Face the Unexpected

by Hakuno

8. Face the Possibility

Being a princess of the most flourishing nation in the world wasn’t as hard as Twilight thought at first. Sure she had to attend to royal meetings with the rulers of other lands, and Princess Celestia sent her some economy and political books to help her get started. But her life in Ponyville didn’t change at all. Mayor Mare was still the mayor. The Rich and the Apples still had a prosperous business ever since the very foundation of the town. And ponies treated her as always, though they still respected her as the princess she is.

Twilight was happy with her life. She had a lot of time in her hooves and used it as she wanted. If she wasn’t reading, it was easy to find her in her laboratory doing an experiment or research. If she wasn’t writing a report in her latest discoveries, ponies knew that she might be stargazing. And if she wasn’t with Spike teaching him something, it wasn’t hard to guess that she most likely would be spending time with her friends.

And that day, one of her best friends, also called Rarity, asked her to come by the boutique to have tea and talk a little. Since the white unicorn was really well known in the fashion world, it was harder and harder to have a nice, relaxing afternoon with her. And Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic and Princess of Friendship wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.

She asked Spike to take care of the library while she was gone. She knew that her number one assistant pretty much was going to just lay on his bed and read some comics. But it wasn’t a problem. Ponies barely went to the library, and if that was the case, everything had been left perfectly organized so they wouldn’t have a single problem in finding what they wanted. It was a public library after all, and it took her friends almost two years to convince her that it wasn’t her duty to be there at all times if the world wasn’t facing a catastrophe.

Twilight trotted through the town, happily humming a tune that only she knew. It was almost the end of winter, and the sunny days, while still cold, were starting to be more constant. She was smiling for no reason in particular as other ponies passed by and greeted her, just to return to their own activities.

And then she saw the archery field. It was empty and she knew that the reason was that Daniel was working at the boutique. She smiled to herself. Oh how she wanted Winter Wrap Up to come faster. Daniel would be very happy to finally see Equestria at its best. Not that winter wasn’t beautiful, but in spring flowers bloomed and trees grew their leaves and birds sang and everything was colorful. She wondered what Daniel would be doing at Winter Wrap Up. Maybe he would help waking up the little animals, but there were snakes, and she knew snakes terrified him.

Lost in her train of thoughts, she barely realized that she was already in the boutique’s front door. The door opened and the small bell rang once and then again when the door closed behind her. Daniel was cleaning a showcase with a duster. “Hey Twilight, what’s up?” He asked with a welcoming smile. Twilight smiled in return, it intrigued her how his teeth looked like. Almost all of them were flat, but four of them were sharp. For a moment, she wondered if those teeth would hurt in a kiss.

She blinked, why she thought that? “Hi Daniel” A little of red was starting to appear in her cheeks, fortunately for her, her fur made it difficult to be seen. “Rarity asked me to come here today”

“And I’m most certainly glad that you’re punctual as ever, darling” Rarity said walking from another room. She closed distance with Twilight and hugged her, and the princess accepted it. After mere seconds, the white unicorn turned to face the human and lit her horn. “Daniel, be a dear and go to buy the things listed here” She placed a large piece of paper and a small bag filled with bits in front of Daniel. He took them, nodded and walked out the boutique.

Twilight sat in a small couch near the entrance, it was there for the customers, but it was really rare when somepony actually spent more than a few minutes in the boutique asking something. Normally, Rarity received requests via letters, and when they were done, a pony would stop by and take them, sometimes not even thanking her. And so said couch was only there for mere decoration. Though it was really comfy, Twilight admitted.

Rarity disappeared for a moment just to return a few seconds later with some tea. She carefully placed the silver plate in the small table in front of the couch and allowed herself to sit in a cushion at the other side. Using her magic, she served the tea first to Twilight and second to herself. “How are you, Twilight?” She asked in her most friendly tone before drinking just a bit of tea, not too much so it was easy and fast to swallow, but just enough to actually taste the drink.

