Rarity is a Slayer. Her life is devoted to hunting the bloodthirsty beasts and magical monsters that would threaten the sleepy winter homes of Equestria, but that doesn't mean she can't flirt with the cute librarian during her days off. [Omniship]
When a rampaging roc, deadly dragon, or horrifying hellhound threatens the idyllic snowy vistas of Equestria, it's the mission of the Celestial Slayers to protect the ponies, and hunt the bloodthirsty beasts that would harm them.
Rarity is one such Slayer. A woman who has devoted everything to saving the lives of ponies, and ending the lives of monsters. For Rarity, there is no life outside the Hunt.
Except for her time spent at the Golden Oaks Library, flirting with the cute librarian.
A slow-burn, Raritwi-flavored Omniship adventure. Inspired by Earthsong9405's Slayer!AU where Rarity hunts monsters and Twilight's a peaceful librarian.
“That’s right,” Rarity chirped, snatching the scroll out of Rainbow’s hands. “Apparently a nasty pack of them has been terrorizing the nearby town of Ponyville, crawling out of the Everfree Forest to snatch livestock and even attacking farmers, or anyone who gets too close to the forest, so I’m going down there to take care of them.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Rainbow grumbled, resting her elbow on the marble bar of the vacant tavern the two were sharing drinks at. “Winter’s here again which means all kinds of monsters are gonna be crawlin’ outta the woodwork to make life harder for ponies-” Rainbow cackled “-which is great news for us Celestial Slayers!”
“Perhaps,” Rarity sighed, shooting her friend a bemused look that went unnoticed as Rainbow Dash buried herself in her mug of cider.
While the prospect of getting more work was a promising one, Rarity couldn’t take that much joy from the knowledge that the lives of Equestria’s citizens were going to become much more dangerous over the next three months, just like every winter season.
“I just wish I could go with,” Rainbow pouted and rubbed a hand across her shoulder.
“Well perhaps if you hadn’t been so reckless,” Rarity gently chided, absentmindedly swishing her glass of cider to and fro, “you wouldn’t have gotten injured and then you would be able to go with me!”
“Please,” Rainbow rolled her eyes and grinned at Rarity, “you call dragging a bugbear through a raging thunder cloud ‘reckless’? That’s barely even a workout! Just my bad luck the thing wouldn’t let go of my shoulder is all.”
“We could have taken it down from a distance-” Rarity chuckled, and she took a sip of her cider, letting a satisfied ‘ah’ escape her lips “-is all I’m saying.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow laughed and playfully punched Rarity in the arm. “And we could’ve taken out that Quarray Eel from the outside, you didn’t have to jump into its mouth! And you’re calling me reckless!”
“I’m not reckless!” Rarity gasped and dramatically placed a hand over her heart. “I’m confident!” Rarity smirked proudly and ran a hand through her elegant curls.
“Right,” Rainbow gave that obnoxiously smug smirk of hers and rolled her eyes as she moved to drink from her cider mug, though instead of putting the drink to her lips, she held it in front of her and stared into the cup, and Rarity was stricken by the sudden dourness marring Rainbow’s face.
“Something the matter, darling?”
“It’s funny,” Rainbow’s cold tone was anything but ‘funny’ as she slowly swished around her mug, “you’re usually so cautious and methodical, but that thing with the Quarray Eel-“ Rainbow shook her head and frowned deeply, and the hairs on Rarity’s neck stood on edge “-you’ve been pulling weird stunts like that a lot lately. It’s not like you.”
“Like I said,” Rarity limply batted a hand, “I’m just confident. I’ve been hunting monsters for a long time, Rainbow, I know it will take more than just some silly Quarray Eel to kill me.”
“I guess.”
An ugly pause.
Rainbow was clearly unconvinced, and her doubt was starting to affect Rarity as well.
Rarity reached her hand across the bar to place it over Rainbow’s. “I assure you, my dear,” Rainbow looked up to skeptically meet Rarity’s gaze, and Rarity offered an enchanting smile, “everything is fine with me. There’s no need to fret.”
Rainbow’s warm smile was almost enough to convince Rarity that she had said those words to convince Rainbow instead of to convince herself.
“Alright,” Rainbow placed her other hand atop Rarity’s,” if you say so.”
“I do!” Rarity giggled and stood to her hooves, taking one last sip of her cider before placing her hands gently on Rainbow’s shoulders, making sure to be cautious of her friend’s injury.
“Now,” Rarity said, “I have to go. I need to stop by the blacksmith to make sure all my equipment is in order, plus I need to pick up my travelling companion.”
“Yeah, alright,” Rainbow sighed and stretched her arms up, resting them atop her head. “I’ll buy you a drink if you come back uninjured, then on the next job we can go together, ya got it?”
“I’ll hold you to it!” Rarity clapped her hands. “We’ll drink to our health and to a safe winter.”
Rarity gave Rainbow a friendly kiss on the head and headed for the door, stopping just short to leave some parting advice. “Though you had better let that injury of yours recover! No sense in getting hurt again before you even get better!”
“Be careful,” Rainbow said flatly, looking at Rarity with a dreadful amount of concern, “okay, Rarity?”
“Darling,” Rarity offered a sympathetic smile, “it’s only timberwolves. Hardly anything to fret over.”
Rainbow frowned and bit her lip, but said nothing.
Rarity relented, rolling her head back and giving a theatric sigh. “I promise I’ll be careful. I want you to treat me to that drink, after all.”
That seemed to cheer Rainbow up, as she smiled and opened her mouth to speak, though she soon thought better of it. Rarity shrugged it off and turned to leave, but as she put her hand on the doorknob, Rainbow called out to her.
“Wait, hold on a sec!”
Rarity turned with a bemused look and arched an eyebrow.
“Uh, if you’re going to see the blacksmith,” Rainbow stuttered, her cheeks turning bright red like an apple and her eyes darting around at everything but Rarity, “could you tell her I said, uh… ummmm…”
“I’ll tell her you said ‘ummmm’,” Rarity said with a wink, spinning on her hooves and exiting the bar before the flustered Rainbow Dash could compose herself enough to offer a retort, though Rarity could hear Rainbow’s indignant protests even from outside, which made her giggle.
Rarity walked across the snowy stone streets of Canterlot on her way to the blacksmith, looking around at the small village around her— though calling the lonely and somber Moon District a ‘village’ was a tad generous.
The Moon District was more a ramshackle collection of stone huts practically buried at the foot of the mountains; basically an afterthought compared to Canterlot’s glorious Sun District that was nestled snugly into the mountainside.
Rarity was content to call the Moon District her home, however. She felt it suited her.
As she walked, Rarity went over the mental checklist of preparations for her trip.
I need to head to Applejack’s and grab my equipment, plus Pinkie Pie, then it’s a straight shot to the train station and we’ll be on our way. I have light rations in my bag already and enough money for decent food and lodging once we arrive.
Nothing I can’t handle. It’s just another mission. Just another winter.
Rarity hadn’t even realized that she had stopped in her tracks as her mind was suddenly seized by the sheer number of times that she had done this already. How many winters had she spent hunting monsters, how many times had that phrase, ‘just another winter’, crossed her mind?
She had been hunting monsters, or training to hunt, since she was big enough to hold a sword, just like her parents before her and their parents before them. As far back as her family’s history had been recorded, they had fought and slain monsters, with no beginning in sight.
And no end in sight either.
Rarity would likely continue to hunt monsters until she was too frail to hold a weapon anymore, just like her parents before her, and their parents before them, and—
A sharp inhale.
A shake of the head.
No time for those thoughts, no time for anything but to focus on the task at hand.
Rarity gazed at herself in the blacksmith’s body mirror, admiring how fetching she looked even weighed down by all her gear.
She was practically better armed than some armies, with a sword, shield, axe, bow, knives—the works. Everything she needed to handle a pack of timberwolves, and then some. She almost mused that she was equipped to fight a dragon, but as her fingers instinctively found themselves wrapped around the dragon fang she wore around her neck, she thought better of such a callous joke.
The dragon fang was linked by a silver ring to a choker around Rarity’s neck. Unlike the rest of her armory, there were no spells cast on it, no enchantments or benefits of any kind.
It was just a reminder.
“I think that’s everything,” Rarity whispered, thinking aloud as she finished taking stock of her equipment in the corner of the tiny smithy.
“I should hope so,” Applejack chuckled, and she didn’t see the bemused glance Rarity shot her as her eyes were glued to her work desk, as she sorted through piles of scrolls and parchments detailing what Rarity hoped were the names and orders of her shop’s various clients, but she knew were mostly likely debts and payments to be made.
“There’s no such thing as over-prepared, Applejack,” Rarity insisted, flicking a hand through her illustrious mane, taking a moment to appreciate its volume and fullness as she let her hand glide through it down to her shoulder.
“Relax,” Applejack said, “I’m just teasin’ ya, Rares.”
“Rarity! Rarity!”
Pinkie Pie came bouncing into the shop and quickly grabbed hold of Rarity’s arm and relentlessly tugged on it, though the tiny pink puffball had no real chance of moving the unicorn who was half-again as tall as her.
“Are you ready to go? Cuz I’m ready to gogogo!”
Applejack spoke up before Rarity could reply, looking up from her work desk to admonish Pinkie, “Huntin’ isn’t a game, Pinkie Pie. It’s dangerous.”
“I know that,” Pinkie groaned, no doubt tired of hearing Applejack’s scolding for the millionth time, “but I finally get to go on a real adventure and see what the Hunt is all about, and just in time for me to take the Exam next year! Can you blame me for being excited?”
“Rest assured,” this time Rarity was sure to speak quickly before Applejack’s admittedly reasonable concern could exacerbate tensions between the two earth ponies, “it will be a grand time for both of us, but I will be doing the actual hunting part alone, thank you very much.”
Rarity’s words, while aimed at Pinkie, were intended more for Applejack’s benefit, and she seemed to appreciate them, as she returned to her scroll sorting with nothing more than a small huff and dismissive frown.
“I know, Rarity,” Pinkie giggled, “and I’m not gonna put myself in any danger—I’m not stupid, after all—” Pinkie glared at Applejack and although she still didn’t look up from her desk, Applejack’s pursed lips and scrunched up nose were a good indication that she knew where Pinkie’s comments were aimed.
“And anyway,” Pinkie said, “I don’t wanna get in your way. I’m going to say hi to my friends in Ponyville and try to make the folks there feel as safe as possible, but I know that you’re the one who’ll be doing all the heavy lifting.
“Still though, if we’re gonna go, we should goooooo already!” Pinkie gave another enthusiastic tug at Rarity’s arm before hopping up and down in place.
“Just give me one second, darling,” Rarity said and playfully ruffled Pinkie Pie’s soft and curly hair, eliciting a tiny snort from her. “You go on ahead, and I’ll meet you at the station, okay?”
“Alright, but if you take too long, I’ll leave without’cha!”
Rarity watched Pinkie as she excitedly bounced out of the shop, bursting with energy that made the older mare—not that Rarity was ‘old’, of course—rather jealous of Pinkie’s enthusiasm. To Rarity, the hunting of timberwolves was no more extraordinary than kicking a pest out of the yard, but to Pinkie, it was an adventure.
Rarity thought about when she was a child and she accompanied her parents on a mission for the first time, and how excited she was… or at least, how excited she must have been.
Truth be told, Rarity couldn’t recall the exact events of that day, or how she felt. It was simply too long ago— almost twenty years— and after having her life slowly consumed by the Hunt over that time, she realized that the idea of hunting being anything more than a familiar drudgery was completely alien to her.
“I know I don’t gotta say it,” Applejack’s brusque words broke Rarity out of her trance and she snapped to attention, “but just make sure she doesn’t get hurt, alright?”
“Of course,” Rarity said, her voice barbed with contempt at the idea that she should even need to be told such an obvious thing. “I would no sooner let Pinkie Pie get hurt than my own sister, Applejack.”
“I know, I know.”
Applejack sighed bitterly and, in a manner most unbefitting of such a strong mare, cradled her face in her hands and gripped tightly at her temples, her face marred by a pained frown that made Rarity’s heart weep.
Rarity found herself instinctively clutching at the dragon fang around her neck and looking at the musty black cowboy hat hanging by the door of Applejack’s workspace, an item she hadn’t worn since her own short-lived days as a Slayer.
Rarity walked over to Applejack’s work desk and gently placed her hands over Applejack’s, who recoiled at first before slowly lowering her hands onto the desk and looked up at Rarity’s eyes.
“You need to trust me, darling,” Rarity placed a hand on Applejack’s cheek, “and you need to trust Pinkie Pie, as well.”
“I know,” Applejack took Rarity’s hand in both of hers and removed it from her cheek, lowering it onto the desk.
She clung to Rarity’s hand for a moment like she didn’t want Rarity to leave, but Rarity slipped her hand out from Applejack’s grip, brushing her fingers across the back of Applejack’s hand once more for good measure, and then headed out the door after Pinkie Pie.
Rarity wished she could have simply stayed by Applejack’s side and comforted her— perhaps be comforted by her in return, as well— but there was work to be done, and work took priority over everything.
The heated private cabins of the steam train were a welcome relief from the biting cold winter outside, and Rarity was relieved to finally be on the track to Ponyville. The train wouldn’t arrive in Ponyville’s station for about two hours, so Rarity could relax, at least a smidge.
However, Pinkie Pie seemed much less interested in relaxing, pressing her face against the window and cooing at the sight of the orange-lit snow glistening in the sunset.
“Honestly, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity chuckled, a bright smile on her face as she sat and adored her friend’s ridiculous antics, “it’s not as though you’ve never travelled by train before.”
“Sure,” Pinkie said, her face still smushed up against the window, “I’ve travelled a whole bunch of times! But it never stops being incredible to me! I mean, just look at it! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?”
Rarity took a lethargic look out the window, and while she could appreciate the splendor of the snow-dripped plains rolling by outside, she would be lying if she said that they provoked any kind of emotional reaction from her.
“It is something,” Rarity said wistfully, her cheek pressed up against her hand as her elbow rested on the side of her seat. “Though I find it curious, Pinkie Pie; you travel quite often to visit your family in all the far corners of Equestria, so why are you so keen on monster hunting? It sounds like your life is already full of adventure.”
“You’re not wrong,” Pinkie’s tone was cold as ice as she sat properly in her seat, hands placed delicately in her lap, and her uncharacteristic behavior left Rarity rather unsettled, “I guess…”
“You guess?”
“It’s not just about the adventure stuff.”
Pinkie wore a deep, bitter scowl and dug her fingernails into her legs, and Rarity knew she had to give Pinkie some emergency affection posthaste, so she moved across the cabin and sat next to Pinkie, gently taking each of her little fingers out of her leg, with Rarity placing one hand on Pinkie’s thigh instead while holding her hand with the other.
“Then what is it about?” Rarity asked, rubbing her thumb across the crease between Pinkie’s thumb and index finger.
Pinkie took a deep breath, slowly in through the nose, then even slower out through the mouth. Every instant that passed by felt like an hour to a tense and inquisitive Rarity, but she wasn’t about to pry where she wasn’t wanted, so if Pinkie was going to share her story, it would have to be at her own pace.
“Winter’s coming, right?” Pinkie said, and Rarity nodded. “Guy came into the smithery the other day, he’d busted an old heirloom and was picking it up after AJ fixed it. While he was in the shop, he was eyeing a rack of weapons that was on display.
“He walked over to the rack and put his hand on a sword, then he said ‘I oughta get one of these too, you never know when a roc could just come by and swoop the roof right off your house!’”
Rarity listened to Pinkie’s tale in silence, even as a knot gripped her stomach, and she refused to let go of Pinkie’s tensing hand.
“I know he was just joking,” Pinkie continued, “Applejack even laughed at his comment, but—”
“But he wasn’t just joking,” Rarity interjected, “was he? Not really?”
“Right,” Pinkie sighed and grit her teeth. “I hear ‘jokes’ and stories like that every winter. People live in fear of monsters every day and just accept it as normal, but it isn’t! It’s horrible! Nopony should have to live like that, and that’s why I want to be a Slayer. Cuz I wanna give ponies hope, I don’t want anyone to have to live in fear anymore.”
An admirable goal, though Rarity couldn’t help but wonder, as her fingers traced the edges of her dragon fang necklace, if Pinkie’s enthusiasm would survive an encounter with the actual atrocities some of these monsters were capable of.
If she knew why ponies lived in fear, would she question it then?
“I think that’s a wonderful goal, Pinkie.”
Rarity questioned only for a second if that was the proper thing to say, but any hesitation in her mind vanished at the sight of Pinkie’s bright smile and watering eyes, the look of someone who was finally told what she needed to hear.
“Thank you!” Pinkie said gleefully. “That’s what I keep telling everypony, but they all say I’m just being silly and that it’s ‘dangerous’! Like, I know it’s dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t—”
Pinkie’s words were caught up by her own sniffling, and Rarity held Pinkie close to her and wiped tears out of Pinkie’s eyes.
“Thank you, Rarity. I’m glad that you get it.”
“I do, darling. I do. And when we get back to Canterlot, you should share a drink with me and Rainbow Dash.”
Pinkie had nothing to say that couldn’t be expressed by jumping onto Rarity and wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug, which Rarity happily reciprocated, patting Pinkie on the back for good measure.
Applejack wouldn’t like it, of course, Rarity encouraging Pinkie’s desire to be a Slayer. But Rarity knew that the call of the Hunt couldn’t be dissuaded with mere words. She knew it from herself, and from seeing it in Sweetie Belle.
Pinkie’s goal was an admirable one after all, and if Rarity saw fit to dash Pinkie’s hope then she wouldn’t be able to consider herself any better than the monsters that she protects people from. What would be the purpose of protecting a life without hope?
Besides, Rarity genuinely wished that Pinkie could succeed in her dream of bringing hope to Equestria, where Rarity herself had failed.
Inside a great oak tree, nestled into the mountain that sheltered the city of Canterlot and overlooked its Moon District, there existed the Golden Oaks Library.
The library was as large and full of books as the Sun District’s own glorious archives, though it was as devoid of ponies as any normal tree, the only creatures inside it being its librarian and her son, the latter of whom was soundly tucked into bed asleep by this late hour.
The librarian, Twilight Sparkle, was sitting behind the reception desk of the silent, darkened library.
Though she was aware that nobody was going to be looking for a book anytime soon—her library only received visitors once in a blue moon—her home and place of business were still open for another couple of hours, and she saw no reason why she couldn’t be present at the counter just in case anyone needed her.
Especially since it was a great place to curl up with a good book and read by the soft light of a lantern.
Imagine Twilight’s surprise when the door of her library suddenly swings open, the poor librarian nearly jumping from her seat with a frightened yelp that was drowned out by the sound of the raging rainstorm outside.
The one who opened the door was a light blue pegasus with rainbow hair cut incredibly short in the back but with messy, uneven bangs in front, and Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little bit endeared to someone with such a powerful mane.
“Hey, sorry to bother you,” the woman spoke with a raspy voice and stumbled into the library dripping wet, “but are you open? Can I stick around for a bit, at least until the storm passes?”
“Yeah, of course,” Twilight sat upright to get a good look at the mare walking into her library. “Sorry, I don’t have any towels or anything on hand right now, it’s a little sparse here still except for the books. I have blankets, will that help?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” the rainbow-haired mare waved away Twilight’s concern and sat down on a chair nearby the receptionist desk, so Twilight could see her a little more clearly in the light of her lantern.
The woman was thin and small, but she looked to be quite physically fit. She wore a sleeveless shirt and her arms were well defined with muscle, even if they were rather thin. Most importantly, Twilight could see that she was shivering and kept rubbing her arms in some futile attempt to warm up her soaking body.
Twilight sighed softly and walked over to the stranger, and as she knelt beside the chair and hovered a hand over the pegasus’ leg, the pegasus gave Twilight a curious— even a little skeptical— stare.
Twilight stood up and placed a hand on the woman’s forehead and before she could protest, Twilight’s horn lit up with a raspberry glow which soon enveloped her hand and then the pegasus she was touching.
Within a split second, the pegasus’ body was completely dry, and presumably warm if Twilight’s spell went off correctly— which of course it did, because Twilight Sparkle was not one to screw up something as simple as a mere drying and heating spell.
The pegasus took a baffled look at her own body, raising her arms and fluttering her wings before bolting to her hooves. “That was awesome!”
“Eheh, it was nothing,” Twilight said bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck and feeling a tingling heat peck at her cheeks. “Just a little heating spell, I use it all the time.”
“I’ve never seen magic like that,” the pegasus said, pumping her fists in front of her. “You didn’t have to draw any runes, you just held out your hand and bam! That’s incredible!”
“I guess I’m sort of a prodigy when it comes to magic,” Twilight muttered, a cheeky smirk on her face. “So, what’s your name, anyway?”
“Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus said proudly, pounding a fist against her chest. “You?”
“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said, extending a hand to shake Rainbow’s, who took it firmly and grinned as she shook Twilight’s hand.
“I take it you moved in here pretty recently, huh?” Rainbow said, looking around at the spaciously empty library. “Either that or they didn’t have anything but books where you come from?” Rainbow said with a smirk, needling Twilight with her elbow.
“I do have a lot of books,” Twilight said, eyeing her hoard with a satisfied gleam in her eye, “I’m a bit of an avid collector. But also, it’s true that I just moved in. I only made this tree my home this past month.”
Twilight’s ears perked up and she stepped away from Rainbow, placing her hands in front of her. “I hope it’s okay, that I took the tree. No one else seemed to be using it, so I—”
“Look, I didn’t even know you could turn a tree into a place like this,” Rainbow placed her hands on her hips and looked around again at the library, seemingly in awe of its size, “so I think you’re fine. How did you do this anyway?”
“Well,” Twilight said bashfully, fretting with her bangs, “I do have my magic.”
“That’s some cool magic, Twilight Sparkle,” Rainbow gave a coy giggle and took a few steps around the library, Twilight following behind her unconsciously, though she stopped in her tracks when she noticed something peculiar about Rainbow’s body, something she was surprised she hadn’t noticed before.
Rainbow’s shoulder had an ugly scar on it, from what appeared to be nasty claw marks. And if Twilight had to guess, she would say the woman had gotten them recently.
“Are you okay?” Twilight said without thinking.
“Hm?” Rainbow turned around and looked perplexed by Twilight’s question, until she followed Twilight’s line of sight to her shoulder, where she laughed softly and patted her injury. “What, this? Don’t worry about it, it’s nothin’. Got this from a bugbear couple moons ago, no big deal. It’s almost healed up anyway.”
“You—what?” Twilight tilted her head and stared in complete bafflement, which only served to confuse Rainbow even more. “How did you get attacked by a bugbear? Their territory is all the way in the north-eastern mountains, north of Griffonstone!”
“Yep,” Rainbow puffed up her chest and pounded her fist against it, “and when they leave their territory to make things tough for ponies, the Celestial Slayers show ‘em who’s boss!”
“The Celestial Slayers?” Twilight asked, hoping her smile hid the sense of unease that was steadily building in her stomach.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded and cricked her neck, “I’m a Slayer. Me and my pal took out a swarm of bugbears couple moons ago like I said, and I got this sweet scar in return. Pretty sick, right?”
Twilight said nothing. She instinctively took a step back, but then she gave Rainbow a smile to hide her wariness.
“I’m just glad it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged, and Twilight was thankful that Rainbow seemed oblivious to her distress, “this is nothin’ to me, so don’t worry about it.”
To the ponies of Equestria, the Celestial Slayers were a beacon of hope.
Not to Twilight.
She knew the power that Slayers held, the power that they saw fit to wield over others.
Twilight’s past had been scarred with the memories of Slayers using their power and clout to abuse the weak and helpless, and she knew that this dark side to their guild was something that no one could know about, for speaking such things was tantamount to blasphemy in Equestria.
But Twilight didn’t build a new home to continue living in fear. She deserved a better life than that. Her son deserved a better life than that. It was true that where she came from, she lived in fear of the Slayers. But that was not going to be her life, or Spike’s, from this day forward.
Lost in her thoughts, Twilight had lost track of Rainbow in the library and she felt like her heart nearly stopped beating as she worried that Rainbow might have gone upstairs to where Spike was sleeping.
“Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight called out into the pitch dark halls of books, her voice cracking with fear.
“Ssh!” Rainbow replied teasingly as she poked her head out from one of the halls. “This is a library!”
Twilight breathed the deepest sigh of relief in her life, hand clutching her chest, as Rainbow walked back toward her.
“Something wrong?” Rainbow asked.
“Wh—uh, no. Sorry,” Twilight awkwardly mumbled, “I just, I thought I lost you for a sec, and I got worried.”
“About what?” Rainbow cocked her head to the side.
“I thought—” Twilight hesitated for only a moment before she realized that a small part of the truth would suffice as an explanation. “I was worried you’d wake up my son. He’s sleeping upstairs, and if he woke up and a stranger was in the library, he might get scared.”
“You shouldn’t be yelling, then,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue, and Twilight just rolled her eyes and shook her head in response, though she couldn’t help the smile on her face.
“So,” Twilight tacitly guided Rainbow back to the reception desk and eagerly changed the subject, “were you thinking about checking out a book while you were here? This is a library after all, that’s what it’s here for.”
“I don’t really-” Rainbow paused for a moment, letting out a soft groan under her breath as she rubbed between her neck and shoulder “-read.”
“You don’t read?” Twilight had never heard anything more ridiculous in her life. She added with a sly grin, “Or do you mean you can’t read?”
Rainbow’s cheeks puffed up and turned bright red, but not in a way that was funny to Twilight, who recognized all too well that she had struck a sensitive nerve with Rainbow.
“It’s never too late to start,” Twilight said gently, clasping her hands in front of her and giving Rainbow a sincere smile.
Rainbow stared right through Twilight and took a step back, almost getting into a defensive posture like she was measuring Twilight up.
Seeing the Slayer in her midst tensing up pushed every panic button in Twilight’s brain, but she wasn’t going to back down.
This Slayer… Twilight wanted to believe that this Slayer wasn’t like the ones that she knew. She wanted to extend an olive branch, maybe even… be friends. It was worth a try, and what better way to make friends than through reading?
She couldn’t take another second of the pregnant pause between them though, so Twilight decided to take the initiative, and she quickly compiled a list of all the things she knew about Rainbow Dash.
She’s a Slayer, so she leads a dangerous life. Adventure novel, perhaps? Maybe she could relate, or would that be too close to her everyday life?
She got bit by a bugbear and apparently just shrugged it off, so she’s either very experienced or very reckless. Gut says both. In which case, adventure novel might be the right call, especially if it’s one with a quick pace and light tone; something fantastical that’s fun and doesn’t try too hard to be realistic.
She likes to joke around, and it feels like she’s using jokey-jokes as a defense mechanism, though she probably has an earnest appreciation for snarky quips, so something with a dry sense of humor and plenty of wit.
And she hasn’t read much of anything before, and appears to be sensitive about that, so don’t recommend anything too complicated or advanced.
Oh.
Oh, I’ve got just the thing.
“Have you ever heard of Daring Do?”
“Um, no?” Rainbow frowned and arched an eyebrow, but she didn’t protest as Twilight grabbed a copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue from underneath the reception desk, where Twilight had just recently been reading it.
Twilight handed the book to Rainbow, who took it tentatively in her hands and looked it over like it was written in a foreign language or something.
“Hm, uh,” Rainbow flipped through the pages with a furrowed brow, “what is this, exactly?”
“That is a book,” Twilight said, helpfully pointing at the book in question, and didn’t realize until she saw Rainbow’s annoyed stare that she had taken Rainbow’s question a mite too literally.
She cleared her throat and ignored the heat in her cheeks as she explained, “This is the first of the Daring Do books, they’re lighthearted adventure novels. I thought you might enjoy something you can relate to, being a dangerous Slayer and all, but not something that takes itself too seriously, since you seem pretty lighthearted yourself.”
Twilight smiled proudly and felt completely naked as Rainbow just stared silently at her, flitting her eyes between the book and at her, before finally sighing and hanging her head.
“You really think I can—” Rainbow bit her lip.
“Enjoy that?” Twilight interjected. “Yes, I do. Reading is a great way to pass the time, and I promise that one’s really good. I was just reading it myself!”
Rainbow took another look at the book and inhaled slowly through her nose. She looked once more at Twilight, a glimmer of pain and frustration barely visible in her eyes before she tore them away from Twilight to refocus on the book.
“Okay,” she grumbled, “I’ll give it a try.”
“You won’t regret it.”
Rainbow sat back down at the chair close to the reception desk and Twilight returned to her place behind the desk. Twilight picked up her own book to read, relishing the opportunity to get some reading done in quiet while a patron discovered the joy of reading next to her, but she quickly realized she couldn’t focus on her book.
Not when every time she looked up, she saw Rainbow staring wide-eyed at the pages of hers, or reading with one hand while the other was busy having its nails clipped by Rainbow’s teeth. Twilight had to bite down a giggle when she saw that Rainbow had begun standing and even pacing back and forth while reading.
How could Twilight focus on reading her own book when she was enjoying Rainbow’s book so much more?
After a couple of hours in silent reading, the rain had passed by the library and it was time to close its doors for the night. Twilight headed over to the door to turn around the sign in the window, before returning to Rainbow who, to Twilight’s surprise, was waiting in front of the reception desk, Daring Do novel firmly in hand.
“So, um,” Rainbow awkwardly cleared her throat, “you said this was a series? There are more, right?”
“Did you finish that one already?” Twilight said eagerly, impressed that Rainbow managed to clear a novel almost as fast as she could.
“I couldn’t put it down!” Rainbow cheered, gripping the book tightly in front of her. “You were totally right, this was awesome!”
“Well yes,” Twilight walked behind the desk and folded her arms across it, “there are plenty more Daring Do books and, as you can see,” Twilight motioned toward the countless halls of books adorning the library, “many other books as well.”
Twilight yawned and had to resist the urge to rest her head on top of her folded arms.
“I would find the next book in the series for you-” Twilight grumbled as she tried to fight back another yawn and eventually failed “-but the library’s officially closed, which is code for ‘I need to get some sleep so I won’t be dead tired when my son wakes me up in the morning.”
“Can I check this one out?” Rainbow asked hesitantly, clutching the novel to her chest for dear life in a gesture that made Twilight nearly want to swoon.
“Of course,” Twilight smiled softly, “and if you come back tomorrow, I can put together a whole reading list for you if you want.”
“That’d be amazing!” Rainbow cooed, her wings flapping excitedly behind her. “And maybe I could talk to you about this one? You could tell me all the stuff that you liked about it and we could like, exchange notes or something?”
“That—” Twilight’s eyes started to mist up and she smiled ear to ear, but she bit down on her lip and wore a more reserved smile so she didn’t accidentally put Rainbow off with her over-eagerness. “That would be great.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Rainbow flashed a bright grin as she ran for the door. “Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle!”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Twilight beamed at Rainbow and gave her a wave as she exited the library.
Twilight groggily walked over to the door and locked it, peeking out the window to see the snow-swept village of Canterlot’s Moon District outside, a place that had seemed so cold and alien and even intimidating to her before, but now held a small spark of hope for her.
She smiled wide and let out a soft sigh as she turned her back to the door and slid down the wall to the ground, quickly falling asleep on the wooden floor right in front of the door, smile still on her face as her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of the first friend she’d made in Equestria.
It was already the dead of night when Rarity and Pinkie Pie’s train rolled into the Ponyville station—the train having been delayed several hours thanks to sheep deciding to take a snooze on the track.
Rarity hadn’t realized how tired she was until she had to force her groaning body to leave the warm train and walk onto the freezing platform, though she felt worse for Pinkie Pie, who Rarity gently had to coax awake once the train stopped and the poor dear just did not want to budge from the cozy cabin.
Thankfully, there weren’t a great many ponies in the station when they arrived, so Rarity was hopeful that she and Pinkie Pie could make a beeline for Sugarcube Corner and check in with her clients, then head straight for an inn to rest for the night.
And perhaps they would have, had they not heard Pinkie’s name being called.
Rarity stopped and turned her head to find the caller, though in the nearly empty train station it wasn’t hard to identify the tall, fat pegasus mare.
Rarity mused that no matter how crowded the station might have been, she would have noticed this woman right away from the plum-colored poncho she wore that clashed with her pale gray fur, and her fetching mane of wavy, unkempt blonde hair was rather striking too.
“Pinkie Pie, you old so-and-so!” she said, and ran over to Pinkie Pie to wrap her up in a tight hug that did not go unwelcomed by Pinkie.
“Bubbles!” Pinkie shook herself awake and beamed at the pegasus, and if her enthusiasm was anything less than genuine, she even had Rarity fooled. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, I’m here to see you guys!” Bubbles giggled. “Obviously!”
Bubbles turned her attention to Rarity as the three walked out of the station and into the sleepy town of Ponyville proper, and her demeanor seemed to change from the bubbly air of enthusiasm she held for Pinkie to a feeling of… apprehension?
“So you’re the Slayer, huh?” Bubbles said, looking up and down curiously at Rarity.
“I am,” Rarity said, “and you’re a friend of Pinkie Pie, I take it?”
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie answered, “Bubbles and I have been pen pals for almost a year now!”
Pinkie rambled about how she and Bubbles had begun their correspondence, though Rarity was only half-listening as her thoughts were focused entirely on finding Sugarcube Corner to meet with the Cakes, who had hired her to deal with the timberwolves.
As Pinkie relayed her story, Bubbles nodded emphatically along, grinning ear to ear. It was endearing, mostly, but Rarity couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this woman was odd. Though she supposed it was simply because she reminded her so immediately of Pinkie Pie, who was nothing if not odd herself.
Or perhaps it was the mare’s eyes, one of which was always laser focused on whatever was currently the object of Bubbles’ ever shifting attention, but the other seemed to have a life of its own, drooping and bopping in seemingly random directions. Though this didn’t make Bubbles’ eyes any less attractive, as they seemed to glitter with an ethereal glow that Rarity found quite soothing.
“Wow, you’re really armed to the teeth, huh?” Bubbles jumped in front of Rarity, forcing her to abruptly stop in her tracks, and sized up Rarity’s assortment of weapons she carried.
“I am,” Rarity forced a strained smile onto her face; she didn’t want to be rude to Bubbles, but the late hour was already trying her patience and Rarity wanted nothing more than to check in with her clients and then get a good night’s rest before tackling the timberwolf problem.
“Now, if you’ll please excuse us,” Rarity gently, but sternly, pushed Bubbles to the side and continued walking, “Pinkie Pie and I really need to get a move on. It’s gotten quite late and we have a big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I bet!” Bubbles chirped as she bounced alongside Rarity, apparently unable to take the hint. “Timberwolves! That must be a real pain, huh? Coming all this way just to deal with a little pest problem?”
“It’s no trouble,” Rarity glanced over at Pinkie Pie and silently pleaded for some kind of help or suggestion to get Bubbles to leave her alone to focus, but Pinkie could only give a noncommittal shrug in return, “I’m happy to do it.”
“You don’t think it’ll take too long, do you?” Bubbles asked. “Like, are you just gonna go in there, bonk ‘em all on the head and that’ll be that, right?”
“I don’t know,” Rarity grinded her teeth together, though her tension was alleviated somewhat as she felt Pinkie’s fingers coiled around her hand. “I suppose we’ll see once I scope out the forest, tomorrow.”
“Ooooooh, that sounds exciting!”
Bubbles’s cooing was like an axe being grinded against Rarity’s last nerve, and she inhaled sharply to resist the urge to say some choice words to Bubbles regarding her currently bothersome nature, though feeling Pinkie’s fingers massaging her palm didn’t hurt either.
“Can I come with?”
“Yes, sure, you can come with us,” Rarity snapped, poking two fingers against her temples before grabbing Bubbles’s arms and saying sternly, “as long as you leave me be, right now.”
A silent moment passed by and Rarity realized she was still holding onto Bubbles’s arms. She regretted every word that had just left her mouth immediately, but before she could apologize or redact her invitation, Bubbles flashed a gleaming smirk.
“Okay! See ya tomorrow!”
Bubbles ran off into town before Rarity could even properly take stock of what had just happened, she even needed to look around her for a moment to make sure that Bubbles had really just left and she wasn’t imagining it or something.
Rarity blinked. She looked to Pinkie for confirmation, but the poor sleepy sheepy just had a droll, glazed-over look on her face.
“Wh-what just happened?” Rarity asked, more thinking aloud than expecting an answer.
“I think you just invited Bubbles to do Hunting stuff with you tomorrow,” Pinkie said, stifling a yawn.
“Ah.”
Rarity groaned slid a hand across her face.
“Nothing to be done for it now, I suppose,” Rarity shrugged and threw her arms listlessly at her side. “I don’t suppose you would mind too terribly coming along as well, keep your friend out of trouble?”
“Uh, heck yeah!?” Any drowsiness Pinkie had been struggling with before was instantly swept away by her excitement at Rarity’s offer and she jumped at Rarity with wide open arms, wrapping her up in a little hug which Rarity happily returned.
Rarity stood there for a moment with Pinkie in her arms, resting her head atop Pinkie’s head, and sighed softly.
A moment of peace.
“Come on,” Rarity yawned and pat Pinkie on the shoulder, and Pinkie bounced alongside her as she resumed the trek to Sugarcube Corner, “let’s go check in with your friends so we can some shut-eye.”
The meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Cake went off without a hitch. Rarity explained to them how she was going to scope out the perimeter of the Everfree Forest first thing in the morning, then she would make her plan of attack, with Rarity stating confidently that she would have the town’s timberwolf problem eliminated within no more than two days at most.
While the Cakes were kind enough to offer Rarity and Pinkie free lodging at their place, and Rarity was genuinely moved by their offer, she turned them down as she preferred the privacy and peace-of-mind that an inn could provide that simply wouldn’t be available if she were sleeping in someone else’s home.
And so, Rarity and Pinkie Pie made it to the inn, and Rarity finally was able to lay her head down and rest, though she quite quickly realized that she couldn’t sleep.
She just—she needed to check her gear, to make sure everything was in order, or go over the plan in her head one more time to make sure she didn’t miss any details.
She had made a rather lofty promise to deal with the beasts in only two days— or had she? Timberwolves were only a C-Rank monster after all, so two days was probably more time than she needed.
But how could she be sure? Better go over the plan one more ti—
“Rarity?”
“Uh, yes, darling?” Rarity replied nervously to Pinkie’s quiet voice, her cheeks heating up as she briefly indulged the thought that she must have woken Pinkie up.
Pinkie yawned groggily and sat up, looking across the small room at Rarity with a knowing smile on her face.
“Go to sleep, silly.”
“I will,” Rarity said. “I am.”
“You can’t sleep with all those weapons on your bed.”
Rarity looked down at the veritable arsenal lying on her sheet and released a nervous giggle.
“I suppose,” she tugged at the collar of her shirt and prayed that her cheeks weren’t glowing in the dark, “you may be right.”
Rarity breathed in deeply and gently took the weapons off her bed, laying them on the floor or inside the cabinet of the night stand; except for her hand-axe, which always laid right on the stand beside her, so she could grab it at a moment’s notice in case of an emergency.
It wasn’t until she was finished clearing off the bed that she realized Pinkie was still staring at her.
“Darling? Is everything alright?” Rarity sat on the edge of her bed, legs dangling off and anxiously fretting with the hem of her nightshirt. “I’m sorry, I hadn’t meant to wake you.”
“Oh, you didn’t wake me,” Pinkie laughed. “You’re just not the only one having trouble sleeping, is all.”
“Is something that matter?”
Something in Pinkie’s voice raised an alarm inside of Rarity; she didn’t need to ask if something was wrong, she knew that it was, it was just a matter of whether Pinkie wanted to share, and there was no sense in charging at the situation like a rampaging bull.
“N-no, it’s okay,” Pinkie pulled her blanket up to hide her face, “I don’t want to bother you.”
Pinkie pulled the blanket back down, gripping it tightly, and her entire posture seized up like she was trying to retreat into herself. “I’m sorry, saying that probably made things worse, huh?”
Rarity knew exactly what she needed to do. She walked over to Pinkie’s bed and sat on the side of it, gently placing her hand atop Pinkie’s, “You are never a bother, Pinkie Pie dear.”
“I’m not?” Pinkie’s genuinely confused tone threatened to break Rarity’s heart clean in half.
“Of course not,” Rarity traced her thumb across Pinkie’s cheek to wipe away a tear. “Now please, tell me what’s the matter?”
Pinkie Pie sidled up next to Rarity, kicking her feet off the bed and wrapping her arms snuggly around Rarity’s stomach, her cheek smushed up against Rarity’s side.
“I’m worried about Applejack.”
“Applejack?” Rarity said, her ears flicking up. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing,” Pinkie’s shake of her head tickled Rarity’s side and she stifled a laugh by biting her lip and placing her hand atop Pinkie’s head and running her fingers through her curly mane. “It’s what’s wrong with me that’s the problem.”
“Oh, I’m certain nothing’s genuinely wrong with you, sweetheart,” Rarity slid her hand over to Pinkie’s shoulder and pulled the Pinkie in closer to her, gently embracing her with both arms as Pinkie shuffled her legs under her and pressed herself against Rarity for comfort. “So, what is it that you think is ‘wrong’ with you, exactly?”
“Applejack’s really stressed,” Pinkie said, breathing heavily between her words as she tried not to burst into tears, “cuz y’know, our business isn’t doing too great. We thought starting up a shop together would be really fun and smart, cuz she’s amazing at making things and I’m an okay enchantress, but running a business is hard!
“Applejack’s always so stressed all the time cuz she has to make sure we’re making enough money, and we never are, and she needs to make sure everything runs smoothly and everyone’s doing their part, plus she actually makes the things and I just—I dunno what to do!
“I just keep thinking that it’s my fault, cuz none of the other smiths in town like us, because of me! They all say I’m too chatty and that customers don’t want conversation when they come to a smith, they want weapons, and maybe they’re right!”
And there were the waterworks.
Pinkie moaned and wheezed tearfully into Rarity’s chest while Rarity just held her quietly, massaging her shoulders or running her hands through Pinkie’s hair. Rarity had a lot to say, a lot of worries to dispel and arguments to make, but that’s not what Pinkie needed right now; what she needed now was someone to cry on, and Rarity was more than happy to provide the service.
Pinkie took some deep breaths and Rarity held onto her cheeks, Pinkie’s hands trembling atop Rarity’s. One more deep breath, in through the nose… and out through the mouth, and Pinkie was done crying.
“I’m sorr—”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Rarity placed a finger upon Pinkie’s lips. Rarity’s other hand felt a little simmer on Pinkie’s cheek as she nodded her head bashfully. “Now, how much of that stuff you just told me do you honestly think is true?”
“I dunno,” Pinkie shrugged, “some? I know I worry over nothing a lot, and Applejack hasn’t said anything to me about anything, but maybe that’s because she’s mad but she doesn’t want to start a conflict?!”
“I don’t think so, darling,” Rarity smiled and caressed Pinkie’s cheek with her thumb, “you and I both know Applejack can’t keep her feelings to herself, even if she tries to.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie’s little snorting giggle was music to Rarity’s ears, “you’re right. And I know— at least I think—that we’re breaking even, but we aren’t making any money—”
“You’ve only had the shop for about nine months, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said. “It can take years for a new business to turn a profit—believe me, I know—but that doesn’t mean you’re doing poorly.”
“I know,” Pinkie said distantly, “but opening this shop was a gamble, and I was so sure at the time that it’d be a good idea, but Applejack’s so stressed out and I just want her to be happy.”
“Hey,” Rarity pinched Pinkie’s cheeks before letting her hands fall to her friend’s shoulders.
Pinkie looked up into Rarity’s eyes, the poor dear’s watery eyes pleading for some measure of assurance that everything would be okay.
“It’s okay to be scared,” Rarity said, “but don’t let that fear make you forget that you are surrounded by people that love you and that care about you. Me, your family, the Apple family, especially Applejack. And let me tell you, if you heard half the stories the folks at the Slayer’s Guild tell about you and Applejack, you’d have an ego the size of Mount Everhoof.”
“Wh—really?” Pinkie’s eyes glistened with hope, and Rarity giggled as she placed her forehead against Pinkie’s.
“Really,” Rarity whispered, a gentle smile on her face. “Everyone at the Guild knows that the Apple Pie Smithery is the greatest forge in Equestria, and I’ve never heard anypony say an unkind word about the positively delightful family that runs it.”
Rarity pressed her cheek up against Pinkie’s and glanced side to side, placing a hand at the side of her mouth and whispering, “And just between you and me, I think the family who runs the place are absolute darlings! But don’t tell ‘em I said that!”
Pinkie erupted into a fit of giggles and threw her arms around Rarity again, Rarity hugging Pinkie in return and softly laying her head atop Pinkie’s.
“Thank you, Rarity.”
“It’s my pleasure, sweetheart.”
“I guess what I’m really worried about,” Pinkie sidled away from Rarity and twiddled her fingers, “is that all this extra stress will make Applejack mad at me, that she’ll start hating me over this.”
Rarity opened her mouth to speak but Pinkie quickly raised a finger to cut her off.
“And I know that isn’t gonna happen,” Pinkie said, “but I don’t always know, y’know?”
“I do,” Rarity said coldly, pinching and rubbing her fingers over a bit of her nightshirt.
Rarity breathed in deeply and let out a soft sigh that masked the weight with which she took it, and she took Pinkie’s hand in hers.
“You don’t think,” Pinkie said hesitantly, “that Applejack will hate me?”
“And that’s okay,” Rarity said. “Do you need a big spoon tonight?”
Pinkie Pie nodded effusively, and Rarity chuckled before planting a tiny kiss on the mare’s forehead and grabbing the blanket off her own bed. It was winter, after all, no sense in letting the extra blanket go to waste.
Pinkie was already sound asleep, her snoring like a tiny saw cutting through a tree branch and it forced Rarity to stifle a laugh to prevent waking the cutie pie up. She gently laid down in the bed behind Pinkie, who instinctively snuggled up into Rarity’s embrace, and neither Rarity nor Pinkie Pie found any trouble sleeping after that.
Rarity smiled proudly at the imposing silhouette of the Everfree Forest towering over her. She paced through the snow, her eyes flicking between the forest entrance and the two ponies watching her work from a safe distance atop a short hill.
She tried not to pay them much mind, Pinkie Pie promised to keep herself and Bubbles out of trouble and Rarity trusted her word. Rarity needed to focus, for now she was finally in her element; now the Hunt could begin in earnest.
“What’s she doing?” Bubbles asked at a volume that could only generously be described as a whisper.
“She’s scopin’ out the scene!” Pinkie answered, no better at keeping her voice down than her friend.
Rarity scowled as she tried to focus on the forest, but-
“What does that mean though?”
-Bubbles’ awful attempts at whispering were a little bit distracting.
“I dunno!”
Pinkie’s weren’t any better.
“Girls?” Rarity spun around to them, her hair flying fabulously around her as she flashed the two noisy mares a bright grin. “Maybe a little quiet while I focus, please?”
“Oh, sorry Rarity!” Pinkie chirped, nudging Bubbles with her elbow, though the pegasus’ only response was to rub her arm and then shrug, which did not inspire a great deal of confidence in her ability to remain quiet.
“Thank you, girls,” Rarity sighed bemusedly and elected to get back to work.
She returned her attention to the forest and tried to ignore the girls still chattering busily away behind her, rolling her eyes at the idea of reminding them again to be quiet, until her magic alerted her to a presence approaching from the forest.
“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity’s tone was urgent as the color drained from her face, and she turned to give Pinkie a stern glance.
“Y-yes? What’s the matter, Rarity?” Pinkie caught on easily to Rarity’s sudden urgency, and even Bubbles clammed up and let her speak.
“Take Bubbles-“ a spark of magic from Rarity’s horn activated the bracer on her arm, transforming it into a large steel shield “-and run to someplace safer. The wolves are coming out of the forest.”
Rarity saw Pinkie grab Bubbles’ wrist without a word and tug her toward the town proper, and to Bubbles’ credit, she followed Pinkie without protest. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief and backed up against the hill, facing the forest as she sensed the monsters coming closer at alarming speed.
A battle was imminent, and Rarity held her shield in front of her and her axe in her left hand, her sword, held by her magic, hovering beside her.
She steeled herself and prayed she was prepared. Which, of course she was; Rarity was always prepared.
Three timberwolves— magical canine beasts with stitched together bodies of leaves, twigs and logs— came tearing out of the forest and Rarity couldn’t have been happier to see them. And only three, no less! This would barely be a warmup for her!
Rarity’s sword tore into one of the wolves’ jaw, removing it entirely, but the beast didn’t slow down or even flinch as it rushed toward Rarity.
She threw her axe into its head, and that made it stop for a second, and the thumping clash of Rarity’s shield being slammed into its head knocked it to the ground and kept it down long enough for the hovering sword to slice right through its neck and disable the creature for good.
Rarity had no time to feel proud of herself, as she barely managed to shield herself from the pounce of another wolf, falling backward as the creature bit and clawed at her shield and brought her to the ground.
Her floating sword pierced right through the creature’s head and dragged it off her, but not fast enough for her to avoid the last wolf’s teeth crushing down onto her leg, piercing through her skin like it was paper and clashing right against bone, Rarity biting her lip until it bled to keep from screaming.
Rarity glanced over at the wolf on her left— which was occupied trying to claw at Rarity’s sword— and grabbed her axe with her magic, slashing it down hard onto the gnawing wolf’s head and thankfully separating the beast’s jaw from her leg.
She withdrew her leg and forced herself to stand, though before she was all the way up the wolf pounced her and she threw her shield up to defend herself, determined this time to stay on her hooves and not let this creature take her down.
Though the pain in her leg made it difficult, she managed to push the timberwolf back and knock it to the ground instead, then quickly hop away from it to get some distance.
It was at this point that she cursed herself for not paying better attention, because the wolf she had thought was still fighting with her sword had gotten behind her, no longer occupied by a sword that had been dropped when Rarity lost her concentration.
The wolf swiped a claw at the bright red wound in her leg, and the searing pain caused Rarity to instinctively recoil her leg and then stomp her hoof into the timberwolf’s head, smashing through the wood and cracking a hole clean into its lower jaw.
In a rage, she slammed her shield into the beast’s head and pulled out one of her knives, stabbing the creature’s neck and smiling with deranged glee as the explosion of blue magic consumed the monster’s body and reduced it to ashes.
Rarity’s cheer was cut short by the third timberwolf’s claws digging into her back, drawing not only blood but a piercing scream from Rarity as she collapsed to the ground.
The monster gnashed its jaws and prepared to bite down on Rarity’s neck, but she threw her knife into its mouth instead, and it couldn’t rightly bite down after its head was annihilated in a magical explosion, now could it?
It still took a moment to get the beast’s headless corpse off Rarity’s back, and the effort wasn’t made easier by the mind-numbing pain coming from her back and her leg, but once she did it she stood to her hooves and surveyed the forest once more, quickly checking to make sure no more timberwolves were on the horizon.
Rarity breathed a deep, haggard sigh of relief. Now she had to focus on her injuries; they were painful, but they weren’t deep or altogether too serious. More a nuisance than anything, and she briefly considered just walking them off, but she knew that would lead to more trouble than it was worth.
She opened her tiny yet fashionable little hip-bag and procured an ointment that would heal her wounds, given to her by the head of the Slayer’s Guild, Queen Celestia herself. If she ran out of the ointment, it was just a matter of making an appointment with the Queen to get more, so she had no reason to be stingy with it.
Rarity mused that perhaps that was the reason she was getting so reckless these days, so that she would have an excuse to be doted on by the Queen.
“Rarity! Are you okay!?”
Rarity’s ears perked up and her brow furrowed at the sound of Pinkie’s concerned call, and she looked around to see Pinkie—and Bubbles, of course—hiding behind a nearby abandoned farmhouse that was decidedly not a safe distance away from the forest and Rarity’s battle with the timberwolves.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity snapped, and her cold tone stopped Pinkie in her tracks as she ran to Rarity’s aid. “I told you to keep yourself and Bubbles out of danger!”
“And I did!” Pinkie yelled back. “You’re the only pony who got hurt! This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a monster, Rarity, and you aren’t the only one who worries about her friends getting hurt!”
Rarity’s ears flattened against her head as Pinkie huffed, her arms thrown down in front of her and her hands curled into fists.
“I’m sorry,” Rarity said, arching her back to make sure the ointment took. “You’re right, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“I’ll forgive you,” Pinkie puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms, “if you let me give you a hug!”
“Deal!” Rarity giggled, and she and Pinkie ran toward each other and embraced in a warm hug, Rarity even lifting Pinkie an inch or two off the ground, much to Pinkie’s giggly amusement.
“So hey,” Bubbles said, “you did it, you beat the timberwolves! Yaaaay!” her rather lackluster cheering was accompanied by lethargic hand gestures that evoked a half-asleep drunkard trying to give directions to a place they’d never heard of.
“And you seem incredibly jazzed about it,” Rarity snarked.
“Oh I’m jazzed as heck!” Bubbles gave a thumbs-up and a big grin. “I’m just glad to be done with that timberwolf situation and not have to worry about it anymore!”
“Not even close, honey,” Rarity laughed.
“There’s more?” Pinkie, her arms still wrapped around Rarity’s waist.
“Absolutely,” Rarity said, gently prying herself away from Pinkie and toward a decidedly less enthusiastic Bubbles. “That was just a mere scouting party, looking for food. There’s a whole pack in there that I need to deal with.”
“Then what are you doing standing around here for?!” Bubbles clamored, throwing her arms in the air. “Shouldn’t you get this over with as fast as possible?”
“How about you don’t tell me how I should be doing my job, hmm?” Rarity remarked, cutting a bewildered-looking Bubbles down with a cold glare.
“I am going right away, but I just got injured since I had no plan in place. That fight was a disorganized mess, and I’d prefer my future encounters to end with less blood pouring out of my body onto the snow.”
“And I suppose you don’t need any help, huh?” Pinkie twiddled her fingers and smiled innocently at Rarity, who was practically smitten with the helpful cutie.
“I don’t, darling,” she said as she knelt to grab Pinkie’s hand and look her in the eye. “I need to do this on my own, okay? And I need you to stay put so that I don’t have to worry about you.”
“Okaaaay,” Pinkie sighed melodramatically, and Rarity couldn’t help bursting into giggles and giving Pinkie a big hug, and of course Pinkie couldn’t resist hugging her back. “Just be safe, alright?”
“Darling, please,” Rarity scoffed a playfully ran a hand through her hair as she walked toward the forest, “I still owe you a drink, don’t I?”
Twilight Sparkle was about halfway to pacing a groove into the wooden floor of the library.
It was early in the morning, one of the only mornings she can even recall where she woke up before Spike, though that had more to do with the fact that she had hardly slept during the night.
She slept soundly enough on the library floor for a couple of hours, but it wasn’t long until the brittle feel of the hardwood under her body forced her to get up and head to bed, but she never made it to the bed before her mind started racing at a pace too fast to allow her to get back to sleep.
How could she be so foolish? She didn’t set any time for Rainbow Dash to come back! For all she knew, Rainbow could already be on her way, or waiting until the wee hours of the night, or drop by in the afternoon, or dusk, or late morning, or noon hour, or—well, she had no idea and no way of knowing!
How could the ordinarily so organized and scheduled Twilight Sparkle have overlooked such an obvious detail!? It was shameful!
And now, she had nothing to do but wait anxiously for Rainbow to arrive, because she couldn’t focus on anything else! She certainly hadn’t for the last several hours she had spent pacing!
Oh no, what if Rainbow didn’t come back at all?! What if she decided she didn’t want to see Twilight again? Or what if she got hurt? Or what if something else came up?
Twilight had no way to know and no way to find out, and to make matters worse she was starting to come down with a splitting headache for some reason! Real good timing for that to happen!
“Twilight?”
Spike’s sleepy voice as he descended the stairs snapped Twilight from her trance, and she smiled at the little purple pegasus with the adorable little tuft of green hair, and his little dragon doll that kept guard over him while he slept.
“Sorry, Spike,” she said bashfully, “did I wake you?”
“Nah,” Spike yawned as he plopped himself onto the reception desk, and he tilted his head as he saw the worn hoof tracks all along Twilight’s pacing route. “Uh, is something the matter? Looks like you’ve done a number on the library, and you never get up before me!”
“Oh, Spike!” Twilight ran to her son and grabbed him into a tight hug, holding onto the poor boy as if she were a drowning woman clinging to a piece of flotsam. “It’s just awful!”
“What, what’s the matter?” Spike asked in alarm.
“I made a new friend!” Twilight backed away from Spike and sheepishly twiddled her fingers. “At least, I think I made a friend! I don’t even know!”
“Uh, that sounds awful?” Spike fluttered his wings behind him and tapped his fingers against the edge of the desk, a sign that he was becoming anxious with Twilight dancing around the real issue.
“You don’t understand, Spike!” Twilight pleaded.
“I don’t!” Spike said. “You haven’t told me anything yet!”
“I didn’t make a schedule!”
Spike slapped his forehead, and slowly dragged his hand down his face.
“That’s what this is about?” he asked drolly, arching an eyebrow at his mother, whose eyes were darting around at the walls like she was afraid they would close in on her.
“She said she would come over again today,” Twilight explained, “but she didn’t say when, and I foolishly forgot to set a time for her to come back! So now I have nothing to do but freak out until she gets here! IF she gets here! She might not! Who knows!”
“Twilight, it’s gonna be okay,” Spike patted the desk, inviting Twilight to sit beside him, which she did but she was still trembling.
Spike grabbed his mother’s jittery hand with both of his, though he quickly took one back for a moment in order to grab his dragon protector, and put it in Twilight’s lap, a gesture which melted her heart.
“People don’t just say they’re gonna do things, and then not do them,” Spike said.
“You’re right, Spike,” Twilight took a deep breath. “You’re right.”
She groaned dismally, her cheeks burning up as it dawned on her what a fool she was making of herself, and the sight of her tracks in the hardwood only painted her cheeks a brighter red. She put her arm around Spike’s shoulder and held him close to her, taking his little dragon friend in her other hand.
“Thank you, Spike,” she said with an embarrassed sigh, “and I’m sorry, you really shouldn’t have to talk your own mother off a cliff.”
“If I ever needed talking off a cliff,” Spike said proudly, “you’d be there for me!”
“In a heartbeat.”
“So why shouldn’t I help you when you need help?”
“You are too sweet,” Twilight nuzzled her son and delighted in hearing his little snort of affection. “Who raised you? They must’ve done an amazing job!”
“My mom did!” Spike booped Twilight on the nose. “And she’s alright, I guess.”
Spike wasn’t the only one capable of an affectionate snort, but Twilight’s came at the cost of her cheeks burning up again. Spike’s laugh made it better though.
“Well I guess that it’s time for you to get dressed,” Twilight hopped off the desk and gave Spike a kiss on the forehead. “You’re still in your pajamas!”
“So are you!”
Twilight looked at herself and realized she had indeed been wearing her extremely cool and not embarrassing at all star and moon pattern pajamas, and she remembered that was as far as she got to bed before her brained mutinied.
“R-right,” Twilight gently squeezed the back of her neck. “Okay, so I should get dressed, but you first.”
“Okay,” Spike said, “but first you gotta tell me about your new friend!”
“Oh.”
A knot formed in Twilight’s stomach, like a gong radiating outwards form her core.
Twilight had a fear of the Celestial Slayers that was justified by witnessing the cruelties they were capable of, but Spike had only Twilight’s stories and his own imagination to go off of, which just escalated his fear of them.
How could she tell Spike that she let a Slayer into the library? How would he react? No, scratch that, Twilight knew exactly how he would react; he would jump to his feet and proclaim that he would defend Twilight from the deadly monster, puffing up his chest even as his legs shook underneath him.
It would be adorable, but it would just lead Twilight to have to explain that he couldn’t protect her from them, and was she ready to have that conversation?
It didn’t matter. Twilight promised from the day she adopted Spike as her own, that her relationship with him would be built on a foundation of honesty. She couldn’t keep the truth from him, even if she desperately wanted to.
“Spike,” Twilight took a deep breath, and she could tell that Spike noticed her sudden change in demeanor, “my new friend is a Slayer.”
“What?!” Spike grit his teeth and jumped to his hooves, puffing up his chest and stomping forward. “Don’t worry, Twilight! I’ll protect you from—“
“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight held back a laugh and got on her knees, putting her hands on Spike’s shoulders. “I want you to know, that I would never let anyone in the library who I thought could hurt you.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about!” Spike huffed, and Twilight averted her eyes, knowing that Spike had no patience for Twilight’s selflessness.
Twilight sighed. “I won’t let anyone hurt me either. I promise.”
“But,” Spike bit his lip and Twilight’s heart broke as she saw him fighting back tears, “you said she was a Slayer! They’re dangerous, Twilight! We can’t let them—”
“Ssh,” Twilight wrapped Spike in her arms and massaged his back, “it’s okay. No one’s gonna hurt us. I know, that you’ve never heard anything but horror stories of the Celestial Slayers. But they aren’t all like that. No group is a monolith.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Spike sniffled.
“It means they’re not all the same,” Twilight smiled at Spike and pressed her thumb against his cheek, wiping away tears even as he tried to fidget away from her. “We didn’t come to Equestria to live in fear, right?”
Spike huffed and crossed his arms, and although he was trying to put on a tough-guy face, Twilight could see he was still ready to cry again.
“Spike?” Twilight bore a catlike grin as she gently prodded him in the arm. “Did we come to Equestria to live in fear?”
“No,” Spike mumbled.
“So we need to be brave,” Twilight stood up, but not before ruffling through Spike’s hair. “And we need to trust our instincts, and my instinct says that Rainbow Dash is a good person.”
Spike still didn’t seem convinced. Twilight put her hands on her knees and bent down, softly poking him in the forehead to get him to look at her.
“You trust me?” she said.
Spike took a deep breath and, though he did so with a quivering lip, said “I trust you.”
“That’s my boy,” Twilight scooped Spike up into her arms, picking him up and hugging him so tight like he was the only source of light in a pitch dark library. As she put him back down, she said “Now go get dressed, okay?”
Before Spike could answer, a knock at the door startled both mother and son, causing her to jump—practically out of her skin—and him to hide behind her and grip her leg for dear life.
Twilight cautioned Spike to stay put, the little pony hiding behind the reception desk, and Twilight inched toward the door, cursing her jumpiness as another knock made her heart nearly leap into her throat.
Once she was close enough for a simple spell to allow her to see through the wall, she breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized the familiar face, only for the adrenaline to start pouring through her body as she realized that her new friend was here.
“It’s her!” Twilight’s voice did nothing to hide her excitement. She turned to the reception desk, huge grin on her face, and saw Spike just barely poking his head out behind it.
“Your new ‘friend’?” Spike’s voice did nothing to hide his contempt. Twilight nodded and gave Spike a sad sigh, and Spike just rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna go get dressed.”
He jumped toward the stairs and started to head up, but stopped cold and stared at Twilight, who stared back at him.
“Promise me one more time that you’re gonna be okay,” Spike said, as deadly serious as a child could be.
“I promise,” Twilight said, mirroring every ounce of Spike’s serious attitude, “we will be okay.”
Spike nodded hesitantly and hurried up the stairs, and Twilight drew her breath as she approached the door.
Twilight took in another deep breath which was released in a haggard wheeze as another knock at the door— that she was now standing right in front of— knocked the wind out of her.
On instinct, she grabbed the knob and swung the door open, lurching forward and slamming her nose right into Rainbow Dash’s fist as she prepared to knock again.
“Aaaaowwww,” Twilight whined pitiably as she grabbed hold of her nose and stumbled back.
“Are you okay?” Rainbow asked, stepping forward and reaching a hand out to grab Twilight’s arm, though the librarian quickly lurched away from her and put on a strained smile.
“Yep!” she said. “If you don’t start your morning getting punched in the nose, can you honestly say you’re really living?”
Rainbow laughed and held out her hand. “Sorry about that.”
Twilight clasped Rainbow’s hand and most of her anxiety disappeared, replaced with new, unrelated anxiety as now she had to hold a conversation with her new friend and not screw it up somehow.
“Okay, look,” Rainbow scratched the side of her neck and tilted her head just barely away from Twilight, gazing at the ceiling with her peripherals, “I know it’s super early and you’re probably closed, so like I’m sorry for coming this early, but I hardly slept at all cuz I was reading this book-“
Rainbow pulled the Daring Do book out from her bag and handed it to Twilight.
“-and I was really lowkey excited about coming back—okay, I was kinda highkey excited cuz I wanted to talk to you about the book and maybe read some more of these books and talk to you about them and I know that’s super dumb but I just—“
Twilight clamped Rainbow’s mouth shut with her magic, and Rainbow bashfully rubbed the back of her neck.
“It’s good to see you too, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a bright smile, her anxiety all but faded away as she realized Rainbow was just as nervous as she was.
“Yeah,” Rainbow smirked shyly, and Twilight pretended to ignore that her cheeks were as red as the streak in her mane, “good to see you, Twilight Sparkle.”
Rainbow was silent for a moment as she looked Twilight up and down. She smiled ear to ear and her eyes glittered.
“Those are really cool pajamas!”
Twilight looked at herself and laughed. As she walked toward the reception desk, beckoning Rainbow to follow her, she knew she had no more reason to fear Rainbow than she had to fear herself.
“Welcome to the library,” Twilight said with a bright, tender smile, “make yourself at home, Rainbow Dash.”
The pack of timberwolves ran through the winding, snowy paths of the Everfree Forest, completely oblivious to the Slayer watching them from behind a nearby snowdrift.
Tracking the beasts down proved to be almost an insultingly easy task for Rarity— the creatures’ clawed feet leaving easily traceable tracks in the heavy snow—but she wasn’t about to complain. Especially not when she could complain about the pack’s size instead.
Rarity knew going into this mission that this pack was unusually large, but it still left a sinking feeling in her stomach to have her worst fears confirmed and see over thirty timberwolves rampaging through the forest.
Rarity had almost gotten her leg torn off in a battle with three timberwolves; she shuddered to think of the state she’d be left in if she tried to stage a full-frontal assault on a group of thirty.
Luckily for Rarity, such a grisly scenario would not be necessary! While confronting the beasts head-on was quite simply out of the question, she knew that if she started picking them off from a distance with her arrows, the rest of the pack would be alerted and come charging toward her in a bloodthirsty fury.
Normally, that would lead to a rather ugly situation, but if Rarity placed magical traps along the path the wolves were sure to take, she could take down the entire pack in one fell swoop and make it back to Ponyville in time for luncheon!
Rarity watched the timberwolves’ movements for a little while longer, getting a feel for the area in which they travelled. Setting up the traps would be something of a tedious effort, so she wanted to be sure she was placing them in a location where she could reliably wait for the wolves to return to.
Once she was certain of her desired position— a narrow pathway absolutely choked with large, leafless trees—Rarity took out one of her knives and began carving runes into the base of a tree.
She quietly said a prayer of respect as she carved, more out of habit than anything, though she had learned that the people of Ponyville believed there was a powerful spirit who watched over the Everfree, and the last thing Rarity wanted was to get on such a spirit’s bad side.
If Rarity could have simply carved the runes into the ground, she would have done so, but the snow made that impossible, so these trees would have to do.
After carving only the second rune, Rarity groaned and rested her weary back against a tree, wiping snow out of her way so she could sit on the ground without getting too wet.
It had been a while since Rarity had used actual magic—as opposed to simply the enchantments on her weapons, which required considerably less effort—and she had forgotten how tedious it was to delicately etch the runes.
Oh well, she thought, no sense in simply lying around here. These timberwolves aren’t going to slay themsel—
A piercing scream tore through the air and Rarity was on her hooves instantly. She darted her head around in any direction, trying to find some sense of where the scream had come from, and another scream answered her question handily.
Without even thinking, Rarity took off in the direction of the scream, charging through the woods and snow as fast as her legs would carry her. The most important thing to a Slayer, to Rarity, was protecting the ponies, and she would be damned if she let an innocent woman be killed in these woods on her watch.
It wasn’t long before Rarity caught sight of a woman, blood trailing from the open wounds in her leg and arm, leaned up against a tree while a pack of at least a dozen timberwolves closed in on her. Rarity grit her teeth as she recognized the gray pegasus mare, but this was no time for her to start thinking about how she was going to scold Bubbles for following her.
Rarity jumped in front of Bubbles with her shield bared, just in time for a timberwolf to lunge right into it and be knocked back. Another wolf attempted to scratch at Rarity’s leg but her floating sword came down and pierced right through its skull, killing it instantly.
“Can you stand?” Rarity asked as she stared down the remaining wolves, who were all watching her warily and preparing to attack.
“I-I don’t think so!” Bubbles sobbed.
Rarity groaned and threw two of her knives into the ground at her feet, the magical explosion disorienting the pack of timberwolves just long enough for Rarity to grab Bubbles by her collar with her magic—which forced her to drop her sword on the ground— and throw her onto Rarity’s back, Bubbles wrapping her arms tightly around Rarity as she bolted away from the wolves.
Rarity’s one advantage as she ran, injured pony on her back, through the Everfree with at least nine timberwolves on her trail, was that the pathways of the forest were incredibly narrow.
The wolves had to clamber around each other and charge her in a straight line as they pursued, which made them quite vulnerable to another of Rarity’s knives as she threw it right at the leading timberwolf’s head, a smile gracing her lips as she saw the bodies of the timberwolves blown away by the resulting explosion.
Rarity quickly ducked into a thicket of trees while the explosion covered her tracks, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief as the remainders of her pursuers ran obliviously past her and her wounded charge.
Speaking of said charge, Rarity dropped Bubbles to the ground on her rump with a painful thud before turning around and giving the woman a piercing glare that could crack stone.
“Rarity, I’m so—”
“Shush,” Rarity knelt and applied a touch of her healing ointment to Bubbles’ arm and leg, letting out a deep sigh as she did so. “Why did you follow me? I told you, over and over, that this is dangerous and I needed to do it alone.”
A whimpering “I’m sorry” is all Bubbles had to offer.
Rarity took a deep breath and stood to her hooves. The howling of the timberwolves echoing through the forest made the fur on her neck stand on end, but at least it gave her an idea of how far away her enemies were, and based on that she was confident she had another minute or two before they found her.
“Thank you,” Bubbles said, “for saving me.”
“Of course,” Rarity shrugged. “I wasn’t going to abandon you. That’s not what I’m about. That’s not what the Celestial Slayers are about.”
“Really?” Bubbles looked up at Rarity with eyes that glistened with unshed tears. “That hasn’t been my experience with the Slayers.”
Before Rarity could properly absorb that sentence and ask Bubbles what she meant, a fast-moving object caught her eye, approaching from her left. Rarity threw her shield up, and if she had been even a half-second slower, the lunging timberwolf would have gouged her eye, but instead it scratched harmlessly at her shield.
Rarity clicked her tongue and grabbed Bubbles with her magic, dragging the mare to her hooves. Rarity cursed herself for being wrong in her time calculation as she slammed her shield into the timberwolf’s skull and saw a group of five more fast approaching.
“We need to go!” Rarity shouted to Bubbles, grabbing the woman’s wrist and running from the pursuing wolves.
“Go where?!” Bubbles hollered.
“Just trust me!” Rarity didn’t have the time to explain the traps she had already set, and how they needed to reach them before the rest of the pack caught up to them.
She didn’t have time because it was already too late.
As Rarity and Bubbles dived out of the thicket and back onto the narrow pathway, another timberwolf lunged at Rarity, and while she was able to defend herself with her shield, the blow still knocked her off balance, enough for a scraping claw against her shin to send her tumbling downward.
She grabbed her axe and hacked through one wolf’s head, and slammed her shield down onto the one that had scraped her leg. She gritted her teeth and ignored the pain as four more wolves quickly rushed her from down the path.
She couldn’t stand up in time, so she just barricaded herself behind her shield as best she could, but four wolves charging into it all at once was more than enough force to send her on her back.
Two of the wolves grabbed her legs in their jaws and started pulling at her, trying to tear her hooves from the rest of her body, but she couldn’t focus on those two until she dealt with the one standing atop her shield and crushing her arm underneath it, and the one that was trying to claw her eye out, that was only being kept at bay by a few desperate swings of Rarity’s axe.
She needed to move fast though; if caught in this position by the rest of the pack—which, judging by the proximity of their howling, was fast approaching her—she wouldn’t survive.
Rarity grabbed one of her last two knives in her magic, throwing it into the head of one of the wolves on her legs; the magic exploded outward and, to Rarity’s glee and relief, annihilated both the monsters.
It also distracted the other two wolves, who turned away from Rarity to look at the explosion, giving Rarity ample opportunity to slash off a leg of the wolf standing on top of her, which brought its head down within the perfect distance to be crushed by her axe.
Taking out the last wolf was a simple matter of stunning it with a blow to the head from Rarity’s shield, then crushing its skull with the axe.
Rarity knew by the howling that she had no time to apply the ointment to her bloody legs; she needed to force herself up and keep going.
A hot sting of fear radiated in her stomach as she realized that Bubbles was now missing. Rarity hoped that Bubbles had taken advantage of the wolves’ distraction and made a run back to Ponyville—she still had wings after all, despite her bloodied leg— but she had to force herself to not think about it either way.
Rarity needed to focus on slaying the timberwolves. It was the only way to guarantee both her own and Bubbles’ safety, and if Rarity went chasing Bubbles into the depths of the forest and away from her traps, it would only spell disaster for them both.
Rarity did her best to run back to where she had placed the traps, a simple locator spell allowing her to detect them even in the labyrinthian forest, but she was forced to concede that the pain in her legs made her slower than she would have liked.
The howling was getting closer, but so too had Rarity almost reached where she had laid the traps. She let herself smile as she quickened her pace as much as her bloodied legs would allow, and soon became certain that she would reach her destination in time.
Until a wolf jumped out from the trees beside her, grabbing her arm in its jaws and taking her down to the ground with an abrupt tug.
Rarity quickly let go of her axe, using her magic to cleave it into the wolf’s head before its fangs could do too much damage to the soft fold inside Rarity’s elbow. She winced as she moved her arm, thankful she could still move it at all but electing to use her magic to hold the axe until this was over.
Regardless, she could still make it to the traps.
She struggled to get back on her wounded legs, but before she was even fully upright, the howling ceased; replaced instead by furious growling and snarling.
They had found her, and it was too late to run.
She had been surrounded on nearly all sides, with several wolves poking their furious jaws out of the thickets on Rarity’s left and right, while the majority of the pack closed in behind her.
The path forward, toward the traps, was still uninhibited, but running for it would mean turning her back on a pack of angry timberwolves and there was no way she could outrun them on her torn up legs.
But she had to try.
She threw her last two knives to her left and right, and as the explosion covered her escape she sprinted toward the traps.
She felt the crushing jaw of a timberwolf biting into her leg an instant before the tug of its teeth tripped her and brought her crashing to the ground on her face, a feeling she was very quickly tiring of.
Rarity grabbed her axe with her magic and swung it into the wolf’s skull, shattering it, but three more wolves were already on her by then; one grabbing the same leg in its maw, another pinning her shield arm, and the other sinking its teeth into the soft flesh of Rarity’s inner knee.
Rarity wanted to scream but her pained throes came out as only a meager whimper.
No time to dwell on her pain, however. She tore her leg away from the gnawing timberwolf and cleaved through the one on her knee, before quickly sinking her axe into the skull of the beast standing on her arm.
She would crawl to those traps if she had to, but she would make it.
Three more wolves came rushing out of the forest and Rarity was about to swear there was no end to the damn things. She cornered herself against a tree and propped up her shield, but that didn’t protect her leg from getting yanked by a timberwolf’s jaw, nor her left hand from getting bitten and also painfully tugged.
The wolves were trying to drag her out of her defensive posture, but she needed to remain calm. She dug her axe into the wolf on her hand, but just as she was about to swing it at the next wolf, the third one leaped at the axe and took the weapon in its mouth, running away from Rarity with her last means of defense in its teeth, leaving her with only her shield and a bow to deal with the beast still gnawing on her hoof.
There was nothing for Rarity to do but to pound the timberwolf with her shield, though with fatigue rapidly grabbing hold of her she didn’t have enough strength to kill the beast in a single hit.
It took one hit for the timberwolf to acknowledge Rarity’s weapon and look up from the meal it was making of her foot. Two hits and it snarled at her and lunged forward, hitting the shield as she rose it to defend her face and chest.
As the beast scratched at the shield, she knew she would have to leave herself momentarily defenseless to attack again. If she didn’t time this right, the wolf would get a clear shot at her face and she didn’t even want to consider what a mess it would make of her then.
But she needed to hurry; no telling when more damn timberwolves might make their appearance.
Rarity lurched her shield-arm outward, thankfully knocking the wolf back a tad. She slammed the shield into the beast’s head, putting her entire bodyweight behind the attack and smashing against the wolf. But it wasn’t enough to kill it.
The timberwolf took a swipe at Rarity, ripping through skin and leaving three garish, bloody scratches across her face. But Rarity simply bashed the shield into the wolf once more, smashing the creature between the shield and a nearby tree, and that was enough to kill it.
Rarity lied on her back; her face was throbbing with a stinging pain and her legs had both become mostly numb to their injuries, likewise her left hand. Her elbow still resounded with a dull ache, though every movement of her arm sent a wave of pain crashing through her body, and the back of her right knee was in such searing agony that she wanted nothing more than to cry.
But she had to force herself to get up. The pack hadn’t been defeated yet, and she needed to reach those traps still.
Was there an opposite to the term ‘music to my ears’? If so, that’s what Rarity was feeling as she heard the snarl of a timberwolf from behind her.
Still prone on the ground, no weapons to defend herself, and bleeding from nearly every appendage, Rarity was in no position to fight yet another timberwolf, and god forbid if it brought friends.
But she had to move. She had to fight back.
Or at least, that’s what she thought before seeing the wolf’s head being sliced clean off by Rarity’s own sword, and a swirling torrent of mixed emotions welled in Rarity’s gut as she saw the little pink fingers wrapped around the hilt.
“You know, I really should scold you,” Rarity said to Pinkie Pie as the pink mare propped Rarity up, “but I’m glad you’re here.”
“That’s good,” Pinkie laughed awkwardly, “I was honestly worried this whole time that you were gonna yell at me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Rarity said, retracting her shield into its bracer form and wrapping her one good arm around Pinkie Pie.
“It’s okay,” Pinkie giggled, holding Rarity in her arms, and Rarity felt more comfortable in that embrace than she did in her own bed, though her relaxing was abruptly cut short by Pinkie’s sharp gasp. “Rarity! You’re hurt!”
“Oh, am I?” Rarity said casually.
“Oh, oh! I can use your healy juice! Just tell me where it is!”
“It’s in the satchel,” Rarity patted a small satchel attached to her belt, “this one.”
“Okay,” Pinkie opened the bag and procured the healing ointment, proudly holding it over her head. “Don’t move a muscle, Rarity, and just let Doctor Pinkie Pie take good care of you!”
Pinkie Pie dressed Rarity’s injuries like a pro— after propping her up against one of the trapped trees at Rarity’s insistence.
As Rarity sat there letting Pinkie treat her wounds, Rarity bit her lip and wondered if she should speak her mind, concerned that she might worry Pinkie further if she spoke up, but decided she needed an answer more than she needed to protect Pinkie’s peace of mind.
“Did you see Bubbles, by the way?” Rarity asked, and time felt like it slowed to a standstill as she waited for Pinkie’s answer.
“I told her not to charge ahead,” Pinkie huffed. “But she told me she knew what she was doing cuz I guess she knows the forest super well, and then she flew off to try and find you, even though I suggested we stick together to find you. Very rude.”
“That is rude,” Rarity said, electing to put a pin in the question of why they thought it was a good idea to follow her. “But did you see her after you got separated? I ran into her briefly, but then we got separated, and I was worried—”
“Oh, yeah I did,” Pinkie nodded happily and Rarity felt a weight being lifted off her chest. “She’s the one who told me what direction to find you in, so she’s the reason I made it in time to help you out, but she was headed back to Ponyville. Guess the forest was too spooky for her.”
“Did her leg and arm look okay?” Rarity asked; those injuries looked ghastly to her.
“Hm? I guess?” Pinkie shrugged as she finished dressing Rarity’s wounds, wearing a disappointed scowl as she looked in the now empty jar of ointment. “I didn’t see anything wrong with them, but we didn’t really stop to chat or anything.”
“That’s good then,” Rarity stood up and stretched her limbs over her head, “I’m sure she made it back to town okay.”
“Are you gonna be okay?” Pinkie asked, squinting into the jar of ointment to make, as she put it, ‘super duper extra certainly sure’ that it was empty. “Without your healy juice?”
“Don’t you worry, darling,” Rarity swung her sword and flexed her arms, making sure every limb was in working order again just to be safe, “I won’t need it.”
“Why do you say that?” Pinkie prompted perplexedly.
In lieu of an answer, Rarity cupped a hand against her ear, motioning for Pinkie to do the same. Rarity didn’t expect Pinkie to hear what she was hearing, but she thought it polite to give her a chance to hear for herself.
When Pinkie shot her a desperate and confused look, Rarity explained; “The howling of the timberwolves has gotten quieter.”
“Oh!” Pinkie jumped to her feet and pumped her little fists. “So that means mission accomplished?”
“No, sweetie,” Rarity chuckled, “it means they’re transforming.”
Pinkie tilted her head and frowned, like she was trying to put together a puzzle but didn’t have every piece.
“When a timberwolf pack becomes threatened,” Rarity explained, “they transform. The pack gathers in one area and the magic within them combines them into a single, giant creature: a timberwolf king.”
“That sounds scary as heck!” Pinkie shuddered, holding herself tightly and rubbing her forearms.
“It is,” Rarity sheathed her sword and took a deep breath. “But in a way, it’s a good sign. It means the pack is on their last legs and, more importantly, it means only a single target to worry about. No more guarding against one timberwolf while another bites my leg, so I don’t think I’ll have a problem taking it down.”
“What?! You’re gonna go after it?!” Pinkie exclaimed, throwing herself in front of Rarity and jutting her arms out to her sides. “You can’t do that, you’re still hurt!”
Rarity knelt before Pinkie Pie and took her cheeks in her hands.
“And I need to do this. I need to finish what I started. I can’t leave the people of Ponyville with a timberwolf king to deal with on their own.”
“I—I know,” Pinkie mumbled. “But I’m worried about you! Can’t I come too?”
“Absolutely not,” Rarity spoke sternly but she ran a hand through Pinkie’s hair to show that she was only concerned about her, not upset with her. “Please, Pinkie Pie, wait here for me to return. The traps on these trees will keep you safe, and I will be back as soon as I can.”
“What if you don’t come back?” Pinkie said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I will come back,” Rarity embraced Pinkie in a hug, and Pinkie Pie wrapped her arms around Rarity so tight that Rarity was almost worried she wouldn’t be able to pry the dear off of her. “I promise you, I will not abandon the ponies of Equestria. I will not abandon you.”
“We still need to get a drink!” Pinkie sniffled, reluctantly letting her arms fall away from Rarity.
“Absolutely, darling.”
Rarity gave Pinkie Pie one small kiss on the forehead, before walking deeper into the forest with only her sword by her side.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat on couch cushions around a little blanket that had an assortment of plates stacked with snacks on top of them, and both women had a mug of hot cocoa sitting next to them, with Rainbow’s nearly depleted even after going through four other cups.
“She does all the stuff I wish I could do, ya know?” Twilight said, answering Rainbow’s question about why she liked Daring Do.
“Like jump over chasms and fight monsters and stuff?” Rainbow replied with a smirk, wiping a rather unflattering cocoa mustache off her lip.
“N-no,” Twilight said hesitantly, holding her hands close to her chest and fidgeting with her fingers. “She’s just— she isn’t afraid to just be who she is. She gets into all these dangerous encounters, talks to all these dangerous characters, and she doesn’t compromise. She doesn’t bend on what she believes is right, is important,” Twilight groaned and hung her head. “I wish I could be more like that. I’m such a wallflower.”
“Confidence is hard,” Rainbow’s voice didn’t carry her normally lighthearted cheer as she spoke. Her voice wasn’t cold, per se, more like… solemn. “It’s tough to hear someone be like ‘you gotta be like this’ and just say ‘nuts to that, man!’”
Rainbow’s peculiar turn of phrase got a giggle out of Twilight, which sent the cocoa she was drinking spurting right out her nose which only served to make her, and Rainbow Dash, laugh even harder.
“It is hard!” Twilight said cheerfully. “How do you do it, Rainbow Dash?”
Twilight barely noticed Rainbow’s ears flatten against her head at Twilight’s question, but she was distracted by the sounds of tiny footsteps tromping down the stairs and the little purple face that peeked down at her and Rainbow from the stairwell.
“Spike!” Twilight said with a grand smile, patting an empty couch cushion sitting beside her. “Do you want to join us?”
“C’mon down, dude!” Rainbow added with a bright grin.
Spike’s face scrunched up into a disgusted frown, and Twilight’s heart sank as she worried which of the two women it was aimed toward. Rainbow noticed the glower too and looked to Twilight with a perplexed expression, pointing her thumb at Spike.
“What’s his deal?”
Twilight froze.
She hadn’t told Rainbow about her distrust of the Celestial Slayers. She hadn’t told Spike that she hadn’t told Rainbow, either. How could she explain to a Slayer that her son was afraid of her? How could she possibly make Rainbow understand?
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but before any words came out, they were silenced by the fluttering of small wings as Spike flew over beside her and took the seat she had laid out for him, though he quickly pushed the cushion as close to Twilight’s as it would go.
“Good choice, kid!” Rainbow said with a gleeful smile, oblivious to the shared distress between the mother and her son.
She couldn’t overlook it for long though, as Twilight and Spike simply stared silently at Rainbow. And while it took Rainbow a moment, even looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was behind her, she realized that they were both staring at her.
Twilight felt a bead of cold sweat drop down her brow.
She knows.
“Do you guys need to use the bathroom or something?” Rainbow asked awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck as she gave the two a curious glance.
Twilight released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding as she realized that Rainbow did not, in fact, know anything.
“Spike and I are afraid of Slayers.”
Spike gave his mother a look that was nothing short of aghast, bolting his head around to look at her and making a loud gasp, but his shock was nothing compared to Rainbow’s, whose eye twitched with the bitter realization of what Twilight had said.
Twilight grit her teeth behind a very nervous smile.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before,” Twilight said, measuring her tone with as much care as she would an explosive chemical. “I didn’t know how to say it. But I think, if we’re going to be friends, I need to be—” the word caught in Twilight’s throat, but she forced herself to say it regardless “—honest with you.”
“Twilight,” Spike cautiously grabbed his mother’s hand, and she felt a little safer knowing that he was beside her.
“Why?”
That was all Rainbow said, and her slightly cocked head and narrowed eyes— not aimed at Twilight but more like she was scanning her brain for information— spoke to Twilight of utter bafflement; nothing more and nothing less.
Twilight had no recourse but to give her the truth. She readied herself to spin a small yarn about her childhood, about the day her parents were murdered by Slayers, but she couldn’t.
The attempt to speak the memories tore her throat like shattered glass, and even if they could reach her mouth, they would not get past the wall of her teeth gritted so hard as to grind against each other like a trash compactor.
She knew if she gave herself an inch, if she let her guard down for even a fraction of a fleeting moment, tears would pour down her face like the falls of Neighagra.
“Listen.”
Rainbow stood tall and crossed her arms over her chest, a serious frown on her face as Twilight looked up at her, silently pleading for her to understand.
“I dunno what happened with you and the Slayers,” Rainbow said, “and I can’t pretend like I see eye-to-eye with every Slayer I’ve ever worked with, but I can tell you this.”
Rainbow knelt and grabbed Twilight’s hand, not noticing that Spike’s hands were already there and placing hers over his. The young man flinched, almost recoiled his hands away from her, but keeping them on his mother’s trembling hand was too important so he left them where they were.
“I am not gonna hurt you,” Rainbow said. “I would never hurt an innocent pony. You are super cool, Twilight Sparkle, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that your son is just as cool as you are. If me being here is gonna be weird for you guys, we can work something out where maybe I don’t come around that often, but I would like—”
“No,” Twilight said quickly, “I don’t want you to leave.”
Twilight looked down at Spike, who looked her in the eye with apprehension and even fear in his eyes, but he smiled at her, and that gave her all the strength to say what she needed to.
“I want you to keep coming to the library,” Twilight said boldly, “if you want to, that is. I know I have some issues with the Slayers, Spike does too, but—” Twilight took a deep breath, her face twisting into an embarrassing scrunch as she forced herself not to start crying. “I trust you, Rainbow Dash. I want to trust you.”
“I won’t betray that trust. I promise.”
Rainbow stood straight up to her feet and grabbed the back of her neck, stumbling backward and nearly tripping over her empty cocoa mug as she added awkwardly, “Weird thing to be saying to a pony I’ve only known for like a day, huh?” she laughed nervously, and Twilight didn’t know what to do but laugh with her.
“I mean it though, for what it’s worth.”
“It’s worth a lot to me,” Twilight said with a serene smile.
“I don’t—” Spike muttered. “I don’t like it.”
Twilight sighed and put her arm around Spike, pulling the little pegasus close to her and letting him lean against her side. “I’m sorry, Spike.”
“I don’t like that she said I’m ‘as cool’ as you,” Spike said, causing Twilight to frown drastically as her cheeks went red-hot, Rainbow’s snorting cackle not helping matters at all.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow laughed. “You’re at least twenty percent cooler than Twilight!”
“Hey!” Twilight balked, but Spike’s honest laughter washed away any reservations she had about the besmirching of her character.
She clutched her son close to her and laughed alongside him, feeling a sense of peace and relief she hadn’t felt since she left her home behind.
Because now she was certain that she found it again.
Rarity’s suspicions had been confirmed; a timberwolf king stood in a small clearing deep in the Everfree Forest, the remains of Rarity’s quarry having fused together to create a hulking monstrosity of wood, mud and leaves that dripped lime-green slime on the snow in its wake.
But as a single target, it would be a much simpler matter to defeat it than the pack before it had been.
It had taken Rarity no time at all to track the timberwolf king, the early-afternoon sun hanging high in the pale blue sky as she sat upon a sturdy tree branch far from her prey’s claws and nocked an arrow.
Rarity had several different types of magic arrows at her disposal, but if she hit her mark perfectly, it would only require one shot; the arrow upon hitting the timberwolf king’s muddy flesh would decay the creature from the inside out, making it easy to dispatch with her sword if the arrow didn’t slay it outright.
The beast paced around in a circle, and Rarity presumed it was gathering magical strength from the forest in order to solidify its transformation. It wouldn’t matter, as the wolf didn’t notice Rarity’s presence, and it wouldn’t until it was too late.
Or at least, that’s what Rarity thought, but the wolf was smarter than she realized, and Rarity should have known better than to underestimate it.
The instant Rarity released her arrow, the timberwolf king charged with startling tenacity toward Rarity’s tree—the arrow whooshing right past the beast to land harmlessly in the snow behind it— and slammed its head into the trunk, disorienting Rarity who managed to secure her position atop the branch just in the nick of time—
The nick of time to get unceremoniously knocked from the tree by a second rapid charge, with Rarity sent falling backward, the snow doing little to cushion the impact as her back hit the forest dirt with a blunt thud, and Rarity swore she heard a very disconcerting crack as well and hoped it was merely a fallen branch that had broken.
Rarity gripped her bow tightly; she had used all her knives to deal with the timberwolf pack— each one’s magic only good for a single charge— and her arrows were all she had left that packed enough punch to down this beast in one blow, so she couldn’t afford to lose the bow.
The timberwolf king wasted no time pouncing on top of her, a rancid green slime dripping from its snarling jaws as it stood over her, and Rarity activated her shield with a spark of magic, the sudden punch of iron into the timberwolf’s belly causing it to recoil ever so slightly, enough for her to pull an arrow out of her quiver with her magic and fire it from her bow, hitting the beast right in the eye socket.
The decaying process started immediately, and Rarity allowed herself a victorious smirk, albeit prematurely. To her shock and horror, the timberwolf king tore into the poisoned eye with its claw and ripped the organ out of its own head, throwing it aside as it withered into dust and leaving the rest of the beast unhindered, its bared fangs mere inches from Rarity’s throat.
The timberowlf sunk its splintered teeth into Rarity’s shoulder and it took every ounce of strength in her not to scream in agony as the wooden beast crushed her bones in its jaws. With a flick of its neck, the timberwolf flung Rarity with shocking force into a nearby tree.
Between her spine hitting the tree and then the ground, Rarity would be surprised if she could even move with the pain she was in, but she forced herself to try getting to her hooves and magicking out another arrow to use against the timberwolf.
But she was too slow. The timberwolf lunged, slashing across the side of her chest with a powerful claw that tore through her skin, leaving three bloody gashes in its wake and knocking Rarity to the ground once again.
She wasn’t about to give up though and used her magic to slash her sword through the timberwolf’s claw, separating three of its four talons from the rest of its body. The timberwolf bit down hard onto the sword, catching it between its fangs before skewering Rarity in the gut with another of its claws.
As Rarity retched blood and stumbled back, her already sore spine hitting another tree and sending a wave of pain shooting up it, the timberwolf threw the sword into the distance, separating it from the range of Rarity’s magic.
The timberwolf lunged again, but with only one useable claw, its attack was easy to predict and Rarity lurched underneath it, the beast jumping straight over her. She tried to sprint for her sword and she almost reached it before a claw tore open her back and made her scream bloody murder as she fell to her hands and knees.
She knew she had to keep moving, and forced herself to spring toward the sword as hard as she could, landing flat on her stomach with her pathetic, weakened jump, but getting close enough to the blade that she could grab it in her blue aura.
Rarity barely rolled out of the way of the timberwolf’s declawed stump pressing down on her and found herself underneath the beast, and she swung her flying blade through the timberwolf’s leg, cutting it from its stump of a foot and knocking it completely off-balance.
Incidentally, Rarity realized only too late that destroying the timberwolf’s leg while it was right above her would send the creature toppling down right on top of her.
The force of the timberwolf crashing down onto Rarity’s chest knocked the wind right out of her and her brain briefly entered panic mode before she managed to regain control of the situation by stabbing the timberwolf right in its one remaining eye, causing the beast to recoil.
It couldn’t push itself back into a standing position without both its forelegs, so instead it lurched back and let out a shrill howl, giving Rarity just enough breathing room to smash her shield into its other paw, severing two of its claws with the blunt impact of the shield.
The eyeless beast bared its fangs once more at Rarity, sickly green ooze pouring out its mouth all around her. Rarity held her hand out and grabbed hold of the hilt of her sword, stabbing the blade through the lower jaw of the timberwolf as it lurched toward her to bite her.
The timberwolf recoiled, and as Rarity pulled her sword toward her and the beast reeled back, its entire lower jaw was split in two. Rarity had enough of an opening to slowly back away from the giant beast now and prepare for her finishing blow.
She quickly took an arrow from her quiver and nocked it against the bow, firing it directly into the timberwolf king’s forehead; where it then exploded in a blaze of fire and flying splinters, several of which nicked Rarity as they buzzed past her.
The headless remains of the timberwolf king fell limply to the ground, defeated. And Rarity quickly did the same.
She thought she would be in pain, or that adrenaline would still be coursing through her veins. But more than anything, she just felt cold. And tired.
Her eyes fluttered, her vision blurred as she stared helplessly into the sky and her only sense of feeling other than the cold that wrapped around her entire body like an icy blanket, was the warm blood dripping down her chin.
She was breathing haggardly, her fingers twitching as she tried desperately to move her shredded body.
She couldn’t leave things like this. She couldn’t leave Pinkie Pie alone in the woods. She couldn’t leave Rainbow Dash without a partner, or Applejack without somepony to playfully bicker with. She couldn’t leave Sweetie Belle without her adored role model, or her parents without their beloved daughter, or Celestia without her prized student.
But more than anything, she hated the idea that this is what her life amounted to. She knew no one would find her body here, and the story of Rarity would be one of a woman who walked into the forest one day and never returned, her remains buried under the snow and lost to time forever.
No one would tell the story of her life. When her family passed on, no one would even remember it. And the saddest thing of all was that Rarity wouldn’t be able to blame anyone for forgetting her.
Because the life she had led had been completely pointless.
She couldn’t let that happen.
But she had no strength left to fight.
The last thing she saw, as her eyes rolled back and everything began to blur beyond recognition, were a pair of yellow hooves in the snow.
Pinkie Pie was huddled up as close as she could possibly be against the tree that Rarity had enchanted with a magical, timberwolf-slaying trap. She was curled into a little ball and trying her absolute best not to start freaking out.
She had no way to tell time inside the forest, but she knew from the faint orange tint in the pale blue sky that ‘early-afternoon’ was quickly turning into ‘late-afternoon’.
And Rarity still hadn’t come back.
Pinkie wondered if she should go look for Rarity, but every time she thought that, she worried what if Rarity came back to this spot while Pinkie was out searching and then the two never found each other again and they spent the rest of their days wandering lost in the forest until they freeze or starve to death and their families and friends will be super sad and will be all her fault!
So she stayed put.
Through the growing winter chill, through the choking shadow of anxiety, through that faint orange tint seeming to be less and less ‘faint’ with every passing second.
She stayed put. Just like Rarity had asked her to.
Because Rarity promised she was coming back. And Rarity doesn’t break her promises.
But Pinkie Pie could deal with the fear and the cold. She didn’t like it—she absolutely, unequivocally, irrefutably hated it, as a matter of fact—but she could deal with it, for Rarity’s sake.
Until another thought crossed her mind.
What if she left you behind on purpose?
That was the straw that broke her back. That was the moment Pinkie went from ‘terrified ball of anxiety’ to ‘desperate, weeping husk of a pony’.
She couldn’t leave her spot because she promised Rarity she wouldn’t, but the longer she was left alone with her thoughts, the longer they became consumed by that one recurring idea.
What if she left you behind on purpose?
Rarity wouldn’t do that.
Would she?
No. Of course she wouldn’t.
Right?
Why wouldn’t she?
Who could ever care about someone as annoying, stupid, ugly and worthless as the stupid pink party pony, who was shivering in a ball in the frozen wilderness, left alone to die like she deserved.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie whimpered through tears that she worried would start sticking to her face in the cold. “I’m sorry,” she repeated again, desperate for anypony to hear her, desperate for someone to tell her that this whole day had just been some kind of cruel prank on her.
Desperate for anyone to tell her that she wasn’t alone.
“Are you lost?”
Pinkie stood to her hooves faster than should have been physically possible, her head zipping around to find the source of that mysterious, ethereal voice, and her eyes widened in disbelief and her mouth hung open in awe when she laid her eyes on the speaker.
The woman’s body seemed to faintly glow with a supernatural light. She looked to be a young pegasus woman, maybe just a year older than Pinkie Pie herself, but tall and lanky—almost skeletal in her thin frame.
She had a waterfall of pink hair that flowed down her shoulders and behind her back, and combined with her pale yellow coat, it reminded Pinkie of strawberry-banana ice cream, one of her favorite flavor combos.
The woman’s wings were splayed open behind her and their massive span took Pinkie’s breath away. They were thin like the mare they belonged to, but they looked so strong and majestic, golden feathers adorning them and shining in the dim sunlight like priceless treasure.
But the thing that struck Pinkie the most, the thing that left her completely enraptured, were the mare’s eyes. Teal like a tropical sea, they glittered like magic in the sunlight, like a beacon that led Pinkie back to some sense of inner peace.
Pinkie knew right away that this was the Everfree Nymph that the Cakes had told her about! She was majestic and beautiful and regal and—
And rather awkward as she cleared her throat, shrinking into herself as she did so and making Pinkie realized she had just been standing there gawking like an ape and never actually answered the woman’s question.
“You’re really pretty!” Pinkie smiled a little too wide as she tried to pretend she wasn’t immediately embarrassed by the words that poured out of her mouth as soon as she opened it.
“Thanks,” the woman said with all the emotion of someone who had heard those exact words hundreds of times.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie sighed and hung her head. “I’m having a bad day.”
Pinkie shook her head furiously, the mysterious nymph arching an eyebrow in response. Pinkie cleared her throat and puffed up her chest.
“I am lost as heck, actually!”
The woman giggled at Pinkie’s candor. “I can guide you out of the forest, if you’d like.”
“I can’t,” Pinkie replied immediately, a wave of sadness washing over her. “I need to wait for my friend Rarity. She’s somewhere in the forest too, fighting a t—”
“Timberwolf?” the ethereal maiden finished Pinkie’s sentence, and the little pink mare was awestruck once again.
“Are you a psychic?” she gasped.
“No,” the maiden said with a soft smile and a shake of her head, “but I found your friend. She is in my care.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened. Did that mean that Rarity was okay? Or in even more danger? Had Rarity made the spirits of the forest mad by hunting inside of it? Or maybe the timberwolves were endangering the forest somehow and Rarity did a good?
Pinkie just had so many questions and it was frustrating not to be able to get any answers! But then she realized that maybe all she had to do was ask.
“Is she okay?” Pinkie said calmly. “My friend, I mean.”
“She was in very bad shape when I found her,” the spirit said, “but she will recover. She just needs time. And I have no intention of letting her leave the forest until she gets better, and even less intention of letting her die here.”
Pinkie awkwardly stood in silence for a second and kicked sheepishly at the snow, twitching her fingers to stim and hopefully drown out some of her anxiety.
“Can I see her? Will you take me to her?” Pinkie bowed her head. “Please?”
Pinkie looked up to see the spirit blinking a few times before a serene smile crossed her face that felt to Pinkie like a refreshing summer breeze.
“Of course,” the spirit said with a curtsy. “Follow me.”
The spirit gently walked—no, she glided—along the ground, the snow melting around her hooves with every step. Her movements were dainty and dignified, and Pinkie swore she was somehow the coolest and cutest pony Pinkie’d ever seen in her life.
Pinkie followed dutifully behind the spirit, eager to see Rarity and see that she was okay, but something else was pressing on her mind at the same time; a question that only the spirit could answer, and if Pinkie didn’t ask it, the curiosity would burn a hole in her stomach for all eternity.
“So, what do spirits do for fun?”
“Pardon?” the spirit politely replied with a thin smile still on her face as she tilted her head in confusion.
“What do you do for fun?” Pinkie repeated, and then another question dawned on her. “Uh, you are the spirit of the Everfree… aren’t you? The one the folks of Ponyville talk about?”
“Are they calling me ‘the spirit’ now?” the maiden said with a giggle. “Last I heard, I was the ‘Everfree Nymph’. Not sure which I like better,” the spirit stroked her chin gently, a playful smirk on her face.
“Well, what is your name?” Pinkie asked, more excited to hear the answer than if a dozen cupcakes had been put in front of her to eat.
“Um, ‘the spirit’ is a good enough name, I suppose,” the spirit replied, and Pinkie’s ears flattened against her head to accompany her disappointed frown. “You asked me another question though, didn’t you?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie jumped up and grabbed a tree branch, swinging from it for a moment before jumping in front of the spirit and doing a spin. “What do you like to do for fun?”
“I watch over the forest,” the spirit walked past Pinkie with barely an acknowledgement of her presence, “that’s all.”
“Uhh, that’s it?” Pinkie asked. “No offense, but that sounds super boring! It sounds like work!”
“It’s my home,” the spirit said, “so I’m happy to do it.”
“Don’t you ever get lonely?”
“Sometimes,” the spirit quickly cleared her throat, as if she hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but it was too late to deter Pinkie Pie now.
“Spirit of the Everfree!” Pinkie jumped in front of the spirit and pointed a finger at her, her other hand placed confidently on her hip. “I wanna be your friend!”
The spirit didn’t move or say anything for a moment, and Pinkie’s confident posture was beginning to feel more embarrassing than anything, finger still ‘proudly’ pointed at the spirit.
But then the spirit giggled, and she placed a hand on Pinkie’s head as she gently pushed her aside. “You’re cute. Come on, your friend is just up ahead.”
“I’m serious though!” Pinkie pleaded as she walked alongside the spirit, who only gave a sigh in response.
Pinkie wasn’t usually good at taking hints, but even she could see she wasn’t getting anywhere, and the last thing she wanted was to make the spirit uncomfortable, especially after she did so much to help Pinkie and Rarity.
“Can I at least bake you a cupcake?” Pinkie asked, hands in her coat pockets and idly kicking at the snow as she walked. “To say thank you for helping me and Rarity?”
“I—” the spirit paused, twirling a strand of pink hair around her finger, and Pinkie tried to not get excited. The spirit looked into the pale orange sky and gave another sigh, and Pinkie couldn’t help but think that she sounded super tired. How long had she been protecting the forest all alone?
“I wouldn’t mind that,” the spirit finally said, “I suppose.”
Pinkie squealed with delight and threw her arms around the spirit in a big hug. “You won’t be disappointed, spirit!” she soon realized what she was doing and her eyes widened as she backed away from the spirit as fast as she possibly could, bumping into a tree behind her. “Eh, sorry about that. Force of habit.”
The spirit traced her hands around her waist, where Pinkie’s arms had just been, and Pinkie found herself wondering how long it had been since anypony touched her, and then being horrified by the concept of living without hugs and smooches and high-fives and all the other amazing ways to show affection through touch.
The spirit continued walking in silence, and Pinkie walked behind her, stewing in a sinking feeling that she had screwed everything up again.
“What’s your name?” the spirit asked, her eyes still locked on the path ahead of her.
“I’m Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie answered nervously, though her anxiousness disappeared in a flash as the spirit turned around and gave her a charmed smile, and Pinkie couldn’t help beaming back at her.
“My name is Fluttershy,” she said. “Thank you for asking.”
“It’s my pleasure!” Pinkie said with a reserved smile; she was leaping for joy on the inside but she wanted to play it cool to respect her newfound hopefully-almost-friendship with the spir—with Fluttershy.
“So, um,” Fluttershy muttered, fingers idly playing with her long hair, “what do you like to do for fun?”
The reservation in Pinkie’s smile was gone and it beamed brighter than the setting sun as an explosion of cheer resonated inside Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy had no idea the floodgates she had just opened.
Rarity stirred awake slowly. While her first instinct, as a Slayer, was to immediately get to her hooves and survey the surroundings, she found she simply did not have that energy in her.
She wondered why she felt so tired, why her body felt so heavy, then it all came flooding back to her.
The fight with the timberwolves, her rescuing Bubbles, Pinkie rescuing her, then the king timberwolf battle that left Rarity’s body as little more than a shredded ragdoll to be devoured by the beasts of the Everfree.
But the most vivid image in her mind was that of two yellow hooves she had seen right before losing consciousness.
Rarity opened her eyes and found only darkness waiting for her. For an instant, she panicked, but then realized that her lack of vision was only due to night having fallen and the shadowy thicket of trees around her left little room for what faint moonlight there was to trickle in.
She was still in the forest it seemed, though lying on grass instead of snow.
And then Rarity jumped up, nearly making herself dizzy enough to vomit as her mind caught up with the instinctive movement, a movement that was driven by the sudden pang of guilt that came from the realization that she had left Pinkie Pie alone in the woods. Until nightfall.
Was Rarity the most horrible friend one could ever imagine? She certainly felt like it now. No matter how tired she was, how heavy her body felt, how many questions she had unanswered about how in Equestria she even managed to survive those wounds—let alone wake up to find them having vanished—none of that mattered.
She needed to find Pinkie Pie. NOW.
Turns out, she needn’t have been in such a hurry, for as soon as Rarity stood up, frightening a litany of small animals that had gathered around her unconscious body, she saw the pink mare sitting not ten feet from her, speaking with a yellow pegasus who Rarity did not recognize.
Or at least, not at first.
“You’re the pony who saved me,” Rarity spoke with certainty as she approached the sitting mares.
Her usual tact and manners seemed to still be catching up to her dazed mind, otherwise she never would have interrupted what seemed to be a rather lively conversation.
“You’re awake!” Pinkie wasted no time springing to her feet and wrapping her arms around Rarity, and Rarity found no reason to hesitate in returning the gesture, holding Pinkie tightly to her like she was afraid if she let go Pinkie would disappear.
“I’m glad to see you on your hooves, Rarity,” the pegasus said with a serene smile.
“Er, yes,” Rarity was slightly disconcerted with the stranger knowing her name, though it wasn’t a stretch to assume Pinkie had given it to her if they had been talking. “And you are?” Rarity reached out a hand, the other still resting on the head of the pink pony who seemed intent on never letting go of Rarity either, which Rarity was just fine with.
“My name is—” the woman paused.
She recoiled, and bit her lip. Pinkie unattached herself from Rarity and knelt before the pegasus, taking her hand gingerly in her own and offering a warm smile. The woman sighed, and though she seemed to try and resist the smile forming on her own lips, she was wholly unable to do so.
“My name is Fluttershy,” the woman said, looking up at Rarity with her hand still firmly held by Pinkie’s.
“She’s the spirit of the Everfree Forest!” Pinkie excitedly offered, and Rarity couldn’t help but smile at the bashful blush that tinted the ‘spirit’s’ cheeks.
“Oh? And how did you two come to be so familiar?” Rarity asked amusedly.
Whatever answer the two were trying to give didn’t reach Rarity’s ears, as the pair attempted to speak in unison only to talk over one another and bashfully shut their mouths right after, which just resulted in the pair giggling like schoolfillies at each other’s antics.
Rarity was delighted by Pinkie’s newfound friendship, and she was remiss to cut it short, but…
“Pinkie Pie,” she put her hand softly on Pinkie’s shoulder and the way she tensed up, Rarity could tell Pinkie knew what Rarity was about to say, “I think it’s time we leave the Everfree Forest.”
“But, b-but—”
Pinkie’s quivering was cut short by a single graceful finger pressed against her lips.
“Rarity is right, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy’s words only served to deflate the mare further, her ears drooping down and her lips curling into a pout. “It’s dangerous in the woods at night.
“And besides,” Fluttershy gave an enchanting smile, one that even Rarity was jealous of, “you need to get your rest if you’re going to make, ahem, ‘super-duper amazing wonderfultacular’ cupcakes for me tomorrow.”
“Y-yeah! You’re right!” Pinkie hopped up and pumped her fists in front of her. “Just you wait, Fluttershy! I’m gonna make you the most super-duper-amazing-wonderfultacular cupcakes in the galaxy!”
“I can’t wait,” Fluttershy said with a wistful smile, and if Rarity didn’t know any better she’d swear the mare was smitten. “Now let me guide you both out of the forest.”
Rarity dutifully followed the ‘Everfree Spirit’ and Pinkie Pie around the woods, Rarity making sure to graciously thank Fluttershy not only for healing her wounds, but also for acquiescing to her request for a few minor detours, so Rarity could collect her equipment that found itself scattered throughout the forest.
With her items all in hand and more than an earful of Pinkie’s voice—the young mare filling the entire trek back to Ponyville with the sound of her mostly one-sided conversation with the spirit, not that the spirit seemed to mind even a little that Pinkie did most of the talking—the three women found themselves at the edge of the Everfree.
“Well, this is our stop,” Rarity said. She turned back once more to look at the curious pegasus who lived in the Everfree, and was surprised to see her looking rather somber. “Something the matter, miss Fluttershy?”
“Can you answer me one question?” Fluttershy stared right at Rarity—right through her, it felt like—and Rarity swallowed a lump of sudden anxiety.
“Uh, of course, dear,” Rarity chuckled awkwardly. “It only seems fair, considering how many questions you’ve answered this evening.”
Pinkie was bouncing in place as she awaited the spirit’s question, and Rarity wished she could share in Pinkie’s excitement but the only sensation she could feel was that she was about to be hit by an oncoming train.
“Why did you kill the timberwolves?”
“I’m… sorry?” Rarity took a step back and blinked helplessly. Of all the questions she might have expected the spirit to ask, that was certainly not among them.
“Why did you kill the timberwolves?” the spirit repeated, her teeth grinding against each other as she spoke the emphasized word.
Rarity took a deep breath and collected herself. She had no idea why this woman would be angry about what Rarity had done, and she had no regrets about it either. She simply did what needed to be done.
“I did so because they were attacking the ponies of Ponyville,” Rarity answered sternly. “I am a Slayer, and when monsters attack Equestria’s ponies, it is my job to destroy them so ponies don’t get hurt.”
“You know that timberwolves are magical creatures,” Fluttershy said, undaunted by Rarity’s confidence, which was starting to wane as the spirit’s brightly glowing teal eyes bore into her, “correct?”
Rarity simply nodded her reply.
“They are created from the magic of the Everfree Forest,” the spirit explained, “my magic, to protect the forest when ponies venture too deep into it and take what doesn’t belong to them.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity felt her fingertips glance across the hilt of her axe by instinct.
“The forest is generous,” Fluttershy said calmly; a little too calmly for Rarity’s liking, and she noticed that even Pinkie Pie was standing behind Rarity now, “it gives of its branches so that the ponies who live around it can survive. But when they take that which is not freely given, it hurts the forest.”
Fluttershy’s ghostly eyes stared right into Rarity’s and a chill went down her spine.
“I will not let the forest suffer and die for the greed of ponies,” Fluttershy said sternly. She took a deep breath and collected herself, holding her hands gracefully in front of her. “Please tell the ponies of Ponyville that they may freely take the trees on the edges of the forest to do with what they need, but to leave the trees that resist their axes alone.
“They won’t receive another gentle warning.”
With that, the spirit turned her back on Rarity and nearly disappeared into the forest before Rarity called her name and the spirit paused, though she did not turn back to look at Rarity.
“I always thought that—” Rarity paused to grit her teeth.
Of all the emotions to be feeling right now, embarrassment seemed like an odd one to Rarity, yet how else could she feel about what she had to say after hearing Fluttershy’s rather impassioned speech?
“I was under the impression that timberwolves were just mindless beasts,” Rarity admitted, “lashing out at ponies simply because they could.”
“No creature acts without reason,” Fluttershy turned to Rarity with a seemingly genuine smile, though that somehow only made Rarity’s stomach sink further.
And those were the last words the spirit spoke before she returned to the shadowy forest, which somehow felt to Rarity to be both safer and yet more dangerous than she had realized.
Rarity sighed, not even realizing that her breath was being held until Fluttershy had vanished into the darkness of the forest. She looked behind her at Pinkie Pie, expecting her to still be trembling, but instead she found her friend had a huge smile on her face and her cheeks were red as a ruby necklace.
Pinkie must have noticed Rarity’s staring, because she turned to the unicorn and beamed.
“I really like her!”
“I—” Rarity hesitated before letting out a very, very tired sigh.
Twilight gently placed a blanket over Spike as he snuggled up against his pillow, protective dragon doll firmly in hand. She gave him a little kiss on the forehead and whispered “Goodnight, Spike.”
“Goodnight, Twilight,” Spike said groggily, his eyes already closed and a content smile on his lips that made Twilight put a hand over her heart to make sure it wasn’t literally about to burst with affection.
She turned the upstairs bedroom light off and moved to head back down the stairs, but his sleepy voice calling her name stopped her.
“What’s up, Spike?”
“Um,” Spike’s yawn did little to hide the embarrassment that stemmed from whatever he was about to ask, “is Rainbow coming back tomorrow?”
“I think so,” Twilight allowed a devilish grin to creep across her face. “I’m glad you like her. I knew you would.”
“Well, I mean—” Spike’s face turned bright red and it brought a giggle to Twilight. “Okay, I like her. I think she’s cool. You win, you’re always right.”
“Yup,” Twilight said proudly, adjusting her shirt to look suitably victorious, “I always am.”
“Just,” the playful tone in Spike’s voice was gone, replaced with noticeable apprehension as he clutched his doll even harder, “promise me one more time that she won’t hurt you?”
“No one is going to hurt me,” Twilight walked back over to Spike and knelt at his bed, taking his hand in hers and gently caressing it with her other hand, “or you. And that’s a promise.”
“Okay,” Spike yawned and crashed back onto his pillow. “I love you, Twilight.”
“I love you too, Spike,” Twilight gave her son one more kiss on the forehead before heading downstairs and letting him sleep peacefully.
When Twilight returned downstairs, she found Rainbow Dash stretching her arms above her head as she stood up, letting out what was less a ‘yawn’ and more a small roar.
“Headed home?” Twilight asked her.
“Yeah, ‘fraid so,” Rainbow almost sounded more disappointed than Twilight was. “I got up super early today to come he—er, for some reason,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as her cheeks turned pink, and while Twilight tried pretending not to notice, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Anyway,” Rainbow continued as she took the second and third Daring Do books that Twilight had lent her and put them into her backpack, “I started falling asleep like two hours ago, so I gotta go to bed. Sorry we couldn’t hang out more one on one, but your kid is super rad, so it all worked out.”
“It is too bad,” Twilight chuckled and sat down on the reception desk, crossing one leg over the other. “I was hoping to have you all to myself tonight— that sounded bad,” Twilight immediately felt awash with shame and covered her bright red face with her hands, “that was awful, I’m so sorry I said that.”
“I thought it was cute,” Rainbow laughed, and Twilight peeked at her from between her fingers, her hands feeling like they were on a lit stove as they touched her face.
“Are you, um,” Twilight cleared her throat as she walked behind Rainbow to the library door, “are you coming back tomorrow?”
“Yep,” Rainbow nodded, “same time we agreed on, eleven o’clock.”
“Or three o’clock if you sleep past eleven,” Twilight added teasingly, getting a chuckle out of Rainbow.
“Right,” she said, poking Twilight’s nose, and Twilight bit down a smile in response, “and hey, do you mind if I bring a friend with me? She’s not a Slayer.”
Twilight was of two minds; on the one hand, there was a part of her that couldn’t wait to meet more ponies, but she also was afraid of getting overwhelmed, or of overwhelming Spike.
But surely one more friend wouldn’t hurt, right?
“I suppose,” Twilight shrugged with a smile. “The more the merrier, right?”
“Exactly!” Rainbow beamed.
“So who is this friend?”
“She’s this super-hot blacksmith I know,” Rainbow said excitedly, flicking her fingers in front of her. “You’ll like her a lot, I promise!”
“Oh?” Twilight arched an eyebrow with a teasing grin on her face, crossing her arms and leaning against a bookcase. “She’s ‘super-hot’ huh? I like her already.”
“Did I say that?” Rainbow’s blush could only be described as ‘furious’ as she awkwardly ran her fingers through her short mane. “I meant she’s, like, a, uh—a regular blacksmith.”
Not even Rainbow believed that lie, judging by the utter bemusement painted on her face, like she literally couldn’t believe what she’d just said.
“Does some pony have a crush?” Twilight asked teasingly.
“Maybe,” Rainbow huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from Twilight with her cheeks puffed up. She quickly deflated like a balloon though and looked apprehensively at Twilight. “Honestly, can I ask you a favor?”
“Uh, of course?” Twilight said concernedly, chewing on her fingertip.
“This girl is really hot,” Rainbow’s shoulders tensed up and she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, “but she’s also super cool and smart and rad and amazing and—ugh, you get it.
“Point is, whenever I try to talk to her, I get super flustered. I was hoping that having another cool pony around might help me break the ice.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and added, “Rarity’s a cool pony too, but she’s definitely not an ‘ice breaker’ type. She’s more a… ‘steals all the attention just by being in a room’ type. Which, I mean, good on her but that doesn’t really help me.”
“Uh, well I don’t know who ‘Rarity’ is, but—”
“Just a friend from the Guild,” Rainbow dismissively waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
Twilight shrugged and completely forgot about this ‘Rarity’ pony right away, certain she wasn’t important. “Well, I’m happy to help, so feel free to bring your hot blacksmith friend over with you tomorrow.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow cheered, pumping her fists and giving an excited thumbs-up. “You’re really helping me out here, Twilight, thanks a million!”
“It’s no problem,” Twilight laughed softly and brushed a finger under her bangs. “You came back to the library to talk to me, even though you didn’t have to, you hung out with me and my son all day, and you weren’t—”
Twilight found herself reflexively rubbing the back of her neck, musing how Rainbow was already rubbing off on her. “You didn’t judge me for my aversion to the Celestial Slayers. You were nice to me about it, and that means a lot to me. So thank you, Rainbow.”
“No biggie,” Rainbow shrugged, and the ear to ear grin she was sporting made Twilight’s heart melt. “See you tomorrow, Twilight!”
Rainbow headed out the door and Twilight waved at her, watching her new friend shrink into the horizon of the snowy, sleepy city of Canterlot’s Moon District.
“Goodnight, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out, and she smiled giddily as Rainbow waved back to her.
Twilight bit down a smile, but she couldn’t hold it back for long and beamed as she held her arms and leaned her back against the door of the library, slowly sliding down to the floor with a tender warmth blazing in her heart.
Rainbow breathed heavily in a panic like her skin was on fire as she paced through the snow outside of the Applepie Smithery early in the afternoon, being sure to avoid pacing in front of the windows or anyplace where Applejack could see her.
Honestly, why was this so HARD?!
It should’ve been totally simple! Just go up to her and say ‘hey, you wanna come to the library? There’s a cool unicorn who lives there and she’s super smart and knows a lot about books’. Or something like that anyway.
Instead, Rainbow had been pacing back and forth for what felt like days, and to top it all off she was barely able to fall asleep last night because her mind was too busy racing thinking about what to say to Applejack!
UGH.
Rainbow rested her forehead against the stone wall of the smithery and it crossed her mind to just bang her head into it until her skull cracked, but she knew that wasn’t a great impulse to follow.
Eventually Rainbow would have to either confront her fear of being rejected by Applejack or spend an eternity drowning in all the ‘what ifs’ that she could think of, and she wasn’t sure which one was scarier.
She took a deep breath and puffed up her cheeks, kicking the door of the smithery only to find her hoof in terrible pain as she realized the door didn’t open inside the shop. She gasped and nearly jumped out of her skin as the door swung open, filled with a mixture of relief and pure blood-chilling horror as she saw Applejack step outside the smithery.
“Rainbow Dash?” she asked curiously. “Did you just—” Applejack looked around for a sec, then back at the door, before looking at Rainbow again. “Did you bang on the door just now?”
“Uh, yeah, that was me,” Rainbow drew herself up and tried to look as confident as possible, but she could feel her cheeks burning hotter than Applejack’s forge. “Sorry, I accidentally… kicked it.”
Great excuse, Rainbow, Rainbow thought and fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Sure hope she doesn’t ask why you ‘accidentally kicked’ the door.
“How’d you accidentally kick the door?” Applejack asked.
“Uh, I flew into it,” Rainbow blurted out immediately. She cleared her throat and let her shoulders relax a bit, feeling confident in her lie. “I was trying out some new aerial maneuvers, kinda botched one, landed into your door.”
“That’s funny,” Applejack stroked her chin and Rainbow gulped audibly, trying to ignore how hot the earth pony was, especially when she was confident, “it sure didn’t look like you were doin’ ‘aerial maneuvers’ while you were pacin’ outside my shop the last two hours.”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow shrieked. She coughed nervously as not only Applejack looked at her in shock, but several passerby ponies as well. “H-how did you—I was so sure I wasn’t walking in front of the windows!”
“Uh, that’s a weird thing to say,” Applejack tilted her head and crossed her arms. “What were you skulkin’ out here for, anyway?”
Great. This was great, it was perfect even. Now, not only did Applejack know Rainbow’d been out here pacing in front of the shop, but she looked like some kinda creepy stalker weirdo, or at least a burglar or something.
Rainbow groaned in frustration and slapped her hands against her face, slowly dragging them down and letting them fall to her sides. There was nothing to do now that could fix this, so she might as well be honest.
“I wanted to invite you to the library with me,” Rainbow muttered, looking at anything but Applejack, “but I didn’t know how to ask, so I was trying to come up with something, and just… never did.”
“And the door kicking?”
“I was trying to make a dramatic entrance,” Rainbow swore she was gonna get heat stroke if her face didn’t cool down, “and didn’t realize the door opened out.”
Applejack stood in stoic silence, the only indication that she even heard Rainbow at all being a couple of blinks.
And then she burst into laughter.
Rainbow shrunk into herself, putting her hands in her pockets and fidgeting her wings anxiously. If a meteor could’ve just struck her down where she stood, she would’ve been totally cool with that.
“I’m sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack said, tapping on Rainbow’s arm, “I don’t mean to laugh at’cha. But ya gotta admit, that’s pretty funny.”
Rainbow bit down a smile and shrugged huffily. And then Applejack pulled her in close and gave her a hug, and if Rainbow felt like her cheeks were hot before, that was an icy blizzard compared to the inferno that blazed in her as her face pressed against Applejack’s chest.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass ya,” Applejack said softly, tussling Rainbow’s hair. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s totally okay,” Rainbow said. She didn’t move a muscle, afraid that any movement would either tip Applejack off that she was into her, or worse, made Applejack let her go. “Thanks.”
“Now then,” Applejack took a step back from Rainbow and placed her hands on the pegasus’ shoulders. If she had any idea that Rainbow was so flustered, she wasn’t showing it. “Let’s talk about that library, huh?”
“D-do you wanna go with me?” Rainbow said hopefully, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I wish I could,” Applejack sighed, “but I gotta run the shop. Pinkie’s gonna be gone a couple days, I think. Don’t know exactly when she’s comin’ back.”
“Oh, right,” Rainbow cursed herself for totally forgetting that Pinkie wasn’t here, so of course Applejack couldn’t leave the shop. “Well, don’t worry about it. It’s just a dumb ol’ library, no big deal.”
Rainbow backed away and her eyes darted toward the direction of the library. “I’d better get going though. Promised someone else I’d meet ‘em today, and I’m already running kinda late,” it was just past one o’clock last Rainbow checked, and she didn’t want to miss her three o’clock deadline she’d promised Twilight.
More than that though, she just wanted to be anywhere but the Applepie Smithery, standing like a complete idiot in front of its super-hot blacksmith.
“So, I’ll see ya later I guess,” Rainbow said, her wings unfurling as she prepared to head into the sky.
“W-wait, hold on a sec,” Applejack called out, and while Rainbow was just about to take off, she paused and looked Applejack’s direction. “Just cuz I can’t go to the library with ya, doesn’t mean you can’t spend a little time in my shop, does it? It gets kinda lonely without Pinkie around,” Applejack coughed, and Rainbow could swear she heard her say under her breath, “or without any customers for that matter.”
Rainbow’s wings flattened against her back instantly as she stared wide-eyed at the blacksmith, who seemed to be avoiding Rainbow’s gaze for some reason. Rainbow wondered if she could really take Applejack up on that offer; if she could really stand to spend two hours in the smithery with her without embarrassing herself.
On the other hand, would she even be able to tear herself away from Applejack if it went well? Or would she lose track of time and totally bail on her promise to Twilight Sparkle?
She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t risk it; the embarrassment or breaking her promise.
“S-sorry, I can’t,” every word out of Rainbow’s mouth felt like a hot coal forcing itself through her throat, “I promised I’d meet a friend at the library, and I’d feel just awful if I broke it.”
“O-oh, yeah. Yeah, of course, of course,” Applejack nodded with a smile, arms crossed over her chest. “Wouldn’t want you to break a promise, that’d be just awful. Sorry.”
“No, you shouldn’t be sorry!” Rainbow said, ears flicking up and holding her hand out. “I really appreciate the offer, I just can’t today.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Applejack shrugged, same passive smile still on her face. Her ears perked up ever so slightly and she glanced toward Rainbow. “Maybe you could come by later tonight? I’m closin’ up the shop early tonight, on account of Pinkie not bein’ here. Eight o’clock sound good?”
“I, I guess I could do that,” Rainbow nodded eagerly, but stopped herself and bit down on her lip so she didn’t look too eager.
“Great!” Applejack beamed, holding out her hand. “See you then, Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow hesitantly shook Applejack’s hand and was thankful that Applejack’s gloves made her unable to feel the sweat on Rainbow’s palm, “see you then. Definitely.”
Applejack walked back into the shop, turning back to Rainbow and giving her a wink as she shut the door and left her alone outside.
Rainbow fell on her rump right where she stood, curling into a ball and holding her legs close to her as the magnitude of what she just promised to do hit her.
Come by after Applejack closes up the shop? When she’s all alone and totally undistracted, so her and Rainbow would have nothing to occupy their attention except each other? It was the perfect opportunity!
Rarity took one of Pinkie’s cupcakes as a formality to make her friend happy, and not because she felt like eating anything after her encounter in the forest the previous night. But Pinkie Pie hadn’t been lying when she said her baking skills were out of this world; as soon as Rarity tried it she knew she had to help herself to three or four more, and Pinkie Pie was more than happy to oblige.
Rarity sat at a table with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the proprietors of Ponyville’s leading bakery, Sugarcube Corner. She was reporting to them not only a job well done in banishing the timberwolves, but also of Fluttershy’s ‘gentle warning’.
“Oh, we had no idea the spirit of the forest had been taking Ponyville’s logging so seriously!” Mrs. Cake said concernedly, her hand over her mouth.
“We’re really glad to know though,” Mr. Cake added. “The last thing the folks here want is a problem with that forest, or the spirit who lives in it!”
The two seemed to speak more out of genuine concern and respect for the forest, rather than out of fear like Rarity had anticipated, and that warmed her heart a little bit.
“I really should just tell the mayor myself,” Rarity said, “but due to Pinkie Pie’s important errand, I’m afraid I just won’t have time before we have to catch our train home.”
“Don’t trouble yourself at all, dear,” Mrs. Cake waved off Rarity’s concern with a flick of her wrist. “We’ll talk to the mayor and get this whole thing straightened out!”
“Thank you,” Rarity bowed her head. “And thank you again for the meal, it was lovely.”
Rarity wasn’t sure when the last time she had an honest to goodness meal was, instead of just rations or the like, and she found after the delightful little breakfast the Cakes had provided, that she sorely missed it.
Rarity took a deep breath, recalling one more matter of business she had to make sure of before she left Ponyville.
“May I ask,” Rarity said cautiously, “is Bubbles alright? I haven’t seen her since our little encounter in the forest.”
“She’s absolutely peachy,” Mrs. Cake said casually, “why do you ask?”
Rarity arched an eyebrow and gave the woman a curious look, which was mirrored by Mrs. Cake herself.
“She was injured in the forest,” Rarity explained, not entirely certain why she had to explain what should have been obvious. “I just wanted to make sure she recovered alright. Her leg looked pretty badly hurt, and if she had to walk back to town on it—”
“Bubbles is an odd one,” Mr. Cake said fondly. “She goes into that forest all the time, and she’s never gotten hurt in it.”
“But—” Rarity shook her head. “But I saw her. Her leg was bleeding, she had gotten slashed by a timberwolf.”
“Well both her legs were just fine when she came by last night,” Mrs. Cake said with a shrug. The woman answered Rarity’s next question before she could even ask it. “She came by to tell us that you were dealing with the timberwolves, and that you’d probably be hungry once you were finished so she asked if we could prepare a meal for you, on her, once you returned!”
“And we told her no way,” Mr. Cake laughed, “cuz we already planned on treating you on us!”
What a curious story. Rarity supposed it wasn’t all that odd, for Bubbles to want to pay Rarity back for saving her. But then why hadn’t Bubbles come to see her after she returned from the forest?
“All done!”
Pinkie Pie’s melodic voice clamored from the kitchen, and a smile graced Rarity’s lips at the sound as she allowed herself to forget about her little mystery. Pinkie poked her head out into the seating area and Rarity couldn’t stifle the giggle that came from seeing Pinkie’s face white as a sheet from all the flour and baking supplies she was covered in.
“Are you ready to go, Rarity?” Pinkie asked with a huge grin.
“Absolutely, darling,” Rarity nodded and stood on her hooves, feeling reinvigorated from Pinkie’s smile.
A few more heartfelt words of gratitude were exchanged between the two travelers from Canterlot and the Cakes, the latter being thankful to Rarity and Pinkie for heeding their request to deal with the timberwolves, and Rarity and Pinkie couldn’t help but thank them again for their hospitality, and for allowing Pinkie to bake her super-duper-amazing-wonderfultacular cupcakes in their kitchen.
As the two girls headed back to the forest, Rarity found herself oddly pleased at the thought that the spirit would definitely enjoy Pinkie’s cupcakes, and that surprised her. She shook it off though, and she just let herself feel delighted in seeing Pinkie Pie’s exuberance as she hopped alongside her toward the forest.
The Everfree Forest was far less exciting to Rarity the second time going into it. Something about searching for a waifish spirit was much less adventurous than going in to hunt timberwolves. But not to Pinkie Pie, who couldn’t help but beam ear to ear as they entered the wood.
It wasn’t long before they found the object of their search; Fluttershy had been waiting for them in a small clearing, sitting in a patch of grass surrounded by snow with her legs folded under her, and she smiled at the pair as they approached.
“It’s good to see you again,” she said softly.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie squealed and nearly catapulted herself at Fluttershy, who caught Pinkie in her arms with surprising ease, not even flinching as Pinkie threw herself into Fluttershy headfirst. “I am so happy to see you! And I brought cupcakes, just like I promised!”
Fluttershy allowed herself a small giggle, and she stood up as Pinkie opened up her bag to hand out the sweet treats. Though Rarity and Pinkie had already eaten, Rarity was sure just one cupcake wouldn’t hurt her. Or maybe two.
Rarity was in charge of setting out a picnic blanket, a lovely little thing with a delightful pastel checkerboard pattern of yellow and pink decorating it.
“Why, it looks just like you, darling!” she said teasingly to Fluttershy, who seemed surprised by the comparison, looking alarmed at Rarity before squinting at the blanket and leaning her head away, causing Rarity to giggle.
Despite her rather intimidating nature the last Rarity had spoken to her, nothing about Fluttershy seemed dangerous to her now. If anything, she seemed more wary of them than they were of her.
“Don’t get many visitors, I take it?” Rarity asked as Fluttershy knelt on the blanket, Pinkie Pie scooching up next to her.
“Um, no,” Fluttershy replied, shaking her head slowly. “Most are afraid of coming into this forest, and the ones that aren’t leave quickly after running afoul of the forest’s protectors.”
“Well that’s just too bad,” Pinkie pouted. “Cuz I’m sure anypony who gave you a chance would really like you! You’re so sweet and nice!”
“Um, if you say so,” Fluttershy said awkwardly, twirling a strand of pink hair around her very thin finger.
The little cupcake picnic went off without much of a hitch, if Rarity could be so bold to say. Granted, the three enjoyed their confectionaries mostly in silence, but if only Fluttershy knew what an enormous display of respect that was coming from Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie stole glances at the spirit of the Everfree whenever she could, and Fluttershy either pretended not to notice or gave a humoring smile back to Pinkie. Rarity found the Pinkie’s crush on the supernatural pegasus nothing short of adorable, though she had trouble deciphering Fluttershy’s feelings.
The spirit of the Everfree was incredibly reserved. Rarity could tell she was polite, patient, and she seemed genuinely kind, but despite acquiescing to Pinkie Pie’s offer of a cupcake picnic, Fluttershy didn’t seem terribly keen on opening herself up to the two ponies.
Though perhaps that was to be expected; if she didn’t get many visitors, it’s not so surprising that she would keep herself so closed off. She had a forest to protect too, and if that was her priority— well, Rarity knew all too well how easily meeting other ponies could become unimportant.
Lost in her thoughts, it took Rarity some time to notice that Fluttershy had been staring at Rarity’s necklace.
“It’s quite fetching, isn’t it?” Rarity smiled as she ran her fingers across the dragon fang hanging from the choker around her neck. In truth, she thought the thing was frightfully garish, but with enough confidence she could pull off any look, so she would never admit to it.
“It’s—” Fluttershy seemed lost as she stared at the fang. “It’s a dragon fang, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Rarity nodded, examining the necklace and finding herself frowning at it despite herself.
Rarity looked up from the fang to notice that Pinkie Pie had gone curiously stiff and was giving Rarity a concerned expression, which soon softened when Rarity smiled at her.
“Why?” Fluttershy’s words took Rarity by surprise, and she tilted her head and looked confusedly at the pegasus. “Why do you wear something so ugly around your neck?”
“Well, it’s not ugly,” Rarity said unconvincingly, “it’s just, um—”
“That’s not what I meant,” the spirit said coldly, and Rarity was sure she saw a spark of fire in the woman’s glowing teal eyes.
“Ah,” Rarity sighed and let go of the fang. “I see, you’re wondering where it came from.”
Fluttershy responded only by staring; first at the fang, then at Rarity, who gave a cold smile as she recounted her tale.
“It’s a memento,” Rarity said, “of the first time I—”
“Rarity,” Pinkie whimpered, “are you sure you wanna talk about this?”
The poor dear looked more shaken up than even Rarity herself was, and a wave of affection and sympathy washed over Rarity. She moved over beside Pinkie and put her hand on Pinkie’s thigh, and Pinkie responded by snuggling right up to Rarity’s side, wrapping her arms around Rarity in a protective embrace that Rarity was certain wouldn’t relent until her story was finished.
Rarity found herself now sitting mere inches from Fluttershy, and she looked the spirit in the eye as she continued:
“Imagine a young mare, just entering her twenties and feeling so proud of herself for getting a headstart on her dreams,” Rarity wasn’t sure how much embellishment her story required, but Fluttershy’s unenthused reaction made her clear her throat and decide ‘not a lot’ would be a good choice.
“I was nineteen when I became a Celestial Slayer. Usually to take the license exam, you need to be twenty-five, but I was a special case due to—” Rarity shook her head; it wasn’t important. “Shortly after my twentieth birthday, I received my first A-Class mission, which is only for the most deadly and dangerous of creatures. While the level of lethality is generally up to the Slayer’s discretion in most missions, A-Class monsters are kill on sight.”
Rarity found herself clutching her necklace tighter, just as Pinkie was clutching her tighter. Rarity looked up from the necklace to see a very pensive frown on Fluttershy’s face, the spirit anxious for Rarity to continue her tale.
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the obvious; the creature in question was a dragon.”
“So you took the fang as a trophy,” Fluttershy groaned in disgust, “to commemorate your very first ‘A-Class mission’. Good for you,” Fluttershy hissed, her eyes narrowing into daggers at Rarity.
“No,” Rarity said sternly enough to make Fluttershy flinch. “You misunderstand. This is not a trophy, this is a reminder.”
Fluttershy looked taken aback, but said nothing, and Pinkie Pie was practically in Rarity’s lap as she clung to the unicorn. Whether it was for her comfort or Pinkie’s own, Rarity had no clue, but she was grateful for the gesture nonetheless.
“I went to the town the dragon had been hiding around,” Rarity said, “only to find it wasn’t hiding near the town, but in it, disguised as a pony with magic. When she met me, she was nothing but kind and helpful, pretending to offer advice and good wishes on my hunt.
“When I discovered her treachery, I tricked her into following me to the nearby mountains, and drove my axe into her neck. She transformed and tried to kill me then, but I overpowered her.”
Rarity grit her teeth as the memories came flooding back to her. Pinkie Pie tried to comfort her in some way, but Rarity barely noticed, too lost in her memories for anything around her to register.
“She begged—” Rarity said through heavy breaths “—begged for her life. And I let her go. She looked up at me with tear-stained eyes and pleaded to let her live, and I couldn’t bring myself to harm her any further, but I told her to leave Equestria and never return.
“When I went back to town to report my success, I found that she had beaten me there, and burned every single house to the ground, families still screaming from inside for salvation that would never come.
“This time, I showed the dragon no mercy. I brought her down from the sky and as she laid in an ocean of her own blood she had the damn nerve to beg for her life again. My only response was to cut her head from her body.”
Rarity was the one staring daggers now, the pain and fury in her eyes intimidating even the ethereal spirit of the Everfree.
“This fang is no trophy, it is a reminder of what happens when I fuck up. It is to remember every scream from that night, the smell of burning skin, the crying children who would not survive the night with their wounds, leaving grieving parents behind.
“And all because I couldn’t stand to get blood on my hands. My weakness killed dozens, and I will never let it happen again.”
If Fluttershy was moved by Rarity’s story, the unicorn couldn’t see it on her face. Fluttershy stared impassively, like a stone wall, back at Rarity, her glittering teal eyes coming across as a mockery of Rarity’s pain.
Rarity stood to her feet, toppling Pinkie Pie over as she tried in vain to hold onto Rarity. She walked away from the blanket lying on the ground and back toward Ponyville, turning back only briefly to bark an order at Pinkie Pie.
“Collect your things, Pinkie Pie. We have a train to catch.”
Pinkie Pie was filled with a looooooot of swirling emotions as she and Rarity sat down on their beds in Sugarcube Corner, having missed their afternoon train back to Canterlot and forced to take the morning train tomorrow.
The two had spent the rest of their afternoon in Ponyville, and while Rarity was reluctant at first to accept the Cakes’ offer to stay at Sugarcube Corner for the night, bits didn’t grow on trees so she graciously took them up on it.
Rarity hadn’t done much with her time, mostly staying at Sugarcube Corner, helping herself to some on the house sweet treats and making sure she had everything she needed neatly packed for the morning.
Pinkie took the time to visit as many of her Ponyville friends as she could fit into one day; all except Bubbles.
Bubbles was nowhere to be seen, and when Rarity asked the Cakes why, they told her about how Bubbles had a tendency to disappear on short notice, only to show up again safe and sound the next day or day after.
Pinkie already knew that about her friend though, so she wasn’t worried.
At least, not until she and Rarity settled into their room for the night. Then she felt all kinds of need to worry, though not about Bubbles. Instead her mind raced with thoughts of the trip and what she’d experienced.
On the one hand, she was super glad to finally have her very own adventure! On the other hand, Rarity almost died, and Pinkie got left alone in the woods for several hours. But on the other other hand, she got to meet Fluttershy! But on the other other other hand, Rarity had barely said a word since telling her scary story.
Pinkie had heard that story before, of course. Applejack insisted Rarity tell it to her to dissuade her from becoming a Slayer, but in all honesty it only made Pinkie more certain that she wanted to do it. She heard Rarity’s descriptions of horrified ponies, calling out for help as they were burned to death, and it broke her heart into little bitty pieces.
No one deserved to die like that, and even more, no one deserved to live in fear of that fate. Pinkie couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t do something to help, and becoming a Slayer was the only thing she could think of!
Pinkie sighed and stared solemnly out the window. She was as lost in thought as Rarity was, and neither really had much to say to the other, but Pinkie hoped that didn’t mean Rarity thought Pinkie was mad at her. Then Pinkie was terrified to think that Rarity might be mad at her.
“Rarity?” Pinkie whimpered. When the unicorn looked impassively in her direction, Pinkie swallowed a lump of fear and clung to her pillow.
Rarity’s eyes lit up and her mouth took the shape of a concerned ‘o’. She smiled softly and got up to sit next to Pinkie on the bed, placing her hand gently on Pinkie’s thigh, which got a giggle out of Pinkie.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity said, “I have been terribly dull company today, haven’t I?”
“It’s okay,” Pinkie put her hands on top of Rarity’s. “I know you have a lot on your mind. I just wanna make sure you aren’t upset with me.”
“Why would I be?” Rarity tilted her head, and Pinkie instinctively clenched her fingers tighter around Rarity’s hand.
“Well, um, cuz I made us miss the train?” Pinkie murmured.
“Oh, please, sweetheart,” Rarity chuckled and put her arm around Pinkie, letting Pinkie lean against Rarity’s chest while Rarity stroked Pinkie’s hair. “I know you had something very important that you needed to do.”
“It was,” Pinkie bit down on her lip but couldn’t stop herself from smiling ear to ear, “super important.”
Even after Rarity commanded Pinkie to gather her things, she delayed. She started picking up her things suuuuuper slowly, Rarity letting out a frustrated groan in response that made Pinkie flinch.
“Do you need help?” Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie shook her head, and when she inadvertently made eye contact with Rarity, she flinched again and focused on picking up the picnic supplies.
“Should I just wait outside the forest for you?” Rarity said grumpily.
“You promise you won’t leave me?” Pinkie said pitifully.
Rarity took a deep breath and sighed, a weary frown on her face. She forced a small smile and promised, “I won’t leave you.”
Pinkie opened her mouth to speak but Rarity cut her off, performing a series of odd gestures and saying, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Pinkie Promise.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Pinkie said with tears in her eyes.
“Don’t be too long, okay?” Rarity said with a giggle. “We don’t want to miss our train.”
“No worries!” Pinkie chirped, giving Rarity a salute.
“I’ll wait for you,” Rarity said as she left the forest, leaving Pinkie all alone with Fluttershy.
As Pinkie picked up the stuff, Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably, watching Rarity walk away from the forest.
“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy said suddenly, startling Pinkie who stood to attention right away. “With her?”
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie nodded, “she’s one of my best friends! I know she got super intense all of a sudden, but she’s really nice. Why do you ask?”
“Uh, um, I just wasn’t—” Fluttershy cleared her throat and took a few steps back, allowing Pinkie to grab the blanket off the ground. “You didn’t seem sure, just a second ago.”
“I’m not sure of anything,” Pinkie laughed, only half-joking. “My brain doesn’t work right, y’know? It gets all noodly and tries to make me believe not-true stuff.”
“I—” Fluttershy seemed hesitant to speak, but Pinkie waited with rapt attention for her to, especially since Pinkie hadn’t actually meant to say that brain stuff, it kinda just slipped out and was really embarrassing. “I’m like that too.”
Pinkie’s eyes sparkled with affection as well as tears. She grabbed Fluttershy’s hand, surprising Fluttershy, who gasped at Pinkie’s touch, and Pinkie looked up into Fluttershy’s beautiful teal eyes.
“I wanna come back and visit you!” Pinkie said excitedly, perhaps a little too excitedly, judging by Fluttershy’s stricken expression. “Um, if that’s alright?”
Fluttershy just blinked, staring down at Pinkie whose smile was becoming more and more strained as she waited for Fluttershy to speak. Pinkie let her hand fall off Fluttershy’s and got back to picking up her stuff.
Once she had collected everything, she sighed softly to herself and wanted to kick herself in the butt for being such a stupid, dumb, boring, ugly pink earth pony who no one will ever—
“I’d really like—” Fluttershy’s words got caught in her throat and it was as hard for Pinkie to hide her enthusiasm as it was to try and not get her hopes up. “I’d really like for you to come back. If that’s okay with you.”
“I’d love to come back,” Pinkie said sweetly, beaming brightly. “I can’t just drop everything at home though, so I don’t know when I’ll be back…”
“Oh,” Fluttershy’s ears drooped and her eyes drifted toward the ground. Pinkie felt the painful prong in Fluttershy’s heart like it was her own.
“But I’ll definitely come back!” Pinkie assured, only receiving a half-hearted ‘mm-hmm’ in reply.
Pinkie knew the only way to convince Fluttershy that she was being honest would be to actually come back, but her words were true; she couldn’t just drop everything at the smithery on Applejack and leave to Ponyville whenever she wanted.
“Give me one month, okay?” Pinkie’s voice cracked as she tried to remain confident despite her fears. “One month, and I’ll come back to see you. I promise,” Pinkie turned to face Fluttershy and puffed out her chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! I Pinkie Promise! I’ll come back to see you in a month!”
Fluttershy stared in bewilderment at Pinkie’s odd chant for a moment, and Pinkie very briefly worried that she had made things worse, but all the tension in her whole entire body fluttered away at the giggle Fluttershy made.
Twilight watched helplessly as Rainbow Dash stared out the window of the library, a thumbnail bit between her teeth.
Rainbow had been at the library for nearly seven hours, and in that time Twilight swore she knew more about Applejack the blacksmith than she knew about herself. Rainbow Dash talked about her like she rose the sun every morning, and Twilight found it absolutely adorable how infatuated Rainbow was.
At least until the clock struck seven fifty, and Rainbow said that she had to leave. And then didn’t.
Seven fifty-four.
Twilight couldn’t take the silence anymore, and she approached Rainbow Dash and gently put a hand on the trembling pegasus’ shoulder, which only made Rainbow jump and brush Twilight off in surprise.
“Sorry,” Rainbow said sheepishly as she turned to Twilight. “I’m a little jumpy, I guess.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Twilight could tell the last thing Rainbow wanted to do was talk about it, but Twilight just didn’t know what else to say.
“Rainbow Dash?” Spike said curiously, walking out of the makeshift kitchen in the back of the library with a bowl of ice cream in hand. “You’re still here? I thought you were going to go see Applejack.”
Twilight groaned under her breath at Spike’s unfortunate timing and lack of tact, but the sound was completely swallowed by the loud BANG as Rainbow Dash’s forehead hit the side of the bookcase in front of her.
“I should go,” Rainbow said, for about the fifth time in as many minutes. “I need to go, I promised I would.”
Seven fifty-five.
“Rainbow?” Twilight’s perfectly calm and clear voice demanded Rainbow Dash’s attention, and the pegasus looked at Twilight with a desperate frown. “I say this as your friend, and am asking in complete honesty: why haven’t you left yet?”
Rainbow recoiled from the question, as Twilight was afraid that she would, but Rainbow’s expression quickly softened, only to just as quickly turn into a snarl of frustration, gritted teeth bared as she clenched her fists so hard Twilight was worried she would bleed on the library floor.
“I don’t—” Rainbow started breathing heavily, a look of pure panic settling into her eyes.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” Twilight said softly, gently touching Rainbow’s hand.
Her eyes darted over to Spike, who was sitting on the other side of the room now, eating his ice cream while his legs dangled off the reception desk. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief that he understood the delicateness of this situation and stayed out of it.
“I’m gonna screw everything up,” Rainbow said quickly. “It’s just me and her, all alone, and I know I’m gonna screw everything up. I don’t want to screw everything up!”
“Hey, hey,” Twilight slowly caressed the back of Rainbow’s hand, “it’s okay. You’re not going to screw anything u—”
“Yes I am!” Rainbow yelled, yanking her hand away from Twilight and slapping her palm against a bookcase, wincing from the pain of it. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about—”
“I’m sorry,” Rainbow repeated, and Twilight suddenly realized Rainbow wasn’t talking about the bookcase, or even to Twilight at all.
Twilight took in a deep breath and squeezed Rainbow’s hand, letting her friend know that she was still there for her, even if Rainbow was lost in her thoughts.
“I can’t go,” Rainbow shook her head. “I just can’t—I can’t go. I can’t go.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight took Rainbow’s other hand, rubbing her thumb against the crease between Rainbow’s thumb and index finger. “You don’t have to go if—” was there any way Twilight could finish that sentence that wouldn’t make Rainbow’s panic worse?
“You’re safe inside the library.”
“Then can I stay in the library?” Rainbow backed off and turned away from Twilight, rubbing her arms and shivering. A loud sniff clued Twilight in to why Rainbow turned her face away, and Twilight turned to Spike, gesturing for him to go back in the kitchen and fetch two more ice creams.
Too early for Rainbow Dash to even be awake, much less braving the winter weather—she could even see her own breath as she grumbled, for pony’s sake!
But how could she call herself Rarity’s friend or partner if she wasn’t there to meet Rarity at the train station?
Rarity could’ve waited for the afternoon to come back, though.
Rainbow Dash sighed and shook the bitter thoughts away. She was just grumpy because she didn’t get enough sleep—again. But last night she wasn’t kept awake by the exciting prospect of meeting a new friend, but instead by the raging storm in her brain that twisted her stomach in knots and made her feel like she was going to vomit the entire night.
And y’know, the anxiety is something she could deal with. Sure, she felt like she wanted to throw u—no, she felt like she wanted to forcibly extract all of her internal organs and throw them into a meat shredder.
But anxiety fades, and it passes.
Shame remains.
Shame sticks with you; it claws at your brain as the library closes three hours after your panic attack ruined everyone’s night. It sticks with you as you’re sheepishly apologizing to the librarian while you’re heading out the door because you ‘just don’t know what’s wrong’ with you, even though you know exactly what’s wrong.
Shame sticks with you as you lie awake in bed, thinking about what you should have done, what you could have done if you weren’t such a coward. It sticks with you the whole night, nine hours, while you toss and turn and try to sleep, and even after you realize sleep isn’t happening.
Shame sticks with you as you trot to the train station in the bitter cold, and you want nothing more than to just crawl under your bed and decompose but you can’t break another promise, damn it!
Shame sticks with you because your panic attacks aren’t real. Because you’re just trying to ‘get attention’, or you’re ‘just a coward’, or a thousand other things people say because they don’t feel that violent storm inside, where you feel like tearing the flesh off your body like old paper because you just can’t stand to be.
It doesn’t matter.
Rainbow Dash tried to slap herself awake, taking a too-big sip of her black coffee and nearly choking, the idle thought that maybe she deserved to choke to death on her coffee and boy that’d show them rushing through her head and disappearing just as fast as it came when Rainbow chastised herself and clicked her tongue, wondering who ‘them’ was even supposed to be.
She was nearly at the train station. Rarity was sure to have a whole bunch of cool stories to share about her timberwolf mission, and Rainbow was sure that some light teasing would make her feel better.
Rainbow’d whine about how she wished she’d been there, only for Rarity to assure her that Rainbow would’ve ‘only slowed me down, darling,’ then Rainbow of course would joke that Rarity couldn’t get any slower.
Rainbow chuckled to herself at the little scene she was putting together in her head as she finally reached the train station, and she already started to feel a little bit like herself again.
Only for the violent storm to return in full force when her eyes locked onto the muscular orange mare standing by the train platform, her arms crossed as she patiently waited for the train to arrive.
Rainbow’s first instinct was to wonder what Applejack was doing there, but before she even formed that sentence in her mind she remembered that Pinkie Pie was riding the train with Rarity, and of course Pinkie’s best friend and partner would be there to meet her at the station.
If Rainbow had been lucid enough to remember that when she was still in bed, she might not have gotten up; made some excuse about her ‘injuries’ or whatever to tell Rarity about why she couldn’t—
Ugh, no. That’s awful, Rainbow thought with a groan.
The sound of Rainbow’s frustration was just loud enough to catch Applejack’s attention, which wouldn’t have been so bad if Rainbow hadn’t been staring right at her as she turned, locking eyes with Applejack as she looked over.
Rainbow blinked, eyes wide like a jackolope with an axe bearing down on its head. Applejack’s eyes only narrowed; her frown deepening as she turned away from Rainbow and back to the train tracks.
If Rainbow had been serious about leaving the train station, it didn’t matter now. Her window was closed. There was no way she could just walk home after Applejack had seen her.
Or could she?
No, NO. She absolutely couldn’t.
With a deep breath, Rainbow walked slowly over to Applejack, hands in her pockets as she took a spot in the nearly empty train station next to Applejack, Rainbow’s wings fidgeting behind her as she tried to think of something to say.
“Um,” Rainbow smoothly said, flinching at the sharp inhale that Applejack made in return. “I didn’t—” just saying ‘sorry I didn’t show up yesterday’ should have been enough to smooth things over, so why was that so HARD?
“I had a thing to take care of last night,” Rainbow cleared her throat, “that’s why I didn’t show up. Uh, so, yeah. That’s why.”
Applejack didn’t have to know that ‘thing’ was a panic attack. Nopony but Twilight and Spike needed to know that.
“It’s fine,” Applejack didn’t bother to look at Rainbow as she replied, and while reading a room was not Rainbow’s strong suit by any means, even she could tell that it definitely was not fine.
Any weak excuses Rainbow thought to mutter were drowned out by the whistle of the oncoming train, and Rainbow bit her lip hard enough to draw blood to distract herself from the thought of jumping in front of it that intruded in her mind without warning or welcome.
“Are you bleedin’?”
Rainbow’s eyes darted up at Applejack, wide as saucers. The last thing she expected was for her to suddenly be talking to her, and about that of all things.
“Uh, I bit my lip,” Rainbow said, “just now. Accident. No big deal.”
“Hard enough to draw blood?” Applejack’s tone sounded somewhere between incredulous and concerned, and Rainbow couldn’t tell which it was.
“It happens sometimes,” Rainbow moved her arm to wipe the blood off but was stopped by Applejack lightly grabbing her wrist, causing Rainbow’s cheeks to suddenly feel like they were pressed against a glass fireplace.
“Don’t do that,” Applejack said teasingly. “Here,” she pulled out a white cloth from a satchel on her belt, and used it to wipe the blood off Rainbow’s lip, which only increased the burning in Rainbow’s cheeks, but she didn’t mind at all.
“I’m sorry I missed you last night,” Rainbow said, the words nearly forcing them out Rainbow’s throat like a mutinying crew. “I—” Rainbow groaned and shook her head, taking a step back once Applejack was done cleaning her lip. “I don’t have any excuses.”
“Thank you for apologizin’,” Applejack’s smile made Rainbow feel like at least thirty pounds had fallen off her shoulders, and she could actually breathe again.
“Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow shrugged and took her place next to Applejack again, a wide grin propping up her bright red cheeks.
Anxiety still crept around in her stomach, but that was fine. Anxiety would fade, but her joy at seeing Applejack’s smile would remain.
As Rarity stepped off the train and breathed a sigh of relief to set foot in the familiar Canterlot station, she was delighted to see Rainbow Dash was at the station waiting for her, even if the poor pegasus looked like she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since Rarity left.
And of course, she was not nearly so delighted as Pinkie Pie was to see Applejack. Pinkie didn’t even wait for Rarity to get off the train before speeding past her and galloping toward Applejack, jumping into the bigger mare’s arm and being wrapped up in a tight hug, Applejack proceeding to spin Pinkie around for good measure, Pinkie giggling like a schoolfilly all the while.
“Hey Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said with a yawn, and pointed her thumb at Applejack and Pinkie, “you wanna do that?”
“No thank you, dear,” Rarity playfully rolled her eyes and gave Rainbow Dash a much more reserved hug, and a kiss on the cheek for good measure. “I’m glad to see you, though you look positively dreadful. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow batted Rarity’s concerns away with a flick of her wrist, “don’t worry about it. Just a couple late nights chatting it up with a friend. No biggie.”
“Oh, you have friends other than me?” Rarity stuck out her tongue and poked Rainbow teasingly, Rainbow letting out a smarmy chuckle and trying to give Rarity a playful shove but her sleepiness made her miss her target and stumble forward, Rarity catching her before she tripped.
As Rainbow got her footing back and cleared her throat, keen to pretend that hadn't just happened, Rarity noticed Applejack looking her way and fluttered her eyelashes.
“It’s a pleasure to see you as well, Applejack,” Rarity said with a wink. “I know you’re here for Pinkie, but no doubt you simply couldn’t wait to see me too, hm?”
Applejack rolled her eyes and gave Rarity a light punch in the arm, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. “Good to see ya, Rarity. Thanks for keepin’ Pinkie safe like you promised.”
“Of course, darling,” Rarity said with a dazzling smile. “I would never let one of my best friends be hurt on my account, I assure you.”
“And I take it all my gear came through for you okay?” Applejack asked with a gleam in her eye that made Rarity chortle.
“Absolutely, dear,” Rarity crossed her arms and rolled her eyes playfully. “Honestly, what would I do without you?”
“Be a timberwolf snack, probably!” Pinkie helpfully chimed in, getting a laugh from Rarity and Applejack both.
Rainbow also let out a small, reserved chuckle and Rarity looked over to see Rainbow looking rather uncomfortable.
“I suppose I’d better head off,” Rarity didn’t know what was bothering Rainbow, but she had more tact than to ask around Applejack or Pinkie Pie, “I do have a report to file to Queen Celestia.”
“That’s gotta be the next step on my adventure!” Pinkie said, pumping her fists. “Meeting Queen Celestia!”
“Alright, sugarcube,” Applejack gave a long-suffering sigh and picked Pinkie Pie off the ground, helping the little darling hitch a ride on Applejack’s shoulder, Applejack being more than strong enough to carry Pinkie with ease. “Let’s maybe focus on one step at a time. Like, how ‘bout helpin’ me set up shop? Y’know, at our job?”
“Ugh. Yes, boss!” Pinkie grumbled huffily, but her inauthentic grumpiness gave way to an enamored giggle in no time, as she wrapped her arms around Applejack and gave her friend a kiss on the neck.
The pair of earth mares walked off, giving fond ‘see you laters’ to Rainbow and Rarity, which Rarity returned by blowing a kiss at the two and flashing a winning smile, and Rainbow did by… waving awkwardly.
Once the two were out of sight, Rarity wasted no time in getting to the bottom of things.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s, nothing,” Rainbow said unconvincingly.
“You know I don’t believe that for a second,” Rarity scolded, “and you’ve never been terribly good at hiding things from me, so why don’t you—”
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Rainbow said coldly, slamming a metaphorical door between herself and Rarity that took the unicorn by surprise.
“Oh,” she stammered sheepishly. She soon regained her composure with a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No biggie,” Rainbow shrugged, offering a tepid grin. “I’m just-” Rainbow groaned and shook an empty paper coffee cup “-a little bit tired.”
“Are you going to be alright if I go home,” Rarity asked, gently massaging Rainbow’s shoulder, “file my report?”
Rainbow nodded, her eyelids drooping as she herself stumbled forward a step, her eyes jolting open at the sudden movement. “Y-yeah, I think I’ll be alright,” she chuckled nervously, Rarity biting down a giggle of her own. “Think I’ll head back home, try and get some shut-eye.”
“I think that’s wise,” Rarity said with a smile.
“That said,” Rainbow grinned and stroked her chin, “I’m gonna head over to the library later tonight. You wanna come with?”
“The library?” Rarity shook her head and stared in utter confusion at Rainbow Dash, Rarity certain that she must have misheard.
“Yeah,” Rainbow snickered, “does that surprise you? That I’d spend time at a library?”
“It does a bit,” Rarity said seriously, though she quickly gave a teasing smile and tapped Rainbow’s arm. “I didn’t even know you could read! I’m so proud of you!”
“Hey! I’m not a total meathead!” Rainbow replied huffily, and Rarity giggled in response, getting a fuming look from Rainbow that quickly melted away into a soft laugh. “That said, I mostly go cuz I think the librarian’s cool. And her kid’s actually super rad too. I think you’d like ‘em a lot.”
“Well, I may take you up on the offer,” Rarity groaned and arched her back as the exhaustion of her mission was beginning to catch up to her now that she was home. “But for now, I think the only place I’d like to go is home.”
“Fair enough,” Rainbow shrugged and patted Rarity on the arm before taking off. “See ya later, Rarity! And don’t forget, I still owe you a drink!”
“I promised Pinkie Pie one as well!” Rarity called out to her friend, getting a thumbs-up in reply.
With Rainbow gone, leaving Rarity standing alone in an empty train station, Rarity finally gave a weary sigh as she had no more reason to wear a mask of charismatic cheerfulness. Truth be told, after the timberwolf mission, Rarity was feeling anything but cheerful.
It was true that all Rarity wanted was to go home, but she had little interest in filing a report—though she would do so anyway because it was her responsibility and she would not be tardy on a report to Queen Celestia.
But what Rarity really wanted was her bed. She wanted to fall into her bed and simply sleep. For no less than two straight weeks, if fate would allow her.
Twilight took stock of the scene in front of her, her hands resting on her hips as she smiled proudly to herself.
Four blankets laid on the library floor, with three cushions sitting on top of them; in front of the cushions sat three old plates with a dozen cookies on each, all neatly compiled into orderly stacks of three different flavors, so that no one felt like they were getting less cookies than anyone else.
Three glasses of milk, not to mention a pitcher containing refills, also sat by the scene, and it was all tied together nicely by a small pile of books, mostly Daring Do but also some of Twilight’s favorites that she wanted to share, some that Spike had picked out, and a few recommendations for Rainbow Dash, who wanted to branch out.
And last but not least, sitting on the reception desk was a small pegasus colt, writing on a scroll with a very pronounced frown because he was just so tired of writing down checklists.
“I think that’s everything we need for tonight’s book club!” Twilight said with a huge smile. “What do you think, Spike? Think we’ll have a grand old time?”
“As long as I don’t have to take anymore notes,” Spike stuck his tongue out at his mom, who returned the gesture with a giggle and a playful roll of her eyes.
Twilight sat down on one of the blankets and gazed longingly at the plate of cookies in front of her. She really, really wanted to try just one, but she knew it would be very rude to start eating before everyone was present.
“Things sure have changed,” Twilight said idly, mostly just to distract herself from the cookies, “since Rainbow started coming to the library. Two weeks doesn’t seem like it should be much time, and yet everything can change in a heartbeat.”
After a moment of silence in which Twilight had expected Spike to reply, she looked over to see the young pegasus with a mouth full of several cookies, looking very guiltily at Twilight as soon as she locked eyes with him.
Spike let the cookies fall out of his mouth and his mother gave him a very unimpressed stare. She had half a mind to scold him, but instead she simply laughed.
“Wow, you’re right. Things really have changed,” Spike’s comment only made Twilight snort in her laughter.
“They really have,” Twilight said happily.
While the Golden Oaks Library was never completely without patronage, it was rare to see more than a dozen ponies within its walls in a given week. Thanks to donations and Twilight selling off some of her old trinkets she no longer wanted, she made enough money for her and her son to live off of, but just barely. But that was enough for Twilight.
At least until Rainbow Dash started coming, and soon enough Rainbow was telling every pony in Canterlot how ‘awesome’ the library was, and just like that, not a day went by when at least three or four ponies didn’t stop by the library to check out new books or return old ones, even donating some from their personal collections!
“I’ve even gotten pretty good at the art of small talk!” Twilight exclaimed proudly, finishing her train of thought out loud.
“Well, you were always good at book recommendations,” Spike said, “though I’m not sure a lecture about magic thermodynamics can really be qualified as ‘small talk’. Or ‘good’, for that matter.”
“Hey!” Twilight said indignantly, puffing up her flushing cheeks. “That Sea Swirl pony was really interested in my lectu—er, I mean small talk!”
“Right,” Spike rolled his eyes with a mischievous smirk, “and what about Roseluck? Or her sisters? Or Spring Showers? Or Amethyst Star?”
“Alright, I get it,” Twilight crossed her arms and tried to pretend she wasn’t bothered by the heat in her cheeks. “So maybe I need my small talk to be a bit—”
“Smaller?” Spike finished his mother’s sentence for her with another self-satisfied grin. Twilight looked at him with vague annoyance, which only made his grin wider, before she playfully ruffled his mane.
Twilight couldn’t help herself and decided just one bite of a cookie wouldn’t hurt, and four cookies later she decided she had been wrong. She looked over at Spike, expecting him to be happily chowing down on his cookies, but again her expectations were subverted when she saw him simply staring down and off into space.
“Spike?” Twilight asked, a twinge of apprehension in her voice. “Is something wrong?”
“Twilight?” was all he replied with, looking up at Twilight with eyes that sparkled with unshed tears.
“Yes?” Twilight scooched closer, and so too did Spike, leaning against his mother as she put her arm around him.
“Are we gonna leave again?” Spike looked up at Twilight and his tears could no long be called ‘unshed’.
“No,” Twilight replied firmly and quickly. “Not this time.”
Twilight had no idea if that was a promise she could keep. But she couldn’t ruin the hope of her son, not again. She couldn’t darken the days spent with Rainbow Dash, or talking to the other library patrons, or their book club, with fears and doubts.
And she resolved to make sure that she did keep that promise. That somehow, she would find a way to give Spike the peaceful life he deserved, and not run from their new home with her tail between her legs as she had done too many times before.
This time would be different. This time had to be different. For his sake.
Twilight’s troubled thoughts were interrupted by the creak of the library door, and Spike nearly jumped up to the ceiling as Rainbow Dash walked into the lobby.
“Rainbow!” Spike called as he ran toward her, his arms open wide.
“Heya, squirt!” Rainbow said teasingly, grabbing the younger pegasus in a hug before lifting him into the air and spinning around, much to the giggly pleasure of Spike, a gesture which made Twilight’s heart sing. Rainbow put Spike down and flashed a grin at Twilight, and she in turn gave Rainbow a soft and welcoming smile.
“Welcome back to the library, Rainbow Dash,” she said, in awe of just how happy she was to see her one Equestrian friend.
When Twilight first came to Canterlot, she was terrified of other people, and she still remembered the fear that gripped her heart the first time Rainbow entered the library on that stormy night.
But now that fear almost seemed silly; Rainbow wasn’t just some pony or a terrifying Slayer, she was Twilight’s friend, and knowing her made Twilight’s life a little brighter and she was just so happy to meet her.
Of course, Rainbow being a trans gal like Twilight definitely didn’t hurt either. Twilight had never really been friends with another trans woman, and it was nice to finally meet someone Twilight could connect with that understood where she was coming from with all the gender crap.
“You punks ready for book club!?” Rainbow cheered as she and Spike headed over to the blankets and pillows splayed across the floor, eliciting a cheer of confirmation from Spike as he followed her.
“Glad you could join us,” Twilight said with a grin of her own as Rainbow sat down.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Rainbow replied, running her hand through her short mane.
“Glad to hear that,” Twilight chuckled, “because you’re our only other member! It’d be a bit lonely without you!”
“Yeah!” Spike added, his mouth absolutely full to bursting with cookies, spraying crumbs everywhere as he opened it.
“Funny you bring that up,” Rainbow smirked mischievously, which made Twilight slightly wary as she arched an eyebrow at her.
“How so?” Twilight asked.
“I was thinking about how I haven’t had any luck getting my friends to visit the library—”
“Just every other pony in Canterlot, that’s all,” Spike interrupted, getting a small chuckle out of Twilight and a playful eye roll and hair ruffle from Rainbow.
“Point is,” Rainbow smiled ear to ear, “I thought of the next best thing!” Twilight absentmindedly took a sip of her milk as Rainbow talked, not wanting the drink to get warm just sitting there. “Instead of getting my friends to come here, you should come with me outside the library!”
And at that, the milk came spurting out of Twilight’s mouth and all over Rainbow’s face, Rainbow just staring with wide eyes, mouth agape, as Twilight bashfully wiped her mouth with a blanket.
“Maybe we should focus on one step at a time,” Spike helpfully suggested, his comment filling the library with the echoing laughter of three good friends who were simply happy to have found each other.
Rarity had indeed stayed in her bed for nearly two straight weeks. Not because she wanted to, but simply because she couldn’t find a reason not to.
Even with periodic visits from Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie to check on her, she couldn’t bring herself to leave her bed for any extended length of time, much less leave her house.
Her empty little cottage, big enough for a small family and it felt so large and threatening to Rarity, a constant reminder of what she was missing.
Of course she dearly appreciated her friends; both in Canterlot’s Moon District, and in the Slayer’s Guild. But she couldn’t pretend that the wall she placed between them and her— the wall that protected the ‘real’ Rarity from the fear of mockery and judgment, that took the form of this over the top, fabulous persona— she couldn’t simply pretend it didn’t exist.
But time waits for nopony, and after two weeks the simple matter of ‘I’ve been in bed for two weeks’ was enough reason for Rarity to get back on her hooves, and take an express train to Canterlot’s Sun District, where a meeting had long been overdue.
The Moon District where Rarity lived was somewhat quaint—or, if Rarity was being entirely honest, completely depressing—with small houses of stone built into the side of a grand mountain, the snow nearly burying the tiny village every winter.
The Sun District could not have been more different. Why, Rarity would even say they were like night and day, and then feel that she was mildly clever.
Beautiful houses made from polished marble, ornate white spires that towered over the city and offered protection with their powerful enchantments, paved roads kept spotless by routine cleanings, and of course the city’s crown jewel; Hunter’s Haven, the home of the Celestial Slayers.
Built into the very face of the mountain was the four-story lavender building, decorated with brilliant rainbow-colored lights and soothing waterfalls pouring from its balconies, the building’s face decorated with the blazing sun that acted as Equestria’s symbol of peace.
Simply seeing the building in the distance from the Sun District’s train station was enough for Rarity to breathe a sigh of contentment. After all, that place was more home to her than her own house was, and certainly more so than her actual destination.
While Rarity would have loved to go to the Hunter’s Haven, and she would after her detour was complete, the building she searched for was much more homely.
A small cottage, much like her own in the Moon District, but painted a much livelier shade of violet. Snow dripped from the rooftop onto the red brick pathway in front of the house which was already a snowy mess because of course it would be.
That girl never could focus enough to do her chores properly, Rarity thought with a giggle as she took in the familiar sight.
This was her family’s house, where her parents and sister lived, and Rarity had long since owed them a visit.
Most of the lights were off even during the early evening, but Rarity presumed this was because the three occupants were in the game room at this hour.
Rarity’s parents enjoyed nothing more than spending their retirement as leisurely as possible—which they more than deserved after spending their entire lives protecting Equestria from foul beasts, much like Rarity was now doing— and whenever they could convince little hyperactive Sweetie Belle to spend time with them instead of in her daydreams of adventure and romance, they jumped on the opportunity.
Rarity’s hand hovered over the doorknob, but she wondered if it would be better to knock first. While the door was most certainly locked, it was never locked for Rarity, who only needed to use a spark of her magic for the door to swing open. That was her father’s idea, to make sure she never felt unwelcomed in the family home.
Still though, it was rude to simply walk into another’s home without knocking first.
But another thought occurred to Rarity as her hand, now balled into a fist as she hesitantly prepared to knock, hovered over the door.
Perhaps she simply didn’t want to go in.
Perhaps she didn’t want to tell her family, who worried for her constantly, that she had almost died. Perhaps she didn’t want them to know that she had practically thrown herself into the open jaws of a timberwolf pack because she was just so tired.
Tired of everything. Tired of the hunt, tired of projecting this mockish notion of goodness to the world, tired of pretending that she wasn’t lonely, or that she wasn’t completely and utterly miserable.
As Rarity’s rant concluded in her mind, her hand fell away from the door. Even with two weeks of nothing to occupy her but her own thoughts, not once did she spend any time dwelling on the timberwolf mission.
It never occurred to her before this moment why she had let herself get so badly injured, why her performance in her latest hunts had been so consistently and uncharacteristically reckless and mediocre, or even why she had spent the two weeks in bed!
She was tired. Simply tired of life.
Well that’s a spirit breaker, Rarity thought with a sigh, turning away from her family’s home.
Why hadn’t she noticed before? Why had it taken her so long to realize how miserable she truly was? But more than any of that, one question lingered on Rarity’s mind.
What could she actually do about it?
The answer, of course, was nothing.
With that bitter thought occupying her mind, Rarity didn’t even notice the pony watching her from the road until Rarity collided with her, bumping into the taller woman with a thud.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Rarity said, shaking herself out her thoughts. “I wasn’t watching where I was—”
Rarity’s sentence stopped abruptly, her mouth hanging open, as she realized just who she had bumped into.
“It’s no trouble,” the woman said with a disarming smile.
The woman was a tall white pony—no, calling her ‘tall’ simply did not do her justice. She was a mountain of a pony, taller by at least a head than Rarity and possibly twice as broad, even without her armor.
She was dressed in a casual winter coat, which was an utterly stellar choice of soft pink that complimented not only her white fur, but also her shimmering mane that flowed behind and around her like an aurora.
The woman was the leader of the Celestial Slayers. She was the Queen of Equestria, and Rarity’s personal mentor since as long as Rarity cared to remember.
Rarity tried to bury the embarrassment of having literally bumped right into the Hunter-Queen of Equestria by putting a hand to her face to cover one of her bright red cheeks, and giving an awkward smile, one that Celestia could doubtlessly see right through.
Celestia wasted no time; she didn’t make a joke or pretend to be serious or any such thing, she simply reached her arms around Rarity and pulled her into a tight hug, enveloping her mighty white wings around the unicorn who melted into her mentor’s embrace.
“It’s been too long,” Celestia said, clutching Rarity slightly tighter, as if she were afraid to let go.
“My, ever the affectionate one, I see,” Rarity giggled and pulled herself away, though her hands were still gingerly clasping her Queen’s. “It hasn’t been that long, princess.”
Celestia let out a soft giggle, grazing her thumb over the crease in Rarity’s hand. “Perhaps,” she said wistfully, “but the winter is long, and it feels longer without my favorite student.”
“Now, now, Celestia,” Rarity said with a teasing wink, though she couldn’t help but affect a very genuine smile, “you shouldn’t play favorites!” Rarity ran one of her hands through her mane and allowed herself a haughty laugh. “Even if I am the most fabulous mare in Equestria.”
“That you certainly are, my dear student,” Celestia shook her head and laughed once more, then a sigh left her lips as she stared Rarity down.
Rarity looked up at the Queen; while she was only about a head taller than Rarity, she felt like a mountain to the unicorn, moreso even than the mountain that Canterlot was built around.
“So,” Celestia cleared her throat and began walking down the road, Rarity following behind, eager to put her old family home far behind her, “headed to Hunter’s Haven?”
“Absolutely,” Rarity nodded. “You?” Celestia nodded as well, and while another pony may have missed it, Rarity caught the slightest moment where Celestia’s smile faltered. “Something the matter, darling?”
“The winter is getting longer,” Celestia said grimly, almost a whisper, like she was simply thinking out loud. Rarity’s mood shifted with the Queen’s, becoming dour the moment the Queen’s smile vanished.
“Pardon?”
Celestia looked down at Rarity and offered a warm smile. Rarity knew the gesture was only meant to keep her from worrying, but even still, there was nothing quite so relaxing as Queen Celestia’s smile.
“I apologize, Rarity,” she said. “I have simply been on far too many difficult missions this season,” Celestia sighed and shook her head, almost melodramatically so, “I’m just a bit tired today.”
“That’s completely fair,” Rarity said with a nod, a gesture that seemed to make Celestia relax a little. “After all, you may be an immortal alicorn, but you’re still a pony! You need rest just like all of us!”
“I suppose that’s true,” Celestia muttered.
“It is true,” Rarity harrumphed. “I don’t want to hear any more stories of how you’re overworking yourself!” Celestia opened her mouth to speak but Rarity cut her off, “I know ‘overworking is part of your job’ but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to relax from time to time!”
“You’re right, Rarity,” Celestia sighed in defeat, and Rarity finished Celestia’s sentence in unison with her, “like always.”
Celestia took a deep breath and arched her back, letting her wings flare out behind her. Rarity walked beside her as they headed for home together, keeping each other engaged with light jokes and small talk during their walk.
It was early evening, the moon was blanketing the snowy buildings and clean roads in its pale light while the ponies of Canterlot were mostly settling into their homes or into restaurants for dinner time.
The roads were mostly clear of ponies, though a few waved at Celestia and Rarity as they passed by, though none were bold enough to interrupt the Queen’s conversation with her protégé.
“So,” Celestia said as the two drew near Hunter’s Haven, “you haven’t told me about the timberwolf mission! How did it go?”
“I didn’t?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes at her mentor. “Why, I could have sworn I filed a report like always!”
“You certainly did,” Celestia said, and something in her tone needled Rarity, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on what. Was Celestia teasing her? “And quite an interesting one, at that!”
“How so?” Rarity asked, slightly afraid to learn the answer.
“You almost died,” Celestia said so casually, and Rarity supposed that flirting with death would be something rather casual to an immortal queen, wouldn’t it? Celestia looked down at Rarity and she was sure the alicorn’s gaze was going to puncture a hole right through her. “What happened? It isn’t like you to be so careless, especially for such a simple mission.”
Rarity dared not look at Celestia as the two stopped in their tracks, standing just in front of the bridge that led over the nearly frozen river to Hunter’s Haven, the majestic lavender building towering in the horizon.
“I wish I knew,” Rarity spoke, her eyes glued to the snow at her hooves. “I fear I simply haven’t been myself as of late.”
“It’s something all Slayers go through, I’m sorry to say,” Celestia’s soft voice was comforting, though not nearly as much as her wing stretching out across Rarity’s back, or the feeling of being tugged by that wing into a one-armed hug from the Queen. “You will power through it. I have great faith in you, my dearest Rarity.”
Rarity wanted to thank her Queen, but settled for a contended hum instead as she let herself lean against Celestia’s chest, the alicorn gently caressing Rarity’s shoulder.
“And I know something that will help you immensely,” Celestia said with a pleased grin.
“Oh?” Rarity asked, her eyes closed as she breathed deeply of the crisp winter air. “And what would that be, darling?”
Rarity opened her eyes just in time to see Celestia’s cheerful wink. “A drink with your favorite alicorn, of course!”
“Oh,” Rarity resisted the urge to let a devilish grin cross her face, “I didn’t realize Luna was here.”
The disgusted scoff Celestia made as she shoved Rarity away in shock was nearly as priceless as the positively aghast expression on the Queen’s face, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as saucers, but the most exquisite element of Rarity’s teasing had to be the bright red flush that adorned Celestia’s pale white cheeks.
Simply marvelous.
Rarity couldn’t hold back her delighted laughter, and after a moment of glaring at Rarity and looking ever so deadly serious, neither could Celestia, who quickly wrapped Rarity up in another hug.
It was just before eight o’clock as Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Spike wrapped up their book club, and while Spike picked up the books and bedding, Rainbow and Twilight Sparkle stood at the door of the library, Rainbow pacing back and forth and Twilight simply watching her patiently.
Book club wrapped up right around the time the Applepie Smithery closed up shop for the night. Rainbow couldn’t remember if that was her idea or Twilight’s, but either way, it was no coincidence.
“So,” Twilight cleared her throat, “are you going to go?”
Rainbow shrugged and continued pacing.
Twilight hummed thoughtfully, and Rainbow stopped her pacing for a sec to look at her, feeling somewhat overwhelmed that Twilight looked so deep in thought for her sake. It meant a lot to her that Twilight was so invested in helping Rainbow over her stupid stumbling block, and Rainbow wished she had the ability—or the nerve, at least—to thank her.
“I have an idea!” Twilight said suddenly, eyes sparkling with pride.
“Yeah?” Rainbow flicked her fingers and leaned back against the library door. “Let’s hear it.”
“So, your issue is that you get really nervous and flustered around Applejack, right?” Twilight’s words brought a pronounced red tint to Rainbow’s cheeks, and instead of answering Twilight’s question, she just rubbed the back of her neck and glanced away—which, of course, was more than enough answer for Twilight. “But doesn’t Applejack have a partner? Pinkie Pie, if I’m remembering correctly? Why not ask her out?”
“Uhhh, cuz I don’t wanna date her?” Rainbow looked at Twilight with utter confusion, crossing her arms. “Like, I don’t really know her that well, and she seems nice enough, but like—” Rainbow felt that familiar heat sting her cheeks and oh how she wanted to just be suddenly struck by lightning. “She’s not Applejack.”
“I know,” Twilight chuckled, “that’s not what I meant. I’m not saying you should date Pinkie Pie—I am getting that name correct, aren’t I?” after a nod from Rainbow, Twilight continued, “I’m saying you should ask her out for drinks.”
After waiting a moment for Rainbow to reply, in which Rainbow only stared with ever mounting confusion at her friend’s ‘helpful’ suggestions, Twilight went on;
“You enjoy meeting new people, right?”
“Heck yeah I do!” Rainbow exclaimed, pushing herself off the door with her wings and pumping her fists. “It’s exciting! I love talking to ponies and hearing all their cool stories and stuff, and telling ‘em cool stories about me, which I have a whole lot of!”
“Exactly,” Twilight giggled. “So what I’m suggesting, is that maybe if you can focus on Pinkie Pie instead of Applejack, you’ll feel less nervous around her.”
The wires were almost connected in Rainbow’s head, and after one more helpless glance shot at Twilight, the librarian sighed and explained herself once more.
“I’m saying, ask Pinkie Pie out for drinks, but say something to the effect of ‘do you and your partner want to go out for drinks’? That way, you have Applejack out with you, but you don’t have to feel nervous because you’ll have something else to focus on: Pinkie Pie! Kind of like how you listen to music and read at the same time.”
“Oh, so you’re saying to distract the noisy part of my brain that tells me how stupid I am,” Rainbow said, “by chatting it up with Pinkie Pie, but Applejack’ll still be there so I’ll get a chance to talk to her too!”
“Exactly!” Twilight said with a bright smile. “And plus, I’m sure Pinkie Pie is a great lady, so you’ll probably make a new friend too, and get in Applejack’s good graces by being friends with her partner! Everybody wins!”
“Twilight, that’s genius!” Rainbow had half a mind to hug Twilight, and she almost went for it but decided on a friendly clap against her arm instead.
“That said,” Twilight cleared her throat and talked sternly for a sec, “it’s really important that you don’t just treat Pinkie Pie like a stepping stone to get to Applejack.”
“I would never do that,” Rainbow said coldly, disgusted by even the suggestion.
“Then it sounds like you have nothing to worry about!” Twilight grinned.
“Alright! Then I’m gonna do it!” Rainbow clapped her hands and turned around toward the door, reaching for the doorknob and almost putting her hand atop it before freezing.
“Rainbow?”
“What if—” Rainbow’s words were quiet and ragged, like they were being choked out by a woman on her deathbed. “What if, after I do this, Applejack doesn’t like me? What if Pinkie doesn’t like me? What if they think I’m—”
A gurgling noise came from Rainbow’s throat as she forced herself to suffocate those thoughts, but she couldn’t quite put them out of her mind and now the temperature of the room was rising. She felt sweat dripping down her brow and clinging to her hands, until a warm hand placed itself over hers.
“They will like you, Rainbow,” Twilight said softly in Rainbow’s ear. Rainbow took a step away from Twilight and looked up at her, Twilight’s soft hand still gently grasping Rainbow’s. “You’re the coolest, smartest pony I know—”
“How many ponies do you—”
“That’s not my point,” Twilight cut Rainbow’s snide remark off with a boop to her nose, which made Rainbow chuckle. “They’d have to be crazy not to like you.” Twilight let out a soft chuckle and smiled teasingly. “Honestly, it’s almost rude of you to have deprived them of such a cool pony for this long!”
Rainbow snickered at that and placed her hand over Twilight’s.
“Thank you, Twilight.”
“I mean it, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I believe in you.”
Rainbow took a deep breath, then she went in for that hug, which was happily reciprocated by Twilight. Rainbow clapped Twilight on the back twice before releasing her, and swung the door open, quickly jumping outside.
“Make sure to tell me all about it,” Twilight said cheerfully. “And good luck!”
Rainbow paused for a sec before flashing a brilliant smile at Twilight.
Rainbow refused to listen to herself as she marched toward the ApplePie Smithery.
She refused to listen to the voice that said ‘you’re wasting your time’. She refused to listen to the voice that said ‘she’s isn’t going to like you’, or the voice that said ‘no one likes you, how could they?’
She just kept walking, hands in her pockets, until the bright pink sign came into view and a sense of comfort washed over her, a bubbling feeling of excitement following it.
It wasn’t until she saw the sign that she considered that maybe her plan—Twilight’s plan—might actually work. And what if it did? What if she actually managed to go out for drinks with Applejack and Pinkie Pie?
If Rainbow was being honest, she’d always kinda wanted to get to know Pinkie Pie better; Pinkie seemed cool, but Rainbow was always too worried that she might seem weird for… talking to Pinkie Pie? That didn’t make any sense, but when did her intrusive thoughts ever?
Rainbow hurried her pace to get to the smithery as soon as possible, but she stopped dead in her tracks as Pinkie Pie walked out—no, she stormed out, stomping madly away from the shop before sitting on a little stone fence just outside it, crossing her arms in a huff.
That’s probably not good.
Rainbow stood there, far enough away from the shop that Pinkie probably wouldn’t notice her, and wondered what she should do.
Like, obviously she should turn back the way she came, forget this whole nonsense and go home, right? Pinkie was obviously in a bad mood so asking her out for drinks now was out of the question, especially if she was mad at Applejack.
That should’ve been the thought that crossed her mind; maybe it was, and it just went completely ignored. Because all of Rainbow’s thoughts regarding Applejack and Twilight’s plan completely fell through when she saw Pinkie start to shiver in the cold, and she could almost see tears falling down the young woman’s cheeks.
Rainbow didn’t care about her big plans anymore, because in front of her was someone who needed help, and Rainbow couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
“Hey,” Rainbow said as she approached Pinkie, and she could tell that Pinkie was definitely crying. “Are you okay?”
“Um, yeah,” Pinkie said with a forced smile, looking up at Rainbow with teary eyes. “Yeah, I’m just fine! Just a long day at work!” Pinkie’s forced laugh was like a nail screeching down a glass window to Rainbow, who grit her teeth but affected a smile of her own.
“Pinkie Pie, right?” Rainbow asked as she took a step closer. “C’mon, I can tell something’s bothering you. If there’s something I can do to help, just let me know. I’m not only the best at helping ponies, I’m also discreet as heck, I promise!”
Pinkie looked up at Rainbow and a frown flickered across her face, but she bit her lip and glanced away. Rainbow’s stomach sank and she wondered if she screwed up, pressed too hard, or stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.
Pinkie bit her lip again as she searched for the right name, but Dash chuckled and saved her the trouble.
“Rainbow Dash. And yeah, Rarity and I are buds.”
“Did she tell you about the spirit of the Everfree?”
Rainbow’s brow furrowed at the odd question. This was the first she was hearing of any spirit, or of the Everfree for that matter.
“I take it that was during the timberwolf mission?” Rainbow asked, receiving a shaky nod in reply. Rainbow sighed bitterly and shrugged. “Rarity didn’t tell me anything about the timberwolf mission, and I’ve been a little too distracted lately to have pressed her on it.”
“So she didn’t tell you,” Pinkie said bleakly.
“Nah,” Rainbow sat down next to Pinkie and put her hand on the mare’s shoulder. Pinkie almost flinched, but she seemed to relax pretty quickly, so Rainbow hesitantly kept her hand on Pinkie.
“Why don’t you tell me about it?” Rainbow asked, and Pinkie hesitated, a little mumbly grumble escaping under her breath. “I promise I won’t tell anypony if you don’t want me to.”
“I just—” Pinkie slouched and brought her legs up in front of her, wrapping her arms around them and curling into a ball. “I just don’t want anypony to laugh at me, or call me stupid.”
“Did Applejack say that?” Rainbow asked in alarm. “Or Rarity?”
“N-no!” Pinkie gasped. “No, nothing like that! It’s just-” Pinkie groaned “-I know they both think I’m weird.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Rainbow grumbled. “I always got weird looks in flight school and stuff, ponies always talked behind my back about me. It sucked.”
“Right?” Pinkie said, getting a nod and a smile from Rainbow that hopefully made Pinkie feel a bit better, if her own smile was any indication. “I met this spirit, in the Everfree,” Rainbow’s ears perked up to listen to Pinkie’s tale, “she was kinda like a pony? But I’m not sure she was one, or at least, not entirely. I dunno how to put it, but she was—” Pinkie bit her lip to avoid saying the word—
“Weird?” Rainbow said the word instead, letting out a little snicker at Pinkie’s blush. “There’s nothing wrong with being weird, you know.”
“I know that,” Pinkie said, “I just don’t want anypony else to think she was weird! Cuz she was so cool too! And like, well, to condense a suuuuuuper long story, I promised I’d go see her again later this month, but Applejack, well she doesn’t want me to go.”
“How come?”
“Well, the smithery’s not doing so hot right now,” Pinkie groaned and buried her face in her hands. “We’ve only been at it for a couple of months, so of course we’re not gonna be buried in customers overnight, but we put everything we had into this venture, so if it doesn’t work out, we—”
“It’ll work out,” Rainbow interrupted, almost feeling offended on Pinkie and Applejack’s behalf at the idea that their smithery wouldn’t work out. “You guys are the best! I’ve never felt as confident in all my monster slaying business than I have since Rarity introduced me to you two!”
“That’s what Rarity said too,” Pinkie didn’t sound too convinced, “but every day that goes by and there’s only a little drip of progress… it makes it harder and harder to believe that any of this was worth it.”
Rainbow didn’t know what to say, so she settled for just gently rubbing Pinkie’s back.
“And the spirit,” Pinkie continued, “her name is Fluttershy, by the way, I don’t think she has any friends. You should’ve seen the look she gave me when I promised I’d come back. I can’t break that promise to her! I just can’t! I’d feel so bad!”
Rainbow was just about to say something, hopefully something encouraging, when the door to the smithery opened up and Applejack walked outside, a pained expression on her face. Pinkie looked over at her and stood up, but Rainbow could tell she was really worried about what Applejack would say.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Applejack rubbed her arm and knelt on the snowy ground in front of Pinkie, gently taking her hand. “I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you. If meetin’ this spirit of yers is really important to ya, we’ll figure somethin’ out. I promise.”
Pinkie’s eyes instantly filled with tears as she pounced on Applejack and embraced her in a hug, bringing them both to the ground.
“Applejack!” she cried. “Thank you so, so, so much!” Pinkie tore herself away from Applejack for a sec, a big smile plastered on her face. “And I just know Fluttershy’s gonna love you whenever you get to visit her!” Pinkie gasped. “Maybe I can convince her to come to Canterlot with me!”
“How ‘bout we focus on one thing at a time, sugarcube?” Applejack chuckled, rubbing Pinkie’s back as she resumed their hug. “First thing’s first, we gotta figure out how to keep the shop runnin’ if yer gonna be hoppin’ on a train to Ponyville for another few days.”
Rainbow suddenly wondered how quickly she could learn how to craft enchantments, and wondered if Twilight could help her; she was good at magic, right? How hard could it be?
“But for right now,” Applejack stood up, a soft smile on her pretty face, “we got a half-eaten apple pie in the fridge that’s just callin’ our names.”
“Sounds good to me!” Pinkie jumped up and sported a bright, beaming grin.
Applejack chuckled and as she looked away from Pinkie, she finally noticed Rainbow Dash still sitting on the stone fence. “Rainbow!” she said in surprise, but quickly cleared her throat and crossed her arms, looking cool as heck. “What can I do ya fer?”
Before Rainbow could speak, Pinkie chimed in, “Rainbow was listening to me talk about the spirit! She helped me feel a lot better!”
“Oh,” Applejack smiled at Pinkie, and then at Rainbow, a gesture which made Rainbow smile, and her heart melt. “Well thank ye kindly, Rainbow Dash. Takin’ care of Pinkie’s s’posed to be my responsibility, so sorry you had to take over.”
“I can take care of myself, Applejack!” Pinkie said teasingly, blowing a raspberry at Applejack.
“I know, I know,” Applejack awkwardly ran a hand through her gorgeous blonde hair. “It’s just old habits, y’know?” Pinkie just giggled, and Applejack cleared her throat again. “Anyway, thank you, Rainbow.”
“Uh, no problem,” Rainbow shrugged.
“Was there somethin’ else ya needed though?” Applejack asked.
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie added, turning around to face Rainbow, “you were already in the neighborhood, huh? Were you coming by the smithery for something?”
Rainbow looked at Applejack and Pinkie Pie and the smiles they were both giving her. It seemed whatever argument they had been having before had been settled between them and they were back to being friendly partners, and Rainbow would have liked to think that she helped somehow.
She probably didn’t, but she’d like to think she did.
“Yeah, I was—”
Rainbow stood on her hooves and felt that seizing feeling in her stomach that she always got around Applejack, and was careful to avoid the beautiful orange mare’s gaze.
“So what’s up then?” Applejack asked heartily. “Somethin’ we can do for ya?”
If she wanted to ask the two out for drinks, this would be the perfect time. And would she honestly be okay with herself if she let this opportunity slip by? What would Twilight think?
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.
“You’ve finally done it, Rainbow,” Rarity said in mock-defeat as she followed Rainbow Dash’s steps, “you’ve finally convinced me. So how do you feel?”
“Pumped!” Rainbow turned to Rarity and grinned. “Super hyped! How ‘bout you?”
“Intrigued,” Rarity said after a short pause, “let’s leave it at that.”
Nearly three weeks ago, Rainbow Dash had visited a library. A most unbefitting place for her to be, Rarity had thought when Rainbow told her, and yet nearly every day that the two had seen each other since, Rainbow had pestered Rarity to come with her to the library.
Not necessarily for the books, though Rainbow was always eager to share the exciting adventures of Daring Do whenever the opportunity presented itself, but Rainbow returned almost every day to the library for another reason, a reason she seemed absolutely certain that Rarity would appreciate just as much as she had:
The librarian.
And every time Rainbow would request Rarity join her library escapades, Rarity would always find some way to excuse herself. Now that she finally had a reason to go, she wondered why she had put it off so long, but the truth of it was as simple as it was depressing.
There is no life outside the Hunt, and now the Hunt had led her to the library.
If one had seen Rainbow Dash’s excitement when Rarity shared with her their mission, to slay a frenzied cragadile in Haysead Swamp, one would have thought Rainbow was possessed by some sort of spirit.
No, it wasn’t the mission itself that excited Rainbow, but Rarity’s admission that she knew next to nothing about cragadiles. That was when Rainbow became excited, because she knew exactly where they could learn all the information they needed; or rather, from whom.
“Trust me, Rarity,” Rainbow said with a huge grin, completely unable to contain her excitement, “you’re gonna love the librarian! She’s smart, she’s rad, she’s really funny, and hey she’s trans just like us. She said it was cool if I tell you that.”
“I take it she already knows that we have that in common?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Rainbow said bashfully, stopping in her tracks and rubbing the back of her neck. “I kinda made an offhand comment one time that like all my friends are trans and she put two and two together.”
“Which makes her better at math than you are,” Rarity smirked, giving Rainbow a very smug side-eye.
“Har har,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue and sighed. “I am sorry though, I didn’t mean to out you or anything.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Rarity traced her thumb across Rainbow’s cheek. “It’s not like my gender situation is a secret, or as if you outed me to somepony dangerous.”
“Yeah I guess,” Rainbow huffed. “Still feels bad though. Outing your friends is just not a cool thing to do ever.”
“True,” Rarity shrugged and put her arm around Rainbow, dragging her into some combination of a hug and a headlock. “But in this case no harm was done, so don’t worry your pretty little head over it.”
“Okay fine,” Rainbow laughed softly and squirmed her way out of Rarity’s embrace.
Rarity pondered for a second as she continued following Rainbow to the library; it was true that almost all of Rainbow and Rarity’s friends were trans, but it was also true that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Luna, and Celestia were the only trans ponies Rarity could think of off the top of her head, and it was depressing to think that she had so few friends in the world.
Maybe striking up a relationship with this librarian wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.
Rainbow had long since given up the pretense of restraint by the time they reached the giant oak tree nestled into the side of the snowy mountain; Rarity almost likened her to a child on Hearth’s Warming Eve.
While Rainbow headed inside to prepare her friend the librarian for Rarity’s arrival, Rarity lingered outside and her eyes fell on the tarnished golden plaque that rested above the library’s entrance way.
The Golden Oaks Library.
Rarity thought the name was quite majestic, and she giggled to herself that she was already taking a shine to the place.
She didn’t wait for Rainbow Dash to return to step into the building, it was a public place after all, and Rarity had no desire to stand around in the snow and blistering cold. Rarity let out a quiet gasp as she walked inside and a radiant warmth instantly washed over her as soon as she shut the door behind her.
The first thing that caught her attention was the smell not only of old books, but also of burning incense. She found it rather peculiar for a moment, but breathing deeply into it she discovered it was quite pleasant.
The library was so warm compared to the winter landscape outside, and even the hardwood under her hooves felt bright and inviting, as if the very place beckoned her to come further inside.
Everywhere she looked she saw rows and rows of bookcases and she was baffled by just how many books could seemingly fit inside of one tree, even musing that the place must have been bigger on the inside than out.
It was comforting. That was the primary conclusion that Rarity had come to; that being in the library felt comfortable, and that was a far cry from her usual routine. Even her own house or her home in Hunter’s Haven weren’t ‘comfortable’. Familiar, certainly. Pleasant even. But not comfortable.
It was beautiful too. Rarity couldn’t help but admire the sleek and efficient designs of the bookcases, the plush chairs that sat in a circle in the lobby, or the reception desk which she swore must have been made from the finest polished mahogany.
Everything was lovely, but the most beautiful thing in the room—besides Rarity herself, of course—walked out of a doorway to the side of the reception desk.
The librarian.
Rarity was leaning against the reception desk when the librarian walked into the lobby, and the lavender mare had yet to see her, so Rarity took a moment to appreciate the woman’s beauty.
Her fur looked soft and vibrant, her long indigo hair tied into a ponytail that fell past her shoulders was already a stunning sight, but the streaks of deep violet and bright pink that streamed through it made it even more so.
But Rarity was most of all captivated by the woman’s eyes; stunning violet that glittered with ethereal light.
“You’re the librarian, I presume?” Rarity said softly, alerting the woman to her presence and seemingly startling her, if her little adorable squeak was any indication.
“I am,” the librarian said with a bow of her head. She walked behind the reception desk, so Rarity took her elbow off of it and stood up properly to look her in the eye. “How can I help you?”
“I can see why Rainbow keeps coming back here,” Rarity said with a soft laugh, “you’re quite easy on the eyes.”
Rarity’s comment was meant to clue the librarian in that she was friends with Rainbow—as Rainbow had suggested she do in the event that Rarity met the librarian without her—but Rarity couldn’t deny that she looked forward to seeing the cute librarian’s reaction to Rarity’s light flirting.
“Oh, um,” the librarian cleared her throat and looked away, but she had a very distinct blush across her cheeks. Suddenly her ears flicked up and she looked back at Rarity. “You know Rainbow Dash?”
“Yes, I—”
“You’re her partner!”
Rarity wondered for half a second how on earth she figured that much so suddenly, but by tracing the librarian’s line of sight to the dragon fang hanging around Rarity’s neck, she found her answer.
“You’re Rarity, then,” the librarian said confidently, and she suddenly seemed like a much different mare than the one who had been so easily flustered just a second ago. “Rainbow Dash has told me about you. You’re a Slayer like she is, but you’re kind, and generous, and would never hurt an innocent.”
“Right,” just like all Slayers, Rarity wanted to conclude, but she didn’t, for thanks to Rainbow’s prior warning she was well aware of the librarian’s distaste of her guild. “And you are Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight nodded, but seemed preoccupied as she continued to look over Rarity, not that Rarity could blame her, of course. “She also said you were—” the librarian looked Rarity up and down for a moment and bit down on her lip to an almost comical degree.
“Charming? Illustrious? Beautiful?”
“Yes, that,” the librarian cleared her throat awkwardly.
“And am I?” Rarity put her hand on the desk and leaned toward Twilight Sparkle, fluttering her eyelashes.
The librarian gulped audibly and that familiar rosy hue crossed her cheeks, to Rarity’s delight.
“Hey, I couldn’t find her in the—” Rainbow Dash jumped from the second story balcony, using her wings to slow her descent, and her eyes immediately locked onto Twilight Sparkle. “Oh, there you are! Thought you’d be in your room, so I knocked!”
“I was in the kitchen,” Twilight said, Rarity thinking it was unusual for a library to even have a kitchen before remembering that this library was not merely Twilight’s place of business, but her home as well. “You told me you were bringing a guest, so I prepared milk and cookies, like we do for our book club.”
“And how is she?” Rainbow grinned and cocked her head toward Rarity, who played with a curl of her hair, shooting a tender glance at Twilight. “Everything I said she’d be, right?”
“She’s—” Twilight looked at Rarity and it was as if all incentive to speak had washed away from her, her face turning a very bright pink. “I should check on the cookies!”
With that, Twilight fled behind the very door she had come through, leaving behind a rather confused Rainbow Dash and a rather pleased Rarity.
“Hope you didn’t tease her too much,” Rainbow said.
“Not at all, darling,” Rarity smiled. “I was nothing but honest.”
28. In Which Twilight Freaks Out Because She Doesn't Know How To Talk To Beautiful Women
Twilight retreated into the kitchen where her son greeted her enthusiastically as he took a sheet of cookies out of the oven and placed them on the counter. She felt the need to barricade the door with her body, at least until the burning sensation in her cheeks went away, which drew a curious glance from Spike.
“You okay?” the young pegasus asked.
“Rainbow’s friend is here,” Twilight said nonchalantly, “she’s in the lobby.”
“Oh!” Spike chirped. “We should go say hi! Wait, did you talk to her already? What’s she like?”
“She’s—” that burning feeling returned to Twilight’s cheeks and she choked down her reply. She cleared her throat and walked slowly, painfully, away from the door. “She’s everything Rainbow said she would be.”
“I wanna meet her!” Spike said, throwing his hands in the air.
“Yeah,” Twilight bit her lip, “we should go out there together. Just— just give me a second.”
Twilight sat down in a nearby chair and took a few deep breaths. Spike waited until she looked somewhat calm again to ask her “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look too good.”
“I’m just a little—” Twilight twitched the fingers on her right hand like she was using a typewriter as she tried to find the proper word. “I feel like there’s a swarm of angry bees rumbling around in my stomach.”
“You sure you don’t mean butterflies?” Spike tilted his head.
“Uh, maybe I do,” Twilight said sheepishly. Her ears suddenly perked up and she said, her voice cracking ever so slightly, “It’s actually fascinating! I’ve never felt like this before! I hate it! But also, I kinda like it? I think? I dunno!”
“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight,” Spike shook his head and clicked his tongue, walking over to pat Twilight on the leg. Twilight wanted to be annoyed by his condescension, but it was more adorable to her than anything. “It sounds like somebody has a crush.”
“Wh—no I don’t!” Twilight balked, standing straight up and nearly hitting her head on a hanging pan. “I don’t—that’s—I wouldn’t—”
“It’s nothing to get so worked up over, Twilight,” Spike crossed his arms and nodded confidently. “Sometimes that just happens when you’re not as cool and stoic as yours truly.”
“Is that right?” Twilight grinned and raised an eyebrow.
“Yep!” Spike said as he approached the door. “Now, how about you grab the milk and cookies, and you can just follow my lead as I show you how to talk to girls without getting all flustered and stuff! It’s easy!”
“Uh-huh,” Twilight rolled her eyes and collected the four plates and glasses in her magic, following Spike back into the lobby because she just had to see this.
Spike marched confidently into the lobby of the library, where Rainbow Dash and Rarity were already seated across from each other around a coffee table with several books piled up in front of them. Rainbow’s ears twitched as she heard the two approaching but she didn’t look up from her book, though Rarity turned her head to see them.
“Oh, hello!” she said with a charmed smile upon seeing Spike. “You must be Spike?”
Spike froze in his tracks immediately, his face turning bright red as he gurgled out his reply.
“Uh, buh hi.”
Rarity giggled and her smile widened, and Twilight was equally delighted by that and by Spike’s reaction, which was to run behind Twilight’s leg and grab onto it for dear life.
Twilight entertained the idea of relaying a teasing comment to Spike, but decided to just chuckle and place the milk and cookies on the table before grabbing Spike himself in her magic and levitating him into an empty chair next to Rainbow Dash, Twilight sitting in a chair at the end of the table, so she could be close to him but also see both Rarity and Rainbow.
As Twilight scanned the collection of books on the table, her brow furrowed and she frowned in disappointment. There were several bestiaries, a couple of adventure novels and some travel guides among them, but none of them would give her two guests the real information they needed if they were going to be dealing with something as dangerous as cragadiles.
Without really thinking, Twilight conjured the mental image of several different books that she wanted to present to the two Slayers before lighting up her horn and, with a spark of magic, teleporting to her three heavy volumes and a stack of loose papers bound in a makeshift leather strap, which she then placed gently on the table.
It was only after she did this that she looked up at the ponies sitting at the table with her, who all had their eyes on her. Spike had a proud smile, and Rainbow a mischievous grin, but it was Rarity’s reaction that captured Twilight’s attention.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth was half open, like she was staring at Twilight in awe. Twilight looked behind her worriedly, afraid she had been snuck up on by some dangerous creature, then looked over herself to make sure she hadn’t accidentally transformed into a monster or gotten blood on her somehow.
“How did you do that?” Rarity asked.
“Do wh— oh, oh!” Twilight cleared her throat bashfully. She had forgotten that long range teleportation of objects, multiple-object levitation and levitating ponies were not something most unicorns could do. “I’m, um—”
“Twilight’s a magical prodigy!” Spike relayed proudly, puffing up his chest. “She’s the best magician who’s ever lived!”
“I don’t know about that,” Twilight bit her lip and ran her fingers through the hair on the side of her face.
“Well even so,” Rarity said with a smile, folding her arms on the table, “I’m quite impressed!”
Twilight couldn’t help a pleased grin from coming over her, even as her cheeks felt at least twenty degrees hotter.
“So what’re these books, Twi?” Rainbow knocked on one of the books Twilight put on the table, snapping Twilight back to attention.
“This one is a journal of a pony who travelled all across Equestria,” Twilight explained, levitating the first book in her magic, “and he wrote about his encounter with a cragadile in one of his entries.
“This one,” Twilight floated another book, “is an obscure bestiary. The author is eccentric and not well-regarded amongst most ponies, so a lot of his books have fallen into obscurity, but his insight into rare beasts is unmatched.
“And this last one is the most comprehensive guide to swamp-based flora and fauna I’ve ever read, with an extensive article about cragadiles and their natural habits.”
“Wow,” Rainbow leaned back in her chair, eyes wide and grin even wider, “that’s incredible, Twi. I wouldn’t’ve even thought to grab books like those. I kinda just went for bestiaries.”
“That’s okay,” Twilight said coyly, “I wouldn’t be a very good librarian if I didn’t have a deep understanding of the books at my disposal.”
“And what about this one?” Rarity asked, caressing the stack of papers in her magic.
“Those are—” Twilight coughed, anxious about giving the answer. “Those are my personal notes. I’ve been putting together my own bestiary based on my travels and experiences, since I find a lot of the ones available to be a little dry. I have some notes about cragadiles that should be helpful in there.”
“My, my,” Rarity purred, placing her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her intertwined fingers, “you have your very own bestiary? Does our little librarian live a secret life of danger perhaps?”
“I’m, er, well-travelled, but—” Twilight glanced at Spike and let out a soft giggle as she saw he was still staring absolutely entranced at Rarity; she could practically see the hearts in his eyes. “I’m looking to settle down.”
Rarity hummed, and her smile grew. Twilight felt that familiar heat creeping up her cheeks again, and though she wanted to look away from Rarity’s eyes, she found she couldn’t bring herself to.
Twilight stared at Rarity, at her blue eyes and her enchanting smile, for what felt like an eternally slow moment, Twilight biting down on her lip before forcing her eyes away, her brow furrowing at the sight she landed on.
“Rainbow,” Twilight said as she recognized the Daring Do book Rainbow’s nose was in, “you aren’t actually considering riding the cragadile like a raft, are you?”
“Wh—you said it was possible!” Rainbow said defensively, slapping the book down on the table and blushing furiously.
“So is looking into the sun without going blind,” Twilight balked, “that doesn’t mean you should do it!”
Rarity giggled, and Twilight was absolutely bewitched by the sound. She was less endeared to Rainbow’s snickering, and her mood soured even more when she looked to see Rainbow looking right at her with a big grin on her face.
“What?” Twilight grunted, her eyes glancing quickly at Rarity, who had drawn herself back up and was now sitting properly in her chair, playing coyly with her mane, and for a fraction of a second Twilight was dumbstruck by just how impossibly beautiful Rarity was.
“Nothing, nothing,” Rainbow shrugged and exchanged a brief glance with Rarity, which seemed to fluster the unicorn as she quickly looked away from her partner. “Hey Spike,” Rainbow tapped Spike’s arm, getting the boy’s attention, “you wanna help me put some of these books away?”
“Uh, no?” Spike said confusedly. Rainbow frowned at her and quickly darted her eyes back and forth from Rarity to Spike, which only seemed to confuse him more.
Rarity sighed, and Twilight couldn’t help but feel she sounded uncomfortable. Twilight wondered if she had done something wrong, but before she could delve too deeply into that thought train, Spike spoke up again.
“Oh! Y-yeah! Rainbow, let me help you put these books away!” he said suddenly, grabbing all the books he could in his little hands, along with his plate of cookies, and trotted off into the rows of bookcases.
“Hey Rares,” Rainbow grabbed her own plate and glass of milk before giving Rarity a wink, “you can handle the research stuff on your own, right? I can’t read, sooooo…”
“I’m sure I’ll manage,” Rarity said with a playful roll of her eyes, and Twilight was sure that she mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to Rainbow before the pegasus smiled at her and followed Spike into the library.
“That was odd,” Twilight said, ever the dense one.
“Rainbow can be a bit impatient,” Rarity said, reaching her arm across the table until it was resting on one of the books that Twilight had brought, Rarity’s fingers tantalizing close to Twilight’s. “And I suppose she figured that it would be best for me and you to delve into this research business… at our own pace.”
“Oh, okay,” Twilight said with an oblivious smile, and Rarity laughed softly into her hand for some reason. “Where do you want to start?”
Rarity took a deep breath, and as she looked over to the bookcases where Rainbow and Spike had disappeared, she seemed to relax for the first time. She rested an elbow on the table, cheek gently propped up by her hand, and fluttered her eyelashes at Twilight, who could practically feel steam coming out of her ears.
“Darling,” Rarity whispered, sending a jolt of electricity up Twilight’s spine, “why don’t you tell me about your travels.”
29. In Which Rarity and Twilight Reach a Mutual Realization That the Other Is Very Cute
Rarity had learned everything she ever needed to know and more about cragadiles. Or at least, she was certain she would once she read the notes that Twilight had been taking at her request while she was telling Rarity about them.
Rarity had insisted on Twilight taking notes on the important parts of their cragadile conversation, and she was quite pleased that Twilight acquiesced with no argument. Rarity said she needed the notes on account of not having a great memory, and so that she could read them on the train so they would be fresh in her mind when she really needed the information.
And the second part of that statement was true enough, but the real reason she insisted on the notes was simply because she could not have been less interested in talking about cragadiles, for the only thing she could focus on was the radiant lavender unicorn sitting before her, who only became more beautiful and more interesting with each word she spoke.
In truth, Rarity had actually learned rather little about Miss Twilight Sparkle herself, for the librarian seemed loathe to discuss herself. Twilight had been much more keen on sharing not only everything she knew about cragadiles, but she had also gotten quite caught up in the book about swamps and wanted to share with Rarity her own thoughts, ideas, and insights on swamp-dwelling flora and fauna.
Rarity, of course, had never once in her life been remotely interested in learning about swampy plants and creatures. At least not until the moment Twilight Sparkle had begun talking about it, somehow making it the most compelling and fascinating topic Rarity had ever heard.
Twilight was much more than simply a pretty face—though she was absolutely that as well. She had a special talent for making anything interesting; during their conversation, Twilight had gotten distracted by a rather impassioned rant about rocks—ROCKS, for pony’s sake!— yet Rarity hung on each and every word with bated breath.
It was perplexing, even slightly frustrating! How in the world had Rarity—RARITY, who had so long ago mastered the art of composed detachment—managed to become so wrapped up in this unusual mare? How in all of Equestria was she sitting there, chin resting upon intertwined fingers, smiling like a smitten schoolfilly, while the librarian gave a sincerely enrapturing lecture about the differences between hard water and heavy water?!
By the way, neither type of water had anything to do with ice, and the librarian didn’t look terribly amused by Rarity’s incredibly clever joke about that. Apparently she’d heard that one before.
No, you see, hard water is water with high mineral content, formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone and chalk which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, whereas heavy water has more hydrogen isotope deuterium than normal.
And no, Rarity had absolutely no idea what any of those words meant! But she would remember those facts, because the sunforsaken pony of the Golden Oaks Library somehow made Rarity care about said facts!
Rarity rolled her eyes, bemused that she could remember the damn differences between two different types of water, but not a bloody thing that she’d learned about cragadiles.
“Rarity?” Twilight must have caught her rolling her eyes, because she was now looking at Rarity with a pensive expression. “Are you listening?”
“More than you know, darling,” Rarity replied with a smile that satisfied Twilight, if the bright grin on her face was any indication. “Though, I must ask, where does this insatiable thirst for knowledge of yours even come from? I swear my mind feels like it’s going to burst from just our conversation, yet there seems to be no end to the well of information that you have!”
“Oh, um—” Twilight tapped her fingers against the edge of the table, and shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
Goodness, Rarity thought as she bit her lip, did I embarrass her?
“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression,” Rarity slid her hand on the table toward Twilight’s, “I am quite impressed! I’m simply curious because—well, because quite honestly, you have been rather tight-lipped about your own history, and I just find myself frightfully curious about you.”
Twilight blushed and she bit down on a smile. Good sign.
“I just find the process of learning—” Twilight shrugged, and though she looked up at Rarity, it was only for a fraction of a second before she turned her head toward the rows of bookcases, her cheeks’ lavender fur being tinted red. “I enjoy it. I enjoy the act of learning, not just the end result. So I try to learn as much as I can.”
Twilight fixed her eyes on Rarity, and once Rarity was sure Twilight wasn’t going to look away again, now it was Rarity who felt her cheeks burning. Twilight Sparkle had a curiously intense gaze, like everything else in the room melted away except her and the object of her fixation.
And her eyes were so pretty; like shimmering gemstones glistening against the light of the moon.
“Don’t you have something that you just love?” Twilight said, bright smile on her face and hands clenched into excited fists in front of her. “Something that doesn’t even make sense to anybody but you, but it doesn’t matter because you just—you just love it?”
Rarity bit her lip, and then wondered how many times had she done that today, thanks to Twilight. She wished she had a better answer to give, for her own sake as much as for keeping the conversation going with Twilight, but—
“No.”
“No?”
“No,” Rarity shook her head, “I’m afraid I don’t. Maybe you’ve heard this refrain before, but there is no life outside the Hunt.”
“That’s stupid,” Twilight huffed, crossing her arms and turning her head away with puffed up cheeks. Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at her tremendous lack of tact.
“Perhaps,” Rarity said with a broad grin that quickly faded as the somber tone of her words crept into her, “but for the sake of Equestria’s safety, I would sacrifice my own life a thousand times, and a thousand times again.”
Twilight was silent, and her eyes—that intense gaze of hers—suddenly seemed fixed on Rarity’s dragon fang necklace. So intense was Twilight’s stare that Rarity felt compelled to grab the necklace, then cover it with her hand, and only then did Twilight’s eyes meet Rarity’s again.
And there they were again; those eyes that Rarity simply could not get enough of. She saw so many things in those eyes; intensity, ferocity, wisdom, an insatiable lust for knowledge, but also kindness, sweetness, warmth and safety.
Safety.
Rarity couldn’t put a finger on why, but she felt safe inside the library, with Twilight Sparkle.
And that feeling compelled her to share something with Twilight that she hadn’t shared with anypony since she was a child.
“I wanted to be a fashion designer,” Rarity spoke, her cold words leaving her mouth almost unbidden. She dared not think about them as she spoke, for any second thought would smother them with her fear.
A moment of silence, and Rarity dared not look at the disappointed sneer that Twilight must have been giving her for such a meager and unexciting aspiration.
“I still do,” Rarity whispered.
And again, Rarity didn’t look up. Not until she heard the distinct cracking sound that accompanied Twilight’s teleportation spell, and she looked to see Twilight sitting there with a soft smile on her face, several books on fashion, clothing, accessories, and even famous designers of the past all floating around her.
“Maybe something in one of these could help?” Twilight offered warmly, and it took every ounce of willpower in Rarity to stop the tears that glistened in her eyes.
“Hey, Rarity!”
Rarity shot Twilight a horrified glare at the sound of Rainbow’s approaching voice, and frantically waved at her to get her to put those books away.
When Twilight took the hint and quickly teleported the books someplace else, humming innocuously and tapping her hands on the table, Rarity breathed a heavy sigh, and the relief she felt washing over her dwarfed even the relief she felt at escaping the Everfree alive.
“Rarity?” Rainbow walked up to the table, Spike groggily trailing behind her and rubbing a sleepy eye, and Rarity couldn’t help but think he looked adorable. Twilight thought the same, based on the way she smiled at him and placed her hand on her chest.
“How can I help you, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity said sweetly, offering a winning smile that was definitely not covering up the lingering distress of Rainbow possibly seeing and asking about those fashion books.
“I know Twilight is totally cool and all,” Rainbow’s statement made both women at the table smile, and Rarity wasn’t sure which one was more pleased, “but we gotta catch a pretty early train tomorrow.”
“Ah,” Rarity looked to the library’s window and saw complete blackness outside. She knew she had been talking to Twilight for several hours, but she could have sworn it was still daytime the last she looked.
Rarity stood up from the table, and Twilight quickly followed.
“I need to tuck Spike into bed and close up shop,” Twilight said, gathering the books strewn all across the table. “I hope my notes can help you though!”
Twilight levitated her notes on their cragadile conversation over into Rarity’s waiting grasp, and Rarity smiled brightly at her.
“I’m absolutely certain that they’ll be invaluable, my dear,” Rarity said, and she bit down on her lip one more time at the wonderfully adorable sight of Twilight’s widening smile and rosy-tinted cheeks.
“Ready to go?” Rainbow cocked her head to the door.
“I believe so, yes,” Rarity looked at Twilight, “I have everything I need.”
“Will you be coming back?” the sleepy voice of the young pegasus child attracted Rarity’s attention and she found herself regretting that she hadn’t been able to properly meet him yet.
“Absolutely,” Rarity responded without hesitation. “After all,” Rarity looked back to Twilight once more and while her cheeks warmed up again, the rest of her body shuddered in trepidation, “Twilight was going to help me read over some rather interesting books, wasn’t she?”
Twilight blinked, apparently having Rarity’s statement fly completely past her head, which left Rarity feeling rather cold and she tensed up her shoulders.
“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, her ears flicking up in recognition. “Yes, yes I would love to,” she said with a bow.
“Then once I return from Haysead Swamp,” Rarity said, “you can help me with those.”
Twilight drew herself up, almost bit down a smile before letting it spread across her face unhindered. “It’s a date then.”
Rarity smiled softly and coyly, but inside she wanted to beam from ear to ear.
“What kind of modern town doesn’t have a train station?” Rarity grumbled for the thousandth time, gently stepping across several large stones sitting in a stream. Rainbow rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, dead tired of listening to Rarity’s complaints
“Haysead Swamp apparently,” Rainbow replied for the thousandth time, swinging off a tree branch and flying across the same stream, landing in the melting snow that gave way to brown grass.
“Well, it’s quite inconvenient of them!” Rarity harrumphed.
“Maybe,” Rainbow shrugged, her hand brushing across the bark of a leafless gray tree as she passed, “but it’s a nice day out. And Haysead Swamp’s so far down south that winter hasn’t quite caught up with it yet.”
“I suppose,” Rarity’s wistful reply caught Rainbow’s attention, and she could swear the unicorn got lost in thought for a sec, but before she could press the issue, Rarity smiled. “Though you are right, it is quite a lovely day.”
“Good day for cragadile hunting!” Rainbow grinned, getting Rarity to laugh.
“Good day for cragadile hunting,” Rarity said in that same wistful tone as she pulled Twilight’s notes on cragadiles out of her bag and ran her fingers across the pages for the hundredth time.
“Toldja you’d like her,” Rainbow said with a satisfied smirk, which only widened at Rarity’s blush.
“Yes well,” Rarity flicked her mane back and pretended not to be embarrassed, “pardon me for not listening to your sage advice, darling. At least it didn’t take me an entire year!”
Rarity’s laugh was good-natured but it rattled Rainbow Dash like a mace to the spinal cord, stopping her in her tracks. Rarity didn’t notice Rainbow had stopped until she asked a question Rainbow couldn’t hear and turned around.
“Rainbow Dash?” she called out. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow hollered back, her voice straining with the lie. “I’ll be right with ya!”
At least it didn’t take me an entire year!
Rainbow knew Rarity didn’t mean anything by it. She knew Rarity was just teasing her. She knew Rarity couldn’t have known how much it bothered Rainbow, how much she felt like a complete idiot and a loser because she couldn’t bring herself to even talk to Applejack, let alone make a proper introduction or ask her out or anything else.
But what if Rarity did know? What if Rarity knew exactly how Rainbow felt and was just trying to rub salt in her wounds?
Nah, that’s nonsense. Rarity’s not like that; even if she does think I’m a big loser, she wouldn’t say it.
“Are you sure you’re alright, darling?” Rarity brushed the back of her hand against Rainbow’s cheek once she caught up.
“Uh, hungry,” Rainbow nodded. “Maybe we should sit down and grab lunch.”
“That’s a splendid idea, my dear!” Rarity beamed and Rainbow felt relieved that she’d made Rarity smile and gotten Rarity off her case.
The two found a brown grassy clearing to set up in and Rarity set out a clean white blanket for the two to sit on, though Rainbow was already sitting on a large rock by the time Rarity had fussed around with the blanket to make sure it was perfect.
Rarity helped herself to a pair of cucumber sandwiches, and Rainbow devoured a small mountain of haycakes, each one being destroyed in a more visceral and messy fashion than the last, much to Rarity’s bemusement.
“So what’s bothering you, Rainbow?” Rarity asked after she finished her second sandwich and put the rest of her food away, Rainbow still in the middle of her sixth haycake. “You can’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been staring off into space quite a lot today.”
Instead of answering, Rainbow stared off into space, the haycake in her mouth falling out and onto the plate with a plop.
Rainbow thought about the other night, when she tried to ask Applejack out but completely choked. She thought about how she’d done the same thing the night before. And probably the night before that one too, and the night before that one, and that one, and on and on and freakin’ on for nearly an entire YEAR!
But what could she actually say to Rarity? ‘Oh yeah sorry, I’m just thinking about what a big stupid loser I am and how my life has no value! No biggie!’ Rainbow couldn’t even imagine how pathetic she’d look to Rarity if she admitted that she was feeling all of this because of some girl she had a crush on.
Well, it was actually a lot of things. It was seasonal depression, it was Luna, it was thinking about that bugbear mission, it was thinking about how she’d nearly gotten injured in like a dozen other missions cuz she just couldn’t care enough about her own safety to even try.
But right now, it was mostly Applejack.
“It’s nothin’,” Rainbow stuffed the haycake back into her mouth, ignoring Rarity’s look of complete disgust as Rainbow shoveled the whole thing down in like two bites. “I mean, it’s not nothing, but like, it’s nothing. Y’know?”
“Does this mean you don’t want to talk about it?” Rarity said sweetly.
Absolutely not.
Or wait… do I?
Can I?
…
“Nah.”
“If you insist.”
Rainbow looked over her shoulder, and a thicket of shady, leafless trees caught her eye as they stood over a small river. She looked down at herself and the mess she had made with all those haycakes.
“Hey,” she chuckled, “you mind if I take a minute? Gonna go wash my face in that river over there, get all the cake off and stuff.”
“Far be it from me to stand between you and proper hygiene,” Rarity snickered, “it is a rare occurrence for you, after all.”
Rainbow forced a smile, and waved as she took off for the trees.
She hid under the trees’ shade, where Rarity couldn’t see her, and splashed the river’s water on her face, so when she got back Rarity couldn’t tell she’d been crying.
Despite Rarity’s previous gripes regarding the town’s lack of modernity, Haysead Swamp turned out to be quite the pleasant little vista. The entire town was built atop the swamp, using wooden bridges to connect various houses and shops, and the residents were very relaxed and friendly.
Rarity and Rainbow had made the necessary preparations, checking in with their client and learning everything they knew about the target, and were sitting down in an outdoor seating area enjoying refreshing beverages before they set out into the swamp proper in search of their coveted cragadile.
Tall, looming trees surrounded the village, and Rarity couldn’t help but think they almost looked like the town’s protectors; sleepy guardians that would come to life and enact nature’s vengeance upon anyone who would harm the town’s people. Rarity wondered if any of the locals thought of them the same way, but she acknowledged that she was probably just being very silly.
Though she also wondered if there was such a thing as a tree that came to life to protect ponies, then remembered of course there were, she fought some of them no less than two weeks ago.
I wonder if Twilight’s ever seen a timberwolf? Probably, if she’s been all over.
Rarity took another look over the quaint bog town as she took a sip of her tea, and as she observed the ponies going about their days and the looming trees all over, she thought about her conversation with Twilight regarding the flora and fauna of the swamp.
She couldn’t remember any details of the conversation, nor anything she had ostensibly ‘learned’ about swamp inhabitants, but she knew that if Twilight were here she could almost certainly answer any questions Rarity might have had about the environment around them, and that thought brought a smile to her lips.
I wish she were here.
That thought made Rarity nearly choke on her tea, and she sputtered and coughed as she chastised herself for thinking it. Rarity had only just met Twilight, and now here she was fawning over her like some smitten kitten? How very un-Rarity of her.
Rarity looked across the table to see if Rainbow had noticed her little incident just now, but unless Rarity had quite literally exploded in a mass of fiery devastation, the pegasus staring blankly into the distance away from Rarity wouldn’t have noticed a single thing.
Rarity took in a deep, silent breath. She was concerned for her partner, who had barely spoken a word since they departed Canterlot that morning despite nearly always being lightning fast with a clever quip or teasing remark.
And on the subject of teasing, Rainbow hadn’t returned Rarity’s earlier ribbing with snarky retorts of her own; if Rarity hadn’t known better, she would believe that Rainbow was actually hurt by Rarity’s gentle teasing.
But that couldn’t be right… could it?
Rainbow never let anything bother her; she was always full of enthusiasm and confidence, and nothing ever got underneath her skin. And yet, looking at the pale blue mare resting her head listlessly against an arm propped up on the table, Rarity couldn’t help feeling that her partner looked incredibly worn down.
“Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow’s eyes flickered over toward Rarity, but she barely gave any hint of acknowledgment.
“There’s something bothering you,” Rarity said concernedly, “I can’t pretend I don’t notice.”
“It won’t affect my work,” Rainbow replied sternly, as if that was what Rarity was concerned about. “Promise.”
“That’s not—” Rarity shook her head “I’m worried about you, darling.”
“Why?”
“Wh—why?” Rarity leaned back, aghast at such a ridiculous question. “Because you’re my friend, dear, and I can see that you’re struggling! If there’s anything going on that I can help with, I want to—”
“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged and batted her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”
Rainbow’s dismissal of Rarity’s concern seemed sincere enough, but something was still eating at Rarity. Something wasn’t right, but what was it? Rarity tried to think back to their conversation around breakfast time, and what was it that set Rainbow off before? What had they been talking about when Rarity first noticed Rainbow was very obviously not feeling well?
Haycakes. It was just the haycakes. They hadn’t truly spoken before Rainbow took off to that stream.
But, before they sat down for breakfast, Rainbow had fallen behind. Why again?
Rarity scanned the horizon, searching for an answer as she took another sip of tea, and as her thoughts idly gravitated toward the Golden Oaks Library again, it hit her like a steam train.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said cautiously, “may I ask you something?”
Rainbow took a sip of cider and arched an eyebrow at Rarity, but she said nothing.
“Why haven’t you allowed me to properly introduce you to Applejack? I think you two would get along famously.”
Rainbow blinked. She grabbed her mug of cider and pressed it to her lips, taking big, noisy gulps from the mug until she had emptied the entire thing in a single sip, and slammed it onto the table as she stood on her hooves.
“How ‘bout we save the personal talks until after the mission,” Rainbow grumbled.
“But we will talk after the mission?” Rarity asked, her tone a carefully measured mix between gentle and firm.
Rainbow said nothing. Just walked away.
For what felt like the thousandth time that afternoon, Rarity found herself wishing Twilight was here. Either so Rarity had someone to talk to or because she thought Twilight might be able to get through to Rainbow where she could not, somehow.
Oh well, Rarity thought as she took the finishing sip of her tea, it doesn’t matter, I suppose.
Twilight was not here, but Rainbow was, and— more importantly for the moment— so was a vicious cragadile.
Twilight Sparkle stood in the open doorway of the Golden Oaks Library, arms stretched across the portal and hands tightly gripping the doorframe as Spike attempted to push her out the door.
“C’mon, Twilight!” he grunted and huffed as he tried in vain to overpower the much taller woman. “We talked about this!”
“Yeah, I know,” Twilight said nervously, “but I don’t have to go right now, do I? I could wait for Rainbow to get back, or for winter to pass, or for a couple years to go by, maybe for you to go to college?”
“Pfft, college is for eggheads, Twi,” Spike scoffed and rolled his eyes, eliciting quite the sharp look from his mother.
“College is for eggheads?” she groaned. “Did Rainbow tell you that?”
“She did,” Spike nodded, “but is she wrong?”
Before Twilight launched into a stirring lecture on the importance of formal education, followed by a scathing critique of the current disastrously lacking education system, she let her hands slip away from the doorframe, allowing the tiny pegasus pushing her to finally shove her out of the library and face-first into the snow.
“Alright now don’t come back until you make a friend!” Spike said cheerfully as he slammed the door to the library, and had Twilight not been so frantic to get to her hooves she would’ve given him another lecture on proper door treatment.
“Spike!” Twilight’s tone was a mix of indignant and desperate as she heard the door lock from inside. “Spike! Open this door right now!”
“Sorry, we’re closed!” Spike chirped from behind the door that Twilight was furiously fighting with. “Come back later tonight! HINT HINT!”
Twilight groaned in defeated frustration and pressed her forehead against the door. It was true that she agreed to at least attempt to wander around the Moon District on her own while Rainbow was off on her mission— she’d told Rainbow she would— but now that the time had come, she was ready to jump out of her skin.
And while she could use her magic to easily open the door to the library and hide inside it, could she really do that after all the effort Spike put in to pushing her out? He sounded so pleased with himself, and Twilight did promise, both him and Rainbow.
“Ugh, fine.”
Twilight put her hands in her coat pockets and took a deep breath as she walked two steps away from the library, before looking back and reconsidering. It wouldn’t be so bad of her to postpone this little outing, would it?
No, she promised. No turning back now.
She made it three more steps from the library before stopping and looking behind her.
The library was safe. It was warm— well, technically it wasn’t that much warmer than anywhere else to Twilight, who didn’t have a problem with the cold, but it was warm metaphorically.
But it was comfortable, and most importantly—and this was something that really could not be stressed enough— it was safe.
As a rather accomplished magician—if she said so herself— Twilight wasn’t in any physical danger in Canterlot. There was scarcely a creature, beast or pony, who was an honest threat to someone with Twilight’s power.
But Twilight knew she didn’t belong in that city, and if anyone else realized she didn’t belong there, what would happen to her? What would happen to the life she had been building, to her friendships, to Spike?
She couldn’t risk anyone becoming suspicious of her, and that’s why she didn’t want to interact with Canterlot outside the library. Granted, it had gotten to the point where every other day some patron or other remarked about how they never saw Twilight outside her library, so perhaps by trying to avoid suspicion she was actually being quite suspicious.
Though she supposed it didn’t really matter; she made a promise, and that was that.
Twilight forced herself to take deliberate steps away from the library as she thought about all these various things, and when she was finally satisfied with her conclusion enough to drag herself away from her thoughts and pay attention to the world around her, she found herself at an ice-skating rink.
Though there were close to a dozen ponies skating on the ice, as Twilight sat down on a nearby bench to watch them her eyes were immediately drawn to two very peculiar ponies.
They were both earth ponies; one had an orange coat and blonde mane, and while Twilight was hesitant to refer to her as a ‘giant’, that was the first word that entered her mind. The woman was easily taller than any other pony on the rink and was blessed with truly mesmerizing muscles.
The other pony would have been small compared to an average sized pony but compared to her friend she was absolutely tiny. She was pink and pink and pink; mane, fur, even clothes all in different shades of warm, comforting, bubblegum pink, though her clothing was complimented by some pastel yellow and baby blue so as not to be too overwhelmingly pink. She wore a bright and cheerful smile that lightened up the world around her as she skated effortlessly around her friend, trying to keep the much less acrobatic mare from losing her balance.
As Twilight watched the pair she was surprised to see the orange mare was not lacking in athletic skill or even grace, she simply seemed to be a little gun-shy about the skates; but once her pink friend helped her to get used to them, she was skating circles around the other ponies, even making her pink friend look like she had two left feet.
Twilight tried to keep her amused laughter to herself, but she erupted into full giggles when the orange mare skated over to the pink one and lifted her up off the ground, hoisting the tiny pony onto her broad shoulders, the pink mare laughing and smiling all the while.
Twilight’s laughter must have been a bit more disruptive than she’d thought, because after a few moments of skating around on top of the orange mare’s shoulders, the pink mare whispered something to her friend and pointed at Twilight, mortifying the librarian as a bright red blush spread across her face.
Twilight stood up to leave as the orange mare skated over to her, and the pink one jumped off her shoulders onto the ground, somehow sticking a perfect landing even with the ice skates on.
“Hey, hey!” the pink mare called out as she wobbled over to Twilight, trying to keep her balance off the ice on her skates. “What’re you doing over here all by yourself? You wanna skate with us?”
“Um, no thanks,” Twilight said politely, “I’m just here to, um—” why was she here again? How did she end up at an ice-skating rink anyway?
“You new in town?” the orange mare asked, taking off her skates and walking over to Twilight and the pink pony. “Thought I knew every face in town, but haven’t seen yers before. Welcome to Canterlot, stranger!”
“Oh, I moved in a couple months ago,” Twilight looked away from the two and nervously fidgeted with her fingers, “I just don’t usually leave… my library.”
“Your libra—” the orange mare began to speak but was suddenly cut off.
“YOU’RE THE LIBRARIAN!?” the pink pony shouted with enough force to level a small forest.
“Uh, yes?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie grabbed Twilight’s hand and shook it very effusively, making Twilight slightly dizzy in the process.
“Cool it, Pinkie,” the other pony grabbed Pinkie’s shoulder and gently tugged her away from Twilight, “yer makin’ her nervous.”
“Oh, sorry!”
“Uh, don’t worry,” Twilight sidestepped just an inch, thinking of slowly making a beeline for the exit and running back to the library, “it’s fine.”
“Name’s Applejack,” the orange mare said with a wink. “Rarity was tellin’ me about you when she was in the shop this mornin’.”
“And Rainbow Dash keeps talking about how rad the library is!” Pinkie shouted, hopping up and down. “I keep meaning to come over and bring you an apple pie, I just keep getting distracted!”
“You two know Rainbow Dash,” Twilight asked, and a smile and soft blush crept onto her face as she added, “and Rarity?”
“Can’t exactly say I ‘know’ Rainbow Dash,” Applejack rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and Twilight sensed a note of resentment in Applejack’s voice, “but Rarity’s been my friend since we were kids.”
“Me too!” Pinkie added. “I mean, Applejack and Rarity are like a million years older than me—”
“I’m only a few years older’n you, Pinkie,” Applejack interrupted, “and Rarity’s even younger.”
“It’s practically a million!” Pinkie insisted, making Twilight chuckle. Pinkie returned her gaze to Twilight, Applejack playfully rolling her eyes behind Pinkie’s back. “Point is, Rarity’s like one of our best friends! And Rainbow’s also… there sometimes.”
‘There sometimes’? That’s an odd way to put it.
“So, erm, you said you had a shop?” Twilight was able to make eye contact with Applejack as she asked her question. She felt a lot less anxious around these two, knowing they were friends with her only two friends in the city.
“Yup,” Applejack nodded with a smile on her face, “it’s a mite humble, but it’s ours.” Applejack pointed out toward the city, and Twilight turned to see a barely visible stone building with bright pink signage on the horizon. “The ApplePie Smithery.”
Twilight’s ears perked and her entire face lit up as she pumped her fists in front of her and shouted, “You’re the super-hot blacksmith!”
Applejack blinked, her arm falling limply against her side as her mouth hung open and her cheeks turned bright pink. Pinkie Pie merely grinned at her.
“U-uhm, thanks?” Applejack coughed and ran a hand through the back of her mane.
Twilight chuckled nervously, her own cheeks feeling about a thousand degrees hotter, which obviously wasn’t possible because a mere blush didn’t actually raise your body temperature, it just—that wasn’t important.
“Someone who came into the library said that.”
“Who?” Applejack said with a perky smile.
“Uh,” Twilight coughed and remembered how Rainbow had told her not to say anything about her crush to anyone, “just someone. I don’t really remember, sorry.”
“Aw,” Applejack mumbled and snapped her fingers.
“Was it Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie chimed in, causing a nervous sputter from Twilight and a loud, uncomfortable cough from Applejack.
Twilight wasn’t sure how well she could pull off a bald-faced lie, but she was thankful that she didn’t have to when Applejack spoke up before her.
“Pinkie Pie!” she yelled in a strained voice. “Ya can’t just be askin’ stuff like that!”
“But how cool would that be?” Pinkie said excitedly, biting down on her lip. “If Rainbow had a crush on you t—”
“PINKIE!” Applejack croaked. Pinkie’s ears clamped against her head and she weakly kicked at the snow, and Applejack knelt down to give her a hug. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to yell.”
“I’m sorry too,” Pinkie returned the hug and nuzzled her face against Applejack’s, “I got too excited, and I didn’t mean to embarrass anypony, or to put my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Yer a sweetheart, Pinkie.”
“You too, Applejack!”
Twilight cleared her throat.
