//------------------------------//
// Crepuscularity  
// Story: THE EPIC RARITY WRITE OFF 
// by Write Off 
//------------------------------//

	The sun was setting as Twilight Sparkle plodded through the fresh puddles alongside her mother. Around them the scent of fresh rain on the grass filled the air, and the fireflies danced about with their springtime light show on full display. At her side, her mother took the time to pause, yawn, and stretch; the wonderful dinner they’d both just finished settling comfortably in her stomach. The evening had been filled with many a hilarious moment, the laughter and confusion that only ensued when two mares shared the same name. Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Twinkle. With a roll of her eyes, ponyville’s resident magician stopped and waited for her mother to catch up.
“Come on, mom.”
“Oh now, there’s no need to be in such a hurry. Savor the small things, Sparkle.”
“The small things are big things when you’re late and somepony’s expecting you. I promised Rarity that we’d come and see her tonight! I’m sure she was heartbroken that she missed a chance to have dinner with everypony else we invited.”
Twilight Twinkle sighed and stared up at the first stars of the evening. High in the sky the first stars and planets to appear twinkled far away. When she looked back down at her daughter, she found her smile to be more even. They didn’t get to share much time together, and hadn’t since Twilight Sparkle had graduated Celestia’s school and taken on full residency in ponyville. If this was what her daughter wanted to do with the evening though... She wouldn’t put up much more resistance.
“Sparkle. Rarity probably doesn’t want us bothering her. You know, in my hayday as a dressmaker, I hated it when people came by in the dead of night to bother me out of my only relaxing moments. Your father never did understand. Always showing up... Distracting me... We should give the poor dear a break.”
“Nonsense. You know Rarity loves getting the chance to talk to you and hear all about your dressmaking days.”
“I imagine she loves her sleep a tad bit more.”
“Sleep? I go by the boutique every night on my walks. She’s up until all hours! Even in the dead of midnight I can hear that machine of hers whirring and working. It’s a wonder nopony complains, honestly.”
“If she really has such a large project Sparkle, I still think we’d be best to leave her be... Nopony likes to be bothered while they’re working either.”
“But the work made her miss dinner! She needs a little sociability while the night’s still young. Sometimes being a good friend means pulling somepony out of their workaholic stride and-”
“Now Twilight Sparkle, isn’t that just the pot calling the kettle black?”
“The-what? No no no. Well, yes. But that’s how I know so well! Come on. We’re almost there now.”
And when Twinkle looked up, she discovered it to be true. The unique frame of the boutique silhouetted impressively against the quickly darkening sky, not a single light in the building daring to break the large black shape that filled the skyline of ponyville’s otherwise small houses. Even up the street she could hear the familiar and telltale whirs, hums, and clicks of a sewing machine hard at work.
“Goodness. In my day the models were so much smaller. Not nearly as much power to them.”
The younger Twilight knocked, but not a sound beyond the loud purr within issued from the boutique.
“I think it’s the new machine she’s got. They’re... really loud these days, I guess?”
“I... agree. But I think perhaps she doesn’t mean for us to come after all. You’re sure she won’t mind our going in, then? I think we should just come to call tomorrow.”
“Nope!”
And with that, Twilight Sparkle hopped through the threshold of the door, knocking once more as it swung open to reveal a nearly lightless room. In the corner hard at work, under the glow of a lamp sat the frazzled yet fine fashionista. In its soft light her coat shone brilliantly, a sea of desert sand under the moon, and Twilight Twinkle felt a tightening in her stomach as she watched the mare at work. She stepped behind her daughter reflexively as the younger pony strode forward.
“Rarity!”
“Hmmm?”
The ivory unicorn appraised them with a squint, night vision ruined by her proximity to the only light source until the two stepped into the edges of her limited vision.
“Twilight and Twilight! Oh goodness, I’d hardly recognized you!”
“If you don’t show up to more dinners, you won’t recognize us at all!”
“Now now. That’s hardly fair... It was a big order tonight, but I’m almost finished. I might even sleep this evening, and that will be...”
The white unicorn adjusted her glasses and smoothed her mane a bit before taking a quick sip from a glass resting on her workstation.
“Well, it’ll be what it’ll be, I suppose. How are you, Twilight Twinkle? I see your daughter all the time! You and I on the other hoof, why we simply must catch up more often! You look so lovely, you haven’t aged a day!”
Twilight Twinkle shifted slightly where she stood, forcing a smile and allowing her eyes to wander to anyplace other than the blushing designer’s face.
“Why, I bet you could put these designs of mine into reality far faster than I ever could, retirement or not!”
Twinkle couldn’t resist.
“Do you think so? It’s... been a while since I worked a sewing machine, I’m afraid. Too many buttons on the new ones. Probably couldn’t turn the thing on...”
“Nonsense! Here, I’ll just... show you... Twilight, can you fetch us two drinks from the kitchen? Three if you’d like one yourself, I suppose.”
Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow.
“Twilight? Which Twilight?”
“Oh, you of course. Give us a couple minutes to acquaint your mother with the newest machinery, and we’ll be positively churning out fabric.”
With a reluctant sigh Twilight Sparkle shifted through the familiar setting toward the kitchen as Rarity rose to give her mother a seat at the table.
“Here you are. Now... just... no... flip this switch... here.”
Twilight Twinkle suppressed a shiver as the alabaster mare’s hoof brushed her own. There was something present... wasn’t there? It had been so long since...
“There now. Just press your hoof here and move it forward like- oh what am I saying? The rest is elementary, you’ve done it a thousand times!”
