Between Needles and Knives

by Dancewithknives

Not Your Kind of Ponies

While Rarity was visiting the Princess…

Sweetie Belle woke up to an outrageously mundane day. The crisp morning air above her comforter from outside of her window was a bit cold. Her bed was nice and toasty, wanting to keep her inside and creating a compelling argument to extend her night’s sleep for a few more minutes. But, there was no rest for this weary filly, for she had plans today -plans that she had made for quite a long time, and the only thing that was left to chance was a simple one word answer.

Sweetie Belle slipped out of her bed, pulling the sheets up to the headboard and then threw her throw pillows at the crease in the blankets, the way she made any bed that was not the one that she had at her big sister’s store.

She made her way into the family’s bathroom and brushed her teeth, combed her mane, and then made her way down the staircase and into the kitchen. There, she sat between two large mountains of adults and had her share of crunchy, flaky, corn flakes and milk.

So after the blandest of bland meals, Sweetie Belle took her chance. She enacted her plan and set her endeavors to the mercy of Murphy’s Law. Sweetie Belle grasped her cereal bowl in her magic and slurped up as much as the milk as she could. When done, she set the bowl back down and said, “Mom, I think I left my homework assignment at Rarity’s shop. Is it okay if I go and get it?”

Mrs. Belle looked up from her issue of Hairdresser’s Weekly and said, “Uh… are you sure it isn’t in your bag?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Your room?”

“Yes.”

“Well… I guess you can go check your sister’s store if you think it’s there. Are you sure, though? I don’t want to go and break into her store when she’s not there.”

Sweetie Belle groaned, “Yes.”

“Okay then. I guess you can go to the store. Just be quick.”

Success!

Sweetie Belle slipped out of her chair and began to walk towards the door. “I’ll be quick, but I was planning on meeting with Apple bloom and Scootaloo afterwards for some Cutie Mark Crusading!”

“Okay then, Sweetie. Don’t forget to lock the door behind you!”

“I won’t!” she called back, out of the room and heading towards the front door.

“And the key is underneath the welcoming mat.”

Sweetie Belle groaned, “Alright!” and closed the door behind her.

She stopped on her front porch, door to her parent’s house right behind her, and took a moment to feel the morning sun on her coat. After the brief rest, she began her trek into town and towards her home away from home. While her plan had indeed demanded secrecy and misleading her parents to work, she had not lied about the majority of the details.

Her destination was indeed to go to the Carousel Boutique, just like how the red herring of getting a misplaced homework assignment was genuine… even though it was planted.

Either way, what she was not telling was that her goal was to have the store empty, not with her friends, not with her parents, not with her sister. All to herself. She had done this before, and it would not be the last time that this would happen.

She walked into town, and now adjusted her course to Rarity’s shop. Her plan was ingenious, an evil mastermind from a newspaper comic couldn’t make a better way to do the deed that she was about to do. She called the second floor of the Ponyville boutique home so much that she felt that she felt that she should have been staying there instead with her parents. So when she heard that Rarity was taking a long weekend to go to a Sapphire Shores Concert, she had a hard time hiding her joy over the opportunity.
She finally arrived at the Carousel Boutique. Instead of going towards the welcoming mat, she hooked a right and walked into the back yard, more presently, the tree beside the clothesline.

Sweetie Belle approached the tree and reared up, placing her hooves on the trunk. Right at eyelevel, there was a small wooden birdhouse. Sweetie Belle pursed her lips and whistled. After a few seconds, there was a twitching inside and a reflective golden light shining against the inside of the box. As according to the arrangement for its tenancy, a Red Robin poked its head out of the wooden home holding a golden key in its beak.
Sweetie Belle bit the key in her teeth and said, “Thanks!”. It was funny, Mr. and Mrs. Belle didn’t even know where the key to the store was anymore.

Sweetie Belle walked to the back door and let herself in, locking the door behind her and leaving the entire building to herself.

