//------------------------------// // Please don't leave me now, when I still need you... // Story: Slipping through my hooves: The Diamond and the Belle // by keam //------------------------------// “Rarity? Are you there? Sweetie Belle told you were upset, but you’d refuse talking to her…” I slowly lifted my head form the pillow, looking over at Applejack who was leaning against the closed door, looking at me in concercern and ever so slight shock. “A-Applejack...go away...please.” I cried, my voice barely audible as I once more pressed my face against the smooth, cold surfaces of the pillow, hiding me from the rest of the cruel, unfair world. “Rarity...I heard Sweetie Belle recently got her cutiemark...is..all of this… about her mark?” Applejack asked, carefully, approaching the bed, doing her best to hide her shock over my disheveled figure. And she was right. It was exactly why I was laying here, crying: Sweetie Belle was growing up, growing independent. she was leaving me, and I couldn’t take it...not yet. As much as I hated to admit it, i needed my little sister...and if that mark was going to take her from me, than I’d rather see it banished to the deepest depths of Tartarus than on my little sister’s flank. “Rarity...please…” Applejack said, sitting down next to me on the bed, slowly stroking her hooves across my back, relaxing me somewhat. I tried, really tried, to give her an answer now, but my voice wouldn’t work and a that came out was a muffled squeak. “Please, Rarity, tell me what's so wrong. You're enchained by your own sorrows, that you want no one to know, and in your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow.” Seeing her honest, understanding eyes I couldn’t hold it in, couldn’t lie. I need to tell someone, say something. So I prepared my self,and opened my eyes, meaning to give her the real answer. “It is sweetie. S-she’s leaving me…and I can’t even..I just...no!” I exclaimed, once more attempting to bury my head in the pillow, but before I could do so, Applejack promptly removed it. “Rarity, you need to tell me the truth, and I'm a shoulder you can cry on when you're finished. As your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on.” Applejack said, demanding an answer in the kindest way she could. “She’s slipping away from me, Applejack!  The feeling that I'm losing her forever, it’s killing me. And without ever having really entered her world, I got so many regrets. Yes, I’m just glad whenever I can share her laughter, because she’s always been such a funny little girl.” After getting it all out, I immediately felt much better. It was like expressing all his thoughts that slowly was breaking me down on the inside helped me to heal, to feel better. But I still hated that cursed mark which wanted to take my sister away from me, and It still hurted so much. But I was ready to face the fear and hate. Almost. More than before at least  So I got up on my hooves, and walked to the other side of the room. Applejack sat quietly on the bed,watching me, waiting for me to continue. She could sense there was more  I had to say, and as usual, she was right...there was more troubling me, more I wished to share… I sight, walking back to my bad and sit down next to Applejack. “Oh, Applejack, what ever happened to all those wonderful adventures and all those places I had planned for me and Sweetie Belle to go to? I know, some of it we did, but most of it we never did..” Applejack flinched at my words, and I could see she’s worried, she too. That she also felt guilt over all the last time, all the time we never used the way we should’ve, prioritizing work and private matters before spending time with our sisters. But, who could blame Applejack? She had no parents around to provide food and money for her family, so she had to do that, but I...I just didn’t want to put that time on Sweetie, something I regretted now... “I know how you feel...I felt all the same when Apple Bloom got her mark, but...she proved me wrong. She proved she want and need me still, and I’m sure, that it’s the same with Sweetie Belle!” Applejack said, looking at me, pitying me for my pain, yet it didn't bother me. “Oh darling, thanks for the try, but you don’t get it! Soon...soon I’ll be walking through an empty house, tears in my eyes. This is were our story is going to end, this is goodbye.” Applejack looked at me, her eyes wide in shock, pointing behind me. I slowly turned around and saw the little unicorn filly with the heart and note cutiemark standing in the door, her eyes filled with tears in her furious eyes. “S-Sweetie…” “NO! It’ll never be over, I promise...Rarity, our bond is much too strong to break, and I promise, we’ll find a way to face the new tomorrow...sister, I promise you that!” She is over me before I could answer, hugging me tightly, and I returned the gesture, hugging her back, both of us sitting down on our bed. “Please never leave me, Rarity...please!” She begged, hugging me harder, as if she was afraid that I’d be gone the moment she let go. I grabbed her hooves and pulled her away from me, fixing her in front of me. “Sweetie Belle, I’ll never go. That night when the stage light’s finally will find you, shining like the sun, you’ll be smiling and having fun, feeling like a number one...you know why?” i tell her, smiling, ruffling her mane. She looks at me with big eyes, opening and closing her mouth several time before finally, smiling proudly, answering. “Because when the beams are blinding me, I won’t feel blue, because somewhere in the crowd I will have you!” She exclaimed, once more hugging me. It amazed me, as I sat there, dragging my hoof through her kong, messy, purple and white mane, how much good and bad a simple word, a simple gesture or an happening in everyday life, which no one could escape, can cause. But now it was good. I was safe and secure, as happy as ever, and most importantly, I had Sweetie Belle by my side, as it should be, and always would.