“Sorry about that,” Applejack said nervously as she stood back up. “Pinkie can get a little overeager.”
“It’s no trouble,” Twilight said with a smile, sharing it with both Applejack then Pinkie Pie, who returned the smile in turn.
That said, now Twilight was curious; and if she didn’t at least try to sate her curiosity, it would burn a hole inside her for weeks.
“May I ask why Pinkie can’t just ask about Rainbow? Seems like an innocent enough question.”
Pinkie was silent; very silent. Applejack inhaled sharply through her nose and spoke up in her stead.
“Look, if you promise not to tell anypony—”
“I promise,” Twilight said immediately, more out of a genuine distress that Applejack might think that she would tell someone another person’s secret than out of an eagerness to get to the information faster, though she couldn’t deny she was a little bit eager.
“I have a crush on Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said and rubbed her arms. “It’s the stupidest thing; girl doesn’t even talk to me, she totally ignores me like nine times outta ten when she’s in the shop, and even that’s hardly ever. I dunno, I just— I guess I got bad taste.”
“You can’t help who you get feelings for,” Twilight said sincerely, putting a hand on Applejack’s arm and trying really hard not to think about Rarity.
And while Twilight couldn’t divulge Rainbow’s secret without her permission, she could at least try and give Applejack a little bit of encouragement.
“And have you considered she just tries to avoid talking to you because she,” Twilight puffed up her cheeks as she thought of the most discrete way to phrase her sentiment, “I dunno, maybe she likes you too and doesn’t know how to say it?”
“That’s what I keep saying!” Pinkie cheered.
“That’s, uh, awfully optimistic of y’all,” Applejack gave a weary smile and it was killing Twilight inside to not be able to tell Applejack the truth. Maybe when Rainbow got back, Twilight would be able to tell her that Applejack—but wait, she just promised Applejack that she wouldn’t tell anyone!
And while a part of her wanted to justify that they would both be happier if she just told one or the other that they returned each other’s feelings, that wasn’t her decision to make. She couldn’t just decide for them that they would be happier if she went against the promises she made to them.
Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything.
“Would you two like to come by the library sometime?” Twilight said with a bright smile, one that was completely dwarfed by Pinkie’s resulting smile. “I know I wouldn’t mind getting that pie you talked about, Pinkie, and I know my son would love some too.”
“Ehhh,” Applejack groaned hesitantly, but she couldn’t resist the puppydog eyes coming from both Pinkie Pie and Twilight, and she sighed. “Yeah, honestly that might be nice. How ‘bout tonight?”
“Great!” Twilight chirped. “I’ll get the library all cleaned up for you to come over!”
“And we’ll bring pie!” Pinkie clamored. “Lots of pie!”
“Like, probably two pies,” Applejack ruffled Pinkie’s hair, but then hummed in consideration. “Maybe three. Hope you like apples, Ms. Librarian.”
“Oh!” Twilight’s blush returned in full force as she realized she never introduced herself. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”
While the village had been nothing but delightful, the actual swamp of Haysead was a dreadful place that, despite its relative warmth, had Rarity missing the damn Everfree, of all things.
Of course, perhaps such unpleasantries could be overlooked with the right companionship, but Rainbow Dash had been growing more pensive and irritable with each passing hour that the two spent fruitlessly searching for the cragadile.
The sun was setting now, casting a golden orange glow that filtered through the canopy of trees over the swamp that Rainbow looked like she had half a mind to burn to the ground if it meant finding this damn cragadile faster.
Rarity felt a knot in her stomach that was only tightening with each unbearably silent hour she spent with Rainbow, until she simply couldn’t stand the silence any longer and asked, “Rainbow, will you please tell me what’s bothering you?”
Rainbow stopped, and the only sound either could hear were the steady flaps of Rainbow’s wings as she kept herself hovering in the air. Rarity tried to decipher the pegasus’ expression, the fearsome frown that marred her face, but all Rarity could see was that Rainbow was irritated, which told her nothing; Rarity was irritated too, and she doubted their feelings stemmed from the same cause.
“Rainbow, please. I’m worried about y—”
“I can read, y’know.”
“P-pardon?”
Rarity took a step back as Rainbow looked over her shoulder at her. Whatever Rarity was expecting Rainbow to say, it certainly wasn’t that.
“Yesterday,” Rainbow growled, “you said a thing, made a joke, about me not being able to read. I can read.”
“Yes, I—” Rarity stuttered, unsure of what Rainbow was getting at or just why she was so angry over what Rarity had perceived as merely some lighthearted teasing between friends. “I didn’t actually think you couldn’t read, Rainbow. I was making a joke.”
“It wasn’t funny.”
Rarity blinked, and a scowl crept onto her face.
“I apologize,” she muttered, eyes darting away from Rainbow, teeth grinding against each other. “I didn’t realize I had hit a nerve, though I’m curious why you’re only bringing this up now.”
“Look, you’re really lucky,” Rainbow hissed, and the hairs on Rarity’s neck stood on end. “You’re soooo lucky to have a big gay crush on the librarian, I’m really happy for you, Rarity.”
“What does that have to do with—”
“It must be SO GREAT, to be able to just have the hots for somepony without having to be like ‘oh man, am I gonna make myself look like a huge idiot to her’ or ‘yeah if she knew I was into her she’d be creeped the hell out’ or my personal favorite ‘literally everyone would laugh at you if you told them you were into that girl, she’s way out of your league’.”
Rarity clenched her fists and glared daggers into Rainbow. Rainbow had no idea just how many times those exact thoughts had crossed Rarity’s mind in the past, and how guilty she was already feeling for having a crush on a woman she just met, and now here Rainbow was rubbing salt into her open wound.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity’s tone was measured and remarkably calm, considering her ever increasing frustration, “I am sorry that I hurt your feelings, but you are being needlessly uncivil right now. What exactly is your problem with me?”
“I don’t have a problem with you¸ Rarity!” Rainbow screamed, turning around and facing Rarity as she threw her arms in the air. “I have a problem with all of it! You aren’t the only one who’s almost died on the job for being ‘reckless’ y’know! You aren’t the only one who’s super exhausted and just done with ALL of this!”
Rarity took a step toward Rainbow, and the pegasus jolted back, flying over a brackish pond so that Rarity couldn’t pursue her. This conversation— if you could even call it that— was over.
Rarity took a deep breath. She tried to comfort herself with the knowledge that whatever was grinding against Rainbow’s nerves, her anger was likely not actually aimed at Rarity. But then again, perhaps it was. And perhaps Rarity deserved that anger.
Either way, Rarity had a cragadile to find. Dealing with Rainbow’s outburst would have to wait.
An explosion of water erupted from the pond Rainbow hovered over, taking both women completely by surprise. Rainbow looked down to see what had happened and Rarity tried to yell at Rainbow and tell her to get away from the water.
Before she could bring her voice to bear, or before Rainbow could react at all, the cragadile leaped out of the water and clamped its jaw down on Rainbow Dash’s leg, a piercing scream coming from the bleeding pegasus’ mouth.
Rarity drew her axe and ran toward the water, but the cragadile disappeared as quickly as it came, dragging Rainbow into the water with it, and disappearing.
Rainbow barely had time to hold her breath before the cragadile dragged her by her leg into the gross, greenish-brown swamp water, pulling her into the murky depths of Haysead Swamp with alarming speed. She felt like a dog’s chewtoy being dragged around in the cragadile’s jaw and she wasn’t about to just let the monster get its way.
Granted, it was kinda hard to focus between the water pressure and the velocity, but who needs focus when you have knives?
Rainbow tried to tug her leg out from the beast’s mouth but all she accomplished was the cragadile’s fangs digging deeper into her skin. She drew one of her trench knives and stabbed it into the cragadile’s tough, scaly back, and while the cragadile’s hide was one of the toughest things to penetrate known to Equestria, Rainbow’s knives were enchanted for just such a purpose and the blade dug into the cragadile’s skin like it was going into a haycake.
The cragadile recoiled from the pain and its jaw opened, allowing Rainbow to retrieve her hoof and smirk, but her satisfaction was short-lived as the cragadile spun around at lightning speed and slammed its tail into Rainbow’s ribs, disorienting her just long enough for the beast to snap its jaws at her arm, though Rainbow was miraculously able to push herself away using her wings just in the nick of time.
Or so she thought.
The cragadile charged forward and clamped its jaw down again, snatching Rainbow’s arm between its fangs and causing Rainbow to gasp, filling her lungs with brackish water. Rainbow’s face twisted into a scowl as she drew another knife in her free hand.
She’d be damned if she needed to let Rarity rescue her.
She stabbed the cragadile right in the eyeball with her trench knife, the beast growling furiously as it clamped harder on her arm, the pain shooting through the limb accompanied by a palpitation of Rainbow’s heart as she heard bone snap under the cragadile’s attack.
Rainbow grit her teeth and pulled out her knife, stabbing it again into the cragadile’s eye, over and over again, but accomplishing nothing except tainting the brownish-green water red with the blood of the animal and her own.
Rainbow kept her mouth tightly shut, grinding her teeth against each other as she breathed water in through her nose. She couldn’t hold her breath for much longer and she couldn’t get free of the cragadile. She only had one recourse now, and she hated it.
Luckily for her, said recourse arrived just in time as Rarity’s arrow lodged itself right into the cragadile’s non-stabbed eye, the beast releasing Rainbow’s arm as it recoiled in pain and frustration.
Even without its sight, the cragadile was still a force to be reckoned with, as it proved when it bolted toward Rarity where she floated in the water. Rarity had no hope of out-swimming an angry cragadile and looked to be bracing herself for the inevitable attack, but Rainbow was faster.
Rainbow charged through the water and grabbed Rarity just in time for the pegasus to have her non-injured leg end up where the cragadile was biting down, though Rainbow was moving fast enough to slip right through with only shredded skin instead of being stuck in the monster’s grip yet again.
Rainbow jumped out of the water, wings keeping her aloft and Rarity held in her arms, but she couldn’t stay airborne for long with her injuries, so she tossed Rarity onto the ground before falling onto the mossy floor of the swamp herself, landing on her back and gasping for air.
An explosion of water alerted the two women that the cragadile had not given up its pursuit, but an arrow quickly fired from Rarity’s bow exploding in the creature’s face was enough for it to change its mind and scuttle back into the water.
They would have to chase after it of course, but that could wait until after—
Rainbow hissed in pain as her arm twitched, and she looked in disgust at the extent of her injuries; a leg that looked like it had been caught in a pulp grinder, another leg that looked—and felt—like it caught the business end of a wheat thrasher, and an arm that was like a broken twig that flopped around by the thin threads of skin that connected two separate pieces.
She was a mess.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rarity’s alarmed voice hurt more than Rainbow’s injuries; she hated making people worry.
“It’s nothi—”
“Don’t say that,” Rarity scolded. “Please, just let me help you.”
Rainbow groaned hesitantly, wondering for a sec if there was any way out of this situation without having to rely on Rarity, but then she asked herself why. Why have a partner if you can’t rely on them? And didn’t Rainbow want to be partners with Rarity?
So why is she pushing her away now of all times?
It’s stupid.
“Yeah, okay.”
Rarity focused her magic and her horn lit up a pale blue as a similarly colored light washed over Rainbow, making her body feel a little bit lighter as Rarity picked her up and gently placed her onto a nearby tree stump to inspect her wounds.
Rainbow tried to hide how much pain she was in, but her gritted teeth smile gave her away, even if Rarity was too polite to say anything.
Rarity knelt in front of Rainbow and pulled what looked like a roll of white tape from her bag.
“What is that?” Rainbow asked, feeling nervous about whatever Rarity was planning.
“It’s something Twilight told me, actually,” Rarity said proudly. “We were talking about safety strategies last night, and she taught me a neat spell to fuse my healing ointment with bandages, which essentially makes my ointment usage twenty-percent more efficient, or so she says.”
“Is it gonna work?” Rainbow asked, biting down on her thumb.
“I have no reason to doubt it,” Rarity traced her thumb across the roll of bandages. “Twilight Sparkle seemed to know an awful lot, and I trust her judgment.”
Rainbow felt the same way, but she wasn’t sure she wanted her busted legs to be used as Rarity’s test subject. But before she could voice another objection Rarity was already wrapping the bandages around Rainbow’s pulp-grinder leg, and Rainbow gasped quietly as she felt instantly relieved, like her leg was being wrapped in a soft blanket.
“So,” Rarity said as she administered the blanket tape to Rainbow’s arm, “how long have you been… ‘reckless’?”
That wasn’t a question Rainbow was expecting, and it wasn’t one she wanted to answer. But she’d already given Rarity enough grief today, and maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to talk to her about something.
“Long as I can remember, honestly,” Rainbow said. “It’s why I became a Slayer in the first place, because I just didn’t know what else to do with my stupid worthless life.”
“Your life is neither stupid nor worthless,” Rarity gently scolded as she finished wrapping Rainbow’s other leg with the tape, and Rainbow stood on her feet right away and futzed her arm about to make sure everything was working okay.
“I know,” Rainbow sighed. “I know you’re right, and it’s not like I wanna die, I just— don’t really wanna live either, y’know?”
Rarity was silent for a moment as she put the tape back in her bag, but she let out a soft sigh as she stood to her hooves and looked Rainbow in the eye.
“All too well.”
“I just don’t know what to do about it,” Rainbow shrugged and rubbed her arms, a grim scowl across her face.
“I wish I knew,” Rarity placed her hand delicately on Rainbow’s shoulder and rubbed her thumb through the blue fur. “For your sake as much as for mine.”
“Rarity,” Rainbow looked up into Rarity’s deep blue eyes for a single second, but the sight of Rarity’s warm smile choked Rainbow with guilt and forced her to look away.
“Yes, darling?”
Rainbow paused.
A strained breath left her lips as she reconsidered what she wanted to say. But she wondered again, why have a partner if you can’t rely on them? If you can’t be honest with them? And Rainbow would’ve liked to be a person that could actually be honest sometimes, so…
“It really hurt my feelings, when you made that joke about me not being able to read.”
Rarity blinked. She took a half-step back, but her hand was still gently placed on top of Rainbow’s shoulder, and it didn’t budge.
“I— pardon?”
“Back at the train station,” Rainbow explained, “you joked that you didn’t even think I could read. I know it was just a joke, and I know you had no way of knowing that’d hurt my feelings, and I should’ve told you then, but it did.”
“I had no idea, I—”
“I know!” Rainbow recoiled and stomped away from Rarity, hands in her pants pockets. “I know you had no idea! How could you?! I definitely never told you! How could you know that all my life people have made fun of me for not being able to read?
“How could you know that I can’t focus for anything, and I’ve never been able to get into books because of that and everyone always thinks I’m stupid for it?!
“I never told you, cuz I can’t just be honest about my feelings and stuff! Cuz then I feel like a stupid loser idiot! And I know that’s wrong, but I don’t know what to do about that either!”
“I’m sorry,” Rarity said softly, and Rainbow looked over her shoulder to see Rarity’s serene smile. “Whether I knew about it or not, my words still hurt you, and I’m sorry for that. You are my partner and my friend, and I never want to hurt your feelings, Rainbow.”
Rainbow’s face twisted up as she turned away from Rarity so the unicorn couldn’t see the tears in her eyes.
“I wanna be honest,” Rainbow squeaked, her voice straining to not sound as pitiful as she felt. “I don’t wanna have the kinda relationship with you where we’re afraid to talk to each other about stuff, cuz we don’t wanna be made fun of, and I know I’m not exactly the kinda person you can just say personal stuff to.”
“Be that as it may,” Rarity said, and Rainbow bit her lip to keep from gasping as she felt Rarity’s hand gently clasp her own, “it’s never too late to become the person you want to be. I don’t want to have the kind of relationship either where we can’t speak to one another honestly, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out some of the things you’ve said that have hurt me as well, but…”
Rarity placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, Rainbow jumping slightly at the touch before taking a deep breath and turning to look at Rarity.
“Back at the drink shop,” Rarity said, “you said we should put off our personal chats until after the cragadile is dealt with. Do you still think that?”
Rainbow nodded.
“Then we will table this discussion for now,” Rarity said, “but we will have it once the cragadile mission is completed, okay?”
Rainbow nodded and rubbed her eye, trying really hard not to cry in front of Rarity.
“But,” Rarity said warmly, “there’s no reason I can’t give you a hug right now, is there?”
Rainbow smiled and shook her head, and Rarity wrapped her arms around Rainbow, pulling her in for a tight hug that Rainbow happily melted into, placing her hands on Rarity’s back as well.
After a moment where Rainbow was content to just be comfortable with Rarity, she started feeling hot and tapped Rarity’s back, signaling that all the mushy stuff had to stop or she’d explode.
“Now then,” Rarity took one of Rainbow’s hands in hers and lifted her axe with the other, “I believe we have a cragadile to catch.”
“Nothing would make me happier,” Rainbow grinned and lifted a knife in her free hand, sharing a dashing smile with Rarity, and in that moment she knew that she couldn’t have asked for a better partner.
Rainbow snickered at Rarity’s question, wondering how Rarity could even ask her that.
“Are you?”
Rarity rolled her eyes, and Rainbow grinned at that. This was nice; it was a nice break from their conversation earlier, and from the like million hours that Rainbow spent avoiding that conversation.
Besides that, planning on how to take down an obnoxious, leg-chomping cragadile was loads more Rainbow’s idea of fun than talking about feelings. She did make a promise though, and her and Rarity would talk feelings until there were no more feelings left to talk.
After they executed their awesome plan, that is.
Rainbow turned to look at Rarity, who gave her a thumbs-up and a nod of confidence, though the unicorn looked anything but confident herself.
“Are you worried?” Rainbow’s smile was halfway between teasing and comforting.
“Can I be honest?”
“Of course,” Rainbow didn’t have to think twice to answer that question.
“I am worried,” Rarity spoke softly. “I understand how ‘recklessness’ is, and I— I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Rainbow didn’t know what to say, especially cuz Rarity’s fears weren’t entirely groundless. Her ears perked up though as she thought of something that might make Rarity happy.
“You think I’m gonna leave Twilight and Spike without saying goodbye?” Rainbow snickered and flicked a hair across her bangs. “Those dorks’d be lost without me, I ain’t gonna abandon ‘em.”
Rarity giggled into her fist, and Rainbow beamed at that good sign.
“Good luck, then.”
“Won’t need it,” Rainbow flashed a dazzling grin before turning on her hooves and diving headfirst into the water.
Rainbow ignored the chills going up her spine as she held her breath under the water and her mind flashed with images of the last time she was down here, barely an hour ago. She tried to ignore it anyway, but that got harder and harder with each second that she swam deeper and deeper, until she was sure she couldn’t hold her breath any long.
Then she saw it; the cragadile resting at the floor of the pond.
Rainbow grit her teeth to keep from gasping and cautiously drew her bow, her hands trembling. She wished Rarity could have done this part instead, but it was pretty obvious from their last encounter that Rainbow could outswim the cragadile, and Rarity couldn’t.
It had to be Rainbow, a fact that didn’t bring any comfort to the trembling pegasus as her nose wrinkled with the desire to breathe.
Now or never.
Rainbow released the arrow, and for a fraction of a second the cold aura it left in its wake was a welcome relief from the muggy water and air of Haysead Swamp. It was not quite as refreshing to the cragadile it hit directly above the eye, icy shards exploding out of the arrow and skewering the beast’s flesh.
A red fog emanated from the creature’s brow as it turned its eyeless face toward Rainbow Dash, the pegasus releasing another arrow that she hoped would fell the little bugger before it could even fight back, but her hopes were crushed along with the arrow in the cragadile’s jaw, its fangs breaking through the rune on the arrowhead and dispelling its enchantment before it could activate.
Oh well, at least she had the monster’s attention now, and Rainbow wasn’t stupid enough to stick around and wait for the cragadile to chase her before she dashed upward toward the surface. Besides, she could tell by the displacement of water and the dull growl getting closer and closer that the beast was definitely chasing her.
Which was perfect.
Rainbow instinctively turned to make sure the monster was behind her, and she nearly choked when she saw it closer than she expected, its jaws wide open as blood caked across its injured eyes and brow, with pegasus blood still painting its teeth.
Rainbow’s breath hitched, and for the quickest of seconds she stopped moving as her mind was seized by the painful memory of her leg being caught in the cragadile’s fangs, her inability to breathe immediately coming to her attention as she opened her mouth and slimy water poured in.
Her pause had been so brief, barely a second, but it was more than enough time for the cragadile to close the distance and slam her jaw down on Rainbow’s leg once more, if only it had been a little bit faster than Rainbow.
Rainbow wasn’t about to let Rarity, Twilight or Spike mourn her. Her grave wasn’t going to be a random puddle in the middle of a swamp so far south of her hometown that it wasn’t even on the maps sold there.
She wasn’t ready to die.
Rainbow propelled herself with her wings and tucked her legs under her, rocketing up to the surface and past the threshold, taking a huge gasp of air that was accompanied by a furor of water all around her.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s cheer was even more a breath of fresh air than the literal one Rainbow just took, and she grinned down at the unicorn and winked, signaling her to take the lead from here.
When the cragadile exploded out of the pond with its mouth open wide to try and catch Rainbow in its jaw, Rarity fired an arrow right into the beast’s tongue that easily pierced it and caused its tongue to wither to ash in seconds.
The cragadile slumped to the ground, unable to move a muscle through its rapidly growing injuries.
“Was that it?” Rainbow sneered, flying above the pond and the body of the cragadile.
“Do you want to take a closer look?” Rarity said teasingly, getting a smarmy chuckle out of Rainbow in return.
Rarity walked over to the cragadile, and Rainbow watched from above and couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her stomach. That thing was definitely dead, but what if it wasn’t?
“Be careful, Rarity,” Rainbow caught herself saying, her cheeks turning bright red as she heard the words leave her mouth.
Rarity looked up at her and an amused smirk flashed across her face until she saw Rainbow avert her eyes, then the smile vanished.
“Thank you, darling,” Rarity said calmly. “Watch my back?”
“You got it,” Rainbow nodded with a big grin, notching an arrow into her bow and leveling it at the definitely dead body of the definitely dead cragadile.
Rarity inched toward the beast’s body, axe in hand and sword hovering beside her. The closer she got, the more Rainbow swore the damn thing was gonna come to life any second now and try to sink its teeth into her.
Rarity stepped closer.
And closer.
She tiptoed right next to the beast and gave it a dainty kick in its muzzle, quickly recoiling and jumping back in anticipation of the beast’s inevitable attack.
Which never came.
Rarity walked up again and kicked a little harder this time, Rainbow’s eye twitching because she was sure the thing was gonna come back to life. Rarity kicked it again, and again, and again until she was practically stomping on the carcass of the dead monster.
“I think it’s had enough,” Rarity said amusedly, sheathing her weapons and looking up at Rainbow with her hands on her hips.
“Are you sure?” Rainbow bit her lip and refused to lower her bow.
“Not certain how I could be more sure.”
“I dunno,” Rainbow said hesitantly, cuz she wasn’t sure either, “open up its mouth?”
“I am not doing that.”
“Fine,” Rainbow sighed and gently lowered herself to the ground, only putting away her bow after a few more seconds had passed and Rarity had kicked the cragadile once more for good measure.
“I think we can call this mission a job well do—“
Rarity didn’t even scream as the fangs of the definitely dead cragadile sunk into her shin and shredded the skin like paper, her eyes simply widened and a pitiful whimper left her lips.
Rainbow screamed Rarity’s name but she barely even heard herself much less think Rarity could hear her.
With a flick of the cragadile’s neck, it brought Rarity crashing to the ground, her face hitting a sharpened rock on the impact that split her cheek open. Rainbow ran toward her and drew her trench knives as Rarity managed to grab a thick gnarled root to keep herself from being dragged underwater.
But the cragadile had no interest in taking in Rarity anywhere, which it established by opening its maw wide and releasing Rarity’s shin, only to clamp down on the thigh of her other leg, an act that brought a bloodcurdling scream from Rarity.
Rainbow jumped on the cragadile and started viciously stabbing at the oozing, cakey messes that used to be eyes, fresh blood pouring out with every stroke, but the cragadile seemed entirely unfazed as all it did was dig its teeth further into Rarity’s body, an agonized wince leaving the mare’s lips.
Rainbow drew a different knife from her belt, one that was coated in several blue runes, and rolled off the creature’s head in order to get a clear hit on its stomach, sinking the blade in-between the rock-hard scales covering the cragadile’s belly.
The knife exploded a second after, and Rainbow gasped in horror as a cloud of black and red smog hid Rarity from her view.
“Rarity!?”
“I’m alright!” Rarity said wearily. “I think you got it!”
Rainbow blew the smoke away with a buffet of her wings and saw that her explosion had separated the beast into two halves, the chompy half no longer connected to an incredibly bloodied Rarity as she stood to her feet and wobbled on busted legs away from what was NOW definitely, absolutely a corpse.
“How did that happen?” Rainbow asked desperately as Rarity handed her the healing tape.
“I honestly have no idea,” Rarity replied haggardly as Rainbow applied the tape to her injured shin, Rarity slopping a truly absurd amount of her health goop onto her thigh.
“Wait, what the—” Rainbow’s eye caught a glint of something and before Rarity could react, Rainbow snatched something that was buried in the unicorn’s thigh. Once she had it in her hand, she could see it looked like a charred black stick, or maybe a splinter.
“What the hell is that thing?” Rarity said coldly. Rainbow didn’t have much of a head for magic, but even she could feel pure malevolence radiating from the tiny object, and she couldn’t imagine how much worse it must’ve felt for someone as sensitive to that stuff as Rarity.
“I don’t—” before Rainbow could muster any kind of reply, the stick vanished, dissipating into black vapor that soon vanished with the wind. “Welp. That’s terrifying.”
“Perhaps,” Rarity breathed a very slow, very soft, very overwhelmed sigh. “But at least it’s over now.”
Twilight paced back and forth in the library, hands behind her back and gaze burning a hole right into the floor.
Spike sat nearby on top of the reception desk, helping himself to a tub of ice cream as he watched the familiar sight of his mom working herself into a tizzy.
“Twilight, you’re—”
“I am not working myself into a tizzy!” Twilight interrupted, her cheeks burning up as she glared at Spike, who could only laugh at how silly he thought she was being. He was wrong, of course, this was a very serious matter, but Spike was just a kid and he didn’t know any better.
“I didn’t say anything like that,” Spike gave a mischievous grin.
“You were thinking it,” Twilight huffed.
“How could’ja tell?”
Twilight paused, ceasing her pacing. She tapped her hoof on the ground three times before looking at Spike, who was curiously arching an eyebrow at her now. Twilight grimaced and looked away from him.
She opened her mouth to speak, but bit her tongue.
Another pause.
“Because I am working myself into a tizzy!” Twilight cried cradling her head in her hands helplessly as Spike tried not to laugh.
“C’mon, Twilight,” Spike hopped off his post and walked—or rather waddled, since he was so full of ice cream at this point—over to Twilight, patting her on the leg. “It’s not like we’re strangers to having ponies in the library these days.”
“I know that, Spike,” Twilight sighed and backed into the side of a bookcase, slowly sliding down until she was sitting with her back up against it, arms wrapped around her legs and her face buried between her knees. “But this is different-” Twilight snapped her head up “-this is big! Like, really big!”
“Uh, how’s that again?”
“These aren’t just any ponies,” Twilight explained frantically, “they’re friends with Rainbow and Rarity! What if I mess things up?! What if they talk to Rainbow and Rarity and are all like ‘ugh that librarian is super obnoxious, she’s always yammering about rocks and sticks and weird stuff and won’t shut up, plus she’s and her voice is annoying and she keeps working herself into tizzies’!”
“I really don’t think anyone’s gonna say that,” Spike comforted his spiraling mother with a pat on the shoulder. It helped, a little, to know he was in her corner.
“I wish Rainbow were here,” Twilight moaned, burying her face in her legs again. “I wish I hadn’t invited those two.”
“Twilight, it’s gonna be okay,” Spike gently rubbed Twilight’s forearm, and while she appreciated the gesture and his sympathy, the concerned tone in his voice made alarm bells start ringing in Twilight’s head.
He was comforting her, he was taking care of her. That was her job, to take care of him! Not the other way around, that makes her a bad parent! She can’t have that! Spike can’t ever comfort her, or think that he needs to make things okay with her, especially with her stupid brain problems.
“I need a minute,” Twilight’s tone was as ghostly as her face as she quickly rose to her hooves and walked away from Spike, trying to keep her breathing steady as panic flooded her like a bursting dam.
Twilight opened the door to the spacious attic that acted as her and Spike’s joint bedroom and threw herself onto her bed, burying her face in a pillow and using her magic to cover herself with blankets.
She had so many whirling thoughts racing through her brain that she couldn’t focus on any one of them for more than a fraction of a second. It was like everything around her was spinning out of control, faster and faster and faster until she could hardly breathe, let alone think.
Zecora, what would you do?
That was the thought that finally silenced the raging maelstrom in Twilight’s mind, as she recalled her mentor’s advice to breathe deeply and empty her mind whenever she lost control of it.
She felt her heart beating. She felt magic flowing through her veins. She felt the warmth of her breath as it coursed in and out of her.
She breathed out, slowly, lifting her head and sitting up straight, tossing the blanket covering her aside.
Twilight wondered if her own mother ever felt bad about Twilight becoming her de facto therapist, but quickly swept that thought away.
Doesn’t matter now.
Twilight thought about the kind of parent she wanted to be, ever since she adopted Spike. She thought about the life she wanted him to live; peaceful, serene, and above all, happy.
Loneliness and happiness couldn’t coexist.
Twilight took in another deep breath and put her hooves on the wooden floor. She stood tall and straightened her clothing and hair; it wouldn’t do to greet guests in the sorry state she’d let herself fall into.
Pinkie and Applejack visiting the library was scary to Twilight, but so was meeting Rainbow for the first time, or meeting Rarity, and those were two of the best days in her life.
And more importantly, Spike was so much happier since Rainbow started coming to the library, and Twilight was so endeared by his little list he’d made of things he wanted to talk to Rarity about.
Twilight was scared to meet new people— and potentially screw everything up— but for Spike’s sake, she could put aside her fear for now and let herself be hopeful that these two new ponies would only make her life brighter, as the last two had.
Twilight descended the stairs and was heartbroken by the sight of Spike anxiously chewing his thumbnail, sitting on the reception desk and holding a spoon full of melting ice cream that he must’ve been too nervous to eat.
“Spike,” Twilight said softly, and her son quickly turned in her direction.
“Are you okay?” he asked before she could say anything.
“Yes, Spike,” Twilight sighed and offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m fine now. I remembered Zecora’s calming techniques, and they helped a lot.”
“They always do,” Spike chuckled, “when you remember to use them.”
“Harhar,” Twilight rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help smiling. She walked over to Spike and embraced him in a hug. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to—”
“Stop, Twilight. You don’t ever have to apologize to me, okay?”
Twilight let a tense sigh leave her body gently through her nose.
“Okay.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Spike said, happily grabbing that spoon and plopping it into his mouth, Twilight giggling at how quickly he went back to his usual chipper self.
“Of course I’m okay,” Twilight said proudly. “After all, how could I greet our honored guests in the middle of a tizzy?”
“So we’re still having them over?” Spike said hopefully, his eyes growing wide and sparkling like cute little gemstones.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Twilight beamed.
A canopy of stars gleaming in the black night sky greeted Twilight Sparkle as she walked onto the balcony of the Golden Oaks Library. Her important guests were going to be arriving at the library shortly, and she thought it might be good for her to get a breath of fresh air before they arrived.
To think, Twilight had changed so much just since Rainbow’s arrival at the library, so much that she was now inviting people to come over all on her own. While she still wished Rainbow was there—and she wished Rarity was there, albeit for different reasons—she was happy with herself and with the progress she had made, and she was tentatively excited about getting to know Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
Twilight’s eyes lit up as she saw the orange and pink mares approaching in the distance, and she bit her lip and wondered if it would be too forward to wave to them and greet them from the balcony.
“Pinkie Pie! Applejack!” Twilight called out with a wave, deciding that she could forgo proper greeting procedure for just a moment.
“Well howdy, ma’am!” Applejack laughed and waved at Twilight from the ground.
“We brought pies!” Pinkie cheered, proudly holding up several boxes for Twilight to see, and Twilight didn’t even have to be anywhere near the desserts to start salivating for them.
“I’ll be right down!” Twilight said. “Let yourselves in and make yourselves comfortable, okay?!”
“Will do!” Applejack saluted and gave a grand smile, which made Twilight smile in turn as a warmth radiated in her stomach. She couldn’t believe she was actually nervous about this before.
Well, okay, she was still a little nervous. But she was mostly excited! And nervous.
She took a few deep breaths of the crisp night air before entering the library with a big grin on her face, descending the stairs to see that Applejack and Pinkie had indeed made themselves comfortable, sitting on the book club blankets and dolling out pie for themselves and for a very eager Spike.
“Oh, Twilight!” Spike said. “Look, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are here!”
“I know,” Twilight said as she sat down next to Spike, bowing her head to greet the two guests, “I saw them from the balcony.”
“We told’ja as much, sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled, though Spike probably couldn’t hear her through the mouthful of pie he was loudly chomping on.
“Pinkie was just—” Spike, speaking with a mouthful of pie, was cut off by Twilight loudly clearing her throat. Spike rolled his eyes and swallowed his food before speaking again. “Pinkie was just about to tell us about the spirit of the Everfree!”
“Oh really?” Twilight cocked her head. She had heard the tales of a mystical creature that lived in the forest south of Ponyville, but she hadn’t learned anything conclusive about it other than rumors. It was an interesting topic for sure.
“Yeah, I met her!” Pinkie said proudly, beaming from ear to ear.
“And hasn’t been able to talk ‘bout hardly anythin’ else since,” Applejack chuckled, smiling widely as Pinkie stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at her.
“Tell us about her,” Twilight said idly as she teleported a plate over to her and placed a piece of pie on top of it.
“Well,” Pinkie could hardly keep a straight face and kept erupting into giggles as she tried to recount her encounter with the Everfree Nymph, “she’s super pretty.”
“And?” Twilight arched an eyebrow, and she could see Applejack trying not to chortle.
“Aaaaaand,” Pinkie looked from side to side before whispering with her hand up to her mouth, “she’s super nice.”
“That’s it?” Twilight blinked. Not exactly the riveting account Twilight had hoped for.
“Did I mention she was super pretty?”
“She only got to talk to her for like ten minutes,” Applejack said, “so there’s not a lot to really tell.”
“But I’m going back to see her pretty soon!”
“Right,” Applejack cleared her throat, and Twilight could feel the sudden tension sparking between her and Pinkie.
“I am!” Pinkie huffed, and Applejack inhaled sharply.
“I know, sugarcube,” Applejack placed her hand on Pinkie’s head and ruffled the girl’s hair. Pinkie didn’t look terribly appreciative at first but she soon purred in delight as Applejack continued to stroke her mane. “I know, and I ain’t gonna stop ya. We went over this.”
“Went over what?” Twilight asked. She turned her eye to Spike for a moment, wanting to make sure he wasn’t being bored by their conversation, and she rolled her eyes as she saw him trying to fit three slices of pie in his mouth at once. He was going to have a stomach ache unrivaled in Equestria by the end of the night, but Twilight didn’t think that was a reason to spoil his fun right now.
“Well,” Applejack said, “Pinkie and I run a blacksmithin’ business here in Canterlot, and it ain’t doin’ so hot.”
Pinkie Pie tried to hide the pang of shame that flickered across her face with a sweet smile, but she couldn’t hide it from Twilight.
“Pinkie wanted to take a whole week off,” Applejack tapped her knuckles against her palm, “right outta the blue, to go and visit Ponyville, and that just— I just don’t know how we can afford it.”
“So I’m just gonna go for one day,” Pinkie said, taking in a deep breath before shoveling pie into her mouth and spewing crust as she spoke. “But it’ll be the best day ever, cuz I’ll get to see Fluttershy again and it’ll be super fun!”
“I certainly hope it goes well,” Twilight said with a smile.
“So Applejack,” Spike said, glancing over at Twilight and swallowing his pie before continuing his sentence, “how do you know Rarity anyhow?” Twilight managed to withhold her chuckle at Spike’s total lack of subtlety.
“Rarity?” Applejack stroked her chin, and Pinkie helped herself to a third helping of pie. “We’ve known each other since childhood. We grew up together, our families lived right next door and were in the same business.”
“Monster hunting?” Twilight said with barely hidden contempt.
“Yeah,” Applejack’s eyes narrowed at Twilight, who swallowed a lump of anxiety as she averted her eyes. “You have somethin’ against the Slayers, Twilight?”
“Um…” Twilight bit her lip.
“Rainbow was saying something about that,” Pinkie said, her mouth full of pie and Spike pointing at her as if her doing it made it okay for him to do it, which Twilight just rolled her eyes at. “You had a bad experience with some mean Slayers, right?”
“Something like that,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Mostly I just get nervous around people who are violent for a living. Nothing personal, just anxiety.”
“That’s fair,” Applejack said, and Twilight wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but didn’t because she didn’t want to make it too obvious that she was on edge. “Honestly, I ain’t a big fan of ‘em myself. Bad blood and all that, but that’s just my own baggage talkin’.”
“So hey,” Spike said, pointing his finger at Applejack, then at Pinkie, “how did you two meet anyway?”
Twilight was amused by how quickly Spike had dropped the topic of Rarity, at least until she saw the stricken expressions on Applejack and Pinkie’s faces and felt a sudden chill in the air emanating from them.
Whatever that story was about, it could wait for another day.
“Applejack,” Twilight said quickly, “do you mind helping me take these boxes out to the trash?”
“Sure,” Applejack stood up with a groan.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said as she stood up and smiled at Pinkie, “maybe you could tell Spike a bit more about your trip to the Everfree?”
“Ooh, I’d like that!” Pinkie beamed and looked expectantly at Spike.
“Take it away, Pinkie,” Spike said, wolfing down yet another slice of pie.
Twilight and Applejack gathered up all the boxes as Pinkie chatted ceaselessly about how pretty and cute and nice the spirit of the forest was, before they took the boxes outside into the snow and threw them out in the garbage can outside the library.
“Sorry that got a little intense there for a sec,” Applejack said. “Didn’t mean to imply nothin’, or make ya nervous.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Twilight said. “I know my ‘thing’ with the Slayers is pretty weird around these parts.”
“Yeah I guess,” Applejack rubbed her arm, “but I meant more the me’n Pinkie freezin’ bit.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, “sure. Well don’t worry about that either.” Twilight waved Applejack’s concern away. “It’s not our place to pry, or to make anyone talk about stuff they aren’t comfortable with.”
“Truth be told,” Applejack said, leaning her back against the oak of the library, “me’n Rarity found Pinkie when she was pretty young, in her mid-teens maybe? Dragon tore down her whole village. Poor girl’s been terrified of the things ever since, and talkin’ ‘bout that day makes her start relivin’ it.”
“You don’t say,” Twilight said coldly, before abruptly clearing her throat. “You and Rarity, huh? You two are pretty close, I guess?”
“Practically family,” Applejack laughed. “And I say ‘practically’ cuz family that flirts as much as we do would be pretty messed up.”
“Oh yeah?” Twilight bit her lip and tried not to sound too disappointed at the prospect of Rarity being interested in somebody already.
“Sure,” Applejack shrugged. “Nothin’s gonna come about from me’n her though, least not romantically. We’re both kinda—” Applejack drifted off, and a few seconds passed before she simply finished her statement with a shrug.
“What about Rainbow Dash?”
“What about her?”
“Do you think she’s too—” Twilight mimicked Applejack’s shrug. “For you or for Rarity?”
“Dunno,” Applejack crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. “Doesn’t matter to me. What Rarity does is her own business, and as for me, I’m pretty sure Rainbow wouldn’t be interested in-” Applejack gestured weakly at herself “-all this.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Twilight muttered, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.
“Why?” Applejack gave a single, acidic laugh. “She say somethin’ to ya?”
“N-no,” Twilight blurted out, “I just, think you should be optimistic!”
Applejack hummed thoughtfully, before pushing herself off the library.
“C’mon,” she said as she headed for the door, “those two’ll eat all the pie if just leave ‘em.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said weakly, disappointed that her conversation with Applejack was over, and even more disappointed that she messed it up, “okay.”
“Twilight,” Applejack stopped suddenly and turned to look at Twilight, though she refused to make eye contact.
“Yes?” Twilight said, body as stiff as a post as she ran through her mind the thousand different bad things that Applejack might’ve been about to say to her.
Applejack paused, and Twilight felt like she was inside an oven even despite the snow around her hooves.
Applejack cleared her throat, putting her hand up to her mouth and biting down on a thumbnail. Twilight just waited for her; despite Twilight’s growing trepidation, she wasn’t going to press Applejack to continue until she was ready.
Applejack sighed and ran her hand roughly through her hair.
“Thanks. For the vote of confidence. That was real nice of ya.”
“I only said it because I believe it,” Twilight smiled, and internally she was ready to scream her gratitude to the heavens that all Applejack wanted to say was ‘thanks’. “You’ll be surprised how much can change in the space of a heartbeat.”
“Now come on,” Twilight grazed Applejack’s arm gently as she walked past, “let’s go get some pie.”
“Right behind ya,” Applejack said heartily as the two re-entered the library, Pinkie and Spike greeting them with joyful smiles and waves.
“No more intense backstory talk,” Twilight whispered to Applejack as they sat down next to each other, “promise.”
“Sounds good,” Applejack laughed.
It was warm inside the library, and the pleasant chatter of new friends made it warmer still. Twilight still wished Rarity and Rainbow could be there, but she wouldn’t have traded the time with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike for anything.
And besides, she had a good feeling that Rainbow and Rarity would make their way back home— and to the library— pretty soon, and Twilight would have a really lovely story to tell them about the new friends she made.
Rainbow and Rarity made the trek back to Baltimare—the closest town to Haysead Swamp with a train station—mostly in silence, both women wrapped up in their thoughts after their encounter with the cragadile and their arguments with each other.
They agreed to talk after the mission was completed, but it wasn’t until night had fallen and they were safely on the train headed back to Canterlot, sitting across from each other in a private cabin, that either felt comfortable enough to speak, and Rainbow was the first to make a move.
“Um…”
Rainbow was truly an expert wordsmith.
“Hm?”
Rarity was just as skilled.
“I wanna talk about feelings and stuff now,” Rainbow tapped her fingers together and couldn’t bear to look at Rarity, “if you wanna.”
“I would very much like to,” Rarity said softly, and Rainbow didn’t have to look at her to know she was smiling.
“I didn’t like your joke,” Rainbow said with no small amount of hesitation, but she forced the words out cuz this was important, dammit, “about me not being able to read, cuz when I was growing up I couldn’t focus for anything, and that made it hard to read, and everyone always thought I was stupid cuz of it.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid Rainbow,” Rarity leaned forward and softly put her hand on Rainbow’s thigh, “and I never would have made a joke like that if I knew it would make you feel bad. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Rainbow shrugged, “you didn’t know.”
“Perhaps,” Rarity took back her hand and stared vacantly at it, “but I still should have— should have sensed it somehow? I don’t know, I just know that I’m your friend, and a good friend doesn’t make her friends feel bad about themselves.”
“Rarity,” Rainbow groaned, “it’s not like you even could’ve known. I’ve never told anyone that before, and I usually try to just laugh stuff like that off, pretend it doesn’t bother me. It’s just that this time, when you did it, I dunno. I couldn’t pretend it didn’t hurt my feelings. I don’t think I wanted to pretend.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“Because it’s you,” Rainbow bit repeatedly on her thumbnail, trying to distract herself from the growing anxiety in her stomach. “I don’t wanna hide stuff from you, Rarity. You’re—” Rainbow cleared her throat. “You’re my best frie—”
Rainbow made a retching noise that caused Rarity to cock her head in confusion. Rainbow pulled her legs up in front of her and curled her arms and wings around them, burying her head behind her wings so Rarity couldn’t see the tears forming in her eyes.
“You’re like my only friend. And I don’t wanna lose you by letting you see what a fat garbage fire I am.”
“You’re not a garbage fire, darling,” Rarity let out a soft laugh and Rainbow looked up to see her eyes were glistening just like Rainbow’s, “no more than I am, at any rate.”
“C’mon, that’s not fair,” Rainbow said, “you’re awesome. You’re so cool and smart, and you always know what to do and how to make everypony feel better. You’re amazing, Rarity.”
“Rainbow Dash, you’re just as smart as I am,” Rarity said, “and you’re dashing, and brave and cool, and your confidence is infectious. I love being around you, and that’s not going to change just because I occasionally see some of your flaws. You’ve put up with mine long enough.
“And I apologize, because I feel that I put undue pressure on you to act tough with my teasing and such. I don’t want you to pretend to be something you’re not, or try to hide the way you really feel, just because you think it’s what I want. I want a relationship where we both feel safe to be honest with each other.”
Rainbow didn’t know what to say so she just buried her face behind her wings again. She didn’t bear to think about how Rarity was gonna react to that until she felt Rarity’s hand on her back as the unicorn switched seats to sit next to her.
Rainbow looked up at Rarity and could barely see the tears falling down her cheeks past the blurring of tears in Rainbow’s own eyes.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier,” Rainbow said, “about the whole Twilight and Applejack thing.”
“My comments were uncalled for as well,” Rarity said, though she then paused and bit her lip. “But I do appreciate your apology. If I’m being honest, I did feel a tad burned by your comments.”
“I figured you would be,” Rainbow muttered, “that’s why I said it in the first place. And that was shitty of me, so I’m really sorry.”
“I think you’ve apologized enough, my dear,” Rarity gently rubbed her hand in circles on Rainbow’s back. “I’m just embarrassed, because I have a crush on that silly librarian after only talking to her for a single day. It’s a little pathetic.”
“If talking to her makes you happy,” Rainbow said, “and thinking about her makes you happy, then what’s the problem? You should embrace the stuff that makes you happy, not run away from ‘em.”
“Are you speaking from experience, sweetheart?”
Rainbow once more tried to bury her face, but Rarity grabbed her cheeks and softly tilted her head up to look her in the eye, brushing some tears from Rainbow’s face with her thumb.
“Yeah,” Rainbow croaked, a tender smirk on her face.
“I’m going to the library once we return to Canterlot,” Rarity said. “I think you should go to the smithery.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?” Rainbow whimpered.
“I’ve known Applejack for practically my whole life, sweetheart,” Rarity said, “and I can assure you, the two of you will get along famously. I’ve been saying as much to both of you for months!”
“But what if she doesn’t?” Rainbow repeated.
Rarity sighed and ran her hand through Rainbow’s mane.
“Then you’ll still have me,” Rarity said, “and Twilight and Spike, who are also your friends, by the way.”
“I know, I know,” Rainbow muttered. “I just don’t want to admit they’re my friends, cuz I’m afraid of them leaving, of them deciding that I’m too—”
“Shh,” Rarity put a finger across Rainbow’s lips. “I don’t want to hear you tearing yourself down for even one more word, understand?” Rainbow nodded, and Rarity gave her a small kiss on the forehead. “You are courageous, smart, funny, and charming. Applejack is going to adore you, and if she does not, well then clearly she has bad taste.”
Rainbow snickered at that, and Rarity smiled at making her friend feel a little better.
“I’ll see her when we get back,” Rainbow promised.
“And I look forward to hearing all about it tomorrow morning.”
Rarity wrapped her arms around Rainbow, giving her a hug that the pegasus resisted only slightly before wrapping her arms around Rarity in return and squeezing her tight.
Rainbow and Rarity shared one more hug as they got off the train and went their own ways from the station, Rarity bolting toward the library like a bullet and practically leaving Rainbow in a cloud of dust behind her.
Rainbow lingered at the station for a moment before slowly walking in the general direction of the smithery, wondering if she really should go that way.
She promised Rarity she would, so she kept walking down that route, but every step felt heavier than the last, weighed down by a constant squall of anxiety and horrible thoughts about how things could go wrong or how she could mess everything up with Applejack.
She stopped in her tracks, looking down at her hooves buried in the snow, and took a deep breath.
She promised Rarity, and she didn’t want to run away anymore. She wanted Rarity, and Twilight, and Spike, to all go after the things that made them happy, and she couldn’t feel good about supporting them and their efforts to do that if she couldn’t do the same.
She’d just have to go talk to Applejack, even if she became more and more certain with each step that it’d be the worst conversation of her life.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Hearing Pinkie Pie’s voice calling out to her from nowhere made Rainbow nearly want to throw up, and she darted around to see where it was coming from, only to feel like a total stooge when she saw Pinkie and Applejack walking up to her from directly in front of her.
“Hey, you guys,” Rainbow said nervously, waving at the pair as they approached. “What’re you guys doing out so late?”
“Could ask you the same thing,” Applejack said with a smile that melted Rainbow’s heart. “Surprised yer back already. Didn’t you just leave this mornin’?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and tried to keep her breathing steady, “Rarity had some important stuff to handle, and she didn’t want to wait to come back. That’s not—we both had important stuff.”
“Oh,” Applejack said, “we won’t keep ya then. See ya ‘round, Rainbow Dash!”
Applejack moved to walk away and Rainbow was seized by an incredible desire to just grab her and shake her and admit she had a huge crush on her but that would be incredibly stupid and bad but she didn’t know what else to do so she just stood there frozen, hand on the back of her neck, and did nothing.
“Wait, hold on, AJ!” Pinkie grabbed Applejack’s hand and the larger mare stopped, turning to look at Pinkie. “I wanted to hear Rainbow’s cragadile story! I’m sure it’s really exciting! Plus I wanted to tell her all about our trip to the library!”
Rainbow’s breath hitched.
They went to the library?
“C’mon, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed, “we don’t wanna keep her from whatever made her rush home so quick. It’s gotta be a big deal if she’n Rarity didn’t even bother to rest ‘fore comin’ back home.”
“Actually,” Rainbow choked out, sliding her hands into her pockets and feeling pretty good about how calm she was coming off, “you guys are headed home for the night, yeah?” Applejack nodded once, and Pinkie nodded so hard her head looked ready to fall off. “I actually gotta head home first, and it’s on the way… maybe we could walk and talk? I’d love to hear what Twilight talked you guys’ ears off about.”
“If you’re sure we ain’t gonna bother ya,” Applejack chuckled, and Rainbow could’ve sworn she sounded nervous, but that couldn’t be right, “then I guess it’s fi—”
“We accept!” Pinkie cheered, jumping into the air and pumping her fists.
Rainbow walked alongside Applejack and Pinkie Pie through the sleepy Moon District of Canterlot, and Pinkie happily regaled Rainbow with stories about Twilight.
She talked about how Twilight lectured them all on the importance of proper mane maintenance, how she taught Pinkie this really cool spell to aid stomach aches—which of course she demonstrated on Spike—and how highly she spoke of Rainbow Dash whenever the pegasus became the topic of conversation.
“Which was all the time, by the way,” Pinkie said, “because you’re all Applejack wanted to talk about!”
Applejack coughed, and Rainbow felt her entire face burning up. She was sure Pinkie was just trying to be a tease, but was less sure on who she was teasing.
“Pfft,” Rainbow scoffed, “yeah, I’m sure Applejack didn’t have anything more interesting to talk about than me. Don’t be silly, Pinkie.”
Rainbow looked over at Applejack, who had been weirdly quiet the whole walk. Rainbow figured it was her fault somehow, but she chose not to dwell on it.
“We did talk about you,” Applejack said calmly, “a little bit at least. Twilight’s real fond of ya, it’s sweet.”
Applejack smiled at Rainbow, and Rainbow forced herself to smile back instead of biting down on her lip because sweet Celestia she has such an incredible smile!
“Twilight’s a cool girl,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m glad she recognizes another cool girl when she sees one!”
Pinkie giggled and bumped her shoulder against Rainbow’s side.
“Couldn’t agree more, to be honest,” Applejack said, her smile somehow becoming even brighter and beautifuller.
Suddenly Applejack stopped, and it took a sec for Pinkie and Rainbow to halt and see what she was looking at. Rainbow turned away from the two to hide the look of frustration on her face as she looked up at her house.
“This is yer stop, ain’t it?” Applejack asked.
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow said, her hands fidgeting in her coat pockets.
“Awwww,” Pinkie bemoaned, slouching forward and letting her arms dangle sadly in front of her, though she just as quickly perked up and beamed at Rainbow. “Oh well! I guess we’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Uh, sure,” Rainbow said hesitantly, looking up at the house that she wanted nothing more than to not go inside of right now.
“Unless,” Pinkie said slyly, “somepony has something else that they wanna say? Something to get off their chest?”
Rainbow frowned at Pinkie with an arched eyebrow, and Applejack cleared her throat rather abruptly, causing Rainbow’s gaze to shift to her. It was the first time during the whole night that Rainbow had actually looked at Applejack for more than just a second, more than just stealing guilty glances at her while they walked, and Rainbow felt her cheeks heating up again as she remembered oh no she’s hot!
“So,” Applejack said awkwardly, holding out her hand to Rainbow, “see you tomorrow, I guess?”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow hesitantly reached out for Applejack’s hand, and a wave of electricity shot through her arm as their fingers touched and wow did Rainbow feel stupid for it. “I guess so.”
Rainbow stood there for a moment, her hand clasped in Applejack’s, and while she wanted to relish in being that close to her— in actually touching her just for a moment— the longer their hands were together the more Rainbow felt like her hand was pressed up against a hot grill.
Rainbow yanked her hand back.
“Okay, yeah. I’ll, uh, see you guys later I guess. G’night!”
Rainbow turned to her house and stomped away quickly before either of the mares could say anything else, before they could comment on what a lousy exit that was, or how stupid Rainbow was, or how she was obviously hiding a pathetic crush that was super obvious and totally pathetic.
Rainbow opened the gate in front of her house but didn’t bother to close it behind her, and she quickly stomped up the path to her front door, but her hand hovered over the knob and she hesitated.
Even in the middle of a winter night, she felt like the sun itself was beating down on her inches from her neck. She couldn’t bear to turn back to see if Applejack and Pinkie were still there, no doubt staring at her in utter bewilderment at the stupid loser, and they were only staring cuz they were too polite to point and laugh.
Rainbow placed her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.
Oh well. At least I… sorta tried. I guess.
Geez, I am the worst.
“Rainbow! Hold on a tick!”
Applejack’s voice made Rainbow’s ears fly up and she nearly jolted around on the spot, but she caught herself and forced herself to turn around slowly, so she didn’t look so pathetically eager.
Applejack walked up the path halfway to Rainbow’s door, and Rainbow stepped off her porch to meet Applejack there.
“What’s up, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, trying and failing not to get her hopes up.
“Uhhh,” Applejack said eloquently, and Rainbow would’ve laughed if it didn’t remind her so much of herself. Applejack cleared her throat and pounded a fist against her chest, before clearing her throat a second time for good measure. “You wanna grab some coffee? Maybe this weekend?”
“Uhhh,” Rainbow’s mouth hung open but she swallowed the supernova of anxiety she suddenly felt in her throat and forced herself to act like an adult, even if she could feel sweat pouring down her face like Neighagra Falls. “Say what?”
“It’s just,” Applejack cleared her throat again, “me and Pinkie are headin’ to the library again, Saturday night. We’re gonna bring more pies and make a big thing outta it. Pinkie’s gotta stay home and actually make the pies, and I gotta do some shoppin’ that mornin’. That leaves a bit of time before the party, I was thinkin’, maybe, if you wanted to, maybe— we could, um—”
“You’re going shopping by yourself?” Rainbow asked, holding back an excited smile.
“Yeah?” Applejack tilted her head, confused by Rainbow’s seemingly unrelated question.
“Maybe I could help with that?” Rainbow smirked. “We could grab some coffee after, like to celebrate a job well done… at shopping. I dunno, is that totally dense?”
“Nah, that sounds great!” Applejack said with a bright smile, and this time Rainbow couldn’t stop herself from biting her lip because holy crap she is SO cute! “I’ll swing by your place Saturday morning, I guess? That alright with you?”
“Yeah, go for it!” Rainbow nodded, and Applejack nodded in turn with an even bigger smile that made Rainbow practically go weak at the knees.
“It’s a date then!” Applejack said, but quickly stammered. “Well I mean not a date date, but you get me!”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, “totally.”
“See ya then, sugarcube,” Applejack held out her hand, and this time Rainbow took it without hesitation or reservation, delighting in the sensation of warmth and comfort that washed over her once their hands were connected.
“Lookin’ forward to it.”
40. How To Confess To the Cute Librarian You Just Met That You Would Like To Kiss Her (and Other Inconveniences)
Rarity was out of breath by the time she made it to the Golden Oaks Library, and her heart swelled at the sight of the familiar tree nestled into the mountains. The building itself was enchantingly beautiful, but the mare who lived there even moreso.
Goodness, Rarity, she chastised herself as she slowed her pace in front of the building, must you make everything so melodramatic? It’s just a little crush!
…
Yes, yes I must. Don’t even know why I asked such a ridiculous question in the first place.
Rarity reached for the door handle, expecting to easily and quietly let herself in and surprise the librarian with her timely arrival, but to her shock and dismay the door resisted her attempts to open it.
Now Rarity remembered why she hurried to the library in such a frenzy, and she cursed herself for still being too slow to make it before it closed for the night.
She considered knocking on the door, but she didn’t want to disturb Twilight, or poor Spike who was certainly already in bed at this hour.
Perhaps it would be better if she just came back tomorrow.
Rarity finagled the knob a little bit more, hoping in vain that it had just gotten stuck or jammed somehow and would open with just a bit more elbow grease, but she relented after the door’s loud creaks rung in her ears and she realized how ridiculous she was being.
She took a deep breath and prepared to leave, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn around quite yet.
Rarity closed her eyes, and raised her hand up to knock on the door, because she couldn’t just leave without seeing her, not after the day Rarity had been through.
With a sharp release of her breath she knocked furiously on the door, surprised to find the oak was much softer and quieter than she had expected. Fluffier too, like she was tapping not on an old, oaken door, but on… somepony’s… forehead.
Rarity opened her eyes and was mortified to see Twilight had somehow opened the door without a sound—or perhaps the pounding of Rarity’s heart just drowned out the noise— while Rarity’s eyes were closed, and yes she was indeed knocking on the poor librarian’s forehead now.
“Ahem,” Rarity lowered her hand and prayed the darling librarian couldn’t see the incredibly obvious blush decorating Rarity’s cheeks. “Sorry.”
“You were wrestling with the door so hard, I thought a timberwolf was trying to break in or something!” Twilight laughed, and Rarity mimicked the gesture as awkwardly as possible.
“Well, I—”
“You’re out of breath. Did you run here?” Twilight cocked her head as she sized Rarity up, Rarity feeling rather like she was under a heat lamp beneath Twilight’s inquisitive gaze.
“Um, well you see—”
“Do you need something urgent? Is it something I can help with?”
“Uhhh—”
“Did the cragadile mission not go well?” Twilight gasped. “Wait, where’s Rainbow? Is she hurt? Did something happen to her and you came over to tell me that she—”
“No, darling, it isn’t anything like that!” Rarity put her hands on the hyperventilating librarian whose shoulders were so soft, and both mares calmed down in response to the touch. “It isn’t anything quite so urgent. Rainbow had a, a uh, a thing, to take care of. Something she’s been putting off, and it couldn’t wait. I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it in the morning.”
“Well that’s fine,” Twilight sighed in relief. “I didn’t expect to see her tonight anyway. Or you, for that matter,” Twilight tapped a finger against her cheek. “But if you don’t need anything urgent, why were you in such a hurry to come here of all places?”
“Well, I, uhhh…” Rarity trailed off, her hands dropping to her sides as she realized she did not take the time to come up with a flattering excuse for why she rushed straight to the library, and now that she was on the spot, no answer but the humiliating truth presented itself to her.
“Yes?” Twilight tilted her head, in that most adorable way that she tended to do when she was listening intently, and Rarity cursed her for being so cute and herself for already noticing little tells like that from her.
“I wanted—” Rarity bit her thumbnail.
“I—”
She what? She wanted to see Twilight again? She wanted to wrap Twilight up in her arms, pick her up off her hooves and spin her around, carrying her like a bride into the library and smother her in a flurry of kisses?
Yes, obviously, but just as obvious was the fact that she couldn’t say that!
Rarity had to consider that perhaps it would be best for her to just wish the librarian a good night, and be on her way.
“I wanted to see you.”
But then again, perhaps not.
“You-” Twilight cleared her throat and took a step back “-wanted to see me?”
Rarity rolled her head back and groaned in self-pity. “What I’m about to tell you is very silly, and I hope you don’t think me too much of a silly, ridiculous pony when I tell you, but may I confess something to you?”
“You may,” Twilight said, hands gently placed in front of her as she stood tall and imposing in the library’s doorframe, and Rarity once again cursed her for being so cute!
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” Rarity admitted shamefully, “since our conversation last night. I know it’s silly, but I quite fancied my time with you, and I found myself thinking time and time again while at the swamp, ‘oh I wish Twilight could see this’, or ‘I bet Twilight could tell me what that is’, and I just couldn’t wait to see you again and hear a surprisingly riveting lecture on how bath salt is different than basalt.”
“The two have nothing in common,” Twilight said idly, and Rarity bit her lip to keep from giggling. “Bath salts are pulverized minerals applied to bath water to increase the user’s enjoyment of the bathing experience, and basalt is volcanic rock, formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava, and furthermore—”
Rarity erupted into a fit of giggles that cut off Twilight’s stirring lecture, and she bit her tongue as quick as she could to stop herself lest she seem very rude.
“I’m sorry,” Rarity said sheepishly, pointedly avoiding eye contact with the cute librarian. “I shouldn’t laugh, you probably think I’m some kind of—”
“Can I confess something to you?”
“Um, you can,” Rarity said awkwardly, taken aback by Twilight’s sudden shift in demeanor.
Rarity stood as straight as she was able and placed her hands in front of her to mirror Twilight’s earlier posture, but a quick glance at the librarian revealed she now looked like anything but the graceful guardian of her library, with her shoulders slumped and one hand curling around the hair of her ponytail as she awkwardly looked over Rarity’s shoulder instead of in her eye.
“I hope you don’t think I’m a total dork,” Twilight said, “but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you either.”
“W-what now?” Rarity took a step back and placed a hand over her pounding heart.
“I was reading something earlier today and I thought ‘oh, I bet Rarity would like this! I can’t wait to tell her when she gets back’, as if you coming back to the library was just a sure thing, like I’m sure you have nothing better to do than to hang out with some dork who barely leaves her house and smells like books probably and—“
“So what was it?” Rarity said suddenly.
“Huh?”
“What was it you thought I would like?”
“I, uh,” Twilight cleared her throat and bit down on her lip, her eyes scanning the air before her like she was trying to recall the information. “I don’t remember. It’s been a long day, I met some new friends.”
“Oh,” Rarity said with a shrug.
Twilight paused for a moment before inhaling sharply.
“Maybe we could find it together?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure I left the book lying around, I haven’t cleaned the placed up quite yet, and I just poured myself some tea, I could pour you a glass as well! If, y’know, if you’d like that sorta thing.”
“As long as you don’t mind the company of an incredibly silly, smitten hunter,” Rarity put her hoof on the door jam and her hand gently grazed Twilight’s forearm.
“I hope you don’t mind hanging out with a dorky librarian who is also… really easily smitten.”
“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be,” Rarity said as she passed the threshold into the library, whispering in Twilight’s ear as she passed, “darling.”
Twilight’s giggle as she closed the door behind them was music to Rarity’s ears, and as Twilight poured Rarity a cup of piping hot tea, Rarity wrapped herself in a soft blanket and got comfortable, a feeling which she found rather unfamiliar.
Rarity took a sip of the tea and found it to be as pleasant as the company, and she purred with delight as she nestled herself in her blanket. Twilight sat on the ground next to her, teacup floating in her raspberry-colored aura beside her, and made herself comfortable next to Rarity.
“Is this okay?” Twilight asked bashfully as her shoulder brushed against Rarity’s. “It’s not too close, is it?”
“No, darling,” Rarity hummed as she placed her hand on Twilight’s thigh, the perky smile Twilight made adding at least five years to Rarity’s life, “you’re perfect.”
The coffee that floated in a blue aura beside Rarity’s head was almost as warm as her smile as she hurried through the sleepy morning streets of Canterlot’s Moon District to get to her new favorite place; the Golden Oaks Library.
It had been a week now since she entered the library for the first time, and what began as a silly, immature crush on the librarian had now blossomed into a genuine rapport.
Rarity had spent nearly all the nights in the past week talking with Twilight from the moment she closed the library to the moment the sun rose in the morning, which was an absolute disaster for Rarity’s sleeping schedule, but sleep could be sacrificed if it meant spending more time with her dear friend.
Honestly, Rarity felt rather silly for how nervous she had been when her relationship with Twilight was just starting; true, she had several fancy tales and grandiose fantasies of her and the librarian getting swept into a whirlwind affair of passion and intrigue, but the reality of the situation was much better.
They were friends. Nothing more, nothing less. And Rarity wouldn’t want it any other way.
Well… perhaps there would be time for passion and intrigue later, but for now, her friendship with Twilight Sparkle was enough.
It was just before noon as Rarity headed over to the library, which was rather early for Rarity to even be awake, much less out the door, but she wanted to surprise Twilight with an earlier visit than usual. Or perhaps she was just that desperate for the warmth of the library and Twilight’s company that she simply couldn’t bear to stay away for even a single minute.
Oh, Rarity, she chuckled to herself as she took a sip of her coffee and slapped herself awake, ever the drama queen.
Rarity breathed a contented sigh and allowed herself to smile ear to ear as the library came into view. She could already feel its warmth as she approached the towering, sheltering tree, and her hand jittered with anticipation as she reached for the doorknob.
Though her anticipation was replaced by curiosity and slight frustration as she tried to open the handle and it resisted her.
She wasn’t about to try and tear the handle off the door like she had nearly a week ago, but she was slightly concerned. True it was still fairly early, but it was almost noon and Twilight always had the library open by this time, even despite the havoc their late nights had wreaked on Twilight’s own sleeping schedule.
Rarity couldn’t help but feel something was wrong, and a pulsating throb in her gut accompanied the thought that it might have been her fault somehow.
Rarity knocked her knuckles against the door. No answer.
She knocked again, louder and more intensely this time.
Silence greeted her, and she bit her lip as curiosity and concern melted away into worry.
She’s probably just still sleeping, Rarity told herself, though if that were the case, usually Spike would still open the library regardless. Something was definitely not quite right here.
Rarity raised her hand to knock again but froze as she heard the latch open on the other side of the door. She wasn’t about to knock on Twilight’s forehead again; Twilight refused to let Rarity forget that it happened the first time.
The door creaked open ever so slightly, revealing a pitch-dark library and a single violet eye peeking out from behind it.
“There you are, Twilight!” Rarity said cheerfully, feeling relieved that Twilight was at least present in the library. “Honestly, you had me worried for a moment! I thought perhaps you had been whisked away by some other charming hunter who had come and swept you off your feet!”
Twilight said nothing, simply continued to peer out at Rarity in silence from the darkness of the library.
“Darling?” Rarity’s worry returned. If there was something ‘not quite right’ with the library, then there was something very wrong with Twilight. “Is something the matter, dear?”
“Um,” Twilight let her fingers slide into the sunlight as they gripped the door, “I got into a fight.”
“Oh no!” Rarity gasped, hand pressed against her fretful heart.
“With Spike.”
“Oh,” Rarity said concernedly, dreading how this sentence was about to end.
“About you.”
“Ah.”
And there it was, what Rarity had been dreading.
Truth be told, it felt better to have it out in the open at least. Rarity had heard, from Twilight and even from Rainbow Dash, that Spike had become quite a bit grumpier since Rarity started visiting the library, but she merely chalked it up to coincidence, even if in her heart she knew better.
She simply didn’t want to face what she knew was the truth; that her presence in Twilight’s life was disturbing the peace that Twilight had built for herself and her son.
“What exactly did you fight about?” Rarity drew herself up and elected to get to the bottom of this; no sense moping about it, not unless she had all the facts at the very least. “If I may ask?”
Twilight tried to stand up straight, but the weight of her sadness and worry pressed down on her shoulders like a heap of stone, and her posture suffered for it.
Twilight cleared her throat and opened the door a little bit wider, and as the light hit her, Rarity could see that Twilight was an absolute mess; hair frazzled and disheveled, eyes heavy with fatigue, and fur damp with sweat. Rarity couldn’t pinpoint when exactly this fight with Spike happened, but she could see that Twilight not only hadn’t slept, but had worked herself into a state in the time since.
“Ever since Rainbow started coming to the library,” Twilight said, “and things became much busier around here, I’ve still always spent my mornings with just me and Spike. That was our time, but, well, I’ve been sleeping through the mornings lately.”
“Because of me,” Rarity said casually, and while Twilight was visibly determined not to say as much, she ever so slightly nodded. Rarity took a deep breath and gave a glance over at the frazzled librarian, sadness and sympathy washing over her as she looked at the poor dear, not only for Twilight but for Spike just as much.
Rarity thought about Sweetie Belle, and how jealous the poor girl could be whenever someone would ‘steal’ Rarity’s attention away from her. When you had someone in your life who you so greatly respect and admire, it can be difficult to share them, especially when you’re worried that this new person is going to replace you in your favorite person’s heart.
“Twilight?” Rarity allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as Twilight winced at the sound of her name. “Was your response to this conflict, by any chance, to try and shut me out of the library?”
“Um,” Twilight shrunk into herself, and Rarity was certain Twilight would transform to the size of a mouse if she could, “not just you. But if nobody comes back to the library, then no one can be mad at anybody else.”
“And you just get to be lonely forever?” Rarity asked. “How is that fair?”
“That doesn’t matter,” Twilight said sternly, and the sudden intensity she spoke with caught Rarity by surprise. “My first priority is Spike, and if the way I’m taking guests into the library is hurting him, then I have to—”
“Excommunicate all the new friends he’s making as well?”
Rarity took a sip of her coffee while Twilight stammered to try and think of something clever to respond with.
“Sweetheart,” Rarity put her hand on Twilight’s cheek and secretly delighted in the way Twilight leaned into her touch, “is it possible that perhaps, just perhaps, you jumped to a rather extreme and unnecessary measure? I know I’m a tad biased, but don’t you think there’s a better way to resolve this conflict other than shutting the door on all your friends?”
“I don’t know what to do,” Twilight whispered, the desperation in her voice breaking Rarity’s heart. “I made him cry, Rarity. I promised him that I would never hurt him, but you should have seen him when he was yelling at me. I let him down. I’m an awful parent.”
“We can’t help hurting the ones we love from time to time,” Rarity caressed Twilight’s cheek as she spoke. “It’s simply a matter of how we handle it that speaks to our character, and our priorities.”
“But I don’t know what to do,” Twilight said coldly, her eyes closed as she leaned her head against Rarity’s hand.
“Let me handle this,” Rarity’s words caused Twilight’s eyes to snap open. “Spike’s conflict is with me, not with you, so let me talk to him and we can figure this out. I think I understand what he’s going through, and I think I can convince him that he isn’t going to be replaced—”
“He could never be replaced,” Twilight said abruptly, as if the very notion sickened her.
“I know,” Rarity said softly. “But you know as well as I do that worry is not rational. So let me talk to him, and we can figure out how to resolve this whole mess together.”
“You would do that?” Twilight said, her hands trembling as they clung to Rarity’s hand for dear life.
Rarity flashed Twilight a serene smile as she wiped a tear away from Twilight’s cheek.
Rarity was allowed into the library without any more resistance, and she quickly made her way upstairs to the spacious attic that acted as Spike and Twilight’s joint bedroom.
The thought briefly crossed her mind that this was certainly not how she wanted to visit Twilight’s bedroom for the first time, but she swatted that thought away in disgust because now is hardly the time for such notions, thank you very much!
Spike was on his bed, curled into a ball and moping as he stared out the attic window.
“Spike?” Rarity said softly as she approached. “May I speak with you?”
“You can do whatever you want,” Spike huffed, which was not a great sign.
“May I sit next to you?”
Spike shrugged.
Rarity took a deep breath and sat down on the bed next to Spike. He had been crying very recently, and by the way his lip quivered when Rarity fixed her gaze on him, he had only just stopped as Rarity came up the stairs.
“I heard you got into a fight with Twilight,” Rarity said. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothin’,” Spike said with a grumpy shrug.
“Come now, Spike,” Rarity gave a courteous chuckle, “you and I both know that isn’t true. I heard that you were upset with me, and your mother is very upset that you’re upset, and I don’t want to be the cause of any undue conflict between the two of you, so will you please tell me what’s wrong?”
Rarity inhaled sharply through her nose. She already knew that’s what was bothering him, but to hear him say it out loud, directly to her? Well, she would be lying if she said it didn’t sting.
“I’m not trying to—”
Rarity stopped as Spike sniffled and wiped a stream of tears from his face. For a moment, Rarity stopped seeing the huffy, grumpy pegasus who was struggling with childish jealousy, but saw the genuine distress and worry in a small child who felt like he was losing the most important person in his world.
“I’m sorry.”
Rarity couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“I’m so sorry, Spike.”
“Why’re you sorry?” Spike asked, trying in vain to keep his tears at bay.
“Because I wasn’t thinking of you,” Rarity said, her eyes stinging with tears, “and I should have. It never even crossed my mind that my late nights with Twilight were taking her time with you away, and that was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”
“C’mon, Rarity,” Spike put his arm on Rarity’s knee, “please don’t cry.”
“Hey, I’m the one who’s supposed to be comforting you!” Rarity said with a laugh, ruffling Spike’s hair which made him give a soft laugh in return.
“Sorry,” he sniffled, “force of habit.”
“I want you to know,” Rarity said soothingly, her hand resting on Spike’s shoulder and caressing him with her thumb, “that no one is going to take Twilight away from you. She loves you far too much to let that happen.”
“I know,” Spike took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. “I just got scared, cuz we’ve been alone together all this time, now she’s starting to make a bunch of new friends, what if she doesn’t need me anymore?”
“She’ll always need you, Spike,” Rarity said, aghast that Spike would even think such a terrible thing. “You’re her son, and I have it on pretty good authority that you’re her best friend too.”
“Really?” Spike whimpered, his eyes glistening with tears.
“Absolutely,” Rarity gently brushed the tears from Spike’s cheeks. “She talks about you all the time, you know. Just absolutely gushes about you. If there’s one thing I can say about that woman with absolute confidence, it is that she loves her son.”
Spike sniffled and Rarity embraced him in a soft hug, which the young pegasus gladly reciprocated.
“To be honest,” Rarity smiled at Spike, “she talks about you in such glowing terms, that I’ve been rather looking forward to meeting you for real. I just wish our first heart-to-heart had been under better circumstances.”
“I’m sorry, Rarity,” Spike said, his arms wrapped tightly around Rarity’s stomach.
“It’s okay, Spike,” Rarity placed her hand atop Spike’s head and gently stroked his mane. “I understand the feeling of watching someone you care very deeply for suddenly spending so much time with someone else. You feel left out, and it hurts, and I never should have placed that burden on you. For that, I apologize.”
“I know you didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, Rarity,” Spike said, “and I’m sorry I made such a big deal out of—”
“You have nothing to apologize for, darling,” Rarity placed her finger on Spike’s lips to shush him. “Though I do think there’s a certain purple pony who the two of us should probably speak with together. I would very much like to continue seeing her, but I also have no desire to siphon the time she shares with you.”
“Knowing her,” Spike chuckled, “she’ll probably try to put together a color-coordinated schedule and jot down specific times to hang out with everyone, right down to the minute.”
“Oh goodness, I could absolutely see it,” Rarity giggled. “Well, let’s go down there and talk to her before she starts organizing her life down to the second and forgets to put eating or bathroom breaks on there.”
“And then she realizes she didn’t plan for them,” Spike giggled, “and as soon as she has to go she freaks out cuz it’s not in the schedule!”
“Oh the poor dear,” Rarity laughed, “where would she be without her friends watching out for her?”
Twilight paced back and forth on the floor of the lobby, frantically writing notes upon notes upon notes upon notes with several quills on several sheets of parchment that all floated around her.
How could Twilight let Rarity fix things with Spike? She didn’t know Spike that well, and more importantly, this was Twilight’s mistake, she’s the one who needed to fix it! But she had no idea how to fix it!
There just wasn’t enough time in the day for everyone Twilight wanted to spend time with, and heaven forbid she meet even more amazing ponies she wants to talk to! Applejack and Pinkie Pie were coming to the library tomorrow, what if Twilight hit it off really well with them? Then that’d be five ponies Twilight would want to talk to and be with all the time, plus take time for herself!
The only thing she could think to do was scratch down some makeshift schedules, but she didn’t know any of the others’ routines, and they probably weren’t half as organized as Twilight anyway so could their routines even be counted on not to fluctuate? There were just too many variables to consider!
The important thing to note though was that Twilight definitely was not freaking out!
“Twilight!”
All of Twilight’s pens and papers fell to the floor as she turned to see Spike calling to her as he ran to her from the stairwell, arms open. Twilight rushed to him and picked him up into a hug, holding him tightly to her as his tiny arms tried to wrap all the way around her.
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight said, trying to stifle her tears, “for making you feel like you weren’t important to me.”
“I’m sorry for making you freak out,” Spike replied, puffing up his cheeks to try and look brave even as tears rolled down his face.
“You should never have to apologize to me, Spike,” Twilight pressed her forehead against Spike’s. “And I’m sorry for th—”
“I think there’s been quite enough apologies today,” Rarity chimed in as she leaned against the reception desk, “wouldn’t you agree, dear?”
Twilight looked at Rarity, then back at Spike who nodded with a bright smile on his face. Twilight turned back to Rarity and nodded, both in confirmation and in deep appreciation of what Rarity had done for her.
“I never meant to make you feel like you were losing me, Spike,” Twilight said as she put her son back on the ground, crouching down to meet his eye level. “And if you’ll let me, I think I know how to make things right.”
Spike’s eyes glanced over at the assorted quills and parchments scattered across the floor and grimaced.
“I sure hope your plan wasn’t to relentlessly schedule every second of your day to make everyone happy,” Spike said drolly, crossing his arms and looking up at Twilight with an expression that was far too stern for him to be giving his mother… or at least it would’ve been, if he wasn’t right. Which he wasn’t!
“N-no!” Twilight stood up tall and teleported the parchments and such away, coughing into her hand and hoping no one could see her blush, which only got brighter as Rarity and Spike giggled at her reaction.
“See? I told’ja,” Spike pointed at Twilight while giving a snide grin to Rarity.
“Never doubted you for a second, darling,” Rarity replied with a grand smile that almost made Twilight forget her embarrassment. “Nopony knows her better than you, after all.”
“That’s right!” Spike said proudly, puffing up his chest.
“Hey, you don’t know everything about me!” Twilight said indignantly, crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks.
“So,” Rarity said as she walked over to Twilight and Spike, gently placing her fingers upon the former’s shoulder, “you weren’t planning on making ridiculously detailed schedules for every waking moment of your life to make sure that everypony got to spend an equal amount of time with you?”
“Nooo…” Twilight whined. Rarity arched an eyebrow, that same winning smile still on her face, and Spike choked back a laugh. Twilight sighed and hung her head. “I couldn’t fit everybody in.”
“Of course you couldn’t, darling,” Rarity brushed back Twilight’s bangs as Twilight rose her head to look at Rarity, who was looking really pretty this morning. Her makeup was a little uneven though, around her eyes; wait, had she been crying? “Have you ever stopped to consider what you want, Twilight?”
“Eh?” Twilight quacked.
“That’d be a ‘no’,” Spike said casually.
“What I want,” Twilight said confidently, “is for you and Spike to be happy. Rainbow too, and even Pinkie Pie and Applejack when they come over.”
“Yes, but what about you, Twilight?” Rarity placed her hand on Twilight’s cheek and caressed her face with her thumb, and Twilight did her best not to purr in contentment. “What do you want for your life?”
“I want—”
Twilight hadn’t considered that before.
“Umm…”
She hadn’t taken the time to think about what ‘she’ wanted, because her first priority was Spike, and then she started prioritizing the visitors of the library, because they came to her and it wouldn’t be right to put her own wants above theirs, they were her guests!
And also, she didn’t want them to leave her.
“I enjoy our late nights,” Twilight said to Rarity, choking the words out through a smothering web of anxiety, “but I also really enjoy our early mornings,” Twilight looked toward Spike, who nodded his approval and that made Twilight smile. “But I don’t know how to keep doing both.”
“You could close the library a tad earlier,” Rarity suggested.
“But then ponies who want to visit might be disappointed,” Twilight immediately shot back.
“We could open up a little bit later instead?” Spike added.
“But—”
“Or we could close up early a couple days a week?” Spike said.
“Weekends perhaps?” Rarity said.
“Eh, umm—” Twilight backed away from Rarity and Spike and bit down on her thumbnail, tugging on her hair with her other hand.
“We don’t have to decide anything right now, Twilight,” Rarity grabbed hold of Twilight’s hands and lowered them in front of her, squeezing them softly, and Twilight bit her lip to keep from squeaking in delight. “There may be some growing pains, but I think the three of us can work together to find a balance that works for all of us, so we can all get what we need from these burgeoning relationships.”
“That’s right!” Spike said cheerfully. “And maybe we could even have some of those conversations over ice cream!”
“I—” Twilight smiled at Spike and the big goofy grin he sported—that he always sported when he talked about ice cream—and then looked at Rarity and the much more reserved, but still calming and beautiful, smile that Rarity wore as she lifted her hand to brush Twilight’s bangs again.
“I’d really like that,” Twilight gave a weary smile, and for the first time today—for the first time since she could even remember—she felt for just one moment that she could breathe easily.
“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity called out as she knocked on Pinkie’s door, rubbing her arms from the cold and stamping her hooves in the snow. “Darling, are you in there?”
“It’s unlocked!” Pinkie called back. “Let yourself in!”
Rarity did just that and found Pinkie working tirelessly in the kitchen, preparing dish after dish of scrumptious smelling desserts and courses, and Rarity couldn’t help but be starstruck, mouth hanging open in awe, at Pinkie’s culinary skill.
“My, this certainly is something,” Rarity said as she walked past a long table absolutely covered in treats, snacks and ingredients. “Are you planning on inviting an army to the library tonight?”
“Twilight said she can use her magic to keep the food warm or to reheat it,” Pinkie said, taking a tray out of the oven and putting another in just as quickly, “so I wanna make sure she has leftovers cuz I know her and Spike kinda scrape by on a whole lotta not much.”
“So do you and Applejack,” Rarity said cautiously, fingers gently grazing the table. “Are you sure you don’t need these leftovers more than her?”
“We’ll manage,” Pinkie shrugged, mixing a bowl with a wooden spoon over the sink. “Me and Applejack already talked everything over, we’re good! Honestly, don’t worry so much, Rarity! You’ll start turning into Applejack!”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t mind turning into Applejack, if only to have her physique,” Rarity chuckled, and her eyes fell over the enormous lineup of delicacies again. “You certainly are going through a lot of trouble to plan this party though.”
“Parties don’t plan themselves, Rarity,” Pinkie flipped something out of a pan onto a plate, then poured whatever was in that bowl from before into the now empty pan. “And besides, it’s no trouble. I really like doing it!”
“That’s fair.”
Rarity took a seat and stretched her arms above her head, grateful that Pinkie’s kitchen allowed her the space to do so, unlike Twilight’s which was constantly cramped with far too many hanging pots and pans.
Honestly, one of these days Rarity would need to help Twilight manage her space more efficiently. Spring cleaning, perhaps? Well, if spring ever came at this rate.
“How goes your ever-so-anticipated return trip to Ponyville?” Rarity chirped, returning to the conversation in front of her. She needn’t daydream about Twilight right now, they were going to be seeing each other tonight, after all. “Ironed out all the details already, I presume?”
“Yepyepyepyep, yepyep!” Pinkie giggled as she stirred a pot on the stove. “Got it all planned out for next week! Gonna bake a bunch of special treats for Fluttershy! I’ve even got some new recipes I haven’t tried before that I’m dying to test out! It’s gonna be so much fun!”
“And you’re going by yourself?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie sighed, though her momentary deflation was quickly swept aside as she bounced to the other side of the counter to grab some more ingredients for whatever was in that pot. “Applejack can’t go with me cuz she’s running the shop, and I don’t really know Rainbow well enough to ask her to go with me.”
“I’m sorry I can’t go,” while that statement was half true, Rarity also had no desire to revisit the Everfree Forest again in her life. But more than that, her time with Twilight had started to make her feel rather lax in her duties as a Slayer, and it was imperative that she sign herself up for another mission before the month was out.
“It’s okay,” Pinkie said cheerfully, pouring the contents of the pot into a colander in the sink. “Honestly, I think it’ll be nice just to get some one-on-one time with Fluttershy. Speaking of-” Pinkie’s eyes lit up as she grinned at Rarity, who arched an eyebrow in concern “-you excited for the party tonight?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Rarity replied teasingly, knowing full well what Pinkie Pie was implying.
“I hope you don’t get too jealous that everypony else is gonna wanna spend time with Twilight too,” Pinkie giggled and returned to her frying pan, poking at the contents with a spatula.
“Well,” Rarity harrumphed dramatically, biting down a smile, “at least I don’t have to take a two-hour train ride to visit my crush!”
The air inside the kitchen froze over instantly as Pinkie’s silence was met by a pang of guilt from Rarity.
“Rarity?” Pinkie asked, standing completely still over the stove.
“Yes, Pinkie Pie?” Rarity replied, her breath held as her guilt crept up into her throat like a virus.
“Do you think I’m wasting my time?” Pinkie asked, her voice as cold as the wind outside. “Do you think I’m making a big deal outta this whole thing, and Fluttershy just doesn’t even care, and I’m being totally stupid for thinking about her so much?”
“Does the thought of seeing Fluttershy make you happy?”
“It does,” Pinkie replied without hesitation, nodding her head and poking at the frying pan again. “I really wanna see her again and talk to her.”
“Then as long as you respect Fluttershy’s boundaries and her agency,” Rarity said, “you should follow that trail of happiness for as long as it goes, wherever it leads you.”
Pinkie Pie sniffled, and that was Rarity’s cue to walk over to the little pink mare and give her a hug.
“Thanks, Rarity,” Pinkie giggled, and then snorted as she sniffled and tried not to cry over the stove.
“Don’t mention it, sweetheart,” Rarity whispered, holding Pinkie tightly and resting her head above Pinkie’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s okay,” Pinkie said sweetly. “Thanks for the apology, and for the advice.” Pinkie looked up at Rarity and grinned devilishly, and Rarity arched an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for Pinkie’s smart remark. “I’ll be sure to take it to heart, since you obviously know a lot about having a crush.”
“Oh har har,” Rarity rolled her eyes and returned to her seat at the other side of the kitchen.
“Honestly, it’s not even a crush,” Rarity said about her crush.
“Then what is it?” Pinkie asked idly, not even looking at Rarity as she whisked something over the stove or some such; Rarity had lost track of Pinkie’s movements as she started daydreaming about what it might be like kissing Twilight.
“Uhhhh,” Rarity replied eloquently.
“Oh okay,” Pinkie snorted again. “That clears it up.”
“Oh shush,” Rarity said, trying and failing to suppress a laugh, but it wasn’t long before the laughter of the two ponies resonated throughout the kitchen.
Applejack took a deep breath as she watched herself in the mirror, Pinkie throwing Applejack’s jacket across her broad shoulders.
Applejack knew Pinkie was chomping at the bit to get to making the feast for the library party tonight, but Applejack just couldn’t bring herself to get ready on her own, so Pinkie was a real sweetheart and decided to help Applejack out before she got started in the kitchen.
“Y’know you really don’t have to be so nervous,” Pinkie said with a giggle, and Applejack just rolled her eyes.
“I ain’t nervous,” she insisted, scrunching up her face instinctively the way she always did when she told a lie.
“Alright,” Applejack huffed and fell onto the bed behind her with a loud FOOMPH, “I may be a mite nervous. But can ya blame me? I’ve been daydreamin’ ‘bout this exact thing for like a year almost!”
“Yepyep,” Pinkie nodded, sitting on the bed next to Applejack and playing with her blonde mane, “it’s a big deal, I get it. I just don’t think you need to be nervous cuz I know she’s gonna super like you!”
“You say that—”
“Cuz I believe it!”
Applejack sighed and sat up, dragging her hands slowly down her face. She’d been harboring a crush on Rainbow Dash practically since the two met somewhere around a year ago, when Rarity introduced Applejack to her new partner. Said partner immediately tried to show off her flying skills and then, when Applejack cheered for her, slammed face-first right into a steel beam.
But Applejack’s first impression of Rainbow wasn’t that she was a klutz, or even a blowhard, but that she was very uniquely herself. She was genuine, in a way a lot of ponies Applejack knew just weren’t. Or at least that was the impression Applejack got at first, and it was something that always stuck with her.
She’d always meant to ask Rainbow out, but the pegasus always seemed to find some way to avoid being alone with her, until Applejack just took the hint that Rainbow wasn’t interested. And while Applejack had tried really hard to move on, her feelings stayed put and they ate at her all the time.
Eventually Pinkie convinced her to go ahead and ask Rainbow out, if only to finally clear the air and know for absolute certain whether Rainbow’d be interested in her.
But there was no way she was gonna be. Rainbow was so Rainbow, and Applejack was just so… Applejack.
“Deep breaths,” Pinkie said, rubbing Applejack’s shoulders, “calm blue ocean.”
Applejack thought about last week, when she finally managed to sorta kinda ask Rainbow out.
She was walking home with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie, and they reached Rainbow’s house. Rainbow seemed hesitant to go inside for whatever reason, and Applejack thought that might be her chance to ask Rainbow what had been on her mind the entire walk, but Applejack completely choked.
Pinkie Pie though, wasn’t having any of it.
“Look, look!” Pinkie said, pointing to Rainbow as she stood on her front porch, staring at the doorway like she didn’t want to go in. “She’s hesitating! Now’s your chance!”
“I dunno, Pinkie,” Applejack muttered, “I just don’t think—”
“Applejack, she is soooooo into you!” Pinkie insisted, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. “Did you see the way her whole face turned red when I told her she was all you wanted to talk about?”
“I didn’t see that, Pinkie,” Applejack said sternly.
“That’s cuz you were too busy looking at your hooves the whole time, you useless lesbian!”
“Hey! I am not—”
Pinkie gave Applejack the most unimpressed scowl she’d ever seen on a pony, and Applejack tapped her thumbs together and muttered, “Okay, maybe I’m a bit of a useless lesbian.”
“The uselessest,” Pinkie joked, elbowing Applejack in the side. “Now go talk to her! This is your chance!”
Applejack looked over at Rainbow, who was opening up the door to her house, and Applejack sighed as she watched her ‘chance’ totally evaporate in front of her face.
At least that’s how she felt until Pinkie shoved her into the gate around Rainbow’s home, and Applejack shouted out almost instinctively, “Rainbow! Hold on a tick!”
And it was that easy. All she did after that was go up and ask Rainbow if she wanted to spend some time together, even if the excuse she made up on the spot about shopping—while technically true—was just that; an excuse.
“You are gonna have an awesome time!” Pinkie said to Applejack as the older mare walked out the door of their house, into the snowy morning air of Canterlot’s Moon District.
“Yeah,” Applejack said distantly, at least trying to sound confident. Failing, obviously, but at least she was trying. “I’m gonna have an awesome time.”
“You both are!” Pinkie cheered. “And I wanna hear aaaaaaall about it tonight, after the party! Okay?”
“Will do, Pinkie,” Applejack gave her best mate a smile, and she couldn’t help but laugh as Pinkie returned the smile with one that was twice as bright and affectionate. “Thanks, for all yer help.”
“Pffft, it’s my pleasure, you big silly!” Pinkie said. “I just want you to be happy!”
“Yer the best,” Applejack knelt down and gave Pinkie a big hug.
“No you are!” Pinkie said as she nuzzled her cheek against Applejack’s.
“Team effort then,” Applejack laughed, “we’re both the best.”
“I can live with that!” Pinkie grinned, bumping her forehead against Applejack’s. “Now shoo! You have a hot date to get to!”
“Alright,” Applejack stood up and gave one last confident-ish nod before heading out, “see you tonight, Pinkie Pie.”
Applejack tried very hard, especially for Pinkie’s sake, not to think of all the ways this whole situation could go horribly wrong on her way to Rainbow’s house. She practiced what she was gonna say over and over; she was gonna say hi, gonna ask Rainbow if she still wanted to go shopping with her, then suggest maybe the two grab some coffee after shopping.
Though her growling stomach reminded her that maybe she needed to fit breakfast into her plan somewhere. But no, breakfast could wait. It’s not like she could eat anything with this raging storm of anxiety wrangling her stomach into knots anyway.
The important thing was to not come on too strong. If Rainbow realized just how interested in her Applejack was, what could Rainbow possibly do other than laugh? Rainbow was so far out of Applejack’s league, it’d be hilarious to think that Applejack had a chance, if it weren’t so pathetic.
She took a deep breath and slapped her face a couple times as she saw Rainbow’s house come into view. Truth be told, it wasn’t that far from her and Pinkie’s place.
She opened up the gate surrounding the building and immediately felt like throwing up. She cursed her total inability to fib for a sec, cuz she knew she couldn’t bail out of this and make some excuse up to Pinkie later, and if she did bail and just told Pinkie the truth, boy that girl would be sooooo mad at her.
So Applejack closed the gate behind her and walked up the steps to Rainbow’s porch, each step being accompanied by a thousand beats of her frantic heart pulsing in her ears.
She walked up to the porch and could hardly breathe, but she forced herself to take a deep breath regardless as she raised her fist to knock.
She banged the back of her knuckles against the door three times and caught herself prayin’ that Rainbow’d be too sleepy to answer, or maybe she got called away on a mission all of a sudden, or—
The sound of the door latch flushed every thought out of Applejack’s head.
The door opened slowly.
Rainbow yawned as she opened the door and revealed herself to Applejack, and Applejack’s entire face turned bright red as her eyes widened and she stared like a slack-jawed moron at Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash was completely naked.
If Applejack had even remembered her practiced speech past all that heavy breathing and heart racing before, it was sure gone now.
Truth be told, Equestria didn’t have such a thing as a nudity taboo; ponies greeting visitors at the door in the buff wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, at least in the summer time, and that was all well and good but Applejack couldn’t really think about that or anything because HOLY HELL.
She is SO hot.
Applejack loudly cleared her throat and Rainbow looked up at her, her eyes widening for a second before she let out a wheezy laugh.
“Hey, Applejack,” she ran a hand through her mane and held her other hand on the door frame, leaning lazily against it. “Fancy meetin’ you here.”
“I, uh,” Applejack cleared her throat again and prayed Rainbow couldn’t see how red she was; she could still play this off like it was a normal interaction and Applejack wasn’t totally turned on right now. “We had a thing? We were gonna do shopping together? You remember that? I mean, it’s fine if you don’t! Or if you’ve changed your min—”
“Why would I change my mind?” Rainbow crossed her arms and scoff. She looked down at herself and chuckled, and Applejack tried not to swoon at how coolly she was playing this off. “I mean, I can’t really go out like this, not in the middle of winter, so just give me a sec to grab some clothes, okay?”
“Yeah,” Applejack nodded and affected a smile, subtly putting her hand in her pants pocket just in case she needed to cover a suspicious growth in that area, “sure.”
“Wanna come in?”
Ah. There was the growth. And Applejack’s face turned red as an apple. Again.
While Applejack’s first instinct was to utter a string of complete gibberish and fall on the ground, she decided that if Rainbow could play it so cool, she could at least try to do the same.
“If you’ll have me.”
“Make yourself at home,” Rainbow said with a wink and turned her tail on Applejack, giving her an eyeful of Rainbow’s lean, muscled back as she walked away.
And as Applejack walked into the house and watched Rainbow right up until she disappeared into her bedroom, all Applejack could think was:
Rainbow had been lying in bed awake, trying and failing to get some sleep —a grossly common occurrence these days— when she heard a knock at the door. She wasn’t awake enough to wonder who it was, but not asleep enough to ignore it.
As she rolled out of bed, falling on the floor for good measure, she remembered she had something important to do today. Was someone supposed to come over? She thought that’s what it was, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember who was supposed to swing by.
She remembered it was important though, so she forced herself off the ground and toward the door, and as she opened it, yawning herself awake and feeling the chill air blow through the doorway onto her bare body, she remembered who was coming by.
Applejack.
Rainbow didn’t think to get dressed before getting the door; why would she? She answered the door naked all the time, and who cares, right? But when the hottest mare you’ve ever seen knocks at your door and you answer her butt-ass naked, it’s more than a little embarrassing.
For a second, Rainbow wished for death to take her right then and there, but she let out a wheezy laugh to clear away that thought and ran a hand through her mane.
“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow held onto the door frame and sleepily leaned against it, trying to act like she wasn’t totally humiliated to have Applejack—APPLEJACK—looking at her naked, “fancy meetin’ you here.”
Applejack stammered and cleared her throat, and Rainbow looked up at her and tried not to swoon.
Wow, she’s pretty.
“We had a thing?” Applejack said, and if Rainbow didn’t know better she’d swear AJ was blushing. “We were gonna do shopping together? You remember that? I mean, it’s fine if you don’t! Or if you’ve changed your min—”
“Why would I change my mind?” Rainbow scoffed, pushing herself off the doorframe and crossing her arms. Changing her mind about spending time with Applejack was the last thing she wanted to do.
That said, as Rainbow looked down at herself she remembered there was one slight thing she needed to deal with before her and Applejack could depart on their shopping trip.
“I mean, I can’t really go out like this,” Rainbow chuckled, “not in the middle of winter, so just give me a sec to grab some clothes, okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” Applejack nodded and gave a smile, and Rainbow felt pretty proud of herself that she didn’t melt into a literal puddle, because DAMN, Applejack was hot.
“Wanna come in?” Rainbow grinned, allowing herself just a second to revel in the fact that Applejack was actually here and she wasn’t dreaming this or anything.
Applejack paused for a second and her face flushed, Rainbow looking at her with concern and wondering if she was sick or something. She couldn’t just ask if Applejack was okay though, cuz then it’d seem like Rainbow cared a little too much and that’d be weird… somehow.
“If you’ll have me,” Applejack gave a relaxed sigh, and Rainbow replied with a wink.
“Make yourself at home.”
Rainbow turned around to walk back in the house and briefly wondered if Applejack was staring at her butt, and she wanted to turn around and look to see what Applejack was looking at, but then she realized she’d actually be kinda bummed out if Applejack wasn’t looking at her, plus what kinda excuse could she give for turning around to look at Applejack other than she wanted to know where Applejack’s eyes were—
—and before she could even finish any of those thoughts, she was already turning to see that Applejack’s gaze was directed right under Rainbow’s tail.
“Like what ya see?” Rainbow said with the proudest grin she’d ever bared in her life.
Applejack’s head bolted straight up as her cheeks turned bright red and she looked straight forward, through Rainbow’s living room and out the window on the other side of the room.
Wait.
Rainbow was suddenly having a revelation, but there was no way it could be the case.
But still, she had to wonder…
Is she into me?
“Eheh, sorry,” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck but she kept looking straight ahead and extremely not at Rainbow as she talked, “didn’t mean to stare.”
“I mean, I could go shopping like this,” Rainbow bit down on her lip cuz she couldn’t believe she just said that, “if you’d like. It’d be a little nippy, but I think I could manage.”
“That’s— that’s funny, Rainbow,” Applejack laughed nervously, and Rainbow’s whole body tensed with dread as she worried if she went too far and made Applejack uncomfortable. “You should probably get dressed though, it’s cold out there.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow nodded and forced herself to keep smiling. “Just give me a sec.”
Rainbow went into her room and closed the door while Applejack sat down at her dining room table. Rainbow slid down the door with her back propped against it, her head buried in her hands because FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
Rainbow inhaled sharply and stood up straight. No thinking, no worrying about how she screwed up—again, like she always—
None of that.
Just put a shirt on, get a jacket and some pants—
Would I look cuter in a skirt? Would Applejack like that—
None of that either.
Rainbow reached for a pair of grey slacks, her face twisting into a frown because she didn’t even like those pants but who cares it’s just clothes. But she paused. She walked over to her dresser, full of gifts and hand-me-downs from her parents that she never wore, and found something a little more…
…worthy.
That was the word that came into Rainbow’s mind. Worthy of what? Applejack? Herself?
It didn’t matter. For better or for worse, this was the day she was finally going to spend with Applejack, after like a year of pathetic pining, and she’d be damned if she didn’t look her absolute best.
A pink hoodie jacket, hiding a black and white striped shirt underneath, with the kinda black tights that bleed into like a deep purple at the bottom. Killer.
Now for the moment of truth; pants or skirt?
Rainbow dug around in the drawer for something, she didn’t even know what, and pulled out a dark blue pencil skirt, which would definitely restrict her movement and make her feel like a big dork—
Or maybe…
Rainbow dropped the skirt on the ground and stood over it.
Maybe it’ll be nice?
She crouched down and put her hand on the skirt.
To not have to worry about feeling like such a huge dork.
Rainbow pulled the skirt up her legs and felt a sigh of relief leave her lips as it settled around her waist.
Maybe it’s okay if I put all my cards on the table, just for today.
Just for good measure, Rainbow did a little spin. She wasn’t wearing anything flowy, but when you’re a trans gal putting on new clothes, you gotta spin.
“Hey,” Rainbow said as she stepped back into the living room, crossing her soft-fleece clad arms across her hoodie-covered chest and winking at Applejack. “How do I look?”
Applejack’s mouth opened like she was gonna say something, and then she just… never did.
“You okay?” Rainbow scoffed, feeling her cheeks warming up so she put her hands in the front pockets of her hoodie. “Look like you’ve seen—”
“A really hot girl?” Applejack said abruptly, Rainbow freezing in place instantly. “Oof, that was bad. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and was suddenly very aware of how warm she’d dressed cuz wow it sure was hot in here all of a sudden. “Thanks.”
“I mean it,” Applejack tapped her fingers on the table and shrugged, her eyes bolting away from Rainbow. “For what that’s worth.”
“It’s worth a lot actually,” Rainbow sat down at the chair across from Applejack’s and put her elbows on the table, folding her hands and resting her chin on top. “But we’d better go, huh? That shopping isn’t gonna do itself.”
“Actually, can I be honest for a sec?”
Applejack’s words sent a chill up Rainbow’s spine and she could totally feel the sword of Damocles or whatever hanging over her head, the thread getting thinner with each word.
“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said reflexively, no emotion leaking through her tone.
“I don’t actually need to go shoppin’ right now,” Applejack said, tapping her fingers on the table. “I mean, I do need to shop, but the part where I needed to do it today was kinda made up.”
Rainbow grit her teeth and tried not to nervously look every which way for the crowd of people who were gonna jump outta nowhere and laugh at her for thinking for even a second that Applejack really wanted to—
“I just wanted an excuse to spend time with you,” Applejack admitted with a sheepish smile.
Oh.
OH.
Rainbow didn’t say anything, cuz what could she say to that? She was totally sure she wasn’t dreaming, right?
“I just couldn’t ever think of the right thing to say,” Applejack filled the silence with her own words, but she didn’t look any more comfortable than Rainbow felt, “or it never seemed like the right time, but Pinkie pushed me into askin’ you to do the shoppin’ thing, but like, seein’ you walkin’ outta that room, all dressed up like that, I don’t really wanna shop, I just wanna—”
Applejack paused, and it was the most skin shreddingly, bone breakingly, nails dug into her palms painful pause of Rainbow Dash’s life.
“Yeah?” Rainbow said agitatedly, because for the love of everything she needed to know how that sentence ended!
“I just wanna hang out with you,” Applejack buried her face in her hands. “I know that’s so dumb, but like—”
“It’s not dumb,” Rainbow placed her hand on one of Applejack’s. “You’re not dumb.”
She lowered Applejack’s hand onto the table so the two could look each other in the eye, and said the words that she’d desperately wanted to hear from Applejack for like a year, the words she desperately wanted to say but was too big a chickenwuss until she realized— sooooo late to the party cuz she was a huge freakin’ idiot—that Applejack wanted to say and hear them too.
“You wanna grab some coffee? Maybe breakfast?” Rainbow gave Applejack a soft and reserved smile.
“I—” Applejack bit her lip, and Rainbow smiled at her because she was so beautiful. “I’d like that.”
“I’d like it too,” Rainbow gently rubbed her thumb across the crease in Applejack’s hand, and for a sec she felt like everything was gonna be okay, and she hoped more than anything that Applejack felt the same way. “I’d like it a lot.”
47. Sometimes You Just Gotta Lie on the Ground and Eat Cookies
Twilight had written a mile-long list of preparations she needed to handle today before the library would be ready for the party tonight, but after approximately one thousand hours of executive dysfunction, she decided the best way she could prepare was by lounging around on the floor and eating cookies with her best friend.
“You were right, Spike,” she said, not even caring about all the crumbs around her face and on her chest, “this was the best way to prepare.”
“Told’ja,” Spike laughed and affected a pretty haughty little smirk as he shoved another cookie into his mouth. “Honestly, I don’t know why you ever doubt me.”
“Me either,” Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile. “So, are you nervous about the party? All of our new friends inside the library at the same time? Could be a lot.”
“No way,” Spike scoffed, spewing cookie crumbs everywhere. “I’m super excited! Really, I should be asking you that question!”
“Fair enough,” Twilight chuckled and took another cookie, putting it up to her lips and taking a tiny nibble out of it. “Actually, I’m really excited about it too. It might be a bit overwhelming, at least at first, but I can’t wait to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie again, and having Rainbow and Rarity there-“ Twilight took a deep breath, feeling both exhilarated and terrified as she thought about Rainbow, and especially Rarity “-I think it’ll be a lot of fun. And I think I’m ready for it.”
“Y’know, you’ve changed a lot since we moved into the Golden Oaks,” Spike said, grabbing two cookies and preparing for the kill. “For the better, I mean.”
“You think so?” Twilight laughed. She didn’t really think she’d changed very much at all, but she appreciated the compliment.
“I do!” Spike insisted, shoving both cookies in his mouth and chewing on them while he talked. “I wonder what Zecora would say if she could see how far you’ve come in the friend-making department! She was always super worried you’d never be able to do it!”
“She was not!” Twilight scoffed, lurching up and watching as a bunch of crumbs fell off her onto the ground, but she just harrumphed at Spike’s comment instead of paying attention to that. “Zecora believed in my friend making skills!”
“Sure she did, Twilight,” Spike chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to ask her next time we see her,” Twilight stuck her tongue out at Spike, who returned the gesture. “Granted, I don’t know when that’s going to be. Not exactly a walk down the street to get to Zebrica from here.”
“We should plan a trip sometime,” Spike suggested. “I bet Rarity would really like Zebrica!”
“Zebrica’s pretty big, Spike,” Twilight said, “I think it would be pretty implausible for Rarity to like all of—wait, why are you singling out Rarity?!”
“Oh, I dunno,” Spike giggled and stuffed his mouth full of cookies before Twilight could question him any further.
Besides which, Twilight’s attention was suddenly rapt by something else; a tingling feeling on the back of her neck that brought a smile to her lips.
“They’re here,” Twilight stood up and straightened herself, wiping crumbs off her clothes and onto the floor. “Are you ready, Spike?”
“Yup!” Spike gave a thumbs-up as crumbs flew out of his mouth, Twilight just rolling her eyes and making a note to give him another lecture on proper table manners sometime soon. Surely this one would be the one that sticks!
Twilight approached the door and looked out the window, biting down a smile as she saw the four ponies chatting amongst themselves as they drew close to the library.
When Twilight opened the door, she was greeted by the smiling faces of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and she returned their affection with a bright smile of her own.
“Hello, everyone!” Twilight beamed. “Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library! I hope you enjoy the party we have planned!”
Twilight stood at the door to her library and welcomed in the four ponies who had come to have a party with her and Spike.
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted, jumping up and down to make herself as seen as possible. “Are you ready for party time?!”
“I am, actually!” Twilight replied with a proud smile.
“I should certainly hope so,” Rarity added, and Twilight noted that Rarity looked as beautiful as the last time Twilight had laid eyes on her. “Because we have an absolute armada of delicious treats that Pinkie prepared for this, and it would be a shame to waste it all.”
“So let’s get to the eating already!” Rainbow chimed in, throwing her hands in the air. “I’m starving!”
“We just had lunch like three hours ago,” Applejack chuckled, and Rainbow just scoffed and bat her hand in return.
Twilight, for her part, was delighted to see everyone, and stood to the side so all four ponies could enter the library, where Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity set out all the various assorted treats and desserts and meals and such and such, the intoxicating smell wafting through the library and bringing a contented hum out of Twilight.
Twilight then shrieked in shock when she turned around to close the door, only to see Rainbow standing behind her like two inches from her face.
“Can I help you?” Twilight asked in confusion.
“I just wanted to point out how awesome I am,” Rainbow said with a smug grin, “for bringing all these happy ponies to the library, just for you. You’re welcome, Twilight.”
“Please,” Twilight scoffed and crossed her arms, arching an equally smug eyebrow at Rainbow, “you and I both know you couldn’t stay away from this place. I’m the reason everyone’s so drawn to the library, I guess I’m just irresistible.”
Twilight closed her eyes and smirked, feeling oh-so-devilish for getting to act so confident and smug for once.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Though Rainbow’s reaction caught Twilight off-guard, and she quickly opened her eyes to take stock of Rainbow’s expression, looking at the pegasus to see her wearing an earnest smile.
“Everypony’s here to see you, and I’m really glad that they are,” Rainbow said softly. “You totally deserve it.”
“Thank you, Rainbow,” Twilight reached out her hand to grab Rainbow’s, but hesitated when she remembered that Rainbow didn’t care for physical affection, hence it surprised her when Rainbow grabbed her hand instead. “I’m really glad I met you.”
“Same here, Twi,” Rainbow said, her cheeks turning pink as she rubbed the side of her neck.
“I hope you won’t forget about li’l ol’ Applejack,” Applejack approached Twilight from behind and made the poor girl yelp in surprise, “after your passionate tryst with the librarian.”
Applejack laughed at the flustered expressions from both Twilight and Rainbow, but Twilight couldn’t help but laugh alongside her.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Pinkie hollered from the lobby, cupping her mouth with her hands. “I know somepony who’s gonna be super jealous if Twilight has a super passionate tryst with Rainbow Dash!”
Rarity spit out her drink as Pinkie winked at her. “I certainly hope you’re not referring to me!”
“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Rainbow spread her wings and flew over to perch on the reception desk behind Rarity, putting her hands on the unicorn’s shoulders, “even if I did have a super passionate thing with Twilight, I wouldn’t forget about you either, there’s no need to be jealous!”
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Spike chimed in with a huge grin, “Rarity’s only got eyes for Twilight, y’know.”
“WHAT?!” Rarity nearly toppled over her chair with the speed she stood up. “I don’t—I do not have—”
“C’mon, sugarcube,” Applejack headed over to Rarity and needled her in the ribs, “it’s obvious you like Twi, no need to be coy about it.”
“I do not ‘like’ Twilight!” Rarity insisted, loudly.
“You don’t like me, Rarity?” Twilight walked into the lobby and let her hands hang down in front of her, affecting the widest, most innocent puppy-dog eyes she could muster.
“Wh—now that’s simply unfair!” Rarity harrumphed, crossing her arms and turning her head away. “Honestly, busting out the puppy-dog eyes like that, have you no shame, Twilight?”
“So you do like me?” Twilight said with a smirk, sidling up beside Rarity.
“OOOOOOOOOOOO!” Pinkie chimed in, Rainbow and Applejack snickering in chorus.
Rarity sighed melodramatically and rolled her eyes practically out of her head, making a big show of frowning at Twilight.
“Yes, Twilight,” Rarity said in mock protest, “I guess I like you.”
“Yaaaay!” Pinkie Pie clamored, jumping into the air and clapping, the other three present ponies all applauding Rarity’s declaration as well, and it took every ounce of willpower Twilight possessed to not erupt into a giggling fit.
“I call dibs on being Rarity’s maid of honor!” Rainbow said.
“WHAT?!” Rarity shrieked, practically busting Twilight’s ear as she was standing in between the two.
“C’mon, Rainbow,” Applejack chided, “I think yer movin’ a bit fast there. Rarity still needs to get Twilight a ring first.”
“Oh for the love of—” Rarity sighed and buried her bright red face in her hands, and Twilight tried to be supportive and not laugh… too much.
With everyone satisfied by their game of ‘make Rarity blush as much as possible’, Rainbow, Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie sat down on the floor of the lobby and distributed plates and bowls and desserts and snacks and drinks and everything else for each other, though Rarity lingered beside the reception desk for a moment and Twilight stood beside her.
“I hope the teasing didn’t get out of hand,” Twilight said, twirling a strand of her ponytail around her finger. “I’m sorry if you thought I was making fun of you, I just—”
“No, darling,” Rarity gently took Twilight’s hand and brushed her other hand through Twilight’s bangs. “I know it was all in good fun, and I would’ve done the same thing to Rainbow had I been faster.”
“Okay, good,” Twilight sighed in relief, “because it really was funny.”
“I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself at my expense, my dear,” Rarity playfully rolled her eyes and tapped Twilight on the nose.
“You’re normally so unflappable,” Twilight said softly, “it was really cute to see you get all blushy and stuff.”
Rarity blinked, and her cheeks turned red again; Twilight tried not to notice and bit down a smile.
“That’s nice of you to say—”
“It’s the truth,” Twilight insisted, smiling gently at Rarity. “Thank you for coming today, by the way.”
“Oh, darling,” Rarity put her hand on Twilight’s cheek, Twilight leaning comfortably into Rarity's hand with a soft purr. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
49. Useless Lesbians II - More Useless, More Lesbian
Applejack scanned the library’s lobby; Rarity was listening enraptured to Spike’s tales of heroism and conquest which were definitely not made up or taken from books, Pinkie was sharing recipe and baking tips with Twilight and learning how even earth ponies could use magic to liven up their kitchens with the proper training, and Rainbow Dash…
Rainbow was sitting at a long, rectangular table off the side of the lobby, shadowed by the bookcases surrounding it, while she had her nose in a book that Applejack vaguely recognized as being a part of the Daring Do series.
Applejack wanted to go over and talk to Rainbow, but she felt a little silly since she’d spent most of the entire day with her, and Rainbow was probably sick to death of Applejack by now and needed a break.
But then, when Applejack considered it for a tick, Rainbow hadn’t given her any reason to actually think that, Applejack’s head was just kinda… like that.
She took a deep breath and slowly walked over to the table, figuring she’d just ask if Rainbow was enjoying the party, and take things from there.
“Hey,” Applejack said as she stood over the table, Rainbow looking up at her from her book and flashing a gentle smile, “you look really great.”
Applejack kinda hoped that an anvil would just fall right outta the sky and crush her into paste after she heard what she actually said.
“Thanks,” Rainbow smiled, and Applejack could see the barest hint of one of Rainbow’s fangs peeking out past her lip and she tried not to be overwhelmed by the adorableness, “you too, by the way.”
“What, you think so?” Applejack fretted with the edges of her red jacket and patted the pockets of her pale blue cotton pants. Truth be told, she’d dressed nice cuz she kinda hoped Rainbow would notice, so she was having a hard time not being flustered by her comment.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded with a grin. “How’re you liking the party, by the way? It’s super rad that Twilight ran into you while me and Rarity were away, what’re the chances, right?”
“I’m glad too,” Applejack took a seat across the table from Rainbow and folded her arms over it. “She’s a swell girl, that Twilight. Pinkie really nailed it with this party idea, huh?”
“Yep, Twilight’s a lucky girl,” Rainbow said, “to be making so many friends so easily these days.”
“Hey, but she’s not the only one makin’ friends for days, right?” Applejack gave a single nervous chuckle when Rainbow merely arched an eyebrow at her. “I mean, I was kinda hopin’, maybe we could be friends and stuff.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow rested her chin on top of her intertwined fingers and leaned over the table. “What kinda ‘stuff’ you talkin’ about?”
Applejack sputtered, and Rainbow laughed before Applejack could think of anything to say, which was probably for the best.
“Kinda jealous I don’t get her all to myself now though,” Rainbow mused, her cheek resting on her hand.
“Tryin’ to make me jealous right now?” Applejack teased, and Rainbow laughed.
But then she sighed, and her eyes became colder.
“Honestly,” she whispered, “I’m more jealous of Twilight. She makes it look so easy, to just be funny and cute and charming. I dunno how to do any of that.”
“Well I think yer pretty swell just the way you are,” Applejack shrugged and couldn’t bear to watch Rainbow for her response, “for what that’s worth.”
“Can I be honest with you for a sec?” Rainbow said abruptly, and the mirroring of Applejack’s earlier words was not lost on her.
“Go ahead,” Applejack said tentatively, wondering if the pounding thump of her heartbeat couldn’t be heard throughout the whole damn library.
“I should’ve told you this before,” Rainbow said, her wings fidgeting on her back like she was getting ready to take flight at any second, even if she had to crash through the ceiling of the library, “back when you admitted that you wanted to-” Rainbow audibly gulped “-to spend time with me.
“I’ve had a crush on you for a long time,” Rainbow admitted, and Applejack felt the heat of the room go up by like a hundred degrees. “Like, a really long time, and when you said that thing about never finding the right thing to say, or it never being the right time, I felt that, cuz that’s where I’ve been for—
“For a long time.”
“Wow,” Applejack said at once, “you mean we’re both useless lesbians?”
Rainbow cackled and nearly slammed her face onto the table as she lurched forward, Applejack erupting into a laughing fit herself.
“Just the uselessest!” Rainbow said. The laughter quieted down after a moment—and after Applejack caught a peep of the others all looking in her and Rainbow’s direction from the lobby— and Rainbow took a deep breath. “The truth is though, I’m really—”
Rainbow groaned, and Applejack went out on a limb to guess where Rainbow was gonna take that sentence.
“Scared?” Applejack asked, and Rainbow nodded without a word. “Yeah, me too. Gotta lotta baggage and stuff, and I reckon you’re probably the same.”
Rainbow nodded again, much more enthusiastically
“And I figure we may not wanna rush into nothin’ and get ourselves hurt cuz we gotta a ton of feelin’s and emotions and stuff goin’ every which way.”
“Yep,” Rainbow sighed, and Applejack could swear she felt the girl’s soul being drained from her body as she buried her head in arms folded on the table. “That pretty much sums it up.”
“But that ain’t no reason we can’t be friends,” Applejack placed her hand on the table, palm facing up, Rainbow raising her head just an inch to look up at Applejack, “and maybe see where we end up from there.”
“I—” Rainbow bit her lip, and Applejack suppressed a giggle at how cute she looked. Rainbow hesitantly put her hand in Applejack’s but as Applejack closed her hand around Rainbow’s, Rainbow gently wrapped her fingers around Applejack’s. “I’d like that.”
“I’d like it too,” Applejack beamed, placing her other hand atop hers and Rainbow’s. “I’d like it a lot.”
Pinkie Pie stood on a stool in front of the library’s kitchen sink, finishing the last set of dishes and placing them on the counter to dry, breathing a sigh of contentment as she did so and praising herself for not even one time thinking about Fluttershy while she was alone.
Wait. Crap, she just did.
Pinkie took a deep breath and dried her hands off on a towel, then rubbed the towel on her face because uuuuUUUUURRRRGGGHHH.
Not a day had gone by since her trip to the Everfree Forest that she hadn’t thought about Fluttershy, and her thoughts on the spirit bounced back and forth at rapid speed between thinking about how cute and beautiful she was and gosh Pinkie sure hoped that Fluttershy was gonna like her, to thinking about how distant and almost sad Fluttershy felt when Pinkie got to talk to her.
But then, what if Pinkie was just projecting her own feelings onto Fluttershy? What if Fluttershy was totally fine with her life in the forest. She said as much herself, didn’t she? Did she? Pinkie couldn’t quite remember every single detail of that day, though she desperately wished that she could.
That said, along with every thought of Fluttershy came the haunting chorus of ‘what if Fluttershy didn’t like her’, or ‘what if she was just forcing Fluttershy to do something she really didn’t want to’ or whatever else.
It was a lot to take, and it’d been a long three weeks.
“Hey Pinkie, do you need help with the—” Spike walked into the kitchen and Pinkie affected a bright smile so he couldn’t see her distress. “Oh, you’re done with them already! I was gonna help you with the dishes.”
“It’s okay,” Pinkie giggled, “I got it! Thank you so much though!”
“I’m just really impressed you blew through them so fast!” Spike said, taking a seat on a nearby chair.
“Eh, I like doing it,” Pinkie shrugged. “So how’re you enjoying the party? I planned it for you and Twilight, cuz I want you to be my friend just as much as her!”
“It’s been amazing!” Spike cheered, and Pinkie’s heart swelled with joy and pride. “it’s been like the best day ever! Definitely the best day since we moved to Canterlot!”
“Oh, Spike!” Pinkie launched herself at the tiny pegasus and absorbed him into a bear hug. “I’m so glad!”
“Honestly, Pinkie, I dunno why you’re so surprised!” Spike said, patting Pinkie’s back. “You put a ton of effort into making everything for this, and it totally shows! You’re a real good friend, I’d say!”
“Spiiiike!” Pinkie held Spike’s shoulders and tried to not to gush tears out her face like faucets, but no dice. “Thank you!” Pinkie wailed as she grabbed Spike again and nearly crushed his entire body with another hug.
“Darling, try not to hurt the poor dear,” Rarity chuckled as she walked into the kitchen, Pinkie bashfully letting Spike go, but her heart grew three sizes when he hugged her.
“Hi, Rarity!” Pinkie greeted Rarity with a wave and a bright smile. “What’re you doing back here?”
“Twilight’s about to referee an arm-wrestling match between Applejack and Rainbow Dash,” Rarity laughed very delightedly, “so I wanted to know if either of you wanted to watch Applejack snap Rainbow’s entire arm off like a withered old tree branch?”
“I do!” Spike cheered, jumping onto the floor and running for the kitchen door. “I definitely wanna see that!”
Rarity and Pinkie watched Spike hurry into the lobby to watch the carnage, but the two mares stayed behind, Pinkie giving a soft smile to Rarity, which Rarity returned with that smile she does when she can tell that something’s bothering the pony she’s smiling at but she’s too polite to say anything.
But Pinkie knew she couldn’t hide anything from Rarity for too long.
“Pinkie Pie?”
“Y-yes?” Pinkie smiled and hoped it looked more genuine than it felt.
“Is something the matter?” Yep, there it was. “You seem uncharacteristically pensive this evening. And your party is a smashing success, I would say. I’d think you’d be over the moon for that.”
“Oh, I am!” Pinkie said. “I abso-tootly-lootly am! It’s just—” Pinkie bit her lip and twiddled her fingers. “I miss Fluttershy, and I feel like a big silly doofus for missing Fluttershy.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Rarity sighed and sat next to Pinkie Pie, Pinkie jumping up onto the counter so Rarity could have the stool, and pressed their foreheads together. “Having a crush can be tough, especially when you feel like you aren’t ‘worthy’ of that pony’s affections—”
“How did you know that I—”
“Because I know you, sweetheart,” Rarity brushed her hand tenderly through Pinkie’s mane. “I know you have a few issues where it comes to self-esteem, and I met Fluttershy just as you did—”
“You think she’s too good for me, right?” Pinkie moped.
“No,” Rarity gently chastised, cupping Pinkie’s face and raising it to meet Rarity’s eyes. “But Fluttershy is very unique, and I understand that you’re feeling a little… plain, in comparison. It’s how I felt about Twilight when I first met her.”
“But you and Twilight are super duper amazing!” Pinkie said, baffled that Rarity would feel plain next to anypony!
“And so are you, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said, her nose gently touching Pinkie’s, “you just have a hard time seeing it yourself.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie grumbled, “I guess you’re right about that.”
Pinkie paused, and grit her teeth. She whimpered under her breath and Rarity rubbed her thumb across Pinkie’s cheek.
“Everything alright, dear?”
“Can I be totally honest with you?” Pinkie asked, too scared to look Rarity in the eye anymore.
“Of course.”
“And you won’t make fun of me?”
“Never.”
Pinkie groaned, cuz she still didn’t feel convinced, but it’d be rude not to trust Rarity since she was always so nice and supportive, so Pinkie forced herself to be honest like she said she was gonna.
“I’m really glad Twilight and Spike and everypony else is enjoying the party,” Pinkie said, “but there’s this little part of me—this dumb, stupid, really mean part of me—that keeps telling me that if I threw a party like this for me, nopony would come to it.”
“I would,” Rarity said without hesitation.
“Would you?” Pinkie asked, looking into Rarity’s eyes with eyes that stung with tears.
“Abso-tootly-lootly,” Rarity giggled, and Pinkie laughed in return as Rarity placed her forehead against Pinkie’s again. “You’re one of my best friends, and I would never miss a party in your honor. I daresay I would make sure it was the most fabulous party in Equestria’s history, because that’s exactly what a pony like you deserves.”
“You’re too much, Rarity,” Pinkie said, pushing Rarity’s face away as her already pink cheeks somehow felt even pinker and cheekier.
“And you’re too sweet,” Rarity gave Pinkie a little peck on the cheek, and Pinkie couldn’t stop giggling like a smitten kitten. “You’re far too sweet and kind to deserve to deal with the demons you have, and I’m sorry there isn’t more I can do to help. But you’ll always have my friendship, and I’ll always have your back.”
“I think that’s more than enough,” Pinkie said with a delicate smile. It’s more than I deserve, that’s for sure.
“Hey, you guys!” Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen. “You two totally missed Applejack practically snapping Rainbow’s entire arm off like a withered old tree branch!”
“See? I told you,” Rarity said smugly, Pinkie giggling in response.
“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight said concernedly. “Are you crying?”
“Huh?” Pinkie wiped a hand across her cheeks, and sure enough her fingers were met with tears she didn’t even realize were there. “Oh yeah, I guess I am.”
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she approached Pinkie and Rarity, the latter putting her hand comfortingly on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Is there something I can do?”
“No, it’s okay,” Pinkie said calmly. “Sometimes my brain just likes to make me feel sad for no reason. It happens sometimes, been that way my whole life.” Pinkie paused for a second and gave another brief burst of giggles. “But thank you, Twilight. It means a lot that you’d wanna take care of me like that.”
“Of course,” Twilight replied immediately, “what are friends for?”
“I’m really glad that I have friends like you guys, then,” Pinkie said, reaching her arms out to offer hugs to everypony present, which were happily accepted by both Rarity and Twilight.
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, her cheek smushed up against Rarity’s and Pinkie’s as Pinkie tried to hold the two as close to her as possible her with tiny little nubbin hands, “I know that you’re worried about your trip to the Everfree, what did you say, it was next week?”
“Yeah.”
“But trust me,” Twilight said with a giggle, “if Fluttershy likes you even half as much as I do, the day you go visit her will be the best day of her whole month!”
“T-Twilight!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight’s cheeks and started bawling, Twilight wrapping her arms around Pinkie and embracing her in a gentle, and very warm, hug. “That’s so sweet of you to say!”
“I mean it, Pinkie,” Twilight said, returning Pinkie’s hug with her own affectionate embrace.
Pinkie felt another set of arms wrapping around her and Twilight—Rarity’s, obviously—and then heard hoofsteps coming through the kitchen door.
“Hey, are we missing group hug time?” Rainbow said.
“Not if you’re quick about it,” Rarity said teasingly.
“Uh, nopony is quicker than me, thanks!” Rainbow bolted over to the group and wrapped not only her arms, but her wings too, around them and Pinkie purred with delight.
“Don’t think yer leavin’ me outta this,” Applejack scoffed. “Need a lift, Spike?”
“Yes please,” Spike said, lifting his little hands into the air as Applejack picked him up, getting him within hugging distance.
Pinkie suddenly found herself in the very center of a warm, happy, six-pony group hug, and everything felt okay in her world. She just hoped she’d be able to give Fluttershy that same feeling.
But no matter what, she felt safe and happy knowing that she had this feeling to come home to.
The library was quiet, and the only light inside came from a small set of candles placed delicately on the reception desk, behind which sat a very sleepy Rarity, and Twilight who was kindly placing a blanket across Rarity’s shoulders.
Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were all sound asleep on the blankets and pillows strewn about on the floor, the four ponies passed out together in one big pile.
“I hope Spike won’t be too upset with you or I,” Rarity said teasingly as Twilight took a seat next to her and poured herself and Rarity some tea, “if I steal you away to myself for one more night.”
“I don’t think Spike’s going to be awake in the morning either,” Twilight chuckled and looked up at the clock, which Rarity could barely see read two in the morning. “I think he’s officially in the realm of the sugar coma now.”
Rarity giggled and leaned her head against Twilight’s shoulder. “I think we can consider the very first party at the library a success, wouldn’t you say?”
“Absolutely,” Twilight said contentedly.
“Abso-tootly-lootly,” Rarity replied, Twilight nearly choking on her drink as she tried not to wake everypony up with her laughter.
“Right,” she grinned brightly, “that.”
Rarity sipped her tea and couldn’t help but let a giggle burst forth from within her as the warm drink touched her lips. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so at ease, or content, or at peace, or just… happy.
She missed it, and she swore she wouldn’t lose it again.
“Rarity?”
“Yes, darling?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Something important, I assume?” Rarity put her tea on the desk and gave Twilight her full attention, biting down on her thumbnail when she looked over and saw Twilight decorated in positively precious star and moon pajamas, with a little dangly nightcap resting on her head. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked if you could ask.”
“Right,” Twilight chuckled nervously and took a sip of tea, “that’s true, I suppose.”
“So what is it, darling?” Rarity batted her eyelashes at Twilight and delighted in the glowing cheeks and widening smile her effort produced. “You can ask me anything.”
“Why haven’t you asked about those fashion books since you’ve been back?”
“Ah.”
Anything but THAT, Rarity wanted to say.
Rarity took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she could only assume was about to be a difficult and rather unpleasant conversation, but it wouldn’t do to not be honest with Twilight regarding her reasoning.
“May I be honest with you?”
“Of course,” Twilight said quickly, as though she were offended by the mere notion that Rarity couldn’t trust her; Rarity thought it was rather sweet.
“Have you ever had a dream,” Rarity spoke, every word feeling like it was being dragged through her throat via a meat hook, “something that you very secretly yearned for, but it was something you were absolutely certain was the dumbest, most pointless, just downright… frivolous nonsense in the entire world?”
“Azure Edge,” Twilight replied immediately.
Rarity blinked, and Twilight took a sip of tea and avoided eye contact.
“Pardon?”
“Azure Edge,” Twilight repeated, and she looked as uncomfortable speaking about whatever that was as Rarity had just felt. And while Rarity was usually remiss to see a conversation steer away from her, in this instance she couldn’t have been happier to see it go.
“What, pray tell, is that?” Rarity asked curiously. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“There’s a legend,” Twilight spoke with the proper cadence and dramatism that reciting an ancient legend deserved, and Rarity’s heart nearly burst with pride, “where I come from, that speaks of a paradise, a perfect place of pure joy and magic, where the sea meets the sky. Azure Edge.”
Twilight paused.
“And I know it’s not literally ‘where the sea meets the sky’,” Twilight rolled her eyes, and Rarity tried not to giggle as she imagined how many times Twilight had probably made the correction based on the saltiness of her tone. “Honestly, I know it doesn’t really exist, but— I want to find it anyway. It’s been my dream since I was a child.”
“Well,” Rarity yawned and a part of her whined that she wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet and lose out on her precious alone time with Twilight, “how about you help me with those fashion books, and I help you find your Azure Edge? That way I won’t feel quite so silly about all that… fashion… stuff.”
“It’s not silly,” Twilight brushed hair out of Rarity’s face, and Rarity couldn’t help but blush under Twilight’s fiery, yet serene gaze. “And I think you already have helped me find what I was looking for.”
“Oh?” Rarity chuckled and scooched her chair closer to Twilight, so the two were practically elbow to elbow. “You flatterer.”
“It’s not flattery,” Twilight said matter-of-factly, and Rarity followed Twilight’s gaze to the four ponies sleeping on the floor in the library, and she felt a warmth radiating in her chest. “All these ponies, my friends, came here today just to hang out with me and my son. I don’t think I can imagine a finer paradise than that.”
“Well then,” Rarity rested her head on Twilight’s shoulder once again, but quietly gasped in surprise as Twilight moved her arm and put it around Rarity’s shoulders, Rarity humming with delight as she pressed her body against Twilight’s and closed her eyes, “it looks like I already owe you. I suppose I have no choice but to let you help me with those fashion books, which you are so clearly desperate to do.”
“Yes,” Twilight snarked, “you’re really in quite the unenviable predicament. How will you ever manage to deal with having a hyper-intelligent and supremely knowledgeable librarian help you with your secret dream? The absolute horror.”
“Sass is a good fit for you, darling,” Rarity hummed, “you’re quite good at it.”
“Thank you,” Twilight said, and Rarity nearly fainted when Twilight rested her head on top of Rarity’s. “For everything.”
“Darling? Thank you.”
“For what?”
Rarity yawned; sleep was coming for her now and she couldn’t fight back. She would say one last thing to Twilight before falling asleep in the librarian’s arms.
“I’m sorry that I have to go. I don’t expect I shall return.”
Rarity spoke gently as she held onto Twilight’s hands as they stood on either side of the open door to the library, the wind and snow caressing Rarity’s back as she whispered her heartfelt farewell.
“But I am a Slayer, and I must do what I must do,” Rarity said, gently rubbing her thumb across Twilight’s fingers. “There are just some missions that we Slayers take where we know we need to get our affairs in order before we can leave, for we know we might not return, and certainly won’t as the pony we were before we left.”
“Rarity, it’s just puckwudgies!” Rainbow screamed from inside the library. “Give it a rest!”
“Well,” Rarity harrumphed, and Twilight was very politely trying not to laugh at her reaction. “It appears some ponies just have no appreciation for the art of melodrama.”
“I appreciated it,” Twilight said with a dorky grin, and Rarity could not have been more endeared to her.
“I suppose that’s what counts,” Rarity smiled and placed her hand on Twilight’s cheek, rubbing Twilight’s face with her thumb while Twilight leaned into her hand and purred, smiling brightly.
Rarity smiled too, because she was proud of herself for so quickly defining what kinds of physical affection were appropriate and appreciated by Twilight, and nothing made Rarity feel closer to somepony than showing her affection through touch.
She even had some ideas for more displays of her affection that she could practice on Twilight once a bit more time had passed and they’d gotten a little closer—Rarity couldn’t wait to scritch behind those big floppy purple ears of hers, after all.
Twilight’s eyes were still closed as she rubbed her cheek against Rarity’s hand, and Rarity took a moment to appreciate her luck. She and Twilight weren’t an item, after all—not yet, at least—but Twilight loved to be touched as much as Rarity loved to touch her, and that was a blessing Rarity refused to take for granted.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Twilight hummed.
“So do I, darling,” Rarity sighed, letting her hand fall away from Twilight’s face and it felt like the cold air blowing through you when you first get out of the bath. “But I do have responsibilities. I’m a Slayer still.”
“I wish you weren’t,” Twilight muttered, and Rarity grit her teeth for a fraction of a second. She didn’t know how to respond to that, to what was a rather hurtful comment spoken without malice, but then she thought of the perfect response.
“If I wasn’t,” Rarity grabbed Twilight’s chin with her fingers and tilted her head up, “I would never have met you.”
Twilight blinked, and said nothing; but Rarity waited patiently for the inevitable response with a smile on her face.
“Huh,” Twilight said dorkily.
Exactly as planned.
Rarity giggled at Twilight’s reaction and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “So don’t knock it too much, okay, my darling?”
“Uh, sure,” Twilight nodded and affected a rather sweet smile, and in appreciation of Twilight at least trying for Rarity’s sake, Rarity pretended not to notice how forced and awkward Twilight’s smile was.
“Rarity!” Rainbow called out and poked her head out the door from behind Twilight, Spike poking his head out behind Twilight’s legs. “Don’t you have a train to catch?”
“Why I never!” Rarity gasped and clutched her heart, before tilting her head back with a hand splayed across her forehead. “Being cast out by my own friends! The scandal! The utter shame of it all!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow pushed past Twilight and started shoving Rarity down the path away from the library. “Imagine the shame of being late to a puckwudgie mission, of all things! C’mon, Rarity! Get a move on already!”
“Honestly, I don’t know why you’re being so impatient,” Rarity huffed. “You’re not even going!”
“Yeah, but-” Rainbow cleared her throat “-I have important stuff to do. Stuff that I can’t get to until you leave.”
“Applejack?” Rarity asked with a devilish grin.
“Leave,” Rainbow stomped her hoof, her face turning blood red, much to Rarity’s delight and amusement.
“As you wish, darling!” Rarity cheered. “Wouldn’t want to keep you from your date, after all!” Rarity gave an amused giggle that almost covered up Rainbow’s very irritated groan.
Rarity headed on her way, but stopped cold when she heard a certain somepony calling her name.
“Rarity, wait!” Twilight yelled, and Rarity turned to see the librarian running after her.
“What’s the matter, Twilight?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes. “Miss me too much already?”
“That’s definitely it,” Twilight said flatly, giving an amused smile. She bit her thumbnail and her brow furrowed; she looked rather pensive and Rarity was suddenly awash in the desire to caress her face and make her feel better, maybe draw her a hot bath.
Actually, that wouldn’t be such a bad—
Rarity, focus! Honestly!
Rarity cleared her throat, mostly for her own sake, but it also got Twilight’s attention and she stood up straight.
“Uh, I wanted to wish you good luck,” Twilight said.
“Okay,” Rarity said, trying not to sound too disappointed, “well thank you, Twilight, though I assure you, I won’t—”
“And, be careful,” Twilight said suddenly, her hands clenched into a ball in front of her body, “please.”
“Darling,” Rarity brushed her hand through Twilight’s bangs, “it’s only puckwudgies. If I get hurt on a D-Class mission like this, I never deserved to be a Slayer in the first place.”
“That may be,” Twilight didn’t look at all reassured by Rarity’s words, “but after what you told me happened during the cragadile mission, and the timberwolves mission, and that quarray eel mission—”
“I see your point,” Rarity interrupted, tightly clasping Twilight’s hand. She placed her hand on Twilight’s cheek and looked the pretty lady in the eyes. “I promise you, I will return safe and sound. You have my word on that.”
“Okay,” Twilight nodded, “I believe you, but—”
Twilight drifted off, biting her lip and averting her eyes.
“Yes?” Rarity arched her eyebrow.
“I still want to give you something,” Twilight stammered, “for luck.”
“Um, certainly,” Rarity was a little confused, but she wasn’t going to refuse a gift from one of her favorite ponies. “What is it?”
Without a word, and too quickly for Rarity to properly react, Twilight leaned in and blessed Rarity’s cheek with a tiny kiss, and Rarity’s entire face lit up in response.
“Well then,” Rarity said, perhaps a bit too loud, but she couldn’t properly focus with all the blood rushing to her head. “I, uh—” Rarity didn’t know what to say and just laughed nervously, and she could practically hear the wires in her brain frying into mush.
“Come back safe,” Twilight said bashfully, placing her own hand over her cheek where Rarity so commonly found her hand these days.
“I will,” Rarity took the hand from Twilight’s cheek and placed it against her lips, giving the knuckles a gentle kiss. “I promise.”
53. Worrying About Every Little Thing in the World
Pinkie Pie stood still and tried not to giggle as Applejack very dotingly wrapped a pink and yellow striped scarf around Pinkie’s neck, which went super cute with her pale blue snowflake sweater and her fuzzy yellow mittens.
All that was left was to put on the purple and yellow polka-dotted cap, which Applejack gracefully applied, and then Pinkie was all set!
“How do I look?” Pinkie asked, examining herself in a mirror. “Do you think I look cute? Is it too much? Is it too little? Am I trying too hard? Am I not trying hard enough?”
“Relax, sugarcube,” Applejack took Pinkie’s cap off and gave her a kiss on the head through her fluffy mane. “I’m sure you and Fluttershy are gonna have a grand ol’ time.” Pinkie looked back at Applejack expectantly, biting down on her lip. Applejack laughed softly. “And yeah, you look super cute.”
“Oh thank goodness!” Pinkie launched herself at Applejack, wrapping the big mare up in a hug, and Applejack grabbed Pinkie and spun her around before plopping her onto the bed.
Pinkie took a look at the clock hanging on the wall and hummed, patting her legs as she rocked back and forth. She had to catch the train pretty soon, but she still wasn’t ready to leave.
She really wanted to go, she’d been planning this trip to the Everfree for nearly a month now, but it was dawning on her that she wouldn’t ever be ‘ready’ to leave Canterlot, especially all by herself.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with me?” Pinkie whined at Applejack, blinking her wide, innocent eyes at her.
“It’s not a matter of ‘want’, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed and straightened up her jacket in the mirror, “somepony’s gotta watch over the shop while yer gone, that’s all.”
“I know,” Pinkie huffed, crossing her arms and, for a moment, regretting her idea to even open up the silly shop in the first place, and she immediately felt super guilty for even thinking such a terrible thing!
“Now you better get a move on,” Applejack took Pinkie by the hands and gently guided her off the bed. “Yer train’s leavin’ in less than an hour, right?”
“Yup!”
“And is Rarity gonna be at the station with ya?”
“Nope!” Pinkie shook her head. “Rarity’s off on a mission, and her train’s leaving from the Sun District. She’s probably headed that way already.”
“Gotcha,” Applejack sighed, and she looked hesitantly into the mirror. She was dressed really nice, nicer than Pinkie was used to seeing her, and it didn’t take Pinkie long to figure out why. “Do you want me to go to the station with ya?”
“Nah,” Pinkie grinned, “I don’t wanna get between you and your hot date.”
“It’s not—” Applejack’s protests were quickly silenced by Pinkie’s giggling, and Applejack’s face turned all red as she puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms, muttering “It’s not a date” under her breath.
“Still though,” Pinkie bounced into the living room, Applejack following behind, “I don’t wanna get between you and Rainbow, cuz I’m super-duper over the moon happy for you that you’re finally talking to her!”
“It’s not like a big deal or anything,” Applejack insisted, though even she didn’t sound too convinced, “we’re just grabbin’ coffee and a bite.”
“I know, I know,” Pinkie rolled her eyes, “but still. I want you to focus on that, and let me focus on me. Okay?”
“Okay,” Applejack sighed and gave Pinkie a soft smile.
“Kiss for good luck?” Pinkie beamed, and Applejack picked the small mare up, Pinkie kissing her on the cheek, and then Applejack giving Pinkie a kiss on the cheek for good measure. “Okay! Good luck!”
“You too, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said with a salute as she put Pinkie back on the ground.
The second Pinkie was on the road to the train station, anxiety started flooding her mind. Her eyes darted this way and that, and she felt like the roads were much emptier than usual, even though it was still early in the morning and most ponies were asleep in their beds at this hour so it was just as empty as it always was.
But it felt emptier.
It was weird and disconcerting for Pinkie to only be greeted by snow-covered stone buildings everywhere she looked, instead of smiling ponies.
She took a deep breath and thought about Ponyville, and how lively the townsfolk were there; not like the Moon District—heck, not like Canterlot at all— where most ponies were just trying to go their own way.
Pinkie wondered why she thought opening up her dumb little blacksmithing shop in Canterlot instead of Ponyville was a good idea, but then she remembered it was because that’s where Rarity lived. Pinkie wondered if Rarity wouldn’t mind moving to Ponyville, but of course she would mind. Especially now that Canterlot had the Golden Oaks Library.
Rarity and Twilight sure got along really well. They got on great during the library party, and Pinkie swore every time she’d swung by the library in the last week—which was pretty much every chance she got—Rarity was there nine times outta ten.
Not that Pinkie could blame her, of course. Twilight was super nice and cool and fun; Pinkie really enjoyed spending time with her, and she didn’t even have a crush like Rarity did!
Well, not a crush on Twilight, anyway.
And that thought, of course, brought Pinkie’s thoughts to Fluttershy.
As much as Pinkie hated to admit it, it was pretty obvious to everypony that Pinkie had a huge crush on Fluttershy— except Rainbow Dash, who didn’t seem too quick to catch onto stuff like that.
Pinkie just hoped it wasn’t obvious to Fluttershy, cuz then Fluttershy would know Pinkie had a crush and she would think Pinkie’s a dumb stupid ugly pink earth pony who nopony could ever love because she’s unworthy—
Ahem.
Maybe now wasn’t the time for thoughts like that.
Pinkie pulled out her lyre and strummed a few notes, humming a tune to herself as she walked in order to keep her anxieties at bay. Kinda like whistling while you worked, but it was playing the lyre and humming to fight brain demons instead.
Before Pinkie knew it, the train station was in view, but it brought no relief to her; nopony was gonna be waiting for her there. She wasn’t ready to go to Ponyville, or wander into the Everfree Forest again, or see Fluttershy again, but most of all, she wasn’t ready to do it all by herself.
Pinkie put her instrument away, cuz while there probably weren’t gonna be a lot of ponies at the station this early, any ponies who were there would probably be annoyed by stupid Pinkie’s bad playing of her dumb instrument that no one liked.
Pinkie sighed and sat down on the first bench she saw, hands smushing up against her cheeks as her elbows rested on her legs. She usually didn’t like to look so visibly down in the dumps, but she’d been awake for like three hours and was already exhausted. Worrying about every little thing in the world took a whole lot of energy.
She didn’t even notice another pony was sitting next to where she’d sat until the pony cleared her throat, and Pinkie shrieked in shock at the sudden unexpected noise, but then did a double take when she saw just who it was that was sitting next to her.
“Hi!” Twilight said with a polite wave, and Pinkie was totally certain she was dreaming.
“Ow,” Pinkie whined after pinching herself.
“Um, are you okay?” Twilight asked concernedly, reaching her hand out to where Pinkie pinched herself.
“What are you doing here, Twilight?” Pinkie asked in shock. “You’re out of your library!”
“It’s not like I’m imprisoned in the library or anything,” Twilight scoffed.
“You’re at a train station!”
“I’m waiting for a train.”
Twilight chuckled and took a sip of the coffee that was floating next to her. Twilight offered Pinkie a second floating cup and Pinkie took it, feeling a lot more relaxed as she realized that it was definitely the really real Twilight and not like a scary ghost version of her or anything.
“How come?” Pinkie asked, sidling up next to Twilight and feeling really happy that, at least for now, she wouldn’t have to be alone.
“Where’re you headed?” Pinkie gasped suddenly and stood up, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders, Twilight catching the coffee cup Pinkie carelessly dropped in her magic before it could spill. “Maybe we’re taking the same train! Won’t that be exciting?!”
“It will,” Twilight nodded calmly, “because we are. I’m headed to the Everfree Forest, down in Ponyville.” Twilight grinned sharply. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it.”
“Uh, yeah I’ve heard of it!” Pinkie scoffed. “That’s where I’m headed! Wait, we’re headed to the same place? No way! What a cool coincidence!”
“Pinkie,” Twilight arched an eyebrow, “it’s not a coincidence. I wanted to go to the Everfree with you… if that’s okay.”
“Wh—why?” Pinkie took a step back and blinked at Twilight.
“I didn’t want you to have to go all by yourself,” Twilight said. “You seemed kinda nervous about going, and I know Applejack had to stay behind, so I figured ‘well I don’t have any plans, maybe I could go’, so here I am! And I didn’t tell you before cuz I thought it might be fun to surprise you—”
Twilight tapped her fingers together and wore an apologetic smile. “Is that okay?”
“Is—is it okay?” Pinkie repeated, tears pouring out of her eyes.
She tried to say something else, but she just kept blubbering and crying as more and more tears fell down her cheeks, until she was leaking like a broken faucet and bawling about how cool Twilight was and what a good friend she was and she hoped Twilight caught on to that being why Pinkie was crying and not cuz she was upset at Twilight or anything.
“Thank you so much, Twilight!” Pinkie launched herself at Twilight in one of her famed tackle hugs, attaching herself around Twilight’s shoulders.
“It’s my pleasure, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, rubbing Pinkie’s back. “And I just know we’re gonna have a great trip.”
Rainbow took her coffee cup in her hands that she was trying to keep steady, but that wasn’t easy when she was sitting across a table from the hottest mare in probably all Equestria, maybe even the whole world.
Applejack took a sip of her coffee and sighed, her chin resting on her hand as her eyes lingered out the window toward the freshly fallen snow. Rainbow looked over her shoulder to see what Applejack was looking at, but quickly realized that while the snow was pretty, she saw that every day, and she’d much rather be looking at a hot girl.
“So hey,” Rainbow cleared her throat, tired of the loud silence between the two, and Applejack turned her gaze to Rainbow. “Twilight’s gonna be gone from the library today.”
“Yeah, she told me that yesterday,” Applejack said. “I told her I’d swing by the library after I close up the shop to make sure Spike’s doin’ alright by himself.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow chuckled. “Well he won’t be by himself, cuz I’m gonna be there! Promised Twilight I’d help him run the place while she’s gone, cuz this is gonna be his first time taking care of the library on his own.”
“That’s mighty decent of ya, Rainbow,” Applejack smiled, and Rainbow ran her hand through the hair behind her ear, trying not to blush.
“Thanks,” Rainbow beamed. “You should totally come over! I’m sure Spike would feel better, if like, we were both there.”
“Sorry, but I can’t,” Applejack shrugged and took another sip of coffee. “I gotta watch the shop, y’know?”
“Right, right,” Rainbow gulped down a lump of anxiety and tugged on her ear.
“But like I said,” Applejack continued after another sip of coffee and a contented sigh, “I’ll come by after I close up the shop for the night, make sure you and Spike haven’t burned the place down or nothin’.”
Rainbow wanted to make a snarky reply to that, but she couldn’t help but just sincerely laugh instead.
“We should probably get a move on though,” Applejack muttered. “I gotta open up the shop, and the library’s gotta be openin’ soon too, right?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said wistfully, not wanting her time with Applejack to be over already.
Applejack got out her bitbag and rifled through it. “Let’s see… yeah, I think I got enough to cover us both today.”
Rainbow’s ears perked up at that. It’s not that she didn’t appreciate the gesture of Applejack offering to pay for both meals, more that she didn’t feel like she deserved that, and then when she thought of confronting the ludicrousness of that idea, a hundred other thoughts about how she was worthless and terrible took its place, like the world’s crappiest hydra.
“Uh, actually,” Rainbow said abruptly, slapping her hands on the table and making Applejack’s ears jump up, “why don’t we, um—” and now it occurred to Rainbow that she didn’t actually have anything to say, she just opened her mouth because she’s an idiot.
“Yeah?”
“I have an idea,” Rainbow grinned as the lightbulb flashed above her head, “why don’t we make this a little bit more interesting?”
“Interesting how?” Applejack arched a concerned eyebrow.
Rainbow propped her arm up on the table, waggling her fingers at Applejack. “Arm wrestle. Whoever loses has to pay for both meals.”
Applejack laughed and put her arm on the table. “Well if you insist, I ain’t gonna say no to a free breakfast.”
Applejack’s hand clasped Rainbow’s and a wave of electricity shot through her. She’d never admit it, but she got a rush from holding Applejack’s hand—how pathetic is that, right?
Rainbow took a deep breath and squeezed Applejack’s hand. She knew she couldn’t beat Applejack in a contest of brute strength—and also that she’d have to pay for their meals after this was over—but she didn’t care. The longer she could keep herself in the game, the longer she could hold onto Applejack’s hand.
Rainbow struggled against Applejack’s strength as the two wrestled, and Rainbow tried to concentrate on that electrical feeling to keep herself focused and strong. And it worked, for about two minutes.
But eventually her strength gave out, and Applejack slammed Rainbow’s hand down onto the table, Rainbow biting her lip to keep from gasping.
“Guess I win again,” Applejack said proudly, standing up and putting her hands on her hips, and Rainbow bit her lip even harder. “That’s two for two now, my favor.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow chuckled, rubbing her palm as she felt a bright heat coursing through her whole body, “guess I lost.”
“I hope yer not takin’ it too hard,” Applejack said softly reaching her hand out across the table, and when Rainbow instinctively reached her hand—the one that had just been crushed by Applejack’s a second before—back out, Applejack gently took it in hers. “I’m just real strong, y’know?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow scoffed, looking at her fingers intertwined with Applejack’s, “I don’t mind losing to you that much.”
Rarity had decided to take the long route and merely walk to the Sun District, rather than taking a train there, figuring the slower pace and lonelier walk would be better for managing all of her sordid thoughts regarding Ms. Twilight Sparkle.
‘Sordid’ might not be the right word. It’s not as though Rarity were harboring any indecent thoughts about the librarian, of course. Sure, Twilight was very pretty and cute, and Rarity had certainly imagined the feeling of her lithe, slender body pressed up against Rarity’s—or underneath Rarity’s— and sure, did the idea of locking lips with the sweet mare warm Rarity’s cheeks and send a jolt of fire shooting through her body? Yes, but that was hardly indecent.
Rarity’s fantasizing—er, rather, her thoughts, about Twilight were interrupted once she reached the marvelous Sun District train station. While the Moon District’s station was a barely covered stone platform shielded from the elements by a meager stone canopy, the Sun District was much larger and grander, with a marble dome covering the entire station, and crisp and clean polished floors that were pleasant to the touch.
The most striking thing to Rarity as she walked into the station however, was the crowd of people all congregating on a single spot; a bench near the tracks. Was somepony important waiting for a train? Or had someone perhaps gotten injured? Or was a fight breaking out?
The more ideas and possibilities Rarity’s mind conjured, the more her curiosity grew, and she found herself walking toward the crowd, eager to see what all the fuss was about.
The noise of the crowd became obnoxiously loud as Rarity approached, and she could tell by the excited chatter that an unfortunate injury was not the cause. While she couldn’t make out what anypony was saying exactly, the energy and enthusiasm with which they were speaking made Rarity double down on her theory that somepony famous was present.
And then, like the morning sun, it dawned on her. Rarity thought for half a second that she couldn’t be right about her guess, but the more she considered it, the less any other option made sense.
Sure enough, once Rarity was able to push her way into the crowd, she saw the source of the commotion; a beautiful white alicorn with an aurora mane sat on a bench, offering stories and conversations to the station’s patrons.
Rarity almost laughed at the absurdity of Equestria’s Hunter Queen travelling via the train like a common peasant, and yet that seemed like exactly the sort of bizarre stunt Celestia would be fond of.
“Well, well,” Rarity said with her most dazzling smile as she approached her mentor, “fancy meeting you here, darling.”
“Rarity!” Celestia flashed a bright smile. She cleared her throat and stood to her hooves, spreading out her wings. “Excuse me, citizens of Canterlot! While I have had a lovely time entertaining you all today, I’m afraid I must speak with my student, alone.”
Not a single pony dared question the Queen. Once she made it known that their time with her was over, the crowd dispersed immediately, some grumbling in disappointment, others fawning over the majestic alicorn even as they walked away, until not a single pony stood around Rarity or Celestia for several feet.
“Wow,” Rarity said, fanning herself, “you certainly have a way with ponies.”
“I am the Queen, you know,” Celestia said proudly and sat back down on the bench, gesturing for Rarity to sit next to her.
“So what are you doing here?” Rarity asked as she sat down next to Celestia, the warmth radiating from the Queen of the Sun drawing a contented purr from Rarity’s lips.
“I was waiting for you,” Celestia said casually.
“Me?” Rarity balked. “Why me?”
“You’re setting off on a mission, correct?” Celestia asked, and though Rarity nodded, she knew Celestia already had the answer. “Puckwudgies, I believe. It’s a basic, D-Class mission. Nothing to be terribly concerned with.”
“That is correct, my Queen,” Rarity said, not entirely certain where Celestia was leading with this.
“I’m going with you.”
Rarity nearly fainted from shock at those words, but she managed to keep her cool and only faintly clutch her heart.
“I—I’m sorry?” Rarity stammered. “You’re what?”
“I’m going with you,” Celestia repeated, as if it were the most basic and casual thing in the world, and not the Queen of Equestria accompanying a Slayer on a mission of such inconsequential non-importance that most Slayers wouldn’t have even bothered with it, much less—and this couldn’t be stressed enough—the Queen of all Equestria. “I hope that’s okay with you!”
“I mean, I’m obviously not going to say no to such stellar company,” Rarity said flatteringly, and frankly she was rather impressed with herself for keeping her cool in this situation. “But I’m more than a little bit shocked, if I’m being honest. Why would you—you—be interested in a mission to hunt puckwudgies?”
“Many reasons,” Celestia said. “Yes, I am the Queen of Equestria and leader of the Celestial Slayers. Most would expect I would spend my time only on the biggest and most dangerous missions, but if I show up to help on missions that most deem ‘unimportant’, it reminds the ponies under my protection that I care about them. Where many would say ‘oh, it’s just puckwudgies, that’s not worth my time’, I, the Queen, say ‘this is important, my people are important, no matter how big or small their problems are’.”
“Wow,” Rarity said in awe, and what else could she say? “I never thought about it like that before.”
“There are other reasons as well,” Celestia hummed, finger tracing her lips, “though that is the primary one. But even I get tired of fighting dragons and ghouls from time to time, and if I can take a more relaxing mission and show my little ponies that I care about them, why wouldn’t I do that?”
“That’s a good point,” Rarity nodded. “You are very wise, Celestia.”
“Oh, stop flattering me, you,” Celestia chuckled and gave Rarity a playful shove.
“But I’m so good at it,” Rarity flicked a hand through her mane.
“Just the best,” Celestia rolled her eyes, and Rarity laughed. “I also must admit, I wanted to spend the time with you, as well.”
“Oh?” Rarity chirped, batting her eyelashes at the Queen. “Have I wormed my way into the Queen’s heart? Can you no longer stand to be away from me?”
“Something like that,” Celestia said with an unexpected amount of serious. “It seems like just yesterday that you left my nest, and I find myself missing the days we would spend training together in Hunter’s Haven. Call it nostalgia, or just empty nest syndrome, I suppose.”
“Celestia,” Rarity said confusedly, “I graduated from your tutorship over a decade ago.”
“And to you, that must seem like a lifetime,” Celestia sighed, “to me, one who has lived over one hundred decades, it’s barely a blink of an eye.”
“I didn’t realize,” Rarity said distantly.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia said awkwardly, rubbing the side of her neck, and it was surreal to Rarity to see her Queen and mentor affect a motion that was so… dorky, and casual. “I didn’t mean to concern you, I’ve just had my head in the clouds these last few weeks.”
“It’s no trouble,” Rarity smiled fondly. “It’s not as though I won’t enjoy the time with you. I do love you, after all.”
“And I love you too,” Celestia put her arm and wing around Rarity and drew her close, “my dearest student.”
Rarity sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the side of her mentor’s body. It was something she hadn’t really considered before, but it was true that Rarity had changed so much in the last decade of her life, and yet Celestia remained the same.
There was something comforting about that, to know that no matter what changes or tribulations Rarity struggled through in her life, she would always have one constant; her Queen and mentor, her ever-smiling protector, Celestia.
“And can you imagine the looks on our clients faces when they see the Queen has come to help them fight off puckwudgies?” Celestia said with almost manic glee. “It’ll be to die for!”
Rarity giggled, for she was very glad to see that Celestia really hadn’t changed at all.
Rarity rested her head in her hand, her elbow on the armrest of her seat, as she stared out at the winter scenery rolling past the train window. Sitting across the cabin from her was Celestia, Hunter Queen of Equestria; one of Rarity’s very favorite ponies and her mentor.
And while normally, Rarity’s time spent with Celestia had her attention completely rapt by the alicorn Queen, on this day, a different pony held Rarity’s thoughts in her hands, and Rarity sighed contentedly as she idly stared out the window and daydreamed about her precious librarian, Twilight Sparkle.
“Why, Rarity,” Celestia said coyly, tapping a finger against her lips, “if I didn’t know better, I might think there was something on your mind. Or somepony, rather.”
Rarity laughed nervously. “Is it really that obvious?”
“I’d love to tell you it isn’t,” Celestia smirked devilishly, “but I can’t lie to you.”
“Alright,” Rarity rolled her eyes, sighing again as she thought about Twilight, “I admit it, I have a crush on a mare I met in Canterlot recently.”
“Oh?” Celestia gave a catlike smile. “Do tell.”
“She’s the local librarian,” Rarity said. “Did you know that? A library opened up in the Moon District very recently, about a couple months ago, I believe.”
“I had heard something to that effect,” Celestia pondered, “though I haven’t been able to visit myself quite yet. It’s good news though, libraries are wonderful places, and I’m certain the ponies of the Moon District will benefit greatly from its presence.”
“I certainly have,” Rarity giggled, stopping just short of snorting as memories of Twilight flooded her heart. “You should come by sometime. I think you and Twilight Sparkle would get along fiendishly well.”
“Ooh, I like the sound of that,” Celestia laughed softly. “Tell me about her?”
“Well,” Rarity beamed ear to ear, “if you insist.”
The next two hours were filled by Rarity’s nonstop gushing about Twilight Sparkle; about how smart she was, and beautiful, and adorable. How she seemed to know nearly everything, and if she didn’t know something, she knew how to learn it.
Rarity gushed about the way Twilight made everything seem so incredible and fascinating and interesting, and Rarity wished she had the same ability as she was certain that she was practically putting Celestia to sleep with all her nonstop rambling.
“Oh, don’t worry about me, Rarity,” Celestia scoffed, batting away Rarity’s concerns. “I enjoy listening to you ramble, and I’m very pleased that you’ve found a special somepony to share your affections with.”
“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet,” Rarity said bashfully. “It’s just a little crush at the moment—”
“I’m not sure you could spend an entire train ride gushing about a ‘little’ crush, Rarity,” Celestia said teasingly.
“Have you met me, darling?” Rarity shot back, fluttering her eyelashes and getting a laugh out of the Queen.
“Fair enough,” Celestia smirked. “Still though, she sounds lovely, and I’m glad that you’re able to enjoy your ‘little’ crush.”
“So am I,” Rarity sighed. “Have you ever had a crush, darling?”
“No,” Celestia said somberly, “I’m afraid I haven’t. I’ve always been far too busy with the whole ‘monster hunting’ thing to worry about romance or the like.”
“That’s too bad,” Rarity said sadly. “You deserve to be happy just as anypony else.”
“I am happy, Rarity,” Celestia rolled her eyes teasingly. “I don’t need to be in a relationship with somepony for me to be happy. For me, just knowing that the ponies under my protection are safe, cared for, and happy— that’s enough.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Rarity said, “and I apologize, for jumping to conclusions.”
“Think nothing of it, Rarity,” Celestia smiled. “Now, we have maybe another half hour before we reach our destination; is there anything else you’d like to share about your Twilight Sparkle?”
“Well…” Rarity tapped her fingers together and prepared a round of gushing that would easily last much longer than a single half hour.
Twilight’s eyes glistened with admiration and joy as the cold iron steam train rolled into the station. So much was Twilight’s anticipation to see the train that she was nearly on the wrong side of the ‘do not pass’ line, and Pinkie Pie had to drag her back. But she couldn’t help it! This was big! Like, really big!
Twilight couldn’t wait to examine the inside once she’d handed her ticket to the ticket… handler person, and she ran through the nearly empty isles of the early morning train taking in all the sights and smells of the locomotive before it took off down the tracks.
“Wow, you sure are excited,” Pinkie chirped as Twilight smushed her face against the window. “You a big fan of trains, Twilight?”
“Oh absolutely!” Twilight gushed, clasping her hands together and beaming at Pinkie. “I haven’t ridden one since I was a kid, but I’ve always dreamed about being on one again! And this is my first train ride as an adult! I’m so excited!”
“That’s awesome!” Pinkie squealed, bouncing into the air.
“I know!” Twilight shouted in return, grabbing Pinkie out of the air and spinning her around in a tight hug.
With Twilight’s rushed examination of the aisles meeting her standards, she ran frantically to one of the private cabins, a spark of magic from her horn activating the built-in identification spell that would allow only herself and Pinkie, or the train staff, into the cabin for the duration of their trip.
Twilight ran to the window, then sat on both benches, then sprawled on the floor and hummed, Pinkie giggling at Twilight’s admittedly immature actions all the while.
Twilight finally finished her trainthusiastic trainventure by curling up on one of the benches and purring like a kitten.
“Getting comfy, Twi?” Pinkie smirked.
“Oh yes,” Twilight hummed, “this is heavenly. I love trains.”
“Well don’t get too comfy!” Pinkie’s words caused Twilight to jolt her head up in curiosity. “You haven’t seen my favorite part yet!”
“Oh! What’s that?” Twilight beamed ear to ear, eager to see even more of the train for herself, and especially the parts of it that her friend enjoyed.
Pinkie motioned for Twilight to follow her out of the cabin and Twilight did so without hesitation, following Pinkie through the aisles to one of the other cars, where she was instantly assaulted by a wave of smells and sounds, the sweet aroma of confections and freshly prepared meals coursing through her as the loud clatter of dozens of chattering ponies were drowned out into mere background noise.
“The food car!” Pinkie cheered, and Twilight barely heard her past the sound of her own rumbling stomach.
Twilight was overwhelmed by the crowd of people populating the food car, musing to herself that the rest of the train only seemed to be nearly empty because everyone aboard had already been gathered here.
She didn’t even know where to start to sate her rapidly growing hunger, and the swell of anxiety mixing with said hunger was only making things worse.
Twilight was certain she would have just laid down on the floor and starved right to death if Pinkie Pie hadn’t been there.
Pinkie guided Twilight through the car, helping her pick out plates and silverware and such, and plopping all sorts of delicious and inviting treats and sweets onto her plate that she probably wouldn’t have even considered without Pinkie’s help. Twilight probably would’ve settled for six hayburgers and a plate of mac and cheese… which she still got regardless, in addition to all of Pinkie’s suggestions.
“You feeling okay?” Pinkie asked as the two sat in a table nestled into the corner of the car, Twilight feeling shielded and safe from the rambunctious energy of the crowd as she prepared to enjoy her meal.
“I am now,” Twilight nodded with a soft smile, “thank you very much, Pinkie Pie. Don’t know what I’d do without you!”
“That’s really sweet of you to say,” Pinkie blushed and batted her hand at Twilight, but Twilight had the sneaking suspicion that Pinkie was just being polite.
“I mean it, Pinkie,” Twilight insisted. “I’m really glad you came back to my library and, I hope this isn’t too forward, but I’m really grateful for the friendship that we’re building together. Is that okay?”
“Twilight…” Pinkie’s eyes widened and they looked to be glistening with unshed tears, but then she erupted into giggles and threw a fistful of spaghetti right at Twilight’s face. “Of course it’s okay! You don’t have to ask permission to say something sweet like that!”
“I can never tell if I’m being sweet or— or weird,” Twilight admitted sheepishly, twiddling her indexes together.
“Big mood!” Pinkie laughed, and Twilight giggled alongside her because it felt nice to be with someone who she could relax around.
Twilight found herself thinking about Rarity, and while she didn’t necessarily wish that Rarity was there right now—though she certainly wouldn’t have minded—she did wish that Rarity was waiting for them at the end of their train ride.
Oh well, she would see Rarity again once they returned to Canterlot, and Twilight would have a great story about her adventures with Pinkie to share with Rarity.
“I’m glad,” Pinkie said uncharacteristically somberly all of a sudden, “I’m glad that you wanna be my friend, Twilight.”
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked in confusion, wiping her messy lips with her shirt. “Who wouldn’t want to be your friend?”
“I dunno,” Pinkie chuckled, but there was no joy or humor in it. “I just don’t have a lot of friends. Pretty much just Applejack and Rarity, actually. And my family, but that’s… complicated.”
“I know how that can be,” Twilight grumbled. She cleared her throat and said proudly, “Well, you can consider Spike and me to be your friends, and I’m sure you and Rainbow will get along great too!”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said wistfully, but then she shook her head furiously and banged her little fists on the table, the clattering of plates ringing in Twilight’s ears. “Yeah! You’re right, Twilight! I may not have a lot of friends, but I do have some really great ones!”
“That’s the spirit!” Twilight beamed, stretching out her hand to Pinkie and instinctively curling all her fingers except for the littlest one.
Pinkie giggled and wrapped her own little finger around Twilight’s, and the two smiled at each other for one blissful moment where they could just forget everything else but them and their joy at finding each other.
“So,” Twilight said as she resumed eating, “how’d you meet Applejack and Rarity anyway?”
“It’s, uh, kinda a long story,” Pinkie muttered.
“We’ve got time,” Twilight only noticed the anxiousness in Pinkie’s voice after she had already spoken, and she wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t have kept her mouth shut instead.
“Uh, I mean, I guess, if you really wanna hear it.”
“Um,” Twilight gulped and felt a shiver go up her neck, and yet her curiosity still managed to get the best of her. “If you’re comfortable with sharing, I’d really like to hear it.”
“When I was a kid,” Pinkie regaled, Twilight leaning into the table and sitting on the edge of her seat, “I lived with my Granny Pie. She took me in from my parents, cuz I didn’t really get along with them too well, they were always so serious and stuffy, and I’m always so… not that.
“Anyway,” Pinkie cleared her throat, “when I was in like my early teens, the little fishing hamlet we lived in got attacked by a dragon.”
Twilight’s blood ran cold.
This was not a story that was going to end well for anyone.
“She—it,” Pinkie continued, “it pretended to be a pony, and it got friendly with a lot of people in the village. I barely knew it, but my Granny was friendly enough with it. Anyway, long story short, it didn’t stay friendly for long.”
Twilight leaned back, a choking storm of rage and anxiety keeping her dead silent.
Twilight was born and raised in the country of Zebrica, where dragons and zebra lived hand and hand and helped each other to live happy, mutually beneficial lives and learn the magic of friendship and such.
She knew that’s not how it worked in Equestria. Ponies and dragons did not see eye to eye, and she knew that a confrontation between a dragon and Equestrian pony could only end with one party dead. It was one of many things that made Twilight constantly wonder why she left home in the first place.
“So,” Pinkie loudly and abrasively cleared her throat, slapping her hands on the table, “that’s the story of how I became the only survivor of my village!”
“Uh,” Twilight said nervously, not sure if she wanted to press the matter any further but she didn’t actually get the answers she was seeking, “where do Applejack and Rarity come in?”
“Oh, right,” Pinkie conked herself on the head. “They were the ones who killed the dragon. And I wasn’t the only survivor, there were maybe a dozen and a half who survived the initial attack, but if anypony else lasted the night, I never heard about it.
“Point is, Applejack and Rarity found me in the wreckage and nursed me back to health, and Applejack retired from being a Slayer shortly after that, so she decided to help take care of me.”
Applejack had been a Slayer? That was news to Twilight. She didn’t know too much about the Celestial Slayers, but she did know that early retirement was virtually nonexistent. How odd.
Twilight didn’t know what to say. She knew about the bad blood Equestrian ponies had with dragons, but she didn’t want to believe any of her newfound friends held that same hatred. Even though she had seen the dragon fang necklace that Rarity wore, she very intentionally had never asked Rarity about it.
It was a lot to take in for someone who owed her life to dragons and who cherished their friendship and culture.
“That’s—” Twilight struggled to say something to help break the tension in the air. “That’s a downer.”
“Yup,” Pinkie chuckled bitterly, which Twilight figured was as good a sign as any she could realistically hope for, “sure is.”
58. Librarianing Is Actually Very Easy, Right? Right!
Rainbow’s neck fur stood on end the second she entered the library and saw the line of frustrated patrons standing in front of the reception desk, with Spike frantically trying to keep them calm and get everypony what they needed.
Rainbow didn’t talk to anyone in line as she made a beeline for the reception desk, but she did pay attention to their frustrated mutters and grumbles. Apparently Spike wasn’t quite the accomplished librarian his mom was, and librarian-ing was a lot harder than it looked.
Still though, Rainbow was sure it was nothing she couldn’t handle.
“Hey, Spike,” Rainbow leaned an elbow on the desk and looked over at Spike who was standing on a stool behind the desk, rifling through some books tucked into shelves inside it and throwing several on the ground in his search. “Spike? Y’there?”
“I’m trying to find a book!” Spike stated the obvious, though the desperate tone in his voice tipped even thickheaded Rainbow Dash off that this wasn’t the best time for jokes.
“No problem!” Rainbow scoffed and sat cross-legged on the desk in front of the line of increasingly frustrated ponies. “What kinda book are you lookin’ for, ma’am?”
The pony in front of the line, a pale pink unicorn with amethyst hair, rolled her eyes and groaned. “I was trying to get a more in-depth explanation on magic thermodynamics!”
She threw a trio of books on the desk in front of Rainbow, and as Rainbow glanced at the covers she already knew she wouldn’t be able to understand a single word of any of them.
“These ones are far too beginner for someone of my skill level!”
“Right,” Rainbow’s eye twitched. “You need something more… complex.”
“Exactly!”
“Right,” Rainbow repeated as the blood drained from her face. She cleared her throat and looked out at the other ponies in line. “Anypony have a simpler request?”
The chorus of groans that erupted from the line was not a great sign.
“Oh, how about this one!” Spike cheered proudly, presenting a book over his head that he dug from the inside of the desk.
“That’s literally the same as this one!” the disgruntled unicorn balked, pointing at one of the books she’d thrown on the desk.
“Uh,” Spike dropped the book and Rainbow caught it before it could land on top of his head or something, “could you excuse me for one sec?”
Spike darted into the nearby kitchen in a panicked frenzy, Rainbow watching him go with a knot in her stomach. Poor guy didn’t need all this stress.
“Well?” the pink unicorn tapped her hoof on the ground and glared at Rainbow, who quite frankly was getting real tired of her attitude! “Are you gonna get us our books?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Rainbow forced a smile and spread her wings before darting toward the kitchen door, “just give me one sec!”
Another chorus of groans erupted from the crowd and Rainbow grit her teeth. She flew into the air and screamed, “Hey! Our librarian is outta town today, so you’ll just have to cut us a little slack while we figure all our stuff out, alright?!”
The frustrated ponies looked less than impressed, and Rainbow just rolled her eyes with an irritated groan, before flying into the kitchen to find Spike.
Spike was curled into a ball, rocking back and forth underneath one of the kitchen chairs when Rainbow found him. She sat next to him and outstretched a wing, awkwardly fitting it under the chair, and wrapped it around him.
“You okay, kid?”
“Y-yeah,” Spike sniffled, clearly not okay.
“I didn’t know your mom had such a tough job!”
“I know, right?! I thought it would be super easy!”
“Yeah! Like, how hard is it to just be like ‘oh here’s a book for you!’ Really dang hard, I guess!”
Spike laughed and cozied up next to Rainbow, wrapping his little arms around her leg, her wing still carefully sheltering him.
“I really didn’t wanna mess things up,” Spike said, puffing up his cheeks and trying not to cry anymore. “I didn’t want Twilight to come back and see that I made a mess of everything and got all the ponies mad at her and then everyone would leave the library and never come back!”
“Well, I got bad news, Spike,” Rainbow said grimly, before smirking at him and ruffling his mane, “I’m not going anywhere, so you’re stuck with me!”
“That’s not bad news!” Spike gave Rainbow a playful shove, and Rainbow responded by getting him in a gentle headlock and ruffling his mane all up. “Still though, what do we do now?”
“Welp,” Rainbow stood up and stretched her arms over her head, banging her fingers into a couple of overhanging pans, “we can’t do what Twilight does, that’s for sure.” Rainbow flashed a gleaming grin at Spike, who just looked at her all confused. “So we’ll just have to do what we can do! C’mon, follow my lead!”
Rainbow poked her head into the lobby and scanned the line of ponies. Just one foal would be enough for Rainbow’s plan to go off, but if there weren’t any, she’d be kinda screwed. Lucky for her, she spotted no less than half a dozen parents with their kids, either standing grumpily in line or wandering through the aisles of bookcases.
Perfect!
“Hey, sorry for the delay, everypony!” Rainbow called out as she walked back into the library, Spike following tepidly behind her as she walked the length on the line of angry ponies staring at them.
Rainbow ignored the frustrated and bemused glances, and she kept walking until she reached a woman standing with crossed arms, standing next to a little girl with her nose in a Daring Do book.
“So what are you looking for?” Rainbow asked the woman, whose eyes briefly landed on her daughter before focusing on Rainbow.
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” the woman said nervously. “Aura, what did you say the book was called?”
The filly delayed a second, but when her mother called her name again she snapped to attention.
“Huh? The name of the—oh, uh—” Aura bit her lip, and Rainbow stifled a chuckle at the way her eyes crossed as she thought. “I don’t know!”
“You looking for a Daring Do book?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah!” Aura exclaimed excitedly, drawing a chuckle from both her mother and Rainbow as she nearly shoved the book she was holding into Rainbow’s face, or at least as close as her tiny stature would allow. “Daring Do’s the coolest!”
“I totally agree!” Rainbow grinned. “And you’re in luck, cuz not only do we have an extensive collection of Daring Do, and other cool adventure books, but tonight we’re doing a super special book reading of Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams!”
The filly gasped in excitement and Rainbow flicked a hand across her bangs, trying to play it cool.
“A book reading?” one of the other patrons asked in a dry, humorless tone.
“Do you really think that’s gonna make up for being totally useless at the jobs you were supposed to do?” the pink unicorn, still standing futilely at the front of the line, cried out.
“I dunno,” Rainbow shrugged and glanced down at the child beside her who was quivering with excitement, “what do you think, Aura? You and your mom wanna come by tonight for a super exclusive live reading of the most awesomest, terrifyingest, dramaticest of all adventure stories?!”
“Yeah!” Aura cheered, jumping into the air several times, and to Rainbow’s relief, her mom looked tentatively enthused also.
Some of the other patrons were poking their heads out of the bookcase aisles to see what all the sudden fuss was about, and it did Rainbow’s heart good to see several kids looking excited at the prospect of story time, either staring with glittery eyes and cooing, or tugging on their parents’ sleeves and such to ask if they could come back tonight.
It was starting to look like today wouldn’t be such a disaster for the library after all, and Rainbow looked over at a visibly relieved Spike and gave him a wink.
“Daring Do?” Rainbow heard a dismissive scoff coming from the line of ponies, which was slowly starting to disperse, and she scanned the crowd to find the culprit, narrowing in on a black-haired, grey colt when he spoke up again. “That stuff’s for babies.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow scoffed and crossed her arms before flying into the air. “You don’t think it’s awesome when Daring Do uses a cragadile for a raft? Or when she uses the sparkling trail of adamantium to throw off the diamond dog hunting party?”
The colt yawned.
And that would’ve been bad enough, but the snickering from some of the other kids is what really got to Rainbow. This wasn’t just a heckling now, this was a challenge.
“What’s your name, kid?” Rainbow landed next to the kid, briefly exchanging pleasantries with the buff black pegasus dude he was with.
“Rumble,” the kid answered confidently, and Rainbow had to admit she liked the kid’s sass.
“So what do you like, Rumble?” Rainbow asked, trying to strike a balance between being kinda confrontational, but not being one of those weird adults that gets mad at kids’ taste in art. “If you think Daring Do is ‘for babies’?”
“Mystery and horror stuff,” Rumble scoffed, “duh.”
“Well joke’s on you, kid!” Rainbow pointed both indexes down at the kid. “Razor of Dreams has plenty of that stuff!”
“Oh yeah?” Rumble crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow.
“Of course!” Rainbow scoffed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world and this kid clearly didn’t know what was cool if he didn’t know something as simple as that.
Truth be told, the mystery aspect of Razor of Dreams—and Daring Do in a general sense—was pretty downplayed, and calling the intense action scenes ‘horror’ would’ve been a stretch, so no, it wasn’t really either of those things.
But there was no reason Rainbow couldn’t spin it like it was!
“I mean, think about this,” Rainbow flew up into the air again and outstretched her hands, getting everpony’s attention, “imagine the famed scientist Dr. Niflheim, who went missing over a decade ago, is suddenly spotted in her hometown, and when Daring Do goes to see how she suddenly, miraculously, returned, everypony in town acts like she’s been there all along, even when there’s clear evidence that isn’t the case!”
Rumble hummed and pursed his lips, and the smile from his black pegasus friend was a good sign that Rainbow was on the right track.
“And imagine,” Rainbow dashed to the other side of the room, forcing everypony to quickly turn around to keep their eyes on her, “you’re Daring Do, you’ve lost all your useful equipment, and you’re stranded in the jungle in the dead of night, no civilization for miles…”
Rainbow ducked behind a bookcase, loudly stomping her hooves on the wooden floor as she skulked behind the bookcase. “You think—you hope—you’re all alone in this dangerous jungle, cuz the venomous plants and ferocious animals you can deal with, but what if…”
Rainbow dashed behind another bookcase, a torrent of wind blowing through her wake and startling the crowd, gasps and coos coming from several patrons.
“What if you’re being hunted the whole time?” Rainbow said eerily, hiding behind yet another bookcase out of the crowd’s sight, darting back and forth between several until she was sure the crowd had lost sight of her.
“And then,” Spike chimed in, using his best spooky story-teller voice, and Rainbow poked her head out just enough to see everyony in the library was giving him their full attention, making her grin devilishly, “what if you hear something echoing through the jungle? A hum that definitely didn’t belong to any snake or cragadile?”
Rainbow hummed an eerie tune, and she could hear the concerned and enraptured murmurs of the crowd.
“So what is it?” Rumble asked, trying to sound tough even as his voice cracked.
“There’s no way to know,” Spike said dramatically, “until…”
He paused, and the air in the library became cold as everypony went silent, waiting for a continuation that never came.
“Until?” Rumble asked weakly.
“IT STRIKES!” Rainbow screamed as she jumped out from behind a bookcase into the crowd, the whole line of patrons screaming in fright in return for a moment, before several kids and adults alike started laughing and applauding Rainbow’s dramatics.
Rainbow basked in the praise for a sec, and she caught sight of Rumble clutching his heart, his friend rubbing his shoulders to comfort him, before Rumble caught Rainbow looking and cleared his throat.
“Okay,” he admitted, “that does sound kinda cool.”
“See you tonight, everypony?” Rainbow said to the crowd, grinning widely at them, and even wider still as the enthused reactions of the patrons clued her in that she nailed it.
And with another wink toward Spike, which he returned with a thumbs-up, Rainbow mused that maybe taking care of the library for the night wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The Everfree Forest was… decidedly less enamoring to Twilight than the train was.
Within seconds of stepping into the wood, Twilight felt the presence of its Spirit watching her, and a knot twisted around in her stomach.
She didn’t have the heart to ask Pinkie to reconsider now, and she was sure she was just being paranoid, but she couldn’t quite erase the sinking feeling in her gut that only grew with each step into the snow-covered forest she took alongside Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie seemed to have no such reservations; the dour mood she had been put in by Twilight’s earlier questions involving her past had been completely wiped away as soon as she’d stepped off the train. While the pair didn’t dawdle in Ponyville, Pinkie made a point to say hello and wave to every pony she passed by, her cheer only growing as they approached the forest itself.
Twilight took a deep breath, and Pinkie turned back to smile at her. Pinkie was really happy; this is what she’d been waiting for, she planned this trip for weeks, and Twilight wasn’t going to ruin that for her with her silly worries.
Though she felt the urge to ruin it with her silly worries growing when she saw Pinkie had stopped holding her arms to shield herself from the cold. Twilight wasn’t generally bothered by the weather, cold or warm, but she wasn’t so dense to not notice it getting curiously warmer very quickly.
The Spirit was here. She was watching them as they walked.
Twilight cleared her throat and stopped, and Pinkie turned around, her smile giving way to a concerned frown as she saw Twilight’s pensive expression.
“You okay, Twilight?”
Twilight didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t about her silly worries anymore; Pinkie had no idea what she was walking into, and Twilight felt sick wondering if she should say something.
But did Pinkie really need to know? Wasn’t it enough that the Spirit made Pinkie happy? Twilight would protect her if anything happened, and the more Twilight thought about it, the less sense it made that the Spirit—Fluttershy—would be hostile.
“Yeah,” Twilight gave a genuine smile as she tried to flush away her worries. “That said,” Twilight giggled, “I have to admit, I expected your friend Fluttershy to be better at hiding herself.”
“What?! She’s here!?” Pinkie looked around expectantly, darting her head this way and that with a big grin on her face.
“She is,” Twilight said calmly, placing her hands in front of her. “So why don’t you come out, Fluttershy? We’re both quite anxious to see you!”
Right on cue, a woman taking the form of a skeletal-thin yellow pegasus walked out from the foliage into the small, snowy clearing Twilight and Pinkie stood in. Her pink hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, and insects and birds of all kinds made it their home, crawling out from the tangles in her hair or the knots in her fur.
Squirrels, rabbits and other such critters hounded her hooves that melted the snow around them, and birds chirped and fluttered around her head, some making their perches on her wings and shoulders.
“You came,” her voice was soft as she locked eyes with Pinkie Pie. “You really came back.”
“Of course,” Pinkie said, wiping tears from her eyes as she gazed upon the friend that she was so certain was going to be mad at her for returning, or for taking too long, or some other such thing. “I’d never break a promise to a friend.”
Fluttershy smiled, and if Pinkie had any worries left in her, Twilight assumed they had been dispelled, given the squeal of glee she gave at Fluttershy’s smile, the Spirit herself indulging in a coy giggle at Pinkie’s enthusiasm.
“And you,” Fluttershy’s glittering teal eyes shone with ethereal light as they seemed to look right through Twilight, but Twilight returned Fluttershy’s gaze with equal intensity. Fluttershy smiled brightly, as if she had been looking at a long-lost sister. “Welcome to my forest.”
At least, that was the impression that Fluttershy got as she sat down with Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie to enjoy a picnic that Pinkie had prepared.
Fluttershy was still reeling somewhat from the fact that Pinkie had actually returned at all, let alone that she had packed so much food for the three of them to enjoy; Fluttershy wasn’t sure when the last time she saw so much food even was, and her stomach sounded like a roaring bear as she tried to figure out what to dig into first.
Granted, it was also hard to decide on anything when she kept being distracted by Twilight Sparkle.
Fluttershy saw it in Twilight’s eyes; the same flame that burned in Fluttershy’s, the same ethereal light that shimmered in her eyes, was also in Twilight’s. They were one in the same, and though Fluttershy was no stranger to seeing their kin— they often did wander into her forest— Twilight must not have realized what Fluttershy was until it was too late to turn back.
“Try this one, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said, her wide eyes glowing like an innocent little puppy dog as she offered Fluttershy a delicious-looking cucumber sandwich.
“Oh, thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile and took the sandwich, feeling very rude for constantly getting distracted by Twilight when Pinkie had travelled all this way just to see her, and now Fluttershy was ignoring her.
But Twilight just kept staring. She tried not to let Fluttershy see, but Fluttershy saw everything inside the forest, and Twilight couldn’t hide her curiosity—or her fear—from her.
“So, Pinkie Pie, you brought a new friend this time,” Fluttershy said, smiling first at Twilight and then at Pinkie Pie. She felt rather proud of herself for coming up with a way to satisfy her curiosity regarding Twilight Sparkle and keep Pinkie Pie involved in the conversation. “She seems a mite shy-“ Fluttershy giggled “-not that I’m one to throw stones, of course.”
“Sorry about that,” Twilight said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking at anything but Fluttershy. “I guess I’m just a little… intimidated. I’ve never met a Spirit before, after all.”
“It’s okay, you guys!” Pinkie chimed in. “You’re both super sweet and cool and nice, and I’m sure you’re gonna get along great!”
“I’m sure we will too, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy laughed softly, and stared down Twilight. “After all, I bet we have a lot in common.”
Twilight Sparkle grimaced, and Fluttershy’s eyes darted quickly over to Pinkie Pie to catch her reaction; she seemed confused. So Pinkie Pie was in the dark regarding Twilight Sparkle’s and Fluttershy’s commonality then.
“Well, I understand being nervous,” Fluttershy said, trying to sound sincere but she always felt like she just came off as patronizing instead, “but know that as long as you are within my forest—and you don’t bring it harm—I will not see any harm done to you. So make yourself comfortable, okay?”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, burying her face in a hayburger, “sure.”
And with that, Fluttershy elected to turn her full attention to Pinkie Pie and her aromatic picnic. Pinkie did seem rather excited to be back in the Everfree Forest for some reason, and Fluttershy didn’t want her to leave feeling disappointed, or that Fluttershy had snubbed her and her kind offering.
Twilight Sparkle didn’t talk much during the rest of the picnic, but Fluttershy didn’t mind; Twilight Sparkle would either come around in her own time, or perhaps she wouldn’t, and Fluttershy wasn’t interested in forcing the matter either way.
Fluttershy didn’t talk much either, and while that was primarily because she didn’t like trying to take control of a conversation, it was also because not a second went by where the chilly winter air wasn’t filled to bursting with Pinkie Pie’s chatter.
Pinkie Pie talked a lot; she regaled Fluttershy about her friend the blacksmith, told her how Rarity was doing back in Canterlot—apparently she’d taken a shine to the ‘cute librarian’, who Pinkie Pie insisted was definitely not Twilight Sparkle, though the blush on the lavender one’s cheeks told a different story—and she told Fluttershy the story of the party in the library.
“I wish you had been there,” Pinkie said somberly, but as soon as she said it, her hands clamped over her lips, as if she had accidentally revealed some horrible secret.
“It sounds lovely,” Fluttershy smiled.
Truthfully, a party with so many people—and to Fluttershy, six was indeed ‘so many’—sounded exhausting more than anything. But she couldn’t help feeling a little bit intrigued; Pinkie Pie had a way of spreading her enthusiasm when she talked about something she was passionate about, and Fluttershy was starting to wonder if Pinkie Pie was just passionate about everything.
When Pinkie Pie had last made Fluttershy’s acquaintance, Fluttershy had assumed that Pinkie Pie only saw her as a novelty; a mysterious person to be ‘friends’ with so she could tell cool stories to her real friends. She assumed Pinkie Pie’s talk of returning to visit Fluttershy again had been just that: talk.
Now she wasn’t sure what to think. She was certain that Pinkie Pie loved the sound of her own voice, practically more than any pony Fluttershy had met before, but she did have a lovely voice. And her passion and enthusiasm, for Fluttershy and her other matters, seemed genuine enough.
Perhaps Fluttershy had misjudged Pinkie Pie, and perhaps the little pink pony who couldn’t stop giggling, whose tail wagged and eyes shimmered like an overexcited puppy, who couldn’t help but gush about all the things she found beautiful about Fluttershy’s forest… perhaps her feelings for Fluttershy were genuine.
At the very least, Fluttershy decided that while Pinkie Pie was here in the forest, she would enjoy her company.
Though the dusk sky was a cool gray by the time Rarity and Queen Celestia had departed their train, it was still bright with the glaring lights of Las Pegasus; Equestria’s premier haven for all sorts of entertainment and debauchery.
Games, food, drink, pleasure, and the opportunity to make a king’s fortune—or lose it— all these things and more could be found within the golden gates to this sprawling, wondrous city. It was exhilarating, but perhaps more than a bit overwhelming.
“Have you ever been to Las Pegasus, Rarity?” Celestia asked as the pair entered the city proper, and Rarity barely heard her over the sounds of loud games being played and the people cursing and cheering at them.
“Uh, I can’t say that I have,” Rarity answered with what she hoped didn’t sound like a forced laugh. Despite all the glamor and drama on display, Rarity had a hard time imagining who would actually enjoy spending time in a place this loud, obnoxious, and practically barbaric. “Have you?”
“A time or two, yes,” Celestia nodded. “Usually only for official Slayer business. This place isn’t really my idea of a great time.”
Rarity nodded confidently at this. Of course Celestia, the Queen, wouldn’t be taken in by all the flashy glitz and smoke and mirrors and whatnot of such a shallow and boorish—
“Plus, whenever I start gambling, I can never seem to stop on my own!” Celestia laughed.
Rarity stopped in her tracks and shot her Queen with a glance of utter bafflement, and more than a bit of bemusement.
Celestia looked back at Rarity and, met with her glare, smiled sheepishly. “Everypony has their vices, right? Even me!”
“I have a hard time picturing that,” Rarity said as the two resumed their trek down the busy streets. It was only now that Rarity noticed that not a single pony had stopped the two as they walked past; even the guards at the city’s entrance didn’t bat an eye at the Queen of Equestria stopping by their city.
Rarity hoped it was because they were simply too intoxicated by the city’s atmosphere, and not because they were used to seeing her.
“I remember one time,” Celestia rambled, and Rarity shook away her previous thoughts to focus on her Queen, “Luna literally had to drag me out from one of these parlors!”
Celestia laughed, and Rarity arched an eyebrow at her, Celestia’s laughter turning a bit more nervous when met with Rarity’s skepticism.
“Okay,” Celestia grumbled, “it was hardly one time.” And now, Rarity was the one who was laughing.
“Celestia, darling?” Rarity asked, Celestia smiling at her and waiting for her to continue. “Do you mind if we sit down a moment? All these lights and noises are starting to make me feel a bit queasy.”
“Certainly,” Celestia said. “I can go meet with our client, hurry this mission along, or I can stay with you, if you prefer.”
“I would prefer, yes,” Rarity nodded.
The two took a seat at a nearby bench, and Rarity watched in awe and mild disgust at all the people running this way and that, completely oblivious to everything around them as they hurried to spend their fortunes, bemoan losing them, or beg shady back-alley dealers for another chance.
The longer she watched, the grosser she felt, but she couldn’t quite pin down why. She wasn’t looking down on anypony, it wasn’t her place to tell anyone how to spend their wealth, and if they chose to do so gambling, she had no issue with that.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized her disgust was not with the people, but the institution itself. She thought about how many nights she’d spent eating frozen meals, or leftovers, or how many times she thought about getting something that was broken or breaking replaced, but simply couldn’t afford to and had to make do.
And yet, here she was in a den of thieves, who made more money in a day than Rarity would see in her lifetime, all by having nothing and doing nothing, and stealing from people who couldn’t control themselves.
“I don’t like this place,” Rarity said coldly.
Celestia said nothing, but she put a comforting hand on Rarity’s shoulder, caressing the weary bone enough for Rarity to briefly forget the anger burning a hole in her stomach.
Rarity continued to scan the crowds of people coming into and out of various shops and parlors along the street, when something very curious caught her eye. She was certain she must have imagined it, but then the person she was staring at stared right back at her.
“Rarity!” the older woman called out, waving her hand in the air.
Rarity held her hand up to wave back, smiling tepidly—almost timidly—in return.
“Someone you know?” Celestia asked.
“My mother.”
Rarity’s mother was a pink, plus-sized unicorn with a striking purple mane, and Rarity cringed when she saw on closer inspection that said mane was sculpted into a beehive. She was a jovial woman, and she practically bounced toward Rarity upon seeing her, and embraced Rarity in a spine-crushing hug as soon as she came close.
“It’s so good to seeeee you!” her mother said as she squeezed Rarity and lifted her an inch off the ground, shaking her back and forth. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I—”
“Magnum!” her mother screamed back at the parlor she came out of, and Rarity didn’t even know why she tried to answer her question in the first place. “Magnum, get over here! Look who it is!”
A portly white unicorn stallion, his muzzle graced by a dashing mustache that matched his long, unkempt brown hair, poked his head out of the parlor, his eyes lighting up as he saw Rarity and she waved to him.
He came galloping out of the parlor, and with him was a young silver unicorn filly, her hair an absolutely darling mixture of pale purple and pink, and Rarity’s heart nearly melted at the sight of her.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up, rushing toward Rarity with her arms open wide and leaving her father in the dust. Rarity ran forward and picked her up, spinning around while holding her dear sister in the tightest, softest, warmest hug she could manage. “Wow, you look like shit.”
Rarity laughed and put her sister back on the ground, possessing half a mind to just drop her right on her rump.
“Being an incredible adventurer does tend to do a number on one’s self-care routine,” Rarity said confidently, flicking a hand through her mane, which was perfectly coiffed and curled despite somepony’s accusations.
“Uh-huh,” Sweetie nodded, “then why do you look so bad?” Rarity’s face twisted into a scowl of such powerful bitterness that Sweetie Belle’s laughter devolved into a quite undignified snort.
“How’re you doing, sugar plum?” Rarity’s father put his arm around her and dragged her into an embarrassing headlock, ruffling her mane roughly.
Before she could protest, or answer his question, his eyes landed on Celestia, who had been politely sitting on the bench in silence, watching Rarity’s impromptu reunion unfold.
“Is this your girlfriend, Rarity?” her father asked.
“Wh—no!” Rarity said, aghast. “Dad, this is Queen Celestia!” Rarity held her hands out to properly introduce the Queen, trying to ignore how baffled she was that none of her family seemed to recognize her, especially since her parents had worked for her!
“Oh, Rarity!” Rarity’s mother squealed, and Rarity bitterly dreaded the next words out of her mouth. “You didn’t tell us you were dating Queen Celestia!”
“Mom!” Rarity shouted, her voice cracking with embarrassment.
“Well, we did agree not to tell anypony,” Celestia stood up and put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder, and Rarity instantly spun around to glare at her.
“Celestia!” she shrieked, her face getting redder by the second, to the point where she practically felt like a perfectly ripened tomato.
“Oh come on,” Celestia giggled, “you couldn’t deny me that little bit of teasing, could you?”
“Everypony relax,” Sweetie Belle scoffed, “we all know Celestia’s nowhere near cool enough to get with Rarity.”
Rarity grinned smugly at Celestia, who merely rolled her eyes.
“She’s not wrong,” Celestia said, taking Rarity by surprise a little bit. She was just teasing Rarity still, right? “Anyhow,” Celestia cleared her throat, “Rarity, will you be alright if I leave you to your family reunion, and I’ll go check in on our client?”
“Absolutely, my Queen,” Rarity gave a salute and a wink, and Celestia took flight, disappearing before everypony’s eyes. She never was one for long goodbyes.
Rarity sighed and turned her attention back to her family, her parents still scanning the night sky for any trace of Celestia.
Rarity’s mother harrumphed. “Not very polite of your girlfriend to just up and leave like that, don’tcha know?”
“Ugh, she’s not my girlfriend,” Rarity rolled her eyes. “She’s not even my type.”
“That’s alright, darling,” Rarity’s father said teasingly, ruffling Rarity’s mane much more gently this time, “we were only teasin’ ya.”
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Now that Rarity’s here, maybe we could all grab brunch together!” Sweetie winked at Rarity. “Don’t worry, Rarity. Mom and dad will pay for it.”
“Gee, that’s very kind of you,” Rarity replied coldly, giving her sister a wry smirk.
“I think that’s a lovely idea,” her mother said, “what do you think, dear?”
All three of her family members looked at Rarity with wide, expectant, puppy-dog eyes, and even if she had a heart to refuse them before, she couldn’t rightfully do it now.
“That sounds divine,” she said with a bright, if heavy, smile.
Applejack let out a long, slow, breath as she locked the door to the empty ApplePie Smithery. It had been empty basically all day, in fact!
Applejack never cared much for slow days— which was most days for her pitiful little business— but without Pinkie Pie around to lighten the mood and provide conversation, sitting in the empty smithery for far too many uninterrupted hours all alone was starting to do a number on Applejack’s sanity.
She tried not to wonder why she even bothered opening the shop up in the first place, if only because she’d wondered that same exact thing at least sixty times already today.
Honestly, all Applejack wanted to do now was go home, fall into her bed, and sleep for the rest of the night. She wasn’t even sleepy so much as she was just sorta tired of existing, but either way, her bed called to her like a Siren’s song.
But, she promised she would stop by the library first. She promised Twilight, and she promised Rainbow. She didn’t want to go; she didn’t want to be bothered by the extra trip, or to talk to anyone. All she wanted was for this day to be over.
But a promise is a promise, and Apples ain’t no liars.
Applejack slowly plodded along, hands in her pockets and slouching as she trudged through the heavy snow falling from the cloudy night sky, until she finally reached the Golden Oaks Library, and she couldn’t help but let the faintest smile cross her lips.
She’d only been in the library twice before, but those were both great nights—two of her best in recent memory—so she couldn’t help feeling a mite warm inside at the sight of the place.
The quiet atmosphere she expected is not what greeted her when she opened the door, even though almost all the lights were out. There was chattering and commotion, and Applejack was curious to see what the fuss was about as she carefully inched through the entryway and into the lobby where a crowd of patrons were gathered—and most of ‘em had kids, to boot.
Applejack wondered what was going on, until she saw the candles burning on the desk, illuminating the back wall of the library, and the pair of enthusiastic pegasi standing on the desk, each holding a cardboard sword in one hand and a book in the other as they read to a group of enraptured ponies, foal and parents alike.
Applejack leaned against a bookcase, just outside the glow of the candlelight, and watched Rainbow and Spike’s mock swordfight with curious enthusiasm.
“You’re pretty good, for a girl!” Spike sneered, and only after a moment of confusion did Applejack realize he was quoting from the book. “So you want to be the prince who saves the helpless princess? Don’t make me laugh!”
Rainbow grinned, knocking her cardboard sword against Spike’s several times as the smaller pegasus hovered in the air to match Rainbow’s height. “’Daring Do grit her teeth and forced a grin on her face’,” she said, affecting that very same motion herself, and Applejack was rather impressed by her acting prowess, “’she wasn’t about to let this chump see her sweat’!”
“’Unfortunately for you, Ms. Do,’” Spike grinned evilly and lunged forward, knocking Rainbow off balance and nearly swiping her sword out of her hand, a frightened gasp coming from the crowd, and even Applejack had to admit she was holding her breath, “’one who hasn’t been blessed by the Razor has no chance against the power of my Dream!’”
“’Daring jumped back’,” Rainbow said, affecting every motion and expression with one-thousand percent passion, “’and while she tried to keep her footing steady, the relentless assault of Atlas’ attacks forced her off her guard’,” Spike kept lunging forward, and Rainbow kept jumping back, “’until finally, she buckled under the pressure, and his sword sliced right through hers, knocking the blade out of her hand’!”
Spike knocked the cardboard sword away from Rainbow, careful to make sure it landed behind the desk and nowhere near the lit candles.
“’Really now’,” Spike laughed, and Applejack was really impressed by his evil villain voice, “’you thought you could challenge one who has been touched by the Razor of Dreams, with a mere bamboo practice sword? How pathetic.’”
“’I dunno what ‘razor’ you’re talking about’,” Rainbow scoffed, “’but this fight ain’t over yet!’”
“’If you’re so keen on staining this hallowed place with your blood,’” Spike chortled, running his cardboard sword through his mane, “’then I will gladly end your life with but a single strike!’”
Rainbow sneered, gritting her teeth and baring her fangs; Applejack hadn’t even realized Rainbow had such impressive looking fangs until just this moment, but Applejack sure couldn’t look away from them now.
“’Go ahead!’” Spike guffawed. “Risk your life and face me! If you have the courage!”
“’Daring glared daggers into the man’s pitch-black heart,’” Rainbow said, and Applejack found herself watching with bated breath, eager to see how this would all play out. “’She knew she was at a total loss here, but there was no way she could lose Mareian to a creep like this! She’d just have to summon some reservoir of inner strength, and bare her fangs against the heavens themselves!’”
Rainbow roared, pointing her finger to the ceiling and outstretching her incredible wings as far as they would go, the crowd cheering and hollering for Rainbow—er, for ‘Daring Do’ to triumph.
“But that’ll have to wait ‘til next time!” Rainbow said with a grin, eliciting disappointed groans, laughs, and even applause from the audience, and none of them were clapping harder than Applejack.
Applejack lingered in the aisles even as Spike illuminated the rest of the library again, cuz she didn’t want to interrupt Rainbow until she’d finished entertaining the crowd of ponies, many of whom—child and adult alike—wanted to talk to her after her performance and tell her how incredible she was.
And they should, Applejack thought, that was really somethin’!
Soon enough, Rainbow had drunken in all the praise she required and saw everypony out of the library, closing the door and leaving only herself and Spike as the only ponies left. Well, and Applejack, but Rainbow didn’t know she was there yet.
“That was pretty awesome, huh Spike?” Rainbow leaned her back against the door and slid down to the floor, running a hand through her mane.
“I’ll say,” Applejack said warmly as she stepped into the entryway, chuckling at Rainbow’s shriek of fright as she leapt up to the ceiling. “Howdy!”
“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow said coyly as she floated down to the ground, her cheeks tinted an adorably bright red. “How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to see the end of that performance,” Applejack said. “You were amazin’!”
“Oh,” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck, “so you saw all that, huh?”
“Saw the sword fight, at least,” Applejack said. She turned her head to see Spike approaching from the back, greeting Applejack with a smile. “Howdy, Spike. You put in a mighty fine performance yerself!”
“We were pretty amazing, huh?” Spike beamed, and Applejack nodded. “Putting on a big reading show was Rainbow’s idea, and it turned out to be the most brilliant idea ever!”
“I dunno if I’d say most brilliant,” Rainbow’s failed attempts at hiding her proud smile warmed Applejack’s heart. That girl was cute.
“Gotta tell ya though,” Applejack smirked at Rainbow, whose ears perked up in attention, “I really gotta know what happens next. I don’t suppose I could, I dunno, maybe stick around for a hot minute and maybe leaf through that book?”
“Uh, I mean,” Rainbow coughed and her face turned redder than an apple, and Applejack loved it, “if you want to.”
“Honestly, Rainbow,” Applejack let out an awkward laugh, affecting an endeared smile at the charming pegasus, “there’s no place I’d rather be right now than curled up with a good book right here in this here library.”
“We were gonna make cocoa!” Spike chimed in excitedly. “We could make you some, and maybe we could all read that book together!”
“Yeah!” Rainbow cheered, pumping her fist. “What d’ya say, Applejack? Just cuz Twilight’s not here doesn’t mean we can’t have book club!”
“Nothin’ would make me happier,” Applejack smiled softly.
Rarity sat on her parents’ porch, her legs dangling off the edge as she watched Sweetie Belle playing in the moonlit yard, learning how to use a wooden practice sword with the help of Queen Celestia, who was delighted to meet Sweetie Belle and offered to play with her.
Sweetie had tried to play it cool, but every so often she would shoot Rarity a glance like ‘can you believe I’m sword fighting with the Queen of Equestria!?’ and that warmed Rarity’s heart.
Sweetie Belle’s endless enthusiasm was quite endearing to Rarity in general. In a way, Rarity was sort of jealous of her; Sweetie still had that passion and excitement that came from youth, and she discovered that she was a trans girl and was living as her best self far sooner than Rarity had— Rarity was still quite the hardened egg at Sweetie Belle’s age.
Rarity wished that Sweetie would never lose that enthusiasm of hers, even though she knew that was a hopeless wish.
Rarity’s father came up from behind Rarity and handed her some hot cocoa, before sitting beside her mother who sat on the nearby porch swing.
Apparently, Rarity’s father owned a second home in Las Pegasus, and the family holed up here during the winters, at least for the last two years since Magnum had bought the place. Rarity had no idea until he told her about it at dinner, after she had tried to apologize for not coming by to see them in the Sun District for so long, but apparently they weren’t even home when Rarity had stopped by.
It was a nice place, this little winter haven of Rarity’s parents’. The two of them had been Slayers themselves in the past, but had long since retired, and with some wise investments had managed to make enough money that they could afford a place in Las Pegasus, raise both their children, and live in comfortable retirement for the rest of their lives.
Between rising prices and stagnating wages, even for jobs like monster hunting, Rarity couldn’t even dream of a comfortable retirement, if she even lived long enough to see that age.
Rarity took a sip of her cocoa, and delighted in watching Sweetie Belle try and one-up the Queen of Equestria as they practiced their swords. Sweetie’s determination and optimism— that she thought she could, ever in her lifetime, let alone childhood, manage to score a victory against Queen Celestia—was quite enjoyable to watch as well.
“She’s quite somethin’, isn’t she?” Rarity’s mother, Pearl, spoke as she sat down next to Rarity.
“Hm? Who are we talking about?” Rarity asked.
“Your sister, silly,” Pearl’s tone was jovial enough, but she didn’t look at Rarity as she answered, and Rarity got the distinct impression that something was wrong.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Rarity asked, and a sip of cocoa later, she continued. “For her to be so talented at something she loves, and for her to be on her way to becoming a protector of Equestria, following in your hoofsteps. Could you ask for more?”
“Yeah,” Magnum chimed in bitterly, “we could ask for her not to become a Slayer.”
“Dear,” Pearl sighed and rubbed two fingers over her temples, “we talked about this.”
“Talked about what?” Rarity asked, a knot forming in her stomach.
“About how being Slayers left your mother and I with nothing but a lifetime of regrets.”
“Magnum!” Pearl slammed her hand against the porch and glared at her husband.
“Mother, please,” Rarity put her hand on her mother’s shoulder to comfort her. The two women both looked over and smiled at Sweetie Belle and Celestia, who must have heard the sudden increase in volume and were curious. Rarity said under her breath, just loud enough for her mother to hear “I want to hear this. Father, what are you talking about?”
“There’s no life outside the Hunt,” Magnum said, his words laced with a tangible bitterness. “That what they always tell you, right?”
“Sure,” Rarity said softly, uneasy about where this conversation was about to be headed and having immediate regrets about prying into it.
“The Hunt is no life at all,” Magnum shook his head, “and we didn’t realize that until after our Hunt was already over.”
“It’s true that we’re happier now than we’ve ever been,” Pearl added, twiddling her thumbs anxiously, “but we still worry about you almost every day.”
“I’m sorry, I had no—”
“Celestia sends us a letter every time you set out on, and return from, a mission,” Magnum explained. “And every time that letter comes in, there’s a moment where we both worry if it’s gonna be that one.”
“W-which one?” Rarity asked helplessly.
“The one that tells us that we’re going to have to bury our daughter,” Pearl finished, and Rarity felt the knot in her stomach tighten into a noose around her throat.
“I see,” Rarity said coldly, and she could practically feel her soul departing her body through her visible breath.
“But that’s not for you to worry about,” Pearl said, affecting a smile and placing her hand gently on Rarity’s shoulder. “Don’t let your somber old parents keep you from doing what you’ve wanted to do your whole life!”
“But this isn’t about the danger, is it?” Rarity smiled, but there was no joy in it; only venom. “You aren’t worry that I’ll succumb to the Hunt’s danger, but to my own ‘recklessness’. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that the bane of all Slayers?”
Pearl and Magnum were silent, and that was all the answer Rarity needed.
“We had each other,” Magnum said.
“But most Slayers aren’t so lucky to have a partner they can rely on outside of the job,” Pearl added.
Rarity briefly thought about Rainbow Dash; they were more than just partners, they were friends as well, but Rarity couldn’t deny that the two of them weren’t the best at supporting each other emotionally. They were both drowning together, and while that was certainly preferable to drowning alone, they were still both drowning.
“So what do you think I should do?” Rarity asked.
“Ask yourself what really makes you happy,” Magnum said. “What do you honestly want to do with your life? And if the Hunt doesn’t fit into that ideal, then you can always retire early.”
Retire early? Just the thought of it made Rarity sick. Right, and end up an utter laughingstock, just like App—
Well. That thought certainly wasn’t called for.
Though it did give Rarity pause. Why had Applejack retired? She knew it would be a disaster for her reputation, even moreso than for many Slayers, since Applejack’s family had been Slayers for countless generations.
When Applejack had announced her retirement, or at least when she told Rarity about it, she had said it was for Pinkie Pie’s sake. Applejack said she couldn’t bear to risk leaving Pinkie all alone in the world after what had happened to her, but Rarity could see the change in Applejack’s eyes after that fateful night.
Something happened to her then, something changed inside her that night, but Rarity had no idea what it was or why it convinced her to retire.
Still though, she supposed it didn’t matter now. It didn’t change her mind about her own retirement, which was simply out of the question. Even setting aside the reputation aspect, she would hate to let down her Queen, and even moreso, she honestly had no desire to stop being a Slayer. She wanted to continue protecting Equestria until her last days.
But was that all she wanted?
And suddenly, the image of a certain lavender librarian crossed her mind.
“And now, with Sweetie Belle,” Magnum’s words distracted Rarity from what was certainly about to be a very bittersweet train of thought, “it’ll still be quite a few years before she’ll be old enough to take the License Exam. But that time seems to be slipping away faster and faster, and then all our peace and quiet that we’ve built will come crashing down.”
“We’ll have nothing to show for our lives but an empty nest,” Pearl said somberly, “and if anything happens to the two of you…”
“Let’s not kid ourselves either,” Magnum scoffed. “Rarity, you didn’t wait until you were ‘old enough’ to become a Slayer, and we’d be utterly bonkers to think Sweetie Belle will wait either.”
“And we know better than to think we’d be able to stop her,” Pearl said, watching Sweetie vigorously attacking Celestia with her sword, and everypony present was stunned when Sweetie actually scraped Celestia’s hand with her sword—even Celestia’s eyes widened, “she’s a natural, after all.”
“But there must be more,” Rarity said desperately. “There must be more to the life of a Slayer than just— just misery and making people worry!”
“Rarity, take it from two ponies who spent their entire lives Hunting,” Magnum said sternly. “There isn’t.”
Rarity thought back to her time in the Everfree Forest, when she was so certain that she was going to die and that her body wouldn’t be found. She remembered the sinking feeling in her chest as she grappled with the legacy she would leave, with the knowledge that her life, by its end, was completely and utterly worthless.
She refused to let it go like that. She wouldn’t spend her retirement in worry for her loved ones, or making others worry. Perhaps her parents couldn’t find a life outside the Hunt, perhaps no one could— at least not before her, because she wasn’t going to abandon the ponies of Equestria to fearsome monsters and terrifying nightmares, but she wasn’t going to abandon her own desires either.
She would find a way to make it work; for her, and for everyone.
And she made a mental note; when she returned home—to her library—she would make sure to ask Twilight about those fashion books.
That’s what Rarity was; just absolutely dead tired.
She sat on a rock half-buried in the desert sand as she watched Celestia round up the last of the puckwudgies. She wondered if perhaps she was getting a bit lax, allowing Celestia to do all the actual work for this mission, but the more she pondered it the more she realized she was simply too tired to care.
It had been Rarity’s idea to confront the puckwudgies that evening, instead of dealing with them in the morning as Celestia suggested, because of course Celestia would want to do everything in the morning! She probably managed to get out of bed every day just fine!
Ahem.
But Rarity wanted this mission to be over with as soon as possible. She suddenly had more important matters on her mind than puckwudgies, and she wished to give them her focus sooner rather than later.
“Where did they come from?” Rarity asked as Celestia rounded up the last puckwudgie and put it in the makeshift caravan Celestia had made, which Celestia would later teleport away and release the beasts inside once she’d found a safe habitat for them where they wouldn’t be a threat to ponies.
“Up north, I presume,” Celestia said. “With the winters getting longer, and harsher, many creatures have been wandering further south in search of new places to find food and comfort.”
“I see,” Rarity said. She had said something before, about the winters getting longer… what was all that about?
Ugh, another time, Rarity. It’s not important right now.
“What’s on your mind, Rarity?” Celestia asked, Rarity scooching over on her rock to make room for the Queen to sit beside her. “I get the impression that it’s not a cute librarian this time.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rarity said coyly, looking suspiciously away from Celestia.
“Come now, Rarity,” Celestia gave Rarity a little teasing push, “when we arrived at the Las Pegasus station, you were all kinds of gung-ho about securing these little puckwudgie guys, now you’re so morose I’m worried you’ll melt into a sad little puddle!”
“Oh, I’m sure you won’t have to worry about me melting,” Rarity rubbed her forearms, hoping to dispel some of the cold, but to no avail.
“Rarity.”
Well, that was the voice. The ‘I’m not going to ask you again’ voice that meant that Rarity’s coy dodging of the conversation at hand needed to end, and it needed to end now with no more games.
Rarity had known Celestia most of her life, and one of the constants of their relationship was that Rarity did not keep secrets from her Queen, or rather, she couldn’t keep them. Celestia always knew when something was amiss, and when it needed to be talked over and confronted.
“I’m just concerned,” Rarity said, bringing her legs up onto the rock and pulling them close to her, “after talking with my parents.”
“About what?” Celestia asked softly, wrapping a warm, gentle wing around Rarity’s back.
“About my life,” Rarity said, “and how to balance my own dreams, aspirations and-” Rarity swallowed the anxiety that threatened to silence her “-and relationships, with my life as a Slayer and my duty to protect Equestria. It all seems to be so much.”
Celestia laughed, and Rarity would be lying if she said that was the reaction she was expecting or hoping for.
“Excuse me?” Rarity balked.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia said sheepishly, softly rubbing Rarity’s shoulder, “I promise I’m not trying to make fun. It’s just, you had me worried for a moment, and it turns out you’re just going through something that all Slayers go through.”
“Yes, so I’ve heard,” Rarity sighed and buried her head in her arms. “I don’t suppose you have any sage-like wisdom to help me with this?”
“Nope!” Celestia said with a bright smile and far too much glee, considering the rather somber situation. “I’ve been struggling with the same conundrum for over a thousand years, so if you find an answer, you be sure to let me know, okay?”
Celestia laughed, like it was no big deal. Like it didn’t even bother her that everypony who worked for her, and even herself as it turned out, were so consumed by the Hunt that it was destroying their lives, and whatever opportunities they had for happiness.
“Who do you think came up with the phrase ‘there’s no life outside the Hunt’?” Celestia beamed, like she was proud of herself. “It wasn’t Luna, I can tell you that!”
“How can you act so pleased with yourself?” Rarity stood up and shouted, a little nagging feeling in the back of her mind reminding her that she was raising her voice to the Queen of Equestria, but she reminded that voice of how little she cared by shouting again. “Does it not bother you?! That everypony is so miserable?!”
“Of course it bothers me,” Celestia said completely flatly, and Rarity felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck warning her not to push her Queen. “But some things in life are hard, and you can either wallow in the misery they bring, or just let them be.
“I’ve had a thousand years to come to peace with this fact of life, and I have no doubt that you’ll come to peace with it as well, in time.”
“So that’s just the way it is, then,” Rarity said bitterly.
“That’s just the way that it is, yes,” Celestia replied firmly.
Well that wasn’t going to be how it was for Rarity. She wouldn’t end up like her parents, or like old Granny Smith. She would find a way to live a happy life, and she would find it not merely for herself, but for her friends and family too.
She would find a way to break the chains that smothered the Slayers; for her sake, for Rainbow Dash’s, for Applejack’s, for her parents and sister, and for Celestia herself.
Because everyone deserves to live their best life, and to be happy.
Night had fallen over the Everfree Forest, and as Twilight laid on her back and looked up at the sky, she remembered how much she enjoyed seeing the stars. They weren’t quite so visible in Canterlot, and even if they were, there was no way to stargaze from inside the library.
“It’s a lovely night out tonight,” Fluttershy’s voice caused Twilight to leap to attention, barely getting to her feet without toppling over, “isn’t it?”
“Um, yeah,” Twilight said, watching warily as the Spirit of the Everfree stepped closer to her. “What are you doing here? I thought you were talking to Pinkie Pie?”
Fluttershy giggled. “She fell asleep in the middle of her own sentence.”
“Ah,” Twilight snickered. That definitely sounded like Pinkie Pie. “I hope you’re prepared for a thousand apologies, because she’s definitely going to give you them once she wakes up.”
“Oh no,” Fluttershy said with a coy smile. “I’ll be sure to tell her there’s no reason to apologize.”
“It won’t matter,” Twilight shook her head, “not to Pinkie anyway, she’ll apologize no matter what you say.”
“I suppose I know how that goes,” Fluttershy muttered.
“So,” Twilight said, awkwardly swaying back and forth, “is there something I can do for you? Do you need me to take Pinkie back to Ponyville?”
Twilight suddenly realized that she and Pinkie hadn’t, in fact, made reservations or any sort of sleeping arrangements, and Twilight wondered if it had been Pinkie’s plan all along to sleep in the forest.
“Actually,” Fluttershy’s tone was timid, but the gaze she fixed on Twilight was anything but, “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Me something,” Twilight said, forcing a smile despite the cold sweat beading down her forehead. “Is that right?”
“It’s nothing that requires quite so much dread, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy laughed, and Twilight gave a short, polite laugh as well. “I merely wanted to ask how long you’ve been hiding in Equestria?”
“Wh—I’m not hiding!” Twilight barked, taking a step toward Fluttershy, who Twilight noted did not even flinch.
“Is that right?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “Do you think you’re the first of our kind to stumble into my forest, Twilight Sparkle? I can see right through you, and I know that you’re hiding.”
“Well how can you judge me for hiding,” Twilight snapped, “when you’re hiding in this huge forest?”
“I never judged or criticized you, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy shook her head, an unpleasant frown marring her face. “To be honest, I was only curious, because I could tell that you’re aren’t from around here.”
“How could you tell?” Twilight took a step back and felt her face burning up. “And, I’m— uh, sorry, for snapping at you. I guess I’m just a little on edge. I don’t want Pinkie or anyone else to find out. They wouldn’t— I’m not— ready for that, I guess.”
“My lips are sealed, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy narrowed her eyes and looked around, and Twilight looked around as well and neither saw nor felt anything out of the ordinary. “I had no plans to reveal you anyway. After all, you never know who could be listening.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“So tell me, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy smiled warmly, “how long have you been in our fine little country of Equestria?”
“Almost a year,” Twilight said, “but I only just settled down about three months ago. What about you? Are you Equestrian-born?”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head, “my origin is someplace far away, but that doesn’t really matter to me. The forest is my home.”
“Is that by choice?” Twilight asked, her tone coming out colder than perhaps it should have.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and sighed before answering. “Does anyone really choose their home? It is my choice to stay, if that’s what you mean. To be the ‘spirit of the Everfree’ instead of risking my safety by leaving the bounds of my Domain.”
“Is this enough for you?” Twilight asked. “To live here in the darkness of the forest for the rest of your days? All by yourself?”
“I understand why you hide in the city,” Fluttershy replied sharply, “but for me-” Fluttershy shook her head and grit her teeth “-for me, it’s a matter of safety. The forest is where I belong, it’s the only place where I belong. And that’s just how it is.”
“But are you happy?”
Fluttershy shrugged. “Are you?”
“I am,” Twilight replied without a moment’s hesitation, as her mind was filled with memories of Spike, and Rarity, and Rainbow Dash and the others. Thinking about her home and her family in the library, it brought a smile to her face. “You could come back with us, you know. There’s space in my library for one more.”
“I appreciate the offer, but no,” Fluttershy said firmly.
“It’s not right,” Twilight crossed her arms, “that you have to hide in this forest and can’t be who you really are.”
“And you’re not also hiding, Twilight Sparkle?” Fluttershy put a hand on her hip and cocked her head.
“Not from my friends—”
“What would your friends say if they knew the truth?” Fluttershy remarked coldly, and Twilight stood in silence, unable to answer. “You can’t hide forever, Twilight Sparkle. Eventually, the truth will find you; it always does to those who run from it.
“As for me, I can live my truth in the comfort of my forest, and I never have to worry about letting anyone down or anyone discovering what I really am. If loneliness is the price I must pay to live without fear, I do so gladly.”
“It isn’t right,” Twilight clenched her fists and grinded her teeth against each other.
“But it is what it is,” Fluttershy shrugged, “and there isn’t anything that can change that.”
“I’ll change it,” Twilight said fiercely, looking straight into Fluttershy’s eyes even as the spirit arched an unconvinced eyebrow. “I’ll find a way that we can live freely, a way that we can live in harmony with Equestria!”
“I hope you do,” Fluttershy turned and walked away, into the darkness of her forest. “But until then, you’re welcome to stay in my forest for as long as you need to.”
66. Rarity and Sweetie Belle's Up Too Late Sisterly Confab
When Rarity returned to her parents’ home, walking drearily into the unlit living room, she expected everypony to be asleep at this late hour, and was rather surprised when she turned on the light to see a drowsy, but very much awake, Sweetie Belle sitting on the couch.
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity yawned. “What are you still doing up?”
“Waiting for you,” Sweetie replied, giving a sweet smile as she rested her head on the arm of the chair, her arms dangling off the side.
“Were you worried about me, darling?” Rarity softly giggled as she sat down next to Sweetie, who scooched over to make room for her sister.
“Nope,” Sweetie shook her head and affected a bright grin, “just wanted to see you when you came back. Thought it’d be nice for you to see a friendly face when you got home, instead of just an empty house like you’re probably used to back in Canterlot.”
“Oh,” Rarity put a hand over her melting heart, “that’s very sweet of you! Thank you, I truly appreciate it.”
“No problem,” Sweetie chirped as Rarity pulled her in for a side hug.
“Why were you sitting in the dark though?” Rarity asked.
“Uh, cuz if you came back and the light was on, it wouldn’t be dramatic,” Sweetie scoffed, “duh.”
“Ah, of course,” Rarity rolled her eyes at Sweetie’s ‘logic’, and she refused to admit how frightfully similar it could be to her own.
“Where’s Queen Celestia?” Sweetie asked, leaning her weary head against Rarity’s side.
“She checked into a hotel,” Rarity answered and, seeing Sweetie Belle’s pout, continued before her sister could butt in. “She often likes time alone after a mission, to reflect. She also has to write a report.”
“To herself?”
“Yep,” Rarity giggled, imagining Celestia in her hotel room all alone, writing by dim candlelight a letter to ‘dear Queen Celestia’. “Even when she takes missions by her lonesome, she always files reports. I guess she just likes to have them handy, who knows.”
“Hmm,” Sweetie hummed, nestling closer to Rarity’s body and closing her eyes.
“Did you enjoy sparring with her this evening?”
“Yeah!” Sweetie jolted away from Rarity, pumping her fists, with a sparkle in her eye, now appearing to be wide awake. “Did you see us? I totally caught her off-guard one time! Nicked her hand and everything!”
She’s a natural.
The voice of her mother echoed in Rarity’s mind as she answered. “I did see that. You were quite impressive.”
“Yep,” Sweetie nodded, arms crossed and eyes closed in total confidence, “Celestia’s gonna make me her next super special student, now that you’ve graduated or whatever. She’s probably got empty nest syndrome, the poor dear.”
“Oh, is that right?” Rarity said teasingly, booping her sister on the nose. “You’re going to be Celestia’s student?”
“Uh, that’s what I said,” Sweetie scoffed and jerked her head back, “c’mon Rarity, try and keep up.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be an excellent student,” Rarity yawned and leaned her back against the couch, Sweetie flumphing against the couch’s back as well.
“And an excellent Slayer, right?” Sweetie asked cheerfully.
“Ri—” Rarity paused. She looked at Sweetie Belle, her bright, youthful eyes and her charming little smile, and pondered their father’s words.
Being a Slayer left your mother and I with nothing but a lifetime of regrets.
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked, keeping her tone measured and gentle to be sure she didn’t alarm her sister. “Why do you want to be a Slayer?”
“Don’t ask dumb questions, Rarity,” Sweetie said mockingly, and Rarity wasn’t sure whether to be offended or impressed by her sass. “Slayers get to go on adventures, and fight monsters, and protect innocent ponies! And you get adoration and respect from everypony you meet, too!”
She’s just like Pinkie Pie, Rarity thought, and she didn’t have the heart to correct Sweetie’s misconceptions about what being a Slayer was like.
But she had to.
“Sweetie,” Rarity sighed, “are you prepared to give up everything in order to protect Equestria? I don’t know what our parents have told you about being a Slayer, but it is a life of constant work, of constant exhaustion. It’s worth it, of course, but you need to be prepared to lose everything else if it’s the road you truly want to travel down, because there is no life outside the Hunt.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sweetie batted her hand dismissively. “I’ve heard that before, and just cuz you’ve turned into a bitter old lady, doesn’t mean I’m gonna. I’m gonna save ponies with a smile on my face, and help everyone I meet, and make everypony’s lives better just by being there!”
“Like Queen Celestia?” Rarity asked with a wry smile, smiling even brighter at the lovely shade of red that Sweetie’s cheeks suddenly became.
“Well,” Sweetie cleared her throat, “something like that, I guess. She is kinda cool, I suppose. And I kinda— I mean, I guess I kinda wanna be like her. And like you.”
“You’re a sweetheart,” Rarity pulled her sister into a hug and kissed her on the head.
She was about to let her go, but then she thought about her battle with the timberwolves, and with the cragadile, and with the quarray eels, and whether it was for her own sake or her sister’s, she couldn’t bring herself to let Sweetie Belle go.
“Rarity?” Sweetie’s muffled voice chimed in. “Kinda smothering me?”
“Oh,” Rarity let out a nervous giggle, “sorry about that, darling. Got lost in a thought.”
“About the librarian, right?” Sweetie said with a devilish grin.
“How do you—” Rarity cleared her throat and stood up. “Well, look at the time! I believe somepony needs to go to sleep!”
“I get it, I get it,” Sweetie hopped off the couch and rolled her eyes as she headed to the bedroom.
Just shy of the hallway, her hand resting on the corner of the wall, Sweetie stopped and turned back to look at Rarity, who gave her a smile and waved.
“It’s really good to see you, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said. “We’ve missed you.”
“Me too, darling,” Rarity said, trying to hold back her tears until Sweetie was away. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle yawned, continuing her trek to her bedroom. “I love you.”
Rainbow helped Spike pull the blanket over him as he laid down to go to sleep for the night, ruffling the kid’s hair one last time before saying goodnight to him.
“And you’ll stay the night?” Spike asked, trying to hide his worry behind a brave face.
“Yeah, no problem,” Rainbow flashed a charming grin.
“Not cuz I’m scared or anything!” Spike insisted, puffing up his cheeks.
“Of course not!” Rainbow scoffed, happy to play along with Spike’s lie. “But somepony’s gotta watch over the library while you’re up here, right?”
“Right!” Spike nodded, giving a big smile.
“Goodnight, kiddo! Sweet dreams!”
Rainbow waved to Spike and headed down the stairs, but didn’t get two steps down before being stopped by Spike’s voice.
“Rainbow, wait!”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Rainbow poked her head up into the attic.
Spike pointed toward a nightstand over by Twilight’s bed, on the other side of the room from Spike’s. “My doll, I need it.”
“Oh, sure,” Rainbow said and hopped back into the room. She didn’t realize exactly what doll Spike was talking about, what with the darkness in the room, until she reached the nightstand and saw a little doll of a very realistic purple dragon, with a starry galaxy etched into its wingspan.
Looking at the thing gave Rainbow pause, and she felt a droplet of sweat come down her brow before she reminded herself it’s just a doll, and grabbed it, tossing it to Spike.
“You actually like that thing?” Rainbow said, instantly realizing she’d stuck her hoof in her mouth the moment she heard herself speak.
“Y-yeah,” Spike said defensively, clutching the doll to his chest.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk,” Rainbow ruffled her own hair. “I just can’t stand dragons.”
“R-right,” Spike said, and Rainbow could swear it sounded like all the emotion had drained from his voice. “W-well, I like this one, cuz it reminds me of mom.”
“Oh yeah, I guess it kinda looks like her,” Rainbow said to humor Spike, not seeing any real resemblance between that monster and her friend. “Anyhoo, sleep tight, buddy! See you tomorrow!”
“Wait, Rainbow!”
“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, a slight irritation in her tone. She promised herself that she’d take care of Spike no matter how many times he had to call her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be a little annoyed by it. “What’s up, kid?”
“You’ll be here in the morning, right?”
“Probably asleep, but yeah, I’ll be here.”
“And tomorrow, we’ll pick Twilight up at the train station? Together?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Rainbow flashed a grin. “She’s my buddy, and I’d never leave a friend hanging like that. Pinkie’s gonna be coming back too, so we’ll probably have a party or something when she gets back!”
“Okay,” Spike said, and breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief before lying down on the bed, his little arms clutching the dragon doll super close to him. “Goodnight, Rainbow. Thanks for always coming by the library, and for being friends with us.”
“No problem,” Rainbow chuckled, “I should be thanking you guys.”
When Spike only responded with a snore, Rainbow let out a relaxed sigh and headed down the stairs, where Applejack was sitting in a chair, muzzle buried deep inside Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams.
Rainbow cracked a smile seeing Applejack looked so enthralled by that book. Rainbow had wanted to give AJ some recommendations forever, especially after they started dati—er, uh, they went out those one or two times, but she was always too scared Applejack would think her taste was dumb and bad.
Seeing Applejack staring at the book, mouth half open and eyes glued to the pages, it made Rainbow’s heart feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like a geyser of steam at one of those lookit-the-geyser places.
Applejack closed the book and whistled, and Rainbow bit down on her lip to keep herself from laughing. AJ put the book on the desk and looked up at Rainbow, smiling at her and giving her a wave.
“Enjoying that book?” Rainbow asked cockily.
“Barely been able to put the damn thing down,” Applejack laughed. “It’s real good!”
“I think it’s probably my fave of the series, honestly,” Rainbow yawned, stretching her arms above her head.
“Hittin’ the hay?”
“Almost,” Rainbow arched her back. “I’m staying here for the night, so you probably gotta be heading home now, yeah? You can take the book with you, if you want to.”
“So yer gonna be here?” Applejack propped her elbow on the desk, leaning her cheek against her hand.
“Yep,” Rainbow sat cross legged on the blankets covering the floor. “Told Spike, and I promised Twilight, that I’d watch over the library for the night.”
“All night?” Applejack asked. “In the dark, with nopony else around, all by yourself?”
“Don’t rub it in,” Rainbow laughed, and lied down on the blankets. “At least I’ve got books!”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to rub it in, sugarcube,” Applejack got up and stood over Rainbow, “I was tryin’ to subtly ask ya if I could stay over with ya.”
“Oh! Yeah, I don’t do subtle,” Rainbow laughed nervously, feeling her cheeks heat up cuz she was a dumb stupid idiot who couldn’t read a room.
“Duly noted,” Applejack smiled warmly, and Rainbow—who had been expecting a joke at her expense—started to let her guard down a little. “Still though, would you mind the company too terribly? If I stayed the night here with you?”
“I mean,” Rainbow’s breath got heavy and she could swear it was nearly a million degrees in the room all of a sudden, “if that’s something you wanna do, you don’t need my permission.”
“Then it’s settled,” Applejack said with a gleaming smile.
“Yeah,” Rainbow bit her lip again, “so uh, what do you wanna do then?”
“Uh, I dunno,” Applejack said coyly, “maybe we could—oops!”
Applejack suddenly ‘tripped’—more like awkwardly stumbled and then jumped to the ground, and boy was she a bad actor—but for half a second Rainbow thought she was really falling and moved to catch her, grabbing the earth pony’s chest in her hands before realizing what had happened.
“Oh geez, I fell over,” Applejack said flatly, grinning at Rainbow as Rainbow held her up.
“It’s—” Rainbow said through heavy breaths as she laid back down and gently removed her hands from Applejack's chest, Applejack putting her own hands on the ground at either side of Rainbow's head. “—a good thing I caught you then.”
“Yeah,” Applejack whispered as Rainbow leaned up, her and Applejack's lips inches apart— agonizingly close to each other now— and Applejack put her hand on Rainbow's cheek and stared right into her eyes, “good thing.”
Rainbow leaned in closer— it was now or never and she knew it. And as Rainbow inched closer to Applejack, Applejack pressed her lips against Rainbow’s, sending a jolt of fire and electricity rocketing through Rainbow’s body.
“Uh, w-wow?” Rainbow pulled herself away for just a sec, feeling just a little overwhelmed, but Applejack just smiled at her before pulling Rainbow in close and planting another kiss onto her lips.
Rainbow Dash groaned groggily as she realized she was kinda sore upon waking up in the morning, but she figured that’s just what she gets for sleeping on the floor of the library. She hadn’t quite gotten her eyes open as she adjusted her body a little bit, bumping into some firm resistance really quickly.
She only wondered what it was for half a second before remembering the night before and that it was Applejack.
Rainbow’s entire body tensed up. Applejack was sleeping right next to her! She didn’t dare open her eyes to see the position of Applejack’s body relative to hers, but she was thankful that both of them still had clothes on at least—they didn’t go that far last night.
Rainbow let her eyes flutter open just a tiny bit, but as she saw Spike indulging in a bowl of ice cream on top of the reception desk, she shut her eyes super tight just as quick. And thankfully, Spike wasn’t looking at them so he still didn’t know that Rainbow was awake, but him being there did mean he saw Rainbow and Applejack sleeping together, and that was mortifying.
Rainbow had to move before she somehow got embarrassed even more… right? That is, did she even want to move? Sure, being seen sleeping next to Applejack was super embarrassing—being seen sleeping at all was pretty embarrassing, to be honest—but like… who cares?
Was Rainbow honestly embarrassed about the night she spent making out with Applejack? It was a great night, and once they’d finally stopped making out and settled down to go to sleep, they both decided to sleep next to each other on purpose, because they wanted to be near each other.
What was so embarrassing about that?
Because Rainbow put a lot of investment and effort into building this shell of coolness and confident detachment, and she couldn’t just let the whole thing fall apart by letting everyone see what a lovestruck idiot she was, sleeping next to her crush.
Rainbow’s wings fidgeted as she prepared to move, cuz she just couldn’t let anyone think that she was like, really into Applejack, could she? Sure, she had a crush, and Applejack was super cool and super hot and whatever else, but Rainbow didn’t have feelings for her!
As Rainbow’s wings brushed against Applejack’s chest, Applejack groaned quietly. Rainbow bit her lip, worried that she woke AJ up, but Applejack just moved her body a little bit to make herself more comfortable.
Unfortunately for Rainbow, this meant wrapping her arms around the nearest, softest thing in the room—Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow nearly gasped as she felt Applejack’s sleepy arms tugging her a little closer to Applejack’s chest, but then she took a sec to really feel Applejack’s arms around her, and… it was nice. It was… safe, and comfortable. And cool, and like, hot… and nice.
Rainbow’s fang was still pressed against her lip, and as she instinctively scraped it across, she felt a little bit of blood streaming down her face. As she moved to wipe it away, she remembered when she bit herself in front of Applejack, and AJ took a cloth and wiped the blood away from her lip. That was really sweet of her, especially since it had happened right after Rainbow had totally flaked on—
Wait.
Had Applejack been crushing on Rainbow all this time? When Rainbow said she’d show up but then didn’t that night, was Applejack mad at her the next morning not cuz Rainbow was a loser and a flake, but because Applejack had really been looking forward to spending the time together?
Oh.
OH.
Rainbow sighed, and let her body ease up in Applejack’s arms, squirming a little bit further into Applejack’s embrace with a smile on her face, a smile that only widened as she heard Applejack’s sleepy sigh of contentment.
Rainbow suddenly didn’t care about the embarrassment or her ‘cool guy’ shtick anymore; all that mattered was Applejack’s embrace, and how warm and safe she felt in it.
The trek to the edge of the Everfree Forest was filled by the noisy chatter of Pinkie Pie—and her many apologies, as Twilight Sparkle predicted—but Fluttershy mused that she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
While Twilight Sparkle left to procure train tickets for her and Pinkie Pie to return home, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie lingered in the snowy clearing where the forest met the village, and Fluttershy found that she was actually rather reluctant to see Pinkie Pie go.
“Welp, I guess I gotta bounce,” Pinkie Pie said, chewing on her thumb as she very, very slowly walked away from the forest, looking back at Fluttershy with every step.
The words ‘I’ll miss you’ were caught on Fluttershy’s lips, but she dared not to say them.
“It was a pleasure having you in my forest, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said instead, bowing politely.
“Hey, just so you know, I’m definitely gonna come back!” Pinkie exclaimed, spinning around and pointing her finger at a surprised Fluttershy. “I dunno, maybe in two or three weeks or something! I can’t stand a whole month this time, but I also got a shop back home, and I don’t wanna let Applejack down—”
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy walked up to Pinkie Pie, knelt, and grasped her shoulders, “whenever you wish to return, you may do so. But don’t run yourself in circles over it. I enjoy my solitude, after all. I’ve been alone in my forest for a long time, it won’t kill me to be away from your presence.”
Fluttershy pondered a moment, and with a relenting sigh she decided to follow her instinct, even if she did feel very silly and childish doing so.
She gave Pinkie Pie a kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll miss you.”
Fluttershy felt her entire stomach revolting against those three words, and she shut her eyes to make sure she missed Pinkie Pie’s immediate reaction. It was silly—it was stupid—of her to say that she would ‘miss’ Pinkie Pie. She had barely known her for, what, a day and a half?
