A Handful of Crumbs

by *Squee*

In the Light of Dawn

The dawn rose slowly, blossoming on the horizon, as Rarity stared out of the hospital's window. She could still see the twinkling flames of candles floating among the clouds behind her eyelids. The dull beeps and whirrs of the machines, holding the thread of life her young sister clung to, echoed in the small room along Rarity's quiet breathing.

She watched as life began to stir outside the opaque barrier with the rise of Celestia's sun. Two birds fluttered by, chasing each other in the cool morning air.

Once more a collection of memories gathered in the back of Rarity’s mind, slowly slipping into her conscious thoughts.
Sweetie Belle’s sweet singing, the laughter of the fillies playing, spending precious moments with her little sister. Even the bitter memories of arguments; screaming, and yelling, wanting her freedom from the burden of a younger sibling. She felt sick realizing how horribly close to being free from that burden…. Forever.

She swore to herself to never, ever wish for that ever again. Though she occasionally yearned to be relieved of the stresses of her, she never wished to be free of Sweetie Belle.

Rarity’s gaze was unbroken as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky as the day grew later. The entire world was teeming with life outside the glass boundary, and though she stared intently she saw none of it as she was lost in the recesses of her own mind.

Nurses came in and out of the room. Doctors attempted to cheer up the white mare with words of encouragement and assurances of Sweetie Belle’s condition, but Rarity could see the lack of emotion in their eyes. It’s not that they didn’t care, they simply learned to separate themselves from a case when the chances weren’t high.

The hours drew longer each day, and time seemed to move slower than honey. The constant feeling of the unknown, never knowing if Sweetie Belle would wake, made it drag on and on.

Rarity thought back to the Sisterhooves Social. After one of the biggest fights with her little sister, Rarity had vowed to never be sister-less again, and Sweetie Belle adopted Applejack as a sister to spite her.
Applejack’s words still echoed in her mind.

“Being sisters, is like…. Apple pie! You can have amazing apples, and you can have a wonderfully crispy crust, but only together can you have a perfect apple pie.”

“But apart all we are is just a pile of mush, and a crumbly dry mess……” Rarity mumbled to herself. She laughed to herself. “I’m definitely a messy pile of mush.”

As an array of small creatures flew past the hospital window, Rarity was reminded of the camping trip her and her friends took with the fillies. The long hike to Winsome Falls. Rarity packing far more than necessary as usual, setting up the tents, telling stories by the fire, “protecting” Sweetie Belle from Rainbow’s Olden Pony and the Headless Horse.

A knock at the door was the only thing to break Rarity’s hypnotic gaze out the window. It wasn’t one of the distant doctors or nurses, it was too…. Heavy. Though a gentle knock it sounded as if some large pony was behind the hoof upon the door.

“Who in Equestria…..?” Rarity quietly wondered. “Come in?” she called gently, as if not to disturb the filly lying on the bed.

And of course the pony to walk through the door was one of the last she would ever expect.

“Macintosh?” She asked quietly.

Surely enough, the large red stallion with a golden mane and bright green eyes; known more commonly as Applejack’s brother Big Mac stepped through the small door.

He looked over to Sweetie Belle and nodded silently, once again as to not disturb the inert filly, just as Rarity had called gently.

Rarity looked a the floor, unable to meet his eyes. “I don’t mean to be rude, but….. Why are you here?” She asked peeking up for just a moment.

His hoof gently touched her chin, softly encouraging her to face him. He smiled, and turned to pull something off his back.
Now in his mouth, he held a beautiful bouquet of white lilies. She gasped in surprise, and he motioned for her to take them. Using her magic to levitate them in front of her, she smelled the sweet blossoms. “Macintosh, these are beautiful!”

“I heard about what happened when Applebloom came home that day. That little filly didn’t sleep at all. I would have come sooner, but I had to tend the farm while my sister tended to Applebloom. Well, anyway I wanted to give you two flowers,” he said motioning to the filly on the bed. “I hope she makes it out ok, and soon.”

Tears welled in Rarity’s eyes. She gently placed the flowers on the end table next to Sweetie Belle’s bed. She then walked slowly over to Macintosh, and hugged him.
At first he seemed shocked, tensing instantly at the unexpected embrace, but soon he relaxed throwing his foreleg around her as well.

“Thank you so much.” Rarity whispered, and they sat there for what felt like hours, Macintosh holding tight as Rarity quietly wept. When they finally drew apart, Rarity embarrassedly laughed at herself as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I apologize….” She began, but he held up a hoof to silence her.

“It’s no problem at all.” He said gently.

She smiled. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“Happy to be there for ya, Rarity.” he replied.

With that he hugged her again shortly, before quietly walking out the door. More tears welled in Rarity’s eyes as the door shut with a quiet metallic click.

