//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: For Whom The Belle Tolls // by Darksonickiller //------------------------------// For Whom The Belle Tolls Chapter 10 Applejack walked along the row of apple trees, occasionally stopping to buck one and gather the apples. She yawned, and her eyes were red and puffy, her signature “apple-buck” also appeared rather faulty as only a quarter of the usual amount of apples fell from the tree. She noticed this, cursed her lack of strength, and bucked it again. Again, it was a weak effort. She found her way to a tree she recognized as Dash’s favorite. She could tell by the lightning bolt cutie mark Dash had carved into the trunk so long ago, which she wasn’t to pleased about it when she first discovered it. Rainbow favored this tree because the branches were in a perfect position so that she could always find a comfy place to rest. It was beyond Applejack how anypony could be comfy on a tree branch, she'd always have an apple in reach and be perfectly shaded from the sun. The farmpony slowly traced the carving in the tree with her hoof and she couldn't help but let the tears roll down her cheeks again as she remembered all the times that they would sit under this tree and just talk for hours about nothing. After a long pause and another pitiful buck she walked to the next tree. The past few days had been rough on her. She’d been getting little to no sleep due to the immense guilt she continued to feel. Ever since Rarity caught up to her in the Everfree, and brought her back, she continued to feel terrible. The numerous assertions by her many friends that it wasn’t her fault, that she had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, still failed to change her mind. As a result she spent most nights wide awake, staring at the ceiling, sometimes with tears in her eyes, other times with none, remembering the days she spent with Rainbow Dash. Last night had been the worst night thus far. The guilt was unusually strong, and she sobbed until morning without catching even the smallest semblance of sleep. Applejack felt the rational part of her mind receding, even if she was no longer running into the forest and trying end her life. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. Again she bucked the tree, and again a miniscule amount of apples fell into the waiting buckets. Sweet Apple Acres strained to provide the farm fresh apples the citizens of Ponyville expected, and there seemed to be no end to Applejack’s torment in sight. She glanced towards the sky, wide eyes red and brimming with irrational hope. She hoped she’d catch a glance of that old rainbow colored tail. She sat on the ground, and resigned herself to tremble, since the tears were no longer present. Rarity awoke to clammy sheets with her heart hammering in her chest, choking back a strangled gasp. She sat up, panting, and grasped the glass of water at her bedside and downed it in a few swift gulps. About a week had passed since she had brought Applejack back from the Everfree. The nightmares of old had sprung up again, plaguing her ever since. This was a new one. Instead of glass beneath the crumpled form of her sister, it was debris from the castle, and her sister was underneath. Night after night she’d witnessed that horrible event with frightening clarity. Night after night she was forced to watch again and again as her sister was crushed by the falling debris. She shook as she placed the glass back on her nightstand and looked to her side. The blankets on that particular side of the bed looked fuller. “Oh dear, Rainbow I had another nightmare. I-” she began, but as she she reached out with a hoof, it sank slowly into the bed. Reality was painful. The burden of awareness is one everypony must contend with, but every now and again, the truth is even more excruciating when it pierces the heart like a dagger. Rarity felt that particular pain that came with understanding reality. She sat on her bed and sobbed into her hooves, every minute or so crying out for her sister... Her dead sister. The next morning was dreadful. Rarity followed the normal morning routine, but only with great effort. She got Sweetie Belle ready for school; making her breakfast and such. Rarity noticed that Sweetie’s customary bouncy and excitable mood wasn’t present. She seemed, much to Rarity’s chagrin, to carry herself in the same fashion: Tired and downtrodden. She watched, doing her best to hide her sadness as Sweetie dragged herself from her room to the bathroom for a shower, and finally to the kitchen for breakfast. “Sweetie, darling, are you alright?” she asked her little sister in the best soothing tone of voice she could muster at the moment. Sweetie Belle simply nodded and silently ate her oatmeal. “You know if you need to talk to me about anything, you’re always welcome to, right?” Once again, the little unicorn simply nodded. Rarity sighed. She wished there was more she could do for her sister; she knew exactly how she felt. And though she herself felt lame and miserable, the thought of her very own little sister feeling the same made her feel worse. 