Rarity shouldn’t have felt nervous stepping into Twilight’s castle, but she did. She couldn’t help but look over her shoulder, afraid of being seen. The idea was preposterous, of course, considering that it wasn’t a crime for her to visit her good friend Princess Twilight. In fact, it made perfect sense for Rarity to be there, considering what had transpired in the last two months.

As far as the citizens of Ponyville knew, their beloved and benevolent Princess Twilight Sparkle had fallen ill, dangerously, violently ill, and her chances of recovery were quite low. To prevent the infection from spreading, Twilight erected a massive quarantine bubble to entrap herself. Unfortunately, that also meant that her visiting friend, Rarity, was also trapped with her.
Through an amazing twist of fate, Rarity never contracted the illness that nearly claimed Twilight’s life. While enclosed in the quarantine, Rarity helped her in every way she could. She fed her, read to her, medicated her (using the medication supplied through the bubble by Princess Celestia), and generally made the princess of friendship feel much better. Twilight soon recovered, there was a small celebration, and they all went about their normal lives.

In reality, all of that did happen, except for things returning to normal. That was the one time that Twilight ever lied to the citizens of Ponyville, even if it wasn’t technically a lie. She didn’t actually say anything, and her people just assumed that, once Twilight was back to full health, that would be the end of it. Nobody really noticed how much more frequently Rarity paid the princess a visit.

Rarity entered the castle, closing the doors behind her. She walked down the crystal halls, admiring the eloquent twinkle and shine of the diamond walls. She couldn’t imagine Twilight’s distaste for the beautiful castle. Ever since she was a child, Rarity dreamed of living in a wondrous, spectacular castle like this. The halls gave way to a large, circular throne room, where the princess of the castle was seated in her throne. Her hands were filled with a book, while her horn was hovering around quills and parchment, writing out notes and letters. Twilight never looked up from whatever it was she was reading, but a smile spread onto her face.

“Hello, Rarity,” said Twilight. “How are you?”

“Absolutely wonderful, darling,” said Rarity, matching Twilight’s smile. “I’m still feeling normal, though I do agree that we should double-check.” Twilight marked her page and closed the book, but didn’t cease floating around the letters-in-progress.

“Of course,” said Twilight. She tilted her horn slightly in Rarity’s direction and bathed her in a scanning wave of violet light. “Hm… Seems normal. The virus hasn’t mutated or manifested in any way.”

“That’s good news, is it not?” asked Rarity. “Is there anyone else here?”

“Nope. The girls are all doing their own things, and Spike went out on a grocery run for me,” said Twilight. Her panning beam swept up and down Rarity one last time before dissipating in a blinking flash. Rarity took a few steps towards Twilight, wrapping her arms around her.

“Then may we drop this charade?” asked Rarity. Twilight leaned forward and kissed Rarity for a moment before pulling away.

“I suppose we can,” said Twilight with a smirk. “So, what’s the schedule for today, Rares?”

“Well, I cannot stay for long,” said Rarity. “The orders at the Boutique are piling up, and Sweetie Belle decided that she could host a Crusader’s sleep-over. On a school night! That girl, I promise you, she is going to be the death of me!” Twilight giggled, which brought a puzzled look onto Rarity’s face.

“Sorry,” apologized Twilight. “It’s just… I think it’s cute how flustered you get over your sister. It reminds me of what I used to put Shining Armor through.”

“There’s no way my little angel caused anyone trouble,” said Rarity. “And if you did, you were nothing compared to my destructive little sister.” She kissed Twilight again, running a hand through her hair.

“Do you think you can trust your ‘destructive little sister’ enough to leave them alone?” asked Twilight. “Maybe come over and spend the night?” Rarity blushed slightly.

“Oh? What exactly are you asking?” asked Rarity. “You don’t mean…” Twilight went wide-eyed, and put on an embarrassed sort of grin. It was one of the expressions that only Twilight could make, with her eyes closed just so and her face visible with awkwardness. It was such a dorky expression, but it made Rarity melt every time she saw it.

“I didn’t mean anything like that!” Twilight amended. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather wait for marriage. No, I just meant… You know, just spend some time together.” Rarity didn’t say anything at first, so Twilight took that to mean that her attempt was a swing and a miss. “I mean, I understand if you can’t make it. Besides, that might bring up some awkward questions, now that I think about it. Forget I even asked.” Rarity said nothing and, with a smile on her face, grasped Twilight’s shoulders gently and kissed her on the forehead (Rarity had to stand on tip-hoof, as she was quite bit shorter than Twilight).

