11. Sins of the Mother
Piece by piece, we put the Boutique in boxes. I stared at Sweetie Belle’s room. Everything else had some place in my castle, but… Everything here was just as she’d left it. How could I move it? I sniffled and flipped open her doll box. There were dolls for all of us, dolls she’d spent long hours forcing to kiss each other. How long had it been since I’d been back here? Since I’d even stepped hoof in her room? “Well, Rarity, you’re going to have to think of something. If we’re selling the Boutique, we can’t just leave her things here,” I said to myself.
“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, trotting up behind me and resting a wing over my withers.
“I’ve been better,” I said, leaning into Twilight. “Just figuring out what to do with all of Sweetie’s things.”
“Well, do you think her parents could–?” My glare silenced that thought.
“My parents have done more than enough,” I said. “There’s no need to request their aid.”
“Right, sorry I brought it up,” Twilight said, magically massaging the tension from my shoulders. “Should we go to the gym when we’re done here?”
I laughed. “Twilight, I think packing up the whole of the Boutique will do a fine job of exhausting me. If I’m still… sore about the topic tomorrow, we can go then.”
“Got it,” Twilight smirked. “So we’ll be going tomorrow, then?”
“Really, Twilight, you make it sound like I’m perpetually angry at my parents,” I said, grateful she was here to pull me away from thoughts about Sweetie’s room.
“You mean you aren’t?” she asked.
I harumphed at that. “Not at all. When I’m not thinking about them, I’m perfectly fine. Now, do you have any suggestions on what we’re doing with Sweetie’s room?”
“We could always give her one of the rooms at the castle. It’s full of empty bedrooms, and I guess I could give one of them to my marefriend’s sister. You know, considering she’s living with me and all.”
My cheek nuzzled against her neck. “You’d go through that trouble on my expense?” I asked.
“Of course,” Twilight said, stroking my side with her wing. “The castle’s still full of empty rooms – and besides, she’s important to you, which means she’s important to me.”
I leaned up to kiss her. “You’re a wonderful mare, Twilight Sparkle. Now… where is that camera?”
“Camera? What do you need a camera for?” Twilight asked as I slid out of her hold.
“To take a photo of Sweetie’s room so I can properly reconstruct it in the castle. I want it to be exactly like she left it when she gets back,” I said, trotting out of the room. “I think there should be one downstairs. Hopefully, you haven’t packed it yet.”
“I don’t remember packing any cameras,” she said. “You know, I’ve got a pretty good memory, I can probably just remember what her room looks like.”
“And so could I,” I said, stopping to look back at the room. “Celestia knows, I’ve seen it enough. I just… I want to make sure every little thing’s preserved when she comes back, just like she left it. It’s the least I can do.”
“Rarity, what makes you think she’ll want most of this stuff? I’m not saying you should throw it away, but I don’t think she’ll care if the bed’s an inch closer to the door than it used to be, or if her dolls changed positions. Besides, her room in the castle’s probably going to be bigger than her room here, so it won’t be identical, anyways.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “I just feel like… I’m sitting here, spinning my wheels, and there has to be something I can do for her while I wait. If not for that letter, I’d have spent the last two years in Manehattan.”
“Glad you didn’t,” Twilight said, smiling. “And hey, there’s a plan in place. I’m sure when the day comes, you’ll be right next to her.” She trotted over and stroked my cheek. “And if you want, I’ll be right next to you.”
“I think I’d like that,” I said. “At the very least, you’re coming to Manehattan with me so I have somepony to lean on if things are… as bad as I fear they might be.” I pulled away from her and trotted to the stairs. “Now, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve got quite a bit of packing to do, so no point dilly-dallying and talking about things that are still a year away. There will be time for that later.”
“Alright,” Twilight said, following after me. “But we are talking about this. I don’t want you bottling things up like you did before.”
“And I’m not,” I said as I moved down the stairs. “I think we had a very productive little discussion, but right now, I don’t want to think about Sweetie or my parents.” There was a knock on the door. I looked out the front door window and– Why? They’d been gone for so long, and now they were just standing in front of my door, Father wearing his usual dull smile. I stepped downstairs, took a breath, and opened the door. “Mother. Father,” I said, giving each of them a short glance. “To what do I owe the… pleasure?”
Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs and looked between me and my parents. “Oh, hi, Crumble, Hondo.” She bit her lip and looked at me. “So… How are you?”
“Oh, we’re great, thanks for asking, Twila,” Mother said. “It’s okay if we call you Twila, right? You already feel like part of the family.” Ah, there it was. The answer to the million-bit question. They came back because they read the papers.
I cleared my throat. “It’s Princess Twilight Sparkle, actually,” I said, shutting the door behind them and most certainly not slamming it.
“They don’t need to call me by my title,” Twilight said, giving a little laugh and rubbing the back of her head. “It is kind of formal and–”
“Oh, I think they do,” I said, interrupting her and doing my best not to shout profanities. No point in being rude, Rarity. They don’t deserve your anger. Really? If not them, who?
“You know, I’m going to go put some tea on,” Twilight said, trotting to my kitchen. “Uhmm… Teapot still in the usual place?”
I nodded.
“Uhh… well, Rarity, you’re really bringing the welcome wagon out for us,” Father said. He looked around at all the boxes. “Goin’ somewhere?”
“Yes,” I said. “So, me dating a princess is all it took for you to come back to town? You know, I was sure you’d be back for Sweetie’s last Hearth’s Warming, or after receiving the letters where I was begging for your help.” I laughed. “But if I’d known me dating Twilight was what it would take, I’d have done it years ago.”
“Oh, Rarity, are you still going on about Sweetie?” Mother asked, dismissively waving a hoof. “I don’t know what the problem is. Last time we visited her, she was doing fine. You make it sound like something terrible happened to her.”
Because something terrible did happen to her, and… They visited her? Without even telling me. Without even… They visited her! After everything they’d done, they thought they could just jaunt off to Manehattan to say hello. And she let them? She’d never even responded to my letters. No, I just got a note from Bright Lights saying how happy Sweetie was. Deep breaths, Rarity. We can’t explode in front of them now. A lady must keep her composure. “Ah, well, I’m glad the three of you had a pleasant visit.”
“You know, we’re so proud of the both of you. You’re dating a princess, and Sweetie’s a big-time Bridleway actress,” Father said, plopping his fat flank down on the floor like he owned it.
“Oh, I know,” Mother said, sitting on one of my moving boxes. “You’re both doing so well, we must have done something right, even though Rarity won’t admit it.”
Something inside me cut loose from its moorings and I laughed. “You know, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in ages. Are you sure your special talent isn’t comedy? I’ve spent the last year trying to clean up some of the emotional wreckage you caused, and I’m sure I’ll be paying for years of Sweetie’s therapy when she returns to her senses, but yes, we’re both doing so well.”
“Well, if you bothered writing to Sweetie, you’d know she’s already seeing a pony who keeps her prescriptions filled,” Mother said, her voice cooling to match my own. “You know, she’s incredibly hurt that her sister hasn’t even bothered to write her in over a year.” What?! I was going to take the first train over to Manehattan and kill Bright Lights.
“I did write, but that little snake Bright Lights must have kept her letters, and… how dare you judge me for being negligent?” I said. “I did everything I could for Sweetie.”
“So did we,” Father said. “Sure, we spent a lot of time on the road, but we made sure you girls had everything you wanted. Or did I dream up all those birthday and Hearth’s Warming gifts?”
“Yes, you made sure we had everything a filly needs growing up. Everything but loving parents,” I said, facade of civility crumbling away. “But really, who needs that?”
“That’s it!” Mother said, face going red slamming a forehoof on the carpeted floor. “You make it out like we’re some sort of monsters, and maybe you’re right, but at least we claimed you as our own. I didn’t just pawn you off on my mother and pretend you were my sister. I owned my mistake.”
My jaw worked noiselessly as I struggled to find words. Any words. Any defense. “Rarity?” Twilight asked, standing at the door to the kitchen. “What is she talking about?”
