As The Lily Grows

Chapters

Part 1: Home Cooked Harmony
Part 2a: Suddenly Sweetie
Part 2b: For Whom the Belle Tolls

Part 1: Home Cooked Harmony

“You want me to do what?” Rarity’s voice was filled with incredulity and more than a hint of disdain as she turned to face her mother, her nose wrinkling as she squinted at the pink-coated unicorn. Her mother, Cookie Crumbles, rolled her eyes from the other side of the large kitchen and gave her head a shake.

“Honestly, dear, your hearing seems to be getting worse the older you get!” she said with a smile as she peered into the oven that sat before her. “I swear I have to repeat myself more when you’re around these days than when you were a filly.” Rarity’s eyes narrowed indignantly, but before she could make a sharp retort about age Cookie sighed. “I said that if you’re so keen on us meeting this mystery mare of yours, then maybe you should just bring her over for dinner this weekend. I’d be more than happy to cook up a good old-fashioned meal for her!”

Despite the warm, enticing scent of freshly baked apple pie wafting through the sunlit kitchen, Rarity felt as though she had just been offered a platter of dirty socks to sample. She wrinkled her nose and gave a small shake of her head. “W-well that’s certainly lovely of you to offer, Mother, but I-,”

“Who’s comin’ over this weekend?” Rarity winced as her father, Hondo Flanks, shoved his brown-maned head into the kitchen with his customary squinty smile, his mustache twitching as he took a deep sniff of the kitchen. “Mmmmmmmmmmm, it smells wonderful in here, Cookie! Whatcha makin’?”

“I told you before, sweetheart- I’m making apple pies today!” Cookie smiled up at her husband. “And Rarity’s marefriend is coming over this weekend to meet us! We’re going to have a nice big dinner for her.”

Rarity’s eyes widened and she quickly raised a hoof and gave it a brisk shake. “Oh Mother, we never agreed to-,”

“Oh that’ll be swell!” Hondo exclaimed as he stepped fully into the kitchen, his mustache twitching back and forth as he edged closer to the oven and Cookie. “It’ll be great to finally meet her, won’t it, Cookie?” He gave his daughter another squinty smile, his eyes pressed almost closed by the broadness of his grin. “But it’ll be like meeting her again, since Rarity here talks about her so much!”

“Ooooh that’s very true, Hondo!” Cookie giggled behind her hoof as she checked the pie through the oven’s window once more. “Our Rarity can hardly stop talking about her, so it feels like we know her already!”

To her chagrin Rarity felt her cheeks flush as her parents pointed out her tendency to bring up Octavia in everyday situations. Well, I can’t help it if she’s always near to my thoughts, the unicorn thought with a silent sniff. And that means that she’ll come up in conversation! Is that so wrong?

“But it’ll be really great to meet her in person and the like,” her father continued as he edged towards the counter next to the oven, where a small group of three previously completed apple pies sat on a cooling rack. “After all, I haven’t had the chance ta’ tell her all about my college hoofball days!”

Rarity’s eyes widened in horror. Oh dear Celestia no…

To her credit, Cookie brought her head up away from the oven just long enough to arch a stern eyebrow at her husband. “Now Hondo,” she chided, “this’ll be our first time meeting the girl. Try not to get too carried away, okay? I’m sure the hoofball stories can wait until another time.”

Hondo’s mustache seemed to deflate just a touch as his blue eyes widened in shock. “But… but Cookie…”

The purple-haired mare reached out a hoof and patted her husband on the cheek. “Awww, chin up, big guy- there’s always Hearthswarming! That’s when you can really tell your stories!”

Oh yes, he really can tell those stories… because he’s half tucked in to a barrel of cider, thought Rarity as her ears drooped towards her mane. Hearthswarming Eve is never complete without an hour of Father going on about the ‘good old days’ in college…

“Well you’ve got me there,” Hondo said with a grin, his right hoof rising to rub the back of his neck. “Those were some good ol’ days, though, and I can’t wait ta’ tell her about ‘em!” He chuckled before dropping his hoof back to the floor. “But don’t you worry, Rarity,” he said as he turned his gaze to her, “I’ll save those stories for another time. I promise we’ll make her first visit here one that she’ll always remember!”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Rarity mumbled. “A-and anyway,” she said a bit louder, “I never said that-,”

“Who’s coming to visit?” Rarity’s mouth clamped shut and she winced as the exuberant voice of her younger sister Sweetie Belle burst into the kitchen followed quickly by the filly herself, her white form bouncing into the space with a bright-eyed smile. “Is somepony going to be coming to visit this weekend?”

Hondo grinned. “Well good morning Sweetie! What are you up to, sugar plum?” The small unicorn filly darted across the kitchen to nuzzle her father affectionately, her dual-tone mane mixing slightly as she rubbed her head against his chest.

“Oh, not much right now, but the Crusaders and I are going to be heading out after lunch to try and get our cutie marks again.” Hondo’s grin broadened beneath his mustache.

“Is that so? And what are you three fillies gonna try today, hmm?”

“Well… that’s kind of up for debate,” Sweetie said with a sigh. “Scootaloo seems to think we should try high wire walking…” Rarity’s eyes widened, and on the other side of her father Cookie’s head shot back into view, her eyes as wide as Rarity’s as she held a pie aloft with her magic.

“H-high wire walking?” she stammered, her horn sparking as the pie wavered in her magical grip. “That’s… that’s lovely, Sweetie Belle!” she managed after a moment, but Rarity could hear the torrents of concern in her mother’s voice even if Sweetie couldn’t. “But, um… will it be safe..?”

Sweetie Belle’s ears drooped against her mane as her father sorted her dual colored mane back to where it belonged with a hoof. “No… Scootaloo thinks that putting the wire close to the ground ruins the challenge, and she thinks that a safety net would make us not try very hard to stay up there… so it probably wouldn’t be very safe at all.” Cookie’s pie slipped an inch or two towards the floor as her magic flickered, but after a quick breath Sweetie smiled happily and her ears perked back up. “BUT, I have an idea that I think will be much more interesting than walking on a high wire.”

Unable to maintain her silence, Rarity chimed in. “And what, pray tell, is your idea?”

“Investment banking!” Sweetie chirped, her eyes sparkling in the morning sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window. Rarity resisted the urge to snort, and instead satisfied herself with a subtle roll of her eyes. Only my little sister would think of something like that… “I’ve been reading a lot about it, and-,”

“You have?” Cookie interrupted, her brow furrowed as she finally righted the pie she was levitating and moved it to the cooling rack with the other three pies. “And where have you been reading about… investment banking?”

“At Twilight’s library! She’s got a huge book on it, and I started reading it one day when I was bored.” Sweetie raised a hoof and clenched it determinedly, her tiny brow knitting into a mask of purpose. “I know lots about it now, and I’m sure I can get the Crusaders to try that today instead of dumb ol’ high wire walking.” The small unicorn held her pose for a moment, but she quickly returned her hoof to the floor and turned her smile to Rarity. “But that’s later- right now I wanna know who’s coming to visit this weekend!”

Rarity smiled benevolently at her little sister. “Oh Sweetie… never you mind about that, darling. Nopony is-,”

“Rarity’s marefriend is comin’ ta visit,” Hondo chimed in as he scooted closer to the pies that sat on the cooling rack, his eyes locked onto their crispy crusts with greedy intensity. “She’s gonna come by and have a nice dinner with us!”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened until Rarity was certain that they were going to pop right out of her head, and before Rarity could so much as breathe a word to contradict her father’s statement the filly leaped towards her, her green eyes bright and her ears standing straight up.

“REALLY?! You mean… you mean Octavia is gonna come HERE?! For DINNER?! That’s so COOL!!” Sweetie’s bounced on her hooves so rapidly that she appeared to simply vibrate in place with her happiness. “I can’t believe it! I’ve been waiting SO LONG to meet her and now she’s coming HERE!”

“Yes, it’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Cookie said as she swatted Hondo’s nose with a dish towel, driving him back away from the cooling pies. “I’m going to make a wonderful dinner for everyone, and we’re going to spend the evening getting to know your sister’s marefriend!”

Hondo wrinkled his nose at his wife and turned to grin at his youngest daughter. “That’s right! And I’m sure we’ll all get ta’ take turns tellin’ all sorts of stories about you an’ about Rarity-,”

Alarm bells suddenly rang in Rarity’s mind, and with a sharp intake of breath she waved her hoof rapidly in front of her. “Oh no no no-,”

“Ooh! Ooh! Can the Crusaders come over that night?!” Sweetie Belle interjected, her excited tones washing over Rarity’s objections. “I’ve told them all about Octavia and I know they’d love to meet her! OH! Maybe we can put on a play or something for her!”

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, Sweetie Belle!” Cookie draped the towel over the rack next to their sink and gave the filly a bright smile. “Or maybe the three of you can sing for her! She’s a very musical pony, from what Rarity tells us, and I’m sure she’d just love that!”

Rarity’s already uneasy smile slowly melted into a frown, and she felt her stomach start to clench. “Actually mother, I’d really rather we didn’t-,”

“I’m sure we can sing something!” Sweetie chirped. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have been practicing really hard and we all sound really good together now, so I just KNOW Octavia’d love it!”

“Sweetie Belle, honestly, I really don’t think-,” said Rarity a bit more firmly, but once again her words were swept away by another.

“Well that’d be just about as fine a dinner as I could think of!” Hondo crowed, his mustache twitching with delight. “My two girls both home for dinner, meetin’ my future daughter-in-law AND a singin’ show?! No other stallion in Equestria has it so good!”

“THAT’S QUITE ENOUGH!!”

Rarity’s words, fueled by anger, embarrassment and frustration, flooded the warm kitchen and chased away every trace of the previous conversation. Hondo, Cookie and Sweetie all turned their eyes to Rarity, varying degrees of surprise written on their faces as their gazes met hers. The unicorn’s face was burning and she knew that she must be blushing terribly, but she would not be dissuaded. She let out a vexed sigh and gave her head a shake before speaking again.

“That’s enough. This has gotten quite out of hand, and I shan’t stand here and let it go on any further. Mother?” She turned towards Cookie, Rarity’s ears drooping slightly as she tried her best not to growl at her mother. “I appreciate your offer, but I wasn’t searching for an invitation to dinner. I was simply telling you that Octavia has expressed a desire to meet you, father and Sweetie Belle, and that I was trying to decide how exactly to do that. Father,” she turned towards the stallion and didn’t try to restrain her frown, “I certainly do NOT want your first meeting with Octavia to be filled with rambling about your college days, thank you very much! She is a pony of refined high society and I’m certain she has no interest in hoofball.” Her eyes narrowed at him, and to her satisfaction the older stallion flinched at the sternness of her gaze. “No matter what venue we choose for this meeting, I would ask that you restrain yourself, if only for that night.”

Now her eyes fell to Sweetie Belle, the poor filly staring up at her as if she’d suddenly turned into a hydra. “And Sweetie Belle…” Her words paused at her lips as a look of deep sadness began to build in Sweetie’s green eyes, and after a moment Rarity actually closed her mouth, took a deep breath and began again, more gently this time. “Sweetie, I’m afraid that I’m not sure I want to have Octavia come to our house for dinner, so any plans you might have had for…” She paused, her mind frantically going through every possible way to politely say ridiculous mess. “…for entertainment will have to be put on hold.”

“But… why don’t you want her to come to dinner here?” asked Sweetie, her smooth brow furrowing as she frowned. “I mean, that’s what we do when we want to get to know a pony better, right? We’ve invited our friends over lots of times.” Rarity sighed quietly and nodded.

“You’re right, we’ve invited our friends over- but Octavia is much, much more than a friend to me and her first impression of our family is very important.” Rarity turned and took the three steps to her left that separated her from the family’s refrigerator. “I want to make as good of an impression as we possibly can, and I’m afraid that having her over for a dinner- no matter how lovely it is, mother, and I’m certain that it would be- won’t be quite enough.”