“I’ll try my best to make it, darling,” said Rarity. “I just need to make sure my sister and her friends are asleep before I go.” She was just about to kiss Twilight again when she heard a voice that scared her out of her skin.

“Hiya, guys!” said Pinkie suddenly. Rarity was so startled that she physically jumped a few feet to the left, and Twilight was incapable of speaking, though that was mostly from fear than raw shock.

“Pinkie! How long have you been here?” asked Twilight nervously.

“I dunno,” said Pinkie Pie. She pressed an index finger to her chin. “A few seconds, I guess. Not sure, all I know is that it was my birthday a second ago, and now, boom! I’m here.”

“Pinkie, your birthday was six months ago,” said Rarity.

“I know! Pretty freaky, huh?” said Pinkie. In order to save herself the grey hairs, Rarity decided to leave that storyline alone. “So, you ready to go, Rare-bear?”

“Ready for what?” asked Rarity, ignoring Twilight’s quiet repetition of the nickname “Rare-bear”.

“Did you forget, silly?” asked Pinkie. “You said you wanted me to model a dress for you.” Rarity still looked lost. “Said something about wanting to see how some dress would fit my figure?”

Pinkie wasn’t as thin and toned as someone like Rainbow Dash, but she was far from fat. Sure, she had a bit of a pudge, but it only added to her own unique beauty. Not only that, she had wonderfully attractive curves, a plot that garnered stares from mares and stallion alike, and a chest that even Fluttershy could be envious of. Rarity saw this beauty and was inspired to create something for Pinkie and others like her.

“Awww, thanks, Mr. Narrator!” said Pinkie. “You really know how to flatter a gal, don’t you?” She blinked, and it was as if she just noticed she was still at the castle. “So, are you ready?”

“Um… Yes, of course,” said Rarity. “Oh, wait, one thing. I seem to have misplaced my glasses.”

“Oh, you left them here last week,” said Twilight. “I put them in my drawer for safe keeping. Come on, I just have to unlock the door for you.”

Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement, then inexplicably cartwheeled down the hall. Choosing not to think about it too much, Rarity and Twilight made their way upstairs to Twilight’s bedroom. She produced a key from her pocket, unlocked the door, and the two entered, swinging the door behind them. Neither had to say a word to know what the other thought, but they both said it anyway.

“We have to tell them soon,” they said, locking panicked gazes. If the situation wasn’t so serious, they might’ve laughed at the coincidence.

“Right, so you were thinking the same,” said Twilight. “Rarity, we can’t keep this a secret for much longer. Do you realize how close that was?”

“I do,” sad Rarity. “Any sooner or any later, and Pinkie would have seen me kiss you.” She leaned forward to look at Twilight’s face. “Wipe your lips. My lipstick rubbed off.” Twilight licked her thumb (much to Rarity’s displeasure) and wiped away the faint purple that stained her lips.

“How are we going to do it?” asked Twilight. “They’re going to be so mad that we kept this from them!” Rarity tapped her forehead in thought, considering all of their possible courses.

“Hm… Okay,” said Rarity. “I have a few bottles of chianti at the Boutique. Tonight, we’ll invite the girls over here, have some wine, and come clean.”

“With a toast to the future,” said Twilight, nodding in agreement. “Good plan. We’ll meet here at, say, seven?”

“Can’t be earlier than eight,” said Rarity. “Sweetie Belle…”

“Say no more,” said Twilight. “Eight it is. I’ll let the girls know.” Twilight lit up her horn, opening one of her drawers by magic. Surrounded in a purple glow, Rarity’s glasses rose from the drawer’s depths and landed in her hand.

“Twilight, darling, you do understand what we plan to do, don’t you?” asked Rarity. “There’s no going back at that point. And, Celestia forbid it doesn’t work out… Things may never be the same.”

“Things wouldn’t be the same anyway,” said Twilight, shaking her head. “We’ve got to tell them.” Rarity, of course, knew that, however, the knowledge did nothing to make the situation easier.

“Very well,” sighed Rarity. “I better leave before Pinkie gets restless. See you later, darling.”

