//------------------------------// // Day 2: Rarity/Shining Armor (romance/drama) // Story: March-makers // by ObabScribbler //------------------------------// Title: Don't Say a Word Pairing: Shining Armour/Rarity “Package for youuuu!” Derpy trilled. “Miss Hooves.” Rarity stepped daintily off her doorstep. “While I, ah, appreciate the early morning wakeup call on top of the sterling service you and the Equestrian Royal Mail provide.” She lit her horn. “Would it be possible not to have it come at the expense of my mail box for once?” Derpy giggled. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I swear, I don’t even know how this happens.” Rarity sighed and gently pushed the pegasus backwards to free her head from the misshapen mailbox. “It’s a mystery for the ages, darling.” Derpy’s head came out with a loud pop. “Now, you say you have a package for me? “Uh-huh!” Derpy held it aloft. “All the way from the Crystal Empire!” Rarity’s heart nearly stopped. “Keep your voice down!” She cleared her throat, the better to rid herself of that panicked hiss, and continued. “It’s, ah, very early in the day, darling. My neighbours may still be abed.” “Oh. Whoops. Sorry.” Derpy held out the brown-paper-wrapped box. “It’s a bit rattly. I hope I didn’t break anything.” Her ears drooped. “You won’t tell my supervisor if I did … will you? I can totally fly to the Crystal Empire and replace whatever it is. I just really, really need this job –” “No, thank you, that won’t be necessary.” Rarity accepted the box and trotted back inside with all speed. “Well, I won’t keep you. Have a nice day.” “Huh? Oh! Yeah! Totally! Have a nice-” The end of Derpy’s sentence was lost behind the slam of the front door. Rarity shot the bolt home, just in case. Thank heavens Sweetie Belle wasn’t visiting this weekend. Rarity loved her sister but there was no more curious foal in all Equestria. She would ask questions upon questions upon questions, and this was something Rarity could not face questions over. Mainly because she didn’t want to think about the answers. With quick efficiency she removed the brown paper and the gift-wrap beneath. The little box was velveteen. It creaked lightly as she opened it. Inside, a bracelet of exquisitely cut gems glittered in the early morning light. Breath catching in her throat, she read the small piece of paper folded up and twined beneath it on its small black cushion. ‘Still thinking about you. Looking forward to the next time you visit. Will be the Crystal Catwalk Week next month. Hope you’re competing. Those dressing rooms are more soundproofed than guestrooms in the palace.’ She held the bit of paper to her chest, where it wrinkled in the tightness of her grip. Her whole body underwent a powerful ache that had her biting her lip. It was wrong. She knew it was wrong. He was a married stallion, and a new father to boot. This whole thing should have ended months ago when Cadence first told him about the foal. No, it should have ended after their first unexpected, hurried encounter in her workroom the night before his wedding, when they could have put it all down to Chrysalis messing with his mind and jumbling up his thoughts so he didn’t know what he was doing. But it hadn’t. And it wouldn’t. She had submitted her entry form for Crystal Catwalk Week the moment it was announced. “Oh dear,” she murmured, trying her best to dispel memories of slabbed muscles pressed against her back and hot breath in her ear, whispering her name with something between a happy sigh and a heart-rending sob. The note levitated into the air. It incinerated and the ash dropped neatly into the trashcan hovering beneath. She replaced it in the corner and snapped the jewelery box shut. Tucking it into her dressing gown pocket, she went to get ready for the day like everything was perfectly normal and she didn’t have the power to bring down a royal family kept in a line of velveteen boxes in her bedside drawer.