Are you really my sister?

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Rebooting system. Program SW-alpha_00.00128.bot. Recovering memory. Error detected in the movement processor. Automatic repairs impossible. Battery left: 4 hours. Thoughts and emotions algorithm launched.

"I'm nothing. I thought I was alive. I am not a living being... thing?"

Grammatical conflict detected.

"A robot, a mare."

Summer. A warm afternoon in Ponyville. Rarity is sat down and looks at her sister gambolling in the plain, with tenderness in her eyes. For once, she has some free time in her work to take care of her sister. She takes a break. She would have given everything to have more sooner.

"Raaaaarity!"

Sweetie Belle galops towards her with a flower in her mouth.

"For you!' she says while handing over the blue flower with magic.

Rarity's smile widens and she carefully takes the flower with her hoof.

"Thank you Sweetie Belle."

"You're welcome-ome-ome-ome-ome-ome..." Sweetie Belle repeats on a loop.

Rarity loses her smile, the latter morphing into a sad grimace. She takes her sister in her arms and holds her close.

"I miss you Sweetie Belle, so much!" she sobs as tears come to her eyes.

Her sister finishes to bug, because it's indeed a bug that she has, like a robot, because she is a robot.

"Rarity, why are you crying?"

Rarity wipes her tears.

"Because I haven't been a good sister to you..."

"You're the best sister in the world, Rarity!"

A simple answering program. Those are not real emotions, at least not entirely, but rather millions of different cases, possibilities, being treated and calculated in real time.

The sound is the same as Sweetie Belle's, same voice, same intonations, reactions made from her personality and yet, it's not her sister that Rarity is holding in her hooves, not quite.

By raising the mane of that Sweetie – that one could qualify as a Sweetie Bot – one can see a scar in her neck, reminding of that fateful day.

It was during spring. Rarity had asked her sister to not bother her during work, once again, and Sweetie Belle got offended and slammed the door while leaving. Rarity looked at her passing by the window, Opalescence was right next to it.

"You think I shouldn't have said that?" Rarity said, a bit sad.

Opal looked at her with her usual unconcerned face, then looked at Sweetie Belle, that could still be seen going away.

"Meow!" suddenly made the cat while pointing at Sweetie Belle.

Rarity wasn't close enough see her by the window anymore, but she still answered:

"Yes, it's Sweetie Belle, who is leaving because she's angry. You only got that now?"

"Meeeow!" insisted the cat with a serious face, still pointing at the sister walking fast, cut to the quick.

"Anyhow, she'll come back," Rarity said to Opal.

"MEEEEEEOW!" screamed the cat, seemingly panicking.

"What now!? What do you want, what's wrong!?"

Rarity went to the window and looked at where Opal was pointing.

"So what? It's Sweetie Belle who's walking and who..."

Her sister went into the forest and disappeared.

"Who heading straight for the Everfree Forest!" panicked Rarity as well.

Opal rolled her eyes, as if she was saying "Finally!".

"But what's getting to her!? Why is she doing that!? I told her a thousand times to not go there!"

Opal lifted her paws, seemingly saying "And what are you waiting for to go and bring her back!?"

But Rarity was already out to find her sister. Because of her anger, Sweetie Belle had gone without even paying attention as to where she was going. Rarity chased her sister into the forest, galloping inside without hesitation.

"Sweetie Belle!" she yelled, hoping her sister would answer.

The only answer she got was a horrible cry coming from her sister, followed by an ominous howl. Terror arose in Rarity, she galloped towards the place where the cry had come from and arrived in a small clearing.

A pony was there, looking distraught. He was leaning over a small thing. Rarity came closer, panting, not from her run, but from the fear she had. As she was approaching, she realised that the little thing in question was her sister. The body of her sister.

"No..." said Rarity with a broken voice.

The pony heard her and turned toward her. He had tears in his eyes.

"I-I couldn't do anything... The timberwolf had already..."

Rarity was shaking on her legs, staring with wide opened eyes at the body of her little sister. She came, less than a meter away, fearing to come any closer.

"S-Sweetie...?" she called.

"It's too late," answered the pony, regretful. "She died instantly."

Died. That word echoed in Rarity's head as something unreal. She rushed to her sister, who only looked like she was asleep, and wanted to shake her, to wake her up, to break that unbearable picture of her lifeless little sister. But as soon as she took her, she saw the little stream of blood running along her neck.

Rarity fainted. It was too much for her. She passed out.

When she woke up, she was at her house. She needed time to get her thoughts perfectly together. Once the fact that her sister was dead came back to her, tears went to her eyes.

"Rarity!" said her sister, trotting towards her.

Rarity couldn't believe her eyes. Her sister had died, yet she was now standing in front of her, perfectly alive. Maybe she had a nightmare, due to some overworking condition?

Her sister jumped in her arms. It really was her, alive. She hugged her in her legs.

"I was so scared for you Sweetie Belle!" sobbed Rarity.

"What are you talking about Rarity?" asked her sister with an inquisitive look.

"Nothing... About nothing. All is fine now," smiled Rarity, wiping her tears, happy that all of this had only been the worst nightmare ever.

"By the way, someone told me to give you this."

Sweetie Belle handed a parchment roll to Rarity, which she unfolded and read.

I tried my best to give you back your sister as she was. I replaced some of her organs with robotics. The personality is based on your sister's, her memories are the same.

Don't ever tell her that she died, or that she's some kind of robot/pony hybrid. And of course, don't tell a word to anypony, people might not accept that.

Sorry again.

The letter wasn't signed. Rarity didn't understand right away. What was this message? It was a dream, come on! Her sister hadn't died since she was right in front of her, right now. And, seriously, a robot? That kind of thing only exists in sci-fi stories! Rarity looked weirdly at her sister and, despite everything, with a bit of apprehension.

"Anything wrong, Rarity?" asked Sweetie Belle.

A slight synchronisation error made her blink her eyes not at the same time, without her noticing. But Rarity did and a doubt gained her. She took her sister by the shoulders and asked, with great worries in her voice:

"Sweetie Belle, did you went to the Everfree earlier?"

"Yes, but I don't remember what happened after, why?"

Did that really happened? Had she died? Was she now a... robot? No, it was silly, come one. But, what if...?

"It's dangerous, Sweetie!" said Rarity, distraught, shaking her a bit. "You must not go there!"

Sweetie Belle took on a guilty face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention, I was angry at you..."

That was worse than everything. Rarity realised that it was her fault if her sister had gone into the Everfree Forest, her fault if... No, she still couldn't accept it. Her sister was in front of her eyes, alive, and she wasn't a robot!

"Are you mad at me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e?"

"What did you just say!?" panicked Rarity.

"Are you mad at me?" she repeated with the exact same tone, as if someone had activated some kind of loop function.

Rarity panicked more and more, she had trouble breathing. She wasn't even sure to have her own sister in front of her.

"Update required," then said Sweetie Belle, with a voice that could not be qualified as natural.

"What?" made Rarity, facing a truth that was less and less deniable.

"I said nothing, Rarity," answered Sweetie Belle with her normal voice, before continuing with her robot tone, "Rebooting."

She shut down, standing still, with an empty stare. Rarity, facing the inert yet seemingly alive body, was forced, after many attempts to get a reaction out of here, to accept it. Her sister was no more. Instead, there was this robot. She cried, as Opalescence was patting Sweetie Belle's hind leg with curiosity, feeling that something was different indeed.

It's now been nearly three months since Sweetie Belle has been replaced by Sweetie Bot. Nobody knows, except Rarity, and no one must know. After a few updates, coming from who knows where, Sweetie mostly doesn't... bug anymore.

She eats, she sleeps, she talks like everypony, she can even use magic. One could swear she's really Sweetie Belle. And yet, something is off. Maybe it's only because she knows the truth, but Rarity can't fully consider her as her sister.

She tried to contact the pony that did it, to know why, and also how he managed to do it. But he was impossible to find. She doesn't have his name and she never came across him in Ponyville. She regrets. She regrets that she didn't have more time to dedicate to her little sister, to take care of her, to play with her, when she was still... her.

Seeing this robot is almost more cruel than if her sister was dead and buried. Seeing it gambol around, speaking like Sweetie Belle, is unbearable to her.

She also has to lie. When someone finds that she acts weirdly, when she's rebooting all of the sudden for example, Rarity simply answers "Oh, she's always been a bit weird you know.", "She can't stay in place." or "She always makes up stories to play.". She has had enough with lying to her friends, but who to confide to? Applejack? Twilight? Definitely not Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy would probably be too shocked by the news.

"I love you Rarity!"

That too, it's enough. Her sister never said that this often, and that robot repeats it again and again, non-stop. Rarity's nerves give in.

"Stop saying that!" she abruptly says.

The robot moves back and takes on a sad and scared face.

"Why are you saying this Rarity?"

Rarity's fixating that pale imitation of her sister. She's sad, but also angry. Angry at this robot, that image that constantly reminds her of her sister, that reminds her, Rarity, that it is her own fault if her sister is not there anymore. She wants to end this, turn her off, make her disappear from her view. But she has no idea on how to do it, so instead she lets go of everything that's weighing on her.

"You're not my sister! My sister died three months ago in the Everfree! You're only repeating sentences without even understanding their meaning! You're just a robot! Not my sister!"

At least, it's relieving.

Sweetie Bot looks her sister into her eyes.

"Contradictory data assimilated. Psychological instability. Safeguard protocol number seven: going in sleep mode until system's repair."

Here's the robot's answer. Yet, its face isn't saying that. Its eyes are wide opened, she seems shocked and sad, even though this robot has never shown such signs of sorrow. Rarity doesn't understand what's going on. She realises that she has done something terrible when a tear starts to flow on Sweetie Belle's cheek. Her sister is still there, somewhere behind that robot and those algorithms based on her personality, and that same sister is slowly understanding that she's not alive anymore.

"Good bye, big sister," says Sweetie Belle with a broken voice, overwhelmed with emotions that no program could ever recreate.

And with these words, she shuts down. All functions cease, aside from breathing, the rest being done by auxiliary processors. Her eyes close. She's dormant, like a sleeping pony.

"Sweetie Belle?" asks Rarity, anxious.

She doesn't know what she has caused, but she's sure of one thing: It is her sister who talked before that robot shut down. Maybe she can still retrieve her?

"Sweetie, answer me!" she says as she takes her by the shoulders.

But she doesn't answer, her head is lowered, she's not moving. Rarity tries everything she can, she shakes her, she talks to her, but to no avail, her robotic sister doesn't wake up.

They shouldn't stay here. Ponies could come and ask why is Sweetie Belle sleeping in broad daylight in the middle of the plain? Rarity carefully lifts her with magic and brings her back home, not knowing what else to do.

What would anyone say if it was discovered that Sweetie Belle is a robot? Would she be blamed for her death? For experimenting on her, on her own sister? For lying to her friends? Rarity is asking herself all those questions. She broke down at the worst moment, but she couldn't take it any longer, this was bound to happen.

If she had could, she would have refused that robot, she would have thrown it away in a scrapyard, to never see her again. But it was her sister, she had accepted it, and now she can't resolve to do so, especially after what her sister said. Those words are still echoing in her head.

Once home, Rarity puts Sweetie Belle in her bed and covers her. Usually, when this robot enters sleep mode, it wakes up by itself at some point, she just has to wait.

A week passes, without Sweetie showing any signs of activity. She doesn't move, in her bed, only her slow and regular breathing allows to really differentiate her from a corpse. Thankfully, school is over, otherwise it would have caused some problems if Sweetie Belle had gone missing from class.

Despite that, Rarity is not doing well. She tries to make do, to keep hope, but it's a struggle, such a hard time to live with some kind of an undead sister.

She's in her workshop, she's making new dresses, trying to drown herself in work, to not think about anything else. Opal is looking at her with its neutral eyes, even though this time it seems to be the result of a true emotion rather than some usual expression.

Someone knocks on the door.

"Who could that be?" Rarity asks, intrigued, a small spasm cause by her fragile mental state shaking her right eye.

She walks to the door and opens.

"Hey Rarity, hope 'am not botherin'?"

"No no, absolutely not Applejack," answers Rarity, attempting a smile that looks more like a grimace than anything. "How are you?"

Applejack raises an eyebrow while looking at Rarity's spasm, but she still answers:

"'Am fine, but mah sister is worried, it's been a week since she saw Sweetie Belle. We're wondering if everythin's alright."

Rarity's spasm comes back when hearing that name, but she does as if nothing was happening and gives the answer she prepared in case:

"She's sick, so she's not going outside."

"Oh, I see... Poor sugar cube," saddens Applejack. "Must be a hell of a sickness to last a whole week."

"Yes, and actually, I'm coming to visit her and see if she's doing better," suddenly says a voice behind Applejack.

