At a pace that would have made Pinkie Pie proud, Twilight had been explaining herself in explicit detail to the princesses. Celestia listened patiently to the stream of information flowing out of her student at the astonishing rate. Various scenarios were reenacted in words, techniques used were given explanations, and toys got their time in the limelight with graphs written in an impromptu magic display that impressed both rulers. At the same time, though, Celestia was also a little put off; never in all her days had she had such a thorough presentation of somepony's sex life.
And still her protege was showing no signs of slowing down.
If anything, the words were flowing faster and faster, to the point where the huge grin on Luna's face dropped as she could no longer keep up with her scribbling. Most worrisome, Twilight was beginning to sound hysterical. Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder gently and the stream of words dried up almost instantaneously. "Slow down, Twilight, please?”
Twilight looked up in startlement. She had been in a zone of sorts while she related this to her mentor, and the physical contact took her out of it. “But if I don't explain everything you won't be able to help! I didn't even get to the costume closet yet!”
Celestia nodded slowly in understanding. You’ve told me everything but what I need to know, Twilight. Much more than I ever needed to know, to be completely honest. "Twilight, this is all... fascinating, but I can't help but notice a theme. Let’s try looking at this from another angle. How does she respond when you make love without all the illusions and costume changes?"
Twilight blanched. "She doesn't—wouldn't—It's...it’s just a game to her." Her student deflated. "One she doesn't like playing anymore."
Twilight was silent for a time. "Princess? Why am I such a screwup?"
Celestia shook her head slowly. So self-judgmental. "Surely even with a variety of settings and costumes you get...well, bored? Maybe that’s all this is?"
Twilight chuckled mirthlessly. "I don’t know... Pinkie was sad, not bored. Role-playing was the best way for us to be together. But then it wasn’t enough anymore, so we tried to add other activities, shared hobbies."
Twilight stopped, and shook her head. “When I say it like that it’s like I’m blaming her, but I’m really not. She just wanted to be a normal couple. I should never have asked her to be friends with benefits. I thought it would be okay, but I even screwed that up.” She studied the remnants of her breakfast listlessly.
Celestia gently lifted Twilight’s chin to look her student in the eye once more. “You never answered my question,” she said with another chuckle that was anything but happy. Seeing Twilight flinch, she removed her hoof. “But I suppose your silence on the matter tells me what I need to know.”
“I-I can’t, not without being in costume.”
Luna had been apparently been growing increasingly bored now that the tirade of sexual history had ended, but the statement caused her to rejoin the conversation. “Assuredly you are jesting with us. You most definitely know how!”
Twilight snorted. “I know how, I just can’t. I get nervous. It’s easier when it’s not really me.”
“Odd, you seem to have no trouble with needing a persona when you dream. You are very bold, perhaps even overly so at times.”
The unicorn looked up in alarm. “That’s different! Life can be cruel at times, dreams tend to either be wish fulfillment at best or nightmares at worst. Nightmares you fight, the pleasant dreams you enjoy while they last. The waking world isn’t as predictable.”
“You know what I mean, Twilight. You have many dreams of leading your dear friends, standing up to your foes. You always exude confidence. Why would your love life be different?
“In your dreams, even your nightmares in a very...literal sense...” Luna intoned, looking sheepish, “I see you as you were when we first met. Confident, even though you did not have the information you needed to win, or rather, despite knowing the most likely outcome of our battle.
“And even when you yourself are not the main focus of the dreams, your friends always paint you as a true leader. Bold and confident where needed. Gentle and modest where not.” Luna’s voice became ever more full of awe, as if she saw Twilight on a pedestal which the unicorn felt was undeserved.
“I would think that being yourself is the best thing you could do,” Luna concluded, stealing another piece of cake from her sister who, at some point in Luna’s monologue, had checked out and was staring out of the window with a pensive look on her face.
“I-I’m not, though. I can be confident when I know my friends are there. When it’s me alone... and it’s always that way, when we’re together. Sorry, I mean...she was there, but she expected me to lead her, and I couldn’t do it! I studied so much...and when I looked in her eyes she scared me so badly, because of what I saw. She’d never...not with anypony. And she trusted me, she l-loved me, even though I never asked for that. Even though I didn’t want that at first.”
Celestia had to respond to that. “Why would you not want love? It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Twilight didn’t answer.
“Twilight?”
“Because...love is a big risk. You never know if they... l-lo—” Twilight almost choked on the word “—love you too. If they don’t love you, it feels like your heart will break into thousand pieces. If they do, you’re responsible for their heart, and run the risk of breaking it yourself. I can’t say for sure which one terrifies me more...” she trailed off and stared at her own empty plate looking sullen.
She pushed herself away from the table, nodding to both princesses. “I-I’m sorry, your majesties. I think I need to go use the little pony’s room. Thank you for trying to cheer me up. I’ll just have to figure this out on my own.”
