• Published 8th Oct 2019
  • 1,278 Views, 54 Comments

RariTwi: Love is War - SigmasonicX



Rarity and Twilight are in love. Now if only they could get the other to admit it. Inspired by the anime/manga Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

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5. Rarity Sets the Rules

On an overcast Friday afternoon, the core members of the student council gathered in the council room. Twilight and Rarity stood in front of a set of posters on stands as Pinkie and Mudbriar sat looking at them.

Twilight twirled a pointer in her hand. “Alright, let’s go over the presentation one more time.” She pointed to a poster giving an overview of the budget for the school’s upcoming gala. “Pinkie, what are the major categories for our budget?”

Pinkie slouched in her chair. “Do I have to? We’re not the ones presenting, you are.”

Twilight closed her eyes and tapped the pointer on her palm. “Pinkie, everyone here should be able to present our budget to Ms. Harshwinny. If any one of us runs into a problem, anyone else should be able to step in. In order to get her to approve our gala budget, we can’t just give good information, we have to show we’re running a tight ship. Harshwinny is definitely going to give a question to you even if you don’t present—especially if you don’t present! So we all need to be ready.”

Rarity smiled. It was endearing how Twilight acted in lecture mode, with her confidence shining through.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked to Rarity with a grin. “Rarity, go over the gala entrance.”

With a flourish, Rarity surrounded herself with sketches pulled from the table and presented an ink drawing of the entrance gate, coated in flowers and banners. She announced, “The first view guests have of the gala will be the picture of elegance. Through the efforts of our weaving club, these banners will represent the academy’s long history, and these flowers will represent the minds blossoming within.”

Pinkie grasped the paper with a smile. “Now these are pretty! I think you’d blow Ms. Harshwinny away just by showing her these.”

Rarity smiled and waved her hand. “Oh Pinkie, you’re making me blush.”

Twilight thought a bit. “She isn’t wrong, you know.”

“Pardon?”

“Rarity, I think you should be the lead presenter instead of me,” Twilight said with a warm smile. She put a hand to her chest. “You did an amazing job with the gala sketches, and I think you’ll really impress Ms. Harshwinny. You can explain our vision better than anyone here. I’ll just provide support.”

Rarity’s heart lifted. Hearing Twilight’s appreciation for her work made her feel better than she could have ever imagined. She closed her eyes and waved her hand. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. You’re the council president and a princess, after all, and you’ve been in charge of all the planning. It’s only natural that you present.”

“No, Rarity, I really think you should do this. I’m already a princess, but think of how much you’d benefit from giving Harshwinny a good impression.”

“I appreciate it, darling, but I think you’d benefit from this too using that logic. You’re still a new princess, and impressing Harshwinny would be good for your reputation.”

Twilight frowned a bit. “That is true, but I really think you’d be better at demonstrating how amazing our gala plans are.”

Rarity frowned too. “I insist, darling. You should give this presentation. You have a much better understanding of it.”

“No, really, I insist, you should present.”

Why wouldn’t the princess accept her kindness? “Twilight, really! I insist!”

“Rarity, please!”

Pinkie hopped between them. “Ooh! Ooh! You should have a contest to decide who presents!”

Twilight paused and stroked her chin. “Yes, I suppose a quick contest to determine who’s better at presenting could be used to decide this.”

Rarity hummed. “A way to determine who’s better at presenting? What comes to mind is skill at speaking. Perhaps tongue twisters? Though our problem is that we each want the other person to go.”

“Yes, so it would have to be a contest both of us would want to win. Something that demonstrated skill with muscles associated with speech. Like a kissing contest?”

Rarity froze and looked at Twilight, who had squeezed her mouth shut.

Twilight’s face twisted and she forced a smile. “Just kidding, haha! It’d be funny if we decided things with a kissing contest, right? Right Pinkie?”

Pinkie nodded, “Yeah, that’d be funny!” Her face shifted to confusion. “I guess?”

“See, Pinkie thinks it’s funny!”

“I don’t understand the humor,” Mudbriar said in a deadpan voice.

“Now hold on, Twilight!” Rarity pointed dramatically. “You may have suggested it as a joke, but it’s the perfect solution to our predicament. Which one of us is the better kisser is information that would send shockwaves throughout the school, nay, all of Equestria!”

Twilight blushed. “Would it really?”

Rarity had only dreamed of an opportunity to kiss Twilight without any risk of revealing her love, and after days of preparation for the presentation, she needed this. “Indeed! This is a contest I would never back down from!”

Twilight scratched her cheek and looked away. “Well, I mean, I’m sure you’re a much better kisser than me, so it wouldn’t even be a contest.”

Rarity tsked. “I’m not so sure about that, darling. I have a good eye for this, and I can tell you’re a wonderful kisser.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide and she forced a laugh. “Oh, is that so, then well, we should probably lay out the rules for our kiss then. You know, just for a lark, we don’t actually have to do this, but you know, it’d be interesting to figure out the rules for if we ever did this, which we probably won’t.”

“Yes, we probably won’t actually kiss, but we should figure out the rules anyway.”

“Just in case we decide this with a kiss.”

“Yes, just in case.”

“So first of all, type of kiss. This has to be a full kiss on the lips, right? Since lip quality is part of what we’re figuring out.”

Rarity’s face turned red as she quickly added. “Tongue too! We need tongue to figure out linguistic strength!”

“Linguistic strength, yes, thanks for using the technical term. Yes, we definitely need to measure that during our kiss.”

Twilight used magic to display a board and wrote some rules on it. Rarity made her own adjustments. During this, Pinkie said, “I don’t know how effective a kiss test is, but wouldn’t it make more sense to kiss someone else and have them judge instead of each other?”

