was the day.

As the sun came over the horizon, bathing the lands in its warm glow, a purple maned, white unicorn filly's head popped off of her pillow. She grinned and grabbed a nearby calendar with her magic. She squealed in delight and clapped her hooves together when she saw the date.

Today was the day.

With another giggle, she threw her covers off and scrambled out of bed. She screeched to a halt just outside of her door and checked her mane in the mirror. Some of the purple curls stuck out in odd directions, but she used her magic to curl it so that it looked nice again.

Content that her mane looked perfect, she bounced out of her room to go see if her parents had woken up yet. She hoped so. Today was a special day, and she didn’t want to miss a moment of it.

She poked her head through the entryway into the kitchen where she saw her mother at the stove making toast, while her father was reading his newspaper. They heard her come in, as they stopped and turned around to smile at their daughter. She smiled back and jumped up on her usual spot on at the table. “Good morning, Mom! Good morning, Dad!”

Her father lifted Rarity into the air with his magic, and wrapped her up in a crushing hug. “Hey there, champ. You sleep well?”

The filly ducked her head to get away from her father's attempt at giving her a noogie, and playfully poked him in the chest. “Not at first because I’m so excited, but I think I’m okay. Today is gonna be really great!” Rarity wrapped her forelegs around her father's waist. “I can’t wait for my first day of school!”

Her father chuckled and finally succeeded in giving her that noogie. "Glad you're lookin' forward to it. I think you're gonna have fun."

Rarity's mother joined the group, lifting three sets of plates of toast and glasses of orange juice. Rarity sat back down at her chair, and her mother fondly patted her on the head. “I remember my first day of school. You’re going to really love it, Rarity.”

Rarity vigorously nodded before her eyes and smile widened even more. "Maybe I'll get my cutie mark at school! Do you think I will, Mommy?"

Her mother smiled down at her overjoyed daughter fondly and put a loving hoof on her shoulder. "I think that my very special daughter will find her very special talent very quickly." Rarity's mother motioned over to her daughter's room. "I know that you love playing dress-up, maybe it has something to do with that?"

Before Rarity could answer, her father stood up off of his chair. "So, are you ready for school yet, Rarity?"

Rarity nodded and leaped onto her father's back. "Yes, dad! I'm as ready as a butterfly that just came out of her cocoon!" Rarity's face scrunched up into a frown as she thought about her analogy for a second before scratching her head. "Or something like that." Her parents laughed at their daughter's words, something that Rarity promptly joined in with.

Rarity jumped off of her father's back. She ran over to a nearby chair where a fresh new saddlebag sat, waiting to be filled with the contents of her journey of learning. She eagerly put it on; it fit like it was made for her alone. She ran over to the door, which her parents opened, so that they could escort their daughter to the schoolyard.

After the group walked out of the door, Rarity's father locked the door of their tiny one-story house. He paused for a moment to look the run-down abode over. With Rarity's schooling the broken shutters couldn't be fixed for a while, the rusty door hinges would have to wait, and the gutters would need to be replaced later. He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. His wife glanced over at him and frowned. "Something up?"

Rarity's father sighed and shook his head. "No, not really. Yesterday was a long day. My boss wanted to get that contract for the Ponyville Sewer Company done and, well, a day of digging ditches can be taxing. I'll be fine when I can sleep in next Saturday."

Rarity's mother glanced over at her daughter. Rarity was grinning and bouncing up and down in anticipation. She exhaled deeply. "Do ya think that you can take some time off? I'm worried about Rarity spending too much time alone, what with both of us working for her schooling."

Rarity's father waved a hoof dismissively and shook his head. "No. We're going to have to scrimp and save this month as it is. No need to make it more difficult by having me take a day off." He beckoned his wife to follow him towards Rarity. "Besides, Rarity needs this. She's too excited for us to just keep her away from it because work makes me a little tired."

Rarity's mother nodded as the happy filly bounced over to them. "Are we gonna go yet?" she squeed. "Is it time for school?"

Rarity's father chuckled and rustled her mane. "You bet, Rarity. We're on our way."

As they approached the school, a delighted Rarity saw a dozen or so fillies her age. They were laughing and playing in the schoolyard without a care in the world. Rarity never really had much contact with other fillies her age because of where she lived, but the prospect of meeting some new friends made Rarity all the more excited. She ran over to the schoolyard as her parents went over to talk to her teacher, and the eager filly stopped in her tracks for a minute to get a look at the conversation. Her parents were happily chatting with a tan earth pony mare with brown hair. The mare that looked like the most wonderful pony that one could ever meet. Rarity knew immediately that she would be the best teacher in all of Equestria.

Rarity turned around and saw a happy looking purplish earth pony filly smiling warmly at her. "Hi there, you must be the new student in our class."

"Why yes, my name is Rarity. What's yours?" she asked, doing her best to control her excitement. She was making a friend, on her very first day!

"I'm Cheerilee, it's nice to meet you." The filly extended a hoof and Rarity shook it. "So, you're the pony who lives on the outskirts right? Yours is the house beyond the edge of Town Hall?"