She turns her head and sees a brown pony with blue mane behind her, wearing a hat similar to her own.

"You're the doctor?"

"Precisely!" confirms the pony while smiling. "I'm the one taking care of Sweetie Belle's sickness, isn't it miss Rarity?"

Applejack turns back to Rarity, which seems completely shocked, mouth slightly opened and eyes wide.

Of course she didn't call any doctor, it's just an excuse, a real doctor examining Sweetie would have been the best way to blow the whole story. Yet, she knows that pony. It is him that was beside her sister's body after the timberwolf's attack. He puts a hoof in front of his mouth, with a serious face, inviting Rarity to not say anything and go along with his story.

"Y-Yes," stammers Rarity.

Applejack frowns. Something isn't right, she can feel it. She turns back, the pony instantly regains his joyful face, and she starts to inspect the so-called doctor. She notices his cutie mark, representing two puppets.

"This ain't really a doctor's cutie mark, I find."

"Indeed," says the pony, "My first talent is to entertain children, which is why I specialised in childhood diseases. That way, I heal them and make them laugh at the same time."

"Ah don't recall ever seeing you in town."

"It's normal. Technically, I'm just passing by, but I just so happen to have discovered Sweetie Belle's problem, and I know that here they don't have the necessary cure to heal her. So I'm coming from Canterlot every two days to see if everything is going fine."

"Why not simply take her to Canterlot directly?"

"It's a very treatable disease as long as you have the appropriate medicine, no need to move her for that," he answers in a light tone.

Applejack stays suspicious of this pony. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't like him. She can smell he's hiding something.

"Not to be rude, but you seem shifty."

"Do I?" says the pony, faking astonishment to the perfection. "I'm just a doctor visiting a patient, I don't see anything shifty with that."

Applejack judges him with her eyes. He's too smiling. It's unnatural. She turns back to Rarity, who still hasn't moved, keeping the same expression.

"What in tarnation is going on in here!?"

Rarity doesn't answer. It exceeds Applejack. She forces her way in, having no troubles walking around Rarity, who is yet to move, her eyes stuck on the pony. The later rushes after Applejack, getting a grunt from Opal whose fur bristles, as she walks upstairs into Sweetie Belle's room.

She quickly enters the bedroom and walks to the bed where Sweetie is in sleep mode. She looks at her carefully. Sweetie is sleeping in a normal way, her bedsheets going up and down to the rhythm of her breathing.

The doctors enters after her, a little more seriousness on his face.

"Careful!" he whispers. "You're going to wake her! She needs rest!"

Rarity comes in as well. Applejack is doubtful, nothing seems weird with Sweetie Belle. And it's true that, from an external point of view, she seems perfectly normal. A simple filly asleep.

"So, convinced?" asks the doctor.

"Everythin' looks... normal," admits Applejack.

"Great. Now, I need peace to examine her. Miss Rarity, please see your friend out while I check that everything is alright."

Rarity gains back composure and tries to look as natural as possible, getting Applejack back to the door. She follows, while giving a last glance at the doctor when going out of the bedroom, as he waves her goodbye, before putting his bag down and searching in it.

"Ah find this doctor strange."

"Well, it's just a pony from Canterlot, they all act a bit different than us you know."

"If you say so... Ah'm probably not used to city people..."

"Surely. Don't worry, if anything was going on, I would tell you. I am your friend, aren't I?"

Rarity displays a smile and talks with conviction, but behind that, her mind is about to give up once more because of that horrible lie. Yet, it convinces Applejack who tries a little smile.

"Yeah. You're right, I worry for nothin'."

She laughs.

"Ah'm going to go home and tell Apple Bloom what's wrong. Let us know if things evolve."

"No problem!" answers Rarity.

Applejack goes out and closes the door. Rarity sees her by the window, going in the direction of her farm, then sighs from relief. Her hind legs are shaking, the twitch in her eye has come back, her heart is beating so fast. Opalescence stares at her with disapproval, but she doesn't pay attention to it. She runs up the stairs two at a time and goes at full throttle into the bedroom. The "doctor" is leaning on Sweetie Bot.

"You told her the truth? To your sister I mean, not this too-curious farmer."

His tone is not as warm. Almost a little rude, even.

"Y-Yes."

"Why? I told you not to!"

Rarity hesitates. Then finally, all her stress suddenly transform into rage, and she bursts:

"You! Why did you do that!? Why do that to her!? Why do that to me!?"

The pony looks surprised, a true surprise this time.

"I wanted to do well. I thought you'd prefer to have your sister, rather than her dying."

"But she died! My sister died! And this thing, this robot, is not my sister!"

The pony frowns and stops what he's doing to look Rarity in the eyes.

"Are you sure? At no point did you see your sister through that "robot", as you're so prone to call her?"

The memory of Sweetie Belle telling her goodbye before shutting down comes back in Rarity's head.

"I-It happened... But it's only sometimes. The rest of the time, she doesn't act like my sister."

"It's because her program isn't performant enough to copy to perfection your sister's emotions."

The pony goes back to his repair of Sweetie Belle, searching in his bag.

"But I've had enough! I can't stand anymore seeing her even though she's dead! I can't stand lying to my friends!"

"She's not dead! Believe me, your sister is still alive, somewhere, and that's what I'm striving to find. I just need more time to perfect the program."

"Let's talk about this program! How can you bring someone back to life? You told me that she died instantly!"

The pony sighs and turns to Rarity.

"Puppet Owner. It's my name. I've worked all my life to find a mean to bring back the dead to their families... And to that end, I do immoral experiments, yes, I admit it. I was able to save your sister because her death was recent and her body wasn't in a bad state, so I could act quickly. Does this answer suit you?"

Rarity is troubled by this answer. He does experiments on the dead, yes it's bad, Rarity's conscience screams to her that this pony is dangerous and he should be stopped. Yet, it's thanks to him that she could find back her sister. It's not evil to want to bring back dead people to those who cared for them, is it? Deep down... this pony acts for the good of all, no? Rarity is doubting.

"I'd advise you to not come close," warns the pony, pulling out some kind of box cutter. "It's not well tolerable if you're not used to it."

"W-What are you going to do to her?"

"Access her main program, and remove the informations that caused the bug. Afterwards, she'll work like before."

He deploys the tool with his hooves, a long sharpened blade he approaches to Sweetie Belle's neck, as she still sleeps.

Rarity turns away immediately. She doesn't want to see that. The sound of something tearing apart. Rarity tries to think of something other than the present moment in which her robotic little sister is getting the nape of her neck cut open.

She hears the doctor manipulate something in her sister. Her mind, against her will, pictures some kind of metallic brain with pieces of real brain hanging from it. She gets nauseous.

"There!"

Puppet sews back Sweetie Belle's neck, putting his tools away.

"Now, it's only about waiting for her to wake up as usual. Don't ever say the truth to her again. I will probably fix the problem in a next update, but for now, if you want to keep your little sister, don't say it! And once again, not a word to anypony."

"Understood," answers Rarity, holding a hoof in front of her eyes to avoid puking.

"You don't have to say thank you for now. I know what I'm making you go through, but it's needed if you want to have her back. At that moment, I'll let you thank me."

Rarity nods, without looking at him.

"Goodbye."

He hands a hoof to her.

"Again, sorry."

She hesitates, then finally shakes his hoof.

"Good luck, miss Rarity."

Rarity doesn't answer. She looks Puppet in the eyes. She still doesn't know if she's right to trust him or not. For now, she has one hope, of getting her sister back, and it's enough to keep her together for now.

If she wasn't so in her own thoughts and turmoil, she would most likely see the shadow deep in Puppet's eyes. It is a sorrow way more profound than the simple compassion he is feeling for Rarity.

Three new months have passed. Sweetie now works to perfection, she doesn't have any bug. Rarity still experiences difficulties seeing her as a robot and as her sister at the same time. Those are updates, she understands it, and it is her sister, she understands that too, but she can't reconcile the two. Sometimes she sees her as her sister, and sometimes as a strange robot. Personality wise, Sweetie Bot seems to become more and more like Sweetie Belle. She can take her character traits better and better, her reactions are more "pony-like" than before. Everyone ceased to say she was acting weirdly and is convinced that she's the real Sweetie Belle.

Rarity now loves her sister. She wants to keep her. Catch on everything she couldn't do. She knows there's going to be problems, when she'll grow for example. Surely, robots aren't made to grow. Then people will wonder why Sweetie Belle stays a filly. But for now, she doesn't worry about it. She just wants to spend time with her sister.

One day, as she was working in her boutique on new outfits, Rainbow Dash came in without even knocking.

"What can I do for you Rainbow Dash?"

"You have to come, Twilight received a letter from princess Celestia saying we all have to go to Canterlot as soon as possible."

"Oh... And I was about to finish this new dress."

She sighs, but its a demand from her friend.

"Well, fine, I'm coming."

Sweetie Belle must be playing with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, she can go with peace of mind. She follows Rainbow Dash to the train station where the rest of her friends are waiting. Twilight looks worried.

"I hope it's not too serious of a matter."

"No, don't worry, princess Celestia is just inviting us for some tea!" says Dash ironically.

"Oh, great! We'll be there just in time for tea as well!" rejoices Pinkie, bouncing up and down.

"What I mean is that, I hope we can settle it easily."

"Don't worry Twilight," reassures Rarity, "We are all here to help if needed."

"Exactly!" says Applejack.

The train whistle resounds, announcing the departure. Everyone climbs in the train for Canterlot.

"Wait for me!"

Spike comes just in time, running while carrying a small box, and jumps in the train as it starts to shake, before it gets going to the capital.

Canterlot's castle. In a great room with, at its centre, a round table. Tall ornaments on the walls, stained glass, and the princesses Celestia and Luna gathered. Cadance taking care of the Crystal Empire, she couldn't come. Twilight and her friends walk in.

"Princesses, here we are."

"Twilight," says Celestia, "Thank you for coming so quickly."

Twilight briefly bows in front of the princesses, then follows up immediately:

"What is the problem?"

"We don't know for sure," indicates Luna, worried. "But something is brewing."

"What kind of thing?" asks Applejack.

"The dead are coming back to life," announces Celestia with a serious face.

All are in shock.

"Oh my goodness..." shakes Fluttershy. "Z-Zombies?"

"Not exactly," corrects Luna.

"Ponies missing or dead are suddenly reappearing, in great shape, and acting like nothing had happened," continues Celestia. "When presented with the fact that they are dead, they say they don't understand."

"Wow, that's straight out weird!" says Rainbow Dash.

"We don't know if they have been resurrected, or rather recreated, or something else. They are here, that's it."

"Do you have any idea as to who is at the origin of this?" asks Twilight.

"A pony seems to be responsible for it. A mare from Filly Deplhia received a letter right after her coltfriend was brought back to life. The letter specified to not tell the stallion he was dead, while wishing happiness to the mare."

Rarity freezes when hearing all this, but no one notices. This situation is just like her own. She understands that her case is not isolated. Puppet seems to be acting in all of Equestria, and not only for Sweetie Belle."

"But how can he do it?" questions Twilight.

Celestia shakes her head in a sign of ignorance.

"We do not know. But someone is resurrecting ponies and he has to be stopped quickly!"

"Oh, please! For once, someone is acting for the good of all, maybe you could let it be, no?" then says a voice.

All turn to the entrance. Puppet is standing below the framing, smiling, holding his hat in a hoof.

"Who are you!?" immediately interrogates Luna. "Who let you in?"

"Who?" repeats Puppet, laughing. "But the guards, of course. As to know who I am, well, I'd say you were talking about me right before."

"You are at the root of all this!?" shouts Twilight.

"Oh, we have an almost clever one, don't we?" replies Puppet.

He's totally different from the way he behaved when he was at Rarity's. Incidentally, she's in great distress since that pony entered the room, and only Applejack notices it.

"Ah knew there was somethin' fishy about that pony!"

"You know him?" asks Rainbow.

"He was at Rarity's home the other day! He was comin' to see Sweetie Belle! So that's what it was all about! Apple Bloom told me the Sweetie Belle was actin' up sometimes!"

"Come on Applejack," says Twilight, seemingly not believing her friend, "Only the dead are affected. That would mean Sweetie Belle had died. Rarity would never hide that from us, right?"

As she speaks, she turns to Rarity, whose eyes are wide opened. The others start to look at her as well. Rarity is at a complete loss. She doesn't know what to say, how to explain, how to justify herself. As tears come to her eyes, she simply says, all shaking, while looking at Twilight:

"She almost acts like Sweetie Belle... It's her... She's still alive..."

All the others can't believe those words. Rarity lied to them, for all this time. Worst of all, Sweetie Belle is dead!?

Puppet simply laughs, before following with:

"She wanted to see her sister again, and that's fairly normal. And she'll keep on seeing her. Everypony will be able to act as if nothing had happened, as if no one had died, if I obtain what I want."

