Do It For Her

by Cxcd

02 - Late Night Conversation

“Sweetie…” The voice’s owner cut through the silent interior of the boutique. “Care to come take a seat with me?” The unicorn named Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle, who was her sister, had woken up in the dead of night, craving a late-night snack. The gnawing hunger quickly turned into an empty pit of dread as a sense of horrible foreboding encompassed her soul.

Her hoof, still raised upwards in a stepping motion towards the kitchen pantry, was planted slowly back onto the ground as Sweetie stared at her sister through the motionless and dark rooms.

At the end of the dark hall, in the upper apartment of the boutique, her sister was sitting on a red love sofa, her back facing Sweetie. The fireplace in front of her was lit, illuminating Rarity’s features in a harsh, flickering orange glow. Her muzzle created a shadow that hid a quarter of her face, her purple mane helping cover the rest. Only a small portion of her blue eyes stared back at Sweetie. To say Sweetie suddenly wanted nothing to do with her sister right now might’ve been the understatement of the century, as if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve assumed her sister was a serial-killer with the way she was staring back at her.

Sweetie, still making up her mind on to whether turn around and bolt back to her room, or to accompany her sister by the fireplace, looked up at the clock above the archway leading towards the room Rarity currently resided in. The clock, although the hands were hard to read in the dark, displayed it’s hands somewhere around three in the morning. As far as the filly was concerned, there was no reason for Rarity to stay up this late. She couldn’t remember Rarity gushing about any huge dress orders to fill. Nor could she remember Rarity talking about a new and fancy prince from Canterlot she had to make an impression for. No, the reasoning behind her late-night voyage was entirely unknown.

But Sweetie trusted her sister.

Sweetie trusted her sister with her life. She owed it to her.

Perhaps Sweetie had done something wrong. But she knew Rarity wouldn’t be mad. Worst comes to worst, she would wear a disappointing frown and calmly explain why she did what she did was wrong. Which… Honestly, she would’ve preferred her sister to be mad.

Against better instincts, Sweetie slowly started her march towards the living room. Pictures framed on the wall showed Sweetie and Rarity, together. Picnics, walks, carnivals, first days of school... Only two adult ponies were noticeably absent from the pictures.

As she walked into the firelight, her hooves began refusing to walk, resisting the urge to go any farther. Yet, awkwardly, she hopped herself onto the sofa directly across from Rarity. This one wasn’t a love sofa. The love sofa was too… weird to sit on. She would’ve had to cross her hind-legs in order to sit on it properly. But for some reason, Rarity merely sat on it like a normal pony. Very uncharacteristic for such a ‘proper lady.’

Sweetie, now in the firelight, was much like her sister. She was also a white unicorn, adorning purple hair split two-tones across both sides of her mane. A lighter, and a darker. She was just a filly, and she felt the scrutinizing gaze of Rarity was much more effective due to her age.

Scrutinizing might have been a word too harsh. It wasn’t exactly an angry stare. Or a saddened stare. Perhaps she was having an internal conflict? The harsh shadows forming across her face didn’t exactly give Sweetie any meaningful hints.

Finally, her gaze softened, then broke towards the short coffee table in between the two. Both ponies landed their eyes on a small letter on the table. It was upside-down to Sweetie, and try as she might, the words were illegible. Even if it was facing towards her, the cursive writing wouldn’t have provided her any favors.

It was a simple letter. Not a letter from the princesses, because the paper looked too well-worn for that. Not a letter from the court. The sides would’ve been perfectly cut. Thank Celestia. Not a report card, either… well, because school wasn’t due to start until next month. It genuinely looked like a simple letter. Perhaps it came from a friend? What did Sweetie do to one of her four closest friends to warrant such a cold side from her sister?

Sweetie tried to think from this past day… nothing came up. Past week. Past month. Hay, even the past year.Nothing would’ve warranted such a cold-blooded stare. She thought herself as an angel!

“Before we start…” Rarity began, articulating her words carefully and slowly. “I want you to know that you did nothing wrong.” Sweetie audibly let out a sigh of relief. “Nopony is coming to take you, and everything is going to be alright.”

Now, Sweetie tensed up once more. Why would she say that? Unless- unless the court was rethinking…? No. No, it couldn’t come to that. It wouldn’t come to that.

“Sweetie, do you remember our parents?”

What a cruel question to ask. It had only been three years. Of course she still remembered her parents. Her gaze was suddenly snapped to the letter on the table once more. A sudden wave of nausea threatened to tip her over, even while she was sitting down.

