Marks that don't appear
It was a pleasant morning in Ponyville. The weather team had cleared the sky, and the sun warmed to a perfect temperature for the soft coats of ponies that walked through the streets of the town. It was in one of those streets, just taking advantage of that pleasant climate and temperature, that a particular couple of ponies walked casually. One of them was Dusk Shine who was happily walking at a moderate speed. The other was the little Pegasus Scootaloo who was mounted on her scooter. She was desperate to ride at full speed, but Dusk held her back.
Yesterday afternoon, Dusk had found Scootaloo by chance, and by the word 'found', it was a way of softening the fact that Scootaloo crashed at full speed into him. After overcoming his shock, he asked Scootaloo if she would join him for a little walk early next morning. The little filly was surprised by the offer, but she immediately accepted since she liked Dusk. After she learned everything Dusk had done at the Summer Sun Celebration and that he was involved in saving the princesses, her initial liking to him had become admiration.
Out of the few ponies in the town that considered Dusk as a great hero, Scootaloo's admiration for Dusk had begun to grow almost as much as her admiration for Rainbow Dash, although of course, only 'almost', since Scootaloo's admiration for Rainbow Dash was on an entirely different level.
"So... How's school going?" Dusk asked shortly after meeting the filly that morning.
Scotaloo, who had been smiling, looking forward to Dusk initiating the conversation and telling her in person his great adventure in the dangerous Everfree forest, could not help but freeze while putting a strange grimace at the uncomfortable question she was asked.
"Emm ... Yes, it's fine ... all right ..." Scootaloo answered slowly looking at the floor. Then the filly raised her eyes to see Dusk, who just stared at her with a slight look of concern at the sudden change of mood in the filly. Seeing Dusk's eyes full of concern, Scootaloo could not stand it, she gave a big sigh and decided to tell the truth, after all she didn’t have many ponies who saw her like that and cared about her, and she didn’t want to lose or betray that bond and affection that Dusk felt towards her.
"No, it's not true ..." Scootaloo said looking at Dusk with a face of regret. "The truth is that I haven’t gone for several days."
Dusk, who had only taken that conversation topic casually, was surprised to hear that.
"B-But why? I thought that with what we had already talked about, you had accepted the importance of going to school." Asked Dusk somewhat dismayed, fearing for the educational future of that stubborn foal, after all for Dusk, formal education was something vital in life.
"I did, at least a couple of days ..." Scootaloo answered quickly, afraid of disappointing Dusk. "But the ponies that attend there are ... very annoying." She finished saying, lowering the volume of her voice and looking back at the ground.
"What do you mean they are annoying?" Dusk asked confused until a memory of his own foalhood made him realize a possible answer. "Is it ... Is there a foal that is bothering you?"
Scootaloo did not answer or raise her head, she just kept moving slowly on her scooter, making Dusk realize that he had probably hit the nail on the head. Dusk immediately imagined the reasons why the little Scootaloo could be bothered, thinking immediately that maybe it was because she could not fly despite being a pegasus, which saddened Dusk to think how cruel the little foals and fillies could be. However, while Dusk was thinking, Scootaloo looked sideways at Dusk's flank, where his cutie mark was shown, then she gave a big sigh as she thought about the real reason she had been bothered.
"It's… it's a filly, two fillies to be exact, both are very bad, and they like to make fun of others just because they have things that others do not." Scootaloo replied, finally admitting that Dusk was right. "I don’t want to have to put up with somepony who makes fun of me, so I decided to stop going to school."
"You should not stop going to school just because you found yourself with a couple of annoying thugs," Dusk said ready to raise the courage to the filly and give him a speech again on the importance of education.
"You would not understand, you are so great, good at magic and has many friends, you don’t know what it is to deal with someone who is always bothering you." Scootaloo said stopping to look sadly at Dusk.
Upon hearing that and realizing that Scootaloo saw him with such esteem, Dusk's ego rose as he always did when someone praised him; however, that excess of pride quickly vanished and was replaced by nervousness and shame, as the truth was that what Scootaloo said could not be more wrong, because when he was a young foal, he had also suffered harassment and discomfort from his classmates.
Dusk could not help remembering part of his childhood when he had entered the magic school of Canterlot. A foal full of enthusiasm, proud to have been chosen by the princess herself to share with the young promises of magic, ready to learn from their teachers and share with the other students, a happiness that lasted only the first few days of school, because as the days passed, little by little Dusk was noticing the arrogance and envy with which the other ponies really saw him, both students and teachers. At first, Dusk had simply chose to isolate himself from the other ponies, that was until the princess had advised him to approach the others and try to become friends, however that was ultimately counterproductive, as that brought more anger and resentment towards him because the other ponies of his age did not like that he came out of his isolation and tried to be more friendly and open, which attracted the anger of the envious ponies. That was how Dusk suffered from jokes and abuses for a long time from his classmates, at least until 'she' arrived ...
"I didn’t know it back then, but she had her own reasons for doing things." Dusk thought confused after remembering a part of his past. "She lied to me and cheated on me, but it's also true that she helped me many times ... so many times ... Was that all part of her lie too?"
"Dusk! Do you hear me?" Scootaloo yelled when she saw that Dusk was lost in his thoughts.
"Eh!? Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?" Dusk said quickly returning to reality.
"I was just asking you what you think I should do with those fillies that are bothering me?" Scootaloo asked looking expectantly at Dusk. "I know you didn’t have my problems when you were little, but you're very smart, what do you think I should do?"
Dusk bit his lip as he thought about how to respond. The first thing he said to himself was that he would not break that great pony image that Scootaloo thought of him when he was a colt, so he just started thinking about what the best way would be to deal with that problem, realizing quickly that he already I knew the answer, because he had solved it that way when he was young.
"Well ... I think having a friend to accompany you is the best option." Dusk answered thoughtfully. "A friend who is there for you and supports you in front of the bullies."
"Nope." Scootaloo answered quickly and bluntly, making a cross with her front legs, to Dusk's total surprise. "There must be another solution."
"What!? Why did you respond like that? What's wrong with having friends?" Dusk asked surprised.
"I'm fine alone, and nopony can keep up with me," Scootaloo answered with a smile. "That's why I drive a scooter, I like to roam the town by myself."
"You're totally wrong, everything is better being with friends," Dusk responded a bit upset, seeing his old self-reflected in the filly. "You also have a cart to carry others with your scooter, wouldn’t that be more fun?"
