//------------------------------// // Of Brothers and Sisters // Story: When You Wish Upon a Star // by Kibat Grenbuku //------------------------------// Café, Wishing Star’s P.O.V. It's been about five days since my sickness, and boy, did it feel good to actually get out of the house?! Don't get me wrong, I really do love spending time with the Apple Family, and the Cutie Mark Doctors have been a big help getting me better, but the one accursed scene kept playing in my mind, me flirting with Twilight and not even getting the hint! Even now, I still refuse to sleep in the guest bedroom and on the couch, despite Applejack's reassurance that, "Ya'll get 'er next time." How did it go so wrong so quickly?! I asked myself, Surely Twi has clearly heard of flirting! It should've been a open book to her! My eyes went wide of what I should've said to her instead of whatever bullshit that was back there! Gah, why does it have to be so hard to win a girl's heart?! I sighed in frustration and took another sip of my iced mocha, that's when I heard a familiar squeaky voice. "Hey! Wishing Star!" I looked at the direction where the front door to the café is, and there was Sweetie Belle, rushing over to me like as if she won a gold medal in the Olympics. "Oh, hey Sweetie Belle," I greeted back as she came to my side, it's like looking a miniature Pinkie Pie, "What's gotten you excited?" "My parents are here in Ponyville I wanted to make breakfast for them, and make a separate breakfast for Rarity in bed!" She explained to me, that's when her excited energy died down and into embarrassment, "Th-though... Um..." I know where this is going and the beginning to that episode. This was the episode where Sweetie Belle and Rarity would have a fight and temporarily separate. This was Sisterhooves Social. "You're worried that would you burn down the Boutique on accident?" I filled in the rest of the info that she wanted to tell me, of which she nods to, blushing a bright red. I could tell the filly really needs help. For those who may not know, or for those who lived under a rock before Grogar's time, Sweetie Belle is a, well, sweet filly, but when it comes to cooking? Well, let's say she rivals Spencer Shay's combustible gags any day. "So, I was wondering that you could help me?" She asked me. I chuckled as I took another sip of chilled drink and sighed from the delicious aftertaste, Rarity did say I'm like an older brother to her and the rest of the Crusaders, so... IT'S BIG BRO TIME!!! "Alright, Sweetie" I began, "What are we making for breakfast?" This immediately lit the unicorn filly and explains, "Oh, I'm making sweet carrot pancakes, spiced warm apple cider, hay-con, and eggs! Come on!" She then bolted quickly to the front door, making me chuckle again as I left a tip for the server, taking my iced mocha with me. As I trailed behind her, she then asked me, "By the way, Rarity told me that you tried to woo Twilight. How did it go?" That ultimately made triggered flashbacks of that failed blunder, so I took a deep breath and shook my head. "What's wrong?" "Well," I started, "Let's just say things didn't go to plan Sweetie." She then stops to gasp, covering her mouth in shock and says, "She rejected you?!" "What?! No no no!" I reassured her, she then sighs in relief as we then continue to walk on, "It's just... I don't think she gets the whole concept of 'Being wooed,' by a pony yet. The question is to how do I even woo her and give her the signs?" "Oh, I know! I know!" Sweetie Belle exclaims, "Why don't you give her some flowers? That's a sign of you loving somepony." I was completely taken aback by her suggestion, why didn't think of that sooner? "Hey, that's a great idea Sweetie Belle! Say, you wouldn't happen to know if Rarity has stashed the Dancing Spectras in her Boutique somewhere?" She shook her head and says, "No, but the flora shop seems to have them in stock recently. Well, last I checked anyway." "Then that's where I'll head to next afterwards." I say to myself. As we walked, I couldn't help but notice that Sweetie Belle seems to be lost in thought. "Something else is on your mind other than breakfast?" Sweetie jumps out of her thoughts and stammers a bit, “Oh, n-no no, no, nothing. Nothing at all, hehe…” Jesus H bloody Christ, are all ponies here that terrible liars? I thought to myself. I decided to keep quiet for a little while, true some eldest would like to tease with younger siblings, I’m one for pushing their limits that much, well other than encouraging them that it. “A-actually… Wish, do you think I’m cute?” Now that got my attention and thought of that is completely out of character of Sweetie Belle. “Well,” I started, “I think you’re cute in your own right. Why, was Diamond Tiara telling you otherwise?” “No, Diamond Tiara isn’t the problem,” she explains to me, “I-It’s just… It’s just some stupid crush I have on with a colt.” “This colt got a name?” I asked her, hopefully it’s someone that I know, though it could be any colt, Chip Mint, Rumble, Button Mash- “I-I… really don’t know his name,” she says to me, which made me fall backwards, anime style. Please tell me that you’re fucking kidding me. I thought to myself as I got up quickly. The unicorn filly then added, “B-but, I do know what he looks like!” Finally, some context! “Well, what does he look-“ she squeal of shock from the filly cuts me off, which has gotten me very confused. “What? What is it?” I asked her, she frantically pointed in front of me, to see a young colt. He was very strange looking, and not anypony that I would’ve recognized either. His pelt is a medium dark shade of blue, much