https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EVVIxCFanWWG9roiAvDG7sUB262ADBfiRJGs_A6pvMI/edit?hl=no

Building Bridges

by Cloudy Skies

Twilight Sparkle was, as was often the case in the afternoon, intensely focused on reading a book at her desk. Tonight, Dr. Hawk's 'Astrological Anomalies and Astral Artifacts' was the subject of her attentions. With Spike out of town for the week on Canterlot business, she had the entire place to herself. Every single shelf lining the tree house library's walls crammed with condensed knowledge, all for her.

Pausing as her mind snagged on that thought, Twilight frowned. Sometimes she wondered if she was the only pony in Ponyville who actually enjoyed a good book. There was something terribly disappointing and wrong about Spike's absence resulting in predictable solitude.

When she thought about it like that, she almost missed the baby dragon already. Though she loved her friends dearly, none of them were exactly - to use a term they loved to apply to her - "bookworms".

There was a loud thud, the library shaking as something impacted against the outside walls of the library. The resulting avalanche of displaced prose and parchment left the purple unicorn up to her flank in books and loose scrolls. She missed Spike twice as much, suddenly.

"Sorry Twilight!" called a familiar voice, and moments later, Rainbow Dash stuck her head in through a nearby window. The blue pegasus pony, as always seemed to be the case, looked no worse for wear, and surveyed the chaos with a giggle. "I was just practicing a new little trick."

Twilight sighed, extracting herself from the lyrical landslide and regarding the culprit evenly. "Is the library part of this trick? Or is the colliding part the important bit? Because if you could collide anywhere, I'm sure there are mountains around." she retorted while going about levitating books back to where they belonged.

Well, the general area where they belonged, anyway. Spike could sort them when he got back, she figured. She didn't get very far before she was interrupted.

"Hey, let me help you with that!"

Twilight instantly turned around, dropping the books and locking Rainbow with a rather unintentionally long stare. Rainbow Dash for her part looked a little uncomfortable after a moment, and grew fidgety rather quickly.

"Hey, if you don't want help, I'm outta here, I just-"

"No, no, not at all!" Twilight said, still surprised. "I just, well, frankly didn't expect you to offer."

She'd half expected Rainbow Dash to be a little offended at that, but she seemed to take it in stride.

"You could use a hoof, right? Besides, with my help, you'll have this cleaned up in ten seconds flat!"  Unable to disagree with the logic, Twilight merely nodded, wincing a little as Dash made good on her promise and set about cramming everything from 'The Alphabet: for the Littlest of Fillies and Colts' to Plathoofs collected works into the shelves with trademark speed and imprecision.

If not done in ten seconds - flat or otherwise - they made good speed, and the mess was cleaned up soon enough, books in bookcases, bookcases in place, and the floor given a quick sweeping. Twilight Sparkle automatically began moving back towards the desk where Dr. Hawk's theories awaited her with unreciprocated patience.

"So I guess I'll be going,” Dash said, a little hesitant. Twilight turned back and raised an eyebrow in confusion, as if surprised she hadn't left already. It wasn't that she minded her friend's presence, though.

"Thanks again for the help?" she offered with a smile, briefly wondering if she should offer her a drink or some such.

"Ah yeah. So, bye!" Rainbow Dash replied, quickly disappearing in a rainbow blur out the window.  The purple pony shrugged and went back to her book, already well underway to forgetting Rainbow Dash had even been there.

Until she was awoken by a very familiar thud the morning after. It's not that it was the exact same thud. It was a unique thud, suggesting a different point of impact. Then again, that could also be attributed to the fact that she was abed, in the floor above where she'd been the last time.

Rapidly running out of thoughts on the matter, Twilight couldn't delay getting out of bed any longer.

Crawling slowly out of from under her covers, fully knowing she had the worst bed-mane ever, Twilight trotted down to the main floor of the library in the haze of a filly who was most certainly not a morning pony. In the circular room that made up the majority of the ground floor, she found Rainbow Dash surveying a fallen trio of ornate bookcases looking a little nervous.

It was early in the morning – for Twilight, anyway – but she was not so far gone that she didn't think Dash's fear uncharacteristic. Razing the library was practically Rainbow Dash's second job, and she didn't normally seem to have any compunctions about letting her friends sort out the mess.

Noticing her descending the stairs, Rainbow Dash lit up, both brighter and a little sheepish, now.

"Oh, hey Twilight! Um, sorry. Again."

"What in the name of Celestia are you even trying to do?" Twilight said, exasperated. The pegasus puffed out her chest a little and regained a bit of her usual superior poise.

"It's pretty advanced stuff, I don't think you'd really, you know, get it. Pegasus stuff."

After a second of tired silence from Twilight, Rainbow Dash pointedly flapped her wings a few times. Twilight waved a hoof irritably.

"Yes, I get it, you have wings. I don't. Pegasus stuff. Can we get this cleaned up?"

"Sure." Rainbow Dash replied, deflating and looking sullen.

Twilight shook her head a little. She couldn't make herself be truly annoyed at the interruptions caused by her friend’s antics. Rainbow Dash crashed into stuff now and then, Rarity had her little 'issues', Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie, and she had to admit she herself could get a little lost in her books sometimes. Soon enough, the library looked more or less like it had before. It was not as if anyone else would notice the difference before she or Spike could re-catalogue the books anyway.

In the evening four days later, she found herself revisiting that particular piece of internal monologue. In the aftermath of what must've been the sixth or seventh crash, she facehoofed and closed her eyes. The library was still shaking a little from that impact. Had Rainbow Dash actually gotten better at crashing into her home? Could you even call that "better"?

"Seriously?" the unicorn muttered to herself as she closed the book she had been reading whilst trying to sleep.

This time, it seemed, the pegasus pony had managed to actually crash through a window. Thus, Twilight found Rainbow Dash upside-down by a wall between two very sturdy bookcases. Rather miraculously, the bookcases themselves still stood, though most of the contents were scattered about. Briefly, Twilight Sparkle wondered to herself if there was a single book left in the library that hadn't yet fallen prey to the menace of manuscripts that was Rainbow Dash. She was a regular scourge of scrolls. A hardback hater. A-

"Hey!"

Twilight was snapped back into focus by Rainbow Dash, who was righting herself and glaring at the heavy bookcases for some reason.  Dash was as random as Pinkie Pie herself these days, it seemed. She'd be perky half the time and annoyed and short otherwise. One of the times she hadn't offered to help, instead just flying off right away.

Seizing a hold of that thought, a surge of concern gripped Twilight as she watched Dash go about putting books back in place.  Even more worrisome was the fact that Rainbow Dash seemed to be getting rather apt at the whole library cleanup routine. It triggered another warning bell.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash.  Are you... okay? I mean, okay-okay?" Twilight tried, levitating up a book in lieu of helping her clean up.

