This one requires a little explanation up front. It was the first scene I wrote for The Greatest Of These, arguably the entire reason tie fic existed in the first place, but it just wasn't quite enough to pull me forward in the end. At this point it's clear TGOT is never going to be completed in its current form which is a shame, as the basic concept was sound even if the execution left a lot to be desired. Characterisation was ropey, motivations were unusual, the idiot ball was handed about with alacrity and the central premise of the story wasn't even met before I ran out of steam.
I added too many plot elements and got bogged down in them. One day I might reveal a few in a blog or as another scrap. For now though, enjoy the somewhat dubiously crafted finale of The Greatest Of These.
And when you get to the end, listen to this, and imagine a dragon disappearing into the sunset.
Fire. Endless, eternal, all-consuming fire. It had driven her from her home, from her friends, almost taken her very soul. In its wake nothing but regret, longing, death and destruction. Rarity watched the flames of her little fire curl up and around each other, rising into the still night outside her new – old – home, her deep mountainous refuge and wondered, not for the first time, why she kept it going.
Luna's moon peered at her over the horizon, gibbous and...close, as if it were watching over her. Of course that was silly. Would Luna move the entire moon just to keep an eye on a single, lonely creature in the middle of nowhere? What a marvellous thought.
You're thinking like a little filly again, she chided herself. Filly. What did dragons call their young? She would feel silly to tell herself she was acting like an egg, though she felt as broken as eggshell.
A claw flicked at the fire, sending a flare of sparks into the night sky and raising the light in her little cave clearing enough to reveal a figure standing a short distance away. Rarity stared at the silent watcher for a moment, then turned away to break another branch from a nearby tree.
"You may want to come a little closer to the cave," Rarity said. She carefully pressed the branch into her fire, turning it this way and that until it fit a pattern she couldn't even discern. "For some reason the smoke likes to flow away from it. Perhaps it's scared of me," she added, a wry smile gracing her features.
The figure nodded assent and moved around the fire to a point just far enough to avoid Rarity's claws. They remained silent for now, watching the fire, enjoying the heat in their own ways. It was... companionable. The thought drew a chuckle from Rarity, though the accompanying puff of hot, steamy smoke caused her companion to step back in alarm.
"Excuse me darling, where are my manners?" Rarity drew back her head, jaw spread wide, and let out a barking cough. She felt something shift within her, sacs and valves drawing tight as her flame was temporarily extinguished. "There, all safe. It would be a shame for the first official Equestrian Outcasts's Convention to end so explosively, wouldn't it, Zecora?"
The zebra lowered her hood and resumed her spot by the fire, though she still gave Rarity the occasional wary look. She wasn't sure. Not quite sure that Rarity was entirely benign, not quite sure she'd survive the encounter and Celestia knew she had reason to be unsure about it. Yet, she'd come anyway. Rarity felt herself quite touched. She let herself show another tight smile, this time not letting her fangs hide themselves. Strangely, far from causing worry, this display seemed to put Zecora more at ease, as if the lack of hiding conveyed some kind of comfort. She settled down on her belly and smiled back, the first smile Rarity had seen on this peculiar mystic's face in a long, long time.
Must be a zebra thing. Rarity returned to idly flicking at her fire with an outstretched claw and watched a fresh cloud of sparks twist between her fingers. What she wouldn't have given for a cloth that even slightly resembled those embers, once upon a time. She could already imagine the spangled designs she could have created, the combinations of fire and light and darkness. It would have been sensational.
Zecora spoke.
"Why... do you maintain this fire, here upon your lonely spire?"
The question pulled Rarity from her reverie. She peered over her shoulder at the bulky mountain behind her whilst she considered how interesting the hesitance in Zecora's voice was.
"Hardly a spire, darling. It's barely even got a treeline."
Zecora followed Rarity's gaze and then seemed about to say something until she shook her head. Anypony else would have fallen for the easy distraction and spent the night arguing about geography. Not Zecora. She knew silence was the best interrogator.
"Comfort," Rarity said finally. She stirred the flames with a claw, their heat licking harmlessly over her scaled skin. "Fire burns and destroys, but a controlled fire is so... so civilised. It reminds me that, despite my looks, I'm not just some mindless, destructive force of nature, that I'm still..."
