Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

253. The Fated Confrontation With Shining Armor

“Long time no see, Twily.”

That’s what the massive silver dragon Shining Armor said as he stood on the cliffs running along the side of the Crystal Mountains, his sister Twilight Sparkle staring him down for the first time in what must’ve been uuhhhhh a really long time.

But it was now or never. She was face to face with him, and there was only one way she could respond to this situation.

By teleporting away, leaving the Grrrrreat and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!!!! alone on the mountainside with Shining Armor, who she barely knew.

Well this was awkward.

Trixie let out a cough as Shining Armor took a sec for his brain to catch up to what just happened, and then his horn glowed with magic.

“Heyheyhey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Trixie clamored, floating into the air on her compact wings and batting her claw at the much, much bigger dragon.

“I’m going after my sister, obviously,” Shining Armor scoffed, likely viewing Trixie’s interruption as nothing more than a nuisance. Rude. “I haven’t seen her in years, I—”

“If she wanted to talk to you, she would still be here,” Trixie said coldly, staring right into Shining Armor’s eyes. What this man had in size, he completely lacked in balls, and Trixie was able to cow him easily. “Don’t you think you should respect that?”

“She— she’s my sister,” Shining Armor said weakly, and Trixie didn’t even bother trying to hide her rolling her eyes.

“And?” she said flatly.

“W-why doesn’t she want to talk to me?” seeing the big beefy dragon whimper like a newborn was… something. Trixie had kinda figured the siblings’ bad blood went both ways, but apparently Shining Armor was outta the loop.

Lucky for him, Trixie was happy to shed light on the situation.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Trixie arched an eyebrow. When Shinining Armor predictably didn’t have much of a response, Trixie proceeded to float on her back, with her claws laying over her belly. “She’s pissed off at you, and rightfully so honestly.”

“Why is she mad at me?” dude said indignantly, and Trixie swore she was talking to a wall.

“I dunno, my dude,” Trixie groaned, “maybe it’s cuz it was your dumbass idea to put the dragons in collars and hand their leashes to the Crystal Empire.”

“Don’t you even start,” Shining growled. Ah, there was his spine; Trixie was starting to wonder if he even had one. “You of all creatures don’t have a place to speak about—”

“Why?” Trixie grinned like a cat. She loved getting under dudes’ skin. “Cuz I bailed when the writing was on the wall?”

“Because the only reason our clan took you in was because of your relationship with Twilight,” Shining Armor spat, and the irony was delicious, but it paled in comparison to that sweet, sweet obliviousness. “Without her, you wouldn’t have had any part in the progress that our clan made.”

“You call living under the thumbs of ponies progress?” Trixie said sharply; now she was starting to get a little irritated. “I call it bullshit. You were never interested in ‘progress’, you were only ever interested in avoiding conflict. I guess you got what you wanted, how come you aren’t happy?”

Shining Armor said nothing, and Trixie wasn’t irritated anymore, she was happy again just to see the color drain from Shining’s face.

Fun fact: Trixie barely knew what she was saying. She didn’t know jack about Shining Armor as a person, but she sure knew what everyone thought of him, and how to use that information to hurt him.

The Sunlight clan held the hope of thousands of dragons on their shoulders, and Shining Armor held an influential position in the clan— which was of course only because he was the brother of one of the two dragons who the clan was rallied around— and so when his decisions led to the clan’s downfall, his name practically became a curse among the people whose hopes he shattered.

But because he was still quote-unquote ‘respected’, especially by ponies looking for a useful token, no one dared be honest to his face. But in a bar, where they thought only the booze was listening? Trixie had gotten quite an earful of people’s real feelings.

“I did what I had to,” Shining Armor said, and if that limpdick tone even convinced himself, then he was more pathetic than Trixie thought. “We were headed toward all-out war! After Sunset disappeared, someone had to do something…”

Ah, Sunset Shimmer, the other leader of the Sunlight clan. Whereas Twilight Sparkle was a prep school dork who could tell you every trivial little fact about magic thanks to her nerdliness and her formal education, Sunset was the exact opposite.

She was a freak of nature and no one knew where she came from, but she was bold, charismatic, and powerful. And in the Dragon Lands, that’s all you needed to make a name for yourself. Fact that she was cute too was just a bonus.

She was rebellious, aggressive, and she had no patience for the ways ponies treated dragons. In a way, she was everything ponies had been taught to fear about dragons, and that made her a hero to every dragon that met her. Well, except for the bootlickers, obviously. They always hated her, and the feeling was more than mutual.

According to Trixie’s info, Sunset was supposed to show up to a meeting with the pony chancellor Starlight Glimmer, but she never arrived to the meeting and no one knew what happened to her. Foul play was obvious to anyone with a brain, but of course the Empire denied it.

Most people chalked Sunset up as being dead already, but Trixie was willing to bet against that. Frankly, hard to believe someone like Sunset Shimmer even could be killed.

A tired groan from Shining Armor reminded Trixie that he was even still here and she couldn’t help her grumble of resentment. She wasn’t sure how much of the blame for Sunlight’s downfall could be blamed on him, or any one person for that matter, but he was a bootlicker for sure and that was enough reason to hate him.

“Alright, so anyway,” Trixie hit the ground and arched her back, flaring out her wings. “I’m outta here. If you wanna try and grab Twilight again, I’m not gonna stop ya. But you should think it through first.”

“I won’t,” Shining Armor hung his head and sighed. “Will you tell her that I miss her though? That I’d like to apologize if she’ll let me?”

“You don’t apologize with words, my dude,” Trixie shrugged. “Get the boot outta your mouth and then maybe she’ll wanna talk.”

Author's Note:

the ol' swapsie, i GOTCHA

also the term "bootlicker" doesn't make a whole lot of sense in universe cuz neither ponies nor dragons where boots, but i'm gonna just chalk it up to etymology being weird and dumb all the time

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

[ShadowLDrago]

But it was now or never. She was face to face with him, and there was only one way she could respond to this situation.

By teleporting away, leaving the Grrrrreat and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!!!! alone on the mountainside with Shining Armor, who she barely knew.

DAMMIT, TWILIGHT!

“If she wanted to talk to you, she would still be here,” Trixie said coldly, staring right into Shining Armor’s eyes. What this man had in size, he completely lacked in balls, and Trixie was able to cow him easily. “Don’t you think you should respect that?”

And yet this confrontation does need to happen.

“Why?” Trixie grinned like a cat. She loved getting under dudes’ skin. “Cuz I bailed when the writing was on the wall?”

You love getting under everyone's skins.

But because he was still quote-unquote ‘respected’, especially by ponies looking for a useful token, no one dared be honest to his face. But in a bar, where they thought only the booze was listening? Trixie had gotten quite an earful of people’s real feelings.

I see.

She was a freak of nature and no one knew where she came from, but she was bold, charismatic, and powerful. And in the Dragon Lands, that’s all you needed to make a name for yourself. Fact that she was cute too was just a bonus.

I see...

“You don’t apologize with words, my dude,” Trixie shrugged. “Get the boot outta your mouth and then maybe she’ll wanna talk.”

I get the feeling it's not that simple.

also the term "bootlicker" doesn't make a whole lot of sense in universe cuz neither ponies nor dragons where boots, but i'm gonna just chalk it up to etymology being weird and dumb all the time

Wait, do ponies have feet or hooves in this? I can never remember.

[Leaf Blade]

10329345
pones have hooves. imagine being the kind of coward who would give ponies feet smh

[Kaleido]

By teleporting away, leaving the Grrrrreat and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!!!! alone on the mountainside with Shining Armor, who she barely knew.

yessssss
well done
but also hi pov trixie!

“If she wanted to talk to you, she would still be here,” Trixie said coldly, staring right into Shining Armor’s eyes. What this man had in size, he completely lacked in balls, and Trixie was able to cow him easily. “Don’t you think you should respect that?”

wow
trixie's doing well!

“Isn’t it obvious?” Trixie arched an eyebrow. When Shinining Armor predictably didn’t have much of a response, Trixie proceeded to float on her back, with her claws laying over her belly. “She’s pissed off at you, and rightfully so honestly.”

trixie's pulling a rainbow and defying gravity casually while focusing on something completely different

“Because the only reason our clan took you in was because of your relationship with Twilight,” Shining Armor spat, and the irony was delicious, but it paled in comparison to that sweet, sweet obliviousness. “Without her, you wouldn’t have had any part in the progress that our clan made.”

hmm
hmmmmmm
shining forming an in group
of like
"oh yeah, we're super great because we're super oppressed. progress!"
hmm

ok i love that this entire confrontation is just trixie messing with him with actual points, while twi is just like "fuck this i'm out" 2 seconds in
perfect

Fun fact: Trixie barely knew what she was saying. She didn’t know jack about Shining Armor as a person, but she sure knew what everyone thought of him, and how to use that information to hurt him.

wow ouch

“I did what I had to,” Shining Armor said, and if that limpdick tone even convinced himself, then he was more pathetic than Trixie thought. “We were headed toward all-out war! After Sunset disappeared, someone had to do something…”

oh
oh
disappeared

Ah, Sunset Shimmer, the other leader of the Sunlight clan. Whereas Twilight Sparkle was a prep school dork who could tell you every trivial little fact about magic thanks to her nerdliness and her formal education, Sunset was the exact opposite.

oh
they were co-leaders
oh no

According to Trixie’s info, Sunset was supposed to show up to a meeting with the pony chancellor Starlight Glimmer, but she never arrived to the meeting and no one knew what happened to her. Foul play was obvious to anyone with a brain, but of course the Empire denied it.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

A tired groan from Shining Armor reminded Trixie that he was even still here and she couldn’t help her grumble of resentment. She wasn’t sure how much of the blame for Sunlight’s downfall could be blamed on him, or any one person for that matter, but he was a bootlicker for sure and that was enough reason to hate him.

"bootlicker" is still a glorious insult

also the term "bootlicker" doesn't make a whole lot of sense in universe cuz neither ponies nor dragons where boots, but i'm gonna just chalk it up to etymology being weird and dumb all the time

yeah, language often doesn't really make sense
and sometimes, making sense to the audience is much more important than making sense in universe

[Timuri]

Really seems like you dislike Shining Armor here. Seems like almost all of these dragons' problems are being laid at his paws. Not that he's blameless, though I suppose part of it is Trixie layering over things to try to piss him off.

On that note, Trixie really enjoys getting under someone's skin. Perhaps as a way to cope with being a mini-dragon?