Attention To Detail

by Monochromatic

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Romance
Length: 5499

Being stressed and overworked is nothing new for Rarity. When it impacts her relationship with Twilight, however, she'll have to find a way to make it up to her marefriend, in whatever way she can.

Being stressed and overworked is nothing new for Rarity. When it impacts her relationship with Twilight, however, she'll have to find a way to make it up to her marefriend, in whatever way she can.

Collab with Karrakaz.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-09 03:10:02 UTC

Chapter 1

Attention To Detail

by Karrakaz & Monochromatic

With practiced precision, Twilight dropped three cubes of sugar into a cup of hot chamomile tea. She then stirred the tea until the sugar had disappeared before picking it up in her magic and trotting out of the kitchen, and into the enormous hallways of her castle. Going more by hearing than by sight, she followed the distant sound of a sewing machine until she reached Rarity's ‘work room’. The grumbling, sleep-deprived unicorn had set up shop in a space more suitable for an entire orchestra and accompanying theater performance, and was hard at work on her newest designs.

Where her more contemporary designs had run off to, Twilight didn’t know, but it seemed as though Rarity was never happy with her work once it was finished, and Twilight half suspected her marefriend to be dumping them in the ground behind Carousel Boutique somewhere after their inevitable completion.

“I made you some tea, Rarity,” she said matter-of-factly, setting the cup down on the table which also held the sewing machine.

Rarity did not so much respond as she did harrumph and continue with her work.

It seemed like not even a cup of tea could soothe the frustration currently consuming her entire being. For almost five excruciatingly long days she'd been working non-stop, and for almost five excruciatingly long days things just kept going wrong.

Three orders of a special fabric she needed had arrived almost two days late, she kept having to remake a dress after a customer kept changing it, and to make it worse, she'd already had two customers go back on their orders at the last minute after she spent the entire night working on them. Now she barely had the time to finish the orders she hadn't done while wasting time on the two that were cancelled. Not even moving to the castle where she had more space had helped.

She took the cup of tea and almost finished it in one unladylike gulp, glaring at the dress in the meanwhile. She felt like death, but she'd be dead if she didn't finish the dress for the duchess in time.

Once she put the cup down, she took the dress from the sewing machine and floated it into the air to get a better view. With the Grand Galloping Gala looming on the horizon, most, if not all, of her orders were for dressing gowns, suits, or other ball-related clothing — such as the green one currently floating in the center of the room. It felt like something was missing, but no matter how much time she spent trying to figure out what that something was, the more frustrated she became.

"What do you think?" she asked, remembering her marefriend was still in the room. "It is missing something… isn't it?"

Twilight took a step towards the dress, furrowing her brow. Rarity’s ever growing uncertainty about her own work put Twilight in a difficult situation. On the one hoof, she was of the opinion that Rarity was a true artisan and that, no matter what she made, her designs always turned out beautifully. On the other... Telling her marefriend as much always lead to a  chastisement in the form of Rarity not believing a word she said and claiming that she was biased. Perhaps I am, but that doesn’t mean... She stifled a sigh. “Yes, Rarity. It’s missing something.”

Unfortunately for Twilight, it seemed like agreeing with the unicorn also brought negative consequences. Rarity raised her eyebrow, staring down the alicorn with a mix of contempt and indignation. "Ah," she said flatly, putting the dress back down on the sewing machine, her irritation having grown thanks to Twilight's reply. "I see."

She fixed one of the several emeralds that decorated the dress before putting it back under the machine and switching it back on. She wasn't going to finish the dress in time, and even less so when Twilight was being so unhelpful. What did she mean 'it's missing something'? Even if it was, how was that supposed to help?

She turned off the machine, took off her glasses and swiveled around to face Twilight. "Care to elaborate on exactly what that 'something' is, darling?" she asked, making sure to omit the possessive pronoun that had almost always preceded the noun ever since they'd started dating.

Twilight flattened her ears against her skull and stepped up to the table to take another look at the dress. She hadn’t known what was missing in the first place, and having Rarity turn her own tentative answer against her was more than a little annoying, but she wasn’t about to simply give up if her marefriend needed her help. “I think... the hem is a little too long, wouldn’t that drag all over the floor? And maybe the collar could be a little shorter, and have fewer emeralds?" She tried to imagine having to wear a dress that seemed to be made more out of gems than cloth and her coat itched just thinking about it.

