... But They Are the Hardest Part
Goodbyes are Hardby Miss Dark AngelPreread by Seven81493, and SergioSource, and DJ GarV the Expert
Rarity fell onto her bed, letting out a huge breath of exasperation.
Tired wouldn't even begin to describe what she felt. Over the last few days, she had made every preparation possible. Her suitcases, her transportation, and everything else she could possibly need was ready to go on a moment’s notice. While Ponyville wasn't too far a distance from where she lived, it certainly would be too much for a young lady such as herself to walk all the way.
Not to mention that it was a lot to take in. As soon as she received the news of the job in Ponyville as a dress designer, her instinct reaction was to be ecstatic. She jumped up and down in place, much to the confusion of her family until she showed them the note. She was on the verge of giggling like a madmare. Even her parents gave positive responses to it, telling her how happy they were for her.
Sweetie Belle's reaction, however, was the complete opposite. She looked as if she was going to cry, walking out of the room as quickly as she could. She didn't even bother to hide it.
Rarity had noticed her behavior, but she couldn't let that get to her. She had much promise in Ponyville. It was no Canterlot, but it was a start, certainly. It was better than staying at her parents' house for too long. Sure, she loved her family, but when anypony has the chance to leave the family house, they jump right at it. She was no exception.
She smiled again. She couldn't wait any longer for all of her stuff to be put in the carriage, and for her parents to come home from shopping. Rarity got up, and began to pace her room for a bit.
However, upon one last inspection, one fleeting problem bugged her mind—about several things. Her eyebrows knit together.
“Where on Earth did my bags go?” Rarity questioned aloud, lips pouting out. She tapped her hoof on the floor, looking around in a helpless attempt to find them. But if they weren't in her room, where were they? She hadn't placed them anywhere else, nor had she asked her parents to so much as touch them.
She began to look around the room some more, only to find her completely barren room... well, just like that; empty, minus a closet door which led to an unjustified small space for clothing, and a tiny ceiling fan that scarcely cooled her off during intense heat waves of summer.
That, and her old sewing machine, never to be used again.
She walked over to it, streaking a hoof over it. She smiled gently, thinking of how this was her first ever sewing machine, the ones she used for the foals in that play, the play that got her what every foal wanted as a kid: a Cutie Mark.
Now she didn't need it anymore. She had a much better one, one of much better quality and endurance. It was being shipped as soon as she left. However, she couldn't help but feel a tap of nostalgia hit, staring at this thing. It began this whole thing; it was why she was leaving for Ponyville, to make dresses.
It was a small motivation for her, a reminder that old memories belonged here, and that she was ready to start her new life in Ponyville.
Then... a noise.
A tiny little noise resonated in her ears. Rarity didn't know if it had been doing so for a while and she simply wasn't paying attention, or if it just started. Either way, it was fairly close to her room, and since she couldn't tell what exactly it was, she left her empty room by opening the door into the hallway.
Peering out of her door, she saw a small white figure pulling a bright blue bag by her teeth. Rarity's bag.
Rarity gaped, a tiny gasp escaping her. The filly was heading into the closet, which was open. That is, until Rarity caught her and made her presence acknowledged. By then, wide green eyes shot up at her, showing that she knew she was caught.
And Rarity wasn't having any of it. “Sweetie Belle!” Her shout pierced the air—as well as the filly's ears.
Her ears deflated, and Sweetie Belle spat out the bag. Rarity grimaced and closed the distance between them. She picked up the bag and observed the tiny teeth marks and even some saliva on the handle.
Rarity looked where Sweetie Belle planned to put this bag. Her two other missing bags were in there, as well, concealed poorly in the corner. How the little filly was able to pull those in there, and how long it took, Rarity didn't want to know. She turned around to face her sister with an irritated expression on her face.
“What in Equestria were you doing?” she demanded, leaning into her sister's face with an angered look.
“Nothing,” Sweetie replied, attempting to look nonchalant. However, she took a sudden interest at her hooves.
