Rarity’s Bad Mane Day
*****
It was the most delicious morning bath Rarity had taken in a long time. The water’s temperature felt perfect, along with the luxury bath salts relaxing her muscles. She had heard from Fluttershy that they were good for her coat as well. She wished to stay in that tub forever, washing away her worries and stress, but she knew she couldn’t.
Carefully stepping outside of the bathtub, she levitated a towel with her magic to dry herself off. She dried her tail first, moving forwards to her flanks and back. She dragged the towel up to her wet mane and wrapped it along with her head.
Rarity walked in front of the bathroom mirror, wiping the steam from it with one hoof. She gazed at her own face, checking for any imperfections, but there were none to be found.
“Perfect, as always!” Rarity said to herself, levitating a small towel and completely drying her face. She put the towel down on the sink and levitated a pair of cotton swabs, cleaning inside her ears. After she was done, she threw them into a small trash can next to the sink.
Rarity eyed the sleek bottle sitting on her bathroom vanity and giggled to herself in anticipation. She had been eagerly waiting to use it, since that brand of mane conditioner was supposed to be the best around, and she had paid top bits for it too. Her aura of magic surrounded the bottle as she unwrapped the towel from her mane and bent over the bowl of the sink.
Outside of Carousel Boutique, the calm of the early morning was broken by a high-pitched scream from the shop. Ponies at several blocks away jumped in fright, startled awake by the noise. When they realized the voice belonged to the town’s drama queen, they shrugged it off and continued about their various errands.
Rarity dropped the conditioner bottle. She stared at the mirror in horror, her mouth agape and eyes wide open. She was looking at her mane, moving her head around to look at it with her own eyes. “My… my mane…” she muttered, “It’s all… green!”
And indeed, Rarity’s mane had lost its usual indigo color, being replaced by an ugly, gloomy green. “No, no, no... this just can’t be happening!” she exclaimed, collapsing on the bathroom floor and putting her hooves in front of her face.
*****
Sweetie Belle, who was lying on her bed, burst out laughing after hearing Rarity’s scream. She rolled around on her bed, chuckling as hard as she ever had. She couldn’t believe how loud Rarity had screamed. It was nothing like those times when she would yell at her for messing up her work.
“Yes! She fell for it!” she said, climbing out of her bed and walking outside of her room.
She quietly made her way towards her sister’s bathroom in order to behold her work. Gently opening the door a crack, she giggled at the sight before her while doing her best to contain herself. Once she was sure she had the giggles (mostly) down, she gently knocked on the door. “Hey, Rarity! Why did you scream like that?” she asked.
Rarity opened her eyes, hearing her sister’s voice behind the bathroom door. She stood up from the floor and looked at the mirror once again, biting her lower lip.
“Is something wrong?” Sweetie questioned wryly, trying to keep her voice as serious as possible.
“Wrong? No! Nonsense! Everything’s perfect! Just perfect!” Rarity shouted, pacing around the bathroom.
“Are you sure? Because you sound anxious,” Sweetie said, sticking a hoof in her mouth to silence herself.
“Yes, Sweetie Belle! I’m fine! Now leave, if you don’t mind,” Rarity replied with a louder tone.
Sweetie couldn’t hold it any longer, she had to say it. “Is something wrong with you? Maybe... with your mane?” she asked, inching to the bathroom door.
Rarity gasped. She trotted towards the door and violently slammed it open with one hoof. Sweetie managed to jump back just in time to avoid being hit by the door. Rarity came out of the bathroom and stared at her little sister, whose smirk faded away almost instantly. “What do you mean with my mane?” Rarity roared, glaring at her sister.
“Well uh, I...” Sweetie Belle muttered. If looks could kill, the one Rarity was giving her in that moment would have made her drop dead. She backed away in instinct, suddenly having second thoughts about the plan.
“What did you do!?” Rarity repeated with a little more force. She grabbed her little sister roughly with her hooves, taking care not to hurt her. For now.
“Maybe... I... um... swapped your shampoo with something... else,” Sweetie answered nervously, looking to her hooves for moral support.
Rarity could have done any number of things to the little filly in front of her, but surprisingly, she turned around and marched back into the bathroom. She picked up the bottle in her magical grip and squeezed the contents, seeing a thick, green slime ooze out of the tube. All the while, Sweetie remained where she was, silently hoping for the best.