But it was true. She enjoyed Pinkie Pie’s company, and she would miss it once she was gone.
Fluttershy opened her eyes to see the goofiest grin on Pinkie’s brightly blushing face, the short mare looking on the verge of tears almost.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked concernedly.
Pinkie Pie flung her arms around Fluttershy, and when Fluttershy rose to her feet to recoil from the touch, she found Pinkie Pie was still latching onto her, and that just made Fluttershy laugh as she wrapped her arms around Pinkie Pie.
“I’ll miss you too!” Pinkie Pie blubbered, nuzzling against Fluttershy with tears streaming down her cheeks. “And I promise I won’t fall asleep next time!”
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy sighed and, after a moment’s hesitation, picked Pinkie Pie up in her arms to return the friendly nuzzle Pinkie Pie had graced her with. “You’ll only be gone a couple of weeks, right?”
“That’s right!” Pinkie Pie looked into Fluttershy’s eyes and smiled brightly, wiping tears from her face. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! I Pinkie Promise I’ll come back for you in three weeks, and I never break a Pinkie Promise!”
“I remember,” Fluttershy said, “you said the same thing the last time before you left.”
“Then you know I mean it!”
“I know,” Fluttershy gently tapped her nose against Pinkie Pie’s before placing her back on the ground. “And just like last time, I’ll wait for you to return. I look forward to seeing you again, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie tried to say something, but it came out as very cute, inelegant blubbers, and before she could try and correct herself, she was interrupted by the voice of Twilight Sparkle.
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight Sparkle called out as she joined Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in the clearing. “Are you ready to go? Said your goodbyes and everything?”
Pinkie Pie nodded, wiping her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she bent down on one knee to check on Pinkie. “Are you just sad about leaving Fluttershy?”
“Mm-hmm,” Pinkie Pie nodded, latching onto Twilight Sparkle and hugging her.
“It’ll be okay, Pinkie,” Twilight Sparkle said as she embraced Pinkie Pie, “you’ll be back to visit Fluttershy before you know it, right?”
“That’s right!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and nodded, pointing at Fluttershy. “Before you know it!”
“I can’t wait,” Fluttershy giggled, and Pinkie Pie pumped her fists and smiled.
Pinkie Pie rushed off toward the train station, turning back only one more time to wave to Fluttershy—who happily waved back at her— though Twilight Sparkle stayed behind for a moment.
“I like her,” Fluttershy said idly, and the embarrassment she felt at that statement was quickly soothed by the smile on Twilight Sparkle’s lips.
“She’s a really good friend,” Twilight Sparkle said, then she turned to Fluttershy and smiled right at her, “and if nothing else, I can promise you that she is completely genuine. If you’re at all worried that her enthusiasm or affection are an act, I can tell you that I’ve never met another pony as unashamedly herself as Pinkie Pie.”
“That’s… actually very nice to hear.”
Truthfully, Fluttershy had begun to pick up on that herself, despite her initial reservations. But hearing it from one of Pinkie Pie’s friends was still something of a relief.
“And also,” Twilight Sparkle said hesitantly, chewing on her thumbnail, “my offer to come to my library remains open.”
“And my offer to remain in my forest is open as well,” Fluttershy replied immediately.
“Well,” Twilight Sparkle said, visibly uncomfortable, “maybe I’ll see you around sometime? Here in the forest, or in my library? Either way, thank you for having us.”
Twilight Sparkle bowed politely, and Fluttershy reached out her hand, Twilight Sparkle looking at it hesitantly for a moment before affecting a warm smile and shaking it.
“I’ll see you around, Twilight Sparkle.”
As Twilight Sparkle ran off to catch up with Pinkie Pie and head home, Fluttershy returned to her home in the forest.
She found herself reluctant to transform back into her true form and elected to remain small for a time, if only to reflect on the day she’d had… or something.
It was an odd feeling, to not be relieved when guests left her forest. While she never begrudged having someone in her forest— unless they meant to do the forest harm, of course— she always felt a profound weight lifted off her shoulders whenever she was left alone again.
Not this time. This time she felt only sadness.
And while it was easy to chalk that up to her abnormal, bizarre, growing attachment to Pinkie Pie, which was an issue she would have to deal with at some point because it simply wouldn’t do for the spirit of the forest to become attached to a pony so pathetically easily, there was something else going on.
I’ll find a way that we can live freely!
Twilight Sparkle’s words echoed in Fluttershy’s mind.
A way that we can live in harmony with Equestria!
Fluttershy took a deep breath as she laid down on the grass of her forest, her many animal friends crowding around her to comfort her and make sure she was okay.
Perhaps, at the end of the day, she was simply tired of hiding. And she didn’t even realize until someone else reminded her that there was indeed a world outside her forest.
Twilight was eagerly scratching away at a piece of parchment as she and Pinkie settled down in their train cabin. Her conversation with Fluttershy had given her a lot to think about, and a lot she wanted to talk to Rarity about, so she wanted to send Rarity a letter that she could read in case Twilight returned to the library before Rarity.
At first, Twilight wanted to put all the stuff she wanted to talk about in the letter, but she realized she only had so much parchment and even besides that, it would be better to talk to Rarity in person about the serious stuff. Twilight was just glad she knew a spell that could erase the words off the parchment, so she could keep re-using the same piece of paper over and over after every failed attempt at making the letter.
So Twilight contented herself with merely regaling Rarity with the details of her trip. She talked about how she met Fluttershy, how interesting it was to meet the spirit of the forest, but also it was a little scary. How Pinkie Pie had been an absolute delight to travel with, and the ‘Sugarcube Corner’ that the pair stopped by on the way back to the train station sold the most delectable confectionaries.
She also wrote that she missed Rarity, and bit down on her lip as she wondered how appropriate it would be to write down that she couldn’t wait to see her again. She didn’t even notice her cheeks blushing until she heard Pinkie Pie’s stifled chortling.
“What?” Twilight asked innocently.
“Is that letter for Rarity?” Pinkie asked with a wry smirk.
“Wh—no!” Twilight denied, clutching the letter to her chest, though after only a second or two, hung her head and muttered “Yeah, it is.”
Pinkie giggled again, her legs kicking into the air, and she had a way of making her laughter spread to others, so Twilight couldn’t help but join in.
“You’ve been in mighty good spirits this morning, Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie pointed out with a grand smile.
“I guess so,” Twilight said, tapping the tip of her pen against her muzzle. “Your friend Fluttershy is really interesting. I talked to her last night and… she gave me a lot to think about.”
“Oh yeah?” Pinkie smirked and leaned in closer. “What kinda thinking are you thinking?”
“Well, um,” Twilight hesitated, and she let her thumb rub across the old parchment in her hands. “It’s kinda— I dunno how to explain exactly.”
Twilight wasn’t sure how exactly to explain the nuances of her conversation with Fluttershy to Pinkie, or where to even begin. She knew the details of what they talked about were a little outside the scope of the average Equestrian pony.
“It’s a work in progress, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Fine, fine,” Pinkie waved dismissively, but she perked right back up again and leaned over the space between the two cabin benches with her hands on her knees. “So what’s in the letter? What are you telling Rarity about?”
“Wh—you can’t read my letter! It’s private!” Twilight said, aghast as she pulled the note away from Pinkie Pie, her cheeks blazing a furious red.
“Pfft, you’re no fun,” Pinkie scoffed and leaned back onto her bench, crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks.
“Well you are fun,” Twilight said petulantly, “and I had a really good time with you today! So there!” Twilight harrumphed and turned her head away from Pinkie for good measure, momentarily musing that she probably looked just like Rarity for a second.
“Y’know, the way you were putting so much sass into that,” Pinkie giggled, “I kinda expected something a little more, uh, not super kind and nice? That was really sweet though!”
“You’re really sweet,” Twilight crossed her arms and turned her nose up at Pinkie, but it was when Twilight stuck her tongue out that both women lost it and erupted into a fit of giggles.
“So, wait,” Pinkie said confusedly, “how are you gonna send Rarity that letter? I mean, by the time it reaches her, won’t she already be back in Canterlot?”
“Oh, I have a spell for that,” Twilight said confidently. “In fact, I’m almost finished writing it, so just give me a second, okay?”
Pinkie nodded and hummed quietly to herself, the perfect accompaniment for Twilight’s scratching pen as she put the finishing touches on the letter to Rarity, closing the letter off by signing it “Your faithful librarian, Twilight Sparkle,” and something about looking at that part made Twilight smile fondly.
Twilight folded the parchment and sealed it inside a lavender envelope. She had several of them that Rarity had given her, “in case we ever want to send each other letters, darling!” Twilight hadn’t even told Rarity of her letter-sending spell, so it was just good fortune that Rarity had such a peculiar sense for what gifts to give.
Twilight opened the train window, then held the envelope in front of her eyes and breathed a deep violet flame that burned the envelope to ash, the remains being swept up and carried out the window and off into the wind by her flames, where it would eventually locate Rarity and reform into the letter for her to read.
Twilight was smiling and feeling rather proud of herself as she shut the window and watched the letter take flight, but her stomach dropped when she looked at Pinkie Pie staring at her in stunned silence, a decidedly shaken expression on her face.
“Are you—Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked concernedly, her heart starting to race.
“Uh, nothing,” Pinkie shook her head and slapped herself on the cheeks a few times, “nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it! Just had a bad memory is all!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight said dourly. If she had known Pinkie Pie had an aversion to flame, she would have gone someplace else to cast the spell.
“It’s totally okay,” Pinkie said, though Twilight wasn’t entirely convinced, “you couldn’t have know that—uh, hm…”
“Pinkie?” Twilight’s heart started to race once more. “Everything okay?”
“Can I ask you something?” Pinkie said seriously, her head turned downward, almost as if she were avoiding Twilight’s gaze.
“Uh, okay. Go for it.”
“What were you and Fluttershy talking about last night?” Pinkie said coldly.
Oh.
Oh.
OH.
Oh no.
“Uhm, I’m sorry?” Twilight asked, and she wondered how quickly her fur could be completely soaked in sweat, because she felt like she was already there.
“I know I shouldn’t have,” Pinkie muttered, “but I was listening to you guys last night. I kinda woke up in the middle of the night, and Fluttershy was gone so I went looking for her, and I stumbled onto you guys talking, and I kinda… eavesdropped.” Pinkie threw herself on the ground and bowed. “I’m super duper sorry! I know I shouldn’t have, I just didn’t know what was going on and then some things you guys said had me really worried and I—”
“Pinkie Pie.”
Twilight’s voice brought Pinkie back to her feet, and Twilight put her hands on Pinkie’s shoulders.
“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. “Sometimes you stumble onto a situation and you’ve made a choice before you realize it. It happens all the time, and we all make mistakes. I’m not mad at you for listening in.”
You never know who could be listening.
Was that what Fluttershy meant?
“Thank you, Twilight,” Pinkie said, breathing a sigh of relief as she wiped half-formed tears from her eyes. “But, if it’s okay, if you don’t mind, could you answer my question? What were you guys talking about last night?”
“Um, I would answer it,” Twilight thought about recoiling her hands, but she kept them tightly gripped to Pinkie Pie’s shoulders, and she wasn’t sure if that was for her own sake or for Pinkie’s, “if I could, but I’m really not sure what Fluttershy was talking about.”
“Really?” Pinkie asked, shooting Twilight a very skeptical glance.
“It’s obvious that neither Fluttershy or myself are average ponies,” Twilight said, “but we are still just ponies. But I think our, um, strangeness—her connection to the forest and my supernatural talent at magic—keep us a little bit isolated, and we feel the need to hide ourselves, because we worry people won’t understand us.”
“Oh,” Pinkie said, her voice as hollow as a carved-out tree trunk.
“Is everything okay?” Twilight asked nervously. This kind of conversation is exactly the reason why Twilight kept her business to herself; she didn’t want Pinkie to worry unnecessarily, and more than that she didn’t want to lose Pinkie’s friendship.
“I think I get it,” Pinkie said ponderously, taking a step back and away from Twilight’s hands, and putting her own hand to her chin. Pinkie looked at Twilight, and for half a second Twilight felt like she was being interrogated, like Pinkie could see right through her and her disguise. “Are you scared?”
The softness in Pinkie’s voice deteriorated some of Twilight’s guard, but she still didn’t feel out of the woods yet.
“I am,” Twilight had no idea what compelled her to answer honestly, but she felt strongly that no other answer would do.
Pinkie Pie climbed onto Twilight’s bench and, without a word, gave Twilight a tender hug. Twilight hugged her back and felt tears stinging at her eyes.
“You’re safe with me, Twilight,” Pinkie whispered, “cuz we’re friends. And I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to my friends.”
“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said softly. “You’re a good friend.”
“You too, Twilight.”
Pinkie hopped back to her bench and hummed a little song, and while the two didn’t talk much on the ride back to Canterlot, Pinkie smiled at Twilight several times, and Twilight didn’t get the sense that anything was wrong between them.
But one question did claw at Twilight’s mind.
How much did Pinkie Pie know?
Twilight had covered all her bases, right? She didn’t say anything to Fluttershy that would have been taken in a negative light, did she? Neither she nor Fluttershy had said even one word specifically about their… similarity. So what did Pinkie know?
Oh well, Twilight supposed that it didn’t really matter. They were friends, and that was that. it wouldn’t do to be suspicious of Pinkie, because there was nothing that she had done that would have caused such a reaction. She was a little weirded out by the out of context conversation she heard between Twilight and Fluttershy.
Rarity gave her parents and her sister one last hug as they saw her off at the train station. She promised them she would visit them again soon, and then promised herself that she wouldn’t make such empty promises in the future.
Celestia actually took more time saying goodbye to Rarity’s family than Rarity herself did, and by the time she was finished Rarity had already settled into their private cabin and was staring into space out the window.
“Not a fan of long goodbyes, I take it?” Celestia asked as she sat across from Rarity.
“No,” Rarity muttered, “just don’t have much to say, I suppose.”
Rarity was still tired from last night, still tired from the day before, from the week before, from—well, it goes on. She was tired, is the point. And spending an hour as her family gushes on her while the train driver glares at her and the Queen to get on because they can’t leave without them, it wasn’t Rarity’s idea of a pleasant way to spend her morning.
Besides which, Rarity just needed some time to think.
Celestia handed Rarity a coffee, and only after she took it did Rarity realize Celestia had left the car and come back without Rarity even noticing. She took a sip and sighed in frustration, even the delightful aroma and taste of vanilla and hazelnut didn’t do much to soothe Rarity’s aching nerves.
“What’s on your mind, Rarity?”
“I swear you’ve asked me that at least six times during this trip,” Rarity griped. “And I thank you for your concern, I just wish I didn’t have so much on my mind these days.”
“I know how you feel,” Celestia sighed, taking a sip of her own coffee, which was black either because she hated herself or because she was Queen of Equestria and didn’t feel pain. At least, those were the only reasons Rarity could think that someone would enjoy black coffee.
“I just-” Rarity groaned “-I wish it were simple again. When I first became a Slayer, everything seemed so black and white. You slayed monsters, protected ponies, people showered you with praise and everything seemed so… clear.”
“I often find myself yearning for days gone by,” Celestia hummed, “but you have to remember that the simplicity you crave is only attached to those days in hindsight. Back then, everything felt so complicated and overwhelming, and it’s only now—now that you’ve completed those tasks and you understand those days in a greater context—that they seem to be so simple.”
“You’re not wrong,” Rarity grumbled, “I suppose.” She took another sip of her coffee and tried to relax, but it was like a needle of bone was piercing into her brain. “Does it ever get easier? Does it ever become simple, or— or manageable?”
“No,” the Queen said sternly, before taking another sip of her coffee.
“Well,” Rarity said flatly, “that’s a shame.”
“Life is complicated, Rarity,” Celestia said, her tone still carrying a noticeable hint of that sternness from before, but with a softer edge to it. “It has its good days, and bad ones, but it will never be ‘simple’ or ‘easy’.”
“I just want to be happy,” Rarity sighed, and if she hadn't been sitting in front of her Queen, she may well have just burst into tears right then and there.
“So say we all,” Celestia hummed as she placed her coffee cup to her lips before electing not to take a sip after all.
“I’m going to figure it out, you know,” Rarity said confidently, glancing at Celestia from the corner of her eye.
“Excuse me?” Celestia cocked her head and smiled. “What are you going to figure out?”
“How to make everyone happy,” Rarity said, staring Celestia down. “There must be some better way to protect Equestria that doesn’t drain the life and joy out of its protectors! There has to be! And I’m going to find it!”
Celestia was silent, and she wasn’t smiling.
Rarity blinked, and swallowed some anxiety at this unexpected reaction.
Celestia took a sip of her coffee, her eyes never breaking contact with Rarity’s.
“Um, Celestia?” Rarity asked nervously. “Is everything alright?” Rarity let out a nervous laugh. “Should I ask what’s on your mind?”
“Interesting,” Celestia said flatly. “It’s interesting to me, that you think you can just up and solve a problem that I haven’t been able to figure out in a thousand years.”
“I didn’t mean to imply—”
“No, Rarity,” Celestia scoffed, and everything around Rarity seemed to slow down because she had never seen Celestia become genuinely angry before now, “please. Tell me— ME— how you’re going to just fix everything! Please enlighten me to what crucial element I’m missing, that I haven’t seen in a thousand years, that will make everyone be able to be happy! Because goodness, I’m sure I must have missed something!
“Or perhaps,” Celestia stood up, throwing her half-full coffee cup to the ground, “you just think I haven’t been trying! Maybe you think I’ve been resting on my laurels this last millennium, that the Queen of Equestria doesn’t really care, that she thinks everything’s just FINE the way it is! Is THAT it?!”
Rarity’s entire body was curled up into a cowering ball on her seat, and no matter how desperately she wanted to respond or apologize, nothing could pass her lips but a mere whimper.
Celestia fell back down onto her seat, eyes staring a thousand yards into the distance.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You didn’t deserve that at all.”
“Where did that even come from?” Rarity asked, still holding her legs as close to her body as she was able. “I’ve never seen that side of you before!”
“Very few have,” Celestia said, rubbing her temples wither her forefingers. “It’s not something I’m proud of, but even I can lose my temper sometimes. I didn’t mean to imply that you thought—” Celestia shook her head and groaned. “It doesn’t matter what I thought or didn’t think, what I meant or didn’t mean. You didn’t deserve to be the target of such hostility, and I apologize.”
“Do you mind telling me what caused it?” Rarity asked, letting her hooves slowly descend back to the floor of the cabin. “I had no idea you were under such an enormous burden.”
“Because I’m very good at keeping my problems to myself,” Celestia said, and Rarity caught the hint. “You aren’t the first pony to think they’ve figured out something that I haven’t. But I do hope that you become the first pony to be right.”
“I honestly believe—” Rarity choked out, fighting a storm of anxiety because this needed to be said, and she refused to be afraid of Celestia, of all ponies. “I honestly believe that there must be some piece we’re missing. Something that we’ve all been overlooking. I don’t know how to find it, but I promise you that I will.”
Celestia stared straight into Rarity’s eyes with a frown and an ice cold sheen echoing in her eyes, and Rarity, despite the sweat beating down her forehead, simply stared back into Celestia’s eyes, trying to affect some measure of confidence.
Then Celestia smiled, and all was right in the world.
“I look forward to hearing all about it,” she said, “as soon as you find it, my dearest student.”
Rarity took a sip of cold cider and placed the cup on the stone bar in the nearly empty Hunter’s Haven. Her train had dropped her and Celestia off in the Sun District little over an hour ago, and as Celestia flew off to deal with whatever it was she did after every mission, Rarity decided to stop by Hunter’s Haven for a drink before returning to the library.
Even putting aside Celestia’s outburst—which Rarity was desperate to do; she’d rather think about quite literally anything else—Rarity had a lot to think about. And, as it always seemed to be these days, whenever Rarity was having a hard time figuring out what to do, she thought of Twilight.
Twilight was very smart, and Rarity wondered what she would do, were she a Slayer. She always seemed so organized too, though then again, Rarity also remembered the time she tried to schedule every second of every day so that she could see all of her friends an exactly equal amount of time, so perhaps she wasn’t always the best role model.
Still, Rarity missed her, and she was stuck between wanting to rush back to the library and wanting to hide from it. She almost felt like she didn’t deserve to go back, like if she didn’t figure out the answer to this millennium old conundrum tonight, then she deserved to be alone and miserable until she did. But that wasn’t a terribly productive way to live her life.
“Wow,” a familiar voice interrupted Rarity’s thoughts, though Rarity was more than happy to have them interrupted, “you look exactly like I’d expect someone to look after a mission with my sister.”
“Princess Luna,” Rarity said with a warm smile as she turned around to see the beautiful blue alicorn standing behind her, “it’s lovely to see you, darling!”
Rarity got up from her stool and immediately embraced the Princess in a warm hug, Luna patting her on the back for good measure as she laughed.
While not as much of a mountain as her sister, and even in her more casual wear and not her armor, Luna was still an imposing presence. She was only a head taller than Rarity, and she had a much thinner frame than Celestia, though no less muscular.
But what the Princess lacked in comparative size, she made of for in intensity and passion.
“It’s been far too long, Princess!” Rarity said, holding Luna’s hands and smiling at her former mentor. While Rarity was always Celestia’s student first and foremost, she also trained under Luna during her childhood, and the two had become frightfully good friends. “Fancy a drink with me?”
“Certainly,” Luna said with a grand smile, “I’ve got time. Though you seemed lost in thought when I saw you, I almost didn’t want to bother you.”
“Oh, it’s no bother,” Rarity groaned as the two sat down and Luna ordered her drink. “Honestly, I was just running myself in circles anyway.”
“You?” Luna scoffed and took a sip of her beer. “You would never!”
“Harhar,” Rarity playfully rolled her eyes.
“So what exactly are you running from?” Luna asked. “Perhaps I can assist.”
Rarity took another sip of her cider and wished it was coffee as she considered Luna’s offer. Couldn’t hurt to ask one of her other favorite ponies about her conundrum. She had a much more casual relationship with Princess Luna, and she didn’t constantly fear losing the Princess’ respect the way she sort of did with Queen Celestia.
And besides all that, Luna was a friend, and if she wanted to help, then Rarity wasn’t about to turn her down.
“Luna,” Rarity took another sip of cider as she considered her thoughts, “do you have any idea how to balance your own life and personal aspirations with the duties of the Hunt?”
“What life?” Luna laughed, and Rarity grimaced at her. That wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for. “You know what they say, Rarity.”
Rarity sighed and the two women said dully in unison, “There is no life outside the Hunt.”
“But doesn’t that bother you?” Rarity griped. “It’s draining the life out of all of the Slayers, and it only seems to get worse with each generation!”
“Of course it bothers me,” Luna said dryly, shooting Rarity a less friendly look of frustration, “it’s the worst. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. As long as my sister leads the Slayers the way that she does, the way that—as she’ll be quick to remind you—has served Equestria well for over a thousand years, then things will remain as they are.
“Celestia controls the Slayers,” Luna continued. “She controls how they act, what they do, how they think, and what they believe. The Celestia Slayers will follow her into the mountains of decay and even death itself, and until she finds some recourse or purpose to course correct, the slow withering of Equestria’s protectors will only continue.”
“It all starts and ends with her,” Rarity said.
“That’s just the way that it is,” Luna said bitterly, taking another sip of beer. “The way it’s always been.” Luna took a deep breath and sighed that bitterness and irritation away. “So why do you ask, anyway? What is it that is splitting your attention from the Hunt?”
“I have a crush,” Rarity admitted with mixed embarrassment and giddiness. Luna wasn’t going to judge her for having a silly crush, and it felt good to tell somepony, instead of them just figuring out because she was sighing and blushing a lot.
“Do tell,” Luna said with a wry smirk, resting her chin on intertwined fingers.
“She’s a librarian,” Rarity explained, “she just moved to Canterlot with her son about two months ago. I’ve been at her library nearly every day for the past few weeks, and the more time I spend with her, the more I simply want to spend all my time with her!
“But I also know I have a duty and responsibility to the Slayers and to Equestria, and I honestly want to keep being a Slayer and protecting the ponies of our country! It’s just… I don’t know how to do that without burning myself out until there’s nothing left, and I fear I’m almost there already.”
“I think the most important thing for you to do,” Luna said seriously, “is to listen to yourself and what your heart wants, not to what my sister says.”
“Pardon?” Rarity asked confusedly. “What does Celestia have to do with all this?”
“Everypony thinks that Celestia is oh-so wise and enlightened,” Luna said bitterly, as she tended to do when her sister was brought up in conversation, “that she’s infallible and can’t make any mistakes, but that simply is not the case. Nopony knows you like you know you, and you can’t let anyone else decide what is right for you.”
Luna ended her rant with another sip of beer, finishing the can in one final chug before crushing the remains against her forehead, which left Rarity simultaneously aghast and impressed.
Rarity wondered if Luna was right; if what she really needed to do was trust her own instincts, even when they conflicted with what Queen Celestia said, but that just didn’t seem right to her. Celestia was always right, and of course Luna would find fault in her sister’s words, she found fault in everything Celestia did!
Still, Rarity couldn’t simply discard the words of her friend out of hand, so she elected to keep Luna’s concerns under advisement.
Without warning, a violet flame erupted in front of Rarity, startling her and forcing her to jump back off her stool. Luna also watched the flame warily, but she didn’t seem terribly alarmed, which made Rarity feel a little bit safer about approaching the envelope that the flame transformed into.
“A letter?” Luna asked. “Who’s it from?”
“I don’t—” Rarity was about to say she had no idea, but after a second glance she recognized the lavender stationary as belonging to a certain librarian, and the warmth in her heart spread throughout her entire body as she took the envelope in her hands. “It’s from a very dear friend.”
Rarity had learned not to question Twilight’s incredible feats of magic, so how she was sending Rarity a letter from wherever she was wasn’t on Rarity’s mind.
She was more curious as to why Twilight was sending her a letter, and the thought briefly crossed her mind that something was horribly wrong or that Twilight was going to tell her to stay away from her and the library, but Rarity pushed those thoughts aside because she knew she was just playing tricks on herself now.
Rarity took the folded parchment out of the envelope with trembling hands. She looked over to Luna, who nodded silently, and unfolded the letter, taking a deep breath to steady herself before she read it.
“Dear Rarity, uhm… hi!”
Rarity snorted and clutched the letter to her heart, and she took a moment to collect herself—letting her affection for her dear Twilight Sparkle wash over her like a tidal wave— before reading again.
“I’m on the train back to Canterlot, and hopefully I’ll see you there? I know you’re busy with your mission and everything, but everyone assures me that puckwudgies won’t take you more than a day or two to deal with. You know I’ve never seen a puckwudgie before? I don’t suppose you took any notes did you? I could add them to my bestiary! Uh, anyway. It’s okay if you didn’t, I was just… thinking out loud? I guess?”
Rarity rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face lit up the entire room. She almost wished she had taken notes on the puckwudgies now, but she knew she had neither the time nor the energy to have done so when she was there.
“I met the spirit of the Everfree Forest. She seems nice? I don’t know. She’s weird, and she’s really intimidating, but she’s also very sweet. Honestly, she scares me more than anything, but… I do sort of feel a connection to her. I think we’re similar in a lot of ways. Uh, I’m not really sure how to explain it. I’ll try if you want, but I dunno.”
The more Rarity read Twilight’s letter, the more endeared she was to the fact that Twilight seemed so fond of ‘uh’ and ellipses in her writing. It was quite adorable, honestly.
“Pinkie Pie’s been an absolute treasure during this trip, by the way. We stopped at this place called Sugarcube Corner on the way back to the train station; did you visit there during your trip to Ponyville? The couple that runs it were almost as sweet as their confectionaries, huehe!”
Rarity giggled and held the letter close to her again, and she could practically hear the undignified snort Twilight must have made when she wrote that part.
“But anyway, Pinkie Pie. She’s really fun, and nice! I’m glad I met her, and I’m glad I took this trip with her. Does she seem sad to you though? I always get this feeling that she’s trying to be happy, maybe happier than she is? I dunno, maybe I’m projecting? What do you think? I guess I’ll ask you when I see you, so hopefully one of us will remember!”
Rarity smiled and made a mental note to remind Twilight about Pinkie Pie. Rarity understood where Pinkie was coming from; she knew Pinkie’s cheerful attitude wasn’t an act, it was her genuine self, but Twilight also wasn’t wrong about her being sad. Depression can really do a number on you, and sometimes it’s easier than not just to hide it.
“I do want to talk to you when we see each other again, about some important stuff. I haven’t totally wrapped my head around it yet, hopefully I will by the time I see you, but I want your opinion. You’re smart, and I trust you. It’s nothing like, HUGE huge! I don’t want you to worry or anything! Just some things I’ve sort of been thinking about for a while, and Fluttershy really brought them to the forefront.
“I miss you. I, uhm, I hope that’s okay to say? Because I do. Miss you, I mean. Uh, yeah. That’s dumb, I should probably take that part out, but I uh, I don’t, uh, really want to? I hope you… miss me too? It’s okay if you don’t! yikes, this is becoming a real mess, uh… I’ll take this part out. just give me a”
Rarity tilted her head and wondered what happened that made Twilight forget to take that part out, or what caused her to stop writing so suddenly. There was a little bit more to the letter, so it’s not like anything dreadful happened to Twilight, but it still struck Rarity as very odd.
“I really need to finish this up, otherwise you’ll be reading it for a million years, haha! Uhm, so is there anything else? Yeah, I guess there is.
“Thank you, Rarity. For coming to the library, and for being my friend. I love your company, and it means the world to me that you value my friendship as well (geez, that’s not too sappy, is it?)”
Rarity giggled at her poor librarian’s lack of self-confidence. If only she knew just how much Rarity valued their friendship.
“Your faithful librarian, Twilight Sparkle.”
Rarity held the letter close to her heart and smile so wide her cheeks almost got sore. Her faithful librarian indeed. She felt a pang in her heart and she simply couldn’t wait to see Twilight again and tell her how much Twilight meant to her, and how much she enjoyed Twilight’s letter.
“Rarity,” Luna said, oddly seriously, and Rarity gave Luna her full attention. “Remember, you need to listen to your heart, and what it wants you to do. Not what you think you’re ‘supposed’ to do. Okay? Your first priority should be making sure that the life you’re living is worth living, and if you’re being drained into nothing by your every day, that isn’t much of a life at all, is it?”
Rarity took a deep breath. Luna’s words were like being splashed with cold water right after departing a hot shower. She wasn’t wrong, but…
“By the way,” Luna cracked a wry smirk, “how long is that letter?”
“She’s verbose,” Rarity laughed, and felt her cheeks heat up immensely.
Rarity would take Luna’s words into consideration, but some other time. Right now, all she wanted to think about was Twilight. Perhaps, when Twilight asked her important things that she needed to talk about, Rarity could convince Twilight to listen to her rambles as well.
Rarity’s ears perked up and she intently scanned the letter in her hands, affecting a frantic expression as she read a certain line over again.
“She’s on the train back home!” Rarity shouted.
“And?”
“I have to—I want to be at the train station!” Rarity said desperately. “I want to be there for her when she arrives, but I’ll never make it in time!”
“If only you had a friend who could fly,” Luna said, outstretching her wings.
“You would… carry me?” Rarity asked. “Back to the Moon District?”
“You don’t have any time to waste, correct?” Luna smirked. “Besides,” Luna stood up and stretched her arms over her head, “it will be good exercise.”
Rarity mulled it over for a moment; of course she would accept the offer, she wasn’t going to turn down Luna’s generosity, but she also thought about how jealous Rainbow Dash would be if Rarity made a grand entrance on the back of a Princess.
“Luna?” Rarity grinned. “Will you take me back to the Moon District, please?”
Twilight and Pinkie stepped off the train onto the Canterlot Moon District station platform, where Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike were all waiting with bright smiles and open arms.
Twilight didn’t even waste a second before running to them, Spike running for her and jumping into her arms, Twilight spinning around and nuzzling him. It may have been a little silly, but this was maybe the longest they’d been apart, at least without Zecora around, since they met.
“I missed you!” Spike said, bumping his nose against Twilight’s.
“I missed you too, my number one assistant!” Twilight giggled, nuzzling Spike again for good measure.
Twilight considered putting Spike on the ground, but decided to keep him in her arms for a little bit longer while she said her greetings to the others. Applejack was in the midst of untangling herself from Pinkie Pie’s all-encompassing hug, and Rainbow was just kind of standing around watching them, so Twilight headed for Rainbow first.
“Hey, stranger,” Twilight said, holding out a hand to shake Rainbow’s and holding Spike in the other. “Did you guys do a good job watching over our library while I was gone?”
“Heck yeah we did!” Rainbow exclaimed, pumping her fist. Spike held out his fist and Rainbow bashed hers against it, getting an enamored giggle out of Twilight.
“Yeah, Rainbow was amazing!” Spike cheered, and Rainbow tried to play it cool, so Twilight pretended not to notice the blush on her face. “By the way, we’re gonna have a bunch of people in the library again next week.”
“Uh, how many is ‘a bunch’?” Twilight asked concernedly.
“I think like half the town was there,” Applejack chuckled, “right, Rainbow?”
“I’m sure it wasn’t half,” Rainbow scoffed, but then bit on her lip, “I think?”
“Welp,” Twilight gave a nervous grin, not entirely sure what had happened or if she even wanted to ask, but then she took a deep breath and gave a charmed smile, “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Once Spike and the others explained what went on while she was gone, with Rainbow’s dramatic reading of Daring Do and how much the Canterlot foals enjoyed it, Twilight felt like a shining star was twinkling in her heart.
“That’s amazing, Rainbow!” she said proudly, half a mind to pull the pegasus into a hug right then and there. “What a great idea!”
“Th-thanks,” Rainbow said bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I wanna be there for the next one!” Pinkie chimed in, bouncing up and down.
“It honestly was somethin’ to see,” Applejack added, “and Spike deserves a lot of the credit too, you made a real good villain!”
“I sure did!” Spike beamed, and Twilight laughed and nuzzled his cheek.
“Honestly, Rainbow,” Twilight said teasingly, “I leave you with my son for one day and you turn him into a villain.”
“I guess I’m just a really good influence,” Rainbow grinned, and Twilight laughed again.
But then something very unexpected happened; Applejack pulled Rainbow close to her and kissed her on the head, eliciting two very fascinated and confused stares from Pinkie and Twilight.
Rainbow, noticing the two staring, chuckled. “Oh, we’re dating now.”
“WHAT!?” Pinkie screamed, practically levitating off the ground. “That’s amazing!!!”
“I’m really happy for you guys!” Twilight said. “And I’m really happy for me that I don’t have to pretend that I don’t know you two are crushing on each other!”
“Wait, what?” Rainbow said confusedly.
“Well,” Twilight cleared her throat, “Applejack told me that she was crushing on you, and you told me you were crushing on her—”
“And you didn’t think to tell either of us?” Applejack arched an eyebrow.
“Now how would that be fair?” Twilight balked. “I couldn’t tell one of you and not the other, that would be a complete betrayal of the trust you put in me not to tell anyone. And I couldn’t exactly tell you both at the same time, could you imagine how awkward that would be?”
“I guess,” Applejack sighed. “I still kinda wish you had said somethin’ though…”
“Yeah,” Rainbow grumbled, “or like, helped nudge us in the right direction, since you knew we were both into each other and never gonna say anything about it.”
“You’re right, Rainbow,” Twilight said flatly, “what was I thinking. What I should have done was subtly convince the two of you to meet each other in a safe space where you could be alone and not be disturbed by anyone else, like maybe a library in the middle of the night. That should’ve been my move. OH WAIT.”
“Wait, so,” Applejack’s face turned red as she pointed a limp finger at Twilight, who wore the smuggest grin she could muster, Pinkie Pie and Spike both trying to hold in their laughter, “you planned for us to get talkin’ while we were at the library?”
“I didn’t exactly plan for you to do anything,” Twilight said casually, taking a look at her nails as she spoke, “I just figured that if you two had an opportunity to be alone together, without any expectations or demands or distractions, you two would talk things out. And I was right!”
“Twilight Sparkle, ultimate matchmaker!” Pinkie exclaimed with applause, Twilight taking a bow and putting Spike on the ground, the little pegasus also clapping for Twilight’s incredible matchmaking skills.
“Thanks, Twi,” Applejack said sheepishly, “that was really swell of ya. Sorry for givin’ you that grief just a second ago.”
“Yep,” Rainbow cleared her throat awkwardly, “what she said.”
Twilight just smiled at the pair’s flustered responses, though she did feel a little bad for them. If only some other distracting thing could suddenly come out of the blue to snatch everyone’s attention away.
Like perhaps a loud thud clanging on top of the canopy above the Moon District station.
“What was—”
Before Applejack could finish her statement, a night blue alicorn dropped from the canopy and walked into the station, her ethereal mane glittering around her like a starry sky. She looked Twilight dead in the eye and Twilight froze.
Time stood still as Twilight stared down the mysterious alicorn and a thousand questions ran through Twilight’s mind all at once, though the most pertinent of them were “Who is she?” and “Where did she come from?”
But all those questions could wait once a familiar face also dropped down from the canopy; Rarity.
“Excuse me, everypony!” Rarity said charmingly, and Twilight felt her heart speeding up as she approached, Twilight completely forgetting about the alicorn for just a moment. “I’m sorry I’m late, but you know a lady does have an obligation to make a dramatic entrance.” Rarity looked toward her alicorn friend with a smile. “And I’d say we did just that, wouldn’t you, darling?”
“Princess Luna!?” Rainbow exclaimed in shock before the alicorn had a chance to speak, Rainbow’s wings spreading out. Meanwhile Applejack just took a few steps back, with Spike cowering behind her leg; alicorns were bad news for him and Twilight, after all. Pinkie Pie, in the midst of all of this, just seemed mostly confused.
“What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked, approaching Luna and bowing her head.
“Please, Rainbow Dash,” Luna sighed, “there’s no need for such formality.” Luna took a look around the empty station and grunted. “Though I must admit, I expected more ponies here to bask in my glorious presence.”
“The downside to making a surprise appearance, I suppose,” Rarity shrugged, walking past Luna and toward Twilight. “Hello, darling,” Rarity said softly, grabbing Twilight’s hands, and everything else in the area disappeared while Twilight focused only on Rarity, “hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”
“No,” Twilight shook her head with a smile. “Did you get my letter?”
“I did,” Rarity giggled, “and it was precious. Thank you for sending it to me, though you must teach me how you did it! I assume it was with some spell, but I would love to learn it if I could!”
“I’ll, um, see what I can do.”
“Rarity,” the all-too-serious voice of the alicorn chimed in, shattering Twilight’s perfect little illusion of it just being her and Rarity in the train station, “is this your friend, the librarian?”
Twilight was vaguely familiar with Princess Luna; while not nearly as famous as her royal sister, the infamous Hunter Queen of Equestria, Luna’s exploits and skill as a Slayer were nothing short of horrifying for someone like Twilight. And she was an alicorn on top of it all, which meant she could see right through Twilight.
Twilight locked eyes with the alicorn as she approached, and Twilight wondered if this was going to be the moment where everything collapsed, where the life she had been building for herself and Spike would be completely shattered and fall apart around her.
She wondered what she would do if the alicorn became hostile; would she run? Could she run? What would Rarity say or think? She’d probably hate Twilight forever.
The alicorn took a step closer. Rarity said something to her, but Twilight didn’t hear it. An introduction, maybe? It didn’t matter. If Twilight didn’t take Spike and get the hell out of here now, then—
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Luna affected a dazzling smile and held her hand out to Twilight.
Twilight looked at the hand, then at woman’s smile, and she was certain that her mind was playing tricks on her somehow.
“Twilight,” Rarity muttered irritably, “don’t be rude to the Princess, please!”
“Uh, right,” Twilight cleared her throat and swallowed some of her anxiety, taking the Princess’ hand and shaking it heartily, her eyes glancing over to Spike as he continued to shrink behind Applejack’s legs. “Pleasure to meet you, Princess.”
“Please, call me Luna,” Luna said softly. “Rarity’s told me a little about you, she said you were a very fine pony, and I can definitely see it.”
“Right,” Twilight smiled, and she hoped it didn’t look as forced and nervous as it felt.
She knows.
Why isn’t she doing anything?
“Unfortunately, I need to go,” Luna said. “I have a meeting I need to attend, and I’ve been really draggin’ my feet on it.” Luna glanced over at Twilight, her smile faltering for merely half a second. “I hope to see you again, Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps I could come by your library sometime?”
“Oh, that would be divine!” Rarity cheered, though Twilight was… less enthusiastic.
“My library’s always open to anypony,” Twilight said, her tone polite and measured despite how ghoulish Twilight felt in her heart and stomach.
Luna’s smile returned as Rarity and Rainbow Dash said their goodbyes to her, and she outstretched her massive, starry wings, taking flight and disappearing into the evening’s sunset-tinted sky.
“Twilight?” Rarity asked concernedly. “Are you alright?”
“I don’t, I’m, uh,” Twilight knew she needed to think of something to say to explain why she looked and felt like such a hot mess, “I’m alright.” Wow. Good save, Twilight.
“Um, if you say so,” Rarity said, not even pretending to sound convinced.
“So!” Pinkie Pie suddenly clamored. “Is everypony ready to party?! We should totally have another library party since we’re all together!”
“Um,” Rarity mumbled, “I don’t know if—”
“I think that’s a great idea, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “If everyone is up for it.” Twilight looked around at the others, and Rainbow gave a thumbs-up and bright grin, Applejack gave a soft nod, and Spike a much more effusive nod.
Rarity though, seemed a bit hesitant. Which was fine, because Twilight had another idea anyway.
“But maybe,” Twilight said, not-so-subtly taking hold of Rarity’s hand and delighting in the tiny gasp Rarity made, “me and Rarity could catch up to the rest of you later tonight? Meet you in the library in an hour or two?”
“You lovebirds need some time alone?” Applejack mused with a wry grin.
“Applejack!” Rarity balked, her face turning bright red. “Honestly! Where are your manners?”
“Notice she didn’t say ‘no’,” Rainbow snickered, needling a chuckling Applejack in the side.
“Well!” Rarity harrumphed, crossing her arms and turning her head away from the others, like she always did when she was flustered.
“It’s been a long day for me,” Twilight said, and she could practically feel bags forming under her eyes even as she spoke, “and I was hoping I could talk to Rarity for a bit, alone, to sort of clear my head. If that’s fine with you, of course.”
Twilight smiled at Rarity, and it took every ounce of willpower not to melt into a puddle when Rarity smiled back.
“Of course, darling. You wanted to talk to me about your trip, didn’t you?”
“I did,” Twilight said hesitantly, “but tonight, maybe we could talk about something else? Just… have a nice time. No worries, no important serious talks, just you and me, chatting over a meal and some drinks, like friends?”
If that alicorn could really see through Twilight, then it was entirely possible her days in Canterlot were already numbered. She refused to start living in fear, or to drop everything and run based on one anxious hunch, but just in case, she wanted to have one more nice night with Rarity.
“Sweetheart,” Rarity sighed and put her hand on Twilight’s cheek, Twilight purring in delight as she nuzzled Rarity’s hand, “nothing could please me more.”
“It’s cold out tonight,” Rarity said idly as she and Twilight walked away from the train station, rubbing her bare arms. “I just got back from Las Pegasus, where I barely needed my jacket, and I fear I must have left it on the train.”
“You can have mine,” Twilight said without hesitation, starting to remove her dusty brown jacket.
“Oh, darling,” Rarity said with a coy smile, “I don’t need you to do that. I’m a Slayer! I’m used to tough conditions!”
“The cold doesn’t bother me,” Twilight insisted, “in fact, I barely even feel it! So please, take it.”
“Well,” Rarity bit her lip and gently touched the sleeve of the jacket, “if you insist. It is quite noble of you to offer, I wouldn’t want to turn you down.”
“It’s settled then,” Twilight smiled and took the jacket off, gently placing it on Rarity’s shoulders, Rarity sighing with relief as she put her arms through the sleeves.
“Thank you, darling,” Rarity hummed, and though the jacket was about one size too big for Rarity, it looked perfect on her.
“No problem,” Twilight said, gushing internally about how that totally went off without a hitch, just like in all her romance books! “Happy to do it!”
Twilight let her hands dangle at her side as the two walked, Twilight not really sure where the pair were going so she let Rarity lead the way. There was a lot on Twilight’s mind—between Fluttershy and what she said, Pinkie Pie and the weird way she was acting, and now that alicorn who saw right through her—but she promised herself that for tonight, all that mattered was Rarity.
And she felt doubly committed to that decision when she felt Rarity’s fingers delicately wrapping around her own.
So the two walked, holding hands all the way until they reached the little café where Rarity wanted to sit down for food and drinks, and they chatted about things like Twilight pointing out the linguistic origins of some of the menu items, or Rarity telling Twilight about some of the more exotic foods she’d eaten at some of the stranger places she’d been in her travels, and somewhere along the conversation Twilight corrected Rarity that she wasn’t afraid of quesadillas, she just thought they were too cheesy.
It had been a perfect evening, and it all led to Rarity and Twilight sitting on a bench on a snowy bridge, over a frozen river, gazing at the stars. And while the starry sky Twilight was looking at wasn’t quite as beautiful as the one she saw in the Everfree, it didn’t matter because Rarity was more beautiful than any star.
Everything was perfect.
“Twilight?” Rarity said softly, leaning her head against Twilight’s shoulder.
“Yes, Rarity?” Twilight chirped, daring not to look at Rarity as she smoothly put her arm around Rarity’s shoulder.
“Can I ask—rather, can I share something with you? Something… that’s very personal to me?” the tender, vulnerable tone in Rarity’s voice drew Twilight’s eye to her, and she saw Rarity biting her lip.
“Of course,” Twilight smiled softly, and the way Rarity’s eyes gleamed when she smiled back may have been the most beautiful thing Twilight had ever witnessed.
Rarity nuzzled her cheek against Twilight’s neck and purred, and Twilight bit down a smitten giggle as the blazing heat in her cheeks cut through the icy cold of the nighttime air. She swore if she dipped her face into the snow it would’ve melted at least a meter radius around her.
“It’s not something pleasant, I’m afraid,” Rarity sighed, “but it’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you about, and that I keep putting off because I’m scared. But I don’t want to run anymore, least of all from you. So will you allow me to tell you?”
How could Twilight refuse, when she was so determined herself not to hide anymore? Or at least, she wanted to be. And maybe not hiding from Rarity, and the unpleasant things they would have to deal with eventually, was a good way to start.
“Of course, Rarity,” Twilight said, trying to drown her worry with a pleasant tone. “What is it?”
“I want to tell you,” Rarity caressed the dragon fang attached to the collar around her neck, “about how I came into possession of this horrid thing.”
“Oh.”
This was the conversation Twilight had been dreading. Of course she noticed the dragon fang, of course it was the first thing about Rarity that caught her attention, and she had very, very specifically never asked about it.
She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to hear this story. She didn’t want to know Rarity’s depth of hatred for…
Hm.
So Rarity told her story, told Twilight about the dragon she slayed, the one who begged for mercy but then destroyed an entire village in a single night. She told Twilight how she hung onto the dragon fang not out of pride, but out of deep shame and regret, and as a promise to never let what happened that night transpire again.
Twilight was horrified. She was horrified by the destruction and bloodshed the dragon caused, by the way it betrayed Rarity’s trust, by what Rarity was forced to do, and by the bitterness that laced every word of Rarity’s tale.
She was at a loss for words, but as Rarity wiped tears from her eyes, Twilight took hold of one of her hands and gently caressed her fingers. Rarity needed to know that Twilight was there for her, even if her voice was failing her.
“I’m sorry for ruining our evening,” Rarity said with a wry chuckle.
“You didn’t ruin anything,” Twilight said, pulling Rarity close. “I’m glad you shared your story with me. I’m glad that you—” Twilight choked on her words. “That you trust me with something that personal.”
“You’re important to me,” Rarity said, resting her head against Twilight’s chest, “and it was important that you know why I take my responsibilities so seriously, and what happens when I don’t.”
Twilight didn’t know what to say, so she contented herself with stroking Rarity’s mane softly and gently, almost rhythmically, as she tried to fight the squall of anxiety that was threatening to cascade inside her.
“You have a lot of weight on your shoulders,” Twilight said, and she felt Rarity nodding. “I want to help you carry it.”
“Twilight, you—”
Rarity straightened herself up and stared into Twilight’s eyes, though it took tremendous concentration for Twilight to keep from looking away from Rarity’s gaze. Rarity leaned her face closer to Twilight’s, her lip quivering in anticipation.
Twilight lowered her head and gently placed the tip of her nose against Rarity’s, who nuzzled her in return.
“Thank you, Twilight,” Rarity said with a smile.
“Whatever happens next,” Twilight said, her eyes closed as she let herself melt into Rarity’s embrace one last time, “I want to face it head-on. Together.”
“I will help you carry your burdens, Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity said softly, “if you will help me carry mine.”
Twilight sighed, knowing that neither one of them could fully wrap their minds around the entire scope of each other’s burdens. There was so much that Twilight was afraid of, and she knew that she couldn’t run forever.
“Rarity,” but for now, Twilight would allow herself to feel what she knew in her heart she truly wanted; to trust Rarity, “nothing could please me more.”
Rarity took a sip of tea as she admired the cute décor of Applejack and Pinkie Pie’s home. Pinkie Pie was already at the train station, since she was very excited for her and Applejack’s little journey today. Applejack was less excited, and Rarity was here to offer emotional support, should she need it.
That is, if Applejack ever came out of her room.
“Darling, how long does it take to get dressed?” Rarity shouted into the bedroom.
“Like yer one to talk!” Applejack shouted back, and Rarity snorted because she really did walk right into that.
“Right! And if even I’m getting impatient!” Rarity said smugly, delighting in the frustrated groan she could hear from behind the door.
Applejack finally came out of her room, and while she didn’t look nearly as nice as she often did for the dates with Rainbow Dash she’d been on throughout the last few weeks, she still looked mighty dapper in her gray jacket, black dress pants, and burgundy shirt.
Rarity adjusted Applejack’s clothing a little bit, mostly out of habit. Applejack grumbled, but Rarity knew that her fussing helped Applejack to keep calm, and that was what Applejack needed now more than anything.
“How are you feeling?” Rarity asked, keeping her concentration fixated on Applejack’s clothing, buttoning up Applejack’s jacket, which was easier said than done considering the behemoth of a woman she was dealing with.
“Could be better,” Applejack griped.
“Going to see family is always hard,” Rarity said, dusting off Applejack’s jacket and admiring her for a moment. “You’ll feel better once it’s done though.”
“I agree,” Applejack sighed, “but it’s easier for you. Your family’s proud of ya.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘proud’,” Rarity muttered, the ominous words of her father still ringing in her mind, “but I know what you mean. I wish that I could be there to offer support, but—”
“But we both know that’d be a disaster,” Applejack groaned. “Granny’s gonna be comparin’ me to my pa, and ma, and grandpa, and herself, and darn near every Apple this side of Neighagra Falls, last thing I need is for her to be comparin’ me to you too.”
“Ugh,” Rarity stuck out her tongue as her stomach turned from just thinking about it, “that’s a stress I don’t need in my life either, because you know she’d try to get me to agree with her.”
Applejack meandered toward the door, but she stopped in her tracks. Rarity assumed she was just dragging her feet until she spoke.
“Do you agree with her?” Applejack asked, not daring to look at Rarity. “Do you think that I’m—”
Before Applejack could finish that sentence, Rarity cut in.
“I don’t,” she harrumphed. “I don’t think you’re a ‘disgrace’ or a ‘failure’ or any such thing. You chose your own path and you did so for noble reasons, I can’t think of anything more graceful than that.”
Applejack sighed desperately and ran her hands through her mane, before turning around to Rarity and bowing her head.
“Thanks, Rares.”
“My pleasure, darling,” Rarity said, giving Applejack a warm hug. “But we mustn’t be late, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are already at the station waiting for us.”
“Aw, Twilight not wanna come out to see me off?” Applejack said, her tone only half-joking.
“She’s feeling a bit under the weather today, I’m afraid,” Rarity said sadly. “Spike’s with her right now, and I’m going to go check up on her after you leave, and I’m sure between the two of us we can nurse her back to perfect health! But she’s in no place to leave the library at the moment.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Applejack asked as the two walked out of Applejack’s house and into the snowy, windy streets of Canterlot.
“She assures me it’s just ‘exhaustion’,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes, “and while Spike insists that sometimes she just gets like this and all she really needs is some rest, I still can’t help but be concerned.”
“Well, sure,” Applejack said, “I’d be concerned too, and I’m not even in lo—”
“Don’t say it,” Rarity griped, getting a smug little chuckle from Applejack.
“You have a way of makin’ ponies feel good, Rarity,” Applejack said cheerfully. “I’m sure with you by her side, she’ll be back on her hooves in no time.”
Rarity put a hand on her heated cheek and tried to stifle a smitten giggle, though Applejack’s satisfied smile made her feel a little less embarrassed about the praise.
Truth be told, Rarity felt a little guilty for Twilight’s weakened position. While she was, logically speaking, certainly not responsible for Twilight’s illness, she was sure the stress of her constantly saying they would definitely read those fashion books, only for Rarity to change her mind at the last second, wasn’t doing Twilight any favors.
It had been several weeks since the puckwudgie mission, and things had been rather uneventful in the Moon District since, even with the several missions Rarity had taken on in that time. She was slowly starting to find some kind of balance between her responsibilities as a Slayer and her time in the library. It was only a first step, but she was proud of herself nonetheless.
Still though, adding her secret and shameful fashion desires to that mix could only ruin everything, or at least that was the excuse Rarity gave herself to continue avoiding it.
She couldn’t get too involved in her thoughts of guilt and Twilight though, for before she knew it they were already at the train station, with Pinkie Pie vivaciously waving and cheering at them.
“Applejack! Applejack!” Pinkie clamored as the two approached, Rainbow sitting patiently on the bench nearby and waiting for her opportunity to say hi. “Are you excited, huh, huh, huh?!”
“Uhhhh,” Applejack replied gracefully, rubbing the back of her neck.
“We’re gonna go see Apple Bloom and Big Mac!” Pinkie beamed, throwing her hands in the air.
“And to a much lesser degree, Granny Smith,” Rarity chuckled.
“Aww, come on,” Pinkie pouted, “don’t be mean. Granny Smith is really nice! She’s just a little, uh, intense!”
“She is family,” Applejack hummed, “for better or worse. Anyway, yeah, Pinkie, I’m lookin’ forward to seein’ my family.”
As far as Pinkie— or the Apples for that matter— was concerned, the Apples were Pinkie’s family as well, and she got along with them much better than she did with her own family, whose visits plagued Pinkie with the exact kind of trepidation Applejack was feeling right now.
“You gonna be okay, AJ?” Rainbow chimed in, looking at Applejack but not getting up from her spot on the bench.
“I think so,” Applejack said softly, smiling very earnestly at Rainbow, whose bright smile back at her would have lit up a pitch-dark cave, “but just to be sure, I could use a little extra affection.”
“Well if you’re that desperate,” Rainbow said teasingly, rising from her bench and planting a kiss on Applejack’s lips, keeping herself at eye-level with her very large marefriend thanks to her wings, “I guess I could show you some love.”
“Aw, c’mon, Rainbow,” Applejack held Rainbow in her arms, Rainbow placing her hands behind Applejack’s neck, and Applejack leaned in to give Rainbow another kiss, “you don’t wanna get all mushy at the train station, do ya?”
“Please,” Rainbow scoffed, before planting yet another fiery kiss on Applejack’s lips, and Rarity found herself feeling somewhat jealous watching the two of them, “you know you can’t leave without getting some smooches.”
“Caught me red-handed, hon,” Applejack leaned into Rainbow again, but instead of a kiss she just nuzzled against Rainbow, letting out a soft sigh as Rainbow placed a gentle kiss on the bridge of her nose. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Rainbow whispered, and her eyes suddenly darted over to Pinkie and Rarity just for a fraction of a second, but long enough for both observant mares to awkwardly look away, Pinkie even whistling innocently for good measure. “Um, yeah. I love you too.”
“Still workin’ on the nickname?” Applejack snickered, and Rainbow’s face turned red as she shoved Applejack away.
“Unless you want your affectionate nickname to be ‘big dorky loser’,” Rainbow harrumphed, crossing her arms and turning her back on Applejack, “you’d better not be giving me a hard time!”
“C’mon, I’m only teasin’,” Applejack said tenderly, putting her arms around Rainbow’s stomach and planting a kiss on Rainbow’s neck, who didn’t seem to mind.
“I know,” Rainbow sighed, running her hand across Applejack’s cheek. “But right now, you got a train to catch.”
“Yeah,” Applejack sighed and released Rainbow, the sound of the train bells almost drowning out her soft voice. “See ya when I get back, honey.”
“You too, uh,” Rainbow bit her lip, trying to think of something affectionate to call her marefriend.
“Floofy wumpkins?” Pinkie helpfully suggested.
“Darling light of my vacant skies?” Rarity added teasingly.
“Girl who I like much more than either Pinkie Pie or Rarity,” Rainbow said flatly, Applejack chuckling and getting one last passionate kiss from Rainbow, before Applejack and Pinkie Pie waved goodbye and headed for the train.
Watching Rainbow Dash and Applejack, seeing how comfortable they were with each other now after dating for several weeks— a far cry from when they first started, and Rainbow could barely handle Applejack putting her arm around her— Rarity found herself feeling jealous again.
Which was odd to her; her relationship with Twilight was more than she could have ever hoped for. They snuggled, and cuddled, and talked about their feelings for one another and how much they enjoyed each other’s company.
But they hadn’t kissed, and Rarity realized that was what was bothering her. She realized she very much wanted to kiss Twilight, but she wasn’t certain if that was appropriate for their relationship. They didn’t really have a label for what Rarity and Twilight were; they weren’t exactly marefriends, not officially anyway, but Rarity believed that they were more than just friends.
Applejack took a deep, steady breath as she looked out the train window and saw the town of Appleloosa, the southernmost village within Equestria’s borders and the ancestral home of the Apple family.
On the one hand, being in her family’s home— the place where her ancestors, forebears, and heroes were born, raised, and trained— left Applejack with a heady feeling, an overwhelming sense of pride and honor. On the other hand, she knew she could never live up to the legacy of this place, or to any of the Apples that she idolized.
And of course, Applejack could spy among the ponies waiting at the station a wrinkly green mare who would be all too happy to remind Applejack about how she was disgracing the Apple name.
“Are you ready?” Pinkie Pie asked, and Applejack smiled, though she felt it was a really silly question.
“As I’ll ever be.”
As Applejack and honorary Apple Pinkie Pie departed the train and stepped into the dusty, sand swept station of Appleloosa, the smiles on the two waiting ponies were totally priceless.
Granny Smith was there, of course, and she looked happier than a worm in an apple convention to see Pinkie Pie, but a bit more hesitant when her gaze fell on Applejack. Big Mac was decidedly less hesitant, and he grabbed Applejack and pulled her into a bonecrushing hug before she was even fully off the train.
Instead of complaining, Applejack wrapped her arms around the giant red stallion, who was just a tiny bit smaller and stockier than Applejack herself, and lifted him up off his feet.
“Doin’ well for yerself, big guy?” Applejack clapped Big Mac on the shoulders and beamed at him; her little brother who was so much more respectable than she was.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied with a hearty grin and even heartier slap to Applejack’s shoulder.
“Hey, where’s Apple Bloom?” Pinkie Pie asked, and Applejack agreed it was curious that she wasn’t there to greet Applejack and Pinkie Pie alongside the rest of the family.
“She’s at home, preparin’ the banquet for y’all,” Granny Smith explained. “She’s a big girl now, she’s old ‘nuff to watch the place by herself, and quite proud of it too!”
“Yeah, I bet,” Applejack said fondly. “She’s really growin’ fast, huh? Won’t be much longer ‘fore she’s bigger’n me I bet!”
“Yep,” Granny nodded and gave a delighted chuckle. “She’s quite the firebrand already too, just like you when you were that age.”
“Heh, wonder what happened to me then?” Applejack scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“You gave up,” Granny said coldly, giving Applejack the stank eye with the one good eye she had left. “Decided you’d rather be a quitter than a Slayer.”
“Granny,” Big Mac huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at Granny Smith.
“It’s alright, Big Mac—” Applejack sighed and waved off her brother’s attempted defenses.
“No it isn’t!” Pinkie chimed in, interrupting Applejack with a stomp of her hoof. “Granny, Applejack is not a quitter!”
“Not sayin’ it’s a bad thing, Pinkie Pie,” Granny said, “but the truth is what it is. Every able-bodied pony in the Apple family, ever since Celestia founded the Slayers, has been one. And Applejack’s the first one, in our entire family, to quit.”
“Better’n dyin’ early,” Applejack spat, “like most of the family.”
“If you were so worried about dyin’ early,” Granny shot Applejack a nasty glare, “you should’ve just trained harder!”
“Oh, is that your advice?!” Applejack shouted, stomping her hoof.
“Don’t you be stompin’ at me, Appleja—”
“Enough!” Pinkie screamed, jumping in between the two, as Big Mac stepped back. “Granny, you promised me in your letter that you wouldn’t fight with Applejack, and Applejack, you promised on the train! So no more fighting! Got it?!”
Applejack and Granny Smith were silent. Both crossing their arms and refusing to look at the other, or at Pinkie Pie.
“Got it?” Pinkie growled.
“Yeah, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I promised.”
“Me too, child,” Granny shook her head slowly, “and an Apple doesn’t go back on their word. I’m sorry, Applejack. I was actin’ like a right fool.”
“I’m sorry too, Granny,” Applejack said, the words weighing heavily on her heart because why was she having to apologize, again?
“So where’s Rarity, anyway?” Granny Smith asked, and Applejack grit her teeth and managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Rarity was always Granny’s favorite, after all.
“She’s at the library, I think,” Pinkie said. “One of our friends got sick, and she had to stay behind to take care of her.”
“A very important friend, I hope,” Granny said, “if she’s missing out on seein’ her family!”
“She is an important friend,” Applejack said sternly. “She’s family too.”
“Well,” Granny exhaled sharply and affected a warm smile, “more pie for the rest of us, I suppose!”
“Yeah! Pie!” Pinkie cheered. “Big Mac, are you ready for pie!?”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac said, pumping his fist.
“I’ll race you to the house!” Pinkie beamed, and before saying even another word, both her and Big Mac were rushing into Appleloosa.
“I’m sorry about what I said before,” Granny Smith said as she walked slowly alongside Applejack. “I may be disappointed in you, but you’re still family, and this is your home. I don’t wanna make you feel like you ain’t welcome here.”
Applejack didn’t reply with anything other than a smile, because it was already a little bit late for that.
Pinkie Pie giggled as she watched Applejack playing with Apple Bloom in the backyard, carrying her around on her big ol’ shoulders and such. Dinner had been a little awkward, but so far— since they left the train station at least— Applejack and Granny Smith hadn’t gotten into a fight. Granted, that was because they hardly talked at all, but that was at least… something.
“Applejack!” Granny called out from inside, making Pinkie flinch cuz what if this was the thing that started a fight? “Would you help me clean up, please!”
“Yeah, no problem, Granny!” Applejack shouted back. “Be right there!”
“Aww,” Apple Bloom whined as Applejack put her on the ground, “can’t you just get Big Mac to help Granny?”
“Big Mac’s gotta get some rest, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “He’s a Slayer, after all. He doesn’t get a lot of downtime. Needs all the rest he can get.”
“Sounds to me like we’re just spoilin’ him,” Apple Bloom huffed, and Applejack laughed and ruffled her mane.
“C’mon, be nice to your big brother,” Applejack said.
“I am nice!” Apple Bloom replied, sticking her tongue out. “I’m just sayin’, is all.”
“Honestly,” Applejack scoffed and rolled her eyes playfully as she headed back into the house, “no respect in this family, I tell ya.”
“I respect you, Applejack!” Pinkie said with her tongue hanging out as Applejack passed her, Applejack laughing and giving her a quick ruffle of her mane.
Once Applejack was gone, Apple Bloom sat beside Pinkie on the deck, stretching her arms above her head and dangling her feet off the edge.
“Hey Apple Bloom!” Pinkie said giddily, Apple Bloom giving her a sweet smile. “You wanna hear about the Spirit of the Everfree?”
“The magical pony you kept goin’ on about in yer letters?” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “Heck yeah I wanna hear about her!”
“Good! Cuz I really wanna tell you about her!” Pinkie beamed. Any excuse to gush about Fluttershy was one that she’d take.
And gush she did, but not just about Fluttershy; Pinkie regaled Apple Bloom with tales of the Everfree Spirit, yes, but she also talked about her trip with Twilight, the amazing foods of Sugarcube Corner, how awesome Twilight’s library was, and that party she had there with all her friends.
“Man, you sure are lucky, Pinkie,” Apple Bloom sighed and pouted, putting her fists against her cheeks. Pinkie felt real bad, cuz making Apple Bloom sad was like the opposite of what she was trying to do!
“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked, putting an arm around Apple Bloom. “Cuz I got to meet a forest spirit?”
“Well yeah,” Apple Bloom laughed, “that part’s pretty cool! But I’m talking about… uhm,” Apple Bloom paused and looked back toward the house, then looked side to side. “Can I share a secret with you, Pinkie?”
“Of course!” Pinkie squeaked. “And I won’t tell anypony, Pinkie Promise! Cross my heart and hope to etc. you know the rest!”
“I really don’t wanna be a Slayer!” Apple Bloom admitted sheepishly. “I wanna be a blacksmith or an enchantress, like you and Applejack!”
“Woah, seriously?” Pinkie said incredulously; never once did she picture her or Applejack’s career choice as being glamorous, especially not more than being a Slayer, though Applejack’s shame over retiring and Pinkie’s aspirations to become a Slayer did muddy the waters a bit.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, pulling her legs up and holding them close to her, “bein’ a Slayer sounds super dangerous and scary, and plus Big Mac’s exhausted like a thousand percent of the time. I don’t wanna be exhausted all the time!”
“Hey, Apple Bloom,” Pinkie put her hand on Apple Bloom’s shoulder and gave an encouraging smile, “don’t let anypony, not even Granny, tell you that you can’t be a blacksmith if that’s what you wanna do. I’m sure you’ll make an incredible blacksmith.”
“Honestly, what I really wanna do,” Apple Bloom said excitedly, “is fall in love with a super cool Slayer girl or somethin’, and then be the pony that like, fixes up their gear and gets ‘em ready for battle and stuff! And whenever they come home after a long day of monster huntin’, I wanna be there to take care of ‘em! Nurse her wounds, make her some hot food, and make her feel okay!”
“Apple Bloom,” Pinkie said, her heart swelling from Apple Bloom’s adorable housewife dreams, “that’s an awesome dream.”
“How’s it going, space cadet?” Rainbow tapped Rarity on the arm, rolling her eyes at the girl staring vacantly off into space after AJ and Pinkie left. Plus, teasing Rarity helped Rainbow ignore the feeling of loneliness that she definitely wasn’t feeling, and even if she was, it definitely wasn’t because Applejack was gone!
Rainbow wasn’t like some puppy with separation anxiety who gets nervous and sad the moment her mast—uh, girlfriend is gone.
“Rarity?” Rainbow tapped Rarity again, and only this time did Rarity respond with a blink and confused muttering. “Earth to Rarity? You in there?”
“Uh, yes,” Rarity cleared her throat. “Sorry, darling! Got a little sidetracked!”
“It’s fine,” Rainbow shrugged, but soon found that she was the one staring into space now, or at least at the empty train tracks that Applejack’s train had departed down.
“Everything alright, darling?”
“What? Yeah,” Rainbow sputtered, shaking off Rarity’s concern with a nervous laugh. “Everything’s—” Rainbow bit her lip, but she stopped herself before she drew blood this time. “Do you think she’ll be alright? With her family, I mean?”
“I think so,” Rarity said firmly, and for a sec Rarity’s confidence made Rainbow feel like things were gonna be okay, “but even if she has a dreadful trip, she knows that she has a wonderful family waiting for her when she comes home.”
Rainbow looked at Rarity, who was smiling brightly, but had to quickly turn her back on Rarity to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. Did Applejack consider Rainbow to be… family? That was a nice thought, but they hadn’t been doing stuff together for that long, had they?
“You really think—” Rainbow said, trying not to let her voice crack. “You really think Applejack— thinks of— us, as family?”
“Knowing that girl,” Rarity chuckled, “yes. She definitely thinks of you as her family.”
Agh, now why’d you have to go and say that?
Rainbow’s face twisted up as she tried her absolute best not to get all misty-eyed, and she was really glad that the Moon District station was as empty as ever. She wiped her eyes and, with a loud sniffle, managed to get herself under control.
“Alright, I gotta go,” Rainbow said as she spun around to face Rarity.
“Right now?” Rarity cocked her head. “That was awfully sudden.”
“Yeah I know,” Rainbow grumbled, “but I gotta go to Hunter’s Haven. You’ve been doing pretty great at keeping up with your missions and everything, but ever since me and Applejack, uh, started… doing things together—”
“You can say ‘dating’, sweetheart,” Rarity giggled.
“Right, like I said,” Rainbow cleared her throat, her cheeks feeling like someone had left the oven on inside them for like a year, “doing things together. Uh, ever since that, I’m pretty sure I’ve only been on that fruit bat mission with you, and like no others.”
“That was a fun one though,” Rarity chuckled.
“It was pretty great,” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she fondly recalled that absolute mess of a mission. “Anyway, I also gotta think up a nickname for Applejack.”
“Do you need help?”
“Nah,” Rainbow held up her hand and shook her head. “I think it should be something I come up with on my own. I just don’t wanna come up with something dumb, y’know?”
“Whatever you decide on,” Rarity said, putting her hands on Rainbow’s shoulders, “it will be marvelous, because it will be something that comes from your heart. And Applejack will be sure to love it, because she loves you.”
“Right,” Rainbow felt her face heating up again and she brushed off Rarity’s hands, “you say that, but—”
Rainbow cleared her throat which spun into a hacking cough, and then she shook herself awake a little bit. It was pretty early for her to be up, but she wasn’t going to miss Applejack before she left.
“Anyway,” Rainbow said, “I’m gonna bounce.”
“I’ll see you later,” Rarity said. “I’ll probably be at the library for a while, if you need me.”
“’kay,” Rainbow nodded and clapped Rarity’s hand, “see ya around.”
Rainbow didn’t need to wait for the train to get to the Sun District since she could just fly there, so after saying goodbye to Rarity, she let loose her wings and headed straight there. It only took a couple minutes to reach her destination, but every second of those minutes was spent thinking about Applejack.
It’d already been like a few weeks, and Rainbow still couldn’t believe she was actually dating Applejack.
It was super surreal, this girl she’d been crushing on for months, which felt like an eternity, was now saying that she loved Rainbow and kissing her, and damn could she kiss. It was a lot to process, and Rainbow didn’t feel like she’d ever get used to it, but for now she could just be happy that it was real.
She at least had one thing in her life that was really worth looking forward to. A reason not to be so reckless, at least for now.
The lively atmosphere of Hunter’s Haven was a welcome distraction to Rainbow’s racing thoughts. The foyer was absolutely full to bursting with Slayers accepting missions or bragging about their latest kills or just shooting the breeze. It was almost nice, if not for the constant reminder that Rainbow didn’t fit in here.
Ever since Rainbow’s first day as a Slayer, even since her days in the academy, the other hunters had given her grief; she was too short, she was too noisy, she was too brash, she was too stubborn, and on and on.
And maybe it hurt Rainbow at first, that nopony liked her or wanted to be friends with her, but nowadays it was just more motivation for her to become the greatest Slayer in the world, to show all these clowns just who they’d been messing with this whole time.
Rainbow trotted confidently through the room to the reception desk to assign herself a mission, simultaneously annoyed and relieved that nopony was paying attention to her, but then she stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar raspy voice call out her name.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash! Long time no see!”
Rainbow turned around and, sure enough, saw a golden yellow pegasus with a fiery orange mane walking toward her, clad in an azure blue uniform with a clashing red scarf.
“Spitfire,” Rainbow muttered to herself, more than a little caught off-guard that she was even here.
“Hey, how’s my favorite old sparring buddy?” Spitfire said jovially, putting her arm around Rainbow and ruffling her mane.
“That’s a funny way to say ‘girl I’ve barely seen in like a bazillion years’,” Rainbow shot back teasingly, giving Spitfire a playful shove.
“Hey! I’ve seen you plenty of times since I started working under Celestia,” Spitfire harrumphed, “not my fault you turned her down,” and the coldness in Spitfire’s tone took Rainbow by surprise, but she didn’t want to question it.
“Yeah, I guess I was at your graduation,” Rainbow smirked, “though I was kinda out of it that day. While you were getting pampered by Celestia’s maids or whatever, I was single-handedly dealing with a pack of timberwolves.”
“That’s funny,” Spitfire teased back, “I wouldn’t call ‘helping defend Luna Bay from an onslaught of ghouls’ being ‘pampered’.”
“Oh pfft,” Rainbow scoffed, “you’re just trying to one-up me!”
“Don’t make it so easy for me then.”
Spitfire grinned, and Rainbow growled at her, a jolt of electricity charging through the air between the two. Though it was quickly discharged when Spitfire laughed, and Rainbow found herself softening up as well. She still had a long way to go to catch up to Spitfire, but she was glad her rival was someone so kind and easy to look up to.
“It’s honestly great to see you, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire held out her hand, and Rainbow shook it gladly. “And I hope you’re not feeling too overshadowed.”
“By you?” Rainbow scoffed. “You may have a lead now, but I promised you when you became Celestia’s student that I wouldn’t let you beat me, and I keep my promises. I’m gonna leave you in the dust, Spitfire.”
“I like your confidence!” Spitfire beamed. “But that wasn’t what I was talking about. I mean, your new partner is Celestia’s star pupil. You gotta feel weird about that, right?”
“Why?” Rainbow shrugged. “Celestia and Rarity aren’t the same pony, and just cuz I didn’t want Celestia’s help, doesn’t mean I can’t accept Rarity’s.”
“Still though,” Spitfire said seriously, “you turned Celestia down cuz you said you wanted to become the strongest Slayer in the world on your own, with your own power. Do you honestly think anyone’s gonna take your power seriously when you’re with her?
“Do you honestly think those people you saved from those quarray eels, or that cragadile, or even those fruit bats, do you think they saw you? Or do you think they tell their friends about how Celestia’s student saved them and their town?”
Rainbow was silent.
She didn’t know what to say.
Celestia offered to train Rainbow Dash when she was just a kid, and not a day went by after turning her down that Rainbow didn’t wonder if she made a horrible mistake that day. At least not until…
“You’re the girl who turned Celestia down, right?” Rarity had said, slamming her hands on Rainbow’s table.
“Yeah?” Rainbow scoffed irritably. “What of it?”
“You must be so strong!” Rarity said with a gleaming smile. “I want you to be my partner!”
It was because of that decision that she met Rarity, and meeting Rarity was the only thing in her life that had ever gone right. How could she regret it?
But still…
“What are your long-term goals, Rainbow?” Spitfire said, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts. “Do you have any?”
“I wanna be the strongest Slayer in the world,” Rainbow replied confidently, clenching her fists. “I wanna show everypony how strong I am, so that no one has to be afraid anymore!”
“And how are you going to do that?” Spitfire asked skeptically. “You can’t be a symbol of hope and peace if nopony knows who you are. And as long as people view you as the right-hand gal of Celestia’s star student, how can you hope to be anything more than that?”
Rainbow didn’t have time to answer that question, or even really process it, before a frantic looking pegasus interrupted their conversation.
“Captain Spitfire! Lady Rainbow Dash!”
If a grunt worker was referring to Rainbow Dash with an honorific, then whatever news she had must be serious, and it probably also meant that she’d have to get Rarity.
“An urgent mission has appeared and you two have been summoned to Haven’s Hold!” the desperate pegasus said, Rainbow and Spitfire’s ears both shooting up in alarm. “And Lady Rainbow Dash, you need to col—”
“Get Rarity?” Rainbow asked gruffly, and rolled her eyes at the pegasus’ shaky nod.
“Of course, get Rarity,” Spitfire muttered, “she is Celestia’s star pupil, after all.”
“Right,” Rainbow sighed. Why would they just need me¸ after all? When I’m a nopony.
“So what’s the mission, soldier?” Spitfire asked the shaky pegasus. “If we’re being summoned to Haven’s Hold, it must be A-Class.”
The pegasus took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and Rainbow figured she must not have been working for the Slayers for very long. This was probably the first time she’d been asked to summon anypony for an A-Class mission, and Rainbow couldn’t really fault her for being nervous.
But nothing could’ve prepared Rainbow for what actually came out of the woman’s mouth.
Rarity sat at the Golden Oaks reception desk, resting her chin on intertwined fingers as she watched Twilight reorganizing books in the library. It was banal and ordinary, but Rarity was enchanted.
Just watching Twilight go about her day, doing something she cared about— even something as monotonous as picking up books and putting them on shelves— was enthralling to Rarity, because this was the pony she loved, in her natural element.
Granted, it would have been much more enchanting had Twilight not stopped every five minutes or less to clutch her chest and wince in pain.
“Twilight, are you alright?” Rarity asked for what must have been the seven thousandth time.
“I’m fine,” Twilight said sheepishly. “It’s just magic exhaustion, it’s basically just like continuous heartburn.”
“That still sounds very uncomfortable,” Rarity said, biting her thumbnail and wishing there was some way she could relieve Twilight’s stress or discomfort.
“It is!” Twilight laughed, and while her crush being in pain was not a chipper topic to Rarity, she laughed too. “But I’ll be fine. Tonight, I’ll be, uh, resting. As it were.”
“I presume it takes more than just rest to recover from magical exhaustion,” Rarity said, “otherwise you should have done that already.”
“It is a little bit more complicated, yeah,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath and returning to her reorganization.
Rarity was familiar with the concept of magic exhaustion, all the prospective Slayers who were trained in the academy learned about it, and of course Celestia gave vigorous lectures about its dangers and how to prevent it, and those lectures were nothing compared to the ones Luna gave.
But Rarity’s magic wasn’t very powerful, and magic exhaustion generally only came after prolonged use of magic, like casting a continuous powerful spell, or casting a great many spells in a short period without resting.
She wasn’t sure how or why Twilight was coming down with it now, but she didn’t concern herself with the why at the moment; what mattered to her now was making Twilight as comfortable as possible.
“Do you ever take time to relax, darling?” Rarity asked idly.
Twilight chuckled. “Do you?”
“Point taken, I suppose,” Rarity sighed and glanced over her hands, fixating on her fingers for a moment. “Dearest? Would you mind taking a short break?”
“Hmm? How come?” Twilight asked, looking curiously at Rarity from behind a bookcase.
“I simply don’t want you to overexert yourself any more than you already have,” Rarity said.
“I’m not—”
“You’re using magic to reorganize those books, dear,” Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes, “don’t tell me that you’re not overexerting yourself.”
Twilight grumbled, and Rarity giggled. Twilight could be so immature sometimes, yet it was always so adorable even when it should have been frustrating.
“Come over here, darling,” Rarity patted the cushion on the chair beside her. “Just sit with me for one moment, okay? Then you can go back to your precious books, which we all know are far more important to you than silly lovestruck unicorns.”
“Right,” Twilight said flatly, rolling her eyes, and Rarity found herself relieved that Twilight hadn’t picked up on the ‘lovestruck’ thing that slipped into Rarity’s sentence.
Twilight pulled up a chair and sat beside Rarity behind the reception desk, letting out a bereaved sigh. Rarity wasn’t sure if it was because of the exhaustion or because she was being pulled away from her task.
“I hope you aren’t too perturbed with me,” Rarity said, gently taking Twilight’s hand and running her thumb across her crush’s fingers.
“No, it’s fine,” Twilight said closing her eyes and resting her head on the desk, leaving her hand in Rarity’s. “You’re right, I don’t relax as much as I should. I don’t take very good care of myself.”
“How can you,” Rarity hummed, squeezing Twilight’s palm with one hand and playing idly with Twilight’s fingers with the other, “when you’re so busy taking care of everyone else?”
“Like you don’t do the same thing,” Twilight huffed defensively, but it only made Rarity laugh.
“That is sort of the point that I’m getting at,” Rarity said, taking Twilight’s fingers up to her lips and giving her a soft kiss on her knuckles. “Perhaps, we could take care of each other, and maybe even learn from one another how to take better care of ourselves.”
“I wouldn’t—” Twilight raised her head, meeting Rarity’s eyes. “I wouldn’t mind that.”
“Then perhaps,” Rarity bit her lip, then gave Twilight another soft kiss on her fingertips, “since I know how much you love labels and organization, we should make what we have… something more official?”
“M-marefriends?” Twilight squeaked nervously, her cheeks turning bright red.
“That was,” Rarity leaned her muzzle closer to Twilight’s, “what I was thinking.”
Rarity’s lips gently grazed against Twilight’s before pulling back, Twilight biting on her lip and then leaning into Rarity’s, but not close enough to touch. Rarity gently placed her nose against Twilight’s, breathing in Twilight’s curious yet delightful scent, and moved in to kiss her.
And she would have too, had the library door not suddenly been slammed open with the force of a damned battering ram!
“Rarity!” Rainbow shouted, and Rarity was about to scream some choice words about privacy and interruption before looking at Rainbow and seeing the ghostly pallor on her face.
“What’s wrong?” was all Rarity thought to say as Rainbow barged into the library, slamming her hands on the reception desk.
“We’ve been summoned,” Rainbow said grimly, Rarity holding tightly to Twilight’s hands because while Rarity had a hunch where this was going, she knew poor Twilight was completely in the dark, “to Haven’s Hold. There’s a dragon in Equestria.”
“Shit,” Rarity hissed, her hunch right on the money.
She wasted no time and stood to her hooves immediately, Twilight’s hands grasping hers desperately.
“Rarity,” Twilight uttered anxiously.
“Darling,” Rarity brushed her hand across Twilight’s cheek, delighted to see that Twilight’s exhaustion didn’t get in the way of her habitually leaning her cheek into Rarity’s touch, “I have to go.”
“I know,” Twilight said bleakly. “I wish you didn’t.”
“So do I,” Rarity said, “but I must.”
Rarity gave Twilight one last kiss on the hand before following Rainbow to the door, and Twilight followed behind them.
“Rarity, wait!” Twilight said urgently, and Rarity stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Twilight. Twilight kissed Rarity lightly on the cheek. “For luck, just like always.”
“Because I love you,” Rarity gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek. They stared at each other for a brief moment, and Twilight leaned in to kiss Rarity’s lips, only to be stopped by Rarity’s finger. “When I return. I’ll have something to look forward to that way.”
“Okay by me,” Twilight said fondly. “I know you’ll come back safely.”
“I promise I will,” Rarity said confidently.
“I love you,” Twilight said.
“I love you too,” Rarity kissed Twilight on the cheek once more for good measure, and she wished she had more time to properly appreciate the first time Twilight admitted that she loved her, but such was life.
“And Rainbow,” Twilight said, and Rarity turned to see the pegasus, after almost forgetting that she was present, “I love you too, but in a different way, so you be sure to come back home safely too, alright?”
“Please, Twilight,” Rainbow scoffed. “There’s no way I’d abandon you, Spike, or the library. I’ll be back for sure.”
“Okay,” Twilight bowed, “then have a safe journey, you two.”
Rarity smiled fondly, before turning her back on the pony and the place that she loved so much, certain in her heart that she would return with her head held high.
Rarity remembered it well; an underground cavern etched from floor to ceiling in faintly glowing yellow runes, the walls lined with weapons and armor and other magical items, decorated with nothing but dreary gray slab as far as the eye could see.
Rarity had only seen it once before, the night that changed her life forever, and she hated it then too.
She stood at the top of the stairs leading into the place, grimacing at the prospect of going down there again. Not only would it mean that she would need to once more fight against a dragon, but she would have to suffer the dreadful décor as well, and she wasn’t sure which was worse.
Rainbow Dash had no such hesitation, and by the time Rarity was done steeling her nerves, her partner was already halfway down the steps.
Rarity followed suit, and at the foot of the steps, standing right in the entrance to the dim and narrow hallway that led into the Hold proper, was a familiar fiery-tinted pegasus.
“Spitfire!” Rarity said with delight, affecting a charmed smile for her old friend.
“Glad you could finally make it, Rarity,” Spitfire grinned. “Was almost afraid you were gonna miss the reunion.”
“Reunion,” Rarity whispered, biting her lip even as it curled into a cautious smile. “We’re all together again, I take it?”
“Yep,” Spitfire nodded, “just waiting on you. And the Queen, obviously, but she’s always late to stuff like this.”
“Last minute preparations, I would assume,” Rarity said idly, though a groan from Rainbow Dash soon distracted her.
“Come on, you guys!” Rainbow grumbled. “We’re wasting time!”
“Let’s see if you’re so eager once we get to Baltimare, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire chuckled, and Rainbow gave some teasing reply in return, but Rarity had checked out, biting on her thumbnail.
She was glad that Rainbow and Spitfire were excited, although it was too bad their enthusiasm didn’t rub off on her. Spitfire always was one to look forward to dangerous situations, though she was exceptionally cautious, and her confidence was not unearned.
Spitfire would be a boon to any mission, but Rarity was especially glad to have her around because she knew with Spitfire on board, Rarity wouldn’t have to feel so ‘in charge’ of everypony.
Rainbow and Spitfire exchanged idle banter and boasts of confidence, and Rarity followed them into the darkened hall until another voice interrupted them.
“This isn’t a competition, you two,” a beleaguered sounding woman said, and Rarity smiled at the familiar voice.
A pale earth mare dressed in gaudy purple leather, with a mane of raven hair tied into a loose ponytail, greeted the trio at the end of the hallway. Rarity recognized her instantly; the third of Celestia’s four prized students, Countess Coloratura.
“Well if it was,” Rainbow snickered, needling Spitfire with her elbow, “I’d definitely win.”
“Yeah, we’ll just see about that, Crash,” Spitfire playfully punched Rainbow in the arm, and Coloratura, her chiding being ignored as usual, let out a long-suffering sigh.
“Rarity, Rainbow Dash,” Coloratura said, her sternness enough to even get Rainbow’s attention, “do you two need to arm yourselves?”
“Nah, I got everything I need already,” Rainbow shrugged, and Rarity cracked a smirk at Rainbow’s commitment to doing everything with her own tools.
“You don’t want to peruse Celestia’s armory?” Coloratura had never met Rainbow Dash before, so from her perspective her question was quite reasonable, but Rarity knew Rainbow’s answer before she even spoke it.
“No,” Rainbow replied firmly, walking past Coloratura without another word, and Spitfire gave a halfhearted shrug and a smirk at the earth mare as Spitfire followed behind Rainbow.
“I would like to use the armory,” Rarity said, realizing she had left is such a rush that she didn’t have most of her own weapons on hand. “Would you mind showing me to it?”
“Not at all,” Coloratura said cheerfully, affecting a warm smile toward Rarity, who felt even more relaxed in the company of yet another of Celestia’s students. “Follow me, Rarity.”
Rarity wanted to make small talk with Coloratura, catch up on how she was doing and all that, but she was too distracted by mentally going through her process, making sure she knew what her role was to be in the upcoming battle and that she had everything she needed to be as effective and useful as possible.
“Going through the old routine, Rarity?” Coloratura smirked; she knew Rarity too well.
“Never hurts to be prepared,” Rarity smiled back, admittedly a bit bashful that she was read so easily, even if Coloratura always did have a knack for figuring out how others were feeling.
“Not at all,” Coloratura said with a sly grin, “unless you wind yourself up into a tizzy trying to cover every minute detail before the battle even begins.”
“What an intriguing hypothetical,” Rarity said innocently, and Coloratura let out a giggle as they reached the armory.
“Have you ever been in here before?” Coloratura asked as she closed Rarity’s gaping jaw. Celestia’s armory was far more expansive than Rarity was prepared for; a golden-lined room absolutely smothered in weapons, and Rarity scarcely knew where to begin.
“No, I haven’t,” Rarity said casually as she quickly took stock of the items in front of her.
She knew she would need a bow, and though she was certain the arrows available in Celestia’s armory would be powerful, she still lamented the absence of Pinkie Pie’s enchanted arrows.
Rarity found a longsword and a short-axe that were to her liking, and her own transforming shield was already fastened to her arm, that particular item never leaving Rarity’s side unless absolutely necessary.
“Truth be told,” Rarity said as she swung her newfound blade a few times, “while getting to use Celestia’s personal armory is a delight, I honestly prefer using the weapons my dear friend Applejack makes for me.”
“Applejack,” Coloratura said distantly, and Rarity suddenly blanched as she recalled the two’s connection. “How is she doing?” Coloratura asked, clasping her hands in front of her, though before Rarity could answer, Coloratura turned away and shook her head. “No, never mind. This isn’t the time for reminiscing.
“If you’ve got everything you need,” Coloratura took a deep breath and exited the armory, “then we should join the others as soon as possible.”
Rarity followed Coloratura back to the main room of Haven’s Hold, and she steeled herself because she knew there was only one more of Celestia’s students for her to run into.
Sure enough, the final student was standing, arms crossed, in the center of the room, dutifully waiting for Queen Celestia to arrive and ignoring the noisy chatter of Spitfire and Rainbow Dash.
Rarity’s stomach turned when she saw her. While Rarity had her arguments with Spitfire, the two worked together painlessly, and she enjoyed the pegasus’ company enough. Meanwhile, she and Coloratura were fast friends, and Rarity felt completely comfortable around her.
She couldn’t say any of those things about the burgundy giantess who she could never see eye to eye with. A mountain of a unicorn mare, towering above everypony but the Queen herself, with her plum-colored mane styled into a mohawk; she was quite a sight to behold, though even with her impressive manestyle and stature, it was hard for the eye not to be drawn to the unicorn’s shattered horn.
Rarity didn’t dare say anything to the unicorn as she and Coloratura approached, though she didn’t miss her contemptuous glance either.
“Rarity,” she said coldly.
“Tempest Shadow,” Rarity replied curtly.
When Celestia originally took her little quartet under her wing, she was originally supposed to only take three students from the academy; an earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn. Tempest was selected as the unicorn, but when Rarity made her, ahem, ‘stunning’ entrance into Celestia’s class, and Celestia took her as a fourth student, Tempest must have believed Rarity stole attention away that Tempest believed was hers.
Or something. Truth be told, Tempest’s disdain for Rarity was something Rarity could never figure out; all she knew was that while Tempest was a powerful, respectful, and responsible soldier, and proud student of Celestia—all things Rarity liked to believe they had in common—she was also quite unpleasant.
But Rarity wouldn’t have to dwell on Tempest for long, because just as Rarity was settling in, a bright yellow flash tore through the space in the center of the room as a shining white alicorn teleported into Haven’s Hold.
“You’re finally here!” Rainbow cheered, throwing her fist in the air, although Rarity noted that Celestia looked much less enthused.
“I am,” she said sternly, and Rainbow’s fist fell to her side. “Is everypony ready to defend Equestria? The situation in Baltimare is already dire, and we need to leave right away.”
“My Queen!” Coloratura said proudly, banging a fist against her chest. “We have all come prepared! We await your orders!”
“Yeah, what she said,” Spitfire added casually, arms behind her head.
“As long as Rarity doesn’t choke this time,” Tempest grumbled, and Rarity was about to offer a sharp retort, but Celestia beat her to it.
“Tempest Shadow!” Celestia glared at Tempest, gleaning a shocked expression from the normally unflappable mare for a fraction of a second. “Rarity is here because I summoned her, and I will not have my choice of comrades questioned. Understand?”
“Yes, my Queen,” Tempest bowed her head. “I apologize.”
“Now, before we depart,” Celestia said, her gaze falling on Rarity, who stood at attention, “there is one last order of business. Rarity?”
“Y-yes, my Queen?” Rarity saluted instinctively, though she should have known better than to treat Celestia differently than usual, as the Queen only chuckled at Rarity’s over-seriousness.
“This is for you,” Celestia’s horn flashed and after a crack of her yellow magic, a sword appeared in her hand that she held out to Rarity. “This onyx blade has a powerful enchantment on it. If the blade pierces the skin of an enemy, and you activate the enchantment, that enemy will die without fail.”
“W-what?!” Rarity balked stepping away from Celestia and her horrifying weapon.
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Celestia scratched her cheek, but she didn’t lower her hand that held the sword. “But we are on a strict time limit, so I need you to take this.”
“Okay, I will,” Rarity swallowed her nerves and gently took the deadly weapon from Celestia’s hand and fastened it to her belt. “But why give me something like this?”
“Because I trust you with it,” Celestia smiled warmly, and Rarity took a deep breath, feeling a faint comfort from Celestia’s smile and her praise… and also from Tempest’s snort and Rainbow’s accompanying snicker. “You will need it in the coming battles.”
“I understand,” Rarity said, her resolve shining through as she stood proudly in front of Celestia; no longer a student of the Queen, but a comrade.
“Now,” Celestia said urgently, “is everypony ready?”
The five ponies on Celestia’s squad gave firm confirmations in reply, and Celestia nodded in return. With a crack of her horn and a flash of yellow energy, the cave was left empty as the party was teleported halfway across Equestria, to the port town of Baltimare.
The smell of smoke filled Rarity’s nose and made it hard for her to breath the moment her party appeared in Baltimare’s harbor.
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the humble port city set ablaze by dragon flame, burning houses and rising black columns of smoke stretching almost as far as her eye could see, but there was a small silver lining in that the beast had yet to reach the city proper as it focused its reign of fury on the harbor.
“Rainbow Dash! Spitfire!” Celestia’s voice rung inside Rarity’s head, and she realized the Queen had set up a telepathic link between the party. “We need rain, now! Once you’ve gotten it, Rainbow, you need to get people out of their homes and to safety, and Spitfire, you’re with us, understand?!”
“Yes ma’am!” Spitfire and Rainbow replied in unison, flying off to gather clouds.
“Countess,” Celestia spoke, “you need to tend to the injured.”
“I’m on it, my Queen,” Coloratura said proudly, taking off toward the city.
Celestia, Rarity, and Tempest met with a very shaky looking soldier—a member of Baltimare’s volunteer defense force, most likely—and Celestia grabbed him gently by the shoulder.
“Tell me what’s happened here,” she said softly.
“Th-the dragon came out of nowhere!” the man said frantically. “We shot at it with our arrows, but they did nothing, and it breathed a stream of flame and just, it just—”
“It’s okay,” Celestia pulled the man into a hug and wrapped her wings around him, “everything is going to be okay. We’re here now.”
And right on cue, Rarity felt the rain beginning to pour down. She wondered if it would make it difficult to see and fight the dragon, but she didn’t doubt that Celestia had a plan.
“What happened to the dragon?” Celestia asked.
“After it flew over,” the man said, still shaky but noticeably calmer, “it attacked the port once and then retreated, but it didn’t go far. We think it will be back in only a few minutes.”
“Whoever sounded the beacon to notify us did an excellent job then,” Celestia said. “This could have been much worse if we had arrived later.”
“What are your orders, ma’am?” Tempest asked.
“We take this to the docks,” Celestia replied. “The less the city proper gets involved in the battle, the better. If it’s only property that gets damaged, I can easily mend it with my magic.” Celestia turned toward the shaky soldier. “Have the docks been evacuated, soldier?”
“Y-yes, ma’am.”
“Excellent work,” Celestia said firmly. “We haven’t a moment to lose then, so let’s go.”
Celestia sparked up her horn and in an instant, Rarity found herself, her Queen, and Tempest standing on the docks, staring out over the water of Horseshoe Bay. And in the distance, just barely visible through the setting sun and the heavy rainfall, Rarity could see the glimmering scales of a green dragon.
“Are you ready for this, Rarity?” Celestia asked, putting a comforting hand on Rarity’s shoulder.
“My Queen,” Rarity replied with a bloodthirsty smirk, “this is what I was born to do.”
“Then allow me one final precaution,” Celestia glanced at Rarity, and her eyes glistened with affection and pride, but mostly with steeled resolve.
“Anything, Celestia,” Rarity replied, taking hold of Celestia’s hand.
Celestia turned toward Rarity and got on one knee to reach Rarity’s eye level, her fingers gently yet firmly entwining with Rarity’s.
Rarity took a deep breath and braced herself, though it was impossible to stop her legs from shaking or from allowing a quivering smile to grace her lips.
She knew what was coming; it had been something she had discussed with the Queen many, many times before— a secret technique that Celestia and Rarity could do only if a dragon tore through Equestria that would allow Rarity to share in Celestia’s seemingly infinite well of magic and fight as an equal with her Queen.
Celestia put her hand gently on Rarity’s shoulder, and Rarity leaned forward, closing her eyes as Celestia’s lips touched hers and the two shared a brief, tender kiss.
Immediately, Rarity could feel her body welling with magic that wasn’t there before—Celestia’s magic— and she couldn’t help letting out a giggle.
“This is no laughing matter,” Tempest Shadow clicked her tongue.
“Perhaps not,” Celestia said with a smile as she stood to her full mountainous height, her hand still entwined with Rarity’s. “But I’m glad to see my secret weapon as it were worked. How do you feel, Rarity?”
“Celestia,” Rarity said, biting her lip and grinning ear to ear, “I feel ready.”
The dragon soaring through the thundering rain clouds over Baltimare was massive. Rarity knew in her heart that if it couldn’t use the Golden Oaks Library as a damn toothpick, it could certainly use it as nothing more than a backscratcher.
The beast opened fire on Rarity and Celestia’s team, launching a swollen orb of flame from its maw. Celestia looked unfazed, and with a mental command, ordered Rarity to conjure a shield to protect the four ponies and Baltimare.
Rarity did as commanded, a solid wall of pale blue energy meeting the flame and dispersing it on impact, though the burden on Rarity to tank that attack with her magic was greater than she expected, knocking the wind right out of her.
Rarity was impressed by herself—or rather, she was impressed by Celestia’s magic that flowed through her body thanks to their kiss before the battle that allowed her to pull off such a technique. But even the Queen’s energy could only do so much when contained within a body as delicate as Rarity’s.
“We need to ground it,” Celestia said firmly as her four swords flew into the air to attack the dragon as if by their own will, but in reality being meticulously manipulated by Celestia’s magic.
Rarity watched in awe as Celestia commanded the four blades, teleporting them to and fro to disorient her enemy, watching the dragon swat at one blade, only to have to deflect another coming for its eye in the time it took to breathe.
The dragon seemed to be doing well enough at defending itself, keeping the four weapons at bay with its claws, snapping them up with its fangs sometimes, only for the sword to teleport out of its jaws and careen toward its head, only to then be deflected by a thin green aura around the dragon’s scales.
“As I thought,” Celestia said, biting down on her thumbnail, “this dragon uses magic. This won’t be a simple exercise, but it’s nothing out of our reach.” Celestia turned her glance to the team, though her attention never wavered from her airborne weaponry. “Spitfire, Tempest Shadow; can I count on you both to bring this beast to the ground?”
“You got it, boss!” Spitfire gave a proud salute, and Tempest merely nodded confidently.
Celestia didn’t have to tell the pair twice, and as Tempest’s horn crackled with fraying magic and Spitfire took off into the air, Rarity felt a tad underdressed; though she quickly changed her tune when her magical barrier was the only thing that kept Spitfire from being torn to shreds by a mighty buffet of wind from the dragon’s wings.
The dragon seemed to be faring well against Celestia’s arsenal, learning the pattern of her attacks and adjusting its own moves accordingly, though Rarity suspected her Queen had something else in mind than simply slaying the dragon in a mere swordfight.
Rarity was proven right when a loud burst erupted from Tempest’s horn, and a ray of black and red energy shot through the sky and ripped a hole in one of the dragon’s wings, eliciting an ear-splitting howl from the beast as nearly half of its wing decayed from the blast.
The dragon charged toward the ground, eager to outrun Celestia’s weapons as it rushed to eliminate the bane of its wing, but it couldn’t get away from blades that could simply teleport right in front of it.
To Rarity’s shock and disgust, the dragon didn’t slow down when met with the newfound wall of blades, instead charging right into them and getting all four blades stuck between the scales on its face; though the thin green aura that surrounded it seemed to reduce the damage, blood still poured from each wound, covering the dragon’s face in a sickly red sheen.
The dragon opened its maw again to shoot flame, and Rarity prepared her shield, though Celestia held her back. Like a bolt of lightning, a fiery pegasus tore through the dragon’s remaining wing, burning an enormous hole right in the leathery flap.
The dragon roared in pain and flapped its decayed, useless wings, but it somehow managed to remain airborne and retreated into the storm clouds while the party was left behind, Rarity wondering how it managed to stay in the sky, or even alive, with those injuries.
“Of course,” Celestia hissed. “It’s using magic to keep itself airborne, not its wings.
“So what’s plan B?” Rarity asked.
“The same as plan A,” Celestia reaffirmed, clenching her fists, “we ground it. But if it won’t come down, we’ll simply have to meet it up there.”
Before Rarity could ask, she felt her body surging with energy, then a pair of gossamer butterfly wings shone from her back, and she knew she could fly.
“Spitfire followed it into the clouds,” Celestia said through gritted teeth, “she’s going to get herself killed that way. Let’s go, Rarity. We haven’t a moment to lose.”
“My Queen!” Tempest, no wings in sight, stepped toward a distinctly irritated-looking Celestia. “What do I do from the ground?”
“I don’t need to explain your orders, Tempest,” Celestia growled. “You know what needs to be done, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
With that, Celestia and Rarity took off into the downpouring night sky, Celestia parting the sea of thunderclouds just long enough to unveil the dragon and pull it out of its cloudy shield with her magic.
Sure enough, Spitfire was engaged with it, having pulled one of Celestia’s swords from the dragon’s face—an absolutely dreadful fountain of blood pouring from the dragon’s cheek in the weapon’s place—and fending off the dragon’s attacks, though Spitfire herself was bleeding from the face and arm.
The dragon wasted no time swatting Spitfire out of the sky and refocusing its attention on Celestia, firing a bolt of flame that was blocked by Rarity and her barrier’s timely intervention, at the cost of much of Rarity’s stamina.
As Rarity tried to catch her haggard breath, Celestia asked her “How many more can you block?”
“One?” Rarity replied shamefully. “Perhaps two, but I don’t think would survive the second.”
“Then save your one for my command, no matter what happens,” Celestia said, her swords snapping into her hands with a crack of yellow light, “and leave this to me.”
The dragon tried to smash Celestia in its claws, but she blocked by stabbing her swords between the fingers of both hands, yellow barriers around the swords keeping the monster’s claws at bay. Celestia’s other two swords, including the one reclaimed from the retreating Spitfire, hovered above the dragon’s eyes, the demon watching them warily for the perfect moment to deflect them.
Rarity could see Celestia sweating from trying to keep the dragon’s crushing claws from coming closer to her, and Rarity knew the dragon could certainly see it as well. Celestia was a bastion of physical strength, but she wasn’t a dragon, and she couldn’t hope to contest it in a physical contest for long.
Celestia grit her teeth and grunted, and the swords in her hands zapped away, allowing the dragon to crush her in its claws, its nails digging through her armor and into her flesh as she screamed in agony, leaving a gasping Rarity to watch in horror.
But the dragon’s momentary victory came with a price, and the swords that disappeared from Celestia’s hands had to reappear somewhere; and the place she chose was inside the dragon’s eyes.
Celestia’s immediate proximity to the monster allowed her to perfectly transport her weapons right through the demon’s eyes, the hilts of her swords sticking out from giant glassy spheres that instantly started pouring blood.
The dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire, and Celestia struggled to escape its grasp; the claws embedded into her skin making it impossible for her to concentrate enough for a teleportation spell… so Rarity would just have to do it for her.
Rarity shut her eyes tight and pooled as much of her magic as she could into her horn, directing it at Celestia and praying that her studies had paid off. And after a satisfying CRACK, Rarity opened her eyes to see a relieved yet bloody Celestia flying in the air beside her, as the dragon’s flame uselessly engulfed nothing but empty air.
The dragon roared at Rarity and Celestia, the latter’s jaw dropping as she exclaimed “That wasn’t enough?”
Suddenly, Rarity understood Celestia’s plan; just as Celestia had been unable to focus through the pain from the dragon’s claws, the party would have to cause the demon enough pain for it to lose its flight spell.
“Celestia, darling,” Rarity gave a dazzling smile as she drew her sword, “let me take the lead.”
Celestia snapped one of her swords in front of Rarity, who took it in her hand and let her own sword hover in her aura around her head. “Make me proud, Rarity.”
Rarity grinned as she flew toward the dragon, and even as the beast swiped in the air at her—its sight likely also enhanced with magic, so its lack of eyes was only a minor inconvenience to it—Rarity remained vigilant.
It dawned on Rarity that this dragon was quite the accomplished magus, if it had so many spells cast on it before it even entered the fray. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume it had a spell that would allow it to endure past its normal pain threshold.
Rarity bemoaned that dragons must have had a much larger well of magic to draw from than even alicorns, otherwise Celestia would have been able to cast such spells on the party before they arrived, and that would have put this battle on a much more level playing field. No such luck though.
Rarity dodged the grasping claws of the dragon and slashed Celestia’s sword through several of its fangs, slicing her own blade through a second layer of the demon’s fangs and severing half its damn teeth in the process.
While the dragon tried to bite down on Rarity, the holes left in its teeth were easy enough to glide through, and Rarity did so with style and grace, effortlessly escaping the dragon’s bite, only to be covered in the shadow of its hand instead, as it reached to grab Rarity in its giant fist.
Rarity closed her eyes and prepared her shield, but before she knew it, she was hit by a thud and was careening upward. She suddenly found herself being carried to safety by an injured— though still very much alive and grinning cheerfully— Spitfire.
The dragon breathed flame up at the two, and Rarity deflected it with her barrier, feeling a gross pang in her chest as magic exhaustion started to creep up on her. It wasn’t often she felt it, but repeatedly defending against a dragon’s flame will wipe out any reserves a pony may have.
“Do we have a plan?!” Spitfire yelled, and Rarity didn’t know how to answer at first, but the solution quickly dawned on her.
“Yes! Go down! Toward the ground!” Rarity answered, and while Spitfire gave her a momentarily hesitant glance, she followed Rarity’s orders without question.
During Rarity’s little bout with the dragon, it never once tried to go after Celestia, and Rarity surmised that it could only focus on one target at a time using its sight spell. So if Rarity and Spitfire, still kiting the dragon’s attention, were to pass by Celestia…
Sure enough, the dragon followed as Spitfire raced toward the ground with Rarity in her arms, and though the dragon was weakened, it was still able to keep pace with Spitfire, at least until the ground was in sight, when it reared up and roared, knowing what fate awaited it if it came too close to the earth.
Unfortunately for the dragon, it was already too close to the sun.
Celestia grabbed the dragon’s neck in her magic and yanked it downward, and though she could only hold the beast for a mere second before being forced to let go, that was more than enough time for a roar of black and red energy to tear through the sky and rend the dragon asunder, piercing right through its stomach and causing the edges of its chest and pelvis to decay as well as its limp carcass fell into the sea with a monstrous splash.
“I knew we could count on you, Tempest!” Celestia cheered as she hovered above the water, and Tempest gave a salute from the dock, her horn still crackling with barely restrained magic. Celestia smiled at Rarity and Spitfire. “You two both did phenomenally as w—”
The dragon should have been dead, but its roar revealed it was quite alive, as did its remaining fangs digging into Celestia’s leg and eliciting a frenzied howl of pain from her. She teleported a few inches away from the beast’s maw, and as it rose from the ocean, everypony could see its injuries were still present.
How the hell is this beast still alive?!
It didn’t stay behind to engage the party again, and instead took flight over the ocean, disappearing behind the horizon before the party could even think to give chase.
Celestia cursed under her breath as she stood on the dock of Baltimare’s harbor and watched a dragon flee across the ocean where she could not follow. Rarity, for one, was at least glad for the reprieve, and to have Coloratura treating her injuries.
“We can’t let it flee,” Celestia said firmly. “We can’t let it live after what it’s done here.”
“I agree, my Queen,” Tempest responded eagerly. “Please, allow me to lead the strike team to chase it down.”
“Wait,” Rainbow chimed in agitatedly, “Celestia, why can’t you just teleport over to it and strike it down right now?”
“If I thought that I could end it in a single blow, I might do just that,” Celestia responded, and Rarity admired her patience for explaining what Rarity felt was obvious, “but that dragon still has quite a bit of fight left in it, and I know that it only tried to flee because it knew it could reach Equestria’s border.”
“So?” Rainbow shrugged. “We just chase it down and beat it up, right?”
“If only it were that simple,” Celestia gave a beleaguered sigh.
“Yes,” Celestia said. “If I were to cross the border out of Equestria, I would be leaving this country vulnerable. The magic that I cast to protect it would disappear if I left it behind, and it would take too many days to recast it. So I cannot leave.”
“And unfortunately,” Spitfire groaned and cricked her neck, “that’s pretty common knowledge, so that dragon probably attacked a border town for that exact reason.”
“I believe so, yes,” Celestia said, though there was a slight devilish smirk on her face. “Though it didn’t count on the rest of this squad to be as powerful as it is.”
“So we are chasing it down!” Rainbow grinned, and Rarity admired how well Rainbow was able to stow her fear in order to focus on what needed to be done. “Then let’s get going!”
“No, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said, “we are not going to be chasing it. You and I will stay behind, to tend to the citizens of Baltimare, while the rest of the squad chases the dragon down and executes it.” Celestia smiled at Rarity. “And Rarity will lead them.”
“What?!” Rarity and Tempest balked in unison.
“My Queen,” Tempest fumed, “with all due respe—”
“Tempest, I don’t want to hear it,” Celestia said coldly, shutting Tempest’s protest down. “I chose Rarity to lead because she understands the importance of co-operation and harmony, and knows all of your skills and abilities by heart, isn’t that right, Rarity?”
“Um, yes, it is, Queen Celestia,” Rarity was nervous about being put on the spot, but Celestia wasn’t wrong. After all, she never was.
“Tempest, you will follow Rarity’s orders as if they were coming from me,” Celestia scolded, “and you will put aside your little rivalry with her in order to focus on what’s important, am I correct?”
“Yes, my Queen,” Tempest said firmly, masking her embarrassment at being chided with an icy glower.
“Celestia,” Rarity stood to her hooves, trembling as they were, and tried to look Celestia in the eye, “are you certain about this? Wouldn’t Spitfire be a better choice for leader?”
“I’m with the Queen on this one,” Spitfire said. “If she trusts you to be the leader, I’m not gonna question her.”
Rarity bit her lip. That wasn’t the answer she was hoping for. Of course Rarity was happy to be commended by Celestia, but this whole night it had been hard to keep her mind from wandering to the last time she encountered a dragon, and the disaster that she caused that night.
“Rarity,” Celestia put her hands on Rarity’s shoulders. “I have no doubt that you will be an excellent leader, and that you will help bring your team to victory and slay the beast who attacked this place. You can do it, can’t you? For Baltimare? For Equestria?” Celestia smiled and got on one knee, looking Rarity in the eye. “For me?”
“Of course,” Rarity replied, and the words came out of her mouth effortlessly. Yes, she was worried. Yes, she was scared. But the people of Baltimare were having the worst nights of their lives, and she had no intention of returning to them with anything less than stellar news.
Rarity turned to Coloratura and Spitfire, flashing a dazzling smile at them.
“Are you both ready to slay a dragon?” she asked excitedly, pumping her fist.
“Hell yeah!” Spitfire cheered.
“Lead the way, Lady Rarity!” Coloratura added with a salute.
“Tempest?” Rarity asked hesitantly.
“I’ll follow your orders,” Tempest replied coldly, “as if they were Celestia’s.”
“Have you got this, Rarity?” Rainbow asked, needling Rarity with her elbow.
“Oh darling,” Rarity scoffed and flicked her mane, “have a little faith in me!”
“’course I have faith in you, Rarity!” Rainbow balked, giving Rarity a friendly shove.
“We all do,” Celestia added.
And with that, Rarity led her team to the dock and boarded a ship, ready to chase the dragon back to its cave and begin the execution.
As Apple Bloom and Granny Smith headed off to their beds, and Pinkie Pie got herself packed and ready to leave for the train station, Applejack stood in the backyard of the Apple Family home, looking up at the stars.
She thought about home, and how this place—even though her family was here—wasn’t it. Her home was back in Canterlot, which felt like such an alien thing to say considering how much she loathed that horrid city ever since she set foot in it.
But then she realized; her home wasn’t in Canterlot, her home was in the library.
Not that she considered the library a home in the literal sense—it belonged to Twilight, not her, after all—but the library is where so many of her best memories came from, either from experiences inside it or thanks to the friends she’d made because of it.
Her home was with her family, and though she loathed to admit it, and despite how her heart swelled with affection for Big Mac and Apple Bloom, her family wasn’t the ponies that shared the Apple name—her family was with Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle and Spike, and of course Rainbow Dash.
Applejack felt a laugh leaving her lips as she thought about Rainbow, and she wondered what her firecracker of a marefriend was up to right now. Applejack heard that Rainbow was going to be on a mission while Applejack was in Appleloosa, and Applejack prayed that it went well and that Rainbow could return home safe.
Applejack made a little promise to herself that she’d smother that beautiful pegasus in kisses the next time she saw her.
“Leaving already?” Big Mac said as he came out of the house and into the yard, giving Applejack a pat on the shoulder that distracted her from her girlfriend thoughts.
“Yeah,” Applejack sighed, running a hand through her mane, “gotta open up shop tomorrow.”
“Sorry about Granny, by the way,” Big Mac said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck, but Applejack just shrugged in response.
“Not your fault,” she said, trying to affect a cheerful tone as she playfully tapped Big Mac’s gut. “I ain’t got no one to blame but myself for the way she treats me. Cuz she ain’t wrong, y’know? Ever since the foundin’ of the Slayers, darn near every child of the Apple family’s become a Slayer, and in all that time, there’s been maybe half a dozen that’ve retired early. Can you blame her for bein’ disappointed in me? I can’t.
“So you ain’t got nothin’ to apologize for, Big Mac. You ain’t a failure like I am.”
“You’re not—”
“I know, I know,” Applejack chuckled awkwardly, and giving Big Mac a gentle shove. “I’m just jokin’… mostly.”
“You’re not a failure,” Big Mac huffed, crossing his arms.
“Thanks,” if nothing else, Applejack appreciated her brother’s support.
“Honestly, you’re pretty lucky,” Big Mac said, and Applejack arched an eyebrow at him. “You got out.”
Applejack winced. She was sure Big Mac was trying to make her feel better or something, but reminding her that she’s the reason why he had to become a Slayer at all, despite how much he hated it, didn’t do anything but make her stomach pang with guilt.
Big Mac was supposed to be a baker. And yeah, if he had become that instead of a Slayer, he’d have to deal with all the grief that Applejack gets, but he’d always have the support of his sisters, and that includes Pinkie and Rarity.
But if he had taken that path after Applejack left the Slayers, it wouldn’t have brought shame just to him, but to the entire Apple family. Applejack could bear the shame of being the ‘failure’ Apple, and Big Mac could’ve done it too, but neither of them could bear the responsibility of dragging their entire family, their entire lineage, through the mud like that.
And that’s before even getting into the money aspect. Granny Smith was retired, but she didn’t have many bits to fall back on; the retirement plan of most Slayers was pretty much non-existent, especially since almost none make it to retirement age anyway.
So if the family was gonna have a roof over their heads, somepony had to make money, and it wasn’t gonna be Applejack and her nothing little blacksmithing job. And bakers don’t make enough to live on, but Slayers do. Barely.
So Big Mac had to become a Slayer, because of Applejack’s failure.
Twilight took deep breaths as she watched the Rarity and Rainbow Dash leave for their mission, and she shut the library door once they were out of sight.
Deep, deep breaths.
She wished she could just stop the overwhelming pain in her chest, but there was nothing to be done about it right now, and worrying only made it worse.
It was her own fault anyway; she knew she had to take a day each month to rest and recover her magic outside of the city where no one could see her, but because she’d been spending nearly every day either with Rarity or making plans to see Rarity, or one of the others, she never found the time for herself.
How fitting, Twilight thought, for friendship to be the thing that ends up killing me.
“Twilight?” Spike’s voice chimed in from the stairwell he descended, and Twilight looked up at him and waved, affecting a smile that was meant to be endearing but was probably as painful to look at as it was to make. “Twilight, Rarity just left, didn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Twilight sighed, sitting down on a chair because standing was painful and exhausting, “she left to fight a—”
“A dragon,” Spike gulped, “I heard. Applejack and Pinkie Pie left on the train this morning, right?”
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded, trying to focus on her breathing, “and?”
“’And’? What do you mean ‘and’?” Spike balked. “Twilight you gotta go to the mountains! Look at yourself!”
“I can’t just go galivanting up into the mountains while Rarity’s in danger!” Twilight said, aghast at Spike’s total lack of concern for Rarity’s safety, although a little voice chimed in from the back of her head that she wasn’t being fair to Spike and that’s definitely not how he meant it. “What if she gets hurt? What if she comes back? What if she needs me for something?”
“Twilight, right now you need you,” Spike pleaded, and Twilight could see tears wetting his eyes and she realized just how selfish she was being. “And I need you to be okay! You told me that magical exhaustion could kill you, Twilight! I don’t want you to—”
“Spike,” Twilight said sternly, Spike immediately shutting his mouth and listening to his mother speak. “I apologize. You’re completely right, of course, and I can’t believe I didn’t take into consideration how my exhaustion was making you feel. I’m sorry.”
“Twilight, this isn’t about m—”
“I’ll go tonight,” Twilight took a deep, pained breath. “I can’t hide in the mountains under the daylight, but come nightfall, when the Canterlot ponies retreat to their beds, I’ll go into the mountains and recover my magic.”
“You promise?” Spike trotted down the staircase and flew up onto Twilight’s lap, giving her a trembling hug.
“I promise,” Twilight said, petting Spike’s mane. Seeing the distress on the little pegasus’ face hurt her far more than any magic ailment ever could, and she was kicking herself now for not taking his feelings into consideration sooner.
Twilight giggled to force herself to cheer up a bit, and just like whenever she needed to think happy thoughts, her mind went to one place: Pinkie Pie.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight said, mirroring Pinkie’s eccentric gestures as well as she could from memory. “Pinkie Promise. Now you know for sure I’ll do it, because I would never break a Pinkie Promise.”
Twilight held out her littlest finger, and Spike intertwined his with it, the two smiling at each other before erupting into a fit of giggles, Twilight holding her precious son close to her chest.
“I love you, Spike,” Twilight said, smiling brightly as her heart filled with affection for her favorite boy.
“I love you too, Twilight,” Spike giggled, and Twilight could feel the love and affection he had for her in his voice and his nose as she nuzzled her nose against his.
A knock at the door.
Twilight’s ears perked up. The sign said they were closed, didn’t it?
Another knock. A chill up Twilight’s spine.
“Spike,” Twilight said, her tone measured and calm, “go to your room, okay?”
“Uh, is everything okay, Twilight?” Spike asked hesitantly, though he was slowly following Twilight’s order.
“Everything is fine, Spike,” Twilight smiled at him, careful to make absolutely sure he didn’t see the fear that she felt.
As Spike did as he was asked, Twilight approached the door, and a knock rapped at it for a third time. Twilight knew who was behind that door; she had magic around the perimeter of her library, much like the magic Fluttershy must have used to survey her entire forest, though hers wasn’t quite so automatic like Fluttershy’s seemed to be.
Twilight was certain this day was going to come much sooner, and when it hadn’t, she allowed herself some relief, fooling herself into thinking that she had somehow avoided the inevitable.
But she knew she couldn’t hide forever.
Twilight opened the door and smiled innocently at the woman standing on the other side.
“How can I help you,” she said politely to the pitch-black alicorn staring sternly down at her, “Princess Luna?”
“Princess Luna,” Twilight said, careful to keep her tone polite and perky so as not to bely her anxiety, “how can I help you?”
“May I come in?” Luna asked with a serene smile, almost as if there was nothing wrong at all.
No. You cannot come into my library, is what Twilight wanted to say more than anything.
“I’m sorry,” and she wanted it so badly that she had to at least try, “we’re closed today. Can you come back tomorrow?”
“I’m afraid I cannot,” Luna’s tone was cheerful enough, but Twilight couldn’t help but hear an underlying ice in her words. “I won’t take up much of your time, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your library. It recently sprung up here in Canterlot, and I’m afraid I don’t know much about it.”
“I’d be happy to answer your questions,” Twilight winced, and she managed to keep her hand firmly on the doorframe, even when it instinctively wanted to clutch her heart as it burned from her magic exhaustion, “tomorrow, when we’re open.”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna’s smile dimmed, and Twilight swallowed anxiety, “the Moon District of Canterlot is under my jurisdiction, it’s even named after me. How do you think I would look to my colleagues if I told them I didn’t know a single thing about the town’s famous library?”
Luna’s smile returned, but Twilight saw no cheer in it; only a stern warning not to refuse her again.
Twilight wondered why she even tried, but she knew she would wonder what would happen if she didn’t, so she supposed it didn’t matter either way.
“Well,” Twilight said painfully, forcing herself to keep a brave smile on her face, “when you put it like that, I suppose it would be my honor to answer whatever questions you have!”
Twilight headed into the library, and she could feel the ironclad presence of the alicorn princess following behind her, even without looking. Every step the woman took into Twilight’s library was like a cold iron horseshoe pressing against Twilight’s already frail heart.
“Can I get you some tea?” Twilight asked, turning around to look at her guest.
“No thanks,” Luna waved, then tapped at her chin, “though if you have coffee, I wouldn’t mind a cup.”
“Freshly brewed this morning,” Twilight assured, “wait right here?”
“Certainly,” Luna sat down at the lobby’s large rectangular table, folding her arms atop it and glancing around the library.
Twilight headed to the kitchen, but stopped just short of the door. She wondered how much she should tip her hand; Luna seemed keen to reaffirm the plausible deniability she had going, even though it was as obvious to Twilight as it was to Luna herself that Luna could see right through Twilight.
Still, if that were the case, what was she doing here? Why ask to come into the library? Why all the smiles? Why not bring an army or something, or chase Twilight down with torches and pitchforks, like Twilight expected?
What did Luna want?
“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked, and Twilight grit her teeth and smiled as she spun around, thankful she didn’t jump ten feet in the air from shock. “Is everything alright?”
“Wha— oh, yeah,” Twilight chuckled nervously. “I got distracted for a minute.”
Twilight paused, and Luna nodded knowingly, politely.
Everything about Luna was ‘polite’, and it was starting to eat away at Twilight. Why? Why be so ‘nice’? Why try to act friendly?
Unless…
Unless Twilight had read the situation wrong this entire time.
What if Luna hadn’t seen through her? What if Luna was genuinely interested in asking about the library, like she claimed? And, more importantly in this moment, what if she really wanted that coffee that Twilight still hadn’t brought her?
“Please wait here,” Twilight said with a bow, her first act of genuine courtesy to her alicorn guest, though she then looked Luna right in the eye to deliver her own warning. “Please don’t leave the lobby. This may be my place of business, but it is also my home, and I do value my privacy, if you don’t mind.”
“Perish the thought,” Luna said firmly. “I would never venture into someone’s home without their permission.”
You’ll just push them until you get that permission? Twilight grumbled in her head, though if Luna really was who she presented herself to be, and not just playing some kind of long game, then that kind of comment would be very rude.
Twilight hopped into the kitchen and procured the coveted coffee, and poured herself a glass of chamomile tea while she was at it. She took the time alone in the kitchen to process some of her thoughts, and to calm her nerves; though the consistent throbbing pain in her heart from the magic exhaustion was not helping.
She briefly wondered if she could take Princess Luna in a fight if it came down to that, but quickly decided the answer was absolutely not— exhaustion or no— and then wondered if she needed to, would she be able to get herself and Spike away from the library and to safety if Luna became hostile?
Again, she surmised the answer was no. She could get Spike to safety with a pre-prepared contingency spell, but her and the library would likely be destroyed if a fight broke out inside it.
And Twilight wasn’t about to let the library burn down when Rarity was looking forward to coming back to it, when it was the most steady home that Spike had ever known, when it was the place where Twilight had met Rainbow Dash, partied with Applejack and Pinkie Pie and the others, and made so many incredible memories.
For now, so long as Luna was interested in staying polite, Twilight would play along.
“I’m back!” Twilight said cheerily, putting the coffee in front of Luna and sitting across the table from her. Luna took a sip of the coffee, and Twilight tried to relax her shoulders. “So, what did you want to ask about?”
Luna tapped her chin, pretending to—or rather, likely thinking of what it was she wanted to ask.
“I suppose my first question is,” Luna said, “when did you arrive here?”
“In Canterlot? About three months ago now.”
“Hm, interesting,” Luna nodded, and gave a faint chuckle. “But what I meant was, when did you arrive in Equestria? I asked around about you, just a little bit, and I hear that you’re from… Zebrica? Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Twilight said flatly.
That was a red flag, but it didn’t necessarily mean anything. Twilight had been rather open about her history with the library’s patrons, so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for someone to share that knowledge, especially if Princess Luna asked them for it.
Twilight took a deep breath and tried to recall the answer to Luna’s question; she hadn’t realized just how long she’d been in Equestria until the answer left her lips.
“I’ve been here, just over a year now,” Twilight let out a sincere chuckle. “Wow, time sure flies.”
“What made you decide to settle down in Canterlot?” Luna asked abruptly, taking a sip of her coffee.
“When I arrived in Canterlot’s Moon District for the first time,” Twilight recalled, “I pegged it for a rather sleepy town where not very much happened. I’m happy to say that I was right! Besides,” Twilight giggled, “you didn’t have a library before I moved in, and how could I stand by and not correct such a horrible mistake?”
“These books all belonged to you already?” Luna asked, her tone taking on a surprised note that made Twilight smirk proudly. “This is quite a collection to just be carrying around.” Luna smiled at Twilight, resting her cheek against one hand. “Are you something of a hoarder?”
“I’m an avid collector,” Twilight replied immediately, trying to ignore Luna’s shift in tone that felt like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. “I use magic to carry all these books around with me, though I must admit I prefer just leaving them in the library.”
“You’re quite an accomplished magician, I hear,” Luna looked down at her coffee and tapped her fingernails against the porcelain cup. “And I could sense the powerful protective spells placed around the library as soon as I walked in. You’re no amateur, that’s for certain.”
“I’m naturally gifted,” Twilight moved to take a sip of tea but found her stomach was too knotted to enjoy it. “And I’ve had excellent tutorship.”
“I see,” Luna glanced over at the stairwell leading to the attic, and Twilight’s already frantic heartbeat quickened its pace even more. “As I said, I can feel the protective magics you’ve cast over this place, though the magic on the second floor seems even more powerful. Why is that?”
“That’s where my son is,” Twilight answered, her voice momentarily losing its cheerful tone and gaining a cold edge in its place.
“Your son?”
“Yes,” Twilight said firmly, locking eyes with Luna. “A pegasus named Spike.”
“Oh, would it be alright if I said hel—”
“No.”
Twilight stared Luna right in the eyes with no smile on her face. She was fine with playing the plausible deniability game all the way until Spike became involved, and she needed to make it clear to the Princess that the only way she was going to engage her son was if Luna walked over Twilight’s dead body to do it.
“Uh, right then,” Luna cleared her throat and tapped a nail against the wooden table. “I suppose I only have one more question.”
Now Twilight smiled genuinely, feeling a breath of relief coming on as she could see the finish line just ahead.
“And what is that?” Twilight asked.
“Why are you here?”
Twilight wrinkled her nose. She understood perfectly well that Luna was no longer speaking of the library, or even Canterlot; she was asking what Twilight was doing in Equestria. And it didn’t matter to Twilight whether Luna was being genuine or trying to bait her, Twilight’s honest answer would remain the same.
“I came here to raise my son,” Twilight said without hesitation. “This is where he was born, and it’s where I was born and raised too. Zebrica is home, yes, but Equestria is our home too, and I wanted him to experience it before he got older. I want him to know the magic that I see in this place, the peace and the harmony that I knew as a child.”
If Luna was dissatisfied with Twilight’s answer, she didn’t show it. She merely took one last sip of her coffee, and let out a long, arduous sigh.
“You’re truly a queer woman, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna let her cheek rest against her hand and gave Twilight a crooked smile
“I do like girls,” Twilight answered smugly, and Luna just rolled her eyes, and in that moment she reminded Twilight of Rarity, and Twilight wondered how Rarity was doing right now, and if she was safe.
“Let me give you this word of advice, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said as she rose from her seat, and Twilight bolted to her feet, eager to see Luna on her way.
“Yes?” Twilight asked, trying not to look as desperate for Luna to go away as she felt.
“Equestria is a land of harmony, but it has its shadows just like anyplace else. There will be ponies who want to do you harm, and not all of them can be so easily pacified by a good cup of coffee.”
Translation: ‘don’t push your luck, because not everypony is going to look the other way like I’m doing’, Twilight thought nervously.
“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Twilight bowed her head, and Luna bowed in return.
Luna went on her way without another word, and Twilight leaned her body against the library door and breathed an enormous sigh of relief once Luna was gone and Twilight was certain she was safe.
Twilight looked out the window, and saw that the sun was getting ready to set. Ponies would be asleep in their beds soon, and Twilight would be safely resting in the mountains. She just hoped that Rarity wouldn’t need her company too terribly when she returned.
Twilight sat down and looked at her tea. It was probably cold now, but that wasn’t beyond her power to fix, and now that she could relax a little, perhaps a sip of tea would be just what she needed to—
A loud knock at the door disturbed her thoughts and she wondered if anypony in this town could even read or knew what the word ‘closed’ meant.
Twilight’s protection spells didn’t allow her recognize whoever was knocking, but the feel of their magic brushing against Twilight’s did seem nostalgic to her somehow.
There was no way that could be Princess Luna again, so it must have been some customer, too eager to arm themselves with knowledge and the power of books to read the closed sign. Twilight respected that kind of enthusiasm for reading, but she wished whoever it was could be experiencing it on a day when Twilight’s heart didn’t feel like it was about to explode.
Another loud knock, more eager than the last.
Twilight sighed and supposed that it wouldn’t ruin her day to talk to one customer, at least to tell them to come back tomorrow.
Though when she opened the door, she realized how wrong she was.
“Heeeey, Twilight,” a pale blue ‘unicorn’ grinned proudly at Twilight from the other side of the door, “long time no see, huh?”
Twilight slammed the door in Trixie’s face. She didn’t have time for this garbage today.
How did she even find me?
A loud CRACK resonated behind Twilight, who didn’t even flinch; she merely turned around and glared at the intruder who teleported into her library, only briefly recognizing that her protections spells did nothing to stop Trixie from barging in.
Twilight supposed she would just have to make time for this garbage today.
Twilight stood with her back to the door of the library, staring down the intruder Trixie, who somehow managed to teleport inside, even despite Twilight’s protective spells.
How did she get in? Her magic shouldn’t nearly be strong enough to get through mine! This is Trixie we’re talking about!
“So what do you want, Trixie?” Twilight asked, having zero patience for Trixie’s nonsense and wanting to get her out of Twilight’s library as soon as possible; an ache in Twilight’s chest serving as a reminder that she was already on a ticking clock without this added stress.
“Is it so wrong for me to want to pay a visit to my good buddy Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie flashed a manic grin, and Twilight just crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow; she didn’t even bother to point out how wrong that sentence was.
“Why are you here?” Twilight repeated sternly. Getting clear information out of Trixie always proved a torturous ordeal even on the best of days, and Twilight was not having one of her best days.
“Oh come on, Twilight,” Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip and cocking her head lazily to the side as she shot Twilight a bemused glare, “don’t be dense. You and I both know there’s only one reason I would be searching you out.”
“Historically,” Twilight pondered, tapping a finger against her chin, “it’s been to show me some new magic trick you’ve thought up, only to blow yourself up in the process. I’d prefer if you didn’t explode inside my library, but if it will get you to leave faster, then by all means self-destruct away!”
“The old man sent me,” Trixie said, her tone draining of its wittiness and turning icy cold.
“Oh,” Twilight felt a heave in her heart and she grasped it as she fell short of breath. “Why?”
“Why do you think, Twilight?” it didn’t take long for Trixie’s jovial façade to fall away entirely, which wasn’t much surprise to Twilight; their dislike of each other had always been mutual, and Trixie likely didn’t want to be here anymore than Twilight wanted her here. “How do you think he felt, when his prized student turned her back on him?”
Twilight didn’t have to ponder the question to know the answer; the old bastard’s pride must have been devastated by Twilight’s betrayal, and his pride was dwarfed by his possessiveness. It didn’t matter to Twilight though; she knew she couldn’t have stood even one more day under his thumb.
“I don’t care,” Twilight shrugged, and she opened the door to the library, gesturing outside. “You can tell him I won’t be coming back.”
“He was so humiliated, Twilight!” Trixie laughed eerily. “Don’t you feel a little bit bad?”
Ah. There’s the sarcasm again.
“Leave, Trixie.”
Trixie sighed in frustration, slapping her palm against a bookcase.
“You know I can’t do that, Twilight,” Trixie groaned. “You may have turned away from the old man, but I’m still a loyal student! I promised I would bring you back, or at least flush you out of hiding!”
“How did you know where I was?” Twilight asked. The last thing she wanted was Trixie, or some other serf of the old bastard, to track down Spike or Rarity or one of the others.
“It was no secret that you fled to Equestria,” Trixie said, “and the rest was just divination magic. I’m a lot more talented than you think, Twilight Sparkle.”
“So what, then?” Twilight hissed, taking a bold stride toward Trixie that was cut short by another pang in her chest, but she didn’t let that shake her confident posture. “Are you going to try and drag me back to Zebrica?”
“Absolutely not,” Trixie grinned wickedly. “Like I said, just as long as I flush you out of hiding, I can return home with my head held high, and to be frank I’d rather do that than have you back anyway. Who do you think’s getting all the attention from the old man without you around?”
“Sunset?” Twilight answered drolly, and the furious twitching of Trixie’s eye was a more satisfying answer than Twilight could’ve hoped for.
“Anyway,” Trixie grumbled, “I honestly don’t know what you see in this bloody country. I’ve only been here for a few weeks and already I feel like tearing off this fake skin. I mean, why pretend to be a miserable little pony, when you could be a dragon?”
“I am where I want to be,” Twilight replied sternly, “and I won’t be going back.”
“Good,” Trixie smirked, brandishing a set of glistening, pale blue claws on one hand, “I was hoping you would say that, anyway. Less trouble for me, since I was never planning on bringing you back in the first place.”
“This is your last chance, Trixie,” Twilight said, her eyes glimmering with violet flame. “Leave this library now, or you might not be able to leave at all. I won’t have you, or that old bastard, threatening the life or the relationships I’ve built here!”
“Face it, Twilight,” Trixie purred, her own eyes shimmering with pale pink flame, “your life was over the moment I stepped inside.”
“You didn’t step in, you teleported,” Twilight said flatly.
“Would you just let me have my moment!?” Trixie stomped her foot on the ground.
“No,” Twilight said as the wooden floorboards of her domain sprung to life, transforming into thick roots that wrapped around Trixie’s neck. “I don’t take kindly to unexpected visitors in my home.”
Trixie’s horn flashed and she teleported out of Twilight’s attack with a wheezy cackle.
“If you really weren’t expecting me,” Trixie flashed a grin, showing off her razor-sharp fangs, “you’re an even bigger fool than I remember.”
Twilight took a deep breath. She wasn’t about to lose her home, or the life and relationships she’d built here for herself and Spike.
And if she had to tear through Trixie to protect that life, then so be it.
Twilight and Trixie stared each other down as the two mages prepared for battle. Twilight knew Trixie’s dragon form wouldn’t fit inside the library, and if she was given even the tiniest opportunity to transform, she would destroy the library in the process, and Twilight swore that she was not about to lose her home to Trixie.
Unfortunately, Twilight’s magic exhaustion had risen from ‘stinging pain in heart’ to ‘ceaseless agony coursing through her whole body’. She would need to end this fast and then hurry to the mountains to rest, before something horrible happened.
But Twilight was in her domain, and here she was at an advantage.
Effortlessly, Twilight commanded the books from the shelves lining the walls and from the bookcases that dotted the library to throw themselves at Trixie; a few even hit her before Trixie caught on, defending herself with little wisps of fire and lightning that surrounded her and deflected Twilight’s assault.
The true intent of Twilight’s book attack was merely distraction however, as Twilight could control more of her home than simply the books, and proved it by transforming a bookcase near Trixie into a wooden fist that slammed into her ribs, Trixie releasing a gurgling cough as she was forced to her knees, the fist then slamming her spine and crushing her into the ground for good measure.
“I don’t want to kill you, Trixie,” Twilight sighed, her wooden fist keeping Trixie pinned to the ground with a big finger, threatening to crush her spine if Trixie so much as sneezed in a way Twilight didn’t approve of. “Please just surrender and go home.”
“Surrender?” Trixie guffawed. “Twilight, you’ve met me, you know the Grrrreat and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!! NEVER surrenders!”
“Then I guess you’ll have to go home on a stretcher,” Twilight bemoaned and commanded the finger to press down on Trixie’s spine, though the pinned magician’s body evaporated into mist once pressure was applied.
Twilight gasped, but before she could look around for Trixie, she felt Trixie’s finger tapping against Twilight’s shoulder and she flinched.
“Pretty great spell, right?” Trixie said proudly, pointing two fingers that crackled with pale lavender electricity directly between Twilight’s eyes. “I’ve gotten a lot better since the old days, you know.”
“So have I,” Twilight smiled, and Trixie suddenly fell as the floor beneath her feet opened up and grabbed her, dragging her down into a freshly made pit. “And I was already better than you.”
“I could do this all day, Twilight!” Trixie sneered and teleported out of the pit, appearing in the air behind Twilight, fingers still sparking with lightning.
Twilight tried to shield herself with one of the bookcases, but the sudden stress tugged at her heart and made her flinch, and that instant of pause was enough opening for Trixie’s spell to fire, zapping Twilight right on her collarbone and knocking her off her feet, Twilight landing on her back against the wooden floor, letting out a pained hiss.
“And it looks like you’re running out of time,” Trixie said mockingly, standing over Twilight and threatening her with her electrical fingers.
“I won’t let you take my home away!” Twilight screamed.
Twilight slapped her palm against the floor of the library and a warm glow shone from underneath her hand. Trixie grit her teeth as the wooden floor fused to Twilight’s hand, and Twilight raised it and struck Trixie with elongated wooden tendrils, slamming her against the ceiling and wrapping the tendrils around Trixie’s limbs.
“I won’t kill you,” Twilight growled, “but I would love to see how you intend to cast spells without any arms!”
Trixie’s eyes glowed with intense pink flame and she snarled, baring her fangs. Twilight knew she would have to move quickly, but there was still hesitation in her heart. Could she justify brutalizing Trixie like she was planning, just to save her home?
Yes. She had to.
And she would have, if—
“Twilight?”
Spike’s voice distracted Twilight, and if stress was burning a hole in her heart before, it suddenly gored her chest like a javelin thrown directly into her breast.
“Spike,” Twilight said desperately, a warm liquid dripping from her mouth, “go to your room.”
“Twilight, what’s—”
Spike had never seen Trixie before, so as far as he knew, Twilight was fighting against a stranger. But he knew danger when he saw it, and he knew better than to stay around where he could get hurt, so without another word he hurried up the stairs and back into his room, Twilight breathing a sigh of relief and wiping the rainbow-colored fluid from her chin.
“Was that your son?” Trixie flashed a manic grin, and Twilight grit her teeth.
Twilight tried to twist her tendrils around Trixie’s arms to crush them, figuring that would at least disable her without permanently disfiguring her, but she was too late. Trixie’s arms were growing in size as they became covered in shining blue scales, her fingers being replaced by claws.
Within seconds, Trixie’s transformation was complete, and a giant dragon now tore through Twilight’s library. While Trixie’s stature was just barely larger in height than the first floor of the library, the legendarily powerful protective spells Twilight cast on the second floor kept Trixie’s head, wings, or tail from poking through the ceiling, forcing the dragon to hunch over while inside the library.
And it didn’t hurt either that Trixie was miniscule by dragon standards. Always was.
“I guess I can’t tear my way through,” Trixie chuckled, and the venom in her voice was palpable. “I guess I’ll just—”
With an ear-splitting CRACK and a flash of pink light, Trixie was gone, but another crack sounded nearby, and the thud from above the ceiling signaled where Trixie had teleported to—the attic, where Spike was.
Twilight forced herself to teleport despite the pain that wracked her body, and arrived standing in front of Spike, staring down a giant sapphire dragon with a snarling, hideous grin on its face.
“Spike, stay behind me,” Twilight commanded, and while Spike did so, Twilight turned to see he was visibly terrified, and rightfully so, and Twilight affected a gentle smile to ease his nerves. “It’s okay, Spike. Everything’s going to be okay. Mama’s not gonna let anything happen to you.”
“That’s right, Spike,” Trixie hissed. “Everything’s fine. I don’t wanna hurt you. Just c’mere for a sec.”
“This is your last warning, Trixie,” Twilight said coldly, Spike clutching to her leg. “Leave.”
Trixie’s shrill laughter tore through the empty space of the attic. “Or what, Twilight Sparkle?! What can you, a mediocre little mage pretending to be a little pony, possibly do to me!?”
“Twilight,” Spike whispered, “your magic is—”
“I know, Spike.”
Twilight sighed and looked at her hand that was caked in the residue of that rainbow liquid, basically magical essence given physical form. If her body was rejecting it, that meant she had reached her absolute limit of magical exhaustion; she couldn’t cast new spells, and the ones she was already using were rapidly running out.
But there was still one spell left that she could use.
“The Conflux.”
Twilight uttered those two words and felt a crack in her horn as her ultimate contingency spell was cast. She saw rainbow fluid leaking from beneath her fingernails, and felt it dripping down her chin.
But then everything stopped. For just one instant, as the magic of the Golden Oak converged inside Twilight’s body and she suddenly felt everything. She already had a vague sense of the library as long as she was inside it, but now she could feel everything inside and around it like it was touching her own body.
She could sense the presence of every living being in Canterlot’s Moon District, from the ponies preparing for dinner or bedtime, to the mice in their homes, and everything in between. Her body coursed with magic and her eyes were lit with rainbow colored flame, and they practically bore holes in Trixie’s façade of bravery as soon as eye contact was made.
Trixie could see the sudden gulf in power, but Twilight wasn’t about to let Trixie—who had thrown away every opportunity Twilight had given her to end this non-violently— leave to threaten her home again. Trixie flapped her wings, and while it tore the attic asunder, Twilight was unfazed and Spike, still clinging to Twilight’s leg for dear life, was unmoved.
Trixie looked up and breathed a stream of flame into the ceiling, but her attack did nothing against the protective magic still shining brightly around Twilight’s home.
“You’re trapped, Trixie,” Twilight’s voice echoed in the empty attic, like it was coming from everywhere at once. “Unless you revert to pony form, you cannot leave this place.”
“Never!”
Trixie snarled, but Twilight unflinchingly pointed a finger at one of Trixie’s wings and fired a red and black beam that turned the appendage to dust. Trixie screamed in agony and cast a spell on herself, and Twilight could read Trixie’s magic as if they were pages in the librarian’s precious books.
Trixie’s first spell was a flight spell. Twilight surmised she was going to try escaping. Twilight shot a sphere of green and white light at Trixie’s other wing, and it disappeared in a flash of energy, Trixie grunting and wincing in pain from the attack.
Trixie roared and her mouth filled with violet flame. An ‘alchemist fire’ spell; it would burn through Twilight even despite her defenses, but not if Trixie’s mouth was frozen from the inside out, preventing her from casting it. Funny how Twilight had a spell prepared that would allow her to do just that.
Trixie’s eyes darted around in a panicked frenzy as she lost control of her mouth, looking for any kind of way she could escape with her life, and Twilight took a step forward.
Trixie backed herself all the way against the wall; her pride not allowing her to return to pony form, and all of her magic failing to do anything against the goddess in pony’s skin that slowly approached.
Trixie swiped a claw at Twilight, but the goddess merely grabbed it with her tiny hand, twisting the skin and scales into a barely recognizable mush of gnarled roots and twisting vines. Trixie may have screamed again, but Twilight had long since stopped caring to listen.
Twilight put her hand flat on Trixie’s nose, the dragon looking at her with tearstained, bloodshot eyes full of panic and desperation. Twilight sighed, and her hand lit up with blue energy that quickly covered Trixie like a sheet, before the dragon disappeared in the blink of an eye.
A long-range teleportation spell; one of Twilight’s pride and joys, that allowed her to send Trixie back to their hometown in Zebrica.
It was over. The dragon had been evicted from the library.
Twilight fell to her knees, rainbow fluid pouring from her mouth and eyes.
It was over. And now Twilight was dying. But at least her home and her son were safe.
Rainbow took a deep breath underneath her shirt, careful not to breathe in the smell of burnt and rotting wood as she crawled underneath the collapsed ruins of a Baltimare house. She was just small enough to squeeze through, though it took some effort and a couple of cuts across her wings, but she managed to lock hands with a terrified pony trapped underneath the rubble.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Rainbow said softly, the other pony nodding with tears in their eyes. Rainbow tapped a gem attached to the collar on her neck, and in the blink of an eye and a flash of yellow light, Rainbow and the pony were teleported by Celestia’s magic outside the ruins.
“Is there anyone else inside there?” Celestia asked the frightened pony as they sat on the ground, sobbing as Celestia washed a healing wing over them. They shook their head.
“Next house, then,” Rainbow said, pounding her fists together.
The fire that tore through the town when Rainbow’s team arrived had been finally extinguished by the rain, and the downpour had settled into a mere drizzle by now, but there were still several houses and buildings that had been completely collapsed in the attack, and dozens of ponies reported missing, injured, or were simply unaccounted for.
So there was no time to lose.
“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said firmly as she guided the fragile pony under her care toward the nearby safe zone, where professional medics and the like were waiting to take care of the injured and terrified.
“Yeah? What is it?” Rainbow said agitatedly, chomping at the bit to get back to saving more ponies; if she let herself stop focusing on the task at hand for even like two seconds she’d remember how terrified and sick she felt, and she couldn’t bear to be that pathetic in front of the Queen.
“It’s time you and I took a short break,” Celestia put her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, and while Rainbow flinched at first, she then sighed and tried to loosen up a little. “We don’t need to do everything ourselves. There’s plenty of professional rescue and relief specialists working all over the city to take care of everypony as much as we’re all able, and we all need to do our parts, and that includes taking rest when we require it.”
“Okay,” Rainbow wanted to argue, but it’s not like she could talk back to Queen Celestia. Especially when she knew Celestia was right and she just didn’t want to admit it. “But,” Rainbow bit her lip and stood completely still, even as Celestia tried to guide her away from the ruined buildings behind her, “maybe I should just save a few more—”
“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia’s tone was soft, but firm, “if you can’t be trusted to take care of yourself, how can anypony trust you to take care of them?”
Rainbow had heard the old adage of taking care of yourself first, but she hadn’t really thought of it in that way before. The idea that she couldn’t be trusted to take care of others… that hit her pretty hard.
“Okay, yeah,” Rainbow sighed, hanging her head and walking alongside Celestia away from the disaster zone, “I know, you’re right.”
“I’ve had a long time to consider how to properly take care of my ponies,” Celestia chuckled. “So, is this your first time seeing a dragon in person?”
Rainbow stopped in her tracks, fists clenched, head hung, wings fidgeting. Celestia simply waited for Rainbow’s response, which only got harder and harder to make the more Rainbow’s stomach felt like it was under attack by a violent storm.
“Yeah,” she finally said, barely choking the word out.
Rainbow had been terrified of dragons her entire life, but that was one of her biggest secrets. Some Slayer she would be if she choked from fear in the face of Equestria’s greatest threat, but she couldn’t deny the panic that tore through her entire body as soon as the massive emerald demon had flown over Rainbow’s party.
“Is that why you didn’t want me taking part in the fight?” Rainbow asked shamefully, and gasped when Celestia responded by pulling her into a hug and wrapping her wings around Rainbow.
“In part,” Celestia said, softly petting Rainbow’s mane, “but mostly it was because I knew your speed would be an enormous asset to the relief efforts, and I trusted that you and Coloratura would work well together to save as many ponies as possible. And it seems I was correct.”
“You… you trusted me?” Rainbow said hesitantly, looking up into Celestia’s eyes even as her own were bit by tears. “Even though you knew I was gonna freak out?”
“Of course,” Celestia giggled and wiped some tears from Rainbow’s cheeks. “You’re my star student’s partner, and so long as you have her trust, then you have mine as well. And after seeing your bravery and determination today, I’d say that I couldn’t ask for a better partner for my student.”
“But, but I was terrified!” Rainbow said, pushing Celestia away. “I-I panicked, and I was totally gonna choke!”
“And yet you didn’t run,” Celestia said firmly, a serene smile on her face. “You stayed, you followed my orders to the letter, and you went above and beyond to rescue ponies in need, even though the dragon was still so close to the town. You’re everything I could ever ask for in a Slayer, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow felt choked up, and her face twisted into a grotesque frown to try and stop the tears pouring out her eyes.
“Thanks,” she said weakly.
“Just breathe, darling,” Celestia hummed, embracing Rainbow in a safe, comforting hug. “Just breathe, and know that everything will be okay.”
Rarity sat at the helm of the small boat being guided by Celestia’s magic to the nearby island where Celestia had detected the dragon. There was apparently a cave on said island where the beast was recovering from its dire wounds, and Rarity was to lead her fellow students and slay the demon before it could return to Equestria.
She felt oddly melancholy about the whole situation. When her little dinghy departed from Baltimare, the town was no longer on fire, but it was still in very bad shape, and it was hard for Rarity to not think about the screams and panicked cries of families and innocent ponies as their lives were torn away from them, sounds that echoed in Rarity’s mind every time she placed her fingertips across the dragon fang hanging from her neck.
“Spitfire!” Tempest shouted agitatedly, breaking Rarity out of her thoughts. “Get down here already!”
The pegasus in question was flying through the air, while Rarity and her other two comrades sat in the boat, and while Rarity could sympathize with Spitfire’s desire to stretch her wings, she was flying far faster than the boat could move, and was almost out of their sight at this point.
“Just let her be, Tempest,” Coloratura said, her tone attempting for ‘gentle scolding’ but Rarity could tell she was at the end of her rope just like Tempest. “You know she isn’t going to leave us behind or anything, and Spitfire always takes these things seriously. You don’t need to babysit her.”
Tempest merely glared at Coloratura before stomping up to the helm, nearly shoving Rarity aside. She leaned out to shout again but Rarity put her hand on Tempest’s chest and cleared her throat.
Rarity’s horn lit up and she sent a mental note to Spitfire, asking her to please return to the ship. While Rarity generally agreed with Coloratura, that the team all dealt with pre-battle stress in their own ways and should be allowed to operate by their own devices, Rarity would prefer the team stick together, just in case anything happened.
“Geez, you guys are too uptight,” Spitfire groaned as she sat down in the boat.
“It’s really a matter of caution, Spitfire,” Rarity said, being sure to speak quickly before Tempest could. “We just saw what should have been a dead dragon come back to life. I don’t want to take any chances.”
Spitfire wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms, and the way she puffed up her cheeks made Rarity smile; Spitfire knew when she was bested, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
The rest of the trip was spent in near silence. Rarity watched the sea and tried to remain calm, Tempest held a ball of electrical energy in her hands and focused on it, Spitfire pulled out a pair of small dumbbells and lifted them, and Coloratura hummed a somber tune.
But soon enough, the island was within view, and it rapt everypony’s attention.
Coloratura was the first off the boat, using her connection to the earth—and a small disk that she placed on the ground, etched with lines that glowed a soft teal—to scope out the location.
“Is it here?” Spitfire whispered excitedly, perched on the rim of the dry-docked boat.
“It is,” Coloratura nodded and pointed to the large mound of gray sand and rock in the center of the small island. “It’s in that cave, just as Celestia predicted. No other living creatures to speak of.”
“Living creatures?” Rarity hummed. “So the dragon is definitely still alive, then?”
“Yes,” Coloratura nodded.
“What, did you think it was gonna be some undead dragon?” Spitfire asked teasingly, hopping onto the sand.
“I’m not willing to discount anything right now,” Rarity said urgently, stepping cautiously onto the beach, with Tempest following behind her. “But at the moment, all that matters is that the dragon is still alive, and we need to rectify that problem.”
The four ponies slowly— and carefully— approached the mouth of the cave; even Spitfire hovered very cautiously in lockstep with the rest of her team, unwilling to break ranks with them when the battle was at hand.
But then Coloratura stopped, and each party member stopped in turn, watching her.
“Do we need information from it?” Coloratura asked, and Rarity was baffled by the question, but no moreso than Spitfire or Tempest.
“Information?” Tempest said in disgust. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t we want to know why it attacked,” Coloratura said weakly, clearly intimidated by Tempest’s resistance to her suggestion, “or something?”
“Uh, I dunno, Rara,” Spitfire snickered and dropped to the ground next to Coloratura, putting an arm around her shoulder, “cuz it’s a vicious, bloodthirsty dragon, maybe?”
“It doesn’t seem a little fishy to you though?” Coloratura huffed. “That this dragon would suddenly attack, right out of nowhere? It seemed pretty prepared for a serious fight, what with all those defensive spells it cast. Why would it do that if it were just trying to eat villagers or whatever?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tempest grumbled. “Even if I thought for one second that it was worth interrogating it instead of simply executing it, any information we could get from it would be useless.”
“I agree with the grump,” Spitfire said, holding her arms behind her head. “Let’s just get in there and end this thing.”
“I know you’re both right,” Coloratura muttered, “but something still feels off to me.”
“Rarity,” Tempest said firmly, shoving Rarity’s forearm and breaking the concentrated thinking that Rarity had engaged in while listening to her companions’ conversation. “Are you coming?”
“It didn’t cast any magic,” Rarity replied, much to the frustration and further confusion of her fellow students.
“It didn’t?” Coloratura asked inquisitively, and Rarity remembered that Coloratura wasn’t actually present for the battle itself, just the preamble.
“What about all those protection spells?” Spitfire asked, arms crossed and hoof anxiously tapping against the sand.
Tempest’s eyes widened in realization.
“Shit.”
“You’re right, Spitfire,” Rarity said dourly, “it had those protection spells. Many, many, protection spells. But during the fight, it didn’t cast any magic.”
Spitfire cocked her head, but Coloratura gasped.
“It didn’t cast those protective spells either,” she said.
“It has a partner,” Rarity concluded.
“Or a lackey,” Tempest grunted, and she turned on her hooves to stomp toward the cave’s mouth. “Like I said, we can’t trust any information we get from this thing. We’ll just have to tell Queen Celestia what we figured out, and let her figure out the best way to deal with it.”
“Rarity’s the one in charge, chief,” Spitfire said drolly, causing Tempest to stop in her tracks. Now all eyes were on Rarity as Spitfire asked, “So what’s it gonna be, Rarity?”
Rarity took a deep breath, knowing she would have to decide her answer in an instant, and so just going with her gut instinct.
“I want to at least see what it says when we ask it,” Rarity said, trying to project confidence she didn’t entirely feel. “We don’t have all the information at play here, and perhaps something it says will mean something to Celestia. Maybe it won’t, but that can be for her to decide. I at least want to know.”
“And if it becomes hostile immediately?” Tempest asked.
“Well,” Rarity scoffed, “then we simply revert to plan A. As soon as it becomes hostile, or even threatens it, then we execute it.”
“Sounds good, boss,” Spitfire said, clapping Rarity’s shoulder as she walked past.
“Let’s get to it then,” Coloratura said with an assured nod, and a comforting smile sent Rarity’s way. Coloratura followed behind Rarity as she joined Spitfire and Tempest at the cave mouth.
When the four ponies entered the cave, the sight that greeted them was gruesome— a dragon, obviously, but its teeth, hands, eyes, and wings were all butchered beyond recognition, coating not only the sand in its blood, but also the cave walls that it was frantically scratching against. The hole in its chest was mended, but it was an exposed sore of flesh and muscle, with no protective scales covering it.
It was scratching against the walls and making a horrible noise, like the groaning of an opening steel gate that hasn’t been touched in ages.
“Its protections have disappeared,” Coloratura whispered.
“I guess without all its buffs,” Spitfire spat, “it’s just a big coward.”
“Perhaps,” Rarity said hesitantly, feeling as though something was horribly amiss about this situation. “But I think there might be something else going on here.”
Animals backed into a corner generally became more vicious in a desperate bid to survive, but Rarity had the distinct sense that the hideous noise the dragon was making wasn’t a groan or a growl, but a miserable whimper.
“Dragon,” Rarity said coldly as she walked into the cave, her three comrades taking a defensive stance behind her.
The dragon’s ears twitched, and it turned its head toward Rarity, giving her a good look at the grisly fate that had befallen it; glazed eyes that oozed with caked blood, several large puncture wounds decorating its face that were also covered in combined blood and saltwater, and some kind of noxious grey ooze was coating its wounds as well.
It was almost pitiful.
“Pony,” the beast’s voice was haggard and dry.
“Why did you attack Baltimare?” Rarity asked, not wanting to waste time or spend even one second longer in this cave that reeked of blood and filth. “The pony port town you descended upon this evening, why did you attack it?”
“What are you talking about?” the dragon groaned. “I don’t know anything about any pony towns.”
“Then how do you account for your injuries?” Rarity scoffed, unimpressed by the beast’s tales.
“I don’t know.”
That was the worst lie Rarity had heard yet, and she turned to her comrades to check how they were faring. Tempest was as stone-faced as ever, simply waiting for her opportunity to perform the execution. Spitfire just looked bored.
But Coloratura, she looked concerned.
“What’s the matter?” Rarity whispered, trusting Tempest and Spitfire to keep their eyes on the dragon when she turned her back on it.
“I don’t think it’s lying,” Coloratura said, everything in her face and tone indicating confusion but no hint of hesitation in her statement.
“How could it ‘not know’ how it got injured?” Spitfire growled under her breath, her eyes locked on the dragon.
“Ask it,” Coloratura suggested, and despite the eye roll from Spitfire, Rarity intended to do just that.
“You don’t honestly expect me to believe you,” Rarity said incredulously, “that you ‘don’t know’ how you got injured?”
“Believe whatever you want,” the dragon sneered. “I know you ponies have no interest in diplomacy with dragons.”
“I want to know what happened to that town,” Rarity said firmly.
“I don’t know what happened,” the dragon replied.
“Why not?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Your life is on the line!” Rarity screamed. “You pathetic, piteous, wretched creature! Don’t you even care about your own life!?”
“Of course I care,” the dragon hissed. “I have a family waiting for me back home.”
“That old cliché?” Spitfire groaned, and Rarity tried to ignore the smart remark and the gagging sound Spitfire made to accompany it.
“Yet you can’t recall anything?” Rarity spat, her voice being strangled by impatience and rage with each new word. “Something doesn’t add up here, it would seem.”
“If I give you the information you want,” the dragon leaned its head down to Rarity’s level, and Rarity could clearly see its creased brow, almost like it were concerned, or… pleading, “will you let me go back to my family?”
Rarity took a deep breath. She knew what she should say, what was the ‘right’ thing to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She needed to be honest instead.
“No.”
And without another word, without waiting for the dragon’s reply, Rarity raised the onyx blade granted to her by her Queen, and with her magic, plunged it into the dragon’s head, right between its eyes.
Tempest fired off a bolt of energy at one of the dragon’s hands, disintegrating it, and Spitfire flew into the air, tossing Coloratura down toward its other hand while she flew through the gaps in the dragon’s teeth, burning the inside of its mouth with red-hot flame. Coloratura touched her hand to the dragon’s, twisting the bones inside the creature’s body into a mangled, unrecognizable shape.
But all that was just theater; the dragon was dead as soon as Rarity landed her blow, the curse enchanting Celestia’s onyx blade killing the dragon as soon as Rarity activated it, just as Celestia had said it would.
“It’s done, Rarity,” Coloratura confirmed.
“Good,” Rarity grabbed her weapon and turned away to walk out of the cave, her hands shaking as they caressed the deadly blade with her fingers. “Coloratura, come with me. Spitfire, Tempest?”
“Yeah, boss?” Spitfire asked with a sadistic grin, and even Tempest cracked a slight smirk as the two women were all too aware of the order Rarity was about to bestow.
“It makes me mad too cuz my parents are,” Pinkie groaned, “y’know, like that.”
“I know,” Applejack sighed. “But some stuff just is how it is, and even when it’s shitty, we kinda just gotta accept it for what it is.”
“That sucks,” Pinkie said flatly.
“Yup,” Applejack laughed, and Pinkie felt a giggle bubbling up inside her too.
Pinkie jumped off her bench and sat next to Applejack, leaning up against her while Applejack put her arm around Pinkie, who sighed in mixed relief and frustration.
“And look on the bright side,” Applejack said, “we still got Apple Bloom, and Big Mac, and your sisters. And even more’n that, we got a great family waitin’ for us back home.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie yawned, closing her tired eyes and deciding to catch a few winks. “When we get back to Canterlot, let’s go to the library, okay?”
“Sure,” Applejack said, stroking Pinkie’s shoulder, “I’d like that.”
Pinkie yawned again and whispered as she fell asleep, “I wonder what Twilight’s doing right now.”
****
A putrid smelling rainbow fluid came out of Twilight’s mouth and spilled over the attic floor as Twilight tried in vain to grab ahold of something to keep her steady. Instead she fell to her knees, vomiting more of that colorful liquid all over her knees and hands.
Everything hurt. What had started as an ache in her chest, and evolved into a scorching pain throughout her body, was now full-on torturous agony the likes of which she’d never felt before. She felt like some other creature had made its home inside her body but was much, much larger than her and was trying to stretch Twilight’s skin and muscles out to fit its body.
Almost like she had a dragon inside her, trying to break free of a pony-sized body it was trapped in.
Twilight didn’t register that she had screamed until she felt two little hands desperately clutching her hand.
“Spike,” Twilight let out a mangled cry that vaguely sounded like her son’s name, “please, get out of here. It’s not safe.”
“No!” Spike said, still clutching Twilight even as tears blurred his eyes. “I’m not gonna leave you like this, Twilight!”
“Spike, please,” it was only as Twilight put her hands on Spike’s shoulders that she saw the rainbow fluid leaking steadily from her fingertips, “the library, I’m going to—“ Twilight retched and expelled more of that magical liquid, letting out a brief, pained whimper before screaming yet again.
Spike didn’t budge, and while Twilight respected his bravery and was endeared by his loyalty, the last thing she wanted was for him to see Twilight forced to transform, or for him to be caught in the ugly aftermath of the Conflux spell, which was quickly turning the library into a withered husk of its formal self.
And then it hit Twilight. The Conflux would have disabled most, if not all, of the library’s protections. And Twilight couldn’t hold onto her pony-transformation spell, plus was in horrendous pain. She wasn’t going to be able to control her fiery breath, and she and her son were inside of a rapidly withering and completely unprotected tree.
“I need to get out of the library,” Twilight gasped desperately, but as she tried to stand, merely fell flat on her side onto the hardwood floor, helplessly reaching a limp hand toward the stairwell to the bottom floor. “I need to get out of the library!”
Spike’s fingers wrapped around Twilight’s hand and he struggled to pull her toward the stairwell. Twilight whimpered as tears stung her eyes, a mix of pride at her son’s consideration for her and agony at the thought of what might happen to him if he’s caught in her transformation.
“Spike!” Twilight hacked and coughed, spilling magic fluid all over her chin and chest. “Get out! Get out of the library! I’m gonna burn it down!”
“What?!” Spike gasped in horror. “Why would y—oh no, you’re transforming?! I thought the Conflux just wiped you out! Oh no, no no no no no no no, Twilight we gotta get you out of here!”
Spike grabbed Twilight’s forearm and tugged as hard as he could, but his tiny body just couldn’t move an adult-sized unicorn, much less one that was about to start turning into a gigantic beast of volatile flame and magic.
“Spike!” Twilight shrieked. “I’m ordering you to get out of the library! NOW!” a pang of guilt ripped through Twilight’s heart upon seeing Spike’s stricken, mortified expression, and she affected a gentle smile. “Please. I can’t bear to lose both of you.”
Spike pursed his lips as the tears started rolling down his eyes. He tried to say something, but it just came out as blubbers, so he nodded his head and ran for the stairs, leaving an agonized but relieved Twilight alone in the attic.
Twilight still tried to crawl her way to the stairs, desperate to save the home where she’d made so many memories, but every inch she managed was accompanied by screams of pain, and now there was rainbow fluid pouring from her eyes as well.
She screamed in horror as the flesh tore on her fingers and scales took their place, the bones increasing in size even as they tore through muscles that regenerated and were torn apart again just as quickly.
Her fingernails became talons that she dug into the hardwood floor and tried to pull herself on, but her back was seizing up, and soon two spikes pierced through it and tore slits in her skin where massive, leathery wings stretched out from, ripping the flesh and tendon from her body on their way out, spraying blood all over the attic as Twilight whimpered helplessly.
Her hooves were the next thing to be torn to shreds, as her feet were stretched, torn, and finally split into large, clawed feet, but Twilight could barely focus on that pain through the agony in her tailbone as it extended and tore out through her body to form that massive lizard tail.
Next thing Twilight felt was her teeth throbbing with ache, growing in size and cutting her lips as she tried to bite down as if that would stop her transformation somehow. Twilight tried to scream as her horn split in two down its center and curled behind her head, but her scream came out as a roar instead.
A roar, and flame.
Twilight breathed a stream of violet flame at the ceiling of her tree, burning a hole in the ceiling through which she could just barely see the starry night sky above, and the rest of the ceiling quickly started to burn, branches and beams falling from it and crashing into the attic floor.
Another roar of flame came unwelcomed from Twilight’s mouth, spreading across the floor and leaking into the lower level. Twilight wanted to weep for the books that she had spent her life collecting, and for the memories she had just started building, but most of all for the life she wanted to give Spike, which was now quite literally going up in flames.
But she couldn’t focus on anything but the pain.
Even with her body fully transformed and her disguise spell ripped away, the magic exhaustion didn’t leave her. She still felt like her heart was primed to explode, like all of her organs and internal systems had been ripped out her body through her mouth and then re-implanted through her eyes, but everything was in the wrong place now.
But as she writhed on the floor of her precious home, breathing streams of fire that destroyed every item and piece of property that she cared for, one clear thought rang through her head.
What if Rarity finds me like this?
Twilight dug her claws into the hardwood and stretched her wings as far as they would go, before leaping into the air and crashing through the hole in the ceiling, obliterating anything that was left of her library’s roof.
What would happen to Spike if anyone found out who—or what—his mother really was? How betrayed and heartbroken would Rarity feel if she found out? Her friends, they all despised and were terrified of dragons. What would they think of Twilight if they found out that she was a dragon?
It was a thought that plagued Twilight daily, and it was never more present on her mind then when she forced herself to fly through the ceiling of her home, forced herself to charge through the pain and carry her restless and broken body in the skies over Canterlot’s Moon District, praying that she could reach the mountains nearby even as she continued to vomit that rainbow fluid.
The ponies of Canterlot were sleeping in their beds; it was entirely possible that Twilight could still make it to the mountains before anyone knew what had happened with her.
If the others came back and found her library, what would they think?
It didn’t matter. Twilight would rather them think that she died than for them to learn the truth, and if she could just make it to the mountains, then maybe, just maybe, she could recover her strength and go back to her home, and all that she would lose would be a tree and some old books.
Rainbow Dash’s hands were still trembling as they gripped the mug of cider sitting on the Hunter’s Haven bar in front of her. The bar was dark and empty, except for her, with most of the Slayers in the Haven hounding Tempest Shadow, Spitfire, and Coloratura to give them details of the dragon fight.
It almost made Rainbow want to laugh; that all these ponies were begging to know more about what dragons were like in person, or how it felt to fight them, like it was some grand heroic thing to go up against those monsters.
Because most ponies in Hunter’s Haven hadn’t seen one up close. They hadn’t spent the night digging bodies out from ruined homes, or watching families weep as their children, parents, siblings, and lovers were snatched by fire, or collapsing stone and wood, right before their eyes. These ponies hadn’t seen an entire community experience the worst night of their lives.
They had no idea.
Rainbow was hoping to try and forget some of the things that went on in the last hour or so by drowning herself in cider, but every time she went to take a sip, her stomach just turned; really uncool of her stomach, to be honest.
“How are you holding up?” the weary voice of Captain Spitfire chimed in behind Rainbow.
“If I never have to touch another dead body in my life,” Rainbow answered flatly, “it’ll be too soon.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Spitfire sighed, her trademark humor completely absent from her voice; she just sounded like what she was—tired. “Mind if I join you?”
Rainbow shrugged, and so Spitfire sat down at the stool next to her and ordered a drink.
“Y’know, it’s funny,” Spitfire gave a single chuckle, but it was colder than the stone of the bar, “the mission was technically a success, we should be celebrating right now.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow scoffed, “congratulations, you only had to dig up three dead children today. Mission accomplished!”
“I hate to say this,” Spitfire groaned, and a painful smile stretched across her lips as she ran a shaky hand through her mane, “but only three dead kids is a success, when dragons are involved.”
Rainbow bowed her head against the bar, digging her nails into her scalp like she was trying to claw the horrid images out of her brain.
“I can’t believe this,” Rainbow whispered. “I can’t believe how gruesome this whole night was.”
“You get used to it,” Spitfire said drolly, taking a sip of her beer.
“Yeah?” Rainbow scoffed. “You still remember the first time you saw a dragon?”
“Like it was yesterday,” Spitfire replied firmly. “Me and my squad were doing a pretty banal routine flight, happened to run across a dragon who’d been hiding out in the woods. I’m the only one who went back home that day, and only cuz Celestia found me cowering in the woods and killed the dragon.
“She just swung her sword and sliced the damn lizard’s face in two with a single stroke. It was amazing, but…”
“But that’s not the memory that sticks with you,” Rainbow said coldly, feeling the urge to vomit welling up inside her.
“Nah,” Spitfire gave a pitiful chuckle, “nah, what sticks is the memory of Fire Streak getting ripped in half, of Wave Chill having his chest torn open by the dragon’s fangs, of Rapidfire being burned to goddamn cinders right in front of me.
“And I remember running away before seeing what happened to Blaze and Lightning Streak, but I got a good look at Blaze’s charred corpse. I don’t think Lightning left one. I remember cowering—weeping—underneath a tree, torn between praying the dragon didn’t find me and praying that it did and I could just die with the rest of my friends.
“When Celestia found me, all I could do was apologize. Over and over and over again, that’s all I could think to say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry’. And y’know what she had the gall to say? ‘It wasn’t your fault’. Like, she’s right, but… but I bailed on my team.”
“You would’ve died if you hadn’t,” Rainbow said helplessly. She’d never seen Spitfire be anything less than excited and brave, and seeing her stony expression as tears rolled down her cheeks was excruciating.
“Maybe that would’ve been better,” Spitfire shrugged. “I definitely know that’s when the traditional ‘Slayer’s recklessness’ kicked in for me. Speaking of the recklessness, I hear you’ve got it now. How’re you holding up?”
Rainbow let out a shrill, high-pitch laugh that echoed in the empty bar.
“Not great!” Rainbow flashed a manic grin and slapped her palm on the bar, and even she couldn’t tell if she was trying to suppress her feelings or was genuinely cracking up.
“Don’t do anything reckless, okay?” Spitfire said, gently putting her hand on top of Rainbow’s. “We need you here. I know it’s selfish, but I need you.”
“I need you too,” Rainbow said, putting her other hand on Spitfire’s. “So right back at’cha, okay?”
“Okay,” Spitfire nodded with a little half-smile. “How ‘bout we make a deal; when we’re like eighty or something, we challenge each other to an honorable, life or death duel, and neither of us are allowed to die until then. Got it?”
“I don’t know if I’ll make it to eighty,” Rainbow sighed, and she thought about how she was only in her twenties, but she already felt like she was eighty. “How ‘bout— if we’re still feeling really reckless by then— forty?”
Spitfire bit her lip, but she put on a smile and pulled back her hand, clapping Rainbow’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” she said with a weary smile, “forty sounds good to me. Let’s do our best to not have that duel, okay?”
“It’s a promise,” Rainbow said with a smile, the first genuine one she’d had all night.
The train ride back from Baltimare wasn’t as long as Rarity had been expecting, and she could almost see her city of Canterlot in the distance out the window.
Truthfully, the ride hadn’t been as long as Rarity had wanted, either. While the rest of her party had simply teleported back with Celestia to Canterlot, Rarity insisted on taking the train. And while Rainbow was an absolute darling and offered to travel with her the slower way— which was quite a gesture, coming from Rainbow Dash—Rarity also insisted that she go alone.
She needed the time to think, yet she found that more difficult than she expected. She had just slain the second dragon in her life, had just saved countless innocent ponies from torment and death, and yet she felt nothing short of utterly miserable.
Why?
It wasn’t the dragon’s words that stuck in Rarity’s mind, but Coloratura’s.
I don’t think it’s lying.
She said that about the dragon ‘not knowing’ what had happened to Baltimare, or how it got its injuries. Rarity didn’t ask if it was lying or not about having a family, because why would she care to know? A family of vicious, bloodthirsty dragons are still evil, so what did it matter?
But did Rarity not ask because she didn’t care, or because she didn’t want to know the answer?
And why had the dragon not fought back? The last time Rarity had a dragon cornered, it begged for its life; this one didn’t even try that. Why was it so… docile? It seemed frightened also, and if it truly didn’t know how it became injured, if it just suddenly awoke as if from a trance and was blind and half-dead, then who wouldn’t be fri—
No. No, that’s ridiculous—it’s insane, is what it is! How can some creature simply ‘not know’ how it became injured?
Yet if it was all so ridiculous and insane as Rarity insisted, why was she stuck on it? What about this situation didn’t add up to her?
Rarity would have to ask Celestia some questions about the dragon’s peculiar behavior later. She let Tempest report their team’s success to the Queen because Rarity was already too deep in her confused web of thoughts to be focused enough for a coherent report.
Even after Celestia sought Rarity out to talk to her, Rarity politely turned down the Queen’s request for more information, because Rarity simply didn’t know what to say; another reason why she wanted to take the train home.
Home.
She was almost there now; Canterlot station could be seen in the distance, and Rarity smiled fondly as she pressed her cheek up to the window. She had returned from many trips back to Canterlot, but she never considered it to be her ‘home’. She always considered the road, the Hunt, and Hunter’s Haven to be her ‘homes’.
Until she met Twilight. Now the library was her home, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.
She wondered briefly what Twilight was doing, thinking fondly about her adorable crush and about how the cute little dork was probably still organizing those old books, even though she was ill. Silly pony.
Rarity hoped Spike would at least look out for her and try his best to make sure she didn’t overwork too much, but she knew Twilight couldn’t be deterred once she’d set her mind to something. Rarity respected that about her, honestly.
Rarity also thought about the last thing she said to Twilight before she left, about how they would save their kiss for when she got back, and that thought put Rarity in a brighter mood than she’d been in all night.
She was almost home. Almost at the library. Almost with Twilight.
Almost kissing Twilight.
Rarity tried not to be giddy, because that would be rather unladylike, but she couldn’t help but let a few smitten giggles escape her lips. She rested her cheek against the window again, smiling fondly at the Canterlot station as it drew closer and closer, until she could practically smell the—
—smoke?
What is that?
Rarity saw something in the night sky, almost too far away to tell, but the storm suddenly raging in her gut gave her a clue.
No. No, it couldn’t… it couldn’t possibly be—
It was.
Rarity’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open as desperate, gasping breaths filled her lungs. That was no ‘thing’ flying against the night sky, it was a creature. A dragon.
Rarity could hardly see the beast in the darkness, but she saw it exhume some kind of colorful fluid from its mouth that poured into the sky, and thankfully evaporated in the air. But what truly made Rarity’s stomach turn was the color of the creature’s scales—lavender, just like her Twilight.
And now, worry and concern gave way to panic, as Rarity had no way of knowing why that creature was near her home, and she had no way to contact Twilight to know if she was okay.
Rarity ran to the front of the train, and thanked her luck that she was able to disembark safely as soon as she made it. She jumped onto the platform and raced as fast as she could through the sleepy, empty streets of the Moon District, until she reached…
A tree. A tree burning in violet flame, almost withered and burnt to its very roots until there was nothing left but ash, columns of pitch dark smoke rising into the air and filling Rarity nose with a nauseating scent.
Rarity’s breath became even more frantic and desperate as she ran into the ruins of the library, regardless of the danger.
Her barriers could protect her from mere fire, though she remembered upon getting close to the tree, and feeling an overwhelming heat coming from the flames, that dragonfire was nothing like normal fire, and with her weak magic—and no longer tapped into Celestia’s magic— it could still burn her easily.
She couldn’t bear the heat coming from the library, so instead she called out to Twilight and to Spike, then to Rainbow Dash, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie, then to goddamn anyone who could hear her.
But none of her cries were met with any response.
Rarity fell to her knees in the snow, no recourse left but to watch her home burn in front of her eyes.
There was nothing she could do but accept that the thing she loved most had been taken from her.
That her Twilight was most likely—
Rarity sat there for only a moment before forcing herself to her hooves. She still had her equipment from Celestia’s armory, she still had Celestia’s onyx blade.
She was a Slayer still, was she not? And there was a dragon that needed slaying.
Rarity left the burning library behind and raced toward the foothills surrounding Canterlot. The dragon she had seen flying away from her home looked as though it was having trouble keeping itself airborne; it was likely injured, or exhausted, and those foothills were uninhabited and made a good place to rest. She learned that from talking with Tw—
…
Rarity wondered if running into the mountains in the middle of the night all by herself was perhaps too foolish, but she couldn’t contact Rainbow Dash or Celestia for help. Or anyone else for that matter; this was her dragon, and she needed to kill it. Or die trying, at the very least.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure which outcome she preferred.
But the thought of Twilight motivated her onward, and Rarity knew that Twilight wouldn’t want Rarity to die for her sake. Though thinking of Twilight instantly brought to mind the horrifying idea of what must have happened to her in that library when the dragon attacked, and what happened to Spike for that matter.
Rarity had seen families—children and parent alike—screaming in agony and despair as their homes burned around them and they couldn’t escape, and Rarity was having a great deal of trouble not picturing Twilight and Spike in that manner.
It was curious though, wasn’t it? Rarity hadn’t thought to question it when she saw the burning library, but as she drew near the foothills she started to wonder, had anything else been destroyed? Rarity saw the dragon flying over the city, yet other than excreting some kind of seemingly harmless rainbow fluid, it didn’t do anything but fly over.
Why destroy the library?
Unless Twilight engaged the dragon before it could attack the town, and injured it badly enough for it to flee. Rarity wasn’t sure she liked the idea of Twilight dying a hero’s death, because she was certain the librarian she met those months ago would never have been so brave; and the idea that Rarity’s influence led to Twilight’s—
It didn’t matter now. Thinking about Twilight wouldn’t bring Rarity anything other than pain. She needed to focus on the task at hand.
Which became all too easy once she found it.
There it was, the dragon who had killed Rarity’s darling, lying in the snow at the foot of the mountains, clawing at the snow-covered rocky face, desperately scratching at it in an attempt to climb, or perhaps use it as leverage to become airborne again.
It didn’t matter. When Rarity got close enough to see the violet monstrosity, she could tell it was indeed injured— or at least weary, for despite its apparent lack of energy, and the ragged, coarse breathing she could hear from the beast, there were no visible wounds on its body.
Either way, it was weakened, and would be far easier to kill in this state. Perhaps Rarity wouldn’t have to die for her revenge after all.
Though she had no use for the thing during the Baltimare battle, Rarity was still armed with a bow and several arrows from Celestia’s armory, and she notched an arrow and took aim. The dragon may have been weakened, but it wasn’t harmless, and Rarity wasn’t about to rush into a battle against a dragon without caution.
Rarity fired the arrow, and it pierced straight through the scales on the dragon’s shoulder, tearing through the beast until it ripped a clean hole right through to its other side, Rarity letting out an unladylike cackle at the enchantment’s effectiveness.
The dragon didn’t roar or hiss as Rarity anticipated; it merely threw its claws on the ground and glared in the direction the arrow was fired. It stared right at Rarity with the conviction of a beast cornered, prepared to defend itself to the death, but Rarity was not intimidated and notched another arrow.
As Rarity prepared to fire, or to dodge the dragon’s counterattack, the dragon’s gaze softened. It suddenly looked less like a cornered animal and more like it was… pleading?
Perhaps it wants to beg for its life, Rarity thought with disgust and fired the arrow right the creature’s shimmering, violet eye.
The dragon caught the arrow in its claw and crushed it, though when it opened up its claw, Rarity could see the arrow’s enchantment had still torn apart the scales on the beast’s hand, leaving a bloody gash in their place.
The dragon looked at the wound for a moment before slamming its hand on the ground, and while Rarity at first presumed this to be a fighting stance, the dragon retching rainbow fluid with a horrid groan quelled that notion quickly.
Rarity fired another arrow, and as it soared through the sky—only to be swatted away by the dragon—Rarity tossed the bow aside and charged. She still had some defensive spells she could cast if things went south, but the dragon’s wounds—whatever they were—looked bad enough that Rarity could end this quickly, and she saw no reason not to do so.
She drew Celestia’s onyx blade and screamed an enraged battle cry, and as she moved to plunge the weapon into the demon’s forehead, she saw its eye leaking with what looked like tears. At the last second, Rarity instinctively flicked her hand, thrusting her sword deep into the back of the dragon’s hand, but something prevented her from activating the sword’s enchantment.
The dragon gave no roar or scream or shriek; it gave nothing more than a pitiful whimper as Rarity’s blade penetrated its soft flesh. The creature’s face was drawn into a frown, and its pleading violet eyes—each nearly half the size of Rarity’s body—locked onto her.
Rarity felt a twisting in her gut. Something wasn’t right here.
The dragon opened its mouth—just barely, not enough to breathe fire but enough to try and speak—but all that came out was more of that putrid-smelling liquid.
Of course it’s sad, Rarity argued in her mind, it’s about to die! That doesn’t mean I show this demon who destroyed my home any mercy!
The dragon blinked, and tears fell down its face. Rarity found herself staring directly into the dragon’s eyes, and now with the moonlight shining down on them, without the haze of bloodlust and vengeance clouding Rarity’s vision, she was able to get a good look at the wounded beast for everything it was.
It looked familiar.
The lavender scales, the indigo mane, the violet eyes; they were all too familiar.
“No,” Rarity whispered to herself, retracting her sword and stumbling away from the creature.
She froze for half a second, stunned by the farcical scenario her mind was beginning to conjure, and once she realized she had paused, she jumped away from the monster, counting herself lucky that it didn’t kill her as soon as she was vulnerable.
But then she noticed; the dragon wasn’t fighting back.
Rarity shot it with two arrows, fired a third, and stabbed it with a sword. Yet it just sat there, staring at her. She wondered what it was thinking, then considered herself crazy for even entertaining such a ridiculous notion; it was a dragon, it was thinking about how to kill her… right?
Then why wasn’t it doing anything?
Rarity pooled magic in her horn—enough for a makeshift teleportation spell if this plan went awry—and slowly walked toward the dragon, sword drawn. She raised her weapon to the beast’s face and stabbed it right in the crease below its eye, blood spurting from the injury.
The dragon winced, gritted its teeth, and whimpered. It tried to open its mouth again, but only colorful vomit came out yet again.
And a faint, guttural noise, that Rarity almost swore sounded like the dragon was saying her name.
“NO!” Rarity shrieked, pulling the onyx blade from Tw—the dragon’s eye and stabbing it through the bridge of its nose, and again in the cheek, and again just below its eye, then just above.
She kept stabbing the sword into the damn creature’s face, over and over, until blood covered nearly every inch of the right side of its face, and not once—not a single goddamn time—did the dragon react with anything more threatening than a pained, pitiful, tearful whimper.
Rarity threw her bloodied sword onto the ground and backed away. Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself to let her guard down, but what did it matter? She would be dense to not realize what was going on here, to think that this dragon would attack her now.
“Why aren’t you fighting back?” Rarity said coldly, not expecting any answer.
She already knew the answer. She knew why the dragon looked so miserable, so beat up and drained. It had magic exhaustion.
Rarity put her hand across her face. She still couldn’t accept what was rapidly becoming clear. How could she? How could she face the idea that everything she had done for the last several months— everything she thought she knew about the best thing to ever happen to her— was a complete lie?
“Stop!”
Rarity nearly felt like throwing up when she heard Spike’s hoarse, desperate voice. She turned her head to see him running through the snow toward Rarity, but he passed right by her and, before Rarity could stop him, ran to the dragon and put his hands on its muzzle.
“Rarity! Please, stop!” Spike said, fighting through tears to string together strained sentences. “It’s Twilight! You’re hurting Twilight! See?!”
Spike held out a tiny doll, one that Rarity had seen countless times. It was a dragon doll, Spike slept with the thing and claimed it to be his protector. Rarity always found it odd, even a little morbid, that Spike thought a dragon would protect him, but now she was seeing the doll in a much different light.
Because it was exactly identical to the bloodied dragon lying before her.
Rarity said nothing; did nothing. She simply stood and stared in complete silence, her face an icy mask that betrayed nothing that she was feeling. How could it, when she couldn’t feel anything?
“Please, Twilight,” Spike begged, pushing his hands into his mo—into the dragon’s bloody wounds, “you’ve gotta get up! You’ve gotta tell Rarity that it’s just you, that she doesn’t have to be afraid of you!”
“Afraid?” Rarity wanted to laugh, but there was certainly no humor to be found in Spike’s terrified face. “Why would I fear a dragon that can’t even defend itself?”
Rarity grabbed the onyx blade from the ground in her magic, gripping it tightly in her hand as she slowly marched toward the injured dragon.
“Rarity, no!” Spike said, trying to cover the dragon with his tiny body. “You can’t do this! It’s Twilight! Why would you wanna hurt Twilight!?”
“Move out of the way,” Rarity said flatly, slinging the sword across her shoulder, “I have to complete my mission, and slay this dragon.”
“No! I won’t let you!” Spike yelled, and he put up his tiny fists.
Rarity looked down at the bloodied face of a half-dead dragon and the tiny pegasus child who was willing to fight a Slayer to the death in order to defend her.
She couldn’t look at Spike without thinking about the times she spent eating ice cream with him, or when she first comforted him after he got jealous, or how he always wanted to impress her but got too embarrassed every time, or the book readings he put on with Rainbow in the library.
And she couldn’t look at the dragon without thinking… of how everything she thought she knew was wrong, and how she wished that her life really had been burned away with that damn library, because what the hell was she supposed to do NOW!?
The dragon grabbed Spike in its clutches, but he didn’t appear worried. Rarity flinched and readied her sword, but a gust of wind from the dragon’s wings disoriented her, and once she had gotten back her bearings, the dragon was airborne.
Rarity grabbed her bow with her magic and pulled it over to her, firing an arrow into the night sky at the dragon, but only managing to graze its tail. By the time she fired a second arrow, the beast and Spike had disappeared behind the mountains.
Rarity fell to her knees, Celestia’s sword falling out of her hand into the snow. She stared blankly into the mountain’s face, unable to move or to think or to do… anything.
As she sat on her knees in the snowy foothills surrounding Canterlot, Rarity didn’t hear the pony frantically calling out to her until she was right in front of Rarity’s face, kneeling before Rarity’s with her hands on Rarity’s shoulders.
“Rarity! Rarity, answer me!” Rainbow Dash yelled, and Rarity forced herself to snap to attention.
“Rainbow Dash?” she said weakly. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw smoke coming from the Moon District,” Rainbow said, looking and sounding incredibly frazzled, “I had a bad feeling and went to check up on the library, and it was—”
“Gone,” Rarity said coldly. “Yes, I know. I saw it.”
“What the hell happened?!” Rainbow screamed, roughly helping Rarity get back to her hooves.
Rarity walked away from Rainbow, barely processing her question. What had happened, indeed.
“Rarity?” Rainbow’s voice softened, but not out of concern or gentleness; Rarity could hear a simmering panic in her partner’s whisper. “What happened to the library?” Rainbow’s voice cracked, and Rarity blinked away the stinging tears forming in her eyes. “Did Twilight—”
“She’s alive,” Rarity said distantly, and she had no idea why. When Rarity had found out the truth, the first thing that crossed her mind was that she wished Twilight really had been killed in that library, yet here she was giving Rainbow a glimmer of false hope.
“That’s—that’s great!” Rainbow ran up to Rarity and clapped her on Rarity’s shoulders from behind. “That’s awesome!” Rainbow gasped. “But wait, she’s probably in danger, right? We gotta help her!”
“No.”
That was Rarity’s only response; a cold, bitter, no.
“What?” Rainbow hissed.
Rarity said nothing. She didn’t turn back to look at her friend, see the anger that she knew was in Rainbow’s eyes.
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Rainbow asked, her tone a mix of incredulity and fury. “Where is she, Rarity? What happened to her?”
Rarity said nothing.
“She needs our help,” Rainbow insisted, “doesn’t she? What about Spike? Where is he?”
…
“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash shoved Rarity, and now Rarity reacted, turning on her hooves and stomping up to Rainbow’s face, giving her a glare that would put a dragon’s to shame, but Rainbow didn’t budge. “Why the hell are you keeping this from me!? Twilight and Spike are my friends, and you’re supposed to be my partner! What the hell gives?!”
Rarity glared, still unable to conjure a single word to respond with, and Rainbow glared back, unwilling to take Rarity’s silence as an answer any longer.
Rarity took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She took a few steps away from Rainbow Dash, holding up a finger to signal that she would speak to Rainbow in just one moment, once she had collected her thoughts.
“You’re right, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said weakly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m being a mite selfish, aren’t I?”
This time Rainbow was the one that was silent, and Rarity looked back to see her crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks, which brought a smile to Rarity’s face; that gesture meant that Rarity was correct, and Rainbow didn’t want to say it. Rarity appreciated her friend’s rare moment of tact.
“Did you see the dragon?” Rarity asked the first question, the most important one that needed answering. “The one that burned down the library?”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow said hesitantly. “I saw it flying away from here,” Rainbow pointed to the mountains the dragon disappeared behind, “but I couldn’t see it too well, and I was kinda hoping it wasn’t what I thought. It really was another dragon, huh?”
“I caught it, as it was flying away from the library,” Rarity explained, painfully dragging the memories of everything that had just transpired out and into the open; if she was going to tell Rainbow the story, Rainbow deserved to know everything. “I tracked it here, though it was a simple matter since the dragon was badly ill.”
“Ill?” Rainbow cocked her head. “What do you mean? I didn’t even know dragons could get sick.”
Rarity shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.
“It had magic exhaustion,” she explained, “it was in no position to fight when I approached it.”
“Funny,” Rainbow scoffed, “I don’t see its body anywhere.”
“It didn’t fight back,” Rarity ignored Rainbow’s comment, and she grabbed the onyx blade—still coated in the dragon’s blood—with her magic, hovering it in front of her, “even as I stabbed it, over and over again, it didn’t fight back. It didn’t even try.”
“Because it was sick?” Rainbow put her hands on her hips and frowned, creasing her brow. “That doesn’t make any sense. I tell ya, if it was my life on the line, doesn’t matter how sick or shitty I felt, I’d fight tooth and nail no matter what!”
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Rarity threw her sword to the ground, and she could see the pensive glare in Rainbow’s eyes that told her she needed to reach her point quickly. “It doesn’t make any sense, that it didn’t fight back.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said curtly, “and it makes even less sense that you couldn’t kill it. What happened? You didn’t let it go just cuz it begged, did you?”
Rarity wanted to be angry at that comment, to make some smart remark about Rainbow’s own shortcomings in reply, but she buried that urge. It wouldn’t be right to throw her vitriol at Rainbow, and what did it matter anyway?
“It couldn’t beg,” Rarity shrugged, “it couldn’t speak. Every time it tried, it—” Rarity recalled the groan it made that sounded distinctly like her own name, and she shuddered at the implications. She cleared her throat. “Someone stopped me, from killing the dragon.”
“Who?”
“Spike,” Rarity said, and she couldn’t bear the look of confusion on Rainbow’s face that quickly turned to horror.
“That little idiot!” Rainbow said desperately. “Doesn’t he know dragons are dangerous!? I know he has that doll and everything—”
“Funny how much that doll looks like Twilight,” Rarity interjected, “isn’t it?”
“What?” Rainbow balked. “What does that have to—”
Rarity stared at Rainbow—stared through her—and let the realization slowly dawn on her.
The dragon’s magic exhaustion, its unwillingness to fight back, Spike trying to save it, and Twilight’s similarity to Spike’s doll; enough clues for anyone to put them together and realize the grisly truth.
Rainbow said nothing as her face changed from confusion, to recognition, flickered briefly with horror and then rage, before finally settling on an icy, bitter expression.
Rarity paced back and forth, more than willing to allow Rainbow all the time she needed to process this. Rarity hadn’t gotten any time at all to process any of it, and oh how she wished she did. But then, what would have changed? All the time in the world couldn’t have eased this ache in her heart.
As Rainbow processed and Rarity paced, Rarity went over everything in her mind once more.
Where had she gone wrong? Could she have slayed the dragon if she was quicker, stronger, sturdier? Or did she simply not want to?
Of course she wanted to, it was her mission to slay dragons, and dear stars, she certainly hated them enough. Yet, when a weakened and bloodied one was sitting right in front of her, she did nothing. She couldn’t bring herself to deal a killing blow.
She stabbed it with the onyx blade, a weapon she had seen was quite proficient at killing dragons earlier that same evening, yet she chose not to activate its enchantment.
Had she done the right thing?
She thought about the first dragon she’d slain, remembered the horrified townsfolk; she thought about Baltimare, and how she didn’t hesitate to slay that dragon.
So why was her gut turning inside out? Why now?
Why did that damned monster still hold onto a piece of her heart?
Rainbow let out a quivering sigh, after what felt like days of waiting. Rarity was eager to hear what she had to say, and for the blessed reprieve from her own internal torture session.
“What the fuck.”
Rarity wanted to laugh at that, and even cracked a slight smirk, but Rainbow’s face held no humor. She was angry; furious even.
“I can’t believe this,” Rainbow whispered, and even though she knew Rainbow was no dragon, Rarity could swear fire was ready to pour from her mouth. “Can’t believe there’s been a damn dragon in Canterlot this whole time. Right under our damn noses.
“She hates Slayers, her son looooves dragons,” Rainbow hissed, “why didn’t we ever put it together!? What is wrong with us!? What the hell’s her problem!? Thinking she can just waltz into our damn city like it’s no big deal, just hide out wherever she damn well pleases!?
“And what about her son, anyway!? I guess he’s not in any goddamn danger, is he!? He’s probably totally safe with that goddamn monster, RIGHT!?”
“Yeah,” Rarity shrugged. Nothing else to say.
Rainbow screamed—shrieked—into the night sky, picking up Rarity’s bow and throwing it at the mountainside. If there were loose rocks or bricks laying around, Rarity was sure Rainbow would be throwing them too.
“You raise an interesting point though,” Rarity said, Rainbow turning around and staring through Rarity with utterly exhausted, almost lifeless, eyes. “Why didn’t it ever do anything? It didn’t interact with the other people of Canterlot unless they came into the library, never once acted anything less than friendly toward you or me or the others. Why?”
“Who cares?” Rainbow spat. “What does it matter now?” Rainbow sighed bitterly and walked slowly back toward Canterlot. “All we need to do now is tell Queen Celestia about this garbage, and hope she doesn’t have us expelled from the Slayers for being so damn incompetent.”
“No,” Rarity said bluntly, and Rainbow stopped in her tracks. The two mares looked at each other cautiously, and Rarity spoke first. “We’re not telling her anything.”
Rainbow blinked. Her eyes narrowed, and her scowl hardened.
“Why.”
It wasn’t phrased as a question, and Rarity had no idea how to respond.
“You can’t—” Rainbow cut herself off with a bitter chuckle, affecting a dangerously frantic half-smile at Rarity. “You’re not gonna cover for that thing, are you? You can’t honestly think that it’s good—”
“I still have nightmares, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snarled, stomping toward Rainbow and forcing her to step back and recoil. “What the hell do you think this thing is for-” Rarity clawed at her dragon fang necklace “-if not to remind me, every damn day, what those things are capable of!? What happens when we screw up—when I screw up!?”
“Then WHY!?” Rainbow shouted frantically. “Why the hell aren’t you gonna tell Celestia!?”
“I don’t know!” Rarity screamed, tears falling down her face.
“You don’t know!?” Rainbow scoffed. “That’s it?!”
“I don’t know,” Rarity walked away from Rainbow again, pacing back and forth and desperately running her hands through her mane in a vain effort to calm herself, or collect her thoughts, or do anything other than panic.
“Rainbow, Rainbow,” Rarity muttered frantically, “it didn’t do anything. Not once, not once did it ever try to— to do anything, to hurt anyone!”
“And?” Rainbow sneered.
“Why?” Rarity asked desperately, her hands falling at her sides.
And again, it was Rainbow’s turn to go silent. Her lip quivered, like she was thinking to say something, but couldn’t bring herself to. Rarity could see the gears turning in Rainbow’s eyes, and she knew her partner could come up with no answer.
Rainbow’s sigh was heavier than all the weapons in Celestia’s armory as she looked up to the night sky, maybe begging the stars to give her some answer. But there were no answers, because there was no information.
“So where do we go from here?” Rainbow asked, her gaze still fixed toward the sky. Rarity allowed herself a slight smirk, seeing through Rainbow’s posturing to the real purpose of her gesture; Rainbow still trusted her partner’s judgment, and Rarity was determined not to betray that trust.
“Honestly?” Rarity gave a strained chuckle, releasing the tension that had been building in her body for hours until she was about ready to collapse. “We need to track down that dragon. Whether we kill it, or talk to it, that can come later. But we can’t just let it go.”
“I wanna know why,” Rainbow grumbled.
“So do I,” Rarity whimpered.
Rarity gathered her equipment with her magic and walked past Rainbow, giving her partner a firm clap on the shoulder.
“But first thing’s first, darling. You and I need to get some damn sleep.”
Applejack and Pinkie Pie got off their train at the Canterlot station in the wee hours of the morning—well, calling it ‘morning’ was being charitable since you could only see the first glimmer of dawn on the horizon if you really squinted and looked for it, but still.
Pinkie Pie jumped onto the platform with open arms, only to cross them and puff up her cheeks, and Applejack looked around in confusion when they saw the station was completely empty.
“What gives?” Pinkie huffed. “Where’re all our friends?”
“It’s pretty dang early, Pinkie,” Applejack said, giving Pinkie’s ear a gentle scratch. “Or maybe it’s late? I kinda can’t tell myself anymore. Either way, I bet everypony’s still in bed.”
Pinkie sighed in acceptance, and while Applejack’s theory was sound enough, something still didn’t feel right to her.
“But hey,” Applejack said, “you wanna go swing by the library anyway? See if they’re open already?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered and ran off toward the library, Applejack chuckling as she tried to keep up with Pinkie’s frantic pace.
Pinkie’s excited chatter as she recounted all the things she wanted to do with and tell Twilight and Spike and the others filled Applejack’s ears even as Pinkie raced ahead of her and left Applejack in the dust, only to suddenly go conspicuously quiet.
Applejack quickened her pace, knowing that a suddenly silent Pinkie never meant good news, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the withered, burnt out tree that used to house the Golden Oaks Library.
Pinkie stared in horror, her hands over her mouth, and Applejack didn’t even know what to say or do, or even how to feel. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
And then something else caught her eye; a white pony kneeling in the snow in front of the library.
“Rarity!” Pinkie screamed, and Rarity listlessly turned her head toward the two ponies as Pinkie rushed toward her, embracing her in a scared hug.
“What happened here?” Applejack asked tensely, looking around to watch for any other signs of danger. It looked to her like the library had been burned for a while, so whatever caused it probably happened yesterday or last night, but everything about this situation was fishy and Applejack wasn’t taking chances with her friends’ safety.
“The library burned down,” Rarity replied unhelpfully.
“Where’re Twilight and Spike?!” Pinkie asked desperately, shaking Rarity by the shoulders. “C’mon, Rarity! Tell us what happened!”
“Are they dead?” Applejack asked bluntly, and Pinkie gasped.
“Applejack!” Pinkie scolded, standing up in front of Rarity and pointing an accusing finger at Applejack, tears wetting her eyes. “You can’t just—how can you even say that!?”
“They’re alive,” Rarity said flatly.
Pinkie fell to the ground, hand on her heart, and breathed a sigh of relief, but Rarity’s tone only made Applejack more suspicious.
“Where are they?” Applejack asked, eyeing Rarity skeptically.
“I don’t know,” Rarity gave a listless shrug, staring off into space.
“Then how do you know they’re alive?” Applejack crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow, wishing Rarity would start making sense already.
“Because I saw them fly off.”
Pinkie Pie inhaled sharply and backed up toward the library, looking pale as a sheet, but Applejack couldn’t really pay her any mind right now.
“They ‘flew off’?” Applejack asked, reaching the end of her rope with Rarity’s vague and unhelpful answers. “What the hell does that mean, Rarity?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Applejack,” Rarity threw up her arms and affected a bitter half-smile, “other than that our friendly librarian has been a dragon hiding in pony’s skin this entire time.”
Ugly pause.
Applejack put a hand over her brow, inhaling deeply. She let go of her breath and simply asked, “What?”
Rarity explained what happened; how she saw the dragon on the train, chased it into the mountains, how she fought it and it refused to fight back, and how Spike stopped Rarity from killing it, all while holding a doll that was a perfect likeness of the dragon.
Rarity’s story was utterly crazy, but there wasn’t a hint of irony or humor or dishonesty in Rarity’s telling of it. Applejack had no choice but to confront, and accept, the truth; her friend wasn’t real, it was a monster pretending to be a pony.
Except, nothing about that story made any sense.
“I have… so many questions,” Applejack groaned, rubbing her temples.
“Join the club,” Rarity chuckled bitterly, struggling to her hooves.
“Look,” Applejack put her hand firmly on Rarity’s shoulder, “first thing’s first; does Rainbow know about all this?”
“She does,” Rarity nodded slowly. “She found me right after Twil—er, the dragon left, and I told her everything that happened.”
“Okay,” Applejack took a deep breath. “Then first we gotta go get her, then the four of us can work together to figure out a plan to find her.”
“And do what?” Rarity sneered.
“Dunno,” Applejack shrugged and put her hands in her pockets. “We’ll figure it out one step at a time. I know that’s not ideal, but one step’s better’n none, right?”
“I guess,” Rarity sighed, “but I have no idea where she— or it— or whatever— would have gone.”
“Um,” Pinkie Pie gulped, “I think I know.”
There was another ugly pause as Rarity and Applejack slowly turned toward Pinkie, and Applejack got a bad feeling in her gut. How in the hell would Pinkie—
Welp, only way to find out was to just ask.
“Pinkie,” Applejack said cautiously, “how would you know where Twilight’s goin’?”
“Please promise you won’t get mad at me,” Pinkie backed up, arms held defensively in front of her, and it killed Applejack that Pinkie thought that either her or Rarity would turn on her.
“Pinkie Pie, darling,” Rarity said sweetly and approached Pinkie, who took another step back, so Rarity stopped.
Rarity got on one knee in front of Pinkie and bowed her head. “Nopony has any reason to be mad at you, sweetheart, and at the end of the day, we are friends, and we love you, no matter what. Right, Applejack?”
Applejack nodded and forced a delicate smile.
“I already knew what Twilight was,” Pinkie said, and her breathing got faster and faster as tears rolled down her eyes, “and I didn’t tell anypony.”
“For how long?” Rarity asked, biting her lip.
“Since we came back from the Everfree Forest,” Pinkie admitted, running her hands repetitively through a big knot of her hair.
“Okay,” Rarity breathed deeply and stood up, and she started pacing back and forth.
“How come you never told anypony?” Applejack was ashamed to admit it, but her first instinct was to get mad.
But after a second’s thought, Applejack realized she was being ridiculous. Pinkie was a sweetheart, but more than that, she had a good head on her shoulders. Applejack would be a darn fool to think that Pinkie would hide something this huge and dangerous without a good reason.
“I-I—I dunno,” Pinkie was trembling, and Applejack slowly approached her and gave her a hug, letting Pinkie wrap her arms around Applejack’s gut. “I dunno, I just didn’t wanna believe it was real. I wanted to just keep on thinking she was just Twilight Sparkle, the cute librarian, and my friend. I didn’t wanna think she was a monster.”
“Well she is,” Rarity hissed, and Applejack held Pinkie tighter as Pinkie pressed her muzzle into Applejack’s gut and wept. “And we need to find her.”
“You’re not gonna kill her,” Pinkie pleaded at Rarity as her tears gushed down her face like an exploded faucet, “are you?”
“What else can I do?” Rarity snapped.
“We need to talk to her,” Applejack said flatly.
Rarity choked and let out a bitter cackle. “Are you serious, Applejack?!”
“Yeah, I’m serious,” Applejack walked toward Rarity, but then paused. She held her hand out to Pinkie, who clutched it gently. “Pinkie Pie? Can you go grab Rainbow Dash for us? Knowin’ her, she’s probably awake at this hour, but if she ain’t, just come get me and I’ll get her up, okay?”
“Okay,” Pinkie said weakly and nodded. Applejack knelt and kissed Pinkie’s hand, getting a giggle out of her, and Pinkie ran off.
With Pinkie headed to Rainbow’s place, Applejack could focus all her attention on Rarity, and it was only now that Applejack could see the state Rarity was in. Bags under her eyes, which were red from crying, her mane was frazzled and her clothes looked awful; if Rarity had even slept at all since last Applejack saw her, it didn’t help any.
“Have you slept?” Applejack asked concernedly, and Rarity just gave a hissing cackle. Applejack wanted to put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder, but was half-convinced Rarity would bite her if she got too close.
“Three hours?” Rarity rolled her eyes, a manic half-smile on her face. “I think? Honestly, I feel like I’ve been awake for at least thirty-six hours, but that definitely isn’t right.”
Rarity paced away from Applejack, and while Applejack didn’t try to walk with her, she was prepared to chase Rarity down and keep her from doing anything stupid, should it come to that.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Rarity spat, and Applejack braced herself as venom dripped from Rarity’s every word. “’There’s no life outside the Hunt’,” Rarity said in a mocking impression of Celestia’s voice, “that’s what they always say, isn’t it?
“I suppose I just brought this on myself! This is what I get, for trying to have a life outside it all! This is what becomes me, for trying to be happy!”
“Rarity—”
“Applejack!” Rarity barked, and Applejack took a flinching step back, her eyes going wide. Rarity let out another cackle, that soon turned into a hacking, laughing fit.
“Applejack! I had one thing going for me in my life! One thing I got out of bed for in the morning, and now it’s been ripped away from—hell, it wasn’t even real in the first place!” Rarity shrieked, and clutched her face, digging her nails so deep into her brow that Applejack was afraid she might claw her own eyes out.
“We won’t know for sure,” Applejack said cautiously, taking a few measured steps toward Rarity, “’til we talk to Twilight.”
“Are you serious right now?” Rarity said, her tone laced with incredulity and disgust. “Since when did you become the goddamn dragon apologist?”
“Since I met Twilight,” Applejack answered firmly, crossing her arms. “Now I ain’t about to trust a damn dragon— not on my life—but you gotta admit there’s way too many things about this story that just don’t add up, Rarity!”
Now it was Applejack’s turn to pace as the gears in her head spun and she tried to unravel all the nonsense articles of this entire tale.
“Why didn’t it fight back?” Applejack asked, and Rarity didn’t respond, which was fine; Applejack wasn’t expecting her to. “Why did it just let you stab it half to death? And don’t try and tell me it was cuz of that magic exhaustion! It had enough steam left to fly away, and you said yourself that you left yourself open! It could’ve killed you, but it didn’t even try! And why the hay is that, Rarity?!”
“I don’t know,” Rarity uttered monotonously, and Applejack rolled her eyes with a frustrated groan.
“And what about Spike?” Applejack went on. “He knew all along, slept with a damn doll in his ma’s likeness! What, are you gonna tell me he’s a dragon too?”
“No, he can’t be,” Rarity shook her head. “If he was also in disguise, he’d have to be an even better mage than Twilight to pull off such a convincing facsimile of a child. Age-reducing spells are virtually non-existent, and you know how much magic a semi-permanent transformation spell uses.
“Obviously it’s possible that he could be some kind of prodigy, but I sincerely doubt it, because—”
“Cuz if he was a dragon,” Applejack sighed, “whether he really was a child or not, he would’ve transformed when you threatened his ma—”
“—instead of just raising his tiny little fists at me, yes.”
“So why’d Twilight wait this long before transformin’?” Applejack groaned, her brain coming apart at the seams trying to make sense of this nightmare.
“I don’t think she transformed on purpose,” Rarity said.
“Well that makes even less sense!” Applejack shouted, kicking the snow in frustration. “Why go through all the trouble of infiltratin’ a city—right next to Hunter’s Haven, no less—without doin’ anything to cause trouble! She never even interacted with the townsfolk, never tried to make friends with anypony but us, the ones who went out of our way to make friends with her! Why?!”
Rarity just shrugged.
Applejack put her hand over her face and took a deep breath. There was one more thing clawing at her mind, but she was hesitant to mention it, because it somehow made less sense than everything else.
“And what about Princess Luna?”
“I’m sorry?” Rarity asked, jolting her head up and staring Applejack down. “What do you mean?”
“You remember after Twi came back from the Everfree?” Applejack asked, and Rarity nodded slowly. “Remember, you came to the station with Princess Luna.”
“She shook Twilight’s hand!” Rarity gasped, her hand going over her mouth. “She’s an alicorn! Why didn’t she see through Twilight’s disguise?”
“That’s what I’m wonderin’,” Applejack said. “And I ain’t sure what makes more sense; that she couldn’t see through Twilight, or that she did see through her, and didn’t do nothin’. Unless…” Applejack turned to the ashen remains of the library. “Do you think Luna came here? Got into a fight with Twi, and that’s what forced her to transform?”
“No,” Rarity shook her head. “When I found that dragon, it was completely uninjured. I don’t believe she could have gotten out of a fight with Luna alive, much less without being wounded, especially with her magic exhaustion.”
“Right,” Applejack nodded, still looking at the library. She didn’t know Luna well, but she’d seen the Princess in action and she had to agree with Rarity on this one. “So why didn’t Luna say nothin’? Why didn’t she say anything right then, let alone not do a single thing in the weeks afterward?”
“I don’t know,” Rarity shrugged again. Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but Rarity cut her off with a pointed glare. “And don’t you suggest that Luna’s a dragon too! You and I both know damn well that Celestia would never let a dragon survive under her watch!”
Applejack shut her mouth and shrugged.
“Yeah, I know,” Applejack mumbled. “Luna’s a good gal.”
“It is a puzzle,” Rarity sighed.
“Which is why I think we oughta find out the truth,” Applejack finally felt comfortable walking up to Rarity, and offered her hand, “together. I ain’t abandonin’ my friends when they need me, and right now that means you, but honestly, it might even mean Twilight too.”
“Do you genuinely think,” Rarity lifted her hand but didn’t bring it quite up to Applejack’s, “that we could still be friends with that monster? Even after everything that’s happened?”
“I dunno,” Applejack half-shrugged, “but I ain’t gonna give up ‘til I know for damn sure either way. So you with me?”
“Yes, darling,” Rarity grasped Applejack’s hand, and Applejack pulled her in for a hug that, judging by Rarity’s quiet sobbing, Applejack figured she sorely needed. “Absolutely.”
Pinkie slammed her fist into Rainbow Dash’s door, knocking frantically even as no answer came. She kept knocking, harder and faster, until she fell to her knees, her fist sliding down the door as she banged her head against it, before collapsing onto Rainbow’s porch and just all-out weeping.
Between running to the library, then everything that happened with Rarity, then running to Rainbow’s house, there were plenty of things to distract Pinkie from the reality of her situation. But as she stood there, with nothing to do but wait and see if Rainbow would respond, the thoughts crept up on her.
Twilight really was a dragon.
Pinkie knew that, she already knew it, but she didn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t possibly bring herself to believe that one of her best friends was a monster, was like that horrible beast that haunted Pinkie’s nightmares, the one that killed her granny and destroyed her village.
But there was no escaping it now. Pinkie couldn’t hide from the truth anymore, and now she just had a big ol’ dollop of shame to go on top of it, wondering all the ways that maybe this horribleness could’ve been prevented if Pinkie had told sompony sooner.
Then again, who would she have told? Who could she have told that wouldn’t immediately try and take Twilight’s head? And for as long as Pinkie didn’t know for absolute sure that Twilight was what Pinkie thought she was, there was always a chance Pinkie could be wrong.
But she wasn’t. Twilight was a dragon, and there was nothing Pinkie could do about that.
Pinkie’s head jolted up as the door opened, and her cheeks burned up as Rainbow looked down at her, looking groggy. Pinkie felt sick in her stomach, thinking she had woken Rainbow up even though she knew how hard it was for Rainbow to get to sleep.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie croaked. It was the only thing she could think to say.
Rainbow dropped to her knees and just gave Pinkie a hug, and that set off the waterworks real fast. Pinkie grabbed onto Rainbow for dear life, just apologizing over and over, and Rainbow pet Pinkie’s mane.
“You don’t need to apologize, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow said softly. “Everything’s gonna be okay, somehow.”
“I saw the library,” Pinkie sniffled, “Rarity told us everything.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Rainbow sighed. “Sorry it took so long to answer the door, I had to get dressed and stuff.”
“It’s okay,” Pinkie said weakly. “It’s okay.” Pinkie took a deep breath and tore herself away from Rainbow, letting out an awkward, high-pitched giggle. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be blubbering all over you!”
“Nah, it’s cool,” Rainbow shrugged and gave a little half-smirk. “What’re friends for, right? Blubber all you need to, Pinkie Pie!”
“No, it’s fine,” Pinkie said, wiping her eyes. “We all have enough going on, y’know, without me putting all my gunk onto you too.”
“We do all have a lot going on,” Rainbow grumbled, “with all the hunting crap, and trying to make ends meet, and the dragon attack in Baltimare yesterday-” Pinkie hadn’t actually heard about that, and the mere mention sent such a chill up her spine that she was sure she was gonna throw up for a sec, but she made the mental note to ask someone for the details much, much later “-and now all this bullshit with Twilight, it’s like, enough already!”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said weakly, “so I don’t wanna burde—”
“You’re not a burden, Pinkie,” Rainbow said firmly, booping Pinkie’s nose, which got a little giggle out of her. “You’re my friend, and it’s when we all have a ton of shit to swim through that we need to help each other, to help carry the burdens for each other.
“Like, when you’re carrying something heavy, you don’t put all the weight on your back, that’ll kill ya! You gotta distribute it between your back, your legs, yours arms and shoulders. Wherever you can, just not all in one place!
“And I think emotional stuff is like that too. If you try to hold onto everything on your own, instead of letting your friends help you—I guess your friends are like the legs, and you’re like the back in this metaphor? Anyway—if you try to do everything on your own, it’ll kill ya. That’s the long and short of it, you get me?”
“I think so,” Pinkie gave a little laugh, and just knowing that Rainbow cared enough to say all those nice things made her feel really happy inside, which was a huge relief after this morning.
“Now then,” Rainbow groaned and got up to her hooves, “we gotta go find a dragon, yeah?”
“Yeah, but we’re not killing her!” Pinkie huffed.
“Honestly, Pinkie?” Rainbow said. “I dunno how I feel about that. I dunno what I wanna do about— about the dragon. But I do know that at the end of the day, I’m gonna follow Rarity’s gut. She’s my partner, and she was Twilight’s—” Rainbow took a deep breath and sighed. “I just think it’d be best to let Rarity decide.”
“We’re not killing her,” Pinkie repeated, puffing up her cheeks.
“I thought you were super scared of dragons?”
“I am!” Pinkie insisted, feeling her breath hitch just at the thought of Twilight turning into an awful monster like that. “But she’s our friend! Spike’s our friend! And I don’t wanna lose her!”
“Pinkie,” Rainbow groaned and rubbed the back of her neck, “I don’t think she was ever really—”
“Don’t say that!” Pinkie screamed, tears wetting her eyes even though she’d just gotten rid of them! “Do you really believe that?! Please, Rainbow, tell me honestly! Do you really believe that everything we had with Twilight was all just— all just some big lie?!”
Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I dunno.”
Not the answer Pinkie was looking for, and she felt herself deflate a little bit.
“But,” Rainbow added, giving Pinkie a little spark of hope that she was too scared to reach for, “I wanna find out the truth, the real truth, no matter what.
“There’s a buncha stuff that doesn’t add up, and I wanna know what’s going on.” Rainbow flashed a daring grin at Pinkie and held out her hand. “So what d’ya say? You wanna go with me? See if there’s still something left in the ashes of the library? Not literally, obviously, but y’know what I mean?”
“Great!” Rainbow grinned ear to ear and nodded her head confidently, though her smile quickly turned nervous. “Granted, I got no idea where to start. Rarity says she doesn’t know where Twilight might’ve gone.”
“I know where she went,” Pinkie said seriously.
“You do?” Rainbow cocked her head. “How?”
“Cuz there’s only one place a dragon like her could go, if she needed to go into hiding,” Pinkie took a deep breath, forcing herself to face the ugly truth one more time. “She’d go to another dragon.”
In a sheltered, snowy cave, hidden deep within the Everfree Forest, there rested… a noodle.
That’s what Fluttershy liked to think of herself as; the term ‘dragon’ didn’t feel right to her, since none of her kind liked her any more than the ponies did.
Well, at least until the queer little visitors to her wood came along, and now she almost felt like she could consider herself ‘friends’ with both a pony and a dragon. It was a surreal feeling to her, and one she wasn’t quite ready to accept.
The serpentine yellow dragon slithered out of her cave, her four paws digging into the snow and melting it with their touch. Once she was out of her cave and into the sun, she arched her back and spread her wings to their full glory, giving a contented sigh as she said ‘good morning’ to another beautiful day in her forest.
And yet, something didn’t feel quite right.
While there were a litany of small creatures around—birds, squirrels, spiders, raccoons, all sorts of things—none of them were basking in her morning reverence as they so often did. Fluttershy didn’t mind this, she always felt rather embarrassed when all the animals gave her their undivided attention, but she noticed them all looking in the same direction.
She felt it too, of course. There was someone in her forest, someone uninvited; or at least, that was her first assumption, but she chastised herself once she recognized the presence, for hadn’t she learned yet not to assume?
No, this presence had been invited, just not specifically. But Fluttershy did promise that Twilight Sparkle was welcome to return to her forest anytime. Fluttershy just hadn’t expected her so soon.
Though, while Fluttershy was not averse to having Twilight Sparkle return to her forest, she also saw no reason to greet the dragon either. She didn’t want to impose herself onto Twilight Sparkle, and while Fluttershy could admit—in her very deepest heart of hearts—that she wanted to be friends with Twilight Sparkle, she also didn’t entirely trust a dragon who hid amongst ponies like she was one of them.
So, Fluttershy elected to ignore Twilight Sparkle’s presence, and not concern herself either with the unknown presence who had come with her. If Twilight Sparkle wanted to talk to Fluttershy, she was certain that Twilight could find her.
That is, until she noticed something was off. First by the chattering of her animals friends, who spoke amongst each other, and even to Fluttershy, of a great bloodied beast falling into the forest. And then she smelled it, the putrid odor of fresh blood.
Fluttershy’s first instinct was to become angry, gritting her teeth and snarling at the rancid stench. If Twilight Sparkle had brought a battle to Fluttershy’s forest, then Twilight would wish whoever wounded her had finished the job.
But no, that wasn’t quite it, was it? Fluttershy sniffed at the air, and she felt the leaves, the snow, and the air inside her forest. The blood was only Twilight’s, and Fluttershy could tell that she was badly injured, and in great pain.
It didn’t matter then who Twilight Sparkle was or what relationship Fluttershy did or didn’t have with her; Fluttershy would never abandon an injured person in her forest.
She slunk through the trees, her elongated form making traversal through them— both on the ground and in their branches— a simple matter. It took no time at all to find the bloodied dragon lying in the red snow on a hill overlooking the forest.
What was curious however, was a tiny purple pegasus, no bigger than one of Fluttershy’s toes, pushing his little hands into the bloody gashes on the dragon’s face, as if he were prompting her to get up.
The little pegasus was screaming, but no creature was around to hear except for Fluttershy and her animals, and she wondered how he would react once he saw her approach.
It didn’t matter; Twilight Sparkle needed her help, and Fluttershy wasn’t about to turn her back.
Fluttershy jumped from a tree, and though her wings made for a gentle descent to the ground, as soon as she touched it the pegasus felt her presence, turning around with a shocked gasp and covering as much of his protectorate’s body as his tiny form was able to.
“Don’t come any closer!” the little creature shouted. “I’m warning you! I-I’ve got super powerful magic! I won’t hesit-t-tate to, t-to—”
“Don’t be afraid, little one,” Fluttershy said softly, kneeling to look the pony in the eye, forgoing the formality of transforming into one of his kind; he was not an enemy of Twilight Sparkle’s, Fluttershy knew that for certain, and he did not seem bothered by Twilight’s dragon form, so why should he be by Fluttershy’s? “I’m here to help. I’m a friend, of Twilight Sparkle.”
“Y-you are?” the little boy’s eyes, still shining with tears, held a glimmer of hope in them now. What had this poor child been through to look at Fluttershy with such a gaze? Fluttershy nodded, and the boy fell to his hands and knees, bowing his head into the cold snow. “Please help her! I don’t want her to die! Please!”
Fluttershy took another look at the bloodied dragon before her, lavender scales torn from her face, which was covered in a sea of blood, noxious rainbow fluid dripping from the poor girl’s mouth. But what struck Fluttershy the most was her size.
Fluttershy had an idea of what Twilight’s dragon form might be like, but seeing it for herself was another matter. While Fluttershy might have been taller if the two were standing on two legs next to each other, her tiny frame was dwarfed by Twilight Sparkle’s, and the magic aura, faint as it was due to what Fluttershy presumed to be exhaustion, made Fluttershy tremble.
She hadn’t seen it behind Twilight’s disguise, but Fluttershy got the distinct impression that Twilight could easily kill her if she wanted to, and Fluttershy wasn’t sure she wanted to know or deal with whatever could have hurt her like this.
But Twilight Sparkle came to the forest for help, and the forest would not deny her.
Fluttershy put her paw on Twilight’s brow, and instantly grimaced. Twilight was cold, and that was not good for a dragon. Fluttershy took a deep breath, and allowed the breath of the forest to flow through her, into her nose, and out through her paw as a pale green light that bathed the injuries of Twilight Sparkle.
“Is she gonna be okay?” the boy said hopefully, gently placing his hands onto Twilight Sparkle’s newly regenerated scales.
“I think so,” Fluttershy took another look at Twilight and frowned. Her injuries were still very bad, and while Fluttershy’s healing could probably patch her up, it couldn’t fix her. “But I need to take her back to my den,” before the boy could protest, Fluttershy smiled at him, “do you want to come?”
“Y-yes, please,” he said, bowing his head. “M-my name’s S-S-Spike, what’s y-yours?”
Fluttershy put her gentle wing around Spike, bathing him in her warmth that, judging from his trembling, he sorely needed.
“My name is Fluttershy,” she said calmly, “and I want you to know, that you are safe in my forest.”
The train headed from Canterlot to Ponyville brought with it four very frazzled ponies, and while none of whom were excited for the trip; especially not Rainbow Dash, who huddled in the baggage car, using bundled up bushels of hay as a fortress against the outside world.
When Pinkie Pie had told Rarity where they needed to go, that Twilight almost definitely was hiding out with Fluttershy—because the Spirit of the Everfree was also a dragon—Rarity was pissed.
“How many more goddamn dragons have I met, that have just been hiding under my nose this entire time!?”
Rarity’s scream of frustration and heartache echoed in Rainbow’s ears, even as she hid in the cargo car of the train, trying to be alone.
Cuz she didn’t wanna cry in front of anyone else.
She sat in a ball, in the corner, surrounded by boxes and crates and bags and a bunch of other crap, and as much as she didn’t want to, as hard as she tried not to, she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. She sniffled and bit her lip, cuz if she was gonna cry, she was gonna do it as quietly as possible so nopony would hear it.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to just cry and scream and dig her nails into her head, because this whole thing was just so messed up. She couldn’t stop thinking of the first time she met Twilight, that first night she wandered into the library and how she felt when she left, having made the coolest new friend.
Twilight was never anything but kind to her, but she was a dragon. Rainbow couldn’t wrap her head around it; dragons weren’t nice to ponies, they freaking ate them! But Twilight was never anything but nice, and Spike was never anything but cool.
Rainbow loved both of them so much, and it sucked to wonder if all that had been for nothing, cuz Twilight was dangerous. She wondered if it was even possible to just ignore all her training as a Slayer, to just pretend like everything was still the way she wanted it to be, but she knew it was impossible.
She couldn’t trust Twilight now, not after this.
So she cried. Head cradled in her hands, snot running down her nose and drool falling out of her mouth cuz she just couldn’t hold anything back.
“Rainbow Dash?”
And with the delightful sound of Applejack’s voice, Rainbow remembered that things could always find a way to get worse.
“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow looked up at Applejack and smiled weakly, “I was just tryna, like, get some space. Y’know what I mean? Clear my head a little bit.” She tried playing it cool, like her face wasn’t covered in snot, tears and spit.
“I hear ya,” Applejack smiled softly. “Mind if I sit next to ya? I could honestly use some space too, if you wouldn’t mind the company.”
Rainbow blinked away some tears and felt herself choke up. Rainbow looked and felt like wet garbage, yet Applejack didn’t mind—didn’t even seem to notice, or at least pretended not to. Rainbow nodded, and Applejack sat down beside her, and when Applejack put her arm around Rainbow’s shoulder, that’s when she started crying again.
She sniffed and choke and SNRRKed, trying not to look like such a loser in front of Applejack, but all Applejack did was pull Rainbow in closer and rub her arm. Rainbow had half a mind to ask Applejack what gave her the right to try and act so cool, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything, cuz she just couldn’t stop crying.
Applejack leaned her head against Rainbow’s, and Rainbow took the opportunity to bury herself in Applejack’s chest, Applejack putting both arms around her and holding her tight while Rainbow cried, Applejack never saying anything about Rainbow being a loser, or a wimp, or any of that stuff.
She just held her.
“I don’t know what to do,” Rainbow said between sobs. “I hate dragons—no, I’m freaking terrified of them, Applejack!” Rainbow grabbed onto Applejack’s shirt, and Applejack kissed Rainbow gently on the head, reminding her that Applejack was there, and that she was safe.
“I don’t wanna lose one of my best friends,” Rainbow said. “Everything sucks and I don’t know what to do!”
Applejack didn’t say anything, but she hummed. She had a nice melody, and listening to her made Rainbow feel warm. She held Rainbow tight in her big, buff arms, rocking her gently, and it made Rainbow feel safe.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Rainbow asked, and even she didn’t know why she did.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Applejack chuckled, tilting Rainbow’s chin up with her thumb and looking into Rainbow’s eyes with the brightest smile. “It’s cuz I love ya, sugarcube.”
Rainbow’s face twisted up as she tried to hold back more tears, but they came despite her efforts, and as her lip quivered she just nodded as much as she could, hoping that Applejack knew somehow that it meant Rainbow loved her too.
Judging from the tender kiss Applejack placed on Rainbow’s lips, she had a pretty good feeling that Applejack got the hint.
Applejack stayed with Rainbow for a while—couple of hours, she reckoned—as Rainbow wore herself out and fell asleep in Applejack’s arms. Applejack was kinda starting to get sore, and her legs were falling asleep, but she wasn’t gonna budge and risk disturbing Rainbow for anything less than a dang hurricane.
Rainbow’s face was a mess of fluids, ruffled fur, dirt, and even some blood. But Applejack just thought she was beautiful all the same, and the peaceful smile on Rainbow’s face when she finally fell asleep, after god knows how many hours of being awake, was like heaven to Applejack.
Legs asleep and all, there was no place Applejack’d rather be than right there, taking care of her girl.
Something caught Applejack’s attention out the corner of her eye, and she almost laughed out loud when she saw Pinkie Pie’s tiny little face poking out from behind a crate, and she put her finger to her lips to signal Pinkie to be quiet.
“Hey, Applejack,” Pinkie whispered, cozying up next to Applejack, “how’s everything going?”
“Could be worse,” Applejack said, idly stroking Rainbow’s mane and delighting in her happy, sleepy purr. “What’re you up to, Pinkie? Where’s Rarity?”
“She wanted to be alone,” Pinkie said somberly, “I didn’t, so I came to find you.”
“I feel ya,” Applejack put her spare arm around Pinkie, who hummed contentedly as she got comfy right up next to Applejack. “If there’s anything you need, Pinkie, just tell me, okay?”
“I could say the same thing to you, Applejack,” Pinkie said, her head resting against Applejack’s side and making the whole train feel warmer and cozier just by being around. “You’re always trying to be strong for everpony, and take care of everypony, and that’s great! But you already took care of Rainbow, and Rarity. Let me take care of you, okay?”
“Um,” Applejack bit her lip. It didn’t quite feel right burdening anyone else with her troubles, but if Pinkie or Rarity or anypony else told her that, she’d tell ‘em off right quick, and it wasn’t even a wee bit fair to hold herself to a lower standard than she holds her friends.
“Alright, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed, “what’d you have in mind?”
“Hmmmmm,” Pinkie hummed thoughtfully, grinning like a cat and tapping her chin, and Applejack couldn’t help but laugh, “how ‘bout… I tell you a story?”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack smiled. “What kinda story?”
“Story of a super brave and amazing pony!” Pinkie whispered, so as not to wake Rainbow with her enthusiasm. “Her name is… Lemon… john. Lemonjohn!”
Applejack grinned ear to ear and chuckled. “Tell me ‘bout Lemonjohn, Pinkie Pie.”
“Okay, I’m gonna,” Pinkie bit her lip to hold back an excited giggle. “Once upon a time, there was a super cute and precious pony.”
“Is that Lemonjohn?” Applejack asked curiously, Pinkie’s story already taking a much different turn than Applejack expected.
“No, silly,” Pinkie scoffed. “This pony was an innocent damsel in distress type, not like super cool Lemonjohn at all. Her name was… Periwinkle Poundcake.”
“I like her already,” Applejack smiled, rubbing Pinkie’s arm, “she sounds sweet.”
“Cuz her name is a sweet thing, I get it,” Pinkie winked, and Applejack nodded with a big grin; definitely not what she meant, but she wasn’t gonna say no to Pinkie’s smile. “Anyhoo, Periwinkle Poundcake lived in a little village with her grand… aunt, but a vicious dra—uh, a monster of some kind, it’s ambiguous, attacked her village!”
Pinkie gasped dramatically and tried to do her best impression of scared villagers, “Oh no, not an ambiguous monster! Oh dear!
“Anyhoo again, the monster was going berserk and ransacking the town, but Lemonjohn didn’t hesitate to jump into the fray, fighting the beast off with her partner, uh, Diamondbutt, and saving villagers left and right!”
That wasn’t how Applejack remembered it; she recalled a lot more screams of terror and pleas for help that went unanswered, and she was starting to wonder if Pinkie’s quote-unquote ‘fictional’ story was such a good idea.
“Periwinkle Poundcake’s house was attacked by the monster,” Pinkie continued, “and it collapsed on top of her. She thought for sure the end was coming, and that her frantic pleas wouldn’t be heard by anypony, but she still cried for help until her voice was sore. And then—”
Pinkie bit her thumbnail and tears welled up in her eyes. She looked up at Applejack and smiled so brightly and so sweetly, and Applejack smiled back and rubbed her arm, delighting in Pinkie nuzzling her head against Applejack’s side.
“Somepony came to help Periwinkle,” Pinkie said, “moved the burning logs and crushed beams that fell on top of her, pushed all the rubble and ruin aside, and finally stood over her, the moonlight pouring down on her like heaven’s light, and she offered Periwinkle her hand.
“’I’m Lemonjohn’, the pony said, ‘and I’m gonna take care of you. Everything’s gonna be okay.’ Periwinkle took Lemonjohn’s hand, and even though she was still super hurt from the attack and from the house collapsing on her, as Lemonjohn picked her up and carried her to safety, Periwinkle knew right away that Lemonjohn was totally right, and that everything would be okay.”
“And how does the story end?” Applejack asked.
“Well, I dunno,” Pinkie giggled and put her hand on Applejack’s thigh. “But I do know this,” she looked up at Applejack with sparkling eyes, “it’s gonna have a happy ending.”
Applejack smiled and took Pinkie’s hand, and as Pinkie hummed in delight, and Rainbow purred as she sleepily nudged Applejack’s side, Applejack knew Pinkie was right. She always was, after all.
The first thing Twilight noticed was the smell of a burning fire, and she panicked because she thought the library was burning. She bolted up and instantly regretted it as her vision blurred and the world spun around her, her stomach reacting violently to the sudden movement.
As her head fell back down onto the ground with a massive thud, she remembered she wasn’t in her pony disguise anymore, nor was she in the library, and everything started to come back to her.
Rarity.
The last thing that Twilight wanted to spend her time thinking about now was Rarity. It was almost funny, how Twilight spent her whole painful flight into the mountains thanking her luck that Rarity wasn’t in the library, that she was halfway across Equestria instead, and there was no way she could have seen Twilight’s transformation.
Twilight remembered falling to the ground at the foot of the mountains, and though she wasn’t safe yet, she let herself believe that everything would be okay, that she’d somehow make it to the mountains to recover her strength, and all she would have to lose would be the library.
But of course that’s not how it went. Of course Rarity would find her, and of course she would attack. Twilight didn’t begrudge Rarity attacking her, she knew that there was no other recourse Rarity could have realistically taken. But the mental image of Rarity charging at her, sword drawn and screaming with anger… it wasn’t something that would be easily shaken.
Twilight tried to focus on what was in front of her though. Even though she wasn’t in the library, if there was a fire nearby, that couldn’t have been good, right?
She opened her eyes and found the source of the smell; a cooking fire, where Spike was roasting some fresh vegetables, a little menagerie of animals like rabbits and squirrels watching him warily, but he didn’t seem to mind their presence.
Twilight smiled, seeing that her son was safe and sound. She dreaded having to talk to him about what happened at the library, she hated that he had to see her not only in her forced transformation, but bleeding half to death as well.
Then Twilight remembered the extent of her injuries, and while she felt very sore, she didn’t feel like she was dying anymore. She also didn’t feel the heart pains of magic exhaustion, though she also didn’t feel rested enough to test her luck with magic yet either.
Someone must have taken care of Twilight while she was unconscious, and if Twilight was still in her dragon form, there was only one person who would’ve done that, which let Twilight breathe a sigh of relief, because even in her delirious, exhausted, half-dead state, she still managed to get Spike to safety and reach their destination.
The only question now was ‘where is Fluttershy?’, but that question didn’t require much searching as Twilight scanned the cave and found a curled-up dragon resting by Spike’s fire, eyes nearly fully closed, but fluttering open every so often.
“Spike,” Twilight groaned.
Before she could continue, Spike spun around and ran over to her, hugging her muzzle and nuzzling her.
“You’re awake!” he said, tears wetting his eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay, I was super worried about you!”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, nuzzling Spike in return, her body still too heavy to move a paw or a wing around him. “I’m so sorry.” Twilight didn’t know what else she could say other than that, over and over again.
“Don’t apologize, Twilight!” Spike huffed, trying to look brave even through his tears. “Please, don’t apologize.”
“Okay,” Twilight sobbed, massive tears running down her cheeks. “Spike, I promise, I’m gonna fix this. Somehow. I’m gonna fix it.”
Spike looked up at Twilight with a bitter scowl on his face, and she worried that she’d said something wrong, but before she could ask, Fluttershy interjected.
“I think the two of you should get some sleep,” she said. “Spike’s been up all night worried about you, and now that we know that you’re going to make it through, I think both of you could use a little rest.”
“She’s right, Spike,” Twilight said weakly. “Do you wanna get some sleep?”
“I’m not tired!” Spike yawned, and Twilight held back a laugh at seeing him trying in vain to keep his eyes open.
“C’mon, big cat,” Twilight forced herself to move so that Spike could curl up with her like he used to, and he nestled himself against her side, using a wing and her tail as cover, “let’s get some rest.”
By the time morning came, Spike was still sleeping but Twilight had barely rested at all. She managed to worm her way out from under him without disturbing him, and returned to the hill near the forest, where the snow was still stained by her blood.
As if she needed it, seeing her blood on the snow was just more proof to Twilight that what had happened last night wasn’t some horrible nightmare. That this was her reality now, and she had to face it.
“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked as she gently flew behind Twilight.
Twilight turned to look at Fluttershy and found herself smiling; seeing Fluttershy in her true form filled Twilight with a strange sense of peace. Her serpentine body and enormous, feathery wings were beautiful, and she moved with a sense of grace that warmed Twilight’s heart. Or perhaps Twilight was just happy to still have someone who she could talk to, and that was causing her to overdramatize.
“I’ve been… better,” Twilight mumbled. “Thank you, for taking care of me. You didn’t have to do that.”
“That’s an odd way to put it,” Fluttershy landed delicately on the ground, careful not to disturb the nearby animals, and cocked her head. “You speak as if taking care of an injured friend is some kind of burden.”
Twilight’s cheeks flushed and she turned her head away from Fluttershy. That’s exactly how Twilight thought of it, to be honest. If it hadn’t been for Spike, if he hadn’t been with her that night, Twilight would never have come to Fluttershy. She would have probably just let Rarity kill her if that’s what Rarity really wanted, but she certainly wouldn’t have travelled all the way to the forest for help.
She would have just lied wherever she ended up, and whatever happened to her could happen, and she wouldn’t fight it.
But Spike was there, and Twilight wasn’t going to leave him without a mother.
“Thank you, again,” Twilight turned to Fluttershy and nodded her head, trying to act confident. “I appreciate your help, and if there’s any way I can return the fa—”
“No, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy held up her paw and shook her head, “I don’t want you to consider yourself indebted to me, that will only make me feel stressed. Can we just say I did a nice thing for a friend, and call it even?”
Twilight smiled bashfully and held out her paw, “I guess we can.”
Fluttershy smiled back and put her paw on Twilight’s, and for a moment Twilight was able to find some inner peace, like she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But she still had to finish walking through that tunnel.
“I guess you were right,” Twilight hummed, looking out at the horizon. The hill by the forest also overlooked the nearby town of Ponyville, and Twilight could see the railway that led to the place she used to consider her home. “There was no use trying to hide who I was. It was always going to catch up to me eventually, wasn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy sat beside Twilight, covering Twilight’s back with a spread wing. “I know how it feels to lose a home, to lose family, and I wish there was anything I could do to ease that pain.”
“Are you kidding?” Twilight chuckled, and Fluttershy looked at her confusedly. “Fluttershy, you not only healed my injuries and saved my life, but you looked after my son when I couldn’t. If you’re not going to accept my debt, then I at least don’t want to hear you selling yourself short.”
“That’s fair,” Fluttershy giggled, a paw up to her mouth.
Fluttershy sighed, and Twilight groaned under her breath. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but Twilight couldn’t avoid the inevitable forever, especially as she saw the train rolling toward Ponyville, and got a very sharp feeling in her gut.
Her horns faintly glowed with a raspberry aura as Twilight confirmed her instinct, and she grit her teeth.
“That train,” Fluttershy said quietly, almost cautiously, “it’s carrying—”
“My family,” Twilight said instinctively, but that wasn’t quite right anymore, was it? “Or at least—” but what could she call them other than that? Twilight drew herself up and sighed. “No more hiding,” she turned to Fluttershy. “I won’t let them bring danger to your forest.”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy hesitated, biting down on her lip for a second before exhaling sharply and giving a determined nod, “I trust you.”
