RariTwi: Love is War

by SigmasonicX

13. The Gala, Part 4 - The Night Ends

The wind blew through Twilight’s hair as an illusion of Rarity stood before her with a smitten smile. Behind that face was a deadly assassin, ready to fulfill his promise to his queen and put an end to the princess, and then all of Equestria.

He took another step closer. “Twilight, my princess. This night, with all its glamor, it’s hard not to… feel things.”

Twilight tilted her head curiously. “Oh?”

He twirled a finger through his illusory hair and blushed lightly. “We’ve worked together for all this time, but seeing you like this, in that lovely dress, and even getting along with my sister, I’ve finally started to realize something.”

He moved one hand up to Twilight’s cheek, and the other subtly approached her torso, aiming for an upward stab through the ribs.

Twilight fluttered her eyelashes. “And that is?”

“I’ve grown quite fond of you, my dear—” he hovered over Twilight’s cheek, ready to grab the back of her head “—and I believe… I love y—”

Before the killer could thrust his knife, Twilight grabbed his wrists like a whip crack and pulled them in front of her. With uncanny strength and an unchanging smile, she squeezed and he could only watch as his hands distorted and snapped, until they finally broke. The changeling could only look down, feeling the pain but being unable to react.

Twilight continued smiling. “Oh my, is that what you’d think Rarity would say? And you were actually doing a decent job until now.”

His eyes widened. His cover was blown. How could this have happened? He pulled his arms, but the princess coated him in magic, making him unable to move.

Twilight hummed. “Well that’s interesting, you aren’t a changeling. I have to say, you really put an impressive amount of effort in this disguise, then. Way more than all of my other suitors.”

The changeling blinked. Suitor?

“But what exactly was your gameplan once you confessed your love disguised as Rarity? Or was it really all for a one-and-done? That’s it, isn’t it? Don’t think I didn’t notice you reaching for my chest.”

Part of him wanted to protest that that wasn’t at all what he was trying to do, but Twilight thinking he was a mere fool would be useful. The princess hadn’t discovered his knife and people watching from a distance wouldn’t know about his disguise. This could still work. He laughed airily in Rarity’s voice. “Well, what can I say? You got me. I don’t suppose you could let go of my hands, please? This hurts quite a bit.”

He moved slowly before out of caution, but as soon as she let go, he’d just go for the attack. She wouldn’t have time to react.

Twilight looked down at his crushed hands, then looked back up. “Alright.”

Magic built up around the assassin, to the point that its purple light blotted out everything else. The princess levitated him off the ground, thus erasing any possible leverage he could have used to attack. Then she spun him, building up speed quickly, and lifted him higher and higher. He clamped his mouth shut, having no idea what to do. Finally, Twilight shot him almost straight up, past the rooftops and far into the sky.

The air got thinner and thinner as he traveled. He saw thick clouds pass in the distance, followed by thin ones endemic to the upper atmosphere, and then suddenly, he was surrounded by empty blackness. All except for the blue sphere below and the bright light he now realized he was heading towards.

It was then that he truly realized how dangerous a princess could be.

Changeling Assassin Amog Nus
Status: Retired

---

Twilight wiped her forehead while rolling her eyes. “Well that was annoying,” she said under her breath. “These suitors are getting worse and worse.”

She looked to her left at the gawking guests outside the gallery, who quickly discovered much more interesting patches of grass that they shifted their attention to.

Twilight sighed. Worst of all, this all distracted her from the truly important thing: clearing things up with Sweetie Belle. She exited the art gallery, getting a nod from the sweating guard stationed there. She quickly nodded back—making him flinch, but she chose to ignore that—and turned her attention to the girl. She was still at the table she saw earlier, but to her surprise, she was accompanied by none other than Spike the dragon.

Her eyebrow raised, Twilight approached the two. Spike noticed her and waved her over. “Oh, Twilight, good timing! I was helping Sweetie Belle here. Something about Pinkie Pie being weird?”

Twilight smiled in appreciation, then turned to Sweetie. “Yeah, sorry about that. It turns out Pinkie was bleeping some of her words, but only adults could hear it, which led to that whole misunderstanding at the end.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, that definitely sounds like Pinkie.”

Sweetie’s face showed signs of having cried, but her eyes were all dry now. “So you’re OK with loving and appreciating, uh—” she turned to Spike and then back to Twilight “—those things?”

Twilight clasped her hands together. “Of course!” Her eyes widened. “Oh, and one more thing, that wasn’t actually Rarity back there, but some sicko dressed up as her.”

