The Remarkable Rarity

Soon after arriving in Manehattan, I found myself driving to the house of Cadance Amore and my second cousin once removed, Blueblood. House may not have been the appropriate title for the sprawling Celestian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay, all red brick with symmetrical, repeating windows, all open to allow the sea breeze to caress the inside. It seemed to be newly painted, the white paint accents around the doors and windows showing no signs of wear. The lawn was massive, racing a quarter mile down to the sea. It was dotted with bright marble statues, sun dials, and winding stone paths surrounded by hedges.In the front, newly planted flower beds and rose bushes lined the drive up to the mansion. Ivy traced its way along the garden walls and shined as Celestia’s sun reflected off the dark green leaves.

I was not well acquainted with my cousin Blueblood, only seeing him occasionally at the odd family gathering. I knew Blueblood attracted the fancy of not a small amount of mares. He had the sort of voice that drew them in like Diamond Dogs to a jewelry store. His glistening white coat and golden blonde hair that perfectly accentuated the well-muscled build typical to Canterlotian unicorns.

In college, I had never attempted to become familiar with Cadance despite her boisterous nature. She was the sort of mare who dominated a room and was not easy to ignore. She always stood with a rather pugnacious stance that challenged anyone to oppose her. She had been one of the most powerful ends in Equestria during her time at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. My peers thought I was insane for not taking up her constant offers of a seat in the special royal box. However after graduating, she seemed to just drift this way and that, like a captainless ship, buffeted by the waves of the ocean and the whims of Luna’s moon. I heard the couple had spent a year in Prance on whim, and was assured over the phone by Blueblood that East Egg was their final stop. I was not sure if he believed his own words but that didn’t seem to matter at the time.

After the war, I had visited Cadance and Blueblood’s house in Canterlot. They did not live in the palace but instead chose to build an equally opulent spire nearby. It caused me no small amount of discomfort at the thought that someone in my graduating class could afford such luxurious lifestyle. This was a mare who never had to subsist on hayburger or beg second hand textbooks from older students.

My carriage seemed grossly out of place on her property. Indeed, if they had not been expecting my presence, I do not doubt that I would have been met with an unctuously polite servant who insisted that his master was not home at the moment.

When I arrived, Cadance was standing on the front porch, cutting an imposing figure, wings spread wide. Her mane and tail were flowed with the wind, making her look like some lost hero of Pegasopolis. She was wearing a white dress that was a tad too tight around her figure, as if her muscles were trying to escape its confines. Though she no longer possessed the lean, well-defined muscles of her school days, she still could give any earth pony a run for her money. She had an air of arrogance and pride that only a lifetime of privilege and easy success could give. A mare who was unaccustomed to hearing or acknowledging the word “no.”

We exchanged pleasantries and talked for a few minutes about our days at CSGU. Cadance always enjoyed reminiscing about her old glory days which she could never quite seem to regain, no matter how much money she through at the problem.

“So, how do you like the place. I bought it from Demane, the oil mare.” Cadance gestured at her front lawn with a sweep of a large wing. Before I could answer she said, “Let’s go inside. I have something of a surprise for you,” grabbing me with the other wing and politely shoving me inside.

We trotted down a vaulted hallway framed by delicate, graceful Prench windows that let in the sunny day. The sheer white curtains were all moving gently in the breeze and as the light glittered off the many white surfaces, the whole mansion seemed alive and dynamic. The white walls stood in sharp contrast to the rich dark red rug leading into a sitting room occupied by two stallions.

Ornately framed photos of past hoofball games and newspaper clippings lined the walls. The two stallions were lying on a long white couch, suit collars rippling in the wind as if they might turn into wings and allow them to fly away at any moment. A thunderous boom echoed in the room as Cadance shut the main window of the room, causing the motion to cease.

One of the stallions was a stranger to me. He was lying with his entire body stretched out so that his hooves nearly touch Blueblood’s half of the couch. He lay completely motionless with his head slightly arched upwards as if he was looking at something supremely interesting on the ceiling. I was reminded of the marble statues in the royal palace, unfeeling eyes staring off into the distance. If his saw us through the corner of his eye he made no motion to acknowledge our entrance. I stood awkwardly for a moment, almost wanting apologize and leave for intruding on his presence.

Blueblood reached out for my hoof which I quickly if not smoothly obliged, stumbling further into the room. He said in his low masculine voice that forced the listener to lean in closely in order to hear him, “Oh, I am positively ecstatic to see you again Twilight. This is my dear friend Fancy Pants.”

Fancy Pants nodded his head and opened his lips before seeming to think better of it and instead return to his previous position, looking at some unknown spot above my head.

Blueblood in the meantime pulled me down so I was now sitting on the couch. I did my very best to not come any close to accidentally brushing against Mr. Pants’s hooves or tail. One of Bluebloods forehooves laced around my own while the other came to rest on my chest as if to simultaneously push me away. “So how have things been, cousin?” he asked in that tenorous, thrilling voice that mares found difficult to forget. His face was lovely and covered in that kind of cheer that well bred stallions tend to wear as a mask for tense trouble.

