Rarity was delighted to see Twilight was awake, albeit barely, as she walked back into the apartment after her ordeal with Fluttershy.

Twilight sat groggily at the breakfast table in the living room with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, the curtains drawn and bathing her in the warm glow of the morning sun, and without a word, Rarity walked over to the table and threw the golden envelope onto it.

At first, Twilight was clearly galled by Rarity’s lack of tact and glowered at her, but when she saw Rarity’s cold stare fixed on the envelope, Twilight begrudgingly looked down at it herself and, realizing what it was, her eyes widened as she looked back at Rarity in shock. Rarity nodded slowly, a smile creeping onto her face.

“Will you please—” Rarity thought she could say her piece without the words choking themselves in her throat, but she was quite wrong! “Will you join me? Will you go with me to Baltimare, and to Fillydelphia, and Manehattan? Will you join Bifrost with me and fight alongside me?”

“Wow, that’s— this is really sudden—” Twilight said seriously, her eyes darting anxiously between Rarity, the envelope, and the window. “Do you even have any idea of what that would mean? What would happen to our lives here?”

“Some life,” Rarity sneered venomously. She shook her head sadly when Twilight raised a concerned eyebrow and instead said calmly, “I can’t force you, obviously. I wouldn’t want to even if I could, but I need to do this.”

“You’ve never been one for half measures-” Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee “-I’ll give you that.”

Twilight sighed softly, her gaze fixed out the window toward the back alley next to her and Rarity’s meager apartment.

“Rarity, if we leave our apartment to go compete in a fighting tournament… we won’t be able to come back to it.”

“I know.”

“We’ve lived here for years,” Twilight continued, “and rent was far cheaper when we moved in. Between my disability and the pitiful little allowance that we both still have to depend on from our parents, I don’t know if we would be able to find another apartment with just the two of us.”

“Yes, I am aware.”

“Not to mention that getting those disability payments in the first place was—” Twilight groaned exaggeratedly, and for good reason.

“A nightmare,” Rarity said. “And yes, through some ridiculous legal loophole you will probably lose them if you leave and won’t be able to get them back.”

“You really know what you’re saying,” Twilight smiled. “You honestly, truly understand that magnitude of what you’re talking about here.”

“I do,” Rarity nodded, feeling nothing but confident in her decision, for if she let herself second-guess that decision for even a second, her confidence would crumble like paper in the rain. “And if we go to this tournament only to lose in the preliminaries or something, then I will have ruined our lives for absolutely nothing. I understand this. If that happens we shall be forced to move back in with our parents, and I—”

Rarity shook her head vigorously and scoffed.

“I refuse to accept that will happen, but-” Rarity cleared her throat, stifling one of many swarming doubts in her mind “-it is a risk that I am willing to take. But I don’t know what will happen to you, so I completely understand if you don’t want to do this.”

“Welp, it’s a good thing that I wanted to join your team anyway, Rarity!” Twilight said with a bright smile and a sparkle in her eye, Rarity’s jaw practically dropping to the floor in shock. “I had you going though! Who says Twilight Sparkle is above a good prank every now and then!” Twilight’s self-satisfied giggle was the cutest thing Rarity had ever heard.

“So you’ll come with me,” Rarity put a hoof on her chest, breathing a sigh of relief.

“I will,” Twilight took another sip of her coffee. “But that still only makes two of us. You and I both know that we need three to make a full team. I don’t suppose Fluttershy—”

“Is on Rainbow’s team.”

“Ah.”

Twilight grumbled and looked down at her cup with a ponderous scowl on her face.

“And we can’t just join up with anypony. I may be a gifted magician but I’m not exactly a star combatant and you—”

Twilight stopped herself and her cheeks flushed before she could let out what would certainly be a cutting remark about Rarity’s complete lack of fighting prowess, a remark that would no doubt sting Rarity’s pride, but would not be unearned.

“Correct,” Rarity grumbled, slumping into a chair at the table. “We would need somepony who’s a good fighter. Someone strong, reliable, dependable, and trustworthy especially.”

Rarity clicked her tongue and let out a single, bitter laugh as the pieces fell into place. “Of course.”

“Somepony tough who can balance out our deficit of physical strength would be ideal,” Twilight pondered, more or less talking to herself in order to come up with a solution. “And we need to find this pony—” Twilight arched an eyebrow at Rarity.

“By tonight,” Rarity didn’t feel the need to look at Twilight as she answered, her eyes still fixed into the distance. “We need to catch the express train that leaves here at ten o’clock tonight headed straight for Baltimare, because the tournament starts tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Twilight groaned disgustedly, hanging her head in anguish. “So what we need is a really strong, honest and capable pony…”

“Right.”

“One who can be relied upon and who won’t crack under pressure,” Twilight continued, and Rarity nodded. “Somepony who’s tough as nails, perhaps a real working girl, rugged and fierce, but dignified and stoic in her own stubborn way…”

“I cannot believe you’re doing this by accident,” Rarity laughed, and Twilight cocked her head confusedly. “You haven’t met her, but I know a pony that fits the exact description you just gave.”

“Great!” Twilight said cheerfully, bouncing out of her chair and stamping her hooves eagerly on the tile floor. “Then let’s get going.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Rarity sighed forlornly and stepped onto the ground herself, stretching her legs and arching her back to awaken her weary muscles.

“Let’s go talk to my ex.”

Author's Note

lmao i was just getting caught up on enchanted kingdom, and now here i am immediately writing rarity and twilight. mono psyop'd me

Anyhoo, please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!