The rays of the summer sunlight shone inside Carousel Boutique, offering warmth and light to the alicorn sitting inside the dining room, diligently working on her newest research paper for Princess Celestia. She spent so much of her time inside the Boutique nowadays, she sometimes forgot it wasn’t her home. An assortment of classical music and show tunes could be heard coming from Rarity’s workroom, but Twilight was far too engrossed in her work to even pay attention… or so she wished.

Her ears, however, still perked up when a familiar song filled the air, and she couldn’t help but pause and smile for a second. Though most other ponies would recognize it as the climactic love song from a rather famous musical, Twilight recognized it the song that was partly responsible for her relationship with Rarity. She listened briefly and then looked back to the papers and purple notebook in front of her, ready to get back to work… or at least, would have gone back to work if somepony in the other room hadn’t started singing along at a rather distracting volume.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t fond of hearing Rarity sing and would usually be delighted to have her own private concert, but she was rather busy at the moment and couldn’t afford to be distracted. Nevertheless, when she heard Rarity’s voice getting nearer and nearer, she looked up to take in the sight of the unicorn standing under the frame of the door, a soft smile on her face. Smiling back was an almost unconscious reaction for Twilight, but she forced herself to go back to her work, trying to focus and ignore the singing voice once more approaching her.

Twilight was pushed to the side when Rarity plopped herself down on the floor and nuzzled against her, still softly singing along. Though it was a teensy bit difficult to not return the affectionate gesture, Twilight acted nonchalantly, if only to avoid encouraging Rarity’s increasing — if, admittedly, endearing — habit of wanting to cuddle and be distracting whenever Twilight was busy. This did not deter Rarity, however, who sighed with content and wrapped her foreleg around the alicorn’s.

“Rarity...” Twilight finally said, putting down her quill on the table. She turned to look at the mare in question and was confronted with that deceptively innocent look only Rarity could pull off, where the ‘but I’m not doing anything, darling!’ was implicit with the fluttering of her eyelashes. “I know this song is special, but do you really have to do this whenever it comes on? I have to finish this report for Celestia…”

“But, Twilight, it’s our song,” Rarity replied, kissing Twilight on the cheek before finally directing her attention towards the loose sheets of papers on the table, responsible for depriving them from precious cuddling time. She gently tugged Twilight’s foreleg and, despite once more being fully engrossed in her work, Twilight still absentmindedly wrapped a wing around the unicorn. “You looked so cute the morning you presented the theatre tickets to me,” Rarity continued fondly.

“Rarity, really…” Twilight murmured in reply, adding up in her head the exponentially complicated mathematical operation she had to write into her research.

“And you looked even cuter the day of the musical just because of how adorably nervous you were,” Rarity continued, turning to Twilight and brushing her hoof against her mane. Unfortunately, Rarity’s memory was a bit blurry for Twilight distinctly remembered not being nervous at all.

… Well, maybe she had been a little bit nervous. Fifty percent nervous, sounded accurate. No, eighty percent. Okay, fine, maybe a hundred percent nervous, but she could hardly be blamed when Rarity looked so beautiful that night, and she had been so sure something would go wrong.

“And then this song came up and it was like out of a novel...There we were, sitting inside the theatre...”

A blush crept up Twilight’s cheeks as her mind replayed the events of that night without giving her any say in the matter. Two star-crossed lovers sang on stage about their undying love, except Twilight hadn’t even been listening; she had been too concentrated on the unicorn sitting besides her. The declaration of love she had been mentally reciting like a broken record for hours was only brought to a halt when she realized Rarity was quietly singing along with the actors. She assumed it was because Rarity always did that, but then…

...Then she curiously turned around and found Rarity looking straight back at her as she sang. It was then that she understood the unicorn wasn’t just singing-along — she was singing to Twilight because she knew. Of course she knew when Twilight’s feelings were an open book Rarity could read as effortlessly as a foal’s book. Having realized that, Twilight knew she had to do something because the song was ending. The song was ending, and if it ended without her doing anything, Rarity might never look back again. But, unfortunately, another pony did not appreciate the unicorn’s impromptu whispered cover of the song.

“And then we got the shushing of our life because somepony wanted to serenade me,” Twilight pointed out, looking at the unicorn and playfully rolling her eyes when Rarity smacked her with her hoof, seemingly offended.

“I was trying to be romantic! It’s not my fault the stallion next to us couldn’t appreciate beauty when he heard it!” she defended herself, flipping her mane and harrumphing. “Besides, I have to be romantic for the both of us considering you’re such a bore in that department.”

“I am not! I can be plenty romantic! Just not when I’m working,” Twilight protested, levitating her quill in the air and getting back to work, doing her best to ignore the mare’s delighted — and mocking, no doubt! — grin.