“I can’t wait,” said Twilight with a smirk. “Rare-bear.” Rarity rolled her eyes despite the small smile on her face, blew Twilight a kiss, then rushed downstairs to catch up with Pinkie. Meanwhile, Twilight fell onto her bed, trying to wrap her head around how dramatically things had changed, and how drastically different things would be from this point on.

A few hours later

Rarity arrived at the castle with the last two bottles of wine, totalling in five. She truly didn’t know what she ever intended to do with that much wine, but she figured that the bottles would be better off at Twilight’s home than her own, in any scenario.

When Rarity finally made it to the throne room, where all of her friends were waiting for her, she took a seat in her crystal, gem-decalled throne, which had only a single seat between her and Twilight (Rarity had never been more jealous of Applejack in her life). The girls all seemed to be on high-alert, as if expecting a disaster to be in progress. Everyone in the room, Twilight included, looked to the mare with the wine.

And, for nearly five minutes, nobody said anything.

“So… What’s up?” asked Rainbow Dash finally. “You guys plan to tell us why you called us here, or do you want us to start guessing?”

“Guessing?” said Pinkie, as if she just walked into the conversation. “Oh! Oh! Lemme guess! Uh.. You invited us over to tell us that I was right all these years about how you’re supposed to read books!”

“No, Pinkie, you’re still wrong,” said Rarity, shaking her head. “Horribly so, I might add. You read books right-side up and left to right, not upside-down and backwards.”

“Or so you claim…” said Pinkie suspiciously. “Oh! I got it! You called us over to find out who ate all of Aj’s chili! Spoiler alert, it was Fluttershy and Rainbow.”

“Dammit, Pinkie!” said RD. “Who told you?”

“Fluttershy talks in her sleep,” said Pinkie plainly. “And I watch Fluttershy sleep sometimes”

“Ah spent four goddamn hours on that chili,” said Applejack dejectedly. “Tha’ pot was perfect. Ah ain’t never gonna be able to make chili that good again. Ah ain’t even get a bowl...”

“Hm… So it’s not about books, and it’s not about chili…” Pinkie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Then, realization dawned on her, and she snapped her fingers in excitement. “I know! This is an intervention! We’re here to help Twilight get over her fear of quesadillas!”

“I am not afraid of quesadillas!” shouted Twilight, though a little louder than she intended. “I’m not afraid. I just think that cheese should be for sandwiches and tortillas should be for burritos. There is no reason to combine the two! It’s obscene! It’s disorganized! It’s… It’s just wrong!”

That did a spectacular job at lightening the mood, and the five friends couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes. Eventually, when things calmed down, Twilight and Rarity realized that they had to do something else.

“Well, what I just really wanted was to talk,” said Twilight, skating around the truth in spectacularly precise fashion. “I almost didn’t make it. It’s made me appreciate you guys more, and I think we could all do with a bit more time together, don’t you think?”

All things considered, Twilight made a lot of sense. Judging that her little fib had worked, Twilight fired up her horn and levitated six wine glasses from her kitchen and placed one in the hand of each mare in the room.

“How about some wine?” offered Rarity. She popped the cork and levitated the bottle around, filling each of her friends’ glasses.

“Y’all must be feelin on top of tha world, ain’t ya?” asked Applejack. “‘Specially you, Twilight. One hoof in tha grave, but ya came back kickin’.”

“It must have been hard,” said Fluttershy, taking a tiny sip of wine. “How’d you get through it?”

“Rarity was a lot of help,” said Twilight. “If it weren’t for her, I don’t think I would’ve made it at all. She tricked my mind into thinking that my body was fine, and that was enough to carry me for a while. But, if you don’t mind, I’d rather we talk about the future, rather than the past.” Twilight realized at that second that she slipped into an old habit: steering a conversation in a direction that she had no ready way to continue speaking.

“The future!” said Pinkie. “How far into the future? A week? Twelve years? I wonder what things will be like in twelve years. By that time, most of us will probably be pregnant or about to marry. What about a hundred years? You guys think we’ll be alive in a hundred years? I don’t. I think we’ll all be dead!”

“Let’ play a game!” said Twilight suddenly. The rest of the room looked at her in confusion. “A drinking game! When I lived in Canterlot, Princess Celestia put me in charge of a study group, and there was a game we’d play after our Friday night study session. It’s called ‘Didn’t You Know?’, and I think it’ll be fun.”

