Saturday Night

Chapter Twenty-Four – Rarity

She burned with jealousy, but held her resentment in. Seeing Frostburn for the first time in what felt like ages was great. Seeing him completely ignore her… not so much.

Rarity did concede that fact that Rainbow Dash had just tackled him to the ground was part of that, but it really didn't ease her jealousy.

"Rainbow, stop!" Fluttershy said, at the scene unfolding before her.

"Get off of him!" Twilight yelled. The two pried the cyan pegasus off Frostburn.

"Sorry." Rainbow said, her cheeks burning red. It was the first time she had spoken in hours. During the entire search, Rainbow had remained distant. She ignored every one of Rarity's attempts to apologize (and there had been many). By the time Pinkie Pie had come around, Rarity was starving for interaction. Even the incomprehensible chatter that Pinkie had happily screamed at the two had been enough.

When Rarity finally realized that Pinkie was telling them the search was over, Dash had snapped back to reality. The cyan pegasus had then bolted through the Empire to make it to the palace. Rarity and Pinkie just barely caught up with her before she knocked open the parlor doors.

Rarity expected – and sort of hoped—that Dash's outburst would have repelled Frostburn. There didn't seem to be much a chance of that. He actually was smiling as Shining Armor helped him stand up.

"Hi Rainbow." He managed, the wind still knocked out of him. He hadn't even noticed Rarity yet. She resisted the urge to scream.

Rainbow calmed down enough that Twilight and Fluttershy felt it was safe enough to stop restraining her. That's when Rainbow Dash started shouting.

"How could you just leave me like that?" the cyan pegasus screamed at him. "Uh… I mean us." She added meekly after.

Frostburn blinked. "I… I couldn't stand hurting you. What I did…" He turned away. "You were probably safer without me there."

Rainbow looked like she was about to shout again and then paused, as if she was just now considering that fact. There was silence. Then a rather tired looking orange mare walked into the room.

"What the hay is going on in here?" Applejack said in between yawns. It took her only a moment to digest the situation. "Glad to see y'all made it here." She said. However, Rarity couldn't help but notice that AJ had said that more or less to Pinkie and Rainbow. Not even Applejack had noticed her yet. It was infuriating. The white unicorn was about to say something, when Pinkie Pie spoke.

"Applejack! You won't believe what just happened! The second we get here, Rainbow Dash kicks open the door and—"

"I think that's enough, Pinkie." Rainbow Dash interjected, looking embarrassed over her own outburst.

It was actually Shining Armor who spoke next. "It's late." He said. "Everypony should really get some sleep."

As if she were helping to prove his point, Pinkie gave an over the top yawn. Everypony in the room suddenly looked much more tired, and Rarity felt it.

"Okay, we can go to sleep." Dash said. She looked at Frostburn. "But I'm not done with you."

Shining began shuffling everypony out of the parlor and towards the door Applejack had come out of, leaving Rarity behind.

Fabulous. Ignored again. She thought. Rarity waited a moment to see if any of her friends would suddenly remember that she had been left out in the parlor. Apparently none did. The white unicorn began walking in the direction her friends had gone off. As she pushed open the door into a hallway, she saw Frostburn standing forlornly outside of a door. He sighed, still not noticing Rarity. The white mare took a single step forward, and her hoof managed to find the loudest, squeakiest board into the entire palace.

She cringed slightly, and Frostburn's head snapped in her direction, all guards up. His face softened when he saw her. "Hey Rarity." He whispered.

"Hello, Frostburn." She barely breathed. Rarity had wanted a moment alone with Frostburn for so long, and now that she had it, she wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Sorry I uh, didn't really talk to you back there." Frostburn said.

"I forgive you darling, after all, you had just been tackled to the ground." Rarity said. "Besides, we can talk now… if you want."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Frostburn asked, giving a smile that made Rarity feel like melting.

"H-how do you like the Crystal Empire so far?" She asked. Small talk, Rarity? She chided herself. You can do better than that.

"It's, uh… very bad actually." He said. "I've been kicking myself for leaving everypony behind, and now with the whole prophecy thing..."

"Oh, you've heard of that now." She said. Rarity realized that a lot of conflicting forces were haunting Frostburn right now. He probably didn't need another one. But she also didn't want to stop talking to him.

"I can't believe that it's really about me. And all the stuff it says I'll do… I don't want to destroy Equestria." He said.

"You won't." Rarity said. "I know you won't. You're too good of a pony to do that." He smiled.

"Thanks Rarity. I needed that." Rarity blushed. Frostburn looked around, embarrassed. He toiled with the fabric of his cloak for a bit. Then Rarity realized which cloak it was.

"Darling, you… you kept the cloak I gave you?" She asked, touched.

"Yeah." Frostburn smiled his blue cheeks now red. "It's been the one good thing about this whole catastrophe. That and you girls." He added. "I can't thank you all enough for being my friends."

Rarity's heart sank a little, as she noted he used the word friend when she wanted to be so much more. "It's nothing." She said. "I mean, it's something, to you. Obviously. But really we do this kind of thing all the time. Being friends I mean. Not that what we've done for you isn't special, darling. We don't go all around the world for just anypony. Not that it's too much trouble, really" The white mare stumbled over her sentences, but moved closer to him, just a little.

"Well, it means a lot to me." He said. "Friendship's not something I've had a lot of experience with."

"I assure you darling," Rarity said. "It's magical."

He took a step closer to her. They were a snouts distance between each other now. "You'll have to teach me about it." He said, his light breathing caressing her. "I'm not exactly the best with magic." The blue stallion said, referring to his unique powers.

"You just need somepony to help you control it." Rarity said leaning in. Frostburn's entire demeanor changed when she said that. His body completely stiffened, and he backed away.

"Is something wrong, Frostburn?" She asked, worried she had ruined a perfect moment.

"I… I'm sorry Rarity. I just need some time to think." He hastily opened his bedroom door and rushed in. The door shut quickly behind him, leaving Rarity alone in the hallway.

She didn't know whether to be stunned or offended. Was it something I said? She asked herself walking away. It couldn't have been. Going over what she had said in her head, Rarity assured herself that it was not what had killed mood. At least not for her. Reviewing the conversation in her head again, the white unicorn could only determine that something on Frostburn's end had cause the shift.

But what could it have been? Rarity thought, but nothing really made sense. Except one excuse that was very possible, just she did not want to believe it.

Frostburn was hiding something from her. From all of them. Rarity became determined to find out what it was.

Turning down the hall, Rarity saw an open door that led to an unclaimed bedroom. She closed the door and lied down on the soft bed, asleep in moments.

Across the hall, a cyan pegasus who had been listening through the walls also went to bed. Only sleep did not come as quickly for the brooding Rainbow Dash. Next Chapter: The Phantom Menace Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes