~ X ~

The Snowy Devil

I walked into the boutique with the mistake of thinking it was a lair. It looked like one. Around me was darkness with windows covered in dense black fabric. In the darkness there had been candles. Scattered all around. Sometimes patches of light shone from above.

Where it would still be dimmed on reaching the ground floor.

"You wouldn't happen to have more than a few fangs, would you?" I'd been staring around the void till my gaze settled on the one in front. The snow of her coat, bright in the night, exuding a heavenly, frozen glow. "Coffin for a bed? Dislike of water touched by some old guy?"

Rarity slowed ahead to a turn of her head. Side of her face revealed with a raised lip and shown fang. It rolled on her bottom lip, the eye above, half-lidded, an expression not quite of wanting... but teasing me. "Careful hon. Discover my secret and I'll have to devour that neck of yours."

There'd been a twitch in me. That this massive mare could turn around in a prowl and, in a second, jump me. Crashing me to the floor with her immense weight of plushness atop me. How she could have her way with my neck and I would be powerless to stop it.

It felt... strange. I was a little fearful too. Even as Rarity turned around, even if she would never do it—this mare could pounce on me, drag a limp body to her bed, all from his leg. Couldn't say what I was in my previous life. But going into a dark, secluded room with a girl... I couldn't see myself being scared like this.

"Darling, you ought to lower those shoulders of yours." I snapped from my thoughts as the mare is within the frame of the hallway. Gaps of space are at her sides as the boutique seems to be crafted for her size. "Wouldn't be a right of mine to assume the state of that soft head of yours. Rest assured. My pastime doesn't revolve around preying on helpless stallions."

I chuckled at that. And she did the same. Although Rarity's had a larger boom to it.

"And what would you do to a stallion that's not so helpless?"

"Certainly would be an interesting find." Rarity turned to the side with a muzzle raised high. "Tell me! Have you been able to find one yet?"

I couldn't help but smirk. "No... but maybe you can help me make one."

And her smirk was bigger than mine. "Too bad such a creature is not made." She turned and strode to the hallway. "Merely the image of one is embellished onto an individual. I will endure the risk of presupposing that is the reason for you being here?"

Had she sniffed that from the start? Or was that the next leap of logic after working out I wasn't another stallion? Rarity didn't come to me straight with this. Rather keeping a step ahead, revealing what she knew, little by little, to the greatest advantage.

What you'd expect from a Canterlot fuckin' mare.

My thoughts surprised me with a curse. Been a while since... I was looser. Seemed like I was tighter now. In all regards. Twilight caused me to feel tighter as well. In a way where I could still be myself... but she allowed the room to be something more on top of it.

"No matter! We can discuss all of this in a few moments." Her hooves whipped onto the floor from afar, deeper into the hall, as I stayed in the central area. To my right was a little set-up: two fancy chairs and a table between them. "Allow yourself to unwind. Facing my accusations earlier couldn't be easy on any stallion. I'll soon return with tea!"

I made no reply while looking around the place. Something gnawed at my heart to find an advantage here. Not because the mare didn't mean well or that I was against trusting her—but if she ever tried anything... I was screwed.

Rainbow loved this mare. They still kept friends after... whatever happened. Yet what does that tell me about her? Not as evil or crazy as normal Canterlot mares but, at the same time, enough of a problem to sever a genuine pony like Dash.

I walked over to the chair and saw behind a couch more like a bed. It was a mattress with oversized cushions behind it. It deems to be just vast enough to encompass the lady's form. Although seeing as how something so large could be devoured beneath her mass with ease... was as intimidating as it was a turn on.

I jumped onto the chair to feel like a colt in a movie-theatre seat. Sitting at its back, I could barely reach the armrests as my sides. I could nearly lay down, curled into myself, and fall to sleep if I wanted to. Everything was large here.

Have you realized your plan yet?

That voice spoke inside my head. Jarring the black mist around and whistling to a deafening frequency. It took a few shakes of the head to clear it. Pinched eyes to settle to... whatever the heck this was.

