Sweetie
“Sweetie Belle! Breakfast!”
I blinked, surprised to hear her voice. I grinned, then rolled out of bed, leaving it a mess for the maids to deal with. I normally tried to give them as little work as possible, but I was too excited that morning. Who wouldn’t be if they were in my position?
Rarity was home, and that meant the greatest pancakes in the world, a tour of all the coolest shops in Atlas, and the chance to train with the greatest Huntress ever born. I was lucky to have a sister like Rarity, even if I didn’t get to see her all the time.
“Coming, Rarity!” I called, sliding on my fuzzy slippers and running as quickly as I could. The Alabast Manor, according to Daddy, was the greatest piece of architecture since the kingdom of Atlas itself. It was big, twisting, and confusing. It wasn’t until I was six did I stop getting lost in my own house. The kitchen was the first place besides my room that I managed to memorize, and that was because I would follow the sound of my big sister’s voice.
As I neared the kitchen, I could hear her singing. Daddy would sometimes call us his two songbirds because of how often we'd sing for no real reason. I needed to sing in order to fight, but Rarity did it for fun. It was one of the reasons we got along as well as we did.
I turned the corner and slid into the kitchen, absolutely elated at the idea of seeing Rarity.
When I made it into the kitchen, everything went dark. Not black, just dim. There was no furniture, no kitchen staff, nothing except for her. She held her weapons in her hand: two long, sewing needle blades attached to nail guns by the hilt. As soon as she saw me, she pointed her sword at my face. My heart stopped beating in my chest.
“Hello, sister,” she said, her voice loaded with venom. “How have you been?”
“You shouldn't be here,” I whispered, finally coming to my senses. “You should be in Vale.”
“That's where you're wrong, Belle. I belong here, in my Manor.” She took a step towards me, her heels clicking loudly against the floor. “After all, I'm the only true Alabast here. I was born before the name was tainted by your birth.” She grinned evilly, taking another step. “How does it feel, Belle? To be the bastard child of this once-esteemed family?”
“Shut up…” I reached around for my mic, but couldn't find it. I left it in my room!
“I returned home to correct a little mistake. The family tree could do with a bit of pruning.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Finally, I can clean my name of that little stain you put on it Belle.” She raised her sword to show the gun. “Goodbye, Sweetie Belle.” She fired.
I woke up screaming, gasping for breath and swinging at nothing. I was drenched with sweat, and I kept clutching my chest, some part of my brain still waiting for Rarity’s needle to pierce my heart. The other part of my brain, the part that wasn't completely crazy, realized that I was safe. I wasn't at home. I was safe in my dorm, with my partner sleeping peacefully in the bunk beneath mine.
“If you don't shut up, I will make sure they never find your body!”
Well, she was sleeping peacefully. My whole screaming, nightterror thing probably woke her.
“Sorry, Diamond,” I said quietly. I saw her poke her head to the side, raising her sleep mask so she could properly glare at me.
“Don't know why you're bothering to whisper now,” she snarled. “You must've woken the whole school by now!”
“Sorry… I had a nightmare. Sorry for waking you.” Diamond Tiara didn’t like to be woken, so I really didn't expect her to drop it there. Unsurprisingly, she didn't.
“What was so scary that you had to scream at the top of your lungs to tell everyone about it?”
“It’s… Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Go back to sleep.” Diamond sucked her teeth, then rolled out of bed. After adjusting her sleeping gown, she hopped up onto my bunk, folding her legs beneath her.
“You just woke me up from a nice, deep, comfortable sleep,” said Diamond. “You better tell me what the heck you were screaming your head off for.”
I hadn’t really told anyone about my relationship with Rarity. Only Scootaloo knew, and that was because refused to move in with us unless we could prove that we really wanted her to live with us. I told her about how my sister ran away to Vale, and how much I missed having someone like her. I made her swear not to tell anyone why Rarity hated me and Dad, and she managed to keep her mouth shut this far, which was impressive. I guess she really did care about how hard it was for me to tell anyone what a hateful, heartless waste of skin I was related to.
“So? You better spill it,” said Diamond. I know she was trying to help, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to talk about Rarity just yet. Even Daddy and I had trouble talking about her.
