Both Sides Now

Twilight lay a hoof on the golden handle of her hotel door. From inside the room, Rarity's ears twitched at the sound of the lock.

It didn't surprise Twilight to find Rarity in her room, or on her bed, waiting with her legs tucked under her body. She slid closed the latch that locked the door, and Rarity started talking.

"Everything went well with Fair Banks," she said, "and it was all over much quicker than I had anticipated. He speaks awfully fast, you might have noticed. And I considered browsing some of the boutiques in the main street, because who knows when I'll be here next with free time, we're always off on some adventure or another that's taking us far away from anywhere that sells nice things, aren't we? But I didn't quite feel like having the attention of the clerks, having them fawn over me to encourage the sale of a diamond this or a cashmere that, so I found myself back in my room. And I took a bath and washed my mane, and sent up for some food, and at some point it occurred to me that our rooms were connected, and I could just wait here. So that's what I've been doing, just watching the sun and waiting."

She glanced away from Twilight, then back up at her with her eyes wide and vulnerable.

"I missed you," she said.

Twilight had headed back to the hotel at a brisk trot, telling herself that she was at her limit for interacting with anypony else, even Cadance, even Celestia, and that she was hurrying through the streets to get back to her private little sanctum to take off her regalia and maybe spend the rest of the evening with the book she was halfway through. She had told herself these things, and perhaps this had been the busy planning her brain had been doing as the forum wound to a close, but it was her heart that knew the truth.

"I missed you, too," she said.

Rarity rose from the bed, her shadow long on the wall in the afternoon sun. She went to Twilight, slowly, assuredly, and she touched a hoof to Twilight's cheek, and slid the crown from her head, and stroked Twilight's mane, straightening her forelock with care. Twilight allowed herself to be touched, pressing against Rarity's hoof and sighing and closing her eyes, but only for very brief moments as she didn't want to lose contact with Rarity's piercing eyes. She floated the crown to its place in the open box on the writing desk for her royal jewellery, and Rarity continued to touch her, slow methodical caresses, and continued to stare into her. She was so beautiful.

Next the necklace was unclasped, shimmering as it captured and held the light of the sun in its liquid gold surface. Rarity held it with her hooves, then held it with her magic, and placed it in its place. She touched Twilight's coat where it had sat, smoothing it as she had her mane, relishing the warmth of her body, and she smiled at Twilight's trembling gasp. It felt so good, that firm and simple brushing of her pelt, and Twilight thought wildly that this, this is the reason we have loneliness and isolation and separation, so that it can feel this good when we connect with another pony, be it an understanding of souls or a touch of the hooves. Rarity was slow and sure, finding places on her that she didn't know were crying for attention. It could have looked innocent if seen with outside eyes -- it could have been a massage, from a friend to another, at the end of a long day -- but to Rarity it was the most sensual act she had ever partaken in, want flowing out of her and Twilight, meeting where they touched, combining and flooding the room with a coiled energy greater than the sum of its parts.

Rarity knelt to take the first of Twilight's golden shoes. There was a ritual quality to this all, one that evoked a servant dressing down royalty but didn't embody it. She was removing Twilight's costume, the last costume, the real costume, as she had let hers fall by the wayside over this long day, and they would face each other, naked and unarmored, as equals on every field. The play was over, the audience gone home, and there was just her and Twilight left behind the stage, and Rarity could see her as she truly was, and it made her heart stop. Last night had been a blur, a frantic haze of lust; now Twilight had the clarity and experience to anticipate what would follow but retained the exuberance for it to happen and her to be a part of it. She was caught between princess and student. She was Twilight at her most captivating, and oh, how she was captivated.

Twilight lifted her hoof to let Rarity take another shoe. It was so slow, maddeningly so, but she realized it wouldn't do to move any faster, to hurry along to the end. This was the last performance, the real performance, the one that stripped away time and place and the outside world and left only the connection between two ponies, a blazing tether along which undiluted emotions ran. Rarity fixed her with her eyes, her cool diamond eyes, never breaking contact with her own and causing her breath to race. The night before had been all momentum, more of their play-acting accidentally spilling over into the territory of reality, but now Rarity was no longer acting; this was the real Rarity, and she was making her intentions clear with every ounce of her. She was so inviting and so predatory. She was Rarity at most most seductive, and oh, how she was seduced.

