I Can't Stay For Long
Rarity held three sewing pins between her teeth, her brow furrowed and damp from the job at hoof. Next to her head was a pair of hovering scissors stuck in the thick of her aura, poised to strike at the fabric on the table before her. It had been one of those mornings for the mare—one of those smooth mornings, when everything clicked right into place at just the right time.
The café around the corner hadn’t burnt her morning coffee like they sometimes did.
The rough sketches she’d created late into the evening last night still made sense even after a good night’s sleep.
All the fabrics and matching threads she needed for the new project she already had in stock and in fine supply.
So absorbed by her latest piece of work, Rarity didn’t even flinch as a large metallic bang rang clear across town—a dull thud when heard from the boutique’s second floor windows.
She did flinch, though, when her sister surprised her from the doorway.
“Hey, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle timidly asked her. “Can I talk to you for a bit? I don’t know how long I can stay, but I don’t think it’s for very long.”
Almost choking on one of the pins between her teeth, Rarity spat them out into the same aura that held her scissors and pushed her chair out from her work table.
Rarity loudly blew a curl of mane away from her eyes. “Sweetie Belle! You scared me half to death! I didn’t even hear you come inside just now.”
Sweetie Belle lightly rubbed her hoof along the floor, her head lowered. “I know I’m not supposed to be here.”
Rarity laughed lightly. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, you know you can come inside my work room anytime you like; I only prefer that when you do, I’m here too. You’d be surprised how many sharp little objects I use on my…”
Rarity lost her train of thought when she took a quick glance out the window to the side of her table—the sun’s rays still warm and bright against the thin building across the street. On the ground below and out of view, a few ponies hurriedly galloped in the direction of the noise heard only moments ago.
With a look of concern, Rarity asked her sister, “Why aren’t you at school, Sweetie Belle? You only left a few hours ago at most. Are you feeling all right?”
Rarity left her chair and approached her, noticing Sweetie Belle hadn’t moved a single inch from her position near the doorway.
Rarity lowered herself to try to meet her sister’s sight. “Did you come home early because you weren’t feeling good, Sweetie Belle? I must say, you do look a little paler than usual. Let me see how warm your forehead is.”
As Rarity took a step forward, Sweetie Belle took a step back.
“That’s all right… I… uh…” Sweetie Belle struggled to find the words, hitching in a small batch of air. “I’m… fine. I’m just fine. But that’s not what I came here to talk to you about, Rarity. School just… school got let out early. Everyone got to go home early.”
Rarity tilted her head. “Did something happen to Miss Cheerilee?”
“I… umm…” Sweetie Belle chewed on her bottom lip. “I can’t stay for long, okay? I just wanted to talk to you, before…” She finally glanced up at her sister, both of her large eyes on the verge of tears. “I just want to tell you some things. That’s it. That’s all I want to do.”
Rarity took a breath and sat on the floor in front of her, trying her best to display a warm—hopefully understanding—smile. This was something she was already quite accustomed to—something she’d experienced before and knew she’d experience again. What came to mind first was this: either one of those two bullies from Sweetie Belle’s school had said something hurtful to her or her friends again, or maybe one of the other students had told Sweetie Belle something she didn’t know how to react to.
With vivid clarity, Rarity could still remember the time a young colt had told her he liked her in that special way during recess at school, and how she then spent most of that same day’s afternoon talking with her mom about colts and stallions and just how impossible it was to understand them.
In Rarity’s mind, all it boiled down to was this:
Right now, her younger sister wanted to talk. And right now, that big sister had to listen.
Sweetie Belle, still huddled close to the door, blinked away a tear while her mouth worked away on words that never came to be.
In a hushed tone, Rarity tried to prod her along. “Did someone say something about cutie marks again?”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No… it’s nothing like that… really, it’s—”
“Was it another student in class? A colt, perhaps?”
“No.”
“Did you get in trouble for something? Did you forget about a test today, perhaps?”
“No. No! It’s nothing like that!”