'That day, a red-eyed Rarity sat in her workroom, ignoring the tangles in her coiffure in favor of staring blankly at the colorful materials of her trade. Inspiration seemed absent."The various outfits she had made could easily be recreated; she had their designs memorized to the smallest stitch. They sold well since everypony in Ponyville appreciated her work and shopped at her boutique regularly, but even the finest outfits ceased to impress when their own unique appeal began to dwindle as everypony became more accustomed to them. The trick to this sort of business was suspense, and the principle was simple: Catch their attention, and once you have it, they’ll buy, and then eagerly wait for the next outfit. It never failed Rarity, until now. She sat and stared dumbly at her materials, struggling to obtain any kind of inspiration. It had been weeks since her last creation, long before that horrible day, and even though the signs of a failing business hadn’t actually surfaced yet, she couldn’t help but feel the pangs of added anxiety from her lack of prolificness. The door chime announced a visitor, and Rarity snapped out of her exhausted, melancholy fueled stupor, and trotted downstairs. She was greeted by the sight of a certain pink pony. Pinkie had always been a unique pony, yet she always found a way to fit in, anywhere. She did so uncannily . She trotted into the store, her mane slightly frazzled and not as poofy as usual. Like Rarity, her eyes were baggy and slightly bloodshot, however not as bad as Rarity’s. It was strange, and Rarity wondered just how Pinkie managed to look tired, sad, and happy all at the same time. She was less buoyant, and she didn’t bounce as she entered, but she still carried a significant air of joviality. “Hello, Pinkie. What brings you--” Rarity yawned, “--here this morning?” she finished. “Oh! I came to invite you to a party I’m throwing tonight!” Pinkie smiled. Rarity noticed her fast paced, minimally punctuated speech hadn’t changed. “What’s the occasion?” Rarity asked, then thought for a second, and continued, “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.” Pinkie appeared to deflate somewhat, but only slightly. “Oh, well nothing in particular,” she looked down and rubbed a hoof on the floor, “it’s just everypony’s just been so gloomy lately!” She looked up towards Rarity. “And I felt like a good old fashioned Pinkie party would do the trick!” she finished with some renewed vigor, and showed Rarity a huge grin. Rarity started to consider the offer, but wasn’t quite sure. Did she really want companionship right now? Wouldn’t it be better to just be alone right now? How could being with everypony else possibly help? Nothing could, right? Then again, did she really want to be alone, either? Rarity sighed and finally nodded. “Okay, Pinkie. I’ll be there. When will it be?” “It’ll be at Sugar Cube Corner at eight tonight!” Pinkie replied, her grin growing wider. “But you can come when you feel like it!” Rarity sighed again. “Alright Pinkie, I’ll head over when I finish some work that needs to be done.” “Okie Dokie Lokie, see you there!” the pink pony said as she turned around and started walking out the door. She stopped right before she made it out and turned around to face Rarity again. “Rarity you know you can always talk to us about... well... you know we’re all here for you.”   Rarity looked back up from her work giving her a small smile. “Thank you, Pinkie, I know.” And with that, the party pony was out the door and gone and Rarity returned to her work with a sigh. An hour went by of tinkering and fiddling with the dress she was working on and giving long glances at a picture on the wall of Rainbow Dash, Sweetie belle and herself which was the only photo in existence of the three of them. It was taken just days before the accident. After another twenty minutes of work she put the dress back on a ponyequin and went upstairs to get ready for the party. She finally made it to Sugarcube Corner, having walked for good ten minutes through the dirt streets of Ponyville. Many ponies said hello to her or complimented her on her appearance as she passed them by. Usually she would greet everypony that greeted her but every day since she lost her sister she had ignored them all. As she walked inside she noticed not many ponies had showed up yet. Looking around she spotted Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack at a table. She slowly walked over and joined them sitting across from Applejack.   “Hi, Rarity,” Twilight began, but Rarity silenced her with a tired look. “Oh, maybe we should go,” Fluttershy suggested. Twilight nodded and the two mares left Rarity and Applejack alone. Neither mare spoke or even acknowledged the other’s presence for several minutes before the tension in the air became too much for Rarity to bear anymore. By chance they both looked at each other at the same time and got a good look at one another’s faces. They could see sadness in each others eyes and the many nights of sleep they had lost over this event.   “Applejack, you know it’s not—” “Of course it’s mah fault!” AJ snapped as she fixed Rarity with a glare. “Could y’all stop trying to lie to me?” Applejack got up from the table and turned to leave, but looked over her shoulder to give Rarity another glare. “Don’t even think of following me, y’hear?” Applejack stormed off, ignoring everypony else as she left. Rarity just sat there for a few seconds, her mouth open in shock. After a few seconds more, she blinked, shook herself, and got up to follow Applejack anyway. She followed the farmpony from a distance through town and down dirt roads. It was dark outside when Applejack reached the cemetery and opened the rusty gate before walking onwards. Rarity immediately knew where she was heading.   “Ah’m sorry,” Applejack whispered, sitting in front of Rainbow Dash’s grave with tears flowing freely down her cheeks, not realizing Rarity was right behind her crying as well. The grave was nothing special, just a normal smooth granite stone with her cutie mark carved into it with some writing engraved below it. AJ read the writing again for the hundredth time since it was put there. Rainbow Dashery Belle The Element of Loyalty Loving sister and friend to all 975-1001 “It’s all mah fault,” AJ whispered. “It shoulda been me under those rocks, not you. Ah was supposed to get crushed.” Applejack shook as more tears streamed down her face. “This should be mah grave, not yers!” Rarity silently walked up to Applejack, sat down next to her and placed a hoof on the farmpony’s shoulder. Applejack gasped at the realization that she wasn’t alone and looked at Rarity. “Ah… Ah told yah not to follow me!” she blubbered. “Ah’m a murderer! Ah took yer sister from you! Ah don’t deserve yer pity or anypony else’s!” “No, you are not a murderer. Rainbow died saving you,” Rarity whispered soothingly, tears running down her face. “She would have done it for any of us. You are not at fault, Applejack.” Rarity scooted a little closer to Applejack, embraced her in a tight hug, and buried her head in Applejack’s fur as she sobbed. Applejack returned the hug and did the same. Rarity couldn’t hold back anymore and broke down. “I miss her so much Applejack. I miss her every single day.” Rarity said, and Applejack could feel the unicorn’s hot tears running down her chest. Rarity had been strong for her. Now it was her turn to be strong for Rarity. She hugged her tighter and tried her best to console the sobbing unicorn even though she was sobbing herself. “Ah know Rarity. Ah miss her too. Ah’m sorry for all of this. Ah’m so sorry,” Applejack said as she continued to weep with her friend. “I told you darling, it is not your fault. Please stop blaming yourself, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t want that. “Ah know Rarity. Ah’ll try my best not to.” She continued to hold Rarity tightly as she stared at the rainbow pegasus’ grave. They stayed like this for quite some time as the moon shone down on them. Rarity and Applejack just sat there in each others hooves as they let out all of their emotions out and reminisced about all the good, bad, and in-between times they had spent with Rainbow Dash. Eventually they had no more tears to shed and all but the wind was silent until Rarity spoke up. “Applejack, would you like to stay at the boutique with me tonight?” she said, raising her head to meet the farmpony’s eyes. AJ hesitated for a few moments before she finally answered. “Sure Rarity. Ah would like that,” she said, getting up and then helping Rarity to her hooves. She grabbed her hat from the ground and started walking away. After a good ten minutes of silent walking, the two mares made it back the boutique. It was late and most ponies were already asleep. The party had ended a while ago. They quietly walked inside so as to not wake the sleeping Sweetie Belle, making their way upstairs. They parted ways at the top as Rarity went to her room and Applejack went to the guest room. Within minutes they were fast asleep and for the first time in the month since that tragic day, they both got a decent night’s rest.