“Ten.” Diamond Tiara commenced her countdown as Sweetie Belle stuck to the tiled corridor floor like a chewed up piece of gum left abandoned by its rebellious owner. She knew that she should start running and catch up to Button Mash and Apple Bloom, but still she stayed put.
“Nine.” In that instant, Sweetie Belle began realizing that doing nothing wouldn’t help her in this particular situation. She had to think of something and fast.
“Eight.” Adrenaline rushing through the small filly’s body, she decided that it would be better if she tried to buy some time for her friends.
“Seven.” Something was different about Sweetie Belle in this instance; rage had started to build up in her body as she awaited her antagonist’s next move.
“Six.” She sat there readying to bolt but in the opposite direction than her friends had gone; adrenaline reaching its limits. Sweetie Belle couldn’t take this psychological abuse anymore.
“Five…” The once seemingly calm filly pounced on Diamond Tiara, knocking her backwards as she pinned the struggling filly to the ground.
Before Sweetie Belle could properly react, Diamond Tiara kicked her in the rib cage with might that she thought only Applejack had known. Flinching and gasping for air, she decided that now was the time to get moving. Bolting through the empty hallways in dear agony, Sweetie Belle could feel her assailant following her closely behind.
“You little Bitch! Now you’ve done it!”
Hooves galloped a few meters behind as Sweetie Belle rushed through the school entrance, finding herself out in the open. She spotted Apple Bloom and Button Mash sprinting towards Sweet Apple Acres in the direction of their clubhouse. She knew that it would be difficult to face Tiara alone and her rib cage still ached; tormenting her and pleading for her to stop and rest. But she couldn’t; she had to reach her friends and fast.
~
How dare she pin me down like that?! Now she’s going to learn her lesson! Don’t mess with me!
Diamond Tiara was starting to get exhausted, what started initially as a simple game of cat and mouse turned out to be so much more; she felt as if a timberwolf had awoken from deep inside of her fragile body. The wolf in sheep’s clothing could finally unleash its wrath upon the one that dared to disturb its slumber. Rage built within her as she galloped, disregarding the glaring faces of the ponies that surrounded her in the once peaceful market place. Now the fun could really begin.
~
Where is that slow filly?
Worry grew as Apple Bloom looked back, taking the time to properly investigate her surroundings. Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be found. What worried her more than the absence of her friend was the absence of her enemy.
Apple Bloom urged Button Mash to stop, catching her breath as she tried once again to spot the filly. This time she heard noise in the distance, hooves galloping towards her, she knew at that instance that the beast wasn’t far behind.
~
With one glimpse at Apple Bloom, Button Mash knew that trouble awaited them at the crackling sound of twigs snapping. He had ran enough for one day and was exhausted from the constant drama in his life; so he decided to hide instead.
If I find some kind of bush or big tree, I could possibly avoid getting caught. If only I could disappear…
Button scanned the area in search of shelter in the thickening fields of trees. Finally, he spotted what looked like some sort of treehouse in the distance.
Perfect.
“Apple Bloom, over there!”
Alerting the filly, he decided to bolt in the direction of the hideout, hopping that she would chose to follow him to safety.
~
“No, no, no…” Sweetie Belle was gasping for air, her lungs aching from the thrill of the chase as Diamond Tiara had started to close in on her.
She’s going to murder me!
Kicking up dirt and scattered branches into her opponent’s face, Sweetie Belle knew that the sands of time for her were running thin.
If only she could pause time. She would run back home and seek refuge in her sanctuary while drowning her worries away in a freshly brewed milkshake. But that wasn’t the case and Sweetie Belle knew it. All her life she had been running. All her life she had been hiding. All her life was spent in the memories of yesterday.
But not this time. This time, she could no longer run. This time, she could no longer hide. This time, she had to live in the present, shaking her past worries aside. This time, she had to fight back.
~
Rarity had been in a meeting when she received the news: Sweetie Belle had gotten into a brawl and was in the hospital to patch up some of her injuries. Apologizing to her fellow coworkers, she took a taxi back to Ponyville to see the true extent of the damage.
This was really out of character even for Sweetie Belle, she thought. Her sister couldn’t hurt a fly if it had been harassing her throughout the entire day. But there she was, facing possible criminal charges and that aggravated the situation as well as Rarity.
This wasn’t a simple schoolyard misunderstanding, this affected every citizen in Ponyville, therefore had to have a stricter punishment, and Rarity knew that very well. When she arrived at the hospital, she felt as if her heart were to burst right through her chest as she saw who was being interrogated near her sister’s room. Diamond Tiara’s father, Filthy Rich.
Taking a seat a few chairs away from him, she felt as if his eyes were burning her through her flesh as he stole a quick glance at the now even more fearful mare.
“No officer, I will not be pressing any charges. The last thing I need is to go into a court for a stupid low-life filly’s barbaric behavior.”
“Remember mister Filthy…”
“Mister Rich.” The Stallion insisted.
“Remember mister Rich, your daughter was involved in the brawl equally.” One of the officers responded to the stallion’s defiance.
