265. Be My Sword
Rarity gasped.
It was the most harrowing breath she had ever taken in her life. Her eyes snapped open but everything was a blur. She breathed heavily, panicked, but she was breathing. She heard coughing. Was that her? No, it was—
“Rainb—”
Now she was coughing. Practically hacking up a lung but her vision was starting to come back, and she saw Rainbow sitting up, drenched in frigid water and scurrying on her flank away from the river, coughing her guts out with another woman kneeling next to her and patting her back.
“Wh—wha—”
“You saved my life once before,” a regal woman’s voice echoed in Rarity’s ears, and she looked up to see the majestic form of a dragon sitting on the shore, her body half submerged in water. It was Rain Shine. “I felt it only natural to return the favor.”
“If it weren’t for you, we would have—” Rarity held her hand up to her mouth, and tears flowed from her eyes.
Rain Shine slithered onto the land and wrapped her serpentine body around Rarity like a fortress of comfort, Rarity burying herself in Rain Shine’s fluffy, cloudlike mane of soft hair, whimpering at first, but quickly escalating into full on sobbing and weeping.
There was a lot on Rarity’s mind already, and nearly being killed in a horrifying way and practically seeing her life flash before her eyes and knowing there was no way she could have saved herself was quite the proverbial last straw, and she couldn’t stop herself from breaking down crying.
She couldn’t deny the truth any more; Celestia was beyond redeeming. Rarity had held hope that she would be able to get through to her mentor somehow, but after seeing the Pristine Army at work…
Honestly, it wasn’t even so much a matter of whether she was ‘beyond’ redemption or not, the hard truth was that trying to give Celestia any more leeway would be dangerous to Rarity, and to the people she cared about.
Rarity needed to think clearly and realize that trying to help a bigot pull her own head out of her ass wasn’t worth the risk of Rarity of her loved ones being harmed by that person’s actions, and by Rarity’s complicity.
She had to let Celestia go.
Being betrayed by Blueblood stung too, Rarity couldn’t deny that. She had been mildly infatuated with him for a time, but her recent experience forced her to admit the truth; he was an attractive man that symbolized what Rarity had to give up. She met him while she was still struggling with her own bigotry, and at the time she wanted to be swept up by this charming man and continue living a comfortable lie.
But she wasn’t that person anymore, and seeing Blueblood’s true colors exposed so drastically just put into perfect clarity how foolish Rarity had been this entire time.
Frankly, it was a dire warning for Celestia as well; Rarity thought Celestia above things like tying Rarity’s legs to a cinder block and trying to drown her in the river, but…
She would have thought Blueblood above such things too.
And honestly, it wasn’t even just them! It was all of the Slayers! All of Rarity’s colleagues that she had grown up admiring, fought alongside, and shared stories with. Perhaps Tempest Shadow wasn’t a huge loss, but Coloratura and Spitfire too, she had to cut them all out. Rarity couldn’t make space in her life any longer for bigots.
It was necessary, but it was still painful.
Rarity’s body shaking from the cold even within the embrace of a dragon didn’t help, nor did her mind flashing back every other second to her struggling in the iron wagon, or hopping to the river, or watching Blueblood drop the cinder block in the river, or feeling herself being tugged to the bottom, or—
It was too much.
So. Rarity filed it away to be dealt with at another time.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity was still breathing heavy, but she got her crying under control. Her eyes were a mess though. “How are you feeling?”
“Uhhh,” Rainbow groaned, the other woman rubbing her back. “I’m like— I dunno, okay, I guess? Like, I’m not dead, so that’s something.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Rarity nodded and bit her thumb.
There was still a village in danger, and Rarity and Rainbow were now less equipped to deal with it. She hated the idea that they would have to simply cut their losses and abandon these ponies to their fates, but what other choice did they have now?
That said, Rarity wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
“Rain Shine?” Rarity asked, the dragon tilting her head and awaiting Rarity’s words. “What are you planning on doing now?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Rain Shine growled. “Autumn Blaze and I are going to kill every member of this accursed Pristine Army.”
Rarity gasped under her breath, horrified. But then she wondered… would that really be such a bad thing? How much mercy did these ponies deserve; these ponies who would so cruelly attack others for no cause other than to justify their own bigotry?
The idea of Blueblood getting crushed to death by the fangs of a dragon certainly wasn’t an unappealing one.
Though Rarity wondered if that was just her own pain and anger talking, and if perhaps resorting to murder like that was still wrong regardless of the target.
Honestly, she didn’t know.
But also, it wasn’t relevant.
“Celestia,” Rarity said coldly. “Celestia is here, and if she sees you, she’ll—”
Rarity hardly had to say what would happen if Queen Celestia locked eyes on a dragon, which was good because she didn’t have the stomach to.
“I have an idea,” Autumn Blaze said with a grin, swaying her hips from side to side. “Celestia will kill us if she sees us, right? But she won’t kill these two, probably. What if they went in to deal with the Pristine Army on our behalf? Using our magic?”
“You would have ponies fight our battles for us, Autumn Blaze?” Rain Shine’s nose wrinkled as she looked down on the other woman.
“I would have ponies fight our battle on this front,” Autumn said sharply, “while we fight it on another. One that won’t get us extremely killed by the Hunter Queen of Equestria. Not even Lord Sombra wants to tangle with her.”
“Ugh, don’t say that name,” Rain Shine rubbed her temples, “you’ll give me a headache.” Autumn Blaze just laughed into her hand.
Rain Shine took a deep breath, and her gaze fell upon Rarity, who looked into the dragon’s eyes with fire burning in her heart.
“These ponies took me in and took care of me,” Rain Shine said, “with no regard to me being a dragon. I owe them a debt.”
“I promise you,” Rarity said sternly, “I won’t let the ponies of this village come to any more harm.”
“Then Miss Rarity,” Rain Shine said coolly as her eyes lit up with ethereal blue flame, “you will be my sword.”
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Rain Shine, you beautiful woman who lives in the water!
Yeah...
Celestia must be stopped. No matter the cost.
Sadly, that's how it is.
While on one hand I feel like that'd be proving Celestia's point, on the other hand she's a bigot, fuck her and her army and doing nothing will be worse.
Oh? You know him?
And here we go.
media.tenor.com/images/b354d81055a9bb6ee7aa9783a0411102/tenor.gif
awwww, hooray!
oof, yeah that's a good framing
it's entirely that trusting celestia right now in any manner would be dangerous
ooh, now that's a plan
ooooooh
yessssss, yessss!
no gear, no armor, but you've got magic buffs and lots of righteous indignation
they'll do great
We are beyond words... now it is time for action.
Awesone chapter as always and you know we love your stories just as much we love you, keep ot up.