Over at Carousel Boutique, Rarity had already woken up, after a nice and thankfully, un-burnt breakfast, and was now gathering new fabric and jewels she had obtained for a brand new dress design that she had been working on for quite some time. By that afternoon, and in no time at all, she had put the finishing touches on the new design and was now eyeing, the grand design with a sense of accomplishment.
"Once again Rarity," the white unicorn said to herself. "You've outdone yourself. Won't everypony be surprised when my latest design is worn by Sapphire Shores and put on display at Hoity Toity's boutique in Canterlot!"
She then noticed that a small spot on the design was missing some sequins on one side, took a deep breath and began to head upstairs to fetch more from her room. On her way to the stairs, she suddenly tripped and almost fell on something beneath her hooves. Getting back up on her hooves, she levitated the strange object with her magic and looked at it for a moment.
It was her personal, private diary full of her own thoughts and secrets, which her little sister, Sweetie Belle had published in their school newspaper not too long ago. When Rarity found out, she was understandably furious.
"I still can't believe that Sweetie Belle published my diary in her gossip column..." she said to herself. 'She should know better than this!"
Just then, who or what should appear in front of her, but Angel Pony, fluttering around Rarity's head with a look of disappointment on her face.
"That's the problem..." the apparition said. "She doesn't know better, she's still just a little filly after all, and I call that cowardly hypocrisy coming out of your mouth."
"Nonsense!" came another voice. It was Devil Pony, also poofing up besides the angel. "She lies to you Rarity, whatever she says, you're clearly right and your sister was wrong!"
"Wait, who or what are you two creatures?" Rarity asked.
The two spiritual ponies looked at each other for a moment and then said, "We are you..."
"Well, technically we aren't really you..." said Devil Pony. "We don't even look like you, nor do we even exist. We're just some commonly used, clever, metaphoric visual manifestation of the inner abstract concept of a conscience, and..."
"Moving on," the unicorn interrupted, ignoring the monstrous looking pony to focus on the much more bright, and beautiful pony that was buzzing around her. "What was all that about hypocrisy?"
"Didn't you snoop through her belongings and read that article in the first place?" asked Angel Pony.
Rarity thought back to a few days before, when she noticed a copy of the school paper sticking out of her sister's backpack and unable to resist the temptation, gave it a look and couldn't resist tittering at the sight of Snips and Snails with gum stuck to their flanks, Sweetie Belle on the other hand was upset at first.
"Yes, I admit I did snoop through her things but afterwards I did give her a small talking to after she looked at my things..." she said.
"Listening back to that entire conversation..." Angel Pony began. "You didn't seem all that sorry for doing that, and might I also say, that even if the column was her and her friends' idea, you gave her the idea to write stories about everypony else?"
Rarity then remembered telling Sweetie Belle that everypony would love the stories that the school was printing more than what was currently being printed in Ponyville's mainstream newspaper, "The Ponyville Express".
"Yes, but I..."
"Might I also add that you didn't seem to mind reading about gossip going on in Ponyville until you were targeted?"
"I...I was so upset that I had forgotten all about that..." the unicorn then said, looking down at the floor slightly embarrassed.
"So just to recap, you got mad at your little sister for something that you did yourself, and what you didn't mind them doing, writing stories about every pony else, which you gave her the idea to do so, and even what you and every pony else wanted to see more of, but then when the joke was on you, all of a sudden they went too far. Sheesh! What kind of sane, civil pony could be so fickle and hypocritical?" asked Angel Pony. "I'll bet that Sweetie Belle probably spent the entire night upstairs silently crying herself to sleep, haunted by how just about every pony thinks she's nothing but a troublemaker! and she probably still was this morning and still is after coming home! Can you even imagine what your parents might say about this?"
"Well, what would they say about such reprehensible actions by Sweetie Belle and her friends?" asked Devil Pony.
