Chapter 8: Rarity's Tournabout
Chapter 8
Rarity’s Turnabout
As the bored guard at the desk handed Rarity her multi-gemmed tiara, she tried to get the image of Apple Jack limping off with the guards out of her head. She looked over to Twilight, Octavia, and Rainbow Dash who had just joined them, presumably coming from the Skyborn embassy.
As Rarity approached them, she watched Dash go from her normal smugness to an open-mouthed gape of disbelief. Rarity sauntered up to them just in time to hear Dash explode.
“WHADDYA MEAN SHE’S IN JAIL!?” Dash screamed at Twilight as Rarity fended of Spike’s long tongue content with tickling her cheek.
“We mean she’s been escorted to a secure location, where she’ll await sentence and possibl-”
“Shut it, Jeeves.” Dash snapped at Octavia.
“This is such a mess.” Rarity lamented, but Spike recognized her disdain and proceeded to rub his scales against her cheek.
“A ‘mess’?” Octavia added in air quotes. “I’m reminded of our conversation about understatements for some reason, Senator.”
“Can’t you just be serious for once!?” Rarity snapped, fed up with her assistant’s griping.
“It’s a coping mechanism.” Octavia explained.
“Ray, tell me Twi’s jerkin’ me around. Cuz she just told me Jack’s in jail, everyone thinks we’re a joke, and Celestia shot her down in front of anyone who’s anyone?”
“That’s...yes. It’s true.” Rarity said looking at the floor.
“Then in that case, this seems less like a mess and more like a fucking nightmare.” Dash expanded.
“Yeah. That one.” Octavia said pointing to Dash.
“I suppose on the bright side, in spite of Apple Jack’s recklessness, her passion brought a little army together.” Rarity tried her hand at optimism.
“Nightmare Moon brought an army together with her passion too.” Twilight reminded Rarity, trying to think of their next move.
“But it’s our army. So it’s awesome!” Dash chimed in.
“Wonder what we should call them...” As Octavia mused, the sound of hundreds of moving chairs and shoes came from the other side of the Chantalot Senate’s door. Twilight knew that Apple Jack’s action split the senate on their loyalties: Those who were appalled at her blatant attack on the Archmage, and those who knew the truth.
“An army begets another, begets another.” Rarity quoted.
“And all of those armies are about to come out of that door and we need to be far, far away from them.” Twilight said to her group.
“Bring ‘em on.” Dash said, cracking her knuckles.
“Not now, Dash. We need someplace safe.” Twilight reminded. Rarity’s mind retreated into its desperate reaches and came back with something that made her inner eyes roll.
“Well, as much as I abhor the smell, The Masquerade is nearby. Plenty of noise, plenty of friends, and with it being Pinkie’s tavern, it seems to be the smart choice, Avatar business and all. And I did promise Sweetie Belle I’d drop in on her performance, so that sounds perfect, yes?” Rarity offered, visibly nervous.
“How wonderful that you support your sister, so suddenly and conveniently.” Octavia said as she looked over her glasses at her boss. Rarity would have felt guilty if she wasn’t fearing for her own life.
“Perfect. That’ll give us a chance to get our heads on straight while we’re at it.” Twilight said looking back over her shoulder.
Rarity listened to the readying stampede and followed Twilight down the stairs and out the door. Her friends followed close, down the steps of the palace keeping their heads down and conversations quiet. After the whisper of changelings and everything that happened in the senate, there wasn’t any telling who was listening. Or who was following them for that matter.
As they headed down the seemingly straight drop of stairs from the palace, Rarity noticed a loosely knit mob of people in the middle of the main road. Seeing that it was a perfect place to hide either a spy or a knife in the back, Rarity turned to Octavia and asked
“Do you know any long ways around to The Masquerade? The straight shot looks a tad busy.” Rarity turned Octavia's eyes in the direction they were heading
“Good call Senator.” Octavia’s eyes darted from side to side until focusing on the door of a nearby butcher. She shivered for a spell then took a big swallow and said, “Follow me...” exasperatedly. Rarity knew there was a side door in the butchery and knew it was the closest sideways. Didn’t mean she wanted to.
Rarity lead the four young women into the Chop and Shop Butchery, only for a man with a blood-soaked smock to yell “We’re closed!” over one shoulder as he threw half of a pig over his other one.
“Hey, Jim.” Octavia called.
“Whatdya want, ‘Tave?” He called to Octavia still not looking back and walking towards the kitchen. “And why’d you bring your boss?” He looked in Rarity’s direction, making her skin crawl.
“Political emergency. Can we use the back door?” Octavia said, familiarly.
“Customers only,” Jim the butcher said, throwing a gutted pig over his back.
“Please sir! It’s a matter of life and death!” Rarity said turning on her best damsel in distress voice.
“It’s a matter of my life or death if I have enough money to make my wife happy. I’m not a highway. Beat it,” said Jim, obviously not swallowing anything the senator was selling. Rarity’s side gems on her tiara started to glow, but quickly dimmed as Dash pushed her aside. Rarity opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it as she saw Dash’s conviction.
Dash marched right up to Jim, muttering, “We don’t have time for this shit,” under her breath and proceeded to grab him by the back of the neck, throw him into the back room, and channel enough energy to electrify the knob on the other side of the door. “Touch it and you’re toast, choppy,” Dash said as she stared down the now terrified butcher in the back room. Without turning back to the rest of the group, she said, “Get goin’. I’ll talk ‘em down, then meet you there.”
Rarity and Twilight slowly followed Octavia out the side door.
“How could you just let her do that?!” Rarity yelled at the other two as they made their way out the side door of the shop into a nasty smelling alley.
