slumber party yearning

“Okay, this should fit.”

Ten minutes later found Rarity watching as her neighbor kindly spread a lavender bedsheet over her modest little couch in her equally modest L-shaped studio apartment. There was a little bedroom section, sparsely decorated with framed posters and corkboards with reminders; a small kitchenette with a microwave that looked like it had seen better days; and then a living room area of sorts, comprising of a small TV, the couch, Twilight’s large desk, and bookcases wherever it was possible to fit one.

“I really can’t thank you enough, Twilight.”

“It’s no problem, really,” Twilight replied, like she hadn’t just saved Rarity from the horrors. She’d have to buy her a nice thank-you present the next day. “I just hope the couch will be okay. I think it’s fine, but I’ve also never had anyone stay over to get a second opinion before, so.”

“I’m sure it’s lovely,” Rarity replied, adjusting her pajama-top.

She usually wore a very short light blue pajama dress—the kind that left nothing to the imagination—but she’d elected to wear something else for the occasion, which ended up being a pink pajama top with matching pajama pants. The last thing she wanted was to be disrespectful in front of Twilight by wearing skimpy clothes.

Unless. Wait.

Well, Twilight was gay. What if dressing modestly would send the message that Rarity was worried Twilight would hit on her because she was gay? That would be awful. Not that Twilight wouldn’t, because, honestly, who wouldn’t want Rarity, man or woman or in-between, but Rarity didn’t want Twilight to think that Rarity thought—

Oh my STARS, do I switch back to the slutty one? No, it’s too late. It’s too late!

“There we go!” exclaimed Twilight, having just finished putting on the top-sheet and pillow, unaware of how close she came to a show. “All set.”

Rarity clapped her hands. “Wonderful!” She stepped forward and sat down with great aplomb. “It feels very comfortable.”

This is what is known as a white lie. It was only barely okay, a little too stiff, but Twilight had prepared it for her, and that made it warm and homey.

Twilight looked relieved. “Great.”

“Do you have a free plug somewhere?” Rarity reached into her bag next to the couch and took out her little charging brick and matching small pink cable. “For my phone?”

“That’s your phone cable? It’s tiny!” Rarity must have made a face, because she quickly added, “I mean, no judgement, it would just drive me insane. Here, let me—it’s USB-C, right?” She walked to her desk, opened a drawer, pulled out a ridiculously long cable, hooked it up to a plug, and then threw the other side at Rarity. “Here. Use this.”

While Rarity plugged her phone, idly thinking she could probably wrap herself up entirely at least twice with a cable that long, Twilight made her way to the kitchen.

“Did you want anything to drink?” she asked just as Rarity was setting up her alarms.

“Oh, god, no.” Rarity then quickly added, “Of course, please feel free for yourself, but it’s a weekday. Maybe if I didn’t have finance class tomorrow morning. Don’t want to wake up with a hangover for that!”

There was a pause.

“I meant water.”

“Oh.”

“So… Yes? No?”

“Water would be great, thank you,” Rarity replied, staring at her phone and wondering if she ought to go back to her own place and endure werewolf howling as punishment for everything she was doing right now.

When Twilight walked over a minute later with a glass of water, it was also in the company of a teasing grin. “Party girl, huh?”

“No,” Rarity hotly protested, accepting the drink. She took a sip. “Well. Only when it’s responsible to do so.”

“Sure.”

“What do you mean ‘sure’?” Rarity asked, putting the glass down on a little side-table and watching as Twilight plopped herself down on her swiveling desk chair—it sort of looked like the one Sweetie had at home, like a racecar seat.

“Exactly what the word means!” Twilight replied. “Sure.”

“Also, we met at a bar! I’m not the only party girl here.”

Twilight laughed. “I am not a party girl. I just like to dance with my friends.”

“You danced with me,” Rarity noted, and she felt a little silly at noticing her own smile. “Does that mean we’re friends?”

Twilight crossed her arms. “Well… You’re friends with Applejack, so you have been peer-reviewed.”

“I—That sounds—I don’t know if I like how that sounds,” Rarity noted dryly, until Twilight laughed again, and she felt a rush of something. She wanted to feel it again. It felt nice, after months of crying over her ex, to feel a rush of anything again.