"Well, knowing her father, he'd probably say, ‘Rarity sweetheart, even if what your sister did was wrong, you're still just as responsible for this mess to begin with!’ and her mother would probably say, ‘What's more important? Your diary or Sweetie Belle's feelings?’"
"Who cares about feelings?" laughed Devil Pony. "A pony's personal secrets are more important than that! She'll pout about it for a little while, but then over time she'll come crawling back and'll forget the whole thing. Rarity is the young adult, and Sweetie Belle is just a foolish little filly. And further more..."
"And further more, I've heard about enough out of you..." Rarity said, indignantly, levitating the devilish figure with her magic and tossing him into a nearby wastebasket.
"Well played..." Devil Pony said from inside the dark basket. "You win this time..."
"Nicely done, Rarity." said Angel Pony, proud of the unicorn's actions. "Now, as if you didn't know what to do..." she then said before disappearing.
Rarity was then left alone to ponder what to do next.
Sweetie Belle seemed very upset, after what I said to her before... she thought to herself. I'd better go talk to her and sort things out....
Rarity then noticed a small tray with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk she had set aside for when Sweetie Belle would come home from school and levitated the tray up with her to the second floor where Sweetie Belle's guest room was next door to her's.
She then knocked on the door, hoping her little sister would wake up and answer it.
"Sweetie Belle, darling..." she called at the door. "Are you alright in there?"
No answer.
"Sweetie Belle, I've brought you your favorite, milk and cookies after school!"
Rarity knew that Sweetie Belle couldn't resist the mention of an after school snack from time to time and would be attracted instantly. But Sweetie Belle still did not open the door.
Rarity knocked again. "Sweetie Belle, we need to talk about what happened before today..."
Still no answer, by this time, the older sister was starting to grow impatient.
"Now see here, little sister..." Rarity then said rather offended. "It is not very polite to ignore requests to come in without answering yes or no, now I order you to open this door at once!"
Still no answer.
Rarity then turned the door knob with her magic, finding that it was unlocked and stepped inside and headed for the light switch.
"Now Sweetie Belle, I've had enough of this silent treatment...."
As she turned on the light, she found that the room was empty and the young unicorn filly was nowhere to be seen.
"Sweetie Belle? Hello? Sweetie Belle, where are you?"
The bed was left neat as before, and the rest of the room looked almost untouched, but Rarity also noticed that Sweetie Belle's backpack and her favorite toy, which she affectionately called "Little Sweetie" was missing. This puzzled her older sister.
"Maybe she's still outside.." Rarity said to herself.
She then went downstairs and opened the front door.
"Sweetie Belle! It's time to come in, dear..." she called out.
Rarity knew that Sweetie Belle often would respond with "Coming!" and come galloping back home. But surprisingly, there was no answer to that either. Where could that little filly be? she wondered.
"Wait, wait I know, she must be still at that little clubhouse of her and her friends'."
Rarity then left Carousel Boutique and set off to the Crusaders' treehouse.
Once arriving there, she was surprised to find that the treehouse was empty, Now Rarity was starting to grow concerned. There was still one last place that hadn't been checked yet.
The Ponyville Schoolhouse...
But when she arrived there, class had already been dismissed, and a school of foals was already stampeding out of the schoolhouse.
Rarity dodged the sea of schoolponies and headed inside to find Miss Cheerliee packing up her things, about ready to head home after a long class period.
The teacher then noticed Rarity entering the doorway, and smiled.
"Oh, why hello, Rarity!" Cheerliee said. "What can I do for you?"
"Cheerliee," Rarity began to ask. "Have you seen Sweetie Belle at all today, did you need her to stay after for some reason?"
"I'm afraid not, sorry." the teacher said. "As a matter of fact, she and her friends hadn't shown up today at all, I assumed they were out sick."
"And I thought for sure that Sweetie Belle already left for school early this morning..." said Rarity, starting to get an uneasy feeling.