In regard to her two friends, Sweetie Belle was only telling a bit of a half truth. Chances are they would indeed do some crusading, but at the same time, now would not be the time. Apple Bloom had chores to do around the farm each morning, and Scootaloo always did whatever she did in the mornings. So to say the least, Sweetie Belle had hours to wait before anything else happened.

So, now at her destination, Sweetie Belle spared no time and cut straight to her prize, Right through the kitchen, right up the stairs, right down the hall, and right into Rarity’s room. The guardian of the prizes in this sacred chamber was absent, leaving the treasures open and vulnerable to the lone crusader.

First, she ran into the closet and made her way to the safe. Entering the super-secret and un-guessable code of Rarity’s birthday into the combination, the locked door opened. Pawing past the bags of money and the ugly scrapbook within that Sweetie Belle guessed was –based on how weird Rarity was with her whenever this stallion was in the store- her secret coltfriend, and grabbed as much of her jewelry as she could. Then, down the long line of dresses hanging in the walk-in closet, Sweetie belle found a sparkling blue one and took it with her.
Carefully, she walked with her sister’s clothing and accessories onto a clothing rack of the vanity before climbing up onto the chair.

She opened up the drawer and pulled out a tall tube of lipstick, tracing the red makeup around and then filling in her lips. Now, being a female, she did enjoy the act of making herself look fancy as much as the next filly, but she was not doing this for that alone. But, like when she had renounced, then announced, her sisterhood to Rarity while their parents were on their fourth honeymoon, she did not love beautification as much as her bigger sister.

So why did she make an excuse to break into her home to try on her clothes? Well, it was more about the mare than the job.

With eyeliner, lipstick, and blush properly applied, Sweetie Belle turned to the glittering blue dress and unzipped the back end.

It was some time ago, a few months, maybe a year, it didn’t really matter, what did was what spurred this epiphany. It was another Cutie Mark Crusader plan up in smoke, the adventures in the world of painting left the three fillies frustrated, tired, and covered in red, blue, and yellow paint. With the usual walk of shame after another failure of a day, Sweetie Belle returned home and had to ask her busy sister for help in cleaning up and salvaging the rest of the night.

And so there she was, sitting in the shower, watching as her spirit went down the drain with the water, and had nopony to be angry with except for herself. It seemed that she never would find her destiny, maybe she was always meant to have a disappointing life? Even if she ever did find her mark, what would happen if it was not the solution to her unhappiness?

Then the door opened and Rarity walked in. Without saying anything she pulled the curtain aside and began to scrub her back. Sweetie Belle didn’t see if Rarity was annoyed, peeved, or pitying her at the moment, but it was her intrusion into the moping that she realized something.

Rarity had everything that Sweetie Belle wanted. Of course she had her mark, but she had money, a job, good friends, beauty, smarts, and most of all, she was happy. All of the conversations that her parents had had about Rarity throughout Sweetie Belle’s life came back to the filly. They made sense now. Everything did.

She zipped the dress up her back. Although it was a bit loose on her, it still felt good and made her feel like her sister. With expensive necklaces of precious stones around her on her wrist, slippers on her hooves, and makeup on her face, Sweetie Belle finally felt that she was ready. In front of the vanity mirror, Sweetie Belle posed and act like the lady who she shared the same roof with.

Unfortunately for Sweetie Belle, there was no way that she could have known what had happened at the Sapphire Shores Concert the night before, it was just too soon. So to the chagrin of her secret hobby of prancing around as her sister, she could not have foreseen that her idol had been confronting their ruler on this day. At this time in particular, Rarity and Princess Celestia were watching her pose in front of the mirror.

But she would not lie about it. When Rarity would later ask about her secret intrusion and liberal use of her cosmetics, Sweetie Belle would admit the embarrassing truth.

She wanted to be just like her sister when she grew up.

---

---

Ten days after the accident at the theatre...

On one of the many street corners of Canterlot, there was an ice cream parlor. It was a chain store; there were four others exactly like it in other corners of the great city. The servers all wore matching pink aprons, all the disposable dishes had a promotion that returning ten of them would grant the returnee a free double scoop, and the wallpaper was a larger version of the company's logo.

