Lady of the Night

Canterlot had always been somewhat of a tourist attraction. After all, it housed the majority of nobility, aristocracy, and royalty that resided within Equestria's borders, and was therefor the ideal place for both visiting and trading. The fashion and sophistication was world renowned, and it was a safe haven for both the elitists and the motivated. Due to it's being the capital cities in one of the largest empires the world over, the inner part of the city was well guarded, and therefor had one of the lowest crime rates for a metropolis of its caliber.

In a way, everybody who was anybody wanted to reside there, and to that Rarity was no exception. While wearing her almost garish clothing, she strode in through the gates. A silken white dress with far too many frills clung to her body, showing off the shapely form she had spent years working on. In a way, it was utter perfection. The cut of the dress didn't stop at the neckline, like most dresses of the current day, but instead cut down low enough to leave little to the imagination. There was a soft smile on her lips as she walked past the nearest guard.

"Why hello, Darling! I hope you have a fabulous day!"

The flustered look and lack of a question as for reason for entry may it clearly evident that he was in no state to think of his intended post. Poor guard might get reprimanded for it, but given the number of people entering the city, he probably wouldn't be noticed. Rarity smirked at that. All the other soldiers stood a little more firmly at attention when she passed by. After all, she was gorgeous, wasn't she?

Now, where to? she wondered. There were many places to start looking, and to her great chagrin, none of them were among the social elite. Well, might as well start in the...lower...part of town.

It had been nearly three weeks since Sweetie Belle had disappeared, and there was really no way of finding her without stooping to the level of her kidnappers. Rarity let out a sigh at the thought of what inevitably had to come next. All those filthy men, with their grubby little hands would certainly dampen her mood.

The things I do for you, dearest Sweetie Belle.

Not three weeks earlier, Rarity had been having a simply marvelous day. Saphire Shore, the one and only, had shown up in her shop to look for some decent apparel. To think, it was in a way the best day that the fashion minded diva had ever had. Everything seemed to be looking up in her life, and there was no thinking otherwise. She even went out to celebrate by buying herself the nicest dinner available in a small town such as her own. All things were clear until she got home.

"Sweetie Belle! I'm home, darling."

There was a wide grin donning the young lady's face as she slowly closed the door behind her. It was utterly dark inside, and that was unusual. It was only ten in the evening, a half hour after Sweetie's bed time. Had she actually gone to bed on time for once? How odd.

Rarity slowly walked up towards her sister's room. Making sure to be gentle on the door so as not to wake her sibling, the aspiring fashionista opened to view her sister's softly sleeping form. Only, there was no form sleeping in the bed. Letting out a sigh, Rarity lit the nearby kerosene lamp. Oh, Sweetie was going to have hell to pay if she was still out this late! What appeared as soon as she turned on the light was something rather drastic.

Rarity's purse dropped to the ground as she saw the wreckage that was once her sister's room. The room looked as if someone had fired a battery of cannons into it, everything scattered all over the floor. The drapes had been literally torn right of the ringpoles, and Sweetie's bed was flipped onto its side, covers slashed to tattered rags.

The young lady's hand quickly rose to her mouth at the sight before her, barely suppressing a scream at what she saw. Rushing forward, she started tearing at the wreckage that was once Sweetie's room. Well, if a hurricane could somehow find its way inside of the Boutique, Rarity had to at least grudgingly admit that it couldn't do as much of a successful job f utterly destroying its target. After a few minutes of rummaging, it became clear that the Sweetie was no longer there.

Deciding to take stock of what all had happened, Rarity perused her surroundings. Everything was demolished, left only for the rats to infest. This would've been a difficult job under different circumstances, that was for sure. Taking everything in with a forcefull calm eye, Rarity assessed what had transpired. Obviously, this had happened while she was at the restaurant, that was a given. But the fact that everything was left in utter chaos clearly displayed some sort of struggle. That means that her younger sister had not, in fact, been asleep when they came for her.