P-Plan? Course I got one—somewhat. Baller outfit. Train ride to Canterlot. Stroll in and...

My voice fell apart before I even heard the rebuttal.

Is that it? Hope a mere shirt and jacket will hold back the law and mares? Magic and wings ineffective to swagger? Or the most powerful being—dismantled, to the curses and swears of a no one?

I shook my head harder to clear the static in my brain.

"Darling? Your tea." The fluttering of eyes had revealed the massive face before me. With a twitch, I sprung to life, holding out my hooves to accept the plate and cup. Rarity smiled and turned around. "I went with a unique blend widely beloved by stallion clients. It should be perfect for those who are sensitive to everything."

I chuckled and went for a sip. It burned the tongue with a splash of vanilla. It was sweet and comforting—the kinds of things I was supposed to reject. "Mmhmm. Not... bad. In fact—"

"It's excellent?"

"Sure! Why not? Compliments are always worth the free drink." I blew on it a bit to let the steaming cup settle. Turning, I placed the tray on the armrest. "And I'm probably going to need a whole lot more for this next favour. I'm told you're the best."

Rarity settled into her seat and the wood groaned from her weight. Not in a way that was unpleasant or strained. Rather the sound in taking all that there was to her. She sat with her forelegs down and a cup floating at her side. "And whoever leaked this secret."

"Rainbow Dash," I replied to Rarity's wince. "She had a lot of good to say about you."

"Hmm." Rarity bunched her lips and looked aside. "No doubt the cyan pest spoke of other matters."

"Even those she spoke good on. Or well on. One of those two is right." I scratched the side of my mane. "How'd you figure she said anything else?"

"Canterlot raises a different breed of pony you see." Okay. There was that touch of posh I'd been waiting for. "It's elementary. You heard about me from Rainbow—and yet she's not here herself?"

I shrugged. "Maybe something came up?"

"So important that she would allow a stallion to come here alone—and that you would believe it?" Rarity gave a toss to her mane. "Unlikely. She must have told. Sending a poor stallion instead of having the guts to—"

"Hey hey! Hold on now." I tapped my chest as though that would do anything to someone with one twice my size. "Get it. Most stallions need to be drunk to handle stuff like doing the laundry or crossing the road by themselves. Coddled like a twelve-year-old given their every wish."

Then I shook my head and swiped my forelegs in the air. "But I'm not like that. I've already ripped my dick from a mare's mouth, outdrank and verbally fought with a princess, got into a hoof fight and knocked out a mare bouncer—and stirred a crowd of mares and stallions into leaving us alone."

Rarity fell back into her seat with forelegs draped on the armrests. Her form consumed the seat. Assuming a position of power just in reclining. Everything in my head screamed danger. Yet she'd given me no cause to yell just yet.

"Trust me," she licked at the words on their way out, "I know."

I took a sip from my drink. "Do you now?"

"One does not survive higher society without knowing the words of the street—to phrase it rather simply." Rarity leaned back enough to rest more on her rump, the globes of white, squishing, as her legs swung close to conceal herself. "Once I deduced you were no normal stallion, I placed you with the newcomer in town."

I set the drink back down. "But if you knew all that... then why the dig at Rainbow?"

"Like it or not," Rarity cleared her throat, "she still risked you into my care." Her head turned away. "I'm sure you can tell I am unlike other mares? There's a lot I could do right now... that you wouldn't be able to fight back against."

"Says you."

"You may have crude words for stallions and a strong hoof for mares." Rarity's eyes shone a little brighter in the darkness. "But do you seriously think either will be effective on me?"

I looked down my barrel. "Guess not. Like a fly in a spiderweb right now."

"At least the spider is lovely?"

"The most attractive predator around."

"Mhm." Rarity smirked. The genuine kind. Not done for effect or a part of a play. It could have been the first honest reaction I'd seen of her. "Not quite the empty mouth that I thought you were. Very well. I'll strive to treat you more like an equal."

I coughed as my eyes shot up. "You mean you already don't?"

