Ambiance settled in the room, almost succeeding in washing away the lingering fear in my gut. Rarity sat across from me at one of her tea tables, this time in her living room. She sat on her lounge chair while I sat on a measly little stool. Anyone that walked in could confuse this for the classic "Guy apologizes to girlfriend and begs for forgiveness" scenario... but it was far from that. It was much worse. Two words instigated the entire moment and now we both sat in silence, Rarity with fresh tears running down her face as she stared at my chest, eye contact impossible. I continued staring at her face as if she'd eventually glance up and meet my eyes as if I were worth it. An anger bubbled up in my guy that I suppressed for the sake of understanding.

"What do you mean break up?" I whispered quietly, my lower lip quivering.

Rarity gulped and opened her mouth, letting out a few squeaks rather than words. She stuttered as she attempted to say anything, instead gasping and letting out a few pathetic sobs in response. She brought her forehooves up to her face and covered her eyes as she curled up on the chair, weeping silently into her hooves. The only indication of weeping was the stifled whines. Standing up as my brow furrowed and I felt my face contorting, clenching up as I felt the blood rushing to my head.

"What do you mean by you wanna break up!?" I asked once more, bordering on a shout.

The only other sound were her sobs and a ticking clock elsewhere in the house. I forgot what time it was but judging by the golden glow, it was either sunset or sunrise. Rarity shook her head as she clenched her teeth shut, taking in a sharp breath. Suddenly, my anger gripped me and I stood up from my stool, bumping the table. I clenched my fists, as a mixture of anger, fear and sadness rusted through my recent catharsis, ruining any semblance of a good day/morning. Eventually, Rarity did manage to speak yet it was in barely audible whispers, her voice cracked entirely.

"I c-can't do t-this a-anym-more," she said, crossing her forelegs as she attempted to hug herself as she shuddered.

"What's this? You mean us? You can't handle our relationship?" I asked, my voice a little quieter than before.

"I can't handle what comes with it," she responded, her voice slow and clear.

No response from me as I attempted to process it. My mind rejected everything that it thought up in favour of this being a sick joke. Regardless, my mind slowly dropped the happy-ending notion and was replaced by one thought.

"You don't love me because I'm a Dragon."

It was more of a statement than a question; I knew it had to do with me being a Dragon, not because I wasn't a good boyfriend. Rarity glanced up at me and didn't nod or shake her head. She gulped, blinking her eyes a few times as her tears flowed down her face, no makeup to smear.

"It's because you're a Dragon that I can't handle it."

That almost set me off in a violent way and I brought both arms up, clenching my fists as I closed my eyes and crinkled my snout, shuddering as I held back an urge to freak out and start shouting and roaring. Remembering the old saying, I started to breath in through my nose and out the mouth before calming down once more. My arms loosened up and my eyes opened and I glanced down at Rarity.

"Is this about the show? Why is that getting to you? They'll wind up in jail anyways, they were caught. It was one show and a bit of fabric, you can remake it; that's who you are!" I moved around the table and sat down next to Rarity as she continued staring into blank space. "You're like a phoenix; if someone ruins your dress, you make a new one that's even better. Ignore the bad things and focus on the good things, don't let some punks ruin what we have."

She pressed the sides of her hooves against her temples, closed her eyes and shook her head, groaning.

"No. No no no. This wasn't just one time. This has happened three times. Three times have I met models that have turned against me and then shredded my dresses. They put graffiti on my bags, and called me a freak." She turned to me as she started to sob once more, panting heavily "This time was different."

Her eyes were twitching until she closed them, burying her snout in her hooves. Even though she said she wanted to break up, she leaned in for comfort.

"T-they held me down... and p-painted insults a-all over my body. Bright red and nearly impossible to w-wash off, I had to run across Canterlot with 'WHORE' and 'ANIMAL LOVER' on my Cutie Marks before I c-could t-try to get it o-off."

I finally got an explanation for why she dropped the breakup bomb on us. Being with me is ruining her career in Canterlot and making her the target of hatred and insults and... racism... and then I felt sorry. Slowly, my eyes started to water up and my anger bubbled up in blinding rage once more.

"Jail? No. Just not... that's not enough. They have to pay for it, they have to take responsibility," I said.

Rarity pulled back away from me and had a scowl on her face, anger of her own showing.

"WHAT!? No. NO, YOU DON'T GET IT!" she shrieked, pulling out some of her hairs with her hooves. I snapped back from the sudden outburst and leaned back in case she started swinging at me. "That won't help me. Justice won't help me. YOU staying HERE with ME as my lousy BOYFRIEND won't help me. This is all YOUR FAULT!" She stood up off the lounge chair and was practically growling at me, teeth barred and her horn lighting up.

"Rarity, wait, we can sort this out. We can talk to Twilight and Princess Celestia about it," I said, waving my hands in a panic.

"Get out," she said with a coarse voice.

Shock occurred for a second before I scowled, growling in response. "No."

A blue aura surrounded my throat and attempted to move me. My body had grown since we first started going out a year ago; a recent misfortune n prison was where most of the strength came from, so I easily withheld the throw, instead standing up.

"GET OUT!" Rarity shrieked as she ran forward, pushing me with her forelegs.

"DITCH ME IN PRISON AND DITCH ME AT HOME!?"

It happened too fast for me to process. First I felt my mind nearly go blank as my eyes flashed red inside my head and I felt my arm move. A swift impact and I looked down after a few seconds to see Rarity laying on the lounge chair, holding a hoof to her cheek. Her horn was no longer making magic and she looked up to me slowly, three claw marks on her cheek with blood drizzling down her perfect white fur. Her eyes were so tiny and scared as she kept her teary eyes glued on me the whole time. Already, her left eye was starting to swell up from the impact and she rolled onto her back, pushing herself away from me as she was now starting to hyperventilate.

"No no no no no no no no no," she repeated over and over again as she clambered over the arm of the lounge chair and stumbled to the floor. Desperately, she started to crawl backwards into the kitchen, her hooves shaking.

"Rarity, I'm sorry," I said, stepping towards her.

She let go of her face, revealing an ugly red smear on her cheek as she spun around, pushing herself to her hooves and galloping into the kitchen. Without thinking, I jogged after her only to see Rarity in a corner, panicking as she prodded the walls with her hooves as if a door would magically appear. She was still hyperventilating and I started to panic as well. Waling to the corner, I extended my claws to hug Rarity and tell her it was an accident. She spun around and pushed her back into the corner, helplessly pushing her hooves against the floor as she kept shaking her head as her eyes were planted on my own.

"Rarity, let me fix everything, I can make up for what I've done," I said, my claw almost reaching her swollen cheek.

"NO!"

Her horn lit up brightly, a huge surge of magic coming forth as it engulfed my whole body and in a similar sensation, I found myself at the outskirts of Ponyville as the sun rose. Obviously, Rarity learned that spell from Twilight, but it was so advanced for a simple dressmaker like Rarity. I was completely dazed from the spell, a sign of amateur casting and I glanced down at my right claw, spotting a red liquid coating the tips. Then and there, I clued in to what I just did.

I blew out our flame.

[*][*][*]

FOR THOSE CONFUSED ON THE EVENTS THAT IS REFERENCED KNOWN AS "Prison"; READ CASTLE BAHAMUT AS THIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE AFTER.