Birthday Disaster

by Monochromatic

Chapters

• 1. Just A Simple Thursday
• 2. The Folded Bookmark
• 3. Revelations

1. Just A Simple Thursday

Rarity had overcome all sorts of difficult situations before: she had faced the spirit of chaos, Queen Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, and even an overgrown centaur. Anypony would think these would have been the worst trials the unicorn had gone through, but they would be terribly wrong. Sitting at her kitchen table, face buried between her hooves, Rarity resigned herself to the dawning judgment day of the single most harrowing challenge of her life.

Twilight Sparkle’s birthday party in Canterlot was a few days away, and she had yet to find the perfect present.

“Sis, aren’t you overreacting?”

Rarity uncovered her face and threw the filly sitting in front of her an offended glare. How dare Sweetie Belle sit there, looking all innocent eating a chocolate-mint cupcake, and accuse her of such a thing? “Me?! I am most certainly not overreacting!” Rarity protested, which, admittedly, she sometimes said when she overreacted — not that she was doing so right then because she wasn't, thank you very much. "This is a very serious matter, Sweetie Belle!"

Sweetie rolled her eyes and took a gulp from the glass of milk on the table. “No, it's not. It’s just a birthday present,” she continued, adding insult to injury.

Sweetie was wrong, of course, for though it may have been just a birthday present, it wasn’t a birthday present for just anypony!

It was for an alicorn princess whose magical abilities gave Starswirl a run for his money! A mare who had been taught by three princesses, and whose kindness and humility made her the embodiment of friendship! It was for a pony whose mind held more knowledge than all of the residents of Ponyville combined (though admittedly that wasn’t saying a whole lot), whose wit was quicker than Daring Do’s whip, and whose beauty surpassed Rarity’s solely because she had the added charm of being heart-meltingly adorable.

Twilight Sparkle was a pony who had everything, which was the entire problem. What in Equestria could Rarity give to a mare who possessed it all? What could she offer that would not only be considered royal and different enough to be worthy of a princess, but would also be special enough for the pony Rarity loved? Because, as it stood, Twilight Sparkle was also the sole owner of Rarity’s heart.

Sweetie took another bite out of her cupcake. “What about the dress you finished yesterday?” she asked with her mouth full of cupcake, gulping it down and then licking off some of the scattered crumbs around her mouth. “I thought that was Twilight’s birthday present.”

In a motherly gesture, Rarity levitated a napkin and forcefully wiped the crumbs off her sister's mouth. “For goodness’ sake, didn’t mother teach you any manners?” she muttered before sighing and resting her chin on her hoof. “It was for her, but I give her dresses every other week! It needs to be something I’ve never given her before! It needs to be something that screams—“

“'I love you'?” Sweetie suggested, smirking at Rarity.

“Don’t be absurd,” Rarity  said, cheeks turning the lightest shade of pink.

Everypony knew Twilight Sparkle's destiny was to marry a handsome prince because Twilight Sparkle deserved nothing less than a handsome prince! One who would sweep her off her hooves, and live with her in the castle, and treat the alicorn to everything she ever wanted. He’d buy her all the books she’d ever want and need, take her to all the culturally rich places she’d ever want to visit, and provide her with intellectually stimulating conversations.

Not to mention how he’d get to hear her laugh ringing through the halls of the castle as he subjected her to a flurry of kisses, get to comfort her when the alicorn would let stress drive her off the edge and get to be on the receiving end of Twilight’s adorably awkward attempts at romance.

Sweet Celestia, she hated him already!

“Nothing will ever happen between us," she finally concluded, crossing her hooves on the table.

“Aw, why not?” Sweetie asked, finishing her glass of milk. “We both know she likes you back! She makes just as many excuses as you do to see you!” She levitated what remained of her cupcake and spoke to it doing her best attempt at imitating Twilight. “Oh, Rarity, could you please fix this dress I ‘accidentally’ ripped for the fifth time this week?” She started waving the cupcake up and down, donning her sister’s accent. “But of course, darling, as long as you don’t mind I spend half the day at the castle, ‘reading’ all your fashion books even though I have most of them stashed away in a drawer, gathering dust because I fibbed about owning them so that I could see you as I read them!”

As much as Rarity wanted to play the part of the oblivious love interest, she couldn't deny she was quite certain Twilight returned her affections. She had always excelled at understanding other’s emotions, and nopony could deny Twilight wasn’t an open book when it came to her feelings.

What a story it would make, though! Twilight would go off and marry a handsome stallion, only for her to realize a few years later that her heart had always belonged to her secret love: Rarity! Rarity would by then be a fashion designer known throughout all of Equestria! Not that it was relevant to the story, but it was still important to aim high. In any case, where was she?

Ah yes!

Twilight, upon realizing her heart's grievous mistake, would canter — no, gallop! — over to Carousel Boutique — in the rain, too! —, and confess to Rarity that she had made a big mistake, taking the unicorn's hooves and begging to be given entrance into her heart. Rarity would turn away, of course. Afraid of taking a risk that might result in heartache for the both of them!

'Twilight,' she'd say, placing her hoof against her chest and looking off into the horizon, her beautiful mane flowing in the wind. 'You want me to risk my reputation by becoming the lover of a runaway princess and involving myself in the single most scandalously juicy affair of the century?"

Twilight, of course, would turn the unicorn's head, locking their eyes in a passionate gaze. She'd then lean in and whisper, "Yes. Will you, Rarity? Be my… princess?" A question which could only be answered with:

"YES!!" Rarity replied out-loud, slamming her hoof against the table, forgetting her fantasy was, well, a fantasy.

"Yes what?" Sweetie asked, raising an eyebrow and giving her sister an odd look.

A blush spread across Rarity's face. Oops. She cleared her throat and observed her hoof. “In any case, the matter at hoof isn’t that Twilight likes me, but what I’m going to get her.”

“Maybe you can find something for her in Canterlot?” Sweetie suggested, reaching over to grab another cupcake. “Twilight’s birthday is on Saturday. You’ll have all of tomorrow to look for something over there.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes, considering Sweetie’s suggestion. It was true that they were all leaving for Canterlot a few days in advanced, mostly so Pinkie could help Princess Celestia organize everything for the party. Perhaps she could sneak off during the preparations for a quick shopping trip?

All of a sudden, somepony knocking at the front door interrupted her train of thought. “Ah, finally!” she exclaimed, getting up and trotting off towards the entrance hall, leaving Sweetie alone to eat another cupcake.  

Moments later, Rarity reached the foyer, which happened to be littered with multicolored suitcases and bags. Even if they would only be in Canterlot for four days and three nights, Rarity had made sure to pack everything she could need, just in case. Sweetie had told her ten suitcases was “way too much”, but what did she know? Her sister only packed one suitcase, and Rarity could already picture the filly asking to borrow all her stuff.

Maneuvering her way across the suitcases, she finally reached the front door and opened it to, as expected, find Twilight standing on the other side.

Rarity grinned at the alicorn. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where..."

"...Where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!" Twilight completed, doing her best to imitate Rarity's accent. "Or something like that?" she added with an embarrassed giggle, coaxing an almost imperceptible delighted sigh from Rarity.

While some ponies might think Rarity pretentious for it, the reason she intertwined French words with her English was strictly because so many terms used in the fashion industry were in this language. She had always been aware of the common idea that French was the 'language of love', and though she understood where the appeal came from, she had never been one to swoon over somepony who knew how to say ‘bonjour’... but then Twilight would trot in and say ‘magnifique’ in her adorable voice, and it was like Rarity could melt into a puddle of smitten bliss, content with hearing Twilight read off a French dictionary for hours on end.

“Hello, darling,” Rarity greeted, stepping away so as to allow Twilight entry into the room. “Did you finish packing?”

“Yes, Spike and I finished packing earlier today. He should be at the train station with everypony else by now,” she replied, looking around the disaster zone. “It looks like you’re ready, too?”

“I barely just finished packing an hour ago, but yes, Sweetie and I are all set to go.” She turned towards the general direction of the kitchen. “Sweetie Belle! It’s almost time to leave! Hurry up, please!”

“Coming!”

A minute later, Sweetie  trotted — or rather zoomed — into the room, coming to a screeching halt in front of Twilight, and bombarding the alicorn with greetings and questions before Twilight could even react.

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!” she said at a thousand miles per hour, jumping up and down in place. “Are you going to do the super awesome teleportation spell you promised to do last week?”

Twilight chuckled, nodding at the overly-excited filly. “I’ll definitely try, Sweetie.”

“Try?” asked Rarity, raising an eyebrow. “Oh dear. Twilight, If this doesn’t work, we will miss the train.”

"Rarity! Twilight's a princess! She can do anything!" Sweetie said, scowling at the older unicorn. "Ugh, you're so embarrassing."

Rarity rolled her eyes and turned to her friend, offering her a mocking bow. "I beg you forgive me, Your Highness," she declared, looking up at Twilight with sad, puppy-dog eyes.

Twilight blushed slightly before raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly. "I suppose I can look past this offense, Miss Rarity," she declared in her single most regal voice.

"Excellent!" Rarity exclaimed, straightening herself up. "Now, please, can we get going, darling? I'd rather not have to wait five hours for the next train."