"Pish-posh, darling." Rarity swatted the allegation down with a hoof. "I treat ponies at the level they deserve to be treated. I do not endure the hissy-fit of stallions as you do with the arrogance of mares. Would you say any of that is unfair?"

"Guess... not." I really couldn't say shit about any of this. There was that tickle of something not being right. Yet I couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong. "But Rainbow deserves to be treated better than some stallion. She really only had good things to say about you. Even with the bad stuff."

Rarity looked down at the terrific fluff of her chest. Once more the flush of genuine came through. I was dealing with two mares right now. The lady and the mare. One of them toyed with me. The other... maybe there could be something more with.

"I am not a good mare and I will not try to be one." Rarity's muzzle flashed back up with an aggressive narrowing of the eyes. "I enjoyed my... fun with that girl. She's unlike me. Free and easy to read."

I chuckled and looked at my arm. "Certainly wears her feelings on her sleeve." I glanced back at her. "Isn't that what you'd want, though? Opposites attract and all that? Doubt I could see you being with a clone of yourself."

"And just who do you see me with?"

I clenched my eye. "Maybe I misspoke. Don't know you well enough to say for sure. On the surface, you seem like a mare looking for a challenge." I sighed. "Though I think an easy to read girl is something that would do you better underneath it all."

Rarity hummed. "Rainbow was fun to tease... but a little too easy with it."

"All the different reactions you could have gotten out of her must have been worth it, though."

"Maybe..." Rarity sipped the final bout from her drink and set it on the table. She crossed her forelegs over her chest and laid back. "And you? How is your love-life in all of this? Average stallion with a list of mares for different purposes?"

I raised my shoulders. "Is that how it is around here? Grab whoever you want for a certain need? One blows better and the other jerks like no other?"

'Course a stallion would go for the sexual first." Rarity huffed and, at once, I felt like I had said the wrong thing. Is that what this was? No longer expressing myself, but rather, saying whatever would net the best response from her? Had this been the next level of being a stallion in this world? "Sometimes there is a bit of a more romantic angle to it. Hollow romance. The wanting of a nice and shy mare to take care of you. The next day's desire of wanting a more rocker-born personality."

I was blown back as my vision fizzled all around. Ink pulsated at the corners of my vision as it, itself, narrowed. Rarity looked at me quizzically as my foreleg raised before my muzzle. There it transformed. Fuzz to skin. Hoof to hand. Fingers at the end that flexed in place.

"Fuuucck," I exhaled the word. "No fucking better than a fantasy back home. Go online and date whatever digital brod struck your fancy." My head lowered. "This world is no better than some damn dating sim—come to life."

"Darling?" that voice floated from beyond my world. "Him? You're certain about him? Swears and curses and can barely read!"

"He got into this school!" That... v-voice. Sweet and kind and all the amount of adorable surrounding it. Could... could that be? "I've known him ever since we were young! So what if now..."

“He only got in because you helped him with the entrance exam!”

"Doesn't that mean, then, he's had terrible teachers until now?"

"He doesn't belong with us!"

"What does that even mean?"

"Us sophisticated sort! He doesn't belong to our kind! Much less you falling for him!"

What. The. Fuck?

I squeezed my eyes shut as sounds whipped inside my head. Screeches of time rewinding and fast-forwarding simultaneously. I exited the abyss with a gasp and breathed my first breath into the ordinary world.

Rarity, still, sat on the other end of the table.

"Hmm? Have you returned?"

Returned? What the fuck was this bitch about? What the fuck even happened to me?

"What... was I..."

"You spaced out for a few moments and started to break into hyperventilation." Rarity pushed her lips to the side and looked away as though the subject was too boring to even focus on. Was that disinterest meant to be insulting or for my sake? "It was rumoured you suffered an attack on first coming here. Needed Twilight to stroke your back out from it."

Those damn eyes glanced back. "Funny that such a strong stallion is brought to be weak like all the rest." She giggled into a large hoof. "Not of any fault of your own, though. Though maybe not other stallion's faults for being the way they are either."

She returned to looking away. "How interesting."

