“Sweetie, darling?” Rarity called out. “Are you home?” She trotted into her little sister’s room to find nopony there.
Rarity took a few glances around her younger sister’s room to find out that it was a mess.
“Oh, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity smirked as she trotted over to her sister’s desk and picked up a drawing her sister made. ‘While Sweetie Belle may be in high school now, her drawing skill certainly hasn’t improved one bit’, she thought to herself as she smiled at her sister’s drawing. The unicorn set the drawing back down on the desk and looked around the room once more.
The doorbell rang, loud and clear.
“I wonder who that could be?” Rarity left the room and made her way to the front door. She opened the door to find a blank-faced police officer. He looked a little young, about 28, by Rarity’s assumptions. He had a gray coat, a blonde mane, and sported handcuffs as a cutie mark. Rarity was puzzled – had she done something wrong?
“Good morning Ma’am, I am officer Steel Cuffs. Is a Miss Rarity home?” Steel Cuffs politely asked the dressmaker.
“That would be me, officer.” Rarity looked up at him. ‘Why does he look so shocked?’ Rarity thought to herself.
“Oh, um, are you the caretaker of a… ‘Sweetie Belle’?, ma’am?” He continued to glare at her without any emotion.
“Um…” Rarity stuttered. “Why yes, yes I am. Is something wrong? Is Sweetie Belle alright?” She was beginning to be concerned for her dear sister.
“Sweetie Belle is currently in police custody.” The officer began to show empathy for the now shocked unicorn standing before him.
“What for!?!” ‘Oh, I hope Sweetie Belle is okay!’ Rarity thought to herself.
“I don’t know all the details yet. I wasn’t the one who brought her in.”
Rarity switched her sign to say “CLOSED” and shut the door behind her, and followed the officer to the police station.
“How’s it goin’, Steel Cuffs?” A mare sitting at the front desk of the police station asked as Rarity and the officer entered the building.
“Hey, Deep Document, this is a visitor.” Officer Steel Cuffs told the mare at the front desk.
“Got it.”
The mare continued writing as Steel Cuffs began leading Rarity to a large room.
On the right side two officers were holding down a young, thuggish-looking stallion as he cussed at them, trying to break free. At the wall on the other side of the room sat an earth pony mare with a blue coat and a white mane that curled at the ends. She was 16 or 17, around Sweetie Belle’s age, and appeared to be very worried and frustrated.
“Wait here, Ma’am.” Steel Cuffs told Rarity as she sat down in a chair near the lone mare. Steel Cuffs left the room through the door that read “PPD PERSONNEL ONLY”
Rarity sat alone and watched the police wrestle the thug and drag him through the same door Steel Cuffs left through. The room became silent enough to hear a pin drop. Rarity looked at the mare sitting to the right of her, who didn’t notice the Element of Generosity’s gaze.
“Excuse me, darling, but: Are you alright?” The mare turned to take a long look at Rarity. The mare kept silent as she kept looking at Rarity.
“What’s your name?” Rarity asked the young mare.
“Silver Strings” She whispered and returned to her silence.
“Well, Silver Strings, my name is Rarity.” To Rarity’s surprise, Silver Strings’ eyes widened as her pupils shrank. She began crying and covered her eyes with her hooves. “Dear Celestia, what is the matter, darling?” Silver Strings kept on crying while Rarity got her some tissues from a desk next to the door.
“I-” Silver Strings sniffled. She began to calm down as she wiped her eyes. “It’s my fault.”
Rarity had no clue as to what the mare was talking about. But whatever it was, it seemed to be very important and struck many emotional chords within the young mare sitting next to her.
Rarity put her for-leg around Silver Strings and comforted her. “There, there, darling, I’m sure whatever it is that’s troubling you isn’t your fault at all.” Silver Strings turned to look at Rarity with an indecipherable expression as more tears left her eyes. “My little sister Sweetie Belle is the reason I’m here in the first place. And I’m worried for her…” Rarity looked down. “But I’m sure she’s fine. My good friend, Pinkie Pie, always tells me to be optimistic in bad situations, I guess this one of those situations where optimism is the best thing.” Rarity smiled at the young mare sitting next to her.
