Rarity was not jealous.
No. A lady never gets jealous. Such emotion was uncharacteristic for a pony such as herself. So no, she was not jealous. She was merely concerned, that’s all.
The day had started off just like any other Sunday would have. After having breakfast with her little sister Sweetie Belle, she trotted out along Ponyville’s streets and gracefully made her way to the Golden Oak Library, where she was greeted and allowed in by Spike. Once inside, she saw the same sight that she always found ever since she started this routine; Twilight Sparkle enthusiastically going back and forth in the library, happily humming to herself, as she prepared everything she needed for her weekly trip to Canterlot Castle.
That was where her concern began to nudge at her.
At first she had brushed it off as nothing. It was just her marefriend being happy to see her longtime mentor. Princess Celestia has been Twilight’s teacher for most of her life, and there was certainly nothing wrong with being excited at meeting with somepony who has thought and guided you over the years. Albeit, those weekly meetings were actually learning sessions about boring ancient magical artifacts, but then again, this was Twilight Sparkle she was talking about.
Whatever it was, they were merely lessons with her mentor, and Rarity had initially thought that her adorkable marefriend was just excited about the lessons she was about to learn. The ever curious purple unicorn was, in no doubt, ecstatic at getting to learn more about ancient magical artifacts.
However, as time went by, the reason for her concern started to appear.
It started in the third week of their relationship, during a lunch date the two unicorns were having, a day after Twilight’s return from her most recent meeting with the Princess. As usual, Twilight couldn’t help but talk and talk about the various artifacts she had learned the previous day.
Rarity had to admit that she didn’t really have much interest in regards to the various ancient artifacts used by the unicorns of old, but she did have a whole heart of interest towards her marefriend, and she would never pass off the chance to see her so happy. This was the Twilight she fell in love with, and there was nothing that would want to make her change how the unicorn was.
She always looks so adorable talking about topics she loves, and Rarity couldn’t help but smile as Twilight got animated while talking about the various enchanted staffs Starswirl the Bearded wielded.
“Afffghtur thughh lesssun-” Twilight said, after taking a large bite of her daisy sandwich.
Rarity giggled, before shaking her head and giving Twilight a playful scowl. “Twilight, love, please don’t talk while your mouth is full. We have plenty of time together, so take your time and swallow.”
“Sorry.” Twilight said, swallowing her food before smiling sheepishly and blushing. This only made Rarity giggled even more.
“As you were saying, love?” Rarity said, her eyes fixed directly on the unicorn. This only made Twilight blush even more, as she tried to recount where she left off.
“So, after the lesson, the Princess took me up to her study to see her personal collection of staffs used by Starswirl himself!”
“I’m glad you had fun, darling.” Rarity said, smiling wide. “I bet you were bursting with joy when you saw them.”
“Bursting with joy could scarcely describe how I was!” Twilight exclaimed, eyes wide with joy. Giggling and shaking her head, she blushed as she went on. “I felt so lightheaded with excitement that I almost fainted on the Princess’ bed.”
This tickled Rarity’s curiosity, as she raised an eyebrow and gave her marefriend a questioning look.
“The Princess’ bed?” She asked. And tell me why in the world would you end up on the Princess’ bed.”
“Oh, well, the Princess’ study is located in the same room her bedroom is.”
“Ah.” Rarity said, as she felt an odd feeling inside her. “So, she just allowed you to go into her bedroom, her most private of rooms?”
Twilight gave her a confused look, not understanding why she seemed so uneasy about this.
“Well, yea.” She plainly said. “It’s not like we’re complete strangers or anything. Why, is there something wrong?”
“No.” Rarity said, a little bit too quickly. “It’s just that, I didn’t know you two were so...intimate.”
Twilight laughed at this and waved her hoof dismissively, making Rarity scrunch her face in slight annoyance.
“I think intimate is too strong of a word, Rares, but we are pretty close, with me being her personal student and all.”
They were close, that was true, but she had always thought of it as a friendly teacher student kind of way. Rarity never had expected them to be really close to the point of having such a close and open relationship. Deep down inside, something in her felt too uneasy about it.
Whatever that feeling was, however, she kept it to herself.
As time went on though, it kept getting stronger and stronger. She was concerned about what Twilight was doing at Canterlot, and the stories her marefriend was telling about her time there wasn’t helping at all. Later on, Rarity started to hate asking her how her lessons with the Princess went.
But she wasn’t jealous, no, she still refused to believe that. She was just concerned, and she was adamant at this.
