Crossing the Border
Inside Rarity’s boutique, there were ribbons and fabric strewn about. Twilight had arrived a little earlier than she usually was, and so Rarity had still been working on her latest dress when Twilight arrived.
“If it were but so simple, would I not forsake even the sun and moon to be with you,” said Twilight plainly without looking up from the text she was examining. She had read through the whole thing several times already and memorized it to ensure she was prepared, yet she still could not lift her eyes from the page just in case.
“Let me show you how simple it could be,” said Rarity convincingly while she walked over to Twilight. Twilight’s eyes darting across the page to follow along all the while.
Then the characters kiss and my next line of dialog is... Twilight’s mind froze. Rarity’s lips quickly but gently pressed against her and just as quickly pulled back.
My next line is... is... no matter how hard she fought it Twilight couldn’t focus. When rehearsing, wouldn’t ponies normally just give a vague motion indicating such things or perhaps even read the action aloud instead of doing that?
Did it mean anything? No of course not. And she couldn’t think about this now. Rarity was counting on her. But she had inadvertently dropped the script she had been looking at and couldn’t remember the next line. Even if she picked it up it would take her awhile to find her place.
“You're right it could be simple.” Twilight found herself muttering. Was that the next line? How did this scene end? They were supposed to get together in the end but was that supposed to happen yet? Twilight knew all of this moments ago yet somehow now it eluded her grasp.
“Twilight dear, are you alright?” asked Rarity.
“I’m fine,” muttered Twilight absently.
“You look positively pale. Perhaps we should try this again later,” said Rarity.
Twilight didn’t want to disappoint her friend, but with it becoming increasingly difficult to focus, maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea. “I’m sorry Rarity. I just got... distracted. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“This doesn’t have to do with the kiss does it?” asked Rarity a slightly worried frown shining through her beautiful face.
This was her perfect opportunity to tell Rarity exactly what was wrong. But then again it was probably nothing, and what would Rarity think if she said yes? “No!” said Twilight a little too emphatically. “I mean no, it has nothing to do with that,” added Twilight sheepishly.
Rarity eyed her suspiciously for a moment and then said, “Alright. In that case I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yep, see ya tomorrow.” said Twilight while pushing open the front door.
She was just rehearsing for the upcoming play in Canterlot. The kiss was just part of the scene; it didn’t mean anything. Twilight kept reminding herself of this as she trotted back from the front of Rarity’s boutique back to her tree house.
Rarity really enjoyed the atmosphere the theatre had to offer, but seldom had the opportunity in Ponyville. That was one of the reasons she had always dreamed of living in Canterlot that Rarity discussed when they first met.
However this year the fashionista somehow squeezed the frequent trips to and from Canterlot into her schedule. Naturally, after designing costumes for them for a while, Rarity became so fascinated by the performances she decided to audition and got the lead part. Twilight had just been helping her practice.
If Angel didn’t have a fever Rarity surely would have kissed Fluttershy. She just didn’t want to break the mood by saying something like “and then we’d kiss” before moving on to the next line of dialogue.
Twilight stopped for a moment, breathed in, and breathed out. She had convinced herself, yet her heart was still racing. Why did she even need to convince herself of that? The kiss hadn’t been particularly drawn out, nor had Rarity expressed any interest in a mare before. All available evidence was that it was meaningless, yet she had forgotten the evidence.
She forgot everything but the soft press and coconut flavor of her lips. It had been so short, she could barely remember it. If only she had time to prepare, her mental snapshot wouldn’t be so hazy. Regardless it had created a warm feeling that filled her chest and made her forget her next line.
It was odd to admit, but there was no way around it. Twilight enjoyed it. But was that really so odd? After all, Rarity was a good friend, and did friends not usually enjoy any affection they shared with each other? Friends don't normally kiss, but perhaps it wasn’t strange to enjoy it on the rare occasion they did.
Where Zecora comes from, friends kissed all the time. It was only ponies who made such a big deal out of it. It wasn’t as though she wanted to cuddle up against Rarity and never let go...
Well okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example, but if they could get past the awkwardness who wouldn’t enjoy being close to a friend?
No land she knew of did anything like that with friends, but that was because it simply wasn’t appropriate, not because they wouldn’t enjoy it. Her feelings were perfectly normal. It didn’t mean that she had a crush or Rarity or even that she liked mares. Stallions were great. The fact that she had never actually been out with one didn’t mean anything. She had been busy with her studies.
Who wouldn’t be attracted to those repulsive bulging muscles or their untidy inelegant shape and mannerisms. Not that muscles always looked that way. Applejack’s for example glistened with raw power, yet somehow fit unobtrusively into her curvy figure.
So maybe stallions didn’t look as appealing or natural to to her, but, considering how much more frequently she was around mares, that made sense. When she was a filly she mostly spent time around her parents and brother. Stallions didn’t look bad back then.