The last of the shoes floated into its soft velvet home. The lid of the box closed with a light click. Rarity rose and met Twilight with a kiss, measured and tempered as when she had stripped her of her royal raiment. Twilight stroked her cheek, soft and warm as her lips. They broke, gazing into each other's eyes, muzzle resting against muzzle, horns crossed.

"I want you," Rarity whispered, and Twilight replied, "then take me."

They kissed again with urgency, lips pressing, tongues colliding. With eyes closed Rarity mapped Twilight's face, her cheeks held between her forehooves, holding her, guiding her, leading her, and Twilight let herself be led, melting into each kiss tasting of sweet vanilla and wild cinnamon. Her lips roamed, grazed the tip of her nose, her brow, fluttered deliciously around the base of her horn, and Twilight moaned as she felt magic flow not from her but back into her, a delirious twisting sensation like being in freefall. Rarity's teeth bit lightly on Twilight's ear, pulling, tugging, and Twilight murmured, "Mmm," against Rarity's soft underhoof, "that's good."

Rarity draped herself over Twilight with an arm across her withers, Twilight's ear in her mouth as she gasped into the frog of her other hoof. "Do you like that?" she whispered, and Twilight breathed, "yes, yes," to tickle Rarity's sensitive hoof, and she ran her lips down Twilight's ear and her tongue over the tip of Twilight's horn, making her stomach roil and her nethers clench, and she wrapped herself around Twilight to nibble on her other ear and she groaned deep in her throat, so loud that Rarity could feel the sound as it traveled through her, and Twilight said words which shot an electric shiver into Rarity, something she never could have imagined Twilight saying, which only made it more naughty, more forbidden: "You're making me wet..."

"Am I...?" Rarity said around her teeth, not letting go of Twilight's ear, feeling the heat of her own arousal. "Yes," Twilight sighed, and Rarity bit, unleashing a torrent of Twilight's desires: "I want you to kiss me, lick me, all over--"

It was impossible to say if Rarity pulled Twilight or Twilight drove Rarity towards the bed. Both were true.

"--Lick between my legs, lick me with your tongue--"

Twilight fell onto the bed and Rarity came with her, pinning her in place with her hind legs around her barrel. Twilight's mane spread out on the sheets, her wings extended to the edges of the bed, and Rarity kissed her, her hooves, her horn, her chest, marking her, owning her, and still she spoke on.

"--Lick me, lick all of me, lick inside of me Rarity--"

Her tongue brushed through the coat on Twilight's chest, leaving a ruffled trail, up her neck, her jaw, her waiting lips. Through their kiss Twilight begged her:

"--Make me come, Rarity, make me come with your tongue."

And how could she refuse? She loosened her hold around Twilight, and Twilight felt Rarity's pleasant weight upon her lessen. She rose up, looking down at Twilight, still straddling her. Rarity ran her tongue across her lips, and Twilight took a deep breath and bit her lip.

But Rarity did not move down. She wasn't content to wriggle back, not with the maddening heat-ache that had awoken at Twilight's words gnawing at her. Twilight's desperation was her desperation. She did not move down: instead she turned, crawled so that she was faced towards Twilight's hindquarters and her long tail brushed across Twilight's face. She glanced back at Twilight, and for a second she was puzzled, and then it bloomed on her, the smile, the smile that was dirty and knowing and wanton, the same smile that grew on her own face as she dipped between Twilight's legs. Rarity tasted her, sweet and bitter and sexual above all things, and Twilight put her tongue to Rarity's own burning sex. They were joined, connected, intimately linked.