“Yes, Rarity,” Twilight finished, pulling Rarity out of her thoughts, “we are friends.”

“Good!” Rarity exclaimed. “I like that.”

She liked it very, very much.

She lifted the topsheet and slid under it, finding she still had an excellent view of the desk and Twilight herself, the latter watching with interest as Rarity settled herself.

“Still comfortable?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you.” She folded her hands over her stomach, and when her eyes caught sight of Twilight watching her attentively, she couldn’t help a giggle. “You can stop being a host.”

“Oh!” She coolly leaned back on her chair. “I’m not hosting. I mean, I am. But.” Rarity noticed Twilight’s cheeks turn red to the sound of her giggling. It was cute. “Anyway.”

“This is rather exciting,” Rarity said, wiggling her feet under the cover. “It’s like a sleepover. I haven’t had one since—God—since high school, I think?”

Twilight’s chair swiveled around, her attention now fixed on her three monitors. “Well, I don’t know if it still counts as a sleepover if only one of us is sleeping,” she noted, mousing away at something.

She swiveled her chair around again, reached for a hacky-sack on her desk, and then threw it at a distant wall. A second later, the overhead lights all went out.

“…Nice aim.”

“Thanks!” Twilight replied, looking pleased. “Usually that only works twenty percent of the time, and then I have to actually get up and turn it off.”

“It must be my presence bringing you luck!” Rarity joked, feeling a little disappointed when Twilight’s chair swiveled around too fast for her to see the reaction, if there even was one.

“Right,” Twilight replied, clicking away at something, the monitor’s lights lowering, before swiveling back towards Rarity. “Do you think you can sleep with this light?”

“It should be fine. Oh!” She bit her lip, feeling just a bit like a bother. “My alarm is set for eight.”

Even without light, she could see Twilight blanche. “Ah.”

“Regretting your choices tonight, are we?”

“No. I’ll either still be awake, or completely knocked out. If it’s the latter, feel free to leave the door unlocked when you leave.” Twilight smiled brightly at her nod. “Well, uh, let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

“All right. Good night. And thank you again!”

“It’s no problem.”

And with that, Twilight swiveled back to her screens, leaving Rarity to watch her longingly, finding she… well… she didn’t want to sleep. She could feel the words in her throat, the desire to make more small talk, to have Twilight’s attention, to have more of this feeling of… of her heart forgetting it was destroyed.

She watched, quietly, as Twilight reached out to grab her thick, black over-the-ear headphones. She went as far as almost putting them on, but after a split second hesitation, the headphones found their place back on the desk and not around her ears.

Aw, Rarity thought, charmed. That’s considerate.

And now she wanted to talk to her all the more. But she didn’t want to be rude, or bother Twilight from… whatever she was doing. But she wanted to talk.

Enough, Rarity. She rolled around on the couch, staring down the backrest, her phone clutched in her hands. You need sleep. You have to wake up in…

She lifted her phone, the screen waking up and displaying the time.

In five hours! You’re not fourteen, you are twenty and in need of rest.

She breathed out a sigh and locked the phone, only to notice she could see Twilight’s desk in the reflection. See, if Twilight was the one to initiate conversation, then Rarity would be rude to not engage, but…

Turn around, Rarity mentally ordered her friend’s reflection, frowning in concentration. Turn around now. Now? Now! Now. Fine, don’t then… Now! Drat. Now? One last time, and then I am forcing myself to sleep, I swea—

And she felt herself freeze up when Twilight Sparkle’s chair swiveled around, the young woman thoughtfully looking right at her.

Rarity stared at her, her pulse rushing when Twilight’s mouth opened to speak, only for her to close it with a shake of her head. She looked at Rarity a second more, smiling briefly, and when the chair swiveled around, Rarity let out the breath she’d been holding.

Well, well, well.

So maybe she wasn’t the only one who wanted to talk some more. But what to do, what to do, what to do.