“I was just gonna throw him a few bits to shut him up, but that made my purse much happier. Her first round’s on me.” Octavia said dismissively.
“He’s a friend of yours, Octavia!” Rarity snapped.
“And when you’ve had a bad day, the package store owner is your friend. He’s been here for twenty years, he’s handled worse than Dash. Masquerade’s a right, a left, and another right from here.” Octavia said walking forward.
“You need to stop being so nonchalant about this Octavia!” Rarity yelled.
“And you need to follow me because we might not have jobs tomorrow!” Octavia shot back. “Think of the orphans, boss.”
Rarity turned down the alley and said, “They’ve handled themselves before. We’ll continue to give them a roof, fire, and food and they’ll be just fine. We have a realm to save.” Rarity stated.
“Care to tell me what gives you this authority?” Octavia challenged.
“Because when I was their age, children like that on the farm were my friends, Octavia.” Rarity’s blue eyes pierced Octavia’s into a rare standstill. “Let’s go.” Rarity ended the conversation and took the lead. “It’s another right, darlings. It’d be more covert to come in the side door, don’t you all agree?”
Twilight and Octavia were both standing, mouths agape until Twilight gulped and said “It’d be best to stay incognito, yes.” They took a few steps forward before Twilight spoke up again to ask, “Are you sure Dash is—”
“She’s FINE, Twilight.” Rarity shot back at her, causing Spike to leap off of Rarity’s shoulder onto Twilight’s chest, growling something incoherently.
“Spike! Language!” Twilight swatted at him as he climbed back to his perch on her right shoulder.
“Of course I’m fine. What’s your problem?” Dash said from behind them.
“WHAT IN THE GOD’S NAME WERE YOU THINKING?!” Rarity said storming up to Rainbow Dash.
“I was taking care of things. I just told Choppy what was goin’ on, who we were, and that he should talk to you if he had an issue.”
Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash as she floated past Rarity. Rarity mouth half agape, and a tad confused, turned back around to Dash and said “And when he comes storming into my office demanding justice tomorrow, bloody smock and all, I’m supposed to clap you on the back?!”
“No. Tomorrow we’re gonna be halfway to hell with AJ after breakin’ her out and you’re not gonna have to deal with him at all. Problem solved.”
Rarity turned her back to her friends and traipsed down the familiar back alleys as she had chasing orphans to bring back to her sanctuaries. This was a necessary and ugly pastime of hers that she’d never admit to anyone.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Rarity hoped that it was due to her marvelous leadership abilities, but was more inclined to believe that it was due to her jarring change in demeanor. She ignored it, though.
The group came to their destination and filed down the cobbled steps of the Masquerade into the main dining area. If there ever was a place to avoid the busy-body upper crust of Chantalot, this was it. No self-respecting debutante or political elbow-rubber would ever be caught dead in this place. The tables and chairs bore the dishevelled signs of years of rough use, further depreciated by the roughly carved signatures of those who felt the need to leave their mark. Its old stone floors were permanently stained with the residue of a million spilled drinks and other fluids best not contemplated, its rickety pillars of knotted wood pocked with the remnants of past posters glued to their surfaces. To the more sentimental patrons, this place was full of history; to people of a more judgemental perspective, this place had a lot of battle scars.
And as much as Rarity hated to admit it, this was the best place to hide from the prying eyes of the political powers. The lower class patrons, who only wished to drink the night away after a hard day’s work, paid absolutely no mind as the group of young women slipped quietly into a booth in the back. Rarity made a brave attempt to sit on the bench, but hesitated like a wary person looking over the edge of a cliff. She gingerly brought out a laced white handkerchief to protect her from having to make contact with the offending ale stained wood. When satisfied, she sat herself down and almost placed her arms on the table, but felt it best to just place them on her knees.
“Well, shall we see what is on the wine menu tonight?” she asked, perhaps forgetting her present location.
“You’re adorable, Boss.” Octavia countered before pounding her fist on the table and yelling over her shoulder, “Vinyl! Ale!!”
“The Bard College lets their students perform here?” Twilight thought out loud as she took in her surroundings.
“It’s basically conditioning.” Octavia knowingly informed, “They figure if you can charm a crowd that’s more interested in the booze, and keep a beat while they’re throwing bottles at your head, you can handle singing in front of a couple orcs with battle axes. Actually, this one time, I was in this dive and there were three orcs with battle axes. I called one fat and then h-”
Octavia’s lecture was cut off as the lights dimmed and the glare of a spotlight circled around the room. The patrons shifted in their seats and drew their attention to the center stage. A pink curtain with the pub’s emblem of a laughing mask fell over the backdrop as an excitable female voice filled the room. “Hey, everyone! I’m glad to see that we have a full crowd tonight. How’s everybody!?”
A pale muscle-bound man with a buzz-cut stood up in the crowd and shouted “YEAH!”
“YEAH!!” The disembodied voice continued, with a white gloved hand giving a thumbs up coming out of the curtain. “ANYWAY! We’ve got an awesome show for you tonight, with hoopdy loos and waddle daggles, but without further adieu, from me to you…” the pink curtains parted and confetti burst from the stage, revealing a young woman standing with arms spread wide open like she wanted to give the entire room a hug. She wore a jester costume, and a mass of pink hair like cotton candy that was barely contained under her harlequin hat. “… LET’S PARTY!!!”
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeel….” Pinkie Pie wound back as an offstage squeezebox started the opening chords of a rousing introduction.
“-ELcome to the Masquerade, your home away from home.
Where everyone’s a king or queen and ev’ry chair’s a throne.
Our acts will make you smile and laugh but if you have a frown,
come right in and take a spin, we’ll turn it upside down!”