“Well, on my way here I stopped in Canterlot. Your parents send their love.”

“Oh do they miss me?” he asked hopefully.

“The whole city is positively in mourning. All the curtains in the castle have been replaced with black ones and there’s a persistent wail every night when Celestia lowers the sun.”

“Oh how marvelous. Cadance, let’s go back tomorrow morning!” he clopped his hooves together forcing me to draw slightly closer. The sun shining through the window reflected off his pearlescent fur, shimmering like a daydream. I could feel Fancy Pants’s eyes momentarily forget their target and slip down briefly. “You haven’t seen our little foal yet,” she added suddenly changing topics.

“I’d like to.”

“Oh he is absolutely the cutest little darling and he’s already three years old. His crib is right in— ”

“So, what are you doing, Twilight.” interrupted Cadance who had been pacing restlessly about the room. She stopped to rest a hoof on my shoulder.

“I’m a bond mare.”

“With who?”

When I answered she gave a derisive snort. “Never heard of them.”

“You will if you stay in Manehattan.” I answered curtly.

“Oh I will.” she glared at Blueblood for an almost imperceptible second, then looked back at me, “And nopony is going to stop me.”

Mister Pants suddenly decided to join the conversation, “I’m so stiff. I’ve been lying on that sofa for ages.”

“Well don’t blame me. I’ve been trying to get you to come with me into the city all afternoon,” Blueblood lazily pointed the tip of a hoof at him.

“Well I can’t just go galloping off willy nilly. I’m in training.”

“Pff, what sort of training could you need? How you ever accomplish anything is beyond me,” Cadance added taking a cocktail from the serving a tray that was just brought in and downing the generous glass in one gulp.

“You live in West Egg, right?” Fancy Pants remarked with contempt at the fact. “ You must know Rarity.”

Before I could reply that she indeed was my neighbor, Blueblood’s glimmering eyes seemed to widen for a second and his entire shining demeanor lit up even brighter and rose up from the couch demanding, “Rarity? What Rarity?”

Another servant came in to announce that dinner was ready and Cadance grabbed me with her wing, moving me out of the room like a chess piece.

“In two weeks it’ll be the Summer Sun Celebration,” Blueblood looked at me radianty. “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.”

“We ought to plan something.” yawned Fancy Pants. Sitting down into his chair with the same level of enthusiasm as a student sitting down for a lecture after an entire night spent awake in the library reading.

“What a great idea. What should we plan?” he turned to me pitifully “What do ponies plan?”

He suddenly seemed to notice something on his pastern and looked at it with utter rapt attention.

“Look!” he pointed at her leg, white fur glimmering in the remaining light. “Cadance, you did that to. I know you didn’t mean to but you still did it. That’s what I get for marrying a big hulking —”

“I despise the word hulking,” objected Cadance.

“Hulking,” insisted Blueblood though he at least refrained from sticking out his tongue.

From there Blueblood and Fancy Pants made inane, dispassionate chatter. They seemed to accept Cadance and I being there but made no effort to entertain or be entertained. They knew the dinner and evening would soon be over and were in no rush to put it away, unlike dinners back home which were hurried along in disappointed anticipation of the nervous present.

“Civilization is going to pieces.” Cadance proclaimed forcefully “Have you read The Rise of the Earth and Pegasus Ponies?”

“No,” I answered somewhat shocked by her intense tone.

“Well, you should. The idea is that if we don’t pay attention the earth ponies and pegasi will overtake the unicorn race. It’s all scientifically proven.”

“Yes, Cadance has been getting quite erudite,” said Blueblood, face and mane perfectly catching the light of the setting sun, almost seeming to shine with some inner glow. “She reads these long books and with all sorts of —”

“Well these books are all quite scientific. It’s up to us, the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.”

“You’re acting pessimistic. You ought to visit Vanhoover or maybe Las Pegasu —” began Fancy Pants before Cadance interrupted her by banging both hooves on the table and standing up.

“The idea is that we’re unicorns. I am, and you and you and —” Cadance paused briefly before gesturing at Blueblood who winked at me. “And we’re the reason why culture exists, science, art and all that.” Her wings twitched in agitation.

A telephone rang, and a butler walked onto the back porch where we were dining. He whispered something in Cadance’s ear and Cadance followed him back into the house. The last vestiges of light from the sunset seemed to fade away, casting Blueblood’s glowing face in a slight shadow as he rose to follow them.

Fancy Pants and I shared a glance. There was a beat of awkward silence that I attempted to fill before he shushed me before I felt him cast a listening spell. I quirked an eyebrow as it settled over my ears, allowing me to hear the beginning altercation inside.

“What are you—”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

“But what —”

“Don’t you know? Cadance has some stallion in Manehattan.”

“What?” I asked although not entirely incredulously.

