Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

26. The Cragadile Mission

Rarity stared at her tea getting cold as she sat at a humble table in the corner of the bar of Hunter’s Haven. Her gaze drifted up to the white alicorn looking terribly uncomfortable as she gave polite smiles and conversation to a veritable horde of ponies all gathered around her, eager to share their stories and to hear hers.

It was something Rarity quite admired about Celestia, that she would always give time to those who asked, even if she had none to give.

Rarity took a sip of her tea and her face twisted into a disgusted sneer at the lukewarm beverage, but her disdain quickly faded at the sound of Celestia’s soft laughter.

“I’m sorry,” Celestia said, sitting down in the chair opposite Rarity’s and eyeing her own cup of tea sitting in front of her, “did I keep you waiting long?”

“It’s no trouble,” Rarity said as she pushed her cup toward Celestia, the alicorn hovering her hand over it and returning the drink to a much more agreeable temperature before taking a sip from her own now steaming beverage. “I wasn’t expecting quite so many Slayers to cling to you like that.”

“I was,” Celestia muttered between sips.

“Has it been a while since you were back?” Rarity asked, slightly taken aback by Celestia’s words.

“It has,” Celestia said wistfully.

Rarity followed Celestia’s gaze to look out at the tables that were all crowded by various members of the Celestial Slayers, and Rarity noticed that every single one of them was in a much more delighted and carefree mood than when they had walked in the door.

Such was the power of the Queen, she supposed; to make everyone near her feel safe and comforted. Rarity found herself wishing she had a similar power, but laughed it off as mere fantasy.

“Too long,” Celestia’s voice brought Rarity back to their present conversation. “But I’m afraid I’ve just been too busy to return here very often, as of late.”

“Oh?” Rarity said, curiosity thoroughly piqued. “And why is that, pray tell? I know you’re always quite busy, what with assisting Equestria’s government, overseeing the Slayers, and your own hunts on top of it all, and yet not once have I ever heard you bemoan the business of it. I always just assumed you enjoyed it.”

“I do,” Celestia said defensively, an arched eyebrow from Rarity cluing Celestia in that perhaps she had spoken too quickly and she cleared her throat. “I do,” she said at a much more serene volume. “It’s only been very recently that I’ve been preoccupied more than usual…”

Celestia drifted off and her eyes looked like they were staring into another realm, and Rarity remembered something the Queen had said on their walk here.

“Is it about the winters getting longer?”

Celestia gave Rarity a sharp look for the briefest of moments, but it was quickly washed away by closed eyes and a bright smile.

“Something like that.”

“Well, what is it?” Rarity asked, tapping her nails anxiously against her tea cup. “If the winters are truly getting longer, that’s a problem for all of Equestria, is it not? Should we not be prepared?”

“If I felt you should be concerned,” Celestia’s voice was soft, yet Rarity could feel a sternness to it that warned her to watch her boundaries, “I would let you know. You know I would never keep my subjects, and especially my dearest student, in the dark without reason.

“But I’m afraid I simply don’t have much to say at the moment,” Celestia took another sip of tea and let out a small sigh. “Too many pieces that I haven’t quite put together. But I assure you, Rarity, once there is something to tell, you will be the first to know.”

Rarity let her hands slip away from tea cup and off the table entirely as she leaned back into her chair. That wasn’t the answer she had wanted to hear, she wanted to be in the loop now, but she supposed it wasn’t her place to hurry the Queen.

“By the way,” Celestia said, “you mentioned in your report that you needed more health goo, right?”

Rarity snorted and drew herself up. “I’m quite certain I didn’t phrase it like that.”

“Oh, of course,” Celestia playfully rolled her eyes, “you referred to it as ‘healing ointment’, I believe, which is a far less entertaining term, to be quite honest.”

“It’s a bit more proper though,” Rarity smiled, hiding her disgust for the term ‘health goo’, “don’t you think?”

Celestia simply hummed and a spark of yellow light flashed from her horn, and suddenly two small jars of the healing ointment hovered in the air beside her before floating down onto the table in front of Rarity, alongside a sealed scroll.

“What’s this?” Rarity asked, gently touching a finger to the scroll.

“That is a scroll,” Celestia said with quite the proud smirk on her face, which only widened after Rarity’s unenthused scowl. “I find that when I am having a difficult time with my life as a Slayer, the best way for me to ‘power through’, as it were, is via a distraction. So I am giving you one.”

Rarity unfurled the scroll and looked over the contents, recognizing them immediately as a Slayer’s mission. Her brow furrowed, yet a small smile graced her lips.

“A cragadile?”

Author's Note:

i'm very excited, because tomorrow... the Fated Meeting occurs
and the s.s. raritwi can finally set sail

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[Timuri]

Celestia took another tip of sea and let out a small sigh.

Just some swapped consonants.

If only Rarity knew where Celestia's 'health goo' comes from....bwahahaha

I wonder how much of Celestia and Luna's busy schedule is due to one or both of them needing to put down Slayers that have become petty tyrants and made themselves more of a threat to people than the monsters would have been.

[AppleTank]

>Raritwi
yaaas