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    Twilight gawked at her.

    “What?”

    Rarity seemed a bit uncomfortable, but she turned to face Twilight and repeated, “you must have me confused. I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”

    Twilight couldn’t quite tell if she was joking or not, but judging by how serious the unicorn looked, she feared the latter might be the reality of the situation. Even more so, taking a closer look at Rarity, Twilight noticed her eyes were glazed over, as if under a… spell.

    “But… But it’s me! Twilight!” Twilight insisted, nevertheless. “This isn’t real! We’re inside your book, remember?!”

    Rarity blinked at her, coughing awkwardly. “I sincerely doubt that, Miss, but I certainly won’t deny you’re quite the character.”

    Twilight scooted away, getting off the seat and standing in the aisle. “You… You really don’t know who I am?”

    Rarity shook her head. “I truly do not.” She then sighed and brushed a hoof through her mane. “Though, frankly, I wouldn’t mind living inside a book! They can be quite entertaining! Alas, I only have my frightfully boring job at the diner, and I’m already late to my date with my soon-to-be coltfriend. He’s quite the hunk!”

    The word coltfriend shot through Twilight like an arrow, and she had to work hard to suppress the instinct to protest that she already was Rarity’s marefriend. However, if Rarity truly and honestly wasn’t joking around, then claiming such a thing would only put Rarity off and make things harder for Twilight herself.

    “Oh…” she said instead, and she wondered how her day had gone from mildly predictable to awful in such a short time. “Uhm, sorry. I don’t… know what got over me. Sorry to bother. Don’t mind me.”

    Without another word, Twilight moved away and sat on the seat behind Rarity, her heart thumping in her chest. She didn’t exactly know how to feel, if only because it had all gone by so quickly. Sure, in those late nights, Twilight’s fears would whisper in her ear that Rarity was bound to get tired and leave her one day, but this situation was entirely worse than anything Twilight could have ever imagined.

    And she had no idea how to fix it.

    She buried her face in her hooves. Why had she gone into the book? What a stupid decision! She should have gone to the comic book store immediately and have the shopkeeper sort this out rather than try and do so herself! Now she was stuck in the book until they reached the ending, which seemed to be Rarity running off into the sunset in Charming Smile’s forelegs.

    “My name is Rarity, by the way.”

    Twilight looked up, attention drawn by her favorite voice, and found Rarity had turned around to look at her.

    “Huh?”

    “My name is Rarity,” she repeated, smiling kindly. “After such an introduction, I concluded the only polite thing to do was introduce myself properly, Miss Twilight…?”

    “Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. And I already knew your name,” Twilight replied near automatically, and despite it all, her heart still jumped when Rarity giggled.

    “Did you now? Ah yes! Because we’re inside a book, correct?” she teased, and yet she did not seem to mean ill-will. “And what is your role in this book, if I may ask?”

    “I don’t know,” Twilight replied carefully but honestly. She couldn’t very well say ‘the love interest’ even though she definitely was. As such, she went for the next best thing in the situation. “The protagonist?”

    “But you said yourself this is my book, so that role falls unto my shoulders!” Rarity said, turning around so as to fully face Twilight, apparently enraptured by her. She hummed and narrowed her eyes. “You strike me more as… the mentor!”

    Twilight’s first instinct was to correct her and say that wasn’t a role so much as it was an archetype, but Rarity continued before she could do so.

    “Though, that’s more of an archetype, isn’t it?” Rarity continued, looking up thoughtfully and completely missing Twilight’s pleased expression. “But it does fit! The out-of-breath unknown stranger spouting impossible claims which may or may not be true! You do look the part quite perfectly, Miss Sparkle.”

    “I guess I do,” Twilight replied, feeling much more at ease. The conversation they were having was much more like their usual discussions, and familiarity comforted the ali— er, unicorn. If she was lucky, she’d move from the mentor archetype to the lover and then back to none when they returned to the real world.

    Before she could say another word, the bus came to a halt and Rarity looked around.

    “Oh, dear! This is my stop!” she exclaimed, taking her things. She turned to Twilight and bowed her head. “It was nice meeting you, Miss Sparkle! I do hope you find whoever you were really looking for!”

    “W-Wait, Rarity!” Twilight called out, but her plea fell to deaf ears seeing as Rarity had already rushed to leave the bus.

    Twilight got up, trying to follow, but the bus doors closed in front of her just as she reached them.

    “Wait, please!” she called to the driver, desperately banging her hoof against the door’s plastic window. “Please! You need to open the doors!”

    But the driver did not budge, and neither did the rest of the commuters. She watched with dismay as Rarity trotted off into the distance, the bus starting retaking its path.

