• Published 31st Dec 2018
  • 3,911 Views, 1,216 Comments

Azure Edge - Leaf Blade



Rarity is a Slayer. Her life is devoted to hunting the bloodthirsty beasts and magical monsters that would threaten the sleepy winter homes of Equestria, but that doesn't mean she can't flirt with the cute librarian during her days off. [Omniship]

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107. A Whole New Light

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity stomped her hoof, aghast that Pinkie would just run ahead so thoughtlessly and start cozying up to a pair of dragons, for pony’s sake! “Get back here this instant!”

“No!” Pinkie huffed, sticking her tongue out at Rarity and burying herself deeper in the two dragons’ embrace.

Fluttershy gave Pinkie a gentle nudge with her snout. “It’s okay, Pinkie Pie. You shouldn’t make Rarity worry.”

“Okay,” Pinkie said sadly, reluctantly letting her hand fall away from Fluttershy’s cheek as the dragon rose to her full imposing height. Pinkie gave Twilight another pet on her snout before walking back to the group, where Applejack got on her knees and grabbed Pinkie into a hug.

“Honestly, sugarcube,” she whispered, and Rarity could hear the distress in her voice, “don’t go worryin’ a pony like that.”

“I’m sorry,” Pinkie nuzzled her cheek against Applejack’s. “I got ahead of myself. I didn’t mean to make anypony worry.”

With Pinkie safely back in their fold, Rarity took a moment to gaze upon the dragons of the Everfree, and her heart was gripped with fear, anger, and awe. Perhaps it was simply because she knew these two dragons personally, but they didn’t fill Rarity with the visceral distaste and disgust that the typical dragon did.

Or perhaps it was because, though she couldn’t bring herself to admit it, she thought both of them were beautiful. Especially Twilight; seeing her lavender scales glimmering faintly in the cloudy morning sun— instead of seeing her covered in blood and magic-vomit— put her in a whole new light.

Rarity suddenly understood what Lady Cadance always saw in these creatures. But she shook that thought away, because at the end of the day they were still monsters… right?

“Twilight,” Rarity cleared her throat and stepped forward, speaking clearly and bluntly. Twilight lowered herself to Rarity’s eye level, and Rarity took another step forward, fighting back the urge to raise her hand and pet Twilight’s snout or some such nonsense.

“I suppose there’s no pussyfooting around it,” Rarity sighed. “Twilight, we have decided to accompany you to the Crystal Empire.”

Silence.

Twilight blinked, but didn’t move.

Rarity scowled, and Fluttershy cocked her head.

Rarity glanced back and saw her companions; Rainbow was tapping her hoof, wondering what the holdup was, Applejack’s face and posture betrayed nothing, and Pinkie was chomping at the bit to celebrate, but every second that passed without a response from Twilight no doubt made the whole group feel more anxious.

“Twilight?” Rarity tapped her knuckles against Twilight’s snout, and she wondered where she suddenly found the gall to something so brazen. “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you,” Twilight spoke, and it was disconcerting to Rarity how… normal she sounded. Her voice was exactly as it was in the library, yet it came through the lips of a monster. It was eerie. “I just don’t believe it.”

“You mean you literally don’t believe me, or—”

“No, no of course not!” Twilight reared back and Rarity instinctively reached for a weapon, though Twilight quickly bowed her head. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle anyone,” she looked at Rarity, who took one step closer and released her grip on her axe. “Are you being serious? You’ll actually accompany me?”

“Yes,” Rarity said reluctantly. “Yes, we will. We all have our own reasons, but none of us are willing to go the rest of our lives without having some of our unsettled questions answered.”

“Okay,” Twilight sat on her haunches and exhaled a deeply held breath, “okay, I can live with that. You’ll come with me.”

“Us,” Fluttershy said, and now Rarity was startled. “They’ll come with us. We agreed, remember?”

Pinkie Pie gasped, because of course she would. “Fluttershy!? You’re gonna come with us to the Crystal Empire!?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy nodded, a sickeningly innocuous smile on her fanged face.

“I dunno how I feel,” Applejack chimed in warily, “’bout havin’ two dragons trailin’ us all the way up north.”

“Applejack!” Pinkie scolded. “You bite your tongue! Fluttershy is our friend! Or at least… she’s my friend!”

“Pinkie, think about this for a sec,” Rainbow chimed in, her eyes darting between Pinkie and the dragons, and Rarity could see sweat starting to dampen her fur the more she stayed within the dragons’ presence, “if things get bad on the trip, the four of us can totally take out a dragon. But two dragons might be a little dicey, you get it?”

“Nothing’s gonna go bad, Rainbow,” Pinkie huffed, “cuz we’re not gonna fight each other!”

“Incidentally,” Twilight said, “that’s part of why I asked Fluttershy to come along.”

“What?” Rarity asked, and now all eyes were on Twilight.

“You all have your reasons not to trust me,” Twilight explained, “and I understand that, but you have to understand I can’t trust any of you either. I genuinely want you all to see the Crystal Empire, and to see that dragons aren’t what you think they are, but to do that, I need to be sure I survive the journey, and travelling by myself with four armed Slayers, or Slayer-adjacent ponies, isn’t safe for me. More importantly, it isn’t safe for my son.”

“Hey, where is Spike, anyway?” Rainbow asked, and Rarity growled under her breath because she’d prefer it if they all stayed on topic. “Is he okay? The little dude isn’t totally traumatized by this whole thing, is he?”

“He’s okay, I think,” Twilight said. “If you’d like to see him once we’re all wrapped up here, I think he would love to see all of you.”

“Yeah?!” Pinkie clamored, pumping her fists. “We totally wanna see Spike, don’t we everypony?!”

“I’d like that,” Applejack admitted, and Rainbow nodded her confirmation.

Rarity had much less to say, and she didn’t appreciate the chorus of eyes now locked on her.

“We need to make travelling arrangements,” Rarity said, because somepony had to stick to what was important, and she supposed it would just have to be her, “and you two are going to need clothing, are you not?”

Fluttershy’s horns glowed with teal light that quickly consumed her entire body, before she transformed into the frail-looking slender pegasus Rarity was more familiar with.

“Why?” she asked. “Equestria doesn’t have a nudity taboo, and clothing is so restrictive and unnecessary.” Rarity’s nose curled up at that appalling statement.

“And how do you plan to explain to everypony,” Rarity said, her patience running thin, “when you get asked why you’re wandering around naked in the middle of winter?”

“That would be a dead giveaway that something was up with us,” Twilight remarked.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said sheepishly, her cheeks turning bright red, and Pinkie giggled before running up and giving the dragon a hug, which Fluttershy returned with a disconcertingly genuine smile.

Twilight transformed back into a pony next, and Rarity was suddenly very much reminded of how attractive she had always found the librarian now that said librarian was standing naked in front of Rarity.

Rarity felt her cheeks burn up and hoped that no on noticed, though she also found herself staring at Twilight, and she only noticed that she had been staring when Twilight smiled at her, forcing Rarity to spin around and stomp off, utterly humiliated.

“Y’alright, sugarcube?” Applejack gently grabbed Rarity’s arm, though Rarity had half a mind to slap her for it.

“I’m fine,” Rarity hissed through gritted teeth. “I’m going to go get train tickets and clothing. Be ready to leave when I come back. We’ll stop by the Moon District, then probably go straight for the Crystal Empire. No detours, no other stops. Let’s just get this over with.”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

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