“I’m just saying, Appaloosa apples taste better, but the Sweet Apple Acres apples make better ciders.”

“You barely even buy any of our cider, let alone my cousins. How could you even tell.”

“Rainbow Dash lets me have some whenever we hang out.”

“Can we please get back on topic girls?” Sweetie interrupted the two other crusaders as they went off on another tangent. Sure she had stopped crying, with the earlier promised pancakes doing a lot to cheer her up, but the threat of what Rarity could do hung in the air. She probably wouldn’t make a move on Spike yet, but there’s no telling what she may do. The possibility of her sister sabotaging her love life and potentially the job she loved so much couldn’t stop eating away at her, and her friends wanted to argue about apples.

The two immediately broke their conversation and refocused their attention on the last member of their trio. “Sorry, some people just don’t know good apples when they eat them.” Apple Bloom chuffed as she turned back to Sweetie. “But if Spike was the one looking for advice, what’s the difference between getting it from a stranger and getting it from the source?”

“You’re missing the point Apple Bloom. It’s not that I gave him advice, it’s that I manipulated the situation to be with him.”

“And you stopped after you confirmed it was actually him, and you were the one he liked.” Scootaloo interjected once again, repeating what she had already said multiple times today as Sweetie spiraled about her love life. “It’s not like you could keep it a secret forever anyways Sweetie. You’d eventually either have to tell him or leave your job to keep them separate.”

“I’ll figure that out when I have to. But for now, I just can’t let Rarity ruin this for me.” She rejected the advice yet again in favour of letting her anxiety grow, just as she had been doing all day.

Scootaloo sighed as she flopped on to one of the many cushions scattered about the clubhouse. “Come on, we need to get you out of here. Do something to pull your mind off of everything happening. Do we have any new crusader requests or anything AB?”

***

Sweetie’s endless cycle of thinking what Rarity might do, worrying about how Spike would react, trying to figure out if Lady Luxury could salvage anything, remembering Rarity’s call, and then thinking again eventually sputtered out as the Crusaders spent more and more time together. With a new mark request, she had to push her fears out of her mind to focus on figuring out just what their new junior crusader's talent could be.

At the end of the day of attempts with no success, Sweetie’s mind was still working trying to figure it out what it could be. She was so focused, when she split from the others and walked home, the thought that she was walking into Rarity’s den didn’t even cross her mind.

That ended when she stood in front of the door to Carousel boutique. The colourful home she spent most of her childhood in seemed completely alien to her. Though perhaps alien would be wrong as she knew what was before her, just not the creature lurking inside.

As she tried the door, open sign still hanging from the knob, she found it was locked. More than once she had been asked to grab the sign on her way in, though never in her life has she ever found the door locked, especially on a standard business day. She had forgotten the door even had a lock, nothing bad ever happens in Ponyville, it’s still growing with almost no crime, no one locks their doors. Something was off, and Sweetie sensed danger.

Still, she pushed on. With no key, she simply magically turned the simple mechanism to unlock the door and let herself inside. She pushed the door open hoping she could just avoid her sister and make it to her room without having to talk to her.

Ding

The bell hanging above the entry sounded, ringing louder than she ever remembered hearing. Her heart pulsed as she dreaded what was to come. The hooves rushing to meet her, that accent she constructed berating her for ‘stealing Spike’ or something, the looming presence that she could do so much to ruin all she had built up for herself. But nothing came.

Sweetie heard a slight noise come from the kitchen, but nothing was approaching. Maybe Rarity didn’t want to see her so she wasn’t reacting.

With that assumption, Sweetie did her best to quietly make her way to the stairs. One hoof at a time, she tried as hard as she could to not make any noise, trying with more effort than ever not to be seen.

But she knew it could all fall apart. She had to pass the Kitchen doorway to reach the stairs. She could be seen if she wasn’t careful, or even if she was just unlucky. As she made it to the doorway, she pressed her body to the wall and slowly leaned out to see if the noise really was her sister, praying she didn’t see her.

Though seeing might have been worse, as passed out on her fainting couch was Rarity. A complete mess, hair uncurled, eyes puffy, and clutching something she couldn’t quite make out in the moonlit room. Rarity was absolutely off.

Seeing her sister like this, clearly broken and pathetic, Sweetie stopped trying to hide. Her racing heart slowed as the adrenaline pumping through her body subsided. Her hooves echoed in the room as she slowly approached.

“Rarity… I-”

She paused as Rarity sniffed, clearly having been crying for who knows how long. She readjusted herself, clutching the object harder but not turning to face her sister.

“Rarity, you… Please don’t come between me and Spike. I know what happened was wrong and I know I manipulated him. I know I’ve done so much wrong but I love him. When I’m with him-”

Rarity sniffed again and gently sobbed hearing her sister proclaim her love so easily. To be able to so simply put into words something she had felt for so long but didn’t know how to say. She hated her sister for it, but in the moment she just hated herself.

“Go to bed Sweetie Belle. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

For the first time in ages, Sweetie didn’t accept her sister’s orders. She just stood there watching. She continued. “My work means a lot to me, and it means a lot to him too. Lady Luxury is his favorite show. Please don’t take away what we both love.”

Rarity just kept sobbing as she listened. It was all she could do, just listen to see how much she had messed up this time. She pulled her entire body in close, wanting to feel comforted but knowing she didn’t deserve any.

But Sweetie saw it. Without saying anything else, she backed away and went up the stairs to her room. She went to her closet and grabbed the first spare blanket and made her way back downstairs, back to her sister. She draped the blanket over her sister, hoping to bring some comfort to her clearly broken sister. They could work things out another time, when they were both thinking rationally. Just after a good night’s sleep.

But that would never happen.

As she pulled the blanket up to her sister’s front legs, the light of her magic hit the thing Rarity cradled just enough to see the dark purple fabric and light green thread of a cloak she helped her sister make a year ago. Spike’s gift he had left behind earlier that day.

The shiny reflective wrapping from the gift’s box shone with the magic too, kicked across the room and laying at the foot of the wall. Looking at the scene longer, she saw the outline of two teacup in the darkness.

Spike had already been there. Rarity had already talked to Spike.

“R-Rarity…” The pressure in her heart welled up again. This was bad. Panic filled her in an instant as everything could start collapsing any moment now. The walls would cave in. The ceiling would fall. A scream louder than a train rang in her ears. The pulse of her heart rattled every bone in her body. She couldn’t have.

“I told him everything.” Rarity whined before sobbing more, breaking any hope Sweetie might have had left in, and causing everything to fall apart.

Author's Note

Another shorter chapter just to wrap up what will probably be the most intense section of this fanfic. We're entering the home stretch now, as I plan on wrapping this story up soon.