Sweetie Belle took a tentative step towards her, stopping just out of leg’s reach. “It’s not about me, Rarity. Honestly. I don’t want to talk about me. It’s about you, and… I only… I just want you to know much I love you.”
Rarity smiled, a bit of heat behind both eyes. “Oh… that’s very nice to hear, Sweetie Belle. I love you, too. With all my heart.” She held a leg out to her side, motioning for her sister to come to her.
Sweetie Belle regarded the leg dismally and instead took a step away from her.
“Is that all you wanted to tell—” Rarity began.
“And that I think you’re the best sister in the world!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed overtop of her, almost as if the words had to be screamed aloud before they got stuck in her throat. “And… and I wanted to thank you for… for all the things you taught me… and for looking out for me… and for telling me that cutie marks weren’t everything in the world, because they aren’t.” She hitched in a tiny breath. “And I need to tell you that you’re going to be okay and that now it’s my turn to look out for you and that everything will work out fine. And if anyone asks, you can tell them that I love them just as much as I love you.”
Rarity got to her legs as she felt something tighten in her chest.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “What in Equestria is going on, Sweetie Belle? Why are you talking this way? If something’s happened, you can tell me and whatever it is I promise I’ll try and help fix it. If you did something bad, I promise I won’t get mad.”
Sweetie Belle sniffled and stared at her hooves. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”
“Rarity! Are you in here?” Twilight Sparkle called from somewhere by the bottom of the stairs.
Rarity turned to the source of the noise, speaking more to herself, “Twilight? She never said she’d be stopping by today.” She then explained to Sweetie Belle, “Let me quickly see what she wants and then you and I will talk some more.”
When she went to open up the door, Sweetie Belle left a wide gap between her sister and her, almost colliding with the wall. Now she stood by the back of Rarity’s work room, in the center of the sun’s rays that still shined in through the window.
“I’m upstairs, Twilight!” Rarity shouted from the doorway.
“I told you I couldn’t stay for long…” Sweetie Belle started delicately.
Rarity took a second to look away from the door and to her sister sitting on the floor, staring back at her.
Sweetie Belle gave her one of her usual big smiles—the large, leaking eyes above it giving off a completely different message.
She eventually said, “… but I really have to go. I love you, Rarity.”
Rarity held up a leg. “Sweetie… I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but everything’s fine, everything’s—”
“Rarity…”
Rarity whirled around and found Twilight standing in the hall, her ears pressed flat against her skull. By her side stood Applejack, her hat pinned to her chest by one of her legs.
Twilight’s eyes were glossy; her voice quivering and barely above a whisper. “Rarity… something’s happened near the school. There was an accident during recess… some construction was being done on a house near the playground and Sweetie Belle and her friends had gone over there to watch and a cable snapped and… and…”
Applejack took a heavy step towards her. “Sweetie Belle’s been taken to the hospital—we’re supposed to get you there as soon as we can, but… I’m so, so sorry, Rarity.”
Rarity looked from one friend to the next—that same tightness in her chest traveling down towards her stomach, where it began twisting her guts into a knot.
“Sweetie Belle?” she mumbled, a hint of faintness to her voice, almost as though it weren’t even her that had actually spoken the words to begin with. “But she’s right here. She came home early. Only a few minutes ago.”
Rarity went back into her room and found no sister on the floor.
Her eyes darted from one corner of the room to the next.
“Sweetie Belle? Where’d you go? It’s only Twilight and Applejack here.”
First searching underneath her cluttered work table, Rarity then went to her closet and began empting it of its half-finished works and spools of old threads. When she managed to touch all four corners of the closet and floor, she exited from it to stand in the very center of the room and breath.
Cautiously, Applejack approached. “Sweetie Belle couldn’t have been here. She’s at the hospital right now and we’re supposed to get you—”
Twilight stopped her friend with a hoof to the shoulder.
She hesitated, before asking, “Rarity, what did Sweetie Belle do while she was here?”
Through blurry vision, Rarity glimpsed the first of many tears fall to the floor next to her hoof.