Rarity nodded proudly. "Yep, that's my house alright. I know it isn't the best, but it's home," she said, echoing a statement her parents had made many times. Cheerilee smiled and was about to respond, but a nasty voice from behind her cut her off.

"So, this is the new poor kid then?" said a colt from behind Cheerilee. "I knew she'd look like a moron."

Cheerilee sighed in frustration and turned around to see two colts and a filly smiling evilly at Rarity. One of the colts was an earth pony with a maroon body, short brown hair, and no cutie mark. He seemed to be the leader of the group. The colt on his left was an earth pony with a light brown body, short tan hair, and a hoofball as a cutie mark. The filly was a unicorn with a sky blue body, teal hair that fell to her shoulders, and no cutie mark.

Cheerilee glared at the trio and moved in front of Rarity to shield her from the verbal assault. "Dug, what are you and your stupid cronies doing here?" she angrily growled at the one with spiky green hair. "Don't you three have anything better to do than be mean to everypony?"

The trio just laughed at her. "We're just here to see the poor pony, Cheerilee, relax. We heard they look like freaks and I have to admit, it's really funny to see just how right we were!" said Dug with a snicker.

"I mean, look at her hair! It's so tacky," the unicorn filly cackled.

Rarity blushed and put her hoof up to her perfectly styled curls. "Tacky?" she whimpered.

Cheerilee narrowed her eyes and took a step towards the trio. "Her mane is beautiful, Annie. You wouldn't know beauty if it came up and bit you! Now back off and leave her alone!"

"Or what exactly?" scoffed the other colt. "Are you gonna tell teacher on us? Are you gonna be a rat?"

"Yeah, Kicker, I will!" she retorted.

"Lighten up Cheerilee, we're just having fun with the poor filly. I mean, we're not the first to remind her of her sad situation, right?" snarked Dug.

Their piercing words caused Rarity's eyes to begin to filling with tears. She had never been more humiliated in all of her life than at that moment. Rather than invoking a little sympathy, Rarity's tears caused the trio to howl in mocking laughter.

"Uh-oh, looks like poor kid's crying now!” Annie leaned her head down as if she was addressing a foal. “Did we hurt her wittle feewings?"

Rarity began sobbing and ran away, glancing back only to see Cheerilee yelling at her three classmates, who merely continued laughing. Rarity turned her head back around and scanned the courtyard for her parents and her stomach clenched when she saw that her parents had already left. They wouldn't be back until later that afternoon. She was on her own.

As she ran, her tears obscured her vision until she could hardly see what was in front of her. She didn't care. She just had to get away from those three. However, the lack of vision proved a detriment as she soon found herself colliding with a solid object, namely her teacher.

"Oh, goodness," said her teacher with an amused smile, turning around to see what had run into her. She saw Rarity on the ground and she widened her smile. "Well hello there! You must be Rarity. It's─" Her teacher stopped when she saw that Rarity was crying. “What's the matter?" The devastated filly was crying too hard to coherently answer her teacher, so she merely pointed to the schoolyard where Cheerilee was still arguing with the laughing bullies. The teacher frowned. "I see," she said in a business-like tone. "Yes, I've had problems with those three before. You just go in and sit at your desk, Rarity. Don't you worry. I'll have a talk with them."

Rarity continued sobbing, not even attempting to get to her desk. Her teacher put her foreleg around her shoulder and gently nuzzled her student. "Tell ya what, Rarity: there's a small creek behind the schoolyard, just a little ways in that direction. Why don't you go there and calm down for a while before you come back. Does that sound good?" Rarity slowed her crying, and looked up at her teacher with hopeful eyes. She nodded and helped Rarity to her hooves. “It’s just forty or so yards that way. You can’t miss it. I know it helped me relax after school when I was your age.”

Rarity sniffled and wiped my eyes. “Really?”

“Of course.” The mare patted Rarity on the head. “You just go on and calm down for a few minutes.”

Rarity slowly nodded and, with heavy steps, she trudged in the direction where her teacher had indicated the creek was. She walked a small way into the peaceful forest near the school. She had to admit, the trees were so close together that she began to wonder whether or not this forest even had a clearing.

Of course, her teacher was not a liar. Rarity soon pushed through the dense trees and found herself in the clearing that her teacher had described. Rarity's breath caught in her throat at the sight, and she could only think of one word to describe it: "Whoa.”

The area was surrounded by tall, majestic oak trees that were spaced far enough apart that golden rays of sunlight shone through the trees into the clearing. The grass underneath Rarity's hooves was soft, cool, and the prettiest shade of green. However, it was the creek itself that drew Rarity's attention. It was a small stream of water, not very wide and the water would only go up to the top of her hooves, but it trickled lazily along, seemingly uncaring of the events of the world around it.

The sound of the creek flowing made her calm down as she entered the clearing. It didn't appear to be too large, she could run around the edge of the clearing in a half-minute or so, but to her it was a mighty, unshakable sanctuary. She sat down on a rock and actually managed a smile. The tears had stopped at least. She dipped her hoof into the water and wiped her face. The cool water made Rarity feel like her mother was there, drying her tears and telling her that everything was going to be okay. The feelings of terror and humiliation she felt during her encounter with the three bullies were fading away, as if it had never happened at all. For the first time since meeting Cheerilee, a smile formed on Rarity's face, and she laid down next to the small stream.