“Yes, I thought everypony already knew,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “Although he should have the decency to not telephone the house at dinnertime.”

Cadance and Blueblood returned before Fancy Pants could tune his spell well enough to hear the conversation. Fancy Pants quickly canceled his spell and pointedly looked outward into the garden. Blueblood attempted to fruitlessly restart the conversation so that we would all forget what had just transpired.

“Oh I saw the roses outside are blooming. We should go pick some after dinner, Cadance.” Blueblood said nonchalantly.

The telephone rang again and Blueblood shook his head at Cadance. The telephone continued to ring for an agonizingly long period before some servant answered it. I looked down at my plate and focused very intently on moving the daisies from one side of my plate to the other. No butler came outside again to fetch Cadance.

After dinner Cadance and Fancy Pants went into the library, leaving a wide canyon of space between them as they entered the house. Blueblood took me along a winding path through the garden and back to the front porch. He sat down with his lovely head between his hooves. I could sense roiling emotions possessed her and attempted to make some nonstimulating conversation. A servant came outside with candles that bathed us in a soft light.

“So how is your foal doing?”

“Oh Twilight, we don’t know each other very well,” he said abruptly. “Even though we’re cousins, you didn’t come to my wedding,” he added with a vague tinge of accusation. The candle flickered, alternately lighting his angelic face or casting it in shadow.

“I wasn’t back from the war.” I said, thinking about clashing against armies of literal, not figurative, darkness.

“That’s true I suppose. I’m just so unhappy, Twilight. Lately I’ve just been cynical about everything.”

Well, he certainly had some reason to be. I tried to shift the subject back to lighter subjects.

“So I guess your little colt has started talking and...doing whatever it is little colts do.”

“Yes, yes. Say, Twilight, did I ever tell you the story of when he was born?”

“No”

“Well, Cadance disappeared as soon as she woke from the ether to Celestia knows where. I asked the nurse whether it was a filly or a colt. The nurse informed me he was a colt and I immediately burst out crying. I said, ‘Oh I hope he’ll be a fool. That’s the best thing a colt can be in this world, a handsome little fool,’” Blueblood leaned closer to the table between us, the motion causing the candle’s flame to dance. I only noticed then that he was wearing an emerald green tie clip.

“The world’s all feathered up. That’s what the experts say.” he laughed with scorn and a bit of Cadance appeared in his eyes. “I’ve been everywhere and done everything. Celestia, I’m sophisticated!”

As soon as his voice stopped, I felt the whole conversation, if not the whole evening had been some ploy to extract a certain emotion from me. I looked at his face that was just out of the radius of the soft glow of candlelight on the table between us as he leaned back into his chair. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was an outsider and that he and Cadance were part of some secret society I couldn’t possibly gain membership into.

“Let’s go see what those two are up to shall, we?” Blueblood stated and pulled me up with his magic.

When we walked into the library, Fancy Pants and Cadance were sitting on opposite ends of the room. Fancy Pants was reading aloud from the newspaper.

“Well, I suppose I should go to sleep soon.” Fancy said with a yawn, stretching his lean muscles. “I do have a game early tomorrow morning. Wake me at eight.”

“If you’ll get up.” Blueblood teased.

I suddenly recognized his face. I had seen him playing croquet in many sporting magazines all across Equestria. As he left the room, Blueblood saw my eyes follow his figure.

“You know I think you should get married. Maybe I’ll hold more parties throughout the summer and sort of push you two together. You know, lock you up in the pantry or send you out into the bay on one of Cadance’s boats—”

Cadance interrupted Blueblood, “He’s a nice stallion but I don’t think his family should let him run around the country unchaperoned like that,” turning to me she asked, “so what did you two talk about?”

“The struggle of the unicorn races of course, dear,” Blueblood considerately responded for me.

“Did Blueblood give you a little heart to heart, Twilight? Well, just remember don’t believe everything you hear.”

I politely said that I heard nothing and excused myself from their home, complaining of tiredness. Before I left the doorway, Blueblood called, “Wait! I forgot to ask you something. I heard you were engaged to a girl back in Whinnyapolis. I heard it from 3 other ponies so it must be true”

“Groundless accusations. I’m far too poor.” Of course I knew what they were referring to, but I wasn’t even remotely engaged. One of the reasons why I decided to come to Manehattan was that I did not intend to be rumored into marriage.

As I drove back home I breathed in the night. The earth was alive, and I could see the flutter of bats across the sky as frogs began to bellow their songs. When I pulled up to my home I could see a figure at the end of the dock by my neighbor’s mansion. Looking closer I could see that it was Rarity herself. I suppressed the urge to call out to my new neighbor. There was an intimate stillness about her that I dared not break.

She stood on the dock in a flowing pink dress, looking forlornly across the vast empty bay. She reached out with a hoof as if trying to grasp at Luna’s stars far off on the horizon. When I followed the line of her leg, I saw that it was actually pointing at a single green light that must have been at the end of another dock far away.