“Well… why not?” asked Cookie, her tone cool and her features composed. Rarity met her gaze evenly, but despite her collected exterior the unicorn felt her heart clench in her chest at her mother’s tone. That’s the same kind of tone she used when I told them I didn’t want to let them meet my first coltfriend… “It’s a wonderful way to get to know one another, and it’s very warm and personal. What could be wrong with having Octavia come here?”

Rarity turned and paced away from the refrigerator, her hooves clopping softly against the tile floor. “Please don’t take it personally, mother… it’s just that-,” the unicorn sighed and her ears drooped against her mane, “…Octavia is half Neighponese. Most of her family still lives in Neighpon and Octavia is very much immersed in their culture. She uses their system of manners which is extensive and she lives by their etiquette which is strict and specific… and in Neighpon it is considered proper to take a pony out somewhere when you first meet them.” Rarity waved a hoof as she paced, her brow furrowed. “I-it’s all about showing them how highly you think of them, and inviting them to your home is considered all but rude because it’s the cheapest option one could take…” She turned and faced Cookie from across the table. “I’m aware that in Equestria it’s considered a mark of trust and hospitality to invite a pony into your home, but she simply does not do things that way and I’m worried that if we don’t do something grand she’ll think that you think less of her…”

Now Cookie’s eyes softened, and after a moment of silence she moved past Hondo and Sweetie to stand next to Rarity. “Now dear,” she said with a smile, “I really don’t think you need to worry about all of that…”

“But I do worry, mother!” Rarity took a step away from Cookie, her ears flattening themselves against her mane. “I worry that one of us will say something we shouldn’t, or do something that offends her, o-or make her feel underappreciated…” She fell silent, and several seconds passed before she exhaled sharply. “I don’t know… I sound like a blithering idiot, don’t I..?”

“Well I wouldn’t say that,” Cookie muttered with a gentle smile. “Although if you’re asking my opinion I do think that you’re over-thinking this whole ordeal a bit.”

“…maybe I am,” Rarity admitted, shaking her head slowly. “Maybe I am worrying about this unnecessarily… but it’s very important to me, she’s very important to me, and I just want everything to be perfect when she meets you.” The white unicorn raised her eyes and gave her mother a weak smile. “That’s not too much to ask, is it..?”

Now Cookie smiled and a gentle laugh escaped her lips as she reached a hoof out and patted Rarity comfortingly on the shoulder. “It just might be asking too much, dear. After all, nopony is perfect- least of all your family. Right, Hondo?” Her left ear twitched, no doubt expecting his response to be quick and affirmative. What she received, however, was the sound of silence from the kitchen behind her, and after a moment Rarity shared a frown with her mother. “Hondo?” she asked again, and when silence once more answered her she turned towards the rest of the kitchen, dragging Rarity along with her.

The sight that greeted them forced Rarity to physically stifle a laugh with a hoof to her lips. Standing at the other side of the large kitchen table was her father and sister, their faces as perfectly innocent as they could possibly make them… an innocence that was betrayed by the sticky apple pie filling and perfectly flaky crust particles that clung tenaciously to their white muzzles. Oh dear, Rarity thought as her eyes darted to her mother. That was probably not the best thing that they could have done…

“Hondo…” Cookie hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “Did you eat one of my pies?”

Silence filled the kitchen as Hondo’s eyes darted first to the left, then to the right as he tried desperately to think of something to say. It was a behavior that Rarity had noted in her father many years before and her observations had never been wrong: it was the face he made when he’d absolutely, positively, without a doubt one hundred percent messed up and was trying with all his might to find a way to talk his way out of it. After a moment his eyes darted to Sweetie Belle standing next to him, and just when it appeared that he was ready to speak Sweetie made her move.

“Well… y-you just tell me what’s going on, okay Rarity?” she said as she sidled towards the door as nonchalantly as she could. “J-just say the word and the Cutie Mark Crusaders will perform whatever you’d like… okaygottagobye!” The small unicorn gave the group one last pie-covered smile before darting across the kitchen and out the door so quickly that Rarity had to blink to prove to her brain that Sweetie had moved at all.

Next to the table Hondo broke out into a very visible sweat. “W-well, honey buns, I…” He gulped audibly as Cookie advanced on him slowly, her muzzle scrunching exponentially as she closed the distance between them. “I-I just couldn’t resist… th-they smelled so good, a-and..!”

“Hondo Flanks, you get your hiney OUT of my kitchen right this INSTANT!” Cookie’s magic ignited and snatched the dish towel from its rack; a deft flick of Cookie’s horn brought the towel sailing to her side, and as Hondo turned to make a break for it himself the pink unicorn gave the towel a surprisingly expert twist then flicked it, the stinging blow aimed for the stallion’s retreating form. The tip of the towel snapped Hondo firmly across his backside with a loud snap that echoed in the kitchen and elicited a loud yelp from the stallion. Despite knowing that her father had earned that well-aimed snap on the rear Rarity winced in sympathy. If there is one thing you don’t want to earn from mother it is a towel snapping, she reflected. The normally jovial pink mare was uncannily accurate with a twisted dish towel, and as a filly Rarity had earned more than her fair share of snapped rumps when she had been caught trying to get into the cookie jar.

“I’m sorry, Cookie!” the stallion called as he hurried off into the rest of the house. “If it’s any consolation, they’re delicious!”

“It’s not, you pie-thief!” Cookie’s magic re-twisted the towel as she hurried after Hondo, but as she reached the door of the kitchen she paused and turned back to Rarity. “Oh, before I forget, Rarity…”

The unicorn’s ears perked up and the sight of the towel held at the ready in her mother’s magic made her stand up just a bit straighter. “Y-yes, mother?”

A gentle smile touched Cookie’s lips, and Rarity felt her muscles relax. “You should talk to Octavia about this. I know you’re concerned with how she’ll feel about us, but if she’s prepared to meet us she should help you choose how and where. If she really would feel more comfortable in a fancy restaurant then you know that we’ll do that… but I would love to have her come here. Promise me that you’ll talk to her about it?”

“I…” Rarity watched Cookie for a moment before sighing quietly and nodding. “I promise I’ll talk to her, mother.”

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me..!” She turned and hurried out of the kitchen, her voice rising in the rest of the house as she proclaimed Hondo’s hide forfeit in payment for her missing pie.

Rarity gave her head a small shake as the sound of her parents running through the house echoed around her, and after a moment she let out a larger, more resigned sigh. “I suppose that’s my only option, isn’t it… ask Octavia whether she’d rather have a quiet, beautiful dinner at a fancy restaurant…” A sharp snap echoed throughout the house followed by a loud yelp from Hondo, and Rarity winced. “…or dinner here. I’m sorry, mother, but I think I know what she’s going to say…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

Rarity’s eyes widened and she inhaled sharply in surprise- an unfortunate thing to try and do when one is drinking tea. Her throat closed, her windpipe opened and part of the tea made an unpleasant journey into a part of the unicorn’s body that it should not, causing her eyes to widen even further as she quickly set her tea cup and saucer down onto the table with a clatter. Her eyes watered as she fought the urge to cough and spit her tea across the table at Octavia, who set her own cup down hastily at Rarity’s distress. The unicorn raised her left hoof at the gray earth pony and her right to her own muzzle, warring with her body’s natural responses until she was finally able to swallow the mouthful of tea that had almost choked her.

As soon as her mouth was clear she brought her left hoof back to her mouth and coughed loudly, the earthy scent of the tea surging into her nostrils as a minute amount of the liquid found its way into her sinuses. She coughed raggedly as her eyes filled with tears, the tension of her body and her own embarrassment bringing a brilliant flush of heat to her cheeks. That was beautiful, Rarity… she thought as her coughing slowly subsided. Choke on your tea, why don’t you.

“Are you all right, Rarity?” asked Octavia, her eyes full of concern as she leaned across the table, her own tea forgotten. “I’m sorry if something I said upset you…”

“N-no, darling, please… i-it wasn’t that I’m upset…” Rarity gasped as she tried to regulate her breathing. “It’s just that…” Her magic grasped her tea cup and levitated it up to her lips as she paused to take a sip of the warm, soothing liquid. Gently, Rarity… gently now… The tea warmed the ragged edges of her throat and eased the discomfort enough that the unicorn felt like she could actually speak cohesively once more. “It’s just that… well, I truthfully didn’t expect you to like the idea one bit.”

Octavia sat back as her brow furrowed into a frown. “And why would you think that? I did say that I wished to meet your family, did I not?”

“Well yes, darling, but I thought you meant somewhere… you know… public.” Rarity winced as vivid images of taking Octavia into her parent’s modest home flashed through her mind. “I thought that with your Neighponese upbringing that you would feel more comfortable going to a restaurant to meet them for the first time, that’s all… that is to say…” The unicorn sighed and sat up straighter on her cushion, her right hoof rising to gesture around Octavia’s beautifully decorated home. “My parent’s home simply does enjoy your refined taste and… clean aesthetic vision.”

“Clean aesthetic vision” was the best way to describe Octavia’s beautiful apartment in Canterlot’s upscale housing district. It was the kind of place that Rarity had only dreamed of living in, and despite the fact that Octavia did technically have neighbors all around her the unicorn never heard so much as a peep out of them. A very heavy Neighponese influence draped itself over the home, evident in all of Octavia’s furnishings: a low couch and chairs sat atop a polished hardwood floor in the main living space, clean lines dictated the warm neutral tones of the walls in every room, and delicate rice paper screens divided the larger space of the very open apartment design in strategic places, allowing a beautiful amount of diffused light to fill the home from the three large windows on the southernmost wall. Octavia’s appliances were all black, a color that perfectly matched the marble of her countertops and the polished wood of her low dining room table that sat close to the windows, surrounded by seating mats and cushions. It was, in Rarity’s opinion, the kind of home that every pony in Equestria should envy and attempt to emulate… and certainly a far cry from her parent’s own modest accommodations.

“I mean… your apartment is beautiful, Octavia…” Rarity’s ears drooped as she allowed her hoof to fall back to her side. “You’re so used to living in beautiful surroundings in a beautiful city, a-and to invite you to my parent’s home, a large old house filled with trinkets and knick-knacks tucked away in simple little Ponyville… it seems so…” she let out a soft sigh. “…so beneath you.” Her gaze dropped to the tea that sat before her, and she felt her words retreat away from her mouth until Octavia’s gray hoof reached across the table and gently touched her own.

“Rarity... you aren’t afraid that I will think less of them, less of you if I see where you grew up, are you?” Her words were as gentle as morning mist upon the coat, but in spite of the tenderness that filled each syllable Rarity winced, her ears drooping towards her violet mane.

“…perhaps,” she conceded softly. “But I was also remembering what you said about Neighponese etiquette, and about how important it was to treat a pony as an honored guest by taking them out somewhere.” The honesty that filled her mind as she spoke was still a strange sensation to Rarity, despite having been with Octavia for six months. There had been a time not too long ago when the unicorn would never have been so direct, so blunt in revealing her reasons behind doing what she did. It seems as though Octavia is having quite an effect on me, she thought wryly. “That’s all, darling. I simply wanted you to feel important, honored… loved.”

Silence wrapped itself around them in Octavia’s beautiful apartment, and it held the two mares gently in its warm embrace for several long moments before the earth pony broke it with one of her soft, breathy laughs.

“Oh my sweet gem,” she said softly, her hoof stroking Rarity’s leg tenderly. “You needn’t worry about such things, because when I am with you… I always feel important and honored. And most of all,” Octavia whispered, her hoof squeezing Rarity’s leg ever so slightly, “you always make me feel loved no matter where we are or what we’re doing… my Rarity.”

Rarity’s eyes rose from her tea cup as a now familiar tingle rose in her chest, a teasing, tickling sensation that made the mare feel giddy in her stomach. She knows very well what her laugh does to me… she thought as she met Octavia’s amethyst gaze, her heart pounding loudly in her ears as she curled her foreleg around Octavia’s.