“You...” Rarity started, her voice dangerously quiet. “You put mane dye into my Aloe Vera shampoo!? Do you know how expensive that bottle was!? What have you done to me!?”
Sweetie could not help but snicker a little bit at the look on her sister’s face. Rarity’s eyes burned in anger and her teeth were clenched and bared in a primal display. Her right ear would occasionally twitch while her left eyelid followed suit. She was almost as stressed as when Sweetie and her friends broke her most expensive lamp in one of their sleepovers.
“Woah! Let me go!” Sweetie cried as Rarity suddenly grabbed her with magic and lightly shook her. Again, as not to cause any permanent bodily harm to her little sister. Sure, she could be a pain sometimes, but even ponies have their limits. “Rarity! I’m starting to get dizzy!” the filly squealed, pressing a hoof on her belly.
Rarity stopped shaking her sister, moving her right in front of her face. “Why, why, why, why!?” she fumed. Her horn stopped glowing and Sweetie Belle fell on the floor. The filly quickly stood up and looked up at her sister.
“I thought it would be funny!” the little unicorn replied woozily as her head swam. However, she had no idea that it only made her sister even more mad.
“Funny? Funny!?” Rarity roared.
“Yep, it doesn’t even look that bad!” Sweetie chuckled, staring at her sister’s messy, green mane. Rarity was about to burst out in anger, but she took a very deep breath.
“Look, bad?” Rarity softly asked as her right eye twitched. She lowered her head and scowled at her sister. “Doesn’t even look bad!?” she yelled, pointing at her indigo tail with her hoof. “Just look at my tail! The colors don’t even match!” She pointed at her mane. “And I hate green color on my mane! It makes me ill just to look at it!” She stared at her sister, who still had the same smirk on her face. “How is this crime against fashion funny to you!?”
“It’s not funny because of that! It’s funny because that’s exactly what we will do today, sis! Have fun!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.
“Fun? There is no way we-”
“You want to remove the green dye from your mane, don’t you?” the filly asked, interrupting her.
“Of course I do!” Rarity quickly replied, looking at Sweetie with suspicion. “What are you implying?”
“Oh nothing… just implying that I’m the only one with the tonic to remove the dye.”
Rarity’s eyes went wide open, shockingly staring at her sister. “What!?”
Sweetie smugly laughed. “That’s right! I’m the only one who can remove the green dye from your mane!”
“Nonsense!” Rarity turned back, trotting towards the bathroom sink. She turned the faucet to release cold water, wildly splashing her mane.
“Pointless!” Sweetie exclaimed from outside of the bathroom. “That dye won’t come out with water.”
Rarity closed the faucet and looked at the mirror. As her sister said, her green mane wasn’t even a bit indigo, not even green drops of water were on the sink. “You’re evil!” She ran back towards her sister, enveloping her once again with her magic. “Where is it? Give it to me!” she ordered.
“Nope. The tonic is hidden away in a secret place, so secret that you won’t ever find it,” the filly said, tilting her head to one side.
“Why are you doing this to me!?” Rarity whimpered, releasing her sister from her magic. “I… I look horrible! And you find it funny!?” she yelled, waving a hoof in the air.
“Well, you did make all of those funny faces when you found out,” the filly replied with a little bit of a grin on her face. “Now you’ll have to spend the day with me!”
“That’s incredibly childish and immature, even for you!” Rarity exclaimed, “I simply cannot believe that you, my sweet little sister, would sink so low to pull such a childish prank on me. And I refuse to fulfill any of your ridiculous demands.”
Sweetie stared at her sister with her jaw ever so slightly dropped. She had not expected such a reaction, after all the hours of planning and discussion. It was no secret that Rarity loved her mane, maybe sometimes even more than her, or so it seemed. “Okay, enjoy your new look,” she replied with a deadpan expression before starting to walk away.
“Fine then! I’ll just ask Twilight to remove the dye with one of her spells,” Rarity said, with a confident tone. She smiled at her sister, convinced she had won the battle, who turned back with a sly smirk on her face.
“Hah! And who do you think gave me the dye?” Sweetie chuckled.
“What!? Twilight gave you that dye!?”
“Yes, earlier this morning, I went to the library and asked her if she had some dyes, and she was kind enough to let me borrow one, along with the tonic to remove it,” the filly explained, “so, when you were sleeping, I snuck into the bathroom and swapped your shampoo for the dye!”
