Brazen Gruff
After two weeks, things began to return to normal. Twilight and Rarity both felt at ease now that they had come clean with their friends, who, after they had recovered from the initial shock, were insanely happy for the two. Pinkie had a cake baked, decorated, and delivered to the two the very next day, which they enjoyed while relaxing in bed.
Rarity was in an odd sort of limbo in regards to her place of residence. She didn’t exactly live with Twilight yet, but she had a key to the castle and Twilight’s bedroom, and you could most likely find her in the castle at any given time. Still, she returned to Carousel Boutique most nights and quite a few days, busied by her work and/or sister.
The princess, of course, wasn’t bothered by this fact. She wasn’t the one to deny company, especially from the likes of a woman as gorgeous as Rarity. Now that they had spilled the beans to their friends, neither Twilight nor Rarity could think of a decent reason to keep their relationship hidden from the public. Between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, neither of whom could keep their mouths shut, the secret would be out within a week anyway.
Even if they did somehow manage to keep a secret, the people of Ponyville, all of Equestria, really, were a talkative sort. Rumors would spread like wildfire, and they wouldn’t just remain in Ponyville. Four hours after Twilight and Rarity were seen holding hands and kissing in public, news of their relationship was spread all the way to a handful in Canterlot. Two hours later, and everyone in Canterlot, Celestia and Luna included, were informed. Within days, word spread from Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire, from Manehattan to Los Pegasus, that Equestria’s most eligible bachelorette was officially off the market.
One mare, unaware of the news, found herself in Ponyville, with the goal of courting the Princess of Friendship in mind.
Rarity truly couldn’t understand the mentality of some of the people in her town. Twilight had made it rather obvious that the castle was open to the public from Monday to Friday, with the doors opening at 9 in the morning and closing at 5 in the afternoon. However, as this day was Saturday, the castle became a private domicile, and nobody was meant to intrude. Twilight Sparkle may be a princess, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not entitled to a shred of privacy, and she certainly deserved the weekends to herself.
Which is why Rarity was a mix of perturbed and bewildered when she heard the door knock. If Twilight wasn’t busy reorganizing her room, Rarity likely would’ve ignored it. But, seeing as that would be terribly rude, and she was doing nothing better anyway, Rarity decided to investigate. She did take her sweet time getting there, though. If this person was going to be rude enough to pester them on their day alone, Rarity decided that she was not above making said rude visitor wait. When she did finally reach the front door, her hand grasped the crystal handle for a moment before she pulled open the door to, as kindly as she knew how, give the intruder a piece of her mind.
The unicorn on the other side of the door was immediately startling to Rarity. Her deeply violet face was covered in a maelstrom of piercings, on her lips, her right eyebrow, and her nostrils, and that’s not including the small rings all along the edge of her ear and the gaping hole in her lobes, stretched by a ring the size of a quarter. Her hair, which was a faded, greyish blue, was half shaved on her head, with the hair that remained draping flat over her left eye. As for clothing, which Rarity decided was the most terrifying, she wore all black, black boots up to her knees, black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, all covered in a black trench coat that went way down to her knees.
“Hello,” said Rarity, after she properly took in all that she was seeing. “How may I help you?”
“Hey,” said the mare. “Is Twilight here?”
“Yes, but she-”
“Cool. Can’t wait to see her,” said the mare, walking straight past Rarity and into the castle. Rarity was, understandably, shocked, and it took her a few moments to react.
“Um… May I just ask why you’d like to see her?” asked Rarity. Then, she thought about what had just transpired. “And why do you think you can just walk into her home uninvited?
“I need to talk to her. Catch up, you know?” said the mare. “I’m Brazen, by the way. You are?” Rarity, again floored by this strange mare’s gall, took a few seconds to properly react.
“My name is Rarity, and I really think you should-” began Rarity.
