Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

162. Overflowing

Rarity steeled her nerves and waited with bated breath as she and Fluttershy hid in the snowy forest foliage from Lightning Dust. But Rarity’s battle with Lightning Dust wasn’t what was clawing at her nerves now, it was Fluttershy.

Fluttershy had offered to share her magic with Rarity via a kiss, and Rarity was quick to accept it, even though she knew that kissing Fluttershy would be an awkward scenario for her— though not so awkward that she was going to turn down a massive tactical advantage over it.

Fluttershy leaned her dragonic snout down to Rarity’s level, and Rarity realized with dread that due to the size difference, and Fluttershy’s overly-cautious nature, Rarity was going to have to be the one who initiated the kiss.

Rarity took a deep breath.

Best to simply get it over with. They didn’t have all day after all; if Lightning Dust found them, they would be in disastrous trouble.

Rarity closed her eyes and put her lips against Fluttershy’s. She didn’t do much else. She felt Fluttershy’s lips move, and she didn’t want to question the logistics of the size difference.

Then she felt it.

She felt Fluttershy’s lips covering hers like a gentle sprinkle of sugar, and she felt her body lighting up as though it was coursing with electricity— though in like a pleasant way, as opposed to the way Lightning Dust attacked her.

Her lips were tingling from Fluttershy’s touch and she instinctively backed away, putting a hand to her lips as though she thought she could feel some physical difference in herself.

And while there was no such physical change, she did recognize the familiar feeling of her body welling up with magic. It was different from Celestia’s however; Celestia poured her magic into Rarity like pouring water gently into a vase. She knew Rarity and her limits intimately, and knew just how much and how little magic was safe for Rarity to consume.

Fluttershy had no such knowledge.

Fluttershy’s kiss was less like ‘gently pouring water into a vase’ and more like ‘dumping a whole barrel of water into a sixteen-inch cup’. Rarity was overflowing, and it didn’t take long until she could see with her eyes the bright teal aura burning around her.

“Hm,” Rarity hummed as she looked at her hands and moved her body, feeling as though she were somehow simultaneously moving in fast and slow motion.

“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy said timidly. “Did I overdo it?”

“A tad,” Rarity responded. “But don’t fret, this will be perfect. Now then. Shall we?”

It took no time at all for Rarity and Fluttershy to find Lightning Dust; giant green and gold dragon doesn’t exactly blend into the wintery woods, and Lightning didn’t have the benefit of invisibility that Fluttershy had.

Rarity felt no need to hide her presence any longer and called out to Lightning Dust to grab her attention, though Fluttershy was still hidden invisibly behind her.

Lightning Dust roared with an excited grin on her face as she let loose several streams of electricity from her wings; though with Rarity empowered by Fluttershy’s magic, it took zero effort for her to create a barrier that protected her from Lightning’s attack.

Suddenly a hailstorm of arrows came out of the trees aimed directly at Rarity, but they fared no better at getting through Rarity’s barrier than Lightning Dust’s attack did.

Lightning herself scoffed at this and her grin refused to waver, and she decided to lunge forward and try to take Rarity down with her fangs; she never reached Rarity thanks to Fluttershy’s beautiful interception, Fluttershy grabbing Lightning Dust by the shoulders and lifting her a few inches off the ground before slamming her into the grass on her back, her head close to Rarity’s eager blade.

Rarity moved quickly, aiming to stab Lightning Dust in the head with the onyx blade. As she plunged the sword into Lightning’s skin however, Lightning’s eyes widened; she could tell the blade was enchanted, and likely planned on playing it safe and not give Rarity a chance to use the weapon’s magic.

Lightning sent a wave of electricity coursing through her body, which shocked and badly burned Rarity as well, forcing her to lose her grip on the onyx blade’s hilt. It also frightened Fluttershy, who flapped her wings in a panic and backed away from the sparking dragon.

Rarity tried to activate the onyx blade’s spell regardless, but quickly learned it wouldn’t respond unless her hand was touching the hilt. Rarity supposed that made some sort of sense, since after all an enchantment that powerful and that dangerous should have quite a few checks and balances to make sure it can’t be fired off accidentally, but that was seriously inconvenient at the moment!

Lightning got back on her feet, even taking to the air for a moment before landing in a thicket of trees, though Rarity was able to at least recover her blade from Lightning’s forehead first using her magic.

Rarity reconvened with Fluttershy, putting her hand on Fluttershy’s body to wash a wave of healing magic over the dragon that at least remedied several of Fluttershy’s many, many cuts.

