Rarity looked into her eyes. They were cold, calculating, concerning to ones who once knew her. "Rarity? What are you doing? Can I help?" Rarity tried to shake the memory of her sister out of her head because this was no time for sentiments. The mare before her and her friends was no sister of her's. This mare wore a red coat that had a pentagram where her cutie mark should have been. She stood with a firm regalness that seemed stiff and unforgiving. Her eyes, though once so soft and full of life were now tired and hard. "Rarity? Can we play? I want to play house!" "Yes, just as soon as I'm finished my chores. We don't want Mom and Dad to be mad, do we?" "Who are you?" Twilight asked, readying her horn. It was only a month ago when Rarity had met Twilight and befriended her, Apple Jack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow, whom she had casual conversations before then.
She wore it now, the piece of jewelry bestowed upon her because she was the embodiment of what it represented, generosity. A trait lost to the ponies of this world. No pony was as generous as Rarity because she decided to break away from rudeness and indecency and become generous. The same can be said for her friends. Every pony stopped smiling, every pony stopped being honest, every pony stopped kindness, every pony stopped trying to learn new things and stopped magic lessons after a certain age, and every pony stopped being loyal. That is why her and her friends were held in such high regard. They were bringing it back! And that is why Sweetie was standing before them then.
“Who am I?” the mare asked, snide. “I am here to stop this. Whatever you’re doing isn’t going to work. I’ve seeked out the elements, and I tell you now that these are not them. Stop this foolish mission of peace, because I refuse to live in that world where I can’t thrive but shrivel,” Sweetie explained. She stood in confidence. She knew her mission, and she was adamant about stopping them. ”When I grow up, I want to change the world!” “Oh, I believe in you, Sweetie dear, but don’t become overconfident. You’ll get stared at in the streets.” Rarity tried to think of something else to let her focus on the threat at hand.
“Not the real elements? We stopped Discord with these bad boys! Even Nightmare Moon!” Rainbow explained, showing her necklace off to Sweetie.
“What?” She looked stunned.
“Yeah! Didn’t you know, Silly?” asked Pinkie.
“Where have you been to not know who we are, or what we’re capable of?” Twilight questioned.
Rarity dared not to say a word. Though she too didn’t know where her sister went, and was curios about it, Rarity felt that Sweetie would become hostile if she realised that one of the Elements was beared by her sister, if she didn’t make the connection before. ”Come play with me!” No, she dared not speak to her.
“I? I was everywhere. I traveled all over this planet. Beyond Equestria, there are places where Nightmare Moon herself would be a minor disturbance compared to these of what I saw,” she explained.
“Why go so far?” Twilight asked.
“To become powerful in magic. Arkain and beyond. More powerful than your precious princesses and smarter than the one they called Star Swirl,” Sweetie explained.
“What is the purpose of doing this?” Rarity blurted.
Sweetie shot daggers with her eyes at her sister. “Rarity. I thought that was you.” ”Peek-a-boo!! My turn to hide, Rarity!”
“Sweetie, I-” Rarity said, but couldn’t find the words to continue to speak.
“Rarity. You know this mare?” Apple Jack questioned.
“No. She knows only the shadow of who I was. But I became powerful. I did it so that I could change Equestria. Change this dump of a town. I’ve seen this world. I know what selfishness and greed and hate does to you. I am your only salvation,” Sweetie explained, grinning.
“Sweetie. What happened to you?” Rarity asked, desperation in her voice.
”I just want to know of a better life, that’s all,”
“I grew up,” Sweetie replied.
Rarity looked around at all her friends. They were all glaring. Sweetie Belle posed a threat that not even Twilight could see, and that scared them. Fluttershy started talking to Sweetie, but all Rarity could do was look at her. Rarity knew that she was dangerous, but would she bare the consequence of what the elements could have done to her?
“Please, do the smart thing! Don’t make us hurt you,” Spike said, who had been hiding behind Twilight the entire time.
“Please? Us?” Sweetie sneered. “The lat time I checked you weren’t wearing a necklace so you are no match for me, dragon!” She said lighting up her horn.
In an instant Twilight reacted. She summoned the spell to activate the elements and Rarity felt herself be raised up by the spell and the magic in her gem charge up with magic. Fear consumed her. She didn’t know how to respond, but as soon as she could find the strength to shout, it was all over. She stood there stunned. For there, lying in the street was none other than her sister encased with stone. ”I love you, Rarity, I’m going to miss you in my travels.” “Please, no formalities. Now go before Mother and Father see you.” She stood as frozen as her sister.
“I - I can’t believe it,” Rarity stammered.
“What? Fluttershy asked.
“What’s wrong, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“She - she was my - my -” Rarity couldn’t bring herself to say it. Instead, she collapsed and cried openly in front of her friends.
~~~~
“Is Rarity going to be okay?” Spike asked. It was a full week after the defeat of Sweetie Belle and only Red Heart had seen her. Nopony else was allowed to.
“She’s starting to cope with it, though I’d give her another, oh, year or two to finally come to grips with it. But that is the bare minimum. It could, indeed, take a lot more time,” Red Heart explained. “In the meantime, I’ll be feeding her, and doing all that myself until she decides that she want’s to eat and have other social interactions with other ponies,” Red Heart continued.
“I see,” Spike said, sadly.
“It’s going to be okay, Spike. Trust me. If she spent her entire youth around ponies like we were, than she can cope with this,” Red Heart assured.