Still what. Pony? Rarity could cling to illusions with the best of them – after all, wasn't illusion half the art of dressmaking? But it was difficult to pretend you were still a pony when you were a good thirty very long paces from snout to tail, covered in scales, and had a tendency to hoard jewels; though that last, Rarity had to admit, wasn't much of a change. She laid her hands flat on the ground and huffed, staring at the length of her viciously sharp claws.
"It reminds me that I'm still Rarity," she finished. Zecora turned her deep eyes on Rarity and smiled again. Warmer this time, more open, but only for a moment before the studiously neutral Zecora returned. "And at this moment it would appear that being Rarity is all I have."
"Rarity, I have wronged you, but there is nothing I can..." She looked up at the stars, as if steeling herself for some action. Rarity tried to say something comforting but Zecora suddenly turned to her. Pain filled her eyes.
"Zecora?"
"I must speak..." She flinched away from a pain somewhere deep within. "Infernal rhymes convey no truth! I... My life has been endless lies, endless... I must speak reality!"
The poor zebra seemed to curl in on herself, shivering with effort and pain, but she still managed to fix her eyes on Rarity. Flanks foaming, head jerking rhythmically, Zecora continued to speak.
"Rarity... you gave me more than friendship. More than love. You, Twilight, all your friends gave me trust. You gave me what nopony would–" Zecora breathed in through gritted teeth, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her voice rose to a wail. "I betrayed you! I saw... I saw my selfish ends... I saw the end of my curse in you, Rarity, and so I-I lied... to Twilight. To you. I wanted to be free but what is freedom when trust is gone? I wanted to be free of the pain, free of this endless life, free of this cold wet swamp of a land!"
Back arched, eyes rolling, Zecora let out an agonised scream. Yet somehow she was able to drag herself to her feet, almost as if she was using the pain to drive her body forward. She tottered toward Rarity but collapsed after a few drunken steps.
"Forgive me, my friend. Forgive me... let it end."
With the use of a rhyme Zecora's pain seemed to ease. She let out a relieved sob and then a long, mournful sigh. Rarity looked down on her... friend? Confidant? Betrayer? She wasn't sure any more, but Zecora's willingness to endure such torment said a lot about the trust she believed Rarity had placed in her. The trust she wanted back. With great care, Rarity wrapped her claws around Zecora's prone form. She gently placed Zecora on the ground near the fire, then laid her neck down next to the zebra, one arm cradling her body.
In her deepest heart, Rarity had always expected this to be her and Spike on day. Spike would be a great and powerful dragon, Rarity would be old and content and together they'd lie on a stash of jewels and just... be. It was an image she associated with trust and companionship. She hoped Zecora would see it the same way.
Some time later, with the moon now well overhead, Rarity realised she had been sleeping. Zecora was still by her side, but now stretched out with her back to Rarity's neck, enjoying the warmth. She was smiling.
Rarity knew something had woken her. She didn't seem to sleep, not truly sleep in the way she recalled, but merely slumbered in a sort of doze that let her be instantly awake at the slightest sound. In this case the sound of hoofbeats, moving quietly around the edge of the light cast by her dying fire, their cause invisible to her barely-open eyes. The interloper paused and Rarity was suddenly aware of a pair of bright, glowing eyes peering at her from the gloom. She shifted her head and opened one eye to return the stare. Of course...
"A beautiful night, Princess Luna," Rarity said, opening her other eye. Luna stepped into the dim patch of light and inclined her head in thanks to Rarity.
"Thou hast found thyself a friend," the Princess replied. Rarity thought for a moment.
"Yes."
Luna smiled her private little smile, the one Rarity had seen her use so often when Twilight was around. She levitated a small stick and poked at the fire to rouse it, then turned to consider Zecora again.
"We heard thy conversation for some time. This zebra confesses betrayal, yet..." She stared into the fire, head tilted. When she spoke again her voice was gentle, the normal royal timbre absent. "We know all too well the pain she bears. Thou hast shown mercy far greater than others."
"Forgive my prying, Princess–"
"We are no longer thy Princess, Rarity. Thou art our subject no more."
