Finding Out The Royal Crush

Queen Rarity was quite used to receiving visitors every so often. Lords, Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses would constantly travel lengthy distances to have the honor of meeting with the Queen of the Unicorns. The majority of the visits were all strictly friendly, hoping to maintain good relationship with the Queen, but other visitors had ulterior motives — after all, there was a queen, but there still nopony ruling beside her.

“Your Majesty, it was an absolute pleasure and honor,” said Lord Nightshade of Trottingham, the latest visitor to the grand castle of the queen. Standing in front of Rarity’s throne, the smiling stallion bowed down.

Rarity, gracefully sitting atop her magnificent smiled back at the stallion. “The pleasure was all mine, Nightshine. I trust we shall meet again at the Winter Festival?”

The faintest of blushes appeared on Nightshine’s cheeks. “Of course, Your Majesty. I would never dream of missing a chance to be in your company,” he replied before turning to look at the teenaged Sweetie Belle, who sat on her own smaller throne next to Rarity’s. “Princess, it was an honor,” he said, once more bowing down.

Sweetie Belle lightly bowed her head. “Have a safe trip home.”

Nightshine straightened himself up and, after smiling one last time at Rarity, turned around and trotted off. On his way, he passed by the Queen’s personal bodyguard: a unicorn mare standing perfectly still.

The moment Lord Nightshine had left the room, Sweetie Belle quickly turned to look at her sister, her hooves coming together. “He liiiiiiiikes you,” the princess teased in a sing-song voice.

Rarity glanced at her sister, a cheeky smile on her lips. “Well, what’s not to like?” she asked before flipping her hair in an exaggerated manner. “Unfortunately, I can not say I feel the same way.”

At this, Sweetie Belle slumped down in her throne, rolling her eyes. “You always say that,” she huffed, looking at the side. “He was really nice, too.”

Rarity laughed. “Oh, he was very charming, don’t get me wrong. He just wasn’t my style.”

“But you didn’t even give him a chance!” Sweetie Belle retorted. “Twilight, don’t you think she should have given him a chance?” she continued, turning to look at the guard.

Twilight didn’t even budge. “I’m sure the Queen had her reasons to look past him, Your Highness,” she replied, still looking straight ahead.

“Probably really silly reasons!” Sweetie Belle said before crudely imitating her sister: “‘Oh no, he’s not fancy enough! Oh, Sweetie Belle, did you see his clothes?’ Pffft.”

“Pardon me, but I am not that picky! Though his choice of clothing could have been better.”

“You still should have given him a chance. It’s not like you have a crush on somepony else!” Sweetie exclaimed, expecting Rarity to rebuff her assumption. However, when her assumption was indeed not rebuffed, the young unicorn quickly looked towards her sister and gasped upon finding a mischievous smile on Rarity’s face. “You do?!”

Rarity lifted her hoof and inspected it. “I may have had my affections stolen by somepony, yes.”

Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves together. “Who is it, who is it, who is it?! Tell me, tell me, tell me!”

Rarity laughed haughtily. “Now, now, a queen never reveals her secrets, dearest Sweetie Belle.”

“But Rarityyy… Fine…” Sweetie mumbled, once again slumping down in her throne. She glanced at Twilight and suddenly shot back up again. “Twilight! You know who it is, don’t you? Tell me! Pleeeease?”

Before Twilight could even reply, Rarity spoke up. “Yes, Twilight,” she said, looking at the mare with an innocent smile. “Tell my sister who is this secret pony that has completely and utterly stolen my royal affections.”

Twilight looked at the young princess and bowed apologetically. “I’m sorry, Your Highness,” she said with complete seriousness, “but a soldier never reveals her queen’s secrets.” She was distant enough from Sweetie Belle that the young unicorn did not see the faint blush that had spread across her face.

“Aw…” Sweetie whined before finally giving in. “Well, they must be a very special pony to have passed all your silly requirements.”

Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle in a pensive way before replying, “She is.”

“She?” Sweetie repeated, unaware that Twilight was now looking at her quite intently. “Well, there goes half of the list of ponies I had. Is she pretty?”

“Very much so, yes.”

Sweetie looked at Twilight. “Is she really?”

Twilight was a little taken aback, the fluster on her cheek growing. “…I am not in the position to critique whoever the queen is dating, Your Highness.”

Rarity smirked slightly at this. “Now, Twilight, you’ve been with us for as long as I can remember! You should know that we value your opinion. Tell us…” Rarity leaned in a little, fluttering her eyelashes. “What do you think of the beauty of my mysterious special somepony?”

Twilight seemed uncomfortable by the question, looking down at her armour and re-adjusting it. “She…” Twilight cleared her throat. “She’s… okay.”