Twilight and Rarity looked at her. “I’ll explain later,” said Twilight, before they went back to the board.





“In conclusion, since we’re wearing these clothes during the presentation, that means clothing shouldn’t be removed before or during the kiss, regardless of how they can potentially influence the length and quality of the kiss,” said Twilight as she finished writing on the board.

Alas, Rarity thought, then added out loud, “Well dear, I think we’re really getting somewhere with this.”

“Indeed! I think we have a workable rule set here.”

Rarity clasped her hands together. “Splendid! You know, since we have all these rules already, and we still have to decide who presents…”

A hand clasped Rarity’s shoulder.

Rarity screamed, and then she screamed again. She spun her head and said with relief, “Oh, Wallflower, it’s you.”

By this point the green haired girl had backed away and covered her ears. "Uh, just to let you guys know, everyone already left."

Rarity blinked. "Pardon?"

She and Twilight then looked around. No one else was there, and the presentation documents were gone.

"You two were so into making rules that no one could get a word in," Wallflower continued. "Then Pinkie declared herself the best kisser and left, then Mudbriar just walked out the door after her, and now Pinkie will present any second now."

"What? Pinkie?!" Twilight exclaimed. "Rarity, come on, we need to go now!"

Twilight grabbed Rarity's hand and with a bright flash of magic, they found themselves in a hallway. Startled, Rarity fell to the ground with a thud and groaned. “Twilight, honestly, a warning would have been nice.”

Twilight pulled her up. “Sorry,” she said. “We’re right outside the meeting room. If they haven’t started the presentation, I think we’ll be fine.”

Rarity sighed. “Alas, I’m certain that’s Pinkie Pie’s colorful cadence I hear beyond the door.”

Twilight slowly sank to her knees while groaning. After she moment, she smiled and said, “It’ll be fine, Pinkie can do this. She can do this! Though do you think maybe if we slowly opened the door and crawled in, that Ms. Harshwinny would notice?”

“I think she’d notice, yes.”

Twilight got up and stepped close to Rarity. “But what if we were invisible?! Then maybe we could make Pinkie invisible and mute, and then we could become visible and continue the presentation where she left off, and do it so subtly that Ms. Harshwinny wouldn’t notice!”

Her face was so close that Rarity had to look away. “Dear, I don’t think you’re—”

They heard footsteps.

“—someone’s coming!”

Twilight looked around nervously. “What do we do?”

Rarity held Twilight’s cheeks and looked into her eyes. “Kiss me, darling!”

“What?”

“What?”

The footsteps got close and both girls squeezed their eyes closed. The stranger stopped. “Twilight, Rarity, good to see you.”

They both opened their eyes and saw the elegant figure of Princess Celestia standing before them.

Twilight shot away from Rarity and both quickly fixed their outfits. Then Twilight said, “Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping to check on your presentation, but I’m impressed to see how much faith you have in your fellow council members."

Twilight blinked. “Faith?”

“Faith that the others could handle the presentation without you, showing how well you’ve passed on your knowledge.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she had an exaggerated grin. “Faith! Yes! That’s why we’re standing out here! Right, Rarity?”

Rarity had a similar expression and nodded her head. “Yes, true, exactly.”

Celestia had a kind smile. “Let’s go in together. We’ll stand to the side so we don’t interrupt them.”

She opened the door and walked in. Rarity and Twilight looked at each other and followed.





“We nailed it!” Pinkie exclaimed as the council members walked out of the room.

“You did a wonderful job, Pinkie,” Rarity said. “You described my concept art even better than I could.”

“Mudbriar, great job answering Ms. Harshwinny’s questions,” said Twilight.

“Mmyes,” said Mudbriar.

“You all did a wonderful job,” Celestia said. “I’m proud of how you managed this group, Twilight.”

Twilight blushed and smiled widely. “I appreciate it.”

Pinkie waved her arms. “Oh, oh, by the way, who was the better kisser?”

Rarity and Twilight froze. They glanced at Celestia, who maintained her regal smile.

In retrospect, pushing for that kissing contest wasn’t the most subtle course of action. Rarity cleared her throat. “Pinkie, surely you realized. That was all a test to encourage you to present by yourselves!”

Twilight blinked. “Yes, that’s what we were doing. I’m glad you were able to catch on, Rarity.”

Pinkie hummed and rubbed her chin. “Really? If you wanted us to present and not you, why didn’t you just ask?”

Twilight’s voice shifted to lecture mode. “Pinkie, think about how you would have acted if I asked you to present. You would have been nervous about not knowing all the material. However, because I placed you in a situation where you had to do it, you were able to rise to the occasion.” She paused for a second. “And you worked with Mudbriar without any problems!”

Pinkie looked at Mudbriar and back at Twilight. “I… guess?”

“Encouraging Pinkie to present and laying the groundwork for a friendship. Not bad, Twilight,” said Celestia.

And not a bad excuse, thought Rarity. She frowned and thought back. Wait, is that an excuse? Come to think of it, I was the one pushing for the kissing contest and I tried to kiss her earlier. I suspected Twilight was interested too, but… perhaps I was the one playing right into her hand.

Rarity watched Twilight talk to Celestia and Pinkie. She was such an innocent-looking girl, but she had to remember there was a keen mind behind it. Touché Princess, touché.





Spike looked up from the couch as the dorm room door opened. Twilight walked in, dropped off her bags, and took off her shoes. “Hey Twilight! How did the presentation go?”

She then made a beeline for the couch and Spike had to get out of the way as she crashed onto it face down. Her face turned so red that steam seemed to come off it. “IalmostkissedRarity, IalmostkissedRarity, IalmostkissedRarity…”