102. Wow Everything Sucks and Only Seems to Keep Getting Worse
Rarity was staring out the window of the train, not even really watching the scenery as much as she was just completely tuning out the world around her. Rainbow had been gone for a little bit now—Rainbow had said where she was going, but Rarity wasn’t listening—and Applejack had just gotten up to go check on her, leaving Rarity and Pinkie alone in the cabin.
It was hard not to think of Twilight, and even harder to think of anything else. Twilight wasn’t just a friend to Rarity; as pathetic as it felt to admit it, Rarity almost thought of her as family. They saw each other almost every single day for months, and Rarity felt more kinship to her than to any other pony she’d ever met.
Rarity scoffed as that thought crossed her mind. ‘Other’ pony, as if Twilight herself was indeed a pony. But she wasn’t; she was a monster. A snarling beast of fang and flame that lived for nothing else than the destruction of weaker species.
Right, because that certainly sounded like Twilight.
It bugged Rarity to no end, trying to wrap her head around why Twilight was so kind, and so friendly, and so docile, why she hadn't ever tried to attack anyone, and didn’t fight back when Rarity tried to kill her.
That last part was the thing that confused Twilight most. Twilight’s attitude could simply be chalked up to her not being a very good dragon. Maybe she was too cautious, and was waiting for the ‘perfect moment’ to strike, and it just never came, but in that case why didn’t she fight back?
The more Rarity thought about it, the sicker she felt. And eventually, she realized there was one other question she had neglected to ask, but just like everything else, no answer was in sight.
Why did Twilight burn down the library?
“Maybe we don’t have to kill her,” Pinkie’s voice suddenly interrupting Rarity’s thoughts caused the unicorn to crease her brow and glare at Pinkie, who tried to cover herself with her mane to hide from Rarity’s intense stare.
Rarity sighed and ran a hand through her mane. She recognized the smile on Pinkie’s face, the almost too manic smile of someone trying to act okay—poorly. Pinkie Pie didn’t need the added stress of a lecture or rant from Rarity, but her question still grinded against Rarity’s last nerve too much to be simply ignored.
“Then what would we tell Queen Celestia?” Rarity asked flatly, resting her chin on her palm and staring out the window.
“I—I dunno,” Pinkie sniffled, holding her body and trembling. Rarity was almost irritated by how easily her emotions were swayed by a sad Pinkie Pie, because now she felt guilty and miserable.
Rarity got on her knees on the floor of the cabin, looking up at Pinkie Pie and putting her hand on Pinkie’s knee.
“I will promise you this,” Rarity said hesitantly, knowing how seriously Pinkie took her promises and how outlandish Rarity’s promise was about to be, “if there is a non-violent solution to this whole mess, I will take it in a heartbeat. But I need you to understand that there simply may not be one.”
“Pinkie Promise?”
Rarity forced a smile that hid her gritted teeth as Pinkie uttered the two words Rarity was dreading. A regular promise, Rarity might have been able to talk her way out of, but she worried that Pinkie would quite literally never forgive her for breaking a Pinkie Promise.
And yet, Rarity found her smile becoming softer. Her promise was outlandish, but it wasn’t unreasonable, was it?
Rarity supposed the real question was this: did she want to kill Twilight Sparkle? If she did, she could not agree to Pinkie’s promise, but if she didn’t, then…
“Cross my heart,” Rarity said softly, closing her eyes and letting a genuine smile creep upon her lips ever so briefly, “and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I Pinkie Promise.”
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered and catapulted into Rarity’s arms, knocking her on her back. Rarity allowed herself a laugh as she held onto Pinkie, remembering for just a moment what actual joy felt like.
“Darling?” Rarity said gently, and Pinkie looked at her concernedly, worried for more bad news. “I need a few moments alone, are you going to be alright?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie nodded, smiling brightly. “I’ll go check on Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you do what you need to, okay?”
Rarity stood to her hooves, helping Pinkie off the ground as well, and headed out the cabin, but Pinkie had one more thing to say.
“Just be safe, okay?”
Rarity hated that Pinkie had to ask her that, and hated even more that Rarity needed to hear it. She hated nothing more than to feel like a burden on her friends, and to know that her idiotic behavior caused them to worry was—
Rarity flashed a dazzling smile and nodded, grateful for the relief that washed over Pinkie’s face.
A disgusted groan escaped Rarity’s lips as she looked at the utterly distraught mess of a mare that stared back at her from the bathroom mirror. She was thankful the bathroom was empty so that nopony could see what a spectacular disgrace Rarity’s fur, hair, and makeup situation was.
And her clothes, ugh. How could she go to sleep in her clothes, and furthermore not change into a new outfit once she woke up? She was grieving, certainly, but that was no excuse for barbarism!
Her makeup would have to wait one more moment, however, because there was something more pertinent that Rarity had been putting off, and she certainly couldn’t do it after fixing her makeup.
Rarity took a few deep breaths, trying to clear her mind as much as possible; trying to shed the chains of anxiety that bound her, the shackles of pride that made her body unwilling to follow her natural instincts.
Rarity needed to cry. It had been too long.
And yet, no tears were coming.
Rarity’s usually pretty face twisted into an ugly scowl. She had half a mind to punch the pony in the mirror, but that was far too uncouth, even in her fragile emotional state.
Hmph, Rarity grimaced, ‘fragile emotional state’ indeed. Not fragile enough to cry, obviously!
Then again, perhaps she was simply taking the wrong tact. Every one of Rarity’s thoughts since… ‘the incident’, had been laced with bitterness, anger, betrayal. She was furious, and that wasn’t much of a crying emotion.
She was sad… wasn’t she?
To be truthful, Rarity realized in that moment that she hadn't quite thought about it. She mostly was angry, and at what? At Twilight, for lying? Oh, certainly, but that… that was nothing. Rarity understood why Twilight had to lie, and though she was frustrated with having been lied to, in the end that wasn’t cause for all this anger.
She was angry at herself, for becoming so attached to Twilight that it felt like half of her world had been ripped asunder by what happened to her librarian. She hated the idea that she needed anypony—rather, anyone— that much.
So she took a breath, and tried to remember why.
And as she recalled Twilight’s flustered reaction to Rarity’s flirting on the day they met, Rarity felt a single shadow of a tear. As she thought about zoning out during Twilight’s lecture on cragadiles because the librarian was just too damn cute, Rarity found herself clutching the sink in order to keep from falling on her trembling legs.
As she remembered taking Spike out for ice cream, and the two of them making fun of and with Twilight while she nervously skittered about, so uncomfortable to be away from her library, Rarity held her face in her hands.
Memory after memory flooded Rarity’s mind, of all the joy she had in the Golden Oaks Library, and how now it had all been rendered unto nothing. It was all a lie, at the end of the day.
And yet, when Rarity realized that even regardless, she wouldn’t have traded those memories for anything in the world, that is when the tears fell.
She could accept the rage brewing in her heart— she told herself as she fell to her knees and sobbed— because Twilight’s smile brightened up a room.
She could accept the despair at having her life destroyed— she insisted as she nearly pulled her hair out while she wept, barely restrained screams of sorrow leaving her lips— because Twilight’s voice was like a song that filled her with strength.
And she could accept whatever came next, whether it be death by dragonfire, or the blood of a violet temptress staining her blade— she resolved as she gripped the bathroom sink and pulled herself back up to look in the mirror, smiling at the distraught mare with black tear streaks streaming down her face— because at the end of the day, she still loved Twilight Sparkle, just as much as she hated her.
The piercing whistle of the train as it approached Ponyville station also brought a smile to Rarity’s lips. Her makeup was even more horrid now than when she walked into the bathroom, but it was nothing she couldn’t fix; she excelled under pressure and was determined to look her absolute best before she walked off that train.
After all, she had a very important date.
As Rarity departed the bathroom, she quickly ran into the others and instinctively reached for poor Rainbow’s mane; the sleepy pegasus looked more a mess than she had and, judging by the look of her clothing, likely tried to hide how bad she looked by wiping her face with her shirt.
“You alright?” Rarity said, and Rainbow nodded and gave a yawn.
“She’ll be fine,” Applejack put her arm around Rainbow and pulled her close, Rainbow smiling as she leaned against Applejack. “I’ve got her, after all.”
“I’m sure you’ll take wonderful care of her,” Rarity beamed.
“Hey, nopony needs to ‘take care of’ me,” Rainbow said groggily, “I’m all can take care of by myself.”
“You wanna lift, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, and Rainbow didn’t even answer before climbing onto Applejack’s back, resting her head against Applejack’s and promptly falling asleep.
“You look good, Rarity!” Pinkie cheered as the party headed for the front of the train.
“I try my best,” Rarity smiled grandly, flicking her mane.
The girls departed the train, Rarity holding her head high as she walked onto the platform, breathing in the bustling atmosphere of the busy Ponyville station, which put the perpetually empty Moon District one to shame.
She felt okay. No, for the first time in an age, she felt good.
Until she locked eyes with a lavender mare sitting on a bench on the platform, and her stomach dropped.
“Hello, Rarity.”
“Hello,” Rarity said, taking a cautious step forward, “Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight sat at the train station waiting for the nearby train to roll in. She was trying to keep her breathing under control, but that was kinda hard to do when she knew any number of ponies who probably wanted her dead were going to be walking off that train.
It was only after leaving Fluttershy’s forest that Twilight considered the possibility that Rarity had contacted Celestia, and Twilight would not only have to deal with the Hunter Queen of Equestria herself, or her armies, but that she would have brought them to Fluttershy’s forest as well.
‘Relief’ could not aptly describe the sensation that washed over Twilight when no armed soldiers departed the train, though this positivity was short lived when she saw the ice-cold glare of a pony who—
“Hello, Rarity,” was all Twilight could think to say, a storm of anxiety roiled with guilt and shame tearing a hole inside her stomach.
“Hello,” Rarity said flatly, “Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight’s entire little ‘family’ had gathered behind Rarity, and Twilight almost wanted to laugh at seeing Rainbow asleep on Applejack’s back. Twilight remembered how happy she was when the two had told her they were finally seeing each other, and how proud she felt that it happened in her library, and now thinking of that memory filled Twilight with nothing but sadness and regret.
Twilight hated the lying; every day that went by in her library, she found herself wishing there was some way to tell her friends what she really was without them turning on her. She even studied it, reading up on ancient dragon and pony relationships and history, but she never found anything that would alleviate the fear and hatred those four ponies would have for her when they found out.
Rarity took a few threatening steps toward Twilight, who considered for half a second just teleporting away, but the strain on her magic would leave her with a resounding headache—at best— that she didn’t need right now. She was already weakened enough from having conjured temporary clothing, considering her last outfit didn’t exactly survive her transformation.
Applejack grabbed Rarity’s arm and muttered something to her, but Twilight couldn’t hear, though she could see both Pinkie’s confident nod of affirmation, and Rarity’s beautiful smile that she replied with. She missed Rarity’s smile. She missed Rarity in a general sense, but seeing her smile made Twilight ache.
The smile vanished the instant Rarity turned back toward Twilight and approached her, Twilight slowly standing to her feet and taking a deep breath as she prepared for what was either going to be the most difficult conversation of her life, or a simple execution.
“What are you doing here?” Rarity asked coldly, her fingers tapping on the hilt of her axe.
“There’s a lot of ponies around here,” Twilight said anxiously, though she attempted to sound as if she were in control, “someone might get hurt if a dragon suddenly shows up, so I figured—”
“Is that a threat?” Rarity sneered.
“N-no!” Twilight gasped. “But I know that the four of you want to kill me—”
“I don’t!” Pinkie chimed in, though her voice was cracking and she was visibly trembling as she hid behind Applejack’s leg.
“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight smiled at her and it hurt that it seemed to have no effect on Pinkie’s fear. Twilight cleared her throat. “I only want to talk, and I figured that doing so in a public space, where there would be less incentive for either of us to start a fight, would be a good idea.”
“So, Twi,” Applejack chimed in, walking a little bit closer, but not so close that Rainbow or Pinkie would be ‘unsafe’, “what’re you even doin’ here in Equestria? Why settle down in Canterlot of all places?”
“I’m looking for Azure Edge,” Twilight admitted. She had nothing to lose by being honest now, but there was a certain joy she felt in knowing that Azure Edge was a secret thing that only she and Rarity shared, and the pained scowl on Rarity’s face was a painful confirmation that Rarity still remembered.
“Uh-huh,” Applejack nodded, “yeah, I ain’t got any idea what that is.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Rarity said coldly, “it doesn’t exist.”
“Right,” Twilight muttered, hanging her head.
“So what are you doing here, then?” Rarity asked, arms crossed. Even though she was shorter than Twilight by a couple inches, Twilight still felt so, so small next to her. “Why so keen on talking to us, when you know that we have to kill you?”
“Rari—”
Pinkie tried to protest, but Applejack quickly put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and shook her head, Pinkie biting her lip closed in response.
Rarity had turned to look at them, but then turned back to Twilight with an impatient arched eyebrow.
“I want you four to accompany me to the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said, trying to sound confident but feeling instead like all of her innards were about to fall out her stomach.
“Are you daft?!” Rarity cackled, and she clenched her fist so hard Twilight was certain she was about to throw a punch. “How dare you? How dare you have the gall to ask a favor now, after everything you’ve done?!”
“It’s not a favor,” Twilight said sternly, empowered by a sudden burst of frustration and anger— not at Rarity, but at this whole mess, and specifically at what awaited her in the Crystal Empire. “Believe me, there’s almost no place I’d rather go than there, but—” Twilight hesitated, but she quickly drew herself up and looked Rarity in the eyes.
“But I want you to know the truth,” Twilight said clearly and boldly, “about me, about my kind, about what we are and what we can be. And to do that, I think you need to meet my brother.”
“Oh, good!” Rarity cackled. “More dragons! Just what I always wanted! You’re such a keen gift giver, Twilight!”
“Rarity,” Applejack muttered in Rarity’s ear, and Rarity and Twilight both looked around at the crowded Ponyville station, and at the several ponies whose eyes were now locked on Rarity.
“WHAT,” Rarity said flatly, loud enough for every pony to hear and glaring at them to boot, and that seemed to be enough to diver those ponies’ attention.
“Anyway,” Twilight cleared her throat, and decided to keep her voice to a whisper from now on. “My brother has been trying to foster friendship between ponies and dragons in the Crystal Empire, and from what I gather, he’s obtained some amount of success. Dragons live there already, unhidden and in harmony with the ponies who rule there.”
“Then how come you didn’t settle up north?” Applejack asked skeptically.
“Me and my brother,” Twilight groaned, “don’t see eye to eye. “B-but that doesn’t matter! This is more important to me, and if anyone can help you all see the truth of how dragons can be, that we honestly don’t want to harm anyone and just want to live in harmony like everyone else, it would be my brother! So please,” Twilight bowed her head, “come to the Crystal Empire with me, and let’s see him and the friendships he’s built together.”
No response.
Twilight rose her head and everyone was looking at her, but no one had anything to say.
Twilight took a deep breath, trying to shake off the shame and desperation she felt. She had no more cards left to play, and she already knew this was a desperate gambit. If this was to be her last stand, then so be it.
“Come to the Everfree Forest,” Twilight said, “when you’ve made up your minds one way or the other. I’ll be waiting, and we can finish this, with travel or with blood.” Twilight clenched her fists and— even as tears wetted her eyes— looked dead-on at the ponies who had come to see her, who she once considered family. “But I want you all to know, that I will not leave my son without a mother.
“Rarity,” Twilight looked straight into Rarity’s eyes, and now the pony was the one who looked intimidated, “I didn’t fight back against you last night because I desperately wanted to believe that you wouldn’t hurt me. I was wrong. The last thing I want is to hurt any of you, but if you come into the forest looking for a fight, I won’t back down.”
“I understand,” Rarity said simply, and Twilight nodded.
“I look forward to seeing you again,” Twilight bowed her head once more, and with a flash of light and a crack of magic, she was gone.
104. The Most Dimwitted, Pigheaded Pony in the World
Rarity was furious that Twilight would just disappear into thin air like she did. Rarity wanted to chase the dragon down, to yell at her and scream and ask her so many question—no, demand so many answers from her, but she knew all of that would be meaningless, empty gestures.
Nothing Rarity could say or do could change the fact that, even now, even after she let her rage guide her through her conversation with Twilight, she still loved that monster.
“So,” Applejack said heavily, “what do y’all wanna do?”
“We gotta go to the Crystal Empire!” Pinkie said immediately, pumping her fists.
“Pinkie, are you serious?” Rarity asked incredulously. “How are you not afraid of her?”
“I am afraid of her,” Pinkie admitted, hanging her head like she was ashamed of herself, “but she’s also my— she’s my friend. And I care about her still. Even if she is a big and scary monster—” Pinkie scowled and looked like she was fighting back tears, so Rarity knelt and put her arm around Pinkie. “I miss Fluttershy, and I know she’s a dragon too.”
“That’s right,” Rarity whispered, and it dawned on her that Twilight disappeared into the forest. Could Rarity honestly do battle with two dragons, with only Applejack and Rainbow Dash for support? That was Twilight’s plan all along, wasn’t it?
There was always Celestia though.
Rarity shook her head and inhaled sharply.
“You still want to see Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, Pinkie nodding so effusively it made Rarity smile as she stood back up. “What are your thoughts, Applejack?”
“Obviously I don’t wanna take a trip all the way to the Crystal Empire,” Applejack grumbled, “especially not with Pinkie; it’s dangerous!” Rarity was waiting for Applejack to lament the lost business it would mean for the smithery, but that never seemed to cross Applejack’s mind. “Still though…
“I said I wanted to find out the truth, and I meant it. Apples ain’t liars, and we don’t go back on our word. Could I live with myself if I didn’t see this whole thing through to the end? I don’t think I could, but I also know I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you, or to Pinkie, or to Rainbow Dash on my watch.”
“Hey, I can take care of myself!” Pinkie insisted. “I have been training like my whole life to be… a Slayer.” Pinkie’s melancholy tone was a far cry from the enthusiasm she spoke with before, and it brought a painful pang to Rarity’s heart.
“What about you, Rare?” Applejack asked, and now Rarity suddenly felt very nervous.
“I, uhm,” she cleared her throat and laughed awkwardly, “honestly, shouldn’t we wait for Rainbow Dash to wake up? We do have to explain everything to her and—”
“Nah, I’ve been awake the whole time,” Rainbow said, her eyes darting open as she slumped off of Applejack’s back and onto the platform.
“Why you been pretendin’ to be asleep?” Applejack asked teasingly. “Just like bein’ close to me that much?”
Rainbow chuckled but didn’t actually respond. She looked at Rarity and cocked her head. “C’mere, Rarity. I wanna talk to you real quick.”
Rarity followed Rainbow Dash outside the train station to a little pocket nestled away from their friends or the general crowds of Ponyville, and as Rarity prepared for whatever Rainbow needed to speak to her about, she took stock of Rainbow’s appearance and felt a mountain fall on her shoulders.
Rainbow’s fur was a mess of dried spit and mucus, her eyes were still red from crying, and there were nearly pitch-black bags underneath her eyes. She was wearing her usual confident grin, but even that felt like it was merely plastered onto her face by habit and not by choice.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Rarity said helplessly, though Rainbow just cocked her head.
“Why’re you sorry?”
“This must be a lot for you too,” Rarity couldn’t bear to look Rainbow in the eye as she made her guilt-soaked apology, “Twilight was your friend too, and I know you’re terrified of dragons. You’re my partner, and I should have been there for you to help you get through this, and I wasn’t. And I’m sorry.”
Rainbow looked nervous. She blinked a few times and rubbed the back of her neck, a light groan escaping her lips as her eyes darted away from Rarity.
“Ehhh, don’t, uh, don’t beat yourself up, Rarity,” Rainbow sighed and ran a hand through her mane. “Maybe in a better time or place, you could’ve been there for me, but then again, I could’ve been there for you too, and I wasn’t either. So I think it’s a wash.” Rainbow smiled and held out her hand. “So what d’ya say? Call it even, no hard feelings?”
“Sounds good to me, darling,” Rarity took Rainbow’s hand and returned her smile, feeling that mountain gently slide off her back.
“Okay, with that out of the way,” Rainbow cleared her throat, and Rarity gave a tiny giggle at how quickly Rainbow brushed all the sentimental stuff aside, “tell me honestly, Rarity, what are you thinking? About Twilight’s offer?”
Rarity blanched. She took a step back and felt a little dizzy, but Rainbow grabbed her arm and that brought her back to earth.
She felt… embarrassed. That was the most prominent thing Rarity was feeling; she was embarrassed that she still had feelings for the dragon, that she wasn’t clearheaded enough to make decisions quickly, that people who she cared about were counting on her and she didn’t know what to do.
She took a deep breath and, just as Celestia had taught her to do in situations like this, she followed her instincts.
“I… agree with Applejack,” Rarity said, every word tugging at her heart and having to be dragged painfully out of her mouth. “I don’t know if I could live with myself if I let this go without knowing, for certain, what the truth was. There are so many things about this situation that just don’t make sense, and I—”
Rarity sighed, though it quickly turned from a nervous exhale to a distressed groan of pure, distilled anguish.
“Rainbow Dash, tell me honestly,” Rarity hung her head and played idly with the curls of her hair, her back turned toward Rainbow, “does it make me the most dimwitted, pigheaded pony in the world, that I still have feelings for her? That my heart skipped a beat, seeing her at the train station? That I want nothing more than to just put this whole ugly mess behind us and go back to the way things were?”
“Nah,” Rainbow responded immediately, and Rarity snorted from how quickly her response came. “Honestly, Rarity, that’s the most normal you’ve ever sounded to me.”
Rarity laughed, and wiped tears from her eyes. “I suppose you’re right.”
She almost gasped as she felt Rainbow’s wings wrap around her, quickly followed by Rainbow’s arms as she put her head on Rarity’s shoulder. Rarity took Rainbow’s hand and let her tears fall uncontested, and it felt… comforting, in a way, to be able to cry again.
Rarity heard a weak exhale from behind her, and turned her head to see that Rainbow was fighting back tears of her own, so Rarity turned around and embraced Rainbow in a tender hug, the two mares holding each other tight while they wept for the lives they had to move on from.
“I guess that settles it,” Rarity laughed, wiping tears not only from her own eyes, but from Rainbow’s cheeks as well, “we need to go to the Crystal Empire.”
Twilight’s teleportation spell landed her back on the hill she first arrived on, and her nose curled up at seeing her blood still staining the snow. Wouldn’t kill the sky to drop some fresh snow or something. Or maybe Fluttershy could just melt it? Or maybe Twilight was just seeing things cuz she hadn't slept? Who knows, who cares.
The next order of business was to shed Twilight’s pony skin, though she was loath to do it. She’d gotten used to dressing as a pony, and the last several months of her life, where she’d spent it as a pony almost every single day, had been the best time of her entire life. She didn’t want to abandon what was starting to feel more and more like her ‘real’ skin.
But those days were over, and the disguise had to go. ‘No more hiding’ was her new mantra, after all.
Her horn flared up with magic and split in two, starry wings outstretched from her back, and violet flame torched her fur, covering every inch of her body until she was born anew in the form of a dragon; it was a much more painless transformation than the forced one from before, but it still brought with it a sense of guilt and disgust, not helped by the nausea she felt from using her magic, since she was still recovering from her exhaustion.
Twilight crawled through Fluttershy’s forest back into her cave—well, no; she supposed ‘crawling’ wasn’t quite accurate, she was just walking on all fours, but after having spent so much time as a pony, it felt like crawling.
Spike was awake and rushed to hug Twilight’s muzzle as soon as she entered the cave, and she nuzzled him affectionately in return, sighing contentedly that at least he was safe, despite everything else going wrong.
Fluttershy was curled up in the corner of the cave, though she was looking at Twilight expectantly.
“I talked to them,” Twilight said, and Spike gasped, his hands over his mouth.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” Twilight sighed, “won’t until they get here.”
Fluttershy took a deep breath and sighed, frowning as she rested her head limply on the ground. Twilight knew Fluttershy wasn’t keen on Twilight’s plan—neither was Twilight, for that matter—but Twilight was over the moon grateful that Fluttershy agreed to be a part of it; after all, Rarity’s group would have a difficult time saying ‘no’ to two dragons.
Unless of course Celestia got involved, and it burned up Twilight’s nerves that every single element of her plan relied on her presumption that Rarity would want to deal with Twilight herself and not get Celestia involved, but if she was wrong—
“I couldn’t sleep while you were gone,” Spike yawned, and Twilight took the opportunity to nuzzle her little bug and escape from the torturous thought train she was on.
“I’ll hum you a lullaby,” Twilight whispered fondly. She was glad that Spike was falling asleep too; she desperately didn’t want Spike to be around for Twilight and Fluttershy’s confrontation with Rarity’s group. He didn’t deserve to be put through that kind of stress.
Twilight coiled up and Spike snuggled up into her embrace, using her tail and wing for cover as Twilight hummed his favorite melody. The peace and comfort she felt as she heard his light snoring was almost enough for her to feel like going to sleep herself, but the intense stare of Fluttershy alarmed her.
“What?” Twilight asked, and Fluttershy covered her face with a wing.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” she said bashfully.
“It’s okay,” Twilight said, “what’s on your mind?”
“It’s just,” Fluttershy muttered, “he really loves you a lot.”
“I should hope so,” Twilight remarked with a sly grin, “I’d be a really bad mom if he didn’t.”
“I just mean, relationships like that, built on mutual trust and companionship, between ponies and dragons… that’s very rare.”
“I guess,” Twilight said, looking at Spike as he slept comfortably underneath her wing. “He’s been with me his entire life, he hasn’t known any other family but me and Zecora. And I may have lived a lot of years, yet sometimes I feel more like a child than he is.”
“How did you find him?”
Twilight looked toward Spike, then back to Fluttershy. She never shared the story of how she found him before, not to anyone but Zecora, but it’s not as though it was some deeply treasured secret. And besides, she was putting her life in Fluttershy’s paws and, more importantly, was risking the safety of Fluttershy and her forest for her own selfish reasons.
Twilight wanted Fluttershy to trust her, so she explained.
Though Spike was only a decade and change, Twilight remembered her life before him as though it happened centuries ago. So much could change in but a single day, how much more in a decade?
A younger Twilight flew through the night skies of Zebrica, through snow-swept mountains and through blustering wind. She still felt far from home thanks to her travels, but she was almost in reach. She was exhausted, almost ready to give up entirely, but she was so close, that she commanded herself to push through her weariness, even if it meant walking through the snow for a bit, instead of flying.
The howling of the wind had been the only noise echoing in her ears for hours, so when she heard another sound, she thought herself delirious and ignored it. But something about that sound, like a high-pitched squeal, caught Twilight’s attention, and something in her gut compelled her to find its source.
She soon realized it was the sound of a distressed baby, and Twilight almost wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. Its parents must have been nearby, she told herself, and there was nothing she would be able to do to calm it down anyhow, so she elected to ignore it and be on her way.
But then, she thought, why would a baby be so far from civilization? This mountain range wasn’t exactly a primes tourist destination, and even if the parents were nearby, were they properly equipped to travel these channels? Twilight pondered this for a moment before deciding that it didn’t hurt to at least check and make sure everything was okay.
The sight that greeted her formed a pit in her stomach. A small campsite, with a long dead firepit sitting in the center, a small carriage sitting unmoving in the snow, with the creatures that had been pulling it lying dead before it, small, thin blankets covering their bodies in a futile attempt to protect them from the piercing weather.
Twilight inched closer, drawn by heartache to the tragic scene in front of her. What had brought these travelers so far from home?
The sound of the crying baby snapped Twilight back to attention, and as she approached the carriage, she prayed desperately to find the baby’s parents still alive inside. She knew they might be afraid of her, especially if they were foreign to Zebrica, but if they still breathed, she could bring them warmth, or to shelter, or—or something.
Twilight moved the tarp that acted as a door to the carriage aside and peaked inside, and her body fell awash with grief at what she found.
A couple, huddled together underneath every blanket and fur they could manage, trying to keep each other warm with their own bodies to no avail. They were long dead before Twilight found them. Between them, Twilight could see something moving ever so slightly, and she raised a single claw as she considered reaching for what was almost certainly a baby, no older than a few months.
Twilight wanted to weep for the child, only kept alive due to the sacrifice of its parents, and for what? The babe wouldn’t make it through the night in this cold…
…unless it could be warmed up by the light touch of a dragon’s paw.
Twilight tore the roof off the carriage, wincing at the sound of the baby’s whimper. With a trembling hand, she reached into the carriage and took the child, gently balling her hand into a fist. Bringing her hand up to her snout, she saw the baby closer; purple fur and a little green mane just starting to form, swaddled in so many blankets.
Twilight looked around, and only snow, wind, and rock greeted her. The mountains were perilous, and it was so easy to get lost, that must have been what happened to this family. If Twilight had only been a little faster, if she had perhaps been a little less lazy getting out of bed this morning, or had more dutifully headed down her path like she was supposed to, she could have—
Another whimper distracts Twilight’s misplaced guilt, and she looked to see the baby’s face scrunched up in pain, and she felt that pain as if it were her very own. He’s so small, and so cold, and he’s shivering. He doesn’t understand a single thing about what’s going on, no thoughts going through his head other than how he doesn’t like what’s happening to him, and he wants his parents, no idea that they won’t ever comfort him again.
Twilight felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she pressed her nose gently against her hand, balling it into a fist as much as she could without disturbing the little bug who was so much smaller than even her littlest claw. With a breath of magic, a radiant warmth fills her fist, and Twilight’s tears turn from grief to joy as she hears the baby make a little giggle.
He opened his eyes and stares up at the monster looking down on him, holding him in her fist. Twilight’s breath hitched as she worried he was going to start crying again and she wouldn’t know how to make him feel okay, but he just laughed instead; the precious, innocent laughter of a baby who hadn't a care in the world.
He reached his tiny little hands out to Twilight’s muzzle, and she leaned a little closer so he could touch it, giggling and cooing as he ran his barely-warm hands across the heated scales of her snout. For a moment, Twilight feels like everything’s going to be okay. She’s so close to home she can almost smell the aroma of Zecora’s cooking pot, and she’ll know what to do with a baby pony.
But there was one more thing that needed to be dealt with before Twilight could leave in peace.
Twilight gently took the bodies of the parents and of the animals that so dutifully served them in her magic, laying them out on makeshift cots made from the carriage’s wood. She covered them with blankets and prepared a gust of flame to send them off, but then stopped short.
She took in a deep breath and looked at the tiny child comfortably sleeping in her palm. She closed her eyes and whispered a short prayer; if the spirits of these parents, somehow, were watching over this scene, still clinging to their child in death as they so honorably had in life, then Twilight wanted them to know that their baby was safe with her.
Twilight blew a violet flame across the bodies of the dead, and with a gust of her wings scattered their ashes into the winter wind so that their spirits may be free to find their next lives, unshackled by guilt or regret.
There wasn’t much in the way of supplies in the campsite, but there was still baby food, clothes, and blankets, and Twilight took everything she could before taking flight, holding her newfound charge close to her chest, promising him, herself, and the child’s parents that she wouldn’t let him grow up without a family.
“Oh,” Fluttershy remarked as Twilight concluded her tale, and Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at the reaction. “I never… I don’t what I expected, but that certainly wasn’t it.”
“I still think about them sometimes,” Twilight admitted, staring at the snoozing Spike, “his birth parents. I wonder, if their spirits are still around in some way, what would they think of me? Would they condone the way I’m raising our child? I wonder, if there is a life after this one, what they’ll say to me when I reach it.”
Twilight went silent, a nightmarish thought suddenly flashing through her mind that never even occurred to her before.
“I’m going to outlive him.”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, “almost certainly.”
Twilight took a deep, deep breath, and released it with as soft and calm a sigh as she could muster. That was a thought for another day.
“But for now,” Fluttershy said, “you are his home, and his family.”
“He deserves better,” Twilight remarked immediately. “He deserves a real family, not just a good-for-nothing mother. He had one, and I screwed it up—”
“Twilight,” Fluttershy rose to her feet, wings fidgeting at her sides and eyes narrowing at the entrance to the cave.
“They’re here,” Twilight gulped, “aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy clutched her heart, “your family has arrived.”
It broke Twilight’s heart to crawl out from under Spike’s sleeping form, but with a little effort she managed to do so without waking him. He would be protected by the animals of the forest until Twilight returned to him.
The idea she may not return flashed through her mind, but she threw that thought away with a bitter snarl.
No matter what happened with Rarity and the others, Twilight would never leave her son without a family.
Pinkie Pie’s breath hitched as she and her friends crossed the threshold into the Everfree Forest. This was the place that she couldn’t stop thinking about after she visited it— and its lovely Spirit— the first time, but it sure seemed a lot less inviting now.
Cuz before, there were always cute squirrels and birds in the trees, and other delightful critters roaming all about, but this time there were no cute animals to be found, and the distant howling of timberwolves rang through the air like a haunting chorus.
Pinkie stayed as close to Applejack as possible, wanting to jump at every shadow she saw. Timberwolves were scary— she still wasn’t entirely over the trauma of dealing with them the last time— but there was something else that lived and breathed through this forest that was even scarier.
The Spirit of the Everfree, or rather, the dragon of the Everfree.
Rarity took the lead of the party, and Rainbow was walking right behind her. Neither had weapons drawn, but Pinkie knew both of them would be ready to fight—even kill—at a moment’s notice. Applejack stayed behind the two with Pinkie nearly glued to her, even though she politely declined Applejack’s offer to carry her. She was definitely scared, but she wanted to walk this road with her own two legs.
The group came to a snowy clearing; probably not the exact same one where Rarity had nearly been killed by a King Timberwolf, or the one where Pinkie, Fluttershy and Twilight held their picnic, or even the one where Pinkie overheard Twilight and Fluttershy’s conversation that led to her to discover that her friends were dragons, but it looked enough like all of them for Pinkie to start feeling panic welling up inside her.
Even her good memories of the Everfree were tainted by everything that had happened. She always had her doubts about whether Fluttershy liked her or not, and now that she knew that Fluttershy was a dragon, that fear was magnified by like a million.
Dragons hated ponies. That’s what Pinkie had been told her entire life, and seeing the dragon tearing through her hometown, burning and maiming and killing and eating every pony in its path, what conclusion could Pinkie come to other than that?
Yet Twilight kinda threw a wrench into that whole thing by being the nicest, friendliest, most compassionate person Pinkie’d ever met, and nothing about Fluttershy struck Pinkie as anything other than sweet and kind either. Maybe Pinkie was just a really bad judge of character.
Rainbow stopped suddenly and grabbed Rarity’s arm, and that was reason enough for her and Applejack to halt instantly, and Pinkie didn’t know what else to do but to hide behind Applejack. She wasn’t helpless, she’d brought her enchanted crossbow with her just in case, but the last thing—the very last thing—Pinkie wanted was to have a fight inside the Everfree.
But something was coming. Even Pinkie could now hear the rustling of leaves nearby. Something big was approaching the group from their left—no, from behind them!—wait, wait, it was to their right!
Oh.
Pinkie held her breath. The creature moved all around them in a circle, and the three other mares formed a circle around Pinkie, though none of them drew a weapon, to Pinkie’s relief. The dragon that was watching them, it was moving fast, and Pinkie had a good feeling that it wasn’t Twilight.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, a golden, serpentine dragon jumped out from the trees and into the clearing, rearing back and spreading its wings out to their full length, staring down silently at four ponies that must’ve looked like ants to her.
Her wings were golden like her, but hued pink at the tips of her feathers, and she had a flowing pink mane that nearly reached the ground even at her impressive stature.
She was a dragon; the very first Pinkie had seen since that fateful day.
The four ponies turned to face her, and not even Pinkie was deterred by her presence. But before anypony could start feeling too confident, an earsplitting crack of magic resounded through the clearing, and suddenly the number of dragons were double.
Standing tall next to Fluttershy, was a great lavender dragon, its wings holding the shapes of galaxies and constellations in them as they were spread wide alongside Fluttershy’s. Pinkie got what they were doing; they were showing the group just how terrifying dragons could be, just in case any of them had an urge to fight.
And they were terrifying. Pinkie swore her heart stopped for at least a second as she stared up at the massive, towering beasts before her, who did nothing but stare silently back at her and her friends. Standing in front of Pinkie were two monsters who could destroy whole cities on their own if they wanted to, who Pinkie had lived in fear of her entire life, and whose memory still gave her nightmares.
But all she saw were two of her best friends, and she couldn’t think of anything she wanted to do more than to run up and greet them.
So she did just that.
Ignoring the protests of her pony friends, Pinkie ran up in front of Fluttershy, arms held open.
“Fluttershy! It’s me, Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie jumped up and down, ignoring Rarity’s and Applejack’s frantic calls for her to come back. “I missed you!”
“Y-you— you missed me?” Fluttershy put a paw up to her muzzle, and Pinkie Pie gasped. She still moved, talked, and acted just like the friend that she knew, even in this new, scary form.
“I did! I really, really did!” Pinkie beamed and waved at Twilight, who responded by just blinking. “And Twilight too!”
“You’re not…” Fluttershy leaned her head down to Pinkie’s level, and Pinkie froze up immediately, causing Fluttershy to recoil, but when Pinkie reached out her hand, Fluttershy lowered herself once more, allowing her cheek to gently graze Pinkie’s waiting hand, and a chill went up Pinkie’s spine as she made contact with the warm fur on Fluttershy’s face.
“You’re not afraid of me?” Fluttershy asked, and Pinkie felt tears stinging her eyes as she saw Fluttershy’s shimmering teal eyes glistening with tears.
“How could I be afraid of my best friends?” Pinkie said tearfully, throwing herself against Fluttershy’s muzzle and hugging her as best as her tiny body allowed.
Fluttershy let her wings settle against her body and tentatively, hesitantly, reeeeeeally slowly, put a paw on Pinkie’s back. And while Pinkie flinched at the touch, she responded by burying herself deeper in Fluttershy’s fur, nuzzling her friend to show her that she wasn’t afraid.
Pinkie looked up at Twilight and motioned for her to come down, and while Twilight looked uncomfortable at first, she got on all fours and lowered her head to meet Pinkie, who put a hand on Twilight’s snout in an attempt to group hug the two dragons.
Pinkie’s entire family was together finally, and all felt right in her world.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity stomped her hoof, aghast that Pinkie would just run ahead so thoughtlessly and start cozying up to a pair of dragons, for pony’s sake! “Get back here this instant!”
“No!” Pinkie huffed, sticking her tongue out at Rarity and burying herself deeper in the two dragons’ embrace.
Fluttershy gave Pinkie a gentle nudge with her snout. “It’s okay, Pinkie Pie. You shouldn’t make Rarity worry.”
“Okay,” Pinkie said sadly, reluctantly letting her hand fall away from Fluttershy’s cheek as the dragon rose to her full imposing height. Pinkie gave Twilight another pet on her snout before walking back to the group, where Applejack got on her knees and grabbed Pinkie into a hug.
“Honestly, sugarcube,” she whispered, and Rarity could hear the distress in her voice, “don’t go worryin’ a pony like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie nuzzled her cheek against Applejack’s. “I got ahead of myself. I didn’t mean to make anypony worry.”
With Pinkie safely back in their fold, Rarity took a moment to gaze upon the dragons of the Everfree, and her heart was gripped with fear, anger, and awe. Perhaps it was simply because she knew these two dragons personally, but they didn’t fill Rarity with the visceral distaste and disgust that the typical dragon did.
Or perhaps it was because, though she couldn’t bring herself to admit it, she thought both of them were beautiful. Especially Twilight; seeing her lavender scales glimmering faintly in the cloudy morning sun— instead of seeing her covered in blood and magic-vomit— put her in a whole new light.
Rarity suddenly understood what Lady Cadance always saw in these creatures. But she shook that thought away, because at the end of the day they were still monsters… right?
“Twilight,” Rarity cleared her throat and stepped forward, speaking clearly and bluntly. Twilight lowered herself to Rarity’s eye level, and Rarity took another step forward, fighting back the urge to raise her hand and pet Twilight’s snout or some such nonsense.
“I suppose there’s no pussyfooting around it,” Rarity sighed. “Twilight, we have decided to accompany you to the Crystal Empire.”
Silence.
Twilight blinked, but didn’t move.
Rarity scowled, and Fluttershy cocked her head.
Rarity glanced back and saw her companions; Rainbow was tapping her hoof, wondering what the holdup was, Applejack’s face and posture betrayed nothing, and Pinkie was chomping at the bit to celebrate, but every second that passed without a response from Twilight no doubt made the whole group feel more anxious.
“Twilight?” Rarity tapped her knuckles against Twilight’s snout, and she wondered where she suddenly found the gall to something so brazen. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” Twilight spoke, and it was disconcerting to Rarity how… normal she sounded. Her voice was exactly as it was in the library, yet it came through the lips of a monster. It was eerie. “I just don’t believe it.”
“You mean you literally don’t believe me, or—”
“No, no of course not!” Twilight reared back and Rarity instinctively reached for a weapon, though Twilight quickly bowed her head. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle anyone,” she looked at Rarity, who took one step closer and released her grip on her axe. “Are you being serious? You’ll actually accompany me?”
“Yes,” Rarity said reluctantly. “Yes, we will. We all have our own reasons, but none of us are willing to go the rest of our lives without having some of our unsettled questions answered.”
“Okay,” Twilight sat on her haunches and exhaled a deeply held breath, “okay, I can live with that. You’ll come with me.”
“Us,” Fluttershy said, and now Rarity was startled. “They’ll come with us. We agreed, remember?”
Pinkie Pie gasped, because of course she would. “Fluttershy!? You’re gonna come with us to the Crystal Empire!?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy nodded, a sickeningly innocuous smile on her fanged face.
“I dunno how I feel,” Applejack chimed in warily, “’bout havin’ two dragons trailin’ us all the way up north.”
“Applejack!” Pinkie scolded. “You bite your tongue! Fluttershy is our friend! Or at least… she’s my friend!”
“Pinkie, think about this for a sec,” Rainbow chimed in, her eyes darting between Pinkie and the dragons, and Rarity could see sweat starting to dampen her fur the more she stayed within the dragons’ presence, “if things get bad on the trip, the four of us can totally take out a dragon. But two dragons might be a little dicey, you get it?”
“Nothing’s gonna go bad, Rainbow,” Pinkie huffed, “cuz we’re not gonna fight each other!”
“Incidentally,” Twilight said, “that’s part of why I asked Fluttershy to come along.”
“What?” Rarity asked, and now all eyes were on Twilight.
“You all have your reasons not to trust me,” Twilight explained, “and I understand that, but you have to understand I can’t trust any of you either. I genuinely want you all to see the Crystal Empire, and to see that dragons aren’t what you think they are, but to do that, I need to be sure I survive the journey, and travelling by myself with four armed Slayers, or Slayer-adjacent ponies, isn’t safe for me. More importantly, it isn’t safe for my son.”
“Hey, where is Spike, anyway?” Rainbow asked, and Rarity growled under her breath because she’d prefer it if they all stayed on topic. “Is he okay? The little dude isn’t totally traumatized by this whole thing, is he?”
“He’s okay, I think,” Twilight said. “If you’d like to see him once we’re all wrapped up here, I think he would love to see all of you.”
“Yeah?!” Pinkie clamored, pumping her fists. “We totally wanna see Spike, don’t we everypony?!”
“I’d like that,” Applejack admitted, and Rainbow nodded her confirmation.
Rarity had much less to say, and she didn’t appreciate the chorus of eyes now locked on her.
“We need to make travelling arrangements,” Rarity said, because somepony had to stick to what was important, and she supposed it would just have to be her, “and you two are going to need clothing, are you not?”
Fluttershy’s horns glowed with teal light that quickly consumed her entire body, before she transformed into the frail-looking slender pegasus Rarity was more familiar with.
“Why?” she asked. “Equestria doesn’t have a nudity taboo, and clothing is so restrictive and unnecessary.” Rarity’s nose curled up at that appalling statement.
“And how do you plan to explain to everypony,” Rarity said, her patience running thin, “when you get asked why you’re wandering around naked in the middle of winter?”
“That would be a dead giveaway that something was up with us,” Twilight remarked.
“Oh,” Fluttershy said sheepishly, her cheeks turning bright red, and Pinkie giggled before running up and giving the dragon a hug, which Fluttershy returned with a disconcertingly genuine smile.
Twilight transformed back into a pony next, and Rarity was suddenly very much reminded of how attractive she had always found the librarian now that said librarian was standing naked in front of Rarity.
Rarity felt her cheeks burn up and hoped that no on noticed, though she also found herself staring at Twilight, and she only noticed that she had been staring when Twilight smiled at her, forcing Rarity to spin around and stomp off, utterly humiliated.
“Y’alright, sugarcube?” Applejack gently grabbed Rarity’s arm, though Rarity had half a mind to slap her for it.
“I’m fine,” Rarity hissed through gritted teeth. “I’m going to go get train tickets and clothing. Be ready to leave when I come back. We’ll stop by the Moon District, then probably go straight for the Crystal Empire. No detours, no other stops. Let’s just get this over with.”
Rainbow lingered behind Applejack and Pinkie Pie as they followed Twilight into the den where Spike was—Fluttershy having slithered off to say goodbye to her animals and make sure her forest would thrive without her care.
It was cold— obviously it was cold, it was winter— but Rainbow still felt like she was sweating, running her hand through damp fur on her face over and over again. No matter how much she tried to act like everything was fine, like she could totally deal with Twilight and Fluttershy and everything else, Rainbow couldn’t run away from the fact that she was terrified.
She knew that everything would be fine; Twilight and Fluttershy had no reason to go all hostile, and even if they did, Applejack and Rarity, and to a lesser extent herself and Pinkie Pie, could totally take ‘em! Right?
Right, of course!
…but what if they couldn’t?
What if something happened, a fight broke out, and Rainbow froze? What if Twilight was everything she claimed to be, just a humble librarian trying to live a peaceful life, but Fluttershy was everything Celestia always said dragons were? What if Twilight wasn’t what she claimed to be, and was leading Rainbow’s friends into a deathtrap? It’s not like Twilight was unfamiliar with lying to them, after all.
For every reason Rainbow could think of not to worry, she could find three or five or ten reasons to freak out, and she didn’t realize she had fallen so far behind the rest of the group until she looked up and found no one there.
“Guys?” she whimpered pathetically. “Guys!?” she screamed desperately, running through the trees and slamming right into Applejack within seconds, tumbling back and falling on her butt.
“Woah, sugar, you okay?” Applejack asked concernedly, helping Rainbow back to her feet. Rainbow nodded weakly. “You get a little sidetracked and fell behind, huh?” Rainbow nodded again, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at the others.
Applejack sighed, and Rainbow winced, thinking about how Applejack probably thought she was a big loser.
“Y’all wanna hurry on ahead? We’ll catch up in just a sec?” Applejack called out to Pinkie and Twilight.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie cheered, and off she and Twilight went to the cave.
Rainbow didn’t know what to say, and she dreaded whatever Applejack was gonna say, but then she didn’t say anything; Applejack just lightly grabbed Rainbow’s chin and planted a kiss on her lips.
Rainbow closed her eyes and let herself fall into Applejack’s embrace, Applejack putting her hands on Rainbow’s lower back while Rainbow put hers around Applejack’s shoulders, Applejack delivering one passionate, warm kiss after another until Rainbow had to pull herself away, breathing heavy and cheeks burning, cuz now she was feeling hot for a totally different reason.
“Wh—what was that about?” Rainbow asked, giving a high pitched chuckle and adding “Not that I’m complaining!”
“Figured that’d do ya a world better’n words would,” Applejack said, leaving another gentle kiss on the bridge of Rainbow’s nose. “How ya holdin’ up, hon?”
“Could be better,” Rainbow bit her lip and thought about kissing Applejack, but she couldn’t bring herself to, “but I feel a lot better now, so thanks.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” Applejack gave Rainbow’s nose another kiss, getting a coy giggle out of Rainbow that instantly embarrassed her, but Applejack crushed that embarrassment into a profound sense of joy by holding Rainbow tight against her chest.
“And hey,” Rainbow said, nuzzling against Applejack’s chest, “please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you feel okay. I know I’m not the only one struggling to deal with this whole… thing.”
“Honestly, Rainbow,” Applejack said as she stroked Rainbow’s mane, “takin’ care of you does make me feel better. But I promise I’ll let you know if there’s anything else, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Rainbow smiled and pounded her fist against Applejack, “uhhh… I still haven’t come up with a cute pet name for you yet.”
“You’ll think of somethin’,” Applejack ruffled Rainbow’s mane, and Rainbow puffed up her cheeks, “you’re a smart pony.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue, and Applejack just winked at her teasingly as she turned around, and Rainbow bit her lip cuz damn Applejack was hot.
When Rainbow and Applejack made it to the cave nearby, guided by a faint trail of light left by Twilight, they found Pinkie cuddling Spike in a big, fluffy hug, but no sign of the dragon herself.
“Where’s Twi?” Applejack asked, and before she could get an answer, she was distracted by Spike’s gasp as he noticed them. “Hey kiddo, how’re you doin’?”
“Applejack! Rainbow Dash!” Spike tore himself away from Pinkie and rushed toward the two, Applejack running to him and scooping him up into her arms, where he hugged her and nuzzled against her while she held him up. “You guys don’t hate me, do you? For hiding everything from everyone this whole time?”
“Nah, Spike,” Applejack said comfortingly, “we know you were just tryin’ to do the right thing and protect yer ma, we can respect that.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said hesitantly. Applejack wasn’t wrong, but it still left a bad taste in Rainbow’s mouth to be made a fool of for so long, and by a dragon no less.
“You guys probably hate Twilight though, huh?” Spike said sadly as Applejack put him on the ground.
Pinkie sucked air in through her teeth and shot a pained glance at Rainbow, who quickly looked away from Pinkie and shrugged for no one’s benefit but her own.
Applejack got on one knee and put her hand on Spike’s shoulder.
“Spike, you know I ain’t no liar,” she said solemnly, “so believe me when I tell ya, that nopony hates your mom. We’re all a wee bit mad at her, and some of us are gonna need a lot of time to get our feelings sorted out about this whole mess, but nopony hates her. I promise.”
“Cross your heart?” Spike said weakly.
“Hope to fly,” Applejack said sweetly, holding out her pinkie finger. Spike put his pinkie around Applejack’s and the two said together “Stick a cupcake in my eye!”
The two laughed, and Pinkie joined them for a group hug, leaving Rainbow kinda on the outs. She thought about just bailing, thinking that maybe she wasn’t really needed here, but then Spike walked toward her.
“Rainbow?” he said awkwardly, fidgeting his fingers. “Are you mad?”
Rainbow looked down at the kid and wondered how she could ever justify being mad at a child. Of course she was mad, but… but Applejack wasn’t wrong. Rainbow hated this whole crappy situation, but she didn’t hate Twilight, and she sure didn’t hate Spike.
And she didn’t have the words, or the guts, to articulate any of that garbage.
“I brought you something,” Rainbow slid her bag off her shoulder and put it on the ground, squatting down to rifle through it and procuring a single book; Daring Do and The Razor of Dreams. “A lot of the library got kinda… burned up. But I managed to salvage some stuff. You wanna read it?” Rainbow asked, forcing a weary smile and cursing the damn tears forming in her eyes for like the thousandth time today.
Spike didn’t say anything; he tried, but it came out as blubbery sobs, so he just nodded a bunch and snuggled up with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie as Rainbow cracked open the book.
A lot had changed in a single day, but not everything had to.
“Pinkie,” Applejack said firmly, chewing on her thumbnail and looking out the entrance to the cave while Rainbow, Spike and Pinkie all sat around reading Daring Do. “You know where Twi went? I wanna talk to her real quick.”
“By yourself?” Rainbow asked, her face turning pale.
“Don’t you worry none, Rainbow,” Applejack gave a reassuring smile, “I ain’t gonna get into a fight, I promise.”
“Uh,” Pinkie said, clearly also nervous but she was Pinkie so she obviously didn’t wanna say no to Applejack, “she said she needed some time to herself, but I dunno—”
“There’s a hill,” Spike said, “it overlooks the forest, and the town nearby. You should be able to find it on your own, right? That’s where she would’ve gone.”
“Alright,” Applejack nodded, “I don’t think I’ll have much trouble. Not my first time combin’ through a forest. Thanks, y’all.”
“Be careful, okay?” Rainbow asked, and Applejack’s heart warmed at her sweetness.
“And be nice!” Pinkie added.
“Will do, y’all!” Applejack shouted as she left the cave.
It didn’t take long for Applejack to find the hill where Twilight was sitting cross-legged, staring out over the town of Ponyville in a little grassy patch, the snow having melted around her presence.
Applejack didn’t immediately alert Twilight to her presence, though she suspected the dragon knew she was there regardless; they weren’t easy creatures to sneak up on.
She had conflicting emotions about still thinking of Twilight as a mark; she honestly wanted to believe that Twilight was everything she said she was, that Twilight and Rarity and Spike and everypony else could go back to the library once this was all over and share a mug of hot cocoa like they used to.
But on the other hand, Applejack had seen the horrors that dragons could unleash. She’d held burning corpses in her hands, carried bodies of children back to their parents, nursed a young Pinkie back to health after her house had collapsed on top of her.
Applejack wasn’t about to take any chances.
Yet if that were what she really believed, she ought to have just killed the dragon right now. She probably could too; Twi’d never see it coming if Applejack of all ponies turned traitor on her now, and Twilight was probably still weakened after her battle with Rarity and whatever caused her to burn the library down in the first place.
But Applejack found that idea completely out of the question. She wasn’t about to fight dirty like that… but if she only thought Twilight was a monster, she’d have no problem with it, would she?
“Bit for your thoughts, Applejack,” Twilight said quietly, still staring out across town. Applejack guessed a sneak attack was off the table now anyway.
“Got a whole lot of dustbunnies runnin’ around in my head right now, Twi,” Applejack laughed and threw her pack onto the ground next to Twilight, startling her, and sitting down beside it.
She pulled out two bottles of apple cider and handed one to Twilight, who took it hesitantly. Applejack opened hers and knocked it against Twi’s bottle before taking a drink, Twilight very slowly and cautiously following her lead. The smile on Twilight’s face as she realized the cider was real good made Applejack beam with pride.
“But I reckon you know all about that, huh?” Applejack asked. “Bet you’ve been thinkin’ long’n hard ‘bout this whole situation since last night.”
“Since this morning,” Twilight said, taking another sip of cider. “Slept through last night. If I hadn't gotten to Fluttershy, I would’ve—”
“Well, I hope you can forgive Rarity,” Applejack said solemnly, though she was quickly startled by Twilight spitting fizzy cider all over the place.
“Wait, what!?” Twilight yelped. “What do you mean forgive Rarity?! I thought I was the one who’d been bad!”
“I mean,” Applejack stuttered for a sec, but then shrugged and collected her thoughts before speaking again. “She did try to kill ya, Twi. You could go on and on about why she did that, but the fact is she did try to kill ya, and I couldn’t exactly blame you for not bein’ able to look past that.”
“Oh,” Twilight took another sip of cider and then hummed, “I guess I hadn't really thought about it. Didn’t think about much of anything last night, to be honest. It was all kinda fight or flight, instinct, that sorta thing.”
“Then how come you didn’t fight back?”
“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Twilight’s response was instant, like not only did she not need to think about it, but she spoke it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I love her. And I can’t stop loving her, just because… of this whole mess.
“It’d be a lot easier on me if I could!” Twilight laughed awkwardly, and Applejack couldn’t help sharing a nervous smile with her. “If I could pretend that I really was this soulless monster you all think that I am, but… I’m not. I can’t stop loving her, or Rainbow, or you and Pinkie Pie, even if it hurts. And it does hurt, but—” Twilight shrugged and took another swig of cider.
“Well, I’d be lyin’ if I said I could take you at your word, Twi,” Applejack sighed. “Wish I could. But the threat of dragons ain’t just a fairytale to me, I’ve seen it firsthand, and it’s a nightmare.”
Twilight’s ears lowered and she looked sullen at the ground, and Applejack wasn’t sure if she should feel sad, or mad that Twi was trying to pull one over on her.
Then again, if Twilight was who she said she was, she probably wasn’t trying to make Applejack feel for her, but that’s if she was just a librarian and a mom, and not also a monster, and Applejack wasn’t ready to take that bet quite yet.
“I tell ya what though,” Applejack took a swig of cider, sighing in contentment at its profound flavor, “I ain’t exactly sure who to trust right now. A lot of this situation just don’t add up, and I ain’t willin’ to snap to any judgments ‘til I know for sure what’s goin’ on with you, and with this Crystal Empire and such.
“For right now, all I’m trustin’ is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, but I promise I’ll see this thing through to the end, no matter what. How’s that sound?”
“Honestly?” Twilight held her nearly empty cider bottle out toward Applejack, who clinked hers against it. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Applejack had left to check on the others, so Twilight was left alone staring across the horizon over the busy town of Ponyville. She allowed herself one last transformation back into her natural form, knowing it would be a little while before she could safely transform again, and so she thought to take advantage of these last few moments in the forest.
It was almost time to leave; Fluttershy would soon be done with her farewells, and Rarity would be back soon with her clothing, and everyone would set off toward Canterlot, the place Twilight used to call home, before heading to the Crystal Empire to see her brother.
It was… a lot.
Twilight hadn't seen her brother in years and barely had any correspondence with him. Their last fight had been a pretty ugly one. She was certain he would welcome her back if she went to him— she wouldn’t have suggested going to the Crystal Empire at all if she wasn’t confident that she could trust him— but going to him and admitting that her attempts to hide in Equestria failed, after he warned her repeatedly that they wouldn’t work… it was going to be painful.
No more painful than seeing the glare in Rarity’s eyes as she charged at Twilight with a sword though.
That really happened, hadn’t it? it wasn’t just some horrible nightmare. Rarity really had… tried to kill Twilight.
Part of her had still been in denial about it, but Applejack’s bluntness kinda did away with all that; any attempt to hide from or rationalize Rarity’s actions was now moot because she couldn’t change the fact that, yeah, Rarity had tried to kill her.
And yet, Twilight still couldn’t find it in her heart to be angry, at least not at Rarity.
She was angry, but moreso at Trixie, and at herself, and at this whole shitty situation and the cursed centuries of ponies and dragons being taught to hate each other. Twilight lived most of her entire life believing that ponies were just monsters that wanted to hurt and kill dragons, but living amongst them, she realized that wasn’t true at all.
Ponies were afraid of them, just as dragons were afraid of ponies. Even the Slayers were just doing what they thought was right, and weren’t just mindless, bloodthirsty killers out to harm dragons.
Well, some of them definitely were. But that was a whole thing and wasn’t really relevant to Twilight’s point, so she would thank her brain not to interrupt her again.
Regardless, if Twilight’s exposure to what ponies were really like could open her eyes, she was certain the reverse was true as well; that meeting her brother, and seeing the community he was building in the Crystal Empire— ponies and dragons living side by side in harmony— could help her friends to realize that the lies they had been told about dragons were just that.
She hoped.
But she couldn’t entirely disregard the possibility that this plan of hers would completely fail. After all, her last one failed, didn’t it?
She needed to accept the reality that her ‘family’ of the Golden Oaks Library was no more, and it likely never would be again.
That she had failed not only herself, but Spike as well; dangling in front of him the hope of a family that he’d always yearned for, only to snatch it away from him when it was all starting to feel real.
She had to face the fact that Rarity would never look at her the same way again; that where once she saw a cute librarian in Twilight, now she only saw a monster.
And it was all Twilight’s fault.
Twilight curled into a ball and covered her face with her wings, weeping quietly at what she had ruined. She didn’t even notice the other presence skulking up behind her, until she curled up right next to Twilight and laid a golden wing across Twilight’s back in a show of support.
Twilight peeked through her wings and looked up to see Fluttershy in her own dragon form smiling back at her.
“You look distressed,” Fluttershy said. “I thought you could use some company.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
Fluttershy blinked and cocked her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Why are you being so kind to me?” Twilight repeated. “Healing my wounds is one thing, but allowing me to bring dangerous ponies into your forest, leaving your forest to accompany me to the Crystal Empire? It’s so much! Why are you going out of your way to help me like this?”
Fluttershy took a second to ponder Twilight’s question; in Fluttershy’s mind it seemed obvious, but she supposed from Twilight’s perspective her behavior might come off a little strange. She just hoped Twilight was okay with Fluttershy trying to help, and that she wasn’t messing everything up by putting her big nose where it didn’t belong.
“I suppose it’s just in my nature,” Fluttershy smiled. “I can’t turn my back on someone in need, if I have the means to provide help to them.”
“But leaving your forest?” Twilight asked perplexedly. “Going all the way up north to the Crystal Empire? It’s so far away!”
Fluttershy hoped Twilight wasn’t trying to hint that she didn’t want Fluttershy to come, but she presumed that was just her anxiety talking so she settled with simply answering Twilight’s question.
“I guess,” Fluttershy hummed, happing her chin with a claw, “I’m tired of hiding too.”
Fluttershy had long since lost track of how long she had lived in her forest; she had seen at least one generation of children grow into adults in the nearby village, but the years flew by too quickly for her to keep track of how many there were.
And it was true, that she would miss the forest; for many reasons, not the least of which being that she was now connected to it. She didn’t just live inside it, she lived through it, she could feel every leaf and snowflake within her forest as though they were her own fur and feathers, and being apart from that connection would make her feel very small indeed.
All the tearful farewells she had to bid to her dear animal friends didn’t make it any easier, but the words she spoke were true. She was tired of hiding.
She was tired of living in fear of the day that dragons came to Equestria, she was tired of waiting for the inevitable day that the village beside her forest grew larger than her realm and realized they had no need for her. She was tired of wondering whether her death would come at the hands of ponies or dragons, and living every day with that thought pounding at the doors of her mind.
If Twilight could risk her safety and her comfort to fight for a life worth living, so too could Fluttershy.
“And I want you to know,” Fluttershy smiled and nudged Twilight with her wing, “that I’m happy to help.”
“I appreciate it, Fluttershy,” Twilight sighed and arched her back, yawning herself awake. “I’m glad I won’t be alone for this trip.”
“I don’t know, Twilight,” Fluttershy thought about Pinkie Pie and brought a paw up to her cheek, vividly remembering the touch of the pony’s hand against her fur, “maybe I’m being too hopeful, but I don’t think we’ll be alone for too long.”
“You know what, Fluttershy?” Twilight flashed a smile, and Fluttershy smiled back, overjoyed to see Twilight finally smile for the first time since she’d landed in Fluttershy’s forest. “I bet you’re right.”
Ponyville’s clothing shop was a delightful little boutique with tranquil wallpaper, polite clientele, and very friendly and welcoming employees. The whole place filled Rarity with a profound sense of peace, which abruptly came crashing down when the thought of owning a place like this for herself reminded her of all those damn fashion books that she never read with Twilight.
Dear stars, she griped, everything is going to start reminding me of Twilight, isn’t it?
It didn’t help when Rarity came across a violet dress, with a cape trailing behind it and long sleeves to keep a pony cozy even in winter, and couldn’t help but think of how adorable Twilight would look in it.
She held the dress in her hands and it was so soft, and it reminded her of how Twilight used to nuzzle her cheek against Rarity’s hand, and she wanted to burn the dress to cinders, just like how the library was—
Okay, now this was getting ridiculous.
Rarity sat on a bench off to the side in the boutique, and cradled her face in her hands, groaning loudly in frustration.
“Oh hiii, Rarity,” a familiar, laidback voice called out to Rarity, catching her by surprise, “what are you doing here?” Rarity looked up to see a familiar gray pegasus sporting a blonde mane and shimmering yellow eyes, one of which was locked on Rarity, and the other very much wasn’t.
“Bubbles!” Rarity said cheerfully, her ears perking up. “What a pleasant surprise! I didn’t get to see you before I left last time. How are your injuries?”
“My what now?” the pegasus tilted her head and creased her brow, looking terribly confused.
“Don’t you recall?” Rarity asked, equally confused as to how someone could simply forget being mauled by a timberwolf. Rarity certainly hadn’t. “You followed me into the Everfree, a few months back. Your leg was terribly injured during the ensuing battle, and though I heard you were doing alright, I didn’t get to see you for myself before I left, so I was concerned.”
“Oooooh,” Bubbles snorted and slapped her knee, “that time, I remember that! Welp, my leg’s all better now! So no need to worry about little ol’ me!”
“That’s a relief,” Rarity sighed. At least there was some good news to be had today.
“What’s on your mind, Rarity?” Bubbles asked, sitting down unprompted next to Rarity and putting an arm around her shoulders. “You seem tense.”
“I am tense,” Rarity replied miserably, though she realized she couldn’t exactly share the circumstances that led to her agonized state, now could she?
“What’s wrong?”
Rarity pondered a moment.
While it was true that she couldn’t say exactly what happened, Bubbles seemed like a sincere enough sort, and Rarity might feel better talking to someone who didn’t carry as much baggage as her friends.
At the very least, she might feel better by getting all her frustrations off her chest, and if Bubbles was asking, there was no reason Rarity couldn’t at least share the vague details of her story.
“I have—or, had, I suppose—a friend,” Rarity explained, “a very, very dear friend. And I recently realized that she’s been lying to me about something huge since we met, and I’m not sure I can ever trust her again.”
“Is she sorry for lying?” Bubbles asked, tilting her head innocently.
“She says she is,” Rarity said, “but how can I simply trust her word after she already lied to me?”
“That’s not really the question you should be asking, I think,” Bubbles puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms. “I think what’s more important is, do you want to trust her?”
“What, pray tell, are you talking about?”
Bubbles cleared her throat. “Well, if your friend said she was sorry, and she wants to make up for lying to you, don’t you think you’d rather believe her? Like, if she’s your friend, and you still want to be friends with her— you do still want to be friends with her, right?”
“I do, but,” Rarity bit her lip, “what if she lies to me again? What if I, or even someone else who I care deeply for, gets hurt?”
“I think it’s better to risk getting hurt than to guard yourself pre-emptively from anything that could hurt you,” Bubbles said, “especially when it comes to friendship.”
“So you think I should give her a second chance,” Rarity grumbled.
“I think everyone deserves a second chance!” Bubbles said cheerfully, throwing her arms in the air and spreading her wings. “Maybe not a third chance, but think about it like this; if you still want to be friends, and she wants to make amends, don’t you owe it to both of you to give her another chance?”
Rarity paused. She stared into space for a second, and then looked at the violet dress still in her hands. She hadn't for a moment considered what she wanted from this whole situation, just what she thought she should do, or what she thought the ‘right’ thing to do was.
But what is it that she wanted?
Looking at the dress again, and thinking about how darling Twilight would look in it, she knew the answer, and she prayed she was brave enough to act on it.
“Thank you, Bubbles,” Rarity said with a smile, gently placing her hand on a beaming Bubbles’ hand. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, and I think I have an idea of what I need to do.”
“Glad I could help!” Bubbles shot right up and gave a salute. “And I hope you and your friend work things out!”
“Yes,” Rarity said fondly, “so do I.”
Rarity took the violet dress to the counter, along with a pretty green dress for Fluttershy, and some extra dresses in case they needed to change clothes for the journey, and other outfits in case they got tired of dresses.
Oh, they would also need jackets; even if they were immune to the cold themselves, nopony wanted to look at someone who looked cold, plus how could Rarity resist buying a few new stylish jackets for the winter season? Especially since the damn season seemed intent on staying past its welcome.
Rarity also picked up a new dress for herself, figuring she may as well treat herself since she’d been having such a shitty time, then realized that of course she should treat her friends as well, and got some new clothes for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. Nothing too frou-frou-y for the former three, though Rarity was certain Pinkie would positively adore the cabaret-style dress Rarity picked out for her.
With a small mountain of clothes hovering in the air behind her, Rarity finally felt ready to check herself out, and the woman behind the counter’s jaw dropped as she adjusted her glasses and stared in awe at Rarity’s impressive selection.
“Dear me,” she said, “is that all for yourself?”
“Heavens, no,” Rarity giggled, looking fondly at the collection, “they’re for me and my family.”
Rarity sat alone on the bench of the Ponyville steam train, hoof tapping against the thinly-carpeted floor of the vehicle, thumbnail bit between her teeth.
She was right—because of course she was, she was Rarity after all— Fluttershy looked very cute in the outfit that Rarity had bought for her, and it was nice that Fluttershy and Twilight both did not put up much of a fuss about the clothing choices Rarity had made.
How Twilight looked in her outfit, Rarity couldn’t really say, as she was very purposefully trying to avoid looking at the purple dragon in pony’s skin, lest the flame Rarity was trying to suppress rise back to the surface.
Hmm, ‘flame’… perhaps a poor choice of words.
Granted, as she watched Fluttershy get acclimated to a pony train for the first time in the disguise of a gangly, almost sickly-looking pegasus—this being the very first time the dragon had ever set foot into a train in her life—it was difficult not to look at Twilight Sparkle who was right by Fluttershy’s side, laughing and conversing quite jovially with the yellow mar—woman.
Rarity wished that she were in Fluttershy’s place, and then she cursed herself for having that damned thought.
But she couldn’t quite help it; she couldn’t help but long for the way things used to be, when she and Twilight would spend hours upon hours chatting about the most frivolous things, before Rarity knew about the horrifying secret that Twilight had been keeping from her during their entire relationship.
And that was the cursed train of thought Rarity was stuck in, going in a constant loop inside her head over and over; thinking about Twilight made her think about the old times, thinking about the old times made her think about Twilight’s secret, thinking about that secret made Rarity curse Twilight Sparkle, which made her yearn for the old times and—
Rinse. Repeat.
Twilight apparently noticed Rarity staring at her and Fluttershy, and turned her head to look at Rarity. Rarity considered turning away, averting eye contact with the dragon who had pretended to love her, but she chose not to.
She wanted Twilight to see her, to see the anger, the betrayal, the hatred in Rarity’s eyes.
But as tears stung Rarity’s eyes, she wondered if those were truly the emotions her eyes held, and only then did she look away, choosing instead to peer out the window at the station of Ponyville. She remembered how quaint the town had been during her last visit here, and at one time she wondered if perhaps the easy life of an ordinary citizen should have been her calling.
There was a time where she thought about settling down, just being happy and living an ordinary life with the people she cared about, and that memory brought her right back into that ever-looping train once again.
There was no escape from the thoughts of Twilight Sparkle, it seemed.
And perhaps, Rarity pondered, perhaps it would be best to simply confront these thoughts head-on. If going back to those old times was what Rarity truly desired, then maybe giving Twilight the cold shoulder was not in her best interest.
Would it be better— would it even be possible— to look past Twilight’s secret-keeping and her dragonic blood, and instead forgive her—or even apologize, if not for her own sake, then on behalf of the Queen and the Slayers who hunted Twilight’s kind?
As Rarity’s fingers instinctively traced across the surface of her dragon fang necklace, her stomach was seized by a violent wave of anxiety and disgust. It was impossible to overlook the similarities between Twilight’s situation and the case of that dragon so many years ago.
Twilight had been living in Canterlot for many more months that the dragon who burned down Pinkie Pie’s village, and had not once even attempted to make conflict within the city or with any of its inhabitants.
But what if she was just biding her time?
Rarity’s first gut reaction was to almost laugh at such an absurd notion; a clever, manipulative schemer who waited for the perfect moment to strike against her hated enemy didn’t sound like the Twilight Sparkle she knew at all.
But that was just it; she had no way of knowing how much, if any, of the Twilight Sparkle she thought she knew was even real, and how much was merely a part of her disguise.
This whole thing was starting to give Rarity a headache, and she found her mind returning to some words of advice she once heard, but now couldn’t even remember who had said them to her.
What do you want, Rarity?
And what did Rarity want? She had spent so much of her life never considering such a notion that it was difficult for her to parse what should have been a rather simple question.
But if Rarity were being entirely honest with herself, what she truly wanted was—
Twilight laughed and Rarity immediately turned to look at her, Rarity’s ears clamping against her head as she was caught completely unprepared by the wave of affection that crushed her as she saw Twilight laughing with a bright smile on her face, Twilight not even noticing Rarity as she remained enraptured by her pleasant conversation with Fluttershy.
Rarity stood up and headed for the bathroom. Once there, once she had sequestered herself within a stall in which she was certain nopony would bother her, she allowed herself finally to break down in tears.
What she truly wanted was far beyond her grasp now.
Fluttershy’s emotions were a roiling cocktail of mixed feelings as she first set foot on the train leading out of Ponyville. She couldn’t deny a little bit of excitement at the prospect of seeing the world outside her forest, but leaving that forest made her melancholy, and the fear of what might happen to her if her true form as a dragon were discovered didn’t help.
She was feeling many things, but most of all she just felt sick.
She was fortunate that between the clothes she’d gotten from Rarity, not being surrounded by animals, and not melting the snow around her hooves, she didn’t draw attention to herself and nopony in Ponyville recognized her as the forest’s spirit.
But that still didn’t help the feeling that everypony was watching her as she marched through the town, trying to hide herself from the knife-like glares of Ponyville’s citizens that bared into her skin from every pony.
If they knew what she was, how would they react? And as Fluttershy stepped onto the train, those fears overwhelmed her and she couldn’t help thinking that everyone around her knew—they knew and they hated her, and they wanted her gone.
They wanted her dead.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight Sparkle’s soft voice and gentle touch of her hand on Fluttershy’s hand woke Fluttershy back up to reality. “Are you okay?”
“Um,” Fluttershy bit her lip. She was standing frozen in the train’s entryway, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before someone yelled at her to hurry up, but she couldn’t bring herself to move and soon she felt a cold sweat beating down her brow.
“Come on,” Twilight Sparkle said with a tender smile, easing Fluttershy deeper into the train with their fingers intertwined. “You’re gonna love the train, it’s awesome.”
“O-okay,” Fluttershy swallowed a lump of anxiety and it felt like shards of glass were scraping down her throat.
She had no idea where any of the ponies in her group were by the time Twilight sat her down on a bench beside the window, and Fluttershy had to admit, being out of everyone’s way and being able to focus on the snowy scenery outside was already helping her mind feel at ease.
“You okay?” Twilight Sparkle said softly, her fingers still wrapped around Fluttershy’s like a protective blanket.
“I-I think—I think I—”
“Let’s take some deep breaths, alright?” Twilight said, and Fluttershy nodded.
Fluttershy watched Twilight Sparkle breathe in through her nose, and Fluttershy mirrored her movements, focusing on the feeling of air flowing into her body.
Twilight Sparkle slowly let out a soft sigh, and Fluttershy did the same, a smile gracing her lips as she felt much of the pressure on her heart leaving alongside the breath.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy dipped her head down, fidgeting anxiously with her hair. “That helped.”
“My pleasure,” Twilight Sparkle smiled, and it was the first time that Fluttershy had noticed that Twilight had a very pretty smile.
A smile that disappeared in an instant when Twilight turned her head, and when Fluttershy followed Twilight’s gaze, she understood immediately why.
Rarity.
She was staring at Twilight and Fluttershy, though to be honest even despite Fluttershy’s anxieties she wasn’t so self-centered to believe that Rarity was looking at anything but Twilight.
Her eyes were so fixed to Twilight that she didn’t seem to notice Fluttershy staring back at her.
Fluttershy’s impression of Rarity had always been complicated, since the first time Rarity had entered her forest; Rarity was a woman of great compassion and dedication, but one who obviously struggled with her inner demons.
She killed animals and dragons alike and seemed to revel in that life of violence, and yet she spoke with an exhausted tone that belied a woman who understood the emotional cost of violence, but felt powerless to break free.
But looking at her now, Fluttershy couldn’t help but see her as anything more than a pitiful, heartbroken woman.
“How do you feel about her, Twilight Sparkle?” Fluttershy asked calmly, her gaze still fixed on Rarity.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said emptily. “Or rather, I don’t know what to say.”
Twilight Sparkle returned her attention to Fluttershy before burying her head in her hands, and Fluttershy thought it only polite to give Twilight her full attention in return.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” she whimpered. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Fluttershy gently placed her fingers around Twilight’s and offered a graceful smile. “What do you want to talk about instead?”
“I dunno,” Twilight muttered. “All of my good memories are wrapped up in memories of the library, yet right now it feels like those memories are as ruined as the library itself.”
Twilight groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Which reminds me,” she sighed bitterly, “I need to see the wreckage for myself. Need to see if there’s anything in there worth salvaging. That’s gonna be a downer.”
“I think I understand how you feel,” Fluttershy said carefully. She wanted to empathize, but she didn’t want to presume she knew what Twilight was going through just because she felt like she had gone through similar experiences. “I don’t have many pleasant memories of my home anymore either.”
“You come from Zebrica, right?” Twilight asked, and Fluttershy nodded with a small giggle. Zebrica was the only major territory that allowed dragons to live openly, so it wasn’t hard to guess where Fluttershy was from. “What region?”
“I kinda went all over,” Fluttershy said, and while she knew that answer was pretty unhelpful, she always tried to keep details of her past locked in a vault inside her brain that she never ever opened. “Ended up settling down in Dragmire for the longest though.”
The way Twilight instantly sucked air through her teeth, Fluttershy could tell she also spent some time in Dragmire.
“That’s rough. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Fluttershy shook her head and smiled. “We’re in this together now, and we’ve both gone through a lot. But the beautiful thing about life is that there will always be opportunities to make new happy memories.”
Twilight blinked and stared awkwardly at Fluttershy, which made Fluttershy feel a little anxious. Then Twilight burst out laughing and Fluttershy’s cheeks turned a deep, blazing pink and she wondered if perhaps she should have just kept her mouth shut.
“You’re so right, Fluttershy!” Twilight said with a big smile, and the wave of relief that washed over Fluttershy was indescribable. “I still have my son, and you, and Pinkie Pie too.”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy said softly. “Just cuz we have a lot of unhappy memories weighing us down, doesn’t mean we can’t blaze a new path toward a life worth living, y’know?”
“I do!” Twilight chirped, nodding vigorously. “We can make new happy memories, and you know what?”
“Hm?”
“I think I just did,” Twilight beamed, and Fluttershy smiled brightly back at her.
It was still going to be a long journey to the Crystal Empire, and yet Fluttershy was sure now more than ever that she was glad she came along.
The winter wind felt colder on Twilight’s skin than it had in a long time, as it brought with it the smell of burnt wood from the ashes of the once great oak tree she stood in front of.
This had been her home, and now it was nothing more than a pitch-black splintered trunk and flecks of ash sailing on the wind.
As Twilight stood in front of the ruins of her old home, her fingers gripped gently by Spike’s hand, she wasn’t really sure what to feel. Sadness? Regret? Despair? Even anger maybe?
Twilight didn’t know, so she didn’t really feel much of anything. It was almost like she was staring at the scene outside of her own body, a passive observer to whom the library that had housed so many wonderful memories meant nothing.
It was all over now. The life Twilight had been trying to build for herself and her son lied in ruins like the library.
It was too much for one woman to bear, so she simply refused to bear it.
Twilight felt a gentle tug on her hand, and she looked down to see Spike, eyes glistening with unshed tears, smiling up at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. At least they still had each other.
Memories, homes, even relationships could be rebuilt, so long as they were together.
“C’mon, Twilight!” Spike pitter-pattered over to the library, tugging Twilight along with him. “No sense standing around moping all day! Let’s look for some buried treasure!”
“That sounds great, Spike,” Twilight laughed, thankful for Spike’s enthusiasm. “Just be careful! We don’t know if the place is gonna collapse any more than it already has!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Spike gave an exaggerated scoff. “You’re too paranoid, honestly!”
“Sure,” Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes as the pair took their first steps into the library.
Twilight felt nauseous feeling the familiar hardwood of her library under her hooves, and it didn’t help when she looked up and saw the sky through the burnt-out hole in the roof—it was practically more hole now than roof to be quite honest.
Spike didn’t seem deterred, digging through collapsed shelves and toppled bookcases like it was nothing more than a scavenger hunt, and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief at his energy. She was worried this was gonna be harder on him than it would be on her, and she was glad to see the reverse was true.
After maybe fifteen minutes of searching, Twilight and Spike sat at the half-burned remains of their coffee table and looked at the small collection of books they had gathered.
Twilight, ever the perfectionist, wasn’t interested in keeping around books that had lost even a few of their pages, and unfortunately for her the books that had been completely unharmed by the battle in the library numbered in merely the double digits.
“Well, that’s a spirit breaker,” she said drolly, pouting and resting her chin on the table.
“None of your journals are here,” Spike said sadly. “I thought you had like really powerful protection spells on them, so I was hoping at least they’d still be around.”
“They should be,” Twilight muttered. “But they’re all upstairs. Considering how many abjurations I cast on the upstairs bedroom, I bet it still looks better than most entire houses in the rest of this city.”
“Oh! Let’s go up there then!” Spike cheered, not even waiting for Twilight’s reply before hurrying up the stairs.
“Be caref—”
Before Twilight could even finish, Spike stepped on a stair that collapsed upon his touch. Twilight gasped, teleporting over to him and picking him up as he fell, her wings outstretched behind her back as she floated above the floor.
“Woah,” Spike chuckled, looking up at Twilight as she put him on the ground. “You haven’t let your wings out like that since—”
“Bleugh,” Twilight groaned as she put her wings away. She hated them. A cursed reminder of how she would never fit in, no matter where she tried to hide. “Come on, Spike. Let’s go up there together.”
“Roger that!” Spike gave a spirited salute that made Twilight giggle.
If stepping inside the library made Twilight feel nauseous, stepping into the attic bedroom made her want to die right on the spot. It was the same as it ever was, just as Twilight predicted, and it was an even more pressing reminder of the—
No.
No more of that. No more being miserable about the past. I need to move on. We need to move on.
“Hey, Twilight!” Spike said, his eyes wide as he rummaged through one of the nightstands. “Check this out!”
Twilight pushed aside the storm in her stomach to pay attention to Spike, but she couldn’t hide the pained grimace on her face when she saw what he had found.
He had indeed found Twilight’s collection of journals, which she was quite happy to see; it would have been a huge pain to rewrite that much material.
But no, that wasn’t what Twilight focused on.
A small pile of books had been removed from the nightstand, sitting in a pile on the floor beside Spike, who had no idea what he had moved. They had been sitting inside the nightstand on top of Twilight’s journals, because she had wanted them to always be close to her.
It was an assorted collection…
…of fashion books.
“God fucking damn it,” Twilight cursed under her breath, biting down on her thumb almost hard enough to draw blood.
“What’s the ma— oh,” Spike gulped as he followed Twilight’s line of sight to the fashion books. “Oh, I didn’t see those when I moved ‘em. I didn’t really think— I’m sorry, Twilight.”
“Don’t be,” Twilight shrugged, wiping the blood off her finger onto her tunic. “Not your fault. Not anyone’s fault, I guess. Just—”
“Do you think Rarity will ever wanna be friends again?” Spike asked, and his voice cracked with emotion that threatened to shatter Twilight’s fragile heart.
Twilight didn’t want Spike to feel the same kind of pain she was feeling, but she refused to lie to him or give him false hope.
“I don’t know, Spike,” she said coldly.
“Is there anything we can do?” Spike whimpered, his face scrunching up to hold back tears.
“I don’t know,” Twilight choked out, her own tears threatening to break free at any second, so she knelt down and hugged Spike, who clung to her tightly.
“I don’t know either,” Spike sighed, but then quickly pushed himself away from Twilight and smiled at her, “but what I do know is that I’ll always be your friend! And you’ll always be mine!”
“That’s right, Spike!” Twilight chuckled and ruffled the little pegasus’ mane. “I’m really lucky to have you.”
“That’s true,” Spike said smugly. “Honestly I don’t know how you’d survive without me.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t,” Twilight chuckled but her words were absolutely serious. If not for Spike, she probably wouldn’t have—
Well, best not to think about what would’ve happened.
“Alright,” Twilight groaned as she stood up. She felt like age was already catching up to her, and yet she was barely a young adult. “I’m tired of swimming in these old memories. Let’s pack up the important stuff and head to the station already.”
“Okay,” Spike hummed and collected his little doll of Twilight’s likeness— which made Twilight’s heart melt every time she saw it— and Twilight’s journals. “Oh, hey,” Spike said, giving a limp kick to the fashion books, “what about these?”
Twilight took a deep breath, in through her nose— and it didn’t escape her that she felt like she could actually breathe for the first time since she’d set her eyes on the ruined library.
Twilight sighed slowly, wanting to let the past die so she could move on into a better future.
“Pack them up,” Twilight said with a nervous smile, Spike’s eyes glittering like stars at her words, “you never know when we might need them.”
Applejack sighed as she tapped her finger against the wooden counter of the smithery. Pinkie sat in a nearby chair; she had planned to gather food and stuff from the kitchen to pack up for their journey, and Applejack was gonna see if there was anything worth salvaging from the shop, but—
Both ponies sat in cold silence.
This was it. They were really closing down the shop, and there was no way of knowing if they were gonna be able to recover it after this.
“I mean,” Pinkie chuckled awkwardly, “we have a few loyal customers. They won’t just forget about us, right?”
“Not enough to break even,” Applejack mumbled, chin resting in her hand. Pinkie just sighed.
“I’m sorry, Applejack,” Pinkie pouted, curling up into a ball with her legs held in front of her like a shield. “If it weren’t for me—”
“Don’t even start, Pinkie,” Applejack shook her head. “I love ya more’n any shop or job. Yer family to me, and I don’t wanna hear you beatin’ yerself up over any of this.”
“Oh,” Pinkie hummed. “Well then, can I be honest?”
“Absolutely,” Applejack offered a warm smile.
“I am gonna be so glad to be done with this place!” Pinkie groaned, lurching back with her hands over her face. “Working here has been like one nightmarish stress headache after another and I am SOOOOOO done!”
“Y’know what, Pinkie?” Applejack grumbled, before bursting out laughing. “Big same! Gawd, I’m so glad we’re on the same page here!”
“Me too!” Pinkie gasped, jumping into the air. “Oh, I was super duper worried you were gonna be totally bummed out!”
“Eh, I am a wee bit,” Applejack shrugged. “But the truth is, I ain’t gonna miss doin’ this work. Heck, I ain’t even gonna miss Canterlot if I’m bein’ totally frank.”
“Me neither,” Pinkie huffed and crossed her arms. “Twilight was the best thing to ever happen to this city.”
That statement caught Applejack off-guard, and she arched an eyebrow. Truth be told, she still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Twilight Sparkle, the dragon. All she knew was she for dang sure didn’t want Pinkie gettin’ involved with such a dangerous situation.
But then again, she knew there was nothing she could do or say that’d stop Pinkie from chasin’ after Twi if that’s what she wanted to do.
Didn’t mean she couldn’t try though.
“Pinkie—”
A jingling bell interrupted Applejack’s train of thought as a customer came into the smithery. Applejack prepared to put on her polite dealing-with-customers face, but before she could even do that she was left stunned by exactly who it was that walked in, and her face went completely pale.
“Um,” Fluttershy muttered, fingers twiddling in front of her, “is this store open still? Should I come back later? Or uh, never?”
“Oh, Fluttershy!” Pinkie’s eyes lit up like glittering stars and she bit her lip real hard, probably trying to control herself from just leaping onto Fluttershy in a big hug. “No, you’re totally welcome here! Our home is your home!”
I wouldn’t go that far, Applejack thought, but it wouldn’t do to be impolite to a guest. After all, Applejack might not have trusted Twilight or Fluttershy, but she wasn’t ready to just start jumpin’ to conclusions about ‘em either.
“How can we help ya, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
“Well, I um-” Fluttershy cleared her throat “-I was under the impression that this was a smithery. I was wondering, if um, you could maybe—”
Fluttershy bit down on her thumb while twirling a strand of hair around her other hand. Pinkie walked up to her and grabbed Fluttershy’s arm gently, smiling brightly at her. That seemed to help Fluttershy’s mood a fair bit.
“I was hoping you could make me a sword!” Fluttershy said with an exaggerated bow.
“Heck yeah!” Pinkie squealed, jumping in the air and pumping her fists while Applejack was still trying to process what Fluttershy had just said. “One last job, Applejack! What d’ya say!!”
“I’m a little surprised,” Applejack tapped a finger on the counter, her brow thoroughly creased. “How come yer lookin’ for a sword, Fluttershy? Thought you were the non-violent type?”
Pinkie glowered at Applejack, but Fluttershy just chuckled.
“Complete non-violence isn’t very realistic, is it?” Fluttershy said with a calm, measured smile on her face. “There are always people out there who might want to hurt you, and I’d rather be able to defend myself with a sword than with fire, you know?”
“Ah,” Applejack chuckled awkwardly, “I guess that makes sense.”
“Besides,” Fluttershy looked down at Pinkie and gave her a serene smile, “I’ve heard that Pinkie Pie is an expert enchanter, and I would like something—” Fluttershy bit her lip and pondered her next statement for a second. “In case I ever need to go back into hiding, I would like to have something of hers, a small part of her that can always be with me.”
Pinkie’s eyes glistened with tears and her smile was as wide and brimming with joy as Applejack had ever seen it. Applejack couldn’t exactly say no to that face, but it didn’t much matter since she wasn’t planning on saying no anyway.
“What d’ya say, Pinkie?” Applejack grinned at her tiny pink companion. “One last job?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie gave an eager grin and pounded her fist against her palm. “Let’s make one last sword—the best one we’ve ever made— not just for Fluttershy, but to celebrate all the time we’ve spent here and all the friends we’ve made and stuff!”
“Honestly, Pinkie,” Applejack chuckled and gave a soft sigh, feeling a mountain of weight falling off her back as she stood up and readied her tools one last time, “that sounds great.”
Fluttershy had an ideal in mind for what her sword should look like, and she tried to give specific instructions about it to Pinkie Pie and Applejack, but she also didn’t want to step on their hooves too much, so she felt like her suggestions might have gotten muddled, and she worried that her weapon wouldn’t come out how she wanted it.
Turns out she worried for nothing— what a concept— because the sword that Fluttershy now held in her hands was even better than what she had imagined.
A sturdy, curved blade that gently glowed with pink runes etched onto it— six of them, each representing a different enchantment inspired by Pinkie Pie’s love for the people she cared about, and her desire to protect Fluttershy with those feelings.
The hilt was a forest green with a pale pink design of a butterfly etched into it, and as Fluttershy swung it this way and that, it felt lighter than air, like it was a part of her body and not just a tool for self-defense.
“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy smiled brightly, her cheeks tinted a rosy pink, “it’s perfect.”
“I daresay it’s the finest thing we ever made,” Applejack wiped some sweat off her brow as she sat contentedly at the counter, arms crossed over it and head resting over her arms.
“I’m super duper glad you like it,” Pinkie beamed, a little squeaking noise escaping her lips that warmed Fluttershy’s heart.
“I do,” Fluttershy sighed, feeling a breath of fresh air filling her lungs for the first time since she’d left her forest as she stared at the runes etched onto her blade. “I love it.”
Rarity was seated at the bar in Canterlot’s Moon District, elegantly posed and sipping from a delightful little pink cocktail—
No, okay that’s not true. Rarity had her head firmly against a wooden table in the corner of the slate-gray bar, a half-empty mug of cider sitting on the table in front of her.
Rarity generally dealt with any kind of tragedy or emotional turmoil by barricading herself in her room with several tubs of ice cream— crying hysterically for hours at a time in the most dire of circumstances, which this certainly qualified as— but she didn’t have the opportunity to stock up on ice cream since everything that happened with Twilight, and one could only cry so hysterically in a public bathroom without attracting unwanted attention.
So here Rarity sat, lying in pathetic squalor in a seedy rundown bar, cursing herself for ever having feelings for the woman that somehow managed to save her life and then ruin it all over again.
Rarity’s wallowing would have to wait however, as she was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash slamming her palm down on the table, Rarity jolting up in alarm.
When Rainbow took her hand off the table, Rarity looked down to see a piece of paper that Rainbow had left there.
“What is this?” Rarity asked.
“That is a piece of paper,” Rainbow replied, and Rarity just sighed. “It’s a mission. A simple one, just go hunt down a manticore that’s been bothering the ponies in Luna Bay. I figured you could use some time away from-” Rainbow gesticulated in disgust “-all this, so I signed you up for one.”
“Without asking me first?” Rarity arched an eyebrow.
“Well, I’m not gonna twist your arm or anything,” Rainbow shrugged. “If you don’t wanna do it, I’ll just do it myself, I just thought you might appreciate having some time to yourself to sort your head out, y’know?”
“Honestly, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity scoffed, “I’m not sure why you think I need to be sequestered from the all the important things going on with Twilight and everyth—”
“Whatever, Rarity,” Rainbow interjected, batting Rarity’s arguments away with a dismissive hand. “Like I said, if you don’t wanna do it, that’s totally fine. I know I could definitely use some time to think about everything that’s happened.”
Rarity tapped her finger against the wooden table and let out a slow, dreary sigh through her nose. Perhaps Rainbow Dash had the right idea. Just seeing the woman known as Twilight Sparkle made Rarity feel ill, and angry, and sad, and heartbroken, and depressed, and—
“Okay, fine,” Rarity grumpily said aloud, if only to silence the torrent of intrusive thoughts smothering her mind. “Fine.”
“You’ll take the mission?” Rainbow sat down and gave Rarity a friendly smirk, and while it was but a small gesture, it somehow made Rarity feel like she could breathe again for a short time.
“I will,” Rarity nodded and reached her hand across the table, Rainbow looking at it for a second and biting her lip before deciding to put her hand overtop it. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. And I apologize, for snapping at you before. You didn’t deserve that at all.”
“Thanks, Rare,” Rainbow chuckled, “I appreciate that. Cuz yeah, I totally get why your patience is on thin ice right now, and I feel ya, but don’t forget that Twilight was everypony’s friend, and we’re all reeling right now.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Rarity sighed and gently squeezed Rainbow’s fingers. “And I’m sorry that I’ve just been thinking of myself.”
Rainbow Dash merely nodded in reply, a soft smile on her face. She stood up, and Rarity stood up as well and embraced Rainbow in a tight hug, the two just holding each other for a brief moment in time.
“I will say,” Rarity whispered, “I am incredibly fortunate to have such wonderful friends in my life.”
“You sure are,” Rainbow snickered, and instead of sniping back at her, Rarity only giggled. She couldn’t even hope to argue with that.
Rarity sat on a bench in the Moon District train station, listlessly waiting for her train to arrive. She hardly noticed the passersby going about their business around her as she sat solemnly, finger tapping against her cheek.
She sat alone; she was taking an earlier train than that of the rest of her group, so she saw fit to arrive at the station early; the less time she had to spend pining over Twilight Sparkle, the better.
“Hey, Rarity!”
Applejack’s voice calling out to her made Rarity’s ears shoot right up, and she attempted to affect a cheerful expression as Applejack walked up to her— but the key word was ‘attempted’ and it was not a lovely sight to behold.
“Woah,” Applejack said with a cringe, “don’t look too excited.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” Rarity groaned and pouted. “I’m not in a good mood today, I’m afraid.”
“Yeah, I feel ya on that,” Applejack grumbled and took a seat next to Rarity, putting her arm around Rarity’s shoulders. Rarity thought to protest, but decided against it; she could use the comfort.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be there fo—”
“Don’t apologize, hon,” Applejack chuckled and rubbed Rarity’s arm, and while Rarity did feel somewhat guilty still, she appreciated Applejack’s support. “We’re all reelin’ from this, it’s only natural we’d all need some time to get our heads on straight ‘fore we can really be there for each other. Especially you.”
Rarity said nothing, just let the truth of Applejack’s words fill her like water being poured into an empty vase.
“So hey,” Applejack cleared her throat and Rarity’s ears flicked up again, “were you gonna tell the rest of us that you’re takin’ a different train?”
“Uh, well,” Rarity stammered sheepishly, her face turning a bright red. Truth be told, it just slipped her mind that she should probably inform the others of her change of plans. “I apologize, I haven’t quite been myself as of late.”
“That’s fine, sugarcube,” Applejack laughed and brought Rarity in close for a side-hug. “I’m just teasin’ ya. Rainbow told me the whole story.”
“Oh, okay,” Rarity sighed. “I certainly hoped one of you informed Pinkie Pie. You know she’ll be distraught if the news is dropped on her at the last minute.”
“Yeah, she wasn’t happy about it,” Applejack hummed. “But she gets it too. You need some time and space to clear yer head, we all do.”
“I hope she wasn’t too upset,” Rarity mused.
“She said it’s fine,” Applejack chuckled into her hand, “but that next time she sees ya she’s gonna make you eat one of her strawberry-cinnamon-cilantro cupcakes.”
“Oh goodness,” Rarity held her hand up to her mouth and laughed, “certainly a punishment worse than death.”
“I’ll eat one with ya,” Applejack said, “cuz I wanna go with you on the manticore mission.”
“What,” Rarity said stiffly, looking at Applejack as though she had told her that the earth was flat or some other such nonsense.
“I know you need your space,” Applejack gently tapped her knuckles against her palm, “so if u don’t want me to come, that’s fine. But I don’t wanna leave you totally on your lonesome. I want you to have somepony to talk to if you need to.”
“That’s—” Rarity blushed, and she chewed on her thumbnail to stall for time and think of what to say.
She was flattered, honestly. She was touched by Applejack’s concern for her; it always surprised her when her friends showed genuine concern for her wellbeing. To some degree, there was a part of her that always assumed her friends were only friends with her because of what she could do for them, so to be reminded that no, her friends really care about her, it was—
It was difficult to handle.
Rarity made a loud hacking cough to try and dissuade the emotions she was feeling, and the tears welling up in her eyes, from fully coming to the surface. Unfortunately, the rest of their little group arrived at the station just in time to see Rarity pretending to hack her lungs out.
“Oh no! Applejack did you tell her about the cilantro thing?” Pinkie gasped, hands over her mouth. “That was just a joke, Rarity, I’m not actually gonna make you eat those nasty things!”
“You’re very—” Rarity coughed, her pretend hacking fit bringing on a real one, and Applejack patted her back. “You’re too sweet, Pinkie Pie. Thank you.”
“So you two work out your travel arrangements?” Rainbow asked, crossing her arms and cocking her head. “You gonna go together?”
“Yes,” Rarity nodded, putting her hand on Applejack’s leg and looking up at her with a tender smile. “Yes, we are. I would like that very much.”
“Happy to do it, Rarity,” Applejack replied with a beaming smile. Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash and winked at her. “I hope you’ll be okay without me for a day or two.”
“I think I’ll manage,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “But you’d better brace yourself, cuz next time I see you, I’m gonna kiss you like super hard.”
“Lookin’ forward to it,” Applejack licked her lips.
“I, um,” Fluttershy if all po—creatures—muttered, “I hope you two have a good time.”
“Thanks, hon,” Applejack said politely, though Rarity refused to say anything at all as she stood to her hooves.
And she looked directly at Twilight Sparkle, who took a step toward her.
For a moment, it felt like the two of them were all that existed in the world, as they simply stared at each other in silence, Spike anxiously holding onto Twilight’s hand.
“Stay safe,” Twilight said, her tone betraying zero emotion.
“You too,” Rarity choked out, speaking before having a chance to think better of it, and then walking away from Twilight Sparkle to the train platform, as the whistle of the oncoming train pierced through the air and shattered the silence.
Twilight was leaned against the window of the train as the snowy hills of Equestria rolled by, her eyes darting back and forth between the scenery outside and Spike, who was sitting across from her and just had so many questions about the Crystal Empire.
Unfortunately for Spike, Twilight couldn’t actually answer most of his questions, as she hadn't ever actually been there; but she didn’t want to tell him that, so she just tried to be coy and answer his questions in as teasing a tone as possible.
Granted, trying to be playful with her son was not super easy considering all Twilight really wanted to do was curl up into a ball and lie on the ground for the rest of her life, so she was somewhat relieved to see Pinkie Pie poking her head into their cabin.
“Knock-knock!” Pinkie chirped. “Anypony in here? Er, wait—anycreature? Anyp—uhh what’s the term here?”
“’Anyone’ is fine,” Twilight chuckled.
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie conked herself on the noggin, “duh! Anyhoo, I brought many cookies!”
“Oooh, come on in, Pinkie!” Spike cooed, slapping his hands against the seat.
Pinkie did exactly as asked and bounced into the cabin, holding two big plastic bags full to bursting with cookies and throwing one over to Spike, who audibly grunted from the weight as he caught it, and he yelped and covered his face with his arms as Pinkie pulled a third bag out of her mane and tossed it to him.
“Hey, Spike,” Pinkie said as she took a seat next to him, “be a dear and split those cookies with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy? I forgot to hand those off to them!”
“I hope you made enough for Applejack and Rarity,” Twilight said listlessly, staring vacantly out the window.
“Of course, silly!” Pinkie blew a raspberry. “But they aren’t here right now so I’ve got their cookies stuffed away in my secret pouch!”
“So wait,” Spike said, holding up a bag of cookies and licking his lips, “does that mean this whole bag is just for me?”
“Well as long as Twilight’s okay with it,” Pinkie nodded, “yeah!”
Spike whipped his head toward Twilight at lightning speed and looked at her with stars in his eyes, and Twilight just rolled her eyes and smirked.
“Go ahead, Spike,” she said, “but bring that other bag to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy first, okay?”
“Will do!” Spike said with an eager salute. “Thanks Twilight, thanks Pinkie!”
Spike couldn’t bolt out of the cabin fast enough, practically leaving Twilight and Pinkie in a cloud of dust, and Twilight couldn’t help but laugh.
“Thanks, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “That was really sweet of you.”
“You guys are my friends,” Pinkie shrugged and stuffed a fistful of cookies into her mouth, not even pretending to care about chewing before she started speaking again and spewing crumbs everywhere. “You want some?”
“Yeah, I’ll take a few,” Twilight said, reaching her hand out.
“Help yourself!” Pinkie chirped as she handed over the bag.
Twilight took a cookie out of the bag and bit down on it. It tasted very good, and Twilight meant to say as much, but she just sort of… zoned out.
“Hey,” Pinkie said softly, Twilight responding by looking up at her but not by speaking. “You wanna talk about, y’know, all the stuff?”
Twilight shook her head.
“That’s okay!” Pinkie kicked her legs in the air. “Do you mind if I… keep you company for a bit?”
“Actually,” Twilight hummed, tracing her fingers over her cookie, “yeah, I’d actually really like that, Pinkie.”
Pinkie beamed and reached out her hand for the cookie bag, Twilight handing it over and Pinkie wasting no time in stuffing her face with as many cookies as would fit in it.
“Don’t worry,” Pinkie said, her mouth full of cookie, “I’ll make sure I save some for you!”
Twilight chuckled but didn’t respond. She just wanted to look out the window at the scenery going by, but every so often she’d look back at Pinkie gleefully eating cookies, and it made her think about the party they all had in Twilight’s library.
That was probably the best day of Twilight’s entire life, and now the library was burned to ashes and was never coming back. Twilight’s lie was revealed, Rarity hated her now, and yet?
Pinkie Pie still wanted to be Twilight’s friend.
And suddenly, the weight of everything that had happened crashed on Twilight’s shoulders like a tidal wave, and her face scrunched up reflexively to try to stop the tears from happening, but they were coming way too strong for Twilight to fight back against them, and Twilight broke down and started weeping.
Pinkie hopped off her bench and came over onto Twilight’s, not saying a word as she just wrapped Twilight up in a hug. That just made Twilight cry even harder, but in a good way, if that makes sense.
Pinkie held up a cookie for Twilight, and Twilight took it and gave it a gentle nibble.
“These are really good, Pinkie,” Twilight said, trying to get a coherent sentence out despite her sniffling and blubbering.
“Thanks,” Pinkie said warmly, “I made them with a lotta love.”
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight put the cookie in her mouth and embraced Pinkie, holding her tight like she was the only solid matter in a universe coming apart at the seams around Twilight, “thank you.”
“Hey,” Pinkie squeaked, starting to cry herself, “what are friends for?”
Fluttershy sat with her legs curled up in front of her, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger as her eyes remained glued to the window and the snowy hills outside. She was alone in a private cabin, but she wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse.
She still had a lot of anxiety being outside her forest; her magic was severely weakened, and she was constantly surrounded by ponies who, if they knew what she was, would want to have her killed immediately.
Not exactly a situation conducive to relaxing.
She felt okay—not great, but okay—when she was with Twilight, but Twilight needed some time alone with her son, and Fluttershy wasn’t about to deny her that, so now Fluttershy was on her own, and every second felt like an hour passing by.
A gentle tap at the door of her cabin made Fluttershy nearly jump out of her skin, and she wasn’t honestly sure how to feel about Rainbow Dash’s voice coming from the other side.
“Hey, Fluttershy?” she said. “You in there? Mind if I come in?”
“Um, okay,” Fluttershy whimpered meekly. Rainbow hadn't been anything but polite to her so far during their limited interactions with each other, and Fluttershy figured Rainbow must have had something important in mind if she was coming to Fluttershy of all creatures.
Rainbow Dash awkwardly sidled into the cabin and pointed at the bench across from Fluttershy.
“This seat taken?” she said with a shaky grin. Fluttershy just shook her head.
Rainbow cleared her throat and sat down, and the two just… sat.
And sat.
In silence.
For what felt, to Fluttershy at least, for about thirty years.
Fluttershy finally mustered up the nerve to speak, but as soon as she did, Rainbow blurted out something as well and the two talked over each other, both awkwardly shutting down to let the other speak first, which only led to another awkward silence.
“I’m afraid of you,” Fluttershy blurted out, and Rainbow sputtered in response.
“Wait, what?” Rainbow blinked. “You’re afraid of me? That’s what I was gonna say, but like the other way around! How are you afrai—”
“I think it’s because ponies, and especially Slayers, seem to be dedicated to wiping out my entire species,” Fluttershy said flatly.
“Oh,” Rainbow replied, eyes darting toward the ground, biting down on her lip and to top it off her ears flattened against her head. “Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Sorry about that.”
“Hm,” Fluttershy nodded. She wasn’t really sure how to take ‘sorry for the attempted genocide’.
“Hey guys, I have cookies!” Spike cheered as he bounced into the cabin, nearly giving Fluttershy a heart attack.
“Yo dude, I love cookies!” Rainbow cooed.
“I-I’ll have—oh!” Fluttershy yelped as Rainbow pulled a cookie out of Spike’s bag and tossed it to her.
“So Fluttershy, here’s what I’m thinkin’,” Rainbow said, her mouth full of cookie, Spike sitting next to her and chowing down on his own bag of cookies. “We got the being scared of each other thing in common, right? And we got the being trans, and the being friends with Twilight thing in common, too.”
Fluttershy wasn’t sure she could consider herself a ‘friend’ of Twilight Sparkle, exactly; they didn’t know each other that well, but Fluttershy did feel that she wanted to be friends with Twilight, and she would be pleased if Twilight really felt that way.
“Maybe we should have the being friends with each other thing in common, too!” Rainbow said, pounding her fist against her palm. Fluttershy gasped, and she wasn’t sure if it was at the sound or at Rainbow’s words. “Cuz I don’t think anyone deserves to live their life in fear, and that obviously includes you, right?”
“I think—” Fluttershy hummed and held out her hand, Rainbow Dash putting a cookie into it which Fluttershy took a nibble of and purred with delight; these must have been Pinkie Pie’s cookies. “I think I’d like that, Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight sniffed and wiped her eyes as she managed to finally grasp some modicum of control over her emotions. Pinkie Pie, for her part, had been an absolute sweetheart; happily munching on cookies and comforting Twilight while Twilight cried. It was very embarrassing.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, taking in deep breaths to try and get ahold of herself. “You didn’t deserve to see all of tha—”
“Bupbup!” Pinkie interjected, raising a hand up toward Twilight’s muzzle but she couldn’t quite reach. “I don’t wanna hear it, Twilight. You’re my friend, and sometimes part of being a good friend is letting your friends cry on you for a bit. No big deal.”
“I just,” Twilight groaned, “I don’t want you to have to be my therapist or anything.”
“I’m not your ‘therapist’,” Pinkie giggled, and Twilight couldn’t deny that sound did wonders for her mood, “I’m your friend!”
“A good friend wouldn’t force you to carry my burdens for me,” Twilight grumbled, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “I need to deal with my own problems, no one else needs to be burdened with sifting through my baggage.”
“You super sure about that?” Pinkie hummed, holding her index fingers together against her lips.
“Yeah! I mean—” Twilight thought about it for a second, thought about her parents back when they were still around, and about all of her old magic teachers besides Zecora, and even Shining Armor. She was forced to admit that Pinkie may have had a point. “Uhhhh, hm.”
“It’s okay, Twilight,” Pinkie patted Twilight’s thigh. “Dealing with hurt is really hard! It’s sticky and it’s complicated, and there’s no easy fixes! But there are-” Pinkie pulled a pair of cookies out of her cookie bag and beamed brightly “-cookies and friendship! And I think those things make dealing with the stickiness a lot easier!”
“Okay,” Twilight giggled and took one of the cookies Pinkie offered, “maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right!” Pinkie nodded confidently, puffing up her chest. “If there’s two things I understand, it’s cookies and friendship! And actually, I know a lot about dealing with internalized trauma too, so you should listen to me!”
“Well that’s upsetting to think about,” Twilight nibbled on the cookie; she wasn’t really hungry, but Pinkie’s cookies were so good, and she knew the only reason she wasn’t hungry was just because she was anxious and her stomach was completely empty. “I don’t want you to have to deal with that kind of pain, Pinkie Pie.”
“Right back atcha!” Pinkie shrugged, taking a big bite out of a cookie. “But we all have demons, right? And the way I see it, friendship is about sharing, and sometimes that means sharing cookies, and sometimes it means sharing burdens! Both are important parts of friendship!”
“Hm,” Twilight took a slightly bigger bite out of the cookie, “I never really thought about it like that before.”
Twilight looked at the half-eaten cookie in her hand and pondered Pinkie’s words. It was tough to hear them, tough to think that Twilight’s method of dealing with her troubles all this time— by internalizing them and never letting anyone else see them ever— was not only not working, but actively hurting her relationships.
And it hurt even more because she knew it was true.
“I’m not—” Twilight croaked weakly, sinking her teeth into the cookie for a second but feeling too sick to take a bite. “I don’t think that I’m ready to share like that.”
“That’s okay!” Pinkie chirped, taking a big bite out of another cookie.
“It is?” Twilight cocked her head as she looked at Pinkie in bewilderment.
“Yeah, totally!” Pinkie nodded confidently. “Everyone deals with their stuff at their own pace, and it wouldn’t do for me to force you to share stuff you’re not comfortable with! That just wouldn’t be right at all! But I am here for you whenever you’re ready to share stuff.”
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight felt a familiar heat creeping up against her cheeks, and it was actually quite a welcome reprieve from how garbagey she’d been feeling up until now.
“No problem!” Pinkie said, her mouth full of cookie. “Happy to do it!”
“I will admit,” Twilight took a big bite out of her cookie, relishing in how sweet it tasted and how the storm in her stomach was starting to quiet down a bit, “these cookies wouldn’t be nearly as good if I were eating them by myself.”
121. Rainbow Dash Ponders the Meaning of Friendship
It had gotten pretty late and Rainbow Dash and the others were still on the train to the Crystal Empire—sheep had fallen asleep on the tracks or some nonsense, so there was a delay. Not that it mattered; the girls had decided to stop at Neighagra Falls and wait there for Rarity and Applejack, but the train hadn't gotten there yet either.
Most of the others were snoozing in the cabins, but Rainbow was sitting in the dimly-lit snack car, trying to read a Daring Do book but only scanning the same sentence like fifty times as her brain buzzed with thoughts of Rarity and Applejack, and of Twilight and Fluttershy.
When Rainbow had offered Fluttershy her friendship, it felt like the right thing to do at the time—it still did! But there was still this garbagey nagging feeling in her brain that Fluttershy was a dragon and that she was dangerous, but Rainbow didn’t want to believe that anymore! But she still couldn’t shake this crappy feeling in her stomach that kept reminding her of how scared she should be of them.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight’s voice made Rainbow nearly jump out of her skin.
“Uh, hey Twilight,” Rainbow hacked loudly, her voice echoing through the nearly empty snack car. “What are you doing up? I thought everypo— uh, I thought everyone agreed to catch a few winks before we hit Neighagra.”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Twilight replied.
“Well you shouldn’t sneak up on a girl like that,” Rainbow hissed.
Twilight looked behind her and then at Rainbow. “I came from in front of you.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow blushed, “so you did. Sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Twilight said, “for sneaking up on you.”
Was that supposed to be a joke? Or was Twilight patronizing Rainbow?
No, probably not. Twilight wasn’t that kind of girl. Or was she? Rainbow didn’t know anymore!
She hated that she was now trying to read way too much into every single thing that Twilight said, but how could she not? But she shouldn’t be though, Twilight was her friend and she deserved better from Rainbow than that, right?
“I heard what you said to Fluttershy,” Twilight said, and her neutral tone and the way she was standing against the light and her face was all shadowy made it hard to read her, not that Rainbow was any good at that sorta thing anyway. “That was really sweet of you.”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.
“How you said you wanted to be friends with her,” Twilight brought her hands in front of her chest and twiddled her fingers together, “and you told her that we were still friends. That’s… is that true? Do you still consider me a friend?”
Rainbow took a deep breath and leaned back in her booth.
“Here’s the thing, Twi,” Rainbow sighed. “This situation with you, being a dragon and everything, is a little bit complicated.”
“Just a little,” Twilight snorted, but when Rainbow arched an eyebrow at her she just meekly hung her head and said “Sorry.”
“Either you’ve been lying to us about your intentions ever since we met,” Rainbow said, and every word felt like a hot coal being forced out of her throat, “or Celestia’s been lying to all of us ever since we were born. And honestly? I’m not really sure which would be more upsetting.
“And that’s just me!” Rainbow slapped her hand on the table in front of her. “I’m just a colleague of Celestia, I just work for her! But Rarity? She’s Celestia’s star student, she’s known Celestia personally since she was a kid! Rarity practically idolizes Celestia! For her to have to come to grips with the fact that her idol may not only be wrong, but like, that she’s actively been pursuing this bloody war of attempted genocide for a thousand years—”
“Do you think Rarity will ever be able to forgive me?” Twilight asked, collapsing into the booth across from Rainbow.
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Rainbow asked, her face twisting in confusion.
“Of course!” Twilight said desperately. “All I wanted when I came here to Equestria was to fit in and make friends, and that finally happened and it was the best time in my entire life, and now everything’s falling apart and I just don’t know what to do.”
“You’re a lot less afraid of ponies than Fluttershy, huh?” Rainbow said, feeling the weight of this conversation crush her heart in her chest.
“I made a choice a long time ago,” Twilight said, and her tone became hardened like steel, “that I wouldn’t live in fear. I’m still afraid of the Slayers, you know that, but I refuse to be afraid of common ponies.
“So no,” Twilight shook her head, “I’m not afraid of you, or of Rarity. What I’m afraid of is being alone again.”
“I dunno what to tell ya about Rarity,” Rainbow folded her arms across the table. “But I’ll tell ya this; Rarity’s a smart girl, and she’s really dedicated to doing the right thing. I think she’ll come around.”
“Does that mean that you—”
“Like I told Fluttershy,” Rainbow muttered, tapping a finger against the table, “you’re my friend. Sorry I haven’t been acting like it.”
The snowy hills behind Luna Bay were inhospitable, with biting winds and thick mounds of snow that impeded pony progress, so Rarity was glad that she was bundled up in a heavy yet fashionable coat. Despite her elegant winter protection however, she was still holding her arms and trying to think warm thoughts to keep the chill at bay.
Applejack had no such issues, plowing through the snow like a machine, and as Rarity followed behind her and let her clear a path, Rarity found that she was incredibly grateful that Applejack had decided to accompany her on this journey.
Though she also found herself wishing that a certain someone was here as well; someone who had no issues with the cold at all and could melt the snow around them with her mere presence, and that thought caused Rarity to feel a little nauseous.
“Hey,” Applejack said suddenly, snatching Rarity’s attention. “We’re here.”
Applejack pointed into the distance, to a flat pane of light snow near the shore of the bay, where a hideous beast roamed; a manticore, part lion, part scorpion, all dangerous.
But not any more dangerous than two well-prepared Slayers.
“Let’s get this over with then,” Rarity said sternly as she stepped in front of Applejack, reaching over her shoulder to grab the bow on her back.
And grabbing at the air several times before she realized it wasn’t there.
“Applejack,” Rarity said casually, “do you see a bow on my back right now?”
“I don’t,” Applejack sounded quite unimpressed, and Rarity almost appreciated her blushing cheeks for giving her a reprieve from the cold.
“Well that is unfortunate,” Rarity hummed, letting her arm fall limply at her side.
“How’d you forget yer bow?” Applejack snorted.
“I had a lot on my mind!” Rarity shot back defensively, searching herself to make sure the rest of her equipment was present; and it wasn’t, her knives were missing as well, but she still had her sword, her axe, her shield, and Celestia’s onyx blade. “It simply must’ve slipped my mind.”
“Eh, no biggie,” Applejack shrugged and gently pushed Rarity out of the way, “we don’t need a silly ol’ bow to take this thing down!”
“You’re going to go after that manticore with your fists,” Rarity said flatly, crossing her arms, “aren’t you?”
“You betcha!” Applejack shouted gleefully, taking a running start and charging straight at the manticore.
“Gee, it would certainly be nice if I could support you from a distance!” Rarity shouted.
“Won’t need it!” Applejack yelled back. “Thanks anyhow!”
Rarity sighed. Melee combat was not exactly her forte, but beggars can’t be choosers and this was the hand she was dealt. She wasn’t going to let a silly missing bow stop her from helping out Applejack or from fulfilling her mission.
Applejack rushed toward the manticore; and while Applejack was giant for a pony, the manticore still had her beat in size, but that didn’t stop the beast from flying back when Applejack’s punch connected with the beast’s head, sending it crashing into the snowy ground.
As the manticore recoiled and jumped back, Rarity had a thought. She remembered her battle with the dragon—the one in Baltimare, not… not the one in Canterlot—and how Celestia allowed to her to reach an untapped well of magic inside her.
She figured that if that well still existed, she could try to reach it without Celestia’s help by diving into her memories of using that magic. It was worth a shot.
The manticore jumped forward and slashed its claws at Applejack, who guarded herself with her arms, but there was no need; Rarity’s trick worked and the manticore slammed headfirst into a solid wall of glassy magical energy, Rarity letting out a triumphant laugh.
“Applejack, did you see that?!” Rarity cried out gleefully.
“Sure did, hon!” Applejack laughed, swinging a solid punch at the manticore’s head, but this time the beast blocked with its foreleg, readying its tail to fire venomous spines at Applejack.
Or so Rarity thought before the spines were shot directly at her, but she was able to deflect them just in the nick of time with her shield.
Applejack wasn’t having any luck overpowering the manticore’s block, and it looked as though she was about to buckle as the beast snarled at her.
“Applejack, get clear!” Rarity called out, Applejack jumping away from the monster as Rarity used her magic to throw a heavy drift of snow from the ground directly into the manticore’s face, disorienting it long enough for Applejack to get a firm grip on it, raising it up over her shoulders before slamming it hard on the ground behind her.
Rarity rushed to the manticore’s position as Applejack took a second to recover from that maneuver, and Rarity raised her sword and prepared to pierce the monster’s chest and kill it.
Rarity froze.
Five little words echoed in her memory.
No creature acts without reason.
Those were the words Fluttershy had said to her the first time they met, after Fluttershy scolded Rarity for destroying the timberwolves. When Fluttershy explained to Rarity that perhaps the Slayers’ way of killing monsters— ‘monsters’ —first and asking questions never was unjust.
Rarity balked at such a notion at the time, but now? After her encounter with the dragon Twilight Sparkle? The way Twilight never even attempted to strike back at Rarity, the way she cared for Spike as if he were her own child— hell, not even just Twilight, but Fluttershy too!
Fluttershy saved Rarity’s life the first time they met. She found Rarity— a pony, supposedly dragons’ mortal nemeses— unconscious and vulnerable in her forest, and Fluttershy had nursed her back to health.
She was nothing but amiable with Pinkie Pie. Even after Rarity had chased an injured Twilight into her forest with the intent on drawing her blood, Fluttershy never reacted to any situation with violence or hostility.
Neither did Twilight.
The two of them were nothing like the dragons Rarity had been told about all her life, and she would be a damn fool not to question why.
“Rarity, what’re you doin’!?” Applejack yelled, bringing Rarity back to reality just in time for her to leap back and avoid what could easily have been a deadly swipe of the manticore’s claws.
The manticore shot its poison spines at Applejack, and Rarity acted on instinct and erected another magic barrier to defend her, and while Rarity was proud of herself for a second, she quickly fell to her knees from the exhaustion of over-exerting her magic, noticing a faint trickle of blood coming from her nose.
Or at least she thought it was blood at first, but blood wasn’t rainbow-colored.
Her legs were too weak to stand up, which was unfortunate since the manticore was now charging straight for her, but thankfully Applejack was there to rescue her by tackling the beast to the ground.
The two wrestled with each other for a moment as Rarity struggled to stand up, and eventually Applejack conceded with the beast and let it free, jumping back to stand in front of Rarity and stare the manticore down.
“This is no time to be zonin’ out, Rarity!” Applejack scolded, and rightfully so, but Rarity had more pressing thoughts on her mind than apologizing to her.
“Applejack,” Rarity bit her lip, “can we… can we defeat this manticore, can we incapacitate it, without killing it?”
“Whuh, why wouldja wanna—” Applejack sputtered but then stopped. “Oh. OH. I see. Yeah, Rare, we can do that.”
“Then let’s do it,” Rarity said, brandishing her shield and standing behind Applejack, ready to confront not just a simple manticore, but a lie she had been fed for her entire life.
Rarity and Applejack stood on the snowy hills of Luna Bay, the icy shore in sight as they faced down not only the bitter cold but a deadly manticore as well.
“So,” Rarity bit her lip, “how exactly are we going to incapacitate this thing without killing it?”
“Just leave that to me,” Applejack said confidently, pounding her chest. “You know what you gotta do once it’s beaten?”
“I don’t,” Rarity mused, trying to affect the same kind of confidence, “but I’ll figure it out. Just trust me.”
“I do, no worries,” Applejack cracked her knuckles and charged at the manticore.
Applejack rushed the manticore and took a hard swing at its face, but the creature jumped out of Applejack’s range. That said, Rarity noticed something curious when the manticore landed; it winced. The manticore swung its right claw at Applejack, who dodged and lurched back to a safer distance, but more importantly, Rarity suddenly had a revelation.
The manticore had used that same claw to attack every single time, and never the other one.
Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous this situation was shaping up to be. She had a hunch of what to do next, but she couldn’t believe how absurd it was.
“Applejack!” Rarity called out. “The manticore’s left leg is injured! Flip it over onto its back for me!”
Applejack didn’t waste any time, jumping toward the manticore and stomping with her left foot to make the creature flinch from the shockwave, then grabbing it by its mane and flipping it up over her shoulders and onto its back.
And sure enough, Rarity immediately saw the pitch-black thorn embedded in the creature’s paw.
Could this really be the sole reason the beast was going berserk? A mere thorn in its paw like a children’s tale? As Rarity approached the struggling beast while Applejack held it down, Rarity supposed it was worth a try.
Rarity didn’t dare get too close, so she simply used her magic to snatch the thorn out of the manticore’s paw, though the instant her aura connected with the thorn, a chill went down her spine.
She brought the thorn closer to herself in order to inspect it, and the closer it came to her, the more distressed she felt in her stomach. Under no circumstances would she ever touch the thing with her skin.
Suddenly, she recalled a memory; this thorn was exactly like the one embedded inside the cragadile from Haysead Swamp. And just like that thorn— as if on cue by Rarity’s revelation— the thorn turned to dust in the wind, Rarity feeling desperately nauseous for a moment before the feeling subsided and she returned her attention to the matter at hand.
That matter of course being the manticore, which had now pinned Applejack to the ground. And while Rarity initially was shocked and terrified by this, instinctively drawing her axe, she quickly relaxed at the sound of Applejack’s laughter as the manticore licked her face like an excited puppy.
“Applejack?” Rarity asked casually. “Need some help?”
“Nah,” Applejack laughed, holding the manticore’s face at bay, “I think I’m good.”
Rarity hummed, and the manticore suddenly turned its attention to her, looking up at her with bright, shiny puppydog eyes, before standing to its full height and looking down on her, and yet she didn’t feel intimidated by it whatsoever.
Rarity reached out her hand and the manticore put its nose up against it, Rarity petting the creature for a moment.
“I certainly hope you’re not planning on causing any more trouble,” Rarity said, merely thinking aloud, though she reacted with a gasp when the manticore shook its head. “You understand me?”
The manticore nodded.
Rarity sighed and slowly lowered her hand.
“You should return to wherever you came from,” Rarity said calmly, though with the squall raging in her stomach she felt anything but calm. “It’s not safe for you here in Equestria.”
The manticore sat on its haunches and pouted, and Rarity was left baffled by just how empathetic the creature seemed to be. It was nothing like any of the other monsters Rarity had fought before.
Though it horrified Rarity to think about what if it was, and Rarity had simply been ignorant to how these quote-unquote ‘monsters’ truly behaved. If someone’s first impression of her had been her fighting for her life, they likely would not have had a stellar impression of her character either.
“I’m guessin’ it ain’t safe wherever this fella came from either,” Applejack said, gently patting the manticore’s mane.
The manticore shook its head.
“Well as much as I hate to place this burden on you,” Rarity said grimly, “if you’re discovered by ponies again, the next Slayers who come to find you won’t be as merciful as us. You can stay here if you wish, if you can survive without being discovered and hurting the nearby ponies, but I’m afraid that’s all we can do.”
The manticore happily nodded its head and offered a salute.
Rarity saluted back.
“Until next time, then.”
The manticore ran off into the hills behind Luna Bay, and while there was a nagging feeling clawing at Rarity’s anxieties that she was making a horrendous mistake by allowing the manticore to be free, she knew in her heart that she couldn’t have taken another option knowing now what she knew.
“So,” Applejack said awkwardly, “guess we’ve been livin’ a big ol’ lie our whole lives, huh?”
Rarity and Applejack’s trek back to their hotel room was a long and silent one. There was a lot to process about the evening’s events, and neither one seemed keen to speak, even though they both knew a conversation was inevitable.
As the two got comfortable in their rather posh hotel room, Rarity lying on the bed and looking up at the ceiling while Applejack sitting on a comfortable-looking reclining chair in front of the fireplace, one of those magic fireplaces that didn’t have an actual flame per se, but still gave the room a very cozy atmosphere and really tied it together.
“Rarity?” Applejack’s soft voice felt like a sledgehammer shattering the fragile glass of the silent atmosphere, and yet Rarity wasn’t exactly surprised that it was her who spoke first; Applejack could be quite stubborn, but Rarity could give her a run for her money.
“Applejack?” Rarity replied listlessly, not even bothering to sit up.
“We gotta talk, don’t we?” Applejack said, and Rarity heard Applejack cracking her knuckles. “About tonight? ‘bout that manticore, and—and what this means for goin’ forward?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Rarity said coldly.
“C’mon, Rarity,” Applejack hissed. “Cut the crap and just tell me where yer head’s at.”
Rarity sat up immediately with a mind to admonish Applejack for her rudeness, but the severity of Applejack’s expression made her think twice.
“I apologize,” Rarity said humbly; she realized she had no excuse to be rude either.
“Yeah,” Applejack mumbled, “me too.”
“Anyway,” Rarity groaned, cradling her head in her hands, feeling that her damn brain was ready to tear itself apart at any moment. She took a deep breath and reclaimed a modicum of composure. “I can’t pretend I didn’t see what I saw today. And I can’t act like it’s unrelated to everything going on with Twilight, but—”
Rarity paused and bit her lip.
“You still don’t wanna believe it?” Applejack asked, and while hearing those words stung Rarity’s pride, she couldn’t deny them, and she simply nodded. “Yeah, I’m kinda in the same boat.”
“R-really?” Rarity asked, ears perking up; she felt so stupid over all this, like the truth was staring her directly in the face but she was too weak to see it, but hearing Applejack—a pony Rarity so admired for her strength and confidence—admit to struggling with it too, that gave her some hope.
“Yeah,” Applejack sighed and laid her elbows on the arm of the chair, intertwining her fingers and placing her muzzle atop them. “It’s hard, ain’t it? To just accept with open arms the idea that you’ve been fed a lie yer whole life.”
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, as they say,” Rarity mused.
“Right,” Applejack nodded. “But it ain’t gonna get any easier to deny what’s right in front of us.”
“True, but—” Rarity bit her lip and dug her nails into her legs. “I still—I still want a touch more evidence before I can really make a judgment call. Is that horrible?”
“No, that seems fair to me,” Applejack shrugged. “Two things linin’ up could be a coincidence, but three things is definitely a pattern.”
“Right,” Rarity said cautiously; while Applejack’s support did make her feel somewhat better, she still felt a rancid feeling in her gut, like she was watching herself make a horrible mistake but couldn’t bring herself to stop. “What about you, Applejack? What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinkn’ exactly what I said,” Applejack chuckled. “We’ve been fed a big ol’ lie our whole lives, and while acceptin’ that ain’t easy, I’m mighty sick of havin’ the wool pulled over my eyes.”
“Is it that easy for you?” Rarity said, her tone a mixture of awe and disgust. “Is it so simple to believe that the Queen—that Celestia would—”
“I dunno nothin’ ‘bout Celestia, hon,” Applejack shook her head, “whether she’s bein’ tricked like the rest of us, or if she’s the one doin’ the trickin’. All I know is what’s right in front of me and what my gut says, and my gut says that Twilight’s been nothin’ but a friend to all of us since we met her. And I don’t think I could live with myself if I turned my back on her now.”
“I wish I had that confidence,” Rarity chuckled but there was no humor in it.
“Ain’t confidence,” Applejack shrugged, “it’s faith. I believe in Twilight, and I’m willing to bet on that belief. That’s all.”
“I wish I had your faith then,” Rarity said, falling onto her back on the bed. “I just can’t bring myself to make a decision unless I’m absolutely sure, and I need to confirm the truth with my own eyes.”
“That’s okay, Rares,” Applejack said, Rarity looking over to see a bright smile on Applejack’s face. “If there’s one thing I am confident about, it’s that you’ll do the right thing.”
The Neighagra Falls Inn was possibly the most well-known and travelled rest stop in Equestria, and it is exactly what Twilight Sparkle and her weary party needed after what felt like a ten-thousand-hour train ride.
The inside was bright and welcoming, and spacious to boot! There were patrons busily chatting in all corners, and servers rushing between tables with food and drink, the aroma of which assaulted Twilight’s nose instantly and made her wish that perhaps she hadn't devoured quite so many cookies on the train.
There were four adults and one child in Twilight’s party, but Applejack and Rarity would be returning within a day or two as well, and Twilight wasn’t certain how many rooms each of them would need, or how many days they would be staying, and before she could even start to ask the others, Pinkie Pie was dragging Fluttershy toward the bar, Spike was following them, and Rainbow was flirting with a cute waitress.
Honestly, everyone here was just so irresponsible! Twilight had to do everything.
“You alright there, space cadet?” Rainbow said, slapping Twilight on her forearm.
“Everyone’s just going off and doing their own thing!” Twilight huffed, speaking loudly to overcome the busy chatter that soaked the entire building. “We need to get checked in and we need to make sure Rarity and Applejack have rooms when they get back and we need to—”
“Twilight, chillax!” Rainbow scoffed.
“I am ‘chillaxed’!” Twilight fumed. “Whatever that means!”
“Just let me check everypony in, okay?” Rainbow said, putting her arm around Twilight’s waist, likely because Rainbow couldn’t reach Twilight’s shoulders. “It’s not like I’ve never checked into an inn before. I kinda travel all the time, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Twilight puffed up her cheeks and took a look around the busy inn lobby, feeling rather anxious about the number of ponies. She hoped Fluttershy was faring alright.
“Tell you what,” Rainbow puffed up her chest, and it was adorable. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll go check everyone in right the heck now, but in exchange, you gotta go get a drink and sit down for a bit. Deal?”
“Sounds good,” Twilight said, shaking Rainbow’s hand, and as she watched Rainbow rush to the reception desk, she found herself feeling very grateful for Rainbow’s kindness. It was actually weirdly nice to let someone else be the responsible one for once.
She did promise Rainbow she’d grab a drink though, so Twilight made a beeline for the bar, and honestly a tall glass of hard cider sounded like it’d really hit the spot right now.
And while the cider did help, Twilight couldn’t stop anxiously tapping her fingers against the side of her mug, or against the bar, and once Rainbow had finished checking everyone in and joined Twilight and the others at the bar, Twilight couldn’t help but try and focus on her voice to make sure Rainbow did everything right.
Also where was Spike? Twilight realized suddenly she didn’t know exactly where he was and he could be anywhere! He could be at the bar ordering drinks that weren’t appropriate for him, he could be talking with flirtatious servers who would try and take advantage of his naivety and steal all his money, or maybe he was doing back alley drug deals behind the inn!
But then she noticed the slurping sound he made as he drank a milkshake and realized he was sitting right next to her, and he waved at her when she looked over, Twilight offering a shaky smile in return.
Twilight was beginning to consider that maybe, perhaps, just POSSIBLY, she was freaking out a little bit. Just a little bit though!
Twilight felt something graze her shoulder and jumped out of her chair, knocking over her cider mug and screaming at the top of her lungs as she huddled on top of the bar, only to realize what touched her was Fluttershy’s spindly little fingers.
“Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes darting at the other bar patrons who were now all staring in silence at Twilight. “Do you want to step outside for a moment?”
“Yeah,” Twilight choked out, “I think that’d be best.”
After making Pinkie promise—Pinkie Promise at that—about a dozen times to look after Spike while Twilight was gone, and Rainbow and Spike both pushing Twilight toward the door, Twilight exited the inn with Fluttershy, and what had been an eerie silence outside when the party had approached the inn— with the only sound being the distant rushing of Neighagra Falls— was now a welcome relief from the wall of noise that assaulted Twilight’s ears inside.
“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked, holding Twilight’s hand as the two walked down the many stone steps in front of the inn entrance.
“Overwhelmed,” Twilight answered honestly.
“Me too,” Fluttershy chuckled.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said reflexively.
“Don’t be!” Fluttershy giggled. “We’re both a little overwhelmed, but how could we not be? We’ve been through a lot the last couple days.”
“Has it only been a couple days?” Twilight groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Feels like a year.”
“I know,” Fluttershy laughed, and she gently embraced both of Twilight’s hands and looked Twilight in the eye for about one second before they both had to look away, both of them laughing at how silly they were being.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight sighed, and she felt like a million pounds had been lifted off her shoulders. “I really appreciate this.”
“Believe it or not,” Fluttershy hummed, “I do too. So thank you also, Twilight Sparkle.”
“You ready to get back to the others?” Twilight asked, cocking her head toward the inn. “I really am dying to get that drink.”
“Thought you’d never ask,” Fluttershy said coyly, giving Twilight a playful wink that made her smile.
When Twilight and Fluttershy returned to the inn hand-in-hand, the wall of noise that pounded them the second they opened the door didn’t feel as intimidating this time, at least not to Twilight, and if the bright smile Fluttershy flashed as Twilight looked over to her was any indication, she was feeling pretty alright too.
Rainbow, Pinkie and Spike all cheered when they saw the two women returning to the bar, Rainbow practically forcing a mug of cider into Twilight’s hands and Pinkie chomping at the bit to regale Fluttershy with the story of how Spike had just sprayed cider out his nose all over the bar.
And as Twilight settled down between Fluttershy, who was listening enraptured to Pinkie’s tale, and Spike who was sharing his own fun stories with Rainbow Dash as she gulped down an entire mug of cider in one sip, she was reminded of her old library.
This wasn’t the library though, and yet it felt like home regardless because despite everything, she still loved the people she was with, and they still loved her.
And she smiled at that thought, until she realized.
As the night got longer and the noise of the inn quieted down, Twilight looked around her. Her and the others had moved from the bar to a full seating area with several comfortable chairs, and as the lights dimmed over the inn, most of the patrons left or headed to their rooms, leaving a scant few behind, including Twilight’s group.
Rainbow was passed out on a nearby couch, and Twilight mused that her snoring was almost louder than the all of the other patrons’ chatter combined. Pinkie went to the bar to refill her drink, and Spike was snoozing soundly next to Twilight, using her thigh as a pillow.
“I should probably get this guy to bed,” Twilight giggled, petting Spike’s mane and looking over at Fluttershy who was still awake, albeit just barely, sitting on a chair across the small coffee table from Rainbow Dash.
“I can do that if you want,” Fluttershy yawned. “I’m a little sleepy sheepy myself, and if you’re not quite ready to hit the hay just yet…”
Fluttershy nodded and Twilight gave Spike a gentle poke, whispering for him to head up to their room with Fluttershy, which the little man agreed to, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts for a moment.
It was surreal.
She was so certain after her secret was discovered that everything was going to change for the worse, that everything was going to be ruined. And yet, she spent the night chatting away with Pinkie and Rainbow just like old times, and her and Fluttershy clicked so naturally you’d swear they’d been friends for years!
It was nice. But of course, Twilight couldn’t help feeling a little melancholy every time she started to think about Rarity.
“Hey, Twi,” Pinkie chirped quietly as she snuck up on Twilight’s couch from behind.
“Hey, Pinkie,” Twilight said fondly.
“Wow, you really have relaxed,” Pinkie cooed, hopping over the back of the couch to sit next to Twilight, big mug of strawberry milk in her hands. “You didn’t even freak out when I snuck up on ya!”
“I heard you coming,” Twilight said, giggling when Pinkie huffed and puffed up her cheeks.
“So didja have a nice time tonight?” Pinkie asked with an incredibly infectious smile.
“I did,” Twilight smiled back, though she quickly became dour as she thought about Rarity. “I still miss Rarity, but… but to be honest, even if I can never make things right with her, I still need to be able to move on. And thanks to you and the others, I honestly think that I can now.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Twilight,” Pinkie hummed, “but I don’t think you need to ‘move on’ from Rarity. She’s a good person, and so are you, and I’m pretty sure she’s smart enough to realize that.”
“I think you might be a little too optimistic,” Twilight said drolly, rolling her eyes.
“Maybe you’re just too cynical,” Pinkie playfully stuck out her tongue, and Twilight laughed.
“Maybe you’re right.”
“Hey, Twilight!” Pinkie chirped, pumping her fists. “You wanna go up on the roof and do some stargazing?”
As Twilight laid flat on her back on the rooftop garden plaza of the Neighagra Falls inn, she found herself really enjoying Pinkie’s company, and pointing out all the different constellations to her. It was the kinda thing Twilight always thought was too boring to share with people, but Pinkie couldn’t get enough of it; she pointed out different star patterns and asked about them, and she relished Twilight’s explanations.
“Hey, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, looking over at Twilight as they both laid on their backs.
“Yes, Pinkie?” Twilight replied fondly.
“Are you okay?”
Pinkie’s question took Twilight by surprise, and she slowly sat up as she processed it, Pinkie following suit.
“Can I be honest?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, of course!” Pinkie replied.
“I’m terrified,” Twilight admitted, and she felt the cold winter wind biting her skin even despite her dragon blood. “I’m terrified of losing Rarity and my friends, of being killed by the Slayers and especially Celestia, but most of all I’m terrified about what could happen to Spike.
“Sometimes it makes me so sick with worry thinking about what the Slayers— or even some of the people I used to know back in the dragon lands— might do to him that I can’t even think straight.”
“Well I’ll tell you this, Twilight,” Pinkie crossed her arms and gave Twilight a look of supreme confidence, “no matter what happens, I’m sticking by you. Even if Rarity chooses not to, even if all the Slayers are out to getcha, I’ll stay by your side, cuz I believe in you and you’re my friend, and sticking by your friends even through the rough patches is the right thing to do.”
“Pinkie,” Twilight sniffed, her eyes watering like someone cut an onion right under her nose, “thank you so much.”
“My pleasure, Twilight!” Pinkie beamed.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Pinkie smiled.
Twilight puffed up her cheeks and looked away from Pinkie, feeling utterly embarrassed by what she wanted to ask, but if she wanted to live freely that meant being honest about her emotions with the people she cared about, and that absolutely included Pinkie Pie.
“Can I just—” Twilight bit her lip. “Is it alright if I just cry on your shoulder again for a little bit?”
“Twilight,” Pinkie moaned and held her hands over her heart, “you can cry on my shoulder anytime you need to.”
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight sobbed, Pinkie wrapping her arms around Twilight’s waist, and Twilight holding Pinkie tightly and squeaking out muffled sobs into Pinkie’s big poofy soft mane.
Fluttershy didn’t mind at all walking a sleepy Spike to his and Twilight’s hotel room so that Twilight could have a little more time chatting with Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy was getting sleepy herself, so she planned on turning in as soon as she escorted Spike back to his room.
But as Fluttershy’s hand hovered over the knob to Spike and Twilight’s door, a rancid feeling overwhelmed Fluttershy’s stomach.
Fluttershy’s magic was woefully weak now that she was out of the forest, but she wasn’t exactly helpless or anything— she was still a dragon, after all— and Fluttershy’s magical specialty was in healing and detecting life.
She knew immediately when there was someone inside a room she was about to walk into.
And she could tell by the feeling in her gut that the last thing she wanted to do right now was open that door and possibly put Spike in danger.
Fluttershy took her hand away from the door and slowly walked back.
“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” Spike asked drowsily, and even his quiet voice was enough to make Fluttershy nearly gasp.
“Nothing’s wrong, Spike,” Fluttershy lied with a smile on her face. “I just forgot something is all, will you walk with me back to Twilight, please?”
“Yeah, sure,” Spike smiled and nodded his head, which drooped forward a little too much cuz he was so sleepy and he suddenly lurched back. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, I’ll keep you safe in this dark spooky inn.”
“Thank you, Spike,” Fluttershy giggled, taking Spike’s hand and carefully walking down the hall toward the stairs back to the lobby. “I appreciate th—”
Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks as her ears perked up at the sound of a door latch, and then a door slowly creaking open. Fluttershy turned her head and saw the door to Twilight’s room wide open, and she felt her hand becoming clammy and sweaty, before she realized that wasn’t her hand, but Spike’s.
Spike tried to put on a brave face, but Fluttershy could tell by his shaky smile that he could tell something was gravely amiss.
“Spike,” Fluttershy said calmly, taking a step between him and the open door, “go downstairs and get Twilight.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Spike,” a gruff high-pitched female voice spoke, as the woman herself appeared from behind Twilight’s door.
And while the very short ‘pegasus’ woman was shrouded head to hoof in black leather armor that concealed even her face— leaving only her orange wings visible— Fluttershy could see through her disguise simply by looking into her glittering amethyst eyes.
She was a dragon.
“Who are you?” Fluttershy asked sternly. “What are you doing in my friend’s room?”
“My name’s not important,” the assassin said, flicking a pocketknife in her hand, “and let me make one thing perfectly clear: if that kid tries to make a break for the stairs, I’ll kill him. If you both value your lives, you’ll tell me where Twilight Sparkle is and let me be on my way.”
“Spike, stay put,” Fluttershy spread her wings and took a defensive stance against the assassin. “I won’t let her lay a finger on you, or on Twilight. I promise.”
“Look, lady,” the assassin hissed, “don’t make this harder for yourself. I only care about Twilight Sparkle.”
“Then it’s very unfortunate,” Fluttershy said coldly, staring daggers into her enemy, “that you found me instead.”
The assassin clicked her tongue before suddenly disappearing, but while Fluttershy was disoriented for a fraction of a second, she realized that the assassin was just fast; unfortunately by the time she realized this, the assassin had already zipped past Fluttershy with her knives drawn, and she was lunging at Spike.
Fluttershy grabbed the assassin by the back of her collar just in time to yank her away from Spike, before slamming her head hard into the wall, the assassin slashing her knife across Fluttershy’s stomach in the process, Fluttershy wincing in pain but getting over it quickly.
The assassin followed up her slash by jumping up and flapping her wings, squirming out of Fluttershy’s grip before punching Fluttershy hard in the nose and causing her to lurch back a step.
The assassin stabbed Fluttershy in the stomach before grabbing her by the neck, floating off the ground and lifting Fluttershy off the ground an inch as well, as the assassin tried to crush Fluttershy’s throat—after all, her disguise may have been small, but she too still had the strength of a dragon.
Fluttershy struggled against the assassin’s grasp, but there wasn’t much she could do against the strength of another dragon, and she didn’t have much magic that she could use.
She did have a sword though.
Fluttershy drew the sword that Pinkie Pie and Applejack made for her from its scabbard, and the assassin clicked her tongue, throwing Fluttershy away and toward the ground where she landed with a painful thud.
The assassin turned her gaze behind her and smirked at Spike, who was now standing unprotected with Fluttershy too far away to reach him in time. Spike simply stomped his hoof and stared the assassin down, and Fluttershy was impressed by his courage; she could see a little bit of Twilight in his gaze too, and Fluttershy wondered if Twilight would be proud of him too.
Didn’t really matter though if Fluttershy couldn’t protect him, and she realized the only way she could save him was by doing the one thing she was afraid to do more than anything; she would have to transform into her true form.
And she was willing to do it too, if it meant saving Spike. But as the assassin lunged at him with her knives, the sound of clashing steel told Fluttershy that her drastic solution wouldn’t be necessary, and as she stood to her feet, she couldn’t have been more relieved to see Rainbow Dash standing in front of Spike, having deflected the assassin’s knife with one of her own.
“Sorry I’m late, you two,” Rainbow said with a grin as she pushed the assassin away and stood defensively in front of Spike. “Guess Rarity’s really rubbing off on me and I just had to make a dramatic entrance.”
Rainbow Dash stood her ground for a sec, keeping a protective stance in front of Spike to keep him safe from the assassin’s attacks, and waited for her opening.
Luckily, she wouldn’t be waiting long, cuz while Rainbow stared the assassin down, Fluttershy swung at the half-pint killer from behind with her sword, the assassin ducking and jumping back to avoid Fluttershy’s attack.
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow said coolly as Fluttershy moved behind Rainbow, “take Spike and go get Twilight. She’s on the roof of the inn.”
“But Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered in Rainbow’s ear, “that assassin is a dragon.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Rainbow said, a bead of cold sweat dripping down her brow; Rainbow hadn't quite caught on to that fact before Fluttershy told her, but her resolve was set. “If I can’t keep one dragon at bay, at least long enough for you to get Twilight, then I’m a completely worthless excuse for a Slayer.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy said, her tone pretty obviously worried but she tried to sound calm at least. “I’ll trust you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Like I’m gonna just let you lea—” the assassin snarled as she rushed toward Fluttershy and Spike, but Rainbow just threw a dagger into the enemy’s neck that exploded in a fury of magical energy and knocked her to the ground, blood pouring out an open wound on in her chest and tearing apart her mask.
Fluttershy didn’t waste any time, picking up Spike and heading down the stairs back to the lobby; not exactly the quickest route to the roof, but considering the assassin was blocking the only other path in this narrow hallway, they couldn’t exactly afford to be choosy.
It wasn’t until the assassin stood to her feet that Rainbow got a decent look at her without her mask on; she had an orange coat and a short-cut purple mane, with a look of total fury and disgust on her face as she locked eyes with Rainbow.
None of that mattered though; the only thing Rainbow could focus on was that the assassin wasn’t just short because whatever, she was short cuz she was a child.
“That’s not a bad trick,” the assassin chuckled as she took the dagger out of her chest and threw it on the ground. “Didn’t even blow up the walls or anything, just me.”
“I’m a Slayer,” Rainbow scoffed, “I’d be pretty terrible at protecting Equestria if I destroyed big chunks of it during all my battles.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the assassin growled, staring daggers at Rainbow. “I didn’t come all this way to die at the hands of some goddamn Slayer!”
“Well then that knife that I left behind you is about to be bad news,” Rainbow smirked, and the assassin looked behind her for a fraction of a second, falling for Rainbow’s bluff, and Rainbow took advantage of that opening to toss another explosive dagger at the assassin’s stomach.
Rainbow couldn’t afford to hesitate; her opponent’s age didn’t matter, what mattered was that this kid was trying to kill Rainbow and her friends, and Rainbow couldn’t allow that to happen, no matter what.
Besides, it’d take more than one explosion to kill a dragon… right?
Turns out that didn’t matter either, cuz the kid swiped the dagger out of the air with her blade, jumping back as the weapon detonated harmlessly. But her dodge put her in an awkward position as Rainbow charged at her, keen to cut that hole in her stomach even bigger.
The kid took some initiative and lunged at Rainbow, spreading her wings and taking flight as she aimed to slash Rainbow across the face, but Rainbow was faster, and she dashed past the kid and threw another explosive dagger into the kid’s back, blowing her up and slamming her against the wall.
“Face it, kid.” Rainbow sighed, taking absolutely zero joy in beating up a child— assassin or not. “You can’t beat me in a fight like this. I’m just outta yer league.”
“You’re wrong,” the kid said coldly, turning her head and staring back at Rainbow with blood-red eyes. “I don’t need to fight fair. I’m a dragon, and I’m tired of trying to hide in the shadows! This time, I’ll—”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Twilight’s voice was like music to Rainbow’s ears. “You might think you’re tough compared to ponies, but against two other dragons you’ll be hopelessly outmatched.”
Fluttershy was standing behind Twilight, legs shaking but eyes laser-focused solely on the assassin, though Rainbow could see tears brimming in her eyes.
“Do you think I care?!” the kid spat. “Even if you two beat me, us fighting would blow your secret wide-open, Twilight Sparkle! And think of what would happen to this inn and everyone in it! Is that what you want?!”
“No,” Twilight reached out her hand and her horn glowed with raspberry magic, “but thankfully, there’s no need for it to come to that, because I’m going to defeat you right here and now.”
Twilight’s magic grabbed the kid by her neck and lifted her off the ground, and while her body began to glow with magic as she released her transformation spell, she was too late; Twilight’s horn flashed and the kid disappeared in a crack of magical energy.
“What happened to her?” Rainbow blinked and rubbed her eyes, not sure what she just saw.
“I sent her back to the dragon lands,” Twilight explained calmly. “It’s a spell that I worked to perfection for a long time, just in case anyone pursued me to Equestria. This isn’t the first time it’s come in handy.”
“I have a bad feeling,” Fluttershy sighed, “that it won’t be the last, either.”
“Fluttershy,” Twilight groaned and cricked her neck, “will you go see to Spike and Pinkie Pie? Tell them everything’s okay?”
“Sure,” Fluttershy nodded and retreated back up the stairs.
“Geez,” Rainbow collapsed and leaned her back against the door. “Who trains a child to fight like that? If that kid had been just a couple years older and had that extra experience, this could’ve gone way worse for all of us.”
“Children learning to fight isn’t that uncommon,” Twilight said, sliding down the wall until she was sitting right next to Rainbow. “Rarity told me she’d been training to become a Slayer since she could physically hold a sword. I imagine that girl we just ran into had some similar experiences.”
“Any idea why she’d wanna kill you specifically?” Rainbow asked.
“Honestly?” Twilight sighed and crossed her arms over her curled up legs, before burying her face in them. “I have no idea.”
“Geez, Fluttershy, I told you,” Rainbow chuckled as Fluttershy fussed over Rainbow, looking her over again and again for any injuries the assassin might’ve left on her, “she didn’t even scratch me. She might’ve been pretty experienced, but I got a lot of years on her. I’m just better.”
“I know, I know,” Fluttershy sighed. “I just don’t want you to get hurt on my account.”
Fluttershy fell onto one of the beds of the small room in the Neighagra Falls Inn; it was Twilight’s room, and while Twilight was up on the roof getting Pinkie up to speed, Fluttershy and Rainbow kept an eye out for any other would-be assassins. And Spike, of course, was snoozing away on one of the beds.
“It’s not like it’d be your fault,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, sitting down in a comfy plush chair. “I tend to get a little carried away when I’m fighting. I can be pretty, uh, reckless. It’s something I’ve been trying to cut back on, but you know how habits can be sometimes.”
“I guess,” Fluttershy hummed, looking up at her hand for a moment.
Fluttershy sat up and stared right at Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy’s glittering eyes seeming to look right through Rainbow, and yet she didn’t feel intimidated; Fluttershy’s eyes may have been those of a dragon, but they were nothing like the assassin’s.
Though, as Fluttershy stared for several seconds in dead silence, Rainbow started to get a little bit intimidated.
“Thank you, though,” Fluttershy said softly, and Rainbow gave a sigh of relief under her breath. “I’m not sure what would’ve happened to me, or to Spike, if you hadn’t stepped in.”
“No biggie,” Rainbow shrugged. “Like I toldja on the train, I wanna be friends. And friends help each other out. Not like I could just leave a bloodthirsty assassin on the loose either.”
“I know,” Fluttershy giggled. “But I still really appreciate it. I guess I just— I didn’t expect you to—I guess I just didn’t think that you really meant it. When you said you wanted to be friends.”
“Hmm, yeah I guess that’s fair,” Rainbow flicked her fingers to stim. “I wouldn’t have totally believed it if you said it to me either. Thing is though, Twilight—” Rainbow bit her lip and ruffled her mane. She really didn’t wanna say what she had to say. “Twilight’s one of my best friends. And I want to trust her.
“And at the same time, I wanna trust you too. Maybe that’s super dangerous. Maybe I’m just the biggest credulous dipshit in Equestria. But it’s what my gut’s saying, and I like to listen to my gut.”
“Well I’m glad you feel that way,” Fluttershy twiddled her fingers and gave Rainbow a shaky smile even though she couldn’t quite meet Rainbow’s eyes, “cuz I think you’re pretty cool. And I’d really like to be your friend too.”
“Of course you do,” Rainbow beamed, “I’m awesome.
“And besides that,” Rainbow said a bit more seriously, “it’s starting to be pretty unignorable that I’ve been fed a big fat lie my wholeass life. And if that’s the case— and that’s a really tiny ‘if’ at this point— I wanna just take that L and move on with my life.
“I don’t wanna stick my head in the sand my whole life, I wanna accept what’s true and move forward with that,” Rainbow looked over to Spike snoozing on the bed. “And that kid’s pretty much living proof that the lie I’ve been told about dragons is nothing more than that—a lie.”
“That’s very noble of you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said, a catlike grin on her face that made Rainbow feel the need to shift uncomfortably in her chair. “To be honest, most ponies— most people in your position, when they get met with something that shatters what they believe, they don’t take it so well. It takes a lot of courage to walk the path you’re walking right now. Not everyone can do it.”
“Yeah, well,” Rainbow groaned and leaned her cheek against her hand, elbow resting on the chair’s arm. “Frankly, I’m not even sure I can do it. But I wanna try, y’know?”
“I do,” Fluttershy nodded, hands placed delicately on her lap. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Rainbow’s ears perked up at the sound of Twilight’s voice, and she turned to see Twilight walking down the stairs into the nearly empty Neighagra Falls Inn lobby, Rainbow relaxing at the sight of her and releasing her hitched breath.
“Oh, it’s just you, Twi,” Rainbow sighed and tried to relax again, squirming around to get comfortable on the plush chair in the center of the lobby.
“Yeah, it’s just me,” Twilight chuckled and took a seat in a chair nearby Rainbow, and she didn’t look any more comfortable than Rainbow did. “Thank you, by the way. For protecting Spike.”
“No problem,” Rainbow shrugged. “He’s my friend too, it’s not like I was gonna abandon him or anything.”
“I know,” Twilight smiled weakly, and then yawned. “You’re a good friend, Rainbow Dash.”
“That’s true,” Rainbow said, affecting a smug grin that made Twilight giggle.
“I’m surprised you’re still up,” Twilight said.
“Well, it’s kinda hard to sleep after an assassin’s been in your friend’s room,” Rainbow grumbled.
“I know what you mean,” Twilight muttered, scratching her cheek. “Still, the others don’t seem to have a problem with it!” Twilight laughed, and it made Rainbow smile to hear her acting happy, but—
“Twi, are you okay?”
Rainbow might’ve been dense, but she knew someone trying to hide how they really feel about something when she saw it.
“Of course not,” Twilight chuckled bitterly, and Rainbow was taken aback a bit by her bluntness, but Rainbow couldn’t help respect Twilight’s honesty. “An assassin was hiding in my room, and I have no idea how she got there! She tried to kill my son! Of course I’m not okay! But I have to act like it, for his sake.”
“I dunno about all that,” Rainbow huffed, “but you don’t have to pretend for my sake. You’ve been my friend for a while now, but like, I’ve never actually seen the real you. I’d like to though.”
Rainbow moved over to Twilight’s chair, perching on the arm of it and wrapping a wing around Twilight.
“I’m sorry I haven’t really been acting like a good friend recently,” Rainbow said. “My head’s been spinning a lot since we got back from Baltimare. But I don’t want you to think that you’re not important to me, or that I don’t care about you, or— or that your secret has changed the way I feel about you.
“You told me when I left for Baltimare that you loved me. And I want you to know that I love you too.”
Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash, and her eyes shimmered like moonlight flickering on a pond. Her smile was soft and sweet and Rainbow could almost feel Twilight’s defenses melting away as she indulged in a tiny little giggle.
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said softly, “that’s pretty gay.”
“You ARE!” Rainbow shrieked, giving Twilight a playful shove as Twilight laughed, but then Rainbow was totally caught off-guard by Twilight wrapping her arms around Rainbow.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, Rainbow hugging Twilight tight as Twi sniffled and let her tears start flowing, Rainbow trying and failing not to get misty-eyed herself. “I meant it when I said it. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Rainbow whispered as she gripped Twilight and held her close.
Rainbow meant it too.
But her hands were still shaking with fear. Fear of dragons.
It was very early in the morning as Rarity sat on a train headed to Neighagra Falls. Her and Applejack had only slept about three hours at their hotel room, and Applejack was now snoozing soundly on the train, her rhythmic snoring providing white noise that complimented the roar of the train speeding down the tracks.
Rarity was rather envious of Applejack’s relaxation; she wished she could be asleep herself, but unfortunately her mind was buzzing with thoughts of who else but Twilight Sparkle.
Rarity couldn’t deny that her experience with the manticore had recontextualized her experiences with Twilight just a tad. Celestia had taught Rarity growing up that monsters are nothing more than vicious beasts that needed to be slaughtered for the safety of Equestria, and Celestia had lived for a thousand years, so how could she be wrong about anything?
How could Celestia be wrong?
That was the question that gripped Rarity’s mind more than any other during these harrowing days, and no matter how much evidence was directly in front of Rarity’s face, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that it was true.
After all, how could Celestia be wrong?
Rarity had spent the close to two hours on the train running through her mind what she wanted to say once she arrived in Neighagra Falls; after all, she couldn’t avoid speaking with Twilight once they got there, she would likely be waiting at the train station.
Or would she?
Rarity had become so accustomed to seeing Twilight when she returned from a mission that she hadn't considered the possibility of Twilight simply not being there at the station when Rarity returned. Why would she be? Her and Twilight weren’t friends anymore—
—were they?
Quite frankly, it didn’t much matter since Rarity’s mind was a complete blank. Part of it was simple sleep deprivation, but also she just didn’t know what to say to Twilight Sparkle at this point.
If she were being painfully, agonizingly honest with herself, she didn’t want to say anything. She wanted to run up to Twilight without a word, lift the beautiful woman off her hooves and spin her around before planting a dramatic, romantic kiss onto her lips.
But the thought of actually doing that made Rarity violently nauseous. She needed to face the reality that her and Twilight simply didn’t have that kind of relationship anymore. And they likely never would again.
Rarity instinctively wiped a tear from her cheek that she hadn't even realized was there, but when she looked at her reflection in the train window she could see she was quite a mess; frazzled mane, running makeup and puffy eyes. She had been crying quite a bit recently, hadn't she?
Oh well, Rarity thought, nothing to be done for it now.
While Rarity usually adored the sound of train bells, the signal that her and Applejack had arrived in Neighagra Falls filled her with nothing but misery.
As Applejack yawned herself awake, Rarity dragged her own withered carcass out of their cabin and made the slow, painful death march toward the station, Rarity’s stomach twisting itself into violent knots thinking about whether or not Twilight Sparkle would be waiting for her.
And as Rarity departed the train and stepped onto the station platform, she locked eyes with Twilight Sparkle herself, who was indeed waiting for her at the station alongside Pinkie Pie.
Rarity’s immediate feeling was one of relief, but that was quickly followed by confusion and frustration at the idea that she was somehow relieved to see Twilight there. But Rarity couldn’t deny that despite her conflicted feelings, she was glad to see Twilight.
“Rarity! Applejack!” Pinkie Pie cheered, bouncing toward the pair and giving them both tender, vibrant hugs, Rarity melting into Pinkie’s embrace for the brief moment they spent hugging.
“Howdy, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack beamed as she picked Pinkie up and let her sit on Applejack’s broad shoulder, and then Applejack turned her attention to Twilight. “Howdy, Twi. Hope Pinkie Pie here didn’t drag ya to the station.”
“No,” Twilight shook her head.
“I would never!” Pinkie harrumphed. “Well, okay, maybe I would. But I didn’t! Twilight actually woke me up!”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack chuckled and wrapped her arm around Twilight in a playful hug. “Just couldn’t stand to be away from us, huh?”
“Sure,” Twilight gave an uneasy, wheezy laugh.
“Where are the others?” Rarity asked Pinkie Pie, deliberately avoiding Twilight’s gaze as much as she was able.
“They overslept,” Pinkie croaked. “We had a really weird night last night. And not the good, sexy kind of weird.”
“Anything we should be worried about?” Rarity asked sternly, and Pinkie’s non-committal hum told her everything she needed to know.
“Well y’all can fill us in on the details once we get back to the inn, alright?” Applejack said, placing Pinkie on the ground. “Cuz there’s somethin’ I gotta say to Twilight, and if I don’t say it now I might just sit on it forever.”
“Me?” Twilight blanched. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry,” Applejack bowed her head, and Rarity couldn’t tell if Twilight was more surprised or if Rarity herself was. “I’ve been givin’ you the cold shoulder long enough, Twi. No matter what secrets you been keepin’ from us, yer still my friend, and I oughtta be actin’ like it.”
“Th-thank you, Applejack,” Twilight ran a hand through her hair, an obvious sign that she felt nervous and overwhelmed, but in a good way. “I don’t really know what to say, but thank you. I’m very glad that you still want to be my friend.”
“Heck yeah!” Pinkie hollered, jumping for joy. “Everypony’s coming around finally!”
And with that, all eyes were suddenly on the one pony who had decidedly not come around: Rarity.
This was it, this was Rarity’s moment to say something— anything— to Twilight Sparkle, and she knew if she missed this chance, she would regret it.
Rarity took a step toward Twilight, and another, and then another. And she kept walking, long after she had passed Twilight and the others and left them behind, refusing to utter a single word to any of them.
Twilight laughed at a joke Spike told her as she lied down on her bed, Spike indulging in a rather large complimentary breakfast over on his own bed. He offered some to Twilight, but she still wasn’t feeling that well so she passed on breakfast for now.
“And then Applejack said,” Spike said in-between giggles, “cider? I hardly know her!”
“That’s so dumb!” Twilight laughed, sitting up on her bed and smiling at Spike. It was weird to think that just last night someone had been in this room who was after Twilight’s life, and they nearly took Spike’s.
And while Twilight was worried, obviously, she couldn’t help but smile regardless.
“I’m glad you’re feeling a little better, Twilight,” Spike said with his own smile. “Better than yesterday, anyway.”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” Twilight chuckled. “The stuff with Rarity, it—it still hurts. Like a lot. But everyone else, they all said they want to still be my friend, and I—” Twilight paused to let out an awkward laugh as she wiped her eyes “—that’s more than I could’ve hoped for.”
“I hope they all get along with your brother,” Spike chuckled, and Twilight just let out a frustrated groan and fell on her back onto the bed.
“Ugh, don’t remind me.”
“Oh come on,” Spike scoffed, “he’s not that bad.”
“You shush, you don’t even know anything about him,” Twilight grumbled, pointing an accusing finger at Spike.
“That’s cuz you haven’t told me!” Spike exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air, and when Twilight gave him a bemused glance, he just stuck his tongue out at her.
He was right though; Twilight hadn't shared any real details about Shining Armor with Spike—not even his name. By the time Twilight adopted Spike, her and her brother were already on the outs with each other.
“Well whatever,” Spike huffed and batted his hand dismissively. “I’m just glad you’re not trying to pretend like everything’s fine all the time anymore.”
“Wh—I don’t do that!” Twilight balked, and Spike gave her a look of such concentrated bemusement that Twilight couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle under her breath. “Okay, maybe I do that a little.”
“I wish you wouldn’t,” Spike said grimly, poking at the bed sheets.
“Spike,” Twilight whimpered, “come on. You know it’s not fair for me to place my emotional burdens on y—”
“Twilight, would you stop with that?!” Spike clamored, and Twilight recoiled, completely not expecting Spike’s sudden outburst. “You might be my mom, but you’re also my friend! And it sucks to see a friend hurting and trying to pretend that they’re not around you! It makes me feel like you don’t trust me.”
“That’s not it at all, Spike,” Twilight said, her heart breaking right in two. “I just don’t want you to have to deal with my mess.”
“But we’re friends, Twilight!” Spike pleaded. “We’re supposed to help each other deal with our messes, cuz that’s just what friends do!”
“I—” Twilight paused. Faced with Spike’s conviction, and the pain and sadness and empathy in his eyes, how could Twilight possibly respond? “I guess I haven’t really been a model friend, huh? I’m sorry, Spike.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, Twilight,” Spike sighed.
“You’re right,” Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves and steady her breathing. “You’re right. About all of it. It’s not right for me to keep you in the dark all the time, or to pretend like—I dunno, to not let you help me? I guess?
“It—it still feels weird. Pinkie Pie said the same thing to me, about letting your friends help you with stuff, but it’s still such an alien concept for me to wrap my head around.”
“Maybe we can help you wrap your head around it,” Spike gave Twilight the cutest little smile, “together!”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, hopping over to Spike’s bed and wrapping him up in a big hug, “I’d like that.”
That’s what Applejack was thinking as she sat on a big comfy couch in the corner of the Neighagra Falls Inn lobby, her beautiful girlfriend Rainbow Dash cuddled up under her arm, and her dear friend Rarity sidled up on her other side—at Rainbow Dash’s request, no less.
“You were right, Rainbow,” Rarity purred as she made herself comfortable right next to Applejack, “this is quite relaxing.”
“Toldja,” Rainbow chuckled wriggling underneath Applejack’s arm before giving her a kiss on the neck. “Applejack’s like the most comfortable pony to hang out with.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, Rainbow Dash, but uhh,” Applejack cleared her throat awkwardly, “are you sure it’s okay for Rarity to be this close when she ain’t, like—”
“Are you uncomfortable, Applejack?” Rarity pulled herself away and asked concernedly, and Applejack immediately felt her absence and missed having Rarity’s body pressed up against her own.
“Nah,” Applejack said shortly, “not exactly.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Rarity hummed, cozying right up next to Applejack again and gently brushing her finger under Applejack’s chin. “As long as everypony’s comfortable with it?”
“Yeah,” Applejack smiled and hoped it wasn’t as obvious to Rarity that Applejack’s cheeks were probably burnin’ at about a million degrees, “you make a good point, Rarity.”
The three of ‘em just kinda sat like that for a bit, just silently enjoying each other’s company and proximity. It was weird at first, at least for Applejack. It felt really intimate and vulnerable, and while she didn’t mind being that way with her girlfriend, with Rarity it felt a little out of sorts.
At first.
Applejack found she got used to it right quick, and before she knew it her arm was around Rarity, and Rarity was humming contentedly as she used Applejack’s chest as a pillow, while Rainbow Dash meanwhile had her head on Applejack’s lap as she applied tender kisses to Applejack’s knuckles.
“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow said with a very enticing gleam in her eye as she looked up at Applejack. “Gotta say, it’s real sexy how you made up with Twilight this morning.”
“C’mon, Rainbow,” Applejack blushed and fretted with her mane, “don’t say it like that.”
“What can I say,” Rainbow chuckled, giving Applejack’s fingers a quick kiss, “I like a girl who can be honest about her feelings, and do the right thing by her friends, y’know? On that note, hey Rarity what’s the holdup on your end?”
“Rainbow Dash, please,” Rarity groaned, and while Applejack expected her to recoil, if only to get away from Rainbow, instead she clung harder to Applejack’s chest. “I had a very… complicated relationship with her. Even more so now because of her little secret. Learning that she had been lying to me this whole time, I just—”
Rarity paused and bit her lip.
“She couldn’t exactly tell us the truth,” Applejack muttered, not sure if she should really say anything, but she was never too good at keeping her opinions to herself.
“You think I don’t know that?” Rarity growled and glared at Applejack, but when Applejack gave her an apologetic frown, Rarity pouted and curled her legs up, practically turning herself into a ball. “That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
“Is it really cuz she was keeping a secret from you?” Rainbow sat up and looked Rarity dead in the eye. “Or is it cuz she’s a dr—”
“Don’t say it,” Rarity said coldly. “Honestly, what do you expect from me? All my life I’ve been taught that dragons are evil creatures hellbent on destroying ponies— not just destroying them, but tricking them into becoming friends and then destroying them!
“Now all of a sudden I’m supposed to throw those lifelong beliefs away? It isn’t that easy!”
“I dunno nothin’ ‘bout any other dragons,” Applejack said, “but Twilight ain’t like the stories we’ve been fed at all.”
“How can you be certain though?” Rarity said, looking up at Applejack with pleading tears in her eyes, but Applejack couldn’t bring herself to respond with anything but a sigh. She didn’t have an argument or explanation for why she decided to trust Twilight. It just felt like the right thing to do.
“And what about Celestia?” Rarity said, biting down on her thumb. “If we’ve all been wrong about dragons, what does that mean for her? Is she being tricked like the rest of us, or does she know what she’s doing? Honestly, I’m not sure which is worse.”
“I’m pretty sure I know which is worse,” Rainbow scoffed, causing Rarity to groan and whimper into her hands.
Applejack ran her fingers through Rarity’s mane and rubbed her shoulders a little bit, Rarity humming and leaning into Applejack’s movements before letting out a contented sigh.
“Hey, y’all?” Applejack said distantly, a memory suddenly crashing into her brain like a meteor. “Speakin’ of the royal sisters, what about Luna?”
“What about her?” Rainbow grumbled.
“Ugh, that’s right,” Rarity groaned and melted off the couch until she was sitting on the floor. Applejack decided to sit on the floor next to her and put her arm around her, but Rainbow stayed on the couch looking frustrated. “She met Twilight. She talked to her at the train station, even shook her hand.”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow balked, perching on the back of the couch and flaring out her wings. “She what?!”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m sayin’,” Applejack said tensely. “Alicorns can see through a dragon’s magic disguise. There’s no way in hell Luna doesn’t know about Twilight’s secret.”
“Then why the hell hasn’t she done anything?” Rainbow asked, clawing at Applejack’s shoulder in a panic, Applejack taking Rainbow’s hand gently in hers and giving it a tender kiss, Rainbow sinking back down onto the couch, before joining the others on the floor and cuddling up against Applejack, who put her arms around Rainbow to help her feel safe.
“I have no idea,” Rarity said, rubbing her temples. “I have absolutely no idea. We’re just going to have to ask her ourselves.”
“When?” Applejack scoffed. “When’re we gonna have the time?”
“I don’t know,” Rarity pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’ll just have to make the time, sometime before we reach the Crystal Empire.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Rainbow huffed. “But for now, let’s just forget about Luna-” Rainbow purred and gently rubbed her head against Applejack’s chest, Applejack’s cheeks flaring up like when you first light the barbecue “-let’s focus on Applejack.”
“Darling?” Rarity sighed and wrapped her arms around Applejack, closing her eyes and humming peacefully. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Applejack smiled bashfully and put her arms around the two gals.
There were definitely much worse situations to find herself in.
It was still somewhat early in the morning when Rarity stepped onto the rooftop plaza of the Neighagra Falls Inn; clouds hung over a clear white sky, and the winter chill bit at Rarity’s skin like a pack of nipping dogs.
It wasn’t comfortable, but she needed to be alone, and the roof seemed like an excellent place to do that.
But nothing could ever be that simple, could it? It couldn’t just be a matter of Rarity retreating to the rooftop to be alone, there had to be exactly one woman already standing on the roof, and it just had to be Twilight Sparkle.
Rarity’s first instinct was to turn around and march right back down the stairs; Twilight was staring out across the plains of Equestria and she hadn't noticed Rarity yet, so avoiding her now should have been very easy.
And yet, Rarity paused. She was struck for just a moment by how beautiful Twilight still was to her, Twilight’s gentle smile and her shimmering eyes that contained such a deep and ferocious curiosity still brought a flush of affection to Rarity’s heart, and she tried to bite down a smile, but she decided to just let herself be in her feelings.
She still loved Twilight, despite everything that had happened. She would have to be fooling herself to think otherwise.
And yet, all the warmth and affection in Rarity’s heart vanished once Twilight turned to her and the two locked eyes, and Rarity was once again met not by the woman who she had grown to love over these last few months, but the dragon who had been hiding underneath her nose and lying to her since they met.
“Rarity.”
Rarity’s name on Twilight’s lips felt colder to Rarity than the bitter winter winds, and yet Rarity found herself walking toward Twilight despite herself.
But she stopped dead in her tracks when Twilight took a step back.
“Twilight,” Rarity said calmly, “are you afraid of me?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied immediately. “But I know that I’m—I’m afraid of what would happen if we fought again. No matter how it ended, I don’t think anyone would come out okay from it. I dunno. Maybe that’s just me.”
“I promised you that I would travel with you to the Crystal Empire,” Rarity said. “You don’t have to worry about me breaking my promise.”
“Sure,” Twilight said, looking down at the ground.
Rarity took another step toward Twilight, and when Twilight didn’t recoil, Rarity took several more slow, measured steps toward her, until the two were standing face-to-face, mere inches apart from each other.
Rarity could feel the heat coming from Twilight’s body, and if they had still been in the innocent times inside the library, Rarity would have loved to put her hand on Twilight’s chest, maybe make some flirtatious remark and giggle at Twilight getting flustered by it.
Rarity looked up into Twilight’s eyes, and while Twilight’s face betrayed no emotion, the tears falling slowly down her cheeks told another story. Rarity didn’t even think before reaching up to wipe them away, and she let out a small gasp as Twilight leaned her head into Rarity’s hand and purred.
Rarity knew she should have torn her hand away. She should have recoiled at Twilight’s touch, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to. Feeling Twilight’s soft fur against her hand brought her right back to those days in the library that Rarity spent falling in love with her, and she never wanted to forget that feeling again.
Twilight opened her eyes and smiled at Rarity, a delicate, tender smile. She knew that Rarity didn’t intend for Twilight to lean into her hand, but she was determined to make the most of the situation regardless.
After all this time, even after their nearly fatal battle, Twilight still held affection for Rarity, just as Rarity did for Twilight.
And that was the realization that forced Rarity to snatch her hand back, holding it close to her chest and away from Twilight.
What would Celestia think, if she saw Rarity sharing longing, romantic stares with a dragon? Holding a dragon’s hand, wiping the tears from her eyes, placing her hand softly on a dragon’s chest and biting her lip as the sensual feeling of that shared intimacy ran through Rarity’s body like a jolt of electricity—
What would Celestia think about Rarity, if she knew how madly in love she was with a dragon?
So Rarity turned around, and marched right back down the stairs, leaving the roof— and Twilight Sparkle— behind.
Rarity leaned against a wall and watched as Rainbow Dash looked through the slapdash corkboard full of potential missions for local Slayers posted on the wall of the Neighagra Falls Inn lobby.
The board was an absolute mess of papers that looked like it hadn’t been touched in eons, but Rarity supposed that was inevitable considering Neighagra was a rather obscure location near the middle of nowhere. Just off to the sides of nowhere, not quite in the middle.
It was certainly a useful and even popular rest stop for weary travelers wandering the roads of Equestria by hoof, and was well-known for its quality service and immaculate conditions— which Rarity could now happily vouch for— but it was just too far out of the way for most Slayers to make it a priority.
And while the sorry state of the corkboard was a definite distraction to Rarity— because honestly, they could have at least straightened it up a tad and made it easier to navigate; perhaps have it organized by mission difficulty or proximity or— well she was getting off track.
The point was, Rarity’s focus was primarily on Rainbow Dash herself; something about the way Rainbow was poking at the scattered papers on the board, standing up on the tippy-edges of her hooves to look at some of the higher posts, and even just the way she huffed in frustration for the third or fourth time since she’d been standing there… it was all very cute.
Rainbow Dash had lightened up considerably since the Baltimare mission, or even since they spoke at the ruins of the library. She had already seemingly gotten used to travelling with dragons— something that Rarity was worried she would never get used to— and Rarity couldn’t help but be endeared by this aura of confidence and relaxation.
Though, if Rarity were being completely honest, this newer, more relaxed and confident Rainbow Dash definitely made her first appearance very soon after she started dating Applejack, a fact that Rainbow herself was quick to get flustered by when it was pointed out, but not one she was willing or able to argue with.
Either way, watching Rainbow was a breath of fresh air for Rarity, who felt like she could barely breathe at all under the mountain of stress crushing down on her chest.
“Bleugh,” Rainbow groaned, turning away from the board and tossing herself into a nearby plush chair.
“No luck, darling?” Rarity hummed, sitting down on the arm of Rainbow’s chair. “What seems to be the problem? It’s not as though we’re hurting for options.”
“It’s mostly rumors and hearsay,” Rainbow grumbled. “When you’re this far out from any villages or cities, a lot of times you get a ton of reports of people seeing weird stuff, but there’s no credibility. So no one checks on anything and the reports keep piling up—heck, a bunch of those papers are for the same monster. I just don’t wanna waste our time, y’know?”
“I do,” Rarity nodded.
“And I feel like I already am,” Rainbow said, her cheeks flaring up and scratching the back of her neck. “It was my idea to take on some missions while we were here.”
“Yes, well,” Rarity put her hands gently on Rainbow’s shoulders and tried to help her relax a tad, “it wasn’t your idea to stick around in Neighagra Falls for a few more days. And if you hadn’t suggested looking for a mission, I would have. I’d go stir crazy just sitting around here all day. I’d just be thinking of—”
Rarity paused.
“Ahem,” she said curtly. “Well, it doesn’t matter what I’d be thinking of, it’d just be—”
“You can just say ‘Twilight’, Rarity,” Rainbow chuckled, putting her hand over Rarity’s hand. “Like, I get it. You’re still grappling with everything.”
“I am,” Rarity sighed. She wanted to huff at Rainbow Dash for reading her so easily, but Rarity supposed it was simply her own fault. “Frankly, I’m quite impressed that you have managed to come to terms with this ridiculous situation so quickly. It’s inspiring, to be quite honest.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow laughed awkwardly, “but I really don’t deserve that kinda praise. I’m just stupid. I want to trust Twilight and Fluttershy, so I’m just… gonna. And if that bites me in the ass later, well-” Rainbow shrugged “-then I guess that’s whatever.
At least, I’m gonna try. I can make all the bold statements and declarations I want, but at the end of the day you know what they say about old habits.”
“Be that as it may,” Rarity hummed, her fingers gently tracing Rainbow’s shoulder, “you at least made a decision, and you’re sticking with it. That’s admirable. I admire it, at least.”
“You’ll come around, Rarity,” Rainbow smiled at Rarity, and Rarity felt her cheeks heating up; Rainbow’s confidence in her warmed her heart, and it made her feel better than she had since this whole nightmare began. “And whatever you choose, I trust your judgment. Not a doubt in my mind that you’ll do the right thing.”
“Well,” now it was Rarity’s turn to laugh awkwardly, “if you have such faith in me, it wouldn’t do to not have faith in myself. I wouldn’t want to turn you into a liar.”
“You’re so weird, Rarity,” Rainbow cackled and stood to her hooves, and as Rarity slid onto her back in the seat of the chair, she looked up at Rainbow and was awash in how beautiful Rainbow’s confidence was. “You think way too much.”
“You’re almost certainly right,” Rarity sighed dramatically, resting her cheek on her fist. “So how about we just think about our next mission, hm? Why don’t you pick one already?”
“Will do!” Rainbow said, pumping her fists before tearing a random sheet off the corkboard and shoving it right into Rarity’s face.
“A sea serpent?” Rarity said, reading the page.
“Good enough for me!” Rainbow cheered, and Rarity laughed. No matter what happened on this fool’s errand, Rarity was already certain that it wouldn’t be a waste of time.
Rarity was shifting back and forth on her hooves at the dock near the Neighagra Falls Inn as she waited for the boat to arrive that would take her and Rainbow Dash to their destination for their sea serpent mission.
Mostly though, Rarity was trying to ignore Rainbow and Applejack as they were making out two feet from her.
“Try not to miss me too much,” Rainbow breathed heavily between kisses, her hooves not even touching the ground as Applejack held her in her big strong arms.
“The more I miss ya-” Applejack leaned in and planted yet another kiss on Rainbow’s lips, which Rainbow passionately returned and Rarity tried not to gag “-the more I’m gonna wanna kiss ya when ya get back.”
“Well in that case,” Rainbow giggled and squirmed out of Applejack’s embrace, gently floating to the ground and taking Applejack’s hand, planting a tender kiss on her knuckles, “be sure to miss me a whole lot.”
“I hope you won’t miss me too much, Rarity,” Applejack chuckled, and Rarity rolled her eyes.
“If I do miss you too much,” Rarity said with a salty smile, “will you give me a kiss upon my return?”
“Uh, well I—” Applejack stammered, and Rainbow just laughed and playfully punched Applejack in the gut.
“Well, AJ?” Rainbow grinned ear to ear. “Will you?”
“Wh—uh, hey yer boat’s here!” Applejack called out, and sure enough the boat was readily in sight, quickly making its way to the dock.
“C’mon, Jackie,” Rainbow laughed, holding onto Applejack’s hand and lightly swinging it back and forth. “I’m just teasin’ ya. You don’t gotta get all flustered.”
“’Jackie’?” Applejack asked, a coy smile on her lips— not that Rarity was looking longingly at Applejack’s lips or anything!
“Yeah!” Rainbow chirped, hopping up before quickly slouching and biting down on her thumbnail. “Do you like it? That’s the cute nickname I came up with for you.”
“I—I’m uh—” Applejack stammered again, her face turning as bright red as her family’s namesake. “I’m gay.”
“I’ll take that as a yes!” Rainbow cheered, flying up to plant another smooch on her girlfriend’s lips.
“Come on, you useless lesbian,” Rarity sighed and dragged Rainbow Dash by her ear, Rainbow yelping in response. “We have a boat to catch.”
“Hey, I’ve officially graduated to useful lesbian, thank you very much!”
While the boat that Rarity and Rainbow would be travelling upriver on wasn’t a luxury yacht by any means, it was still large enough for the two Slayers to request their own private cabin, and a rather comfortable one at that, with a delightful view of the river and its early morning fog out the cozy circular window.
“So,” Rarity grinned at Rainbow Dash, who was quite clearly in dreamland thinking about her gf, “you’ve certainly gotten comfortable with Applejack in record time.”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow chuckled. “Applejack just has this way of just-” Rainbow paused to bite her lip, and it took some considerable willpower for Rarity to stifle her giggle “-she makes you feel good. She makes you feel comfortable, I guess is the thing.”
“She certainly does,” Rarity sighed fondly, “it’s one of her finer features.” Rarity shot Rainbow a catlike grin. “Though her physique is certainly up there as well, isn’t it?”
Rainbow laughed very loudly and awkwardly and her face turned bright red.
“Y-yeah, I guess so!” Rainbow tugged at her shirt collar. “I mean, y’know, she looks pretty good. She’s an attractive gal. Yeah, she’s pretty attractive. I definitely think about her body a normal amount!”
“Well I’m so happy for you, darling,” Rarity sighed, and gave Rainbow a genuine smile. “All that time spent pining ended up being worth it. Good for you.”
“You’re not jealous, are you?” Rainbow smirked. “Of me dating Applejack?”
“Heavens no,” Rarity lied, batting Rainbow’s absurd sentiment away with a wave of her hand. She was jealous, of course, though less of Rainbow dating Applejack and more that they were dating at all, given everything that had happened with Rarity’s potential love life.
She honestly had no desire or inclination to kiss Rainbow Dash or Applejack.
Unless?
No, no she certainly had no such desire. Don’t be ridiculous.
“Applejack and I would never get along like that,” Rarity said, and she hadn't realized that several minutes had passed since the last time she spoke until Rainbow snapped to attention looking somewhat dazed.
Rarity was flustered by letting her inner thoughts leak out of her mouth like that, but she pressed forward regardless.
“Applejack and I are good friends, but we would simply never work together as a romantic couple,” Rarity continued, harrumphing for good measure.
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow gave a devilish little smirk that Rarity had half a mind to smack right off her mouth. “How do ya figure? Have you given it a lot of thought?”
“NO!” Rarity said smarmily, sticking her tongue out. “I just—you know, we’re very different. Her and I. We would never…”
Rarity drifted off and started thinking about Applejack—kind, supportive, strong Applejack.
Rarity shook her head rapidly to get those thoughts out of her mind.
“If I’m being entirely, shamefully honest,” Rarity sighed, curling into a ball and holding her legs tightly in front of her, “I am jealous. Or rather, I’m lonely. I hadn't realized until quite recently just how much I desire a romantic relationship in my life, and now that my hopes have been—”
Rarity scrunched up her nose and tried to blink away the tears forming in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Rarity,” Rainbow said, her ears drooping down.
“No, no please don’t be sorry!” Rarity exclaimed, reaching her hand out to Rainbow Dash. “It’s not your fault, and the last thing I want is for you to feel like your relationship is making me feel bad.”
“Oh, no that’s not what I meant,” Rainbow said, looking confusedly at Rarity. “I didn’t even think about that, cuz yeah like if you seeing me and Applejack makes you feel bad, that’s kinda on you.”
“Uh, cool. Thanks,” Rarity said, her cheeks turning bright red as she melted into the back of her seat.
“Though I guess maybe making out right in front of you might not be—”
“Like I said,” Rarity cleared her throat awkwardly, “don’t worry about that. My feelings have nothing to do with you or Applejack.”
“Still, we could be a little considerate, I guess,” Rainbow puffed up her cheeks. “And hey, if you ever wanna make out with me or Applejack, we’re both game.”
“WHAT?!” Rarity screeched, jumping up onto her seat and hitting her head on the ceiling. “You can’t just—” Rarity rubbed her bonked noggin and sat back down, attempting to compose herself. “You can’t just say things like that, Rainbow Dash!”
“What’s the problem?” Rainbow cocked her head, and Rarity had to do a double take at her absolute lack of common sense. “Like, I’m not saying that me or Applejack could fill the void of where, uh, y’know… she used to be. But if you’re ever feeling like you just kinda need to be with someone, you could hook up with me or AJ for a bit.”
“Have you— have you talked about this with Applejack?” Rarity asked cautiously, and she honestly couldn’t believe she was taking Rainbow’s offer even remotely seriously right now. “Often?”
“It’s come up a couple times,” Rainbow said. “Monogamy makes me itchy. Like, I have no problem being committed to Applejack— and I am, one thousand percent! But the idea of being committed to just her makes me break out in hives. And we’ve talked about, like, if either one of us wanted to date any of the gals in our little friend group, we’re both down with that.
“Plus, being with AJ has really shown me how powerful just the feeling of touching and kissing another girl can be. I’m kinda interested in getting down with some casual hookups, and yeah me and Jackie have talked about that too.
“How about you?” Rainbow asked. “Have you thought about it at all? Polyamory, open relationships, casual hookups, any of that?”
“I haven’t, to be quite honest,” Rarity hummed, tapping her cheek with her finger. “It’s hard enough to imagine being able to hold onto even one relationship like that, let alone several.”
Rarity sighed, and a slight smile crept onto her lips.
“It is the dream though, isn’t it?” Rarity said wistfully. “Being so deeply in love that you can share that love among multiple partners? I admit, I find myself rather infatuated with the idea if I allow myself to think about it for a moment.”
“Which means you don’t let yourself think about it,” Rainbow snarked, “am I right?”
“I wish you weren’t,” Rarity huffed.
“You’re right though,” Rainbow beamed, “it is the dream! At least in theory. Obviously I’m still getting used to just dating Applejack, but the idea of being in love with more girls? Sounds pretty good. Dang I wish me and Applejack had another girlfriend already!”
“My my, aren’t we the hasty one!” Rarity laughed, and Rainbow laughed alongside her before hopping over from her side of the cabin to sit next to Rarity, Rarity placing her hand gently on Rainbow’s once she was situated. “There is something I’ve thought about though, or at least it’s crossed my mind from time to time.”
“What’s that?” Rainbow asked cluelessly, causing Rarity to giggle.
“Us,” Rarity said, trying to look Rainbow in the eye but finding herself oddly flustered and looking away, though her hand remained firmly atop Rainbow’s. “You and I, in a—ahem, in a relationship together. Romantically.
“It’s not something I’ve seriously considered, mind you!” Rarity quickly said, holding her other hand out and blushing furiously. “Just, you know, we spend so much time together. It’s crossed my mind a couple of times… like, ‘it wouldn’t be so bad, would it?’, that kind of thing.”
“So would it?” Rainbow asked, and Rarity snapped her head around to look at Rainbow, whose cheeks were bright red and Rarity couldn’t detect a hint of irony in her voice, and Rarity was suddenly incredibly conscious of her fingers intertwined with Rainbow’s.
“Uh, I don’t know,” Rarity said, her other arm moving as if by its own will to place itself on Rainbow’s thigh. “I haven’t-” Rarity let out a quick exhale—was it getting warm in here or was it just her? “-I haven’t considered it too seriously, like I said.”
“Right, yeah,” Rainbow said breathlessly, and Rarity could swear their faces were inching closer to each other. “I haven’t, uh— I mean, I’ve definitely thought about it a little, but not too much. You always seemed-” Rainbow exhaled a hot breath through her nose and Rarity could feel it on her skin “-out of my league.”
“Well,” Rarity’s heart was pounding in her chest as she could practically feel Rainbow’s lips on hers, “I wouldn’t say that.”
Near silence, the only sound in Rarity’s ears were her own heartbeat and both ponies’ breathing. Their noses were practically touching, and their lips were tantalizingly close. It would only take a brief, gentle movement to connect them.
Is that what Rarity wanted? Is that what Rainbow Dash wanted?
Neither pony moved. They looked into each other’s eyes but Rarity felt almost as if they were staring through each other. Rarity could barely focus on Rainbow’s perfect and vivid violet eyes between the roar of her heart and the pace of her breath.
Rarity bit her lip.
She pulled back.
Her fingers clenched around Rainbow’s.
Rainbow put her hand atop Rarity’s, then slid it underneath Rarity’s hand, pulling it gently up to Rainbow’s lips where she planted a gentle kiss on Rarity’s knuckles.
“I’m not sure what I want,” Rarity said, the words coming unbidden from her lips that felt so dry.
“Me neither,” Rainbow said, her voice raspy and choked like she hadn't had water in days. “I mean, I want whatever you want, Rare.”
“Do you honestly feel about me,” Rarity choked on her words, “that way?”
“I dunno,” Rainbow said, anxiously tracing her fingers along Rarity’s hand. “I’m not even sure what ‘that way’ means to me. Being with Applejack I realized, like, I feel about her the same way I feel about you, about Pinkie Pie, and even about Twilight. I love all of you. I dunno what that means, but I know I feel it in my heart, and even in my bones.”
“I love you too,” Rarity said softly, taking both her hands away from Rainbow’s and placing them on Rainbow’s cheeks which felt so warm. “I love you too. I don’t know if I love you in that way, but I love you dearly. But I do know that the last thing I want is for you to be my rebound.”
“I don’t mind if that’s what I am,” Rainbow said, “for what that’s worth.”
Suddenly Rarity knew exactly what she wanted.
She put her hands on her own thighs, turning her head away from Rainbow.
“Thank you,” Rarity said.
She wanted Twilight.
“I appreciate your kindness, Rainbow Dash.”
But she wanted Rainbow Dash too.
“No problem, Rarity,” Rainbow smiled, and if there was any hint of bitterness in it, Rarity couldn’t see it, though she was looking for it desperately.
Rarity bit her thumbnail.
She knew exactly what she wanted. But she refused to allow herself to reach for it.
Waking up in a pony-sized bed felt… odd, for Fluttershy. It was the first morning she could recall that she had woken to an unfamiliar ceiling instead of the welcoming embrace of her forest, and it was hard not to get anxious about that.
She was alone in her modest hotel room— she couldn’t remember if Spike had slept in her room last night, but if he had he wasn’t there now. Which was just as well; Fluttershy felt that she could use the time alone to get her bearings.
Fluttershy opened the curtains and looked out over the admittedly very beautiful scenery of Neighagra Falls. Falling water, rolling green hills, and crystal clear ponds as far as her eye could see, and it brought a smile to her lips.
She stretched her wings behind her back and her arms above her head. Even though she was still stuck in this cramped pony form, it at least felt good to shed all of her heavy winter clothing.
She didn’t even need it since dragons were immune to the cold, but Rarity insisted that Fluttershy bundle up to avoid suspicion, and even though she was right to insist that, it didn’t make being buried under so much clothing any more bearable.
A knock at Fluttershy’s door made Fluttershy’s ears perk up right away, and she turned to face the door; and that made her anxious.
In the past— in her forest— Fluttershy would have easily been able to tell who was at the door by listening and feeling the pulse of the earth around her, but in this cramped pony form, in this unfamiliar location, and outside her domain, it was impossible. She could feel that someone was there, but she didn’t know who it w—
“I have breakfast! And some cupcakes! Sorry I keep making cupcakes, I just like ‘em! They’re fun to make! I can make some other stuff for you if you want me to though, but I guess I probably should’ve waited for you to answer whether you’re awake or not before I said that and also I’m yelling so if you were still asleep you probably aren’t now so sorry about that!”
“It’s okay, Pinkie!” Fluttershy called out, and it felt oddly straining to raise her voice. “I was already awake! I’ll be with you in a second!”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
Fluttershy wondered if perhaps she should put on clothes before answering the door. Rarity would certainly have been irritated if Fluttershy answered her naked, but Pinkie Pie wasn’t Rarity. Pinkie had already seen her naked in the forest anyway, and ponies didn’t tend to have a problem with nudity, so it would probably be fine hopefully.
And to be honest, the less time Fluttershy spent buried under those heavy coats the better.
“Hello, Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy chirped as she opened the door, standing in front of the portal with her hand on the doorframe, looking down at Pinkie Pie with a big smile.
Pinkie on the other hand, just looked up at Fluttershy with wide eyes, her ears clamped against her skull.
“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy gasped, recoiling and hiding herself behind her wings. “Is something wrong? Is there a problem? Did I do something?”
“N-no! No, nothing like that!” Pinkie squeaked, and she paused for a second before speaking again. “It’s just, you’re—I uh, I—g—uh—girls.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, but then it dawned on her what Pinkie meant, and she let out a giggle. “Oh! I get that a lot.”
“I bet!” Pinkie laughed, and that brought the smile back to Fluttershy’s face.
“Please, come in,” Fluttershy said, and as she turned to go back into her room, her tail brushed up against Pinkie Pie’s cheek. It was a total accident, but the cooing noise Pinkie made was so delightful that Fluttershy forgot to apologize.
Oh, wait, Fluttershy thought, is this what flirting is? Oh it’s fun and I like it!
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie shared breakfast and cupcakes at the charming little tea party table set up inside the hotel room, Pinkie Pie regaling Fluttershy with all the tips and tricks on making cupcakes that Fluttershy could ever ask for, and Fluttershy listening entranced by every word.
Once they had wrapped up their meal, Fluttershy returned to her bed and sat on the edge, watching intently while Pinkie Pie cleaned up the mess their breakfast had left—Pinkie insisting that she be the one to do the cleaning since she was the one who brought the food in the first place, though Fluttershy suspected that Pinkie just wanted Fluttershy to take it easy, which was very kind of her.
“So hey,” Pinkie said, swaying back and forth while biting on her thumbnail, “do you have any big plans for today?”
“Not that I can think of,” Fluttershy said, making space for Pinkie on the bed and patting it with her hand to beckon Pinkie to sit next to her, “why do you ask?”
“Well I was thinking—” Pinkie bit her lip as she hopped up onto the bed, but she left a lot of space between her and Fluttershy.
For a second, Fluttershy worried that maybe she was being pushy and Pinkie didn’t really want to sit next to her, but then she realized something quite different was going on. It was like a hundred little puzzle pieces just fell into place in Fluttershy’s brain— a hundred little things Pinkie had said and done in the time Fluttershy had known her.
And suddenly she realized that Pinkie had a crush on her.
That wasn’t very unusual. Fluttershy was unfortunately rather used to being the objects of ponies’ and dragons’ affections.
What was unusual was that Fluttershy also realized that the feeling was mutual.
“Uh, I guess I was more wondering,” Pinkie coughed in the middle of her sentence, and Fluttershy noticed that her cheeks were bright red and it was so cute, “uh, I dunno, if you wanted to hang out? With me? We could like, I dunno, check out some of the sights maybe?”
“I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you,” Fluttershy hummed, coyly putting her wing around Pinkie, whose whole body stiffened up at Fluttershy’s touch and her ears shot straight up. Fluttershy mused that she could almost see steam pouring out of Pinkie’s ears and it was just so cute. “But why go out to see the sights when the prettiest thing around here is already sitting here on my bed with me?”
OH MY GOSH I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT OH MY GOSH OH GOSH OH GOSH OH HECK!!!
“Wh-what?” Pinkie asked, looking at Fluttershy with wide eyes and Fluttershy couldn’t tell if she was just surprised or genuinely uncomfortable.
“Uh, I was attempting to ‘flirt’ with you,” Fluttershy cleared her throat, and now it was her face that was all red and she tried to hide it behind her wings. “I guess it didn’t uh, I guess it wasn’t very successful.”
“Y—you were trying to flirt with me?!” Pinkie squealed, jumping up in the air as her limbs flailed about like noodles in every direction.
“I was,” Fluttershy admitted bashfully, poking a little bit of her face out from behind her feathers. “I think you’re very cute, and I suspect you feel the same way about me, so I was trying to flirt. I’m not very good at it though.”
“I DO think you’re cute!” Pinkie said excitedly, standing on the bed and pumping her fists. “I think you’re SUPER cute!”
Fluttershy bit her lip and let her wings fold behind her back, looking at Pinkie dead in the eye as she braced herself to do something very brave or possibly very dense.
“Well then,” Fluttershy whispered, “may I kiss you?”
Pinkie wasn’t sure she’d heard them correctly past the sound of her heart beating in her ears. But those were definitely the words, right?
“Uh, I’m sorry?” Pinkie let those words fall out of her mouth, and she swore if she accidentally ruined her shot at kissing Fluttershy she’d curse her entire family line or something. Okay, probably not anything that drastic, but she’d still be pretty mad at herself!
“Oh? Do you not want to kiss me?” Fluttershy said with a tender smirk, batting her eyelashes at Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie wasn’t sure if she was being pranked or what.
“Uh, well I—” Pinkie stammered and scooched back, but she slipped on the bedsheet and tumbled onto the ground hard on her back with a big “OOF!”
“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy yelped, rushing to the corner of the bed and looking down at Pinkie with worry in her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah!” Pinkie laughed and gave a thumbs-up. “I’m fine! I was just a little startled is all!”
“Are you, um,” Fluttershy puffed up her cheeks and Pinkie couldn’t stand how cute she looked, “are you flustered? Or um, like, offended?”
“Definitely fluntstered!” Pinkie shouted, springing to her hooves. “Flustered! Is what I meant! You’re—I— You want to kiss me?!”
“I would like to,” Fluttershy’s coy smile returned and she laid her chin on her intertwined fingers as she smiled down at Pinkie, and Pinkie had half a mind to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. “I think you’re very cute, and I’d like to give you a kiss, if you’d let me.”
“I would love to let you!” Pinkie said, her hands and even her whole body trembling.
She couldn’t believe this was actually happening to her, she was sure she must’ve been dreaming or something.
Until Fluttershy scooped Pinkie up into her arms, holding her close and wrapping her wings around Pinkie’s body, and Pinkie could feel Fluttershy’s fingers and her feathers on her body. She was also suddenly intensely aware that Fluttershy was completely naked, and Pinkie’s whole face turned red as a habanero pepper. Those were the red ones, right? Oh well whatever, that wasn’t important!
What was important was Fluttershy, whose lips were getting closer to Pinkie’s lips, but Pinkie couldn’t bring herself to move or get closer; she was paralyzed with—with—
Well, Pinkie didn’t know what. Excitement? Gay feelings? Panic? All of those things?
She wasn’t sure, so she just closed her eyes and waited.
And then she felt Fluttershy’s lips on hers.
Electricity.
That was the first thing Pinkie Pie thought of, like electricity was coursing through her body, then fire. Then, uh, ice? Maybe? Water perhaps? Was this elemental metaphor too strained?
Whatever, a million thoughts ran through Pinkie’s head all at once as she experienced her first kiss, to the point that she was kinda more in her head than she was in the moment and she didn’t even fully realize it’d happened until it was already over.
Pinkie was sitting on the bed now, her legs dangling off.
The kiss was over, and Pinkie??? MISSED IT???
Wait, what the heck?
Oh, now she’s crying. Pinkie’s crying. Of course she’s crying, geez. What a loser.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, and the fear in her voice ripped through Pinkie’s heart like a thrown spear. “I didn’t do som—”
“No, no! It’s not you at all, I promise!” Pinkie said, trying in vain to stop her tears from falling but they just kept pouring down her face. She wanted to make a clever parallel to Neighagra Falls cuz they were right there, but she came up empty.
“Then what’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked, kneeling by the bed and placing her hands delicately on Pinkie’s.
“My family,” Pinkie snuffled, “they always told me that I like, that I had ‘take advantage of me’ stamped on my forehead. And everything everypony always says about dragons, I—I don’t wanna believe ‘em, but there’s this mean goblin in my brain that just keeps reminding me of all the horrible things that everyone always says and I—”
“Believe me,” Fluttershy sighed and gave Pinkie’s fingers a gentle kiss, and Pinkie gasped at her touch and felt her cheeks warming up, “I know how you feel. I’ve um, well I’ve been ‘around the block’ I guess you could say, quite a few times. I’ve had my fair share of bad relationships, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not scared.
“But, I left my forest because I no longer wanted to live in fear, and if that’s how I feel, then… well, I want to try my paw at romance again, and I would like to try it with you, if you’re interested in trying it with me?”
Pinkie bit her lip. Of course she wanted to try it with Fluttershy! It almost felt too good to be true!
Which was kinda the whole problem; what if it really was too good to be true?
What if everyone else was right, that dragons were manipulative monsters who tricked ponies to kill them, and Pinkie was just a dumb stupid idiot who was oh so easy to take advantage of?
But, hmm. Pinkie didn’t want to live in fear either.
“Can I ask you a question?” Pinkie whimpered, a trembling smile fighting through the tears that were starting to slow down but were still rolling steadily down her cheeks.
“Of course,” Fluttershy said, her beautiful smile shining in Pinkie’s heart like a beacon cutting through the fog of her worries.
“Can I kiss you?”
Pinkie smiled timidly, and Fluttershy giggled and her beaming smile made Pinkie laugh. Pinkie could see the glint of Fluttershy’s fangs when she flashed an even brighter smile, and they looked so cute and beautiful, and Fluttershy’s laugh was like the lullaby you hum to yourself when you’re all alone at night trying to keep your worries at bay.
“I would love nothing more,” Fluttershy said, and Pinkie pressed her nose against Fluttershy’s, Fluttershy pressing their lips together and giving Pinkie a gentle, tender kiss.
Pinkie was still worried, of course, but she was a million percent certain that she had to trust her gut. She had to trust Fluttershy. She wanted to.
Applejack was lying on the roof of the Neighagra Falls Inn, taking in the sound of the roaring falls and watching the clear blue morning sky. It was peaceful, which was a wild thing to experience for Applejack, who was so used to the constant drone of stress and anxiety.
“Hey, Applejack!” Spike’s voice made Applejack’s ears perk up, but she didn’t feel the need to immediately jump to attention, though she did look toward the stairwell leading up to the roof that Spike was poking his head out of.
“Howdy, Spike,” Applejack said with a smile, “how can I help ya?”
“Well, I was wondering,” Spike scurried out of the stairwell and excitedly ran up to Applejack, pumping his fists, “if you could teach me how to fight!”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack hummed and sat up, crossing her legs under her and looking down at Spike. “Why ask me? Yer ma never teach you that stuff?”
“No,” Spike scoffed and crossed his arms in a huff. “You know how she is, she’s always saying how she doesn’t want me to get hurt and whatever.”
“I mean, I get that,” Applejack nodded, silently admitted that she may have possibly had an overprotective streak of her own. “When yer a good parent, yer kid’s safety’s like the most important thing to ya. But I’m not sure how you not bein’ able to defend yerself makes you any safer.”
“Right?!” Spike said exasperatedly, and Applejack chuckled.
“Alright, Spike,” Applejack said and stood to her hooves, “I can teach ya a thing or two.”
“Yeah!” Spike cheered and jumped in the air. “Thank you so much, Applejack! I knew I could count on you!”
“Heh, don’t mention it, Spike,” Applejack ruffled the kid’s mane. “Happy to help.”
It briefly crossed Applejack’s mind that Twilight might get mad at her for training Spike if she was insistent that she didn’t want him to fight, but Applejack shrugged that thought off in no time. She respected Spike’s autonomy more than she respected whatever Twilight had decided for him.
Then again, maybe making a dragon parent angry wasn’t in Applejack’s best interest, but what was Twilight gonna do? Eat Applejack?
That thought almost made Applejack laugh. The Twilight she knew was more likely to freak out and panic over nothing than to do something as ridiculous as that, and that thought made it suddenly dawn on Applejack that Twilight wasn’t just some monster like Applejack had always been told dragons always are. She was a person, with her own thoughts and feelings and beliefs and logic that she followed.
And that realization sent a shiver up Applejack’s spine, thinking about all the dragons that the Slayers had just casually butchered as if they were animals. That wasn’t a pretty thought at all.
So for now, it could get locked in the vault. Applejack needed to focus on Spike.
Applejack went a few rounds with Spike, showing him some basic strikes and counters that she’d learned over her bazillion years of hand to hand combat, and she was surprised at how quick he was learning.
“Yer pretty good, Spike!” Applejack said as the two took a break for a sec so Spike could catch his breath, Spike bending over and holding his knees, while Applejack just crossed her arms and smirked. “You might be a natural at this!”
“Thanks!” Spike beamed, and it warmed Applejack’s heart to see him don such a carefree smile. “I really wanna be able to protect my friends and my mom, so I’ve always wanted to learn this stuff! I’m super excited to learn all of your secret techniques, Applejack!”
“It ain’t about any ‘secret techniques’, Spike,” Applejack scoffed and ruffled Spike’s mane. “You gotta have a solid understandin’ of the fundamentals. You’d be surprised how far that can take ya.”
“Aww, but that’s boring though!” Spike pouted and crossed his arms.
Applejack just rolled her eyes and swept her leg under Spike’s hooves, knocking him flat on his back.
“Y’see?” Applejack said smugly. “If you had a solid grasp of the fundamentals, that wouldn’t’ve happened.”
Spike just laughed at Applejack’s comment, and Applejack laughed back, until the pair’s laughter was suddenly interrupted by a shrill gasp.
“Spike!” Twilight yelled worriedly, scrambling out of the stairwell onto the roof and hurrying toward Spike, masterfully disguising her tripping over her own hooves as a calculated dodge roll into a slide. “Are you injured? What happened? Are you okay? Wha—”
“Hon,” Applejack said flatly, “I just knocked him over while we were sparrin’. He ain’t even hurt.”
“Yeah, Twilight!” Spike huffed and flailed his arms at his ma, who was getting way too overprotectively touchy. “I’m fine! Applejack’s teaching me how to fight!”
“WHAT?!” Twilight stood straight up and looked worriedly at Spike before glaring at Applejack, her snout curling into a disgruntled frown. “NO, she is NOT!”
“I am, actually,” Applejack put one hand on her hip and cocked her head, dissatisfied frown etched across her face. “Least I was. You gonna tell me I need to stop?”
“Yeah, actually!” Twilight barked. “That is exactly what I was gonna do!”
“But Twilight—”
“Don’t you ‘but Twilight’ me, mister!” Twilight huffed at Spike, who puffed up his cheeks and glowered angrily at his ma. “We’ve talked about this! I don’t want you getting involved in anything dangerous!”
“The whole world is dangerous, Twi,” Applejack said calmly. “No matter where you go, there’s always gonna be danger. Bandits, monsters, bullies—hell, in your case you even got Slayers to worry about.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Twilight spat.
“Y’ain’t makin’ Spike any safer by not teachin’ him how to defend himself,” Applejack argued. “How can you not see that?”
“Okay,” Twilight exhaled sharply, her brow furrowed and her hands on her hips, “I’m pretty positive that ‘y’ain’t’ isn’t a real word.”
“Well I just said it, didn’t I?” Applejack grinned smugly. “And you understood what I meant, so…”
“It’s still not a real word!” Twilight huffed.
“You can pretend all you like, Twi,” Applejack shrugged, “but stickin’ yer head’n in the sand doesn’t change the truth.”
Twilight groaned under her breath.
Then she groaned very much out loud, tugging on her bangs and cupping her face in her hands.
“Twi,” Applejack cracked her knuckles, “why don’t you go a few rounds with me?”
“Eh?” Twilight balked.
“See for yerself what I’m teachin’ Spike, y’know?” Applejack said. “Maybe if you understand what he’s gettin’ into, you’ll realize yer frettin’ over nothin’.”
Twilight took a deep breath and arched her back before standing straight and staring Applejack right in the eye.
“Twilight…” Spike muttered, grabbing the hem of Twilight’s robes. Twilight looked down at him and her icy glare melted away into a sunny smile.
“Applejack,” Twilight returned her attention to Applejack and her icy glare returned, “do you realize what you’re asking right now?”
“Yeah,” Applejack chuckled and tapped her hoof against the ground; she was starting to get excited—or scared, she couldn’t quite tell which. “I’m askin’ to spar with a dragon. Who wouldn’t jump at that opportunity?”
“If that’s how you feel,” Twilight said, and suddenly a pair of batlike wings with constellations and galaxies etched into their form flared out behind Twilight, “then fine. Let’s go a round or two, Applejack.”
Twilight’s hoof tapped against the flat stone roof of Neighagra Falls Inn’s rooftop balcony, a chill wind blowing through the midmorning air as she stood opposite Applejack and prepared to face her in a sparring match.
Twilight was so confident just a moment ago— she was so steamed that Applejack had tried to teach Spike how to fight, something that Twilight considered dangerous and horrible, but now she felt her confidence draining out of her body like a leaky pipe.
“What’s the matter, Twi?” Applejack chuckled, reaching out her hand and flicking her fingers at Twilight. “Yer not gettin’ scared, are ya?”
“I’m not,” Twilight said coldly, and that was true wasn’t it? She wasn’t scared.
She was worried.
She was worried that she was wrong. She always worried about that, but this time it was nagging at her more than usual.
Because she knew that she was.
Applejack was right, and it wasn’t Twilight’s place to keep Spike from learning how to protect himself if that’s what he really wanted to do.
And yet, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to accept that; the thought of her son getting involved in battle sickened and horrified her, and she would keep him safe in the nest away from all the scary things of the world that maybe could hurt him with every ounce of fighting spirit she possessed.
“Okay, Applejack,” Twilight said, shooting Applejack a frigid glare, “I’m ready. Come at me.”
“Alright,” Applejack grinned, “don’t say I didn’t warn ya!”
Applejack charged Twilight down and threw a punch, but it was so obvious and clumsy in its execution that Twilight was able to dodge it easily just by weaving to the right a bit, and she clicked her tongue in disdain for Applejack’s sloppy technique.
Just in time for her to take Applejack’s other fist right in her jaw, disorienting her and causing her to stumble back a few steps.
By the time she got her bearings back, Applejack was already throwing another punch toward the side of her torso, and Twilight blocked it with her arm in an awkward way that left her open to Applejack’s second punch to her cheek that made the whole room around her spin.
Twilight jumped back and stomped her hoof on the ground. Applejack cracked her knuckles and grinned smugly at Twilight. Which was perhaps earned; Twilight had severely underestimated Applejack, after all.
Oh well, nothing to be done for it. Counterattack time.
It occurred to Twilight that she and Applejack hadn't set any rules for their match other than the obvious of no lethal force, so Twilight grinned deviously as she came up with a plan.
With a crack of magic, Twilight teleported behind Applejack and kicked her hard in the back of the leg; it would take a stronger hit than Twilight’s thin frame was capable of to knock Applejack down in one strike, but it was enough to knock her off-balance at least.
Applejack tried to strike her elbow into Twilight’s face, but Twilight simply teleported in front of Applejack again and socked her square in the nose, teleporting to Applejack’s side as Applejack tried to punch back, Twilight leaning against Applejack’s shoulder and giving a taunting yawn.
This time it was Applejack who jumped back, and Twilight was feeling good enough about herself to grace Applejack with a moment or two to collect her thoughts. It wouldn’t matter in the end; Applejack didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever defeating Twilight.
Applejack took a deep breath with her eyes shut, standing in a stout stance with her legs and arms spread evenly apart. Twilight was impressed; it was a good stance for meditating. She wasn’t sure how it’d help Applejack win, but she supposed it didn’t matter.
Twilight was getting tired of dragging this out, so it was time to end this.
Twilight lit up her horn and teleported behind Applejack, but before she could attack, Applejack spun around at lightning speed and grabbed Twilight’s arm, Twilight gasping as Applejack pulled her into a spine-crushing hold.
Twilight was able to teleport out of Applejack’s grip before she smashed Twilight into the ground, but as Twilight got ahold of herself, her horn sparked and crackled. She tried to channel magic through it and realized her stream of magic was on the fritz all of a sudden.
“Huh,” Twilight said, trying to keep a smile from betraying her feelings. She was impressed; it took some pretty advanced magic to shut off a pony’s flow of magic—much less a dragon’s— even temporarily. “Not bad, Applejack.”
“You gotta be prepared for all kinds of stuff,” Applejack shrugged casually, but her smile was pretty cute.
“I suppose so,” Twilight said, fingers tracing her horn and feeling little sparks of magic jitter through her fingers.
“You wanna call it here, or—”
“Yeah,” Twilight said. “I think I would. Don’t get me wrong, I could still defeat you—”
“Of course,” Applejack said with a grin.
“—but I don’t feel the need to,” Twilight said, ignoring Applejack’s blithe comment. “You were right. It’s not my place, even as Spike’s parent, to control his life or tell him what he can and cannot do. If he wants to learn how to fight, then—” Twilight inhaled sharply, swallowing the bitter truth that she had to confess to “—then it’s my job as his parent to support him, not to try and ‘protect’ him by smothering him.”
“You really mean that?!” Spike cheered excitedly, standing up on the chair from where he was watching Twilight and Applejack spar and pumping his fists.
“I do,” Twilight sighed. “You have my blessing, for what that’s worth, to learn from Applejack.”
“It’s worth a lot, Twilight!” Spike said, running up to Twilight who picked him up in her arms and gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much!”
“No need to thank me,” Twilight laughed, “you were the one who was right! If anything, I should be apologizing.”
“I don’t want an apology,” Spike huffed. “Please do not apologize to me.”
“Okay, I get it,” Twilight chuckled awkwardly and rolled her eyes, “sorry. Wait, shit, damn it!”
As Spike and Applejack laughed, and Twilight joined them in their laughter, she realized that maybe letting Spike fly out of the nest wouldn’t be such a hard thing.
After all, Twilight wasn’t the only one who cared about him.
Shortly after Rarity and Rainbow Dash had departed their boat and arrived in the small fishing hamlet of Windsoar nestled into the mountains near Neighagra Falls, they had heard something rather curious; apparently they weren’t the first Slayers in the area who had tasked themselves with ridding Windsoar of its sea serpent problem.
“You super sure about this Rarity?” Rainbow grumbled for what must have been the millionth time as the pair strolled through the charming dirt roads of the humble fishing village. “I really don’t think we need the help to take down one sea serpent.”
“It never hurts to be prepared, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity harrumphed, aghast at Rainbow’s impoliteness. “And besides, it seems like the only decent thing to do when two pairs of Slayers are in the same area is to introduce one’s self! It’s polite!”
“I guess?” Rainbow shrugged. “I just think it’s too much effort that we don’t need to bother with.”
“You never were one for decorum, I suppose,” Rarity hummed.
“That’s right!” Rainbow grinned, as if that were something to be proud of.
“Or perhaps,” Rarity bore a catlike grin and stopped in her tracks, turning on her hooves and putting her fingers just beneath Rainbow’s chin, “are you just worried that these new Slayers will steal all of my attention away?”
“Please,” Rainbow scoffed, taking hold of Rarity’s hand and pulling her ever so slightly closer, “you know nopony else could possibly outshine me. You couldn’t ignore me even if you tried.”
“I love your confidence, darling,” Rarity beamed, her hand finding itself on Rainbow’s chest. “But for now, let’s focus on the task at hand!”
“Fine, fine,” Rainbow sighed and let go of Rarity’s hand, putting her own hands in her coat pocket. “I’m in a better mood now anyway.”
It didn’t take long to find the other Slayers; it was hard to miss them what with the crowd of ponies gathering around to coo at them.
“Geez, showoffs much?” Rainbow groaned, and Rarity had to stifle a laugh at the irony.
Most Slayers tended to conduct their business in private, more or less. It didn’t usually do to make a big scene, but sometimes it was easier to blend in than others, and even Rarity and Rainbow with their comparatively modest gear stood out in this sleepy, out of the way town, so she imagined a pair of Slayers even a smidge more ostentatious than them would naturally gather a lot of attention.
Rarity was not prepared however, to be so easily swayed into the cooing masses once she set eyes on the Slayers.
There were two of them, both stallions, and they both looked fit and strong like any good Slayer would; one was an older gentleman, with suave but gently mussed graying hair that contrasted his sky blue man. He was dressed in fine clothing that was accentuated by a bold dusty brown bomber’s jacket, and an ivory scarf tied into a loose slipknot.
The other was a blonde man with a long mane that looked like it shimmered in the winter wind, his luxurious mane complimenting his pearly white coat, and his beautiful shining golden armor being impossible for Rarity to take her eyes off, or at least it would have been if his soft facial features weren’t so easy on the eyes.
Rarity let out an awkward laugh and smiled like a smitten schoolfilly, a rather embarrassing juxtaposition that didn’t escape Rainbow’s notice.
“Like what you see, Rarity?” Rainbow snickered.
“Sh-shut up,” Rarity stammered, limply slapping at Rainbow. “Come on, go introduce yourself.”
“What? Why me?” Rainbow griped. “I don’t care about these—oh wait.”
“Hm? Something the matter?” Rarity asked, curious by Rainbow’s sudden change in demeanor.
“I know that guy!” Rainbow exclaimed, pointing at the two Slayers, which didn’t make it easy to tell which guy Rainbow was talking about. “The guy in the bomber jacket, that’s Wind Rider! He was one of Luna’s guys back when I was training under her. Damn I used to really look up to him.”
“Not exactly,” Rainbow groaned and rubbed the back of her neck, “but you know how it is. Stuff with Luna didn’t end great, and now it’s like— well you know.”
“We don’t have to talk to them if you don’t want to,” Rarity turned her back on the Slayers to look Rainbow Dash in the eye; she needed to make it clear that Rainbow’s comfort and emotional wellbeing were Rarity’s top priorities, even above things like decorum and politeness.
“Nah, I’m over it,” Rainbow shrugged. “You can go flirt with those guys if you really want to.”
“F-flirt with— who said anything about flirting?!” Rarity laughed awkwardly, her voice peaking into an embarrassingly shrill octave, and she was sure her face was painted a ghastly shade of red. “I was just going to talk to them!”
“What’s this about flirting?” a man’s voice spoke from behind Rarity, and if her face was red before, now she was certain it had drained into a ghostly pale as Rarity turned around to see the blonde man standing right behind her. “Because I have to say, if a pretty mare like you is offering to flirt, I’d have to be an absolute dunce to turn you down.”
“W-well, aren’t you the forward one?” Rarity cleared her throat and twirled a strand of her mane to try and fight back against her nerves. “I will admit, I couldn’t help but notice that the other Slayers in this town were rather pleasant to look at.”
“The feeling is more than mutual,” the man said, biting his lip as he looked Rarity’s body up and down, a gesture that Rarity might have been mildly offended by if she hadn't been giving him the exact same look. “My name’s Blueblood, by the way. Prince Blueblood.”
“Oh, where are my manners?” Rarity laughed, holding out her hand and shaking Blueblood’s. “My name is Rarity, and my partner here is Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey,” Rainbow said casually.
“Hmm,” Blueblood hummed and gave Rainbow a smile that was just the right mixture of polite and thirsty to make Rarity chuckle, “your partner is—”
“Don’t try, buddy,” Rainbow cackled, “I’m gay.”
“Well, uh,” Blueblood cleared his throat, “well I guess that’s good news for the other women in your life.”
“Nice save, bro,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at Rainbow’s casual dismissal of Blueblood, but then suddenly Rarity realized she was still holding Blueblood’s hand and it was very warm and soft and Rarity was very gay. Wait, actually she wasn’t gay in this case, but she was so rusty when it came to flirting with men that she forgot for a sec. She was very bi.
“So what’s this about you being a Prince?” Rarity asked with intense curiosity.
“Well,” Blueblood puffed up his chest and spoke proudly, I—”
“You giving girls the old prince line, Blueblood?” Wind Rider said as he joined the conversation, poking his partner in the side with his elbow.
“’Line’?” Rarity asked drearily, her curiosity deflated.
“It’s not a line!” Blueblood huffed at Wind Rider, who just rolled his eyes with a wry smile.
“Prince is just his first name,” Wind Rider explained, “but he likes to play it up when he’s nervous around a pretty girl.”
“Sh-shut up!” Blueblood shouted, his face turning beet red, which probably wasn’t helped by Rarity struggling to stifle a laugh and Rainbow Dash cackling wildly behind her.
“Oh?” Rarity perked up and took a step closer to Blueblood; he was a mite taller than her—in fact he was almost the exact height of a certain lavender— or rather, his height was very familiar to Rarity, but she tried to push that out of her mind. “Do I make you nervous, Prince?”
“W-well,” Prince Blueblood took Rarity’s hands in his and looked down into her eyes, and she felt like she was looking right into the doorway to heaven or perhaps some other hyperbolic thing cuz she swore she had a little devil on her shoulder chastising her for flirting with someone other than Twilight and needling her that oh she was probably only really interested in this guy because it gave her a distraction from Twilight and STARS she wished she could stop thinking about that little purple bastard for two seconds so she could enjoy flirting with a hot guy for a moment.
Rarity blinked. She suddenly realized her internal monologue had drowned out whatever Blueblood had just said to her, and now she was standing— her hands still in his— awkwardly in silence while everyone stared at her.
“I’m sorry? Come again?” Rarity said, her cheeks feeling like they were being pressed against a road of hot coals. “I’m afraid I spaced out for a moment.”
“Captivated by Prince’s beauty no doubt,” Wind Rider said with a cheeky smile aimed at Blueblood, who merely rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“No doubt,” Rarity said with an awkward chuckle.
“He was just saying that you’re hot,” Rainbow said as she threw her arms around Rarity, “but you already know you’re hot and we got stuff to do, so let’s stop wasting time here already!”
“Oh, uh, alright I guess,” Rarity said, still feeling a bit dazed after her little mental spiral just a second ago and not bothering to resist Rainbow Dash dragging her away.
“We’ll see you bros later,” Rainbow snarked at Wind Rider and Blueblood, “after we’ve taken care of the sea serpent. Honestly you guys are just redundant now that we’re here.”
“Now hold on a second,” Rarity said, shaking Rainbow Dash off of her. “Actually, could you gentlemen wait here for one moment?”
The two men nodded and Rarity pulled Rainbow off to the side for a second.
“Did Blueblood say something weird when I zoned out?” Rarity asked anxiously. “Is that why you’re so eager to leave them behind?”
“What? No,” Rainbow balked. “If Blueblood said something sketchy, you know I would’ve just clocked him or something. He really did just say some generic crap about you being pretty. I don’t think he’s a creep or anything, just boring.”
“Oh okay,” Rarity sighed in relief, hand over her chest. “You had me worried for a second!”
“Sorry,” Rainbow ruffled her mane and gave an adorable apologetic smile, “I’m just chomping at the bit to get going, y’know?”
“That’s fair,” Rarity said, stealing a glance at Blueblood and Wind Rider and biting her lip. “But you know, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he worked w—”
“If you wanna keep flirting with that guy, I’m not gonna stop ya,” Rainbow rolled her eyes playfully.
“Okay good,” Rarity beamed, “cuz I really, really do!”
“Honestly, Rarity,” Rainbow shook her head and gave Rarity a positively bewildered look, “you have like the worst taste in dudes.”
Twilight breathed heavily, leaning her hand on the chest-high stone wall of the Neighagra Falls Inn’s rooftop balcony as sweat dripped off her fur onto the roof.
“You okay, Twi?” Applejack chuckled, similarly out of breath and glistening with sweat. Twilight couldn’t help but think it was a good look for her.
“C’mon you guys!” Spike exclaimed, pumping his fists and punching at the air. “You’re not getting tired already, are ya?”
Twilight had to wonder where did he find all that energy as she laughed at his undying enthusiasm.
Twilight, Applejack, and Spike had spent most of the day sparring with each other. It was now golden sunset hours and Twilight’s bones felt like they were ready to snap and wither away to ash if she even sneezed the wrong way.
“I think we gotta call it for today, kiddo,” Applejack hunched down and ruffled Spike’s mane and he snorted in laughter. “We don’t wanna accidentally break your ma.”
“Oh, like you’re not—” Twilight gasped and struggled for breath. “Like you’re not winded too!”
“I’m winded alright,” Applejack said, “but I don’t look I need to go to the hospital or nothin’. You sure yer alright, Twi?”
“I’m fine,” Twilight took a deep breath and centered herself; it helped, at least a little. “This is nothing compared to magic exhaustion.”
Suddenly it felt very cold on the rooftop balcony, even though Twilight could’ve sworn she’d been boiling hot just a second ago. Now all she could think about was the snow and winter wind, and the smell of blood and leaking magic coming from her mouth and—
No. Not going back there.
“Well there’s only one thing to do after a long day of training!” Applejack said proudly and clapped her hands, snapping Twilight back to reality. “Time to hit the showers!”
“Dibs on the bathtub!” Spike called out, raising his hand.
“That’s fine, Spike,” Twilight giggled, “I can wait until you get out.”
“Y’all only have one bathtub?” Applejack asked.
“Well it’s a hotel room, so yeah,” Twilight snarked with a cheeky grin on her face, “how many bathtubs did you get?”
“Haha, fair,” Applejack playfully rolled her eyes. “But hey Twi, why not hit the hot springs with me instead? That way Spike doesn’t have to feel like yer waitin’ on him to get outta the tub.”
“Yeah I’m a tub sleeper so,” Spike added, “you could be waiting a while.”
“You shouldn’t sleep in the tub, Spike!” Twilight balked. “That’s dangerous!”
“You’re right, Twilight,” Spike said drolly, “I might accidentally fall asleep so hard that I drown without noticing.”
“Exactly!”
Twilight held out her arms over her head, baffled that no one else seemed to recognize the obvious danger of the situation, and yet everyone else remained quiet until Applejack let out a single cough.
“Okay fine,” Twilight grumbled, puffing up her cheeks and crossing her arms. “Are you gonna be able to find your way back to the room okay?”
“Yes, Twilight,” Spike sighed, “and if anything happens, which it won’t, I can always use the beacon.”
“Right,” Twilight muttered. Maybe she was being a little overprotective. Just a little.
“What’s the beacon?” Applejack asked.
“It’s a little charm that Spike has,” Twilight pointed at Spike, who with a small puff of green flame materialized the small dragon doll of Twilight’s likeness that held Twilight’s beacon. “If he breathes a tiny spark of magic into it, it’ll summon me.
“Cuz you’re both right! Spike is his own man, and even though he’s still a child, it’s wrong for me to try and smother him in the name of ‘protecting’ him! I know that!” Twilight gesticulated wildly as she spoke, but then she held her arms stiffly in front of her and bit on her thumbnail. “But I still worry about him.”
“So Twilight made me this!” Spike beamed, holding up the beacon for Applejack to get a good look at. “This way if anything bad ever does happen to me, which it won’t, Twilight can come help!”
“He’ll always be able to find me if he needs me,” Twilight explained, “and I don’t have to hover over him and invade his privacy or anything. Everyone wins.”
“You’re ‘okay I guess’!” Twilight shot back and huffed, turning away from Spike for all of one second before teleporting behind him and holding him in her arms. “No you’re not, you’re perfect and I love you.”
“Alright, Twilight, I get it,” Spike grumbled as he pushed himself out of Twilight’s embrace. Then he paused for a moment and opened his arms, and Twilight picked him up and embraced him in a much softer, more reciprocal hug. “I love you too, Twilight.”
When Applejack had suggested to Twilight to join her in the hot springs, Twilight agreed mostly for the convenience. She needed a shower after her sparring sessions with Applejack, and Spike was using their room’s bath for his own shower, so joining Applejack seemed like an easy solution for everyone.
But there was something that didn’t occur to Twilight until she was standing in the middle of a public hot spring covered only by a little modesty towel and several beautiful naked women bathing around her.
Twilight Sparkle was motherhecking GAY.
Now, being surrounded by several beautiful naked women was one thing; Twilight could deal with that. Neither Equestria nor Twilight’s home in Zebrica really had much of a nudity taboo, and it was a common occurrence to see naked women just walking through town in the summer time.
But seeing Applejack naked? That was a different story.
Twilight had chalked her increasing body heat and nervousness during her sparring sessions with Applejack to the heat of the moment, excitement and adrenaline that was natural to occur during any kind of combat, sparring or otherwise.
Her appreciation of Applejack’s form and technique, and the fact that Twilight noticed how incredible Applejack looked as her massive, muscular body glistened with sweat? Twilight could chalk that up to a platonic appreciation of Applejack’s objective aesthetic beauty.
But seeing Applejack naked? That was another story entirely. Quite frankly, the main reason Twilight kept the modesty towel on was so she could hide the incredibly obvious indicator of her attraction to Applejack.
Twilight could just leave, if she was really that uncomfortable. But the thing of it was, she wasn’t uncomfortable; but she didn’t want to make Applejack uncomfortable either.
So Twilight dipped her hoof into the hot spring, and then slowly slid into the water, at first placing her hands over her lower regions out of self-consciousness but then she thought about how it might look if someone saw her hands down there so she quickly brought them up out of the water and leaned them on the rocks behind her.
She was just having a totally normal hot springs experience.
“Damn, Twi,” Applejack said as she slid into the water next to Twilight, “I never noticed how hot you are.”
Are you KIDDING me!?
“Uh, what?” Twilight said, her brain exploding in her skull and leaving a fried gooey mess all over her head. She was sure you could see the smoke pouring out of her ears.
“Sorry, was that too forward?” Applejack chuckled awkwardly. “I guess bein’ with Rainbow’s made me a little bit more friendly. Sorry about that.”
“N-no don’t be sorry!” Twilight exclaimed. “I was just surprised is all! Cuz I was, uh, maybe I was thinking the same thing about you.”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack grinned and flexed her muscles for a moment and Twilight almost felt like her nose was bleeding. “You like whatcha see?”
“Ughuabuhfguh.”
Nice save, Twilight.
“You have so many freckles,” Twilight cooed, her eyes going from Applejack’s shoulders down to the sides of her chest, all of which her dotted with little white sparkles. She was beautiful.
“Yep!” Applejack said proudly. “Lotta girls are into the freckles.”
I bet Rarity really likes them.
Oh.
Oh it’s gonna be like THAT, huh.
Twilight’s mood crashed like a glass chandelier falling to the floor, shattering into a million pieces upon impact.
“Twi?” Applejack asked. “You okay?”
“I’m—” Twilight moved away from Applejack, pushing herself through the water and trying to cover her body with her wings, but she forgot that she had put them away since she couldn’t be seen with them in front of ponies. “I thought about Rarity.”
“Oh,” Applejack said dourly.
Way to ruin the mood, Twilight.
“I still love her,” Twilight said despite the demons in her brain screaming for her to just stay quiet. “No, I guess it’s more a matter of— I still want her to love me. I mean, the first part’s also still true, but it’s more that second part that’s nagging at me right now.
“It’s more that second part banging pots and pans in my brain, telling me that if she knew what I was thinking about you right now, she’d hate me even more than she already does.”
“What yer thinkin’ about me?” Applejack asked. “Cuz it seems like yer thinkin’ ‘damn she’s hot’, and that’s just objectively correct. Even Rarity’d tell you that. She couldn’t get mad at you for that.”
“I guess,” Twilight muttered. “But I’m not just thinking about how hot you are. Granted, I am extremely thinking about that! Like, oh my GAWD. But it’s more than that.
“I’m jealous. Of what you have with Rainbow Dash. I miss Rarity, I’m so angry and sad that I never got to have the relationship with her that I wanted to, and I’m dearly missing having someone in my life who I care about in that way. My head’s already a mess of emotions and I guess adding ‘thirst’ to those emotions tipped me over from ‘mess’ into ‘straight-up disaster’.”
“Hon, yer not a disaster,” Applejack said, swimming closer to Twilight and putting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, “not any more’n the rest of us anyway.”
“I know,” Twilight bit her lip and struggled to hold back tears. “I know you’re right, but I—”
“It’s rough,” Applejack sighed, tracing her fingers through Twilight’s bangs the way Ra— “I get it. It’s rough when you feel like yer bein’ drowned in yer own emotions.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said and smiled up at Applejack, instinctively putting her hand on Applejack’s chest. She didn’t realize she had done that until a second later, and she immediately turned bright red and the heat burning all over her face could give the hot springs a run for their money.
Applejack didn’t say anything. She looked down at Twilight’s hand— which Twilight knew she had to move off of Applejack’s chest, but her fur was just so soft and her body was so strong and tough and warm and—
Applejack put her own hand on Twilight’s chest, and to say Twilight’s ears shot straight up would be an understatement; they were like rockets trying to blast off from Twilight’s head. Twilight audibly gasped at Applejack’s touch but she could barely hear herself over the pounding of her heartbeat thumping in her ears.
“Hon, I’d never say that I could replace Rarity or anything like that,” Applejack whispered, “but if you seriously want what me and Rainbow have, I’m not against giving it a try with you.”
“A-are you serious?” Twilight gasped. “We barely know each other!”
“We’ve known each other for months?” Applejack scoffed. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
“Well! I m-mean, yeah! I guess so!” Twilight stammered, and the fact that her and Applejack still had their hands on each other’s chests did not escape her notice. “But I hadn't really thought about you in that way, until—until—”
Twilight paused, and she retracted her hand, pushing herself away from Applejack.
“I never really thought about you in that way before,” Twilight said solemnly. “I’m not even sure I fully understand what ‘that way’ even is. But the last thing I want to do is treat you as a rebound.”
“And I don’t wanna try and put you in any kinda way yer not totally comfortable with,” Applejack said, and her comforting tone was so sweet and kind Twilight almost cried.
“Can I ask you a favor though?” Twilight muttered.
“Of course,” Applejack smiled.
“Can I have a hug?”
“Absolutely, honey,” Applejack laughed, and she pulled Twilight into a warm and tender hug.
As Twilight felt her naked body pressed against Applejack’s, she immediately turned red again and wondered if perhaps she made a huge mistake, but she decided to just let it go and bury herself in Applejack’s chest.
The evening sun cast a warm pinkish glow over the lake that the tiny fishing hamlet of Windsoar was built around, and Rarity cooed at the sight of it. It was nice to be able to just relax for one moment.
The sea serpent that she and Rainbow Dash had arrived in Windsoar to dispatch hadn't caused trouble in the day they had arrived, and the pair had elected to take a look around the village and see the sights before taking off to confront the creature in the wee hours of the next morning.
And this was at the villagers’ request, as none of them saw any Slayers terribly often and they wanted to make a good impression and have the Slayers enjoy the quiet atmosphere of their town, and Rarity wasn’t about to refuse them.
The fact that Rarity got to spend a few hours with a rather charming gentleman that she had met in town? Well, that was just a lovely bonus.
“Hmm,” Rarity pondered, leaning over a wooden balcony sitting atop the lake, her hands resting on the railing tantalizing close to Blueblood’s. “I believe this is the part where you tell me that the lake glistening in the evening sunlight is almost as beautiful as I am.”
“I was just thinking,” Blueblood smiled at Rarity, and he had a most dashing smile that made Rarity’s heart pound in her chest, “you are certainly the second most beautiful unicorn here. And that’s quite high praise, to be able to compare yourself to my beauty.”
“Oh good grief,” Rarity rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help but laugh, Blueblood joining her in a jovial little chuckle.
“I’m sorry, I’m just teasing,” Blueblood said, taking Rarity’s hands in his and squeezing them gently. “You are incredibly lovely, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little intimidated by your beauty.”
“Intimidated?” Rarity giggled. “Well, I suppose that is high praise! Honestly, I find rather the opposite to be true of you. I feel quite comfortable talking with you.”
“Well of course,” Blueblood said proudly, flicking his mane. “Talking to me is a pleasure, who wouldn’t be comfortable with that?”
“I certainly admire your confidence,” Rarity laughed.
“Why is that funny?” Blueblood asked.
“Hm?” Rarity tilted her head, perplexed by that response. “I don’t know, I guess I just think it’s cute how bold you are.”
“I’m not cute,” Blueblood huffed and turned his back on Rarity, and Rarity had to stifle another laugh. “I’m suave and gorgeous!”
“You’re a little bit cute,” Rarity said, wrapping her arms around Blueblood and placing her hands delicately on his stomach.
“Well,” Blueblood turned around and softly grabbed Rarity’s chin, tilting her head up to look him in the eye, “I suppose for such a gorgeous mare like yourself, I can agree to that.”
“I’m glad,” Rarity whispered, inching closer to Blueblood with her hands around his waist and his on the small of her back, until their chests were practically touching and their lips were just close enough to—
“Hey, Rarity! I’m bored!” Rainbow Dash yelled, swinging open the door from the small inn to the balcony Rarity had been sharing her quiet time with Blueblood.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded, instinctively pushing Blueblood away and hoping that he wasn’t too offended by that. “You’re interrupting a private moment!”
“Eh?” Rainbow looked Blueblood up and down, and she didn’t look impressed. “Really? With this guy?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rarity and Blueblood both said, almost in unison.
Rainbow laughed, and Blueblood flared his nostrils.
“Excuse me,” he said curtly, “I believe we asked you a question.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow dismissed Blueblood with a bat of her hand, rolling her eyes as she cocked her head and looked Blueblood over, hand on her hip and just looking as unserious as possible. “Don’t get your pants all bunched up or whatever, dude.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said sternly, “it wouldn’t kill you to be a little polite.”
“Hmm, interesting theory,” Rainbow tapped her chin and smiled smugly, “if only there were a way to test it, but I guess we’ll never know.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity stomped her hoof and her cheeks flared red; she couldn’t believe how rude Rainbow was being in front of someone who Rarity was trying to get to know better.
“I see what’s going on here,” Blueblood sighed and gave a humorless chuckle with a shake of his head. “Let me guess, you’re carrying a bit of a flame for your partner, and you’re jealous that she’s taken a shine to me so easily, am I right?”
Oh good lord, Rarity thought as she buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her right now.
Rainbow, for her part, was silent for an excruciatingly long second.
And then she burst out laughing.
“Wh-what’s so funny?” Blueblood asked irritably, his face turning a rather unflattering shade of red.