“I’m fine, and you?” Twilight said with a big grin and allowing herself to drink some of her own tea.

“Fine” Rarity put her teacup on the table, her voice sounded a little too serious. Twilight dismissed the thought. “We don’t have much time since Daniel is really fast when he walks alone” Now that was unsettling. Twilight raised an eyebrow to her friend, who remained smiling. It was odd, really odd. “Yes” Rarity said before the alicorn could even open her mouth. “I need to talk with you about something I don’t want Daniel to hear”

“What is it, Rarity? You’re scaring me” And it was true. Everything felt wrong, Rarity’s voice was really serious, but her warm smile was still there. She wasn’t dramatically overreacting, she wasn’t happily bouncing as a little filly. She was just there, unmovable sitting with a sly look in her eyes.

Rarity leaned closer to her friend, carefully trying not to touch her cup with her forelegs. “I’m going to be honest with you, dear. Because if I learned something from our dearest friend Applejack, is that between friends there’s no space for lies” She said, her voice was emotionless. She slowly sat straight again and softly shut her eyes. “The first time I laid my eyes upon Daniel, I found him rather handsome”

Twilight could see Rarity’s cheeks turn to red. The white fur every mare envied wasn’t the best at hiding that sort of things. “I know what most ponies would say. That he’s from another world and it’s kind of weird of me to think that” She circled the edge of her teacup with one hoof, trying to find the best words for the moment. “Even if nowadays it’s normal for ponies to find their special somepony in a griffin, a minotaur, a caribou, and a long etcetera, every time something new happens, they just freak out. Funny, doesn’t it?” It wasn’t a real question, so Twilight didn’t answer.

“So I thought that I had a crush on him” She said with a weird smile, almost as if she was suppressing a giggle. “But working with him for two months now, made me realize that he is a wonderful friend. Sure he’s still very handsome, but I can only see him as a good, good friend”

Twilight was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Why was Rarity telling her all that? Her heart was beating faster. “I bet you are wondering now why I tell you all this” The unicorn said looking directly at Twilight’s eyes. There was a pause when Rarity had to slowly breathe in and focus her own thoughts. “It’s because I noticed something that I, and forgive me for this, thought would never ever see” Her smile grew wider. There was another pause, this time it was intentional as Rarity wanted her friend to process everything before she could continue. “You…” Rarity started, calling for Twilight’s attention. “You have a crush on Daniel, am I right?”

Silence.

For a moment, Twilight considered taking a sip of her tea and wildly spit it out. But she decided not to do so. She could feel her cheeks burning as her heart was beating faster than ever before. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes widened at their maximum capability. Her jaw was dropped and she could feel cold sweat running down her face.

Rarity watched patiently, waiting for her friend to gather the pieces of her blown mind. Twilight’s mouth moved, obviously trying to formulate words. She felt her lips dry while her brain was unable to process what Rarity just said. And after the longest time, she finally spoke. “I… He… He’s just my friend, Rarity” But the unicorn’s smile only grew a little more. “N-No, stop looking at me that way” She said with a frown and waved her hoof to her friend. “Stop it already!” But Rarity didn’t stop.

Twilight could easily feel her heart beating in her chest. She wondered why. Daniel was just her friend! Ever since he came to Equestria, he always helped in the library. He was really nice with her, and when Spike muttered something while doing his chores, Daniel only smiled and offered her to help. He was a nice guy. But she never saw him in that way, he was just her friend, darn it!

“I know…” Rarity said softly and Twilight had to look at her. “You really think you don’t have a crush on him.” She wasn’t teasing, she was actually trying her best to sound as sympathetic as she could. “But I’ve seen how you look at him. In fact, I think only Rainbow Dash and himself haven’t noticed yet”

Twilight looked away and tried to hide her face under her mane as Fluttershy, but hers was too short. “Twilight, look at me” And she did it. “Darling, it is not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. But I’m afraid that if I don’t make you notice your own feelings, you won’t do it yourself” Rarity was really concerned for her friend. She knew that Twilight, as smart as she was, wouldn’t ever notice something that obvious on her own.