    Except, again, the scenery froze just like before, and yellow magic flooded the bus. Oh no! Was she going to get sent back to the real world?! Which wasn’t actually a bad idea, but even so, Twilight backed away out of instinct.

    “Why are you doing this?!” she yelled to the magic. “I get it! I tampered with you, and I shouldn’t have done so, but was this really necessary?!”

    The magic did not reply — not that it even could — and familiar crackling sounds filled the bus. Twilight closed her eyes, awaiting expulsion from the book, but after nearly a minute of silence and no landing somewhere else, she opened her eyes and found herself… at a park?

    Foals laughed in the distance, chasing after one another; couples trotted through the warm grass, tails intertwined; and Twilight gawked at them all, realizing she was still very much in the book. What… What was the spell even doing?

    Twilight cautiously trotted off, recognizing the area as the setting of… the date! Relieved, she doubled her pace and left the park, heading towards the row of little restaurants adorning the adjacent streets. In the distance she saw Manehattan’s Science Museum, which she distinctly remembered being called a ‘boring place’ by the novel’s original love interest. Admittedly, that may have done a good job at souring her enthusiasm on continuing the book’s plot.

    Twilight crossed the street, her eyes fixed on a restaurant in the distance. It was interesting, actually, how all the other restaurants somehow paled in comparison to that one. Even from afar she could see the restaurant filled with life and colors, beautiful details and architecture, while the other restaurants looked simple and uninteresting. Was this because the author had only focused on describing the plot relevant restaurant, and the spell reflected the author’s vision accordingly? She’d never really noticed it before, too busy following the Daring Do plots, but now she had and though she wanted to point it out to her marefriend, she couldn’t.

    Finally, she reached the restaurant, the name ‘The Gourmet Fairytale’ emblazoned on the doors. It was an upscale posh place where the wildly rich Charming Smile was supposed to finish claiming Rari— Heart Haven’s heart.

    There were several tables outside where couples got lost in their meals and their eyes. Twilight scanned them for a moment, and finally found her target. There was Rarity, looking stunning with the sun shining over her like a spotlight, her mane having been tied up into a half ponytail sometime after leaving the bus and her smile as perfect as the building’s architecture.

    And there, too, was Charming Smile, and Twilight found his relaxed smile to be anything but charming. If her memory of the book served, that was only their third date, and he looked so relaxed, it was almost insulting. Twilight remembered the pre-steady phase of dating Rarity, and she hadn’t been able to act as something other than a nervous smitten wreck until at least the sixth date!

    Gathering up her courage, Twilight trotted over to them, determined with interrupting the silly charade. But the closer she got, the more she noticed just how smitten Rarity’s smile was, and the less confident she felt. If the spell’s intention had been to riddle Twilight with relationship insecurities, it was doing a great job at it.

    It’s the spell doing that to her, Twilight thought to herself, trying to keep her nerve steady. Rarity loves you, not some fictional stallion.

    Twilight approached the table, already ready to recite… She stopped. She didn’t have anything to recite! But she was already halfway there! Groaning, she rubbed her head and quickly came up with a speech. She already knew Charming Smile would leave Rar— Heart Haven! Heart Haven out of fear of disappointing his stuck-up family, and Twilight could easily use that against him.

    She took a deep breath, quickly going over her mental notes, and trotted up to the coupl— not romantically involved ponies.

    “Ah! Waitress, here you are! I was starting to fear the service was dreadful,” Charming said the second he laid eyes on Twilight. He turned to Rarity and smiled. “It’s your turn to be served by others, isn’t it, gorgeous?”

    Death flashed through Twilight’s eyes. Gorgeous?! Well, strictly speaking, he was absolutely right, because Rarity was the definition of beauty-incarnate, but who did this Blueblood-impersonator think he was, calling her that?! Only Twilight could do that!

    Well, she could do that, but actually managing to say that so bluntly to Rarity without becoming a flustered disaster was an entirely different matter unto itself.

    “Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed, though she scarcely looked angry at having her date interrupted. “You’re a waitress?”

    Twilight stared at her, completely thrown off her plans. “Uhhhh… yes? Yes! Yes, I am,” she said, but after remembering she was in a book, and could do as she pleased, quickly added in her foalhood dream, “I also work at the Science Museum! I’m head researcher there.”

    “Really? How fascinating!” Rarity said, her date all but forgotten. “Researcher is quite the difficult profession, isn’t it? But it must be terribly rewarding.”

    Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this. She never really admitted it, but she was always very pleased when Rarity took an active interest in her studies.