"Oh yeah! Why? Why wouldn't I be? Am I not okay?" Dash whipped around looking slightly panicked, her pupils tiny pinpricks.

"Because you don't usually leave the library littered with letters twice a day?" Twilight asked, biting her lower lip.

"Uh," Dash retorted, averting her eyes.

"Are you having problems with your wings or something?"

"Ah..." Dash parried.

"Something in the water? A bad week? Problems with flying in general? Do you need help?" Twilight pressed on, not really sure how what she could do, but her growing concern wasn't really helped by Dash's failure to answer. Rather, it was solidifying very nicely. In the silence that followed, the pegasus' eyes darted all around the room before settling on Twilight.

Or perhaps not Twilight herself, but rather, the book she was levitating. Twilight followed her gaze to ‘Aerodynamics Made Simple.’  A pair of green pegasus colts were pictured on the cover smiling confidently up at them.

"That's it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, making Twilight jump a little.  "The trick I'm trying to pull is like, way complex! I was never really any good with the theory and stuff, I guess. I'm more a, um, get-out-and-do stuff kind of pony." She gave a nervous little laugh and scratched the back of her head.

"Oh," Twilight replied, still trying to recover from the shock of the brash pegasus taking even a passing interest in a book. It took her all of two seconds to understand what she had to do if Dash was uncomfortable even admitting she needed help.  "Well, it's simple then! Aerodynamics is probably a good place to start, so how about we study this book together?" She offered a reassuring smile.

Rainbow Dash was unreadable, her stance tense. "Um, if it's okay with you, I mean, sure."

"Settled then!" Twilight nodded with satisfaction. "I don't know the first thing about the subject, but don't worry, I'd love to learn! And it gives us something to do that isn't cleaning up the library." she added with a little grin. "How's tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Dash agreed chipperly.

Once she was alone, Twilight allowed herself a few moves of her secret little happy dance. She had a reading gal-pal! There was so much to do to prepare! She'd have to make sure she knew the proper terminology, she'd have to check the supply of note parchment, quills, inks and more. Best of all, these little things didn't feel like chores at all. This was going to be fun!

When there was a soft rapping at the library door the next morning, Twilight had worked herself into a veritable frenzy of anticipatory giddiness.

"Come in!" she yelled as she gave the area a last scrutinous look. Quills and parchment. Apple juice in the fridge. The library's sole copy of 'Aerodynamics Made Simple'. The library's sole copy of 'Understanding 'Aerodynamics Made Simple'', and two copies of her own notes on the latter volume. She had thought of everything!

There was a rather muffled thump at the door.

"Oh." Twilight blushed as she ran over and unlocked the door, coming to face an annoyed-looking Rainbow Dash rubbing her snout with a hoof. Almost everything, then. "Sorry, I forgot. Spike is usually the one who opens in the morning," the unicorn admitted.

"Is he still gone?" Dash asked, looking around.

"He'll be back this weekend, so yes." Twilight nodded.

"Oh, cool. Uh, so." The pegasus' eyes were still flitting around everywhere, looking about for something unseen.

"Over here!" Twilight called, helpfully, she figured. "I've set us up so we can take notes as we read and discuss the theories in the book."

"Uh huh." Dash nodded distractedly.

"I've copied my notes on some helpful terms I read up on, and I looked up the authors, Tailwind Chaser and-"

"Blastbolt." The pegasus froze right after finishing Twilight’s sentence.

"Um, yeah. How did you know?" Twilight asked, puzzled.

"Er, Spitfire mentioned them once, I think, or something. They're cool.  She’s cool.  It’s cool." Rainbow Dash trotted up and sat down by the desk, staring intently at the books before her.

"O-kayy." Twilight shrugged as she indicated the index. "Chapter one?"

"Chapter one!" Dash echoed with a hoof-pump. "Bring it on!"


What surprised Twilight the most was how quickly Dash picked up on things. Despite having horrible focus – as the unicorn could have predicted – she figured things out really quickly. The zero-g turn principle, the inertia diffusion flap, the chapters crawled by, and despite seemingly looking at everything other than the book, she always had the right answers.

"Hm, that would make ascents between 30 and 60 degrees less efficient by a amount equal to-" Twilight's brain churned and she scrabbled for parchment.

"About twenty percent?" Dash shrugged.

Twilight did some quick calculations in the silence that stretched for a minute or so before nodding and turning to Rainbow Dash, coming snout to snout with her, smiling.  "Twenty-five percent, actually, but very good!"

Rainbow Dash quickly looked back down to the book, flushing a little. "Next chapter?"

"Yep, next up-"

The front door to the library slammed open with a crash, and an orange flank adorned with a trio of apples entered. Twilight and Rainbow Dash quickly stood up, the latter of the two fillies taking a little step back.

"What the hay?" Dash said as Applejack entered, hauling a huge basket of apples, apple pies, apple fritters and apple-what-have-yous. The orange earth pony was immediately followed by Fluttershy, the timid yellow pegasus pony carrying a single apple pie on her back, her face half-hidden behind her pink mane.

"I-I'm just saying that I'd love to help, you didn't have to carry everything by-"

Applejack, who'd just placed the basket next to the door, cut Fluttershy off, he voice gentle. "Ah told you I had it covered, didn' I? Managed just fine last week, but thank you fer’ offerin’."

"But-"

"Weekly apples an' such, Twi'! Oh, Rainbow Dash, too? Well, how's that fer' a surprise! What's goin’ on?"

Beaming, Twilight approached her two friends. "Dash and I are analyzing a book, it's for her newest trick. It's a volume on Aerodynamics by-"

"Chaser & Bolt?" A silence settled after Fluttershy's interruption, Fluttershy herself appearing most surprised of all the ponies, jumping at her own voice.

"Am I the only pony in Ponyville who hasn't heard of them?" Twilight blinked and cocked her head, almost annoyed. "I mean, no offense Fluttershy, but I know you've never checked out any books except those-" Twilight caught herself, noticing that Fluttershy had her head down on ground level and was blushing furiously. "-books." Twilight finished, lamely.  "What's with them and this book anyway?" the unicorn asked.

Fluttershy glanced past Twilight at that, looking a little surprised and taken aback at something. When Twilight turned, all she saw was Rainbow Dash focusing very very intently at the book in front of her. It was a little odd and rude to ignore her friends like this, but then, Twilight was hardly the right pony to criticize her for that, so she let that go.

Applejack was now staring hard at Fluttershy. Then at Rainbow Dash. A second later, back again at Fluttershy, who looked even more embarrassed than her usual self.  No mean feat, in other words.

"Okay, what am I missing? AJ? Fluttershy?" Twilight huffed, beginning to feel rather confused.