Rarity abruptly raised her head, tumbling poor Zecora out of her comfortable little cranny. The zebra snorted and peered around like a newborn foal as she tried to understand what had happened, only to freeze in place when she saw Luna.
"Hello," Luna said.
"Princess." Slowly, unsteadily, again putting Rarity in mind of a foal, Zecora stepped around the fire until she occupied a spot roughly between the dragon and the princess. She looked back and forth between the pair as she laid herself down. Her ears flicked and she allowed a brief smile. "The outcasts convention. Yes..."
Luna's boisterous laugh tore through the valley, accompanied by Zecora's quiet chuckling. Even Rarity could see the humour in the situation. Soon, though, the last echo of their mirth had died away and they were left with the silence of a perfect night and the crackling of the fire. She should be content, yet contentment seemed further than it ever had been in Rarity's life. She shuffled her legs, as if that would sate her unease.
"Pri... Luna. May I call you Luna?" The princess inclined her head, the royal way of giving permission that Rarity still found so refined. "Very well. If I am indeed no longer your subject... what am I?"
Luna shuffled her wings as if trying to dislodge something from their feathers. The motion set Rarity's own wings itching for a moment but she dared not to move them. "In truth, we are not sure. We believed you to be dragon, over whom we exercise some authority, but we see you are not. You are kin to dragons, yet you possess magic far beyond the powers of their race. Kin to ponies, yet you consume..."
Luna seemed to try a few words out in her mouth but they were all evidently distasteful. Rarity understood and almost felt glad that her Princess – she could never be anything else, whatever Luna insisted – found the idea so gauche.
"We are unsure," Luna repeated. She stood, suddenly, wings held aloft. "You are new. You are beyond our experience, and we have experienced a great deal in our time on this world. It would not surprise us to learn that we are, in some way, some manner of our birth, kindred."
Rarity and Zecora shared a look, and she wondered if she should tell the Princess what had transpired. Perhaps not or, at least, not yet.
Luna's quiet pacing quickly captured Rarity's attention, for many more reasons than she preferred to acknowledge. The realisation she was being watched seemed to give Luna pause. She folded her wings back and turned to face Rarity once again, her face a carefully constructed mask over a flurry of conflicting emotions.
"Then I suppose this makes one decision easier..." Rarity looked away to the far end of the valley. This was all getting too much.
Luna nodded. "Shall I convey any message to your friends?"
"My friends... are perhaps more forgiving than I would be," she said, giving Zecora a quick glance. The zebra was watching the exchange with rapt attention. Rarity closed her eyes and took a breath. "But I don't... I couldn't ask that of them."
She felt a soft caress at the nape of her neck, at turns familiar and alien. Rarity opened her eyes to find Luna leaning close to her face, her wing outstretched in a futile attempt to wrap Rarity in a hug. A hot tear squeezed out of Rarity's eye, which Luna carefully wiped away with her other wing.
"Thank you."
The Princess of the Moon nodded again and withdrew to her place on the far side of the fire. She glanced up at the stars and lifted her wings.
"We must leave you now, Rarity, but we shall meet again," she said. A smile crept to her lips. "One day."
She leapt. Her mane stretched out to fill the sky and faded until there were only stars. She was gone. Rarity thought about calling her back, longed to call her back, to have her explain... but it was too late. Too late. She rested her chin on one of her forepaws and used the other to flick at the fire, the same idle pursuit that felt as if it had started the whole conversation.
Something tickled at her ear. Zecora was nuzzling just behind Rarity's chin and her breath just managed to catch the sensitive tendrils above. Rarity turned a single eye to the zebra and tried to let it smile.
"Zecora, would you like to share my fire a while longer?"
Zecora nodded, almost shyly, and nestled down beside Rarity's neck. The familiarity of her act would have shocked Rarity just a scant few days ago but now, when she had lost so much, it was comfort. For that moment, Rarity was content.
* * *
Mist burned as the sun rose over the head of the mountain, white ribbons like sheer silk lacework spun across the primordial forest that lined the valley Rarity had called home for so many weeks. She basked in the early morning light, wings outstretched, her body warming to the day ahead, to the long journey she would soon undertake. Rarity closed her eyes to the light and the pale, dawning sky and tried to ignore the burning heat of tears that hissed and boiled away to insubstantial steam as they touched her cheeks.