Mother was right. It was my mistake. All my mistake. A scared, selfish filly making a deal with the ponies she hated most in the world. Stupid filly, we treated you like an adult, and this is how you repay us? Your father’s career will be ruined if this scandal comes to light. I knew what would happen to her. Deep down, I had to have known, but I did it anyways. To save my career, I gave them my daughter.
My daughter. She. Was. My. Daughter. I laughed – cackled, really, but who was paying attention? “You’re right. I did make a mistake. I was stupid and selfish and scared, and I took your offer so we could all save face instead of accepting my responsibility. Instead of accepting my daughter.” Now that the seal was broken, that word ripped through my mind like a meteor. A word I’d kept from myself for fifteen years. Fifteen years of denial. Not a sister. Not a daughter. Nothing. Just Sweetie. Not anymore. “I regret it every day. If I could go back and change things, if I could go back and yell some sense into my stupid younger self, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I can’t, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to Sweetie.” I narrowed my eyes. “But you? Get out of my life. If you want the boutique you gave me as payment for my mistake back, you can have it, but I wash my hooves of you.”
“But we just wanted to–”
“To what? To cozy up to me now that I’m dating a princess? To…” I growled. “Get out!” I stomped my hoof and magically slammed the door open. “And if I ever hear of you going to see your granddaughter again, I’ll do everything I can to destroy you, even if I have to go down in flames with you, understand?”
They nodded, I bellowed “Out!” and they scurried out the door, moving fast enough to keep up with Rainbow Dash. The door slammed shut, and I slumped down, fury evaporating. My daughter. What had I done?
Tears ran down my cheeks. Mother was right; I’d failed Sweetie just as surely as they had failed me. A few years of trying to be a good big sister couldn’t make up for giving her to them. And now, here you are, enjoying your life, while she lives with the wolves. Feathers brushed against my side; a reassuring gesture that offered me very little succor at the moment. “You want to talk?” It wasn’t a question.
I sniffled and lifted my head up to look at the mare staring down at me. “I suppose… Yes. I do. You’re not upset with me?”
She tilted her head. “Why would I be mad at you?”
“The other night, we agreed we weren’t going to keep any secrets from each other, and the fact I have a daughter…” I gave a failed smile. “As secrets go, that’s... rather up there, I should think.”
She shrugged and moved to sit down next to me. “It is. But I love you, and you’re hurting.” There was a long pause as she tapped a hoof and hmmed. “Did you even tell yourself?”
I shook my head. “I tried not to think about it,” I said as she continued to stroke my flank with her wings. “She was just Sweetie, nothing else.”
“Okay,” Twilight said. “So, what happened?”
“The broad strokes are rather obvious, I should think, but… Sixteen years ago, I had an ‘encounter’ with a stallion. We’d broken up by the time I found out I was…” The word stuck and I struggled to dislodge it. “Pregnant. When I told him what’d happened, he packed his things the next day. When I told my parents, they were... upset. They yelled at me for being so irresponsible. Said if word got out, it could hurt my father’s career. Mother had a plan, though. I’d go to a retreat for a year, Mother would tell everypony I’d been accepted as an apprentice dressmaker in some town or another, she’d leave with Father for a few weeks on one of his hoofball-coaching tours, write back that she was pregnant and would be spending some time at a private resort while Father finished off his tour., Then, when I gave birth, she’d take Sweetie back to Ponyville, I’d spend a few more months at the retreat so I could finish my ‘apprenticeship,’ and when I got back, everything would be taken care of. They even offered to buy a store for me if I played along,” I said, wiping a tear away with a hoof.
“I don’t regret Sweetie, not for an instant. Without a doubt, she was the best thing to happen to me – You’re a very close second,” I added hastily, “but–”
“It’s fine,” Twilight said. “I can live with being second to your daughter. I’d be kind of more worried if I wasn’t.” She leaned in to whisper in my ear.”Besides, it is a close second, right?”
“Very.” I leaned into her. “Some days, I might even say it’s a tie.” Yes, calling it a tie felt better than having them compete. “Definitely a tie. Anyway, I don’t regret that a single instant. What I do regret, though, is taking my parents’ offer. I regret spending so many years being a negligent ‘big sister’ because I didn’t want to sacrifice my career and ambitions.” I laughed. “Funny – all these years later, I’m faced with a similar choice. Last time, I made a mistake. I know that now, and I’m not keen to repeat it.”