Pinkie performed a very energetic number for a very non-energetic crowd, but it seemed like the only one who didn’t notice was her. She cartwheeled along the tables, flicked a man’s bowler hat transforming it into a lavish golden crown; she then yanked his chair out from under him. Instead of falling however, the man plopped right down onto a toilet. Rarity scoffed at Pinkie’s double entendre regarding the word “throne.” The man’s friends, however, burst into hysterical laughter at his expense. Pinkie, seeing that he job was done, pranced from table to table now as the illusions faded back into their respective forms. She continued on with her song, now with more of the crowd clapping with the off stage squeezebox and bodhran keeping the beat.
“Where you hang up all your worries, then we throw them out the door,
Oh, our ale’s always flowing and will leave you wanting more…”
The music dropped out completely as Pinkie froze on top of a table staring down at a fat slobbish man snoring face first into the stone floor. The spotlight audibly swiveled from Pinkie to highlight the sleeping man.
“…unlessyoudrinktoomuchandyoutotallyendupthrowingupandthenyoufallasleepontheflooooooooor…” She held the last note for as long as she could, with the squeezebox doing its best to keep up with Pinkie’s improv. Pinkie then hopped down off the table, bounced on the passed out drunk, proceeding to wake him up and propelling herself to the next table over.
“Oh, yes this is the Masquerade, the place you’re looking for!” She continued to sing, table to table making sure to pause and tease the people who weren’t paying attention.
“It’s my job to make you smile. It’s the thing I love the most.
There’s no way you can keep a frown with Pinkie as your host!!”
She sang as she back-flipped under the table. As the patrons looked under to see where she had gone, a Pinkie shaped hand-puppet greeted them instead. The puppet swayed back and forth in the same rhythm.
“So come on now, give a smile. It’s really not that hard…”
As Rarity watched the puppet continue to sing Pinkie’s welcome song, she felt a tapping on her shoulder; Rarity whipped around to see Pinkie Pie, in the flesh, jumping into her arms. As she was being attacked by her friend, Rarity looked over to see that the puppet was still effortlessly entertaining the crowd without missing a beat.
“You’re here, you’re here, you’re here, you’re here!!” Pinkie said jumping up and down holding Rarity tightly, proceeding to shake Rarity’s brain against her skull. “And you brought the rest of my favoritest people! We’ve got awesome stuff for tonight! Sweetie’s gonna do stuff, then Vinyl’s gonn-”
“Pinkie dear, I adore you, but you do realize you’ve left the puppet to finish the opening ceremonies.” Rarity said, fearing she’d get a concussion from Pinkie’s excitement.
“Crapsies! You’re right. Later!” And before any of them could get a word in edgewise, Pinkie disappeared in a poof along with the puppet, and with a POOF appeared back on the stage for the rousing end to her introduction.
“Thank you, thank you! And how about a big hand for the band for keeping up!!” Pinkie jumped up and down, applauding feverishly towards offstage. A hand from backstage came out to make a dismissive gesture. Pinkie ignored it completely and spun around to face the crowd, full front.
“… our first act tonight is the Tiny Twinkle, the Baby Bard, the Fresh Fingered Fledgling of Firenze! You know ‘er! You love ‘er! So give it up for
Ms. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeetie Beeeeeeeeeeeeeelle!!!!” Pinkie screamed like she was introducing a prize fighter. Pinkie made a grand gesture toward the stage with more confetti flying about. The music finished off with a tired fanfare and the crowd boisterously applauded. As Pinkie stepped aside, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight faded up on Rarity’s little sister standing center stage.
Her short hair was a swirl of pink and light purple. On her forehead she wore a very modest circlet with a rather small focus-crystal in the center, not the least bit uncommon for Magicborn her age. Her pale skin nearly appeared white under the gleam of the spotlight, and her emerald eyes darted around the crowd in a fit of nervous tension. That is, until she locked eyes with Rarity at the back of the crowd. She blinked a few times as a warm grin appeared on her face. She let out a deep breath and brought her lute to her chest to begin her performance.
Sweetie’s two-toned curls bounced as she swayed back and forth singing an old Mystika standard, “As We All Now Sing.”
Rarity swallowed as she looked around at the crowd’s dying enthusiasm. Pinkie was a professional showwoman; Sweetie Belle had no hope in following her insane introduction. The rest of The Masquerade’s patrons this evening were what Rarity knew as “the weekday crowd” and were there for the ale rather than the entertainment. “Octavia wasn’t kidding. This is quite brutal,” she thought as she feared for her terrified sister.
Then, much to Rarity’s relief, Pinkie dove into the crowd and danced with the more energetic patrons. A smile warmed Rarity and Sweetie’s faces as the crowd’s rhythm started to pick up, and Sweetie’s spirits soon followed.
This wasn’t out of the ordinary, but the fact that her Sweetie Belle was playing such a boring old standard was really helped by the fact that the owner, nay, main draw of the tavern was giving one of the most spirited performance she’d ever given. Her pointed blue shoes were like blurs as her hands seemingly teleportied from side to side.
Rarity’s eyes then darted to the room and noticed that the more Pinkie was dancing, the more she was shouting,
“SING WITH US!!” Pinkie’s hands motioning towards the stage and her feet never losing time. It was very obvious that Sweetie had started the tempo, but Pinkie Pie was setting it now. “C’MON!” Pinkie yelled as the bar was only halfway into the chorus.
Rarity smiled, saw the kind of support Pinkie was giving her sister, and felt guilt that she couldn’t do the same. Sweetie seemed to get more confident and moved to the front of the stage and started to take the next verse, but Pinkie’s excited dancing carried her into the little bard and knocked her over. Sweetie’s lute flew out of her hand and towards the audience.
