id pay to see the other princesses wearing outfits like these

Deep within the depths of the Canterlot Catacombs, far past the common crypts and ossuaries, lay the Noble’s Mausoleums. There lay the private tombs of Canterlot’s noble houses. Normally they are silent places of remembrance and mori, but today a peculiar gathering has formed within one.
 
A small crowd of well-dressed ponies stood and watched as several royal guardsponies attached chains to the heavy stone lid of the sarcophagus. Slowly, the lid raised, revealing the dusty bones of a long-dead unicorn mare, eliciting quiet sobs and sniffles from several present. Two earth ponies approached, a light blue mare and orange stallion dressed in simple clothes of brown tunics and dark cloaks, and began to exhume the ancient bones. Another pegasus mare, dressed in the cream and yellow robes of the Healers Guild, quickly met them with a quiet “Do be careful!” The blue mare merely rolled her eyes and the stallion quipped “I promise we won’t hurt her, Doctor…”
 
As the two gently laid the decaying mare upon the steps of the coffer and the lid was closed with a loud thud, a stately lilac unicorn mare stepped forward holding a scroll in her grasp. Her elaborately-decorated dress and ruff marked her as undoubtedly in the employ of the Royal Castle- And the Celestial Church, as the large sun and moon emblem on her skirt marked her. She cleared her throat and unrolled the scroll: “Countess Red Glint, of the House of Gold Vein. You have been accused and hereby found guilty of the abomination of heresy. By the taint upon, your wealth, and the wealth of your heirs, has hereby been forfeited to the Church.” A quiet but spiteful cry of “Thief!” came from the gathering ponies, as a well-dressed noble stallion glared at the mare through teary eyes as his stoic young daughter stood close by to comfort him in his sorrow. The lilac mare spared him little more than a glance as she continued “And you have been sentenced to twenty lashes!”
 
She stepped back as the two laborers approached. They motioned to the side as a dark red unicorn mare stepped forward. She wore a black leather hood which obscured her face save a slit for her nostrils and two large eyeholes. The rest of her clothing followed suit, exposing little but her cutie mark: A wooden wheel from which the skeleton of a pony was lashed: a breaking wheel. She levitated a rope to them and they quickly began to tie the skeleton’s front legs together. As they began however, the stallion broke the skeleton’s left leg off with a sharp crack. “Uhh, whoops.” The scribemare cast her view aside and sighed as the two finished. The executioner hoisted the skeleton as the blue mare took a wicked-looking scourge in her mouth. She paused and closed her eyes to pray before rearing back and striking the hanged Countess as hard as she could.
 
The ancient bones flailed chaotically as she reared back again, whipping hard again. The Countess’s widower lowered his head and buried his muzzle into a handkerchief as his daughter nuzzled close, whispering kindnesses to him as he sobbed. The mare struck again and again. One strike broke the Countess’s skull from her body, and as it flew towards the crowd several onlookers shrieked, especially the Count and his daughter. “Excellent stroke, Lady Hardhoof!” The doctor said as Hardhoof continued the scourging. The Countess’s remains fell from the rope, and Hardhoof resorted to striking them upon the ground. She threw up huge clouds of dust and rot and bone into the air until finally-
 
“Twenty!” The scribe called out as Hardhoof quickly stopped. Throwing her mane back, she spit out the scourge and began helping the stallion undo the ropes. Meanwhile, the executioner came forward. She stepped over to an enormous pestle and mortar and lifted the pestle out, propping it again the rim of the bowl. The doctor walked over to her holding the Countess’s skull. “See how thin and short her horn is? I doubt she even really was of noble birth.” She scoffed and tossed the skull into the mortar as she returned to the crowd. The Count, enraged by the defilement of his wife’s remains, yelled “This is abhorrent! Her Radiance will hear of this!” But as he finished, another voice called out “But I already know”.
 
The crowd turned and beheld as Her Eternal Radiance, Queen Celestia herself, Mare of the Sun, entered the scene. She wore a grand dress of beautiful yellow and red fabrics, intricately bejeweled, and sported a large ruff trimmed in gold lace. “Your wife’s denial of my teachings warranted such extreme measures. And thus I chose to observe this penance myself.” The scribemare smiled at her arrival as the Countess’s last bones were collected. The executioner looked to Queen Celestia as she began to speak. “Ashes to ashes…” She began grimly. On cue, the executioner began to crush the Countess’s bones into a fine dust. She grit her teeth as she reduced vertebrae and ribs to powder. “Dust… To dust.” The Queen continued as the executioner finished her work. Hardhoof approached the Queen carrying a large empty hourglass and set it before her. Placing a funnel into its open bottom, the executioner came forwards and emptied the Countess’s ashes into it. After Hardhoof sealed it back up, the Queen took it in her magic and lifted it so the gathered nobles may all see it. “Let this be a lesson, one to all who may dare oppose the rule of I and my Sister. For no matter who you are, the sands of time trickle ever closer to your demise- And your judgement as well.”