//------------------------------// // Rarity // Story: Taboo Feelings // by abdlpony //------------------------------// Sweetie sat alone in her room, waiting for her sister to finish reading. Rarity was only halfway through the book; Sweetie decided to let her sister be. Several hours of constant silence in her room was driving Sweetie mad and she noticed that she actually began to sweat a bit. She tried several breathing exercises, but she knew deep down that the only thing that would calm her down was her older sister. Sweetie took in one big, deep breath and let it out slowly. It helped every once in a while, but mainly, it was just a way to keep from being bored. She did not feel like doing anything until Rarity was finished. She tapped her hooves on the floor in rapid succession; the wait was simply driving her mad. Click-Clank Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the sound of her door handle turning. Sweetie turned her face to the door but did not smile or frown, she simply kept her expression as stoic as possible. Rarity walked in, gently using her magic to open the door and close it. She then walked over to her sister’s bed and sat down, for a while nothing was said, until… “Sweetie?” “Yes?” Her voice squeaked out far too high for either of their liking. “…Where did you get that book?” Rarity questioned. Sweetie Belle blinked a few times. Of all the things for her sister to say, she did not expect that to be the first question. “Um, from Twilight.” “Well, I’ll have to talk to her about that.” Rarity’s voice almost sounded… annoyed. How could her sister be annoyed at her for getting help? “But—“ Rarity waved a hoof to stop her. “Now, I don’t know why exactly you have all of this… nonsense in your head, but I need it to stop. I mean diapers? Playing with blocks and foal toys? Honestly, Sweetie Belle, this is wrong and immature.” “But I never even—“ “I don’t want to hear it. I’ll be taking this doll away from you and you will not be seeing Twilight unless I give you permission. I need to go to speak with her, so you will wait in your room. Am I understood?” Sweetie couldn’t believe what her sister was saying. After going through all that, she was going to stop all of this. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Twilight and Pinkie were wrong and she was just a freak after all. All she could do was nod in response and watch her sister leave and the door slam shut. Rarity wasted no time in arriving at the library. She opened the door without warning and even slammed it in a fit of anger; it was probably more than a proper mare should be doing, but she didn’t care. Twilight was nowhere to be found so she figured it would not be rude to just barge into her room. “Twilight Sparkle?!” Twilight was not in her room either, but when she heard her name she came right over. “Rarity?” “Do you mind telling me what you are doing with my sister?!” Rarity gently levitated the book and brought it into Twilight’s grasp. “So she told you? Good, that—“ “Good? How is this good, Twilight?!” Twilight could sense her anger. “Well, I’ll admit this is an unusual situation—“ “Unusual?! That’s what you call this? My sister wants to wear diapers and act like a baby? Ha! How, exactly, could you encourage such behavior?” Rarity’s anger grew with every word. “Rarity… this isn’t something that Sweetie Belle is indulging in for fun, it’s a feeling. It’s not something she can control easily. This is how she is and she is afraid.” “Afraid? Of what exactly?” The anger still did not leave her voice. “If I had to guess, you,” Twilight replied, doing her best to keep any sign of annoyance or emotion out of her tone. “Me? Why in the devil would she be afraid of me?” “She’s afraid of disappointing you, Rarity. She looks up to you in the same way that Scootaloo looks up to Rainbow Dash. She loves you more than anything in the world and right now, Sweetie is afraid of losing that and losing herself with all of… well, this.” Twilight finished while gesturing to the book. Rarity calmed down a bit from hearing this. “Then why does she even bother with this teen foal stuff?” “It’s just how she feels deep down inside. Lately she has been daydreaming and getting distracted. It took another friend for her to come to grips with what her issue was. And then that friend sent her to me. Sweetie isn’t having fun with her friends anymore because she can’t be honest with them or herself.” “I-I’ve not heard of any of this!” “She’s been bottling up her emotions. Why are you so angry about this?” “She’s my sister! I should know if she’s hurting and I… I…” “What did you do when she told you?” Rarity sighed. “Well, I read that book and before that, she made me promise not to get mad. I didn’t exactly lose my temper at her, but I, um…” Rarity levitated the confiscated doll and sighed. Twilight just shook her head. “What did you tell her, Rarity?” Twilight’s voice was now seething with a hint of anger. “That she needs to stop?” Rarity said in a voice that seemed far more unsure of herself and her anger than moments before. “Anything else?” “…That this is wrong.” “Rarity!” Twilight scolded. “How could you? Sweetie is already feeling insecure about herself and to get—“ “I know alright! I panicked! I just thought… Just help me fix this please!” “Okay, first