"That's very strange," Cheerliee replied. "It's not like them to go off and play hooky like that.."
Before Cheerliee could say anything else, Rarity had already trotted farther away from the schoolhouse, back where she came before.
As Rarity headed back into town, she froze at the sight of a certain orange earth pony galloping by, in a blubbering panic.
"She's gone! She's gone!" sobbed Applejack as she passed by.
Immediately, the unicorn knew that her friend was talking about her own sister, Apple Bloom, and then it hit Rarity....
If Apple Bloom was missing, and the Crusaders hadn't had gone to school at any possible time...
Her little sister had gone missing as well...
And she was also to blame....
She then too began to panic and burst into tears realizing that she had repeated some of the same mistakes she made during the time of the Sisterhooves Social.
"What did I do? I'm sisterless again!" she wailed. "Woe is me! Of all the worst possible things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!"
And indeed, it was....
Interesting, now things are moving along
It’s true. Rarity did plant the idea in Sweetie Belle’s head after sneaking a look at the Snips and Snails gum-on-their-bum column. She was also perfectly okay with all the gossip... until it targeted her. Next up is Rainbow and her little slip that she would actually be thrilled if Gabby Gums did a column on her.
This is a pretty good chapter. I do love the story, and yeah when i think about it, they were overly harsh on them.
Twilight to blame as well, with how she put a shield spell on the tree house, and the way Spike told them off.
But yeah the bit on Dash hits hard too, Dash may of lose Scoota permanently, and when her aunts find out, they may kill Dash for this.
I got through the first chapter and i immediately started tracking
EXACTLY!!!
Yes!
I’d imagine they’d be very peeved
Well, a pony, or person’s personal secrets are important, but a friend and family members feelings are even more so, to me at least.
Which is what you should’ve done while you were talking with her in the episode about how hurtful gossip can be.
You are not her mother Rarity, and that is not how you make Sweetie Belle let you into their room, especially when she may still be upset with herself for unintentionally hurting you. Be more patient and gentle, and if she’s not ready to talk, give her her space and wait until she is. Or at least, wait until she comes to you.
YOU THINK?! Zero sympathy for you Rarity, absolute ZERO sympathy!!!
Another great chapter Splash, I am so eager to see how the Twilight Spike and Rainbow reacts to the news of the cmc runaways. I also hope that Rainbow gets her just deserts for pouring rain on those sweet little fillies. I get that she’s upset and she has every right to be, but come on RD...not cool.
So, now Applejack and Rarity know their sisters are missing. Rainbow Dash might be a little more difficult because Scootaloo isn't actually her sister, so somepony might need to get her. Fluttershy is probably still bawling her eyes out and Twilight still has that shield up, so neither of them will never the foals are missing unless somepony lets them know. So, who's next? Now, that I think about, where was Pinkie doing all this?
Welp that's 2 down, I can how Rainbow is gonna react
8814834
I think you mean to put 'know', not 'never' there buddy.
8814822
To be fair, she was starting to think Sweetie Belle was overdoing the whole “silent treatment” thing and was starting to lose patience. That can be a little frustrating...
8814888
Yeah I know but still...I really don't like it when she orders Sweetie Belle around like that. Especially since her feelings may be still delicate at the moment after the shunning that she and her friends were put throughm so she really should've been more patient with her. Rarity more or less deserved it.
All that aside, I really liked it how you pointed out how Rarity had also made a mistake in this whole incident, like giving Sweetie Belle the idea to write the gossip since she and everypony else seemed to like it. At least, until it targeted her. You really have a good eye for that sort of thing.
8814894
I hope join the Brony analyst community some day, I have someone doing my vectors but I still have a long way to go in terms of equipment and software.
Yeah, you had a good premise, but if the angel pony/devil pony thing is going to be a running theme, I'm just done.