Sweetie stood up. “Wait, what?”

Twilight was a bit taken aback, but she realized that yes, of course she’d have to explain. “Well you see, when you’re a princess, you often have people come up to you to propose. It’s honestly quite remarkable how brazen they can get. It was bad enough when I was merely an affluent scion of a prominent family, but they became an even bigger nuisance once I became a princess.” Twilight found herself getting into her rant, relaxing her shoulders and wearing a decidedly un-princesslike expression. “I used to give them impossible quests, but even if I tell them to go find a jeweled tree branch from a mythical island, they’ll come back with a branch made from fake gems, and I’m like, really, you’re going to try to win me over with that? So I stopped doing that and now I just send them to the moon.”

Sweetie blinked. “Wow, princesses have it harder than I thought. But, uh, I was wondering more about the fake Rarity. So they were a changeling?”

“Oh, right, of course you’d care more about that part. I thought they weren’t a changeling, but the more I think about it, the more they had to be one. Maybe using a spell I don’t know?” She rubbed her chin. “But more importantly, that means it wasn’t really Rarity that had such a strong negative reaction to My Friendly Horses!”

Sweetie’s eyes widened. “Princess!” She shushed her.

Twilight giggled. “Relax, Spike is a big fan of My Friendly Horses too.”

Spike leaned on the table and pointed at himself with his thumb. “Oh yeah, big horsey over here. My favorite is Sparkler. How about you?”

Sweetie beamed. “Oh, I like Sparkler too! There’s just something weirdly familiar about her.”

Twilight smiled as they continued talking to each other. Spike and Sweetie seemed like they’d get along well. She rubbed her chin as she let that thought percolate and then grinned conspiratorially.

In fact, if she really wanted to win some points with Rarity, there’s no way matching Sweetie with a safe and friendly dragon would be bad.

At a lull in the conversation, Twilight lightly swayed and said, “You know, Sweetie, you and Spike are around the same age.”

Sweetie looked at Spike and then back at Twilight. “Really? He’s kind of short.”

Spike huffed. “Hey, it takes a while for a dragon to grow. We live for hundreds of years and all that.”

Twilight continued. “Since you two are getting along so well, what do you think about hanging out some more later? Spike knows a lot of great places around the city.”

Spike blinked in confusion while Sweetie looked at her with narrow eyes. “Princess Twilight, are you trying to hook us up?”

Twilight giggled. “Oh, is that what this looks like? But you should know, you two really are adorable together.”

Spike scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, uh, actually, I’m more into older women.” Immediately after, he winced upon realizing how lame he sounded.

Twilight couldn’t turn down this opportunity to tease him. She wiggled her eyebrows and said, “Oh, really now! I bet those puffy purple cheeks of yours make all the older ladies swoon.”

She reached over and pulled at Spike’s cheeks, making him blush and pull away. “Hey, cut it out,” he said while giggling. The previous awkwardness having passed, Sweetie laughed too and all three of them enjoyed the moment.

Suddenly, Sweetie’s eyes widened and she looked past Spike. “Oh hey, there’s another Rarity over there!”

Twilight twisted around and saw her running alongside Fluttershy—pretty strong evidence that this was the real deal. As they dashed toward them, Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Rarity was notably disheveled compared to when she last saw her, though seeing her like that had its own appeal. This thought distracted her from considering how she got into that state until—

“Twilight, run!” Rarity cried out.

Twilight merely blinked in response then shifted focus to whatever was behind them. It was hard to parse what it was at first, until it finally hit her: they were being chased by a huge mob.

Twilight’s wings erupted out in shock. “What?!”

---

Standing at the back of the crowd, Prince Blueblood witnessed a purple light form a barrier that pushed away those at the front. He crossed his arms and raised a finger. “As you may recall, during the start of this entire incident, a group of fools rushing off to court Princess Twilight. This was only a small number of people, but their actions inspired a few others to rush out. They quickly gave up, but this led me to realize, what if I got a few more people to do that?”

Moondancer looked around and then raised her bushy eyebrow. “Uh, why are you telling me this?”

Blueblood humphed. “Well, it’s not like I can talk to any of these other plebs. As an elite Canterlot scion, you’re the only one within my immediate vision worthy of hearing this. Now, may I ask you why you’re part of this crowd?”