Twilight's blush increased. "Right." She cleared her throat and looked to Sweetie Belle, her horn starting to glow magenta. "Okay, pay very close attention, Sweetie. This will be your, uh, first lesson in long-distance teleportation."

Completely ignoring Rarity's protests, Sweetie Belle proceeded to climb on top of her older sister. Once she was standing on her sister's back, she lifted her forelegs and placed them on Rarity's head so she'd have an eye-level view of Twilight's glowing horn — a little more and she'd be practically lying on top of the older unicorn's head.

"What a nice hat you have there, Rarity," Twilight remarked, giggling a little. “Is that the cutting edge in fashion?”

"Isn't it simply gorgeous?" Rarity asked, placing a hoof on her chest. "It is actually one of my mother's designs! I believe she calls it Chapeau de Swee—"

"Rarity, shh!" Sweetie interrupted, before urging a giggling Twilight to continue with the spell.

A little offended, Rarity quieted down and allowed Twilight to briefly explain the history of teleportation spells. Though she was paying full attention to the explanation, her mind was much more focused on Twilight’s voice rather than the alicorn’s probably fascinating ramble. She had to admit she was quite thrilled by the sister-like bond that had formed between Twilight and Sweetie Belle, especially since they were two of the most important ponies in her life.

“And so, in the celestial year before the Great Unicorn Magical Alliance, Starswirl The Bearded made his final addition to the eighth volume of 'Unicorn Magic: A History'. Further studies, however, have demonstrated that he had enough material for a ninth volume, but nopony knows why he never wrote it. I have my own extensive theories about this, but I digress,” she finished, noticing Sweetie starting to doze off on Rarity’s head.

“I’d wish you luck, darling, but I know you don’t need it,” Rarity teased, winking at the alicorn and feeling as if though she could melt when the alicorn’s reply was to smile with embarrassed pleasure. Celestia, it should be illegal to be that cute, she thought, watching as Twilight began casting the teleportation spell.

Rarity watched as Twilight's magic started covering the suitcases littered all around them, and she couldn't help but laugh when Sweetie let out an "ooooh neat!" as the suitcases started levitating around them.  

“And… now!” Twilight exclaimed, before a burst of magic shot out from her horn, changing the scenery around them from Carousel Boutique to Ponyville’s train station, appearing right in front of the rest of their friends.

The train station was quite busy for a Thursday afternoon, ponies rushing around with suitcases dragging — or floating — behind them. There was such a commotion, in fact, that only a few of them even noticed that three ponies and several suitcases had appeared out of thin air. It made for a funny scenario, Rarity thought, how their friends hadn’t even batted an eyelid at their apparition, while some other ponies were now staring at them with wide-eyes and half-opened mouths.

Spike clapped his hands victoriously. “Hah! I told you she could do it!” he said to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who had already run over to Twilight so as to bombard her with enthusiastic praises.

Rarity glanced at the street clock a few feet away, and noticed it was already three o’clock. “Hello, everypony! We’ve arrived without a moment to spare! It’s like magic!”

“And about time y’all finally came! We were thinkin’ we might have to take the night train at this rate!” Applejack said, shaking her head, clearly not amused by Rarity’s flippant attitude towards almost missing the train. She turned to the crusaders and nodded towards the train. “Come on, you three get inside while Rarity gets her entire livelihood on board.”

The three fillies obeyed and ran off into the train, leaving Spike and the five mares to stay with Rarity as she began levitating the suitcases towards the luggage carrier. A few minutes later, they finally started boarding the train.

While the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike decided to give the buffet car a visit, the older mares settled down in one the larger train cars. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight were already sitting down by the time Rarity arrived. Pinkie had taken the free seat next to Fluttershy, leaving Twilight to sit alone in front of the two mares.

Perfect.

“I wonder,” Rarity thought aloud, moving out of the way when Applejack passed her by and sat on the adjacent row of seats to Twilight and the others. "Where shall I sit?"

"Oh!" Twilight scooted the side, leaving more space next to her. “You can sit here if you want, Rarity,” she offered, smiling at the unicorn.

“I’d love to! Thank you, darling,” Rarity exclaimed in her most genuine voice. Rarity went over to Twilight and, with the added grace and finesse a noble pony would show, settled down next to her. “You know, you’ve been so wonderful, Twilight, what with tutoring my sister and helping her magic skills improve.”

An idea suddenly struck her; a test of sorts to give Twilight. Swallowing down a flustered blush, she reached over and took the mare's hoof. She then looked deeply into Twilight’s eyes, squeezed the alicorn’s hoof and said: “It means the world to me, truly.”

Twilight absolutely beamed at the compliment, sitting up a little straighter and her ears perking up. “Don’t worry about it, Rarity. I’d gladly do it for anypony.”

Rarity stared at Twilight for a few more seconds before chuckling under her breath. Perhaps I ought to consider getting her ‘Flirting 101: A Guide´ for her birthday. Then again, Twilight probably already had a copy of it somewhere in her library.

“Besides,” Twilight continued, “I love our friendly get-togethers.”

Though she assumed the mare’s odd specification was simply Twilight being, well, Twilight, it still stood out in Rarity’s mind. Friendly get-togethers. That’s all they had always been, and as much as she wished it were different, she knew that’s what they always would be: friendly reunions because there were so many things against them having anything more than that.

They both had demanding jobs, to begin with, what with Rarity’s growing fashion career and Twilight’s increasing royal duties. Rarity had no doubt that they’d both have more and more workload as the years passed, not to mention that their own ambitions would drive them further apart. Of course, even if they did somehow find a way to manage their careers and still work at having a relationship, somepony was preventing them from even trying to start a relationship and potentially fail or succeed at it.

If Rarity knew him as well as she thought she did, he was no doubt stuffing himself in the gourmet car.

As long as Spike held feelings for Rarity, neither Twilight or Rarity would ever make a move. She knew they both cared far too much about him for them to just start going out and ravage his heart. How painfully ironic it was that Rarity had finally found herself in a love triangle like the ones in her novels.

And yet, for now, she was alright with their situation.

Perhaps she had just given in to their fate of endless flirtations that would never come to fruition, never advance to the next level. Though it could feel like a blade twisting itself in her heart, she knew Twilight would eventually find that damnably lucky prince she was destined to marry.

Rarity herself would find somepony else, too, in the future. She’d be swept off her hooves and let her love for Twilight die out, becoming a wistful memory of a time where there was no other feeling in the world like making the alicorn smile.

In that moment, though, Rarity was perfectly content with the endless waltz of smiles, blushes and untold desires that she and Twilight were tangled in. The day might come that she or Twilight may want more, but until then, or until either one found somepony else, Rarity could get by with the strange and secret relationship they had.

She looked over at Twilight, who was now engrossed in a conversation with Fluttershy and Pinkie. She realized they were still holding hooves, prompting her to give a soft squeeze.

“Twilight?”

At first, Twilight didn’t react, continuing to pay attention to Fluttershy. It wasn’t until a few sentences later that Twilight finally glanced at Rarity. “Yes?”

“I might go into town tomorrow for a bit,” she explained, idly toying with the other mare’s hoof. “I was wondering, since you are a Canterlot pony and know your way around, would you like to accompany me?”

Without hesitation, Twilight took her hoof away and put it on top of Rarity’s, gently pressing on it. “Sure, Rarity! I'd really like that,” she said, once more smiling that damnably adorable smile that turned Rarity into a love-struck filly for the rest of the trip.

She’s going to kill me, and that smile of hers will be the murder weapon.

2. The Folded Bookmark

“Twilight, I really must insist you stop thanking me,” Celestia said with some amusement to the stressed alicorn following behind as she strolled into Canterlot Castle’s Ballroom. “It is my honor to host your birthday party in the castle.”  

“But Princess...” Twilight watched as Celestia used her magic to open up all the window curtains, allowing the morning light to illuminate the inside of the magnificent room.  

"This isn't the first time we've held a birthday party for you at the castle," Celestia gently reminded.  

"But those were small parties!" Twilight replied. "Practically half of Ponyville and Canterlot are coming for this one!"  

"Twilight," Celestia replied in a soft but firm tone, signaling the end of the conversation was fast approaching. "The size of the party is not what truly matters, but what's being said."  

Twilight bit down on her lip, fiddling with her saddlebag and then finally relented: “Okay, Princess.”  

Though Twilight and the others had arrived the night before, it was already the seventh time she thanked Celestia for her help with the party. Even if it had been Celestia’s desire to host the event, Twilight knew the princess was a very busy pony! She didn’t even want to start thinking of all the diplomatic meetings and decisions Celestia would be putting on hold to make time for the festivities.  

“And since your good friend Pinkie Pie has kindly offered to take care of the preparations, Luna and I will be able to proceed with the usual court procedures,” she continued, turning to look at Twilight with a knowing smile, as if she had read the younger alicorn’s worried mind.  

It was unlikely, of course, because anypony who even remotely knew anything about magic agreed that it required several lifetimes to even learn how to cast mind-reading spells, let alone master them. Only somepony like the princess who wasn’t just exceedingly long lived, but incredibly smart as well could ever manage to... to...  

