Rarity was out of breath by the time she made it to the Golden Oaks Library, and her heart swelled at the sight of the familiar tree nestled into the mountains. The building itself was enchantingly beautiful, but the mare who lived there even moreso.
Goodness, Rarity, she chastised herself as she slowed her pace in front of the building, must you make everything so melodramatic? It’s just a little crush!
…
Yes, yes I must. Don’t even know why I asked such a ridiculous question in the first place.
Rarity reached for the door handle, expecting to easily and quietly let herself in and surprise the librarian with her timely arrival, but to her shock and dismay the door resisted her attempts to open it.
Now Rarity remembered why she hurried to the library in such a frenzy, and she cursed herself for still being too slow to make it before it closed for the night.
She considered knocking on the door, but she didn’t want to disturb Twilight, or poor Spike who was certainly already in bed at this hour.
Perhaps it would be better if she just came back tomorrow.
Rarity finagled the knob a little bit more, hoping in vain that it had just gotten stuck or jammed somehow and would open with just a bit more elbow grease, but she relented after the door’s loud creaks rung in her ears and she realized how ridiculous she was being.
She took a deep breath and prepared to leave, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn around quite yet.
Rarity closed her eyes, and raised her hand up to knock on the door, because she couldn’t just leave without seeing her, not after the day Rarity had been through.
With a sharp release of her breath she knocked furiously on the door, surprised to find the oak was much softer and quieter than she had expected. Fluffier too, like she was tapping not on an old, oaken door, but on… somepony’s… forehead.
Rarity opened her eyes and was mortified to see Twilight had somehow opened the door without a sound—or perhaps the pounding of Rarity’s heart just drowned out the noise— while Rarity’s eyes were closed, and yes she was indeed knocking on the poor librarian’s forehead now.
“Ahem,” Rarity lowered her hand and prayed the darling librarian couldn’t see the incredibly obvious blush decorating Rarity’s cheeks. “Sorry.”
“You were wrestling with the door so hard, I thought a timberwolf was trying to break in or something!” Twilight laughed, and Rarity mimicked the gesture as awkwardly as possible.
“Well, I—”
“You’re out of breath. Did you run here?” Twilight cocked her head as she sized Rarity up, Rarity feeling rather like she was under a heat lamp beneath Twilight’s inquisitive gaze.
“Um, well you see—”
“Do you need something urgent? Is it something I can help with?”
“Uhhh—”
“Did the cragadile mission not go well?” Twilight gasped. “Wait, where’s Rainbow? Is she hurt? Did something happen to her and you came over to tell me that she—”
“No, darling, it isn’t anything like that!” Rarity put her hands on the hyperventilating librarian whose shoulders were so soft, and both mares calmed down in response to the touch. “It isn’t anything quite so urgent. Rainbow had a, a uh, a thing, to take care of. Something she’s been putting off, and it couldn’t wait. I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it in the morning.”
“Well that’s fine,” Twilight sighed in relief. “I didn’t expect to see her tonight anyway. Or you, for that matter,” Twilight tapped a finger against her cheek. “But if you don’t need anything urgent, why were you in such a hurry to come here of all places?”
“Well, I, uhhh…” Rarity trailed off, her hands dropping to her sides as she realized she did not take the time to come up with a flattering excuse for why she rushed straight to the library, and now that she was on the spot, no answer but the humiliating truth presented itself to her.
“Yes?” Twilight tilted her head, in that most adorable way that she tended to do when she was listening intently, and Rarity cursed her for being so cute and herself for already noticing little tells like that from her.
“I wanted—” Rarity bit her thumbnail.
“I—”
She what? She wanted to see Twilight again? She wanted to wrap Twilight up in her arms, pick her up off her hooves and spin her around, carrying her like a bride into the library and smother her in a flurry of kisses?
Yes, obviously, but just as obvious was the fact that she couldn’t say that!
Rarity had to consider that perhaps it would be best for her to just wish the librarian a good night, and be on her way.
“I wanted to see you.”