After about half an hour of relaxing, a nagging voice in the back of her head told her that she had better go back to school. Even if the bullies were there, the prospect of school was too exciting for her to pass up, and she slowly got up and trotted in the direction of the school building. As she exited the clearing, she turned back to it and promised herself that she would visit as often as possible.

When she entered the schoolhouse, her teacher was at the front of the class lecturing on the upcoming school year and what she expected from her students. When she saw Rarity enter, she smiled warmly at her and pointed towards an empty desk. To her delight, she saw that Cheerilee was in the desk next to hers. Cheerilee smiled and motioned for Rarity to come over and sit next to her. Rarity nodded and skipped over to the desk.

As she sat down, Cheerilee leaned in and whispered to her. "How are you doing, Rarity?"

"Oh, I’m feeling much better," she whispered back. "What happened to those three?"

"They got suspended for a week," Cheerilee responded. "You won't see them for a while."

Rarity grinned and began listening to the teacher. The mare took a few papers out of a notebook and laid them out on her desk. "Okay, class, there's one more thing that I'd like to talk to you about before we begin our math lesson for the day. We have a few after school activities for those of you who are interested. I've gotten a few tutors from around Ponyville, and they're all delighted to help." The mare cleared her throat. "Okay, just raise your hoof if you would like to sign up for a class. The first one offered is a sewing class. Who would like to join that one?"

Rarity's hoof shot into the air faster than anypony else.

"And so the pegasi created the city of Las Pegasus to both deal with their expanding population, and promote cultural growth in another part of Equestria."

Rarity's teacher looked up at the clock hanging over the door and shut her book. "Okay, class. That's it for today." The collected foals hopped out of their seats and began putting their books away in their saddlebags. "Don't forget to read pages four and five of your history books for tomorrow!"

Rarity snapped the clasp of her saddlebag shut and levitated it onto her back. She moved closer to Cheerilee, who was putting her own saddlebag on her back. "That was a fun lesson, wasn't it?" Rarity chirped.

Cheerilee slid her pencil in one of the pockets before turning to Rarity. "I always thought that pegasus history was cool, but I like to learn about Ponyville a lot more!"

"Yes, that does sound interesting," Rarity replied.

The two fillies filed out of the schoolhouse, and trotted into the yard. "Your parents coming to get you, Rarity?"

Rarity shook her head. "No, they both have to work today. I'm gonna walk home."

"Well if you don't mind, I'd love to walk with you," said Cheerilee. "I don't think that my house is too far away from yours."

Rarity cocked her head. "Really?"

"Yeah. My house is on the opposite side of town hall. It's a five minute walk, I think."

Rarity's eyes lit up and she squealed in excitement. "That means we can see each other when we're not in school!"

Cheerilee nodded and beckoned Rarity to follow her. "Yep! I wanna meet your mom and dad sometime."

And so the two new friends walked to Rarity's house, chatting animatedly about themselves. As they walked, Rarity felt a warm feeling of contentment inside of her. The bullies had been scary, but they weren't around anymore.

Maybe school isn't going to be so bad.

The next week was pure bliss for Rarity. Not only were those nasty foals gone, but the classes she had were wonderful. She sat next to Cheerilee every day, and the two of them always hung out during lunch and recess. Given that Cheerilee's house was only a five minute walk from Rarity's, there were a few days where the two of them would hang out after school.

While Cheerilee sitting next to her was wonderful, her favorite part of the day was the sewing class that she got to take. It turned out that there were styles that she had never even considered using when she was teaching herself to make clothes. She was really looking forward to the end of the year project where she got to make whatever kind of clothing she wanted. As a matter of fact, she had begun some preliminary sketches the moment she had been told of the assignment.

After her first week, Rarity found herself gleefully skipping to school alongside her mother. She rapidly talked about all of the fun things that her and Cheerilee were going to do that day, and all of the wonderful things that she was going to learn.

As they walked, Rarity saw the schoolyard approaching and saw all that she had come to be acquainted with over the week spent happily playing in the yard while waiting for class to start. "It's school!" Rarity squeed. "You have to meet Cheerilee!"

"Oh, I haven't met your friend Cheerilee yet, have I?" Her mother chuckled. "You talk about her so much that it's about time that you introduced us."

Rarity gleefully nodded and scanned the courtyard for her friend, but her smile fell slightly when she couldn't see her. "I guess she's not here yet, Mommy."

Her mother chuckled and put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "Well then you'll have to have her come over for dinner tonight, if its alright with her parents."

Rarity's smile returned in full force at the suggestion and she vigorously nodded. "That would be wonderful, Mommy! I can't wait to see her so I can─"

Her words were cut off and her smile instantly faded when her eyes landed on three familiar foals kicking a ball around just in front of the schoolyard entrance. At the sight of her tormentors, Rarity instantly shrank back and nuzzled closer to her mother. "Mommy, maybe school isn't such a good idea today," she whimpered. "I'm not feeling so good."

