//------------------------------// // Sisterly Love // Story: Princess Applebloom // by meme-asaurus //------------------------------// Celestia watched Applebloom sob. Poor girl, the goddess of sunlight thought. It’s like looking at an old picture of myself. She walked over to the blank-flanked filly, which in turn faced away. “Go away,” Applebloom muttered. “Ah don’t wanna talk to you. Ah don’t even know you. Ah… Ah hate you!” “Oh?” Celestia said, lowering her head all the way down to eye level. “And why is that, little one?” “C-cause Ah didn’t even ASK fer none of this,” protested Applebloom, tears still steaming down her baby cheeks. “If you think Ah’m just gonna let everthang get taken taken away from me just so y’all have and extra hoof in ruling Equestria, y’all gotta another… (sniff)” she struggled to finish her sentence. “…(sniff) another… (sniff, sniff)” It was no use, and her voice returned to inaudible, blubbering sobs. “Waaaaaaaaaahhh!!! Ah just want mah friends baaaack!” “You believe I want to see you suffer?” Celestia said, sitting down. “On the contrary, I wish could take it all away.” “Yer just saying that ‘cause you and Luna hafta put up with the guards!” Celestia laughed at this. “After a decades, you barely notice them. No, I’m talking about why you’re crying. You only have good cry like you’re having only once in your life. Lord knows I did.” “You cried? But yer Princess Celestia! Ah don’t remember in any history books of ya crying!” said Applebloom in disbelief. “You know, you’re a princess too,” Celestia reminded. “And you’re weeping your very eyes out right now. Besides, history has a nasty habit of ignoring the flaws of the victor.” “Ignorin’ the what-now?” Celestia sighed. “It means ponies didn’t want to look at me in a bad way.” “Oh,” stated Applebloom. “Anywho, what was thing that got YOU all worked up?” The two alicorns’ eyes met, and Applebloom saw the expression on the ruler of Equestria’s face was that of mourning. Celestia gulped, and her voice wavered slightly. “It was when my husband died. Old age.” She chuckled halfheartedly. “I nearly blotted out the sun, I was so depressed.” “What happened?” asked Applebloom. “How didja cope?” “Luna came along,” answered the eldest princess. “You know, there was a time when we were alicorns, but didn’t rule Equestria.” “Really?” “Indeed. Back then, we were just victims of magical phenomena. Outcasts, really. Luna was my only friend in the world. Over the years, even though we weren’t really related, we came to call each other sister.” “How’d y’all become princesses then?” inquired Applebloom. “Discord happened,” explained Celestia. “After his defeat, we took over. Nopony really objected, especially since the previous rulers (Emperor Hurricane and his constantly bickering wife, Queen Platinum) were hypnotized into thinking that they were their own eyeballs,” she shook her head. “Don’t ask on how that worked. I’ve gotten enough off topic already. The point is that Luna and I will always be there for you, because that what sisters do. On my word as a princess.” “So what, we’re sisters now?” asked Applebloom, surprised. “That’s an order,” Celestia giggled. And before Applebloom could object, the little filly was swept into a loving glomp. “Sweetie Belle?” Rarity yelled though the closed door of her sister’s room. “Is everything alright, dear?” Rarity didn’t understand. Sweetie Belle had just ran into the house crying and muttering things like, “How could she?” before immediately locking herself in her room. (What’s worse, the little brat had taken Rarity’s favorite fainting sofa in with her!) “No! I’m not coming out!” cried the distressed voice of Sweetie Belle. “Is this about the cutie mark?” asked Rarity. “No!” denied Sweetie Belle. “Well… yes. No. Sort of. Maybe. I don’t know, go away!” “I’m not going anywhere until you come out of room and tell me what’s wrong! (And that you return my sofa back to me,)” “But I neeeeeeeeeed it!