Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #291: Visiting Slayer

"Really, Twilight?" asked Rarity, "I was your only option for this?"

"I can't keep him at the castle, Rarity. He unnerves me in a very strange way," said Twilight, glancing around Rarity to the figure currently standing completely still in the centre of Carousel Boutique's shop floor."

"What about-," began Rarity, only for Twilights to cut her off.

"Rainbow Dash's house is made of clouds, Applejack's out of town on a family thing, and if he stayed with Fluttershy we'd never get her to come out of the closet for a year."

"What about Pinkie?"

"I'd rather keep this quiet. Nopony needs to know that he was ever here," said Twilight, "Look, it's only for a few hours until I can calibrate the mirror to lock onto his own dimension, and send him back to wherever he came from."

Rarity sighed, and glanced backwards to where the giant figure was standing.

"Alright, darling, but you are going to owe me a full spa session, and a full explanation once this is all sorted out."

"Thank you so much, Rarity!" said Twilight, quickly hugging Rarity, then flying off in the direction of the Crystal Castle of Friendship. Rarity gave another quick sigh, closed her door, and then turned around to inspect the figure currently standing in her house. He, she supposed, was tall, almost as tall as some of the teenage dragons that she'd encountered, and like them, stood on two legs.

But unlike the dragons, his feed ended not in claws, but blunt, almost hoof-like appendages, while his arms finished in not-quite claws. He was clad almost entirely in some kind of green armour, which completely obscured his natural form. And now that she was alone with this not-dragon, Rarity immediately picked up on what had unnerved Twilight so much.

He was a predator. This was a being that could, without a shadow of a doubt in Rarity's mind, end her. It was in the way that he stood, how he held himself, that even without moving told a tale of blood and violence, and that aeons of prey instincts had immediately picked up on.

"I am, as you have gathered, Rarity, a close friend of Twilight. She should have you back to your home as soon as possible."

The not-dragon predator stayed still and silent.

"Do you have a name, dear?"

Further silence. Rarity couldn't even tell if he was blinking behind the helmet.

"Are you a soldier, where you come from?"

There was a moment of silence, then the head of the not-dragon bobbed up and down once.

"Is that a yes?"

The not-dragon nodded again, and Rarity internally celebrated. It was non-verbal, but at least it was communication. She strode towards the figure, her designer's eyes flicking up and down the armour adorning the figure.

"Ugh, green," muttered Rarity, "hardly the most imposing colour for a soldier, don't you think?"

Despite meaning the question as a rhetorical one, the not-dragon shook it's head from side to side.

Rarity thought for a moment.

"Ah, so it's for camoflage, is it?"

Another negative. Rarity hummed to herself in thought.

"Still, it is rather damaged. I don't suppose that you would allow me to fix it, would you?"

Yet another negative, then a pause, and the not-dragon mimed a knife cutting.

"You want a knife?"

He nodded, and Rarity floated one of her chopping knives out of her kitchen and onto the table besides the not-dragon. He picked it up, and ran the edge over one of the sections of his armour, succeeding in just dulling the knife.

"Ah, it isn't that you won't allow it, it's that you do not believe that I can fix it?"

A nod.

*****Time****

"Can I feel it?" asked Rarity. After a moment, the not-dragon offered out on his arms, and Rarity gingerly ran his hooves over the scarred surface of the armour. It was far harder than anything she had ever felt before, possibly even harder than diamond.

"So, you are right in thinking that I cannot mend your armour, however," began Rarity, "I will not let you go unaccesorised! While your armour may be beyond my means, and your form is not the one I usually design for, never let it be said that Rarity shies away from a challenge!"

Rarity moved away from the not-dragon, her magic pulling out several bolts of cloth.

"Now, you are clearly fond of green, and I will admit, it does seem to work with you, so perhaps-," Rarity was abruptly stopped by a blunt claw pinching around her mouth as she turned to face the not-dragon, and she was abruptly reminded that he was a predator.

Gently, he released Rarity's mouth, and guestured to himself, and then with one of his claws, drew a line across what Rarity supposed would be his throat. Then, he shook he head, and pointed to a nearby half-finished dress.

"You...kill? No dress?" asked Rarity, trying to make sense of the limited communication that she had.

The predator nodded, and picked up the knife again, tapping the point on his arm, then using the knife to cut through a piece of fabric that Rarity had dropped. Once more, he tapped his armour, and nodded his head, then pointed at the dress, and shook his head.

"Armour stops weapons, fabric doesn't," said Rarity, "armour yes, dress no?"

The predator nodded again, leaving Rarity to put the information together in her head.

"So you prefer function over beauty? That whatever it is you do does not let you embellish your outfit?"

Another nod.

"Well, I suppose that I can understand that outlook," said Rarity, "I'll just let you wait until Twilight comes for you, then."

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #291: "It Is Green"
The prompt: Green is your colour.

This is what happens when you try to write horse words to the Doom soundtrack.