She was concerned at how close Twilight and the Princess were. She was also concerned at how her marefriend was starting to talk more and more about the Princess. It got to the point that all she was talking about was Princess Celestia this, and Princess Celestia that, the stories almost never being about the lesson anymore, but instead about the pony she was spending time with.
This made Rarity concerned; it made her really concerned.
She trusted Twilight, and there was no doubt in her mind that she was every faithful to her. But there was something about the time she was spending with the Princess that she didn’t like. She trusted Twilight, but she didn’t trust Princess Celestia.
Still, however, she refused to tell Twilight about these feelings. It was probably nothing, and there was no use in getting worked up over something her wild imagination was warning her about.
It wasn’t like the Princess was trying to woo her Twilight, right? That’s just all in her head, right?
Pushing away all these concerns and focusing on the present, Rarity did her best to smile and hide her feelings. Fixing her eyes on Twilight, she noticed that she was a little bit more cheery than usual. There was a certain spring in her step that was plain to see.
Rarity felt her heart drop to her stomach. Was she excited because of her lessons? Or, she dreaded thinking, was she excited because of who she was going to meet?
“Oh, good morning, Rares!” Twilight chirped, finally noticing her as she levitated a book into her saddle bag.
Snapping out of her concerned thoughts and making herself smile, Rarity returned the greeting and trotted over to her marefriend.
“Good morning to you too, love.” She said, as she approached and nuzzled her. “I see you are well and ready for this week’s trip to Canterlot.”
Twilight excitedly nodded, before returning Rarity’s nuzzling with one of her own.
“Yup! Checked and double checked everything also.” She laughed.
Rarity giggled at this, feeling the weight in her chest becoming lighter as the concern started to slip away from her mind. Glancing at her marefriend’s saddle bag, she noticed how light it looked, as if there was barely anything in there. This was strange, since Twilight almost always packed her bag to the brim with books.
“Traveling light today, darling?”
“Oh, yea, I forgot to tell you. Princess Celestia said that, because of all the hard work I’ve been doing during lessons and assignments, she’s giving me a light day today. Instead of lessons, we’ll be having tea instead. Now, to be honest I would have preferred to have continued our previous topic on South Equestrian Enchanted Statues, but tea is a nice change of pace, you know?”
Rarity had to prevent herself from screaming at the top of her lungs as she heard this. She wanted to burst into flames and stare daggers at her marefriend, before stomping off to Canterlot, break down the Royal Castle’s walls, and ask Princess Celestia who did she think she was to ask her Twilight on some sort of tea date.
But, like the lady she was, she instead responded with one simple, “Oh.”
“Yea, so I guess I won’t have much to talk about when I come back.” Twilight said with a shurg. “We probably won’t be doing much today under than having tea.”
“Yes, and you better not be doing anything else.” Rarity muttered under her breath.
“What?” Twilight asked, making Rarity regain her composure and stammer for better words to say.
“I mean, I hope you two have a lovely day.” Rarity said, adding a fake laugh. Twilight, however, was not buying it.
“Hey, is everything alright?” She asked, concerned. “Are you alright?”
“Why me?” Rarity said, doing her best to push away her concerns again. “I never felt better, darling. I am completely fine.”
Inside she wanted to tell her, she wanted to stop her from going and spend the day with her instead. She really didn’t like what was going on in Canterlot, and she feared what the Princess was planning with her Twilight. But another part of her stopped her from doing this, a part which told her that it was just her imagination. It was simply a formal relationship, and Princess Celestia was simply being friendly to her personal student. Right?
She didn’t want to ruin her marefriend’s day over something so petty.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, darling.”Rarity said, adding a winning smile.
Staring at her for a few seconds, Twilight studied her, looking directly into her eyes to see through any lies. But before Twilight could realize the concern she was trying to hide, Rarity grabbed her marefriend’s saddlebag and gracefully placed it on her back.
“Now, don’t fester too much about me, love, I swear I am perfectly fine.” Rarity said, before ushering Twilight out towards the door. “Besides, if you stand here gawking at my pretty face for too long. The Guards pulling the Princess’ personal chariot would get impatient and might get revenge on you by giving a bumpy flight. We wouldn’t want that to happen now, do we?”
“I guess not…” Twilight said, as they reached the door and opened it to reveal the Royal Chariot coming in for a landing. “...but is everything really okay, Rares? You know you can tell me anything.”
“Everything is fine, love.” Rarity said, before leaning forward to kiss the unicorn on the lips. Smiling after it, she saw the unicorn blush with a goofy smile on her face. This made her giggle at the sight. No matter how many times she did it, surprise kisses always made Twilight stop on her tracks.
“Now then-” Rarity continued. “-go out and enjoy your day with the Princess.”
