Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

144. A Little Rivalry

The evening sun cast a warm pinkish glow over the lake that the tiny fishing hamlet of Windsoar was built around, and Rarity cooed at the sight of it. It was nice to be able to just relax for one moment.

The sea serpent that she and Rainbow Dash had arrived in Windsoar to dispatch hadn't caused trouble in the day they had arrived, and the pair had elected to take a look around the village and see the sights before taking off to confront the creature in the wee hours of the next morning.

And this was at the villagers’ request, as none of them saw any Slayers terribly often and they wanted to make a good impression and have the Slayers enjoy the quiet atmosphere of their town, and Rarity wasn’t about to refuse them.

The fact that Rarity got to spend a few hours with a rather charming gentleman that she had met in town? Well, that was just a lovely bonus.

“Hmm,” Rarity pondered, leaning over a wooden balcony sitting atop the lake, her hands resting on the railing tantalizing close to Blueblood’s. “I believe this is the part where you tell me that the lake glistening in the evening sunlight is almost as beautiful as I am.”

“I was just thinking,” Blueblood smiled at Rarity, and he had a most dashing smile that made Rarity’s heart pound in her chest, “you are certainly the second most beautiful unicorn here. And that’s quite high praise, to be able to compare yourself to my beauty.”

“Oh good grief,” Rarity rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help but laugh, Blueblood joining her in a jovial little chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I’m just teasing,” Blueblood said, taking Rarity’s hands in his and squeezing them gently. “You are incredibly lovely, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little intimidated by your beauty.”

“Intimidated?” Rarity giggled. “Well, I suppose that is high praise! Honestly, I find rather the opposite to be true of you. I feel quite comfortable talking with you.”

“Well of course,” Blueblood said proudly, flicking his mane. “Talking to me is a pleasure, who wouldn’t be comfortable with that?”

“I certainly admire your confidence,” Rarity laughed.

“Why is that funny?” Blueblood asked.

“Hm?” Rarity tilted her head, perplexed by that response. “I don’t know, I guess I just think it’s cute how bold you are.”

“I’m not cute,” Blueblood huffed and turned his back on Rarity, and Rarity had to stifle another laugh. “I’m suave and gorgeous!”

“You’re a little bit cute,” Rarity said, wrapping her arms around Blueblood and placing her hands delicately on his stomach.

“Well,” Blueblood turned around and softly grabbed Rarity’s chin, tilting her head up to look him in the eye, “I suppose for such a gorgeous mare like yourself, I can agree to that.”

“I’m glad,” Rarity whispered, inching closer to Blueblood with her hands around his waist and his on the small of her back, until their chests were practically touching and their lips were just close enough to—

“Hey, Rarity! I’m bored!” Rainbow Dash yelled, swinging open the door from the small inn to the balcony Rarity had been sharing her quiet time with Blueblood.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded, instinctively pushing Blueblood away and hoping that he wasn’t too offended by that. “You’re interrupting a private moment!”

“Eh?” Rainbow looked Blueblood up and down, and she didn’t look impressed. “Really? With this guy?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rarity and Blueblood both said, almost in unison.

Rainbow laughed, and Blueblood flared his nostrils.

“Excuse me,” he said curtly, “I believe we asked you a question.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow dismissed Blueblood with a bat of her hand, rolling her eyes as she cocked her head and looked Blueblood over, hand on her hip and just looking as unserious as possible. “Don’t get your pants all bunched up or whatever, dude.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said sternly, “it wouldn’t kill you to be a little polite.”

“Hmm, interesting theory,” Rainbow tapped her chin and smiled smugly, “if only there were a way to test it, but I guess we’ll never know.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity stomped her hoof and her cheeks flared red; she couldn’t believe how rude Rainbow was being in front of someone who Rarity was trying to get to know better.

“I see what’s going on here,” Blueblood sighed and gave a humorless chuckle with a shake of his head. “Let me guess, you’re carrying a bit of a flame for your partner, and you’re jealous that she’s taken a shine to me so easily, am I right?”

Oh good lord, Rarity thought as she buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her right now.

Rainbow, for her part, was silent for an excruciatingly long second.

And then she burst out laughing.

“Wh-what’s so funny?” Blueblood asked irritably, his face turning a rather unflattering shade of red.