“I- I guess so…” Silver Strings sniffled. “It’s just…”
Rarity looked down at the poor mare sitting beside her, only imagining what traumatic event had taken place in order for her to be this way.
“My-”
Silver Strings was interrupted by a familiar officer entering through the door. “We’re ready to let you see Sweetie Belle.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Officer Cuffs. But, if I may ask, what is it that my little sister did to get herself in here?” Rarity asked the officer standing before her, looking at her with remorse.
“I think it’s best she tell you herself.” Steel Cuffs looked towards the ground and put his hoof behind his head. “Besides, I have to go take a look at a crime scene.” Rarity looked at him, unsure what to say as he opened the door for her. She entered a hallway with a few cells on the right and two interrogation rooms on the left. At the end of the hallway was a room with a couple of chairs and desks with a glass wall.
Rarity entered the room and looked around, wondering what to do. Then she noticed that a pony was standing behind her. She turned around to find Silver Strings.
“Oh- um, hello, darling. What are you doi-”
“I’m the reason Sweetie Belle is in here!” She quickly blurted out before looking away, not wanting to look Rarity in the eyes.
Rarity frowned and squinted, not able to comprehend what such a sweet filly like her could do to get her little sister in jail.
“I’m sorry… What?”
Silver Strings opened her mouth, but no words came out. The room was silent until she finally built up the courage and spoke up.
“S-Sweetie Belle an-” She was cut off by the sound of two ponies entering through a door on the other side of the glass.
Rarity and Silver Strings both looked towards the door and saw Sweetie Belle and a police officer enter the room.
“Have a seat here.” The officer with Sweetie Belle seemed angry and rather annoyed, which seemed to make Sweetie Belle extremely uncomfortable. “You make me sick!” he unnecessarily added.
Rarity squinted at the rude officer. She didn’t like the looks of him. She hoped Sweetie Belle didn’t have to deal with his attitude in containment.
Rarity sat down in front of her sister. She took note of her sister looking down.
‘Something is wrong, very, very wrong.’ Rarity thought to herself.
“Sweetie Belle, are… you alright?” Rarity wasn’t just concerned now, she was downright worried sick.
A tear washed down Sweetie Belle’s face.
“Sweetie Belle, it’s okay…” Rarity comforted her younger sister from the other side of the glass. “Whatever is wrong, you can tell me.” Sweetie Belle looked at her sister. “No matter what it is, you’ll always be my sister and nothing can change that.”
Before Sweetie Belle could begin speaking, another officer, a mare, came through the door from which Rarity and Silver Strings had entered. “Which one of you is Silver Strings?”
“That would be…” The mare paused and closed her eyes, reluctant to continue as if she knew something bad was about to happen to her. “Me…”
“You’re parents are here to pick you up.”
Silver Strings only looked at the mare in blue before her. A face Rarity had seen only once before in her whole life. She sa’w it in a movie but couldn’t quite remember the name of it. ‘Something like, Red Day? No… Red… Red… Red Dawn. That was it.’ She thought to herself. Her father had made her watch it when she was younger, in which he did the same with her sister (Sweetie Belle liked it much more than Rarity did). At the end of the movie, two brothers fought the invaders at their very own camp, the younger one was shot and the older brother began carrying him off when the enemy leader pointed a gun at him. The was when the older brother made the face Silver Strings was making right now. The face that somehow meant mercy and ‘go ahead, shoot me’ at the same time. Upon seeing this face, the enemy leader lowered his gun and the older brother carry the younger to a nearby bench.
After a few seconds, Silver Strings lowered her head and left with the police officer.
Rarity turned back to Sweetie Belle and saw a look of sorrow. “Sweetie Belle…” The two sisters looked at each other. Rarity began to gather her thoughts and think up of something to say. “Is everything okay?”
Sweetie Belle then sniffled, and proceeded to explain everything.
Twilight Sparkle heard a knock at the door.
“I wonder who that could be?” She told herself as she stood up and headed towards the door.