“I’ll protect you from the arrows,” Rarity said, already panting for breath, “if you can get me a clean shot at her.”

“You can count on me,” Fluttershy said confidently before rampaging through the trees toward Lightning Dust.

Sure enough, a barrage of arrows were headed her way— Rarity figured that Lightning’s little band would try their best to cover her escape— but Rarity effortlessly batted them all away with her barriers.

Lightning Dust jumped into the air and breathed a stream of electricity as she saw Fluttershy’s approach, and Fluttershy countered with a wave of icy breath; the two seemed quite evenly matched, at least until Rarity contained Lightning’s attack within a barrier, allowing Fluttershy to jump over the quarantined magic and latch onto Lightning Dust with her claws.

Fluttershy was able to bring Lightning Dust back to the ground, but Lightning just snarled and flared out her wings, readying another powerful electric attack.

Rarity found herself underneath the two dragons, wondering what she could do to protect Fluttershy, and as she looked at Lightning’s exposed chest and stomach that was just barely out of arm’s reach, she had an idea.

She could simply channel a little bit of Applejack.

By stomping on the ground and clenching her fists, she mimicked one of Applejack’s powerful poses, then punched her fist into the air as a powerful barrier of magic energy launched directly into Lightning Dust’s stomach, Lightning heaving from the attack and her wings twitching helplessly behind her.

Fluttershy breathed a slow, steady stream of ice that covered Lightning like cake frosting, slowing her movement enough that Fluttershy was able to easily grab her head and slam it into the ground, giving Rarity the perfect opportunity to stab her right between her eyes.

Unfortunately for Rarity, Lightning Dust wasn’t so slowed down by Fluttershy’s frost attack that she couldn’t snap her claws forward and crush Rarity between them before Rarity had a chance to activate the enchantment; a slower version of Lightning Dust was still much faster than Rarity.

Rarity was able to keep herself from being crushed into a gooey paste thanks to a quickly erected barrier, and she heard Fluttershy panickily calling out her name, but she was still stuck between Lightning’s claws.

She could hear Fluttershy chomp down on something, presumably Lightning Dust’s arm or some such, but the next thing Rarity knew she was still stuck in Lightning’s grasp as she took off into the air.

This wasn’t good; if Lightning could separate her and Fluttershy, even for just a few moments, Lightning’s band would likely make the battle much more difficult than it needed to be.

Lightning Dust’s tactics were proving to be quite obnoxious, albeit undoubtedly effective; yet another thing she had in common with Rainbow Dash, quite frankly.

And then a light bulb shone above Rarity’s head as she thought about Rainbow Dash. If Lightning could so easily mimic Rainbow’s natural gift for getting under people’s skin, so could Rarity; she would just do it a touch more literally.

Rarity projected her barrier outwards, shifting the outer shell of it into a wall of spikes that drilled into the soft flesh of Lightning’s hands, and she could hear Lightning Dust grunting and wincing in pain, even though she refused to let go of Rarity.

But that momentary distraction, mixed with a huge gust of wind courtesy of dear Fluttershy, was more than enough to loosen Lightning’s grip, allowing Fluttershy to catch up with her and bite down on Lightning’s arm, forcing her to release her grasp on Rarity.

At least that’s what Rarity had expected Fluttershy to do; what Fluttershy did instead was sink her fangs into Lightning Dust’s wrist and tear her entire left hand off, and there was no way Lightning was holding onto Rarity after that.

The only problem is that Lightning Dust was now furious with Fluttershy and was attempting to tear her to shreds with her fangs and remaining claw. And while Rarity wasn’t terribly worried for Fluttershy— she wasn’t exactly winning, but she didn’t seem to be in immediate danger of succumbing to Lightning’s attacks— she was worried for herself.

Fluttershy being distracted with Lightning Dust meant Rarity was now falling through the air with no one to catch her.

Rarity thought of Rainbow again and rolled her eyes, wishing she could channel Rainbow’s ability to fly.

But then she thought of bouncy little Pinkie Pie, and a better idea came to her. She projected a barrier underneath her that her hooves could gently touch down upon, then jumped from that barrier to another she erected in the sky, then another and another until she managed to bounce her way all the way up to Lightning Dust’s head.

With the dragon distracted by Fluttershy, it would be a simple matter of landing on top of Lightning’s head, grabbing hold of the blade still embedded in the dragon’s skin, and activating its enchantment.

