//------------------------------//
// A Bit of Bad News 
// Story: A Life Cut Short 
// by Silver Hoof 
//------------------------------//

Rarity was overjoyed as she walked into the doctor's office for her bi-monthly check-up. Her birthday was just a week away, and she knew she would be getting wonderful gifts from all of her friends. Especially her Spikey-Wikey. He had finally accepted that they couldn't be together, but he still wanted her to be happy, so he always gave her the best, most thoughtful and meaningful gifts that he could find. She did feel sort of guilty that she was unable to give him the one gift that he wanted, but apparently making her happy was enough for him. Maybe this year, she would give Spike a kiss on the cheek, or an extra-long hug to show him that she knew how much he cared for her.

"Ah, Rarity." The doctor said as she stepped inside. "Come, come, sit down. You're here for your routine check-up, I suppose?"

"Yes, Fancypants." Rarity said. "Oh, I am just so excited!"

"For your check-up?" Fancypants asked, simultaneously confused and flattered.

"Oh, no," Rarity said, "My birthday is in three days! I'll be twenty-six!" she squealed.

"Well, then, an early happy birthday to you, Rarity." said Fancypants.

Rarity and Fancy were very close. Outside of her five best friends in Ponyville, he was the pony she trusted the most. Maybe it was because their stories were so similar. A few months ago, Fancypants had revealed to her a secret. He had not been born with his wealth or his status. He'd had to work very hard to earn the life he currently lived. Fancy had worked through high school at a minimum-wage paying trot-through restaurant. After majoring in medicine, and with a minor in economics from Canterlot College, he acquired a job at a local hospital, worked his way up, and tripled almost every cent that he had made using his knowledge of the stock market.

"We'll be starting with a standard poking and prodding." Fancypants joked, eliciting a giggle from Rarity. He can sure be funny at times. The first part of the procedure went by swiftly, and everything appeared to be in perfect condition. "Now comes the painful part." Fancy said. "The horn scraping." He floated a hoof file and a small container toward her and began to file her horn. It was painful, but it had to be done. Fancypants was finished quickly. He sealed the container and left the room to run some more in-depth tests on everything. Fancy was gone for half an hour, twenty minutes longer than usual. Rarity was starting to worry when Fancy walked back into the room.

"Did I ever tell you how much my wife loved that dress you made for her?" he asked, confusing her.

"No." She said suspiciously. "Fancypants, what's wrong?"

"You know, after you and I first met, she was sure that i would divorce her to be with you." He said, chuckling nervously.

She responded slowly. "Is... is that what this is about?"

Tears formed in his eyes as he shook his head. "I wish that was what this was about." He whispered. "But what I have to say... This is worse."

Now Rarity was scared. She put on a brave face, however, and said, "Give it to me straight, Fancy. What is wrong with me?"

"I- I." He stammered. "I had it tested five times. I had hoped that there had been a mistake, but-" Rarity cut him off.

"What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?" She said through clenched teeth.

He handed her a few papers, shuddered, and whispered a reply. "You can check the results, but the tests are conclusive. I'd hoped I would never have to tell this to anypony." He shook his head again and continued. "You have horn cancer, Rarity. It is a, extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer that only us unicorns can inherit."

She was silent for a moment, absorbing the full shock of what she had just heard. And then she responded, on the verge of tears. "W- we can do chemo, can't we?"

"I wish we could." He said. "But in every case, chemotherapy hasn't ever worked. I guess what I am trying to say is... You're dying, Rarity. At the very best, you have a month left."

She held back the tears and looked Fancypants in the eyes. "I don't care if chemo has never worked before. I still want to try."

"But Rarity... your hair-"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY HAIR!" She screamed, startling Fancypants. "When given the choice between life and beauty, even I would choose life!"

Fancy nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'll call you in six days. That way, you can enjoy your birthday and get all of your things arranged in case..." He gazed at the ground, unable to finish. There was no need for him to do so. Rarity knew what he meant. There was a good chance that the operation might not work.

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Spike stood at the front of the Carousel Boutique, staring confusedly at the sign in the window. "Everything Must Go" the sign read. Is Rarity going out of business? He thought. But that can't be it. Rarity's dresses were too beautiful to be out of style. Rarity was too beautiful to be out of style. So what was going on that made her want to get rid of everything? Spike approached the door and knocked three times. "Rarity?" He called out. "Are you in there? Is everything okay?"

He heard a loud crash, followed by frustrated mumbling from inside, and then the unicorn responded. "Just a minute, Spike!" Rarity's voice sounded thick, as if she had been crying. A few seconds later, the door opened and Rarity ushered Spike inside. He did a double-take when he saw her. Her face was lined with dried tears, her coat was dirty, her eyes were bloodshot, and it appeared as if she didn't even try to brush her mane this morning. When he saw the inside of the Boutique, however, his jaw dropped. At least half of the dresses she would usually have in stock were gone! The sign had been right.