Digging through the garbage, Rarity looked for any signs of blood. It didn't take long to find some, but not enough for anyone to be seriously injured. Yes, something bad had happened here, but unless they had strangled her or used a blunt object, it would be safe to assume that Sweetie was still very much alive.

"Thank you, Celestia," Rarity said aloud to herself. The relief of the fact that her sister was still mostly likely breathing seemed to lift much of the fear off of her shoulders. The guilt of the situation could come later, but for now, she had a job at hand. "Don't worry, my dear, dear little sister. I'll save you, I promise!"

With that, the young fashoinista ran straight to her room, relieved to find everything still intact. Apparenlty they only came for her sibling, by the look of things. She searched her wardrobe quickly, pulling out everything she had. After a few moments of sorting through what was worth taking and what was not, she stripped down to her barest garments. Taking a more comfortable dress, she slipped the clothing over her shoulders and past her head. Once the apparel had been settled, Rarity moved towards packing.

This wasn't a quick fling into the park, nor a vacation in Canterlot for the iddle pleasure of it. This was serious, and even a woman such as Rarity knew better than to mess around. She reached down underneath the mattress to her bed, pulling out a somewhat gilded key. Looking up, Rarity gazed at the nearby cabinet that she had kept locked for the last several years. It was time to open it up, it seemed.

Walking over, she carefully inserted the tool into the little slot, and the lock clicked with adoration of its long lost companion. Rarity pulled the drawer outwards. Inside rested a simple wooden box, intricately carved, with a single latch holding it shut. Rarity's fingers slowly undid the clasp, and pulled back the lid. Inside rested a single, lonely flintlock pistol.

"I'll save you, Sweetie. And I'll kill the man who did this. There is no place in heaven, hell, or this damned fucking earth where he can hide from me."

*Click*

Rarity walked towards the downtown area, keeping a firm, but elogant gait to her step. There was a time for fanciness and a time for simplicity, and now was not a time for either. Now was the time for the firm step, for the warrior. Rarity walked on towards the nearest restaurant.

It was approaching noon, and that was clearly just beginning of things. There were many questions to ask, such as the distinct "Have you heard of anyone's children being kidnapped lately?" There was really no other way to find them, since she hadn't found any tracks leaving her shop that fatefull night. With a sigh, she opened the door to the nearest pub.

It wasn't a crumby establishment as far as most such establishments went. After all, this was Canterlot. A sign hung atop the entryway, sporting a witch being decapitated by a burly man. The title said it all; "The Bitch's Beheading" What a clever name for a place to go get wasted.

The joing was filled with all sorts of men. A pair of soldiers sat near a corner, keeping an eye on what transpired over the tops of their ales. Several men sat around in places, either drinking, vomiting, or both. Scurvy maids strode around, smiling at the sorry excuses for human beings that sat around the place. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come in here wearing what she was, but it was far too late to turn back now.

As she walked up to the front table, Rarity kept as vigilant an eye as possible without attracting too much attention. The bartender, a rather stout man who rather resembled the silhouette on the sign outside, turned to her whilst cleaning a random mug. "Can I help you?" he asked. His piercing green eyes met her fair blue, neither blinking a wink.

"Why yes. I'd very much enjoy a glass of Pinot Noir, if you have any in stock. If not, just a bit of good quality burgundy should go over just fine."

Rarity was surprised to find the man laughing humorously at the request of a lady who obviously didn't belong in this part of town, let alone in this establishment. After his guffaws died down, her wiped a tear from his eyes. "It's been a long time since anyone asked for a brew such as that around here. This place has been getting filthier and filthier!"

"Do you have any?"

"Why yes, I do in fact have both. Most people don't ask for it, but I keep some around for old time's sake."

The bartender walked out through a door to the side, probably to go through his old stock. He came back a few minutes later with a rather nice looking bottle of the dark red liquid. Taking the cork with a wine opener, her popped the top out with the deft hands of an experienced drinker.

"Ah, this is the best form of wine any man can drink. I admire your taste, miss." He set a pair of nice wine glasses on the counter, and proceeded to pour a good helping for both of them. Holding it up, they looked into each others' eyes, toasting to the kind thoughts. "To better times."