The store, like the other ones, had been mapped out and placed by one of the company's floor planners. Everything, from the number of steps to each freezer, to the placement of the register and how many vats of ice-cream would fit into each freezer row had been taken into deep consideration.

In the fenced off, open aired and umbrella filled sidewalk right beside the front door, two families, being bound by a bond that many would not understand, were seated. The crew of ponies around the table were busy chatting and enjoying their frosty treats. Sitting with their back to the street and under the shade of the umbrella, three mares were busy eating their ice cream. Two were earth ponies, one, who was considerably younger, had a uniquely beautiful grey coat, her dark mane was straightened, and she had a wrist mounted disposable spoon courtesy of the shop. For as beautiful as this mare was, she held no quarter to the one beside her. She, like her younger counterpart, was of a grey coat, but hers was of a much darker shade, her mane, which she kept tied up tight against the back if her head in a type of roll only a stylist could do, was as dark as ebony. The earth pony may have been twice the age of her partner, but time had only enhanced her looks.

Beside them was another earth pony. Her mane was a pink color that accented her white coat well. Her mane was, as always, in a bun, and all she was missing from how she usually looked was her nurse's cap and jacket.

Sitting at the "3" and "9" position on the table were two other mares that had been inverses of each other. One was red, the other white, and their manes were the color that their counterpart wore for a coat. While they had inherited their colors from their mother, they had their species from their father. The red one, Constitution, was a unicorn. Declaration, her sister and older by 57 seconds, was a pegasus.

Around the assortment of females were three children. Two of which, Independence and Liberty, were spitting images of their mothers. The final child, a colt, sat around with the fillies that he treated his cousins- even though, technically, he was their uncle -was unlike the other sitters at the table, for he looked like a copied image of his father.

Finally, the last member of the party sat at the other end of the table in the sun's embrace, looking out towards the street before him. His coat hid the wings that were closed against his body while his horn brought the spoon to his mouth.

The group chatted on an assortment of topics, mainly focusing on the juvenile soccer game that the youngest members of the group had been participating in earlier in the morning. The children were currently recounting their heroic tale of the game. As always, the only stallion at the table sat quietly and listened.

It was said that the soccer game earlier in the morning was a good one. The only stallion at the table could give many reasons as to why it was so good. For one, the team that he and his family was supporting had won. After that, he could reason that it was good because his son had scored a goal. And even going beyond that, he could reason that it was good because there were no fights that broke out, or that the adults were not shouting at the referee as much as they could have, or because there was only seventeen fouls, which was four less than the game last week.

But, with all that being said, he could never actually tell if it was a good game or not.

The patriarch of the larger of the two families sat, mainly keeping silent, and listened to the conversation between his daughters and one of the few friends he had in the world. But, try as he must, he could not help but subconsciously decipher the ambience around him. While the musician of their group talked about what it was like touring with Sapphire Shores, he could not help but hear the couple behind him talking about their next vacation. His son recounting the tale of scoring at the game an hour earlier faded beneath the voice of a stallion whispering about all of the dirty things he was going to do to his filly friend as soon as they were done with work.

But most importantly, he was listening for what was on everypony's minds.

The stream of misinformation being traded around him was like putting a fish in the sea. One grandmother was throwing a fit over the mere act of putting such a terrible thing into the public newspaper. A mare was talking about witnessing the poor worker fall to his demise. A stallion was talking of lobbying for better safety standards for the older buildings in the city. And, a mare who was making her skeptical listener roll her eyes as she ranted on that that the police were withholding evidence that the pony was actually an assassin! And that Ms. Shores had protested one of the Princess' actions, so the alicorn hired him to take care of her for good!

"P34C3."

The aloof stallion went from his body's autopilot and assumed control again. He looked up and across the table at the dark colored mare.

She brought her hooves up and set her elbows on the table, bringing them together before her chin. She said nothing, but her message was apparent. He was not the only one lost listening to the crowd around them. She smiled gently, blinked her brilliant emerald eyes, and gave him an approving nod.