"R- R- Rarity, what's wrong?" He stammered. "Where did everything go? Are you being foreclosed on?"

She put on a fake smile. "Oh, no need to worry, Spikey-Wikey. Everything is just fine. I'm just... Starting over, that's all." The sentence sounded false, and her tone of voice sounded rehearsed. He stared at her skeptically. Something about this didn't feel right. Rarity suddenly handed him three boxes. "Could you take these to Twilight for me, please? She said that she would get them to Canterlot for me, and I'm a little busy at the moment." Spike nodded. Man, these boxes were heavy. As Spike waswalkind toward the door, he triped over Opalescence's favorite toy. The boxes crashed to the floor, spilling their contents. "Oh!" Rarity cried. "How did that get in there?" Spike looked up to see Rarity holding the ruby that he had given her on his birthday last year. She had it pressed against her face as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I could never give this away." she whispered. Spike was touched that his gift still meant so much to her after an entire year had passed, but something was wrong. He had never seen Rarity acting like this before. She refilled the boxes using her magic and gave them back to Spike. "You're coming to my birthday tomorrow, right?" She asked. Her question puzzled him. Of course he was going to come to her birthday. He nodded his head. "Good." She whispered. "I'd really love to see you there." Spike was blushing. He picked up the boxes and walked out the door.

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Just one day had passed since she had received the news, and she was preparing for the worst. Her store was selling everything, she had just written her will, and she'd given all the money she had to charity. Rarity sighed to herself. She had almost told Spike about the cancer. But she couldn't tell anypony. They would be devastated. She went into her room and sat at the vanity. She looked her reflection in the eyes. "I have cancer." She said bluntly. "I- I'm dying. And even with the chemotherapy, I might not survive." Her voice broke, and the tears flowed freely. Eventually, curling up on the floor, the purple-maned mare cried herself to sleep.

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The air around her was thick and foggy. She stood on a hill, trying to make out some event in the distance. Slowly, the fog cleared, and Rarity saw it. Her friends; Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike, all of them gathered around an open grave. A casket was lowered into the ground. Suddenly, she was standing with them, hearing their softly spoken conversations.

Fluttershy looked catatonic, mumbling inaudiably to herself over and over.

Twilight shook her head. "You were gone too soon, just... just taken from us. Why?" She whispered.

Pinkie was sobbing uncontrolably, and Dash was trying to console her; hugging her, kissing her forhead, and stroking her mane, all the while fighting back tears of her own.

Rarity knew what this was. This was her funeral. As if to confirm her suspicions, as the dirt was being shoveled into the ground, Spike jumped onto the casket and began screaming. "NO! RARITY!"

Twilight and AJ pulled him out of the ground. Up until this point, Applejack had been silent, but now she spoke. "Why didn' ya tell us, sugarcube? We woulda' understood just fine, and we coulda' helped you. If only you woulda' asked us."

"But I'm not dead!" Rarity cried, unable to take this any longer. "I'm still here!" She ran over to hug her country friend, but gasped as she passed right through her.

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"...arity, wa..."

"...ake up!..."

"Rarity..."

"WAKE UP RARITY!"

Rarity was jolted out of the dream to see a familiar little filly's face staring down at her. She scrambled up off of the floor. "Sweetie Belle!" She exclaimed. "What ever are you doing here?"

"Don't you remember?" Sweetie Belle asked as if she should know. Rarity shook her head. "Ugh! Today is the day that Mom and Dad agreed to drop me off for your birthday! They couldn't make it, so they decided to drop me off early! Surprised?"

"Very." Rarity said, shaken. "You scared me, Sweetie."

"Are you sure that it was me?" Sweetie Belle replied. "How about you tell me what you were dreaming about. From the way you were flailing on the floor, it must have been a real nightmare."

"I don't remember." Rarity lied. Sweetie Belle looked at her skeptically. Rarity smiled nervously. "It's nothing." She said. Sweetie Belle decided not to press the matter. If her sister didn't want to talk about something, it wasn't going to happen.

"So, sis." Sweetie Belle said. "Do you want me to help you prepare for your birthday?"

"No!" Rarity said quickly. Seeing the hurt look in Sweetie's eyes, she added, "What I meant to say was, I kind of wanted to do something special today, just the two of us."

Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up. "What did you have in mind?" She asked enthusiastically.

"You'll see, Sweetie. Now go put on something nice. Where we're going, you need to be wearing clothes."

Sweetie Belle embraced Rarity. "Oh, thank you Big Sister!" She shouted.