Rarity shot up and her tiara glowed as the lute stopped mid-air. Her and Sweetie locked eyes and Sweetie’s face started to glow. As the lute flew back to her, Sweetie’s smile almost seemed to choke back tears. Her emerald green eyes met her sister’s and she plopped down on the floor and kept time like she’d never lost it.
One bearded man, obviously drunk, felt that Pinkie’s dancing was a personal invitation. And when she passed close to his table, he gripped the tails of her coat and yanked her into his lap. “C’mere and give me a kiss.” He leered with a fat cigar clenched in his teeth.”
“HEY!” Pinkie yelled, but just as the man had her in his possession, he found that all he had on his lap was a straw mannequin. Before he had time to figure out what was going on, the real Pinkie came up from behind him and yanked his hat over his face. The man tried to take a swing at her, but all he managed to hit was a wooden pillar, causing him to scream like a girl when his fist connected with the wood.
He proceeded to grab his fist and fall over while the rest of the bar laughed. The man picked himself up, and fixed his hat to regain vision. When he saw Pinkie was already back up on the stage and dancing along like nothing had ever happened. The man, enraged, made an attempt to rush the stage, but his trek was abruptly halted as a strong hand gripped him by the back of his collar in mid stride, causing his legs to flip out from under him and he landed flat on his back. His eyes focused in time to see a rainbow haired Skyborn hovering over him.
Rainbow Dash came down to within an inch of his nose “You gotta problem with Pinks, gotta problem with me. Understand?” She punctuated by charging her gauntlets with electricity. The unfortunate man nervously nodded, quickly scampered to his feet, and bolted for the door. The entire tavern erupted into applause and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin. Then she proceeded to go all out with her temporary fame, soar halfway to the ceiling and take a bow. Dash proudly hovered over to the booth where the rest of her group sat. “This place rules.” She beamed after scooting into the booth.
Pinkie ignored the whole exchange entirely, never lost time and conducted the rest of the bar as they sang the end of the shanty, jingling the bells on her toes and the tambourine in her hand. Sweetie, now back to back with her, strummed her strings and maintained harmony with Pinkie until she cut the entire room off like she was ending a symphony.
The bar was surprisingly quiet for a split second before erupting into applause, a good bit of it giving them a standing ovation. Rarity couldn’t tell whether it was because of the quality of the performance or just because they were drunk, but seeing all the blood in her little sister’s body rush to her little pale cheeks in bliss, she didn’t care.
Amidst the applause, and after her three-way bow with her co-stars, Sweetie caught Rarity’s eye and hopped off the stage, making a beeline towards her sister. Her tiny tiara smacked into Rarity’s sternum.
After getting her breath back, Rarity patted Sweetie’s lavender hair while avoiding the lute slung over her back. “Sweetie Belle, you were wonderful up there!”
“Thanks for making it, sis!” Sweetie said with glossy eyes. “I told ya it was good!”
“Yes you were.” Rarity said emphasizing her sisters’ talent. “You definitely bring real talent to this place.”
“C’mon sis, you don’t have to be a snob.”
“Sweetie Belle. I’m not being a snob. I’m simply saying you elevate the quality.”
“Up to your standards, Ms. Rarity Belle.” Sweetie teased her sister.
Rarity cocked her eyebrow at her and said, “I came to support you, don’t embarrass me now.”
“But that’s your name. Our name.”
“Sweetie Belle, I told you. That other name, it’s for business.”
“And there’s no business here! So relax!” Sweetie said with such conviction Rarity almost gave in. She looked around the bar to see the manager of this establishment, Mrs. Cake walking towards the table and Sweetie, as quickly as she attacked Rarity, gave the same treatment to Mrs. Cake. Rarity couldn’t help but feeling a bit jealous. She looked back onto her friend’s table and saw that the bartender, Vinyl Scratch, had brought them each a healthy mug of ale. Octavia had no problem diving into hers as soon as Vinyl started talking to her.
“I certainly hope my little sister hasn’t been a burden, Ms. Cake.”
“Wha?!” Sweetie started to protest but Mrs. Cake laughed so hard you’d think she’d seen the Archmage in her underwear.
“Sweetie’s been nothing but good for business!” Mrs. Cake said pinching Sweetie’s cheeks which Sweetie shrugged off, still hurt by her sister’s statement. “I’m sure you were this irresistible when you were this little.” She teased.
Rarity opened her mouth to retort, but was hit by the sad truth that Sweetie was catching up to her in maturity and didn’t quite know how to address it.
“POUND! PUMPKIN! LEAVE GUMMY ALONE!!” Mrs. Cake ran off to tend to her toddlers, who were currently climbing over Pinkie’s toothless Komodo dragon. Rarity once wondered why Mrs. Cake let her toddlers run free in a bar, but was informed that there were enough loyal locals there that if anyone tried anything funny with the Cake twins, there were enough good Samaritans who’d cut the troublemaker into a hundred pieces and the only question they’d ask would be “How many jars you wanna be in?”
Rarity moved over to the table, then to the tall mug of ale at her chair and took a very unladylike swig from it. Then, to her friend’s surprise, she took three more and slammed the empty stein on the table.
“Looks like your boss knows howda party!” Vinyl said.
“She deserves another round, doesn’t she?” Octavia said without turning to her.
“Yeah, she does! Another one comin’ up, Ray!” Vinyl said as she slid to the bar. Only to stop and harass another table along the way.
“You know that one?” Rarity asked her assistant.
“An old friend from the bard college.”
“A friend?” Rarity said skeptically.