Her eyes focused on her friend’s reflection, the rhythmic tapping of fingers against keyboard filling the room, until…

Her phone’s screen lit up, the wallpaper of her and her friends at the beach was quickly swiped away, and seconds later, she was staring at the last message in a special text conversation.

You – 2:41AM
Okay, okay! One more knock.

She bit down her lip, trying her best not to giggle aloud. She was being such a child! But she loved it.

So she started to type.

You – 3:11AM
Twilight? Are you still awake?

The phone turned off with a click just as Rarity heard the distinct sound of a phone buzzing against a table. She watched through the reflection how Twilight absentmindedly picked up her phone, glanced at it briefly, did a double-take, and the rest Rarity did not see, quickly closing her eyes and pretending to sleep as she heard the chair swivel around.

One, two, three seconds, and the chair audibly swiveled again.

Rarity lay there, completely still, biting down a giggle and waiting, waiting, wait—

Bzzzt!

She opened the text message faster than ought to be humanly possible.

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:12AM
Hello.

A beat, and another message popped up.

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:13AM
I’m surprised you’re still awake.

You – 3:13AM
I thought I owed it to you to tell what happened with my neighbor… I’m sure you’ve been curious.

Rarity locked her phone, finding Twilight was leaned back on her chair, typing away at her phone with a lopsided smile.

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:14AM
On the edge of my seat.

You – 3:14AM
Well! It turns out the neighbor is actually a friend of mine! I met her last week at a bar, and she’s very graciously saved me from a night of sleeplessness.

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:14AM
She says, texting me at Pi o’clock in the morning.

Rarity managed to muffle only half her snort, watching through the reflection as something pinged on Twilight’s monitor, prompting her to lock her phone and put it back on the desk.

Hmph! That wouldn’t do at all.

She quietly cleared her throat and, after a moment’s hesitation, typed away.

You – 3:14AM
This is entirely your fault for being interesting to talk with!

The phone was immediately locked with a click, and she watched with bated breath as the delightful bzzt! rang out. If before Twilight had only absent-mindedly grabbed her phone, that was no longer the case. Her hand snatched for it even as her eyes stayed on the screen.

Another moment, and finally she looked at her phone, and there it was again—the rush, electric in every sense of the word—completely taking over Rarity when Twilight broke into a silly grin.

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:15AM
I’m sorry?

You – 3:15AM
You should be!

💃Twilight Sparkle🤖 – 3:16AM
Right. I guess I should stop being interesting. Actually, I recently read an article on the history of transistors. Let me recite it in its entirety. So, it all started in 1925.

You – 3:16AM
I’ll have toh know I find trnasisorrs very interseing!!!

A long silence followed. Then came the sound of the chair swivelling around, and when Twilight cleared her throat, an indignantly giggling Rarity kept typing away typo corrections.

“I’ll have—toh know,” Twilight read out, voice level, “I find truh—Hold on. I need to decode this. It may be advanced, but I have faith in my skills.”

“I’m fixing them, good god!” Rarity sputtered, sitting up on the couch.

“Tr…Turhn… Trurnscissors? Truna-scissors very inter-seing.”

“Typing with long nails is difficult,” Rarity protested before Twilight had even said anything else.

“You need to sleep,” Twilight pointed out, amused. “What was the point of coming here if you’re going to stay awake?”

“I know, I know.” Rarity put her phone down and fell back onto the bed, just a little embarrassed. It had been a long time since she’d been that excited over a new friend. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

But just as she was about to swivel around, Rarity couldn’t help herself.

“Oh, Twilight, wait.” When Twilight turned around, she continued, “Would you like to get coffee sometime this week? Maybe after classes?”

Twilight smiled. “Sure! I’ll check my schedule and see when would work for me, and we can coordinate?”

“Fab.”

“Now go to bed.”

“I am!” Rarity insisted, turning around and pulling the covers over herself, faintly aware of the clackclackclacking of Twilight going back to her matters. “Good night again.”

“Night!”

It was only then, with the promise of an actual hangout, that Rarity finally felt drowsy, and it was just as sleep overtook her that she realized something Twilight had once again done for her. Just a very small, very silly thing, but very meaningful.

For another blissful night, Rarity hadn’t had a single thought of her ex.