“I just worry about her,” Spike explained.
“We all do, dear,” Red Heart said, patting him on the head and walking away.
Spike walked in the direction of the library, dismayed and heart broken. “How is she?” Rainbow Dash asked, seeing Spike.
“She’s starting to cope with it, but she is still locked up in her boutique,” Spike explained, a tear falling from his face. Only about two month previous would Spike be kicked out of the town for showing his emotions but ever since the Elements of Harmony resurfaced, ponies were slowly learning to accept pain and tears along with any other emotion like that.
They embraced each other. “I feel so guilty,” Rainbow admitted.
“I do too,” Spike explained.
Author's Note
I felt like Sweetie Belle's story was incomplete, so I added another chapter. I hope you enjoy!!
The 'Graveyard'
Dark, musky, cloudy. That was the morning Sweetie Belle was placed in her graveyard, she already in her tomb. She looked angry, spiteful, in a battle stance and waiting for her chance to fire at her opponents. Celestia looked upon her tomb with purpose and understanding, the mist and early morning due adding to the scenery. And then, all at once, she walked away. As the day passed, Sweetie's tomb was looked upon by ponies passing by and cleaned by the workers, and gawked at by fillies and colts.
The statue had no consciousness. But if it did, the pony would not be happy. It stood next to three statues. One, a mare holding a flag on her hind legs. Two, a stallion soldier holding a face of justice. Three, a creature of many parts. It's face filled with fear and its body language enforcing it. But the statue of the angry mare was the only one that had bouquets brought to it. Bouquets of white lilies and and pink spirea with light green tissue paper wrapped around them. Ponies never saw who would place them there, but every week, without fail, a bouquet would be lying there, beneath the statue. In the winter it would be cherry blossoms and water lilies. It would be the same for years until they stopped showing up, but the statue remained. It remained untouched by the elements and years of exposure to them. That one and the creature were the only ones unharmed by the years they were in the graveyard of statues.
Some speculated that it was because these two were connected in some way. It would make sense, Fear looked at Anger and she looked at him. Others believed that Anger and Fear were just placed beside each other and it was simply a coincidence that they looked to be facing each other. When asked, the beloved sisters would simply shrug and recall a time of darkness changed by the Elements of Harmony. Nonetheless, ponies were intrigued by the two statues. Poetry and stories were created that they inspired. Later, legends and fables. And Anger carried on in her graveyard spite of it all.
The graveyard was one where ponies often visited. It was a place of learning, not death. Anger would come to know adoration again. But instead of flowers of white and pink, flowers would be a multitude of colours. And not just one, but hundreds daily. Anger, along with Fear, changed ponies lives when told their stories of bravery, or longing, or loyalty, or betrayal, or so on. She, if conscious, would be happy to know how loved she was. Ponies took her stories to heart and fought for them. All because she was placed in the graveyard. She never left the graveyard either. Even after countless had bagged for her to be moved to the center of town, the princesses would refused and left her there.
Eventually, movies and T.V shows were created based on her stories and characters based upon what ponies thought she was. And all had a new found love for Anger and Fear, for it was in the movies and shows as well. And because of the T.V shows and movies, names were finally given to them. Anger was renamed Cold Heart and Fear was Jitters. They lived on forever in the graveyard. As legends, as heroes, as villains, as characters on T.V.. Cold Heart, having no actual passed, was a great tool for showing the rights and wrongs of ponykind. Being shown as the hero sometimes and the villain other times, showed ponies, especially foals, humility and that the world isn't as black and white as they might think. Cold Heart stood the test of time and her beloved fans visited graveyard every chance they got.
They would speculate what kind of pony she was and the theorist on the internet gave in depth analysis to who she was using her statue as proof. Some would say she was a good pony because the way she was built, it looked as though her stance was in self defence. Others would argue that she was a bad pony because how her hooves were placed it seemed like an attack stance. And when Humans integrated into pony culture, ponies would tell the legends of Cold Heart and Jitters. That was, of course, very confusing to the humans because there existed too many inconsistencies in a story compared to another. And when visiting the graveyard, they would often wonder how these legends started, never getting a direct answer. Not knowing that it all started with a single bouquet every week with pink and white flowers wrapped in cucumber green tissue paper.
The humans would sit in wonder of the pony made of stone, questioning how she became so popular. This Cold Heart that every pony deemed 'special' and stood in the graveyard of stone. They didn't understand the long and involved history of these statues. And nor would they ever because the ponies didn't truly understand. But there she was, Cold Heart, in all her glory. Not realizing that the mare inside was no pony to cheer for. For over two hundred years ago, she was a dangerous, unknown criminal that threatened the progression ponies were experiencing. But Cold Heart never told a soul of who she really was. Nor had she recounted her days on the run from monsters and other, more hostile, ponies. And the zebras that tried to take her for ransom. She was as silent as stone in the graveyard.
Lost in a shroud of lies, and buried deep beneath the surface of reality, Cold Heart continued to be a symbol of humility. Her stories out living the stories of the Bearers of Harmony past and present. Including the ones that put her there. But the Elements of Harmony were never connected to Cold Heart's past. Why would they? The elements were only used for real life threats. And she was only a threat on T.V and in movies. As well as a hero, but she was never seen wearing an element either.
Thus, Cold Heart out lived and continued to live on through out ponies' and even eventually humans' lives. Leaving the memory of Sweetie Belle and those who loved her, and those who caged her, long ago.