Rarity had been going to make Twilight climax under her lapping tongue, truly she had been, but she found it impossible a task to completely concentrate on with Twilight licking her lower lips, hard and soft and rough and smooth all at the same time. She would find a rhythm and Twilight would break it with a swirl over the hood of her sensitive button, and she would moan with her muzzle pressed up against Twilight's parted cleft, and she would feel that wonderful vibration of sound ripple through her, hardening her nipples, tingling in her horn, making her belly quake with fire, and her eyelids would flutter and she would smile as she slipped her tongue into Rarity's wet folds, tasting her and teasing her. The bed was so soft and cool, and Rarity so soft and warm, and everything she did with her tongue felt so good, there was no reason to let any of it finish. They could just stay in this oroborean cycle of pleasure for as long as time would allow them to. Twilight let her hooves rest on Rarity's firm rump, and gasped when Rarity surprised her with a long, sensuous lick that reached deep inside of her.

On and on their pleasure rose, sometimes a brief dip, sometimes a plateau, never cresting. Twilight felt herself coming close, teetering at the edge with naught but a few well-placed naughty thoughts to tip her over, but she held back. She pulled away from Rarity, who almost cried out: she had been nearly there, just a little longer...!

"Why did you stop?" she asked as Twilight disentangled herself, but Twilight didn't reply, just crept to Rarity until they were face to face. Rarity had propped herself up on one arm and Twilight was leaning over her, both their muzzles matted and damp, both their nethers buzzing. Twilight leaned in to Rarity, and she had just enough time to fight the urge to pull back and politely suggest they wash up a little first before Twilight licked her muzzle, tasting herself off of Rarity's coat, and an image came to her that was so strong it just had to be true -- younger Twilight, curious Twilight, inquisitive Twilight, fresh from a session of teenage self-pleasure, slipping a hoof between her legs to her sated sex and bringing it up to taste of the slick juices she found with her experimental tongue -- and she let Twilight clean her as she trembled, and she kissed her, tasting the musk of her own arousal all over her.

She held Twilight around her back and Twilight engulfed her in her wings, and they pressed their bodies close together, rolling on the silky exquisite bed. Rarity let her hoof wander down Twilight's side, over her cutie mark, between her thighs, and as she pressed it against her waiting flower, wet and warm and wanting, she felt something touch her where she most desperately needed to be touched; Twilight was using her magic again, no specialized spell but the familiar touch every unicorn knew, and it was almost indistinguishable from a caress from her physical self. They were locked in their kiss still, wrapped in each other, ready to finish as one.

Neither lasted long.

Twilight tensed and Rarity felt the rising wave of pleasure blank her mind as they climaxed together, a sweet, sweet end that did not define the journey but only marked a resting point. Twilight shivered in Rarity's embrace. Rarity pressed herself against Twilight's coat. Together they lay, covered in sweat, smelling of sex, faces flushed, heartbeats fast, breaths deep, content, exhausted, spent.

Rarity opened her eyes to see the room had become darker. The sun had set in the time of their lovemaking, replaced by the lights of the city and of the stars. "Mm," she said into Twilight's chest, "we missed the fireworks."

Lightly stroking her mane, Twilight said, "I saw fireworks," and she said it in a tone that was so straightforward and matter-of-fact that Rarity didn't realize Twilight had been making a joke until she started laughing.

Rarity joined her, even if it was an awful joke, the sensations of being so close to Twilight comforting. "That's dreadful," she told her, smiling.

"I know."

"You should be whispering sweet nothings in my ear, like any good princess trying to woo her suitor."

Twilight snickered. It was good to laugh, to talk. She felt open, light, free. "Are you saying you are insufficiently wooed?"

Rarity lay her head against Twilight's chest and looked up into her sparkling purple eyes. "Not at all. Your wooing has been most satisfactory."

"What we were just doing wasn't wooing," Twilight said, feeling a cheeky grin spread on her face.

"Dreadful," Rarity repeated, and she stretched up to kiss her.

Twilight kissed her back, and kissed the tip of her nose for good measure. "I don't think I'm really the sweet nothings type, anyway," she said.

"I suspect nopony really is." She rested against Twilight, looking out the hotel window. "It only exists in frightfully tacky romance novels, of which I may be guilty of having read one too many."