"Nah, taking other ponies in my cart makes me slow down, I only use it for certain occasions," Scootaloo said with a shrug.
"But-" Dusk said ready to continue arguing with what Scootaloo said, before being interrupted by her.
"Enough, I'm fine alone, I've never needed friends, and I'm not interested in having them." Scootaloo interrupted a little annoyed. "Besides, you can’t make me have friends, can’t you?"
At that question, Dusk froze, because although what Scootaloo thought was not right, the last thing she said was right, after all, he couldn’t force her to have friends, that wouldn’t be right, going against somepony's wishes ... Only then did Dusk remember how the princess had done the opposite and forced him to do so, then what was right way?
"Anyway, I want you to give me another solution." Scootaloo continued talking, trying to return to the central issue that mattered. "How can I deal with those silly fillies that bother others?"
Scootaloo's question caused Dusk to get out of his thoughts, but not completely, determined to reflect later on the philosophical implications of what was the right way to get friends.
"Well ... I guess if you want to face a bully, it would be best to act brave." Dusk said thinking of another answer to the filly problem. "Maybe you should take a role model, that is, how would your hero act in this situation?"
"My hero? You mean Rainbow Dash!?" Scootaloo said excitedly and then ducked her head somewhat embarrassed. "But I don’t think that's good for me, she's not scared of anything! Besides, she's never been ill-treated like me."
"Well, we could ask her," Dusk said smiling, looking up at the sky, so Scootaloo did too.
As soon as Scootaloo looked up at the sky, she saw that right in front of her was her heroine, Rainbow Dash! Who landed right in front of them, doing a great pose, something that Dusk thought was unnecessary, but left the little filly dazed.
"It's ... it's ... R-Rain ... Rainbow Dash ..." Scootaloo said with her nerves frozen upon being so close to Rainbow Dash.
"Hi Dusk, I'm already here." Rainbow Dash said smiling looking at Dusk, without noticing the presence of Scootaloo, who was frozen behind Dusk.
"Yes, thanks for coming," Dusk said returning the smile.
"You-you called her?" Scootaloo asked nervously.
"Yes, do you remember when we first met? I promised you that I would get you and her together so you can talk and have a nice time, and I always keep my promises." Dusk smiled looking at Scootaloo, then turned back to see Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, this is Scootaloo, and she's your biggest fan."
"Oh yeah? Well, you have good taste, hehe." Smiled Rainbow Dash, realizing the presence of Scootaloo and smiling at her, proudly opening her wings in a sign of pride.
Scootaloo saw that Rainbow Dash noticed her and smiled at her and moved closer to her than she had ever been, so Scootaloo just moved her lips trying to speak, but unfortunately, she could not utter any words or sounds due to the nerves of meeting your idol in person.
"Pfff, what's wrong, kid? Cat got your tongue?" Rainbow Dash asked mocking Scootaloo’s nervousness a little bit but also feeling touched by her. "I know, what do you say if we fly together for a while? For Pegasus like us there is no better way to know each other than flying together, what do you say?"
Scootaloo's eyes widened as she felt a heavy weight in her stomach, her mouth trembled because now her heroine would find out in the worst possible way that she could not fly. Scootaloo moved her mouth tremblingly ready to answer until it was interrupted.
"No flying, I don’t want to stay alone!" Dusk quickly said when he saw Scootaloo's face of grief. "Better, what if Scootaloo shows you some acrobatics with her scooter? I've seen her ride it and she's amazing!" He finished saying while hugging Scootaloo sideways and smiling at Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo glanced sideways at Dusk and could not help but smile gratefully for having been saved from that situation by Dusk.
"Ohh... Really? Let's see them!" Rainbow Dash responded smiling at Scootaloo again.
Scootaloo saw Rainbow Dash again watching her, which caused the nerves to return to her, but this time, as soon as she felt that she was going to start shaking, she felt that Dusk's embrace became a little stronger, so that she looked up again and saw that Dusk also saw her with a smile, as if that smile was giving her encouragement, which made Scootaloo smile and her nerves disappear.
As soon as her initial fears were gone, Scootaloo was filled with her usual confidence, climbed on her scooter, and quickly began to circle around Dusk and Rainbow Dash while gathering speed to show her tricks to Rainbow Dash. Thus, Scootaloo made several jumps and pirouettes at high speed, always within sight of Dusk and Rainbow Dash, surprising them both for the enormous speed and maneuverability that the little filly got on her scooter.
"Wow...! You're really good and very fast!" Rainbow Dash said after several minutes of watching Scootaloo's pirouettes.
"Do you really think so!?" Scootaloo said after listening to Rainbow Dash, just when she was in the middle of a pirouette. Rainbow Dash’s words distracted her, which caused the little filly to lose control of her scooter and fall face first into the ground, although it was not serious, as she got up immediately, with a smile on her mouth for having been praised by her heroine.
"Yes, although you should not distract yourself so easily, hehe." Rainbow Dash laughed, little by little becoming fond of the little filly to see herself reflected as a child in Scootaloo. "In acrobatics, it is important to always stay focused."
"Ma-Maybe you can teach me some tricks," Scootaloo said timidly looking at Rainbow Dash, arming herself to ask that question, and approaching again to where Rainbow Dash and Dusk were. "I have a lot of free time, in fact, I'm free all day, every day, so-"
"AHEM!" Dusk coughed to interrupt Scootaloo, knowing that before the filly got more excited, he had to remind her that she had a greater commitment. "Scootaloo, you remember to go back to school, ask Rainbow Dash, she can tell you how important school is."
"Hmm ... Actually, I almost always skipped classes ..." Rainbow Dash answered scratching her head and looking up at the sky until Dusk hit her side with her elbow and the pegasus understood what Dusk wanted from her. "That is, yes, school is very important!"
"Do you really think so?" Scootaloo asked looking at Rainbow Dash with wide eyes.
"Umm... Yes, of course!" Rainbow Dash answered slowly, who never really appreciated having to be in a boring room learning things she would never use, but seeing Dusk's stern look, she could not help but play along.
"Well, if you say it, I'll do it! I will not let anyone bother me or stop me from going to school again!" Scootaloo answered full of determination.
"Well said!" Dusk said smiling, after sighing with relief that he had finally gotten Scootaloo to commit herself to attend school one hundred percent. Then he saw that the three of them were near a small ice cream stand, which gave him an idea. "Well, wait here, I'll go get some ice cream to celebrate this," Dusk added smiling before walking away.