Rarity's mother frowned and cocked her head. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You were just excited to go. What's wrong?"

Rarity shakily raised a hoof and pointed at the trio of bullies who had seen her by this point. They were flashing her those cruel smiles that she had become all too familiar with on the first day of school. Her mother's eyes landed on the foals and she sighed. She led Rarity to a nearby tree and sat her down. "Rarity, just because those foals are there doesn't mean you can't have a good time at school. The best thing is to ignore them. They'll get bored and leave you alone."

"But they were so mean to me," Rarity sniffled. "Why would they do that?"

Rarity's mother extended her forelegs and wrapped her into a hug. "I don't know, Rarity," she admitted. "I don't know why those foals would be mean like that. Just know that even if they are mean, you can still enjoy school. You have Cheerilee and your teacher to help you out, right?" Rarity gave a slight nod and her mother returned it with an encouraging squeeze. "You see? They don't get to control what school is like for you. It'll all be okay in the end."

Rarity broke away from the hug and smiled up at her mother. "I guess you're right, Mommy. They can't make school bad for me if I don't want them to!" She stood up with her mother and they walked over to the schoolyard. After one last hug, she walked away, leaving Rarity all alone to deal with whatever the bullies had planned for her.

The second her mother was out of sight, Rarity lost all of the courage that her mother had built up in her. The three of them had not let her leave their sight, but they had not come over to her yet. She flattened her ears and dropped her head as she hugged the fence, walking alongside it as if it would somehow give her protection from their wicked gazes.

Rarity walked alongside the fence until she reached the point where the fence connected with the side of the schoolhouse. She sat down in the shade that the building provided and rued the fact that Cheerilee was not there to help her deflect the bullies.

Something that she wished was true even more when, to her horror, the three turned the corner of the building and began walking up to her. They didn't run, they moseyed closer to her, each relishing the fear that they brought out in her. Rarity curled up into a ball and held out her hoof as if to stall their advance. "Please just leave me alone," she mewled.

Rather than apologize and walk off, the foals merely cackled at her pleas and continued walking forwards. "If it isn't the little rat," said Dug with a malicious chuckle. "What's the matter? You can't just pony up and admit that we're right about you?"

Rarity put her head to the ground and put her hooves on top of the head to make herself seem even smaller. Maybe she could just shrink away and disappear for a while. Maybe then they'd leave her alone. No such luck, as they stopped right in front of her.

She flinched as a hoof came down right next to her ear. Kicker was standing directly above her, glaring downward. "I wouldn't keep telling Teacher about us," he growled. "We don't like rats at this school."

Rarity was whimpering softly, her rear hooves shaking against her chest. The forelimbs she held over her eyes, nor her ears flattened against her head, did not shield her from their cruel laughter. "P-please l-leave me a-alone."

"But this is fun, isn't it, Rat?" Annie snickered. Rarity could feel her stepping on her tail as she circled around her like a timberwolf. "You don't want to tell Teacher about this and stop us from having fun, would you?"

Rarity flinched as a twig snapped, and a small sob escaping her lips. She heard Dug’s snickering get closer. "Trust me, Rat, it'll be better for you if you just keep Teacher out of it. We wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Rarity held her forelegs tight against her eyes to hold back the tears. She whimpered again and tried to back away even further, but she was as far back as she could go. She heard Dug snort. "I think the rat has learned her lesson. Come on, guys, let's go play on the swings."

Rarity didn't lift her head up until the last of their hoofsteps had faded into the banter of happy foals playing without a care in the world. When she was sure that they were gone, Rarity laid her head on the ground and cried.

As wonderful as the first week had been for Rarity, Dug, Annie, and Kicker made sure that the following weeks were quite the opposite. Given that they had been suspended for what they had done on the first day, they had opted to be far more subtle about it from then on. They never openly confronted her or cornered her in the schoolyard. Cheerilee was always there anyway. There would be days where Rarity found threatening cut-and-paste notes in her saddlebag after recess, or one of the them would whisper something derogatory in her ear whenever she passed. She always tried to avoid them, but it wasn't always a possibility.

Unfortunately for Rarity, neither the notes nor the whispers of ‘rat’ could be punished, let alone traced back to the trio. They continued on with no regrets or remorse, shrugging off the teacher’s constant lectures on behavior.

As the weeks dragged on, Rarity slowly came to dread school more and more. Not even Cheerilee's presence could offset how frequently the three of them found small ways to torture her. Always it was something small and seemingly insignificant: a whisper here, or a ball thrown in her direction that barely missed her there. The little tortures ensured they would not be in big trouble when the teacher confronted them about it. She came to loathe each day of class, waiting anxiously for where the next taunt would come from, and found it took fewer acts of cruelty each day to bring her to tears. Some days it was as if her teacher didn't even care, even when she knew what was happening. She did occasionally try to stop it, but wasn't in a position of power to do more than lecture them.

"We weren't saying anything, honest!"

"It was just a joke! Can't the kid take a joke?"

