//------------------------------// // Play Time // Story: Taboo Feelings // by abdlpony //------------------------------// Apple Bloom glared at Rarity while the mare’s mind blanked. “Why did Sweetie Belle faint all of a sudden? What were you two doing?” “The faint? Oh my!” Rarity forgot about her new pajamas and walked up to Sweetie and inspected her. “She seems fine. I think you kind of shocked her… because she was wearing, well, this little get up.” Apple Bloom raised her eyebrow. “They’re just pajamas, weird looking, maybe, but ah don’t get it.” Rarity sighed, mostly in relief, but it was also for some other reason. “Just wait here for a moment… I’ll be right back.” The unicorn mare then levitated Sweetie Belle up in the air and left the room, leaving behind a confused looking Apple Bloom. She then brought in the filly, still in her magic, upstairs and laid her down on the floor. A few moments later, she was out of the foalish pajamas. “Wha…? Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked after being woken up with some water splashed into her face. “Did I just faint?” “Uh, yes you did. Apple Bloom is waiting downstairs…” The filly’s eyes grew wide in fear. “But she didn’t see the diaper compartment on those pajamas, she just thinks you wear weird-looking garments is all.” “Oh thank Celestia. What do I tell her though?” “The truth if you’d like. Or if that is too far then just say you’ve been stressed lately with some personal things and to leave it at that.” “Alright, I guess that could work… I’ll just go hang out with her and be back later?” “Sure. Have a nice day out.” Sweetie Belle felt odd just leaving her sister with all of this information and walking down the stairs, but she figured there wasn’t much else to say or do. “Are you okay?!” Apple Bloom asked after seeing her come down. “Yeah, thanks for the concern, but I’ve been dealing with a few personal things and I’m just stressed out…” “Uh, alrighty. As long as you’re okay. You are right?” “Yeah… so, we doing some crusading?” “Sure! But maybe we better take it easy… not to embarrass you or nuffin, but—“ “That sounds fine to me!” Sweetie replied. Her interruption was annoying but welcome, as Apple Bloom smiled. “We just need to get Scoots… where’s she live anyway?” Apple Bloom questioned Sweetie Belle, who looked just as confused. “Hey, girls!” They both screamed from surprise and found Scootaloo just behind them all of a sudden. “Scootaloo! Don’t scare us like that!” Sweetie protested and glared at her. She shrugged. “Sheesh, just saw you two standing there and I figured, why not?” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Well Sweetie just fainted over some, uh, stress or somethin’ and she would appreciate if you didn’t scare us.” Scootaloo raised one of her eyebrows at Sweetie who simply shrugged and nodded her head once. “Okay… I won’t? I guess… Can we go crusading now?” “Sure!” Sweetie squeaked, happy to get her mind off of everything. Sweetie found that she did daydream, still, while crusading with her friends. Only, this time, it made more sense. She was not fantasizing about random thoughts with the occasional coherent one in its place, she was fantasizing about spending time with Rarity. Time flew by much quicker with her mind at ease. Her friends did not suspect her secrets. By the end of the day, she was ready to face Rarity once more. She only hoped that Rarity was not too stressed out with cleaning up her mess and taking care of her dress orders. “Shoot! Still nuffin…” Apple Bloom muttered. It was the end of the day and the three had tried just about a dozen more tasks to earn their marks, but still nothing. “Well, ah better be headed home. I’ll see you two later!” “Right, uh, home. Bye you two!” Scootaloo called out and left just as quickly. “Bye!” Sweetie called out and sighed in relief. She frowned when she noticed that nopony was working the register of the boutique after making her way home. The sign had read closed, but normally Rarity was out in the front during this time. “Rarity?” She heard no response, but from the hallway she could tell her door was closed. She used a bit of magic to open her door and saw her sister looking exhausted. The room was completely redone and looked much nicer. Everything had been fixed, only, her new room was set up far differently. Rarity looked exhausted. And rightly so. Sweetie’s bed contained new sheets and blankets that looked a bit frilly and pink. She had new wallpaper with designs of clouds all over the place. Sweetie knew the wallpaper alone must have been a ton of work. At the foot of her bed were new stuffed animals, including a red dragon. Sweetie smiled. Rarity turned around