“It’s… Complicated,” I sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“It’s that girl, isn’t it?” asked Diamond. “Rarity, right? Your sister?” I nodded. “What’s her problem, anyway?”
“You don’t wanna hear about my dysfunctional family problems.”
“You do realize that I left my own dysfunctional family to join yours, right?” She rolled her eyes impatiently. “Puh-lease. I basically invented family problems. So we’re gonna talk about yours now, right?”
“Well…” I sighed. “Rarity scares me.”
“After that thrashing, I'd be surprised if she didn't.”
“Yeah… she destroyed me,” I said quietly, bringing my knees up to my chest. I was still sore from the fight. “And she's completely countered my songs. I can't touch her. It's like… Everything she's ever said about me was true.”
“What's she been saying about you?”
I sighed. This was the part that really stung.
“That I shouldn’t have been born. That I was a mistake. She said I tainted the family name. That I’m a bastard child.” I could feel myself gear up to cry, so I turned my back so Diamond couldn't see me. “And she's right. I shouldn't have been born, not like this.”
Diamond jabbed me, hard, in the side of the head. I clutched at the spot, the ringing pain threatening to make me cry for real.
“What the heck, DT?” I tried to rub the pain away, but it persisted.
“You may be a crybaby loser,” said Diamond. “But you’re not going to talk like one. The both of you are idiots if you think that stuff is true.”
“Thanks… I think?
“So, why does she say that?” asked Diamond. “That you shouldn’t have been born?”
I sighed, turning over onto my stomach. Despite how hard this all was, Diamond was actually really easy to talk to about this. Maybe because she had a decent idea of what it was like to be related to someone you hate. She could relate.
“It’s… complicated. And it involves stuff that I wasn’t around for,” I said. “So… Daddy used to be with a woman named Cookie, and they got together and had Rarity. Then… Their marriage got rocky, and Daddy wanted out. But Cookie wouldn’t let him go. She blackmailed him, I think. Threatened to sell her stocks to an enemy company or something. But Daddy divorced her anyway, and married my mom, then had me.”
“I don’t get it,” said Diamond. “What does that have to do with you being a bastard?”
“Well… According to her, Daddy hooked up with my mom before leaving Cookie. Rarity thinks that I was born out of wedlock, that my Dad cheated and that was the reason that he divorced Cookie.”
“So, in her head, your dad slept around and ruined her life?” asked Diamond. I nodded. “Still don’t see what that has to do with you.”
“Me neither. That’s all I know. I guess she’s jealous that Daddy didn’t ask her to stay with him in Atlas. Her and her mom were cut off from the fortune, so they didn’t have a whole bunch of Lien like we do. That’s gotta be it.”
“No one hates their own flesh and blood over a few lost bucks.” DT rolled her eyes. “No sane person, anyway.”
“But it doesn't matter,” I said. “She hates me, and there's nothing I can do to change that. And she's always gonna be stronger than me. She's always gonna beat me.”
Diamond Tiara looked me in the eyes, then punched me in the side of the head, again. And guess what? It hurt just as bad as second time.
“Shut up, you baby. Go back to sleep, we have training in the morning,” said Diamond. “Mr. Alabast was telling me about some new training equipment, and I'll see if he can send us some.”
“I don't do well with a bunch of people watching me,” I said, rubbing my head gingerly. That hit really hurt.
“AB and Scootaloo are busy tomorrow anyway,” DT snorted. “It'll be just us. So get some sleep. The sooner we get started, the sooner we finish.”
“Uh… Thanks, Diamond. I'd appreciate that a lot.”
Diamond rolled her eyes, unable to handle the nice words. She stared at me uncomfortably for a while before reaching her arms around me in an awkward hug.
“Only I get to be evil to you,” she said softly. “Anyone else tries it… Well, the girls and I will kick their ass.”
I smirked, squeezing Diamond tightly. I wasn't so sure about Diamond when we first met, but she was a good friend. Despite what she tried to make me believe. Actually, that's not true. She's not just a friend. She's family. A sister I could love, and who I knew loved me, even if she didn't show it.