"Hehe, he really cares about you, he must like you very much." Said Rainbow Dash talking to Scootaloo while they both saw Dusk buying ice cream.
"Yes ... he cares about me ... I guess that's how it feels to have a da-" Scootaloo responded heartily what she felt, but immediately stopped, blushing, realizing how embarrassing that would be to say, so she quickly decided to change the subject, hoping that Rainbow Dash would not have noticed his little slip. "B-By the way, you guys make a really cool couple!"
"C-Couple !?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously, blushing completely.
"Yes, Oh, don’t worry! Dusk told me it was a secret, so don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone." Scootaloo said quickly remembering what Dusk had said the day they met.
Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo with a surprised face and then glanced at Dusk, who was still buying ice cream. What the little filly said had caught her by surprise, and if what Scootaloo said was true, then Dusk himself had been the one to tell her that lie, but why? Now that she knew it, she could unmask everything and face Dusk for that lie! But…
"You... Do you really think we make a nice couple?" Asked Rainbow Dash to Scootaloo, blushing again and glancing at Dusk.
"Yeah! You two are the coolest ponies I know! You are made for each other!" Scootaloo responded excitedly.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought, then lowered her head to whisper in Scootaloo's ear.
"Yes, we are a couple, but you must keep it a secret." Rainbow Dash said in a whisper, still having her cheeks flushed. She didn’t know why she was protecting Dusk from his lie, she just knew that for some reason it made her happy that someone else saw her and Dusk as a happy couple in love.
"Sure, you can trust me!" Scootaloo replied, proud to be the new friend of Rainbow Dash.
"Here you are," Dusk said once he arrived where the mares were, carrying with his magic some ice cream cones and handing one to them.
"Thank you! I love ice cream!" Rainbow Dash said as she received her ice cream cone.
"Oh, what luck, I didn’t know," Dusk said smiling and then putting a slightly more mischievous look. "But I guess a free ice cream would not pay the bet I owe you, will it?"
"What bet?" Rainbow Dash asked confused.
"The time we bet that you couldn’t clear all the clouds over Ponyville in ten seconds, remember?" Dusk said with a small smile. "I promised you I would do anything you wanted, and as I told Scootaloo, I always keep my promises."
Only then did Rainbow Dash remember what Dusk was referring to, something she had completely forgotten. The day before the Summer Sun Celebration, she had cleared the whole sky and Dusk had lost the bet, and when she was going to tell Dusk what she wanted to ask, she saw that Pinkie Pie had taken him away.
"So tell me, taking advantage of the fact that today I am paying for the promises I have made, what would you like me to do for you?" Dusk added, staring at Rainbow Dash.
"Eh ... I ..." Rainbow Dash began to stammer as she blushed.
The truth was that on that occasion of the bet, it had taken Rainbow Dash a long time to decide what she was going to ask until finally, she came to an answer, she had decided to ask Dusk for a kiss. However, now that she was face to face with Dusk, she realized that it was not so easy to ask for what she wanted, besides it was not just Dusk, it was also Scootaloo, who was looking at her with a curious face, and if it was already very difficult to ask what she wanted from Dusk, it was impossible for her to have the word 'kiss' come out of her lips when there was someone else present.
"I-I'll tell you another time ..." Rainbow Dash finally answered, looking away, completely red.
Dusk just looked confused at Rainbow Dash, not understanding why his friend had become so nervous, as if it was her who had to pay the bet. On the other hoof, Scootaloo stared with a surprised face to see for the first time her heroine acting timid and blushing.
"Rainbow Dash is the bravest, coolest and strongest pony I know, but ... I guess it's normal to be shy when you talk to the colt you like ..." Scootaloo thought, being more observant than the unicorn when it came to love.
After eating their ice cream, the three ponies continued with their walk, walking quietly through the streets of Ponyville, Scootaloo in the middle, Dusk on one side, and Rainbow Dash on the other side, who was walking instead of flying to remain at the same rhythm of the others. On the way, Dusk and Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo of their thrilling adventure in the Everfree forest, since both ponies liked to tell their adventures, which the little filly enjoyed a lot, especially when there were certain parts of the story that Dusk and Rainbow Dash told each other differently, which made them argue for a moment, and then they laughed, accompanied by Scootaloo, who enjoyed laughing and sharing with two of the coolest ponies she has ever known.
While they were walking, Scootaloo saw out of the corner of her eye how other ponies her age also strolled along the streets with their parents, also enjoying the pleasant day. At that moment Scootaloo looked up and saw Dusk and Rainbow Dash, who were laughing together as they looked after her and smiled at her as if they were all a happy family. Scootaloo smiled with a tender glance while her heart was filled with joy and affection to feel loved, wanting to enjoy this beautiful moment for as long as possible.
"Well, I think it's time to leave, it will be my turn to work soon." Rainbow Dash said after a while, looking up at the sky and seeing some pegasus from the weather patrol flying.
Then Rainbow Dash said goodbye to Dusk and Scootaloo.
"See you later Scootaloo! I hope to see you again soon!" Rainbow Dash said winking at the filly before flying at full speed into the sky.
"Well, what did you think of meeting your idol?" Dusk asked once Rainbow Dash left.
"She ... She knows my name and...! Oh, by Celestia! She said she wanted to see me again!" Scootaloo said totally excited, jumping for joy.
Dusk just smiled to see the little filly so happy, it really had made him happy to fulfill her dream and helped her get closer to Rainbow Dash. However, while he thought how he liked helping her, he realized that on the way he had discovered something else that he could and SHOULD help her with. He had been commissioned to study the magic of friendship, and now, in front of him, there was a filly who was not interested in having friends because of a bully at school, and that situation was just so similar with his own past that Dusk could not let it pass, he had to do something.
While Scootaloo continued to jump for joy, Dusk saw that a filly about her age passing by, which he took as a unique opportunity for Scootaloo to connect with other ponies her age and thus finally make friends.
Scootaloo was still happy, fantasizing about being reunited with her heroine, when suddenly a purple aura surrounded her, and she felt as if she was being pulled by some force, causing her to move quickly to one side, crashing into something, or specifically, against somepony.
"Ouch, be more careful!" Said the pony with which Scootaloo collided with, a small filly of her age, with pink fur, blue eyes, and mane of lavender and white color, but what stood out most about that filly was that she wore a small silver tiara on his head, identical to her cutie mark.