“Don’t worry, Twilight, I got it!” Spike jogged past the alicorn to the door. Spike opened the door to find Rarity. Twilight, who was standing behind the now even happier dragon, was confused about her friend’s arrival.
“Oh hey, Rarity.” The princess asked.
“Fine, Twilight.” Rarity tried and failed to smile. Twilight had noticed before that Rarity seemed a little off, but with the way she was speaking, Twilight was sure of it. Something was wrong with Rarity.
“Come in, come in.” Twilight let her friend inside. “Spike, could you make us some tea?” She turned to her assistant.
“Two cups of tea, coming right u-”
“I’m fine, Twilight. I’m not necessarily in the right kind of mood for tea.” Rarity cut in.
“Okay then, one cup of tea.” Spike made his way into the kitchen, now noticing as well that Rarity was in fact, upset in some way.
The two mares sat in silence for a moment, before Twilight broke the silence.
“So um, Rarity…” Twilight paused. “What brings you here at…” Twilight looked at the clock. “11:28 at night?”
“Sweetie Belle is in trouble.” Rarity’s eyes never left the ground as she held her deep-in-thought expression.
“Umm, okay?” To say that the alicorn was confused would be an understatement. “Did she ruin a client’s outfit or…”
Rarity sighed. Her eyes finally falling upon Twilight’s. “I’m afraid not, Twilight. She’s not in that kind of trouble.”
Twilight was now very curious as to what Rarity meant by ‘Sweetie Belle is in trouble’. ‘Could she be hurt?’ Twilight’s mind raced with possible ways her friend’s younger sibling could be in serious trouble.
Rarity sighed once more.
“Get comfortable, dear. This may take a while to explain.”
Twilight sat and listened to Rarity as she began telling her about how and why her younger sibling was in police custody. Spike, who had finished making Twilight’s tea and handed it to her, was told to head off to bed, as she and Rarity needed to discuss very important and that she was too tired to explain the full situation to him.
“As I was saying, Twilight…” Rarity continued, only to pause. “Um, I’m sorry darling,” The unicorn looked at the alicorn. “I seem to have forgotten where I left off.
“Something about a filly named Silver Strings.” Twilight tiredly responded.
“Oh yes, right.” Rarity took a brief second to regain her thoughts. “Sweetie Belle, you see, was at Silver Stings’ home. They said they were working on a project for biology.”
“Wait.” Twilight interrupted her friend.
“Yes, darling?”
“How did you not know who this Silver Strings is, if Sweetie Belle is working on a biology project?” The princess questioned. “And what does this have to do with your sister being in jail?”
“Oh, yes, um… that. Well, you see, Twilight, there was no biology project to work on. And Sweetie Belle doesn’t always tell me where she’s going when she leaves the house.” Rarity looked at the ground.
“I don’t think I follow.” Twilight bluntly stated.
“Well, Twilight, Silver strings and Sweetie Belle are…” Rarity and Twilight looked into each other’s eyes. “Sweetie Belle and Silver Strings are in a relationship. A romantic relationship.” Rarity made sure to put emphasis on ‘romantic’ in her sentence.
“That still doesn’t explain anything, Sweetie Belle is gay, I get that part, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Rarity nodded in agreement. “But why in the hell is she in police custody!?!”
“Well, for starters, darling, you didn’t quite let me finish.”
Twilight looked back at her friend.“Sorry, Rarity, I’m just tired and want to go to bed, but my friends come first, and I’ve been a jerk.”
“It’s no problem, darling, everypony gets exhausted from time to time.”
“Thanks, Rarity.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Now…” Twilight was ready to pass out on her throne. “Where were we?”