Rarity quirked a brow at her. “Sweetie Belle...” she said in a warning voice. “Why did you have my bags?”
“Umm... I'm... hiding them,” she finally confessed, her head bowed down in defeat.
“But why?”
Her lip quivered. "You can't go!" Sweetie Belle cried out, her voice cracking.
Rarity's face fell. Were they really going on about this? Then she realized she hadn't talked to her sister about this. Did she really have to, though? “Even if you tried to hide my bags, I'd still find them. Besides, nothing is stopping me from going, dearie.”
“B-but that's not fair!” the filly squeaked, even realizing her own argument was weak, though. However, Rarity swore she could see her eyes watering a bit. If she began to cry, Rarity would never hear the end of it.
She sighed. "Sweetie Belle, I can't stay here forever. When you're older—"
"I'll understand," Sweetie said monotonously, rolling her eyes, stopping Rarity mid-sentence. Rarity would have chided her for doing that, but given the problem at hoof, she had to let it slide this one time. Sweetie Belle stuck out her tongue at no one in particular. "You always tell me that. But I'm still not older yet, so what am I supposed to do?"
"Just wait a bit," Rarity advised. "By the time you're my age, no doubt you'll want to go out on your own, as well." She smiled, hoping to get her message into the filly's head, the message that every filly would get to that age, and only then would they understand.
"I can't wait that long," the filly whined.
Rarity's eyes flashed down at her, her smile having fallen into a pout. "Sweetie Belle," she said again, with a hint of a threat, a threat of losing her patience.
There was a slight pause. Sweetie's face remained downfallen, until she picked her head up to look back at her sister with trembling eyes. "I'm just gonna miss you."
Rarity chuckled under her breath. She tried to distract herself by heading into her room. Her little sister followed. "I'm not going to be gone forever. I'll be here for the holidays, and you can always come visit—well, try not to come too often, and make sure to let me know beforehand," she added in a hurry.
Sweetie Belle jumped into her path, stopping her. "But it won't be the same. We won't be close anymore," she continued to argue in a saddened tone.
"That may be the case," Rarity stated, planting her feet firmly on the ground. Growing tired of this argument, she said in a far more serious tone, though slightly exasperated, "but it won't change my decision. I have a new house set up in Ponyville, and I can make and sell dresses there. It's my dream, Sweetie Belle. I wish you'd understand that."
"I do, really! But can't you do it here?" The filly perked up just a bit. “Yeah, why not stay here and work on dresses? Then you can do what you want, and we can still be a family.”
"Sweetie Belle, please, just stop!" she shouted, on the verge of begging. Why, oh why, would she just not stop? What else could she say?
Sweetie Bell's ears peeled back, and she blinked twice. Bowing her head, she let out a very, very sad sigh.
Rarity groaned, realizing that the guilt trip would be forced down on her, no matter what. “I'm sorry, dearie,” she said, though feeling forced to. “I didn't mean to shout, but you aren't making it easy for me.”
“I just don't understand,” Sweetie Belle whispered, lips pouting out in a pleading manner. When Rarity didn't immediately answer, she continued, asking, “Aren't you scared or anything?”
Why in Equestria she asked that, Rarity had no clue. “There's nothing to be afraid of, dear,” she said breezily. “I've been wanting to do this for a while, and have everything working out for me. I get to be my own pony, do my own thing.” Her chin rose up as she said this, pride getting in her words. If ponies got afraid of leaving home, she wasn't one of them. She knew what opportunities lay out there, and was ready to take a chance with them.
Sweetie's head was still down. “But it won't be the same.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle looked dumbfounded at Rarity's countering question.
“Change isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's actually very good.”
“B-but...” Rarity didn't quite know if Sweetie Belle was stuttering because she didn't know what that meant, or she couldn't find the right words to argue back. Either way, Rarity went on.