The murderous look Rarity shot her made it clear that that was the wrong answer. “Thank you for elaborating,” she said icily, omitting the endearment from her sentence entirely. “Stars know my work wasn’t difficult enough just yet.”

Twilight couldn't help rolling her eyes, an action which was noticed by Rarity. "Twilight," she continued, putting her glasses back on and turning away from her marefriend. "I honestly don't know what you're doing here if helping me is such a terribly dreadful experience."

The knowledge that Rarity was under a lot of stress was the only thing stopping Twilight from replying honestly to that — as well as the fact that she didn't want a sewing machine thrown at her face. "Rarity, you asked me to help, and I want to," she replied instead. "Tell me what you need me to do," she suggested, hoping that there was no way that could backfire on her.

“I don’t need you to do anything, Twilight Sparkle. What I need is some peace and quiet to finish my designs without being interrupted every time I get into my groove,” Rarity seethed. “So why don’t you trot off to do... whatever, and leave me to my work.”

That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, and Twilight flared her wings in agitation, using the entire three inches she had gained over Rarity since her ascension to their fullest. “All I was trying to do was bring you a cup of tea. I wanted to be a considerate marefriend since you’ve been so caught up in your work that you haven’t even looked at me unless it was to ask me to get more supplies or ask me for my opinion, which you immediately ignore, by the way. I even helped you get set up in the castle so that you wouldn’t be bothered by ponies dropping by the boutique and so that I could answer the door if anypony did come asking! But now it’s MY fault you can’t get your work done? I—” She cut herself off and shook her head. “Suit yourself. I’m going out.” And with that she lit up her horn and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Fine, I will!" Rarity snapped back even though there was nopony to snap at. That said, she turned back her machine, letting the constant whirring sound drown out Twilight's lingering voice in her head. What did she know about fashion, anyway?

Nothing, that's what.

Or perhaps a lot.

It had taken Rarity another hour of struggling to finally begrudgingly humor Twilight's suggestions, and several hours after that, she'd found the end result wasn't missing anything anymore. With a sigh, she folded the dress and put it away with the others, glaring at them for good measure.

She turned back towards the sewing machine, intending on putting her glasses away. Instead, her eyes landed on the empty cup of tea, and she felt a knot in the pit of her stomach upon remembering her argument with Twilight. She bit down on her lip, Twilight's accusations ringing in her mind.

Oh dear, she had been horrendously rude, hadn't she?

Her first idea was towards the tubs of ice-cream she knew Twilight kept in the castle’s well stocked freezer, but she quickly amended it and cantered off to find the love of her life instead. If she hasn’t filled and filed divorce papers by now. Rude was perhaps too gentle a word for how she had acted, but only now did she behold the scope of what she had said. Well, it’s not as though she wouldn’t understand, is it? Everypony gets stressed sometimes. She sighed and started going around the castle.

“Twilight? Twilight, where are you, darling? Twilight?!”

Three revolutions later, she still had trouble telling one hallway apart from the other, and it became clear that Twilight was no longer present. Where in the world could she have gone?

Not Rarity’s boutique, nor Sugarcube Corner, and not even Fluttershy’s cottage, or Dash’s cloud house, she learned, held the purple alicorn and not being able to find her love became an annoyance in and of itself. That only leaves one place then, doesn’t it? Before she could set a course for said farm, however, Spike found her.

“Rarity! Rarity!”

He jogged up to her and buckled over forwards, panting while holding up a bound scroll towards her.

“Twilight wrote this down,” he said in between breaths. “She was muttering about you the whole time so I thought you might want to take a look at it.”

Normally she would have thanked him, and perhaps given him a gemstone for being so helpful. In this instance, however, fear gripped her heart and she snatched the scroll away from him with her magic, unfurling it and reading through the contents without being able to make out any of the words. She desperately hoped that they didn’t convey Twilight’s break up letter, but her mind was too chaotic to make sense of any of it.

Or, perhaps, the fact that it was written in ancient runes might have something to do with it.

"I've never seen writing like that," Spike said, standing on his toes to read — or rather, look — at the letter. "Maybe it's just made up stuff?"

"No. These are ancient Saddle Arabian runes," Rarity corrected.

"Really?" asked Spike, taking the letter and giving it a closer look. "How do you know that?"

"Twilight told me," she replied, taking back the letter. "I had been working on some dresses for Sapphire Shores, and she was telling me all about them in the meanwhile. She talked about them for days."