“B-but…” Twilight said as her mouth moved hesitant. “He’s my friend… And I-“

“And what does that have to do with it?” Rarity interrupted with a knowingly smile. “Is there any book saying that friends can’t fall in love with each other?”

“Well, no but…” She paused. Did she just say love? Twilight knew that Rarity was the kind of pony prone to dramatize everything, but this… This wasn’t like her. She wasn’t fainting in her favorite divan fantasizing with true love and praising her friend for finding hers. She was just sitting there, looking at her eyes and seriously talking about love.

Rarity tilted her head with a faint smile. “Twilight, what do you think of Daniel?”

That was an easy one. And Twilight was about to answer until she couldn’t find the words. What did she think of him? He was her friend, of course! But she already said that, so she had to give a different answer, right? She thought, and never before in her life it had been so hard to answer a question. So she had to gather her ideas.

He was handsome, Twilight thought. She didn’t have anything to compare him with, but somehow she could tell that he at least wasn’t ugly. His brown hair had been getting slightly longer because he said he didn’t trust a horse with scissors in its mouth. She had told him that there were unicorns barbers, but he still didn’t want to trust them, and she found that really cute. His eyes almost as black as coal were small, and the fact that he narrowed them a lot didn’t help. Then there was his smile. Every time he smiled at her, she would smile in return. There was a way in which his lips curved just in one side of his face that made him look so confident on himself. And how to forget those more than interesting teeth, which made her wonder if a kiss of him would hurt her own lips.

“I…” Twilight said, realizing what she was just thinking.

Rarity put a hoof on her mouth. “I think that you have a lot to think about” She said with a friendly smile. “I’m not going to force you to admit it, Twilight” Her horn glowed again and her teacup levitated in front of her and she took a small sip. “So, given that our time is over, you should head back to the library and thoroughly think about what we talked today”

Twilight was about to ask what did she mean about the time, when the front door opened and Daniel stepped inside carrying a mountain of fabric with both arms as some plastic bags hung in his arms. “Thanks heavens you ponies keep your doors open” He said walking to the showcase he had been cleaning earlier and almost let everything fall in it, barely moving the bags out of the fabric’s way.

He turned to face the ponies and noticed that Twilight’s fur was bright red in her face. He was about to ask what was going on when the alicorn ran through the door and away from the boutique. Had he done something wrong? The human looked at Rarity, she was calmly drinking her tea. She put her cup on the table once again and with a hoof told him to sit in the couch where Twilight had been just mere moments ago. “Daniel, I’d like to talk with you”

~~~~~~~~

Twilight was running and she didn’t know why. She just had the need to run, so she did it. She wasn’t going to any place in particular, yet she was going through Ponyville as she did have an objective. But the more she ran, the more she started to feel that it wasn’t enough. So she spread her wings as flew through the sky, she wanted to get lost in the clouds, so she did it.

She landed in a gray cumulus and her legs couldn’t hold her weight anymore, so she let her body fall in the comfy surface. She hid her face under her wings. Her mind had been spinning wildly, and didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. She needed to relax, and then she would think about what Rarity just told her. But her own emotions made her feel tired, and the heavenly feel the clouds had didn’t help. And soon, she found herself sleeping there.

~~~~~~~~

“No” Daniel said.

Rarity had been talking with him. She of course didn’t tell him about what she talked with Twilight, she didn’t tell him that she thought she had a crush on him. She only told him the way he looked at Twilight, and asked him if he had a crush on her.

She knew that Daniel was a subtle guy, but she never expected him to be so serious. He didn’t change his expression as Twilight did. He didn’t even need to think more than a couple of seconds. He only stared at her. “Daniel…” She said, trying to remain calm and comprehensive.

