"Everypony in Ponyville is happy, carefree, and content with their life on the whole... except one. Rarity harbors a dark secret that nopony can ever find out about. A murderous secret, as a matter of fact. She is Equestria's only active serial killer. She has to balance her fashion life, her friends, and her murderous urges as best as she can. This is the story of her mind."
The Killer Rarityverse is a trilogy of novel-length My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction stories by BronyWriter
that detail the life of Rarity as a violent serial killer and how that affects the ponies around her, particularly her friends and family.
The original story, The Secret Life of Rarity, follows Rarity and her actions from the time she begins killing, and why, until the beginning events of its sequel. It is by far the most violent story in the entire series as it is the one that details Rarity's murders, leaving little to the imagination. Rarity's preferred method of murder is with the use of various sharp knives and she is quite skilled with them. Eventually though she begins to lose what little sanity she has left and she begins to betray even her own twisted set of morals. The story ends with her execution by lethal injection after she is finally caught by the royal guards.
The sequel, The Public Life of Sweetie Belle picks up right where The Secret Life of Rarity leaves off but from Sweetie Belle's perspective. She is forced to deal with the fallout of Rarity's actions. Many ponies around town suspect that she will follow in the hoofsteps of her sister, despite the fact that she shows no desire to do so. The story spans about twenty-five years and results in Sweetie Belle eventually having a daughter out of wedlock named Joyous Blossom. Much like her mother, Blossom, as she is called, is under suspicion that she will follow in Rarity's hoofsteps but once again she shows no desire to do so, even when confronted with bullies. The story ends with Sweetie Belle being institutionalized for life after taking the fall for Blossom's accidental murders of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's daughters.
The final story in the trilogy is Broken Blossom and once again it picks up pretty much where the preceding book left off. Blossom is left alone to deal with the fallout that came from the ending of The Public Life of Sweetie Belle and it details her life under the watchful eyes of the Royal Sisters. The story ends with her being executed, and seeing Diamond Tiara, Fire Ruby and Golden Necklace in Paradise.
Broken Blossom also has an alternate ending story, The Word is Fear, where Blossom was never executed and must struggle with Rarity taunting her from the dead, who wants her to become the next serial killer. Which she does. She kills her psychologist, a janitor, and three guards at the prison she was at. The story ends with Blossom being gruesomely murdered by Celestia, who has been Driven to Madness in her desperate attempts to catch Blossom and is banished to the sun by Luna.
A second alternate ending, A Shadow Hangs Overhead is complete, telling what would happen if Rarity was caught immediately after her first kill.
This story received an alternate universe sequel called Hitmare, where Rarity becomes an enforcer for Nightmare Moon.
Ripples is a series of side-stories beginning after Rarity's execution, depicting the reactions of various ponies affected by her crimes.
The Secret Life of Rarity contains examples of tropes like:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Rarity. During her execution she suffers a vision of all the victims that died by her hooves, realizes what she has done, and that she is unable to control herself. When her friends find out about her secret, they are all shocked, yet feel horrible for her when they find out why she became this. Not to mention, as she is dying, she sings the lullaby that she used to sing to her sister, Sweetie Belle, when she was little.
- All Just a Dream: The opening of chapter 6. Subverted in Chapter 10.
- Asshole Victim:
- Once she meets the Mane Six and becomes an Element of Harmony she decides to only kill ponies that she feels deserve to be killed. Over the course of the novel she kills series antagonists such as Gilda the Griffin, the Great and Powerful Trixie, and the Flim Flam Brothers to name a few.
- Scootaloo's father. Rarity targets him because he extorted her for twice as much money for building the boutique as they'd previously agreed upon, but he really crosses into this after she offers to let him go if he lets her kill his wife instead and he agrees to it.
- Ax-Crazy: Rarity for sure. She isn't shy about violently killing her victims.
- Battle Trophy: Rarity keeps the hides, manes, and tails of memorable victims and she even moves on to two cut off faces and a set of hooves.
- Brutal Honesty: Rarity never hides what she's going to do to her victims.Krissy: Are you gonna kill me?Rarity: Of course I am, darling. What am I supposed to do, just let you go?