“Sure, let’s do it,” said Rainbow, with a gleam in her eye. She didn’t know how to win the game, but she was determined to do just that. “How do you play?”

“It’s sorta like ‘Never Have I Ever’,” said Twilight. “We go around in a circle, and we say a sentence that starts with ‘Didn’t you know that’ and ends with something that you don’t think anyone else knows, and if you knew that already, you take a drink.”

“Cool. Who’s first?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll start,” said Twilight. “Didn’t you know that I have never gotten blackout drunk?” Everyone but Twilight herself took a drink from their glass.

“Sorry, Twi, but you don’t really come off as the partying type,” said Rainbow Dash. “When you told me that Rarity was bringing wine, I thought you’d have some apple juice or something for yourself.”

“Ah think it’s mah turn,” said Applejack. “Didn’t y’all know that Ah haven’t cried since Ah was eleven?” Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all took a sip. Next, it was Rarity’s turn.

“Didn’t you know,” said Rarity. “That, come the Summer Sun Celebration next month, we will have all officially been friends for five years?” Only Twilight and Rainbow Dash drank that round.

“Wait, y’all are tryin to tell me that Rainbow Dash remembered a date?” snickered Applejack. “Ah never pegged ya as th sentimental type, but ya remembered our anniversary? Ain’t that just about tha sweetest thing y’all ever heard?”

“Bite me, Aj,” said Rainbow, sticking out her tongue. “Believe it or not, I actually do care about my friends.”

The game continued in a similar vein, with someone revealing a truth they believe to be secret, the some, all, or none of the others drinking, a few laughs and snide remarks sprinkled in. It was all quite good fun, and, with Rarity refilling their glasses whenever they neared empty, there was always a drink to be had. After several full loops around the group, Rarity had an epiphany: neither she nor Twilight said what they intended to in the first place.

“Rarity?” said Applejack. “It’s on you.” Rarity gripped her glass and stood up, trying to push her fear as far down in her body as possible. She wasn’t sure what she was scared of. Her friends would love her, regardless of anything, and they certainly weren’t the bigots she’d associated with during high school.

“Very well,” said Rarity. “Didn’t you know… That I am… I am a lesbian?”

Everybody in the room took a sip of wine.

“What?! How? I’ve not told any of you!” said Rarity. “This is my second biggest secret, and you all knew?!”

“Well, yes,” said Fluttershy. “You just seem… I don’t know how to say it, but you’re sort of… You seem like…”

“You’re the biggest lipstick lesbo any of us have ever seen,” said Rainbow Dash. “Nothing wrong with that, but it’s pretty obvious.” For some reason, Rarity felt the need to argue her case, and she racked her brain trying to prove how it wasn’t so obvious.

“What about Blueblood, hm?” challenged Rarity. “Or Trenderhoof! Applejack, I almost resorted to petty violence over him, what have you to say about that?”

“Honey, we could tell ya ain’t had no real feelings fer him,” said Applejack. “Ah think ya were more attracted to his status than him.”

“I have one,” said Twilight. She stood up to match Rarity.

“Hey!” exclaimed Pinkie, oblivious to the sudden air of seriousness that fell on the room. “You skipped me!” Twilight ignored her, instead deciding to focus on how to best articulate what she needed to say.

“Didn’t you know,” said Twilight. “That, while I was sick, Rarity and I started to develop or reveal romantic feelings for one another? And that we’ve been dating for the past two months?”

At least two wine glasses crashed against the floor. Twilight and Rarity waited for someone to say something, anything at all, but nobody seemed to want to. After the first awkward minute of stunned silence, Twilight and Rarity returned to their seats.

“So…” said Twilight sheepishly. “I think it was Pinkie’s turn?”

Author's Notes:

I'm doing one of these again, it seems. I've had this idea in my head for ages, but I've always been afraid to do it. But, now that I'm a bit more practiced, let's give it a whirl.

If you have any ideas for these that you'd be willing to part with, feel free to share it in the comments. One of my favorite chapters from my last story like this came from a reader's suggestion, so please, don't be afraid to share ideas of things you'd like to see.

Oh, one last thing: If you don't like this story, please comment and tell me why. A bunch of downvotes doesn't really help me without some context.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Please, like, comment, and follow for Twilight's goth admirer Brazen Gruff