As they downed their drinks, a laugh seemed to come from nearby. Turning to see who it was, Rarity was surprised to find another woman like herself in the bar. What was even more surprising was the maner of hair that she sported. While different colors were in fact commonplace, even purple like Rarity's, seeing a woman with a motley of such colors was far from the norm. Why, it was even much akin to a rainbow!

"Someone fancy like her wishing to drink old wine, I can see," the prismatic woman stated through her chortles. "But you, Joe? I never had you figured for one of the hopeless romantics!"

"Maybe you should learn not to expect only what you see, Rainbow. Maybe someone as into liquors as I might actually have a taste for something other than just cheap beer, which you seem to have grown an affinity to."

Rainbow stopped mid laugh at that. "Hey!" she cried out in outrage. "This ain't cheap beer, you know! This is straight up Budweiser, king of beers! Wars have been fought for access to this majestic brewsky!" The straight face didn't last long before she doubled over again, laughter breaking out once more from her smug little mouth.

"Just ignore her," Joe said. "She doesn't appreciate anything, really. All she's done for the last month is sit around moping in this bar, drowning herself in her drink." He looked deeply into Rarity's eyes. "She seems to be taking something too much to heart, but she won't even say what it is! Well, anyways, enough of that. I don't suppose you came here just to pop a bottle of good wine."

Perceptive, isn't he?

"Well, actually, I came here because I was wondering about something. You see...I need to know if you've heard about a kidnapping recently." A silence immediately replaced the drunken laughter that had just been flowing from beside her. "Someone dear to me has been taken, and I'm trying to find her."

Rarity was surprised to find herself roughly turned around to face the drunken woman she had just been trying to ignore. "Did you just say that you had a relative stolen?" Rainbow seemed to look as surprised as Rarity did. Rather than thinking of a better idea, she answered more out of latent reaction than actual thought.

"Yes. My sister, Sweetie Belle, was kidnapped nearly three weeks ago. Why?"

Rainbow looked pensive for a moment before looking Rarity in the eye. Rose colored iris's met blue as Rainbow held out a hand. "My name's Rainbow Dash. I have a friend who was kidnapped more than a month ago. The poor kid's family was murdered, and I'm not going to lose her too without a fight!"

Rarity met her hand, now glad to have finally found someone who was in a similar boat to herself, even if it was just a brash young woman like Rainbow Dash. At least she was better than nothing, that's for sure. "The name's Rarity. Glad to meet you, Rainbow."

Setting money down on the counter, the rainbow haired woman stood up. "I think we should get going. It's not like we can stop them by sitting around here!"

Several hours later, the new pair had come no closer to finding their lost charges than when they'd started. They'd even gone through some of the dingiest slums in town and still had failed to find any information on who had taken them. Rarity quitely moaned at the wear on her feet. Even after spending weeks traveling the countryside, she still wasn't used to this much walking in one straight stretch.

"Rainbow, can we sit down for a minute?"

The prismatically haired girl just sighed in exasperation. Without bothering to respond, she led Rarity into a nearby alleyway to take a breather. The latter sat down with a distinct "humph" escaping her lips.

"So what now, Rares?" Dash asked, seeming to have grown rather annoyed over the last few hours. "We can't seem to find any lead on this!"

"Calm down, Dash. I think we should ask the Princess. I mean, she does have a lot more intel at her disposal than you might think, and if my hunch is right, we might not be the only ones involved."

"Are you sure that she has the time for us?"

"She is a Princess, and it's her royal duty to protect her people. Besides, that friend of yours lost her entire family! Surely that should draw her attention."

"Her name's Scootaloo, Rares. And yes, that might catch her eye, if nothing else. Well, it's certainly worth a try. So shall we petition tomorrow?"

"Agreed."

Rarity pulled up the bottom of her dress, taking a moment to pull off her heeled shoes and rub her ankles. She took a moment to view the current state of her now-familiar blisters. Apparently a new one was forming near the heel of her right foot, but that was of little matter at the moment. She was so absorbed in the care of her feet that she didn't notice the look of disgust on Rainbow's face until she slipped her feet back into her shoes.