- Bully Hunter: If you are mean to Rarity's friends and family, don't expect to see your next birthday. Or the end of next week for that matter.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Rarity dislikes killing her victims in painless and humane ways. No, they need to suffer before they die and she makes sure that they do.
- Dark Fic: Most of the fic.
- Despair Event Horizon: Twilight crosses this when she first finds out that Rarity is a serial killer. She's so heartbroken, in fact, that she does nothing to stop Rarity from wiping the whole thing from her memory.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While a lot of the ponies she kills are definitely jerks, they definitely don't deserve what Rarity does to them.
- Driven to Villainy: Rarity's first kill was completely self-defense. However she got such a rush from it that she just kept on going.
- Disposing of a Body: Rarity finds herself unsure of how to dispose of her original kills. She settles on the Everfree forest which becomes her defacto dumping grounds.
- Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Rarity is in her basement planning a kill when Sweetie Belle comes up behind her and startles her.
- Downer Ending: Surprisingly enough, Rarity's execution is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the story, and it doesn't help that it's preceded by Celestia disowning Twilight as her student for unwittingly allowing Rarity to continue killing.
- Enfant Terrible: Rarity first kills at the age of eight. By thirteen she has killed nine ponies, all while still living with her parents.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Eventually ponies around her start to find out about her being a serial killer. None of them take it very well.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rarity has a short list of ponies that she will NEVER kill for any reason.
- Fallen Hero: Downplayed as Rarity was a serial killer for over ten years before she became an Element of Harmony.
- Flaying Alive: Rarity has a special sharpened vegetable peeler for this reason.
- Freudian Excuse: When she was eight, Rarity accidentally killed a schoolyard bully who was harassing her. She got such a rush from it that she decided to keep doing it.
- This story gives one to Trixie as well. Her father disappeared on a business trip five years ago (killed by Rarity, no less) and her mother ended up becoming a violent alcoholic.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Rarity goes from any normal filly to a mass murderer.
- Giggling Villain: Rarity after her murders of Flim and Flam.
- High on Homicide: How Rarity describes the feeling of each kill, especially surprising her the first time.
- Hope Spot: About midway through the story, Luna and the Mane Six attempt using the Elements of Harmony to rid Rarity of her murderous urges and it appears to work, until the Flim-Flam Brothers show up.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Rarity does occasionally regret what she does, particularly in the second half of the story when things spiral out of her control.
- Instant Sedation: Rarity has a set of syringes that contain a drug that almost instantly knocks out her victims for transport to her basement.
- Karmic Death: Rarity's execution is twofold. First, her horn being removed so that she can't use magic to escape, just like she did to any unicorns she captured. Second, Rarity developed quite a habit of stabbing ponies with syringes (see Instant Sedation) and the method by which she is executed is lethal injection.
- Kill the Ones You Love: See Team Killer.
- Knight Templar: Slightly averted as Rarity frequently states that she's probably going to Tartarus (pony hell) but beyond that she feels that she's doing the community and her friends a favor by killing nasty ponies.
- Lack of Empathy: Rarity for her victims. An example is when Trixie tells Rarity her back story and Rarity truly could not care less.
- In fact, she at one point says that she is not insane, she just doesn't have any empathy.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Rarity at one point attempts casting a spell on Sweetie and Twilight to make them forget about her being a serial killer. Unfortunately, she casts the spell incorrectly, causing it to gradually wipe their memories. A doctor is able to reverse the process, and this brings back all of their memories, including the ones about Rarity's dark secret.
- Manipulative Bastard: Rarity will sometimes exemplify this to get her victims into Carousel Boutique so she can kill them.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Rarity's passion is fashion and when she's not splattered in blood, she insists upon looking her best at all times. Also, her gem finding spell means that she is set up for life.
- Morality Chain: Sweetie Belle serves as this toward Rarity to an extent. She backs off from murdering a 13-year old Applejack upon learning that she has a younger sister and imagines how Sweetie would react if she suddenly disappeared, and upon realizing that killing Scootaloo would feel like she was killing Sweetie, she vows that she Wouldn't Hurt a Child.