“Nonsense! My daughter wouldn’t do such a thing! She is much too well-mannered to press her hooves against that filthy little filly!”
Rarity bit her tongue as she swallowed her pride; trying her best not to choke on its bitter taste. She would only dig her own grave if she defended her sister. Unlike Applejack, she could hold her feelings inside for the moment; that's ’hat she was taught to do from her parents that were barely present in her life anymore.
“Alright, you’re free to go. But know that we may need tom question you further later.” A second officer escorted the troubled stallion out of the hospital as the first one took his notes; not even noticing the mare that was starring right at him with concern.
~
“I came as soon as I heard!” Scootaloo trotted up to Sweetie Belle, noticing her suffering. “So, how did the other filly look?”
“Scootaloo! Now’s not the time.” Apple Bloom shot her friend a look of disapproval.
“What? I just wanted to…”
“It was Diamond Tiara; that’s all you need to know.” Sweetie Belle responded weakly. It’s not that she hadn’t wanted to tell the story to the curious orange filly, but she herself didn’t quite know the outcome of her final conscious moments.
It was all a blur to her. There was blood, she remembered quite a bit of it from the incident but couldn’t tell who was bleeding or from where. She had felt pain; pain like she had never felt previously. Physical pain. In the tangle of forehooves and hindhooves, it was hard to tell who had won the fight, or even if there had been a winner. All that she remembered was a horrified pink filly struggling on the ground defiantly and pleas from surrounding ponies to stop. Could she have really been that evil; could she have really wanted to see somepony hurt that badly? No, it was impossible, Sweetie Belle wasn’t that type of pony…or was she?
Every pony has their limits, every pony has their breaking point and Diamond Tiara had found a way to cause Sweetie Belle to shatter.
~
“Alright officer, I’ll let her know. Thank you.”
Rarity was relieved to get her interrogation over with. The officer would follow up on the report and let her know the outcome of his inquiries as soon as possible. Sweetie Belle couldn’t return to school until they had reached a just conclusion. Justice, such an “ironic” word as the filly would have said it. Justice was inexistent; there was no way to tip the Libra scale so that everypony was accounted for. No, justice manifested itself in an odd way, breaking its own fundamentals to give an illusion of a fair society. But Rarity knew that justice wouldn’t always bring a fair outcome.
Although she was concerned, Rarity knew that this case would most likely not reach the court system and that her sister would be free to wonder the Ponyville school hallways once again. Sweetie Belle had no prior criminal record and there was nothing to prove that she would reoffend. Besides, if Sweetie Belle were to be punished, so would Diamond Tiara because as far as Rarity was concerned; both had taken part equally. She also knew that Filthy Rich wouldn’t let such a thing happen to his precious little daughter. Either way, Sweetie Belle’s reputation would remain without scars, unlike her.
Rarity asked if she could see her sister and was granted permission. For now, she wouldn’t go into detail with Sweetie Belle about the situation she was facing since she wanted to get her sibling’s side of the story as well.
“Hello, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity trotted into the cramped hospital room, cards and chocolates decorating her sister’s night stand.
“Could you three please excuse us for a bit? It’s getting late anyways and you should probably be headed back home before your families get concerned.”
“Yes Rarity.” Two fillies replied in unison, leaving only a young brown colt that nodded before departing.
Once they had left, Rarity’s concentration returned fully on her sister that had waited for this moment nervously all day. The hard part.
“Who’s the new colt?” She attempted to break the ice but found out the hard way that the bitter winter had left it too solid. Concerned about slipping, Rarity decided to take another direction.
“You know, I should be angry at you like any other normal sister but I can’t bring myself to torment you further than you have already been. Still, what you did was wrong, even if Diamond Tiara was the instigator. You had no right to get into a brawl with her. “Nopony had told Rarity that the spoiled pig-faced filly had in fact started the fight but she knew that there must have been a very good reason for her sister to act out of character. She hadn’t been raised like that; her family didn’t consist of savage timberwolves. She was civilised for the most part and rarely caused any trouble other than arguments.
“I was…I was scared…” Sweetie Belle responded, looking deep within the depths of her sister’s eyes.
“Oh Sweetie, I know.”
“Are…Are we still going to Manehattan?”
“Yes.”
Rarity, as much as her sister needed to get away from Ponyville; even if it was only for a day or two. She had promised to resume her interrupted meeting tomorrow so that she could get important business over with and seal yet another deal. Life would be back to normal soon for the young mare that had been working much too hard for her own good and deserved a break from the entrepreneurial part of her profession. She just wanted to get back to doing what she loved, and that was making outfits to show off her true potential and personality. No longer did she want to follow a popular trend and copy other hard-working artists; she wanted to create that trend. She felt a part of her die every time she made something that didn’t come from the heart and it was slowly killing her bit by bit. Although a lot of concepts had changed since Rarity had first started her small business that faithful day; she still stayed and will always remain true to herself.
Manehattan awaited them. Tomorrow they could leave; tomorrow they could start their collapsing relationship anew. As much as Rarity adored Manehattan, she had planned this trip for Sweetie Belle’s good.