“Emphasis on old.” Octavia reiterated.
“VINYL! ALE!” Dash yelled across the room while Rarity buried her head in her arms.
“I think you’ve had enough Dash.”
“I think that this is the last bit we’re gonna have for a while.” Dash countered.
“Stop talking like that, Dash.” Twilight said piping up from across the table, looking up from scribbling in her notebook.
“What?” Dash said kicking back in her chair. “The only way we’re gonna get outta here is springin’ AJ. There’s bad shit in the fields, I almost got killed by one, Cellie told us to screw off because she’s probably got something else to deal with, so let’s take care of business like we do. Kickin’ demon ass.”
“Here here.” Octavia said before taking a swig of her own mug.
“I’m sure the Archmage had a very good reason to say what she did.” Twilight said without looking up, making Rarity doubt if she meant it.
“I agree with Twilight.”
“You believe that she just shot down the most trust worthy person in her PERSONAL GUARD?!” Dash said, clanking her mug into the ground.
“Rainbow Dash! As avatars of the Archmage, we have to believe she knows something we don’t and that she’s trying to protect us.” Rarity offered.
“Normally I’d agree with you Rarity...but after seeing that look in her eye, I don’t know what to believe. When she said ‘I’d execute her myself,’...” Twilight shivered.
“Whatever. She doesn’t have the balls.” Dash said again.
“RAINBOW DASH! Language!!” Rarity scolded, deflecting the delicate matters.
“Sorry, mom. But If I can’t swear in a bar, where the hell can I?” Dash shot back to Rarity. “But I digress. Assuming Sunshine’s gone psycho, there’s no way she’d be able to keep something like offin’ AJ quiet.”
“Spike was saying this earlier and I agree with him. The city’s a powder keg. People are angry and looking for something to take it out on. She might just have to throw them someone.” Twilight chimed in, spinning her empty mug.
“She’s the friggin’ Archmage! Thousands of years old! Keeper of good and defender of all the innocent shit!”
“And just one person.” Twilight reminded. “People start to lose faith if her armor shows a chink.”
“Doubly so if one of her Avatars is said chink-er,” Octavia added.
“Well, she’s been perfectly fine tellin’ us what to do for the last couple thousand years. What the hell changed?”
“I just don’t know Dash. I really don’t. Like you said, it’s a mess.” Twilight said staring at the table.
“I said it was a fu-”
“We heard your colorful choice of words last time Rainbow Dash,” sniffed Rarity. “No need to repeat yourself. Regardless, Apple Jack’s blatant attack on the Archmage’s judgement will more than definitely make the rounds. And anyone of the general public with half a brain will know that action must be taken.”
“Ray, I don’t know where you’ve been in the past forever, but have you met the general public? Most of the time asking for half a brain is about two times too many.” Dash mentioned with an eyebrow raised.
The front door of the establishment creaked open as a tall, stoic man stepped in. His civilian clothing may have prevented the common crowd of this place from recognizing him as Captain of the Royal Guard, but his out of place demeanor and well-kept appearance told everyone that he was not a regular here. His gaze darted around from table to table until he breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Twilight and her companions.
“Hey, Twi. Isn’t that your brother?” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
Twilight looked up to see her brother striding purposefully toward them, “Oh, thank the gods...” she exclaimed as she lifted herself out of the booth to meet him halfway. They collided and Twilight wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest in a childlike moment.
“I’m glad to see you too, Twilly.” Shining Armor smiled as he patted her on the head.
Octavia couldn’t take her eyes off of him. “Isn’t that the Captain of the Royal Guard? You never told me that your friend’s brother is the famous Shining Armor. You’ve been holding out on me, Senator,” she said as she leered at him.
“Do show some restraint, Octavia,” Rarity scolded.
“So does he know he could model for statues?”
“No. And I’ll have you know...”
“Reminds me of the naked one in the library,” Octavia interrupted.
“...that he’s happily married,” Rarity said telling herself as much as Octavia.
“Ooooo. We should ask his wife if all of him is statuesque.” Octavia smirked, the ale starting to kick in.
“Don’t you dare. And you know that’s hardly interesting to me.”
“Hardly interesti-? Ha! I seem to recall an incident a few years back concerning you, the Gala, a certain Duke, and a foot in your mouth.”
“It was my first Gala! I was younger, naive, and he was much less of a bastard in my mind. Won’t happen again.”
“Until you followed around a new money socialite like a lost puppy, shooting so many daggers at his trophy wife, we all thought you’d developed a way to kill her with them.”
“That was merely for the interest of a business arrangement, blown way out of proportion by those horrible yellow journalists.” Rarity quickly countered.
“So then you didn’t get drunk with the wife and propose a three-way.”
“I thought menage-a-trois was a tribunal partnership!”
“No judgements, Senator. I was just proud to be rubbing off on you.”
“You’re doing nothing of the sort, Octavia. And I would never perfor-Here he comes. Octavia, don’t you dare do anything to embarrass me.”
“If you’re shy, I can ask him for you,” Octavia teased.
Twilight and Shining Armor came back to the table. Twilight took up her seat again but Shining Armor remained standing “I’m sorry I couldn’t come in, everyone,” Shining Armor said through a yawn. The bags under his eyes seemed larger than his actual eyeballs; it was obvious to everyone that he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.
“It’s okay. But it looks like you need to get some sleep before you worry about anything else,” Twilight said with an empathetic smile.
“Blame your niece- or nephew-to-be. It isn’t even born yet but still finds a way to keep us up all night.”
“We need your beautiful wife back in her position as soon as possible,” Twilight said in a shaky voice.
“If I could do anything to speed things along, I would.”