Shaking off the after-effects of the kiss, and blushing even brighter after realizing how out of it she was, Twilight gave Rarity a shaky nod before making her way out towards the chariot.
“I’ll see you here when I come back?”
“As always, darling.”
Like every Sunday, Rarity was left in charge of Golden Oak library, keeping an eye on the place and assisting Spike, while Twilight was away at Canterlot. Luckily for her, the library rarely had any visitors, whether it was a weekday or a weekend. Because of this, she often spent her time upstairs in Twilight’s room, tidying after the messy unicorn.
“Honestly Twilight, I don’t know how you’ll live without me or Spike taking care of you.” Rarity muttered to herself, as she used her magic to stow away a pile of books on her marefriend’s bed, before fixing the sheets beneath them.
Doing her best to distract herself, Rarity rummaged through the mess that was Twilight's room, arranging everything till it looked prim and proper. There was no use in letting her imagination go wild, she had told herself earlier. It was unhealthy to think of such things, and she would just waste time and cause wrinkles on her skin if she allowed herself to worry.
Besides, if her suspicions were indeed correct in a certain way, then she was sure Twilight won’t let anything happen. It’s not like she would fall for the Princess anyways.
Seconds later she would regret ever thinking about that.
Why wouldn’t she fall for the Princess? Princess Celestia was essentially a goddess, a symbol of divinity and grace. If there was anypony more beautiful and majestic than Rarity, then it would be her.
Compared to her, Rarity was nothing.
Not only that, the Princess was also knowledgeable, and a million times smarter than the fashion oriented unicorn. If there was anypony who had the same interest for more knowledge, and had the information to impress Twilight, then it was the Princess.
She was everything Rarity wasn’t.
To make things worse, the two were already close. From what Twilight has told her, she and Princess Celestia were very close, intimate even. This bothered her a lot since she first heard of it, and it was bothering her even more. It felt like the sensation inside her got worse and worse every time she thought about the two.
She hated it and she was scared.
Inside, she feared what would happen if what she was thinking was exactly what was happening between Twilight and the Princess. With the way Twilight was saying things, it seemed like Princess Celestia was trying to get even closer to Twilight.
One-on-one study sessions in the Princess’ study/bedroom, private walks along the Canterlot gardens, and now a tea date instead of the usual lesson, this was not something a normal pony would do with their teacher. Twilight even admitted that she found these things odd at first, since they never really did any of that before. She wasn’t complaining, however, and it seemed like she was liking the time she was spending with Princess Celestia.
Rarity feared that her marefriend was now smitten with the Princess, and that gave an awful sting in her heart. She wanted Twilight to be smitten with her, not with the Princess, not with anypony else. Twilight was hers, and she wanted that mare’s heart to stay with her.
Sighing, she plopped herself on the freshly made bed, looking up at the ceiling, and wondering what she should do. But the answer was all too obvious.
Rarity knew that she needed to tell Twilight, it was that simple and plain. Once she informed her marefriend, then all of this could be cleared up, and the terrible feeling of her concerns could finally be lifted.
She would tell her tonight, she told herself.
Taking a deep breath, Rarity closed her eyes before exhaling all the anxiety in her. Making the decision helped, but it still didn’t completely remove the bad feelings inside her.
At least it calmed her enough to get her through the day.
Getting up from bed, she made her way to Twilight’s study table in hopes of clearing up the mess there and distract her mind once more. Distract her it would do, as the table was a combination of opened letters, crumpled notes, and books.
Starting off with the letters, she began lifting each one, gently stocking them in one corner of the table. Most of these letters were from Princess Celestia, and contained nothing more than assignments. But a certain unopened box from the Princess attracted her attnetion.
Setting aside the box, Rarity studied it with curiosity. She never knew that Twilight received packages from the Princess, and the contents of this one made her curious. Rarity was not a pony who liked the pry, but with her earlier concerns driving, she made the move to open it.
What was inside shocked her and she felt frozen to the bone.
To my most faithful and dearest student,
I hope these flowers will make you happy.
From,
Your proud and caring teacher,
Princess Celestia
Placed beneath this letter were the most beautiful purple flowers Rarity has ever seen.
Her heart dropped and tumbled, as a rage of emotions engulfed her.
***
Twilight Sparkle was having a lovely day. Although she had to admit that she was disappointed at not being able to continue her lesson on Enchanted Statues in Southern Equestria, the tea she got to share with her mentor was quite a relaxing change. Studying was fun, that was true, but to just relax and take it easy, while exchanging everyday stories had a certain charm that she enjoyed.
