Guilt
There is the time in anypony's life, when you will be forced to choose from your own life, to that of somepony else. When that time may be, I do not know, but you must always be prepared to make that decision. Whether it may a complete stranger, or someone dear to your heart, what generosity you may posses will make the decision for you. Whether you live, or you die in this moment is never for certain; if you give, then you will be legend for the years to come. However, the guilt of knowing you sacrificed somepony for yourself if you choose to live, will haunt you for eternity.
Guilt is a powerful force that is everywhere we look, and no matter how innocent one seems to be, they have guilt within them. What you do with the guilt, however, is what decides how you live your life. You can let it consume you, or it can be your motivation for something great. The force that is greater than anything we know, the power of love, does not always counteract the effects of guilt.
There will always be that fight inside each and every one of us; the fight that determines what we let rest on our minds and how that effects us all in the end.
It had been a year since the passing, and Sweetie Belle still hadn't recovered from the incidents that had occurred. She was always locked deep inside the Boutique, wallowing in her depression. Nothing was the same anymore, not since Rarity was gone. She still had felt her presence, but it wasn't in the shop. She was still with her, deep within her mind and soul. Sweetie Belle had thought that she was haunting her, constantly trying to run from the voice that echoed in her mind. She tried to run. She tried so very hard, she had even ran to the farthest outstretch of Equestria, attempting to leave the voice of her deceased sister behind. She thought she was gone, but it was just a trick. It was there one again, and it finally dawned on her that she could not escape this. There was no way to escape.
At the time, she was grateful that she had wanted to stay with her, but it just made everything ever more difficult for her. Every time she heard the voice, whether it gave advice, or it spoke a single syllable, she broke into tears. There were many attempts made to control its input in her life, from Zecora's mysterious chants, to that of simple willpower. She had determined that she was trapped in a curse, never to be broken. The guilt of what she had done always rested heavy on her mind, the voice occasionally letting her know that she was forgiven.
Sweetie Belle rested on her own designer bed, something that was given to her by Rarity just a few years back. The softness of the materials used to design the bed and stitch it together was incomparable to even the softest of clouds. She was laying in the middle of the bed, her hooves resting over head, trying to get rid of anything that reminded her of how nice her sister was to her. How generous she had been. What a great sister she was. How she was always there to help her in her times of need, and how she had wished that she was there now.
Tears started to drip from her eyes, rolling down her face and dropping into the sheets below, slightly changing their hue. The flow of the tears started to increase, she remembered the days of how happy she and Rarity once were.
“We... We were so hap-happy...” she whimpered while she cried herself to sleep.
Today, today was Rarity's birthday, and Sweetie Belle was determined to make this the best day that rarity had ever had. The stepping stones to a fantastic day: a wonderful breakfast. She had made sure that she woke early that morning so that she could make Rarity a nice breakfast of haybrowns and fried apples. Although she wasn't very find of anything that was “fried”, Sweetie belle knew that she had to get her to try it. It was one of the BEST apple dishes that she had ever tried, and it was going to be the first time she had ever attempted at making them. She had once seen Applejack make them for Applebloom, so she was sure she knew how to make them. She turned the stove on, the flames licking the bottom of the pan. She poured the oil into the pan, which slightly sizzled as it was poured onto the hot pan. She started to cut up the apples, and even though they weren't a perfect cut, it would have to do. She tossed the apple slices into the pan, splashing and sizzling as they started to cook.
“I'll just do the haybrowns here in a minute when Rarity is down here...” she mumbled to herself.
She ran upstairs to go wake Rarity for the breakfast she was preparing. She stood next to her bed, a giant grin on her face, waiting to see the excitement that rarity would have on her face when she found out that she had made breakfast. The floor had started to get awfully warm though, she had thought. But she just brushed it off as it was most likely nothing.
Before Sweetie Belle could wake her, Rarity turned over in her sleep, sniffing and pulling off her sleep mask to see a wide grinned Sweetie Belle standing in front of her. She looked around, wondering what she was doing standing in front of her.
“Sweetie Belle, do you smell that?” Rarity questioned, the air smelling of burnt apples.
“THE APPLES!” she screamed, before running to Rarity's bedroom door.
She ran out the door and down the stairs, taking a hard left into the kitchen. To her dismay, it was on fire. The apples. The stove. It was all on fire. She didn't know what to do, she had never really dealt with a fire that was uncontrollable as this one, before realizing that Rarity's bedroom was directly above the kitchen. She ran back up the stairs as fast as her filly legs could carry her screaming “RARITY!” All she could do is wish that her sister was alright.
She reached her bedroom door, throwing it open and rushing inside. The room tempurature had grown, enough to make it unbearable without some kind of air conditioning. She rushed over to Rarity's bedside, who was stretching to wake herself up.
“There is no need to yell darling, what ever is the problem?” Rarity asked her.
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath before explaining the situation with the apples and the fire, and how they had to get out of the house NOW. Rarity was in disbelief, she could never imagine her beautiful Boutique on fire, let alone eating something that was fried.
“We have to go NOW!” Sweetie Belle cried out, as the floor behind her gave way, the flames below reaching up into the room.
There was no time to thing, no time to do anything but react. And react Rarity did. She jumped up out of her bed, grabbing Sweetie Belle by the neck and tossing her to the other side of the room. She stood wide eyed at the flames that engulfed their one means of escape – the door. Sweetie Belle was now prone behind Rarity, cowering from the heat of the flames, crying out her most meaningful sorry towards Rarity.
She stood as a wall between the flames and her sister, the hairs on her side slowly burning away from the heat. She thought that this would be the last time that she would ever be able to see the world again. She looked towards Sweetie Belle, tears forming in her eyes, not from the burning of her own body, but from the image of her only sister dying in the agony of a fire. She opened her mouth to say something, but remembered the small window on the other end of the room. She glanced towards it, hoping she may be able to make her way to it. It was almost englulfed in the flames, and Rarity only had seconds to act.
She picked up Sweetie Belle in one arm, running towards the window, the flames singing her body, but missing Sweetie Belle's just as she had intended. She vaulted herself out the second story window, turning over mid flight, encasing her in a blue aura.
Rarity spoke, “I love you Swee-” before slamming into the ground with a violent crack, Sweetie Belle landing directly on top of Rarity, cushioning her fall.
She woke up screaming and sweating profusely, the sheets around her soaked. She looked around, expecting to see the boutique ablaze and her sister lying directly below her. To her comfort, there was nothing there. Just the black of night to encase her endless sorrow for what she had done. She put her face into her hooves, crying again at what she had done. Her sister had given everything for her; she had even given her a home. She was all she had, all that she had ever wanted. She crawled out of bed, tears still dripping from her face. She walked towards the door, opening it to see where Rarity's room once was – now just an empty hole covered in plywood. She looked towards the opening in the roof, asking why he sister had to die, why didn't death taker her instead. She had started the fire, and she wanted to know why Rarity had to be gone.
“WHY!?!?” she screamed towards the night sky, expecting an answer.
She stood there for what seemed like forever in silence, before the voice in her mind spoke one last time, flooding her with guilt.
“Because I love you, and I will always be in your heart.”
The voice echoed in her head, and she knew that Rarity would always be there.