The world was nothing but crimson and gold. Her half-asleep mind floundered for a second, trying to make sense of what she saw. After a moment passed, she realized that last night’s events hadn’t been a dream. Twilight smiled.

Dusty beams of light floated through the window, gilding everything it fell upon. The beautifully carved ceiling had been nigh invisible before dawn, but now she could discern every detail. She took a moment to appreciate the intricate patterns as she blinked the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes.

As gently as she could manage, Twilight extricated herself from the tangle of limbs, snorting to blow a bit of her companion’s hair out of her face. She was astonished when she managed to roll out of bed without waking Sunset Shimmer. Immediately, however, she wished that she’d never gone through the effort; it was a cold winter’s morning, even here, so far removed from the Crystal Mountains. She shivered, considering for a moment that she could just clamber back into her bed, but there was something she had to do.

There was a loose piece of paper on the ground. She couldn’t imagine how it had come to be there, but Twilight lifted it in front of her muzzle, procured a quill and an inkwell, and wrote a brief note. She left it on a bedside table where Sunset would be unable to miss it, then silently made her way downstairs. Spike rolled over in his sleep, but otherwise did not stir. She wandered past the bookshelves, still half-asleep, before pushing open her front door.

It was a crisp and cool morning, not much warmer than the previous night, but the cold had been bothering her less recently. Ponyville looked exactly like what it was; a town well and truly awake in the late morning light. Not even a blizzard could dampen the town’s spirits, and this had been a light snowfall. Ponies and birds sung alike, pegasi rearranged the sky, and earth ponies carried trade materials to work. Many ponies hailed her with friendly greetings as she walked, but she heard no cries of ‘Princess!’, no bowing, kneeling or scraping. She was immensely grateful for that.

Eventually, Twilight arrived at her destination- a building on the edge of town fashioned in likeness of a carousel. It proclaimed itself as the Carousel Boutique, and it was open, according to a sign. Twilight pushed open the door, announced by a soft tinkling of bells.

Reddish-purple curtains, all velvet, hung from every wall. Mannequins flaunted freshly-designed dresses in every corner, every angle reflected in a line of mirrors. The space should have felt like impersonal, meant only for matters of business. Perhaps it would have, were it not the life’s work of the Element of Generosity. The building could have felt like a second home, and everypony was always welcome.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique,” a familiar voice sang from the depths of the shop, “where every – oh, darling!” Rarity interrupted herself mid-slogan to express her surprise at Twilight’s appearance verbally and with an unladylike flying hug.

“Oof! I was only gone for a few days! Hello, Rarity.” Twilight massaged the spot where Rarity’s horn had poked her, wincing.

She was very pretty, Twilight noticed. A coat of pure alabaster, impeccably groomed, broken only by a trio of diamonds on her flank. Her purple mane was masterfully styled, putting that of almost everypony Twilight had ever met to shame. Ruefully, she realized that her own mane was as boring as possible in comparison, even with her lovely coloration. Maybe she could do something about that for Sunset’s sake. It would only be fair, her mane always looks so beautiful...

“And how is dear Sunset?” Rarity asked, yanking Twilight out of her daydream. “I know the two of you didn’t start off on, shall we say, the right hoof, but you seem to have become fast friends. Was she supposed to come back with you? For the life of me, I can’t recall.”

“Sunset’s doing quite well,” Twilight dodged. “She spent the night at the library.”

“And what about you?” Rarity inquired. “Anything of interest transpire during your stay with your brother and sister-in-law? I mean, the Crystal Empire is outrageous. All those gems. Truly, truly, truly outrageous.”

“Well, yes, I suppose. I mean, yes, something happened, and I kind of need to talk about it.” She shifted her weight from one side to another nervously, trying her hardest not to pace.

“Anytime, Twilight!” Rarity surreptitiously switched the ‘Open’ sign in the window around to face indoors. “Go find somewhere to sit, I’ll be back in a moment!” she called as she wandered off into the shop.

Twilight did as she was told. There were booths along one wall, complete with curtains, a mirror, and a round seat. Twilight sat in one of them and waited, admiring a blue-green dress in the mirror that she thought might look good on Sunset.

“You know, it’s really not cold enough outside for you to be blushing quite so much!” Rarity called from another part of the shop, her voice muffled by distance. Twilight caught a glance at herself in a mirror- she really was sporting a luminous blush, probably from imagining how Sunset would look in a dress. My body continues to betray me, she mused.

“Now, I want you to tell me everything!” Rarity exclaimed in a singsong voice as she re-entered the room and sat at the booth adjacent to Twilight’s.

“Hey, Rarity, is that dress over there for sale?” she asked, waving a hoof at the gown she’d been admiring a moment ago.