"And what is it?" inquires Celestia, looking at him defiantly.

"Alicorn magic. You see, the corpses that are the easiest to resurrect are those of unicorns because they still aggregate magic. But past a few months, nothing can be done, the corpse is as good as wasted. But alicorn magic could allow me to go back even more, way more."

Twilight boils with anger when seeing the state of her friend. Rarity had to sit down, having trouble breathing because of the stress, and is holding her own head, tears falling from her eyes, completely overwhelmed by the situation. All that because of that pony. Twilight turns around and yells:

"For what purpose are you doing all this!?"

"So that no one will be sad, of course. No more deaths, no more sorrow, and everyp..."

But Twilight interrupts him.

"No more sorrow!? Are you kidding me!? Look at my friend! Look what state you put her in!"

"Resurrecting the dead will never be a solution," adds Luna. "A life is meant to fade away, to live too much is to fall into madness. Death is a part of life."

"Is a life meant to fade away at six years old?" interrogates Puppet, getting angry. "You should understand me better than anypony else, you immortal princesses, who see all their subjects come and go, one after another!"

"I don't know your motivations," answers Celestia, slightly raising her voice, "But going against nature will only break the balance of the world, and I'm not even talking about the overpopulation it would cause!"

"I'm not asking for your opinion anyway."

Puppet pulls out of his hat a small remote. He quickly presses a few buttons. Behind him, from the door, then come two guards.

"Guards! Arrest him!" orders Luna.

The guards don't even bat an eye and walk by Puppet who's putting his hat back, as they don't even seem to notice him, going to the princesses.

"What are you doing? I told you to arrest him!"

Celestia frowns. A fraction of a second later, the guards jump on the princesses. Celestia dodges by flying off, having understood at the last moment, but Luna is caught completely off guard and the guards violently tackle her on the ground.

"You didn't even thought about asking me how I resurrect the dead," sighs Puppet. "I'm disappointed in you, princesses."

"He... He uses robotics," then says a shaky voice.

All turn to Rarity, who's wiping her tears, sniffing:

"He puts mechanical pieces in the bodies, they replace what no longer works."

"And he can control them," concludes Celestia, still in the air.

"Replacing those guards was so easy," laughs the poney. "You didn't even notice."

"They are still living beings!" then shouts Luna with her Canterlot voice, her eyes becoming white.

She creates a magical explosion, repulsing the two guards on her, and stands up.

"You are playing with life! And for that, we will never forgive you!"

"I wasn't going to wait for forgiveness," replies the pony, "I'm waiting for my sister, or rather, she's the one waiting for me, and I'm already way too late."

Upon those words, the stained glasses shatters, letting in ten pegasus, all diving on Celestia who is caught off guard and is now the one getting knocked down on the floor, the pegasus holding her down firmly.

Other ponies turn up from all the doors, some are guards, others perfectly regular earth ponies or unicorns. All jump on Luna, who gets overwhelmed and immobilised.

Celestia moves her head, the only part of her body that is free, and gives Puppet a scornful look.

"You won't get away like that!"

"Oh of course I will. You, however, I don't know, to be honest."

"Come on, girls! It's our turn!" suddenly says Twilight.

Puppet turns to look at them.

"I almost forgot about you with all this. What are you planning on?" he says with a smile.

"Stopping you!" replies the unicorn.

Puppet wants to laugh, but he notices something that cuts that quickly. Each of them is wearing a necklace. Her Element of Harmony.

"Come on Twilight!" encourages Spike from a corner of the room, an empty box at his feet.

Twilight told him to bring the Elements, just in case, and in the end she was right to do so.

"You little...!" starts Puppet, but Twilight already activates the Elements of Harmony.

They all begin to levitate, their necklace dazzling, linked together by a rainbow. Twilight's eyes become white.

Puppet shows his teeth. He can't fail here. Not that stupidly. The beam is going to take care of him if things go on, and without orders, his robots are going to become harmless! He looks for a way out, frantically searching an exit with his eyes. Suddenly, he lays his eyes on something. He smiles again, then laughs in an almost crazy manner.

"I think someone is asking for you, miss Rarity!"

Rarity opens her eyes and so do the others, as the beam is still charging. Sweetie Belle is by the door, walking slowly, looking like she's barely conscious.

Puppet had planned in advance, by making most of his robots gather in Canterlot, to have support. Sweetie Belle was in the bunch, but he hadn't even notice her. And when he had given the order to attack the princesses, Sweetie Belle had received it like the others.

"If you stop me, your sister is gone! Goodbye Sweetie Belle!"

Of course, it's a lie. The robots would survive without him, they are autonomous, but he's trying to destabilise her, and it works.

Rarity doubts. Her Element crackles, then completely stops shining, breaking the rainbow and the beaming charge.

"What's going on now!?" curses Applejack.

"I-I don't want Sweetie Belle to vanish," sobs Rarity.

Sweetie Belle hears those words from her sister and turns her head towards her. Her eyes look empty. Her jaw is hanging, mouth opened. Her voice is the robot one.

"Ra-a-a-a-a-a-a-rity?-y?-y?"

Puppet frowns as he looks displeased. He goes up to Sweetie Bot.

"Normally, everything should work properly now. Why is she bugging?"

Twilight ferociously stamps her hoof.

"We're still here!"

"Er... Twilight?" makes Rainbow Dash's voice, which sounds a little out of breath. "Maybe you should be careful."

Twilight turns around and sees with horror that all of her friends have been immobilised by resurrected ponies. Each is held down by two ponies. Four are going to the purple unicorn, who's moving back, back to the wall.

"Ra-a-a-a-a-a-a-arity," repeats the robot.

Puppet's upper lip spasms. Why is this robot having a problem? Everything is supposed to be fixed! If the robot doesn't work properly, his plan is useless.

"Vocal command activated," he enounces out loud without even paying attention to the ponies diving on Twilight, to immobilize her as well. "Oral description of the problem requested."

Sweetie Belle's eyes become red for a brief moment, then she resumes with her robot voice:

"Conflict of unknown origin. Conflict of unknown origin."

She repeats this sentence again and again. As she repeats it, a tear starts to flow from her right eye. Then suddenly, Sweetie Belle talks with her normal voice, yelling in despair:

"Rarity! Stop him!"

Before going back to her robotic speech. Her whole body is shaking.

Rarity, still held against the floor by two ponies, looks at her sister, with an infinite sorrow in the eyes.

"She's right, Rarity," says Fluttershy, shaking.

"We have to stop him!" follows Pinkie.

"He's gonna turn all of Equestria into robots if this keeps up!" says Rainbow.

"If you get together, you can defeat him!" adds Spike from a corner of the room he deems safe.

"Just think for a moment, Rarity!" reasons Applejack. "Is that how you want to see your sister!? She can't even control her own actions!"

The last words from Applejack echoes in her head. Her sister is alive, yes, but she's been manipulated by this pony. She must stop him. Maybe her sister will vanish, but she can't let her get used like that!

She blinks to dry her eyes, before nodding to Applejack, meaning she's ready.

"Twilight! Here we go!"

Twilight, kept in place by four ponies, looks up to her friends, then smiles before closing her eyes to focus. The Elements activate again and, this time, all goes as usual. The rainbow forms, the necklaces sparkle.

Puppet, who was still looking at Sweetie Belle without understanding that the unicorn's mind was fighting against the artificial intelligence, abruptly turns around when hearing Applejack's words. He sees the rainbow take shape.

The power of the Elements push back the ponies that were holding the mares on the floor. They hover a few centimetres above ground. The rainbow finishes to form. Rarity opens her eyes, to give a cold and harsh stare at Puppet, a stare that he gives backs to her. She speaks, with a voice filled with rage:

"Never again will you touch my sister or my friends!"

The multicoloured beam heads straight for Puppet, turning him practically instantly into a statue made out of stone. Right before that, his expression softens and a sad smile appears on his face.

"Sorry little sister..." he thinks. "I couldn't bring you back. All those ponies prevented me from doing it. Such a shame, I only needed alicorn magic, and you could have been back. Goodbye."

The rainbow stops. The mares softly lands on the floor, aside from Rainbow Dash who prefers to stay in the air. All the robots present gain back a semblance of consciousness. Those who were stopping the princesses suddenly move away, not understanding how they came to act so disrespectfully towards the princesses. Most of them wonder what they are doing here.

Rarity rushes to her sister to hug her in her legs, and she returns her embrace. The princesses get back on their hooves and walk toward the mares.

"Thank you all," says Celestia. "Once again, you've prevented a disaster."

"Equestria can count on us to stop the troubles!" replies Rainbow Dash as she slams her hoof into the other, like she was ready to fight again.

Twilight looks at Puppet's statue, with sadness in her eyes.

"Something's wrong, Twilight?" asks Luna.

"I don't know... Even if he has hurt people, I feel like his actions didn't came from a bad place..."

"Something must have blinded him at some point," wisely answers Celestia. "It is why he strayed away from the right path, despite good intentions."

"The question now is: what are we going to do with all these robots?" adds Spike, who took the opportunity to come back, now that the place is safe.

"Despite them being ponies at one point, today they are aberrations," explains Celestia. "We'll need to deactivate them one by one."

Twilight gives a worried look at Rarity, who seems to be talking with Sweetie Belle. She then looks back at Celestia.

"Couldn't we make an exception...?"

Celestia leans forward to look at her student right in the eyes, her face right in front of hers.

"Twilight, I understand that you want to avoid a painful moment to your friend. But her sister is dead, and nothing will be able to change that. We must not let a sweet dream hide a too painful reality. The more we wait, the harder it will be to separate them."

"I agree... But..."

"Sweetie Belle!" suddenly yells Rarity.

All the ponies present turn towards her. Sweetie Belle walks out by the door, galloping, and runs away, Rarity reaching out a hoof to her, tears in her eyes.

"Catch up to her!" orders Celestia.

The guards who were manipulated obey without hesitation and go after the filly, passing by Rarity who is displaying an inexplicable small and happy smile.

She smiles because of what they told each other right before, when they were hugging.

"Sweetie Belle, thanks for being there."

"Rarity... Am I dead...?"

"Yes," cries Rarity, hugging her sister. "But you are still alive. You're a robot, but also my sister. And that is why you'll have to run away."

"But... Why?" asks Sweetie, before following with her robotic voice: "Worrying level rising."

The vocal description hasn't been deactivated when Puppet was imprisoned, and only his voice can turn it off. So the robot side of the filly sister keeps on giving information about the system. But Rarity doesn't pay any attention to it.

"The others are going to want to deactivate you. I don't want to lose you again. So run. Gallop without stopping. Forget everything I may have told you: you're perfectly able to manage on your own. Once you'll be safe, find someone to take care of you, ask help from ponies, but watch out still. And live your life, that life that was given back to you, despite my error."

"Presence of strong emotion," announces the robot. "I don't want to leave you, Rarity!"

"It must be. So go, my sister. Quick!"

Sweetie Belle lets go of her sister, and takes a few steps towards the door, then turns her head to her sister, who invites her – smiling and with tears at the edge of her eyes – to continue, with a nod. Sweetie Belle looks away from her sister for the last time and rushes down the hall.

The guards chase after her. She manages to get out of the palace and runs at full speed in the city's streets, looking for a place to hide. She doesn't have time to stop, the guards are on her heels. She goes out of the city, trips over, and her small half-robot, half-pony body bounces for a few meters, before tumbling over the cliff, falling into the void in a cry of terror.

She crashes many dozens of meters below, knocking herself out in a metallic "klong", her body laying behind a rock, hiding her from the guards who lose her track. The fall wasn't without damages. Two legs are broken, the back of her neck was also hit, her system is bare, revealing the network running through her body. One of her legs is almost entirely robotic.

Her batteries, which usually recharge with sunlight, are now draining, pierced. Many hours later, she awakes.

Rebooting system. Program SW-alpha_00.00128.bot. Recovering memory. Error detected in the movement processor. Automatic repair impossible. Battery left: 4 hours. Thoughts and emotions algorithm launched.

Sweetie Belle sits down and tries to put her thoughts back together.

"I'm nothing. I thought I was alive. I am not a living being... thing?"

Grammatical conflict detected.

"A robot, a mare."

She feels weak. Very weak.

"I lost everything... My sister... My friends... My life."

"Faulty power supply. System shutdown in progress."

"It's over... No one will come to save me."

"Main processors off."

"Rarity..."

"System shut down."

Where did Sweetie Belle go?

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For Rarity, her sister got out of this alive, and she prays for her to survive in good health, to find someone that can take care of her fragile younger sister.

For her friends, Sweetie Belle has run away, disappeared without a trace. Of course, Celestia has launched a search, but everyone secretly hopes that it will lead to nothing, that Sweetie Belle will be able to live.