Celestia nodded graciously, ever the elder statesmare, but her gentle smile did not touch her eyes. There is something more here, but how would you know the pain of rejection, Twilight? Before Ponyville, the only pony you would talk to at all was... me...
The walk to Posey’s office was an uncomfortable one. Rarity was uncertain what to make of the taciturn mare, and her usual modus operandi of filling silence with her own voice wasn’t something she felt would serve her well here. Her pleas for stories had gone unanswered; this mare did not seem to be the walking and talking type.
It truly was difficult to reconcile in her head the fact that this mare was related to Fluttershy. Looks aside, their mannerisms were like night and day. Where her daughter tended towards timidness, Posey oozed confidence from her very pores. Getting a better chance to look her over, she could see that Fluttershy’s mother had suffered several injuries in her time. On another pony, the various lines of scars just below the pelt would be considered disfiguring. On Posey... It only made her look more striking. She is beautiful. The thought came unbidden to her mind. But in the right gown, she knew, this mare would look like royalty.
“Mademoiselle, have you ever modeled before?”
Posey stopped and turned, shooting Rarity a withering, if slightly amused, glance. “Filly, I don’t like flank-kissing. And for the love of Celestia, it’s Posey. Even ‘Ma’am’ would do.”
Rarity wilted under the glance. “Yes, ma’am. I am terribly sorry. But I didn’t mean to offer you false praise. You have a look and a presence about you which others, myself included, would enjoy and admire. I can see now why my darling Fluttershy can look so intimidating when the need arises. She is apparently emulating her mother.”
The older mare cocked an eyebrow at her. “You think I’d make a good model because I’m scary?”
Rarity shook her head quickly. “On the contrary! You are striking. Bold, even. I have no doubt you could be quite scary when you choose to be. But in the right gown, and with the right makeup, you’d be utterly regal!”
Posey snorted. “I have enough trouble trying to keep those idiot recruits in line as it is. If they started hanging up pin-ups of me, I’d have to start actually beating them to maintain discipline.”
She turned, and they walked on in silence again, leaving Rarity unsure if she had helped or hindered her cause. She desperately hoped that it was the former, but her track record today left her certain it was the latter.
A relatively short walk through the outskirts of Canterlot brought them to a squarish building which, presumably, had served as a guard station earlier in its life. Posey opened the door and gestured for Rarity to enter. The insides were sparsely decorated, a simple wooden desk, a few filing cabinets. Recruitment posters crowded the walls. Seating options were few, the simple wooden chairs on either side of the desk and thankfully, an overstuffed couch.
Posey nodded to the couch and went to a nearby ice box, pulling out two juice boxes. She grasped the straw of one in her teeth and drove it into the box with a long-practiced move. The other she tossed to Rarity, who caught it with her magic and proceeded to do the same with her straw, albeit telekinetically.
She levitated the box to her mouth and sipped demurely.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“So, how is my daughter doing?”
Rarity sputtered a bit. She had intended to have this conversation go the other way. Still, she could hardly refuse now, could she? “She’s doing quite well! But surely you don’t need me to tell you? She mentioned that you visit on occasion.”
Posey sat down, tapping a hoof on the couch. “Shy-shy only tells me what she thinks I want to hear. She likely tells you much more. I only just found out she’s been dating, for Celestia’s sake! Bet you knew about that before I did.”
Actually, I knew the very moment it started.
“Well, yes, we are rather close.” Goddesses, I hate dancing around like this... but better safe than sorry. No need to alienate both of her parents within the first hour.
Posey waved a hoof impatiently. “So she tells me! You come up pretty often when I ask about her friends, you know.” At this point, she leaned forward a little, her tone becoming both more gruff and strangely conspiratorial. ”So, what’s he like?”
“Excuse me?” Rarity replied, blinking profusely. ”What is who like?”
“The stallion she’s dating.” Posey clarified.
Rarity began to sweat; she should have known Posey’s prodding would turn down this path. “Ma’am, I think perhaps I should leave that to your daughter. I wouldn’t want to take such an, ah, important moment away from her.” And I think I would prefer to have her nearby, should I need somepony to hide behind.
The older mare sighed. “Fine. But can you at least tell me if she’s happy? That’s the hardest thing to get out of her. Everything is always ‘fine’ with her; it drives me mad.”
Rarity paused, trying very hard to hedge her answer so as to reveal no more than necessary. “She certainly says she is. I dearly hope she is telling me the truth. But I have every reason to believe that she is.”
The pegasus smiled, then, a much warmer smile than she had shown earlier. “Thank goodness for that, at least. Well, I suppose I have grilled you enough. You wanted to hear about my Shy when she was younger? Anything in particular you want to know?”