“Can’t you just smack the kid out of her or something?” Dash interjected.
The entire table fell dead silent and stared at Rainbow Dash.
“What? Worked for my mom with me.” Dash said putting her hands behind her head.
“And did you happen hit your head on the way out? Because that would explain everything,” Rarity said offhandedly, trying to break the tension.
Twilight mercifully lifted Dash from the scrutiny and turned to Shining Armor. “Did you hear about AJ?”
“That’s why I’m here. I needed to warn you. I’m not sure she’s safe,” he said sternly.
“Don’t know if you heard, Shy-guy, but you can’t get much safer than jail,” Dash shouted from over Twi’s shoulder.
“Not when your guards would rather see you dead,” Shining Armor explained.
“Say what now?” Dash blew a strand of rainbow hair out of her face and cocked an eyebrow.
“He’s right. A lot of guards died in the Second Nightmare Conflict and a lot of them blame us.”
“Blame us?! In what universe does that make sense?” Dash now moved in between them to face Shining directly.
“The military here thinks very differently than we do, Rainbow Dash. They feel like we were holding back the Elements, and if we’d acted quicker their friends would still be here.” Twilight explained.
“But that’s just a pocket. Most of them know that all of us would be done for if not for all of you.” Shining said quickly backpedaling.
“Scapegoats are scapegoats, I suppose. At least it’s only a few of them,” Rarity added optimistically
“And it only takes less than a few of them to do somethin’ nasty to our friend while she’s chained to a wall,” Dash said.
“Well then! Looks like a stacking of the decks is in order,” Rarity said with bright eyes, clasping her hands together.
“Remember our talk, Senator,” Octavia said, accenting it with a single poke to Rarity’s shoulder.
“I’m perfectly in my right to make a ‘surprise inspection’ and make sure Apple Jack’s cell is up to the Chantalot sanitation standards.”
“Followed by a one-on-one conversation with your ‘natural’ charm,” Twilight added sarcastically, with her fingers in air-quotes.
“Exactly!”
“No way, Ray,” Dash said popping up. “We’re comin’ with ya. Boss lady’s gone bonkers and apparently Changelings are comin’ left and right. No way we’re leavin’ ya alone.”
“I appreciate it, Rainbow Dash, but I’m sure we’re all just overreacting, right, Twilight?” Rarity looked to her level-headed friend for support.
“I’d like to say yes, Rarity, but...it’s like I’m on another planet. I studied under her for years. Always so kind, so understanding. What could have possibly happened?”
“She’s a Changeling. Gotta be. Let’s go kill it,” Dash said, pounding her fist into her palm.
“Not possible, Dash. After Cadence was taken, we’ve all been taking random Changeling tests so that never happens again.” Shining Armor explained.
“And you’re telling me that high-and-mightys are doin’ it too?”
“It was her idea directly afterwards. I scan her myself. Every week.”
“Well how do we know she hasn’t gotten to you t-”
“And my lieutenant checks me, his sergeant him and down the line. You don’t think people wanna out us to push up a couple ranks?” Shining Armor gave Dash a dose of her own military vocabulary with a smile and a playful arm punch. “A little flyer told me that’s how you moved up.”
“That was a Cumula-sanctioned race! He knew the rules and I barely slugged hi-touched! I said touched. STOP IT!” They went at it like a couple of warring siblings, but Dash soon backed down as she wiped an involuntary grin off her face. Shining Armor stopped his playful banter and turned to the rest of the group.
“But seriously. I might be on ‘daddy-to-be,’ leave, but I still hear things. And it might,” he winked, “be a REALLY good idea,” he winked harder, “to go visit Apple Jack until she’s out of jail.”
Everyone nodded. Twilight gave him a big hug again.
“Give Cadence one for me, okay?” She said.
“I’ll give her two. Good luck, ladies,” Shining said as he turned his heal. Watching him leave Rarity sighed.
“I hate that he loves her,” she said breaking the silence.
“RARITY!?” Twilight turned to her friend.
“I am rubbing off on you...” Octavia joined in her surprise.
“I’m sorry! It just came out!” Rarity said desperately backpedaling. The rest of the girls all sat down.
“Now can we break Apple Jack out?” Dash asked again.
“No,” the rest of them said in unison.
“Oh C’MON!” Dash said hovering to her feet and slamming her hands on the table. “She’s not an Avatar anymore, our boss threw her in there when there’s work to be done, your friggin’ brother just said there’s a faction of guards who want us dead, and she’s tied down!”
“I’m sure she’s fine.” Rarity said as much to herself as the crew.
“I’m not,” said Octavia.
“SEE?!” chimed in Dash.
“I don’t like this either,” Twilight said.
“Well we’ve got two to one.” Rarity stated.
“Since when do I not count?” Octavia asked, sounding offended.
“Avatar business, Octavia. You’re only a half vote.” Rarity corrected.
Dash stared her down. “You just heard all that and you’re gonna let AJ rot?”
“Not rot. We just need to be patient, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said trying to keep her composure.
“And only Avatars get a vote.” Dash’s crimson eyes pierced Rarity’s. Rarity nodded in response.
“Pinkie!” Dash yelled across the room. “We’re gonna go play with Apple Jack in the dungeon, wanna come?”
“YEAH!!” Pinkie screamed and bounded towards them.
“That’s still only two to two.” Rarity scoffed
“Half” Octavia raised her hand, tipping her mug and the balance. Realizing what they were about to do, the ladies snuck out the way they came in. Rarity brought up the rear until she felt a little tug on her dress. She turned around to see Sweetie Belle behind her.
