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// I'd much rather not, Darling 
// Story: Rarity learns Math 
// by Gavier 
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The night was wonderful. Chilly, but not enough to be an annoyance. Rarity, yawning, with her mane still dripping from her long, deserved bubble bath, prepared for a long, deserved rest. Elara was now safe and sound at the library, and Rarity was, too, safe and sound at her Boutique (she wouldn't have minded a swap, though).

Less wonderful, however, was the prospect of the following days. She didn't fear going to the Everfree Forest, mind you. Not anymore, not with Twilight waiting there for her. Twilight, on the other hoof, was waiting for her with a clear goal. A daunting, harrowing goal- Make her learn something.

Even worse, that something was highly advanced spellwork, which usually took years of practice and study. Rarity considered if it was too late for a second bubble bath. Or maybe a bit of ice cream... You see, the problem with being an adult is that you have to parent yourself. Luckily, Rarity had experience dealing with white unicorn foals asking for ice cream.

But she wasn't a foal.

To her defense, she didn't finish the whole tube.


·=·=·


Twilight trotted in circles, the clip-clop resonating along the poorly illuminated room. Well, technically she just levitated in circles, moving her legs as if she was trotting, making the clip-clop sound with her mouth, but being a lone, trapped ghost is hard, and if pretending to trot nervously made her feel a little bit more alive, then she would trot to the Badlands and back (or the equivalent distance, as being a lone, trapped ghost doesn't allow much touring). Still, she was nervous, and her trotting in circles clearly illustrated the fact. No, nervous wasn't the right word. Exited? Expectant? Hopeful, as always, that Rarity would surprise Twilight with her presence.

Maybe she wasn't interested anymore? Maybe she had just wanted to take a copy of "The Principles of Short and Long Distance Teletransportation, Tome One" by Hazel Twinkle, and disappear forever. That doesn't make any sense, go away, intrusive thoughts! The intrusive thoughts, intrusive as they are, relented. Maybe Rarity was having trouble with the timber wolves, maybe she was lost, in the middle of the forest, maybe the Spirit had- 

"Star, light please!"

Thankfully, it's difficult to imagine somepony being trapped, lost, or escaping with a not particularly rare or pricy book when you can hear them at your doorstep. Twilight stopped trotting, the intrusive thoughts banished to the back of her mind.

"Rarity! You're..." Beautiful as the Northern Aurora, the beacon of my life all, my only emotional support- "...early today" She managed, after seeing the white unicorn. "Did you start your reading?"

Rarity had not, in fact, started her reading. Two long, deserved bubble baths and one long, deserved night's rest don't let much time for reading. However, Rarity had a Plan. A devious, thoroughly thought-out plan. It involved freeing Twilight from her cursed prison, copious amounts of fine beverages, along with copious amounts of flirting, a neatly prepared bed, and an amount of fine silk... Wrong plan.

Rarity did not have a plan for this particular situation. But she had the next best thing; a natural talent to improvise in dire situations. And dire it was, with an expectant Twilight looking right at her, with her cute, sparkling eyes, expectant.

"Why of course, darling, of course," Rarity said, "but how could I even hope to grasp and understand all those foreign spell weaving theory, without your wise, guiding hoof?" she half-whined, sniling playfully. Surely there are plenty of weird magic concepts there, Twilight won't suspect a thing!

Twilight was unfazed. "You didn't even open the book, did you."


·=·=·


Rarity liked some things. Twilight, fine beverages, mysteries, Twilight, fashion, among others. Math, however, was not among those others, and no, no matter how much she didn't know about it, it doesn't count as a mystery, thank you very much. 

Luckily for her, Twilight was right besides her, giving her the perfect excuse to distract herself from all that non-Eucoltidean geometrics, en-dimensional vectors, and other abstract babble. In fact, all those cryptic words made Twilight's reading voice at the very least seven times cuter. But then, Rarity started to hear words she knew. Twilight's voice, angelical as always, danced on each sentence with practiced grace, turning the dull textbook into a show.

"...interwoven dimensions, not too dissimilar to a layered dress, except the dress has an arbitrarily high number of layers, of which most collapse onto themselves, too small to be noticed, but still connected to the rest of the piece. This of course requires an almost absurd level of precision. Imagine moving through them like throwing a needle trough a keyhole at fifty hooves behind you-"

"I could do that," voiced Rarity, not completely sure why. "I work with needles daily, and if I pride myself of one thing, it's my care for perfection" (she prided herself for quite some more things than just one, but alas, perfection was one of them).

Twilight, interrupted from her reading, didn't believe her either. "Is that so? Well, it just happens to be that you forgot some here last time you came, and I do have a door. Why don't we test your aim?" 

With a smirk ald little more, she teleported away, leaving Rarity alone with the comfy pillows, and her thoughts (which, curiously enough, involved those very same pillows). Rarity was getting ready to get up from said comfy pillows, expecting Twilight to appear at any time with her lost needles. Weird, I don't remember bringing any last time I came. Perhaps she just found them recently?

Moments later, Twilight appeared in front of her, accompanied by a loud Crack. She started removing the pillows aroubd Rarity, carrying with her not only a couple of needles, but also a rather sizable ruler, and a small, wooden door with a brass keyhole. "Stay there, I'll place the door"

"You do know that was hardly necessary, right? I can move just fine. No need for-"

Twilight, still sporting that knowing little smirk of hers, interrupted "I figured that it'd be faster this way, so we can go back to your studies faster" Also so you don't see where this door usually leads

While Rarity waited for Twilight to stop counting, she pondered. Could she really do it? She had said that on a whim, and wasn't really sure she would be able to follow up with it. But what was the alternative? Accept defeat? Never! I will succeed at this, or die trying! Of course, throwing needles isn't the safest way to prove a point, but that last declaration might have been dramatically exaggerated, a bit.

Alas, Twilight had finished measuring the fifty hooves, and was now placing the door. Rarity, turning to see her, smiled. That mare, so intelligent, so mysterious, so beautiful, looked every bit of regal someone placing a door between two book shelves can look. Which is not much, given that the door seemed comically small now, not even half the size between said book shelves.

Twilight teleported again, now at her side again. With that smug half smile of hers, she almost stopped being the most precious thing in the world- almost. 

"Ready?"

"A lady is always ready to go, dear"

The tension was straight-up tangible (unlike Twilight, who was gay, next to Rarity, and a ghost). Rarity took a deep breath, steadied her grip on the needle, and teleported away.