Rarity considered this carefully. Now that the conversation had moved away from more dangerous subjects, she could at last move on to that which was most dear to her heart: Fluttershy. But where to begin? She thought for a moment, but then something in particular came to mind. “Actually, I was rather wondering, do you recall... Oh, well, of course you would. In any case, your daughter had a bit of a mishap during flight camp. She had fallen to the ground.”
“Yes, she came back to us talking about critters and a friend she had made.” Posey set her drink down for a moment. “What about it?”
Rarity cleared her throat nervously. “Well, you see, that is...I was that friend. I always wondered what happened afterwards. I did see her years later, of course, but I never asked what happened and she never brought it up. Could you, perhaps, fill in the blanks a bit from there? Her father seemed a bit upset that she had not chosen to follow in either of your hoofsteps thereafter. That statement struck me as a bit odd. I mean, weatherwork I could see...but you work in the guard!”
Posey’s entire demeanor changed. She turned, and the look she gave Rarity told her that she now had the mare’s full attention. “That was you? She kept bothering us to check the mail, always hoping for a letter from her friend. It was quite a while before she finally gave up.”
Rarity’s ears drew back in distress. “I...I tried to write, but I had no address for her. I sent letter after letter, over the course of several weeks, only to finally have the first one returned to me. I assume the rest of them are sitting in some dead letter office somewhere.”
Posey said nothing at first, but seemed deep in thought. “So you did try, then. She’d be glad to hear that. You were all she could talk about for weeks after she had gotten home. Apparently you made quite an impression.”
“Oh? I was rather shocked that she remembered me at all, to be honest. We only spent the one day together.”
The older mare chuckled. “You were her hero! You’d think she’d been saved from death’s door, rather than merely having spent the night in an unfamiliar environment. Oh, Silver was furious... I thought it did her good, myself. She had a smidge more confidence in herself after that. Tell you what, I’ll trade you. You tell me what happened that day, and I’ll tell you what happened afterwards.”
Rarity smiled, delighted. It seemed things would turn out the way she had hoped after all. “Well ma’am, I had been planning on a little picnic lunch for myself. Then I found her sleeping by the pond. It took some time and effort, but eventually I got her talking. I offered to find her some help right away, but she graciously agreed to spend some time with me...”
“Please, darling, have mine as well. You must have missed a meal to be this hungry!”
“Thank you again...”
“Oh, you’re quite welcome, darling. I hope you’ll forgive me my curiosity...”
Fluttershy nodded, and Rarity flashed her a grateful smile.
“Thank you, dear. I suspect we’ll need to find you an adult now, won’t we?” Rarity grinned, though her face wouldn’t fully cooperate. If only she could stay a little while longer...but then, holding her here when she clearly wants to go wouldn’t be very ladylike.
Fluttershy studied her newfound companion for a moment before smiling demurely. “Um, well...we don’t have to leave right now, if you don’t want to.”
“Oh! Well I wouldn’t want to impose, darling; I suspect your family must be worried sick about you. My parents are, ah, busy... So I thought I ought to go outside and catch some sun.”
“Oh, my parents sent me to summer flight camp. The camp counselors are probably looking for me, but I don’t think anypony would think to look for a Cloudsdaler all the way down here. Anypony else would have been able to fly back up, or, more likely, wouldn’t have fallen at all... Only, only a weak flier like me would end up stranded on the surface.” She shrank back again, hiding her face in her front hooves.
Rarity smiled, remembering how Fluttershy had looked that day. “She seemed so embarrassed that she wasn’t strong enough to make it home on her own. I don’t know that I ever told her, but I envied her those lovely wings. I still do, in a way. I had a chance to attempt flight myself once. It did not end well. I suppose they fascinate me. I’d never seen a pegasus filly up close until that moment. The weather team didn’t tend to settle in town, they would just fly in from another larger city.” She started, realizing she might soon go too far if she continued on that tangent. “Well, in any case, we headed towards town.”
Rarity laughed—a warm, friendly laugh, causing Fluttershy to peek out from between her hooves curiously. “Oh good, you actually just made a little conversation yourself! Thank you, darling; I was quite afraid I’d talked your ears off. Please don’t be bashful around me anymore. It’s been so lonely for me without my little sister to play with.”
Fluttershy lifted her head in alarm. “What’s wrong? Is she okay?”
Rarity nodded sadly. “It’s nothing terrible, just an attack of the pony pox. Thank goodness I’ve had it already, or I would’ve been laid up too. But without my sister, well, I really have nopony else to play with. The other children find me...odd. They like to get dirty, generally dislike it when I correct their horrid abuse of the Equestrian language, and don’t get me started on their—” Rarity stopped and smiled sheepishly. ”Sorry, I keep dominating the conversation, don’t I? It’s a bad habit.”