“‘She’s ‘okay‘?” Rarity exclaimed with indignation. She got up from her throne and trotted over to Twilight, staring straight into the soldier’s eyes. “Dear me, I’m starting to wonder how safe it is for me to go around accompanied by a bodyguard with such poor eyesight!” She turned to Sweetie Belle. “Don’t listen to Twilight, Sweetie. I can assure you that my special somepony is of a beauty only matched by myself.”

Twilight looked down at the floor, staring at her hooves with unusual interest.

“Well, there goes another part of my list,” Sweetie muttered. “Tell me more about her, come on! And you have to promise to tell me if I guess who it is, okay?!”

Rarity looked at her little sister thoughtfully. “Very well, Sweetie Belle,” she finally conceded, smiling innocently at her sister. She turned to look at Twilight, offering the unicorn a brilliant smile in exchange for Twilight’s unimpressed stare. “What do you want to know about her?”

Sweetie looked up at the ceiling, narrowing her eyes. “Uhm… What do you like about her?”

Rarity smiled at the question. “What do I like about her, you ask? Well…” She moved next to Twilight and knocked her hoof against the unicorn’s armor. “She’s tremendously brave and strong. Her magical skills are unmatched by any pony on the entire planet!” Rarity exclaimed, suddenly levitating Twilight’s sword from its sheath and threateningly pointing it at an invisible enemy. “Why, I wager she could vanquish the fiercest of foes!”

“An ursa minor?” Sweetie gasped, taking her hooves to her mouth.

“An ursa major!” Rarity dramatically exclaimed, slashing the sword in the air, only for Twilight to magically take it away from her and place it back in its sheath.

“Your Highnesses,” she said, smiling ever so slightly, a light blush on her face, “while I’m sure that Your Majesty’s crush would highly appreciate the comments, I’m afraid to inform you that no ursa minors or majors live in our kingdom.”

“But she’d still be able to defeat them!” Sweetie exclaimed, stomping her hoof against her throne. “She’d defeat anything for my big sis!”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply but seemed too flustered to even articulate a word. She sighed with relief when Rarity spoke up once more.

“She’s terribly smart and well-read, too! She reads books at such speed and quantities, it’s almost like she can’t live without them! She’d probably marry a book if she could!” Rarity went on, giggling when she heard Twilight whisper ‘hardy har har’ at her. “You’d like her, Twilight. You both mistakenly think that my romance novels are not ‘good literature’.”

“No offence, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle chimed in, “but they’re really not all that good.”

Twilight forced herself to look away, sniggering quietly enough so that only Rarity could hear.

The unicorn narrowed her eyes at the amused soldier. “You think that’s funny, do you?” she whispered. She turned to Sweetie Belle and cleared her throat. “Although, I must admit,” she began, “she’s not quite that perfect.”

“She’s not?”

“She’s not.” She looked at Twilight, expression completely serious. “Twilight, may I use you for a harmless demonstration?”

Twilight blinked at Rarity. “Of… course, Your Majesty…?”

“Thank you, Twilight,” she said, solemnly, before looking back towards Sweetie. “For instance,” — she ran her hoof through Twilight’s short mane — “she could stand to take better care of her beautiful mane.”

“Not everypony has the time to indulge in your five hour long hair-dressing sessions, Your Majesty,” Twilight replied, the amused smile disappearing from her face completely.

“And her relentless obsession with making sure everything is scheduled properly!” Rarity went on. “And following that schedule to every single minimal detail!”

“Your Majesty, forgive me, but remember the time you almost missed your appointment with the Zebra King because you lost track of time talking with Lady Fluttershy?” she pointed out with a light smirk.

“Oh! I remember that!” Sweetie chimed in, laughing. “I thought he was going to be sooooooo mad.”

Rarity’s cheeks turned pink. “All right, all right! It was just one time!”

“No, it wasn’t,” Twilight continued, barely able to contain her amusement. “The same thing almost happened with–“

“Twilight Sparkle, I’ll have you know that any other queen would be punishing you dearly for your insolence!” Rarity snapped back.

“I realize that, Your Majesty, which is why I am privileged to serve under such a beautiful, forgiving and kind queen.” She bowed down, offering Rarity a cute little smile and a flutter of her eyelashes.

Rarity instantly returned the gesture with a rather goofy smile, but quickly shook her head and regained her stoic composure. “I suppose I can look past this, Twilight Sparkle.”

“So,” Sweetie said, attracting the attention of both mares. “What about… her castle? Is it a really big castle like ours?”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “Her castle?”

