Twilight didn’t have Sunset’s ability to read mind (apparently this power could not be shared by holding hands or kissing, though more testing was required) nor did she have the social skills to read somebody’s mood with a glance (despite several readings on the subject), but after a few months in Canterlot’s High, she had picked up a few things. For instance, she could sense when her day was about to take a strange turn (and even considering the Equestrian magic that poured in the area, this happened statistically abnormally often).
So, when she spotted Rarity running toward her with several encyclopaedias, bilingual dictionaries and maps of France all piled up atop of one of her magical crystal, she knew this would be a weird day.
As it turned out, she was right.
“Twilight!” Rarity asked frantically. “How does one become an Immortal?”
It took a second for Twilight to process the question. Even then she had a doubt about what she’d heard.
“Excuse me?”
“I need to correct a terrible flaw in the French language,” she started to explain with an increasingly fast pace, “but first, it seems I need to become Immortal. I asked Sunset but she told me I needed to become a pony princess. I do admit that I’d probably be fabulous as a winged unicorn, not speaking of the prestige to be part of royalty…” for a second she lost focus, the prospect of becoming a pony princess hijacking her brain.
“Rarity?”
“Oh sorry… Anyway, this would take way too long! And France probably won’t recognise my authority anyway. So how do French people do? You’ve been in France, you must know their secret!”
Twilight blinked several times as her brain computed the quite strange input it had just received. A few seconds later it sent a positive response to its owner.
“Do… do you mean becoming a member of the French Academy by any chance?” she slowly asked.
The answer seemed to relieve Rarity greatly. “Yes! Exactly! I knew you’d be able to help… So how do I do?”
“You don’t have to actually become immortal. It’s just a fancy title for their members.”
“Oh… well, that’s both reassuring and disappointing… Still, how does one become a member?”
“Well,” Twilight explained, “you’d have to wait for a place to become available and then be voted in, which requires being recognised as an authority of some sort in by the other members.”
Rarity took notes, which intrigued Twilight even more.
“Why do you want to become a member of the French Academy by the way?”
“Well it’s long and boring sto-” She stopped suddenly and panic flashed on her face as she seemed to see something behind Twilight. “Oh no! Twilight! Whatever she says act as if everything was normal!” she whispered.
“What? Who?”
“Howdy Twilight!”
“Applejack?”
“Do I interrupt something?” Applejack asked as she joined her friends.
“No! of course not!” Rarity dismissed with a nervous laugh. “Twilight was just telling me about the French Academy! I thought you were busy helping Granny Smith in the kitchen,” she said, changing the subject.
“I was, but we finished a bit early and Dash and Pinkie told me you needed a French dictionary so here I am.”
She looked into her bag and took yet another dictionary for Rarity’s collection.
“Thank you…” she said, reluctantly adding yet another Labrune* to the pile of heavy books she was carrying.
“You want help with that?”
“Oh don’t worry…” She got closer and affectionately put a hand on Applejack’s forearm. “While I like watching you use those impressive muscles for my benefit, I have things under control.”
“If you say so, babe,” she answered with a warm smile and hints of a blush. “Well if you don’t need me, I’m gonna check on Apple Bloom. See you later Twilight. Je mange des enfants**, Rarity,” she said with a wink.
“You’re adorable, darling,” Rarity answered with what was probably the best smiling poker face ever made. Twilight wasn’t sure she’d fare that well. She was content to be silent with shock…
“What was that?” she asked once Applejack was out of sight.
“I don’t know! Someone told her that it meant something sweet and she apparently spent days perfecting her pronunciation just to tell it to me! She doesn’t even have an accent when she says it for goddess’ sake! How am I supposed to tell her what it means… that! I can’t let such a sweet gesture go to waste!”
“But you can’t let her say this kind of things in French and not correct her…”
“No of course not,” Rarity admitted.
Twilight let a sigh of relief.
“This is why I want to join the French Academy,” she continued, “so I can make this into a legitimate French expression.”
“What?” Twilight let out, completely dumbfounded.
“I’d love to stay and chat darling but I have a lot of work ahead of me. Au revoir!”
Twilight watched Rarity, her crystal and her collection of books and map disappear around the corner without a word. She could not comprehend what was happening so she just relied on her instinct: She reached for her phone and called Sunset.
“Sunset?”
“Yes, Twi?”
“Something weird happened…”
“Rarity and Applejack?”
“Yes.”
“Wait for a few seconds, you’ll understand.”
Right on cue, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash appeared from seemingly nowhere.
“You owe me twenty bucks Dashie!”
“Aw man!”
Pinkie giggled softly. “Tell you what: double or quits that she actually try to buy a ticket to France!”
“You’re on party girl!”
The two giggling girls waved at Twilight, still discussing the terms of their bet. A few moments later, they turned around the corner, following the fashionista’s track.
“What the…?”
“Pink Rainbow prank,” Sunset simply stated.
“Oh…”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think they’ll survive Rarity’s wrath?” Twilight asked after a time.
“Nope.”
“Thought so…”