Moondancer sighed and waved her hand. “I heard this rumor about Twilight marrying the next person to propose to her when the fireworks go off and I wanted to see if that was true. I can’t imagine it is, but it definitely looks like enough people believe it is.”

Blueblood grew a wide smile and pointed with both hands. “That’s it! I was responsible for that!” After Moondancer raised both eyebrows, he continued. “I informed the guards to spread the rumor that the princess was seeking suitors during the fireworks. You see, a rumor like that would only make the most foolish people act, but their acting will be enough to bolster the rumor and make it evolve. Seeing others act will make more people act, and that will continue reverberating. I see that my initial rumor has evolved quite well.

“Some will join in because they think they’ll succeed, some will participate just for the fun, and some like you will just want to see if it’s true. The very fact that everyone has differing ideas of what’s going on only serves to keep them invested in finding out the truth, and to keep the crowd large and bothersome.” He raised his hands to shoulder height with his palms out and shook his head with his eyes closed. “But in the end, none of them will be up to her standard. By the time I swoop in, she’ll be desperate for someone worthy courting her and will readily accept me!”

Moondancer waited a second to see if the prince was finished. “Woo. OK then.” She slid away. “I think I’m just going to… not be around here then.”

Blueblood chuckled to himself as he continued watching the crowd.

---

Rarity watched with bewilderment as people pressed themselves against Twilight’s barrier. One man in particular placed both hands against it and rubbed his cheeks. “Good heavens! They’re acting like beasts!”

The council vice-president could feel Fluttershy’s glare, and turned to wave in apology.

Twilight strained to keep her magic up. “So, these people are…?”

Rarity sighed. “All suitors, I’m afraid. I’m not quite sure what he did, but Prince Blueblood is responsible for this.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Ugh, of course he is.”

Fluttershy put her hands together. “So, what do we do? This is scary enough on its own, but we have a baby dragon and a little girl here too.”

Sweetie frowned. “I’m a teen!”

“The best we can do is run,” Twilight said. “I won’t be able to keep my barrier up for that long if we leave, so it’s best if we take to the air. Maybe only a third of that crowd will be able to follow us then.”

“But Princess,” said Sweetie Belle, “can’t you teleport us?”

“It’s too risky, and with this many people, I’ll have to take down the barrier first. Besides, Fluttershy doesn’t like being teleported.”

Fluttershy nodded.

Rarity put her finger on her cheek. “We only have two fliers among us: you and Flutter-dear. How do you plan for us to escape?”

Twilight turned to Fluttershy. “Who do you think you can carry?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, uh, I suppose just Spike and Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight sighed. “I suppose that means I’ll carry Rarity.”

Rarity paused, then said, “Huwuhwuhwah?!”

Twilight grunted as pressure mounted on the barrier. “There isn’t much time, we’ll have to go now!”

At once, Fluttershy bent over to pick up both Spike and Sweetie in either arm. Though in total they weighed less than an adult, the animal liaison showed surprising strength in cradling them in her arms. She spread her wings and, with a grunt, took to the air.

Meanwhile, Rarity stood stock still. Twilight watched Fluttershy depart, then turned back to release a surge of magic that stabilized the barrier. She stepped away from it and then toward Rarity. “Are you ready?”

How could she be ready? How in the world could she be ready?

Not waiting for a response, Twilight held Rarity in her magic, lifted her into the air, and deposited her in her waiting arms.

“Hawahwah,” Rarity said as her breath left her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, but hearing the magic barrier strain refocused her on the bigger problem. She spread her great purple wings and, with a powerful flap, they lifted off the ground, the princess holding the lady in her arms.

As they flew higher into the air, Rarity found she had trouble breathing. They couldn’t have gone up so high that the air got thinner, could they? She would hate to think this reaction came solely from having Princess Twilight Sparkle hold and carry her. Surely she was stronger than that.

Still, Rarity found her senses going into overdrive as she felt the pressure of Twilight’s arms against her back and her thighs and smelled the princess’s perfume. She heard the flap of her wings and her breathing, and of course couldn’t tear her eyes away from the princess’s lovely visage.

It was getting harder to breathe. Just how high up were they going? Were they leaving the atmosphere? Perhaps carrying her to some place only the princesses could visit, high up in the sky, where no one could see them. Could she do that? Taking her away from the danger and everything painful about their old lives, placing her on a bed in the clouds? Would Twilight do that? Up there, would they just…?