Taking a sip of the tea, she listened as Princess Celstia tried to contain her giggling as she continued with her story.
“So the Guards come barging in, incessantly knocking on my door, shouting ‘Princess! Princess! Nightmare Moon has returned, again!’ Turns out it was only Luna in disguise.”
Twilight laughed at this, all the while feeling sympathetic for the Guards, who were most likely scared out of their minds from what happened.
“I never knew that Princess Luna was a pony who liked doing pranks, Princess.” Twilight managed to say.
“Oh, yes, my little sister is actually quite a prankster. In fact, I remember this one time, back when we were younger-”
Before Princess Celestia could finish her words, the doors to the Royal Dining room slammed open, revealing a very angry white unicorn. Jumping from her seat because of the loud slamming sound it created, Twilight felt panic fill her mind and body, as she turned to glance at the figure at the door. As she did so, panic and confusion turned to concern and worry.
“Rarity?” She asked, as she wondered what her marefriend doing all the way here at Canterlot. Studying her, she also noticed a saddle bag wrapped around her back.
Stiffly turning her head to glare at her, Twilight felt her heart freeze from the cold stare she got. She knew Rarity long enough to understand that this was the highest level of anger the unicorn could achieve, which meant that somepony was in for a bad time. Deep inside, Twilight prayed that it wasn’t her, and she quickly began recounting what wrong she could have possibly done to her.
“Ah, Miss Rarity.” Princess Celestia said, as the alicorn sat across the table from Twilight and welcomed the new arrival. “I must say, Twilight never mentioned anything about you coming, but this is a pleasant surprise. I hope that Guards were not too troublesome in regards to letting you in? Here, come and take a seat and have tea with us, you must have had a long journey.”
“Come have tea with you?” Rarity said, the iciness in her voice enough to slap Twilight out of her trance and focus back on reality. “Oh...no, no, no, no, no! I am not here to have tea with you! I am here to stop you two from having tea!”
A slight frown formed on the Princess’ face because of this remark, and Twilight could tell that there was a hint of confusion too.
“Stop us from having tea?” She asked. “But why? I don’t see no harm with a soothing cup of warm tea and good company.”
“No harm?” Rarity nearly screeched in a mocking tone. Then she began marching forward, heading straight for the Princess. “So you think there is no harm with being intimate with my marefriend? That there is no harm trying to steal her away from me? That there is no harm in sending her flowers?”
By then Rarity was standing a few steps away from the Princess, with an accusing hoof raised towards the alicorn. Rage and anger had clearly engulfed her, and as she sat there, not knowing what caused such feelings, Twilight wondered what she could do to calm down her marefriend.
“Rarity!” She called out. “What in Equestria are you talking about?”
Turning her head towards her, Rarity stared at her with narrow eyes, making Twilight gulp in fear. Her stare, however, softened a bit for a few seconds.
“Twilight, darling, honestly you can be so dense sometimes.” Rarity said. “You clearly haven’t noticed that these weekly “lessons” you’re having with the Princess is just an excuse to spend more time with you so that she can attempt her romantic advances and steal you from me!”
“Romantic advances? Steal you from me?” Twilight repeated, finding both hard to believe. The Princess wasn’t making any romantic advances towards her, since all they have been doing were lessons and friendly chats, with nothing more beyond that. She knew that there was something bothering Rarity earlier that morning, but she didn’t realize that it was this bad. “Rarity, what are you talking about? The Princess is not making any romantic advances towards me!”
“No romantic advances?” Rarity said, staring at Twilight with a hurt tone. “No romantic advances?” She repeated, this time louder and with a firmer tone in her voice. “Then tell me, what in Tartarus is this?”
With one swift flow of magic Rarity made a grab for its contents before pulling out two items. Staring at them as they levitated in front of the angry unicorn, Twilight realized that it was a bundle of lavender colored flowers and a small letter.
“I found this in a box in your room, sent by Princess Celestia herself. Oh, right here, in her own writing, it says: ‘To my most faithful and dearest student, I hope these flowers will make you happy’. Flowers. Flowers, Twilight! Tell me how that doesn't signify as an attempted romantic advance towards you? An attempt to woo you away from me?”
Mouth agape and speechless, Twilight stared at Rarity, not knowing what to say. Staring back at her, she soon realized that her blue eyes now showed hurt instead of anger. Slowly, the anger was washed away by pain and sadness, as the first drops of tears began to drop.
Acting almost immediately, Twilight leaped off of her seat and rushed towards her marefriend. The energy the white unicorn had now seemed drained, as she let go of the levitating flowers and letter, before plopping herself on the floor. Lowering her head, she started to cover her face with her hooves, as she began crying.
