Thirty Minute Pony Stories

She knew telling her sister was a bad idea.

“Sweetie Belle, this is most improper!  Think of what other ponies will say about you!”

A really, really bad idea.

“A’h don’t usually side with Rare on much, but she’s got a point here Sweetie.  It just ain’t right.”

Sweetie Belle just didn’t understand why Rarity had to drag Applejack into this mess as well.  The young filly sullenly kicked a loose stone while the two older mares continued lecturing at her, her brain tuning out the words as meaningless noise.  Applebloom stood nearby seemingly frozen in shock.  Sweetie felt bad for the earth pony, since she knew it was a bit much to take, hearing one of your best friends announce their secret love.

She guessed it made some kind of sense, since they were out at Sweet Apple Acres and she had just professed her true love.  And it wasn’t like Applejack was a mean pony, nopony who was Applebloom’s sister could be, it just was that Sweetie felt they were being overly dramatic about the whole thing.

After all, all she had done was profess her undying love for Big Macintosh.

“Listen you two,I know what fake love is and this isn’t like that.”  Inwardly, she winced at her authoritative tone, but pressed on.  Sweetie knew she had to fight for her love to exist.  That’s what all of those romance novels Rarity had lying around said at least.

“Fake love is brewed up by silly little fillies that make love poison trying to find their teacher a special somepony.  This isn’t like that, it’s true and real and comes from inside.”  She paused, eyes hopefully searching for some kind of sign they understood her.  The two older mares shared a glance, the significance of which escaped her.  Applejack gave a slight nod before Rarity turned back to face Sweetie, a small pitying smile on her face.

“Sweetie, my dear, are you sure this isn’t just some foalish crush?”  Sweetie’s heart fell at the words.  Rarity continued on, oblivious to her mounting anguish.

“Why, I remember back in the day, there was this cute stallion, whom I had the most adorable crush on…“  They just didn’t get it, they didn’t understand true love.  They couldn’t accept that she loved Big Mac.  Frustrated tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as Sweetie found herself yelling, the words tumbling out in a rush.

“I don’t want to hear about your stupid crushes Rarity!  I… I’m trying to tell you something important but you keep making it about yourself!”  She stopped, panting from her outburst.  Rarity had a look of stunned silence, but Applejack’s face grew dark as the orange pony stepped forward, ears laid back, the farmer’s voice a low rumble.

———[Time limit]———

“Now listen ‘ere youngster, don’t you go talking at your sister like that!  Rarity cares about you, honest truth she does, even if she don’t seem like it at times.  And ‘ere you are just throwing all of that love back in her face.  Mighty ungrateful of you, if you ask me.”

Sweetie Belle turned on Applejack, her face feeling hot and wet from the tears and anger now.

“Well who asked you anyways, huh!?  I love Big Macintosh, and just because my stupid sister and some dumb dirt farmer can’t see it doesn’t mean anything!  I bet you want to keep him all to yourself, is that it?!”

Applejack quailed under her words, unable to take Sweetie’s verbal assault.  The filly continued on, advancing towards the older mare with short stomps of rage, tears continuing to stream down her face.

“Well I won’t let you!  I love him, and I know he knows he loves me too.  This is true love, and if you ponies can’t see that, then I never want to see you again!”
Sweetie turned, the world now a blurry mess, and tore off, not caring where she went or if anypony followed her.  Sobbing as she galloped off, she could hear in the distance Applebloom.

“… wait a minute, is she talking about my brother?”

~~~

It was dark in the apple orchards at night.  Sweetie knew it got dark at night, she wasn’t stupid, no matter what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said.  But it had never struck her before just how very dark it got when the sun went down and how very cold it got very quickly.  She didn’t care though.

She had heard her sister and Applejack calling out her name, looking for her earlier.  Each time, she had ran further and further into the orchards, crying as she did.  The pain of their betrayal was too much for her heart to handle and if she ever saw them again it would be too soon in her opinion.

But the last time she had heard them had been hours ago, and it had grown so very, very cold and dark.  Shivering, the little filly rubbed her hooves together to generate some warmth, muttering through chattering teeth as she did.

“Ssstupid sister and Appplejack… if they had just lissstened to me.”  It was the beginning of a righteous tirade, but Sweetie felt a presence then.  Her ears pricked up as she sensed something in the dark, just out of her vision.  She didn’t think it was a timberwolf, but Applebloom had said they came around the farm sometimes…

Fear flooding her body, Sweetie turned to gallop away but the cold had gotten to her legs by then.  She stumbled, tripping to the ground.  Face-planting into the dirt, the little unicorn could only think about how unjust of an end this was and how she hoped Big Mac would find true love again.  As the sound of crunching leaves drew closer, she closed her eyes to the inevitable.

The inevitable never came.  After a few seconds, body tensed against the expected bite, Sweetie Belle dared open her eyes.

It was her love!

Big Macintosh stared down at her with those deep wells of wisdom before opening his mouth to speak in his usual, husky drawl.

“Now what is this I ‘ear about you and me being a couple?”

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RWL’s Commentary

Heh, Sweetie’s righteous anger in defending her crush on Big Mac was pretty great. You can really see how she resembles Rarity in how passionate she is about it. And then seeing her bump into Big Mac at the end was nice. You can really see how intensely she feels for him in her description of him. Great work!