“Where is this chick? She does live here, doesn’t she?” asked Brazen, strutting down the hall. Rarity grabbed a handful of her own hair, then chased Brazen all the way to the throne room. As soon as Brazen saw the six tall, crystalline chairs, she leapt into the one labelled with Twilight’s Cutie Mark.
“Twilight!” called Rarity. “You have… A visitor, I suppose. You should get down here, if you don’t mind terribly!” After a few seconds had passed, one could hear the sound of Twilight’s hooves against the cold crystal stairs. She soon presented herself, dressed in her favorite sweater and sweatpants. Not exactly the classy, elegant princess that one would expect, but Twilight was comfortable in it, and that was what mattered.
“What is it, Rarity?” asked Twilight. As soon as she heard the princess speak, Brazen lit up her horn with a dark, navy glow. She disappeared in a loud pop of light, returning to view next to Twilight, draping her arm around the princess.
“Hey, Sparky. Long time, no see,” said Brazen with a smirk.
“Oh my god! Brazen!” squealed Twilight, giving her a big hug. “I haven’t seen you in years! What are you doing here?”
“Geez, since when were you so huggy?” asked Brazen, shaking free from Twilight’s grasp. “I gotta stop by Canterlot, then I’m on my way to the Crystal Empire for a research trip. I decided to stop by Ponyville for a few days, and, when I found out you were this princess I’ve been hearing so much about, I just couldn’t resist paying you a visit.”
“Ahem,” coughed Rarity forcefully. Both Brazen and Twilight turned, as if Rarity had only recently manifested. “I believe some form of introduction is in order?”
“Right, sorry. Where are my manners?” said Twilight, smiling widely. “Rarity, this is Brazen Gruff. She and I used to be something of rivals back at Celestia’s school.”
“And by ‘rivals’, she really means that I was her mentor,” said Brazen, a cocky sort of laugh in her voice. “She was never as good as me. I trounced her at every turn.”
“Oh, so that’s how you remember it?” said Twilight. “Of course, you’re bound to have some memory loss. No doubt a side effect of showing up to every growth test plastered.”
“Ah, but did I ever fail?” asked Brazen. She flipped Twilight’s bang playfully. “And, if my drunken memory serves me right, I even got higher scores than you most of the time. Face it, Sparky. I’m just better at magic than you are.”
“Of course, it’s not entirely fair to compare us, considering we studied mostly different branches of magic,” said Twilight, fixing her mane. She was used to Brazen doing that. “Astral Physics and Arcane Arts don’t really translate well to… Sorry, what did you study again? Dragons, right?”
“I study Necromancy now, but Draconian Biology is still my thing,” said Brazen. “Speaking of Draconians, where’s that little drake of yours? He must be huge by now!”
“Spikey? Huge? Now that must be a joke,” said Rarity, who had been waiting most of that discussion to insert herself into the correspondence. “I’d be shocked if he was tall enough to reach my hip.”
“I love that little guy! Where is he?”
“He’s spending time with my sister. All things considered, they probably should get close,” said Rarity. “Considering-”
“Wait, your sister? How old is she?” asked Brazen.
“Eight…”
“And Spike is, what? Eleven now?” Brazen counted off the years in her head. “Yeah, eleven. You sure that’s a good idea?” Rarity and Twilight both looked to Brazen with bemusement. “What? Don’t you guys know what happens? Eleven is typically the age that dragons become… Active, to keep things PG-13. And an eight year old little filly? He might think she’s… Uh… Ripe.”
Rarity thought she was fairly intelligent, but it did take her quite a while to put together what Brazen was implying. When she did, she felt overcome by a sudden rush disgust, followed by an even bigger wave of anger. Within seconds, she was running as fast as her hooves could carry her, out of the castle and to the Boutique, leaving Brazen and Twilight alone in the throne room.
“So…” said Brazen. “What’s been going on with you? Besides becoming royalty, I mean.”
“Are you sure you can’t show me?” begged Twilight, leaning forward on the table. After Rarity departed, her and Brazen had migrated to the dining room table, where the two decided to talk shop.