like Princess Luna’s, with a ghostly green-cyan color, something that I found very odd about that color is that it”s usually infatuated with ghosts. His ears are triangular with dark insides, and it has a large tuft of fur tipped with the same green-cyan color on top of its head. His muzzle is short and rounded with two small fangs seen in the upper jaw when its mouth is open. He also possesses a ruff of black fur around his neck, perhaps it’s like a scarf of some kind? He also has a short and bushy, green-cyan tail, no Cutie Mark, and his eyes were a red-orange color. He seemed to have spotted me and Sweetie Belle as I heard the white filly squeaked in surprise and hid behind me once again. He seemed to have recognized me and started to rush at me. “H-hey!” He calls out at me, “You’re that Wishing Star guy, right?” Stops right in front of me, seemingly very excited to see me, like as if I was his hero… well, to be fair, I’m everyponies hero, but he’s acting like as if I’m Rainbow Dash. “U-um, yes,” I say to him, a little nervously “That I am, and you are?” “The name’s Wisper Crisper.” He introduces himself, he almost sounded like the original Ash Ketchum if he was in pony form, “But, you can call me Wisp.” He gave me a fang toothy smile. I feel like there’s something off, looking around Ponyville’s market stands, I noticed that there’s nopony in particular that even looks like him, and just by those standards, I could guess he isn’t around here. “Okay, uh, Wisp, was it?” I asked him, he nods to my question, I then continued on, “So, I take it you’re a fan of me?” He nods once again and says, “Ever since you showed that Discord jerk who’s boss, I looked up to you, so did the other foals! In fact, many foals were calling you, ‘The Neighotiator!’” I was trying my best not laugh at that name they gave me, what kind of kid in their right mind would even call me that? I will give them credit for coming up with something original however. “Is that right?” I say to him, looking around to see if his family was near anywhere of the markets, “Are your parents aware you’re here?” He broke eye contact with me and looked behind him, stammering, “U-uh, yeah! They are. I just wonder off sometimes, heheh.” “And they’re okay with that?” I asked him, he nods quickly. I don’t buy it. I thought to myself, There’s no way that a parent would just be okay with a kid wondering off without their consent. “You know where they are?” “Yeah, they’re at home.” He told me, he then notices Sweetie Belle, who was blushing at the sight of him, “Hey! You’re that filly from school, right? I was looking for you.” He pulled something out of his green satchel bag, it appears to be a circular pin that the initials ‘S.B.’ “You dropped this from your work journal.” Sweetie Belle was shocked to see the pin. She gently took the pin, blushing like mad. “Th-thanks.” The colt chuckles as he prepared his satchel, “Anytime. Well, I gotta get going. Oh! By the way, are you going the Sisterhoof Social? It’s coming up tomorrow!” “You’re going as well?” Sweetie Belle asked him, peeking from behind me. He shook his head and said, “I’m the only foal in the family, but we’ll be there to see the event. Well, I gotta go. See you later!” With that, he ran off and disappeared into a flood of ponies. Sweetie Belle came out of hiding and sighs, “Isn’t he cute?” Cute? Sure. I thought to myself, Suspicious? Looks like it. Either his parents are terrible at parenting, or he’s lying about his parents being okay with this wondering behavior. Who even is this kid? She then noticed me, staring at the crowd. “Wish? Are you okay?” I snapped myself out of my thoughts and reassured the filly, “Yeah, I’m alright. He’s quite a colt alright. Come on, we’re gonna be too late if we want to make Rarity some breakfast.” As we kept on walking to the Boutique, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re going to run into that colt again soon, and can’t help but keep repeating the same question in my head, Who is Wisper Crisper? Carousel Boutique As we carefully enter the shop, thanks to Sweetie’s magic to make the bells stop jingling, we went inside the kitchen and grabbed the cook book from the cabinet. Now, keep in mind, Sweetie Belle, for whatever reason and no matter how she makes things, seems to go up in flames… literally… but I believe that with the right guidance, I think Sweetie Belle is going to be one of the best chefs in all of Equestria. “Okay, Sweetie,” I say to her cheerily, “What do we need?” She turned a couple of pages with her magic and stops on the Carrot Pancakes recipe. She then says to me, “Okay, we need 1 3⁄4 cup of milk; 2 eggs; 1/4 cup of butter; 4 chopped up medium carrots; 2 cups of flour; 2 tablespoons of baking powder; 1 teaspoon of salt; 4 tablespoons of sugar; 2 dashes of nutmeg; and 2 dashes cinnamon.” I looked around in the other cabinets for the utensils and bowls for both dry and wet ingredients. While I getting those, I suddenly heard a Bwoosh! I looked at where the noise came from, right inside the pantry was a leftover cloud of flour and Sweetie Belle, coughing out the flour, with some of the white powder on her face. