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Chapter 4

“Why? Why? Why did I wait so long?! How could I have let her slip through my hooves?! How?! I WAS SUCH A FOAL!”

Fluttershy held a box of tissue out for Rarity as her unicorn friend lay there on her couch sobbing her eyes out. She pulled one out and passed it to Rarity by hoof when the dressmaker failed to levitate it out herself. Rarity took it and blew her nose into it loudly. If the past few hours of barely coherent wailing hadn’t driven home the point that this was serious that would have. Rarity would normally never risk dirtying her hooves when she could use her horn. Fluttershy patted Rarity’s mane with her other forehoof.

“There there. It’ll be alright.”

“But it won’t! Don’t you see Fluttershy?! It’s over! You know Twilight. She’s so inexperienced in matters of the heart, so impressionable! Rainbow Dash will sweep her off her hooves and she’ll never give me a second glance!”

“Well…maybe it won’t work out?” Fluttershy said hesitantly.

Rarity’s sobs seemed to decrease for a moment. “Do you think it won’t?”

“Well…sure! I’ve known Rainbow Dash for a long time. She, uhm…”

“Is crude and insensitive?” Rarity said hopefully. “Has a wandering eye? Loves the thrill of the chase more than catching her quarry?”

Fluttershy’s ears flattened. “Well, no.” She looked away and took a deep breath. “Actually she’s always been a really devoted special somepony. I’ve never seen her so much as glance at another pony when she’s in a relationship. She’s always doted on her marefriends and takes it really hard when things don’t work out. She has a hard time with casual dating because she always takes relationships very seriously. That’s why she doesn’t do it very often. Uhm, sorry.”

If tears were fish Fluttershy’s animal friends would have been eating a whole lot of tuna.

“Well,” Fluttershy said hastily, “Maybe you could try talking to Twilight.”

“It’s too late!” Rarity cried. “I would look jealous, and she was so happy. I could never forgive myself for denying her the chance to be happy. What kind of friend would do that? She would resent me. She would hate me! I couldn’t live with that! So I’ll wait. Yes, that’s the only solution. Wait and see how things turn out with Rainbow Dash.”

Fluttershy tried to say something, but Rarity continued. “But what if they work out well? What if they become an item? Oh Fluttershy, what if they decide to get married? What if they ask me to make their dresses? I can see it now. Me, forced to make my rival look her best on the day she weds the mare that I love! I would probably be one of their bridesmares, and I would stand there as they walked down the aisle, hiding my true feelings. I would construct a wall around my true feelings, presenting a façade for all the world for fear of revealing the envy that gnawed at my very soul! I would lose all inspiration! My business would shrivel up and die! I would be forced to rely on the charity of friends, until finally I exhausted your patience and found myself on the streets. I would have to turn to the most vulgar means to keep body and soul together, demeaning myself with strangers as they eagerly filled the empty holes Twilight left in me, metaphorical and literal. I would become the lowest sort of pony, ugly and dirty with the grime of filthy back alleys. I would—”

“Quiet!”

Rarity blinked and stopped in mid-tirade as Fluttershy’s version of a shout snapped her back to her senses. Fluttershy was staring at her with an unusually intense expression. Rarity found herself frozen as the pegasus continued in a tone that brooked no argument.

“I cannot stand to watch you torture yourself like this! The Rarity I know is a confident and intelligent pony who knows better than to let one setback drive her into a breakdown! You’ve made a mistake and you know there’s only one thing to do about it!”

Suddenly Fluttershy’s assertive posture sagged into her usual meek pose. She broke eye contact and added in a whisper, “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

Rarity felt her tears beginning to dry as a new sense of purpose filled her, almost as if she were borrowing Fluttershy’s confidence from a moment before. “You’re right!” she declared, rising to a sitting position. “I’ve bucked up, and there’s only one thing to do about it.”

Fluttershy smiled as she nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s right. You have to just accept—“

“I have to get back in there!” Rarity continued, ignoring her friend. “I’m going to go out and win the mare of my dreams from Rainbow Dash no matter what it takes!” So saying she trotted to the door of the cottage and flung it open. “With Celestia as my witness, I will get Twilight to love me back or perish in the try!”

And with that, she was gone. Fluttershy raised a timid hoof and called out weakly, “Wait, I meant that you need to accept that you missed your chance and move on!” but Rarity was gone.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy whispered. “This isn’t going to end well.”

“The rocket, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said with a sneer as she held her revolver to Twilight’s head.

Rarity forced her face into an expressionless mask. Fighting was clearly out. Fleeing would prove equally fruitless. She slowly released her grip on the ignition switch to the rocket pack even as her mind raced for a third option, some way to foil the villainous pegasus and her collaborators. Her heart sank as more gangsters poured in. There was no way she could get past so many armed ponies.

“Come on sugarcube, hand it over so we can all go home.”

Rarity’s eyes flicked to the blonde earth pony leading the reinforcements. An idea struck her. Maybe she didn’t need to get past them.

“What’s it like working for a griffon, Applejack?” she spat. “Did they pay you in bits or talonmarks?”

Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash, annoyed. “What’s she talking about?”

“I heard it directly from the Guard, Applejack,” Rarity said in a cultured, scathing voice. “Griffon spy ring, Diamond Dog shock troopers, the works!”

Rainbow Dash let out a devilish laugh. “Filly’s been playing where the air’s too thin. Ignore her.”

“Ask her about the secret room,” Twilight gasped suddenly. “Ask her about the cawing on the radio.”

