"Sweetie Belle?"

Rarity gently tapped the door, but refrained from doing it too loudly.

At any other time, she would have been delighted to have such an extensive amount of work waiting for her in her inspiration room. All her creative juices flowing and blending and mixing together, as spools and ribbons and pieces of fabric whirled with effortless grace around her, eventually returning to her ponnequines in the shape of beautiful dresses and suits.

Truly, if it were an opera, it would be worthy of Neighthoven!

But with her darling little sister so torn by… by…

Good gracious! How could she have been so busy as to have missed what was causing Sweetie Belle all of this trouble. What sort of horrible sister was she?

Oh, if only Mother and Father were here instead of on vacation again. Just how many of those can two ponies need in one year?

It was the school's musical production! That was it! And, obviously, Sweetie Belle had the most adorable voice of any filly in all of Equestria, so of course she would—

Oh no.

Oh no.

She hadn't…

"Sweetie Belle?" she repeated, allowing just a little hint of a wobble into her voice. Just enough to show that she was concerned for her sister. She had truly meant for that little tremble to be there.

Truly.

"Rarity?"

Sweetie's croak was worse than a thousand misplaced pins being left in the posteriors of her garments.

"Sweetie Belle," she said, in as gentle a voice she could muster. She had to do it. For Sweetie, the most lovely, gentle-hearted filly in the world. "I know your upset darling…"

Oh, she couldn't ask her to move on just yet. That would be simply callous of her!

"… but, if you were to let me come in, we can talk about it. Would that be all right?" she asked, with just the right amount of lilt in her voice.

Well done, Rarity. You may breath again.

"Okay, Rarity…" said Sweetie, her voice sounding just a little… thick. Like she was chewing on something.

Chewing?

No. She couldn't worry about that now.

She wrapped her magic around the door handle, and gently twisted it open.

"Oh, Sweetie," she breathed, closing her eyes and allowing her smile to let loose. "You don't know how worried I've been about you these past few days."

She opened her eyes.

She had to peer through a gloom, as Sweetie had obviously left the curtains closed all this time. The poor darling… she knew exactly how it felt to just want to block out the world and escape from all its nastiness.

Oh, she just wanted to hug and cuddle and kiss Sweetie Belle and make everything all better for her. That was what good sisters should do, and, by Celestia, she was a good sister!

Ahem.

But first, she had to find her.

On the bed would be a good start, but she found her eyes being dragged downwards by a number of little paper trays, filled with foil shapes. And little shards and smears of brown.

So… that was where her stash had gotten to.

No matter. This was Sweetie Belle, and it was Sweetie Belle in her hour, or days, of need. She could have them.

Even if it made her lip twitch for a moment. Those were Docktsch specials!

Ahem.

Up on the bed, there were a few more little trays, which circled a great nest of pillows and blankets and cuddly toys and all sorts of warm, fluffy things that just tore at her heartstrings even further.

Oh, Sweetie… I'm so sorry…

And, lying on the top of this little mound, her big, shiny, utterly adorable eyes staring up at her and mesmerising her with their sweetness, was Sweetie Belle.

With chocolate smeared across her lips.

"Hi, Rarity," she mumbled, staggering to her hooves.

It took all her love for her sister and her years of learned self-control for Rarity to not pop her eyes out.