Rarity continued. “The reason that Sweetie Belle is in jail, Twilight, is because miss Silver Strings has rather… Religious parents, who don’t necessarily take kindly to that sort of court.” Rarity sighed as Twilight’s eyes narrowed with confusion and interest. “The poor fillies were only sharing kisses when her father barged in.” Rarity paused and looked back at Twilight. “Now you must, understand, Twilight, they were by no means doing anything naughty, but the…” Rarity tried to find the correct words for the kind of man that poor filly’s father was, as she had seen him and her mother scolding their daughter, whose eyes were full of tears during the scolding. “Pardon my language, darling, but that douche of a stallion caught them in the middle of a stolen kiss and went absolutely ballistic! And then…” Rarity was now starting to build up rage as she stood up out of her throne and continued whilst she paced around the room. “That douchebag had the audacity to hit MY sister and and HIS OWN daughter, then blame it on Sweetie Belle!” Rarity was now shouting at this point. “Now, Twilight,” Rarity’s shout had turned to a small whisper. “I want you to take a guess at what he did next. Just guess.”
Twilight sat there silently. Not wanting to further her friend’s dreadful and terrifying rage. “Uhhh, I don’t know. You haven’t even told me the charges on Sweetie belle’s head yet, well, except for assault, maybe.”
“That-” Rarity cut herself off, trying to find more civilized words but failing to do so. “THAT MOTHER FUCKING, COCK SUCKING, ASS KISSING, SHIT EATING BASTARD OF A STALLION CHARGED MY LITTLE SISTER FOR “RAPING” HIS LITTLE FILLY!” Twilight slightly cowered at this new Rarity, as she had never seen or heard her act this way before. ‘Hell, I’m pretty sure Sweetie Belle hasn’t even seen Rarity act like this.’ Rarity continued to rant on. ‘ Normally, Rarity would never touch a bad word even with a ten foot pole in her hoof, I would’ve expected her to swear maybe once, but this is a whole new spectrum of cussing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pony use this much vulgar language in one day. Much less a minute.’ Twilight thought to herself before being promptly interrupted by Rarity loudly yelling the word ‘fuck’ and then calming down.
“I am sorry yelling those most repulsive words in front of you, Twilight. If you will excuse me, I must calm myself down. See you soon, darling.” Twilight watched as her friend exited the castle and headed home.
Twilight trotted over to a paper and quill. She levitated the quill with her horn. “Dear Cel-” Twilight paused witing and yawned.
“You need help, Twilight?” Twilight turned to see Spike standing next to her.
“Spike, what are you doing out of-”
“I listened to the whole conversation through the to the side of the door.” Twilight gave him a rather disapproving look.
“Rarity and Sweetie Belle are my friends too, ya know.” He added. Spike did have a point. First of all, she was very tired, and second, how was she going to get her letter to Celestia without Spike’s transfer magic?
“Fine,” Twilight smirked. “Spike, take a letter.” Spike stood at the podium. “Dear Princess Celestia,”
“Rarity, I’m scared…” Sweetie Belle hugged her elder sibling.
“It’s okay, darling, Twilight got the best lawyer in Equestria to help you.”
Sweetie Belle sniffled. “Really?”
“Of course, dear! Besides…” Rarity leaned in towards Sweetie Belle. “That’s one of many benefits of being an element of harmony.” Rarity seemed lighten the mood with that statement as Sweetie Belle half laughed and smirked.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle entered an office with a gray-coated stallion sitting at it with his chair turned towards the wall.
“Ms. Sweetie Belle, is it?” He turned around to face the two.
“Yes, Mr… Write?” Rarity responded.
“Phoenix, Phoenix Write.” Rarity then noticed his cutie mark, a phoenix with a quill in it’s talon, and his weird, slicked back hair which seemed to stand up in the air, as he lent out his hoof to shake with his client.
“I assume you are aware of what my sister and I dealing with, yes?”
“Yes, and there’s good news and bad news. Which one you wanna hear first?”
“Bad news.” Sweetie Belle finally looked up from the ground to join the conversation.
“Alright, bad news it is.” Phoenix sat back in his chair. “We don’t have much evidence to support your argument…” This statement cause visible worry on booth the sisters’ faces. “However… the good news is that they don’t have much evidence either.” Rarity sighed in slight relief.
“Well, I guess that’s not too bad.” Rarity paused. “But it’s not very good either.”