Spike scratched his head. "But… I was there last time you had a dress for Sapphire. How come I don't remember any of that?" he asked.

"That, darling," Rarity said, furling the scroll and gently batting him on the head with it, "is  because somedragon was too busy reading his comics. You should pay attention to Twilight more often, Spike. She can be a terribly fascinating pony."

A fascinating pony who probably wanted nothing to do with Rarity, in any case.

"Well, can't you read it, then?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no."

She did, however, know that there was a book in the old castle that might help her translate the contents of what she desperately hoped wasn't a break-up letter.

Why Twilight insisted on keeping books in that decrepit old palace was still a mystery to her, and would likely remain so forever more. “I’ll need to get going if I want to find that book she was reading from,” she told Spike. “Would you like to join me?”

“I would love nothing better!” He nearly yelled, snapping to a salute in an instant, and dropping it the next. “But uh...”

“Hmmm?” She quirked an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

“I sort of... promised Sweetie Belle and the others that I would help them with their crusading today,” he admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Rarity smiled and ruffled the spikes on his head. “Very well then, I suppose I shall have to brave the dangers of the everfree alone and...” She petered out when she saw hesitation in Spike’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Spikey Wikey, I’ll be perfectly alright. I may be a classy mare, but I know how to defend myself.” She made a shooing motion with her hoof and took a deep breath only after he set off towards the crusader clubhouse. Well now, this is turning into quite the infuriating day... or perhaps it already was? With a shake of her head she set a course straight into everfree. With a little luck she wouldn’t run into too much trouble on her way to the castle.

A partially green Rarity entered the castle, dripping a mixture of plant-like jelly and water from every follicle on her body. Luck hadn’t been on her side during her trek, and she was almost convinced that the universe itself was punishing her for being such an insensitive jerk to its favorite pony. She couldn’t really fault it for that, although she did wish to be in a spa, rather than standing in— “EUWH!!!!!! Euwh euwh euwh euwhhhhhh!” She couldn’t take it anymore, and one of the old tapestries in the castle fell victim to her desire to be clean before she had even begun her search in earnest.

She could always re-restore it later…

Now that she was mostly clean, she took a deep breath, lit up her horn and continued her search. Luckily, the old castle wasn't nearly as big or filled with hallways as Twilight's castle, so she could more or less remember where the library was. If only she remembered where the book was, though.

After a dozen minutes of trotting around, she finally reached the appropriate hallway and was surprised to find light coming from inside the library. Was somepony there? Was it Twilight? That would be a tremendous relief, at least after Twilight finished chewing her out. She made her way to the entrance and lingered outside, steeling herself for the inevitable confrontation.

"Twilight?" she called, stepping into the room and finding it completely empty save for the lit torches and some books on the tables. "Anypony here?"

Did she leave already?

When no answer came, she sighed and made her way towards the rows of dusty books against the wall, unfurling the scroll at the same time. It took her what felt like an eternity, but she eventually found the appropriate book. At least something is going right, she thought, turning around and sitting down at the nearest table.

She put the scroll down and took the book. "Let's see..."

To her surprise, as she flipped through the pages, she found Twilight had made all sorts of notes on the margins of the pages. She giggled when she found a certain page in which Twilight's calligraphy got progressively smaller as she ran out of space to make notes. At the same time, those adorable things Twilight did only made Rarity feel even worse and worse about what she'd done earlier.

Finally, she found the appropriate page where the runes had been translated into Equestrian alphabet. She took the scroll and got to work, but immediately regretted doing so after reading the first few lines talking all about how awful Rarity had been. She only made it past the first few paragraphs before she forced herself to stop translating, pushing the scroll away and feeling tears sting at her eyes. She closed the book and wiped away her tears.

Maybe next time she'd think twice before reading somepony else's... hatemail when it was brought to her.

Well, that was it then. She'd really messed up, and now she faced the consequences. She rolled the scroll back up, and took several deep breaths. Regardless of the scroll, she still owed Twilight a proper apology, even if Rarity felt too ashamed to face the furious alicorn — not that she could find her, anyway.

She'd just have to go back to the castle and wait for Twilight there. She could also start moving her things back to Carousel Boutique since it was clear she'd probably overstayed her welcome now.