“If we stayed in the same place for our whole lives, what good would it do for us? Mom and Dad did not stay in their houses forever, and met because they went out in the world,” Rarity said as she walked into the hallway, again Sweetie Belle joining behind her.
They walked into Sweetie Belle's room. Another flash of memories washed over Rarity. Her sister and she once shared a room, simply because back then, she begged to have her sister in the same room as her. But then she became older and begged the storage room to be her own room. It was fine with everyone but Sweetie Belle, but she accepted it eventually. Still, why couldn't this be as easy as back then? Those were simpler, far more innocent times.
Now she was an adult mare, getting ready to go out into the world. That was life. Change was very good. And she had to figure out how to explain this to Sweetie Belle. There had to be someway, because she refused to leave her sister as she was.
She walked around the room and stopped at the bookshelf. She found herself searching through the books on the shelf in the corner. One caught her eye, earning her interest for the strangest reason. Perhaps it was her conscious telling her why she needed a child's book. She took it out to check the cover.
Her eyes glowed for a second as an idea came to her. Grinning, Rarity lifted it from its place and turned to Sweetie Belle, who planted herself on her bed—or better yet, in it. Only her soft green eyes were visible in her blanket.
“Do you think you can come out of there for a minute?” Rarity asked as gently as possible.
Sweetie Belle threw the blanket over the rest of herself, concealing her eyes, too. There was a tiny whimper.
Rarity's face fell into a blank expression. Using another wisp of magic, she rose the blanket into the air and dragged Sweetie Belle out from her bed. The filly did not struggle, but she didn't look happy.
Rarity requested her sister to sit down, placing two pillows in front of her. She lay down on the left one, while Sweetie Belle followed suit, though she shifted hers a bit closer to Rarity.
“See this?” She pointed into an old book about insects—which made them look so cute and adorable. Rarity dared not make a remark about that. On the page she pointed at was the life and transformation a caterpillar goes through. “Ponies are a bit like caterpillars. They change quite a bit in their lives. They aren't exactly the same when they turn into butterflies, but they are still the same as they were as a caterpillar. They turn into butterflies to fly away and do, well, whatever they want, go whatever they want.”
Sweetie Belle blinked at the page, then up at her sister. “But why do they fly away? What if they're all alone?”
Rarity smiled. “They're never alone. They'll make new friends, and... their family will always be with them.”
“Wait, how?” Sweetie asked, her squeaky voice cracking as it rose. “The butterfly left the family, so—”
“Physically, yes, but their family is here.” Rarity pointed at Sweetie Belle's chest, right where her heart should be.
Sweetie Belle looked at her chest, and kept her eyes their for a while. Rarity rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Not really, Sweetie. It just means that—the most important thing you need to know is that no matter where I go, I won't ever forget my family, of all ponies.”
“But what if you do?”
Rarity chuckled under her breath. So persistent, her sister was, so curious. “Trust me. I. Won't.”
Suddenly, she found herself attacked by a white blur, which wrapped itself around her. Two tiny hooves wrapped around her, and Rarity was too surprised to make an immediate response. Her eyes traveled down to the little pony.
“I'll miss you.” Her sister had said it many times before, but now she was crying, and the emotions were strong. Tears streaked down her face.
For the first time, an overwhelming feeling enveloped in Rarity's chest. It sank deep down past it. She licked her lips and frowned as she accepted the hug back, holding her tight. Her sisterly instincts kicked in, and she tried to shush her sister's tears and shudders.
She looked around the room, feeling like this would be the last time she would be in there. It was a lot like it was when they shared the room
It took a moment for her to calm down, in which she said to her younger sister, “Good-byes are hard, but they're the hardest part.”
Sweetie Belle peeked in from Rarity's coat, her eyes puffy and red from crying. She sniffed a couple of times and otherwise said nothing. Rarity brushed her hoof through her sister's mane and gave her an encouraging smile. Sweetie smiled back, though a bit more weakly. They hugged, but not one of grief, but of sisterhood.