Sweetie wiped a tear away from her eye that had suddenly formed.

“T-they’re not back, are they?” Sweetie whispered frightfully. Rarity cringed, apparently unaware of the effects her words were having on her sister.

“Oh, no, dear!” Rarity shook her head, leaning forwards and picking up the letter. “This isn’t from them. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She said with upmost sympathy. She spoke the truth. That was truly not her intention. In an instant, her cold display melted away. She went too far.

“Then why bring them up?” Sweetie asked, suddenly almost irritated. Rarity took a breather, looking up to the popcorn ceiling as she arranged her thoughts. While the ceiling didn’t hold the answers she needed, maybe if she stared long and hard enough…

“Do you remember how they treated you?” Rarity asked, looking back towards her sister. Sweetie’s eyes closed slowly, half-reminiscing on days-gone-by, and half out of trying to fight back the tears that seemed to be threatening her.

“I- I do remember.” Sweetie finally said, her eyes still closed. “They were- They were always away… and when they- when they were home, they acted like I wasn’t there…” Sweetie said, again, raising a hoof to wipe away an escaped prisoner. Rarity felt even worse as her sister began breaking down. “I- I guess I didn’t realize how bad it was until you came to visit.”

“I remember my surprise.” Rarity admitted. “Are you happier now?” She asked, fully aware of the answer. Sweetie wiped away the remaining tears before giving an earnest smile.

“Are you kidding? This is so much better, Rarity.” She spoke truthfully. Rarity smiled back, the tension in the room easing slightly. She was still safe. But, Rarity looked back down at the letter, her smile vanishing once more. The stoic features were back again.

Rarity cleared her throat.

“What if… Another filly had it worse?”

“What?” Sweetie asked, her breath caught in her throat. “How could’ve it been worse?”

“Sweetie- you always had a safe home, right?”

“Y-Yeah? I guess?” She said. The gears were slowly working, and Sweetie could already figure out where this story was going. Rarity flattened the letter with her hooves, before bringing it up to her face with her blue magic. It seemed she was reading it over for- perhaps the third time. Eventually, she spoke again.

“What if you… didn’t?” She said slowly. “What if every time your parents came home, you were scared. What if you were scared of a bully living in your home? A bully you couldn’t escape from?” Sweetie’s mouth slowly lowered as her sister spoke. “What if you couldn’t escape?” She repeated, even slower. Sweetie started forming new tears, mixing with the old ones.

“I-”

“Sweetie, there’s a filly who needs our help.” She finally said. “She grew up in… undesirable circumstances, and she’s different for it.” Rarity took a breath. “Her f- She was broken. But she needs our help to be… whole again. She needs us to… fill the gaps.”

Sweetie merely stared in abstract horror. Her sister was being dead serious. A pony like that actually existed. And a foal, no less. Sweetie’s time with her parents were long gone. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to see them for the rest of her life. And that made her happy. Only, her parents still earned a permanent spot burned into her brain for the rest of time.

Her parents were never mean to her. But, truth be told, she was ignored. Sweetie was thrown to the side because Rarity was planned, and she was not. That was as simple as it was. Not that she held any ill-will towards her sister. Maybe in the beginning, but not now, and not for a long time.

Rarity rarely, if ever, talked about it. Of course, Sweetie had her moments, in which the conversation was unavoidable. She had even went so far as to resent her own sister in the beginning. But that was the beginning. It was different now. Years healed her wounds, and talking about it wasn’t nearly as difficult as it once was.

Tonight was another one of those nights.

And Sweetie could still remember seeing her sister for the first time.

It was later in the summer night, a night much like this, when Rarity showed up for an unexpected visit. Her parents weren’t prepared, and before they knew what had happened, Rarity laid eyes on Sweetie.

To this day, Rarity doesn’t talk about it. But Sweetie was entirely convinced that up until that moment, Rarity had not a single clue that she had a sister.

Her parents were more than happy to give up Sweetie. Although she hated her in the beginning, she was more than in her debt for what she had done. Rarity had provided the same choices she had been given at her age. The same opportunities. She was more of a mother than her real mom had ever been to her, if you can even call her a real mom.

But, what if Rarity hadn’t showed up that night?

What if she decided to give her parents a head up she would be visiting? Or just skipping her house that night?