Oh...  

Just as she realized Celestia’s smile had grown, her conspiratory train of thoughts on Celestia’s hypothetical mind-reading skills were brought to a halt by a scream.  

“It’s PERFECT!”  

The two alicorns turned around and found Pinkie Pie standing at the entrance of the room, jumping up and down as if on an invisible pogostick. The younger alicorn couldn’t help but smile at how Pinkie zoomed from one side to the other, inspecting every nook and cranny of the room while the elder watched everything with a mild bemusement.  

“Ah, good morning, Pinkie Pie! Oh, and Rarity, too!” Celestia said, prompting Twilight to look away from Pinkie and towards the door.  

Indeed, Rarity had just trotted into the room, her mane tied up in a ponytail. As she made her way towards Twilight and Celestia, she took off her black sunglasses and rested them on top of her head.  

“Good morning!” she greeted, bowing to Celestia before smiling at Twilight in that ridiculously cute way that always prompted Twilight to reply with a dorky grin.  

“Are you planning on going into town?” Celestia asked, pointing at the black saddlebag hanging around Rarity.  

“Why, yes! I need to get a few things for my outfit tomorrow. Twilight is coming along, too.” She turned to Twilight and found the alicorn frowning at her. “You didn’t forget, I hope?”  

Twilight shook her head. “Of course I didn’t.”  

No, her frown was not due to having forgotten her outing with Rarity. In fact, scientifically speaking, her attraction to the unicorn generated neurological and biological impulses that made it nearly impossible to forget such an event.  

Her frown was due to Rarity triggering certain unpleasant memories from the previous day’s train ride. One would think Twilight would focus on how she and Rarity held hooves almost the entire trip, but instead she kept replaying the worst part of the trip. It had been such a nice moment too, with Rarity taking the alicorn’s hoof and thanking her for the help, but what had Twilight replied with?  

´I love our friendly get-togethers’.  

Ugh.  

I can’t believe I actually said that to her. Good thing Rarity didn’t feel anything for her, because if she did, Twilight was at least ninety-five percent sure she had ruined everything with that line. Friendly get-togethers. Maybe her hoof ought to have a friendly get-together with her face. Repeatedly.  

Celestia smiled. “Well, I, for one, can’t wait to see what manner of splendid outfit you come up with tomorrow. I always love the ones you design for Twilight. Perhaps I should commission one for myself?”  

Though Celestia directed the compliment at Rarity, Twilight couldn’t help but share in the pride. She took a step back, trying not to smile as she braced herself for Rarity’s impending explosion of delighted squee-ing. She was surprised — and a bit disappointed — when the unicorn instead reacted by simply smiling and bowing.  

“Why, Princess, it would be a tremendous honor!”    

Celestia’s smile widened at that, before finally turning to look at Pinkie, who had moved on to measure the entire room with measuring tape she had apparently produced from thin air.  

"Is there any material you need for the party, Pinkie Pie? I could ask some of the guards to go into town to procure them,” Celestia offered, nodding towards one of the guards standing near the entrance.  

Pinkie shook her head, rolling up her measuring tape and skipping towards the other ponies. “Thanks, Princess, but Rarity already offered to buy what I need!” She stopped next to the unicorn in question and placed a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “Right, Rarity?”  

Rarity blinked at her. “I did?”  

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Well, duh! I asked you this morning when I went to wake you up, and you said yes! Although, you also said you’d be ‘delighted to take my offer to swim in liquid diamonds’ so maybe I should have asked a little later.” Pinkie shrugged. “You still said yes, though!”  

“Pinkie Pie! That hardly counts!” Rarity huffed, stomping her hoof on the floor. “Right, Twilight?”  

“Well...” Twilight looked between a brightly smiling Pinkie Pie and a pleading Rarity, torn between the pressure of the former’s happiness and the latter’s possible annoyance. “You did say yes...”  

“Twilight!”   

Swallowing down any embarrassment, Twilight took the plunge and teased: “Come on Rarity, it’ll be fun! It’s not like party supplies are expensive, right?”  

Though Rarity’s expression went blank for only a split-second, to Twilight it felt like enough time to not only regret what she’d said, but to also re-evaluate all her life choices thus far. Oh Celestia, she’d done it now. Why hadn’t she sided with Rarity? She had basically accused Rarity of being a cheapskate, and she could always have offered Pinkie to buy the party supplies herself. That’s what she got for trying to flirt. Could that even have been considered as flirting?  

Somewhere in Equestria, the author of ‘Flirting 101: A Guide´ was probably rolling over in his grave.  

Once the split-second was over, and to Twilight’s brief horror, Rarity looked genuinely offended. “Don’t be absurd, darling! No party supply is too expensive when it comes to your birthday!” She then turned to Pinkie Pie and smiled. “What do you need?”  

As Pinkie proceeded to reach into her hair and retrieve a rolled-up scroll for Rarity, a considerable relieved Twilight decided to look away until her face wasn’t on fire anymore. Her blush only worsened, however, when she looked to Celestia and found the older alicorn looking back with an amused expression — an amusement that only increased at Twilight’s mortification.  

“I suppose we’ll have to leave right away so Pinkie Pie can get everything set up in time,” Rarity remarked, opening her bag and putting the scroll inside. After saying goodbye to Celestia, she trotted towards the door, putting her sunglasses back on. “Off we go, Twilight!”  

Twilight nodded, saying goodbye to Celestia and Pinkie before following Rarity out the door.  

“Have fun! And good luck with completing your dress, Rarity!” Celestia called out as Twilight closed the door.  

The moment Twilight turned around from the door, she was greeted with a rather odd sight. Rarity was standing quite still, looking from side to side and biting down on her lip.  

“Rarity?” Twilight asked, taking a tentative step towards her friend. “Are you ok—”  

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!” Rarity screeched all of a sudden, jumping up and down in circles around the other mare.  

“W-What?” Twilight asked, a little confused by the rather Pinkie-esque way Rarity was acting. Had she missed some sort of grand announcement?  

“Did you hear what the princess said? She LOVES my dresses! Princess Celestia wants me to make her a dress!” she screeched, clapping her hooves with excitement.  

Twilight couldn’t stop herself from giggling. So this was where Rarity’s exhilaration had gone. “Why wouldn’t the princess like your dresses? You really are a great designer, Rarity.” It was a well meant compliment, yet Twilight couldn’t help but feel like she was trying to make up for her earlier mistake.  

Even so, regardless of the intention behind the comment, its ultimate purpose was achieved as Rarity’s elated grin widened. “I know that, darling,” she exclaimed, flipping her hair in an exaggerated motion. “But you can’t blame me for being rather excited that the princess went out of her way to say so!”  

Twilight knew, better than most, how much Celestia’s opinion could mean to somepony, and she was honestly delighted that Celestia didn’t hide how much she liked Twilight’s friends. Maybe that meant she’d approve if Twilight and Rarity started dat…  

“So!” Twilight said, interrupting her own thoughts and the blush that had been creeping its way up her cheeks. “Maybe we should get going before Pinkie decides to add more things to the shopping list?”  

Rarity smiled and nodded. “I think that would be a good idea, yes,” she replied, taking off into the hallway. Still looking forward, she added: “But, honestly, this being Pinkie, it won’t be of much help.”  

“Why?” Twilight asked, smiling as she followed Rarity. “Because Pinkie would find a way to get the message to us even if we were on the other side of the world?”  

Rarity laughed. “Darling, it’s like you can read my mind.”  

The city of Canterlot!  

...wasn’t nearly as interesting to Twilight as one would think. She had spent her entire childhood inside the city walls, and though she could appreciate the culture and architecture on an intellectual level, trotting through the commercial area wasn’t really her cup of tea. Rarity, on the other hoof…  

“Twilight! Come take a look at this!” the unicorn called out, beckoning Twilight to her while looking at the display from the tenth jewelry shop Rarity had stopped to gawk at. “Doesn’t that necklace just look absolutely divine?”  

Twilight rolled her eyes before going over to where Rarity was standing and peering through the glass. Her sight landed on an elegant platinum necklace, inlaid with a ruby lining on the sides, and encrusted with several small amethysts which drew the eye to the stunning centerpiece: A diamond the size of her hoof.  

“Twilight, you know, my birthday is coming up soon,” Rarity began, turning to Twilight and fluttering her eyelashes. “Now, I’m not saying you and the girls should get me that necklace, but…”  

Twilight snorted. “Sure, Rares. We’ll just have Applejack sell Sweet Apple Acres, and maybe we’ll be able to pay one quarter of the price,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the necklace and moving away from the shop. “Come on, let’s go get breakfast. I’m pretty hungry, and I think you like me enough to not let me starve, right?”  

“Oh darling, you have my undying devotion. I will love you ‘till the day I die,” Rarity said, prompting Twilight to immediately stop on the spot.  

Wh...what?   

Heart almost bursting out of her chest, Twilight turned around on the spot, undecided on whether she wanted to squeal in joy, or stammer an awkward ‘I love you too’. The decision was made for her and her mood dipped when she realised that Rarity was talking to the jewelry.  

Oh.  