Twilight turned her head around, allowing Rarity to watch her gorgeous hair move for a brief moment before she turned back and spoke in her lovely voice. She said, “It looks like nobody's following us. I guess with so many people, it’s easy for them to lose track.” She then raised her eyebrow. “Uh, are you feeling OK?”

Rarity’s head span. She took shallow breaths and then said, “Hbluhbluhbluhbluh.”

Twilight screamed.

---

Blueblood cackled as the barrier finally gave out and the crowd of suitors rushed forward. “Yes! Ha ha ha! Yes!” He punched the air.

So focused on his oncoming victory, the prince failed to notice the icy presence behind him.

“What is the meaning of this madness?”

Blueblood froze, his head sinking. Slowly and sputtering, he twisted his body around and found Princess Luna standing behind him, arms crossed and impatiently tapping her fingers against a forearm. Her eyes were narrow and her lips were pressed together. He jumped to fully face her. “A-Auntie Luna! My, it is a pleasure to see you!”

Her expression showed no change. “I had intended to finish off my night here by visiting the art gallery, which I was assured would be quiet and peaceful. Can I assume you’re the reason it isn’t?”

Blueblood’s mouth twisted. “Me? What an absurd notion! No, all these ruffians are here due to a strange rumor regarding Princess Twilight. I actually intended to go rescue her from her plight at this very second.”

Still, Luna’s expression didn’t change. “Oh, so Princess Twilight is in trouble? I suppose we should work together to rescue her, then.”

Blueblood started sweating. “Oh, I mean, Princess Twilight isn’t in trouble, per say, so there is no need for you to involve yourself. Besides, dealing with these people is surely below you. I can take on the burden.”

“Nonsense, ‘tis a simple matter. Observe.”

Luna held out her hand and dark blue magic gathered into a ball in front of it. The ball grew and grew as the air and then the ground itself shook around it. Soon, the ball was larger than Luna herself. At this point, some people at the back of the crowd took notice of the magic and started running away. It was too late. Luna launched the ball forward and it pierced into the center of the crowd, whereupon it expanded and enveloped its entirety. With a flash of dark light, every single person disappeared, leaving the area empty and quiet.

After a moment, Blueblood squeaked. “Oh! Yes, well, that does resolve that matter. Thank you very much Princess Luna.”

Luna simply hummed. She walked to the gallery entrance, accompanied by the prince. There she found a single guard, who nervously bowed and said, “Princess Luna, welcome! I thank you for your assistance with that crowd.”

Luna nodded, then leaned to look around him. “Was Princess Twilight here?”

“Yes, but I believe she left some moments ago.”

Blueblood loudly sighed in relief. “Smashing! All that’s left now is to find the one responsible for this—”

Luna raised her hand and the prince froze. “I thought I would get some amusement out of this game, but I quickly grow bored of it. Farewell.”

Before Blueblood could object, purple light enveloped him and he disappeared. The guard could do nothing more than keep his lips pressed together as the princess sighed then smiled.

“Well, that was fun. Now, can I assume the art gallery is still open?”

The guard nodded then stumbled away to allow access.

There was a soft thud behind Luna as a woman touched down from flight. “My, that was a more direct resolution than I expected.”

Luna looked back over her shoulder. “It’s all that the situation deserved, sister.”

Princess Celestia held her elbow in one hand and touched her cheek with the other. “May I ask, where exactly did you send them?”

Luna shrugged. “The usual place.”

Celestia sighed. “It’s going to be quite a pain getting all of them back down from the moon. Plus several important people were among them. Are you going to help iron all this out?”

Luna looked at the art gallery and then back to Celestia, and pouted.

After staring for moments, Celestia waved her hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll handle it. But you have to be present for any dispute hearings that come out of this.”

Luna rolled her eyes but ultimately nodded. She took another step toward the gallery, but then—

“Hey, wait a minute!” Pinkie Pie came dashing out of the art gallery and came to a sudden stop in front of Luna. She learned over and bounced her upper body. “You sent all those people to the moon?! Do me, do me!”

Luna blinked at the excited girl, then shrugged and lifted her hand. Celestia grabbed her shoulder and shook her head no.

---

Apple Bloom sighed at the food counter. “Can I go now, sis? It’s been ages since anyone’s been here!”

Applejack looked around. “I suppose it has really emptied out. The Gala must be wrapping up.”

The young girl groaned. “And you made me stay here for all of it! I’m probably not even going to see my friends again tonight!”

“Nonsense, Apple Bloom. In fact, look, your friends are right over there.”