“My love…” The unicorn sighed and gave her head a slow shake as her apprehensions and uncertainties fell away in the presence of Octavia’s confidence, leaving behind only a feeling of embarrassment to fill the void. “…I’m sorry. I was just being silly again, wasn’t I?” She smiled sheepishly, and her ears folded slightly towards her head. “I seem to be doing a lot of that when it comes to us… always leaping at shadows, always trying to make certain things go off a certain way…”

“You weren’t being silly,” interrupted Octavia with another squeeze on Rarity’s leg. “You were trying to make certain that when I met your parents it was in an environment that I was comfortable in… and an environment that you are comfortable in,” she added as her smile took on the all-knowing edge that Rarity had come to recognize in Octavia’s closely-guarded repertoire of expressions. “It is an admirable thing to do for the pony you love, but in our case it was unnecessary… so I suppose you could call it as such.”

“Unnecessary?” Rarity’s ears perked up slightly. “How so?”

“Well, you were trying to ensure that I would be comfortable when I met them, correct?” The earth pony smiled. “Well, I think I would be most comfortable meeting them at their home in Ponyville.”

Even though it was the second time that the unicorn had heard Octavia say it she still had a hard time processing it. Her brow furrowed and she smiled half-heartedly as she gave her marefriend’s leg a gentle squeeze of her own. “Are you certain that’s what you want to do, Octavia?” she said quietly. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to do things my parent’s way just to make them more comfortable…”

Now Octavia gave Rarity an alluring wink, her lips curved into the sly smile that Rarity had seen so much during their early courtship. “You forget one important thing about me, beloved: I’m half Equestrian.” The earth pony withdrew her hoof and stood up off of her mat, her silky gray coat shimmering in the sunlight as she moved around the table and sat down next to Rarity. Her coal-black tail pooled around the two mares as Octavia leaned close to Rarity and placed a delicate kiss onto the unicorn’s cheek, her breath tickling Rarity’s coat and causing goose bumps to rise all down her neck.

Rarity gasped lightly as Octavia withdrew, and after a moment she turned to smile at the other mare. “And that means you look at the pony and not their manners,” she said.

“Exactly.” Octavia looped her hoof through Rarity’s, pulling herself closer to the unicorn until she could lean her head against Rarity’s own. “And it also means that my opinion of you won’t change simply because I see your foalhood home,” she said softly. “Nothing could make me think less of you, koishī… ever.”

The unicorn chuckled and nuzzled Octavia gently. “Don’t say that until you’ve met my family, chéri… you might think differently after our dinner there this weekend.”

Now it was Octavia’s turn to chuckle, the sound causing Rarity’s heart to soar in her chest as she locked eyes with the other mare, sapphire and amethyst meeting in love and devotion. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked to learn that this mare can surprise me, she thought with a smile, her hoof rising to caress Octavia’s cheek gently. The gray mare’s smile grew and she leaned into Rarity’s touch, her coat silky soft beneath the pad of Rarity’s hoof. There’s no hesitation in her… no confliction or uncertainty about going to a new place and meeting brand new ponies.

Rarity’s smile grew, and after a moment she leaned forward to press her lips gently against Octavia’s own, her heart pounding in her ears. I suppose I’m not the only one who’s changed since we got together, she thought. The two of us are growing stronger… together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“…and then I says to him, ‘Hey buddy, why don’cha take yer whole team an’ try ta’ stop me!’ Well, he didn’t like THAT very much, o’ course, so I had the whole varsity hoofball team from Manehatten trying ta’ stomp yours truly into the turf!” Hondo pounded his hoof onto the table dramatically, causing most of the silverware and drinking glasses on the large wooden surface to leap and dance. “I tell ya, I never moved so fast in all my life! They chased me and chased me down the field, but I was too fast for ‘em!” The stallion sat back in his chair and crossed his hooves over his chest, a smug smile on his mustachioed face. “In the end, I made Canterlot University history an’ showed those Manehatten snoots what real hoofball was!”

Silence filled the room as Hondo finished his story, and Rarity couldn’t even be bothered to pull her forehead away from her hoof to look up at him as she leaned on the table, the curl of her mane blocking her irritated façade from view. I swear to Celestia I’m going to put a mute spell on him, she vowed silently. I’m going to put a mute spell on him that lasts for two weeks, so that perhaps he’ll remember what I say to him next time… She shifted and threw a glance at her mother across the circular table, who shrugged half-heartedly and offered her a smile of consolation over the empty plates and platters from the meal the group had shared. Rarity’s lips pursed into a pout and she let out a sigh.

“Mother… I thought you were going to keep him from talking about his hoofball days,” she muttered sulkily as she pushed her empty plate away with a hoof. “Dinner was wonderful, but I’m afraid that father may be taking his duties as host a little too far…”

Cookie giggled from the seat to Rarity’s right, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she nodded across the table. “Well, it looks like your marefriend doesn’t mind, sweetheart, so why not let your father have his moment in the sun, hmm?”

Rarity sighed and cast a glance to Octavia, who sat at her left. The earth pony was watching Hondo with delight, her eyes bright and her smile warm as the stallion recounted a particularly hyperbolic story about winning a snow-choked hoofball game all on his own. The designer’s lips curved into a loving smile as she watched Octavia nod in response to something her father had said, her mane bouncing beautifully in the clean light of the dining room.

“Yes… yes I suppose she is,” murmured Rarity after a moment, her hoof dropping back to the table with a soft clop. “Although how she’s finding any enjoyment in his stories I’ll never know…”

“I think you’ve forgotten how exciting you thought they were when you first heard them, Rarity.” Cookie reached over and patted Rarity gently on the hoof, a content smile on her face. “And the fact that she can listen so raptly will no doubt win her a good hoof-full of points with Hondo, I can tell you that.”

“She is dreadfully good at listening,” Rarity conceded with an exaggerated sigh. “And I suppose if father thinks better of her because of it I should simply count my blessings and ignore the awful stories themselves, hmm?”

“That’d be my advice, sweetness.” Cookie’s eyes wandered from Rarity to Octavia, and after a moment she nodded ever so slightly before turning her gaze back to Rarity. “And listening to Hondo go on and on is a very good way to make a very good impression on your mother, as well,” she added with a grin.

Rarity snickered and rolled her eyes. “Duly noted, mother…” Cookie chuckled along with her as Hondo made another grand gesture, his hooves high in the air as he mimicked a particular leaping catch that he could not have made if physics were still in play. “But while we’re on the topic… what do you think of her?” asked Rarity quietly. “You’ve been very quiet this evening, and I’m not quite certain how to take that from you.”

To her relief, Cookie waved a hoof and grinned. “Oh I think she’s a treasure, Rarity!” she whispered. “The way you light up every time you look at her… the way the two of you talk and whisper to each other…” Cookie sighed wistfully. “It reminds me of what it was like when your father and I were first together… all sunshine and rainbows…”

“And now it’s all hoofball stories and towel whippings?”

Cookie arched an eyebrow at her, and in spite of her being a full-grown mare with a mind of her own Rarity still felt herself shrink ever so slightly beneath her mother’s withering gaze. “Not all of it, sassy-mouth,” Cookie said with a wrinkle of her muzzle. “But I think I see the same foundation between the two of you that Hondo and I have… love, respect, devotion… I mean, you make that trip to Canterlot twice a week, don’t you?”

“Twice a week, every week,” said Rarity with a nod. “My ‘Octavia Days’, as it were.”

“That’s devotion if I ever heard it.” Cookie reached out with her hoof and gave Rarity’s hoof a squeeze, her eyes shining with pride. “Treat her right, sweetheart, and you’ll have a partner who’ll be there with you always.”

Rarity felt her heart swell with relief at the happiness she saw in her mother’s gaze, and before she could stop herself she lurched over and wrapped her front legs around Cookie’s upper half, squeezing her as tightly as she could from a seated position.

“Thank you, mother,” she whispered as her throat threatened to close up. “I… I was hoping you’d like her.”

Cookie’s hoof patted her gently on the back. “Any pony who makes you this happy is a good pony in my book,” she whispered in return. “But a pony who makes you happy and can deal with Hondo’s stories is a keeper, no doubts about that.”

“Hey you two, what’s goin’ on over there?” Hondo’s voice rang out loudly across the dinner table, and after one final squeeze Cookie released Rarity and both mares sat upright once more. “You two’re missin’ the best part of the story!”

“Oh?” Rarity raised a hoof and wiped her eyes delicately before clearing her throat in an attempt to keep the sentiment from her voice. “A-and what story would that be, daddy?”

“Well only my best and brightest moment at Canterlot University!” he proclaimed proudly, puffing his chest out as far as he could. “The finest moment of my hoofball career!”

Cookie winked at Rarity. “Like the girl said, Hondo- which one?”

Rarity giggled as her father gave Cookie his best scowl, and after a moment of silence Octavia cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the other three ponies in the room. The earth pony shifted in her seat so that she could better look at each of the unicorns in turn before speaking, her hooves folded neatly on the table in front of her.

“Please excuse me, but I wanted to take this moment to thank you for inviting me over,” she said with a slight inclination of her head. “Thank you very much for the opportunity to visit your home.”

“It was our pleasure entirely, Octavia,” Cookie said with a happy smile. “We were terribly excited to meet you, after all, and if it gave me an excuse to cook a great big meal then so much the better!”

“I’ll say,” agreed Hondo with a grin. “It’s just too bad Sweetie Belle’s not here tonight- she loves ta’ help me tell my best story, and it really does work better with a smaller pony ta’ play the part of the hoofball!”

Octavia giggled charmingly, and Rarity felt her heart melt at the sound of pure mirth from the pony she loved. “That would be a sight to see, to be sure,” Octavia agreed after her giggles had subsided. “And, if I might ask, where is Sweetie Belle tonight? I was hoping to get to meet her, as well.”

“Oh, did I forget to tell you?” Rarity reached out and patted Octavia’s hoof. “Sweetie decided to spend tonight with her little friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but we’re going to see her tomorrow. We’re staying at the Boutique after all, so my dear little sister will be more than able to find us. I’m certain we’ll think of something fun for the three of us to do!”

“Sweetie was so excited to meet you, Octavia, I thought for sure she would just burst with excitement before tonight,” Cookie confided before shrugging and shaking her head. “Then two days ago all of that excitement flip-flopped and became nervousness, and that was when she brought up this whole sleepover idea.” She gave Octavia a comforting, motherly smile. “Don’t you worry your head about it, though- our daughters sometimes get a little too worked up over small things, but they always come out clearer on the other side.”

Rarity turned and gave her mother an indignant glare, her muzzle scrunched up and her brow furrowed. “MOTHER,” she grumbled, but before she could berate Cookie for implying such a thing Octavia’s hoof curled around hers and gave it a squeeze, drawing the unicorn’s gaze back to the earth pony.

“I would do well to remember that, I suppose,” the gray mare said, her small, secretive smile teasing Rarity’s heartstrings. “After all, I plan on being with your daughter for a very long time.”

“Then you’d better get used to drama,” Hondo said with an exasperated sigh. “Whew, dear Celestia the drama of the mares in this family-,”

Two dinner rolls, each glowing a slightly different shade of blue, lifted from the plate that they occupied in the middle of the table and hurled themselves at Hondo’s face; one impaled itself perfectly on his long horn and the other imbedded itself flawlessly into his half open mouth, plugging it up so quickly that his eyes bulged wide.

“That’s enough out of you,” Cookie and Rarity said in unison.

Octavia’s eyes widened at the sudden roll attack, but after a long moment of silence she giggled once again. “I believe I will be just fine,” she said with a loving smile at Rarity. “My mother is no stranger to drama, and I think I just might be immune to it.”

Rarity winked at her. “Well, life with me might just put that to the test, darling.”

