Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

151. No Mere Dragon or Pony

Time passed by in a blur for Rarity.

She sat on her bed in the Neighagra Falls Inn on her last evening there. Her return to the Inn had been uneventful. Twilight was at the dock. Applejack was there too, and Pinkie and Fluttershy arrived soon after Rarity and Rainbow had.

Rarity and Twilight had exchanged no words.

Rarity wanted to talk to Twilight, to pull her aside and tell her that Rarity was wrong about everything, but in the end she got cold hooves. She couldn’t do it.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy revealed they were dating now. Twilight and Applejack already knew, and were both supportive. Rainbow couldn’t have been more excited for Pinkie.

Rarity felt nothing. Said nothing.

Time passed by in a blur as the party travelled on hoof through Windsoar, of all places. They would be making most of the trek to the Crystal Empire on hoof for now. The trip would take about three weeks. Rarity couldn’t remember if it had been her idea or Pinkie Pie’s, but the group was unanimous in their support for it.

It would give Rarity the time she needed to come to some kind of conclusion on her feelings regarding Twilight Sparkle. At least, in theory.

Twilight certainly seemed pleased with the prospect. She seemed to have no love for the Crystal Empire, and likely would rather have avoided the place entirely. But she wanted to show the four ponies in their party that dragons and ponies could live in harmony.

To drag herself to a place that she desperately wanted to avoid, simply in order to prove what she believed in her heart; that was admirable, wasn’t it?

Rarity wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

Time passed by in a blur as Rarity laid on her back on a bed in an inn in the merchant city of Bitsburgh, a mere two weeks or so by hoof from the Crystal Empire. One third of the party’s road trip, and Rarity had damn near missed it, trapped inside her own thoughts.

She couldn’t bear to spend the entire trip like this, yet she didn’t know how to escape.

No.

That’s not quite right.

Rarity knew exactly what she needed to do, yet she would rather have torn every bone out of her chest with her bare hands than to do it.

She needed to talk to a very specific somepony— no, not some pony.

She needed to talk to a very specific dragon.

And Rarity would be damned if she let Twilight Sparkle drag herself forward to a place she loathed in order to prove her convictions, while Rarity wallowed. So, Rarity sat up and took a look out the window. Mid-morning. As good a time as any to speak to a dragon, Rarity supposed.

A sweet, beautiful, awkward dragon.

“Fluttershy,” Rarity said as she found the dragon in question sipping tea in the seating area of the inn’s rather fancy lobby.

“Rarity,” Fluttershy replied, glancing quizzically at Rarity. Fluttershy couldn’t be blamed for being confused; Rarity had yet to speak barely a single word to the dragon on purpose during their entire trip.

“I need to speak with you—” Rarity cut herself off with a scoff that sounded more like a hiss. She sat down in the chair directly across the small coffee table from Fluttershy and steepled her fingers. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“That’s interesting,” Fluttershy said with a slight cheer in her voice, tilting her head as her ears twitched curiously. It was eerie how much she looked and behaved like a pony, yet she wasn’t one, was she? “Why me of all creatures?”

Rarity paused. She was so certain it needed to be Fluttershy, and yet she wasn’t at all prepared for her to ask that question. The obvious answer was that Rarity didn’t have the emotional baggage with Fluttershy that she had with Twilight, but there was another more pressing reason too.

“Because Pinkie trusts you,” Rarity said coldly. Then she took a deep breath. “And I trust you too.”

Fluttershy dropped her tea cup, and as it fell to her lap and rolled onto the carpeted floor, Rarity was just thankful that it was empty.

“Y-you— you what?” Fluttershy stammered; understandably so.

“I trust you,” Rarity repeated, her tone betraying little emotion.

Rarity knew if she allowed herself to start thinking or feeling things about her plan, she would work herself into an emotional tailspin that she wasn’t sure she would be able to work herself out of in a timely manner, so she simply refused to think or feel anything until there was no chance to turn back.

“I realize that must sound strange,” Rarity said after several seconds of awkward silence and Fluttershy merely staring at Rarity with her jaw hanging open. “But it’s true. I trust you. I know what kind of person you are, I knew it from the moment we met in the Everfree Forest.

“You’re kind. You’re gentle, and you care so deeply about the ones you love. You’re everything I was always told dragons could never be.”

“Hm,” Fluttershy closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “And you’re skeptical, and distrusting, and even vicious. Everything I always knew ponies could be.”

That statement pierced Rarity’s heart like a javelin, and the spear twisted in her soul when she realized she couldn’t even begin to argue its truth.

“But I trust you too,” Fluttershy smiled thinly.

Something about that gesture reminded Rarity, loud and clear, that she was in the presence of no mere dragon or pony, but the goddess of the Everfree Forest, and she felt humbled by that fact.

“I can see the conflict tearing through your heart painted all over your face,” Fluttershy continued, crossing one leg over the other. “I can see you struggling to do the right thing, and I’m happy to help you do it. So what is your favor, Rarity?”

“I want you to take a walk with me,” Rarity said, everything in her body and mind screaming and raging at her not to say what she knew she needed to. “There’s a forest nearby. I want you to go there with me.”

Rarity took a deep breath, and released in a slow, agonizing sigh.

“And I want you to show me your true form.”

“Rarity,” Fluttershy grinned, her eyes and fangs gleaming like gemstones caught in the morning sun’s rays, “it would be my pleasure.”

Author's Note:

i'm excited about this arc for a few reasons, but the biggest is probably that i've been waiting practically this whole fic to do an arc with fluttershy and rarity, one of my FAVE dynamics, together

IT'S FINALLY FLUTTERSHY AND RARITY TIME Y'ALL

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

“Hm,” Fluttershy closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “And you’re skeptical, and distrusting, and even vicious. Everything I always knew ponies could be.”

Ouch.

she was in the presence of no mere dragon or pony,

Roll credits. DING!

IT'S FINALLY FLUTTERSHY AND RARITY TIME Y'ALL

I sense great gayness in the future.

[AppleTank]

10121195
set phasers to gay