- Never Heard That One Before: Rarity displays in her basement a list of cliches that she's heard from too many of her past victims.
- Noodle Incident: Whenever Rarity reminisces about past kills that the readers haven't been privy to.
- Oh, Crap!: The moment that Rarity realizes that she was caught committing a murder in broad daylight.
- The hospitalized Rarity has another moment when her doctor realizes something is amiss with Twilight and Sweetie Belle's minds during their visit and arranges for an investigation, fearing they'll regain their memories of Rarity's murders she had wiped.
- Parental Abandonment: Applejack's parents are killed in a carriage accident (In fact, this incident and Sweetie Belle's birth are the catalysts that cause Applejack and Rarity to visit the same hospital and end up meeting each other) and Scootaloo's parents make the mistake of getting on Rarity's bad side.
- Police Are Useless: Rarity murders for almost fifteen years and isn't even a suspect in the disappearances.
- Averted at the end when [[spoiler: Rarity is witnessed trying to murder Iron Will in Canterlot. Shining Armor identifies her as the culprit immediately from witness statements, and the royal guard pursues and arrests her in Ponyville by the end of the day. Shining Armor also notices Rarity's nervous body cues while his guards are searching through her home, leading to him ordering a thorough investigation of the closet hiding the passage Rarity's basement.
- Sadistic Choice: Rarity tries to make Cherry Bomb and Sweet Tomato kill each other with the (false) promise that the victor gets to go home alive, otherwise she kills them both if they refuse.
- Scoundrel Code: Rarity promises to never hurt Sweetie Belle, the other five members of the Mane Six or foals.
- Secret-Keeper: By the end of chapter 23, Sweetie Belle, Twilight, Princess Luna, and Applejack all know about Rarity's secret activities but are keeping it a secret.
- Serial Killer: Rarity. The first one in Equestria in over 300 years, and also the most prolific, with around 104 kills (82 ponies, 20 Diamond dogs, Gilda the griffon and Iron Will the Minotaur.)
- Take a Third Option: Cherry Bomb and Sweet Tomato attempt to overwhelm Rarity with their numbers advantage rather than kill each other or be killed together. It doesn't work.
- Team Killer: Rarity comes dangerously close to killing Applejack and Twilight upon first meeting them and even after becoming friends with them she still has a vision of killing Twilight (it's also mentioned that she's had visions of killing the other members of the Mane Six) and contemplates murdering Fluttershy during her brief stint as a Jerkass.
- Torture Cellar: Rarity's basement is where she does the majority of her killing. She likes to decorate it with the hides, manes, and tails of memorable victims.
- Tongue Trauma: When Rarity kills one of her victims, a tomato vendor named Scarlet Tomato, she forces her mouth open and begins cutting it up with a razor.
- Tranquilizer Dart: Rarity's preferred method of getting her victims into her basement.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Except for the beginning and ending, the story takes place during the show. This gives many canon events a much darker context to the point where Rarity decides to kill certain antagonists because of their actions in the show.
- What If the Baby Is Like Me: Rarity is constantly worried that Sweetie Belle has the urges to kill that Rarity has.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Princess Celestia calls Twilight out for keeping Rarity's crimes a secret and trying to rehabilitate her on her own — however good her intentions were, the fact remains that several ponies are dead because of her. Twilight ends up banished from Canterlot for the time being, and she will never again be Celestia's protégé.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Rarity. She starts because she was forced to commit an accidental self-defense murder and got a taste for it. By the end of the story she hates that she has no power over her addiction and it's to the point where she doesn't even enjoy killing anymore. Not like she used to anyway.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Rarity claims this after she hits a certain age. Not that that stops her when the situation calls for it.
- You're Insane!: Rarity's victims say this so often she creates a poster to show her victims things they shouldn't bother saying down in her basement because she's 'heard it all before'.
The Public Life of Sweetie Belle contains examples of:
- Alone with the Psycho: Twilight finds herself on the receiving end of a psychotic Sweetie Belle and it almost costs her her life.