To those old enough to know the past, a short silence was shared.

The mare turned to her daughter sitting beside her and said," Octavia, dear. Was there something you wanted to say to Mr. P34C3?"

The Double Bassist in the Canterlot Orchestra set her spoon down and looked at her, " Are you sure this is the right place, mother?"

P34C3's twin daughters stopped eating their ice cream and looked around nervously, hoping that the children were not paying attention to their grandfather and his friend.

Freedom Redheart, sharing her daughters concerns and worrying about the information being heard by her youngest, protested, "It’s quite alright, Sonnet. There is no need to show unnecessary gratitude."

"Yes, indeed, S0NN37. It’s just another day's work." Said P34C3, acting humble.

S0NN37 smiled and scoffed at her hosts, "oh, you two are too kind. Please, humor us."

Freedom began to protest again, but, the earth pony sitting beside her mother spoke up, " I... Please, it is nothing, I promise."

Calmly, P34C3 nodded, and three of the other mares grimaced.

Octavia breathed in and then said," I just wanted to say... Thank you, Mr. Peace"

"You're welcome, Octavia."

Shortly after that, the conversations returned to idle gossip.

Slowly though, as the adults talked and children had their ice cream, the stallion sitting with his family began to become aloof again. This time, it was not the talk around him had captured his interest.

Slowly yet surely, two stallions wearing suits, ties, and sunglasses began to circle around the block more and more frequently, looking for someone. Using subtle messaging, the stallion reported their incursions to his friend. Eventually, after checking a wristwatch more than a dozen times, the two ponies finally decided to cross the street and approached the table.

All of the ponies sitting at the table turned as the two finely dresses ponies neared their brief ice-cream merrymaking.

The one who was clearly the leader looked at the finely groomed earth pony and cleared his throat, " Excuse me, Ms. Soprano, but the Ambassador has sent us to escort you to the flyport. Your airship will be arriving shortly."

The Ambassador's wife stood up from her seat and sighed, “Well, Octavia, it seems your father would like us to hurry." She turned to the white nurse beside her, “Freedom, thank you for allowing us to intrude on your Saturday morning, but we must be going."

Freedom Redheart angled her head and kissed her guest on the cheek, a formal Trotvian farewell, “Until we meet again, Sonnet."

The mare nodded her head, "P34C3."

He returned the nod, "S0NN37."

The two mares left the sidewalk store and made their way in the direction of the Flyport.

Constitution, the red unicorn, rubbed her daughter on the side of her shoulder and brought her close, "oh, Liberty, if only your father's job was to travel to lavish places around the world."

"Yeah," her daughter replied, "but you married daddy form his body."

Everypony, if they understood the joke or not, laughed aloud... except for one.

P34C3 was already focused on next anomaly in the immediate area. He had been watching them for quite some time now, and like he had instructed them, they did not dare interrupt his family time. Passing once every 10 minutes on the street, two pegasi wearing enchanted gold armor that shined with its own light made another lap around the block. He had instructed them that if they were sent for him to never-ever approach him in front of his family unless, quite literally, someone was dying. He warned all of his recruits that there would be severe consequences to whoever violated that rule.

The only stallion at the table sighed, put his spoon into his ice cream, and slipped it over to his son, who was making quite the mess with his own dish.

“Freedom, I must be off to work."

Freedom nodded, used to this type of notice, and said, "Dinner will be waiting in the oven, Peace."

He stood, slipped his OMNISHIELD on, hugged his children and grandchildren, kissed his wife, and departed on foot towards the castle.

As he left, Justice, eating with his hooves even though he shared his father's coat, wings, and horn, watched with admiration. He wiped his face clean and further stained his soccer jersey. He looked around at his much older sisters, mother, and nieces and then with, pride, proclaimed, "when I grow up, In want to be just like my daddy."

The claim, while cute and innocent, caused all three of the remaining mares to become tense with shock.

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