“It’s not the type of thing I can just show off,” said Brazen. “I kinda need something to be dead first.”
“And if I can get you a corpse?” suggested Twilight. Brazen grinned madly.
“I question your sudden eagerness and apparent ability to provide me with a dead body,” she said. “But what the hell! Sure.”
Twilight lit up her horn, vanishing with a flash of light. She returned less than a minute later, with a dead songbird resting in her palm.
“My friend is an animal lover,” said Twilight. “She takes care of animals as best as she can, but they sometimes just die, like this bird.”
“Lay it flat on the table,” instructed Brazen. Twilight did as she was told, then used her magic to manufacture a pad of paper and a well-inked quill. Brazen rolled her eyes (some things really didn’t change), pressed her palms together, and began to concentrate. Immediately, Twilight began scribbling on her notepad, recording every detail of importance, and several that were apparently irrelevant. Brazen’s visible eye began to glow a bright, ghastly color of green. A gust of wind began to emanate from her very body, whispering something that Twilight couldn’t quite make out. The green from Brazen’s eye soon surrounded her horn and hands, and the whispers grew in volume, yet remained just barely incomprehensible. Quite suddenly, she pushed out her right palm in the bird’s direction. There was a sound similar to that of a fork against a ceramic plate, and the bird began to violently twitch. Brazen snapped her fingers, and the bird became perfectly still.
“Well, there you go,” said Brazen. “It’s alive. Since it’s a bit more on the simple side when it comes to complex organisms, the spell I used was pretty basic. Second level reanimation spells aren’t that hard, if you know the theory.”
“It’s not moving,” noted Twilight.
“Cause I’m not letting it,” said Brazen with a mysterious grin.
SLAM!
“And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay the hell away from my sister!”
“Oh no,” mumbled Twilight, rising to her hooves. She ran out of the room, followed by Brazen, who only dawdled long enough to grab her new pet in her hand. When she and Twilight made it to the living room, they stumbled upon a situation in-progress. Rarity was yelling, waving her hands, and generally making a scene in the general direction of a very scared, very confused purple and green dragon.
“Rarity, calm down!” said Twilight. “Relax! It’s not his fault.”
“I’ll say! I didn’t do anything!” promised Spike, clutching his ear-spines gingerly. “We were just baking! I thought that you’d like some snickerdoodles, so Sweetie and I were making some.”
“Wait, you believed the whole mating thing?” asked Brazen, a devilish smile on her face. “I was just joking around. Everybody knows that dragons don’t mate outside of their species.” Spike looked confused for a second, then, when his eyes fell on Brazen, his expression became slightly irritated.
“Oh, hey, Brazen,” said Spike flatly. “Rarity, can I go back now? We have cookies in the oven.” Rarity, feeling both foolish and remorseful, tried to hug Spike. The dragon was in no mood, and shimmied out of the way before taking off for the door.
“And you can forget about trying one!” he shouted over his shoulder, punctuating his sentence with the sharp slam of the door. Brazen, who was on the verge of chuckling throughout the entire encounter, finally lost her composure and began to laugh like a maniac. Twilight was trying her best not to laugh, but the intensely confused and annoyed look on Rarity’s face made that battle impossible to win.
“I don’t quite see all that’s funny about this,” said Rarity through gritted teeth.
“Come on, man, that was obviously a joke,” huffed Brazen. “Anyone with a shred of Draconian knowledge knew that I was talking out my ass. It was common sense, really.” Rarity was slowly growing to dislike Brazen more and more with each passing second.
“I wouldn’t say ‘common sense’, considering I didn’t know.”
“Sparky knew,” Brazen grinned madly before throwing her bird in the air. She snapped her fingers, and the resurrected songbird twitched its wings, then soared around the room, fluttering down and landing right on the tip of Rarity’s horn.