I didn’t need Rarity. I had enough Huntress to make three of her, right by my side.
Atlas Academy had one of the densest populations of all the four schools, so it wasn’t always easy to find a good place to train. Luckily for me, staff and students tended to give me pretty much whatever I wanted as soon as they caught wind of my last name. I swear, I tried not to throw my weight around like that, even if some of my other… “friends” thought I should. I tried to explain to Adagio and her team that I was trying to show that I’m not just a whiny rich girl. No matter how much I tried, tried to fit in with the normal students, people either sent me hate I didn’t deserve or adoration I never asked for.
Being an heiress is tougher than it sounds.
“Hurry up,” said Diamond impatiently, marching through the halls with purpose. Classes had just recently ended, so the halls were flooded with students in a hurry to get to their dorms, or one of the good training spots before they were all taken. The average student would have trouble making their way through the dense crowds, but people sort of parted around Diamond and me. DT carried herself like a proper heiress, and it was obvious that she wore power much better than I did.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked. DT ignored me, instead reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a thin, rectangular box emblazoned with a silver tiara. She flipped it open to show her weapons. Eight golden rings with Dust gems, collectively called Opulence, each with their own individual name, element, and uses.
“Diamond, come on,” I whined. “Where are we going?!”
“Basement,” said Diamond, slipping her rings on one by one. On her left hand were the rings Wealth, Fortune, Luxury, and Capital, which were Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth, respectively. On her right, he wore Prosperity, Affluence, Abundance, and Pelf. They had the secondary elements of Dust; Ice, Steam, Lightning, and Gravity. Opulence was a powerful set of weapons, but not an easy one to use. The fact that Diamond could handle eight weapons at once to any degree of skill really spoke to her talent and potential as a Huntress.
“What for?” I asked, following her around a corner and down a flight of stairs. “We could train in the yards, or on the roof. Why—”
“Shut up and follow, that’s why,” said Diamond. She shoved open a door at the bottom of the stairs, leading into the main basement. “Your father had some of his people move our training material down here for us.”
The basement was mostly empty, save for a few spare swords and guns laying around, a few bits of Atlesian Knight tech that the robotics team would tinker with. The main attraction was a large crate about my size, sitting in the middle of the floor. It was steel, with no holes, cracks, or gaps to let me see what was inside.
“The heck is this?” I asked. Diamond clenched her right fist, activating the ring on her pinkie finger, Pelf. First the ring, then the finger, then her whole hand began to glow purplish-black with Gravity Dust. She grabbed the front of the crate, at the very top, and yanked it down. She ripped the front down, finally letting me see what she had Daddy send for me.
My heart just about stopped in my chest.
“What the heck?!” I squealed, yanking my mic from my waist and bringing it to my lips. I clicked a button near the base, which forced a sharp blade to slide out of the bottom of the microphone.
She marched out of the crate, her eyes closed and her face emotionless. Her purplish-blue hair was elegantly and extravagantly curled. Her pale skin practically shined in the light, completely free of flaws and blemishes. She wore a typical uniform of Vale’s Beacon Academy, and had her two massive sewing needle swords in her hands. But something about her was off. She was a bit too tall, a bit too wide. It was undeniably my sister, but it couldn’t possibly be.
“Mr. Alabast has had his R&D department working on these Huntsmen Replication Droids for a while, and I managed to convince him to send us a prototype,” said Diamond, deactivating her ring. “They’re supposed to be used to protect the Kingdom instead of risking the lives of Huntsmen. I programmed this one to mimic your sister. It’ll fight like her, move like her, and think like her.”
“What’s the point of that?” I asked. Diamond pulled a Scroll from her pocket, tapping on it’s screen.
“Fight it,” said Diamond simply. She tapped one last icon, then stepped back.
Rarity’s eyes flew open, then she ran forward and swung at me. I barely had time to lean back and avoid the attack. Immediately, she put me on the defensive. She slashed at me mercilessly, threatening to slice my face clean off if I hesitated for even a second.