"N-nothing!" Fluttershy squeaked, looking ready to bolt under Applejack's glare and Twilight's attention both.

"Right. But hey, thank you for the apples, AJ! It might be a bit much for just me though."

"Oh right, Ah plum forgot Spike was outta' town. Aw hayseed, some'a it'll spoil for sure. Ah can take half o' it back to the farm, Ah s'pose." The earth pony's consternation was short-lived as Rainbow Dash, who'd been quiet up 'till now, perked up.

"I can help you with that, Twilight, no problem!"

"Help me eat my food?" Twilight asked.

"I'm already hanging out here a lot this week right? I'll make it up to you, no problem! I mean, we wouldn't want any of Applejack's tasty apples go to waste? Come on! Her apples are the best, most friendly and understanding apples in all of Equestria!" Rainbow Dash was smiling very brightly at Applejack, who sighed and shook her head.

"Okay, that's it, Ah can't take this anymore. Good night ladies." Applejack declared with a huff, stomping out and away. Twilight had given up on getting anything sensible out of any of these ponies anyway and simply shook her head. "Thanks again, Applejack!" she yelled after her.

"Um, I'm going, too. Rainbow Dash? Could I maybe talk to you later tonight? If- if you want to?" Fluttershy said as she edged back out the door backwards, earning a tentative nod from the other pegasus.

As the door closed, Twilight took a minute to thank Celestia that Pinkie Pie hadn't been here too. She didn't think she could take that much confusion in one go.

"Next chapter, was it?" she finally concluded.

"Next chapter!" Rainbow Dash echoed.

Their studies continued until late afternoon, interrupted only by brief meals which further proved to Twilight that proved she'd been right.  It was nice to spend time with Rainbow Dash outside of cleaning up her crash sites, for a change. She even decided to stick around a little longer when Twilight declared that she had to take care of some other chores around the library.

"Thank you for your help, Rainbow Dash. You've been a great help." Twilight admitted as she stood by the door, ready to close up after Rainbow left. She had to admit that the library would feel a little empty when it was just her, again, but didn't think Rainbow Dash would enjoy the stargazing she had planned for the rest of the night.

"Hey, no problem. Happy to help! I'll be over tomorrow afternoon if that's cool?" Rainbow Dash asked, to which Twilight could only smile.

"Sounds good to me, looking forward to it." she said, truly meaning it.

Over the next few days, Twilight found herself enjoying the routine that she and Rainbow Dash slipped into. Unless either pony was otherwise preoccupied, evenings would usually find them huddled together in the library over a book.

While she never really seemed to fully get into the studying mood, always a little distracted, it was clear that Rainbow got something out of these sessions. Why else would the athletic pony keep returning? She grasped the material as fast as, if not faster than Twilight, too! It was a little humbling, but it was hard to be even the slightest bit annoyed when you had a good book and a good friend.

They finished 'Aerodynamics Made Simple' early one evening, and Twilight looked up to see Dash looking back at her – or through her? Regardless, the blue pony looked away quickly, frowning.

"Well, that's that!" Twilight exclaimed. Dash nodded absentmindedly. Was she actually looking disappointed? "How's the trick going, anyway?" she asked, resting her head in her hooves on the study table that had been their third group member.

"Oh, yeah, um, not so great." Rainbow Dash admitted glumly, offering no further comment. Twilight hesitated a little bit before she levitated a book she'd stowed away nearby and put it down gently on the desk.

"I got this volume of 'Altitude Flying Theories'." she tried, fishing for a smile, having no idea how Rainbow Dash would react. To her delight, the pegasus practically threw herself over the book, staring. "I guess this means it's relevant to your trick?" she continued, unable to suppress a satisfied smile.

"Never mind that!" Rainbow Dash cried. "The author!"

"Huh? Spitfire? Oh, isn't that one of the Wonderbolts?" The unicorn was a little surprised.

"You bet your flank she is! Spitfire writes books?" Dash was agape.

"Well, yes, she's fairly high profile, isn't she? It's not all that uncommon-"

"High profile?" Dash was staring dumbly at Twilight. "She's a Wonderbolt!" Twilight didn't quite know how to respond, since they were basically agreeing at this point. "What's it about anyway? This book wasn't on- um, I mean, I haven't seen this book before." Rainbow Dash said, calming down, though her voice still held a note of wonder.

"Well, I only received this copy from Canterlot yesterday, it's a fairly recent release discussing the dangers of, and precautionary measures with regards to altitude flying." Twilight explained.

"So, um, flying really high? Someone wrote a book about that?" Rainbow Dash asked, as if there was some mystery here still to be divulged. Twilight nodded.  Rainbow Dash wasted no time in opening the book and leaning forwards on her hooves in rapt attention. Twilight didn't want to look a gift pony in the mouth, and joined her.

They were still working on the same volume one evening, days later. Twilight had been happy to see Rainbow Dash paying a lot more attention to this book, though she still didn't seem to like taking notes. She was looking up at Twilight often, as if contemplating something outside of the pages, and the pace was a lot slower with a lot of questions about what this or that word meant. Still, it was a major step up from the previous book they'd studied as far as focus went.

During one particular chapter, Rainbow Dash was actually so thoroughly entrenched in between the pages of the book that Twilight had given up asking her if she wanted to help her with some chores. She went about dusting the room, levitating a feather duster, thinking about how nice it was to have someone around to share a good book with for once.

"Ohmigosh! What time is it?"

She was startled into dropping her feather duster by Rainbow Dash's exclamation. The pegasus pony was looking around in a slightly panicked daze. Twilight peeked out the window and shrugged. "Um, early evening? About? Why?"

"I forgot! Pinkie Pie is throwing a party tonight, and I promised I'd tell you! We should totally go if we wanna catch it."

"Oh, that was today?"

"Yeah, Pinkie's Two Weeks Since Last Party party, and last party was two weeks ago." Rainbow Dash said, and they shared a chuckle. It was hardly the silliest party excuse they've heard, and that, perhaps, was the funniest part of all.

"Well, I guess we could use a break from the books." Twilight chuckled. "It's been days since I've seen most of the girls. Let's head over to Sugarcube Corner?" Rainbow Dash looked oddly contemplative at that, giving Twilight Sparkle a long look, obviously mulling something over.

"Actually, you go ahead, I'm gonna go, um, get something. Forgot to... um, er-" she trailed off a bit as she watched Twilight levitate a brush over and begin brushing her mane. "...Brush my mane? That's it! Seeya there!"

And she was off, a ghost of a blush on her face. Twilight had gotten so used to Rainbow Dash being a little random and nervous these days that she didn't even bother challenging her. Twilight had never seen Rainbow Dash brush her mane except before the Grand Galloping Gala, anyway.