Rarity’s mouth went wide open, processing what her sister just said. She couldn’t believe that her sister would scheme such an evil plan to mess with her precious mane. “So what? I can still go visit her and ask her to remove the dye, and scold her for lending a mane dye to a filly like you!”
“Ha ha! Good luck with that!” Sweetie laughed, “after she gave me the dye, she told me that she was going to Canterlot to meet with the Princess, and she’s not coming back until later tonight,” she said, walking towards Rarity. “So there’s nothing you can do about it!”
“You... you... underhoofed, conniving little...” Rarity stammered, looking for the words to properly express her indignation, failing spectacularly. However, deep down she knew she had her in a corner and that she would not relent until she either exposed herself, or gave in to her petty demands. “Ugh. Okay, fine,” she muttered, resigned to her fate. Even though her sister was serious, she knew that she wouldn’t ask her to do anything crazy or extreme. At least, that’s what she was hoping.
A large grin formed on Sweetie’s face as her eyes sparkled in delight. She pranced around the room and hopped on her hooves in her best imitation of Pinkie Pie. This was going to be so much fun! “All right then! Let’s get started!” she squealed in delight as she bounced out of the room.
“Wait! At least let me brush my mane and tail!” Rarity quickly said, looking at both messy mane and tail. “I simply cannot walk around the place looking like… this.”
“Ugh, fine,” the filly groaned, “but hurry up! You take ages brushing those things!” she added, sitting on the floor.
Rarity nodded and walked back into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with her magic. Quietly, she opened the cabinet below her sink. “Too bad you don’t know that I’ve still got dyes left over from those Nightmare Night customers,” she softly whispered to herself, chuckling. In just a matter of minutes, she would be free of her blackmailing little sister!
However, she was stopped dead in her tracks when she dug into the cabinet. “Brown? No. This one is too cyan. Ew! This one is WAY too sparkly! Oh, Celestia no! I didn’t think it was possible, but all of these are worse than green!” Rarity kept levitating felt a fit coming on; trapped by her own sister and undone by her impeccable standards. There was no way she would be caught dead with any of those colours on her precious head.
Sweetie Belle went back to her spot, waiting for her sister to come out. She couldn’t believe that her dye trap was working so well thus far. Finally, the bathroom door opened and Rarity came out of it with her mane and tail perfectly combed. She sighed, looking at her green mane. “Very well then, let’s get this over with.”
“All right! Then come with me to the kitchen!” the filly chimed, hopping outside of the room. Rarity groaned, following her sister.
*****
Sweetie Belle quickly stood in front of the oven while Rarity looked at her in confusion. “Well?” she said.
“First… I want you to bake some cookies for us,” Sweetie said, withdrawing a bag of flour from the cabinet next to the oven.
“Huh? That’s it?” Rarity gasped, alleviated. “You went through all this trouble just to make me bake some cookies?”
“Sure,” the filly replied, putting the bag of flour over the dinner table. “Can they be coconut?”
“Fine then, I’ll bake your cookies, but after that, I want you to give me the tonic to remove this horrid dye from my mane!” Rarity said, opening the fridge with her magic. She withdrew a bottle of milk and a bar of butter from it, placing it over the table.
“Actually, could you to teach me how to bake cookies?” Sweetie asked, looking up at her sister.
“If you want baking lessons, why not ask Pinkie Pie or Applejack?” the fashionista asked, hoping she might do so and grant her time to search for the tonic. “They are far superior bakers than myself, even if they pay no attention whatsoever to outer appearances.” It was true, technically. The farmer had no sense of fashion or style at all beyond ‘rustic’ and Pinkie? Well, she had tried, but nothing could seem to change those curly locks.
“I know, but I still want you to teach me!” her sister asserted, much to Rarity’s chargin. “So what should we do first?” she asked, looking at the milk bottle.
“First, we make the dough,” Rarity relented, withdrawing a bowl from the cabinet with her magic, placing it on the table. Her sister could be very stubborn sometimes and she did not yet have the energy for a lengthy argument. Besides, the day was only just beginning, and she would find a way to get some alone time yet and figure out how to get out of her mess. “Please, be a dear and get the eggs from the fridge.”
