Rarity and Twilight walked through the halls of Canterlot Palace together. Rarity, predictably, was blissfully and perfectly at home amongst all the finery and fussiness of the palace. She’d chatted amiably about the décor and their meeting with Twilight’s brother and his royal bride for tea, but Twilight’s thoughts had been far from her surroundings.
Her dream haunted her. She still remembered that bizarre cold and the feeling of being pulled down against her will towards the darkness.
She’d not spoken to any of the girls about it that morning, and her interactions with her parents had all been quite nightmare-free. She suspected that Rarity saw through her—tea with Shining and Cadance for just her and Twilight had been her idea, after all—but she didn’t know for sure. Now, walking towards the gardens to guide Rarity through some of her favorite places, Twilight had time to think.
Shining Armor was quite happy to see her, but he’d been distracted. Reports of a practitioner of dark and forbidden arts had been circulating when he’d boarded the train to Ponyville days ago, but they’d been mere rumors. He’d returned to a city guard in a panic. Shining tried to downplay it, but his leave had been cancelled except for the bare minimum of time required to attend the wedding and the rehearsal. He really was a terrible liar, on top of it all.
Murders. Several of them. That’s what she’d been able to discover. Apparently, they’d been rather grisly too. The killer’s calling card in each case was a poorly drawn symbol all over the walls in the victim’s blood. Beyond that, there were few connections. Each killing was different, unique. Something about the way they’d been done pulled at her memory, but she didn’t know for the life of her why. Some book she’d read? Regardless, the symbol hadn’t called up any memories. A star with a strange swirling of blood like the killer brought a hoof to the center after he’d finished. Twilight had seen pictures, and shivered, imagining.
It had certainly dampened the mood a bit. Shining, Celestia bless him, had tried his best to stay positive and cheerful, but he had seemed shaken up. When he and Cadance had been called to the Princesses’ side, he’d suggested a walk in the garden. Don’t feel so bad about it, big brother. I’d rather you save ponies than spend this brief time with me, if the two are mutually exclusive.
Briefly, she wondered if this disturbing murderer and her dream were connected.
They left the stately halls behind for the relative peace of the statue gardens. The two unicorns walked among the various statues in silence. Twilight thought, Rarity will try to distract me soon, I know it. Am I so transparent? So easily read? There are worse faults, I guess.
“Excited for your big day, dear?” Rarity asked her.
Twilight laughed, resisting the urge to nod. Right on cue. “Is it that obvious? Am I bouncing?”
“A little. Oh, love is so wonderful! To be married! It will all be quite an adventure.”
Twilight spoke before thinking. “When are you and Rainbow settling down?”
She winced at the sigh Rarity let out. Oops.
“I ask myself that often. She may be loyal and faithful, but Rainbow is hard to pin down. She wants her space…” She lowered her voice and spoke in a mock-conspiratorial tone. “And between you and me, mare to mare, sometimes I wonder if I’d see her at all sometimes if it weren’t for socks and how refined my legs are in them. Only shapely legs have the power to keep that pegasus grounded.”
Twilight laughed, surprised at this sudden foray into the risqué. “Rarity!”
“It’s true! It’s quite hard, Twilight, to set yourself apart from the vast host of Ponyville. Mare and stallion alike, everypony wants Dash, but I have her! And you know why? Besides my own beauty, of course, it’s because I work quite hard to keep her coming back!
Scandalized but still laughing, Twilight found herself blushing and was suddenly glad that Rainbow Dash and Rarity were not sleeping on her or Shining’s old beds.
Rarity sighed again. “No, but I do wish, Twilight. I love Rainbow very much. She’s dear to me. She’s loyal and brave and has a good heart. She’s even willing to try new things, like go to the spa with me or accompany me on trips to Canterlot and Manehattan for fashion events. But… it’s hard for Rainbow to stay still. I want domestic bliss—quiet if at all possible. If nothing else, I’d like to be able to safely say I share a house with my significant other the majority of the time.”
“But isn’t she staying with you? She moved her cloudhouse!”
Rarity shook her head. “She’s out late, or she doesn’t come back because she’s in Wonderbolt training camp. I understand it, and while I’m lonely… I know how important this is to her. What grates are those precious times we do have together. She just won’t… commit. Rainbow is all for risk when she understands the danger. It’s the unknown danger she won’t brave without a push. I’m her first marefriend, did you know that?”
“I… I’d kind of assumed she’d had a lot. I’m sorry, I know that sounds a little rude.” Twilight looked down, missing Rarity shaking her head again.
“No. Most people are surprised. She’s dated stallions—she’s not like I am, Twilight. I’ve told you all about my days as a young mare. Rainbow... She was finding out about herself and all that. But Thunderlane was her last, and that was years ago. Romance was never her ‘thing,’ you might say. Those relationships were usually short and for fun and not very serious.”