“You can’t be serious, dude,” Rainbow cackled. “You can’t seriously be comparing yourself to me, especially in this honestly kinda sad ‘Rarity likes me better so nyah’ kinda way.”

“Rainbow Dash, you are being an absolute ruffian!” Rarity fumed. “What has gotten into you?”

“She’s obviously just mad that you’ve taken an interest in me,” Blueblood sighed and walked over to Rainbow Dash, and while Rarity didn’t appreciate him speaking for her, there was a small— okay, not that small— part of her that was deviously curious to see how this scene played out if she refused to intervene.

“Look bro,” Rainbow scoffed and batted her hand dismissively at Rarity, “Rarity can coo over whoever she wants. I’m not her babysitter. And just cuz I think Rarity’s taste in guys is some bargain bin shit, or cuz you’re a huge step down from the last girl Rarity dated—”

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rarity’s words were cold, but her glare was sharp enough to cut steel, and Rainbow’s ears clamped down on her head for just a second as she got the point.

“Listen here you little w—” Blueblood stomped up to Rainbow Dash, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by another man’s laughter.

“Come on, Prince,” Wind Rider chuckled as he stood in the nearby doorframe. “You’re not gonna let a little lighthearted ribbing get under your skin, are you?”

Blueblood puffed up his cheeks and took a deep breath, before turning away from Rainbow Dash and walking toward Rarity, putting an arm around her shoulder for good measure. Rarity had half a mind to shake him off— she didn’t appreciate being used as a prop in his pissing contest with Rainbow Dash— and yet she chose not to, mostly out of morbid curiosity of what Rainbow would do.

And that was odd, wasn’t it? Rarity had usually been so careful to push back against Rainbow’s tendency to pick fights with people who annoyed her, and if Rarity was as insistent to spend time with Blueblood as she had been letting on, it wouldn’t do to let her partner antagonize him.

Rarity thought perhaps it just felt nice to have people fighting for her affection, but that wasn’t right. It actually felt rather gross; like she was a hotdog being fought over by two angry puppers. And yet she didn’t feel the need to step in and stop them.

She was bitter; that was the thing.

She was still bitter over losing Twilight, and being lied to— not only by Twilight, but possibly by Celestia as well, which was an idea that she absolutely loathed to consider, but one that clawed at the recesses of her mind nonetheless.

So on one hand, she simply couldn’t be bothered to stop the two from going at it with each other, and on the other hand, she actively derived pleasure— well not ‘pleasure’ exactly, but some approximate good feeling brain juice— from their confrontation.

“Nice save, bro,” Rainbow snorted as Blueblood pulled Rarity closer to him, “real subtle.”

“Subtlety was never Prince’s strong point,” Wind Rider added.

“Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?” Blueblood barked.

“Sides? Didn’t realize there was a competition going on,” Wind Rider said. “What’s the prize?”

“Yeah Blueblood,” Rainbow added smugly, getting the barest hint of a cheeky grin from Rarity, “what’s the prize?”

“Ahem, well,” Blueblood cleared his throat and took his arm off of Rarity, “if you all want to keep playing childish games, go right ahead. I for one am above such things.”

“That’s too bad,” Rarity hummed and walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Personally, I’m not above playing childish games every now and then.”

Rarity walked past Rainbow Dash into the inn, her tail winding its way up Rainbow’s tunic and brushing up against the bare fur of her stomach on her way.

“I bet you’re pretty good at them too,” Wind Rider said with an impressed grin.

“Well,” Rarity giggled as she looked back at Wind Rider, catching Rainbow’s beet red face and Blueblood’s twitching eye in her peripheral vision, “I try.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t even matter if I’ve got a torch for her or not,” Rainbow laughed as Rarity walked past her and into the inn, getting away from the absurd contest Rainbow and Blueblood had started for Rarity’s affection. “She’s way outta both of our leagues.”

“Speak for yourself,” Blueblood huffed.

“Dude, give it a rest,” Rainbow said wearily, rolling her eyes. “No one’s impressed by your watered-down tough guy act.”

“I could say the same about you,” Blueblood shot back, and Rainbow scowled. Without Rarity’s reactions to gauge whether or not Rainbow was winning against Blueblood, it was a lot harder not to get legit irritated at his comments.

“Say whatever you want, bro,” Rainbow scoffed. “I’m going to bed. We got an early morning after all.”