Rarity's breath caught and her heart skipped a beat. That word. She thought. Such a simple, small word, and yet it means so much. All my life, I've taken our relationship for granted. I've never realized... just how much that word means to me. Sister. Oh, Sweetie Belle! You're losing your sister and you don't even know it! She held her sister and shook her head. No. She thought. I'm going to fight this! And I will win! I refuse to leave my Little Sister alone in this life! I have to beat this! For her! For my friends! I will survive!

Sweetie Belle noticed that her sister was crying. "What's wrong, Big Sis?"

Rarity wiped the tears away with a hoof. "It's nothing, Little Sis. I just- I love you. So much."

"Aw! I love you too!"

"I know, Sweetie Belle." Rarity whispered, nodding. "I know."

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It had been one day since the incident at Rarity's Boutique. Spike sat alone in the library because Twilight was off in Canterlot delivering Rarity's packages. Recently, he had been doing some thinking, and he'd come to the realization that something was wrong. Rarity had been acting very strangely when he had seen her yesterday. She'd been crying, her mane and coat were unkempt, and she'd almost had a breakdown over nearly selling the heart-shaped ruby that he had given her. To top it off, the way she had said that she wanted to see him at her birthday had sounded... No, it couldn't be that. Spike was madly in love with her, but he didn't kid himself. He knew that Rarity only thought of him as a good friend, and that was fine with him. But still... the way she'd looked at him as he left, her eyes filled with tears and emotion, Rarity definitely wanted to tell him something. But what?

_____________________________________________________

"Oh, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity exclaimed as her little sister stepped back into the room. "You're beautiful!"

Sweetie teared up. "You... you really mean that, sis?"

"Of course I do!"

"But I look nothing like you..."

Rarity knelt down and put a hoof on her sister's cheek. "You don't need to look like me to be pretty." She said. "You are beautiful all on your own."

Now sweetie Belle was crying. "Oh, Rarity! I just know that something is wrong with you. You've never said something like that before. It's- it's not that I think you don't mean it, but for you to just  admit that out of nowhere like that... Why wont you tell me what's wrong?"

Rarity hugged her little sister. "Because, Sweetie Belle, my problems don't matter right now. At this moment in time, all that matters is you." She whispered. Sweetie Belle continued to cry into Rarity's mane as Rarity looked into the mirror behind them to get a better view of the dress that her sister was wearing. It truly did look beautiful, with a black-and-purple striped top. The actual dress part was completely purple and frilled at the bottom. It went down to her ankles with slits up both sides to her lower thighs. On her shoulders were what looked like the shoulder plates seen on a suit of armor, but more girly and made of fabric instead of metal. The dress also appeared to be very tight and form-fitting. All in all, it seemed to be a little too adult in style for a filly, but Rarity wasn't going to tell her to change. Sweetie Belle finally looked like herself. Besides, if anypony gave her little sister a weird look, she could just knock them out with a well-placed buck-kick. Rarity was wearing a tight, black-and-red striped dress that went down to her hooves. The shoulders were small and frilly, and she wore the fire ruby that Spike had given her last year around her neck. "Who made you that dress." She asked Sweetie Belle. She knew for a fact that they didn't have any dresses like hers in the store. At least, not in a filly's size.

"It was a favor from Apple Bloom." She said, drying her eyes.

"Apple Bloom? I didn't know that she could make dresses."

Sweetie Belle stepped back and looked at her sister. "She's good with all tools. Give her any tool you can find, and in seconds, she's an expert with it." She leaned in close to Rarity and whispered, "Secretly, I think that it's her special talent."

"And you still don't know what your talent is." Rarity said, shaking her head.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." She said quickly. "How did Apple Bloom make that dress for you?" Rarity knew how it had been made, of course. She just wanted her sister to say it.

Sweetie Belle looked away sheepishly and said, "A few weeks ago, while you were out getting some supplies, I let her into the Boutique. She owed me this favor, and I really wanted a dress. You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Of course not, Sweetie! That dress is simply divine! If we weren't busy at the moment, I would march on down to Sweet Apple Acres and thank Apple Bloom! That dress is so you!"

"You look good too sis." Sweetie Belle said.

"What, this old thing?" Rarity chuckled, gesturing to her dress. "Oh, it's nothing compared to your dress." Sweetie smiled as Rarity led them to the door. She had started to turn the knob with her magic when Rarity spun her around until they were face to face.

"I have a favor to ask of you." She said.

"What is it?" Sweetie asked, confused.

"Could you- could you sing for me?"

Sweetie Belle looked shocked. "M- me? Sing?"

"Please? It would mean so much to me."