But then again, perhaps not.
“You-” Twilight cleared her throat and took a step back “-wanted to see me?”
Rarity rolled her head back and groaned in self-pity. “What I’m about to tell you is very silly, and I hope you don’t think me too much of a silly, ridiculous pony when I tell you, but may I confess something to you?”
“You may,” Twilight said, hands gently placed in front of her as she stood tall and imposing in the library’s doorframe, and Rarity once again cursed her for being so cute!
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” Rarity admitted shamefully, “since our conversation last night. I know it’s silly, but I quite fancied my time with you, and I found myself thinking time and time again while at the swamp, ‘oh I wish Twilight could see this’, or ‘I bet Twilight could tell me what that is’, and I just couldn’t wait to see you again and hear a surprisingly riveting lecture on how bath salt is different than basalt.”
“The two have nothing in common,” Twilight said idly, and Rarity bit her lip to keep from giggling. “Bath salts are pulverized minerals applied to bath water to increase the user’s enjoyment of the bathing experience, and basalt is volcanic rock, formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava, and furthermore—”
Rarity erupted into a fit of giggles that cut off Twilight’s stirring lecture, and she bit her tongue as quick as she could to stop herself lest she seem very rude.
“I’m sorry,” Rarity said sheepishly, pointedly avoiding eye contact with the cute librarian. “I shouldn’t laugh, you probably think I’m some kind of—”
“Can I confess something to you?”
“Um, you can,” Rarity said awkwardly, taken aback by Twilight’s sudden shift in demeanor.
Rarity stood as straight as she was able and placed her hands in front of her to mirror Twilight’s earlier posture, but a quick glance at the librarian revealed she now looked like anything but the graceful guardian of her library, with her shoulders slumped and one hand curling around the hair of her ponytail as she awkwardly looked over Rarity’s shoulder instead of in her eye.
“I hope you don’t think I’m a total dork,” Twilight said, “but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you either.”
“W-what now?” Rarity took a step back and placed a hand over her pounding heart.
“I was reading something earlier today and I thought ‘oh, I bet Rarity would like this! I can’t wait to tell her when she gets back’, as if you coming back to the library was just a sure thing, like I’m sure you have nothing better to do than to hang out with some dork who barely leaves her house and smells like books probably and—“
“So what was it?” Rarity said suddenly.
“Huh?”
“What was it you thought I would like?”
“I, uh,” Twilight cleared her throat and bit down on her lip, her eyes scanning the air before her like she was trying to recall the information. “I don’t remember. It’s been a long day, I met some new friends.”
“Oh,” Rarity said with a shrug.
Twilight paused for a moment before inhaling sharply.
“Maybe we could find it together?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure I left the book lying around, I haven’t cleaned the placed up quite yet, and I just poured myself some tea, I could pour you a glass as well! If, y’know, if you’d like that sorta thing.”
“As long as you don’t mind the company of an incredibly silly, smitten hunter,” Rarity put her hoof on the door jam and her hand gently grazed Twilight’s forearm.
“I hope you don’t mind hanging out with a dorky librarian who is also… really easily smitten.”
“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be,” Rarity said as she passed the threshold into the library, whispering in Twilight’s ear as she passed, “darling.”
Twilight’s giggle as she closed the door behind them was music to Rarity’s ears, and as Twilight poured Rarity a cup of piping hot tea, Rarity wrapped herself in a soft blanket and got comfortable, a feeling which she found rather unfamiliar.
Rarity took a sip of the tea and found it to be as pleasant as the company, and she purred with delight as she nestled herself in her blanket. Twilight sat on the ground next to her, teacup floating in her raspberry-colored aura beside her, and made herself comfortable next to Rarity.
“Is this okay?” Twilight asked bashfully as her shoulder brushed against Rarity’s. “It’s not too close, is it?”
“No, darling,” Rarity hummed as she placed her hand on Twilight’s thigh, the perky smile Twilight made adding at least five years to Rarity’s life, “you’re perfect.”