With a resounding bang, the door to the home of Rarity's parents burst open, slamming against the adjacent wall and considerably surprising everypony(and inadvertently causing Fluttershy to tilt back and fall off the stool she was sitting on).
"Where is she??" Rarity pleaded as she dashed into the center of the vestibule. "Where's Sweetie Belle??"
"Woah, Rarity! Calm down!" Applejack called out to the frantic mare after having just arrived at the house(because after giving Rarity the news, Rarity bolted out of the boutique before Applejack even knew what happened). Applejack was quite tired out, and had to sit herself down to take a breather while Rarity continued her frenetic clamoring.
"I will not calm down until I see Sweetie Belle!!" the unicorn blustered.
"Well, try!"
"Here: have a party favor!" Pinkie said as she stuffed one into Rarity's mouth. "Something as fun as that will calm anybody down, I assume!"
Rarity swiftly spit the paper kazoo from her mouth. "I don't have time for party favors!" she proclaimed, to which Pinkie gasped in shock. "I need to see Sweetie Belle right this instant!!"
"Rarity!!" Rarity's mom shouted. "What you need to do is stop all this hollering and listen to your friends! Now sit down on the couch at once!" Heeding her mother's words Rarity was quick to seat herself upon the couch and make herself silent. "There: now isn't that better?"
"Yes, mother," Rarity replied, making sure to sound as compliant as possible.
"So, I'm guessing Applejack gave you the full picture?" Rainbow inquired as she leaned herself on the back of the couch.
"Indeed she did. I was certainly not prepared to hear of such a calamity. My heart shattered into more and more pieces the longer I listened. I didn't even wait to hear the whole story—I just ran out when I knew I could not leave my sister like this any longer."
"It's good that you care so much, since your sister is really going to need you to get her through this tough time."
"Since you're closer to her than anypony."
"So if anyone can fix this, you can."
"And trust me, I will indeed do whatever possible to ensure my dear Sweetie Belle lives a happy life once again!" Rarity proclaimed in an overly dramatic fashion.
"Yeah! Use that zeal and go help your sister!"
"I will!" Rarity proclaimed once again, and she made a dash towards the staircase, only to be stopped by Twilight.
"Only you may not want to start off using that zeal in such a vociferous manner. Try and ease into the conversation so she will be able to take it all in easier," Rarity nodded and trotted lightly up the stairs, leaving the others behind wondering how this will all turn out.
Rarity approached Sweetie's bedroom, stopping at the door. She glanced downwards at the doorknob, hesitating to open it, as even with all her boasting, Rarity still held with her a small sense of self-doubt: Does she really have what it takes to help her sister? Will everything turn out well in the end? Or will Sweetie Belle simply turn her away as she did the others? The only way to gain the answer to these queries was for Rarity to do what must be done and face her sister—no matter how difficult it may be.
Taking a deep cleansing breath, Rarity reached up to knock on the door, but decided against the action. Instead, she simply opened the door to Sweetie's room, albeit slowly and steadily, so as to produce as little sound as possible. However, any sound which the door might have made would be drowned out by the unbroken sobbing of Sweetie Belle, who was still lying on her bed; her face sunken into the tear-soaked pillow, the droplets trickling off the cushion and staining the pink fabric of the bed sheet beneath. It was hard enough for Rarity to have heard what had happened to Sweetie Belle, but seeing it was far worse. Still, she had to try and get her own word in if there was any hope to help her little sister.
"Sweetie Belle..?"
"...sniff...what do you want..?" she asked, not lifting her face away from the pillow.
"Just what any sister would want: to help a sibling in need."
"I don't need anypony's help. All I need is for everypony to just leave me alone forever!" she shouted before sinking her face back into the cushion, the sounds of whimpering emanating from within.
Rarity was finally seeing for herself exactly what depths of despair Sweetie Belle had sunk to—and how much anger had been released to the surface. This was already proving to be much more difficult than Rarity had anticipated, but there was no room for backing out here.
Rarity had to shift her sister's mood to a degree where she would be more willing to listen. "I know you don't really mean that—"
"Yes I do!" Sweetie Belle snapped before turning her head to face Rarity. "Everyone wants to help me, but I don't want any help! Not unless you or someone else can bring Lester back! But if you can't, then just get out of my life!!"
Never before could Rarity have known how harsh her sister could truly be. She has shown anger towards Rarity in the past, but never to this extent—this whole incident with Lester left in a very emotionally unstable state, causing her to lash out at others without provocation and be entirely unwilling to listen to reason. In spite of those complications, Rarity carried on.