and spotted her sister. “Sweetie? Oh! I suppose the surprise is ruined…” She muttered the last part and frowned. “Rarity, I love it! Were you doing this the whole time I was gone?” She asked in concern. Rarity sighed with a smile. “Yes I—” “But your dress orders!” Sweetie interrupted. “Some things are more important than work. I can just arrange for the orders to come in later, alright?” Sweetie Belle nuzzled her sister’s cheek and smiled. “Thanks, big sis.” “Sure. I got you some new toys and I’m considering making you a few new pieces of clothing… I’m not sure how far you are into this.” “Oh, I’m not sure. I guess we just figure it out as we go?” Rarity smiled. “A wonderful idea. What shall we try first?” she asked while gesturing to Sweetie’s new set of toys. Sweetie Belle had to resist the urge to groan. It just seemed natural to the filly to feel embarrassed around her sister. She knew her big sis was trying her hardest to make her feel comfortable and safe. She also knew she was giving up her work to just spend the day together. But asking ‘where shall we start’ when it came to childish activates was not how you did it. No. When you played, you played. And it wasn’t some set structure or set of rules. It was fun and fun did not always have to be governed by a set of laws or boundaries. Sweetie giggled a little. She had an idea and quickly grabbed the red dragon and her pony doll from before. “Oh, Spikey, I’ve loved you for so long, but I’ve never had the courage to ask you out!” Sweetie Belle did an impression of Rarity while holding the doll and doing wild animated gestures with it towards the dragon. Rarity gasped. “I do not sound like that! I—“ “Muah, muah, muah, muah, muah, muah!” Sweetie mimicked kissing noises as she used her two hooves to push the dolls together. “Spikey, you are such a gentlestallion!” “A gentlestallion would not act that way! I… Oh nevermind.” Rarity tried to fume at her sister, but a pouting lip and quivering eyes stopped her. Sweetie Belle instantly smiled at this and shoved forth the pony doll to Rarity while she kept the dragon one. “Um, alright, my dear Rarity, let’s explore that castle together!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed in an almost mocking tone. “Sweetie, I don’t see a—” Sweetie clamped a hoof on top of her mouth and whispered harshly. “Just pretend.” And so they did. Rarity needed no further pushing. Sweetie Belle wanted, no, needed to play and so they did. There wasn’t much to play with, but a long stare at the dragon gave Sweetie an idea. The castle inside her own head was long forgotten even though her big sister seemed intrigued to explore. “Hey, Rarity, I just thought up a new game…” “Oh? What about the castle?” “Yeah, I’m bored with that now.” She declared. To Rarity it was like déjà vu; getting bored so quickly was quite common for Sweetie. “Now I want to play dragon tag!” “Dragon tag?” She asked back to clarify. Sweetie nodded and picked the stuffed toy up. “Mm-hmm. It’s easy!” She exclaimed with a childlike smile. Rarity couldn’t help but notice that she did look cute, even as she was growing up. Then that smile turned to an devilish grin, her eyebrows slanted. It was quick. Magic enveloped the dragon doll and then it was literally smashed into Rarity’s face. “Wha?” “You’re it!” Sweetie dashed off out of the room before the mare could even process what had happened. Working on assumption alone, Rarity picked up the dragon with her magic and was soon searching the building for her sister. “Sweetie? Sweetie Belle?” There was no answer. She frowned and looked towards the kitchen but found nothing out of place. That was, until she heard something that was foreign at first. And then she realized it was a certain filly blowing a raspberry at her. “Did you just…” Rarity tried to ask, but Sweetie Belle merely smirked and ran off giggling. “Oh, it is on!” Rarity did not know where the time went or how she ended up face down on the floor with the dragon pelting her face. But it did happen and she was beaten by her little sister. Sweetie Belle took a seat in front of her bed and then literally flopped down onto her tummy. It had been three hours since they started and it was fun. “Thanks, Rarity.” Rarity stood up and sighed. “Sure thing.” She quickly nuzzled her sister. “What would you like to do now? Sweetie Belle?” The sound of a snoozing filly was all she got in exchange. She giggled and levitated the stuffed dragon over to her; Sweetie grabbed it in midair but kept sleeping. “I wonder how she did that? No matter. Sweet Dreams, my little filly.” She shut the door and paused. Twilight must know more about all of… this. I think I’ll pay her a visit.