Sweetie Belle did as instructed, opening the fridge and taking an egg with her hoof. “Just be careful not to bre-” Crack! The older unicorn jumped a little from the sudden noise, but felt her face fall just a little bit from the tell-tale sound. She sighed and rolled her eyes a little bit, not exactly surprised as she grabbed a handkerchief from the counter to help clean up the mess.
*****
After thirty minutes of baking, Rarity removed the tray from the oven and placed it on a counter next to it. Her coat wasn’t even stained with flour or dough. “Sweetie Belle, they’re ready!” she called.
“Finally!” Sweetie said. She had been playing with the leftover dough, making little balls with it. Unlike her sister, she had flour and dough all over her coat and hooves.
“Just look at you, you’re a mess!” Rarity exclaimed, wetting the handkerchief she used to clean the broken egg with the sink’s water. She levitated it and rubbed it against her sister, cleaning her coat and hooves. Sweetie groaned, hating baths, or anything of the sort, like most fillies her age.
“Okay, okay. It’s all clean now! Come on, let’s take the cookies to my room!” Sweetie chimed, quickly running outside of the kitchen.
Rarity growled in frustration, levitating the cookies from the tray and placing them on a plate. She walked towards her sister’s room at a brisk pace with the plate floating behind her in her magical field, anxious to get this day over with as quickly as possible. She opened the door and gazed at her sister, who was sitting in front of a small, pink table. There were a white pair of tea cups along with a tea pot.
“What’s this?” Rarity asked, looking at her sister.
“It’s a tea party!” Sweetie replied, grabbing the teapot with her mouth and carefully serving tea on the two cups. She placed the pot back on the table. “Come on, have a seat,” she said, pointing her hoof at the other side of the table.
Rarity sat down confusedly, levitating the plate of cookies on the table. “What’s all this about?” she asked, levitating her cup of tea, giving it a gentle sip. Strangely enough, the tea had a familiar flavor. “Sweetie Belle? Where did you get this tea from?” she asked out of curiosity.
“Oh! I just borrowed it from your tea cupboard and followed the instructions! And, it’s just been ages since we had a tea party, that’s all,” Sweetie explained, lowering her head to drink from her cup. She extended one hoof to grab one of the recently baked cookies and sniffed. “They smell good!” she exclaimed, placing the cookie in her mouth.
“Why, thank you, dear,” Rarity replied, levitating one cookie, giving it a tiny nibble. They were indeed good as her sister claimed. Even if bakery was not her talent, the cookies were good enough for her refined taste. “So… why are you doing this?” she asked.
“I told you! It’s just a tea party, for fun! Don’t be so suspicious,” the filly muttered with the cookie in her mouth.
“Ew! Sweetie Belle! What have I told you about talking with your mouth full?” Rarity scolded her little sister, who closed her mouth to finish her cookie.
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, will you give me the tonic now?” Rarity asked, “I’ve baked you cookies, as per your request.”
Sweetie finished eating her third cookie. “And they’re delicious!” she exclaimed happily, “but I still won’t give you the tonic.”
“What!?” Rarity quickly stood up, glaring at her little sister who happily enjoyed her tea, giving it a few noisy sips. Sweetie definitely had to work on her drinking manners. “But I baked the cookies and even taught you how to do it!”
“And that was just the beginning! We’ve still got plenty of things to do!” the unicorn filly said, grabbing another cookie and placing it in her mouth. Rarity desperately suppressed the urge to scream at that moment. What more could this filly possibly want out of her!? Now, if it were a dress, or lessons in etiquette, she would be happy to oblige... but this was her sister, of course.
“You know, your birthday isn’t that far off,” the older unicorn fumed, “I can still take back your present.”
“Don’t be that way, Rarity.” Sweetie Belle swallowed her cookie. “Come on! I know what we can do next!” she exclaimed, finishing the last of her tea. She stood up and walked behind Rarity, grabbing her tail. “Let’s do each other’s tails!”
Rarity looked at her sister, who began playing around with her indigo tail. It seemed that, as she said, she just wanted to have fun. “All right, I actually have some splendid ideas,” she said. Sure, it was not a complete makeover, but at least she was finally beginning to show some interest in fashion.
*****
Rarity did an exceptional job on Sweetie Belle’s tail. She mixed her purple and pink locks in a perfect braid, adding some blue ribbons for decoration. Sweetie wanted to look at it, turning her neck to get a better view, but her sister kept blocking her sight.