"We didn't throw that ball at her, we swear! Dug was tossing it to me and it got away from him, that's all!"

"She told you we said that? We weren't even near her. Dug and Kicker can vouch for me. We were on the other side of the playground."

As much as they excused their behavior, occasionally they crossed the line and were given detention or even a short suspension. Each of those times Rarity felt that maybe they'd understand that their behavior was wrong and leave her alone.

It was not to be. Each time they were punished they upped the ante and found even more malicious, but equally subtle, ways to torment her. Finally after two months of terror she stopped telling the teacher, her parents, and even Cheerilee. She reasoned that if telling only made it worse, then there was no reason to bother.

That's not to say that there were no respites. She still tried to visit her creek each and every day, and often found herself staying for hours once school was over, just to relax and cry her fears away. The tranquil setting offset the fear that she felt waking up every morning. It was her last bastion of freedom; her one sanctuary where not even those three could come. They didn't know she came here, so they could not follow her. There she was safe, she was protected, and nothing could ever hurt her.

Three months into her schooling, Rarity was sitting at her creek, relaxing after yet another rough day. Once again at recess Dug had thrown a ball just above her head. This time it clipped her horn, sending a sharp pain through her skull. She had fallen to the ground, wailing in pain and clutching her head. Cheerilee had begged her to go see the teacher, but Rarity had long since asked Cheerilee to just ignore it like she did. 'If you want to protect me, just leave it alone', she had said.

Rarity idly rubbed the base of her horn where she had felt most of the pain, and leaned back against a tree. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she realized that in twelve short hours she would have to go to school again. She would have to endure a whole other day of Dug, Kicker, and Annie poking her with metaphorical needles. Then it would be another short twelve hours before it happened again.

At least here she was safe.

Rarity walked over to her creek and fixed it in her gaze. Her eyes were puffy and her usually well-groomed mane was disheveled, making the pony in the water look quite unlike herself. A pair of tears rolled down her eyes and dripped into the water, sending ripples through the creek.

"Why doesn't Teacher do anything?" she whimpered. "She suspended them the first day, why doesn't she just kick them out of school for good to make them leave me alone?"

Rarity sat on her haunches and closed her eyes, but the second she did the image of the three of them laughing at her flashed into her vision. Her body was instantly consumed with rage, and she slammed her hoof down in the creek, splashing both herself and the surrounding area with water. "I HATE THEM!" she screamed. "I WISH THEY WERE DEAD!"

Rarity opened her mouth to let out another anguished scream, but it died in her throat when the full weight of her words hit her. "What did I just...?" she whispered to herself. She turned her attention back to the creek. The ripples combined with how wet she was distorted her appearance even more. Her mane clung to her neck, giving the impression that she was wearing seaweed.

Rarity blinked once and then looked around the clearing. "Do I really?"

Rarity tried to push the taunts of the bullies that echoed through her mind out of it, but the more she tried the louder they became and the more appealing their deaths were to her. She grabbed her head in her hooves and moaned.

'Stupid little rat. You gonna be a chicken and tell teacher?'

"Shut up!" she screeched.

'Look at the poor little rat, what's it like living with your kind in the slums?'

Rarity screamed and pounded the ground with her hoof. "Just leave me alone!"

"bet that hurt when you got hit. Is the poor foal gonna cry now?'

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

With one final scream she grabbed a nearby rock and slammed it into a tree. The adrenaline mixed with her rage and fear increased her drive, and the blow took a chunk out of the base. Had she done something like that before she met the three of them, she would have likely found herself horrified by her actions, but now it felt amazing to hurt something, even if it was just some silly tree.

As she continued to pound away at the base of the tree a question flickered in her mind for the briefest of moments: what it would be like to do it to hurt them like this?

Later that week was more of the same for Rarity. She went to school in utter silence and did her best to ignore the torment that the bullies inflicted. None of it mattered. Nothing she or anypony else said did any good. Her teacher had suspended the three of them on more than one occasion, but the last suspension was a month ago as Rarity had stopped telling her about it.

After the five hours of torture that was school, Rarity once again found herself back at her creek. She dejectedly leaned her saddlebag against a tree, stopping only to run her hoof over several large gash marks that she had inflicted on the trunk. She looked around the clearing where many of the other trees had similar marks on them.

Rarity sighed and laid down in the cool grass next to the trickling stream. She wanted to pick another tree to attack, but for whatever reason today of all days had left her feeling blank, and she didn't feel that it was worth the effort today.

"So, this is where the poor kid comes to hide like a chicken. Good job finding her, Annie," cackled an all too familiar voice. Rarity's heart sank as she heard the malicious laughter of the three bullies. She bolted up and any hopes that she was just being paranoid ended there. Dug, Kicker, and Annie all stood in front of her, laughing at the cornered filly.

Rarity whimpered and took a small step backwards. No, they can't be here! I'm safe here! They couldn't be here! "No, please, just go away!" she pleaded.

An evil smile spread across Dug’s face. “What’s the matter, Rat? We just wanna talk to you.”

"Yeah,” Kicker added as he flanked Rarity on the right. “We never did thank you for all of those times where you tattled and got us kicked out of school.”