Lightning was not as distracted as Rarity had presumed however, and she swerved to avoid Rarity at the perfect moment. And while Rarity was able to grab the sword, the momentum of her fall caused her to tear the sword right out of Lightning’s skin as she continued to plummet, making its enchantment a no-go.

Rarity tried to summon another barrier to stop her fall, but a pang of violent nausea in her stomach stopped her dead in her tracks; exhaustion was starting to creep in, but Rarity needed to focus, damn it!

Though being caught underneath Lightning Dust and the shower of blood that sprayed from her open wound didn’t make focusing any easier. Getting it out of Rarity’s clothes and fur was going to be a huge pain.

Regardless, Rarity tried to concentrate and summon a barrier, but quickly saw there was no need as Fluttershy scooped her up and came to her rescue, bearing ever the enchanting smile as she winked at Rarity, who flashed a dazzling grin back at Fluttershy.

Their moment of joy was short-lived, as Lightning brought a storm of electricity down on them with a furious snarl, clipping Fluttershy’s wings and causing the pair to fall, Fluttershy grunting in pain as she cradled Rarity close to her chest and hit several trees on her way down before crashing into the earth with a loud yelp.

Fluttershy was panting and gasping for breath, and while so was Rarity, she knew in her heart that she needed to settle this now. She could see Lightning trying to soar away above the trees, and she wasn’t about to let that monster escape her.

“Rest easy, sweetheart,” Rarity said as she hopped off of Fluttershy. “Leave the rest to me.”

Even through the forest, it wasn’t difficult to track Lightning Dust down; she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous to begin with, and the trail of blood dripping from her injuries wasn’t very subtle either.

And it seemed those wounds, especially the dismembered claw, were slowing Lightning Dust down, because she had to pause and drop to the ground for a moment, giving Rarity ample time to catch up to her.

“You’re persistent,” Lightning gave a bitter chuckle as she turned to Rarity, “I’ll give you that.”

“I’m a Slayer,” Rarity responded coldly. “Killing dragons is sort of my thing.”

“Yet you’re hanging out with a dragon!” Lightning gave a single, acidic laugh.

“You’re very intelligent,” Rarity rolled her eyes. She wasn’t interested in hearing another poisonous word escape the butcher’s lips.

Lightning Dust had finished talking as well, instead breathing a stream of lightning toward Rarity. And while Rarity had her doubts if she could summon her barrier in time, and raised her shield just in case, she was indeed able to protect herself with Fluttershy’s magic not only from Lightning’s electrical breath, but from a swipe of her claw as well.

The barrier did not hold up against Lightning’s fangs.

Lightning Dust snapped her jaw shut around Rarity’s barrier, shattering it like a fragile glass thrown against a rusty iron wall, and it was only by ducking as low as she was able that Rarity managed to avoid being ripped clean in half.

But now Lightning’s head was within Rarity’s reach, and she wasted no time digging her sword into the beast’s nose.

Lightning sent a wave of electricity coursing through her body once again in an effort to get Rarity to let go of her sword, and while Rarity tried her damnedest to hold onto it despite the pain, she just couldn’t bring herself to, and she dropped her hand to her side as Lightning Dust took off into the air.

Rarity watched helplessly as Lightning Dust was about to not only escape, but take Rarity’s onyx blade with her. Her silly barrier jumping trick wouldn’t let her reach Lightning fast enough, and she had no other means of becoming airborne.

And then a single thought crossed her mind. An absolutely cursed, devilish thought.

What would Twilight do?

And Rarity knew, of course, exactly what Twilight would do. And with her body still brimming with Fluttershy’s magic, even despite her exhaustion, Rarity knew she had the magic to pull it off. So she closed her eyes, let her magic pool into a shimmering blue aura around her horn, and—

—CRACK.

When Rarity opened her eyes, she was standing atop Lightning Dust’s head, her teleportation spell a complete and utter success.

Lightning freaked out immediately, flapping her wings erratically and flipping upside-down to try and shake Rarity off, even sending sparks of electricity coursing through her body to try and shock Rarity, but she covered herself in a barrier the moment she made contact with Lightning Dust.

Rarity put her hand on the hilt of her sword and— she hesitated.

She paused for a mere fraction of a second to consider if it was justified taking Lightning Dust’s life in order to protect her own, a thought that had never crossed her mind when it came to dragons before.

But no, that wasn’t really true, was it? If she had never stopped to wonder if it was okay to kill dragons, she never would have been wearing her dragon fang necklace, her reminder that dragons were all vicious killers that needed to be put down for the safety of Equestria.