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I got a rag and wiped off the flour off, thank god that didn’t caught fire. “Next time, ask me for help, okay?” She understood and we continued on to grab the rest of the pancake ingredients. Looking through the fridge next, we took a couple of carrots and set them on the countertop. I have to say, some of the veggies and fruits are quite fresh. I know this is world is full of magic and I’m not arguing their logic, but still, how can they stay fresh and still taste good? “Okay,” Sweetie says cheerily, “Now, we need the cider ingredients!” I nod, returning to the cook book once more. “That requires-“ “Um… Wish?” She interrupted me, I turned my head to her, who seems very nervous. I know what’s she’s going to ask about, and it’s not about a colt. “W-what if this doesn’t work?” “What won’t work Sweetie?” I asked her, kneeling down to her height, concerned. “W-well… it’s just that… every time when I try to do something right, or being helpful, I always mess everything up.” I tilted my head with a smile, I can relate to her, I’ve always been afraid of letting my dad down by getting terrible grades at school, or not living up to the expectations that he wanted me to do. After my tenth grade graduation, he wanted me to sign up for the military, like how mom did, of which I did applied to. The outcome was not what I expected. I received a letter back from the military saying that I have a concerning head injury, of which that I wasn’t even aware of, and said that I could have a blackout and be sent home early. In other words? I was unfit for duty. “Sweetie,” I say to her, “I’m going to tell you what my dad told me, ‘Whenever you know what is right, you must also know the courage that it demands.’” She tilted her head in confusion, so I continued by saying, “In other words, your efforts of doing said right thing isn’t a bad thing, or anything to be frowned upon. Even if you messed up, this a motivation for you to try again.” “To try again?” She asked me, of which I nod to. “Doing the right thing is one of the most positive and powerful things to do.” I explained further to her, “It will always make you feel good and proud. It is an excellent opportunity to do something for the world. Always be kind and forgiving to others. Doing the right thing is always is a really satisfying feeling to have.” She gave me a smile, making me smile as well. “Now, how about we make the best breakfast Rarity has ever seen, shall we?” Rarity’s P.O.V. As I readjusted my pillow, sleeping sweet dreams, my nose caught an aromatic smell. Ooh, something smells quiet divine! I thought to myself in my sleep, Oh... Are those sweet... carrot... pancakes I smell? I gasped in delight, those have been my favorite breakfast foods when I was little. Mmm, how divine, num num num num. The aroma... spiced warm apple cider. But then question came as to who’s making it? Wait… who is making it? I gasped in shock, waking up in realization, I tried to get out of bed… only to fail at realizing that I still had my night mask on. Yanking it off, I rushed to the door, pulling it open, only to see Sweetie Belle and Wishing Star right in front of me, their top halves were covered, I could only assume is pancake batter. “Morning Rarity!” My little sister says excitedly. I looked at the tray of pancakes, the warm cider, hay-con, and eggs, then I looked back at my messy little sister and my co-worker. “D-did… did you two-?” I stammered at my words. “You have yourself a very talented chef in the family.” He says to me, patting my sister on the back, then he noticed how frantic I looked, “Did you get any sleep M’lady?” I looked at him confused. Seeing him pointing at my mane, I then realized that I haven’t brushed out my mane. “Oh goodness! I’m so sorry dears!” I apologized, “I didn’t realize that it was early morning! Let me just get myself a touch up and-“ “Actually Rarity,” Wish explains to me, “We came here to serve you breakfast in bed. Well, it’s mostly Sweetie Belle’s idea, and she cooked all of this for you.” “Yeah…” I heard my little sister says, sounding very sad, “I just wanted to be helpful and not upset you…” She was looking very upset. Lifting my head up to see Wishing Star, nodding in approval. I could see that he had indeed helped her making such a wonderful breakfast, she put a lot of work that went into it. “Sweetie Belle,” I say to her very kindly, “This is a wonderful breakfast, and I really appreciated you do this.” I gave her the biggest hug I could ever give her, holding her tightly. I feel really awful for not being grateful to my little Sweetie Belle, what kind of Element of Generosity would I be if I don’t accept others’ generosity in return? “If anything, you’ve been a big help.” “Hey, I’m right here.” Wish says to me, playfully pouting like a child, he then proceeds to give out a harrumph and looked away. I smiled at this performance, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The look on his face was absolutely adorable as he stammers with a crimson blush, “Y-you didn’t h-have to do that, b-but you did it a-anyway.” Sweetie and I giggled at his blushing. “You want any pancakes Wish?” I asked him, offering the breakfast with him. “Oh, no thank you M’lady,” he generously declines, “This is Sweetie’s gift for you, I gotta go put together a gift for Twilight. Hopefully, it doesn’t become a flop like last time.” I nod in agreement. Truly, I thought that it would work with flirting, but it seems apparent that Twilight hasn’t gotten the concept of it, if only she could… this made me gasp and say, “IDEA~!” “What is it Rarity?” He asked me. “She doesn’t know that you have feelings for her, correct?” I asked him, of which he nods, “Weeeell, why don’t you try to be a secret admirer!” His eyes widened, mouth agape as the idea sinned into his mind. “Rarity, you’re a genius!” He exclaims in excitement, “Why didn’t I think of that?! Thank you Rarity!” He gave me a quick hug and rushes out of my room. I sighed out a giggle, shaking my head, “Young love.” Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle’s P.O.V. “And that’s when I realized that the temperature of the room was the problem,” I continued on to Spike, as I put one of the books on the shelf, “After I took care of that, I went downstairs and the girls, for some odd reason, started giggling.” “Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing Twi,” Spike says to me with a shrug, putting another book away, “Besides, now that Wish is better, you don’t have to stress yourself watching over him.” I nodded, though truth be told, it wasn’t that stressful at all, quite frankly the opposite. “Hey, shouldn’t that letter to Princess Celestia that you sent about five days ago be here?” Now that he mentioned it, why didn’t Celestia written back to me yet? The sun and moon have been raised and lower throughout the week, so they haven’t been absent from their duties… I wonder what’s going on in Canterlot? I thought to myself. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” Spike volunteers as he placed another book on the shelf and went to the door. He proceeds to open it. As he does so, I was at the highest point of the ladder, putting last two books away. “Oh! Hey Wish!” Spike greets, that made me immediately turn my head and see the turquoise earth pony stallion, standing at the doorway. “Good to see you!” “Good to see you too Spike.” He says as he gave a hug using his right fore leg, it’s something in his right hoof that caught my eye, a bouquet of flowers. In it wrapped plastic, it has pink roses, purplish-pink gardenias, red peonies, and in the middle of those sets of flowers is a bunch of Dancing Spectras! Wish sees me up on the ladder and greets, “Hey Twi!” I snapped out of my gaze at the multicolored flowers and my left hind hoof suddenly slipped off the rung, I yelped in fright as I fell off the ladder. From that quick free fall, I was caught by Wish. Our eyes were connected and seeing his eyes… my goodness, his eyes were like bright yellow gemstones that were hung among the night sky, so clear, bright, and beautiful… “You okay?” He asked me, I couldn’t answer him after that fall. I was always careful on the ladder, this is the first time it ever happened before. I was breathing heavily as I tried to recollect myself, Wish helped me up and asked again, “You okay?” “Y-yeah…” I responded shakily, my legs started to wobble like as if the floors themselves had started to move. “S-sorry about that… I’m usually more careful.” “Here, let’s lay you down for a moment. Spike give me a hoof, erm, claw, will you please?” Wish asked my assistant, Spike came over and helped me get draped onto my side. “Gosh, that was some fall,” Spike remarks to me, “If Wishing didn’t come to you in time, you could’ve seriously hurt yourself.” I nodded in agreement with a smile and a faint blush, it took me back when I fell off a ledge when I was heading on my way to the Castle of the Two Sisters, but it’s thanks to my friends, they were able to catch me. I then saw the bouquet of flowers on the small, brown wooden table, my attention was once again drawn to the Dancing Spectras. “Are those the Dancing Spectras in the bouquet?” I asked Wish. He titled his head in confusion at first, but then when he sees what I’m looking at, he then realized what I meant and says, “Oh yes, they are! They just came in stock at the Flora Market today, and I thought, ‘Well gee, I think Twilight’s secret admirer would probably like the idea of these flowers being sent to her!’ So, I bought them and brought them as an early birthday present.” That made me raise a brow. I have a secret admirer? I asked myself. “You guys don’t happen to have a vase for flowers like these, do you?” He asked us. Spike tells him, “I’m sure we do, let me go get it.” He went into the kitchen to go fetch the vase, leaving just the two of us. “S-so… um…” I tried to think of a conversation as I was about to get myself upright after recovering from the shock, “Did… you want to take a look at some books?” He smiles and says, “Well, since I’m here, I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Just the way he smiles, at any point, he just brightens my day by just smiling, not like in the way how Pinkie Pie’s affect anypony. “Here, let me help you up.” He rested his head under my chin as he carefully get me back onto my hooves. Why am I feeling so warm? I thought to myself as I get up, the shaking in my legs seemed to have ceased. “So,” I started, “What can I get for you?” “Well, I’m actually looking for a fairytale romance book, if you have one of course.” My eyes went wide upon his request. “You read fairytale books?” Wish nods yes to my question, the warmth in my face once again resurfaced. “O-oh, I think we have some in either the adventure section, which is on the middle bottom shelf, fifth row over, or the romance section, bottom shelf, second row over.” “Perfect.” He says as he went to the romance section, scanning along the books, title by title, “Wow, I’m quite surprised that you have young adult books here.” “Yes, well, I don’t read much of those.” “Not a fan?” Wishing asked me as he looked at me, I shook my head no, “Well, you should give a couple of them a read, probably could help change your perspective in the world of love.” He then went back to the books and suddenly gasps at what he sees, “Get out! You have ‘Beauty and the Beast’!?” “Oh! I didn’t realize that we have this!” I say in shock as he pulled the book out, “I take it that’s the one you’re looking for?” “The one I’m looking for?!” He asked me in a excited tone, “This is one of my favorite books as a foal!” I giggled at his hyper attitude about the book as he opened a couple of