“A test I take willingly, koishī,” replied the gray mare. She leaned over and kissed Rarity’s cheek delicately. “A test I take willingly.”

Part 2a: Suddenly Sweetie

“So not that I mind having a last-minute sleepover in the clubhouse, but I think it might be time to do a little explaining, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo leaned back against the wall of the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse and folded her front legs across her chest, her tiny wings splayed out against the smooth wood at her back. “Like why you have a huge checklist sitting next to your sleeping bag.”

“An’ why we’re out here when we could be at your parent’s house makin’ a great first impression with Octavia!” Apple Bloom nudged the small basket of food that the fillies had brought with them a little farther towards the wall before stretching out across her sleeping bag on her stomach, her eyebrow arching in the light of the lantern that illuminated the small room. “That is tonight, ain’t it?”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom fell silent as the third member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders shifted uncomfortably on her sleeping bag before sighing and nodding her head. “Yeah, that’s tonight,” Sweetie Belle said quietly. “I was really really excited to meet Octavia for the first time… but then I started thinking…”

“Oh boy, that’s usually not a good thing,” Scootaloo muttered under her breath. Sweetie’s green eyes flashed in the lantern light as she leveled a glare at the Pegasus.

“Scootaloo, this is important!” she insisted, her voice filled with the despair that only a young filly could have. “I started trying think of things I could talk about with Octavia when she came over, things that would make a good impression like we all wanted to… but the more I thought about it the more I couldn’t think of anything to talk about!” Sweetie’s ears drooped against her pastel mane as she snatched up the large stack of papers and clipboard that sat next to her on the floor, her hoof poking it firmly as she named off each crossed-out topic on the list. “Getting our cutie marks, trying to get our cutie marks, FAILING to get our cutie marks, the cutie marks of our friends, HER cutie mark… do you see the problem, here?!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shared a confused glance before turning their eyes back to Sweetie with a collective shrug. The unicorn filly sighed in vexation and allowed the clipboard to flop onto the sleeping bag as she leveled a glare at her two friends.

“The problem is that Octavia already HAS her cutie mark, and we all know ponies who already have their cutie mark don’t like to talk about that.” Sweetie sighed and flipped to the next page, her tiny brow furrowing in concentration. “So I tried to think of other things to talk about like paper, pencils, dining room tables, wall clocks, window curtains…”

“That’s, um… a lot of random junk, Sweets,” muttered Scootaloo as she sat forward away from the wall. “How were you coming up with your topics?” Sweetie winced and hung her head shamefully.

“I was… naming things in the room when I was writing the list…” she mumbled unhappily. “But I HAVE to keep trying,” she continued as she sat bolt upright, her hoof clenched tightly at her side. “I won’t rest until I have a good idea of what I want to talk to Octavia about tomorrow!”

“Well… t’ be honest, what’s so wrong with the list ya got now?” Apple Bloom pointed to the clipboard, her mane catching the light of the lantern and the full moon outside as its light streamed in the window. “Ah mean, sure it’s a lil’ heavy on cutie mark talk an’ full of random junk, but so are we!” Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow at Apple Bloom, and from her spot next to the wall Scootaloo made an indignant noise that caused Bloom to raise her hooves before her defensively. “Ah’m just sayin’ that Ah’m sure Octavia’ll be real nice an’ talk to you about anythin’, Sweetie Belle! Ya’ll don’t hafta be so uptight about it!”

Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow at Apple Bloom, but after a moment she shook her head. “I’m afraid I do have to be uptight about it, Apple Bloom,” she said solemnly. “After all, Octavia isn’t your everyday run-of-the-mill pony: she’s a musician! A musician from Canterlot! A musician from Canterlot who is my sister’s very special somepony!! I can’t just ask her about random junk because…” Sweetie paused, her hoof touching her list as her eyes became distant. “…because she’s somepony that really loves Rarity, and if she loves Rarity then she must love the same kinds of things that Rarity does, right?” Her hoof gave the list one long stroke before her eyes refocused, and when they did she leveled a determined gaze at her two friends. “THAT means that if I want to keep spending time with Rarity I have to make sure that I make a good first impression on Octavia so she knows that I like the same stuff that Rarity does!”

Apple Bloom blinked before a frown creased her forehead. “An’ she needs to know that… why again?”

“So she’ll LIKE ME, Bloom! So she’ll see that I’m a very interesting pony just like Rarity, and that way she’ll always think of me as somepony she’d like to have around!” Sweetie flipped to the next page on the clipboard, where words that were not crossed out lined the whole sheet of paper. “Anyway, I’ll just have to work on the conversation topics later. Right now, I want to hear your opinions on my plans for tomorrow!” The unicorn smiled up at her friends, her eyes bright. “Ready?”

Scootaloo sighed heavily and slumped to the floor, her head propping up at an odd angle away from the wall as she settled. “I can see we don’t have a choice,” she muttered, her chin lifting her head up off her chest with every word.

“You don’t,” Sweetie confirmed with a nod. “All right- basically, the first objective of the plan is to do everything that Rarity likes to do. Like, everything she likes to do.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared another glance, and as one they turned their gazes back to Sweetie Belle and muttered two words: “The spa?”

Sweetie’s ears perked into a defensive posture as she glared at her friends. “Rarity likes to do more than that!” she snipped. “She likes to get her hooves done, and have her mane brushed, and…” The young unicorn’s mouth flapped open and closed for a few moments, but her ears quickly flattened themselves against her mane as her shoulders slumped. “…yeah, the spa. We’re going to go to the spa and do everything that she likes there.”

“So the whole day’s gonna be spent wrapped in a towel, letting other ponies trim your hooves and… what, cover you with seaweed?” Scootaloo sat up and scrunched up her muzzle. “That sounds awful… and booooooring.”

“An’ awful borin’,” Apple Bloom agreed with a nod.

“Maybe to us, but if it’s what high-society ponies like then we’re gonna do it!” Sweetie nodded her head firmly. “I do have a few other things listed on here that sound like they might be good things to do to impress a pony like Octavia.” She pointed to an item halfway down on the list. “Like visit the Ponyville Museum! Visiting a museum is a very intelligent and high-society way to pass the time.”

“The Ponyville Museum?” Scootaloo scoffed. “Oh man, that’s a one-way trip to snores-ville.”

“We went there on our class field trip,” Apple Bloom said with a scowl at Scootaloo. “An’ they had a bunch o’ neat stuff from Ponyville’s early days! An’ they even had a wax statue of Granny Smith when she was a young’un! How’s that borin’?!” To her chagrin, however, Scootaloo had begun pretending to be asleep halfway through Bloom’s rebuttal and pretended to jerk away and look confused when she finished.

“Huh?! Whuzzat?!” she sputtered, flailing her front hooves about before turning a cocked grin at Apple Bloom. “Yeah, it totally wasn’t boring at ALL… Sorry A.B., but I guess I don’t think it’s as interesting as you do.”

Apple Bloom’s ears drooped and she scowled at Scootaloo. “Ah bet if they’d had some stuff about Cloudsdale y’all woulda been all ears.” she muttered before turning her gaze back to Sweetie Belle. “Actually, Ah think the Ponyville Museum is a great idea- gives her a chance to see what kinda ponies live here an’ what we’re like!”

“Oooh, that’s GOOD!” Sweetie Belle scooped up her pencil and jotted down some more notes on the page with her mouth before dropping it back to her lap. “All right, and after that I think I’d like to take them to lunch.”

Apple Bloom arched an eyebrow at her. “Yer even schedulin’ in a lunch break? Wow, you are plannin’ this out.”

“No… well, yes I am planning lunch, but it’s not just for the food!” Sweetie Belle turned the clipboard in her hooves so that the earth pony could see the paper attached to it, a paper that was filled to its edges with not only the neatly composed, perfectly spaced schedule that Sweetie was working on but also rough, squiggly notes that had been scribbled onto every inch of blank space on the paper. The unicorn raised a hoof and pointed to one of the notes, one that Bloom couldn’t read thanks to the distance, the lantern light and the scribbled nature of Sweetie’s writing. “When I started making this schedule, I tried to write down everything I could remember about what Rarity had said about Octavia and what she was like. She was talking kind of fast at the time so it was kind of hard for me to remember, but I think I got most of it.” She squinted at her notes. “Um… she said that in Neighpon, where Octavia is from, it’s considered polite to take a pony out to eat someplace when you first meet them.”

Scootaloo sat up and grinned. “Restaurants in Neighpon must make loads of bits if they take somepony out to eat every time they first meet each other!”

“Well I don’t think that’s what she meant, but that’s what I remember,” Sweetie admitted with a sigh. “Anyway, I know that she was talking about taking somepony out to a restaurant to show them that you value them… so that’s probably what I’d be doing.”

“So how do they judge that, anyhow?” Apple Bloom raised her right hoof and waved it back and forth. “Do they judge it on how much y’all spend on the food? Or how much food y’all get?”

Now Sweetie Belle’s forehead crinkled and the unicorn cast her eyes back to the list. “Um… a-actually I don’t know… Rarity didn’t say.”

“Well, how much you spend on food would make sense,” Scootaloo offered as she scooted closer to Sweetie. “So you could go and just buy the most expensive thing on the menu and call it a day- mission accomplished.”

“One thing? That’s how y’all show you value somepony- buy ‘em one speck of expensive food an’ call it a day?” Apple Bloom shook her head and moved towards Sweetie as well, her brow furrowed as she frowned as Scootaloo. “Seriously? Cuz I think it’d make a better impression if ya bought a TON o’ food for Octavia. That’d cost enough bits to show her ya value her, an’ y’all would have TONS of food to eat!” She nodded emphatically, her red mane bobbing around her as she did so. “Problem solved!”

“Well, I don’t know…” Sweetie began, but before she could continue Scootaloo shook her head.

“Naaah, you don’t wanna do that! So what, you buy her two hundred million orders of hay fries- big whoop! That’s not saying you value someone, that’s saying value meal someone.”

“I don’t think I can afford two hundred million orders of hay fries…” Sweetie fretted.

“Well what do YOU know ‘bout Neighpon, Scoots?” Apple Bloom arched an eyebrow at the Pegasus. “Maybe in Neighpon they like quantity over quality, how ‘bout that?!”

“That doesn’t sound like Rarity at all,” interjected Sweetie Belle, her muzzle scrunching as her mind raced. “That sounds like the opposite of Rarity…”

“See?” Scootaloo sat up straight and gave Bloom a superior smirk. “I’m totally right and you know it.” The earth pony squinted at the Pegasus and pointed a hoof at her sharply.

“But MAYBE they put value on a full stomach instead o’ puttin’ the value on how special the food tastes!” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Maybe they don’t see things quite the same way as Rarity, Sweetie Belle- ya can’t forget that.”

Sweetie’s muzzle scrunched up even more than before, and her forehead quickly crinkled along with it as she frowned deeply. “Maybe you’re right.” She tapped her chin with a hoof, her mind whirring as it processed this new information. “But maybe…” Her frown slowly eased, and after a moment of silence she dropped her hoof back to the clipboard. “…maybe you’re both right!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both blinked in surprise. “What?” they asked in unison.

“Never mind – I’ll fill you in after I get done with Rarity and Octavia tomorrow,” Sweetie assured them, her eyes sparkling with new ideas. “I’ll have to make sure that I go to the Bistro tomorrow before I go see Rarity…”

“Wait, we’re not going to be with you tomorrow?” asked Scootaloo. “I thought we were going to get to meet Octavia too!”

“You are,” Sweetie assured her with a wave of her hoof. “But that’s for after we have lunch- before lunch I really want a chance to show Octavia how interesting of a little sister I can be!”

“Wait a second…” Apple Bloom pointed at Sweetie with her hoof, her eyes squinted suspiciously. “So yer doin’ this to show off to Octavia how interestin’ you can be, right?”