"Well Scootaloo, this is your moment, make a new friend!" Dusk said to himself, who had teleported behind a tree after having Scootaloo collide with that filly, all to give Scootaloo the chance to have a conversation with somepony his age so she can finally make friends.
From where he was hidden, Dusk could not hear what the two fillies were talking about, but he could see them perfectly. That's how he saw that Scootaloo made a face of fear when she saw the filly she had bumped into, who seemed to be upset, which didn’t bother Dusk as it was a normal reaction for someone who gets hits. However, Dusk's lack of concern didn’t last long, since as time went on it seemed that the other filly's bad temper was not going away, and Scootaloo was just standing still, frozen listening to the other filly talking. The seconds passed, and finally, Dusk was relieved when he saw that the other filly began to laugh, which gave the idea that finally she and Scootaloo were having a fun conversation, although at that time Scootaloo had his back and was not sure how the little pegasus was reacting. Finally, the pink filly looked for some reason at Scootaloo's side and retreated, laughing as she walked away.
After seeing that the conversation between the two fillies was over, Dusk used his teleportation magic to appear again with Scootaloo.
"Well, what's wrong? Sorry to take you by surprise, but I wanted you to socialize with another filly your age so you could see that maybe it's not as difficult as you think you can talk to other ponies and become your friend." Dusk said smiling kindly looking at Scootaloo. "What did you talk about? Did you tell him a joke to break the ice? What did they do?"
Scootaloo didn’t answer immediately, she had been with her ears drooping and her head down looking at the ground. She felt very bad at that moment, but she knew that something that would make her feel worse would be to disappoint Dusk after he struggled to try to do something good for her, so she took a slow breath and raised her head to look at Dusk.
"She... She invited me to her cute-ceañera!" Scootaloo answered, forcing a big smile. "It will be tomorrow afternoon, Thanks for helping me, Dusk!"
Dusk saw Scootaloo's sad forced smile and immediately knew there was something wrong.
"That... that's great..." Dusk said trying to smile but looking worried. "But it will be ... Are you afraid of going to a cute-ceañera for somepony you don’t know? You do not have to be afraid..."
"No... I... In fact, I do know her..." Scootaloo said slowly, still smiling, but with her ears drooping, portraying what she really felt.
What Scootaloo said was ordered in Dusk’s mind to better understand the other filly's attitude, everything shifting quickly into a mental puzzle until Dusk realized what may have happened, the problem that was implied means that he had committed a terrible mistake.
"Scootaloo... That filly... Wasn’t she laughing because you two were having fun?" Dusk asked, very worried.
Seeing that her facade had failed, Scootaloo lowered her head and bit her lip while showing a very sad look.
"Hmm... No... She... she was making fun of me..." Scootaloo replied sadly.
A huge weight fell on Dusk's stomach as he confirmed what he feared. In his eagerness to try and get Scootaloo to converse with a filly of her age, he had forced her to a victim of another bully, who had only made fun of her. Realizing what he had done, Dusk immediately felt dizzy from how bad he felt, knowing that he had forced little Scootaloo to have a terrible moment.
"Scootaloo, I didn’t know, P-Please, forgive me!" Dusk said getting closer to the filly, remembering how terrible it was to be a victim of bullying.
"Don’t worry... it's nothing important." Scootaloo said with a small, sad smile, trying not to make Dusk feel bad. "The truth is that it's my fault too, I wanted to confront her and make her shut up, but the minute I saw her and started making fun of me, I just... I froze."
Dusk knew that Scootaloo was trying to make him feel less guilty, he could still see the pain in the filly's eyes, and he also knew that for now there were no more words that could better express his remorse or his need to comfort her, so, making use of what he had recently learned from his friends, he came over and hugged Scootaloo. However, this hug was nothing like the times he hugged his friends, this was more of a fatherly type, he pulled her towards him and stroked her head, just as he remembered when his mother did with him when he was little. Scootaloo, who was usually as or more reluctant to embrace than Dusk, this time just stood still, relaxed, allowing herself to be caressed.
After the hug, which lasted long enough to make them both feel better, Scootaloo smiled again and looked at Dusk.
"I think it's time to go, I have to go to the mechanic shop for some things," Scootaloo said a little blushed, without saying out loud that the hug made her feel better, saying goodbye to Dusk.
"It's okay, see you soon," Dusk said while the filly began to flap her wings to start moving on her scooter.
"Gosh, if only I could find you true friends..." Dusk thought as he said goodbye, still thinking about the lack of Scootaloo's friends. And it was at that precise moment that a brilliant idea came to mind, he had made the mistake of wanting to join Scootaloo with a filly he didn’t know, but he could reunite her with fillies that he already knew, with a great character, and that could become true friends of Scootaloo, and best of all was that Dusk knew two other fillies of her age who could be perfect candidates.
"Scootaloo, wait!" Dusk screamed before the little pegasus had completely moved away, causing Scootaloo to stop in his tracks and turn his eyes towards him. "I think it would be a good idea if you went to that cute-ceañera that you were invited to."
"What!?" Scootaloo screamed in surprise at Dusk's request.
"Just promise me you will attend," Dusk said with a kind smile.
Scootaloo wanted to deny with all her strength what Dusk was asking her, that would only mean that she will receive more and more ridicule from that unpleasant filly, however, seeing Dusk's kind smile made her accept his strange request.
"If you ask..." Scootaloo answered unconvinced but resigned herself to Dusk’s request. Riding again on her scooter to get moving again.
"Trust me, I'll make up for the mistake I made." Dusk thought with a smile as he watched his little friend go, or rather, his new little sister.
"Where is my turquoise eyeshadow!?" Rarity shouted as she ran back and forth through the lobby of Carousel Boutique.
Rarity had been hysterical all morning, ordering the boutique and grooming herself, constantly combing her hair, putting on her most expensive perfume, and putting on makeup to show a pretty face worthy of a model, all so that everything was perfect. She looked stunning for when Dusk Shine arrived. And in all the racket that Rarity was doing in her house, it was Sweetie Belle, who had been trying all morning to have a nice time with her older sister without having much success, since Rarity had her mind on other matters more important than attending to her little sister.
"Rarity... you promised that this day of the week we would do something together." Sweetie Belle said with a look of sadness watching her sister looking for her makeup, which was lost in some drawers.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, but right now I have something very important to do." Rarity said looking at her little sister for a second, showing a distressed look because even though Sweetie Belle's visit was bothering her, she did not want to look like a bad sister.