pages, which he proceeded to sniff at. “Holy cow, this even smells like the one when I was a colt! Here, smell this!” He gave me the book a gave a quick sniff, the age of it’s page was very old, but it was very rosy, like in the story itself, a story as old as time. I then realized something. “You… sniff books?” “Well, not as much,” he says to me honestly, “Many other foals considered, well… weird. I hope you don’t think of me as such.” “Oh! No no no, not at all!” I reassured him, giving him the book back, “I smell my books all the time! I’m just surprised that you smell books like I do.” He gave the same kind smile and was blushing… I would be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t as well. He opened the book and looked at the first page. I looked at the page as well, reading the prologue. Once upon a time, in the hidden heart of Prance, a handsome young prince lived in a beautiful castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was selfish and unkind. He taxed the village to fill his castle with the most beautiful objects and his parties with the most beautiful ponies. Then one night, an unexpected intruder arrived at the castle, seeking shelter from the bitter storm. As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the mare away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. When he dismissed her again, the old mare’s outward appearance melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart! and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there. As days bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world. For the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the ponies they loved. But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast? “Hey! I got the-“ Spike called to us as he saw me, resting my head on his shoulder, neither of us were paying any attention to our surroundings. When Spike called us however, we suddenly realized what happened and we scooted apart for a moment, blushing. “Um… you do realize there’s a thing called, ‘A room’?” “Haha,” Wish said sarcastically, looking at the clock he remembered something, “Oh shoot! I need to head back the Boutique! I’m gonna be late for work!” Gathering his belongings, he stood up and looked at me. “Um, h-here, you can put-” “Actually,” I cut him off before he tell me to put the book back, “Why don’t you keep it?” He looked at me in shock, “W-wait, seriously?!” “Yeah, you love the book so much, so I think you should have it. It’s all on me.” He looked very giddy, pulled me in to give me hug and said, “Oh thank you!” He let me go and quickly head to the door, but before he shouted, “I’ll find a way to make it up to you! I promise!” With that, he swung the bottom half of the door and smacked his head to top half, he groaned in pain, dropping the book. I gasped as I went to check up on him. “Are you okay?!” I asked in a fit of shock, as he turned to look at me, I gasped again to the sight of his nose bleeding. “Spike! Tissue! I need a tissue! Quick!” My assistant does so as he hurried to the kitchen once more. “I-it’s not that bad, Twi,” Wish says to me, quickly putting his right hoof over his nose to prevent any blood dripping on the floor. “It looks like it to me!” I retorted as I noticed the book on the floor. Picking it up with my magic and giving it back to him. The blood from his nose dripped a couple of drops on the cover, I shrieked as I tried to wiped the blood off. “Spike! Tissues!” “Working on it!” He calls from the kitchen. “I-it’s okay Twi, really,” Wish tries to reassure me, “It’s nothing serious, I can use the tissues at the Boutique.” “Ohh no,” I scold him, “You’re not going to trickle anymore blood until we get this taken care of.” I really meant it, just the sight of blood really just sends shivers down my spine, I never wanted to imagine if that’s my blood that was dripping! “I got them!” Spike exclaims as he came to me, a paper cube box with a tissue sticking out. Pulling a piece out with my magic, I first gave it to him and instructing him, “Stuff this in your nose until it stops bleeding.” Wishing Star does so without a fuss as I grabbed another piece I wiped the blood off of his book, they’re something that needed to have special care and such a book like ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ should not go stained. I sighed of relief as the cover was now sterilized of any blood and gave the book back to him, “There we go, good as new.” He looked at me with a blush on his face, with the piece of tissue sticking out of his nose. I giggled at the sight of his misfortune, but I comforted him and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll stop bleeding. Just head over to the boutique, I’m sure you got a lot of work to do.” Wish nods and replies to me, “Thanks again Twi. For the book, and helping me with,” he circles his hoof around his face as he finishes, “Making me pretty again.” We both chuckled at this, he gave me one more hug and says his farewell to me and Spike, after I opened the top part of the door for him. As he left, Spike tells me, “By the way, there’s a card that was in the flowers. I think it’s from your ‘secret admirer.’” He gave me a small folded card, the square trimming on it was a metallic purple. As I opened it, it was in a very neat writing and it reads: You are very sweet and beautiful like any kind of lavender. I hope we get to see more of each other, Your Secret Admirer. I looked at the direction where Wishing trotted away from. “I sure hope we get to meet to him too.” I say to myself as I placed the card on the table next to the flowers. Spike chuckles at that compliment, “I think you’ve already met him.” I looked at him confused, causing him to roll his eyes, “Oh, come on! Isn’t it obvious?! The illness? The weird behavior you mentioned earlier? You two dancing together? The flowers? The card? It’s clearly obvious that he’s into you.” Now that he did mentioned it, I did got a warm feeling when Wishing Star rested his head on my chest when he got sick. I mean, it was my choice to go see him instead of finding a new friendship lesson to encounter, but I did learned a lesson from it. “Or maybe…” I thought aloud, “Maybe he’s not telling me something about this ‘Secret Admirer.’ Why would he protect this ‘Admirer’s’ identity if he, nor I, clearly haven’t met him?” I looked at my assistant again, who is completely dumbfounded by my question, like if I answered an a question wrong. Quite clearly, that expression on his face tells me I’m missing something. “Maybe I should go to the Flora Market and investigate. Care to come along Spike?” “Huh?” He snapped out his dumbfound gaze and shook his head, “Oh uh, y-yeah, sure!” “Great!” I exclaim cheerily, “Seems like Detective Twilight’s on the case once again!” Looking at the hat rack, I levitated my Sherluck Hooves hat, placing it on my head and grabbed my notepad. “Come on Spike, we got a case to solve!” Wishing Star’s P.O.V. Taking a look at the pages of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ I was quite taken aback by how many changes were in this version. For one, the form that the prince took was of a Manticore, but unlike the ones in Greek Mythology where they have two animal heads with a snake head tail, this one has the head of a lion, horns of a goat, and a tail of a copperhead snake. It also had the hind legs of a pony, and the fronts legs looked wolf-like. Another thing I noticed was that instead of a hunter killing him, it was a sickness that seemed to had been passed down from his mother’s side of the family. I’m guessing they only did that so they don’t scare the foals if their parents read this to them. I was so drawn in the book, I didn’t realize that I was humming that one song from Disney’s 1991 interpretation of the story, ‘Something There.’ I chuckled at myself as continued onward to the Carousel Boutique, looking at the tall, merry-go-round building. As I went to the door to check myself in for work, I suddenly heard a very loud and audible, “Sweetie Belle, watch your tone!” I jumped back a little from the voice from the other side of the door, that was Rarity’s voice and I know that tone all too well. Oh no! I thought to myself in worry, Am I too late?! The conversation continued on from inside, “I am still your big sister.” “Right!” Sweetie shouts at her sister “And any sister who cares about her sister goes!” “Sweetie Belle...!” The eldest white unicorn scolds, “Honestly! Playing silly little games in the dirt is just... uncouth! With or without a sister.” “Well maybe I'll try the Sisterhooves Social without a sister! In fact, I think I'll try the rest of my life without a sister and having a brother instead! Wishing Star is a better older sibling then you ever will be!” Rarity gasped by the hurtful denouncement made by her younger sister. I too gasped, but much quieter. When she said that I’m a better sibling than Rarity, my heart dropped. No, she… she can’t mean that. I thought to myself, still in shock by Sweetie Belle’s accusation, she couldn’t have meant that! I got to put a stop to this! I opened the door, not even the door’s bell above me even took their hated gaze off of one another. “Oh, I'm the one who's ruining your life?!” She fired back as they got into each other’s faces. “Really?! Have you looked around this place? I'm the one who'd be better off with no sister!” “HEY!” I shouted at them, quickly turning their heads to look at me in surprise. Rarity, being the actress as she is, decides to recompose herself and tries to be sweet with me. “Wishing, darling! H-how long have you been standing there?” “Long enough to hear the both of you going at each other’s throats.” I said to her in deadpan tone. Rarity nervously giggles at this, “Now now dear, this isn’t any concern to you. It’s just family matters.” Using the word ‘family,’ through her teeth and quickly give Sweetie Belle a glare shot before looking back to me with that ‘oh so innocent,’ smile, but I know better. “Nice try,” I say to her, “But I know this involves me as well.” It was my turn to look at Sweetie. “Sweetie, what you said to Rarity is completely unacceptable and hurtful, and not only did you say something as unforgivable to Rarity, but to me as well.” “BUT IT’S TRUE!” She shouts at me, “When Discord was about to take over Equestria, you stepped in and ended it more peacefully! You were also grateful of having me and the Crusaders of having us take care of you when nopony else did! And you even helped me make breakfast for Rarity this morning! You should’ve been my older sibling, not her!” Rarity gasped and was about to retort, but I stepped in and told her, “Rarity. Let me handle this.” Looking back the unicorn filly, I knelt down to her level and explained the situation very carefully to her, “You’re not wrong in some areas-“ “See!?” “Don’t interrupt.” I say to her kindly and patiently, “You’re not wrong that I would be a better sibling, but the thing is that, despite me wanting to have siblings of my own, I don’t want to take advantage of the both of by just accepting you as my little sister. And if I would be given a choice to be accepted by your family, I would do it in a heartbeat, but just forcibly making me part of a family that you’re rejecting is something