Couldn't let that shit slide. "Difference is one of them is actively doing something about it."

Her lips pursed. "Truth."

Now it felt like I lost any kind of power to her—not that I had much to begin with. The thing that killed me was how I couldn't figure her out. Sitting over there, both here and not, sometimes interested and sometimes not. She could be genuine and then return to playing a role.

Was she good or was she bad? New friend or foe in the making? Rainbow and Spike were easy to figure out. Knew what they wanted. As I did with the average pony of this town. But Rarity? She was the first legitimate character I'd met here.

Just what was it she was after? No to fuck some other stallion.

But what?

"Pretty sure I've laid all my cards before you now." I turned and cracked my neck, back in the game. "I'm a stallion that's all talk with little action to back it up. You wanted to know something about my love-life? Twilight Sparkle seems like the only girl to mean something to me here."

Rarity's eyes fluttered as her muzzle turned back. "You mean you only have interest in one? But have you not already have her read?"

"Got her beat in a few areas and she has me just the same in others." I gave a shrug to the matter. "She's a bit above me and others: below. Closest to having an equal here so far. There's... something about her I can't knock."

Rarity smiled. Started to grin actually. Now I had her full attention.

“Now isn't that special? Mares will have many stallions and stallions will have many mares." Rarity's head lightly shook to the flounce of her mane. "But notions of one and one aren't popular in this world. You're weaker the fewer you have. Why have one when you can have them all?"

Was that how it was? Was there anything wrong with being able to date around? Maybe it wasn't much of a problem and I was the only one throwing a fuss about it.

And yet.

"It's because... you get something more from it." I coughed with a shake of the head. "Or, at least, I do." I clasped my hooves together and dropped into thought. Choosing to be honest and speak the truth—no matter how this girl could use it against me. "Didn't feel much for Twilight at the start. Well, that's not totally the case."

"Oh?"

"Thought she was adorable and pretty for as far as being a horse goes." Memories of waking up to yellow lips on my dick and a blur of purple chasing me over a hill. As did the feeling of coat brushing into mine. Warmer and feminine. "The idea of her... the idea of any of these girls... being into me..."

Rarity nodded with a raise of her muzzle.

"I mean I would have taken it! What poor bastard wouldn't? Y'know.” My head bounced around with the thought. "I mean who wouldn't? Lovely girls in every capacity possible." I sighed. "Just even one of them being into you is enough."

Rarity leaned forward from her seat with an extended hoof. "Funny you should speak of exclusivity like it's common." She nearly spat. "Indeed the rarest gem is far more common than that. All of this, of course, is no more than a game—both sides included."

I shook my head and shrugged as a discharge of rejection flooded me. "But what good is a numbers game? It's cool if others float like that—but not me." I chuckled as my forehooves pressed together and I leaned into them. "It's funny. Never really given much thought to crap like this. Least... never had the company that allowed me to."

"Not even your lonesome?"

"Sometimes you need a spark before thought."

"Touche." Rarity was leaning forward as well. To the point it was unnatural. Weight on her forelegs as the mass of her body draped forward. "But do go on. You have me curious now. Why the rejection of a herd now?"

"Because what the hell would it mean? Twilight and Fluttershy and whoever the hell else? Having them being into me... feels like a dream coming true." I spoke next without breath to the grain on vocal cords. "But if they would then show that same love to other stallions. That we were all ranked the same. Then... then what does that interest in me even mean?"

Rarity blinked as her head broke out from a trance. "You mean to say there is thought deeper than that? You have a mare before you, willing to tend in every regard, without any effort more. Isn't that enough?"

What the hell was I preaching here? Had no idea of it—but the sensitive beats of the heart led me in the right direction. Wasn't like me to trust shit like to. Or to speak on matters... gay like this. Yet. I followed through.

"Maybe that's enough for some stallions," I offered as my muzzle dropped in defeat. Why did I feel defeated in admitting my feelings? Why did I feel shame and like a loser in so doing? Wrong wiring of the way things were meant to be? "Wake up in a house paid for. Cooked food on a table and mare to blow you underneath it. Get everything you need in it."