The pegasus, however, laughed quietly. There was a nice, musical quality to the sound of it. “I don’t mind, really; I’m a much better listener than a talker. Would you like to spend some more time together, before we tell somepony that I need to somehow get back to Cloudsdale?”
“Oh, would you mind? I could really use a friend right now. Just for a little while. We don’t want to worry anypony excessively of course.”
“Um, no, I don’t mind.”
“Splendid!” Rarity carefully gathered the dishes and packed them away in the basket, together with the blanket. “I had planned to spend the day at the park, but I suppose we can take the long way back to town and find you somepony there.”
The gregarious unicorn kept up a steady stream of small talk as the two of them made their way towards town. Rarity decided she rather liked the idea of playing tour guide for her new friend. To that end she lead them towards a glade she rather thought the pegasus would enjoy. When they arrived at last she gestured dramatically. “I thought you might like this. I come here sometimes with Sweetie Belle. It’s very quiet and peaceful here.”
The change in the pegasus was startling. She took wing and flew into the clearing, and began animated conversation with the wildlife. She wasn’t joking. They understand her... Fluttershy looked up in alarm and turned to Rarity with a look of mild rebuke.
“Um...Rarity, they say you make your sister cry sometimes. You should be nicer.”
Rarity stared in slack-jawed amazement. Wonderful, I take her here because she enjoys talking to animals and they rat on me. “I-I’ll try, darling.”
“Well, um, okay. Try very hard, please. And maybe...”
Rarity waited for some time before prompting her. “Yes?”
“...you should apologize for being mean. It might help her feel better. Being sick is no fun.”
Rarity considered for a moment, and nodded. “You’re right, sometimes I just get a little angry with her, but I do love her. And if hearing an apology would help her get well quicker, then by Celestia I’ll do it gladly.”
Neither spoke for a moment, embarrassed by what had been said. Rarity finally cleared her throat nervously. “Here, let’s continue on, shall we?”
“Um, okay.”
Rarity grumbled silently while Posey tried her best to keep a straight face. The fashionista frowned at the older mare, then finally gave in and smiled, albeit grimly. “Yes, yes. That backfired on me. At least she enjoyed the locale. I was in no small way surprised to find that was the spot she later chose for her cottage. There was plenty of room for her friends to roam there. I stopped going myself, I couldn’t help but think the little pests were laughing at me.”
Rarity had expected she could find several pegasi who could get word to whomever would need to come claim her new friend, so they were now headed to the center of Ponyville. They passed by a rundown building with interesting design on the way to town hall. She clucked her tongue in distaste as they passed. The shop had belonged to a failed business. The owners had sold outfits from Canterlot at dreadful prices. They looked wonderful, of course, but nopony actually bought them. The owners had long since gone back to Canterlot, declaring Ponyville a lost cause for fashion.
She looked to her side to comment on the building only to find her companion lagging. “Fluttershy?”
“I-I’m fine,” came the panted reply.
Rarity hurried back to her friend, who had apparently been doggedly following despite being exhausted. “Darling! You should have told me you were getting tired! Or at the very least you could have taken wing instead of walking.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I wanted to walk with you, but I don’t normally walk this much. I just thought it would be rude to fly over you.”
“Well, that’s very sweet of you, but I think we should take a brief respite.” Casting her eyes around, she spotted an ice cream vendor with a cart parked nearby. “Come with me, we can stop by that cart and cool off.”
Rarity strode up to the cart ordered a single scoop of chocolate with chocolate chips. She looked up at the lanky filly next to her, or rather, where she would have been. She had to look around as Fluttershy seemed to have disappeared. Finally, she thought to look behind her and found her new friend cowering and shaking slightly. “Fluttershy? Are you all right?”
The pegasus had made herself as small as possible on the ground behind Rarity. She shook her head.
Rarity stared, unable to discern what could be so terrifying about their vendor, then she recalled Fluttershy’s trouble talking to the other ponies in town as related earlier. “Oh, right, new pony. Well...do you like chocolate with chocolate chips?”
Fluttershy looked up from her hooves and nodded very quickly before hiding behind them again.
“Another scoop, please,” Rarity said to the vendor.
They found a nice shady spot under a tree and began to eat. Fluttershy held her cone with both hooves, licking daintily. Unfortunately, the scoop was melting too quickly and after a slightly more aggressive lick, it fell off the cone.
The scoop of ice cream toppled end over end, eventually stopping in mid-air, caught by magic. Rarity was straining to keep it lifted, but try as she might it finally fell to the ground with a splat. “Ugh, stupid magic. What good is it being a unicorn if it won’t do what you need it to?”
Fluttershy stared at the ground in silence. “Um...that’s okay. Thank you for trying to save it.”
