The Surprise of All Surprises
The morning sun shone through the slits of the curtains in Sweetie Belle's room. It shone right into her eyes, making her roll over throwing the sheets over her head in an effort to fall back asleep. Her mind raced, thinking of all of the things that could happen. Today was her birthday. Maybe, Rarity will have breakfast ready for her or have a mountain of presents. She dragged her body out from beneath the covers, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Scrambling out of bed, she tripped over her bed sheets in the process. The door creaked open, and she peeped out the doorway. The house was surprisingly silent as she creeped out into the hallway.
Tip-toeing to Rarity’s door, trying to be as quiet as possible, she swung open the door with a loud thud. “RARITY! WAKE UP!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she jumped into her sister’s room. She waited to hear the complaining from her older sister's voice but none came. She slowly opened her eyes. The room was nice and tidy, despite the couple of spools of thread that fell off a table from the door slamming open. She slowly walked in the room.
Her bed was tucked in with not a wrinkle in sight. On top of Rarity’s nicely made bed sat a small slip of paper, all nice and folded. Wondering what the letter could possibly mean, she slowly opened the paper, reading over her sister’s flowing cursive.
I have a surprise you must find. For your birthday you will see. From seed to stem, this family doesn't fall far from the same tree.She read the note over and over, scratching her head with a hoof in confusion.
What would Rarity mean by the family and the tree? Of all things trees? ‘This family doesn’t fall far from the same tree’? What's that saying again? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree? Wait, Apple! The Apple Family Farm! She quickly rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Then, she hurried out of the house, heading for the Apple Family Farm.
The trees were filled with multicolored apples, shining in the morning sun. The air smelled of the sweet apple blossoms of some of the trees who had no quite lost their buds. The breeze was just chilly enough to keep all of the ponies in Ponyville from sweating. As she trotted up to the front gate, she spotted Big Mac pulling a cart of apples up the dirt path. “Well, hello Big Mac! You taking all those apples up to the barn?”
“Eeyup,” he replied.
As the two began trotting side by side to the barn, Sweetie Belle spoke up. “Need any help putting them up?”
“Nope,” Big Mac replied with a smile. Sweetie Belle returned the smile, turning and galloping up to the farm house.
As she approached the quaint abode, she found herself peering through the window overlooking the front porch. The scene of Applejack pulling a fresh pie from the oven played out before her eyes. The mare famous for her apple bucking gingerly put the piping hot pie on the kitchen table where Apple Bloom and Granny Smith sat, right next to countless other variety of glowing brown and fruity pies galore.
Sweetie Belle knocked on the door, soon after Apple Bloom opened, “Hey! Sweetie Belle! We were just talking about you. We need your help.”
Sweetie Belle’s smile faded as she asked what they needed help with. She slowly walked up to the table, the smell of the freshly baked pies tingling her nostrils. The smell almost gave her a smile but she knew that all of these pies couldn’t be for her.
Applejack perked up, “We need you to take all of these here pies to the park. There’s an event going on and they need them.”
Applejack smiled, a bit of sweat dripping down her brow. She was interrupted by Apple Bloom handing her a full saddlebag of warm, crisp pies. “We can do it together!”
Sweetie Belle plastered a smile on her face as they meandered out of the farm house, Apple Bloom in tow, carrying her own saddlebag full of pies. They trotted through the town, waving at all of the friendly faces that passed by.
As the two young ponies passed by Sugarcube Corner, they saw Scootaloo talking to Mr. and Mrs. Cake with tons of balloons in hoof. “Hey, Scootaloo,” both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said in unision.
“Hey guys! I see that you got all of those pies for the event. My job was to get all of these balloons.” Scootaloo smiled, “Wanna go all together?”
Scootaloo waved goodbye to the Cakes as she began to walk beside her two best friends. The three trotted throughout the town, questions swirling around in Sweetie Belle’s mind. “So, what exactly is the event?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, hesitation in their eyes. “Um, there is a fair going on in the park!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.
“Yeah...I brought these balloons for the people hosting the fair. Apple Bloom and the rest of the Apple family are selling pies there,” Scootaloo said, faking a smile.
Sweetie Belle sensed there was something amiss but decided not to press the matter any further. They made small talk about school and gossip as they made their way to the park. Of everything that played out for her birthday, it seemed as if Rarity didn’t make any more clues or even try to put on a party at all. The hint about her going to the Apple farm was just for her to do work? Was her sister just getting her to do things for her friends so that she didn’t have to lift a hoof? She wanted to doubt that possibility but it was hard to push it out of her mind.
All the while that Sweetie Belle was thinking, she was looking at the ground. She didn’t even notice the beauty of the event that was going on. Rainbow streamers hung from all of the trees, birds chirping a sweet little tune. All of the picnic tables had party hats in different shades of pink, the sound of party horns going off. A banner was hung in between two trees, saying Happy Birthday, Sweetie Belle! written in big swirling letters. Her two friends ran up to the group of ponies waiting for Sweetie Belle to look at her surprise party decor.
Finally, the heartbroken pony looked up from the ground. A smile finally broke through her somber features as all of the surrounding ponies shouted, “Happy birthday!”
The little pony ran up to her big sister, embracing her. “You actually did something for me?!” Sweetie Belle cried out in joy.
“Why, of course Darling. Only the best for the best little sister.” Rarity said, ushering her sister to a picnic table. “Pinkie Pie did the table decor and the party gifts. Applejack and the Apple family made you pies instead of a cake. Rainbow Dash did all of the streamers. Fluttershy brought all of her little bird friends to sing for you. Twilight is the one who wrote your clue and the banner. But, I did the best thing of all,” Rarity boasted.
She took a box that was wrapped in deep purple paper tied with a pink bow and placed it in front of her sister. Sweetie Belle excitedly opened her present, the desire to know what is inside burning in her chest. She lifted the lid off the box to find hordes of sparklely tissue paper in an array of purples and whites. She quickly removed each little bit of paper and gasped when she saw her present.
Inside the box, sat the most beautiful present Sweetie Belle had ever received. It was a silver tiara, glittering in the shining sun. Several different gemstones were embedded into the crown, shining in all of the colors of the rainbow. She lightly picked up the tiara, eyeing it even closer. There were intricate swirls and small flowers engraved into the silver. Rarity politely took the crown and placed it on her head, “I used the rarest gemstones in my collection to make that. It took me months to get it just right, but finally, my work is complete!”
Sweetie Belle looked up at her sister, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Big Sis. This is the best thing I could have ever hoped for.”
Rarity smiled, “Now, we are twinsies!”
Rarity then pulled out her own tiara, just as intricate as Sweetie Belle’s. She placed her hoof made tiara on her head as the crowd of ponies laughed. This was truly a birthday to remember.
As the moonlight shone into Sweetie Belle’s room, you could feel the sweet joy radiating off of the sisters. Sweetie Belle nestled into her bed, Rarity tucking her in tight. The eldest sister leaned over the younger, planting a soft kiss on her forehead, “Happy birthday, Sweetie Belle.”
The last thing that Sweetie Belle saw that day was her big sister, smiling at her through the doorway. The words ‘I love you’ drifted in, lulling the little pony to sleep.
Author's Note
Man, did this take a long time. This is for the Make Rarity Not Garbage contest for the Barcast.
Thanks to Seventh Heaven, Missytheangle, and B_25 for helping me edit.