I will not accept.” Sweetie Belle looks at me incredibly upset, and understandingly so. I guess she really does look up to me as an older brother like Rarity said, but right now, I need to be the peacekeeper between the sisters and get them together again. Which made me turn to Rarity in a disappointing look. “And you. I can’t believe that you have even the gall to choose work over your own family.” Rarity looked at me in shock and retorts, “Wishing, I have no idea where you’re getting that idea but-“ “But I’m beginning to believe it’s true from what I’m seeing from you.” I cut her off, then I looked at the makeup she wearing and this gives me an idea and possibly a philosophy that I could teach Rarity, “In fact, just by looking at you, I’d say you always, always, chose yourself over anything else. So, was that whole, ‘cutting your tail off to give a sea serpent an new mustache,’ story that I kept hearing about, was that a lie?” My boss had never had been shocked to hear the words that came out of my mouth and upsettingly argued, “No! If you wanted to have confirmation on that, you should ask Twilight!” “Don’t you dare drag your friends into this.” I firmly warned her, “You maybe the Element of Generosity, but being generous must come from the goodness from the heart. From the looks of thing, all I see is a mare hiding behind her kit of makeup and a thousand excuses.” She gasped at my remarks and retorts again, “I have nothing to hide at all!” I raised a brow at the response in question like she told me a very terrible lie. “Really?” I asked her, she nods at me. I looked at her sternly in the eyes and said to her, “If you have nothing to hide, then go wash the makeup off and look at yourself in the mirror.” She looked at me very confused as if I was crazy. “You heard me, go wash the makeup off. Go on.” She does as I asked her and heads up to the staircase, giving me one more look at me and with that, she goes upstairs to the bathroom. I’m really hoping that this works. “Why did you ask her to wash off her makeup?” Sweetie Belle asked me. I knelt down to her level again and said to her, “To prove a point.” She tilted her head in confusion, so I recited what my father taught me, “‘There are those who would rather hide in a mask multiple colors and act on their own accord, but in truth, they’re too ashamed as to who they are inside. Too afraid to let go of their illusion of control. Undo what they become, and you’ll help them understand as to who they once were.’ That is what my father told me. It means that you have to help them look deeply into their heart, look as to who they are now and understand the mistake of hiding behind a mask of alternate selves and illusion.” Sweetie, who seems to understand what I’m trying to say to her, smiled at the lesson I told her. She looked at the staircase, understandably now concerned for her older sister, then asked me, “How long do you think she’ll be in there?” Looking at the direction of where Sweetie is looking, and say to her, “I’d say, mm, probably five, seven minutes, give or take?” She sighed, knowing her sister, she would probably would take up more time than that. But then this gave me an idea. “Hey, have you ever heard of solitaire?” Rarity’s P.O.V. Hmph! I can’t believe that I’m being asked to even remove my makeup! Do you know how long it takes a lady like myself to get her makeup ready? Almost about twenty to thirty minutes! Honestly, I can’t think of why Wishing Star, my own employee of the Carousel Boutique, why he would even as such an uncouth thing to even have me do! But, if it helps with Wishing Star’s request, I will do so without question. As I entered my bathroom, I started the faucet with cold water, I grabbed some makeup remover in case some leftover mascara got left behind. Using a washcloth, I ran it through under the down stream of water, dampening it, and washed off the makeup off. “Ugh, all of that hard work,” I grumbled to myself, “All of this preparation.” Starting from above my eyes and working down to my lips, I looked at my face, seeing my smeared off work on face, I really thought I looked awful! Completely awful! I stared at myself in mirror for about fifteen seconds, then I noticed that not all the makeup was completely off, using the makeup remover and repeated the process, wiping off any more mascara that was left over. Now seeing at myself the second time, I was still disgusted as to how I looked, just who am I even seeing in the mirror?! … Just who am I? My eyes began to widen in realization as the words of Wishing Star started to sink in. “You maybe the Element of Generosity, but being generous must come from the goodness from the heart. From the looks of thing, all I see is a mare hiding behind her kit of makeup and a thousand excuses.” and now looking at myself in the mirror more clearly, I now suddenly realized whom I was turning into… just like those snobby royalists that rejected Wish’s call for help… Just like Prince Blueblood. “Oh…sweet merciful Luna…” I say breathlessly, tears starting to stream down from my eyes, “W-what have I become?” I began crying hysterically, I couldn’t bare myself to look at myself in the mirror anymore. I sobbed into my hooves, all of this time, I was so focused on with my work, abstracting myself away from my own family… my own sister. I cried for almost about a minute or two, finally lifting my head up and away from my hooves and looked back at the mirror once again, no longer disgusted with how I look without makeup on, but with how it affect with how looked as a pony, as an individual. Looking at a pair of scissors that I usually trim