Rarity was making dresses designs. Every light in the boutique off but the one she needed in her working room. Her organized chaos a little less chaotic since she let her little sister clean it up from time to time in order to give her more ideas. The only sounds that could be heard were the clock in the wall and the scratch of pencil being pressed against paper.
Spring had been welcomed just one hour ago, and because of that, even if it was already dark outside, everypony was in the streets talking to each other and celebrating. But Rarity had to finish her designs. First because she loved her job, and second because it was what gave her the money she needed to live. There was the sound of small and harmonic bells coming from the wall clock. It was nine at the night.
She decided to take a small brake, ten minutes wouldn’t hurt. So she walked to the kitchen and made herself some coffee. She always said how the different tastes of coffee being prepared in different ways always fascinated her. In restaurants and meetings she would order latte, maybe cappuccino and if she felt brave enough, she’d drink a frappuccino. But she really loved the normal coffee. Hot, bitter and black coffee.
Once she had prepared her drink, Rarity sat in a chair of her kitchen and served herself a cup. She was going to take the first sip when a particular sound came to her ears. It was the bell in the front door of the boutique. She looked at a clock hung in the wall. It was just a few minutes past nine. She wondered who wanted to see her at this hour. Rarity stood up and walked out of the kitchen just to meet her favorite –and only- employee standing there.
“Hello Daniel, how-” And she noticed that the human’s expression was really serious. The same he had a week ago when she talked to him about Twilight. “Please close the door and come to the kitchen” She said and Daniel did as was told. Rarity didn’t need to ask him why he was there, she knew that he wanted to talk to her.
When Daniel sat down on the painfully small chair, Rarity served him some coffee, which he thanked her for and took a sip. He hated coffee in all its forms, but right now he didn’t even taste the drink. “Just talk whenever you’re ready, darling” Rarity said and Daniel realized that he had been frowning and staring to his cup. He sighed for several seconds.
“Twilight said she loves me” It was the first thing that came to his mind. He didn’t look up to Rarity, he was watching the small waves his coffee made at the tapping of his finger against the cup.
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And what did you answer?” She knew already, his expression said everything. But she still needed to ask. She had to make him talk.
For a moment he only played with his thumbs moving them in circles. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say. “I… I told her to let me think” He finally said folding his hands around his cup of coffee. His heart started to beat faster and he had to struggle to stop the shivering of his arms.
Rarity took a sip of her own drink. “And you came here because…” She said trying to sound as comprehensive as possible, for she didn’t want him to go away again. She was going to just listen and ask him the proper questions.
“I don’t know”
“You don’t know?” She asked. She was going to tell him that he came here for a reason, but then remembered that she was just going to ask questions. The one who had to say everything was Daniel. He only fell silent and Rarity let several seconds pass before her next words. “Daniel, what do you think of Twilight?”
He stopped moving his fingers. That was a hard question, he thought. Twilight was his friend. She was really smart, beautiful and very enthusiastic. Every time she smiled, it made him smile too. Every time she spoke, he could feel his muscles relax and his tiredness turn into energy. Her sole presence made him feel comfortable and all his worries disappear.
“She’s a good friend” He said. It technically wasn’t a lie. But he felt that that statement was wrong. He knew it. And he was going to correct himself, but the words wouldn’t ever reach his throat.
Rarity carefully placed her cup on the table and leaned a bit closer to Daniel. “Is she just a friend to you?” She asked. A few seconds passed and the human slowly nodded. Rarity bit her lip, it was going to be hard to make him tell her the truth. But she wasn’t going to give up, not for her friends, not now, not ever. “If that’s true, why did you tell her to let you think?” She asked, and for the first time that day, Daniel looked up and met her eyes. And she could see how confused he was. His mouth moved hesitant, not able to find the words to answer that.
She gave him a faint smile, but in her mind she was grinning from ear to ear. “If she’s just a friend to you, then why didn’t you tell her that at the moment?” She asked with genuine concern in her voice. Daniel only looked away and started to play again with his fingers, moving his thumbs through the edge of his cup. Rarity decided that that was the moment to end the questions. “Daniel, look at me” It wasn’t an order nor a command, it was a petition. And the human took his time, but his eyes met hers again. “Tell me what you really think of Twilight”
“I…” He opened his mouth and looked down to his restless hands.