For Rarity, Sweetie Belle's visit had come at the worst possible time. It was true that she had promised to join her sister today, but that had been before she knew that Dusk was visiting her that day, and worst of all was that Sweetie Belle kept getting in her way while she was preparing! Since Sweetie Belle was a somewhat restless filly, she was always looking for something to do, and therefore always caused a disaster in the always clean and tidy home of Rarity, what the older mare had been holding as a good sister until now, always smiling at her little sister, but the truth was that as the time of Dusk's arrival drew near, Rarity's patience was running out.
"Is it true that you will have a date with Dusk Shine?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously since Rarity had been mumbling that while arranging.
"Yes ... Well, no, not exactly a date, but he will come to spend the morning with me." Rarity replied smiling, remembering how a couple of days ago she had seen Dusk asking Rainbow Dash to meet with him the next morning, something that Rarity had taken advantage of and pretend to be offended, having Dusk invite her to join as well. "Anyway, Sweetie Belle, are you sure you have not seen my turquoise eyeshadow?" Rarity asked, setting aside the conversations and concentrating again on what mattered at that moment.
"What is an eyeshadow? How do you put a 'shadow' on an eye?" Sweetie Belle asked innocently, putting a hoof near one of her eyes to be covered by the shadow that it produced.
"The eyeshadow is a make-up for the eyes, it is the paint that is used on the eyelids to highlight and beautify the eyes." Rarity answered a little amused with the ingenuity of her little sister.
"Oh... Hmm... Then, Oops!" Sweetie Belle said with an embarrassed face, turning her body so her sister could see her better, specifically her flank, revealing that she had used the eyeshadow that Rarity was looking for to paint a smiley face on her flank as a cutie mark.
"What... What did you..." Rarity said, appalled to see what Sweetie Belle had done with her eyeshadow, putting a furious look for a second, then trying to smile to remain a good sister, but unable to get it this time since this was the drop that overflowed the glass, this time she could not hold back her anger to see that again her sister had made a mess with something of hers. "What did you do!?" Rarity finally shouted furiously, unable to contain herself anymore.
"I... I thought it was just paint, hehe." Sweetie Belle laughed nervously, then quickly walked over to Rarity's cosmetics and picked up jars of very similar colors. "But don’t worry, look, there's more here, they're the same color."
"Don’t be ridiculous, they are totally different!" responded Rarity indignantly, taking the jars one by one. "This is blue, this is Calypso, this is cyan, and this is aquamarine!" Rarity finished saying, annoyed, easily differentiating the different shades of eyeshadow color that other ponies would have looked like.
"Sorry, I... I just wanted to see what a cutie mark would look like on me!" Sweetie Belle said, her eyes becoming a little tearful, teasing her sister about not being understood.
"And why are you worried about that?" Rarity asked still annoyed with her sister.
"I told you a while ago, you didn’t even listen to me, you're only worried about your stupid date!" Shouted Sweetie Belle annoyed, who got angry as easily as her older sister.
"W-Well... I... I. Don’t try to change the subject!" Rarity responded sadly for not paying attention to her sister, but quickly getting defensive again, since one thing did not take away the other, and what Sweetie Belle had done had was wrong.
Then both mares turned their backs, snorted, and stared on opposite sides with angry looks. None of them would admit it, but both sisters behaved the same way when they got angry.
"You know I love you, but I hate it when you get so carefree and irresponsible." Rarity said annoyed, not looking at her sister.
"Same thing. I hate it when you get so hateful." Sweetie Belle answered, determined that if her sister was in 'bad sister' mode, she would be too.
KNOCK KNOCK!
The door of the house rang, which caused both mares to get out of their anger and look towards the entrance of the house.
"Dusk!" Rarity whispered, completely forgetting that a few seconds ago she was angry with Sweetie Belle. Then she ran at lightning speed towards a sofa that had been placed in the center of the hall, she lay down on it with a sexy pose, took a book and arranged her beautiful mane.
"Come in!" Rarity said loudly so that Dusk could finally enter the house.
As soon as Dusk Shine entered, he saw that Rarity was lying on a luxurious red sofa while reading what appeared to be a romantic novel, so focused on her reading that it seemed she had not yet noticed his presence.
"Hello Rarity, I hope I'm not interrupting you," Dusk said a little shy since he didn’t like to interrupt other ponies reading. Then Rarity lowered the book she pretended to read, to look at Dusk.
"Oh, Dusk, I'm sorry you found me in this mess, it's just that I didn’t have time to get ready." Rarity said coquettishly, feigning surprise. "For a moment I almost forgot that-"
"Hello, Dusk!" Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted, interrupting Rarity, running at full speed and jumping on Dusk to be caught in the air.
"Woah, Hi, Sweetie Belle," Dusk said, smiling as he fell to the ground as he greeted the little filly.
"I'm glad to see you again!" Sweetie Belle said once they were both on the ground. Then she put her face to Dusk and kissed his cheek, then smiled.
"I... I’m glad to see you too, hehe." Dusk replied, a little surprised by that kiss on the cheek, but didn’t say anything about it, understanding that it was a normal filly behavior, after all, it was known that the fillies were usually more affectionate than the colts.
While Dusk smiled, and Rarity was pale looking at her little sister and her beloved stallion together, Sweetie Belle looked fleetingly at her older sister, with a smug smile, a gesture so subtle that only Rarity managed to perceive and understand. Sweetie Belle had interrupted her on purpose, and she had purposely thrown herself into Dusk's hoofs and kissed him on the cheek, her little sister was taking revenge on her, trying to get Dusk's attention, which made Rarity flushed with anger when she saw that her sister wanted to play against her in her own territory.
"Sweetie, my dear, it isn’t right for a young lady to throw themselves into the hooves of a stallion just like that." Rarity said, acting kindly, but deep down annoyed by her sister's attitude. Telling her that so she would leave her beloved Dusk.
"But Dusk doesn’t mind, right Dusk?" Sweetie Belle smiled hugging Dusk again, only to make her sister angrier, which gave immediate results, because, despite Rarity's false smile, Sweetie Belle could feel her sister's furious gaze on her.
"Well no, it doesn’t bother me, as long as it's you." Dusk replied smiling kindly but standing up to break away from Sweetie Belle's embrace. "But Rarity is right, a young lady should not go around throwing herself at the hooves of a stallions."