Twilight had hoped, with the question, to give herself some more time to come up with a proper explanation, to forestall the barrage of Rarity’s questions. It did not work. “Oh, that? Dear, really? I could make such a masterpiece for you and your wonderful wings, but you waste your time with such an everyday item? And, good heavens, the color would not work with your coat – oh. Ohh!” A look of sudden understanding came into Rarity’s gleaming eyes.

“Wait! Wait! Hold on just one second! All the pieces have come into place! Constantly blushing? Making strange, unannounced changes to your travel plans? Looking at articles of clothing that would absolutely not work with one’s own coloration? Oh, honey, you have every sign of a pony who is in the process of eloping! Scandalous!” Rarity leaned forwards, crossing forelegs with a nigh-predatory gleam in her eye. “Do tell. Who’s the lucky maaare?!”

Twilight fidgeted for a moment, feeling the flush in her cheeks transform into an even brighter crimson. “Or stallion,” she meekly suggested.

To her credit, Rarity did not laugh. “Or stallion,” she conceded, though she did not seem to believe it was a great possibility. That’s hardly fair, thought Twilight. How did she know? I didn’t know!

Well, she was going to find out about Sunset eventually. I mean, it’s why I came here in the first place, why did I bother putting it off? She sighed inwardly, then began, finally, to explain. “Well, you know how Celestia moved the Crystal Mirror back to Canterlot?” One nod. Rarity was already hanging on Twilight’s every word. Already there was a light in her eyes that might have been dawning conversation even before Twilight had shared her story. “Yeah, I suppose she thought that if enough nutjobs with dreams of world domination had a chance of getting across the mirror, they might as well go directly to the pony best able to deal with it. As much as I love my sister-in-law, that’s not Cadance. That’s off topic, though. Anyway, the story; Sunset was going to arrive at that train station they built way away from the Crystal Empire. Since it was going to be such a long walk, and I was already there visiting Shiny, I offered to escort her through the woods. And then, uh. Well,” she said, pausing. She had been avoiding looking at Rarity, but as Twilight stopped for breath she saw that the other mare was nearly catatonic with glee.

“Wait wait no n – ” Twilight started, but it was too late. Rarity had launched herself from a sitting position into a flying hug far too quickly for Twilight to react. Rarity slammed into her – thankfully not horn-first this time – squealing with delight as she flew. Twilight caught the two of them before they hit the ground, leaving them floating in the air. Thus, rather than fall to the floor, they remained suspended until Twilight righted herself, helping Rarity do the same.

“Did you play hoofball or something when you lived with your parents?”

“Sorry,” she apologized, still ecstatic, “but that’s just so wonderful! I mean, you’ve never even expressed interest in anypony before!”

“Well, maybe not anypony,” Twilight interjected, but Rarity seemed not to hear.

“ – and now the two of you are together in the library and it’s just so cute! Wait,” Rarity interrupted herself, “you two didn’t have some sort of falling out, did you? Is that why you’re here?”

“No, it’s not,” Twilight said firmly before Rarity could try to apologize for being insensitive. She was taking the revelation remarkably well. “You... are you sure you don’t mind?”

Rarity was visibly confused. “I don’t understand the question, darling.” A crease marred her normally unblemished face for a moment as she considered, before erupting into a peal of graceful laughter. “Oh! Twilight, dear, you wound my honor!” she giggled, bringing a hoof to her chest in mock offense. “I resent the implication that such a thing as finding a marefriend could shatter the bonds of friendship between us! The only thing that could possibly offend me about this situation is if you refuse to let me model a dress on such a lovely figure! And before you ask, no, that dress wouldn’t be her color, either, not with the red. Have you been worrying about this all weekend?” she asked, suddenly with a note of concern in her voice.

“Well, not in so many words, and I don’t think I realized it at the time – ”

“Twilight! I do not get jealous! I am the Element of Generosity!” She sniffed, apparently displeased with herself for the outburst. “Silly sort of label, that, to be honest,” she muttered, briefly breaking eye contact with Twilight as she stared outside. Twilight followed her gaze to a dejected-looking pegasus that had apparently just seen the ‘closed’ sign hanging in the window. “I catch myself saying that too much. The fact of the matter is, Twilight, that everypony, Element-bearer or not, is generally in support of their friends – at least this is the case for true friends, and I think we qualify. If you are worried about what I or any of the girls will say about this, I demand that you stop that this instant. It does yourself, and us, a disservice. I can speak for everypony when I say that whatever anger – I hope you do not mind if I say this, dear – your occasionally overactive and paranoid mind has imagined is just that – paranoia. I will adore having a new customer in town with such a lovely coloration, mane, and kind personality. Pinkie Pie loves any and all new additions to this little town. Really, I could write a list about why this isn’t the problem you fear, but I have other obligations today.” She finished her spiel and leaned on a foreleg, taking a slow breath in to recover. For the last minute, she had prioritized speaking over breathing. “Everything’s going to be just fine, Twilight.”