***
Magnum and Pearl were sitting outside of their house so casually, as if nothing were going on in the house. Magnum fished in hopes of catching something--he didn’t eat fish, but nonetheless, it was fun. Pearl, meanwhile, was laying in a chair, her mind deep in the book in her hooves. They were smiling, content with the quiet.
The house door slammed open, revealing a tiny white figure asking in an inappropriately loud tone, “Mom, dad! Can I ask you something?”
Her parents flinched. It was as if they could hear the silence snap in half. However, they pulled on big smiles for their daughter and turned around to face her.
“What is it, Sweetie?” Pearl asked. When they both saw her down expression, she added, with a hint of worry, “Something wrong, honey?”
“No, I was just...” Sweetie didn’t know what to say, at first. She played in the dirt with a hoof for a moment before continuing, “What did you think when Rarity said she was leaving?”
Magnum and Pearl glanced at one another. Magnum was the one to first respond. “Well, at first, we were certainly proud of her. I mean, she got a place of her own in Ponyville. I’ve heard it’s a nice place all around, haven’t you, honey?” he asked his wife.
Pearl giggled. “It most certainly is.” Then she looked back at Sweetie Belle, who gave them blank stares. “But... we also knew she was going to have to leave. We were so happy, but we were... very sad to see her go.”
“But what made you okay with it? I mean, you’re not making her stay, are you?”
They both chuckled. “Oh, we wouldn’t force her to stay here, dear,” Pearl acknowledged. “She’s her own pony, and we can’t just make her stay. It’ll only make things worse, actually.”
“Really?!” This shocked and deeply worried Sweetie Belle. Rarity already proved she’d rather be elsewhere, even if she did try to hide it.
“Well, if my parents made me stay home rather than head off into the city, well, I’d be very miserable. I wanted to go out into the world, and if my mother said no, she’d basically be telling me I can’t do things my way, which is how many ponies want it as they get older. It’s just how things are,” Pearl said with a nod.
Sweetie Belle frowned. If that was the case, maybe that was why she was so exasperated by the end of their conversation. How Rarity wanted her little sister to understand, maybe this was what she was talking about.
“You did the same thing, right? You know, left home to do your own things? How... how was that?” She thought of many things while talking with her big sister, and how Rarity felt was one of them. Why didn’t she seem as sad as Sweetie Belle felt, or even scared about what was out there--whatever was out there?
“Why exactly are you asking us this, Sweetie Belle?” Magnum asked with a questioning look that he and his wife shared.
She just shrugged. He smiled with a roll of his eyes and said, “Well, yes, we both did that. Everypony goes through that one stage where they have to leave home to do their own thing. I think most ponies feel nervous and unsure when they leave, but in the end, they’re usually happy. It’s not always that way, though with Rarity, she seems set. Being cramped up in one house your whole life isn’t going to do much for you unless you share talents with your family. There’s a whole world out there outside of anypony’s home, so ponies should go out and enjoy it.”
Sweetie Belle nodded with each point he made, all while looking consciously at her flank, which did not embroider a Cutie Mark. She was a younger filly, and most colts and fillies she knew did not have them, but she only hoped she would get hers as soon as possible, and that it would be the best Cutie Mark ever. Then something came to her.
She imagined getting her Cutie Mark. She didn’t know what yet, or how, but one thing was for certain:
It wasn’t there, at this house. It was somewhere else in the world, where much more adventures were. She loved going out and sneaking off to other places, just for the fun of it. She couldn’t imagine other cities like Ponyville, but they seemed cool, too; scary, but cool.
Did Rarity feel the same way?
“You sure you’re alright, Sweetie Belle?” Magnum asked, seeing her spacey stare with worry. “You seem a bit... out of it.”
Sweetie Belle blinked, brought back into reality and away from her thoughts. With a quick shake of her head, she said, “Oh, I’m fine now. Thanks, mom and dad. I think I get it now.”