Seeing that Dusk separated from Sweetie Belle, Rarity gave a brief glance of triumph to her little sister, who noticed and put a face of defeat until she came up with a brilliant idea not to lose to her older sister.
"Oh... But I've seen Rarity always throwing herself into the hooves of other stallions, how come she can?" Sweetie Belle asked with a fake look of innocence, looking at Dusk.
"THAT'S A LIE!" Shouted Rarity blushing, annoyed, unable to hold her false smile of a good sister to the brazen lie of Sweetie Belle. However, the moment she shouted, Rarity realized that she had dropped her facade so quickly, she returned to her composure and smiled again. "I-I mean... Sweetie Belle, dear, I think you misunderstand, I would never do something like that."
"Well... maybe I was wrong, sorry." Sweetie Belle replied trying to hide her evil smile when she saw that her sister had fallen into her trap.
Meanwhile, Dusk looked at both sisters and smiled to see how good they were, seeing how they smiled at each other, not realizing that both sisters were having a power struggle to get his attention and make the other look bad. So, both sisters continued to smile fakely until an idea came to Rarity's mind, something that would end the absurd fight, after all she didn’t need to fight with her sister, because she had already won it, since Dusk had come for a date with her, not with her little sister, which made Rarity smile at Sweetie Belle with a smile of triumph and satisfaction at what was about to happen.
"Well, darling, I think it's time to leave." Rarity said smiling sweetly, approaching Dusk and taking one of his hooves. "We must take advantage of the morning, there is so much to do! Until then, little sister, take good care of the boutique while Dusk and I go for a walk." Rarity smiled giving a fleeting look of victory to her sister as she made Dusk turn around so they could both leave the house.
"Can I go with you?" Sweetie Belle asked immediately, running to stand between them and the door, making her look more tender, surprising Dusk and antagonizing Rarity.
"What a dirty play! Now she wants to ruin my date with Dusk!" Rarity thought annoyed, but quickly thinking of a countermeasure.
"But dear, we are two adult ponies, and... we will be doing adult things, you would get very bored with us, why don’t you go and have fun others your age?" Rarity smiled lovingly, knowing that with that answer she could easily evade Sweetie Belle's attack.
However, Rarity's smile didn’t last long as she and Dusk were surprised to see that Sweetie Belle suddenly started crying, completely unraveling her. As that caught Rarity by surprise, who had imagined that her sister would continue insisting on going with them or anything else other than crying, Dusk was the first to react.
"Sweetie Belle, what's wrong?" Dusk asked worriedly, approaching the little filly.
"It's... *Sniff* I'm new to the town, and I…" *Sniff* "I don’t have friends... Buah!" Sweetie Belle cried more strongly.
"Shh... Easy there, don’t cry." Dusk said hugging her, knowing the effectiveness of the hugs and feeling empathy for the Sweetie Belle situation, since he knew very well the loneliness of not having friends.
While Dusk said that and hugged Sweetie Belle, the stupor of Rarity passed, to give rise to surprise and then anger to see what was in front of her, then, taking advantage of the fact that Dusk didn’t see her since he was hugging her, Sweetie Belle made a mocking face and stuck her tongue out at Rarity, letting her older sister see that it had all been a trick to go with them and to get a hug from Dusk.
"That little cheat! Who taught you to be so manipulative!?" Rarity thought furiously, not realizing how similar she and her sister were sometimes.
Seeing the furious face of her sister, Sweetie Belle smiled with triumph, since her revenge against her sister for not paying attention was working, and now Rarity was jealous of how close she was to Dusk.
Pretending not to have friends had been perfect, better than perfect! Since Sweetie Belle had not only managed to interrupt the Dusk and Rarity’s date, but she also got a warm hug from Dusk, all for a little lie! But... Was it really a lie...? Only then did Sweetie Belle realized that what she had said was not a lie, since she and her parents had come from the big city recently to live outside of Ponyville, losing all of her friends from the city. At that time Sweetie Belle felt real grief when she realized that what she had said was not totally a lie; however, she decided not to give importance to it for the moment, after all, now she had Dusk with her, and that only mattered to her. For now.
"Wait a minute, that's not true!" said Rarity suddenly, trying to hide her anger, wanting to unmask her sister in front of Dusk. "Yesterday you accompanied me to a client who wanted a fine dress, she had a daughter of your age, and I saw that you both chatted together, she even invited you to her cute-ceañera!"
"A cute-ceañera?" Dusk asked curious, remembering yesterday and what happened with Scootaloo. "It wasn’t a pink filly wearing a tiara who invited you, was it?"
"Do you know her?" Sweetie Belle answered looking at Dusk. "Her name is Diamond Tiara, and yes, she invited me to her cute-ceañera, but only because she wants all the Ponyville foals to attend her great cute-ceañera, but no, she is not my friend, she... she’s a bit bad to me when we talk... I don’t know if it's a good idea to go. " Sweetie Belle finished saying and becoming sad, looking sideways at Dusk's flank, where his cutie mark shone.
After Sweetie Belle spoke and remembered what happened with Scootaloo, Dusk's mind began to work and formulate a plan that could involve Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, in order to solve both of their problems. It would be easy to bring them together at the party and they would both attend, but it would be best if they met before and have the confidence to accompany and support each other. With that in mind, Dusk had a new immediate goal, to find Scootaloo.
"Hmm... Well, I think it's time for us to leave; otherwise we'll be gone all morning without doing anything we agreed on." Dusk said looking at Rarity and smiling.
"Yes, I totally agree!" Rarity smiled, happy to finally be able to go on her romantic walk with Dusk. "See you later, Sweetie Belle."
"What are you talking about, Sweetie Belle will be coming with us!" Dusk smiled, glancing at the little filly and approaching Rarity to whisper in her ear. "I think it would be nice if Sweetie Belle went out with us, so we can chat about friendship and see if we can get her a friend on the way." He finished whispering into Rarity’s ear, who could only accept with a nervous smile, resigned to see that her plans for a romantic walk had been destroyed.
"Tell me, Sweetie Belle..." Dusk added, turning to look at the little filly. "Would you like to meet a friend of mine, she's your age, and I'm sure you two can become good friends."
Sweetie Belle looked at Dusk for a few seconds, not knowing what to answer. She first thought of using a little bit of false joy to flatter Dusk and congratulate him on his great idea, however, seeing that Dusk really seemed concerned about her lack of friends, she decided to put aside the performances and answer sincerely.
