Piece by Piece

by Eltirions

Chapter 3: Clearing the air

9 December 1008

‘’Ha-ha,’’ Rainbow said slowly. ‘’Very funny.’’

Rarity managed one more chuckle as her laughter died down. ‘’Apologies darling, but that was just too perfect.’’

‘’It’s cool.’’ In an instant, Rainbow’s expression was back to normal. ‘’But seriously? You kids never heard of me?’’

‘’I did,’’ Flurry spoke up as she took a few steps towards Rainbow. ‘’Hi Miss Rainbow. How are you?’’

Rainbow’s smirk turned into a more kind smile. ‘’I’m doing great, kiddo. How about you? Use your wings a lot? They’re made for flying, after all.’’

‘’Yeah, I fly sometimes,’’ Flurry answered. ‘’Not very high though. My guards say that’s not safe.’’

‘’Safe? Ha!’’ Rainbow scoffed. ‘’I’ll come with you next time, squirt. You don’t gotta worry ‘bout a thing then. Even if you fall, I’ll catch you. Rarity can tell you how good I am at doing that.’’

Ah, of course. ‘’You caught me in time,’’ Rarity affirmed. ‘’Barely, but still.’’

‘’You were unharmed,’’ Rainbow added. ‘’And you would’ve been caught earlier, if you hadn’t knocked out the Wonderbolts that were trying to rescue you.’’

Rarity bowed her head. ‘’Yes, well. I was panicking, as you can imagine.’’

‘’Hey, no hard feelings,’’ Rainbow said. ‘’You can’t all be as awesome as me!’’

‘’Right,’’ Rarity said after a few seconds of silence. ‘’Darlings, why don’t we all head to the palace? I think we can all use some food.’’

‘’Food sounds great,’’ Rainbow remarked. ‘’Flying from Whinnyapolis to here was a little tiring.’’

What.

‘’I would think so,’’ Rarity exclaimed. ‘’That’s quite the distance.’’

‘’Almost five hundred kilometres,’’ Rainbow proudly declared, ‘’in about four hours. Just don’t expect me to do much else today.’’

‘’You must be exhausted!’’ Rarity grabbed Rainbow’s hoof. ‘’Come, you need to rest.’’

‘’Rares, I’m fine-’’ Rainbow lied as she tried to pull her hoof away. The fact that she didn’t succeed in doing so was proof enough.

‘’You are not, and that is that,’’ Rarity declared. Just have to explain this to Flurry.

She turned to face the filly. ‘’Flurry, I’m going to make sure Rainbow gets some food and then some rest, and then I’ll come back here, okay? I won’t be gone too long.’’

Flurry naturally didn’t look very pleased, but she nodded anyway. ‘’Sure thing, auntie. When will you be back?’’

‘’I’m not sure, sweetheart,’’ Rarity replied. ‘’I don’t think it’ll be much longer than an hour though.’’

‘’Okay…’’ Flurry stepped forward and gave her a hug. Rarity let go of Rainbow to hug the filly back, but managed to grab Rainbow before she could attempt to flee.

‘’Goodbye, darlings. It was a pleasure to meet you all, and I can’t wait to learn more about you.’’

‘’Goodbye, my lady.’’

‘’Bye miss!’’

‘’Have a good day, Governess Belle.’’

‘’Goodbye.’’

With that said, Rarity walked away from the foals, dragging Rainbow along with her.

‘’Auntie?’’ Rainbow asked as soon as they were far enough from the foals. ‘’What’s up with that?’’

Rarity turned her head and raised an eyebrow. ‘’The Empress named me her guardian, Rainbow. Is it really that weird?’’

The full story is.

‘’... I guess not,’’ Rainbow admitted. She fell silent for a few seconds. ‘’Please don’t tell Applejack about-’’

‘’I won’t,’’ Rarity promised as they approached the entrance to the palace.

Rainbow craned her neck to look at the top of the palace. ‘’I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Harmony totally ripped off this when she made Twilight’s castle.’’

‘’That… huh. Now you mention it, I see the resemblance.’’ Rarity looked up at the palace as well. ‘’The tint of the crystals is different though.’’

‘’Eh, who cares about that?’’ Rainbow flicked her wing dismissively. ‘’It’s a lot taller than Twilight’s castle, I’ll give it that.’’

They entered the palace and made for the dining room. Once inside, Rarity ordered some hay and greens, plus a canister of water. Rainbow continued to say she didn’t need the food up until the point it arrived, at which point she ate it all with a speed more fitting of Pinkie Pie than herself.

‘’Had your fill, darling?’’ Rarity teasingly asked when the food was eaten.

‘’Yeah yeah,’’ Rainbow chuckled. ‘’Good food. Thanks, Rares.’’

Rarity shifted a little closer to Rainbow, and put her hoof on the pegasi’s. ‘’Anytime, darling. And if there’s anything you need? Just ask.’’

Rainbow pulled her head away, with a look of suspicion on her face. ‘’Rares,’’ she said slowly, as if the very words were dangerous, ‘’are you trying to hit on me?’’

What. ‘’N-no…?’’

‘’Are you asking or telling me?’’ Rainbow tried to keep her tone light, but her facial expression and stance were serious.

I’m not- why would she think I’d do that? I wouldn’t hit on her… would I?

She actually wasn’t sure. That was a very scary thought. In the past, whenever she’d been flirting with someone, it had been a conscious effort on her part, and while it wasn’t always smart, she decided when she stopped and how far she went.

‘’I mean,’’ Rainbow said, ‘’I’m not going to pretend like I haven’t thought about this. You’re a beautiful mare, Rarity, we both know that. Just like we both know I’m awesomely attractive and sexy.’’ She struck a pose and winked.