off, you need to apologize to her. Now, the whole reason I sent her this list was to take things slow, so secondly, you need to help her feel comfortable. But slowly.” “Right. Oh I think I have an idea!” Rarity beamed and lunged forward to give her friend a hug. “Thanks, Twilight!” “Your wel…” Rarity ran out and had shut the door behind her. “…come?” Rarity was tempted to put her plan into action slowly, but she knew her sister was hurting up in her room. She put her ear to the door and found no crying. She hoped that was a good sign. After gently opening the door, however, Rarity found anything but good signs. Sweetie Belle’s room was completely torn apart. School books lay thrown out carelessly out of pure frustration. Refined drawings from an earlier time in her childhood that Sweetie had once cherished were ripped up on the floor. Several old toys and gifts from her sister were smashed against her walls. In the middle of the blast radius laid Sweetie Belle sniffling to herself, her face buried in a pillow. “Sweetie?” “…I’m a freak…” Sweetie Belle croaked out and continued to whine into her pillow. Rarity looked down in horror, she had done this to her sister, she had made her feel this way. Rarity did the only thing that came to mind, using some of her magic she levitated the doll right next to her sister’s face and waited. Sweetie looked over and spotted it. Her tears stopped; only a few occasional sniffles remained. The filly then worked up the courage to look into her sister’s eyes. Rarity wore a sad smile. Reluctantly, Sweetie returned it. “Sweetie Belle, I’m so sorry. I was wrong… I can’t say I fully understand…” She stopped and noticed that Sweetie winced at this last statement. “…But I want to, if you can forgive me?” “Yeah… I can,” Sweetie breathed out, but her voice was so shaky all Rarity heard was a whimper and a nod. Sweetie then looked over her room and was on the verge of tears once more. “Don’t you worry about your room; we can fix it up anyway you like. But for now, why don’t we just spend the day together, hmm?” A weak nod and a small smile was all she got in response. Sweetie Belle stood up, but Rarity noticed she was barely moving at all and used some of her magic to gently lift her up and placed her on top of her back. Rarity walked up to the store’s counter and frowned. She used a bit of her magic to lock the door and switched the sign to closed. “But you said you had clients—“ “Let me worry about that, for now. Wait! Ideaaaaaaa!” Rarity gently lifted Sweetie Belle over to a chair and laid her down. “Just wait there and let me…” She trailed off and began to work on what Sweetie assumed was a dress, but she didn’t care. Sweetie Belle felt contented to simply lay on the chair and watch her sister work. It reminded her of when she was much younger; she would watch her sister, before it was time to play, just working away. Sweetie almost dozed off, but forced herself to stay awake, curious as to what her sister was making. Her sister’s work was almost hypnotic and just as Sweetie was about to succumb to sleep, she finished. “And here we are!” Rarity declared as she used some magic to levitate up a piece of clothing. “Is that…” Sweetie Belle tried to question, but it died in her throat. “A sleeper. I figured you might be more comfortable in it and perhaps as your new PJs?” “Um…“ “You don’t like it?” “No! I do, it’s just uh… Rarity this is weird,” Sweetie Belle squeaked out. Rarity, in response, slowly put the sleeper down and considered this. “Yes, it is not a normal circumstance, but this is how you feel, no?” “Yeah, I really do.” “Twilight said to take it slow and I figured there would be no harm in making you one. You don’t have to wear it if you feel pressured…” Sweetie darted her eyes from left to right slowly and bit her lip. “So let me get this straight. If I put this on around your shop, you won’t care?” “Not as long as you don’t mind,” Rarity replied with a smile. “Okay… I’ll be right back?” Rarity blinked in surprise. “Oh! Certainly, you can just go change in your room, here you are.” Sweetie grabbed it with her magic and left in a hurry. She looked over the sleeper and found it to be pink in nature with blue colored teddy bears all over, or as much as Rarity could sew in. She blushed when she realized there were buttons toward the bottom on either side. She immediately knew what they were for, but shrugged it off. It took her a single minute and then she was dressed to never, ever go outside in it. “This is pretty comfy…” She smiled and left her room, giggling a bit. “I’m terribly sorry dear, but Sweetie is—“ “SWEETIE BELLE?!” The filly’s heart froze when she saw Apple Bloom standing at the front door with her eyes wide in shock. Sweetie turned to Rarity for guidance, but the mare had her mouth clamped shut. Rarity knew she had two ways to play this off; tell the truth or a little white lie about asking Sweetie to try out a new clothes line. She bit her lip and was unsure how to proceed; if she lied for her sister then Apple Bloom might be mad later if she revealed the truth. Unfortunately that choice was made for her as Sweetie Belle fainted, falling on the floor. Apple Bloom took a few steps forward and inspected her and then turned to Rarity. “Alright, ah want some dang answers. Right now!”