“You can’t be serious, dude,” Rainbow cackled. “You can’t seriously be comparing yourself to me, especially in this honestly kinda sad ‘Rarity likes me better so nyah’ kinda way.”
“Rainbow Dash, you are being an absolute ruffian!” Rarity fumed. “What has gotten into you?”
“She’s obviously just mad that you’ve taken an interest in me,” Blueblood sighed and walked over to Rainbow Dash, and while Rarity didn’t appreciate him speaking for her, there was a small— okay, not that small— part of her that was deviously curious to see how this scene played out if she refused to intervene.
“Look bro,” Rainbow scoffed and batted her hand dismissively at Rarity, “Rarity can coo over whoever she wants. I’m not her babysitter. And just cuz I think Rarity’s taste in guys is some bargain bin shit, or cuz you’re a huge step down from the last girl Rarity dated—”
“Rainbow Dash.”
Rarity’s words were cold, but her glare was sharp enough to cut steel, and Rainbow’s ears clamped down on her head for just a second as she got the point.
“Listen here you little w—” Blueblood stomped up to Rainbow Dash, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by another man’s laughter.
“Come on, Prince,” Wind Rider chuckled as he stood in the nearby doorframe. “You’re not gonna let a little lighthearted ribbing get under your skin, are you?”
Blueblood puffed up his cheeks and took a deep breath, before turning away from Rainbow Dash and walking toward Rarity, putting an arm around her shoulder for good measure. Rarity had half a mind to shake him off— she didn’t appreciate being used as a prop in his pissing contest with Rainbow Dash— and yet she chose not to, mostly out of morbid curiosity of what Rainbow would do.
And that was odd, wasn’t it? Rarity had usually been so careful to push back against Rainbow’s tendency to pick fights with people who annoyed her, and if Rarity was as insistent to spend time with Blueblood as she had been letting on, it wouldn’t do to let her partner antagonize him.
Rarity thought perhaps it just felt nice to have people fighting for her affection, but that wasn’t right. It actually felt rather gross; like she was a hotdog being fought over by two angry puppers. And yet she didn’t feel the need to step in and stop them.
She was bitter; that was the thing.
She was still bitter over losing Twilight, and being lied to— not only by Twilight, but possibly by Celestia as well, which was an idea that she absolutely loathed to consider, but one that clawed at the recesses of her mind nonetheless.
So on one hand, she simply couldn’t be bothered to stop the two from going at it with each other, and on the other hand, she actively derived pleasure— well not ‘pleasure’ exactly, but some approximate good feeling brain juice— from their confrontation.
“Nice save, bro,” Rainbow snorted as Blueblood pulled Rarity closer to him, “real subtle.”
“Subtlety was never Prince’s strong point,” Wind Rider added.
“Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?” Blueblood barked.
“Sides? Didn’t realize there was a competition going on,” Wind Rider said. “What’s the prize?”
“Yeah Blueblood,” Rainbow added smugly, getting the barest hint of a cheeky grin from Rarity, “what’s the prize?”
“Ahem, well,” Blueblood cleared his throat and took his arm off of Rarity, “if you all want to keep playing childish games, go right ahead. I for one am above such things.”
“That’s too bad,” Rarity hummed and walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Personally, I’m not above playing childish games every now and then.”
Rarity walked past Rainbow Dash into the inn, her tail winding its way up Rainbow’s tunic and brushing up against the bare fur of her stomach on her way.
“I bet you’re pretty good at them too,” Wind Rider said with an impressed grin.
“Well,” Rarity giggled as she looked back at Wind Rider, catching Rainbow’s beet red face and Blueblood’s twitching eye in her peripheral vision, “I try.”
“Honestly, it doesn’t even matter if I’ve got a torch for her or not,” Rainbow laughed as Rarity walked past her and into the inn, getting away from the absurd contest Rainbow and Blueblood had started for Rarity’s affection. “She’s way outta both of our leagues.”
“Speak for yourself,” Blueblood huffed.
“Dude, give it a rest,” Rainbow said wearily, rolling her eyes. “No one’s impressed by your watered-down tough guy act.”
“I could say the same about you,” Blueblood shot back, and Rainbow scowled. Without Rarity’s reactions to gauge whether or not Rainbow was winning against Blueblood, it was a lot harder not to get legit irritated at his comments.
“Say whatever you want, bro,” Rainbow scoffed. “I’m going to bed. We got an early morning after all.”
“Actually, about that,” Wind Rider said, pushing himself off the door frame and walking onto the wooden balcony hovering over the lake, standing a pretty even distance between Blueblood and Rainbow. “If you two are so keen on butting heads with each other, why don’t we make things a bit more interesting?”
“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, catlike grin on her face and curiosity thoroughly piqued. “What’ve you got in mind?”
“Simple contest,” Wind Rider said. “Let’s see which of you can kill the sea serpent first. Prove which of you is the tougher pony. Me and Rarity can watch and judge you. That said, I’m not about to suggest claiming Rarity as a prize—”
“No one suggested that,” Rainbow interrupted.
“Exactly,” Wind Rider said. “That’d be a little pedestrian, wouldn’t you agree, Prince?”
“Right,” Blueblood muttered, crossing his arms. Was he disappointed?
“Okay, I’m down,” Rainbow nodded. “It won’t be much of a challenge, but I don’t have a problem showing this guy up in front of everypony who matters.”
“A lot of big talk from someone who’s so obviously intimidated by anyone else getting close to Rarity,” Blueblood said, and Rainbow wasn’t sure if he was trying to be smug, but it wasn’t working out for him if he was.
“Yeah okay dude,” Rainbow said drearily; she’d had more than enough of this dork to last her a lifetime. “You don’t even know anything about Rarity.”
“I know that she’s interested in me,” Blueblood smirked, “and that makes you jealous.”
“Sure,” Rainbow smirked back, though she had to pause for a sec and wonder if she really was jealous.
She definitely enjoyed driving this guy up a wall, and honestly doing that for its own sake was reason enough to do it, but maybe she was a little jealous?
No, not really.
Or maybe… maybe she was like secondhand jealous? Was that even a thing?
Seeing Rarity making doe eyes at Blueblood pissed Rainbow off, that was for sure. But not because Rainbow was interested in Rarity that way— she totally super wasn’t at all they were just friends shut up— but because Rarity was supposed to be with Twilight, damn it!
They weren’t supposed to be broken up by some lousy twist of fate! Twilight wasn’t supposed to turn out to be a monster! And Rarity sure as hell wasn’t supposed to settle for some pompous clown who probably winked at himself every time he walked past a mirror!
Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder how Twilight would feel if she were here; would she be jealous? Would she support Rarity dating someone else?
Did it even matter?
Twilight wasn’t here, and it wasn’t Rainbow’s place to be jealous on her behalf, so it’d probably be a better decision to just let this whole crappy rivalry go and focus on what actually did matter, like saving the ponies of the fishing village.
“Alright, Wind Rider,” Rainbow let a devilish grin creep onto her lips.
Saving the fishing ponies was extremely important and she would absolutely make that her priority, she was never super good at making good decisions anyway so…
“If I win the contest,” Rainbow said, “I get to kick Blueblood square in the dick.”
“And if I win?” Blueblood growled.
“You might not be able to win Rarity as a prize,” Rainbow flashed her sinister smirk at Blueblood, “but you can have me! You can do anything you want to with me before me and Rarity leave tomorrow.”
“That’s, um—” Wind Rider tried to interject, but Blueblood cut him off.
“Making this interesting, huh?” Blueblood brushed a hand all the way through his mane. “I accept your terms, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow could hardly wait for tomorrow morning and to slay that serpent in front of Blueblood’s smug face.
After all, a little rivalry never hurt anyone, right?
When Rainbow returned to her and Rarity’s room at the inn, it was dimly lit by only a single dreary lamp, and it was really small to the point of almost being stuffy. It was definitely a step down from the Neighagra Falls Inn, but it was clean and cozy, and Rainbow had stayed at worse places.
Rarity was lying on her bed, idly looking up at the ceiling, and Rainbow’s first order of business was to clear stuff up with her.
“Uh, hey,” Rainbow said awkwardly as she shut the door behind her.
“Hello, darling,” Rarity said pleasantly, and Rainbow waited for the other shoe to drop in the form of a pointed comment about Rainbow’s behavior, but it never came.
“Um, I’m uhhh, sorry,” Rainbow cleared her throat and sat on the bed across from Rarity’s— though saying it was ‘across’ implied that there was more than two inches of room between the two beds, which there was not. “Sorry about my uh, how I was acting earlier.”
“Don’t be, sweetheart,” Rarity giggled and sat up, hands on her hooves and legs crossed. “I thought it was very cute of you to peacock for me like that. I hope you don’t mind me putting it that way, or calling you cute for that matter.”
“That guy was a real jerk, right?” Rainbow said shortly, only realizing right after that maybe she shouldn’t have said that.
“He’s certainly full of himself,” Rarity hummed, “but so am I, so. And so are you, for that matter! We don’t really have a leg to stand on there.”
“Hrm, I guess,” Rainbow crossed her arms. She really didn’t like being compared to that guy, and she didn’t think the comparison was that true either, but she didn’t wanna start anything with Rarity, so she just let it go.
“I bet Twilight would absolutely detest him,” Rarity sighed. “I wonder if that’s part of why I’m attracted to him. Other than the fact that he is just, incredibly hot.”
“So anyway,” Rainbow smiled awkwardly. “Uhh, so do you mind if I compete with Blueblood over who gets to kill the sea serpent first? Cuz I kinda already agreed to it.”
“Hm, yes of course you did,” Rarity rolled her eyes and fell on her back onto the bed. “Although…”
“Yeah?” Rainbow leaned forward, ears perked.
“Hmm, I don’t like it,” Rarity groaned, “but I think I have a way that everypony can win.”
“Tell me about it!” Rainbow chirped. “I love winning!”
“In the dead of night,” Rarity sat up and looked at Rainbow, “the two of us will depart and track down the sea serpent at its den. We won’t wait for it to come to us like we had planned. Once we get there—”
“We kill it before Blueblood even has a chance to!” Rainbow pounded her fist against her palm with a huge grin.
“We talk to it and convince it to go somewhere else where it won’t harm anypony,” Rarity said.
“Oh,” Rainbow said. She puffed up her cheeks and cocked her head. “Wait, what?”
“You remember what I told you about the manticore mission?” Rarity asked.
“You mean how it wasn’t actually dangerous and you just had to take a thorn outta its paw?” Rainbow said.
“And what Fluttershy said about the monsters in her forest?” Rarity continued.
“How they weren’t actually a threat to anypony unless their territory was invaded?” Rainbow asked. “What about it?”
Rarity blinked and pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes with a bemused frown.
“Hehe, I’m a little slow on the uptake again, huh?” Rainbow said bashfully, rubbing the back of her mane and blushing.
“Basically, what I’m saying is-” Rarity took a deep breath and exhaled slowly “-I’m becoming more and more convinced that we’ve been lied to, not just about dragons but about all of Equestria’s so-called ‘monsters’. And I want— no, I need to know the truth for myself. And there’s nothing to do but to do it.”
“Well then let’s do it!” Rainbow stood up and flared out her wings, which was no easy feat in the cramped inn room. “Let’s prove once and for all that all this stuff about monsters is a bunch of nonsense, and that Twilight and Fluttershy are cool actually!”
“Yes, lets,” Rarity nodded. “But first, let’s wait about five hours for everyone to go to sleep, hm?”
“Oh,” Rainbow fell on the bed in a heap, and Rarity giggled.
Patience wasn’t Rainbow’s strong suit at all, but for Rarity, and for Twilight, Rainbow would deal with it.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s midnight trek through the snowy hills behind Windsoar was filled with trepidation. Rarity’s mind raced at a thousand miles an hour fretting over whether she was making the right decision in confronting the sea serpent on her own with Rainbow, instead of working together with Blueblood and Wind Rider.
Sea serpents were related to dragons, after all. And while a sea serpent didn’t carry quite the same level of threat, they were still incredibly dangerous, and Rarity’s idea to try and gently convince it to leave the village might have proved to be fatally disastrous.
Or at least, that’s what Rarity thought until she was actually face to face with the creature, standing on a cliff peak overlooking a lake where the creature was temporarily making its home. It hadn't paid any mind to Rarity and Rainbow as they approached, but once it had—
“Oh, visitors,” it said softly with a cheerful woman’s voice. “I hardly ever get guests in this neck of the woods! Would you like some tea?”
“Uh, no. Thank you,” Rarity said perplexedly, staring up at a giant serpentine monster with slick silvery-beige scales whose hair was coiffed in a fluffy teal mane that elegantly curled down her back and around her shoulders, though her ruby red eyes were by far her most striking feature.
Rarity looked over to Rainbow to gauge her mood, and Rainbow was staring slack-jawed, head tilted up at the serpent with one eye twitching.
“This is the sea serpent?” Rainbow whispered.
“It— it has to be, right?” Rarity replied, completely at a loss.
She wasn’t sure what to expect from the sea serpent, and she was trying to keep her mind open to the possibility it might not be hostile, but she certainly wasn’t expecting it to be so… dainty. Or polite, for that matter.
Or… or…
…
Or hot.
“So, um, excuse me!” Rarity cleared her throat and spoke loud enough for the large beast to hear her clearly, and it— or rather, she, turned to Rarity and hummed, putting her head down at eye level with Rarity, the serpent resting her chin on her hands and smiling sweetly.
“Yes? How can I help you, miss pony?” she said.
“You are-” Rarity paused to properly compose herself “-you aren’t afraid of us, are you? You know why we’re here, don’t you?”
“Oh, of course I was afraid of you!” the serpent laughed and batted her claw. “But you don’t get to live long in Equestria if you can’t get a good read on some pony quickly, and I could tell from a mile away that you two weren’t looking to pick a fight.”
“Well, the jury’s still out on that,” Rarity said drolly. “It really depends on whether you can answer some questions for me.”
“Certainly,” the serpent giggled, and Rarity didn’t much appreciate the heat stinging her ears and cheeks. “I abhor violence, and love entertaining guests, so getting to avoid a fight and have some lovely teatime conversation? Count me in.”
“Rarity,” Rainbow said, her eyes wide and her mouth still hanging slightly open, “this gal’s like, totally harmless huh?”
“Of course I am!” the serpent sighed, melodramatically holding a hand over her heart. “I couldn’t hurt a fly, that’s why I’m on the move so often. It’s so hard to find a nice lake with some peace and quiet in these parts though, especially during the winter.”
“Then exactly why are you disrupting the nearby village?” Rarity asked. “You’ve been causing tidal waves on their shores, and disrupting their flow of fish that they use as food supply, apparently for weeks!”
“Oh dear, I was afraid of that,” the serpent pouted. “I didn’t catch on that the villagers were mad for the first week or two I was here, and then I tried to adjust to be less of a nuisance, but I guess it hasn’t been working out, huh?”
“You mean to tell me,” Rarity exhaled sharply, her eyes drawn for a second to the fog of her breath, “that you’ve been bothering the village by accident?”
“Of course!” the serpent said, sounding distraught and bowing her head pleadingly. “I never meant to do any ponies any harm, I’m just looking for a nice lake to settle down.”
“Why Equestria?” Rarity arched an eyebrow, arms crossed. Nothing about this woman struck Rarity as insincere exactly, but something still wasn’t adding up and Rarity couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
“Equestria is my home,” the serpent said, her voice chillingly serious. A glint flashed across her glittering red eyes. “It’s the home of the one I love, who I will always love, and I will let her strike me down before I even consider leaving her.”
“Rarity,” Rainbow said sternly, needling Rarity in the ribs. “What’re you thinking?”
“Give us a moment?” Rarity asked the sea serpent politely, and she gingerly nodded, her sunny disposition returning near effortlessly.
Rarity and Rainbow walked down to the base of the cliff— though Rarity supposed it may have been more of a hill? Didn’t matter— the pair stood there in silence for a moment.
“She really seems harmless, doesn’t she?” Rarity broke the silence with a sentence that fell out of her mouth like a dropped serving of spaghetti plopping onto the kitchen floor.
“Like, ehhh,” Rainbow shrugged helplessly, “I don’t even know what to say. Like I was hoping that she wouldn’t be hostile, and I’m still surprised by how docile she seems.”
“It is utterly unlike anything I expected, that’s for certain,” Rarity sighed, dragging her hand down her face. “Quite frankly, I’m having a hard time believing it, but I feel that may just be my paranoia talking. I wish Coloratura were here, she’d know what this woman’s deal is for sure.”
“Same, but I guess that’d make things too easy,” Rainbow laughed. “For what it’s worth, my gut says she’s legit. But I trust your judgment no matter what.”
“Yes, well,” Rarity smiled fondly at Rainbow Dash, who grinned eagerly back at her, “you flatter me, but my judgment is that I trust your gut.”
Rainbow beamed with pride and flared out her wings, holding her fist up for Rarity to bump hers into it, which Rarity happily did.
And with their meeting adjourned, the pair returned to the cliff peak to discuss with the serpent herself.
“Ms. sea serpent,” Rarity said to get her attention.
“You may call me Rain Shine,” the serpent batted her eyelashes at Rarity, who suddenly found a whole swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
“I’m afraid we’re going to need you to leave this lake,” Rarity said calmly, feeling quite chuffed with herself that she managed to regain her composure. “If you continue to cause trouble for the villagers, even accidentally, you will attract attention from the Slayers. Such as us.
“My partner and I believe your claims that you don’t wish to do any harm, and we’re offering you one chance to leave peacefully, but I’m afraid the other pair of Slayers in town, who have already been contracted to confront you, won’t be as merciful.”
“So I should probably leave right away, huh,” the serpent groaned, tapping her finger on the cliff peak.
“I’m afraid so,” Rarity said, and she hated herself for feeling a tinge of sympathy for the creature, and yet that reaction irked her; why was she upset with herself? Was she not showing the serpent mercy because she believed that she deserved it? Perhaps old habits just die hard.
“Oh poo,” the serpent hung her head and sighed. “Oh well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be this time.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a place you can be happy,” Rainbow chimed in, and Rarity was surprised by the warmth in her smile. “Someplace where the Slayers won’t try to pick on you.”
“You know what, you’re right!” the serpent said proudly, showing a gleaming smile of shimmering fangs. “I may be roughing it right now, but every stormy cloud has a silver lining! When one door closes, a window opens!”
“That’s right!” Rainbow beamed and pumped her fist.
“Thank you, kind mares!” the serpent flashed another dazzling smile, and Rarity found herself warmly smiling back at her.
“You’re most welcome,” Rarity said softly, almost under her breath.
“Oh, but wait! I’ve got a little something for you!” Rain Shine gently pinched herself and procured two silvery scales, which she held out to Rarity and Rainbow Dash before dropping them in pair’s outstretched hands, the scales fitting neatly in their palms. “Those scales are pretty valuable!
“Plus, I know you two are sticking your neck out for me, since if the other Slayers find out you’re letting me go, they won’t be happy. Those will help convince them that you defeated me! And plus-” the serpent pointed at the dragon fang hanging off Rarity’s neck “-I can see you like jewelry!”
Rarity traced her fingers across the dragon fang while staring at the scale in her palm, and it almost sickened her what an obvious contrast the two items were.
“Well, I suppose I had better be off!” Rain Shine said. “To greener pastures! For all of us!”
“See you around!” Rainbow Dash waved as the serpent prepared to depart.
“Oh! One last thing!” Rain Shine called out, surprising Rarity with her urgency and causing Rarity’s guard to come up. “Will you two grace me with your names?”
“I’m Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow didn’t waste a second, proudly pointing a thumb at herself as she exclaimed her answer.
“And I’m Rarity,” Rarity said softly, still mesmerized by the scale in her hand. “Thank you for this, Rain Shine.” Rarity held the serpent’s scale up for her to see. “I am very glad that we met today.”
Rarity stretched her arms above her head and groaned herself awake, and while she was a little sore from the rather lackluster bed of Windsoar’s inn, she felt relaxed and rejuvenated regardless, and she couldn’t help but crack a smile as the light of dawn peeked in through her blinds.
She wanted to just tear open the blinds and get a good look at what was no doubt a breathtaking vista of the snow-dripped sleepy village just starting to come alive under the rays of the morning sun, but she was a bit too modest to stand in front of the window before getting dressed, so she dug through the nightstand first.
Rarity hummed as she opened the several drawers on the nightstand, taking out different shirts, pants, skirts, and tunics in order to decide which ones were right for her today. She was Rarity after all, so naturally she had several ensembles to choose from even while travelling.
And with Rainbow Dash nowhere to be seen— almost certainly already up and at ‘em long before Rarity even awoke— Rarity didn’t feel the need to rush while deciding on the perfect wardrobe for the day’s adventures.
That is, until she heard some odd commotion coming from the window.
Rarity’s ears perked up before she even consciously noticed the noise, as she was completely consumed by her fashion situation, but the noise only got louder until she had no choice but to pay attention to it, and she looked over toward the window in bewilderment.
It sounded like people talking, but loud enough for Rarity to hear them through the inn walls? They weren’t that thin.
Rarity stepped over to the window and peeked through the blinds, and her stomach dropped. A crowd had gathered outside, and who else would be at the center of it than the one and only Rainbow Dash, who appeared to be puffing up her chest as the crowd looked on; so she was either boasting or arguing, but either way if it was enough to draw a crowd, Rarity needed to step in to make sure everything was okay.
Though conveniently, that made the fashion decision much easier; a dazzling sky-blue blouse underneath a large and dashing white overcoat, with cute black leggings and just a pinch of color thanks to the addition of a purple scarf— ‘mediator chic’, as Rarity decided to call it.
Rarity trotted her dazzling self outside and approached the crowd, the villagers kindly making way for her so she could get to the center of everyone— where she was rather irritated to see that Rainbow was actually boasting and arguing; specifically, with Blueblood.
“Dare I ask what’s going on here?” Rarity grumbled, standing next to Wind Rider who was at the front of the gathered crowd, but seemed perfectly content to let his partner go at it with Rainbow alone.
“Prince wasn’t too impressed by Rainbow’s claims that she already killed the sea serpent,” Wind Rider chuckled.
“Does he not believe her?” Rarity arched an eyebrow. It wouldn’t be good if these two found out that Rarity and Rainbow had been caping for Rain Shine, but she couldn’t imagine how they would find that out. Rainbow could be dense sometimes but she absolutely knew better than to admit to that.
“No idea,” Wind Rider shrugged, an amused grin across his face. “The townsfolk are all vouching for her, say their rivers and fishing routes basically cleared up overnight. Which is enough for me to buy her story, by the way. Prince though? He’s a stubborn one.”
That was good at least. Wind Rider wasn’t on their case, and the villagers had their daily lives returned to normal. Rarity smirked at her good work; this mission could officially be considered a success, as soon as she dealt with—
“Hey, Rarity!” Rainbow called out and waved her arm above her head to beckon Rarity. “Show him the thing!”
Rarity sighed and walked into the battle zone, Blueblood turning around to face her and having quite the obtrusive vein popping out of his forehead.
“Ah, Rarity. There you are,” Blueblood said, trying to keep his tone measured but Rarity could tell he was about ready to boil over in frustration. Which, to be fair, was a common effect of talking with Dash, Rarity had to admit. “Would you care to set this situation straight, if you please?”
“Show him the thing, Rarity!” Rainbow stuck her head out from behind Blueblood and bore an ear-to-ear grin, and Rarity couldn’t help but laugh. Blueblood was really aggravating Rainbow yesterday, so she must have been having the time of her life now.
“From what I understand,” Rarity hummed, fingers tracing the serpent scale in her coat pocket, “Rainbow has told you the truth. We killed the sea serpent in the middle of the night.” Rarity took the scale out of her pocket, and Rainbow darted beside her so she could see Blueblood’s eyes widen as he gritted his teeth, and Rainbow laughed manically at the sight.
“You expect me to believe—” Blueblood snapped, but then he clenched his fist and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before continuing with more composure. “If you killed the serpent, why not bring backs its head as proof?”
“Cuz this is all that was left,” Rainbow said smugly, showing off her own scale that perfectly matched Rarity’s, and Rarity forced a similarly confident smile despite not appreciating Rainbow’s rather exaggerated lie. But then again, Rarity could work with this.
“That’s about the size of it,” Rarity explained, placing the scale back in her pocket. “The serpent was reduced to— well, I shan’t describe what happened to the pitiful thing. There are children in this crowd.”
“How exactly did you manage to do something like that on your own?” Blueblood asked skeptically.
“I have a boon,” Rarity tapped her finger against the hilt of Celestia’s onyx blade, “from the Queen herself. It grants a rather gruesome end to any creature unfortunate enough to meet its blade.”
“You received such a thing from the Queen personally?” Wind Rider said, Rarity turning to see the alarm on his face, and it brought a coy smile to hers.
“I did,” Rarity said. “She is my mentor, she has been since I was a filly.”
“Y-you’re one of the Queen’s proteges?” Blueblood stumbled back a step, but then cleared his throat and stood up straight. “No wonder I sensed something special about you right away. The Queen has a keen eye for greatness, and so do I.”
“Nice save, buddy,” Rainbow cackled, but Rarity gently clasped her hand.
“Rainbow, dearest,” Rarity said with a sweet smile, “will you give me a chance to speak to Blueblood on my own, please?”
“Yeah, okay,” Rainbow sighed, tossing up her serpent scale and then catching it out of the air. “I’ve had my fun. Alright everypony, you heard the lady!” Rainbow said, waving at the crowd and getting them to disperse. “Give these dorks some privacy already!”
“You wanna grab a drink?” Wind Rider said to Rainbow Dash, who nodded her acceptance and walked off with him, leaving Rarity and Blueblood alone.
Rarity and Blueblood decided to talk on the shore; Blueblood removed his jacket once they reached the lake, and placed it on the ground over the snow, gesturing for Rarity to sit on top of it. Rarity held her hand over her heart and smiled before graciously accepting his offer, Blueblood sitting in the snow beside her.
“You know, bravado aside,” Blueblood mused, “I really didn’t expect that you were a disciple of the Queen herself. You’re definitely full of surprises, aren’t you, Rarity?”
“I have certainly led an interesting life,” Rarity said pleasantly, musing to herself that Blueblood didn’t even know the half of it. He would probably try to take her head if he knew she was escorting two dragons to the Crystal Empire at their request, and that she was formerly in love with one.
Although… perhaps ‘formerly’ wasn’t quite right. Rarity had never truly dealt with her feelings regarding Twilight Sparkle, and after this evening with Rain Shine, she found herself even more conflicted.
She almost felt a glimmer of hope as she traced her fingers along the scale in her pocket; a faint idea that she and Twilight may one day once again be—
Blueblood snapping his fingers in Rarity’s face disrupted that train of thought right quick.
“Don’t ignore me,” he said in frustration, and Rarity felt a humiliated blush stinging her cheeks.
“I apologize,” she said sheepishly. “I’ve had a lot on my mind these past days, and I’m afraid I simply spaced out for a second.”
“Well you had better not let it happen again,” Blueblood said sharply, though before a surprised and rather bemused Rarity could question his tone, he corrected himself. “A Slayer can’t afford to let her guard down, after all. If you had spaced out during battle with that serpent, it might have gone quite differently.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Rarity chuckled awkwardly, brushing a strand of hair from her face and looking away from Blueblood, as she felt a little embarrassed by meeting his gaze. “Now, please, go on with what you were saying?”
“What I was trying to say—” Blueblood paused to fidget with the collar of his shirt, making sure it was just so before resuming his sentence. “What I was trying to say, is I would like to offer you the opportunity to be my Plus One for the Grand Galloping Gala next month.”
“The Gala?!” Rarity practically yelped in surprise. “It’s next month already?! Where does the time go?”
“Little miss adventurer has been keeping busy, I take it?” Blueblood chuckled, and Rarity gave a half-hearted laugh, her brain caught between reeling from how late in the season it had gotten— and the knowledge that the Gala was supposed to celebrate the spring solstice, yet the weather in Equestria was still caught in the dead of winter— and also being lowkey irritated by Blueblood’s condescension.
“Like I said,” Rarity gave a droll smirk, “I’ve led an interesting life.”
“So what say you?” Blueblood smiled, and it nearly took Rarity’s breath away combined with the way he gently brushed a lock of hair from his face. He was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, and he had his charm as well, despite being something of a ruffian in other ways— which, to be quite frank, was rather alluring in its own way.
“I’m afraid I must decline,” Rarity said, standing on her hooves and taking a deep breath of fresh air for the first time in what felt like a year.
“Well,” Blueblood huffed as he stood up, but then he returned to his charming smile right after, “I suppose I can’t force you. I’ll still be there, so I’ll try to come say hello while you’re there. You will be there, won’t you? It wouldn’t be a good look for Celestia’s student to miss it.”
“Oh, I will absolutely make an appearance,” Rarity nodded and batted her hand in dismissal. “And you are more than welcome to find me and share in lively conversation with me and my friends.”
“If I may ask then,” Blueblood said, his nose curling and his lips pursing into a slight frustrated frown, “why you would turn down my invitation?”
One month until the Gala.
One month for Rarity to sort her feelings and get them in order. It seemed like a monumental task, but she would figure out what to do before this coming solstice, and no force on Equestria or from Tartarus would stop her.
“It’s quite simple, really,” Rarity smiled— and the realization that thinking of Twilight brought her not pain, but hope, for the first time since the incident, made her smile so much the brighter. “I’m going with someone else.”
When Pinkie Pie woke up in the morning, she was really warm. She hummed contentedly to herself cuz usually she had to tug the blankets all snug every morning during winter cuz it’s cold!! And especially cuz Applejack always hogs ‘em all while she’s asleepin’.
But today, Pinkie was warm, and that was nice.
Oh but wait, she wasn’t sleeping in her and Applejack’s bed in the Applepie Smithery huh? She was in the Neighagra Falls Inn, and the reason she was so warm was cuz somepony was cuddling her in her sleep.
No, wait. Not somepony!
Fluttershy!
Pinkie bit her lip to keep herself from gasping, but she couldn’t help herself after Fluttershy fidgeted in her sleep, and Pinkie suddenly became extremely aware of Fluttershy’s hands under Pinkie’s shirt and resting on her tummy.
“Hm?” Fluttershy mumbled, Pinkie keeping her eyes tightly shut to pretend she was asleep. “Are you okay?” she sounded really sleepy still.
“Mm-hmm,” Pinkie said nervously, nodding slowly and keeping her eyes shut. She didn’t wanna accidentally disturb Fluttershy, and her brain was still catching up to everything that happened yesterday.
“That’s good,” Fluttershy sleepily and planted a gentle kiss on Pinkie’s neck, and Pinkie’s eyes opened wide.
Okay, now Pinkie remembered everything.
Her and Fluttershy hadn’t done anything but talk yesterday, but that was after they became g— they were gir— they—
Ohmigosh we’re GIRLFRIENDS NOW!!!
And they did just talk; all through the day and most of the night. They got room service delivered at one point cuz neither of ‘em wanted to leave, they just wanted to keep talking. And when Pinkie had to head back to her room to sleep, Fluttershy very kindly offered to let Pinkie sleep in her bed and Pinkie sure wasn’t gonna say no to that!
Now she was awake on a brand new day, and Fluttershy’s arms were around her. Her girlfriend Fluttershy’s arms were around her.
Holy heck.
Fluttershy’s arms came off of Pinkie though as she yawned and Pinkie watched her stretch her arms over her head. Pinkie also blushed intensely cuz she’d forgotten that Fluttershy went to bed naked, and Pinkie’s view of Fluttershy’s chest was… Very Good.
“Oh!” Fluttershy yelped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“No,” Pinkie smiled, Fluttershy’s voice just filling her brain with the Good Feelings Juice. “Actually, I was gonna ask you the same thing.”
“Oh, good,” Fluttershy giggled, and it took every ounce of strength for Pinkie not to smile ear to ear and gasp. She was too cute. Illegal. “It’s morning now, so it’s time for me to get up. I’ve been waking up with the sunrise for a long time.”
Fluttershy slid off the bed and stretched out her wings, and Pinkie stared in awe at her booty for a sec, before blushing and turning away.
“What’s the matter, Pinkie?” Fluttershy said, Pinkie turning back to see Fluttershy looking over her shoulder at Pinkie with a sly grin. “The view too much for you?”
Pinkie just kinda stared in silence for a sec, and she was pretty sure her nose was bleeding now.
“Um, Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy said concernedly, and her confident smirk disappeared in favor of a worried frown and creased brow, and Pinkie felt SO BAD! That was the opposite of how Fluttershy was supposed to feel! “Is something wrong?”
“No, I’m gay!” Pinkie yelped, getting on her hands and knees and just drinking in the sight of a sexy naked Fluttershy. “But I don’t want you to think I’m like—”
“You don’t want me to think that you find me attractive?” Fluttershy snarked, arching her eyebrow and her smirk returning as quickly as it left. “Heavens, not that.”
“I just don’t want you to think that I’m like,” Pinkie mumbled, holding her hands close to her, “horny, or whatever.”
“It doesn’t bother me, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said. “Sometimes ponies are horny. Especially unicorns.”
Fluttershy gave a big dorky open mouth smile and Pinkie snorted and fell over laughing.
“You’re just—” Pinkie sighed contentedly and rested her elbow on the bed with her hand holding up her head by the cheek. “You’re so everything, y’know?”
“Not exactly,” Fluttershy chuckled. “But that’s okay. That said-” Fluttershy smiled and took a step back closer to the bed, sticking her booty out to Pinkie “-you don’t have to just look. You can touch me too if you want to.”
Okay, now Pinkie’s nose was definitely bleeding.
“A-are we really at the booty-touching stage of our relationship already?” Pinkie stammered, positive that sweat was gushing down her face with force enough to rival the falls outside. Oh hey, she made the comparison!
“Why not?” Fluttershy shrugged, and then put her hands on her booty and squished it a little bit. “I mean, my booty is riiiight here, not being touched by anypony. That seems like a crying shame, don’tcha think?”
“W-well okay,” Pinkie bit her lip and tried not to let tongue fall right out of her mouth like a slobbering dog, “if you insist!”
“Oh, do you not want to?” Fluttershy spun around and put a finger to her lips.
“W-what?! No, of course I do!” Pinkie shouted.
“I’m sorry, that was mean,” Fluttershy said bashfully and turned around again, poking out The Booty.
Pinkie inched closer to her.
Pinkie reached her hand out.
Pinkie swore she was gonna faint or something.
And then—
—Pinkie touched Fluttershy’s booty. She gave it a gentle squeeze, and her brain felt like new year’s eve fireworks were going off inside her head. Fluttershy was really cute, and she had a really cute booty, and Pinkie was touching it! And Fluttershy wanted her too!
It was a loooooooooooooot to take in.
“Ohmigosh,” Pinkie whimpered under her breath as she took her hand back, Fluttershy sitting next to her on the edge of the bed, legs dangling off the side. Pinkie felt so hot she was like in a volcano.
Fluttershy put her arms around Pinkie and took her into a soothing embrace. Even though Pinkie should’ve just gotten even hotter, something about Fluttershy’s comforting presence made her feel like she was being bathed in cool natural spring water instead.
Though, when Fluttershy started nibbling on Pinkie’s ear, then she got hot again. But like in a good way.
“You know,” Fluttershy whispered, taking a soft, playful bite into Pinkie’s ear, “I think you’re pretty cute too.”
“Do you wanna touch my booty next?” Pinkie said absentmindedly, and Fluttershy giggled.
“I think I’d like that,” Fluttershy purred. “But right now, I actually have something else in mind.”
“Oh yeah?” Pinkie asked excitedly, her ears twitching and one of them brushed against Fluttershy’s nose, tickling Fluttershy and making her giggle. “What’s that?”
“I was wondering,” Fluttershy bit her lip and she looked even more adorable somehow than usual, “do you wanna go on a flight with me?”
“A flight?” Pinkie cocked her head. “What do you mean? I know I’m small, but I’d still be pretty heavy to carry around.”
“Are you forgetting that I’m a dragon?” Fluttershy smiled coyly. “I was talking about letting you ride on my back— in my true form.”
“W-woah!” Pinkie gasped. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? If somepony sees you—”
“Nopony will see me,” Fluttershy scoffed and shook her head slowly. “I have my magic, and I’ve been hiding for many years. If there’s one thing I’m good at now-” Fluttershy sighed and her shoulders slumped “-it’s hiding.”
“Oh, w-well—”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Fluttershy said, holding Pinkie tight and gently rocking her back and forth. “I need to go out today though. I need to feel the grass on my feet and such. And not just for personal reasons, but also because my transformation spell doesn’t last that long, and being in nature will help me recharge it.”
“Yeah, okay, that makes sense,” Pinkie bit her thumbnail and was like seriously starting to freak out just a little it. “I do want to though! I totally do!”
Pinkie’s outburst didn’t even convince herself, and it sure didn’t convince Fluttershy, who looked at her with a real ‘you sure about that??’ look on her face.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie pouted.
“Don’t be,” Fluttershy gave Pinkie a sweet and tender kiss on the forehead, and that broke the floodgates to tear town.
“I just—” Pinkie sobbed. “I really do wanna go with you, I just—I—”
Pinkie broke down and cried with her face in her hands, feeling like the biggest dumbest stupidest idiot in the whole world. She was so embarrassed to be crying in front of Fluttershy and was so worried that she just made Fluttershy feel bad.
But then Fluttershy took Pinkie into her arms, and held Pinkie close to her chest, and she hummed a mesmerizing and beautiful song, and Pinkie felt like she was home.
“Tell you what,” Fluttershy said, tilting Pinkie’s chin up gently and wiping tears from Pinkie’s cheeks. “Let me go downstairs and grab breakfast for the two of us. When I come back, after we’ve had a nice meal, you can give me your answer, okay?”
“Okay,” Pinkie nodded, blubbering and trying really hard not to cry again.
“You’re sweet, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy gave Pinkie another kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be back in a second, okay?”
“Okay,” Pinkie smiled.
Fluttershy slid off the bed, but Pinkie quickly reach out and grabbed her hand. Fluttershy turned to look back at Pinkie quizzically, and Pinkie gave Fluttershy’s fingers a gentle kiss.
“I like you a lot,” Pinkie said, holding Fluttershy’s hand close to her. “Thank you, for sharing my feelings.”
“Pinkie, I mean this with the utmost sincerity,” Fluttershy beamed, before taking Pinkie’s hand in hers and giving her fingers a little kiss. “It is my pleasure.”
Pinkie laid on the bed all splayed out like a starfish while she waited for Fluttershy to come back with breakfast. The bed was still warm, Fluttershy had been sleeping there just a hot minute ago, and Fluttershy was warm.
And soft. And cute. And she had a really cute butt.
But also she was sweet, and kind, and always thought about everyone else and tried to take care of folks. Heck, Pinkie first met Fluttershy cuz she took it on herself to take care of Rarity and Pinkie when they needed help in the Everfree Forest, and she had no reason to do that, especially since Rarity had just destroyed her timberwolves!
So why was Pinkie so afraid of her?
Honestly, that thought made Pinkie sick immediately.
She wasn’t afraid of Fluttershy, and if someone else had asked her that, she’d get half a mind to smack ‘em! Or at least say mean things about their mothers. Or think them. Or think about it in concept—the point is that Pinkie had a hard time being mean, but she’d definitely consider it for a sec before choosing not to act on those impulses if anyone tried to say she was afraid of Fluttershy!
So… what was she afraid of?
Pinkie sat up and rubbed her temples with her eyes shut, really trying to dive into her own brain pool. She thought about flying on Fluttershy’s big sexy dragon back, and curling up in the mountains with her, just the two of them, and tried to think how she’d feel about that happening.
As the tingly heat of gay feelings crept across Pinkie’s cheeks, it turned out ‘pretty hecking good’ was the answer.
So what was she afraid of?
Cuz yeah sure, if Fluttershy really wanted to curl her giant noodle body around Pinkie Pie, and if she let Pinkie smother her big snoot in kisses, Pinkie would be totally down with that! But is that what would happen if she were alone in the mountains with Fluttershy?
Hmmm, Pinkie tried to really wrack her brain and think about it, so the thoughtful tongue poked outta her mouth to grease the brain wheels a bit.
She wasn’t afraid of Fluttershy, and she honestly didn’t think that Fluttershy was gonna eat her, or even try to take advantage of her.
So, again. What was she afraid of?
Oh.
Oh okay yeah. It hit her like a ton of bricks falling on top of her head and Pinkie let out a loud frustrated groan as she fell onto the bed on her back.
‘What if she was wrong?’
Oh, sorry, that’s not quite right, is it?
Igneous Rock voice: ‘what if you’re wrong?’
Limestone voice: ‘what if you’re wrong?’
Maud voice: ‘what if you’re wrong?’
Literally every single pony Pinkie had ever cared about voice: ‘what if you’re wrong? What if you’re just a big stupid idiot who can’t take care of herself and needs a smarter, more capable pony to drag you by the nose through your entire life, you stupid idiot?’
Pinkie threw her hands on top of her face, digging her nails deep into her brow and screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Oh my gosh!”
Pinkie bolted up at the sound of Fluttershy’s voice, but Fluttershy had already jumped onto the bed by that point, so Pinkie wound up bonking her snoot right into Fluttershy’s.
“Oh!” Fluttershy gasped, and then she laughed as she rubbed her snoot, Pinkie falling back onto the bed in a daze. “Are you okay?”
“How long have you been standing there?” Pinkie asked quietly.
“Uhh, I think when I came in, I was about to tell you I was back, but then you stuck your tongue out,” Fluttershy said, chewing on her fingers. “I figured you were deep in thought and I didn’t want to disturb you. When you groaned, I thought ‘oh maybe I should interrupt’ but I didn’t want to bother you, but then you screamed and I got scared.”
“Sorry,” Pinkie let out a cold, humorless chuckle, “didn’t mean to scare you.”
Fluttershy put her hand on Pinkie Pie’s cheek and gently traced her thumb back and forth, before leaning down to plant a soft kiss on Pinkie’s lips, Pinkie closing her eyes and leaning into Fluttershy’s kiss and feeling like all of her hit points were restored to full right then and there.
“Feel better?” Fluttershy smirked, then gave Pinkie another little kiss on the nose.
“Y-yeah,” Pinkie said bashfully, giggling like a doofus as her lips still tingled from Fluttershy’s touch. “Can I tell you something?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“I really wanna go flying with you.”
The next thing Pinkie knew, the roar of the water was crashing against her ears as she stood behind the Neighagra Falls, waiting for Fluttershy to transform and take flight. As soon as Pinkie told Fluttershy she wanted to fly, Fluttershy couldn’t wait to go, and frankly neither could Pinkie.
The pair also ran into Twilight in the inn lobby, and when they explained what they were up to, Twilight said “Oh that sounds great! Have fun, girls!” which really put Pinkie’s mind at ease to be honest. It was one thing for her to trust Fluttershy, but it made a world of difference to know someone else did too.
Pinkie stood in the cave behind the Falls, leaning against the cave wall and standing a fair distance from Fluttershy, watching her stretch her limbs and ready herself to transform.
Fluttershy took off her dress and tossed it on top of the picnic basket Pinkie had prepared— they were so eager to get flying that they just packed up their breakfast to take it with them and have a little mountaintop picnic— and Pinkie took a sec to appreciate the view before…
…it happened.
It was so sudden too—just a flash of teal light enveloping Fluttershy’s body, and a huge gust of wind that tore through the cave and Pinkie’s body, but didn’t seem to disturb the picnic basket at all.
And Fluttershy was just gone.
“F-Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked worriedly, gasping when something fuzzy brushed against her cheek.
But then suddenly, Fluttershy appeared before her, not as a beanpole of a pegasus, but as an enormous and majestic noodly dragon, and the fuzzy thing was Fluttershy’s tail—the hair on the end being nearly bigger than Pinkie’s whole body.
“You— you’re amazing!” Pinkie cooed, beaming ear to ear and pumping her fists, but as she took a step forward, Fluttershy immediately disappeared again, and Pinkie’s stomach dropped. “Uhhh—”
“If you let go of me,” Fluttershy whispered as her tail wrapped around Pinkie and she became visible again, “you’ll lose sight of me. So hold on tight, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am! Abso-tootly-lootly!” Pinkie cheered as Fluttershy placed her gently on the dragon’s back, Pinkie digging her paws into Fluttershy’s soft, cozy fur. Pinkie felt like she could get lost in the stuff— and considering that Pinkie could’ve starfished on Fluttershy’s back and taken up only maybe half the dragon’s width? She probably could have.
And don’t think that big ol’ scruff of fluff on Fluttershy’s chest escaped Pinkie’s notice, cuz it sure didn’t.
Oh no, now Pinkie was thinking about rubbing Fluttershy’s big fluffy belly. Was steaming coming off of Pinkie’s body now? Cuz she was certainly hot enough.
Ah well, didn’t really matter too much cuz before Pinkie could get too involved in thoughts of rubbing a cute dragon’s big fuzzy tummy, Fluttershy flapped her powerful wings and took to the skies, tearing through the Neighagra Falls at such speed that Pinkie didn’t even get wet.
But more amazing than any of that? Fluttershy’s uproarious laughter as she flew through the air completely free.
Pinkie started shrieking with joy as Fluttershy tore through the skies, the earth that Pinkie had spent her whole life connected to getting farther and farther away and Pinkie couldn’t be bothered to miss it at all. She had Fluttershy and she had the sky, and that was more than enough to satisfy her.
“How do you feel, Pinkie?!” Fluttershy yelled, her voice ringing with pure joy.
“I feel amazing!” Pinkie screamed back, burying herself against Fluttershy’s firm and fluffy body. “You’re amazing, Fluttershy!”
“Aren’t I just?!” Fluttershy laughed, her giant fanged grin instantly embedding itself into Pinkie’s heart; it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
Eventually, Fluttershy landed on a snowy plateau deep in the mountains behind Neighagra Falls, but all the snow melted into grass as soon as Fluttershy made contact.
Pinkie was still shaking from all the adrenaline and hadn't entirely realized that Fluttershy had landed yet, so Flutters was nice enough to pick Pinkie up with her tail and place her gently on the grass.
“That… was… AMAZING!!!” Pinkie screeched, jumping and throwing all her limbs in as many directions as possible before flomping onto the ground like a starfish.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Fluttershy panted, taking in deep heavy breaths, and Pinkie just watched her, totally mesmerized by the movements of her heaving chest. “Ooh, I think I overdid it a bit though to impress you.”
“Well, you did impress me,” Pinkie grinned, and Fluttershy grinned back, and oh holey moley her fangs were so gorgeous.
Fluttershy sat down on her haunches, curling her tail around Pinkie so that her tail fluff was always touching Pinkie and she wouldn’t lose sight of Fluttershy.
“I’m exhausted now,” Fluttershy sighed and laid on the ground.
“You think some breakfast would make you feel better?” Pinkie chirped, crawling toward Fluttershy’s head after grabbing the basket off her back.
“It would,” Fluttershy purred, and Pinkie beamed at her. It was impossible not to smile around Fluttershy cuz she was so cute and sweet.
The two ate their breakfast in relative silence— a little small talk here and there about the scenery, the food, and the weather— but Pinkie didn’t need to talk Fluttershy’s ear off to have a good time with her, she just enjoyed Fluttershy’s company. Just being near her made Pinkie happy.
And she also felt like a total doofus for almost talking herself out of this experience.
Pinkie and Fluttershy stayed up in the mountains resting off their burdens for about an hour or so, but Pinkie did wanna get back to the others before Rarity and Rainbow Dash came back from their mission, so she asked if Fluttershy was ready to go.
Fluttershy nodded and stood up tall, stretching her incredible wings behind her back and whipping her tail against the ground.
“Oh, one more thing!” Pinkie clamored, yanking gently on Fluttershy’s fur.
“What is it, dearest?” Fluttershy hummed.
“Can I give you a smooch?” Pinkie pleaded, clasping her hands in front of her and giving the biggest and sweetest puppydog eyes she could. “Like, as you are right now?”
“You want—” Fluttershy blushed, and it was easy to see cuz she had so much face to go around; Pinkie just thought it made her somehow look even cuter. “You want to kiss me as a dragon?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered. “You’re so pretty, and I love you! I want to smooch the real you! Your true form is incredibly smoochable if you ask me!”
“O-oh! Okay!” Fluttershy said bashfully, covering up her lower face with her wings, and Pinkie swore her heart was gonna burst cuz of how full of affection it was.
Everything Fluttershy did, every little movement and gesture and word, made Pinkie fall more and more in love with her, even when Pinkie was so sure she had hit Peak Love.
Fluttershy leaned her snoot down to Pinkie’s level, and Pinkie put her hands on the sides of Fluttershy’s lips, which basically meant stretching Pinkie’s arms as far as they’d go, but that was okay.
It was funny; Fluttershy was so massive and impressive, and she seemed so majestic and imposing, but once she was near Pinkie’s eye level— even though her head was roughly the size of Pinkie’s whole body— she wasn’t even remotely scary.
She was cute, and beautiful, and precious. She was a bashful girl blushing cuz a girl she likes asked to kiss her.
And that thought shot through Pinkie like a lightning bolt— that Fluttershy was bashful around her. Suddenly Pinkie’s entire perspective changed, and she couldn’t justify pretending that she wasn’t important to Fluttershy anymore.
The important thing though was despite how big Fluttershy was, her snoot was right there, and it was the perfect size for smooching.
Pinkie held Fluttershy’s head to steady herself, and kissed Fluttershy on the lips, trying to be soft and tender, but it occurred to her mid-kiss that she’d never initiated a kiss before, especially not with someone of Fluttershy’s size, so she wasn’t sure if she was doing it right.
“Was that okay?” Pinkie asked softly, staring into Fluttershy’s beautiful, glittering teal eyes.
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy sighed dreamily, “it was perfect.”
Rainbow Dash took her shirt off and took in a deep breath, letting her wings splay out in the private cabin she shared with Rarity on the boat back to the Neighagra Falls Inn. Frankly, she would’ve preferred to go shirtless more often but winter weather made that pretty much impossible. She couldn’t wait for spring to just get here already.
Rarity was fiddling with her dragon fang necklace, and her scale she got from the sea serpent; it looked like she was trying to replace the fang on the necklace with the scale, but Rainbow wasn’t sure.
Rainbow’s scale, incidentally, was hidden away in her coat pocket, where she wouldn’t have to see or think about it. She wouldn’t have to think about how despite all her bravado earlier, and all her big talk, she was still terrified of dragons, and of all the ‘what ifs’ that came with them.
She wouldn’t have to think about any of that right now.
The cabin was warm, so Rarity had her coat and scarf set off to the side, leaving her in just a sky blue blouse, tight pencil skirt, and really cute black leggings. She did her makeup before they left Windsoar too, so her lips were like a mesmerizing shade of indigo.
She was really pretty.
Rainbow got so lost in thought watching Rarity fiddle with her trinkets and thinking about how good she looked, that when Rarity looked over to Rainbow and smiled at her, Rainbow snorted and smiled awkwardly back, even giving a little wave.
“Something on your mind, darling?” Rarity asked teasingly.
“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged, turning away from Rarity as her cheeks burned a bright blazing red. Rarity just shrugged and got back to what she was doing.
Rainbow paused.
“Rarity?”
“Hm?” Rarity didn’t look up from the fang and the scale, neither of which were attached to the band of the necklace anymore.
“I really like your outfit,” Rainbow said bashfully. “It looks really good on you.”
Rarity gasped and looked at Rainbow, her whole posture brightening up in front of Rainbow’s eyes, who blinked in surprise at that reaction.
“You noticed!” Rarity cooed.
“Of course I noticed,” Rainbow scoffed. “I got an eye for detail, I could never miss your like gazillion outfit changes.”
“But you never say anything,” Rarity harrumphed, giving Rainbow a teasing smirk to let her know she was just playing at being offended, though Rainbow knew stuff like that was never just playing.
“Well, I don’t wanna bug you,” Rainbow shrugged awkwardly.
“Bug me?” Rarity arched an eyebrow, that smug grin on her face that she always had when she so sure she was right about something. “By giving me compliments?”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow croaked. “Y’know, if I say your outfit is good one time, it’s ‘oh that’s so nice thank you’, but if I say it like every day it’s like ‘yea okay I get it geez’.”
“I am absolutely certain that is not the case,” Rarity laughed. “To be quite honest, I often think when we go on missions together— I wonder if— I wonder ‘is this the time she’ll notice?’”
“I notice every time,” Rainbow said, her ears pinning against her head. “I just didn’t say anything, cuz—”
“Because you’re afraid of giving compliments?” Rarity teasingly stuck out her tongue, and Rainbow wondered if Rarity had any idea how right she was.
“I think your fashion stuff is really impressive,” Rainbow muttered, breaking eye contact away from Rarity cuz she was suddenly feeling super embarrassed. “It’s really cool how much effort you always put into looking your best, even when you aren’t feeling it. And like, you always look amazing.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said with a hand over her heart, her eyes glistening. Did she get sand in them? “I had no idea. I wish you would’ve told me sooner! I absolutely live for compliments, darling! You should know that!”
“Y-yeah, I guess,” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly, “but I didn’t want you to think I was—”
What?
What was the end of that sentence?
Even Rainbow didn’t know.
“You were what?” Rarity said curiously.
“I was—”
Static.
That’s all Rainbow’s brain was full of. Just static. Whenever she tried to open this specific door, this one that made her look and feel like a total dweebus about saying nice things to her friends, all she got was static.
Rainbow knew that whatever the reason was, it was something she wouldn’t like about herself, so her brain just wouldn’t let her through.
“I dunno,” Rainbow gave a single humorless laugh. “I lost my train of thought.”
“Well, just so you know, your compliments are always welcome,” Rarity said, looking pretty chuffed and smiling with a big pretty grin on her face. She was really pretty.
“Honestly,” Rainbow mused, looking out the window at the Windsoar lake with her cheek resting on her hand, “maybe you could help my fashion game sometime. I’m sure you’ve noticed I only ever wear like the same outfit day in and day out.”
Rarity gasped again, louder and longer this time, and looked at Rainbow with stars in her eyes.
“Of course I have!” Rarity practically leapt over to Rainbow’s side of the cabin, putting her arms around Rainbow and grinning gleefully like a fashion maniac. Rainbow didn’t mind being in Rarity’s arms though, that was no big deal. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to take you clothes shopping, Rainbow my dear! But I always figured, ‘oh, she probably isn’t interested in such frivolousness’.”
“I’m totally interested in such frivolousness!” Rainbow said, pulling herself away from Rarity’s embrace but holding onto her hands. “I just never said anything cuz, y’know…”
“I’m not sure I do,” Rarity cocked her head and smiled sympathetically.
I’m not sure I do either.
“Oooh, we are going to make you look so dapper, my darling,” Rarity bit her lip and traced a finger across Rainbow’s bare chest, sparks flying in Rainbow’s brain at her touch.
“Y-yeah, totally,” Rainbow choked out, her brain feeling stuffed up like she’d been in the sauna too long.
“Hm? Something the matter?” Rarity blinked at Rainbow and smiled at her, and as Rainbow looked deep into Rarity’s ocean blue eyes, all she could think was—
She is really pretty.
“Hey,” Rainbow said, gripping Rarity’s hands tightly as an overwhelming need to change the subject poured into her brain like molten iron being poured into a blacksmith’s mold. “I need to tell you something.”
“What is it?” Rarity asked concernedly. “Nothing too serious, I hope?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Rainbow laughed softly, and she couldn’t believe the pure shot of good feelings juice that shot into her brain from seeing Rarity’s smile and hearing her sigh of relief. “I just wanted to say, uh, y’know, sorry. For earlier.”
“Hm?”
“Y’know, with Blueblood before. Sorry I acted like a-” Rainbow paused to think of the word, then snickered when she came up with the perfect one “-ruffian.”
“Oh, that’s okay, sweetheart,” Rarity sighed and traced her thumb across Rainbow’s cheek, and Rainbow found herself struggling with all her might not to lean into Rarity’s touch and purr. “I know you like to hector our comrades every now and then, and I feel like that Blueblood was almost tailor-made to push your buttons.”
Rarity giggled, and Rainbow’s ears twitched as a smile brought itself to her lips.
Geez, what was wrong with her today? Why was she feeling all these weird feelings all of a sudden? Weird.
“Aw man, I totally forgot to kick him in the dick too,” Rainbow sighed and snapped her fingers.
“You’ll get him next time,” Rarity playfully rolled her eyes, and Rainbow laughed.
“Yeah, I’d better! I have a reputation to keep!”
“Of dick-kicking?” Rarity snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded confidently.
“Tell me though,” Rarity said, caressing her thumb across the crease in Rainbow’s hand between her thumb and index, “just satisfy my curiosity for one moment.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, not sure she was gonna like what came next.
Rarity’s mouth moved to form some sounds, but no sound actually came out, like she was trying to find the right words. She was always was super delicate when she needed to be, something Rainbow was terrible at, so she always admired Rarity for it. Yet another thing she never actually told Rarity though.
Geez, Rarity was so cool.
“Were you jealous?” Rarity asked, leaning away from Rainbow but still holding onto her hands. “Was there any truth to that? Were you feeling left out by my attention and attraction to Blueblood? Because I know we had that moment on the boat ride over there, and I know we agreed never to speak of that again, but—”
“Rarity, I’m gay,” Rainbow blurted out, surprising herself. Though judging by Rarity’s wide eyes and awkward pursed lips, Rainbow probably wasn’t as surprised as Rarity.
“Yes, Rainbow, I know,” Rarity chuckled teasingly, “you have a girlfriend. I’ve met her.”
“I just think that guy is like—” Rainbow shook her head and decided to totally ignore that last thing she just said. “He’s no good. You’re too good for him.”
“Yes, you mentioned that,” Rarity said bleakly, her posture darkening like she had a gloomy storm cloud over her head all of a sudden. “You said he didn’t measure up to… certain other characters whom I have dated.
“And I don’t know how to tell you this,” Rarity laughed, “but me and that woman are over.”
She didn’t sound so sure, and Rainbow had just enough tact to not push her on that, but it brought a grin to Rainbow’s lips anyway.
“But even if we weren’t,” Rarity cleared her throat, “you do know that I can date two people at once, correct? Why, I believe we were just discussing this very subject!”
“Yeah, but—” Rainbow puffed up her cheeks. “That guy’s no good. You could do better.”
“And what pray tell is ‘no good’ about him?” Rarity asked coyly. “And you can’t say it’s because he’s a man. I am bi, you know.”
“Of course I know that!” Rainbow scoffed. “It’s not you dating a guy that’s the problem, or even a cis guy, just that guy.”
“Hmm, is that right?” Rarity whispered, and Rainbow suddenly felt a jolt of electricity running up her spine. “So if I dated Wind Rider—”
“Isn’t he a bit old for you?” Rainbow grumbled.
“He does have some impressive DILF energy,” Rarity bit her lip, and Rainbow shuffled in her seat uncomfortably.
“Yeah,” Rainbow choked out through gritted teeth, “I’d be totally fine with that.”
“No kidding!” Rarity laughed, slapping her hand against Rainbow’s chest. “You look totally fine with it.” Rarity cupped Rainbow’s chin in her delicate fingers, Rainbow’s cheeks burning redder than the sun. “So why do you have a problem with them, and not Tw—” Rarity cleared her throat. “Purple Smart.”
“Cuz I respect Purple Smart,” Rainbow groaned; she had half a mind to brush Rarity’s hand away, but she didn’t want to so she didn’t. “I like her, she’s my friend. Those guys are my rivals.”
“And why do your feelings matter so much about who I date, hm?” Rarity said, a cheeky smirk gracing her beautiful lips, and that perfectly arched eyebrow that signaled that she knew with total certainty that she’d backed Rainbow into a corner.
“Um,” Rainbow tried to pull away, but Rarity wasn’t letting go of her hands— though to be fair, Rainbow didn’t try to get away very hard. Rainbow’s cheeks were all red and her brain was buzzing trying to think of something to say. “Like, I’d be fine if you dated Big Mac or something.”
“He is a sweetheart,” Rarity smiled, then burst into laughter. “Though I think it would be too awkward. I have had far too many, um, impure thoughts about his sister.”
“That’s— yeah, fair. Big same,” Rainbow laughed, and Rarity laughed too, and Rainbow didn’t even notice they were inching closer to each other until their snoots were practically touching.
Rainbow could feel Rarity’s hot breath on her cheek. She could feel Rarity’s hand on her hand, and Rarity’s other hand gently, slowly, moved its way to Rainbow’s chest. Rainbow was breathing heavily. She almost couldn’t stop staring at Rarity’s lips, but the second she moved her eyes away from them, her gaze met Rarity’s eyes instead.
It was like getting caught under a waterfall that you weren’t expecting to be there. Rainbow was drowning in her feelings now.
“It’s cold in here,” Rainbow said abruptly, snatching her hands away from Rarity.
“I’m sorry?” Rarity asked; Rainbow couldn’t allot the brain power to deciphering her tone.
“I need to put my shirt back on,” Rainbow said quickly. “So hey,” Rainbow said even quicklier, “what’s the deal with those things?” Rainbow pointed at the scale and the fang on the other side of the cabin. Her hands were shaking. She put her hand down once she noticed. She hoped Rarity didn’t see. “What’re you doing with them?”
“I-” Rarity paused. Rainbow still couldn’t figure out her tone— no, Rainbow didn’t want to know what her tone was saying. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“We’re almost back at the inn,” Rainbow said. “You should wrap up whatever you’re doing over there, huh?”
“I suppose so,” Rarity said, and she moved back to her side of the cabin.
Rainbow didn’t look at her again for the rest of the boat ride.
She sat on her bed in the Neighagra Falls Inn on her last evening there. Her return to the Inn had been uneventful. Twilight was at the dock. Applejack was there too, and Pinkie and Fluttershy arrived soon after Rarity and Rainbow had.
Rarity and Twilight had exchanged no words.
Rarity wanted to talk to Twilight, to pull her aside and tell her that Rarity was wrong about everything, but in the end she got cold hooves. She couldn’t do it.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy revealed they were dating now. Twilight and Applejack already knew, and were both supportive. Rainbow couldn’t have been more excited for Pinkie.
Rarity felt nothing. Said nothing.
Time passed by in a blur as the party travelled on hoof through Windsoar, of all places. They would be making most of the trek to the Crystal Empire on hoof for now. The trip would take about three weeks. Rarity couldn’t remember if it had been her idea or Pinkie Pie’s, but the group was unanimous in their support for it.
It would give Rarity the time she needed to come to some kind of conclusion on her feelings regarding Twilight Sparkle. At least, in theory.
Twilight certainly seemed pleased with the prospect. She seemed to have no love for the Crystal Empire, and likely would rather have avoided the place entirely. But she wanted to show the four ponies in their party that dragons and ponies could live in harmony.
To drag herself to a place that she desperately wanted to avoid, simply in order to prove what she believed in her heart; that was admirable, wasn’t it?
Rarity wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
Time passed by in a blur as Rarity laid on her back on a bed in an inn in the merchant city of Bitsburgh, a mere two weeks or so by hoof from the Crystal Empire. One third of the party’s road trip, and Rarity had damn near missed it, trapped inside her own thoughts.
She couldn’t bear to spend the entire trip like this, yet she didn’t know how to escape.
No.
That’s not quite right.
Rarity knew exactly what she needed to do, yet she would rather have torn every bone out of her chest with her bare hands than to do it.
She needed to talk to a very specific somepony— no, not some pony.
She needed to talk to a very specific dragon.
And Rarity would be damned if she let Twilight Sparkle drag herself forward to a place she loathed in order to prove her convictions, while Rarity wallowed. So, Rarity sat up and took a look out the window. Mid-morning. As good a time as any to speak to a dragon, Rarity supposed.
A sweet, beautiful, awkward dragon.
“Fluttershy,” Rarity said as she found the dragon in question sipping tea in the seating area of the inn’s rather fancy lobby.
“Rarity,” Fluttershy replied, glancing quizzically at Rarity. Fluttershy couldn’t be blamed for being confused; Rarity had yet to speak barely a single word to the dragon on purpose during their entire trip.
“I need to speak with you—” Rarity cut herself off with a scoff that sounded more like a hiss. She sat down in the chair directly across the small coffee table from Fluttershy and steepled her fingers. “I need to ask you a favor.”
“That’s interesting,” Fluttershy said with a slight cheer in her voice, tilting her head as her ears twitched curiously. It was eerie how much she looked and behaved like a pony, yet she wasn’t one, was she? “Why me of all creatures?”
Rarity paused. She was so certain it needed to be Fluttershy, and yet she wasn’t at all prepared for her to ask that question. The obvious answer was that Rarity didn’t have the emotional baggage with Fluttershy that she had with Twilight, but there was another more pressing reason too.
“Because Pinkie trusts you,” Rarity said coldly. Then she took a deep breath. “And I trust you too.”
Fluttershy dropped her tea cup, and as it fell to her lap and rolled onto the carpeted floor, Rarity was just thankful that it was empty.
“Y-you— you what?” Fluttershy stammered; understandably so.
“I trust you,” Rarity repeated, her tone betraying little emotion.
Rarity knew if she allowed herself to start thinking or feeling things about her plan, she would work herself into an emotional tailspin that she wasn’t sure she would be able to work herself out of in a timely manner, so she simply refused to think or feel anything until there was no chance to turn back.
“I realize that must sound strange,” Rarity said after several seconds of awkward silence and Fluttershy merely staring at Rarity with her jaw hanging open. “But it’s true. I trust you. I know what kind of person you are, I knew it from the moment we met in the Everfree Forest.
“You’re kind. You’re gentle, and you care so deeply about the ones you love. You’re everything I was always told dragons could never be.”
“Hm,” Fluttershy closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “And you’re skeptical, and distrusting, and even vicious. Everything I always knew ponies could be.”
That statement pierced Rarity’s heart like a javelin, and the spear twisted in her soul when she realized she couldn’t even begin to argue its truth.
“But I trust you too,” Fluttershy smiled thinly.
Something about that gesture reminded Rarity, loud and clear, that she was in the presence of no mere dragon or pony, but the goddess of the Everfree Forest, and she felt humbled by that fact.
“I can see the conflict tearing through your heart painted all over your face,” Fluttershy continued, crossing one leg over the other. “I can see you struggling to do the right thing, and I’m happy to help you do it. So what is your favor, Rarity?”
“I want you to take a walk with me,” Rarity said, everything in her body and mind screaming and raging at her not to say what she knew she needed to. “There’s a forest nearby. I want you to go there with me.”
Rarity took a deep breath, and released in a slow, agonizing sigh.
“And I want you to show me your true form.”
“Rarity,” Fluttershy grinned, her eyes and fangs gleaming like gemstones caught in the morning sun’s rays, “it would be my pleasure.”
Pinkie Pie’s lips tasted sweet on Fluttershy’s. Maybe it was all the cupcakes?
No, Fluttershy presumed it was simply because Pinkie had a sweet personality.
Fluttershy giggled as she pulled her lips away from Pinkie’s, but no one could possibly hear it under Pinkie’s snorting laugh as she held onto Fluttershy’s hands and beamed. Pinkie almost always laughed when she kissed Fluttershy; Fluttershy thought it was because Pinkie was nervous, and perhaps it was at first, but Fluttershy soon learned that Pinkie simply loved to laugh.
Fluttershy was starting to love it too.
“I have to gooooo,” Fluttershy pleaded, trying to stand up but Pinkie refused to let go of her hands.
“Nooo, just one more!” Pinkie whined, looking up at Fluttershy with big puppydog eyes and a pouty lip. “Just one more smooch, then I’ll let you go, I promise!”
“You said that about the last three smooches,” Fluttershy laughed, snatching one hand away from Pinkie and holding it up to her mouth, biting down on a thumbnail.
“I know,” Pinkie huffed, crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks. “And I’m really glad you’re taking this trip with Rarity! I can’t wait for you two to become best friends!” Pinkie wrapped her arms around Fluttershy’s waist and buried her face into Fluttershy’s stomach, Fluttershy putting her hands on Pinkie’s shoulders and massaging them gently. “But I’m gonna miss you!”
“I know,” Fluttershy sighed, a grim frown creeping across her face as she looked over to the other side of the inn lobby and saw Rarity coming down the stairs with Applejack. “I’ll miss you too. I really wish you could go with us.”
That statement held more truth than Fluttershy wanted to admit.
For just like Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy understood the importance of this endeavor; Rarity wanted to see Fluttershy’s true form since apparently her shell of bigotry she had encased herself in was starting to fall away— at least according to Rainbow Dash, since Rarity almost never talked to Fluttershy directly.
Fluttershy was initially excited when Rarity told her, but as minutes that felt like hours dragged on, Fluttershy only became more and more nervous. She was walking alone into an unknown forest with a goddamn Slayer of all things.
She was practically asking to get killed.
But she wanted to trust Rarity.
Why?
Rarity had shown Fluttershy nothing but contempt since learning she was a dragon. Even before that, Rarity barely showed her any respect in her own forest! Rarity was a ruthless barbarian who slew animals as soon as look at them, and this is the pony Fluttershy wanted to put her faith in? WHY?
Fluttershy had no answer.
She simply wanted to.
“Are you ready to go?” Rarity asked coldly, staring listlessly at Fluttershy.
“Are you?” Fluttershy hissed back. Fluttershy wasn’t the one who needed to tell every pony in town where they were going and do her makeup or whatever else Rarity had decided to do to drag her hooves—
No, no. Fluttershy had promised herself, and Pinkie, that she would be nice.
“I am if you are,” Rarity shrugged.
“Good,” Fluttershy forced a smile. “Then we should get a move on. We don’t want to be in the forest all alone after dark, right?”
“It’s barely mid-morning,” Rarity sighed and ran a hand through her mane. “But you’re right. Let’s—”
“And yer sure you don’t want me or Rainbow Dash to come with ya?” Applejack interrupted, grating on Fluttershy’s nerves.
“I’m sure, darling,” Rarity smiled sympathetically at Applejack.
“Yeah, Applejack!” Pinkie added, jumping up to try and reach Applejack’s gaze, and Fluttershy had to admit that she felt calmer when watching Pinkie. “This is Rarity and Fluttershy’s special time! We can’t interfere or we’ll mess up their big character moment!”
“I know, I get it,” Applejack groaned and rubbed the back of her neck. Fluttershy heard a ticking clock in the back of her mind. “I’m just worried about y’all. Be nice to each other, got it?”
“Of course, darling,” Rarity said charmingly, like she hadn't a care in the world.
“I promise to be on my best behavior,” Fluttershy said with a thin smile, even though she hadn't done anything.
These ponies were all suspicious of her because of her claws and fangs, completely ignorant of the way their swords and magic and their damn alicorns cast a shadow of fear over Fluttershy’s home and any place she tried to run to.
Fluttershy took a deep breath. This would be fine.
She mused that perhaps because she so enjoyed the company of the pony Pinkie Pie, and also Rainbow Dash from their admittedly limited experiences together, that being in the presence of ponies so obviously and shamelessly suspicious of her grated on her nerves more than usual thanks to the contrast.
Did that even make sense?
Fluttershy chuckled under her breath. What even was ‘sense’ anymore?
Rarity opened the doors to the inn, and Fluttershy dragged herself toward them, tearing herself away from a tearful Pinkie and waving goodbye to her as she threw herself into Applejack’s embrace.
Fluttershy grit her teeth.
It hurt her pride to see Pinkie seek comfort from that pony, the one who just seconds ago had verbalized her doubts about Fluttershy’s character, the one who took Rarity’s side every time, the one who was trying to STEAL PINKIE AWAY FROM H—
“Wait! Hold on!”
Twilight Sparkle’s voice cut through Fluttershy’s thoughts like a sword slicing through a snow fort, and Rarity’s groan fell on Fluttershy’s ears like an anvil that made Fluttershy grind her teeth painfully against each other with a wince of her eye.
Twilight ran down the stairs into the lobby, nearly tripping over her own hooves as she raced toward Fluttershy, finally stopping in front of her and gasping for breath.
“I heard you were—” Twilight panted and paused to catch her breath. Fluttershy put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and whispered a small spell on her lips, rejuvenating Twilight, who took a deep breath and smiled at Fluttershy. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“My pleasure,” Fluttershy chirped, brandishing a sincere smile and cocking her head slightly. It felt good to do something nice for someone, and even better to be appreciated.
“I’ll wait outside,” Rarity growled, not even waiting for Fluttershy to respond before closing the door behind her, and by the way Twilight cringed you’d be forgiven for thinking Rarity slammed the door right in her face. In a way, Fluttershy supposed she did just that.
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said without even thinking, almost as if it were habit or something.
“Don’t be,” Twilight batted her hand. She took a deep breath and grabbed Fluttershy’s hands. “I wanted to check on you though before you left! I heard about your little outing from Rainbow, and I know you must be pretty stressed out right now.”
“Me? I’m not stressed out,” Fluttershy wore a paper thin smile, and all it took was one arched eyebrow from Twilight for it to crumble into a weepy frown. “I am so stressed out, thank you so much for noticing!”
“It’s no problem,” Twilight gently rubbed her thumb in the crease between Fluttershy’s thumb and forefinger. “No one else here gets it, not really. Even if we tell them we’re as afraid of them as they are of us, they don’t get it.
“Everyone’s gonna be thinking about Rarity and her feelings, and I’m thinking about her too, but I wanted to make sure that you have someone looking out for you, and I will be there for you, no matter what.”
“Even if you have to choose me over Rarity?” Fluttershy said bleakly, almost sarcastically since she knew the answer alrea—
“Yes,” Twilight said instantly, cutting down Fluttershy’s thought before it was even fully formed. “I will choose you over Rarity if I need to, because I refuse to let you be alone in this. We agreed when we left the forest that we would stick together, and I intend to keep that promise.”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy blubbered, trying her best not to cry and failing completely miserably.
“Do you want a hug?” Twilight asked, and Fluttershy nodded ecstatically before Twilight wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and Fluttershy returned the favor.
“I just feel like such a fool,” Fluttershy said, wiping her eyes. “I feel like I’m being set up for the world’s cruelest prank.”
“I understand,” Twilight whispered. She tilted her head down, and Fluttershy bent her knee to put her forehead against Twilight’s. “For what it’s worth, I don’t believe that’s what’s going on here. I do believe that Rarity, and the others too, are genuine in their intentions.
“But I understand your fear. And I want you to know that no matter what, I’ll protect you.”
“You’re sweet, Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy chuckled, and she didn’t bother to try and stop the tears streaming down her face. “Why would you put yourself out like that for me?”
“Why would I—” Twilight said incredulously, shaking her head a bit and blinking. “Fluttershy, I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you!” Twilight chuckled. “Actually, I literally wouldn’t be here, because you saved my life, but!
“My point is, it’s your conviction and your faith that allowed me to be strong enough to offer to take the others to the Crystal Empire. And your kindness to travel with me, to leave your home for my sake— for our sake, yours, mine, even the ponies’— I draw strength from that kindness every day. When I wake up under an unfamiliar ceiling, I think about you and that helps me to put my feet on the ground every day.
“So don’t ever ask me why I would do something for you. It’s because you’re important to me, Fluttershy.”
“W-waow,” Fluttershy stammered and blushed, and now she was the one out of breath.
“D-did I lay it on a bit thick?” Twilight smiled awkwardly and let out a wheezy chuckle, but Fluttershy just shook her head and giggled.
“No,” she said, “that was perfect.”
Fluttershy bowed her head, and Twilight returned the gesture. With Twilight’s assurance keeping her strong, Fluttershy felt ready to walk outside those doors now, but Twilight was still holding onto her hand.
“One last thing,” Twilight said.
“Hm?” Fluttershy chirped, slight smile still on her face as her heart buzzed with affection for Twilight Sparkle.
“I think—” Twilight paused, measuring each word before she spoke it. “It was kind of you, to accept Rarity’s proposal. It’s kind of you to see it through with her, even though you’re scared. That kindness is inspiring, Fluttershy, and I refuse to believe that a decision made in kindness could be the wrong one, even if it ends up burning you.”
“I would love to believe that you’re right,” Fluttershy sighed, “but I don’t always feel so confident.”
“I know,” Twilight nodded, and Fluttershy could almost see tears sparkling in her eyes. “But if your heart gets burned by your kindness, I’ll always be here to cradle it in a soft blanket until it cools.”
The only thing burning now was Fluttershy’s cheeks, and she swore she could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said softly and bit her lip. “When I return, will you have tea with me? Give me something to look forward to when I come back?”
“Absolutely,” Twilight said with a smile and a firm nod; she didn’t even have to think about it.
Fluttershy exhaled sharply. She could feel Twilight’s faith on her back as she turned toward the inn doors and opened them, and when she looked at the sullen unicorn leaning against the wall and waiting dourly for Fluttershy to arrive, Fluttershy almost saw her like Twilight saw her.
Pinkie Pie had her head all slumped on the table of like an outdoor eating area of a cute little milkshake shop. There were only a few other ponies in the eating area, but there were a ton of ponies going to and fro on the street nearby; Bitsburgh was a pretty busy town since it was one of the biggest mercantile towns in northern Equestria.
And normally Pinkie would be pleased as punch to just sit around people watching, especially since the winter snow did such an amazing job covering the town in a layer of marshmallowy fluffy goodness, but right now all Pinkie wanted to watch was Fluttershy, and she wasn’t here.
“Hey, Pinkie,” Applejack said as she walked over to Pinkie’s table, two big cups in hand; and hearing her voice immediately made Pinkie sit upright with a big smile on her face, partly cuz she loved Applejack so much but also cuz Applejack had milkshakes! “I got yer strawberry cheesecake birthday cake cookies and cream milkshake you wanted.”
“Yes! Gimme gimme gimme!” Pinkie beamed and held out her hands, wiggling her fingers in anticipation. Applejack handed Pinkie the milkshake and took a seat across the table from her, and Pinkie took a big gulping sip of the shake before sighing in contentment. “That’s real good.”
“I’m gladja like it, hon,” Applejack chuckled and took a sip of her shake, and Pinkie made a very similar sigh to the one she just made from drinking the shake; she always loved when Applejack called her ‘hon’, it was so cute. “How’re you feelin’, by the way?”
“Oh,” Pinkie deflated and flomped her chin onto the table again.
“Ooh, that bad, huh?” Applejack bit her thumbnail, and while Pinkie didn’t want to worry Applejack, she couldn’t muster much more than a shrug in response. “Well at least yer hair ain’t deflatin’ yet, that’s a good sign.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s not that bad!” Pinkie pushed herself up quickly with her hands and cringed. Just the thought of going full Depreche Mode made her stomach turn. “I just miss Fluttershy, y’know? I wanna be with her! But she’s off with Rarity, and I’m glad her and Rarity are having their moment, but I’m still sad and I miiiiss heeeerrr!”
“I know, sugarcube, I know,” Applejack stood up and moved her chair over beside Pinkie’s, which was pretty impressive considering the chairs had been bolted to the ground. “Ooh.” Applejack winced when she noticed what she’d done, and Pinkie tried not to laugh. “Uhh, I’m sure we can fix that before we leave, right?”
“Totally,” Pinkie nodded, grinning ear to ear.
“Anyhoo,” Applejack sat in her chair and put an arm around Pinkie’s shoulders. “I know how you feel. I was the same way first time Rainbow Dash went on a Slayer mission after we started datin’. Girl, I was so stressed.
“But then when she came home and I was holdin’ her in my arms, it was like none of that stress ever even happened. Everything was right in my world again. So just be patient with Fluttershy, okay? Soon enough y’all’ll be huggin’ and smoochin’ to yer heart’s content, I promise.”
“You’re right,” Pinkie pouted and blew bubbles in her shake. “I know you’re right, but—” Pinkie’s cheeks puffed up and her face got all scrunchy and she just started bawling out of nowhere. “I miiiiiiiss heeeeer!!!” Pinkie cried, sobbing and weeping like a child being dragged out of the toystore.
Pinkie half-expected Applejack to try to shush her, or turn her attention to the other ponies nearby who were staring at her and try to placate them— that’s what Pinkie’s parents would’ve done, heck that’s probably what Rarity would’ve done too— but Applejack didn’t.
Applejack gave Pinkie a kiss on the nose, and wrapped her big strong arms around Pinkie, gently humming and rocking Pinkie back and forth.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Applejack whispered as Pinkie held onto her for dear life and sobbed into her chest. “I’ve gotcha.”
Pinkie sniffed and took deep breaths, getting her emotions under control and steadying herself by holding onto the table.
“Any time, Pinkie,” Applejack playfully slapped Pinkie’s back.
Pinkie Pie cooed in awe as Applejack walked her around the town of Bitsburgh with Pinkie sitting on Applejack’s shoulder; Applejack had figured that’d be a pretty good way to help Pinkie get her mind off of Fluttershy after they finished their milkshakes and fixed the chair Applejack broke. And she was right!
Mostly. Pinkie did think about Fluttershy for a moment as she was thinking what a good idea this was to get her mind off of Fluttershy. And then Pinkie started thinking about how all she really wanted to do was curl up in bed with Fluttershy, Pinkie humming in delight at the thought of her body pressed up against Fluttershy’s.
But then she thought about Applejack again. It’d been a while since they’d slept in the same bed together, and Pinkie found she missed it.
Applejack’s big strong comforting body was like the coziest comfort a girl could ask for, and Pinkie found herself yearning to have those strong arms wrapped around her and hear Applejack’s gentle snoozing snore playing in Pinkie’s ear like the sound of the ocean when you listen to a shell.
Huh.
Pinkie hadn't noticed before, but her sleeping experiences with Applejack and Fluttershy were so similar. Pinkie slept naked with both of them, and they both slept naked too, and they were both warm and soft and big.
It was nice.
And now Pinkie was blushing for some reason?
That was weird, she never blushed when thinking about Applejack before, yet for some reason the thought of Applejack taking her to bed and cozying under the covers with her felt so tempting right now.
She would’ve loved to be sleeping with Fluttershy right now, but she realized that she would be equally okay sleeping with Applejack too. And that was nice!
And yet, it felt weird? Like there was a swarm of butterflies rumbling around in Pinkie’s tummy as she thought about Applejack.
How funny, that’d never happened before.
But then Pinkie was distracted from those Flutter Thoughts and Apple Thoughts by Applejack talking about how a local shopkeeper was obviously scamming their customers, right within earshot of said customers, causing all the customers to leave and Applejack and Pinkie to laugh at the fuming redheaded unicorn twins running the shop.
It was funny watching Applejack point out super easily which shops in the big merchant city she thought were legit, and which ones she was convinced were scams, and Pinkie didn’t doubt her judgment for a second.
And heck, Applejack probably would’ve gone to each and every scam shop and shook the shopkeeper around by their ears if she thought she could get away with it, and that was pretty funny too.
Applejack was making small talk with Pinkie, and while she was trying to listen, she kept getting distracted; she thought Applejack was so cool and smart, and looking at her from above— which was only possible by sitting on top of her considering what a big chungus Applejack was— Pinkie couldn’t help noticing how beautiful Applejack was too.
The way her cute blonde hair framed her face, the way her features were so strong and tough, like you could tell just by looking at her that she wasn’t a pony you should be messing with. And of course her face was dotted by all these cute little freckles that Pinkie just adored.
Not to mention: BICC GORL! STRONK! LARGE PONY!!
She was so cool.
Fluttershy was cool too.
Aw gosh dang it, now Pinkie was thinking about Fluttershy again!
But how could she not, when Fluttershy and Applejack were so similar?
Pinkie hadn't really thought about it before, but they really were similar weren’t they? They were both big, they were both cute, they were both girls… hm, maybe they weren’t that similar.
But they were both beautiful, and cool, and fun to hang out with! They both made Pinkie feel safe around them, and seeing either of them made Pinkie’s heart go doki doki, and of course the thought of cozying up in bed with them was—
Well it was almost like…
Pinkie was…
In lo—
Oooooooooooohhhhhhh.
WHAT?!
“Y’alright there, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked, and when Pinkie realized she had like the goofiest disgruntled frown on her face, she laughed it off.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Pinkie smiled at Applejack, and Applejack smiled back and Pinkie felt like her heart was gonna burst with emotion. “Hey, Applejack, you mind if I ask you something?”
“Not at all, hon,” Applejack shrugged as she kept walking down the busy main road of Bitsburgh, “what’s on yer mind?”
“What’s the difference between romance and friendship?”
Applejack stopped in her tracks and looked up at Pinkie with an inquisitive furrowed brow.
“What brought that on all of a sudden?” Applejack asked amusedly.
“Oh, y’know,” Pinkie sweated and blushed, “just the brain doing its brain thing, jumping from thing to thing, you know how it is!”
“Well that’s a good question, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack sat on a nearby bench, clearing the snow off of it before she sat down and Pinkie hopped off her shoulder to sit next to her. “Never really thought about it, to be honest. I guess I’d have to say uhhhh…
“Ummm…” Applejack pondered. She opened her mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. “Hmmm…” she looked really pensive now. She was biting her thumb. “Uhhh…”
“Yeah that’s what I thought too!” Pinkie laughed.
“Like I said,” Applejack chuckled, her cheeks turning red as she rubbed the back of her neck, “I ain’t never really thought about it.”
“I never thought about it either until recently,” Pinkie hummed, “when I started to think ‘oh, maybe there isn’t any difference’.”
“I mean I guess you smooch yer romantic partners,” Applejack said. “And sleep in the same bed with them, yer okay bein’ intimate with them.”
“We sleep in the same bed,” Pinkie said, and while she didn’t say ‘and I would love to smooch you’, she absolutely thought it loudly. “And we’re intimate all the time! We’ve touched bits!”
“Our bits have definitely touched before,” Applejack nodded. “Not on purpose though, far as I know.”
“Sure,” Pinkie shrugged, “I mean it’s not like we’ve swordfought or anything.” Applejack laughed, and Pinkie snorted out a laugh too. “We could though!”
“Oh yeah,” Applejack scoffed, “that’s a great idea! I’d—”
“Crush me like a grape,” Pinkie giggled. “Your sword’s practically bigger than my whole head!”
“It is not!” Applejack screeched and her whole face turned bright red, but Pinkie couldn’t stop laughing, and Applejack started laughing too.
“I’m just saying,” Pinkie said calmly, even though her whole body was practically shaking, “I’m not sure there is a difference for me.”
“That’s cool, sugarcube,” Applejack pat Pinkie’s shoulder. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.”
Pinkie smiled but on the inside she was groaning in frustration that Applejack wasn’t picking up on her hints.
Just say ‘I love you’ to her!
“I love you,” Pinkie said, and she swore she was gonna die from shock right on the spot.
“I love you too, Pinkie,” Applejack said softly, smiling brightly at Pinkie. “We’ve been friends a long time, ‘course I love you!”
Pinkie smiled as big as she could, but she was still screaming internally.
No! I love you in the same way I love Fluttershy! How do you not get that?!
Unless? She does get it? And doesn’t feel about me that way.
Oooooh noooooo.
Pinkie was jittering now. She could feel her hair about to start deflating. She needed an out; literally anything that could distract her or Applejack.
“Oh hey is that Big Mac?!” Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs, pointing in a completely random direction that she didn’t even bother to look in first.
Applejack squinted and looked at where Pinkie was pointing, and she gasped.
“Yeah, I think it is!” Applejack said incredulously, standing on her hooves in an instant.
Pinkie had to do a double-take, staring in absolute bewilderment at Applejack before looking in the direction she pointed and yeah, seeing a towering red stallion in a fashionable brown cowboy hat walking through the crowd in the distance.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie tore through the snowy and crowded streets of Bitsburgh as soon as they caught sight of Big Mac, and the object of their affection didn’t even see ‘em coming until Pinkie catapulted onto his chest in a big hug, Applejack bringing her little bro into a bear hug before he could even fully react to Pinkie.
“Woah, hey girls!” an unfamiliar man’s voice said in mild alarm and confusion, and Applejack was gonna just brush him off until she realized he was staring right at Applejack and Pinkie, and Big Mac seemed more flustered than receptive to the two girls’ hugs.
“Uh, sorry Mac,” Applejack said bashfully, stepping away from him and brushing his shoulders— and also removing Pinkie from him. “Didn’t realize we were interruptin’.”
“That’s okay,” Big Mac chuckled and gave Applejack a hug, patting her on the back before kneeling down and giving Pinkie a hug too. “Didn’t expect to see y’all here! Kinda caught me off-guard, is all.”
“Same, honestly,” the man standing next to Mac said. “These your sisters, Mac?”
“Yeah, basically,” Big Mac nodded, and the way he smiled at the man standing next to him, Applejack could instantly tell that he was really special to her little bro, which meant he was important to Applejack too. “This here’s my big sister Applejack—”
“Pleasure to meetcha, hon,” Applejack shook the silver-furred unicorn stallion’s hand hardily, even though she had to basically reach across the aisle to make it happen.
“—and this here’s my honorary sister Pinkie Pie,” Big Mac added, Pinkie jumping forward and holding out her hand, though the blue-maned stallion didn’t seem interested in taking it.
“After Applejack and I get married, I’m gonna upgrade from ‘honorary sister’ to ‘sister-in-law’,” Pinkie grinned cheekily, getting a laugh out of Big Mac and Applejack.
“Didn’t realize we were makin’ weddin’ plans, Pinkie,” Applejack said jokingly, though the image of Pinkie in a wedding dress did immediately cross Applejack’s mind and it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant image. Oh geez, Applejack was blushing now.
“So!” Applejack cleared her throat. “Who’s yer friend, Big Mac?”
The man standing beside Big Mac carried himself more than a mite defensively, but Applejack couldn’t exactly blame him since two obnoxiously enthusiastic women just assaulted his friend with affection out of literally nowhere.
He was a unicorn stallion, and a pretty fit one at that; he wasn’t quite as tall as Mac, but he didn’t have to look too far up to meet Mac’s gaze either— though Applejack mused how that still made him look like a baby compared to her.
He was dressed in some mighty fancy casual clothes, you’d almost mistake his getup for a finely tailored suit at a glance, and the mostly black outfit looked pretty good against his shimmering silver coat and ocean-blue mane.
But his most striking feature were his eyes, which seemed to glitter with an ethereal glow. They almost looked familiar— Applejack swore she knew someone with eyes just like that, but she couldn’t quite place ‘em.
“Applejack, Pinkie Pie—” Mac said bashfully, taking the unicorn’s hand with a giddy smile on his face, and he didn’t have to explain his relationship with the man— Applejack got it right away and was thrilled; especially with the way the unicorn looked back at Mac and smiled sweetly at him. “This is my boyfriend.”
Pinkie screamed in delight, flailing her arms in every direction possible, and Applejack just beamed brighter than the sun and gave a hearty laugh.
“AAAAAA!!” Pinkie squealed. “You’re Big Mac’s boyfriend!! Ohmigosh we’re so excited to meet you!”
“We sure are!” Applejack added, and then laughed nervously. “Sorry our first impression, uh, sucked. If we’d known Mac was with a man, we wouldn’t’a charged him like we did.”
“I would’ve,” Pinkie said casually.
“She would’ve,” Bic Mac nodded, and Applejack laughed. Big Mac turned to his man and patted him on the chest. “I hope you’re not too put off by my girls.”
“Not at all,” the man chuckled, and he seemed to relax a tad. “I was just caught off-guard is all, and that makes me antsy.” The man held his hand out to Pinkie Pie, who shook it vigorously, and then to Applejack who shook it a little more chill. “Mac’s had nothing but glowing praise for his family, so I’ve actually been really looking forward to meeting you both!”
“So who the heck are you!” Pinkie shouted. “We haven’t even gotten your name yet! Don’t leave us in suspense!”
“Oh geez,” Big Mac gave a single laugh, and the man just rolled his eyes playfully and fretted with Mac’s hair, “where are my manners? Applejack, Pinkie Pie, this is Shining Armor.”
“That’s a swell name,” Applejack said, nodding her head in approval.
“Thanks,” Shining Armor said proudly, puffing up his chest. “I chose it myself.”
“Oh, yer gonna fit right into this family,” Applejack grinned, putting her arm around Shining Armor, who smiled and laughed.
“Hey, Mac,” Shining Armor said, “you want to take a sec and catch up with your sisters? I can do the shopping on my own, if you want.”
“I’d like that, yeah,” Big Mac nodded, and Applejack could hardly contain her delight at just how smitten her boy was lookin’ at his man.
“Ooh, can I go with you, Shining Armor?” Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down. “I got so many questions I wanna ask you about! And cute embarrassing stories to tell you about Big Mac!”
“Well, how can I resist?” Shining Armor grinned at his man, who just rolled his eyes and blushed, Shining giving Mac a playful punch in the chest. “Sure, Pinkie. I’d love to get to know you better.”
Pinkie squealed in delight, and Shining turned to Big Mac, brushing some hair out of Mac’s face and giving him a soft kiss, Big Mac letting out a single bashful chuckle under his breath as he averted eye contact with his man and fretted with his bangs.
“Love you,” Shining Armor whispered.
“I love you too,” Big Mac said, and his face was already red cuz that’s just what his fur color was, but… you get it.
Shining Armor took off with Pinkie in tow, and Applejack just couldn’t hold back her giddy smile anymore and just beamed at Big Mac so bright and so damn hard.
“I like him!” Applejack said.
“I love him,” Big Mac added with a dreamy sigh.
Applejack and Big Mac sat down on a bench outside a bar, both of ‘em drinking sodas since the bar’s apple cider was frankly a disgrace to Equestria’s greatest and most powerful fruit. Ironically, the apple soda? Not half bad.
“So how’d you meet this guy anyhow?” Applejack asked, crossing one leg over the other and watching as busy ponies went all about their business in the nearby street. Bitsburgh was a bustling town, especially for its quaint size, and Applejack really dug that kinda hardworking energy.
“Took a mission up in the Crystal Mountains few months back,” Big Mac explained, pausing to take a sip of his cream soda and giving a refreshed sigh. “He picked me up and took care of me when the mission went kinda bad.”
“Oof, I’m sorry,” Applejack said instinctively. Big Mac wouldn’t be in the whole Slayer mess if it weren’t for Applejack’s cowardice.
“Don’t be!” Mac laughed. “I met a hot guy outta the deal!”
“Y’know what, that’s fair,” Applejack grinned ear to ear. “He’s really somethin’, huh? Like I ain’t into guys, but even I think he’s cute.”
“He is-” Big Mac bit his lip, probably to keep from saying something embarrassing, but Applejack just thought that was adorable “-extremely something.”
“His eyes are like—” Applejack clicked her tongue. “His eyes are like magical.”
“E-eeyup,” Big Mac nodded and tried to drink from his soda but fumbled it a bit; he didn’t spill it though, thankfully.
“I swear I’ve seen someone with eyes just like that,” Applejack pondered, trying to wrack her brain.
“Y-you don’t say,” Big Mac tapped his hoof against the concrete.
“Yeah, like the glow they have?” Applejack said. “Y’know what I’m sayin’?”
“N-nope,” Big Mac puffed up his cheeks, and Applejack just looked at him like he was making fun of her.
“How have you not noticed the eyes,” Applejack said flatly. “I noticed ‘em soon as I met him, and I ain’t even been starin’ lovingly into ‘em.”
“Just slipped my mind I guess,” Big Mac blurted out quickly, loudly slurping his soda. Something was fishy here.
But Applejack couldn’t remember who she’d seen with eyes like that. They looked so familiar, the way they glowed like th—
Oh! Twilight! Twilight Sparkle had eyes just like that!
And so did Fluttershy, now that Applejack was thinking about—
Oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
“Huh,” Applejack let that single word fall out of her mouth as she tapped her hoof against the concrete.
OH.
Applejack and Big Mac just kinda sat in silence for a bit. They both knew what the other knew, and knew that they knew it, but neither one wanted to say nothin’.
“So um,” Applejack blew gently on the top of her soda can, “were you gonna tell me that yer boyfriend is a dragon?”
“I wanted to,” Big Mac said shortly, “but we both know you can’t keep a secret.”
Applejack pointed furiously at Mac and opened her mouth to speak, but paused. Big Mac gave her a droll look, and Applejack puffed up her cheeks.
“Dang, I can’t even argue with that,” Applejack huffed. “Just so you know, I ain’t tellin’ nopony. And I ain’t got a problem with it either. Yer not the only pony with dragon related secrets.”
“You datin’ one too?” Big Mac grinned, and Applejack let out a scoffing laugh.
“Not me,” Applejack shook her head. “Pinkie.”
“Are you serious?” Big Mac blinked, and Applejack just nodded.
“When you ever known me to lie?” Applejack said. “Fun fact; remember that librarian I told ya about last time we talked? Turns out she was a dragon, but not the dragon Pinkie’s datin’! That’s a totally different, unrelated dragon!
“And now me, Pinkie, even Rainbow Dash and Rarity, are all travellin’ with these two dragons to— well, to someplace up north, to see if all this stuff we been fed about dragons our whole life is actually just a bunch of bull.”
“Wow,” Big Mac said with a pained look on his face. “Sounds like you got yer hands full.”
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Applejack shrugged. “I mean, you know, right? When you first learned yer man was a dragon, you couldn’t’ve been happy about it, right?”
“He never hid himself from me,” Big Mac said. “When he rescued me, he showed himself to me in his true form. And yeah, I was a little freaked out. But I couldn’t move, I was too badly injured, and a bad snowstorm meant Shining’s healer girlfriend wasn’t able to get to us for a few days.
“So I had nothin’ to do but lie around in a cave talkin’ to him, and he took care of me every step of the way. Made sure I had enough to eat and to drink, even went out into the storm to get me food when he realized I couldn’t eat gems.”
Big Mac chuckled, and Applejack smiled. Shining Armor sounded like a good man.
“After that,” Big Mac continued, “how could I go back to believin’ what I had been? I tried to! When I finally could walk on my own legs, I left the Crystal Mountains and tried to bury my doubts. But everything reminded me of him, and I wanted nothin’ more’n to see him again. So I made an excuse to go back, and… well, he won me over.”
“Dang,” Applejack said. “What does this mean for yer career as a Slayer?”
Big Mac shook his head.
“I can’t keep doin’ it,” Big Mac said coldly. “I already hated it, and now I just— I just can’t.”
“I feel ya,” Applejack sighed and hung her head. “I just can’t imagine what Granny Smith is gonna—”
“She’s fine with it,” Big Mac took a sip of soda as Applejack looked at him incredulously. “I already told her, and she didn’t mind. Not the dragon thing I mean, I ain’t tellin’ her about that.”
“Yeah of course not,” Applejack shuddered to think what Granny would say if she knew two of her kids were dating dragons now. Or about the thoughts Applejack had for Twilight that were uhhh, well they weren’t church-friendly.
“Apparently,” Big Mac said, “she dug up some old connections and got in contact with some old friends, and they’re helping her out with the money situation. So all is somehow right in the Apple Family world.”
“No kiddin’,” Applejack leaned back against the bench and tried to wrap her head around what a surreal conversation she was having.
“Cadance says hi, by the way,” Big Mac said.
“Cadance?” Applejack cocked her head. “Oh yeah, I guess if you were in the Crystal Mountains, the Empire’s pretty close so, guess you ran into her?”
“Wha—oh, no,” Big Mac chuckled. “Cadance is Shining Armor’s healer girlfriend that I mentioned.”
“Oh, okay tha—” Applejack paused. Wires connected in her brain and her face twisted in… disbelief? Bafflement? Not confusion exactly, but just… utter awe. “NO.” Applejack said. “NO WAY.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac nodded.
“That mad bitch actually did it!” Applejack laughed heartily. She didn’t know Cadance that well— mostly just through Rarity— but she’d seen her around a few times and was familiar enough with her. Cadance always seemed like a swell girl.
But if there was one thing Applejack knew about her for certain— that everyone in Equestria knew about her— it was that she was OBSSESSED with dragons. Everypony, especially in the Slayer’s Guild, thought she was absolutely bonkers for claiming she wanted to marry one.
And yet, the mad bitch really went and started dating one. What the hell.
If there was a can lying on the floor of the Bitsburgh inn, Rainbow Dash would’ve kicked it.
She was bored. Her girlfriend Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, were hitting the town, Rarity and Fluttershy were off on an adventure, and Rainbow was left wandering the inn all by herself.
Twilight was still around, but that was…
How many times had Rainbow apologized to Twilight for being a bad friend? And how many times had she still gone out of her way to avoid being alone with Twilight?
Rainbow was all good vibes and positivity when she talked about Twilight, when she talked about how she trusted Twilight and believed in her and wanted to be friends with her still, and all that stuff was genuinely true!
But the second she was alone with Twilight, she lost her nerve.
Just like in Baltimare.
Just like any time that dragons were on the table.
Old habits died hard, Rainbow supposed, but that excuse sure sucked ass and it definitely wasn’t good enough to keep giving her friend the brush-off.
So. Rainbow figured she had to find Twilight. Now was as good a time as any to face her bullcrap fear— no, if Rainbow were being honest, it was now or never! When was the next time she could count on being alone with Twilight?
Rainbow’s lazy trot became a stomping canter as she made her way through the inn, headed for Twilight’s room.
Turns out, she didn’t need to even go that far. There was a little playroom off the side of the lobby, and Rainbow just so happened to look that way as she was walking past, and there was Twilight sitting on her knees with her son sitting in front of her.
The lobby wasn’t terribly busy, but the playroom was completely empty except for Twilight, so Rainbow didn’t figure she’d be bugging anyone by just poking her head in to see what Twilight was up to.
“Now breathe in,” Twilight said calmly, and she took a deep breath. Spike followed her example, and his wings unfurled and twitched a couple times. “Do you feel the Sky Aura flowing through your wings?”
“Mostly I just feel Rainbow Dash staring at me,” Spike said bemusedly, startling Rainbow and causing her ears to flick up.
She wasn’t nearly as startled as Twilight though, who opened her eyes and yelped when she saw Rainbow, darting to her hooves.
“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded, her face turning bright red. “Don’t sneak up on a girl like that!”
“Sorry,” Rainbow said awkwardly, lowering her head and rubbing the back of her neck. “M-my bad.”
“Eh, don’t even worry about it,” Spike sighed and batted his hand before falling onto his back. “I felt like my brain was gonna explode anyway.”
“Wanna take five, bug?” Twilight said slyly. “You can grab an ice cream popsicle from the fridge in our room if you want.”
“Can I take twenty instead?” Spike asked drolly, though he soon perked up and pointed at his mom. “But I still wanna take you up on that popsicle.”
“Sure thing, Spike,” Twilight giggled, and Rainbow found herself laughing under her breath too; she’d forgotten how cute Twilight could be, especially with her son. “And hey, if you wanna take a look around town—”
“DO I?!” Spike bolted to his hooves and pumped his fists.
“Go ahead then,” Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Make sure you have your beacon though!” Twilight yelled, cuz Spike was already way out of the playroom, little dude practically leaving a dust cloud in the shape of his body with the speed he bolted.
“I will!” Spike shouted back distantly.
Twilight sighed and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head gently.
“Kids, right?” Twilight said to Rainbow. “Always so eager to get into trouble, never wanna stay still and study.”
“C’mon, weren’t you like that as a kid?” Rainbow chuckled.
“Nope!” Twilight said proudly, puffing up her chest and smirking smugly. “I was a model student growing up!”
“So a narc,” Rainbow teased.
“Heh heh,” Twilight laughed sarcastically, sticking her tongue out at Rainbow. She took a breath and became somber though as she looked toward the door Spike had run out of. “I’m glad though. He’s got a lot of energy, and he doesn’t worry about much. I’m really happy I didn’t pass that onto him.”
“He’s a good kid,” Rainbow said.
“He’s the best,” Twilight nodded. Twilight took another deep breath, then let it out with an excited “Whoo!” before turning her full attention to Rainbow Dash, who felt a shiver roll up her spine when Twilight’s glittering eyes locked with hers. “So, Rainbow! What can I do for you?”
“Uh, what do you mean?” Rainbow asked awkwardly.
“Oh,” Twilight puffed up her cheeks. “I just, y’know, I figured— I guess I assumed you were looking for me for some reason. Don’t worry about it, I’ll—”
“What were you teaching Spike just now?” Rainbow interrupted, partly to stop Twi from going into one of her spirals, but also cuz she was genuinely curious.
“Magic,” Twilight said casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world, but Rainbow’s eyes practically popped out of her head.
“You can just do that?” she asked incredulously. “I thought only dragons could use magic like yours!”
“No, ponies can do magic just like mine too,” Twilight said, again speaking like it was some total normal shit she was saying and not an amazing, life-altering piece of information, which it was for Rainbow. “Ponies have just forgotten. Dragons had mostly forgotten too, but now the few old dragons who still remember are beginning to share their craft with the younger generations. That’s how I learned.”
“Wow, I thought you were just born with it,” Rainbow said, blinking several times and trying to make sure she wasn’t dreaming this conversation.
Cuz if she were being honest, it wasn’t the first time she’d had it. It wasn’t the first time someone had spoken with her about the ancient magics, but Rainbow spent a lot of time wishing that first conversation had never happened.
To hear someone else say it though, to hear those old rumors confirmed by someone unbiased… Rainbow didn’t know where to even start grappling with that.
“Nope,” Twilight shrugged. “I mean, every living creature is born with magic. But learning to tap into and harness that magic takes time, and often it takes a teacher as well.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow gave a single dry laugh, “no kidding.”
“I could teach you if you’d like,” Twilight said with a smile that pierced right through Rainbow’s heart, which swelled in her chest like it was about to burst.
And not necessarily in a good way.
Was Rainbow sweating now? Yeah, looked like it. Room was spinning too. Geez, this sucked; this was gonna be so embarrassing when she had to explain it to Twilight… who was now…
…looking down on her? She looked worried.
Oh crap, Rainbow thought as she bolted upright, realizing she’d fallen on the ground and maybe even lost consciousness for a sec. Granted, bumping right into Twilight’s head when she got up didn’t help matters any.
“Owwww,” Rainbow groaned and rubbed her temples.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked frantically, also holding her head.
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow tried to laugh but it only came out as a wheeze. “Was I out?”
“I thought so,” Twilight said, “but everything happened so fast so I don’t really know.”
“Oh okay,” Rainbow sighed in relief and put her hands on the ground, looking up at the ceiling for a sec. “Didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Twilight sidled up next to Rainbow and curled into a ball, arms laid over her knees and chin resting on top of ‘em. “What happened though? Why did you suddenly—”
“I had a magic teacher one time,” Rainbow said bluntly, and she wasn’t sure who between the two girls was more surprised by her blurting that out— though judging from Twilight’s gasp, it might’ve been her.
“Queen Celestia?” Twilight asked, and it was a good guess; Rainbow was friends with Celestia’s star pupil, and it was only the Queen and the Princess who could do magic easily enough to teach it, as far as anypony knew.
“Close.”
Twilight’s guess was good, but it wasn’t right.
“Princess Luna,” Twilight said coldly, and Rainbow grit her teeth at the mention of that name.
Rainbow thought she was over it. She thought she was clear of her bad blood with her former mentor. She even saw Luna— face to face!— super recently and she didn’t freak out!
But like a bad case of acne, it just came right back to her when she least expected it; all the failure and disappointment and shouting matches. All the high hopes and expectations that were shattered against the ground like a glass dinner plate slammed onto a concrete floor.
Rainbow remembered that time at the Moon District train station, when Rarity came flying on Luna’s back to the station all dramatically. Rainbow wanted to say something to Luna, to acknowledge her and to let her know that she doesn’t hold any bad feelings toward her—
—but honestly Rainbow wasn’t even sure if that was true, and even if it was it didn’t matter; Rainbow felt a violent knot seize her stomach and it gave her cold hooves.
She chickened out. Just like always.
Not this time.
Not ever again.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Rainbow turned her intense gaze directly at Twilight and bore a sneering grin, “will you teach me how to do magic?”
Rainbow Dash sat cross-legged on the floor of the Bitsburgh inn’s little kiddy playroom, her back to the open door while trying to meditate with Twilight. Rainbow had asked Twi to teach her how to do magic, and to Twilight’s infinite credit she just agreed without asking Rainbow a bunch of questions about why she was acting like such a freak earlier.
But now they were just sitting, breathing in and out, which was a lot harder than it sounded!
Rainbow’s wings fidgeted behind her, she couldn’t wipe the ugly scowl off her face, her nails were digging into her knees as her teeth grinding against each other— being ‘still’ and ‘quiet’ really just didn’t suit her at all!
“Something the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said flatly, and Rainbow didn’t need to have her eyes open to see the bemused frown on Twi’s face.
“Uh, n-nope! I’m good!” Rainbow struggled to smile, and after a second or two of silence she opened her eyes to see Twilight arching an eyebrow at her with a sly grin on her face.
“Is that right?” Twilight gently took Rainbow’s hands that were dug into her legs and placed them on the floor. “You know, there are as many ways to learn magic as there are ponies and dragons. We don’t have to go the meditation route.”
“Oh thank goodness!” Rainbow exclaimed, falling on her back with her limbs and wings all splayed out. “Cuz I feel like I was gonna lose my mind if I had to deal with even like two more seconds of that crap!”
“We could go flying, if that would make you feel better,” Twilight suggested. “I can turn invisible like Fluttershy and—”
“No no! That’s really not necessary!” Rainbow leapt to her hooves and threw her hands in front of her. She let out an awkward laugh when Twilight cocked her head and frowned; the last thing Rainbow felt like she could deal with right now was being alone with Twilight in her true form, but it’d be a total dick move to actually say that to h—
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight stood up and before Rainbow even knew what was happening, Twilight was two inches from Rainbow’s face, smiling smugly. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
Rainbow’s blood ran cold, and she said nothing. And as the silent seconds ticked by, Twilight’s confidence melted away into an awkward sideways glance.
“I w— I was just teasing you, Rainbow,” Twilight cleared her throat and took a few steps back. “Wait,” she bit her lip, and Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head as she braced herself for what Twilight was gonna say next, “you aren’t actually— you are. You actually are afraid of me, aren’t you?”
Rainbow said nothing. She couldn’t think of anything to say, or even look Twilight in the eye. She respected Twilight too much to try and lie, and she didn’t want to hurt her feelings with the truth, so she just… said nothing.
“Okay,” Twilight said flatly, letting out a tired sigh under her breath.
Rainbow took a deep breath in through the nose. She hated how she made Twilight feel, and she had no idea how to make things okay, or if she even could.
So she did the one thing she knew she could do: she told Twilight the truth.
“I am scared of you, Twi,” Rainbow admitted bitterly, still unable to look Twilight in the eye. “I don’t want to be, but I—” Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t want to be.”
Twilight touched Rainbow’s hand and Rainbow gasped, but she didn’t resist as Twilight entwined her fingers with Rainbow’s, or when Twilight tilted Rainbow’s chin up so she could look her in the eyes.
“Rainbow,” Twilight whispered sweetly, “you might as well be afraid of a toaster, you absolute fucking pussy.”
Rainbow blinked, and her face turned red as her ears flattened back. She had no idea what to say or how to respond to that, so she just… laughed.
“W-WHAT?!” Rainbow said incredulously, still choking through her laughter.
“I can’t hurt you, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight walked away from Rainbow and flumped her arms out for a sec. “You have more to fear from a hair curler or finding a measuring spoon in your haycake than you do from me.
“Just ask Rarity,” Twilight said, turning to look Rainbow dead in the eye, pointing a finger at her own eye. “She stabbed me right in my eyeball like a dozen times, and the most I could muster to defend myself was a pained whimper. I won’t hurt the people I care about— I can’t.
“I’m harmless to you,” Twilight hummed as she walked past Rainbow, her leonine tail brushing against Rainbow’s leg, “and if you’re still afraid of me even despite all that? Well it says more about you, doesn’t it?”
“Are you calling me a coward?” Rainbow growled, grabbing Twilight by her shoulder before she could walk off.
“I’m calling you a wuss,” Twilight chirped, insufferable smug smile on her face. And Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder if she was feeling what most people felt when they talked to Rainbow herself. “Feel free to prove me wrong though.”
Twilight brushed Rainbow off her shoulder and continued to walk away, but Rainbow dashed in front of her to stop her from leaving the playroom.
“I-I will!” Rainbow said sternly, putting her hand on the door frame to bar Twilight’s escape. “Uh, how?”
“Just show me you’re not afraid of me,” Twilight whispered, putting her nose maybe a whole inch away from Rainbow’s.
Rainbow responded by bumping her nose aggressively against Twilight’s, but Twi was unfazed and just revealed a bright grin— including her sharp, glistening fangs, which made Rainbow sweat— as she somehow managed to get Rainbow pinned against the wall, putting her hand above Rainbow’s shoulder so she would know she was totally trapped.
And suddenly, Rainbow didn’t find Twilight scary anymore.
No, now Rainbow realized that Twilight was really hot, and it dawned on Rainbow that the fact that Twilight could literally have broken Rainbow’s body in half with her bare hands somehow only made her hotter.
“Um, I think I’ve—” Rainbow slid down the wall until she was sitting down with her legs curled in front of her, her brain sparking and fizzing thanks to an overload of lesbian energy.
“D-did I overdo it?” Twilight fretted, dropping down to her knees and putting her hands on Rainbow’s legs. “I’m sorry, I was just trying to mirror you! You know how when someone has like the same energy or mannerisms or inflections as you, you kinda like them better and are more comfortable with them so I was trying to do an impression of you so you would think that I’m—”
“Wait, that was your impression of me?” Rainbow balked, shaking her head and doing a double take at that little nugget of information. “That’s what you think I’m like?”
“Oh, is it that bad?” Twilight’s ears flattened and she put her hands up to her lips, biting down on her thumbnail. Gawd she was cute. How was Rainbow ever afraid of this dork again?
“No, it was actually really flattering,” Rainbow said. “You were really cool!”
“I think you’re really cool!” Twilight slapped her hands against Rainbow’s thighs and lurched forward, apparently a little too forward cuz she lost her balance and Rainbow had to prop her back up before she totally fell on her face.
“Sorry I haven’t been acting like it,” Rainbow said, and then she groaned and slid her hand down her face. “I say for like the gazillionth time.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight shrugged, putting her hand over Rainbow’s as it rested on her leg. “Getting over a fear is a process, and I only want to help.”
“You’re not like,” Rainbow bit her lip, “you’re not mad at me for being afraid of you?”
Twilight laughed, and that brought a smile to Rainbow’s face as she once again appreciated how cute the lavender dweeb was.
“Of course not, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I love you. And I was afraid of you when we first met, and you were nothing but patient with me. You promised me you’d never hurt me, remember?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow blushed as she recalled that second meeting with Twilight, and what a dork Rainbow was for making such a grand declaration like less than a day after meeting this girl.
“I understand where you’re coming from, Rainbow,” Twilight continued, playfully slapping Rainbow’s thigh. “And I admit, maybe I’m even giving you too much credit. But I’m willing to do that because I love you.”
“In that case,” Rainbow took a deep breath and grinned excitedly. “Twilight Sparkle, I would be honored if you would go flying with me.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up like Hearth’s Warming lights and Rainbow knew that even if she was still lowkey terrified, it was worth putting up with her bullshit fear if it meant seeing that look of joy on Twilight’s face.
Cuz she could never admit to it, but she loved Twilight too.
Twilight wanted to fly with Rainbow Dash. She wanted to soar through the air with one of her best friends, one of her friends who knew and deeply understood the rush and magical sensation of flight, and just lose herself in the moment.
She wanted to feel the wind on her face and underneath her wings, and she wanted to hear her and Rainbow’s laughter echoing through the skies as they flew amongst the clouds.
She just… needed a minute to prepare herself. That’s all.
At least that’s what she told Rainbow Dash, but as she walked into the first bar she came across and huddled herself in the corner, legs curled into a ball in front of her and head buried in her arms, she began to think that perhaps she was simply making excuses to put it off.
She wanted to fly with Rainbow, that much was true in her heart.
She just… she didn’t want to be afraid.
She didn’t want to be afraid of Rainbow, and she extremely still was; it took a lot of time and effort and emotional energy to shake off her fear of the Slayers the first time, when she first started getting to know Rainbow and Ra— uh, the other one.
Twilight could still vividly remember the sounds of the Slayers invading her family’s home, her mother’s frantic pleas for Twilight to hide, and the sound of blood being spilled as Twilight cowered underneath the kitchen counter inside the cupboard as she tried her best not to cry or make any noise, terrified and certain that the Slayers were going to come for her next.
But they never did. Twilight had spent a lot of her life wishing that they had, but they never did.
It was hard not to recall those memories when the Slayers were brought up, and especially when Twilight was face to face with any of them. But Twilight had decided that she wasn’t going to live in fear anymore, for her sake but especially for Spike’s.
But then everything she had built came crashing down around her, like the burning branches of the crumbling library. And now Twilight didn’t know what to do.
“Damn girl, you live like this?”
Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and she bolted her head up as she realized she was having a visible emotional breakdown in the middle of a crowded public space.
“Eheh,” Twilight chuckled awkwardly and looked up at the girl speaking to her. “Well, my ex-girlfriend was very dramatic. I think it just rubbed off on me.”
The woman was… a pony? She definitely looked like a pony, though Twilight eyes were a bit blurred with tears.
She had a white fur coat, and a dazzling mane of fluffy orange hair that fell all around her face. What was odd about her though were the green scales that decorated the bridge of her nose, and her horn which looked more like an ancient tree branch than a typical unicorn horn.
“Oof, girl troubles, huh?” the woman nodded knowingly, before slapping her back against the wall and sliding down until she was sitting on the ground next to Twilight. She handed Twilight a can of beer, which Twilight took cautiously, and tapped her own can against it. “Hit me.”
“Uhh, well I don’t really know if—”
“Mm!” the woman interrupted with a grunt as she smacked her forehead, and she spilled beer on her chest as she tried to talk with her mouth full. “Where are my manners? Geez, I’m such a doof today I swear to god.”
The woman stuck out her hand for Twilight to shake, closing her eyes and giving an enchanting smile that could light up an underground cavern all on its own.
“Name’s Autumn Blaze!”
“I’m Twilight-” Twilight shook Autumn Blaze’s hand, but as Autumn opened her eyes, Twilight immediately recognized that familiar ethereal glow and her head started spinning “-Sparkle.”
“Yo, we’re the same!” Autumn cheered, banging her beer can against Twilight’s, which remained unopened. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me!” Autumn whispered with her hand covering the side of her mouth, grinning ear to ear and giving Twilight a wink.
Twilight wasn’t sure about this overly-friendly stranger at first, but her earnestness was quickly growing on Twilight.
“Thank you,” Twilight opened the can of beer she had been graciously given and took a slight sip; she wasn’t much of a beer drinker, and her nose curled instantly at the taste as she let it fall delicately out of her mouth and onto her cloak.
“Tastes like piss, huh?” Autumn laughed. “Sorry about that-” Autumn took another swig of her own beer, and she took to it with such gusto that Twilight couldn’t help but at least try another sip “-this swill sure isn’t for everyone, but gawd I just love eating garbage, you have no idea.”
“Okay,” Twilight hummed as the beer taste settled in her mouth like snow turning black from being exposed to a leaking garbage bag. “I’m kinda coming around to it on the second sip.”
“Really?” Autumn Blaze asked, her eyes and smile filled with such cheer and optimism that Twilight couldn’t possibly ruin it for her.
“No,” Twilight said sheepishly, her ears flattening against her head. “I just didn’t want to disappoint you.”
“Ha! You’re not gonna disappoint me by not liking this shitty beer,” Autumn Blaze scoffed and slapped Twilight on the shoulder. “You’ll disappoint me by not telling me about your girl troubles though.” Autumn flashed a shining smile and blinked innocently, and Twilight couldn’t help laughing.
“Well,” she said drolly, “if you’re that insistent—”
“I am,” Autumn nodded.
“—I’ll tell you.”
Twilight took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts; she didn’t want to bore Autumn with all the details, plus she didn’t want to share anything too personal with a stranger— a very friendly and charming stranger, but those were the kind that would get you! Or maybe Twilight was over-worrying again; either way, the woman was still a stranger and Twilight wanted to be mindful of what she said.
But at the very least, she was a dragon just like Twilight, and that made recalling the story much easier.
“Have you ever tried to make friends with ponies?” Twilight kept her voice relatively low, but quite frankly she could’ve been screaming and no one would hear her over the chatter of the bar.
“Eh, not exactly?” Autumn hummed and fidgeted her lips as she pondered. “Yeah, not really. I mean sorta kinda? It’s complicated. But I have friends who’ve done it, so I get it.”
“My ex-girlfriend I mentioned, who is a pony—”
“Oof,” Autumn visibly winced.
“—she discovered my secret recently.”
Twilight paused to give a dreary sigh, and she unconsciously took another sip of beer, her nose turning up in disgust once she realized what she’d done, though Autumn’s gleeful snickering at Twilight’s silly face made her feel a bit better.
“All my pony friends discovered my secret recently,” Twilight said.
“Yo, that’s rough,” Autumn groaned.
“Well, they’re all coming around, I think,” Twilight smiled softly, thinking about how kind and sweet Pinkie Pie and Applejack had been to her, and even Rainbow Dash; Rainbow being honest about her fears, and very specifically saying that her fears weren’t an excuse to treat Twilight badly, meant a lot to Twilight.
“You super sure about that?” Autumn asked skeptically, a disgruntled frown on her face.
“Y-yeah,” Twilight nodded. She was a little taken aback by Autumn’s reaction, quite frankly. “I trust them, and they’ve all been very kind to me even after learning my secret. And not just me either, we have another dragon in our group too. She’s even dating one of the ponies now, and they seem genuinely happy together.”
“Oh,” Autumn said flatly, and a skin-crawlingly long second passed before Autumn beamed. “That’s awesome! So what’s the problem then?”
“Uhhh,” Twilight muttered. If there was any dishonesty in Autumn’s sudden switch into being happy for Twilight, she couldn’t see it; but that jarring tonal shift still put Twilight on edge. “Well, the thing is, I think one of my friends is still scared of me.”
Twilight took a deep breath and sighed, swishing her beer can from side to side. It felt weird to say that out loud; she knew it was true, Rainbow told her as much, but to admit it still hurt.
“Honestly, that’s not even the problem,” Twilight said coldly. “I’m afraid of her too. I’m afraid of her seeing my true form and— and freaking out!”
“Do you think she can hurt you?” Autumn Blaze asked seriously.
“No,” Twilight responded immediately.
She figured it would be best to leave aside the detail that her friend was a Slayer, and it was true that Twilight was absolutely confident that Rainbow wouldn’t try to hurt her.
“It’s not that I think she’ll hurt me,” Twilight continued, “not physically anyway. It’s that if I show her my true form, and she’s scared of it, I— I just don’t know how I could deal with that, like, emotionally.”
“Hmmm,” Autumn hummed thoughtfully and took a long sip from her beer, Twilight waiting with bated breath to hear what she was going to say. “I think you gotta show her. If she acts scared, screw it, let her be scared.”
“Wh-what?” Twilight asked incredulously. She had no idea what to expect from Autumn Blaze, but she sure wasn’t prepared for advice that bad!
“You’re gonna meet a lot of people who seem really friendly and chill and cool, Twilight Sparkle,” Autumn said, her tone dead serious as she motioned with her beer can for emphasis. “But sometimes those people, when they see the real you, they can’t handle it.
“They want you to be something else. They think you’re ‘dangerous’ somehow,” Autumn clicked her tongue and scoffed, shaking her head with gritted teeth. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was speaking from the heart.
“They’ll tell you that they love you while they stick a knife in your back,” Autumn hissed. “They’ll tell you they care about you even after they tell all their friends how they wish your ‘kind’ didn’t exist. Those people don’t deserve you.
“Hell, those kinds of people don’t deserve anyone, and the fact that they get to sleep soundly at night while the folks they stomp their hooves on get crushed under waves and waves of hostility and violence makes me sick.
“At the end of the day, Twilight Sparkle, you need to know your boundaries. You can’t have a relationship based on a lie, and if your friends can’t accept the real you, then they can’t be your friends. It doesn’t matter how much you love them and care about them.”
Twilight blinked.
Autumn stared into the distance.
An awkward pause.
Autumn broke the relative silence with her laughter.
“Woah! That got heavy!” she cackled, and put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m super sorry about that! That was a lot!”
“I appreciate it though,” Twilight said, surprising herself. “You were speaking from the heart, and um—” Twilight sighed. “As much as I hate to say this, I think that you’re right.”
“Of course I am!” Autumn said proudly, pounding her chest. “Like, I didn’t mean to just roll over you with a big ol’ monologue, but I meant every word of what I said, and I stand by it! You just can’t be friends with people who can’t accept you, end of story.
“And if there’s something you have, like a relationship, that can be destroyed by the truth? It deserves to be destroyed. It needs to be destroyed for you to live healthy, and you deserve to live healthy, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.”
“That’s—” Twilight took a deep breath, or at least she tried to but her chest felt like it was gonna implode from the pressure. “That’s a lot to think about.”
“Well, you got plenty of time, right?” Autumn asked, needling Twilight with her elbow. “Not the end of the world if you can’t figure everything out in a single day, y’know?”
“Yeah,” Twilight took a sip of her beer and was honestly starting to get a little used to it, “I guess you’re right.”
Rarity and Fluttershy had been hiking through the woods nearby Bitsburgh for some time now; it was around the middle of the afternoon when Rarity had realized the two had barely spoken during their whole trek.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
They hadn't spoken at all.
They walked a fair distance away from each other as well, and every time Rarity looked over to make sure Fluttershy was still nearby, she was always taken aback to see Fluttershy surrounded by yet more friendly forest critters.
It started with just a few birds, but had quickly gotten rather out of hand, with Fluttershy now making lively conversation with skunks, raccoons, squirrels, even wolves and spiders!
She was certainly an odd one, that Fluttershy.
But the other thing that struck Rarity each time she looked over, was that Fluttershy was remarkably beautiful.
Fluttershy’s long, shimmering pink hair was a lovely contrast to her pale yellow fur, and Rarity hated how right she was about how well Fluttershy would glow in that mint green dress Rarity had bought for her.
The soft pink tint of her wing feathers, the way she carried herself with grace and serenity, the delicate way her fingers moved when she lifted her hand so that a bird or butterfly may perch atop it; Rarity had never met anyone remotely like Fluttershy, and Rarity was baffled and frustrated by how much affection she had for the dear, despite… everything.
But all of those charming features were nothing, just dust in the wind, compared to Fluttershy’s most stunning attribute: her smile. Even several feet in the distance, partially covered by the forest foliage, Fluttershy’s smile was as radiant as it was contagious; it lit up the entire forest and made Rarity smile like a doofus every time she saw it.
Rarity hated it.
Fluttershy looked in Rarity’s direction and gave a bashful smile and wave. Rarity looked away, but she couldn’t dismiss the smile on her lips no matter how hard she tried, and now her cheeks were burning with shame for blowing Fluttershy off like that.
What is the matter with you, Rarity? She’s not even a pony! She’s just wearing a disguise!
Wait.
Rarity suddenly felt a pang of guilt and dread resound in her gut as that thought crossed her mind.
‘Just a disguise’? ‘She’s not a real pony’?
Perhaps Rarity was thinking too hard about this, but those phrases sounded all too familiar to things that Rarity had heard whispered about her own womanhood, with regards to her being trans of gender.
And the fact that Rarity was taking that abuse and pushing it onto someone else made her sick, and no actually it didn’t help at all that Rarity happened to be aware that Fluttershy was also trans like her! That actually made the situation quite worse!
But again, perhaps Rarity was merely overthinking. After all, Fluttershy didn’t hold her pony form in nearly the same regard that she and Rarity held their gender.
Did she?
Rarity had no idea.
And there was only one way to find out.
“Fluttershy?” Rarity asked gingerly as she approached Fluttershy, gasping and stopping in her tracks as all of Fluttershy’s little forest critter friends instantly dispersed. “S-sorry about that.”
“Don’t be,” Fluttershy said with a thin smile. “The creatures of the forest are skittish on the best of days, especially when it comes to hunters. Not your fault.” Fluttershy looked directly at Rarity and gave a heartfelt smile, and Rarity managed to respond with a polite, reserved smile rather than the smitten, giddy one she almost bore instead. “Now, there was something you wanted to ask me?”
“Ah, yes,” Rarity ducked under a branch or two to make her way directly next to Fluttershy; if the two were going to walk and talk, they may as well have been walking side by side. “I was wondering, how do you consider your pony form? What is it to you?”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“I mean—” Rarity struggled to find the right words; the last thing she wanted was to offend Fluttershy or to hurt her feelings. “The ponies of Equestria would consider it a mere disguise. But I have reason to believe that’s not how you think of it. But I don’t know, and I’m curious to learn the truth.”
“Hm, I’ve never really thought about it,” Fluttershy pondered, looking up to the sky and tapping her chin. “It was originally just a means to an end, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of it and the way that I look in this form.”
Fluttershy looked down at herself, spinning around and giggling at the way her dress twirled around her body, which brought yet another damned smile to Rarity’s lips and at this point she didn’t even bother to fight it.
“I guess you could say,” Fluttershy pinched her dress between her fingers, “it’s like an outfit. An expression of who I am, who I want to be and believe myself to be, but not an accurate reflection of my entire self. This ‘pony’ you see before you is the real me, just not all of the real me. Does that make sense?”
“It does,” Rarity nodded, deep in thought.
So yes, to discredit Fluttershy’s pegasus appearance on the basis of it being ‘fake’ or ‘merely a disguise’ would be an abhorrent thing for anyone to do, but especially Rarity since she understood perfectly where Fluttershy was coming from.
But those thoughts would need to be put on hold, for something else very suddenly took precedence as Fluttershy tightly gripped Rarity’s shoulder and brought her thoughts and her walking to an immediate halt.
“There’s a dragon in these woods,” Fluttershy whispered, and the hairs on Rarity’s neck stood on end. Rarity wanted Fluttershy to say she was simply talking about herself as a joke, but she could tell by the ice-cold tone in Fluttershy’s voice that she was deadly serious. “She’s watching us right now.”
“Hm,” Rarity kept walking so as to avoid suspicion from their little stalker. “Do you think she knows that we’re aware of her?”
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said. “But I know it’s not just her. There’s a group of ponies following her movements, about twelve or thirteen of them I’d say.”
“Are the ponies hunting the dragon perhaps?” Rarity asked, her eyes darting around to see if she could find a trace of their pursuer, but to no avail.
“No, I think they’re working together,” Fluttershy said. “And I think they’re hunting us.”
Rarity stopped. She put her hands on her hips, took a deep breath, and sighed.
“You know,” she said loud enough for anyone watching her and Fluttershy to hear, Fluttershy’s ears flattening against her head as she clung worriedly to Rarity, “if you’re going to try and stay hidden, you could at least not do such an awful job of it.”
Rarity was waiting for a reaction; a barrage of arrows or knives from the trees, or some kind of magical attack perhaps? She had planned on blocking it with her shield, or trying to use her barrier spell again, but—
—there was no response.
Until an athletic looking pegasus dropped out of the trees in the distance, just within Rarity’s vision; the pegasus looked right at her and grinned, and a quick glance over to Fluttershy, who nodded in confirmation, told Rarity everything she needed to know; this was the dragon Fluttershy was talking about.
As the ‘pegasus’ walked into view and Rarity got a better look at her, Rarity couldn’t help but frown. She had the look of a real ruffian about her, with dirty sea-green fur and a mane of golden hair slicked back in a particularly douchey-looking way. She was lean and fit, and didn’t seem to lack for confidence judging by the shit-eating grin plastered on her face at all times.
Quite frankly, she reminded Rarity of Rainbow Dash a little bit. But meaner.
The most notable thing though was the woman’s outfit; she was dressed in what would seem at first glance to be fairly normal armor— hide armor by the look of it, with several ivory accessories adorning her arms, legs, and neck. But Rarity knew better; she recognized that so-called ivory.
Dragon fangs. The woman was decked out with a great many of them, and Rarity had a hunch that her hide armor was made from dragons as well— a suspicion that only grew in intensity when Rarity turned and saw the sickened and ghastly look on Fluttershy’s face as the woman approached.
“Your perception’s something else,” the woman laughed and crossed her arms, cocking her head as she looked Rarity over. “Normally dudes walking through these woods don’t see us coming until we’re already making our move.”
“Yes, well,” Rarity shrugged, “I suppose we’re not really in the business of making ourselves an easy mark, hm? Also we’re not dudes.”
“Yeah, whatev—” the woman paused after rolling her eyes. Something about Rarity caught her attention, and Rarity somehow felt gross just by being under the woman’s gaze. “Oh you’re a Slayer huh?”
“So what if I am?” Rarity asked. “And who are you, anyway?”
“I’m Lightning Dust,” the woman said, proudly pointing her thumb to her chest. “You can call me the Butcher of Bitsburgh, everyone else does.”
“Oh no,” Fluttershy whispered under her breath, hand over her mouth as she took a step back.
It took Rarity a moment to put the pieces together; it was true that armed groups of ponies who weren’t Slayers often cropped up to hunt monsters in the Slayers’ place, and as long as they didn’t attempt to extort towns or ponies for ‘protection’ money, the Slayers left them alone.
But dragon hunter groups didn’t tend to survive for very long, for obvious reasons. But if they had a dragon working for them, then Rarity surmised their prospects looked far more favorable.
“Why?” Rarity asked, mostly out of genuine curiosity and absolute bafflement; she couldn’t understand why a dragon would want to hunt its own kind like this.
“Easy money,” Lightning Dust shrugged. “Bitsburgh is like this perfect storm of easily attainable creature comforts, but also being outta the way enough that Slayers don’t come by too often. A lot of dragons trying to escape from the Slayers and the Dragon Lords come here looking for refuge.”
Lightning Dust grinned eagerly, revealing her sharp, gleaming fangs.
When Pinkie Pie first met Big Mac’s boyfriend Shining Armor, she was like ‘this guy seems real cool and cute’. After she’d spent an hour or so shopping with him for supplies, and for gifts to give to Big Mac and Applejack, she was like ‘THIS GUY IS REALLY COOL AND CUTE!!!’ but like in all caps.
He was sweet, and charming, and funny, and handsome, and Pinkie was just really glad Bic Mac met such a nice dude like him.
Also?? He was a heckin DRAGON??? How amazing was that?! Pinkie’s heart gushed like a, like a… like a really gushy thing when she realized that Shining was a dragon— which was pretty obvious looking at his eyes, like Pinkie had spent hours and hours at this point gazing lovingly into Fluttershy’s, so it wasn’t hard to recognize that familiar glow— but that Big Mac was totally aware of that.
Pinkie wasn’t the only pony romantically interested in a dragon. Pinkie wasn’t alone, and neither was Fluttershy for that matter.
And knowing that let Pinkie hold her head up all proud like.
“So what’s next on the agenda, Shiny?” Pinkie beamed, her arms full to bursting with bags upon bags of stuff. She had never gone shopping like this, and she was thrilled to show everyone the awesome presents she picked out for them.
“Hmm, I’m thinking…” Shining Armor smirked and tapped his cheek a couple times. “Ice cream?”
“Hell yeah ice cream!” Pinkie squealed, jumping like a million feet in the air.
“I’m surprised you like that,” Shining chuckled as the two resumed their jaunty stroll through the busy streets of snowy ol’ Bitsburgh. “Usually eating frozen treats in winter is just a dragon thing.”
“There’s never a bad time for ice cream if you ask me!” Pinkie smiled and licked her lips, and Shining just laughed. He had a nice laugh.
Apparently, Pinkie and Shiny weren’t the only ones who were down with a delightful wintery frozen treat, cuz when they got to the ice cream place, Spike was seated on the patio eating a big tub of the stuff all by himself.
“Yo, Spike!” Pinkie cheered, jumping up and waving at him as she and Shiny approached his table, Spike’s eyes lighting up as he saw Pinkie— cuz after all, whose wouldn’t?— and waving back at her.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie!” Spike said with a big smile, slapping his hands on the table. “And uhhh, friend! Who’s he?”
“This is Shining Armor!” Pinkie said, dropping her bags at the foot of the table and using both hands to dramatically introduce Shiny. “Shiny, this is Spike!” Pinkie spun around and held her hands out to introduce Spike, and he struck a dazzling power pose to boot.
“Nice to meet you, Spike,” Shiny said, shaking Spike’s hand.
“You too, Shining Armor!” Spike replied, big grin on his face and nodding his head. Pinkie meanwhile was bouncing up and down and clapping her hands cuz she was always super-duper excited when two of her friends met and got along.
“So hey,” Pinkie sat down in a chair next to Spike’s and folded her arms on the table, “where’s ol’ Twilight Sparkle? Twiggle Sporkle?”
“She’s with Rainbow Dash, last I heard,” Spike sighed and took a big bite of his ice cream, not even bothering to swallow before talking again, like a trooper! “We were doing magic training, but I can’t wrap my brain around it, so we took a break for a bit. I think she was gonna try and teach Rainbow how to do magic too.”
“Dang, that’s so cool,” Pinkie cooed. “I wonder if she’ll teach me how to do magic. Shiny, what do you—”
When Pinkie turned her head to ask Shining Armor for his opinion, he was just gone. The bags were all gone too, and in their place there was a napkin with something written on it.
“Pinkie sorry I forgot about something I wanted to grab Bic Mac and I want to get it before the store closes haha. We’ll meet at the inn and sort out the presents then, okay? Sorry to bounce like this haha”
“He said ‘haha’ twice,” Spike grumbled after Pinkie read the letter out loud. “What a weirdo.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie hummed, turning the napkin over to see if there was anything else written on it, “that is weird.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like ice cream?” Spike shrugged, finishing the last of his tub.
“He was the one who suggested it,” Pinkie pouted. She sure hoped she hadn't said or done anything that upset him. Maybe she was thinking too hard though, maybe he really did just suddenly remember something.
Who knows.
Pinkie was about to let it go, when suddenly something else was bothering her; a hand seizing a tuft of her hair and squeezing it tightly, pulling at her roots.
“OW! Hey what—”
“Did somepony at this table say-” a pale blue ‘unicorn’ with glittering amethyst eyes and long silvery hair bared a grin of glistening sharp fangs as her grip on Pinkie’s hair tightened “-Twilight Sparkle?”
“Okay, look,” Lightning Dust said casually, raising her arms above her head. “It’s been cool chatting with you guys, or whatever, but we don’t make any money unless we rip all the pearly whites out of your little yellow friend’s head.”
Rarity took a defensive stance in front of Fluttershy, who hid timidly behind her; regardless of Rarity’s rather errr, conflicted feelings toward dragons, she wasn’t about to let Fluttershy be murdered, especially in some random forest by some horrid self-proclaimed butcher.
“Fact she’s got feathers is pretty good too though,” Lightning Dust chuckled. “And honestly, getting to kill a Slayer in the process? Just a bonus! I’m sure your armor will fetch a nice price, and frankly I’m pretty sure I know a guy or two who’d buy your severed head!”
“Well I’m afraid your butchering days are at an end, Lightning Dust,” Rarity affected a radiant, confident smile. “We’re going to stop you right here and now.”
“It’ll be interesting to see how you pull that off,” Lightning raised her hand and twitched a couple of her fingers, “when you’re dead.”
At Lightning’s command, that barrage of arrows Rarity had been expecting was released from the snow-dripped trees all around her and Fluttershy, but not a single arrow reached either, as before Rarity could even properly process what was happening, all of the arrows had been tossed aside by a strong gust of wind, and Rarity now had her back to an enormous yellow dragon.
Also, while it was hardly the first thing on Rarity’s mind, it was nice to see that Fluttershy had discarded her dress to the ground sometime before transforming, rather than allow such a beautiful garment to become a casualty to her sudden increase in size.
“Fluttershy can you handle them?” Rarity didn’t wait for an answer as she charged toward Lightning Dust, though Fluttershy’s roar as she whipped around and slammed her tail through a tree, and the accompanying scream of a hiding bandit, was more than answer enough.
Rarity threw her hand-axe at Lightning Dust, who merely bobbed out of the way, conceited grin on her face as if she somehow believed she had seen through Rarity’s attack; she wasn’t prepared for Rarity to grab the axe in her magic and drive it right into the soft flesh of Lightning Dust’s shoulder, the disguised dragon letting out a pained grunt as the axe effortlessly tore through her armor and drove a bloody gash into her skin.
Lightning Dust merely scoffed at her axe wound and pointed her fingers at Rarity like a gun, a stream of lightning bursting forth from them that Rarity was just barely able to defend from with her shield.
But when she raised her shield to defend herself, Rarity briefly lost sight of Lightning Dust, and when she lowered her shield, Rarity was aghast to see Lightning had disappeared— only for a snicker directly behind Rarity’s ear to alert her to Lightning Dust’s new position.
Rarity felt Lightning’s fingers on her neck for a fraction of a second before electricity was pumped directly into her body, Rarity letting out a pained scream as she was fried by Lightning’s attack.
Rarity stumbled forward, disoriented, and was only brought back to reality by the crushing weight of her own axe being dug into the flesh of her back just below her neck. Rarity spun around and tried to swing her sword to take off Lightning Dust’s head, but the dragon was far too quick and easily evaded her attack.
Lightning prepared to shoot another bolt of electricity at Rarity, so Rarity raised her shield with a coy half-smirk on her lips. Lightning just laughed as she suddenly appeared directly behind Rarity.
“You’re so predictable,” Lightning scoffed, her fingers crackling with electricity.
“Is that right?” Rarity chuckled and grabbed the axe buried in her back with her magic, tore it out of her body and threw it directly into Lightning Dust’s forehead, causing the woman to stumble backwards from the impact. “I think you may be mistaken on which of us is too predictable!”
Rarity swung her sword, and if Lightning had ducked even a half-second slower, Rarity would’ve taken her head clean off, but instead only cut a few hairs from her mane.
Lightning jumped back and grabbed the axe out of her forehead, blood pouring from the wound down her face, and she lunged forward with the axe, aiming to bury it in Rarity’s body again. Rarity simply grabbed the axe in her magic and yanked it downward, causing Lightning to bow awkwardly and leave her vulnerable to a kick from Rarity’s hoof directly into her genital region.
Lightning Dust fell on her hands and knees and let a pained wheeze escape her lips.
“Okay, wait, this sucks,” Lightning groaned.
Rarity wasn’t interested in entertaining the butcher’s banter, so she moved to plunge her sword into the dragon’s head, but even with her injuries Lightning was still unbelievably fast, and practically disappeared before Rarity’s eyes.
“Guess this is my fault for underestimating a Slayer,” Lightning growled bitterly, and she put a hand over her face and began to tear off her skin like it was withered paper, revealing shining scales underneath.
Rarity didn’t know if she could interrupt a dragon’s transformation sequence, and she wasn’t sure if it was a better strategy to charge in or play it safe; she wasn’t feeling as reckless as she used to though, so she decided to play it safe, raise her shield, and prepare her attack for when the dragon revealed itself.
Lightning Dust was… huge. Like, obviously, she was a dragon. Rarity thought her to be roughly the same size as Fluttershy, though her body shape was much more in line with the type of reptilian dragons she was used to, rather than the noodly snake body Fluttershy had.
She had shimmering green scales and a golden mane, but the most mesmerizing thing about her were her enormous leathery wings, which she outstretched to show off how they crackled and shimmered with golden lightning.
She reminded Rarity quite a lot of Twilight Sparkle’s dragon form, and Rarity suddenly found herself feeling rather nauseous.
Rarity had no time to dwell on that however, as Lightning Dust’s increased size did little to reduce her speed, and she snapped at Rarity in an attempt to take Rarity’s head off with her jaws, though Rarity was able to jump out of the way.
Before she could come up with a battle plan however, Lightning Dust’s laughter rang through her ears as the dragon flared out her wings and a storm of lightning came down on Rarity, tearing her flesh and frying her blood as she fell to the ground with an agonized scream.
Lightning Dust came down on Rarity’s position with her claw, but Rarity was able to roll out of the way by some miracle, though before she could even stumble fully to her feet, she found herself under the intense pressure of Lightning’s electrical attack once again, wheezing and gasping for air as her burned body writhed on the grass.
Lightning Dust cackled and stomped her enormous claw on top of Rarity’s back, Rarity attempting to scream but all that escaped her lips was a bloodied gurgle. She tried to squirm out of Lightning’s grasp, but her body refused to move.
She refused to let this be the end of her. She refused to meet her demise in a damn backwater forest to some lowlife murderer. She refused to die before she could return to Twilight Sparkle and the others.
Rarity’s prayers were answered by a torrential gust of wind that Lightning Dust had to steel herself to keep from being blown away by, and even still it moved her massive body a few inches away; though Rarity found herself curiously unaffected by the sudden weather.
But of course Rarity wasn’t affected; she wasn’t the target of the spell.
Fluttershy came tearing through the forest and launched herself between Rarity and Lightning Dust, flaring out her wings and snarling at the green dragon, as she gently wrapped Rarity up in her tail and bathed her in a comforting light that dispelled her injuries.
Lightning Dust unfurled her own wings with a sneering ear-to-ear grin, bringing a storm of lightning down on Fluttershy and Rarity, though between Fluttershy’s nimble movement and her mastery of wind magic allowing her to deflect Lightning Dust’s attacks, she was able to escape deeper into the forest, with Rarity being dragged along for the ride as she was still curled up in Fluttershy’s tail.
“Where the hell are my incompetent lackeys?!” Lightning snarled as she stomped through the forest, narrowly missing Fluttershy and Rarity who had turned invisible thanks to Fluttershy’s magic.
“They’re not that incompetent,” Fluttershy said once Lightning Dust was out of earshot, breathing heavily. Now that Rarity had a moment to take stock of the situation, she gasped at the horrid condition Fluttershy was in.
Cuts and scrapes lined the dragon’s massive body from her face to her paws, all just little cuts but there were so many of them that the dragon’s yellow fur was stained pink with her blood, and she was gasping for breath. Rarity had a bad feeling that the bandits did more than simply cut her.
“What happened to you?” Rarity asked, biting down on her nails. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be okay,” Fluttershy nodded, and though she was clearly exhausted, Rarity had no reason to doubt the sincerity of her smile. “I’m a pretty good healer. But these bandits are anything but incompetent. They use poison, and they hide their tiny bodies in the foliage to make it nearly impossible to find them at my size.
“And if I try to transform, then they outnumber me thirteen to one. Quite frankly, my healing and wind magic, and my ability to detect nearby life, makes me quite a formidable enemy to them. Dragons who don’t possess my unique skillset likely weren’t as lucky.”
“That’s horrible,” Rarity sighed and clutched her head. She was overwhelmed; she wasn’t prepared to fight a damn dragon of all things, much less so to do battle with a dragon who happened to lead a small but well-equipped and well-organized band of ponies.
“I’m sorry.”
Rarity and Fluttershy both apologized in unison, and both of them immediately clammed up as their cheeks blazed a bright red once they noticed.
“Why are you sorry?” Rarity chuckled.
“I let them lead me away from you,” Fluttershy said. “I was trying to avoid that exact thing, so once I realized, I had to find you as quickly as possible.”
“I hope it wasn’t my fault that you let your guard down,” Rarity said bleakly, her face turning paler than usual.
“No, no,” Fluttershy shook her head and gave a gentle, good-natured laugh. It was impressive to Rarity— no, it was incredible to her that Fluttershy could still smile and laugh so honestly in the shape she was in. “Like I said, these enemies know what they’re doing.”
“So you came back,” Rarity said softly, slowly realizing the gravity of Fluttershy’s gesture, “just for me?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Rarity. I’ll protect you. I promise.”
That was… a lot.
Rarity just stared wide-eyed at Fluttershy for a moment, but then she closed her eyes and centered herself; she could deal with all of that later. Right now, she needed to deal with their enemy.
“I’m at a severe loss without my bow or my knives,” Rarity groaned. “And without Celestia, or her magic for that matter. I still have the onyx blade. If I can hit her with that and activate its enchantment, that will kill her. But I have to actually hit her with it first.”
“I can help,” Fluttershy said.
“That would be excellent, darling,” Rarity smiled confidently and pumped her fist. “If you can give me an opening, I can deal the final blow.”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” Fluttershy nodded. “But I meant, I can help you with your magic.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked, though she had a sneaking suspicion crawling in the back of her mind that she knew exactly what Fluttershy was getting at.
“I can share my magic with you,” Fluttershy said timidly, covering part of her face with a wing but not enough that Rarity couldn’t see the bright pink blush on Fluttershy’s cheeks. “Um, if you want to that is. The procedure is a little, um—”
“We would have to kiss,” Rarity said flatly.
“Um, yes.”
Rarity took a deep breath.
She only needed to ponder it for a second.
“Fluttershy,” Rarity stood up and spoke with trembling nerves, “please share your magic with me. Please kiss me.”
Pinkie winced in pain as a pale blue ‘unicorn’ dug her claws into Pinkie’s scalp, holding a tight grip on Pinkie’s mane and yanking her slowly back and forth.
“So,” the woman said, her voice dripping with contempt, “please tell me all about this Twilight Sparkle of yours. I’m just dying to hear more about her.”
“Th-that’s— that’s Trixie!” Spike gasped; he was trembling in fear but looked too scared to actually make a break from the patio-like outdoor eating area he and Pinkie were just enjoying ice cream at like a second ago. “That’s the dragon that burned down the library!”
Oh.
Oh well that changed everything.
Pinkie had no idea why anypony would just choose to antagonize her and Spike like this woman had, but the last thing Pinkie wanted was to escalate the situation, especially with Spike there. But now Pinkie realized a fight was inevitable, and she had no choice but to fight back.
“Spike, run!” Pinkie yelled. “Get out of here and get Twilight!”
That command was enough to get Spike into gear, and he jumped off his chair to make a break for it. His hooves never even touched the ground, as he was caught in a pale pink glow that levitated him just above the concrete floor.
“Not so fast, kid,” Trixie said smugly, pointing a finger at Spike with one hand as her other dug its nails even deeper into Pinkie’s head.
Pinkie had suffered quite enough of Trixie’s sass at this point, so Pinkie drew a knife out of her mane and stabbed Trixie in the hand with it, Trixie screeching in pain and letting go of Pinkie’s hair, growling at her with bared fangs.
Pinkie jumped out of her chair, knife at the ready, but Trixie just grabbed Pinkie in her magic— dropping Spike in the process— and lifted her into the air. Like… way, way into the air. Pinkie could barely see Trixie as a blip on the ground by the time Trixie let her go.
And of course, because Trixie did let her go, that meant Pinkie was now falling. And she was falling really fast, and oh crap the ground was coming up really quickly and this wasn’t good at all!
So naturally, Pinkie screamed. As she careened toward the ground, she covered her eyes and screamed as hard as she could, hoping Twilight or Rainbow Dash would come to her rescue.
And when Pinkie suddenly stopped falling thanks to the timely assistance of levitation magic, Pinkie had a glimmer of hope that Twilight had indeed saved her, but when she opened her eyes all she saw was Trixie looking at her with pure disgust.
“You are too noisy!” Trixie barked, running a finger across Pinkie’s lips that zipped her mouth shut. She struggled and squirmed, but she couldn’t get out of Trixie’s magical hold or open her mouth.
This wasn’t a great situation to be in, to be honest! Pinkie wasn’t a big fan of this scenario!
Trixie suddenly howled in pain, and Pinkie’s gaze darted near the ground, where she would’ve smiled at the sight of Spike digging his teeth deep into Trixie’s leg, but her mouth being zipped up kinda made that difficult. She was smiling in spirit though!
“Why you little—” Trixie growled, but with her focus now on Spike, she dropped her spell holding Pinkie, with Pinkie falling to the ground rump-first.
Trixie must’ve noticed this, cuz she immediately set her eyes on Pinkie again and raised her hand to try and grab her, but Pinkie was already one step ahead, throwing a knife right between Trixie’s eyes. And while Trixie was able to weave out of the way without getting skewered, Pinkie still had an ace up her sleeve.
Pinkie threw another knife at Trixie, but Trixie just grinned devilishly and pointed her finger at Spike, grabbing him in her magic and using him as a shield against Pinkie’s attack; which is exactly what Pinkie expected her to do.
Sure, the knife would leave a scratch on Spike, but that particular knife wouldn’t leave a wound any worse than a little needle poke, and when its magic was activated by Pinkie snapping her fingers, it teleported Spike to the location of the first knife Pinkie threw, away from the battle and clear to run and get Twilight.
Trixie snarled in frustration and reached a hand out at Pinkie, who instinctively hopped back a few steps and realized she hadn't been caught in Trixie’s magic. So she hopped back a wee bit more, feeling pretty clever as she figured out that Trixie’s grabby spell had a limited range.
Trixie lurched forward and grabbed at Pinkie, but she just jumped back and threw a knife from her hair at Trixie’s face; Trixie grabbed it in her magic before it could reach her and grinned in satisfaction, but her smile was nothing compared to Pinkie’s when the knife exploded into a burst of confetti, disorienting Trixie and sending her stumbling back.
With Trixie off-guard, Pinkie was free to riddle her with knives, sticking her with three of them that then shot a stream of electricity between them, blasting Trixie with electricky goodness. Well, it wasn’t so good for Trixie, but you get it.
Trixie hissed as smoke rose off her body, and she grabbed something from her pocket and threw it; Pinkie didn’t see what it was until it exploded into a cloud of purple smoke in front of her, making her cough and sputter— at least as well as she could with her mouth still sealed— as she tried to stumble out of the haze.
Pinkie thought she was almost out of it, but then she bumped into something soft and firm, and when she looked up, she saw Trixie’s fanged smile baring down on her, Trixie having teleported behind Pinkie while she was distracted.
Pinkie gulped and her ears fell flat against her head.
Trixie grabbed Pinkie in her magical grip, and Pinkie tried to squirm and struggle away, but no luck.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Trixie whispered, her tone laced with ice-cold bitterness. “You’ve really irritated me, and you let that little pegasus kid slip away. Frustrating.
“I could rip your little ears off?” Trixie’s finger gently traced the edge of Pinkie’s ear and she whimpered. “Or maybe bite your fingers off one by one?”
As Trixie slowly caressed Pinkie’s fingers, Pinkie did the only thing she could think to do in such a helpless and terrifying position.
“Or I could—”
Pinkie laughed.
Her giggles interrupted Trixie’s boasting even despite her mouth being sealed, and Trixie’s eye twitched at the sound of it.
“What’s so funny?”
Pinkie just kept laughing, and she tried to point at her sealed mouth to help Trixie remember that Pinkie couldn’t exactly answer her question.
Trixie growled and unzipped Pinkie’s mouth.
“WHAT’S SO F—”
Pinkie spit right into Trixie’s eye, Trixie screaming in anger and disgust, but the distraction forced her to drop Pinkie, who before even hitting the ground already had a knife ready, and she threw it into Trixie’s chest, where it promptly exploded.
Trixie was blown back by the explosion, spraying blood from her chest like a sprinkler as she hit the ground with a thud, growling under her breath as her hands flailed and twitched for something to grab onto.
Pinkie threw another knife at Trixie, but the dragon grabbed it in her magic and threw it away effortlessly into the vacant streets. Pinkie looked around and she hadn't realized until now that the formerly busy city was now conspicuously quiet as far as she could see. For the best, she supposed; nopony would get hurt that way.
Trixie teleported again, though only to get to her feet; she remained in the same position she’d been lying in, and she let out a fierce roar.
She glared daggers at Pinkie and put a hand on her own face, her fingers transforming into claws in front of Pinkie’s eyes as Trixie dug into her skin and ripped it off like a paper mask, revealing the scaled demon underneath.
Trixie let out a fearsome roar and had transformed into her full dragon form before Pinkie even had a chance to fully wrap her brain around what was happening; and she had to say, Trixie’s transformation was a lot less cool than Fluttershy’s!
But after Pinkie got past the initial shock, she realized Trixie wasn’t really that scary. Sure she was big, but most ponies were big to Pinkie Pie too, and Trixie couldn’t have been any bigger than just two or three Pinkies stacked on top of each other.
Still, when Trixie swiped her claw, Pinkie jumped out of the way! She knew she definitely didn’t wanna get shredded by a dragon’s claws!
Pinkie threw a knife into Trixie’s claw, but even after it exploded it did basically nothing but tickle Trixie, if her chuckle was any indication. Looks like this was a job for the big guns; Pinkie was a mildly decent enchanter with a super amazing blacksmith best friend, and she’d always wanted to be a Slayer before.
She was prepared to fight a dragon.
At least, she hoped.
Trixie jumped forward and pinned Pinkie underneath her claws, and while that was terrifying, the fact that Trixie needed both claws to pin Pinkie was a good sign!
Pinkie still had a bit of wiggle room so she threw a knife into the air and then pricked herself with a second one, teleporting into the air where the first knife was and then throwing it to the ground as far away from Trixie as she could before sticking herself with the second knife again and teleporting to the ground, both knives crumbling to dust after their enchantments were worn down.
Pinkie knew she still had an ace up her sleeve; an anti-dragon weapon she had been developing for an occasion just like this one, but to actually hit Trixie with it, she would need Trixie to be disoriented. Sure Pinkie had been prepared to face a dragon, but not alone!
Oh well. She would just need to improvise.
Pinkie’s explodey knives might not’ve done anything to Trixie’s claws, but if Pinkie could stick Trixie in her eyeball, that’d be a different story. So Pinkie charged forward, and Trixie flew into the air, Pinkie managing to stick Trixie’s neck with a knife on her ascent.
Trixie breathed a stream of pale pink fire down onto Pinkie’s position, but Pinkie had used her teleporty knives to bop herself right onto Trixie’s body, grabbing hold of Trixie’s hair to stop herself from falling to the ground.
Trixie grabbed Pinkie and ripped her off of Trixie’s hair, her face twisted into something between a snarl and a sneering grin as she held Pinkie by the neck in her claw. Trixie rocketed toward the ground, throwing Pinkie onto the concrete and crushing her underneath both claws, knocking the air out of Pinkie’s lungs like she’d just been hit in the stomach by a falling anvil.
If that wasn’t enough, Trixie slammed her tail down onto Pinkie’s legs with enough force to shatter the concrete underneath them, forget about Pinkie’s bones. Pinkie didn’t even scream, just let out a little whimper as her legs were rendered completely useless.
“I oughtta rip those little arms of yours right off!” Trixie screamed, holding Pinkie up by her arms and pulling on them painfully, Pinkie screaming in pain and hoping desperately that one of her friends was close enough to hear her.
Pinkie just didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Everything happened so fast. Pinkie shut her eyes to brace herself for Trixie’s next attack, but next thing she knew she felt Trixie’s breath blowing her hair back like Trixie had sharply exhaled, and she felt herself falling.
She opened her eyes and saw Trixie reeling, her eyes wide and her jaw dropping; whatever hit her, it hit her like a train.
Something firm and rough caught Pinkie before she hit the ground; an arm was wrapped around Pinkie’s chest. A big, buff, orange-furred arm.
Applejack was holding Pinkie in one arm, the other raised to defend her from Trixie. Big Mac was there too, cracking his knuckles and raising his fists to fight alongside his sister.
Pinkie couldn’t stop herself from blubbering. It was like a dream come true to have them rescue her just in the nick of time like this, and she honestly couldn’t believe it was happening.
Rarity steeled her nerves and waited with bated breath as she and Fluttershy hid in the snowy forest foliage from Lightning Dust. But Rarity’s battle with Lightning Dust wasn’t what was clawing at her nerves now, it was Fluttershy.
Fluttershy had offered to share her magic with Rarity via a kiss, and Rarity was quick to accept it, even though she knew that kissing Fluttershy would be an awkward scenario for her— though not so awkward that she was going to turn down a massive tactical advantage over it.
Fluttershy leaned her dragonic snout down to Rarity’s level, and Rarity realized with dread that due to the size difference, and Fluttershy’s overly-cautious nature, Rarity was going to have to be the one who initiated the kiss.
Rarity took a deep breath.
Best to simply get it over with. They didn’t have all day after all; if Lightning Dust found them, they would be in disastrous trouble.
Rarity closed her eyes and put her lips against Fluttershy’s. She didn’t do much else. She felt Fluttershy’s lips move, and she didn’t want to question the logistics of the size difference.
Then she felt it.
She felt Fluttershy’s lips covering hers like a gentle sprinkle of sugar, and she felt her body lighting up as though it was coursing with electricity— though in like a pleasant way, as opposed to the way Lightning Dust attacked her.
Her lips were tingling from Fluttershy’s touch and she instinctively backed away, putting a hand to her lips as though she thought she could feel some physical difference in herself.
And while there was no such physical change, she did recognize the familiar feeling of her body welling up with magic. It was different from Celestia’s however; Celestia poured her magic into Rarity like pouring water gently into a vase. She knew Rarity and her limits intimately, and knew just how much and how little magic was safe for Rarity to consume.
Fluttershy had no such knowledge.
Fluttershy’s kiss was less like ‘gently pouring water into a vase’ and more like ‘dumping a whole barrel of water into a sixteen-inch cup’. Rarity was overflowing, and it didn’t take long until she could see with her eyes the bright teal aura burning around her.
“Hm,” Rarity hummed as she looked at her hands and moved her body, feeling as though she were somehow simultaneously moving in fast and slow motion.
“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy said timidly. “Did I overdo it?”
“A tad,” Rarity responded. “But don’t fret, this will be perfect. Now then. Shall we?”
It took no time at all for Rarity and Fluttershy to find Lightning Dust; giant green and gold dragon doesn’t exactly blend into the wintery woods, and Lightning didn’t have the benefit of invisibility that Fluttershy had.
Rarity felt no need to hide her presence any longer and called out to Lightning Dust to grab her attention, though Fluttershy was still hidden invisibly behind her.
Lightning Dust roared with an excited grin on her face as she let loose several streams of electricity from her wings; though with Rarity empowered by Fluttershy’s magic, it took zero effort for her to create a barrier that protected her from Lightning’s attack.
Suddenly a hailstorm of arrows came out of the trees aimed directly at Rarity, but they fared no better at getting through Rarity’s barrier than Lightning Dust’s attack did.
Lightning herself scoffed at this and her grin refused to waver, and she decided to lunge forward and try to take Rarity down with her fangs; she never reached Rarity thanks to Fluttershy’s beautiful interception, Fluttershy grabbing Lightning Dust by the shoulders and lifting her a few inches off the ground before slamming her into the grass on her back, her head close to Rarity’s eager blade.
Rarity moved quickly, aiming to stab Lightning Dust in the head with the onyx blade. As she plunged the sword into Lightning’s skin however, Lightning’s eyes widened; she could tell the blade was enchanted, and likely planned on playing it safe and not give Rarity a chance to use the weapon’s magic.
Lightning sent a wave of electricity coursing through her body, which shocked and badly burned Rarity as well, forcing her to lose her grip on the onyx blade’s hilt. It also frightened Fluttershy, who flapped her wings in a panic and backed away from the sparking dragon.
Rarity tried to activate the onyx blade’s spell regardless, but quickly learned it wouldn’t respond unless her hand was touching the hilt. Rarity supposed that made some sort of sense, since after all an enchantment that powerful and that dangerous should have quite a few checks and balances to make sure it can’t be fired off accidentally, but that was seriously inconvenient at the moment!
Lightning got back on her feet, even taking to the air for a moment before landing in a thicket of trees, though Rarity was able to at least recover her blade from Lightning’s forehead first using her magic.
Rarity reconvened with Fluttershy, putting her hand on Fluttershy’s body to wash a wave of healing magic over the dragon that at least remedied several of Fluttershy’s many, many cuts.
“I’ll protect you from the arrows,” Rarity said, already panting for breath, “if you can get me a clean shot at her.”
“You can count on me,” Fluttershy said confidently before rampaging through the trees toward Lightning Dust.
Sure enough, a barrage of arrows were headed her way— Rarity figured that Lightning’s little band would try their best to cover her escape— but Rarity effortlessly batted them all away with her barriers.
Lightning Dust jumped into the air and breathed a stream of electricity as she saw Fluttershy’s approach, and Fluttershy countered with a wave of icy breath; the two seemed quite evenly matched, at least until Rarity contained Lightning’s attack within a barrier, allowing Fluttershy to jump over the quarantined magic and latch onto Lightning Dust with her claws.
Fluttershy was able to bring Lightning Dust back to the ground, but Lightning just snarled and flared out her wings, readying another powerful electric attack.
Rarity found herself underneath the two dragons, wondering what she could do to protect Fluttershy, and as she looked at Lightning’s exposed chest and stomach that was just barely out of arm’s reach, she had an idea.
She could simply channel a little bit of Applejack.
By stomping on the ground and clenching her fists, she mimicked one of Applejack’s powerful poses, then punched her fist into the air as a powerful barrier of magic energy launched directly into Lightning Dust’s stomach, Lightning heaving from the attack and her wings twitching helplessly behind her.
Fluttershy breathed a slow, steady stream of ice that covered Lightning like cake frosting, slowing her movement enough that Fluttershy was able to easily grab her head and slam it into the ground, giving Rarity the perfect opportunity to stab her right between her eyes.
Unfortunately for Rarity, Lightning Dust wasn’t so slowed down by Fluttershy’s frost attack that she couldn’t snap her claws forward and crush Rarity between them before Rarity had a chance to activate the enchantment; a slower version of Lightning Dust was still much faster than Rarity.
Rarity was able to keep herself from being crushed into a gooey paste thanks to a quickly erected barrier, and she heard Fluttershy panickily calling out her name, but she was still stuck between Lightning’s claws.
She could hear Fluttershy chomp down on something, presumably Lightning Dust’s arm or some such, but the next thing Rarity knew she was still stuck in Lightning’s grasp as she took off into the air.
This wasn’t good; if Lightning could separate her and Fluttershy, even for just a few moments, Lightning’s band would likely make the battle much more difficult than it needed to be.
Lightning Dust’s tactics were proving to be quite obnoxious, albeit undoubtedly effective; yet another thing she had in common with Rainbow Dash, quite frankly.
And then a light bulb shone above Rarity’s head as she thought about Rainbow Dash. If Lightning could so easily mimic Rainbow’s natural gift for getting under people’s skin, so could Rarity; she would just do it a touch more literally.
Rarity projected her barrier outwards, shifting the outer shell of it into a wall of spikes that drilled into the soft flesh of Lightning’s hands, and she could hear Lightning Dust grunting and wincing in pain, even though she refused to let go of Rarity.
But that momentary distraction, mixed with a huge gust of wind courtesy of dear Fluttershy, was more than enough to loosen Lightning’s grip, allowing Fluttershy to catch up with her and bite down on Lightning’s arm, forcing her to release her grasp on Rarity.
At least that’s what Rarity had expected Fluttershy to do; what Fluttershy did instead was sink her fangs into Lightning Dust’s wrist and tear her entire left hand off, and there was no way Lightning was holding onto Rarity after that.
The only problem is that Lightning Dust was now furious with Fluttershy and was attempting to tear her to shreds with her fangs and remaining claw. And while Rarity wasn’t terribly worried for Fluttershy— she wasn’t exactly winning, but she didn’t seem to be in immediate danger of succumbing to Lightning’s attacks— she was worried for herself.
Fluttershy being distracted with Lightning Dust meant Rarity was now falling through the air with no one to catch her.
Rarity thought of Rainbow again and rolled her eyes, wishing she could channel Rainbow’s ability to fly.
But then she thought of bouncy little Pinkie Pie, and a better idea came to her. She projected a barrier underneath her that her hooves could gently touch down upon, then jumped from that barrier to another she erected in the sky, then another and another until she managed to bounce her way all the way up to Lightning Dust’s head.
With the dragon distracted by Fluttershy, it would be a simple matter of landing on top of Lightning’s head, grabbing hold of the blade still embedded in the dragon’s skin, and activating its enchantment.
Lightning was not as distracted as Rarity had presumed however, and she swerved to avoid Rarity at the perfect moment. And while Rarity was able to grab the sword, the momentum of her fall caused her to tear the sword right out of Lightning’s skin as she continued to plummet, making its enchantment a no-go.
Rarity tried to summon another barrier to stop her fall, but a pang of violent nausea in her stomach stopped her dead in her tracks; exhaustion was starting to creep in, but Rarity needed to focus, damn it!
Though being caught underneath Lightning Dust and the shower of blood that sprayed from her open wound didn’t make focusing any easier. Getting it out of Rarity’s clothes and fur was going to be a huge pain.
Regardless, Rarity tried to concentrate and summon a barrier, but quickly saw there was no need as Fluttershy scooped her up and came to her rescue, bearing ever the enchanting smile as she winked at Rarity, who flashed a dazzling grin back at Fluttershy.
Their moment of joy was short-lived, as Lightning brought a storm of electricity down on them with a furious snarl, clipping Fluttershy’s wings and causing the pair to fall, Fluttershy grunting in pain as she cradled Rarity close to her chest and hit several trees on her way down before crashing into the earth with a loud yelp.
Fluttershy was panting and gasping for breath, and while so was Rarity, she knew in her heart that she needed to settle this now. She could see Lightning trying to soar away above the trees, and she wasn’t about to let that monster escape her.
“Rest easy, sweetheart,” Rarity said as she hopped off of Fluttershy. “Leave the rest to me.”
Even through the forest, it wasn’t difficult to track Lightning Dust down; she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous to begin with, and the trail of blood dripping from her injuries wasn’t very subtle either.
And it seemed those wounds, especially the dismembered claw, were slowing Lightning Dust down, because she had to pause and drop to the ground for a moment, giving Rarity ample time to catch up to her.
“You’re persistent,” Lightning gave a bitter chuckle as she turned to Rarity, “I’ll give you that.”
“I’m a Slayer,” Rarity responded coldly. “Killing dragons is sort of my thing.”
“Yet you’re hanging out with a dragon!” Lightning gave a single, acidic laugh.
“You’re very intelligent,” Rarity rolled her eyes. She wasn’t interested in hearing another poisonous word escape the butcher’s lips.
Lightning Dust had finished talking as well, instead breathing a stream of lightning toward Rarity. And while Rarity had her doubts if she could summon her barrier in time, and raised her shield just in case, she was indeed able to protect herself with Fluttershy’s magic not only from Lightning’s electrical breath, but from a swipe of her claw as well.
The barrier did not hold up against Lightning’s fangs.
Lightning Dust snapped her jaw shut around Rarity’s barrier, shattering it like a fragile glass thrown against a rusty iron wall, and it was only by ducking as low as she was able that Rarity managed to avoid being ripped clean in half.
But now Lightning’s head was within Rarity’s reach, and she wasted no time digging her sword into the beast’s nose.
Lightning sent a wave of electricity coursing through her body once again in an effort to get Rarity to let go of her sword, and while Rarity tried her damnedest to hold onto it despite the pain, she just couldn’t bring herself to, and she dropped her hand to her side as Lightning Dust took off into the air.
Rarity watched helplessly as Lightning Dust was about to not only escape, but take Rarity’s onyx blade with her. Her silly barrier jumping trick wouldn’t let her reach Lightning fast enough, and she had no other means of becoming airborne.
And then a single thought crossed her mind. An absolutely cursed, devilish thought.
What would Twilight do?
And Rarity knew, of course, exactly what Twilight would do. And with her body still brimming with Fluttershy’s magic, even despite her exhaustion, Rarity knew she had the magic to pull it off. So she closed her eyes, let her magic pool into a shimmering blue aura around her horn, and—
—CRACK.
When Rarity opened her eyes, she was standing atop Lightning Dust’s head, her teleportation spell a complete and utter success.
Lightning freaked out immediately, flapping her wings erratically and flipping upside-down to try and shake Rarity off, even sending sparks of electricity coursing through her body to try and shock Rarity, but she covered herself in a barrier the moment she made contact with Lightning Dust.
Rarity put her hand on the hilt of her sword and— she hesitated.
She paused for a mere fraction of a second to consider if it was justified taking Lightning Dust’s life in order to protect her own, a thought that had never crossed her mind when it came to dragons before.
But no, that wasn’t really true, was it? If she had never stopped to wonder if it was okay to kill dragons, she never would have been wearing her dragon fang necklace, her reminder that dragons were all vicious killers that needed to be put down for the safety of Equestria.
She wouldn’t have been kept awake at night thinking about the dragon from Baltimare, how it begged for its life and claimed to have a family, how it had no idea where it was or what had happened to it before Rarity executed it.
She would have killed Twilight.
Rarity forced those thoughts from her mind and tried to activate the enchantment— this was different, Lightning Dust was different, and if Rarity didn’t kill her now then Lightning Dust would simply kill dozens more.
But she was too late; that brief instant of hesitation was all Lightning needed to grab Rarity in her claw, sword and all. And while Rarity could easily have just stabbed Lightning in the hand and used her blade’s spell then, Lightning threw her to the ground, Rarity colliding with the earth with a pained whine and a disconcerting crack.
“Not worth the effort,” Lightning Dust barked as she flew away and left Rarity behind.
Well.
That was that, Rarity supposed.
At the very least, Rarity hoped that Lightning Dust would think twice about hunting in this forest again. And if she didn’t, Rarity would be happy to return with Applejack and Rainbow Dash in tow. Perhaps even Twilight Sparkle. It would be quite interesting to see Lightning’s little band deal with that.
Rarity suddenly felt nauseous again.
Lightning’s band.
Rarity had driven Lightning Dust herself away, but the thirteen ponies working for her were still in the forest. And Fluttershy was completely unprotected.
Rarity raced through the trees and cursed herself for forgetting about Lightning’s comrades; how could she let herself get so single-mindedly distracted like that and let Fluttershy be in danger?
Rarity stopped dead in her tracks as she reached a massive clearing in the snow; the impression of a dragon who had been lying here, but no longer was anywhere to be seen.
“Fluttershy?!” Rarity shouted, hoping Fluttershy had just moved to another position, or used her invisibility spell, though the sinking feeling in her gut left her with a different notion.
“FLUTTERSHY!” Rarity shrieked, screaming desperately into the empty forest as she searched desperately for any sign of Fluttershy’s whereabouts.
Y’know, for a dragon? Trixie wasn’t all that impressive.
The first thing Applejack noticed as she and her brother rescued Pinkie Pie from the pale blue dragon was that Applejack was almost the same height; Trixie only had a few inches on Applejack, and their eyes were almost at the same level.
Applejack may have been slightly handicapped cuz she needed to hold the injured Pinkie Pie in one arm, but she was confident that she and Big Mac were more’n enough to deal with one tiny dragon.
“Ugh,” Trixie groaned and let her tongue flop outta her mouth. “Neither of you are Twilight Sparkle.”
“Not last time I checked,” Applejack snarked, raising her fist as she clung to Pinkie with her other arm.
“Nope,” Big Mac added with a shrug, standing next to Applejack in the middle of an empty road in what had been a really crowded row of restaurants and shops before Trixie showed up.
“Then you’re not worth my time!” Trixie screamed, and she inhaled to build up a burst of flaming breath, but Applejack wasn’t about to have any of that.
So she punched Trixie hard in the chest; hard enough to make the dragon recoil and cough up blood.
Trixie tried to breathe her fire and all that came out were a few coughs and a puff of smoke; frightened by this, she buffeted her wings to disorient the Apple siblings and then took off into the air.
“Wh-what happened to me?!” Trixie gasped.
“I disabled yer magic,” Applejack scoffed. “Thought that was obvious.”
“Yeah! You’re no match for Applejack, you big meanie!” Pinkie stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at Trixie, getting a laugh outta Applejack. Pinkie’s spirit in the face of danger was one of her many admirable qualities.
“Well that may be,” Trixie grinned and bared her fangs, “but I’m still a dragon!”
Trixie launched toward the ground at shocking speed, swiping with her claw against Applejack’s side— specifically the side she was holding Pinkie on. Her attack never reached Applejack or Pinkie though, since Big Mac came in and blocked Trixie’s claw with his bare hand.
“Barely,” he said casually.
Trixie snarled and took off into the air again, but Pinkie was quick to stick her with a knife, allowing Applejack— after she had handed Pinkie safely off to Big Mac— to warp up to Trixie and grab ahold of the dragon’s tough scales. Applejack wasn’t about to just let Trixie go without a fight.
Applejack crawled up Trixie’s neck and slammed the dragon as hard as she could muster with her fist, pounding Trixie in the cheek, in the eye, in the nose— just wherever her fist would land. Trixie tried to claw at Applejack and tear her off, but she underestimated Applejack’s stubbornness… and her grip strength, to be honest.
Eventually though, Trixie had gotten quite enough; and while Applejack had managed to land a few good punches, Trixie was still a dragon and ‘a few good punches’ wasn’t gonna be nearly enough to slow her down.
So Trixie folded her wings and careened toward the ground; she wasn’t able to tear Applejack off of her neck, but if she landed completely flat against the ground then she could crush Applejack under her considerable body weight… which is exactly what happened.
And Applejack couldn’t lie; it hurt! Being pressed between the concrete ground and a dragon was no walk in the park, and Applejack felt like she’d been put in a garbage compactor that she was just a size too big for. But if Trixie wouldn’t be slowed down, neither would Applejack!
She just… needed to figure a way to push Trixie off of her now.
Luckily for Applejack, Trixie was happy to get off her on her own. Unluckily for Applejack, as Trixie leapt off of her, she slammed Big Mac with her tail and sent him flying, and grabbed Pinkie Pie in her claws.
“You know, I was going to rip your little arms off,” Trixie hummed as she held a terrified, quivering Pinkie in the air by her arms. “But now I think it’d be much funnier to just eat you in front of your friend!”
Trixie flicked Pinkie into the air, snatching her out of the air in her jaws and clamping them down on Pinkie. Applejack gasped, but she had no time to be shocked; she needed to rescue Pinkie now.
Applejack leapt to her feet and grabbed a fistful of Trixie’s hair, the dragon reacting with a shocked yelp as Applejack violently yanked her head down below Applejack’s eye level, Applejack then grabbing Trixie’s maw and forcefully prying it open, Pinkie flopping out of the dragon’s mouth with only a few bloody puncture wounds to show for it.
“I’m okay,” Pinkie said weakly, sounding anything but okay.
Applejack moved to pick Pinkie up and shield her, but Trixie chomped her fangs down on Applejack’s arms, Applejack hissing in pain as she looked Trixie in the eye.
“You’re pretty attached to those arms of yours, huh?” Trixie said, every movement of her lips digging her fangs deeper into Applejack’s arms, Applejack gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain and focus on coming up with a counterattack.
Thankfully Applejack didn’t need to think too hard, cuz Big Mac was already back on his hooves, and he grabbed Trixie by the tail and yanked her off of Applejack, who only got a couple nasty scratches on her arms for the trouble.
Applejack took a deep breath to channel her magic, before running up and slamming Trixie with a flying drop kick. She could only disable a dragon’s magic for a few moments with her punches, but that kick had enough force to lay Trixie out for maybe an hour— at least, that was the hope.
Trixie threw up blood onto the snow and concrete, and Applejack could see her starting to sweat. Her physical abilities weren’t anything to write home about, least not compared to the Apple siblings, and her magic was a no-go. She was rapidly running low on options, and she knew it.
“Okay, eff this! EFF THIS!” Trixie whimpered and took off into the air again, Applejack clicking her tongue cuz she was starting to get a mite tired of chasing her down.
“You okay, Pink?” Applejack knelt down to check on Pinkie, who was lying on the ground and coiled up into a ball.
“Yeah, yeah,” Pinkie nodded, tears brimming her eyes but still fighting through it to give a shaky smile. “Just don’t let her get away, okay?”
“I’m on it,” Applejack nodded confidently and stood tall, pointing to her brother. “Big Mac! Gimme a boost!”
Applejack ran up to her brother, who laid his hands down for Applejack to jump onto, and between him and Applejack’s little bit of magic, she got just enough boost to jump up and grab onto the side of Trixie’s chest in the air.
“What the hell?!” Trixie screamed. “Don’t you know when to quit?!”
“Yeah,” Applejack chuckled, climbing up Trixie’s scales onto her back. “And it ain’t while I’m winnin’! And the last thing I’m gonna do is give you a chance to get yer magic back!”
“Ah,” Trixie looked back at Applejack with a sinister grin, “so your little disruptor trick isn’t just temporary, it’s really temporary. I thought as much, but it sure is nice of you to confirm that for me.”
“Whatever,” Applejack scoffed, her cheeks burning a bright red cuz she was ashamed to admit she slipped up and gave the enemy info. “You ain’t gonna be able to do much with th—”
Applejack yelped as Trixie wrapped her tail around Applejack’s leg and dragged her quickly off of Trixie’s back, holding Applejack upside-down by one leg in her tail, before tossing her into the air.
Applejack gritted her teeth and refused to yell or scream or anything like that; she just crossed her legs and braced herself as best she could for the impact.
“Not so fast,” Trixie grabbed Applejack’s hands and held her up by her arms, sneering at her. “You don’t think I’m gonna let you just rejoin your little friends and come up with a new strategy, do you? Please, I’m not that dense.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” Applejack smirked, and Trixie let out a guttural groan under her breath.
“Cute,” Trixie hummed, before crushing Applejack’s hands in her claws, Applejack letting out a piercing scream as blood trickled down her arms and her body was wracked with searing pain. “But how’s about I just rip you in half—”
A sudden gust of wind tore past Trixie and Applejack, and once it was gone Trixie had a massive cut across her nose.
“How d—”
Another gust of wind left another bloody gash across Trixie’s nose, and now she was looking around frantically for the source of her mysterious attacker.
Applejack just smiled; she knew she was in good hands now.
While she was too quick for Applejack’s eyes to follow her movements, Applejack knew for certain that it was Rainbow Dash who had shown up to help, and she felt confident that Rainbow wouldn’t let her down.
Trixie flailed at the air to try and hit Rainbow as she zipped past, leaving another cut on Trixie’s face, but Rainbow was far too quick. And after another zoom past, and another cut, Trixie let out a furious groan and threw Applejack as hard as she could toward the ground.
Applejack definitely didn’t see that coming, so she tried to brace herself as fast as she could, which unfortunately mostly just meant closing her eyes, gritting her teeth, and hoping for the best.
Luckily for her, ‘the best’ was getting caught out of the air by her super sexy girlfriend who, despite their stark size difference, was able to catch Applejack in a bridle carry and gently float toward the ground.
“My hero,” Applejack whispered as she gave Rainbow a kiss on the cheek.
“S-stop that, I’ll drop you,” Rainbow giggled bashfully.
Their cute little moment was stopped dead in its tracks by Trixie collapsing top of them, crushing both of them against the concrete with her body.
Applejack was able to squirm just enough to get her own weight off of Rainbow, but that didn’t help the fact that there was a damn dragon on top of them still. Applejack could just barely see past Trixie’s body to view the fight going on around them, and it didn’t look good.
Big Mac tried to run to Applejack and Rainbow’s aid, but Trixie pinned his head to the ground with her claw, and now she was inching toward a helpless Pinkie.
“Heh, so now what?” Trixie sneered, audibly out of breath as she dragged herself along the ground by her claws, grinding Applejack and Rainbow painfully against the pavement as she moved. “All that fight, and you still can’t even—”
Trixie suddenly floated into the air; and judging by her shocked expression, and the aura of raspberry magic around her body, it wasn’t by choice.
She was thrown into the street, away from Applejack and the rest of her party, and Applejack and Rainbow jumped to their hooves immediately and moved to protect Pinkie Pie, Big Mac following suit.
And then the last member of their crew walked up beside them, sighing listlessly.
“Hey everyone,” Twilight Sparkle said, cricking her neck and running a hand through her mane. “Sorry I’m late.”
Fluttershy was a little delirious from being poisoned in her battle with Lightning Dust’s bandit troupe, but she thought as her eyes fluttered open that she was catching a bit of her second wind. But quickly she realized no, she was still poisoned.
She tried to get up regardless, but she couldn’t move. She moved her front paws, then her back paws, but she couldn’t get up. And as she struggled, she realized her front and back paws were bound with rope and tied together.
Fluttershy’s eyes snapped wide open and she tried to scream, but only a muffled moan escaped her lips; there was a large chunk of wood caught between her teeth, with rope binding her muzzle shut on top of it to keep her quiet.
Trying to stretch her wings didn’t fare much better; they were bound tightly to her chest, and she was leashed by one more rope that kept her shackled to the wall of the cave so she couldn’t even try to crawl away. The ropes used to bind her were enchanted; she couldn’t break free no matter how much she squirmed around in them or tried to force them to snap.
Maybe she could have if she had been at full strength and could use her magic, but the poisons running through her veins were depriving her of both.
Fluttershy looked around; the thirteen pony bandits were all sitting around the cave Fluttershy found herself in, some watching her closely with weapons drawn or close to it, others were entirely disinterested in her ordeal. Judging from the light peeking in from the cave’s entrance, Fluttershy guessed it was likely late afternoon, close to sundown.
And based on that, the weary look on many of the bandits, and the fact that Fluttershy was even still alive and Lightning Dust was nowhere to be seen, Fluttershy figured that she hadn't been unconscious for very long.
Not that it mattered much; the way she was now, she was completely helpless.
Though it turned out Fluttershy spoke too soon about Lightning Dust being nowhere to be seen, as a large dragon landed in front of the cave, all of the bandits perking up and turning their attention to the entrance as Lightning Dust limped inside, bloody stump where her left hand used to be.
That sight at least made Fluttershy smile.
“Boss! Your hand—”
“Shut up,” Lightning Dust spat. “This is nothing. I can fix this no problem, I know a guy, it doesn’t matter. What matters-” Lightning turned her focus to Fluttershy, whose eyes widened in fear as Lightning flashed a grin of blood-soaked teeth “-is our little meal ticket here.”
Lightning slogged over to Fluttershy and put a claw under her chin. Despite her bravado and claims to not care about her injuries, she was breathing heavily and looked pretty pale. But Fluttershy could barely focus on that past the cold sweat dripping down her face as Lightning looked her over.
“You and your bitch friend have really put me through a lot today,” Lightning sighed irritably, and the sound of it was like acid poured on Fluttershy’s ears. “Pissed me off way more than any mark has in a long time.” Lightning flashed a sadistic grin, and Fluttershy whimpered into her gag. “So how about I take the pieces of you I need, while you’re still alive?”
Fluttershy cried and tried to plead, but of course all she or anyone heard were the muffled moans of a muzzled captive, and her struggles to squirm out of her bonds didn’t do her any favors either, and only got her laughed at by Lightning Dust and her gangs, which just made Fluttershy embarrassed and blushing on top of all the other humiliation.
“Tell you what,” Lightning said, pinching a feather on Fluttershy’s wing, “I’ll be merciful! I’ll start with the feathers instead of your teeth.”
“How about you start by taking your claws off of her.”
Rarity’s voice echoed through the cave, and all eyes were on her as she stood in the entrance, setting sunlight shining behind her like a perfectly heroic radiant backdrop.
“Rrrty!” Fluttershy squealed happily, stunned in utter disbelief and relief that Rarity actually came to save her.
“How the hell did you find us so fast?” Lightning growled, her eye twitching.
“I’m a skilled diviner,” Rarity said flatly.
“Did one of you screw-ups leave a trail behind?!” Lightning barked at her minions, who cowered away from her.
“You shouldn’t blame them,” Rarity said coolly, “it wasn’t their fault. They couldn’t have known the significance of this.” Rarity held up Fluttershy’s green dress, the one she had dropped when she first transformed, and Fluttershy’s eyes lit up to see that she had helped Rarity find her.
“It doesn’t matter!” Lightning pounded her remaining hand on the stone ground and roared. “IT DOESN’T MATT—”
Rarity teleported in front of Lightning with a crack of her magic, thrusting her sword toward Lightning’s breast, but the dragon buffeted her wings, disorienting Rarity and tearing apart the meager furniture and supplies of the cave hideout, before flying out of the cave in an obvious panic, leaving her gang behind.
Speaking of said gang, there were still thirteen of them and only one Rarity, and as they clamored for their weapons, Fluttershy moaned and her ears flattened against her head; she had a bad feeling about this.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Rarity said coldly, standing perfectly still. “You may outnumber me, but I bested your boss with my own hands. Do any of you sincerely think you stand a chance against me? And is that belief worth risking your life over?”
Rarity’s words gave the bandits pause for just a moment; enough time for Rarity to grab all of their weapons in her blue aura and lift them into the air, before splintering and shattering them all into pieces, the shards of wood and metal raining on the ground in a grim display of Rarity’s power.
“Leave all of your gear and supplies here,” Rarity said, glaring knives at anyone bold enough or foolish enough to look her in the eyes, “and leave immediately. Get the hell out of this forest, and never come back.”
Left with little other option but to try and restrain Rarity with only their hands— a proposition no one seemed fond of for some weird reason— the bandits did as they were ordered; they removed all of their gear and left it on the ground before solemnly marching out of the cave.
And with no weapons, no armor, and no Lightning Dust, they were far more helpless now than Fluttershy was.
Rarity waited a moment, watching the entrance like a hawk as her hoof jittered against the stone floor of the cave. Once she was certain that the bandits were gone, and that they weren’t returning, she relaxed a little, and Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.
The worst was over.
And then Rarity collapsed to the ground, vomiting a bright rainbow-colored fluid. Fluttershy gasped as she recognized the trademark signal of magic exhaustion; a state that was devastating for dragons, but almost certainly fatal for ponies.
Rarity attempted to stand to her hooves, but she collapsed again, spewing another splash of rainbow fluid onto the ground, even more leaking now from her eyes. Fluttershy whimpered and cried, trying to struggle out of her restraints and do something, anything, to help Rarity. But even if Fluttershy could manage to escape, which she couldn’t, there was nothing she could do.
Rarity dug her nails into the stone floor and pulled herself forward. She dug her hand in a second time and pulled herself again. She clambered to a rough, hunched standing position but, knowing she wouldn’t be able to stand fully, threw herself to the ground a few inches from where she had been, causing another expulsion of rainbow fluid to evacuate from her mouth.
What was Rarity doing? Fluttershy didn’t understand.
Until Rarity locked eyes with her, and Fluttershy could see the determination in Rarity’s icy blue eyes as pulled herself forward by her nails one more time— toward Fluttershy.
Fluttershy wished desperately that she could squirm or wiggle her way toward Rarity, but she couldn’t break free from the rope around her neck that kept her leashed to the wall of the cave. All she could do was whisper muffled prayers that Rarity could survive.
Why was Rarity even so desperate to reach Fluttershy anyway? Did she think Fluttershy could help her? Fluttershy had no more magic left, there was nothing she could do. Why was Rarity even bothering?
Soon enough, Rarity was able to crawl her way toward Fluttershy close enough that she could grab the fur on Fluttershy’s paw and pull on it, giving her leverage to stand on her hooves, though she quickly collapsed and had to lean against Fluttershy for support.
She sidled her way over to Fluttershy’s bonds, but she fell to her knees. She wasn’t deterred; she pulled herself up by Fluttershy’s fur and tightly grabbed ahold of the knots keeping Fluttershy’s front paws restrained, and with a lot of effort, with a lot of panting and wheezing and vomiting, she was finally able to undo it right before she collapsed again, falling face-down onto the floor.
With her front paws untied, Fluttershy was quickly able to untie her gag and her leash and her wings and her hind paws and her tail, until finally she was cradling Rarity’s near-lifeless body in her hands.
“Rarity, I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy sobbed. “This is all my fault, and there’s nothing I can—”
“Your ‘fault’?”
Rarity… laughed?
Laughter was not the expression Fluttershy was expecting, and she was left a wee bit bewildered.
“Sweetheart, it’s your ‘fault’ that we won.”
“But now you’re going to—” Fluttershy sniffled, her eyes pouring out tears, and snot dripping from her nose, and even drool pooling in her mouth and dripping down her chin. “You’re going to—”
“I’m going to rest,” Rarity lightly patted Fluttershy’s paw pad. “Nothing more, nothing less. I just need to recover from this exhaustion.”
“B-but—” Fluttershy blinked, and used her free paw to wipe away tears but more just came and replaced them. “But magic exhaustion is fatal for ponies.”
“Most ponies,” Rarity grinned and gave a weak but proud chuckle. “Not Slayers. We’re taught to deal with any worst-case scenario, and that includes magic exhaustion. Building up a sort of tolerance for it is part of our training.
“I’m going to be laid out for a bit, but I will survive.”
Fluttershy didn’t know what to say. She felt somewhat foolish for assuming, but mostly she was just so glad Rarity was going to be okay, and she burst into a fit of weepy giggles.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Fluttershy sniffled.
“And are you okay?” Rarity asked.
“Mmhmm,” Fluttershy nodded, grinning ear to ear. “Thanks to you. Thank you, for rescuing me.”
“Darling,” Rarity smiled sweetly, and it warmed Fluttershy’s heart, “I would never let anything happen to you.”
“Rarity,” Fluttershy whispered as she curled up along the ground, creating a makeshift bed with her tail, pillow with her paw, and blanket with her wing that she gently placed Rarity in and helped her get as comfortable as possible. “My magic may be gone for now, but I am still a dragon. I will protect you, no matter what, while you rest and recover your strength.”
“Fluttershy, darling, thank you,” Rarity sighed as she cozied up in Fluttershy’s fur and fluff.
Rarity’s next words, the last ones she spoke before she drifted off into snoozetown, moved Fluttershy’s heart and caused her to start weeping again, but in a good way this time.
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight cracked her knuckles as she stared down Trixie in the hauntingly empty Bitsburgh street, “I need storm clouds, and I need a lot of them.”
“Yeah, I gotcha covered!” Rainbow said before taking off into the sky.
Trixie didn’t look too good; caked blood all over her neck and mouth, several bruises on her face. Nothing a dragon couldn’t handle, of course, and Trixie had already fully transformed. She wasn’t messing around, and the states that Applejack, Big Mac, and Pinkie Pie were in were all much worse than Trixie’s.
“Twilight, you’re here!” Pinkie cheered, tears in her eyes as she laid on the ground behind Applejack. “Did Spike make it to you okay?”
“He did, and now I am here,” Twilight smiled at Pinkie. “And I’m not going to let any of you get hurt anymore. And Spike's waiting for us at the inn-” Twilight turned back to Trixie and glared daggers at her “-I have no intention of keeping him waiting.”
“You talk a big game, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie hissed, cocking her head and baring her fangs in a limp attempt to intimidate Twilight. Her tricks might’ve worked on a group of ponies, but to another dragon Trixie was little more than a joke. “But you aren’t in your library anymore!”
“And I’m not incapacitated by magic exhaustion either,” Twilight said flatly. “It’s not too late to surrender and go back where you came from, Trixie. But this is going to be your last warning.”
“You think I can just go back!? EMPTY HANDED, AGAIN!?” Trixie screamed, and Twilight just sighed. “The only way I’m leaving is with your head on a—”
In the blink of an eye, Twilight was consumed with violet flames. Before her transformation had even fully completed, she reached her arm out and grabbed Trixie by the neck, then took off into the sky, using the enormous buffer of storm clouds Rainbow had made to cover her true form from any nearby ponies’ prying eyes.
Surrounded by thunder and lightning and pitch-black clouds, Twilight spread her wings and hovered over Trixie; without the boundaries of the library, they could both fly free and at their full size, and Trixie was utterly dwarfed by Twilight.
“You think I’m scared of you?!” Trixie screeched, her voice cracking. “Your friends were child’s play, Twilight Sparkle! I’ve been saving the real stuff just for you!”
Twilight just sighed.
Trixie fired a barrage of magic missiles from her wings, laughing uproariously. Twilight barely had to move a muscle to defend herself with a magical barrier.
“I’m not interested in having a magic duel with you, Trixie,” Twilight said drolly, and finally the frustration and anger at the situation and at what her friends were forced to go through settled in Twilight’s heart, and a furious glare flickered across her face. “I can just crush you with my bare hands!”
Twilight lunged at Trixie and dug her claws into the smaller dragon’s shoulders, but Trixie just grinned and with a crack of her magic, teleported onto Twilight’s back, biting down into the flesh between Twilight’s neck and wing.
At first it just felt like a minor irritation, though Trixie had positioned herself in the perfect spot where Twilight couldn’t reach her with her hands, and couldn’t see her to grab Trixie with her magic. But again, just an irritation.
But quickly, Twilight began to feel woozy, and she realized she needed to get away from Trixie, so she teleported away and left Trixie behind, staring Trixie down from a few feet above.
Trixie was fast though, and before Twilight could properly get her bearings, Trixie slashed through Twilight’s arm, leaving a few bloody gashes. Twilight tried to swing back, but it was like she was moving in slow-motion, and Trixie easily avoided Twilight’s clumsy attack before countering by scraping her foot claw against Twilight’s face.
Twilight teleported away again, and she finally understood what Trixie was doing; though Trixie waving at Twilight to show off the purple liquid that dripped from her claws, and grinning to show that same fluid coating her teeth, made it rather obvious. Twilight had been poisoned.
“Taking some tips from the ponies now, eh, Trixie?” Twilight laughed bitterly.
Twilight was well aware that if a pony wanted to defeat a dragon, they had basically two main options: destroying the dragon with overwhelming force in one shot, or use poison. Trixie had no shot at the former, or at challenging Twilight in a fair match, so honestly Twilight should have expected Trixie to use the latter. She underestimated Trixie’s intelligence.
“I’m nothing like them,” Trixie spat. “But I’ll do whatever it takes to defeat you!”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Twilight nodded and her horns glowed with violet light that quickly coated Twilight and healed her of her affliction.
“Oh,” Trixie said dourly, her posture deflating like a popped balloon. Trixie growled in impotent rage, closing her eyes as she dug her claws into her own scalp, but then her eyes shot open and she smiled eerily. “That’s fine. Maybe I can’t beat you in a fight, but I still know a few ways I can destroy you.”
Trixie disappeared, teleporting out of the mass of storm clouds.
Twilight bit her lip. Could she risk showing off her dragon form in the middle of Bitsburgh? Could she quickly transform back into a pony before touching the ground? Maybe the others had enough time to regroup and could beat Trixie without—
Pinkie’s scream tore through Twilight’s ears. No more thinking, just doing.Now.
Twilight crashed onto the ground, and even she wasn’t sure what form she was in for a second, but having to look up at Trixie was a sure sign she’d transformed back into a pony, and a sudden heart palpitation warned her that perhaps she was pushing her magic a little too hard all of a sudden.
Pinkie was the only of the four ponies present not to be pinned by Trixie already; Big Mac and Applejack were under her feet, and Rainbow was caught in her tail, trying to squirm out but to no avail. And Pinkie didn’t look like she could move.
Trying to pick up Trixie again wasn’t going to be possible; that would require way more magic than Twilight wanted to spend now. The last thing she or the others needed would be for her to drain herself of all her magic.
She hated how much pressure using her transformation spell put on her, and she really hated how much weaker she was outside the library.
Oh well, no sense complaining about it. If she couldn’t get Trixie away from her friends, she’d simply get her friends away from Trixie.
And with a crack of her magic, she did just that, teleporting her three pinned friends behind her and out of Trixie’s range, collapsing to her hands and knees from the effort.
Wait. ‘Three’?
Trixie bared her claw down on Pinkie, who was still lying helplessly in front of Trixie; Twilight didn’t think to teleport her cuz she was so focused on rescuing the ones who were already pinned.
Twilight pushed her hands out to grab Trixie’s claw, blood dripping down Twilight’s nose.
“I got this, Twi!” Rainbow said as she buzzed past Twilight. “AJ, you take care of Pinkie!”
“Already on it!” Applejack shouted, but Twilight barely noticed any of it with the world spinning around her.
“Twilight?” Pinkie said, putting her hand on Twilight’s head as Applejack carried her by Twilight. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“Yeah,” Twilight laughed awkwardly, not wanting to pressure Pinkie with how badly Twilight was beginning to freak out. Trixie was like a cockroach that she just couldn’t get rid of, and she didn’t know what to do. “Of c—”
Rainbow’s scream ripped Twilight from her thoughts, and Twilight looked up just in time to see Trixie heading back into the storm clouds with Rainbow firmly in her grip. Someone called out to her, but Twilight barely heard it.
Twilight could barely hear anything past the ringing in her ears, could barely see anything past the red mist clouding her vision.
She was furious.
She was done with this.
Fuck everything. Her disguise, the ponies who might be watching, the damn slayers, the dragons, Trixie, the old man, all of it. Nothing mattered to Twilight now but her family, and making sure they all got to go home safe.
And if Twilight had to transform into a dragon where everyone could see? Then so be it.
Twilight burst into a pillar of violet flame that shot through the storm clouds, and when she emerged, she was already flying in front of Trixie, her eyes burning with furious flames.
“Let her go,” Twilight growled.
“What will you do if I say no?” Trixie dangled Rainbow upside-down by one leg using her tail, Rainbow shouting obscenities at Trixie that fell on deaf ears. “You don’t have the guts to really hurt me, Twilight Sparkle.”
Trixie flew up and dangled Rainbow Dash over her open mouth, and if Trixie thought that Twilight would prioritize Trixie’s safety over her friends’, she should’ve remembered what happened to her the last time she took that bet.
Twilight bolted toward Trixie and slammed her jaws shut on Trixie’s tail, biting the edge clean off and rescuing Rainbow in the process. Trixie stumbled back, blood spraying from her tail stump all over Twilight’s and Trixie’s faces as she raised it to look in shocked disbelief at what Twilight had done to her.
Trixie’s face twisted into an enraged snarl and she teleported again. Twilight didn’t even have time to think about how Rainbow was still inside her mouth before she charged toward the ground.
Turns out she needn’t have hurried; as Trixie made a beeline for Pinkie Pie, she was intercepted by a solid kick from Applejack that caused her to badly flinch and start hacking up blood.
As Twilight landed on the ground between Trixie and the others, Trixie screamed and tried to scratch at Twilight, but Twilight simply grabbed her wrists and made her helpless.
“Look at the gashes that Rainbow Dash left on you, Trixie,” Twilight said, using telepathy to communicate her thoughts to Trixie so as not to upset the pony inside her or make her vulnerable to harm. “Size has nothing to do with why you can’t beat me. I’m simply much stronger than you are. Now go home.”
Twilight prepared her spell, but her horns crackled and fizzled; she was running out of magic. Trixie took the opportunity to worm her way out of Twilight’s grasp and fly away, and while Twilight tried to take off after her, it became immediately clear that she wasn’t going to reach Trixie. She was too weak.
But Trixie wasn’t in any condition to try and pick another fight with her friends, so Twilight would simply have to consider this a draw for right now.
Twilight cast one last spell to communicate her intentions to Applejack— that she intended to retreat into the nearby forest to recover her magic— then she crashed into the trees, groaning in pain from how queasy she felt. She begrudgingly accepted that a draw would simply have to do for right now.
Pinkie’s legs dangled off the bench as she sat in the middle of the eerily deserted outdoor eating area just around the corner from Bitsburgh’s town square. With her legs completely busted from her battle with Trixie, there wasn’t much else her legs could do.
Applejack took a deep breath as she sat next to Pinkie, her busted arms still limp and a little shaky, but they weren’t bleeding anymore thanks to Big Mac’s healing goop.
It looked like things were mostly taken care of now; Twilight was headed to the forest to recuperate after pushing herself a little too hard, Big Mac was off to find Shining Armor and to tell Spike that everyone was okay, and Applejack and Pinkie were just gonna have to sit down for a spell until Twilight or Fluttershy could actually heal their wounds for real.
But at the very least, the worst of things was over now.
Hopefully, at least. Once word got out of not just a dragon in Bitsburgh, but two dragons, fighting each other, who knows what Celestia would do. But if Pinkie started worrying about that now, her head would explode. So, she just hoped that nopony saw Twilight’s part of the fight, and she focused on Applejack instead.
And to be fair, focusing on Applejack was pretty easy. Pinkie was in full ‘gay thoughts, head full’ mode, and she found herself sighing dreamily as she looked up at the pretty mare.
“You okay, hon?” Applejack smiled at Pinkie, whose heart practically melted. If Pinkie was thinking about Applejack in a lesbians way before, Applejack pulling off a dramatic rescue and saving Pinkie’s life was like… now she was in Ultra Lesbians with Applejack.
“I’m doing great,” Pinkie said, feeling the giggles bubble up in her stomach until she couldn’t hold them back anymore. “Thanks to you.”
“Aw shucks, hon,” Applejack scoffed, and her arm twitched like she meant to gesticulate with it, but that wasn’t happening with her injuries. “I didn’t do nothin’ special. Nothin’ anypony else couldn’t’ve done.”
“You’re so modest,” Pinkie laughed, and she couldn’t believe how gay she was feeling. “But you did rescue me, and you looked super cool doing it, so thank you.”
“Anytime, Pinkie,” Applejack leaned over and gave Pinkie Pie a kiss on the cheek, short-circuiting the poor pink pony’s brain instantly. “I love you, and I ain’t gonna let anything happen to ya.”
Pinkie’s brain was sparking and fizzing with gay feelings as she looked up at Applejack’s warm smile, and Pinkie swore she was gonna LITERALLY explode if she didn’t find an outlet for ‘em.
And y’know? She did almost just get killed by a dragon… so hey, maybe it was worth risking some embarrassment and swinging for the fences to try and reach out for what she wanted in life, just in case she didn’t get another chance.
“I love you too, Applejack,” Pinkie said softly, and Applejack nodded with a bright smile. “Like. I really love you.”
“Yeah, and I love you!” Applejack beamed. “We’re on the same page!”
“I’m really not sure that we are,” Pinkie mused, scratching her cheek. “I mean that I love you in the same way that I love Fluttershy.”
The gears in Applejack’s head clacked and klonked along slowly as she took in what Pinkie Pie was saying to her.
She loves me in the same way she loves Fluttershy?
That was weird, Applejack thought. Pinkie loved Fluttershy romantically, right? Or did she? Pinkie didn’t seem too sure herself when they were talking about romance earlier, but Applejack supposed it didn’t really matter. Fluttershy made Pinkie happy and vice versa, and that was great.
And now Pinkie was saying that Applejack made her happy, right? That was all this was?
But then Applejack thought about hugging Pinkie, and sleeping in the same bed with her all curled up next to Applejack, and then she thought about that image of Pinkie in a wedding dress from earlier and oh gawd Pinkie was saying she wants to be girlfriends with Applejack isn’t she.
Which was weird! Pinkie and Applejack had known each other for years and they weren’t intimate like that! Sure, they slept naked together, and they hugged, and they joked about getting married, and they loved each other, and Pinkie was incredibly cute and attractive, and yeah of course Applejack would love to give Pinkie’s soft lips a smooch, but they were just friends!
…
Wait Applejack was bein’ a real cob for brains huh.
“Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said weakly, the realization of what she had to say hitting her like a train, “I think we really are on the same page.”
“R-really?” Pinkie whimpered, and Applejack didn’t have the heart to look her in the eye but she forced herself to do just that regardless, and it was like she was looking at Pinkie in a whole new light.
Despite Pinkie’s fear and nervousness, she still had a shaky smile. Her hair was so curly and fluffy, and her fur was so soft and pink. Her eyes were so bright and blue, and her lips looked so soft and cute. She was so adorable, Applejack was at a total loss. She never even noticed before.
“Y-yeah, Pinkie,” Applejack coughed and looked away from Pinkie, her cheeks seared red. She swore if she looked at Pinkie for even two more seconds her head would explode like an active volcano. “I really, really, really, really, really, really like you. And, uh, if it ain’t too forward of me to ask, I’d like to umm… I’d like to uhhh… I would, um—”
Applejack took a deep breath and looked at Pinkie, who was staring with big ol’ saucer eyes as she waited desperately for Applejack to finish her thought.
“I wanna kiss you, if that’s okay with you!” Applejack blurted out, and her embarrassment was completely drowned out by Pinkie’s loud gasp.
“YES YES OF COURSE THAT’S OKAY WITH ME!” Pinkie squealed. “THAT’S THE MOST OKAYEST WITH ME THING EVER OF ALL TIME!!”
Applejack nodded, trying to look confident even while she was sweatin’ and blushin’ like a big dope. She leaned into Pinkie, who leaned up to her, but they still couldn’t quite reach each other; the size difference and the fact that both of ‘em were working with busted stems made getting into a comfortable smooching position difficult.
Applejack pulled back and took a deep breath. She needed to consider what was actually important here between kissing Pinkie right here and now, when she could always just do it a mite later, and possibly exacerbating her injured arms. That wouldn’t be good for anypony.
So naturally, she said to hell with her busted arms and scooped up Pinkie with them, holding her beloved pink pal in her arms and gently pressing their noses together, the soft giggling of Pinkie soothing Applejack enough to forget the pain in her arms.
Applejack pressed her lips up against Pinkie’s, and they were so soft and so warm. Pinkie smelled kinda like cotton candy, which wasn’t unusual for her but right now it smelled a lot sweeter than usual. Their kiss was over in a second, but Applejack’s lips still tingled even after, and when she looked into Pinkie’s sweet blue eyes, she felt like everything was right in her world.
“I love you so much, Applejack,” Pinkie said with a beaming smile.
Applejack sighed, pressing her snoot against Pinkie’s and holding Pinkie close to her.
It was a thing about her that defined a lot of her life, ever since a dragon tore the roof right off her house and left her as the last living member of her family when she was barely old enough to understand what was happening.
It was a fear that defined her experiences as a Slayer; always looking forward to that inevitable time where she would take revenge on dragons for what they did to her, and always chickening out when that time came.
But when she saw Applejack being attacked by that dragon Trixie, it was like? What else could Rainbow do but step in and do something?! All her fear didn’t amount to squat when her girlfriend’s life was at stake.
And after all, Rainbow’d been training for this exact kind of encounter for years, she had equipment specifically made to deal with dragons!
And she actually did it! She managed to save Applejack, and even got to bridal carry her for a sec, which was pretty cool!
Rainbow was proud of herself. Even if she spent the whole fight shaking, she was proud of herself for fighting at all.
She was still terrified, but she wouldn’t let her fear stop her from doing the right thing.
Granted, absolutely not a goddamn thing could’ve prepared her for the sensation of being eaten by a dragon.
Rainbow had gotten wrapped up in Trixie’s tail while trying to help Twilight, and Rainbow wasn’t sure what she or Twilight could do to free her, but Twilight taking a bite out of Trixie’s tail and devouring Rainbow along with it was SO NOT WHAT SHE HAD IN MIND.
So now Rainbow was sitting on the tongue of a dragon, a cage of sharp fangs surrounding her as she sat inside Twilight’s mouth, unsure if Twilight had just forgotten about her or if this was all part of Twilight’s plan to kill—
No, no that was absurd.
Rainbow might’ve been scared— she might even have been literally shaking with panic as she sat inside the mouth of a dragon— but she wouldn’t let her trust in Twilight waver.
But as the minutes dragged on, and Twilight made no indication of trying to digest Rainbow or free her, or even acknowledge that she was there, Rainbow found her shakes getting less… shaky.
She was curled into a ball in the center of Twilight’s tongue, wings ready to flare up and take her into the air at any second just in case Twilight tried to swallow her. But then she placed her hand upon Twilight’s tongue, and it struck her as so surreal.
That really was Twilight’s tongue. It wasn’t some alien geometry or hostile beast. It was the tongue that her friend used to speak, and to lick her lips, and that she stuck out whenever she was teasing. She’d seen it countless times and now she was sitting on it and it was so weird.
Rainbow looked around at the cage of teeth surrounding her. Those were Twilight’s teeth. The teeth she used to smile that big dork smile, the fangs that Rainbow thought were so attractive when Twilight bared them confidently, the teeth that Twilight used to destroy hayburgers in such a destructive fashion that Rarity couldn’t stop talking about how ‘uncouth’ it was like a day later.
This wasn’t the mouth of a hostile, terrifying dragon. It was Twilight. And that was so surreal to think about.
Rainbow stood up. She found balancing on Twilight’s tongue a lot easier than she thought it’d be. She put a hand on one of Twilight’s fangs and a curious sound echoed through the space, Rainbow flitting into the air in a panic.
It was like a dull roar echoing through the halls of the room, but when Rainbow remembered where she was, she was able to place the sound.
It was Twilight going “Eh?” like she does.
Rainbow laughed under her breath and, still flying just in case, knocked her knuckles on the back of Twilight’s teeth.
Another croak echoed through the halls of Twilight’s mouth, before a gasp that threatened to suck Rainbow down the dark tunnel of Twilight’s throat if it wasn’t for Rainbow’s mastery of controlling herself in the air.
But then the cage of teeth separated and revealed the golden hues of sunset pouring into Twilight’s mouth. Twilight’s tongue hung out of her mouth and she released a worried chirp, and Rainbow considered for like half a sec teasing Twilight by pretending to be swallowed, but she decided it wouldn’t be right to make her friend worry for a stupid joke, so she flew out of Twi’s mouth and landed on the tip of her nose.
“Hey, girl,” Rainbow said casually, sitting comfortably on Twilight’s nose and looking up at her friend’s massive glittering eyes.
“Rainbow oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Twilight said, putting her hands on her face and nearly crushing Rainbow underneath her claws, but Rainbow flew up before that happened. “Ack! I’m sorry again! I totally forgot you were in there! Well I didn’t forget exactly, I just, my brain kinda, I—”
“Chillax, Twilight,” Rainbow chuckled and landed on top of Twilight’s head, flicking at the tip of Twi’s ear and laughing at how it kinda sproinged back into place. “Everything worked out! How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” Twilight sighed and flumped onto the ground, shaking the trees of the forest surrounding them on every side. “I didn’t go into magic exhaustion territory or anything, but I feel like I came pretty close.”
“Damn,” Rainbow said. “Magic exhaustion creeps up on ya fast, huh?”
“The transformation spell takes a lot of energy,” Twilight hummed. “Turning it on and off and on again like I did, along with all the barriers and mass teleportation and everything? And being separated from the library means I’m not only weaker than normal, but I haven’t quite gotten used to being weaker than normal… eh, it’s a whole thing.”
“Sorry I wasn’t more help,” Rainbow sighed as she floated down onto Twilight’s nose and gave the dragon a sympathetic pet.
“What are you talking about?” Twilight laughed softly. “You were amazing. If it weren’t for you, Applejack and Pinkie would’ve been in big trouble.”
“Still,” Rainbow shrugged. She couldn’t argue with Twilight, but she didn’t have to like that. “I hate that you got beat up like this.”
“This isn’t beat up,” Twilight snarked.
“You know what I mean!” Rainbow jumped onto the ground and threw her fists down as she stared up at Twilight, her face turning all red cuz she was getting flustered.
“I don’t!” Twilight laughed. “You need to say what you mean!”
“I mean I love you!” Rainbow screamed. “And I hate that you got hurt, or even just like exhausted or whatever! Seeing you not feeling good sucks! And I’m not even talking about this encounter with what’s-her-name! I’m talking about all of it! Rarity, and whatever happened that made you flee the Dragon Lands in the first place! It all sucks!”
Rainbow breathed heavily, her chest heaving in and out as Twilight stared right through her in silence. Rainbow wasn’t sure if her face was blood red or ghostly pale but honestly who even cared at this point.
“I hate that I wasn’t able to protect you,” Rainbow let the truth fall out of her mouth like a coin dropped into a wishing well.
“You love me?” Twilight said weakly, her voice cracking. “Even like… like this?” Twilight sat up and placed a hand over her heart, half-unfolding her wings.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “Without a doubt. Seeing you like this, seeing the real you, it’s like… like I feel like such a doofus for ever being afraid.
“You’re not some monster or beast like I was always led to believe dragons were. You’re Twilight Sparkle, my amazing, cool, super hot, beautiful, dorky friend.”
Twilight blinked. Rainbow paced back and forth and was like ‘hey maybe you shouldn’t have spilled your wholeass guts like that you stupi—
“You think I’m super hot?” Twilight smiled ear to ear, and Rainbow’s entire face turned red.
Now would’ve been a really good time to backpedal and try to get the hoof out of Rainbow’s mouth.
But it would’ve been an even better time to double down on the truth and gush about how hot Twilight was.
“Of course!” Rainbow shouted, and she flew up to Twilight’s forearm and put her hands on it. “Look at these buff arms? Like holy crap! And your scales are so soft and slick, like what’s that about?! And your chest is like? Woah! And your wings are like? HECK! And your smile is just? Like? WHAT! Y’know what I mean? And don’t even get me started on those fangies!”
Rainbow zipped about Twilight’s body, gesticulating frantically about each and every thing she found attractive about Twilight, and when she was done and standing on the grass in front of Twi, the dragon had the biggest goofy smile on her face, her cheeks and the bridge of her nose tinted a cute shade of pink.
“Holy crap,” Twilight giggled, her laughter turning into a snort and she quickly put her hand over her mouth to cover herself. Twilight laughed and trotted smugly a few steps. “I guess I am pretty easy on the eyes, huh?”
“You are one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” Rainbow said, her brain not even bothering to double-check her words as she was just so comfortable being in that moment with Twilight.
Rainbow flew up and sat down on Twilight’s snoot, getting lost in Twilight’s beautiful glittering eyes.
“I guess there was nothin’ to worry about, huh?” Rainbow said.
Rarity stood outside the cave where Fluttershy still rested. The snow on the ground was light, and the chill in the air was mild, and the rays of the morning’s sun were soothing to a battle-weary Rarity, so she took the liberty of freeing herself from all of her sweat-soaked gear that she slept in.
Despite her recent violent encounter, despite still being in the middle of unknown territory, Rarity didn’t feel vulnerable as she stood naked in the woods. She felt safe, and while part of that feeling was due to keeping her belt of weapons on her, she couldn’t deny how much of that feeling was due to Fluttershy’s presence.
She had proven herself a valuable and trustworthy ally, far and away exceeding Rarity’s expectations of her. Quite honestly, Rarity felt like an absolute fool for having doubts about her in the past.
Hm. Not just her. Twilight as well.
No… no, not even just Twilight.
Lightning Dust was an interesting case. She was everything Rarity had always been warned that dragons were, and yet all Rarity could think about when she considered Lightning was how she was so unlike every other dragon Rarity had met in her life, even the ones who she had fought and killed.
The existence of Lightning Dust in no way justified Equestria’s bloody campaign of genocide, and Rarity had no choice but to sincerely stew in that truth.
Dragons really weren’t anything like what Rarity had been told. She had been lied to her entire life, and now— finally— she was forced to accept this as fact.
She was forced to accept that she was wrong about Fluttershy.
She was wrong about Twilight Sparkle.
A rumbling in the cave behind her made Rarity’s ears stand at attention, and she instinctively spun on her hooves and reached for a weapon, though she stopped just short of drawing one.
Rarity’s heart fell into her stomach as a massive dragon slithered out of the cave; with golden fur and pink feathered wings, the dragon’s towering body was serpentine like a giant snake… or a noodle.
It was only Fluttershy.
And yet Rarity couldn’t stop trembling.
As she stood face to face with a dragon that cast its shadow over her like a bird of prey might do to a frightened rodent, Rarity couldn’t stop fear from gripping her heart. She couldn’t stop her hooves from shaking, her panicked breathing from rapidly increasing in pace, or her heart from thundering in her chest.
Even though Rarity knew— at least in theory— that Fluttershy wouldn’t hurt her, seeing a dragon so close still made Rarity panic.
What was odd though, was the way this dragon shook. The way her legs quivered, her wings flattening against her side like they were pried shut, and the glistening in her eyes of… tears? More than any of that though, was the pained scowl of a woman who was terrified of what she was looking at, and all Fluttershy was looking at was Rarity.
Rarity couldn’t believe what she was seeing; a dragon shaking in fear. And of something so little, just a mere pony. And yet Rarity looked into Fluttershy’s eyes and was met with the same fear she was so accustomed to when thinking of dragons.
So much of Rarity’s life had been defined by fear of dragons— not only her own fear, but those of her parents’, of Rainbow Dash, of the citizens she protected, and yes even Celestia’s.
How much then had Fluttershy’s life been tainted by fear of the Slayers?
Rarity held out her hand, and the tiniest of gasps escaped Fluttershy’s lips. Rarity was tempted to recoil at the sound but she forced herself not to, simply extending her fingers to show that her hand was empty. That it was safe.
Fluttershy’s eyes flickered over Rarity’s hand, then back to her eyes. Fluttershy was biting her lip now, but her breathing was becoming steady. Rarity managed to control her own breathing as well, though she wondered if Fluttershy could hear the thunderstorm of her heart pounding in her chest.
Fluttershy lifted her paw off of the ground and now Rarity was the one who had to suppress a gasp. As Fluttershy’s paw— big enough to clutch Rarity’s head and crush it like a cherry tomato with little effort— inched closer to Rarity, she felt everything in her Slayer’s brain screaming at her to run, to attack, to defend or dodge or escape or do anything so that she wouldn’t be killed.
What she chose to do was take a deep breath and remain completely still, as Fluttershy gently touched her paw against Rarity’s hand.
It was almost comical; Rarity’s tiny hand wasn’t enough to cover even one bean on Fluttershy’s paw, yet Fluttershy held her paw there in compete serenity, not even wincing as Rarity pressed her hand closer Fluttershy’s soft pads.
A smile crossed Rarity’s lips. She looked at the ground. With her eyes focused on the snow melting into grass at Fluttershy’s feet, it was easy to get lost in the soft and comfy texture of Fluttershy’s paw, like the world’s coziest couch cushion.
But when Rarity looked up again, and saw that texture was connected to a massive, towering dragon, she completely lost her nerve and her blood ran cold. Her stomach sank and she stumbled backward, terrified scowl marring her face.
She turned and walked away. Unable to bear looking at… at her friend who she had scorned with her fear.
Rarity turned back to Fluttershy, who still had her paw raised, even as her lip was bleeding from the sting of her bite. Rarity took two bold and confident steps toward Fluttershy, then a third trembling and hesitant step as she dug her hooves into the grass in front of the dragon. Rarity held up her hand once more, and as Fluttershy moved her paw to touch it, Rarity shook her head.
Rarity pointed at her nose, and after a second of confusion, Fluttershy’s eyes lit up in understanding.
Fluttershy put her paw on the ground and breathed deeply in through her nose. Rarity unbuckled her belt of weapons and threw it away, into the woods. She wouldn’t need them.
Fluttershy leaned her head down, slowly, slowly, and slower still, until finally her eyes met Rarity on the same level, and Rarity could gently place her hand on the tip of Fluttershy’s soft, round snoot.
Rarity kept her hand on Fluttershy’s snoot even as her whole entire body shook with panic. Even as she locked eyes, unblinking, with the glistening, ethereal eyes of the dragon staring back at her. Even as everything in her was screaming for her to run, or to grab her weapons.
Her whole body trembled… until it didn’t.
After a moment’s time as Rarity’s hand relaxed into the soft fur of Fluttershy’s snoot, Rarity felt her breathing relax, her heart rate slow, and her legs cease their shaking.
Rarity smiled at Fluttershy. Rarity knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was safe with her.
Fluttershy smiled back; a gleaming, fanged smile. Bigger and brighter than Rarity had ever seen on Fluttershy before, and it made Rarity’s smile somehow grow wider still.
Rarity wasn’t sure from whose eyes tears fell first.
All Rarity knew was that while Fluttershy’s tears carried the sweet sensation of a woman setting down her burdens, Rarity’s were bitter and dark. She held onto Fluttershy’s fur for dear life as she sobbed, as she wept, for the absolute nothing that her entire life had been for.
She cried for the dragon whose fang still often adorned Rarity’s neck. Nothing could justify that woman’s ruthless attack on the village she’d lived in, but Rarity was now in doubt if that attack ever would have occurred without her intervention.
She cried for the dragon in Baltimare, who knew nothing of his own death, awakening from a trance bloodied and blinded, only to be executed without mercy by Rarity’s own hand.
She cried for Fluttershy, who Rarity had treated with cold indifference at best, and unforgivably arrogant bigotry at worst.
But most of all, she cried for Twilight Sparkle.
Her heart bled for Twilight Sparkle, a woman who had put her trust in Rarity, and on the worst day of her life, Rarity came to make it so much worse.
She wept for Twilight, who was forced to endure a woman she cared about so deeply look into her eyes with such hatred, to endure countless attacks and brutal wounds from that same woman, yet never once tried to fight back, shackled by her love that nearly led her to her grave.
She grieved for Twilight, who had done absolutely nothing wrong and yet Rarity treated with icy contempt. She cried for the moment they spent on the roof of the Neighagra Falls Inn, in which Rarity was almost brave enough to let down her defenses, only to snatch the joy from both women’s hearts at the last moment.
Rarity broke down. She fell to her knees as she dug her nails into her face, sobbing and wailing like there was no one in the world who could hear her.
But there was someone. Fluttershy heard her loud and clear, and she scooped Rarity into her arms and held her close to the chest— the massive, soft, fluffy chest— as her sobs and wails joined Rarity’s.
Not for one second did Rarity even think to consider that she was caught in the grip of a dragon.
All she knew, all she cared about, was that she was in the comforting and loving embrace of a dear friend.
Applejack flexed her muscles, partly cuz she was admiring herself in the inn room mirror and the dashing green bandana around her neck that was a very sweet present from Pinkie Pie. She flexed partly just cuz she could; Shining Armor’s healing magic was no joke, and it fixed up her stems and Pinkie’s lickety split.
But mostly she was flexing cuz Pinkie was in the room, and her cooing at Applejack’s muscles made Applejack’s heart sing.
“Gawd,” Pinkie sighed dreamily, “how did I never realize how hot you are before?”
“I’m pretty sure you did,” Applejack hopped onto the bed next to Pinkie, the weight of Applejack’s body causing Pinkie to bounce with a little giggle. “You haven’t exactly been shy about complimentin’ my physique before.”
“Is that right?” Pinkie purred and put her hand on Applejack’s arm. “Well I should be complimenting it more cuz it’s-” Pinkie bit her lip and inhaled sharply “-it’s good shit, Applejack.”
“I’m gladja think so, Pinkie,” Applejack laughed and put her arm around Pinkie, staring into the soft creampuff’s sapphire blue eyes. Were they sapphire? Rarity’d kill her for getting that kinda thing wrong, but whatever, to Applejack they were blue. “I think you’re beautiful too.”
“Well I am,” Pinkie grinned devilishly, and that just made her more attractive. “So I can’t blame you for noticing.”
Applejack laughed for a second but she couldn’t keep her hands— or her lips— off of Pinkie’s body for even one more second or else she’d go feral, so she threw Pinkie down onto the bed and pinned her, Pinkie laughing and breathing heavily before Applejack planted a rough but tender kiss onto the beautiful mare’s lips, then lifting her shirt to plant another kiss right on her soft, pudgy tummy.
Applejack didn’t know how long the two spent making out, but by the time they were forced to stop thanks to a knock at the door, their clothes were both half off, Applejack’s hair was untied, and the sheets were falling off the bed.
Honestly, Applejack kinda just wanted to ignore the knock, but after the second tap at the door, Applejack sighed and made peace with the fact that she needed to get off her favorite gal. Well one of her favorite gals. Rainbow was also still her favorite. Applejack had two hands.
So she got off of Pinkie, got off the bed, made the barest attempt to put her shirt back on and it kinda slid half on but one of her arms was still hanging out the bottom instead of through the sleeve, and she opened the door.
Big Mac was on the other side, and Applejack smiled at him.
“How’s it goin’, little bro?” Applejack said as she leaned against the doorframe.
“Am I interrupting?” Big Mac grinned and chuckled into his hand as Pinkie, also half-undressed, peeked her head out the door.
“No, we got time,” Pinkie said. “What’s up, Big Mac?”
“Came to say howdy one last time ‘fore ya leave?” Applejack asked.
It was a shame Big Mac and Shining Armor couldn’t stick around and join the party ‘til they reached the Crystal Empire, but apparently Shining wasn’t any fonder of the place than Twilight was, and him and Big Mac had just come from there.
Now the two of ‘em were on the road, just the two of ‘em, to get to know each other better. Applejack would never even dream of getting in the way of that.
“Something like that,” Big Mac hummed. “Shiny still wants to apologize for not being present for the dragon battle—”
“Aw, tell him it was nothin’,” Applejack scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. “Just like I told him already, like fifty times while he was patchin’ me and Pinkie up. He couldn’t’ve known, and it’s all water under the bridge now.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie added with a big nod. “He shouldn’t feel bad about anything! If anything, we should be thanking him for sewing us back together!”
“I know yer right,” Big Mac chuckled, taking his hat off his head and holding it in front of him, “but you gotta understand, my boy feels things deeply.”
“Yeah, I getcha,” Applejack looked down at Pinkie, who looked back at her with an innocent smile, and chuckled into her hand. “I know a pony or two just like that.”
“Oh and hey,” Big Mac snapped his fingers and smiled kindly. “I got somethin’ for you too.”
Big Mac took the hat in his hands and placed it gingerly on top of Applejack’s head. She was sure it wouldn’t fit her, yet it almost felt like she was always meant to wear it, and her eyes glistened like stars as she looked up at it and felt the brim on her fingers.
“Pa’s old hat,” Applejack said breathlessly. “But why’re you givin’ this to me? I—”
“You can give it back to me next time we meet,” Big Mac said. “But for now, hold onto it, and it’ll be like a part of me, and a part of ma and pa, are right there with you.”
“And then when I give it back,” Applejack smiled so brightly, and she could swear she must’ve got sand in her eye, “a part of me will be with you. No matter how far apart we are, we’re always together.”
“We’re a family,” Big Mac said, “that’s the way it’s s’posed to be.”
Applejack’s lip quivered for just a sec before she threw her arms around Big Mac and pulled him into a tight hug, slapping him on the back a couple times for good measure. Mac put his arms around Applejack in return and held her tight.
And of course, it wouldn’t be an Apple Family hug without everyone’s favorite honorary Apple jumping into the mix, so Pinkie nestled between them and the two crouched down to hug her too.
It had been a long couple of weeks. But for just a moment, everything felt right with the world. Everything was the way it’s s’posed to be.
Rarity scowled as she picked up her gear to examine. Her clothes were still icky with sweat and filth, and she was in the incredibly unenviable position of deciding between putting them back on and feeling gross, or heading back to town completely naked.
“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked softly as she entered the cave, Rarity turning back to look at her and feeling a warm smile spread across her lips as soon as she saw the noodly dragon.
“Trying to decide whether to put my clothes back on,” Rarity hummed, giving her damp gear another cursory glance. “I could simply return to town in the nude, but I feel like I should charge people for getting a look at-” Rarity gestured to herself and swayed her hips a little bit, flashing a seductive smile at Fluttershy “-all this, you know?”
“I do,” Fluttershy chuckled, paw up to her mouth. She leaned her head close to the ground and grinned. “I hope the fee isn’t too expensive, cuz I could look at ‘all this’ all day.”
“Well,” Rarity dropped her gear and suddenly felt the need to give Fluttershy her undivided attention, walking up to the noodle and putting her hands on the dear’s soft muzzle, “I suppose for a friend, I can offer a discount.”
Rarity leaned into Fluttershy’s snoot, and Fluttershy closed her eyes and hummed, but Rarity stopped short just as she found her lips barely an inch from Fluttershy’s nose.
What was she doing?
Was she— was she leaning in to give a Fluttershy a kiss? That’s certainly what it seemed like, but that wasn’t the kind of relationship she had with Fluttershy!
Was it?
Rarity awkwardly cleared her throat and stumbled backward, away from Fluttershy. But in her haste and embarrassment, didn’t notice a jagged stone behind her hoof until she had tripped over it, causing her to lose her balance and fall backward.
And while she braced herself for her tailbone to collide with the rough stone floor of the cave, what caught her instead was the soft embrace of Fluttershy’s tail, and as Rarity opened her eyes she saw Fluttershy looking at her, eyes wide with concern for just a fraction of a second before relief washed over her.
“Good thing I caught you,” Fluttershy laughed softly.
“Yes,” Rarity said, her voice strained by the unbearable heat in her cheeks. “Very good thing.”
Well.
Things had certainly taken an unexpected turn. The last thing Rarity had expected when she had suggested this little outing with Fluttershy was to begin harboring a crush, and just acknowledging the fact that it was indeed a crush made Rarity feel a little nauseous.
Was it because of lingering ill will against dragons? Was she embarrassed to be looking upon one and feeling not hatred or fear, but affection and— dare she say it— lust?
No, that wasn’t it at all.
It was because Rarity’s heart already belonged to another, and until she had made peace with that woman, she would not allow her heart to be opened again.
But then again…
Looking at Fluttershy’s soft smile bearing down on her, feeling her lithe tail wrapped around Rarity’s bare hips, feeling the plush fur of Fluttershy’s coat, and cooing at her tender paws, and her gorgeous fangs that peeked out of her mouth even when it was closed… it was hard to keep her heart sealed shut.
“Well, ahem, anyway,” Rarity coughed and sputtered, pushing herself off of Fluttershy’s tail and returning her attention to her moist gear. “I suppose I had better-” Rarity groaned weakly “-get dressed.”
Rarity desperately wanted to avoid slipping back into her clothes until she had the opportunity to properly wash them, and while she joked about not wanting just anypony to see her naked, the truth was a little more embarrassing.
Being naked around Fluttershy was beginning to make her feel… vulnerable? No, perhaps that wasn’t the right word. Self-conscious maybe. A sort of… comfortable discomfort, but that comfortableness was uncomfortable.
That didn’t even make any sense.
The point was, if Rarity spent even one more minute with her naked body exposed to Fluttershy’s gaze, she was certain she would die from embarrassment, or at least heat stroke.
“Would this help?” Fluttershy asked softly, as she held something out for Rarity by her tail. A mint green dress that wouldn’t exactly fit on Fluttershy in her current form.
To say Rarity’s face turned bright red would almost seem redundant.
Rarity had to consider for a moment if wearing Fluttershy’s dress would be more or less vulnerable than simply being naked around her, but only for a moment as she soon realized that if Fluttershy was offering something so intimate, Rarity would be foolish to refuse her.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Rarity whispered as she took the dress in her hands. “This is perfect.”
The dress was a little tight around the hips, though Rarity supposed most things were for her, and the trail in front fell nearly to the ground; it was a dress meant for someone a fair bit taller than Rarity, after all.
But in Rarity’s mind, it was a perfect fit.
“So I guess that’s everything,” Rarity sighed, hands on her hips. “Frankly, I can’t wait to leave this godforsaken forest behind for the rest of my life.”
“Same,” Fluttershy grumbled. “Are you going to be okay walking back to town?”
“Hm?” Rarity groaned and cricked her neck. That thought actually hadn't yet occurred to her, she was too swept up in the thought of leaving the forest that she forgot the trek back would be a killer on her ragged body. “Well, I’m a little bit woozy still, but I’ll manage.”
“Um, you could um,” Fluttershy covered her face with her tail fluff, and Rarity tried to keep her heart contained within her chest. “I mean, if you want, you could ride me. Back to town. I could carry you.”
Rarity’s eyes widened. Fluttershy absolutely did not have to ask Rarity twice.
The rush of wind blowing on Rarity’s face as she gripped tightly to Fluttershy’s fur was exhilarating. It was like nothing she had ever felt before and she couldn’t stop herself from laughing like a woman who had become completely unhinged.
In a way, Rarity supposed she had. But she didn’t mind.
“Fluttershy, this is amazing!” Rarity shouted, making sure Fluttershy could hear her over the roar of the winds as they flied far above the ground. “You’re amazing!”
A woman with Fluttershy’s grace and poise had no business being so humble, quite frankly.
Though despite her supposed humility, the proud smile on Fluttershy’s face told another story. She was in her element as she tore through the skies. There was nothing out here bigger or stronger than her, and she was free to flex her wings and show off to her heart’s content.
It was rather enchanting to watch.
Though, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and eventually the pair reached the edge of the forest, where Fluttershy daintily touched the ground and settled into a soft landing. Rarity slid off of Fluttershy’s body with a sigh, one of both disappointment at the ride being over and of contentment for having shared the experience with her.
Fluttershy transformed back into her pony form, and Rarity was suddenly struck by the realization that Fluttershy was completely naked. Like, of course she was naked as a dragon, but seeing a naked dragon and seeing a naked pony elicited very different emotional responses!
Well…
Perhaps not that different.
“O-oh! F-Fluttershy!” Rarity blurted out, feeling rather flustered.
“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked casually, like there was nothing odd about her being naked in front of Fluttershy, which… actually, Rarity supposed there wasn’t. Not unless Rarity was having some kind of uncouth thoughts about Fluttershy’s body, which uhh perish the thought!
“Uh, nothing,” Rarity cleared her throat and managed to tear her eyes away from Fluttershy, even though gawd she was beautiful. “I was just, uh, I suppose I was just caught off-guard by your transformation is a—”
“Like what you see, Rarity?” Fluttershy cocked her hip to the side and put her hand there, grinning devilishly at Rarity whose entire face turned red like an apple. There were only so many poetic ways Rarity could think to describe her blushing, but Fluttershy just kept having that effect on her.
“Uh, w-well, I um—”
“Cuz I gotta say,” Fluttershy hummed as she took a few seductive steps toward Rarity, until she was standing right in front of her, gently tracing her finger across the bottom of Rarity’s chin slowly and steadily tilting Rarity’s head up to meet her gaze, “you were pretty easy on the eyes yourself. Maybe we could be naked together sometime.”
Rarity’s head exploded violently, leaving Fluttershy in a disgusting mess of blood and entrails.
Okay not actually, but that’s certainly what it felt like! Rarity had just gotten over her fear of Fluttershy, and now she was flirting with Rarity?!
And the most baffling part of it all was that Rarity really liked it.
Rarity stumbled backward and fell right onto her rump in the snow. She wasn’t honestly sure if it was from Fluttershy’s flirting or her exhaustion, but it was almost certainly both.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy called out, her earlier seductive air melting away into concern.
“I’m okay,” Rarity giggled, but as she tried to push herself back up to her hooves, she realized she couldn’t quite make it, so she let out another awkward laugh. “Oh, uh… I guess I’m still a bit woozy.”
“I’ll take care of you,” Fluttershy sighed, smiling in relief that Rarity wasn’t genuinely hurt.
Fluttershy leaned down and, before Rarity had a chance to protest, picked Rarity up off the ground, Rarity instinctively wrapping her hands around Fluttershy’s shoulders as Fluttershy carried her bridal style.
“I’ll carry you back to the inn,” Fluttershy said with a caring smile, and Rarity had absolutely no earthly clue if Fluttershy was flustering her on purpose at this point or was completely oblivious.
“O-okay,” Rarity squeaked out. She wasn’t really in a position to say no, even if she wanted to.
But more importantly, she really didn’t want to.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Rarity said softly, relaxing in Fluttershy’s arms.
There were a great many perks to being a dragon that Fluttershy had always been grateful for.
Flight was an obvious one, though dragons were far from the only creatures to possess that gift. Being born in the Dragon Lands also meant she was able to learn powerful magic from the academy, though given her experiences with her old magic teacher, that seemed a mixed bag at best.
But the perk Fluttershy had always appreciated the most was her physical strength, that she had access to even in her much smaller, thinner pony form.
The strength of a dragon was vast, and had a variety of helpful uses; from catching would-be assailants off-guard, to picking up and moving trees that threatened to trap or hurt her woodland critter friends, Fluttershy had always felt blessed by her strength.
Though it wasn’t until this one day strolling down the streets of Bitsburgh that Fluttershy realized the most important use of her great strength.
Carrying Rarity.
Fluttershy held Rarity in her arms, and Rarity rested her head against Fluttershy’s shoulder, purring gently; it was wonderful.
Granted, Fluttershy hadn't quite picked up on just how lesbian it was to be bridal carrying Rarity down the streets of Bitsburgh until after she had received several questionable stares, though Fluttershy’s nudity in the middle of winter may have contributed to those looks as well.
It didn’t matter; Fluttershy cared not for the opinions of bystanders as long as Rarity was comfortable, and if any pony tried to make something of it, they would quickly learn that the temper of a dragon was not something to be provoked.
Fortunately nothing quite so drastic was ever necessary, as Fluttershy got Rarity back to her room at the inn without any fuss, gently placing the weary unicorn onto the bed, and then sitting on the side of it herself, only realizing once the pair were back in safety just how exhausted Fluttershy still was by this entire ordeal.
“Mmm, thank you, darling,” Rarity hummed as she stretched herself out on top of the sheets, Fluttershy’s gaze laser focused on the contours of her body as she moved.
“It was my pleasure, Rarity,” Fluttershy chuckled and shot Rarity a teasing smirk. “Honestly, I just wish I could have carried you a bit longer. It was nice.”
“Aren’t you the helpful one,” Rarity bit her lip, and Fluttershy felt her face heating up like she was sitting next to a hot shower and letting the bathroom fill up with steam.
“I try,” Fluttershy said proudly.