“She told me that she couldn’t stay for long.”
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Ouch, you got me right in the feels with this one.
I hate you for this betrayal
Ooh, the feels I feel. Nice little sadfic.
Oh that's just sad...
The d'aww in this one, strong it is.
The sads are real
God, this makes me depressed. Some of that is from the actual content, but the rest is me realizing how terribly I get along with my sister.
... why you do this?
Just replace the two with Rares and Sweetie, and this picture is near perfect...
1.bp.blogspot.com/-FJPRdtaUOzM/T1VZ6eZpiNI/AAAAAAAAhlQ/pwhxvp6xpF0/s1600/don__t_do_this_to_me__smarty_pants__by_manateemckenzie-d4r6o86.png
I kind of saw this coming when Sweetie wouldn't let Rares touch her. But this still hit hard.
6413781
I'm wondering the same thing.
6414674 I looked this over again and... I still don't understand why he did this.
6414691
I know I'll probably re-read this again someday. But yeah T_T.
The feels are strong with this one
Um... wow. That was... huh...
Your story just took me THERE. That's all I have to say. Good job.
6414819 Thank you!
6414614 That picture works great... at destroying more feelings of mine.
6414691 Were you expecting something different from me?
I'm honestly curious now.
6413470 Thank you! And, no, I definitely would never combine this date to a pony story. That's... just not cool.
6413169 I feel sorry for you and hope one day you can fix what troubles are between you and your sister. I consider my sister to be one of my best friends and we get along very well and have nearly the same taste in TV and film. I got her into ponies a year or so ago and she, in turn, got me into fanfiction writing. A good trade.
6413119
Or... maybe I shouldn't put it so happily. 
But then again, that was the intention... So maybe I'll just say thanks for reading!
6413060
6413048
6412823 Thank you for saying so!
6412816 And here I could've shot this thing out with just four faces and two words.
6412781 I'm not sure what you were expecting to find inside a sad/slice of life fic. Or was it the subject matter that made you feel betrayed?
6412776 Then my aim was not off. Thanks for reading and for commenting!
6415127
Well, we used to be at each other's throats constantly, but now we basically just ignore eachother. We have, like, zero shared interests. I'm an engineer who writes, plays videogames, and watches anime while she's a socialite who dances, plays badminton, and watches Friends reruns.
Damn you :c
This compels me to talk to my sister... in fact; I'm off to do that right now.
You should add "Tragedy" tag too, so people like me wouldn't hurt themselves by reading this.
Use to what?
*Sees story*
*Clicks it*
*Reads name and description*
*Notices sad Sweetie picture*
*Notices tags*
NO! I'll not read this! I don't want a ticket on the feel train!
Darnit.
That gave me the feels.
darn you author
6417649 I'll take all the blame. Thanks for reading!
6417324 But there's one last seat with your name on it! Just for you! Why'd you want to miss out on this once in a life time feels-trip?
6417268 Typo. No "to". Thanks for the spot!
6415924 I have the oddest feeling I'm about to repair a lot of relationships with this story.
Just as long as I don't make them worse...
Seems to me Sweetie Belle always gets the dead child trope. I've read more than a couple of fics with her dying as the premise, now.
The main problem with this story is that you see the "surprise" coming a mile away, and before the reader is in any way invested in the story. Because of that, there's no emotional connection to the development. My only thought was "Oh wait don't tell me, another 'SB Dies' fic." This from someone who adores SB.
6418227 If I shed even a SINGLE tear because of this... I'll take the 'Nope train to Screw-that-ville' as soon as I'm done!
I'm sad.
Why?
You forgot the Tragedy tag.
Oh, and the text is good as well.
6420896 No tragedy tag because Rarity was actually crying tears of joy. Now breakfast time will be a lot more peaceful.
I am so, so sorry for that joke.
Thanks for reading!
6418887 Eh. Honestly, I thought the title gave it away, as did the noise in town and basically everything before the end. I wasn't really going for a twist--more of a "how would both of them react in this type of terrible situation". And I would agree, this type of story has been done to death.