- Berserk Button: Sweetie Belle when Diamond Tiara insults Rarity.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Blossom is an extremely happy, friendly, and kind pony who never wants to hurt anybody and is absolutely terrified at the notion of becoming like her aunt. When she's pushed too far by Fire Ruby and Golden Necklace, she violently kills them both.
- Blood from the Mouth: After Diamond Tiara insults Rarity, Sweetie Belle nearly beats her to a pulp.
- Character Development: After nearly killing Twilight, Sweetie Belle finally realizes and comes to terms with the fact that her sister was an evil pony.
- Children Are Innocent: Blossom until she finds out about her aunt Rarity.
- Dramatic Irony: One of the first ponies to stand up for Sweetie Belle when almost the whole town is against her is June Star, sister of Scarlet Tomato, the one victim of Rarity's that Sweetie not only witnessed, but actually dealt the final blow, albeit by accident.
- Dark Secret: Sweetie Belle definitely doesn't want Blossom to find out that her aunt was a serial killer and she especially doesn't want her (or anybody else for that matter) to find out that she participated in one of Rarity's kills and was even the one to inflict the fatal blow, albeit by mistake.
- Downer Ending: Neither Blossom nor Sweetie Belle (who took the fall for her daughter) is executed for the murders but Sweetie Belle's horn is surgically removed and she's sent to be institutionalized for the rest of her life.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: A significant portion of the town suspects Sweetie Belle of this.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: When Working Mind restores Sweetie's memory of her killing Scarlet Tomato, she does not take it well.
- Happily Adopted: Scootaloo by Rainbow Dash after the events of the original story reveal why she's an orphan.
- Hope Spot: Sweetie Belle successfully obtains the incriminating clipped newspaper that allows Cheerilee to expel Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby from her school, and Blossom is ecstatic to return to school without them around to torment her. The day Blossom returns to school, she's confronted alone by them and ends up killing them, forcing Sweetie Belle to take the fall for her.
- Idiot Ball: One of Blossom's classmates exemplifies this and it allows for the events that lead to the Downer Ending.
- Ironic Echo: Near the end of the story Sweetie Belle's fears come true when her daughter Blossom kills two school bullies in the same way that Rarity killed her first victims and for the same reason.
- Jerkass Realization: Rarity appears to Sweetie Belle and apologizes to her for ruining her life.
- Kick the Dog: The happy and innocent Blossom has no idea that her aunt was the deadliest serial killer in history; something that Diamond Tiara and her daughter are more than willing to fix.
- Lured into a Trap: Blossom by Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sweetie Belle defends herself from an assault by a mad parent of a foal she scared but instantly regrets it. Also, she straps Twilight down to a table and tells her that she's going to kill her but experiences this trope when Twilight dejectedly asks her to make it quick.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: See Blood from the Mouth.
- Not So Stoic: Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna begin crying due to the events of the ending. Celestia in particular is inconsolable.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Featherweight is understanding and supportive of Sweetie Belle, keeping her in police custody for the night to keep her safe from a lynch mob while going out of his way to make Sweetie Belle's accommodations more comfortable. He reassures her that the self-defence attack on Barley Brewer won't go on any kind of record as the whole police station sides with her, and encourages her to seek out psychiatric help after noticing her crying and sleep-talking to Rarity.
- Taking the Heat: Sweetie Belle takes the blame after Blossom kills Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's daughters.
- Tears of Remorse: Shed by Rarity when she appears to Sweetie Belle.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Diamond Tiara. She was cruel to Sweetie Belle in the show and the second chapter, really cruel, but she took it to a whole new level when she had her daughter put a newspaper article about Rarity in Blossom's schoolbook.
- Villainous Legacy: While Rarity doesn't exactly have any direct influence in either this or Broken Blossom due to being dead, her influence is still felt.
- What If the Baby Is Like Me: Sweetie Belle is slightly nervous that Blossom might have the homicidal tendencies of her aunt.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: When Barley Brewer attacks Sweetie Belle, she panics and slices his cheek open with a bread knife.