"Must be that trick of hers weighing on her mind, then." Twilight thought. Oddly, Rainbow Dash hadn't even mentioned that elusive trick for days, now. She made a mental note to see if she could find a book with any useful tips on dealing with performance anxiety. It would have to wait until after the party, of course, though!  She hadn't seen Pinkie Pie in quite a while, and the pink party pony never failed to entertain. Satisfied with her mane and tail, Twilight locked the library door soundly and headed out into the slightly chill dusk air.

Over at Sugarcube Corner, the party was already in full swing, and the coming night was staved off by enough lanterns to illuminate all of apple acres twice, it seemed. Not just a little get-together for the gang, then. Pinkie had apparently invited all of Ponyville, pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns alike all filled the area and Vinyl Scratch's beats flowed from the bakery-turned-party-hall. It was testament to how little Twilight Sparkle had mingled recently, the fact that she'd missed this. It was definitely time to shake some hooves and perhaps even hit the dance floor!

Twilight laughed at herself for even thinking that last thought as she exchanged greetings with everypony she knew, making her way to the entrance. Twilight slipped inside to meet a flash of pink-

And find herself suddenly outside again, now on her back, positively covered in streamers, glitter, and more significantly, pink pony.  She may also have been one mild concussion richer, too.

"Twilight! I'm so super duper happy you could make it!" Pinkie Pie beamed as she helped her friend up, leading her inside with a hoof. Pinkie seemed even more enthusiastic than usual, perhaps energized by the sheer amount of ponies attending the party.

"Um, thanks, great to see you too, Pinkie." Twilight mumbled as she clutched her head and let herself be led inside and enveloped by the hot air and loud music. They were quickly approached by the other members of the gang, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity. Only the latter of the three had really dressed up for the occasion – but then, that was hardly a surprise to anyone.

"It's good to see you again, Twilight Sparkle! You simply must leave that musty library a bit more often, we've hardly seen you at all lately!" Rarity said as she closed to give Twilight a brief hug.

"Or, as Ah'm more fond of sayin', howdy." Applejack offered as a contrast, rolling her eyes.

"Hi." Fluttershy added with a smile.

"I'm sorry girls, it's just a little hard to find time between minding the library by myself and studying with Rainbow." Twilight admitted, though she found that she didn't regret the latter part at all.

"Didn’t you tell me Spike was due to return at the beginning of the month? Almost a week ago? Whatever happened to him?" Rarity asked with obvious concern.

"If I knew I'd tell you, Rarity. I'm still wondering about that myself! Ditzy came by with a letter from Celestia, royal seal and all. Apparently, Celestia needs him for something or other for a while longer." Twilight was still shaking her head over the whole business. Receiving a royal letter by normal mail alone was weird enough. She was so used to having Spike around for exactly that. "If it wasn't for Rainbow Dash helping me out a little, I'd be behind on all my tasks." she admitted.

"If ya need help, sugarcube-" Applejack began.

"Isn't this what friends are for, darling?" Rarity agreed. Fluttershy looked a little uncomfortable.

Oddly, while she dearly loved her friends, Twilight found herself hesitating a little before she just gave them what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I think me and Rainbow Dash have a handle on it, but thank you for the offer."

Pinkie Pie, who'd apparently disappeared at some point, chose this moment to return, beaming. "Ooh, is Dashie a librarian now? Huh? Huh? I bet the books love Rainbow!" she blurted as she bounced merrily over to lean on Fluttershy for no apparent reason, earning a cautious smile from the timid pegasus before continuing. "They must be so tired of all that boring black ink, I bet a rainbow is just what they need! Poor books!"

"We're just reading all the books we can find on flying, she's working on a new trick." Twilight explained. Pinkie Pie tilted her head ninety degrees sideways.

"OoOooh, a new trick? Is it the one where she sits on a cloud outside the library like a tiger with a really pretty tail, ready to pounce?" Pinkie asked, eyes full of wonder.

"Um, what?" Twilight chuckled a little and glanced over her shoulder to see Rainbow Dash herself enter through the doors of Sugarcube Corner, pushing some errant streamers aside. Funny enough, she had actually brushed her mane a little, just like she said she would, and she wore a small pair of saddlebags. Pinkie Pie's voice continued on in the background.

"You know! That trick she was working on earlier, you silly little dummy! Waiting for the right moment, and then, bam! Like a cannonball, or muffin, straight into the library!" Pinkie Pie finished with a pantomime of a muffin cannonballing into the "library". Or, a pony crashing into Applejack, in this case, making them both tumble to the ground.

Fluttershy was frozen in fear. Rarity, for her part, looked about as uncomprehending as Twilight.

"Wait, you're saying Dash was doing that on purpose?" Twilight stared, still trying to fit the pieces together. Rainbow Dash had stopped a short distance away, mid-stride, apparently having overheard the exchange. Twilight turned to face her.

"Why would you do that?" she asked her friend simply. It came out a lot angrier and more terse than she had intended.

"Um, about that," Dash stammered, looking a lot less like her brash self by the second. Her head fell a little, her mane falling in front of her face.

Never mind that some old books got damaged. Never mind the extra work. "You lied to me. You're not working on some new trick. Why?" Twilight shook her head in abject disbelief.

"I-" Rainbow Dash wavered, turning away from Twilight a little bit, towards the door. Fluttershy passed by Twilight, walking towards Rainbow Dash slowly with her head low, as if she were an animal she might scare away. Twilight barely noticed. Confused, she grasped for any possible scenario or motive that explained this.

"If you wanted my help with studying, all you needed to do was ask, Rainbow." As she spoke, she realized this must have been the case, and the pieces fit. Twilight softened a little, regretting getting so angry over the whole thing.

Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight, then, who was shocked to see tears glistening in her eyes. She couldn't remember when last she had seen her cry. The music seemed to fade away, everything around them stripping away layer by layer, pony by pony. Everything felt wrong, the unicorn mentally flailing, wondering why some part of her mind was screaming at her.

"That's what friends are for." she tried, her voice almost just a whisper.

Something broke in her friend's eyes. Rainbow Dash bolted for the door, the saddlebags snagging on the doorframe and falling off – in a chromatic blur, she vanished into the night air. Fluttershy stood staring out the open door for a few seconds before she collected the saddlebags with extreme care and rejoined the group.  She dropped the mysterious container in front of Twilight Sparkle.

The party rushed to fill the gap, sounds and movement everywhere except in a tiny bubble around the group of friends, where no one seemed particularly festive. Twilight looked around, hoping this was all a just a terrible nightmare. Rarity still looked part confused, part aghast. Applejack looked as if she'd swallowed something very sour. Even Pinkie Pie looked crestfallen.

