All Silent In Manor Archambeau

by Woodchirpper

Sweetie Belle I

“What is the meaning of life?”

“Are we just a footnote, an object for someone’s own selfishness?”

“Is a cutie mark all that we are, a singular talent with only one purpose?”

It had just turned noon, the rays of the sun bolstering throughout the nearly clear baby blue sky, shining for the denizens of Ponyville. In the center of the town, around the giant water fountain, the market stalls that were set up early in the morning, were now rushed as a goods sale was promised the mayor after a lengthy winning campaign. Lines of ponies stretched all around, forming a sort of maze that made it had to exit let alone enter the grounds, a young mare was walking with her friends, saddlebags filled with a random assortment of produce, a unicorn, pale white coat, curly pink and purple mane, with green eyes that usually glistened in the sun’s rays if they weren’t caught up in deep thought.

“y’all alright there Sweetie Belle?”

An earth pony trotting alongside her, yellow coated, curly red hair, and red eyes that had absorbed the light of the sun that had beaten down from the sky above, had asked the unicorn, concerned for her wellbeing.

“I’m fine, Apple Bloom, nothing that needs worrying about,” the unicorn had sighed.

In truth, she wasn’t, but it was questions that had slowly been plaguing her for years. Ever since her and her friends' cutie marks had appeared, the hardships that had led them to that path and those after, she never really had time to truly think about herself. Not questions of “why am I here” but questions more lined with “who am I” and “where did I come from”. Purpose had been obvious to her ever since the mark had covered their flanks, helping others discover themselves, but now that the amount of ponies that had issues finding themselves had dwindled, she found herself thinking about life, her life specifically.

She knew absolutely nothing about her family, for all she knew her older sister, Rarity, and herself were the only living members, but the questions still beckoned her everyday for years, she just didn’t know how to go about asking her elder. Years and years have the same questions echoed throughout her mind, deep thought has caught up with her everyday life, wanting to burst but cannot figure out a way to escape.

“She’s thinking about it again,” an orange pegasus mare on the opposite side, fuchsia colored mane, had stated. “For someone smart, you’re really struggling on this one.”

“Well that’s not-”

“No no, Scootaloo’s right, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle interrupted the earth pony, who had tried to come to her defense.

“It’s been years since they sprouted in my mind, and yet I still can’t think of ways to ask her. What was it like for you, Apple Bloom?” she asked with a sigh exiting her uncharacteristically monotone voice.

“I just asked, simple as that,” Apple Bloom began, “All I was ever told by Granny was ma parents were a gift from the stars, it weren’t till we went out searching that we finally got answers.” she said, dragging her hooves along as they dredged forward through the crowded market area.

“So persistence was the answer for you, huh?” Sweetie Belle thought long and hard, wishing that it had that easy for her to manage.

“You just need ta go at it, no really way of tryna go about it fancy like, I reckon if you start searching, y’all will find it!” Apple Bloom said, putting a hoof on Sweetie Belle with an encouraging expression.

The day went on with lines emptying, finally able to make it out of the perpetual maze that had invaded their space. The stalls began closing with the sun ever so slightly lowering, leaving an orange strain of light off to the horizon line, the three mare friends sat by the fountain staring off into the slowly darkening sky, saddlebags set down beside them.

“I should get back, gotta help Applejack close up since Big Mac was out for the day,” Apple Bloom said, hugging her friends. She started to move along, carrying her saddlebag off with her, but stopped to look back, she gave a wave, smiling, yet still concerned for the mental state of her unicorn friend and began to trot off.

“She’s right you know,” Scootaloo began, a somber look plain on her face as she leaned on the fountain, “just thinking about it isn’t going to get you anywhere, you need to act on them if you really want to know, not saying you have to now, but looking at what waiting around for a sign as been doing to you, I would do it sooner than later.”

The unicorn was taken aback by her words, she hadn’t expected something too profound to leave the mouth of the pegasus, but at the same time, this was in line with her daredevil nature she had when they were but fillies. Sweetie Belle gave a soft smile and nodded, still sitting looking to the sky.

“You’re right, sitting around has gotten me nowhere fast,” she finally stood up and looked at the orange mare, a gentle smile painted on her face. She walked up to Scootaloo and hugged her tightly, “thank you, the two of you have been there for me when times were low, even sifting through the years with my seemingly inane thoughts.”

“Uh, no problem, you’ve done the same for us,” Scootaloo said, at first tense due to the sudden hug but relaxed and hugged back.

“Tomorrow will be the day, maybe my mind will finally ease up,” Sweetie Belle chuckled as she started, her horn glew as she levitated the saddlebag onto her back, beginning to move with new found confidence.

“Tomorrow will be the day,” ran through her every thought as she continued on the path that led to her home. It didn’t take long to reach her home but it had already become dark, the moon glowed just above the treeline. After a few minutes of trotting, she had returned home, she lived in a two story building that ran as both a house and a retail store for high end fashion that her sister had run. Usually throughout the day the details of the cylinder like structure flared but was obscured by the night, all except for the glow from the tower above.

“She must still be working, she’s been at it all day,” Sweetie Belle thought to herself as she opened the door. The interior flared with different shades of pink that a patterned throughout the walkway, diamond and floral patterns decorated the walls with pink drapes adorning them, mannequins a fixed the walls, garbed in the handcrafted dresses that her sister was known for, a runway ran opposed to the mannequins, the building truly gave off a “bigger on the inside'' sense. A meow greeted her as the white house cat rubbed on her leg, purring with tender love, she reached out a hoof and petted the cat, showing affection back.

She then walked past all the glamor that the front had to offer and moved towards the more simplistic kitchen. Nothing too special about it, cabinets had a limited stretch on the far left above another limited set below with a sink fitted in, a dining table opposite of it, the spectacle was visible to passersby while the modesty was left to the eyes of friends. She sat the saddlebag on top of the table and began to magically sort the produce she had purchased at the market stalls, putting them away, and then making her way upstairs. As she approached the top of the stairs, a humming and rhythmic noise could be heard, slowly raising in volume as she inched her way up, masking the clanking of her hooves. A faint light shone through a cracked door at the top of the stairs, where the sounds had been coming from, she peered through and could see her sister hard at work with a sewing machine on the table in the middle of the room, her bedroom, where she had made all her dresses. She was ever so careful, taking a slow and steady pace as she finely stitched the fabrics for whatever ensemble she was creating.

She looked away, a little worried about the lack of sleep her sister had suffered, and moved gently down a darkened hallway left of the room, she turned right to a door and opened, she closed the door and sighed, her bedroom had changed very little over the years, her bed and bedframe really being the only to had gone through something as significant, doubling in size, besides that, everything stayed the same. Same old daffodil carpet, checkered green and beige flooring, and the pink walls that ran throughout the complex.

She shuffled over to her neatly made bed and planted her head on her pillow out of exhaustion, her brain needs to unload, she wants to know where she came from, and hopefully, she will get the answers she seeks from her sister.

“Tomorrow,” she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

A family she had wished for, a painting of them hung over head, a father, white, mustached, with a brown colored mane, a mother, magenta, with a pink and purple mane, and her sister Rarity, as white as her, with a purple stylized mane, eyes were not visible on the portrait. She continued to stare longingly at it, it started to melt ever so slowly, dripping on the ground below, puddles turned into streams, streams turned into a river, the river turning into a roaring ocean, she struggled as the waves repeatedly pushed her under, further and further into a dark deep with no end to be found, she took her finally breath as she sunk below.