"Why do you wear that shit? This isn't a fucking ball, Rarity! You're going to seriosly hurt yourself!"

"Just shut up, Dash. This is none of your concern."

"It's every bit a part of my concern, Rares! Like it or not, we may well be in the same boat here! It'll he hard as hell to keep pace with me when you're wearing fucking dress shoes!!" Rainbow seemed to be on the brink of screaming when she suddenly started calming down. Looking down for a moment, she slowly started speaking again. Rarity was too shocked from her outburst to do anything but listen.

"We've got to work together, Rares. I...I wouldn't know what to do without you. I-I just d-don't know what to do." Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes as she spoke on. "She's like a sister to me. I don't know how to live without her, and now I'm stuck in a postion to where if I screw this up, that may become a reality. And in the end, it would be all my fault. I just can't do this, Rares. Not alone." Rainbow's sad expression slowly hardened. "And here you are, with your own sister snatched from your hands and you go around wearing these handicaps when she needs you most!"

Rainbow suddenly broke down, quietly crying into her hand as she tried to look away from Rarity. The fashionista strode over to her companion, and placed a loving arm around her. "Shh...It's okay to be sad, Dashie. It's okay. I wouldn't wear these if I had something else to wear, but this is all I've ever known. I'm sorry. I'll...I'll get something else."

Dash looked up into the eyes of her newfound friend. "No, Rarity. I'm sorry for berating you like that. There are bad men out there doing bad things to people we love. We can't afford to bicker amongst ourselves. Thank you. Thank you for being there for me."

For the second time that day, they softly met each other's gaze, their eyes silently expressing the deep compassion they felt for one another that had arisen, not from longterm relationship, but instead from the way they could empathise with one another. Rainbow bowed her head back down, softly crying into Rarity's shoulder, letting out all the pain and heartache that had been attacking her for months. Rarity, in turn cried back. They just let it out, like only true friends can.

"Aww, isn't that just the cutest thing?"

The pair broke apart suddenly at the sound of several men entering the previously un-occupied alleyway they had been resting in. Realizing that it was almost dark, Rarity mentally facepalmed for being so brash as to lose track of time.

There were eight of them, far more than even trained fighters could hope to outlast in a scrap. Dingy coats rested on slouched shoulder, wafting with the aroma of men who didn't understand the word "hygiene". Rarity shook off the startled and vacant expression on her face, slowly rising from where she'd sat in Rainbow's embrace. The men suddenly drew knives and even a couple pistols. Rarity, in turn, drew her own.

"Just give us the money, and we swear, we won't kill you."

"And I'm going to trust a group of bastards like yourselves?"

"You will if you don't want me to paint the alley with your blood, bitch!"

A sneer broke on the face of the gang's leader. He seemed to think he had this whole thing figured out. Rarity knew better than to play with his snide attitude. Instead of just handing over the money, she raised the gun to aim straight at the leader's center of mass. The ball is nearly an inch wide. A blast through the vitals will kill him instantly. She pulled back the lock on her handgun with a distinct click.

"Don't be stupid. I don't have to kill you unless you resist. Dead bodies don't make good company," the leader stated, figuring that he was calling what he figured was her bluff. He pulled back the lock on his own musket, hoping that it would be enough to intimidate her. He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried.

"Ah, so you figure that not only will you take our money, but also our womanhood?"

Without waiting for a response, Rarity gently squeezed the trigger. Time seemed to slow down to the leader of the rag-tag pack as he heard the gun's retort. The man was swept off of his feet as the ball blew right through the base of his ribs, shattering bone, flesh, and vitals indiscriminantly. Blood splattered onto his cohorts as the bullet exited out the back of his ribcage.

"Shit!" Rainbow cursed as Rarity dragged her behind a pile of garbage just as the shock wore off of the group that had just tried to use them. "What the fuck, Rares!"