Twilight brushed Rarity's coat with the tip of her wing. She hadn't experimented much with their dexterity, their tactile ability. Initial impression: Rarity felt nice. "Shouldn't it be suitors who are trying to woo princesses," she asked, "in these novels?"

"That's what makes them frightfully tacky. I was always partial to the kind where some member of the nobility falls in love from afar with a commoner, and tries to impress upon her the benefits of a noble life."

"Does she take them up on the offer in the end, or do they live together at her humble cottage?"

"It varies."

Twilight looked out the window, up at the stars and the lavender sky, thinking about all the books she had read in a room like this. "I kind of had a soft spot for stories where the smart-but-naive protagonist falls for a charming worldly rogue," she said, "often after a lot of protesting about how she could never be interested in a pony like that."

"Is that what I am?" Rarity asked, tapping her hoof lightly on Twilight's chest. "A charming worldly rogue?"

"I'm not sure." She looked at her. Rarity might have had a rogue's smile, were she a swarthy stallion instead of a refined mare; Twilight felt a reaction similar to that of a smart-but-naive heroine towards it, anyway. "I don't think we fit neatly into an archetype," she said.

"Well, why should we?" Rarity said. "Our story is yet to be written."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "it's just beginning."

She took a deep breath as the smiled faded from their faces, having realized what she had just said. What they had said. It was sobering. A little scary. But a lot exciting.

"It is just beginning, isn't it?" she repeated.

"It is," Rarity said.

It was thrilling, embarking on this journey in the dark. Intimidating, but what Rarity felt most was the flutter of excitement in anticipation of seeing what lay around each new twist and turn. So many things would be new to her, least of all being in a relationship with royalty; she had never had a lover who had begun as her friend.

"Though," she said, "I dare say we have one of the most important aspects covered already."

"Good sex?" Twilight said innocently, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible.

Rarity spluttered, which made it impossible for Twilight to contain her laughter. "No! I was trying to make a point about our friendship." She tapped her again, a little harder this time, but still well within the boundaries of being playful.

"I guess I should have picked up on that," Twilight said, still attempting neutrality, "me being the Princess of Friendship and all."

After kissing her chest and smoothing out the spot where her hoof had landed, Rarity settled her head back down. "I suppose that's two things we have covered," she said with a smile Twilight couldn't see, but she shared regardless.

They watched the twinkling stars and the darkening sky in comfortable silence. The minutes passed slowly, their bodies fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. From their private cocoon, the world seemed still.

It was Rarity who spoke first. "Do you want to send up for some dinner?" she asked, her voice seeming out of place.

"Actually," Twilight said, "I was thinking about going out."

"Hm. A novel concept." Rarity turned a little to prop herself up over Twilight. "Did you have any place in mind?"

"Not really. But I think we could find somewhere without a reservation." She ruffled her wings and smiled.

"Rank does have its privileges." She rolled out of bed, the floor feeling cold and hard compared to the bed and Twilight. "If time permits, I believe I shall have a brisk shower before we leave."

Twilight sat up and was able to see her reflection in the mirror. She poked at her lopsided mane with a hoof. "I guess we have kinda bad bed-mane, huh?"

"Twilight, dear," Rarity said, glancing at her own reflection, "that is unmistakably sex-mane."

Chuckling, Twilight said, "Maybe it would start a new trend if a princess went out with her mane all wild like this."

"Cause a minor scandal, at the very least."

"Best not to risk it."

"I'd think not. I'll have that shower now, I think." Rarity stepped towards the shared bathroom door.

Twilight intercepted her, a grin on her face. She was thinking of showers, of Rarity under cascading steamy water.

"What?" Rarity asked, puzzled. Did Twilight not want her to leave?

"I just thought I would have a shower too, is all."

Twilight was very bad at playing innocent. "Oh, I see," Rarity said, allowing Twilight to squeeze past her. She flicked her with her tail, then followed her into the bathroom. "It's such a shame that we have only the one shower between us."

"Such a shame indeed."

-/-

It was a while before they left the hotel to eat.