    “Well, clearly the museum’s financing must be doing badly if their head researcher works as a waitress. Then again, it is a science museum,” Charming said, once more proving to be less than charming. “Miss, would you please bring us our menus? I have to get back to my business soon.”

    An indignant Twilight was about to defend her fictional position at the Museum, but a surprisingly irate Rarity spoke up first.

    “Pardon me, Charming,” Rarity said, turning to the stallion and raising her eyebrow, “but have you forgotten that I work at a diner myself? I’d rather appreciate you keep your distasteful remarks to yourself, and furthermore—” She took her fork and pointed it straight at him. “—I think Twilight is to be admired for her dedication to the scientific community. Sharp wit and brains can be just as attractive, or more, than a perfect smile.”

    It was a shame Rarity’s attention was directed towards Charming, seeing as she completely missed Twilight’s glowing expression. If circumstances were different, she’d be nuzzling her marefriend the second she’d finished speaking. Despite the spell, it seemed that Rarity was still Rarity, which calmed Twilight immensely. Maybe the spell had simply implanted false memories?

    Charming’s face twisted into one of horror. “Rarity! I didn’t—”

    He froze mid-sentence, and to Twilight’s returning horror, so did everything else, including Rarity. Was she going to get kicked out again?! Twilight hadn’t even done anything that time! Was her marefriend defending her fictional job such a crime?!

    But, rather than Twilight being teleported out, it was Charming that changed. Smart-looking glasses appeared on the bridge of his nose, his ruffled mane was magically combed to perfection, and the business suit he’d been wearing turned into a labcoat.

    As soon as the transformation ended, so did time begin anew.

    “Rarity!” Charming repeated, looking aghast and pushing up his glasses. “Rarity, you know very well I didn’t mean it that way! I only said that because I more than anypony else know how unforgiving a love for science can be! You do remember I was Prince Solaris’s personal student, don’t you?” He leaned in and added with a smile, “And what is his task for me to study relationships but the most intricate science of all?”

    What.

    What?

    WHAT?!

    Rarity looked confused for a second, but her eyes flashed and immediately her concern washed away. She giggled and leaned in towards Charming, coyly playing with her fork. “You know, I do believe I can assist with your research…”

    Twilight was going to be sick.

    Really? That was the spell’s plan? To use Rarity’s attraction to Twilight as a weapon against Twilight herself?! Again, strictly speaking, it was an incredibly efficient and smart plan, but really?!

    Her mood very much soured — an incredible feat considering she was already incredibly sour — Twilight gritted her teeth and marched away towards the entrance, intent on getting the menus so she could at least throw one at Charming’s face.

    When she came back, she was confronted with yet another horrible scene. Charming was trying to speak French.

    “Rarity, j’ai perdu ma plume dans le jardin de ma tante,” he said, smiling ‘charmingly’ at her.

    Now, Twilight considered herself to be well-versed in foreign languages, and she was extremely sure this guy had just told Rarity he’d lost his pen in his aunt’s garden. Either he was repeating what he’d heard somewhere, or Twilight really didn’t want to know the context of the conversation that led to that statement.

    Her only reprieve was that Rarity could speak perfect French, and she couldn’t wait for her to put this guy back in his place.

    “Oh, Charming,” Rarity said, her swooning voice sounding anything but bothered. “How romantic!”

    Twilight’s jaw nearly fell to the floor.

    Right. This spell is affecting Rarity’s intelligence.

    Before Twilight could pick up the lower half of her mouth, a mare in uniform trotted over, smiling at Rarity and Charming.

    “Hello!” she said, brightly. “Welcome to ‘The Gourmet Fairytale’! My name is Lilac Water, and I’ll be your server this afternoon!”

    “Finally!” Charming said, taking one of the menus Lilac offered.

    Rarity shot Twilight a confused look before accepting the other menu being offered. “Ah… Thank you.” She waited until Lilac left before smiling to Twilight. “Er, good luck with the customers, darling.”

    “Thanks,” Twilight said half-heartedly, watching as Rarity immersed herself in the menu, and realizing her chances for that scene were done for.

    She trotted away from the couple, because that’s what they would be by the end of the meal, and trotted into the restaurant. She needed a new plan, and fast, but her attempts to formulate one were cut short when again the entire world came to a stop.

    She was too unmotivated to even care.

    Now what? she thought, rubbing her eyes. When she opened them, time was flowing again, and nighttime had fallen.

    Now that was strange. She didn’t remember any night scene at the restaurant. In fact, she knew that Rarity and Charming were supposed to go to his best friend’s house after the date, which was on the east side of the city. So far, the spell always took Twilight near Rarity’s vicinity… unless it was playing a prank, which wouldn’t surprise Twilight by that point.