Another touch, and I drank the warmth from her body, drawing on it for comfort. “Sorry, I’m not really sure what to say,” Twilight said, stroking the back of her head. “I can’t think of anything I can say to fix this or help you.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Twilight. Just having you here to listen to me is more than I could’ve hoped for. More than I had,” I said, my breaths becoming deeper as something resembling calm returned to me. “You know, back then, I don’t think I had to choose between the two. It was a…” I gestured with my hoof and made small circles.
“False dichotomy,” Twilight chimed in.
“Yes, exactly. I could’ve been the mother Sweetie deserved and worked on my dressmaking career. It might not have been easy, but I could’ve made it work,” I got to my hooves and moved to my safe behind the counter, unlocking it and pulling out one of my bottles of bourbon.
“Really?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “You drink bourbon?”
“I picked it up from Applejack, and it’s better than wine when you’re lamenting your lot in life,” I said as I floated two tumblers in my magic field. “Not that I’m regretting choosing you, it just makes my choice all those years ago hurt more. Sacrificing Sweetie for a career I’m going to lose anyways.” I poured a glass for Twilight. “Drink?”
“Sure, I’ve never really drunk bourbon before. Hey, did Applejack know?” she asked, taking her glass with her magic.
I shook my head. “Me, my parents, him, and the doctor. Those are all the ponies in the world who know I’m a mother. Only my parents and I know about the switch – well, and you, now, but I suppose the rest of them could figure it out.”
“Got it,” Twilight said before taking a sip of her whiskey and making a face. “How can you drink this?” she asked, retching.
“It’s an acquired taste,” I admitted, taking a sip and savoring the burn. “I shouldn’t have chosen. I could’ve made it work.” I’d made it work those last few years. Performed admirably, even. I’d still failed, but maybe she wouldn’t have… done what she did if she knew she had a mother who loved her. A mother who’d have done anything for her. But she hadn’t, because I was weak and scared and selfish. Another pull from my bourbon. Something told me we’d be going through the bottle tonight.
“Okay,” Twilight said, nodding her head and stepping towards me, leaving her bourbon on one of the packed boxes. “I get it, you’re upset, but… you don’t need to beat yourself up over it now. You made a mistake, okay, but you can make up for it. In a year, whenever Sweetie comes back, you can tell her the truth and make things up to her. If she wants to spend some time in Ponyville, she’ll have her own room in the castle, and the… uhmm… upside of not having a business to take care of is that you can spend a lot of time in Manehattan with her. We can spend a lot of time with her in Manehattan. I don’t think anypony will complain if I cancel court for a few weeks. If they do, I can just banish them.”
I laughed. Like Twilight would banish anypony. No, that would probably be my job. On her orders, of course. Actually, if I was a princess in my own right, could I banish ponies? Like, theoretically, my parents? No, I wasn’t that petty. And what do they say? The best revenge is living well? Well, I could certainly arrange that. “Thank you, Twilight. You really are a dear, you know that?”
She nodded. “You’ve said it a few times since we’ve been dating. So… you’re really okay giving up dressmaking?”
I shook my head and took another pull of my bourbon. “I’m okay with a lot of it. I’m okay giving up the business side of things, but I’m still loathe to give up my creative outlet. Yes, I can find other outlets, but it won’t be the same.” Then why do you have to give that up? An interesting idea. The Dressmaker’s Union was upset that the market was weighted unfairly in my favor, but if I… Maybe I didn’t have to choose. Once we got back to the castle, I’d need to draft my counter-proposal. Nothing was guaranteed, but just maybe it would allow me to find the happy medium I’d sacrificed all those years ago.
“I’d like to show you something,” I said, getting to my hooves and trotting to the stairs. “Just stay here, and I’ll be back before you can say ‘where are you going?’”
“Where are you going?” Twilight asked. I rolled my eyes, not even bothering to see the little smug satisfied look on her face. Yes, Twilight, you’re very clever taking a figure of speech so literally. I smiled. How nice of her to give me a brief pang of irritation to break from the melancholy.
