It's Like You've Gone Away
Sweetie Belle laughed as Rarity levitated a snowball and tossed it at her sister. She responded by flinging snow into the air, as her magic wasn’t good enough to make snowballs yet. Sweetie Belle looked around the park at all the other foals, shaping piles of snow to look more like ponies.
“Do you want to build a snowpony?” The foal asked. Rarity smiled and nodded. Sweetie Belle shaped the snow with her hooves and Rarity used her magic to add more snow to their pony. Sweetie Belle giggled as the snowpony took shape. Around them, the snow fell in large, fluffy clumps of snowflakes.
“He needs a face,” Rarity said, removing her scarf and draping it around the snowpony’s neck. Sweetie Belle found two stones and stuck them into the snowpony for eyes. They were mismatched, but Sweetie Belle smiled proudly.
“We’ll call him Oatlaf.” Rarity said, taking the snowpony in her magical grip. “I’m Oatlaf, and I like warm hugs!”
“I love you, Oatlaf!” Sweetie Belle said, nuzzling the snowpony and getting snow in her nose. She sneezed and Rarity laughed, taking the scarf from their snowpony’s neck and wrapping it around her sister.
“How about we go and get some hot chocolate from Sugarcube Corner?”
“You’re the bestest big sister ever, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle nuzzled her sister and took off, leaving Rarity with a small smile and a shake of her head.
~~~
“Mama, where’s Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked. She hadn’t seen her sister in a while, and she could barely remember the last time they had spent any time together.
“Last I saw her she was up in her room, working on some sort of dress. I told her I would go out and buy her as many as she wanted, but she insisted that she make her own from now on. Why don’t you go and tell her that it’s snowing outside? You can go build snowponies.”
Sweetie Belle galloped up to Rarity’s room and knocked on the door. “Rarity?” There was no answer, but she could hear Rarity’s sewing machine running. “Do you want to build a snowpony?” She called through the door. There was still no answer. Sweetie Belle sighed. She never saw her sister anymore.
“Why don’t you talk to me anymore? We could go build a snowpony, or something!”
“Go away, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity snapped from her room. The sewing machine continued running and Sweetie Belle frowned.
“Okay...bye,” she said quietly. She sulked back to her room and sat on her bed, staring out the window. The snow fell down in fluffy groups of snowflakes and the Pegasi in charge of the weather were swooping around in the sky, moving clouds around to keep the sun blocked out. Out in the hall, Sweetie Belle could hear Rarity talking with their parents, laughing about something that Sweetie Belle couldn’t be a part of.
It was like Rarity had moved out. That’s how little she saw her sister. Sweetie Belle pulled the blinds of her window shut and snuggled into bed, tears stinging her eyes.
~~~
Sweetie Belle scooted along the floor, muttering about being bored. She’d just gotten back from Rarity’s new shop and had been denied spending time together...for the third year in a row. Her parents were never home anymore, so Sweetie Belle spent an awful lot of time alone. Sure, she had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, but during the snowy season, they were with their own families.
“Do you want to build a snowpony?” Sweetie Belle asked, knocking on Rarity’s door.
“Sweetie Belle, I’m far too busy to build snowponies. I have things to do. Maybe later, okay? I’ll go over there and pick you up when I’m finished.”
It was always ‘maybe later’, but when later came, Rarity made another excuse. Just a few years ago, Rarity would drop everything to spend time with Sweetie Belle. Just a few years ago, a little bit of snow never bothered Rarity. Now, the mare got disgruntled if a snowflake even touched her mane.
“Can I just stay here? Mom and Dad are out again, and I don’t wanna be in that house all alone. It’s boring.”
“Sweetie Belle, I am busy. Go home. Come back in a few hours, and we’ll have some tea.”
“I don’t want tea,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “I want to build a snowpony, the way we used to.”
“Well, I don’t have time. Go home, Sweetie.”
Now, Sweetie Belle was watching the clock on the wall, waiting until a considerable amount of time had passed so she could go back over to Rarity’s. If she was lucky, Rarity might be able to squeeze in some time before sundown.
Sweetie Belle started making her way towards Rarity’s shop, her hooves tingling from the cold snow. She lifted a frozen hoof and knocked on the door. The lights were all off, but the door swung open.
“Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here in this weather?”
“D-do you want t-t-to build a snowpony?” Sweetie Belle asked, her teeth chattering. Rarity frowned.
“I’m busy,”
“Your lights are off!”
“I need to be up early. Now, hurry home before it gets dark. The pegasi are planning a snowstorm as soon as the moon is out.” Rarity swung the door shut and Sweetie Belle hung her head, beginning the slow trek home.
~~~
Sweetie Belle stood outside of Rarity’s old room. Eight years ago, she had stood here waiting for Rarity to hurry and put on her snow boots. Six years ago, she’d been disappointed when Rarity hadn’t wanted to go out and build snowponies. Last year, Rarity hadn’t even lived here. This year, however, Rarity had come back to the house she’d grown up in. She hadn’t left her old room since they’d gotten back from the funeral.
“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle said softly as she knocked. Rarity hadn’t spoken in days, and she hadn’t left the room in over a week. “Everypony is worried about you.” Sweetie Belle, now in her early teen years, had been asked by many ponies where Rarity had been, and if she was okay.
“I know you’re in there,” Sweetie said, trying to break through the wall her sister had been putting up for years. Outside, she could see the snow falling in fluffy clumps of snowflakes. “I’m here for you, you know, but you have to let me in.” It was just the two of them now, but if she couldn’t get through to Rarity, who did Sweetie Belle have but herself?
On the other side of the door, Rarity had a magical grip on the doorknob, but she hesitated. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to open the door, but it was far too late to fix things with her sister.
“Do you want to build a snowpony?” Sweetie Belle’s voice sounded weak. Rarity blinked and released her grip on the door. She sat on her bed and heard Sweetie Belle’s hoofprints walking away, followed by a door shutting. Rarity wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. She put a hoof against the cold glass window and exhaled, watching as her breath condensed on the glass.
~~~
Rarity looked out her window and watched the snow fall. It was all too perfect. Outside, foals were playing with their parents or siblings. How could life keep going on when Rarity’s was spiralling out of control? An accident. That’s what the news reports said. The ski lift cables had snapped and sent dozens of unicorns and earth ponies to their deaths. Sweetie Belle had been on that ski lift.
“Miss Rarity?”
“Yes, can I help you?” Rarity didn’t have time to talk to anypony. She had orders to fill for Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight. Dozens of half-finished dresses were lying around her studio and she had pincushions tangled in her mane.
“It’s about your sister,”
“Sweetie Belle? She moved to San Franciscolt a few years ago. She’s on vacation in Coltorado right now, but I could give her a call if you need her.” Rarity started to head into the living room, where she kept her phone, but the stallion at the door stopped her before she could get too far.
“Miss Rarity, that’s why I’m here. I’m afraid you can’t call your sister anymore. She was in a ski lift accident, ma’am.”
“Ski lift accident?” Rarity didn’t understand. She’d never heard of that happening before.
“They’re not that common, but they do happen. Your sister, along with the friends accompanying her, were on the ski lift when the cables snapped. Your sister and her friends fell a great distance. One of them was a pegasus, and she managed to fly to safety, but when she got to the scene, she was too late to save the other two.”
Rarity stared blankly at the stallion, trying to put the pieces together. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom had gone on a skiing trip to celebrate getting out of college. The ski lift cables snapped.
“You mean she’s...she’s just gone?” The stallion nodded regretfully.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
Rarity felt the tears streaming down her cheeks as one of the foals outside pranced around a pony that could only be her sister. They were laughing and the younger of the two was shaping the snout of a snowpony.
“Do you want to build a snowpony?” Sweetie Belle’s voice rang clearly in Rarity’s ears. All those years, Rarity had stayed locked behind a door, shutting her sister out.
“Yes I wanna build a snowpony
I'm sorry that it took so long
I didn't know I needed you, I really do
And now you're gone,”
Rarity curled into her bed, levitating the sheet over her body.
“Please just ask me once more, just one more time
I promise I'll open the door
Yes I wanna build a snowpony...”
Author's Note
This doesn't count as a Christmas fic. It's not Christmasy. But Merry Christmas anyway.