“There! Isn’t it gorgeous?” Rarity asked. Sweetie turned around and smiled, looking at her pretty tail. Strands of purple mixed seamlessly with braids of pink, tied together with some of the blue ribbon in a professional knot that only came out of years of experience. It was not a drastic change at all, just a couple of little thing here and there, but it still meant a lot to her that she would do such a nice job.
“Wow! It’s beautiful! Thank you, Rarity!” the happy filly said, hugging her sister in gratitude.
“You’re quite welcome, darling.” Rarity returned her hug. She hadn’t seen her so happy before. It felt good for her, hugging her sister. Even if she had dyed her hair the most horrible shade of green imaginable, it was her one and only sister after all. She certainly deserved a hug sometimes.
After a few seconds, Sweetie Belle finally broke the hug, looking at her sister. “Now it’s my turn!” she exclaimed, walking behind her sister.
“Yes, of course…” Rarity replied nervously. She knew that Sweetie Belle would mess up her tail, but she couldn’t just refuse, after all, she had the tonic to remove the horrid color from her mane.
Sweetie brushed her sister’s tail, holding the brush with her mouth. “Ow! Be more careful!” Rarity cried. Images of the horror that would befall her untouched tail surfaced into her mind as the filly worked. Gaudy ribbons, frayed ends, and maybe even glitter were at the top of her pile of fears. Although, she did her best to keep still for hope that this would be the last thing she wanted to do, and be free of this nightmare.
After a few minutes, Sweetie Belle was done with Rarity’s tail. “Okay, you can look now,” she quickly said.
Rarity turned her head and looked at her tail. She tried to hide her shocked expression with an awkward smile. Her tail was a mess. She had several irregular braids and badly tied ribbons. Her careful curls had undone themselves a little bit and the braids were uneven, but it was not nearly as bad as she had imagined. “Oh my, it’s... gorgeous,” she lied, nervously smiling at her sister.
“I’m glad you like it! For a second I thought you might get mad at me again, or something!” Sweetie happily giggled, her sister joining in, albeit nervously. “Maybe you can teach me how to do perfect braids, like you!”
“Certainly,” Rarity replied, “now, may I please have that tonic?” she sweetly asked, smiling at her sister.
“Not yet.”
“WHAT!?” Rarity shouted, barely containing her anger and frustration. Her patience was running out. “But I made you cookies and had a tea party with you and let you mess... around with my tail! What else could you possibly want to do!?” She immediately regretted saying that, but had long since mastered the impulse to shove her hoof into her mouth; most unbecoming of a lady.
“Um…” Sweetie Belle tapped her chin with her hoof. “Ah! I know!” she exclaimed, hopping onto her bed. She grabbed a pillow with her mouth and threw it at Rarity’s face. “Pillow fight!”
“Ugh!” Rarity cringed from the blow, glaring at her sister. She enveloped the pillow with her magical aura and raised it from the floor. “You’ve asked for it!” She threw the pillow towards her sister, starting the fight. Sweetie had fired the first shot, but she was about to end the war, once and for all!
The younger unicorn quickly picked up her other pillow with her mouth, barely dodging the feather stuffed projectile. Rarity hopped onto the bed as well, picking up her pillow with her mouth. Sweetie rapidly slammed her pillow against Rarity’s neck, who threw her pillow against her sister’s back.
“Ow! That hurt!” Sweetie cried, rubbing her face with her hoof after being hit by Rarity’s pillow.
“Oh, darling, I’m sorry, I-”
Before Rarity could finish her sentence, Sweetie Belle quickly threw her pillow against her face. “Ha ha! Gotcha!” she chuckled at the success of her surprise attack. Rarity laughed, picking up the pillow and returned fire. Both ponies kept playing for several minutes, the bed quickly becoming coated in a thin layer of feathers from the excited flailings and soft impacts.
After a while, both sisters lay down on the bed. Exhausted, they looked at each other and laughed. Their tails were undone thanks to the energetic pillow fight. The ribbons they had on them were scattered all over the bed and the floor.
“That was fun!” the unicorn filly said, looking at her sister who nodded in agreement.
“What’s next?” Rarity asked, climbing down from the bed, all thoughts of her green mane and previous reluctance all but vanquished from her mind. It had been too long, she thought, since she and her sister had any time to just have fun together.