“Wow! Amazing!” cheered Twilight. “Are you controlling it?”
“Yup. I didn’t let him move because he’d start freaking out,” said Brazen. “But he’s cool now, so I told him to sit right where you see him now.” Brazen smirked at Rarity. “You know, if I was just a little bit more mean, I could really get you messy here.” Rarity was fuming at this point, but she did a rather good job of keeping herself visibly calm.
“You know what? I think we could all do with a nice cup of tea,” said Rarity, waving the bird away from her head. “How do you take your tea, Brazen?”
“As coffee, and with three sugars,” Brazen laughed, apparently immensely entertained at her own wit.
“Wonderful,” said Rarity, with the most manufactured smile in her repertoire. “Twilight, my love, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?”
“Uh… Sure, Rares,” said Twilight with slight unease. “Uh, the library is that door to the left, if you wanna give it a look, Brazen.” She didn’t get to see or hear Brazen’s response, as Rarity quickly dragged her away. Neither said a word until they were past the dining room, in the kitchen, and in the process of putting together their drinks.
“Is there something wrong?” asked Twilight. Rarity glared at her girlfriend with enough intensity to cause a physical reaction.
“Are you serious? You must be joking,” said Rarity. “Her! What a rude, inconsiderate, smarmy… Ooh, I have a few words in mind for her!”
“Who? Brazen?” asked Twilight. “What’s your problem with her?”
“She’s disrespectful, for one! Aren’t you even a little bit offended that she just walked into your home uninvited?” asked Rarity. Twilight shrugged her shoulders, using her horn to move around cups and kettles and sugar dishes.
“Not really. We practically lived together for a long while,” said Twilight. “Besides, being polite isn't really Brazen’s style.”
“And it doesn’t bother you how she played that joke on me?”
“A bit, I suppose, but Brazen always had a weird sense of humor,” admitted Twilight. “Everything worked out fine, I think. No harm, no foul.”
“But surely you must be at least a bit upset by how she’s coming on to you?” tried Rarity. Twilight tilted her head in her signature “come again”? expression. “She’s hitting on you, darling!”
“She is not,” said Twilight adamantly. “I think I’d notice if she was hitting on me.”
“You didn’t notice when I was hitting on you,” pointed out Rarity. She glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting Brazen to suddenly appear before them. “Think about it! She constantly tries to snub me, she is trying to get you alone, she keeps blowing herself up to try to impress you. For the love of Celestia, she even has a cute pet name for you!”
“She’s always called me Sparky,” said Twilight dismissively. “And a pet name does not mean she’s hitting on me. Pinkie Pie has a cute name for you that I’ve never heard of before.”
“Did you just use Pinkie Pie to try to defend something as normal?” asked Rarity, raising an eyebrow. “I’m telling you, darling, she wants you, and she either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that you’re taken.”
“I think you’re crazy, and a little bit jealous,” said Twilight, loading a tray with tea and coffee.
“Fine. You think so?” said Rarity. “Kiss me, then.” Twilight grabbed Rarity gently by the shoulders and pulled her close, pressing their lips together in a warm, passionate, albeit surprising kiss.
“I meant in front of her, but I am not one to complain,” said Rarity. Twilight chuckled sheepishly, but understood Rarity’s plan. Although she thought Rarity was overreacting, she decided to play along, if for no other reason than to prove her wrong. What could go wrong.
Twilight lifted the tray by way of magic, then led the way out of the kitchen. Before they could even make it there, Brazen’s bird landed on top of Rarity’s horn, with a small scroll of parchment tied to its leg. It stood perfectly still as Rarity freed the note, unrolled it, and read it outloud.
“Gotta dash, Sparky, but it’s been fun catching up,” read Rarity. “Maybe we can meet back up when I get back from the Crystal Empire. Love, Brazen Gruff.” Rarity peered at the letter for a bit. “She wrote her number on this, with X’s and O’s beneath.”