Gratitude for her friend suffused throughout her entire body. How could she ever have thought she would disapprove? She could have gone home right then, she’d found the catharsis she’d sought. But... that wouldn’t have been very generous of her, would it? She had another pony’s welfare to look after besides her own, now, and there likely wasn’t a pony who knew how to help better than Rarity. “I just wish Sunset knew that.”

An eyebrow quirked at this remark. “Why? How is she, anyway? I thought nothing of it at the time, but you avoided the question when I asked earlier.”

“She’s mostly fine, I think, but I honestly don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “She was in a bad state last night, but I managed to calm her down after a while. I’m still not convinced she’s completely better yet, and everything’s so sudden and so weird and I just don’t know what to do about it!”

“Do about it? You should pursue it, of course!” Rarity looked incensed, apparently afraid that Twilight was about to squander her chance at true love.

“I want to! Sunset is adorable! It’s just all happening too fast for me to process.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” Rarity said. She mellowed out as she considered, brow furrowed in thought. “Well then, what precisely would you like to talk about?”

Twilight faltered. Honestly, she had not thought this far ahead; probably not her best moment, as this was the moment she had come to Rarity’s for in the first place. As such, she thought her response was perfectly reasonable, given the circumstances.

“How do I romance?”

“I’m sure you could find a book on the subject,” Rarity teased. “I’m surprised, Twilight. I could call love an art, something to be mastered and practiced. I could say that, but it would not be true, much as I enjoy the occasional exaggeration. Anypony can do it. You’re very good at making friends wherever you go. Romance isn’t any different. You have to be generous, honest, kind, loyal; but most important is making sure that your love is true. Why do you care for her?” she inquired, and waited patiently for an answer.

Twilight paused for a moment, letting her mind wander. One of the velvet curtains rippled in a pattern like a raging inferno. Twilight stared at it, mind wandering back to Sunset’s mane of fire as she spoke. “I don’t know. It’s so hard to understand how I feel because it was so stressful when it – er, began, I suppose – that I sometimes forgot that I did enjoy her company. Everything’s changed too quickly, and I still don’t understand how to talk to her and make her understand exactly how I feel. We had a chat last night, though. We didn’t quite come to an understanding as to how we would proceed in the relationship from thence onwards, but I left her a note when I left the library – she’s still asleep – that, among other things, proposed the possibility of a date. But I digress,” Twilight said after noticing the bemused expression on Rarity’s face. “Sorry for rambling.”

The memory of Sunset Shimmer’s flower-scented mane seemed to hang in the air. Twilight smiled, suddenly certain. “She’s funny, and nice. She’s modest, whether she realizes it or not. She doesn’t like sharing things about how she used to be, but she won’t lie about what happened. I like how vulnerable she acts when she thinks nopony is looking. I enjoy being there for her when she needs somepony to talk to – especially since she thinks I’m the only one she can talk to, but I’ll prove her wrong on that point soon enough. I want to be the one to help her get over what she’s done in the past, and let her know that she’s already forgiven. And even though I never used to see it, she’s beautiful.”

Rarity smiled a beatific smile. “And does she know that this is how you feel?” she asked, voice gentle. Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight pouring through the windows. The silence stretched on, as good as an answer. “Then you should probably tell her.”

“Y – you’re right,” Twilight said. “You’re right!” She grinned with all her newfound confidence. Everything would be just perfect, now. “I’m going to go right back to the library right now and tell Sunset exactly how I feel!” She sprung off the chair, startling Rarity, who stood clumsily and galloped after her. Twilight pushed open the door to the boutique and heard it lock behind her as Rarity followed her mad rush.

“Wait!” she called. “There’s somepony – !”

A shadow passed over the sun.

“Twilight. Sparkle.”

She stopped dead in her tracks, whipping her head around to find the source of the words.

“Oh, dear,” Rarity murmured from behind. “You know, I did try to warn you.”

A dark figure, silhouetted by the morning sun, perched atop a nearby building, raised an ominous hoof, and pointed it towards Twilight in accusation.

“You dare invite a pony into this town...” it menaced, and suddenly leaped into the air before finally falling to earth near the alicorn with a pink blur and a bounce, “...and you didn’t tell me how to theme their super-duper ‘Welcome to Ponyville!’ party?”

Author's Note

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this one. As you could probably tell, I tried to focus on dialogue more than prose, and I'm probably overthinking everything oh god it's just a fun little fluffy short story but i really want to not suck and tell me where I fucked up because I know I did

Also, we shall see what Pinkie does in a chapter or two.