Sweetie Belle giggled, tapping her hoof on her chin again. “Well, do you have some balloons?” she asked.
“I think I do in my room,” Rarity replied, “oh, right! Now that I think about it, I do have a balloon bag.” Normally, she would not be caught dead with a balloon of any sort outside of one of Pinkie Pie’s parties, but these had been leftover from... well, the memory of it still made her cringe in fear and disgust.
“Great! Let’s go!” Sweetie hopped off the bed, walking out of her room in excitement. Rarity climbed down from the bed and followed her.
Both ponies entered Rarity’s room. They began searching for the bag of balloons, opening wardrobes and cabinets. Rarity opened a drawer from her desk, finally finding the balloons. “Here they are!” she exclaimed, levitating them out of the drawer with her magic.
“Yay!” the filly cheered, running towards her sister. “Wait for me right here!” She grabbed the balloon bag with her mouth and ran out of the room.
“Sweetie Belle, wait!” Rarity called, but her sister kept running. She had forgotten to ask her why she wanted the balloons for in the first place, or why would she ask her to wait for her. She sat down on the floor, disposed to wait for her sister. By now, she had completely forgot that she wanted to be alone so that she could search for where that filly had hidden the tonic.
*****
Ten minutes had passed since Sweetie Belle left the room. Lying on her bed, Rarity impatiently sighed. “Oh, Rarity!” a sweet voice called from outside of the room just a moment later. “Can you come out here, please?”
Rarity climbed down her bed and cautiously walked towards the door, not sure what, exactly to expect from her. “Yes, Sweetie Belle?” she gently asked, walking out of the room.
Before she could even comprehend what was happening, a mass of yellow flashed before her eyes. The next thing she knew, there was water all over the place, her face and mane soaked as if she had just left the shower. She had her suspicions, but now they had come to fruition!
“Water balloon fight!” Sweetie cheered, running away from her sister who glared at her with anger.
“Why, you little rascal!” the wet unicorn roared in faux anger. Sweetie fled with a giggle, as the older mare bounded after her in hot pursuit. They carefully ran down the stairs back onto the ground floor of the boutique and ran circles around the cylindrical building before the filly finally bolted out of the back door and into the yard where she has stored her arsenal.
By the time Rarity had followed her, she had a second balloon at the ready.
“Ha ha! Too slow!” Sweetie Belle giggled as her second balloon connected with her sister’s face. The filly grabbed one of the balloons in the pile with her hoof, taking aim at her sister.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for this!” Rarity exclaimed, lifting one balloon from the ground with her magic, throwing it at her sister, who easily avoided it.
Sweetie threw her balloon towards Rarity, quickly picking up another one from the ground as the other honed in on its target. The older unicorn barely dodged the balloon, swiftly throwing another balloon towards her sister, scoring a hit on her this time. “Aha! I got you!” Rarity chuckled, looking at her soaked sister, who returned the attack. The unicorn could not avoid the balloon in time.
The ponies kept throwing the water balloons at each other, enjoying the time they were spending together despite getting all wet. Rarity had a certain advantage thanks to her magic, but Sweetie Belle had her compact size, meaning she was harder to hit and could hide behind more things. Finally, after a few minutes, there were no balloons left, and the fight was over. Both ponies were completely wet.
“I’ve won!” Rarity claimed, pressing one hoof against her chest.
“No you didn’t! I totally hit you more times than you did!” Sweetie Belle complained.
“Well, it doesn’t matter, darling,” Rarity laughed. “We had fun, did we not?”
“Totally!” the filly happily replied, hugging her sister again.
Rarity returned her embrace before quickly realizing the toll the battle had inflicted upon them. “Oh, but just look at us!” She broke the hug, looking at her sister. “We’re soaking wet! We must take a hot bath before we catch a cold.”
“Only if we can have it together!” Sweetie responded, smiling at her sister and walking back to the boutique. She still hated baths, but she supposed she could make an exception just this once, if Rarity would join her like they would sometimes before she moved out.
*****
The water poured out of the faucet and into the tub like a cascading waterfall she had seen on one of those videos Ms. Cheerilee would bring in to show the class. Warm steam gentle rose from the surface as Rarity added some scented bath bubbles to the mix. The small filly inhaled deeply, savouring the smell of fresh cut lilacs before releasing a happy sigh.