Anywho, thanks for the comment. It's always good to know what works and what doesn't.
Well written. Sadly, the impact was lessened for me. The moment I saw the title and the tags, I knew exactly what was going to happen.
Shouldn't that be "She told me that she loved me and couldn't stay long." ?
6426659 Eh. I wasn't trying to hide the ending all that much. The title gives it away pretty well. I think I wanted the focus to be more on the conversation between the pair, knowing what's already happened.
Anywho, thanks for reading and for commenting!
I lost one parent quickly with words unsaid. Not a day goes by that I don't regret not telling them how much I loved them.
I lost the other slowly and painfully, but we had time, time to make things right between us. But I still regret all of the suffering they went through.
I think two minutes would be a great thing to have.
Good story.
6443203 Thank you. I'm very sorry for your loss. One last message would be a great thing to be able to do if we could.
Now, I've read it.
*Sniff*
One ticket please.
Plot Twist: It wasn't Scootaloo because everyone always expects if you kill a filly off it's going to be her
That said, the feels
You.
you
6532542 Sorry about that...
6535186
Not at all, not at all! This was extremely well written, and nearly perfectly executed. I cannot say that I didn't put together what was happening as soon as Sweetie showed up, but you weren't trying to hide it from us, just Rarity. A+, good stuff
Definitely worth the read, and it was well crafted. In particular, you get a star for the story description. As I apparently did with my story posted today, which did extraordinarily well, you wrote a especially good hook in addition to a worthwhile story.
One little thing, and you'll find it amusing (and certainly, don't change the story): When you wrote
I was certain that Sweetie Belle had attempted a teleport and that it hadn't ended well. This is the one thing I've feared since Twilight started teaching her magic...
However, the second part of that sentence
means that you broke POV. Rarity would only have heard the dull thud, not the metallic bang. This is the author intruding into the narrative. Writing in third person character POV is hard. The trick I learned is to think of each sentence in first person. For example: I didn't even flinch as a large metallic bang rang clear across town--a dull thud when heard from the boutique's second floor windows. The issue is now crystal clear.
Keep writing and working on your craft!
6543500 Thanks for reading!
Also, congrats on your feature! (Still wondering why that one got featured and not your other stories? I felt the same way!) 
I have a tendency of going omnipresent every little while, instead of third person. Thankfully not too often.
Glad you liked the story, regardless.
That hurt my... everything. Brilliantly written, very touching, but if you don't mind I'm gonna go read some of your lighter stuff for a bit.
6586449 What? Lighter stuff?
No! Come back here! I want to hurt you some more! 
Just kidding. Read whatever you want. Thanks for commenting!
You know, I totally called the ending, but it still gave me just a little bit of the feels, which is impressive, because I am dead inside
6587912 Umm... thanks?
6590541 I meant that as a joke
6586780
Sure, this wasn't directed towards me, but this song still applies!
Before you get started, I have somethings to say!
(God we need a Diamond Tiara Emoticon): "It's called ghostbusting! As the only member of the team to make it to this land, I have a duty to rid it of ghosts like you! I've already got rid of the Pony of Shadows! Man was that a nasty one!"
I look forwards to getting lots of hate mail from this!
A sad story, made sadder by the cover art. While Scoot's is my favorite CMC, Sweetie Belle represents innocence. This hurts. It really does. Rest in peace, little unicorn.
Admittedly, as soon as the sentence describing the loud bang came up, I kind of expected that the entire schoolhouse had exploded with total loss of life.
Somehow, having only the single death made it far more personal; a soul-blow to Rarity in particular, not a catastrophe for all of Ponyville. Particularly telling that Ghost!Sweetie immediately went to her, too, instead of to their parents, or the other Crusaders.
I'm a very cynical person, and not many stories on this site can bring a tear to my eye, but as I read this, I will admit that I got a little stuffed up. Bravo on writing this, it was really... sad...
My gosh the feels in this! This is sad but interesting, just how did you come up with this?!