Now her mentor, friends, and even many of the visitors to her library were mares. She had become accustomed to a certain look. There was nothing unusual about that.
Nor was there anything unusual about appreciating her friends gorgeous silky white coat. Further it was reasonable to admire-- How did she get to Sugarcube Corner? She must have gotten so caught up in her thoughts she went the wrong way.
She was scheduled to pick up a cake in an hour for her book club meeting later today anyway. Maybe they would be done early. Since she was here it couldn’t hurt to check.
Twilight walked in to find an unusually empty bakery. Even Mr. and Mrs. Cake didn’t seem to be around. The only pony in sight was Pinkie Pie.
“Are you running Sugarcube Corner by yourself Pinkie?” asked Twilight.
Pinkie replied while excited bouncing up and down, “Yes indeedy! I’ve wanted a chance to run this place single-hoofed for a while, but now I’m actually doing it! After how well things went last weekend with Applejack’s help they decided to give me a chance. My Middle name might not be responsibility. Nope, it’s Diane. But I won’t let them down.”
Twilight briefly wondered if it was really such a good idea to leave Pinkie Pie in charge, especially since she had a habit of eating the items they were trying to sell, but Pinkie Pie had surprised her before. Twilight had underestimated her when she had looked after the Cake’s foals. Further the place seemed to be in order.
“I know I’m early, but is my cake ready?”
“Yeppers!” chirped Pinkie Pie while pulling a box out from underneath the counter and passing it to Twilight. Now she just had to open the box and exam the cake.
It wasn’t because she distrusted her friend, she just always made sure a product was suitable before leaving. It was part of her mental checklist, that used to be part of an actual check list before Spike started getting too many claw cramps.
Twilight gently opened the box with her magic, and she immediately spotted something peculiar. Twilight spun the box to get a better look at it and saw there was a bite missing from the cake. Not only that but there was a cupcake in the spot where the bite was missing. Even the cupcake looked to be missing a small chunk.
“Pinkie what happened to my cake?”
“Well first it was just a puddle of eggs, flour, sugar, baking soda, and water. Then it was stirred into batter and then...”
Twilight raised an eyebrow an interrupted, “I meant, why is it missing a bite?”
“Well duh! With the cakes trusting me with Sugarcube Corner I have to make super duper extra sure that everything tastes yummy.”
“And the cupcake?”
“I thought you’d be sad if you got less cake.”
“And the bite out of the cupcake?”
“What if the cupcake didn’t taste like bite of cake it was replacing?”
The small twinge of guilt Twilight had been feeling for not trusting her pink friend with the bakery vanished. Thankfully Twilight had accounted for spending time with Pinkie Pie in her schedule. She had learned that if she was going to Sugarcube Corner for any reason she better allocate at least thirty minutes for it just in case. This meant she still had plenty of time.
Her thoughts quickly returned to the fair Rarity. She wanted to return home quickly to study the matter privately, but the moment she opened a book she’d be on the subject for at least a few hours. She didn’t have that kind of time. Further her friends had proven they could be amazingly insightful.
Pinkie Pie wouldn’t normally be her first choice for advice, yet for some reason her sense of fun made her seem like the perfect mare for the job. After all, what Twilight had experienced had been fun, it just wasn’t supposed to be. The fact that she was the origin of the “Pinkie” promise was also immensely reassuring, as this wasn’t something she wanted anypony knowing about. At least not until she figured it out.
“Pinkie, have you ever enjoyed something you weren’t supposed to?” asked Twilight.
“Why should a pony not enjoy something?” puzzled Pinkie. After a brief pause she continued, “Unless somepony got hurt.”
“Nopony got hurt. It’s just well, what if somepony did something they didn’t mean to do, and they never planned on doing it again, but you really enjoyed it?”
“I smile. What is it that happened to me again?
Twilight put a hoof to her forehead and began to rub. Pinkie’s responses were perfectly reasonable for how vague she was being. There was no way around it. She had to invoke the Pinkie Promise.
“Pinkie promise me you won’t repeat anything we are about to say or anything you learn from the following conversation to anypony,” pleaded Twilight.
Thankfully this time she didn’t do any complex motions indicating moving into a house on top of a hole where the key to her sealed lips is buried, but instead simply said the usual incantation while pressing a hoof lightly against her closed eye.
Twilight glanced over both her shoulders to make sure the bakery was still empty. “Somepony who has no interest in being my special somepony kissed me and I liked it.”
“How do you know he has no interest in being your special somepony?”
Twilight again looked over both her shoulders. Still nopony had entered. “Because he is Rarity.”
“I don’t know any mares in ponyville name Rarity. He must be from out of town. I still don’t see how being from out of town means he doesn’t like you.”