What if Rarity stayed in the dark about Sweetie’s existence? How much in common did she really share with the mystery filly she was talking about? Where would she be right now instead of the rambunctious little filly that occasionally terrorizes the town?

It was a thought too terrible to properly bear. She plucked it out of her brain and locked it in a vault. Right now, a filly needed her help. With a deep breath, Sweetie began a plan.

“What’s her name?” Sweetie asked, getting her breathing under control. Rarity elicited a face full of momentary surprise.

“Her name is Scootaloo.” She said, her eyes momentarily darting back towards the paper. “She’s half a year younger than you. Pegasus with an orange coat and purple mane.” She looked back at the letter again. “And she doesn’t have her Cutiemark yet, either.”

“Well…” Sweetie rolled her haunches. “What can we do to help her?”

If Rarity’s face wasn’t full of surprise before at Sweetie’s bluntness, she certainly was now. She tried to speak, but only found formless syllables forcing their way through her mouth. Eventually, she took a deep breath and stared at her sister for a few moments.

“You are my sister, you know that?” She said. Sweetie hid her genuine smile behind a carefully placed hoof.

“I’m just looking out for her, I guess…” Sweetie said bashfully.

“Well.” Rarity pretended not to notice her smiling. “We can start by meeting her. Perhaps tomorrow? Fluttershy and I have our weekly spa appointment. I was quite flustered when we kept missing them for our trips to Manehattan. The spas over there are amazing, but it’s not quite the same without dear Fluttershy.”

“Woah woah woah, wait-” Sweetie waved her hooves. “Fluttershy? What does she have to do with her?”

“Oh, yes dear.” Rarity laughing at her sister’s confused expression. “Fluttershy adopted her.”

“Oh my gosh!” Sweetie placed both hooves on her face. “Does this mean Fluttershy is the first one of your friends to become a mom?” To this, Rarity became quite flustered.

“Well- I- I think it’s more of a guardianship than- than a real mother-daughter… It’s not like that, I don’t think.” Rarity responded curtly. Sweetie raised a suspicious eyebrow at her sister’s apparent outburst. “It’s- It’s more like us, really.” She said. Then, it clicked. It clicked why Rarity became so… touchy.

Because it was exactly like them.

Rarity was Sweetie’s guardian. The court said so three years ago. They were sister-to-sister.

“Oh, okay.” Sweetie responded, suddenly feeling equally as uncomfortable as Rarity. “Is it alright if I go now?”

“Of course, dear.” Rarity said, relaxing her haunches. “Go on up to bed. You’ve got a new friend to meet tomorrow.” Sweetie wordlessly hopped off the sofa, turning towards the hallway and began her trek back to her room.

But suddenly, she stopped underneath the archway.

She became suddenly conflicted. It felt wrong to leave. Leave without doing something first.

Sweetie quickly turned around again and galloped straight to Rarity, throwing her hooves around her barrel and pulling her tight into a hug.

“Oh!” Rarity eeped, suddenly surprised by the affectionate smaller unicorn. “Oh, alright.” Rarity responded to the gesture by also wrapping her hooves around her sister.

Sweetie, as suddenly as she came, bolted out of the room, hoping to cut the awkwardness out of a hug like that. Rarity still sat speechless, watching her sister gallop away and up into her room. She sat for a little while longer, before she herself decided three-thirty in the morning was a good enough time as any to go to bed.

Sweetie laid limp under the covers of her bedroom. She put a hoof over her forehead, contemplating on what she was thinking. The hug wasn’t awkward, as she so forced it to be. But she still, even after that hug, felt incomplete.

“Ugh…” Sweetie grumbled, flopping to her side. “What’s wrong with me?”

A hole in her heart had been found. It’s been there so long, but she had no idea that piece was missing. What was she missing?

“...mom?” Sweetie asked the quiet room. “Is that really okay to say to her?”

Sweetie turned to her side one last time. Of course, Rarity wasn’t actually her mother. Not birth-mother, but as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but contemplate the idea a little more.

“What’s the harm in calling her mom?” Sweetie asked through heavy eyelids. “She won’t mind…”

…

Then, she threw the blankets off.

“I forgot to eat something!” She complained, storming back downstairs.

Comments

[Halloween Spirit]

Well that's a bit sad if not also sweet.

[TheGJ90]

Scootaloo is getting a sweet friend in Sweetie Belle!

[Cold Spike]

This was such a well done chapter, like, holy shit. The feels being portrayed here in such a short and concise scene was off the charts.