"No, just go away! I don't want you here! Just leave!" Rarity begged.

Annie circled to Rarity’s left. “We just wanna talk, kid.” She wore a grin that indicated they planned to do much more than just talk.

Rarity cowered at the sound of Dug slowly popping the joints in his neck. “Let’s show her what happens to rats in this school!”

They all took a step forward, closing in on Rarity. “Keep away from me!” squealed Rarity, backing away further. Her eyes flickered around the clearing looking for something, anything to defend herself with. Her eyes landed on a large rock a few hooves from where she was standing. It would have to do if they came closer.

"Or what?" scoffed Dug who was advancing closer with each retreating step that Rarity took. "It's just you and us out here; nopony can save you now! If you try to tell anyone about us beating you up—well, let's just say that nopony cares too much about the poor kids. Not when our parents actually have money!" Rarity jerked backwards when she noticed Kicker and Annie had advanced right up to her sides. "We're not in school; Teacher can't suspend us for this!"

Rarity's eyes darted around looking for a way out, yet always ended up on the rock. It was as if something was telling her that there was no other option. Still, there was another part of her that didn’t want to do it. She continued to plead with them to leave her alone.

As Rarity tried to get away, she felt a new emotion bubble up in her. It was like what she felt when she hit the trees with the rock, but it was more potent. Beneath the unadulterated fear, something else was creeping up. It rose with her heartbeat. It was like anger, but still different. She whimpered and tried to push back the new feeling for fear of doing something foolish.

She saw Dug’s hind legs uncoil as he lunged forward. “Get her!”

“I said leave me alone!” yelled Rarity. The fear drove her to protect herself; the suppressed rage instantly overtaking her. She used her magic to pick up the rock, slamming it as hard as she could into the side of Dug's head. He collapsed without uttering a sound, almost as if strings holding him up had just been severed.

In that instant, time seemed to stop for all three. Dug was lying on the ground motionless, his eyes wide open. A large pool of blood was forming around his head, flowing from the large gash that the rock had made when it smashed into his skull. Kicker and Rarity simply stared silently at the corpse while Annie instantly burst into tears.

The clearing was silent for a few minutes. Rarity was trying to register what she had done and what to do about it now. She was surprised to find that she didn't feel upset with herself or even horrified with her actions. In fact, she had gotten quite the rush when the rock had collided with Dug's head. It was one of the greatest feelings she had ever experienced. It was as if raw power had coursed through her veins in the moment that she had attacked Dug. Her fear had vanished instantly; the months of torment instantly forgotten. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. "That was..." She blinked once and looked down at the rock. "Amazing."

She saw the blood starting to trickle into the stream, tainting the clear water. Tainting. His blood was tainting the pure water, just as the three of them had tainted her spot. Rarity had never really liked filth, and avoided it when she could, but growing up in poor conditions meant that she was surrounded by uncleanliness, so she had trained herself to tolerate it to the best of her abilities. With what had just happened, she realized just how horrible it was when filth was allowed to taint something so innocent and pure.

She looked up at the two remaining ponies who were still staring in shock at the lifeless body of their leader. Annie was shaking and crying. Her head was turned so that she had to look sideways to see the body. Her eyes occasionally flickered away as if she was trying to tear her eyes away completely, but her gaze remained fixed on Dug. "Is... is he dead?" she whispered.

Rarity didn't even try to suppress the all-consuming rage this time. This time she enjoyed it bubbling up inside of her. She had no sympathy for the creature in front of her. Annie wasn't a pony; she was filth. Filth needed to be cleansed, or else it would destroy her world.

Kicker uneasily bit his lip and shakily got to his hooves. He slowly trotted up to Dug's body and uneasily poked it. His friend didn't move, causing a jittery Kicker to put his ear next to Dug's chest to check for a heartbeat. Finding none, his head snapped back up and he looked at Annie with fear in his eyes. "He's dead! The rat killed him! She─"

His words were cut short when the rock smashed into the side of his head, sending a resounding crack echoing throughout the clearing. Kicker fell to the ground and the second he hit it, Rarity smashed his head with the rock again, and again, and again She was getting splashed by specks of blood, and her pristine coat was becoming dirty, but for once in her life, she didn't care about that. The only thing that mattered to her was cleansing the filth. She stopped her assault and saw that Annie was looking in shock at the brutal killings of her best friends. She looked at Rarity for a brief moment before she screamed at the top of her lungs and ran like a bat out of Tartarus for town. Rarity snarled and ran after her.

The ensuing chase was not a long one. As it turned out, Rarity was a far faster runner than Annie and, within a few short moments, Annie was smacked in the head by Rarity's rock. Content that her victim was down for the count, Rarity walked over to Annie and discovered that, despite the profusely bleeding head wound, Annie was merely unconscious. Rarity sighed and sat on her haunches.

"What now, Rarity?" she said to herself, mimicking a trait of her father when he needed to think. "You can't just hit her with the rock again. The other two died too fast."

"Well, Rarity, you can't keep her alive too long. You gotta clean up the other two before you go home."