“Right- so she’ll know that I’m the kind of pony they can hang out with!”

“Well… what’re ya gonna do when she comes back to visit? Do this whole song-and-dance every single time she shows back up here in Ponyville?” Bloom shook her head. “Don’t sound like a very good plan to me, Sweetie Belle.”

“Oh that’s not a big deal,” dismissed Sweetie with a wave of her hoof. “Only the first impressions matter- that’s what Rarity told me. This time through, if I put on a big enough show and do enough really interesting things, Octavia will always think of me as a very interesting and loveable little sister no matter what else I do in the future!” She nodded firmly. “That’s the power of first impressions!”

“Well… I s’pose if you say so, Sweetie Belle…”

“I do say so. And now, you girls get to help me with the one OTHER thing I need help with.”

Scootaloo sat forward eagerly. “And what’s that?!”

The unicorn’s horn sparked with magic, and from the back of the clubhouse came a loud click. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shared a confused glance before looking past Sweetie Belle to where a large chest slowly opened to reveal a myriad of clothes, dresses and accessories that all but glowed in the soft light of the clubhouse.

“You get to help me decide what to wear tomorrow!!” Sweetie chirped. “Won’t that be fun?!”

Scootaloo’s shoulders slumped and she winced. “Aw horse apples…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I do hope my parents weren’t too overbearing yesterday, Octavia… I-I truly did attempt to get them to tone it down, but I’m afraid that may simply be a skill that my parents do not possess.” Rarity offered her marefriend an apologetic smile across the neatly sliced cheese, cream, ripe fruit and freshly baked bread that made up their breakfast. “I especially had hoped that my father would keep his college stories to himself, but it was not to be…” She sighed deeply, but across the table Octavia smiled warmly and gave her hoof a dismissive wave.

“You need not apologize for their behavior,” she said as she set her tea cup back to the table with her right hoof. “It was a wonderful dinner, and to be truthful with you it went better than I could have hoped.” Her eyes sparkled in the morning sunlight streaming into Rarity’s kitchen as her smile grew. “Your parents are exciting and unique, and I would enjoy visiting them again soon.”

Rarity’s eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment her lips curved into a smile and she chuckled softly. “Exciting and unique, is it?” she muttered. “Well, I suppose they are that, at least…” Octavia nodded and took a bite of a piece of cheese, chewing leisurely before turning her gaze back to the unicorn.

“And speaking of exciting and unique, aren’t we meeting with your sister today?”

“Indeed we are – the indomitable Sweetie Belle, who decided at the last possible moment to skip the wonderful dinner mother made for us last night in favor of meeting with us separately this morning.” Rarity shook her head gently before taking a sip of her coffee. “I can’t help but think that she spent the entire night scheming with her friends… and that often does not bode well.”

“Is this a pattern I should be aware of?” asked Octavia with a wry half-smile. “Do ponies in your family often stay up the entire night scheming?”

Rarity squinted at her and scrunched her muzzle up playfully before giving her head a brisk shake. “No, we do not. I get my best scheming done right after dinner, as a matter of fact.”

Octavia smirked. “Aaah… I’ll have to remember that.”

The unicorn offered the earth pony a sly smile and reached for another piece of bread when a rapid, almost frantic knocking at the door of the Boutique drew her attention.

“Well now who could that be?” she wondered aloud as she withdrew her hoof, her brow furrowing slightly. “I know I don’t have any appointments scheduled, and I’m certain that I told everypony that I’m not open today…” She shrugged at Octavia. “Oh well. I’ll be back in a moment, darling.” Rarity hopped down from her chair and hurried across the kitchen to the swinging door that separated the living area of the building from the business area. A simple push brought the unicorn from the well-lit kitchen into the dim front end of the building, the section that had been partitioned off as Rarity’s business front. It was usually well-lit via the large windows at the far end of the space but today the drapes were drawn and the room was dark, indicating that the business was closed for the day. As another round of even more frantic knocking resounded in the room, however, Rarity was forced to admit that it must not have worked very well on everypony.

Honestly though, who comes to a darkened building and starts knocking on the door? the unicorn pondered as she hurried across the main floor of her building, her hoofsteps echoing loudly in the quiet space. I could understand something like this happening in Canterlot, but I would think that someplace like Ponyville would be a bit more considerate! She didn’t get even halfway across the room before the knocking happened yet again, and this time it raised Rarity’s ire as well as her ears. Oh for Celestia’s sake, I’m coming! She thought as her jaw clenched, the unicorn doing her level best to keep her irritation off of her face. I swear, if this is not INCREDIBLY important, the pony assailing my door is going to get a stern talking to!

Rarity’s magic lit up the length of her horn and wrapped its sparkling aura around the knob of the Boutique’s front door as she approached and, with a deft flick of her chin, her magic darted upwards to slide the door’s deadbolt back which allowed the next twitch of her horn to open the door with a dramatic whoosh.

The unicorn opened her mouth to inform whoever was on the other side that she was closed and to come back another day, but before she could so much as utter a single word, she was stopped in her tracks by a short, white unicorn in a flowing pastel lavender sundress and broad, floppy white hat, who stood posed with one front hoof delicately in the air and her eyes closed so that she presented a picture-perfect profile to the door.

“Good morning, Octavia! How completely divine it is to be here today!” the smaller unicorn said, her voice absolutely dripping with her best manners. “I am Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s younger sister, and I-,”

“I’m quite well aware of who you are, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity interrupted as she arched an eyebrow at the filly. “But what in Equestria are you doing out here? I told you to come in the kitchen door when you arrived, not stand out front knocking like an irritated customer!”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes shot open and, with a vexed squeak, the filly stomped her right front hoof to the ground before rounding on Rarity, her muzzle scrunched indignantly. “Rarity..? Hey, why did YOU answer the door?!”

The older unicorn blinked. “This is my shop, Sweetie Belle, and you knocked on the door to my business.” She frowned. “Why in Equestria would I send a guest to open the door that my customers come through?” Sweetie Belle’s face relaxed and her frown evaporated from beneath the wobbling brim of her broad hat as realization dawned across her features.

“Oh yeah… I suppose that makes sense.”

“Yes it does.” Rarity’s gaze darted from Sweetie’s horn to her hooves and after a moment she smiled. “Why Sweetie Belle… is that the dress that I made for you last summer?” she asked. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you wear it!” And it looks better than I could have hoped for, she thought with a surge of sisterly pride.

Sweetie nodded emphatically, a smile bursting across her face. “Yeah it is! I found it in my trunk with all of the other clothes you made for me and I thought it would be a great day to wear it!” Rarity watched as the younger pony’s cheeks colored happily, and she couldn’t help but feel a renewal of affection for her sister. You know, if she would just wear the things I make for her a little more often she’d no doubt be more popular in this town. She looks wonderful! Before Rarity could say as much, however, Sweetie Belle’s smile morphed into a determined frown. “But we can talk about my outfit later- right now, you need to go get Octavia and have her answer the door.”

“…what?” Rarity’s own smile shrank and inverted, her eyes narrowing at her sibling. “And… why would I do that when I’ve already answered the door… especially when you can just come in and see her in the kitchen?”

Sweetie Belle made a vexed sound in her throat that made every inch of upstanding adult in Rarity stiffen in indignation. “Because I need her to see me out here, Rarity! I need to make a good first impression!”

“A good first…” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Sweetie, you can do that anywhere – it doesn’t have to be at the front door!” Sweetie Belle gave her head a brisk shake that caused her hat to wiggle comically atop her head.

“I have this whole day planned out, Rarity, and the whole plan starts with her meeting me at the front door of the Boutique so I can make my introduction! I worked on it all night and the whole day will be totally wrong if I don’t start this right!!” Rarity’s ears drooped towards her mane as the realization that Sweetie Belle had planned every moment of the day caused an uncomfortable knot to form in her stomach. Oh Sweetie, what in Equestria is going on in that brain of yours? she thought. The designer felt her jaw tighten as another round of denials and counter-arguments rose up in her throat, but before she could position any one of them on her tongue, she heard the sound of hoofsteps behind her. The unicorn clamped her teeth down onto the unpleasant comments in her mouth as she turned sharply towards Octavia, who gave her a concerned smile as she stepped up to the open door.

“Forgive me if I am intruding, but I heard raised voices and I thought that I-,”

Without missing a beat, Sweetie Belle twisted on her hooves and assumed the position that she had been in when Rarity had opened the door, her one hoof raised elegantly and her chin tilted high into the air.

“Good morning, Octavia! How completely divine it is to be here today!” Sweetie’s words precisely matched her tone from earlier, leading Rarity to believe that she had, indeed, practiced this all night, and that revelation made her stomach cramp even more. “I am Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s younger sister, and I am absolutely enchanté to meet you!” Rarity winced at Sweetie’s awkward attempt at inserting Prench into her speech. Oh Sweetie… no no no, never again. You and I will have to talk about that later. Octavia stopped short of the door and met Rarity’s gaze in silence for a moment, her eyes full of confusion, but true to Octavia’s polite nature, the awkward pause lasted only the barest of heartbeats before the earth pony stepped up to stand next to Rarity, a gentle smile upon her lips.

“Sweetie Belle, how wonderful it is to finally meet you.” Octavia placed her front hooves together and bowed deeply, causing the amethyst around her neck to dangle in midair as she did so. “Hajimemashite, Sweetie Belle.” The earth pony held her bow for a second more before raising her neck smoothly upright once more, her eyes bright and her smile broad. Rarity felt her heart skip a beat at the sparkling excitement in Octavia’s face, but sadly it was a moment that passed all too quickly as Sweetie’s eyes shot open.

“Wow, was that Neighponese?!” she squeaked as she twisted back towards the door, her dress swirling around her as she did so. Sweetie’s green eyes were as wide as dinner plates as she took a step towards Octavia and when she spoke the excitement in her voice filled every word to the brim. “That’s so cool! I’ve never heard anypony talk like that! Can you-,” the filly’s mouth suddenly clamped tightly shut, stemming the tide of words that Rarity had expected to continue for the foreseeable future and causing the older unicorn to frown as Sweetie stood up straighter, cleared her throat and gave her head a shake. “I-I mean, it is a pleasure to meet you, Octavia,” she continued in voice so carefully measured that Rarity could have hemmed a dress with it. “I’m dreadfully sorry that I could not make it to dinner last night, but I’m afraid I had a prior engagement to attend to.”

Rarity frowned. “Mother told us that you had just planned this sleepover the day before, Sweetie. That is hardly a ‘prior engagement’.” To her surprise Sweetie leveled a withering glare at her before coughing lightly and turning back to Octavia with an angelically sweet smile upon her face.

“But now I’ve finally met you, and I am enchanté!” She waved a hoof dramatically, and as she did so Octavia caught Rarity’s gaze with her own. The earth pony arched an eyebrow and tilted her head quizzically to one side, and after a moment Rarity sighed.

“Enchanté,” she murmured through gritted teeth, emphasizing the correct pronunciation of the word, “is Prench for enchanted. It’s meant to be used as an expression of delight at meeting somepony and is typically used only once.” Her eyes narrowed at Sweetie. “And at the beginning of the sentence…” Octavia’s mouth opened slightly as she smiled and nodded.

“Ah, I see. Well, I am enchanted to meet you as well, Sweetie Belle.” The smaller unicorn blushed gently, but before Rarity could so much as get a word in edgewise, Sweetie turned and gestured towards the rest of Ponyville with her left hoof, her hat flopping freely around her curls.

“All right! Now that the first impressions are done, it’s time to get on with the rest of our day! I have a lot of stuff planned for us to do, so I hope that you had a big breakfast!”

Octavia’s brow furrowed and she turned her eyes towards Rarity. “The first impressions?” she whispered. “I… think I must be confused.”

