Rarity sat on her parents’ porch, her legs dangling off the edge as she watched Sweetie Belle playing in the moonlit yard, learning how to use a wooden practice sword with the help of Queen Celestia, who was delighted to meet Sweetie Belle and offered to play with her.
Sweetie had tried to play it cool, but every so often she would shoot Rarity a glance like ‘can you believe I’m sword fighting with the Queen of Equestria!?’ and that warmed Rarity’s heart.
Sweetie Belle’s endless enthusiasm was quite endearing to Rarity in general. In a way, Rarity was sort of jealous of her; Sweetie still had that passion and excitement that came from youth, and she discovered that she was a trans girl and was living as her best self far sooner than Rarity had— Rarity was still quite the hardened egg at Sweetie Belle’s age.
Rarity wished that Sweetie would never lose that enthusiasm of hers, even though she knew that was a hopeless wish.
Rarity’s father came up from behind Rarity and handed her some hot cocoa, before sitting beside her mother who sat on the nearby porch swing.
Apparently, Rarity’s father owned a second home in Las Pegasus, and the family holed up here during the winters, at least for the last two years since Magnum had bought the place. Rarity had no idea until he told her about it at dinner, after she had tried to apologize for not coming by to see them in the Sun District for so long, but apparently they weren’t even home when Rarity had stopped by.
It was a nice place, this little winter haven of Rarity’s parents’. The two of them had been Slayers themselves in the past, but had long since retired, and with some wise investments had managed to make enough money that they could afford a place in Las Pegasus, raise both their children, and live in comfortable retirement for the rest of their lives.
Between rising prices and stagnating wages, even for jobs like monster hunting, Rarity couldn’t even dream of a comfortable retirement, if she even lived long enough to see that age.
Rarity took a sip of her cocoa, and delighted in watching Sweetie Belle try and one-up the Queen of Equestria as they practiced their swords. Sweetie’s determination and optimism— that she thought she could, ever in her lifetime, let alone childhood, manage to score a victory against Queen Celestia—was quite enjoyable to watch as well.
“She’s quite somethin’, isn’t she?” Rarity’s mother, Pearl, spoke as she sat down next to Rarity.
“Hm? Who are we talking about?” Rarity asked.
“Your sister, silly,” Pearl’s tone was jovial enough, but she didn’t look at Rarity as she answered, and Rarity got the distinct impression that something was wrong.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Rarity asked, and a sip of cocoa later, she continued. “For her to be so talented at something she loves, and for her to be on her way to becoming a protector of Equestria, following in your hoofsteps. Could you ask for more?”
“Yeah,” Magnum chimed in bitterly, “we could ask for her not to become a Slayer.”
“Dear,” Pearl sighed and rubbed two fingers over her temples, “we talked about this.”
“Talked about what?” Rarity asked, a knot forming in her stomach.
“About how being Slayers left your mother and I with nothing but a lifetime of regrets.”
“Magnum!” Pearl slammed her hand against the porch and glared at her husband.
“Mother, please,” Rarity put her hand on her mother’s shoulder to comfort her. The two women both looked over and smiled at Sweetie Belle and Celestia, who must have heard the sudden increase in volume and were curious. Rarity said under her breath, just loud enough for her mother to hear “I want to hear this. Father, what are you talking about?”
“There’s no life outside the Hunt,” Magnum said, his words laced with a tangible bitterness. “That what they always tell you, right?”
“Sure,” Rarity said softly, uneasy about where this conversation was about to be headed and having immediate regrets about prying into it.
“The Hunt is no life at all,” Magnum shook his head, “and we didn’t realize that until after our Hunt was already over.”
“It’s true that we’re happier now than we’ve ever been,” Pearl added, twiddling her thumbs anxiously, “but we still worry about you almost every day.”
“I’m sorry, I had no—”
“Celestia sends us a letter every time you set out on, and return from, a mission,” Magnum explained. “And every time that letter comes in, there’s a moment where we both worry if it’s gonna be that one.”
“W-which one?” Rarity asked helplessly.
“The one that tells us that we’re going to have to bury our daughter,” Pearl finished, and Rarity felt the knot in her stomach tighten into a noose around her throat.