If there was one thing Twilight was good at, it was self-recrimination. How stupid are you? she asked herself, glaring at the necklace she was now extremely jealous of. You know that she doesn’t like you that way, and yet you actually thought that was meant for you? She sighed sadly and walked on, though deep in her gut a small ember of hope from burned bright as ever. It was only a ninety-nine point five percent chance, right?  

Once the unicorn had finished saying her farewell to the necklace (which, in Twilight’s opinion, wasn’t really all that ‘divine'), she turned away from the shop and trotted past Twilight. “Onwards, then!”  

Thirty minutes (and four shops later) found Twilight and Rarity sitting at a table outside a quaint little café, discussing their plans for the day.  

“My, Pinkie uses a lot for her parties, doesn’t she?” Rarity commented, stirring her coffee as she read over the long list of party supplies. “I think it would be best to start with her things first, so we’ll have more time later for our own things.”  

Twilight took a bite out of her croissant, thinking over places where they could buy confetti and streamers in bulk. Though she was very grateful towards Pinkie for organizing the party, Twilight had to admit she didn’t want to spend all of her alone time with Rarity looking for party supplies. “Maybe we should go to Fiesta Emporium? I wanted to take you to The Folded Bookmark, and it’s right near there.”  

“The Folded Bookmark?” Rarity inquired, rolling up the list and putting it back into her bag.  

Twilight nodded, putting down her croissant and wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, it’s my favorite store. It has two floors filled with books of all sorts, and these comfy little couches for reading. It was my second favorite place after Princess Celestia’s library,” she explained, smiling at the memories of staying there for hours on end reading. “The owner, Ink Page, is really nice, too.”  

Rarity nodded softly, bringing the cup of coffee to her lips and taking a sip. "I thought you never left the castle," she teased before putting the cup back down and folding her forelegs on the table. “How did you find the place?”  

Twilight blushed a little, staring down at her half-eaten breakfast. “It’s a little silly. I kinda got separated from my mom when we were shopping one day, and I ended up there after two hours of being completely lost.”  

Rarity giggled a little, increasing Twilight’s fluster. She looked up and found the unicorn gazing intently at Twilight, her smile sending butterflies into the alicorn’s stomach.  

“Aww, you must have been terrified. My poor darling,” Rarity said, still giggling in that ridiculously cute fashion.  

Twilight would have liked to correct Rarity by informing her that she hadn’t been afraid and had handled herself pretty darn well, but her desire to do so fizzled out when ‘my poor darling’ hit her ears.  

My poor darling.  

My darling.  

There was something positively chilling about hearing a possessive pronoun precede Rarity’s eternal throwaway term of endearment. It felt as if Twilight had been separated from the rest because yes, they were all darlings, but she was Rarity’s darling. How she wished she lived in a universe where Rarity might one day say those words as an expression of heartfelt love, rather than friendly amusement.  

“How did you get separated?” Rarity asked, snapping Twilight up from her reveries.  

Twilight coughed awkwardly, realizing she had reached the silly part of the story. “I… I kinda got distracted by a poster on a wall for ten minutes or so, and my mom didn’t realize I wasn’t following her anymore,” she admitted, toying with her croissant before taking another bite.  

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You looked at a poster for ten minutes? Must have been of Princess Celestia, I bet,” she teased, only for her eyes to widen when she found Twilight staring into her cup with an embarrassed blush. “Oh my gosh, Twilight! Really?” she asked, making no attempt to muffle her laughter.  

“It wasn’t just about Celestia!” Twilight stammered, her cheeks bright red as she tried to defend her dignity. “It was an advert for her School for Gifted Unicorns, and I wasn’t just staring at it! I hadn’t gotten accepted yet, so I was just thinking what it would be like.” She looked away. “I told you it was silly…”  

Rarity slowly shook her head. “Silly? I don’t think you’re silly, Twilight.” She put her chin on her hooves, leaned in, and in a tone of voice that Twilight had never heard her use before, sighed: “I think you’re adorable.”  

And then, it happened.  

The moment the words left her lips, Rarity’s cheeks suddenly reddened and her eyes widened, as if she had let slip out something she shouldn’t have. However, just as quick as it came, the blush and slight loss of composure disappeared and were replaced with a perfect façade. “And then what happened?”  

Rarity’s attempt at moving the conversation forward proved to be in vain, for Twilight was already lost in a world of nearly impossible possibilities and burning hope. Why was her heart beating at a thousand miles per hour against her chest?  

Twilight wanted to bury her face in her hooves and try to hide her fluster. Was it possible that Rarity liked her? Sure, they’d never be able to date because Twilight would probably mess up somewhere, plus she couldn’t hurt Spike like that, but she could dream, couldn’t she? It wasn’t entirely unreasonable to take that as a sign of affection, and affection could always grow into something more, right?  

“I… I, uhm, I left the street and kinda wandered about until I… found the bookstore,” Twilight continued, in vain trying to keep her mind focused on the story at hoof.  

Ridiculous, is what it was, how her usually organized thought patterns had been reduced to silly daydreaming just because of Rarity’s remark. She couldn’t help herself, though. Her fervent desire to be with Rarity had forced her brain into feeling as if her chances with the other mare had gone from five percent to ten. Okay, maybe fifteen. Maybe even twenty if she kept tricking Rarity into thinking her social awkwardness was... adorable, apparently?  

"And then the owner helped you find your mother?" Rarity prompted, pushing away the cup of coffee she had emptied while Twilight’s mind had been off visiting Cloudsdale.  

“I got there at around closing time, so it was no bother for her,” Twilight explained. She could practically remember the incident as if it had happened hours ago. The worry and fear of being lost washing away as she stepped through the crystal doors into a heaven built out of books old and new, rare and common, wondrous and fascinating.  

“Well, it sounds like a lovely place, darling,” Rarity finished, getting up from the chair and putting her saddlebag back on. She took a deep breath and levitated Pinkie’s list from out the bag. “So, where is this Fiesta Emporium you mentioned?”  

Twilight got up, suddenly eager to get to the bookshop. She squinted at her surroundings for a bit before finally pointing Rarity in the right direction. “It’s northeast from here,” she said, taking the lead and trying to recognize some of the stores. “It’s right next to Roughcut’s Vintage Jewelry, I think.”  

“Vintage Jewe—”  

“Don’t even think about it.”  

   As she waited for Rarity to finish paying for the plethora of party hats, streamers, balloons and other such things necessary for the party, Twilight distracted herself by counting all the multicolored balloons floating near the ceiling of Fiesta Emporium. Or rather, that’s what she said she was doing to the several foals that had approached her, apparently fascinated by the concept of a Princess shopping in public.  

   By the time Rarity came back, a little foal had already left with an autograph and a stern encouragement to stay in school and read books. Twilight was still looking up at the ceiling, her brow furrowed as she mumbled numbers to herself.  

   “Counting the balloons, are we? How many are they?” asked Rarity, stashing away her wallet into her bag.  

   Still frowning, Twilight looked at Rarity and replied with a rather large number.  

   “Really? How curious, that’s exactly how much I just paid for everyt— Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated groan. “I can’t believe you! The reason I asked you to wait here was so you didn— put your wallet back this instant!”   

   “But Rarity, you’re spending so much on me, and I don’t feel comfortable with that,” she whined, reluctantly putting her wallet back in its place. Rarity’s expression darkened, and Twilight realized what she’d said and blurted out in a panicked frenzy: “Not that I think you can’t afford it! It’s just that I don’t want you to spend so much money on me! I mean, I would like a present, b-but—  only  because you want to, don’t— not because you have to, of course, if you don’t wa— mmph!”  

   “Twilight, sweetheart,” Rarity calmly said, her hoof placed on Twilight’s mouth. She waited until Twilight had stopped fidgeting against her hoof, then took it back and smiling, said: “I understand your concern, but I want to spend money on you for your birthday. We all do, so stop worrying about it and let’s move on, shall we?”  

   Deciding that yes, it might be better to change topic before she made another faux-pas that might make the Element of Generosity slightly less generous, Twilight nodded and followed her out of the store.    

   The sun shone brightly over the city, and Twilight was relieved to see it was still early in the day. Since it was Friday, the streets were filled with ponies eager to start their weekends after a long week of work. Though she would have once disliked being surrounded by so many ponies, Twilight now found it a welcoming relief since it meant she blended in more — she still wasn’t quite used to being stopped in the middle of the street for an autograph or picture.    

   Rarity always disagreed, however, encouraging foals and shy ponies to approach Twilight. “Darling, think of what it means to them! Besides, you deserve the attention and praise!” she’d say, which was fine and all, but Twilight just really wanted to get to the darned bookshop already. And yet, when she realized they were but a minute away, she found she wasn’t so sure she wanted to go there anymore.    

   The Folded Bookmark, with its seemingly endless bookshelves and constant smell of ink, was just as much a part of Twilight as was Canterlot Castle. She had practically lost count of all the times she had been there as a filly, either after classes with Celestia,  while waiting for her mother to finish shopping or just because she had nothing to do.  

   With every step they took, Twilight listened less and less of what Rarity was saying, and she focused instead on what Rarity would say once they reached the store. She knew Rarity wouldn’t dislike the place, but what if she didn’t, well, like it either?    