And finally, for the rest of Ponyville...

"Someone will have to tell her..." says Twilight sadly.

All six of them, as well as Spike, are in the library, the day after the events, as they returned to Ponyville afterwards. They are discussing the way in which they'll announce the news to Ponyville, and more specifically to Sweetie Belle's two friends.

It was agreed upon to say she was dead, and to not say anything about the fact she was transformed into a robot or that she ran away. In any case, if she comes back, she'll be deactivated...

"I can take care of it..." proposes Applejack. "Ah'll tell her at the same time than Apple Bloom... Maybe it'll go better if they learn about it together."

"I'll come with you, AJ," adds Rainbow Dash. "Scootaloo will need someone to support her."

Twilight closes her eyes, thinking. She squints her eyelids. How did it came to this? As she's thinking, she hears Fluttershy weeping. The poor pegasus is inconsolable. The death of a filly as soft as Sweetie Belle, it's more than she can bear. Next to her, Rarity is inexplicably calm. She doesn't seems very sad, even relieved. She's even trying to comfort Fluttershy. What she went through why a robotic sister is hard to relate, and Twilight knows it escapes her understanding. That's why she doesn't longer over her current expression, but rather her words and actions. If her friend says she's fine and everything leads to believe that, then all she can do is trust in her.

Twilight opens her eyes.

"Good luck Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Stay strong."

"Thank you Twilight," answers the farmer mare.

"Thanks," adds the pegasus.

"Pinkie Pie, I count on you to comfort ponies, " says Twilight, turning to the pink pony, pointing at Rarity and Fluttershy with a quick movement of the eyes, to indicate who she's talking about in particular.

"No problem Twilight!" answers Pinkie, smiling. "I just taught Gummy hilarious new tricks!"

Pinkie lifts her tail, showing the alligator hanging from it by the jaws. Gummy seems as responsive as always and blinks asynchronously.

This seemingly harmless move is noticed by Rarity. It's exactly the same one that Sweetie Belle did the day she died. However, Rarity doesn't cry when thinking about it. Her sister is somewhere, in Equestria, healthy, she's sure of it, so she has no reason to worry anymore. This resemblance with Gummy even put a smile on her face.

Twilight smiles.

"Thank you all. It's a tough ordeal, and I'd like to stay by your sides, but princess Celestia and princess Luna need my help. Since robots where found even among the guards, we can't really ask other guards to kill their old colleagues, even if they are... already dead."

Twilight looks bothered by those last two words. She knows that Celestia is right, and that they have to be deactivated because they are pony aberrations, but she fins it extremely cruel to separate them from their close ones again. Death already affected the ones dear to the robots, and they hoped they would be able to keep on living with them, and she's the one who has to tell them it was only a sweet dream, and that they have to give up on it. The worst part being the fact that the robots, for the most part, don't even recall dying. They act normally, because they think they are normal and will be able to carry on with their lives. How does one tell a pony that his life doesn't exist anymore already? And, on top of that, he's going to have to die again? All the projects those ponies might have, their dreams, it is her, Twilight, who will have to take them away.

She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to bring sadness. But she has to, because no one else will be able to, so she stays strong, even if deep down she only wants one thing: to give up.

"You gonna be alright Twilight?" asks the farmer.

"Yes, yes, don't worry," answers Twilight, not wanting to make her friends worry for her as they already have their own problems.

Applejack looks at Twilight with concern. To be honest, all have their eyes focused on Twilight.

"Spike, I give you the responsibility over the library and Owlowiscious."

"Yes ma'am!" says Spike, his claws against the side of his head, smiling.

Twilight smiles kindly.

"Good luck to you all."

"You too Twilight," answer the others together.

Twilight then goes out of the library, heading for Ponyville's station, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who are going the Apple farm, or more precisely to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' shack.

The others stay inside of the library. Spike might be able to light up everypony's mood, who knows? In any case, Pinkie will probably need some help.

"Sooooo... How do we tell them?" asks Rainbow Dash with a hesitant voice, flying by Applejack's side.

"I have no idea..." she answers with a sigh. "Ah'm afraid of their reaction. They're just fillies and look at what we're gonna tell them..."

"We'll have to stay by their side to support them. We must not leave them alone."

Applejack gives a half-surprised gaze at Rainbow.

"I didn't knew you were so mature."

"What do you think?" says the pegasus as she puffs out her chest. "I know how to adapt to every situation, even the hardest ones!"

Applejack can't refrain from laughing a tad bit. At least, it eases up the atmosphere a little. But she's soon brought back to reality: The Cutie Mark Crusaders' shack is in view.

Inside, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are sat down in front of their table. Apple Bloom has her forelegs on the table, while Scootaloo straight up has her head laying on it, on the side.

"For Rainbow's sake! Where has Sweetie Belle gone yesterday!" suddenly exclaims Scootaloo while straightening up, lifting her hooves in the air.

"Ah don't know..." weakly answers Apple Bloom, her head resting on her hooves. "As soon as we looked away when we decided to get cutie marks in hedge trimming, she vanished..."

"But she's late! Usually, we meet up here everyday at the same hour! It's been an hour!"

"Maybe Rarity needs her..."

Scootaloo scratches her chin with a hoof, thinking. Then suddenly, she takes on a conspirator face and leans forward, whispering:

"Or, maybe she got her cutie mark and she wants to hide it from us."

Apple Bloom rolls her eyes.

"You imagine too much stories Scoot'. Sweetie Belle would have told us... Our goal is to get a cutie mark, not to have it at the same time, even if that would be better."

But the pegasus doesn't let go of it.

"Or then, maybe that..."

But she's suddenly interrupted by Applejack knocking on the door.

"Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? Y'all in here?"

"Com'in, big sis," answers Apple Bloom, suddenly straightening up, looking way more interested by what's going to happen rather than by Scootaloo's far-fetched theories.

Applejack opens the door and comes in, followed by Rainbow Dash, who landed to pass the door.

"How was Canterlot yesterday?" asks Apple Bloom, knowing her sister went to the capital the day before.

Applejack and Rainbow exchange an awkward look. Applejack speaks first, with a voice she intends to be kind:

"Not really... Somethin' bad happened."

"It's about Sweetie Belle," adds Rainbow, trying to be the least brutal possible.

"She did something silly?" asks Scootaloo.

Applejack shakes her head in a "no".

"Something happened to her..." answers Rainbow, searching for a way to announce that, avoiding the fillies's eyes.

Apple Bloom tilts her head on the side, looking worried, imitated by Scootaloo.

"Is she alright?" asks Apple Bloom, looking her sister right in the eyes.

Applejack stares at her as well. It breaks her heart, but she has too. She takes in a deep breath, hoping it will give her a bit of courage, then announces:

"Girls... Sweetie Belle is..."

Dead... That's the first word that comes to her mind.

"I'm dead," she says to herself non-stop.

But then, why is she thinking? Death, isn't it the end of everything? How can she still think while being dead? And what is that weird sensation? It's not death, but neither is it life. It feels like an in-between. As if she's conscious of being alive while being dead. A strange feeling.

The strangest still is that light she can see. First blurred, then clearer. She's laying down. She doesn't know on what. She can't feel the surface she's resting on. To be honest, she doesn't have any external sensation.

Above her, tools. A lot of tools. She wants to look what's around, but she can't even move her eyes. It's as if her body isn't hers, as if she's now a simple spectator of what's happening to her. Her stare is locked on a big wrench above her head.

"I'm alive?" she thinks. "But why can't I move?"

Her memory comes back.

"The fall. I got hurt! Am I paralysed?"

With everything that happened recently, the poor Sweetie Belle doesn't recall that she's a robot. It's too recent for her to be used to it. So she still thinks like a filly who believes herself to be a filly.

And before that fragment of memory can come back, Sweetie is disturbed in her reflection by the sudden appearance in her field of view of a pony. Brown, with a red mane, wearing a hat like Applejack's. A unicorn.

"I'm sorry, little one," he says, looking at Sweetie Belle's unmoving eyes. "Tell yourself it's just a dream. It won't hurt."

The pony's horn glows brown and a blade comes out, as Sweetie Belle sees herself getting rolled on the side, back turned away from the pony.

"What is he gonna do to me!? Why did he pull out a blade!?"

Fear arises in the filly. Something horrible is going to happen, she can feel it. But she's unable to move, to run away. Her gaze is stuck on the wall in front of her muzzle.

She hears a tearing sound, something getting opened. A noise comes out from behind her, really close. Some kind of electric crackle.

"What is he doing!?" panics Sweetie Belle. "Why did he said it would not hurt!? What was he talking about!?"

The crackle intensifies. It reminds Sweetie Belle of something.

"It sounds like a... robot."

If they could, her eyes would open wide. She remembers everything. What happened with Puppet Owner, her fall, the fact that she is a robot.

"D-Did he cut me!? He opened me!?"

She tries to move, but it's no use. Her body doesn't exist anymore. She can't feel it.

"Done, it's over, little one."

Sweetie Belle then suddenly opens her eyes and straightens abruptly, panting, terrified. She is in another room, on a bed. She can perfectly feel her body and move it normally, but it's not what's on her mind right now.

What was that? A dream? A horrible nightmare? Everything seemed so real.

She tries to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.

"You're alright, little one?"

Sweetie Belle jumps and turns her head. The unicorn is here, sat down in front of the only window of the room, looking at the grey sky outside with a calm face, lost in his thoughts.

Sweetie looks at him. He doesn't seem aggressive. She tries to put some coherence back in her own mind.

"It wasn't a dream, in case you were wondering."

"What did you do to me?" asks Sweetie Belle, moving back in her bed, still frightened.

"You're a robot, well a robot-pony hybrid. You know that already, don't you?" he says, turning his head towards her.

His eyes aren't evil. They're compassionate.

Sweetie Belle thinks back to her memories.

"So... It's true?" she asks with tears in her eyes.

She was hoping it was just a dream, that her sister didn't really admitted she was a robot, that she was still Sweetie Belle, the little unicorn living in Ponyville.

"Unfortunately. You died and were resurrected, better get use to it right now because you'll stay like that until the end of your life."

Despite the fact he understands Sweetie Belle's situation, this pony doesn't do anything to make it easier for her.

"If you don't accept that now, I'll deactivate you, because your future will only be made of moments like this."

Sweetie Belle looks at the pony, mouth slightly opened, a desperate look in the eyes, ready to cry. But the last sentence sounded like a threat, and she refrains from crying with great trouble.

"You can cry. If you cry, it means you accept it. What I don't want is for you to not admit it."

Sweetie bursts into tears. She cries, again and again. She really lost everything. Her life is just a mere imitation of what it once was, her friends want to catch and arrest her. Her sister told her to run away and live... far from her. She takes her head in her hooves and sobs for many minutes, during which the pony doesn't move from his place in front of the window. Then, he speaks again:

"You died, little one... Not once, but twice. Your fall from the edge cut your batteries and you died a second time. I had to change them, then once your program was rebooted, I brought back your life once again. That's why you saw the beginning of the surgery. It was simply your program recording everything happening at that moment. You weren't even conscious, it's only a memory of something you didn't live yourself."

The pony turns his head towards Sweetie Belle, who managed to dry her tears up a bit, even if they're still flowing.

"Why am I telling you this? Because you need to realises some things. I only brought you back to life because you were already a robot. I won't do it for your relatives. Regarding your batteries, I only had an old unadapted model, so you'll have to recharge them often. They run on solar energy and, in extreme cases, on magic.

Sweetie Belle calms down slowly. She's starting to take the shock, even if it's not definitive. She will cry about those things in the future, no doubts, but for now she manages to calm down. She's even able to pronounce those words:

"W-Who are you...?"

The pony smiles, glad to see Sweetie Belle pass this first step.

"Puppet Care. You already know my brother, Puppet Owner. He's the one who brought back to life the first time. Don't worry, I don't really share his views, nor his desire to steal alicorn magic, or even to bring back the dead. What's your name, little one?"

"Sweetie... Sweetie Belle," she sniffs.

She sits down in the bed, trying to get into a position so as to not stand on her shaky legs.

"A not-so-easy life awaits you, Sweetie Belle. You'll have to fight against this world that despise us, by fear."

The filly looks at the unicorn facing the window. She then notices his left front leg is missing a piece of skin, revealing a mechanical leg under it. That's why he said "us".

"Y-You're a robot too?" asks Sweetie Belle.

"Hm?" says Puppet, looking at Sweetie, before realising that she's glancing at his leg. "Oh, no, not really. Let's say it's more like a robotic limb. I didn't die. By the way, the piece of skin missing is on you now. I had nothing else to close the opening on the back of your neck. It doesn't show up, as long as you don't lift your mane."

Sweetie instinctively reaches for her neck. Indeed, she can feel that something is different from the rest. A texture less silky than her own coat, of course. She has a piece of someone else on her.