Once it was finished, she happily hopped into the tub, splashing her sister a little and getting some into the floor. Rarity simply smiled and slid in after her, sighing herself as the warm water moved up her sides. “Ah, now this is what I call sisterly bonding,” she giggled, “such a shame we don’t get to do anything like this anymore, right, Sweetie Belle?”
“Yeah... speaking of, why did you leave home? Didn’t you like being with mom, dad and me all the time anymore?” the filly asked, splashing the water with her hooves idly.
“Darling, I didn’t leave you, or our parents,” Rarity replied, turning the faucet off before the tub overflowed. “You know, I couldn’t stay with mom and dad forever, I had to leave the nest someday. I couldn’t run a boutique at home.”
“I guess, but still, I was sad when you left.” The filly lowered her head, looking at her hooves splashing the water some more.
“At least you got my room, didn’t you? Remember how you always were barging inside because you liked it a lot?” Rarity chuckled.
“Well yeah, I liked it… but after you left, the room kept me reminding about you.” Sweetie stopped playing around with her hooves, looking down into the water at her own rippling reflection sadly. “It wasn’t the same without you.”
“It’s not like we’ve stopped seeing each other, right? You’re here with me almost as much as you are at home.” She looked around for the soap and noticed the shampoo bottle filled with the green dye resting by the sink. Suddenly, her memories of the morning bubbled to the surface in a torrent of realization. “Wait, the tonic!”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle raised her head, looking at her sister.
“The tonic to remove the dye! Can you please tell me where is it?” Rarity asked.
“I, um,” the filly mumbled, looking down at the water. “I can’t tell you.”
“WHAT!?” the unicorn’s eyes shot open, deeply glaring at her little sister. “Come on! I baked cookies with you, and the tea party and the pillow fight and-”
“Rarity!” Sweetie interrupted her sister, staring at her with a guilty look.
“What do you mean you can’t tell me? You forgot where it is or-”
“No it’s not that!” the filly interrupted her again. “There wasn’t any tonic from the beginning,” she muttered.
“No tonic? What? Why, you little...! Why would you?” Rarity asked.
“Listen!” she exclaimed, “I lied about the tonic, there’s no tonic to remove the dye at all.”
“WHAT!?” she shouted again, with anger beginning to boil over. “Well then, how am I supposed to remove the dye now!? I’m going to be stuck with this hideous green mane FOREVER!” She threw herself over the side of the tub with a hoof up to her forehead. If she were not soaking wet, she would have preferred her couch since at least then she would be hurting her back with her theatrics.
“The dye can easily come out with... lemon juice,” Sweetie confessed, staring back at her sister.
“Lemon juice?” her older sister replied, sitting up in the tub again. “But… why would you lie about a tonic? I mean, the baking, the tea party, the pillow fight, the water balloon fight… what was that all about?” Rarity asked.
“Well, you said that I’m here as much as I am at home,” Sweetie Belle said, moving closer to her sister. “But, whenever I’m here, you’re too busy making a dress or talking with your friends… and it just feels like... like I wasn’t with you at all.” She felt her eyes were getting teary. “All I wanted to do was to spend some time with you! That’s what all this day has been about! To have fun with you!” she said, shedding tears from her eyes.
“Sweetie Belle, I… I had no idea you felt like this,” Rarity gasped, moving closer to her. She felt her eyes were getting teary as she realized that she was right. “I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, tightly hugging her sister. “But why? You wouldn’t torment me just to get your way. You’re the sweetest and most innocent filly in Equestria. Why couldn’t you tell me that you wanted to spend more time with me?”
Sweetie Belle knew that her sister was right. Everything she did... it was wrong. She would not lie and manipulate her sister just to get what she wanted.
“Rarity, I...” Sweetie began to cry. She hugged her sister back. “I thought you would ignore me if I had told you right away that I wanted to be with you...” she caught her breath and tried to continue with her explanation. “So I lied to you... and I’m really sorry for that! I only wanted to spend some time with you,” she whimpered.
“Well... I suppose I can forgive you,” Rarity whispered, “just so long as you promise to TALK to me about your feelings, rather than pranking me like that, okay? And... I’m sorry if I made you feel as if I were ignoring you. I mean, you do get on my nerves sometimes, but that’s just what little sisters do.”