   The thought that Rarity might not be as thrilled by the place as Twilight was had never even entered the alicorn’s mind until that very moment. If the unicorn found herself disinterested by The Folded Bookmark, wouldn’t that be the same as rejecting a little part of who Twilight was?  

   She now found she strongly regretted having been so indifferent whenever Rarity dragged her into a jewelry shop.    

   “Ah, isn’t it that place over there?” Rarity asked, stopping and pointing at a shop in the distance.    

   Twilight looked up and was overcome with a rather peculiar mix of dread and delight upon recognizing the façade of The Folded Bookmark. The two story black building was just as she remembered it: Four oval windows, two glass doors with red handles, a worn-out sign with an image of a piece of paper which had its upper-right corner folded and finally, the white spiral clock above the doors.    

   It was the clock, in fact, that had initially caught Twilight’s attention on the day she’d gotten lost. It was broken at the time, and its hands kept turning and turning. Twilight remembered that Ink Page had jokingly asked if Twilight had been hypnotized upon finding the filly staring intently at the clock.    

   So caught was Twilight in the nostalgia, she didn’t realize they had reached the bookshop until she heard the door chimes ring when Rarity opened the doors. Just like with the exterior, the interior of the place was still virtually identical to how Twilight remembered it being. She took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of dry ink and old books, awakening the urge inside her to take a book and spend the rest of the afternoon lost in its pages.  

   There were a few customers already inside the establishment. She watched as one trotted up the wooden spiral staircase that led to the upper floor. After a few minutes of taking in the wonderfully familiar sight, Twilight glanced towards Rarity. To her great discontent, she couldn’t make out any sort of emotion on the mare’s face.    

   Please, please, please like it, she thought, watching as Rarity took a few steps forward, looking around the place with what Twilight hoped was charmed curiosity. Forcing herself to look away, Twilight focused on the hoof-woven saddle-arabian rugs placed on the wooden floor. They certainly did add a cozy charm to the bookstore. Maybe she ought to point it out to Rarity and get a different reaction from her than just observing the place in such a frustratingly dispassionate fashion.  

   No.    

   Twilight didn’t need Rarity’s opinion on the matter. If she hadn’t said anything yet, it meant she hadn’t liked it, and Twilight could handle it. She was a big pony and her self-esteem was not tied to Rarity’s opinion on a bookstore she happened to like. She wasn’t even going to care about the unicorn’s opinion anymore.  

   Intent on keeping her self-made promise, Twilight turned to Rarity so as to suggest they find Ink Page. “So, what do you think of the place?”    

   Drat.  

   Rarity glanced at Twilight momentarily before returning her gaze towards her surroundings. “Well…” She paused for a painfully long time, covering her mouth with one of her hooves. Finally, she turned to Twilight and announced her final judgment: “It reminds me of you.”  

   Twilight stared at Rarity with a blank expression, processing the unicorn’s words.    

   ...It reminded her of Twilight...  

   ...What...    

   ...What the hay did that even mean?  

   It reminds her of me? Was that good? Bad? Medium? What, did she get a feeling of borderline obsessive-compulsiveness and social-awkwardness from the library? How was that even something somepony could feel from looking at a shop?! Not that Twilight thought she was all those things, obviously, because she wasn't.  

   She wasn't!  

   Of course, it was entirely possible Rarity instead felt a sensation of knowledge, curiosity and science from the library, which made Twilight feel considerably better regarding her… odd assessment.    

   She then remembered Rarity’s remark from a few hours ago. Did… did she find the shop ‘adorable’? Twilight could think of many adjectives to use for The Folded Bookmark but adorable wouldn’t really be the first one to come to mind. Then again, Rarity’s mind worked in ways not even Twilight or science could understand.    

   “Darling." Rarity’s lips were curved into an amused smile, probably due to Twilight's baffled expression. "That's a good thing. It's a very charming place, and I can see why you like it."  

   Twilight perked up at this, a small weight lifted off her shoulders. “Come on, I’ll show you around,” she offered, trotting off further into the bookshop. What area should she take Rarity to first? “You know, there’s an entire section on fashion design. They even have books written by the famed brothers Needles and Thread,” she informed, grinning when she heard a delighted squeal behind her.  

   "Needles and Thread?!" Rarity exclaimed, whizzing past Twilight and straight towards the fashion section.  

   "Wrong way! Fashion Design is upstairs to the right," said a third voice, stopping Rarity in her tracks.    

   Twilight turned around and was thrilled to see Ink Page trotting towards them. The blue mare unicorn had aged considerably since the last time Twilight saw her. Her graying black mane was tied up in a bun and a pair of green glasses rested on the bridge of her nose.    

   "Twilight! How nice to see you again! Haven’t seen you since your coronation!"    

   The alicorn nodded, smiling at the elder unicorn. "Hello, Ink Page! I'm back in Canterlot for a few days, so I thought I should visit!" She turned to Rarity, who had made her way back to them. "This is my friend, Rarity."  

   Rarity bowed her head slightly, smiling at Ink Page. "It's very nice to meet you, Miss. This is a very lovely shop you have," she commented, looking around for a moment. "Twilight was telling me all about how you assisted with finding her mother the day she met you."  

   Ink Page chuckled, looking over at Twilight. "Poor little filly trotted in here sniffling and crying for her mommy. Had to give her a nice book so she wouldn't flood the place."    

   Twilight's face turned beet-red at the story, trying her hardest to ignore the giggled "Awww" coming from her friend. "I wasn't that upset," she protested weakly, receiving a pat on the head from Ink Page.  

   "Not after you borrowed Tales From The Bearded Unicorn, you weren't!" Ink Page pointed towards a little red couch further away. "Little thing curled up there and read until I finished closing up. Never seen a book cheer someone up faster."    

   A little embarrassed, Twilight stared down at the previously mentioned fascinating rugs on the floor.  

   "In any case, I'll leave Twilight to show you around, Rarity. Books don't sort themselves!" Ink Page announced, trotting away and disappearing amidst the rows of bookshelves.    

   The moment she was gone, Twilight turned to face a snickering Rarity. "Rarity..." she warned, cheeks still burning up.  

   Rarity smiled at her innocently. "My lips are sealed, Darling." She laughed and trotted off towards the stairs, headed towards the fashion section of the shop.    

   Twilight watched her leave before heading herself to the magic history section. An inerasable smile decorating her face, Twilight couldn't stop herself from thinking how well everything had gone so far. She reached the proper bookcase and took a book at random, tracing her hoof on its inscription before opening it and reading.  

   The book captured Twilight's attention for around fifteen minutes until Rarity joined her, apparently having grown bored of the fashion section. At the unicorn's appearance, Twilight put back the book and turned to Rarity.  

   "Anything you like?" Rarity asked, eyeing the book Twilight had just put away. "'Non-Unicornian Magic: Myth or Reality'."  

   "It's very interesting, but I already have a copy back home," Twilight said. It had been a gift from Celestia after she had once inquired about zebra magic.    

   She looked at the titles of the other books but nothing really stood out. On the other side, Rarity seemed very intrigued by the assortment of books.    

   "Did you see anything you like?" Twilight inquired, searching for a book that Rarity might find interesting.    

   "Not particularly," Rarity confessed, idly taking out a book and flipping through the pages. "Twilight?"  

   "Yes?"  

   Rarity stared at the book before putting it back in its place. "Do you have any French dictionaries?" Rarity asked, taking out another book from the shelf and repeating the same idle process of leafing through its pages.  

   A French dictionary? "I did, but it was destroyed along with the library. Why? Did you want to borrow it?" Twilight asked, thinking what an odd question it was for Rarity to ask. Besides, didn't she have one already? Her grasp of the language was more advanced than Twilight's, after all.    

   "No, I was simply curious. The language section is right next to us," Rarity replied, putting back the book inside the shelf. "Perhaps I should take another look at the ones they have here. Mine is rather outdated."  

   Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I should probably replace mine soon, too.” She made a mental note to one day bring lots of bits and buy all the books Tirek had destroyed. "My French still needs some work."  

   "Ah oui, c'est dommage."  

   Twilight rolled her eyes in a playful manner. "Show-off," she accused, earning a haughty laugh in return. She watched as Rarity trotted off towards the language section, following her once the unicorn had disappeared from sight.    

   If there was one thing Twilight loved about The Folded Bookmark, it was that it had especially rare books. As soon as she joined Rarity, her eyes immediately landed on the complete Equestrian Encyclopedia. Ink Page has all ten volumes?! she thought, immediately reaching for the first volume.    

   "Found something you like, I see," Rarity noted, reading over Twilight's shoulder.    

   “Well, of course! They have the tenth volume of the Equestrian Encyclopedia! Most Encyclopedias only have nine volumes! I heard rumors about there being more, but they’re very rare.” Twilight leaned in conspiratorially. “It’s said that Princess Celestia wrote some of them herself, and that nopony else even remembers it.”    

   "Well, you never know, maybe somepony will give them to you for your birthday?" Rarity suggested, taking another one of the volumes and admiring the cover.  

   "I won't get my hopes up," Twilight replied, sighing. "The first nine volumes aren't too expensive, but the tenth one is so rare, you'd probably have to be Princess Celestia to even be able to afford it."    

