Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #46: Honorary

Twilight Sparkle walked beside Rarity at the conference centre in Canterlot.

“Really, darling, I don’t see why you had to drag me along for this,” Rarity said, glancing around at the multitude of posters, all depicting aspects of magical and scientific research, several of which Rarity had never even heard of before.

“I wanted to share my interests with one of you girls, and can you honestly imagine Rainbow Dash or Applejack here?” asked Twilight.

“A fair point,” agreed Rarity, “but what about Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy is, well, Fluttershy,” said Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity had to agree with Twilight on the point. “And Pinkie Pie? Do you really think she’d fit in here? At a gathering of very logic-minded ponies?”

“Pinkie is smarter than she seems, you know,” said Rarity, fixing Twilight with something that approached a reproachful look.

“I wasn’t saying that she couldn’t understand this stuff,” grumbled Twilight, “I’m saying that the other ponies here don’t have the tolerance that you or I do for her. She’d have driven half the ponies in here crazy inside an hour.”
Rarity opened her mouth. Then she closed it, looked around carefully, and nodded her agreement.

“Still, I don’t understand why you picked me, darling. I’m no good with the sciences, you know that,”

“Think of this like your fashion shows, Rarity,” said Twilight, her eyes lighting up with an idea, “the clothes are secondary. These are about networking, socialising. These conferences are the fashion shows of the scientific community, about advertising yourself to future co-researchers.”

“How long did you practice that speech, Twilight?” asked Rarity, a smile flitting onto her face. Twilight mumbled something that sounded like ‘eighteen and a half minutes’.

“Dear, I’m just poking fun. I’m happy that you wanted me to be a part of this side of your life, truly.”
Twilight briefly hugged Rarity.

“If you want, after lunch we can go over and see Fancy Pants or whoever you need to see,” said Twilight, “the conference does last all weekend, but I don’t have to be here for all of it.”

“Oh. My. Gosh,” said a voice off to the side. Twilight and Rarity turned to face the speaker, a blue pegasus, carrying a large roll of papers under his wing.

“You’re Doctor Sparkle,” the pegasus breathed, “THE Doctor Sparkle.”

“Twilight,” said Rarity, a smile working its way across her face, “it appears that you have some fame of your own.” Twilight groaned.

“So I may have written a few papers in my later days in Canterlot. And Princess Celestia kept making the requirements longer and longer, and more and more stringent, and then one day I got a letter from the School for Gifted Unicorns, awarding me an honorary Doctorate.”

“The Doctor Sparkle!” enthused the pegasus.

“I must admit, I do not see how that lead to this,” said Rarity, guesturing to the pegasus, who was now on the verge of fainting.

“The final research paper Celestia got published in a fairly major journal. It included a picture of me, and toted me as ‘The Youngest to ever receive an honorary Doctorate from the School for Gifted Unicorns’. Naturally, ponies in the scientific community at least, started seeing me as a bit of an inspiration.”

“Oh my gosh Doctor Sparkle,”

“More than a bit, I’d say, Doctor Sparkle,” said Rarity, nodding at the pegasus.

“Rarity,” said Twilight, fixing her friend with the fiercest glare she could, “we will go to a dress shop right now and I will try on anything you want if you promise to never mention this again.”

“Doctor Sparkle! The Doctor Sparkle!”

“Very well, Twilight,” sighed Rarity, pretending to be disappointed, “we shall leave. This certainly was an interesting experience, though.”

“Not. A. Word,” grumbled Twilight.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #46: “The Doctor Is In”
The Prompt: One of the Mane Six is actually The Doctor