"What did I do? Did I hurt Dashie?" she whispered, her normally poofy mane suddenly a little less festive and curly. But it was on Fluttershy that Twilight's eyes came to rest. The pegasus pony was looking straight back at her, conflicted.

"I-I'm trying very hard to not be angry with you, Twilight Sparkle. But... but I don't know if I can. And it's not fair to you. You didn't know. I-I'm sorry, I'm going to... sorry." Fluttershy turned and walked off without a backwards glance, leaving four stunned ponies in her wake.  For some reason, those soft-spoken words, though she could make no sense of them, stung more profoundly than had Princess Celestia herself descended from Canterlot to declare her undying hate for her no-longer-favorite pupil.

Twilight Sparkle looked up at Applejack, desperate. She was the only remaining pony who looked to have even the slightest clue as to what was happening around them.

"AJ? Please?" Twilight implored desperately.

"Darn it, Ah told'em t'wasn't the way to go about it. Twi', honey, for all your book smarts, y'sure are a few apples short of an apple pie when it comes to ponies sometimes." There was sympathy in her eyes now. Any annoyance at the insult was washed away by the glimmer of hope there, and Twilight blinked back tears.

"I just want to know what I did, and how to fix it. Please. Help me." Twilight sniffled and crumpled to the ground. Applejack sat down on her haunches next to her, stroking her mane gently. Rarity and Pinkie Pie moved in a little closer, the latter of the two still looking mortified.

"Nothin' 'bout this struck you as odd?" AJ asked with a sigh.

"One moment, I'm studying with Rainbow Dash, and then..." Twilight muttered.

"Studyin' what? Stuff 'bout flying? That thing she does?" Applejack prodded her mentally. Trying to make her think.

"She was quick on the uptake," Twilight agreed.

"'Cause that book you read was part'a the Flight School readin' lists, maybe?" Applejack wore a tight smile that conveyed no real mirth. Twilight's mind raced. That made no sense, but she was sure she'd read a book about this. Something commenting on irrational behaviour and what could cause it. "'Cause she wanned' t'spend more time with ya?" Applejack tried. Twilight said nothing.

"Twi'. Dash is sweet on ya."

"No." The second voice was apparently Twilight's own, she discovered, and she'd sounded breathless.  Terrified. Trying to analyze her own voice couldn't be healthy though, but she had no idea where to put her thoughts what to think.

"Twilight?" Rarity said, rousing her.

"You knew about this?" Twilight suddenly gaped, looking around quickly, darting from face to face. It was fairly obvious that Rarity and Pinkie Pie hadn't, though, but Applejack nodded numbly.

"Other's secrets ain't mine t'spill, no matter how much Ah dislike it. Fluttershy made me swear not ta tell. Quickest way t' lose a friend."

"Foreverrr..." Pinkie Pie muttered, her heart clearly not in it.

"Fluttershy." Twilight said, quickly getting to her hooves. "I have to find her."

"I'm coming with you." Rarity declared. "You are not going alone as-is, and I need a word with Fluttershy myself." Twilight did not protest, pausing only to pick up the small saddlebags that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had forgotten, and the two unicorns galloped out the door together, heading for Fluttershy's cottage. The last they saw of the party was Applejack sitting down next to Pinkie Pie, the two earth ponies embracing.

"What the hay do I DO?" Twilight all but screamed into the night as they exited Ponyville proper and were forced to pace themselves a little. Neither of them were particularly athletic like Applejack or, Twilight winced, Rainbow Dash.

"Sweet Princess Celestia and Luna help me now! Why-” she tried, but she couldn't even find a single question with which to begin. "I mean, we're both fillies." Twilight tried, for a third time, to- what? She didn't even know what she was doing.

"Oh don't be so droll, dear. That's not the issue here and you know it as well as I do." Rarity commented, her eyes on the road, struggling to keep up the pace.

"What is the issue, then?" Twilight asked, desperate.

"You asked it yourself a few seconds ago, no? What do you do about it? I don't think you'll find the answer in the library though" Rarity permitted herself a wan smile before growing serious once more and looking over at Twilight.

"Just know that we're here for you. Both of you." she concluded after a long silence. They finally approached the door to the rustic cottage that was Fluttershy's home. At night there was an unmatched tranquility to the place, though it was everything but quiet. Nocturnal birds and creatures of all shapes and sizes sang, croaked, and otherwise made the place full of life, and the gentle noises of the nearby brook and the wind tugging the trees were constant.

The cottage door was closed, however, and all windows shut firmly. Twilight stepped up and knocked on the door, undeterred.

"Fluttershy?" she tried gently. She really didn't know what Fluttershy felt about her right now, but she knew she had to find Rainbow Dash.  And right now, Fluttershy was their best lead.  She needed to talk to her, even if she had to brave the Stare. Twilight suppressed a shudder.

Minutes passed. Twilight knocked again, harder every time. When no response was forthcoming, Rarity spoke up. "Fluttershy. Open up, please. I need to talk to you."

Whether it was due to knocking harder, persistence, or if it was Rarity's voice that did the trick, Twilight could not tell, but the door slid open, outlining the yellow pegasus in the sparse light inside.

"I'm sorry Twilight. Rarity." was all she said, making no move to let them in.

"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, jumping straight to the point. She had to find her, and she had to find her now.

"I-I looked everywhere. All I found was a note at her cloud home."

"Show me!" Twilight said with force, growing a little desperate, but the pegasus stood her ground.

"I don't know if... if that's a good idea."

"Fluttershy" Rarity said, her voice soft. "How can we help if you don't let us?"

Fluttershy's eyes, however, were on the saddlebags that Twilight Sparkle carried. Noticing, Twilight, too, looked at them – not that the saddlebags themselves were much to look at.

"Is this important?" she asked, indicating it with a hoof. "I'm really getting tired of ponies playing keep away with me, except, it's not with things, it's with information!" Twilight realized she had practically been shouting at the end there, and hung her head dejectedly. Fluttershy had drawn back and was cringing. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I just really need to talk to Rainbow Dash. This isn't fair."

The door opened a little more, and Fluttershy stepped back to let them in, her snout nearly touching the ground at this point. She indicated a piece of parchment on a nearby table. Twilight stepped up to it, illuminating it with her horn, and read the note that was written in Dash's atrociously messy hoof-writing.

"Gone to think about loyality and some stuff. Don't come looking for me. -Dash."

Twilight read it twice, learning very little except that Rainbow Dash seemed incapable of spelling the word "loyalty" which was wrong for a multitude of reasons.

"Well. Okay, any ideas?" Twilight asked, looking at the other two ponies. Fluttershy looked, as ever, hesitant. Rarity regarded Twilight evenly. "What now?" Twilight huffed.

"You still don't know what you're going to do, do you, dear?" Rarity asked.

