//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: Rarity on DXM // by Majin Syeekoh //------------------------------// Rarity was busy stitching a dress for Fluttershy when she heard the soft ringing of a bell. She turned her head to see Sweetie Belle enter, then turned back to the dress. “Hello, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as Sweetie Belle dropped her saddlebags off at the door. “Hey, Rarity,” her sister said, trotting up to Rarity, “is there anything I can help you with today?” Rarity smiled at the offer her younger sister had given her, then shook her head. “No, that’s quite alright, but thank you for offering.” Sweetie nodded and quickly went upstairs. Rarity kept her stitching up when she noticed that Sweetie Belle had left her saddlebags at the door. She put her needle down and trotted over to the bags. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, you forgot your—” and stopped when she noticed that one of the bags was open. Rarity started sweating. She had promised that she wouldn’t go snooping through her stuff anymore, but who was to say that what she saw when the bag accidentally tipped over wasn’t fair game? Sighing, she gently tipped over the bags, and was promptly shocked by what she had discovered tumbling out of it. In addition to Sweetie’s schoolbooks and random fric-a-frac was what appeared to be a box of medicine. Interested, she picked it up in her magic and examined it. Now why would Sweetie Belle have a bottle of cough medicine in her things? A steady stream of newspaper articles slowly sank into her head about the dangers of ‘Robotripping’, or drinking excessive amounts of cough syrup in order to get intoxicated. Rarity’s features slowly morphed from confusion into rage as she stomped upstairs and slammed the guest room door open, where Sweetie Belle turned from brushing one of her dolls. A tear formed in Rarity’s eye at the expression of innocence before her, then shook her head. “Sweetie Belle!” Rarity shouted. Sweetie Belle smiled. “Yes, Rarity?” Rarity revealed the bottle of cough medicine, upon which Sweetie Belle’s smile turned into an expression of fear. “Wait, Rarity, I can explain!” Rarity scoffed. “How do you intend on explaining this away?” she said, dangling the box of medicine in front of her. Sweetie Belle gulped. “Um...bad cough?” Sweetie tried, creating an obviously fake hacking sound while covering her mouth with her hoof. Rarity stomped, upon which Sweetie jumped, her cough being magically cured. “Don’t try and pull the wool over my eyes, Sweetie Belle. Especially somepony that knows quite a bit about wool.” Sweetie Belle hung her head low, tears forming in her eyes. “Well, what do you want me to say?” Rarity shook her head.“The truth.” Sweetie Belle opened her mouth, shut it, then said, “I wasn’t gonna drink the whole thing! Me, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were gonna share it!” Rarity gasped in horror. “You mean you got your friends into this!?” Sweetie Belle let out a nervous grin. “Well, it was Scootaloo’s idea. She thought we could get our Cutie Marks in Psychedelic Exploration!” “Getting your Cutie Marks in...did you say Psychedelic Exploration?” Rarity then shook her head, shocked at what she had just said. “No! I will not have my baby sister doing drugs!” “But they sell it over the counter at the pharmacy! How dangerous could it be?” Rarity huffed. “Not so dangerous, eh? Didn’t you hear about little Pipsqueak’s overdose?” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “That wasn’t an overdose! He took the wrong kind! If you look at the active ingredients, that only has one!” Rarity, unsure of what her sister was saying, looked at the back of the box. True to Sweetie Belle’s pleadings, there was only one active ingredient in the concoction. Maybe she does know what she’s...no! “Sweetie Belle, no! I simply can’t allow you to do drugs, especially when you’re staying at my place of residence!” Rarity then took a breath and continued. “What if something were to happen to you? Then I’d have to explain to Mom and Dad what you were doing. You wouldn’t like that very much, now would you? Imagine the distress they’d go through, not to mention me!” Sweetie Belle hung her head low. “...I suppose you’re right, Rarity.” She then looked up to her sister. “I’m sorry, Rarity. I was being selfish.” Rarity grinned and moved in to hug her sister, which Sweetie Belle returned happily. “Well, as long as you understand. I just worry about you, and seeing this in your saddlebag made me fear that you were growing up too fast.” Sweetie Belle nuzzled her sister’s barrel. “Now why would you do such a thing in the first place? You don’t really strike me as the type to do this sort of thing, even with the promise of a Cutie Mark.” Sweetie Belle looked up into her sister’s eyes. “Well, Scootaloo said that she heard from Rumble that Snips told him that it felt really good.” Rarity let out a warm chuckle and rubbed her sister’s head. “Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle...There are many ways to feel good. Eating ice cream, hanging out with friends, catching the eyes of boys…” “RARITY!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, her cheeks reddening. Rarity giggled at her sister’s reaction. She’d understand someday that boys weren’t full of cooties. Rarity then disengaged from Sweetie Belle. “Well, now that we’ve had this chat, I’m going into the bathroom to dump this dreadful stuff down the drain. You go out and play with your friends.” Sweetie Belle nodded. “OK, Rarity!” Rarity watched as Sweetie Belle bounded out the door, hearing her hoofsteps down the stairs, finally hearing the bell of her boutique ring as she left. Rarity chuckled, then trotted towards her bathroom and shut the door, opening the box with her magic and throwing it away. What was left was an eight ounce bottle of a thick liquid. She stared at it, twirling it in her magic. Psychedelic Exploration? She fumbled with the child-safety cap on the bottle. They should really call it an earth-pony safety cap, she thought to herself as she finally popped the top open, throwing it in the trash along with the box. She went to pour it down the drain, when a thought crossed her mind. So they say it makes you feel really good… She twirled the bottle around in her magic examining it. Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to see what all the fuss is all about. But how much should I drink? Well, if the three of them were going to split it, I suppose I should drink the whole thing. She hesitantly brought the bottle to her lips, pulling it away almost instantly when the horrid smell of the concoction touched her olfactory nerve, causing her to gag and retch. She then shook her head and steeled herself. Come on, if a bunch of kids can drink this, you can too, Rarity! She then pinched her nostrils shut as she brought the bottle to her lips again and started drinking it. It was all she could do to not spit it up. It tasted like liquid sick mixed with fungus! She drank the entire contents, sweating all the while. Finally, she pulled the bottle away from her lips as she was done, bending over and taking exaggerated gasps as her entire body seemed to protest against the disgusting gunk she had just swallowed. Finally, she rose up, threw away the bottle, and grasped a glass in her magic. She held it underneath the faucet as she turned it on, exhaling ragged breaths at the miserable concoction she had just ingested, downing the water quickly as the glass filled up, turning off the faucet. She then put the glass down, inhaled, then exhaled, and opened the bathroom door, heading back downstairs to continue work on Fluttershy’s dress. This had better be worth it, she thought to herself as she shuddered at the cold gooeyness that disgustingly sloshed inside of her stomach.