“Oh you’re not the only one who’s confused, darling,” Rarity muttered in reply. “I haven’t the slightest clue what she’s up to.” I swear to Celestia if she tries to take us anywhere near Sweet Apple Acres I’m going to call this whole thing off! Rarity let out a silent breath before clearing her throat. “I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle,” she said in a normal tone, “but Octavia and I haven’t quite finished our breakfast yet, so if you would like to come in we can-,”

“No time for that, Rarity!” Sweetie turned back towards the two older mares with an almost frighteningly bright smile. “I have a schedule and the schedule must be kept at all costs! Isn’t that what you always say?”

Rarity blinked in surprise, her ears twitching against her mane. “Well, I have said that in the past, yes, but I would hardly say that I always say that.” She shifted from hoof to hoof as the knot in her stomach clenched and inverted itself into a pit that threatened to swallow the remaining pieces of her earlier good mood.

“Well, said is said, as I always say!” the filly chirped, her eyes seeming to grow ever wider and brighter with each passing moment until Rarity felt a sweeping wave of concern fill the void inside her. “Now, if the two of you would be so kind as to follow me I will lead us to our first destination of the day!” Sweetie Belle gave one last firm nod of her head before turning and sashaying away towards Ponyville’s downtown, the flowing drape of her dress swaying elegantly behind her.

Rarity stood silently on the Boutique’s doorstep, her expression of confusion and disbelief mirrored by Octavia as the two mares watched Sweetie pointedly glance behind her to see if she was being followed yet.

“I… I don’t even know what to say,” muttered Rarity incredulously. “That is certainly not the Sweetie Belle I was expecting to show up here today... though that in itself sounds absolutely ridiculous.” She sighed and turned her gaze to Octavia as a small frown tugged at the corners of her lips. “I’m so sorry. I truly didn’t expect her to behave like this.” The other mare waved her hoof dismissively at the apology and, after giving Octavia a thankful nod, Rarity glanced back to Sweetie Belle, who had slowed her pace to almost a crawl as she waited for the two mares to finish their conversation. “Though what we should do now is a mystery to me,” she admitted quietly. “This is absolutely unusual behavior from Sweetie and I’m worried about what she might do if we just go back inside to our breakfast.”

“I suppose we should follow her then,” said Octavia after a moment. “I wouldn’t want her to be disappointed during my first visit with her.” She gave Rarity a nod and a comforting smile. “I had enough breakfast to endure whatever she might throw at us, koishī, so don’t worry about me.”

Rarity chuckled dryly. “Don’t say that just yet, Octavia. My sister has had some unusual ideas of fun in the past and I daren’t guess what she might have cooked up for us this time.” Octavia’s smile grew gently as she stepped out of the Boutique and onto the path outside, her coat shimmering softly in the morning sunlight.

“Then let’s face it together,” she said with a sparkle in her eye. “I’m certain there’s nothing the two of us can’t face.”

“Oh… well when you put it like that, certainly it sounds lovely,” the unicorn said with a good-natured roll of her eyes. “All right, let’s follow her and see where she leads us. Perhaps her ideas for today’s activities won’t be so outlandish after all.” She favored Octavia with a loving smile before stepping out of the Boutique and closing the door behind her. The sun was warm and bright against her coat, promising that it would be a beautiful, clear day in Ponyville; however, as Rarity fell into step with Octavia and the pair started after Sweetie Belle, she felt the discomfort in her stomach clench and grow and, as the three ponies made their way towards the rest of the town, only one thought filled the unicorn’s mind:

Sweetie Belle… what are you getting us in to?

Part 2b: For Whom the Belle Tolls

Well, this certainly could have been worse… Rarity thought with a sigh of contentment. Of all the places in Ponyville that she had suspected that her sister was going to lead them she had never even considered the Ponyville Spa, so when Sweetie had announced that she was going to treat them all to a session there Rarity had been surprised to say the least. After all, she thought as she stretched across the massage table, her stomach pressing against the plush robe and padded table top, there are a thousand other things that Sweetie could have suggested, and none of them would have been half as relaxing and enjoyable as the Spa!

Soothing music filled the fragrant air around her as the unicorn turned her head to her left, her chin pillowing against her outstretched front leg as she smiled at Octavia, who was stretched out on the massage table next to Rarity. The earth pony’s eyes were languid as she met Rarity’s gaze, her cheeks still flushed from the heat of the sauna that the three mares had enjoyed a few minutes before, and as the spa ponies gently massaged their backs Octavia let out a sigh of contentment.

“Do you do this often, Rarity?” she murmured, her voice flowing like warm silk as the mare named Lotus gently rubbed her back. Octavia let out a sigh and tilted her head a bit more so that the towel holding her mane up and out of the way flopped against her leg. “It’s wonderful…”

The unicorn nodded slightly as Aloe worked the muscles in her back firmly, forcing the knots she had felt earlier in the day to relax beneath her insistent yet tender onslaught. “I do, as a matter of fact. I come here once a week with my friend Fluttershy.” Her smile grew and she closed her eyes. “In fact, the girls here know exactly what to do when I come in, don’t you, girls?”

Without hesitation Aloe, Lotus, and the last mare named Vera, who was giving Sweetie Belle her gentle massage, all chimed in as one: “The Usual, Miss Rarity!” The unicorn couldn’t help but feel a surge of warmth inside her as she giggled lightly. There’s something about the way they say that with their Prench accents that makes me feel pampered, she thought, and if there was anything in the world that Rarity loved it was feeling pampered.

“That’s right! Because my sister loves the Ponyville Spa! It’s positively her most favorite thing to do in town – isn’t that right, Rarity?”

Rarity’s smile grew as she turned her head to her right, where Sweetie Belle lay across the third massage table in the room. The filly wore a white robe around her body and a towel to hold up her hair just like Rarity and Octavia, and as Rarity’s gaze fell upon her she was positively beaming.

“Without a doubt, Sweetie Belle,” confirmed Rarity as she stretched again, her hooves pawing at the air like a cat as she did so. “There’s nowhere else in Ponyville that I’d rather go for a healthy dose of dedicated ‘me-time’.” The unicorn stretched a moment more before melting back against the table into a pony-shaped puddle, her face a mask of bliss. This is the best day I’ve had in quite some time, Rarity thought as Aloe’s hooves moved down her body to her legs, and the fact that I get to spend it with both my marefriend and my sister makes it even more so.

“I don’t think there’s a more relaxing place in all of Equestria,” Octavia muttered dreamily. “If there is, I certainly haven’t found it…”

Rarity giggled softly under her breath. Oh my stars, she sounds so relaxed! I don’t think I’ve ever heard her so blissfully tranquil! She turned to face the earth pony once more, a coy remark on the tip of her tongue, but before she could deliver it to Octavia she heard Sweetie Belle giggle loudly.

“Well, that’s why Rarity loves it here! It’s so peaceful and relaxing that she can’t help but want to be here, I think.” She heard Sweetie shift on the table as Vera moved into her line of sight, indicating that her sister was finished with her massage. “It’s the most perfect place for the most interesting, special, and mature socialites here in Ponyville,” she said, and as Vera stepped out of the way Rarity watched Sweetie lift her hoof to her chin in a motion that was most certainly something that she had seen in a magazine. “So it’s where I want to be most of all, of course!” she finished in a haughty tone.

Despite the soothing music and tranquil warmth of the spa Rarity’s eyes narrowed at her sister, and the warning bells that had resounded in her mind earlier in the day returned with a vengeance. That most assuredly does not sound like Sweetie Belle, she thought, her lips pressing together into a scrutinizing line as she watched her sibling. The smaller pony slid to the side and hopped down from the table, her robe-clad form slipping from Rarity’s view as her diminutive figure dropped her low enough that she vanished beneath the edge of the table that Rarity was stretched across. What is that filly up to? Rarity wondered as she shifted her gaze back to her left, where Octavia was still stretched comfortably out on her own table. This has been a wonderful experience for the three of us, but that comment about the most interesting, special and mature of ponies coming here… The designer’s muzzle crinkled as she frowned, her thoughts sloshing around in a mire of relaxing scents and warm oils. She’s up to something.

“I’m happy to hear that you’ve come to enjoy the spa so much, Sweetie Belle,” said Rarity carefully, her mind doing its best to banish the befuddling mist that surrounded it as she sat up on her table. Her robe twisted slightly as she shifted, its cottony folds rubbing against her coat as she sat up onto her rump and placed her front hooves firmly onto the table before her. “In fact,” she continued as her gaze found her sister once more, “I must say that I’m surprised that your opinion of the spa has changed so much so… quickly.”

Sweetie’s hooves froze on the way to the dressing room and, despite still wearing her oversized robe, Rarity saw her stiffen all the way to the roots of her hair – an observation that made the unicorn smirk. Oh, I’m on to you, young filly! Don’t think for one moment that you can so easily pull the delightfully scented and blissfully soft spa towel over your big sister’s eyes!

“I… I’m not sure what you mean, dearest sister!” stammered Sweetie after a moment of awkward silence. The filly gave her head a sharp shake before turning back to face Rarity, her robe swishing around her hooves as she tilted her chin into the air as far as she could without the towel atop her head overbalancing her and dragging her to the floor. “I’ve always loved the spa! After all, what kind of well-mannered and extremely social pony would I be if I didn’t love coming here?”

Well-mannered? Who does she think she’s kidding with this nonsense?! Rarity smiled down at Sweetie Belle, and despite her desire to maintain a cool and nonchalant air during her questioning she felt the smile sharpen just a little at the edges.

“Ah yes, how could I forget?” She raised a hoof and touched it to the towel atop her head, patting it to ensure that it was still perfectly in place. “After all, we’ve been here so many times together, you and I…” Her eyes narrowed and she dropped her hoof back to the table as her smile melted away into a stern frown, her gaze skewering the smaller pony on an azure pike. “Honestly Sweetie Belle, what in the name of Celestia are you doing? We’ve come here together perhaps once, and you’ve never wanted to return.” The designer rose to all four hooves and leaped down from her table, her tail swishing behind her as she landed. “In fact, I recall that you complained loudly that all I ever wanted to do was come to this spa, as opposed to any of the ‘fun’ things,” Rarity raised her front hooves and bent them forward, accentuating the word fun before dropping them back to the floor, “that you and your friends would choose to do.” She took a step towards Sweetie Belle, her eyes narrowing even further as irritation flooded her mind like a crimson light through a soft morning mist.

“N-no, I never did anything like that!” squeaked Sweetie Belle, her eyes widening as she took a step back towards the dressing room. “I really do love coming here, a-and we do this all the time..!”

Now the light inside Rarity’s mind flared into a burning flame, and the unicorn felt her teeth grind together as she took another aggressive step towards her little sister. “That’s enough, Sweetie Belle! That is a blatant lie and you know it!” Rarity grasped her magic and used the sparkling blue aura to whip her towel from her mane, allowing its loose purple curls to fall around her face as she glared down at Sweetie. “This is unacceptable, young mare, and I shan’t tolerate it a moment longer! You are going to explain to me why you are lying like this, and you are going to do it now!”

To her surprise, Sweetie didn’t respond right away. In all of the years that Rarity had been in charge of looking after her younger sibling she could not think of a single scenario in which using that tone of voice did not draw the truth out of the docile Sweetie Belle, and as the seconds stretched between Rarity’s demand and Sweetie’s response the unicorn felt her anger grow hotter and hotter until she thought it would consume her. Of all the insolent, outrageous behavior, she thought, her eyes growing warm as her disbelief fanned the flames of her rage. If you’re going to lie to me, Sweetie Belle, then you are going to get a tongue lashing the likes of which you’ve never seen!!

Every word that she could think of to describe Sweetie Belle’s behavior rose like fire in Rarity’s throat, ready to be unleashed upon the cowering mass that was her little sister… but as Rarity opened her mouth to expel a torrent of vitriolic commentary, the smaller filly’s eyes shifted from her own. It wasn’t much, just a simple twitch of Sweetie’s jade green eyes that focused over Rarity’s shoulder for the briefest of moments, but as the filly’s eyes came back to hers Rarity saw Sweetie’s face fall into an expression so full of defeat that her perfectly prepared verbal assault faltered on her tongue. Sweetie Belle’s muzzle wrinkled and, to Rarity’s surprise, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as she took a shaking breath.