"I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to find Rainbow Dash." Twilight answered immediately.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know it's not what you meant!" Twilight yelled, though she hadn't.

"Um-" Fluttershy began, pointing at the saddlebags that Twilight still carried.  Twilight really wished Celestia had taught her how to banish things to the moon. She did not need this whole mess to be even more convoluted. "Maybe you should open that." Fluttershy suggested.

An exasperated sigh and a little shuffling later, Twilight had the saddlebags on the ground and carefully unbuckled them and opened one, revealing a single blue feather. Rarity cocked a brow and Twilight just stared, letting Fluttershy go on.

"It's kind of a tradition among pegasus ponies. The first feather you molt after your coming of age is special. You keep it for someone, um, someone special."

"Now that is a truly romantic gesture." Rarity muttered under her breath. Twilight stared, her eyes growing wide.  She quickly closed the bag as if it contained some manner of dangerous beast.

"You knew." Twilight accused.

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy answered. It seemed as if it was all she had to say on the matter. Twilight just let out a shuddering sigh and looked over at the note again.

Suddenly, something dawned on her.  In a fit of inspiration, desperation, or a cross between the two, she put the saddlebags back on, secured them, and walked outside. The two other confused ponies followed.

"I know where she is."

A brief half hour later, reflecting on what led her here, Twilight was torn. She couldn't go back now, despite the intimidation factor of the veritable wall of verdant wilderness that was the Everfree forest looming ahead. At the same time, she seemed unable to go on, despite the promise that pushed her onwards.

"You're planning on going alone, then?" Rarity had asked her back at the cottage. Fluttershy looked about to protest with as much strength as she could muster, but Twilight pre-empted her.

"I have to. I never meant to hurt her, and she could be in danger."

"B-but it'll be dangerous for you too. What if you run into a cockatrice?"

"I won't fall for the same thing twice. Besides, I've visited Zecora plenty of times since then." Twilight had explained calmly, though she felt nothing of the sort. She had been terrified of the Everfree forest since the ordeal.

"But-"

"Fluttershy," Rarity had said, calmly, though her eyes were on Twilight as she spoke. "I realize Rainbow Dash confided in you, and that you somehow feel responsible, despite having done nothing wrong." She stressed the last two words. Fluttershy had looked down at the ground at this. "But I think it's time for us to step back and let Twilight Sparkle do what she must. Why don't you make some tea for the two of us? I'll stay the night. You won't mind, will you?"

Do what she must, indeed, Twilight thought, staring at the dark trees in front of her and pausing to check her saddlebags. In one, a few apples and carrots given to her by Fluttershy, and in the other...  

She'd have to acknowledge the presence of that feather sooner or later. Rainbow Dash had meant to give this to her, and now she had run off. Twilight was certain she'd gone inside Everfree, to a very specific place. And here Twilight Sparkle was, paralyzed at the edge of the forest, unwilling to go back, unable to go forward. She glanced back at Fluttershy's cottage - a dim glow barely visible in the distance - wondering what she was waiting for.

She wished someone had told her what it was that she must do.

It wasn't just about the Everfree. It wasn't just that entering the forest in the dark of night was a stupid thing to do. It certainly didn't help, of course, but it wasn't the scariest thing. There was a beast in her saddlebags that scared her more than any cockatrice or chimera.

"Rainbow Dash lov-." The words died in her throat. She corrected herself and tried anew.

"Rainbow Dash is fond of me." The shook her head dumbly. "Why?" Twilight Sparkle was everything Rainbow Dash was not. Or rather, the other way around, Rainbow Dash was everything Twilight was not. Strong, brave and relentless. The zeal with which she defended her friends was something Twilight had always admired.

After their first meeting, Twilight had her pegged as a pleasant, energetic troublemaker, and, frankly, a bit of a feather brain.  She’d never been a “fan” like so many other ponies in Ponyville, she supposed. Since then, Dash had shown Twilight how many more facets there were to her personality, but always coming back to that core of loyalty and strength of character. Regardless of Rainbow Dash's reasoning, whatever led to this, Twilight would have to figure out what this all meant for herself before she found her friend.

If she found her  If she could get moving anytime soon. Rainbow would have dashed straight into the Everfree without hesitation if she knew any of her friends were in danger. If Rainbow Dash would do that for her, how could she defend standing here rooted to the spot?

She didn't have any answers, because there were none, but if nothing else, Twilight knew she didn't want Rainbow Dash to suffer. The image of Rainbow Dash with tears forming in her eyes at the party flashed before her. She had done that. It was her fault. If there was even a chance that she could solve this, be that by giving back the feather and apologizing, or by, well. By whatever the alternative was. If she had the power to do something, then she would.

Finally, her hooves obeyed her, and Twilight slipped into the forest proper.

*-*-*-*-*

"Stupid Twilight" Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she kicked a rock off the cliff she paced. The bridge that led deeper into the forest, to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, creaked eerily. Beyond that spectacularly cheery piece of carpentry, she was alone with her thoughts at the rent in the world that ran across the Everfree forest here.

This was where it had all started. When she'd realized how much the praise of her newest friend had meant to her. This was where something had begun growing inside her. Something she'd been aware of for the longest time, but powerless to do anything against. Or with, it seemed, now.

"What the hay do I do now?" she yelled out at nothing in particular, and the vast nothingness of the gully returned her voice as an echo. She covered her ears with her hooves, fell flat to the forest floor and ground her teeth in frustration.

She'd slowly grown to hate what Twilight did to her. She distracted her from her real goal, from training, from one day joining the ranks of the Wonderbolts. She had no idea why the bookish unicorn meant so much to her, but there it was; she'd not had a crush like this since Flight School, and it was all-encompassing.

The hate had grown in tandem with the affection.  While she usually did a good job of covering it up and staying on track, the entire thing just built up in a terrible crescendo begging her to play a finishing note.

She'd found herself waiting outside the library one day, not having seen Twilight for a while, and having no idea what to say to her. Instead of talking to her, she'd done something stupid that set the ball rolling.

What would she have said to her anyway? They had so little in common. Twilight was smart and read books and stuff, something Rainbow would be happy if she never had to do again after Flight School.  Or, well, that was what she'd said until she started studying with Twilight. She felt herself flush a little just at the thought. Every moment she'd spent in Twilight's company had made her feel excited. It did little to calm her down – it was more akin to the thrill of a dive towards the ground. A reckless dive with no plan of stopping, her heartbeat going wild-

"Argh! Not. Helping!" she groaned and closed her eyes tightly as if she could shut her own mind out.

Twilight had even shown her that books didn't have to be stuffy boring things. Ponies wrote about stuff that was actually cool. And more importantly, cool ponies wrote books. She didn't exactly have any plans to write a book herself, nor did she feel a bookcase was needed in her cloud castle, but some of the stuff Spitfire wrote about was really neat. And when they were reading together, it wasn't bad at all.