Her parents nodded, and she hugged them real quick before heading back inside slowly. When her sister explained it all, she got a pretty clear understanding of it. Now, she just felt bad for bothering Rarity. Her face fell, but she looked away from her parents so they didn’t ask about it. She now understood why she was so impatient about that.
She wished she could say sorry, that she didn’t mean to be a bother, but there was hardly any time left! It was only a matter of time before the carriages came to take her big sister away!
An idea struck her. Her smile grew wide, and she practically skipped inside, her parents continuing on with what they were doing before she came outside. This was going to be great!
Rarity watched from the bedroom window, above where her family was talking about her. She simply giggled and shut the window pane. She had no idea why Sweetie Belle was smiling so much, or what crazy scheme she was going to pull this time, but it couldn’t be that bad, right?
***
Rarity stood at the doorway. Before her were her parents. The carriage to take her to Ponyville was there, along with another carriage just to hold her bags, as she requested. That was for the best, probably.
“Have a good time, dear!” her mother said, her father saying the same thing in agreement.
Both of her parents gave her warm hugs, one hoof on either shoulder. Rarity smiled to herself, glad that her parents understood what she was doing and supported what she did, without her having to talk to them. If only Sweetie Belle was the same.
“Rarry!”
Said filly ran from inside the house and up to her, eyes sparkling with more tears. She looked as if she were going to pant, if it weren’t for the thing in her mouth holding her back from doing so. Rarity just raised a brow at her quizzically, to which Sweetie Belle jumped up with pleading eyes. She tilted her head up to let the thing wave in the air, as if to catch her attention. She saw that it was a piece of paper.
Rarity lit up her horn, and at the same time, Sweetie released the paper from her mouth. The former caught it and observed it, eyes widening.
Two white figures stood on either side of the paper, as far apart as possible. The tinier one on the right, with a light purple and pink mane, stood beside a house--one that looked a lot like theirs. The mare on the other side, taller with blue eyes and a purple mane, just lay in a grassy plain with blue skies. A bright red heart stood between them.
It was a messy drawing, the picture looked crooked, and Rarity swore that the drawing of her looked more like a hippo than anything; she was certainly not at all fat! No, it was not perfect in any way.
But... she had no reason not to grin at it.
Rarity sighed, smiling. It was cuteness at its maximum, but it was so much more. Seeing this picture, then her sister’s face, Rarity knew that behind those tearful eyes, Sweetie Belle finally understood. Sweetie Belle’s little beam confirmed this.
She planted a kiss on her sister's forehead, even embracing her in a heartfelt hug. She felt her sister shaking as she cried out her heart's pain. She shut her eyes, feeling something in them. No, no crying, she chided herself. Why was she crying?
She pulled Sweetie Belle's face out from her neck and smiled down at her encouragingly. She had said a lot today and just hoped it would be enough. “Thank you,” she muttered.
Sweetie Belle nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and stained cheeks. She shook her head, shook away the tears and any other depressing emotion. “I'm okay! Go... make dresses.”
Rarity rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. “I will. Promise.”
The carriage was right in front of her, ready for her to enter. Two stallions were in the front, ready for her to jump in and signal them to go. Her family gave her last hugs and kisses before she knew it was time to go.
The carriage containing Rarity left the family behind, as well as the second. She looked back one last time and waved as best as she could at them. They waved back, especially Sweetie Belle, who jumped enthusiastically as she did so. Sweetie Belle looked to her parents with a solemn smiling. Although not saying anything, her expression said plenty. They watched their daughter disappear from beyond their sight.
When Rarity turned away again once the house and her family disappeared from her view. A wave of sadness came over her, bringing her mood down significantly. She bowed her head and let out a slow, doleful sigh. She looked outside, imagining herself in her new home, sewing dresses for ponies of all kinds for special occasions, imagining the beams spreading across their faces. They would compliment her, and even ponies from Canterlot would want to see her designs!
She laughed to herself again. Change was good. It was the goodbyes that were the most painful. A single tear left her eye, but she brushed it away.