“Yes, you’re very funny,” I said, moving up the stairs and out of sight. To my bedroom, to the secret safe behind a painting. Cliche? Quite possibly; but most likely, any potential robbers would focus on the very obvious safe in my counter and not check for another. It swung open, and there they were, just like I’d left them. The secret compartment nopony knew about, holding my most valuable possessions. I grabbed the books with my magic and trotted back downstairs.
“Books?” Twilight asked perking her ears up as she swiveled her head to stare at the collection floating next to me. “Hmm… I don’t recognize the covers. What–”
“Scrapbooks,” I said, positioning them so Twilight could get a better look. “All the little scrapbooks I’ve made about Sweetie Belle over the last few years. I was wondering… would you like to look through them with me?” I floated a bottle of wine for her out from the rack. “I promise, I won’t make you drink any more bourbon.”
Twilight laughed and took the bottle with her magic. “I can’t think of anything better.” She did a quick count of my scrapbooks. “Wow, you… Ten books all about Sweetie?”
I nodded. “It’s even worse when you realize that one book covers the first nine years of her life.” I frowned, not wanting to say why one book had to cover nine whole years. Twilight knew anyway.
“So, you made nine scrapbooks to cover four years?” she asked.
“Hardly, Twilight,” I said, sitting next to her. “I made nine scrapbooks to cover six years. These last few are all newspaper clippings and the playbills for her shows. I think I have every word about her that’s been printed since she left home.” I pulled the most recent book out of the stack and flipped it open to show a playbill and a review. “You see, this one is from her time on The Book of Luna.” Certainly funny, but maybe not a show I’d like to see my daughter perform in.
I scanned the stack of books, seeing the memories they contained. Oh, yes, that one could be fun. I floated another book from the stack. “Ooh, this is a good one. It’s us on our second Sisterhooves Social.” I pointed to a picture of a beaming Sweetie holding up a trophy next to a crushed Scootaloo. “We actually managed to beat Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo in the obstacle course. We didn’t let them hear the end of it for weeks.” I smiled and flipped the page to a photo of the both of us stuffed with flecks of pie filling around our mouths. “And the pie-eating contest. We… didn’t win that one. I don’t think anypony can put away more apple pie than Applejack.” Certainly, that was the case when we had our own private contests. Twilight was putting up a good showing these days, though. We’d break Applejack’s record any day now.
“Ooh,” Twilight said, leaning deeper into me and pointing to a photo of six mares covered in mud. “What happened here?”
“The Crusaders thought pig wrestling might be a good idea, and the results ended… utterly predictably. What do they say about wrestling with pigs?” I smiled. “Yes, well, I think Sweetie proved it true that day.” I flipped the page. “And this was the Sisterhooves dance. We somehow managed to get clean enough to put our dresses on before it started, and Sweetie’s just a vision, isn’t she?” Twilight just mumbled her assent as I pattered on and took her through the rest of the day and the days following.
♦♦♦
I sat in Twilight’s empty throne room. She sat on her big throne, and I sat on the slightly-smaller chair the castle had spawned recently, and we both did our best to look regal and imposing. “Thank you for letting me have this meeting in the throne room,” I said, wishing our chairs were just slightly closer. I suppose the castle didn’t want us to do anything unbecoming of a princess in public, though.
“It’s fine,” Twilight said. “It’s not during court hours, and you do have your own throne, now, which… how great is that? Now you can be right next to me in court whenever you want.”
“It is rather unorthodox, though, considering we’re only dating,” I said, frowning. “Ponies will talk.”
She shrugged. “Let them. I’m a princess; if I want you to sit next to me in court, you’re sitting next to me in court. Besides, in a year, you’re going to be a princess too. Ooh! You could have your own court.”
I tapped my chin. “I have been giving that issue some thought. Perhaps we could divide things up so the nobles would speak with me, and the working ponies could have an audience with you. Plus, I’ll get to plan out all our fun little soirees. What do you think of us having our own version of the Grand Galloping Gala? Obviously, the two events wouldn’t compete with each other, so we could do something for the spring and autumn equinoxes.”
“You want to do something for both equinoxes?” Twilight asked, her face momentarily paling.
