//------------------------------// // VIII. All the Wealth of Her House // Story: Up From the Wilderness // by Cynewulf //------------------------------// Rarity nuzzled under her chin, careful to keep her horn away from Rainbow. Outside the window, the train slowed as it pulled into the busy Canterlot station. Time to go. “You ready?” Rainbow asked. Rarity yawned. “Indeed I am. Can you believe that the Princess invited us? I can hardly wait to get there.” “Yeah, might even be fun,” Rainbow said, and kissed her forehead before Rarity moved. She stood and stretched. “I hate trains,” she declared. “Too much sitting. Way rather just fly here.” “You’d be exhausted,” Rarity said idly as she began to move to stand. Rainbow didn’t say anything as she stopped, made a small “Ah,” and then looked up at Rainbow. “Help me in?” “Yeah.” The harness was retrieved. Rarity was strapped in. It had become a ritual of sorts for them. The act of attaching her lover into the apparatus no longer made Rainbow Dash tense up, or have thoughts of throwing the thing off the side of the mountain. The funny thing about pain was that it could be born in any amount, Rarity had told her once, as long as there was an end in sight. Either the surgery would work, or it wouldn’t. Either way, there would be some sort of end. And Rainbow didn’t immediately feel anything about that. Neither fear nor relief stabbed her heart. Mostly, she was hungry, and wanted a kiss and a bit of fresh air. Simple desires were nice that way, she thought. Canterlot station was bustling. The city itself thrived with vibrant life and movement all around them, in a thousand colors and as many voices. Rarity walked like a filly through the flowers, home from school, without care. It was simply another day for her. At least, that was the air she gave off. The clatter of her wheels against the flagstone suggested otherwise, but Rainbow did not hate that sound anymore. It was just another sound. It could do nothing to her that it had not already done, and that she had not already survived. “It’s been awhile,” Rarity said when they came to the main boulevard. “Far too long, in fact. I really need to be working on reestablishing my connections here. This is, of course, a capital of fashion.” “I’ll take your word on it, Rares,” Rainbow replied with a grin. “So… that letter.” “Hm?” “The invitation.” “Ah. You didn’t read it, did you?” Rarity asked. Rainbow glanced over at her. Even with the bulky wheeled harness, Rarity managed to walk like a princess, her head high, a confident air about her. She looked for all the world like a noblepony. “No. Was gonna read it, but I forgot. You have it with you? I’m just kind of curious. Like… why would they want to see us? We’re not like Twilight.” “Ah, but even princesses can have friends and acquaintances,” Rarity said, and chuckled. “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure myself. Princess Celestia wrote it, and it wasn’t very long. Just a simple invitation to dine with them and stay at the palace while we’re here for my consultation.” Rainbow noted that she didn’t mention surgery. They didn’t say it, even when alone. “Well, we are some of the only ponies in Equestria to have seen where the Princesses grew up. She might want to talk about what we saw,” Rainbow said. “Perhaps.” Celestia and Luna were gracious hosts. Dinner was served in a smaller, much more private room than either Rainbow or Rarity had expected. The food had quite fulfilled their hopes, however. So as they reclined, taking their tea on the balcony of Celestia’s private quarters, Rarity and Rainbow felt comfortable enough to lie closer together, almost leaning against one another. “We are so glad to see you again,” Luna said, smiling broadly at both of them. “It is always nice to see our friends from Ponyville once more.” “You haven’t been back in some time, have you?” Luna shook her head. “No, not since Nightmare Night two years ago. Alas, things have been rather busy.” Celestia leaned in, setting the cup down on the table with her golden magic. She smiled at them all, each in turn, and the room was quiet. Not in a tense way, but in an expectant one. Rainbow felt like she was going to find out why they’d been invited, but before Celestia could speak, Luna gave her an inscrutable look. Celestia nodded, and then sighed. But the smile returned. “I’m not sure if it is a good time,” she began. “I would have invited you for dinner and tea regardless, of course. I do so love getting to know all of the element bearers, and after your return, thought it would be a good time.” “So you do have an ulterior motive,” Rarity said. Celestia chuckled. “Now, that makes it sound almost sinister.” “Not at all! I thought you might,” Rarity said. “It was the tea. I usually preface serious conversation with an offer of tea. It softens the blow.” “Yeah, and then the stupid snacks keep you there long enough to get told how dumb you are,” Rainbow groused. Luna laughed. “Oh, I know that feeling, Rainbow Dash. I know it well.” Rainbow blinked. “Hey, you don’t see ‘we’ anymore!” Luna nodded. “It was ever a convention of the public sort. I have never used it with my sister. Well, not outside of my feller moods,” she amended sheepishly. “But you are quite right. Both of you actually,” Celestia said. “I wanted to ease you into conversation and give you another reason to stay. I have… well. Not a favor to ask. Not exactly.” “We would probably be willing. Perfectly willing,” Rarity said quietly. Celestia frowned. “Rarity,” she said, her voice not quite cold but different. Rainbow wasn’t sure what it sounded like, what it felt like. It seemed… old. Tired. “Princess?” Rarity responded. “I would ask if you harbor ill-will towards us for the conversation we had.” Rarity went still. Completely still, save for her eyes, wide as dinner plates. Rainbow didn’t know anything about this. She scooted back to get a good look at Rarity. “What the hay?” Rainbow said. “What is this?” “It’s… it’s nothing, Rainbow,” Rarity said quickly. She looked pale. “Princess, please, forgive me. I… I meant no disrespect. I was distraught. Please, I beg your forgiveness.” She set the cup down on the table. In her still weak