"Holding love for another is a very joyful experience; and can be that much more difficult to handle when you lose the one you cared for so deeply. I may never have met Lester, but I understand he was a dear pet to you."
"Lester wasn't just some pet! He was my best friend! And I was his!" Sweetie Belle stood up on her front legs as she vociferated. "We did everything together! We always had fun together! And the only time we weren't happy was when we had to be apart!" Sweetie sat herself more upright as her tone shifted to that of a downcast filly. "I always thought we would be the best of friends—that when we were together, nothing bad could ever happen to us...that's why I refused to believe he was really gone..." Sweetie Belle sat herself on the edge of her bed as she tried to hold back the crying that so desperately wanted to come out—though she couldn't keep it all in, as shown by the myriad of tears that pooled around the edges of her hooves as they were pressed against the filly's face, some trickling off her hooves and dripping down to the floor below.
Rarity felt so deeply sorry for her sister. She clearly cared for Lester as much as she would her own sibling, which allowed for the two them to form a special, unbreakable bond—and it was that bond being unbreakable which led to her not being able to let go of these feelings; and who could blame her? Was it easy for anypony to properly handle the unexpected situation of losing one close to them? For some it might, but for others; especially those as young as Sweetie Belle, it feels like the most taxing ordeal a pony could go through.
Rarity moved herself around to Sweetie Belle's right side, sitting herself on the bed next to her sister. "I know how you feel," she said empathetically.
"Know how I feel??" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she turned back towards Rarity, appearing quite upset. "How could you know how I feel?? How could anypony know how I feel?? Nopony else here has had their best friend taken away from them, with them not having been able to do anything to stop it! So how in Equestria could you think that you know how I feel?!?" Sweetie shouted back in a most vexed of tones.
"...because I have Opal."
"Opal..." Sweetie Belle responded gruffly. "Opal's not a pet! A pet cares for their pony! And their pony cares about them! And that's something she would never do, because she's just a mean, stupid, cat!"
"Now that's enough, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity replied sharply. " You can't berate Opal because of what happened!"
"Well, someone has to be blamed for this!" she retorted through her ire-filled tears. "Lester couldn't have died for no reason! That means there's someone somewhere who made this happen!"
"Now, you know that's not true," Rarity replied, trying to sound as placating as she could. "You're allowing your hurt feelings to control your better judgment. You say it's the truth that someone must take the fault for Lester's passing, but deep down you know there isn't anybody to condemn for this," Sweetie Belle stopped her sobbing for a moment as Rarity continued speaking. "I agree: this was an unfortunate set of circumstances, which can happen to anybody at any time—even the most innocent of ponies...so don't feel like you were singled out for this tragedy. There was never anybody trying to hurt you, and there was never anyone to blame."
Sweetie was silent and motionless after Rarity's speech, but then she broke the silence by making an unforeseen announcement of her own, "...I know somebody to blame..."
"Now, Sweetie Belle, we just talked about this. Who could possibly be to blame for Lester's passing?"
"...me."
That was the last response Rarity expected from Sweetie Belle; and it was certainly the most shocking thing to hear from her yet. Rarity was rendered unable to properly form a response to such a staggering accusation. Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, felt not the slightest bit of surprise or doubt in her statement. In fact, this was the first moment since her discovery of Lester's quietus that she truly believed that what she was speaking was the genuine truth.
Because Rarity had not formed a response as of yet, Sweetie Belle was unhindered in continuing her elucidation of her previous avowal. "I know you want to tell me I'm wrong, but I'm really not. Nopony else is responsible for Lester dying but me! Because it was me who told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo not to tell anyone else about Lester! All I could think about was keeping Lester, I never even noticed how sick he got!" the sound of whimpering emerged in the middle of the filly's explanation. "If I hadn't kept Lester a secret, someone else might have noticed he was sick, and then he could have gotten the help to get better! But I didn't tell anyone! I was selfish and kept him to myself and now he's dead because of it!" Sweetie Belle did not relent in the subsequent onslaught of tears. Her bawling was so strident that it was even audible all the way downstairs, which was none too reassuring for everypony there—especially for her parents.
Initially, this sight was harrowing for Rarity to witness, but unlike before, she did not allow this tribulation to phase her. After all Rarity had heard from her sister—from the most saddening to the most distressing—she had heard enough.
"Don't you dare say that!" she snapped. "I will not hear of such foul talk directed at your own self. You are no more responsible for Lester's death than the next pony!"
"But it's true!!"