“Daniel, look at me” She said, this time with little more force in her voice. He looked up again. Her eyes were inquisitive, her expression was mixed with seriousness and concern. “Is Twilight really just a friend to you?”
“… Yes…”
“What do you really think of her?”
“She’s my f-”
“Why did you come here, then?”
Daniel fell silent. Rarity knew that she was close to the truth, she just had to push a little more. But she had to be careful or everything would get out of control. “You came here to talk to me” She said. “You came here right after Twilight told you how she feels about you, yes?” Daniel unconsciously nodded. “Tell me what you really think of Twilight”
He looked away again, but this time Rarity didn’t tell him anything. She knew that he was thinking, trying to find the best words to answer her. But there was silence for several minutes. “Daniel” Rarity said and waited for him to look at her again. “Why you don’t want to admit your feelings for her?”
“Because…” He said, but the next words died in his throat. He realized that he just admitted that he indeed had feelings for Twilight, and that he was just giving excuses to not say it. Rarity’s smile grew a little wider, but it was one of understanding. He sighed in defeat. “Because it’s not natural”
And then Rarity’s smile disappeared and was replaced for a grin of confusion. “What isn’t natural?” She asked, and she sounded as if he just told her the most complicated riddle she had ever heard.
Daniel frowned a little. “Twilight’s a pony” He said as if his answer was really obvious.
And that only made Rarity raise an eyebrow. “Yes, so am I, and so every pony in Equestria” She said, that was something she didn’t expect. She didn’t know what to say at that. “What does that have to do with this?” She asked truly confused.
He groaned with frustration. “Humans are supposed to just love other humans” He said. He was trying not to offend her, but he couldn’t think on any other way to say it that didn’t sound offensive. And then he realized that he just admitted that he loved Twilight. He felt his face starting to turn a little red as his eyes widened a little. “I-I mean, if a human loves an animal, it’s just… unnatural”
“But we are not animals” Rarity said. She didn’t know if smile because he was finally showing his feelings, or if frown because the implications of his words. “Well, technically we all really are animals, even you” She pointed a hoof to the human. “But we are intelligent, sophisticated animals that built complex societies with law and order and know the difference between food and bathroom” She said and Daniel couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
Rarity sighed, finally understanding what Daniel was saying. “You feel unnatural to fall in love with somepony besides a human, right?” He nodded. “I see…” She slowly took another sip of her coffee. It was starting to get cold. “You know, in the times where Ponyville was founded, ponies used to think the same thing.
“They thought that they only could love other ponies, and as you say, they saw unnatural any other kind of relationship. But nowadays it’s easy to see couples of ponies with other species. Just a moon ago a pegasus married a buffalo.” She made a little pause. “What I’m trying to say is that love comes in many forms.”
He looked down again to see his cup, but Rarity used a hoof to lift his head from his chin. “Twilight fell in love with you because she doesn’t see it as something unnatural. She doesn’t see you as a human, she sees you as Daniel.” She looked directly into his eyes. “Try to see her not as a pony, but as Twilight”
Daniel moved his mouth trying to say something, but he just couldn’t. Rarity put down her hoof and took another sip of her coffee. A few seconds of silence later, she decided to speak again. “I’m not going to ask you again what you really think of Twilight” She said and gave him a warm smile. “Go and say it to her”
For a moment nothing happened, but then Daniel stood up and walked away, bowing thanks to her. Rarity could hear the double ring of the bell as the front door opened and closed. She took the last sip of coffee and placed the cup on the table. After a few seconds she smiled and trotted to her working room. What had to happen next was in their hooves and hands.
~~~~~~~~
Daniel ran as fast as he could through the streets. Ponies could only jump out of his way as he passed by, but none of them tried to ask what was going on, for he had that look in his eyes that told them not to bother him or they would share unkind words.
He finally reached the library. He had to stop at the front door and gasp for air. Even if it was spring already, some cold remained in the air, and that took away all his energy. When he finally felt that he recovered, he entered the library, and as always he had to duck due to his height. Spike was sitting on a cushion reading a comic.
“Is Twilight here?” Daniel asked, and he could feel how he still needed to breathe heavily.