“You gotta go do important royal stuff now?” There was a question mark in there, but the look on her face made it clear that Sweetie knew the answer.
“Yes, Sweetie Belle, I do. I’m sorry we couldn’t catch up. But you really were wonderful. An-” Rarity was cut off by Sweetie grabbing her very tightly like she was going to turn into smoke if she let go. Rarity, though oblivious to what it meant to have a big brother like Twilight, now knew how important she was to Shining Armor.
“Be safe?” Sweetie said into Rarity’s dress.
“Always dear.” Rarity kissed Sweetie’s head. “You were so good that I will definitely come back when I’m in town.”
“Yeah right. You’re always in town.”
“Well...now that I know how wonderful you are I might just brave the dregs of the dive to come see my little sister.” She smiled and followed her friends.
“You better!” Sweetie called after her before skipping off to help Ms. Cake with the twins. Rarity watched her sister leave with a lump in her throat, knowing that it’d probably be the last time she’d see her for a while.
---
The palace gates were the last place Rarity expected to be after their less than glamorous appearance in Dusk Court, but after hearing about the faction within the royal guard, there couldn’t be any chances taken.
Darkness had fallen since their time in the Masquerade and the guard had changed. “Good,” she thought, “maybe we’ll at least avoid a few unpleasantries.”
Unfortunately, this was not to be. “Castle grounds are closed, Senator. By the order of the Nightwatcher,” the gate guard said almost robotically.
“Yes I know, darling,” Rarity said as her tiara started to glow, “but you see, we’re here t-
“But if you’re here to scold Sister Apple Jack for her behavior this evening, I’m sure she could do with someone of your status teaching her some manners,” the guard said completely stone-faced. Rainbow Dash stared at one of them and waved her hand in front of their faces before Rarity snatched it down and pulled her towards the castle and down to the dungeon.
Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Rarity accepted that as there were factions within the guard that hated the Avatars, there would logicaly be those who were sympathetic to their cause. What luck.
Taking a torch off the wall, Rarity lead her friends down the hallway. Pinkie Pie proceeded to tell Dash and Octavia the kind of fun she’d been having teleporting all over a bar for a living while Rarity noticed Twilight had become uncharacteristically silent.
“Twilight, darling are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Rarity,” Twilight answered coldly. Rarity was taken aback at Twilight’s frankness.
“It’s just that...” Rarity paused, looking for the right words. “Well. You know it’s not your fault that. Well. That Apple Jack i-”
“Not my fault that she might be executed tomorrow?” Twilight shot back. “Not my fault that after six months of research I didn’t have an airtight case to save lives and keep her out of jail? Not my fault even when I was the only one that could take care of this? No, Rarity. I love you, but this isn’t just my fault, it’s all my fault.” Twilight punctuated before going back to scribbling her notebook. Rarity remained silent all the way down to the dungeon.
At the bottom of the fourth set of jagged stone steps, Rarity turned the corner to a dimly lit hallway and two guards laughing and prodding at a cell. Her pace quickened as she beckoned to her friends and yelled out, “Excuse me!” then realized that wasn’t the best way to be intimidating. So she followed up with “HEY!!” which brought both guard’s attention to her and away from Apple Jack’s cell.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity saw Apple Jack’s wrists chained flushed to the wall thanks to a metal bar. Apple Jack looked weak. Very weak. Rarity knew the separation from Eri was starting to take its toll on her.
“Gentlemen, look at this poor thing,” Rarity said, trying to appeal to the guard’s good will. “She can barely stand. Surely the bindings are far from necessary.”
“Surely your ass doesn’t belong here,” said one of the guards as he spat at Rarity. Dash lunged but Twilight held her back.
“I’m actually here with the ‘sanitation committee,’” Rarity said grinning, her tiara glowing attempting to seduce the guards.
“We’re here to make sure everything’s...clean”, she said delicately putting her fingers up one of the guard’s arm, “and comfortable?” she added smiling. She was instead greeted by a hand SNAPPING to her wrist and crushing it fairly hard.
“We had baths last week, lady.” said the guard in front of her. The other was shaking himself out of a smile but then followed suit shooting Rarity a glare. “That’s strange. This usually works.”
“Fine. Hard way. We’re stayin,’” Dash said plopping herself down next to the cage. “Get used to it.”
The two guards looked at each other and laughed. “They warned us you’d be stupid.” The nasty one said stepping past Rarity. “They just didn’t tell me that ALL of you would come down here and make it easy for us.”
“Oh yeah?” Dash shot up, hovering two feet above the ground and making her gauntlets crackle and glow “And what’s so easy about it?”
The nasty guard smiled and made his way behind the other guard. Rarity was confused as she was fully capable of entrancing two people at once, but for some reason had no power over the other. Then Rarity watched in horror as a black, clawed, fist made its way through the other guard’s chest only to have the dead-weight of his body slide down the demon arm. Behind him was a decaying corpse of a figure with green eyes, sharp teeth and bug wings.
“I can’t wait to see how you explain how you executed a guard in cold blood trying to help your friend escape.” The changling buzzed at the four shell shocked women. It then brought its disguise back up, turning just its insect-like head into a human face and screaming in its most convincing terrified guard voice.
“HELP!! THE AVATAR IS ESCAPING!!”
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Changelings...why did it have to be changelings?
1095990 ::no spoiler response, no spoiler response:: just...cuz?
1096010
You could have just replied on how it was witty to put up an Indiana Jones reference.
Oh btw. PERFECT PINKIE IS PERFECT and Sweetie Belle was well done as well. Kinda wish there was more of her though.
