286. New Initiative
When Rarity’s parents invited her to come back to ‘their place’, she assumed they meant an inn. She hadn’t realized until she saw the quaint wooden cottage that they led her to that they had purchased yet another summer home right here in the Crystal Empire.
Odd place for a summer home to be sure, all the way up in the Crystal Mountains, but Rarity had long since stopped questioning her parents’ odd financial decisions. It’s not like there was any summer left in Equestria anyway.
Sweetie Belle couldn’t wait to show Apple Bloom her brand new room, and most likely couldn’t wait to start swinging her sword around too, but Rarity and Applejack settled down with Rarity’s parents in the living room, in front of a cozy fireplace.
“So Rarity,” Rarity’s mother said concernedly, Rarity immediately bracing herself for the ol’ parental speech, “how are you doing? After, you know… what happened?”
“You mean with Celestia,” Rarity said coldly, and her parents nodded. Applejack put a comforting hand on Rarity’s shoulder and it made her smile as she traced her fingers over the serpent scale around her neck. “Honestly, I’m not sure what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything if you’re not ready to,” Pearl reassured, and Rarity felt a bit of relief wash over her that her parents weren’t going to pry. “We’re a mite worried about you, but we know how reliable you are, you’ll spring back on your hooves.”
“Thank you,” Rarity said gratefully, bowing her head. It meant the world to her to get that reassurance from her parents; it was almost enough to make her forget about their bigotry for one moment. She didn’t like this dynamic of having to think twice about everything her parents said to her, and all of her emotional reactions to them, but she supposed that was simply the world she lived in now.
“The only thing I’m worried about,” Magnum chimed in, pausing to take a sip of coffee before he continued, “is do you have a plan to support yourself financially? You know your mother and I are always here to help, but not even we have all the money in the world.”
“I…” Rarity paused and considered her words, but quickly decided to just speak from the heart. “Truth be told, I hadn't given it much thought. But you’re right, it is something to be considering for the near future.
“Though, with that said,” Rarity giggled as she thought about her little de facto family she had surrounded herself with, “my friends and I all have incredibly varied skills. I think if we put our heads together, we’ll be able to come up with something, no problem.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were all living together now,” Magnum joked, and his laughter quickly spread to the other three ponies present.
But as Rarity laughed, she wondered… would that be such a bad thing? She looked over at Applejack with a tender smile, and was met by a big goofy beaming grin that caused her heart to swell with affection. Maybe the six of them finding a place together wouldn’t be such a bad idea…
“Y’know, if you really need the work,” Magnum said cheerfully, a wee glimmer in his eye, “you could always put your experience as a former Slayer to good use, like your mom and I are.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked, and she couldn’t help but feel something ominous creeping over her.
“Your father and I have gone into the business of consulting!” Pearl said proudly, Magnum affirmatively nodding his head. “Apparently former Slayers are in high demand now for a new initiative that’s been given Queen Celestia’s full support.”
“New initiative…?” Rarity felt nauseous as she asked the question. She felt Applejack’s hand on hers, but only barely as a flood of memories started to drag her away from the world of flesh and into a realm of reliving her nightmares.
“Yep!” Magnum’s pride made Rarity sick, like a poisoned arrow piercing directly into her heart. “It’s called the Pristine Army!”
Well.
So that was that then.
“The Pristine Army can eat shit!” Applejack shouted and stood up from her chair, startling Rarity and her parents. “Did y’all not hear what they did to the ponies in Seaward Shores? And y’all are gonna trust that kinda—”
“Applejack, please,” Rarity said sharply, squeezing Applejack’s hand. Applejack simmered down and returned to her seat, sharing a pained glance with Rarity. “We shouldn’t base our opinions of the Pristine Army wholly on some ugly rumors.”
“Sorry,” Applejack said shortly, “got a little heated there for a sec, I apologize.”
“Think nothing of it, sweetheart,” Pearl scoffed and batted her hands.
“Will you excuse me for a moment?” Rarity said, shakily standing up. “I think I ate too much at the restaurant, I’m suddenly not feeling very well.”
“By all means, take your time,” Magnum said casually. Rarity was glad that they seemed to take Applejack’s outburst in stride, but that wasn’t making her feel much better about the all of the everything else.