“I see,” Rarity said coldly, and she could practically feel her soul departing her body through her visible breath.
“But that’s not for you to worry about,” Pearl said, affecting a smile and placing her hand gently on Rarity’s shoulder. “Don’t let your somber old parents keep you from doing what you’ve wanted to do your whole life!”
“But this isn’t about the danger, is it?” Rarity smiled, but there was no joy in it; only venom. “You aren’t worry that I’ll succumb to the Hunt’s danger, but to my own ‘recklessness’. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that the bane of all Slayers?”
Pearl and Magnum were silent, and that was all the answer Rarity needed.
“We had each other,” Magnum said.
“But most Slayers aren’t so lucky to have a partner they can rely on outside of the job,” Pearl added.
Rarity briefly thought about Rainbow Dash; they were more than just partners, they were friends as well, but Rarity couldn’t deny that the two of them weren’t the best at supporting each other emotionally. They were both drowning together, and while that was certainly preferable to drowning alone, they were still both drowning.
“So what do you think I should do?” Rarity asked.
“Ask yourself what really makes you happy,” Magnum said. “What do you honestly want to do with your life? And if the Hunt doesn’t fit into that ideal, then you can always retire early.”
Retire early? Just the thought of it made Rarity sick. Right, and end up an utter laughingstock, just like App—
Well. That thought certainly wasn’t called for.
Though it did give Rarity pause. Why had Applejack retired? She knew it would be a disaster for her reputation, even moreso than for many Slayers, since Applejack’s family had been Slayers for countless generations.
When Applejack had announced her retirement, or at least when she told Rarity about it, she had said it was for Pinkie Pie’s sake. Applejack said she couldn’t bear to risk leaving Pinkie all alone in the world after what had happened to her, but Rarity could see the change in Applejack’s eyes after that fateful night.
Something happened to her then, something changed inside her that night, but Rarity had no idea what it was or why it convinced her to retire.
Still though, she supposed it didn’t matter now. It didn’t change her mind about her own retirement, which was simply out of the question. Even setting aside the reputation aspect, she would hate to let down her Queen, and even moreso, she honestly had no desire to stop being a Slayer. She wanted to continue protecting Equestria until her last days.
But was that all she wanted?
And suddenly, the image of a certain lavender librarian crossed her mind.
“And now, with Sweetie Belle,” Magnum’s words distracted Rarity from what was certainly about to be a very bittersweet train of thought, “it’ll still be quite a few years before she’ll be old enough to take the License Exam. But that time seems to be slipping away faster and faster, and then all our peace and quiet that we’ve built will come crashing down.”
“We’ll have nothing to show for our lives but an empty nest,” Pearl said somberly, “and if anything happens to the two of you…”
“Let’s not kid ourselves either,” Magnum scoffed. “Rarity, you didn’t wait until you were ‘old enough’ to become a Slayer, and we’d be utterly bonkers to think Sweetie Belle will wait either.”
“And we know better than to think we’d be able to stop her,” Pearl said, watching Sweetie vigorously attacking Celestia with her sword, and everypony present was stunned when Sweetie actually scraped Celestia’s hand with her sword—even Celestia’s eyes widened, “she’s a natural, after all.”
“But there must be more,” Rarity said desperately. “There must be more to the life of a Slayer than just— just misery and making people worry!”
“Rarity, take it from two ponies who spent their entire lives Hunting,” Magnum said sternly. “There isn’t.”
Rarity thought back to her time in the Everfree Forest, when she was so certain that she was going to die and that her body wouldn’t be found. She remembered the sinking feeling in her chest as she grappled with the legacy she would leave, with the knowledge that her life, by its end, was completely and utterly worthless.
She refused to let it go like that. She wouldn’t spend her retirement in worry for her loved ones, or making others worry. Perhaps her parents couldn’t find a life outside the Hunt, perhaps no one could— at least not before her, because she wasn’t going to abandon the ponies of Equestria to fearsome monsters and terrifying nightmares, but she wasn’t going to abandon her own desires either.
She would find a way to make it work; for her, and for everyone.
And she made a mental note; when she returned home—to her library—she would make sure to ask Twilight about those fashion books.