The trek back to Ponyville felt twice as long and three times as arduous, and Rarity cared for little more than a bath by the time she reached Twilight’s castle. In spite of all of her earlier ideas and worries about what Twilight might say or do when they saw eachother again, she at least wanted to make sure that she looked presentable, as well as feeling clean. And she just couldn't resist the castle's enormous bathtubs. Three wrong turns later, she’d found the bathroom and had drawn herself a bath.

How hot water plumbing was a thing inside of a castle made entirely out of crystal, she didn’t know, but she was thankful for it nonetheless. With a deeply suffering sigh, she let the warm water envelop her and closed her eyes in the first bit of relaxation she’d had in weeks. She’d made many mistakes because of her exhaustion, and closing her eyes just seemed to be the latest one in that line. The scene of Twilight trying to help, and herself snubbing anything and everything her love had said, replayed in her mind’s eye, and each time, she looked a little more like an ungrateful monster.

“Stars, how can I ever face her again after that?”

She sighed and let herself sink into the water. She wished she could just remain in the warm water forever and never come out, but Twilight was bound to come into the bathroom eventually. If circumstances were different, the thought of Twilight finding her in the bathtub would be the opposite of distressful, but now…

She finally emerged from the tub half an hour later, noticing through the small window that nighttime had fallen. She wished she knew if Twilight had returned from wherever she'd gone to, but she wasn't sure she wanted to face the alicorn yet. After drying herself and combing her mane, she trotted out of the bathroom and towards her temporary workshop. After four wrong turns, she passed by Twilight's room and made sure to put the scroll on the nearby desk, not wanting to enrage her marefriend further by revealing she'd read her ramble.

When she finally found her workshop, she stepped inside and shot the dresses another murderous glare for good measure. Glare as she might, though, it did not relieve any of her stress and guilt, so she started cleaning up the place instead. It might be a bit too late to move everything back to Carousel Boutique, but she could at least leave everything ready for an easy move the next morning.

“Spike?”

One of Rarity’s ears perked and she looked up from the dress she’d been folding.

“Spike? Are you home yet?”

She’s home. Hide! Rarity’s mind insisted, flooding her body with nervous energy and apprehension. She dropped the dress where it was, and searched for anything she could hide away in. Fortunately, the room was large enough that one could get lost in it simply by standing in the right place, and the crystals themselves created shadows that made for even better hiding spots.

She hadn’t yet sought refuge in one of those shadows for a minute before the door opened and Twilight stepped into the room. “Rarity? Are you here?” She wanted to respond, wanted to call out and apologise to her marefriend in any way she could think of, but she remained quiet in the end.

Twilight’s shoulders and wings drooped when she sighed and turned around to trudge out the door. Or so she would have if she hadn’t spotted the dress on the floor. “That’s strange, Rarity would never leave something like this lying around.” A bitter smile passed Twilight’s face while she folded the dress and placed it on the table next to the sewing machine. “Cares for her dresses more than ponies...” Another sigh, and Twilight left the room.

When the door closed shut, Rarity slunk to the floor. That's what Twilight thought of her now? A superficial, materialistic mare who cared more about fabrics than the love of her life?

She wouldn't allow it.

Sure, she could rush to the kitchen and empty out the ice cream, or she could just sit there and wallow in her own misery, but what sort of miserable ending to their argument was that? She'd fought against manticores, changelings, spirits of chaos, and innumerable other beasts, but was too afraid to face Twilight Sparkle? Who, yes, was an alicorn of incalculable magic strength, but was also a mare who could be reduced to a giggling mess with the right amount of kisses? Whose adorable smile was far more lethal than any magic attack she had?

Getting up from the floor, Rarity rushed to the door, deciding that if there was one fight worth fighting, this was it. If there was one moment in time to be the dramatic love interest from all her novels, this was it. If there was one mare she absolutely refused to lose because of something she'd done, Twilight was it.

She slammed the door open, not even bothering to care too much that it had probably left a mark, and then rushed into the hallway. "Wait, Twilight!" she called desperately, her voice echoing throughout the halls.

But the hallway was empty, and no pony immediately teleported herself in front of Rarity upon hearing the distressed call. Was that it? The culmination of her dramatic argument? A hallway as empty as how her heart would now b—

"Rarity?"

Turning around, Rarity was both pleased and horrified to realize that she'd forgotten to check the other side of the hallway. Twilight was standing a few feet away, staring at her with not a look of hatred nor relief nor sadness nor desperate love — she simply looked very, very confused and surprised.