She groaned in frustration. This was going to be harder than she had originally thought. She sighed and grabbed one of Annie's hind legs in her mouth and dragged her back to where the bodies of Dug and Kicker were. When she reached the bodies of Dug and Kicker, she saw the giant mess that she had made and the anger that had been leading her on gave way to crippling panic.

Blood. Blood was everywhere! In front of her were two colts, dead by her hooves!

Rarity let out a whimper and she slowly began backing away from her victims. "Oh no," Rarity whimpered. "Rarity, what did you do? You killed them, Rarity. You killed them!"

A tightness welled up inside Rarity's chest and she let the beginnings of sobs escape. "You don't have good enough magic to clean them up, Rarity. Somepony is going to find this!"

Tears began streaming down her face and she sat down on her haunches to cry. It was all over. That much was certain. Princess Celestia herself would probably throw her in a dungeon somewhere and never let her see something as simple as sunlight ever again. That's what they do to evil foals, she reasoned. The lives of my mommy and daddy be over. Nopony will ever want to be friends with them again. They'll hate them. They'll say that they didn't raise me right.

Rarity's sobs grew steadily louder. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" she wailed. "I . . . D-DIDN'T WANT TH-THEM . . . TO HURT ME!” She raised her head and looked into the increasingly cloudy sky. "I don't want to die!" she moaned. "I don't wanna die or go to jail!"

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "No, you can't let that happen, Rarity. You gotta make sure Mother and Father don't have to feel bad because of this."

"But how can I clean them up, Rarity?" She scanned the clearing. "There's nothing here to make the bodies go away!"

"Nothing except the Everfree Forest."

Rarity's ears perked up as the thought crossed her mind. "The Everfree Forest." She slowly pushed herself to her hooves and trotted to the far edge of her clearing. "It's close to here, isn't it? I can put them in there!"

"And nopony has to know." Rarity turned around and began walking back to the bodies. "You can do something better next time."

Rarity stopped in her tracks and frowned. "Next time, Rarity? What next time?"

A smile crossed Rarity's face. "That feeling when you hit Dug was really good, wasn't it? Don't you want that again?"

Rarity shook her head and pushed all thoughts of the future from her mind. "One step at a time, Rarity," she whispered to herself. "No need to go planning things before their time."

She took one of Dug's forelegs in her mouth and began dragging him in the direction of the forest. After a few minutes of moving him, she managed to get Dug's body a little ways into the forest. Content that nopony would find him before the predators did, she moved Kicker's body as well.

As she walked back, the tightness in her chest began to fade away and she found herself with a little spring in her step. "I didn't need to cry like a foal, Rarity. It's okay."

"I think you might have just gotten away with this, Rarity." She giggled to herself and began bouncing. "It's consequence free!"

"Which means I can do it again if I like it and don't get caught." Rarity stopped bounding just as she reached the edge of her clearing. "And I think I did like it."

When she got back to the clearing she saw that Annie hadn't woken up yet. Rarity cocked her head and checked on her unconscious victim. She didn't want her to bleed out before she could have a little fun with her. After all, it wouldn't be a good punishment if she just bled out. She put her ear to Annie's chest and to her delight; she heard a faint heartbeat.

Rarity immediately got to work stopping the flow of blood from her head. She put pressure on the gash and used some nearby leaves as a sort of dressing. It was absolutely ridiculous, but it would have to do for now. It took a few minutes but eventually the flow of blood stopped. Rarity was content that Annie wouldn't die before she could decide what to do with her.

After clearing up Annie's wounds, Rarity sat down on the rock she had been sitting on that morning and began patiently waiting for her victim to wake up. After a few minutes of silence, Rarity realized a potential problem once Annie woke up: her horn. Rarity wasn't sure what kind of magic Annie was capable of, but if she did wake up and got enough sense to use her magic, odds were that Annie could at least grab a rock as a weapon to use against Rarity.

She sighed and got up. Maybe it would be best to just send her off with the others, she mused. Sighing, she dragged Annie's body to where she had deposited Kicker and Dug's. However, this time what she saw when she got there was both terrifying and relieving. A trio of timber wolves were feasting on the remains of her first two victims. Rarity didn't dare go near them as she figured that she might be their dessert.

She slowly dragged Annie's body away to find some other means to get rid of the evidence. She looked up in the sky and saw that it was hardly five o' clock if she learned her lessons about time well enough. Her parents wouldn't be home for another four hours at least. She giggled and began looking around the creek for a means of disposing of Annie. Her eyes landed on a large scrap of wood that would be perfect as a sort of makeshift shovel. Rarity went to an open spot in the clearing and began digging around a bit to see if she could find a weak spot on the ground where she could dig a sufficient grave. She found the perfect spot underneath an old oak tree and began digging. At first, it was harder than she had originally expected, but with her magic she was able to dig well enough.