Rarity pouted. She had really hoped to impress her new friend, but as usual her horn had its own plans. Stupid horn, first you drag me to a rock, now you embarrass me. She glared down at the fallen scoop as if this were all its fault as well, then her expression brightened. “Here, you can help me finish mine!” She held the cone up between the two of them, and motioned for her friend to lick the other side.
Fluttershy was hesitant at first, but soon enough the two of them were wearing away at the cone. The proximity to the other pony was a bit awkward, so both kept their eyes firmly closed to avoid embarrassing the other. This worked fine, until one last lick had them bumping noses. Rarity held the cone up to Fluttershy. “Please, you finish it.” She dearly hoped she wasn’t blushing, but the burning in her cheeks told her otherwise. Had she been able to face Fluttershy she would have noticed the other filly was similarly afflicted.
“I really am a fiend for chocolate.” Rarity said unapologetically. “But I felt horrid that I could not save her cone. There was a bit of an...awkward moment for me when we met in the middle.”
Posey snorted in amusement, but had no comment otherwise.
Rarity busied herself with nothing in particular while trying to regain her composure. What is wrong with you? You just bumped noses with her. She’s going to think you’re weird. Then she might not want to be friends with you anymore.
Fluttershy finished the last bit of the ice cream, taking time to calm her fluttering heart. She didn’t understand why, but the slight contact just now had affected her in some manner she hadn’t ever experienced. “Um...thank you,” she finally squeaked out.
“Yes, no problem at all, darling.” Rarity said, still not able to turn to face her friend. Fortunately, that meant that she was looking in just the right location to spot somepony flitting by that she might have missed otherwise. “Miss Hooves!” She shouted, startling Fluttershy anew.
Derpy looked around for the source of the squeaky voice addressing her, finally looking down. “Um...hello?”
“Excuse me, ma’am, could you possibly get word to the weather patrol station that I found a lost filly from Cloudsdale?” Rarity gestured behind her to the miserable ball of yellow and pink.
“Lost filly?” Derpy looked down and spied Fluttershy cowering behind Rarity once again. She scratched her head and reached into her saddlebag where she was keeping her lunch, bringing out a poster that had been put out to the weather service that morning. “Oh! They’ve been looking for you since yesterday! Stay here! I’ll get somepony!”
Rarity breathed a sigh of relief, watching Miss Hooves fly towards the weather station. “There, help is on the way. You can relax now.”
Fluttershy nodded sadly.
“Darling, this is the moment you are supposed to be happy. You’ll be with your friends and family again soon!” Rarity smiled, hoping that it would be returned.
“I know...”
“Then why aren’t you happy?”
Fluttershy didn’t answer at first, seemingly afraid to give voice to her reasons. “I-I’m going to miss you!” She blurted out finally.
“Well, I shall miss you as well, but you can’t just stay here.” Rarity was touched, she had felt the same, but had not realized her feelings were shared. Truth be told, this filly was a closer friend to her in the short time they’d spent together than any of the other children she went to school with. “Everypony you know will surely want to see you again!”
Fluttershy sniffled. “I know... I just hate the idea that I might never see you again.”
Rarity lay down beside Fluttershy, gently embracing her with a foreleg. “Well, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean we can’t ever talk again. I could write you.”
Fluttershy looked up suddenly. “You’d do that?”
Rarity smiled, happy to see the gloom lifted from her friend. “Every week, if you like.”
“So you see, I didn’t do anything particularly special. I didn’t even have the foresight to ask for her address! Foolish filly that I was, I thought I could just address it to her in Cloudsdale.” She snorted in frustration, remembering her parent’s disbelief and subsequent refusal to aid her, and the letters apparently sent to some office to lie unopened for all time. “Still, she came back to me one day, and I have loved her ever since.” She smiled, remembering all the various spa dates, and more recent events. Then her eyes widened and she quickly corrected herself. “That is to say, I loved her company and friendship!”
If Posey noticed the slip, she said nothing. “I think you underestimate the impact. That wasn’t the first time we thought we had lost her. Shy didn’t stay in a bunk all week, she came home on the weekends. She was supposed to be home that night. Silver had the entire staff of the camp in a search party with him, and I commandeered a local guard unit.”
Rarity’s eyes bulged and she coughed up her juice. “Ma’am, I never meant to cause more worry to you or your husband. Celestia, what a selfish foal I was to not rush to the nearest pegasus I knew—”
“At ease!” Rarity stopped, staring at Posey, who was staring back at her with a look of intensity that the unicorn could not look away from. After a moment, Posey relaxed, and Rarity slumped back in her seat. “You calmed her down,” the older mare said softly, “you found her help. You were more than welcome to spend some time with a new friend.”
Rarity nodded very slowly, feeling drained. “Thank you for being understanding, ma’am.” They were both silent for a moment. “Wait, what did you mean, ‘not the first time’?”