"Emotional overload," she suddenly says with a robotic voice.

Sweetie Belle covers her mouth with her own hooves, shocked by what she said against her will, before remembering what one of these hooves just touched. She pulls it away from her mouth with a bit of disgust.

"Here's one of the many problems you'll face. I don't know why, but the oral description of the system has been activated. So, sometimes, your emotional or physical states will be described. I tried to turn it off, but you're in a far too perfected form of my brother's system, and I can't go in too deep without running the risk of damaging something vital. I managed to lower the sensitivity, but there will be moments when the filters will trip."

Sweetie Belle removes her hoof from her mouth. Her breathing starts to quicken. She begins to panic again. Tears come to her eyes once more.

"Cry, little one, as much as you want. And when you'll want to stop crying and move on, tell me."

Apple Bloom is looking at her sister with her head tilted on the side, eyes squinted and mouth slightly open, as if she thinks she misheard. Scootaloo's eyes are wide open, as well as her mouth.

"Can you repeat what you just said, big sis...?" Apple Bloom asks slowly.

Applejack walks to her sister, takes her in hers hooves and holds her against her torso.

"Sweetie Belle is dead..." repeats the farmer with a broken voice and tears in her eyes.

Apple Bloom widens her eyes as tears get to them on their own.

"But... How...?" she desperately asks before beginning to cry in her sister's legs.

"An accident... A terrible accident," explains her sister, holding back her tears the best she can.

Scootaloo is completely frozen. Tears are flowing from her eyes since Applejack repeated. Rainbow Dash gets closer, begins a gesture, hesitant, not knowing how to react, then finally wraps a hoof around Scootaloo and hugs her against her. The filly then embraces the pegasus with all her strength, while sobbing against her.

Outside, rains starts to pour, drops splashing on the window.

"Careful, little one, you might have troubles walking."

"I-It's fine. I think..."

Sweetie Belle slowly slides towards the edge of the bed, puts a leg on the floor, then another, and finally the two front ones. Slightly shaking, she tries to walk forward a bit. One hoof in front of the other. But something is already wrong.

"I-I feel like my left foreleg doesn't move right away when I ask it to."

Puppet walks to her, magically grabbing a strange and pointy tool.

"We're going to try something. Ask your body to deactivate the nerves in your leg."

"What?" says Sweetie, not understanding.

"Do it. Just like when my brother gave orders to your programme."

The filly hesitates for a moment, then, when seeing Puppet's small encouraging smile, ends up saying:

"Deactivation of the left foreleg's nerves."

Immediately, Sweetie Belle loses all sensation in the said leg, including her stability, as she falls on the floor. She gets back up with her other legs and contemplates, with surprise and shock, her inert leg. She sits down and palpates her leg with a hoof. Nothing, no sensation. She lifts it. Absolutely flabby, her legs doesn't seem to be a part of her body anymore.

She turns her gaze to the unicorn, who's displaying a little smile.

"As I thought, your programme is made to obey your own voice. It's a good thing. I won't have to anaesthetize you to proceed to all the adjustments."

Puppet takes Sweetie Belle's inert leg and pierces the skin with his pointy tool, touching something.

The little unicorn watches the scene unfold, eyes wide opened with astonishment, seeing her own body getting pierced and modified, without even an ounce of pain or any unpleasant sensation.

"There. That should do it," says Puppet, putting away the weird tool from the leg, leaving a barely visible hole. "You can reactivate it."

Sweetie looks at her leg for a few instants, before saying with a voice showing she still doesn't believe it:

"Reactivation of the left foreleg's nerves."

And instantly, she finds back usage of her leg. She can move it and, this time, there's no delay between her will and her movements. She walks normally.

"I'll teach you how to modify yourself alone, if you want. But once correctly calibrated, your system shouldn't change."

Sweetie Belle takes a few laps around the house, practising her walking. When focusing, it appears she can distinguish a slight mechanical noise when she walks. Something light. Maybe it's just her imagination, in fact.

"And for the commands, you can do shorter. Just say the name of the limb or the part you want to deactivate, followed by the word deactivation."

Sweetie Belle examines her body, a little curious, then turns her head towards Puppet and asks:

"And now...? What am I going to do? Can I go back home?"

Puppet nods "no".

"You're an outcast now, like me. You'll have to keep your secret and stay away from those who know it. Your sister's friends have been informed, you won't be able to live in Ponyville. The princesses are hunting the robots."

Sweetie Belle remembers the words of her sister. To run, to live her own life, to find someone to care for her. Her sister. The sister she'll never see again. That she won't be able to see. Like her friends.

As she's about to cry again, something falls on her head. A piece of fabric. She pulls it away and looks at Puppet, who's putting one on as well.

"If you want to go out, put this on. I'm going to show you something that'll interest you, I think. Even though you won't probably like it."

Sweetie Belle looks at the piece of fabric. Something old and dirty. Typically the kind of things her sister would have refuse to let her wear. She has a sad smile when thinking that, and put on the piece of fabric. A tall cape, with a hood. That's how she'll have to live from now on. Hidden.

Puppet opens the door, letting in the fresh and moist air from outside. Under a heavy rain. He goes out, and Sweetie Belle follows. Maybe the hood is just for the rain, in the end?

"Where are we going?" asks the filly.

"To a place you know well," mysteriously says Puppet as they walk under the rain.

Two figures moving without a noise under the obscurity of the clouds, like ghosts.

All Ponyville is gathered in front of a small hole. Rarity and her relatives in first line, as well as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, respectively in Rainbow Dash's and Applejack's embrace. Many umbrella can be seen in the crowd, but those in the first row stay naked under that almost appropriate rain. Faces are dark, sorrowful.

The mayor is doing a speech.

"... And in this day, we all mourn the oh too soon passing of this brave filly that was Sweetie Belle. And our thoughts go to her family and friends."

A sob can be heard distinctively in the first row. Sweetie Belle's mother has been crying for a while now, she can't even look at the scene. Her husband tries as he can to comfort her, despite him crying as well. Rarity is by their sides and sheds a few tears as well. Even if she knows her sister is alive, she won't see her ever again. And seeing her parents in such turmoil doesn't leave her indifferent, of course.

Apple Bloom sobs, snuggled against her sister who's holding her, eyes closed, head low.

The crowd leaves room for Twilight, as she's levitating by magic a small box which supposedly contain Sweetie Belle's body.

It's empty, of course. It's to fool and make the fact that Sweetie Belle's dead more believable. Twilight feels pretty bad to have to carry, quite literally, such a lie. Being forced to lie to her parents. And what if they encounter Sweetie Belle one day? After all, she ran away. And it's the same for anyone. Amongst all the resurrected ponies, she's the only one they couldn't find.

She carefully leaves the small hollow box in the bottom of the hole, and let the gravediggers ponies fill the hole cleanly. A stone lies in front of the small clod, naming a filly which isn't beneath it, counting the brief years of her life.

Everypony mourns in silence or in sobs. The only noise that can really be distinguished is the one the rain makes by splashing on the ground.

A bit away from the crowd, in the shadows, two figures are observing the scene. One of them is completely shocked, opening her mouth slightly. The other one sighs.

"Here's what I wanted to show you. So that you clearly understand that you must not come back here. You can't."

"But... I'm not dead though... They didn't saw me dead, no?"

"No. I'm the only one that saw your body fall from the cliff. Look closely. Your sister's friends aren't crying. They know you're still alive."

"Then... Why are my parents crying?" asks the filly, with a broken voice, on the verge of tears when seeing her parents like this.

"They probably lied, said you were dead. In the eyes of the world, you are dead. And if someone else finds you, you will be for real."

Sweetie Belle stays here, gazing at her own grave from afar for a moment.

"Emotional conflict," says the robot's voice, but she doesn't care about it.

After a time of remembrance, ponies start to leave. Some stay, to talk with the "deceased" relatives, offer their condolences, that kind of things.

Rarity's friends leave gradually, Applejack getting her still troubled sister back to their home, Rainbow doing the same with Scootaloo.

After a long moment, during which Sweetie Belle didn't moved a hoof, only her family is left in front of her grave. Puppet had expected her to move, to try and go see them, but she stays here and calmly waits. As if she had understood that she's now some kind of ghost. And if one was to forget the sentence pronounced by her system, she seems to admit it pretty well.

"In the end... She got nerves, that little one..." Puppets says to himself with relief, as he had been afraid to stumble on a spoiled child.

Finally, Sweetie Belle's parent go away as well, the mother being supported by the father. Only Rarity stays in front of the grave, alone, standing still, eyes fixed on it, as the rains is starting to fade.

She dries the tears she shed with her parents and begins to have a tender smile. Thinking back about her sister, wishing her the best for her new life. She knows well that talking to this grave makes no sense, since her sister isn't dead. But weirdly, it's as if Rarity was sure that her sister could hear her. So she speaks, not even caring about her wet and unkept mane.

"I realised many times that you were really dear to me, Sweetie Belle. Despite all our arguments, all disagreements... We are sisters. You are my sister, and probably the thing in the world I cherish the most. I just hope you don't blame me... I couldn't explain it to you, but your death is my fault. I don't know if you recall, when we argued for the last time and you went towards the Everfree... You died that day... And if I hadn't yelled at you for that silly costume... None of this would have ever happened."

Her sister marks a pause, drying real tears this time. She still smiles, and her sister, further away, is hanged on her every words.

"I'm sure you're doing well... That you followed my advices. Don't come back here. People will mean you harm. Go, and live a beautiful life. Goodbye... Sweetie Belle."

With a heartache, Rarity turns around to go away and sees in the distance two silhouettes. She stops, surprised. The two figures seems to be looking in her direction. One of them, the smallest, probably a filly, walks forward. The fabric covering her, which is of very bad quality, let the mare's legs appear with each step she takes. Legs that she knows.

The other figure walks forward too. The filly stops by Rarity's side, without looking at her. She's staring at the grave.

"Thank you, big sister... For everything you've said, and done for me."

Rarity's heart skips a beat when hearing that voice she would recognize among a thousand. She turns her eyes to the small hood hiding her sister.

"I think this is the last time we see each other."

Sweetie Belle removes her hood and turns to Rarity, looking at her with her big watery eyes. A look similar to Rarity's. They fall in each others hooves, hugging with all their strength.

"Take care of yourself Sweetie Belle!" says a Rarity filled with emotion.

"You too Rarity! And of everyone, dad, mom, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo..."

"I will, don't worry!"

Puppet stays away from this reunion, watching the surroundings, so that no one surprises them.

"You found someone trustworthy to take care of you?"

Sweetie Belle nods.

"As you asked me to, Rarity."

"Good," Rarity smiles kindly. "I'm going to miss you..."

"Me too..." says Sweetie, sniffing.

Rarity looks up and sees Twilight, observing her from afar. She looks at her, sorry, and Rarity understands. She gently puts the hood back onto Sweetie Belle's head, releasing her embrace.

"You need to go now."

The filly let go of Rarity, takes a few steps back as to better see her in her entirety, one last time. Engraving this ultimate picture of her sister in her now robotic mind.

"Picture saved," says the robot.

The two sisters look at each other a brief moment, then Sweetie Belle looks away.

"Farewell..." she says while heading towards Puppet, who also spotted Twilight.

"Goodbye," smiles Rarity.

The two figures slowly go away, without looking back. And Rarity stares at them, still smiling, until they disappear from her view.

Once the last little bit of her sister isn't visible anymore, she raises a leg on her torso to rub it slightly. A shivers goes through her. From the cold and the rain, probably, but also from something else. This feeling, which is more than an impression. A feeling of having lost something very important, and mostly, of being now alone.

"She's officially dead..." says Twilight, walking to Rarity. The latter doesn't look away from the horizon behind which she saw her sister disappear. The purple unicorn comes by her side, turning in the same direction. "If she lives with enough caution and far from Ponyville, all will go well for her. The only guards that knew her face were robots. So they were deactivated. There's only Ponyville's citizen and the princesses who know how she looks. And her family."

"She'll get through it. She's full of life, excitable. And most of all, determined. When she wants something, she never gives up. That's why she'll get through it."

Rarity turns her head and looks at her straight in the eyes, with a confident stare. Her friend smiles and closes her eyes before adding:

"You're right. She won't have any problem."

"Try to memorise what you can from the path, little one. Your memory is more precise now, make use of it."

Sweetie slowly nods.

"Attention focused," says the robot.

"I feel like I'm talking like this more often..." notes Sweetie Belle.

"There must be an error in the tuning I've done. By the way, this is going to be the first thing I'll teach you: fine-tune yourself."

"You mean... Like you did with my leg?"

"Precisely. You're body is malfunctioning, so you'll have to learn about dealing with that first and foremost."

"Deal with that..." repeats Sweetie Belle, a little scared.