magic’s grip, it shook slightly. Rainbow stood. “Princess, I don’t know what this is about, but… Whatever it is,” she paused, standing a bit in front of Rarity. “It’s in the past, isn’t it? Whatever it is, Rarity is sorry and--” Celestia’s face stopped her mid-speech. She knew that look well. It was the look her teachers had given her when they thought she’d said something amazingly stupid. “Rainbow, Rarity, please. It’s alright,” Celestia said. “You can sit down, Rainbow. Your love and your loyalty are admirable. I wish no ill on Rarity. I promise.” She smiled. “If I did, I would probably not have broken bread with either of you.” “Yeah… that would be weird,” Rainbow relented, and sat. She felt almost like a balloon with a hole. She’d just… stood up to a princess. Look, I deserve at least one back rub for that, she thought. “No, I simply wished to know if you still felt that way,” Celestia continued. “I have been thinking about that conversation quite a bit. When it was discovered you had run off into the night after Rainbow, I was very concerned.” “I couldn’t wait,” Rarity said softly, almost like a child to her parent. “I couldn’t. She’s…” “I’m glad you did not,” Celestia reassured her. “Perhaps it was I who was in the wrong. You saw why I worried, and yet you came out of it all alive and…” she paused. “I suppose well. Do your wounds trouble you? Twilight has been keeping me apprised.” Rarity shrugged, and sank back into the couch. “No, they don’t. My legs are kind of stiff in the back, but I can move them. I can’t walk at all. If I try I just sort of collapse. My right foreleg is getting worse.” She showed the princesses the scarred leg, where one of the mad D’Jalin’s cultists had wounded her with hoofblades. “My scars burn sometimes.” Celestia nodded. “I had thought as much. Raw magic is not exactly predictable, but it isn’t completely random either. There are patterns. Sometimes.” She cleared her throat. “It was I who suggested to your doctor that a consultation regarding the wounds on your foreleg might be in order.” Rainbow and Rarity stared at her, confused. “You know stuff about like, medicine?” Rainbow asked. “Is that something princesses know?” Celestia and Luna laughed together, loudly and genuinely. “Rainbow Dash,” Luna said as she caught her breath. “Friend, we have learned quite a bit about that. When you live as long as we have, you learn about everything whether you intend to or not.” “And healing was always one of my specialties,” Celestia added. “I would always visit the local apothecary when we were still travelers.” “They were inevitably boring experiences,” Luna whined. Celestia rolled her eyes. “Luna. Anyway, yes, Rarity, I am the one your doctor has been talking to. I have some ideas, but… that was actually not what I wanted to talk to you about.” Rarity seemed taken aback. “Then.. what?” “I… Hm.” Celestia looked away for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts. “It is a gift I’d give you, of sorts. One I think you may appreciate. One I have owed for a long time. A boon a few centuries overdo, in all honesty.” Rarity stared. “You… No, you mean…” Rainbow just blinked at her. “Yes,” Celestia said. “I have decided that, with your permission, the House of Belle is to be reinstated. I promised Silver Belle when the House collapsed that I would some day restore his kin to their proper place, to repay them for their service to me in the Nightmare War.” “Even I remember the Belle family,” Luna said. “And after all that you have done and known and suffered, I think perhaps the mare to lead that house is come ‘round at last,” Celestia finished. “But…” Rarity cringed. “Princess, with all due respect, I am unwhole. Look at me.” She wiggled her back legs. “I am a cripple,” she said. The word hurt Rainbow like a knife. “And that’s the truth of it, for all intents and purposes. Whether or not I can be cured or to what degree I can be cured is irrelevant. I am unwhole. Unfit,” she added, “to be a lady of any sort.” But Celestia shook her head. “Rarity, I thought long and hard after you left, and the last time a mare of your age and size and experience spoke like that to me… was another Belle. Clarion Belle, a thousand years ago, told me to my face that no matter how much sorrow I felt over my sister, that my soldiers deserved better than for me to shuffle off to my chambers to sulk. She was furious,” Celestia said with a sad smile. “And I have ever admired her passion, the mighty flame that was her bright heart. Canterlot--and myself not least of all--could use your fire and your passion. And your compassion. Fancypants, whom I know you have met, is a good example of the kind of nobility this city needs, this country needs. As are you. It doesn’t matter whether you will walk with or without the apparatus over there.” “It is not armor, weapons, or a fit body that make a warrior,” Luna offered. “Above all, the iron will and a great heart are what truly make the greatest of knights. This is my experience, at least.” “You, of course, are free to decline,” Celestia said. “It is a gift. I will honor my promise someday, and have waited for the right time. If not today, another day will come. But I believe you were born for such a time as this, a new day for Equestria. I could care less how fit you are physically, because you are still the same pony I have always known.” She looked at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Wouldn’t you agree with me?” “Yes,” Rainbow said quickly. “Yeah,” she repeated, and Rarity met her eyes. “Always. I’ve been so worried all this time, that you were… were gonna be like I was, and what if you didn’t get better? What if I couldn’t do for you what you did for me.” “Rainbow…” “I kind of suck at helping. I’m not good at emotion stuff, remember?” She laughed. “I don’t really get the whole fancy schmancy noble thing either, but I know that you’re still the same prissy, generous pony I’ve always loved. Legs can’t change that. I mean, don’t get me wrong,” she added with a lopsided grin. “I really like ‘em. I’m always gonna say you have the hottest legs this side of Cloudsdale, Rares.” “You are a brute,” Rarity said with a huff, but her face burned bright crimson.