Broken Blossom contains examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Diamond Tiara. Right as she was about to kill Joyous Blossom, her conscience overpowered her and she let her go. Moments after, Joyous Blossom takes advantage of this and kills her and before Diamond Tiara dies, Joyous Blossom reveals to Diamond Tiara that she killed her child.
- Badass Pacifist: Working Mind has gained a good number of badass moments, including, essentially, respectfully flipping off the princesses on an occasion or two.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: As of the third book Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Blossom have all committed at least one murder.
- Bittersweet Ending: Joyous Blossom is executed for her crimes, but she is finally in peace and her mother, Sweetie Belle, is finally released from the mental institution and mends her relationship with Silver Spoon.
- Child Prodigy: Blossom.
- Demoted to Extra: Twilight Sparkle, while being a main character for much of The Secret Life of Rarity, and also a prominent character in The Public Life of Sweetie Belle almost never appears in the third story, which is somewhat surprising, given her relevance to the events that transpire.
- Died Happily Ever After: Blossom may well have died at the end of the fic, but she's shown to have ended up in Paradise, and she's last seen with a forgiving Diamond Tiara, Golden Necklace, and Fire Ruby.
- Enemy Within: A spectral version of Rarity that appears in Blossom's dreams, and eventually starts conversing with her which is actually a manifestation of Blossom's latent murderous tendencies.
- Even Evil Has Standards: As much as Diamond Tiara wanted to kill Joyous Blossom, when she had her strapped in a room, her conscience eventually got the better of her and she let Blossom go.
- Face Death with Dignity: Subverted. Surrounded by the Apples, Lilly, her parents and half-sister, she attempts to soothe Comet Blitz, telling her that she is ready to 'go to bed'- only to terrify her as Rarity appears to her and tries to convince her to kill the filly. She appears to snap, repeatedly refusing to kill Comet and yelling for Rarity to disappear. She eventually does- only for Blossom to find that her family has left, except for her mother, who is crying uncontrollably into Applebloom's arms.
- Especially shocking when you realise that that was the last time her family ever saw her alive.
- Good Parents: Blossom's dad, who's more than willing to welcome his illegitimate child into the family (and only had a one night stand with Sweetie Belle because he was drunk).
- Happily Adopted: Subverted with Blossom. She most certainly doesn't want to be in the care of the Royal Sisters.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The head proctor of Blossom's entrance exam, willing to cause harm to a child because of what her aunt and, as far as the public believes, her mom did.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Diamond Tiara attempts to kill Joyous Blossom by kidnapping her. But, as she was about to kill her, her conscience overpowers her and, realizing that it would make no sense to Sweetie Belle's child just because Sweetie Belle killed her child (well actually, it was Joyous Blossom who did, but she didn't know that), releases her.
- Ironic Echo:
- Diamond Tiara has her daughter plant a newspaper article about Rarity on Blossom's desk, but is torn apart when the tables are turned.
- In chapter two of The Public Life of Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara says that Sweetie Belle should be glad that Rarity is dead causing Sweetie Belle to go berserk and she nearly kills her in the assault and it is only called off because Silver Spoon runs to get an authority figure. In chapter seven of Broken Blossom, Diamond Tiara once again does something cruel to Sweetie Belle with the same results: Sweetie Belle begins beating up Diamond Tiara and is only stopped because Silver Spoon ran to get an authority figure.
- It Runs in the Family: Blossom has the white coat of her mother, aunt, and grandfather as well as Rarity's blue eyes and her mane is a combination of the colors of her mother and aunt. Oh, and all three of them have committed murder.
- Mama Bear: Sweetie Belle when Diamond Tiara threatens Blossom.
- Mercy Kill: After confessing to her ten-year old crimes, Joyous Blossom tells the Princesses that she not only deserves death but asks for it. She is still tortured constantly by her subconscious manifesting itself as Rarity, and wishes for her family to remember her as she was, and not as the insane, murderous wreck she fears becoming
- Oh, Crap!: Diamond Tiara is shocked when she found out that Joyous Blossom killed her child, before being killed by her right after she released her.