Not that it mattered anymore, now that Twilight had ruined it all. That pony was oblivious to anything and everything that wasn't written down or drawn out in pear charts or whatever. Pinkie's party was the perfect moment to just get it done with, tell her how it was, say those three little words. Say them and either be laughed at and scorned so she could focus on her training, or, well. Or...

She faltered, unable to complete the thought. She had no idea how long she stared across the chasm, to the forest's edge on the other side.

"I love you, Twilight Sparkle." Rainbow Dash whispered, oblivious to a faint, muffled thud of impact behind her.

*-*-*-*-*

Even if Pinkie Pie had cured her of any lingering fear of the dark, the Everfree still held many real, tangible horrors. Twilight Sparkle had spent the first few minutes glancing every which way, trying to identify every sound, expecting an ambush behind every tree, but she slowly managed to calm down a little. She had been to Zecora's place even after the cockatrice attack. It just still didn't mean this was a good idea.

Her heartbeat didn't slow down though, because the second she stopped jumping at shadows, she made attempts to rationally analyze her feelings. She remembered Rarity's words, and knew that she had to have an answer. Of course she had read books that touched upon the subject of love, but it was allegedly notoriously hard to pin down. There was romantic love, the love between friends, love as a form of appreciation, and many more besides.

But beyond these categories, nothing she'd read felt like it applied. If anything, it reminded her of descriptions of flight. She'd spent weeks pouring over the subject, envious of pegasus ponies, and fascinated by not just the mechanics of it, but by how must feel like to fly.  She had read dozens of explanations, many of them first-hand recounts of flight, trying to detail it.

None of them had prepared her for what it felt like, for what it was like, the first time she rode a chariot. She had realized for the first time – and forgotten since – how utterly useless words could be at times.

She remembered crying to her mother when she'd landed again, utterly inconsolable not just over how beautiful it had been, but filled with sadness over how insufficient authors must feel at times when trying to convey something, even with the whole Equestrian language at their disposal.

Some things were truly indescribable.

There was a reason this memory came to her now. Somehow, every step felt lighter than the last. There was no logical explanation for this, but it seemed that logic wouldn't really help her now, and explanations weren't forthcoming. Without really knowing why, Twilight opened the saddlebag with the feather slightly, peeking at it in the sparse moonlight that managed to pierce the canopy. The bright teal feather was slightly curved and looked vulnerable and lost in the rather too-big saddlebag. She faced it down, that terrible and exhilarating harbinger, and when she closed the saddlebag again, she was smiling.

There was just one thing left that confused her. Rainbow Dash had abused her poor little library just to get to spend a little extra time with her. She'd pretended to need help just to be around her. Tonight, she'd planned on telling Twilight how she felt. What had she done to deserve this? Twilight couldn't fathom why she, of all ponies, had gained the attention of Rainbow Dash.

Dash was a popular pony, and she was just a little bookworm unicorn. Had she been cynical, and had it been any other pony, she might have suspected it had to do with her connection to Princess Celestia. It didn't really work as well when Rainbow Dash was a fellow element of harmony. One step at a time, Twilight told herself, she would find out why this had happened.

Rainbow Dash. Loved her.

There were butterflies in her stomach. She could not quell them, and she had no idea where they came from. It felt a little like it did when she was about to sit down with a new book, or when she got to spend time with Princess Celestia, but different, somehow. And far, far stronger. It made her giddy somehow, too, as if she'd had too much sarsaparilla. A nervous giggle escaped her before she could stop herself, making the unicorn skid to a halt and look around to see if anyone had seen or heard her. The entire thing was utterly absurd.

"Okay, I'm going crazy. Good to know." she muttered a little more soberly.

*-*-*-*-*

"It's not safe here."

The gentle voice came out of nowhere, startling Rainbow Dash. The pegasus pony snapped around with raised hooves and wings spread, ready to fight! A split-second later, she was frozen on the spot, incredulous.

"Nightmare-" she began, the words dying in her throat when she realized she'd misspoken.

"I'd prefer 'Princess Luna', thank you." came the reply, rather matter-of-factly, as the alicorn princess slowly walked over to peer over the cliff's edge with detached curiosity.

It had been an all-too easy slip of the tongue in the dead of night. Luna looked very little like the broken and defeated mare left in the ruin of Nightmare Moon's defeat. She didn't seem like the reserved and apologetic princess they'd partied with shortly after, either.

Under the moon that was her namesake and the carpet of stars that were her domain, she stood tall and proud, looking most of all like a part of the night sky alighted on ground. Her wings were half unfurled even as she stood at rest, making her seem bigger than she was, but the menace of Nightmare Moon was gone, where the strength remained.

"Sorry. Princess." Rainbow Dash managed, kneeling down on her fore-hooves whilst she looked up on the Princess. Luna was still staring down into the abyss, thoughtful.

"Think nothing of it. What's the matter, child?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." Dash lied, simply, getting up. The bigger pony merely looked at her at that.

"Nothing, is it? There is no reason Equestria's self-styled finest flier is crying like a foal in the middle of the night?" The moon princess has arched a brow, looking almost amused. This only served to incense Rainbow Dash.

"What's it to you anyway? Poking your snout into this? Are you spying on me?!" Rainbow Dash raised her voice, yelling at Princess Luna. Yelling at a princess. She didn't even care.

Luna, for her part, took it in stride, her expression unchanging. She said nothing. Rainbow Dash was practically snarling, leaping to fill the void with words.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway. It's over!" Rainbow Dash screamed. An entirely inappropriate, desperate grin crept across her face at the thought, and she felt almost liberated. "It's over, and there's nothing I can do, so I'm free! Twilight doesn't care, so I can focus on what really matters. I can get back to practicing my Triple Filly Flash. Ha! I win!"

"If it's truly over, if you've no choice, then why are you still here?" Luna remarked in that disgustingly quiet tone. Rainbow Dash almost felt ashamed at her outburst when faced with unwavering calm, but her anger remained. What the hay was she talking about?

"I'm just- I'm about to leave, okay? It's over!" Rainbow Dash snorted and turned away from the alicorn. She stared into the darkness trying to think about nothing at all.

"Still here, though." Dash could practically hear the smile in Luna's voice.

"Shut up!" she yelled, but she instantly regretted it.

The darkness around her suddenly felt oppressive and constrictive. She lost sight of the stars themselves above her, leaving everything a solid black, and the Princess, wings and mane trailing the very stuff of night itself, walked past her slowly to stand before her. The wordless menace lingered only for a brief second, though it felt like an eternity - and then she could breathe again.  Rainbow Dash fell back on her haunches and let out a shudder, eyes wide.