   Rarity squinted her eyes and looked at the price tag under the tenth volume, a soft gasp confirming Twilight's statement. "Nevertheless, wouldn't you like the first nine volumes, at least?"  

   "Well… I already have a few copies..."    

   Truth be told, the Equestrian Encyclopedia wasn't all that amazing if it didn't include the infamous missing volumes. Twilight had no less than three copies of the things in her new castle, even after two copies had burned down with the library.  

   "And I guess it can never hurt to have more encyclopedias lying around, but it’s not the same as having those missing tomes.”    

   "Oh, I see."  

   Twilight was going to add that the nine volumes could still be a very important addition to anypony's library but yet another book caught her eye.    

   It was a blue leather-bound book that stood out due to it being considerably bigger than than the others at its sides. The title ´Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopedique Français’ was embroidered in black on the spine of the book, and upon taking it out, Twilight was surprised by how light it was. It looked old and worn-out, too. Was it perhaps a used book?  

   Opening it, Twilight was greeted with the faint smell of… musty perfume? Her earlier suspicions were also confirmed when she looked through the contents of the book and found somepony had made annotations with a pencil. All of a sudden, Twilight felt as if she was holding something very personal. What was the previous owner of the dictionary like, she wondered, trying to imagine how they might look.  

   "What's that?" asked Rarity, waking Twilight from her thoughts. When Twilight carefully handed the book to her, Rarity examined the leather, noting how soft it was. She looked inside and was also intrigued by the book's former owner. "What lovely calligraphy! I wonder who this belonged to? It looks rather old."  

   "Maybe a writer?" Twilight suggested, taking a closer look and pointing at a word. "Look, whenever they underlined a word, they added a little sentence exemplifying it."    

   "Or maybe a poet?" Rarity exclaimed, clearly thrilled by the idea. "Oooooh, just imagine it! A down on his luck poet staying up all night under the light of a candle, writing heartbreaking sonnets for his beloved!"  

   Twilight giggled, taking the book away from Rarity. "I guess we'll never know," she said, closing it and brushing her hoof against the cover. "I wonder how much it costs?" She looked at the bookshelf, but no price tag was to be seen under the spot from where she had taken it. "Huh. I'll go ask Ink Pa—"  

   "No!" Rarity interrupted, taking the book away from Twilight. She blushed for a minute, embarrassed at her outburst. "I mean, let me ask. I was hoping to ask her something about one of the books upstairs, anyway."  

   Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Rarity..." she said, watching the unicorn quickly trot away.    

   After ten minutes passed in which Rarity had failed to re-appear, Twilight set off to look for her. It was getting late, after all, and they still had to go find whatever Rarity needed so she could fix her dress for the party. She eventually found Rarity talking to Ink Page at the cash register.  

   "Ah, Twilight!" Ink Page called out, smiling sympathetically at the alicorn. "Rarity told me about the dictionary you liked. It's not for sale, unfortunately. My assistant must have shelved it thinking it was."  

   "Oh." Well, that was disappointing. She had grown weirdly fond of the dictionary and its elusive owner in the short time since she had discovered it. "It's okay! I'll come back some other time to get another dictionary, then."  

   "Ink Page, thank you so much for your help, and it was very nice meeting you!" Rarity said, taking a plastic bag from the counter presumably filled with the books she had mentioned to Twilight earlier. "Shall we take off, Twilight? Unless there's anything else you'd like to do here?" she added when Twilight hesitantly looked back towards the inside of the bookshop.  

   Twilight shook her head. "Nope, I'm all done." She glanced towards Ink Page and waved. "I'll come back and visit on Monday before I leave for home, Ink!"  

   "See you then, Twilight!" Ink Page replied before adding: "Oh, and happy birthday!"  

   "Thanks!" called back Twilight before following Rarity out of the shop. I didn’t think she’d remember it was my birthday. "So, what did you buy?" she asked, looking with interest at the shopping bag floating besides Rarity.  

   As soon as Twilight finished talking, Rarity levitated the shopping bag a little closer to her body. "Oh, you know, some fashion books," Rarity replied casually. "Nothing particularly interesting."  

   "Well, if you say so," Twilight said, feeling offended that Rarity would think she wouldn't be interested in books. "What's next? Finding what you need for your dress?"  

   Rarity nodded, leaving her shopping bag on the floor and turning to her saddlebag. "Yes! There's a little shop I'd like to visit. Let me find the address. I put it inside my wallet," she muttered, rummaging through her bag. After a minute or so, she suddenly stopped and looked towards The Folded Bookmark. "Shoot! I left my wallet inside! I'll be right back!"    

   Before Twilight could react, Rarity took off into the store, leaving behind her shopping bag with the 'uninteresting' books. Twilight looked from the bag to the shop to the bag, narrowing her eyes.  

    It… It couldn't hurt to take a quick peek inside, right? Glancing one last time towards the shop to make sure Rarity wasn't coming, Twilight trotted over to the bag and looked inside. Sure enough, there were two books on fashion design, wrapping paper and…  

   Wrapping paper?    

   She leaned down even more so as to get a closer look of the wrapping paper, and her eyes landed on the spine of a blue leather-bound book. Is that…?   

   "Thank you again, Ink Page!"  

   The second she heard Rarity's voice, Twilight jumped away from the bag and stared with interest at the sky because it was particularly blue that day, and a lot of ponies stared at the sky at random times, especially when it was that blue. Meanwhile, her heart was beating at a probably very unhealthy rate, and she was having a very hard time biting down the absolutely ecstatic smile that threatened to appear on her face.    

   That had to be the dictionary! No wonder Ink Page knew it was her birthday; Rarity must have mentioned it to her because she wanted to buy the book as a present for Twilight!    

   "Sorry about that, darling," Rarity said, completely oblivious to the excited inner-screaming contest going on inside Twilight's mind. She finally turned to look at the mare and slightly cocked her head to the side. "What's that smile for?" she asked, her gentle laugh sounding like heaven in Twilight's ears.  

   "Nothing!" Twilight quickly said, blushing lightly. Before she could stop herself, she let her grin widen and admitted: "I'm just really happy I came with you today."  

   Though she looked briefly surprised by Twilight's statement, a slight pink tinge appeared on Rarity's cheeks as she immediately returned Twilight's grin with one of her trademark dazzling smiles that put a stop to the screaming inside Twilight’s mind; if only because it reduced her mental capacity to a mushy mess.    

   “I’m really happy you came too, Twilight.”  

   Making their way towards their next destination, a single thought consumed Twilight’s mind: everything was going along perfectly. Maybe everything was going a little too perfectly, and when things went a little too perfectly, it usually meant disaster was on the way.  

   No, she scolded herself, forcing the thought away. She wasn’t going to let that thought get to her because absolutely nothing would go wrong.  

   Right?  

3. Revelations

Pinkie had asked him to go find Rarity and Twilight. In retrospect, he wished he hadn't agreed.

“They’re soooo late!” she had said, leaning against her empty party cannon, face frowning. Spike had barely just finished breakfast when the pink pony practically pushed him out the front gates. “Can you go look for them, Spike? You lived here before so it’ll be super easy! Don’t take too long!”

He had agreed to go because of course he’d always agree to go. He was Twilight’s number one assistant, wasn’t he? Number one assistants were always helpful, through rain and shine, good times and bad times. Not to mention the fact that he’d get to see Rarity that much sooner.

Making his way through the streets and alleys, he wondered if he'd have the time later to give Rarity a special tour of the city, if Twilight hadn't already. He could just picture himself showing Rarity all sorts of amazing things, such as the botanical gardens, or the history museum, or the chocolate factory. Maybe they were giving free samples that day?

Indeed, his love of the white mare was eclipsed only by his love of food, and perhaps his love of staying up late. So when he spotted an ice cream stand as he walked through the city, his stomach was given priority over his quest. His first instinct was to turn around to Twilight and ask if he could have a scoop. Not having his caretaker there made him aware just how much he had grown, if not in length, then at least in maturity. He no longer really needed Twilight to go with him every time he wanted to go for a walk out on the town, not like she used to moan about having to. Today, he could simply reach into his left pocket and take out a few bits of his allowance, which he had saved up for just such an occasion.

Licking off a generous portion from his ice cream, the small dragon continued his quest to find Rarity and Twilight — an easy task considering he knew every street, every alleyway, every corner of the capital. Hay, with all the time Twilight used to spend studying with Celestia, a young dragon had to find something fun to do, and what better than secretly exploring the city, right? If Twilight knew how many times he had sneaked out of the castle to explore or meet with other ponies like Moondancer, for example, she’d probably throw a fit.

It seemed like everypony had decided to take advantage of the nice weather, and he had to be careful to avoid bumping into ponies or his delicious ice cream wouldn’t end up  in his stomach where it belonged. Having his ice cream splattered all over the pavement would most assuredly be a bad thing. Protecting his food, he looked at the shops as he passed then, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two mares. It wasn’t until several minutes later, after having unsuccessfully gone inside several shops, that he noticed a few ponies had gathered outside a clothes’ shop, all of them staring inside. Always the curious one, he made his way to the crowd and peered inside the window, finding the source of everypony’s interest.