"But not you?"

I exhaled the contents of my chest in that. "But none of that means anything. Everything is just handed down for the sake of being a stallion. Not because you're anything more than that." I choked on nothing. "What makes me different from any other guy on the street? More or less than him? Even different?"

Rarity wrinkled her snout. "I'm sure mares see stallions as different. Ones they prefer and ones they don't." Her hoof supported her chin as it dipped in thought. "Though that margin isn't great, I suppose. No mare would outright say one is special over the other. Most of them default to loving any that are needing them."

I nodded and whipped myself back in the chair. Looking up to the hollow spire to the few windows lined inside of it. Where a faint amount of light came in. You couldn't see outside. However it allowed you to know, at least, that it was there. "That's why I fought Twilight at first. Or any mare for that matter. I wasn't interested in their lust."

I could hear the wrinkling of a cushion from afar.

"I was... i-interested... in their... lo... love."

My heart cracked. There were dull sounds beyond my ears. Everything in me froze before the pieces shattered into bits. I was dead after a confession like that. Laughter roared around me. Not from the mare but from beyond. In another world, another place, the same me, the same words, to outrageous laughter.

"Love?"

I blinked and looked at the mare across from me.

Rarity consumed her seat and rested her great elbow on the rest. Chin on a hoof and head looking at the floor. She was blinking like a search engine was happening behind her eyes. That. Or she was fighting off some kind of feeling.

"Love? Love." Rarity inhaled slowly and exhaled sharply. Her muzzle turned with an eye shutting. "Such a thing... does not mean that which you've assigned to it. Such a quality is to give it to as many as you can."

The cup sat on the armrest still. I leaned a hoof over it, tracing the rim, developing a balance for not tipping it over. "It means various things back home too. You can love a lot and too many. But in my case. You find someone... and they looked at you diffidently from everyone else... and it's only you they want to be with."

I exhaled and went on. "I didn't let Twilight jump me at first. Tried every way I could to get rid of her." My hoof stopped rolling on the cup and pressed into the top of it. "But then she saved my ass at the fountain. Then we played some games at the bar. It was through all of that. Doing stuff together and talking that... at little times... I felt like I earned something from her... as she did me."

Rarity took this in the best she could. Keeping that expression of confusion bordering on the world being understood in a click. Part of her didn't want to buy it. Like a third force was a part of the game. But she went along with all of this the best she could.

"Did you come to love Twilight Sparkle in the end?"

"Loved her near the start of it all," I threw out the truth. "Hence why I wanted her to think otherwise the whole time. Not as good on the surface as I appear." I pushed forward on the chair as my hooves hit the floor. "But it was a tough time. And speaking of which. We keep this any longer..."

"And your friends will worry." Rarity lowered to the ground to the clink of glasses from her entry steps. She came to my side, towering, a smile, coy, on the side of her muzzle. "Wouldn't want dear Rainbow to worry now. You require an outfit to further sell your illusion. I am the mare to help you."

I smirked in returned as I stood in her shadow—tall. "Just no dresses or skirts. Trench coat and vest and clothing that's tighter than tight." I should have been worried and scared and developing into anxiety. Yet, at this moment, I felt relaxed in expressing the truth. "Need something that will sell an otherworldly image of me."

Rarity smirked as her hoof came behind my back, a push to get me started forward, as she began behind me. "Walk. Need to see you in action. Have some designs for stallions that... have been collecting dust before you came along."

I stepped forward.

"No no! Walk not! Strut! Even footing and a subtle sway of the hips! Demonstrate power—or what little of it you have!"

For the moment, in needing to become more, I trusted in Rarity.

Author's Note

Hey hey! Back at it again with another chapter.

To the interested reader: we have three arcs left. There is the Rarity arc we are on now. Next is the Canterlot arc, in which, the crux of the story rests. After that is the epilogue before a close.

Hope you all have been enjoying it so far even though it's a slower burn.

Be well to do well.

Later gang.

~ Yr. Pal, B ~