Just like that, the eloquent and passionate speech on fighting for true love turned into dust inside Rarity's head, and she could only stare at Twilight with a panicked, dumbfounded stare. She really needed to stop reading so many romance novels.

"What were you doing in there?" Twilight continued, taking a step towards her. The confused and surprised expression was joined by a hint of bitterness and sadness when she asked, "Why didn't you answer when I called? If you don't want to talk to me, just tell me. You don't have to hide."

"I… I wasn't… I mean, I just..."

"It doesn't matter." Twilight shook her head. "I'll be in the library," she said, trotting off and rustling her wings, apparently putting an end to the discussion before it even had chance to begin. Or was she? She usually teleported away when she really didn't want to talk, didn't she?

Scraping together the fragments of her determination, Rarity squared her jaw and cantered after her marefriend. “Twilight, please, I...” She faltered briefly, shook head and jumped.

Twilight’s ‘oomph’ when she landed made her feel even more guilty, but she decided she would make up for it with a kiss to the back of Twilight’s head. Then, leaning forward a bit, she planted another one on Twilight’s cheek, right before the entire world went black.

It was Rarity’s turn to groan when a flash of light returned both her and Twilight to the world, though in a different place from the one they’d started in; Twilight’s bedroom. Rather than teleporting them onto the bed, it seemed Twilight had chosen the veritable mountain of pillows on the other side of the room, and the alicorn was now towering over her like a wrathful angel: Beautiful, and yet terrifying at the same time. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, looking less confused and more uncertain than before.

At least that’s a step in the right direction, Rarity thought while she reached up and pulled Twilight down. She kissed her love again, on the lips this time, and only when Twilight’s struggling separated them did she speak. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I treated you so horribly and I’m sorry for snapping at you and... and...”

Her head was spinning again.

"And I wish you warned me before teleporting us like that," she finished unceremoniously.

"You startled me!" Twilight defended, hovering a bit closer when Rarity groaned again. "What do you expect when you throw yourself at me like that!"

"Well, landing in your bedroom was a welcome surprise," Rarity cheekily replied despite her current state of mind. She noticed a blush on Twilight's cheeks, and some of her worries faded. Her next move would have been asking why in Equestria were Twilight's pillows on the floor rather than the bed, but now was not the time to get all fussy on details. Instead, she looked back at Twilight with her best attempt at a forlorn, piteous expression. "I'm really very sorry, Twilight. If you want me to leave, I understand completely."

“Make you leave?” Twilight looked at her in confusion for a moment before warming her heart with a light giggle. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I’ve been treating you terribly, and for the longest time I haven’t—” She was silenced by Twilight’s hoof on her lips.

“Yes, you’ve been rude, and selfish, and impossible to deal with... but...”

Rarity’s ears had drooped with each word that came out of Twilight’s mouth, but both they, and her spirits were lifted somewhat when she heard the hesitation. “Yes?”

Twilight smiled and gave her a flighty kiss. “I love you, and I understand that you were— are stressed. I’ve had those days myself.”

The confession astonished Rarity. Never in her life would she have suspected that... “So... you’ve had times when you were as bad as I’ve been these last few weeks?” She asked in disbelief.

Twilight frowned thoughtfully before shaking her head. “Well... no. Not as bad as that... but still pretty bad.”

"Well, now I feel even worse because that means you never let it affect our relationship," Rarity whined, burying her face in her hooves and groaning. When she took her hooves back, she let out a playful huff, idly pawing at Twilight with her hoof. "Why do you have to be such a wonderful marefriend, and make me look like an awful one?"

"Well, you're not that bad," Twilight said, her amused smile proving to be an effective weapon against Rarity's indignation. When Rarity tugged at her foreleg, Twilight complied and lied down next to the unicorn, allowing herself to be consoled for the awful day both mares had. She waited until Rarity had wrapped one of her forelegs around her before relaxing completely, exhaling a pleased sigh.

It was probably an aftermath of thinking their relationship was over, but hugging Twilight had never felt better. She remembered how Twilight had said she'd felt forgotten, and Rarity decided she'd spend the rest of the evening fully making up for the days of neglect Twilight had suffered.

Her thoughts went back to the scroll, and she hugged Twilight closer to her. "So, if you don't scream at me, how do you vent out your frustrations?" she asked, leaning in to nuzzle the alicorn.