“Well, yeah!” Sweetie affirmed, throwing her sister a funny look. “She’s a princess, right? So she has a castle! Oooooh, or is it a palace?”

Rarity looked taken aback by Sweetie Belle’s assumption. She turned to look at Twilight and noticed that Twilight’s previously happy attitude had changed completely. The unicorn had returned to her previous unmoving stance, looking directly in front of her.

“She’s not a princess, Your Highness,” Twilight cleared up, her voice lacking any kind of emotion whatsoever.

“She’s not?” Sweetie asked, her eyes widening a little.

“No, Your Highness,” Twilight reaffirmed. She subtly looked down at the floor, almost as if ashamed. “Your Majesty shouldn’t have eve–“

“It doesn’t matter if she’s not a princess,” Rarity sharply interrupted, drawing the attention of Twilight. Rarity looked straight into Twilight’s eyes as she continued: “because she will soon be a queen. And if anypony has concerns about that–” she once more levitated Twilight’s sword out of its sheath “– then I’ll gladly have my sword cut through any of their complaints.”

Twilight levitated the sword back into its place. “Your Majesty, I think you should leave the sword cutting to me,” she said, her smile returning to her face.

“Twilight Sparkle, are you implying I am not skilled in the art of the sword?” Rarity asked with mock-offense, taking a step towards Twilight.

“I never said anything of the sort, Your Majesty,” Twilight replied, smirking cheekily at Rarity. “The fact that you took it like that means you already thought it.”

Rarity took another step towards Twilight, matching Twilight’s smirk. “Such impudence! I should banish you right this instant, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight took a single step towards Rarity so that the both of them were only a foot away from each other. “But you won’t, will you, Your Majesty? You who are so beautiful, so forgiving and so kind.”

Just as Rarity opened her mouth to reply, Sweetie Belle loudly cleared her throat, reminding the two other mares of her existence. In a flash, Rarity quickly stepped away from Twilight, both their faces turning a shade of red.

“Sis?” Sweetie asked, seriously.

“Y-Yes?” Rarity replied, still quite flustered.

“Does she make you happy?”

“Blissfully happy,” Rarity replied, glancing at Twilight and seeing Twilight’s lips curve into the single, most adorable smile to ever have been smiled. “She makes me so happy, I almost feel like fainting.” Rarity immediately swooned and threw herself to the side, landing on top of Twilight’s immediately outstretched foreleg.

“I think Your Majesty needs to go lie down for a bit,” Twilight remarked, raising an eyebrow at Rarity, who responded by giggling at the unicorn.

“Well, that’s good enough for me!” Sweetie announced, hopping off her throne and trotting towards the exit. “I’m going to go look for my friends.”

“You’re leaving?” Rarity asked once she had departed from Twilight’s grip. “I thought you wanted to guess who I was talking about!”

“Can’t think of anypony who fits the description except for Twilight.” Sweetie shrugged and looked back at the two mares. “I’ll figure it out, though! Apple Bloom knows everypony in the castle, so she might help. Anyway, see you for dinner, Sis! Bye, Twilight!”

The second Sweetie Belle had left the room, Twilight turned to look at Rarity. “I’m really sorry to say this, but the princess is really dense. We couldn’t have been more obvious even if we had put a sign that sai–“

Rarity put her hoof on top of Twilight’s mouth, silencing the unicorn. “Now, now, Twilight. Wait a moment, will you?”

A few minutes later, a high pitched “OH MY GOSH” rang through the halls of the castle, followed by the sound of running hoovesteps. Sweetie Belle’s head suddenly poked into the room, her eyes wide as saucers.

“Are you two…”

“Yes, dear.”

“For how long have you…”

“A while now, darling.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Sweetie looked at them in complete silence until she dissolved into a puddle of excited giggling. “Wait until I tell the others!”

“Now, now, Sweetie,” Rarity quickly said, “a sister never reveals her sister’s secrets, right?”

Sweetie Belle nodded with earnest. “My lips are sealed! I didn’t see anything.” She disappeared once more, her excited giggling ringing across the hallway.

“See? I told you she’d approve,” Rarity said once Sweetie was gone, trotting over to Twilight and nuzzling against the unicorn.

Twilight returned the affectionate gesture, comforted by knowing Princess Sweetie Belle seemed excited by the revelation.

“Twilight?” Rarity said after a minute. “You know how you said earlier if maybe I should go lie down?”

Twilight looked down at Rarity. “Yeah?”

Rarity looked up, smiling slyly at Twilight. “Was that an invitation?”

Twilight’s face completely flushed. “R-Rarity!”

“Is that a yes?” Rarity ventured, playing with a lock of her hair and smiling innocently at Twilight.

“YOUR MAJESTY!”

FIN