“She just left,” said Twilight victoriously. “Still think she was hitting on me?”
“X’s and O’s, Twilight,” Rarity sighed. “You do know what that means, don’t you?” To demonstrate her knowledge, Twilight wrapped her arms snugly around Rarity, and pecked her on the cheek.
“There. Not as oblivious as you might think,” said Twilight with a smirk. Rarity kissed her back, this time on the lips. As their horns neared each other, the bird hopped from Rarity to Twilight.
“Are we keeping this bird?” she asked.
Brazen walked down the streets of Ponyville as quickly as she could, looking down the entire time. She reached into her trench coat and withdrew a small notepad and pen. She used her magic to free up her hands, which she used to turn a small, golden ring over in her hand. The pen met paper, and Brazen quickly began to jot down her thoughts.
Dear Diary,
Twilight was too oblivious to pick up on my advances. I anticipated this. What I did not expect was the extra variable in the form of a pre-existing love interest by the name of Rarity. She seems like a nice enough gal, and I almost feel bad for trying to steal her girl from her. Still, some things are more important than her, and this is one of them. After I’ve gotten my use out of Twilight, I’ll try to reconcile their relationship.
Regarding Twilight, her involvement with Rarity will complicate things. I don’t know how I’m going to advance, but hopefully I’ll find some sort of anti-love magic in the Empire. Unlikely, considering the place is run by a love goddess, but it’s worth a shot. Anything is worth a shot for Ivy.
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Well that took a turn...
Sigh, so old friend of twi wants to break up rarity and twi, use twi for some purpose then walk off into the sunset with whoever ivy is.
This is some friend, she'd rather use a mind control/alteration potion and ruin this relationship iinstead of hm I don't know, asking twi for help?
Sigh, I'm checking out of this story. I'm sure it will be interesting iits just not what I was expecting or looking for.
Good luck writing!
6159356 I'm sorry to see you go, though I understand how one could immediately assume the worst with the information given. If it's any consolation, Ms. Gruff has a pretty good reason, and her willingness to use Twi and throw her away as she plans to is rather justified. I understand if you wanna tap out on this story, but I'd ask you to keep an open mind in regards to Brazen's story. It's like watching a movie that, for the most part, is really fun and happy, but has one dark bit forty minutes in. Brazen, as she stands, is "forty minutes in".
tl;dr: I get why you feel like that, but it's all explained and justified soon. I hope to see you give it another chance.
6159663 I guess part of it is that when I read the description I assumed it would be little happy rarity x twi shorts haha.
That and mind alteration is one of those things I instinctively revile.
You clearly put work into this story and its well written. Must be a doozy of a reason to justify Gruff's plan. *thinking face*
What the hell, I'll read a little longer. There are very few fics that have a breakup and then possible reconciliation.
I've got one last question but I'll PM that as its probably spoilery.
That joke did not seem all that harmless. Spike is upset and probably insulted, and Rarity was for a short while under the impression that her little sister was alone with a sexual predator. Twilight did not even try to stop Rarity or go after her in order to tell her that Brazen was not being serious.
6160456 Brazen is based off of a person I know. She is a cruel, vile, terribly mean person, and she would sometimes play mean jokes like this on people. She was my best friend, and I tended to be more lenient with her.
Not saying that Twilight is in the right for letting that joke slide, rather, I'm pointing out that certain people change our behavior in different ways. Brazen tends to make Twilight a bit more loose and scummy. I think we can all think of at least one "bad" friend we have.
6160456 Not to mention Rarity was pretty despicable for lending any credence at all to the idea that Spike might be a sexual predator.
6345726 Put yourself in Rarity's position for a sec. She knows very little about dragons and what she does know must be taken with a grain of salt, since Spike is something if an outlier. Then, Brazen comes in and is confirmed, by Twilight, to be something of an expert. I'd believe Brazen if I was in that position and, unlike Rarity, I actually do feel like the world is out to get me.