Posey did not answer at first, leaving Rarity concerned that she has asked too much. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to pry—”
“No, you’re fine. I did offer to tell you, after all.” She took a sip from her drink, and took a deep breath. “My daughter got very sick when she was a young foal. She caught the feather flu from another little foal and well...it hit her hard. I’d never had it myself, and immunities are passed from mother to daughter. I really wish I had, her life might have been so different...” She sighed heavily.
“She was a happy and healthy foal, she used to talk up a storm, and we were both so proud of her. I was sure she was going to end up a weather pegasus like her dad. I even dreamed she might want to join me in the guard. Then when she got sick it was like she burned up all that excess energy all at once.”
“Silver took it the hardest. Nothing the doctors or I said would convince him she was okay. He quit his job with the weather service, devoting his world to Shy. For a time, that was fine. Not what I would have wanted, but she was happy. I was starting to get a little worried about her, to be honest. But eventually she wanted to spread her wings, which thrilled me. The problem was, he wouldn’t let her out of the nest.”
Rarity nodded thoughtfully. “She told me some of this. She asked you if she could go to flight camp, and you interceded for her.”
Posey considered what Rarity had said, and nodded. “Interceded. I like that. I would have said I went to my husband and demanded he stop coddling her, but what you said makes it sound more...”
“Civilized, is the word you want, I believe.” Rarity said with a chuckle.
Posey nodded. “I tried to keep my hooves off when it came to Silver raising her. I just haven’t been a very good mother figure. The guard keeps me busy, I can’t help that. But I tried to stay involved where I could. I’d come home whenever I had leave, and Silver would bring Shy to see me at least once a month. Silver and I had more than one argument about how he was raising her, but I always let him make the final call, until flight camp.” Posey fell silent at that, looking out the window to the clouds beyond..
“Of course, because I pushed for it, he was furious with me when she actually had something happen. He wanted to pull her from camp and keep her at home again. But something amazing happened. My little Shy-shy stood up to her father and told him that she was okay, and wanted to go back! It was like she found a backbone down there with her cutie mark! I wonder if a little friend of hers might have inspired that.” She looked at Rarity meaningfully.
Rarity waved a hoof in dismissal. “Thank you, but I don’t think I could cause that sort of change in her.” At least, not back then. Surely not, we were too young. Still, there was something.
Posey stopped, looking at the clock on the wall. “We’ve been at this a while, we really should go check on them.” She got up to lead them back.
“Please!” Rarity flushed in embarrassment; that had come out much louder than she intended. She lowered her voice, smoothing her mane as she did so. “I’m sorry, it’s just that they really needed to work it out between the two of them. You did say you liked seeing your daughter fend for herself, did you not?”
Posey raised her eyebrows at the outburst, eventually nodding slowly. “Fine. We’ll continue if you think they need more time.” She sat back down. “Well then, flight camp... ”
Posey listened patiently while Silver ranted and raved about the staff’s inattentiveness. “—If that Rainbow Dash friend of hers hadn’t happened along, who knows how bad it could have gotten? I’m pulling her out for good this time. She’s not getting hurt again.”
“It’s a black eye, Silver. She’ll survive.”
“Sure she will, and those colts will survive too, I’ll make sure of it. Just let me explain to them very firmly how I feel about my daughter being bullied. I’ll make sure they—”
Posey laid a hoof on his shoulder. “You can’t do that.”
“Oh no? It would be easy!”
Posey shook her head. “You know what I mean.”
They stared at each other for a moment, Silver finally looking away. “Fine!”
Posey put a hoof up to his cheek. “Put her in a self defense class.”
Her husband looked at her in disbelief. “No! I’m not going to have her getting hurt there either. She’ll be safest with me at home.”
Posey sighed. That had been her last attempt to reason with him. “I’m taking her with me when I go. She’ll stay with me. I’ll show her how to take care of bullies.”
Silver snorted in frustration. “That’s not going to work either—”
Posey stopped him with a gentle shake of her head. “This is not a discussion. I need to spend some time with her anyway. It's been too long between visits, Silver. You’re both coming with me, and I’m going to put her through basic hoof to hoof training. Pack your things.”
“She could get hurt in training even easier than in school or self defense classes!”
“And if she does, I will be there to discipline the idiot who dared hurt my daughter. I’m going to train her myself, Silver. I’ll have her in shape in no time.”
Silver set his jaw firmly, his gaze unwavering from hers. “You’re not throwing our daughter in a class with those idiots you train—”
Posey’s gaze turned cold at that. “Those are my idiots. You don’t get to call them that.” Her look softened as he turned away. “Silver, I know you want to keep her safe. I do, too. We’ve tried your way until now, and all she’s learned is to hide behind you, or somepony else. I can teach her how to be the one that others trust to shield them. I need you to trust me to do that.”
