Unsure

Unsure

Chapter 4-2 - Generosity in Abundance

Twilight and Rarity walked in contemplative silence toward Twilight's library home, both pondering on how exactly to handle Twilight's current situation. As the walked in the door, Twilight closed it with magic and immediately headed to her kitchen. Rarity followed suit, but not without greeting the small purple dragon, who had approached the pair upon their entrance.

"Why, hello, Spike. How are you tonight? Are you feeling well?" Rarity asked politely, noticing the dragon's half-lidded eyes and somewhat vacant expression.

"Hi, Rarity," Spike answered, suppressing a yawn. "I'm fine and all, just, you know, tired. You look pretty."

"Thank you, Spike, you know how I appreciate a compliment from such a little gentleman. But shouldn't you head off to sleep now, dear? This can't be good for you, you're still just a young dragon. Go get some rest."

"But Twilight said--"

"I'll be staying with Twilight tonight, so if there's something left undone that will need doing, I'm sure we'll both be up to the task. Now run along, Spikey."

Spike looked at her for a few moments,yawned loudly,and smiled. "Thanks, Rarity," he said as he reached out to hug her.

Rarity, finding the sight of the small dragon reaching out to her absolutely adorable, returned the hug and held it for a few seconds before releasing him. After watching him head up to Twilight's bedroom to hit the metaphorical hay, she turned and followed Twilight into her kitchen, where she found said purple unicorn staring wistfully out the window, a cup of tea on the windowsill.

Rarity levitated the matching glass she presumed to be for her and joined Twilight at the window. "Wonderful night, isn't it?"

Twilight nodded, "Yeah. Wonderful."

"Oh, but of course. I am not here because you wanted someone to discuss the stars with. I am here because you have a problem, and you believe i can help you fix it. Yes?"

The purple mare nodded again, this time not saying anything.

"You do realize actually telling me what the problem is would make this a lot easier or the both of us?"

Twilight's face landed with a loud "smack" on the wooden windowsill. "Mmpgh."

"Well," Rarity said quietly, more than a little surprised by her companion's sudden action. She took another sip of her tea and coughed lightly to clear her throat. "This is clearly worse than I could have imagined. When you said you were having 'relationship issues,' you truly meant it. I can only imagine how important he is to you."

"Izshm."

"What was that?"

Twilight lifted her head and sighed. "I said, 'it's a she.' She's a mare."

Rarity, taken aback, worked her jaw for a few moments, attempting to say something to Twilight, but she was unable to form any sort of complex thought. After a few minutes of confused silence, with the occasional sputter or two, she finally formed the word, "Oh."

"Yeah."

Rarity stood for a few moments and rubbed her chin. "Well. That sort of complicates things a little."

Twilight cocked her head to the side quizzically. "What do you mean, 'it complicates things?'"

"I mean, Twilight," Rarity explained, "that most of my experience with relationships involves a mare and a stallion. To be completely honest, I've never given advice to anyone in a, oh, how can I put this... 'domestic relationship.' I can't promise that I can help you, Twilight."

Twilight's ears drooped and she groaned. "Great! Now I don't know who else to turn to about this. You're the only pony I  know well enough who's been in this sort of situation before!"

"Well, you could--"

"And you know what else?" Twilight continued, apparently on some sort of roll, "You know what makes this all worse? I need help because I have absolutely no prior experience regarding this subject! I've never had a crush before, never dated before, never even thought about dating before! And now I've gone and fallen for one of my best friends! And now I can barely talk to her! Why do I have to be so socially awkward!? Why can't--"

Rarity placed a hoof in front of Twilight's mouth, instantly cutting her off. "Twilight, dear, you're working yourself up. Can you please go back a little for me? What's all this about falling for one of your best friends?"

Twilight sat down on her haunches and took a few, deep, calming breaths. She sighed and looked up at Rarity. "Rarity, the mare I like...," she paused for a moment and gulped. "... it's Fluttershy."

Rarity gasped and raised a hoof to her mouth, realization sinking in. "So that's why you've been--"

"Yeah."

"And at the party earlier, you two were--"

"Yup."

And suddenly, Rarity beamed. "Oh, Twilight! This is wonderful news!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Huh? What? Why are you so excited all of a sudden?"

"Twilight, if it's Fluttershy then of course I can give you some advice! I only spend at the bare minimum a few hours with her every week during our spa visits! And we've only been meeting up like that for years now! I'm probably Fluttershy's closest friend next to Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight's eyes widened and she grinned. "Yes!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, "I knew you could help me! I just knew it! Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

Rarity released a demure little giggle and smiled at Twilight. "Think nothing of it. I'm just glad I can help out a friend who is in such desperate need of my expertise. In fact, I suppose I'll be helping out two of my friends, as opposed to only one. I'm sure we can convince Fluttershy to at least accept some sort of dinner invitation or something, so you two can have some time alone together."

Twilight's smile faltered and turned into a frown. "You make it sound so easy. Believe me, Rarity, I've tried to ask her out before. I was actually trying to ask her out during the party. I just sort of ended up making a fool of myself. Like I said before, I don't really have any experience with this whole dating thing at all."

"Hm. Well, date or not, we do need to find something for you to do that would best suit both of your interests. Tell me, Twilight, what do you know you have in common with Fluttershy? That might help things go over a bit smoother."