“Well,” Rarity sat up, groaning under her breath as she forced her achy bones to move, “if you do want to help me further, I don’t suppose you could help me out of this dress? It’s a bit tight and I’m a bit tired.”
“Absolutely,” Fluttershy smiled brightly and got off the bed, the extremely lesbian overtones of Rarity’s request once again sailing completely over Fluttershy’s head.
Rarity stood to her hooves, and Fluttershy admired for just a moment how good Rarity looked in Fluttershy’s dress, though Fluttershy couldn’t help but think that Rarity would look even better out of it.
Rarity turned her back on Fluttershy and took a deep breath, and Fluttershy gingerly grabbed the shoulder straps of the dress.
“It’s not gonna just fall off, huh,” Fluttershy mused, merely thinking out loud.
“Absolutely not,” Rarity scoffed. “I’m way too THICC.”
Fluttershy snorted and stumbled back for a second, her hands covering her blushing face. Rarity’s statement was true, but hearing her say it really threw Fluttershy for a loop.
“You have a beautiful body, Rarity,” Fluttershy blurted out, absolutely mortified once she heard the words escape her lips.
Rarity turned her head to look over her shoulder at Fluttershy and smiled.
“So do you, darling. Both of them.”
“O-oh,” Fluttershy’s blush intensified and she bore a shaky smile that made her feel, and probably look, like an absolute bottom. “Thank you, you flatter me.”
“I only speak the truth,” Rarity said sweetly and shrugged, turning back to position so Rarity could remove her dress.
Fluttershy took the straps of the dress and slowly lowered them, revealing Rarity’s gorgeous back, then her— as Rarity put it— thicc hips and butt, before finally dropping the dress to the ground, kneeling behind Rarity and staring at her toned, shapely legs.
She was, in a word, mesmerizing.
And Fluttershy wondered if it was simply because of their extremely close encounter in the forest that she now found Rarity so attractive? She had always though Rarity was fairly easy on the eyes, but this? This heat pulsing through her heart and into her body like radioactive liquid? This was new.
But it wasn’t just the battle in the forest, though that did definitely jumpstart things a bit. It was a combination of things; Fluttershy already found Rarity rather attractive, and already wanted to get to know her better, but Fluttershy was scared.
Fluttershy wasn’t scared of Rarity anymore.
And if anything, she realized from the encounter in the forest— the sharing of magic, the fighting side by side, the mutual rescuing, and the sheer lengths Rarity went to in order to protect Fluttershy— that the two were one and the same in many respects.
They fit together, like sword and shield.
Fluttershy laughed under her breath though, cuz she wasn’t sure which of them was which.
“Enjoying the view, darling?” Rarity said teasingly, and Fluttershy realized with morbid humiliation that she was still kneeling down behind Rarity, and when she instinctively looked up and her eyes were met by Rarity’s butt, she uhhh, well she did indeed enjoy the view.
“Ahem,” Fluttershy chuckled nervously and backed away, standing up awkwardly, “yes. I, it’s uh, I um—”
“I’m just teasing you, sweetheart,” Rarity giggled and sat down on the bed, crossing one leg over the other.
More than you realize, I think, Fluttershy mused internally.
“So, hey,” Fluttershy sighed, “I should probably go so that you can relax, huh?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Rarity said dourly, and it comforted Fluttershy that Rarity didn’t sound like she was ready to say goodbye yet either. “After all, you have a delightful little marefriend who I’m certain has been desperately missing your company.”
“The feeling is mutual, honestly,” Fluttershy smiled brightly at the thought of Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy hadn't realized just how much she’d missed Pinkie, and how excited she was to see her, until Rarity brought her up.
“And I will need to recover as much strength as I can,” Rarity groaned and laid down onto the bed, staring solemnly at the ceiling, “for what comes next.”
“Oh?” Fluttershy bit down a smile; she didn’t want to assume or get ahead of herself, but she had a hunch about what Rarity was talking about, and it was a bit exciting to think about. “You’re finally going to—”
“Yes, once I have rested and I am feeling myself again,” Rarity nodded. “I’m going to talk with Twilight Sparkle.”
Fluttershy stretched her arms above her head as she lounged in the plush chair of the Bitsburgh inn’s lobby. Yesterday had been a long day, and she was still reeling from it. All she wanted to do now was sit down, drink some tea, and wait for Pinkie Pie to arrive; Fluttershy had even considered going to Pinkie’s room herself, but she didn’t want to impose, and Pinkie was sure to come by the lobby and see Fluttershy eventually.
And ‘eventually’ turned out to be sooner than Fluttershy thought, as Pinkie walked into the lobby alongside Applejack before Fluttershy had even poured her tea. Pinkie’s eyes lit up when she saw Fluttershy, and the gesture was more than mutual, Fluttershy standing up immediately and holding out her arms as Pinkie ran to her and leapt into Fluttershy’s embrace.
Pinkie planted a tender but aggressive kiss onto Fluttershy’s lips, and Fluttershy treated herself by sucking on Pinkie’s tongue for a second before their lips parted. She just hoped Pinkie didn’t think that was weird… it had been a while since Fluttershy had kissed, and she still felt kinda rusty.
“I missed you!” Pinkie beamed.
“I missed you too, sweetie,” Fluttershy giggled and rubbed her nose against Pinkie Pie’s. “I missed you so much.”
“Ooh,” Pinkie bit her lip and put a hand on Fluttershy’s bare chest, Fluttershy sighing contentedly at Pinkie’s touch, “you even unwrapped yourself for me.”
“I live to please,” Fluttershy chuckled and sat back down onto her chair, Pinkie taking a seat on top of her lap.
“Howdy, Fluttershy,” Applejack said pleasantly, climbing over the arm of the chair across from Fluttershy and lying down in it, her back against one arm and her legs over the other as she removed her rather dapper looking brown hat and placed it on the coffee table in the center of the chairs. “So how’d it go with Rarity?”
“Oh yeah!” Pinkie’s ears shot up and did the most adorable wiggle, Fluttershy biting down a laugh at how cute they were. “Are you two friends now? Tell us tell us tell us!!!”
“I uh,” Fluttershy bit her lip in the awkwardest of smiles as she thought about everything that had happened with Rarity, but especially how Fluttershy had very recently undressed her. “I think it’s safe to say that yes, we are friends now.”
Pinkie gasped in delight, holding her breath for a really long time, and Applejack lurched up and sat up straight, eyes wide as she looked over Fluttershy.
“No foolin’?” she said incredulously. “Y’all really settle things between ya?”
Fluttershy merely nodded. There would be a time that she— or ideally, Rarity— would have to explain to the others what occurred in the forest, but for right now Fluttershy thought it best to simply lay out the good news, and leave the details for another day.
“I’m so happy for you!” Pinkie squealed and buried her snoot in Fluttershy’s chest, tiny arms wrapped around Fluttershy’s even tinier waist. “And for Rarity! And for me too, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash and Spike and Twilight Sparkle! I’m just very happy in a general sense!”
“I hope yer feelin’ a mite safer ‘round the rest of us too,” Applejack added, rubbing the back of her neck. “I feel like we maybe haven’t done enough to make you feel comfortable in our little party.”
“Quite honestly, I think Pinkie Pie alone has done enough,” Fluttershy laughed softly, putting her arms around the beautiful pink pony who was still engrossed in hugging Fluttershy. “And Rainbow Dash has been sweet to me as well, and you’ve been kind enough. And with Rarity and I now being-” Fluttershy cleared her throat “-close, I’d say I’m feeling as comfortable as I could reasonably expect to.”
“Well I’m gla—”
“Ooh wait, I just remembered!” Pinkie sprung up and beamed, shaking with anticipation. Or maybe she was just having a sugar rush? “Me and Applejack have some great news for you too!”
“Oh yeah?” Fluttershy said happily, stroking her precious Pinkie Pie’s mane. “Tell me all about it.”
“Applejack and I are dating now!”
Dead silence.
All of the light left Fluttershy’s eyes, and she only briefly entertained the notion of caring whether anyone noticed.
“Oh,” Fluttershy said flatly. “That’s great.”
Pinkie was still smiling; her rush of excitement softened the blow of Fluttershy’s response and it hadn't quite sunk into her yet just how lukewarm Fluttershy’s reaction was. Applejack had no such buffer, and Fluttershy could see she was sweating.
Good.
“Hey, you guys!”
Rainbow Dash’s voice meant a pin would have to be stuck in this conversation for now. Yet another thing to be handled at a later date. Or never.
“Oh snap, Fluttershy!” Rainbow grinned and waved at Fluttershy as Rainbow jumped onto the back of a lounge chair and perched there. “You’re back! Good to see you! Everything go alright with Rares?”
Fluttershy nodded and contemplated giving a more thorough answer, but Pinkie beat her to it.
“It went great!” she yelled. “Fluttershy and Rarity are best friends now!”
“Best friends, huh?” Rainbow smiled and raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy, who rolled her eyes playfully.
“I wouldn’t say best—”
“And Applejack and I are dating too!”
Fluttershy felt like she was standing on a train that was roaring down the tracks, and then everything turned to slow motion as the train hit a bomb and flipped over into the air.
“No kiddin’,” Rainbow grinned slyly at Applejack. “Damn, girl, yer just irresistible to the ladies, huh?”
“It’s the freckles,” Applejack replied with a conceited smirk.
“Well,” Rainbow said as she flew over to Applejack, wrapping her arms around the mare’s broad shoulders and sitting in her lap, “make sure you don’t forget about li’l ol’ Rainbow Dash.”
“How could I?” Applejack whispered, sliding her hand up Rainbow’s shirt and putting her hand on the back of Rainbow’s neck, pulling her in for a kiss.
“Damn,” Rainbow said weakly. She darted her eyes over to Pinkie and flashed a bright grin. “I totally get what you see in her!”
Pinkie laughed, and while that sound usually filled Fluttershy’s heart with joy and sweet, tender feelings, right now it crumbled to ash in her ears and left her nothing but bitter.
“Y-yo,” Rainbow said awkwardly, head snapping over to look at Applejack, though Fluttershy swore that Rainbow had locked eyes with her for a fraction of a second, “you guys wanna hit the bar for a bit? Sounds like we got a lot to celebrate, y’know?”
“Oh that sounds awesome!” Pinkie jumped onto the table and pumped her fists, completely forgetting that Fluttershy was even sitting there.
“Where’s Twilight at?” Applejack asked.
“Don’t worry, she’s totally fine,” Rainbow waved her hand dismissively and perched on the back of the chair behind Applejack. “She’s like totally back to a hundred percent— those were her words, which means she’s really at about eighty— and she’s taking a load off in her room. Catching up with Spike, y’know?”
“Well in that case,” Applejack smiled as she stood to her hooves, swiping her hat off the table and placing it on her head, “I guess I could go for a drink.”
“Not a cider though,” Pinkie laughed, and Applejack laughed too. Oh, did they have inside jokes now? How cute. “You wanna go, Fluttershy?” Pinkie held out her hand to Fluttershy, who smiled thinly despite the thought of taking it making Fluttershy nauseous.
“Go on ahead,” Fluttershy said calmly. She was calm. “I need a minute.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie cheered, Fluttershy wincing at that happy-go-lucky attitude, like she hadn't a care in the world. Usually one of Pinkie’s most precious attributes, but in this moment it grinded against Fluttershy’s last nerve like a millstone.
Fluttershy watched Applejack and Pinkie as they left for the bar. Together. Chatting away, Pinkie holding up her hand and Applejack holding it gently.
Fluttershy grinded her teeth against each other and stared daggers. She smelled blood.
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow called out seriously. Fluttershy snapped out of her haze and gave Rainbow her attention. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle ya. I just wanted to ask, are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Fluttershy’s smile became ever thinner.
“I may not be good at reading a room,” Rainbow sat down in the chair across from Fluttershy and crossed one leg over the other, “but I know jealousy when I see it. Cuz like, I feel it in my bones. I get it.”
“I’m not jealous,” Fluttershy scoffed at the absurdity— the audacity— of such a claim.
“Yeah?” Rainbow shot back, unconvinced. “What do you call that death glare you were giving Applejack then?”
“I’m not jealous,” Fluttershy growled through gritted teeth.
“Fine,” Rainbow shrugged. “But y’ain’t exactly jazzed about Pinkie and Applejack dating, are you?”
“Of course I am,” Fluttershy forced those lies out of her throat. “I couldn’t be happier for them.”
“That right?” Rainbow hummed. “You’re a bigger mare than I am, I guess. I’m like mad jealous. Cuz you gotta remember, Pinkie’s dating my girlfriend. We’re kinda in the same boat.”
“And you’re jealous of Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy cocked her head. Rainbow needed to start making sense soon or Fluttershy was gonna transform back into her true shape and bite Rainbow in half. Oh no, that was too vicious… she would probably just… feel bad and sulk about it instead.
“Maybe ‘jealous’ isn’t the right word?” Rainbow pondered, tapping a finger against her cheek for a moment before becoming uncharacteristically sullen. “Scared, more like. Scared that Applejack will love Pinkie more than me.
“That she’ll move on from me now that she’s met someone new. That she’ll abandon me, and all my fears about myself, about how I’m unlovable and I’m scum and I mess everything up all the time, that they’ll all be proven true.
“I’m scared.”
“We really are in the same boat,” Fluttershy said coldly. No matter how much it hurt her to be honest— and the words felt like knives scraping against her throat— she couldn’t reward Rainbow’s heartfelt sincerity with another lie.
“I’m scared too,” Fluttershy continued. “Of course I’m happy for Pinkie finding love with another woman, we talked about polyamory quite a bit already, and we’re both onboard to support each other’s loves no matter who it’s with!
“I just didn’t expect to have to share her so soon. I want her to be mine. I want her to love me.”
“She does,” Rainbow said casually.
“I know,” Fluttershy said, her voice as hollow as her heart right now, “but I don’t always know.”
“I feel ya,” Rainbow Dash sighed and placed her hands on her knees, standing to her hooves and moving across the lounging area to stand next to Fluttershy, putting a warm, supportive hand on her shoulder. “And at some point, you’re gonna need to talk to her about it, just like I’m gonna need to talk to Jackie.”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy sighed bitterly, whatever was left of her joy escaping through a painful breath.
“But for now,” Rainbow clapped Fluttershy’s shoulder, “how ‘bout we just enjoy a drink with some friends?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. She thought about Rarity, about Pinkie Pie and about Rainbow Dash, about Twilight Sparkle, and yes, even about Applejack. She had some good friends.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy managed to eke out a heartfelt smile, if only a little one, “I’d like that very much.”
Pinkie Pie’s words cut Rarity’s ego like an executioner’s blade as the two departed from the inn lobby and made their way through the pleasantly calm streets of Green Neigh— a delightful little meadow town at the foot of the Crystal Mountains, known for its evergreen meadows even in the dead of winter— headed to the train station for an important errand.
“Well, er, yes, I mean no, the thing about that is—” Rarity stuttered and desperately tried to fish for an excuse, but the truth was she simply got cold hooves and had already been feeling quite guilty about it in the week that passed since the party left Bitsburgh; she hardly needed Pinkie Pie rubbing lemon juice into her wounds.
“Hm, well in that case,” Pinkie hummed thoughtfully, “I totally understand everything now. Thanks for clearing that up, Rarity!”
Rarity hung her head and groaned. It’s not that she didn’t deserve this grilling from Pinkie Pie, but it still felt bad!
“I’ll talk to her once we return from Canterlot,” Rarity held her head up high and declared proudly, “I promise.”
“Well, you’d better!” Pinkie pointed an accusatory finger at Rarity. “Now that you and Fluttershy are BFFs, I feel so bad for Twilight! She’s being left out!”
“I know, darling. I know,” Rarity sighed and anxiously rubbed the back of her neck, cheeks heating up and for once she didn’t have any lesbian feelings to blame it on. “And I have no excuses either. I should have talked with Twilight long before now, but I—”
Rarity held her head in her hands and groaned furiously, stomping her hoof on the grass like a baby throwing a tantrum.
“Can I be completely, embarrassingly, honest?” Rarity asked Pinkie, head down in shame.
“Of course,” Pinkie responded sweetly, no hint of irony or judgement in her voice. Rarity always appreciated that about Pinkie Pie.
“The truth is—” Rarity whined and grumbled under her breath and tried to squash the unbearably, embarrassingly honest words she wanted to speak before they could escape her lips, but she was a damn adult and she needed to start acting like one.
“The truth is, I want nothing more than to apologize to her. To beg for her forgiveness if that’s what it takes, and even to confess my feelings to her, that I never stopped pining for her even during my bitterness and anger, no matter how desperately I tried to convince myself otherwise.”
“Well if that’s how you feel,” Pinkie said, “maybe you should, I dunno, just do that.”
“Eh, w— uhhhh,” Rarity blushed and puffed up her cheeks. “Well it’s not that easy!”
“Why not?” Pinkie asked drolly, her smug smirk only getting more powerful with the seconds that passed of Rarity being unable to answer.
“I wanted to wait for the Gala,” Rarity said ashamedly. “I know it’s probably just me being a big drama queen, but I had this whole thing planned out where I dramatically confessed and apologized to Twilight in the gardens outside the palace as the moonlight showered us in its gentle glow.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Pinkie pondered. “Bringing Twilight to the Sun District in Canterlot, I mean.”
“I’m not sure,” Rarity said. “Which is why this detour to Canterlot we’re taking is so perfectly timed. I know Celestia won’t be making an appearance at the Gala this year, so we don’t have to worry about her. That just leaves one other alicorn to be concerned with, and I’ve been itching to speak with her in regards to Twilight for quite some time.”
“And even more importantly than that!” Pinkie beamed and her eyes sparkled like a starlit sky. “You get to meet my mom! I’m super duper excited about that, and for her!”
“Because she’s going to get to meet me?” Rarity said proudly, but then giggled into her hand. “OR because she’s going to be attending the Gala herself with her mysterious rich girlfriend?”
“Both! Duh!” Pinkie scoffed, and that gave Rarity a good laugh. Truth be told, she was glad that she was going to be with Pinkie Pie for this errand. Nopony was quite so good as making you forget your troubles as she was.
The train station of Green Neigh was much like the rest of the small town; very pleasant. It was completely open to the crisp afternoon air, and surrounded by miles of lush grass, a simple wooden platform being all that comprised the station itself.
Four women and a young boy were the only people waiting at the station, but they were all eager to see off Rarity and Pinkie Pie before their little adventure to Canterlot. Even Twilight Sparkle was there, which was impossible to ignore despite Rarity’s desire to do just that.
Though of the four women, the one who Rarity’s gaze was laser focused on was Fluttershy. Even as Rainbow and Spike came by Rarity to say their goodbyes and good lucks, and she exchanged pleasant banter with the two, her eyes remained fixed on Fluttershy as she kissed Pinkie goodbye and exchanged an awkward handshake with Applejack.
Granted, part of that was simply an excuse to not look at the lavender mare sitting on the wooden bench all by herself, but Rarity couldn’t deny that Fluttershy was mesmerizing on her own merits.
Soon enough though, it was Rarity’s turn to speak with Fluttershy, and she practically couldn’t wait.
“Hey, you,” Fluttershy whispered as she walked up to Rarity, her finger delicately tracing Rarity’s chest. “I hope my girl doesn’t give you any trouble while you’re out together.”
“And I hope you won’t miss me too much while I’m gone,” Rarity responded with a smirk and gave Fluttershy a kiss on her fingers, Fluttershy grinning ear to ear with a sweet giggle.
“I’ll try not to,” Fluttershy sighed, her fingers intermingling with Rarity’s.
And while Rarity would have loved to just playfully flirt with Fluttershy until the train arrived, there was a sinking feeling in Rarity’s chest that struck her when she instinctively looked down the tracks to check for the train. It wasn’t in sight yet. But there was something Rarity needed to do before it was.
“Will you excuse me for a moment, darling?” Rarity said to Fluttershy, clinging to her hand like a life-preserver.
“Of course, dear,” Fluttershy nodded with an understanding smile, and as she slowly let her fingers slip from Rarity’s grasp, it was like the skin on Rarity’s own hand was being stripped away.
Fluttershy walked away, rejoining the rest of the group on the other side of the station as they all chatted away waiting for the train.
All except one, who still sat quietly by herself on the bench.
“Is this seat taken?” Rarity asked Twilight Sparkle, her heart thundering in her chest like it was but a single beat away from bursting.
Twilight looked up at Rarity; eyes wide, ears clamping against her skull like she was caught in a hunter’s sights.
“N-no, it isn’t,” she said, her voice dripping with nerves as her brow dripped with cold sweat.
Rarity sat down silently. She could feel the tension in Twilight’s body— and her own, for that matter— like it was a palpable smog in the air, and she wished there were some easy way to diffuse it, but all Rarity could think to say was the truth, and she had no way to know if that would make things better or worse.
“There’s so much that I wish to say to you,” Rarity said, her eyes refusing to meet Twilight’s. “So much I wish to apologize for.”
“I never asked you for an apology,” Twilight said, her tone distant like a whisper on the winter night’s air. “I never even thought to ask for one.”
“Twilight, the way I treated you was—” Rarity stammered. She wasn’t sure which was harder to grapple with, her guilt over the way she treated Twilight, or Twilight’s audacity not to hold it against her. “I was so cruel to you. I almost killed you, for heaven’s sake!”
“And I won’t pretend that I don’t have some hurt feelings,” Twilight said, “but in that situation, what else could you have done? You almost killed me. It didn’t have to be almost, but you chose to stay your blade.”
“Because— I—” Rarity bit her lip. She didn’t think that small amount of charity was worth any kind of commendation.
“I never stopped loving you, Rarity,” Twilight sighed, and those words got Rarity’s attention enough to truly look upon Twilight for the first time in what felt like a century, and good lord was she still so beautiful. “I have a lot of stuff I wanna apologize for too, all the secrets and lying and whatnot—”
“Darling, how could you have possibly told me the truth in the position you were in?” Rarity interjected, galled that Twilight would be feeling guilt in this situation.
“Can you really pretend that you don’t have hurt feelings about it though?” Twilight’s eyes glanced toward Rarity for only a second, but it was enough to give her pause.
“Honestly,” Rarity sighed and dug her nails into her knees, “I hadn't really thought about it. My head’s been swimming with so much, so many other people’s thoughts, I don’t think I’ve really taken the time to process how I feel, about any of this.”
“How do you feel?” Twilight asked.
“I miss you,” Rarity said immediately, turning to look Twilight in the eye as tears stung her.
“I miss you too,” Twilight gave a shaky smile as her own tears began to fall down her face. Rarity couldn’t help herself; she put her thumb on Twilight’s cheek to wipe them away, and Twilight leaned into Rarity’s hand and purred.
The roar of the train approaching was like an explosion of shattered glass in Rarity’s brain, yanking her from what she didn’t realize she had been waiting for this whole time, and it was painful to think that she now had to stand up and tear herself away from Twilight Sparkle.
“That’s me,” Rarity said sadly, Twilight opening her eyes and smiling at her, still content to lean into Rarity’s hand.
“It is,” Twilight took Rarity’s hand in hers and took a deep breath. “Can I send you a letter tonight?”
“Wh-what?” Rarity blinked, taken aback by that request. Not that she minded it of course. “Wh— y-yes, of course! But why do you ask?”
“So, I’ve known that you smoothed things over with Fluttershy ever since it happened last week,” Twilight hummed, and Rarity’s cheeks burned red with shame for what must have been the hundredth time today. “I know you’ve been avoiding me in that time too, and I figured it’s cuz you don’t know what to say?”
“That’s why I wanted to take the time to talk to you now,” Rarity said, placing her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and gripping her tightly like she would disappear if Rarity let her go, “before—” the piercing sound of the train whistle interrupted Rarity at the perfect time, Rarity shutting her eyes tightly in a pained wince.
“If I take the time to write a letter,” Twilight said, “and you take the time to read it over before you talk to me again, that might make sorting through our feelings easier for both of us.”
“That sounds perfect to me, Twilight,” Rarity sighed and bowed her head ever so slightly, Twilight following suit until the pair’s horns ever so briefly touched. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said with a soft smile, “for talking to me.”
“The last thing I deserve is your praise, my dear,” Rarity said.
“Maybe,” Twilight giggled and did that smug grin she did when she was oh so sure she had something clever to say, and Rarity hadn't realized until she saw it how desperately she had missed it. “But it isn’t for you to decide who I praise.”
“Well then consider me flattered,” Rarity gave a soft laugh as she stood to her hooves. “I will talk to you when I return.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Twilight said with a gentle smile.
“So am I,” Rarity smiled back before she turned away and headed for the train station.
“Proud of ya, hon,” Applejack whispered as Rarity walked by, Applejack slapping her on the shoulder.
“Took you long enough,” Rainbow chuckled.
Fluttershy offered a supportive smile, and Spike was beaming, with tears glistening in his eyes. Rarity flashed a gleaming smile back at him, and at the rest of her friends.
And as she stepped onto the train, she gave one last look at Twilight Sparkle, ever so beautiful as always, and she waved to her. Twilight waved back, with a bright and wonderful smile on her face.
Rarity had been so certain that things could never go back to normal after what had happened between her and Twilight, but now she was starting to wonder… perhaps ‘normal’ wasn’t good enough anyway.
Rainbow groaned and fell flat on her back onto the grass for what must’ve been the fiftieth time, and just like always, the infinitely patient Twilight Sparkle just let out a cute chuckle under her breath.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Twilight said, leaning against a tree in the cozy private garden that she rented out during the party’s stay in Green Neigh. “Magic is rough, especially when you’ve never done it before. But you can do anything with enough practice, plus I believe in you.”
“And I have a great teacher,” Rainbow sat up and grinned at Twilight, who snorted and looked away as her face turned all red.
“You’re just saying that,” Twilight mumbled.
“Only cuz I mean it,” Rainbow jumped up and put her hand on the tree beside Twilight’s head, floating just off the ground to be at eye level with Twilight, who looked into Rainbow’s eyes with a look of surprise that quickly melted into affection.
“You’re sweet,” Twilight hummed, her thumb rubbing against Rainbow’s cheek. “Do you wanna take a break?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough for one day,” Rainbow sighed, but she was proud of herself for excluding the word ‘failure’ from that sentence. “You say it’s easier after you’ve done it for the first time, but I feel like I’m never gonna get there! I wish there was a way for me to get like, a little taste of using magic! Just a little bit! As a treat!”
“Well I mean, there is,” Twilight muttered, tapping her thumbs together, “it’s just kinda awkward and I didn’t want to bring it up in case you were uncomfortable with it.”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow’s attention was laser focused on Twilight now, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.
“I uh, I just mean that there’s um—”
Twilight puffed up her cheeks, but Rainbow needed to hear this information so she squished her own cheek right up against Twilight’s and gave her the most inquisitive look possible until Twilight just blurted out what Rainbow wanted to hear.
“There’s a spell that lets two people share magic but to activate it we’d need to kiss okay there you go so you don’t wanna do that or anything so I’ll just let you be on your—”
“Wait hold up,” Rainbow put up her hands before Twilight talked herself into a tizzy or something. “What exactly does the spell do?”
“It would allow me to share with you a fraction of my magic,” Twilight explained, remarkably calmly given how blushy and sweaty she looked. “You wouldn’t be able to do all the things that I can do, but you would have the raw magical energy to tap into your own— well, to create your own spells, basically.”
“That sounds awesome!” Rainbow pumped her fists and grinned ear to ear. “Why aren’t we doing that like right now?”
“Cuz like I said!” Twilight’s voice cracked as she hit some kind of world record octave. “It would require us to, y’know.”
“What if I already wanna kiss you?” Rainbow whispered in Twilight’s ear, soft smile on her face and eyes half-lidded. She wasn’t sure if it was coming off as like ‘bedroom eyes’ or ‘stoner eyes’ though.
“U-uh, w-well then, I uh,” Twilight stammered, eyes wide and face pink like an undercooked steak. “Then I guess um, that I uhm, you would be—”
“How ‘bout I give you some time to think about it,” Rainbow cackled and flew away from Twilight, perching on a tree branch a few feet from her. “I gotta go anyway, I took a mission while I was here, and Fluttershy agreed to go with me, so we gotta make plans.”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Twilight said with a shaky smile and nod, clearly still stuck in her own brain thinking of Rainbow, who did tend to have that kinda effect on people.
“And once I get back-” Rainbow zipped over to the tree branch right behind Twilight, Rainbow holding herself up by her legs as she dangled herself down from the branch to meet Twilight’s eyes “-I would really like for you to share your magic with me, if you’re comfortable with that.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight sighed and let her lips come mere inches from Rainbow’s, before she lost herself to a fit of giggles and backed away, Rainbow grinning at how silly and cute she was. “Rainbow Dash, it would be my pleasure.”
Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings to prepare for takeoff from the private garden she had been training in with Twilight, but before she could take to the sky, a half-mumbled whisper from Twilight got her attention.
“Hm?” Rainbow’s ears twitched. “You say somethin’, Twi?”
“Uh, yeah,” Twilight twiddled her fingers together and looked away anxiously. “I just wanted to tell you to be careful, and come back safe.”
“Awww do you care about me, Twilight?” Rainbow chuckled teasingly, giving Twilight a snide grin.
“Yes, of course,” Twilight said, and the completely unironic sincerity in her voice drowned Rainbow with affection.
“I care about you too,” Rainbow said softly, Twilight’s eyes lighting up and her smile growing bigger and brighter. “I promise I’ll be careful, so you don’t have to worry. I’ll have Fluttershy with me too, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be an unstoppable team. So don’t fret, I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Okay,” Twilight said and ran up to Rainbow, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll miss you.”
“Like I said,” Rainbow touched her cheek and bit her lip, resisting the urge to giggle like a smitten schoolfilly, “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Green Neigh was freakin’ chill, especially compared to Bitsburgh which made Rainbow feel like she was buzzing from a caffeine high just from walking down the streets. But Green Neigh didn’t even really have roads; just a few scattered houses on a lot of empty grassland, and it was a nice change of pace.
It looked even peacefuller from the sky, and Rainbow thought about just staying up there and watching the ponies on the ground forever, but she quickly batted that thought away out of her mind, cuz she did have stuff she needed to do.
Apparently the nearby Big Thunder Mine was hosting some uncool mysterious activity lately; miners straight-up going missing on the lower levels, and even on the higher ones people were feeling sluggish and exhausted like something was making them sick, only for them to be totally fine when they left the mine.
Clearly, something was up. Something was down in those lower levels, and it was the job of the Slayers to do something about it.
Granted, with Rarity handling important stuff up in Canterlot, Rainbow was facing the prospect of going into who knows what kinda danger all by herself, which just wasn’t gonna happen. Rainbow wasn’t feeling anywhere close to as reckless as she used to be— in no small part thanks to Applejack and Twilight Sparkle and the others— and Slayers always worked in teams for good reason.
Thankfully, Rainbow had someone else in mind who could help her, and she had a good feeling that she couldn’t be asking for a better partner.
“Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow landed near the edge of town, the woods that housed the Big Thunder Mine practically within spitting distance, and she saw Fluttershy lying on the grass nearby.
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy smiled up at Rainbow, not moving from where she was lying with her hands folded over her stomach. “Nice to see you.”
“Nice to see you too!” Rainbow chirped as she fell on the grass and lied down next to Fluttershy, looking at her with her cheek propped up by her hand, elbow resting on the grass. “Are you excited as I am about our upcoming mission?”
“I’m nervous,” Fluttershy laughed awkwardly; Rainbow couldn’t exactly blame her for feeling nervous, considering… well considering a lot of things. “But I’m honestly very grateful, and flattered, that you invited me to go with you, and I think it’ll be a good change of pace to clear my head.”
“Still thinking about Applejack, huh?” Rainbow said drolly, as if she even needed to ask.
It’d been about a week since Pinkie started dating Applejack, and only like twice that amount of time since Fluttershy started dating Pinkie; which like, good for Pinkie, right? Not so good for Fluttershy, who was really struggling not to feel jealous of AJ.
“I’m just—” Fluttershy groaned and sat up, biting down on her thumbnail. “I’m about ready to tear my damn hair out. I feel awful, and I feel even awfuller for feeling awful, and it’s just making so sick I can’t stand it!”
Fluttershy breathed heavily, and Rainbow only briefly considered the fact that she was sitting alone with a dragon who was slowly losing her mind to rage and envy, which was sorta kinda progress for Rainbow in a way.
“Y’know, I was talking to Pinkie the other day,” Rainbow hummed, sitting up and mirroring Fluttershy’s posture, minus the heavy breathing part, “and she just could not stop talking about you. About how cute you are, how beautiful you are, how sweet and nice you are, and about all the stuff she wanted to do with you. You aren’t being replaced, or anything like that.”
“I know,” Fluttershy whispered, her voice like a ghost speaking in the dead of night in an empty abandoned house. “It’s not even that… it’s not Applejack I’m afraid of, it’s me.
“Even if Pinkie hadn't started dating anyone else, would I have still wanted to control all of her time? I feel like I’m grasping for where the boundaries of a healthy relationship should be, but the understanding slips through my fingers like vapor.
“But also,” Fluttershy groaned and buried her head in her arms, folded over her knees as her legs were tucked up in front of her, “I’m also just really jealous of Applejack, and I’m afraid of missing out with Pinkie, or of being replaced, or of her not loving me, and I have no idea where any of these problems end and the other ones begin!”
Rainbow didn’t know what to say; she got where Fluttershy was coming from, but she didn’t know if being like ‘yea mood’ would come across as empathetic or rude, so she just shuffled up next to Fluttershy and put a wing across her back instead.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow and wiped tears from her eyes with an awkward laugh. “I kinda went off the handle there a little bit.”
“It happens,” Rainbow shrugged, “no big deal.”
Fluttershy stood up with a gentle groan, stretching her arms over her head, and Rainbow sprung up beside her.
“We should get going, huh?” Fluttershy said. “I’m looking forward to letting this distract me for a bit, and hopefully it’ll help clear my head a little.”
“Yeah! No time like the present!” Rainbow said, pumping her fists.
“I like your enthusiasm, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy sighed softly. “I’ll try not to drag you down.”
“I’m sure you won’t,” Rainbow said casually as the pair started walking toward the woods, though Rainbow couldn’t help but think that she wished Fluttershy would stop talking about herself like that. The only thing dragging Rainbow down was Fluttershy’s self-deprecation. “In fact, you should repeat after me! I’m sure you won’t!”
“I’m sure I won’t,” Fluttershy said.
“We’re gonna have a great time!” Rainbow cheered.
“We’re gonna have a great time,” Fluttershy muttered.
“I love Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow grinned.
“I love Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy smiled ear to ear, revealing her sexy sparkling fangs. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash, I feel a lot better now.”
“I’m glad to hear it!” Rainbow held out her fist toward Fluttershy. “Cuz you and me, we’re in this together! And I couldn’t ask for a better partner, to be honest!”
“You flatter me.”
Fluttershy tepidly placed her knuckles against Rainbow’s. It was an okay first try, so Rainbow was satisfied. Things could only go up from here!
If there was one thought that kept springing into Twilight Sparkle’s mind over and over and over again, it was that. Just that one simple word: Rarity.
Well, of course it wasn’t that simple. Twilight had a lot of thoughts about Rarity, about what Twilight would say in the letter she promised to send Rarity, about whether or not they could genuinely be considered friends again, about whether Twilight should’ve been angry at Rarity for how Rarity supposedly treated her— Twilight wasn’t angry about that, but she kept wondering if she should be.
In the end, it didn’t really matter too much. Twilight loved Rarity, and that was that.
Granted, she didn’t want to get her hopes up too much. If she really let herself believe that she and Rarity could be friends again— and even moreso if she let herself believe that Rarity might love her again— and she turned out to be wrong? Saying she would be ‘devastated’ would be the biggest understatement of her entire life.
Besides all that, Twilight was trying to stay present in the moment. She was sitting on a comfortable lawn chair in the private garden behind the Green Neigh inn, watching with delight as her son Spike threw hands in a sparring match against her dear friend Applejack.
Spike was so much smaller than Applejack, and so much less experienced, that he had no shot at beating Applejack in any kind of real spar, but Applejack was so good at giving him smaller goals that he could complete and be proud of.
Applejack was always teaching him little tricks and techniques; or at least that’s how she phrased it, but the truth was she was just teaching him basic combat fundamentals but making it sound more exciting than it was.
And Spike was starting to get a really good grasp on it! He wasn’t getting knocked on his back by every single one of Applejack’s attacks anymore, and his eyes burned with such fierce determination to learn and to become stronger, that it made his mother’s eyes well up with tears of pride.
Applejack was so incredibly good with Spike, so affirming and supportive and just fun to be around, that it made Twilight’s heart sing. And honestly, it wasn’t just Applejack; Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and Rarity too, and probably Fluttershy but they hadn't gotten to know each other as well yet. All of Twilight’s friends treated Spike with respect, and Twilight felt so blessed by that fact.
Even more than that though, it was wild to think that Twilight had so many people in her life who she could genuinely consider her friends. People who she wasn’t afraid of anymore.
That would take some getting used to.
“Hey, hon!” Applejack shouted, jerking Twilight out of her daydreaming. “You still awake?” Applejack laughed.
“Y-yeah!” Twilight squeaked back. “I’ve been watching! I just got a little sidetracked. Daydreaming, I guess.”
“Thinking about Rarity,” Spike said oh so confidently, nodding his head and crossing his arms.
“No doubt about it,” Applejack added with a smug grin, as if she and Spike knew sooooo much about what was going on in Twilight’s head. Obviously they were mostly right, but that didn’t give them the excuse to be so smug about it!
“You two think you know so much, huh?” Twilight grumbled, shooting the two a nasty look.
“Sorry, Twi, yer just too easy to read,” Applejack chuckled, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Oh yeah?” Twilight griped. “Then what am I thinking right now?”
“About how annoying I am,” Applejack guessed correctly, Twilight gritting her teeth as her only response.
“I’d say you hit the nail on the head, Applejack!” Spike fell over laughing, Twilight responding with a loud disgruntled sigh.
“Sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack walked over and knelt by the arm of Twilight’s chair, putting her hands delicately atop Twilight’s as it rested on the arm. “We’re just teasin’ you a wee bit, maybe we took it a bit too far.”
“No, you’re fine,” Twilight shrugged. Stars, it was hard to stay mad at Applejack, what with that sweet smile of hers, and that charming accent, and those adorable freckles. Applejack was too powerful, it was unfair. “I feel like I’m starting to cramp sitting in this chair all day though, you about ready to take five?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Applejack nodded and stood up. “Hey, Spike! You wanna call it for today?”
“Ugh I thought you’d never ask!” Spike fell flat on the grass and flomped his limbs out like a starfish, getting a giggle out of Twilight. “I feel like all of my body parts are ready to fall off at a moment’s notice!”
“You did a great job today, sport,” Applejack said cheerfully, pumping her fist; Spike responded by lazily raising his own fist into the air.
“I’ll have you know,” Twilight whispered to Applejack, who smiled at her with that ever charming smile, “I wasn’t just thinking of Rarity. I was also marveling at how good you are with my son, and how much I appreciate that.”
“Aw shucks, hon,” Applejack scoffed, her cheeks turning pink. “He’s a good kid, and I like hangin’ out with him. His ma’s pretty cool too.”
“Oh? ‘Pretty’ cool?” Twilight arched an eyebrow and rested her chin on her palm, looking up at Applejack with a smarmy smirk.
“Well yeah, she’s alright,” Applejack hummed. “Damn easy on the eyes though, that’s for sure.”
“Oh stop!” Twilight sputtered, teleporting in front of Applejack to give her a playful shove, but she forgot how sturdy Applejack was; the earth pony didn’t budge at all, and the momentum of Twilight’s attempted shove just ended up tripping Twilight up and pushing herself into Applejack’s chest, Applejack instinctively reaching out to put her arms around Twilight so she wouldn’t fall.
“Careful, hon,” Applejack whispered, taking Twilight gently by the hands.
“Good thing I had such a big strong pony nearby to catch me,” Twilight smiled brightly, honestly kinda proud of herself that she managed to ‘flirt’, and on purpose this time!
“Yeah,” Applejack audibly gulped and looked down at Twilight with a shaky smile, “good thing.”
“Wooooo!” Spike cheered, smashing a sledgehammer into Twilight and Applejack’s moment.
“Ahem!” Applejack coughed and pushed Twilight away, Twilight nearly tripping over her own hooves, and she could hear Spike stifling a cackle.
“Thank you, peanut gallery, for your input,” Twilight said flatly, glaring at Spike.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Spike chortled, and Twilight just rolled her eyes.
“I suppose it’s just as well,” Twilight hummed and took in a deep breath, “I have something I need to take care of real quick. Applejack, do you wanna grab some lunch with Spike, and I’ll meet you there?”
“Sounds great, sugarcube,” Applejack nodded with a bright smile on her face, tipping her hat to Twilight. Gawd she was cute.
Twilight smiled fondly as she watched the pair head back to the inn, Spike keeping Applejack busy by regaling some of his favorite tall tales, many of which came from either Twilight herself or books from her library, and it made Twilight so glad that those stories stuck with him.
Twilight pooled magic in her horn, and with a soft crack she teleported into a nearby alleyway between the back of the Green Neigh inn and another building that was far too close, startling the disguised dragon in pony form who had been watching Twilight and her group from the alley for quite some time now.
“Hey Trixie,” Twilight said, grabbing the startled Trixie’s shoulder and digging her nails into soft blue flesh, “how’s the tail?”
“How did—” Trixie stammered and sweat dripped down her brow as she turned her head slowly to look at Twilight Sparkle, who was holding Trixie by her hair in a gloomy alleyway behind the Green Neigh inn’s private gardens. “How did you know I was—”
“You can thank Fluttershy for that,” Twilight said drolly. “She detected your pitiful attempt at stealth the very first day you started stalking us, and once she showed me how to detect you too, it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” Trixie shrugged and scoffed, acting awfully smug for a dragon who Twilight could crush under her paw at any moment if she so chose. “You’re not gonna kill me, and we both know it. So what’s to stop me from just doing whatever I want?”
“Are you so sure I won’t kill you?” Twilight snarled, yanking Trixie back by the hair and putting her fingers— which ever so slightly transformed into dragon claws— up to Trixie’s throat. “After everything you’ve put me and my family through? Are you so sure that you’re willing to bet your life on it?”
“Absolutely,” Trixie whispered, a sneering grin crawling across her face. “You were always a coward, Twilight Sparkle. And if you had any intention of killing me, you would’ve done it already. Either that, or you’re just so stupid that you think you can stop me from hounding you. Doesn’t matter to me any which way.”
“Well-” Twilight breathed in deeply and let out a tense sigh “-you’re right. I can’t kill you. No matter what awful things you’ve done to me and my friends, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s acceptable for a person to take another person’s life.
“However,” Twilight yanked Trixie back a step by the hair, gently scratching a line up from her chin to her cheek, “I still think you may be underestimating me, Trixie. I can’t kill you, no. But what I can do is keep you alive, even without extraneous things like your arms and legs, or even your torso!
“So how do you feel about me cutting off your head and keeping it animated with magic, then sticking it in a bag until we reach the Crystal Empire, and just dumping you on my brother’s doorstep and letting him do whatever he cares to do with you. Maybe he’ll kill you? I dunno, it’s not really my problem at that point.
“What do you say to that,” Twilight pulled Trixie’s hair back and forced Trixie’s head to crane at an awkward angle to look Twilight in the eye, “Trixie?”
“Hm, okay,” Trixie laughed awkwardly, trying to hide her nerves and failing miserably, “I think I see your point.”
“So, anyway,” Twilight sighed and let go of Trixie’s hair, putting her hands on her own hips instead. She swore being around Trixie felt like babysitting. “Instead of trying to show each other up with threats, I have a better idea.”
“Oh yeah?” Trixie ran her hands through her hair to straighten out where Twilight had grabbed it; she didn’t look amused. “And what’s that?”
“Why don’t you just have a drink with me and my friends?” Twilight suggested. “Y’know, instead of going on a meaningless violent rampage that ends with you humiliated and bloodied by me and my friends?”
“Are you serious?” Trixie said flatly, smug grin on her face and a single eyebrow raised, arms crossed to complete the Look.
“I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Twilight shrugged. “But I’m gonna go get a bite to eat with a dear friend and my son, and you are welcome to join us. I feel confident that you aren’t going to cause trouble in town. You aren’t the type to waste your life on a suicide attack.
“But I will say this,” Twilight raised a single finger. “I won’t tolerate your stalking forever, Trixie. I’m giving you an opportunity to try and make peace, a little truce, if you will. You should take me up on this.”
“Maybe I will, Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie hissed.
“Great!” Twilight gave a bright beaming smile and locked arms with Trixie. “Let’s go then!”
Applejack and Spike were… less than impressed by Twilight’s surprise guest; Spike cowering under the table with only the top of his face and his hands peeking over, and Applejack putting down her sandwich and standing up, cracking her knuckles.
“Hey, everyone!” Twilight said cheerfully and put her arm around Trixie in a display of attempted camaraderie, though it definitely felt like putting her hand on a hot stove, and judging by the horribly strained smile on Trixie’s face, it wasn’t much easier for her either. “Look who I ran into!”
“Wow it’s that girl who’s tried to kill you twice,” Applejack said drolly. “What a nice surprise. Alright, Spike, you stand back while I—”
“Hold on, Applejack,” Twilight raised her hand and put the other on Trixie’s shoulder, Trixie’s face twisting into a mask of completely disgruntled bemusement weakly trying to pass itself off as cheer. “Trixie and I have agreed to something of a truce. In fact, I invited her to have lunch with us, and she very gratefully said yes.”
“That’s definitely what happened,” Trixie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm like a snake’s fangs dripped with a deadly venom. “You totally didn’t threaten me and then drag me here against my will.”
“I didn’t,” Twilight growled, locking eyes with Trixie. “No one forced you to come, Trixie.”
“Okay, one question though,” Applejack sat back down and folded her arms on the table. “Why?”
“Because,” Twilight sighed and took a seat across from her son, who was sitting next to Applejack, “Rarity and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash taught me that friendship can change your heart for the better-“ Twilight looked back at Trixie and pulled out a chair next to her with her magic for Trixie to sit down “-and I think Trixie deserves that opportunity.”
“Okay, I have a question!” Spike raised his hand. “Why?” he said, complete disgust written all over his scrunched up face.
Twilight blinked.
She hadn't really thought about that. She just thought—
“It’s the right thing to do,” Twilight said, the words falling out of her mouth and surprising even her. “So what do you say, Trixie? Care to join us?”
“Well, I guess since you’re so desperate,” Trixie scoffed and made a big show of sitting down in the seat Twilight provided her, “I suppose I can grace you with my presence for one meal, just so you can stop pining over me.”
“Great!” Twilight beamed, choosing to ignore all of Trixie’s sass and meet it with complete sincerity instead. “We’re happy to have you! Right, everyone?”
Applejack looked bemusedly at Twilight, propping up her cheek with one hand and tapping a finger against the table. Spike just looked at Trixie with a putrid scowl.
That was the thought that crossed Rarity’s mind over and over and over again as she rode the train to Canterlot, crying like a little baby the whole way as Pinkie Pie graciously held and supported her. Now Rarity was in the train’s bathroom, re-applying her makeup because she looked like a ghoul.
She didn’t mind it though; such was simply the price she paid for love, she supposed.
And it was true, she loved Twilight Sparkle, even still! And finally recognizing that for the truth that it was made Rarity feel more alive than she had in eons, or at least certainly since The Incident.
Rarity loved Twilight Sparkle, and at this point she was certain that nothing could ever change that.
“Hey, Rarity!” Pinkie chirped, sticking her head into the bathroom. Excellent timing too, as Rarity had just gotten herself to a relatively presentable state. “We’re almost at the station, you ready to jet?”
“I am, darling!” Rarity said proudly, spinning on her hooves and pumping her fists. She had no shortage of energy today, and it was all thanks to Twilight Sparkle.
No, wait… that wasn’t quite right.
When Rarity thought of the people she loved in this world, she thought of all of her friends. Her dear partner Rainbow Dash, lovely and dependable Applejack, endlessly delightful Pinkie Pie, charming and adorable Spike…
…and Fluttershy.
And it was specifically thoughts of Fluttershy that gave Rarity pause; Rarity’s exuberance and cheer during this trek to Canterlot— tears notwithstanding— made sense when she considered Twilight, she was the woman who brought color and purpose back to Rarity’s life, after all.
But Rarity felt those same feelings of warmth and comfort when she thought about Fluttershy. Perhaps not as loud; they were quiet and serene, nestled deep within the crevasses of her heart. But they were still there, glowing like embers.
The truth of the matter was… Rarity lo—
The piercing wail of the train’s horn cut through Rarity’s thoughts like a knife, and she figured she would need to shelve whatever notions or revelations she had been on the cusp of, for now she needed to depart the train and realign her mind to focus on what was important: talking to Princess Luna.
“Gawd, I am excited!” Pinkie cheered as she jumped onto the train station platform, Rarity daintily stepping off the train behind her.
“Oh?” Rarity hummed. “About visiting your mom?”
“Yes!” Pinkie said, bouncing along as the two women departed the station and headed down the bustling streets of Canterlot’s Sun District, Rarity breathing a sigh of relief as she took in the familiar atmosphere and felt like she was home. “But not just that!”
“Oh really?” Rarity said, and she found it was impossible not to smile with Pinkie Pie present. “What else have you on your mind, dear?”
“Well, duh!” Pinkie giggled, Rarity’s smile growing ever wide at that perfectly wonderful sound. “I’m excited about you and Twilight! And you and Fluttershy too! I know you’ve been really busy this week resting up after your whole thing that happened-” Rarity groaned; the less she had to think about the debilitating effects of magic exhaustion, the better “-but I can’t wait to hang out with you and Fluttershy at the same time! Two of my favorite people!”
“And what about you and your two girlfriends, hm?” Rarity said sweetly, and it still boggled Rarity’s mind that Pinkie of all ponies had managed to find herself with two girlfriends. Granted, it was fitting; Pinkie Pie deserved all the love in the world, and then some, but it was still surreal to think of cute and innocent Pinkie with a mare on each arm. “Have the three of you had any splendid times together?”
“No,” Pinkie’s voice sounded uncharacteristically melancholy, and Rarity’s ears perked up in alarm. “I’m not sure what it is, and maybe I’m just imagining it, but I kinda get the feeling like Fluttershy and Applejack might not like each other very much.”
“What makes you say that?” Rarity said curiously. This was news to her; she was under the impression that Applejack and Fluttershy were fond of each other. Applejack certainly had the least resistance to befriending their dragon companions, aside from Pinkie Pie of course, and Fluttershy didn’t seem to hold many grudges against the pony side of their group as far as Rarity could tell.
“I dunno,” Pinkie puffed up her cheeks. “Like I said, maybe I’m just overthinking it. But I’ve been trying to get Fluttershy and Applejack together to do stuff with both of ‘em all week, but one or the other is always too busy. And whenever I bring them up to the other, they always get really mum. A lot of polite nods and ‘mm-hmm’ and not a lot of actually saying anything.”
“Hmm, that does sound conspicuous,” Rarity pondered. “Perhaps they’re going through a rough patch. I’m sure whatever it is, they’ll get through it. They are both adults after all, and they both love you very much, so don’t you ever concern yourself about that!”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Pinkie beamed, “you’re the best!”
“I try,” Rarity nodded proudly, smiling ear to ear as she was feeling quite chuffed with Pinkie’s praise.
“Rarity!”
Rarity’s good feelings would have to be put on hold though, as a familiar deep woman’s voice grated against Rarity’s nerves and forced her to visibly cringe.
“How can I help you,” Rarity bore the politest smile she could muster as she turned to face the woman who spoke as she approached Rarity and Pinkie, “Tempest Shadow?”
“I didn’t expect to see you here in Canterlot,” Tempest said, the giant of a mare crossing her arms and looking down at Rarity as though she were some kind of criminal. Rarity always tried to be polite with Tempest for Celestia’s sake, but Celestia wasn’t here and Rarity had no patience for this. “I’m glad I ran into you though, I wanted to talk to you.”
“Is that so?” Rarity arched an eyebrow, one hand on her hip and the other lazily dangling at her side. “Well I’m afraid I’m much too busy for you right now. I have a meeting due with the Princess.”
“I’m not too busy!” Pinkie chimed in. “You could talk to me!”
“I want you to tell me about what happened in Bitsburgh,” Tempest said, ignoring Pinkie entirely, the little mare puffing up her cheeks and glaring at Tempest, much to the amusement of Rarity. “About the dragon attack that happened there. I heard you were in the area at the time.”
“You heard correctly,” Rarity said; there was no use in denying that much. “Unfortunately however, I wasn’t present for that battle, so I can’t tell you any more than anyone else.”
“I don’t like that answer, Rarity,” Tempest whispered through gritted teeth. “What kind of Slayer doesn’t do enough research about a damn dragon attack that happened right under their nose?”
“Uh, w-w—uhh,” Rarity stuttered. She knew she would have to come up with some kind of excuse to tell Celestia, but she hadn't quite gotten around to it yet, and she had been relying on the fact that Celestia trusted her, a luxury that Tempest Shadow did not afford her.
“Hey, back off!” Pinkie stomped in front of Rarity, puffing up her cheeks and taking a firm power stance between Rarity and Tempest. “You don’t know anything about what we’ve been through or what we’ve been doing, or about what was going on in Bitsburgh, so I don’t wanna hear any of your sass!”
Pinkie’s impassioned defense not only caught Tempest off-guard, but it was like Rarity got her second wind, and she allowed herself one single haughty chuckle.
“Pinkie Pie is right, Tempest Shadow,” Rarity said coolly. “You don’t know anything about what’s going on, and while you can criticize me all you like, I’m afraid I simply have nothing to say to you. I have much more important matters to deal with.”
And with that, Rarity turned on her hooves, only turning back to give a wink to Pinkie Pie, who winked back at her with a bright smile.
Tempest’s outburst couldn’t have happened at a better time, to be honest, since Rarity and Pinkie had nearly reached the point where they needed to part ways regardless. So Rarity was quite happy to leave Tempest Shadow behind her, and proceed with what really mattered.
Finding out where Luna stood in regards to Twilight Sparkle.
“Stop following me,” Tempest Shadow grumbled irritably, Pinkie doing her absolute best not to giggle in response.
“I’m not following you,” Pinkie said as she bounced down the streets of Canterlot’s Sun District alongside Tempest. “We’re just going in the same direction, that’s all.”
“Hm,” Tempest growled, her eyes flickering toward Pinkie just for half a sec to give her a cold glare, but Pinkie just smiled and waved back.
Tempest Shadow wasn’t nearly as scary as Pinkie first thought she was, once Pinkie realized that Tempest’s whole tough girl shtick was just an act. There’s a big difference between acting tough and being tough, and Pinkie could see through the former like a pane of untouched glass.
“I’m going to visit my mom,” Pinkie giggled; thinking about her family always made her so happy. “She’s here for the Grand Galloping Gala, you know! It’s her first time! She was invited by like this super rich lady that she’s dating. I dunno anything about her, cuz my mom said she wanted to introduce me in person, but I bet she’s super-duper nice and cool if my mom likes her! What are you doing?”
Tempest was silent. If she had listened to Pinkie’s rambles, or even heard them, she didn’t show it.
Which was reason enough for Pinkie to just keep talking, she supposed.
“So,” Pinkie said casually, resting her hands behind her head as she kept walkin’, “how come you’re jealous of Rarity?”
“I am not jealous!” Tempest snapped, turning on her hooves to snarl at Pinkie, who just puffed up her cheeks, completely unfazed.
“Is that right?” Pinkie hummed, continuing to walk. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Pinkie briefly wondered if perhaps it wasn’t a great idea to antagonize this woman; one of Celestia’s personal students, a professional Slayer, and also just physically large enough to probably pick Pinkie up off the ground and rip her in half with her bare hands.
But then again, Pinkie had faced off against a dragon and lived. She fought a dragon one on one for stars’ sake!
She had nothing to be afraid of anymore.
“It’s okay to be jealous, y’know,” Pinkie said, looking back to make sure that she and Tempest were indeed still headed in the same direction. “And if you are jealous, but you try to act like you’re not, you’re just gonna end up being angry all the time and never know why.”
“I’m not jealous,” Tempest said, and it almost looked like she was pouting the way she clenched her fists and looked all sullen at the ground. “I just— I wish that Queen Celestia would give me the kind of praise that she’s so often giving to Rarity instead.”
That sounds pretty much exactly like jealousy to me actually.
That’s what Pinkie was thinking, but she wasn’t gonna say that. She wasn’t gonna reward Tempest opening up and being honest to her with pedantry.
“I think I know how you feel,” Pinkie nodded sagely. “And it’s a tough nut to crack, when you care about someone so much, and you see them expressing their feelings for someone else. It’s tough!”
“Is it,” Tempest scoffed, and Pinkie arched an eyebrow cuz she was a little taken aback by that kinda flippant response to Pinkie’s sincerity; the exact thing Pinkie was trying not to do!
“Yeah, it is,” Pinkie said dryly, giving Tempest a real ‘why are you acting this way’ kinda look.
“Oh, I apologize,” Tempest cleared her throat and looked away bashfully from Pinkie, which actually made her look kinda cute? “I didn’t mean to be rude. I appreciate your sentiment.”
“Oh! Well, uhm, thank you!” Pinkie giggled, feeling quite bashful herself. No matter how much it happened, she’d never quite get used to being complimented by hot girls. “I appreciate your apology!”
Tempest nodded. Just nodded, she didn’t say anything else. That was no good, Pinkie really wanted to keep this conversation going now! It was starting to get interesting!
“It’s tough cuz like—”
Pinkie bit her lip and paused to give herself a sec to think about what to say, but she decided to just let her feelings bubble up from her heart and outta her mouth without giving her brain a chance to think better of it.
“You wanna be happy for ‘em,” Pinkie said, looking down at her own hooves and kicking away at the marble pavement. “You wanna be happy for the folks you care about when they’re happy, but sometimes it’s hard not to feel like the people you’re jealous of are ‘taking’ something from you, even though they’re super not.
“You’re not entitled to anyone’s feelings, y’know? But knowing that doesn’t always make you feel better either… y’know?” Pinkie was hoping by adding a question at the end, it’d prompt Tempest into continuing the conversation.
“I do.”
Well it… kinda worked.
“It’s like…” Pinkie stopped in her tracks, crossed her arms and really pondered for a sec. “If love is like a bottle of love juice, then viewing relationships in this like zero sum game kinda way, where there’s only so much love to go around and you have to compete for it, that doesn’t mean the other person is taking your juice, you’re just taking your own juice and pouring it all over the ground.”
“What if your bottle is just empty in the first place though…” Tempest sighed, and Pinkie turned to look at her. She could tell by the way Tempest’s cold eyes looked lost in thought that she wasn’t just trying to bait for sympathy or anything, she just let that honest thought slip out of her mouth. And there was only one thing to do about that.
“So!” Pinkie loudly cleared her throat to get Tempest’s attention. “This is my bottle-” Pinkie held her left hand around an invisible bottle “-and this is your bottle-” Pinkie held her right hand around another invisible bottle, and then poured some of the contents of the left hand bottle into the right hand bottle, and smiled sincerely at Tempest.
Tempest didn’t say anything, but she did smile awkwardly and rub the back of her neck, her cheeks being tinted a faint pink.
“Thanks.”
Oh wait she did say something!
Pinkie flashed a big huge bright smile, and it made Tempest’s smile grow just an inch, but that was enough.
The rest of the way to the inn where Pinkie’s mom was staying at was totally quiet; Tempest had opened up quite a bit to Pinkie, and she wanted to respect that by not burying Tempest in Pinkie’s rambling—and HOO BOY WAS IT HARD!!! Pinkie just wanted to talk and talk all day long, especially once she started to figure that Tempest was actually pretty nice! And hot. She was big and buff and unf.
“So, hey, this is my stop,” Pinkie mumbled, kicking at the ground as she stood in front of the lavish inn. “Do you wanna come in? My mom makes really good tea! And coffee! You should have some!”
“Uhm, another time perhaps,” Tempest said softly, rubbing her forearm. “I appreciate the gesture, but I do have important work to attend to.”
“That’s fair,” Pinkie said, trying not to sound, or be, too disappointed. “See you around?”
“Maybe at the Gala,” Tempest said. “You mentioned your mom was going to be there, so I just assumed that you—”
“Yeah! I’ll totally be there!” Pinkie cheered, stars in her eyes. “I’ll see you there! It’s a date!”
“It’s a date,” Tempest said, turning to walk away with an ever so slight smile on her face. She only walked a few steps before turning to look back at Pinkie. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too, Tempest,” Pinkie beamed, her tummy bubbling up like soda pop. “I can’t wait!”
Rarity bit her thumbnail. She was frantic. Desperate to think of some way she could explain the situation in Bitsburgh to Queen Celestia.
She had played off her interaction with Tempest Shadow rather coolly, if she did say so herself, but the truth was she hadn't taken the time to think of what she could possibly say to Celestia. If she was being perfectly frank, she had been rather hoping that the topic never came up between them.
It wasn’t just Bitsburgh though, of course. It was… all of it. Everything with the dragons. Rarity hadn't given herself time to think about it because she knew panic would set in instantly, but now that she was absolutely certain that she had been fed nothing but lies about dragons, where did that leave Celestia? And on a more selfish note, where did that leave Rarity’s relationship with her cherished mentor?
It was too much for Rarity’s fragile mind to deal with now, so as always she pushed it aside to deal with it later, or never. But it kept nagging at her, kept clawing at the doors of her mind, keeping her thoroughly distracted.
So distracted in fact, that she didn’t even realize how distracted she was until she bumped into the side of a cliff; or at least that’s what Rarity thought it was at first for how rough and firm it was, but no it turned out to be a pony instead.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rarity said in a daze. “I wasn’t watching where I was—”
And it was only then that Rarity looked up at the pony she bumped into, and locked eyes with Princess Luna.
“Rarity,” Luna said pleasantly, Rarity laughing awkwardly and brushing a curl of hair out of her face, “are we a tad lost in thought today?”
“A tad,” Rarity said.
As Rarity looked up at the mountainous alicorn before her, a sense of relief washed over her. Rarity’s relationship with Luna wasn’t nearly as deep as her relationship with Celestia, her and Luna being casual friend at best, but she still trusted Luna just as much as she did Celestia, and it was always a delight to see her.
Rarity just hoped that it would stay that way.
“Well it’s good to see you, Rarity,” Luna smiled softly and cocked her head a wee bit. “I’m sorry to tell you though that my sister is out of town. She has been for a while now, actually. Left me with quite a bit of her workload too.”
“That’s right, I hear you’re in charge of running the Gala this year,” Rarity said, feeling awash with sympathy for poor Luna, who was in no way qualified or capable to run the biggest social event in Equestria.
“I am indeed,” Luna grumbled. “I have good help, thankfully, but it’s still… well, I’d rather be out fighting monsters, let’s put it that way.”
“I feel that,” Rarity nodded, though it was an utter lie. She had spent much of her life chomping at the bit to fight monsters, as was her duty as a Slayer, and it was surreal to think that now she’d rather do anything else. “Be that as it may, if you have some time, I actually came to the city to talk to you. Not Celestia.”
“Oh!” Luna puffed up her chest and smiled. Rarity was sure that Luna didn’t mean to let Rarity see how chuffed she was that Rarity wanted to talk to her instead of her sister, so Rarity simply offered a polite smile. “In that case, shall we go someplace that’s a little bit more-” Luna looked around at the bustling streets of Canterlot, ponies coming and going for their afternoon routines and the commotion of the crowd impossible to ignore “-discreet?”
“That sounds marvelous, darling.”
The Mare in the Moon.
It was a small tavern a mere stone’s throw away from Hunter’s Haven. Dingy and cramped, and yet somehow had a fairly welcoming atmosphere. It wasn’t terribly popular, but the family who ran it were always pleasant, and it was Luna’s absolute favorite watering hole in Canterlot, perhaps in all of Equestria.
“So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Rarity?” Luna asked, sitting on a wooden chair with her hooves resting on the table, popping open a beer can with a satisfied sigh as the foam spilled out of the can and all over her hand and stomach.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Rarity bit her lip and tapped her nail against her wine glass, “about Twilight Sparkle.”
Luna’s eyes flickered with recognition and they cut Rarity like a frigid knife, but only for a fraction of a second before Luna’s smile tried to hide the Princess’ instinctive reaction.
“Who?” Luna asked, and Rarity would be insulted if she believed that Luna actually expected her to buy that display of ignorance.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity said shortly, absolutely zero patience to be playing games with Luna. “You met her at the Moon District station barely a month ago, don’t you recall?”
“Mm, yes okay,” Luna nodded and took a sip of her beer, putting it down onto the table and her hooves onto the ground so she could give her full attention to Rarity. “Vaguely.”
“Vaguely,” Rarity repeated.
“That’s right,” Luna said. “I do vaguely remember meeting her at the train station. I went to the library shortly afterward, and we had a pleasant conversation.”
“You did?” Rarity asked, ears perking up. This was news to her. “You went to the library? She never told me about that.”
Rarity only realized after she said it that why would Twilight have told her? If Luna had visited the library, the only time she could have done that without Rarity knowing would have been while Rarity was in Baltimare. And of course she and Twilight had barely spoken since.
“Is that right?” Luna hummed, swishing her beer can back and forth. “So why do you ask then? If all you had to go on was that I met her at a train station once, why ask me about her?”
Rarity’s face went pale. A cold sweat dripped down her brow.
This was it. Her moment of truth. She could either be honest now and risk damn near everything, or live with uncertainty forever, never knowing when the sword of Damocles was going to fall on top of her head.
She took a deep breath and a small sip of wine.
“Don’t play games with me, Princess,” Rarity said sharply. “You know why.”
“I don’t,” Luna grinned ear to ear, resting her chin on top of intertwined fingers. “Please enlighten me.”
“You can’t tell me that you didn’t see her,” Rarity said, her patience thinning, “that you didn’t touch her skin.”
“And what of it?” Luna asked. “Is there something so special about her that I should have recognized? Something that I could have simply seen with my eyes? Do you ask everybody who has had a cursory interaction with Twilight Sparkle for their thoughts on her? Or is there something special about me that makes you want to come all the way to Canterlot to ask my opinion?”
Luna took a sip of beer, and Rarity dug her nails into the aging oak of the table she sat at; she couldn’t help but wonder if Luna merely enjoyed watching her suffer.
Either way, Luna wasn’t giving an inch. Rarity would have to be the one to say it.
“You know why, Luna,” Rarity said, her breath heavy as her words struggled to make themselves heard past the beat of Rarity’s pounding heart. “I know that you know.”
“Know what?”
Rarity took a deep breath, and wondered if it was the last one she would ever take.
Rarity let those words hang in the air like a cloud of suffocating mist as she waited for Luna to respond, Rarity’s hoof tapping anxiously against the creaky hardwood floors of the dingy, nearly empty tavern that Rarity and Luna were having their little meeting inside.
Luna took a sip of her beer and gently put the can on the table. She was normally so crass, so to see her treat the can so delicately disturbed Rarity.
“I want to know why you didn’t turn her in,” Rarity continued, unable to bear the silence for even one second longer.
“I didn’t realize you needed to talk about something quite so drastic,” Luna hummed, steepling her fingers in front of her. “Why only come to me now? Did you just learn about her true form?”
“I’d rather keep the details to myself,” Rarity said, a chill running up her spine, “if you don’t mind.”
“Ah, of course,” Luna nodded and stood up, Rarity instinctively standing up to match her and it struck her immediately how cold it was in the tavern. “You still care about Twilight Sparkle, you’re still on her side despite her being a dragon. It makes sense that you would be anxious around the vice-captain of the Slayers.”
“Give me a reason not to be,” Rarity said, surprising herself at how well she was able to keep her cool, even refraining from attaching a desperate ‘please’ to the tail of that sentence.
“I can do that,” Luna nodded before taking the last of her beer can and pouring it into her mouth, the can raised several inches above her. She certainly was still the Luna that Rarity always knew, no doubt about that. “If you can trust me enough to let me show you something.”
Rarity hesitated.
Of course she wanted to trust Luna, but could she? If Luna was truly on her side, couldn’t she just say it? But that wouldn’t be very ‘Luna’ of her, would it; she was nothing if not obtuse.
At the end of the day, Rarity had no idea what was the right decision, and she couldn’t quell the storm of voices in her brain arguing for one thing or the other, so she cut through it by focusing on Twilight’s advice: what did Rarity want, and how did she feel.
And what Rarity wanted was to trust Luna.
“Okay,” Rarity said with a nod.
“Okay,” Luna smiled serenely, and that familiar wave of relief washed over Rarity. Luna held out her hand. “Please, follow me.”
Rarity took a deep breath and gingerly placed her hand in Luna’s, and it was hard not to feel completely dwarfed by the difference in size between the two ponies, and just knowing that if Luna turned out to be Rarity’s enemy, there wasn’t much she could do to stop her.
She would damn well try though. She wasn’t giving up on Twilight Sparkle without a fight, not after everything that had happened.
Luna’s horn glowed with a cool blue light, and after a loud crack of her magic, Rarity found herself not inside the dingy tavern she had so recently been sharing drinks in with Luna, but a lush garden glowing with vibrant neon colors that shimmered mesmerizingly under the glow of an artificial moon.
“What is this?” Rarity asked; she was transfixed, her eyes wide with curiosity, confusion, and wonder.
“This is my private garden,” Luna said fondly, and Rarity could see her visibly relax, and even a slight smile crept onto her lips. “It is my personal refuge from the world, known only to me and those that I trust the most in this world.”
Rarity wondered if she should say what she was thinking. She was never too good at keeping her feelings close to the chest.
“Has your si—”
“No.”
Well. That was that then.
Luna took a few steps forward, and Rarity followed behind at a relatively safe distance; although a cursory glance around didn’t reveal any kind of exit to Rarity, so if Luna turned on her now, she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.
Certainly though, there was no reason to fret, right? Luna had Rarity’s best interests at heart.
Right?
“Luna?” Rarity said weakly. “What was it that you wanted to show me?”
“Don’t worry,” Luna said, waving off Rarity’s concern with her hand, “she’ll be here in a second. She always comes running when I arrive.”
“Well, I can’t exactly leave without you, so…” a soft, high-pitched woman’s voice rang in Rarity’s ears from behind her.
Rarity turned to see the source and was starstruck by an ivory unicorn mare with pastel pink hair that flowed down her back and off her shoulders like a field of cherry blossoms decorating a cliffside. She was like some kind of holy fusion between Rarity herself and Fluttershy— a rather interesting thought that Rarity would need to file away for later— but most of all, the most notable thing about her, was that she was absolutely stunningly gorgeous.
“Wh—uh—” Rarity said gayly.
“Rarity,” Luna said, suppressing a laugh, and the other woman just responded to Rarity’s lesbianism by striking a dazzling pose, “this is my girlfriend, Fleur de Lis. Fleur, this is Rarity, one of the Slayers I told you about.”
“The librarian’s girl, right?” Fleur giggled, and Rarity swore she must have been under some kind of siren spell because of how her brain was melting at this woman’s every movement and action.
“Y-yes, that’s me,” Rarity gathered up some modicum of composure and said. “You talked to your girlfriend about me, Luna? Should I be flattered?”
“Hm, perhaps,” Luna hummed. “Fleur, Rarity has come to talk to me about dragons, so I thought I would introduce her to an expert.”
“Oh, I see,” Fleur sighed and put her hands on her hips. “It’s gonna be like that. Fine by me, Luna, but we had better not miss our appointment! You promised you were taking me out tonight, and I’m holding you to it.”
“Of course, my sweetheart,” Luna bent her knee to Fleur and took the woman’s hand in hers, giving Fleur’s fingers a gentle kiss. “But you know of course, that I’m a Princess. If we miss an appointment, the restaurant will just give me another—”
“I don’t care about that,” Fleur huffed, raising her hand to stop Luna’s sentence. “Noble women don’t miss appointments. If we say we’re going to be at a certain place at a certain time, we follow through.”
“Fair enough,” Luna chuckled, and Fleur just rolled her eyes playfully. Rarity wasn’t sure what to make of their dynamic, at least not until she saw the way Luna’s eyes glowed and her smile sung when she looked at Fleur, and it made Rarity’s own heart melt.
It reminded her of the way she looked at Twilight.
And Fluttersh—
“Ahem,” Rarity cleared her throat awkwardly. “So? What am I supposed to see?”
“Get ready, doll,” Fleur said, her eyes glittering with an ethereal flame as she raised a hand up to her face. “Cuz I promise you, you aren’t prepared for my beauty.”
Before Rarity’s eyes, Fleur’s hands caught fire, burning with a pale pink blaze that caught Rarity off-guard. Fleur danced with the flames in her hands even as her hooves caught fire, then her tail and mane, until flames licked every inch of her body, then expanded outwards until a massive conflagration broke out in Luna’s garden.
Luna was smiling. No, she was beaming. Rarity had never seen a look of such passion and desire on Luna’s face before now.
Before Rarity could question it, the flames subsided, and in their place was a beautiful, glittering silver-scaled dragon.
“Oh,” Rarity said, falling to her knees as the weight of this revelation just suddenly hit her. “OH.”
If ever there were a time where Rarity could have used a brown paper bag to hyperventilate into, it would be now.
She was sitting on the grass in Luna’s private garden, lit by the fluorescent colors and artificial moonlight as she sat cradled into a ball, eyes wide as she FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT.
Above her stood Princess Luna, vice-captain of the Celestial Slayers, the guardians of Equestria sworn to serve Queen Celestia and protect ponies from dangerous creatures, the most dangerous of all of course being dragons.
And standing beside Luna was an ivory dragon with luscious pink hair who stood proud, smiling down at Rarity as if she couldn’t even process the concept of humility.
Fleur de Lis. Princess Luna’s dragon girlfriend.
Luna sat down beside Rarity, the Princess wrapping her mighty wing around Rarity like a soft blanket that shielded her from the avalanche of worry that plagued her mind after this revelation.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Luna said casually, because of course she would be casual about this whole situation! “That the Princess of Equestria is in love with a dragon.”
“And Celestia doesn’t—”
“Know anything about this,” Luna finished Rarity’s thought with dire severity. “Everything you know about Celestia is the same as it ever was. She’s been lying to herself as much as she has everyone else. I’m not like her though.”
“Is that why you detest her so much?” Rarity asked, the pieces of a puzzle she didn’t even know she had been working to solve her entire life were falling into place, and she had no clue how to feel about it.
“Of course,” Luna said coldly. “Did you think my issues with my dear sister were due to some kind of petty jealousy? Don’t make me la—”
Luna didn’t have to laugh, because Fleur cut her off with a laugh of her own; a sly chuckle she tried to hide by muffling it with her hand.
“Something funny, sweetheart?” Luna looked at Fleur without a hint of amusement on her face.
“I’m sorry, beautiful,” Fleur sighed and knelt down to look Luna in the eye, relaxing her chin on intertwined claws and smiling radiantly. “I didn’t mean to laugh, but the thought of you trying to pretend you aren’t jealous of Celestia? You have to admit, it’s pretty funny.”
“Hm, no, what’s really funny is that I don’t recall asking for commentary from the peanut gallery,” Luna said bemusedly, Fleur giving a dainty chuckle and playfully rolling her eyes.
“Fair enough, I apologize,” Fleur bowed her head and gave Luna a kiss on her nose. “I’ll leave you be so you can talk to your friend, but don’t keep me waiting too long.
“I’ll go over to the lake and admire my reflection,” Fleur said with a grin, standing back on four legs and trotting off, before pausing to tickle Luna’s snout with her tail and turning around to give Luna a sly grin. “But just so you know, if you talk to me like that again, you’re in the doghouse.”
“Yes, my dear,” Luna took the fluff of Fleur’s tail and gave it a gentle kiss. “I apologize.”
“I forgive you, my shining star,” Fleur said with a gleaming smile before departing, leaving Luna and Rarity alone.
And Rarity couldn’t hold her snickering laughter back any longer.
“Something funny, Rarity?” Luna arched an eyebrow at Rarity, who tried to regain her composure but couldn’t manage.
“I can’t believe-” Rarity snorted “-you’re such a bottom!”
Rarity fell over laughing, holding her stomach as she guffawed with laughter at how positively adorable Luna’s relationship to Fleur really was.
Imagining the Princess of Equestria being whipped by another woman was just too much for Rarity to handle. Metaphorically whipped, not literally of course. Though now she was thinking literally, and she couldn’t exactly say it was an unpleasant mental image.
“Alright, so anyway,” Luna said sharply, her face turning blood red from embarrassment. “Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?”
“Honestly,” Rarity took a deep breath to regain her composure, and she put the mental images of Luna out of her mind, because she wasn’t quite over how funny they were yet, “there’s so much I want to ask you. And I don’t even know which questions are important and which ones aren’t.”
“Well,” Luna said, “what do you want to ask?”
“Again, so much,” Rarity sighed.
“We don’t have too much time today,” Luna said. “I do have a date with Fleur, after all. So how about you ask me the one question that’s most pressing on your mind, and then we can talk again during and after the Gala, once you’ve had some time to sort out your thoughts?”
“That sounds good,” Rarity hummed, finger up to her lips as she considered what her most pressing question was, though it didn’t really take much time to think about it. “Luna, tell me how you met Fleur. I feel like that will illuminate matters more than anything else.”
“Fair enough,” Luna chuckled. “It is quite a tale, but I’d be happy to tell it.”
“Please do,” Rarity said with a soft smile. “I’m all ears.”
“Then get comfortable,” Luna took a deep breath, and then sighed fondly as she looked over to Fleur. “Because it’s a long story.”
It was cloudy, almost storming even, Luna remembered that much. It was an absolutely miserable day, and the weather reflected it perfectly. Luna strolled through the streets of Canterlot’s Sun District at a glacial pace, giving zero shits if she got rained on or not. Nothing could have made the day worse than it had already been.
It was funny in hindsight that Luna couldn’t even remember why the day had been so awful. Just one of many that were defined by a complete lack of purpose, she supposed. Much of her life had been spent in an ugly gray fog, grasping at figments of hope to try and find something to really live for, some reason for her existence.
And wouldn’t you know it, she found it in the least likely place; a small dress shop tucked away in the fashion block of the Sun District.
She had ducked in to avoid the rain; turns out she actually gave quite a few shits once the clouds had actually opened up on her and the prospect of getting rained on was no longer an inconvenient possibility, but now was a grisly reality instead.
Luna didn’t expect to be noticed, much less recognized; despite her position as second in command of the Celestial Slayers, most ponies— especially in Canterlot— didn’t pay her any mind.
“Princess Luna!”
So the sound of her name being called as soon as she entered the building caused her ears to perk up, and a slight smile to creep onto her lips.
“We weren’t expecting such an honorable guest,” an ivory unicorn with beautiful waves of pale pink hair that fell across her shoulders and down her back spoke to Luna from behind a nearby counter. “We’re a little understaffed at the moment, but I certainly hope we can accommodate you!”
The woman was being very nice to Luna on a very difficult day, and she was extremely cute— and sharply dressed, which was an immediate turn-on for Luna— so Luna hadn’t the heart to tell her that she only ducked into the store to avoid the rain.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you’re understaffed,” Luna said, attempting to make ‘smalled talk’ and immediately focusing on a problem she could try to fix.
“Yeah, we had to lay off some folks recently,” the woman sighed and shrugged. “Such is life, I suppose.”
“I’m sorry,” Luna said instinctively.
“Why?” the woman giggled. “You didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, I suppose not,” Luna cleared her throat awkwardly. “So, um, this is a dress shop.”
“It is!?” the woman bolted up and looked around her in mock panic, before shooting Luna a droll look and laughing into her hand. “So anyway, is there something I can help you find? You look a bit out of your element.”
“Yes, well,” Luna looked down at the leather armor she was adorned with and let a single dry chuckle escape her lips, “I’m not exactly fashion forward.”
“Which is a damn shame,” the woman clicked her tongue and shook her head. “You’re a Princess! You should dress like one! Plus-” the woman looked over Luna’s body and bit her lip “-it’d be a pity to let such a perfect body go to waste without it reaching its true potential.”
“I see,” Luna smiled softly, intrigued by the woman’s confidence, if nothing else. “Well then, what would you recommend?”
“Oh, honey,” the woman’s eyes sparkled to life and she grinned ear to ear, “I’m so glad you asked. Just leave it to me, let Fleur de Lis take care of you.”
The details of Luna’s dress shopping experience weren’t important (despite how much Rarity begged to hear about them), and more importantly they were memories exclusive to Luna and Fleur, and Luna planned to keep it that way for the time being.
What mattered was that after that day, Luna would make it a point to visit that tiny dress shop every day that she could, just so she could keep speaking with the delightfully confident and sweet Fleur de Lis, who Luna was immediately attracted to, but quite quickly became smitten with.
It was at this point in Luna’s tale though, that Rarity raised a question.
“How come you didn’t react to Fleur with hostility when you first met? She is a dragon, after all.”
Luna could have explained that Luna had never bore the hatred for dragons in her heart that her sister did, that Luna wasn’t poisoned by the bigotry of their elders and mentors while they were still children in quite the same way Celestia had been, that Luna had seen during the war between dragons and alicorns one thousand years ago in crystal clear detail that both ponies and dragons were capable of committing atrocities.
Celestia’s bigotry had never made full sense to Luna. She had always questioned it, but she never had the knowledge to fully confirm the truth for herself until she met a dragon with her own eyes. Until she met Fleur.
But instead of boring Rarity with all of that detail, Luna kept her answer simple and honest.
“Because I didn’t know.”
While Fleur de Lis wasn’t an exceptionally ‘powerful’ magic user, she was extraordinarily gifted when it came to Glamor; enchantments and illusions that altered appearance or physical perceptions.
“Damn,” Rarity said, “wish I had that power back when I was struggling with dysphoria every day.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Luna laughed, patting Rarity on the shoulder.
And while yes of course Fleur used this talent of hers to alter her physical appearance to meet her incredibly high personal standard of beauty, the crown jewel of her magical library was the Siren’s Glamor, a spell that allowed her to take the form of a pony and hide her true dragon form even from the eyes of other dragons and alicorns.
It was extremely powerful stuff, and it worked like a charm on Luna, who had no idea of her newfound friend’s true form.
Until Fleur elected to reveal herself to Luna of her own will.
The pair had known each other for several years by the time it happened, and had been dating for quite a few of those years. To Luna, Fleur was an island of tranquility in the sea of garbage that was her ordinary life. And to Fleur, Luna was a stable rock in a storm of uncertainty.
Fleur was the first person aside from Luna herself to set eyes on Luna’s private garden, and it was in this garden that Fleur elected to reveal herself.
She told Luna that she had a surprise to show her, and that it needed to happen in the garden so only their eyes would see.
Luna was completely unprepared when Fleur immolated herself in pale pink flames, and then was reborn before her in the form of a towering dragon, who then humbled herself by standing on four legs and bowing her head to Luna, awaiting Luna’s judgment.
“Why would you—” Luna said, her face turning pale as her mind reeled and tried to grapple with the shock of her situation. “Why would you reveal yourself to me? You didn’t have to—”
“Because I love you,” Fleur said matter-of-factly, “and because I’m tired of lying to you. I chose this garden because there’s no way for me to escape without you. I wanted to put myself completely at your mercy so that you know that you can trust me, and that I don’t have any ill intentions.
“I’m not a monster or demon, trying to trick you so that I can take over Equestria, or whatever else your sister or her goons might think of me. I am Fleur de Lis, a woman who is desperately in love with Princess Luna, the same woman who you have shared so many dinners and late night talking sessions with, who you’ve shared your bed, and your life, and your dreams, and your fears with.
“I am simply me. And I am a dragon.”
Luna was stunned. It was impossible not to think about what Celestia would say, what their old mentors would have said. Celestia had this way of making you believe that she was always right about everything, and even though Luna desperately wanted to believe that her sister was wrong about dragons, a cloud of doubt always hung over her heart.
But Luna would be damned if she had let Celestia ruin the most important relationship in her life. If she had let her bastard sister pull her off the course that she knew in her heart was the right one, that she had been so sure of until now, and now seeing the love of her life transform into a dragon before her eyes, she had no choice but to commit herself to fully.
“Raise your head, my dearest,” Luna said, her emotionless tone betraying the storm of emotions that raged inside her, at least to the woman who knew her better than anyone. “A queen bows to no one.”
“So that was it?” Rarity asked as Luna concluded her tale, dying to hear more of Luna’s whirlwind romance but restraining her excited questioning for Luna’s sake.
“Basically,” Luna said. “There was a lot of crying and hugging after that, but you get the gist.”
“A spell that lets you hide your true form even from alicorns,” Rarity pondered, lying with her back on the grass, hand raised above her. At this point she had gotten used to world-shattering revelations, and was mostly taking this one in stride. “If Twilight had that, she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She could live out her life as a simple librarian in Equestria.”
“But she would always still be hiding,” Luna said gruffly. “She deserves better. Fleur deserves better, all dragons deserve better. No one should be forced to live in fear and uncertainty.”
Rarity was silent. She wasn’t sure what to say. Luna was right, of course, but what could they do?
“I want to create a world where ponies and dragons can live in harmony,” Luna said coldly, curled into a ball as she stared longingly at the dragon admiring her reflection in the nearby lake. “It feels like something so far away, but I need to fight for it.”
“I want to help,” Rarity said, sitting up and clenching her fists.
She wanted nothing more than to simply spend the rest of her days quietly living out a peaceful life with Twilight Sparkle, but she would never be able to turn a blind eye to the Slayers’ injustices now that she had seen them.
“I would like to formally introduce you, and Fleur of course, to Twilight Sparkle at the Gala, if that’s alright with you. And then perhaps afterward, we could discuss what needs to be done, together.”
“Ugh, the Gala,” Luna groaned in disgust, slapping her forehead. “On one hand, I’ll never forgive my sister for saddling me with that loathsome responsibility, but on the other hand Fleur is looking forward to introducing us officially as Equestria’s most important power couple, so. I suppose there’s a silver lining.
“But yes, Rarity, your idea is sound. I would very much like to meet Twilight, especially since I feel our meeting at the library didn’t set the tone for our relationship that I would have liked. Although, I won’t have much time during the Gala, since I will also be meeting my other girlfriend for the first time in the waking realm, but I’ll make sure I take the time to meet your Twilight.”
“Oooh, another girlfriend?” Rarity smirked, pinkie finger up to her lips. “Aren’t we the popular one? Is this one a dragon too?”
“No,” Luna chuckled. “She’s a young farm mare I met in the dream realm. She has been plagued with nightmares recently due to her— well, it’s not appropriate for me to say. I’ve been helping her through her nightmares, and she in turn has been helping me to realize that it’s not my responsibility to ‘fix’ everything. We’re quite good for each other, I think.”
“That sounds lovel—” suddenly something clicked in Rarity’s mind. Young farm mare. Rich girlfriend. The Gala. “Luna. What is this young farm mare’s name?”
“Cloudy Quartz,” Luna said, fond smile on her lips.
“Ah,” Rarity said, staring into the middle distance in disbelief.
“Someone you know?” Luna asked.
“Not exactly,” Rarity hummed. “I haven’t met her myself, but unless it’s a completely unrelated farm mare named Cloudy Quartz, I do believe you’re dating the mother of a friend of mine.”
“Hm, how about that,” Luna chuckled. “Small world, I suppose.”
“Small world indeed,” Rarity said.
184. What Do You Have To Be Worried About? (Oh Yeah, I Remember Now)
“Mom!” Pinkie squealed, jumping into her mom’s arms as soon as Cloudy Quartz opened the door to her inn room. And what a room it was too! So spacious and cozy, definitely not like the farm back home at all!
“It’s good to see you too, dear,” Cloudy chuckled and invited Pinkie in, though she had to practically tear herself away from Pinkie’s hug. “It’s been too long.”
“Right? It so has!” Pinkie sighed, jumping onto a comfy plush chair while her mom sat on the edge of the bed, hazelnut coffee already sitting on the wee table beside the chair, piping hot and ready for Pinkie to drink. “But I’ve been having so much fun with Applejack and my friends, and I gotta tell you about every— OH WAIT! I just remembered! Me and Applejack are dating now! Isn’t that cool!?”
“That’s fantastic, sweetheart,” Cloudy said with a soft smile. Her emotions were always really understated, but Pinkie could tell she was super-duper happy. “I always knew you two would become an item eventually.”
“You did?” Pinkie asked between sips of coffee, getting a little coffee mustache to boot.
“Oh, sure,” Cloudy chuckled. “Your sisters always used to joke about how everyone could see that you two were in love, except for you two. So I’m glad to hear you finally tied the knot, as it were.”
“Hehe, I guess,” Pinkie blushed and laughed awkwardly. Was it really that obvious to everyone else? “So hey, speaking of romance, how’re things with your rich girlfriend? When do I get to meet her? Are you excited to go to the Gala? HUH? HUH?? HUH???”
“Well, I am excited,” Cloudy blushed and pushed up her glasses, and Pinkie tried not to be too giddy about how happy her mom looked, but it was tough! Cloudy had been through a lot, and Pinkie was really happy that she had something to be so over the moon about, so to speak. “But I’d prefer not to say too much. I suppose I’m still worried about the other shoe dropping, I guess.”
“Okay, I won’t pry,” Pinkie huffed and puffed up her cheeks, swishing her coffee around in front of her. “But I promise you not a single shoe is gonna drop! Your gf is way into you, you’re gonna have a fantabulous time at the Gala, everything’s gonna be great! So don’t worry so much!”
“I try not to,” Cloudy laughed softly, in that really sweet way that a mom laughs, y’know?? “Though to be perfectly honest, if there is one thing I’m worried about, it’s you.”
“Me?” Pinkie pointed at herself, confuzzled by what could possibly have her mom worried about her.
“Yes, you. I heard you were in Bitsburgh recently,” oh yeah, that would be it, wouldn’t it, “when that dragon attacked. Or those dragons? I’m not really sure.”
“Yeah, it was—”
Wait, stop. How much could Pinkie safely divulge here? If it were just about her, Pinkie would want to tell her mom everything; her mom always understood her, even if she didn’t, like, understand her.
But it wouldn’t be right to risk Fluttershy or Applejack or any of the others’ secrets.
“You don’t have to worry about me, mom,” Pinkie smiled to hide the pain of having to lie to her mom. “I’m not planning on getting into anything dangerous anytime soon.”
“You can’t let anything happen to you before you can take the Slayers’ license exam, right?” Cloudy said, sending a chill down Pinkie’s spine.
That was what Pinkie wanted, wasn’t it? More than anything, but now…
“Did you see it?” Cloudy asked.
“See it?” Pinkie repeated, sweat dripping off her forehead. “See what? The dragon?”
“That’s right,” Cloudy nodded. “I was hoping you might have seen it, and let that encounter change your mind about becoming a Slayer. It’s hideous work, you know. You were born to be so much more than a butcher.”
“I’m not afraid of dragons,” Pinkie said firmly, and though she didn’t mean for that to slip out, she was gonna stand by it regardless. “I’m not afraid of dragons, mom.”
“Neither am I, Pinkie Pie,” Cloudy said calmly, and Pinkie’s heart thundered in her heart joints as she wondered what that meant.
“No, mom,” Pinkie took a deep breath. “I mean, I don’t think dragons are our enemy. I think ponies have been being lied to this whole time.”
“Yes, dear,” Cloudy nodded and looked straight at Pinkie, the soft smile on her face looking almost surreal with the torrent of anxiety twisting Pinkie up inside. “I know what you meant. And I meant to say that I agree.”
“Y-you do?” Pinkie blinked confusedly.
“I do,” Cloudy took in a deep breath and sighed, before smiling at Pinkie. “I have… a lot I need to tell you about.”
Twilight Sparkle tried not to worry about things, but it wasn’t easy. Frankly, she didn’t know how people like Applejack or Rarity managed it.
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were all still out of town by the time night fell over Green Neigh; this was completely normal, and in fact was expected by Applejack. Rarity made no illusions about how her trip would take her to Canterlot for at least two days, and Rainbow had apparently told Applejack— but not Twilight!— that she expected her mission to keep her busy overnight.
On top of that, there was Trixie. The little get-together for lunch that everyone had didn’t go very well. Granted, it could’ve gone much worse! But it didn’t go well. Literally not a single word was spoken until well after Trixie had finished her meal and departed the table silently, and those words were merely concern from Applejack that Trixie would try to cause trouble, and Twilight assuaging those fears.
In short, there was a lot to worry about.
And it was for that reason that Twilight was delighted by Spike’s suggestion to have a sleepover, with him, Twilight, and Applejack all gathering in Twilight’s room and just chatting the night away. It was doing wonders for Twilight’s nerves, but then the group ran out of snacks, so Twilight decided to hop down to the inn’s lobby and pick some up.
And on her way back through the dimly-lit midnight lobby, a single ‘pony’ caught her eye, sitting all by herself in the lobby’s rather spacious seating area, shrouded in the darkness of a lonely night with not even the light of her horn to illuminate her or a good book to keep her company.
“Trixie,” Twilight whispered just loud enough for Trixie to jolt herself to attention, and it wasn’t until seeing that reaction that Twilight thought to wonder why she had spoken.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie responded flatly.
“How are you doing?” Twilight asked awkwardly, and if not for the ethereal glow in Trixie’s eyes that cut through the darkness, Twilight wouldn’t have been able to see the grisly stare that acted as Trixie’s only response. Well, okay, dragons’ natural nightvision helped too, but that sounds far less poetic.
“Don’t you have a slumber party to get to,” Trixie said drolly, turning her eyes back toward the ground. Just… anywhere but at Twilight Sparkle, it seemed.
“I do,” Twilight sighed. She was carrying several bag and containers of snacks in her magic, but she set them all on the couch in the seating area for a moment, and took a seat in a lounge chair next to the one Trixie was sitting in. “Do you… want to join us?”
Trixie’s single sharp cackle shattered the quiet ambience of the dark inn like a sledgehammer, and Twilight’s ears clamped against her head as her eyes darted around to make sure no one was bothered by the noise, but no one was around, so it didn’t much matter.
“Don’t act like you want me there,” Trixie spat, her voice harsh, and burning like acid on Twilight’s ears. “And definitely don’t act like your fwiends want me there.”
Twilight took a deep breath.
“Discord really fucked us both up, huh?”
“Wh— don’t say that name!” Trixie hissed, visibly cringing at the mention of their old magic teacher, and Twilight couldn’t blame her; letting that name escape Twilight’s lips felt like choking on broken glass. “And what does that have to do with anything?”
“I used to hate you—”
“I still hate you,” Trixie interrupted, but Twilight shook her head and ignored her.
“—my perspective has changed a lot since we met last though. Or rather, it’s been changing slowly ever since I left the Dragon Lands. I believe so strongly that friendship can change a person’s heart, and as someone who went through the hell of dealing with that man the same as you did, it’s hard for me to not empathize with your pain.”
“You don’t know anything about—”
“Yeah, I get that,” Twilight put her hand up and sighed harshly. “We haven’t had the same exact experiences or anything, but I recognize your pain for what it is. And I know that because of that man, or at least in large part because of him, you never had a real shot at experiencing the magic of friendship. And I would like to offer to change that, if you’re interested.”
“Why?” Trixie growled under her breath, eyes narrowed and looking Twilight over as though she were perhaps a venomous predator.
“I don’t know,” Twilight shrugged and answered as honestly as she could. “Maybe it's trans solidarity. Or maybe it just seems like the right thing to do.”
Twilight groaned as she stood up, and she moved to grab her snacks in her magic, but stopped short.
“You don’t have to take me up on my offer, obviously,” Twilight said. “It’s not my place to tell you what to do. Other than like, don’t murder. But I feel like that should go without saying. Anyway, I’m sure you know where my room is, if you decide you want to join us.”
Twilight picked up her snacks for real this time and trotted out of the seating area, climbing over tables and couches on her way. She looked back at Trixie one last time, and something caught her eye; Trixie’s tail. Or rather, what was left of it.
Unicorn tails were generally long and leonine, but Trixie’s was barely more than a stump; and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why, there wasn’t much tail left after Twilight sunk her fangs into it during their battle.
But Trixie wasn’t in disguise then. Why was her tail still injured even in her pony form?
Twilight could’ve just asked, but would Trixie give her anything resembling an honest answer? No, and Twilight would probably just get a headache for her trouble on top of it.
Oh well, Trixie’s reasons were her own, and Twilight didn’t need to pry. But at the very least, she could fix what she had broken.
A faint raspberry light shone from Twilight’s horn and enchanted Trixie’s tail, and before the fussy bitch had time to protest, Twilight had restored the tail to its former glory, little fluffy bit at the end waggling happily.
“Why?” Trixie asked, narrowing her eyes at Twilight.
“I already told you why,” Twilight said with a shrug and walked off.
“GEEZ, TWILIGHT!” Trixie groaned dramatically and threw her arms into the air, before tromping over to Twilight and rolling her eyes. “If you’re so desperate for me to join your little slumber party, then fine I’ll join, just cuz it’s so pathetic to see you practically slobbing on my knob in desperation.”
“Just be nice,” Twilight said shortly. “I know it’ll be difficult, but just be nice to Applejack and Spike.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Trixie scoffed and batted Twilight’s concerns away. “I’m practically the poster dragon of being cool and rad, I’m sure I won’t cause any problems.”
“Right,” Twilight sighed, dreadfully concerned about what she had just gotten herself into.
The mood of Twilight’s little impromptu slumber party was primarily one of excitement. Twilight, Applejack, and Spike hadn’t gotten a chance to really hang out just the three of them, at least outside of Spike’s combat training, so it was nice to be able to just chill out and have fun with each other.
That mood was immediately shattered like a stone hurtling through an icy sheet over a frozen pond when Twilight walked back into the inn room with Trixie in tow.
“Umm,” Applejack clicked her tongue, Spike shuffling on the floor to hide behind her, “you got somethin’ you wanna tell us, Twi?”
“Yeah,” Twilight awkwardly held her hands out to introduce Trixie, who looked as unimpressed and unenthused to be there as the others were to have her there. “This is Trixie! We studied magic together back in the Dragon Lands, and we’re— I— I want to ummm—”
“Twilight wants this D,” Trixie said, pointing down at herself and utterly humiliating a now beet red Twilight. “She’s desperate for it. SO thirsty.”
“TRIXIE!” Twilight screeched, throwing her hands down. “Don’t say shit like that in front of my son! Especially since it’s not true! I’m not interested in you like th—”
“Yeah, Trixie,” Applejack chuckled and stood up, walking toward Trixie who was maybe half of Applejack’s height. “Why would Twilight be thirsty for you, when she’s got way better options?”
“Okay, could we not do this? Please?” Twilight said desperately, her whole face turning red and she felt like she was in a volcoven… which is like an oven volcano… yeah.
Applejack shrugged and moved to sit on one of the beds, but if looks could kill she would’ve murdered Trixie, who for her part just scoffed and crossed her arms, looking at Applejack and at Spike— who scurried up the bed to hide behind Applejack— with complete contempt.
Twilight was starting to think this may have been a horrible idea.
“Trixie, you promised to be on your best behavior,” Twilight said, shooting Trixie a look that was going for ‘stern yet compassionate’ but probably just came off more as ‘desperate’. “And you two, can we please give her a chance? Just one chance?”
“She’s already had two chances far as I’m concerned,” Applejack spat.
“Yeah!” Spike added, shaking his little fist. “She’s the one who burned down the library! Why should we give her anything?!”
“Well, Twilight?” Trixie said flatly, one hand on her hip and the other lazily dangling at her side as she looked over to Twilight with an unimpressed arched eyebrow.
“Because I want to,” Twilight said sternly, even as her legs were shaking. “I want Trixie to have another chance, and quite frankly I don’t care what bad things she’s done in the past. Nothing is so awful that we can’t make up for it going forward.”
“Yer a sweetheart, Twi,” Applejack sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I can’t argue with that.”
“I can,” Spike huffed. “But I won’t, cuz I love Twilight. And if she wants to give Trixie another chance, then I guess it’s fine.”
“Wow, y’all rolled over just like that huh?” Trixie laughed into her hand, evoking angered stares from everyone else in the room.
“Trixie, please,” Twilight hissed. “Can you try to be nice?”
“No, Twi,” Applejack shook her head, “I really don’t think she can.”
“What is this,” Trixie scoffed, “some kinda reverse psychology?”
“Nah, just callin’ ‘em like I see ‘em,” Applejack said. “You got a bad case of the ol’ irony poisoning, Trixie, plain as day. You think if you say anythin’ that reveals yer honest emotions, people are gonna make fun of ya, or take advantage of ya.”
“You’re afraid of loving or being loved,” Twilight added in a dull whisper, Trixie’s experiences eerily similar to her own before Zecora and Spike saved her. “You push everyone out with this tough guy shit so you don’t get hurt by having feelings for people, then when everyone gets tired of it and leaves or pushes you out, you can point to that and say you were right to treat everyone like trash, completely ignorant of how it was your actions that started that cycle in the first place, and how you always have the power to break it.”
“That irony poisoning crap ain’t gonna get you far with me and Twi,” Applejack chuckled as Twilight sat down beside her on the bed, Applejack putting an arm around her and Spike scampering up to sit next to her.
“That’s true,” Twilight chirped. “We’re way too sincere.”
“Yeah, and me too!” Spike added. “Being sincere is awesome!”
“Is that so?” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Even if you were right about me, which you’re not, what makes you think I even want to change?”
“You don’t have too,” Twilight said, and she levitated the bags of snacks over to the floor in front of the bed, and they hadn't even touched the ground yet before Spike was all over them, tearing treats out and stuffing them in his mouth. “But only emotionally sincere girls, and Spike, get to have snacks. So you better say something nice or you’re gonna be hungry.”
“You two think you can read me so easily, huh?!” Trixie said indignantly, stomping her hoof on the ground as Twilight and Applejack sat on the floor and prepared for snacks.
“Yeah,” Applejack scoffed.
“Like an open book,” Twilight added.
“And Twilight loves books! She’s an expert on ‘em!” Spike said.
“I was in the same place you are, Trixie,” Twilight explained. “I had people who cared about me enough to help me work my way through it, and who I wanted to make proud by being the best version of myself I could be.”
“Same here,” Applejack nodded. “Right after my folks passed, I was… well, I was a much different pony, let’s just say that. Then I met Pinkie, and doin’ right by her meant doin’ right by myself.”
“You two don’t know anything about me,” Trixie said with a sneer.
“Okay,” Twilight said, not even looking at Trixie cuz she was too focused on the snacks as she and Applejack huddled on the floor and dug into the treats. She wanted some oatmeal crème cookies.
“All I know is I want some of those hot chips,” Applejack licked her lips as she split open the chip bag.
“Oh, so that’s just it then?” Trixie stomped her hoof. “You’re just gonna ignore me now, is that it?”
“Not ignoring you,” Twilight said, “just done talking about you, and especially about irony poisoning. It’s snack time. But remember, only nice girls and boys and enbies get snacks.”
“Fine!” Trixie screamed. “Maybe I don’t wanna talk to you either!”
“Okay,” Twilight said. “Snack offer’s still open if you want it though. If not, you know where the door is.”
The crème cookies were really good, and watching Applejack eat way more hot chips than she could handle and desperately chug soda straight from the bottle— despite her claims that she could handle ‘any amount’ of spicy— was even better.
Spike of course dug right into the cosmic brownies, but Twilight felt like she should savor them a bit more. They were the reigning queen of snack foods after all, they demanded a little bit of respect.
“I like your hair,” Trixie grumbled, arms crossed and defiantly refusing to look at Twilight, even as Twilight turned to Trixie with stars in her eyes. “I always thought your highlights looked really cool, and they still do, and your bangs are cute. It’s a good look for you.”
“I like your hair too, Trixie,” Twilight said, levitating a cosmic brownie into Trixie’s hands. And as Trixie tore off the wrapper and took a bite, Twilight pretended not to see the tears in Trixie’s eyes.
Big Thunder Mine was dank. And not in the cool weed way that Rainbow Dash definitely knew all about cuz she smoked drugs every day! She was best friends with Ford Twenty or whoever.
No, this was more of a creepy dank. The lower levels of the mine had been all but abandoned, and in the place of the miners was an eerie atmosphere and a sense of creeping dread.
It was dark too, but not so dark that it was impossible to see. Still though, Rainbow and Fluttershy agreed it’d be a bad situation for them to get separated, so as they crept through the mines, they held hands.
And Rainbow Dash was definitely not distracted at all by a beautiful woman holding her hand, or by the way Fluttershy’s eyes darted at every shadow on the wall cast by a flickering lantern around Rainbow’s neck, or the little gasps she made whenever any tiny sound occurred within earshot, or by wondering if it was bad that Rainbow thought Fluttershy’s little anxiety tics were really cute.
Nope, she wasn’t distracted at all. She was a capable multitasker, after all.
“You okay, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, squeezing Flutters’ hand a little tighter.
“Something is down here,” Fluttershy whispered, “and I don’t like it.”
“Should I be worried?” Rainbow chuckled. “That whatever’s down here is enough to scare a dragon?”
“If it were any other dragon than me, maybe,” Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow could feel her soft fingers squeeze Rainbow’s just a little tighter, and it kinda ruled. “I’m practically afraid of my own shadow.”
“Any idea what it could be that’s down here?” Rainbow said.
“Um, I have a hunch, but, um,” Fluttershy bit her lip, and Rainbow stopped and grabbed Fluttershy’s other hand. “I don’t want to worry you for no reason. It’s only a gut feeling I have.”
“I trust your gut,” Rainbow said casually, cuz duh right?
“Okay, well,” Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked around suspiciously, “my gut says dragon.”
Damn. Rainbow’s gut was saying the same thing.
“Yeah, that’d figure, huh?” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. “But it’s okay! No matter what, I’ll protect you. I promise.”
“And I’ll protect you,” Fluttershy responded with a sweet smile.
A thundering crack tore through the formerly quiet atmosphere as the ground shook beneath Rainbow and Fluttershy’s hooves. Before either could take off into the air, the earth opened up underneath Fluttershy, and she fell into the fissure, though Rainbow was still tightly holding onto her hands and refused to let go.
Rainbow flew up with Fluttershy to help her get her hooves back on solid ground, but as quickly as the fissure appeared, it began to seal up. Rainbow was forced to drop Fluttershy or else her hands would be sliced clean off, and she watched in horror as Fluttershy fell into the darkness before the earth sealed itself up and buried her.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow screamed, slamming her hands on the rocky ground. “FLUTTERSHY!”
Rainbow stood up and looked around for immediate danger, her ears twitching to try and pick up any sound. Something was nearby, maybe a group of ponies? That wasn’t quite right, but it sounded like a group of something slowly moving toward her from some nearby tunnels.
Rainbow took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She was a Slayer, and she was trained to deal with situations just like this one. Whatever caused the earth to open up and swallow Fluttershy, it sure as hell wasn’t natural; it was magic. Whatever was lurking in the depths of the Big Thunder Mines, it knew Fluttershy and Rainbow were there, and it wasn’t friendly.
Rainbow would just need to soldier on, she supposed. She’d reconvene with Fluttershy on the level below this one, which happened to be the lowest level of the mine. Or at least Rainbow sure hoped it was the lowest level and there wasn’t some secret lower level that she needed to worry about.
For now, Rainbow decided to focus on whatever that sound was. It was faint; anyone with lesser hearing than Dash would’ve missed it entirely, and as she got closer to it, she detected something else with it. A gurgling, groaning noise.
Rainbow’s blood ran cold and her ears shot straight up. She had a bad feeling she knew what was waiting for her around the corner of the nearby tunnel, and it didn’t take long for them to turn the corner and show themselves.
It was indeed a group of ponies, about five of them, all dressed in the typical gear of a miner. Their skin was rotting, their fur was falling out in patches, and their bones were exposed in certain areas. Their eyes were hollowed out, empty portals into their skulls.
Ghouls.
Five ghouls versus one Rainbow Dash wasn’t an impossible battle for Rainbow to win, but the odds weren’t good, and Fluttershy was kinda sorta counting on Rainbow to stay alive, so she decided to just bolt in the opposite direction from those monsters instead.
Ghouls were some of the most dangerous creatures a Slayer could face; nearly indestructible golems of flesh that would lock onto an enemy and wouldn’t stop unless the enemy was killed, or the ghoul was burnt to ashes or otherwise completely obliterated.
They were slow and clumsy though, so one of them was no problem. Two even was pretty easy. Three was a bit of a challenge, and four was not a great situation to be in. Five was straight out of the question.
Which is why Rainbow’s stomach turned when she ran away from the ghouls, only to encounter a group of three more, similarly dressed in miner’s garb.
Welp, Rainbow found out what was happening to the miners at least. Though it did cross her mind that at least eight people died before the Slayers were called in to do something, and it was only because Rainbow answered a bulletin on the Green Neigh corkboard.
The mine wasn’t even shut down, the miners themselves had simply had enough of the dangerous conditions and went on strike. How many people was this mining operation willing to sacrifice to keep from shutting down?
Oh well, didn’t matter right now; Rainbow needed to focus or die. Unfortunately, her gear was tailored more toward dealing with dragons and beasts, so she was at a disadvantage against undead enemies. Damn she sure wished she’d taken Twilight up on that kiss now before she left.
Rainbow cut all the fingers but the thumbs off the first ghoul with two quick strikes, then jumped into the air and buffeted the three monsters with a gust of wind to stun them. She figured if she stayed airborne, she could avoid most of their attacks, cuz if one of their attacks landed, the battle would snowball pretty quickly out of Rainbow’s control.
What Rainbow wasn’t expecting though was for a stalactite to come outta the ceiling and gore her in the back, Rainbow screaming in pain before being slammed into the ground by a protruding stone pillar. Apparently whatever was lurking on the lower level wasn’t intent on just forgetting about Rainbow, and if it could manipulate the formation of the mines so easily… what the hell kind of magic was it using?
No time to get distracted! Rainbow got back on her hooves and found herself backing herself up against a wall as the three ghouls clambered toward her. She looked to her left to check how close the other five were, but she couldn’t see them.
Wait, what? She was sure that they were—
A stream of flame tore through the tunnels, incinerating the three ghouls in front of Rainbow, not even leaving ashes in their place.
Was that Fluttershy? No, she didn’t breathe fire, did she? And if she did, that was way more power than Rainbow expected from her.
No, wait… Rainbow recognized those flames. Only one person in Equestria had power like that, and just as Rainbow put those two dots together, the woman stepped into Rainbow’s view. Rainbow was shocked to see her, and that she managed to basically sneak up on Rainbow without her noticing.
A giant alicorn in gleaming golden armor, her mane billowing behind her even deep underground like a heavenly aurora, splendid white wings half-splayed behind her as four golden swords hovered in a yellow aura around her body.
“Celestia!” Rainbow called out in shock.
“Rainbow Dash?” Celestia looked over at Rainbow and her eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
“On a mission,” Rainbow said, scurrying up to Celestia. “Was trying to figure out what was killing miners in this here mine, turned out to be a lot more dangerous than I thought.”
“Where’s Rarity?” Celestia asked sternly. “You aren’t here alone, are you?”
“No, I’m not!” Rainbow said. “Rarity wasn’t with me, but one of our other friends was. We got separated when the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed her.”
Shit.
Rainbow couldn’t believe she just said that; if Celestia came face to face with Fluttershy, she would see right through the dragon’s disguise and that would ruin everything that Rainbow and the girls had worked so hard for!
“I see,” Celestia said, her voice soft and kind, which was kinda hard to hear knowing how much Celestia hated some of the people that Rainbow cared for most in the whole world. “You should stick with me then, Rainbow Dash. Whatever creature is lurking in this mine is using magic to warp the very earth itself. My magic is still stronger though, so I’ll protect you and we can find your friend together. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great,” Rainbow gave a shaky smile and she felt like she was gonna be sick. “Thanks, Celestia.”
Fluttershy hit the stone ground on her back, her wings splayed out in a futile attempt to break her fall, and she groaned as she sat up immediately to take stock of her situation.
It was dark, but that wasn’t a problem for a dragon. She had been separated from Rainbow too, but that was okay… she would actually be able to cover ground faster now that she wasn’t slowed down by Rainbow’s inability to see in the dark— not that it was Rainbow’s fault; she couldn’t have known that ordinary lanterns would be nearly useless inside this mine.
And Rainbow and Fluttershy could both take care of themselves, so there was nothing for Fluttershy to worry about. They’d be back together in no time.
Right?
Right…
“I hunger…”
A growling voice coming from the darkness nearby sent a chill up Fluttershy’s spine.
“For… blood?” Fluttershy responded timidly, standing to her feet and looking around for the source of the voice.
“For tacos,” the voice sighed, and quickly made herself known. Sure enough, she was a dragon; with shimmering blue scales and a mane of clashing dark and light blue hues that was tied into a neat, fashionable ponytail.
“Oh,” Fluttershy let herself relax ever so slightly, seizing this tiny glimmer of hope that she could escape this encounter without a fight. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t have any.”
“Aww, bummer,” the dragon yawned. She seemed lazy and easily disinterested, and it was jarring to think that she was the one causing the problems in this mine, especially since that earth manipulation magic was some powerful stuff.
“Okay, well,” Fluttershy cleared her throat and sidled along the wall of the mine, inching toward a tunnel that led away from the dragon, “I’m just going to be leaving now. I seem to have taken a wrong turn, and I—”
“You with us or against us?” the dragon turned her eyes to Fluttershy, and now she looked anything but lazy; sizing Fluttershy up with a keen glare.
“I’m sorry?” Fluttershy whimpered, her heart pounding in her chest.
“I don’t really understand it,” the dragon groaned as she sat up, flaring her impressive wingspan behind her as the walls of the cave moved to accommodate her size. She wasn’t a terribly large dragon, roughly the same size as Trixie, but it was a cramped tunnel. “But Adagio wants me to ask every dragon we come across. That’s why I had to separate you from your pony friend. So how ‘bout it? With us or against us?”
“I don’t know who you are,” Fluttershy said, pausing her egress. It may have been worth it to stick around and listen to what this woman had to say. “Could you enlighten me please?”
“Oh, sure!” the woman chirped, illuminating the cave tunnel. And while that was a welcome relief, it wasn’t exactly what Fluttershy had in mind.
“I’m sorry, I meant—” Fluttershy bit her lip nervously, unsure of what to say or not say to avoid a confrontation. While this woman seemed nice enough, Fluttershy couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in her gut, and listening to her gut had saved her life more than once. “Could you tell me who you are?”
“I’m Sonata Dusk!” the dragon beamed, showing off her glimmering fangs. And she would almost look unbearably cute if Fluttershy hadn't recognized the stains of blood all over those teeth.
“And who is ‘us’?” Fluttershy asked.
“I dunno, who are you?” Sonata blinked, and Fluttershy’s eye twitched. She would almost think she was being toyed with if Sonata didn’t have such a palpable air of innocent sincerity to her.
“I’m… Fluttershy,” she wondered if giving her name was a good idea, but it seemed only fair since Sonata did the same. “But I was wondering, what is it that I am to be for or against? I need to know what that is if I’m to answer honestly.”
“OH! DUH!” Sonata blew a raspberry and conked herself on the noggin. “Sorry, I’m a total ditz, my bad. We’re taking over Equestria! I’m helping by raising an army of the dead, and together the dragons will take Equestria from the ponies and turn the rivers red with their blood. It’ll be fun!”
Sonata beamed, like it was the easiest thing in the world for her to say. Fluttershy felt sick.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and let her disguise slip away, returning to the form of a dragon. And though she felt a little cramped inside the mine— after all, Sonata moved the walls to suit her size, and Fluttershy towered over her— she would simply have to make it work.
Fluttershy snarled at Sonata Dusk, glaring burning daggers at the smaller dragon as Fluttershy took a slow, steady step toward her.
Fluttershy would need to be careful; she didn’t know exactly what kind of magic Sonata was using, but inside the cramped tunnels of the Big Thunder Mine, Sonata had a severe advantage due to her smaller size and whatever magic was allowing her to manipulate the earth itself.
“I’m not going to let you hurt the people I care about,” Fluttershy growled, trying to keep her emotions under control, but she was furious. She was already having a bad week, and nothing puts one into a sour mood quite like someone raising an army of the dead in order to attempt a bloody campaign of genocide. That just wasn’t very considerate at all.
Haha, Fluttershy make jokes so her mind doesn’t snap under the unbelievable weight of thinking about the atrocities Sonata Dusk was talking about committing haha.
“Geez,” Sonata groaned and rolled her eyes, “you’re such a buzzkill. You don’t have to get all snarly just cuz I’m talking about killing a couple ponies. Couple hundred, or thousand, ponies. You know they don’t care about you, right?”
“You don’t know anything about my friends!” Fluttershy barked, lunging at Sonata and attempting to slash her entire face off with a single claw strike, but her attack never reached her enemy.
Sonata warped the tunnel around Fluttershy, constricting her in a narrow chokepoint; it knocked the wind out of her, and she helplessly batted her claw at Sonata, who was standing just out of reach.
Fluttershy squirmed a little bit, but she couldn’t move, and she couldn’t wrap her mind around how Sonata’s magic worked either; it didn’t make any sense the way the physical boundaries of the tunnel warped around Fluttershy, but Sonata was still standing in a perfectly unwarped section of the tunnel.
Fluttershy didn’t have the head for this kinda stuff, and she sighed in frustration and self-pity.
“Honestly,” Sonata huffed, puffing up her cheeks. “I have no idea why you’re so willing to stick your neck out for ponies. You know they do nothing but try to butcher and maim us dragons, right? Like have some self-respect, girl!”
“It’s not ‘ponies’ that’s the problem,” Fluttershy said, still struggling to find any slack in the tunnels constricting her. “It’s the system of hatred that they’ve put into place.”
“That sounds like ponies to me,” Sonata snarked.
“My point is,” Fluttershy huffed in frustration, “a system can be dismantled without the need for a straight-up genocide!”
Sonata Dusk just blew a raspberry, and Fluttershy’s eye twitched. What was wrong with her?
Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes she could see Sonata starting to shiver. Dragons may have been insulated from extreme weather, but that didn’t protect them from magic, and Fluttershy wasn’t above using her magic to drop the temperature of the room to below freezing if it meant disrupting Sonata’s concentration.
And sure enough, as Sonata rubbed her arms in an attempt to get warm, Fluttershy felt her bonds loosening, and her natural nimbleness allowed her to squirm right out of Sonata’s trap with only the smallest of openings, jumping out of the constricting tunnel to lunge at Sonata, who disappeared just before Fluttershy could make contact with her.
Fluttershy blinked and took a look around. The tunnel was back to normal at least, so Fluttershy could breathe easily about that, and even stretch her wings out a little bit. But she could still feel Sonata’s presence in the air, or at least… somewhere around.
Underneath her?
Fluttershy looked down, and she could see a faint motion in her own shadow, almost like rippling water. Fluttershy would have been quite impressed with Sonata’s magic if she didn’t despise the wretched little creature so much.
Fluttershy was curious though, if Sonata’s hiding place would protect her if the room temperature dropped below zero degrees. Fluttershy would be fine, it was her magic after all, but it would sure be interesting to see what happened to Sonata.
“Alright enough already!” Sonata screamed, jumping out of Fluttershy’s shadow and hovering right in front of her, little icicles hanging from Sonata’s eyes, nose, and mouth. “Look if you’re so sure it’s ‘the system’ that’s bad-” Sonata blew another raspberry, moving her fingers to make the most sarcastic air quotes Fluttershy had ever seen “-then what’re you gonna do about it, huh?! Do you have a plan, or just a bunch of lousy platitudes, huh!?”
“I, um,” Fluttershy faltered, and her weakening concentration was slowly making the room rise back to a normal temperature. “Um—”
This whole time, Fluttershy had been viewing herself as powerless. She was just following what her adopted parents, or her magic teacher, or Twilight or Rarity said. She never really took the time to think for herself. Even now, she was fighting for ponies because she didn’t want anything bad to happen to Rarity or Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie or Spike. Applejack she was kinda ambivalent about.
But the truth in her heart was—
“I want to protect ponies,” Fluttershy said sternly, locking eyes with Sonata Dusk. “I want to protect them, because I want everyone to live in a world where they don’t have to be afraid, and I could never forgive myself if I allowed that world to be born in a bloodbath. So I’m going to stop you, Sonata Dusk. Because I believe that’s the right thing to do! That’s where I draw the line!”
Fluttershy lunged at Sonata, and while Sonata tried to close the walls in around Fluttershy again, Fluttershy was able to chomp her fangs down on Sonata’s back legs, goring them as Sonata squealed in pain.
“That’s some interesting magic you have, Sonata Dusk,” Fluttershy growled, her voice muffled since her mouth was kinda full, and every movement of her teeth dug her fangs deeper into Sonata’s tiny little legs. “What will be really interesting is seeing you try to concentrate on it through the pain of me ripping your legs off.”
“Waitwaitwait!” Sonata screamed, waving her arms frantically with tears in her eyes. “Truce! Let’s have a truce! I really don’t wanna lose my legs and I promise I won’t attack you anymore! I’m a lover and not a fighter anyway!”
Fluttershy had absolutely no reason to trust Sonata, and every reason to just crush the little bastard in her fangs right then and there.
But she loosened her grip. Sonata flew out of Fluttershy’s mouth, laying on the ground and whimpering as blood poured out the holes in her legs, fresh blood still dripping from Fluttershy’s fangs.
“You’re so strong,” Sonata cooed, looking with horror and awe at her shredded legs.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” Fluttershy sighed, and a soft teal light glowed from her antlers and covered Sonata’s legs, sealing the wounds and repairing them to full strength. “Alright, Sonata Dusk. Let’s talk.”
Sonata asked Fluttershy that question as Sonata sat on her rump in the dark tunnels underneath the Big Thunder Mine, stretching out her hind legs as she worked them over softly with her arms, making sure they were all recovered after Fluttershy healed them.
Fluttershy didn’t know what to say.
The answer was yes and no; Fluttershy was still afraid of ponies— she was still afraid of everything!— but she knew she didn’t have to be. She knew her friends would keep her safe, and more than that she knew that she didn’t need or deserve to live the rest of her life in fear.
Fluttershy hummed, looking down at a tiny, vicious little dragon. While obviously dragons and animals weren’t the same, it was hard not to be reminded of some of Fluttershy’s woodland critter friends when she looked at Sonata. Fluttershy had dealt with enough critters to recognize when one was lashing out due to fear.
“I used to be,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile. “Not anymore though.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but it was true enough in Fluttershy’s heart, and she wanted to comfort Sonata, which she couldn’t do if she was completely forthright about her own anxieties.
“Like, how?” Sonata hummed, Fluttershy’s ears flicking at the sweet sound of her voice. “How are you not scared? Ponies are dangerous! All they want is to kill us!”
“I’m still scared of the Slayers,” Fluttershy confessed, feeling like she could— and should— be honest with Sonata. “But I know now that not even the Slayers want to harm us. They’re scared. They’re afraid of us, just like we’re afraid of them. All they want is to be safe and happy, just like us, and they’ve been tricked into thinking we’re a danger to that. Just like us.
“But that fear doesn’t excuse their violence toward us, and our fear doesn’t give us the right to commit atrocities on the ponies who have done nothing to us.”
“I just don’t get it,” Sonata pouted, and it was hard not to feel sorry for her. “My friends are all so much smarter than me, and they all tell me that ponies are dangerous! They’re the ones who’ve taken care of me and been nice to me, but ponies have only ever treated me like a monster!”
“You should meet some of my friends,” Fluttershy smiled gleefully at the thought of her friends, and thinking about introducing Sonata to them. “They’re all super nice, and I promise they would make you feel welcomed, even though most of them are ponies.
“You just, y’know,” Fluttershy flicked a claw gently on the rocky ground, “you need to stop killing ponies and reanimating corpses.”
“Wow, you’re amazing, Fluttershy,” Sonata cooed, and it made Fluttershy blush. “How’re you not scared? You must be tough as nails!”
“What are you talking about?” Fluttershy laughed bashfully and hid her face in her mane. “I’m terrified! But I know that my fear isn’t an excuse to not do what I believe is right.”
“That’s still heckin’ brave of you!” Sonata cheered, flitting this way and that as she fawned over Fluttershy. “Strong too!” Sonata grabbed Fluttershy’s bicep and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You’re incredible!”
“I’m nothing special,” Fluttershy insisted, even as she felt like she was starting to sweat from the warmth of Sonata’s praise. Sonata was really cute, and nice, and her praising Fluttershy felt so good…
“You are so special!” Sonata cheered, pumping her little fists. “You’re the most specialist dragon in the whole world if you ask me!”
“Please,” Fluttershy covered her face with her wing, “you’ll make me blush.”
“You’re kinda cute when you blush, so it’s okay,” Sonata giggled, and Fluttershy bit her lip and totally shielded her face with her wings, feeling like she was gonna burn up from the heat in her cheeks.
Sonata dug her way past Fluttershy’s wing shield and rested her claws on Fluttershy’s snout, pressing her own gently against it.
“I’m weak,” Sonata whispered. “I’m weak and soft, and I always need everyone else to protect me. I’m not strong like you are”
“I think you’re plenty strong,” Fluttershy smiled softly. She was starting to feel a little woozy, but focusing on Sonata helped her stay in the moment. “And if you want, I can protect you.”
“You would?” Sonata asked, and when Fluttershy saw the stars gleaming in Sonata’s eyes, she felt a warmth inside her chest and knew she couldn’t possibly refuse.
“I would,” Fluttershy said dreamily.
“You should run away with me,” Sonata whispered in Fluttershy’s ear, giving it a gentle nibble. “You should meet my friends.”
“I would like that,” Fluttershy sighed contently, losing herself in Sonata’s voice.
“You should forget about your own friends,” Sonata’s whisper took on a more sinister tone, and Fluttershy’s ears flicked up.
“I—I couldn’t—”
“You could,” Sonata hummed, and her humming was like the sweetest melody Fluttershy had ever heard. “You can. Run away with me, Fluttershy. Leave everything else behind.”
“Sonata Dusk,” Fluttershy sighed, her eyes lazily looking over Sonata as her heart fell under Sonata’s siren song, “I would love to.”
Sonata Dusk was a real sweetheart. Cute too. Her voice was like honey to Fluttershy’s ears. Oh, actually putting honey on your ears sounds gross, but you know. You get it. Fluttershy wasn’t feeling terribly creative with the metaphors today; something about Sonata made her brain fizzle out and she couldn’t think straight.
But that was okay. Fluttershy didn’t mind if Sonata did all the thinking for her.
Fluttershy’s ears flicked up. She heard something in the distance, echoing through the tunnels of the Big Thunder Mine, but she couldn’t quite make it out.
“What was—”
“Shhh,” Sonata whispered, the tiny dragon flitting around Fluttershy’s head and giving her a kiss on the snout, “stay with me. Just stay with me.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy sighed dreamily, Sonata’s soothing voice lulling her into a deep sense of comfort and relaxation.
“Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy snapped her head around to look to the tunnels behind her. She could’ve sworn she heard her name being called.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Sonata hummed and put her claws on Fluttershy’s snout, locking eyes with Fluttershy and turning her head away from the tunnel, “don’t listen to the spooky tunnel noises. Just listen to me.”
“But my name was—”
“Spooky tunnel noises!” Sonata insisted. “If you stay down here long enough, you’ll start hearing all kinds of nonsense!”
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy didn’t understand, but who was she to question Sona—
“Fluttershy!”
Oh, that was definitely Fluttershy’s name, right?
And that voice was—
“Fluttershy! Where are you?!” Rainbow Dash called out, and she sounded close.
“Rainb—”
Fluttershy tried to call out, but Sonata clamped her mouth shut and locked eyes with her, and her gaze was so intense and menacing, that Fluttershy was entranced by it. She couldn’t look away, or think about anything else other than Sonata.
“But, my friend,” Fluttershy said lethargically.
“I’m gonna introduce you to my friends, remember?” Sonata smiled, and Fluttershy’s mind was in such a daze she couldn’t tell if it was cute or sinister. “You don’t need your friends anymore.”
“I—I—”
“Fluttershy, please!” Rainbow called, and she sounded desperate. “Answer me!”
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy yelped, and she whipped around toward the tunnel Rainbow was calling from.
Her head felt clear and alert now, for some reason, but she felt awkward; like she’d been stumbling through a daze, or taken a really ill-advised mid-afternoon nap.
But now she felt okay. Now that she wasn’t… looking at…
…Sonata.
Fluttershy let a low growl escape her lips as she turned her gaze back to Sonata, glaring into her like knives embedded in Sonata’s skull.
“You,” Fluttershy snarled. “You were trying to hypnotize me! You were trying to make me forget my friends!”
Fluttershy gnashed her teeth and backed Sonata into a corner. Now that she knew what to look out for, she wasn’t going to fall for Sonata’s spell again. It didn’t help Sonata’s case that what she was trying to hypnotize Fluttershy into doing was against Fluttershy’s instincts.
If Sonata had been trying to brainwash Fluttershy into doing something that she desired deep down, this encounter could have gone much worse for Fluttershy.
“I—I didn’t mean—” Sonata mumbled.
“Shut up!” Fluttershy screamed. “I’m not interested in your excuses! I was being honest with you! I was trying to be kind to you! And you repay that kindness by trying to take advantage of me and brainwash me!? I’ve had it with you, Sonata Dusk!”
“I’m sorry!” Sonata whimpered. “I was just scared! Cuz you’re so big and strong, and I’m so we—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Fluttershy roared, her fangs inches from Sonata’s neck.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled. “Was that you?!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy howled, her voice making the mines themselves rumble. “I’m over this way!”
“Celestia, hurry!” Rainbow yelled, and Fluttershy’s ears twitched. “She’s this way, let’s go!”
“Celestia?” Fluttershy and Sonata questioned in unison.
What was Celestia doing here? Fluttershy almost wondered if Rainbow was bringing her to Fluttershy on purpose, if Rainbow had been planning this all along and was about to—
No. No, Rainbow wouldn’t do that, would she?
Fluttershy took a deep breath, and she chose to trust her friends. She wouldn’t turn her back on them now.
If Rainbow really did want to bring Celestia to kill Fluttershy, she didn’t have to announce Celestia’s presence the way she did. Maybe Rainbow ran into her by accident and couldn’t get away from her, and she was warning Fluttershy!
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow called out, and she sounded weirdly close to Fluttershy’s ears. Oh, it was because she had flown into the room where Sonata and Fluttershy were.
Sonata leapt into action while Fluttershy was distracted, grabbing Rainbow Dash in her claw.
“This one of your pony friends, Fluttershy?!” Sonata snarled, a wicked grin across her face as her eyes reflected nothing but bloodlust and madness in her heart. “She’s got a nice head! Think I’ll take it!”
Fluttershy chomped her fangs down on Sonata’s claw that held Rainbow, ripping it from Sonata’s arm and rescuing Rainbow by hiding her in Fluttershy’s mouth. Maybe not the most graceful rescue, but it would have to do.
It would sure be a shame if Celestia saw that.
Celestia stood in the arched entryway to the cavernous room that Fluttershy and Sonata were fighting in, and both dragons’ gazes immediately locked onto her.
Fluttershy opened her mouth slowly, letting Sonata’s claw fall out and plop onto the ground, and Rainbow flew out of her mouth into the air, locking eyes with Celestia.
Celestia fired a bolt of flaming death toward Sonata— naturally, she would target the weaker enemy first to get it out of the way— and Fluttershy dived in front of her and erected a shield of ice that shattered from Celestia’s attack, but slowed it down enough that when it pierced Fluttershy’s chest it only left a horrific scorch mark and blinding pain instead of killing her instantly.
Rainbow threw herself at Celestia, launching her whole entire body into Celestia’s face to disorient her. Fluttershy gasped as the horrifying implications of that action raced through her mind, but if she didn’t take advantage of it and save herself, that sacrifice would be worthless.
“Get us out of here, now,” Fluttershy grabbed Sonata in her claw and growled. If Sonata could control the mines, it made sense that she’d have an emergency exit.
“Right, right, I got it!” Sonata whimpered frantically. Her horns glowed and the ground opened up, revealing a bizarre looking portal. Fluttershy grit her teeth and jumped inside, gambling on whatever was on the other side being safer than being stuck in a cave with Celestia.
Fluttershy blinked and she was on the other side of the portal, flying in the sunset skies high above the Big Thunder Mine. She just had to pray that Rainbow would be safe with Celestia, because right now she had something more immediate to deal with.
“Sonata Dusk,” Fluttershy said sharply, Sonata whimpering in response as blood poured from the stump where her claw had once been, as the two dragons flew through the sunset skies away from the Big Thunder Mine, and from Queen Celestia. “Thank you.”
“Th—wh—huh?” Sonata asked, blinking several times for emphasis.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy repeated, breathing deep of the fresh outside air. She missed it desperately while inside the mine. “For saving me, I mean.”
“I still can’t forgive you,” Fluttershy said coldly, “for trying to take advantage of me. I can’t believe you would do something like that. I genuinely wanted to be friends.”
“Yeah, you say that!” Sonata shot back angrily. “But you wanted me to give up everything me and my friends have been working for! You wanna put my life in ponies’ hands! And that’s just—I can’t even—that sucks!”
“You can’t live your life in constant fear, Sonata,” Fluttershy sighed. “Trust me on this one, no good can come from that. Especially if your fear causes you to lash out at those who don’t deserve it.”
“Well then,” Sonata hissed, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not lashing out at those who ‘don’t deserve it’, I’m lashing out at ponies. Still though-” Sonata puffed up her cheeks and looked away from Fluttershy “-sorry. About the whole hypnotism thing. That wasn’t cool.”
Fluttershy and Sonata took a break from flying to perch on some trees in a small meadow, Sonata hissing in pain as she tried to stop the bleeding from her arm with her remaining hand. The sky was starting to get dark; the bold orange light of the sun was giving way to the inky black sky of nightfall, and the horizon looked like a Nightmare Night poster.
“Do you mean that?” Fluttershy asked drolly. “Or are you just saying it to butter me up?”
Didn’t much matter to Fluttershy either way, she could at the very least fix what she had broken. She wasn’t a strong enough healer to regenerate a limb instantly, but she was able to seal the bleeding and grow a little sapling where Sonata’s wound had been, and that sapling would grow into a new claw, in time.
“Honestly,” Sonata let out a humorless chuckle, her claw gently falling away from her wound as she made sure it was okay, “I’m not even sure. I’m really not sure what to think without Adagio telling me what to do. She’s so smart! And I trust her a ton! But like, your confidence really rattled me, and I don’t like that.
“I just wanted things to be easy. I wanted everyone to agree with me, then everything would make sense in my brain.”
“Hmm, I can’t exactly say brainwashing people is the best way to go about things,” Fluttershy groaned. She kinda thought that went without saying, but Sonata seemed to be from an entirely different world than Fluttershy.
“It works for Adagio!” Sonata whined. “And it usually works for me too!”
“But it isn’t right,” Fluttershy said sternly.
“Who cares!?” Sonata yelled back. “As long as it works, and it makes people stop yelling at me!”
Fluttershy growled under her breath. She swore every time she thought she was making some headway with this girl, Sonata would say something that would remind Fluttershy how different their morals were. It was endlessly frustrating.
“I just want everyone to stop yelling at me,” Sonata sighed and curled up into a ball, but that caused her to fall off the tree limb she was perched on and fall to the grass on her back, where she let out a pained whimper, Fluttershy gently floating down to make sure she was okay. “I wish Adagio was here to tell me what to think.”
“If you don’t know what to think,” Fluttershy said, helping Sonata up off the ground and sheltering her with a wing across her back, “listen to your heart instead.”
That’s what Fluttershy was doing, anyway. If she stopped to think about how much time and energy she was investing into trying to help Sonata Dusk, she’d think she was going mad. But Fluttershy didn’t feel it was right to simply turn her back on Sonata; she wanted to show Sonata the kindness that every creature deserved, simply because Fluttershy wanted to be kind.
“My heart?” Sonata scoffed. “My heart is terrified! I’m scared and I don’t know what to do and I just want someone to tell me things are gonna be okay.”
“Things are gonna be okay,” Fluttershy said, almost just by instinct, bringing Sonata closer to her with her wing. “As long as you can let go of your hatred—”
“Let go of my hatred?!” Sonata spat in disgust, pushing Fluttershy away and jumping into the air, hovering over Fluttershy with a furious glare in her eyes. “That’s easy for you to say! Now that you’ve beaten me up!”
“Wha—”
“It’s not so easy for me!” Sonata screamed, tears sparkling in her eyes. “It’s not that easy to stop hating the people who’ve hurt me!”
“You’re right,” Fluttershy said, looking away from Sonata and taking a second to make sure she hadn't fallen under her spell again, but no she was still clean, so she looked back at Sonata. “You’re right, Sonata. I apologize. It isn’t that easy, and suggesting it like it was doesn’t do anyone any favors.
“But perhaps,” Fluttershy spoke firmly, but gently, “there’s a middle ground between forgiveness and genocide that you could inch toward?”
“You don’t know anything about me!” Sonata screamed, Fluttershy’s ears clamping against her head. What the hell just happened in Sonata’s mind to trigger this outburst? “You don’t know anything about Adagio! You don’t know anything about ANYTHING!”
And with that, Sonata Dusk flew away, disappearing into the horizon before Fluttershy could even muster a response.
“What just happened?” Fluttershy said aloud to herself, sitting alone in the darkness.
Rainbow Dash sat on a rock just outside the entrance to the Big Thunder Mine. The sun was setting as Celestia circled the skies above the mine, looking for the two dragons that had disappeared right in front of her… thanks to Rainbow Dash.
Celestia was still in straight-up Slayer mode— all business. She hadn't taken the time yet to reprimand Rainbow for tackling her in the face, an action Rainbow only took in order to protect the two dragons specifically from Celestia. Well, really just the one dragon; that blue one could go die for all Rainbow cared.
There was still a glimmer of hope in Rainbow’s mind that she might be able to pass that tackle off as an accident or something, and not be forced to reveal to the Queen of the Celestial Slayers that she believed dragons were good actually, and that she was friends with one of the dragons they just encountered.
On the bright side, Rainbow was able to convince Celestia to stop looking for Rainbow’s friend that she’d been separated from, under the excuse that Rainbow and said friend agreed to meet up at the mine entrance if they got separated.
No sense in looking around for a friend that escaped the mine already, especially since Celestia would’ve tried to butcher her anyway.
As Celestia came back into view and gently flew down to the ground, Rainbow stood to her hooves and felt like she had rocks in her stomach. It was now or never, and she had to grapple with the fact that she might have to tell the most powerful bigot in the world to go fall in a ditch, basically.
“Celestia, I—”
“I couldn’t find the dragons,” Celestia sighed with a shrug, stretching her arms over her head as she walked past Rainbow Dash. “Did you hear from your friend?”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow said, “she’s on her way, she already got out. I’m— I’m sorry.” Rainbow bit her lip. Honestly she wasn’t even sure herself if she actually felt sorry, but it just slipped out.
“Why are you sorry?” Celestia asked curiously, then affected a hearty chuckle. “For flying into my face? You just got nervous, Rainbow Dash. It happens to everyone, it’s no big deal.”
“So you’re not mad?” Rainbow said awkwardly. She didn’t want to get her hopes up too much, but that was a great sign!
“Mm-mm,” Celestia shook her head, soft smile on her face.
“Even though I let the dragons escape?”
“You couldn’t have known they would have an escape route like that,” Celestia sat down on the big flat rock Rainbow was on earlier and breathed a heady sigh. “It looked like they were fighting each other, so I’m kind of hoping that even after they escaped together, they still end up destroying each other.
“Either way, they certainly won’t be coming back to the Big Thunder Mine for a while, and you’re actually quite lucky to have escaped that dragon’s mouth. All in all, I consider this a victory.”
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the grass, laying flat like a starfish and looking up at the sky. She couldn’t believe that went so well, and she felt like a twenty ton anvil had been taken off of her chest and she could breathe for the first time in like a year.
Still though, Rainbow did have some questions that needed answering, and Celestia was the only one who might be able to, so…
“So what was that, anyway?” Rainbow sat up and looked at Celestia. “One of those dragons was turning the miners into ghouls? Any idea why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Celestia clicked her tongue. “The dragons are intent on starting a war with Equestria. This isn’t the only operation of this magnitude that I’ve seen. Perhaps you’ve seen these sickly black thorns embedded into the skin of monsters on your missions?”
“I have seen those!” Rainbow’s eyes widened as she remembered the cragadile mission, and according to Rarity, the manticore she and Applejack fought had one too.
Goddammit, now Rainbow missed Applejack and her big strong arms. Rainbow just tried to keep in mind that it wasn’t gonna be too much longer before Rainbow was back in Green Neigh and Applejack could hold her and kiss her forehead and tell her she did a good job. She wished Applejack was here right now though; she’d be a lot less nervous with Jackie around.
“I encountered the dragon who has been creating them,” Celestia groaned, putting a hand up to her head and rubbing her temples, Rainbow forced to shove her gay thoughts outta her brain to focus on Celestia. “And just like this one, it barely managed to escape my blades. These bastards are careful, I’ll give them that.”
“Anything you can tell me about that dragon?” Rainbow asked. “In case I run into ‘em?”
“Oh, good question, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said with a bright smile; the kind of smile that would’ve lit Rainbow up inside like two months ago, but now just felt awkward and bitter. “It was a purple dragon, calling itself Aria Blaze. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much more than that, I didn’t get a good look at it in the heat of combat.”
“Okay, Aria Blaze, got it,” Rainbow nodded. The fact that there was someone who was causing those thorns to make the monsters go feral sure was something… specifically, it was something Rainbow would have to tell Rarity and the others cuz she had no idea what the implications of that might’ve been. She just didn’t have the head for this kinda nonsense.
“Between those thorns and this mine,” Celestia continued, “not to mention the everlasting winter, which I’m certain the dragons are involved with, it’s pretty obvious the dragons are looking to start a war. Their attack on Bitsburgh and their dealings with the Crystal Empire are proof enough as well, and sure signs that we need to take action sooner rather than later. We'll take the fight to their own damn doorstep if that's what it takes.”
Okay, wait. Hold up.
That sure escalated fast.
Was Celestia talking about starting a war with the Dragon Lands? No way, right? And she was using the Bitsburgh thing as an excuse, even though that was just a personal beef between two specific dragons. Cuz of course she would, why wouldn’t she? She didn’t know anything about dragons.
“Something on your mind, Rainbow Dash?” Celestia asked concernedly, Rainbow’s eye twitching. “You seem troubled. If you’re worried about the dragons, please don’t be. I promise I have everything under contr—”
“You’re wrong about dragons.”
Rainbow spoke up, and a chill wind blew through the air, as the evening sun began to fade behind the horizon, leaving an inky black night sky in its place.
“W-what?” Celestia gave a single humorless chuckle.
“You’re wrong,” Rainbow repeated. No turning back now as far as she was concerned. “About dragons.”
“What did you just say?” Celestia asked coldly as she stared at Rainbow Dash, the pair sitting in the grassy flatlands near the entrance to the Big Thunder Mine, the mine still looming over them like the shadow of dusk that was quickly swallowing the sky.
“I said I think you’re wrong,” Rainbow Dash said firmly, hands digging into her knees as she sat with her legs folded under her, staring daggers at Celestia even as every nerve in her body was screaming at her to not go down this path. “About dragons.”
“No, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia let out a slow, groaning sigh under her breath and through gritted teeth as she held a hand up to her temples. “I don’t think you understand.”
Celestia pushed herself off the stone she was seated on and stood above Rainbow Dash, the mountainous alicorn covering whatever was left of the setting sun from Rainbow’s eyes as Celestia looked down on Rainbow with an expression that burned with quiet fury.
But Celestia just closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled kindly at Rainbow.
“I must have misheard you,” Celestia said, slowly and deliberately. “What did you just say.”
“I said,” Rainbow stood up, though even at her full height she barely reached Celestia’s stomach, “that you’re wrong about dragons. And I meant it too.”
“Why.”
That was all Celestia said. Her words were harsher than if she had dropped a handful of jagged gravel in Rainbow’s ears, and Rainbow didn’t know how to respond. The truth would just have to do.
“I was at the battle in Bitsburgh,” Rainbow explained, trying to keep her cool and doing a remarkably good job, if she did say so herself. “There were two dragons there, and they were fighting each other. One of them was protecting the ponies of Bitsburgh from the other, and sh— it, it saved my life too.”
“That’s it?” Celestia spat. “That’s all you have to say for yourself? One dragon doing the right thing out of convenience doesn’t even begin to make up for the sins of all of the other ones, Rainbow Dash!” Celestia shouted, throwing her arms to her sides like she thought she was making an obvious point.
“Open your eyes, Celestia!” Rainbow shot back, and Celestia recoiled like she’d been hit, her eyes widening and blinking twice. “How could an entire race be evil?! They’re not the monsters you always told us they are! They’re just like us!”
“They are nothing like—”
“They’re the same! Actually!” Rainbow hissed, cutting Celestia off with a stomp on the grass for good measure. She didn’t think Celestia would really listen to her, but she was damn sure gonna make Celestia at least hear her. “And they’re just as scared of us as we always are of them! And no wonder! We keep killing them!”
“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen, Rainbow Dash!” Celestia stomped forward and Rainbow stepped back, ears clamping against her skull. “You haven’t seen the atrocities that these monsters are capable of!”
“I’ve seen enough,” Rainbow growled, taking a step forward. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re wrong about dragons.”
Celestia was fuming. If she could shoot fire from her eyes and incinerate Rainbow with just her gaze, she would’ve. Well actually she probably could do that, and she wasn’t, but you get it.
She turned away from Rainbow Dash, and she took a deep breath. Rainbow’s legs were shaking like they were ready to collapse or fall off.
But for whatever it was worth, Rainbow was proud of herself. All that time she spent being a coward even when lives were at stake, and now she was standing up to freakin’ Queen Celestia! It would’ve been way easier to just grit her teeth and say nothing, but Rainbow was proud of herself for speaking up to defend her friends.
Granted, it probably would’ve been smarter to say nothing, but oh well. What’s done is done and all that.
“So what now?” Rainbow asked, her voice echoing in the silent night air like a stone being pitched into a bottomless well. “Am I gonna be arrested for treason, or executed or something?”
“What?” Celestia balked, turning to look at Rainbow incredulously.
“Everyone knows how much you hate dragons,” Rainbow bit her lip, unable to look Celestia in the eye. “Are you gonna punish me for—”
“Rainbow Dash, please,” Celestia sighed and walked over to Rainbow, kneeling down and tipping Rainbow’s chin up to meet Celestia’s gaze, and she had a fond smile on her face. Way less scary than Rainbow was expecting. “Obviously we don’t see eye to eye on this issue, but I’m not going to ‘punish’ you for having a bad opinion on something.”
“Y-you’re not?” Rainbow blinked.
“No!” Celestia scoffed and stood up. “Is that what people think? That I’m a tyrant who will put ponies in jail for speaking their mind? I’m sorry if that’s how I come across, because that’s absolutely not who I am.”
“Oh,” Rainbow sighed a breath of relief. “That’s— I dunno, maybe it was just the anxiety talking, but I was really scared there for a sec!”
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said soothingly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. And while of course this issue is a hot button one for me, it wasn’t right of me to lash out at you the way that I did, and I apologize for that as well.”
“Thank you, Celestia,” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her neck, and she almost felt bad for not feeling bad. “I’m not gonna apologize though. I meant everything that I said.”
“I understand,” Celestia nodded sagely. “And I hope that you understand why that means I must excommunicate you from the Celestial Slayers.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened and she stepped back.
“Wh-wha—”
“Opinions are one thing,” Celestia said sternly, “but if you’re truly willing to underestimate the threat that dragons possess, then you’re putting ponies’ lives in danger by being a Slayer. I can’t trust someone with such lax judgment to protect the citizens of Equestria. I hope you understand.”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow said thoughtlessly, her mind racing. She shouldn’t have been surprised, but still… everything she’d ever done was so that she could become a Slayer, so that she could become a hero admired by the people of Equestria, and now sticking her neck out for her friends was going to ruin that for her?
But… what did it matter? What was the point in even being a Slayer if it meant working for someone who was willing to start a war just to sate her own bigoted bloodlust? Someone who would have put Rainbow’s best friends— and who knows how many other innocent dragons— to death, just for the ‘crime’ of being dragons.
There was nothing left for her with the Celestial Slayers, but to be forced to say goodbye to something that she’d worked her entire life for, it was like having a gaping hole ripped straight out of her chest.
“You can keep your gear,” Celestia said, “and of course I won’t forbid Rarity from being your friend or any other such thing. Speaking of, have you told Rarity about this affinity you have for dragons?”
“N-no,” Rainbow lied, “she doesn’t know anything about it.”
“Then I don’t want to see you helping her with any official Slayer business until she does,” Celestia said. “Like I said, opinions are one thing, but protecting the citizens is a Slayer’s first and only priority, and if you’re going to be a danger to them—”
“Yeah, I get it,” Rainbow said shortly. “Thanks, Celestia. For everything.”
“Do you need a lift back to—”
“I don’t,” Rainbow said. “Thanks. I gotta wait for my friend anyway.”
“Okay,” Celestia sighed. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”
“Goodbye, Celestia.”
Celestia flared out her wings and looked to the sky, but she stopped short of taking flight, her eyes slowly lowering until they met Rainbow’s again. There was a steely glint to them, as if she were sizing Rainbow up. It was eerie; Rainbow didn’t like it.
“One last thing,” Celestia said coldly. “If I find that you have been harboring dragons in Equestria, then you will be punished.”
Rainbow said nothing. What could she say?
Celestia took off into the sky, leaving Rainbow alone.
She always did as soon as she heard the gentle snoring of her son, signaling that he was sound asleep and she could turn off ‘mom mode’ and just resume being regular ol’ Twilight Sparkle— and yes she was well aware that being in a constant state of lowkey tension and overprotectiveness when her son was around was an extremely unhealthy way to be, and she was working on it but that was beside the point!
Anyway.
She was more relieved than usual, because not only was her son snoring, so too was Trixie. And boy, was she ever snoring; like the sound of a chainsaw ripping through a tree trunk that just refused to give. But it was pleasant in its own way, a tender white noise that acted as a soothing backdrop for the waning hours of Twilight’s little slumber party, as she and Applejack were the only ones left awake.
With Spike cuddled up inside a pillow fort on the floor, and Trixie hogging up one of the two beds, that only left one free bed for either Applejack or Twilight to sleep in, so naturally Twilight planned to sleep on the gro—
“You comin’ to bed, hon?” Applejack asked, making space on the bed next to her and patting it down, Twilight’s blush probably lighting up the whole room as she fiddled awkward with the collar of her robes.
“Wh—uh—” Twilight stammered and bit down on her thumbnail. She couldn’t deny that sleeping next to Applejack would be, uh, something that she would enjoy doing, but—
But, well…
Um…
…
Actually, as she ran through it in her mind, she realized that she couldn’t come up with a valid reason not to. Applejack was offering, and Twilight wanted to accept, and that was that.
“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight said as she sat down on the bed, slowly worming her way under the covers and getting comfortable.
“No problem, sweetheart,” Applejack chuckled and put her arm around Twilight, pulling her in for a hug. “Just let me know if you get too hot or somethin’. Last thing I want is for you to be uncomfy in your own bed.”
“Thanks, but you don’t have to worry about that,” Twilight purred as she let herself melt into Applejack’s embrace. “I couldn’t imagine being more comfortable.”
“That’s good to hear,” Applejack hummed, holding Twilight close enough that Twilight’s ears twitched from the feeling of Applejack’s breathing. “Cuz I’m feelin’ pretty comfy myself.”
“You were really amazing earlier, by the way,” Twilight said softly, trying to stop herself from smiling like a goof, but it was hard not to when she was around Applejack. “Helping me with Trixie and standing up for me and stuff.”
“I’m not so sure I’d call it ‘standing up for you’,” Applejack chuckled awkwardly. “Kinda felt like I was just tryin’ to dick measure with Trixie, so I apologize for that.”
“Oh, sure,” Twilight giggled. “But your heart was in the right place, and I know you were just looking out for me, so I appreciate that a lot.”
“Well, shucks hon,” Applejack smiled brightly, and Twilight bit her lip cuz she couldn’t stand how cute Applejack looked, “it was nothin’! Honestly, I should be heapin’ praise on you instead. Reachin’ out to Trixie like you did? I never could’ve done somethin’ like that, I’m way too stubborn. But it looks like it was the right call, so color me impressed.”
“Geez, Applejack,” Twilight stifled a giggle, “get off my dick already.”
Applejack laughed out loud, but then quickly covered her mouth once she realized how loud she was, and Twilight was trying just as hard to keep her laughter under control. Spike was still snoring though, so he didn’t wake up, and Trixie—
“Ugh, wuh?” Trixie sat up and looked over at Twilight and Applejack with glazed over eyes.
“Shhh, go to sleep, Trixie,” Twilight whispered, sitting up and looking over at her.
“Okay,” Trixie said drearily and flomped back onto her pillow, and her snoring resumed in the space of a single breath.
“’Get off my dick’,” Applejack chortled, sitting up on the bed. “Sheesh, Twi, the tongue on you, I swear.”
“Oh are you gonna wash my mouth out with soap, Applejack?” Twilight teased, lightly poking Applejack in the side.
“Just didn’t expect such a sweet gal to be so salty,” Applejack poked Twilight on the nose, and Twilight bit down a dorky smile. “Looks good on you though.”
“Anything looks good on me,” Twilight said, flicking a hand through her mane, and it almost escaped her notice that she was extremely channeling Rarity for a moment.
“Confidence sure does,” Applejack said, her cheeks turning a bright red.
“Oh?” Twilight fluttered her eyelashes and leaned in close to Applejack. “Am I making you all hot and bothered, Applejack?”
“A little, yeah,” Applejack said, and Twilight lurched back; she wasn’t expecting such a bluntly honest answer, but she supposed maybe she should’ve from Applejack. “Dunno what to tell ya, Twi. You’re hot.”
“You are!” Twilight’s voice cracked and she gave Applejack a playful shove.
“Thanks for the compliment, sweetheart,” Applejack said sweetly and put her arm around Twilight, pulling her in close and planting a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “I hope that was okay. Sorry I didn’t ask first.”
“You’re fine,” Twilight sighed dreamily. “That was nice. What’s not nice-” Twilight let out a little groan “-is going to be waking up all sweaty in these same clothes. We can’t all have ten outfits like Rarity.”
“Well if you wanna just take ‘em off,” Applejack said casually, “that’s totally fine. I ain’t got a problem with it if you don’t.”
“I don’t,” Twilight hummed. “What about you though? Do you want to—”
“Take my clothes off?” Applejack smirked. “Why Twilight Sparkle, are you tryin’ to proposition me right now?”
“N-no!” Twilight squeaked, ears shooting straight up and her whole body stiffening. “I was just asking if—”
“I’m just teasin’ ya, hon,” Applejack giggled and ruffled Twilight’s mane, which felt way better than it had any right to, quite frankly. “Are you sure yer gonna be comfortable though? If we’re both sleeping naked in the same bed?”
“Are you going to be comfortable,” Twilight bit her lip and traced her hand across her bangs, “if I’m a little too comfortable with that?”
“Well if that’s how it is,” Applejack whispered, leaning in close to Twilight until their noses were almost touching and Twilight could feel Applejack’s breath on her skin, “maybe I oughtta help you get outta those clothes.”
“Wait,” Twilight turned away from Applejack, gently pushing her back as Twilight started to sweat, and not in a good way this time. “What about Rarity?”
“What about her?” Applejack asked, arching an eyebrow.
“I sent her that letter,” Twilight explained, “full of all my feelings and stuff. But if you and me, if we—”
“Do your feelings for me change yer feelings for Rarity?”
“No,” Twilight didn’t even have to think about it.
“Are you and Rarity exclusive with each other?”
“Also no,” Twilight said.
“Would you feel personally uncomfortable bein’ intimate with me,” Applejack tilted Twilight’s chin up and toward Applejack, “before you settle things with Rarity?”
“No,” Twilight wanted to say ‘absolutely hecking not you sexy farmstud’ but she managed to restrain herself.
“Then what’ve you got to worry about?” Applejack said softly, running her hand through Twilight’s hair.
“Hmm, well right now I’m concerned that my clothes aren’t being torn off by a big sexy mare,” Twilight said, trying not to feel too embarrassed about her cringeworthy flirting.
“Good thing I’m here to help,” Applejack purred.
Twilight stood up so that Applejack could get her out of her robes, and Twilight’s penchant for practical clothing was really paying off, as it took Applejack maybe two seconds to slip Twilight’s robes off of her and pin her to the bed, Applejack taking off her own shirt before pressing herself up against Twilight’s bare body.
“Can I kiss you?” Applejack asked, sending an electric jolt through Twilight’s entire body.
“Please do,” Twilight replied, putting her hand on Applejack’s cheek.
It was Twilight’s first kiss with another woman.
It was her first kiss with someone who wasn’t trying to take advantage of her. Her first kiss with someone who loved her.
She wasn’t sure what to make of it; it was soft, and tender, and warm, like picking a perfectly cooked steak off the barbecue and putting it onto the plate.
Applejack kissed her again, and the sound of their lips disconnecting resonated in Twilight’s ears like the clearest bell; like the foghorn of a lighthouse guiding a wayward sailor to the safety of the shore.
“I love you,” Twilight whispered.
“I love you too,” Applejack whispered back, and planted another soft kiss on Twilight’s lips.
If there was a heaven, Twilight was sure it tasted like apples.
Rarity slid aside the beautiful velvet curtains to gaze upon the starlit skyline of Canterlot. She felt amazing to be out of her clothes, freshly showered, and in a soft and gorgeous room in the Canterlot castle, and she took a deep breath as she stared out across the city that she had once called home.
And realized that she could no longer consider it as such.
At least, not without Twilight Sparkle. Not without Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and Spike too. Her home was with them, wherever they were, and to think how most of the citizenry of Canterlot, especially her so-called ‘colleagues’ in the Hunter’s Haven, would want her friends put to death merely for existing made Rarity nauseous.
It was a harrowing thought, to imagine that Rarity would need to throw everything she had worked her whole life for away. Her relationships with her colleagues had always been strained at best, and the adoration of the citizenry was pleasant but ultimately fleeting, so those things would be painful to throw away, but not devastatingly so.
It was when Rarity thought about her family, her parents and Sweetie Belle, and her beloved mentor Queen Celestia, that she was really given pause.
And so, she simply elected not to think about them. Not yet, anyway. There would be plenty of time for tragedy and despair and all those things at a later time.
For now, Rarity chose to rejoice in the fact that she was not alone. While Celestia may have been, to put it delicately, a ‘problem’ going forward, having Luna’s support meant the world to Rarity. Having someone wise and influential and strong like Luna on her side, and for Luna to have already been way ahead of Rarity no less, was an enormous weight off Rarity’s mind.
She wondered how Luna and Twilight Sparkle were going to get along; she was certain they were to be fast friends. They had so much in common, from a shared love of knowledge and especially reading, to enjoying the little things in life and these blessed quiet moments, and of course they were both enormous dorks on top of it all.
Of course all this thinking of Twilight and Luna brought Rarity right around to thinking of her beloved Twilight Sparkle.
It was almost odd to think of Twilight in that manner now. Rarity had spent so much time trying to push away her feelings for Twilight, to try and pretend they didn’t exist or some such silly thing. And it really was silly— which was Rarity’s polite way of saying ‘absolutely braindead’.
It felt like it mattered so much at the time, and now it was nothing but an unpleasant memory. Well, not entirely; she still needed to make proper amends with Twilight, to smooth things over or what have you. Though Twilight seemed perfectly content to simply resume their relationship where they left off, Rarity wondered if she could.
She still felt enormously guilty for the way she treated Twilight, her coldness and bitterness toward the woman who had done nothing wrong, and had in fact already been subjected to Rarity’s most awful impulses when Rarity stabbed her in the face.
Rarity had so much to apologize for, so much to beg forgiveness for.
But then Rarity had read the letter that Twilight had promised to send her. It was laying open on her nightstand, the parchment wet with Rarity’s tears. Her eyes were still vaguely red, and if she hadn't showered her makeup would still be running, even two hours later.
Twilight made it clear that she had forgiven Rarity. The letter was full to bursting with elegant, lavish prose describing Twilight’s love for Rarity’s beauty and kindness, with not a bitter note to be found. Frankly, Rarity thought Twilight was a saint for the way she spoke of Rarity, the woman who had so badly hurt her.
But if Twilight had already forgiven Rarity, which she so clearly had, then why did Rarity still feel the need to apologize?
Oh well. Rarity didn’t have answers right now. All she knew for certain was that when she returned to her dearest Twilight Sparkle, she would not apologize. She would declare her love, romantically or otherwise, and that would be that.
Although, that thought led Rarity to another; thinking about romantic love, and with Twilight specifically, made Rarity think about the other women in her life. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in particular.
Rarity had closed the door of her heart off for how long again? Years? Years and years? Her relationship with Twilight slowly opened it bit by bit, but Twilight wasn’t the only one to walk through.
She remembered her conversations with Rainbow Dash on the boats to and from Windsoar; if ever there was a time for a romantic moment where one pony swept the other off their hooves, that would have been the perfect moment for it, and yet it didn’t even cross Rarity’s mind at the time.
It wasn’t until later on that the moment played over and over again in Rarity’s mind and she realized the opportunity she had missed. She wondered so many times if she had been foolish to pass up that moment, but she always convinced herself that no, of course Rarity and Rainbow Dash would never work.
But that was the old Rarity, and the old Rainbow Dash for that matter.
The idea of Rarity and Rainbow entering a relationship was not a new one; their chemistry from the moment they met was electrifying, and they were even sometimes teased by their colleagues for not making their relationship quote-unquote ‘official’. Rarity had always passed it off, as she figured that the two of them simply could never be compatible together.
But that was then, and this was—
Wait. Wait, to say that sweeping Rainbow Dash off her hooves hadn't crossed Rarity’s mind during that scene on the boat wasn’t true at all, was it? No, now Rarity was vividly remembering her choking down her feelings— not just for Rainbow Dash, but for Twilight Sparkle as well— and how bitter it made her feel.
Oh, Rarity was in love with Rainbow Dash, wasn’t she?
Well, how could she not be! Rainbow’s charm was undeniable; her confidence was mesmerizing, her enthusiasm was endearing, her laugh was so cute, and she certainly was easy on the eyes. And they’d been through so much, supported each other and been sincere with each other even when it hurt.
Oh, yes. Rarity was very much in love with Rainbow Dash, wasn’t she? How did she miss this?
Well.
Rarity collapsed into her bed and raised a hand to the ceiling, before letting it fall limply at her side.
That was certainly a whole lot to throw onto a girl all at once, wasn’t it?
And those were just Rarity’s feelings; she had no way to know how Rainbow felt about her. She had a hunch that Rainbow may have shared similar feelings, but was she willing to rock the boat on her relationship and potentially humiliate herself over a ‘hunch’?
The answer, of course, was ‘no’. Or at least, ‘not yet’. Rarity was already a barely functioning ball of tension and anxiety just thinking about Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity wanted to make sure she was on solid ground with Twilight first before potentially putting her heart on the line any further.
Though then Rarity started thinking of Fluttershy on top of that.
Dear, sweet Fluttershy…
Rarity couldn’t deny that she was in love with Fluttershy. She wasn’t even going to try… at least, not anymore.
It was odd to think that a woman who Rarity had known for such a comparatively short amount of time could hold such affection in Rarity’s heart, and yet here Rarity was, sighing wistfully as she thought of the beautiful yellow dragon with her flowing mane of strawberry pink hair.
And then Rarity noticed something odd about her fantasizing; Fluttershy was a dragon in Rarity’s thoughts. Of course Fluttershy’s pony form was every bit as beautiful, but when Rarity thought of Fluttershy she thought of the noodly yellow dragon, and Rarity bit her lip as she imagined all the curves and muscle of Fluttershy’s serpentine body.
Hm. Perhaps Rarity needed to take a drink of water if she was going to be this thirsty.
Also it occurred to Rarity that she didn’t get a very good look at Twilight’s dragon form. She was still blinded by her misguided hatred both times that she saw it. Thinking of that, it gave Rarity something to look forward to…
Of course, of course, Rarity would have to wait on dealing with her feelings for Fluttershy as well. All of her various feelings for her various paramours, the hidden feelings she was no doubt harboring just underneath the surface for Applejack and Pinkie Pie as well at the rate things were going, all of those things needed to wait.
She wanted to settle things with Twilight first and foremost.
Rarity wondered if Twilight was having similar thoughts these days. Rarity had purposefully kept her nose out of Twilight’s business; she knew her friends were all getting along with Twilight, but the exact nature of their relationships was a mystery to Rarity.
Rarity couldn’t help but think that it was possible, highly likely even, that one or more of her companions had begun to feel romantic affection for Twilight as well. After all, who wouldn’t fall in love with someone so perfect?
And honestly, Rarity genuinely hoped that was the case. Twilight deserved all the love in the world.
197. A Good Day to Walk Slowly Back to Green Neigh on the Back of Your Dragon Friend
Fluttershy sat under the stars in a secluded wooded meadow, her giant serpentine body wrapped around Rainbow Dash, whose body shivered in the cold, so Fluttershy wrapped her tail around to serve as a makeshift blanket.
Rainbow had told Fluttershy the story; that she had stood up to Celestia and gotten excommunicated from the Slayers as a result. While normally Fluttershy would want to rejoice at the prospect of one less Slayer, and she should have been happy that Rainbow stood up for her, it was hard not to share in her friend’s heartbreak when she saw the dour look on Rainbow’s face as she struggled to keep her composure.
Fluttershy wished she knew what to say. She wished she could say or do something to make Rainbow feel better, but she felt like it was her fault that Rainbow was miserable in the first place, so she had no right to speak.
She could, at the very least, offer protection from the cold winter night.
Rainbow Dash stretched her arms above her head and yawned as the morning sun greeted her. Greeted her way too freakin’ early for that matter, but that was whatever. She looked at her back and saw Fluttershy snoozing away, coiled up around Rainbow like a blanket and shield combo.
Rainbow softly pet Fluttershy’s tail. She really appreciated Fluttershy. She hoped Fluttershy didn’t take it too hard that Rainbow wasn’t really able to talk about stuff yesterday, but for what it was worth Rainbow appreciated Fluttershy not trying to press the issue with her.
Rainbow would need to think of something nice to do for Fluttershy; she deserved it.
Fluttershy was stirring, and the way she was like kinda vibrating against Rainbow as she slowly woke up was like, kinda cute? Rainbow wasn’t sure what she was getting at, but she did know that her heart was full of affection for Fluttershy, and seeing the dragon rise up and arch her back as she stretched out, and the cute little yawn that she let out, only made Rainbow like her more.
“G’morning, sleepy head!” Rainbow called out, jumping into the air and hovering close enough to Fluttershy’s eye level. “Sleep okay?”
“I did,” Fluttershy nodded, but then her lips pursed concernedly. “How about you? Are you feeling better today?”
“Yeah, I am,” Rainbow said softly. “Now that the like initial shock is over, I’m kinda just… I’ll figure it out. No way to go but up now, right?”
“Right,” Fluttershy smiled, and Rainbow beamed back at her cuz Fluttershy was just too cute not to smile around.
Rainbow hopped onto Fluttershy’s back as Fluttershy slowly plodded back to Green Neigh, the two of them having decided way in advance that this was what they were gonna do, just so they could have a little more time together that didn’t have the shadow of a life or death mission hanging over their heads.
Too bad about the whole Celestia thing, but what’cha gonna do.
“It sucks,” Rainbow grumbled, “to not be a Slayer anymore, y’know? To get reprimanded by one of the women I’ve looked up to all my life.”
“I understand,” Fluttershy hummed. “I’m sorry.”
“Why’re you sorry?” Rainbow laughed. “Not like it’s your fault or anything!”
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have—”
“Lived through that encounter with Sonata Dusk?” Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah, I agree! I should be thanking you, not getting an apology!”
“Oh,” Fluttershy muttered, “well, if you say so.”
“I do,” Rainbow crossed her arms and nodded confidently, giving Fluttershy’s fluffy scruff fur a ruffle for good measure. “And hey, this is something that needed to happen anyway. I can’t fight to defend my dragon friends while I’m taking bits from the people who are hunting them down. I was gonna get sacked sooner or later, and it’s probably for the best that it was sooner.”
“For what it’s worth,” Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow and offered a serene smile, “I’m really grateful that you stood up for me. For all of us.”
“Well hey,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her mane and let out an awkward chuckle, blushing at Fluttershy’s praise, “what’re friends for, right?”
“You’re a charmer, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow laughed too and threw herself into Fluttershy’s soft fur, really getting as much of it against her body as she could. Fluttershy was just too dang soft and cozy for her own good! Illegal!
“Hey,” Rainbow said, a churning in her gut cuz she didn’t wanna ruin the moment, but she wasn’t super good at waiting for the right moment when she had something important to say. “Do you wanna talk about Applejack?”
“I don’t,” Fluttershy said flatly, Rainbow clamming up right away. She didn’t see that response coming. “I’m sorry,” Fluttershy sighed, “I don’t mean to be rude, I just need a little more time. I promise though that I’m going to talk to Pinkie Pie about everything after the Gala.”
“Oh yeah, the Gala,” Rainbow sat cross-legged and pondered, tapping a finger against her cheek. Her brain then did that ADHD thing where she jumped from topic to topic in her head in like two seconds, going from the Gala, to Canterlot, to the Slayers, to Celestia, to Luna, to Rarity, and finally to Rarity a second time as she realized her and Rarity had a lot to catch up on.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Rainbow climbed up to Fluttershy’s head and patted her on the ear, Fluttershy’s ear twitching adorably at Rainbow’s touch, “you mind if we take a little detour? I wanna meet Rarity at the Canterlot train station, we should still have time.”
“Canterlot?” Fluttershy bit her lip. “Are you sure that’s safe?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “Celestia told me she was headed to Bitsburgh next, and that was way before all the stuff I said to her so I don’t think she was lying. She hasn’t been back to Canterlot in a dog’s age anyway.”
“Okay, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy nodded and flared out her wings. “I trust you.”
Rainbow smiled brightly as Fluttershy took off into the air, turning the pair invisible with her magic. It felt really nice to have Fluttershy’s trust, and she was determined to make sure that she was deserving of it.
As Rarity left the Canterlot castle underneath the mid-morning sun, obscured as it was by the grey skies and cloudy weather, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her errand to Canterlot was now complete, and she could return to the women she loved very shortly.
And speaking of those women, one Pinkamena Diane Pie was waiting for her at the castle gate, bouncing with excitement and waving frantically as Rarity came into view, Rarity meeting her with a beaming smile and a wave of her own, her heart awash with affection for the adorable sweetheart.
The very instant Rarity crossed the threshold into Canterlot proper, Pinkie was assailing Rarity’s ears with her, as she put it, ‘super duper fluper importantess news you ever heard in your whole ding dang doggone life’.
Rarity herself had equally important news for Pinkie, concerning Luna’s position with regards to dragons, and she was just as excited to share said news with Pinkie Pie. It took until the pair had reached the train station for them to finally stop hyping up the news and simply say what they needed to say to each other.
But of course, the news they wanted to share was practically identical, leaving both mares mildly disappointed.
“Welp,” Pinkie snorted into a fit of giggles. “I guess that’s that!”
“To think your very own mother would be dating a Princess,” Rarity hummed as she walked hand-in-hand with Pinkie into the robust and thriving Canterlot train station, the sounds of chatting travelers and merchants— both legitimate and conniving— filled the air alongside the sounds of train whistles and the smell of fresh coffee and pastries. “What does that make you, exactly?”
“Uh, awesome?” Pinkie scoffed. “C’mon, Rarity, try and keep up!”
“Ah, yes of course, I’ll try and—”
Pinkie’s sharp gasp cut Rarity off and Rarity’s ears flicked up in alarm, her eyes darting amongst the dense crowds smothering the station floor as she looked for what could have caused such a reaction out of Pinkie.
But the tall and slender yellow ‘pony’ waving to Pinkie, alongside the rainbow-maned pegasus flying in the air above her and making herself impossible to ignore with excited waves and shouts, made it a simple enough matter to decipher.
Pinkie bolted toward Fluttershy and threw herself into her lover’s arms, Fluttershy flashing a gleaming smile as she caught Pinkie and spun around with the smaller woman in her arms, giving Pinkie a kiss on the forehead.
Rarity almost wished that were her, but she wouldn’t dare deny Pinkie her moment. She would simply have to make Fluttershy swoon on her own time later.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie cooed, not even trying to keep her ear to ear smile under control as Fluttershy sat her down on a steel bench and then sat next to her, wrapping her wing around Pinkie. “What’re you doing here? Not that I’m not excited to see you cuz I am super excited to see you I love you and I love seeing you and I always enjoy seeing you and spending time with you and I always wanna spend time with you so seeing you here is—”
“Alright, Pinkie I think she gets it,” Rainbow ruffled Pinkie’s mane, getting a giggle out of the sweet mare. “Geez you can’t just fellate her in the middle of the train station like that.”
“Ignore her, Pinkie, please go on,” Fluttershy batted her eyelashes at Pinkie, pushing Rainbow away with one wing while pulling Pinkie in close with the other. “And if you want to make Rainbow’s turn of phrase a little more literal-” Fluttershy bit down softly on Pinkie’s ear and gave it a nibble, Pinkie’s eyes widening and her breathing getting heavy “-I’d be okay with that too.”
“Well, we have a whole train ride back to Green Neigh, right?” Pinkie hummed. “We could—”
“So hey Rarity!” Rainbow Dash loudly said, putting her hands on Rarity’s cheeks and forcing her attention away from her friends’ steamy conversation. “How the hell are ya? Everything with Luna go okay? I got stuff to tell you!”
“Oh, sure,” Rarity said, trying to catch up with everything Rainbow had just said. “Do you want to talk on the train? Because I have an awful lot to discuss with you as well.”
Rarity felt nauseous for what must have been the thousandth time since she had arrived in Canterlot.
She was sitting next to Rainbow Dash, her legs curled up into a ball in front of her on the train back to Green Neigh, her mind reeling from the information Rainbow had just laid out for her.
Any hope Rarity might have held in her heart about Celestia being understanding had now been shattered into a million pieces with the revelation that she had excommunicated Rainbow Dash for speaking in defense of dragons.
And the kicker? The sad pathetic chaser to this miserable shot? Rarity still held onto a glimmer of hope for Celestia, a part of her brain reasoning that because Celestia didn’t try to jail or execute Rainbow Dash, that there may have still been a chance that Celestia was simply misinformed or ignorant, and not an active obstacle against the safety of all dragons in Equestria.
For stars’ sake, not even just in Equestria! Now Celestia was considering a war against the Dragon Lands! And it sickened Rarity to think of how her group’s actions were indirectly responsible for accelerating this notion of Celestia’s too.
Ugh, it was just too much for one stupid lovesick girl to deal with.
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie returned from the bathroom and sat down on the seat across from Rainbow and Rarity, the two glowing women offering Rarity a welcomed distraction from her thoughts.
“Well,” Rarity said with smirk, “don’t you two look satisfied.”
“We had a good time,” Fluttershy replied, licking her lips.
“I’m gonna be all tingly for like an hour,” Pinkie giggled.
“I’m glad you two are feeling alright, at least,” Rarity sighed and let her legs fall slowly to the floor. “I feel like my entire world has been turned upside-down for the second time in two months. Not sure how many world-shattering revelations I can take after this.”
Fluttershy got up and sat next to Rarity, Pinkie Pie hopping over to Rarity’s side of the train cabin as well, both women wrapping their wing and arms around Rarity, respectively. Rainbow got in on this too, hugging Rarity with her arms and her wings, which also extended to cover Fluttershy, who wrapped her remaining wing across Pinkie and onto Rainbow’s back.
Rarity held Fluttershy’s hand in one hand and Rainbow’s in the other, as Pinkie held onto Fluttershy’s and Rainbow’s hands as well.
No matter what world-shattering revelations befell Rarity and her friends, they would undoubtedly take them on together. And what more could Rarity ask for than that?
Twilight took a sip of the apple soda that Applejack had recommended as she sat on a comfy lawn chair underneath the mid-morning cloudy skies in the Green Neigh inn’s private backyard garden.
Trixie swished her can around and found it empty, so she crushed it in her hand and threw it into the waste bin between her and Twilight’s chairs, before grabbing another can from the cooler between them, cracking it open and taking a sip.
“See?” Twilight smiled softly at Trixie. “Isn’t this better than trying to kill each other?”
“Well, don’t get too comfy,” Trixie groaned, flicking up her sunglasses to look at Twilight. “You’re not off the hook just yet.”
“Ugh,” Twilight sighed. “What do you even see in that guy anymore? After everything he’s done to us, why are you—”
“This isn’t about him,” Trixie croaked, her tongue flopping out of her mouth in disgust. “I couldn’t care less about him, but I do want the power he has. To be untouchable by either pony or dragon? Yeah, I care about that immensely.”
Twilight hummed and took another sip of apple soda. It was really good honestly; Applejack had great taste, though Twilight mused that Applejack’s taste in romantic partners should’ve been a dead giveaway about that, hehe.
“Come with me to the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said out of nowhere, causing Trixie to sputter and choke on her drink.
“Wh-what?!” Trixie said. “Where did that come from?”
“Came from the heart,” Twilight said with a bright smile, and it didn’t even waver when Trixie rolled her eyes. “I want you to see that ponies and dragons don’t have to be enemies.”
“I don’t give a rat’s b-hole about ponies, my dude,” Trixie grumbled, swishing her soda can back and forth as it dangled between two fingers. “All I care about is having enough power that no one can mess with me.”
“No one’s gonna mess with you if ponies and dragons are living in harmony though,” Twilight argued.
“I think you’re missing the importance of the ‘power’ aspect,” Trixie griped. “Besides, you think things are gonna be all sunshine and rainbows and blech if dragons and ponies are living ‘in harmony’ or whatever, but the call’s coming from inside the house.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, taking an anxious sip of her soda.
“I’m not afraid of ponies, I’m afraid of dragons,” Trixie said coldly. “And that’s not to imply that dragons are somehow more dangerous than ponies or whatever.
“Celestia’s got all the pony folk wrapped around her finger with their hate and anger pointed at dragons right now, but if dragons stop being enemy number one, either cuz they all get wiped out or cuz they’re living ‘in harmony’ with ponies, the ponies are gonna turn on each other like woah.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Twilight said sternly. “I know there’s a lot of infighting among dragon cultures right now, but that isn’t about dragons’ ‘nature’ or anything like that, or even ponies’. It’s because of the Slayers— and I’m specifically saying the Slayers, and not ‘the ponies’— and the system of bigotry and hatred they’ve created.
“It affects dragons too, by pressuring us to view ponies as our enemies, and forcing a lot of us into this ‘with us or against us’ mindset, and all this crap.”
“Is that right,” Trixie said flatly, and Twilight buried her face in her hands and groaned.
“Look, I don’t know,” Twilight admitted, bringing her legs up in front of her and curling into a ball. “All I know is that I don’t believe that violence and bigotry is some natural thing, I think it was created artificially, and I think it can be stopped. And I don’t think that stopping it will just cause some vacuum effect for some other kind of horrible violence to take its place!”
“So one of the Dragon Lords is trying to kill you, did you know that?” Trixie said, and Twilight felt like she had blacked out and woken up in another dimension with how jarring that conversation shift was.
“I’m sorry?” Twilight said, figuring she must have misheard Trixie or something.
“One of the Dragon Lords,” Trixie spoke condescendingly slowly, provoking an irritated glare from Twilight, “is trying to kill you. You ran into one of their assassins, right? Little squirt that was skilled enough to go one on one with a trained Slayer? Y’know what I’m talking about?”
“I, uh, yeah I guess,” Twilight’s head was spinning as she tried to pivot her brain from their previous conversation into this new one, especially with the extremely heavy stuff Trixie was laying on Twilight. “That was— that assassin was sent by one of the Dragon Lords? Who?”
“You tell me,” Trixie took a sip of soda and smirked. “You’re the smart one.”
“It wouldn’t be Chrysalis,” Twilight pondered. She knew the four Dragon Lords fairly well, what with being the star pupil of the Elder Dragon— aka the highest authority in all of the Dragon Lands— so she figured she’d be able to reason which of them was out to get her. “If Chrysalis wanted me dead, she’d just come kill me herself.”
“She’s pretty ambivalent about you, honestly,” Trixie shrugged. “At least she says she is, but everyone knows she’s still carrying a torch—”
“Ew,” Twilight’s eye twitched. Other than her old magic teacher himself, there was hardly anyone Twilight could think of that she’d rather spend time with less than Chrysalis.
“—but she isn’t interested in murder,” Trixie chuckled. “Well, not murdering you anyway.”
“It wouldn’t be Sombra either,” Twilight laughed; the idea of Sombra using subterfuge and assassination was so out of character for him that she couldn’t help herself. “He’d confront me personally too if he had an axe to grind, and he’d bring an entire army with him.”
“It’s not Sombra,” Trixie said. “He’s actually ambivalent about you. You don’t factor into his plans for conquest, so you mean nothing to him.”
“It—” Twilight bit her lip, and then her nail. She really didn’t want to voice her next suggestion, but with only two Dragon Lords left the anxiety was starting to weigh on her. “It isn’t Tirek, is it?”
Trixie took an agonizingly slow sip of her soda as Twilight melted into a puddle of sweat and nerves.
“No,” Trixie said, Twilight breathing the biggest sigh of relief in her life, “it isn’t Tirek. You should send him a letter sometime. He misses you.”
“I miss him too,” Twilight sighed, curling up into a ball again.
Frankly, she should have sent Tirek a thousand letters by now; he was the only pillar of support Twilight had back home other than Zecora, but the guilt she felt about abandoning everything and running to Equestria choked any words she thought to say to him right out of her.
She hadn't sent Zecora any letters either. Zecora probably hated her by now.
“So Gaius then?” Twilight said, narrowing in on the last of the four Dragon Lords.
“Who?” Trixie snorted. “Gaius has been dead for years, my dude. He got axed like right after you left.”
“Oh,” Twilight said flatly. She couldn’t exactly say she was surprised, or very sad about it. Gaius tended to stick to himself, and didn’t get along well with others. Twilight barely knew him; he was the kind of guy who gets a position of power and just rests on his laurels the rest of his life. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before someone replaced him, and a guy like that doesn’t give up power willingly.
“No, the one after your life is the new Dragon Lord,” Trixie explained, pointing her finger and her soda can at Twilight for emphasis. “She’s the one who axed Gaius and took his place. She’s a wee lass named Cozy Glow, and she’s no older than that assassin she sent after you.”
“What?” Twilight balked, trying to grapple with the severity of the information Trixie just dropped on top of her head. “Wait, a child is out to kill me?”
“Don’t underestimate her, Twilight,” Trixie chuckled, crushing the remains of her soda can and tossing it into the trash. “Not unless you wanna end up like ol’ Galbus or whoever the heck.”
“How do you know she’s after me?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I guess you can call it a hunch?” Trixie hummed, tapping her finger against her cheek and looking at Twilight like she was the biggest idiot in the world for some reason, which Twilight was less than amused by. “Cozy Glow’s hatred for Twilight Sparkle is pretty legendary. You could be in a dragon nation as far removed from our fair capital of Dragmire as possible, and you’d still know all about the little lord child who wants to put a knife in Twilight Sparkle’s back.”
“I’m—” Twilight muttered anxiously. “I’m not that famous back home, am I?”
“Okay no, not really,” Trixie grumbled. “I was exaggerating for dramatic effect, however! The point still remains that anyone who’s spent like five minutes with Cozy Glow knows she wants to get into the old man’s good graces, and she thinks that killing you will let her replace you in his eyes, you feel me?”
“That’s… unsettling,” Twilight felt a cold sweat drip down her forehead, and she wished that Applejack’s big strong arms were wrapped around her right now.
“She’s also well known for using child soldiers, so,” Trixie shrugged, “put two and two together, it’s not hard to figure out who sent that kid to gut you.”
“Is that why you don’t want to go to the Crystal Empire with me?” Twilight asked, figuring if Trixie could jarringly swerve the conversation, so could she. “Because you’re afraid of Cozy Glow?”
Trixie paused. Her lip twitched like she was about to speak, but she turned away instead.
“I’ll meet you there,” Trixie said softly under her breath, Twilight almost straining to hear her.
Before Twilight could respond or comment, Trixie disappeared in a flash of pale pink magic, teleporting away from their conversation and leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.
“I’ll see you there, Trixie,” Twilight said as she deposited her empty soda can into the trash and cracked open another one. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Twilight adjusted her robes and looked herself over in the mirror of her room at the Green Neigh inn. She wondered if she should perhaps dress up more? Maybe wear something nicer? Rarity had gotten all of the girls at least two outfits, though Twilight wasn’t sure her other one was any nicer than this one, and this one was comfortable and practical and—
“Hey Twilight,” Spike’s snarky voice snapped Twilight out of her mental loop and she looked over at him sitting on the bed, legs dangling off the side. “You overthinking things again?”
“Overthinking? Me?” Twilight laughed. “Perish the thought, Spike.”
“How are you feeling?” Spike asked, the little crackle in his voice cluing Twilight in that he was basically asking her how he should be feeling.
They were getting ready to head to the train station to meet Rarity, and Spike was every bit as invested in Twilight’s relationship with Rarity as Twilight herself was; Twilight, and Rarity by association, were his family after all.
With all that said, Twilight saw no reason not to tell him the truth.
“I’m feeling great!” Twilight beamed. “I’m feeling confident, too! When Rarity left, she said she wanted to be friends again, I gave her the letter and told her all of my feelings, and now we just need to see how she feels. And I believe in her.”
“Then I’m excited!” Spike pumped his fists and jumped off the bed. “So what’re we waiting for? Let’s go already!”
“Us hurrying isn’t going to make the train get here any sooner, Spike,” Twilight gently chastised her son, rolling her eyes playfully at him. But then she bit her lip and pumped her own fists. “But I’m excited too so let’s hurry!”
Twilight and Spike charged out the door, but not two steps into the hallway Twilight ran smack dab into a wall that knocked her right on her ass, Twilight rubbing her nose and groaning as she looked up to see she hadn't hit a wall, she hit Applejack, Twilight’s cheeks burning red as she stared up at her beautiful girlfriend, and her heart skipped a beat when she remembered that she could call Applejack that.
“Howdy, stranger,” Applejack smiled at Twilight and tipped her hat, and Twilight bit her lip and mused that it was almost a struggle not to just nut right there in the hallway.
“H-hi,” Twilight said, accepting Applejack’s help to get back to her feet. She couldn’t stop biting her lip either, nor could she stand to look at Applejack without her face turning all red, so she darted her eyes to the ground and played with her hair. “Fancy running into you here.”
Applejack grabbed Twilight’s hand and gently pulled her forward, before tipping up Twilight’s chin and planting a kiss directly onto her lips, Twilight becoming awash in dreamy feelings for Applejack as their lips disconnected and Twilight struggled to not just collapse to the ground.
“You excited about seein’ Rarity?” Applejack asked casually, wrapping her arm around Twilight as the couple and Spike headed down the hall toward the lobby.
It was wild to think that Twilight was now in the middle of a conversation with her girlfriend talking about another, completely separate girl that Twilight was also in love with. Polyamory is magic.
“I am,” Twilight purred as she leaned up against her beefy wall of muscled girlfriend. She could never get tired of reminding herself that Applejack was her girlfriend. “I’m very excited to see—” Twilight cut herself off as her group walked into the lobby, and seeing Trixie sitting at the bar drinking an apple soda “—Trixie!”
Trixie spit her drink on the very unimpressed bartender, while Applejack and Spike tried not to laugh at the poor woman’s expense.
“You’re excited to see Trixie?” Applejack joked, but Twilight barely heard her cuz she was so focused on Trixie.
“How come you’re still here?” Twilight asked, running up to Trixie, who wiped the soda spit off her muzzle with her arm. “I thought you left already.”
“Uh, well, I uh,” Trixie stammered.
“You missed Twi too much and came back?” Applejack said with a big grin, wrapping her arm around a blushing Twilight. “Yeah, she gets that a lot.”
“Eeeugughuhgueuughuh,” Trixie stuck out her tongue and… said? ‘Said’ wasn’t quite right, but whatever. “Listen, you-” Trixie grabbed Twilight by the collar “-I have something to say to you before I bounce, and just you.”
“Could you guys give us a sec?” Twilight said nervously and looked to Spike and Applejack. She was genuinely curious about what was so important to Trixie that she needed to tell Twilight before she left.
Applejack and Spike complied, and Trixie got another apple soda before dragging Twilight away from the bar and from prying ears.
“Those apple sodas are good, right?” Twilight giggled as Trixie cracked her can open. “I told you, Applejack has great taste.”
“Your mom has great taste,” Trixie groaned and took a sip of her soda.
“So what’d you wanna say to me, Trixie?” Twilight griped, immediately tired of Trixie’s sass, especially since she had a date with Rarity waiting.
“I wanted to tell you, um,” Trixie’s face turned red and she scratched at the side of her neck, “that uh, I um, yuhhhh… good luck, with your, uh, romance stuff. Your friend Rarity and whatever, I hope you two work things out.”
“Wh— really?” Twilight blinked, her mind blown away with shock. “That’s what you wanted to say?”
“Yes!” Trixie hissed, flicking her wrist annoyingly at Twilight. “Is that so weird?”
“Yes, it’s extremely weird, coming from you,” Twilight said flatly. “But I appreciate it a lot, so thank you.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Trixie shuffled her feet awkwardly. “I, like, I get it. Romance can be, uhhh a whole thing.”
“Do you have a special someone, Trixie?” Twilight said teasingly, batting her eyelashes at Trixie.
Trixie teleported away without another word, and Twilight laughed; she kinda figured that would happen.
Still though, it was nice to have her support, and Applejack’s and Spike’s.
Now it was just a matter of time until she saw Rarity again, and she couldn’t wait to see what would happen.
****
Rarity’s heart was beating louder than the roar of the train as Green Neigh came into her view. Rainbow Dash was leaned up against her, snoozing away, and a happily contented Pinkie Pie was sitting across from Rarity in the arms of an also snoozing Fluttershy.
It was nice; Rarity had half a mind to reach her arm across Rainbow’s shoulders, but she didn’t want to budge the sleepy girl until they reached their destination, and Rarity also wondered if that was an acceptable level of affection considering their non-romantic relationship.
Of course, Rarity wouldn’t have thought twice about such a thing at any time before, it was only now that she had realized her romantic feelings for Rainbow Dash that she was questioning and second-guessing every act of affection that would have before come so naturally to her.
And Fluttershy… oh, Fluttershy.
They didn’t exactly have a relationship before Rarity was plunged headfirst into her feelings for the dragon, so the dynamic with her was quite a bit different than with Rainbow Dash. The dynamic was also different for another matter; Rarity was unbelievably thirsty for Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was so incredibly sexy, even turning things as simple as sitting and walking into mesmerizing displays for Rarity’s eyes and, er, other areas. Rarity had never been a terribly sexual pony before, even her crush on Twilight Sparkle was rather chaste, but with Fluttershy, Rarity just wanted her hands on Fluttershy’s body and she didn’t care when or where it happened.
But Fluttershy and Rarity were not dating, and while Fluttershy had exchanged some rather flirtatious remarks with Rarity, she had no idea if Fluttershy was being genuine or if the two were just exchanging in the kind of platonic flirting that lesbians so often did.
Lesbians often did that, right? Platonic flirting? That was a thing, wasn’t it? Stars, now Rarity wasn’t even sure; her head was just a mess, swimming in all these different thoughts and feelings for all these different women.
The blaring of the train whistle cut through Rarity’s mire of thoughts as it so often did, and her heart skipped a beat as she locked eyes with Twilight Sparkle through the window as the train rolled into the station, Twilight, Spike, and Applejack all waving from the platform.
Rarity wanted to bolt right up and stampede to the door of the train, but first she gently nudged Rainbow Dash awake, the pegasus stirring cutely and eliciting a giggle from Rarity’s lips.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Rarity whispered, and Rainbow yawned and stretched one arm over her head.
“Oh,” Fluttershy yawned as well as Pinkie hopped onto the floor, “are we there yet?”
“We are,” Rarity said, “and we—”
“Rarity’s got a date with Twilight!” Rainbow jumped up and clapped her hands, startling both Rarity and Fluttershy, but Pinkie just started clapping right alongside her. “Let’s move, people! This is not a drill! This is Raritwi time!”
“Real Raritwi hours, let’s go!” Pinkie cheered, Rainbow and Pinkie continuing their obnoxious clapping as they headed out of the cabin and toward the exit of the train, but Rarity and Fluttershy lingered a moment.
“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked softly, gently taking Rarity’s hand as the two stood up, and Rarity’s cheeks flushed and she let out an embarrassing giggle.
“I’m nervous,” Rarity admitted. “About a lot of things, quite frankly. But not about Twilight. I know exactly what I need to do about Twilight.”
“Then let’s not keep her waiting any longer,” Fluttershy said, timidly pumping her fist, and Rarity beamed and bumped her fist against Fluttershy’s.
Rarity walked hand-in-hand with Fluttershy to the end of the train, and let Fluttershy depart first. The others weren’t expecting Rainbow and Fluttershy, and Rarity wanted to let them say their greetings before she departed and soaked up all the attention.
After a short moment, Rarity hopped off the train onto the platform, immediately locking eyes with Twilight Sparkle, whose entire body lit up when she saw Rarity, and the feeling was more than mutual.
Rarity ran to Twilight and grabbed her around the waist, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around— a difficult task considering Twilight was a mite taller, but Rarity managed it.
With Twilight still in her arms, the pair’s laughter resonating in Rarity’s ears as tears streamed down both their faces, Rarity offered Twilight a simple question.
“May I kiss you?”
“Please do,” Twilight beamed, and Rarity did just that.
So much imagery rushed through Rarity’s mind as her lips connected with Twilight; her lips weren’t as soft as Rarity expected, and the fur of her muzzle tickled Rarity’s lips a little bit, but that was so endearing. The sensation of tasting sugar and running your fingers through musty old books hit Rarity like a train, a comparison that might seem an insult to most, but she was certain Twilight would find it glorious.
As Rarity went in for a second kiss, something else struck her; fire. Twilight’s kisses were soft and gentle, but they were passionate and they made Rarity’s body shudder like a fire was burning inside her, and when Rarity opened her eyes and saw the familiar ethereal glow in Twilight’s, she sighed contentedly.
“I love you,” Twilight whispered.
“I love you too,” Rarity hummed, holding her dearest Twilight as close to her as she was able, the two women’s muzzles bumping softly against one another, “my darling.”
201. Fluttershy Has Some Seriously Unhealthy Ideas About Relationships
Pinkie Pie smelled like vanilla and cotton candy; Fluttershy considered it one of Pinkie’s most notable and endearing traits, especially when the two laid together in bed and Pinkie’s giant poofy mane always found itself tickling Fluttershy’s nose.
It was the party’s last night in Green Neigh, which was just as well as far as Fluttershy was concerned. They’d been staying there for about a week, and most of that time was so that Twilight and Rarity could get comfortable in their newfound relationship.
It was wonderful that things worked out for them. Fluttershy was so over the moon happy for Rarity that she managed to get her happy ending with Twilight, though perhaps ‘ending’ was a bad way of putting it. Either way, Fluttershy couldn’t have been happier for her.
That said, the quiet serenity of Green Neigh should have been peaceful, but it wasn’t. It was eerie and unsettling for Fluttershy, especially with the shadow of the Crystal Mountains, and their Empire, looming overhead always, like a vulture.
Fluttershy would be happy to put the place behind her, quite frankly.
And so, tomorrow Fluttershy and her friends would be heading for Canterlot for the ‘Grand Galloping Gala’, which was apparently a very important pony thing; Fluttershy wasn’t really listening when Rarity explained it cuz she was too distracted by Pinkie, who was sitting in her lap at the time.
It was fine though, Fluttershy got the gist. It was a big pony party, a lot of Slayers would be there— which was lowkey terrifying, but Rarity insisted Celestia would not be there, that the other alicorn Luna had no axe to grind with dragons, and that the rest of the Slayers wouldn’t see through Fluttershy or Twilight’s disguises.
How could they, after all? The one giveaway was the glowing eyes, but no pony besides Rarity’s group had experienced enough close contact with dragons to make that connection.
Anyway, big pony party. Woohoo. Fluttershy planned to spend most of her time in the gardens that Rarity promised would be excellent. It would be nice to make friends with some new animals, it had been a while since Fluttershy could just sit in nature and experience it, even if it was artificial nature in the center of a city.
She was looking forward to it, somewhat, but…
All she really wanted to do was spend time with Pinkie Pie.
“Psst, Fluttershy,” Pinkie whispered loudly.
“Yes, Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy whispered back.
“You awake?” Pinkie asked, and Fluttershy giggled because of course she was awake, how else could she be responding?
“I think so,” Fluttershy said snarkily, and it felt nice to be talking to someone where she didn’t have to worry about her playful jab coming across the wrong way.
“I can’t sleep!” Pinkie sprung up into a sitting position, and while Fluttershy considered sitting up too, she was too comfy just staring up at Pinkie’s bare chest. It wasn’t often she got to see it from this angle. “I’m too excited about the gala!”
“I’m excited that you’re excited,” Fluttershy said softly, reaching up and tracing a few fingers across Pinkie’s chest, the beautiful girl giggling and snorting at Fluttershy’s touch. And Fluttershy’s words were true enough. It was a delight to see Pinkie Pie being so happy. Of course, she was almost always happy, but still.
“I can’t wait to see my mom,” Pinkie cooed, fidgeting all over like she was full to bursting with exploding pop rocks, “I can’t wait to meet Princess Luna! And I’m going on a date with a super hot mare named Tempest Shadow!”
“You’re going on another date?” Fluttershy sat up, brow furrowed in concern. “You didn’t tell me about that.”
“I didn’t?” Pinkie blinked, and her ears flicked down for a second, before springing back into place. “Sorry, I guess it just totally slipped my mind! I ran into her in Canterlot, and we just kinda hit it off and I promised to talk to her again at the gala. Are you… are you okay with that?”
“Of—of course,” Fluttershy forced a smile. “Of course, sweetheart. I want you to be happy, and we agreed not to be exclusive with each other. I have my eye on a couple mares myself. I just wish you would’ve told me sooner, and not the night before the gala.”
“Yeah, that was my bad,” Pinkie giggled awkwardly and ruffled her mane. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy wrapped Pinkie up into a hug and kissed her on the forehead. “I could never be mad at you. But let’s try and get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie laid down to rest, Pinkie held tightly in Fluttershy’s embrace, the dragon growling gently under her breath to try and soothe Pinkie into a comfortable night’s sleep.
She didn’t want to let go.
She wished that she could have Pinkie all to herself.
And it was a curious thing; when Pinkie had talked to Fluttershy about polyamory in the first place, basically right after they started dating, Fluttershy was completely fine with it! The idea of other women appreciating Pinkie’s beauty was something that made Fluttershy burst with pride.
Because she thought… that she’d have more control over the situation.
Other women appreciating Pinkie’s beauty would make Fluttershy feel good in the same way that a compliment on her jewelry would; Pinkie belonged to Fluttershy, and a compliment toward Pinkie was a compliment toward Fluttershy and her excellent taste.
But it wasn’t working out that way at all.
Pinkie Pie got into a relationship with Applejack, a woman who Fluttershy liked well enough but didn’t know very well, and who Pinkie had known for far longer than she knew Fluttershy; Applejack was a threat to Fluttershy’s status as the dominant partner, and it didn’t help at all that Pinkie sealed their relationship behind Fluttershy’s back.
And now Pinkie was running off with some whore she met in Canterlot? Some bitch she’d only known for a single day, and who Fluttershy had never even met!?
It was FINE.
Fluttershy was FINE WITH IT.
Because Pinkie Pie was HER OWN PERSON! SHE WASN’T FLUTTERSHY’S PLAYTHING OR AN OBJECT THAT FLUTTERSHY COULD CONTROL!
EVERYTHING WOULD BE JUST FINE.
202. Rarity Has Much Healthier Ideas About Relationships
Twilight’s kisses were like magic on Rarity’s lips.
Waking up beside her beloved Twilight Sparkle, her serene sleeping face being Rarity’s first introduction into a brand new morning, was something Rarity had yearned for almost since they had first met, and the reality was so much better than any of her fantasies could have been.
And when Twilight stirred awake, and the first words out of her lips were “Hello, beautiful”, Rarity’s heart nearly exploded with affection, and she couldn’t help but wrap her arms around the woman she loved and kiss her like Rarity had never kissed anyone before.
Everything was just perfect.
All the waiting, all the obstacles, all the anxiety and depression and the horrifying turns that both women’s lives had taken since they met; if all of those things had led up to this one moment, Rarity would go back through them all in a heartbeat if she needed to.
Twilight yawned and stretched her arms over her head, and sweet stars what a sight it was. Her body was small and slender, but something that was not obvious from the way she dressed or acted, that Rarity only realized once she had gotten naked with her, was that Twilight’s tiny frame belied an absolute iron wall of muscle.
Touching Twilight’s chest was like touching a wall, and it was the hottest damn thing Rarity had ever seen, and watching those muscles move as Twilight went about her morning stretching routine was going to drive Rarity to madness.
Twilight put her hooves on the floor, and Rarity wrapped her hands around Twilight’s waist.
“Nooooo,” Rarity whined, “don’t leave yet.”
“Rarity, I have to go,” Twilight laughed, taking Rarity’s hands off of her body slowly, and then kneeling beside the bed and kissing each of Rarity’s individual fingers. “We have a lot of responsibilities and galas to prepare for.”
“But I just wanna lie in bed and make out with you,” Rarity pouted, and Twilight giggled, leaning over the bed to give Rarity a kiss on her nose, that made Rarity giggle like a smitten schoolfilly.
“I know, I do too,” Twilight sighed. “But we have so much to do! This gala’s a big deal! I just wanna make sure I have everything prepared. You know how I am.”
“I do, I do,” Rarity said as Twilight turned around and walked toward the chair sitting in the corner where the two had thrown their clothes, Twilight bending over to pick something up and Rarity biting her lip. “Thank you for at least giving me a show before you leave though.”
Twilight jumped and turned around, her whole body stiffening up as she covered herself with the robes in her hands, her face turning bright red.
“Rarity!” she squeaked, her voice cracking in the most adorable way possible, and Rarity just responded by sticking out her tongue and kicking her hooves in the air behind her. “Well,” Twilight cleared her throat, and while her face was still red, she was clearly trying to act cool, “not to put too fine a point on it, but I wouldn’t mind getting ‘a show’ from you before I leave.”
“Oh?” Rarity arched an eyebrow.
Rarity swung her legs out from behind her and onto the floor, jumping to her hooves and taking a deep breath, arching her back and sticking out her chest before giving a breathy sigh and looking Twilight right in the eye.
“Was that okay?”
“That wasn’t bad,” Twilight bit her lip and walked up to Rarity, putting her hands around Rarity’s waist. “But I just realized, why just look when I can touch?”
Twilight kissed Rarity while her hands found themselves on Rarity’s hips, Rarity throwing her arms around Twilight’s shoulders and kissing her as passionately as she was able.
“Your curves are just-” Twilight balled up her hand and bit down on it for a moment, letting out a quick moan “-outstanding.”
“I could write a book on all of your features that turn me on, Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity sighed and licked her lips.
“Ooh, I’d like that,” Twilight chirped, and Rarity couldn’t stop giggling.
“I bet you would,” she said, before giving Twilight another kiss.
Rarity guided Twilight over to the wall and pinned her against it, just ravishing her body with kisses; to her lips, to her shoulders, to her chest, to her, uhhh lower than her chest. Just kisses for days. She honestly felt like she could do this all day.
If her life became nothing but kissing Twilight Sparkle, that would be just fine.
“Rarity,” Twilight panted as she sat down in the officially designated clothing chair, the pair’s steamy makeout session drawing to a close as Rarity wiped off her face with a fresh towel, “I really do need to go now.”
“I know, that’s fine, darling,” Rarity said.
“I want to talk to Applejack and Rainbow Dash about our plans.”
Twilight said with a giddy smile, and Rarity’s heart… it didn’t ‘sink’ exactly; it was a strange mixture, a feeling of intense joy for her dearest, and a melancholy feeling of missing out.
“We aren’t going to have a lot of time for each other during the gala itself,” Twilight continued, “and none of us are super comfortable with these big parties anyway, so we’re gonna make sure we have time for a date before we go to the Crystal Empire, just the three of us.”
“That sounds lovely, my darling,” Rarity sighed and sat herself on Twilight’s lap, wrapping her arms around her dearest and planting a kiss on the side of her neck. “I wish I hadn't missed out… on the opportunity to have you all to myself.”
“Rarity…”
“You don’t have to worry about me, my sweet,” Rarity giggled and jumped to her hooves. “I’m a little jealous of our dear Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I won’t try to deny it. But I am genuinely, sincerely thrilled for you.
“I love you, Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity said fondly, the utter soul-smothering truth of that statement washing over her like a waterfall. “I love you, and I am honestly thrilled to support your romantic endeavors. Because at the end of the day, all that matters is that I love you, and seeing you happy makes me happy.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said, holding out her hand.
“Not a problem at all, Twilight,” Rarity took Twilight’s hand and helped her out of the chair, gently squeezing Twilight’s hand and sighing softly.
“I’ll be sure to repay your kindness,” Twilight said, kissing Rarity.
“My kindness is free,” Rarity replied, and she couldn’t resist giving Twilight just one more little kiss. “And besides,” Rarity giggled, “before you know it, Rainbow Dash is going to be in my bed, and you’re the one who’s going to be jealous.”
“Why would I be jealous?” Twilight scoffed. “I’ll be in the same bed.”
Rarity smiled ear to ear at that stellar mental imagery.
“Well!” Rarity chirped. “On that charming note, I wish you well, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Thank you kindly, Rarity,” Twilight said, giving an adorable little bow and kissing Rarity’s hand. “I’ll see you tonight, for the gala.”
“Darling,” Rarity took in a deep breath, and she almost felt like she needed to pinch herself to wake up from what must have been just a glorious dream, “I can’t wait.”
Pinkie Pie was chilling out on a big couch in the lobby of the Green Neigh Inn as she waited for everyone else to be ready to bounce so they could all head to CANTERLOT!!! She was excited.
The couch was big enough for three ponies, which was a good thing cuz three ponies were sitting on it, with Pinkie sitting on Applejack’s lap, Rainbow Dash perched over the back of the couch and playing with Applejack’s hair. It was Applejack appreciation hours.
It was hard not to laugh at how perfect everything was; Pinkie loved Applejack, Applejack loved Pinkie and Rainbow, Rainbow also loved Applejack! And Pinkie and Rainbow liked each other a lot too! They still hadn't had enough time to bond quite frankly though, and Pinkie suddenly had the brilliant idea to ask Rainbow to the gala! It’s not like Pinkie had like five other dates!
“Raaaainboooow,” Pinkie cooed, looking at Rainbow and wiggling her fingers like a ghost would do. “I just had a great idea!”
“What’s that, Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow said, taking Applejack’s hat off her head and putting it on herself, running her fingers through Applejack’s mane to boot.
“And how much collateral damage is it gonna cause?” Applejack chuckled, ruffling Pinkie’s mane and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
“That was one time!” Pinkie huffed, but Applejack just smiled all cutely and stuff and Pinkie couldn’t stay mad at her. “And making waffles in the bounce house would’ve worked, if—”
“So what’s your idea, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked, slipping down off the back of the couch to sit next to Pinkie, sandwiching the poor little lesbian between two incredibly hot mares.
“Uhh,” Pinkie’s brain short-circuited as she found her hands on Rainbow’s and Applejack’s thighs.
“You alright there, hon?” Applejack brushed some hair out of Pinkie’s face.
“Yeah, you’re not getting nervous or anything are you?” Rainbow crashed into Pinkie’s side, throwing Pinkie into Applejack’s body, before wrapping her arms around Pinkie. “Like, about the Gala? Like I know you have a bunch of stuff you wanna do, but you’re gonna nail it! No sweat!”
Pinkie was starting to feel a little better as she shuffled around to look Rainbow in the eye, Rainbow giving Pinkie a bright smile.
And then Rainbow leaned in and kissed Pinkie on the forehead.
Now Pinkie was feeling A LOT better!
Rainbow bolted up, her wings flaring out and her cheeks puffing up; she must’ve gotten caught up in the moment and kissed Pinkie by accident, judging by the bright red stain of embarrassment all over her face. Pinkie didn’t mind though, she was kinda buzzing from it.
“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack grinned, scooching closer to Rainbow and putting an arm around her, “why do you look embarrassed all of a sudden?”
“I-I-I didn’t meant to—”
“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie gasped, throwing her hands to her face. “Do you…” Pinkie grinned the biggest, silliest grin she’d ever mustered in her whole life, and she grinned a lot! “Do you liiiiiike me, Rainbow Dash?”
“I-I w—I mean,” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. “I dunno. I think you’re cute, and I’d like to get to know you better, y’know? I did just get caught up in the moment though, I shouldn’t have kissed you without asking.”
“True,” Applejack pointed out, booping Rainbow’s nose. “But it was an honest mistake, and yer in good company, so don’t sweat it.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie bit her lip and giggled, “you should kiss me on purpose next time!”
“Wh—Pinkie!” Rainbow squealed, jumping up on the back of the couch. “Are we really at like, smooching stage of a relationship? We barely—”
“Do you wanna smooch me?”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow admitted, smiling adorably.
“I wanna smooch you!” Pinkie beamed. “What more do we need to be at the smooching stage?”
“You make a good point,” Rainbow pondered.
“She often does,” Applejack chuckled, Pinkie grinning at her and slapping her big sexy thigh.
“Still though,” Rainbow groaned, “I also don’t want Fluttershy to rip me in half.”
“What?” Pinkie asked confusedly, the air turning eerily cold with the heavy silence left by Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as they both kinda looked at each other without saying anything. “Why are you guys being quiet? What’s going on?”
“Pinkie, have you—” Rainbow blinked and stared ominously at Pinkie, who was starting to cold sweat.
“Have I what?!” Pinkie yelled. “If somepony doesn’t answer me, I’m gonna go feral! And no one wants to see that!”
“Hon, Fluttershy gets jealous real easily,” Applejack said, Rainbow cringing at her blunt honesty. “Like my relationship with her was fine enough, at least I thought, but as soon as I started datin’ you, she kept avoidin’ me, and has even given me some pretty nasty looks.”
“Yeah, Pinkie,” Rainbow added, her voice coming through as an awkward croaky whisper. “We all thought you knew, cuz everyone else does. And it’s not like I think Fluttershy’s literally gonna rip me in half, but I don’t wanna mess up my relationship wi—”
Pinkie jumped onto the floor and groaned in frustration, stomping her hoof on the ground.
“How come no one told me?!” Pinkie asked desperately. “If Fluttershy is putting up a wall between me and my other relationships, that’s super not okay!”
“We honestly all thought you kn—”
“You thought I knew?!” Pinkie screamed, cutting off Applejack. “You thought that I— why wouldn’t I have done anything or said anything? What’d you think, I was gonna be like ‘oh haha don’t mind my girlfriend, she’ll just bite your damn head off’? Is that what you thought? That I’d be okay with this?!”
Pinkie’s panting was the only thing keeping the early morning hotel lobby from being completely silent, and this time it was her who was making things super awkward.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie took a deep breath. “I’m not mad at you guys, I’m— I’m upset with Fluttershy, for not just telling me that she was feeling jealous!”
“She just didn’t w—”
“Do not make excuses for her, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie growled, Rainbow clamming up right away. “She told me everything was fine! I asked if she was okay with me dating Applejack! She said it was fine! I hate that she lied to me! About something super important!”
Pinkie sniffled as tears started to form in her eyes. Applejack and Rainbow both were on her with hugs, and comforting pats, and kind words, all in a matter of seconds, and she hugged them both back and felt really, really grateful for them.
She was wondering if maybe she was overreacting, but her feelings were really hurt by this. She knew that she needed to talk to Fluttershy, and she had faith in her girlfriend that they’d be able to talk things out, but…
Pinkie and Rainbow were stomping down the halls of the Green Neigh Inn— well, Pinkie was stomping, Rainbow was being pretty chill. Pinkie was still huffy about learning that Fluttershy was jealous of Applejack this whole time and hadn't told Pinkie, even lied to her about it!
And Applejack, speaking of, got called away by Twiggle Sparkle, which was just as well cuz Pinkie needed to talk to Fluttershy sooner rather than later.
Rainbow was being a real sport; Pinkie wanted to talk to Fluttershy on her own but she was really scared of conflict just in like a general sense, and especially now cuz she loved Fluttershy and she hated that there was this bad blood between them now! And Fluttershy probably didn’t even know yet!
So Pinkie was scared. She knew she needed to have this conversation and hash things out with her gf, but there was basically no other conversation she wanted to have less. And Rainbow— this is where the her being a good sport part comes in— agreed to go all the way to Fluttershy’s room with Pinkie, and then Pinkie would handle things on her own from there.
That was the plan.
Rarity always said ‘a plan never survives contact with the battlefield’ and she was right.
“Oh, hello, Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy said sweetly, approaching Pinkie and Rainbow from down the hall as the two reached the top of a stairwell. “And hello, Rainbow Dash! It’s nice to see you both.”
Pinkie walked up to Fluttershy without saying anything, stomping grumpily until she was right in front of Fluttershy and then looking up at her with puffed up cheeks, her hands on her hips.
“I-is everything okay?” Fluttershy asked nervously, and it broke Pinkie’s heart but she couldn’t just melt into affection and apologies right now— Fluttershy was the one who needed to offer her an apology!
“Uh, I’m just gonna g—”
“Please don’t,” Fluttershy said as Rainbow took a single step down the stairs, Pinkie turning and looking at Rainbow pleadingly cuz Pinkie didn’t want Rainbow to go either. Rainbow stayed put, and Pinkie returned her attention to Fluttershy, the dragon kneeling and sitting with her legs folded under her to look at Pinkie at eye level. “Pinkie Pie? Did I do something wrong?”
“Mm-hm,” Pinkie nodded, trying not to cry cuz she just hated this so much. She just wanted everything to be cotton candy and snuggles again!
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, “we told Pinkie about your jealousy situation. Me and Applejack did, and Pinkie’s really upset that she heard it from us and not from you.”
“Oh.”
Fluttershy said, and then sat silently.
“I see.”
Fluttershy took a deep breath, in slowly through the nose, out slowly through the mouth; Pinkie could feel the icy chill coming off of her breath.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Pinkie said coldly, but then she shook her head and hummed irritably. “No, I know why, I get it. Anxiety’s a real kick in the stomach. I wanna know why you lied to me!”
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Fluttershy muttered. “I didn’t want you to be upset with me cuz I can’t control my stupid emotions.”
“Your emotions aren’t stupid!” Pinkie fumed, angry now that she was making Fluttershy feel better instead of focusing on where the problem was, especially cuz she still hadn't gotten that apology!
“Can I chime in for one sec?” Rainbow asked, Pinkie and Flutters turning to her and waiting for her to speak. “Fluttershy, Pinkie was really hurt by you lying to her, but like, you can just stop lying to her. You can just tell her how you feel without any of the woe-is-me self-deprecation crap, y’know?”
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow and blinked silently, Rainbow awkwardly turning her head away and rubbing her neck.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy took Pinkie’s hands and kissed them delicately. “You’re right, and Rainbow’s right. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
“Then tell me the truth now,” Pinkie blinked away some tears, “please.”
“I’m, um,” Fluttershy bit her lip.
What was she supposed to say?
‘I’m mad at Applejack for stealing you away from me’? That sounded horrible. Fluttershy was caught in a really shitty situation where she had no good options; either make herself sound like a monster, or keep lying to Pinkie Pie, and she hated to do either.
So she wasn’t going to do either.
“Promise me you won’t hate me,” Fluttershy closed her eyes and squeezed Pinkie’s fingers, “if I lay out my heart for you, and all the garbage that’s inside it.”
“I could never hate you,” Pinkie whispered, and that brought a smile to Fluttershy’s lips. She didn’t even need to look at Pinkie to know it was true.
“I’m not jealous,” Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked dead into Pinkie’s. “I’m possessive. Part of it’s a dragon thing, part of it’s a me thing, part of it’s a my shitty old magic teacher thing. But I’m possessive. You’re my partner, you’re my girlfriend, you’re mine, and that’s all there is to it.
“And I know— I know how selfish that is. I know that it’s wrong, on some level I know that. But I think about releasing you, I think about giving you up or sharing you ‘equally’ with someone else, and I gnash my teeth despite myself.”
“Okay,” Pinkie took a deep breath and nodded, but then she offered Fluttershy a charming smile. “Okay. Thank you, Fluttershy, for being honest with me. I still love you every bit as much as I always have.”
“Y-you’re not afraid of me?” Fluttershy asked, her ears flicking back for the inevitable confirmation.
“Nope!” Pinkie beamed, and Fluttershy’s jaw honestly dropped; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “The fact that you’re willing to be honest about that stuff is a good sign! And I wanna make it clear, I am not okay with any of that! I’m not your possession, I’m not your plaything or trinket or a part of your hoard.
“But I am your partner, and I wanna help you work through your demons, if you’re really willing to work through them.”
“I am,” Fluttershy nodded, squeezing Pinkie’s hands even tighter, but then loosening her grip cuz that felt weird considering all the stuff they were just talking about. “What I really want is for you and me to be happy, and I want to be happy for your other girlfriends too, I really, really do. I promise you, I’ll get my feelings under control, and I absolutely won’t lie to you again.”
“Great!” Pinkie nodded effusively. “Then that settles that!”
“Just promise me you’ll make time for me at the Gala,” Fluttershy said. “Time for us to be together, just the two of us.”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie beamed, doing a bunch of silly gestures that just made her look far too adorable. “That’s a Pinkie Promise! And I never break a Pinkie Promise!”
“I’m glad,” Fluttershy sighed, and she looked over at Rainbow and giggled at the big grin and thumbs-up Rainbow was giving. “I’ll be a worthy partner for you, Pinkie Pie. I Pinkie Promise.”
Fluttershy paced back and forth in the hallway of the Green Neigh inn, a can of apple soda in her hand. It didn’t taste as bad as she thought it was going to, but she still wasn’t sure if she liked it that much. That wasn’t really— that didn’t really matter right now though.
She was sweating now, which wasn’t great. Her brain was firing off at like a million miles an hour, buzzing and sparking as she thought about what she needed to do. She wasn’t just pacing in front of any hallway in the inn; she was pacing in front of Applejack’s room.
Fluttershy was going to ask Applejack to be her date to the Grand Galloping Gala. She wasn’t sure if that was the brightest idea she’d ever had, but she promised Pinkie Pie that she would get on better terms with Applejack, and Fluttershy would be damned if she didn’t keep her promise.
She didn’t have to like it though.
Or maybe she did? It’s not like there was anything wrong with Applejack; Fluttershy was the one with the problem, and before this whole situation with Pinkie Pie and jealousy and possessiveness and all this other shit, Fluttershy actually thought Applejack seemed really sweet and wanted to get to know her better.
Oh well. Nothing to do but to do it.
Fluttershy knocked on Applejack’s door, her ears clamping against her head.
No answer.
Fluttershy’s ears flicked up, and she cocked her head. Maybe Applejack didn’t hear her?
She knocked again. No answer.
Okay, that was strange. Why wasn’t she answering? Did she know it was Fluttershy on the other side of the door and just decided to ignore her cuz she knew that Fluttershy was dangerous and a monster and awful and she didn’t want to—
“Howdy, Fluttershy!” Applejack said, coming down the hall and making Fluttershy jump and shriek at the same time. “Uh, sorry, hon. Didn’t mean to scare ya!” Applejack laughed.
Or perhaps, and this was just a working theory on Fluttershy’s part, maybe Applejack wasn’t answering her door because she wasn’t in her room.
“Uh, hi, Applejack,” Fluttershy grabbed her hair and tugged on it gently, running her hands through it over and over. She managed to make contact with Applejack, so… now what the fu—
“Somethin’ I can help you with?” Applejack said with a friendly smile, and she sure was being cordial for someone who knew that Fluttershy hated her. Well, maybe not ‘hated’, but you get it.
“Um, why are you being so nice to me?” Fluttershy couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“I dunno,” Applejack shrugged and traced the edge of her hat. “Just feels right, I guess. Like I know you have some beef with me cuz of the whole Pinkie Pie thing, and I ain’t exactly about to let you walk all over me or nothin’, but I get being jealous. I feel it too sometimes. It ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of, just somethin’ to work through, y’know? So I don’t see any reason to be mean to you or any silly thing like that.”
“Do you want to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with me?” Fluttershy blurted out. She figured she may as well rip the bandage off in one fell swoop instead of, um, not doing that.
“Yeah, okay,” Applejack said with a smile, giving Fluttershy a friendly clap on the shoulder.
“Wuh, huh? What?” Fluttershy stammered, blinking rapidly and trying to catch up to what just happened in her brain. She had like a million different plans for when Applejack had inevitably refused her request, and she was only now realizing she had zero plans for if Applejack said yes.
“Like I said,” Applejack explained, “I ain’t got anythin’ against ya, Fluttershy. I get where yer comin’ from with the whole jealousy thing, and even though I ain’t gonna just act like it’s no big deal or that it’s healthy, I am willin’ to cut you a little bit of slack.
“More’n that though,” Applejack beamed, and Fluttershy took a sip of her apple soda as she admitted to herself that Applejack’s smile was kinda cute, “you seem like a swell gal! Pinkie obviously thinks so, and I’d love to get to know you better! So yeah, I’d be happy to take you to the Gala.”
“And I’d like to settle things between us,” Fluttershy said softly, rubbing her arm. “Like, I know the problem is um, I think entirely on me, but… for Pinkie’s sake, and for my own sake too, I’d really like to stop viewing you as like, um, competition, I guess.”
“I feel ya, Fluttershy,” Applejack smiled and held out her hand. “From here on, how ‘bout we be friends?”
“I’d like that,” Fluttershy said, gingerly taking Applejack’s hand, Applejack shaking it vigorously like she was trying to make a soda can explode. “I’d like that very much,” Fluttershy said, feeling dizzy.
Well that was… remarkably easy. Way easier than Fluttershy thought it was going to be. Almost too easy even! But she wasn’t going to go on a big anxiety spiral rampage about ‘oh but what if Applejack was buhduh guhbuh’ or whatever else. Fluttershy had no intention of waiting in agonizing anxiety for some other shoe to drop.
…
Okay, but what if though?
After all the mean things Fluttershy had thought about Applejack, and she’s just like ‘oh you seem nice let’s be friends’? How does that work?
The only reasonable things Fluttershy could think of were either that Applejack was secretly trying to trick her, take her to the Gala and then humiliate or destroy her in some way, or that Applejack was being completely sincere and Fluttershy was a horrible person for thinking all that mean stuff about her.
“Fluttershy?” Applejack, who was still standing directly in front of Fluttershy while she spaced out, asked politely. “You okay, hon?”
“My dude,” Fluttershy bared the biggest, widest smile she could muster, and it didn’t look suspicious at all, “I am SO GREAT.”
Pinkie Pie was slapping her thighs as her legs dangled off the bed, a jittery ball of anxiety as she freaked the heck out about ALL THE THINGS!! Well actually, just the one thing; the Grand Galloping Gala.
Stuff with Fluttershy wasn’t ‘settled’ exactly, but it was settled enough for now. Pinkie trusted Fluttershy, and Flutters said she was gonna work through her stuff and, more importantly, be honest with Pinkie from now on, even about the ugly stuff. Pinkie considered that solid progress, she could put it outta her head until after the Gala at least.
So now she just had a million other things to worry about!
Well okay, again just the one thing, but there were a million things in that one thing!
Between seeing Pinkie’s mom, to meeting Princess Luna and her dragon girlfriend, to Pinkie’s date with Tempest Shadow, to making sure to have time for Fluttershy, plus Pinkie wanted to spend at least a little time with Applejack, and Rainbow too! It all just seemed like so much. Too much for a little gay pink pony to wrap her head around.
Twilight Sparkle walked into the room and Pinkie greeted her enthusiastically, Twilight screaming and falling on her ass for some reason.
“Pinkie!” Twilight yelped. “How did you get into my room!?”
“You left the door unlocked,” Pinkie said casually, thinking that it was obvious.
“It’s an inn,” Twilight said, pushing herself back up to her hooves, “the doors lock on their own!”
“Oh really? Wild,” Pinkie hummed. “So anyway! I need your help with a thing!”
“Uh, okay, sure Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled and sat next to Pinkie on the bed; if there was any awkwardness between them cuz of that misunderstanding, Pinkie’s beaming smile and Twilight’s soft giggle dispelled it right away. “What can I help you with?”
“Organization,” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight grinned, her dragon fangs gleaming like perfectly polished razor blades, “you came to the right woman.”
“So basically,” Pinkie took a deep breath, “I’m gonna go to the Gala with my mom and meet Princess Luna and Luna’s super rad dragon girlfriend but I also wanna make sure that I have time for Applejack too and I absolutely need to make time for Fluttershy, plus I wanna hang out with Rainbow for a bit and I have a date with a super cute mare named Tempest Shadow who I just met but I’m excited to get to know better and I really wanna make a good impression on her!
“You know what I mean?”
Twilight blinked, and then she hummed with a finger up to her lips before nodding.
“I think so,” Twilight said. “What you basically need is a schedule! And not one that you have to follow all the way to the letter, cuz that’s probably more harm than help to a free spirit huh?”
“I am very free spirited, yes,” Pinkie said, nodding along and pretending she understood Twilight’s brain smarts.
“So here’s what I’m thinking…”
It only took like forty-five minutes for Twilight to go through her entire stirring lecture about the virtue of scheduling and planning, and then compact that into a shorter lecture, before finally getting to the part where she gave Pinkie something to work with. That said, the lectures were fun! Twilight was a good speaker of words and stuff!
“Okay, lemme see if I got this straight,” Pinkie said, though she already knew the answer was no cuz there wasn’t anything ‘straight’ about her. “I’ll show up to the Gala with my mom, and then we’ll party with Luna and her gf for a wee bit.
“Then I’ll pick up Tempest and we’ll jam out for a spell, and once the hours are waning and the energy’s nice and low, it’ll be the perfect time for some peace and quiet with Fluttershy. Then me, Rainbow and Applejack, and maybe even Fluttershy, can hit like a donut place on our way home!”
“Yeah!” Twilight said, eyes sparkling and hands clasped together anxiously waiting for Pinkie’s seal of approval on her brilliant plan.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie sighed, looking at Twilight dreamily, her heart full of affection for her cute and smart pal, “you are a genius!”
“Thank you!” Twilight beamed. “I try!”
“You succeed!” Pinkie jumped on the bed and pumped her fists.
Between Twilight’s brilliant smarts and planning skills, and Pinkie’s natural charisma and fun-loving personality, she was totally certain that she had this Gala thing in the bag!
Days had been cloudy for dang near a week now, so it was a welcome relief to see the sun shining over Green Neigh. Applejack sighed contentedly as she looked up at the cool blue sky, only a few clouds hovering overhead as the sun peeked out and heralded noon. It was a pleasant sight, made even better by pleasant company.
“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow said, resting in Applejack’s arms as the two sat under the shade of a fine tree in the private garden behind the inn, “that cloud up there looks like a fat dick, right?”
Applejack snorted and hugged Rainbow even tighter. Pleasant company, indeed.
“Rainbow, you sweetheart,” Applejack said fondly, nibbling on Rainbow’s ear as she spoke, the little cutie trying and failing to stifle her giggles, “you’re such a little asshole.”
“See now I’m just thinking about as—”
“Stop,” Applejack laughed, and she squeezed Rainbow, who cackled and slipped out of Applejack’s grip before perching on her shoulders and giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Gawd, if you weren’t so cute, I swear you’d be insufferable.”
“But I am cute,” Rainbow grinned like a cat, and Applejack’s heart was ready to burst cuz she just loved the little bastard so much.
“You are,” Applejack stood up like a shot, disorienting Rainbow as she fell off Applejack’s shoulders, but Applejack jus spun around and caught Rainbow in her arms, “so cute.”
Rainbow put her arms around Applejack’s shoulders and leaned in for the smooch, and Applejack was more than happy to oblige. Rainbow’s kisses were sweeter than… apple… stuff…
Applejack wasn’t much for mushy language and lavish prose, but the point of it was she loved her girlfriend and she loved kissing her girlfriend and holy crap her girlfriend was so hot it was unbelievable.
“I love you,” Rainbow Dash said softly. No joke, no asides or other comments. Just those three words.
“I love you too,” Applejack said, cradling her beloved girlfriend in her arms and looking deep into her beautiful violet eyes.
“I wish we had more time to spend, like,” Rainbow bit her lip and puffed up her cheeks and Applejack swore she would crush Rainbow with her bare hands if she dared look any more adorable, “just the two of us, y’know?”
“I do,” Applejack sighed and placed Rainbow gently on the ground, her back against the tree as Applejack kissed her neck. “I do. So I say, let’s just savor the time we’ve got.”
“Hmmm,” Rainbow purred, her body squirming from Applejack’s touch in the most satisfying way, “that’s a good idea.”
“Cuz I love you,” Applejack said, kissing Rainbow’s neck between words. “And I’m always gonna love you, so the way I see it we got plenty of time to love each other. There’s a whole lotta daylight left.”
“Metaphorical daylight?” Rainbow asked, then gasped at a particularly well-placed kiss.
“Metaphorical daylight,” Applejack took Rainbow in her arms and pinned her against the grass, stripping off some of her armor and kissing her collarbone. “Literal daylight too, but that’s less relevant to what I’m sayin’.”
“I love—” Rainbow cut herself off with a sharp inhale, her back arching as Applejack’s lips moved down to her chest. “Uhh, wow, I love how fucking hot you are, how about that?”
“I love how strong you make me feel,” Applejack paused, sitting on top of Rainbow, running her fingers through Rainbow’s hair. “Everyone tells me I’m strong, you make me feel it. You believe in me no matter what, and yer always hypin’ me up. The confidence you have in me makes me feel like I can do anything.”
“Yeah, well,” Rainbow chuckled and held out her hand, Applejack bowing her head so Rainbow’s hand could reach her cheek, “I think you can do anything. You’re so incredibly, like, uh— like, I don’t wanna say ‘strong’ cuz that’s redundant, right? But you’re so full of love and affection, and that stuff is powerful. And you’re so full of it! I said that already, but you get it!”
“I do,” Applejack took Rainbow’s fingers and kissed them. “I hope yer not sellin’ yerself short though. I ain’t too good with words, but yer just as full of love and power as I am.”
“And I’m denser with it too cuz my body is smaller,” Rainbow chuckled, and Applejack rolled her eyes playfully.
“Hon,” Applejack exhaled sharply, biting her lip as she looked down at Rainbow’s exposed chest, “don’t even get me started on yer body.”
“I love—” Rainbow hesitated, but only for a sec; she couldn’t make eye contact with Applejack while she spoke, but that was okay. “You make me feel safe, dude. You like? Like not even just physically safe, though that too definitely, but like, I can tell you whatever. I can say shit to you that I’d be too embarrassed to say to someone else. And I know you won’t make fun of me.
“You make me feel… really beautiful, but like, no homo okay?”
“Yes homo,” Applejack kissed Rainbow right on the lips, Rainbow letting out an adorable little gasp once their lips disconnected. “Extremely homo.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow grabbed Applejack’s shirt collar and tugged her down on top of Rainbow, who licked her lips. “Just the homo-est.”
Train station always made Fluttershy nervous. Everything made Fluttershy nervous. Green Neigh’s station was nice enough, very quaint. Basically just a little platform with a train track next to it. Not a very high priority stop, there weren’t any ponies nearby, except for—
Fluttershy gasped as Rarity’s hand found its way around Fluttershy’s, the two sitting next to each other on the bench and waiting for the others to arrive.
“Are you okay, lovely?” Rarity said softly, and hearing her voice was like a rainfall of relaxation across Fluttershy’s desert of anxiety.
“I am,” Fluttershy giggled, squeezing Rarity’s hand. “Thanks to you. Thank you for sitting with me.”
“It’s my pleasure, sweetheart,” Rarity snorted laughing, and Fluttershy cocked her head. “I called Twilight ‘Twilight’ earlier today, and it felt so strange and I realized it’s because I’m so used to calling my friends by affectionate pet names. I have a disease.”
“And it’s called being a hecking genius,” Fluttershy grinned, spreading a wing out and draping it across Rarity’s back.
“Thank you, my dear Fluttershy,” Rarity’s laughter was like a clear bell cutting through the static in Fluttershy’s brain. “You’re too kind.”
“I try,” Fluttershy gave a goofy smirk, and then self-consciously covered herself with her wing. “Though to be fair, you make it very easy to be kind to you. There’s a lot to love.” Fluttershy paused and let out a little playful scoff. “Wish I was going to the Gala with you and not Applejack.”
“Mm, I heard about your date with Applejack,” Rarity hummed, tracing her finger in the crease of Fluttershy’s hand. “I was happy that you had taken that step to build a relationship with her, so I must admit I’m a little disappointed to hear you say that now.
“Although,” Rarity giggled, and Fluttershy took in a slow breath as the sound of Rarity’s laughter resonated through Fluttershy’s body like fire, “I’m sure you and I would have a fabulous time at the Gala together. We’d definitely turn heads, that’s for sure.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go with Applejack,” Fluttershy murmured. Expressing her feelings about Applejack always felt like she was trying to choke rusty knives out through her mouth. “I mean, I dunno. It’s complicated.
“What I do know,” Fluttershy whispered, “is that I would love to be going with you. But I also don’t want to mess up the big plans I know you have with Twilight Sparkle, so I’ll wait my turn. There’ll be plenty of time for us to spend together-” Fluttershy let her tail coil around onto Rarity’s thigh, gently turning the mare’s head to face Fluttershy and tracing a finger underneath her chin “-later.”
“You are quite a charmer, aren’t you?” Rarity smiled dreamily, and Fluttershy snorted and withdrew her hands, her tail, and her wings.
“Sorry,” she fretted, “was that too much?”
“It wasn’t enough, quite frankly,” Rarity chuckled, and that made Fluttershy feel good again. “Is it safe to say that you’re attracted to me? That I’m not imagining it?”
“Of course I’m attracted to you!” Fluttershy blinked, in stunned disbelief at Rarity’s statement. “Who wouldn’t be? You’re gorgeous!”
“Darling, you flatter me with your incredibly truthful and accurate compliments,” Rarity laughed, hand over her chest. “Not to put too fine a point on it-” Rarity scooched closer to Fluttershy, taking her by the hands and forcing them down onto Rarity’s thighs, Fluttershy’s cheeks burning with an intensity she didn’t know she could feel as a dragon “-but I’m quite attracted to you as well.”
“Th-that’s— I had a feeling, but that’s—” Fluttershy stammered, her face heating up and her brain short-circuiting. Rarity’s praise was way, way too much for her little lesbian brain to handle. “Hearing you say that feels so good.”
“I have something else I want to say to you,” Rarity whispered, and Fluttershy swore her ears were shooting steam like a boiling tea kettle. Rarity inched closer and whispered directly into Fluttershy’s ear. “May I kiss you?”
“Y-you may,” Fluttershy said with a shaky smile, her entire body trembling as Rarity took her in her arms and pressed her lips against Fluttershy’s.
Rarity’s kiss was magnificent, like being transported to a whole other world, like being safe inside one of those cute snowglobe worlds that have the little houses in them, wrapped up in a comforting blanket of snow and love.
Fluttershy whimpered as Rarity pulled back. She dug her nails into Rarity’s shoulder, desperate not to let go, but Rarity took her hands in hers, kissing them gently before placing them on Fluttershy’s lap.
“I don’t want to ruin the mood,” Rarity said softly, and Fluttershy cringed, tightly shutting her eyes as she gritted her teeth and her ears clamped against her skull. She knew she’d messed everything up with that, and she— “Fluttershy?”
“Y-yes?” Fluttershy opened her eyes. She would let Rarity say her piece without interruption from Fluttershy’s brain demons.
“I need to ask you something,” Rarity said. “What makes me different from Pinkie Pie? What makes Twilight Sparkle different from Applejack?”
The answer, of course, was obvious. It was as simple as it was horrible.
Pinkie belonged to Fluttershy. Fluttershy belonged to Rarity.
It came so naturally to Fluttershy that she didn’t even notice the dynamics at play until Rarity asked her. Rarity was higher up on the ‘food chain’, as it were, than Fluttershy; so Rarity could do whatever she wanted, with Fluttershy or without her, and Fluttershy expected that kind of respect from Pinkie Pie.
And Pinkie didn’t give it to her. Nor should she have! That was a horrible way of thinking about relationships!
…wasn’t it?
It was, wasn’t it?
And yet that’s just… how Fluttershy thought about them. She wasn’t sure if it was instinct or teaching or just her nature, but trying to imagine relationships outside the boundary of ‘owner’ and ‘owned’ was impos— it was difficult.
It wasn’t impossible, Fluttershy would make it work. Somehow.
“Darling?”
Fluttershy snapped out of her trance. Rarity looked concerned. Fluttershy was sweating, and she felt gross.
“The others are here,” Fluttershy said under her breath, maybe it was subconsciously who knows. Rarity turned her head and couldn’t see them, cuz they hadn't arrived yet, they had simply entered Fluttershy’s field of sensation so she knew they were on their way. “Um, that’s a good question. Rarity!”
“Eh, yes, I agr—”
“And I have a great answer for it!” Fluttershy said, standing up on the bench and speaking definitely a little too loud. “And I’ll be happy to give it to you after the Gala, once I’ve thought of it!”
“My lovely,” Rarity stood up on the bench in front of Fluttershy, not cowering, or looking at Fluttershy with contempt, but just gently taking Fluttershy’s hands and reminding her to breathe.
Deeply, in through the nose.
Slowly, out through the mouth.
“Take your time,” Rarity said. “We all have damage when it comes to certain things, and relationships are a big one. You aren’t a monster or a horrible person just because you have some damage to work through.”
“What if I hurt someone?” Fluttershy whispered her greatest fear out loud, and she didn’t want to ‘cry’ so much as she wanted to scream.
“Then you will make amends,” Rarity whispered, holding Fluttershy close, “as best you can, and we’ll move forward. We all hurt each other. It’s nothing to be afraid of, or ashamed of. You are not your demons.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, raising a hand to wipe her tears away, but Rarity was faster.
“Fluttershy, of course,” Rarity said softly, giving Fluttershy a tender kiss on the nose. “I love you, and I want you to feel as good about yourself as I feel about you.”
“Yo!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and Rarity hopped off the bench to greet her and the others, turning back to wink at Fluttershy. “Rarity, Fluttershy! You guys ready for the Gala?!”
“You know what?” Fluttershy said with a bright, but reserved smile, taking Rarity’s hand as she stepped gently off the bench. “I think that I am.”
“You all set?” Twilight asked, her fingers idly trimming Spike’s mane and the fluff poking off his ears as she sat in the cabin seat by the window on the train to Canterlot.
“Are you kidding?” Spike scoffed and elbowed Twilight in the side, making her giggle. “I’ve been waiting for this for ages!”
“You’ve been very patient,” Twilight hummed, putting her arm around her son and nuzzling him, “and I appreciate that. Now it’s finally time for you to be all alone in the big city for the first time. How’re you feeling?”
“I’m excited!” Spike pumped his fists, bringing a smile to his mother’s face. “I can’t wait anymore! I’m practically gonna burst!”
“I’m excited for you,” Twilight said, and she was surprised to find that was actually true. Normally, letting Spike wander off on his own into a big city like Canterlot would make Twilight feel—
“You sure you aren’t nervous?” Rainbow Dash asked from the seat across from Twilight’s, lying flat on her back on the bench with Applejack lying on top of her; it was almost admirable how Rainbow could focus on making out and snarking at the same time.
“Applejack, could you shut her up for me please?” Twilight snarked back.