“But of course, there are two of us, it would only be right,” I said, glancing to the door and waiting for our ‘guests’ to arrive. I rested a hoof on the stack of papers that sat on one arm of my throne. My throne. A giggle escaped me before I could regain my composure.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, nodding her head. “And this wouldn’t have anything to do with you getting to plan two fancy balls a year instead of one, right?”
I sniffed and looked up at the ceiling. “Why, Twilight, I have no idea what you’re getting at.”
The door swung open and a guard trotted in, followed closely by Hoity and Iron Clad. “Announcing Mister Hoity Toity and Miss Iron Clad to Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle and Miss Rarity, Bearer of Generosity.” Well, my title didn’t have the same ring as Twilight’s, did it? Oh well, I was the one sitting on a throne, and they weren’t.
“You really didn’t need to have us meet in the throne room, Rarity,” Hoity said, trotting to the base of Twilight’s elevated platform and bowing. “So, I assume you’ve reached a decision.”
I nodded. “I have a counter-proposal for the both of you that I think all parties will find agreeable.” I tried not to glare at Hoity. If he’d just come to me without a lawyer, I would have been happy to brainstorm a solution with him. Instead, he tried to push an ultimatum on me and threatened my Twilight if I refused to cooperate. That was… How could I forgive that betrayal? To go after me is one thing, but Twilight is another thing entirely.
“Oh?” he asked, tilting his head. “I’m all ears, truly.”
“From this point forward, I shall agree to only accept commissions from clients I had before I moved in with Princess Twilight. Further, I’ll only accept one commission per client, per year – with the exception of Sapphire Shores, who would obviously require more frequent commissions for professional reasons – and any other designs I may come up with will be raffled off to Equestria’s retailers. This way, every retailer in Equestria has an equal opportunity to profit off my connection to Princess Twilight, and my ability to make dresses for the Canterlot nobility is dramatically limited.” I could create my dresses and keep my relationship with Twilight.
Iron Clad nodded her head. “Your proposal is… interesting.” She tapped the floor. “I’ll bring it to the Dressmaker’s Union for deliberation. I can’t speak for them, but your proposal should nullify their major objections.” She spared Hoity a microscopic glance. “And may I say, it’s a pleasure dealing with you, Rarity. The union led me to believe you’d be far more obstinate. Hopefully, when we next meet, I’ll have an agreement ready for you to sign.” She got to her hooves. “I do have to ask that you don’t sell any more dresses until everything’s formalized, though.”
“It’s utterly fine,” I said, smiling at her and feeling the documents under my hoof. “Oh! Before you leave, please take my client lists with you. It contains the names of everypony I accepted commissions from, and the date they made their order. Anypony on there before autumn of this year is a pre-existing client.” I floated the papers over to her, and she stuffed them in her courier bag.
Hoity almost turned to go but stopped himself. “Rarity, I… thank you for being so reasonable, and I want to apologize for my actions.”
“Oh?” I asked, tilting my head. He was going to apologize now? Once I had the upper hoof, now he decided to admit he was in the wrong? I raised an eyebrow and prepared a dose of vitriol to force down his throat. He’d threatened Twilight. Everything else was excusable, but not that.
“I’m… I never wanted to do any of this. The union was out for blood, and I thought that… if perhaps I went with Iron Clad, I could soften the blow,” he said. “No matter what I did, they’d give you the ultimatum, and I thought that perhaps it would be better for all parties if I attended. It was the lesser of two evils, I admit, but sometimes those are the only choices open to us.”
Yes. Yes, they were. My anger towards him deflated. We’d all had to make choices we regretted. How could I blame him for his? “You threatened Twilight,” I said. Yes, I could forgive him, but I still had trouble forgiving that.
“Well, to be fair, I did hide the Consort’s Law from you, and… that was my mistake. I should have trusted you with the truth from the start, instead of hoping everypony would just forget the law existed.” Twilight smiled at me. “Sorry, I guess it’s true that love makes you kind of crazy.”