“She is going to take you away from me, Twilight!” She wailed, unable to control the pain and sadness she felt. “She is so much better, much more beautiful, and a better pony than me, and I’m going to lose you!”
“What?” Twilight said, as she sat and pressed against the crying unicorn. “No, Rarity, nopony is taking you away from me. I’m yours and yours alone always.”
“But...but…” The mare stuttered, unable to bring the words out. “She...the Princess...she’s trying too...the flowers...the walks in the garden...everything…”
“Rarity, it’s not what you think.” Twilight said, nuzzling her crying marefriend. Pressing more against her, she did her best to get her to calm down. It hurt her to see Rarity like this, completely broken and lost. She cared for nothing but her, and to have her alright and happy, and she hoped that she could bring her back to that state.
Whatever was bothering Rarity, she wanted to help her through it. But right now, she was just too confused at what was going on. How could she help her without knowing the source of her pain? What she had said earlier just didn’t make sense to her.
She wondered what would ever make her marefriend think that the things Princess Celestia was doing was an attempt at wooing her?
But as she tried to sooth her marefriend and get her to calm down, Twilight noticed Princess Celestia get up from her seat and make her way towards them.
“Twilight, allow me to help?” She asked, as she looked down at them.
“No!” Rarity roared, finally removing her hooves from her face and looking up at the alicorn. “No! No! No! Get away from me! Get away from Twilight! Get away from us!”
Lowering herself to be in the same level with the two unicorns, Princess Celestia gave a calm apologetic look towards Rarity. “I’m sorry, Rarity, but I believe you misunderstand my gestures. I do realize that, in a way, some of the things can obviously be misinterpreted as gestures of affection and romance, but I can promise you that I am not trying to woo Twilight away from you.”
Rarity looked up, her sobbing softening, but her eyes still holding a hint of hatred towards the white alicorn in front of her. Twilight moved her head against her and nuzzled the white unicron, hoping to give at least some comfort.
“I know you think the weekly lessons we have been having have a deeper hidden intent on them, but I swear by the Sun that there isn’t. I do admit, we have been going on walks in the gardens and lessons in my private study, but I can assure you that there was no romantic intent behind any of them. It’s simply platonic, and more in the way of a friend being with another friend.”
“Friend with a friend?” Rarity repeated, her tears stopping as she stared
“Yes.” The Princess said, as she gave a warm comforting smile. “You see, for most of the time I have known Twilight Sparkle, she had always been a stiff pony who was always bound to her books. Back then, it would have been a miracle to get her away from either the library or the laboratory. But now that Twilight is more relaxed, änd finally open, with the idea of friendship, I started inviting her to more and more social interactions. I’m quite fond of her company, you know, and it's nice to finally talk to my faithful student in a way that didn’t involve teaching a lesson. However, in my attempts to be more of a friend than just a teacher to her, I didn't realize that my actions would be interpreted as signs of romantic advancements towards my faithful student. I am terribly sorry, Rarity. I am really, really sorry.”
“But...but the flowers!” Rarity exclaimed. “You sent her flowers!”
“Casia flowers.” Princess Celestia informed. “It is a rare type of flower used by ponies in Southern Equestria to create a base potion that would enable them to enchant various objects.”
“I told you about this when I got home from last week’s lesson session.” Twilight said, cutting in. “Don’t you remember, I said the Princess was going to try and send me a couple of them for my own research purposes?”
“Oh my…” Rarity said, as her eyes went wide. “You see Twilight, I felt so hurt with you talking about the Princess so much that I must have ignored your mention of the flowers.”
Twilight stared at her. By now Rarity was red, but not with anger. Embarrassed about the scene she made, she was blushing hard because of the terrible actions she had done in front of her marefriend and one of Equestria’s reigning monarch.
“So, wait, you’re telling me that everytime I talked about my lessons, you weren't listening at all?”
“Only for the past three weeks, love…” Rarity said sheepishly. “You know, just when you started talking more about the Princess than the actual lessons themselves.”
Sighing, Twilight shook her head before burying her face on the white unicorns fur. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Unbelievably beautiful you mean? Yes.” Rarity said, finally forming a smile. She then looked up at Princess Celestia. “Unbelievably sorry? Yes, very much.”
“All is forgiven.” Princess Celestia said, smiling back at her. “It was a misunderstanding, and I do hope you can forgive me too.”
“Yes, Princess, I do.” Rarity said.
Then, letting out a long sigh, she moved her head and pressed it against Twilight’s chest, as the lavender unicorn mumbled at how ungrateful she was for not listening to the knowledge that she was sharing to her.