~” whined Sweetie Belle. “Besides, it’s always helped you out when you were in trouble!” “That’s completely different,” Rarity defended. “I’m simply a lady with certain needs. Now, for the last time, come out!” “No!” “Come out.” “No!” “Come out.” “No!” “Come out.” “No!” “Please come out?” “Hmmmm… Nope!” “Pretty please come out your room with a new issue of Coltsmarepolotain Magazine on top? "NO!!!!" “You are going to come out this instant young filly, or I swear Celestia’s royal flanks I shall BREAK THE DOOR DOWN!” “This door always looked frumpy anyway!” “Oh. It. Is. On!” And rather than deal with the door itself, Rarity took a page from Twilight Sparkle’s book (no pun intended) and teleported to the other side. “You may steal my precious furniture,” she ranted. “You may call me a neat-freak, you may make bigger messes and even worse meals than I thought physically possible, you may make fun of me for going on that nightmare of a date with Prince Blueblood and the-rock-that-must-be-named, you may try to disown me as a sister for Applejack, and I’ve even forgiven you out of the kindness of my heart for the complete and utter LIES that wrote about me in that wretched school paper!” Rarity lowered her voice to a whisper. “BUT CAROUSEL BOUTIQUE IS SACRED GROUND. Listen closely Sweetie Belle, and you better listen well: Unless you want to wake up one morning to find yourself on a train halfway to Tartarus, you will never use… that… that ‘F-word’ to describe a single speck of dust that wafts into my beloved paradise of fashion. Do we have an understanding?” Sweetie Belle gulped. “YesRarityeverythinginyourstoreisdropdeadfabulous,” she managed to squeak. “Splendid!” Rarity said as she suddenly perked up. “Oh, and thank you so kindly for the complement, it means so much for me. I work so hard to keep things trendy and you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to-“ “Uh, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Yes, darling? I do believe there was something that was bothering you before.” “No, you’re tail’s kinda… half in the door.” Rarity looked back. Apparently when she had teleported, part of her tail had materialized in solid wood. So, being that she’d never been in this situation before, she acted upon instinct and screamed, “Of all the things that could happen, this is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” She then tried to jump onto her sofa, but overestimated her new tail length. As a result, she landed flat on her face. Sweetie Belle giggled. After a quick and reluctant tailcut, Rarity saw that her little sister’s mood had improved, so the fashionista decided to take the initiative once more. “So, did you show Applebloom that new cutie mark yet?” she asked. Sweetie Belle looked at the floor. “Yeah.” “And how’d she take it?” “I don’t wanna talk about it,” grumbled the depressed filly. Rarity’s ears drooped in sympathy. “Was really that bad?” she asked. Sweetie Belle answered with silence. “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity coaxed, “I’m your sister. You know you can tell me anything, right darling?” “Yeah, whatever.” “And no matter how big of a fight you had, I’m sure that you’ll always remain frineds,” encouraged the reluctantly tailess unicorn. “How do you know that? You don’t even know what happened!” argued Sweetie Belle. “True,” admitted Rarity. “Perhaps you could shed some light on that little subject?” Sweetie Belle thought it over. “Alright,” the little filly said, “Try this on for size…” And so, Sweetie Belle recounted the events of the clubhouse to her big sister. “…Goodness,” was all Rarity could say. “I know,” said Sweetie Belle matter-of-factly. “But one question remains,” thought Rarity out loud. “How did Applebloom ever become an alicorn?” “I dunno,” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I mean, she didn’t exactly stick around to ask.” Suddenly Rarity gasped in realization. “What?” asked Sweetie Belle, her curiosity peeking. “Ideeeeaaa!~” beamed Rarity, her eyes practically dazzling. “We just don’t know the whole story yet!” Her one-filly audience’s reaction was that of confusion. “Come again?” Sweetie Belle said flatly. “No time to explain! We must get an explanation!” And before Sweetie Belle could ask what in Equestria her sister was going on about, she found herself being rushed out of Carousel Boutique. “Wait, where are we going?!” cried the perplexed pint-sized pink-and-purple-maned pony. “To the scene of the crime!” ”What crime??!” Rarity stopped in mid-gallop. “Oh, think nothing of it darling, I just always wanted to say that.” And with that, she continued on without another word of explanation. [Author’s Note: The glomping of Applebloom and Celestia was so adorable the author’s heart exploded twice, resulting in double-corrective heart surgery. Hence, any & all “Princess Molestia” jokes about said glomp shall be sent TO THE MOOOOOON!!!!!!!]