Almost as if Discord himself had decided to pay a visit, the inside of the shop looked like a veritable disaster area. Bunches of clothes lay scattered all over the display tables, much to the consternation of a dismayed looking pony, who Spike assumed was the owner of the place. Upon hearing the word ‘princess’ being uttered by one of the excited mares next to him, he squinted and scanned the store again, his eyes landing right on target. Standing in the middle of the room was the Princess of Friendship herself, and Spike couldn’t hold back an amused smirk at Twilight’s flustered expression. Nevertheless, as amused as he was by Twilight's plight, he was far more interested in the whereabouts of her companion.

Just as he finished the thought, the single most beautiful pony emerged from behind one of the racks of clothes, like the ray of sunshine and hope appearing amidst the dark storm of chaos she herself had created. Rarity. Designer glasses on the bridge of her nose and dresses floating behind her, it was clear the unicorn was in the middle of a — what did she call them? Oh, yeah! — ‘fashion emergency’, and Spike wished he was the subject of the unicorn’s attention instead of the blushing alicorn.

Rarity, completely engrossed in her own world, matched dress after dress against Twilight, trying no doubt to find the perfect one. It was her relentless dedication and passion that Spike loved most about her. How cute she looked with her furrowed brow and scrunched up nose as she examined the dress. He could gaze at her forever, and he’d never get tired of the sight.

“Careful with that starin’, kid. You might burn holes into her,” a voice said, drawing Spike’s attention away from the unicorn and towards an older stallion standing next to him. He looked at the dragon with an amused expression before turning back to the window. “That white mare’s a looker, ain’t she?”

Sighing wistfully, Spike nodded, “Yeah, she is.” While one hand still tightly held his ice cream, he pressed the other against the window in a curiously longing motion, action which he’d be embarrassed about if he wasn’t too busy gawking at Rarity.

And then, the stallion spoke up again. “Seems like the princess thinks her friend’s good-lookin’ too,” he added with a chuckle, elbowing Spike.

It took Spike a moment to fully process what the stallion had said, but once it did, he almost spit out his ice cream laughing. “Yeah, right!” he snorted, turning to look at the stallion with skepticism. Twilight? Like Rarity? As in like like Rarity? That was the best joke he’d heard all day, and that was saying something considering he’d spent the entire morning hearing jokes from Pinkie Pie.

He focused his sight on Twilight, eager to disprove the stallion’s laughably ridiculous assumption. While Rarity focused on the dress, Twilight watched her with a completely neutral and platonic gaze, of course. There was a light blush on her cheeks, yes, but Twilight was obviously just embarrassed at how the unicorn had turned her into the center of attention with her overzealous ways. And then, Rarity just had to turn and smile at Twilight, didn’t she?

The problem hadn’t been Rarity looking up and grinning, because Spike — and everypony, surely — knew that there could never be anything even slightly problematic about a trademark dazzling Rarity smile. Even Twilight’s immediate reaction, which was to grin back, was perfectly normal considering how could somepony not grin back at such a smile. The problem had been Twilight’s reaction the moment the other mare looked away.

Everything about her changed. Her grin dissolved into a smile so smitten, Spike could almost hear the wistful sigh that followed it. It frightened him just how similar that expression looked to the ones he’d be surrounded with during Hearts and Hooves day, and it scared him even more just how similar it was to the lovestruck expression he’d use for Rarity. The worst part, however, came when Rarity looked back at Twilight, and the smitten expression vanished completely.

If Twilight hadn’t changed anything, Spike could have still argued with himself that she was just being very appreciative of Rarity. Except she did, and seeing as she’d never make a conscious effort to hide a friendly gaze, it meant that there was much more behind it. It meant she was embarrassed, and the only reason Twilight would be embarrassed was if she… The dragon’s mind blanked out, his two claws pressed against the window and not hearing — or perhaps, not caring about — the sound of his ice cream falling to the floor.

No.

No, she didn’t like Rarity. She couldn’t like Rarity knowing he loved her first, could she? Like a broken record, that small moment in which Twilight displayed her real feelings kept repeating itself over and over and over in his mind, unlocking an unpleasant boiling feeling inside him.

It wasn’t until the stallion asked him if he was alright, and he saw the claw marks he had left on the window and felt his clenched jaw loosen up that Spike realized he needed to calm down; calm down and fight the nearly irresistible urge to stomp inside the store and lash out at the alicorn. Stepping back and barely processing the sensation of stepping over his melted ice cream, he offered the stallion mumbled excuses and took off towards the other side of the street, entering the first alleyway he saw.

Throes of questions burned in his mind. For how long had Twilight felt that way? Why hadn’t he seen it before? All of a sudden, all of Twilight’s unusually frequent visits to Carousel Boutique started making sense. Had… Had he been denying it to himself? He groaned and buried his face in his claws. It didn’t make sense. Why and how had Twilight fallen for Rarity knowing he loved her? She should have been the first pony to know the unicorn was off-limits considering just how much he raved on and on about Rarity to her.

Wait…

His entire body went cold and he moved his claw away from his wide eyes. Whenever he wasn’t helping Twilight, he was rambling about Rarity: about how gorgeous she was, about her smile, her laugh, her eyes… Was… Was it his fault? Had he drilled it into Twilight’s mind that Rarity was perfection incarnate? He peeked his head out of the alley and looked at the shop. Could he blame her for falling in-love when he had practically paved the way?

“Come on, darling, stand up straight! If there isn’t a single decent dress to be found in this city then I shall simply have to make one for you, shan’t I?”

Rarity’s voice brought him back to reality, and he peeked his head out the alley, finding the two mares standing outside the shop. Most of the gawking ponies had already dispersed, including the stallion from a few moments before. The two mares were standing outside the shop talking, but he noticed just how irritatingly tiny the distance between them was.

He wondered if he ought to join them before Pinkie decided to come and get them herself, but he’d be lying if he said he could just walk up to them acting as if he hadn’t just been stabbed in the back with a dagger. Regardless, the decision was taken away from him when a baby unicorn trotting by with her mother saw him and announced to the entire street her exciting discovery.

“Spike?” Rarity called, tilting her head to the side.

A veil masking his real feelings, he finally joined them and twisted the dagger plunged in his back by acting as if nothing was wrong. As he walked towards them, he noticed how Twilight practically jumped away from Rarity the second she saw him. Even Rarity noticed it, giving Twilight a quick glance before turning to Spike and grinning.

For a brief moment, Spike almost considered feeling relieved and happy that Twilight was so obviously ashamed of betraying him, but he forcibly buried the thought away. It didn’t feel right. If.. If Twilight didn’t care about his feelings, she wouldn’t have moved away from Rarity so quickly, would she? Maybe she didn’t want anything to happen between her and Rarity...

“Hi, everypony!” he greeted as cheerfully as he could manage, even returning Twilight’s smile. He tried to bury away any more thoughts on his previous romantic crisis. He could deal with that later. “What’s going on?”

“Disaster is what. We need to find a dress at the last minute because it seems as though somepony”— she glanced at Twilight —“thought that wearing that dreadful old gala dress would be appropriate for her birthday party.”

Twilight didn’t agree with her, debating Rarity’s claims. “But I like that dress! Besides, what do you mean ‘dreadful’?” She pointed her hoof at Rarity. “You designed it!”  

Rarity let out a haughty laugh. “Well, of course I did, darling, and that’s why you like it!” she exclaimed, fluttering her eyelashes and prompting such an exasperated eye-roll from Twilight, Spike might have laughed if he wasn’t upset. “Nevertheless, you need a new gown. I’d have maybe considered it if it was from last season, but it’s from three seasons ago, and I simply won’t allow you to be seen waltzing around in it,” she continued, levitating her bags in the air, ready to go.

“Uh, wait!” he interrupted, the sight of shopping bags reminding him of his original purpose for coming into town. “Pinkie asked me to tell you guys to hurry back. She wants to get started on decorating everything,” he announced, a dark part inside him glad to have an excuse to stop Twilight and Rarity’s alone time.

“We should head back to the castle, then,” Twilight said, levitating the plastic bags filled with party supplies and trotting towards the castle. “I don’t want to keep Pinkie waiting, especially since she’s doing all the decorations.” After taking a few steps in the right direction, Rarity quickly got in the way, forcibly levitating the party supplies away from the alicorn.

“Spike, dear, would you mind terribly taking these back to Pinkie Pie? Twilight and I can’t return yet until I’ve put together an ensemble for her,” she announced over Twilight’s protests, smiling at him. “You understand, don’t you?”

Spike nodded. “Of course I do, Rarity!” he exclaimed in earnest, taking the bags in his claws. He knew how Rarity’s mind worked after all, and if she had gone to extreme lengths such as basically ransacking some pony’s shop, he knew she wouldn’t be going back to the castle unless it was with a new dress for Twilight. “I’ll take them back to Pinkie.”

Rarity clapped her hooves together. “Wonderful! Thank you so much, sweetheart,” she exclaimed, patting Spike on the head before taking off into the bustling street. “Let’s be off, Twilight!”