Suddenly the tension was so thick Rarity could have cut it with a knife. Applejack adjusted her grip on the bulky Tommy gun and turned her full attention to the prismatic pegasus.

“Talk fast, Rainbow.”

A trapped look flashed across Rainbow Dash’s face. It vanished just as quickly an instant later. “Oh come on AJ,” she said ingratiatingly, “I’m paying you well. Does it really matter who I work for?”

“It matters ta me,” Applejack said firmly. “Ah may not make an honest bit, but I’m a hundred percent Equestrian, and I don’t work for no two-bit griffons.” She aimed the gun squarely at the pegasus. “Let her go.”

Rainbow Dash froze as more gun barrels swung her way. Then she laughed mockingly. “Blitztalons!” she shouted. “Angreifen!”

Several things happened at once. Leonine roars filled the sky as uniformed griffons came swooping down, guns blazing. Rainbow Dash’s minotaur partner swung his hand cannon in Rarity’s direction and squeezed the trigger just as Rarity ignited the rocket on her back and sent herself flying away sideways. She came to a tumbling halt some dozens of yards away. She scrambled back to her hooves just in time to see Rainbow Dash taking off with a struggling Twilight still in her clutches. Rarity thumbed the ignition again, this time angling the rocket to take her up and after the fleeing traitor.

The rocket-propelled unicorn roared through the sky faster than any winged flier could hope to match. Some of the griffons broke off their strafing runs and attempted to block her ascent, but with deft maneuvering and a few quick jabs she easily evaded them. Up ahead she could see the profile of a huge airship looming in over the field. With a most unladylike snarl Rarity increased her velocity. She expected Rainbow Dash to make for one of the doors or windows lining the airships cabin, but instead the pegasus flew higher still to land atop the massive balloon that held the vessel aloft.

Rarity kept up the chase, slowing a bit as the spymaster vanished behind the massive airship. She landed atop the blimp and scanned the horizon for the pegasus. Her eyes widened as she saw an apparently unconscious Twilight sliding down towards the side of the airship. She leapt forward, not daring to ignite the rocket so close to the hydrogen-filled balloon and just barely managed to snag Twilight’s hooves before she went tumbling. She heaved with all her strength and pulled her love back from the abyss, then fell back breathing hard, the other unicorn’s head cradled in her forehooves. Twilight’s eyes fluttered open.

“You…you caught me,” she whispered, seeming dazed and confused.

“Always darling,” Rarity replied. “I’ll always catch you.”

Twilight gave a weak smile. Her eyes widened. “Look out!”

Suddenly a pair of hooves slammed into Rarity from the side, sending her flying. She felt a horrible rush of disorientation as the sky began to spin about her. Her forehooves closed on a rope and she found herself dangling in midair, a sudden wind pushing her out several feet away from the edge of the balloon out to the limit of the rope’s extension. She looked back to see Rainbow Dash leering down at her, the rocket clutched to her chest.

“Rarity!” Twilight cried as Rainbow Dash let out a cackle.

“So predictable! Such sentimentality is why the Griffon Empire will soon rule the world!”

She once again grabbed Twilight, pulling her roughly into the air. “You want this mare so much? Here, take her!” she shouted as she hurled the purple unicorn at her dangling nemesis.

That was all Rarity needed. As Rainbow Dash lessened her grip on the rocket Rarity ignited her horn and jerked the rocket upwards. The athletic pegasus quickly seized hold of it again, looking up as she did. “Is that the best you can do?”

“Hardly!” Rarity shot back defiantly as she telekinetically fired the rocket’s ignition. Flames shot out from the rocket’s exhaust port and into Rainbow Dash’s face, setting the pegasus’s head ablaze. The prismatic pony shrieked in agony as her flesh was seared away and her mane ignited.

Without a second’s hesitation Rarity released her grip on the rope and held her forehooves out wide to catch Twilight. The two unicorns went flying away from the blimp just as the volatile gases within exploded into a firestorm. Griffons screamed in terror just as the burning behemoth plunged into their midst, clearing the skies of their filth.

The ground rushed up to meet the two unicorns. Their eyes met, and Rarity seized her chance, kissing the purple mare with a passion she hadn’t known she was capable of. Twilight’s eyes widened, then closed as she returned the kiss. When they opened again they were sparkling with white light. A blaze of heart-shaped magenta flames erupted into being around them, burning with a passion that outshone the exploding blimp and drowned out the screams of dying griffons nearby. Suddenly they were floating, their descent slowed to the pace of a falling autumn leaf. They drew apart.

“You caught me,” Twilight whispered again, not seeming to believe what had just happened.

“I caught you,” Rarity agreed as she closed in for another kiss. “And I shall never let go of you again.

Alone in her idea room, Rarity scribbled feverishly, papers levitating about her like circling birds. “Yes Twilight, she murmured as she put the finishing touches on her plan, “Soon, soon we shall be together at last!”

Author's Note:

I finally figured out how to upload things with my formatting intact. By way of celebration I've been going back and editing the previous chapters a bit.

Thanks to Sam Cole for editing and proofreading.

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Tick-Tock

Tick-Tock #1 · Sep 24th, 2013 · · ·

Okay is this fantasy from the movie Rocketeer isn't it? If it is then I got to say I'm impressed that anyone even remembers the movie much less heard of it. Great chapter update soon.

kenny26

kenny26 #2 · Sep 24th, 2013 · · ·

Well, that escalated quickly...

Can't wait to see more drama between Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow Dash. I actually think the bits between Rarity's writing have gotten really interesting. I'd love to see more of that.

Cirrus Sky