Rarity stepped outside onto the front porch, breathing heavily. All she could feel was stress and anxiety, she couldn’t even consciously assess her thoughts and feelings, she just wanted to scream really loudly.
Her parents were working with the Pristine Army now, huh? Well. Rarity supposed that sort of put the nail in the coffin of any doubt Rarity had to her parents’ allegiances.
While they likely weren’t aware of the Pristine Army’s horrible actions in Seaward Shores, and they certainly weren’t aware of the way they treated Rarity herself, the Pristine Army were not subtle about their goals, or the means with which they would achieve them.
Rarity was not safe around her parents anymore. And honestly? She could live with that.
What she could not live with, was the idea of how her parents’ beliefs would corrupt Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, Rarity,” Applejack joined Rarity on the porch, and rubbed the back of her neck bashfully, “sorry about that little outburst of mine back there. That was uncalled for.”
“Applejack, please don’t apologize,” Rarity chuckled sweetly and put her hand on Applejack’s chest. “I greatly appreciate you sticking up for me, you are absolutely my hero for that,” Applejack blushed and puffed up her chest, “even if… well, let me just say that I don’t want to be on the bad side of the Pristine Army even more than I already am.
“The Army, and Celestia too, are going to do whatever they can to squash those Seaward Shores rumors, and I’d prefer not to have a target on my back. Especially now, knowing that I’m apparently much more connected to the Pristine Army than I would like.”
“Yeah well,” Applejack sighed, leaning against the porch railing with Rarity under her arm, “you ain’t alone on that. Yer parents delightedly informed me that ol’ Granny Smith is workin’ with the Army too. Apparently, she has been for a while.”
“So,” Rarity groaned, “you told me a while back that she ‘got in touch with some old friends’, and they were helping her with her financial situation…”
“Dollars to donuts her ‘old friends’ are with the Pristine Army, yeah,” Applejack said dourly, and Rarity dragged her hands down her face. “So what do we do now?”
“A whole lot of not much, I’m afraid,” Rarity sighed and crossed her arms. “There will come a point where we’ll need to confront our families about their bigotry.”
“Of course,” Applejack nodded sternly.
“But that time needs to wait until doing so doesn’t put us in immediate danger,” Rarity said. “For now, what I’m most concerned with are the children, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. We can’t let them be completely corrupted by the bigotry of our parents.”
“I agree,” Applejack said and clapped Rarity’s shoulder. “Which means there’s only one thing to do.”
“We need to introduce them to Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy,” Rarity said. “The real Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.”
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Downside: Finding out your parents are actually a little more racist than you thought.
Upside: Made the feature box again.
Thanks for writing boss, I'll be sure to check out Sunlight Underground soon.
I think that Applebloom will respond to AJ more than Granny, but Sweetie Belle is a wildcard. She idolizes Rarity to follow in her hoofsteps to be the best slayer. Her parents were slayers. I can only hope AB can pull SB from the fire. Looking forward to your take on that meeting.
Quite.
Well, we can agree on that.
To say the least.
New what now?
Ah. That.
Yeah, that, that’s a no.
And unfortunately, it’s their word against yours.
Lovely.
Best of luck.
(If I'm not commenting on these as promptly as I usually do, it’s because the shift keys on my computer no longer work, so I'm having to make do with what I have, but rest assured, I will keep commenting on this and Sunlight Underground.)
i CANNOT decide which story I love more, Sunlight Underground or Azure Edge.
But ugh that was expected but still rough. I love Sweetie and Applebloom the way you write them though. I really look forwards to seeing them meet Fluttershy and Twilight!!
Its time to kidnap the fillies!
not technically, but as for how it's actually been working out, yeah
fun fun fun fun fun
eyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
oh no
oooh
yes
oh dang, and that's their in with scootaloo too
hmm
yes
wait, actually, i have to ask: did rarity's parents really buy a home in the outskirts of the Crystal Empire, the only place near/in equestria where dragons are allowed to exist (if only as second class citizens), while being former slayers and bigots?
like arent they supposed to be terrified? or is it okay because crystal empire dragons are thought of as "domesticated/in chains" or sth
that or it's just cognitive dissonance or sth