"Hmm... The truth is that I don’t care about having friends or not, I'm happy as I am, but if you think it's important, I think I could try." Sweetie Belle replied, smiling kindly.
That's how the three unicorns left Carousel Boutique to take a walk through the streets of Ponyville, all with different missions they wanted to fulfill: Dusk with the mission of looking for Scootaloo to make her and Sweetie Belle meet and become friends; Rarity with the mission of doing everything possible to capture the Dusk’s attention and thus trying to achieve some romantic moments between the two; and Sweetie Belle with the mission to interfere with Dusk and Rarity's appointment, and show her older sister that she could get more of Dusk's attention than Rarity could achieve with all her charm. However, as the morning progressed, it seemed that none of the three ponies achieved their purpose, since during the whole walk, Dusk was focused on looking for Scootaloo, but unfortunately he couldn’t findher anywhere, and while he focused on his search, the two mares that accompanied him could not capture his attention with the various conversations they tried to engage with him, let alone approach him, since Dusk had been walking without stopping trying to find the little pegasus.
"I can’t find her anywhere..." Dusk finally gave up after walking several streets of Ponyville. "I... I’m sorry for making you two come for nothing." Dusk added a little embarrassed to see that he had dragged the two mares without achieving his goal.
"I’m sorry too, but now that we're done with that, maybe we could go back to my initial plan to have a more... personal walk." Rarity said coquettishly, determined not to give up or waste that opportunity she had with having Dusk for herself.
"Yeah, it doesn’t matter that you couldn’t find your friend, after all, making friends is not something that I care about very much." Sweetie Belle said nonchalantly, looking at Dusk. "Besides, it's not like I've never had friends before, I had a few friends in my old home before we moved from town, but since we moved, I haven’t thought about them much, and they haven’t contacted me either. Maybe friendship isn’t everlasting; when one thing changes... "
When he heard what the filly was saying, Dusk froze, what she was saying was something cold, but it was also true, after all, he himself had known so many ponies with whom he no longer had contacted, and more importantly! Sweetie Belle had played something very important in what Dusk had never noticed until now: Is friendship everlasting? What would happen to his friends if he or one of them went away? Would they still be friends as close as they were now?
"I don’t think friends are so important, even Rarity told me you didn’t have friends before." Sweetie Belle added without realizing the doubts that began to cross through Dusk's mind. "If you grew up so far without friends, it means they are not so necessary, right?"
While Rarity was blushing to see that Sweetie Belle made her look like a loose mouth, Dusk still had a strong mental debate about the new doubts she had about friendship, not about her bond with her friends, but about the concept in her. Yes friendship is something that seems so beautiful and eternal, but in just two days, two simple fillies had been responsible for shaking everything he believed in and now, he realizes that friendship was something much more complicated and there are many more variables to study, which would imply more mathematical calculations for their equations about friendship.
Seeing Dusk so quiet and with such a confused face, Rarity immediately thought that what Sweetie Belle had said about friends had affected him, after all her cute and naive Dusk was still new to friendship, and maybe he had many doubts about his friendship with her and the other mares.
"Dusk... You don't have to worry. It doesn't matter if you didn’t have friends before. Now you have us." Rarity said smiling kindly, thinking that Dusk would be thinking about his old lack of friends.
"Yes, I know," Dusk responded, leaving his thoughts and returning to reality, smiling at Rarity and then putting a more serious face while saying his thoughts. "I was just thinking... Does friendship have an expiration date? I mean, I feel that our friendship is huge and that it will never end, or at least that's what I want, but I realize that it's not something I can ensure, after all, I've already made friends before. "
"You mean your old childhood friend," Rarity asked, remembering that this was a sensitive issue that she wanted to know about, but she didn’t want to force Dusk to talk about it if he wasn’t ready.
"Yes... She was my friend for a long time." Dusk answered with a confused face, looking up at the sky as he remembered. "It is true that she gave me a lot of bad advice, which led me to have an unfitting definition of 'friendship,' she also cheated me and abandoned me when I needed her, but... What about all the good times we had? Maybe they didn’t mean anything to her, but to me, it was great, the company, the laughter, the love... Can’t I just forget all of that, can’t I just forget about all the bad things, and say that she was not my friend or didn’t mean anything to me...? "
Seeing Dusk's face so confused, with a look that showed that his past still tormented him, Rarity smiled tenderly and spoke to him looking into his eyes sweetly.
"Maybe you should not forget her." Rarity answered by understanding Dusk's feelings. "If she was so important to you, you cannot deny her existence. She was your friend, but that was in the past, now you must look to the future and make sure that what happened to you will never happen again with your new friends. Whatever it was, because of something I can be sure of, we will never cheat or abandon you! Also, that was when you were foals, who knows, maybe in the future, you will meet and forgive her for what happened in the past."
At that moment, when Dusk heard the word 'forgive,' he narrowed his eyes with an uncertain look, remembering the cause of the breakdown of their old friendship.
"Forgiveness... I don’t know if that could ever happen..." Dusk said in a whisper.
"You see, it's better to be alone," Sweetie Belle said suddenly. She had attentively watched the whole scene of Dusk's confusion. "That way you avoid all those problems."
With the words of Sweetie Belle, a weight fell on Dusk's stomach, since those were the same words that Scootaloo had told him the day before.
"How can I carry the element of the magic of friendship if I can’t even foster friendship between two fillies? And what's worse, it seems that instead of encouraging it, I ruin it even more!" Dusk thought distressed.
"No, that's not true!" Dusk said with determination, responding to Sweetie Belle and at the same time shutting his thoughts of guilt and grief, determined to guide the fillies down the path of a good and healthy friendship. "Friendship is the most beautiful thing I've discovered in my life, and I want you to know it too, you just need to know the right pony, once you know them, you'll see how important friendship is in one's life."
At the end of his sentence, Dusk glanced at Rarity, because right there was one of his friends, and therefore, one of the most important ponies in his life. Rarity immediately noticed Dusk's intense gaze, and she blushed deeply at the affection that emanated from those beautiful purple eyes.
"Perfect synchrony! Time to start over and get back into the game." Rarity thought, ready to make eye contact with Dusk, knowing that it was time to resume her attempts to return to that simple walk in Ponyville on a romantic date, despite the interference of his sister. And for their luck, they were in the right place so that Rarity could make her move.