Twilight didn’t immediately follow her, instead lingering back with Spike a few moments. “Thanks for taking them, Spike,” she said, smiling at him. She turned to her saddlebag, burying her hoof inside in search of something. “We passed by the candy store earlier, and I bought you a surprise. I was going to give them to you later to have as dessert after lunch, but I’m not sure we’ll be back by then, so…”

He tried not to grin with excitement when Twilight pulled out a whole bag of chocolate nougats. He tried his very best not to immediately attack her with a hug, because she didn’t deserve a hug even if she hadn’t meant for him to find out her crush. Hearing her laugh as he dug in to take a clawful of candy, he privately wished he didn’t love her as much as he did.

“Don’t eat them all at once or you’ll get a stomach ache!” she warned, levitating one of the chocolates and eating it. “There’s going to be a lot of sweets at the party tomorr—”

“Twilight Sparkle! I advise you stop devising an escape plan with Spike because you will not succeed in getting out of this,” Rarity called from afar, tapping her hoof impatiently against the ground.

“I’m coming!” Twilight called back, turning towards Rarity and glancing back at Spike. “See you later tonight, and don’t eat all the chocolate at once, okay?” She trotted off, leaving Spike to his thoughts and food.

Once Twilight and Rarity had disappeared behind the corner of the street, Spike made his way towards the castle, meditating all he’d seen.  Yes, he was hurt, but he still had a chance, didn’t he? Twilight didn’t seem to want to actually start something with Rarity, so that meant she was leaving the path clear for Spike, right? Right!

I don’t have to compete with Twilight, and I still have a chance as long as Rarity doesn’t like her back. She'll get over it eventually, right? Maybe she’ll meet somepony else at the party, he thought to himself, taking the bag of candy and completely emptying its contents inside his mouth.

In retrospect, maybe he should have listened to Twilight when she said not to eat the entire bag. Immediately after having delivered the party supplies to Pinkie Pie, he had marched right up to Twilight’s room so as to try and unsuccessfully sleep away the painful candy-induced stomach ache he had brought upon himself.

A mighty dragon that could digest diamonds defeated by a bunch of chocolates. He’d think it was almost poetic if he wasn’t so busy suffering the consequences. Uuuurgh. He buried his face in the pillow and groaned, wishing Twilight were there to give him some medicine. Well, actually, he took that back. He didn’t wish Twilight were there after what happened earlier in town, and then how she tried to bribe her way back into his heart with delicious treats — which she had succeeded in doing, but still!

Hearing noises outside, Spike turned right side-up, just in time to see the door of the room open and Twilight come inside, several shopping bags floating behind. Great.

“Oh, hi, Spike! I thought you were helping Pinkie,” she said, putting down her bags and taking a closer look at him. Her brow furrowed for a moment, and Spike braced himself for the oncoming scolding, but her face relaxed and she smiled sympathetically instead. “Stomach ache?” she asked, trotting over to the desk when she received a meek nod in reply. Opening one of the drawers, Twilight took out a box of painkillers and floated them over to Spike, then teleporting a glass of water from the kitchen.

“Aren’t you mad at me?” he asked, putting a pill inside his mouth and taking a large drink of water. She was usually upset at him whenever he stuffed himself this full of candy, but this time she was letting him off easy? He narrowed his eyes, watching her take out a dress from one of the bags. Something wasn’t right.

“Well, I’m a little disappointed that you couldn’t wait, but you can make your own decisions, Spike,” she replied, taking out the objects inside another one of the bags. She looked up at him and smiled teasingly.“Besides, I have to admit I didn’t think you were really going to wait.”

“Oh.” Well, she was right, wasn’t she? He was a big dragon now, and he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wan— “Uuurgh.” He rolled over and once more buried his face against the pillow, desperately wishing Twilight had never given him the chocolates in the first place. Every single thing she had done that day had caused him pain, and he wondered if it was really the best decision to stay in the room with her, or else she might somehow do something worse. “I think I’m gonna go take a walk,” he announced, forcing himself off the bed. Maybe if he asked, Princess Celestia could use her magic to cure him.

Twilight seemed to have other ideas regarding his decision, however. “Maybe you should keep resting, Spike. Walking around might make it worse,” she said, giving him a worried glance which he promptly brushed off, heading straight past her and towards the door.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. See you later.” Spike walked out the door and closed it behind him. Nighttime was dawning, which meant that Princess Celestia would be heading towards the main balcony so she could lower the sun. She would always let him watch when he small — or rather, smaller — so there shouldn’t be a problem if he joined her and Princess Luna.

All the different hallways and paths of the castle were easy to get lost in, but not for him. There were times, of course, when he’d gotten lost as a hatchling, but Princess Celestia and Twilight had found him quickly enough… unless it was that one time the princess had to look all over the castle when Twilight had joined him in getting lost. It felt as if the pain in his stomach faded away with each memory he recalled, only being brought back to reality when he heard the sound of Rarity’s laughter coming from one of the rooms, practically beckoning him to her.

Even though he loved the princess greatly, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to spend time with the unicorn. If he told her about his stomach ache and did an especially pouty face, perhaps she’d give him a get-better hug. Approaching the room, he noticed a second laughter coming from the same room, it’s higher pitch pointing to it coming from Sweetie Belle. Maybe I shouldn’t interrupt?... Naaah.

The room’s door was halfway closed, but when he peeked in, he was still able to see everything inside. Sweetie was jumping on the bed, looking at the bag that floated next to Rarity. Rarity was standing next to a desk several feet away from the bed, looking back at her sister with a thoroughly amused expression.

“Come oooon, Rarity! What is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” Sweetie insisted, her words emphasized with jumps on the bed.

Rarity laughed, levitating the bag a few feet towards Sweetie. “Now, now, Sweetie Belle, you’re more patient than this—”

“No, I’m not!”

“—so you’ll just have to wait like everypony else to see it,” Rarity said, giggling at her sister’s frustrated groan.

What was in that bag? Spike narrowed his eyes, curiosity overpowering the Twilight-esque voice in his head scolding him for eavesdropping on a private conversation. It was obviously something they had bought during their shopping trip, but they hadn’t mentioned buying anything exciting enough to warrant Sweetie’s reaction.

“You know what? I bet you didn’t find it!” Sweetie accused, plopping herself down on the bed and crossing her forelegs. “You’re lying.”

“I most certainly am not!” Rarity exclaimed, thwarting Spike’s attempts at reading the logo on the bag by floating it on top of her sister, who once more resumed her jumping in attempt at reaching it. “I found the single most perfect p— Sweetie, don’t bite it, for ponyssake!”

Thank to a strong jump, Sweetie had managed to reach the bag, biting and bringing it down with her. “Ha-ha!” She reached inside the bag and took out a blue book, placing it to her side before continuing her search. “Wait.” Frowning, she peered in the bag, practically stuffing her own face in it, and then turned it inside out. “Is that it?” she asked, tossing the bag aside and looking at the book.

“Indeed it is!” Rarity proclaimed, looking quite proud of herself.

Sweetie reached over and took the book, examining the cover for a minute, still frowning. “A book?” she said slowly, looking to her sister.

“It’s not just any book!” Rarity defended, smiling while she motioned to the object in question. “Take a closer look at it.”

Sweetie turned away from her sister and re-examined the cover of the book. “Oh, sorry. It’s… a french dictionary.” Judging by her expression, she obviously didn’t understand why that made it any more important — neither did Spike, frankly. Sweetie opened it and leafed through the pages “Wait, it’s a used french dictionary,” she clarified. “This is it? Really?”

Rarity snatched the book away from the filly and put it on the desk “Oh, don’t look at me like that! It’s a perfectly acceptable present, and besides, you had to be there to understand its significance!”

A present? Oh, for Twilight! That’s why she hadn’t said anything earlier: she didn’t want to spoil it! Having acquired that information, he finally decided he’d listen to the voice in his head and leave the two sisters to talk while he searched for Celestia. Or, that was his plan until Sweetie spoke up again.

“Well, if my special somepony gave me a used dictionary as a present, I’m wouldn’t feel all that special.”

Once more, the entire world seemed to stop around Spike. He looked back inside the room, his throat dry and heart hammering against his chest. No.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said with exasperation, a clear blush on her cheeks. “I already told you we're not dati—”

“I know, I know.” She rolled her eyes and then collapsed on the bed. “Still, I can’t believe that’s the ‘super unique and special’ present, but you know best, I guess.”

The rest of the conversation went unheard by Spike, who stepped away and slunk against the wall. No. He collapsed against the wall, face buried in between his claws. His chest pounded painfully against his ribcage because no, no, no, no, no, no. Maybe it isn't for Twilight. He clutched on to that single thought, swallowing hard and getting up, nodding to himself because as long as no name had been mentioned, there was no reason to believe it was for Twilight.

Sweetie Belle was just teasing Rarity. She always did that, didn't she? Yes. Yes, she did. He was sure that she did. He was a hundred percent positive that she did.

Spike took a deep breath and marched off into the hallway, headed towards the main balcony. Celestia should still be there, and it would be nice to spend some time with her. Afterwards, he'd go to sleep and wake up to help organize Twilight's party — a party in which the alicorn would most certainly not receive any dictionaries from Rarity… Right?

Right.