"No choice," she replied, pulling out a ball and wrap of powder from her purse, hoping that she could reload in time to scare off the attackers. Rainbow peered around the corner, only to duck her head back as several balls blew on by, smashing through the litter and ricocheting off of the walls. The men seemed to slowly creep forward, not wanting to meet the same fate as their leader just had.

Rarity suddenly jumped up above the trash, firing her pistol before the coming thugs had a chance to react. The bullet slammed into the wall right beside one of their heads, shattering brick and mortar into his face. The group responded in kind, firing their own bullets off far too late to actually strike anything.

Her fingers working swiftly, Rarity loaded the next shot into her little pistol, hoping against hope to strike against something other than block. Once the lock was pulled back, she raised her head from a slightly different location than the time before, hoping they'd be too dumb to shoot right. The shot actually struck true, blasting into the shoulder of the closest assailant, knocking him off of his feet. Just as she suspected, the idiots fired willy nilly, whizzing past where they thought her head would be.

The light of coherent thought seemed to strike their fancy as they realized how long it took to reload the shots. Rather than waiting to get nailed, they suddenly charged. That was exactly the opportunity Rarity had been hoping for. Pulling Dash to her feet, they broke off into a sprint with the criminals only steps behind them. Running out into the street, the girls started pushing themselves harder than they'd ever thought possible. With all their weapons unloaded, the robbers had no option other than to give chase.

Several minutes passed by, but it felt like hours to the pair as they tried desperately to keep ahead of their attackers. The dingy big men followed, trying hard to keep pace with their prey. A couple of them slowed down enough to start reloading their weapons on the move.

Suddenly, the women rounded a corner where a few guards were on their nightly rounds. This was exactly what Rarity had been hoping for, pulling Rainbow out of the line of fire as the assailants found themselves face to face with four armed guards. One of them had the stupidity to fire his recently reloaded weapon. The bullet flew into the chest of the closest guard, sealing the fate of the would-be robbers.

The sound of three rifles firing simultaneously was followed by the dying screams of three marauders. That was more than enough incentive for the remaining three to turn and run, leaving behind their fallen comrades. The guards turned to find the women they had just saved, only to find the street very empty. While following them would've been fairly routine for them under normal circumstances, they did have a dead officer to deal with. Well, it was time to take care of that.

The sun was far gone by the time the companions stopped running, pulling into a less conspicous alley. Even the last vestiges of the fadin light were gone, leaving nothing but the light of kerosene street lamps for sight. Rarity gasped for air, surprised to see that Dash had already recovered. Well it made sense, given how athletic Rainbow seemed to be.

"Rares?" Rainbow asked, looking somewhat shellshocked from what she had just seen. "Were they really going to..."

"Yes. And they probably would have killed us afterwards anyways. That's how trash like that opperates, darling. They have no class and no point in being." Rarity seemed to be digging for an excuse for what she had just done. It didn't work to well, and she leaned over to vomit. Upon seeing the lunch and booze leaving her friend's stomach, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but follow suit. Once their stomachs were emptied, Dash looked over at her companion.

"So what now, Rares? Are we gonna stay on the street or find an inn or what?"

Rarity looked pensive for a moment, before simply stating, "Well, I don't want to go through that again anytime soon. I vote for an inn. Know any nearby?"

"Sure," the rainbow haired woman replied. "I stayed at this joint over by Quarry Avenue a few days ago. It's better than a lot of the places around, but it sure as hell don't come cheap."

"That's fine. We can bunk in a room for the night. I certainly have the money."

"Hehehe, I think I should have seen that, given the gettup. About that, how did you manage to keep up?"

Rarity didn't say anything, instead pulling up the hem of her dress. Her feet were both bare and bloodied. "I didn't want to risk our lives for the sake of my feet. They can heal, darling. Life cannot."

"Well, as long as you're okay."

"Come on, Dash. Let's go get some rest."

The new pair of friends walked off into the night, not fully knowing what the future would bring. But at least they had each other, and that's all that really mattered. Mountains and empires may rise and one day fall, but friendship is something deeper, and truly immortal.