“Don’t make this about whether I trust you! It’s the world I don’t trust, and those—” He flinched at her warning look, “—recruits of yours are part of that world. I won’t have her hurt again!”
“It’s going to happen, Silver. She’s going to get hurt in life.”
Silver grunted in frustration. "So what if one of them breaks her leg? She could end up swaybacked for life!"
"Silver..." Posey sighed. "Do you really think I would let that happen?"
"You can't stop it if it does!"
"And neither can you." She replied coolly.
"But I...and..."
"Silver, I know you want to keep her safe. But keeping her cooped up inside the house isn't going to help. What is she supposed to do when we're gone, hmm?"
Silver ground his teeth but didn't reply.
"You're both coming with me to Canterlot. And I'm enrolling her in the royal guard training program."
"Posey, I—"
She silenced him with a hoof. "That's final, Silver, she needs to toughen up."
Silver sagged. "And what if she doesn't like it?"
"Silver, we’re her parents. If she doesn’t like it, that'll be too bad. Foals don’t get to decide what’s good for them."
“Neither do fathers, apparently...”
Posey finally gave him a small smile. "She's going to be fine, dear. She always enjoyed doing runs with me when she was younger, remember? Besides, I’d like to have you both with me for a while. A mare gets...lonely, Silver." She smiled in the same way she had when she had informed him they were going on a date the first time. “Wouldn’t it be nice to share a bed for more than a night or two for once?”
Silver blushed, and nodded reluctantly. “Fine, we’ll try it your way.” With the decision made, he let himself relax. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be so stubborn.”
Posey leaned in and kissed him. “I know, you really get wound up about ponies you love. That’s why I married you. Great big softy.”
“Fluttershy? You put her through guard training?” This revelation was even harder to reconcile. Hmmm, she might look quite dashing in uniform. Oh, who am I kidding, she looks good in anything. “I’m guessing she did not fare well.”
“Actually, she advanced faster than anypony else I trained. But then, I pushed her harder than I would have pushed any normal recruit. She would have done well,” Posey said as if announcing that water was in fact wet.
“B-but she’s so...”
“Weak? Timid? Helpless?”
“I was going to say dainty, but now that you mention it...”
Posey sighed. “She's all of those things. But she can be strong when she wants to be. At first, having her join the guard was just about teaching her her how to defend herself. But at the rate she was progressing? You'd think she was born to fight."
Posey reached back and set a picture frame on the table, depicting Fluttershy smiling at the camera while the big burly stallions were all eyeing her warily. "She quit after this was taken. I pitted her against six trained guards. Two of them had fractured ribs, one needed his leg splinted, the other three lost a few teeth. She didn’t even know she’d hurt them. When she found out, she was devastated. Wouldn’t even hear of going back.” She looked at the picture and sighed wistfully. “Wasted potential...”
Rarity looked at the picture doubtfully. That was indeed her love, but what she was hearing seemed so incompatible with the mare she knew as to be unbelievable. “I don’t understand... I have seen her in so many situations where things turned physical, and she simply cowers...”
Posey snorted. “You’re surprised she’s unwilling to raise a hoof to defend herself? Filly, how well do you know my daughter?” The older mare pointed to the picture. “She was okay with the idea of blocking attacks, but the moment she found out she could hurt others... No, I’m not surprised to hear that at all. She would rather get hurt herself than hurt somepony else.”
The older mare reached for her drink again. “I could have trained it out of her, given time. But that was another failing of mine, I suppose. I didn’t want her to stop being her. If I had taught her not to care that she was hurting somepony...I think I would have taken something pure and good from the world.”
Rarity considered that, and nodded in understanding. “I honestly can’t imagine my Fluttershy willingly hurting somepony. But she is capable of cruelty, much as it distresses her after the fact. I would like to thank you for not pressuring her like that.”
“Don’t thank me for coddling her. She’s had her hoof held far too much.” Posey shook her head ruefully.
“Well, there was no dealing with Silver after that, so I packed them up and sent them back to Cloudsdale for Shy to enroll in flight school. She did good, but her grades started slipping again after her friend dropped out. Next thing I know she up and quits herself and moves to Ponyville of all places.” She sighed heavily.
“Still wish she’d given the guard another shot, I could have found her a position in espionage; communication with animals is a rare talent. But she made the call, and I can’t complain.” There was more than a hint of pride in her voice. “You probably know more than me what happened after that.”
Rarity marveled at all she had heard. It certainly shed some light on various mysteries about her love. “Thank you, ma’am. I certainly hope none of that was too painful to recall.”
Posey waved a hoof dismissively. “No, it’s fine. I do have another question for you though, since we’re both so frank with each other now. When did you start dating her?”
