"Sweetie Belle? Have you seen that blue silk ribbon? Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle, Where are you!?"
Rarity's calls echoed through the boutique.
"Where is that little filly?" she muttered shaking her head, "Sweetie Belle!"
But she thought nothing of it. She probably just ran out with her two friends and forgotten to notify her sister of her departure. Rarity rolled her eyes a little, When will that little filly remember to tell me anything? she thought shaking her head, but continuing her search for the sky blue ribbon for her latest ensemble.
"Oh, I do hope she hasn't run off with it! I know she enjoys playing with my things, but I really need that ribbon for my creation! It would be just per-fect for the client!" She mumbled as she rummaged frantically, but taking her time to look, through the entire house. "Ugh! I simply can't find it anywhere! Sweetie Belle!"
Glancing out the window, Rarity spotted three bouncing little fillies outside, with bright red and gold capes flying in the the wind. She couldn't help but smile at the scene before her.
When her little sister had first created the capes, she was furious. Sweetie had wanted to add the "perfect flare" to the self-proclaimed Cutie Mark Crusaders capes, like her big sister did with her designs, and had used the shiny golden material Rarity had in fact needed for a client. Rarity was very angry with her sister, at the time, but she grew fond of those capes. The gold, did actually make the capes absolutely wonderful, and she grew to appreciate Sweeties hard work to be like her sister.
She rolled her eyes, grinning, as the three hopped around causing their beautiful capes to make them appear as if they were soaring.
She opened the door, calling out from the doorway, "Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Belle."
The little unicorn filly bounced around, a blissfully unaware ball of flying white, pink, and purple with a blur of red and gold. The wind rang with the sound of small, bubbly laughter and wide smiles lit the world a little more on the slightly cloudy day.
"Sweetie Belle! Have you seen that ribbon.......?" A quick blur entered Rarity's peripheral, she turned to see a speeding carriage not far down the road, "What the.....?" Glancing back at her sister, Rarity noticed the two others watched as Sweetie Belle attempted the latest trick their little daredevil friend Scootaloo was trying to teach them.
At first she simply watched as Sweetie Belle, needing room to jump, backed up........
Into the road.
It took a minute for Rarity's brain to process.
Suddenly, the speeding carriage appeared just yards away, and was closing in quickly........
On Sweetie Belle.
The three fillies were blissfully unaware as Rarity's heart dropped to her stomach, froze, and raced violently all simultaneously, "Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle get out of the road!"
The carriage kept flying, closer and closer.
Rarity knew she should move, grab Sweetie Belle and drag her out of the street, scolding lightly her for not being careful. Report the runaway carriage, insure the driving ponies are all right.
But no matter how hard she willed herself, something kept her frozen in place, like a statue of marble.
"Sweetie Belle! Get out of the way!"
The fillies couldn't hear her over their own cheers and encouraging shouts.
Rarity finally got her body to move.
"Sweetie Belle! Get out of the road, Sweetie Belle!"
The carriage was only a few yards away. Part of Rarity's brain knew the sequence of events that were to follow, while the rest frantically attempted to deny it, stop it, anything to prevent it.
"Sweetie Belle!!!" Rarity's loud shriek echoed in her mind, as the next few moments ran in slow motion. Rarity tried to sprint across the remainder of the yard, every fiber in her body pushing to reach her little sister in time. But it seemed as if she was running against time, thick as honey.
The carriage closed in on the last few inches, only then did the other two realize what was happening, and the last thing Rarity saw was Sweetie Belle's smiling face as she locked eyes with her sister, then disappearing as the carriage ran over where she was standing.
Sweetie Belle's inert form came to rest a few feet down the road from where she had stood just seconds ago bouncing in joy, and the world around Rarity seemed to freeze, the feeling in her stomach colder than any storm of ice could possibly conjure. Rarity halted, still a few feet from the Crusaders, staring blankly as her brain tried to register what she had already seen coming. All she could to was blink, as tears welled in her eyes quickly rolling down her face.
"Nooo!" The high pitched shriek was all that filled the air.
Rarity's vision faded in and out as she ran, still feeling as if everything was in slow motion.
Tears rolled down her face, sobs racking her body. Everything sounded distant, Scootaloo snapping out of the shock that held them all and screaming for help, Applebloom's crying that flipped between screams and sobs.
Her own voice was distant to her.
She had heard shouts from the carriage, she wasn't sure if they had even noticed what they'd done, but it continued it's fatal pace. How could those ponies continue like that? How could they not notice, or rather not care, that they had trampled a child? Why were they running so quickly? How many more young fillies and colts were in danger?
She cradled Sweetie Belle's still and broken form. Rarity unconsciously thought to remove the C.M.C. cape, small spots in the gold stained in blood, poor little Sweetie Belle's blood. She held on to her sister rocking with her own violent sobs. She stayed conscious long enough for her blurred vision to recognize Applejack and Twilight's presence as well as paramedics swarming her, but she blacked out.
But in the blackness, Rarity could feel her heart crack, like an icy pond threatening to break into a hundred pieces at any minute.