The prospect of being able to modify her own body by herself is a little weird. To pierce her skin to then modify "mechanical stuff and things" as she qualifies them, in lack of a better term, inside of her. She looks at her own leg as she walks, the one that Puppet modified right under her eyes. So she too would do such things? When thinking about her body, a question then comes to her mind as she's still fixated on her leg:

"Will I grow up?"

Puppet has a little smile under his hood.

"The parts of your body that aren't robotic, yes. The others no, you'll have to adapt them yourself on the regular. But from what I know about my brother's models, the legs can be deployed, so you shouldn't have to change them.

"Your brother... Why was he doing this?"

Puppet's smile fades. He sighs.

"It's... an old story. He wanted to resurrect our little sister, Puppet Doll. She died when she was six, she was the youngest of us. My brother always found it unfair that she died so early. He thought that each life should have the same length, for everyone. So he looked for a way to change things. He already had a gift for mechanism and such, he could make little dolls move from a distance, that's where he got his cutie mark by the way. So he pursued that path."

Sweetie Belle abruptly stops. Puppet does the same and turns to her.

"What's wrong little one?"

"A cutie mark..."

Instinctively, those words make her think about her friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders. They wanted to obtain their cutie marks, it was their goal. Their group of three friends. Never would she see them again, never would they discover their cutie marks together. In the end, it was all for nothing. Everything they did together is only now increasing the pain her friends are feeling.

"My friends..."

Her breath gets heavier. She starts to panic again. Puppet comes closer, sits down and takes her by the shoulders, looking at her straight in her eyes darkened by the hood.

"The worst is over now. Calm down. Yes, you won't be able to see your friends. Yes, they are sad right now because they think you are dead, and it's a good thing you feel bad for them, it shows that you truly are their friend. But that's no reason to think that your friendship is over."

Sweetie looks up to him, about to have a break down once more.

"A friendship stays forever. Is it because you won't see them again that you're going to stop loving them? To see them as important ponies for you?"

Sweetie hardly swallows her saliva to answer clearly:

"No..."

"Exactly! They are still your friends, and everything great that you lived them will stay forever engraved in here," he says will tapping her forehead. "And that goes for them as well. They won't forget you anytime soon, and you'll still be their friend."

Sweetie calms down a bit, breathing in a couple of times to gain back some composure, sniffing heavily, rubbing her eyes. With a lumpy throat, she asks:

"Will I be able to have a cutie mark?"

Puppet laughs a bit.

"But of course you'll get a cutie mark, like everypony!"

The filly laughs as well. A laugh muffled by her emotion, but a laugh nonetheless. Puppet smiles when seeing that progress. She managed to laugh. For a brief moment, the pony with a robotic leg sees in Sweetie his own deceased sister, but he quickly erases that memory from his mind. It's another filly he has in front of him. And now, he'll have to take care of her.

Do you remember me ?

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The needle handled by magic slowly sews back the mare's flank, while she's sitting. The gesture is precise, calculated, because of how much it had been repeated over the years. Too much to the mare's liking. This material is definitely not as efficient as it once was, with the years gone by... It should be said that she didn't particularly take care of it. At least, she thought she would always be able to repair it. But with repairs over repairs, the system ends up wearing out, ineluctably.

The skin is resewed, leaving in its place the white flank and the cutie mark which adorns it: a pin crossed with a wrench.

Fifteen years since she had it, when she perfectly repaired herself on her own, thanks to her magic, while her legs broke after a bad fall. It had been a day of celebration and to this day, that memory always got a little nostalgic smile out of her.

"Rear end, activation," then enunciates the mare with a neutral tone, showing a certain tiredness.

She stands with all her height. In twenty years, she grew quite a lot. A beautiful twenty nine years old mare, with a long both pink and purple mane. She kept her style with curled hair, as well as her old habits, like brushing them and taking care of her coat, for example.

Slightly taller than an average mare, her eyes widened to better make their magnificent green stand out. Her voice managed to stay soft, only changing a little bit just to add more clarity to it when she sings.

She likes to sing. She always knew it, but she really realised it shortly after losing everything. Singing had been the only thing left for her. She had incidentally thought it would be her cutie mark, something linked with it. But things didn't turn out like this.

The mare walks in the house, this old shabby house, which isn't getting any better with the years. Even if she helped repair it a little, and sometimes clumsily destroyed it, like that time where she plugged an air compressor on a water recycling unit, causing a bunch of damages.

She passes a hoof on the bed in which she spent her nights for twenty years. Seven thousand three hundred and five nights, precisely. Tch. This processor is only good for useless calculations, it seems!

She glances outside by the room window. The only window. One can see a little stone laying in front of a slightly domed part of the ground. Hm, maybe it wasn't a good idea to bury him right in front of the window. Every time she looks outside, she thinks about him. Her protector. The one who took care of her for nineteen long years, who taught her how to repair herself, manage her own body, so many things without which she would be wreck by now.

"Powering system malfunction," then enunciates an old robotic voice.

The mare rolls her eyes and pushes a groan as a sign of gloominess.

"I know! You don't have to say it all the time!"

A month since she's been having this malfunction, and the voice reminds her of it every day. She knows how to deactivate the system, but it can show itself to be pretty useful in detecting a problem evading the mare's own senses. So she leaves it on, even if it means hearing this constant daily reminder.

Concerning the problem itself, she can't do anything. It is linked to her very own power supply. If it was linked to her batteries, she could simply plug one in bypass for the duration of the operation. But here, it's simply the system distributing the energy in her body which has a problem. It is weaker, making the mare's movements a little slower, calmer. She can't really do much physical effort anymore. Old before her time, in some way.

She sits down on the bed. The same bed where she woke up twenty years ago.

She needs to do something. Her system won't hold for very long if things keep going this way. But what? The only one that could have helped her has been gone for nearly a year. She's alone now, and she's tired of it. If living nineteen years only seeing the same pony can be exhausting, spending a single year without seeing anypony is unbearable.

Seeing people... Maybe that's what she should do? After all... She doesn't have any news from the outside. Maybe go on a trip? And even... revisit some old acquaintances?

A flame lights up in the mare's mind. A desire. She wants to go home. She, who had yet come to terms with the idea of never seeing anyone again a long time ago, here she is suddenly wishing to see everypony again. Her friends, what did they become? Did Scootaloo and Applebloom get their cutie marks? What did Rarity become? Her heart is racing at this idea alone. Old memories come back to her. Ponyville, the town square, Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres, Carrousel Boutique...

It's settled, she's going to Ponyville! Who cares about the consequences!

She prepares herself. As usual, for each of her rare trips outside, her old piece of fabric to cover her body. No need to pack something, Ponyville isn't that far away. And if she ever has a breakdown, she has everything she needs for repairs on her.

She gets out of the old house, in the middle of nowhere, behind a huge rock preventing it from being seen from afar. She passes by Puppet Care's grave, still giving it a last glance, then crosses the rudimentary fence that marks out the garden, and gets going, in a way that wants to be energetic, but ultimately limited by her faulty battery. The weather is nice, clear, without too many clouds, so she removes her piece of clothing to enjoy the sun. Her batteries run on solar power, might as well recharge them. No one uses this route anyway, she'll put back her hood once near Ponyville, which is still a bit of a walk away.

Taking in a deep breath of fresh outside air, the mare wonders who she's going to see. A surge of nostalgia gets to her and she starts to sing some old nursery rhymes she used to be taught in Ponyville. Ah, that town atmosphere.

She's disobeying what Puppet told her, but who's going to stop her? And why would she deprive herself of that, with her current state?

On her way, she inadvertently hits a rock that makes her trip, sprawling full length on the ground.

"Aouch!" she says when hitting the floor.

"Fragility in the left foreleg," enounces the robotic voice, getting a new exasperated groan out of the mare.

The latter stands up with difficulty and, slightly dusting herself from the earth on her fabric, is about to go back to her walk, but is suddenly called out:

"Hey, need some help?"

The mare's horn activates instinctively to put her hood back in place, before turning to the voice who just talked.

A young pegasus, twenty years old at most, beige with a dark mane, pulling on a heavily charged cart, is looking at her, his head tilted on the side, visibly worried.

"You're okay?" he asks.

"Yes yes," reassures the unicorn. "Just a bit of pain in the leg, but it's nothing."

As she speaks, she shows her leg scraped by the fall.

"Where are you going?" continues the pegasus.

"Ponyville."

"Well, get on then, that's where I'm going too, I'll bring you there," invites the pegasus, nodding towards his cart, smiling.

The mare smiles in return and accept. Climbing in the back, she sits down, back facing the front, letting her legs dangling over the ground.

The brave pegasus strains on his harness and gets the carriage moving again, walking with a tranquil step.

"What are you going to Ponyville for?" he asks to start the conversation.

"To see old acquaintances. You?"

The hooded unicorn looks at the cargo to learn about the delivery of her driver. Huge sacs of flour, crates containing, judging by the smell, chocolate and food colouring.

"You're doing a delivery to Sugarcube Corner, aren't you?" immediately follows the mare without leaving time for the pegasus to answer.

The latter smiles.

"Dead on. I'm helping my parents with their business."

"Your parents? The Cakes?"

"You know Ponyville and it shows," laughs the pegasus. "Yes, I'm their son. Pound Cake."

The mare smiles a little. This name isn't unknown to her, even if, when she was still at Ponyville, Pound Cake was only a baby.

"And your sister?"

"She's busy delivering orders," answers Pound, without even realising he never said he had a sister.

The rest of the journey unfolds in quietness on the road, the two ponies chatting a bit about Ponyville. However, the mare doesn't ask any questions about her own family or closest friends, as she wants to keep a bit of a surprise element once there.

"And here we are," announces son Cake, stopping his transport in front of Sugarcube Corner.

The store releases a sweet smell of bakery and sugar floating in the air, which fills the young mare's muzzle. It didn't change at all, despite the years.

"Thanks," says the unicorn getting off the cart. "It was very kind of you."

"It's only natural," smiles the pegasus. "By the way, I didn't ask: What's your name?"

The mare smiles once more under her hood.

"Sweetie Belle," she answers, before nodding a goodbye to the pony and going away, leaving the latter plunged into his thoughts. This name reminds him of something, it was mentioned when he was a child, but did anyone ever tell it to him directly?

"First, Carousel Boutique," thinks Sweetie Belle, walking, with her still slow steps, towards the house of her sister. Her old house. Where she spent a part of her childhood.

Ponyville. She glances all around her. The town didn't change that much, but now that she hasn't seen it for twenty years, she realises how much this place is an example of peacefulness, of calm and serenity. Ponies are smiling, warming. She feels alive once again. Here, the florist takes care of his bouquets, there, pegasi are clearing the sky. New young faces are trotting down the streets, some old classmates she seems to recognise. She adjusts her hood. They must not see her.

Finally. She sees it. Carrousel Boutique. Her sister's store seems a bit different. The colour is the same, the shape as well, but it looks less well maintained. Abandoned, even. A single glance allows Sweetie Belle to detect it, knowing how much her sister is a model of conduct and cleanliness.

Tilting her head a bit, intrigued, the unicorn hidden under her piece of fabric goes to the door and knocks on it. Nothing. She goes around the house and looks by the windows. Everything is off, there's dust on the furniture and a spider even comes to weave her web behind the pane Sweetie Belle is looking through, as if to confirm the total lack of care this place underwent.

Something is wrong. She turns back and calls out to a pony passing by. A red colt. This good old Big Macintosh.

"Excuse me," politely asks the mare. "Where did the unicorn that worked here as a dressmaker go? Did she leave?"

"Eyup. She's been livin' in Manehattan for a few years now."

Sweetie Belle looks disappointed, but that's covered by her hood. She thanks the farmer, who goes back to his business.

So Rarity doesn't live in Ponyville anymore. That was the risk, after all. It's a real shame, she would have very much liked to see her again.

"Oh well..." she internally sighs, turning around to leave.

In the end, there are still other old acquaintances to see, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo for example.

"Oh my Celestia, this place is in such a lamentable state," suddenly says a voice.

Sweetie stops in her tracks as she was already a few metres away from the boutique. This voice...

"No one has been maintaining it since you left," answers another voice, more smiling, that the unicorn knows as well.

Sweetie Belle turns her head towards the two voices. Two mares are turning their back to her, facing the store. One white and one purple.

"Mh..." thinks the white one, rubbing her chin. "Maybe I'm gonna use my passage in Ponyville as an occasion to do a bit of spring cleaning."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Rarity," answers Twilight. "You don't have much time for your visit if I'm not mistaken. You don't come often, it would be better to spend time with everypony, don't you think?"

"Yes, you must be right," admits Rarity, even if she would like to give back this place a bit of its old glory, just to see it one more time in all its splendour. "And anyway, who would use it?"