“I… I wasn’t… trying to lie,” she breathed, her words shaking like the last leaves of autumn. “I just… I mean…” She shuffled her hooves around beneath her robe, her ears drooping down until they lay flat against her mane. “I was just…” She trailed off into silence as a tear slid its way down her cheek, and with a deep sigh Rarity gave her head a slight shake.

“Then why did you lie, young lady?” she asked, making sure to keep her voice as stern as she thought was necessary. “I would like an answer, if you please.”

Sweetie’s eyes darted over Rarity’s shoulder once more and, before the unicorn could even begin to wonder what her little sister was looking at, Rarity felt a hoof grasp her shoulder gently.

“Don’t you think that’s enough, koishī?”

Octavia’s words, as soft as spring rain yet as cool as an autumn night, caused Rarity’s shoulders to tighten and her hair to stand on end as her frustration at her sister was suddenly doused by a wave of cold shame. She turned her head slowly as her stomach wrenched in horrified agony, and as she met Octavia’s unflappable amethyst gaze she truly thought that she might throw up. The gray mare’s gaze was not judgmental or condemning, but as she held Rarity’s gaze the unicorn started to wish that she could see either of those emotions darting through the eyes that she loved so much. Instead, Octavia’s eyes were cool, collected and, perhaps most damningly, closed to the designer – something that sank a brick of ice into her stomach.

“I… I was just…” Rarity began, but the words that had so quickly formed inside her when they had been aimed at Sweetie Belle abandoned her when met with Octavia’s gaze. Oh dear Celestia… was all she could think as Octavia dropped her hoof back to the floor and stepped around her, the brilliant white of her robe contrasting sharply with her coal black hair and deep gray coat in the spa’s soft lighting.

“You cannot coax a flower from its seed with fire,” said Octavia softly, her tail shifting beneath her robe so that the tip wrapped around Rarity’s hind leg. “It takes the touch of water and the embrace of the earth to bring forth the flower you seek.” She turned and offered the stunned unicorn a small smile, and Rarity felt her whole body relax as the emotion returned to Octavia’s eyes. “Be calm and breathe, koishī – I would like to speak to your sister.”

Rarity clamped her mouth closed and gave her marefriend a small nod before taking a deep breath in through her nose, expanding her lungs until they were full. She knows me too well, the designer thought as Octavia turned back to Sweetie Belle. She even knows exactly what I have to do to calm down… it’s almost frightening, sometimes. She exhaled slowly, allowing the air to seep from her lips rather than expelling it all in one massive gust as Octavia smiled at the filly.

“Now, Sweetie Belle… let’s talk.” She gestured to Rarity with her right hoof. “Rarity says that you have been here once and never again,” she moved her hoof to point at Sweetie Belle, “while you say that you come here with your sister often. There is clearly some kind of misunderstanding between you two, yes?” Octavia placed her hoof back onto the floor, and her smile became even softer, if that as possible. “Please, Sweetie Belle – could you tell us why this might be?”

The smaller pony’s eyes widened and, to Rarity’s surprise, her expression softened substantially in the face of Octavia’s soft words and calm demeanor. But why? Octavia’s giving her the same chance to explain herself that I did, thought Rarity with a purse of her lips as she took another deep breath. All that Octavia is doing is phrasing her demand differently…

“Well… i-it’s because…” Sweetie Belle swallowed audibly, her chin quivering. “It’s because… Rarity’s right.” She winced as she said it, as if the confession caused her physical pain. “I’ve only ever been here once before…”

Ah-ha! I knew that she was lying! The unicorn felt righteous anger blaze to life inside of her again and she lifted her hoof to take a step towards her sister, but before she could take advantage of the opening, Octavia’s hoof shot out and stopped her. Rarity blinked down at the offending appendage before turning an arched eyebrow to her marefriend incredulously. Octavia, for her part, simply shook her head before dropping her hoof back to the floor. Does she honestly not expect me to berate my sister for lying? Mother and Father would certainly do no less if they were here right now!

“If that is true, then why did you lie?” asked Octavia softly, her words as soothing as anything the spa had to offer. “Please tell us – you will not be in any trouble with us.”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed. Speak for yourself, she thought vehemently.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes darted from Octavia to Rarity and back again once, then twice before she made any move to speak, and when she did she directed it to Octavia solely, her gaze locking onto and never leaving Rarity’s marefriend.

“Well… when Rarity told us that you were going to be coming to visit, I got really excited… I mean, my sister finally has a very special somepony to call her own, and… and I thought she really deserved one. She’s been alone for a long time, and… well, I was really, really happy that she had somepony who made her so happy… but…” Sweetie’s words trailed off into silence, and the filly seemed to fold in on herself. She hunched down into her robe far enough that it billowed up around her, making it look like her neck was slowly shrinking.

Octavia’s brow furrowed slightly. “But?” she coaxed, and her tone was so gentle that Rarity was vividly reminded of Fluttershy trying to get closer to a skittish animal.

Sweetie squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and after a few moments of silence she spoke again, though Rarity had to almost strain to hear her words. “But then I started thinking about… what it meant for Rarity to have a marefriend…” The filly sniffled loudly, and Rarity felt her anger at Sweetie start to fade as a tear trickled down her cheek. “I remembered all those trips that she’s taken to Canterlot… and I started to think that… she’s going to spend more and more time there until-…” Sweetie’s voice cracked and the filly shook her head vigorously, sending some of her tears flying from her face as she sobbed softly into her robe.

“Oh Sweetie Belle,” Rarity whispered, but once again Octavia was on top of the situation. She took a step towards Sweetie and sat down onto her rump, her long tail pooling around her as she leaned forward until her head was almost level with the filly.

“I think I understand,” she said with a nod.

Sweetie Belle hiccupped, and after a moment she opened one moist green eye so that she could peer at Octavia through the curls in her bangs, which had worked their way free of her towel. “Y-you d-do?” she stammered, her small form jerking as she did her best to stifle her sobs.

“I believe so,” confirmed Octavia, her smile sliding to the side until it became the half-smile that Rarity knew so well. “You are afraid of losing your sister.” Sweetie Belle flinched as if she had been physically threatened, but after a moment she nodded slowly.

Rarity’s jaw dropped open. “Afraid of losing me?” she asked incredulously. “Whatever are you talking about, Sweetie Belle?”

“I’m talking about losing you!” the filly cried, her tears quickly returning as she turned her eyes to Rarity. “I’m talking about you getting closer and closer to Octavia and getting further and further away from me!” She sniffled loudly, but after a moment she pressed on, her brow furrowed in a mask of determination. “I know how this works, y’know! I’m not stupid, even though that’s probably what you think of me now!” Sweetie shifted in her robe, poked her front hooves through her sleeves and held them up in front of her. “You get together with Octavia,” she said, moving one hoof to the other, “then the two of you get closer and closer…” she moved the hooves farther away from her, “and then you end up spending all of your time with her… and anypony that the two of you don’t like, you don’t spend time with…” She sniffled again and dropped her hooves back into the massive robe around her, her eyes slowly sinking from Rarity’s until she was gazing at the floor. “I just… I had to make sure that Octavia liked me… that she saw a little sister who was refined and interesting… so I thought…” she wiped a foreleg across her eyes, and her lip quivered. “…so I thought that if we did the things that you would like today, and I said that I really really liked them too…” She trailed off again as a sob hiccupped its way out of her throat.

“…that she would see that you’re like me, and since she likes me that would mean that she would like you, too,” Rarity finished for her softly, a ghost of a smile touching her lips as sadness welled up inside her like a rising tide. “Oh Sweetie Belle, you silly thing… is that what you were worried about?”

Sweetie nodded from her robe, the towel atop her head finally giving in to gravity and falling away from her tousled dual-tone mane to drape around her neck and shoulders, further hiding her from Rarity’s sight. “I just don’t want to lose you, Rarity,” she whispered through her tears. “I… I want you and Octavia to always want to be around me, a-and I thought that this would be the best way to… to do that…” She brought her front legs up and pressed them against her eyes as her tears came on in earnest, her tiny frame clenching into a ball as she began to sob wholeheartedly.

I never knew. It was the only thought that would form itself in Rarity’s mind as she watched her little sister cry, and somehow that single thought brought more sadness to the designer’s heart than she’d felt in years. Every sniffle and sob from Sweetie stabbed her in the heart and sent waves of sorrow and remorse pulsing through her whole being until her vision began to blur with tears of her own. I never even thought about how she would react to this… I just assumed she would be fine, no matter what… Her throat tightened, and as she felt her lips begin to tremble she hurried forward and did the one thing she could think to do:

She wrapped her hooves around Sweetie Belle and hugged her as tightly as she could, burying her face into the filly’s mane and nuzzling her firmly. Sweetie sniffled louder as her front legs darted out and wrapped themselves around Rarity’s left leg, pulling Rarity closer to her as she cried.

“Sweetie… I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and her words soft. “I should have talked to you… I should have listened to you…” She shook her head slowly, her muzzle rubbing firmly against the smaller unicorn’s soft mane and coat as tears made their way down her cheeks. “I’ve been so stupid… a-and I want you to know that I am never, ever going to stop spending time with you… ever.”

Sweetie’s grip on her left leg tightened. “D-do you promise?” she muttered, her words muffled by the thick fabric of the robe.

Rarity pulled her leg free from Sweetie’s grasp and used her left hoof to pull the filly’s face out of the mass of robe and towel, her gaze meeting her sister’s again as she gave her a shaky smile. “The biggest promise that I can make,” she whispered. “I won’t leave you behind… or forget about you.” She turned her gaze to Octavia, who stood a few feet away, watching the whole exchange closely. “And neither will Octavia,” she said a little louder. “Isn’t that right, darling?”

The gray mare nodded and approached the pair, pausing only long enough to wipe her own eyes before sitting down next to Sweetie Belle on her other side. “Of course it is,” affirmed Octavia. “I love your sister dearly, Sweetie Belle, but I would never think to come between her and her family; in fact, I would say that it is my love for her that encourages me to make certain that she does spend time with her other loved ones.” Her amethyst eyes met Rarity’s again, and the unicorn felt her tears return at the love she saw in Octavia’s eyes. “It is part of being together,” she whispered. “You must make sure that both ponies are whole.”

“So…” Both mares dropped their gazes to Sweetie Belle, who looked up at them expectantly as she poked her front hooves together in front of her nose. “…does that mean that you don’t… hate me?”

Octavia laughed, a bright, beautiful sound that gave Rarity goosebumps and caused Sweetie’s smile to return. “Of course not, little one. In fact, I’m pleased to finally meet the real Sweetie Belle.” She leaned down and wrapped her front legs around the swaddled filly, her hooves crossing over Rarity’s as she hugged Sweetie. “I hope that you’ll find me as fun and interesting as I find you,” she said softly, her eyes sparkling as she bumped noses with Sweetie Belle.

The filly giggled. “I think I will,” she agreed, and Rarity felt her heart leap into her throat as Sweetie extricated her hooves from her robe and wrapped them around Octavia’s graceful neck, pulling her into a tight hug.

I wish this had been where we’d started this day, the designer thought as she wiped a hoof across her eyes, but better late than never, as my father would say. She returned her leg to the intricate hug and squeezed both ponies for all she was worth, her heart soaring as she shared time with two of the most important ponies in her life. She squeezed her eyes shut and smiled happily. This is exactly what we needed…

“So… hugging is really super great and all…” Rarity opened her eyes as Sweetie released Octavia and turned to face her, a sheepish smile growing on her lips. “But is anyone else, like, really really hungry?”

