Knock knock.
The irritating tap snapped Twilight out of her studying and back into reality. With a sigh, she flattened her ears and turned back to her book, hoping that whoever it was would get the hint soon.
Knock knock.
The knock came again, more insistent this time. Resigned, Twilight got to her hooves and trudged downstairs, her lips armed with a set of come back later, I'm busys and sorry, I'm not interesteds for the salespony who no doubt lurked on the other side of the door-
The door swung open to reveal a familiar white unicorn mare.
"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed. "I thought you were busy."
"Twilight, darling, if you don't mind, I would like to come in." Rarity replied. Something was off, Twilight could tell. She seemed... flustered, as if she was almost nervous-
Don't be ridiculous, Twilight. It's probably just stress. The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up, after all, and for the first time she's been getting dress orders from Canterlot. Why in Equestria would she be nervous to talk to you? "So," Twilight smiled, in an effort to put the other mare at ease, "what's this all about?"
"Well," Rarity replied, "the Grand Galloping Gala is just around the corner, as you know, and... so have you thought about what you're going to wear?"
"Well..." Twilight smiled sheepishly. "I kind of wasn't planning on going at all this year."
"What?! But Twilight, you must! You are a Princess now; your attendance at the Gala will be mandatory. Just imagine the scandal it would cause if you weren't there. You are going to the Gala, Twilight Sparkle, and that's final." Rarity leaned closer to her friend, conspiratorially. "Now tell me, dear... why do you not want to go?"
Twilight sighed. "It just wasn't very fun last year, and I'll probably just be stuck greeting ponies at the door again. Either that or dancing with the Canterlot nobility. And... well, Rarity, you've seen me dance."
A gleam appeared in the other mare's eyes. "Then I'll teach you."
"Just forget it. I really can't dance."
"Twilight, dear, you're much too pessimistic. Of course you can dance. It's really not as hard as it looks. I'll show you." Rarity's eyes scanned the room. "Would you by any change happen to have a phonograph here?"
"Well... yes, but it's up in my room and it's awfully heavy to drag all the way downstairs," Twilight said as Rarity trotted off to the stairs. Showing up unannounced and then asking me to dance- what's she doing? Could she... no, she wouldn't. She's just being generous. We're just friends.
"Darling, if you would please be so kind as to follow me..."
Twilight sighed and followed her friend up the steps.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"The roof?" Twilight asked skeptically as she surveyed her surroundings.
"Well..." Rarity offered her friend a smile. "You said that the phonograph was too frightfully heavy to lug all the way downstairs, so I figured, why not go upstairs instead?"
Twilight hadn't been lying; the phonograph was frightfully heavy. Thankfully, Rarity was no stranger to heavy magical lifting, and now it, she and Twilight were standing on her balcony, looking out over Ponyville, its landscape bathed in the soft glows of evening.
"What a beautiful twilight," Rarity mused, realizing too late she'd spoken the words aloud.
"Yes," Twilight said softly, raising a foreleg to point at where the first stars were beginning to appear in the sky. "Looks like Luna really outdid herself tonight."
For a heartbeat, the two mares simply stood, looking at the sky together in silence. Then, as if to break the spell, Rarity turned to the record player and inserted an album of classical waltzes (composed by none other than the famed Ludwig van Beethooven) into the player. As the strains of the sonata filled the air, Rarity turned to her friend. "Just for this first dance, I will be the stallion and you can be the mare. If you want to switch roles later on, we can." She swept into a graceful bow, one foreleg bent so that her horn almost touched the floor. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, may I have this dance?"
It took far too long for Twilight to find her voice. "Y...yes?"
"Good." Rarity straightened up and looked deep into Twilight's eyes, aquamarine locked with amethyst for a fleeting second. Now, the way you start is, the stallion places his foreleg on the mare's withers-" Rarity did so, feeling Twilight shiver ever so slightly at her touch- "and the mare reaches in to touch her partner's hind fetlock."
For her part, Twilight did as she was asked. She could feel Rarity's pulse pounding beneath her skin, beating with the ferocity of a summer storm. Why was her heart beating so fast?
And why did its beat almost match Twilight's own?
Rarity's voice broke into her thoughts, snapping her back to the present. "Then, the stallion initiates the dance by stepping with his free foreleg in the direction he wants to go and the mare follows, stepping with the hind leg closest to her partner." She stepped out, but the other mare was too slow, and her hoof hit Twilight's leg.
"Sorry!" Twilight yelped.
"Oh, don't worry about it, dear." Rarity met her friend's gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. "You're still learning. Now, shall we try again?"
She repeated the step, and this time Twilight followed, their hooves making a soft thump on the balcony's planks. Rarity nodded. "That's beat one. Now, on the second beat, the stallion moves the hind leg furthest from his partner..."
The two mares whirled together on the balcony, their dance steps tracing a graceful pattern on the floor, the only sound the soft, lilting strains of the music and Rarity's elegant voice chanting "one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three..."
It was funny, really. She'd known Rarity for more than a year now, and yet somehow, she had never really paid attention to just how gracefully the other mare moved. Every step was done fluidly and elegantly, as if she was a cat, or perhaps a swan, transformed into a unicorn by some arcane spell. The way Rarity's body moved was, to put it simply, a work of art.
And had her coat always looked so pristine in the moonlight?
Suddenly out of breath, Twilight wrenched herself free of Rarity's grasp and sat down, careful to look in any direction but her friend's.
"Are you okay, darling?" Rarity asked.
Think,Twilight. You don't feel that way about her. She's your friend. And besides, she doesn't like mares. "It's just that-" her words came out in a rush- "you're so beautiful, Rarity. You dance so well. And I'm... nothing. Just the awkward, dorky Twilight Sparkle."
Did she just call me beautiful? Rarity had heard that compliment many times from many ponies, but in that moment, none of them mattered so much as hearing those words from Twilight's lips at the moment.
Very delicately, Rarity reached out and touched Twilight's chin with her hoof, turning her head so that her eyes looked deep into Rarity's. Those eyes... so impossibly purple...
Rarity felt like she was back at the Best Young Flyers competition, falling impossibly far. Only this time she wasn't falling through empty sky, but into the pair of amethyst eyes that stared back at her.
And there was no Rainbow Dash to save her this time.
"Whatever would make you say that, Twilight? You are not awkward or dorky. Far from it. You are one of the most beautiful, intelligent, kind, and fascinating mares I have ever met."
And, in one smooth motion, Rarity closed the distance between them and kissed her.
Twilight's eyes widened in shock as Rarity's lips found hers. Is this really happening? What do I do? I've never been kissed before- what if I screw it up? I'm probably going to screw this up- But Rarity's lips crushed hers insistently, and Twilight found that she couldn't think, couldn't even breathe, could only wrap her forelegs around Rarity and pull her in, as if the sensation of Rarity's soft lips on hers had replaced her normal need for air.
Rarity's tongue found its way between her lips gently but passionately, and Twilight felt a delicious fire sweep through her, as if Rarity's lips were a lit match. A low, breathy moan escaped Twilight's mouth, and she drew back, suddenly embarrassed. But their eyes met, and Twilight had the sense that she was somehow both falling off a cliff and completely safe, all at the same time.
And as their lips met again, a thought crossed Twilight's mind: Maybe the Grand Galloping Gala won't be so bad this year, after all.
