Every Expression of Happiness

Rarity jumped as the sensation of displaced air and a pink flash came from behind her. In her vanity mirror she saw Twilight Sparkle standing in the middle of her bed, a rather startled expression on her face. Subtly rubbing her nose clean, she brushed the last few white crystals off the hoof mirror and slid it behind a large ornate bottle before turning to face her sudden visitor.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Rarity said in a rush, her pupils dilating wildly and her ears twitching out of sync with each other.

“Hee hee hee!” giggled Twilight in a high-pitched voice. Her eyes darted around the room, examining each object within it and assessing it quickly and thoroughly. Her face practically glowed around the wide smile she sported, and her quick little gasps at each thing she saw gave the impression that the world and everything in it was brand new to her.

“I made it! I’m in Rarity’s bedroom!” she snickered loudly, then finally focused on said bedroom’s owner, who was staring at her with increasing concern. “Oh, there you are!” she chortled.

Finding Twilight’s laughter infectious, Rarity added a few ladylike giggles of her own. “Why, yes! Here’s Rarity, queen of her domain. And you are now in my domain!” She leaned back regally on her cushion, one foreleg resting on the vanity counter, trying not to let on how vital it was in keeping her upright.

“Oh, of course,” cried Twilight as she started to sketch a grand bow. Once one hoof left the bedspread, though, she wobbled on her other three legs, her eyes wide as she toppled with a thump onto the floor at Rarity’s feet. She raised her head, grinning as if nothing had happened, and finished through barely suppressed mirth, “...Your Majesty!”

Rarity’s eyes widened as Twilight played at obeisance... 'which is only my due, of course!' she thought with a smirk. She sniffed a bit noisily, then leaned back a little further, knocking over a couple of makeup bottles, and extended one of her rear hooves to Twilight. Looking down at the giggling librarian, she raised one carefully shaped eyebrow.

“You may kiss the royal hoof,” she said grandly as she waved that dainty appendage in front of Twilight's nose.

As her eyes followed the waggling hoof with intense fascination, each of Twilight's pupils moved at a slightly different rate. It was such a beautiful hoof: well groomed, perfectly trimmed, and the most delectable shade of white she had ever seen. She leaned closer, absorbing every detail: the texture of Rarity’s coat, the shape of her hock, the scent of her shampoo, the slightly different white of the skin beneath her fur....

“Ahem?” said Rarity, waving the hoof again and almost bumping Twilight’s face.

“Hee hee! Hoof!” Twilight smiled hugely and leaned close to plant a delicate kiss right on the tip. She smacked her lips as if savoring the taste, then looked up into Rarity’s bemused gaze. “Hoof!” she said again, her head weaving in a small circle. “Good hoof!”

Rarity wobbled forward on her perch and leaned down to look closely at Twilight’s eyes, noting their mismatched pupils and tendency to wander. Her own eyes widened, and in a stage whisper that squeaked with incredulity she asked, “Are... are you high?”

“Yyyyyyep! I’m conducting an experiment with lysergic acid diethylamide!” chirped Twilight. "I'm taking extensive notes..." she reached for her notebook only to stop stopped as she realized it was on the desk from which she had just teleported. Any consternation she might have felt as a result of this washed away as she spotted Rarity's still bobbing hoof. She bent her head toward it and gripped the hoof in her mouth. “Foof!” she said around it, giggling and not letting go even as the fashionista gently tried to tug it back.

Rarity’s eyes danced with mischief as she considered the possibilities inherent in having a cheerfully tweaking Twilight at her beck and call. A wide and slightly manic smile crept onto her face as a particularly salacious thought came to her. “I know something we could do,” she said in a voice dripping with heat and promise as she leaned down to stroke Twilight's mane invitingly.

Not at all immune to the lovely white unicorn’s charms, Twilight dropped the hoof from her mouth and rolled into a sitting position, her face taut with anticipation. “Ooooh... what? What can we do?” she asked eagerly, hoping she knew the answer.

Rarity leaned closer to Twilight, her lips just brushing one graceful lavender ear as she whispered, “Let’s turn the town plaid!”

Twilight’s answering squeal of delight was music to her ears.

“Eee hee hee the little guys are everywhere!” cackled Twilight as she fired another pink bolt from her horn. The window box she was looking at changed from brown to a square pattern of blue, green and black.

“Ooh, Black Watch!” gushed Rarity, galloping up to join her friend. “Nice one!” She fired a bolt from her own horn and added a trompe l’oeil sporran to the front of the box.

“There’s more over here!” cried Twilight as she swayed off in the other direction. She fired at will, leaving splotches of cruelly contrasting crosshatching on planters, doors, and even the backside of the occasional passing pony.

“Sorry, Cheerilee!” called Rarity as she chased after Twilight, laughing madly. “Don’t worry, it will fade, and in the meantime you look good in Royal Stuart!”

Twilight screeched to a halt in the middle of the town square, grunting as Rarity barreled into her from behind. “AHA!” she cried, raising a hoof to the sky. “Let’s get Pinkie Pie to load her Party Cannon with heavy ordnance!”

Rubbing her bruised muzzle, Rarity grumbled briefly, then caught her breath, her eyes narrowing as she looked nervously around at their surroundings. “No, no... this is our mission! We must prevail on our own! And we really shouldn’t stop here...”

“MORE OF THEM!” shouted Twilight as she fired off another salvo of eye-wrenching patterns. One blast hit the statue of Celestia, turning it a wild array of garish colors.

Rarity’s nose crinkled as she darted up to examine this latest monstrosity. “Ew,” she said disgustedly. “Did you have to mix MacQueen and Buchanan? I think this time you’ve gone too far.”

“You’re right!” Twilight replied in a rush, her ears and tail gyrating as she finally processed one of Rarity's previous comments. “We can’t stop here! This is bat country, and I can’t zap them all!”

In a brilliant flash of pink light the two ponies were gone.

The rest of that afternoon passed quietly in Ponyville, though occasional crazed laughter was heard by those few ponies who lived near the Everfree Forest. The next day, however, saw Fluttershy dressing down two exhausted-looking ponies for turning Angel’s fur a bright MacInnes , though her ire seemed more focused on the fact that she had been magically clasped into a rabbit fur sporran....