She remained that way for some time. Waiting. Not waiting for anything in particular, except for the moment she knew was coming, when she would take to the sky and leave her mountain home for the final time.
Cherished memories rolled across the eye of her mind. Adventures with companions, journeys to distant places. Her greatest masterpieces. The day her sister had spoken her first word. The sound of her friends arguing on the path to–
Rarity lowered her head slightly and let her eyes open just a crack. She sighed, her breath a hot, near-invisible cloud of steam and smoke in the still-cool air. Arrayed on the path to her lair stood every one of her closest friends, Twilight and Spike at their head. Rarity suppressed a smile. The little dragon had grown impressively in just a few weeks and even sported little stubby wings, which meant he had his mind on one very particular thing. In dragon terms, flattery in its purest form.
But she wasn't a dragon in the truest sense of the word. Not that it would change Spike's mind, but he'd have to learn, to understand...
Their approach had slowed, as if they were waiting for some sort of reaction. To put them at their ease Rarity lowered her wings and opened her eyes, before adopting a more poised and regal stance. The move seemed to put a smile on Spike and Twilight's lips. Still got it, Rarity mused.
"Twilight Sparkle, Spike. Everyone... to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"
Spike carefully shuffled from Twilight's back, to the unicorn's obvious relief. He looked up at her with awe, unmoving, and if he'd planned on saying anything it was obvious he'd never do it now. Twilight seemed to shrug with her eyes and stepped forward.
"We heard... that is, there's been rumours that you're... well..."
"Land sakes, spit it out, Twi!" Applejack trotted forward and glared up at Rarity. "We all heard talk you're gonna leave us all and fly away an' never come back!"
Rarity tilted her head. Zecora must have let something slip... no. There was no accident to this. She had acted selflessly, knowing Rarity could never have brought herself to return to Ponyville and knowing that her friends would want to say goodbye. Rarity lowered her eyes and nodded.
"It's true, I do have to leave. Today, in fact."
"But, um... but why?" This from Fluttershy, timid as ever, yet doing her best to fight it and, as Rarity had come to expect, winning. "There are no dragon migrations for months and no competitors in your territory, and it's not a mating year eith–" Her face suddenly turned bright red. Fluttershy clamped both hooves over her mouth. "I mean, ohh, I'm sorry, that just slipped out, I never meant..."
Fluttershy's stumbled apology faded away to a few incoherent squeaks. Rarity tried to put on her most sympathetic look but that seemed to just scare the poor little pegasus even more. Instead, she looked away. Rainbow Dash stepped forward with her wings raised, as if ready to defend Fluttershy in battle. Anger and disbelief mixed in her eyes as she fought for something to say.
"Why?"
"It's difficult, darling, but I'll try and explain. For some time now I've experienced a strange anticipation, something like the sensation I used to feel when I was near a big stash of jewels, and over the last few days it's grown tremendously. Every morning I've found it harder and harder to stay, harder to feel as if I even belong here and now I feel an almost unquenchable longing, some sort of innate desire to seek out... to seek..." Rarity lowered herself to the ground, resting her head on a large rock so she could be at the same level as her friends. As they gathered round it felt almost as if she were the old Rarity again. "There are others like me, out there. I can feel their call and I find I have no choice but to try and seek them out, to join with them. It's almost as if... as if, together, we might bring a greater harmony to the world.
"Besides," she added with great feeling. "I can hardly appear on the Canterlot fashion circuit now. A dragon in the fashion industry? I'd be a laughing stock. Or worse, an ephemeral novelty!"
Pinkie Pie burst out laughing. There were a few nervous chuckles from the others that faded away after scant moments. They were all looking at her with varying degrees of sadness and worry, as if she'd just told them she was dying. Perhaps, in a sense, she had.
"Rarity, you can't–"
"Twilight, you are one of my closest friends so please believe me when I say that I would never leave you if I felt I had a choice. All of you have made my life complete for so long and saved it so many times."
"But the Elements..."
"I can't do anything about that, Twilight. Either I'm replaced, and there isn't a problem or..." She let the thought linger. Refusing to give in to tears just yet, Rarity turned her eyes towards her two pegasus companions. "I'll miss our times at the spa together, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, I'll miss... you."