In spite of the tender moment they had just shared, Rarity couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Octavia giggled. “A perfect bookend to a wonderful moment, my dear Sweetie Belle,” she muttered, but despite her words she gave her sister another gentle squeeze. “But yes, I am quite hungry, now that you mention it.”

Sweetie leaned over and nuzzled Rarity’s cheek before smiling up at her happily. “Well, let’s go get lunch then! I made reservations at the bistro yesterday!”

Rarity smirked and sighed. “Anything for you, Sweetie Belle.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“…and that was when Twilight walked in.” Sweetie Belle shivered despite the warm sunlight that poured over the trio of ponies as they sat at the open air table outside the Bistro. “We tried to tell her that the jam wasn’t supposed to explode like that, but she just stared at her books and kept muttering under her breath… it was kinda scary.” The small unicorn’s horn lit up and she levitated her drink to her, the condensation on the glass of lemonade glistening in the sunlight. “After she noticed that we were still there, she made us clean up every speck of jam from the library… it took a really long time, but she eventually let us go home.”

“As I recall, you were there almost three whole days before she’d let you go,” said Rarity with a knowing smirk. She leaned towards her sister and propped her chin atop her right front hoof before arching an eyebrow at her. “And what did you learn from all of that, dear Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie took a long draw from her lemonade, her brow furrowing as she stared up into the blue sky. “Well,” she said, setting the glass back to the table, “I guess I learned that if you’re going to experiment with zap apples, unrefined liquid rainbow, and a tiny bit of lightning, you should probably do it outside.”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed, and from her left side she heard Octavia stifle a giggle. “And what about asking permission before entering another pony’s home?” she prompted, her eyebrows rising expectantly.

“Oh, Scootaloo says that only counts if you don’t know the pony,” said Sweetie with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Twilight’s our friend and friends don’t mind if you commit a misdemeanor now and again.”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed and her ears slanted back towards her mane as Octavia lost the battle against her mirth, the warm music of her laughter pouring out across the table as Sweetie levitated her lemonade glass to her and took another sip without breaking eye contact with Rarity. She’s getting far too good at sarcasm, the designer thought as her lips pursed indignantly. A filly shouldn’t speak to her older sister in such a fashion – I’m certain I didn’t do that when I was her age. She allowed her hoof to drop back to the table and turned away from Sweetie Belle sharply enough that the curl of her mane bobbed between them, hiding her eyes from the smaller pony.

“Well if that’s how my little sister is going to live her life, I suppose you’ll just have to get used to the idea of living in the Ponyville Jail.” She winked at Octavia from behind her curl, and the gray mare’s hooves darted to her mouth as she struggled to stave off another round of laughter. The unicorn felt a grin spread across her lips. “And we, her loving family, will just have to visit her whenever we can… well, on holidays, at least…”

“Hey… you’d only come visit me on holidays?”

Octavia snorted into her hooves as Rarity turned back towards her sister, her grin becoming a broad smirk. “Well, I can’t spend all of my time at a prison, now can I?” she huffed haughtily. “I have my reputation to consider!”

Sweetie Belle sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Oh fine… no more misdemeanors for the Crusaders,” she conceded with a dramatic shrug. “I guess I’ll just have to put off trying to get my cutie mark in cat burglary…”

“My dear, you exploded three gallons of jam in the last home you invaded.” Rarity reached out and placed a hoof onto Sweetie’s shoulder, her smile softening sarcastically. “I’d say that such an experience is all that you need to know about your prowess as a cat burglar.”

Sweetie’s green eyes narrowed, but only for a moment before mirth washed over her face like a burst of sunlight from behind a cloud. Her cheeks puffed out as a laugh exploded from her chest, and it took mere seconds before the formerly calm and collected Sweetie Belle was all but rolling on the ground with laughter. Rarity’s smile became a true one as she heard Octavia’s laughter join her sister’s, and the warmth of her own laughter rose in her throat to be added to the mix. It’s so good to hear her laugh like this, she reflected as Sweetie swiped a hoof across her eyes, her smile broad and bright. THIS is what I wanted this day to be like…

“Oh… the exploding jam story… it feels like an eternity since I first heard about that.” Rarity’s gaze turned to Octavia, who was wiping her own tears of mirth away as her eyes moved from sister to sister. “Although I must say that hearing all of the details from Sweetie Belle made the story much more… entertaining.”

Rarity nodded and turned back to the table, where the empty plates from their lunch sat neatly stacked in the center of the table. “I’ll say that she can certainly add a unique aspect to any story she tells,” she agreed as she reached out and grasped her own glass of lemonade in her hooves. She brought it to her and sipped it through the straw, its tangy sweetness blossoming on her tongue like liquid sunshine. “And the fact that it actually happened to her doesn’t hurt,” she added with a wink at Sweetie as she placed the glass back onto the table.

“Yeah… that was fun, but it was scary, too,” she admitted, her ears drooping to her mane once more. “Twilight was super mad, and I think it was the first time I ever heard her yell at us. She was pretty scary… Kinda like you were earlier, Rarity…” she muttered softly.

Rarity felt her heart squeeze, and with a sigh she turned to face her sister once more. “Ah, yes… I am… sorry about that, Sweetie Belle.” She reached out and placed her hoof over Sweetie’s smaller one, and as Sweetie’s eyes met hers she felt her throat tighten at the open sadness that she saw there. “I truly didn’t mean to get so angry,” Rarity said softly, “and… even though you lying to me did make me very, very angry… I shouldn’t have yelled at you as I did.” She offered Sweetie a gentle, pleading smile. “Can you forgive me for making you scared?”

Sweetie’s right hoof settled over the top of Rarity’s right. “Only if you forgive me for lying to you in the first place,” she whispered. Rarity’s smile grew slightly, and after a moment she leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Sweetie Belle’s cheek.

“I’d say you have a deal,” she whispered back. Sweetie’s grin returned, and she nodded happily as Rarity shifted back into her own seat. I have to remember that there are better ways to deal with conflict like we had earlier, thought Rarity as Sweetie’s hooves extricated themselves from her own and darted to a small menu that was sitting at the empty side of the table. She’s not a child anymore, and as she gets older I’m going to have to change how I talk to her… Sweetie pulled the menu to her and began flipping through it, her green eyes so bright and intent on what she was reading that Rarity couldn’t help but smile. …because she’s getting to a point in her life when she doesn’t have to see me anymore… and I don’t want to lose her because of some stupid fight.

“All right, it’s dessert time!” declared Sweetie Belle as she closed the small menu decisively. She slapped the laminated paper down onto the table and turned her gaze to Octavia, her brow furrowing and her muzzle scrunching. “Octavia… I have just one question for you.”

The musician’s lips quirked into a smile, but she met Sweetie’s gaze evenly. “You may ask me one question,” she replied, her voice matching Sweetie’s gaze for seriousness.

“Do you like…” Sweetie pointed a hoof sharply at Octavia, “…sundaes?!”

Octavia’s eyes narrowed. “Only if they have…” she placed a hoof over her face, hiding half of it from view, “…cherries on top,” she finished coolly.

Rarity rolled her eyes. Oh dear Celestia… and I thought I was the dramatic one…

“All right then, I’ll be right back!” Sweetie Belle’s grin returned and she practically leaped from the table, her mane and tail bouncing as she hurried away towards where the waiter stood. Rarity watched her go before turning her gaze back to Octavia.

“Your sister is wonderful,” the gray mare said, placing her hoof back to the table with a broad smile. “I haven’t laughed this much since I was a filly back in Neighpon.” Octavia’s amethyst gaze moved from Rarity to where Sweetie Belle stood conversing with the waiter. “She reminds me a great deal of Maple Flourish, my younger sister… though Sweetie is, admittedly, a bit more energetic than Maple.”

“I’m starting to wonder if there’s a pony in the whole world who could match Sweetie for energy,” admitted Rarity with a chuckle. “But, between you and I?” She smiled over at her sister. “I wouldn’t change her for anything in the world.” She watched Sweetie gesture broadly with her hooves and shook her head before turning back to Octavia, and to her surprise the other mare was looking at her intently, her brilliant purple eyes shining in the afternoon sunlight.

Rarity met her gaze with a loving smile, but after a moment she felt a cold spot blossom in her heart. I wonder if I should talk to her about the fight Sweetie and I had earlier, she thought. I don’t suppose it was a wonderful thing to see… She looked down at the table, her warm contentment cooling slightly as the thought of bringing the whole mess up again threw shade across her inner landscape. I know that we’ve fought before, and I’m certain we will again, but it’s different when you see the pony you love fight with their family… it can change the way you see a pony, and I can’t help but think-,

Without a word, Octavia’s hoof looped itself around Rarity’s own and gave it a gentle squeeze. The unicorn blinked as the simple touch freed her from her reverie, and as she brought her eyes back to Octavia she felt the shadows of uncertainty inside her heart evaporate. Octavia’s eyes shone with love, their amethyst depths sparkling in the sunlight as she favored the unicorn with a broad smile, something that Rarity had come to accept as an extremely rare occurrence. She squeezed Rarity’s hoof tightly in her own, and after a moment Rarity reciprocated, squeezing the earth pony’s hoof as tightly as she could.

“I love you, Octavia,” whispered Rarity.

“As I love you,” answered Octavia, and the four simple words from the gray mare filled Rarity with more confidence than any reassuring conversation ever could have. The unicorn smiled happily before leaning over and kissing Octavia delicately on the cheek.

“Aishiteru wa,” the unicorn whispered, her voice carrying only far enough for the earth pony to hear. To her delight she felt Octavia’s grip on her hoof tighten even more, and when she pulled away the gray mare’s cheeks were flushed deep crimson.

“Rarity…” she gasped, her eyes alive with emotion. “You... you’ve been practicing your Neighponese?”

“Only the phrases that I feel are worth saying more precisely, chéri,” she said softly. “And if there is one thing that I love about the Neighponese language, it is that it allows me to be very, very specific.”

Octavia bit her lip alluringly, but before she could respond Sweetie Belle’s voice split through the silence, her tones bright and happy.

“All right, here it is: dessert!” Rarity broke her gaze away from Octavia’s just in time to see a huge sundae easily three times the size of her head sail over the edge of the table and settle itself into the center, its base brushing the empty dishes of their lunch out of its way. The magic around it went dim, and a moment later Sweetie Belle emerged from behind it, a thin sheen of sweat upon her brow. “I didn’t know what kind of ice cream you liked, Octavia,” she admitted as she panted lightly, “so I just went ahead and got a little of everything!”

Rarity’s eyes swept the mountains of ice cream, their peaks and valleys overflowing with chocolate and raspberry sauces, all crowned with a half dozen brilliantly red cherries that nestled delicately in perfectly peaked whipped cream… and in spite of herself, the unicorn felt her mouth start to water. A socialite I may be… but never let it be said that I could ignore a perfect scoop of ice cream.

“Sweetie Belle… how in Equestria did you get this made?” she asked, her voice breathy with wonder.

“Oh, y’know… I know ponies.” Sweetie’s magic lit up again, and a pair of spoons slid into place in front of Rarity and Octavia. The unicorn’s eyes rose to her sister, who hefted her own spoon with a broad smile. “This is to my sister and her marefriend!” she declared happily. “I hope that we’ll all be good friends!”

Rarity’s smile returned, and as she grasped her spoon with her hoof she heard Octavia clear her throat.

“Actually, Sweetie Belle, why don’t you dedicate this ice cream to what we are…” Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow over the peaks of her sundae creation, and as Rarity turned to Octavia the earth pony lifted her own spoon high. “…your sisters.”

Rarity’s smile quavered, and it took all her strength not to tear up. Oh Octavia… She sniffled and turned back to Sweetie Belle, who didn’t even try to hide the tears that welled up in her eyes.

“O-okay…” she sniffled happily. “To my sisters!”

Octavia giggled, and without further ado the trio turned their spoons and dug in.