"Okay..." Sweetie Belle said, her cheeks turning a crimson shade of red. "I'm only doing this because we're sisters, and there's something wrong with you." She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and started to sing. There were no words to her song. There was no need for any. Sweetie Belles voice was more than just beautiful. It sounded magical. Too soon, however, the song was over. Sweetie Belle opened her eyes to see Rarity crying again.

"Was it that good?" She whispered. Rarity nodded. She opened the door and lifter Sweetie onto her back. They left the Boutique to enjoy their special day.

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"Ah jus' don' get it guys." Applejack said, addressing Spike and the other four ponies in her barn. "Why would Rarity keep secrets from us?"

"What are you talking about AJ?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Don' give me that." She said to her cyan friend. "Y'all know as well as Ah do that somethin's up. When Ah asked Rarity what was wrong, she lied to me, and Ah know a lie when Ah hear one."

"Okay, so she isn't telling us something. We're keeping her party a secret. Besides, how bad could her secret be?"

"Pretty bad." Spike said solemnly, speaking up for the first time since this meeting had started. He stood and continued. "When I went to the Carousel Boutique, she was selling everything. Rarity looked devastated! Broken, even! She looked like she had given up on grooming herself. In fact, she looked like she had given up, period!" At this point, the ten-year-old dragon was screaming, and tears were forming in his eyes.

"Now calm down sugar cube." AJ said.

"No! Fuck you! I'm not gonna calm down!" He screamed, startling everypony with his choice of words. "Something is very wrong with Rarity, and I need to know what it is because I love-" Spike stopped, looked down, and whispered, "Because I love her..." The dam finally broke. Spike couldn't stop crying. He knew that they all knew about his crush on Rarity, but this was the first time that he had actually admitted it to anypony other than Twilight. He didn't count the time that he tried to tell Rarity because she didn't let him finish.

Spike felt a hoof on his shoulder. He looked up into Twilight's purple eyes. "It's okay." She said. Spike dried his eyes and embraced the mare that he considered to be his mother.

"So what is wrong with Rarity?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's probably nothing." Twilight Sparkle said, trying to console the dragon she saw as her son. "Let's focus on her surprise party."

"Oh, finally!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Something I'm good at!" She grabbed her Party Cannon and blasted Rainbow Dash by accident. Everypony laughed, even Spike. For the time being, they forgot about trying to figure out what was wrong with Rarity.

___________________________________________________

"You're taking me to Le Hoof?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Rarity nodded. "But Le Hoof is the fanciest, most expensive restaurant in all of Ponyville!"

"The fanciest restaurant for the fanciest filly." Rarity said, gesturing to Sweetie Belle's dress. She nuzzled her sister as they entered the restaurant. Sweetie's dress looked stunning. Luckily, she hadn't gotten any suggestive looks from the stallions in town. Rarity couldn't say the same for herself, however. Celestia, even in the face of death, she still managed to work a dress. She had to give herself props for that.

They sat at their private booth an elegant, satin cushions and lifted their menus. A waiter approached their table. "And what can I get you two as an appetizer?" He asked with a french accent.

Before she could answer, Sweetie Belle blurted out, "The sugar cube platter!" The waiter raised an eyebrow at Rarity, and she nodded. He walked away to get their dish.

Rarity said nothing about the outburst. She feared that, in doing so, she would ruin their special day, so she let this one slide. Instead, they spoke of life, the Boutique, and the most recent escapades of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. By then, the waiter had brought them their drinks and their main courses. Rarity was surprised to learn that in the Crusaders most recent adventure, they had tried to take some gems from the cave of a dragon and that they had barely escaped with their lives. "What were you thinking?" Rarity cried. "Honestly, stealing from a dragon?"

"It was Scootaloo's idea." Sweetie belle mumbled.

Rarity tried to stifle a laugh. "It usually is, isn't it?" She giggled. Her laughter was so contagious that eventually, they were both laughing so hard that they were crying. Rarity dried her tears and said, "This has been just wonderful. Why don't we take desert to go? We could finish it at home on the living room rug."

Sweetie gasped. "But that rug is made of imported silk! What if I get crumbs on it?"

Rarity shook her head. "It doesn't matter Sweetie Belle. I'm giving that rug to you, anyway, so you can dirty it up all you like."

For a moment, Sweetie Belle was speechless. Then, she stammered, "Y... you're giving me your rug?"

Rarity nodded. "It's all yours."

"But that's your favorite rug!" Sweetie cried.

Rarity scoffed. "That old thing just sits there, collecting dust. It has no frays or wrinkles, no real story. In your hooves, you could probably write a novel with that rug. In other words, you would give it a story."

"Was that a compliment, or was it an insult?" Sweetie Belle joked. "I couldn't tell." Rarity laughed and Sweetie smiled. There couldn't be anything too terribly wrong with Rarity if she was this happy, could there?