“I don’t have a crush on her” He deadpanned and the look in his eyes hardened. Rarity had to suppress a gasp of surprise. Twilight had been easy to read, she acted as a little filly trying to hide her new coltfriend from her parents. But Daniel was just looking back at her, with his eyes painfully unmoving from hers. He acted as if she just told him the worst joke ever.

“Daniel” She repeated. “I’m just trying to help you” Her voice was a little shivery as she didn’t know how to deal with this situation. She carefully put a hoof on the table. “I just want you to realize your own feelings”

Daniel suddenly stood up and for the first time in two months, Rarity remembered how tall he was. His face unreadable and his gaze unalterable. His hands were fists now. Rarity didn’t exactly know what that meant, but given the situation, it couldn’t be anything good. “Daniel-“

“Listen, Rarity” He said, and his words were a command for the unicorn to shut her mouth. “You ponies are really nice to me, and I even think of you as friends” He looked away, and his lips moved hesitant while he tried to find the best words. “But I will never think of any of you that way”

“Why not?” Rarity asked immediately, she didn’t even realize she talked until the human turned to her again.

“Because” He stated. And a few seconds of silence later, he walked away to the front door. “I’m going to take this day off” He said, took his coat from a nearby rack and got out of the boutique.

Rarity couldn’t say a word. She only wanted her friends to know their own feelings and maybe they could be together and she could see them happier than ever before. But Daniel acted in a completely different way than she expected. He didn’t widen his eyes, he didn’t trip on his words, and he didn’t even blush. For a moment, Rarity wondered if what she did had been a wrong move.

~~~~~~~~

At the end, Twilight couldn’t calm her mind. She had been on a cloud all day and that didn’t help her. It was getting dark, so she decided to head back to the library. She couldn’t have a crush on Daniel, that was ridiculous! But, why was it ridiculous? Twilight didn’t know. She glided and made a few wide loops until she finally reached the entrance of her home. She stepped inside and for a moment she froze in place. Daniel was sitting in a cushion with his back rested on the wall. One of his hands was behind his head preventing it to touch the wooden wall, and with his other hand he held the book he was reading. Twilight recognized the book, it was a math book.

“Hey Twilight” He said with his always warm smile, and Twilight felt her heart beating faster. She was starting to fear that at this rate she would have a heart attack. “What’s up?”

Twilight gave him an awkward smile as she felt her cheeks burn. “I… Uhm…” Why was it so hard to talk to him? “I’m kinda tired…” She finally said and started to walk to the stairs. “I’m going to get some sleep, see you tomorrow” She didn’t even wait for him to answer as she rushed to her room and locked herself in.

Daniel didn’t notice the weird actions of the princess as he had his own mind busy. Rarity said he had a crush on Twilight. And that was ridiculous! They were horses for Pete’s sake! Sure, he thought that the purple alicorn was really cute, but she was still a horse. It was just so ridiculous that the fact that he couldn’t just forget it made him angry. It had been a misunderstanding from Rarity, just a big and funny misunderstanding. Yet he couldn’t just forget it and move on. So when he returned to the library, he took the first book he found and started to read it.

“I hate math” He muttered.

Comments

[High_Wind]

Really I'm more disappointed that Rarity gave up so soon than anything else

[Hakuno]

3860072 She didn't give up. She doesn't see him that way =)

[High_Wind]

3860086
I know, but there was so much potential for conflict, excitement, and comedy

[Hakuno]

3860407 I pretend this story to be a light reading. I might, however, add some conflicts here and there, but do not expect too much drama, I need to get used to writing in english before attempting to do that.

[High_Wind]

3860421
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/27368580.jpg

[candyman20XX]

Kinda like this story.

Was a little rushed at the beginning with Daniel's intro to Equestria, but then it seemed to settle somewhat.

There are some minor grammatical errors; however, they are so small that I seem to skip over them without realizing most of the time.

Worth a fav and upvote.