    Twilight left the restaurant, her curiosity piqued. She could see the park lit up in the horizon, which made for quite the beautiful sight. Her heart fell moments later, for she found herself wishing Rarity were there. She was sure the unicorn would love to take a walk in the park, and Twilight was starting to sorely miss her marefriend.

    “Oh, Twilight!”

    Twilight looked around, and her heart sped up considerably at the lovely mare sitting by a table.

    “Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed, going to her. “What are you doing here?”

    Rarity smiled, and even under the night sky Twilight noticed a light blush on her cheeks. “Oh, well, Lilac Water was nice enough to tell me at what time your shift ended. I would have asked you myself, obviously, but you simply never came out of the restaurant once you went in! Busy day?”

    “…Busy day, yes,” Twilight carefully replied.

    That… None of that made sense. So far the book had ignored Twilight’s presence, but now it was integrating her? Why?

    “I thought you’d have left with your, uh, friend,” Twilight continued, unsure of how to proceed.

    Rarity shook her head. “He did invite me to his friend’s house, but I must confess I wasn’t all that keen on going,” she said, looking embarrassed. She then smiled cheekily and asked, “Why? Did the plot of my book dictate I do so, O Mentor?”

    “Actually, yes,” Twilight said, not being able to join in Rarity’s laughter.

    Rarity had gone against the plot. Everything going on at that very moment was against the plot, and yet the spell was allowing it. In fact, it seemed to be encouraging it considering it had teleported Twilight there to… be a part of it.

    “In any case,” Rarity continued, “I must confess I…” Her light blushed returned. “I was more keen on talking to you again. I realize what I’m about to say will sound utterly ridiculous, but I have the uncanny impression I can trust you completely.” She laughed and winked. “I suppose that’s why I ran my mouth so much earlier in the bus! I hope you don’t think of me as too indiscreet.”

    “Oh, n-not at all!” Twilight quickly said.

    Rarity stood up. “Fabulous!” She looked around and gestured towards the park. “Fancy a walk? It’s a beautiful night out, and I need to stretch my legs a bit! I’ve been sitting around all day!”

    Twilight nodded, eager to spend more time with Rarity and potentially find a way out of the book. She stepped back, allowing Rarity to pass her by, and then followed her towards the park. Luckily for them, the park seemed to be mostly quiet save for the couples strolling around under the moon’s light.

    “So, O Mentor, I’m surprised you work at a restaurant! It’s quite the time-consuming affair, and I imagine your research must be the same?” Rarity asked, her eyes fixed on Twilight. “You don’t strike me as somepony interested in customer service.”

    Twilight hummed. Technically speaking, her duties as Princess were all for the ponies, so customer service was essentially her job description, wasn’t it?

    “You don’t either,” she said instead. That was a good opportunity to try and jog Rarity’s true memories. “You look more like somepony who’d work in the fashion industry.”

    Rarity laughed. “Goodness, I wish! It would certainly be a more glamorous livelihood than jotting down orders and carrying plates!” she said. She stopped and picked up a flower, observing it carefully. “If I may be sincere, I sometimes do flirt with the idea of it. Quitting my job at Sugar Spice Diner and trying my luck at my own boutique! Can you even imagine it?”

    Twilight giggled. “I think I can.”

    Rarity sighed wistfully. “Stallions and mares everywhere using my designs! And I, of course, would be invited to every single Gala, my partner and I wearing the most stunning outfits of them all!” She winked to Twilight. “Can’t be seen with anypony less than perfect, don’t you agree?”

    Twilight couldn’t help but smile, rolling her eyes. “That would be terrible,” she said, remembering all the times Rarity fussed over Twilight dressing up accordingly for upcoming balls and dinners.

    “Absolutely tragic, even!”

    Rarity furrowed her brow. “Of course, first I’d have to come up with the perfect name for my boutique. Something that screams chic, fun, and… timeless.”

    “Carousel Boutique, maybe?” Twilight suggested, and Rarity’s sparkling eyes sent her heart on a frenzy.

    “Carousel Boutique!” Rarity exclaimed, clapping her hooves together. “It’s perfect! It’s like I came up with it myself, it’s so perfect!” She turned to Twilight and raised an eyebrow. “I wonder if I should be concerned you seem to know me so well.”

    “…But I do know you well,” Twilight immediately said, only belatedly realizing how, well, stalkerish that must have sounded. “Well, I mean, you know, I’m uh… good at analyzing…ponies? Being a researcher does that to you…?”

    “Perhaps you are. Or maybe…” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes. “Maybe you know so much because we’re inside my book, are we not?” She laughed and delicately interweaved the flower’s stem inside of Twilight’s mane, making it so the flower itself rested atop Twilight’s ear. “You really are an odd pony, aren’t you?”