As the hot sun burned overhead, Rarity was beginning to get tired out. She would definitely need a bath after all of the sweating she was doing during her work, but she did have a sizable hole going. It was easily deep enough to deposit the remains of her victim. She put the makeshift shovel down and massaged her head for a few moments. It had been a bit of a strain digging for that long and the effort had given her a small headache, but her work was finally finished. She looked up at the sky. It was going on six o' clock now, still plenty of time. She trotted over to Annie and to her surprise, Annie let out a weak groan when her attacker approached her, and she tried to fire up her horn. The trauma to her head was too much, and the unicorn filly was only capable of weak sparks.

Rarity cocked her head, surprised that Annie had actually woken up. She summoned her rock over to her and, using her magic to steady it, she lifted it over her head. However, before she went in for the fatal blow, a thought struck her. She smiled and put down the bloody rock. Annie was vaguely awake at this point and slightly coherent. She opened her mouth and whispered something. Rarity leaned in closer. "What's that, darling?"

"I... I didn't mean to. I'm sorry," moaned Annie. Her voice was barely audible, and tears were falling from her eyes. "I w-wanna go home."

Rarity straightened up and frowned. "I don't care." Rarity's frown twisted upwards in a gleeful smile and she leaned in next to Annie's ears. "You made me scared of you for months. Now you're scared of me. It isn't fun to be scared, is it?" Rarity giggled. "As much as I hate to admit it, I can see why you like tormenting other foals. It does give you a nice feeling, doesn't it?"

Annie opened her mouth, but a gargled moan was all that came out. Rarity turned around and pushed Annie with her hind legs. She rolled into the grave, hitting the ground with a thud. Rarity walked up to the grave just as Annie rolled over so she was lying face up. Annie raised her hoof in the air, hoping that this weak display would cause the unicorn to take pity on her and go get help, but all that she received instead was a cold stare.

The tears began falling faster from Annie's eyes as Rarity used her magic to pick up the plank. Rarity pushed the plank into the pile of earth that she had created when she dug the hole in the first place and scooped it back into the hole. Rarity heard her victim quietly squealing as the dirt was pushed back into the hole.

"No," she pleaded. Her voice was so weak that Rarity hardly registered it. Another scoop of dirt entered the hole and covered Annie's right hind leg.

"No," she repeated as another scoop of dirt entered the hole. Rarity continued to work with a passion. She was determined to bury her alive. All Annie could do was lie there and accept her fate as another scoop of dirt hit her in the face.

Rarity patted down the dirt and smoothed it out. Hopefully nopony would realize that the dirt had been dug up. But there was really no reason for anypony to come looking for them here.

Rarity looked around at her clearing and saw that it really was a bloody mess. She hadn't thought about how she would clean up all of this blood She bit her lip and started thinking. Nothing was coming to her mind. Nothing that she liked anyway.

All of a sudden, Rarity heard what to her was the most beautiful sound that she could have imagined at that moment: thunder. Her mouth broke out into a smile just as a torrent of rainwater fell on her. Celestia was clearly on her side today. She jumped up in joy and began bouncing around in a circle, giggling like a maniac. The rain would wash away all of the blood. Her creek would be cleansed from the vileness that had tainted it. She was free from worry.

She ran back home as fast as she could, not even caring about the fact that she was soaking wet, it was the most cleansing feeling that she had ever felt. When she arrived back at her house, her parents were still away, which suited Rarity just fine. She trotted into the bathroom and drew a hot, relaxing bath for herself. When the tub was full, she stepped inside and slid onto her back to relive the memories of what she had just done. She searched her emotions, expecting to feel some regret for what she had done. The first kill could be considered self-defense. He was going to attack her after all. Even the courts would agree with her that she had acted in defense of her well being.

She slid deeper in the bathtub and grinned to herself. "Dug, you may have been self-defense, but your little cronies? They were just for fun. I guess you could even call it..." Her grin slowly faded. "Murder. I guess it was murder."

Rarity sighed and leaned her head on the edge of the tub. "Rarity, You got lucky. What would have happened if the rain and timberwolves hadn't come along?"

Rarity tisked. "Well they did, and I don't have to be punished for it."

Rarity frowned and tapped her lower jaw with her hoof. "Rarity, the events of today were certainly exhilarating, but I think it would be best for you and your family if you did not do it again."

"Oh but Rarity, we did everypony such a great service today. Now not only will they not torment me anymore, but they will leave the other foals alone too."

Rarity clicked her tongue and began squeezing bubble bath into the tub. "Yes that's true, but what happens if you get caught, Rarity? Think of your parents!"

Rarity chuckled and leaned back so that only the top half of her head was sticking out of the water. She dipped a washcloth into the water and draped it over her eyes. "Oh Rarity, you must have more faith than that. I think I should do it again. It was so wonderful. I'd just have to make sure that nothing could go wrong before I tried again. I mean, with the right amount of planning, I'm sure that nothing bad would happen."

"Well, Rarity... if you are sure that nothing will go wrong."

"I assure you, Rarity, I will do everything in my power to make sure everything will be fine."

"Well... okay, Rarity."

Satisfied, Rarity got up out of the tub and dried herself off. She used her magic to style her mane and tail to their normal perfect curls and sighed in contentment. Life was going her way now. She trotted to her room and began tossing around the idea of checking a few medical books out of the library. Those would certainly come in handy.