“So… she bucks at the reins.”
“Exactly,” said Rarity with some exasperation. “Honestly, Twilight, as much as I jest about keeping her coming back, I do feel a little rejected. It’s been three years, and we’re both fairly sure. We started dating before you and Macintosh went on your first date—long before—and she just… doesn’t wish to speak of it. She trusts me, but she also thinks I’m antsy and jumpy and…”
“Rarity…” They stopped.
“I’m sorry, Twilight. Seeing your brother and his wife… just made me feel a bit melancholy. Will you forgive me?” Rarity looked down at her hooves. “I think that seeing how happy you and Macintosh are—and Shining, of course—will help bring her around. She does love me, and I love her. I just want her to be willing to make it permanent and official. Be my… princess,” she said with a laugh. “It doesn’t really work with that word. Prince and princess have different connotations.”
“How about… ‘hero’?” Twilight offered, trying to smile.
“It’ll do, I suppose. Yes, that.”
They both smiled fully then, and continued on. Twilight assumed that the storm clouds had passed.
After some time, Rarity spoke again. “Twilight, I need to ask you something.”
“Yes?” Rarity’s tone put her on the defensive.
“It’s about Fluttershy.”
Twilight sighed deeply. “Yes?” she repeated, a little defeated.
“Why? I need to hear it from you why you made her a bridesmare. You must know how she’s been these last few days.”
“I do,” she admitted. “I made a mistake, but I’m not sure there was any really good course of action.”
Rarity waited for the rest of her explanation in heavy silence.
“I… we all knew that Fluttershy liked Macintosh. You know just as well as I do that how much she liked him was always a mystery. She never discussed it at length with us and we had to pull it out of her bit by bit. Remember, by the time I talked to her about Macintosh and I dating, we all sort of assumed she was moving on.”
Rarity nodded, and her expression softened. “Yes, darling. I remember all that. Continue, please.”
Twilight knew she was starting to ramble, but she couldn’t help it. So much had built up inside her and she’d had no one to talk to. “I guess I wanted something, and I was willing to fool myself into thinking it was more attainable than it was. I grasped at that straw—that she was getting over him. When he asked me to marry him and I asked all you girls to be bridesmares in turn… I was deluding myself into thinking that she was sad but no longer truly in love. I thought this would be closure. I didn’t want her to be all alone in Ponyville without any of us. She’s my friend...” Twilight faltered, then stopped.
Rarity stopped as well and considered this before answering. “I’d say that I wasn’t sure how wise that decision was, Twilight, but I think that’s obvious by now to both of us. But you have a point. Fluttershy at home, these emotions festering with no one like Dash or I to check them…”
They stayed like that for some time, in the quiet solitude of the garden. It was Twilight who broke the silence.
“I didn’t mean for it to be like this,” she mumbled. “By the time it finally dawned on me just how much Fluttershy still cared, it was too late to do anything about it. I’d already asked her. It would be even worse to have to ask her to stay away from my wedding. Wouldn’t it?”
“I… believe so, yes. We should’ve talked about this much earlier. Forgive me, Twilight, but I was so caught up in work—so excited about making your dress. Oh, but we are a lot of fools. Fluttershy won’t give any of us straight answers, you let yourself believe a fairy tale, and I didn’t do my part in pulling you out of it.”
“I just want us to be friends again.” Twilight grimaced. “I mean, I still love Fluttershy. You’re all my best friends. I’m mostly sure that she still loves me and wants to be my friend.”
“In any other case, Twilight—in fact, even a week ago—the doubt in your voice would have appalled me. But these last few days… Forgive me, Twilight. I’m so happy for you and Macintosh. You complement each other so well, and it’s been a joy to see you open up and fall in love! But sometimes I wish you’d never met him.”
Twilight looked down at the floor. “I… I won’t be sorry for loving him.”
“I know. I don’t ask you to. I’m not sure what I really want, dear. All of this simply has me on edge, and I’ve been paranoid that this was some sort of ploy. Forgive me once more, Twilight, for thinking you were doing this as some sort of ‘claim’ on him to run her off.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight mumbled. “I didn’t expect to be feeling this way the day before my wedding, you know.”
Rarity scooted closer and hugged her tightly. “I know you didn’t. You are an excellent mare, Twilight. Your wedding will be beautiful. Your life with Macintosh will be wonderful. This too, shall pass. Fluttershy still loves you. I know she does. She has to! She’s just in mourning right now.”
“So you think this won’t end in us being five?” Twilight asked quietly.
“I am positive.” The statement came out hard, as if she were driving home the final lines of a long declamation.