I laughed and returned her smile, forgetting the other ponies in the room. “Yes, I can certainly attest to that. And it all worked out in the end, I suppose. I’m fine, you’re fine, no legal charges for any of our actions will be forthcoming…” I looked to the two other ponies in the room for a second and they quickly nodded in agreement. Good. “So there’s really nothing to worry about.” I turned to Hoity. “And yes, I understand how it feels to be stuck between two untenable options, so consider yourself forgiven. Oh! Miss Clad, one more little term to our deal. In the future, if the union has any more problems with my actions, they are to send Hoity to help me work out a peaceful solution before resorting to threats of lawsuits, is that understood?”
“It is, and I hope they’ll agree. And thank you for being so agreeable, Miss Rarity. It’s rare in my work to deal with civil ponies,” she said, opening the doors.
“Yes, a pleasure seeing you again, Rarity. A shame it couldn’t be under more pleasant circumstances. The next time you’re in Canterlot, we simply must catch up,” Hoity said, trotting to the door.
I opened my mouth to voice my assent, but before I could, one of the guards was in the throne room, eyes meeting mine. “Miss Rarity,” he said, trotting closer to me. “While you were having your meeting, the mailmare came with an envelope for you. She said it was urgent.” He reached into his armor and pulled it out. I floated it towards me, and – My heart paused. I’d recognize that writing anywhere. I tore the envelope open, and the letter was in my hooves before the envelope’s remains could hit the floor.
Love you, Mom.
Smartie Belle
P.S. You and Twilight make a totally cute couple. I’m happy for you. Sweetie will be too.
Stats
Page generated in 0.047 seconds
Total duration
1,111 users online
1,868,900 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Dat twist, though!
I feel like you've told us before, actually, in a sort of déja-vuy sort of sense. Maybe I picked up your ever-subtle hinting but just forgot about it for half a year.
It actually adresses one of the complaints I thought of during this chapter; I didn't really feel like there was any story left to be had. The usual thing for these romancefics to do is to end when they get married, but like Rainbow said, Rares and Twilight don't have much more to do to get to that point, Rarity is a princess, they're dating, the nobility's okay with it. With this whole Luke Skywalker thing you've put a lot of story back into the story.
So yeah, good work. I really wish I was better at complaining.
6477946 Well really, it's more of a hook for the sequel. Like, next chapter is going to end Diamond in the Stars, and then it's on to Sweetie Belle and seeing how she's doing. Also, thanks for not directly saying the twist here, that's what the blog post is for so readers aren't just casually spoiled.
I think I had an inkling of this for a while now. Glad to see the secret is out, finally. But gosh, things are really moving forward. Dash popping the question, Rarity's secret coming out, the dressmaking union's ultimatum....
Huzzah for Smartie Belle, at least!
6478048 Well, this is kind of the climax to this book. Next chapter just wraps things up, and then on to Your Own Worst Enemy, which will be released once the first chapter is edited and I have my coverart.
Yeah, I've pretty much known since the safe deposit box was first mentioned in TULOBSB that Sweetie is Rarity's daughter. It was the only thing that I could think of that she would be so scared of revealing.
...it's not a twist that I really care for, but everything else in this fic and the previous is so incredibly excellent, that it doesn't taint your 'Unbearable Lightness' series hardly at all for me, like microscopically.
Also, even though I said what I said above, I have to admit you may convert me to liking it. That letter at the end? Wow. Sweet, adorable, perfect.....I loved it to bits! Plus, after reading your blog post, I can see that the twist could really become something fantastic and a highlight. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
On the non-twisty side of things, Rarity is a genius. Rarity in this fic is far smarter than me.
I would've never thought about using a list of before-RariTwi clients and the other ideas to insure fairness. Wow bravo Distaff Pope, bravo! Seriously smart resolution!
6478105 Yeah, after Your Own Worst Enemy starts, Sweetie might need some good news, even if it takes about five chapters for her to hear it. And the idea of the twist is one I'm ambivalent on, like I said, the only reason I'm running with it because the revelation can be a massive source of healing for both these characters. Glad you at least tolerated it, and hopefully I can convert you.
Also, thanks for liking my solution to the problem. I just did what I thought Rarity would do, and it was very important that she not give up all her ambitions for Twilight. She still needs her creative outlet, and I thought that was a good way to keep it.