“She’s in her bedroom” Spike said not looking at the human. “She said she wanted to be alone and not be bothered until tomorrow morning” The dragon sighed and tried to focus on his comic. “She even told me to sleep somewhere else, and told me that she would give me a really big gemstone for this. So I moved my bed to the kitchen”
“Thanks Spike” Daniel said and trotted upstairs. He knew what he had to do and he knew that he couldn’t wait to the next day. He finally reached Twilight’s room. The lights were off, and for a moment he thought that she was asleep. But then he could hear a sobbing from inside. She was crying. She had been crying since he left her.
With a shivering hand he knocked the door. There was a sudden silence that lasted for several seconds. “I told you I want to be alone, Spike!” She said, and Daniel could feel that she was struggling to not sound sad as she said that.
“It’s me” He said. There was another pause.
“What do you want?” Daniel noticed how she was about to cry again.
He sighed. “I want to talk with you”
Silence again. When she didn’t answer, he dared to open the door and step inside. The room was indeed dark. He walked to the bed, and for a moment he feared that she had teleported herself away from there. But a dim light coming through the window made its way to a hoof on a pillow covering the head of Twilight. He slowly walked to her side and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry” He said and noticed how Twilight tensed under her blanket. “For making you wait for an answer this long, I mean” Daniel looked to his side. Twilight hadn’t moved at all.
“It’s only been forty minutes” She said and Daniel wondered how she knew that.
He folded his hands on his lap and looked to the front. “Seriously? I felt it as if four hours have passed”
Twilight groaned and finally decided to uncover her head and look at the human. Daniel turned to face her. Her mane was a little messy, her eyes were a little red for the crying, and she was frowning. He sighed. “I’m still not entirely sure of how I feel about you” He said and Twilight looked away, her frown disappeared and her expression starting to be one of sadness. “But I figured it out how to be sure at one hundred percent”
Twilight looked at him again. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Daniel only looked at her with a warm smile. She wanted to remain silent, but her inner curiosity was stronger. “How?” She asked.
“Sit up” He said with a tender voice. She slowly accommodated herself to sit on her bed, and she finally was at eye level with him. She didn’t remember the last time she could look at his eyes like that. He was so tall that even sitting he had to look down to talk to her. But right now they were at the same height. She realized that it was because he had curved his back.
He slowly reached her head with a hand and placed it on her cheek. She blushed but didn’t move. And she remembered that the last time he touched her was when he hugged her two moons ago. He leaned closer to her and her heart started to beat so strong that she could feel it in her chest. Daniel stopped mere inches from her face. “This should do it” He closed his eyes and with a fast movement, he kissed her.
Twilight’s lips were like nothing he had experienced before. They were flat but soft, and her fur against his skin tickled. But even so, his heart was beating so fast that he thought it would explode. For a moment they didn’t move, but slowly he began giving her small kisses without taking away his lips. At first Twilight was so shocked that Daniel felt as if he was kissing a plushie, but she soon started doing the same thing.
For several minutes they just kissed their lips. Daniel stroke Twilight’s face with his hand and he could feel her fur wet there where her tears once ran, so he used his thumb to dry them. Once he did so, he smoothly passed his hand through her mane and to the back of her neck, rubbing tenderly her fur with his fingers. It was an experience Twilight didn’t knew she could feel, those five fingers of his felt like heaven, and a chill ran through her spine, making her moan a little through the kisses.
Daniel felt how she opened her mouth a little, so he used his tongue to press against her lips until she let it in. She used her tongue to meet his and moved it inexpertly. He felt her tongue dancing with his own and had to suppress a giggle at her clumsy movements. But instead of reject her trying, he decided to teach her how to dance. And so slowly but decidedly, his tongue moved in circles against hers until she could follow his lead.
And for a moment that seemed as an eternity, they sat there just kissing each other. Twilight felt her mind spinning wildly and her heart in her throat. But when moments ago she had been crying for a broken heart, she now was crying of happiness. The first guy she ever saw in a romantic way was kissing and stroking her. And she couldn’t think of anything else, her mind only focused on Daniel and their moment together. But the paradise was not meant to last forever, and the human broke the kiss.
But even when their mouths had been separated, they still kept united by a thin line of saliva. Twilight opened her eyes just a little, and she could see him watching her with a warm smile. She smiled in return while softly gasping for the air she lost in the kiss and barely recovered.