“Well, there’s problem number one,” said Diamond, crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t lose because you’re weak. Well, not just because you’re weak. You lack confidence! You can’t possibly win a fight if all you can do is dodge! Go on the offensive, actually try to hit her!”
That was easier said than done. Rarity had avoided each and every one of my attacks last time we fought. How was I supposed to get any hits on her at all? She was literally untouchable! I knew I had lost as soon as she stepped out of the box.
Then, when all hope seemed lost, she decided to speak.
“Is that all you’ve got, Alabastard-Belle?” she sneered. She slashed with her right sword while holding her left towards me and firing the needle gun that made up it’s hilt. Just like last time we fought, I couldn’t do much to block them, and each shot found its mark. “If this is what the prestigious Alabast name has produced, I’m glad to no longer be associated with it!”
“Shut up! I’m twice the Huntress you’ll ever be!” I kicked high; She dodged low. I swung for her face, and she leaned to avoid it. She was untouchable.
“You are trash, unbefitting of the Alabast name,” said Rarity, maintaining total calm. “You are a stain on our family's illustrious history. A mistake!”
I tried not to let her get in my head, but it was becoming harder and harder. She was right, I was a mistake. I was weak.
“You're scum, Alabastard-Belle, a monument to your man-whore father's failure as a man.” I sliced at her knees with my mic blade, but she threw her weapons up and flipped back to avoid my swing. Her swords landed in her hands as if they never left. “What manner of lies did he filled your head with? Did he tell you that he loved my mother? That he tried to make things work? Because that's simply not the case. He never loved my mother. He never loved me. And he never loved you.”
I reached around my back and pulled off the mic stand that was strapped there. I slipped my mic into its stand, flipping the blade outwards and turning my weapon from a musical instrument to a sharp, deadly spear.
“Don't talk about my father,” I said firmly. “I will make you regret it.”
“Talk is cheap, little sister. Why don’t you put your Lien where your mouth is?” she snarled.
I swiped at her twice, both slashes blocked almost lazily. She attached her swords to her hip, then cartwheeled backwards, bowing elegantly with a snarky, insincere smirk. She was getting cocky.
“You want to protect them,” she giggled, mocking me. “You want to save them from the world. The Grimm. Me. But you can’t, Alabastard. How can you protect your friends from anything when you can’t even protect yourself?”
She brought her fists up, preparing to beat me with her bare hands. She leapt at me, swinging wildly at my head. I actually managed to block her with the shaft of my spear, but I still couldn’t manage in any offense of my own. All I could do is block, dodge, and block some more.
“You want to know something funny about this little encounter?” said Rarity, swinging a wild kick into my side. “You are probably going to remember this for the rest of your life. Me? Ha! I’ll forget seeing your crooked little face before the week is up. Because you’re irrelevant, my dear. Unimportant. Small.” I stabbed at her chest, barely scraping her metal body, her steel rending and raining sparks to the floor. She grasped slightly, but immediately reset to that same cocky smile.
And that was when I remembered that my sister was still in Vale. This thing I was fighting wasn’t her. It was a copy. A decoy. I could beat her. All I had to do was put her face and her voice and her lies out of my mind.
“That’s what I’m talking about, Sweetie!” cheered Diamond as I finally got the lead out of my boots. I swung and swung at Rarity, just edging out her quick reflexes. After realizing that she couldn’t just punch her way through me anymore, she drew her swords again. She swung back, her needles clashing with my spear again and again. I grew more and more confident with every successful blow. I was going to win.
And then she started talking again.
“There’s a profound difference between you and I, child,” hissed Rarity. “And that I will never tire.” She ducked under my spear and rolled backwards. “I will be able to fight long after your Aura has depleted and you’ve collapsed under the weight of your father’s shame. What happens when you fall, Belle? Who protects your team then? Perhaps, when I’m done with you, I’ll move on to your friend with the bow. Then, the orphan. The thief with the rings. The traitor. The coward.” I pulled my mic from my stand, stowing the former shaft on my back. I brought the mic up to my lips, whispering into it. I sang.
I sang about how I felt right then. The uncertainty. The fear. I sang about how much I wanted all of this to stop and go away. I watched Rarity stumble, but she didn’t falter much. She aimed her nail gun and fired at me, peppering my Aura with shots..