    Twilight let out a frustrated noise. “I’m not…” She drifted off, unsure of how to continue. She had no way of proving it without sounding absolutely crazy.

    Her only reprieve was the fact that Rarity seemed to be keeping on with the plot. Heart Haven had also been toying with the idea of leaving the city to become a novelist, so Rarity leaving to open up a boutique was getting them closer to the book’s conclusion.

    Rarity giggled, trotting further into the park. Twilight followed after her, until Rarity approached a bench and sat down, patting the spot next to her. Something about it reminded Twilight of their first date, and she felt her cheeks heat up. In some odd way, the whole event counted as a first date, didn’t it?

    Silence fell at first, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. It was quite nice, actually, and Twilight felt oddly at ease despite everything going on. Having Rarity there with her made her feel secure and confident, and she felt much more confident in her ability to get them out of there.

    “Do you know how you’ll get us out of here, then?” Rarity asked.

    She was smiling softly, an amused glint in her eyes, and Twilight knew this meant she still didn’t believe her. Thankfully, that didn’t stop her.

    “I’m trying to,” Twilight said, looking up at the sky and then at Rarity. “But I haven’t really had time to… figure out how to do it. The best solution is to finish the plot.”

    Rarity tilted her head slightly. “And what’s the ending of the book, if I may ask?”

    Twilight flushed, unable to tell Rarity that the ending involved her dramatically kissing Charming. Princesses, if Twilight hadn’t tried to mess with the spell, then SHE would have gotten that kiss.

    Curiously, Rarity seemed to interpret Twilight’s silence in an entirely different way. She laughed and looked up at the sky.

    “You know, I’ve been trying to figure out what your motives are all day,” she said. “I must admit, I never would have thought that claiming somepony’s inside a book to be an effective pickup line, but I was proven quite wrong.”

    Twilight flushed even more. “W-Wait! I’m not trying to pick you up!” she blurted out, mortified.

    Honestly, even the idea of it was terrifying. She’d already gone through the entire process of wooing and courting Rarity! She didn’t want to have to go through it again — even if she was apparently doing a really good job at it?

    Rarity smiled. “And I have a soon-to-be coltfriend! So, I guess we’re both lucky that you’re not interested and I’m already nearly spoken for, because if things were different, I wager we’d have quite the dilemma to solve.”

    Twilight’s heart sped up, but before she could attempt to stammer a reply, Rarity jumped off the bench.

    “It’s getting late,” she noted, and sounded sad by the fact.

    “Oh, but, wait!” Twilight exclaimed. “We didn’t figure out how to go back home!”

    Rarity playfully raised an eyebrow. “My, how forward! Well, I know how to get to my own home, of course, but I daresay I don’t know how to get to yours yet.”

    Twilight’s cheeks flushed again. “That’s not what I meant…”

    “Of course it isn’t,” Rarity said innocently. “However, if it is of any interest, I’m planning on going to Sunrise Mall on Saturday, and I will be getting a chai latte at Ponybucks Coffee at, say, four o’clock? I do think that would be a more acceptable time for us to be getting crushes on stunningly interesting mares, no?”

    That said, she trotted off into the park while Twilight could only watch, her heart thumping in her chest and butterflies rushing through her stomach. Rarity liked her. She let out a childish giggle at the thought. Rarity truly and honestly really liked her. Rarity, who had always seemed so impossible to get, who was too perfect for such an awkward bookworm, who was…

    Who is already my marefriend, dummy! Of COURSE she likes me!

    Twilight shook her head and groaned.

    This stupid spell is getting to me…

    Unless…

    Unless the fact that Rarity seemed to be falling for Twilight NOW, meant that maybe she’d actually never been in love with Twilight before, which meant that the entire past year and a half had all been a terrible lie, and—! And—!

    “And I really need to get a grip,” Twilight muttered, burying her face in her hooves.

    She looked up, her eyes scanning the park’s horizon, and in the distance she notices wisps of yellow magic.

    “Ponybucks at four o’clock it is, then.”

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    1. A Deer
      Jun 27, '23 at 5:46 am

      Twilight’s got to re-woo Rarity. I’m really enjoying the interaction here between Rarity and Twilight. The odd situation they’re in is mixed so well into how good the interaction is already written. For me the characters in a story are what really pull me in. The fact that characters are so well written in all these stories is definitely a big part in why I enjoy them so much.

      Also, Twilight, I understand that nervous smitten wreck feeling when you’re just starting out. It’s like I like you so much that I forgot how to form simple sentences kinda feel.