“Yes, I suppose you can be rather romantic when you want to,” she conceded, snuggling against the other mare again. “Like later that evening for example…”

“I’m so sorry about earlier, darling. I swear I was merely trying to... to...” Rarity licked her lips and remained quiet after that. They walked through the main streets of Canterlot after Rarity’s impromptu singing had displeased her particularly snobby aristocratic neighbour, resulting in him nagging them right in the middle of the song... and ruining any chance Twilight had of telling the mare of her dreams how she felt.

“It’s alright, Rarity,” Twilight replied, doing her best to hide her disappointment. “I know you love that song.”

“But it isn’t!” she insisted, sighing with frustration. “You worked so hard on organizing this lovely get together and getting us tickets to the musical. I ruined it by being so thoughtless and managing to get that old pony into grumbling at us and being so unpleasant for the rest of the performance…”

“At least, we got to see the full performance, right?” Twilight said, smiling in an attempt to cheer up her friend, who nodded and smiled back.

“Well, shall we head home, then?” Rarity asked, looking at nearby a clock-post. She then tentatively added, smiling softly, “Unless you had something else planned?”

“I…” Twilight tried to think of something they could do. Going home now would mean giving up, and she didn’t want to give up. Everything had been perfect when she planned it out. A nice dinner for two at the restaurant Rarity liked so much, followed by a piece of theater she was sure to enjoy... and then... then Twilight could have told her. After all, the chances of Rarity saying yes were much higher if the evening was pleasant.

A sign pointing to a nearby park caught her attention. She had been there once before, and if she remembered correctly, it was a very charming place. “Why don’t…” She turned to look at the unicorn and smiled hesitantly. “We could always go for a walk in the park? There’s one a few blocks away from here.”

The suggestion was well-received, if the bright smile Rarity offered was anything to go by. “That sounds very nice, Twilight,” she chimed, allowing the alicorn to let out the breath she had been holding. “Lead the way!”

Trotting towards the park, a single thought consumed Twilight: she still had a chance. Romantic things always happened in parks according to the romance novels Rarity had once lent her. Then again, the love interest in Rarity’s books were almost always dashing, brave and handsome princes with dazzling smiles whereas… whereas Twilight was an awkward, stumbling bookworm of a princess with an ‘okay’ smile.

Ugh.

Maybe her chances weren’t as big as she thought they were. The only reason she had decided to try and confess her feelings was because she had been almost sure they were reciprocated, but now? Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Is this it? It’s lovely!”

So lost had Twilight been in her thoughts, she hadn’t even realized they had reached the park already. The light of the setting sun filtering in through the trees made for a lovely sight indeed, and the sound of the birds and a nearby stream made for pleasantly relaxing ambience. The details of their conversation were lost to Twilight, who absentmindedly carried on a conversation, letting Rarity do most of the talking — not that Rarity seemed to mind. Just like at the theatre, Twilight’s mind was too occupied with formulating, planning and analyzing what step to take next.

All of a sudden, Rarity stopped walking and looked down at the ground, biting down on her lip. “You… You’re cross with me, aren’t you?” she asked quietly, hoofing at the ground and her ears flattening against her head. “For what happened with the stallion.”

“What? No! Not at all, Rarity,” Twilight quickly replied, the nervousness she had managed to keep at bay suddenly overtaking her like a tidal wave. “W-why would you think so?”

“I don’t know,” Rarity continued, glancing briefly at Twilight before lowering her gaze once more. “It’s just that… you’ve been rather quiet ever since we got out of the theatre, and it feels as if you’re just nodding and going along with whatever I say.”

“Oh, no! I was just... I…” Twilight drifted off, knowing she couldn’t very well tell Rarity what she had been thinking about. She hadn’t even considered that her own need of planning everything would send Rarity the wrong message. She hadn’t prepared for what to do when such a thing happened, either. Oh Celestia, maybe Spike was right when he said she planned too much.

“I wasn’t even singing that loudly,” Rarity muttered, sighing and turning away from Twilight, no doubt trying to hide the tears Twilight had caught sight of. Rarity shouldn’t be feeling that way, especially when she sung just as beautifully or even more-so than the actual actors. “I really am sorry, Twilight…”

“Well, I’m not because I love how you sing,” Twilight replied with earnest, wanting Rarity to know her real feelings on the matter. The silence Rarity replied with did little to alleviate her growing distress. She… What could she do to help? Singing was something the unicorn adored to do, and it upset Twilight that it had been turned into something negative for Rarity because of a tone-deaf Canterlot snob who couldn’t recognize talent when he heard it.

Finally, Rarity spoke up. “You… don’t think he was right when he said it was silly of me to sing-along like that?” she asked quietly, still refusing to look back at the alicorn.

