“Rarity!” Applejack shouted, her normally relaxed demeanor beginning to crack. “Ah swear if you don’t give me back mah hat right this instant, Ah’m gonna hogtie ya, and leave ya that way all day.”
“Oh, well now, that does sound like it could be fun, doesn’t it,” Rarity murmured, rubbing against her wife’s side. “It might lead to some awkward questions once Sweetie Belle came home.”
The farmer turned, grinning evilly at the unicorn. Her long blonde mane hung loose by her side, still wet from her bath. She had been… distracted in the bath, and at some point in the proceedings, the white mare had hidden her hat. Now though, it was time for revenge, and no threat would work on her quite like this one.
“Well, that may be, but Ah reckon you’ll crack first. After all, you wouldn’t like bein’ left on the side of road now would ya? Muddy, ya know?”
“You. Wouldn’t. Dare.” Rarity glared at her, hunching down like a puppy. Her tail flicked slowly back and forth as she watched her lover.
Applejack matched her grin for grin, hunching down across the opulent bed from her. Her wet tail whipped through the air with a thwap, and for a moment Rarity’s gaze fixed on the wet hair.
“HA!”
AJ pounced, tackling the unicorn to the ground, holding her in place with a hoof on her chest. Rarity winced, mentally cursing herself for being so easily distracted. Even though they both knew just how much she liked that tail…
Curling her legs close to her chest, Rarity tilted her head to the side. Her lower lip quivered as she looked up at the farmer. Batting her long lashes, Rarity pouted.
“Uh huh, you know that won’t work on me sugarcube. Now,” Again her tail whistled through the air. “Where was it you said mah hat was?”
With a heavy sigh, Rarity’s head flopped back onto the floor. Grumbling under her breath, she pointed off into the corner of the bedroom with a hoof. Applejack smiled, helping to pick her wife off of the floor. Swatting her white rump playfully, AJ chuckled as she trotted off to retrieve her prize.
Muttering dire threats under her breath, Rarity flounced away. Reaching to door to the bathroom, she looked over her shoulder. Behind her, Applejack was rummaging through the collection of items in the corner, searching for her faithful hat. The unicorn cackled quietly, the blue glow surrounding her horn a mirror of the one lifting the Stetson from the bathroom floor.
“RARITY! WHERE’S MAH HAT!”
AJ’s head whipped around at the soft laugh, her newly-bond mane swinging through the air like a pendulum. The farmer leered across the room, prowling forward. Her tail swished back and forth, her rump swaying high in the air.
Rarity’s bemused squeal was cut off as AJ pounced.
“Oh dear. Rainbow Dash, whatever happened to her?” Rarity whispered, turning away from the pale form still huddled over a long cooled mug of tea. Out of the corner of her eye, she could still see the slight shaking of Fluttershy.
For her part, Rainbow Dash looked like she was fighting back tears, unable to tear her eyes away from her oldest friend. The pegasus had crashed through the bedroom window of Rarity’s Boutique little more than an hour ago. The abrupt entrance of a third party had sent Applejack and Rarity rocketing away from the rather indelicate position they had been occupying.
The look on the cyan mare’s face had killed the offended protest before it had reached Rarity’s tongue though. Rainbow had looked almost panicked when she broke through the window, and after only a moment both mares’ blushes at being caught in flagrante died away, replaced by worry.
Rainbow Dash had only insisted that they follow her, refusing to tell them anything until they did. Had she not seen the fear in her eyes, Rarity would have brushed it aside as just another moment when Rainbow Dash sought attention.
Now though, Rarity resented every moment that she had tarried before following her friend. They had arrived to find Fluttershy just as Rainbow had left her, wing tucked tight in against her body, holding a cup of tea between her hooves.
Fluttershy hadn’t reached to any of them when they entered the cottage, nor their quiet inquiries. She just looked into the cup of cold tea, as though that might hold the answers she desperately needed.
“I don’t know. But…”
“Yes? What is it?” Rarity prompted, seeing the mare trail off.
Rainbow Dash bit her lower lip, glancing at Fluttershy for a moment. She still hadn’t moved from where she had been when Dash had let go of their awkward embrace the night before. She hadn’t resisted when Rainbow pressed the hot drink into her hooves, but nor had she reacted to anything her friend had done.
Were it not for the occasional tear that would roll heavy and wet down her face and the quick, shallow breaths catching sporadically in her throat, Rainbow might have thought her dead.
“Well, I… Rarity, when I came by last night there was…”
“What? Rainbow Dash, anything you remember might help us now. We need to know. She needs to know.”
Rainbow’s eyes flicked over to Fluttershy for the millionth time, before she nodded. “There was, a lot of blood Rarity. Look.” Her hoof stretched out, pointing to a brown stain on the pale blue wood of the floor. “And… here.”