She moved to Sweetie Belles bedside. She looked upon her sister’s face, still and without any movement, and with her hoof brushed a single stray hair from her face. A few tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks. Her hoof rested on the bed as she turned, now fixing her gaze on the gorgeous white lilies that lay on the table. They appeared to be a breed she had never before seen. A gleaming white, with an illuminating sapphire center, and amethyst purple specks along the star-point petals.
She quietly wondered where one finds such beautiful blossoms, and was instantly touched by the thought of the amount of effort a pony would need to come across such flowers. It was very sweet of Macintosh, but she wondered why he would make such an effort for her and her sister.

Rarity’s thoughts wandered once more.

----------------------------------------------------

It was an odd feeling, waking up. It was like waking up without knowing that you fell asleep, only with a strange thing in her nose and all sorts of machines attached to her small body. She squirmed slightly as the bed was sort of uncomfortable. She opened her eyes a little noticing and instantly recognizing the figure that sat beside her.

“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle said gently.

Author's Note:

Buck...... Sorry it took so long guys (and also that the quality of this chapter may not live up to it's predecessors), HORRID writers block and lack of internet has been a royal pain in the rump. I know it's short, and also slightly..... Crap because I had to come up with something to fill the space to the end.
A Big Mac appearance as a cameo for the upcoming Rewrite of the epic failure that was "Not A Prince Charming" by yours truly. Cute. I've thought myself into being a fan of the Rarity/Mac shippage.
All for now and ever for Handful of Crumbs! And I just want to ask... Did anyone get the reference of the title BEFORE this chapter? This chapter sort of explains it.....
Anywho... Thanks for reading! Ta!
-Clover Spirits

Comments

[Iamsorry]

OMG how can you end it liek that! it was sooo good! i mean i like the ending but leaves so many qestions! but still nice story hope to see a sequl to this or something

[Oniram]

What a lazy Ending

Nothing is resolved here.
Many People have great setups for Storys but they just cannot end it in a satisfying way .
But the Ending is one of the most important thing in a Story, it makes us reflect about what happened in it and how the Characters handeled the situation .
I have seen that happen so often on this site .

I am very dissapointed by this

[SuperPinkBrony12]

I thought Sweetie Belle was going to die and in all honesty perhaps a death scare could've really made us feel for her. You were going so strong but then you just crashed and burned at the end. If you ever have the free time perhaps you should go back and revise this chapter so the ending doesn't feel so dry and rushed.

With that being said I am glad that you didn't end it like most of these types of fics end. X dies and everyone grieves for them.

[reader238]

wait this is the end! you can't end it here she just woke up; you havnt even portrayed everyones emotions to her waking

[ThaStrangr]

Actually, I'd have to disagree with everyone. I like this ending. It's different from most sotries you'd find, in which:
"!" wakes up. "?" hugs excitedly. Mushy happy ending.
I also like how it had a hint of RariMac, without actually focusing on it, choosing instead to remain directed on what's important.
This was a great story!!

[*Squee*]

I'm a little sad that so far I'm getting a lot of negative feedback on the ending.
But to answer some of your questions:
Yes, this is the end. I shall not rewrite or "continue" this story. This is the end, it is done. I personally liked the ending. I know the chapter wasn't the greatest because I used a lot of dead words and space filler paragraphs. But the actual ending, I liked. I didn't want to continue with the reactions to Sweetie Belle waking because that would be drawn out and basic. Bleh. Cutting it there seemed cinematic and more playing on the emotions to me. Like the ending of a movie.
Sorry if you don't like it.

[Oniram]

Sure, the Ending itself would have been fine .
I mainly read this Story because i was curious to see how you would end it .
I have seen this Setup in 2 other Stories and both of them have been cancelled because they didnt know how to end it .
Here it just *snip* Sweetie Belles awake .
Thats also a thing you left open, is she healthy again or just awake but still ill ? I actually think its a good thing to be honest but anyway thats not the Point .
The Point was that you had this whole building up with Twilight searching for a cure, Rarity and the other CMC griefing and trying to deal with it and it all ends up with no reward .

[Matthais Unidostres]

I liked this ending. It was open ended, and didn't need any wake up reunion scene because it was mostly about coping and recovering. It was never about Sweetie Belle, it was about everypony else.

[memphisgurl]

I like this story a lot, but the ending is extremely lacking. Almost like you just gave up.

[Molly Dreemurr]

SEQUEL OR ELSE YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME MO********ER

[Darkblaze15]

Just finished it and. . .wow, what a powerful story! Props to you for pulling off the emotional side of things really well throughout it all! Admittedly, when I got to the last chapter, I took the last part of the short description a little too literally, so I actually ended up shedding a few tears (not ashamed at all). To contrast a few other negative opinions, I approve of the direction you took for the ending; normally I'm not a big fan of movies/shows that leave you on cliffhangers, but it just. . .works, so well, in this case.

Aside from a few grammatical inconsistencies, excellent story and can't wait to see more! Instant follow!

[Lore Horse]

“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle said gently.

A happy ending cliffhanger?
.......