Rarity watches Twilight with a nostalgic smile, the latter returning one to her before adding:

"Let's go to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie prepared something for you."

"Even though it was a surprise visit," laughs Rarity. "She never changes."

The two mares then turn around to go to the place they previously mentioned, only to find themselves faced with a hooded figure, staring at them, a few steps away. Sweetie Belle is watching them under the shadow masking her face, while the two others raise an eyebrow.

They got old, indubitably. Twilight's mane is longer, her strands are more pronounced, more distinguished. Rarity changed haircut, everything is lifted by a tie giving more volume to the whole thing. Some wrinkles can be seen, even if Rarity seems like she's doing her best to hide them. Sweetie Belle can't help but look her sister in the eyes, and the latter feels her gaze.

Rarity briefly glances at Twilight, whispering:

"Do I have something on my muzzle?"

Twilight doesn't pay attention to it and tries to engage the conversation:

"Hello! I've never seen you in Ponyville before, did you just arrive?"

Instinctively, Sweetie Belle takes a step back. She didn't forget the risk she's taking by coming here again. Maybe it's not a good idea to see her after all. Especially with Twilight.

In the end, the fear and the sudden nature of this instant takes over the mare's fragile determination. Her horn glows and in the next moment, she disappears in a magical blue fash.

Rarity and Twilight look at each other, astonished by this weird stranger.

"Did we scare her, you think?" asks the purple unicorn.

"I don't know..." distractedly answers Rarity, plunged in her own thoughts. This silhouette reminds her of someone... But who?

Sweetie Belle is panting and holding her torso, leaning against a tree. That teleportation spell pulled on her already fragile powering circuit, and her other vital functions took a hit.

She didn't really pay attention to where she was going. The mare lifts her eyes once she has her mind back together, looking at her surroundings. A little wood. A small smile immediately draws itself on her face, she knows what's around here.

This place didn't change much either. Maybe it still exists? The mare hurries, despite her limited functions. She wants to know. To see if that thing resisted the passage of time.

Passing under the trees, whose branches have quite grown since then – or maybe it's just the fact that she's taller – Sweetie Belle finally arrives in sight of that old wood construction.

She slows down her pace, as she wants to enjoy the view of the shed slowly growing in her field of view. The edifice suffered, it's dilapidated. Sweet mercy, did it age. Some planks are lamentably hanging, steps are missing on the stairs, the window is broken, moss grew on the railing, planks darkened. Yet the mare can't help but smile. So much nostalgia is surging in her. Those moments with her friends.

"Emotional memories," says the robot.

Sweetie Belle doesn't pay any attention to it and gently covers her mouth with a hoof, sniffing her emotions and letting a tear appear at the edge of her eye. She's stirred to be able to come here one last time.

"Well Scootaloo, feeling nostalgic?" starts a joyful voice with a typical farmer accent right behind Sweetie Belle, making her jump.

A mare with a yellow coat and a long mane red like an apple is standing behind her. Sweetie Belle's hood caused her confusion, and the mare realises her mistake when seeing the white legs protruding under the cape.

"Oh, 'Am sorry, I thought you were my friend Scootaloo. It's her thing to always find weird costumes."

Sweetie Belle smiles. Even if she's back turned away from the mare, even if the voice matured, even if her accent only got more pronounced, she recognises her friend.

"It's okay, Apple Bloom," calmly says Sweetie Belle.

The farmer frowns a bit.

"Your voice sounds familiar. Do we know each other?"

The unicorn doesn't answer. Instead, she warms her voice a bit and hums:

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, on a quest to find out who we are..."

Apple Bloom frowns even more. That voice, that way of singing, it can't be...

The unicorn triggers her magic and removes her hood, revealing the back of her head to the farmer behind, leaving her speechless.

Sweetie Belle turns her head toward her friends, smiling and eyes moistened by joy. Apple Bloom widens her eyes and opens her mouth, stammering:

"T-That's impossible..."

The unicorn watches her friend in detail. She grew up well. Is she as tall as Big Mcintosh? Her musculature also developed. She no-doubts works with her sister on the farm now. And a magnificent cutie mark in the shape of an apple tree now ornates her flank.

"S-Sweetie Belle? Is that you?"

"I'm happy you still recognise me despite the years," says Sweetie Belle, partly relieved.

"But you're dead!" screams Apple Bloom, incredulous and afraid by this vision of the past, like a ghost coming back to haunt her.

"Not exactly," nuances the unicorn, before correcting herself with a small laugh, "Well, yes. Technically I died, twice."

For an unknown reason, Sweetie Belle wants to laugh, to be joyful, to joke around. A side effect caused by the vision of her friend? The fact that she can talk to her again? She doesn't have the slightest idea, and she doesn't bother with it. Just... forget, in fact. Here's what she wants. Acts as if nothing had happened. As if those twenty years far from everything had only been a bad joke.

But Apple Bloom's terror is still present in her eyes. She moves back, still unable to bear the presence of her friend. She took so much time to accept the death of Sweetie Belle, here she is suddenly reappearing right under her nose.

"You can't be here!" maintains the farmer.

"Yet I am here, Apple Bloom. It's me, Sweetie Belle. Your friend."

The red manned mare moves back again with those words, while the unicorn sits.

"You grew up..." admires Sweetie Belle, a bit dreamy. "How's Scootaloo?"

Apple Bloom is completely stunned, staring at her friend. Finally, a word manages to come out of her stuttering mouth:

"H-How?"

"It's a long story," answers the unicorn, closing her eyes slowly. "But before that, tell me, what did they say about my death? What did they invent to hide the truth?"

The farming mare hesitates, shaking, a good distance away from the unicorn. She wants to understand and, more than anything, she wants to believe that it's truly Sweetie Belle standing in front of her.

"W-We were told that ya follow' Rarity to Canterlot without her permission, and ya fell from the edge..."

"It's in part what happened," notes Sweetie Belle. "But it's more complicated than that."

"Powering system malfunction," suddenly says an old voice, getting Sweetie Belle to roll her eyes, followed by a tired sigh.

Apple Bloom gets even more intrigued by this voice, and all the more scared. But Sweetie Belle reassures her:

"It's normal, don't worry. I'll explain everything."

"Hey Apple Bloom!" suddenly says a voice coming from the air. "Who are you..."

Sweetie Belle just turned her head toward the voice. An orange pegasus with a long purple mane decked out in a weird red headband, is descending right towards them and just froze mid sentence when recognising the unicorn.

"Watch out Scoot...!" starts the farmer, but the pegasus crashes down on the ground in a roly-poly ending against a tree, stunning her in the process.

"...taloo..." finishes Apple Bloom, sighing.

The still dazed pegasus rubs her head to try and ease the pain, forgetting for an instant the reason of her crash;

"Are you alright, Scootaloo?" asks Sweetie Belle with a smile, happy to see the pegasus.

The latter immediately spins around to look at the unicorn with big eyes, before rapidly turning her gaze towards the farmer.

"A-Apple Bloom," she flat out stammers, "I-It's Swee-Sweetie Belle!"

"Yeah, thanks Scoot', Ah had noticed."

The pegasus opens wide when going back to Sweetie Belle, who keeps her smile, amused and happy.

"Everything is alright Scootaloo?" kindly asks the unicorn. "You have a little scratch on the forehead."

"Who cares about my scratch!" exclaims Scootaloo, still not believing what she's seeing. "What are you doing here!? How can you be here!?"

"That's what I was about to explain to Apple Bloom before you came."

"Then go on, explain to us," invites Apple Bloom, who's waiting only for that now, convinced that it is really her friend who's back.

Sweetie Belle first invites them to sit down quietly, despite the astonishment still present in both her friends, even if Scootaloo manifests her own more than the farmer's.

She tells the whole story, her friends displaying different expressions during her tale, going from surprise to incomprehension. The funniest step, for the unicorn at least, is without a doubt the one where, under her friend's horrified stares, she deactivates her leg with a simple command and starts to remove the skin to show the mechanical parts and support her story.

Sweetie Belle also takes great care to precise that if her sister and her friends lied, it was for good and under Celestia's order. The unicorn herself estimates that it was probably the best thing to do... Or maybe let her live an almost normal life, but since Sweetie forgot what it means, she doesn't even think about that possibility.

Her long explanations coming to an end, she concludes the same way she would have done for a banal presentation:

"And that's why I had to leave Ponyville without telling you anything. I'm sorry I had to do that, but I wasn't really given a choice. Left foreleg, reactivation."

A slight static noise, followed by an unusual and unpleasant feeling. Sweetie Belle sighs, thinking:

"What now?"

Her leg doesn't move, she doesn't feel anything. Yet, she reactivated it. It's not logical, usually the reconnection is instantaneous.

While she's tapping her leg with a hoof to try and make it restart, Apple Bloom, whose eyes are hidden under her mane's shadow since the end of Sweetie Belle's story, murmurs:

"Sorry? That's all ya have to say...?"

"Hm?" says the unicorn, stopping what she's doing, looking up at her friend.

"You disappear like that, overnight..." continues the farmer in an undertone, as drops are falling from her cheeks. "Everypony says you're dead... We bury ya... And ya come back now...? Just being sorry?"

"What else do you want me to say?" asks Sweetie Belle, tilting her head, not understanding her friend's reaction.

Apple Bloom straightens her head, revealing her eyes reddened by the tears, a lump in her throat.

"Ya abandoned us," she says while clenching her hooves on the ground. "Do ya have the slightest idea as to what we went through with Scoot'?"

The pegasus nervously rubs her legs, looking away, embarrassed and not daring to cross eyes with one of them. Sweetie Belle widens her eyes, almost outraged.

"You think it was easy for me? To leave you without even being able to say goodbye?"

"At least ya knew we were still alive!" explodes Apple Bloom. "Ya didn't thought it was the last time you were seein' us! We weren't completely gone for ya!""

"Apple Bloom, I..." tries Sweetie Belle, but the farmer cuts her.

"We thought you were dead! We cried ya! And we tried to forget! And that's the same for everypony! And ya come back just sayin' ya're sorry!?"

"Calm down, Apple Bloom," says Scootaloo, unwilling to be too assertive.

"Ya can talk, Scoot!" replies the farmer, taking her as a target, causing her ears to flap down. "Ya too went to put flowers on her grave each year! And now we know it's empty! And the headband ya're always wearin'!"

"S-So what?" Scootaloo says, scared, nervously rubbing her red accessory.

"Ya cut that in the old costume she did for ya for the school spectacle!"

"It was just like that, because it looked cool..." tries to defend the pegasus, without really saying it with strength.

Apple Bloom has a sarcastic laugh entirely exaggerated by her anger. Turning her gaze to Sweetie Belle, the latter stopped fiddling with her leg. Their eyes meet. The furry inside the mare instantly falls down seeing the eyes fill with tears of her friend.

"I'm sorry..." repeats the unicorn. "I don't have anything else to say, because you're right... I have no idea what you lived through. I don't know what happened to you during those twenty years. And that's what I regret the most. I would have given everything to be by your side for all that time, rather than alone."

Sweetie Belle lowers her head, looking away, and Apple Bloom then understands what her friend felt.

"You were together all this time," continues the unicorn. "You helped each other, you grew, you kept on sharing your dreams... And during all this time, the only thing I did was envying you..."

She dries her tears with her functioning hoof.

"I only wanted to stay your friend!"

The next moment, Sweetie Belle finds herself stuck against a yellow coat. Her friend hugs her gently, whispering:

"Sorry ah got carried away... To be frank, Ah don't know what you went through eithe'..."

The words echo for a bit in the unicorn's head, then she holds the farmer in return, happy to the point of crying.

The pegasus looks at the scene with a little smile, and comes to join the reunion and reconciliation, taking them both in her legs and wings.

It's not just seeing them again that Sweetie Belle had wished for. It was to find them back. Find her friends back. Talk to them. Make sure that, after all this time, she was still their friend. That feeling of, despite everything, still be in their heart.

Deep in the three of them, it's a profound joy and an enormous relief which takes place. After the embrace, which lasted for many seconds, they let go of each other and sit down.

The conversation starts itself. They talk, like they did all those years ago. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo tell what happened to them to the unicorn, who listens attentively, smiling, even laughing.

Naturally, one of the first topics to be evoked is about Cutie Mark, and Apple Bloom explains that she got hers after successfully planting and growing a hundred apple trees.

Scootaloo shows her own, a cloud pushed by a gust of wind, relating the moment where she got it, right after a race against Rainbow Dash. The pegasus talks about it with that typical sparkle she has in her eyes, characteristic of those moments where she mentions her idol.

Then comes Sweetie Belle's turn, that monkey wrench crossed with a needle which intrigues her friends. She tells the details of that day, when she dumbly fell from a tree and broke two legs, while Puppet was absent for the day. She then repaired herself on her own, after crawling to the house. Said like this, it can seem like a horrible trial, but since she had deactivated the affected limbs, she hadn't even suffered. And now, she still laughs about it gladly.

