Chapter 6: Selfie of the Beholder

On the Rainbooms' Float, the employees are measuring the others outfits for the show. Rarity walks over to see how everyone is doing. She can see that three out of the eleven members are here. She knows Adagio is helping Sun with her dress. She looks at the base to see Applejack is not here.

Rarity sighs, and says, "I suppose Applejack has better things to do than final fittings and sound check!"

"Don't be mad at her. She's still out trying to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who aren't here either, by the way," Falling Star says.

"Let's not forget Aria and Sonata. They're not here either." Twilight adds.

But Rarity angry yells, "Do not tell me who to be annoyed with!"

The girls flinch a bit to see Rarity getting stressed.

Pinkie jumps down from the float to Rarity, and says, "I know you're stressed, Rarity, but I'm sure you've got something totally amazing up your sleeve!"

She then looks at Rarity's arms to find sleeves, "You did remember to wear sleeves with amazing things up them, right?"

Rarity shows a blunt look on her face.

Suddenly, they hear a female wester accent screaming, "Stop!"

The employees gasp and look to see Applejack.

Realizing her mistake, Applejack says, "Oh! Uh, not everybody stop. I just meant my friends. Y'all keep doin' what you're doin'. Sewin' up them, uh, clothes."

Applejack then walk toward the others to tell them what she has seen.

Rarity asks in stress, "Where have you been?!"

"Nobody go anywhere with Vignette, understand?" Applejack says.

Vignette looks to see Applejack from the room, and closes the window.

Everyone answer no or not sure. They are confused about it.

Vignette can see that Applejack is aware of what she is doing. She then notices Rarity's phone on the charger and gives her an idea.

"You can explain yourself after the parade. I'm sure…" Rarity begins to say.

But Applejack says, "No, Rarity. Vignette is evil!"

Hearing the door close, the girls and Wire Wolf look to see Vignette has step out of the room

Upside down, Pinkie loudly whispers, "Applejack, she can hear you!"

Applejack walks to Vignette, and says, "She's done somethin' to Fluttershy. And I saw her from the security office when she made Rainbow Dash disappear with her phone! Ten eggs in a chicken coop says it's Equestrian magic."

"Oh, honey, delusional isn't your color. You're an autumn," vignette says, messing with Applejack's hair.

"If you're so innocent, then how do you explain this?!" Applejack angrily says, and takes the phone from Vignette's hand.

"Say goodbye to your mannequin thingy!" Applejack says, pointing to the dress.

She press the button, but it only takes the picture.

"Uh, hang on. Watch it... disappear!" Applejack says, and tries again.

But the phone takes another picture.

"Uh, I think I hashgabbed my SnapTag or all in the... Ugh. I can't figure out these new, fandangled apps. Ugh. I sound just like Granny Smith!" Applejack says in an annoyed look

"I just saw your friends. They're in wardrobe, and they're fine," Vignette says, taking the phone away from Applejack.

"Are you sure?" Rarity asks.

"And looking good in your costumes, by the way," Vignette says, flattering Rarity and making her blush.

"Applejack, the parade is less than an hour away, and…" Rarity says in a panic.

But Applejack interrupts, "This is bigger than the parade, Rarity!"

"Nothing's bigger than the parade, Applejack!" Rarity angrily shouts.

"I know you didn't just say that about your missing friends!" Applejack angrily replies.

Vignette walks past them, and says, "I'm gonna let you two sort this out amongst yourselves."

She then turns to see the girls having tension. Vignette snaps her fingers and waves he hand, telling them to leave.

"Applejack, admit it! You don't care about my parade!" Rarity accuses.

"'My parade?!' This isn't about you! She's done somethin' to our friends!" Applejack angrily says.

"Is this about our friends or about you and Vignette? Ever since she gave me this opportunity, you've been jealous because she sees my potential but she didn't hire you!" Rarity shouts in anger.

"You guys, stop!" Twilight says in concern.

"This isn't like you!" Falling Star adds,

Then Applejack angrily shouts, "You're so blind, you can't even see she's usin' you! You only like her because she's always blowin' smoke up your chimney! But that's what she does to everyone! YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL!"

Applejack becomes stunned to say that to Rarity. Even Rarity and the others are shocked to hear this.

Applejack walks past Rarity in guilt, and say, "Maybe I should just... go."

"Maybe you should," Rarity replies.