- Joyous Blossom was shocked when her cousin found out about her dark secret.
- Celestia and Luna when they find out confidential pictures of Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby's corpses have leaked and are being published in newspapers nation-wide, perpetuating rumours that Blossom was their real killer and not Sweetie Belle.
- Parental Substitute: Shining Armor acts as a father figure to Blossom in the first few chapters.
- Redemption Equals Death: After torturing Joyous Blossom ten years after her daughter was killed by Sweetie Belle (or so she thought), she was unable to kill Blossom due to her guilt and let her go before being killed by her. She ends up reuniting with her daughter, along with her daughter's friend, in Paradise (Pony Heaven).
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Blossom's step-mother voices her fears that Blossom will turn out like the rest of her family—>Blossom overhears this and decides to go back to Ponyville where a recently escaped and revenge-crazy Diamond Tiara is waiting for her—>Diamond Tiara tortures Blossom and almost kills her until her conscience gets the better of her—>Blossom snaps and kills Diamond Tiara.
- Time Skip: After Blossom is transferred to the care of the Apple family, ten years pass with her living peacefully on their farm.
The Word is Fear contains examples of
- Bittersweet Ending: Bordering on outright Downer Ending - Blossom has finally been killed, but Celestia has gone off the deep end and is locked away in the sun, the amount of power needed to do so has sent Luna into a potentially decades-long coma, Comet is sent into a deep Heroic BSoD, and Prince Blueblood is now ruler of Equestria, with tensions with the Griffins rising.
- Driven to Madness: Blossom.
- And Celestia.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Like her aunt before her, Blossom endeavors to not kill foals. She accidentally breaks this rule when she mistakes a pregnant mare that she murders as simply being overweight. Once she learns the truth, she doesn't take it well.
- Forgot About His Powers: So much could have been avoided if Blossom's horn had been removed (as was done to Sweetie Belle in the previous story) after Analytical Brain realised she could be a threat to herself or those around her.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: After Blossom kills a mare without realizing that she is pregnant, the unborn filly begins appearing before her as a manifestation of her subconscious acknowledgment that what she's doing is wrong. This contrasts with the vision of Rarity that drives Blossom to murder.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Celestia becomes so desperate to bring Blossom to justice that she allows innocent ponies to get caught in the crossfire. It starts out with a mere accident as Celestia's kill-on-sight order causes the death of a pony that Blossom cast a spell on to make them look like her, but by the end Celestia is pushing for the execution of a pony that Blossom blackmailed into becoming an accomplice and resorts to holding Blossom's half-sister hostage to draw her out.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Near the end, two guards watching over Comet decide that holding her hostage to draw out Blossom is going too far and try to help her break out. They are both promptly murdered by Blossom, who was there to rescue Comet and assumed that they were moving her to another location under Celestia's orders.
- Idiot Ball: Celestia issues a standing order for Blossom to be killed on sight without considering how Blossom, whose talent is colour changing to Master of Disguise levels, might exploit that.
- Matricide: After getting free, one of Blossom's first targets is her own mother Sweetie Belle. At least Sweetie Belle had a more merciful death than Blossom's other victims, going out through lethal injection.
- Rogue Protagonist: Blossom goes from
The Woobie to being a Villain Protagonist-styled Big Bad. - Sanity Slippage: The first third of the story shows Blossom slowly giving into her murderous urges before breaking out of prison. Then, once her killing spree begins, Celestia also starts slowly losing her mind. See He Who Fights Monsters. Ironically, when Luna and Cadence protest against her order to execute Battle Charge, she thinks that they are the ones who aren't thinking rationally.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Whilst Blossom intended to not hurt any children, she does accidentally kill an unborn child anyway. She doesn't take this well when she finds out.
- It's a sign that Celestia has gone off the deep end when she orders the 8-year-old Comet to be kidnapped as bait, with the intention to cut off at least part of her ear to lure in Blossom. Even when Blossom is finally killed, Celestia outright attempts to murder Comet to wipe out the family lineage.