8814973
It was a photograph of her and Rainbow Dash that was taken only a few months ago, when Rainbow Dash appeared at Sugarcube Corner to give speech to the fan club Scootaloo had started. Taking one look at the picture, Scootaloo thought of her former idol.
The one who outright turned her away when she came to her with a new idea for a story and for help...
The hypocrite who practically asked for a story about herself in the first place...
The one who spitefully caused a downpour to upset all over her and her friends, assuming that they’d just humiliate her again...
The dirty, arrogant, self centered, good for nothing, selfish, sorry excuse for a...
So this is unjustified? That Rainbow had the right to do all that....
Look i get they were mad at them, but they went too far.
Dash with her loyalty or not, she went overboard, and really hurt Scoota.
Loyalty goes two ways she should let them try to explain, but she didn't, but that Dash alright, she a hot head who acts first then thinks later.
8814965
Don't worry, you won't be seeing them again for a while until much much later on, they aren't that important to the story, I'll admit. This was meant to not only prove a point but be a small satire of a cliched trope.
8814973
You have your arguments, but you should also rewatch the episode more closely, then you'll see that every pony else is just as responsible for the mess as the Crusaders were... they practically wanted more stories until they were targeted.
8814910
Good luck on that one! I think you'd make a very good analyst with the way your writing Ponyville Runaways!
8814982
Be that as it may, they still should've given them a chance to explain themselves. Do they honestly believe that Apple Bloom would want to hurt them on purpose? I sure don't! While they do have every right to be upset, I'm with Granny Smith, that they both should've done is sit down with Apple Bloom and talk things out and have her tell them why she did what she and her friends did. If I was in their position yeah, I'd be upset, but I'd be willing to hear them out regardless, even if nopony else would.
8814987
Total agreement with you on that one. RD went way too far....
So now Rarity realized that her sister is missing. I'm going to assume that Rainbow Dash is going to find out next. I bet this is when her pride and her hotheadedness will finally come back to bite her in the flank!
8814882
You're right. I meant 'so neither of them will know that the foals are missing...'.
Fantastic job once again, up next is Rainbow Dash, correct?
8815097
There you go, much better.
8814973
The comics aren't canon to the show, so human CMC are yet to do anything remotely bad.
Can I say something?
8815541
I’m all ears...
Glad to see you took my advice from the last chapter into consideration.
Looking forward to see where this goes next.
Good show on this chapter, and the angel and devil pony bits are pure genius! And it us indeed true, Rarity started this whole mess, and not just the writing gossip hoo-haw, but the whole "turning against the CMC thing" too, I bet she squealed to the others that the CMC wrote that stuff, and then the rest of Ponyville found out. So much for being a polite, civilized mare.
But there's still Rainbow to deal with, ugh, her pride is going to get repercussions for this, it's one thing to lose your dognity, but it's another to lose a sisterly figure. I can still imagine Rainbow getting more than just a scolding from this
8815607
I’m hoping that she’ll (Rarity) get called out on squealing. Because she pretty much threw her own sister to the wolves.
8816503
Likewise.
8816503
What makes you think Rarity tatted them out? Spike also knew about the paper since they were going to do a whole interview with him that DT rejected...
8815567
Some were probably expecting Rarity's parents to be in this chapter to come and chew her out for her actions, so what happened?
Who's next to be chewed out and who do you think is going to do it?
8815584
I even went back and tweaked the last chapter to make AJ’s reaction make more sense...
8817268
They did chew her out in a way through Angel Pony’s mimicry. Similarly I originally intended to have in the last chapter have a picture of Pear Butter and Bright Mac on the wall, change from an expression of happy and proud to one of glaring, shaming disapproval...
8817361
Fair enough, B.T.W. what's your response about my second question?
8817354
Just checked it out. Much better.
8815538
Like that'll ever happen anytime soon.
8786554
Yes she did my good man...yes she did.
Question: does hypocrisy contradict generosity in any way?
just curious
8853346
no, not really