xjuggerscrapsx

by xjuggernaughtx

Untitled Rarity and Sweetie Belle Story

Sweetie Belle kept one twitching ear cocked toward the bedroom door as she ran her hoof over the chest’s ornate woodwork. Though she knew that some skilled hoof had carved the twisting roses that twined around the chest, she still carefully avoided the thorns on the interwoven stems. Apple Bloom would probably yell at her if she was here, but those thorns always seemed to glisten.

Don’t be dumb. Sweetie Belle pursed her lips and forced herself to touch one of the knotted stems, though carefully avoiding the thorns. Everypony knows that roses aren’t poisonous.

As always, the wood felt strangely cool. Even in the dim light of the curtained room, the chest seemed to glow with its own rich, warm light, but touching it inevitably sent a shiver up her spine. It felt like an autumn morning: beautiful, but a little sad.

Sweetie Belle glanced at the door again. It was still halfway open, just as she’d left it. Space enough to scamper out of without drawing any attention should she hear the bell over Carousel Boutique’s front door jingle. Swallowing, she turned back to the chest and took a deep breath.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier. It’s so obvious! Squeezing her eyes closed, she forced magic into her horn. Unfortunately, she hadn’t quite figured out how to do it without sending all of the blood to her head, and after a few moments, her temples were throbbing. Still, she willed her power to build just like Twilight and Rarity always said she should.

Pale green sparks rose from her horn, then fell. For a moment, she panicked and lost her concentration when they drifted down onto Rarity’s luxurious carpet. She stomped down where the sparks had fallen, but they’d disappeared without a trace. Come on, Sweetie Belle! You know they don’t burn things! Still, she let out a relieved sigh before building up her concentration again.

A light sweat bead on her brow while she struggled to focus her magical power. How does Rarity always make this look so easy? She’s always so perfect at it. Sweetie tried to copy the relaxed, unconcerned expression her sister always seemed to have when she floated various objects around the room, but the wavering magical bands threatened to dissipate. Screwing up her face once more, she growled under her breath as she watched them slowly solidify again.

Almost! Sweetie Belle leaned forward on her hooves, her nose nearly touching the lock in the center of the knotted rose stems. Glaring at it, she focused on the lock and ordered her magic into it. The magic didn’t seem to listen too well, though. It wandered around on the outside of the lock and meandered around the petals of nearby roses.

No! Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and stared at the lock with even more force. She wasn’t sure if looking at it that hard really helped, but she wasn’t really sure what else to do. At least she couldn’t see her magic messing up that way.

After a few long moments, her magic fell into line, and she had to bite down on her tongue to keep from cheering. It had taken a while to get it under control, but it was a little bit less than last time. Still, her head was beginning to pound. If she didn’t get on with it, Rarity was going to wonder why the floor here was damp with sweat. She’d be grounded for sure if that happened.

The inside of the lock felt weird. She’d thought it would be full of little things that went up and down, but the texture was confusing. Parts of it were hard and unyielding. Other parts felt soft and pliant. Still others slid back and forth.

Oh no! It’s got some kind of weird magical lock on it! Sweetie Belle stomped a hoof, then stomped it harder when her magic winked out. “Argh! I’ll never—”

“Mrrrw?”

Sweetie Belle leapt into the air and shrieked. Her heart hammered in her throat and she hit the ground running. She was halfway to hiding in an armoire before she catch a curious feline face staring up at her from around the door jamb.

“Don’t do that!” Hoof pressed firmly against her chest, Sweetie Belle leaned up against the armoire and tried to catch her breath.

Author's Note:

This was going to be an exploration of the way that Sweetie Belle views here sister. The idea was that this chest contained some kind of treasure. The eventual resolution was going to be that the chest had every garment failure that Rarity had ever made. She kept them to remind herself how far she'd come whenever she'd get upset with herself. This would have come to a head at some point because Sweetie Belle would be upset at herself for not being as perfect as Rarity at the stuff she thought she should be great at.

Comments

[Malandy]

Oh. Nice lesson-metaphor-thing, with the "I'm not perfect" with the failure clothes, and how finding it leads to those failure thoughts and stuff!

... Name, name... Something to do with lessons, failures, perfection... unlocking... magic? ... While not revealing the twist? ... "Rarity's Chest of Secrets"? Mmmm... Not that good...