Applejack continues to walk away feeling ashamed for have saying that

Falling Star calls out, "Applejack, wait!"

Rarity begins to sob and runs into the room to cry.

"Rarity!" Pinkie cries out.

Pinkie jumps off of the float and about to go after Rarity, but Vignette comes over and stops her.

"Waiting is for waiters, ladies. We're better off without her," Vignette says, wapping Pinkiw with her arm

"We?" Twilight questions.

"The Throwbacks, formerly known as the Rainbooms," Vignette answers, tapping Pinkie on the noise.

Pinkie escape her embrace and go back to the others.

Not pleased by this, Falling Star sternly asks, "Hang on. Why does we' include you?"

"Obviously, somebody needs to fill Applejuice's spot. And since it's so last-minute, we are lucky to have someone with as much vision and talent as moi," Vignette says.

"Uh... you?" Pinkie questions.

"And not just that! We'll be playing a song I wrote!" Vignette says with pride.

"Okay. One: you are not in the band! And two: we are not performing without Applejack. ," Falling Star says with a serious looks.

"Which is her name, by the way. Not 'Applejuice.'" Pinkie adds with an angry look on her face.

"And we're not performing without Fluttershy and the others for that matter," Falling Star adds.

And Wire Wolf says, "And they're called 'The Rainbooms', not The 'Throwbacks.' I see them perform many times, they stick together, and will not perform without the girls."

Then Twilight says, "And you know what? She's not usually one to make things up, like, ever"

Falling Star glares at Vignette, and says, "So all that stuff she said about you…"

Vignette is simply typing on her phone, and says, "Eh. Is true."

Just as the girls are ready to grab her, Vignette uses her phone to digitized them and suck into her phone.

Vignette looks at her phone, and says, "Now let's see if this Equestrian magique is all it's cracked up to be."

Vignette uses her phone to restyle Falling Star's look into something of a royal princess will wear. Then she does the same thing to the others. As Vignette is using her phone, Wire Wolf, who is able to dodge the scanning, is able to slip away to get Sun and Adagio.

"Now then... That's better," Vignette says.

She then uses her phone to make holographic projections of Falling Star and the others the way she wanted. She makes Rainbow, Aria, Fluttershy, and Sonata into the looks she wants them to be, as well as everyone else.

Vignette smiles, and happily says, "I wish I'd had this thing years ago! Think how perfect my life could've looked!"

Running to where the floats are, Wire Wolf, Sun and Adagio reach to where the Rainbooms float are. They also see the projections on the float.

"Uh, are those supposed to be our friends," Sun question with a confused look.

"Yeah. And She changed them into what she want them to be," Wire Wolf answers.

Adagio groans, "Aria is so going to kill Vignette when she sees this."

"Let's wait here and see what she says," Wire Wolf replies.

Rarity comes out of the room after she cry, and is still had for the hurtful words Applejack says.

Vignette squeals as she wraps Rarity in her arm, "Rare, you're not gonna believe this!"

Rarity looks to see the girls excluding Sun and Adagio on the float, but she is very confused about.

"What? What is this? What am I looking at?" Rarity asks.

"Your friends, but better! Now we can make the parade exactly how I want it!" Vignette happily explains, and wrap her arm around Rarity's shoulder.

Hearing this statement, Rarity questions, "How you want it? You said you hired me for my vision!"

:Well, I needed your vision to bring out my vision. But now there's an app for that," Vignette explains, and looks at her phone.

Hiding behind the western float, the three hear the whole thing.

Sun quietly gasp, "What?!"

"Why that little…" Adagio angrily says, gritting her teeth and clutches her fist.

Rarity turns to the holograms and touch one of them to see what they really are.

Rarity turns to face Vignette, "Vignette, wh-what is going on here? Where are my friends?!"

"Like, trapped in the internet as zeroes and ones or erased from existence or something? Mmmm," Vignette answers, still typing her phone.

"What?!" Rarity exclaims in shock.

Then Vignette explains, "See, like, my phone became magique or something, and now it has this power where whenever I take a picture of something and it disappears. And then I can customize them with a swipe of my finger and make them real again, or... real enough, but hey, blah-blah-blah, O.M.G., I'm boring myself to death just talking about this stuff."