my mane and tail, I only had one thought, and one thought alone… Perhaps… it’s time to change all of that. Set the scissors down for a moment, I removed the fake eyelashes and put them in the trash. Running the water again, I dampened my mane, soaking it in and letting it fall, droplets of water dripped on my bathroom floor. Using my magic to once again to grab the scissors. Sighing to myself to let all of my stress and worries go, I then say to myself with confidence, “Alright Rarity. It’s time to let your inner beauty shine.” Three minutes had passed, and I finally got the mane and tail style that I truly needed, short and spiked up a little, I really quite admire it. Satisfied with how I looked, I decided to give Wish and Sweetie a sneak peek at the new Rarity. Leaving the bathroom and going downstairs, but before I could announce myself, I heard my little sister groan in frustration. “This is hard!” She says in agitation, “There any cards left from the rows that I can use!” “Okay, okay,” I heard Wish chuckle, “Let’s not get frustrated here. It was difficult for me too, but remember, there always other cards from the deck, so let’s look there.” I didn’t want to interrupt their time together, but I really wanted to show them how much I’ve changed. I took a deep breath, and giving myself a boost of confidence I needed. So, stepping of the stairs and cleared my throat, getting Wish and Sweetie Belle’s attention, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and their mouths hung agape. “H-how do I look?” I asked them. For a couple of seconds they didn’t say anything, until Wishing replies, “Wow, Rarity… I didn’t think you were going to-“ “Change myself entirely?” I finished his sentence for him, I tittered and told him, “Well, I gave it some thought on about what you’ve told me, and you’re right. I should’ve been a better example and a better sister. In fact, I remembered on what you told me and the girls on the first day we met in Everfree Forest, and I’m vowing myself to never be like them, e and so help me Celestia, I will never be like that part of a Prince that is Blueblood.” He smiled at me said proudly, “Good to hear, M’lady.” I giggled at him told him, “Oh, please, no need to be formal anymore Wish, just Rarity will do.” I then turned my attention to my little sister, sighing sadly and filled with regret, “Sweetie Belle… I’m very sorry about what I said. I’m not better of without a sister. In fact, without you, I… Ugh, what am I saying?! Everything would be a wreck without you! I’ve been a horrible sister to you and… and I understand if you won’t forgive me for it.” I hung my head in shame and remorse, waiting for a response from Sweetie Belle. I suddenly feel small forelegs wrapped around my waist, causing me to open my eyes and my little sister, hugging me! I then heard her say and she silently sob, “I'm not better off without a sister either.” I was very relieved to hear those words, and returned in kind by hugging her closely and tightly as I could, cooing her as she cried into my chest. “And hey,” I say to Sweetie, she began to look at me, tears still rolling down her face, “I’ve been thinking about the Sisterhooves Social, and I’ve changed my mind.” She looked at me in shock, “Y-you mean, y-you want to-“ “Absolutely.” I agreed to her, “And who knows? Perhaps attending this event might even your Cutie Mark.” Seeing Sweetie showing her adorable smile, it made me incredibly whole again. “So can we go?” She asked me excitedly, wiping her tears away. I nodded and looked at my trusted employee and asked, “Wish, could I request that you watch the Boutique while I’m gone? I have an event I must attend.” I smiled looking at my sister. “I’ll be happy to Rarity.” He says proudly. With that said, Sweetie Belle and I head on our way to the Sisterhooves Social. As made our way to the event, the only thought that raced through my mind, wondering how the girls will react. Then again, why would that even matter? I’ve made my choice to go with this style, I’ve made my decision to go to Sisterhooves Social, and I’m going to make Sweetie Belle proud. As we made to the event and signed in, we saw Applejack and Applebloom heading to the starting line, unaware that other ponies saw my new mane and tail style, gawking and talking about it, not that I don’t mind of course as I smile through the crowd and we headed to the start. Applejack and Applebloom then took notice of us and they too were shocked to see me. “Rarity?” AJ asked me, I nodded confirming it’s me, “Ah thought ya don’t like farmin’ activities? And what’s with the new look?” I tittered again and told her, “I’ll be willing to tell you, if you could beat us.” Applejack was taken aback of course, seeing this side of me had never been shown. But she smiles and shrugs it off telling me, “Well, whatever the reason is, Ah say it’s a good look for ya. Shame it’s gonna get messy afterwards.” “And since when did you care that I’d get messy?” I remarked playfully, recalling back to that moment in Everfree Forest when she made me get mud on my mane. AJ knowing all too well by what I mean, gave out a chuckle, “Well then, good luck to ya.” Granny Smith, who is the announcer for the event, has spoken through the megaphone, starting us off, “On yer marks…” “You too.” I tell my country friend, me and Sweetie Belle getting ready, I looked at her and then asked her, “Ready for this?” “Get set…” “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Sweetie Belle says to me with confidence, making me smile and look ahead, knowing that this is going to be quite an event that neither of us will ever forget. “Gooooo!”