Silly? thought Twilight, raising an eyebrow. There was nothing silly about that, it just meant she had enjoyed the song. And even if it was silly, Twilight very much enjoyed silly, as her strong friendship with Pinkie Pie could attest to. She did, however, know that actions sometimes meant much more to Rarity than words. Swallowing down any hint of embarrassment and glad that Rarity couldn’t see the flush on her face, Twilight sang one of the verses she remembered of the song.

When she stopped, the lack of response from Rarity kickstarted a series of internal panic attacks inside the alicorn because oh Celestia, she must think I’m embarrassing. I am embarrassing, aren’t it? I don’t know why I even thought that would be a good ide— Her crashing train of thoughts came to a screeching halt, however, when Rarity quietly sang the next verse, still intently looking away.

She’s singing back…? she thought, her heartbeat increasing at alarming rates. Oh my gosh, I did it? She’s sin— wait, she stopped. Twilight stared at the back of Rarity’s head with a certain amount of dread, right up it finally occurred to her that maybe Rarity was waiting for her to sing the next part. Taking a small breath, she sang the next few words of the song, and then she drifted off in the middle of the sentence.

She… She had no idea what came next. Her cheeks burning, Twilight laughed more nervously than she would have liked and confessed her sin: “I… I don’t know the next part.”

Another eternity of silence passed, torturing the poor alicorn who was now envisioning all kinds of disastrous reactions Rarity might have, and only ended when Rarity chuckled softly. “Oh, darling,” she said, turning to look at Twilight and giving her a teary-smile. “You sang just the right amount.”

Never in her wildest dreams had Twilight imagined just how amazing a kiss from Rarity could be.

It was sometimes hard to believe that the Rarity from that time, so delicate and reserved, could be the same pony as the giggling mare currently snuggling against her. Rarity, who had obviously been going down memory lane as well, was pushing against Twilight with such intensity, she was worried they’d both fall to the ground. “Rarity, honestly, what’s gotten into you?” Twilight asked, laughing a little when the giggles of the mare next to her intensified.

The culprit sounding in the background was reaching its last chorus, prompting Rarity to tug on Twilight’s foreleg again. “Twilight, humor me, won’t you?” she asked, closing her eyes and quietly singing again, only to pause after having completed one verse.

Twilight stared at the sheet of paper in front of her, debating if she should comply to Rarity’s request. After ten seconds passed, she put down her quill and sang the next verse of the song, which of course happened to be the corniest verse and did little to lessen the blush on her face. There, she thought, that should be enough. A little flustered, she turned to Rarity, intent on asking her to please let her finish her work, but her idea fizzled out almost immediately.

Rarity was looking back at her with an absolutely smitten expression, the kind of which she had probably picked up from Twilight herself. “W-What?” asked Twilight, face flushing even more than before when Rarity leaned in to kiss her again.

“Twilight,” Rarity said, smiling against Twilight’s lips, gently tightening her grip around her foreleg. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Yeah, everytime this song comes on,” Twilight teased, feeling the slightest bit saddened when Rarity finally got up to leave.

“Well then, sweetheart,” she said, running a hoof through her mane and glancing at the unfinished report on the table. “I shall leave you to your very important assignment, and I promise I’ll stop coming in to bother whenever this song comes on.”

“But wait!” Twilight exclaimed with faux-surprise, quickly holding one of Rarity’s forelegs with her hoof so as to prevent her from leaving. “You can’t just stop doing that!”

“My, my, my! What’s this?” Rarity asked, looking down at Twilight and smiling mischieviously. “Am I to understand you want me to come demand affection whenever this lovely song plays?” The moment Twilight nodded, a spark of magic flew out of the unicorn’s horn, and the song started over again. “Oops! Will you look at that?” She held out a hoof to the alicorn. “May I have this dance?”

“I…” Twilight looked from the desk to her marefriend’s puppy-dog eyed expression. She rolled her eyes playfully, took Rarity’s hoof and got up, her attempt at looking irritated failing miserably when Rarity’s victorious giggles forced a playful smile onto her face. “Is there any chance I’m going to be able to finish my report today?”

“Oh, absolutely none.”

So I've been having a really bad couple of weeks, and you know what's a great remedy for feeling bad? Shameless sappy fluff, that's what.

SO! This was originally a 300 word drabble I wrote for a friend, and while I was rewriting it a few days ago, it got slightly longer (you can blame/thank Karrakaz almost entirely for that).

I didn't include the lyrics of the song inside the fic because I don't know why, but the song I was using as inspiration was "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge (now please picture a Moulin Rouge-esque Rarilight AU and let's agree it would be amazing). Nevertheless, you're welcome to imagine whatever you want, so if you want to imagine them singing Gangman Style and laugh for ten hours, go right ahead. ...Actually, no, don't do that. Oh god, now I can't stop picturing it. MAKE IT STOP.

Anyway, though I always proof-read, my beta-readers and I are humans, and humans are prone to errors, so please feel free to point out any mistake if you see it! I will swiftly correct it and offer embarrassed apologies.