Twilight looked at her, frowning thoughtfully. "I write them out, I suppose. It helps me organize my thoughts and figure out what to do next."

Rarity was silent for a moment, wondering if she should take the plunge or not. "After you disappeared and I went looking for you, Spike found me and he..." She trailed off, taking back her foreleg and gulping down. "He gave me the scroll where you'd 'written out your frustrations'. I know I shouldn't have, but I thought you were breaking up with me, so I couldn't help reading it. I suppose that explains why I felt like I needed to hide from you."

She didn't dare look at Twilight, waiting for the inevitable and well-deserved confrontation about reading her private scrolls. And yet it never came. When Rarity looked up at Twilight, she noticed the princess looked confused more than offended.

"You 'read' it?" Twilight asked. "How? I wrote it in ancient runes!"

“Well, yes. But back when you were learning about them, you were so excited that you talked about it for days.” Rarity smiled in fond remembrance. “I remembered working on that dress for Sapphire Shores at the time, and I knew where the book was so...”

Twilight rolled over onto her side. “But if you read it, why did you feel the need to hide?”

“Because you’d written all these horrible things, and I thought that...well... you know.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t read all of it, did you?”

“No, but what does that matter?”

Twilight smiled and produced the scroll from stars knew where with a flick of her horn. “Because if you’d read the entire thing, you wouldn’t have hidden at all.” She unfurled the scroll and began reading aloud. “I really hate her sometimes. She can be so vain, and irritable, and very very selfish. She asks me for help, and then acts like I’m always criticising her when I try to give it to her. She’s one of the worst ponies when it comes to accepting help, even worse than AJ or Dash, and she seems to think that being in a romantic relationship makes it alright to yell at her partner for no reason, or bicker about things that really don’t matter.”

Rarity wanted to burrow into the pillows in shame and the embarrassed blush on her cheeks wasn’t helping matters. Perhaps if the ground opens up beneath me I won’t have to hear the rest of it.

“But,” Twilight continued, smiling gently. She leaned down to nuzzle the mortified unicorn for a moment before continuing. “When she’s not working herself to death on those stupid dress designs of hers—”

Rarity’s embarrassment was gone in an instant. “Hmpfh! I’ll have you know that my dress designs are certainly not stupid. They’re works of elegance and...” She petered out when Twilight shot her a pointed look, and resorted to crossing her forelegs and pouting at the alicorn instead.

“When she’s not working herself to death, she is the most amazing pony I know. From the way she smiles when she’s happy to the little wrinkle in her muzzle when she’s annoyed but trying not to show it for my sake. How she always knows just what to say when I say something incredibly awkward, or when I don't know what to do. And she's dedicated and passionate, even if sometimes she goes a bit overboard. And she’s the best kisser ever, even though I don’t have any scientific evidence to support that fact... maybe I should do some research? Although I'd need several machines, and—” She caught herself rambling and blushed before tossing the scroll away and smiling. “I sort of rambled on a little after that, but you get the gist, right?”

Rarity nodded, curling up to the alicorn and giggling. "Yes, I get the gist." There was a sense of immense relief at knowing that the scroll wasn't entirely as bad as she'd imagined. In a way, she related to Twilight because she also had a hard time staying mad at her significant other.

"I guess at least now I know what were those sounds I heard while I was at the old castle," Twilight said. "You must have really wanted to make-up with me if you went through the forest with all that mud all over the place."

"Very much, yes," Rarity said before shivering slightly. Just the memory of all that muck made her want to take another bath.

They were quiet for a few moments, enjoying each other's presence, until a thought occurred to Twilight. "You know," she continued sheepishly, "I never thought you would be interested in ancient runes, nevermind paying attention when I told you about them."

"Darling, I wouldn't be dating you if I didn't find you and your interests fascinating, would I?" Rarity pointed out. Sure, magical alchemy wasn't her first definition of fun, but even so, she would still try and know about it solely because it was something Twilight loved.

"Then, following that logic," she said suddenly, "you'll let me actually help next time you need it? Since I also pay attention when you talk about fashion?" Twilight asked, laughing when Rarity's face turned several shades of red.

"Yes," Rarity relented. "Well, perhaps. Maybe. I'll try."

"Rarity..."

Before Twilight could say more, Rarity leaned in and fluttered her eyelashes, caressing Twilight's chin with her hoof. "So, how about I make up for today by assisting you with your research on kissing, hm?"