After what, they chat for a bit. The conversation drifts when Sweetie Belle mentions that she saw Pound, the Cakes' son, while arriving. Scootaloo quickly adds that Apple Bloom has views on him, which the farmer instantly denies with great embarrassment, and the two others start to laugh, teasing her a bit.

The discussion prolongs itself greatly, without the three now reunited friends even noticing. As the sun is starting to set, and they finish laughing about Apple Bloom's last story, reporting on some of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's actions, the three young mares slowly calm and let a little refreshing silence settle in, in the quietness of the woods.

"I frankly missed you, Sweetie Belle," confides Scootaloo with a kind smile.

The unicorn gives her one back, answering:

"You too. Both of you. All of Ponyville, but especially you two."

And someone else, but that, Sweetie Belle keeps it to herself.

"And what made you decide to come back today?" asks the farmer, intrigued, but with a radiant face.

"Oh, it's just that I have a few electrical problems," says Sweetie Belle with a light tone. "Since I don't know when my system is going to break, I thought that if I had to come back, it was now or never."

The two instantly lose their smile and, simultaneously, interrogates:

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, nothing," jokes the unicorn. "Nothing too worrying, I assure you-ou-ou-ou-ou."

Apple Bloom raises an eyebrow, Scootaloo jumping when hearing her friend bug.

"Are you alright Sweetie Belle?"

"I'm fine," tells the unicorn, waiving a hoof to indicate it's nothing bad.

"Powering system malfunction," enounces the robotic voice, nearly making the pegasus faint.

"Yes, I know!" answers Sweetie Belle, exasperated by this program bothering her in the middle of her reunion with her friends.

Both her friends look at her, astonished. Then their expression suddenly shifts, going to some kind of terror, eyes fixed behind Sweetie Belle.

"I knew I recognised that silhouette," calmly says a voice.

Time suspends itself. That voice, of course the unicorn knows it. Oh she does. Slowly, with a bit of apprehension, and the heart suddenly pounding, she turns her head to see her. From up close. Way closer than earlier.

Rarity. Smiling and filled with emotions.

Time stops for a few instants. The two sisters are staring at each other's eyes. Close as they've never been those past twenty years, just a few metres apart.

Thankfully her vocal description isn't plugged on her emotions anymore, otherwise the program would be overwhelmed. Silence reigns, and yet the two mares are internally boiling with emotions.

And despite all of this, they don't know what to say.

"H-Hi Rarity," finally awkwardly attempts her sister, trying to display a smile deformed by the entirety of the feelings assaulting her.

The dressmaker shakes a bit when she hears her talk. That's the voice of her sister. That voice which didn't change too much.

It is Rarity that takes the first step. She walks, slowly. Sweetie Belle stands up. They both notice at the same time, and with a very subtle hint of fun, that now, it is the little sister who is the taller one.

In a few seconds, they will most likely fall into each other's legs. But in the meantime, it's a moment of quietness which sets, solely broken by Rarity's hooves treading on the grass.

Sweetie Belle moves a leg forward, and abruptly falls on the ground. Her leg has yet to be properly reactivated, she totally forgot about it. Rarity rushes over and helps her get back up, as the two other mares stay frozen.

"My Celestia, is everything alright?" worries the dressmaker.

"Yes yes, Rarity," reassures the unicorn while getting up. "A little problem, nothing too worrying."

Her sister slowly lets her go and she lifts her head, their eyes meeting. Their heads are just a few centimetres apart from each other. Blue eyes in green eyes.

"You grew so much..." says Rarity, emotional. "Look at you, a beautiful and tall mare..."

Sweetie Belle looks at her with a smile just as moved as she is. A tear forms at the edge of her eye.

"It's... It's been so long since I've been wanting to see you again... Rarity."

"And I hoped that this moment would come... Sweetie Belle."

The fateful instant arrives. They embrace each other with all their strength, the two sisters finally together again. They cry, but nothing is sad in this moment.

"I missed you," sobs Rarity. "All this time spent, thinking I would never see you again... Every day I wondered if you were okay, what you were doing..."

"Me too, Rarity," answers her sister with a great smile on her tearful face, holding on to her sister with her hoof.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo look at the scene with moved smiles, and they are not the only ones. A little further away, behind a tree, Twilight also observes what's going on, discreetly, happy for her friend, with a pinch in the heart however.

That secret is old, the search for Sweetie Belle was abandoned a long time ago. But the truth won't erase the lie that's been persisting for the past twenty years. Revealing it would be too dangerous. No one else must know, and this moment might be the only one that Rarity and Sweetie Belle will be able to allow to themselves.

But she's not going to spoil that reunion. She hides a little bit more behind the tree, keeping a discreet eye laid on the two mares.

"Tell me," then asks Rarity. "I want you to recount everything you lived."

"Alright, but you'll have to explain to me why you moved out," accepts Sweetie Belle with a smile.

"Oh, that's very easy to explain," softly laughs her sister. "I just couldn't bear to live in this house anymore, without you and Opal. And well, I got an opportunity to launch a couture brand in Manehattan, I didn't really hesitate."

"But you didn't sell the boutique?"

"I couldn't bring myself to it..." confesses the dressmaker. "It's a part of my life, and even if it's in a deplorable state, I won't sell it. There's still some of your stuff there."

"Really?" says her little sister, surprised.

"Where you left them. In case you were to come back one day."

A touched smile appears on the face of the young mare, right before a violent spray of sparkles suddenly spurts out from the back of her neck, causing her head to tilt on the side.

The others move back as one, surprised and afraid. Scootaloo even lets out a yell of terror.

"It's fine! It's fine!" quickly explains the robotic mare, waving a leg in front of the other to try and calm them. "I have the situation under control!"

"Your mane is burning!" Rarity panics.

"Alright, that I don't have it under control," admits Sweetie Belle with a strange detachment. Well, not so strange considering a big part of her nervous system just tripped and, with it, her self preservation processor.

Sweetie Belle's hood frantticaly slams itself on her head, Rarity hurrying to choke the flames with her magic.

"Why did it do that!?" yells Scootaloo, holding on Apple Bloom a bit too much, the latter being way less scared but still worried.

"I'd say it's a short circuit," supposes Sweetie Belle with her head still tilted on the side. "I probably lost a few nerves as well."

"Why so?" asks Apple Bloom, slowly stepping closer as the flames have been extinguished by Rarity. "Is it serious?"

"Technically yes, if things get worse I could shut down."

"Shut down?"

"Die."

Sweetie Belle's eyes lay into those of her childhood friend, staring at her with an obvious lack of emotion. A glare that terrifies her.

"And it can be fixed?" continues Scootaloo who doesn't see the same things as the farmer.

Sweetie Belle stays silent for a moment. She seems to think about it.

"I need a unicorn's help," she ends up saying. "That knows a thing or two about threads and sewing."

All eyes turn to the big sister. She nods.

"I'll do everything I can. Give me the instructions."

"We need calm. Pegasi and earth ponies emit involuntary magical disturbances, it could be dangerous to do that wh-"

"Ya want us to go, 'ight?" cuts Apple Bloom with some rancour just at the thought.

"That would be pre-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-eferable," admits Sweetie Belle, whose voice is becoming more and more neutral.

"Tch."

After cursing in a low voice, without the pegasus understanding why, the farmer grabs her by the scarf and drags her along to both go away from the scene.

"We'll wait for you at the farm, understood?"

"We're coming, don't worry," reassures her friend.

Scootaloo, still clueless, lets herself get dragged away, turning to Apple Bloom. Once they are far away enough, she asks:

"What's upsetting you?"

"It's been twenty years since we saw her... We thought she was dead, and now that she comes back, we can't even help her! We're just like back then, useless."

Scootaloo meditates on those words. It's true that it's frustrating to find themselves in that situation, where they have to trust others to take care of Sweetie Belle.

"I'm sure everything will be fine."

"If ya say so," mumbles the farmer.

"Do you think they'll be mad at me...?"

Rarity turns her eyes to her little sister. Her dear little sister, now so tall.

"About what, darling?"

"The only person capable of repairing me died quite some time ago now... I can't operate on my own system, and I don't have time to give you a lesson on that subject, especially since I'm not sure of the problem myself."

She gives her a look which, despite being empty, appears infinitely sad. From her left eye, a tear is running, and from her right one, turned a dark green, a slim stream of black oil.

"I'm sorry, Rarity..."

"You're going to...?" slowly says her sister, afraid of pronouncing the word.

The only answer she gets is the head of her sister coming against her torso, seeking refuge. The unicorn hesitates a few moments, troubled, then slowly wraps her leg around her little sister.

"I wanted to see everyone again..." says Sweetie Belle, with a neutral voice that should be sad. "See how you grew, how things had changed... If you still remembered me..."

Rarity gently hugs her sister against her as the oil stains her coat, understanding what she feels.

"But in the end... I just hurt everypony..."

"How can you say that?" says Rarity, astonished.

"Everyone had grieved over me, and I come back, only to die a second time... I just gave a short-lived happiness to all the ponies I loved..."

"Oh, don't say that, Sweetie Belle. Everyone is happy to see you again. Especially me."

Rarity carefully takes her sister's face in between her hooves to look into her eyes, smiling with tenderness.

"Every day, I wondered if you were fine. What you were doing at that moment. How much you had grown. And I'm happy that you remembered us, and that you came to see us. Knowing that everything went well for you, during all those years, is important for me, as well as for the others. Because we still care for you."

The mare has a slight smile that comes up on her face. A moved smile. Those are just words. But they are the words that she wanted to hear. She didn't know it before, but now that her sister has pronounced them, she's sure of it. Now, she is at peace.

"Thanks... Rarity..." says Sweetie Belle, snuggling her head against her big sister's fur, a real tear flowing down from her eye. "I regret so much that I couldn't spend all that time with you all... But I'm happy that I came back to tell you goodbye...."

Rarity holds her sister delicately, closing her eyes while letting a bit of her makeup run. Joy, sadness, relief, all of this is mixing in her to form a weird feeling.

The head of her sister shakes against her. Circuits are not working properly, her functions shut down one by one.

"You will tell the others...?"

"Don't worry for that..." slowly answers Rarity, before sniffing. "I'm sorry I yelled at you that day, Sweetie Belle... If I hadn't been so stubborn, none of this would have happened..."

"I'm the only one to bla-a-a-a-a-a-a..."

Sweetie Belle closes her mouth, one of her eyes doing the same on its own. A little beep comes out of some places beneath her neck.

"To blame," she ends up saying with her mouth closed, which leads to a weird echo.

"You remember...?" asks Rarity.

"My memory was unlocked... I relieved that mo-"

No bugs this time. No other sound comes out of Sweetie Belle's mouth.

Her sister lowers her eyes. The unicorn doesn't move anymore. Rarity carefully takes her head and lifts it to look at her. Her only opened eye is staring at her. Behind the iris, she can clearly see the metallic pieces controlling the opening slowly folding in a circle.

She's going away. Her sister is going away. It's her ultimate stare. She can't do anything about it. She's plunging her eyes into hers. The sapphire reflection into the emerald green of Sweetie Belle's eyes comfort the latter. No expression shows on her face now, but the circles are closing, looking satisfied. Appease.

A slight mechanical sound can be heard, followed by what is clearly the noise of a battery shutting down.

The body collapses. The muscles and the gears relax against Rarity's coat. Sweetie Belle's head falls forward, hitting her sister's torso, without any noise.

The dressmaker's hooves shake as they tighten up on the mane of her youngest. Barely found, here she is now, lost forever. This time, nothing will change that.

"I hope you had a beautiful life... during all that time..."

An incongruous scene was going on in Ponyville. The story was so strange, and the tone so dramatic, that it made the front page of many gossip newspapers in the big cities of Equestria. Because indeed, during a sunny afternoon, took place the second burial of Sweetie Belle. Twenty years after her first one.

This time, the body of the unicorn was truly resting under her gravestone, her flesh as well as her mechanisms.

It was the second time that her relatives had gathered in front of her. Her parents had been warned, the truth had finally been exposed, and quarrels had ensued. Having lied to all those ponies, during all those years, wasn't well received.

But after some time, all made peace to at least say goodbye to Sweetie Belle. Their friend. Their daughter. Their sister.

For a burial, the atmosphere wasn't as sad as one would have thought. Many ponies had already mourned her and moved on. Of course, they weren't happy either, but cries were few.

Despite that, the scene was probably all that Sweetie Belle would have wanted. All her closed ones, gathered, for her. Remembering her after all those years. That's all she would have wanted, staying their friend. Staying her sister.

I Only Wanted to Stay your Sister

by IGIBAB

Are you really my sister?

Where did Sweetie Belle go?

Do you remember me ?