Twilight nodded and began to think out loud, "What do I have in common with Fluttershy? Hm, well, we both like to read. And, uh, we're both mares. We both like animals, except she likes a lot more than I do. Um, we both live in wooden houses. Ooh, and we both have pink in our manes! Uh, we--"

"Twilight! You're just making observations at this point. I meant activities mostly. So basically, all you've been able to tell me is that you both like to read. Do you know of anything else you two could do?"

"Well, she likes nature, doesn't she? Of course she does, why am I even asking that? Back to the point, I like nature, too. I love studying wildlife, plants, and those kinds of things. I love stargazing, too, but I'm not sure if she feels the same way. Does she?"

"Actually," Rarity said with a smile, "She does enjoy the stars. Quite a lot, actually. I'm surprised it hasn't come up before between you two. She's not much of an astronomer, but she can get lost in those stars sometimes, that's for sure. So we have reading, which might just involve spending more time at the library, nature, so possibly some kind of trip to Whitetail Wood or perhaps just a stroll through the park, and stargazing, which could create some sort of romantic, moonlit moment. Not a bad selection, if you ask me."

Twilight smiled as she began daydreaming of doing all these things with Fluttershy. She envisioned the pegasus fluttering carefree in the woods, admiring some sort of squirrel or other woodland creature. She saw her curled up against Twilight herself as they both read some sort of famous tome by the fireplace in the library. Finally, she saw Fluttershy look down from the night sky and look at Twilight as a heart-shaped formation of stars lit up brightly behind her as they both leaned in...

"--ilight? Twilight? Twilight, hello, are you even listening to me? Ugh, a lady should not have to stand around and be ignored! Snap out of it, Twilight!"

Said unicorn shook her head vigorously and blinked. "Rarity?" she asked perplexedly, "how long was I out?"

"Oh, just for a minute or two, but still. It's a little rude to zone out and completely forget that you have a guest in your home, you know."

Twilight gave Rarity a sheepish smile and chuckled, "Heheh, my bad."

Rarity "humphed" and turned away, before smiling despite herself and giggling. "Oh, it's no huge bother, really. I bet I could even guess what you were so preoccupied with."

"Oh, really now?"

"No, seriously, Twilight. When you started leaning forward I kind of figured it out."

"What!? I actually did that!? Why didn't you say anything before!?"

"Because I like to have a little fun once in a while."

"That was not funny."

"On the contrary, Twilight. I found it to be most entertaining. You had the goofiest look on your face."

Twilight levitated her now cold cup of tea over and sipped it, staring darkly at Rarity over the brim. "How goofy are we talking?"

The face Rarity made almost caused Twilight to choke on the liquid running down her throat. She had the strangest little kissy-face on, and her eyes were crossed, focused intently on her own muzzle. She looked absolutely nothing like the high-class pony she acted like, and was more comparable to a little filly making a funny face at an animal.

"Dear Celestia, are you serious?!" a mortified Twilight exclaimed.

Rarity laughed again and sighed, "Haha, as serious as I've ever been, Twilight."

"Remind me to never zone out in public. Ever."

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't promise you that. I'm almost 100% sure it looks even more ridiculous on you than it did me. 'Might get a few laughs if it were to happen in a crowded area."

"Wha--but--"

"I believe the phrase you are looking for is, as Rainbow Dash would say," Rarity paused to cough and perform her best Dash impression, deepening her voice and puffing out her chest, but giving Twilight a disapproving look, "Not cool, Rare."

The two mares stood in silence for a few moments before dissolving into fits of laughter, to the point where they were literally rolling around on the floor laughing their flanks off. After several minutes, they both returned to their hooves and smiled at each other.

"That was awful," Twilight observed, "You're terrible at this."

Rarity gave a mock gasp of shock and gave Twilight what would have been an incredulous look had she not still been wearing the bright smile on her face. "Well, excuse me, Twilight Sparkle! I had forgotten you were such the renowned impressionist yourself!"

The pair laughed again for a bit, but stopped themselves before it got out of hoof again. Twilight looked at her clock and noticed it was already nearing midnight. "Wow. I didn't even realize how late it was already. We should probably turn in soon. You can use the guest bed again, if you want. I just have to make sure Spike gets to bed soon, or he'll--"

"I already sent him to bed. You go up, I'll finish any work Spikey may have left undone, and I'll join you when I'm finished. I may lose precious time from my regularly scheduled beauty sleep, but it will at least have been for a good cause. Run along now, Twilight," Rarity said as she waved Twilight towards her room, I'll see you in the morning if you're already asleep when I get there."

Twilight smiled and turned around halfway up the stairs. "Thanks, Rarity. I'm lucky to have you as a friend."

"Think nothing of it, dear. You're just as good a friend to anyone. Good night."

"Good night, Rarity."

Rarity turned to the shelves and began walking around the room, placing the various books into their proper place and doing a small bit of dusting here and there. All in all it only took her a few minutes. Satisfied with her work, she slowly and quietly crept up the stairs, magically extinguishing lights as she went along. By the time she had reached Twilight's room, she heard two distinct sets of snoring, one much more subdued than the other.

Rarity groaned and shook her head and looked toward the spot from which the louder noise was being emitted,

"Really, Twilight? You're practically shaking the whole house."