"Oh, how silly of me!" Rarity said theatrically, taking a hoof to her mouth, feigning surprise. "I just remembered that today I didn’t buy any flowers to decorate the vases in my room, what ever shall I do?"
Dusk listened to what Rarity said and immediately looked around to see how to solve the his friend’s problem, and to their fortune, they were not that far from the flower stall of Ponyville, something that Dusk thought was a ‘great luck’, apart from Rarity, who had already noticed it and that was precisely why she had done that little performance right there.
"Now, the noble and attentive gentleman that is Dusk, will buy me a bouquet of beautiful flowers, a beautiful romantic gesture with which we can finally change the atmosphere of this walk of friends by one of a more romantic tone, Fufufu!" Rarity laughed triumphantly in her thoughts, ready to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her beloved Dusk.
"Hey... But you don’t have any vases in your room." Sweetie Belle suddenly said looking at her sister with a mischievous smile, breaking the atmosphere and making Rarity and Dusk look at her in surprise.
"You don’t have any vases? Then why do you want flowers?" Dusk asked confused, as naive as ever when it came to romance.
"Eh!? Well... I... It's uhm..." Rarity replied totally nervous, not knowing what to answer, turning her eyes again to see her treacherous little sister, annoyed for having disrupted her plan and who seemed to still want to interfere between them.
"Oh, Look! What's that!?" Rarity added with enthusiasm pointing towards the sky, making Dusk look towards where she pointed, then, while Dusk was distracted, she lowered her head to be at the height of Sweetie Belle and whispered furiously. "Why are you still bothering me!?"
"Because it's fun!" Sweetie Belle replied smiling, also whispering so that Dusk couldn’t hear her. "It's also your punishment for not paying attention to me this morning." the little filly said and was putting a mischievous smile, hiding her other reason to do all that, which was to defeat Rarity for just one time, since her older sister always shone and caught more attention of others than she ever could, so if she could win Dusk's attention and hold it for the afternoon, it would be a great and personal victory for her.
"Dusk, did you know Rarity spends hours putting on makeup in the morning?" Sweetie Belle said again speaking loudly to catch the attention of the unicorn lavender. "She always wakes up with big dark circles, I guess that's why she likes to use eyeshadow."
"NOOO! How dare you!?" Rarity shouted in her mind as she heard her sister start to speak ill of her and trying to destroy her image. "Well, if you want to play dirty, we can both do it!"
"Dusk, did you know that Sweetie Belle is still urinating in bed? The one time she had a nightmare and wet her entire bed!" Rarity said smiling in revenge, counterattacking her sister, watching as Sweetie Belle lowered her head, probably embarrassed.
"Sniff! Sister... Why did you say that? Sniff! That... That’s so embarrassing to me... Buah!" Sweetie Belle started crying, again surprising Rarity and Dusk.
In the act, Dusk approached Sweetie Belle and hugged her so she can calm down, then looked severely at Rarity.
"Rarity, you mustn’t make fun of your little sister like that!" Dusk said looking seriously at Rarity, while under him was Sweetie Belle, who again took advantage of Dusk not seeing her to stick out her tongue and make fun of her sister, again letting it be seen that everything was a performance.
"Not again! How is it that Dusk fell for the same trick twice? How come I fell for it twice!?" Rarity thought hysterically as her anger against her sister reached new levels.
"Oh! Sweetie Belle, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me!" Rarity said totally regretful, almost with tears in her eyes, slowly approaching her sister's face until she almost touched her.
"It's okay, I forgive you because I love you so much, big sister!" Sweetie Belle answered, with a huge and tender smile.
Meanwhile, the naive Dusk smiled to see how the two unicorn sisters seemed to have finally solved their problems, believing to see how they showed their affection for each other.
"You see, everything can be forgiven between sisters!" Dusk said, smiling at both mares. "I wish Spike, and I could get along so well after arguing."
Meanwhile, in the mares' minds...
"You'll see, you're going to pay me, damn dwarf!" Rarity thought furiously while doing one of her best performances, pretending to repent so as not to fall into her sister's trap or make her image even worse with Dusk.
"Bwahaha! You can't beat me!" Sweetie Belle mocked in her imagination as she continued to act perfectly, not letting Dusk see her true intentions, laughing evilly in her mind when she saw how she beat her older sister.
After the fake smiles that seemed to have last for hours, both mares turned and looked at Dusk, ready to continue their attack and see which of the two managed to capture more and better the attention of Dusk Shine.
"Dusk, darling, there is an important customer who asked me for a fashion line for colts." Rarity said putting her best damsel in distress face for Dusk to notice her. "And I think you would be an ideal colt for-"
"Oh, no, I just remembered that tomorrow I’m starting school, but I still don’t know where it is!" Sweetie Belle said speaking loudly and purposely interrupting her sister. "Dusk, could you show me where the school is?" I know that a studious pony like you should like the mares that strive in their studies, right?"
"Uhm... Yes, you're right!" Dusk said confused for not having fully listened to what Rarity was going to ask him but fully understanding everything that Sweetie Belle was saying. "School is the cradle of knowledge! It's important that you go, come on! I'll show you where it is."
"Thanks, but it's a pity that my sister can’t accompany us, after all, she just said it herself, she has to work on the request of an important client." Sweetie Belle added looking at Rarity sideways and could not help but let out a small evil smile. "I know Dusk will not want to interrupt her work or delay her, right?"
"Eh?" Rarity said, who had been caught off guard after Sweetie Belle's surprise attack.
"Yes, it's true, I don’t want to delay your work," Dusk said kindly looking at Rarity. "Don’t worry, if you're busy I can show the school to Sweetie Belle on my own, you don’t need to accompany us."
"Eh!?" Rarity said still incredulous to see how her little sister had managed to sabotage it completely.
"Come on Dusk! Before it's late!" Sweetie Belle said pushing Dusk, so they could leave as soon as possible.
"I-I’m sorry," Dusk said hurried to see that Sweetie Belle was pushing him. "See you later, Rarity."
"Yes... see you later, sister." Sweetie Belle smiled wickedly looking at Rarity as she walked away with Dusk.
Meanwhile, Rarity was stunned for several seconds watching her beloved and her little sister walking away and talking happily among themselves. Once she lost sight of them, she was finally able to get out of her stupor.
"I... I JUST LOST AGAINST A FILLY!?" Rarity screamed in despair, finally letting go of her frustration at having missed her chance to have a perfect date with Dusk, all for her annoying but cunning little sister.
# End of chapter 25