...Smartie Belle? Can someone explain? Because I feel like I'm missing something incredibly important here, and I'd prefer to be informed.
…Wait, is Smartie Belle Sweetie when she was super-smart? I forget. Was she smart enough to know Rarity was her mother, and...
6478126
So long as healing is what comes from it, I'm pretty sure I'll end up liking it in the end. I love healing, healing is nice, healing is good! Sweetie and everyone she's affected with her problems needs a shit ton of it!
6478148
6478149
Smartie Belle was the result of that super-potion Apple Bloom made in an earlier fic. She could even see the future to a certain degree, hence Rarity and Scootaloo knowing when this whole situation with her ends (one year, etc etc etc), as well as predicting the cutie marks of her friends before they got them. She'd have seen/figured out the revelation that she's Rarity's daughter as well.
6478149
6478148
6478202 Yup, Sweetie became... slightly omniscient when she drank the potion. It actually comes up during Your Own Worst Enemy, although probably not until the end. Anyways, one of the thing she decided to do with her omniscience was cheer her mother up a little when she needed it.
So Smartie Belle knew about that, but we have not seen if she took into account Rarity being a princess.
It's a bit terrifying to consider that Smartie might have missed something...
6478202 So she became omniscient but didn't do anything to stop herself from ruining her own life?
6478227 Something like that? She sees what's coming, but she can't change the future. She does at least know that things will get better eventually, so she leaves some information telling those concerned when this happens and to not despair.
6478231 If she knew the exact time when that letter needed to be sent, or when they needed to save her, wouldn't she also know how to stop that future from happening?
6478262 What you seem to be forgetting is Smartie DID warn Sweetie to remind Socket to calibrate the mana engine. True, Sweetie did so at the wrong time, and there probably was something else she could have done, but....
I have always viewed omniscience as a double edged sword. Sure, you can see a bunch of futures and pasts and all that, but how do you you determine what present/future you are in?
Wow! Rarity mom is my favorite head-canon. Makes all the scenes of Rarity's dispair all the more painful.
6478911
So smart Sweetie's still a dunce. Makes sense.
6479113
6478911
6478231 I wish I could comment on all this, but... one of you might be right.
this is one of my favorites, but as far as continuity outside this story:
cdn.meme.am/instances/48657834.jpg
6479646 Fair point, but also to be fair, a lot of this was built on headcanons from way back around season two. Also, what would the point of writing fanfiction be if we couldn't put our own spin on characters and events?
I like the card you played now if this is to go well lady lights can not get this information she can easily twist it to turn her puppet further away from her mother. The same is to be said about their ancestry, if lady lights finds out that they are legacies of a princess that could be bad but that i up to you what she could use this information for.
Wow, I had almost forgotten Filthy Rich calling Sweetie Belle Raritys daughter so long ago in another story. Or was that a different story. Not sure. But damn this was good. I had lost track of it all and rediscovered this. Read every chapter in three days.
I'm really looking forward to Sweetie Belle and Rarity finally coming together again.
I tossed my phone when i read that part. Can't say im mad, but definitely caught me offgaurd. And DAMN YOUR LARGE CHAPTORS!!! I forget over 3/4 of the things i want to say!
Eyyy, I was right. Though I'll say again that, personally, I think you were really making it easy to work out. And now for my secondary prediction/impression: the father either is or is related to Filthy Rich. This I'm far less certain of.
6478911
Sorry to be responding to a comment that's over ten weeks old, but…
Regarding this point, I recall Distaff accounting for that gracefully. In Lightness, Ditzy had instructions to burn the letter if Scootaloo wasn't there to accept it at that time and place. If Scootaloo hadn't been there at that time and place, then it would have been because a future had arisen contrary to the one where she needed to receive the letter. Basically, because Smartie Belle didn't know for sure which future would come to be (she originally talked about only knowing what was most probable), she set up loads of self-managing contingencies—and we're only seeing the ones relevant to this future because all of the others have somehow self-eliminated (or perhaps just played out inconsequentially, if they were things less important than conveying potential future knowledge) when it became clear they wouldn't see any use.
Ooooh, right in the feels