“Oh just a few days ago—” Rarity clamped her mouth shut. “I-I mean I have no idea why you would think—”
Posey laughed lightly. “Filly, give it up. Every time you talk about her you slip just a little.”
Rarity shrank back at first, then sat up straighter and looked the other mare straight in the eye. “Fine, you had me at a disadvantage, but no longer. Yes, I am in love with your daughter, and she with me. I won’t apologize for it, not to you, or anypony.”
Posey stomped her rear hooves in a sort of half applause. “Good! Don’t lose that fire. You should be passionate about somepony you love.”
Rarity stared at her. She had been prepared for a fight, verbal or even physical. This she was totally unprepared for. “Y-you don’t hate me?”
The older mare bristled a bit, her wings flaring slightly in agitation. “My daughter is a good judge of character. If she picked you, she had a reason. I might have wished she had followed other paths in life, but she has a good head on her shoulders. Honestly, I saw this coming a while back, glad to see she finally acted on her feelings.”
There was really only one response to this. Rarity dutifully made it. “What?”
“I did say she talks about you a lot. I meant it.”
“But, you asked about her coltfriend... ”
“Well, you seemed dead set on not calling yourself her marefriend. That was a little cowardly of you. I wanted to watch you squirm a little.” Her eyes shifted to look more directly at Rarity, and her tone darkened. “That being said, if I catch wind that you are ashamed to be dating my daughter, I will whip your flank on general principle, assuming Shy doesn’t beat me to it.”
Rarity glared back, unflinching. “Never! I am so very proud she would have me!”
Posey smiled brightly, showing her teeth. It seemed as threatening as it was friendly. “Glad to hear it. You know, I had a feeling the filly who wrote all those letters would turn out to be an interesting mare.”
Rarity grimaced at that. “I just wish a single one had made it to her. I hate the idea that she thought I had forgotten her.”
“I want to show you something.” Posey got up, and rummaged a bit through her filing cabinet. She pulled out a stack of letters, all of which had been opened. She laid them down on the table carefully . “You’d be surprised what can get delivered. The Equestrian Mail Service takes its job very seriously.”
Rarity stared at the stack of letters, postmarked a good decade back. Newer postmarks marked occasions the stack had been forwarded, first to Cloudsdale, then to Canterlot. “Those are my—”
“They arrived some time ago. I kept meaning to bring them along with me when I went to visit her, but I misplaced them myself for a time. I’ll have to apologize to her, and I suppose to you, for reading them. I was curious what that little filly had written.” She looked at Rarity unflinchingly. She may have said she owed Rarity an apology, but none was being offered now. If anything, the mare seemed a bit smug. “I had you at more of a disadvantage than you thought.”
Rarity stared at the letters, then at Posey, completely at a loss for words. She finally regained enough composure to speak. “Ma’am, could I beg your indulgence for a brief moment?”
Posey looked at her curiously, then nodded. “Permission granted.”
Rarity lunged forward and hugged her. “Thank you! I-I am so glad something has gone right today. I’m sorry I was evasive, but after your husband’s reaction—”
Posey had stiffened, but had not pulled away, much as the embrace seemed to make her uncomfortable. Rarity carefully pulled herself away afterwards, nodding in thanks to Posey. “I needed that badly , thank you.”
The older mare grumbled to herself good naturedly, but did not seem overly bothered by the invasion of her comfort zone. “Warn me next time. It’s a bad idea to make sudden moves at a pony’s midsection. Good way to get tossed across a room.” She smiled again, but this one seemed less threatening than before. “Okay, that out of the way, I need a quick debriefing. What did Silver do that had you spooked?”
Rarity collected herself for a moment, then began. “It started amicably enough, he was so happy to see Fluttershy, and she was so adorable as he spun her around...”
Posey pursed her lips thoughtfully as she stared at the wall, considering. “Silver...that temper of yours...” She turned back to Rarity. “He’s not a bad stallion, you know. Not really. It’s not even you he dislikes. It’s what you represent.”
“What do you mean exactly?” Rarity’s heart was still racing a bit recalling how upset she had been. “He seemed absolutely infuriated by my mere presence.”
The older pegasus nodded slowly. “Oh, he was angry, but he doesn’t hate you as a pony. He hates you as a mate for Shy. He’s been protecting her from the world for a long time now, he’s never been ready to stop. Shy having a mate means you have to take on his role now. She’s been the most important thing in his life for a long time now. He won’t give that responsibility up willingly.”
“So then, the solution is to hit him until he recognizes I am strong enough to protect her? I rather like that idea.” Rarity grinned in a predatory fashion.
“Maybe something a little less bloody. Although I can’t say I blame you for saying that.” Posey said with a chuckle. “Let’s head back to the house. I have an idea. We can discuss it on the way.”