This time Twilight didn’t even give the illusion that she raised her hoof to her face to rub her forehead nor did she bother to raise said hoof to her face at a reasonable pace. It was unmistakably a face hoof. “She’s not a mare. She’s our friend Rarity.”
“So...”
“So she’s obviously not interested. Remember when she had that awful time with Prince Blueblood.”
“You used your magic to make Prince Blueblood at like a jerk on their date?”
“No of course not.”
“Then why haven’t you asked Rarity to be your special somepony?”
Twilight was sure why she had expected this to go better, but Pinkie was completely missing the point. Even if Rarity did like her, Twilight wasn’t sure if the feeling was mutual. Sure she enjoyed the kiss but what did that mean? She had never kissed anypony else so she had no control group. It was impossible to tell.
Then an awful idea occurred to Twilight. She knew it was terrible the moment she thought it, yet it was hard to ignore. What if she kissed Pinkie Pie? Then she would know whether or not she was actually attracted to Rarity or if she just liked kissing.
Twilight sighed. It was the only idea she had, but it would be unfair to her and might even damage their friendship. Yet Pinkie Pie was really good at taking things in stride and what damage could it really do? Rarity had kissed her and no harm had come from it. Admittedly there had been some context, but Twilight hadn’t been expecting it.
Worst come to worst she could just lie and say that she too was practicing for a play. It wasn’t a very good lie, but Pinkie usually didn’t question them unless she was lied to too much in a row. But wouldn’t this just be using her friend for her own gain? No, this was for a better understanding of herself and friendship.
Then Twilight realized she was overlooking the obvious solution.
“Would you ever be upset at somepony for kissing you?” asked Twilight.
“Only if they were a changeling. You aren’t a changeling are you?”
Twilight ignored her question and took a step closer to the counter and pulled her head in to within a foot of the confectioner’s.
“So you changed your mind about personal space?” said Pinkie Pie bouncing.
“Um... Temporarily.”
How was she supposed to make her move with Pinkie hopping up and down like that? She could do it really quickly, but what if she missed?
Thankfully after a couple of seconds she stopped. Twilight moved her head forward a couple of inches. She knew she should have just gone for it, but she couldn’t. This was not nearly as easy as Rarity had made it look. Besides, what was she supposed to do about their noses. They were bound to collide before their lips ever did.
Hadn’t Rarity tilted her head? It was so quick it was hard to be sure, but that seemed familiar. Regardless it made sense. If their noses were at an angle to each other they wouldn’t get in the way. Twilight inched in closer.
“Are you okay Twilight? You look uncomfortable.”
Twilight blushed. Had Pinkie picked up on what she was doing? She hadn’t exactly been subtle about it. What if somepony walked in right now? She panicked. Twilight yanked her head back to look over her shoulder. Nopony was there, but she had undone all that progress she had made.
“It’s been great talking to you, but I have some cookies to bake.” With that Pinkie Pie leaned in and kissed Twilight. She didn’t pull away immediately like Rarity either. She kept her lips pressed against Twilight’s for a few seconds. Her lips had a unique yet familiar flavor that was vaguely reminiscent of bubble gum and cotton candy. But they didn’t have that glossed over feel that came either from lipstick or chapstick -- Twilight wasn’t sure which Rarity had used. The kiss was sloppy, disorganized, and perfect.
Afterwards she bounced back toward the back of the shop.
“Why did you do that?” asked Twilight Sparkle with a voice soft enough to be a passable Fluttershy impression.
“It’s what you wanted isn’t it?” called Pinkie from the other room.
“Yeah it was,” admitted Twilight. She felt light and she had the sudden impulse to run a marathon, yet she didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to run as she had during the running of the leaves but with reckless abandon. There was so much excess energy coursing through her veins she needed to do something with it, but she didn’t want to encourage these strange feelings. Besides, she had plans.
Pinkie’s kiss had been alluring in a completely different way. Twilight didn’t have a control group but two experimental groups. Twilight left the bakery now contemplating two different kisses.
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1410100
-_(\ I swear I usually know that.
Well, leave it to Twilight to overexamine things lol
1410180
Nah you're all good. I always assume bronies be lovin' and toleratin' unless they clearly be hatin'
I like this, it's cute.
Truly an interesting idea you have earned a thumbs up and a favorite from me as i can't wait to find out what happens next.
I curse ye for making me add another story to my watch list
I like where this is going.
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/212/587/2667328774161692252111104.gif
More please.
What are the chances of this continuing? Because I like what I see
1415735
Oh it will continue. I'll admit I'm not sure when exactly since I'm juggling three fics and all that jazz, but I'll try to keep updates fairly regular. If I get too complacent with it feel free to PM me telling me to get off my rump and write... but ideally be nicer about it than that.