“Watch it, Sweetie,” warned Diamond, raising a flaming fist. “If you want, I can—”
“Shut up!” I snapped. Diamond recoiled slightly, but lowered her hand. “I can handle this!”
“You can’t handle anything,” said Rarity, doubling down on shots. “You couldn’t handle me in the cafe, you can’t handle me here, and you won’t be able to handle me at Vytal.” I sang a bit louder, bringing Rarity down to her knees. Every word out of her mouth made my blood boil, but she just kept going.
“You should’ve listened to your friend,” hissed Rarity. “Not like she’d be much more help. She’s just as weak and worthless as you. Thieving, snivelling, cowardly brat. When I’m done with you, I’ll move on to her. What do you think of that, Belle? I’m going to crush her, just like I’ll do to you. You’ll never Hunt again! Then, you can run back to your dirtbag of a father and—”
I didn’t mean to do it. I was just so angry and frustrated. I screamed into my mic, directing all of my rage and anger directly at the robot. A loud, echoing screech rang through the room, threatening to make my ears bleed. Rarity paused, whatever she was about to say vanishing into the sea of my voice. She stood, stock-still, her weapons clattering to the ground.
Then, her head freaking exploded.
The air split with the shriek of rending metal. Sparks rained down onto the ground, followed by the thumping of the robot collapsing under its own weight. I dropped to my knees, thoroughly exhausted. I had never sang that loudly before, and it had sapped my Aura almost completely. If I pushed myself any harder, I risked seriously hurting myself.
I smiled before falling onto my back, dropping my mic to the ground.
“I think I can beat her next time,” I huffed. Diamond didn't respond. “You okay?”
“Y-yeah. I just wasn't ready for that,” said Diamond. “I programmed her to mess with you. Didn't think she'd be smart enough to get stuff on me.”
“I'll have Daddy get rid of that stuff,” I promised. “He couldn't have known it was still there.”
“Don't bother. Only someone with access to the ADC’s database could possibly find out. If they can get past your father's firewalls, then my criminal record is the least of our worries. But forget about me. You're who I'm worried about.”
“Why? I’m fine. Honest.” That wasn’t exactly the truth. I was still shaken up a bit. I was tired, and scared, and worried. But, right then, I had won, and I wanted to enjoy it while I could.
“You know that the real Rarity is stronger than that, right?” said Diamond. “And that she has til the Vytal Tournament to get even stronger.”
“Yeah. Totally. But you’re forgetting something.”
“Uh-huh. And what’s that?”
I slowly pulled myself to my feet, trying to keep myself upright. I pulled my mic and stand off of my back, getting ready for another round of training.
“Rarity’s got time to get stronger, that’s true,” I huffed. I raised my mic-knife, pointing it at Diamond. “But you know what? So do I.”
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- RhetCon · 14k words · 41 4 · 1.3k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.083 seconds
Total duration
1,097 users online
1,548,980 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
YAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! NEW CHAPTER! I've already told my buds! XD AWESOME! I'm SO Glad this is here! It was phenomenal! Well, now we know the issues between the two of them! This'll be interesting to see as the series develops!
7902244 Thanks for the support, and I sincerely apologize for the delay. It won't happen again.
I really don't like the almost irrational hatred that Sweetie and Rarity have for each other in this AU. Still a good fic so far.
Okay, I think it's time that Rarity and Sweetie get some family counselling. I see where Sweetie is coming from. To her, Rarity's hatred is sudden and unexpected... but I need more on Rarity's side. Rarity doesn't have her mother... did something happen to her after the divorce? More than just losing all their money? I'm assuming they did, at least.
Either way, we need more than "she and her mother ruined my life".
YEAHHHHH!!
RWBY? I love RWBY!
Yahoo!
AS APPROVING AS POSSIBLE!!!! RWBY FTW! (Personally, JNPR\Nora=best frickin' character.)
why cancelled???
8594304
Partially because I lost inspiration, partially because nobody really cares about this series. Maybe I'll come back to this one day, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
If I trip over all four of them at once am I tripping on acid?