Equestria Copes

Rarity had to say there was something that hadn't changed about Sweetie Belle: she wasn't afraid of ending up a mess. By the end of her workout, she was all sweaty, a little bit dirty, and definitely smelled awful. They finished their session with Knuckle Duster once more rolling up the mattress and holding it in place while Sweetie slammed her hooves into it over and over again. She even managed to knock her trainer back half a step with everything, and he was four times her size, and much heavier.

She once more donned her cloak and thanked him for training her, even going so far as to re-extend an offer to come to her place for dinner. He declined, of course, as having a grown stallion show up to have dinner with a filly would raise all kinds of red flags, but Sweetie Belle probably wasn't thinking of that. She was probably just being nice and inviting somepony she considered a friend to dinner. At the very least, somepony she trusted.

Rarity followed Sweetie Belle out, keeping a close eye on where exactly they were. In fact, she popped her head up through the ceiling to find out where they were in relation to Ponyville in general, and they happened to be right below Carousel Boutique.

Of course, Sweetie Belle had to take the long way out, exiting through a sewer drain. It was starting to rain, so she pulled her cloak even tighter before galloping off home. She was still staying with their parents, so it wasn't a long walk. Not as long as her walk in had been.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle," called their dad from the couch. "Good day at school?"

Sweetie Belle didn't answer, just going upstairs and slamming the door.

"I guess not..."

Rarity shook her head. Their father could be clueless sometimes.

She went upstairs to see Sweetie Belle exiting her room. As she ducked into the bathroom, Rarity could reasonably presume that she was going to take a shower. After all, Rarity's first priority would have been a shower, and while Sweetie Belle didn't mind the dirt as much, even she knew when it was time to shower.

Rarity, and also their mother, entered Sweetie Belle's room. Rarity had failed to convince her sister to talk about the filly that had beaten her up, and figured she'd look around her room and see if there was some indication in there. Their mom, on the other hoof, just walked in to leave a sandwich on her desk. Sweetie Belle had neglected to come to dinner the past few nights, and had been eating in her room and just taking the empty plate down to the kitchen. She was eating more than usual, too.

Unfortunately, there was nothing out in the open. Rarity was unable to open any drawers, open any books, or remove things from their places. She found a pink sliver of photo paper under the pillow, but it was just the corner that she could see.

When Sweetie Belle came back in, she was smelling much cleaner, and rather than wearing her raggedy cloak, she was in a white, fluffy bathrobe. Her bruises and split lip were far more visible in this light than they were in the sewers, and as she sat down and ate her dinner, she sighed and started to calm down. Only after her dinner was finished did she grab her backpack and pull out her schoolwork.

Sweetie Belle was no slouch when it came to her education. She was quick to finish her homework, and Rarity, having nothing better to do, made sure she was answering everything correctly, even insisting that she double-check the answers when she wasn't sure. They managed to catch two mistakes this way.

Regardless, it was late when she took her plate downstairs, grabbed another half-sandwich from the fridge, ate that, and put her plate in the sink. Their parents were already in bed, and she didn't make much noise. To some degree, Rarity wished she had been like this before; quiet, reserved, easy to manage. But at the same time, she didn't want Sweetie Belle to lose her happiness and creativity. Where was the jovial soul that used to love being heaped with praise? Why was she so against being seen now?

As she went back to her room and tucked into bed, she pulled out the photograph from underneath the pillow. It was Diamond Tiara with her eyes scratched out. She flipped it over and added a tally mark, now totalling four.

As she drifted off into her dream, Rarity saw what was happening, finally. Sweetie Belle was remembering being beaten up by Diamond Tiara. It seemed as though she'd advanced from just making fun of her to physical violence. The fact that many of Ponyville's adults, as well as most of the rest of Equestria, were still recovering from their tragedy meant that nopony was stopping it. Diamond Tiara could do whatever she wanted, and there was no risk of Rarity standing in the way. And then she would call attention to herself so that Sweetie Belle would end up being chastised for hitting somepony else.

"Sweetie Belle, you really should know better," sighed Rarity. "I don't blame you for wanting things to be better, but this isn't going to help."

Rarity left Sweetie Belle to her rest. She could do something about the dream, and try to fix it, and perhaps even convince Sweetie Belle not to do what she was thinking, but there was another option. She could, and would try to, cut the problem off at its source.

She made her way to Filthy Rich's manor and let herself inside. Diamond Tiara was already asleep, and she didn't have a care in the world. In fact, she was having a dream where Sweetie Belle was her servant, and was glad that she had "learned her place."

Even Rarity wanted to punch her lights out by now. She could forgive Sweetie Belle's lack of patience when she was even worse. But that did not justify Sweetie Belle's plans.

Rarity took a deep breath. There was a way to fix this. It was going to be complicated, difficult to pull off, and disastrous if it went wrong, but there was good news to be had. Rarity ate situations like that for breakfast.