She wouldn’t have been kept awake at night thinking about the dragon from Baltimare, how it begged for its life and claimed to have a family, how it had no idea where it was or what had happened to it before Rarity executed it.

She would have killed Twilight.

Rarity forced those thoughts from her mind and tried to activate the enchantment— this was different, Lightning Dust was different, and if Rarity didn’t kill her now then Lightning Dust would simply kill dozens more.

But she was too late; that brief instant of hesitation was all Lightning needed to grab Rarity in her claw, sword and all. And while Rarity could easily have just stabbed Lightning in the hand and used her blade’s spell then, Lightning threw her to the ground, Rarity colliding with the earth with a pained whine and a disconcerting crack.

“Not worth the effort,” Lightning Dust barked as she flew away and left Rarity behind.

Well.

That was that, Rarity supposed.

At the very least, Rarity hoped that Lightning Dust would think twice about hunting in this forest again. And if she didn’t, Rarity would be happy to return with Applejack and Rainbow Dash in tow. Perhaps even Twilight Sparkle. It would be quite interesting to see Lightning’s little band deal with that.

Rarity suddenly felt nauseous again.

Lightning’s band.

Rarity had driven Lightning Dust herself away, but the thirteen ponies working for her were still in the forest. And Fluttershy was completely unprotected.

Rarity raced through the trees and cursed herself for forgetting about Lightning’s comrades; how could she let herself get so single-mindedly distracted like that and let Fluttershy be in danger?

Rarity stopped dead in her tracks as she reached a massive clearing in the snow; the impression of a dragon who had been lying here, but no longer was anywhere to be seen.

“Fluttershy?!” Rarity shouted, hoping Fluttershy had just moved to another position, or used her invisibility spell, though the sinking feeling in her gut left her with a different notion.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Rarity shrieked, screaming desperately into the empty forest as she searched desperately for any sign of Fluttershy’s whereabouts.

But no one was around to hear her.

Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know by leaving a comment! I absolutely adore reading them!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[Zeprto678]

I hope Fluttershy is okay.

[ShadowLDrago]

“A tad,” Rarity responded. “But don’t fret, this will be perfect. Now then. Shall we?”

Better overkill than not enough kill.

Lightning Dust roared with an excited grin on her face as she let loose several streams of electricity from her wings; though with Rarity empowered by Fluttershy’s magic, it took zero effort for her to create a barrier that protected her from Lightning’s attack.

Now I'm picturing Lightning Dust sounding like King Ghidorah.

Lightning Dust’s tactics were proving to be quite obnoxious, albeit undoubtedly effective; yet another thing she had in common with Rainbow Dash, quite frankly.

How fitting.

At least that’s what Rarity had expected Fluttershy to do; what Fluttershy did instead was sink her fangs into Lightning Dust’s wrist and tear her entire left hand off, and there was no way Lightning was holding onto Rarity after that.

Oh Christ. Fucking Skywalkered her.

But then she thought of bouncy little Pinkie Pie, and a better idea came to her. She projected a barrier underneath her that her hooves could gently touch down upon, then jumped from that barrier to another she erected in the sky, then another and another until she managed to bounce her way all the way up to Lightning Dust’s head.

Oh that's fucking brilliant!

But she was too late; that brief instant of hesitation was all Lightning needed to grab Rarity in her claw, sword and all. And while Rarity could easily have just stabbed Lightning in the hand and used her blade’s spell then, Lightning threw her to the ground, Rarity colliding with the earth with a pained whine and a disconcerting crack.

OH, that's gotta fuckin' hurt.

“Not worth the effort,” Lightning Dust barked as she flew away and left Rarity behind.

You'll live to regret that.

But no one was around to hear her.

Oh, hell.

[Kaleido]

noooo damnit, that cliffhanger

also kinda glad lightning dust wasn't killed, if only because having a plan to kill everyone you meet doesn't really lead to considering nuance, and they've only met lightning dust this one time

like sure she's *probably* just as bad in general, but they don't know that for certain

glad rarity's finally at least considering the ramifications of an instant death sword :3

[Timuri]

Better track down Fluttershy, Rarity. Hopefully she's just leading the bandits on a wild goose chase.

Also...dragon v dragon combat seems to result in dismemberment rather frequently. They almost have to have effective regenerative magic to deal with losing parts and chunks of limbs so regularly.

[WanderingMelody]

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You're welcome. I pretty much wake up in the morning and check my feed just to read the chapter and the little hype posts you write up for them lol