Even as her cheeks heated slightly, Rarity let out a nervous giggle. ‘’I- I am- well, you are.’’

Rainbow’s face broke as she blinked. ‘’You really think that?’’

‘’Of course. I’d never lie to you, Rainbow,’’ Rarity said. ‘’Not about that.’’

‘’I kinda figured that already, but you never know, right?’’ Rainbow managed a weak chuckle at her own joke.

Rarity hummed. ‘’In any case, I’m glad you’re here, darling.’’

‘’It’s good to be back here,’’ Rainbow said. ‘’This isn’t Ponyville, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s nice, in its own way.’’

‘’The restoration is coming along nicely,’’ Rarity picked up the conversation. ‘’I had the roads repaired first, as you may have noticed. Then we started on the homes.’’

‘’Yeah, I saw all the roads and railways were either fixed or being fixed when I flew here. Lots of hard work, it appeared. I thought crystal ponies were fragile.’’

‘’Oh, hardly,’’ Rarity said. ‘’I haven’t had as much time to read about them and their history as I would have liked, but I can tell you that they’re just as tough as any other pony. When they were expanding the Empire, they fought against other ponies, yaks, changelings, dragons and all sorts of monsters.’’

‘’Really?’’ Rainbow looked as surprised as Rarity had when she found that out. ‘’Huh. I guess that explains why they were hard to defeat. Which reminds me…’’ She shifted. ‘’I have another duty here, beyond making sure everything is safe for the Empress’ upcoming arrival and guarding you and Flurry.’’

Rarity sat up a little. ‘’And what is that duty?’’

‘’I’m supposed to help with the training and recruitment of the new Crystal Guard,’’ Rainbow said. ‘’It’s going to be part of a larger effort by the Empress to get the Crystal Empire back into fighting shape. She’s going to bring some talented unicorn mage and an earth pony with her, and the three of us are going to be responsible for the Empire’s military.’’

Rarity wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

I knew this would happen. Nightmare Moon intends to make sure all of Equus is under her reign, and the Crystal Empire has a part to play in that. ‘’Why you? Don’t take this the wrong way, but the Crystal Empire barely has any pegasi. Or unicorns, for that matter.’’

‘’Well, apparently there’s going to be a lot of ‘encouragement’ to get people to move here,’’ Rainbow said. ‘’I don’t know any details, but it seems they’re giving refugees from the civil war a chance to settle here. There’s a lot of space to go around, after all.’’

That, Rarity couldn’t deny. The Crystal Empire was pretty much empty outside of Crystal City and its surroundings, so any immigrants would have plenty of room to settle.

‘’And,’’ Rainbow went on, ‘’apparently the Empress wants to experiment, try out some new tactics and strategies. They want to mix units together, see what works and what doesn’t. The Empress is going to explain everything when she gets here.’’

Rarity raised an eyebrow. ‘’How do you know that?’’

‘’She told me.’’

Rarity’s other eyebrow joined the first. ‘’Told you?’’

‘’Yeah, she kinda invited me to have tea with her in Manehattan, just after I’d finished my tests to see if I was fit to enter the Shadowbolts - I was, of course. Kicked all of the other trainees’ flanks, and then the examinator’s for good measure. Anyway, I had tea with her in the Crystaller Building, and we talked a lot. Cleared the air.’’ Rainbow smiled wistfully. ‘’She complimented my flying skills. Oh, and she forgave me for the Elements.’’

‘’She did that with me too,’’ Rarity offered. ‘’Dismissed the Elements as an understandable reaction.’’

‘’I was expecting her to be angry about it,’’ Rainbow admitted, ‘’but, you won’t hear me complaining about my new status.’’ She gestured her wing at herself. ‘’It’s not the same as being a Wonderbolt, but it’s the next best thing. And protecting Equestria is worth the uniform.’’

‘’I can take a look at it,’’ Rarity suggested, ‘’see if I can make some improvements to it.’’

Rainbow gave her a flat look. ‘’No offense, Rares, but while I’m sure you could make this look absolutely fabulous, the whole point is to be intimidating, swift and hard to see. That’s kinda not your style.’’

Rarity bowed her head in acknowledgement. ‘’Point well taken, darling.’’

‘’But…’’ Rainbow’s smirk crept up again, ‘’you can take my measurements, if you’d like to.’’

‘’Now look who’s flirting,’’ Rarity couldn’t help but quip.

Rainbow flushed, but didn’t deny it. ‘’So where do I sleep tonight?’’ she asked instead. ‘’You got room for me somewhere in this massive palace of yours?’’

‘’I do,’’ Rarity affirmed. ‘’The rooms for visiting delegates are all empty, save for the one I use.’’

Rainbow tilted her head. ‘’I thought you’d use… well, Cadence’s old room…’’

Rarity shook her head. ‘’Sombra destroyed it. I kept it that way; until the Empress has seen it for herself, I won’t do anything with it.’’

‘’Sounds smart,’’ Rainbow remarked after a moment of thought. ‘’Now, care to show me my room? ‘cause I’m gonna take one long nap in that bed.’’

Rarity smiled, and reached out with her hoof again. ‘’Follow me, darling.’’

Author's Note:

And then Rainbow Dash appeared.

Until now, I've never really done anything with her. But the conversation between Rarity and her was one of the most easy dialogues I've ever written, I think. But if I messed it up, do tell me.

In any case, this was fun to write. Which, ultimately, is the best reason to write, no? Next chapter will be Rarity playing games with Flurry and her friends. Besides that? No idea. After that? No idea either.

Comments

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[coto616]

This is good and i cant see where this is going

[The Great Scribbly One]

Turns out flying at an average of 125km/h will take the wind out of you, who'd have thought?