True to her word, Apple Bloom saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle heading her way with another person and a small dragon. She immediately beamed and jumped over the stand. “You guys!”

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo cried out.

“You won’t believe all the crazy things that happened!” Sweetie Belle said.

As the three girls hugged and Spike stood by awkwardly, Fluttershy walked past them to Applejack. “Hello there. I wouldn’t suppose you still have some snacks? It’s been a rough night.”

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack passed her a few apple crisps, which Fluttershy then nibbled at daintily. “So, what happened?”

Fluttershy touched her cheek. “There’s just been so much.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, did anyone tell you about Rainbow Dash?”

Concern grew on Applejack’s face. “Rainbow Dash? Did she get in trouble?”

“Well, uh, she…”

“She’s feeling awesome!” yelled a voice from up in the air.

Rainbow Dash flew low to the ground, did a loop, and then landed gracefully on the ground. Whereupon she immediately fell over. She then got back up and posed as though that didn’t happen.

While Scootaloo squeed, Applejack wasn’t impressed. “And may I ask why you have a big old bandage around your forehead?”

Rainbow Dash waved her hands. “Oh, this? Yeah, it’s nothing.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes, but then said. “Well, I suppose it can wait.” She turned back to Fluttershy, who managed to clear through all of her food when she wasn’t looking. “So you were looking over the girls? What happened to Twilight?”

Fluttershy hummed, trying to find the best way to word it. “Rarity and Twilight had a dress situation that they’re addressing in the council room.”

“A dress situation, huh? Knowing Rarity, that could take all night. I might have to take Sweetie home.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That would probably be best. I told Rarity I’d take care of that, but I do have to bring Toby back to his pen.” Then she privately frowned. Even after emptying her perfume bottle, she wasn’t sure how Rarity could get out of what she did.

---

Twilight stepped into the council room, now wearing her outfit from earlier. It was still dirty from all the events of that morning, but it was in a better state than her dress. She frowned as she saw Rarity sitting on the sofa, looking down darkly with her hands balled into fists on her thighs. Rather than wear her outfit from earlier that day, she was in a simple but clean blouse and pants she hadn’t seen before. She supposed it was a good sign that Rarity cared enough to be fashion conscious, but still…

“You don’t have to feel bad, Rarity,” Twilight ventured. “After all, it’s perfectly normal to throw up after being suddenly lifted in the air. Especially under stressful circumstances like that.”

Rarity showed no reaction.

Twilight truly could sympathize. She couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if she was the one who vomited on one her coworkers. She took a look at the two couches facing each other. It would probably be best to show Rarity she was still willing to be physically close to her. As such, the princess sidled up next to her, though making sure she wasn’t too close. This did get a reaction from Rarity, who turned her head and blinked curiously, but then quickly looked away again.

Twilight considered what she should say, but feeling her body sink into the couch, she soon reached her answer of not saying anything. Muscles she didn’t realize were strained relaxed and she felt aches all over. She was surprised at first, but as she thought about it, it only made sense. After all, it was a very long day. The curse situation in the morning, then the last minute Gala preparations, and then everything at the Gala itself. With the knowledge that most of the Gala guests should be gone by now, her body finally had a chance to relax.

The princess rolled her head back and sighed. Her arms relaxed.

And then her hand touched something.

Twilight’s eyes widened. She dared not turn her head to see what she had touched. Thinking logically, she and Rarity were too far apart for her hand to be touching her body or her legs, and her hand was too low for that to be the case. It was definitely human and fleshy, though. And soft. The object felt neither warm nor cold, meaning it was the same temperature as her hand, which was fairly cold by virtue of her being outside for so long. Rarity was in the same situation, so her hand should be at a similar temperature. Was it possible? Rarity’s hands were on her lap before, but they could have easily moved when she wasn’t looking. But no, there had to be other possibilities.

Twilight dared not think about what she’d do if she was, in fact, holding Rarity’s hand.

They sat there for endless moments, neither woman making a move. Twilight desperately hoped for something, anything, to break this impasse.

Pinkie Pie. Of course! Pinkie always had a habit of interfering at moments like this. All she had to do was wait for Pinkie to show up.

Yup, good old Pinkie.

Her ever-reliable friend.

Ages more passed.

Pinkie didn’t show up.

Why hadn’t she shown up?!

Out of frustration, Twilight couldn’t help but fidget her arm, moving it away from… whatever she was touching. Twilight chose to turn at this moment and saw Rarity facing her. “Rari—”

“Twi—”

Both voices came out hoarsely and they reached for their throats.