“Wow” Daniel said. “You’re really happy, aren’t you?” For a moment she didn’t know what he was talking about, and then she felt his hand going down from her neck and until her wing. She blushed even more and was going to tell him that it wasn’t her fault, when he passed his hand and fingers softly through her feathers and gave her another kiss, this one was quick, but enough to make her forget about her wingboner.
“Are…” She said, the words felt heavy in her throat since the only thing she wanted was to jump in his arms, but she fought the urge to do so. “Are you a hundred percent now of how you feel?” She asked. She needed to know. That kiss had been perfect for her, but she needed to know if he felt the same way.
“Hmmm” He scratched his chin with a finger of his free hand. “I don’t know… I need to make another test” And before she could ask, he put his other hand on Twilight’s cheek while still playing with her wing with the other. She closed her eyes and waited for the kiss. But instead of her lips, it was her neck.
She gasped in surprise while he kissed her on her neck. He gave her soft kisses while stroking her cheek and playing with one of her wings. She had to bit her lips to prevent the moan she knew she was going to make. All her fur bristled when he started to massage her right in the base of her wings, and she was unable to keep her mouth shut, moaning in pleasure as he moved his head up and down through her neck.
As Daniel was kissing, he caught the smell of her mane and fur. It was a mix of vanilla and flowers. He couldn’t tell which one came from which part of her body, nor did he care. It was a really weird sensation to be kissing fur, at least with these kind of kisses. Even more when she started to make those noises. It only made him kiss her more passionately, and slowly he started to forget that he was kissing a pony, because he realized that he was kissing Twilight.
He felt how her wings twitched at his touch, so he kept massaging the base. Her fur was so soft that he wanted to keep stroking her forever. But as much as he enjoyed this, it had to end, and he knew that if he didn’t end it, Twilight wouldn’t do it either. So he stopped everything and leaned backwards so he would be able to look at her face without problems. She was so red that Daniel wondered if she had the ability to change her fur color.
Twilight was panting heavily, which he found really cute. “Are…” She had with her eyes so narrowed that seemed to be closed, but Daniel knew that she was looking at him. “Are you a… hundred percent sure now?” Daniel had to laugh, and he laughed so hard that he had to lie down on the bed as tears formed in his eyes. “W-What’s so funny?” Twilight asked with a frown, but the human kept laughing for a full minute.
When he finally calmed himself, he sat up on the bed with both legs crossed underneath his body and looked at Twilight with a big smile. “Yes Twilight, I’m completely sure of how I feel about you now” He said, and she opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly leaned closer to her and kissed her again. It confused him a little how fast he got used to her mouth, but he just shrugged at the thought. He didn’t care anymore.
And once again, he broke the kiss and looked at her directly in the eyes. “Twilight Sparkle” He said while rubbing her cheeks with both thumbs. “I love you. And I’d be so honored if you accept to be my special somepony” He had to suppress a giggle.
Twilight bounced to him and hugged his neck with both forelegs, resting her head in his shoulder. “Yes! I want to be your special somepony!” She said and if her forelegs weren’t enough, she also used her wings to hug him. Daniel embraced her in return. “I love you. I love you so much!” She was crying, but her tears were of happiness.
Daniel gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry for making you cry” He said and pulled her a little closer to himself.
“It’s not your fault” She said between sobs. “I told you how I feel out of nowhere. It’s normal that you freaked out”
“No, it is my fault” He sighed. “Do you think I just fell in love with you when you told me that?” Twilight then leaned backwards to look at him with a confused gaze. “I can’t say how long, because I don’t know myself… But I've loved you since way before today”
“Then why-”
“I didn’t want to admit it” He said looking away. “I thought it was unnatural for me to love a pony…”
“And what made you change your mind?”
He sighed again. “I went to see Rarity… I didn’t exactly know why, but I now realize that I subconsciously wanted someone to tell me that it’s perfectly natural… And that’s what she did” He then looked back at Twilight and playfully rubbed his nose with hers, which made her giggle a little. “And I thank her… Because now I can say how much I love you without worries” He gave her a quick kiss. “I love you”
And for the very first time, Twilight gave him a quick kiss as well. “I love you too, Daniel”