“Can do, hon!” Applejack said happily, smothering Rainbow in kisses that Rainbow tried to playfully argue against, but it took less than a second for her to melt into Applejack’s kisses, and honestly who wouldn’t?
“It’s okay, Twilight,” Spike chuckled and slapped Twilight’s leg. “I know you’re probably a little nervous, right? You’re like, always nervous about new stuff.”
“Eheh, I guess,” Twilight scritched her cheek, “maybe a little.”
“Don’t worry, I still have this!” Spike dug the little doll of Twilight Sparkle out of his bag, Twilight laughing at how adorable it was. Was that narcissistic? Didn’t matter, Rarity would’ve found a doll of herself adorable, and if something was good enough for Rarity… “Sorry I didn’t think to, um, use it. Last time, I mean.”
“It’s okay, Spike,” Twilight sighed, rubbing Spike’s shoulder. It was bone-chilling to think how close things were with Trixie, how easily things could have gone in a horrifying alternate direction during that encounter.
But they didn’t, and Twilight really needed to not dwell on it.
“It was the first time you had ever really been in a dangerous situation without me,” Twilight said. “I was in a fair share of my own as a kid, and I can tell you the first thought on my mind was not a rational plan for how to escape.”
“I’ll remember next time though, I promise,” Spike said, his eyes gleaming with conviction. Well okay, actually they were gleaming with tears, but for Spike’s sake Twilight chose to think of it as conviction.
“I hope there won’t be a next time,” Twilight said softly, kissing Spike on the forehead, “but thank you. And you shouldn’t worry any more than I should. I trust you.”
“Well, on that note,” Spike hopped off the bench onto the floor, Twilight doll firmly in hand, “I’ll prove that I can make it on my own, by making it to the snack car and grabbing some treats! All by myself!”
“All by yourself?” Twilight said with mock concern, hands on her cheeks. “Wow, you’re so big and strong now! Growing up right before my eyes!”
Spike laughed and gave Twilight a great big beaming smile, patting the little muscles on his forearm for good measure, and Twilight giggled and waved goodbye as he departed the cabin.
He really was growing up in front of Twilight’s eyes; eyes that Twilight suddenly found were gleaming with conviction.
“You okay, Twi?” Applejack asked concernedly, her and Rainbow both tearing their eyes away from each other to check on Twilight, which was very sweet of them.
“I am,” Twilight laughed softly and dried her eyes. She was so proud of her son, and her heart was just full of so much affection— not even just for him, but for all the amazing women in Twilight’s life as well, all of whom were infinitely supportive of Spike as well. It took some doing, but Twilight really had built the life for him that she wanted, and it was a lot to take in.
Though Applejack coming over and kissing Twilight’s neck certainly made it easier. That was a wild thought; not only had Twilight managed to give her son the stability and comfort she’d always been trying to, she also got two super hot girlfriends out of the deal too.
“Hey, come on now,” Twilight bit into her finger and giggled as Applejack’s lips made their way down to Twilight’s collarbone, Twilight leaning back until her back was flat against the bench, “leave some room for Rainbow Dash.”
“No, that’s okay,” Rainbow snickered, “you can have her for a minute, Twilight.”
“Oh, no that’s not—” Twilight laughed; she just couldn’t seem to stop doing that these days, but who cares? Her heart was full of joy that needed to be expressed. “I’m saying Applejack should leave room on my body for your lips.”
“That’s—w—uh—” Rainbow stammered, her wings flaring up and stiffening like a board.
“Well said, hon,” Applejack said cheekily, and Twilight stifled a laugh.
Twilight slunk over to Rainbow’s side of the cabin, her prehensile tail wrapping around Rainbow’s leg.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight whispered, looking coyly at her prey, “why are you acting so shy? You’ve already been inside me—”
“Don’t say it like THAT!” Rainbow shrieked, bolting up and perching on the arm of the bench, Applejack and Twilight both trying to hold back their laughter, though Twilight was quick to compose herself.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, I’m just teasing you,” Twilight said softly. “I apologize if I took it a little too far.”
“N-no! You’re totally, uh, you’re fine! Totally fine!” Rainbow said, holding out her hands and waving them frantically. “I’m just gay, dude!”
“I can see that,” Twilight said, looking at the extremely peculiar way Rainbow was perched on the bench. How did she even do that with hooves?
“For what it’s worth, Dash,” Applejack said with a smile, “I ain’t got a problem with it.”
“Y-yeah, I know you don’t,” Rainbow said, hesitantly coming down off her stoop to sit with her legs folded under her in front of Twilight, but not looking at her. “What about Rarity?”
“Rarity’s fine with it too,” Twilight said casually. “Matter of fact, I was just talking with her about it earlier this morning.”
“Ah,” Rainbow muttered.
“Is something the matter?” Twilight asked. Rainbow getting flustered when capital-F Feelings were afoot was not a new thing, and Twilight felt for her, especially since Twilight had a hunch that she was the crux of said Feelings.
“N-no,” Rainbow said, her eyes scanning the space in front of her for a sec before she looked up and smiled at Twilight. “No, I don’t think anything’s the matter.”
“And that’s the matter, right?” Applejack interjected, drawing a scoffing laugh from Rainbow.
“Yes! Exactly!” Rainbow cheered, throwing her hands up. “It’s so weird to just be like, not feeling weird about stuff! Especially my friends! Especially especially my friends I wanna smooch!”
“So you do wanna smooch me?” Twilight gave a catlike grin and leaned toward Rainbow.
“Yeah, Twilight,” Rainbow whispered, her hand gently finding itself cradling Twilight’s, “I really do.”
“Well then,” Twilight said seductively, lightly brushing her bangs and locking eyes with Rainbow, who didn’t look away, “I’m all lips.” Twilight pulled back immediately, cringing with disgust. “Wow, that was terrible, let me try that ag—”
Twilight’s rambling was cut off by Rainbow’s lips pressed against hers, and Twilight melted; her shoulders dropping and a gentle moan escaping her mouth as Rainbow’s tongue found itself underneath hers. Which felt weird? Applejack didn’t kiss like that. Rarity didn’t either, and neither did Discord but… that wasn’t important. Was this what kissing was supposed to feel like? It felt weird! It felt great though!
Twilight was halfway through making a list of Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash’s kisses’ pros and cons in her head by the time Rainbow disconnected, Twilight letting out an unintelligible lesbian blubber as a response.
“You okay?” Rainbow asked, her tone sounding halfway concerned and half self-impressed.
“Was I okay there?” Twilight asked nervously. “I feel like I didn’t contrubyite a whole lot. Contribute, is what I meant to say.”
“Hmm, I thought you were great,” Rainbow grinned ear to ear, and Twilight heart was fluttering like woah, “but we could always get a do-over.”
Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s shoulders and kissed her again, and it was… Rainbow Dash was rough; she came in like a hammer to Twilight’s feelings and just shook the life out of her, but in like a good way! She was like a wildfire.
Applejack was so tender and sweet, like a gentle rainfall early in the morning to water your crops.
And Rarity was just… wild, and passionate, and sweet as honey. Kissing Rarity was a full body experience, and it left Twilight numb afterwards.
But she wasn’t kissing Rarity, she was kissing Rainbow, and it seemed rude to be thinking of other women, but being kissed by a cute girl had a way of short-circuiting Twilight’s brain.
Rainbow pulled back, the click of her lips parting from Twilight’s resounding in Twilight’s ears. Was it a ‘click’? Maybe a ‘pop’? No, that sounds too violent. Well, it was a good sound regardless.
“I don’t think I’m ever gonna get used to kissing girls,” Twilight said, her head in a complete daze.
“Good problems to have,” Applejack sidled over next to Twilight, kissing her on the cheek while Rainbow kissed her from the other side on her neck, Twilight’s face turning bright red as her lips twisted into the mother of all bottom smiles.
Good problems to have indeed.
210. Three Women in a Train Cabin Where Anyone Could Just Walk in and See Them
Rarity opened the door to the train cabin she shared with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy and she tried to restrain her laughter at the awkward situation she walked into. Not because the situation was funny exactly, but Rarity simply had no idea how else to react.
“Need a towel, darling?” Rarity asked Fluttershy, whose tongue was more than up to the task at hand, which was… quite a sight for Rarity.
“I’m good,” Fluttershy said with a wink.
“S-sorry about that, Rarity,” Pinkie said with a furious blush across her face as she hastily got dressed. “One thing just kinda led to another, y’know?”
“I do,” Rarity grinned, thinking about a similar scenario she had been in recently. She clapped her hands and dismissed that pleasant thought until later, though not before wondering if Twilight wouldn’t mind helping her recreate the scene before the night was over. “Ahem. I’m just happy to see that things between you two are on a fond note again. I heard what happened from Rainbow Dash.”
“We’re uh,” Pinkie looked at Fluttershy, who sat on the seat beside her and draped a wing across Pinkie’s back, Pinkie biting down on her thumbnail. “We’re working things out.”
“Nothing brings two girls closer,” Fluttershy said with a sweet smile, “like one of them nu—”
“OKAY SO ANYWAY!” Rarity shouted awkwardly, looking to make sure no one else was around to hear Fluttershy’s absolutely filthy tongue. Rarity wasn’t even sure why she reacted so strongly, she was among friends after all, but she supposed it was simply indecent to talk about such things so frivolously!
Though… Rarity couldn’t entirely disagree with Fluttershy’s point. Perhaps she might even like to test it at some—
“Rarity,” Fluttershy licked her lips and Rarity felt like she was on another plane of existence where only the two of them mattered, “I can show you what I mean if you—”
“AHEM SO,” Rarity cleared her throat loudly and awkwardly, cheeks stained a deep burning red.
“Why’re you so flustered, Rarity?” Pinkie giggled, a normally adorable sound right now running through Rarity’s ears like a cruel jest. “Fluttershy told me you guys kissed, so I kinda assumed you were like an item now.”
“Oh, yes, I suppose that’s true,” Rarity nodded, twiddling her fingers in front of her. Why was she getting so flustered? It’s not like flirtations were anything new to her, but something about the way Fluttershy did it made Rarity feel so… vulnerable.
“I apologize if I was coming on too strong, Rarity,” Fluttershy said with a bow of her head. “The last thing I want is to make you, or Pinkie for that matter, feel uncomfortable.”
“You’re fine, love,” Rarity assured Fluttershy, reaching over to place her hand atop of the sweet yellow dragon’s, “you’re absolutely perfect. I’m afraid I’m simply not used to… being flirted with, I suppose. I’m usually not the one who gets all flustered, and it’s a new experience that will take some getting used to.”
“It’s not that new!” Pinkie snorted. “Remember that time in the library? When we had the big party and everyone made you blush super hard? That was hilarious!”
“Oh har har, it was an absolute delight for sure,” Rarity grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. It actually was a delight. Why was Rarity pretending like it wasn’t? Just habit, she supposed. Fluttershy wasn’t the only one with demons.
It was certainly something to think about.
Later. For now…
“Fluttershy, darling,” Rarity licked her lips, “it was very nice what you did for Pinkie Pie. Would you mind too terribly if I returned the favor?”
“Hmm, what do you think Pinkie P—” Fluttershy looked over to see Pinkie, hands clasped in front of her and tongue falling out of her mouth, stars practically in her eyes. “Rarity,” Fluttershy’s glittering green eyes locked with Rarity’s and she felt a shiver up her spine, “I would love that.”
Pinkie Pie was standing on the floor next to the bed, not jumping on the bed even though she wanted to, in her mom’s room in the Canterlot Inn. This was it! It was Gala time, and everyone was super nervous!
Especially Pinkie’s mom, Cloudy Quartz, who was trying to apply her earrings but her fingers were shaking and making it difficult. She looked really nice in the super fancy dress that Luna had given her; it was really reserved and cool, but super elegant too. Perfect for Cloudy, Pinkie thought.
It wasn’t nearly as cute as Pinkie’s dress though, which was hot pink and blue and had little candy corns on it and had little frills and a cute bow on the collar. It was a gift from Luna as well, or more specifically from Luna’s girlfriend Fleur de Lis, who designed Rarity’s party, and Cloudy, dresses to wear to the Gala, and Pinkie couldn’t have been happier to wear hers!
“Do you need some help, mom?” Pinkie asked concernedly as she watched her mom fumble with her earrings for what felt like the third consecutive hour.
“No, dear,” Cloudy chuckled as she finally got the ring into place. “I’ve got it. Thank you though.”
“I wasn’t talking about the earring,” Pinkie said. “I mean, do you need any help calming down? Or hyping up? I’m a lot better at the second one, but I can try the first one since it’s you.”
“Thank you, sweetheart, but I’m fine,” Cloudy said sweetly, spinning around and watching the trail of her dress. “I’m the exact proper amount of nervous one should be, when they’re going on a date with a Princess for the first time.”
“Pfffft, c’mon, what’s to be nervous about?” Pinkie scoffed, batting both hands in a dismissive manner. “You’re just dating a Princess!”
“I appreciate your optimism, Pinkie Pie,” Cloudy rolled her eyes playfully and exited through the door, Pinkie following her onto the snow-dripped streets of Canterlot, the city lit up in neon under the moonlight in celebration of the Grand Galloping Gala.
“I’m sure she’s just as excited to see you,” Pinkie suggested. Who wouldn’t be excited to date Cloudy? She was a super cool lady!
“I’m sure she is too,” Cloudy said softly, “but I can’t get my heart to stop pounding. She’s just—” Cloudy bit her lip, and Pinkie giggled into her hands; she recognized that look. “You don’t understand, Pinkie Pie, how amazing Luna is.”
“She’s just as amazing as you are, I bet,” Pinkie said proudly, Cloudy giggling. If Pinkie was gonna have to be her mom’s hype squad all the way to the castle where the Gala was taking place, then she was gonna do just that!
“Besides, it’s not just her,” Cloudy explained. “Meeting the woman I love in the waking world for the first time is reason enough to be a little anxious, Princess or no, but meeting the other woman that she loves for the first time as well? I want to make sure I make a good impression.”
“You’re gonna make the best impression,” Pinkie said confidently but softly, just to make sure Cloudy knew she was super serious. She also pumped her fist a little for good measure.
The rest of the walk to the Gala was spent in silence, which was hard as heck for Pinkie but she knew her mom was a quiet gal and appreciated her thoughtful time, and Pinkie could respect that. This was her night after all, at least until they got there, and then Pinkie could go off on her own wild adventures!
The two women arrived at the massive-ass— way too big if you asked Pinkie Pie— stairway that led into the royal plaza in front of the castle. There were a few stray ponies coming and going around them, but neither Pinkie nor Cloudy paid them any mind once they saw the towering blue alicorn waiting for them at the foot of the stairs.
Luna was supporting the wall just by the stairs, ponies walking by without paying her any notice as she stood shadowed by the wall of the royal plaza, and she pushed herself off of it with her wings, her eyes sparkling as they met Cloudy.
“My love,” Luna took Cloudy’s hand and gave it a gentle kiss, Cloudy biting her lip and putting her other hand against her blazing cheek. Luna leaned in to kiss Cloudy on the lips and she purred, humming gently as she was consumed by Luna’s embrace. “Welcome to Canterlot, and to my home, my dearest.”
“Oh,” Cloudy put a hand over her chest and stammered, “w-why thank you, Prin— er, Luna, I should say. I’m sorry, I’m nervous.”
“It’s quite alright,” Luna smiled politely, but then she gave a catlike grin and her ears folded back as she shrunk into herself. “To be quite honest, I’m nervous too… I’ve been looking forward to meeting you so much, and I just wanted to make sure everything was perfect fo—”
Cloudy silenced Luna by grabbing her mane and pulling on it lightly, bringing her lips into smooching range so Cloudy could lay one on her, and this time it was Luna who was purring as she held Cloudy tight.
“Everything is perfect,” Cloudy whispered, “because I’m with you.”
“Howdy!” Pinkie Pie beamed, waving at a now distinctly embarrassed Luna and Cloudy Quartz who maybe had forgotten Pinkie was there. “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s only so much I can watch my mom making out before it feels really weird? I’m Pinkie Pie!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Pinkie Pie,” Luna bowed her head, and held out her hand, Pinkie’s just barely reaching it due to the size difference. Luna was literally like, at least two-and-a-half-Pinkies tall. “I’ve heard much about you, from Cloudy of course, but also from Rarity. I’ve been looking forward to meeting y—”
“HELLLOOOOOO DARLINGS!” a dainty, yet very loud, woman’s voice cut through the quiet atmosphere and all three women present turned to see the source; a tall ivory unicorn with an absolute ocean of pale pink hair, dressed in a slim cocktail dress that hugged her every feature. “I’m so sorry I’m late!”
The unicorn didn’t hesitate to kiss Luna right on the lips, which gave away her identity to Pinkie; this must’ve been Fleur de Lis. She wasn’t exactly subtle or reserved like Cloudy was, but Pinkie couldn’t argue with the smitten smile on Luna’s face as her lips disconnected from Fleur’s.
“Oh!” Fleur gasped, hand over her heart. “You must be Cloudy Quartz! Sweetheart, please! It’s such an honor to finally meet you!”
Fleur kissed Cloudy on the cheek, her eyes springing wide open as she stumbled back a step, Fleur pursing her lips and presenting her cheek to Cloudy for a moment, who simply stared in stunned silence.
“Fleur,” Luna put her hand on Fleur’s shoulder, the dainty unicorn almost looking like she was gonna collapse under the weight of the giant alicorn, “Cloudy is much more reserved in her affection than you are, please give her some space and patience.”
“Mm! Right, I am so sorry,” Fleur said, waving her hands about and backing up behind Luna, squeezing her butt for a sec— which made Luna yelp and it was adorable— and bowing her head. “I got a little overexcited, it happens, I can be a bit of an airhead, especially around beautiful women and oh, my, stars do you look ravishing in that dress!”
“Th-thank you,” Cloudy rubbed the back of her neck and blushed, her posture stiff as a board. “You did an excellent job on it.”
“I know I did, honey, I can see it with my own eyes,” Fleur snapped her fingers and grunted excitedly, swishing her hips as she looked Cloudy up and down.
“Thank you again,” Cloudy chuckled, and it seemed like she was actually starting to loosen up just a wee bit, and Pinkie couldn’t have been more excited!
But that said…
“Hey!” Pinkie said, clapping her hands. “I’m gonna leave you lovebirds alone, cuz I also got a hot date!”
“Thank you for taking care of me, Pinkie,” Cloudy said with a smile, and Pinkie saluted her. “I love you, and I’ll see you tonight, or maybe tomorrow?”
“Definitely tomorrow,” Luna whispered, Cloudy’s ears flicking up and the brightest smile Pinkie’d ever seen crossing her lips. Luna cleared her throat and bowed to Pinkie. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Pinkie Pie. I look forward to getting to know you better soon… i-if you’re interested, that is.”
“Of course I’m interested!” Pinkie beamed.
“Of course she’s interested,” Fleur scoffed, hands on her hips and bumping one into Luna’s. “You’re Princess Luna. Who is she, by the way?”
“That’s my daughter,” Cloudy said, Fleur immediately jumping in surprise.
“OH! Sorry, sorry, I didn’t recognize you!” Fleur grabbed Pinkie’s hand and shook it vigorously, making Pinkie’s head spin. “You look adorable in that dress! You’re gonna knock all the ladies dead at the Gala, little pink!”
“Thank you so much!” Pinkie said with a gleaming smile, and then she waved her mom and pals goodbye as she took off for the stairs. If she let herself get distracted any more she’d be there for hours, and that wasn’t fair to her dates, or her plans for that matter. “Talk to y’all later!”
Pinkie was gonna knock all the ladies dead! Not literally dead, but you know! First though, she just had to get up the stairs! No big deal!
Pinkie took off up the stairs like a rocket, though she got winded like maybe halfway through, or maybe more? She was probably almost there by the time she was panting and gasping for breath, and being in the big floofy pretty dress didn’t help her cover much ground either, but she was almost there! Just a few more steps and she’d be—
“Pinkie Pie?” Luna asked softly, standing at the foot of the stairs mere inches from Pinkie. “Do you need some help?”
“Yes, please,” Pinkie said bashfully, and in a crack of magic Pinkie was teleported into the royal plaza, flocks of ponies gathered around her and the majestic castle towering over her.
Rarity looked absolutely gorgeous. She was perhaps the most beautiful mare in the world, and she was damn sure going to be the most beautiful at the Gala…
…if she did say so herself, hehe.
She was dressed to the nines in layers of burgundy and gold, perfectly complimenting her pale coat and striking amethyst hair. She had slippers of clear crystal on her hooves and a lovely shawl draped across her back, and she couldn’t wait for the moment halfway through the Gala where she would remove it and show off her elegant bare shoulders for Twilight Sparkle’s viewing pleasure.
Rarity was certain the poor dear would go nuts for it.
“Rarity?” Fluttershy put her hands around Rarity’s waist, Rarity humming softly as she ran her hand through Fluttershy’s hair, Fluttershy resting her head on Rarity’s shoulder and kissing her neck. “Is it okay for me to say that you look unbelievably hot right now?”
“It certainly is,” Rarity turned and kissed Fluttershy, the taste of saffron on the dragon’s lips tickling Rarity’s tongue.
Fluttershy was quite a looker herself, and she looked utterly stunning in a simple green dress that seemed rather plain at first glance, but all the intricate foresty details made it absolutely sing spring, which was a welcome thought these days.
The point was, Fluttershy was almost as gorgeous as Rarity.
“Are you nervous?” Fluttershy asked, sitting on the bed of their room in the Canterlot inn, Rarity letting out a single laugh as her reply.
“Of course not, sweetheart,” Rarity elaborated. “This night is all about Twilight Sparkle, and I am going to show her an excellent time. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been out with another woman, but if there’s one thing I’m extraordinarily confident in, it’s that Rarity knows how to show a woman a good time.”
“I call dibs on you next then,” Fluttershy licked her lips, Rarity giggling and then coming over to kiss her, pushing her down onto the bed and pinning her arms down.
“Oh believe me, darling,” Rarity whispered, the tingle of her breath against Fluttershy’s neck making her squirm, “I’ll be more than happy to show you a good time.”
“Rarity,” Fluttershy moaned, and Rarity bit her lip. Stars what she wouldn’t have done for just a little more time in that room. She kissed and sucked on Fluttershy’s neck, the dragon’s lithe body writhing underneath hers.
“Fluttershy,” Rarity panted, quickly kissing Fluttershy’s lips and putting her hands on the dragon’s cheeks. “Fluttershy.”
Rarity kissed her on the nose and then stood up, dusting herself off and making sure all her layers looked neat and tidy.
“We’ll have our time,” Rarity said casually, Fluttershy sitting up looking like she was in a daze; Rarity was split between feeling a little bad for her, and feeling incredibly self-impressed. “But for tonight, I need to focus on my dearest Twilight.”
“Ohhhh, Twilight,” Fluttershy flumped back onto the bed, arm draped across her forehead. “I don’t know if it’s just my heart racing right now or what, but I am feeling so horny for Twilight Sparkle right now.”
“I’ll see how she feels about that,” Rarity smirked, the idea of spending a nice evening with her two dearest dragons sounding like an absolutely enchanting way to pass the time. “But for now, don’t you also have a woman to be focused on?”
“I hope you’re not talking about Applejack,” Fluttershy groaned and sat up again, almost looking like she had just rolled out of bed.
“I am talking about Applejack,” Rarity said firmly, grabbing a nearby brush in her magic and sitting on the bed behind Fluttershy, gently putting her arms around her dear sweet Fluttershy as she tidied up the girl’s mane with the brush.
“She is a sweetheart, you know,” Rarity leaned in and kissed Fluttershy’s neck. “You’ll absolutely adore her when you give her a chance.” Rarity gently dug her teeth into Fluttershy’s ear, Fluttershy letting out a smitten whimper. “So please do give her a chance,” Rarity took Fluttershy’s chin in her hand and forced them to lock eyes, smiling serenely at her lovely companion, “for me?”
“For you,” Fluttershy responded instantly, mirroring Rarity’s smile, “I’ll do anything. So sure, I’ll give Applejack a chance.”
“She’s hot as hell too,” Rarity said as she hopped off the bed. “Trust me, you are going to love her.”
“Fine, I suppose,” Fluttershy stood up like a bolt and put her arms around Rarity once more. She was so comfortable, Rarity almost didn’t want to leave her embrace. “Who knows? Maybe one of these days the six of us can—”
“Now darling!” Rarity interjected, her face turning bright red. “Don’t you think you’re getting a tad ahead of yourse—”
“You know you’ve been thinking it too,” Fluttershy whispered, and now Rarity was the one writhing in her embrace, letting out a pitiable moan as Fluttershy slid her hands up Rarity’s dress and onto her bare hips.
“I-I c-can’t say that I—oh!” Rarity squealed as Fluttershy grabbed ahold of her. “Fluttershy, you’ll ruin my dress.”
“I know,” Fluttershy slipped away from Rarity in an instant, circling around in front of her and grabbing her hand, seductive smile on her lips. “Just wanted to give you a taste of what you’re in for,” Fluttershy pulled Rarity close, putting one hand on the small of her back and the other entwining its fingers with Rarity’s as the pair stood chest-to-chest, “once it’s my turn with you.”
Rarity leaned in and kissed Fluttershy, careful not to touch her fabulous mane that Rarity had just done up for her. Their lips parted and Rarity sighed.
“I love you,” Rarity said.
“I love you too,” Fluttershy beamed.
“We have a Gala to go to,” Rarity sighed again, and then giggled thinking about Twilight Sparkle. Rarity almost worried that she’d gotten so carried away with her feelings for Fluttershy, that she would suddenly forget about Twilight or some such silly thing. But no, just the mere thought of Twilight Sparkle still made Rarity giggle like a schoolfilly.
“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy hummed, and she gave Rarity a kiss on the hand as she stepped away. “I’ll be thinking about you.”
“I’m sorry to inform you,” Rarity said wistfully, “but I’ll only be thinking of Twilight. Once I’m with you again though, you will have my full attention.”
“I can live with that,” Fluttershy mused, and then let out an adorable giggle. “Okay, so if Applejack can get me to stop thinking of you, then I’ll know that she’s perfect.”
“That’s a tall task,” Rarity laughed, “but I think Applejack’s up for the challenge.”
“You are too perfect,” Fluttershy smiled and opened the door for Rarity as the couple departed the inn room.
“Darling, I know,” Rarity said proudly, bringing Fluttershy in for one last passionate kiss before they had to part ways. “But I’m also blessed with perfect partners.”
Twilight breathed in and out, slowly. Very slow, calm, deliberate breaths.
Okay, maybe they were a little bit fast.
And they weren’t… well, they weren’t the calmest.
…
Alright she was hyperventilating.
She sat on the bed gasping for breath as Applejack walked into her room in the Canterlot inn to check on her.
“Oh, honey,” Applejack said concernedly, sitting on the bed beside Twilight and rubbing her back. That made Twilight feel a little bit better, at least enough to breathe okay. “Feelin’ anxious?”
“A little,” Twilight croaked. Twilight got up and spun around, watching in awe as her dress twirled around her. “How do I look?”
The dress was really something else; royal blue with crystalline accents, and stars all along the trim. It’s not something Twilight ever would have picked out for herself and yet it fit her almost too perfectly. She certainly felt good.
“Hon, you look stellar,” Applejack stood up and gave Twilight a soft, tender kiss to her lips, Twilight humming contentedly. Applejack chortled. “See, that was a pun!”
“It sure was,” Twilight rolled her eyes playfully and kissed Applejack again. “You look amazing too, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Applejack chuckled, tugging at the color of her suit. “I ain’t really much for this kinda fancy getup, but I’m at least glad I don’t gotta wear a dress. I think I’d literally die.”
“You don’t like dresses?” Twilight asked idly, giving Applejack another kiss cuz she just couldn’t help herself when she was being held by such a hot mare.
“Not really my style,” Applejack said, running her hand through Twilight’s mane. “And havin’ to wear a dress at a fancy party? Ugh, like I said, I’d probably die. And that’s ‘fore you even factor in havin’ to deal with Fluttershy.” Applejack paused for a sec and puffed up her cheeks. “Sorry, that was rude. I ain’t got nothin’ against Fluttershy, it’s just… stressful.”
“I understand,” Twilight sighed. “I wish there was something I could do to help.”
“I’ll be thinkin’ of ya,” Applejack laughed softly, brushing back Twilight’s bangs. “I’ll be thinkin’ of you, and of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. That’ll give me the strength I need to do whatever I need to. And who knows? Me and Flutters could really hit it off!”
“Fluttershy is very sweet,” Twilight said, letting out a pitiful groan, “when she wants to be, that is. And you’re sweet too! You too should get along just fine, and Pinkie’s given her blessing, and Fluttershy has Rarity now too? There’s absolutely no reason why you two shouldn’t hit it off!”
“Yer absolutely right,” Applejack took a deep breath and sat on the bed, and Twilight sat right on her lap and put her arm around Applejack’s shoulders. “Yer absolutely right! We’re gonna have a grand ol’ time!”
“That’s right!” Twilight beamed.
It was funny; seeing Applejack being so obviously nervous, and failing so hard at trying to hide her nervousness, should’ve made Twilight feel even more anxious, and yet she found it was having the opposite effect.
Seeing someone as strong and confident and cool as Applejack struggle with anxiety made Twilight feel like it was okay that she was struggling too, cuz at least they were struggling together.
“It’ll be okay,” Twilight said softly, leaning in to kiss Applejack, who affectionately returned her kiss and nuzzled their noses together, getting a giggle out of Twilight.
“I know,” Applejack sighed. “No matter what happens, we’ll always have each other.”
“That’s right,” Twilight said dreamily, staring into her lover’s eyes. And then she had the best idea she’d ever had in her life and her eyes glittered with stars as she let the devil’s own grin spread across her face. “Applesolutely we will!”
Applejack snorted into laughter and collapsed back onto the bed, Twilight giggling like a fool as she laid on top of her.
“You’re so beautiful,” Applejack said, looking into Twilight’s eyes, and Twilight smiled when she realized she wasn’t afraid of it. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Twilight said, sharing one more little kiss with Applejack, as a treat.
“You nervous about Rarity?” Applejack asked, holding Twilight in her big strong arms as they laid together on the soft sheets.
“A little,” Twilight hummed. “Not as much now, but still a little.”
“She’s gonna take good care of you,” Applejack laughed softly, Twilight affectionately nuzzling against her, “I can promise ya that.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Twilight said. “But it’s our first date as a real couple, and I want everything to be perfect.”
“Everything will be perfect,” Applejack said with a kiss, Twilight biting her lip and sighing. “Cuz yer gonna be with a woman you love. What could be more perfect than that?”
Twilight walked down the stairs into the Canterlot inn foyer, Applejack gracefully guiding her down the steps so her clumsy librarian feet didn’t trip on her dress. Rainbow Dash was waiting there for them, and she looked amazing.
She wore a suit top with a long coat that trailed behind her, the rainbow colors shimmering every time she moved, and a short skirt that really showed off how toned and sexy her legs were. Twilight had a hard time containing her excitement, biting down on her lip as her ears twitched wildly.
“Yo, Twilight!” Rainbow cheered, clapping her hands when she saw the two women descend into the foyer. “You look SO HOT!”
“Wh—uh—th-thank you!” Twilight stammered bashfully, pressing a hand against her cheek. “Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash! You look amazing too!”
“Of course I do!” Rainbow scoffed and pushed out her hip, and Twilight nearly fainted; that confidence was so hot. “And Applejack, I can’t wait for you to tear these clothes off my body and break my entire ass in half.”
“I dunno what that means,” Applejack laughed, trotting up to Rainbow and planting a passionate kiss on her lips, “but I’m sure I’ll be happy to oblige.”
“So hey,” Rainbow hopped over to Twilight and punched her playfully in the side, Twilight trying not to laugh, “you nervous?”
“Uhhh, wait,” Twilight paused, “first, did everything go okay with Spike?”
“Yes, Twilight,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “For the like gazillionth time, Spike’s cool and he’s ready for his big adventure. He’s probably still chowing down on donuts, that’s what he was up to when I left.”
“Okay,” Twilight sighed, steadying her breathing and putting her hand over her chest. It wouldn’t do to worry about Spike all night; it wouldn’t be fair to Rarity, or to Twilight herself for that matter. “Okay. So, you asked if I’m nervous? If I could crawl right out of my skin right now, I absolutely would.”
“Well technically you can,” Rainbow looked around, and there wasn’t anyone else occupying the foyer; most other ponies were headed to the Gala already, but Rarity insisted the party be ‘fashionably’ late, so Rainbow leaned in and whispered, “y’know, dragon and all.”
“Don’t even get me started on ‘technically’, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said with a catlike smirk.
The sound of hoofsteps against the carpeted steps of the foyer’s primary stairway alerted the three women’s attention to the dainty ‘pegasus’ coming down the stairs, and Rainbow and Twilight couldn’t help but coo at her beauty.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight said excitedly. It warmed her heart that Fluttershy got along with Rarity as well as she did, and Twilight couldn’t wait to get to know Fluttershy better herself. That was near the top of her to-do list after the Gala, in fact.
“Yoooo! It’s Fluttershy!” Rainbow hollered, throwing her fist into the air.
“Please, you two,” Fluttershy gently batted her hand at the two girls, Rainbow and Twilight swooning in unison, “you’ll make me blush.”
“You look great, hon,” Applejack said, and Twilight could tell that she meant it, which brought a smile to Twilight’s face. Fluttershy? Not so much.
“Thanks,” Fluttershy smiled thinly; she was uncomfortable, and Twilight worried for a moment if this was going to be a good idea.
“You two are gonna have such a great time together!” Rainbow laughed, putting her arm around Fluttershy and then grabbing Applejack’s hand and dragging her close so Rainbow could put an arm around her too. “I can’t wait to hear all about it when ya get back!”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy said.
“Well then,” Applejack cleared her throat, “you ready to go?”
“I am,” Fluttershy said, gingerly taking Applejack’s hand and departing without another word, merely looking back at Twilight and Rainbow who waved sympathetically and excitedly, respectively.
“You think they’ll be okay?” Twilight asked idly.
“They’re adults,” Rainbow scoffed, “so I sure hope so! Could you imagine? Them just sitting on a grudge with each other for a thousand years, acting like big babies instead of actually working through their shit? Awful.”
“Hehe, I guess you’re right,” Twilight laughed, and that really did make her feel better. She hadn't quite considered it like that before, but when Rainbow put it that way it almost made Twilight feel silly for worrying. “So, Rainbow, what’re your big plans?”
Rainbow grinned devilishly and rubbed her hands together; Twilight wasn’t sure if she should be concerned or excited.
“I’m gonna pull some pranks,” Rainbow cackled. “I’m on my own most of the night, so I’m gonna prank a bunch of the stuffy noble ponies who’ve never worked a day in their lives. It’s gonna be awesome.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight scolded, wagging her finger at Rainbow, who looked disappointed, “that is just—” Twilight snorted and giggled, she couldn’t keep up the act, but she was proud to have at least fooled Rainbow for a second. “That is just brilliant. I love you.”
“I love you too!” Rainbow cheered, grabbing Twilight’s arms and giving her a quick smooch on the nose.
“I hope you have a great time,” Twilight said, holding Rainbow in her arms and kissing her softly. It felt weird to be the holder instead of the holdee, but not a bad weird. It was really nice. “I love you.”
“You said that already,” Rainbow snorted, her cheeks turning bright pink as Twilight nuzzled her.
“I can never say it enough,” Twilight said. “I love you!”
“I love you too, you big dork!” Rainbow playfully pushed Twilight away but she held onto her hand, and pulled Twilight back in, giving her a kiss on her fingers. “I do love you, I don’t ever want you to think that I don’t.”
“I would never,” Twilight reassured Rainbow, running her hand through Rainbow’s mane. “Now go on, there’s a whole lot of stuffy noble ponies who’ve never worked a day in their lives out there, and they’re all waiting on you.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Rainbow beamed, and she galloped off, screeching to a halt as she reached the door and turning back to wave at Twilight. “I love you!”
“I love you too!” Twilight called out, waving back as Rainbow smiled dazzlingly at her. Twilight was still waving even after the doors had closed behind Rainbow, because she just… she just wanted to. She couldn’t believe how full of affection her heart was.
Said heart was thundering in her chest as her ears twitched to the sound of gentle hoofsteps coming down the stairs again. Twilight’s breathing rapidly sped up and she almost couldn’t bear to turn around, fangs digging into her bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood as she forced herself to look back.
And there she was.
A beautiful ivory mare with curves for days and curls of hair like radiant amethyst, that’s how Rarity would probably describe herself and Twilight found it fitting enough… well okay the part about the curves was all Twilight, but still. She was dressed in a beautiful burgundy dress with gold accents and she walked down the stairs like she owned the whole damn city.
As far as Twilight was concerned, she may as well have.
“You look—” Twilight struggled to find the words as she stood at the foot of the stairwell.
“Radiant? Stunning? Gorgeous?” Rarity helpfully suggesting, striking a new dazzling pose with each word she spoke.
“Hot,” Twilight said, Rarity erupting into a fit of giggles.
“You really have a way with words, my darling,” Rarity said.
“You have a way of making me forget them,” Twilight replied, holding her hand over her face cuz she couldn’t stop grinning like a doofy idiot.
“Don’t you dare hide that beautiful smile from me,” Rarity whispered, taking hold of Twilight’s hand and lowering it, before brushing a hand through Twilight’s bangs. “You are so unbelievably gorgeous, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Well, y’know, I uh, fzghfhdkgjgdg,” Twilight… ‘said’? ‘Said’ doesn’t exactly seem right, it was more like the vaguely word-adjacent noise soup fell out of her mouth like a cat choking up a hairball.
“Mm, serenade me more, dearest,” Rarity smirked, and Twilight found herself caught in this weird space between being almost embarrassed and entirely comfortable. It was nice.
“I love you,” Twilight said, Rarity putting her arms around Twilight’s waist as Twilight leaned in for a kiss. And GAWD Rarity’s kisses were so good. They were sweet, and not even like sugar but like if someone took the very ESSENCE of the flavor of sweetness and injected it directly into Twilight’s bloodstream.
“I love you too,” Rarity whispered, looking up at Twilight with a smitten smirk, her pale cheeks painted bright pink. “And I’m ready to have an absolutely fabulous night with you.”
“You know, it occurs to me,” Twilight purred, “we don’t need to go to the Gala.” Twilight kissed Rarity’s neck, the gasp coming from her lover the sweetest sound she’d ever heard. “We could stay in for a bit. Have the whole night to ourselves.”
“Ooooh, don’t tempt me, sweetheart,” Rarity moaned, her hands lowering to Twilight’s butt and giving her a playful squeeze that made Twilight jump with a yelp. “I promised Luna and Fleur I would introduce you, and you really should meet them.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Twilight griped.
Twilight really did want to meet Luna and Fleur, but on the other hand she was already thirsty, and she was worried it was only gonna get worse as the night went on. She almost had half a mind to transform into her full form, pick Rarity up in her claw and kidnap her, taking her to a faraway mountain cave where they could be alone together for the whole night.
She wouldn’t, obviously, do that. But she was certainly thinking about it now.
“Besides, Twilight,” Rarity whispered seductively, sliding a hand up Twilight’s dress and grabbing ahold of her, Twilight’s eyes widening and her smile getting ever more bashful, “don’t you think pleasure is even greater-” Rarity took her hands back and walked past Twilight, flicking her tail up at her for good measure “-after it’s been denied?”
Twilight’s head was spinning, her heart was thundering, her breath was like a whole thing? Or whatever? She was hot and sweaty already and she couldn’t wait to see how else Rarity would make her feel before the night was over.
“Darling?” Rarity looked back at Twilight from the door. “You coming?”
“That’s an interesting way to phrase that,” Twilight joked as she caught up with Rarity, who snorted with laughter.
“Twilight, dearest, it’s impolite to make a lady snot,” Rarity said.
“To make her what?” Twilight could barely contain her laughter.
“SNORT!” Rarity cackled, leaning against the wall doubled over from laughing. “I meant to say ‘snort’!”
“Stars, I love you,” Twilight said happily, taking Rarity into her arms and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
“And I love you,” Rarity replied, pulling Twilight in for a kiss on the lips, and the sensation of kissing Rarity still hadn't gotten any less overwhelmingly incredible with time. “More than all the stars in the sky, than all the leaves in the trees, all the snow that falls to the earth. I love you, and I always will love you, long after my last breath has escaped my lips.”
“W-wow,” Twilight said. What else could she say? Rarity was amazing! “Did you practice that?”
“I didn’t!” Rarity clapped her hands and beamed. “I just came up with that on the spot right now! Wasn’t that incredible?!”
“You’re incredible,” Twilight laughed, leaning in for one more kiss before the two departed.
“You are,” Rarity huffed, her arm locked with Twilight’s as the pair trotted into the snowdripped streets of the neon-lit city of Canterlot. “Well okay, I am too. You’re absolutely right about that.”
Rarity giggled, and Twilight pulled her in for a side-hug and kissed her adorably twitchy little ear.
Twilight had no idea what was in store for the rest of the night, but she couldn’t wait to experience it with Rarity.
The neon lights of Canterlot’s moonlit streets cast a heavenly glow over Twilight and Rarity as they headed for the Gala. Though Twilight mused that perhaps it was just Rarity who was glowing; she certainly stole all of Twilight’s attention away from everything else, Twilight just watching her in awe as they walked hand-in-hand down the snowy streets, the dozens of ponies passing them by not even registering to a smitten Twilight Sparkle.
“So how do you feel about Canterlot’s Sun District, my love?” Rarity asked, enchanting smile aimed right at Twilight’s heart like a deadly laser.
“I…” Twilight tried to think of something intellectual to say, but her inner monologue was just Rarity’s name repeated on an infinite loop. “…I’ll let you know once I can focus on something that isn’t you.”
“That may take quite some time,” Rarity chuckled and traced a finger under Twilight’s chin, guiding Twilight close and then pressing her lips against Twilight’s, who melted with a soft, pleased moan as Rarity put her arms around her and kissed her.
“I love you,” Twilight whispered.
“I love you too,” Rarity smiled and looked up and down Twilight’s body. “And the sooner we get to the Gala, the sooner we can meet Luna and Fleur, we can mingle, we can blow everypony away with what an amazing power couple we are, then we can get right back to the inn and I can rip this beautiful dress right off your beautiful body.”
“That sounds great,” Twilight beamed, her body already tingling in anticipation of Rarity’s touch.
The Canterlot castle ballroom was… cramped.
No, that wasn’t quite right, was it? It was spacious and vast and terrifyingly, overwhelmingly massive. Twilight Sparkle felt like a coin left on the side of the road as she was smothered half to death in the noise and smells and sights of partying noble ponies, and their chatter and diplomacy and all this other stuff she didn’t understand.
She was in the corner, thumbs beating against each other as she scanned the crowd for Rarity. She would be with Luna, of course, who didn’t exactly blend into the environment, so it’s not like Twilight could miss her, but she did miss her. As in, she wished Rarity was with her right now, rubbing her back and gently teasing her about how she was freaking out over nothing.
It was just a room full of ponies.
Who would kill her if they knew the truth about her.
No big deal.
Twilight’s eyes honed in like a predator eyeing its prey on Princess Luna making her way through the crowd, politely waving and saying words to ponies who would greet her or stop her. Twilight was gritting her teeth, her hoof tapping against the purple carpeted marble floor cuz she just wanted Luna, and more importantly Rarity, next to her right now and all these ponies were holding her up!
Though as Luna got closer, and Twilight got sweatier and clammier, all she could think was that she wished the ponies could hold Luna up forever. She was massive and imposing, with muscles that almost looked like they could rip her perfectly tailored suit to shreds with a single flex. Even seeing Rarity by Luna’s side didn’t quell Twilight’s nerves.
Okay it did a little; Twilight definitely was starting to feel more butterflies in her stomach and less ‘I’m about to vomit from fear’.
“Darlingdarlingdarling! I’m so sorry to keep you waiting!” Rarity apologized frantically as she ran to Twilight’s side, peppering Twilight’s fingers with kisses. Twilight had planned on scolding Rarity for leaving her alone so long, or at least informing her that it made Twilight anxious and she’d prefer if Rarity didn’t do it again, but being doted on like this was well worth the wait.
“Well, it was an awfully long time,” Twilight said playfully, Rarity’s kisses going up the length of Twilight’s arm as she tried not to moan too loudly, “and I di—I did miss you-” Twilight was gasping for breath all of a sudden as Rarity had her pushed against a marble column and was sucking on her neck “-an awful—an awful lot.”
“I’ll never leave your side again,” Rarity whispered, and then kissed Twilight on the lips, doing things to Twilight with her tongue that Twilight didn’t realize a pony tongue was dexterous enough to do, and Twilight couldn’t help but think that she would need to research this extensively. Perhaps put together a light 800 page essay on the dexterity of pony tongues.
As Rarity pulled away, a string of drool connecting the two women’s lips, Twilight wondered if perhaps 800 pages might not be enough for even just Rarity’s tongue, let alone other ponies. This would definitely require much deliberation.
“Ahem,” Luna cleared her throat as she stood over the two passionate women making out in the corner of the ballroom, Rarity immediately separating from Twilight with an embarrassed blush across her face. “No, please, don’t stop on my account. Do you two need a minute?”
“Oh don’t give me that,” Rarity puffed up her cheeks, “I’m sure you and Fleur were the exact same way when you first started dating.”
“Er, perhaps,” Luna tugged at her collar and Rarity nodded victoriously, and then Luna turned her attention to Twilight Sparkle, her eyes burning into Twilight’s in a way that only an alicorn’s could, and Twilight shrunk into herself. “Long time no see, Twilight Sparkle. It’s a pleasure to meet with you again.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Twilight asked, the words coming out of her mouth unbidden, and she almost wanted to retract them, but she decided she cared more for an answer than for decorum. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you knew what I am, and that you hadn’t any plans to hurt me?”
“I—” Luna paused, her eyes scanning the space in front of her. However she expected this conversation to go, this surely wasn’t it. Twilight looked over at Rarity, who had her hands clasped in front of her, and smiled at Twilight; she wasn’t going to interject, she was going to let Twilight say what she needed to, knowing that Rarity had her back no matter what.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight took a deep breath. “It just—I don’t know what could’ve happened differently if you had been honest with me then, but… I still wish you had been. I wish you hadn't entered my home under a ruse, pretending not to know what you so obviously did, and we both knew that you knew, and I was sweating BUCKETS! Cuz I didn’t know that you weren’t going to try to hurt me! To hurt my son!”
Twilight was shaking now, her body trembling as Rarity removed her shawl and wrapped it around Twilight’s shoulders, standing behind Twilight and wrapping her arms around her waist, leaning her head on Twilight’s shoulder. It helped a lot. Twilight could breathe easily with Rarity by her side.
“I’m sorry,” Luna said coldly. “I’ll tell you the truth to sate your curiosity, but I won’t make excuses for myself. You are the only—”
Luna paused, her eyes darting to her sides. She was a Princess, so chances are high that there was someone listening in on her conversations basically at all times, so it was smart of her to take precautions when dealing with such a dangerous subject.
“You’re the first I’ve met,” Luna explained, “aside from Fleur. I still didn’t know whether to trust her, or to trust the voice of my sister ringing inside my head. That’s why I didn’t tell you, because I was scared that my sister would be the one who was right.
“But she wasn’t, and I knew she wasn’t before our conversation had ended, and I still chose not to tell you because of my own fear, and for that I make no excuse. I should have put my faith in my love, and I should have put my faith in you, and I chose not to.
“So for that,” Luna got on her knee and bowed before Twilight, whose face turned bright red as she detected steadily more and more eyes burning through her from the other ponies, “I apologize.”
Luna didn’t need Twilight to tell her to stand, and a single frigid glare from Luna is all it took to avert the eyes of the nearby ponies, allowing Twilight to focus on the Princess once again.
“Thank you,” Twilight bowed her head. “I appreciate your honesty, and your, um, your, your willingness to make up for your mistakes, and stuff. I’m sorry, I’m a mess tonight I can’t talk.”
“It’s quite alright,” Luna softly reassured Twilight, a pleasant smile on her face. “Frankly, if I could rip my own intestines out of my stomach in front of all these ponies for them to see, I would do it in a heartbeat, that’s how nervous I am tonight.”
Luna turned her head to see that several ponies were now staring at her, and she dug her nails into her stomach, the other ponies darting their heads away from her so quickly Twilight almost worried they were gonna get whiplash.
“So that’s that on that then,” Luna said. “Amends have been made, I suppose, and um…”
“Darling,” Rarity smirked coyly, “are you anxious about talking to Twilight Sparkle?”
“A tad,” Luna sighed. “Twilight, it was lovely meeting you, and apologizing to you, but I would like to formally meet you and have a conversation with you some other time. Tonight I have a Gala to worry about, and two women I love very much to entertain.”
“That’s quite alright,” Twilight said with a smile. “I wanna get back to making out with Rarity.”
“A woman of simple pleasures,” Luna laughed, a bright smile on her lips. “I can respect that.”
Pinkie Pie was bouncing all around the Canterlot castle ballroom, this way and that, dodging and weaving past partying ponies as she scanned the crowd for a pony she cared about. Of course Pinkie cared about all ponies! But y’know, some were like her friends and others were like her Friends, y’know? Anyway, she was looking for—
Pinkie gasped as she locked eyes on her target: Tempest Shadow! She was over by the bar and she looked so beautiful in her silk evening dress, Pinkie thought she was gonna cry, she just loved women so much.
“Tempest!” Pinkie called out as she charged toward the bar like a cannonball. “Tempest Shadow!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Tempest exclaimed, seemingly surprised as Pinkie barreled toward her and almost threw herself at Tempest, but she realized Tempest probably wouldn’t like that and she looked uncomfortable enough already and the last thing Pinkie wanted was to make things worse. “You came!”
“Of course I came!” Pinkie giggled. “I said I would! I wouldn’t miss a date with a hot girl for anything! And you look so hot tonight!”
“Th-thank you,” Tempest grumbled and rubbed her neck, awkwardly looking away, but she didn’t have the bashful pink tint to her cheeks that Pinkie was expecting, so it’s possible that Pinkie actually just pinched a nerve instead of like, flirted. Which sucks, but sometimes it happens! Pinkie just had to make sure she didn’t do it again!
“How are you feeling tonight?” Pinkie asked, walking alongside Tempest as she scuttled to a corner away from all the noisy ponies. Pinkie felt like she’d go stir crazy if she wasn’t part of where all the action was, but right now the only action she wanted to be a part of was this conversation with Tempest! “Not much for parties, huh?”
“I’m not, no,” Tempest took a sip of her drink, and a less perceptive eye than Pinkie’s would’ve missed that her hands were shaking. “I don’t enjoy large gatherings, loud noises, or social events. Frankly, I don’t tend to enjoy fraternizing with other ponies either.”
“What do you enjoy?”
“Killing monsters,” Tempest said with a sharp smile, and it suddenly hit Pinkie like a freight train that she was talking to not just a Slayer, but one of Celestia’s personal students, who didn’t have the luxury of two sexy dragon gals to realize how messed up Celestia and the Slayers’ bigotry was, unlike Rarity.
“Uh, yeah that makes sense!” Pinkie said with a forced laugh. “But there’s gotta be other stuff right? Less violent stuff that a common mare like myself can relate to?”
“No,” Tempest shook her head. “There’s no life outside the Hunt.”
That’s what Rarity used to say all the time too, and even back in those days before Pinkie knew what she knew now, she always thought Rarity was dumb as dogshit every time she said it. The phrase hadn't gotten more palatable with time, as it turns out!
“Thank you though,” Tempest gave Pinkie a shaky smile, “for asking. I realize I’m a bit of a buzzkill.”
“A little,” Pinkie snorted, and she was glad that made Tempest chuckle. “But that’s okay. My friend Rarity, you know her, she used to be like that a lot. All hunt and nothing else, but she’s mellowed out a lot thanks to her friendships. Friendship can be a powerful thing!”
“Wouldn’t know,” Tempest shrugged. “I have colleagues amongst the Slayers, but that’s all. I don’t even have an official partner like most. I work better on my own.”
“And yet you accepted my date when you didn’t have to,” Pinkie grinned cheekily, elbowing Tempest in the hip that she could barely reach. “So you must want something more.”
“Well, I just—”
“And don’t try and tell me that it was just like an impulse thing,” Pinkie stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. “You and I both know Slayers are supposed to be sharp as tacks! And you more than most! You wouldn’t have said yes on a whim, you probably don’t even know what a whim is!”
“I was… overwhelmed, by your offer,” Tempest muttered. “And grateful too. I didn’t want to turn you down because I—I guess I was curious, what the life of an ordinary mare is like. I don’t think I’m cut out for it though.”
“We haven’t been talking for even five minutes, silly,” Pinkie laughed. “Some things take time. You can’t plant an apple seed and expect it to grow into a tree while you’re standing there tapping your hoof looking at the clock.”
“Time is a luxury Slayers don’t ha—”
“Shush,” Pinkie cut Tempest off with a stern look. Well okay not that stern, she was still a soft pink puffball after all. “Time is a luxury that nopony has, unless they make it. It’s all a matter of what’s important to you, you’ll make the time for that. And you just gotta throw out the stuff that doesn’t make you happy.”
“Happiness is another luxury that—”
“Abup!” Pinkie held up her hand. “Your life is yours, you get to choose what you do with it, at the end of the day. A lot of streams we find ourselves stuck in are just cuz we don’t think to swim against the current. Everyone deserves to be happy, no matter who they are.
“What would make you happy, Tempest Shadow?”
Tempest took a sip of her drink. Her hands weren’t really shaking anymore. She let out a slow breath, and then a single chuckle.
“Leaving this party,” she said.
“Then leave,” Pinkie giggled. “Don’t let a shitty party keep you from being happy, Tempest.”
“I would like—” Tempest bit her lip, and Pinkie tried not to burst into a cheer as she saw a faint pink streak tint Tempest’s cheeks. “I wouldn’t mind talking to you again sometime. Uh, perhaps another time when, uh, there are less ponies around. Maybe we could, um—”
“I’m not leaving Canterlot for a couple days,” Pinkie said coyly, “you wanna grab some coffee, maybe tomorrow afternoon?”
“Hmm,” Tempest hummed, and she managed a strained but beautiful smile toward Pinkie. “Yes, I would like that. That would make me really happy.”
Rainbow Dash cackled to herself as a nobleman pony took a drink from one of the glasses Rainbow had placed at the bar, causing his drink to spill all over his chest instead of going into his mouth. When he realized what had happened, he laughed too and was a real sport about it, and the woman he was speaking too joined in too.
The man went to get himself cleaned up as Rainbow chuckled nearby, until the woman put her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder.
“That was cute,” Fleur de Lis said with a thin smile, “but I swear if you ruin my dress, I will kill you.”
“Relax, relax,” Rainbow took a step back and waved her hands. “I’m not gonna pull anything on you, you’re among friends.”
“Oh yeah?” Fleur cocked her hip and arched an eyebrow. “And how do you know me?”
“Well, we have mutual friends,” Rainbow explained. “Rarity. And… Luna, too.”
“Mm?” Fleur’s ears perked and her eyes lit up. “You know Princess Luna?”
“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “I dunno how much she’s told you about uh, the knights that she tried to train—”
“Oh,” Fleur’s enthusiasm disappeared faster than a cupcake in front of Pinkie Pie’s mouth. Rainbow couldn’t exactly blame her.
“Things with Luna are uh, complicated,” Rainbow sighed. “But I still wouldn’t dream of pulling any pranks on her gf.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” Fleur said. “Luna still speaks highly of you. Of most of the students she tried to train, but especially you. She puts all the blame on herself for that situation.”
“Good,” Rainbow scoffed. “It was her fault.”
“Wow!” Fleur replied with a cackle, and Rainbow was caught for only a second by the thought that maybe she shouldn’t have said it like that, but eh whatever. “Harsh. I always tell her she’s being too hard on herself, and I believe that wholeheartedly, but just between you and me, I think you’re mostly right.”
“Wh—really?” Rainbow blinked. Literally no one had ever taken her side on this before. It was always ‘both sides’ this and ‘it’s complicated’ that, and y’know fair cuz no one wanted to take sides between friends, but godDAMN it felt good to hear someone say it wasn’t Rainbow’s fault for once.
“Mhm,” Fleur nodded and sighed, taking a sip of wine as she leaned against a marble column. “She was… I’m not going to say ‘young’, because she was nine-hundred and something I think, but gawd she was stupid.
“She thought she could be Celestia. She couldn’t.”
“I should talk to her again,” Rainbow mused, idling against the same column as Fleur. “Should I?”
“Dunno,” Fleur shrugged. “Do you want to?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. She didn’t even need to think about it. “But I dunno if it’s a good idea.”
“And you won’t know unless you do it,” Fleur said. “It’s up to you. I love Luna, but you don’t owe her anything. Not an apology, and not forgiveness. But if you really want to mend that bridge, then you should just stop pussyfooting around and do it already. I’m sure she would like it.”
“Hmmm, I think I—”
Rainbow’s words and thoughts were suddenly cut off by the sound of something that shook the ballroom and echoed from outside. Rainbow’s blood ran cold as she recognized it.
“That’s not good,” Fleur recognized the sound too; and how could she not? It was the roar of a dragon.
Who didn’t, right? Well some people didn’t, but fuck them. Girls are amazing. Talking to girls, spending time with girls, thinking about girls, lusting after girls, kissing girls… so good.
Fluttershy tried to keep that in mind as she and Applejack stepped into the Canterlot castle ballroom. Applejack was girls, Fluttershy liked girls, Fluttershy should like Applejack. Of course Fluttershy knew it wasn’t that simple but she hoped reducing it to something that simple would help her quiet down the voices screaming at her in her head to hate Applejack.
She really didn’t want to.
It was something that gnawed at her mind over and over again, on an endless loop, how her relationship with Applejack could sour so quickly over something so completely inconsequential. They both loved Pinkie Pie; that was a wonderful thing.
So why didn’t it feel like it?
“You wanna get a drink?” Applejack asked pleasantly.
“Sure,” Fluttershy replied shortly, following behind Applejack in a daze, lost more in the maze of her own thoughts than the ballroom which felt like it was full to suffocating with ponies. Ponies that would kill her without a second thought if they could. If they knew what she was.
Fluttershy sipped her own drink. She felt like she was drowning. Applejack said something? Fluttershy wasn’t sure, and she definitely wasn’t listening. The chatter of the partying ponies felt like torture on Fluttershy’s ears but she was too spaced out to care.
Everything was awful, but what did it matter?
“Hey hon?” Applejack asked concernedly, Fluttershy lazily glancing over at her. “You wanna take this into the gardens? All these ponies are uhh, makin’ me a mite antsy, y’feel me?”
Fluttershy didn’t answer, but she followed as Applejack led. Fluttershy barely processed the trip but soon enough they were in the gardens, and Fluttershy felt like she could breathe.
So breathe she did, in through the nose…
…and out through the mouth.
And then the tears came. And they wouldn’t stop.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Applejack asked, taking a step closer to Fluttershy to comfort her but stopping short out of hesitation. And why wouldn’t she? Fluttershy had been nothing but cruel to her.
Fluttershy wanted to say something, if only to reassure Applejack that she didn’t need to worry about Fluttershy, but all she could do was keep crying. She fell on her knees, hands cupping her face as she cried her eyes— and everypony else’s ears— out in the middle of the Canterlot gardens. Maybe it wasn’t the middle? Fluttershy honestly barely had a clue where she even was.
It was all just hitting Fluttershy at once. How horrible she’d been, how horrible everyone else had been to her— not Applejack or Pinkie Pie of course, but people from her past. Her magic teacher, the other students, all her colleagues from back home, the other kids from the orphanage. She didn’t want to be like all of them, and yet here she was acting like a damn ghoul toward Applejack because of… what?
She was awful toward Pinkie too, treating her like an object to be possessed, and even Rarity, who she treated the same way, regardless of her bullshit ‘hierarchy’ that she believed in, an awful, ghoulish idea that did nothing but poison her brain and her relationships.
She was an awful person. A monster.
Fluttershy gasped quietly as she felt something land on her head. It was Applejack’s hat; Applejack was sitting down next to Fluttershy, soft smile on her face and hand on Fluttershy’s back. Fluttershy couldn’t stop crying.
Her tears flowed like a broken faucet, and before she knew it she was cradled in Applejack’s arms, crying her eyes out into Applejack’s chest, her hat on Fluttershy’s head. How did it come to this? How was Applejack the one comforting her? What was wrong with her?
“W-why are you b-being s-so n-nice to me?” Fluttershy blubbered, and she tried but she couldn’t bring herself to look up at Applejack.
“I want to be,” Applejack shrugged. “Just feels right. Nothin’ more to it’n that.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy let out a pitiful chuckle. She whimpered and whined as she tried to keep her tears under control, but in seconds she had broken into full-on sobs again, Applejack holding her close and humming gently as she rocked Fluttershy back and forth.
Fluttershy was ready to scratch her damn eyeballs out. She shot up to her feet like a bullet or something, rubbing and scratching her arms as she gasped for breath in a vain attempt to stop her tears. Her eyes were red and sore already, and she probably looked like a disgusting troll.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
BREATHE.
She wished Twilight Sparkle were here.
“Hon?”
What was that buzzing sound? That piercing frequency resonating in her ears? It wasn’t Applejack; that sounded like a dig against her, but that’s not what Fluttershy meant. Something was in her ears, something was in her brain and she just wanted to dig her nails in and get it the fuck OUT.
Fluttershy’s heart was beating. It was pounding, thundering like a war drum, it was so fucking noisy why wouldn’t it just STOP?!
Please stop please stop please stop please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please stop
please.
Fluttershy looked up at the moon. So pretty. She was sure she looked pretty too, with the moonlight glistening off her tears. She wiped them away. Enough crying for today. As she moved her hands up to her face, she remembered there was something on her head.
Applejack’s hat. It was… soft? She wasn’t sure; Fluttershy couldn’t parse the texture, her fingers were numb.
They were shaking too. She wanted to drive them into her own eyeballs. What the hell was that humming?
Ow.
What was that?
Fluttershy felt something prick her hand, like inbetween her fingers. She raised her hand to check and there was something sticking out. A thorn, black as night. It was an ugly, ugly thing. It made Fluttershy want to scream, to go berserk.
Fluttershy snarled at the horrid thing, but she didn’t think to take it out. The idea of touching it with her fingers made her feel sick. She felt nauseous, and in a daze.
“Fluttershy?”
Applejack.
APPLEJACK.
She was the one who was causing Fluttershy all this grief. If Pinkie had never started dating Applejack, Fluttershy wouldn’t have had to confront all this garbage inside her. She would’ve been able to just live happily with Pinkie Pie, and everything would’ve been perfect.
Applejack ruined it.
Applejack ruined everything.
“Applejack?” Fluttershy turned slowly to look at Applejack, a hideous red haze clouding her vision but she saw Applejack with perfect clarity.
Fluttershy snarled and bared her fangs, her eyes glowing with a shower of teal light as her skin ripped away in favor of scales and fur, antlers sprouting from her head as her fangs grew in size to the length of a pony’s body, her claws outstretched, digging into the soft earth.
As the dragon standing in the Canterlot gardens looked down at the pony who seemed so small, she could only thing of one thing to say.
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy snarled, as Applejack took a cowardly step back, “she is going to LOVE ME!”
Applejack took a step back as Fluttershy roared for the entire Grand Galloping Gala to hear, ponies in the gardens frantically running away in an effort to escape to the castle where they thought they might be safe; Luna was there after all, surely she’d do something about this, right?
Well the way Applejack saw it, she needed to do something about it before things got much, much worse.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack instinctively reached for her hat, a reminder of her bond with her family, but remembered it was now resting atop Fluttershy’s head instead. “I don’t wanna fight you! But I will if I gotta!”
Fluttershy snapped her jaws at Applejack, who jumped back; she didn’t wanna think what would’ve happened if she hadn't gotten outta the way. Like she said, the last thing she wanted was to hurt Fluttershy, but at the very least she was gonna knock some sense into the girl!
Applejack wound up and landed a hard punch against Fluttershy’s snout, the dragon moaning in pain and reeling back before snarling at Applejack and baring her fangs.
Fluttershy swiped her tail at Applejack, tearing through hedges and small trees in the garden that was far too small to accommodate a fully transformed dragon. Applejack was able to block the tail with her hands, though just barely, bringing Fluttershy’s attack to a stop.
Or at least Applejack thought she did, but Fluttershy’s tail just slithered around Applejack’s body and wrapped her up, Fluttershy flicking her tail and Applejack into the air where Applejack quickly found herself falling toward Fluttershy’s open mouth and her rows of sharp fangs.
With not a whole lot going for her in terms of aerial mobility, Applejack just had to brace for impact.
The impact she felt though was one she was not expecting; a pony ramming into her at high speed, picking her up and carrying her away from danger.
“We gotta stop running into each other like this,” Rainbow Dash cackled, and Applejack knew it wasn’t a time for swooning, but she let herself swoon a little bit anyway as she wrapped her arms around her brave, strong girlfriend.
Before Applejack could utter a witty reply, the two women were smashed in between Fluttershy’s claws, the dragon trying to crush them into dust.
Applejack was able to use her strength to push Fluttershy’s claws apart just a smidge, enough that the two gals wouldn’t be turned into a mushy paste at least, and Rainbow flew up and tackled Applejack to the ground to get her out from between the claws without her getting stuck.
Applejack hit the ground with a thud, but it could’ve been way worse, so she wasn’t complaining. Rainbow hovered above her, looking in horror at the snarling beast Fluttershy had turned herself into.
“What happened to her?!” Rainbow exclaimed, and Applejack wished she knew how to answer. “Wait, no, I know exactly what happened!”
“You do?” Applejack balked.
“Yeah!” Rainbow said frantically, pumping her fists. “We ran into something like this in the Big Thunder Mine! She’s being hypnotized!”
“How do you figure?” Applejack asked, avoiding another claw swipe and jaw snap from Fluttershy, hitting her in the nose with another punch for good measure.
“Just trust me on this!” Rainbow said, and despite Applejack’s misgivings, her girlfriend didn’t have to ask her twice.
Rainbow Dash flew up to Fluttershy’s nose, Fluttershy growling and taking a hesitant step back. If it’d been any other opponent, that would’ve been the perfect time to charge in with an attack and shift the momentum of this battle, but against Fluttershy, Applejack couldn’t help but hesitate herself.
“Fluttershy, hey! It’s me, Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow said, in a commanding but calm voice; Applejack was honestly really impressed by how Rainbow measured her tone, Applejack didn’t know she had it in her. “I know you’re pissed off, but this isn’t what you want, is it? You don’t really wanna hurt anyone, even Applejack! And I know you didn’t mean to transform in the middle of the Gala, right?”
Fluttershy whimpered and scuttled back. She wasn’t talking, but honestly Applejack didn’t know how much of that was hypnosis and how much was just cuz Fluttershy was kinda like that. Either way, the miserable look on her face made Applejack think that Rainbow really was starting to break through to her.
“Let’s turn back, okay?” Rainbow said softly, putting a hand on Fluttershy’s nose. “Turn back into your small form, and we can fix this together, alright?”
Fluttershy growled and moaned, shaking her head violently and letting out a pained whine before roaring. She reeled back and Rainbow immediately flew in front of Applejack in a protective stance, Applejack grabbing her hand; they were gonna protect each other.
Fluttershy spat a freezing gust of icy breath, and while the air around Applejack and Rainbow was chilled, the pair found themselves mostly unaffected by it, as the brunt of Fluttershy’s attack had been eaten by a raspberry and blue colored magic shield, the casters of which were standing right in front of them, the two unicorns’ horns glowing in unison, one hand each outstretched and the other holding each other.
“Nice save, Twilight, Rarity!” Applejack cheered, clapping Twilight on the back and getting a little chuckle out of her.
“Geez, could you be a little faster next time though?” Rainbow complained, but Applejack could see the relief on her face, and hear it in her cracking voice, plain as day. “Like Twi, I know you’re hanging out with Rarity again but you don’t have to take after her melodramatic ‘always fashionably late’ nonsense.”
“Darling, please,” Rarity scoffed. “As if I needed to teach Twilight Sparkle anything about being suitably dramatic.”
“Twilight! Do you know what’s wrong with Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked frantically.
“Hypnosis,” Twilight said calmly. “You can tell from looking at her eyes, and the way she keeps twitching. She’s trying to fight it, but she’s being brainwashed into attacking us. Although…”
“Her genuine animosity toward Applejack,” Rarity said coldly, “is making it much more difficult to fight through, correct?”
“Right,” Twilight nodded.
“See, Applejack?” Rainbow puffed up her chest. “I was totally right about the hypnosis thing! I toldja!”
Fluttershy’s roar cut off Rainbow’s bragging, though the barrier was still in place protecting the party from Fluttershy’s icy breath.
“Applejack!” Twilight called out. “I need you to disable Fluttershy’s magic! Once we’ve done that, subduing her and reversing the hypnosis should be a simple enough task.”
“You can count on me, Twi!” Applejack nodded confidently, scraping a hoof across the grass.
Fluttershy gasped for breath after she finished spewing her icy magic, and that was Twilight and Rarity’s cue to drop the barrier, and Applejack’s to charge in, which Applejack did until she was stopped short by a pony’s shriek.
“WAAAAIIIIITT!!!!”
Pinkie cried out, the five girls immediately turning their attention to her.
“Pinkie Pie, don’t get any closer!” Applejack called out desperately. She had no idea how Fluttershy would react to Pinkie’s presence, but it couldn’t have been good.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled. “Get her out of here!”
Before Rainbow had a chance to react, Fluttershy whipped her tail over at Pinkie, wrapping Pinkie up in it and buffeting her wings, forcing the four girls on the ground to brace themselves from the sudden blast of wind.
Fluttershy took off into the air, the echoing of Pinkie’s screams quickly disappearing into the night air.
Rainbow immediately took off after them, only for Twilight to grab Rainbow’s tail in her magic and drag her back down to the ground.
“What are you doing?!” Rainbow screamed at Twilight. “We gotta go after them!”
“Of course we do!” Twilight shot back. “But if you go by yourself, you’re only going to get yourself hurt!”
“Then transform and let us hop on your back!” Rainbow said, Twilight taking a step back and the color draining from her face. “We don’t have any time to lose!”
“I—I can’t do that,” Twilight said.
“What about Pinkie Pie, Twilight?!” Applejack shouted, grabbing Twilight by her shoulders. “Her life could be in danger and we’re just standing around—”
“Applejack,” Rarity said firmly, putting her hand on Applejack’s until she released the obviously stricken and terrified Twilight Sparkle.
“I’m— I’m sorry, Twi,” Applejack said. “Weren’t right for me to treat you like that, regardless of the circumstances.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight sighed, Rarity gently squeezing Twilight’s hand and bringing a smile to her lips. “Pinkie Pie isn’t in any danger. Fluttershy would never hurt her, but that’s not a luxury the rest of us have.
“We need to confront her together, but me revealing myself to anybody who could still be watching won’t accomplish anything but putting me in more danger and causing ponies to panic more than they already are.”
“How can you be sure?” Applejack growled. She was quite literally worried sick about Pinkie at this point, her stomach tearing itself to shreds as every horrible thing that might happen to her best friend ran through her mind. “Yer gamblin’ with Pinkie’s life, Twilight!”
“I know!” Twilight screamed, her voice cracking. “I love her too, Applejack! You think I don’t know that?!”
“I trust Twilight’s judgment, Applejack,” Rarity said. “And you know I’d no sooner have Pinkie Pie come to harm than a member of my own family.”
“So let’s get a move on already!” Rainbow threw her hands in the air and yelled.
“Yeah,” Applejack took a deep breath, her body trembling but especially her hands, that she couldn’t get to be still no matter how hard she tried, at least not until she felt Rainbow’s fingers intertwined with hers. “I trust you, Twilight.”
Fluttershy’s head was ringing something fierce as she flew away from the Canterlot castle gardens, but she knew everything was going to be okay once she got to a safe place where she could be alone with Pinkie Pie.
“Don’t worry, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said softly, holding Pinkie up to Fluttershy’s eyes with her tail. “I would never hurt you.”
Pinkie looked upset, so Fluttershy gently moved her claw over to run through Pinkie’s mane, but Pinkie huffed and looked away and slapped at Fluttershy’s claw with her hand, so Fluttershy retracted it, before landing on a nearby narrow mountain pass that ran up the side of the Canterlot mountains.
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said sadly, trying to look into Pinkie’s eyes, “why are you upset? Is it something I did?”
“Wh— you’re kidnapping me!” Pinkie screamed, throwing her hands above her head. “Why would I not be upset about that?!”
“I’m not kidnapping you,” Fluttershy explained. “But it was dangerous back there, those ponies were attacking me! I needed to get away, and I just couldn’t leave you behind.”
“I don’t like this, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said sternly. “Please, just transform back to pony size and let’s go back to the others and sort this out.”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head, ears clamping against her skull. “They attacked me!”
“Didn’t you attack them first?” Pinkie asked.
“Eh, we—I—” Fluttershy paused. She honestly couldn’t remember. Everything had happened so fast. That didn’t seem like something she’d do though, did it?
Ow.
There was a pain in Fluttershy’s hand, and it throbbed through her whole body. She clasped her head and tried to make the pain go away but it just got worse, overwhelming her until she couldn’t stand it. She heard Pinkie’s voice echoing in her ears but couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Fluttershy!”
“Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy let out some noise that was between a whine and a growl.
“Let’s go back to the others,” Pinkie said, running her little hands through the fur on Fluttershy’s tail. “Please.”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head. “They’ll attack me again! I don’t care about any of them, I just want to be with you!”
“I don’t like that!” Pinkie shouted angrily, Fluttershy wincing in pain. “You’re being really selfish right now, Fluttershy, and I don’t like that at all.”
“I’m not being SELFISH!” Fluttershy screamed, raising herself up and flaring her wings, snarling at Pinkie, who just glared back at her. “Everyone always tells me I’m selfish!” Fluttershy argued, tears streaming down her face as she tried so hard to bare her fangs and look serious. “But I’m not! I care so much about everyone else! I care about you!”
“Well you sure aren’t acting like it,” Pinkie said firmly, crossing her arms and looking Fluttershy dead in the eye.
“Please,” Fluttershy whimpered, lowering herself practically to the ground and lifting Pinkie up with her tail, looking up at her pathetically. “Why won’t you just love me?”
“I do love you,” Pinkie sighed, her cheeks puffing up and tears glistening in her eyes, but she shut them tight and shook her head, slapping her hand against Fluttershy’s fur. “But I’m not gonna coddle you when you’re acting like a jerk! That’s not healthy! It’s not good for you or for me, and especially not for our relationship!”
Fluttershy wanted to argue. She wanted to say that Pinkie was the one acting like a jerk and being selfish, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie, especially not to Pinkie. There was a voice in her head screaming at her to yell and to be mad— to be furious even— that Pinkie refused to return her affections, but no matter what, Fluttershy wouldn’t turn on Pinkie Pie like that.
If there was one thing that Fluttershy was absolutely certain of, it’s that she loved Pinkie.
And maybe… Pinkie was right. Maybe Fluttershy had made a mistake, and she should just own that and return to the others.
But… no, they would just hurt her again. More than that, Fluttershy would just release Pinkie to them and Pinkie would run into their arms and they’d all look at Fluttershy like she was a monster. Pinkie would tell Applejack all about how Fluttershy had hurt her, and none of them would ever trust her again.
Though… maybe that’s what needed to happen.
But could Fluttershy really deal with that? Did it matter? Now Fluttershy felt her brain tearing itself apart, screaming over itself about whether or not she could bare to return to the others. She wanted Pinkie to be happy, but she wanted herself to be happy too, and she didn’t know if she could be happy without Pinkie or if Pinkie could be happy with her, she just didn’t know!
And she wished the buzzing would stop.
Fluttershy’s ears perked up and she took off into the air, a bolt of black magic tearing through the earth where she had just been sitting. Fluttershy’s eyes honed in on the source of the attack; a unicorn mare in a silk evening gown, a burgundy fur coat and wild, pinkish hair. Her horn was broken.
“Tempest?” Pinkie said in alarm.
Tempest?
Tempest Shadow?
Tempest… Shadow.
“Pinkie Pie!” Tempest called out, Pinkie’s ears flopping up as she instantly gave Tempest her attention. “I’m going to rescue you and kill that monster! I promise you, you’re going to be alright!”
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie squeaked, “please don’t do this. Just run. Please.”
Fluttershy barely even heard Pinkie’s words. How dare this woman who barely even knew Pinkie try to take her away from Fluttershy. How DARE she?!
Fluttershy held her tail, and Pinkie wrapped up in it, defensively behind her body as she breathed a stream of ice at Tempest, who countered by firing a bolt of magic directly through Fluttershy’s attack that she just barely dodged, at least enough that it only grazed her wing, instantly disintegrating a couple feathers.
Knocked slightly off-balance by this, Fluttershy was nearly hit by Tempest’s follow-up bolt, but Fluttershy was able to swerve around it, protecting both her body and Pinkie’s… or at least Fluttershy thought as much before she saw the massive gash across her stomach as blood poured from it onto the stone and dirt below.
Fluttershy could patch that up but she needed to end this now, so she hit the ground behind Tempest quicker than Tempest could react, and with a quick snap of her jaws she ate the pony whole, Pinkie letting out a horrified wail. Fluttershy really wished Pinkie hadn't seen that.
Fluttershy’s ears perked up and she screamed in agony as the inside of her mouth was eviscerated by Tempest’s magic, the pony somehow surviving being eaten by a dragon and falling out of Fluttershy’s mouth with only a couple large teeth marks and covered in blood, though Fluttershy had no idea whether it was hers or Fluttershy’s, as blood poured from her open mouth down her lips and onto the mountain pass.
Tempest was still on her back after falling out of Fluttershy, so the dragon took advantage and skewered the pony with her claws, Tempest letting out a tortured cry as Fluttershy’s nails dug right through her body and into the stone beneath her.
Tempest pointed a trembling hand at Fluttershy and shot another bolt of magic at her face, but Fluttershy shielded herself with her ice, though Tempest’s magic tore through it and destroyed part of Fluttershy’s body just underneath her eye, at least the attack wasn’t lethal.
Something landed in Tempest’s body, a foreign object that wasn’t thrown by Fluttershy and that she didn’t immediately recognize; it was a knife, and Fluttershy only made this connection an instant before Tempest disappeared, Fluttershy’s head bolting up as she blinked in confusion and looked around, only to look behind her and see that Tempest, still lying flat against the ground and barely breathing, had merely teleported a few feet away.
And Pinkie was now standing in front of her with her arms outstretched, having somehow gotten free of Fluttershy’s grasp during the battle.
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie said sternly, “I won’t let you hurt her anymore. I won’t let you hurt anyone else. You can take me wherever you want to go, but leave Tempest alone.”
Fluttershy didn’t need to think twice. She grabbed Pinkie Pie in her claw and took off into the night sky, leaving the bloodied body of Tempest Shadow behind her.
Fluttershy flew into a cave high in the Canterlot mountains, and she released Pinkie from her grip. Pinkie wanted to know how high up she was but she was worried that Fluttershy might lash out if she thought Pinkie was trying to leave.
Which is exactly why Pinkie walked to the mouth of the cave to check how high up she was; she needed to know just how far Fluttershy was willing and able to go if Pinkie was going to continue putting her trust in Fluttershy.
“Where are you going?” Fluttershy whimpered as she patched up the hole in her chest.
“Just wanna see how high up we are,” Pinkie said without looking back at Fluttershy, who didn’t seem to protest Pinkie’s decision.
Turns out, it was pretty high up! It wasn’t at like the peak or anything, but Pinkie sure couldn’t see the ground from up here.
She sat down on the mountain pass and took a deep breath. What had gotten into Fluttershy? She wasn’t acting like herself. Pinkie knew Flutters had a jealousy problem, or a possessiveness problem, but she never expected anything like this.
It was hard to accept that this was the Fluttershy that Pinkie knew, and with the idea of hypnosis floating around in Pinkie’s head thanks to Rainbow’s tale of the Big Thunder Mine mission, Pinkie refused to accept that it was the Fluttershy she knew until she was absolutely certain.
“Hey,” Pinkie turned back to Fluttershy, “how badly are you hurt?”
“I’m— I’m okay,” Fluttershy said. She was laying on her side and Pinkie could see the huge scar Tempest’s attack left on her chest and she wondered if it was gonna stick or if Fluttershy or Twilight could heal it later. “Thank you, um, for asking.”
“Of course,” Pinkie sighed. “I’m mad at you, but I still love you! Duh!”
“After I was so awful to you?” Fluttershy asked, unable to look Pinkie in the eye. “And, um, the people you care about too…”
“It seems like you’re calming down now,” Pinkie said softly. Dealing with a dragon under hypnosis wasn’t exactly Pinkie’s area of expertise, and she had no idea if Fluttershy was really coming back to her senses now or if this was like a trick. Heck, she wasn’t even sure still how much of Fluttershy’s behavior was hypnosis and how much was really her.
“Cuz you and I are together,” Fluttershy got up and coiled around Pinkie, who let it happen uncontested. “We’re safe now, and no one’s gonna try and hurt us anymore.”
Pinkie sighed.
“You really aren’t thinking about what I want at all, are you?”
“What do you want?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head innocently.
“Well I don’t wanna be kidnapped! For one!” Pinkie threw her arms up in the air and shouted. She wanted to try and stay calm cuz if Fluttershy really was being hypnotized it wasn’t entirely her fault what was happening, but Pinkie was at the end of he rope. “And I really don’t want you to try and murder my friends!”
“Tempest Shadow isn’t your friend,” Fluttershy said coldly, and Pinkie’s eye twitched at the utter gall of that statement. “You barely even know her.”
“It is not your place to decide who I’m friends with,” Pinkie said firmly, locking eyes with an increasingly bitter-looking Fluttershy.
“Do not talk to me that way,” Fluttershy raised herself up, looking down at Pinkie and growling.
“Oh! Oh! Now you’re telling me how I can and can’t talk?!” Pinkie scoffed and blew a raspberry at Fluttershy. “Absolutely not, Fluttershy. Absolutely NOT! You don’t get to say stuff like that to me! I’m your friend, not your damn property!”
Pinkie needed to talk to Twilight later. She needed to have a really thorough understanding of how much hypnosis or whatever messes with a person’s head, cuz if this was really the person that Pinkie was dating? That would be uhhhhh a problem.
But that couldn’t be, right? Fluttershy was sweet, and kind, and humble. She wasn’t this controlling, domineering jerk who literally tried to eat people! If that was the case she probably would’ve eaten Applejack a long time ago.
Pinkie was still really unsure about everything, so she made up her mind; she would talk Fluttershy down under the assumption that the sweet and kind Fluttershy was the ‘real’ one, and that something was seriously wrong with her right now. But she needed to focus on talking her down as soon as possible.
Fluttershy growled at Pinkie. Fluttershy was so angry, so galled and indignant at the way Pinkie had spoken to her, and yet Fluttershy couldn’t raise her voice in argument.
Because she knew Pinkie was right.
What Fluttershy was doing was horrible and wrong.
Or was it? Wasn’t it wrong for Pinkie to start dating other girls without telling Fluttershy first?
No, because they agreed beforehand that it was okay for Pinkie to do exactly that.
Wasn’t it wrong for Pinkie to go on a date with Tempest and only inform Fluttershy last minute?
No. Pinkie genuinely forgot to inform Fluttershy, and she couldn’t be mad at Pinkie for that.
Wasn’t it wrong for Pinkie to talk to Fluttershy in that defiant manner?
No. Because Pinkie Pie didn’t ‘belong’ to Fluttershy.
She slithered away from Pinkie to the back of the cave, clutching her head as she felt like it was going to tear her apart from the inside.
Fluttershy looked back at Pinkie with tears clouding her vision. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt Pinkie, no matter what. But there was no way for her to be with Pinkie without hurting her.
The tears kept flowing, Fluttershy lowering her head to the ground, eyes shut tight and claws digging into her skull as she wept. She felt something on her nose; something small and soft. Fluttershy opened her eyes to see it was Pinkie, gently putting her hand on Fluttershy’s nose.
“Wh—”
“Don’t ask me why I’m doing this, silly,” Pinkie let out a soft little laugh and wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s cuz I love you, duh.”
Pinkie Pie gasped loudly and Fluttershy’s eyes widened in alarm.
“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.
“That thorn!” Pinkie said, pointing to a small black thorn poking out of the skin between Fluttershy’s toes on her paw. “That’s like the thing Rarity and Rainbow told us about! That’s the thing that’s making you go all loopy!”
“What are you talking about?” Fluttershy said woozily. “It’s just a thorn. I must’ve gotten it stuck in my paw while I was in the gardens.”
“Let me take it out,” Pinkie said firmly, and all the hackles on Fluttershy were raised.
“No,” she said sternly, “don’t touch it.”
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, slowly moving her way toward Fluttershy’s paw, “let me take it out.”
“Don’t TOUCH IT!” Fluttershy snarled and recoiled, pushing herself against the back of the cave and growling like a feral animal at Pinkie Pie.
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, looking Fluttershy right in the eye. She smiled at Fluttershy and let out a tender chuckle. “Just trust me, okay?”
Fluttershy let herself relax, just a tad, as she slid her paw toward Pinkie Pie hesitantly, her body trembling. Every instinct in her was screaming at her to fight back, to not let Pinkie touch her no matter what, but after everything that Fluttershy did, the very least she could do was put her trust in Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie put her hands on the thorn and a shiver went up Fluttershy’s spine. She wanted to snap her jaws or scrape her claws at something, but she remained still, Pinkie taking a deep breath before—
“Pinkie Pie!”
A familiar voice echoed through the air, distracting Pinkie’s efforts.
Twilight and the girls arrived at the cave where Fluttershy took Pinkie at an interesting moment, with Fluttershy facing the cave mouth drooling and snarling, her eyes bloodshot and glaring fiercely as she held Pinkie in her tail.
So far, the group had been shockingly fortunate; they were able to locate Fluttershy easily thanks to Fluttershy’s own detection magic that she had taught Twilight how to use— and that Twilight was able to expand upon— and they were able to revive Tempest Shadow before she suffered any life-threatening injuries, though she was absolutely out of commission for a while.
And while Fluttershy holding Pinkie hostage and growling at the girls who were there to rescue her may not have seemed like good news, it was to Twilight. It was proof positive to her that Fluttershy was undoubtedly under some kind of magical control; Twilight could feel the hideous, sickening magic pouring off of Fluttershy’s body in waves, and it felt completely alien compared to Fluttershy’s magic.
Applejack tried to take a step forward but Twilight held her back, stepping forward in her stead and speaking calmly to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight said; she needed to know how deeply entrenched the magic holding Fluttershy was. “We’re not here to hurt you, but you need to release Pinkie Pie.”
Fluttershy roared and spat a stream of ice at the party, but Twilight and Rarity were able to protect everyone with a pair of layered barriers. Rarity’s barriers were getting seriously impressive now, clearly all that making out had paid off.
“Twi?” Applejack said bleakly. “She ain’t listenin’. What do we do?”
That was truly the million bit question, wasn’t it? What were they supposed to do? Untangling mind-controlling magic could be an extremely complicated process depending on a lot of factors, and subduing Fluttershy while keeping both her and Pinkie Pie safe would be a challenge in and of itself.
Twilight was finding it hard to breathe until Rarity touched her hand.
“We disable Fluttershy’s magic and pacify her,” Rarity said. “Then we find out what’s wrong with her and correct it.”
“That sounds simple enough to me!” Rainbow cheered. “Let’s stop wasting time and get to it!”
Rainbow flew up to Fluttershy’s snout and tackled her, causing Fluttershy to stumble back half a step. Fluttershy tried to swat at Rainbow with her claws, but Rainbow was far too small and too dexterous for the dragon to land a hit.
Twilight’s horn flashed with magic as she teleported Applejack right up to Fluttershy’s chest, and as Applejack wound up a punch, Fluttershy flew into the air to avoid her, only to slam into a barrier that Rarity had created above her.
“Sorry, darling,” Rarity said as Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, and Applejack slammed into her nose with a powerful punch.
Fluttershy reeled back and spat out blood, which then came pouring out of her mouth.
“Uh, Applejack?” Rainbow asked concernedly. “Did you hit her too hard?”
“I didn’t think so,” Applejack said, sounding as genuinely confused and concerned as Rainbow.
The blood pouring from Fluttershy’s mouth turned ink black and the bloodshot red lines in her eyes followed suit as she glanced at the party with a completely dead-eyed expression on her face.
“Everyone! Listen!” Pinkie cried out, still caught in Fluttershy’s tail but at least her head was free now. “Fluttershy’s got a thorn in her paw!”
“A thorn!?” Rainbow and Rarity exclaimed in unison, Applejack and Twilight quickly picking up on their alarm.
Just like the manticore and the cragadile that Rarity had told Twilight about. This revelation brought with it some very interesting theories about how the thorn and its corruption and/or hypnosis worked, but those would have to wait until Fluttershy was free.
Fluttershy charged the party, dropping Pinkie on the ground before whipping her tail at Rarity, knocking the unicorn hard against the wall. Distracted by this, Rainbow didn’t see Fluttershy’s claw until it had already slashed a hole into her and she was falling to the ground with blood spraying out of her body.
Fluttershy flared out her wings and the cave walls became coated in ice, the temperature of the room dropping to a point where even Twilight felt like she was freezing.
Applejack charged in and punched Fluttershy in the chest, but Fluttershy barely flinched and snapped her jaws at Applejack, Twilight keeping Fluttershy’s fangs away from Applejack with her magic, but Applejack wasn’t as protected from Fluttershy’s claws that dug into Applejack’s skin and pinned her to the ground.
Twilight was holding Fluttershy at bay, but the freezing temperature was making it hard to focus on Twilight’s magic, and her grip was getting weaker. She didn’t know how long she could keep Fluttershy’s fangs at bay as Applejack struggled to free herself from Fluttershy’s claws.
“Fluttershy?” Pinkie walked right up to Fluttershy’s gaping maw and spoke firmly, even as she was trembling from the cold. “Stop this. Let Applejack go.”
Fluttershy growled and snarled but didn’t say any words. Twilight wasn’t sure if that was because of her magic or the thorn’s.
Pinkie walked over to Fluttershy’s claws and, one by one, dug them out of Applejack with little resistance from Fluttershy. Pinkie wasn’t as strong as Applejack, but she was still an earth pony and she was strong enough to lift a dragon’s fingers at least.
“C’mere,” Pinkie held out her arms as Applejack scurried away from Fluttershy and Pinkie.
“Pinkie, are you—”
“Shhh, Applejack, shush,” Pinkie whispered. “Just trust me. Twilight? Let her go.”
Twilight took a deep breath and eased her magic, before eventually letting Fluttershy go entirely. This whole situation hinged on Pinkie Pie, it would be completely unreasonable not to trust her to handle it.
“C’mere, c’mon,” Pinkie whispered as Fluttershy lowered her head and Pinkie put her hands on Fluttershy’s snout, giving her a soft hug. “It’s gonna be okay.”
Fluttershy whimpered and purred, but then suddenly lurched up and gasped.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash were over by her paw, and they had just pulled out the thorn from her body, the evil object evaporating into dust and mist in front of everyone’s eyes.
And with that, the temperature in the cave returned to normal.
Fluttershy broke down into weeping sobs, her body returning to the size and shape of a pony as she sat with her head down on the ground clutched in her hands, sobbing her eyes out.
Pinkie was the first to comfort her, of course, but Rarity and Rainbow Dash weren’t far behind her, the three women covering Fluttershy in hugs with their arms and wings, Rarity putting the shawl of her dress around Fluttershy’s shoulders, since Fluttershy’s own Gala dress had been torn to shreds during her transformation.
Twilight looked Applejack in the eyes as she healed the mare’s wounds. Twilight honestly wasn’t sure how to react to Fluttershy’s crying, and she wanted to follow Applejack’s lead.
Applejack picked something up off the ground; her hat, that Fluttershy had been wearing. Applejack walked over to Fluttershy and placed the hat on Fluttershy’s head.
Twilight walked over and saw Fluttershy look up at Applejack with tears in her eyes, and Applejack held her hand out. Fluttershy took it with her own trembling hand, and Applejack pulled Fluttershy up to her feet and into a hug, which Fluttershy emphatically reciprocated.
Twilight naturally followed suit, and soon all five women were hugging Fluttershy.
“I’m sorry everyone,” Fluttershy sobbed.
“Apologies can come in time, hon,” Applejack said. “Right now we’re all just glad yer okay.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy sniffled, and a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. “Okay.”
Six women walked into a donut shop in Canterlot’s Sun District. They were covered in dirt and bruises, half of them even coated in dried blood, with most of their dresses torn in part or in full, or in Fluttershy’s case completely torn asunder, leaving her naked except for the shawl around her shoulders Rarity had gracefully given her.
And the musty old cowboy hat on top of her head, also a gracious gift… from a friend.
There were quite a few tables in the shop, but they were all empty at this late hour. The man behind the counter gave the battle-scarred group an odd look, but a dazzling smile from Rarity put him at ease as the rest of the girls sat around a table while Twilight and Rarity ordered some donuts for everyone.
Fluttershy was trying not to feel guilty; she’d apologized countless times on the group’s trip back down the mountain, and she thanked whatever fortune she had left that they didn’t run into Tempest Shadow on their way.
Everyone constantly told her, over and over, that they forgave her. But looking around and seeing the wounds on everyone that she caused, it was difficult for Fluttershy to not just burst into remorseful tears.
Twilight and Rarity returned with donuts; Fluttershy thought they were each just going to eat one, but the two girls returned with a whole truckload, and as they handed out plates and put some donuts and other sweet treats on them, Pinkie started giggling.
“Hey Fluttershy, this one looks like you!” Pinkie said, taking a donut with yellow frosting and pink sprinkles. “I hope it’s as sweet as you are, hehe!”
Fluttershy let herself laugh at that, at least a little. It felt like everyone was trying to make Fluttershy feel better, feel like there wasn’t anything wrong, and while Fluttershy could pretend to go along with it, she couldn’t entirely ignore the wretched feeling in her stomach.
The group’s meal went by quickly, and shockingly normally. Twilight took a sec to connect to Spike with her magic to make sure he was doing okay— and he was apparently doing great, and had already gotten into bed with a full stomach and a ton of tales to regale Twilight with in the morning.
Rainbow Dash made jokes and Rarity did that thing where she pretended to rebut her, but only as a ruse to get Rainbow to commit even harder to her jokes, if that makes sense. They were an impressive comedy team; Rarity wasn’t so much the ‘straight mare’— and she definitely wasn’t a straight mare— as she was encouraging of Rainbow’s foolishness.
Pinkie played along too and encouraged Rainbow even further, the pair cracking up the rest of the girls so bad they could hardly breathe, and Fluttershy was delighted to see everyone enjoying themselves.
Applejack, once things had calmed down a tad, talked about apples. As she often did. Twilight and Pinkie were enthralled, Rarity pretended to be interested and Rainbow very much did not. Fluttershy wasn’t sure how she felt. Everything was going by in a blur.
“Darlings, this has been a delight,” Rarity sighed contentedly as Twilight played around with her twitchy ears. Fluttershy wished she was in Twilight’s shoes, but she didn’t feel like she deserved to do cute couple things with Rarity anymore, at least not right now. “But I have to talk to Princess Luna before the night is over.”
“I’ll go with you,” Rainbow said, standing up. “Moral support and all that.”
“I’ll wait up for you,” Twilight said softly. She had mentioned earlier that she couldn’t handle being part of the talk with Luna when Rarity brought it up before.
“I won’t,” Pinkie giggled. “I’ll be asleep.”
“Big same,” Applejack nodded.
“You’re all true friends,” Rarity said with a soft laugh, playfully rolling her eyes. She stood up and looked right at Fluttershy, who snapped to attention. “Before I go, Fluttershy, would you be a dear and come with me for one second?”
“Uh, of course, Rarity,” Fluttershy nodded.
Rarity took Fluttershy gently by her forearm as the two walked out of the donut shop together and loitered by the doors. There was barely anyone on the streets at this late hour, but the neon lights were still blazing.
“What is it you wanted to talk about, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked timidly, bracing herself for the worst.
“Talk?” Rarity shook her head. “No, sweetheart, I don’t want to talk. I want to kiss you.”
“May I?” Rarity batted her eyelashes at Fluttershy, who felt butterflies in her stomach.
“O-of course!”
Rarity put her arms around Fluttershy’s waist and stood on the tips of her hooves, Fluttershy bending down slightly to let Rarity’s lips reach hers, and it was like a hot bath at the end of a long day. Feeling Rarity’s soft lips against hers reminded her that Rarity’s words weren’t just words, that Rarity still loved her, and Fluttershy felt like she was wrapped in a soft, comfy blanket.
“I love you,” Rarity whispered. “Now and forever, no matter your demons. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Fluttershy whimpered, tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t cry, queen,” Rarity said, trying to fight back her own tears, “you’ll ruin my makeup.”
The two women laughed, and when Rarity hugged her, Fluttershy felt it. She felt it on her skin and fur, she felt in her bones and in her heart. Rarity loved her. More than that, Rarity didn’t hate her.
Fluttershy returned to the inside of the shop, Rainbow clapping her shoulder and grinning brightly at her as they passed each other, with Rainbow heading out to walk with Rarity.
Pinkie Pie yawned, stretching her arms over her head.
“Gettin’ tired, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, ruffling Pinkie’s mane playfully.
Fluttershy smiled. And it felt so natural that she didn’t even question it until a moment later, when she realized that watching Applejack and Pinkie together made her smile of all things.
“I am,” Pinkie yawned again, “I am.”
“I’ll walk ya home,” Applejack said, standing up.
“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy took a step toward the table, and all eyes were on her. She went pale, but cleared her throat and spoke up regardless. “Applejack, if you wouldn’t mind, I would um, like for you to walk me home instead. I want to get a chance to talk to you, one on one. For real this time.”
“I’d like that,” Applejack said with a soft smile.
“I’d like that toooooo!” Pinkie cheered, standing up on her chair and throwing her arms above her head. Then she yawned, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at her cuteness. “Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Pinkie Pie?”
“Tomorrow, we’re gonna have to talk about stuff,” Pinkie said seriously, and Fluttershy wanted to shrink into herself but she chose not to. “Boundaries and stuff.”
“Yes,” Fluttershy nodded. “Yes we will. I promise to do whatever I can to do right by you, Pinkie Pie.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Pinkie smiled sweetly. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Fluttershy said softly.
“Twilight!” Pinkie yelled and then yawned. “Take me home!”
“You got it, Pinkie,” Twilight laughed and picked Pinkie up, carrying the sleepy pony on her back. “Are you two gonna be okay?”
“Yeah,” Applejack said with a nod, and Fluttershy offered a timid smile. “I think we will be.”
Pinkie was feeling pretty dang sleepy, but as Twilight Sparkle carried her through the nearly empty neon-lit streets of Canterlot, there was a nagging feeling in Pinkie’s gut that was keeping her awake still. Even though she wanted to be snoozing! Very rude of that nagging feeling, if Pinkie was being quite honest!
“Twilight” Pinkie said groggily, resting her head on Twilight’s shoulder.
“What’s up, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, a brightness in her tone that made Pinkie feel really good; like Twilight was just taking a sword to that queasy feeling in Pinkie’s gut.
“I gotta ask you something,” Pinkie said dourly.
“What is it, Pinkie?” Twilight said calmly, but Pinkie could tell Twilight already knew the kinda question Pinkie needed to ask.
“How much of what we saw tonight, do you think, was really Fluttershy?”
“That’s an interesting question, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight hummed. “I’m still working through my theories of how that magic we saw tonight works, and I don’t have any concrete details yet, but here’s what I do know.
“Fluttershy was definitely under the effect of some kind of mind corrupting magic, but it wasn’t ‘controlling’ her so much as it appeared to be amplifying her worst instincts. Though I have a theory that she was being directly controlled by the end, I still need more facts to work with to be sure.”
“So…” Pinkie mumbled. “What are you saying?”
“What are you asking?”
“I guess—”
Pinkie huffed. She took a deep breath and really mulled it over. She knew what she wanted to ask, but she was terrified to put her thoughts into voice words.
“Should I be scared?” Pinkie asked coldly, feeling the bitter winter chill on her body as she clung to Twilight like a life raft. “Of Fluttershy?”
“Are you scared of Fluttershy?” Twilight answered, speaking very plainly and casually. Pinkie really appreciated that about Twilight; she really knew exactly how to cut through all the rigmarole and get to what was actually important.
And Pinkie had to consider. Was she afraid of Fluttershy?
The question immediately brought a giggle to Pinkie’s lips.
No! Of course she wasn’t! How on earth could she be afraid of dear, sweet Fluttershy? Fluttershy who had treated her with so much kindness, whose voice brightened her day, and whose presence she cherished so much?
There was a part of Pinkie that was scared still. There was a part of her that wanted to run and hide and cut Fluttershy out, and maybe there was a reason to listen to that voice. But considering Pinkie’s history with anxiety and trust issues, she wasn’t so sure.
What she was sure of, is what she felt in her heart.
“I love Fluttershy,” Pinkie sighed contentedly. “I’m not afraid of her. I just hope I’m right.”
“Pinkie Pie, I’ll tell you this,” Twilight said. “I’m going to put my faith in Fluttershy, and keep being her friend. Cuz I genuinely believe in her, and I don’t think she meant to do any of the awful stuff she did tonight, and I don’t believe she would have done it without that magic’s intervention.
“Mind altering magic like that, it can amplify a person’s very worst impulses. Anyone would become a monster like that, even you and me.”
“That’s reassuring, I think,” Pinkie said with a soft smile. “Thank you, Twilight. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Tomorrow we’re gonna talk boundaries and stuff, and if she can respect those boundaries, we won’t have a problem, right?”
“Right,” Twilight nodded confidently. “And if nothing else, you can always come to me, and I’ll help you out of any jam.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” Pinkie giggled. “You’re the best.”
“Mm, and one more thing,” Twilight said.
“Yeah?” Pinkie chirped.
“Don’t forget that my girlfriend, who I love very much, stabbed me a bunch of times in the head with a sword.”
Twilight snorted into a laugh and Pinkie laughed alongside her.
“We all make mistakes, I guess,” Pinkie laughed.
Talking with Twilight made her feel a lot better. That queasy feeling in her gut was now more of a butterflies in her stomach situation.
She couldn’t wait to talk to Fluttershy again tomorrow.
Fluttershy walked down the streets of Canterlot, side by side with Applejack. The two stayed at the donut place for a little while longer after everyone else had left, and now most of the lights were out around the city.
Neither of them had spoken to each other since the others left. Fluttershy didn’t know what to say, or where to even begin saying it.
“How ya feelin’, hon?” Applejack was the one to finally break the silence between them, and Fluttershy was beyond grateful and beyond relieved.
Now she just had to figure out what to say! Which couldn’t be that hard.
Fluttershy responded to Applejack’s question with deep contemplation, but to Applejack it must have just seemed like Fluttershy was ignoring her.
“Hon?” Applejack said hesitantly.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy sighed. “I was trying to think, how to answer, and then my brain… did that thing it does when it hates me.”
“I feel ya,” Applejack chuckled.
“You asked how I’m feeling,” Fluttershy took in a soft, comforting breath. “The truth is, I’m angry.”
“How come?” Applejack asked politely, and Fluttershy almost laughed; in hindsight, her answer couldn’t possibly have been what Applejack wanted to hear.
“At myself,” Fluttershy groaned. “I don’t know, maybe I’m not even angry. I don’t know how I feel, or how I should feel. All I know is I feel gross, and I don’t like it at all.”
“How ya feelin’… about me?”
Fluttershy looked up at Applejack, who looked away and rubbed her neck, her brow creased concernedly. It tore Fluttershy’s heart up to see that look on Applejack’s face, and to know Fluttershy was the cause of it.
Her awful behavior hadn't just hurt Pinkie, it was hurting all of her friends, and she wished there were a way she could make up for it all.
No reason not to start trying, she supposed.
“I feel awful about you,” Fluttershy said coldly, and when Applejack looked at her with wide eyes, Fluttershy squeaked and her face turned all red. “I mean I feel awful about how I treated you! I don’t feel awful about you!”
“I know, Fluttershy,” Applejack laughed and pat Fluttershy’s shoulder, “I was just messin’ with ya.”
“O-oh, haha,” Fluttershy said nervously, her laughter flatter than day-old soda.
“Eh, sorry,” Applejack muttered, running her hands over her ponytail over and over. “Time and place, huh?”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy whispered.
Applejack exhaled sharply and the two continued to walk in silence. Until Applejack stopped, and Fluttershy stopped behind her.
“Applejack?” Fluttershy said worriedly. “Is something the matter?”
“I dunno, kinda?” Applejack turned to face Fluttershy. She reached for the hat on her head, only to realize it was still on Fluttershy’s, and Fluttershy grabbed it right away and handed it to Applejack, who traced the edges with her fingers. “There’s a part of me that’s still mad. A part of me that— I forgave you already, and I meant it. But there’s a part of me that’s still upset and frustrated by this whole situation.”
“I know what you mean,” Fluttershy admitted. “I want to be your friend, and I want you and Pinkie Pie to keep making each other happy. But there’s a part of me that’s still angry too. That can’t let go— mm, no, that doesn’t want to let go of how I felt.”
“Fluttershy,” Applejack put her hat back on Fluttershy’s head, and Fluttershy blushed at the gesture. It was the only scrap of clothing left on her body after she gave Rarity’s shawl to Twilight. “Please forgive me if this is the worst idea you’ve ever heard.
“But do you wanna spar with me?”
Fluttershy’s ears perked up— no, her whole body perked up, and she couldn’t even remotely hide the smile on her face.
“Yes, Applejack!” she said with glee. “I would love to spar with you!”
“W-woah, I wasn’t expectin’ you to be so eager!” Applejack laughed.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy chuckled nervously. “Um, back home, that’s how a lot of disagreements got settled. Friendly sparring. I promise there was far less dismemberment than in the fights that you’ve seen.”
“That’s… good to know,” Applejack laughed softly. “It’s funny, wouldn’t’ve taken you for the sparrin’ type, Fluttershy.”
“Yeah?” Fluttershy giggled, smiling brightly at Applejack. “Then take me on, Applejack. I’ll show you what I can do.”
There wasn’t much space in Canterlot that wasn’t densely crowded with buildings and people, but Fluttershy and Applejack still found a back road on the edge of the city next to the calming, tranquil river, underneath the shadow of a high bridge, for them to be undisturbed during their sparring match.
“Applejack,” Fluttershy said, hopping up and down anxiously, “what if I hurt you?”
“If you don’t wanna hurt me,” Applejack said with a grin, “then don’t hurt me. Yer in control, Fluttershy.”
“Okay, in that case,” Fluttershy took a breath and looked sternly at Applejack, conviction flowing through her, “I’m not gonna hold ba—” Fluttershy squeaked and covered her mouth as she realized that Applejack was undressing. “What’re you doing?!”
“Uh, gettin’ undressed?” Applejack said casually. “Fightin’ in this suit’s been a pain, and it seems only right for us both to be naked, y’know?”
“I guess so,” Fluttershy said, wiping her brow. “I just wasn’t prepared for it is all.”
“What’s the matter, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked cockily. “Yer not gonna get distracted are ya?”
“Heh, yeah, you wish,” Fluttershy scoffed but honestly she was already getting a little distracted. Now that she wasn’t quite so blinded by rage and jealousy, she was forced to confront the unfortunate truth that Applejack was really hot.
“Alright, Fluttershy!” Applejack pounded her fist against her palm. “Let’s do this!”
“Right!” Fluttershy replied confidently.
Fluttershy braced herself as she stared down Applejack… who just stared her down in return. They paced around a little bit, locking eyes with each other— or at least some form of eye-locking equivalent since eye contact was still hard for Fluttershy.
The point was, they were both trying to play defense. Neither one wanted to charge in, just like earlier at the donut place and on the road.
And just like on the road, Applejack was the one to eventually take initiative, charging at Fluttershy like a raging bull. Fluttershy felt her wind magic flow through her body and down to her hooves, and she danced around not only Applejack’s charging attack, but the two or three quick punches that Applejack threw after.
Fluttershy was feeling pretty good until Applejack spun on her hooves and slammed the back of her hand into Fluttershy’s nose, Fluttershy reeling from that hit as Applejack moved in to knock Fluttershy off her feet by hitting her with Applejack’s massive, muscular forearm.
But Applejack was just a hair’s breadth too slow, as Fluttershy jumped up and spread her wings, staying away from the ground and out of Applejack’s reach.
“What’s the matter, Applejack?” Fluttershy gigged as she flitted about in the air. “You’re not gonna give up so easily, are you?”
“Actually, Fluttershy,” Applejack chuckled, “this is a great opportunity to try out somethin’ me and Pinkie have been workin’ on.”
Applejack clapped her hands, and a length of rope appeared between them in a flash of magic.
“A rope?” Fluttershy arched an eyebrow. She didn’t have a great feeling about this.
“A lasso, to be precise,” Applejack said with a gleam in her eye.
Applejack threw the lasso at Fluttershy and it coiled around her body like it had a mind of its own, pinning her arms to her sides. Applejack then yanked the rope and dragged Fluttershy to the ground, but her resistance at least allowed her to stay on her feet.
Fluttershy could barely move her arms and she struggled to pull away from Applejack, and when Applejack yanked on the rope again she found that Fluttershy was not so easily moved, as she was still able to resist with all the strength of a dragon.
Applejack switched tactics, dragging herself over to Fluttershy using the rope, but Fluttershy still had perfect access to her wind magic so she disoriented Applejack with a great blast as she tried to get near, and as Applejack’s grip loosened on her lasso, Fluttershy was able to take control of it with her wind, and she quickly wrapped up Applejack alongside her.
“Uh, wait, uh—” Applejack stammered, and Fluttershy giggled.
“Didn’t expect this, Applejack?” Fluttershy said sweetly.
“I didn’t,” Applejack blushed. “Didn’t plan for it either. I know how to untie it, but I’m not totally sure how to untie myse—oof!”
Applejack flexed and it just made the rope squeeze Applejack and Fluttershy tighter, shrinking the distance between them so fast that they slammed into each other, back to naked back, the two women losing their footing and both falling on their flanks to the ground.
Well this was awkward.
Fluttershy’s tail twitched, so it could get out from underneath Fluttershy’s butt, and she felt it brush against Applejack’s bare back. Fluttershy’s wings twitched too, and she heard Applejack stifle a giggle as they tickled her.
“You okay back there?” Fluttershy said amusedly.
“Yeah, I am,” Applejack laughed softly. “Just tryin’ ta-” Applejack grunted and shifted her weight “-get this thing untied.”
“You didn’t think about what might happen if you got tied up with this thing?” Fluttershy asked, rolling her eyes and shaking her head but she was still smiling.
Fluttershy was honestly more amused than anything, and she couldn’t deny… this felt kinda nice. Having a moment where she was forced to be still with another person… it was nice.
“Well, it’s a work in progress,” Applejack said. “Oh, I think I got—”
Applejack tugged on something and both women gasped as the ropes just squeezed them tighter, and they both fell on their sides. It was… hard to ignore that her butt was right up against Applejack’s now, and Fluttershy felt like her face was hotter than the surface of a volcano on the sun in an oven or whatever it was that Pinkie liked to say.
“Uhh, so that wasn’t quite what I wanted,” Applejack said bashfully.
“Oh?” Fluttershy smirked. “Are you sure this isn’t going exactly how you planned? Honestly, Applejack, if you wanted to get naked with me all you had to do was ask— I’m sorry,” Fluttershy snorted and Applejack laughed. “I’m so sorry, that was so tactless.”
“It was funny, so yer fine,” Applejack chuckled.
“I am sorry though,” Fluttershy sighed. “Not because I’m overwhelmed or anything, or because I want you or Pinkie to like me more. But I treated you, and Pinkie too but right now I’m focusing on just you, I treated you so badly. And that was wrong of me, and I want to apologize to you. So, um, I’m going to. Applejack, I’m sorry, and I apologize for the way I treated you.”
“I forgive you, honey,” Applejack said softly, and Fluttershy felt like a million demons were leaving her body and flying away. “And hey, I think I figured out how to untie—”
Whatever Applejack did didn’t untie them. What it did do was painfully twist both girls around so they were lying chest to chest. And uh… other stuff was also touching. Fluttershy was blushing pretty profusely, and Applejack was as red as her namesake.
“That was, um, not intentional,” Applejack muttered.
“You know,” Fluttershy squeaked laughing, “I could just transform, just for a sec.”
“No, no, I gotta figure this out,” Applejack grunted as she squirmed around, trying to get a handle on the rope. Feeling her muscles flexing against Fluttershy’s body sure was… something.
“Or we could just stay like this,” Fluttershy said teasingly, and Applejack gave Fluttershy her full attention, Fluttershy squeaking again as she looked away; she definitely wasn’t prepared for Applejack to look at her after she said that.
“Oh is that how it is now?” Applejack chuckled. “Feelin’ a little hot-blooded, Fluttershy?”
“N-no, shut up,” Fluttershy said trembling. “I was just teasing you, and it ended up backfiring.”
Fluttershy laughed awkwardly, and Applejack let out a soft chuckle. She stuck out her tongue and bit her lip as she flexed and suddenly, the rope released and the two were untied.
“Got it!” Applejack cheered, taking the rope in her hands. “Toldja I’d figure it out! Just need to talk with Pinkie about makin’ it a wee bit easier. Magic is pretty new stuff to me so I was a bit outta my depth is all.”
Fluttershy let out a polite laugh but the truth was she was just thinking about how much she immediately missed having Applejack’s body pressed against hers.
“So, um, no hard feelings huh?” Fluttershy asked, and looking down at herself she quickly wished she’d picked different words.
“Water under the bridge, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a beaming smile, holding out her hand.
Fluttershy took it and the two woman shook on it, Fluttershy determined to put her grudge behind her.
And that was wonderful, just an absolute relief. Unfortunately, now Fluttershy had a new complex regarding Applejack; it was sort of hard to grapple with jumping from jealousy and anger to lusting after her so fast that it nearly gave Fluttershy whiplash.
Oh well. Fluttershy could deal with that later. For right now, she needed rest, so she fell on her back onto the grass and let out a weary sigh.
“Fluttershy,” Applejack groaned as she stood up, “you want me to carry you back to the inn?”
Fluttershy’s mind went right to the time that she carried Rarity and her face turned bright red.
“Yes, Applejack,” Fluttershy said bashfully, cuz she knew she would be kicking herself if she let this opportunity pass her by, “I would like that very much.”
Rarity felt like she was sweating buckets as she hiked up a green, foresty hill in the mountains of Canterlot that overlooked the city. Technically it was still within the bounds of the city, but far enough away from the densely packed buildings that perhaps a dragon could hide out there for a bit and regain her magic.
You know, just as a hypothetical.
Though of course Rarity understood the necessity for such an out of the way rendezvous point, by the time Rarity had removed her dress and was carrying it on her shoulder because she just needed to feel the winter chill on her fur to give herself some reprieve from the strenuous climb— and also because she kept tripping on the damn thing— she wanted to strangle her girlfriend herself.
She never would, of course. Unless Twilight was into that… hm. Rarity hadn't considered that possibility before, perhaps she could ask— actually, that was a thought for another time. The last thing Rarity needed was to heat herself up even more.
“Rarity, you made it,” Twilight said politely as she sat on the grass, patiently waiting for Rarity, and she looked like an angel as she sat naked under the glimmering moonlight— she likely removed her dress so her transformation wouldn’t ruin it— and it was almost enough that Rarity wanted to forgive her instantly for causing her to make that climb.
“Twilight, I love you,” Rarity panted as she collapsed next to Twilight, falling into her arms. “But if you make me do that much exercise again in a single night, I’ll make you sleep in the doghouse. I don’t know what that means, I’ll figure it out later.”
“I love you too,” Twilight said, and Rarity purred as Twilight covered her neck in kisses. “Sorry you had to come out all this way.”
“My darling, please,” Rarity said smoothly, turning to Twilight and tilting up her chin. “For you, I’d do anything.”
“Weren’t you just complaining—”
“Shhhh,” Rarity said with a finger against Twilight’s lips. “Don’t be so stuck in the past that you miss the present.”
“Okay,” Twilight hummed and held Rarity in her arms, gently rocking her back and forth. “How’d it go with Luna?”
“Well,” Rarity chuckled, knowing Twilight was going to love this, “I managed to convince her not to tell people that dragons could infect ponies and turn them into dragons.”
“Oh my gawd,” Twilight sighed and slid her hand down her face, and Rarity laughed.
“I can laugh about it because she didn’t actually do it,” Rarity said with an amused smile, absolutely drinking up Twilight’s ireful expression, “but Fleur and I were both horrified when she suggested it.”
“What did she actually end up saying?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing,” Rarity shrugged. “She made a statement to the people not to panic and suchity such, and that she would wait until her sister returned to make any decisive choices. Rainbow Dash was still laughing about what a weak statement is was even by the time she headed back to the inn.”
“Luna’s way out of her depth, huh?” Twilight said flatly.
“Oh yes,” Rarity immediately confirmed. “Absolutely. We’ll have to do what we can to support her, since we do need her help, and because she’s a friend and her heart’s in the right place, so I very much want to help guide her through this.”
“Same here,” Twilight let out a cheeky little giggle. “I sure don’t envy Fleur though. She’s the one who’s going to have to hold Luna’s hand the most.”
Rarity hummed. She wanted to apologize for her own mistakes and her own ignorance, and for needing Twilight to hold her hand in certain aspects regarding dragons. But then she thought about something; she had explained gender to cis people many a time, and not once did a cis apology make the process any easier.
She recognized the impulse for what it was, less a desire to soothe Twilight’s feelings, and more a desire for Twilight to soothe Rarity’s. To tell Rarity that she was good, even when that wasn’t remotely the issue. She had no desire to center her own feelings in this conversation, so she kept her mouth shut.
“So what do we do now, my dearest?” Rarity sighed, leaning into Twilight’s embrace.
“Right now?” Twilight said. “We rest. I need to go into the mountains and regain my magic, and tomorrow we’ll talk to Luna first thing and work out our next step. Together.”
“That sounds like a splendid idea,” Rarity said. “If it’s not too much to ask, may I go into the mountains with you?”
“Why, cuz you don’t wanna walk back to the inn?” Twilight said smarmily and Rarity gave her a sarcastic laugh.
“No, because I want to drool over how sexy your true form is, actually,” Rarity corrected Twilight, and the darling’s sudden snap from smug to smitten was so unbelievably satisfying.
“Well,” Twilight bit her lip, “I guess I can’t argue with that.”
Twilight had far less difficulty walking up the mountain than Rarity did, and as Rarity started to pant and gasp and need a break every five seconds, Twilight— without chastisement or judgment of any kind— offered to carry Rarity up the mountain.
Rarity agreed and moved to get behind Twilight so she could be carried on Twilight’s back, but Twilight just laughed.
“I am still a dragon you know,” Twilight said as she carried Rarity bridal style in her arms, Rarity swooning over how tall and muscular and strong her girlfriend was.
Though that kind of swooning was absolutely nothing compared to when the two women were finally safe in the mountains, and Twilight transformed. Rarity’s jaw dropped as she saw the dragon in all her glory for the first time.
She had seen Twilight’s dragon form twice before, but she was so blinded by her awful bigotry that she couldn’t see her for what she truly was.
Absolutely stunningly gorgeous.
And also? Very sexy.
“D-damn,” Rarity whispered, holding her hand in front of her mouth as tears stung her eyes. She couldn’t believe Twilight was so hot that she was getting genuinely emotional over it, but here she was.
“What’s the matter, Rarity?” Twilight grinned, and if her oh-so-satisfied smirk was sexy before, Rarity was bowled over entirely by seeing it at Twilight’s new magnificent size, with her mouth full of beautiful, shining fangs. Twilight laid across the grass and propped her head up with one hand, giving Rarity an amazing view of the dragon’s chest. “See something you like?”
Rarity let out an unintelligible blubber of lust. She didn’t have to tell Twilight what she was thinking, all Twilight had to do was look under Rarity’s waist; she was still naked after all.
“Cuz I gotta say,” Twilight took one finger and gently grazed Rarity’s body; and Twilight’s finger was roughly half the size and width of Rarity’s entire body, so feeling that against her sent a jolt of excitement through her, “I like what I see right now.”
Rarity shuddered. She was almost concerned she was going to nut right then and there if Twilight so much as touched her again.
“Uh, Rarity?” Twilight asked concernedly. “Are you okay? I didn’t go too far, did I?”
“No, my love,” Rarity shook her head emphatically, panting from something other than exercise this time. “You’re absolutely perfect.”
“Oh okay, phew,” Twilight laughed awkwardly, and Rarity was overwhelmed by affection to the point that she almost dropped to her knees. That really was her Twilight. Despite the changes in size and shape and appearance, she was the exact same woman that Rarity had fallen in love with. Just bigger, and honestly? Sexier too.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way,” Rarity suggested, walking slowly down to the area between Twilight’s legs; there was nothing to look at just yet, but Rarity could see the sheathe that tantalizingly hid what Rarity wanted to see, “that I could—”
“Absolutely not,” Twilight said flatly. “That could actually kill you if we tried that.”
“Oh,” Rarity said, disappointed.
“I mean,” Twilight cleared her throat, “I have worked on a few spells… that might make it possible. But I wouldn’t want to risk your life over something like that.”
“Any way we could test the spells without risking my life?” Rarity asked. “Dip a toe into the pool, as it were?”
“Maybe,” Twilight sighed. “But we haven’t even gotten that far in just our pony forms together yet.”
“Well,” Rarity licked her lips, “we’ve gotten that far in one way.” Rarity put her hand on Twilight’s chest and sighed. “But if you’re uncomfortable, I won’t press the subject. The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable, my love.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight smiled and coiled up around Rarity like a soft blanket. “I love you.”
“I love you too, you absolute sweetheart,” Rarity purred as she melted into Twilight’s embrace.
“And if you’re still up for it in the morning,” Twilight whispered, “before we go back to the others, I’ll let you have it. As ponies, I mean.”
“Oh, darling,” Rarity moaned as she relaxed against Twilight’s body and her eyes fluttered closed; it had been a long night, “you spoil me.”
“I treat you right,” Twilight corrected, “because I love you.”
“You’re too good to me,” Rarity sighed.
“I’m just the right amount of good to you,” Twilight said, and Rarity laughed.
“Stop correcting me, you dork!” Rarity yelped, playfully slapping her hand against Twilight’s beautiful scales.
“Then stop saying silly things, you silly pony!” Twilight stuck out her tongue, and by the stars how many different ways could Rarity say she loved her?
“Okay fine,” Rarity rolled her eyes, “for you. And you know why?”
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked smugly.
“Because,” Rarity sighed and closed her eyes, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Rarity,” Twilight whispered, and Rarity smiled because she knew it was true.
Rarity slept well that night.
And had a difficult time sitting down after the next morning.
Rarity’s life in the past month or so had been largely defined by confusion and upheaval, but even still there was one thing she was absolutely certain of, and always would be: women are amazing, and Twilight Sparkle even more than most.
Rarity came to this revelation as she lied naked on the ground, on a grassy hill high up in the mountains of Canterlot where she had spent the night with Twilight Sparkle; she was panting and gasping after Twilight had done quite a number on her body. Rarity wasn’t a stranger to physical intimacy, but no one had ever railed her like that before. Twilight was quite frankly a goddess.
So there Rarity was, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as her lips curved into an elated smile, and she looked up at Twilight whose face was stained by the fruits of Rarity’s labor, so to speak. Twilight cozied up next to Rarity, planting a tender kiss on Rarity’s neck.
“Darling,” Rarity panted, struggling to pick up her arm and put it against Twilight’s cheek, “that was amazing. You were perfect.”
“Thank you,” Twilight said softly, then her eyes and ears immediately perked up as she sat with her legs under her and pumped her fists. “Cuz you were SO GOOD! Your ass is just like? WOW! And your lips are like? WHAT! And your balls are like? HOLY SHIT! And your cock is so beautiful and good and amazing and sexy and I wanna write a ten page— no, a HUNDRED page essay on how good it feels to have it in my mouth and you’re amazing and sexy and I love you and you’re perfect and you’re so wonderful and good and you make me feel so happy and did I mention you’re sexy cuz you’re SO sexy and hot and beautiful and wonderful and I love you so much and I should probably stop talking, huh?”
“No, you’re fine,” Rarity giggled. A lesser mare might have stopped Twilight’s rambling, but how could Rarity bring herself to silence the love of her life as she gushed about the woman she loved? Even more since the woman she loved was Rarity. “Actually, you’re not just fine, you’re transcendent.”
Twilight snuzzled up next to Rarity, nuzzling her and purring contentedly. Rarity sighed as she put her arms around Twilight. This was heaven.
“You’ve been so good to me,” Rarity whispered, “is there anything that I can do for you?”
“Yeah,” Twilight hummed, “you can read some fashion books with me.”
Rarity was suddenly crushed under a tidal wave of nostalgia. She scanned her mind for any way to respond, but she came up empty. She hadn't expected Twilight to even remember those exchanges they had about fashion and the like, let alone bring them up now.
But Rarity would need to put those thoughts aside for now, as a shadow descended over the pair of lovebirds as a night-blue alicorn hovered overhead.
“Babe, we have some company,” Rarity said, pointing up to Luna as she looked ready to descend.
“Oh, oka—ACK!” Twilight yelped as she put her hand up to her face and realized she was still sticky and not entirely presentable, forcing a snorting chuckle out of Rarity.
Twilight was able to use magic to quickly clean herself up, and she levitated hers and Rarity’s gala dresses over to them, though seeing that dress instantly made Rarity’s feet hurt as she remembered her trek from last night, so she elected not to put it on.
Twilight decided not to get dressed either for the moment, and Rarity was at once thankful for the view and concerned that she wouldn’t be able to focus on Luna while Twilight was standing there being rapturously sexy.
Luna touched the ground in front of Rarity, blocking her view of Twilight, and Rarity’s little lesbian goblin brain’s immediate instinct was to crane her neck so she could look around Luna and see Twilight’s perfect ass, and Rarity licked her lips at the sight before Luna cleared her throat and snapped Rarity to attention.
“Uh, ahem, yes?” Rarity said nervously, batting her eyelashes at Luna.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Luna said flatly.
“No, we just finished,” Twilight said matter-of-factly, and Rarity almost cringed herself in half. She was going to try and play it cool.
“I see,” Luna rolled her eyes.
“Don’t give me that!” Rarity huffed, puffing up her cheeks and trying to stand tall in front of Luna, which was mildly difficult since the alicorn was half-again her size. “As if you haven’t lost track of time before when you’re making out with your wonderful girlfriend.”
“I haven’t,” Luna said flatly. “Because while I do love my girlfriends to the ends of the earth, I know how to prioritize and manage my time. I wouldn’t miss an important strategy meeting, for example.”
“Okay, but we couldn’t have missed the meeting by that much—”
“It’s two in the afternoon,” Luna said.
“Is it really?” Rarity blinked and asked incredulously, reeling from the realization of just how much time she’d spent in the mountains with Twilight this morning. “Goodness, where does the time go?”
Twilight snorted at that, and Rarity wanted to reply with a sarcastic barb but she couldn’t come up with one while also trying to hide her own laughter.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” Rarity bowed her head. “We had an appointment with you, and we missed it. That was our mistake, and I make no excuse.”
“You’re forgiven,” Luna said, with a subtle hint of a smile on her lips. “It’s just as well. Fleur and I, and Cloudy as well who was instrumental in keeping me grounded, had the meeting without you. We still have some things to run by you, but we have an idea for our next step.”
“And what’s that?” Rarity asked, Twilight coming over to her and gently squeezing her hand, and Rarity valiantly fought her urge to squeeze something of Twilight’s in return.
Luna smiled. Perhaps she recognized the irony in what she was about to say.
“You two and your party will be going to the Crystal Empire.”
Whoever said you can’t improve on perfection was a damn liar, cuz Pinkie Pie’s body was perfect and it was even more beautiful covered in Applejack’s lipstick marks.
Applejack didn’t even wear lipstick usually, but something about seeing that stain on her lover’s body drove her tiny lesbian brain wild and so she made an exception every so often, and seeing the marks left by Applejack’s kisses on Pinkie’s chest, on her stomach, between her thighs, among other places as Pinki laid against the sheets of their bed in the Canterlot inn, it reminded Applejack why every rule had an exception.
“How ya feelin’, hon?” Applejack asked, panting and licking her lips.
“Applejack,” Pinkie moaned, her eyes fluttering as her tongue hung out of her mouth, smiling like a smitten kitten. “You’re wonderful.”
“I know I am, babe,” Applejack said confidently and leaned in to kiss Pinkie’s lips, reveling in the feeling of Pinkie’s soft chest pressed up against her own. “And you are, so amazing, and incredible, and I adore you so damn much, you little sweetheart.”
“Geez, Applejack,” Pinkie said bashfully, turning her cheek to Applejack, so Applejack kissed that too, “you don’t have to suck me off emotionally too.”
“But I enjoyed suckin’ you off physically so dang much,” Applejack said confidently, and Pinkie snorted.
“Maybe I should return the favor,” Pinkie bit her lip.
“If you think you can handle it,” Applejack popped the buckle on her belt and let her pants fall to her knees as she sat on the bed, and Pinkie’s eyes glistened and her tongue fell out of her mouth.
Pinkie cooed as she sat up and crawled over to Applejack, and she wasted absolutely no time in getting down to business. Applejack put a hand on her forehead and dug her nails in. If Pinkie’s tongue was amazing in Applejack’s mouth, it was nothing compared to how it worked her—
A knock at the door.
Applejack and Pinkie both turned their attention to it, and the sudden interruption was like nails screeching down an immaculate glass window.
“Pinkie Pie, dear?” Cloudy Quartz said from the other side of the door, and Pinkie whined with her mouth still full. “Are you there?”
“Just a sec, Ms. Pie,” Applejack called out, “she’s in the bathroom!”
“Okay,” Cloudy said. “Let her know when she gets out that I’ll be waiting for her in the lobby. I had a long night and I need to rest, but I wanted to make time for her first.”
“That’s very sweet of her,” Pinkie muttered. “Couldn’t have been worse timed, but very sweet.”
“Okay, I will!” Applejack called out, and then turned to Pinkie. “You should probably—”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said irritably, hopping off the bed. “I have to wash everything.”
“I’ll go down there and keep her company while you hop in the bath real quick?” Applejack suggested, putting her pants back on and looking around for her shirt.
“Sounds great!” Pinkie said, hopping into the bathroom. “I’ll be like five minutes!”
With Pinkie, that meant like fifteen minutes, but that was fine. Frankly, Applejack would need a shower after this herself, an ice cold one.
Applejack headed downstairs to the comfortable inn lobby and greeted Cloudy, taking a seat in a chair near to hers as she sipped from a mug of hot tea, judging by the smell.
“Howdy,” Applejack said politely.
“Hello, Applejack,” Cloudy said with a smile. It was almost surreal to see such a serene, bright smile on her face. She used to be so dour. Luna must’ve been treatin’ her right. “I trust Pinkie is on her way down? Not that I don’t relish the time with you too, of course.”
“Of course, but I know it’s different,” Applejack chuckled. “She’ll be down in a jiff, she was in the middle of a quick shower.”
“I see, I see,” Cloudy Quartz took a sip of tea, and Applejack took a deep breath cuz she couldn’t get the image of Pinkie’s naked, sweaty, quivering body out of her mind. “Was her need for a shower because of you, by any chance?”
“Wh-what would make you think that?” Applejack laughed nervously, sweat dripping down her brow as she looked away from Cloudy and her face lit up like a million degrees.
“I’m just teasing you,” Cloudy hummed. “I always figured that you two would get together someday. I always felt it in my bones, I guess you could say.”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack said with a smile. For some reason, that felt really nice to hear, especially from Cloudy. “I take it that means I have yer blessin’?”
“Absolutely, of course,” Cloudy smiled again, and Applejack couldn’t help but smile back. Having an infectious smile must’ve run in the family. “I’m just so glad that she’s found a pair of wonderful women that make her happy. Or five of them, because if her letters that she sends me are any indication, her heart is full of more than enough love for everyone in your friend group.”
“Same, honestly,” Applejack chuckled, thinking about how she was honestly dating more of the girls in their group than not now.
“MOOOOOOOMMMM!!!”
Pinkie screamed gleefully as she ran down the hall into the lobby, a few other nearby patrons turning their heads in confusion and resentment at the little mischief maker’s blaring siren. Pinkie’s hair was a mess— well, it always was, but she hadn't brushed it since rolling out of bed so now it was even more so— and she was still in her baggy pajamas, and Applejack swooned with affection; she was just too damn cute, it wasn’t fair to Applejack’s poor lesbian heart.
Pinkie flung herself into Cloudy’s waiting arms, the two women hugging each other sweetly, and it was a lovely moment between a mother and daughter who adored each other so much, and Applejack was trying so hard not to ruin it by thinking about how good Pinkie’s ass looked in those pajama pants, but UNF it was hard not to think about and it also wasn’t the only thing that was hard.
Pinkie hopped out of her mother’s arms and did a truly impressive leap into Applejack’s, and Applejack sighed in contentment as she caught Pinkie and she squirmed into a comfortable position on Applejack’s lap, Applejack resting her head atop Pinkie’s.
“So, Pinkie Pie,” Cloudy said, and then cut herself off with a giggle. “You two are just precious together, I’m sorry.”
“You should never apologize for being right,” Pinkie replied, and Applejack and Cloudy both chuckled. Applejack kissed Pinkie on her neck, which was quite a feat considering all the hair she had to push past to make it happen.
“Anyway, Pinkie,” Cloudy said with a smile, “your sisters are arriving in town this afternoon, and—”
“They’re WHAT?!” Pinkie screeched in excitement, her whole body trembling under Applejack’s fingertips. “How come I didn’t know about this?!”
“Because I only found out this morning,” Cloudy said. “We don’t have magic back home, you know? So Their letter only reached me today.”
Cloudy yawned and stretched her arms out above her head, reclining into her chair like a woman whose bones were melting as she spoke. It was very… Pinkie of her.
“I won’t be able to see them when they first arrive-” Cloudy yawned again “-since I had a long night and need to catch up on some rest. I wanted to tell you over breakfast and coffee, but I’m afraid I’ll probably have to turn in right away.”
“I understand how you feel,” Pinkie giggled. “Your first night with Luna, right? How could you find time to sleep?”
“Yes, well,” Cloudy blushed and gave a bashful smile, looking away from Pinkie and curling her fingers over the hem of her dress. “My point was that I wanted you to know your sisters were coming. Especially Maud.”
“Why especially Maud?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head for a second before gasping excitedly. “Does she have a present for me?!”
“Not that I know of,” Cloudy shook her head with a quiet, tender chuckle. “But she’s only staying in Canterlot for one afternoon. Tomorrow morning she’s apparently catching a train to the Crystal Empire.”
“Huh,” Pinkie and Applejack said in unison, glancing at each other. Funny coincidence, that.
Fluttershy was lying on her back on a cloud high above the city of Canterlot, away from the congested mass of buildings and the crowds of ponies who were now terrified of her, whether they knew it or not. A whole city full of people who would rather she be dead than alive, and after last night those feelings must have multiplied a thousand-fold.
She put it out of her mind. Nothing she could do about it now, and thinking about it made her feel sick.
Fluttershy sat up on her little cloud. Skies were gray, clouds were numerous. The weather reflected how Fluttershy felt— miserable— and that actually made her feel a little better, like the earth itself was empathizing with her.
“Yo what’s up girl!” Rainbow shouted, poking her head through Fluttershy’s cloud as Fluttershy screamed in shock. “Oh, sorry about that.” Rainbow laughed softly as she climbed up through the cloud and sat next to Fluttershy.
“You’re okay,” Fluttershy sighed, hand over her heart. She puffed up her cheeks and gently punched Rainbow in the arm, but then immediately felt bad about it and put her hand softly on where she punched. “Just don’t sneak up on a girl like that.”
“Yeah, that was my bad,” Rainbow said with a chuckle, “sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said with a mischievous smile, “I forgive you.”
And then she shoved Rainbow off the cloud, Rainbow flailing in the air for a sec before remembering she could fly, with Fluttershy peeking over the edge of the cloud to make sure Rainbow did remember, because if Fluttershy had to save Rainbow’s life over Fluttershy’s innocent prank, she was going to feel HORRIBLE.
“You’re funny, Fluttershy,” Rainbow cackled as she floated back up and sat on Fluttershy’s cloud. “Do you wanna hang out today? What’re you doing all the way up here anyway?”
“I don’t feel safe in the city,” Fluttershy admitted, curling her legs up in front of her and wrapping her arms around them. She was wearing the pale green dress that Rarity had gotten for her though, the one that saved her life from Lightning Dust, and that at least made her feel a little safer.
She was also still wearing Applejack’s hat. And that made her feel… a lot of things.
“Yeah, okay, I feel ya,” Rainbow arched her back and stretched her arms over her head. It reminded Fluttershy of a cat a little bit; Rainbow was cute. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m happy to just hang out up here with you all day. Or if you wanna spend time alone, I can bounce too if you want.”
“Well, um, I don’t want to put you out,” Fluttershy muttered, her muzzle pressed up against her knees, “but I would appreciate the company.”
“You’re not putting me out,” Rainbow scoffed and dismissively waved her hand. “You’re my friend! I like hanging out with you.”
“You’re sweet,” Fluttershy said fondly.
“YOU ARE!” Rainbow shot back very aggressively, and while it initially caught Fluttershy off-guard, she quickly found herself laughing, with Rainbow doing the same alongside her.
Rainbow did indeed stay with Fluttershy, but unfortunately Fluttershy wasn’t exactly the best conversationalist, and the two mostly just sat in silence watching the clouds above them and below them.
“Oh thank goodness you said something!” Rainbow released an agonized sigh and starfished on the cloud. “I am so bored!”
“Do you want to grab a bite to eat?” Fluttershy suggested. “There are plenty of restaurants on the outskirts of the city, that don’t require us to um, go too deep inside where all the ponies are.”
“Yeah, I’m down,” Rainbow nodded with a big delightful grin, and it brought a smile to Fluttershy’s face; Rainbow was really cute, and fun to be around. It was hard not to feel safe around her.
The two flew down to the city, though after doing some window shopping here and there, they decided that instead of going to a restaurant, they would simply pack up a nice lunch and have a picnic in the grassy mountain hills surrounding the city, and as Rainbow laid out the blanket and Fluttershy took a deep breath of the beautiful, misty mountain air, she was already feeling a lot better than she had all morning.
The food was nice, but the company was far nicer. Rainbow did a lot of the talking between the two, and it was very relaxing for Fluttershy to not feel like she needed to fill up awkwardly empty space in a conversation.
“And then he was like ‘now it’s time to get serious’, and he pulled out a whole bunch of weapons!” Rainbow said excitedly, flailing dramatically and pacing back and forth as she relayed a tale of a pony called Drop Shot finding a bunch of weapons. Fluttershy wasn’t entirely following the plot, but Rainbow’s enthusiasm was just too infectious not to give her Fluttershy’s full attention.
“So what happened next?” Fluttershy asked, utterly enthralled in this story she didn’t understand.
“He threw his weapons at ‘em and they all died,” Rainbow beamed, “the end.”
“That’s a great story, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy giggled, and she tried to stop herself but she just couldn’t and she ended up falling on her back laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked with a chuckle of her own as she sat next to Fluttershy on the blanket.
“I dunno,” Fluttershy chirped. “I guess I’m just happy to be hanging out with you. I really appreciate you not giving me grief over being afraid of the city right now.”
“Of course,” Rainbow scoffed. “I get anxiety, believe me. So I’m not gonna give you shit for something you can’t control. You’d have to be such an asshole to do something like that.”
“I guess I’ve known a lot of assholes in my life,” Fluttershy muttered.
“Well not anymore!” Rainbow stood up proudly, flaring out her wings. “Now you know me, and the others too! And we’re all great! And if any of those assholes from your past give you guff, I’ll stab ‘em with a knife!”
“Th-thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy snorted laughing. What a strange gesture of support, and yet Fluttershy appreciated it, or at the very least the sentiment behind it, immensely. “I love you.”
Fluttershy went ghostly pale, as she had not, in fact, meant to say those words. She wanted to throw her hands over her mouth and profusely apologize, but before she could…
“I love you too!” Rainbow said cheerfully, sitting down beside Fluttershy and extending her pinky finger. “You’re one of my best friends, for sure! And I’m super glad that I met you.”
“Likewise,” Fluttershy sighed peacefully as she wrapped her pinky around Rainbow’s, “Rainbow Dash.”
230. Twilight is Bored Listening to Luna Lecture Her About Foreign Politics
Luna was an interesting pony. Hm. ‘Interesting’ was definitely not the correct word. ‘Fascinating,’ perhaps. Twilight was genuinely endeared to Luna’s passion for doing good, and her genuine drive for improving the lives of ponies and dragons alike.
But gawd.
She was so dull.
Apparently Luna had been taught that when conveying information, making it LOUDER meant making it more engaging. Whoever taught her that was likely long dead and Twilight cursed the fact that she couldn’t give harsh words to them herself.
Rarity and Fleur had already needed to quiet Luna down at least three times during Luna’s agonizingly dull speech about Crystal Empire politics and how they interacted with Equestria’s politics.
The Crystal Empire was an autonomous micronation, it had its own laws and governing body separate from Equestria. It was a fascinating topic that Twilight was dying to learn more about, but Princess Luna— bless her heart— had a way of presenting even an interesting topic in a brutally disinteresting way.
After what felt like hour two-hundred-and-fifty, Twilight couldn’t even pretend like she was listening anymore, and she had her head buried in her arms folded on top of the table in the very plush and dainty bedroom that Luna had hastily shuffled into a makeshift war room of sorts.
“Dear Luna,” Rarity— sweet, comforting Rarity— rubbed Twilight’s back as she miserably slogged through Luna’s lecture, “perhaps this method of explanation isn’t quite hitting its mark?”
“Is Twilight having trouble internalizing?” Luna grumbled. “After all the work I put into making this briefing as compact as possible?”
“This is your idea of ‘compact’?” Twilight balked, looking incredulously at Luna.
“For her, yes,” Fleur chuckled, and flashed a funny grin at Luna who glared at her, though the Princess’ gaze softened immediately at Fleur’s smile. “Luckily for you, Twilight Sparkle, I anticipated this and prepared the cliff notes version.
“Twilight doesn’t need to know the minutia of all the local politics,” Fleur said, rolling her eyes at Luna, who rolled her eyes back. “In fact, Twilight you already know the situation between ponies and dragons in the Empire, correct?”
“I do,” Twilight nodded. “Dragons are allowed to stay within the Empire’s walls free from Equestrian pursuit, with the condition that they follow certain rules to maintain order and safety.”
“Certain rules?” Rarity arched a concerned eyebrow. “What kind of rules?”
“Always stay in pony form,” Luna said coldly, “live in their own rundown districts, and work for slave wages, basically.”
An uncomfortable pause lingered over the room, and Twilight looked over at Rarity whose face slowly washed over with pained recognition.
“Is that—” Rarity paused and shook her head, and then she turned to Twilight. “Twilight, is that true?”
“Yes,” Twilight said bluntly. “That’s why I didn’t want to go.”
“Wait, you told me that dragons and ponies lived in harmony—”
“I told you that when ‘dragons can be used as harmless slave labor’ would be an improvement in how you saw dragons,” Twilight said shortly, and for the sake of her own mental health she pretended not to see the pained wince Rarity made. “But there’s a reason that I’ve been dragging my feet on getting us there.”
“I-I see,” Rarity said, her fingers clenched together and her brow furrowed. She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, before smiling at Twilight and putting her hand atop Twilight’s as she looked to Luna. “So what is our objective here exactly?”
“You didn’t ask the important question, Rarity,” Fleur said with a cute grin, resting her chin on her steepled fingers.
“I didn’t?” Rarity asked perplexedly.
“You didn’t ask how the dragons feel about this arrangement,” Fleur said, and Rarity’s face turned red instantly.
“N-no, I suppose I didn’t,” Rarity said bashfully, and then she cleared her throat. “So um, how do the dragons feel about this arrangement?”
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight was faster.
“They accept their fate,” she said bitterly.
“Excuse me?” Rarity blinked at Twilight.
“Twilight is correct,” Luna said. “Do go on, Ms. Sparkle.”
“When the Crystal Empire originally offered its amnesty program to the dragons,” Twilight explained, digging painful memories out of her mind like scraping skin off her body with a trowel, “a lot of us knew it was obviously a trap. That they were always planning on doing exactly what they did.
“Some of us gave benefit of the doubt, but when the awful terms that would make us little more than slaves were proposed, some of us still went along with it, arguing this was ‘the best we could hope for’.”
Twilight scoffed in disgust. Even recalling it years later made her nauseous and pissed off.
“Needless to say,” Twilight continued, “those of us who didn’t want to be slaves argued that we needed to push for more. This discourse escalated as neither side wanted to listen to the other. Because one side was right, and the other was acting foolishly. They were going to condemn us all because they weren’t comfortable fighting for justice.”
Rarity gently took Twilight’s hand and kissed her fingers. She smiled concernedly at Twilight, who softened her posture a little bit and smiled back before leaning in and graciously receiving a kiss from her beautiful girlfriend, which helped her calm down a lot.
“The long story short version,” Twilight said, “is that this ‘discourse’ escalated to the point where it looked like a civil war was inevitable. Those of us on the ‘fight to not be slaves’ side started to break apart because we didn’t want to fight amongst ourselves.
“Some gave in, some returned to the Dragon Lands or went into hiding in Equestria. Others just disappeared without a trace. Soon enough, there weren’t enough of us to put up an argument, and the dragons became slaves to the Crystal Empire.”
“So, to answer your earlier question, Rarity,” Fleur said casually; Twilight wasn’t sure if it was impressive or insulting how easily she was keeping her composure, “what your party is going to do is convince the leader of the Crystal Empire to meet with our dear Princess Luna. And convince the leader of the dragons to fight for their freedom.”
“Or, failing those things,” Luna said coldly, “we’ll replace one or both of those leaders.”
“Okay, chill out, Luna,” Fleur giggled into her hand. “So serious all the time, I swear. It’s not good to be this uptight, honey.” Luna scoffed under her breath and looked bashfully away from Fleur, who then focused her attention on Rarity. “We’re not exactly planning a coup or anything, and certainly not tomorrow.
“We’ll take things one step at a time. This little trip of yours is just so you can meet the major players involved.”
“And who is the leader of the Crystal Empire?” Rarity asked.
“He’s a man named Gladmane,” Luna explained. “He’s an oaf who bribed his way into power, and it’s unlikely that there’s a single living being that thinks fondly of him.”
“But people sure like his money,” Fleur added. “And he’s got more of it than god, so no one can touch him or remove him from power.”
“That said,” Luna said, “the important players are his two most trusted advisors. Lady Cadance, who you know, Rarity, and is sympathetic to our cause.”
“Oh, sweet Cadance,” Rarity laughed, and that piqued Twilight’s curiosity.
“Who’s Cadance?” Twilight asked.
“She’s one of Celestia’s star students,” Rarity said fondly. “Basically, she was in my position in the class right before mine. She’s about a decade my senior, and an absolute sweetheart. Also? She has always been obsessed with dragons.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Luna corrected. “Our colleagues in the Slayers painted her as obsessed, when the truth was simply that she knew all along how wrong we all were about dragons.”
“Huh,” Rarity hummed, finger up to her lips. “I hadn't thought of that, but… it does make sense, doesn’t it? Rather depressing when I think about it.”
“It be like that,” Fleur said knowingly. “It’s not going to stop being depressing either. You’re going to have to live with the effects of your bigotry, and your colleagues’ bigotry, for the rest of your lives.”
“I can accept that,” Rarity said immediately. “It’s more important that we change things so that as few generations after us as possible will have to deal with those effects.”
“On that note,” Luna interjected, “the other advisor of note is Gladmane’s court magician. Her name is Starlight Glimmer, and she is most certainly not sympathetic to our cause. In fact, she’s the architect for much of the ‘conditions’ that the dragons in the Crystal Empire are burdened with.”
“It’s worse than that,” Twilight added. “I never met Starlight Glimmer in person, but I’ve heard of her. I’m almost certain that she is the one who made the dragons who were against the Empire’s terms ‘disappear’.”
“And last but not least,” Luna said, “is the leader of the Empire’s dragons.”
“And who might that be?” Rarity asked, looking to Luna, and then to Twilight.
Applejack yawned and Pinkie giggled and wrapped her arms around AJ even tighter as Applejack carried her down the mildly busy streets of midmorning Canterlot. Applejack was sleepy cuz she stayed up a really long time with Fluttershy last night— and Pinkie literally couldn’t have been happier about it by the way, like literally it would be physically impossible to fit more happiness in her little body probably.
“Hey Applejack, guess what,” Pinkie purred in Applejack’s ear.
“What’s that, hon?” Applejack replied, her words a little dreary. She was such a cutie and she deserved the whole world, and Pinkie was really hoping she could catch some sleep soon.
“I’m gay!” Pinkie beamed, and Applejack laughed heartily.
“Dang, girl, we got a lot in common,” Applejack said merrily, “we should date!”
“Hmmm, well I’ll have to ask my amazing girlfriend if it’s okay,” Pinkie hummed thoughtfully. “Applejack, is it okay if I date Applejack?”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” Applejack replied with a bright grin. “In fact, I’d be happy if ya did. She really fancies you, y’know.”
“Well that’s great!” Pinkie hugged Applejack and rubber her cheek against AJ’s. “Cuz I fancy her a whole LOT!!”
“I love you, ya big dork,” Applejack chuckled.
“And I love you,” Pinkie said, nibbling on Applejack’s ear, “you sexy farm stud.”
When the pair got to the Canterlot train station, which was as bustling and full of ponies as it ever was—maybe even more than normal cuz ponies were departing after coming to the city for the Gala— the gals sat on a bench to wait for an important train, and Applejack could barely keep her eyes open.
As they sat on the bench, Pinkie patted her lap, and Applejack laid down and rested her head on Pinkie’s thighs, Pinkie brushing Applejack’s gorgeous blonde mane as she dozed off. Her snoring was impressive as hell, even causing a few nearby randos to turn their heads and look over, but Pinkie didn’t mind.
The train Pinkie was waiting for finally pulled into the station in front of Pinkie and it took everything in her not to bounce like a cannonball over to the door to smother her sisters with affection as soon as they got off the train, an urge that got even more frantic as she saw Limestone stepping onto the platform.
BUT! She wasn’t gonna disturb Applejack. There could be a ravenous bugbear tearing through the station, and Pinkie would merely find a way to defeat it without disrupting Applejack’s much needed beauty sleep.
Still though, Applejack wouldn’t be too disturbed by Pinkie waving excitedly at Limestone from the bench. Limestone pretended not to see Pinkie, but she did; she was just flustered by Pinkie’s affection so she waited for the others to get off the train before she responded.
Marble was the next off, and Limestone helped her get down onto the platform safely. Pinkie waved even frantically-er at Marble, whose eyes lit up as she smiled and waved back at Pinkie.
Pinkie was absolutely dying from anticipation now, she just couldn’t wait to start talking to her amazing sisters. It’d been WAY too long!
Last but not least was Maud, stepping off behind Marble, who pointed toward Pinkie, and Maud waved at her before Pinkie had a chance to. The three of them were all taller and stouter than Pinkie was, and between their dark clothes and chiseled features, it was easy for people who didn’t know them to feel intimidated by them. But Pinkie obviously wasn’t; they were her family and she adored them.
“Hey, Pinkie,” Maud said enthusiastically as the three gals approached Pinkie.
“Maud! Marble! Limestone!” Pinkie beamed, her smile growing so wide she felt like her cheeks might collapse under the strain. “Shhh don’t wake up Appleja—”
“Wake up, AJ!” Limestone said as she kicked Applejack in the side, Applejack stirring awake with a grumpy groan.
“Oh, hey gals,” Applejack yawned and stretched, arching her back and raising her arms over her head. She was buff and hot and huge and Pinkie was so damn gay about it. “Pinkie, would you mind too terribly if I turn in for a bit?”
“Nope,” Pinkie pursed her lips and leaned toward Applejack, who leaned in and gave Pinkie a sweet, tender kiss. “You get your beauty sleep, babe. I love you so much I could explode.”
“I love you more’n all the apples in the world,” Applejack said, laying another kiss on Pinkie’s cheek.
“That’s a lot of love,” Maud pointed out. “Applejack loves apples.”
“Mhm,” Marble nodded with an infectious giggle.
“It’s true,” Applejack sighed, “but just not as much as I love Pinkie.”
Pinkie wanted to say something sweet back, but she was just so flustered. And she didn’t get less flustered as she watched Applejack leave, admiring the mare’s sweet ass the whole time until she was outta sight.
“It’s cute that you’re dating Applejack,” Maud said, watching Applejack leave. “I want to date someone.”
Pinkie gasped in elation.
“Do you have a special somepony, Maud?!” Pinkie asked excitedly, practically biting her nails down to nubs.
“No,” Maud said, sitting on the bench next to Pinkie, who got really sad and her ears got all droopy.
“That’s okay, Maud, you’ll mee—”
“I have a special somedragon,” Maud said, and Pinkie nearly choked on her own air or something as she practically screeched in delight.
“You have a WHAT?!” Pinkie screamed, her body bursting with excitement and fun and joy and those are all synonyms but you get it!
“Shh,” Maud said. “Don’t want anyone to overhear.”
“Mhm,” Marble nodded, looking around and fidgeting her fingers together.
“This again, Maud?” Limestone scoffed in disgust.
“What’s the matter, Limestone?” Pinkie asked innocently.
“Dragons are the matter, Pinkie!” Limestone spat. “I don’t care what Maud says, she’s just—”
“Limestone got a crush on a girl,” Maud interrupted, “and didn’t know she was a dragon until she was forced to reveal herself. Limestone’s still baby mad about it.”
“Mhm,” Marble added, rolling her eyes.
“I am not!” Limestone stomped her hoof. “She tricked us! You can’t just—”
“Shhh,” Maud stood up to Limestone and put two fingers over Limestone’s muzzle, “no one cares.”
“MmmmHM,” Marble crossed her arms and gave Limestone that awesome look Marble gives when she is done with someone’s sass.
“Whatever,” Limestone huffed and kicked at the dirt. “I’m gonna go blow off steam.”
And then she just… left. She just walked away, and Pinkie was so sad. But she didn’t have to be totally sad cuz Maud and Marble were still here and— WAIT! Marble was still here! Did that mean??????
“Marble, you have a special some—” Pinkie looked around at the bustling train station and whispered to Marble, “ecial-spay, agon-dray?”
“Mhm,” Marble nodded and her whole face turned red and it was CUTE! Pinkie was SO HAPPY FOR HER AND FOR MAUD!
“Do your special friends know about your feelings?” Pinkie asked. Maud shook her head.
“Mmm,” Marble moaned and shook her head sadly.
“That’s okay!” Pinkie said, pumping her fists and hyping up her sisters. “Is that why you’re going to the Crystal Empire tomorrow, Maud?”
“Yes,” Maud nodded. “I heard from her recently, for the first time since she left the farm. She wants to meet up and she said she’s staying in the Empire right now. Figured I’d go up there and surprise her.”
“Cool!” Pinkie cheered. She had a lot of questions, like how did Maud meet this girl and how long she was on the farm for and stuff, but that could wait; right now Pinkie just wanted to be excited and supportive. “So what’s your special friend’s name?”
“Trixie Lulamoon,” Maud said with an enchanted smile.
“Oh,” Pinkie said. Well that was a little awkward. There was definitely a conversation in Maud’s future about how her special friend tried to murder her sister, but that could wait for a bit, Pinkie supposed. That said, Twilight may have been happy to make amends with Trixie, but Pinkie? Not so fucking much.
The way she walked all dainty like, her tail kinda swooshing behind her, her wings did this cute little fidgety thing when she got excited or nervous— which was like all the time— her hair was like??? INCREDIBLE; just hair for DAYS and every strand of it was amazing and beautiful.
Rainbow was looking at her as the two walked down a mostly empty backstreet in Canterlot’s Sun District, and Rainbow just couldn’t help noticing all these little details about Fluttershy that were just too endearing and then it suddenly dawned on Rainbow that oh yeah, she’s GAY.
Fluttershy’s hand was right there, dangling at her side as she walked along with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. And Rainbow’s hand was right there, twitching anxiously at her side as the thought of holding Fluttershy’s hand and feeling her soft fur against Rainbow’s made her brain spark and fizzle and short circuit and all those other words that meant gay overload.
Rainbow inched her hand closer but then she stopped cuz she was like ‘oh maybe I should ask first, but if I ask her and she’s like ew no I’m gonna be totally embarrassed but that doesn’t mean I should just touch her hand without asking so maybe instead I should just forget about the whole—
“Oof!” Rainbow said as smacked into something and stumbled back, Fluttershy gasping in concern. Rainbow had half a mind to put her fist through whatever suddenly blocked her path, or at least yell some choice words, until she looked up and realized she bumped into Spitfire cuz she was watching Fluttershy’s hand and not the street in front of her face.
“Hey, Dash,” Spitfire chuckled. “Fancy bumping into you here.”
“S-sorry,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and smiled awkwardly. Rainbow hadn't seen or spoken to Spitfire in the admittedly short amount of time since she’d had been excommunicated from the Slayers, so she wasn’t sure what kinda tact to take with her. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“That’s okay,” Spitfire laughed and put her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I could tell you weren’t paying attention so I walked in front of you cuz I thought it’d be funny. It was!”
“Oh, okay,” Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. Spitfire wasn’t acting that different, but Rainbow was still uneasy… especially with Fluttershy present.
And one glance at Flutters clued Rainbow it that it’d be better to get her out of this potential conversation asap; Rainbow wasn’t great at reading a mood, but she knew an awkward ‘I don’t want to be here’ smile and a cold sweat when she saw ‘em.
“Uh, well, anyway,” Rainbow said awkwardly, grabbing Fluttershy’s hand and y’know it almost felt like a mean joke that she was doing it now under these stressful circumstances instead of earlier under gay circumstances. “Would love to catch up, but we’d better be go—”
“Suck any good dragon dicks lately, Dash?”
Spitfire stood with her arms crossed, an ever so slightly smug grin on her face.
So that’s how it was gonna be, huh? Well if Spitfire wanted a fight so bad, she…
…could go to someone else, cuz Rainbow had Fluttershy to consider first and foremost.
“Uh-huh, yeah,” Rainbow nodded and turned away, Fluttershy quickly walking alongside her. “See ya around, I guess.”
“What, you’re just gonna walk away?” Spitfire scoffed.
“Yep!” Rainbow replied without looking back.
“What I don’t understand,” Spitfire growled as she zipped past Rainbow and stood in front of her, blocking her path as Rainbow stood defensively in front of Fluttershy, “is how you of all ponies could suddenly decide to start being a dragon fucker.”
“Little thing called empathy,” Rainbow said flatly. “Ever heard of it?”
“Empathy?” Spitfire said in disgust. “For those mon—”
“Shut up, Spitfire,” Rainbow said and shoved her former colleague out of her way. “I don’t have the patience for this garbage.” Rainbow turned back or just a sec to glare Spitfire in the eye. “If you got some shit to say to me, then say it. But I’m not interested in hearing your woe-is-me crap that you think makes it okay to just kill people.”
“People?” Spitfire balked. “Dragons aren’t—”
“Hey,” Fluttershy said coldly, sending a chilling stare at Spitfire that not only silenced her instantly, but made a shiver run up Rainbow’s spine as well. “Rainbow said she’s not interested.”
“Yeah!?” Spitfire yelled, tears wetting her eyes. “Well I wanna know why she thinks it’s okay to just turn her damn back on the Slayers! On Equestria!”
“I became a Slayer so I could protect people and do the right thing,” Rainbow explained, standing firm beside Fluttershy, their hands still clasped. “I realized the Slayers were wrong. Maybe you should consider it yourself sometime.”
Rainbow wanted to yell and shout and maybe even punch Spitfire with her fists. That’s what the heroic thing to do would’ve been, right? Make a big scene out of how brave Rainbow was for sticking up for her friends.
But she felt Fluttershy’s trembling hand, she saw Fluttershy’s intense glare, and also she just had a good idea what kinda person Fluttershy was, and the last thing Flutters needed was for Rainbow to start a brawl for ‘her’ sake.
And let’s be honest, it would’ve been more to sate Rainbow’s anger, her outrage, with no real regard for how Fluttershy felt at all.
So in this case, Rainbow just needed to take the L, as it were.
“That’s it then?!” Spitfire yelled as Rainbow and Fluttershy headed off. “You’re just gonna turn your back on us!? You’re a coward, Rainbow!”
She said some other stuff too, but Rainbow wasn’t listening. She tunnel-visioned until she was absolutely sure her and Fluttershy were far away from Spitfire, and that she wasn’t following them. They ended up near the bottom of the hills leading up into the mountains.
Rainbow wanted to collapse and starfish on the grass and give a big ol’ sigh of exhaustion, but again, she needed to remember whose feelings were actually important here.
“How ya holdin’ up?” Rainbow asked Fluttershy, gently caressing her hand with her thumb.
Fluttershy took in a deep breath.
“I’m alright,” she nodded and gave a shaky smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Rainbow shrugged. She felt that gnawing feeling to be like ‘ok cool now that your feelings have been dealt with, let’s focus on my feelings’ but she decided not to do that cuz she wasn’t an asshole! “What do you wanna do now?”
“Umm,” Fluttershy paused. She puffed up her cheeks and tapped her lips.
Rainbow felt a tingling sense of impatience creeping up into her brain, but she wasn’t about to give Fluttershy shit now so she just tapped her hoof against the grass and waited for Fluttershy to speak up.
“Let’s go back to the inn,” Fluttershy sighed. “I need to lay down for a bit.”
As much as Pinkie wanted to spend all day with her sisters, she respected that they needed some time to themselves to get situated into this new environment, and plus she was gonna spend a lot of time with Maud once they got to the Crystal Empire anyway. Hopefully Pinkie’s party would be heading there soon…
That said, Pinkie wasn’t exactly relishing the idea of spending more time with Trixie, but for now she put that out of her mind.
The point was, she had another date that she needed to attend.
“Tempest Shadow!” Pinkie called out as she reached the wee table situated in an outside eating and drinking area of a quaint little coffee shop.
Tempest was dressed in casual clothes— sweat pants, baggy shirt, leather jacket; all black of course, and she looked hot as HELL. While parts of her were still covered in bandages, she looked like she was doing okay. She smiled at Pinkie when she heard Pinkie’s voice, and Pinkie’s heart hammered in her chest like a ping pong ball in an echo chamber.
“Pinkie Pie,” Tempest said warmly. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss it!” Pinkie beamed as she hopped up onto the chair opposite Tempest, cooing— in a way that was hopefully unobtrusive— about how pretty Tempest was. “How’ve you been holding up?”
“I’m okay,” Tempest chuckled and took a sip of her drink. “Believe it or not, this isn’t even close to the worst injuries I’ve gotten on the job.”
“I do believe it,” Pinkie nodded. She really wanted to steer clear of talking about Tempest’s ‘job’ if she could though.
“I’m glad that you’re safe,” Tempest said softly, and Pinkie beamed at her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to—”
“Bupbup!” Pinkie held up her hand and reached across the table to put it on Tempest’s snoot. “You did everything you could, and no one was seriously hurt. Everypony wins!”
“I suppose you’re right,” Tempest hummed, tapping her nails against the glass table. Something was on her mind, and Pinkie had an ominous feeling in her gut. “Can I ask you something though?”
“Uhhhh,” Pinkie pondered for a sec. There was no reason why she couldn’t answer a question, but she still felt queasy about it. “Yes! Yes you can, go for it!”
Tempest took a deep breath; Pinkie recognized that motion, she was trying to center herself. Frankly, Pinkie needed to do the same, so she mirrored Tempest’s breathing and waited for the mare to speak up.
“Okay,” Tempest said clearly. “I want to ask you, who the hell is ‘Fluttershy’?”
Pinkie felt like she was suddenly stuck on the track staring down an oncoming train as the world spun around her. Was that too many metaphors? Were those even metaphors? Not really important right now actually.
She knew what Tempest meant, she knew exactly what Tempest meant. She remembered it so clearly, standing defensively in front of Tempest, between her and Fluttershy, and calling out the dragon’s name.
Pinkie remained silent for an awful long time, which wasn’t a great situation to be in. Maybe it was Applejack’s fault, but lying just wasn’t something Pinkie was super good at, but she also couldn’t give Tempest the truth either.
“Pinkie Pie,” Tempest said sternly, her patience for Pinkie’s silence likely wearing thin, “are you harboring dragons?”
Pinkie suddenly had a bolt of inspiration; she couldn’t tell Tempest all of the truth, but she could give her some of it to cover herself.
“No,” Pinkie shook her head, “it’s not that. Fluttershy saved me, in Bitsburgh. You heard the rumors, right?” Fluttershy had saved her, she was in Bitsburgh… even if those two things weren’t related, Tempest didn’t need to know that.
“Two dragons fought each other in the skies over Bitsburgh,” Tempest grit her teeth. “Of course I heard the rumors, it’s my job as a Slayer to keep informed about such things. And you should know this, you were the one who chided me about grilling Rarity over it!”
“Oh,” Pinkie had forgotten that little detail. “Okay, I forgot about that, but—”
“So you knew,” Tempest growled. “When I was grilling Rarity, and you were telling me to back off, you knew what I needed to hear, and you kept it from me? To cape for that dragon?!”
“The Slayers are wrong about dragons, Tempest,” Pinkie said firmly. “The stuff Celestia’s been saying this whole time? It’s wrong. Dragons aren’t monsters or animals, they’re just like—”
Tempest stood up with a start, and Pinkie looked her dead in the eye with a scowl across her face, even if she was like one step away from melting into a puddle out of fear.
“I don’t want to hear this,” Tempest barked.
“Of course you don’t,” Pinkie said. “No one ever wants to hear that they were wrong. But if you truly care about doing the right thing, you can’t stick your head in the sand just cuz you’re uncomfortable. You gotta face the truth head-on, no matter how much it hurts. There’s no other way to do it.”
Tempest fumed and clicked her tongue.
“That kind of thinking will land you in an early grave someday,” Tempest spat.
“You think so?” Pinkie giggled. Truth was, she never felt safer than after she’d broken free of the illusion she’d been sold.
Tempest shook her head and slammed her hands on the glass table, glaring at Pinkie who kept a smile on her face the whole time, even though she was MIND NUMBINGLY TERRIFIED. Tempest was way scarier than Trixie ever could’ve been.
Lucky for Pinkie though, Tempest stormed off right after. Go figure she didn’t have much to say to defend her wrongness. Pinkie flomped onto the table, burying her face in her arms and weeping— softly, so she didn’t make a scene.
Maybe there was some way of getting through to Tempest, but it wouldn’t be done by some magical debate club speech or perfectly crafted series of words. The only way to change a bigot’s mind was through unflinching exposure to the truth.
Or, more commonly, force. You can’t hold onto a belief system that keeps getting you punched in the head, at least not if you don’t wanna get punched in the head all the time.
But Pinkie wasn’t in a place to do either of those things, and while she would’ve loved to have helped Tempest realize how wrong she was, and how she was poisoning herself with her own bigotry, it wouldn’t do to slam Pinkie’s own head against that wall for however long it took.
Still though… that didn’t mean Pinkie couldn’t be hurt. Finding someone you think is cool, only to realize how wrong you are, never stops being painful.
Twilight breathed a long, steady sigh as she stood on the balcony outside the Canterlot castle, arms folded on the railing and looking out over the massive city from this impressive vantage point. The crisp winter air was a welcome relief from the cramped atmosphere inside the castle, and quite frankly she needed that relief because she was exhausted.
She couldn’t entirely blame Luna and her very blunt and dry way of expressing information, though that definitely didn’t help and Twilight had half a mind to give Luna a lecture on proper lecturing to show her how lecturing was done.
The truth was though, just thinking about the Crystal Empire— and especially about Shining Armor and everything that happened— it was enough to drive Twilight to drink. She didn’t really enjoy alcohol very much though, but she could definitely go for a soda. Apple soda especially; those were really starting to grow on her.
“Hey friend,” the sweet voice of Fleur de Lis resonated in Twilight’s ears and she turned to face the pale, pink-haired woman.
“Hey,” Twilight tried to muster some enthusiasm, but bleugh.
“Wow,” Fleur giggled and her horn lit up as she produced a bottle of apple soda from thin air, Twilight’s eyes lighting up like shooting stars through the night sky. “Rarity said you might need one of these?”
“Thank you,” Twilight said, taking the soda in her hands and on the verge of tears. It was a silly thing, of course it was, but sometimes it was the tiniest acts of kindness, like getting your girlfriend a soda when she really needed one, that have the biggest impact. “Tell Rarity I love her and I would die for her.”
“Uh, you can tell her yourself,” Fleur chuckled, standing next to Twilight and looking over the city as Twilight opened up her soda, all the good brain chemicals rushing in as that satisfying sound of the bottle opening and the soda fizzing flooded her ears. “Just the first part though, the second part isn’t as romantic as you think it is, trust me.”
Twilight took a sip of her soda, and it was damn near perfect. The temperature was just right, and she could feel her anxiety fading away slowly as she took a big sip, some of the soda spilling down her cheek and dripping off of her lip, and she let out a satisfied sigh as she finished.
“I wanted to apologize for Luna,” Fleur said with a soft laugh. She didn’t seem to take much of anything seriously, and Twilight wanted to be annoyed with that but mostly she found herself more jealous than anything. “I know she can be a bit, uh, a lot.”
“I appreciate it,” Twilight said, swishing her bottle back and forth, “and I appreciate her. She’s doing a lot more than I have, if I’m being honest.”
“You really don’t want to go to the Empire, huh?” Fleur said.
“I really don’t,” Twilight sighed and took a sip of her soda, and damn it was just as good as the first, especially since the taste reminded her of Applejack, and the sense of relief that washed over her reminded her of Rarity.
“You don’t have to,” Fleur said, and Twilight arched an eyebrow. “I could teach you the siren glamor, the spell that lets me evade detection even from alicorns. Not overnight, obviously, but in time. You wouldn’t have to worry about any of this Slayers versus dragons nonsense then, you could just live out an ordinary life with your girlfriend.
“Don’t you think you’ve worked hard enough already?”
Twilight took a deep breath. She looked at her soda and thought about her family; Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and of course her son Spike. Between the seven of them, they had more than enough skills to forge out a comfortable living for themselves, especially with Rarity’s connections.
The idea that Twilight wouldn’t have to concern herself with all this stress was an intoxicating one. She wouldn’t have to worry about being discovered, or having her library burned down, and she wouldn’t have to worry about her son’s safety.
But what kind of world would she be raising him into?
If her safety, and the safety of her family, came at the cost of hundreds of others not having access to that same safety, then what the hell was it worth? If Twilight could justify turning her back on others when she had the power to help, then what kind of person was she raising her son to be?
“Thank you, Fleur,” Twilight took the last sip of her apple soda, sighing in satisfaction and licking her lips, “but no.”
“That’s fine,” Fleur shrugged and gave a carefree smile. “You sure though?”
“I am,” Twilight nodded, clenching her fingers into fists and steeling her resolve as images of Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer raced through her mind. “I’ll go to the Empire and I’ll help out however I can, because that’s the right thing to do. I promised myself, I wouldn’t run away from this anymore.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Twilight said bashfully, in reference to Rarity carrying Twilight on her back as the pair trotted to the inn to lie down for the rest of the day and also the rest of Twilight’s life if she had it her way.
Rarity, for her part, let out an uproarious laugh; it honestly caught Twilight off-guard not only due to the volume, but also its immediate effects on Twilight’s uhhhhh ‘broadsword’.
“Darling, please,” Rarity said flippantly, “you speak as though you could ever convince me to do something I don’t want to. I’ll have you know I’m stubborn as a mountain and twice as beautiful.”
“I was really hoping you were gonna say ‘twice as hard’,” Twilight said with a cheeky grin, evoking a smitten giggle from Rarity.
“I almost did,” Rarity said with her tongue teasingly poking out between her lips. “And believe me, my love, when we get back into bed, I’ll show you how hard I can get.”
“Stars I love you,” Twilight sighed longingly and planted a kiss on Rarity’s neck.
“Ooh, Twilight please,” Rarity bit her lip, and as Twilight continued to kiss and suck on Rarity’s neck, Rarity wobbled and bumped into the wall of a nearby shop, “try to contain yourself until we get back to the inn!”
“You don’t really want me to do that, do you?” Twilight licked her lips, a lustful gleam in her eye as she locked eyes with Rarity and saw the attraction and desire flickering in them like a roaring fireplace. “Or do you?” Twilight said awkwardly. “Cuz if I’m actually making you uncomfortable, I don’t want to—”
“You’re divine, sweetheart,” Rarity beamed and gave a soft chuckle, and she put her hand over Twilight’s and delicately caressed her fingers. “Thank you for checking though, I appreciate that a lot.”
“My pleasure,” Twilight said. “Always important to make sure, y’know?”
“Yes, very much so,” Rarity sighed. That kind of sigh you make when you know you need to stop the fun, lighthearted conversation to talk about something serious, so Twilight braced herself.
“Speaking of checking,” Rarity said coolly, “how are you holding up? It’s obvious at this point that you don’t want to go to the Crystal Empire, but I feel somewhat out of the loop as to why. Is there anything that you’d like to talk about?”
“Yes,” Twilight knew right away what she wanted to say and she spoke quickly, “but not right now.”
“That’s perfectly alright,” Rarity gave a comforting smile. “Just know that when you’re ready, you will have my ears, and my shoulder to lean on.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight leaned in and kissed Rarity’s neck, reveling in how soft her fur was and how good she smelled, “you’re perfect.”
“Darling, I know,” Rarity chuckled proudly and it made Twilight snort.
“And honestly? The fact that you’re so aware of it just makes you even hotter,” Twilight said in a tone that was halfway between a smitten purr and a lustful growl.
“Twilight, please,” Rarity squeaked and her face turned red, “you’ll make me blush!”
“Good,” Twilight chirped, “it’s cute when you blush.”
Rarity giggled bashfully, and Twilight hopped off of Rarity’s back and immediately fell to the ground since her legs felt like jelly, Rarity gasping and crouching down to make sure Twilight was okay.
“What are you doing? I can carry you all the way back.”
“I know,” Twilight bit her thumbnail. She was trying not to make it too obvious but all she really wanted was for Rarity to just take her right here right now, in the middle of the damn street if that’s what it took. “I just don’t want to wait.”
Twilight’s horn flashed with magic and in an instant, she and Rarity were transported back into their room at the inn, Twilight woozily flomping onto the bed.
“Damn, that was impressive,” Rarity cooed, Twilight giving a thumbs-up to show that she had heard Rarity. “So anyway…”
Rarity didn’t waste any time, slipping her hand up Twilight’s robes and sliding it between her thighs, Twilight yelping in pleasure as Rarity’s fingers wrapped around her.
“R-Rarity!” Twilight said, her voice cracking; she sounded aghast and yet this is exactly what she was hoping for, so honestly Twilight wasn’t even sure what she was saying anymore.
“Darling, you worked my body this morning like a maestro conducting the concert of her life,” Rarity’s thumb inched up Twilight’s body, which quivered and writhed at Rarity’s touch, “and if you thought I wasn’t going to return the favor one hundred fold? Then you have a lot to learn about the ways of Rarity.
“But don’t worry…” Rarity licked her lips as she pooled magic into her horn, and with a flash of blue light she undressed both herself and Twilight. Rarity grabbed Twilight’s hips and turned her over onto her stomach, Twilight letting out a muted gasp and her eyes and smile widening as she felt Rarity’s body pressed up against hers.
Twilight shifted in mild discomfort as she sat in her cabin on the train to the Crystal Empire. While she couldn’t literally still feel Rarity inside her, she could still ‘feel’ it, y’know? Maybe that didn’t make sense, but the point was she was acutely aware of her butt and what it was doing and it was very har— difficult to get Rarity out of her mind.
“Hey, hot stuff!” Rainbow said cheerfully as she opened the door to Twilight’s cabin, leaning seductively against the doorframe. “Heard you had a good time with Rarity yesterday.”
“Eheh,” Twilight laughed bashfully and turned away from Rainbow, covering her blushing face with her hand, “we may have spent some time together.”
“Hmm,” Rainbow threw herself onto the bench beside Twilight, wrapping a wing around her and pulling her close, “that just means I’ll have to try extra hard to top her. Or top you, in this case.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight squeaked in mock offense. It was actually really nice to get this moment alone with Rainbow, who Twilight hadn't spent as much time with yet as she would like.
Rainbow kissed Twilight’s lips, and gently pushed her until her back was against the bench, with Rainbow on top of her planting kiss after kiss on her neck, Twilight gasping and squirming at Rainbow’s touch.
“Hey guys, am I interrupting anything?” Spike asked as he walked into the cabin, taking a seat on the opposite bench and shoveling fistfuls of snacks into his mouth.
“SPIKE!” Twilight yelped, her face turning bright red from embarrassment as she bolted up, teleporting Rainbow off of her and accidentally dropping her onto the ground.
“Yo,” Rainbow slapped her hand onto Spike’s bench and pulled herself up off the ground, hopping into the seat beside him, “lemme in on some of those snacks!”
Spike shared the snack bag and Rainbow dug her hand in, taking a huge fistful and slamming it into her mouth. Twilight laughed at how silly she looked, but then her dumb lesbian brain immediately thought of something else going into Rainbow’s mouth and she tucked her legs up in front of her and blushed.
“So Twilight,” Spike said, and he looked so excited and that made Twilight relax as she soaked in his enthusiasm, “are you excited to go to the Crystal Empire?”
And now she was stressed again.
“Twilight’s gonna have a great time,” Rainbow said before Twilight had a chance to either say anything or, more likely, start panicking. “Me and Applejack are gonna show her around and treat her to a good time.”
“Oh yeah?” Spike asked. “Have you guys been to the Empire before?”
“Nope!” Rainbow answered confidently, crossing her arms and nodding. “But that’s okay cuz we can discover stuff together! And more importantly, watching me and Jackie bumble our way through the Empire will hopefully take a load off Twi’s mind for a bit.
“And then?” Rainbow ruffled Spike’s mane, with Spike giggling in response, and Twilight felt like her heart was going to overflow with affection. “Me and Jackie are gonna take you on a tour of the city too, Spike! Twi’s invited also. We just wanna make sure everyone has a chance to have a good time, especially cuz stuff is so stressful right now, y’know?”
Rainbow ended her statement with a cackle, and Twilight found herself blushing again. Rainbow was really going out of her way to take care of Twilight in her own way, and that was… it was weird, and nice, and cool, and strange? All at the same time?
It was still surreal for Twilight to have people who wanted to take genuine care of her. It’d still take some getting used to.
“RAAAARITYYYYY!!” Pinkie screeched at the top of her lungs, and the enthusiasm and love that Rarity could hear in Pinkie’s voice would have been just oh so endearing if she wasn’t sitting on the same train bench as Rarity, a mere two inches from the unicorn’s ears.
“Yes? Sweetheart?” Rarity asked tepidly, trying to keep a gentle tone despite her newfound aural trauma.
“Nothin’,” Pinkie squeaked with a little shrug. “I’m just excited to hang out with you! We have had Raripie time in what feels like a million years!”
“I suppose that’s true,” Rarity laughed and put her arm around Pinkie. “You are a dear friend though, and I am always delighted by your company, if not necessarily your volume.”
“Hehe, sorry,” Pinkie giggled bashfully, “guess I got a little excited—hey do you remember when we went to Ponyville!? The first time!?”
“I do,” Rarity chirped. “Why do you ask?”
“Well that’s kinda where this whole adventure of ours started, huh?” Pinkie said, bouncing in place.
“I suppose,” Rarity pondered. “Though wouldn’t it be more correct to say it started when we all met Twilight? That’s when I got sucked in anyway.”
“I guess I’m thinking like,” Pinkie paused to hum and stroke her chin, “if I were writing a book about our adventures, I’d start it right about at the Ponyville thing. That’s where we met Fluttershy, remember?”
“It sure was,” Rarity rubbed her temples. That felt like so long ago already; she was a completely different person when she met Fluttershy the first time. “I guess that would be an adequate place to start a novel. Are you planning on making one, Pinkie Pie?”
“Pffft, no,” Pinkie scoffed. “Who has that kinda time?”
“Who indeed,” Rarity said dourly. “It certainly does seem like it’d take quite a bit of one’s life.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie giggled, “imagine like staying up way into the evening-into-the-morning hours trying to meet deadlines!”
“Or, heaven forbid,” Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity, “trying to write chapters the very same day they need to be published?”
“Ew that’s awful!” Pinkie exploded into laughter, and Rarity couldn’t help but join her. The novelist’s life seemed quite fraught with stress, which Rarity had in abundance already.
“Perish the thought,” Rarity said.
It was nostalgic though, thinking about those times. Everything seemed so much simpler then, just going on missions and returning to the library. Though Rarity couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t utterly miserable in those days when she wasn’t in the library. And misery or no, she wouldn’t trade the knowledge of the truth she had learned for anything.
Despite the hardships, things had turned out quite alright, all things considered. Rarity would simply have to pray that the party’s luck would hold a while longer.
“Hey, you remember Bubbles?” Pinkie asked out of the blue.
“I do,” Rarity nodded. She remembered what a pain in the neck the curious little pegasus had been, but she also remembered the sage advice that she had bestowed upon Rarity when she needed it most. “You’re still pen pals with her, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said a mite dourly, “it’s been a while though since I’ve had time for pen palling. While we’re in the Empire, I’ll need to make time for it.”
“Hmmm, that’s a good idea,” Rarity nodded, drifting into thoughts. Bubbles certainly was an interesting woman. Rarity remembered that she had quite the ethereal glow around her eyes—oh.
Rarity snorted and curled into a ball, laughing into her fist at just how absurd a life she’d ended up living.
“You okay, Rarity?” Pinkie asked, putting her soft hand on Rarity’s thigh.
“I am,” Rarity rolled her eyes.
Just how many dragons had Rarity met in her lifetime that were hiding in plain sight? All this time, the people of Equestria thought that any dragon that came into the country would burn down entire villages and leave a trail of corpses in their wake, but the truth was they were already living amongst ponies, likely by the dozens at least, causing no problems whatsoever.
There was no reason to share Rarity’s suspicions though. While Rarity was about ninety-eight percent certain that she was right about Bubbles’ lineage, it wouldn’t do to divulge her secrets to others, or to spread rumors if Rarity turned out to be wrong.
“So Rarity,” Pinkie said fondly, capturing Rarity’s attention now that she had decided to place her previous thought train on hold, “when we get to the Empire, what do you wanna do? I mean, after we do all the important diplomacy stuff?”
“Rest,” Rarity groaned dramatically. “I could use a little time off, quite frankly.”
“I can get into that,” Pinkie nodded understandingly, patting Rarity’s leg. “We should rest together!”
“Pinkie Pie, dear,” Rarity sighed softly, running her fingers through Pinkie’s curly mane as the adorable pink pony cooed and snorted at Rarity’s touch, “I would like nothing more.”
238. You Ever Feel So Gay It Makes You Feel Like An Oaf???
Fluttershy walked through the train to the Crystal Empire. It was a good thing not a lot of ponies were headed there, because Fluttershy had to walk through cabin after cabin after cabin until she finally realized she wasn’t going to find what she was looking for. Or ‘who’, rather.
One might think it would be difficult for a mare as large as Applejack to just disappear, especially on a nearly empty train, but alas that was the situation Fluttershy found herself in as she searched for her.
Fluttershy was starting to worry that something may have happened to Applejack, and she wondered if perhaps she should ask one of the others where she went, but then Fluttershy decided she was probably just being silly and worrying over nothing like she always does and that she didn’t want to bother any of the others and besides they’d probably make fun of her for worrying anyway.
But then, what if Applejack was in trouble? What if she needed help? And Fluttershy was the only one who noticed she was missing and she wasn’t helping at all and now something horrible was going to happen to Applejack and it was all her fault cuz she was too embarrassed to ask someone for help!
And what if she said that to one of the others and they laughed at her for being silly? And what if—
Actually, as Fluttershy sat curled into a ball in the corner of the eerily vacant dining cabin, she thought to herself ‘what if I just use my magic that’s good at finding people’. And now she felt silly.
Granted, even with her face turning a painful, burning red, she felt more relieved than silly once she was able to easily detect Applejack’s presence nearby, and confirm that she wasn’t hurt or anything. That sense of relief was even enough to override the anxiety that Fluttershy had originally felt about talking to Applejack at all.
It was also enough for Fluttershy to not question where she detected Applejack’s presence, and why she was there. Fluttershy just exited out of one of the cabins and spread her wings, flying on top of the roof of the train where Applejack was sitting.
Fluttershy wasn’t used to the wind speed though and as soon as she flew above the train, the wind slammed her into one of the cars like a pancake hitting the wall, Fluttershy splatting flat against it and feeling a throbbing pain in her everything.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack cried out as she looked over and saw the flattened dragon trying to claw her way onto Applejack’s car.
Applejack came over to help Fluttershy up, and as Fluttershy stood to her feet, Applejack held her in her arms to help Fluttershy remain centered, and not only was the massive wall of beef that made up Applejack’s body a very good deterrent from the wind, it was also warm and soft and Fluttershy was gay.
Fluttershy absolutely loathed to admit it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Applejack after their battle the other night. And not in the way that Fluttershy had been thinking of her— with contempt and jealousy— no, now Fluttershy was thinking of Applejack taking Fluttershy’s tiny frail pony body in her massive arms and just snapping her like a twig.
“Isn’t it dangerous? To be up here, I mean.” Fluttershy asked, using a small tinge of magic not only so that Applejack could hear her over the roar of the wind as the train they stood on galloped through the tundra leading to the Crystal Empire, but also so that same wind wouldn’t blow away the old hat resting on Fluttershy’s head.
“Not for me it ain’t,” Applejack shrugged. She looked back over to where she had been sitting, then looked out ahead toward where the train was going; Fluttershy turned to look too, but there weren’t any tunnels or low hanging bridges or anything in their future. “At least as long as I don’t fall off, I guess.”
“But you wouldn’t do that,” Fluttershy giggled, “cuz you’re too tough, right?”
“I dunno if I’d say that,” Applejack chuckled, and she was still holding tightly to Fluttershy to make sure she didn’t lose her balance or something, and Fluttershy was about ready to start freaking out cuz her brain was full of too much gay. “But I been climbin’ up on top of trains since I was a filly. Don’t really bother me none.”
“That’s so cool,” Fluttershy cooed, and at the sound of Applejack’s laughter, Fluttershy felt that familiar stinging sensation of embarrassment burning her cheeks, and the tips of her ears at that.
“Thank ye kindly, Fluttershy!” Applejack said with a big grin. “I think you’re cool too!”
Oh gosh, she complimented me!
Fluttershy bit her lip and put a hand on her cheek as she turned her gaze away from Applejack. This was so asinine! Why now was she suddenly acting like such a smitten kitten—oh, kittens, Fluttershy would love to play with some kittens— ahem, such a smitten kitten around Applejack?!
But then Fluttershy looked up and got her answer in the form of a giant, muscled mare with a gleaming smile that sucker punched all the worries straight out of Fluttershy’s brain space. When she was in Applejack’s arms, there was only Applejack.
“Oh, Applejack!” Fluttershy chirped, remembering she was still wearing the pony’s hat.
“Yes, hon?” Applejack said sweetly, Fluttershy feeling weak at the knees like a damn idiot.
“Uhhh, your hat!” Fluttershy took the hat off her head and handed it to Applejack, only for her to take it and place it right back on Fluttershy’s head.
“You hold onto it for a bit, sugarcube,” Applejack smiled, and Fluttershy bit her tongue to stop herself from erupting into a fit of smitten giggles. “Think of it as like a token of our friendship!”
Fluttershy let her fingers trace the edge of the hat as a smitten smile spread across her lips.
“O-okay,” she said bashfully, a warm glow washing over her like settling into a hot bath after a long day, “I would be honored to.”
239. Welcome to the Crystal Empire (such as it is)
Rarity gently brushed her thumb in the crease between Twilight’s thumb and forefinger as the pair waited for the train door to open so they could depart.
“How’re you holding up?” Rarity asked.
This was it; they were but a few short moments from stepping hoof into the Crystal Empire, something that Twilight had long dreaded. It didn’t take much of Rarity’s keen insight and empathy to understand that the thick glut of sweat coating Twilight’s face meant she was nervous.
“I’ll be okay,” Twilight said, feigning confidence rather admirably, “as long as you’re with me.”
“I will be,” Rarity raised her hand to Twilight’s cheek, the lavender beauty leaning into it and purring. Stars how Rarity had missed this. “Forever and always.”
The doors opened, and Twilight’s ears fell flat against her head. Rarity entwined her tail with Twilight’s and looked up at her with a bright smile, Twilight mirroring the gesture as closely as her frayed nerves would allow.
Rarity wasn’t sure what to expect when they reached the Crystal Empire; it wasn’t an area that was particularly popular for tourism, so the station was almost completely empty, but what surprised Rarity more was how quaint it was.
Aside from the difference in architecture, there was hardly anything separating the small platform and the meager station behind it from the station in Canterlot’s Moon District. Frankly, Rarity was a little disappointed. She was hoping that a place called the Crystal Empire would be a tad more extra.
The platform itself was nearly devoid of life, no passersby going to or fro, and no one waiting for the party’s arrival except for a single alicorn mare, a smidge taller than the average pony but shorter than the two goddesses of Equestria, whose bright pink coat were beautifully complimented by the curls of violet, pink, and gold in her mane.
She was dressed extravagantly, but subtly. Her tunic was decorated with gold trim, and her pants that almost looked to be one size too big for her were decorated at the hem with a few scattered gemstones, as though an amateur had sewn them. Truth be told, she looked less ‘extravagant’ the more Rarity looked at her, but her confidence and beauty made her look radiant nonetheless.
“Rarity!” Cadance beamed and opened her arms wide as Rarity departed from the train, and Rarity looked to Twilight, who nodded her approval, before she wrapped Cadance up in a comfortable hug, Cadance squeezing her tight and Rarity unable to hold back her laughter.
“It’s been far too long, I think,” Rarity said, looking Cadance over once more. It was frankly criminal how gorgeous she was; the only woman outside Rarity’s growing polycule who Rarity would admit could equal or even surpass— on a good day!— Rarity’s own beauty.
“It has, and I want to catch up with you desperately,” Cadance leaned to the side, looking past Rarity at an awkward and bashful looking Twilight, “but first…”
“Oh, this sucks!” Spike declared dourly as he stepped out onto the admittedly unimpressive station platform.
“I gotta say,” Applejack added, “I expected a tad more, uhhhh, opulence? Is that the word? Rarity, help a gal out?”
“Opulence is fine, sweetheart,” Rarity giggled.
“The Empire’s seen better days,” Cadance shrugged. “A lot of our resources are dwindling due to lack of trade with Equestria, and the resources we do have are being spent… uh… sub-optimally, I guess.”
“Because of Gladmane?” Rarity whispered. She wasn’t sure if she needed to be paranoid, but that never stopped her before.
“Mm,” Cadance nodded. “But enough about that!” Cadance clapped her hands and beamed, stars gleaming in her eyes. “Twilight Sparkle, I simply must make your acquaintance!”
“Uhh, yeah sure,” Twilight said awkwardly as she finished talking with Applejack and Spike, who subsequently headed off further toward the Empire on their own, and Twilight concentrated her attention on Cadance. “Uh, hi, yes! I’m Twilight Sparkle! Pleasure to meet you!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Twilight!” Cadance said cheerily, shaking Twilight’s hand rather vigorously.
“Darling, she’s nervous, give her some space,” Rarity whispered, putting a hand on Cadance’s shoulder and pulling her off of Twilight.
“S-sorry,” Cadance said, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m a little overeager, I apologize! I’m just excited to meet you!”
“I’m excited to meet you too,” Twilight nodded, “I’ve heard good things.” Twilight paused, and tilted her head a bit. “Actually, I haven’t heard any things. Rarity has never talked about you.”
“Is that right?” Cadance gave Rarity a catlike grin and Rarity immediately laughed extremely awkwardly.
“I swear it wasn’t on purpose, I just never had the time!” Rarity hastily explained. “Hey so anyway where’s Rainbow Dash!”
Rarity hurried along to the train and poked her head in, and a disgruntled and yet completely unsurprised frown washed over her face as she saw Rainbow Dash, struggling against Pinkie Pie pulling her and Fluttershy pushing her as they were attempting to get her off the train.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said flatly, and the three women ceased their struggles to look at her. “What is this.”
Rainbow couldn’t muster up a defense, merely puffing up her cheeks and looking ashamedly at the ground, slowly plodding along to the exit of the train as Rarity stood nearby, crossing her arms and tapping her hoof like a disappointed mother.
Rarity hopped off the train after Rainbow, with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in tow, and Cadance’s eyes immediately lit up as she saw them, specifically Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash,” Cadance held out her hand, her arm stiff as a board as she stayed a comfortable distance from Rainbow, but she wore a genuinely warm smile on her face. “Long time no see, hotshot.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow’s entire face turned beet red as her trembling hand made contact with Cadance’s, and they shook politely. Rainbow’s puppy love crush on Cadance didn’t seem to fade with time.
Rainbow took off on her own right after, she didn’t share any words with anyone else. Fluttershy and Pinkie left with her, Pinkie holding her hand and Fluttershy putting her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, and Rarity smiled as she watched them go, leaving just her, Twilight, and Cadance on the platform.
“Is that right?” Rarity arched an eyebrow. “I’m surprised to hear that from you now. You hardly gave her the time of day back wh—”
“I hardly gave anyone the time of day,” Cadance sighed bitterly. “Back when I was training constantly to live up to the expectations of Celestia’s star pupil? Relationships just weren’t in the cards. And I dunno, I’m not saying I wanna marry her or anything, but you gotta admit, she’s pretty cute.”
“She’s right, Rarity,” Twilight chimed in with that charming smirk of hers. “Rainbow is pretty cute.”
“True enough, I suppose,” Rarity shrugged. “Well if you want to pursue something with her, I’m not going to stop you or anything.”
“I at least want to get a chance to talk to her,”Cadance said thoughtfully, looking in the direction Rainbow had left. “And we’ll just see what happens.”
“You do that, Cadance,” Rarity groaned in exhaustion, rubbing her temples. “All I want to do is lie down for a bit.”
“Yeah,” Twilight sighed and held Rarity’s hand, “it’s been a long trip.”
“So, explain to me,” Pinkie Pie hummed as Rainbow meandered behind her and Fluttershy, trotting through the eerily empty streets of the Crystal Empire, “what’s the deal with this Cadance lady?”
“I know what the deal is,” Fluttershy giggled and looked back at Rainbow with a coy smirk. “Rainbow’s got a cruuuuush.”
“Shut up! You are!” Rainbow said bashfully, steaming mad as her face got all red and sunburned-feeling.
“She are what?” Pinkie asked confusedly, looking up at Fluttershy who just shrugged with a smile on her face.
“Yeah, Rainbow?” Fluttershy looked at Rainbow and blinked innocently, and Rainbow cursed her for being so damn cute. “What are I?”
“You’re— y’know— fu— uhh— cool and I like you, shut up,” Rainbow muttered, crossing her arms in a huff.
“You’re cool and I like you too,” Fluttershy daintily skipped over to Rainbow and planted a kiss on her cheek, Rainbow’s head exploding from the sudden deluge of gay feelings.
“Truth is—” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and paused. She looked around and realized that it was actually like super weird that there weren’t ponies on the streets. “Hey, where is everyone?”
“In their homes, probably,” Fluttershy said. “It’s almost sundown already, and there’s a curfew.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said. “Are we gonna get in trouble for being on the streets?”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head, “it’s not enforced, just ‘encouraged’.”
“How do you know all this?” Pinkie asked confusedly, mirroring Rainbow’s sentiments exactly.
“Weren’t you guys listening to Twilight’s lecture on the habits and rituals of the Crystal Empire citizenry this morning?”
Pinkie and Rainbow looked at each other, Rainbow vaguely remembering Twilight getting them all together to talk about some boring stuff that she slept through.
“No,” Rainbow said flatly.
“I was still thinking about Applejack’s cock,” Pinkie added, Rainbow nodding in agreement.
“I see,” Fluttershy blushed and tapped her fingers together. “Well I paid attention, and it was fascinating.”
Rainbow looked around a bit more; the Crystal Empire was like one part crystal buildings and statues and stuff, one part nature with big trees and stuff. And kinda like Green Neigh, the winter chill didn’t penetrate the magic of this place, at least not much. It was still cold, and there was a hint of ice dripping off the trees and rooftops, but the grass and stuff was still green as hell.
Anyway, Rainbow wanted to get off the streets so the gals set up camp at a nearby park, Rainbow starfishing on the grass as the other two sat on a bench.
“So like I was saying,” Rainbow sat up to explain herself. “The truth is, I used to have—well, hell still have—a huge crush on Cadance. When I first became a Slayer, I was basically a laughingstock, and she was really nice to me, and it meant so much for Celestia’s star pupil to show me that kinda kindness.
“She was like everything I wanted to be, y’know? Cool and heroic, and sexy and— I dunno, just nice, I guess. Plus, y’know, alicorns are kinda sexy.”
“Is that right?” Cadance said sweetly, standing behind the bench with a coy smile, Pinkie and Fluttershy jumping as they noticed her presence and just all the color draining from Rainbow’s uhhhh everything. She was gonna have to change her name. “That’s really sweet of you to say that, hotshot.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow croaked, wishing she was dead.
“You didn’t hear anything!” Pinkie stood up like a shot and pointed a finger at Cadance, who just laughed softly in return.
“I heard everything, actually,” Cadance said, and as she turned her attention back to Rainbow, the pegasus felt like her bones were melting and seeping out through her pores. “And I’m flattered! I knew you had a bit of a crush, but I didn’t know that I had helped you like that, I’m really glad to hear it. And it seems like everything’s worked out pretty well for you.”
“Well, I got kicked out of the Slayers,” Rainbow grumbled, curling up into a ball and holding her legs in front of her like a shield.
“So like I said,” Cadance said flatly, and Rainbow let out a little laugh at that. “You’re doing great.” Cadance sighed and walked over beside Rainbow Dash, sitting at a comfortable distance from her and mirroring her legs-curled-up position. “I was hoping we might be able to hang out sometime. Like, maybe tomorrow? Over coffee? I’ve heard a lot about you from Rarity, and I’ve always wanted a chance to meet you myself.”
Cadance extended her hand.
“What do you say?”
Rainbow looked over to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who were both nodding excitedly with Pinkie even clasping her hands and her eyes were glittering with stars, and Rainbow smiled.
“Cadance?” Rainbow said, and she put her hand in Cadance’s, and the two women smiled brightly at each other. “I would really like that.”
Twilight Sparkle felt… ‘like garbage’ didn’t sound quite right. Garbage didn’t really ‘feel’ like anything, but then maybe she was just taking the turn of phrase too literally. She felt like she wanted to crawl into a little cave nestled deep within the mountains, and then curl up and rot away as the passage of time desecrated her flesh and left her bones nothing more than ash and dust.
Too morbid. Maybe Rarity’s flair for melodrama was rubbing off on her.
She was sitting inside a nice restaurant; there were only a few other ponies inside— and they were all ponies; Twilight hadn't seen any dragons since arriving in the Empire, but it was already getting late, so maybe…
Anyway. There were a couple ponies. Who cares.
Rarity was sitting next to Twilight in the booth, engaged in lively conversation with Applejack and Spike sitting across from her. Twilight wasn’t listening to any of it. She wasn’t touching her food either. She simultaneously wanted someone to notice and ask if she was doing okay, and also disappear entirely and never speak to anyone again.
It didn’t matter. If anyone asked how she was, she would simply say ‘I’m okay’ and brush the subject under the rug.
“Twilight, my love?” Rarity said concernedly, and Twilight barely registered her soft fingers brushing against Twilight’s hand. “Is something the matter?”
Twilight shook her head. She didn’t look at Rarity.
“Hmm,” Rarity hummed. That helpless hum when you know someone you love is lying to you but you don’t know whether it’s worth it to pry. “Do you want to get away for a second?”
Twilight twitched her nose or her lips or something; a flicker of a scowl that was washed away as quickly as it came by an overwhelming apathy. That was all the response Rarity was going to get from her.
Rarity scooched closer to Twilight. She put her hand on Twilight’s and rested her head on Twilight’s shoulder, entwining their tails together.
She didn’t say any words. She didn’t need to, the gesture was enough.
Twilight put her hand up to her face, digging her nails into her skull as she tried desperately to… honestly she wasn’t sure if she was trying to hold tears back or beckon them forth. They weren’t coming, either way.
Twilight let out a sigh, and she could feel her breath leaving her and it felt heavy, like a toxic cloud. She needed to get her head on straight. She needed to focus on what mattered, and it wasn’t her stupid feelings.
Or maybe it was? Maybe there was a lot of things that mattered, and Twilight just couldn’t juggle them all in her head and they all came crashing down on her at once. It’s never just one thing, there’s always intersections and domino trails. It’s never just one thing.
“I want to tear my eyeballs out,” Twilight said, her voice a disgusting hiss that poisoned the mood of everyone around her, “of my skull, and place them on the table. I want to crush them, into paste, with my fists.”
“Why?” Applejack asked, and Twilight gave her the mother of all death glares, Applejack meeting it without flinching.
How dare she ask Twilight why. Not because Twilight didn’t have an answer, because holy shit did Twilight have an answer, but it was sickening to think that someone so supposedly close to her could ignore everything that felt like it was ripping and tearing at Twilight’s skin every damn day.
“What do you mean why?” Twilight hissed. “My people are being hunted down and killed, or treated like slaves, my brain is full of horrors stories of friends’ deaths, or eye-bleeding memories of seeing them killed myself! I’ll never be free of these horrors! Someday we can maybe— MAYBE— make a world where future generations won’t have to suffer, but I’ll always carry the nightmares of my family with me.
“And for what? What does it matter? When innocent people are being tortured and killed and imprisoned for life, when children can’t show their true skin without fear of being murdered in their homes, when everyone who looks like me has to live with the burden every day of worrying that maybe this time they’ll be the horror story… what the hell do any of my feelings matter?”
“Twilight—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Twilight stood to her feet, barely even registering who spoke to her. “I want to be alone.”
Twilight teleported out of the restaurant. She didn’t know where she was, the Crystal Empire was foreign to her. She teleported again, and again and again and again until she was looking over the Empire from outside on a nearby hill.
She felt the grass under her hands and knees, but she didn’t feel much else. She curled into a ball, face to the grass and hands clutching the back of her head.
Twilight was still lying on the same hill well after the moon rose into the sky. Apparently in Equestria ponies believed that Celestia and Luna rose the sun and moon, and Twilight wondered if that was true. She didn’t like the implication that the entire world’s ecosystem relied that heavily on specifically ponies.
If Twilight tried hard enough, could she raise the sun? Probably, actually. Magic was pretty powerful and could do a lot of amazing things.
Twilight sat up and curled into a ball, her back against a big tree. She felt bad about how she just ghosted her friends, but the thought of going back to them right now and having to apologize made her sick. She said she wanted to be alone, and that was true, but she also wanted someone to tell her that things were gonna be okay, and that she wasn’t crazy or anything for feeling the way she felt.
As if on cue, Twilight heard hoofsteps traipsing through the grass up her hill, and as she looked over she saw Fluttershy climbing up, waving at Twilight with a gentle smile on her face, and Twilight waved back awkwardly.
Fluttershy took a few timid steps closer and pointed at the ground next to Twilight, cocking her head. Twilight nodded and scooched over a bit, patting the ground next to her so Fluttershy would feel welcomed to sit down.
Fluttershy twitched her wings and slowly outstretched one, Twilight giving a half-hearted chuckle and nodding, allowing Fluttershy to feel comfortable stretching her wing across Twilight’s back. Twilight scooched a little closer so Fluttershy could wrap the wing all the way around her.
Twilight sighed. She still didn’t feel great, but she felt a little bit better with Fluttershy nearby, she supposed. She looked over at Fluttershy and couldn’t help but giggle; Fluttershy was smiling at her and she had the cutest little dimples.
Fluttershy gave a coy smirk and lifted her hand, wiggling her fingers and making Twilight laugh. Twilight folded her legs under her and put her hand on her thigh, Fluttershy placing hers on top of Twilight’s.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Fluttershy asked sweetly. Twilight shook her head.
“I really don’t,” Twilight said, “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Fluttershy gently squeezed Twilight’s hand. “Believe me, I understand. If you ever do wanna talk, I’m here.”
“Thank you,” Twilight sighed, and when Fluttershy put her arm around Twilight, she melted into Fluttershy’s embrace, wrapping her up in a tender hug. “Just you being here is enough.”
Pinkie Pie kicked her legs in the air as they dangled off the single bench on the Crystal Empire train station platform. Even under the soft, flattering glow of the moonlight, the station wasn’t much to look at, and it didn’t have the trademark hustle and bustle of the stations that Pinkie was used to.
Oh well. It was pleasant enough, and the air was really crisp and clean. There was a bit of a chill, but not like an unbearable one. It was… nice enough.
Granted, the train Pinkie was waiting for wouldn’t be coming until tomorrow morning, and it’s not like she was going to wait up all night, but it just felt right to sit at the station for a bit.
Pinkie had a lot to think about. She was excited to hang out with her sister Maud, it’d been a while since they’d gotten to hang, but she was decidedly less excited to hang out with Trixie. Pinkie wasn’t sure what to do.
Trixie was mean, and she tried to eat Pinkie! Was Pinkie just supposed to forgive that? Pretend that it never happened? Then again, the parallels to Pinkie’s relationship with Fluttershy didn’t escape her. But even still, as much as Pinkie hated to admit it, she had been a little bit distant from Fluttershy since that night.
Too much thoughts. Brain full head empty. Or was that the other way around?
“There you are, darling!” Rarity called out, and Pinkie looked back at her and beamed. It was nice to see a friendly face. Rarity sat down next to Pinkie and slapped her thigh. “I was almost worried!”
“You don’t gotta worry about me,” Pinkie grinned, “I’m just sitting here waiting for Maud.”
“Isn’t she, uh, coming tomorrow?” Rarity asked, cocking her head a little bit and pursing her lips.
“She is,” Pinkie nodded, “she is.” Pinkie let out a big sigh and rested her cheeks on her hands, Rarity rubbing her back all rhythmic like. It was nice.
“And you’re worried about her,” Rarity said, “because of Trixie, I take it?”
“Mmmm yes,” Pinkie grumbled and crossed her arms. She wanted to be understanding, but she just—oh wait, she could just say this stuff to Rarity! “I want to be understanding! But I just— Trixie is—ARGH!”
“What exactly is the problem?” Rarity asked. “I understand to a point, if one of my friends started being chummy with Lightning Dust, I would take some umbrage, but I’m not sure that’s a one-to-one comparison considering Trixie didn’t skin anyone.”
“True, though she did attempt to murder a kid, from what Twilight said,” Pinkie said grumpily. She stood up and paced the empty station platform, her hooves clunking against the crystal echoing in the otherwise silent night air.
“She tried to kill Spike,” Rarity hummed, crossing one leg over the other, “and yet Twilight found it in her heart to forgive her.”
“Yeah what’s up with that?” Pinkie sputtered and scoffed and spat and other words that expressed disgust. “What was she thinking?”
“I don’t know,” Rarity said, “but frankly, I trust her judgment. There is a part of me that agrees with you, of course, but I also worry that old biases die hard, and if Twilight is willing to put her faith in Trixie, and I put my faith in Twilight, well…”
“And you know what, Rarity? I respect that!” Pinkie said gladly, Rarity nodding her approval. “And also?” Pinkie blew a big raspberry, Rarity glowering in disapproval as Pinkie just kept going until she ran out of steam.
“You don’t have to get along with all of Maud’s friends, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said. “If you don’t want to give Trixie the time of day? Then don’t. But you do have to respect Maud’s agency, and you should trust her judgment.”
“Well, it’s not just that I don’t like Trixie,” Pinkie pouted and sat on the ground, crossing her legs all meditatively like. “I’m worried about Maud, I’m worried that Trixie might hurt her!”
“And that’s where the trust comes in,” Rarity shot back. “Maud isn’t a precious plaything that you can nurture and protect and smother. She’s your sister, and your friend. But most of all? She’s her own woman, and you need to respect her choices, and trust that she knows what’s best for herself.”
Pinkie huffed and puffed and if there were any houses around to blow down she would’ve done that too but only if they were empty and didn’t belong to anypony, though if they belonged to the city she’d still blow them down cuz what was the city doing with empty houses if someone needed them there was no reason for the city to be protecting buildings when those buildings could be used to protect and shelter actual lives which were always always always more important than measly ol’ property.
“Okay, you’re right,” Pinkie grumbled and twisted her face up into a big mean scrunch, “but I don’t have to like it.”
“No, you don’t,” Rarity chuckled and stood up, cantering over to Pinkie before kneeling in front of her and taking Pinkie’s hands, “but you do have to accept it.”
“I know, I know,” Pinkie sighed. “And I will and I do. I still don’t like it though.”
“Well if it makes you feel any better,” Rarity put her hands on Pinkie’s cheeks and smiled at her, pressing their noses softly together, “I’ll not like it with you.”
“Thanks, Rarity,” Pinkie cooed, giving Rarity a big soft hug, “that makes me feel a lot better.”
Rainbow Dash stirred awake and lifted her arms above her head and all that stuff you do when you first wake up, but as soon as she was like cognizant of stuff, she immediately wrapped those arms around her big beefy farm titan girlfriend who was just waking up in the bed right next to her.
“Hey, Jackie,” Rainbow purred and nibbled on Jackie’s ear, “you awake yet?”
“Mm, barely,” Applejack mumbled. Rainbow didn’t wanna disturb her too much in that case, so she settled for just lying up against her and putting her hands on Applejack’s chest, which felt pretty great.
“Well lemme know when you wake up,” Rainbow said, settling back into bed and thinking she might catch a few more winks herself.
“Why, are you that thirsty already?” Applejack chuckled, and Rainbow cackled back.
“No,” Rainbow hummed, “I just like being with you.”
“Aww, yer sweet,” Applejack turned around and put her arms around Rainbow, even squeezing her butt for good measure which Rainbow was super down with! “I like bein’ with you too.”
“That’s kinda gay,” Rainbow teased, Applejack laughing and laying a kiss on Rainbow’s lips.
“You are,” Applejack said and now Rainbow was the one laughing.
“Yeah, you may be onto something,” Rainbow put her arms around Applejack and kissed her lips and she was just like— like, it still baffled her even now that Applejack was her girlfriend and she could just kiss her and stuff. WILD.
Applejack groaned and sat up, and while Rainbow was disappointed to have to take her hands off her, she still enjoyed the view of Applejack’s muscular chest. And then she realized oh yeah, she didn’t have to take her hands off! So she put her hand on Applejack’s chest and got a giggle out of the sexy mare, and then took it a step further and squeezed AJ’s thick ass.
“Damn you’re good,” Rainbow bit her lip and hissed, grabbing and squeezing and just making the most out of how hot her girlfriend’s ass was.
“Yeah, well,” Applejack picked Rainbow up off the bed and then dropped her right back down onto it, pinning her down and pressing their bodies together just enough for Rainbow to feel a jolt through her whole body, “yer not so bad yerself.”
What happened next was definitely not appropriate to just be talking about, suffice to say that Rainbow got her behind rocked by Applejack’s massive uhhhh massiveness, and she had stuff gushing out of her hole like an exploded water pipe.
“Hope the hotel don’t mind that you ruined the sheets, hon,” Applejack chuckled, and Rainbow let out an elated gurgle in response. “Oh, by the way-” Applejack scooped Rainbow up outta the bed and cradled her in her arms, Rainbow still glowing from the way Applejack worked over her body and just going along with it “-you have a date with that gal Cadance this morning, right?”
“Oh yeah, huh,” Rainbow said, totally forgetting for a sec that was a thing that was gonna happen. “Wild. Now that you mention it, like super wild, cuz Cadance was my big ‘my whole world revolves around my lesbian feelings’ crush I had right before you.”
“Seems like they both worked out alright,” Applejack grinned, and Rainbow wanted to snark at her but damn that confidence was sexy.
“Seems like,” Rainbow said dryly and fluttered her wings, hovering in the air and perching herself on Applejack’s broad shoulder.
“You excited?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah! I am!” Rainbow beamed. “It’s just weird cuz like, I dunno. I don’t wanna like, marry her or anything. And I’ve already got two really swell relationships with you and Twilight, who by the way we gotta take her out today, she was really down yesterday huh?”
“She was,” Applejack nodded slowly.
Rainbow wasn’t there for Twilight’s breakdown, she only heard about it after the fact, but she knew AJ must’ve been beating herself up pretty bad for not being able to help Twi, even if that was a totally unrealistic expectation to put on herself. And heck, nopony knew more about placing unrealistic expectations on yourself like Rainbow Dash.
“So anyway, about Cadance,” Applejack said, Rainbow’s ears perking in attention. “It’s fine if you don’t wanna pursue anything serious with her. Pinkie was lookin’ to do that with Tempest Shadow—”
“And look how that turned out,” Rainbow said flatly.
“Not the point,” Applejack shot back. “It don’t have to be a whole thing. You can just talk and flirt and hold hands and even kiss and have sex with a gal just… cuz. Cuz you want to. I ain’t got a problem with it, and I know Twilight doesn’t either.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Rainbow shrugged and floated down to the ground in front of Applejack. “You think I worry too much?”
“I know you do,” Applejack said and smacked Rainbow’s ass, Rainbow jumping in response and her tongue falling outta her mouth for like one embarrassing second. “But that’s okay, we all do.”
Twilight didn’t want to get out of bed. Partly because she was still feeling the lingering storm cloud of depression hovering over her, but also because she was in bed with Rarity and there was no place she would rather be.
She turned over and looked at Rarity, who was still mostly asleep but her eyes were fluttering open and she was awake enough to smile at Twilight, who smiled back. She brushed Rarity’s hand, and she wanted to hug her— no, to cling to her like a life raft.
So she just… did that, wrapping her arms around Rarity and weeping softly, Rarity putting her arms around Twilight in return.
Twilight wanted to keep at least a modicum of composure, so she just squeaked out some tears here and there, but it just wasn’t enough. Her tears kept coming and wouldn’t stop, until finally she was openly sobbing in Rarity’s arms, Rarity content to rub her back and hum a gentle melody to her as she pressed her face into Rarity’s chest.
After a while, Twilight finally stopped crying. She didn’t know how much time had passed. She was now sitting on the edge of the bed, Rarity leaning against her with her arms still around Twilight’s stomach, and Twilight’s arm around her.
If it weren’t for Rarity, Twilight had no idea what she would have done. She likely would have drowned in her despair, at least for a while before she forced herself to climb back out of her hole for her son’s sake.
Twilight took some deep breaths, and wiped her tears away. Rarity stood up and gently wiped Twilight’s tears herself, a heavenly smile on her face as she did so. Honestly, Twilight almost started crying again because of how beautiful and kind Rarity was, but she managed to contain herself.
Rarity took Twilight’s hand and cocked her head toward the door, and Twilight nodded. It would be nice to get out and walk around for a bit, maybe see her friends. It helped that the Crystal Empire was just warm enough that no one would look at Twilight oddly for being naked; she really didn’t feel like getting dressed right now.
And if she allowed herself just a moment of mischievous selfishness, she really didn’t want Rarity to get dressed either, because UNF.
Rarity led Twilight by the hand into the hotel hallway. For all the complaints Rarity had made before about the Crystal Empire’s mediocre train station, that Twilight honestly couldn’t help but agree with, the hotel was lavish. Very warm and cozy, but spacious enough to not feel cramped. Soft carpets too.
The pair ran into Fluttershy in the hallway, and she beamed at the two, Twilight smiling awkwardly back. She wanted to tell Fluttershy how much she appreciated her comfort yesterday, but Twilight couldn’t muster up the urge to say much of anything.
Rarity and Fluttershy engaged in cheerful small talk for a moment, which they did with Twilight’s blessing. Apparently the party were all going to be having breakfast together this morning and Rarity, ever the perfectionist, needed to make sure everything was going according to plan. Twilight admired that a lot about her, quite frankly.
As for Fluttershy and Twilight, they were headed to the lobby while Rarity made sure the others were all awake. Fluttershy held onto Twilight’s hand, and Twilight was trying not to feel gay about it since she didn’t have that kind of relationship with Fluttershy, but it was hard not to when her hand was so soft and gentle and her body was so beautiful and charming. Also she was still naked too, which… wow.
Fluttershy pulled Twilight aside and into her room for a moment, looking down below Twilight’s waist and grinning. Since both women were naked, it was hard to hide their attraction to each other, and Twilight just blushed nervously as Fluttershy giggled.
“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Fluttershy whispered, “but I wanted to extend the invitation, if you’re interested.”
“I am,” Twilight shuddered as her tip grazed against Fluttershy’s, “extremely interested, actually.”
Fluttershy put her hands on Twilight’s hips, and Twilight just kinda awkwardly fidgeted cuz she didn’t know what to do. She hadn't considered this scenario and she hadn't worked out a plan for what to do if Fluttershy made a move on her, so all she could think to do was blush profusely and try not to say anything too stupid.
Twilight bit her lip as Fluttershy’s hands wandered up and down Twilight’s sides, both girls’ bodies twitching in anticipation, but it soon became evident that Fluttershy was no more prepared for this than Twilight was, and if one of them didn’t take the initiative soon it was going to end up a very embarrassing situation that neither of them would ever want to think about ever again. Which would be bad.
There was so much that Twilight wanted to do to and with Fluttershy’s naked body, but now presented with the opportunity she was completely derailing in her head. Rarity was usually the one who took the initiative, and even when Twilight did, it was specifically to show Rarity a good time and to put an interesting spin on their dynamic.
She didn’t know what her dynamic with Fluttershy was, so she was just—
A gentle rap at the door led to a sigh of relief from both women, Fluttershy quickly opening it without a word. It was Rarity.
“Uh, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Rarity giggled coyly.
“Not exactly,” Twilight said dourly, Fluttershy letting out a groaning whimper.
“What’s the matter?” Rarity asked concernedly, and when neither Fluttershy nor Twilight could bring themselves to reply with more than an embarrassed mumble, Rarity let out a soft but haughty laugh. “Were you two trying to get something started in here? But you don’t know each other well enough to know what the other likes, so you got cold feet?”
“Pretty much,” Twilight sighed.
“Sorry,” Fluttershy bemoaned and covered her face with her hands. “I got caught up in the moment and thought I could be assertive, but I—”
“Fluttershy, sweetheart, it’s alright,” Rarity put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder before running it through her mane and cradling her cheek. “I have a solution.”
“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked, and Twilight was quite curious as well.
“Well, if it’s alright with Twilight, and it’s alright with you,” Rarity grinned seductively and licked her lips, her eyes landing on Twilight like a theater spotlight, “I could show you what Twilight likes.”
“I am okay with that,” Twilight said flatly, her face turning bright red.
“You mean,” Fluttershy twiddled her fingers, “I could just watch?”
“Just watch?” Rarity laughed and walked into the room, the door closing behind her as she grabbed hold of Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s balls at once, both girls letting out smitten squeaks. “My darling, you underestimate me.”
Twilight still wasn’t feeling great, but she wasn’t feeling so not great that she couldn’t expend a little bit of her time to help out a friend, and in this case it was Pinkie Pie who needed her help. Also, helping out Pinkie Pie would give Twilight a little more time to not think about Shining Armor and everything else.
And on top of that, it would give her some time to process what went down with her, Rarity, and Fluttershy because WOW. Twilight had no idea that was Rarity so… WOW.
“Thank you for doing this, Twilight,” Pinkie said softly, walking hand in hand with Twilight to the Crystal Empire train station, such as it was.
“It’s my pleasure, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled. “I’m happy to help, and plus I’m excited to meet your sister.”
“Oh, Maud is super great!” Pinkie beamed and jumped for joy; it seemed just mentioning her sister was enough to get her excited instead of nervous. “She’s super smart and cool, I think you’re gonna like her a lot.”
“I hope so,” Twilight giggled and squeezed Pinkie’s hand. “If she’s anything like you, I’m sure I’ll love her.”
“She isn’t,” Pinkie said innocently, and something about that made Twilight laugh, “but I’m sure you’re gonna love her anyway!”
“I’m sure I will,” Twilight nodded.
Granted, helping Pinkie and meeting her sister weren’t the only reasons Twilight agreed to walk Pinkie to the train station. Twilight was also looking forward to meeting up with a familiar face, and it was hard not to notice her lounging on the station platform since she was sprawled across it in her true form.
“Trixie!” Twilight said delightedly, the dragon lazily looking over at her with a decidedly unenthusiastic look on her face.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie yawned. “Still going with the whole pony disguise, huh?”
“Well, yeah,” Twilight said bashfully. “I don’t wanna cause anyone any trouble.”
“Gawd, you’re such a narc,” Trixie cackled and rolled her eyes. “There’s no one here for you to inconvenience, nerd. Unless the puffball has a problem.” Trixie pointed a claw at Pinkie, whose face scrunched up in resentment.
This was the whole reason Pinkie wanted Twilight’s help, as a buffer between her and Trixie. And it needed to specifically be Twilight, since she was the one who considered Trixie a friend.
That said, Trixie made a good point.
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight looked eagerly but nervously at Pinkie, genuinely worried what she would say, “do you mind?”
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie gasped and jumped in the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to see your big form before! Not like, at least not since the Everfree! Showmeshowmeshowmeshowmeshowme!!!”
Twilight grinned ear to ear, basking in Pinkie’s excitement and even the slight smile that Trixie was trying to hide with her hand, as Twilight burned in purple fire, her fur and skin smoldering off and being charred to ashes as her bones grew in size and shape, her body wrapped in a protective blanket of shimmering scales.
She outstretched her wings that had galaxies painted into their leathery flesh, and she let out a roar that could shake the heavens. There was so much to love about being a pony, but there was truly no feeling more heady than returning home.
Twilight hadn't realized until she had returned to her true form how massive and imposing the spires of the Empire had felt to her before, and now it almost felt like Twilight could fit them in the palm of her hand.
Even Trixie, a relatively small dragon, was twice Twilight’s size or more, and now Twilight could pick her up and pet her cute little head if she wanted to. She didn’t want to, but she could have and that’s what was important.
Pinkie cooed in amazement at Twilight’s form, and she responded with a gleaming grin, Pinkie screeching in delight.
“The fangies…” Pinkie whispered.
“Oh?” Twilight smirked, letting her razor sharp fangs take the spotlight for Pinkie’s viewing pleasure, and Twilight could see Pinkie’s legs getting wobbly underneath her. “You like these guys?”
“Everyone likes the fangies,” Trixie said confidently, smiling and showing off her own impressive chompers as she idly looked over her claws.
The whistle of an oncoming train alerted everyone’s attention, especially Pinkie who leaped over the bench to run to the very edge of the station platform, to the point that Twilight was worried for a moment that she would have to pick Pinkie up off the track or something.
Trixie too gave the oncoming train her full, enraptured attention, looking a lot like a dog who was waiting at home for its master to return. Maybe that was an unfair comparison, but it was wild to see someone as, well— who cared about as little as Trixie cared about, giving her full attention to anything.
As the train rolled in, the two women got increasingly anxious, and it was starting to rub off on Twilight too. She just couldn’t wait to meet this Maud and see what kind of person she was like.
Only a single passenger departed the train: a dark grey earth pony mare wearing very bland, bleak-colored clothing. Her hair was neat and straight, and her expression was completely nonplussed. This was Maud Pie, no doubt about it.
“MAUD!!” Pinkie was the first to pounce, and pounce she did, quite literally jumping into Maud’s arms, who caught her without even flinching, Pinkie burying herself in her sister’s embrace as she wrapped her up in a tight hug. “I AM SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!”
“I’m happy to see you too, Pinkie,” Maud said flatly. It was off-putting at first, almost sarcastic-sounding, but the joyful expression on Pinkie’s face didn’t change, so Twilight just presumed that was simply the way Maud talked.
“Hey,” Trixie said casually, and it was funny seeing her try to act cool after she was practically salivating waiting for the train to roll in.
“Hey,” Maud said, letting Pinkie go, and Pinkie politely bounced out of the way so Maud could have her moment.
“Like what you see?” Trixie said smugly, presenting herself like a gift.
“I’m rock hard,” Maud said, Trixie nearly choking on her laughter.
“I know you only said that cuz it’s a rock pun,” Trixie cackled, sticking out her tongue playfully, “but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“I said it because it’s a rock pun, and also because my penis is erect looking at my sexy dragon friend’s naked body,” Maud explained, and wow Twilight was genuinely impressed by her brazenness. Not as impressed as Trixie though, who was stunned silent with bright red cheeks.
“OKAY SO ANYWAY!” Pinkie loudly chimed in, marching up to her sister and grabbing her hand.
“Sorry, Pinkie,” Maud said. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I was just flirting with Trixie for a second. Because she’s beautiful and hot and I want to date her.”
Trixie, for her part, said nothing. She had the vacant look of someone whose brain was sparking and fizzing with gay feelings; she was clearly not so prepared for Maud’s bluntness, but Twilight was more amused than anything. Turns out the Pie sisters weren’t that different after all.
“It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine,” Pinkie dismissed Maud’s concerns with a wave of her hand. “What I wanna know now is, how do you and Trixie feel about, drum roll-” Pinkie took a second to imitate a drum roll, and it was adorable. Even Maud cracked a little bit of a smile. “-double date!!”
“Double date?!” Trixie balked, recoiling in what looked like anxiety-induced panic. Twilight knew the feeling well. “We haven’t even single dated!”
“That’s okay!” Pinkie said, pumping her fists. “I really wanna get to know Trixie, and I also wanna hang out with Maud! And I want Maud to hang out with Trixie too, so… double date! Everyone wins!”
“I’m down,” Maud said, and looked up at the increasingly nervous Trixie. “What about you, Trixie?”
“Sure, sounds uhhh super fun,” Trixie chuckled awkwardly, and Twilight leaned over and pat her on the shoulder.
“Get used to surprises like this Trixie,” Twilight said sympathetically. “This is just part of what it means to be in the orbit of the Pies.”
Rainbow jumped in place in front of the restaurant door, trying to hype herself up. She had a light breakfast with her gals so that she could eat with Cadance too, though she ate enough at breakfast that she wouldn’t be starving cuz honestly she was probably gonna be too nervous to eat much of anything.
Still though, the eating part was not important! What mattered was that they were eating at kinda a fancy place, cuz Cadance was a fancy gal and Rainbow wanted to impress her, and now as Rainbow was standing in front of the place, she was starting to super regret picking it out.
Oh well! Too late now! Only way forward is through!
Rainbow kicked in the door and got a really alarmed look from the lady at the like reception desk or whatever. After awkwardly explaining herself, she was led to Cadance’s table and gawd was she thankful that this place wasn’t busy during the morning and there was barely anyone else around to see her make a fool of herself.
“Rainbow Dash! You made it!” Cadance said, her eyes shining as she waved at Rainbow. She was dressed in a sleek black dress and damn she looked hot in it. Applejack helped Rainbow look as good as she could, but her plain suit only did so much. “You look cute as hell.” Okay, it did enough.
“Th-thanks, you look amazing,” Rainbow said as she sat down, trying to break the tension in the air— okay, it was just in her own body— with a cackle. “You didn’t expect me to not show up, did you?”
“Of course I expected you to show,” Cadance put her elbows up on the table, resting her cheeks on her hands and looked seductively at Rainbow, which was basically just like goring Rainbow’s lesbian heart with a lance. “You wouldn’t want to miss a date with all this, would you?”
“I uhguh bwuh,” Rainbow said extremely coolly, though any embarrassment she had was immediately snuffed out by Cadance’s sweet gentle laughter, which gave Rainbow butterflies in her stomach. How was Cadance just so cool and beautiful all the time without trying?
“Mm, damn,” Cadance leaned casually on the table and bit her lip, “if you keep laying on the charm like that I don’t think I’m gonna be able to resist just taking you right here on the table.”
“W-wow, damn, isn’t it a little early to talk about ‘taking’ and stuff?” Rainbow said nervously, rubbing her thighs together.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cadance leaned back and looked away bashfully. “I’m a little overeager, I apologize. I’m always like that on dates, so sorry.”
“Yo, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow said, waving her hand dismissively. “I am like, WAY down for that, I was just surprised.”
“Oh!” Cadance blushed and her ears folded back, her posture doing that thing where you like shrink down, but then she popped right back up a second later. “In that case, you wanna blow this joint? And maybe some other things? Cuz like, we could skip breakfast and go straight to— I can’t say— I can’t make the cheesy dessert joke, I’m sorry.”
“I mean, if you wanna just like make out in the bathroom,” Rainbow said, “or maybe even get busy, I’m like totally down for that.”
“Damn,” Cadance’s ears perked up and she sat straight up in her chair. “That’s very bold.”
“Eh, I guess I just know what I want,” Rainbow shrugged. “Whatever happens between us doesn’t need to be a whole thing. They don’t need to write gripping romance novels about our relationship. I wanna be friends with you, and I wanna rail you against the bathroom wall. Simple as that.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Cadance stood up so fast she almost knocked her chair over, “I feel like I really gotta use the bathroom, you wanna join me?”
“Hell y—” Rainbow also stood up quickly and banged her dick on the bottom of the table, forcing her to bite her lip and keel over.
“Are you okay?” Cadance asked, her voice sounding half concerned and half holding back laughter.
“Yes!” Rainbow put her hand on the table and lifted herself back to full standing position. “If you think something like that is gonna stop me from railing you, then think again!”
Cadance grabbed Rainbow by her shirt collar and dragged her close, planting a smooch on her lips and HOLY SHIT it was like fireworks exploding in her mouth but like in a super cool way not in a weird painful way.
Turns out, Cadance really knew her way around a kiss, and she left Rainbow feeling dazed and elated.
“Listen here, hotshot,” Cadance whispered seductively, grabbing Rainbow’s necktie and dragging her close, “you’re coming with me, then you’re coming on me, you got it?”
“Whatever you say,” Rainbow drooled and she swore there were literal hearts in her eyes.
“Is this okay?” Fluttershy asked tepidly as she dipped her claw in the refreshingly hot water of the Crystal Empire’s mountain hot springs.
The Crystal Empire had quite a few spas and other such things, leaving the natural mountain springs mostly deserted by ponies, so they were a good place for the Empire’s miniscule dragon population to relax.
The dragons in the Empire were commanded to stay in pony form within the city limits, but even the ponies who made those rules knew it was impossible for a dragon to stay disguised indefinitely, and so a small chunk of the mountains were reserved for them to use to regain their strength, and these hot springs were part of that deal.
It was very sweet of Rarity to go out of her way to find a place where Fluttershy could be relaxed and in her true form, which basically meant the mountains surrounding the Empire and not much else.
That said, Fluttershy was still worried. When was she not?
“Darling, I need you to relax,” Rarity sighed, already getting a head start on the relaxation as she lounged in the hot spring, her arms resting on the ledge behind her. “We’ve all had a rough go of things lately, and as I have explained to what feels like at least fifty people, we’re not on any sort of time crunch.
“Diplomacy requires a gentle touch, so we should very well be at our best, and our most relaxed, before we make any serious attempts at it.”
“I suppose you make a good point,” Fluttershy giggled and put her paw up to her mouth.
It felt surreal being in her dragon form without needing to look over her shoulder constantly. Granted, she had to make sure she understood the rules of the Empire crystal clearly— hehe, that was a pun— and she had to double and triple and quadruple check with Twilight to make sure she was okay to transform in the mountains.
But at the end of the day, Fluttershy was safe showing off her dragon form in the mountains, and it felt really good to return to it.
Fluttershy dipped her paw into the hot spring, and then after a deep breath, she slunk into the water, careful as she could not to make a big sploosh, and as she rose her head out of the water she looked over to see Rarity completely drenched but laughing despite that.
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said, trying to hold back her laughter; she couldn’t deny that Rarity looked pretty silly with her wet mane completely covering her face.
“Don’t be,” Rarity let out a small chortle and parted a window in her drippy mane to look at Fluttershy. “Truth be told, if I can have a moment of absolute selfishness, another reason I’m glad you agreed to come relax with me is because I wanted to see your utterly stunning dragon form in its full glory.”
“Hehe, I am pretty magnificent, aren’t I?” Fluttershy grinned ear to ear, blushing from Rarity’s compliment.
“Darling please,” Rarity said, “you are enchanting! Enrapturing even! You’re one of the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen!”
“Rarityyyy,” Fluttershy whined and covered her face with her tail fluff, only to yelp in surprise because she forgot it was all drippy and wet. “You’re gonna make me blush!”
“Fluttershy sweetheart, you’re making me more than just blush, if you catch my— waugh!”
Fluttershy dove underneath the water, and sure enough Rarity was more than just blushing down there. Fluttershy poked her head up and laughed, and Rarity laughed alongside her but it wasn’t lost on Fluttershy that Rarity’s face was fiery red, and Fluttershy doubted that was from the hot springs.
“Rarity, do you mind,” Fluttershy licked her lips, “if I have a taste? I promise you haven’t even begun to feel pleasure until you experience what a dragon’s tongue can do to a pony’s body.”
“W—Fluttershy!” Rarity said breathlessly, hand over her heart. “Where did this sudden jolt of confidence come from? Not that I’m complaining, mind you! I am a huge fan!”
“I guess it’s easier to be confident when I’m like a hundred times your size,” Fluttershy shrugged. “So how about it, Rarity?”
“Be my guest,” Rarity said eagerly, and Fluttershy wasted no time diving down and getting to work.
Rarity couldn’t move. She was panting, just barely holding herself up off the ground on her hands and knees, sweat and water and other fluids dripping off her body onto the stone ground beneath her. If that was what a dragon’s tongue could do, Rarity couldn’t wait to experience the rest of the dragon’s body.
She felt Fluttershy’s tongue lick her behind and she nearly screamed; she had taken about as much as she could, and though she desperately wanted more, she needed to slam the brakes before her body exploded or something. Well, exploded again, but you know.
“Fluttershy,” Rarity panted, “I need to—”
“Do you need a break?” Fluttershy asked concernedly, and Rarity just nodded her head.
Fluttershy crawled up onto the dry land and curled around Rarity, gently carrying her body so as to nestle it in Fluttershy’s fluffy fur in such a way to maximize her comfort; despite just emerging from the hot springs, Fluttershy’s fluff was completely dry, as if by magic. Oh, well, probably literally by magic.
This aftercare was something that Rarity was still getting used to experiencing, but it was almost better than what had just come before it.
“There is a reason,” Rarity said softly, “why I’m not yet willing to speak with Gladmane, or especially with Shining Armor.”
“And what’s that?” Fluttershy asked.
“Twilight wishes to be present for both meetings,” Rarity said, feeling cold as she thought about Twilight’s breakdown earlier and how there was nothing Rarity could do to help her, “and she asked me for a bit more time. I didn’t have the heart to refuse her.
“Though perhaps that’s just me justifying myself, for if I were being brutally honest, I would rather put off both meetings as well. I fear I’m not quite cut out for diplomacy. I was raised a warrior, and killing is all I know how to do.”
“Perhaps, we need to take a different tactic,” Fluttershy hummed and nuzzled against Rarity’s cheek with her big dragon snoot, and Rarity couldn’t help but erupt into a fit of giggles and cuddle her back. “We can’t expect everything to change overnight. And I think you’re underestimating a crucial skill that you’re quite good at.”
“What’s that?” Rarity asked curiously, getting comfortable in Fluttershy’s embrace despite her weary heart.
“Bringing people together,” Fluttershy said sweetly, and Rarity didn’t know how to process that statement. She felt flattered, but almost undeservedly so. “If it weren’t for you, the six of us may never have—”
“You can’t possibly give me all the credit for our little friend group coming together,” Rarity laughed.
“I’m not giving you all the credit,” Fluttershy said. “But I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough. What I’m saying is that no one pony or dragon alone has the power to reverse the tides we’re fighting against. The only way we can succeed, is through collective power.”
“So it’s not enough for just me and Cadance or Twilight to simply talk to Shining Armor and Gladmane,” Rarity bit her thumbnail and pondered that. “If we want better conditions for everyone, everywhere, we’re going to need to talk to more than just them.”
“You’re still thinking too small,” Fluttershy shook her head. “Shining Armor may have some influence over the dragons here, but he’s one man, and he doesn’t speak for them. We need to understand what they want, understand their feelings. We can’t build a new world where we simply follow blindly behind new leaders. We need a world where leaders don’t need to exist, because the power isn’t held by a few, it’s held by all of us.”
“That’s… a lot,” Rarity said. If Fluttershy was trying to comfort her, Rarity regretted to say that she wasn’t doing a terribly good job, because now Rarity felt even more overwhelmed than she had before.
“Mhm oh yeah, it’s not something we can do all on our own!” Fluttershy laughed, which admittedly helped Rarity’s frayed nerves somewhat. “That’s sorta the whole thing about collective power, it requires a lot of people coming together.
“What’s nice though is that our power can spread to someone else, who can then share their power with another, and then another. We can’t do anything on our own, but we can start something massive. And I know in my heart that we’re not the only ones in this world trying to make it a better place for everyone.
“No matter what happens, we aren’t alone in this world.”
Now there was some food for thought. It made Rarity feel ridiculous now that she’d realized it, but it honestly hadn't occurred to her that there may be other ponies and dragons fighting for the same thing that Rarity and her friends were fighting for.
It really and truly did feel like Rarity and the others were fighting this uphill battle all on their own, but of course that wouldn’t be the case. Everywhere injustice existed, there would always be those who rise to combat it. What Rarity, her friends, and everyone else who was working for that better world needed to do was to make sure those who fight that injustice have the power to succeed in that battle.
And that kind of power… could only exist collectively.
“I think I understand,” Rarity said, breathing a sigh of relief as she felt an enormous weight falling off her shoulders. “And I think I know where we need to start.”
“Oh yeah?” Fluttershy smirked. “What are you thinking, my darling?”
“We’ll start here, in the Crystal Empire,” Rarity said. “We’ll start by getting to know the local dragons, and perhaps even the local ponies. We’ll make connections and understand the hearts of the people who we will be fighting alongside.
“So basically,” Rarity laughed despite herself, knowing how almost silly she was about to sound even though she was speaking the truth from her heart, “we’re going to light the sparks of our collective power… with the magic of friendship.”
If Applejack had one problem with the Crystal Empire, other than that its government was run by tyrannical power-obsessed racists who profited off the backs of slave labor, but that was more a criticism of the government than the city itself, and was a criticism that could extend to Equestria for sure and probably a lot of other governments too.
Uh… where were we? Oh right, the Empire.
If Applejack had one problem with the Crystal Empire aside from its government, it was that the country’s signature crystal berries, while delicious in their own right, made it hard to find a good place to eat and drink the world’s most perfect fruit: the cranberry.
That was a joke, Applejack was looking for apples of course, but she was having a hard time of it.
She was standin’ around the marketplace and was about to give up for the afternoon when she suddenly felt something slam into her chest, and it only took a sec to realize what slammed into her was a woman who was now lying flat on the ground.
“Goodness, are you okay?!” Applejack asked concernedly and the woman gave a thumbs-up, and when she opened her eyes and gave a bright gleaming smile, Applejack saw the ethereal glow in her eyes and recognized it for what it was.
She was a dragon.
It wasn’t something Applejack was entirely used to yet, but it felt nice to recognize she was in front of a dragon and not feel like she was in danger or anything. It was also nice cuz this girl was kinda cute.
While her form was similar to a pony, there were a couple key differences that made her stand out; namely the green scales on her nose and forehead that contrasted against her pale white fur and fluffy orange mane, and her horn looked like the branch of an ancient tree, which was very different than the unicorns Applejack was used to.