Rarity lifted her head and looked along the group until her eyes settled on her sister. "Sweetie Belle, I have always admired your determination and your courage. Remember you are strong and you define who you are and what you will do with your life, not some some petty talk from brainless rich fillies who should know better. Also you have to take care of Opalescence for me."
Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped but Rarity had moved on before she could reply.
"Applejack..."
The earth pony smiled just a little and dropped her eyes. She seemed unable to speak but, with some difficulty and much twisting of her hat between her forelegs, managed to squeeze out a few words. "Ah'm gonna miss you, Rarity..."
Rarity tried to respond but the pain in Applejack's face was too much to bear. Instead she smiled gently and turned to the rest of her friends.
"Pinkie, you of all ponies have always reminded me how to laugh at myself."
Pinkie Pie sniffled and let out a single great, bawling sob. She forced a smile onto her face and gave Rarity a sudden hug. Rarity tenderly stroked Pinkie's mane with an outstretched claw.
"Thank you. I promise I'll return one day. I owe you all that much. And Spike?" She stretched out a slender arm towards the young dragon and ushered him closer. "A word please."
"I'm ready to–"
"I can't take you with me, Spike."
Spike's face fell. "But... but I thought..."
"You're too young, you still have a lot to learn before you're ready to face the world without your friends, which you'll have to do if you want to find me." Rarity leaned a little closer and touched the tip of her nose to his. "I'll be waiting."
She sat back and looked over her friends, no longer trying to hide the tears in her eyes. Then, with a sudden, riotous laugh Rarity leapt into the air, wings pounding against the gravity could no longer hold her down. "Catch me if you can!"
The others looked up at her with a mix of awe and terror and Rarity felt, she hoped not for the last time, the thrill of admiration that she assumed only the Princess herself might feel. Rarity hooted, untrammelled her limbs and flung herself into the bright, open sky with two, three beats of her powerful wings, before settling into a glide that would take in the whole valley.
Behind her Pinkie Pie's voice carried on the wind.
"–and she's gonna have so many adventures and meet lots of new friends, and then ooh maybe she'll bring all her new friends back to Ponyville and well have a great big celebration because then we'll all have new friends and they'll all go to Canterlot and meet the princess and we can have another gala and won't that be incredible?!"
The joyful timbre in Pinkie's voice was unmistakeable. It was as if she really believed everything she said. Well, Rarity thought with a blaze of cheer in her heart. I'll just have to make it happen.
A slash of rainbow light buzzed her. Rainbow Dash looped in suddenly, curling around Rarity's neck and body twice and coasting for a moment beside Rarity's head. They shared a final look and then the pegasus was gone, diving away toward the valley floor. Rarity clawed after greater height as a thunderous boom echoed down the valley and then watched the rim of the shockwave scoot past beneath her, bending the trees to its colourful might, before setting her eyes to the sun.
* * *
Rainbow Dash floated back down to the small gathering of ponies on the now otherwise deserted mountainside and alighted between them. She looked over her shoulder, as much to hide the wetness on her face as to watch Rarity's departure.
"No more cool awesome gowns," she sighed.
"Or fashion parties," Pinkie added.
"No more hooficures," Fluttershy whispered.
"I don't know about that," Rainbow responded. She lifted a hoof to her face and examined it carefully. "I think maybe I should take a little more care of my appearance, now I don't have anyone doing it for me."
Silence fell and, together, they watched Rarity's slender silhouette until it was swallowed by the sun. One by one, the truncated group turned away for the long, lonely journey home until only Spike remained, seated on a rock, staring at the endless sky. He shuffled his feet, now smiling, now rubbing the tip of his snout, until Twilight returned to find him.
"Are you going to stay here all day, Spike? We've got a library to run you know."
"I know. I wanted to be alone for a while."
Twilight smiled a knowing smile. "Remember, right before she disappeared, I said I'd bring you something from Rarity?"
"I remember."
Twilight's horn glowed. Without a word she brought forth from within Rarity's den a glittering heart-shaped ruby twisted up in a thick lock of deep, purple hair. Spike caught the gifts out of the air as Twilight's levitation spell faded. He stared at them, recognition dawning. Then he touched his cheek and smiled.