“Here’s the evidence we do have.” Phoenix Writer then laid out a folder full of photos, medical documents, and other assorted papers. “It says here on these documents that Silver Strings has none of Sweetie Belle’s DNA on her except her lips.” He pulled out another document. “Now, here’s the smoking gun…” He looked at his client. “You see, we asked the Strings household if they, as well as Sweetie Belle, could take a lie detector test… However...” He paused once more and pointed at different parts of the document. “The Strings family refused… According to Mr. Strings, that is…” Rarity and Sweetie Belle looked at the stallion who now had a grin on his face.
ONE YEAR AND SIX MONTHS LATER
Rarity sat at her dining table reading the morning paper with a small cup of Earl Gray Tea in her hoof. Sweetie Belle came down the stairs with Silver Strings and packed her on the cheek. “Hey sis,” Sweetie Belle waved at her older sister.
“Hello, darling.”
“Silver and I are gonna go to Sugarcube Corner to hang out with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.”
“Have fun.” The mare sipped her tea as the two left the boutique. She watched out the window as the couple trotted off towards the bakery before her head returned to the paper before her.
ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE STRINGS HORROR HOUSE
For some, it can be very hard to believe that in one of Ponyville’s many fine households, lied a very horrifying monstrosity of a home. When investigators first entered the home, all seemed well, there were family portraits on the walls and other kinds of things you would find in your average home, but the first things detectives noticed that seemed rather off were the fact that neither of the children’s rooms had decoration of any kind other than their musical instrument and locked door to the basement. Once detectives came back with a search warrant and were able to enter the basement, they found the true horrors of the house. In the center of the room was a table with shackles nailed down to the table. On the walls were different kinds of whips and shock collars. In one of the corners of the room lay a box with nails and a hammer, thankfully unused.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that failed musicians, Velvet Heart and Bronze Strings had been abusing their two daughters, Heart Strings and Silver Strings, using various torture methods such as whipping of the privates to punish them or to teach them of their strict beliefs. These atrocities would still be occurring to this day if it had not been for Heart Strings’ lie detector test and testimony at the trial of Belle vs. Strings, a case where defendant Sweetie Belle had been charged with statutory rape by the parents of Silver Strings, resulting in a unanimous 12-0 vote in Sweetie Belle’s favor, where she told about her horrible home-life and how horrible her parents were. Shortly after the trial, an investigation began which resulted in the life sentence of Velvet Heart and Bronze Strings.
Today, however, we celebrate the one year anniversary of their arrests as today is now a town holiday - congratulate the Ponyville Police Department and their astonishing ability to keep Ponyville ranked in the three least criminal towns in all of Equestria.
Hearth’s Warming was just around the corner. Snow fell to the ground in the streets of Ponyville as caroling could be heard loud and clear for all to hear. Foals were out and about, frolicking in the white blanket that covered the grounds and rooftops and families gathered by the fireplaces in their homes. Not to mention the may ugly sweaters worn by all. And a rather built, somewhat young stallion began uncomfortably making his way towards the front door of the Carousel Boutique.
Rarity took another sip of her tea as she hear the doorbell ring. ‘I wonder who that could be?’ She thought to herself. She trotted over to the door opened it to find a familiar face staring at her.
“Uhh, hey Rarity.” Officer Steel Cuffs nervously introduced himself.
“Hello darling.” Rarity smiled at the him. “What brings you here on this fine morning?” the seamstress smiled at officer.
“Well, I was uh, wondering if maybe you’d like to…” He mumbled something Rarity couldn’t pick up.
“I’d like to what?” Rarity stared at him as he began to slightly sweat.
“If you’d maybe like to go with me to the Ponyville Police Department carnival tonight?” He shyly asked her as he cringed and shut his eyes, fearing of a negative response from the mare.
“I’d love to!”
Steel Cuffs froze as he opened his eyes to see the beautiful mare standing before him.
“What time do you want to go?” She asked him.
“Um, I don’t know. I honestly didn’t think I’d get this far…” Steel Cuffs slightly laughed. “Does six sound good?” He asked her.
“That’s perfect, darling!” Rarity hugged the stallion on her doorstep. “I shall see you at six o’clock!”
“Six on the dot! Got it!” The officer saluted as Rarity went off to go get ready for her date.