And then it suddenly struck Applejack; not quite a realization, but a memory, of a conversation she had partaken in with Twilight. Twi told her about a girl who helped her out in Bitsburgh, and she described her very distinctive facial features.
What was that girl’s name again?
“Autumn Blaze?” Applejack asked aloud, the girl’s eyes flickering with recognition, her ears perking up, and her bright smile getting even bigger and brighter.
“That’s me, that’s my name!” Autumn said happily, pointing at herself. Applejack extended a hand and Autumn took it, springing to her feet and shaking Applejack’s hand way more energetically than Applejack was prepared for. “Do I know you from someplace? Friend? Foe? Rival? Lover?”
“Uh, none of those, sorry,” Applejack chuckled and ran a hand through her mane. “You helped out a pal of mine, Twilight Sparkle? Maybe you remember her—”
“Yeah!” Autumn pumped her fists and her eyes glistened like polished gemstones. “In Baltimare, right? Er, wait, no it was Bitsburgh!”
“Yeah, back in Bitsburgh,” Applejack nodded. “So you do remember her?”
“I sure do!” Autumn grinned. “She was cool! How’s she doin’ these days?”
“She’s been a little under the weather lately,” Applejack said, putting it extremely mildly, “but she’s a strong gal, she’ll bounce back.”
“I hope things went okay with her pony friend,” Autumn said.
“They’re datin’ now,” Applejack laughed, “so I’d say it went alright.”
“Ah,” Autumn said reservedly, and Applejack was admittedly caught way off-guard by that. Autumn must’ve noticed too, cuz she immediately turned the cheer up to a hundred and ten percent. “That’s great! Love to see it!”
“Oh hey, you were in a hurry, weren’tcha?” Applejack asked. “I don’t wanna keep you from whatever you were—”
“No, I wasn’t going anywhere,” Autumn shrugged and gave an adorable little giggle. “I just like zoomin’ around, and sometimes I run into stuff. No big deal.”
“Uhhh, oh,” Applejack laughed. “Okay then.”
“Yeah, I’m a traveler, I hop from place to place,” Autumn said. “Just happen to be passing through the Crystal Empire today with a friend, and the other day or whenever that was, just happened to be passing through Bitsburgh.”
“Huh, pretty serendipitous we’ve run into you twice, I guess,” Applejack said.
“Nothing serendipitous about it,” Autumn said, and something about her vaguely seductive tone sent a chill down Applejack’s spine, “it’s gotta be fate.”
“Fate? Y’think so?” Applejack wasn’t a big believer in big concepts like fate and destiny and stuff, she preferred to grapple with what she could hold in her own two hands. Still though, that didn’t give an excuse to be rude to people who believed differently from her, or ran their lives in a different way.
“I do,” Autumn nodded confidently. “Everyone knows fate works in threes, but the way I see it, if you catch on the second time, then you’re ahead of the game!”
“I like the way you think, Autumn Blaze!” Applejack said cheerily, slapping Autumn’s shoulder. She was an interesting gal, for sure.
“Thank you, uhhhhhhhh” Autumn zoned out, a little string of drool falling outta her mouth that was really disconcerting to Applejack, but it did force her to realize the mistake she had made.
“Oh! I’m Applejack!” Applejack said, utterly ashamed that she’d forgotten her manners.
“Nice to meetcha, Applejack!” Autumn Blaze smiled again, and Applejack was sure that gleaming smile of hers could lighten up even the darkest cave. “I’m sure we’ll become great friends!”
“Sure! Pleasure to meetcha too, Autumn Blaze!” Applejack said. This girl was certainly strange, but Applejack liked the cut of her jib, and she felt like she’d be happy to become friends with her.
“Anyway bye,” Autumn said, already passing by Applejack and walking off.
“Oh, is that all?” Applejack chuckled. “Yer already leavin’?”
“Afraid so,” Autumn looked back and smiled sweetly. “But don’t worry, we’ll meet again. It’s fate.”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie’s smile was shaky and pained, she almost looked demon-possessed, “I wish I was dead.”
“Is that right?” Twilight said tonelessly; not because she didn’t care, but because she felt so overwhelmed that she didn’t know what to do. “Big same.”
“Noooooo I was just kidding!” Pinkie cried real tears, hugging Twilight and shaking her as the two hid out in the bathroom of the restaurant where they took their double date with Trixie and Maud. “You’re not allowed to wish you were dead!”
“Then neither are you!” Twilight yelled, feeling like one of those silly comic characters whose eyes bugged out of their head.
“I know,” Pinkie sighed and fell flat on her back. Twilight patted her tummy and that made her giggle, which made Twilight smile.
Twilight was feeling like she’d been carrying a thousand pounds on her back on a ten thousand mile journey through the desert, and she could tell Pinkie was feeling the same way, so it was nice that they could bond like this and reduce each other’s burdens, at least a little.
“Twilight? Can I be honest?” Pinkie said sadly.
She was past the point of tears, and was now just staring vacantly up at the ceiling. Twilight laid next to her and joined her. Maybe that was rude to do that in a public place, but it didn’t matter to Twilight. Anyone who had a problem with it could take it up with the wrath of a dragon.
“Of course, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “always.”
“I’m depressed,” Pinkie said. “I’ve been worried sick about Maud and Trixie, and about you, and about our trip to the Empire, and especially about Fluttershy, and all that worry was like a fire burning through a rope attached to an anvil over my head. And I think the rope broke.”
Twilight squeezed Pinkie Pie’s hand.
“I feel you,” Twilight sighed, and then she let out an empty laugh. “And I wish I knew what to say or what to tell you. But I’m feeling really lost myself. We’re under the same anvil, you and I.”
“So it goes, huh?” Pinkie chuckled.
“So it goes,” Twilight nodded.
“We gotta do somethin’,” Pinkie groaned and sat up, her hand still holding tightly onto Twilight’s.
“Yeah,” Twilight groaned just as harshly as she sat up, breathing a weary sigh once she was upright. She felt like she was getting old, but she was barely a young adult still. Time was aging the young faster than ever these days it seemed. “We can’t stay in this hole forever.”
“Mixed metaphor,” Pinkie giggled and smiled brightly at Twilight; even now, her smile was so full of beauty. “I like it!”
“Hehe, thank you,” Twilight said bashfully, putting her arm around Pinkie, who replied by putting her arms around Twilight’s stomach. “So what do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do?” Pinkie laughed bitterly. “I dunno, cry? Go to bed? Divorce myself from my family entirely so I don’t have to worry about them ever?”
“What do you really want?” Twilight asked coldly, shooting through Pinkie’s humor to get to the center of her truth.
“You tell me, Twilight,” Pinkie looked Twilight in the eye, “what you want. We’ll exchange truthy goodness.”
Twilight took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. She needed to think about it for a sec, cuz she didn’t know.
She didn’t know.
She honestly just… did not know.
“I dunno,” Twilight said blankly, her mind echoing with the revelation. “I honestly don’t know what I want to do, and that’s where my problem is. I want to talk to Shining Armor, but I don’t want to talk to him. I want to help my fellow dragons, but I don’t want to get involved in these battles or these politics. I’m tearing myself up inside because I don’t know what to do.”
Twilight tried to sigh but it came out more like something between a groan and a depressed whimper.
“Okay, Pinkie,” Twilight tried to smile at Pinkie, and she mostly succeeded, “your turn.”
“I dunno what I want either,” Pinkie laughed, and Twilight laughed with her, and the pair’s hug tightened. “But I know what I don’t want, and as much as I hate to admit it, what I don’t want is to have anything to do with Trixie. Maybe someday… I can change my mind. But right now? I don’t want anything to do with her.”
“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “I’m gonna tell Maud, I guess. Then I’m gonna bounce. You wanna come with?”
“I want to make sure I do right by Trixie,” Twilight said. “It was our idea to double date, and if we just leave them… I’d feel bad about it. Not bad enough not to do it, but… I’d like to clear things up first.”
“Sounds good,” Pinkie stood up and beamed at Twilight, and Twilight got up with a weary groan right after her. “So I guess let’s just—”
The door to the restaurant bathroom opened up and startled Pinkie and Twilight, who forgot they were in a public place. Twilight sighed and looked behind her, curious to get a look at who was interrupting, and she almost couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said incredulously.
“Twilight!” Rainbow said, her whole face turning red. “What are you—”
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie said in a sing-songy tone and waved excitedly.
“Pinkie! You’re here too!”
“Oh, hello,” Cadance was here too, and suddenly Twilight realized the reason behind Rainbow’s blush.
“Don’t worry,” Twilight said coolly, “we were just leaving.” Twilight took Pinkie by the hand and left for the exit, but she stopped just short. “I hope you treat my girl right, Cadance.”
“Believe me, Twilight Sparkle,” Cadance grinned like a cat and traced a finger under Rainbow’s chin, Rainbow’s body stiffening like a board and an enchanted smile crossing her face, “I’m going to treat her like a queen.”
“Excellent,” Twilight whispered and put her own finger under Rainbow’s chin, guiding her to look at Twilight and planting a kiss on her lips. “Knock her dead, hotshot.”
Day three of Rarity’s stay in the Crystal Empire and she was awoken by a knock at her hotel door. She stirred vaguely awake with an exhausted moan, and then she heard the knock again.
“Who is it,” Rarity barely croaked out, wrapping her arms around the still soundly snoozing Twilight Sparkle.
“It’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said from behind the door, and something in her tone sounded off but sleepy as she was, Rarity couldn’t place what. “I got a letter for you. From Celestia.”
Oh.
Well.
Rarity supposed that couldn’t really wait, now could it?
There was a pit in Rarity’s stomach— no, calling it a ‘pit’ was too stingy; it was more like a chasm that swallowed even light that passed over it— as she got out of bed and opened the door.
She greeted Rainbow Dash with a ghoulish look of messy hair and caked on makeup from the previous night that hadn't quite washed off, and Rainbow responded with that smile she gives when she’s trying to be polite about how hideous Rarity’s appearance was.
“Gimme,” Rarity held out her hand and Rainbow put the letter in it, and Rarity’s eyes widened as she looked it over, the shock knocking the sleepiness straight out of her.
It wasn’t addressed simply to Rarity, but to Rainbow Dash as well.
Rarity had a bad feeling about this, but she considered that perhaps she was simply overthinking things.
“Rarity?” Twilight said woozily, sitting up and looked at Rarity with half-open eyes; and even half-awake and with a horrendous case of bedhead, she still managed to be utterly enchanting. “Somethin’ wrong?”
Rarity weighed her options for a second; she didn’t want Twilight to lose out on her much needed beauty sleep on Rarity’s account, but she knew if she tried to tell Twilight it was nothing, Twilight might only worry more and try to pry, which would simply give both women unneeded stress. She didn’t have anything to hide from Twilight anyway.
“Celestia sent me and Rainbow Dash a letter,” Rarity said, lifting the note for Twilight to see. “I haven’t read it yet.”
“Do you want to read it together?” Twilight asked, and that brought a smile to Rarity’s lips. She looked over at Rainbow, who nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, darling. I’d like that very much.”
The three women read the letter together, sitting on the bed with Twilight’s hands holding both of theirs. As for the actual contents of the letter, it was… something. Troubling, worrisome, but not as bad as Rarity had feared.
It was simply an invitation, for both Rarity and Rainbow Dash, to join Celestia as she worked together with a close advisor to create something that would defend Equestria much more thoroughly than the Slayers were doing, inspired by the recent attacks on Baltmare, on Bitsburgh, and even on Canterlot. An evolution of the Slayers.
The Pristine Army.
The details of what this army was were not enclosed, as those would be delivered by Celestia in person. The Queen stressed that the invitation was just that, an invitation, and not a command, and that there would be no bad blood between the Queen and Rarity if she refused.
The same applied to Rainbow Dash, though a tad more ominously, as the Queen stressed that she wanted to show Rainbow the error of her ways with regards to her defense of dragons. Rarity presumed Celestia thought she was being generous, offering Rainbow a second chance, though Rarity personally felt anything but thankful.
“So,” Rarity said, “what do we want to do?”
“Well that’s sort of the question isn’t it?” Twilight replied, putting her arms around Rarity’s waist and kissing her neck. She was an absolute charmer, and Rarity appreciated that about her a lot. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to accept her invitation,” Rarity said firmly. She already knew in her heart that’s what she would say as soon as she understood the contents of the letter.
“Yeah, same,” Rainbow nodded. “If nothing else, I wanna know what she’s planning, so we can prepare for it if we have to.”
“That’s smart,” Twilight said.
“Yes, I am,” Rainbow nodded confidently, making Rarity and Twilight both laugh.
“Yes, you are,” Twilight put her hands on Rainbow’s stomach and rested her chin on Rainbow’s shoulder, “and cute too.” Twilight bit Rainbow’s ear and Rarity could see the shudder going through the pegasus’ body. It was too cute.
“S-so anyway,” Rainbow cleared her throat and tried to back away from Twilight, but Twilight refused to budge and Rainbow’s movements just made it easier for Twilight to push her down onto the bed and kiss her on the lips.
“Need some help, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity smiled. She couldn’t just stand by and let these two ladies have all the fun.
“Okay, but seriously though!” Rainbow sat up like a jolt, her cheeks burning red and her voice cracking. Poor little flustered mare, she was just… too… cute. “We should focus, right?”
“Ah, I suppose we should,” Rarity sighed.
There was a time and a place for smooching one’s girlfriends— or whatever Rarity and Rainbow were at this point; truth be told, the lines between platonic and romantic love were blurring to the point of nonexistence in Rarity’s mind. All she knew was that she was constantly surrounded by beautiful women who she loved desperately, and she was GAY for all of them.
Regardless of the terminology, the point was there was a time and place for it, and Rarity supposed it would have to wait.
“The letter says we have some time to think this over,” Rarity said, “but I’d prefer to head out sooner rather than later.”
“Same,” Rainbow nodded. “We can probably catch a train this afternoon, yeah?”
“Yes,” Rarity sighed. “Yes we can, and probably should.” Rarity turned to see Twilight, still lying on her back looking pleased with herself, and her heart was overcome by affection. Seeing her beautiful face never got old. “But Twilight, are you going to be alright?”
“I am,” Twilight hummed and sat up, kissing Rarity’s lips and stars what a sensation it was, Rarity’s lips still quivering even after Twilight had separated from them. “Thank you, Rarity. But I don’t want you to worry about me.
“I’ve got Applejack still, and Pinkie and Fluttershy too. Plus Spike, and to a much lesser degree Trixie. I’ve got wonderful friends supporting me, so you don’t need to worry about me. Just focus on yourself, and on Celestia for right now.”
“Okay,” Rarity crushed the letter very dramatically in her fist as she stood up, and then straightened it out again in her magic because she felt bad ruining such fine calligraphy. “Rainbow Dash? Are you ready?”
“Born ready!” Rainbow stood up and pumped her fists.
“Good! Then we’ll depart immediately! There’s just one more thing I need to do!”
“What’s that?” Rainbow asked, as Rarity headed over to the nightstand.
“Obviously,” Rarity scoffed at Rainbow’s ignorance, “I need to pick out the perfect outfit!”
Twilight’s wings flared out behind her as she stood on the cliff of a mountain high above the Crystal Empire and screamed at the top of her lungs, her dragonic nature making it sound less like the anguished wail of anxiety it was and more like an intimidating roar.
“Geez, you’re such a drama queen,” Trixie rolled her eyes and groaned, flicking her claws at Twilight.
“Have you met my girlfriend?” Twilight said drolly.
“Which one?”
“Ha, good point,” Twilight beamed. She was very fortunate to be blessed with the company and friendship of so many amazing women.
Twilight sighed. It felt good to be a dragon again openly, and the view from atop the Crystal Mountains was heavenly, and both were going a long way to helping Twilight dig herself out from the heap of depression she’d been buried under these past few days.
“How did things go with Maud last night?” Twilight asked. She and Pinkie bailed pretty soon after they said they would, leaving Trixie and Maud alone. Both of them were very good sports about the whole thing, even Trixie was unusually sympathetic, but Twilight wanted to make sure she didn’t leave Trixie in a lurch.
“It went fine,” Trixie grumbled.
“Did it?” Twilight asked skeptically.
“Yes.”
“Oh,” Twilight said flatly. She wasn’t convinced, but she could tell Trixie didn’t want to talk about—
“It went great! I’m just embarrassed about it okay!” Trixie yelled, flailing her arms around and then covering herself with her wings. “It went better than I could’ve hoped and Maud is so cool and I like her a lot and I really owe you and Pinkie for pushing me to come here and to hang out with her now never talk to me about this or anything ever again.”
“Okay,” Twilight smirked and sidled up next to Trixie. “So you want to talk about it or—”
“I WILL FLAY YOU ALIVE!” Trixie screeched, Twilight laughing into her hand. “Okay so anyway speaking of talking to people and things, what’s the story with you and that guy Shining Armor that you’re avoiding?”
“How did you—”
“I’m gay, I know things,” Trixie said flatly.
It was kind of ominous, but Twilight supposed she shouldn’t be surprised; despite Trixie’s eccentricities and her relative lack of magical strength, information was something she was never in short supply of. She knew all about the Dragon Lords and their movements, and she was able to track down Twilight no less than three times. She wasn’t someone to underestimate.
“Well, if you must know,” truth be told, Twilight actually relished the opportunity to talk to someone about this who wasn’t one of her close friend group; she loved those girls very much, but she needed someone who wouldn’t coddle her emotions. “I’m afraid of talking to my brother.”
“Why.”
“I…”
That was a good question actually.
And the answer was almost disgustingly simple. It was because Twilight didn’t want to face the fact that she was still absolutely furious with Shining Armor. She couldn’t believe the cowardice he displayed in letting the dragons fall under the thumb of the Crystal Empire, and if she was being entirely honest?
She blamed him for what happened to Sunset Shimmer.
“I’m mad at him,” Twilight said. “That’s why I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Is it something you can work through with him?” Trixie asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight shrugged.
“Then who cares,” Trixie groaned and batted her claw. “If you don’t wanna talk to him, then don’t.”
“But I can’t just turn my back on our people like that,” Twilight said desperately, claw over her heart. “I really do want to help everyone live a better life!”
“And who says you need to talk to Shingles Armoire for that?” Trixie asked, arching a smug eyebrow. “There’s gotta be plenty of ways you can help, and you don’t gotta feel like you have to do everything. You’d need to have some serious brain worms to think that.
“If you can’t talk to Shining Armor, then what can you do to help? Figure that out, and then do that instead. Stop beating yourself up over a conversation that hasn’t happened and doesn’t matter.”
That… was a really good point, actually.
Everyone had been telling her that she needed to talk to Shining Armor, and she thought that was the right thing to do, so she just resigned herself to it. Especially since he was family, and you weren’t supposed to stay angry with your family, right?
But the truth was, she was still angry. She was still furious. And she didn’t want to talk to him. Trying to force herself to wasn’t going to help anyone, and it was keeping her mind too busy to think of ways she could actually help.
“Thank you, Trixie,” Twilight said with a bright smile. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
“Yeah, I’m really smart like that,” Trixie said casually. “It maaaaay be a moot point though.”
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked confusedly, and Trixie just pointed in the direction behind Twilight, who slowly turned her head and saw a massive silver dragon standing on the cliffs beside them, looking Twilight dead in the eyes. “Oh.”
That’s what the massive silver dragon Shining Armor said as he stood on the cliffs running along the side of the Crystal Mountains, his sister Twilight Sparkle staring him down for the first time in what must’ve been uuhhhhh a really long time.
But it was now or never. She was face to face with him, and there was only one way she could respond to this situation.
By teleporting away, leaving the Grrrrreat and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!!!! alone on the mountainside with Shining Armor, who she barely knew.
Well this was awkward.
Trixie let out a cough as Shining Armor took a sec for his brain to catch up to what just happened, and then his horn glowed with magic.
“Heyheyhey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Trixie clamored, floating into the air on her compact wings and batting her claw at the much, much bigger dragon.
“I’m going after my sister, obviously,” Shining Armor scoffed, likely viewing Trixie’s interruption as nothing more than a nuisance. Rude. “I haven’t seen her in years, I—”
“If she wanted to talk to you, she would still be here,” Trixie said coldly, staring right into Shining Armor’s eyes. What this man had in size, he completely lacked in balls, and Trixie was able to cow him easily. “Don’t you think you should respect that?”
“She— she’s my sister,” Shining Armor said weakly, and Trixie didn’t even bother trying to hide her rolling her eyes.
“And?” she said flatly.
“W-why doesn’t she want to talk to me?” seeing the big beefy dragon whimper like a newborn was… something. Trixie had kinda figured the siblings’ bad blood went both ways, but apparently Shining Armor was outta the loop.
Lucky for him, Trixie was happy to shed light on the situation.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Trixie arched an eyebrow. When Shinining Armor predictably didn’t have much of a response, Trixie proceeded to float on her back, with her claws laying over her belly. “She’s pissed off at you, and rightfully so honestly.”
“Why is she mad at me?” dude said indignantly, and Trixie swore she was talking to a wall.
“I dunno, my dude,” Trixie groaned, “maybe it’s cuz it was your dumbass idea to put the dragons in collars and hand their leashes to the Crystal Empire.”
“Don’t you even start,” Shining growled. Ah, there was his spine; Trixie was starting to wonder if he even had one. “You of all creatures don’t have a place to speak about—”
“Why?” Trixie grinned like a cat. She loved getting under dudes’ skin. “Cuz I bailed when the writing was on the wall?”
“Because the only reason our clan took you in was because of your relationship with Twilight,” Shining Armor spat, and the irony was delicious, but it paled in comparison to that sweet, sweet obliviousness. “Without her, you wouldn’t have had any part in the progress that our clan made.”
“You call living under the thumbs of ponies progress?” Trixie said sharply; now she was starting to get a little irritated. “I call it bullshit. You were never interested in ‘progress’, you were only ever interested in avoiding conflict. I guess you got what you wanted, how come you aren’t happy?”
Shining Armor said nothing, and Trixie wasn’t irritated anymore, she was happy again just to see the color drain from Shining’s face.
Fun fact: Trixie barely knew what she was saying. She didn’t know jack about Shining Armor as a person, but she sure knew what everyone thought of him, and how to use that information to hurt him.
The Sunlight clan held the hope of thousands of dragons on their shoulders, and Shining Armor held an influential position in the clan— which was of course only because he was the brother of one of the two dragons who the clan was rallied around— and so when his decisions led to the clan’s downfall, his name practically became a curse among the people whose hopes he shattered.
But because he was still quote-unquote ‘respected’, especially by ponies looking for a useful token, no one dared be honest to his face. But in a bar, where they thought only the booze was listening? Trixie had gotten quite an earful of people’s real feelings.
“I did what I had to,” Shining Armor said, and if that limpdick tone even convinced himself, then he was more pathetic than Trixie thought. “We were headed toward all-out war! After Sunset disappeared, someone had to do something…”
Ah, Sunset Shimmer, the other leader of the Sunlight clan. Whereas Twilight Sparkle was a prep school dork who could tell you every trivial little fact about magic thanks to her nerdliness and her formal education, Sunset was the exact opposite.
She was a freak of nature and no one knew where she came from, but she was bold, charismatic, and powerful. And in the Dragon Lands, that’s all you needed to make a name for yourself. Fact that she was cute too was just a bonus.
She was rebellious, aggressive, and she had no patience for the ways ponies treated dragons. In a way, she was everything ponies had been taught to fear about dragons, and that made her a hero to every dragon that met her. Well, except for the bootlickers, obviously. They always hated her, and the feeling was more than mutual.
According to Trixie’s info, Sunset was supposed to show up to a meeting with the pony chancellor Starlight Glimmer, but she never arrived to the meeting and no one knew what happened to her. Foul play was obvious to anyone with a brain, but of course the Empire denied it.
Most people chalked Sunset up as being dead already, but Trixie was willing to bet against that. Frankly, hard to believe someone like Sunset Shimmer even could be killed.
A tired groan from Shining Armor reminded Trixie that he was even still here and she couldn’t help her grumble of resentment. She wasn’t sure how much of the blame for Sunlight’s downfall could be blamed on him, or any one person for that matter, but he was a bootlicker for sure and that was enough reason to hate him.
“Alright, so anyway,” Trixie hit the ground and arched her back, flaring out her wings. “I’m outta here. If you wanna try and grab Twilight again, I’m not gonna stop ya. But you should think it through first.”
“I won’t,” Shining Armor hung his head and sighed. “Will you tell her that I miss her though? That I’d like to apologize if she’ll let me?”
“You don’t apologize with words, my dude,” Trixie shrugged. “Get the boot outta your mouth and then maybe she’ll wanna talk.”
254. No More Important Things, Society Has Progressed Past the Need for Important Things
So, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were having a day on the town. Fluttershy wanted to visit a lot of the local businesses that were run by dragons and see what kinda cool stuff she could find, and Pinkie was ALL ABOUT that! But Pinkie was also feeling nervous cuz her feelings for Fluttershy were still in a really weird place after that night at the Gala.
The funny thing about that though is that by the time the girls visited like the third shop, it was a garden shop full of lush green plants and multicolored flowers, some of which were unique to the Crystal Empire and Pinkie had never seen before, and Fluttershy was LOVING it. She was practically dancing through the aisles, explaining to Pinkie all sorts of cool flower facts that Pinkie barely understood but was utterly enthralled by.
It was so cute. Despite everything, she was still the same ol’ Fluttershy that Pinkie adored so much, and it almost made her feel silly for having been worried.
Pinkie wanted to say something as the girls left the shop but she didn’t know what she wanted to say, she just wanted to say something cuz silence is bad and scary and panicky and—
Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie, and Pinkie smiled back. Okay, maybe silence wasn’t so bad.
“What do you want to do now?” Fluttershy asked softly and Pinkie was SO GLAD she broke the silence cuz she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
“I dunno,” Pinkie hummed as she walked down the street with Fluttershy by her side. She considered holding Fluttershy’s hand, but she was kinda enjoying the more casual vibe they had going, just hanging out together. Not everything had to be super romantic and gushy all the time. “Feelin’ kinda burned out to be honest.”
“Yeah, same here,” Fluttershy chuckled. “A lot’s been happening, and it always feels like we’re so busy all the time, running this way and that.”
“True that,” Pinkie sighed, but Fluttershy’s giggle brought her back to life. Gawd she was glad they were friends, even if Pinkie did get scared sometimes, and Fluttershy did get brainwashed sometimes.
“Sometimes it’s nice,” Fluttershy said, “to just hang out with friends instead of stressing about important stuff all day.”
“I wish we could just do this all day every day,” Pinkie grumbled and huffed.
“So do I,” Fluttershy chuckled into her hand and then ruffled Pinkie’s mane. “But sometimes there are—”
Fluttershy stopped in her tracks and looked into the distance, Pinkie following her gaze and seeing a pony walking down an intersection not too far away, Fluttershy’s eyes following the woman as she walked.
The woman looked to be an earth pony, though it’s possible she was a dragon. She had blue fur and a blue mane with a bunch of blue highlights tied into a cute ponytail. She was very BLUE! Except for her dress, that was a very cute pink.
“Someone you know?” Pinkie asked.
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head and returned her gaze to Pinkie with a soft smile. “Must’ve just been my imagination.”
255. Rainbow's Gay But She's Not THAT Gay (or is she? yes she is, but it's still tough)
Rarity was so freaking slow, there was no way she was beating Rainbow Dash to the train station! Rainbow was practically like a mile ahead of Rarity as the station came into view, and the only way she was gonna be slowed down is if she looked back toward Rarity to gloat and then wasn’t watching where she was going and slammed into another pony.
But what were the odds of that happe—
“Oof!” Rainbow grunted as that happened, the two ponies toppling to the ground with Rainbow on top, pinning the other to the wooden station platform, which was empty as always so at least no one else saw Rainbow’s embarrassment. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was— oh!”
“It’s okay,” Cadance licked her lips, “the view’s not bad from down here.”
“C-Cadance!” Rainbow said bashfully, trying not to act like an excited puppy even as her ears perked up and her tail was wagging. “What’re you doing here?”
The loud gasping and panting of Rarity as she sweatily slogged across the finish line onto the station platform distracted Rainbow for a sec, and she couldn’t tell if Rarity was being melodramatic or if she was actually that lame. Either one was possible with her honestly.
“Why did I agree to a race with you?” Rarity sat down on the platform. “What was I thinking?”
“Hey, Rarity,” Cadance waved, still pinned beneath Rainbow until she yelped in realization and flew up and off of Cadance, who stood up with a giggle.
“Damn, am I interrupting?” Rarity said slyly. “Or is this something I can join in on?”
“Rarity!” Cadance cooed, hand over her chest. “So bold!”
“Sorry,” Rarity laughed awkwardly. “Polyamory has my brain acting funny, I didn’t think—”
“Rarity, I didn’t say ‘no’, did I?” Cadance smirked, Rarity’s eyes and smile widening and Rainbow poking her head into this situation.
“So anyway hey Cadance!” Rainbow said awkwardly, not really even meaning to interrupt on purpose but if she felt even a touch more gay, her heart was gonna explode or something probably. “What’re you doing here? Catching a train?”
“No,” Cadance shook her head and sighed, a steely glint flaring in her eyes as she looked Rainbow’s way. Whatever she was doing, it was something serious. “Just here to wish my gal pals good fortune.”
Cadance summoned a very familiar looking note with her magic into her hand, Rainbow suddenly understanding what was up.
“You got an invitation for this so-called ‘Pristine Army’ as well,” Rarity said, putting Rainbow’s thoughts into words better than she could herself. “But you’re not going?”
“I’m not,” Cadance sighed and tossed the letter aside, letting it blow away and disappear on the wind. “Celestia and I haven’t seen eye to eye as of late. I think if I took her up on her little invitation, it’d cause more problems for everyone, so. I’ll stay put.
“I’d be lying though,” Cadance said wistfully, holding her arms, “if I said I wasn’t flattered that she thought of me.”
Everyone seemed to be all about Celestia, which felt weird to Rainbow Dash. Maybe she was just biased. When she was a kid everyone talked about how cool Celestia was and Rainbow wanted people to talk about how cool she was!
And then she studied under Luna for an awful long time…
“Well, I respect your self-awareness, Cadance,” Rarity stood up and groaned as she stretched her limbs.
Classic Rarity, she groaned like an old lady whenever she had to exert herself, and yet she could more than keep up with monsters and ponies alike on the battlefield. It was such a weird like… what’s that overly complicated word Twilight likes? Jucks of positon? Whatever, it was weird but it was cool too, just like Rarity.
“And hey, who knows?” Cadance grinned and stepped chest to chest with Rarity, twirling a curl of Rarity’s deep amethyst hair around her little pink finger. She was only a head taller than Rarity, but the gulf between them must’ve felt massive in that moment. “Maybe once you get back, I can help you take a load off.”
“Oh, well,” Rarity blushed and stammered, but she couldn’t stop that thirsty grin from spreading across her face. Rainbow’s brain wasn’t sure how to react, but her body sure knew what to do (get hard). “Maybe I’ll take you up on that…”
Rainbow awkwardly cleared her throat.
“You wanna watch?” Cadance said seductively to Rainbow, whose wings flaring out instinctively.
“You’re welcome to join, also,” Rarity added with a sultry smile, and Rainbow legit couldn’t tell if Rarity was just messing with her or if she was serious.
The cutting sound of the train horn brought this conversation to a screeching halt, for better or for worse, and Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief under her breath.
If she was being completely honest, the thought of watching Cadance and Rarity going at it made her wanna nut so bad, but that was a pretty big damn ‘if’. Being honest wasn’t exactly Rainbow’s forte, especially when it came to honesty about her own feelings.
“Hey,” Cadance grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder and pulled her close, putting one hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and the other on her hip. “Knock ‘em dead, hotshot.”
Cadance planted a tender, passionate kiss on Rainbow’s lips, and she all but melted in Cadance’s embrace. She was trying to focus on the mission and not get too riled up, but for one blissful second she let herself get lost in the alicorn’s sweet scent and her soft lips, and the clicking sound of their lips parting.
“I can’t wait to see you when I get back,” Rainbow said, and it felt weird letting those words leave her lips. Cuz it was true! Hanging out with Cadance was so much fun, and she couldn’t wait to return to her.
“I can’t wait to kiss you when you get back,” Cadance teased, kissing Rainbow again.
“Yeah, well I can’t wait to f—” Rainbow stopped short and bit her lip. She paused for an awful long time, and when it became clear she had nothing, Cadance giggled.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You have plenty of time to think about what you want to do to me. I know I’ll be thinking about you.”
“Cool!” Rainbow’s voice cracked, and Cadance laughed and planted her head against Rainbow’s shoulder, before giving her another kiss. “I like you a lot.”
“I like you too,” Cadance hummed, giving Rainbow one last kiss, for real the last one this time. “Come back safe.”
It was starting to rain. It was just drizzling now, but Rainbow knew enough about weather to be certain it was gonna start pouring soon. The sound of rain hitting the rushing train window was like a melody matching the rhythm of Rarity tapping her nails against the side of her seat as she stared vacantly out the window.
Which was definitely a mood; Rainbow was in a real ‘staring vacantly out the window’ place herself to be honest.
Should she ask Rarity what she’s thinking? If Rarity was feeling contemplative, Rainbow didn’t wanna interrupt, but if she was feeling lonely then Rainbow did wanna interrupt! Decisions, decisions. Rainbow hated making decisions! It was so much easier to just live life on the first impulse that entered your brain, but Rainbow’s first impulse on this situation was to fret over it!
“Something on your mind, dear?” Rarity asked, and the irony wasn’t lost on Rainbow. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brow more furrowed.”
“I was wondering the same thing, actually,” Rainbow said softly, smiling at Rarity, who smiled back and gave a gentle laugh, and Rainbow was feeling kinda gay about it. It’d been a while since Rarity and Rainbow had just hung out together like this, and Rainbow always forgot how pretty Rarity always was. “About you, I mean.”
“Ah, of course, of course,” Rarity nodded and laughed again, smiling at Rainbow Dash wish sent a jolt straight to her heart. “I admit, I am a tad on edge. Dealing with Celestia and every— oh dear, I just realized this will be the first time I’ve seen her since everything with Twilight went down. That can’t be right, can it? Oh no I think it is right, oh shit, oh god, oh I’m freaking out now.”
This looked like a job for wing hugs, so Rainbow jumped over to Rarity’s seat and wrapped her wing and her arm around her.
“You wanna talk about something else until we get there?” Rainbow asked. “Cuz like, yeah it’s gonna be awkward at best, so… I don’t blame you for freaking out.”
“I am not ‘freaking out’,” Rarity scoffed in disgust.
“Rarity you literally just said ‘I’m freaking out now’.”
“Oh. Yes, I suppose I did, didn’t I?” Rarity said flatly, Rainbow snorting into her hand. “Okay fine, force of habit, you shush!”
Rainbow cackled as Rarity gave her a playful shove, and Rainbow immediately shoved her back, with Rarity escalating the shoving war even further until the two were shoving each other super hard, Rainbow eventually shoving Rarity off the seat and onto the floor, and then toppling on top of her.
“Wow, you have a real talent for this,” Rarity said drolly, pinned underneath Rainbow and looking up at her with those gorgeous blue eyes.
“My cutie mark should just be a picture of me on top of a beautiful woman,” Rainbow snarked.
“Oh? Am I that beautiful?” Rarity grinned, and Rainbow jumped off of her and curled into a ball on the seat, Rarity climbing up next to her. “What’s the matter, darling? Feeling a little flustered?”
“Sh-shut up!” Rainbow squeaked. “What’s gotten into you, anyway? First Cadance and now this? Is Twilight not treating you right or something?”
“Just the opposite, in fact,” Rarity said, smiling at herself. “She’s treated me so well, and Fluttershy too. I used to be terrified of romance because— oh because of a million silly reasons, but now that I’ve experienced the real thing? I guess I just can’t get enough of it.”
“Wait,” Rainbow squinted and let her mouth hang open as the gears in her brain click-clacked slowly into place. “Wait, do you like, actually like me? Like I mean like-like me?”
“Darling,” Rarity laughed and booped Rainbow’s nose, “I love you.”
You ever, like,, you’re dealing with some complex machinery and it just explodes on you? That’s what Rainbow’s brain felt like it was doing. Or maybe her heart? Or both? She just? Like? WHAT!!!!
“Wuh?”
Nicely done, Rainbow.
“Haha, I’m sorry if that’s a little sudden,” Rarity said and put her hand on Rainbow’s leg. “But the truth is, I do love you. You’re one of my dearest friends, and if being with Twilight and Fluttershy has taught me anything, it’s that the line between friendship and romance is razor thin.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said contemplatively, and then blinked a couple times. “You wanna make out?”
Rarity hated to admit when Rainbow Dash was right, which was a pity since it wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, but she had no choice but to defer to the pegasus’ smugly nodding face as the two stepped off the train and it was pouring rain outside.
Lucky for them, an elegant steel canopy protected the Vanhoover station platform, and more importantly Rarity’s immaculately coiffed mane, from the harshness of the elements, and Rarity had to admit that the ambiance of the pouring rain was properly ominous. Rarity could appreciate a little dramatic weather.
What Rarity had a harder time appreciating was the hustle and bustle of extremely busy and EXTREMELY RUDE ponies all trying to exit the train at the same moment. Rarity had been spoiled by stations like the Crystal Empire and the Moon District, where not a lot of ponies were ever coming or going, that she forgot what a hellish nightmare the stations of major cities like Vanhoover were.
The orders from Celestia’s letter told Rarity and Rainbow Dash to simply wait at the station for Celestia to arrive, so they set up camp as it were in a little corner and waited for the hoof traffic to die down.
And sure enough, slowly but surely the station became evacuated. If Celestia wanted to use this station as her meeting place—and of course she did, she practically had a fetish for the train stations—it was within her power to keep ponies out of it for the time being.
Rarity’s heart pounded in her chest at the sound of distant hoofsteps click-clacking against the stone floor of the station. She felt sweat pouring down her brow and her mouth becoming dry. She swore she was going to hyperventilate or something as she listened to Celestia approach slowly, slowly, too damn slowly WAS SHE TRYING TO GIVE RARITY A HEART ATTACK?!
Rainbow Dash squeezed her hand, and it was enough to snap her back to reality and see Rainbow’s pleasant smile, her big fanged tooth sticking out from her upper lip. Stars, she was adorable, and Rarity figured she could take a moment to steal a little kiss, as a treat.
Rainbow’s lips were so soft; everything about her was soft actually, her skin and her fur and such, and that was not what Rarity expected from such a rough and tumble girl at all. Holding her hands felt like holding precious silk blankets, and kissing her felt like… well, there wasn’t an accurate comparison that could match the pure joy and comfort Rarity felt while kissing Rainbow.
She couldn’t wait to share her with their mutual girlfriends Twilight and Fluttershy. Now that would be a dream come true. Wait, actually was Rainbow dating Fluttershy yet? Rarity wasn’t sure… oh that’s right, Rainbow had expressed attraction but hadn't worked up the nerve to ask Fluttershy out yet. Rarity wondered if she could convince Fluttershy to make the first move instead…
But that would have to wait. Rarity’s ears flicked up, and she felt the temperature in the room increasing. Celestia was here.
Rarity quickly stood up and tried to make herself presentable as the Queen turned the corner and made herself seen, Rarity bowing her head instinctively. Despite everything, it was hard to ignore the feeling of affection and calm that washed over Rarity as she saw her beloved mentor, even as those feelings were tinged by the bitter truth of what kind of malice Celestia held in her heart.
“Rarity,” Celestia bowed her head in return. “It’s been too long. It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s so good to see you too, Celestia,” Rarity said as the Queen embraced her in a hug, and Rarity returned the favor. This may have been the last moment of shared affection between the two, and Rarity was going to savor every second of it.
“’sup,” Rainbow said casually, and Celestia smiled fondly at her. Good sign!
“Hello, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia bowed her head politely. Not the deep bow of mutual respect she gave Rarity, but enough to signify that she didn’t hold any ill will against the pegasus, which was enough of a relief for Rarity. “It’s nice to see you too, I’m glad you could make it.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m uhhh, I guess I’m curious what it is you think you can show me that’ll make me change my mind.”
Celestia took a deep breath, and then sighed. Rarity hadn't noticed at first due to the overwhelming emotions pouring out of her own heart, but now that she was taking a second look at Celestia?
Frankly, she looked miserable. There were bags under her eyes and wrinkles all over her face. Her normally stunning white coat was turning grey in places and was stained by dirt and ash and blood in others. Her aurora mane which normally billowed behind her like an illustrious rainbow was tied in a loose, messy ponytail and looked to be flickering like a lamp about to go out.
“Are you okay?” Rarity asked without thinking, her concern drowning her manners.
“I am,” Celestia gave the bitter laugh of someone who had been forced to give the same canned response far too many times.
“Celestia, this is me,” Rarity said, and she looked over at Rainbow Dash who just blinked at her for a sec before her eyes flickered with recognition and she disappeared in an instant, leaving Rarity and Celestia alone for a moment. “Tell me the truth, please.”
“I’m tired,” Celestia admitted under her breath. “You may have noticed, it’s still winter. Three months into what should have been spring, I believe. I don’t know for sure, I’m having trouble keeping track. And now dealing with these dragon attacks, I—”
“You’re running yourself ragged, sweetheart,” Rarity’s heart bled for her friend and she put her hand up to brush Celestia’s cheek, Celestia bowing so Rarity could reach. “You can’t afford to do that to yourself.”
“I know,” Celestia sighed and drew herself up, forcing the weariest smile Rarity had ever seen onto her face. “But I have good help. To be quite honest, I don’t know where I would be without my advisor. He was the one who came up with the idea for the Pristine Army, to give me a little more slack in regards to my responsibilities.”
“And what exactly is the Pristine Army?” Rarity asked. She supposed there was no more beating around the bush; it was time to learn what they came here for.
“I think I’d better let him explain it in his own words,” Celestia said with a smile, and it was the first genuine one Rarity had seen on the alicorn’s face since they started talking. Celestia was excited about this, and Rarity needed to keep in mind what that most likely meant, and that it wasn’t anything good.
“Rainbow dear! You can come back now!” Rarity called out and Rainbow zipped back to standing next to Rarity before her sentence was even fully formed.
“Alright! What’re we doing?” Rainbow asked excitedly, stamping her hooves on the ground. Gawd what an absolute doll. How did Rarity go so long without kissing her? Shameful.
“I’ll be introducing you both to my advisor, and the man who will be the head of the Pristine Army in my stead,” Celestia explained. “Though I do wish Cadance was here as well. I understand why she didn’t accept my invitation, but… I miss her.”
“Wait, that reminds me,” Rarity said. “Where are Tempest Shadow and the others?”
“I only invited you two and Cadance,” Celestia said. “I love all my students dearly, but Rarity there’s a special bond I share only with you and Cadance, a level of trust I have in you both that is unparalleled. And of course, if you’re willing to put that same level of trust in Rainbow Dash, then I see no reason not to extend a second chance to her as well.”
“Cuz we’re partners,” Rainbow put her arm around Rarity, the two standing shoulder to shoulder with big goofy grins.
“Exactly,” Rarity and Celestia said in unison, though that did beg another question from Rarity. “Wait, does Cadance not have a partner? I know she must have, but I don’t think I ever met them.”
“We don’t talk about Cadance’s partner,” Celestia growled, a roaring fire passing through her eyes.
“Oh,” Rarity said, her and Rainbow instinctively taking a step back, hands firmly holding onto each other’s. “Okay.”
“I apologize,” Celestia sighed. “I’d rather not talk about it, but it would be wrong of me to go on and on about how much I trust you, and then keep information like that from you. It’s simply that… I’ve never felt betrayal like that in my life before.”
“I wanna know,” Rainbow said firmly, ever the one to think without regards to manners and such. “If you want me to trust you, you can’t just keep stuff from us.”
“I rather agree, I’m sorry to say,” Rarity said. Regardless of her personal feelings, Rarity needed to keep in mind that Celestia was still an enemy to the cause of dragon safety, and she couldn’t afford to let Celestia hold hidden information close to her chest. “I would really like to hear this story.”
“It’s not much of a story,” Celestia said coldly, every word weighing on her heart like another stone foisted onto her shoulders. “Cadance’s partner was a dear personal student, and friend, of mine. At least I thought she was a friend. I have… no idea how she managed to hide it from me, but…”
Oh.
Oh no.
“…she was a dragon.”
Ah.
“Is that where all your dragon hate comes from?” Rainbow said disdainfully, and it took everything in Rarity to not slap her own face or Rainbow’s.
“No?” Celestia said, the utter indignation on her face almost choking Rarity with its intensity. “I’ve been alive a thousand years, Rainbow Dash. I’ve seen some shit.”
“Please go on, Celestia,” Rarity spoke up before Rainbow could. “What happened to her? Who was she?”
“What happened to her,” Celestia spoke in a strained tone, her patience thinning quickly as she had to recount these painful memories, “was I discovered her secret. I was… admittedly conflicted. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but she showed me of her own will. I nearly struck her down on the spot, but Cadance saved her. I haven’t spoken to either since.
“Frankly, I would have tracked the dragon down and killed her myself, but she returned home shortly after our little encounter. Apparently had a tryst with the Crystal Empire that didn’t end well for her, but I haven’t been able to learn much concrete information. But I don’t think she’s still alive.”
“And who was she?” Rarity asked, hoping it wasn’t anyone she knew.
She wanted a lot of things actually, but cock was at the top of the list. She missed being back home, where there were a lot more girls who were easier to get into bed with than here in Equestria. Like sure, it wouldn’t be the hardest thing in the world to get herself into a pony’s bed, but it was avoiding a hate crime after the fact that’d be the real challenge, and she wasn’t quite up for it.
Anyway. Cock.
If she were being entirely honest, which Trixie loathed to do, the truth was she didn’t want specifically cock so much as she wanted a distraction from the depression brain demons that were in eating a hole inside her brain. Cock was just a really good distraction for a lot of reasons.
She wondered if maybe Twilight Sparkle— and then she crushed that train of thought before it got fully started cuz no freaking way.
Speaking of Twilight Sparkle though, as Trixie listlessly wandered through the streets of the Crystal Empire stuck in her dumbass pony form, she figured it’d be a good idea to get ahold of her. She sure left in a hurry the second that Shining Armor showed up, and as much as Trixie hated to admit it— and she did, in fact, hate to admit it— she wanted to know that Twilight was holding up alright.
Finding Twilight was no thing thanks to Trixie’s great and powerful divination magic, and lucky for good ol’ Trixie, Twilight was hanging out at the train station so that meant it was real dragon form hours yet again!
Gawd, the amount of relief and joy Trixie felt at shedding her pony form was unbelievable. How did ponies live without toes? Or being huge and having cool claws and fangs and wings and scales and UGH! There was SO MUCH about being a dragon that ruled. Felt good to be back, even if she was only in her pony disguise for like fifteen minutes.
“Hey,” Trixie said casually as she sat next to Twilight on the station platform. How was Twilight so huge? What a freak.
“Hi,” Twilight said somberly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Trixie shrugged. “Sure, dealing with that guy was annoying, but I kinda respect the balls it takes to just bounce like you did. Self-care, baby.”
“Hehe,” Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes, “I guess.”
“You wanna grab some cock?”
“What?”
“I mean lunch.”
It was worth a shot.
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “Lunch would be good. I’d like that.”
“You wanna hang out with your dumb friends?” Trixie asked. “Or just you and me?”
“Do you want to hang out with my amazing friends?” Twilight responded with a cheeky smile.
“Eh,” Trixie just shrugged. “I could care less.”
“Well if you don’t mind,” Twilight said, “then yeah, seeing my friends would be nice.”
“Alright, lemme just find ‘em real quick,” Trixie rolled her shoulders and stretched out her arms and legs. It was important to do warmups before practicing magic, especially cuz this was gonna be a little complicated.
Finding Twilight was no big thing cuz Trixie already knew Twilight’s signature, she just had to hone in on it and find it. For finding all of Twilight’s dumb friends, what Trixie would have to do instead was like comb the whole Empire until she found people who were familiar enough that Trixie could be like ‘oh yeah it’s these guys’.
Annoying. But oh well, she said she’d do it.
Trixie did her channeling magic energy bullshit and fired up her divination spell, like she does. She started going through the city trying to find some folks, and it was funny how easy it was to spot the difference between dragons and ponies, but cuz ponies had given up on real magic eons ago, they had no shot of making that connection. Hoisted by their own petard as it were. What’s a petard? Trixie had only ever heard it in the context of that sentence.
Whatever, not important. Trixie found a couple of Twilight’s pony friends pretty easily, and Maud too. Trixie couldn’t help smiling as she hovered over Maud’s signature; she was glad that particular pony was still in the city. Trixie wanted to hang with her at least one more time before she left.
Anybutt, doot-doodoo-doodoo, going through signatures. Let’s see, finding Twilight’s dragon friend uhhhh well there was a dragon, but that wasn’t anything strange. Ah, and another dragon. And another, and another, but not the one Trixie was looking for.
And another, geez how many dragons were in like this one spot? It was starting to get distracting. Every time Trixie would try to move away, she’d get distracted by this weird cluster of dragon signatures.
Well, now she was curious, so she had to poke around a little.
Damn, there were so many of them, all gathered in one spot. Some kind of sweet rebel gathering maybe? Trixie wanted in on that.
“You okay, Trix?” Twilight’s dumb words coming out of her ugly face distracted Trixie from her concentration.
“Magic takes time,” Trixie harrumphed. “And I got distracted. There’s like a whole bunch of dragons all gathered in one spot, and I got curious.”
“I’m curious too,” Twilight said, and something in the tone of her voice struck Trixie as pretty ominous, but Twilight was a weirdo so she just let it pass. “Do you mind if we put our heads together and take a look?”
“What, you mean combine magic?” Trixie scoffed. “What, you don’t think I’m good enough?”
“I just want to see with my own eyes, if I can.”
“Are we gonna have to kiss?” Trixie said smarmily, limply batting her hand. She meant it as a joke but after she said it she was like ‘haha just kidding… unless?’
“We don’t have to,” Twilight said sheepishly, “if you don’t want to. It’s just the easiest way to share magi—”
“Alright, you don’t have to give me the hard sell,” Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes. “If you’re that desperate to kiss me, I guess I can humor you a little bit, okay?”
“Okay,” Twilight giggled, and Trixie didn’t think she was cute at all.
Trixie flew up to Twilight’s big dumb snout and Twilight smiled like a, like a, like a, like a big, like a big, a big DORK. SHE WAS A BIG CHUMP AND TRIXIE DIDN’T THINK SHE LOOKED CUTE.
Twilight’s dumb snout was bigger than Trixie’s whole entire head, so Trixie just gave her a little peck on the lips, with Twilight returning the favor with a soft, tender kiss that sent a shockwave through Trixie’s whole body.
She kinda maybe forgot that she hadn't ever kissed anyone else before this. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but the butterflies in her stomach and the stars in her eyes were a surprise to her.
Trixie hit the ground on her rump, her body buzzing with Twilight’s magic.
“Wow,” Twilight cooed, and Trixie’s ears folded back as she waited for the insult, “you’re so small. It’s really impressive how you can pull off such intricate magic.”
“Thanks,” Trixie groaned in disgust. “That was the most backhanded compliment I’ve ever heard, but thanks I guess.”
“Sorry,” Twilight said bashfully, covering her snout with her claw. “Are you ready to do this?”
“You don’t gotta ask me,” Trixie scoffed and got ready to magic.
Trixie’s resentment aside, it didn’t escape her notice that her own magical power was completely dwarfed by Twilight now that they were sharing a pool together. Trixie sighed and grumbled and went about her spell regardless, Twilight focusing on connecting the two and increasing their clarity.
It was wild; where before Trixie could just see a skeleton of the city, now she could see the real deal if perfect detail. Well, not perfect detail; things were still kinda fuzzy, but she could focus on the details if she wanted to. She didn’t wanna accidentally magic herself into some rando’s bathroom or anything like that.
So, now onto the main event. Trixie and Twilight combined their focus and went toward the collection of dragons. Trixie hadn't realized until fusing with Twilight that the dragons’ signatures were all underground, under the mountains behind the Empire to be specific.
And when they got a little closer, they realized why; it was a prison.
Rows and rows of cages with dragons in various states of dismemberment were plain to see, and the first thing Trixie felt was panic, though she couldn’t tell if it was her own or Twilight Sparkle’s. Maybe it was both; honestly, Trixie kinda hoped it was.
There was a woman stalking the prison, pacing back and forth unfettered. She was in the form of a pony but she too was a dragon; purple coat and purple hair, tied into twin tails and with blazing teal highlights.
She held out her hand as a handful of dragons in their cells wailed in anguish in front of her, and Trixie and Twilight watched as the woman extracted magic from these tortured cries, almost as if she was turning the sound itself into an ashy black mist.
The mist swirled around in the woman’s hand until it solidified in the form of three pitch black thorns. Trixie and Twilight both recognized them.
Suddenly Trixie snapped back to the train station, Twilight shutting off the spell in a panic. Trixie didn’t blame her.
“Well,” Trixie let out a bitter chuckle, “that’s ominous.”
“Well,” Trixie hummed as she sat at the empty Crystal Empire train station beside Twilight Sparkle, the pair having just seen with their own eyes a bigass prison where dragons are being detained and tortured, “that sucks.”
“Yeah, it sure does,” Twilight laughed helplessly and Trixie just sighed. Laughter was probably a better response but bleugh.
“What do we do?” Twilight asked, her ears flopping against her head.
“You’re asking me?” Trixie balked, practically hissing at the prospect of taking responsibility for anything.
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight chuckled. “It’s about time I got off my ass and started helping… I just uhhh… need to think about—”
Twilight paused. Her eyes flickered with some kinda recognition, Trixie supposed but she wasn’t a mind reader so she had no clue. Twilight put a claw up to her lips and hummed, before nodding assertively.
“You figure something out?” Trixie asked, oh so nosy and demanding to be let in on the situation.
“I think so,” Twilight said coldly, though she immediately let out an awkward laugh and lightened up her tone. “I mean, I think I know where to start, which frankly is good enough for now.”
“Yeah?” Trixie grinned sinisterly, wanting to get her mucky little claws on the secrets. Okay maybe not ‘sinister’ so much as ‘nosy’. “Let me in, I wanna know!”
“Uhh, I don’t think I will,” Twilight said awkwardly, her face turning bright red as she rubbed the back of her neck. Suspicious. “At least, not yet. If I start talking about my plan, I’ll psyche myself out of it, I know I will. So just let me do this.”
“Okay,” Trixie shrugged. She didn’t wanna know the secrets that bad anyway. “So you wanna grab some lunch then?”
“Practically dinner, now,” Twilight said, looking up at the yellow tinted sky.
“Ew, where does the time go?” Trixie groaned. “Oh well,” she shrugged, “let’s just go someplace else, this train station is starting to make me break out into hives or something.”
“How is that possible?” Twilight asked flatly.
“Uh, TRAIN HIVES, Twilight?” Trixie scoffed at Twilight’s completely buffoonish ignorance. “You ever hear of train hives?”
“I haven’t.”
“Wow, okay,” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Guess you’re not so smart after all.”
“I’m pretty sure you just made up ‘train hives’. That’s not a real thing.”
“No, my humility and my respect for you are not real things,” Trixie harrumphed, flicking up her tail at Twilight as she trotted toward the Empire. She’d have to go back to pony form, which was annoying, but she could save it for the last minute.
BAM! Cut to restaurant! The great and powerful Trixie, and to a much lesser degree Twilight Sparkle, walked into the modestly spacious and mostly completely empty little restaurant and took stock of the place. It was quaint, the end.
They chose it cuz Twilight’s friends were hanging out here, and Twilight wanted to spend time with them. Trixie came along for the ride, though she knew she was probably gonna have to bounce as soon as that pink one made a fuss about her, which was fine.
And there they were, all of Twilight’s little friends, such as Apple Horse, Yellow Horse, Pink Horse, and Child Horse. Also Maud was there, and Trixie got butterflies in her stomach as soon as she saw her.
The little ponies and Yellow Horse who Trixie had briefly forgotten was not a pony were all very excited to see Twilight, waving and hollering to her, and even getting up and hugging her when she approached. Trixie hung back, cuz like, no one wanted to hug her so that’s cool.
Trixie just kinda moved back and forth on her hooves as she waited for Twilight to be done with her mushy gushy bullshit, and she wasn’t really paying any attention to them, so she didn’t see Maud approaching until the pony grabbed her hand and made her jump out of her skin.
“Hey,” Maud said.
“Hey,” Trixie replied, feeling like her guts were a freshly shaken up soda can.
“Sit next to me,” Maud said.
“Y-yeah,” Trixie nodded, smiling like an idiot and trying not to tear up, “okay.”
The mansion owned by Celestia’s ‘advisor’ was opulent. Almost disgustingly so. But the beds were comfy, even moreso for Rarity as she laid in one within the embrace of her lover Rainbow Dash.
Wow. It… still felt very strange to refer to Rainbow as her lover, but that is what they were, if the fluid dripping off of Rarity’s tip and oozing out of Rainbow’s ass was any indication.
They had a good time together, and all good times require something to take the load off after, which of course meant… cuddling! Frankly, cuddling was Rarity’s favorite part of the events, and lying naked under the soft clean sheets with her beloved Rainbow Dash, the smaller mare’s head perfectly nestled against Rarity’s neck, there was simply no place Rarity would rather be.
“Are you enjoying yourself, my da—”
Rarity stopped short in her questioning, or rater was interrupted by a very loud snore coming from her little darling. It made Rarity chuckle, and she nuzzled the pegasus.
Granted, Rarity herself wasn’t quite sleepy yet, and Rainbow was lying on her arm, so. She really had nothing but time on her hands and she let her eyes wander across the room. It was a surreal feeling, being inside someone else’s home but knowing they weren’t around, and wouldn’t be around at any point in the near future.
Apparently, Rarity and Rainbow would not be meeting Celestia’s ‘advisor’ in person, at least not yet. Celestia insisted the man ran himself far more ragged than even the Queen herself did, which Rarity found hard to believe but she understood Celestia’s point.
And after all, tomorrow would be this Neighsay’s big day. Big week? Month? Didn’t matter. The point was simply that he had been pushing for this Pristine Army for quite some time, and now was his chance to prove himself and his ideals.
It would have been inspiring, if those ideals weren’t entirely predicated on the murder of innocent people.
Also his taste in décor was tacky. Although, this mansion reeked of the scent of an impulse buying decision with no further thought put into it after purchase, which meant that it may not have been an honest representation of the man’s tastes.
It also reeked of something else, specifically arrogance, that he could simply pick up a house on an impulse. Though Rarity supposed that working as an advisor toward Queen Celestia doesn’t come cheap.
Rarity found herself wishing that Twilight was present, and then redacting that wish after she remembered the whole dragon thing. It wouldn’t be right to dump all of Rarity’s stress and emotional baggage on poor Twilight, who already had to deal with the brunt of this garbage and whose problems were only going to get worse in a situation such as this one.
So Rarity found herself wishing that Applejack was here instead.
Oh well, it was what it was.
Tomorrow, Rarity and Rainbow Dash would be meeting some of the first members of this Pristine Army, and would see for themselves what the Army was about. Hopefully they would be able to meet Neighsay himself, but Rarity wasn’t counting on it.
“You ready to hit the hay, bug?” Twilight asked sweetly, patting her son’s back as the two sat on the porch of the inn they were staying at, which was built to look like a very cozy neighbor’s house.
“Heck no, I’m ready to party!” Spike cheered, throwing his hands in the air and making Twilight laugh.
“I’m sure Pinkie will be glad to hear that,” Twilight giggled.
“How about you, Fluttershy?” Twilight groaned as she stood up, feeling the weight of her trauma physically pressing on her bones, but she ignored it as best she could. “Are you excited to party with Pinkie and Spike tonight?”
“Yes, very,” Fluttershy grinned brightly, and it made Twilight feel a little better.
She was worried that Fluttershy and Pinkie, and even Spike, would feel like Twilight was just trying to pass Spike off to them like he was a burden. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, but Twilight did need some time to get some rest and relaxation that she had trouble getting while in Mom mode.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight laughed and grabbed Fluttershy’s hands. “You’re the best.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Fluttershy said bashfully.
“I would,” Twilight giggled and leaned in, kissing Fluttershy on the lips… and then remembered they were not dating. “Uh, I’m sorry, that was—”
“That was what?” Fluttershy said, completely unfazed.
“That was totally inappropriate!” Twilight shrieked, letting go of Fluttershy’s hands and jumping back. “We don’t have that kind of relationship, so I—”
“We don’t?!” Fluttershy’s eyes widened and her face turned red. “Oh! After that morning with Rarity I—”
Fluttershy and Twilight both turned to Spike, who looked at them confusedly for a second and then sighed.
“I’ll go check how Applejack and Pinkie Pie are doing,” Spike said drolly and then scurried off.
“After that morning with Rarity, I—” Fluttershy brushed some hair out of her mane, her face blushing profusely but probably not as hard as Twilight. “I just sort of assumed—”
“I had no idea,” Twilight blurted out. “I-I-I-I’m really into the idea though!” Twilight awkwardly shouted for the whole city to hear.
“R-really?!” Fluttershy fidgeted awkwardly with her hands before biting down on a thumbnail. “I-I would love that too.”
“Do you, um, want me to kiss you again?” Twilight fretted with her bangs, her heart racing out of her chest or something like that, she was just really excited okay!?
“Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered, a gleam in her eye, “I would love that.”
Twilight grabbed Fluttershy’s hands in hers, and they felt so soft and good and wonderful and squeezable… so Twilight did, indeed, give them a little squeeze as she stood on the tips of her hooves to plant a gentle kiss on Fluttershy’s soft as hell lips.
Fluttershy kissed her back, gently, tentatively. It was tender and intimate, like sharing a single marshmallow cuz it was the last in the bag and you both wanted it. Maybe that didn’t make sense, but the point was that there were butterflies in Twilight’s stomach and as she stared into Fluttershy’s beautiful teal eyes, she kinda hoped they would never leave.
“Howdy, y’all!” Applejack chimed in as she walked up the steps to the porch, Pinkie and Spike in tow. Applejack took Twilight in her big strong arms and kissed Twilight softly, the dragon melting into Applejack’s comforting embrace.
It was wild to think how Twilight was blessed with so many amazing women in her life.
Pinkie Pie, for her part, had somehow gotten Fluttershy pinned to the ground, the yellow dragon giggling as Pinkie covered her face in kisses. It was hard not to love them both.
“Spike!” Pinkie clamored and stood on her hooves. “Are you ready to have some fun with auntie Pinkie Pie and auntie Fluttershy?!”
“I sure am!” Spike beamed, and it never failed to warm Twilight’s heart to see a smile on his face. “Though let’s be honest, at this point you’re both basically second moms.”
Fluttershy and Pinkie both blushed and giggled at that statement, and Twilight just knew if her heart was assaulted by any more warm and fuzzy feelings it would probably explode. So of course in came Pinkie Pie with the group hug, gathering all four girls and Spike into one big family hug.
Cuz that really was what they were; they were family. Twilight knew that already, and yet it still felt like it was just starting to dawn on her.
Twilight said her goodnights to everyone one last time as the party split up in the inn hallway to head to their separate rooms, and Applejack picked Twilight up off the ground and carried her to their room.
“How ya feelin’, hon?” Applejack asked, carrying Twilight bridal style as they crossed the threshold into their room.
“Not great,” Twilight admitted. She knew how much Applejack valued honesty, and she wasn’t going to disrespect that by trying to pretend she was fine. “I’m doing my best to be okay, but I’m… I’m not doing great. Dating Fluttershy now though, so that’s pretty cool.”
“You weren’t datin’ her already?” Applejack laid Twilight gently on the bed before sitting on the edge of it herself.
“Apparently I was,” Twilight laughed softly.
“She’s a sweet gal, I know she’ll treatcha right,” Applejack nodded with a confident smile. “And good on ya for collectin’ so many great girlfriends!” Applejack laughed from her belly, and it was the cutest thing she’d seen all night. Well, it was in the top five at least. Her friends and Spike were tough competition for each other in the cuteness race.
“It feels good,” Twilight sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I’m tired.”
“That’s okay, sugarcube,” Applejack lied on the bed next to Twilight and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll carry ya as much as I can, and I don’t just mean physically.”
“I—”
It was funny; there was a time not so long ago where Twilight would have balked at that, told Applejack off and said Twilight needed to take care of her own problems. Those thoughts entered her head as nothing more than a distant memory, and Twilight figured she could be proud of that progress.
“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight sighed and put her hand in Applejack’s. “I appreciate that a lot.”
“My pleasure, Twi,” Applejack sighed, and then yawned. “Gettin’ sleepy. How ‘bout you?”
“Not quite,” Twilight chuckled and hopped out of bed, but she decided she could at least get out of her robes, and give Applejack a little bit of a show in the process. “I want to write a letter to an old friend back home. It might take me a minute, so don’t wait up for me to go to sleep, okay?”
“Way ahead of you, Twi,” Applejack said through a yawn. Twilight smiled and leaned over to kiss her sleepy girlfriend on the forehead.
Twilight sat over on the small lounge chair in the corner of the room, collecting a quill and notepad from her bags and tapping the pen against her lips.
There was so much she wanted to say. But she felt that maybe it was better to keep it to the important parts; there would be time for catching up and apologizing for lost time later, but for now what Twilight needed was advice about what to do next, especially regarding this dragon prison nestled under the Crystal Empire.
And so, with her hands trembling and her heart racing, she put ink to paper.
Rarity was nervous. Haha, of course she was honestly well on her way to ‘panicked’ but… a lady doesn’t panic, so she was simply nervous. Today she and Rainbow Dash were going to learn exactly what was going on with Celestia an Neighsay’s Pristine Army.
They were going to—
Rarity’s thoughts screeched to a halt as Rainbow Dash smacked her across the ass, and she jumped up and yelped.
“Rainbow Dash!” she said, her face painted bright red.
“You looked like you were worried about stuff,” Rainbow smirked like a cat, and if she wasn’t so damn adorable Rarity would likely still be mad. “I’m helping.”
“You’re ‘helping’, right,” Rarity said drolly, and she felt like she was becoming more like Twilight.
She couldn’t blame Rainbow of course for wanting to get her paws on Rarity. What woman didn’t, after all? And besides that, Rainbow was looking awful enticing herself, perching on the side of the bed stark naked.
Rarity pushed Rainbow onto the bed and pinned her down, Rainbow’s ears perking up and her grin stretching further across her lips as Rarity ran her hand through that luscious rainbow mane of hers, planting a fiery kiss on Rainbow’s soft and gorgeous lips.
“Stars, you’re sexy,” Rarity moaned as she sucked on Rainbow’s neck.
“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow said through panting and gasping.
Rarity let herself fall to the floor on her knees, her eye level meeting right between Rainbow’s legs. They still had a bit of time before they needed to meet Celestia, they might as well enjoy themselves a bit. Enjoy each other a bit too.
After they were finished, Rarity took to the nearby dresser to get herself properly clothed for the day’s events, taking care not to watch Rainbow get dressed just in case she couldn’t help herself to the pegasus’ lean, muscled body again.
Rarity attached her necklace; her memento of the truth about dragons, and an odd nostalgia swirled inside her.
“Hey,” Rainbow said, pointing to the necklace, “that’s not the dragon fang.”
“It isn’t,” Rarity said, her fingers tracing the beige dragon scale hanging from her neck that she was wearing for the first time today. “It’s the scale I received from Rain Shine. I thought it was far more appropriate than that hideous fang.”
“It looks good on you,” Rainbow said with a sincere smile, making Rarity laugh softly and turn away bashfully.
“Yes,” she sighed and looked at the scale, remembering the torrent of emotions she had felt after she had met Rain Shine, after she could no longer ignore the truth about dragons, “I suppose it does.”
Rarity wasn’t sure what to expect from the Pristine Army. Celestia had been extremely coy about their means and goals, leaving either a void of possibilities or a swirling torrent of anxious nightmares in Rarity’s head.
Their first mission was to visit a town on the shore of Luna Bay, one that had been rumored to be harboring dragons within its borders. The Pristine Army’s job was to find these dragons and execute them.
It was standard fare for Slayers; Rarity had done the same herself in the past.
But the Pristine Army’s methods were far different, and as Rarity watched the group of soldiers tearing the small fishing hamlet apart, forcefully removing ponies from their homes and beating others with iron rods for ‘resisting’, Rarity’s stomach twisted itself apart.
“What the hell is this?” Rarity said, horrified and sickened. Rainbow looked equally so, but she was doing a commendable job at holding her tongue in front of the Queen.
“Tough love,” Celestia said. “That’s what the Pristine Army specializes in, that is their purpose. Too many times dragons have torn apart Equestria’s towns because we’ve attempted to remove them slowly, delicately. No more. The Pristine Army will enter a town and remove the dragon by force. Anyone that tries to stop them from completing that job will be subject to criminal punishment.”
“The dragons aren’t going to be able to tear apart the town if the ponies do it FIRST!” Rarity screamed. “This is madness!”
“Do you see any damage to the town, Rarity?” Celestia pointed to the several houses in front of them, none of which had been damaged by the soldiers. Only the ponies.
“What does that matter?!” Rarity shouted. “Ponies’ property isn’t more valuable than their lives!”
“The Pristine Army doesn’t take pony lives,” Celestia said calmly, though Rarity recognized her steely glare; she was growing impatient with Rarity’s outbursts. “They are trained only to kill dragons.”
“You don’t think beating them with batons and stuff might kill someone?” Rainbow griped.
“The ponies of this town can stop resisting whenever they choose,” Celestia said coldly. “If they don’t, the consequences are on their shoulders, not on ours.”
“This isn’t ‘tough love’, Celestia,” Rarity said firmly, practically begging her mentor to open her eyes to the horror she was witnessing, that she was ordering. “This is outright cruelty.”
“Things only escalated like this because the villagers refused to co-operate,” Celestia barked, turning on Rarity and forcing her to take a step back, Rarity’s ears clamping against her head. “Do you think this is what I want?! NO! But I’ve had enough of these monsters burrowing into Equestrian soil like they own the damn place! I want these monsters OUT of my country!”
“Even at the cost of your own citizens’ safety,” Rarity hissed, putting her hoof down.
“I won’t preserve the comfort of a few dozen,” Celestia growled in return, and seeing the fearsome alicorn take such an aggressive stance against her made Rarity want to vomit and cry, but she wasn’t about to back down, “if it means sacrificing the safety of a few thousand.”
“You’re wrong,” Rarity said.
“No, I’m pretty sure that math checks out, actually,” Celestia said drolly.
“No, Celestia,” Rarity took a deep breath, her entire body trembling with the weight of what she knew she had to say. “You’re wrong about dragons.”
“What?” Celestia asked shortly. Her expression was hard to decipher, a mix between shock and rage, though Rarity sensed there might be a hint of betrayal in there too. She hoped there was; she hoped that Rarity drawing a line against Celestia’s horrid bigotry wounded her.
“Rainbow Dash told me about what she said to you, before you excommunicated her,” Rarity said, standing her ground before her former mentor. “I agree with her.”
Celestia took a step back and said nothing, her eyes wide and scanning the horizon like she had been physically struck. Rarity figured she may as well have been.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity turned to her partner and pointed toward the village, “we need to stop this. Let’s go.”
“Way ahead of ya!” Rainbow nodded and took off toward the village.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Celestia barked, and Rarity paused to look back at her.
“Am I under arrest?” she asked.
“I—” Celestia faltered. She had nothing to say.
“Then I’m going to go do my duty as a Slayer,” Rarity said, clasping the serpent scale around her neck, “and protect these ponies.”
As Rarity and Rainbow Dash entered the village on the coast of Luna Bay, Rarity realized there weren’t as many soldiers from the Pristine Army here as she thought.
According to Celestia, there were only a total of fifteen soldiers present in this town, as each member of the Pristine Army was handpicked by Neighsay or one of his closest associates, which meant to cover the whole town their manpower was spread a bit thin.
What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in overwhelming force, with iron rods and thick body armor, as well as helmets that masked their faces.
But none of them had the magic of a dragon flowing through them like Rarity did, so that gave her an edge. True, she didn’t have Twilight’s magic freshly pumping through her body, but ever since they had begun their intimate relationship, Twilight’s gifts for magic had been rubbing off on Rarity, so good enough.
Rarity used her sturdy blue barriers to protect ponies from the batons and fists of the soldiers, while Rainbow Dash hurried said ponies off to safety, Rarity covering their escape. Rarity couldn’t see the expressions of these soldiers behind their masks, but judging by the way they advanced on her, they weren’t simply going to let her interrupt them without a fight.
“Hold your fire, everypony!” a familiar man’s voice called out, and the three soldiers surrounding Rarity reluctantly backed away and cleared a path for the man. He looked no different from the rest of them dressed in their armor, but he took his helmet off to reveal his identity.
“Blueblood?” Rarity blinked. She wasn’t sure who she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t him. “What are you doing? How can you be going along with this?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Blueblood sighed disappointedly and shook his head. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, after what we learned of your partner. She’s a real dragon fu—”
“Alright,” Rarity interrupted, her cheeks turning red. Truth be told, she wished Rainbow would come back soon from rescuing other ponies. With this many solders against her, her confidence in winning a battle was waning. These men were armed, trained, and prepared to kill dragons, after all. “But why are you brutalizing these townsfolk? They’ve done nothing to deserve this!”
“They’re harboring dragons, Rarity,” Blueblood said in disgust, and the venom in his voice shouldn’t have surprised Rarity, but somehow hearing those words that she would have been saying herself not so long ago stung her ears as well as her pride. “They need to be punished. I’m just doing my duty as a Slayer, and as a member of the Pristine Army.”
“Does your ‘duty’ involve terrorizing and torturing ponies?” Rarity spat and crossed her arms. She wanted to avoid a fight at all costs, but she couldn’t pretend not to be disgusted. If worst came to worst, she was still confident her magic would allow her to win against Blueblood. “We’re supposed to protect ponies, not— not this!”
Blueblood laughed.
Rarity stood in stunned silence. She didn’t know what she expected to hear, but for him to simply laugh off such cruelty… she felt disgusted with herself now for ever having been attracted to him.
“My job is to slay monsters,” Blueblood chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Protecting ponies has nothing to do with it. Incidentally…”
Blueblood walked closer to Rarity and she backed off, only to bump into another soldier behind her. To avoid a fight breaking out, Rarity stood still as Blueblood approached her and put his hands on her dragon scale necklace.
“This is the scale from that sea serpent,” Blueblood hummed, looking the trinket over. “The one that you ‘killed’, isn’t that right?”
“It is,” Rarity said calmly. She didn’t like the emphasis in his words.
“Funny that we never saw the body, Wind Rider and I.”
Blueblood let go of the scale and put his hand instead on Rarity’s cheeks, squishing them together painfully. He was definitely crossing a line, but Rarity needed to play this as coolly as possible if she wanted to survive it. She couldn’t risk a battle unless her life was at stake.
“Funnier still, knowing what we know now about your partner,” Blueblood chuckled and forced Rarity’s face to move side to side. “And even more funnier, that this town connected by a body of water to ol’ Windsoar would now be said to be harboring a sea serpent. Funny how that all works out, isn’t it? Isn’t that a funny coincidence?”
“If you have something to say to me, just say it,” Rarity spat.
“I’m saying I already had a hunch that you let the sea serpent live,” Blueblood let go of Rarity’s cheeks, “and now here you are, stopping the Pristine Army from doing their job. Rarity? I’m accusing you of treason.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” Rarity scoffed. She still had one more card up her sleeve, desperate as it may be. “I’m Celestia’s protégé. You wouldn’t dare—”
“Celestia has given us full authority here,” Blueblood said, putting his helmet back on. “And she’s a busy mare. She doesn’t need to know everything that happens.” Blueblood turned to his soldiers. “Men? Gas her.”
Rarity lit up her horn with magic, but she was stunned for a moment by a rough thump to the back of her head, and by the time she got her bearings, a canister that one of the soldiers dropped on the ground released a thick white cloud of smoke, Rarity coughing and her eyes burning as she was shoved further into the cloud by a soldier.
More worrying than the physical pain was the fact that Rarity couldn’t focus enough to cast her magic, and as she tried, she felt an iron rod strike the back of her knee, and another hit her in the side of the arm.
An armored hoof kicked the back of her leg and threw her to the ground, where she was then beaten with rods and hooves as she coughed, her eyes blurring and burning too much for her to even fully understand what was going on around her.
Everything that happened was a blur; Rarity was beaten within an inch of her life, and then pulled out of the cloud of gas and forced to stand in front of Blueblood, the soldiers stripping her of her armor and gear on his orders.
“This gas really sinks into leather,” Blueblood chuckled as he grabbed Rarity by her chin, Rarity barely seeing him past the haze of tears and searing pain in her eyes, “so you’ll thank me later for getting rid of all this stuff for you.”
Next, Blueblood ordered for Rarity to be bound, and to be gagged ‘for good measure’, and while his cronies were doing that, he was barking at someone else to ‘bring the wagon around’.
Rarity didn’t understand any of it. Thankfully, she was starting to regain a little bit of clarity, but her head was still in a fog and her body was wracked with horrific pain so she could only focus so much.
Where the hell was Rainbow Dash?
An iron wagon rolled toward Rarity as the soldiers finished restraining her, carried by a unicorn driver’s magic. It turned around so that the back was facing her, and then another armored soldier hopped out of the passenger’s seat.
“Ah, Wind Rider!” Blueblood said cheerfully, patting the other soldier’s forearm. “Everything go well on your front?”
“You could say that,” Wind Rider chuckled as he unlatched the door of the wagon and opening it, Rarity’s eyes snapping open painfully as she saw the bound and unarmored body of Rainbow Dash inside the wagon, struggling to get free of her bonds and with a burlap sack tied over her head.
“Come along, Rarity,” Blueblood said cheekily, flexing his finger in an inviting motion. Rainbow reacted to Rarity’s name with muffled screams of anger. Bless her heart, even if her rage wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
Rarity was shoved forward, and she considered staying her ground and not moving, but she couldn’t think of any way that would help her except getting her beaten and potentially gassed even further, so she grit her teeth into the cloth in her mouth and complied, hopping forward until she reached Blueblood’s location right in front of the wagon, her cheeks burning ever redder with each pathetic hop.
Blueblood slipped a bag over Rarity’s head and tied it shut around her neck, then threw her into the back of the wagon, some soldier or other then taking the time to tie Rarity and Rainbow Dash back to back, both of them bound by the neck to each other, and to the wall of the wagon.
“Isn’t this a touching reunion?” Blueblood chuckled, Rainbow yelling muffled curses and Rarity merely groaning into her gag. “Alright, now let’s get rid of them.”
The door of the wagon was sealed shut. There were no windows. All that existed was the sensation of Rainbow’s fingers clasping against Rarity’s, the heat, and the darkness.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s breathing was heavy, both of them. The iron wagon the pair were bound and secured in the back of had no windows, no way to let the heat escape, and the bags over their heads as they were hurried to wherever destination they were headed didn’t help matters.
The two had struggled a fair amount, but Rarity couldn’t access her magic for some accursed reason— likely a residual effect of the gas she had inhaled before being captured— and with the oppressive heat and complete lack of vision, there was simply no way to keep up a prolonged struggle without exhausting one’s self.
So Rarity and Rainbow stayed put, the only thing keeping them going were their fingers intertwined with each other’s.
Eventually, the door to the wagon was creaked open, and Rarity breathed a sigh of relief as the winter wind bit into her sweat-drenched body. She couldn’t see past the bag on her head, but she was at least glad the wagon had stopped.
Someone came into the wagon; Rarity could tell by the weight they put on the wagon, and on the shelf that Rarity and Rainbow were sat upon, that they were still heavily armored. They unfastened the ropes binding Rarity and Rainbow to each other, and to the wagon wall, and then shoved the pair out of the wagon, Rarity landing on her stomach into the snow.
The bag was untied and then harshly slipped off of Rarity’s head, and the light burned her eyes, though that might also have been a lingering effect of the gas. She could feel that her makeup and mane were in absolutely disgraceful shape, and while yes obviously there were more important things going on, it didn’t help her humiliation any.
An armored figure grabbed Rarity’s mane and roughly yanked her up to a kneeling position, and then to her hooves, Rarity grunting in pain into the cloth gagging her. She stared with contempt at the armored figure, who judging by the horn in his helmet, was most likely Blueblood.
Wind Rider, for his part, treated Rainbow Dash just as cruelly, dragging her to her hooves without a second thought paid to her comfort or even safety.
“Let’s go, Rarity,” Blueblood said coldly, pointing over to a nearby river. Rarity refused to budge. She looked over at Rainbow Dash, who similarly was refusing Wind Rider’s commands. “Let’s go, Rarity.” Blueblood growled, grabbing her mane and trying to tug her forward, but she fought back and released herself from his grip.
Honestly, she didn’t know what she was trying to pull; there wasn’t much chance of waiting out for a rescue with Rarity and Rainbow both captured, and it was not like Rarity could rely on Celestia. But Rarity couldn’t just go along with her captor’s demands if she could avoid it.
Which, when Wind Rider pulled out a knife and put it to Rainbow Dash’s throat, Rarity realized she could in fact no longer avoid it.
“You better do what the man says, Rarity,” Wind Rider said, Rainbow huffing furiously at him.
Rarity wasn’t going to risk it; her dignity wasn’t worth Rainbow’s life, so she got to hopping beside Blueblood as he walked slowly over to the river, Rainbow groaning into her gag and following suit.
Hop. Hop. Hop. Rarity’s cheeks burning with each movement. She had never felt more degraded in her life, and while she couldn’t see Blueblood’s expression behind his mask, she knew that he was enjoying every second of this and it made her sick. She couldn’t even imagine how furious Rainbow Dash was.
Sitting by the river was a pile of pre-prepared cinder blocks, and Rarity’s stomach dropped as she saw them. Rarity’s hopping was halted as she reached the river, her breath getting heavier as Blueblood prepared a coil of rope.
And just as she feared, he fastened it around her legs, and then tied the other end around the cinder block, Wind Rider of course doing the same to Rainbow Dash.
Rarity couldn’t help struggling, looking for any slack in her bonds and trying to slip a hand or a hoof free, but she was stopped by a slap across her face from Blueblood’s armored hand.
He took off his helmet and sighed, shaking his head and staring at Rarity with a disappointed frown.
“Such a pity. But this is what happens to bitches who get in the way of the Pristine Army,” Blueblood said coldly, and he grabbed Rarity’s cheeks again, her entire body burning with anger. “Though I will admit, seeing you like this brings me a great deal of joy after you jilted me at the Gala.”
“You’re still mad about that?” Wind Rider laughed, and Rarity grunted in confusion and arched an eyebrow at Blueblood.
“I didn’t ask for your input,” Blueblood growled at Wind Rider, before turning his attention back to Rarity and donning a paper thin smile. “It was bad enough that you turned down my invitation, but then you didn’t come to see me at the Gala like you promised, instead running off with your dragon friends, no doubt. How do you think that makes a man feel?”
Rarity panicked for a second, worried that Blueblood knew about Twilight and Fluttershy, but it was far more likely that he was simply making baseless assumptions out of anger.
“It’s a damn shame,” Blueblood sighed and shook his head, putting his hands on his hips and looking Rarity over. “You have a perfect body, so ideal for a trophy wife.” Rarity’s eye twitched and she growled into her gag. “But, I am a gentleman. If you aren’t interested in me, I can’t force myself on you. So…” Blueblood put his hoof on the cinder block attached to Rarity’s legs and her eyes widened. “Goodbye, Rarity.”
Blueblood pushed on the cinder block.
Nothing happened; he didn’t push hard enough and the block didn’t budge. He tried pushing harder, but just visibly winded himself. Then he started kicking it a few times, and it moved an inch. Rarity rolled her eyes.
Blueblood cleared his throat and picked the cinder block up in his magic, though he was quite clearly straining to lift it, and he hovered it over the river.
“Goodbye, Rarity.”
He dropped the cinder block, Rarity yelping as she watched it go, and then everything felt like it happened at once.
The momentum brought her to the ground, her head hitting the earth with a painful thud, and then she was dragged by the block under the freezing water, Rarity trying desperately to find some slack in her ropes as she got farther and farther from the surface, Rainbow Dash being dropped in quickly after her, and struggling just as fiercely and just as impotently.
Finally the cinder blocks reached the bottom of the river. Rarity looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was too caught up in struggling to get free to look at Rarity. Water went up Rarity’s nose and she started to choke, her eyes shutting instinctively.
She tried to think of something, of some way to free herself with her hands tied and her magic locked, but between panic and the residual deliriousness from the gas, Rarity’s mind was a complete blank.
Rarity thought about Twilight, and Fluttershy, and she wondered what would happen to them if Rarity—
No, she couldn’t think like that.
She couldn’t think… at all, really.
Her struggles were growing fainter, her eyelids were getting heavier.
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.”
Twilight finished her tale, the story of the dragon prison underneath the Crystal Empire, and braced herself for the inevitable deluge of questions from Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy about what they should do, how they could help, how they would fix this.
“Okay, that’s pretty heavy,” Applejack sat up and steepled her fingers. The four had been lying underneath the large tree on the hill just outside the Empire’s city limits.
“What do you need?” Fluttershy squeezed Twilight’s hand.
“Yeah, this has gotta be rough on you,” Pinkie added sadly, sitting up and hovering concernedly over Twilight.
Twilight stood up like a shot and brushed the others off of her.
“What do you mean, ‘what do I need’?!” Twilight snapped. “This isn’t about me! I’m fine!I’m not the one being imprisoned and having the magic siphoned out of me! I’m not the one suffering!”
“Hon, you might not be in prison, but yer still sufferin’,” Applejack stood up and took a cautious step toward Twilight, who stepped back and Applejack froze. “We can all see it, plain as day. You can’t pretend like this stuff ain’t traumatic. And if we’re gonna do anything about any of this, we gotta start first with what’s right in front of us, and what’s right in front of us is you.”
“We can multitask, Twilight!” Pinkie added, hopping to her hooves. “We can take care of you, our friend, and work towards dismantling this shitty prison situation we have going.”
“We’re all suffering, Twilight,” Fluttershy stood up and approached Twilight, who didn’t move and so Fluttershy took her hands. “Our suffering all looks different, but we’re all going through this together. And it’s not fair to yourself as someone dealing with this trauma to say that your pain doesn’t matter, and it’s not fair to the rest of us for you to say that one of ours’ pain doesn’t matter.
“We love you. You’re family to us. We’re all in this together, and we all need each other.”
Twilight felt her eyes misting up, and her face twisting into a frown. Fluttershy pulled her in close, letting Twilight rest her head on Fluttershy’s shoulders as the other dragon massaged her back. Twilight took a deep breath.
She would cry, she would put it in her schedule, but not right now.
“That goes for you too, y’know,” Twilight muttered at Fluttershy, who giggled under her breath.
“I know,” Fluttershy said with a shaky smile. “I haven’t quite figured out how to process this yet. I’m thinking of going for something between ‘pure abject horror’ and ‘crippling existential depression’.”
“Both excellent choices, you have good taste.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy laughed, and it made Twilight laugh too. “My point is, I’m not sure how to deal with everything just yet, I’m still kinda working through it. So for my sake, I would like to focus on you.”
“I feel that,” Twilight took a deep breath and nodded. “I am also not quite ready to grapple with everything just yet. I’ll talk to Rarity when she gets back, she’ll know what to do.”
“I’m sure she will,” Fluttershy smiled brightly, and Twilight just thought she was so cute.
“But for now, I would like to focus on finding a solution,” Twilight said, and Fluttershy nodded, so Twilight kept holding her hand but went back closer to the others. “Sorry to keep you two waiting.”
“Not a problem, hon,” Applejack raised her hand. “There’s some stuff that y’all need to deal with between you two, without us, since yer both way more affected by this than me or Pinkie here.”
“Mhm, mhm,” Pinkie nodded wisely, her arms crossed. “And once you gals have figured out your stuff, I will be happy to throw you a party!”
“Thanks, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said fondly.
“We could really use one,” Fluttershy added with a laugh.
“And thank you, Applejack,” Twilight said, and Applejack responded by grabbing Twilight and Fluttershy and bringing both of them into a tight hug.
“No problem, hon,” Applejack said happily, and kissed Twilight on the lips. She was already starting to feel a little bit better. “So, where do you wanna start?”
“Well, actually,” Twilight drew herself up, “I sent a letter to an old friend of mine from back home. Another dragon, and a very wise and intelligent one at that. I’m looking forward to hearing his response and his advice, if he has any, before making my next move.”
“Any idea when he’ll hit you up?” Pinkie asked.
“Nope,” Twilight shrugged helplessly. “I honestly have no clue. It could be—”
A fireball of black flame roared in front of Twilight’s hands, her friends jumping back and away from it but Twilight was entranced by the intimate familiarity, the sense of coming home.
It was him.
“Well,” Twilight said as the letter fell into her hands, “I guess that answers that.”
Rainbow was standing by the shore of Luna Bay, looking up at the horizon at the nearby village under attack by the Pristine Army. She could see the giant clouds of gas even from here and it made her sick to think about what was going on there, and how the ponies were being treated.
Rarity and Rain Shine were similarly standing by the shore, but quite a ways off cuz Rarity wanted a sec alone with Rain Shine and it was a big shore. Rainbow on the other hand, was with Autumn Blaze, and Rainbow was hyping herself up to get ready to kiss her.
And honestly, like, Autumn was pretty cute. Gaining her magic wasn’t the only reason Rainbow wanted to kiss her.
Rainbow was rocking back and forth, side to side on her hooves to pump herself up, and Autumn Blaze giggled into her hand.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked shortly.
“You nervous, champ?” Autumn asked with a catlike smirk on her face, holding her arms behind her back and leaning forward. “What’s the matter, never kissed a babe before?”
“Pffft, no,” Rainbow scoffed and batted both hands. “I’ll have you know my girlfriend Applejack is like the HOTTEST babe there is. And, yeah, okay, I realize the way I said that makes her sound fake, but I—”
“No, I believe you,” Autumn said. “You friends with Twilight Sparkle too?”
“Y-yeah!” Rainbow blinked a couple times and tapped her hooves in the snow. “You’ve met—oh WAIT! I know you! You’re the dragon girl Twilight met in Bitsburgh!”
“That’s me!” Autumn Blaze beamed and held her hands behind her head. “Gee, that conversation must’ve meant a lot to that girl if she told all her friends about it.”
“It did,” Rainbow nodded, smiling fondly as she thought about Twilight, and then blushing as she thought about being inside Twilight’s mouth. “She was really stressed out about some stuff, and she said talking with you really helped her out. So thanks for that.”
“It was my pleasure,” Autumn nodded happily. “She’s a cool gal. Love to have another drink with her sometime. And besides, we dragons gotta look out for each other.”
“That’s awesome, I’m really glad you were there to look out for her,” Rainbow said, and then pumped her fists. “And now I’m gonna do my best to look out for you and your friends in this village!”
“I believe it,” Autumn said softly, stretching her arms above her head and moving her body side to side to get warmed up. “The winds of fate have delivered us here together for a reason, so let’s make it happen.”
“Huh, I’ve never been much of a fate believer before,” Rainbow hummed and limply kicked at the snow. “Guess I’ve always wanted to feel like I’m in control of my own ship, y’know what I mean?”
“I do,” Autumn nodded, big smile on her face. “It comforts me though, this idea that no matter what happens in this world, the stream of life is always being channeled by some guiding hand that knows what it’s doing.
“It makes me feel like whatever it is that I’m doing is important, cuz I’m a part of that stream, and I was chosen to be here, right in this moment above all other moments that could happen.”
“Huh, guess I never thought about it like that,” Rainbow tapped her cheek for a sec and then pointed at Autumn and beamed. “That’s pretty cool! I can dig that!”
“Thanks,” Autumn giggled adorably and ruffled her big fluffy mane. “We all need something to get us through this horrible world we’ve been born into. And I dunno, maybe it’s just denial. But even if it is, I prefer that kinda denial to the kind that pretends like other people’s problems don’t exist or don’t matter, y’know?”
“I do know,” Rainbow sighed and looked down at the snow around her hooves. “I’ve been way guilty of that… ‘guilty’ is a good way of putting it too, cuz that’s how I feel about it now. I really wanna make up for my part in everything, my like, complicity I guess. But I dunno how, or if I even can.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Autumn Blaze crossed her arms and cocked her head. “Lotta folks feel that way when they first realize they’ve been like, a part of this massive machine that tortures and kills people? But like, you gotta get over it.
“So yeah, you were complicit and even sometimes fully responsible for the torture and murder of countless dragons, right? Nothing you do is ever gonna make that less true.”
“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Rainbow muttered and rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks stinging with shame.
“Uh-huh, but let me ask ya this,” Autumn Blaze pointed at Rainbow. “Now what? Your eyes are open now, so what do you do? If your answer is to just keep looking back to when your eyes were closed, you might as well have never opened ‘em in the first place. Look at what’s right in front of you, and deal with it.”
Rainbow blinked. The gears in her brain were slowly turning— and smoking probably— as they worked to internalize Autumn Blaze’s smart words.
“Yeah,” she said after like an hour long pause, “yeah, I think you’re right.”
“I know I’m right,” Autumn said cutely, and Rainbow snickered.
“I don’t know what to do,” Rainbow said sternly, looking at her hands that felt so small, “other than what I can do. And I know it’s not much, but I’ll do what I can. And what I can do right now is kick the shit outta the Pristine Army!” Rainbow said and pumped her fist.
“Hell yes!” Autumn pumped her fist too and pounded it against Rainbow’s. “Now kiss me, you stone cold lesbian!”
“With pleasure!”
Rainbow took Autumn Blaze in her arms and pressed their lips together, and goddamn were Autumn’s lips soft. Kissing her was like kissing a marshmallow, but it sent a wave of heat searing through Rainbow’s body that made her feel like she was gonna explode, but like in a lesbian way.
When she was finally able to tear herself away, she felt Autumn’s magic flowing through her and she clenched her fist. This was new… she had wanted to try this with Twilight before, but was too scared. Now she realized she had nothing to be afraid of.
Rarity stood on the shore of the Luna Bay, letting the cold waves wash over her hooves. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her breathing was slow and deliberate. Her mind was ready to crack under the pressure of the tasks ahead of her, so she needed to center herself and regroup before continuing.
“I’m not going to ask if you’re ready for this,” Rarity said, opening her eyes and turning to Rain Shine, who smiled softly at her, “or if you’re sure about it.”
“Just as well,” Rain Shine said calmly, and Rarity envied her demeanor, “because I am both, and you appear to be neither.”
“Do you think…” Rarity said, losing her sentence to the heavy sheet of static in her brain.
“Sometimes,” Rain Shine said pleasantly, drawing a genuine laugh from Rarity.
“Do you think we’ll ever be rid of people like the Pristine Army?” Rarity asked, looking to Rain Shine for some kind of guidance. “For real, I mean. Do you think there will ever be a time when our world is truly free of such cruelty and needless hatred?”
“I do,” Rain Shine said without hesitation, bringing another smile to Rarity’s lips. “Though, perhaps not in our lifetimes.”
“I suppose,” Rarity sighed. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but she supposed it was something.
“Who knows?” Rain Shine shrugged, not exactly bolstering Rarity’s confidence or her mood. “Perhaps we will indeed live to see a land free from bigotry someday. But either way, we owe it to ourselves, to the people we love, and to the people who cannot bear arms for themselves, to fight every day for what’s right. In whatever manner that we’re able.”
That was something to think about. For right now, Rarity’s manner was to force the Pristine Army out of this village. But perhaps going forward, she could learn to pick up a new skill that wouldn’t land her in quite so many deadly situations.
And maybe that would be okay, for her to pass the torch of the frontline warrior to someone else.
“YO, Rarity!” Rainbow called out and waved to Rarity as she and Autumn Blaze approached them, walking along the shore. “Are you ready to GO?!”
“Just about,” Rarity said, trying to affect a smile under the weight of her increasingly fragile mental state.
“Only one order of business left, am I right?” Rain Shine slithered up beside Rarity and rested her head on steepled fingers, smirking seductively at Rarity. There were certainly less pleasant things Rarity could think to do to gain magic than kissing a beautiful woman, so Rarity considered herself lucky.
Rarity put her hands on Rain Shine’s snout and took a deep breath. It wasn’t exactly her first time kissing a dragon, but it never stopped being overwhelming, especially when all these damn dragons were so hot all the time.
Rain Shine nudged forward, bumping her nose against Rarity’s and making her giggle, and then Rarity pressed her lips against Rain Shine’s and kissed her.
It was like being revived. Like drinking water after the end of a long, parched work day. Rarity could feel herself glowing and could feel her body and mind being refreshed as if they were brand new. As Rarity’s lips parted with the dragon’s she breathed another sigh, and a smile crept onto her face.
Now she was ready.
“How do you feel?” Rain Shine arched her back and shook her mane, and Rarity licked her lips as she watched.
“I’m ready to go on a damn rampage,” Rarity snarled, clenching her fists as her body was overflowing with magic.
“Ah,” Rain Shine laughed softly into her hand, “I can see I have entrusted my power to the right person.”
The first thing that greeted Rarity and Rainbow Dash as they re-entered the village were clouds upon clouds of that horrid gas that burned Rarity’s eyes and made her skin crawl. It was almost impossible to see anything else through the thick fog of it, but empowered by Autumn Blaze’s magic, Rainbow Dash was able to flap her wings and clear up the clouds in ten seconds flat.
The soldiers responsible for the gas of course turned their attention to Rarity and Rainbow immediately. Four of them turning away from the ponies they were in the midst of brutalizing to antagonize the two women instead.
Rarity just held out her hand to focus her magic, blue light flowing through her horn and then covering the armor of the soldiers in front of her, ripping it all off of their bodies and crushing it like discarded tin cans.
She threw the scraps of armor to the ground without a word and took a step toward the unarmored soldiers, her horn still glowing with the threat of mangling four ponies like she just had their armor, and the soldiers took the hint, running away from Rarity and Rainbow and from the village with their tails between their legs.
“That was easy,” Rainbow said drolly, and Rarity nodded.
“Of course,” Rarity said, scanning the horizon for other soldiers or the iron wagon. “Without their armor and weapons, they’re just ponies. And the type of person who takes a job brutalizing others that can’t fight back isn’t generally the type of person willing to stick around and have a battle on equal terms.”
“Should we chase them down?” Rainbow asked, pounding her fist against her hand.
“No,” Rarity said. “We’re here to neutralize the threat they possess and save these ponies. If they want to run back home and cower under their beds, that’s their problem. Right now, we need to focus on saving people, and less on beating up stragglers.”
“Fair enough, I guess,” Rainbow shrugged, sounding a little disappointed. Rarity couldn’t blame her.
Rainbow pointed to something in the distance, and Rarity’s blood ran cold as soon as she saw it; the iron wagon that the two had been held captive in. Rarity’s legs seemed to carry her of their own accord toward it, with Rainbow following behind.
With Rarity’s newfound strengthened telekinesis, tearing the wagon asunder wasn’t difficult, and to her delighted surprise, when she ripped it open it exploded with trinkets like a festive pinata; Rarity and Rainbow’s gear had been stored inside it, and the two took a moment to get properly dressed.
Most importantly of all, Rain Shine’s scale was now dangling proudly from Rarity’s neck, where it belonged.
“Rarity?”
A man’s voice, altered slightly by the heavy mask he wore, tore through Rarity’s ears, and she turned to see that Blueblood was approaching the ruins of the wagon. Rarity could feel the heat rolling off of Rainbow Dash’s body as her blood boiled and she got ready to wring Blueblood’s neck.
“Blueblood,” Rarity said coldly as the man stood by, awkwardly gaping at the collapse of his operation. “Are you surprised to see me?”
“What are you doing?!” Blueblood yelled angrily, and Rarity just sighed. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, and yet she still felt disappointed. “You’re ruining everything!”
“Perhaps Neighsay should have picked his soldiers based on skill,” Rarity said, “instead of on bigotry.”
“You wanna freakin’ go, my dude?!” Rainbow pointed at Blueblood and snarled. “Cuz I still owe you a kick in the dick from last time!”
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said calmly, stepping ahead of Rainbow and putting her hand out in front of the pegasus. “Let me deal with this. Please go and make sure the other village ponies are safe.”
“Yeah, okay,” Rainbow sighed and clapped Rarity’s shoulder. “But don’t get captured this time, okay?”
“I won’t,” Rarity laughed humorlessly. “That goes for you too though.”
“Of course!” Rainbow patted her own forearm. “No way these chumps are gonna get one over on me now!”
Rainbow took off and Rarity said a silent prayer for her friend. Rarity had utmost confidence in her, and in the dragons’ magic, but her nerves had been frayed to cinders at this point and if one more thing went wrong, well… well she didn’t know what she would do.
For now though, she took a step toward Blueblood.
“How are you two still alive?” Blueblood asked, taking a step back. “Are you some sort of horrible vengeance ghost?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Rarity said flatly. “Perhaps not in a literal sense, but…” Rarity clenched her fist and let an aura of blue magic spark and flare out from her entire body as she prepared to rid Blueblood of his armor. “What you’re looking at is just a taste of the effects of collective power.”
Rarity stood in the light snow, beside the twisted wreckage of the iron wagon that she had so recently been trapped inside, which she had torn asunder with her own magic, staring down Blueblood, the man who had kidnapped and nearly murdered her.
Frankly, she was quite displeased.
She reached out with her magic and covered Blueblood’s armor, aiming to tear it from his body. If she took a bit of his skin in the process that would also be fine. She pulled against the armor in her magic, as she had done to previous soldiers so effortlessly, but this time she felt a tug against her magic and the armor didn’t budge.
Rarity took a closer look, and saw that the man and his armor were coated in a thin aura of yellow magic.
“You didn’t think you were the only one with access to the old magic, did you?” Blueblood chuckled mockingly, and Rarity’s cheeks turned red as her brow furrowed and her glare intensified. She had, in fact, assumed she was the only one. “We’re supposed to keep it a secret, but at the moment I suppose it can’t be helped. Not like you can blab from the bottom of the river anyway, and I promise you I never make the same mistake twice.”
Rarity braced herself, but to her surprise Blueblood didn’t grab her, he grabbed the pieces of the iron wagon, melding them back together in the blink of an eye. A painful throb seized Rarity’s heart at the sight of the accursed thing. For a moment, she felt as if she were back inside it, and her body reacted accordingly, screaming for her to run away.
Her body felt numb, and she realized too late that it was due to the yellow magic that now covered her. She only realized what was happening as Blueblood used his magic to throw her inside the wagon.
He slammed the door on her as she tried to escape, and her eyes widened and her breathing quickened as panic started to set in. She was sweating now too; it was damn hot inside this thing, and the unrelenting fear and panic that assaulted Rarity’s mind and made it impossible to think straight weren’t helping.
“LET ME OUT!” Rarity screamed and slammed her hands against the door. “LET ME OUT OF HERE!”
“You should have stayed in the river, Rarity,” Blueblood disappointedly clicked his tongue. “It would have been a far more painless death than being cooked alive.”
“BLUEBLOOD! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!” Rarity shrieked, pounding her fists against the door of the wagon.
What was she doing? She still had her magic, didn’t she? Why couldn’t she just—
It was so hot… Rarity fell on her hands and knees, and she could almost see sweat falling off of her in pools. She wanted to vomit, being trapped inside this sunforsaken wagon again.
But she wasn’t trapped, she had magic. She just needed to use it.
She tried to focus, tried to channel blue light into her horn. She was crying now, and whimpering. She couldn’t hold herself up with her own strength. She couldn’t see past the blurring of tears and sweat in her eyes. It was so hot. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t…
The door opened, and Rarity barely had the strength to lift her head and see Blueblood’s hand as it reached inside and grabbed Rarity by her mane, dragging her out of the wagon and face-down into the snow.
“If you were a dragon, I wouldn’t have thought twice about killing you,” Blueblood said as he yanked Rarity to her hooves, slamming her against the side of the wagon. “But since you’re a pony, and such a pretty one at that, I’ll give you another chance. Perhaps you’d like to take me up on my offer of being a trophy wife? Doesn’t seem like you’re much of a Slayer, after all.”
Rarity didn’t respond. She just stood there, back against the wagon and hair being roughly held in Blueblood’s fist, eyes blurring with tears. She barely even heard him.
So he started hitting her, punching her hard in the jaw, and then in the nose, slamming her head against the wagon and then down into his knee, before kicking her hard in the knee and causing her to fall to the ground, where he started kicking her in the head until blood spurted from her nose and mouth.
How did she let this happen? How did she become so weak? She fought a dragon with her own hands, all on her own! She had seen countless battles and overcome them all, and now she was folding like a wet napkin to some asshole.
As if in answer to her question, Rarity found herself back on the shore of the Luna Bay, sitting with her hooves in the delightfully cool water right beside Rain Shine.
“Uh, what is happening?” Rarity asked, and then groaned and put her head in her hands. “Did I die? Ugh, I’ll never forgive myself if I let—”
“Shush,” Rain Shine put a clawed finger up against Rarity’s muzzle. “You didn’t die. My magic is living inside you, so I can feel you as if you were my own flesh and blood. I felt your suffering, and so I reached out to you. When you return to the world of flesh, barely any time will have passed.”
“Is that ‘feeling me as if I’m your own flesh and blood’ thing a normal side-effect of this magic sharing thing?” Rarity asked, aghast at the implications. “Or is this just a ‘you’ thing?”
“It’s a skill that I possess,” Rain Shine answered, and Rarity sighed in relief. “Others can learn it if they wish, but it does need to be learned. Does that answer satisfy you?”
“It does,” Rarity nodded, pouting and putting her cheeks into her hands. “What am I doing wrong? I thought I had a handle on this, but then as soon as that wagon reappeared, I just completely lost it.”
“Yes, trauma will do that to a person,” Rain Shine said softly, and wrapped her comforting slithery tail around Rarity like a side-hug.
“Trauma?” Rarity asked, and then laughed it off. “Please, I’m not ‘traumatized’ or any such thing. I just—”
“Is that so,” Rain Shine said drolly, staring down at Rarity with a bemused glint to her eyes.
“I— well— uh…” Rarity paused. She felt sick. She had never, in her life, considered that she might have been traumatized by the things that happened to her.
And looking back on it now, seeing an entire village get destroyed because of her negligence and having the screams of families and children as they burned to death or were crushed under the weight of their own falling houses burned into her memory? One could consider that a traumatic experience.
Meeting the love of her life and coming home one day to see her house burned to the ground and her whereabouts uncertain, only to realize that she had turned into what Rarity had considered a monster, and then nearly killing her in a fit of fear and rage? Also not a good time in Rarity’s life.
Even things that seemed to matter so little in the long run, like almost being killed by timberwolves, or the way that dragon in Baltimare begged for its life before Rarity executed it, or the sheer terror that gripped her heart during her battle with Lightning Dust, especially when Fluttershy went missing.
And quite frankly, the thing with the wagon… maybe it was just recency bias, but it somehow felt more sickening and horrifying in Rarity’s memory than any of those things.
And on top of it all, realizing the entire world she thought she lived in was a lie to satisfy the pointless hatred of a bunch of horrible bigots, and the woman she had put all of her faith and trust in turned out to be propagating that lie for her own bigoted ends.
She wasn’t the woman Rarity thought she was.
Rarity wasn’t the woman she thought she was.
God…
Rarity wasn’t okay, was she?
“Well,” Rarity hummed. “Fuck.”
“You’re carrying so much more trauma than you ever have been,” Rain Shine said, “you can’t expect to operate the same way you had before.”
“Hmmm,” Rarity grumbled and crossed her arms. “I don’t like that.”
“Let me explain with a metaphor,” Rain Shine said, and the environment around them melted away.
The landscape transformed into a mountain trail, with Rain Shine in a very attractive pony-adjacent form, and jogging the trail alongside Rarity, both of whom were dressed in absolutely adorable athletic wear.
Rarity hadn’t realized until she saw the autumn leaves all around the trail how much she desperately missed the other three seasons that weren’t winter.
“Imagine if you will, us jogging up a mountainside trail,” Rain Shine said as the pair were doing just that.
“I think I can imagine it,” Rarity laughed softly, her eyes being drawn to Rain Shine’s ass as the two ran. Rarity was listening intently, but she could look intently at the same time. That’s called multitasking.
“Now imagine us both carrying fifty pounds of weight on our backs.”
As Rain Shine spoke, Rarity didn’t have to imagine it, she was just suddenly carrying fifty pounds of weight, and while it was a struggle for a moment, she quickly got used to it and resumed her jog.
“Okay, this isn’t so ba—”
“Now,” Rain Shine said with a knowing smirk, “imagine every mile or so, another fifty pounds is added to your weight.”
Rarity croaked and huffed as the weight on her back doubled, but she re-centered herself and resumed her jog. It wasn’t so bad.
“Every mile,” Rain Shine said, and another weight was added, Rarity feeling her knees buckle but she forced herself to remain upright and to keep running, despite the searing pain that was starting to creep along all of her body. “Forever.”
Another weight was added, and Rarity’s entire body resoundingly rejected it, refusing to move for a solid fifteen seconds or so before she was able to force it to keep going, Rarity huffing and puffing and panting and sweating, but still going!
“Are you running the same speed with two hundred pounds?” Rain Shine asked. “That you were at fifty? If so, how does your body feel about that?”
“Is there any way to get rid of this weight?” Rarity gasped, sweat pouring off her body. Even in her cute sports getup, she still looked a travesty with her hair and makeup drenched in sweat.
“Sometimes,” Rain Shine sighed and stared into the distance for a moment, before returning her gaze to Rarity with a delicate smile. “But the race never stops, and there’s never time to catch your breath. You’ll never be able to rid yourself of all of it, so what matters is how you carry it.”
Rain Shine put her arm around Rarity, and Rarity did the same for Rain Shine instinctively, the two jogging along together arm-in-arm, and Rarity could feel just the smallest hint of reprieve from the weight that had been crushing her back just a moment ago.
“This is where the real strength of collective power lies,” Rain Shine said. “One person carrying two hundred pounds is difficult, but if we’re all carrying that weight together, then it’s so much easier to run.”
Rarity ran alongside Rain Shine in silence for a moment, taking the time to really consider her words. She even stopped trying to check Rain Shine out, which was a CHALLENGE.
“I think I understand,” Rarity said, her words dripping heavy with guilt. “What I don’t understand, is why you’re helping me so much. After everything I’ve—”
“I’m not helping ‘you’, I’m helping ‘us’,” Rain Shine said with a charming smile. “Every move we make in this world is never just a move made for ourselves, but for every person who relies on us. I tend to consider my choices with the gravity that deserves, and I encourage others to do the same.”
“I see,” Rarity nodded and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Rain Shine.”
“You’re welcome, Rarity,” Rain Shine laughed sweetly. “Now, do us both a favor and stop getting your ass kicked.”
“Will do,” Rarity laughed in turn.
She opened her eyes and sure enough, it was like no time had passed. Or maybe she’d just gotten a concussion and passed out or something, who knows. The point was, she summoned a barrier to stop Blueblood’s hoof from connecting with her face, and it forced him to stumble back.
Rarity drew herself up, forcing herself onto her hooves and staring down Blueblood with eyes stained with tears, stinging from sweat, and bruised from the beating he’d given her. But burning with fire nonetheless.
Rainbow Dash took off to find the other members of the Pristine Army; she couldn’t remember the exact number anymore, but she knew there weren’t too many of them still around. So imagine her surprise when she found a whole little cluster of them bombarding a boarded up and barricaded house.
She had half a mind to blow them all away right then and there, but then she looked around. Wind Rider had captured her with a much smaller group, and the dudes Rarity had just beaten up were way far away. It was possible these soldiers wouldn’t recognize her at first, which gave her a way more interesting idea.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Rainbow asked casually as she walked up to the soldiers, most of who turned on her with suspicion and disdain but they didn’t outright attack her, so that was cool.
“And you are?” one of the soldiers asked, pointing a baton at Rainbow.
“A Slayer, working directly under Celestia,” Rainbow said with an assuring smile. “She’s not super happy about how long this is taking, so she sent me to—”
“Celestia,” one of the soldiers scoffed in disgust. “Well you go back and tell her we don’t need—”
“Alright, calm down,” one of the other soldiers clapped the dude on the shoulder. “Celestia may be on her way out, but she still deserves some respect.”
“On her way out?” Rainbow cocked her head. That felt ominous.
“Just, y’know,” the man gestured vaguely, “past her prime. Thousand years makes a mare grow old, you know how it is.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Rainbow shrugged. She didn’t really know what to say but she figured just agreeing would be best for now. “So what’s going on here?”
“Bunch of ponies barricaded themselves up in this house,” one of the soldiers grumbled. “We’re gonna drag ‘em out and show ‘em who’s boss.”
“Do they have dragons in there?” Rainbow asked.
“Who cares?” the soldier scoffed. “This isn’t about that anymore, this is about teaching them some damn respect!”
“I gotcha,” Rainbow nodded and tried to ignore the turning in her stomach. She so badly just wanted to tear these guys a new one right here and now, but if her plan worked out, the payoff would be so worth it. “Well hey, let me go in and talk to those guys. Maybe I can convince ‘em to come out. They might feel a bit more comfortable if someone not dressed in body armor goes up to them.”
“Fine,” the de facto leader of the soldiers said, “but don’t forget who has authority here. It’s us. Celestia may have sent you, but this is our mission, our territory. Don’t forget that.”
“No problem,” Rainbow gave a weak salute but she tried to make it convincing. Last thing she wanted was to step on one of these guys’ egos and have them all up in arms about it. “I’m on your side, all I want is for everyone to get to go home in one piece, sooner rather than later.”
“Then get going,” the man bopped his head toward the house, “we don’t have all day to waste.”
Rainbow headed off and walked toward the house. The ponies inside likely didn’t have much in the way of weapons, so she wasn’t terribly worried.
“Hello?” Rainbow asked as she knocked on the door. “Can I get in there?”
“No? Obviously?” a woman’s voice replied. “You’re one of them.”
“I’m not, but I see what you mean,” Rainbow sighed and leaned against the doorframe. “I’m actually an ex-Slayer. I got discommunicated or whatever when I told Celestia to take her bigoted anti-dragon bullshit and shove it.
“But like, those are just words. I get why you don’t trust me. I wouldn’t trust me either, and I think not trusting me right now is the right call. All I wanna say is that this town belongs to you guys. The Pristine Army has their weapons and armor, but that’s all they have. If you have something just as strong on your side, you can take this town back from them.
“Which is where I come in!”
Rainbow flew into the air and flapped her wings toward the soldiers, buffeting them with gale force winds to disorient them. She tried to do that thing that Rarity did where she just ripped all their armor off them, but Rainbow’s version was a lot more clumsy than hers so she ended up just ripping the armor to shreds and cutting up a couple of the soldiers.
No one died though, so that was pretty cool!
“What are you doing?!” one of the soldiers screamed, and Rainbow dropped right in front of his face.
“I’m doing my job as a Slayer,” Rainbow said and kicked the dude in the dick. “I’m protecting the people of Equestria!”
Sure enough, without their armor and when their weapons proved useless against Rainbow’s magic, the soldiers ran for the hills. Rainbow wasn’t Rarity though, if she wanted to maybe rip a couple of these dudes’ legs off, she could just do that.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to though. She didn’t buy into that ‘if you kill them you’re just as bad as them’ bullshit, but she did feel like maybe violence for the sake of violence, against an already defeated and powerless enemy, wasn’t a super good look.
MAYBE. She was open to reconsidering sometime.
“Not bad, Dash. Not bad,” Wind Rider slow clapped as he approached Rainbow, his armored stained with blood. “You really have a knack for being a pain in our sides, huh?”
“Shut up,” Rainbow spat. “I’ve been itching to kick your ass practically since we first met! Glad I finally got the opportunity!”
“Well I hope you can at least put up an entertaining match,” Wind Rider said drolly. He flared out his wings and powerful currents of wind shot out from them, which took Rainbow back a bit. Like, did this guy have the same kinda magic she was working with? No way this guy kissed any hot dragons.
Still though, she couldn’t ignore that magic. Looked like this wasn’t gonna be as one-sided as she hoped.
Rainbow pushed herself forward with her wind magic, surrounding her knives in blades of wind that cut through Wind Rider’s armor as she zipped past him, a spray of blood shooting out of the gash she left.
“Is this all just some game to you, Wind Rider?” Rainbow scoffed and leapt at him again, aiming to rip that mask off his face.
“Basically,” Wind Rider deflected Rainbow’s attack with a powerful air current, pushing her to the ground, but she was at least able to regain her balance and back off before he could counterattack. “People get so hung up on taking everything so seriously.”
Wind Rider shrugged, and Rainbow just clicked her tongue. It was easy for him to not take things seriously since he didn’t have to worry about facing consequences for his actions.
“People’s lives are at stake!” Rainbow yelled as she lunged forward with her knives. She didn’t even know why she was bothering, but it was just so galling that this dude had the nerve to be so damn smug about not caring about other people.
“They wouldn’t be,” Wind Rider blasted Rainbow to the ground with another gust of wind, “if these ponies would just let the Pristine Army do their job.”
Wind Rider kicked Rainbow in the side, and powered by his magic he really sent her flying. He sent a blade of wind toward her that she was able to slow down with her own wind magic, but it still hit her in her arms as she used them to block, shredding them up and covering them in bloody scratches.
“Dragons are people, you dipshit!” Rainbow growled and dashed behind Wind Rider, then zipping out from behind him as he inevitably counterattacked, jumping from place to place until he was too dizzy to keep up with her and then landing a solid punch right to his face that sent him flying this time.
“Maybe,” Wind Rider chuckled, and his mask was knocked off by Rainbow’s punch so she could see his lip was bleeding a little bit. “But if they act out of line, they’ll be put in their place just like anypony else!”
Rainbow braced herself for Wind Rider’s attack; she was starting to feel the exhaustion creeping in. It was something Twilight warned her about, that the adrenaline for wielding so much more magical energy than you’re used to would make you feel like you had a lot more stamina than you actually did, so it was easy to wear yourself out with these big, flashy, powerful attacks.
And like, Rainbow wasn’t so good at ‘restraint’ even on her best days.
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Wind Rider let out a single bitter cackle. “You feeling a little tired? Need a break?”
“I’m not gonna lose to you,” Rainbow spat. “I’m not gonna stop fighting for what I believe is the right thing to do!”
“You will if you die,” Wind Rider said flatly.
“I guess I just won’t die then,” Rainbow grinned, and Wind Rider clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes.
“You keep talking like that, you’ll—”
A rock smacking Wind Rider in the head stopped his sentence. He reacted with surprise and looked around to see where the rock came from, only to look directly into an oncoming table leg that hit him square between the eyes.
It was like two seconds before more stuff came flying at him; from rocks and pieces of furniture, to food and glass bottles and even a couple people who threw knives, all of it coming from the ponies who had been barricaded inside the nearby house.
“You little ponies!” Wind Rider snarled at them before having his dome donked by another thrown bottle. He exploded in a gust of wind, but his distraction left him completely open to Rainbow slamming him in the spine with a flying kick, knocking the wind outta him and sending him to the ground.
The ponies wasted no time in running toward him, brandishing bats and clubs and stuff. He exploded with gale force winds once again, but this time Rainbow was close enough to dissipate those winds with her own magic before they could harm anyone.
And on top of that, he was starting to sweat. His breathing was getting heavier too. Rainbow wasn’t the only one pushing herself to the limit.
“This isn’t—”
Wind Rider balked as he stared down the mob in front of him and Rainbow behind him. They were hesitant to get too close to him, and rightfully so considering how dangerous he was, but it was super obvious that if they were given the opportunity, they would beat the shit outta him, and Rainbow was primed and ready to hand that opportunity to them on a silver platter, as it were.
“This isn’t fair!” Wind Rider screamed. “You can’t do this to me! I’m a member of the Pristine Army! You vermin need to get back in line!”
“Give it up, Wind Rider,” Rainbow sighed and clapped Wind Rider on the shoulder. “This fight is over.”
Wind Rider snarled some indistinct gibberish and then took off into the sky, propelling himself with the last of his magic so that he could get away without fear of reprisal. A fitting move for a coward like him, Rainbow supposed, but it was still really annoying.
“Hey,” the woman Rainbow was speaking to earlier, the one from the house, reached out her hand to Rainbow, “thanks.”
“No problem,” Rainbow nodded confidently and took the woman’s hand.
Rarity felt a lot of things as she stood on her hooves and faced Blueblood in battle.
Fear was certainly among them; despite her little pep talk from Rain Shine, she was ever so cognizant of the fact that Blueblood could easily just pick up her body and throw her into that accursed wagon again if she gave him the opportunity, so naturally she did her best to lead the battle away from it, playing defense as much as possible.
She was burning with rage, and she would have liked nothing more than to just tear Blueblood limb from limb with her magic, or at least twist him into a pretzel or something so that he couldn’t fight back. But while her spirit was burning with vigor, her body had a different story to tell.
Rarity’s body felt heavy, and her fur was caked in blood and sweat and tears, which almost seemed like it could be turned into a cute play on words, but her brain was too fried to think of anything. Blueblood was advancing on her, keen on using his fists to beat her instead of a baton, but Rarity’s barriers were able to keep him at bay.
She still had an advantage, however minor, due to Rain Shine; Rarity was overflowing with magical energy and wasn’t about to run dry anytime soon. Unless Blueblood had a comparable font of magic inside him— which given his tactics thus far, Rarity had ample reason to doubt— Rarity could outlast him.
“Is this all you have to muster, Rarity?” Blueblood laughed coldly as he threw another punch that was met by a translucent blue wall of magic. “Just defending yourself with no counterattack? Where’s all that fire from before? Don’t tell me the river water put it out.”
Rarity said nothing. She was being careful to keep a safe distance from him, stepping back with every one of his swings. She was worried that she’d eventually back up into another soldier or wagon or something which would present a problem, but she was fairly confident she could deal with it.
As long as she kept her cool and focused on him, he wouldn’t be able to numb her body with his magic like he had before; she could defend herself from that. But if she took a risk to launch an attack, well then she wasn’t so certain.
Granted, with every swing he looked to be more and more out of breath. He’d been wearing that heavy armor all day, and he wasn’t exactly being conservative with his magic before when he was trying to burn Rarity alive.
And of course, the memory of him struggling to lift the cinder block popped back into Rarity’s mind, which would almost have given her a chuckle if the memory that came right after didn’t make her violently nauseous.
The point was, Blueblood wasn’t as strong as he made himself out to be. And of course not, none of these clowns dressed up like supervillains were anything more than children playing with their dads’ weapons.
But Rarity couldn’t risk being wrong in that assessment. She couldn’t let herself be thrown into that wagon for a third time. So she kept her distance and didn’t risk overextending herself.
“I won’t lose to you, Blueblood,” Rarity said, each word painfully dragged out of her throat. “Not ever again.”
“Bold words from someone too scared to even fight back,” Blueblood chuckled and tried to grab Rarity’s arm in his magic, but she released herself with her own magic and jumped back, a violent shudder wracking her body.
“Sometimes surviving is all you can do,” Rarity shrugged and tried to keep her focus despite her lightheadedness. “Sometimes it’s all you need to do. I’m not alone, after all.”
“Is that supposed to be some kind of—”
Blueblood’s sentence was interrupted as a certain pegasus flew toward him at lightning speed and sent her hoof right into his dick, completely knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to stumble back, his face twisted in horrible agony.
Rarity let herself smile at that. Rainbow Dash had repaid her debt after all, and Rarity was happy for her.
“You like that, dude?!” Rainbow yelled and pointed to Blueblood on the ground. She was sweating badly and looked severely out of breath, but she was still full of fire and fury, which Rarity respected immensely. “There’s more where that came from!”
“Wha— what happened to my soldiers?” Blueblood groaned as he tried to stand up, only to get kicked in the dick and knocked to the ground by Rainbow Dash a second time.
“Gone,” Rainbow said and cracked her knuckles. “We checked. You’re the last one left.”
A group of village ponies approached the site of the battle, looking like they were out for blood. Rarity couldn’t exactly blame them, and if they wanted to beat Blueblood open like a pinata and see if there was candy inside him, Rarity didn’t really have the heart to stop them.
“That— I— you—” Blueblood’s face went from disbelief, to panic, to fury all in about three seconds. Rarity didn’t care at this point. If the mob was going to take him, they needed to get to it, otherwise—
“What is going on here?!”
Rarity’s ears perked up at the familiar voice, and she turned her head slowly like she was in a nightmare.
Standing nearby, watching the mob inch toward the downed soldier, stood Queen Celestia, her face twisted into a disgusted mask of barely restrained rage.
There was… a lot going on when Celestia stepped in to take a look at how the Pristine Army had been handling their mission of exterminating the dragons in the village of Seaward Shores. Celestia had promised Neighsay to leave his soldiers to their own devices so that they could show her what they were made of, and she was inclined to do just that.
In part because she trusted Neighsay’s judgment. In part because she believed rather strongly on letting blossoming ponies fly with their own wings, so to speak. In part because the whole point of the Pristine Army was to do what Celestia could not, and if Celestia had to step in, it sort of made the whole project moot.
But mostly, it was because Celestia was very, very tired.
Which is why she was, to put it politely, feeling rather peeved as she entered the village and saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash standing over a downed soldier, with a frenzied mob of village ponies looking ready to draw blood.
Celestia had come to check on the soldiers after the third wave of them that she had caught running for the hills. She assumed the dragons had been too much for them. Dragons were dangerous after all, and the impression Celestia had gotten from these soldiers had been that they were a mite overconfident.
She figured they would have some trouble dealing with the dragons. She did not expect them to be so thoroughly antagonized by other ponies.
The soldier scrambled to his hooves and scurried over to Celestia; she recognized him as one of her Slayers, Prince Blueblood was his name. He looked like he had been through quite a lot today.
“Queen Celestia!” he shouted, pointing furiously toward Rarity, who turned her gaze away when it met Celestia’s. “These ponies attacked me! Simply because I was doing my job!” Blueblood was… well, Celestia didn’t want to say ‘whiny’, because she erred on the side of politeness whenever she could, but she was so tired, and her patience was rapidly thinning.
“If your ‘job’ is to brutalize these village ponies,” Rainbow Dash spat, “then you kinda deserve to be attacked, my guy.”
“Queen Celestia?” one of the village ponies asked in confusion, and Celestia wearily turned her attention to them. She didn’t like to make public appearances in such a sorry state, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped.
“You’re Queen Celestia!” another of the villagers said, pointing a finger at her. “What are you doing here?!”
The villager didn’t sound too happy.
“Did you send these soldiers here?!” another villager called out, even more angered than the last. “Why would you let them just trample all over our village like this?!”
“No one was supposed to be hurt,” Celestia said sternly. “This was supposed to be a simple, routine mission. There were dragons in this village, the Pristine Army was here to remove them.”
“Ye can’t just ‘remove’ members of our community!” another villager yelled, spitting venom at Celestia. “Those dragons are our friends and neighbors! And ye’re comin’ in here, talkin’ like they’re some kinda parasite!”
“Those dragons never hurt us!” another villager said. “Unlike your army!”
The frayed rope of Celestia’s patience was burning ever thinner, and as the villagers erupted into a chorus of jeers, echoing the sentiment that the Pristine Army had done more damage than dragons, the rope finally snapped.
“ENOUGH!” Celestia roared and flared her wings, and the crowd was silenced. “All of Equestria knows the severity of harboring dragons in this country! The Pristine Army are to make sure that all of Equestria’s ponies follow the law!”
“Boo! The law sucks!” Rainbow shouted and blew a raspberry, and Celestia’s eye twitched.
Shut up, Rainbow Dash. Shut the hell up, I swear to god.
“I think what Rainbow is trying to say,” Rarity spoke up and looked directly at Celestia, who gave her student her full attention, “is that you’re wrong Celestia, and your law is wrong too. There’s nothing wrong with dragons. You’ve been lying to all of Equestria, perhaps even to yourself, and we’ve had enough of it.”
Celestia didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. Rarity had said this to her already, that she agreed with Rainbow’s assessment that dragons weren’t all evil, but quite frankly Celestia didn’t want to hear it, so she simply pretended not to.
She couldn’t ignore it this time.
“Do you see, Celestia?!” Blueblood whimpered. “Do you see what I had to—”
“Shut up, Blueblood,” Celestia said thoughtlessly. She looked down at him, and her eyes burned with a rage she hadn't felt in a long time. “You find your damn soldiers that ran away from here with their tails between their legs. You gather up every damn one. I don’t care how long it takes. And once you’ve done that, I want you to report your pathetic failure here to Neighsay. You’re his soldier, I’ll let him decide what to do with you.
“Consider yourself blessed that you don’t have to answer to me right now.”
“Y-yes ma’am,” Blueblood grumbled under his breath and began to slink away, only to be stopped short as Celestia’s hand gripped his shoulder.
“What.”
“Y-yes! Your highness!” Blueblood said with a shaky salute, and Celestia let him run off. Quite frankly, she was sick to death of seeing him.
Celestia turned her eyes to the crowd of villagers. They were shaking, and a few of them took some steps backward. Good.
“Return to your homes,” Celestia said coldly. “I won’t ask again.”
That threat was more or less empty. Celestia was furious yes, but she wasn’t about to lash out at her own citizens. The worst they would likely receive from her was harsh language, and even that wasn’t terribly likely.
But Celestia was well aware that the threat would be enough; some ponies left immediately, others looked for confirmation from their fellows that it was okay to leave, but eventually the crowd dispersed.
Even Rainbow Dash, after a brief whispered exchange to Rarity, headed off alongside the crowd. Celestia was glad she didn’t need to dismiss Rainbow herself, because she wasn’t sure how difficult Rainbow’s headstrong attitude would make that.
What was important was that Celestia and Rarity were left alone.
The unicorn looked an absolute disaster; her hair was frayed and messy, her fur was caked with blood, and she had garish black makeup lines streaming down her face. Blueblood looked like he had been having a bad day, but Rarity looked like she was having a bad month in the span of one day.
“Rarity,” Celestia said patiently as she walked over to her student.
“Celestia,” Rarity said shortly as she looked up at her mentor.
“Tell me what happened here,” Celestia said, though even as she spoke she didn’t know if she could trust whatever Rarity would tell her. But she wanted to have faith in her star student.
Haha, that sounded awfully familiar. And it worked out so well last time too.
“Oh, okay,” Rarity gave an unhinged little chuckle. “I’ll tell you what happened here. The Pristine Army tried to have me and Rainbow Dash killed! They gassed us with this horrible fume that made my eyes burn, they beat me until I was bloody with iron rods, they tied me up and threw me in the back of a smoldering iron wagon, and then they tied me to a cinder block and threw my body in the fucking river!”
“Why?” was all Celestia could think to say.
“Wh—” Rarity sputtered and backed up, looking as baffled as Celestia felt. Rarity grabbed her mane and tugged on it, then dug her nails into her brow before slowly letting her hands slip down her face and fall limply to her sides. “I don’t know. I guess because Blueblood was mad that I went to the Gala with Twilight instead of him.”
“That’s a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?” Celestia chuckled.
“Celestia,” Rarity sighed, “this isn’t funny. I almost died.”
“Rarity,” Celestia groaned and rubbed the back of her neck. Her story was farfetched, and Celestia had a hard time believing it. But she could also see the damage written on Rarity’s face, and it was far from just physical. She didn’t know what to believe. “I don’t know what to say. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn't gotten in the way of their job.”
“Th-their job?” Rarity scoffed and then let out a bitter laugh. “Celestia, darling, they’re a bunch of egotistical fascists and you let them loose on a village full of innocent ponies! What did you think was—”
“No, I let them loose on a village of ponies that were breaking the law,” Celestia put her hoof down and glowered at Rarity.
“And that justifies the way they treated these ponies?!” Rarity screamed, taking a step toward Celestia and staring daggers at her. “Does that justify the way they treated me?!”
Celestia took a deep breath. She hated this. She hated that Rarity had gotten her mind twisted by whatever bug crawled in there and started making her turn against Celestia’s teachings. All Celestia wanted was to take Rarity in her arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay, like she had done so many times before.
But Celestia knew that she had to stick to what she believed was right. She couldn’t waver, she couldn’t falter. Not even for the person she loved more than almost anyone.
“Yes,” Celestia said. “Ponies who break the law will get punished, and not even you are above the law, Rarity.”
Rarity stared up at Celestia, wide-eyed with shock. She stumbled back a few steps and lowered her head, shaking it a moment before looking again at Celestia.
“Celestia,” Rarity said, “at least tell me one thing. Do you believe me? I mean, about what the Pristine Army did to me? Do you think that I’m lying, or do you just not care?”
Celestia paused. She honestly, sincerely, did not know.
She couldn’t imagine why, or even how, Rarity would come up with such a specific and horrible story. Celestia had been worried about the volatile nature of some of Neighsay’s men, but he assured her that they would follow strict guidelines regarding their behavior.
Celestia knew Rarity had a chip on her shoulder against the army regardless, so it wasn’t entirely impossible that she was lying to try and discredit them. Maybe that was all it was? But Celestia didn’t take Rarity for that kind of person.
But really, the truth was simple.
“I don’t know,” Celestia said, carefully picking each word and measuring her tone. “I honestly don’t know if I believe your story or not, it’s… a lot for me to take in.”
“Okay,” Rarity sighed and ran a hand through her mane, as she often did when she was trying to deal with a stressful situation. “I guess I can accept tha—”
“But it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m sorry?” Rarity looked up at Celestia, and the Queen’s heart cracked and fractured as it pounded in her chest. She hated the words that would be leaving her mouth, but she needed to stand by her principles no matter what.
“It doesn’t matter,” Celestia said. “If your story is true, well… you broke the law, and defended dragons. You got what you deserved. Just be happy you’re still alive.”
Rarity stumbled back, her legs wobbling. She fell backwards, hitting the snow with her flank as she stared helplessly up at Celestia. Celestia didn’t need to read Rarity’s mind to tell that she was devastated, it was clear as day on her face.
Celestia didn’t feel good about it either. She wanted to make it better. She wanted to make Rarity feel safe… but she couldn’t put Rarity’s feelings, or even her safety, over the ponies of Equestria.
“Rarity,” but she couldn’t do nothing. She didn’t know what she could do, but she had to try and do something. “I—”
“Shut up,” Rarity spat, and pushed herself up onto her hooves. “Shut the hell up, don’t even talk to me.”
“Rarity—”
“SHUT UP!” Rarity shrieked, her horn flashing with blue magic that tore her own armor off her body and threw it to the ground in strips. “Shut up! I’m done! I can’t take this anymore! FINE! I DON’T NEED YOU! I DON’T NEED THIS DAMN ARMOR, OR THE GODFORSAKEN SLAYERS! AND I DON’T NEED THIS!”
Rarity threw the black sword that Celestia had given her to the ground at Celestia’s hooves.
“Don’t ever talk to me again!” Rarity snarled and walked right up to Celestia, pointing a finger toward the alicorn’s face. “I don’t give a damn if you’re the Queen of Equestria, I don’t ever want to see you again. The next time we meet, we’re going to fight.”
Rarity turned and walked away, leaving a shocked silent Celestia behind. Those were… some choice words to say to the Queen, and if it were anyone other than Rarity, Celestia might have had something to say.
No, actually, Celestia did have something to say, as her shock quickly gave way to anger.
“So that’s it then?!” Celestia shouted, and Rarity turned to look at her. “After everything we’ve been through, this is it?! You just decide out of nowhere to throw your lot in with dragons, and leave me behind?!”
“You had your chance!” Rarity shouted back. “You’ve had a thousand years of chances! I cannot believe you’re standing there trying to defend your bigotry right now, after you just told me I deserved to be tortured, beaten, kidnapped, and nearly murdered for doing what I believe is right!”
“Just because you ‘believe’ something is right, doesn’t mean that it is!” Celestia said.
“Well at least we can agree on one thing!” Rarity shot back.
“Rarity, please,” Celestia said, ears flattened against her head, a hair’s breadth from getting on her knees and begging. “Please don’t leave. Please, please just reconsider.”
“You first,” Rarity replied coldly, and Celestia had nothing she could say to that. Rarity took a deep breath. “Celestia, you taught me to believe that dragons were violent, cruel, and vicious. That they didn’t care about the feelings or safety of anyone but themselves.
“Now I know you were just projecting your own demons onto them.”
Rarity turned away, and Celestia called out to her but she didn’t listen. Celestia called Rarity’s name again, and again and again until Rarity had completely disappeared from Celestia’s view.
“Rarity…” Celestia whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks and face twisting into a mask of agony as she tried and utterly failed to keep herself from falling apart.
She fell to her knees in the snow, head in her hands as she openly, hideously, and loudly sobbed.
Twilight sat on the hill outside the Crystal Empire, underneath the big tree, and mentally prepare herself as she handled the letter from Tirek. The rest of the gals gave her some space so she could do this alone, and so she could take as much time as she needed.
Which turned out to be a LOT of time, because she was NERVOUS!
It had been years since they’d spoken, and Twilight felt horrendously guilty for not writing him since she came to Equestria. Him or any of her other friends back home, for that matter. Which admittedly, weren’t very many, but still.
She took a deep breath. It was now or never, and Twilight was as ready as she was ever going to be, so she let a raspberry light glow around her horn as she—
Oh, she was still in pony form. It had become so second nature at this point, that she hadn’t even noticed. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal or anything, but she decided to transform back into her dragon form before she opened the letter. Just felt right.
She let a raspberry light glow around her horns as she unsealed the letter, the words falling off the page and onto the ground in a circle around her before glowing with a bright neon light; as Twilight suspected, this wasn’t just some letter, it was a direct communication spell.
Twilight was transported into a mental realm, back home in the forests of Zebrica. Felt a little odd for Tirek to choose this place to represent their conversation, but then Twilight laid eyes on the dragon in front of her, and tears glistened in her eyes.
It wasn’t Tirek. It was a dragon about half-again the size of Twilight, face worn with age but her smile was no less gentle than it ever had been, her white scales shimmering radiantly and the black stripes across her body looked striking as always.
It was Zecora.
Twilight burst into tears and ran to Zecora, the elder dragon catching Twilight in her arms and wrapping them and her wings around the purple dragon, who felt so small in Zecora’s embrace. Twilight didn’t know what to say, she just whimpered and blubbered as she buried herself in Zecora’s arms.
“Everything will be okay, Twilight,” Zecora said sweetly, and hearing her voice again for the first time in years made Twilight cry even harder. She knew that she missed Zecora, but she didn’t realize how much until just now.
“How do you know that?” Twilight whimpered.
“I don’t,” Zecora chuckled. “But it’s my duty as a mom to tell you that, and to make sure it happens.”
Twilight laughed at that. She appreciated both the honesty and the compassion of that statement a lot. It was pretty much exactly what she needed to hear, or maybe she just needed to hear something from Zecora.
Twilight took a few moments to just let herself cry, and to let Zecora comfort her. If Twilight ended up being half as good a mom to Spike as Zecora was to her, she would be really proud of herself. After a few moments though, she dried her eyes and got ready to get down to business.
“So where’s Tirek?” Twilight asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy to see you, I just was expecting to see him.”
“Tirek got really flustered when he got your letter,” Zecora giggled, and Twilight snorted. Yeah, that sounded just like him. “He got very nervous about answering, so I answered instead. I miss you too after all.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said instinctively.
“Don’t apologize,” Zecora shook her head. “Everyone back home supports your journey, Twilight. We’re all waiting to see you again, but no one is rushing you. It will take far more than just time to weaken the bonds you have with your family.”
Twilight got choked up again and averted her gaze. She’d had enough crying to last her a lifetime quite honestly, so she took a deep breath and fought back the tears.
“I’m sorry I didn’t write,” Twilight said, and once again Zecora shook her head.
“As I said,” Zecora sat next to Twilight and draped a wing across her back, the scenery around them changing to a cliff over the ocean that Twilight used to go to all the time as a kid, “we all knew you needed time. We struggled with your absence in our own ways, me, and Tirek, and Chrysalis among others, but we knew you would reach out eventually.”
“Well, Chrysalis shouldn’t hold her breath,” Twilight said flatly, making Zecora chuckle.
“Fair enough,” she nodded. “Though speaking of reaching out, I know I’m not Tirek, but since I’m here would you like to talk to me about what’s troubling you?”
Twilight sighed and hung her head. The answer was ‘yes of course’, but there was a lot to tell her.
So she figured she may as well start with what was going on in the Crystal Empire.
Zecora dragged her claw down her face as Twilight finished her story about the dragon prison in the Crystal Empire. The elder dragon took a deep breath and arched her back, groaning tiredly under her breath before drawing herself up.
“Oh Shining Armor,” Zecora said disappointedly. “Does he know what’s going on?”
“No idea,” Twilight shrugged. “I haven’t talked to him.”
“But what’s important is that you don’t know what you’re supposed to do,” Zecora said.
“I have NO clue!” Twilight blurted out desperately. “I really need some guidance.”
Zecora was quiet for a really long time. Agonizingly long.
“Zecora?” Twilight squeaked, and Zecora sighed and smiled sadly at her.
“I wish I knew what to say,” Zecora hummed. “I wish I had a perfect answer for you that would tell you everything you need to know, but I don’t. I don’t know what we should do either.”
“Well that sucks,” Twilight chuckled.
“I know,” Zecora laughed softly and rubbed Twilight’s back with her claw. “I will figure something out, just give me a little bit of time, okay? Because you’re right, we can’t simply stand back and do nothing.”
“So what do I do in the meantime?” Twilight asked, tapping her claws together.
“Try and relax,” Zecora said. “Find a way to process all this trauma you have been dealing with.”
“Oh pffft, I’m not ‘traumatized’,” Twilight scoffed and batted her claws, and then looked at Zecora who was looking back at her with the ol’ ‘mother glare’, that look a mom gave when she wasn’t having any sass, and it caused Twilight to shrink down and laugh awkwardly. “Okay, maybe a little.”
“You have been through a lot, Twilight Sparkle,” Zecora said. “But there must have been some good times as well. Tell me about them. Have you made any friends in Equestria?”
Twilight sat up straight and lit up like a beacon, beaming ear to ear as she thought about all her amazing friends and how excited she was to tell Zecora about them.
“Okay, I HAVE to tell you about Rarity!” Twilight said eagerly, tamping the ground like an excited puppy.
“I am very excited to hear about Rarity!” Zecora replied, eyes glittering like stars as she listened intently.
“Okay so I met this AMAZING mare named Rarity, and she was a Slayer and I know what you’re thinking but just hear me out…”
Twilight proceeded to regale Zecora with the epic tale of how she met Rarity in the library and fell in love, and then Rarity tried to kill her but it was okay cuz they made up eventually! Zecora was like ‘wow sounds like true love’ all sarcastic like but Twilight was like ‘nononononono you see cuz of her feelings for me she didn’t kill me, and then she went on this whole journey of self-discovery and is now helping me dismantle Equestria’s systemic bigotry’.
“She sounds like quite a woman,” Zecora said, stroking her chin.
“She is!” Twilight said with a gleaming smile, nodding effusively. “Oh! And I gotta tell you about Rainbow Dash and Applejack! And Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy!”
Twilight talked for what felt like hours, gushing about her friends and how much she loved them. About the times she sparred with Applejack and got all sweaty and gay, about how she rescued Rainbow by eating her that one time, about how Fluttershy took her in and dared to braved the outside of her forest for Twilight’s sake, about how Pinkie Pie embraced her even in her true form the moment she saw her, and about the party in the library where she really knew she was home.
Zecora was crying now, wiping tears away from her cheeks as Twilight’s brow creased in trepidation.
“Hey, are you okay?” Twilight asked concernedly.
“Of course,” Zecora laughed and nodded. “How can I not cry tears of joy when my daughter tells me about all these wonderful people she loves?”
Now Twilight was tearing up again, and she jumped onto Zecora and gave her a big hug.
“I love you, Zecora,” Twilight said happily, her arms wrapped tightly around her mom.
“I love you too, Twilight,” Zecora giggled, holding Twilight even tighter. “And thank you. I’m over a thousand years old, and this is the first time I’ve felt genuine hope in a very long time.”
Rainbow Dash stood on the shore of Luna Bay as a bunch of the villagers from Seaward Shores came to see her off. Well, okay not really her, though several of the villagers did personally thank her and wish her well, and that made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
But the real stars of the show were Autumn Blaze and Rain Shine, especially the latter who’d been living here for a little bit now and had really nestled herself into the community. She was leaving cuz she couldn’t simply sit idly by as the Pristine Army prepared to tear her communities apart, and a lot of the villagers were heartbroken to see her go.
“I’ll be back,” the serpentine dragon said softly and comfortingly to the sea of ponies gathered around her to hug her and shake her hand. “I won’t abandon my home, but I need to take action to protect my people.”
“Give ‘em hell, Rain Shine,” one villager said with a gleaming smile, raising her fist in the air for Rain Shine to pound hers against with a tiny giggle.
“I promise I will,” Rain Shine bowed her head and then stood up to her full majestic height, turning to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Are we ready to leave?”
“Hm?” Rarity asked, having been lost in thought for a sec. “Oh, yes. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
“Then let’s not delay,” Rain Shine nodded, picking up Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and even the still-in-pony-form Autumn Blaze and putting them on her back, before casting a spell that covered the four in a protective bubble and slipping into the water.
It was wild rushing through the Luna Bay underwater on the back of a dragon. It was amazing! But still like, a lot to take in. Rain Shine moved fast too, so there was hardly time to appreciate the weird and cool sights of being underwater, but Rainbow made a mental note that she’d have to come back here sometime cuz there was just way too much cool stuff for her to just zip by it one time and have that be the end of it.
The trip honestly didn’t take a whole lot of time. Rain Shine zapped through the Luna Bay, the Capricorn Reef, and even the Foalorado River in like record time, but it felt like an eternity cuz the whole trip was taken in deadly silence, with only the sounds of the rushing water all around for company.
It was just as well though, Rainbow supposed. Rarity was obviously super deep in thought; she’d been through a lot and was probably trying to deal with it, which Rainbow could respect. It probably beat her own tactic of completely ignoring it and just kinda pretending it didn’t happen.
Iron wagon? Haha what iron wagon, Rainbow had never seen anything like that in her life. She didn’t even know what a cinder block was.
Oof.
After departing the river, there was still a little bit of travel left to go, so Rain Shine turned herself and the others invisible—which was freaking metal, by the way—and took to the skies, flying over Equestria from a further distance than Rainbow had ever seen it.
She wished she had more opportunities to see Equestria from the sky. She wished everyone had the chance to see it like this. Everything felt so far away and so small, and Rainbow became intimately aware that she too was just a tiny fragment of this giant puzzle.
It took a lot of puzzle pieces to make a picture, and Rainbow was determined to find a way to make Equestria’s picture a much nicer one.
By the time Rain Shine stepped onto the platform of the Crystal Empire train station, Rainbow Dash was ready to explode she was so fidgety, so she jumped off immediately and stretched her arms over her head with a big groan.
“Geez, that was agony!” Rainbow complained, and Autumn Blaze laughed and clapped her on the shoulder.
“Right?” she said with a big smile. “I thought I was gonna go apeshit!”
“Yeah, seriously,” Rainbow cackled and found herself shaking Autumn’s hand with a soft smile on her face. “So, we’ll be seeing each other again sometime, yeah?”
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Autumn nodded confidently. “It’s fate. Just tell Applejack and Twilight Sparkle I said hey, okay?”
“Will do,” Rainbow nodded, and Autumn nodded. They stood there for a sec just looking at each other quietly, holding the other’s hand, when suddenly Autumn went in for the hug, and honestly Rainbow was down so she hugged Autumn back. Girl was warm.
And with that, and after Rarity said her goodbyes to Rain Shine, Autumn hopped onto Rain Shine’s back and the two got ready to take off.
“You gotta promise to talk to me this time,” Autumn laughed. “I can’t take another silent flight trip!”
“Okay, you have my word,” Rain Shine giggled.
“Or at least listen to me while I talk!” Autumn and Rain Shine laughed, taking off into the sky and looking back just for a moment to see Rainbow and Rarity waving at them.
Rainbow honestly couldn’t wait to see them again.
Her ears perked up as she felt Rarity’s soft hand gently holding hers, and she looked over and smiled at Rarity, who smiled bashfully back.
“Hey,” Rainbow said.
“Hey,” Rarity replied.
“You wanna talk about—”
“Not yet,” Rarity cut Rainbow off and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t gotta apologize,” Rainbow shrugged. “You wanna just chillax for a sec? No one’s expecting us to get back in a hurry, so we got some time.”
“I would like that, I think,” Rarity nodded slowly. Even Rainbow could tell she was completely exhausted.
“Alright, just let good ol’ Rainbow Dash take care of ya for a bit,” Rainbow beamed and grabbed Rarity in a wing hug, Rarity putting her arms around Rainbow and hugging her.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity sighed. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Rainbow said, planting a gentle kiss on Rarity’s forehead.
Rarity stirred awake from her nap with a contented sigh. Rainbow’s lap made for a surprisingly soft pillow, and she almost didn’t want to get up. But a cursory glance at the sky told her it was well into the evening, and she wanted to reunite with Twilight and the others as soon as possible.
“Hey,” Rainbow whispered, gently running her fingers through Rarity’s mane. She had a surprisingly delicate touch that made Rarity coo and purr. “Feelin’ better?”
“A little,” Rarity sighed and sat up, stretching her limbs. “Thanks to you.”
“I’m really glad to hear that,” Rainbow said with a tender smile, before quickly bolting to her hooves with a look of deathly palor. “I’m also glad yer awake, cuz my legs fell asleep like a year ago!”
“I’m sorry,” Rarity giggled as she watched Rainbow kicks her legs awake.
“No problem!” Rainbow scoffed, because of course. Honestly it was silly of Rarity to apologize. Rainbow had her back no matter what, and even if there was nothing else Rarity could be confident in, she was absolutely certain of that.
“How are you feeling?” Rarity asked, taking Rainbow’s hands in hers and looking over Rainbow’s shoulder, so as not to make her uncomfortable with direct eye contact. “I know I’m not the only one who went through… a lot today.”
“I’m exhausted,” Rainbow chuckled. “All I wanna do right now is get Applejack’s arms around me.”
“Ditto, but with Twilight,” Rarity sighed.
“Well then,” Rainbow beamed, “what’re we waitin’ for?”
At this time of the night, it wasn’t difficult to locate the rest of the girls; they were in the inn lounge, eating and drinking together around a large coffee table and sitting in several plush chairs. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were all there, but Rarity’s eyes went immediately to Twilight Sparkle.
Rarity would make time for Fluttershy of course, and the rest of her friends too for that matter, but after everything she had been through today, she needed Twilight.
Fluttershy was the first to notice the pair approaching, naturally, and she pointed in their direction. The whole room lit up as the three other women and Spike saw Rarity and Rainbow, and affection washed over her heart that the first emotion the girls reacted with was joy, despite the utter travesty of Rarity and Rainbow’s physical conditions.
“Alright,” Applejack said as she stood up, holding her arms open, “who am I huggin’ first?”
“Meeee, bitch!” Rainbow cooed as she ran to Applejack and leapt off the ground into the towering mare’s arms, Applejack holding her tight.
Rarity immediately turned her attention to Twilight, who got up and walked over to Rarity while Rainbow said hi to everyone else.
As Twilight approached, Rarity couldn’t help but notice the exhaustion written all over her face. She may not have looked as physically agonized as Rarity, but it was easy for her marefriend to tell that she had not been having a good day.
“Hey, beautiful,” Rarity attempted to flirt, and it probably would have gone over better if her face wasn’t still stained by smeared makeup and blood.
“Hey,” Twilight said, and then the two spoke in unison.
“You don’t look so good.”
The echo made both women laugh, and Rarity couldn’t wait any longer to put her hands on Twilight’s body, so she gently grabbed the dragon’s shoulders and pulled her in for a tender kiss.
“There’s a lot to talk about,” Rarity sighed, brushing back Twilight’s bangs. It felt good to be home. "A lot can happen in one day."
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded. "A lot can happen."
“But it can wait.”
“Yes.”
“Alright, who’s ready for a welcome home party!” Pinkie clamored, jumping up on the table and screeching enthusiastically.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie, but I’m afraid I’ll need to pass,” Rarity said. “Tonight I just want to get some rest.”
“Yeah, same,” Twilight said, squeezing Rarity’s hand and smiling at her.
“Yo, I’m down for a party though,” Rainbow said, perched atop Applejack’s shoulder.
“Yes!” Pinkie pumped her fists, and then smiled at Twilight and Rarity. “You two get plenty of rest so that you have plenty of energy for parties later, okay?”
“Okay,” Rarity nodded.
“We promise,” Twilight chuckled.
“Pinkie Promise,” Rarity added, tapping her fist up toward her eye, Pinkie nodding effusively in response.
Rarity followed Twilight away from the others toward the stairwell, but a barely audible squeak stopped them in their tracks, and they turned to see Fluttershy had followed them.
“Darling?” Rarity asked, and then felt like an absolute buffoon for forgetting to say hello to her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, my head’s been—”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy smiled. “We have plenty of time, and I understand that at the moment you need some time alone with Twilight. I just want you to know that I’m here for you too if you need me.”
“I appreciate that so very much,” Rarity bowed her head and walked over to give Fluttershy a kiss, and she was slightly bowled over by how passionate Fluttershy’s kisses were, Rarity even lifting her hoof off the ground.
“So Twilight,” Fluttershy walked over to Twilight and took her by the hand, grinning coyly, “make sure you treat my girl right, okay?”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Fluttershy,” Twilight chuckled, and she kissed Fluttershy’s lips, much to Rarity’s pleasant surprise.
“Well look at this,” Rarity said, “you two have certainly been busy since I left, haven’t you?”
“No, we haven’t gotten busy,” Twilight said matter-of-factly, “we’ve just kissed a little, that’s all.”
“Twilight I love you so much, you dense nerd,” Rarity rolled her eyes as her heart became awash with affection once again. “Don’t ever change.”
Rarity collapsed into the bed. This felt familiar, this sense of time slipping away like it wasn’t even real. It was just like the first time Rarity had met Rain Shine, and she was slowly starting to be forced to wrestle with the truth about dragons and such.
Twilight lied down next to her, hands folded over her chest. Even exhausted, she was still so cute. Rarity wanted to brush back her bangs, but she couldn’t bear to lift her arms.
“What’s wrong?” Rarity asked instead, wanting to at least understand what was causing the weariness in her lover’s eyes.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Twilight muttered, “especially when I can see that you’re struggling with something heavy right now too.”
“Then you know exactly how I feel,” Rarity laughed humorlessly.
“I’m afraid so,” Rarity sighed and took Twilight’s hand in hers. “You don’t have to tell me anything right now, and I don’t have to tell you, but we both know that when the other is ready, they’ll have a pair of eager ears just waiting for them.”
“That’s right,” Twilight sat up, Rarity groaning as she followed suit. Twilight took Rarity’s hands and gently kissed them. “One of these days we’ll learn how to properly process and communicate our trauma.”
“One day,” Rarity nodded, with a sincere smile on her face. “And when that day comes, we’ll take that step together.”
Luna and Celestia didn’t talk much anymore. Luna had lost track of how long it’d been since them just not talking became the norm. Despite this, Celestia always, always, always sent Luna a note when she was finished with a mission, to let Luna know that Celestia was safe and whether she would be returning home, or heading right away to another mission.
It was a courtesy that Luna appreciated more than she could express with her words.
Luna was wiping down the bar in Hunter’s Haven, empty at this middle of the night hour save for Luna herself as she waited for Celestia to come home. She would need a stiff drink after a long day’s work; she always did, and Luna was happy to provide it. Celestia never asked her to, but Luna felt that it was the least she could do.
Granted, it was something she started when she had more sympathy for the grueling hours Celestia put into her work, before she understood the horrible truth about Celestia’s work. Luna knew now, and yet she still stood at the bar, waiting patiently to pour Celestia a drink.
Maybe it was just habit. A comforting familiarity in an uncertain and terrifying world. And that was likely part of it, but the real truth was much simpler, and yet far more complicated.
Luna truly believed that her sister was a horrible person, that she was a violent bigot whose head was stuck so firmly in her hateful beliefs that she would never be able to truly see the light.
But she was also the woman who always stood up for Luna when they were kids, who taught her how to fight and to use magic and even to read, who would passionately encourage Luna to follow her passions, and who shed tears of pride when Luna became her right-hand mare.
Luna hated Celestia more than anything, but she couldn’t stop loving her all the same.
She’d also given up trying to decide whether pouring a drink for the leader of the enemy faction was anti-insurgency, because if it was then Luna was simply going to have to bite that loss and accept she wasn’t a perfect insurgent, no matter how much she wished she was.
The door creaked open, snapping Luna from her thoughts. Her heart sank as she saw Celestia miserably lumber into the bar, before plopping onto a stool and collapsing with her head face-down on the counter.
It was normal for Celestia to drop her façade of constant perfection around Luna, to not put on airs and simply act as exhausted as she truly felt, but Luna had never seen her like this. She looked horrid, with the light that shone from her mane and coat dimming and flattening, her hair falling all over the place like piles of loose hay instead of shimmering around her like an aurora, and as she slightly raised her head up, Luna could see her eyes were red from crying.
“So, what will you have?” Luna knew better than to ask how Celestia was doing and walk right into the rake of Celestia’s lies.
“Pina colada,” Celestia groaned. “Can you make it virgin?”
“Yes, I know how to make it,” Luna scoffed in mock offense, and Celestia laughed.
Luna smiled as she prepared her sister’s drink, but braced herself for a grueling conversation. She knew Celestia only laughed at that lousy joke she’d heard a million times when she was exceptionally depressed.
“So,” Luna said as she placed Celestia’s drink in front of her, Celestia groaning as she pushed herself off the counter and forced herself to sit upright, “how did things go with the Pristine Army today?”
Celestia took a deep breath.
“You might want to sit down for this one,” Celestia sighed.
Luna took in a deep breath as she sat next to Celestia at the bar, her sister finishing both her drink and her tale. Luna managed to keep a smile off her lips despite how proud she was of Rarity, and of good old Rainbow Dash as well. It wasn’t surprising that Rainbow was the first of them to talk back to Celestia.
“So what are you going to do now?” Luna asked.
“I—I don’t know!” Celestia whimpered, folding her arms on the counter and burying her face in them as she sobbed loudly. She started crying soon into her story, and had hardly stopped since, and Luna wasn’t sure what to do either.
Watching her sister weep broke her heart, but there was no part of her that believed that Celestia didn’t deserve this. Luna genuinely believed that Celestia deserved every bad thing that happened to her, but to just stand by in silence and watch her suffer was something Luna couldn’t bring herself to do, so she put her hand on her sister’s back and rubbed her gently; just a small gesture, acknowledging that Luna was there, despite everything.
Maybe that made Luna weak, maybe it even made her complicit. Luna knew she had to stand against Celestia, and if push came to shove she knew she might even have to fight her sister head-on. But right now, in this moment, all she could think to do was comfort her weeping sister.
“Is Rarity going to be under arrest?” Luna asked. She wouldn’t let her feelings blind her from what was important.
“I don’t know,” Celestia sniffled, and she ran her hands over her face and tried to shake the tears and the exhaustion away. “There is no doubt in my mind at this point that Rarity is harboring dragons…” Celestia stood up and paced back and forth, one hand on her stomach and the other tugging at her mane. “But the idea of tracking her down and confronting her? It makes me literally nauseous to think about.
“I know I can’t just let dragons roam free and do whatever they want in Equestria,” Celestia said, sweat dripping down her brow, “but I can’t— I can’t entirely bring myself to believe… that Rarity would betray me like this.”
“Celestia,” Luna sighed. She knew that what she was about to say was not going to go over, but she needed to say it regardless. “If you want to believe in Rarity, then… well, if she does have a dragon friend, why not just try talking to them? No weapons, no body armor, no poison gas. Just talk.”
Luna could practically hear the blood vessels popping in Celestia’s head as she looked at Luna as though the Princess had gone mad. Luna supposed that from Celestia’s point of view, she may as well have, but considering things from Celestia’s point of view quickly made Luna feel ill.
“How could you even—” Celestia scoffed, her eye twitching as she stared daggers at Luna. “Are you going to betray me now, is that what this is?”
“What? No!” Luna said, irritated that Celestia would take a perfectly rational statement as an indication of treachery, but she supposed that’s just the result of bigotry poisoning a woman’s mind for a thousand years. “I’m not ‘betraying’ you, but I am goddamn tired!
“I’m tired of this endless war that we’ve been waging! It’s been a thousand years and NOTHING has changed, Celestia! So maybe, JUST MAYBE, we need to try something different!”
“Well, on that we agree,” Celestia said coldly. “That’s where the Pristine Army comes in. I’ve been far too soft, and too lax. It’s time that Equestria truly has a zero tolerance policy for dragons. Neighsay is the perfect person to enact that policy. He’s not too soft for his own good, unlike me.”
“I think you’re making a huge mistake,” Luna said desperately.
“I don’t recall asking you what you think,” Celestia hissed, her venom stinging Luna’s heart. Celestia just huffed and turned to walk toward the door.
“Aren’t you even going to sleep?” Luna asked, habitually trying to take care of someone suffering, and even more habitually ignoring the venom that woman just spat into her face.
“No,” Celestia said brusquely. “I have work to do.”
A lot of stuff was going through Apple Bloom’s brain as she stood at the Appleloosa train station, hopping excitedly and punching the air to hype herself up, Granny Smith and Big Mac chatting it up beside her. Well to be honest Granny was doing most of the chatting, but y’know whatever.
So anyway, the brain stuff huh? Most of it was nervousness! There was a lot to be nervous about! She hadn't travelled in like, ever. And she was going to the Crystal Empire! She was gonna get to see Applejack again, which she couldn’t wait for, but she was also gonna see dragons for the first time and that was pretty scary.
But scarier than that was meeting Rarity’s family for the first time. Rarity was practically an Apple herself, least as far as Bloom was concerned, so she wanted to make a good impression on the family. Especially the sister, Sweetie Belle. Bloom’d never met her before, but she’d seen a few pictures and heard some stories from Rarity about this girl Bloom’s age who was so good with a sword she could land a strike even on Queen Celestia.
She seemed pretty cool.
…
Apple Bloom was crushing so hard holy shit holy piss!!
But it’d be fine! Apple Bloom prepared a bunch of stuff to say, she’d been up like all night practicing her small talk and stuff. Oh wait, but what if Sweetie Belle wasn’t as cool as Apple Bloom thought? Oh no, what if she was even cooler?! ABORT ABORT!! ABANDON BATTLE STATIONS!
“You okay there, hon?” Granny Smith asked, and Apple Bloom laughed at an awkwardly loud volume.
“Yeah, I’m great!” she said, sweating bullets.
“Oookay,” Granny hummed, and turned to look down the train tracks and pointed at the oncoming train. “That’s us.”
Pit in Bloom’s stomach now. She was trying to breathe in and out all calm like, but this was it! Moment of truth and stuff!
Big Mac tapped her on the shoulder, and smiled when she looked up at him, so she smiled back. He held out his fist and Apple Bloom gave it a gentle pound, which did wonders for her nerves. Her family had her back no matter what, and honestly that’s what was important.
She could still be a little nervous though. Just a little bit.
The train rolled into the station and after all the huffery of getting the passengers off and stuff, the people the Apples were really waiting for disembarked. Rarity’s mom and dad were whatever, and they stepped onto the platform and introduced themselves or something, Bloom wasn’t paying attention.
But there was Sweetie Belle right behind ‘em, and Bloom swore she was hearing church bells or… something. Was that romantic? Anyway, Sweetie looked really cool and Apple Bloom wanted to protect her from monsters and bad guys.
Sweetie turned to look at Apple Bloom and smiled at her, and Apple Bloom’s little transgender girl brain completely short-circuited. All the other kids she’d played with were boys, and she was still figuring out how to be a girl, much less talk to ‘em!
“Hey, you’re Apple Bloom, right?!” Sweetie rushed excitedly over and roughly shook Apple Bloom’s hand, Bloom kinda just drifting off into space inside her own head.
“Y-yeah, that’s me,” she mumbled awkwardly, unable to even look at Sweetie Belle without thinking impure thoughts like ‘I wanna hold her hand’ or ‘I wanna give her an apple’.
“Check this out!” Sweetie threw her backpack on the ground and dug through it before producing a big freaking SWORD!! Apple Bloom’s eyes widened in amazement and she started drooling like she was looking at the juiciest apple she’d ever seen. “Rarity told me you like swords, right? This one’s mine! Isn’t it COOL!?”
“That’s YERS?!” Apple Bloom yelled excitedly, and Sweetie nodded with a huge smile on her face. Okay, Sweetie was officially the coolest girl in the whole world, but she wasn’t half as cool as that GOSH DARN SWORD!!!!!!!!!
“Yeah, it’s brand new too!” Sweetie said, swinging the blade around with effortless grace. “I made sure to get one for myself once I heard I was finally gonna meet you, cuz Rarity told me you like swords and I wanted a cool sword to show you cuz I wanted to make a good first impression and when I saw this bad boy I was like ‘oh she’s gonna LOVE this’!”
“And you were right!” Apple Bloom yelled, glittering eyes still glued to the sword. “And that’s mighty sweet of ya to be thinking of me.”
“No problem!” Sweetie beamed and put down the sword, extending her sword hand to Apple Bloom, which was a mighty high honor in Bloom’s opinion, so she took the hand gently, Sweetie then shaking it like she was trying to knock a prize loose. “Pleasure to meetcha, Apple Bloom! I can already tell, we’re gonna be the best of friends!”
“Couldn’t be happier!” Apple Bloom replied, smiling at Sweetie Belle…
Rarity was awake, albeit just barely, as she clung to the snoozing body of her beautiful purple girlfriend like a life raft. It had been a few days now since the disaster at Seaward Shores, and Rarity had spent all of them almost entirely in bed.
It was something she often did after a difficult mission or the like, though in this case it felt much worse because her time in bed was often made easier by comforting thoughts of Celestia, and right now thinking of her former mentor only brought Rarity pain and heartache.
Though in other ways, it was much easier. Twilight Sparkle, bless her heart, had laid in bed with Rarity and been her constant companion throughout those depressed days. She didn’t ask Rarity to talk about what was bothering her, or burden her with heavy conversation. Most days they read together and slept together, and that was all.
It was nice.
A knock at the door interrupted Rarity’s peaceful semi-slumber, and she groaned under her breath.
“Room service!” Pinkie Pie said from the other side of the door.
“Isn’t it a little early for room service?” Rarity groaned.
“Well, it’s 2PM, but okay!” Pinkie replied, and Rarity snorted. Okay, perhaps she had better get the day started after all.
“Wait, Pinkie,” Rarity called out as she pushed herself to a sitting position, “you can come in.”
Rarity opened the door with her magic, and Pinkie pushed a cart full of food trays into the room. Perhaps a good meal would do Rarity’s slogging brain a favor. She decided to get up and at least attempt to make herself look presentable while Pinkie Pie had the unenviable task of trying to rouse a snoozing Twilight Sparkle.
Goodness, Rarity was a fright. Her hair was all frazzled and messy, her coat was getting shaggy and coarse, and she had rings around her eyes that could put a raccoon to shame. Still though, nothing a little time and makeup couldn’t fix.
Especially time.
“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight said pleasantly with a wave as Rarity came out of the bathroom. She swore Twilight somehow never seemed to get bedhead; she looked utterly perfect no matter the time or situation, and it was as baffling as it was mesmerizing. “Are you looking forward to seeing your family?”
“Hm?” Rarity asked as she sat down next to Twilight, resting her head on Twilight’s shoulder as the dragon conjured a wing to wrap around her. “What are you—”
“Applejack said they’re coming by today,” Pinkie said pleasantly as she served breakfast for Twilight and Rarity. “And Applejack’s family too! That’s so exciting! I’m gonna mostly be with Maud today though, ironically enough, but I still can’t wait to at least say hello!”
“Wait, they’re coming TODAY?!” Rarity shrieked. She had completely let it slip her mind that her family had expressed their intent to visit her in the Crystal Empire. “Well, I suppose that’s as good a reason as any to start getting out of bed again.”
“I’m proud of you, Rarity,” Twilight smiled and put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder. “Getting out of bed is a very good thing.”
“You have to get out of bed too, you know,” Rarity chuckled slyly, and Twilight laughed.
“I know,” Twilight said. “I’m gonna hang out with Spike today. I feel like it’s been forever since we spent any real time together, and after talking with my own mom the other day, I just feel like… I dunno, sentimental I guess.”
“Oh, I haven’t heard much about your mother,” Rarity said fondly, curiosity now filling her like a wine being expertly poured into a glass. “I’d love to meet her sometime.”
“Okay but is she a milf?!” Pinkie slammed her fists on her thighs, Rarity snorting and Twilight just looking utterly baffled.
“Pinkie you can’t just ask someone if their mother is a milf,” Rarity said through her laughter. “Besides, Twilight’s mother would be a gmilf, because Twilight—oh my goodness.”
“What?” Twilight asked confusedly, and mildly irritably.
“Twilight,” Rarity cooed and looked at Twilight with stars in her eyes, “you’re a milf!”
“OHMYGOSH!” Pinkie gasped. “You’re SO RIGHT!”
“ANYWAY,” Twilight said flatly, clearing her throat and looking ever so bashful. She was the cutest milf Rarity had ever seen. “I would like for you to meet my mom, Rarity. I told her about you.”
“Only flattering things, I hope,” Rarity grinned and leaned into Twilight, which made her laugh.
“Mostly, yeah,” Twilight said. “I really gushed about you. About all of you.”
“Nice!” Pinkie whispered and pumped her fist.
“We really are all joined at the hip at this point, aren’t we?” Rarity hummed.
“Sometimes a family is six lesbians and their adopted son,” Twilight said, Rarity giggling at the absurd truthfulness of such a statement.
“I suppose so,” Rarity said fondly as she leaned into Twilight. “To be honest, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Fluttershy didn’t much care for the Crystal Empire. That wasn’t a surprise, as Fluttershy cared very little for the towns and villages in Equestria, many of which were built on lies that encouraged the fear and slaughter of her people. But none quite as obvious as the Crystal Empire, a city quite literally built on the backs of enslaved dragons, and that was before even getting into the secret underground prison where dragons were being held captive and tortured.
But with all that said, the Crystal Mountains? They were alright. Fluttershy appreciated the deep chill and relative silence of the Mountains, the only sound which could be heard on the cliffside being the wind galloping past. It was the perfect place for Fluttershy to take a load off, even transformed back into her true form for maximum relaxation.
At least until—
“Yo, Fluttershy!”
—the voice of Trixie came chiming in.
The tiny dragon came flying up to Fluttershy’s cliffside, looking at Fluttershy in what the yellow dragon presumed to be awe? Anxiety perhaps? Fluttershy was certainly familiar with that concept.
“Trixie?” Fluttershy asked, trying to pivot her brain out of ‘relaxation mode’ and into ‘conversation mode’, but it was slow going. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, just passing through, I guess?” Trixie said awkwardly, rubbing her claw behind her neck. “Didn’t expect to see anyone else up here!”
“Oh, I see, I see,” Fluttershy hummed. Trixie looked nervous and sweaty, once again something that Fluttershy could relate to. It would be very easy to let Trixie simply be on her anxious little way, but that didn’t feel right to her, especially since she had an inkling of what was bothering Trixie. “Still no luck making inroads with the others?”
“Haha!” Trixie said awkwardly, less a laugh and more just saying the laughter sound effect out loud. “What makes you say— I’m doing just fine, thank you… very… mu— okay yeah I’m totally floundering here.”
“That’s okay,” Fluttershy giggled. “Relationships take time, and they can be a lot of hard work. But they’re worth it.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Trixie crossed her arms and pouted, which made Fluttershy roll her eyes playfully and give a soft laugh.
“For what it’s worth,” Fluttershy said, “I forgive you, and I would love to be your friend.”
“Wh—uh—” Trixie stuttered and blushed. “That’s kinda gay.”
“Kinda,” Fluttershy chuckled. She recognized the telltale sign of irony poisoning quite well.
“Uh, well, that’s cool,” Trixie sat down on the cliffside next to Fluttershy, keeping the bigger dragon at arm’s length, which was still pretty close for Trixie because she had small arms. “Thank you, I mean. I appreciate it.”
“My pleasure,” Fluttershy sat up and stretched out a wing over Trixie’s back. “I understand where you’re coming from, having made some situations you’re not super proud of in hindsight. I get it.”
“Do you think the others will forgive me?” Trixie asked solemnly. “Like… ever?”
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy answered bluntly, figuring the truth would be more helpful to Trixie than any comfortable lie would be, no matter how much Trixie wanted to hear the lie. “That’s up to them, and not something either of us can force.
“The only way you’ll know is by asking them,” Fluttershy gently nudged Trixie with a claw, smiling warmly down at her. “Which I think you should try.”
“Ugh, I hate trying things,” Trixie huffed, slouching and limply kicking her claw in the dirt.
“I know,” Fluttershy chuckled softly and gave Trixie a supportive pat on the shoulder.
“But fine,” Trixie sighed dramatically. “Since you insist, and you were cool to me, I’ll go apologize to them for realsies.”
“Good luck, Trixie! I’m rooting for you!” Fluttershy cheered as Trixie took to the sky, the smaller dragon turning around and puffing up her cheeks in embarrassment. “And if you ever wanna talk to someone who gets it… I’m right here.”
“W—okay,” Trixie said with a nod and then quickly turned away from Fluttershy. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Fluttershy said softly as Trixie took off back to the Empire. Fluttershy pretended to not see her crying.
Rarity wasn’t asleep. She swore she was not asleep, she was awake. She was just resting her eyes a little, and resting her head on Applejack’s very firm yet soft muscular arm, as the two sat on the single bench of the Crystal Empire train station waiting for an important train to arrive.
“Don’t get too excited, hon,” Applejack chuckled. “It’s just yer family, is all.”
“I’m not,” Rarity said sweetly. “I’m the exact proper amount of excited.”
Truth be told, Rarity was nervous. She loved her parents dearly, but they were very entrenched in the beliefs of the Slayers and, well… Rarity had loved Celestia too.
But for this one day, she wasn’t going to think about that. It was almost an inevitability that Rarity would have to sacrifice her relationships with her parents on the altar of doing right by the people of Equestria, dragons and ponies alike, but she was determined not to do it today.
She would allow herself one last day where her parents were just that; her family that she loved very dearly, and not bigoted monsters who she would have to fight with her entire soul.
Just one last day.
“Actually, I am perhaps unreasonably excited about one thing,” Rarity said and lifted her eyes open ever so slightly.
“And what’s that?” Applejack asked, moving her arm and putting it around Rarity.
“Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle immediately becoming the best of friends, of course!” Rarity pumped her fists and her eyes shone with stars, Applejack laughing into her hand. “Can’t you just see it, Applejack? They’re going to be an absolute POWER COUPLE!”
“Alright, hold yer horses there, Rarity,” Applejack rolled her eyes playfully and ruffled Rarity’s mane, but she would be eating her words when the she saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walking arm-in-arm off the train, as Rarity was certain they were going to.
The train pulled into the station shortly after, and Rarity was standing right at the line, buzzing with anticipation to see her parents and her sister, and quite honestly to see Applejack’s family as well, who Rarity hadn't gotten to spend as much time with as she would have liked.
Rarity lit up as the doors opened and her parents departed the train, Applejack’s family getting off shortly thereafter, with Applejack taking the time to say hello to them of course as Rarity focused on her parents.
“Rarity!” her mother Pearl called out with her arms wide open, smushing Rarity into a hug before she could even react. “It’s so good to see you!”
“It’s good to see you t— OOMPH!” Rarity tried to respond with a polite greeting, before getting crushed by her dad, hugging both her and her mom both.
“RARITY!” Magnum cheered, hugging Rarity even tighter. “It’s been too long!”
“It’s only been a month or two? I think?” Rarity had no idea what time even was anymore. “Where’s Sweetie Belle?”
Rarity’s mother pointed over to Sweetie Belle standing on the platform, chatting away to who else but Apple Bloom, who by the way looked positively enraptured by whatever tale Sweetie was spinning. Rarity’s heart swelled with affection and pride, and she knew she would need to get a sterling silver platter for Applejack to eat her words off of.
As much as Rarity wanted to get caught up with her parents, and she very much did, there would be time for that in a moment. For now, Rarity thought it prudent to say hello to Granny Smith and Big Mac.
“Hello, Granny Smith! Hello, Big Mac!” Rarity said pleasantly as she approached them.
“Well, howdy, Rarity!” Granny Smith replied enthusiastically, grabbing Rarity’s hand and shaking it like it was some kind of contest. Big Mac settled for a polite wave, and Rarity blessed him for it. “Now, that’s odd.” Granny Smith pondered, finger over her chin as she looked Rarity up and down.
“What is?” Rarity asked curiously, looking over and around herself for the source of miss Smith’s confusion.
“You ain’t wearin’ any of yer Slayer gear,” Granny Smith noted, and indeed Rarity had dressed quite casually for this outing, though obviously she had other reasons to not be wearing the gear anymore; as in, she threw all away at Celestia’s hooves. “Or yer dragon fang necklace! That thing was a mighty fine trinket, I hope you didn’t lose it or nothin’!”
“No, nothing like that,” Rarity said with a nervous chuckle, fingers tracing the serpent scale that was hanging around her neck instead. To be entirely honest, Rarity couldn’t bring herself to part with the fang just yet. Maybe someday; it was an awfully grim thing to keep as a keepsake, but for the time being she didn’t feel ready to part with it. “I just wanted to dress casually for a personal meeting with family, that’s all.”
“C’mon now, Granny,” Applejack put her arm around her grandmother and pulled her into a rough side hug, “don’t go hasslin’ Rarity over her fashion. You know she puts a ton of effort into that stuff!”
“True, true,” Smith nodded contemplatively. “But back in my day, we wore our armor everywhere! We were proud of it!”
“Yeah well yer like a million years old,” Applejack chuckled and ruffled Granny Smith’s mane, getting a giggle out of Rarity and from Big Mac, “things change.”
“A million years old, sheesh, no respect at all I tell ya,” Granny Smith grumbled as she wandered off with Applejack and Big Mac in tow, the siblings turning back to wave at Rarity, who returned the gesture.
Rarity looked over to check on Sweetie Belle, who was still chattering away with Apple Bloom, which struck Rarity as odd. She looked back at the Apple family walking off into the distance, than back to Apple Bloom staying put, then at her parents, a bewildered expression on her face as she pointed to Apple Bloom.
“Oh, Apple Bloom’s gonna stick with us for the day,” Pearl said, batting a hand at Rarity and sweeping away her confusion.
“Yeah, we figured we didn’t wanna separate the kids cuz they were becoming such fast friends,” Magnum added with a laugh, “and we’re a little more prepared to handle hyperactive tykes than ol’ Granny Smith is.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Pearl said, and Rarity chuckled.
“I don’t at all,” Rarity replied. “In fact, I’m sure I’ll be gushing over how adorable Sweetie’s new friendship is in no time.”
“Oh, and Rarity,” Magnum said, his brow furrowed and his tone uncharacteristically dour.
“Yes?” Rarity asked concernedly, tapping her hoof against the wooden platform and twiddling her fingers in front of her.
“We heard about what happened,” Magnum said somberly, Rarity’s mother looking surprised for a moment, before she too joined him in his melancholy.
“From Celestia,” Pearl added, a violent storm suddenly wreaking havoc in Rarity’s stomach.
“What did she tell you?” Rarity asked coldly.
“Not much,” Pearl shook her head and sighed. “Just that you left the Slayers of your own volition, and it wasn’t on good terms with Celestia.”
“None,” Magnum said firmly. “Her letter said that we deserved to know what had happened to you, but the details were between you and her, and that she felt it was right to protect your privacy.”
“I see,” Rarity hummed. That certainly sounded like what Celestia would say. “If it’s all the same, I would prefer to keep the details to myself.”
“That’s quite alright, dear,” Pearl said, and Magnum nodded heartily in agreement.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Rarity said sadly, her heart breaking in two as she was starting to almost have a vision of the conversation that would end her relationship with them.
“Sweetheart, you could never disappoint us,” Pearl said affectionately, coming over to Rarity and wrapping her arms around her, Rarity burying herself in her mother’s hug.
“We’re proud of you for sticking to your guns,” Magnum added as he too joined the hug, “and doing what you think is right, no matter what that is.”
Rarity didn’t know how to take those sweet words, when she knew all too well the lie hidden within.
That kindness wouldn’t extend to dragons.
“Thank you,” Rarity said emptily, hiding her tears by burying herself further in her parents’ embrace. “Thank you.”
Rarity’s family were seated around a table in a fancy restaurant in the Crystal Empire, and even Applejack was there, having caught up to the family and been invited to hang out blah blah blah, Sweetie Belle didn’t care about any of that.
All Sweetie was interested in was Apple Bloom.
They had been talking pretty much nonstop since they met at the train station, and if Sweetie Belle had it her way, they’d be talking nonstop for literally forever. Apple Bloom was super cool and nice, and every time she like nodded enthusiastically at one of Sweetie’s stories, or said some adorable countryism, Sweetie’s heart melted a little bit more.
Sweetie just thought she was neat.
Though granted, she sure wished Rarity would chill out a bit. Rarity kept looking over at Sweetie and Apple Bloom with her hands on her cheeks, scrunching her face into this embarrassing coo as she oo’d and aww’d at Sweetie’s conversation, and while Apple Bloom seemed to take it in stride, it was still really embarrassing.
Sweetie tried to ignore it, but—
“Oooooo,” Rarity cooed, hands on her cheeks. Sweetie sighed irritably for like the thirtieth time since they sat down, and they hadn't even gotten their food yet.
“C’mon, Rarity,” Applejack chuckled and put her arm around Rarity, yanking her close to the big earth pony. “Let the kids have their fun.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Rarity said, trying to push herself away from Applejack, but AJ was keeping her in a lock and Rarity eventually gave up. “I just—can you blame me?”
“Yes,” Sweetie Belle and Applejack said together, and Sweetie gave Applejack finger guns while AJ winked back at her, Apple Bloom laughing into her hand, and geez Apple Bloom had a really cute laugh.
“Hey, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom chuckled, Sweetie giving her undivided attention, “don’t worry too much about Rarity. I know how sisters can be, and it’s fine.”
“Hey now,” Applejack balked, “what d’ya mean ‘how sisters can be’? I’m not a nosy mare like Rarity.”
“Ouch, darling,” Rarity said drolly.
“C’mon, Applejack,” Apple Bloom snickered, “don’t pretend like you wouldn’t be doin’ that exact stuff if Rarity weren’t here takin’ the heat for ya.”
“Well,” Applejack blushed and itched her cheek, “ya can’t prove anything.”
Rarity and Apple Bloom laughed, and so did Sweetie’s parents who had thankfully kept mostly to themselves during this little outing, cuz if Sweetie thought Rarity was embarrassing— and she did— she had nothing on their mom and dad.
Okay, with Rarity thoroughly distracted by Applejack, it was time for Sweetie to make her move. She didn’t know what her move was, but she knew she wanted to do something, just like… she wanted to show Apple Bloom some affection, something other than just words to say like ‘hey I think you’re cool’.
She kinda wanted the effortless chemistry that Rarity and Applejack had, as she watched them playfully bicker and then seamlessly shift into flirting with each other, and then just as easily turn that into talking about life stuff or small talk. They just had it all, like they were perfect for each other, and Sweetie Belle wanted in on that too, but with Apple Bloom.
So she put Apple Bloom in a headlock out of nowhere.
“OW!” Apple Bloom cried out as Sweetie put her arm around her, immediately draining the color from Sweetie’s face as Apple Bloom pushed herself away and looked at Sweetie in annoyance. “What was that for?!”
“Uh,” Sweetie’s face turned bright pink and a faint, pale green aura lit up around her horn as she tried to come up with an excuse, but she just kinda stammered as everyone at the table started staring at her, and then everyone in the restaurant, and then everyone in the Empire, and then everyone in the ENTIRE WORLD, until…
…Sweetie teleported out of the restaurant.
Well okay, not completely out of the restaurant; she found herself in the girls’ bathroom, which was really nice by the way. She was a little bit out of it though too, since teleporting was still a really new thing for her and she hadn't done it just now on purpose.
Still though, she locked the door on the stall she ended up in and just kinda curled up into a ball, stewing in her complete and utter failure to charm Apple Bloom and how she now felt like her chances of being friends with her were totally ruined and it was all her fault and Apple Bloom was probably gonna be like ‘ew yer weird and gross I don’t like you anymore’ which…
Wow, she was sick of hearing that.
“Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie’s head snapped up and her eyes widened; last thing she expected to hear was Apple Bloom’s voice saying her name, but she looked at the gap under the stall and sure enough there were Apple Bloom’s hooves standing right outside.
“How did you—” Sweetie stammered, confused how Apple Bloom managed to find her, but then again Rarity had been working on her magic just as much as Sweetie had, and she had Twilight and Sweetie didn’t, so that gave her an edge. “Uh, what’s up, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie chuckled awkwardly, trying to pretend like she wasn’t on the verge of tears. Or barfing.
“You okay?” Apple Bloom asked, and she sounded upset. Sweetie swore if she made Apple Bloom upset with her dumb headlock shit and then even more upset with her even dumber teleport shit, she was gonna set herself on fire or something. “You disappeared all of a sudden. Everypony was worried about you.”
“Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” Sweetie sighed, and then just kinda didn’t say anything else. She didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m sorry too,” Apple Bloom said sadly. “I didn’t mean to embarrass ya.”
“No! You shouldn’t apologize!” Sweetie exclaimed desperately; the last thing she wanted was to make Apple Bloom feel bad for her screwup. “I’m the one who’s a dumb stupid idiot here, not you!”
“Yer not a dumb stupid idiot!” Apple Bloom said with an honestly kinda shocking amount of bite in her voice. “That’s my friend yer talkin’ about, and if yer gonna shit talk her, I’m gonna come in there and beat the shit outta you, y’hear me?!”
“W-wow,” Sweetie said, her face turning bright pink. Wow! “Uhm, w-wow, okay. I’ll keep that in mind!”
“Sorry,” Apple Bloom chuckled awkwardly, “that mighta been too intense.”
“No, you’re good!” Sweetie insisted. “Thanks, I actually— I really appreciate that, Apple Bloom.”
“No problem, what’re friends for?” Apple Bloom declared proudly, and hearing her call Sweetie a friend got Sweetie all choked up and made butterflies start swarming around in her stomach. “Now can I get in there? Talkin’ to a door is makin’ me feel weird.”
“Oh! Yeah, sure!” Sweetie said, and Apple Bloom crawled under the wall and into the stall, waving at Sweetie with a big smile that made Sweetie’s heart beat faster for some weird reason.
“So I wasn’t sure what you were thinkin’ when you suddenly attacked me at the table earlier,” Apple Bloom said, and Sweetie’s mood immediately plunged into the toilet, “but Rarity said you weren’t tryn’ to attack me? You were tryin’ to be affectionate?”
Sweetie stared blankly into space and wondered if she could just fire off another teleport and escape from this conversation entirely.
“Which I guess just surprised me, is all,” Apple Bloom said awkwardly, trying to fill up the empty space in the conversation that Sweetie’s silence had left, “cuz like, wow a cute girl trying to be affectionate with me is like, wow! No way?! Holy piss! Shit! How did that happen?!”
“What d’ya mean ‘how did that happen’?!” Sweetie scoffed. “You’re awesome! You’re cool and cute and you have an adorable accent and I like your bow and your fashion is on point and you like swords and you know how to make swords like holy shit how does it get any cooler than that well I’ll tell you how it’s cuz you also listen to me when I ramble about stuff and you always have these super cool insights and little factoids and you know stuff about things and oh my gawd I’m really going off aren’t I this is so embarrassing I need to shut up before I make a total ass of myself.”
Apple Bloom blinked, eyes wide. Sweetie Belle wanted to crawl up her own ass and die.
“Y-you… you like me!” Apple Bloom said, like it was some kinda revelation and not the most obvious shit in the world.
“Yes? Obviously? Who wouldn’t like you?” Sweetie asked incredulously, cheeks tinted a burning red.
“Oh, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom laughed bitterly, “I could give you a list like a mile long.”
“RIGHT?! BIG MOOD!” Sweetie yelled, her arms flailing in the air.
“Well hey,” Apple Bloom kicked her hoof and ran her hand through her mane, “if we’re both kinda outcasts then like, maybe we should stick together?” Apple Bloom held out her hand and extended her littlest finger, her legs shaking underneath her.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said softly, reaching out with a trembling hand and putting her own little finger around Apple Bloom’s, “I’d like that a lot.”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom returned to the table, where their food and family were waiting for them, the two sitting down next to each other and Sweetie trying not make a big deal about it or anything.
“Hey,” Rarity said softly, “you okay?”
“Yeah,” Sweetie nodded.
“Good,” Rarity smiled warmly, and Sweetie smiled back. “Glad I let Apple Bloom go after you instead of going myself. Seems like you’re in good hands.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie looked over at Apple Bloom, who looked away bashfully and made Sweetie giggle, the pair’s hands intertwined under the table, “I think so too.”
Twilight’s top priority during her first day out of bed in what felt like twenty years was to spend time with her son, who she had kept brushing to the side because of other things she needed to deal with, and she felt just awful about it.
But that said, she had promised Rainbow Dash and Applejack that she’d let them give her the tour of the Crystal Empire, and while Applejack was off with Rarity and their families, Rainbow was still eager to go out with Twilight and the feeling was more than mutual.
So naturally, she found herself wandering the Empire with both of them, her brain tearing itself apart over whether she should be in Mom mode or Girlfriend mode, because she honestly had no clue how to do both at once.
What made matters even more stressful on Twilight’s brain was once the three had sat down in a booth in a buffet style restaurant, Rainbow and Spike engaged each other in lively conversation about the Daring Do books, specifically the newest book in the series, which Twilight hadn't had much chance to read yet.
It wasn’t even a matter of spoilers or anything, Twilight didn’t mind that so much since she tended to read books in a manner of dissecting them and evaluating how well she felt they told their story and how Twilight would have done things differently, which spoilers didn’t ruin in any way.
No, it was just that… Twilight missed the library so much.
“Hey, Twi,” Rainbow said as she noticed Twilight flopping her chin down onto the table, “are you okay?”
“Yeah, she looks perfect, Rainbow,” Spike said drolly.
“Well you know what I mean,” Rainbow balked, getting all flustered. It was cute. Rainbow was cute in general.
“Do you two ever miss the library?” Twilight asked, feeling a little too melancholy to phrase her question in an elegant manner.
“Of course,” Rainbow said immediately.
“Yeah, all the time,” Spike added with a sad nod.
“Sometimes I worry,” Twilight sighed, and then chuckled, “which I know, very unusual of me. But sometimes I worry that my best days are behind me. The library was so good, and I worry that I’ll never be able to recapture that sense of joy and peace ever again that I had there.”
“Yeah, I getcha,” Rainbow said and draped a comforting wing over Twilight’s back. Rainbow’s wings were shockingly soft considering Rainbow’s personality and lifestyle, and feeling them on her skin never failed to make her smile. “But I tell ya what, our time we spent together at the library was awesome. But I wouldn’t trade the time since for anything in the world.
“And I mean all of it, from the time you ate me to save me from Trixie, to the way you’ve been slowly teaching me how to do magic, to all the times we’ve spent smooching or cuddling or just hanging out. I love you, Twilight, and I could never feel like our best days are behind us, cuz every day I spend with you is the best.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight blubbered, falling even more in love with her darling blue pegasus than she even thought was possible, Rainbow putting her arm around Twilight and holding her close enough for the two to smoosh cheeks.
“Dang, Rainbow,” Spike chuckled, “that was really smooth. I oughtta take notes.”
“Just speakin’ from the heart,” Rainbow shrugged. “That’s the way you gotta do it. I spent way too much time hiding my feelings cuz I was embarrassed or worried about how people might react or whatever, and that turned out to be a huge waste of time. And I’ll always be grateful to Twilight, and Rarity, and Applejack, and the others for teaching me that.”
“Rainbow, you are a saint,” Twilight sighed affectionately, “and I love you.”
“Love you too, babe,” Rainbow pulled Twilight in again and smooched her on the lips, Twilight buzzing and getting all giddy and stuff.
“Twilight, here’s what I think,” Spike said, Twilight giving him her attention. “The library was great, and we had a great time there. Those memories are gonna stick with me forever, for sure. But the best part about it? Was that it led us to meeting Rarity and Rainbow and everyone else. Back in the library, it was still just you and me, but now it’s you and me and everyone, and that’s way better if you ask me.”
“And you’re not terribly upset with me,” Twilight asked sheepishly, “cuz I can’t always pay attention to you?”
“Pffft, of course not,” Spike scoffed and batted his hands. “I want you to be happy, Twilight.”
“I am happy,” Twilight said, nuzzling against Rainbow Dash, who returned the favor with aplomb.
“Good! And y’know what would make me happy?” Spike asked, not waiting for anyone to answer before he answered his own question. “Grabbing some grub! So gee I guess that means you two will be here all by yourselves for a hot second, WINK.”
“C’mon, Spike,” Twilight grumbled and playfully rolled her eyes, Spike chuckling as he departed the booth and headed for the buffet. “I mean, what does he think is gonna happen?” Twilight asked, looking at Rainbow. “That we’re just gonna start making out under the table the second we’re alone together?”
Rainbow blinked, and Twilight smiled cluelessly. Before she knew it, she was making out with Rainbow Dash under the table, pressed against the floor and panting as Rainbow absolutely ravished her with kisses.
Stars, Rainbow Dash was so hot, and if they weren’t in a public place with Twilight’s son nearby, her pants would already have been off. She would just have to settle for Rainbow putting her hands down them, which she did, and Twilight made the most embarrassingly squeal of delight as Rainbow started fondling her.
Twilight’s life detection spell she picked up from Fluttershy pinged her that Spike was headed back to their table though, so she agonizingly tore herself away from Rainbow and climbed back up to the booth, sitting up like a responsible adult next to Rainbow Dash, whose lipstick had been smeared on her lips. Twilight hadn't even noticed she’d been wearing lipstick, but then she looked down and saw it stained all over her chest and WOW did she feel gay about that.
“Sorry, Spike, we were just—”
Twilight paused as she looked at the child standing beside their table, staring daggers directly into Twilight’s eyes.
It was funny to Twilight that being confronted by a child assassin who had tried to take her life and that of her son a while back didn’t even register as like one of the top five most stressful things that had happened to her this week. Though to be fair, part of the reason why is because Twilight knew exactly what to do.
Twilight’s horn lit up and she teleported herself, Rainbow Dash, and the child assassin—who was a dragon in the disguise of an orange pegasus with a ruffled purple mane—outside the restaurant, Twilight reasoning that an assassin dressed in plain clothes wouldn’t want to make an attempt on someone’s life in broad daylight on the side of a busy street, and just in case she did, the inside of the restaurant was too crowded and there were too many ponies around who could be hurt.
Though it did briefly cross her mind that perhaps the ponies of the Crystal Empire deserved to get hurt, but she quickly brushed that thought away, as that wasn’t the kind of person that Twilight Sparkle wanted to be.
“So,” Twilight said sharply, keeping the child subtly constrained with her magic, “what are you doing here?”
“Yeah, sure is bold of you to try and pick a fight with us in the middle of the day right here in the open,” Rainbow hissed, and while she didn’t seem to pick up on the irony of her statement, Twilight sure did. Rainbow was right, this situation made no sense for an assassin, but the child wasn’t saying anything to them, so it was hard to know for sure what—
“That’s cuz she’s not here to hurt anyone, sillies,” a young girl’s voice giggled nearby, and Twilight and Rainbow turned toward the source of it to see a small pegasus ‘filly’—really another dragon in disguise— with a cream colored coat and a sky-blue mane turned up in elaborate curls, her smile so big and wide it was almost farcical.
“And you are?” Twilight asked drolly, though she had an idea of what the girl would answer.
“My name’s Cozy Glow!” the girl said with exuberant cheer, throwing her arms over her head. “It’s SO nice to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle!”
“Cut the crap, Cozy,” Twilight barked. “I already heard about your little plot to kill me and get in Di—er, that man’s good graces.”
“Eh, fine,” Cozy Glow shrugged and pulled out a cigarette, that she promptly put in her mouth and lighted with her fiery breath, taking a few big puffs of it.
“Twilight,” Rainbow pointed to Cozy Glow with a look of bewilderment on her face, “whomst?”
“This is Cozy Glow,” Twilight said, “one of the Dragon Lords, and the person who sent this little assassin after me.” Twilight pulled the assassin up by her scruff for good measure.
“Oh yeah, that’s Scootaloo,” Cozy said with an approving nod. “Good kid. Knows a lot about knives. Anyhoo, are you still mad about a little assassination attempt, Twilight? C’mon, it’s all water under the bridge.”
“Somehow I have a hard time believing that,” Twilight said flatly. She sighed and let go of Scootaloo, the child ducking behind Cozy Glow like a defensive wall, though Cozy just shoved her to the side.
“Things change, Twilight,” Cozy said. “I’m not interested in you anymore, or in Discord for that matter. That greasy old weirdo can huff my shits. I’ve got my eyes set on a different prize now, and I’m here to make peace!”
“I don’t suppose you want to start with an apology,” Twilight leaned against the wall of the restaurant with her arms crossed.
“Nope,” Cozy shrugged and took another puff of her cigarette. “I got nothin’ to apologize for, my conscience is as clean as a whistle!”
Twilight didn’t know what to expect from this Cozy Glow, so she didn’t want to let her guard down, but she honestly didn’t doubt the sincerity in Cozy’s words. Well, maybe ‘sincerity’ was a tad too generous, but Twilight figured that Cozy wasn’t acting in any way that made it seem like she wanted to pick a fight.
“Twilight,” Rainbow groaned, “why are we still talking to this girl?”
Before Twilight had a chance to answer, the door to the restaurant opened up and distracted her, which was just as well because she really had no answer.
Out of the door came Spike, who looked at the two dragons that were about his age and smiled at them.
“Hey, you’re the assassin!” he said pleasantly, pointing to Scootaloo. “How’s the assassinating going?”
“How come you’re not afraid of me?” Scootaloo asked, sounding halfway irritated and halfway confused and disappointed.
“Dunno, guess I’ve just seen scarier at this point,” Spike shrugged. “You’re just a kid, like me.”
“See, this guy gets it!” Cozy Glow said happily, putting an arm around Spike, who nodded in chuffed approval.
“Cozy, get away from my son,” Twilight growled, glaring daggers at Cozy who, to her credit, backed off immediately.
“Okay, give us one sec,” Rainbow chimed in, before grabbing Spike and Twilight and dragging them away for a huddle. “Alright, Twi. What’s going on?”
“Yeah, who are those two?” Spike asked. “Friends of yours?”
“I…” Twilight hummed. “I’m not sure. I’ve never met this Cozy Glow in my life, but honestly? I believe her claim that she wants to make peace. I feel like if she wanted to pick a fight, she could’ve just done that.”
“I guess,” Rainbow grumbled, “but also like? Assassins? Kinda puts a damper on the whole trust situation, y’know?”
“I do, I do,” Twilight sighed. “Give me one moment.”
Twilight returned to Cozy Glow, taking a moment to speak with her alone, without Rainbow Dash or Spike or even Scootaloo, the two sitting together at an outdoor table in front of the restaurant.
“Cozy Glow,” Twilight said flatly.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Cozy replied, batting her eyelashes.
“Give me a good reason to trust you,” Twilight challenged.
“Okay, if you must know,” Cozy conjured a bag out of thin air and rifled through it for a moment, taking out a letter and handing it to Twilight. “That’s a note from Tirek, from him to you. Like actually from him this time. You don’t have to be in a hurry to read it though, it’s mostly pleasantries.”
“Why do you have this?” Twilight asked cautiously, fingers anxiously tracing the paper in her hands.
“He gave it to me, to give to you,” Cozy chuckled, taking out her cigarette and flicking it onto the ground. “And that’s in the letter to, if you don’t believe me. I know you’ve been away for a long time, Twiggle Sparkle, so maybe you haven’t heard the news that we Dragon Lords are very slowly starting to put our differences aside.
“And it’s all thanks to you.”
“Me?” Twilight balked, unsure of how to feel about such… praise? Was it even praise? It almost felt like condemnation.
“Mhm,” Cozy nodded. “Look, the long and short of it is, I wanna take over the world, and I stand a much better chance of doing that with your help than by being on your bad side.”
“What makes you think I’m going to help you take over the world?” Twilight asked drolly. This kid sure didn’t lack for confidence, if nothing else.
“Well, you’re not going to on purpose, obviously,” Cozy Glow scoffed. “But if I want power for myself, I gotta go where the power already is, and it’s looking to be with you. So! I wanna be friends.”
Twilight had some pretty obvious misgivings. She couldn’t trust Cozy Glow as far as she could throw her, and yet she also believed now beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cozy wasn’t a threat to her or her family, which was all Twilight honestly cared about. She couldn’t realistically devote too much brain energy to worrying about a child’s attempt at world conquest.
So y’know what?
“Okay, Cozy,” Twilight held out her hand, Cozy gleefully shaking it with an almost infectious level of enthusiasm. “Let’s be friends.”
Pinkie asked as she and her sister bounced down the road inside the Crystal Empire, though Pinkie was mostly the one bouncing, Maud was just walking, but for Maud that was kinda like bouncing. Maud wasn’t much of a bouncer, unless she was hired by a bar to keep scallywags out, which she would be pretty good at! She’d be good at anything she put her mind to honestly, cuz Maud was amazing! Uhhh where were we? Oh right!
“How are you enjoying the Crystal Empire?” Pinkie asked.
“I’m not,” Maud replied flatly, which did kinda take the wind outta Pinkie’s sails a little bit, but not too much cuz honestly she couldn’t have agreed more.
“Yeah me neither,” Pinkie sighed and hung her arms down limply in front of her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she really hated it here, especially after hearing about the whole underground prison thing. “I really wish I was anywhere else right now.”
“Everywhere else is the same,” Maud shrugged. “It’s all the same wood, just different coats of paint. You can’t escape the bigotry that seeps into every pore in Equestria, no matter where you go. Equestria is just like that.”
“Oh yeah, I guess you’re right,” Pinkie said bleakly, feeling herself deflating the more she thought about it. She hated that, but she couldn’t exactly argue with it. There was no safe haven in Equestria free from bigotry, because for a thousand years Equestria had been built with intention on the back of that bigotry. “So what do we do? How can we make things okay?”
Maud took a deep breath, and then she sighed.
“I have no idea.”
“Ah,” Pinkie croaked. Not the answer she was hoping for, admittedly.
“Maybe I’m being too grim,” Maud pondered.
“No, I think you’re right,” Pinkie groaned and plomped onto a nearby bench on the side of the road, squishing her fists into her cheeks.
“I am right,” Maud said and sat down next to Pinkie, “but I don’t need to be such a downer about it. I think there’s a line between accepting reality and giving into hopelessness, and I’m still trying to find where it is.”
“I know what you mean!” Pinkie groaned furiously, digging her nails into her face and throwing her head back. “It sucks! It’s really hard to have hope sometimes when the reality of the situation is so—so—so SHITTY!”
“And we have it easy,” Maud said. “We’re ponies. Things seem hopeless to us, but we’re not having to carry this burden directly on our backs, and it’s important to keep that perspective.”
“Yup,” Pinkie sighed and it felt like her spirit was practically leaving her body. “So what do?”
“We do what we can,” Maud looked over at Pinkie and affected a tiny smile, but despite its size it totally reinvigorated Pinkie Pie! “There sure are a lot of ways to help people, and the world needs all the help it can get. So whatever you can do that can help? You do that.”
“Yeah, that sounds good to me, I can do that,” Pinkie said confidently, pumping her fists.
And she knew what she could do to help right now, or at least the next time she saw Rarity.
There was no more time for messing around. As soon as she got ahold of Rarity, she was gonna get this party started, and they were gonna talk to Gladmane.
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.”
Trixie was sitting in front of some inn or whatever, in her cursed freaking pony form, sitting across a table from Pinkie Pie, who didn’t look too happy to be there.
And like, Trixie got it. If someone had tried to murder her, Trixie wouldn’t have exactly been hyped to hang out with them. Which made it kinda awkward that Trixie didn’t want to apologize. Or rather, she didn’t feel like she had anything to apologize for.
Cuz yeah, she wasn’t gonna try and kill Pinkie again, but at the point in Trixie’s life where it had happened, it made perfect sense to her. Pinkie Pie was an enemy, and when you fight an enemy, you fight to kill. There was nothing to apologize for.
But that wasn’t exactly gonna get her into her new fr—er, uh, um… she wasn’t going to… well Trixie had her reasons for wanting to smooth things over with Pinkie Pie, and we’ll just leave it at that.
Pfft. ‘Friendship’. Smelly.
“So,” Trixie cleared her throat and put her elbow on the table, glancing toward Pinkie Pie but not entirely looking at her, “I guess I should probably apologize, huh?”
“I mean,” Pinkie groaned and looked at Trixie like she was the biggest idiot in the world, which Trixie would’ve taken umbrage with if it weren’t true, “you’re off to a great start. Most good apologies begin with a begrudging admission of reluctance to be honest, real galaxy brain strats.”
“Yes, well,” Trixie cleared her throat again. “I wanna make things right between you and me. For Maud, for Twilight and Fluttershy, and even just for my own sake.”
“Well an apology would be a good place to start,” Pinkie griped.
Trixie paused. She took a deep breath.
“Would you even forgive me if I apologized?” Trixie asked sharply, her words lashing at Pinkie like a whip.
“Dunno,” Pinkie replied, her words ice cold and her glare piercing Trixie’s heart like a dagger. “But that’s not what matters. An apology isn’t about begging for forgiveness, it’s about owning up to your own mistakes, and being honest about how you screwed up.”
Trixie took a deep breath and grit her teeth, grinding them together until they hurt. She wanted to get back in Pinkie’s good graces; she didn’t wanna have to worry and fret and etcetera over being friends with Pinkie’s friends and having Pinkie hate her.
“Well, here’s how it is,” Trixie put her arm on the table and looked Pinkie dead in the just above the shoulder so as not to make direct eye contact area. “I did what I felt I had to. You were my enemy, and I fought you like I would fight any enemy, and if I could redo what happened, I wouldn’t have changed anything because at the time, what I did made sense to me.
“But…” Trixie sighed and hung her head. “That’s not the kind of person I want to be anymore. I wanna put the old me behind me, maybe even… I dunno, make friends. So I apologize to you, Pinkie Pie. Despite my motives at the time, the way I treated you was cruel, and I’m sorry for that.
“That said, if you can’t accept my apology, I get it. I’m not gonna grind an axe with you either way, I promise.”
“Wow, that was a decent apology,” Pinkie hummed, nodding contemplatively, “but no, I don’t forgive you.”
Trixie couldn’t even say she was surprised, but Pinkie’s words still hurt like an ice pick to the spine.
“Maybe all the others trust you and are fine with you,” Pinkie hissed, “and honestly I believe you when you say you don’t wanna be the kinda person that’s gonna make trouble for us and stuff like that, but all I can see when I look at you is the person who tried to kill me and my friends.
“I don’t wanna make space in my life for that person, regardless of what my friends think.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Trixie said, struggling to get the words out and a polite smile onto her face.
“Cool,” Pinkie shrugged and hopped off her chair. “Bye.”
And as Pinkie bounced away and basically completely out of Trixie’s life, while Trixie did feel hurt by it, she mostly felt relieved. The exact thing that Trixie was afraid of happened just like how she was worried it would, and honestly? Wasn’t so bad.
She was just glad she didn’t have that hanging over her head anymore.
Sweetie Belle could hardly keep still as she followed her sister and Applejack into the Crystal Mountains, Rarity promising to let Sweetie and Apple Bloom in on a big secret. How could Sweetie not be excited? It was a BIG SECRET! And Rarity was trusting Sweetie Belle with it! Sweetie swore if Apple Bloom wasn’t there holding her hand, she would’ve been literally bouncing off the walls into space.
“So what d’ya think the big secret is?” Apple Bloom whispered loudly to Sweetie as they trailed behind their sisters.
“Dunno,” Sweetie whispered even louder, “but I hope it’s a super powerful magic sword!”
“You already have a cool sword though!” Apple Bloom said confusedly.
“You can never have enough swords!” Sweetie said matter-of-factly, stating the absolute truth.
“Sweethearts, please,” Rarity laughed softly and rolled her eyes. “I told you not to get your hopes up too high, our little outing here is simply because I want you to meet my friends.”
“Especially Twilight Sparkle, right Rarity?” Sweetie said with a mischievous grin.
“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity chuckled haughtily, “don’t underestimate my love for dear Fluttershy.”
“Okay, but you didn’t spend months and months pining after Fluttershy, now did you?” Sweetie asked teasingly, trying to get a funny flustered reaction out of Rarity.
“Perhaps not,” Rarity said, holding her hand over her heart and running her fingers over that new necklace of hers, “but I love her all the same. She is very special to me, and I can safely say that knowing her has changed my life in an enormous and beautiful way.”
“Wow Rarity,” Apple Bloom chimed in, “that’s kinda gay.”
Sweetie and Apple Bloom giggled at that, but Rarity only responded with a lighthearted chuckle.
“You’re right,” Rarity said with a soft smile, “it’s very gay.”
Wasn’t much longer until Sweetie and her party were standing at the foot of the mountains, a little bit outside the city limits of the Crystal Empire.
Waiting for them were two tall, lanky ponies; a purple unicorn, and a yellow pegasus, and while Sweetie had been all teasing and excitement before, she couldn’t deny that she suddenly felt really nervous about meeting the legendary Twilight Sparkle, who Rarity had spent months gushing about in her letters to home.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Sweetie shouted, rushing over to Twilight and leaving her sister in the dust; the only way to deal with nervousness was to jump in with both feet!
“Sweetie Belle!” Twilight said cheerfully, waving politely before Sweetie threw herself into Twilight and wrapped her arms around the tall pony’s waist. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“You too!” Sweetie said excitedly, and then turned to the pegasus. “And you too, Fluttershy!”
“Yes, hello, thank you,” Fluttershy said bashfully, waving awkwardly.
“Yeah, it’s a pleasure to meet y’all both,” Apple Bloom chimed in, “so anyway where’s that secret at?”
“Yeah! I wanna know the secret!” Sweetie turned away from Twilight and toward Rarity, pumping her fists.
“Wow, these kids sure don’t mess around, huh?” Twilight said flatly, Rarity and Fluttershy both giggling and Applejack just playfully rolling her eyes.
“I respect their honesty,” Fluttershy said, chuckling into her hand.
“Yes, well,” Rarity added, “you know how kids can be.”
“Well I think they got a point,” Applejack shrugged. “Let’s skip the pleasantries and just get to what we came here for.”
“Alright, that’s fine with me,” Twilight nodded, and Sweetie Belle’s stomach erupted into a swarm of butterflies. She was grinning ear to ear, her fists clenched in front of her. Apple Bloom looked just as excited, her eyes shimmering with anticipation.
“I’m ready when you are, dear,” Fluttershy said and gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek.
“Okay,” Twilight kissed Fluttershy back.
“Gaaaay!” Apple Bloom groaned.
“Yes, very,” Fluttershy giggled, and Twilight just laughed and gave her another kiss.
“Let’s do this,” Twilight said firmly.
“Stand back, girls,” Rarity added, her tone cold as iron, but her grip gentle as she pulled Sweetie away from Twilight and Fluttershy, Applejack doing the same with Apple Bloom. What was going on here? Whatever it was, Sweetie couldn’t wait to see it.
Sweetie Belle watched from an ostensibly ‘safe’ distance as Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, squeezed each other’s hands for a sec, and then let them go. Sweetie was confused about what she was supposed to be watching…
And then both girls burst into flame.
Their bodies were ravaged with violet and teal flames, and Sweetie’s eyes widened in confusion in terror as the flames spread even further, covering the air around their bodies. Sweetie looked up at Rarity, who squeezed Sweetie’s hand and smiled softly down at her; there wasn’t any doubt or sadness in her face, so Sweetie trusted that everything was gonna be okay.
She watched as Twilight and Fluttershy’s flames grew even further, until something appeared from out of them; claws. Massive claws that slammed into the ground with enough force to shake the earth, with enormous galaxy-patterned wings flaring out from behind Twilight as the flames subsided, revealing not a unicorn, but an enormous living dragon, with Fluttershy’s transformation completed soon after, the slender yellow serpent rivalling Twilight in size.
Twilight and Fluttershy were dragons. Two massive dragons stood in front of Sweetie Belle, and Rarity and Applejack didn’t even flinch. This was the secret they wanted to share. Sweetie Belle’s breathing became heavy as panic flooded her.
“Hey,” Rarity said softly, gently guiding Sweetie’s gaze to hers instead of at the dragons, “everything’s going to be okay.”
“Th-they’re dragons,” Sweetie blanked on what else to say.
“Yes,” Rarity said casually. “And they’re also my dear friends. Their dragonic blood doesn’t change that at all.”
“Oh,” Sweetie nodded and looked back at the dragons, then looked over to Apple Bloom who looked to be getting this same exact pep talk from Applejack.
“Do you want to say hello?” Rarity asked. “They won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“Uh, gimme one sec?” Sweetie asked, and Rarity nodded.
“Of course,” she said softly.
Sweetie walked away from Rarity and the dragons, glancing over desperately at Apple Bloom and Applejack. Applejack said something to Apple Bloom, and then Bloom headed over to join Sweetie Belle in a little makeshift huddle or whatever.
“So what do we think?” Sweetie asked, her brain a complete mess of anxiety and confusion.
“Applejack says they’re good fellas,” Apple Bloom said and gave a little shrug. “Apples ain’t no liars.”
“What about Granny Smith?” Sweetie asked.
“Apparently, she don’t know any better,” Apple Bloom said. “Least that’s what Applejack says. She said dragons being good actually is a fiercely guarded secret, and not a lot of ponies are let in on it for some reason.”
“Why?” Sweetie asked. That sounded dumb.
“Dunno,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Shit’s just complicated.”
“Ah,” Sweetie Belle sighed and hung her head. She didn’t know what to think.
“Hey,” Apple Bloom squeezed Sweetie’s hand, and Sweetie looked at her with a dour expression on her face, “y’know how the kids back home make fun of us for bein’ trans?”
“I do,” Sweetie grumbled. “It sucks.”
“Sure does!” Apple Bloom chuckled bitterly, a gesture Sweetie was intimately familiar with. “Way I see it, I don’t wanna hold a grudge ‘gainst anypony— anycreature? Anyone? Uh, I don’t wanna hold a grudge ‘gainst folks for stuff that ain’t in their control.”
Huh. Sweetie supposed that made some kinda sense. She looked over at the dragons again, and she saw Rarity talking to them, holding her hand against Twilight’s. Rarity looked so tiny, but the dragons were just smiling and laughing with her, just like any friends would do.
“They are kinda cool, huh?” Sweetie said, clinging to Apple Bloom’s hand for dear life.
“They are!” Apple Bloom nodded. “You wanna go introduce ourselves?”
“Y-yeah,” Sweetie nodded shakily. “Y-you first though.”
“Okay! I’ll take the lead on this one!” Apple Bloom pumped her fist and spoke with a confidence that was like soothing lotion on Sweetie’s frayed nerves, Sweetie following Apple Bloom with their hands still holding each other. “Howdy fellas!”
“Hey!” the purple dragon said enthusiastically, baring a gleaming smile of sharp fangs and raising its hand.
“H-hello,” the yellow dragon said bashfully, lowering its head and taking a step back.
“So everythin’ Celestia’s always told us has been a lie, huh?” Apple Bloom asked, and even Sweetie was aghast at that kind of bluntness, but no one else seemed to be bothered.
“Yup,” Applejack nodded.
“Unfortunately, that’s exactly the case,” the purple dragon added and scratched its cheek.
“Yes,” the yellow dragon said softly.
“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity chimed in, her voice ice cold, “this is why I left the Slayers. What Celestia’s doing is wrong, and I couldn’t get her to see the truth.”
“O-oh,” Sweetie said, and then everything just kinda… slowed down and spun around her.
“Yes, I appreciate your enthusiasm,” the purple dragon chuckled, and she sounded awkward, almost nervous, “but please treat us like you would any pony.”
Sweetie almost couldn’t believe what she was looking at. Apple Bloom, Applejack, and even Rarity— who Sweetie had looked up to for being a stone cold badass who wore a damn dragon fang that she pried outta a dragon’s mouth with her own two hands— standing around talking to these dragons in total comfort, like it just came naturally to ‘em.
It… kinda pissed Sweetie Belle off. That she had been lied to this whole time. How could Sweetie ignore what was right in front of her face? Rarity and Applejack weren’t liars, and Twilight and Fluttershy weren’t anything like the horror stories Sweetie had been told about dragons.
Which, BY THE WAY??? Sweetie Belle was just now realizing that a lot of those horror stories sure did have a recurring theme of ‘listen to adults and do what they tell you, or a boogeydragon will come and eat you for no reason’.
Hey.
What the fuck.
“Wow, I’m gonna kick Celestia’s ass!” Sweetie Belle shouted to no one in particular.
“I take it you’re coming around then, darling?” Rarity giggled.
“I’m so mad!” Sweetie said, kicking at the ground. “I’m SO MAD! What the hell! How could she just— RRRRRAAAARRRGGH!”
Sweetie Belle sat down and crossed her arms, puffing up her cheeks. She was so full of mad feelings now and she just didn’t know what to do with them. Rarity took a step toward her, but Twilight stopped her and walked over to Sweetie in her stead.
“Would you feel better,” Twilight said, “if you took a little flight on my back?”
Sweetie looked up and her eyes widened, smiling ear to ear.
“THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!!!” Sweetie cheered, standing up like a shot.
It was a lot to take in. Not just flying above the mountains on Twilight’s back, Rarity holding her steady while Applejack and Apple Bloom did the same with Fluttershy, but all the stuff Rarity said to her.
Especially about their parents.
“So I have to keep this a secret from everyone, huh?” Sweetie said dourly.
“I’m afraid so,” Rarity hummed. “The world is not a kind place, especially to dragons.”
“Okay,” Sweetie muttered. “How come we can’t just show mom and dad how cool Twilight and Fluttershy are?”
“The longer something is entrenched,” Rarity explained, “the harder it is for it to be removed. Keep in mind that when I first learned Twilight was a dragon, I nearly killed her in a fit of rage.”
“Which was very cool of you,” Twilight interjected, making Rarity blush and Sweetie laugh.
“You hush,” Rarity said flatly, Twilight chuckling to herself. “Imagine how our parents would react if they saw us befriending these dragons. You know how stubborn they can be.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Sweetie huffed and crossed her arms. “It’s still annoying though.”
“It is extremely aggravating, yes,” Rarity groaned. “But I need you to promise me you won’t tell a soul about this, especially our parents. And that no matter what they tell you, you hold onto this truth. Dragons are our friends, not our enemies.”
“I promise,” Sweetie said, her hand gently rubbing little circles on Twilight’s back. “No matter what happens, I’ll protect Twilight and Fluttershy.”
“So how did things go with Pinkie Pie?” Maud asked as Trixie returned to the cave at the foot of the Crystal Mountains where Maud had made a temporary home for both of them, Trixie slouching like a zombie with a look of complete dejection on her face.
“Not great,” Trixie shrugged, and flomped onto the makeshift bed on her back, Maud lying down next to her and twirling a strand of Trixie’s hair around her finger, before Trixie transformed back into her true form and felt an enormous weight lifted off her shoulders.
“She didn’t forgive you?” Maud said, climbing up onto Trixie’s belly, Trixie putting her arms around the tiny pony and holding her close to the chest.
“Nah,” Trixie muttered. “It’s okay though, I get it. I just don’t like it.”
“Fair,” Maud hummed. She turned over onto her stomach and crawled up to Trixie’s muzzle, giving her a kiss on the snout, which made Trixie’s cheeks turn bright pink. “I still like you though.”
“Thanks,” Trixie said sheepishly, “I needed that.”
“So what do you want to do now?” Maud asked, Trixie fidgeting a little to let Maud know she wanted to sit up, the pony jumping off of Trixie’s belly and onto the ground as Trixie sat up onto her haunches.
“I feel like I should still apologize to the rest of Twilight’s friends,” Trixie said contemplatively, tapping her chin before sighing abruptly and aggravatedly, “but I don’t want to. Just one apology made me feel like… bleugh.”
“You shouldn’t put it off too much,” Maud said, patting Trixie’s leg. “It’ll only get harder the longer you wait.”
“I know,” Trixie said. “But honestly like, the main thing is that I wanna focus on something else.”
“Are you talking about the prison?” Maud asked, and Trixie let out a disgusted, bitter laugh at the thought of what she had seen.
“Yeah, I’m talking about the prison,” Trixie said coldly. “Me and Twilight are gonna get together and we’re gonna figure something out.”
“Just so you know,” Maud climbed up Trixie’s leg, Trixie scooping her up into her claw to look Maud in the eye, “if you’re planning on committing any crimes, count me in. Prison break, rioting, assassination, whatever it is. I’m in your corner. I can be your rock, if you will.”
“Hehe, thank you,” Trixie giggled and gave Maud a little smooch on the head. “You’re sweet, I like you. But don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“My lips are sealed,” Maud smiled, and Trixie wrapped her up in a tight hug, Maud hugging her back for a moment before saying “cough, choke,” out loud to let Trixie know she was hugging maybe a bit too hard, and so she put Maud back on the ground.
“Okay,” Trixie took in a deep breath. She was serious now. She was really gonna do something about this prison situation, even though she hadn't figured out quite what yet. When did this happen? When did Trixie become this person who stuck her neck out for others like this?
Maybe she always was, who knows.
All Trixie knew was that tomorrow, she had a very important date with Twilight Sparkle.
290. Sometimes Murder is Not the Solution (and sometimes it is)
Twilight Sparkle sat in her natural form on the high cliffs near the peak of the Crystal Mountains; sitting beside her was a tiny cream-colored dragon with a curly sky blue mane. Her name was Cozy Glow, and she was a Dragon Lord. Twilight wanted to get to know her, to learn if she could trust her or not.
To be honest, she really wanted to trust her.
“So,” Twilight cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Yeeees?” Cozy Glow responded sweetly, clasping her claws together and batting her eyes at Twilight.
“You really bailed on Discord, huh?” Twilight said, keeping her eyes straight ahead of her instead of on Cozy.
“Gawd, yes,” Cozy Glow made a retching noise, “have you met Discord? I actually think taking over the entire rest of the planet would be easier than wrenching power out of that egomaniac’s claws.”
“Ha! That’s fair!” Twilight laughed.
“I’m lucky I got out when I did!” Cozy balked, throwing her claws into the air. “Look at the rest of you nerds! You and Trixie and that Fluttershy, and everyone else? Geez, last thing I’d want is to end up as some creepy portrait on the wall of an old man’s loser cave.”
“Ew, he keeps portraits of us?” Twilight groaned. That was an intensely unpleasant thought.
“Sure does,” Cozy nodded. “Dude’s got an axe to grind with each and every one of you like woah. You’re lucky he’s too lazy and easily distracted to come after you. And well, heh, he’s afraid of Celestia too.”
“Is he?” Twilight grinned. First time she was thankful for Celestia. “That’s interesting.”
Twilight looked down at Cozy and pondered. Twilight… wasn’t super good with kids. She wasn’t sure whether she should cut Cozy slack due to her age, or come down hard on her, and it made even more knots in Twilight’s brain when she considered how she wasn’t Cozy’s parent or guardian or—
Wait.
“Cozy, where are your parents?”
“Where are yours?” Cozy responded instantly, the bitterness in her voice telling Twilight everything she needed to know.
“We should stick together,” Twilight said. “You and me, and Fluttershy and Trixie, and that girl Scootaloo. We’re all in this together.”
“You say that, but your tongue’s been on some boots lately, Twi,” Cozy cackled to herself. “How can you even stand this place?!” Cozy flailed her arms toward the city below. “Especially after learning about that prison?! How can you just sit here and not want to burn the whole thing down to the ground?!”
“I…”
Honestly, if only Cozy knew how badly Twilight wanted to do exactly that. To burn down every building here and every pony inside. But she knew that so many of these ponies were led astray by propaganda and lies, and that if given the truth and the opportunity to make better decisions, they would take them…
…right?
Honestly, Twilight didn’t know. Rarity tried to stab her to death, and while Twilight had forgiven her, she knew that Rarity required several monumentally life-changing experiences to shake her out of her bigoted mindset, and waiting for each and every individual racist to have those experiences was… not realistic.
Especially when fire was so much more efficient.
It was hard not to want to resort to fire, especially since a dead bigot caused less harm than a living one, but Twilight also couldn’t entirely bring herself to be okay with that much bloodshed, even if the victims did quote-unquote ‘deserve it’.
Twilight just kinda got lost sometimes wondering what else she could do.
“How did you know about the prison?” Twilight asked.
“Tirek told me,” Cozy replied. “Told everyone, or at least Chrysalis and Sombra too, and boy those two were pissed.”
“Yeah, they would be, wouldn’t they?” how sad was it that Twilight’s first thought was that if Sombra burned down the Empire, then Twilight wouldn’t have to feel guilty about it? “What are they going to do now?”
“Dunno,” Cozy shrugged unhelpfully. “I bailed before they came to any kind of agreement. Sombra wants to just come in and take over, Chrysalis wants to slow roll it and use subterfuge and stuff, and Tirek was just trying to make sure they didn’t kill each other.”
“I see,” Twilight hummed, looking out over the clear skies and pondering. The likelihood of anything substantial happening wasn’t super high; Chrysalis and Sombra hated each other, and their feuding would likely stall any potential plans to a complete standstill, just like they had for the last several decades.
Still though, Twilight had a bad feeling. It would be prudent to deal with this prison situation on her own terms, before the Dragon Lords even had a chance to become involved.
Which just left one more Dragon Lord to deal with.
“So why’d you come all this way then?” Twilight asked, looking at Cozy and giving her Twilight’s undivided attention.
“Like I said, I wanna be friends with you,” Cozy beamed a shamelessly insincere smile.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight said flatly.
“What, it’s the truth,” Cozy shrugged. “Tirek and Chrysalis both have your interests at heart more than anything else, and while Sombra doesn’t want to admit it, he recognizes how much value you have as a result of having two whole Dragon Lords in your pocket, so he’s planning around you too.
“Not to mention your favor with the good ol’ Elder Dragon himself. That’s a lot of power! I want to be on the right side of it! And I know all you want is to make fwiends with everybody, so I figure if I act friendly to you and, more importantly, don’t murder anyone, I can get what I want! Simple as.”
“See, it’s the murder thing that I’m a little iffy on,” Twilight grumbled. “How can I trust you to not murder? Which is a sentence that just came out of my mouth.”
“Cuz,” Cozy pointed a claw at Twilight, “if I’m trying to cozy up to you, pun intended, I need to not murder. So me doing a murder would get me further from what I want, instead of closer. You see what I’m saying?”
“I do,” Twilight sighed; there was a certain logic to Cozy’s words that was frighteningly sensible. “I do. Alright then, I guess that’s that.”
“You want me to help you break into that prison?” Cozy asked, beaming from ear to ear.
“I don’t,” Twilight said flatly. “For a number of reasons, but honestly the chief among them is this: if things go south with the prison break, with the other Dragon Lords, with Celestia, if you really want to get in my good graces, you can protect my son.”
“Ugh, that’s boring,” Cozy pouted and crossed her arms, and Twilight looked over at her with a bemused frown and an arched eyebrow. “Uh, I mean, you can count on me!”
Cozy gave a salute and a big grin and honestly, Twilight hated to admit it but… she believed her.
Rarity stretched her arms over her head and yawned, Applejack putting an arm around her as the two sat in the Crystal Empire’s inn lobby. It had been a long day, between everything that had happened with Rarity’s parents, and then with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, Rarity had cause to be exhausted.
And while a part of her wanted to head directly for bed, she wanted to wait up for the rest of the girls. Spike was having a sleepover with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom at Rarity’s parents’ home—which Rarity was slightly concerned about, but Spike and Twilight both insisted, and if a worrywart like Twilight was fine with it, then how could Rarity complain?
Anyhow, the point of the matter was that it was one of the few times when the six of them would actually have a chance to be all together by themselves, and Rarity couldn’t miss that.
Rarity jolted upright with a beaming smile as she heard the front door to the inn opening, as her smile only grew wider as she laid eyes on dear Fluttershy walking in, Rarity jumping to her hooves and running to Fluttershy to put her arms around the sweetheart, Fluttershy letting out a yelp of surprise before she returned the embrace.
“How are you, my dearest?” Rarity asked, brushing hair away from Fluttershy’s beautiful face.
“I feel fantastic,” Fluttershy smiled, and Rarity felt like she could just kiss Fluttershy then and there, and then realized she could in fact just do that, so she leaned in to do just that! Fluttershy was a very graceful kisser, and feeling her lips against Rarity’s made Rarity feel like she was falling in love with her all over again.
“Howdy, Fluttershy!” Applejack tipped her hat to Fluttershy as she and Rarity returned to the lobby seating area.
“It’s great to see you, Applejack,” Fluttershy did a little curtsy with the hem of her dress, and Rarity swore her heart was going to literally burst with affection.
“It’s good to see me too, right?!” Pinkie Pie asked, suddenly appearing from under one of the couch’s cushions and scaring Rarity half to death, the unicorn jumping behind Fluttershy with a scream.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity chastised, throwing her fists down in front of her indignantly as Pinkie chuckled to herself. “You’ll give a mare a heart attack!”
“You gotta admit, Rarity,” Applejack snickered from behind Rarity, who glowered at her in bemusement, “it was a little funny.”
Rarity turned up her nose, then looked over to Fluttershy who had a bashful smile on her face and pinched her fingers together, keeping a tiny amount of space between them.
“Fine,” Rarity sighed, walking over to Pinkie’s couch and settling down next to the tiny mare, ruffling her mane as Pinkie giggled and snorted, “a little funny.”
“Awww, did I miss a classic Pinkie Pie Prank?” Rainbow Dash bemoaned as she walked down the stairs into the lobby, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I’m afraid so,” Fluttershy responded as she sat on Pinkie’s other side, wrapping her wing around the cuddly pink earth pony. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see them though.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie beamed. “Who knows, I may even be planning another one RIGHT NOW!”
There was a moment of silence as all five women looked around them, waiting for something to happen.
“I’m not,” Pinkie giggled, “but I could’ve been!”
“Well I’ll still stay on my hooves, just in case,” Rainbow chuckled and pounded Pinkie’s fist with her own. “Hey, Rarity.”
“Darling,” Rarity said seductively, crossing one leg over the other and delighting in the way Rainbow turned her gaze away and rubbed the back of her neck. Rainbow was nothing if not predictable, and to be quite honest Rarity appreciated that about her a lot.
“How was your day, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked sweetly.
“It was pretty wild,” Rainbow said, putting a ponderous finger up to her lips, and as soon as Rarity started noticing Rainbow’s lips, she couldn’t help but think about kissing them. “Me and Twi ran into that assassin kid from the Neighagra Falls Inn? I dunno, I kinda wanna talk to her tomorrow, if I can. She’s just a kid, y’know? I wanna help her out if I can, like, I dunno, do kid stuff. Becoming an assassin at that age must be rough. I dunno, maybe I’m overthinking.”
“Probably a tad,” Rarity chimed in, “but I think your heart is in the right place. Obviously you need to respect the child’s boundaries, but if you can find some common ground, that would be marvelous.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “Thanks, Rarity.”
“You can thank me by kissing me, you useless lesbian,” Rarity stood up and put her arms around Rainbow’s waist, Rainbow standing on her tippy hooves and kissing Rarity on the lips, the unicorn moaning in delight as she melted into Rainbow’s embrace, the pegasus wrapping Rarity up with her wings as she was wont to do.
“Rarity,” Rainbow said breathlessly.
“Yes darling?” Rarity replied, holding Rainbow as close to her body as she was able.
“I’m gay,” Rainbow said.
“Damn, same,” Rarity replied, before laying another kiss onto her beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, radiant, magnificent pegasus girlfriend.
“Hey now,” Applejack stood up and cleared her throat, “don’t leave me outta all this gay stuff.”
Rainbow turned around to face Applejack, getting a smack against her ass from Rarity for her trouble that made the pegasus yelp and look back at Rarity with a bashful smile, Rarity winking in reply.
“Howdy,” Applejack said simply, and Rainbow rushed over to her and jumped into the earth mare’s waiting arms, Applejack carrying Rainbow bridal style as Rainbow put her arms around Applejack and laid into her with kiss after kiss.
Fluttershy cooed as she watched them, and she grabbed Pinkie and held her tightly, burying her snout in Pinkie’s fluffy mane, Pinkie giggling like a smitten schoolfilly all the while.
It was a delightful scene on either side, though Rarity was starting to miss a certain purple someone… and as if on cue, Rarity heard the doors to the inn open up, and there she was.
“Hi, Ra—” Twilight said as Rarity teleported over to her, but Rarity couldn’t wait to shut her up with a passionate kiss, pinning her against the wall and making her weak at the knees as Twilight trembled in Rarity’s embrace. “W-wow. You miss me today?”
“A tad,” Rarity said and kissed Twilight again, before leading her by the hand back to the rest of the girls.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy was the first to respond, smiling brightly and waving at Twilight, who waved politely back.
“It’s good to see you, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a tender smile. “And of course, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.”
“Yeayeayeayeayea whatever!” Pinkie crawled off of Fluttershy and onto the arm of the couch before pushing Fluttershy. “Get to the smooching already, sheesh! What’re you waiting for!”
“Well, um, if you insist,” Fluttershy said, trying to pretend as if she wasn’t dying to give Twilight a kiss. And after all, who wouldn’t be?
Rarity pushed Twilight forward, and the two dragons locked lips, sharing a sweet and passionate kiss. Rarity had to muster up all of her willpower to not just start grabbing them right there and doing stuff to them in the middle of the lobby, but she wanted the two to have their moment.
Twilight and Fluttershy held each other’s hands and looked each other in the eyes silently for a moment, and Rarity wondered what they were thinking about, but then immediately got distracted by both women’s beauty. Stars, they were both so hot.
“Okay, my turn!” Rainbow clamored, and quite frankly Rarity admired her restraint for waiting so long.
Rainbow zipped to the couch on the other side of Twilight, before barreling into Twilight herself, knocking the dragon into Applejack’s waiting arms, where the large mare then comfortingly wrapped herself around a purring Twilight, Applejack kissing her head while Rainbow came in and kissed her face, for some absolutely stellar tag team action.
With all of the formalities and smooching behind them, the girls sat down and got settled, somehow all six of them managing to fit onto a single couch.
“I hope everyone is comfortable,” Rarity laughed as she was squished in between Twilight and Fluttershy.
“I am!” Rainbow helpfully chimed in, perched on the back of the couch behind Applejack, who happened to have a Pinkie Pie sitting on her shoulder.
“Me too!” Pinkie added, and Rarity rolled her eyes playfully.
“You know, it’s funny…” Rarity hummed and laughed softly to herself, unsure if she could really say what she was thinking, or if she was too embarrassed.
“What’s up, Rarity?” Twilight asked, putting a hand on Rarity’s thigh.
“Yeah, what’s on your mind, dear?” Fluttershy added, holding Rarity’s hand.
It was almost enough to bring a tear to Rarity’s eye the way she felt so overwhelmed with love. It wasn’t that long ago that she spent weeks in bed because she was too depressed to leave, and now while she still had her fair share of struggles, she all these beautiful, amazing, wonderful women to share the burdens and the celebrations with.
“When I was speaking to my family earlier,” Rarity said, trying not to get choked up, “I think I sort of mentioned in passing, maybe as a joke, the idea of the six of us finding work together. My dad joked that he didn’t realize the six of us were living together, but it made me think…
“I wouldn’t mind that.”
“What, us all living together?” Twilight asked, and Rarity nodded but she was far too embarrassed to look at Twilight.
“Where would we live?” Rainbow laughed. “We’re on the road all the time!”
“That’s not—” Rarity bit her lip. It was sort of too late to back out now, so she figured she may as well state what was on her mind. “It’s not so much the living together thing, as much as it’s… I like the idea, of the six of us, all being… a bit of a unit, you know? I’m already dating half the girls in this group, Twilight’s dating everyone but Pinkie Pie, I know a few of you have crushes you’re too anxious to admit to.”
Fluttershy darted her eyes around the room nervously, Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck, Applejack covered her eyes with her hat, Twilight chuckled awkwardly, and Pinkie Pie twirled a strand of hair around her finger and whistled off-key.
“Anyway,” Rarity said sheepishly, “what do you all think? Obviously it’s completely fine if none of you want to—”
“I wanna date Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow said and raised her hand. “And Fluttershy!”
“Me too!” Pinkie added, raising both hands. “Wait, I am Pinkie Pie, and I’m already dating Fluttershy. But you know what I mean!”
“I mean,” Applejack chuckled, “at some point one of us was bound to kiss another one of us cuz they just forgot who’s dating who.”
“That already happened,” Fluttershy giggled into her hand, Twilight turning bright red.
“Honestly,” Twilight said, “I would love that. A big family is something I’ve always wanted, and being part of a big family with a bunch of hot girls I can kiss? Sign me up!”
“So—is this—are we—” Fluttershy stammered.
“I’m alright with it,” Applejack shrugged.
“OH THANK GOD,” Fluttershy breathed a massive sigh of relief, “cuz I’ve had the biggest crush on Applejack lately and I had no clue how to tell her!”
“Wha—you had a crush on me?!” Applejack balked. “I have a crush on you!”
“WHAT?!” Fluttershy squealed, and Rarity tried to keep her laughter to herself, but they were just too precious.
“WHY ARE YOU TWO NOT KISSING ALREADY!?” Pinkie screamed and flailed her arms, Rainbow kicking Applejack until she got off the couch, Fluttershy nervously stepping up to her.
The two stood there in silence for a moment, before both of them bashfully turned away from each other.
“It’s okay,” Applejack said softly, brushing back Fluttershy’s hair and looking her in the eye, and Rarity couldn’t believe how smooth she was being. “We’ll have plenty of time later.”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy bit her lip, “I like that.”
“TWILIGHT KISS ME!” Pinkie screamed as she catapulted herself into Twilight’s arms, Twilight laughing like an adorable goof as she happily obliged Pinkie’s request, kissing her softly on her lips, on her snout, and on her cheeks, Pinkie snorting affectionately.
“Okay, I’m definitely gonna kiss some of you nerds,” Rainbow cleared her throat and tried to work herself up, before shielding herself behind her wings, “eventually.”
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said seductively as she perched on the back of the couch right alongside Rainbow, spreading her wing out to cover the pegasus. “You nervous?”
“W—damn, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, her whole entire face bright red, “what got into you all of a sudden?”
“I dunno,” Fluttershy giggled, covering her face with her hair, “I just thought it’d be fun, and it WAS!”
“I’m gonna kiss Rainbow Dash or die trying!” Pinkie declared, jumping up onto the back of the couch, Fluttershy helping her up to reach Rainbow Dash, who she then pushed onto the ground behind the couch and jumped down after, Rainbow’s laughter and Pinkie’s smooches still being perfectly audible.
“Dang, Rarity,” Applejack chuckled and put her arm around Rarity, who hummed contentedly and leaned into her dear friend’s embrace, a slight giggle coming from her lips as she watched Fluttershy disappear behind the couch, “I think you may be a genius.”
“I think I just might be,” Rarity said softly, tracing her finger under Applejack’s chin before the taller mare lowered herself down into smooching range. “Now,” Rarity turned her lustful eye toward Twilight Sparkle, “help me tag team our dear friend Twilight Sparkle, won’t you?”
“Oh, I’d be just delighted to,” Applejack grinned and Twilight looked over at the two with an innocently quizzical look.
It was going to be a long night, but it was going to be so, SO worth it.