Or maybe in the future like...out of the blue when all is hopeless, a delicate music is played getting louder or something, putting all the foes in trance to the delicacy of her sweet innocent voice. I mean we saw how Applebloom can fair in battle, how about Sweetie Belle. Oh and I shouldn't forget about Scootaloo. Arcane Monk in action? count me in.
1096070 Yes. The Indiana Jones reference was very witty. Given your history of asking for spoilers, I took it seriously.
Pinkie's voice was really hard to find. Ryan actually helped out with it. And give it time. A fic with the CMCs in it and them NOT together would be a crime against humanity. 
:1093270 I'm a total idiot. I completely forgot to link y'all to the actual song that Sweetie sings. I'd sing it myself, but I sadly am a man. So go back in the chappy and click the link if you want!
Buck. Nobody checks the privates do they?
1096569 Unless that's part of the disguise. Which means if they can be any shape does that mean the privates can be any si----- no. nononono. The more I think about that, the more I'll be jealous of changlings.
1096601 I meant the military rank.
I mean who would check the bottom of the food chain?
1096620 Oh yeah. That is an interesting double entendre...
Good call by the way.
1096910 the next chapter wasn't supposed to be released until next week so I was looking to float something to feed the dogs. And then, of course, when it rains it pours. I'm going to do a "side stories" thingy, but if I did, it wouldn't have been approved for a bit. I'm gonna take care of it. Worry not. Look forward to your review later.
1096641 Thanks.
So, is that Jetset guy a changling, or is he just a jerk?
Actually scratch that, if he was a changling it'd be three working together to keep the disguise up. Those changlings should get an award for pulling that off.
1096955 Oh the questions to ask.
Still waiting for fluttshy to come in.
It is official octy is best character so far.
1097411 Me too. She's my favorite too. I don't know how this happened.
So glad everyone likes Octavia! She's the dry-wit the kid's show is lacking. Glad she works
Another point for Octavia! She'll be so happy. Actually, she'd probably say something like "I'm glad people like me. When do I get paid? Oh wait. It's fanfiction. Call me when we go viral."
1097841 Dash says a lot of things.
1096957 One at a time usually works.
Personally I'd hire the changlings and get rid of the other guy. For one thing you'd lower the city's yearly food intake.
Rainbow Dash seems really...crude. In language and mannerism. Maybe it's just her military lifestyle?
1101523 yes to all of the above. And to be fair, she's really brazen in the show too.
This was a perfectly good chapter, and there isn't a massive but attached to that. This was just a good chapter. Interesting characters interacting in interesting situations. It was well written (but I've come to expect that of you, you sort of don't get credit for that anymore), it advanced the plot, it introduced Pinkie and... You know. It basically did a bunch of stuff well. You don't really need me to list of every base attribute of a story and say 'it did well.'
So here's the specific nitty gritty stuff that drew my attention.
Pinkie was kind of boring to me. Ok, not that she didn't do anything interesting but she just seemed like normal Pinkie from the show. So far all your characters are like they are in the show but with slight differences to help set them apart. For example, your Dash is crude and your Rarity just daintily brushing past certain legal issues. You've made each character different from the show by just a little bit, but you're keeping them in character. But Pinkie on the other hand just seems like normal Pinkie. I can live with that but I want to see something more interesting from her. Maybe next chapter or the one after that.
Octavia, as she has in the past, made me laugh. I'm not sure I see her as the down to earth, well prepared for grit type, but really she has no cannon personality so do with her as you please. I was a little disappointed that Vinyl had nothing interesting to do or say, but they were only ever really attached at the hip by the fandom. I like to think that Rarity regrets giving Octavia half a vote.
Now the bit about Nightmare Moon perked my interests. Doing a little world building or is that actually relevant to the story? Speaking of world building you should probably try to do a little more of it. So far this world feels pretty empty.
Now in regards to the changelings, I assume the guards at the gates where changelings Hence the gift horse of which they should have checked the mouth, but was Shining also a changeling? He seemed to be encouraging them to go the castle and that allowed them to get set up by that changeling.
But here's the thing right. Couldn't they just keep a bright light on the changeling, tie it down or stop it running away and then bam! Evidence and cleared of all charges in regards to murdering that guard.
Oh and it seemed to me like you created a personal issue between Rarity and Sweetie only to resolve it the same chapter.
1102750 the only things I can actually say are, thank you, all of your personal opinions are taken into account, your speculations will be revealed in future chapters, and Rarity and Sweetie's estrangement is addressed in Chapter 4 and will be expanded upon in the appendices. How's that for spoiler free? BOOM!!
1103187
Oh... Huh, guess I forgot about that bit in chapter 4. Sorry. Anyway thank you for taking the time to respond to my reviews without spoiling things for me.
You've got nothing to apologize for sir. Thanks for sticking with this slow, grueling, arduous, process of writing a fantasy book in front of the whole internet, a chapter at a time.
1125797 That's one of my proofreader's favorite lines too.
Glad you like it so far! And AJ talks to those rats. She talks to 'em gooooood.
If I tried to describe how awesome this story is, it would take up too much room. So, PLEASE WRITE MOAR.
1201795 workin' on it!
of course.
I really enjoyed this story. I hope you haven't given up on it.
1378552 I haven't given up in the least. I'm just busy juggling other things that demand my time. If I had my way all I'd do is write and finish it. Thanks for the love!
1378552 Not in the least. Real life just got in the way of things for a spell. New chapter out monday!
Goddamit Chyrsalis, and your little Changelings too, Magnificent Bitch. Good villain. I wonder what Discord would say about all this? Probably that it needs more chocolate rain. I swear the song Pinkie was singing was like Topsy Turvy from Hunchback of Notre Dame, speaking of which, she'd get along with Clopin from said movie.