"Not it is not!! Out of all that I've heard you say during our whole time together, that is one comment that is truly nothing more than utter nonsense; and let me tell you: I am appalled that you would even speak in such a derogatory manner about yourself. It is unacceptable!"
"That's what anyone would say..."
"And those who say it would be right!" Rarity gave a flustered sigh. "Look: I wouldn't expect you to take this well. Nopony would. But one thing you have to understand is that—sometimes, these things just happen. Life affects everyone in different ways: whether it be good, bad, or somewhere in between. The thing to understand is that nopony is ever singled out for a specific lifestyle, so you shouldn't think that Lester was chosen for this unfortunate eventuality. Nor that you were chosen to have experienced such love for a pet only to have it taken away from you. I know during difficult times, some ponies may see it that way, but it is just their pain that causes them to believe there has to be reason behind the misfortunes that occur in their lives. Tragedy happens to us all, and it's not something anyone has the power to change—no matter how much we wish we could."
Though tears were still present around the edges of her eyes, Sweetie Belle was listening well to her sister's discourse.
"Things like this make the world appear that it is not fair, but life isn't meant to be 'fair' for anyone. This is simply the way the world works; by not being perfect. Now I know that may sound a tad negative to say, but in hindsight, it truly isn't. The imperfections the world is fraught with are mostly terrible ordeals, but others aren't so much. And though you may not agree, what happened with Lester is one of those lesser ordeals."
Sweetie Belle was shocked at such a statement, but Rarity told her sister to calm down so she could explain this notion further.
"I know it sounds harsh, but in a way, hardships such as these can be good for a pony. Everyone goes through different forms of hardships or struggles in their lives, and some take them as terrible incidents which make their lives worse. But, they way I see it, struggles aren't really bad; they are simply part of life, and we shouldn't see them purely as ordeals to make one's life more miserable, because going through many hardships can teach us and make us stronger for the future," Rarity reached over and placed her hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "So when you even try to think that any of this was your fault at all, just remember: even though it was a difficult time for you, what happened to Lester was just another one of life's unfortunate incidences, and take from it what you believe should be taken from it."
Sweetie Belle was still silent. She appeared to be mulling over everything her sister had explained. She was still a little filly after all, and can't be expected to go through a turnaround just like that. Rarity could see this, and just then thought up one last lesson for her sister to hear.
"I understand you would still feel sad over Lester, and I can't force you to get over his passing, but there's one last thing I want you to think about," Sweetie looked back up at Rarity. "Everypony who cares for their pet as a dear friend would feel just the same if their own pet had died—even me. But in time, we must learn that we can't dwell on the death of a beloved pet, because nopony can change these unfortunate events, and leaving these unhappy thoughts to fester in your mind...it's the worst thing for a pony to do, for the reason that you will never be happy or be yourself again. And it isn't simply that I or any of your family or friends wouldn't want to see you sad: it's also about what Lester would want," Sweetie's pupils shuddered at this new insight. "Think about Lester: would he really want you to be sad over his being gone forever? Or would he rather you be happy and live your life with that same level of happiness you and he both shared, even if he isn't around to share it with you?" Sweetie's gaze shifted away from Rarity; this new notion being one she could hold a greater capability of understanding. "After all, if anything were to happen to you, wouldn't you want Lester to continue to be happy, even if he could no longer be with you?"
Sweetie Belle slowly nodded, tears having welled up around her eyes once more. But, these were not filled with all the same feelings of despondency as before: new emotions were present in these salty droplets, and they were more of the kind Rarity was hoping for.
"I'm glad to know you think that," Rarity responded with a smile of relief. "Lester and you were the closest of friends, and a bond as strong as yours can be broken by no force of this world or the next. You loved him and he loved you, and that is a truth that will always be bound to your heart—forever..."
Sweetie Belle's eyes were soaked now. She couldn't hold in her feelings anymore, and went into a frenzy of bawling as she grasped her sister and hugged her tightly. Though astonished at first, Rarity soon returned her little sister's hug, happy she had finally brought her sister back.
Sweetie Belle attempted to speak through her sobbing, "You're right...Lester would want me to be happy...and I would want the same for...for him...but I can't help myself...from...from feeling sad about him..." she cried as Rarity rubbed her sister's head comfortingly. "I mean...I...I wasn't even there...to say goodbye..."
Rarity pondered this notion for a moment. "Well," she said as she lifted Sweetie's head towards her own. "Who's to say you can't say goodbye now?" Sweetie Belle appeared perplexed by her sister's proposition. "We'll give him the best goodbye he can get."
Sweetie smiled as she hugged her sister again; this time without any crying, as she no longer had a reason to do so.