“Actually, about that,” Wind Rider said, pushing himself off the door frame and walking onto the wooden balcony hovering over the lake, standing a pretty even distance between Blueblood and Rainbow. “If you two are so keen on butting heads with each other, why don’t we make things a bit more interesting?”

“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, catlike grin on her face and curiosity thoroughly piqued. “What’ve you got in mind?”

“Simple contest,” Wind Rider said. “Let’s see which of you can kill the sea serpent first. Prove which of you is the tougher pony. Me and Rarity can watch and judge you. That said, I’m not about to suggest claiming Rarity as a prize—”

“No one suggested that,” Rainbow interrupted.

“Exactly,” Wind Rider said. “That’d be a little pedestrian, wouldn’t you agree, Prince?”

“Right,” Blueblood muttered, crossing his arms. Was he disappointed?

“Okay, I’m down,” Rainbow nodded. “It won’t be much of a challenge, but I don’t have a problem showing this guy up in front of everypony who matters.”

“A lot of big talk from someone who’s so obviously intimidated by anyone else getting close to Rarity,” Blueblood said, and Rainbow wasn’t sure if he was trying to be smug, but it wasn’t working out for him if he was.

“Yeah okay dude,” Rainbow said drearily; she’d had more than enough of this dork to last her a lifetime. “You don’t even know anything about Rarity.”

“I know that she’s interested in me,” Blueblood smirked, “and that makes you jealous.”

“Sure,” Rainbow smirked back, though she had to pause for a sec and wonder if she really was jealous.

She definitely enjoyed driving this guy up a wall, and honestly doing that for its own sake was reason enough to do it, but maybe she was a little jealous?

No, not really.

Or maybe… maybe she was like secondhand jealous? Was that even a thing?

Seeing Rarity making doe eyes at Blueblood pissed Rainbow off, that was for sure. But not because Rainbow was interested in Rarity that way— she totally super wasn’t at all they were just friends shut up— but because Rarity was supposed to be with Twilight, damn it!

They weren’t supposed to be broken up by some lousy twist of fate! Twilight wasn’t supposed to turn out to be a monster! And Rarity sure as hell wasn’t supposed to settle for some pompous clown who probably winked at himself every time he walked past a mirror!

Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder how Twilight would feel if she were here; would she be jealous? Would she support Rarity dating someone else?

Did it even matter?

Twilight wasn’t here, and it wasn’t Rainbow’s place to be jealous on her behalf, so it’d probably be a better decision to just let this whole crappy rivalry go and focus on what actually did matter, like saving the ponies of the fishing village.

“Alright, Wind Rider,” Rainbow let a devilish grin creep onto her lips.

Saving the fishing ponies was extremely important and she would absolutely make that her priority, she was never super good at making good decisions anyway so…

“If I win the contest,” Rainbow said, “I get to kick Blueblood square in the dick.”

“And if I win?” Blueblood growled.

“You might not be able to win Rarity as a prize,” Rainbow flashed her sinister smirk at Blueblood, “but you can have me! You can do anything you want to with me before me and Rarity leave tomorrow.”

“That’s, um—” Wind Rider tried to interject, but Blueblood cut him off.

“Making this interesting, huh?” Blueblood brushed a hand all the way through his mane. “I accept your terms, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow could hardly wait for tomorrow morning and to slay that serpent in front of Blueblood’s smug face.

After all, a little rivalry never hurt anyone, right?

Author's Note:

if ur writing rainbow dash and she doesn't at some point get into a pissing contest for a hot girl's affection, are u rly even writing rainbow dash??

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[SuperSaiyanBlueNathanTH]

I agree with Rainbow back off blueblood

[ShadowLDrago]

“You might not be able to win Rarity as a prize,” Rainbow flashed her sinister smirk at Blueblood, “but you can have me! You can do anything you want to with me before me and Rarity leave tomorrow.”

Uh, RD? That’s a very dangerous way to phrase things.

[Timuri]

From how he's acted so far, this Blueblood seems like he'd make Rainbow do something humiliating if he wins. So far he doesn't come off as the sort to really take advantage of Rainbow's very foolishly worded bet. He also seems to have a bit of actual chemistry with Rarity, which is a vast difference from his cannon incarnation.

We'll have to see if he and Rainbow try to sabotage each other during the Hunt and how they do so if they do.

[stillinbeta]

Twist: Blueblood wins, but he's really into being kicked in the dick