Her voice was gone. Twilight knew she had done a lot that day, but it didn’t occur to her until now just how much of that involved speaking. Taking such a long break from speaking without doing anything to cool down her vocal cords would certainly result in making her unable to speak for a while. Rarity was clearly in the same situation.

Tea! Soothing tea was what this called for. Twilight moved to get up, but found that her entire lower body refused to cooperate. Her muscles glued her to her seat.

Rarity tilted her head, then smiled and made her hands glow with magic. Twilight watched as Rarity opened a small freezer against the wall and pulled out two cartons of ice cream, followed by two clean spoons from a drawer. She levitated one cartoon and spoon into Twilight’s waiting hands, and took the other pair for herself. She opened it up and winked at the princess. Smiling, Twilight opened hers up and took a bite, the soothing mix of cake batter ice cream and fudge melting down her aching throat.

After some bites, Twilight stole a glance at Rarity’s ice cream. Pistachio with actual pistachios mixed in. That didn’t seem bad either. Then she looked up to see Rarity staring daggers at Twilight’s ice cream. Did she… want some?

Rarity looked at her with pleading eyes. That was a yes.

Smiling, Twilight took a spoonful of her ice cream and held it in front of Rarity. She tilted her head, and then put the entire thing in her mouth. She smiled warmly, her cheeks puffing as she savored the flavor. Twilight couldn’t help but be struck by how cute she was.

Rarity pulled out a chunk of her pistachio ice cream and held it up to Twilight. She hadn’t asked, but she gladly accepted, taking it all in one bite and chewing on the bits of nuts. Rarity giggled, so Twilight imagined she was making a silly expression too.

There was something about this situation that was pecking at the back of Twilight’s mind. Whatever it was, it was important, but it remained at the tip of her tongue.

Twilight blinked and her attention shifted. Right on the corner of Rarity’s lips was a bit of ice cream. It must have gotten there when they exchanged spoons. Twilight waved her hands to get Rarity’s attention then pointed to her own lips, where the ice cream was. Rarity tilted her head, not getting Twilight’s meaning. Twilight continued pointing, whereupon Rarity tentatively lifted her finger and then poked Twilight’s cheek.

Twilight giggled. She supposed there was no helping it. With speech not available, there were only so many ways to tell Rarity about the ice cream. It was probably for the best that she didn’t touch it with her finger. The most efficient way to get rid of the ice cream would be to touch it with her lips, and… well, it was her ice cream, after all…

Twilight leaned toward Rarity. Rarity’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red, but rather than move away, she started leaning toward Twilight.

Slowly, oh so slowly, they got closer and closer.

Celestia, Rarity was so pretty.

Their lips approached, and then—

The door slammed open. “Woo, I could really use some ice cream right now!”

At Pinkie Pie’s entrance, Rarity and Twilight suddenly found the energy to jump to the opposite ends of the sofa, looking straight ahead with their hands in their laps.

Pinkie leaned to her side to look at their faces and said, “Oh wow, that looks so good, but I see you two horseys are all hoarse-y, so I really should leave it all to you.” A glint formed in her eye. “Ah, but I see you have some extra on your cheek. Don’t mind if I do!” Extending her unexpectedly long tongue, Pinkie gently licked the ice cream off of Rarity while the vice-president remained stone-faced. Pinkie then rubbed her stomach as though she ate a full meal. “Mm-mm! Face cream from a friend is the best! Well, I’m satisfied. Off to the afterparty!”

As quick as she came, Pinkie left the room. Rarity and Twilight continued sitting for some moments more before the princess finally stood up. “Well, I—” she grasped her throat “—oh, my voice is back. Well, I should probably take Spike home before he wanders into the afterparty. Are you going home too, or are you staying longer? Fluttershy said she’d handle Sweetie, so you don’t have to worry about her.”

Rarity tested her voice, then smiled uneasily. “I believe I will stay a bit longer, yes. Good night, Twilight.”

Twilight walked to the door. “Good night, Rarity.”

Unspoken between them was the shared knowledge of what just happened between them. Not just the indirect kisses from their spoons, but what Pinkie arrived just barely too late to stop. As the two separated, their fingers both reached for the last place they had made contact.

Even if it was for the briefest of moments, their lips had met.

Author's Note:

Only one update left! That will include the final part of The Gala and the epilogue of the entire fic.

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[Ri2]

PINKIE!