And she had. With different hooves on her shoulders, different hooves sliding slowly down around her neck to play across her chest while she worked. Why she’d ever let the stallion go was beyond her, but gone he was, and had been for many years now. They’d held together until-
“Are you sure you haven’t been doing this privately, Twilight Twinkle? Why just look at those stitches, they’re looking positively spectacular!”
Twinkle looked down and couldn’t help a laugh. Was the designer being incredibly kind, or was she just deeper into the bottle than the aging mare had initially assumed? The stitches were crooked, all wrong, not even the same pattern as the ones Rarity had done only inches before them. Only one thing for it. She reached into the sewing basket.
“Sorry. Sorry, but...”
Only her hoof didn’t find the stitch remover. She blushed furiously at her discovery, dropping the rubbery tool back into the sewing box, hoof jerking back to her chest instinctively.
“I... That’s a very odd place to keep that, dearie... I’m sorry!”
“Sorry?”
Rarity scooped up the phallic object and appraised it in the light as if seeing it for the first time, lips pursed, before finally-
“Oh no need. Just knowledge between girls, I suppose. I do hope it didn’t make you... uncomfortable.”
“Oh... no... just... a little bit.”
“It’s been such a long time since I had time to... well, you know how it goes. Not that I particularly mind, of course. You know how it is...”
Rarity gently replaced the object back in the box. The sound of Twilight Sparkle’s return to the room drew both ponies attention toward the edges of their barely revealed vision. A bump and a swear told both mares where the young scholar was approaching from.
“Can’t we get some lights in here? I thought dressmaking involved good lighting!”
“I’ve already selected the fabric colors, sewing it isn’t that difficult.”
“So you sit here in the dark?”
“Not dark. It’s bright enough to see, and dark enough to ease my eyes.”
Beside Rarity, Twilight Twinkle chimed in, voice a bit higher land louder than her daughter recognized it being.
“She’s right, you know! Strain on the eyes being in a brightly lit room all day! No wonder she needs the glasses!”
“Mom, that’s not polite!”
“It’s true, dearie! No getting around it.”
“You sound like my mother, Miss Twinkle.”
“Oh, I sincerely hope not.”
And with a raising of eyebrows, she downed her drink. Rarity smiled over the edge of her whiskey glass as she and Twilight Sparkle politely drained theirs in kind. Beside her the less experienced bookworm coughed briefly.
“Another round?”
“I assume you want me to get them again?”
“Well. I am having a rather enjoyable time with your mother. We can talk later Twilight. Not to worry!”
With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Twilight left them once more. The two ponies shrugged and Rarity slid back into her seat.
“Here, let me show you some of the features of the DM 12,000.”
“Twelve thousand? Goodness, I owned a DM twelve.”
“Mmm. Sit here darling. Next to me, and push this down. Nothing wrong with age, at any rate.”
“Plenty wrong with age.”
“Nothing at all in the world of fashion. In fashion, age simply means experience.”
Twinkle looked into the mare’s slightly glassy eyes for a clue, the last word’s dual connotation filling the room and dripping with innuendo.
“Fashion and... a hoof full of other things, of course.”
There it was.
“Now... nopony wants an older mare, Rarity. We don’t know all the latest tricks-”
“DRINKS.”
Twilight Sparkle was among them again. When she appeared and from whence she came nopony could say. Had time really flown past? 
Rarity smiled up at Twilight as she took the glasses.
“It seemed to have taken longer the last time...”
“Got better at finding your liqueur cabinet. I assume we’re pounding these as well? I brought the expensive stuff so-”
In a flash the milky coated unicorn downed her drink and grinned her friend.
“Yes?”
“Yes. And I’m bringing the bottle next time. Will save me a trip.”
With a flash of magic, Twilight Sparkle was gone, leaving the two mares alone again.
“Ahhh... Such a talent. So proud of her.”
Rarity shot a glance to her drinking partner before winking.
“What was that you were saying about older mares?”
Twilight Twinkle blushed and looked at the floor.
“Older mares can’t learn new tricks. It’s a fact of life.”
“I imagine I can revise that fact. Here, let me see your hoof.”
Twilight Twinkle’s hoof crept up Rarity’s leg, missing and resting on her stomach in the dark below the desk. She bit her lip, blush flooding her face up to her horn.
“I told you... not experienced... can’t learn new things.”
“I... here, let’s show you some more features of the new model, yes?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Reach back into the basket and get that tool you found not so long ago...”
“I think you should probably... I’d only mess it up.”
“Now now. Nothing wrong with making mistakes.”
“Twilight will be back soon...”
“Just showing you the new model... she can’t be mad over that... It’s got twelve thousand speed settings!”
Rarity clicked off the lamp as Twilight Twinkle sighed and leaned back in her chair expectantly... For a sensation that never came. In the dark she could hear a couple clicking noises, and then-
The room was bathed in sudden light as Twilight flicked the light switch.
“Not navigating in the total dark. Are you trying to prank me by turning off the lights? You two are such-”
Twilight Twinkle opened her eyes and snapped her legs shut as she heard her daughter’s voice. In front of her, mounted where once was a sewing machine arm, was the large rubber extension she had pulled out of the basket earlier.
“-the hell is going on in here?”
“Oh, Twilight! I was just showing your mother the latest feature of the DM12000!”
“Feature? Rarity, that’s a-”
“Oh, I’m positively in love with it.”
“You’re in love with... the sewing machine? Or is it the-”
Rarity’s hoof slid expectantly between Twilight Twinkle’s legs beneath the desk.
“With the dress maker twelve thousand, yes. I do believe I’ve fallen in love with my dress maker, Twilight.”