Rarity is feeling all kinds of emotions: Shocked, angry, ashamed, and most of all foolish. Vignette has been using her for her own social media fame, and is using her friends to increase her success even more. Applejack has been telling the truth the whole time, and her friends are in trouble.

She then demands, "Bring back my friends this instant!"

"Fine. If you wanna be with them so bad, I'll do you one last favor. You're welcome," Vignette says, having her phone ready to take a picture.

Rarity gasps in shock, and Vignette takes her picture.

Suddenly, Rarity finds herself on the ground. She quickly turns her head around and lets out a gasp in shock. She sees Adagio is being scared and pulled into Vignette's phone.

Rarity as well as Sun and Wire Wolf scream, "Adagio!"

Now Adagio is imprisoned in Vignette's phone.

Trapped in the phone, Twilight, Falling Star, and Pinkie join the others inside.

Rarity groans, "I can't believe we're trapped in Vignette's phone.

"We're no strangers to getting stuck in magical objects," Rainbow says.

"At least Rarity, Sun, Adagio, Wire Wolf, and Applejack are still free. Maybe they can get us out of here," Falling Star says.

"They have to stop fighting first," Fluttershy replies.

"We can't just sit around hoping to get rescued. If we're in the internet, we can hack our way out! Well, I can. Maybe," Twilight says, sounding unsure

Fluttershy worriedly says, "Oh, I hope the others are okay. I wish we knew what's going on out there."

Suddenly, another person has been digitized into the room. Everyone gasp to see it's Adagio.

"Dagi, are you okay?" Sonata asks, giving her sister a hug.

"I think so, but right now, Rarity and the others are in trouble. And I am completely ticked off with Vignette at this time," Adagio says, showing a stern look on her face.

"What happen?" Fluttershy asks.

"I'll tell you one thing, Vignette used Rarity! The reason she hired Rarity as head designer so she can inspire her own ideas for the parade. She has no interest of using Rarity's plans from the beginning. And she created holograms versions of us. We're nothing but pawns to be used to create her online success," Adagio explains.

Everyone gasp in shock.

"Applejack was right. Vignette is using Rarity," Falling Star says.

"She used her and us to increase her social media fame," Twilight adds.

"When I get my hands on her…" Rainbow angrily shouts.

"She is going to pay!" Aria adds.

"Yeah. And what's worse, she makes holographic projections of us into what she wanted… and not our true selves," Adagio adds.

Aria looks at Adagio, "Wait, she didn't dress me in a girlish outfit with pink ribbons in my hair."

"She… did," Adagio answers with her cheeks.

Aria becomes so mad that her face is turning red, and screams on the top of her lungs, "I'M SO GONNA KILL HER!"

In the building where the floats are, Rarity is shocked to see Adagio saving her, and allowed herself to get pulled into the phone. Sun and Wire Wolf run to her, and help her up.

Wire Wolf turns to Vignette, "The jig's up Vignette, we know what you're really up to."

Angry, Vignette uses her phone to digitize the three. But Rarity comes over and uses her diamond to protect herself and the others.

"Hmmm. Never underestimate a good accessory!" Rarity says with a smirk on her face.

Vignette uses her phone again, but Rarity intervene it.

"Stop un-magique-ing my magique thingy!" Vignette says, and uses her phone again.

Rarity uses her diamonds again to have them sucked into the phone.

Rarity angrily says, "I can't believe I listened to you over Applejack!"

Rarity uses her diamonds to protect herself and her friends. Wire Wolf then brings out his right hand, and turns it into a robotic claw with blue sparks. She then slashes in front of Vignette making her yelp, and fall down. Then a light blue phone falls out of her pocket.

Sun grabs it, and says, "Rarity, Vignette has her phone."

"That's why the dress didn't disappear when she try to prove about the magic. She was using Rarity's phone, and Vignette switched it," Wire Wolf announces.

Rarity gasp, "She… she lied to me! She lied to us!"

"We need to find Applejack," Wire Wolf says.

She picks Rarity up and put her on her shoulders. Then he picks up Sun in a bride style and runs out of the building to find Applejack and get away. Vignette stands up to find the three are gone.

"U-G-H! Whatevs! I don't need you anyway," Vignette says.

She calls out to the employees, "Attention, people who work for me! I am now the lead costume designer because our former lead costume designer is being H.B.W. Herself, but worse! Now pretend I just gave you an inspiring speech and get back to work!"

The employees begin to get to work on the rest of the preparation.