The rain poured down heavily now, causing the dirt road to become thick mud. The clouds overhead were darker than regular clouds, making the afternoon appear to be close to nighttime. However, none of this mattered now. For Sweetie Belle, the pain in her heart drowned out all that was going on around her, even the rain water hitting her eyes, causing them to sting something fierce.
She had run from Sweet Apple Acres all the way to Ponyville, not stopping to catch her breath, not looking back to see if her friend was following behind. She could have sworn that she heard Scootaloo calling to her, but she was too ashamed to turn around and face her, not after what she just did. As she approached the main part of town, the memories of what happened began racing through her mind, causing her to feel slightly disorientated.
I should have seen this coming, she thought to herself as she saw the Carousel Boutique in the distance. How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I stop and think about her feelings? Why did I think that she would accept my love for her with arms wide open? How could I have been such a fool?
Without hesitation, she opened the door of the Boutique and slammed it shut. The sound had definitely caught Rarity’s attention, she figured. But with all that was happening now, it didn’t matter to her; in fact, nothing mattered to her anymore, except the pain in her heart.
Rarity, who had been working in her “inspiration room,” heard the loud bang of the front door. Knowing that it was Sweetie Belle, she stopped her sewing machine that she was working with and made her way to greet her sister. However, she didn’t even reach the stairs when she saw her sister, all muddy, wet, and dirty, run past her. She didn’t get to say two words to her before she ran into her bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Sweetie Belle?” she asked, slightly surprised that she didn’t even notice her. Curious as to what had just happened, she went over to her sister’s room and, slightly, opened the door. When she did, she saw that the small filly was lying on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. By the sounds of her small whimpering, she could tell that she was crying.
“Sweetie Belle, what’s wrong?” she asked, as she trotted into the room and to the bedside, “Is everything alright? What happened?”
Sweetie Belle tried her best to calm her crying down, even though she knew she couldn’t. Through tears and sadness, she managed to say, “It’s...nothing...honest...”
Rarity gave a worried look, as she watched her sister cry her eyes out. Then, her look turned into one of annoyance. She was tired of being left in the dark about everything that went on. As a result, she decided to put her hoof down and get to the bottom of all this.
“Alright, that’s it,” she said, stomping one of her forehooves on the ground. She tried her best to sound serious, but the worry from seeing her so upset prevented her from doing so. “Sweetie Belle, I’m tired of you not telling me things, especially things that are important. I can clearly see that you’re upset and I want to help you, but you need to tell me what’s wrong, please.”
Sweetie Belle’s crying calmed to a soft sobbing now as her sister finished speaking. She knew she was right and that she needed to tell her what was happening. However, given her circumstances, she couldn’t deal with telling Rarity the truth about Scootaloo. Thinking it was for the best, she decided to play the “Scott” card one last time before breaking the news to her, whenever she decided to break it to her.
“Well,” she said, her voice in a quiet whisper, “I...I mean...well...”
Try as she might, she couldn’t find the right words to say. Rarity could see this and knew that whatever happened must have been really bad, so bad that it prevented the filly from explaining it. To help comfort her, she trotted over to her sister’s side and rubbed her muzzle on her neck.
“It’s okay, Sweet’ums” she said, hoping it’d comfort her, “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m here for you and I can help you, no matter what it is.”
Mustering all the strength she could, Sweetie Belle blurted out, “I tried to tell Scott how I felt about him...and he rejected me!”
Rarity’s let out a gasp as her eyes widened in shock and horror. The filly buried her face into the pillow, trying to hide the fresh tears that began to flow. Rarity’s heart pounded in her chest, as a feeling began overflowing her, a feeling that she tried desperately to avoid, to prevent from day one of this whole ordeal: failure.
The older unicorn sat on her haunches and watched her sister cry, as the feeling overflowed her body. She had failed to be there for her sister, to prevent the heartbreak that she didn’t need to go through. Tears began welling up in Rarity’s eyes, as she tried to put the feeling aside and focus on her sister. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t avoid it.
Not knowing what else to do, she got up and put her arm around her sister, rubbing her back in an attempt to comfort her.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” she said softly, “I’m here for you. It’s going to be alright.”
Then, Sweetie Belle got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around her sister, the tears still flowing from her eyes. Rarity returned the embrace, feeling the tears from her own eyes beginning to run down her cheeks. All the while, Sweetie Belle said nothing. All she did was rest her head on Rarity’s shoulder and continued to cry. The pain in her heart was more than she could bear; it was even more painful than her nose felt at the moment. She tightened her embrace as she whispered something in Rarity’s ear.
“What’s wrong with me?” she whispered.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” she said, as she released their embrace and looked her in the eyes, “You’re a beautiful, innocent, young filly. Sure, you don’t have your Cutie Mark yet, but that doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. If anything, there was something wrong with him. He must not have a taste in beauty to reject a filly like you.”
The compliment made the filly smile, even though, on the inside, she couldn’t help but feel bad, mainly because they were talking about Scootaloo.
Rarity let out a sigh and continued, “If there’s anypony to blame for this, it’s me. I failed to keep you safe from this. I didn’t want you to have to go through this, especially at your age. That’s why I was so keen on finding out more about this pony, so you wouldn’t have to go through the heartbreak. I went through it before, so I know how you feel right now. I know that it hurts now; this sort of thing does hurt the first time. But, come tomorrow, you’ll feel so much better. I promise.”
Sweetie Belle smiled, knowing that her sister was right. As a result, she wrapped her hooves around her again and whispered, “Thank you, sis.”
“No need to thank me. That’s what sisters are for,” Rarity said with a smile on her face. When they released their embrace, she said “Now, go get yourself cleaned up. A beautiful filly like you doesn’t need to be dirty and wet.”
“Okay,” she said, as she made her way to the bathroom to clean up. When she went into the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.
What am I going to do now? she thought to herself. Scootaloo is never going to want to see me again, not after what just happened. What should I do now?
She let out another sigh. She’s probably going to tell everypony about this now. First she’ll tell Apple Bloom, who will tell Applejack, who will tell Rarity! Soon, everypony in Ponyville will know about it! I’ll never be able to show my face in town ever again!
The moment the thought ran through her mind, she looked back at herself in the mirror. It was at that moment that she knew what she had to do. She had no idea how she was going to pull it off, but she knew it had to be done.
As soon as this storm passes, I’ll just have to run away, run away and never come back, she thought, as she lowered her head in shame. It’s the only option I have, aside from being laughed and criticized out of town for what I did. I don’t know where I’ll go, or what I’ll do, but all I know is that I can’t stay here.
With nothing left to do but wait, she let out a defeated sigh and proceeded to clean herself off from the mud, water, and shame that she was covered in.