Rainbow gently took the blanket that she had wrapped around the yellow pony away. Rarity’s look of disgust became one of equal parts horror, and black rage. Slashes of dark red covered the mare’s flank, large mars in the smooth coat. The curved incisions brought to mind a particularly careless carpenter, ruthlessly hacking away at a block of wood.
Her gorge rose at the sight, and her eyes watered in sympathy with her friend’s pain. She turned away suddenly, taking several deep breaths to quiet her rebellious stomach.
Looking back, she saw that Rainbow looked on the verge of tears. Rarity’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, and she slammed a hoof down. She could feel her own eyes well, even as her lips stretched in a ferocious snarl.
“I am going to have a very long, painful talk with the pony that did this.”
Rainbow’s head whipped around. Her eyes bulged. “Rarity, you, you think a pony could do this?”
Rarity tilted her head to the side, pointing her horn at the wall behind Fluttershy. Blue magic flared, and Rainbow turned. On the far wall, a curved line was cut deep into the wood.
“Every unicorn knows how to cut things. Threads, ropes, celery, its easy.” Rarity’s voice was cold, and the mare only seemed to notice the fact when Rainbow glared at her.
“Then how do I know that it wasn’t you that did this to her?”
Her voice was low, and filled with as much threat as Rainbow could muster. The pegasus had crouched slightly, angling her body to dive aside at a moments notice. Her blue wings were flared behind her, half furled and ready to surge back.
“Because, I’m sure that if it were me, then she would have reacted to me being here. You can’t just forget somepony who does this to you.” Rarity’s hoof moved to her side, and her expression flickered for a moment. “Now, AJ should be back with Twilight in a moment.”
“I’m sorry Princess Luna, I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
“No, that is quite alright. Please, I apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Think nothing of it Princess. I only wish that I might have been of more help.”
“You have helped more than you know my friend. Now please, I may only abscond with you for a time. We both have duties we must return to. You have my thanks, Vigilance.”
The guard bowed her head in a gesture both of sincere regret, and deep respect. Then her head came up, and the sole member of Princess Celestia’s honor guard smiling at Luna gently. Then with military precision, she spun on a hoof and trotted to the door. Turning once more at the door, the mare threw a glance over her shoulder, examining the Princess.
She shook her head, not voicing whatever thought had halted her progress. Then she was gone, the echoing hoofbeats retreating through the halls of the Canterlot Palace.
Once the unicorn was out of hearing, Luna snorted explosively and stamped a hoof. The action sent a loud cracking echo resonating through the empty chamber, and the Princess shuddered as it reverberated back along her leg.
Looking down, Luna grunted. The jet stone which formed her personal chambers was almost impervious to casual damage. While nothing about an enraged alicorn was casual, Luna had still expected to see only slight damage to the stone. The miniature crater her blow had left behind was a rather noticeable change though, showing as it did the far more abundant marble which formed the majority of the Palace.
As she continued to watch and deliberately change her focus from her anger, Luna saw black powder fall from the air above the hole. It settled into the declivity, and the surrounding area like some madmare’s idea of back rain. After a moment of thought, Luna realized that the powder was the stone that had once filled the hole, now airborne.
With a sigh, Luna flicked her horn. Midnight blue magic flowed through the air, shepherding the powdered jet back into the hole. With anoher grunt, the light of the magic intensified, until it was indistinguishable from the dark stone surrounding it.
When the magical energy faded, the hole was once more filled with jet, the powder reformed into whole stone by the Princess’ magic. There was still a small dip in the floor where hole had been a moment before, but not only was the decline far smaller, the jet once again covered the white marble.
Luna shook her head, once more calmed.
Standing, the dark alicorn looked around her chambers. From the large, soft bed that dominated the majority of the room to the small tble where her tiara and silver adornments rested. Celestia had given her the room the night after her return from the thousand year torment that had been Nightmare Moon.
Sister, we would trouble you by asking for a small place to sleep. We would verily dislike inconveniencing our most noble family, but after nigh one thousand years, we have little left which is known to us.
Her sister had smiled at her, before asking her to follow. Then the white alicorn had asked her to close her eyes and opened the door.
When Luna had seen the room, her room, she had been speechless. So many conflicting emotions had flown through her that she could hardly begin to separate them. Joy that her sister still wanted her to stay at the Palace. Fear that she wasn’t worthy of such kindness.
Many more flitted through her mind, but they were so vast, so complex, that Luna could never have begun to articulate them. Instead, she had asked the one question that sat at the heart of her problem.
”Sister? After all this time...” Her sister had waited while Luna stammered and halted. Her benign smile never left her white face as she stared at her younger sister. “After... In one thousand years sister, and you have taken nothing from our chambers? Nothing has been moved, nor replaced?”
“I always knew you would come back Luna. I never for one moment doubted that you could be saved, that you would be by my side again. That darkness has left you now my sister. Let us resume our lives as they were before the shadow took you”
Luna felt her eyes water at the dear memory, before blinking them dry again.
Then the mare stood, suddenly sure where she would find her sister.