“I’m sorry too… you know, for pulling this silly prank on you and lying to you... Even if my friends thought it would be funny,” Sweetie Belle squealed, feeling the soft, soothing strokes of Rarity’s hoof on her mane.
“Don’t worry, Sweetie. I forgive you,” her sister replied while stroking her wet mane. The comment about her friends completely slipped past her, focused only on comforting her sibling. “Never forget that I will always love you, no matter what. Okay? I love you, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle kept shedding tears, pressing her head against Rarity’s face. “I love you too, Rarity.”
The two sisters kept hugging for several minutes, unwilling to let go.
*****
Rarity was in the bathroom with a big glass filled with lemon juice. She placed her mane on the sink, and poured a squirt of the juice over a lock. As Sweetie Belle said, the lemon juice began to remove the green dye from her mane, returning it to its usual indigo glory. She smiled in happiness, quickly pouring the rest of the juice all over her entire mane.
She levitated a towel and gently dried her mane with it so she would not get any lemon juice in her eyes. She removed it, looking back at her beautiful and regal indigo mane. The unicorn sighed in relief, levitating the towel and placing it back to its hook.
“See? I told you it would work,” Sweetie said, standing behind Rarity.
“Yes, my mane! My beautiful mane!” Rarity squeaked, pressing her mane against her face. Her sister giggled. “But there’s just one more thing...” the unicorn turned her head towards Sweetie. “Why would Twilight lend you a dye which can only be removed with lemon juice?”
“Oh, well, I actually said that I needed it for a school project, so she gave it to me,” Sweetie confessed. She wasn’t proud of lying to her sister’s friend. “She didn’t give me any tonic, she only told me that if I got stained with it, I would have to use lemon juice to remove it.”
“Well that explains it,” Rarity said, washing away the lemon juice from her mane. “You’ll go to the library tomorrow and apologize for lying to her,” she ordered.
“All right…” Sweetie sighed, lowering her head in shame.
“And no more swapping my shampoo for dyes. Am I clear?” Rarity added, drying her washed mane once again in order to make sure she had eliminated all of the juice and dye.
“I got it! Apologize to Twilight and no more mane shampoo pranks,” the filly recited.
“Good,” Rarity replied, only to see the somewhat sad expression on her sister’s face. She probably thought that now that she had her mane back to normal, their day together had ended. Sure, she had a few orders to finish off, but they would not be due until after the weekend. “Hey, Sweetie? How about if you and I spend the rest of the day together? Just the two of us, as sisters.”
“Yay!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, bouncing in her hooves in excitement.
*****
The next morning, Sweetie Belle woke up earlier than usual. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. After breakfast, Rarity went to take her usual morning shower, not before reminding Sweetie Belle that she had to go over to Twilight’s library and apologize to her for lying about the dye. After that, sadly, she had work to catch up on, so they could not spend any time together until later that night.
It was okay though, she and her friends had plans today to finally get their cutie marks! They were thinking of trying something they read about called ‘underwater theatre’ so she had packed a bunch of scuba gear onto her wagon. However, a tap on her shoulder alerted her to the presence of her two best friends, startling her a little bit. “Oh! Hey, girls!” she chirped.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle! How did the prank go?” Scootaloo energetically questioned, looking at her friend who gave her a disappointed look.
“It didn’t turn out exactly as well as I expected,” Sweetie answered.
“Well, that’s too bad, I really thought it would work,” Scootaloo said, looking at her friend. “So anyway, are you ready to get our cutie marks today?”
“Oh sorry, I have to go over Twilight’s place and apologize to her first,” Sweetie replied.
“Apologize? Why? Because of the prank?” Apple Bloom asked.
“No, I lied to her about borrowing the dye I used to pull the prank on Rarity,” the unicorn filly explained.
“Ah bet Rarity got really mad at you,” the yellow filly said, smiling mischievously at her friend.
“You have no idea! I’ve never seen her so mad in my life!” Sweetie exclaimed, “but, in the end, everything worked out, so it’s not a big deal,” she giggled, closing the boutique’s door behind her.
Suddenly, a loud shriek came from inside the boutique, startling the three fillies. “SWEETIE BELLE!!!” Rarity loudly shouted with a high pitched voice.
“Whoa! What was that?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at Sweetie Belle who laughed out loud.
“Well, she said no more pranks with her mane shampoo, but she didn’t say anything about her tail shampoo!”