"Sorry. Your Majesty."

"This doesn't look like a pony who is happy and free to focus on what "matters" to me." There was kindness in Luna's eyes, but she also looked sad. "What truly matters, Rainbow Dash?"

"The Wonderbolts." she answered automatically.

"And everything else? Twilight Sparkle?"

"Is just slowing me down." Rainbow said with practiced ease, realizing she should probably ask why Princess Luna knew to ask this, but she dared not. Princess Luna actually chuckled at that, closing her eyes briefly. Rainbow Dash didn't even have the energy to be indignant any more. "What?" she asked, flatly, but the alicorn had lapsed into silence once again, turning to look at the moon which shone down on them full and bright.

"While I think you've got a long way to go yet, that's the kind of talk that lands you on the moon." she said at length with a bemused smile.

"Uh, I think you lost me there." Dash admitted.

"Child, having dreams and goals is important, but pursuing them to the exclusion of all else will never make you happy. At best, you'll end up lonely, at worst, you'll end up lonely and bitter."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Hey, hang on just a minute-"

"Besides, no matter what your words, you know this isn't you. You're not ready to abandon your friends, not even one, and not even a little. And certainly not over something like this. It's not your nature." Again, that tranquility and confidence just served to piss Rainbow off.

"Who the hay do you think you are? You don't know me! Besides, I didn't do anything, Twilight did!" Her voice was cracking, and she hated it.

"I don't know you? Except that part where you touched upon me when you defeated Nightmare Moon – when you freed me?"

Dash scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"As for the rest, perhaps it's time to put a little faith in your friends, too, Rainbow Dash? Realize that as much as you are a beacon to others, so can you trust in them." Luna looked pointedly across the chasm that separated them from the temple that was barely visible in the distance. "All you see is the gap between the two of you, but you know there's a bridge," she helpfully indicated it, "and you've got a good pair of wings on your back."

"She still hates me. And I hate her." Rainbow Dash said, eyes still on the divide.

*-*-*-*-*

Twilight's hooves thundered against the narrow path she followed at full speed. Her horn glowed brightly and fought the cloying darkness of the Everfree forest. The noises around her were too many to even begin to categorize or identify. She'd tripped more than once, and she was covered in mud, dirt and twigs. The forest was growing darker and denser with every step.

Yet Twilight found that she couldn't slow down even for a single moment. If a log lay in the way, she'd jump it, and if the brush made passage impossible, she'd teleport through it, heedless of any strain the rapid magic jumps were causing her. Panic was slowly building, and she could do nothing to stop her frenzied, callous dash.

Rainbow Dash loved her. Rainbow Dash loved her. Her eyes brimmed with tears again – or was that "still"? She'd given up on keeping track of, well, anything. Find Rainbow Dash first, then figure this out.

Suddenly there was a sharp snapping noise, and Twilight cried out, momentarily airborne. Before she could react, she was tumbling hooves over head downwards. It all went blindingly fast, and then she lay still staring up at the night sky through the canopy. Breathing heavily, Twilight slowly twisted around and tried getting back up on her hooves, only to discover she couldn't. She felt, rather than saw, that she was bleeding.

Before she could contemplate what to do, she realized she wasn't alone. All the animal noises had stopped, which would be a concern in a normal forest, for sure, but in the Everfree, well, Twilight wasn't even sure what it meant except that it was bad. From her prone position, she could make out a shape on the other side of a small clearing. A big, indistinct shape raised on two legs with its back to her, quietly working on something.

It had her saddlebags, Twilight realized with a gasp.  Apparently only now becoming aware of her, the creature slowly turned around to face her.

It reminded her of some twisted type of diamond dog, but far larger, and with black, soulless eyes. It was as if someone had heard a description of the two-legged canines and made a mockery of them using darkness and shadow.  It held the saddlebags in one hand and popped apples into its mouth with the other, one by one, with ridiculously huge claws. All the while now, it watched her with an utter lack of expression. Not that Twilight noticed. Her attention was upon the other, unopened saddlebag attached to the first one that held her supplies.

"Excuse me, hi there, my name is Twilight Sparkle." she began, her voice growing more quiet with each word. "And, um, it seems you've taken my saddlebags. May I have them back, please?"

The thing merely watched her as would a particularly cruel pony study a bug. It popped another apple into its maw. It didn't even chew. Its teeth were far too large to effectively bite down on anything smaller than, say, a pony.  Twilight swallowed, trying again, resisting the urge to bolt. It wouldn't take the monster more than ten steps of its feet to reach Twilight. Still, she couldn't flee empty-hoofed.

"I mean, feel free to eat my food, actually. I mean, those apples are really good, aren't they? Oh, and Fluttershy grew the carrots herself, they're really something special! She usually reserves them for Angel and the other bunnies, but she insisted on giving me some, even though I wasn't very hungry, um. I really miss my friends right now."

She didn't know why she said the last part out loud. Fairly sure that this thing could not talk, it was rapidly becoming a monologue for her own benefit.  The creature leaned a little closer and growled, clutching the saddlebags protectively.  So it could understand her, then. Twilight couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or not.

"But the thing is, I'm going to need what's in the other saddlebag. It's not food, but I need it back."

To Twilight Sparkle's surprise, the umbral thing gingerly reached into said saddlebag and extracted the feather with a sick grin on its face before speaking in a deep voice.

"You want this, little pony? You desire this? It's mine, now."

Twilight Sparkle slowly struggled to stand, taking it one hoof at a time. It cost her, she felt a jolt of pain, but she didn't say or do anything else until she was up on all four hooves. She even took a small step forward before she could stop herself, her whole body shaking.

"Please. It's worth nothing to you. Just give me the feather. You can have the rest!"

"No! If the pony wants it, it's worth something. Mine!" The brute held on to the feather, daring Twilight to do anything about it. All Twilight could think about was that she was sure that the creature had scratched the feather with its dirty claws. Rainbow Dash's feather. Her feather.

"Hand me that feather. Now." Twilight extended a trembling hoof.

"Come take it. You're just a scared little pony. You've got nothing!" the beast roared back, oblivious to the fact that the purple unicorn's eyes had begin to glow subtly, and entirely mistaken as to what Twilight was afraid of.

*-*-*-*-*

Princess Luna, ruler of the night, flinched visibly and opened her eyes wide in surprise. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash was still moping with her back turned. Perhaps her sister wouldn't have cared, being more relaxed regarding matters of decorum, but Luna thanked her stars.

It would never do to show their subjects weakness in any shape or form.

All the same, this told her what she needed to know. She smiled inwardly and stepped up close to Rainbow Dash, standing side to side with her, nearly brushing against her, but taking care to not actually touch.

"You're wrong, anyways." Princess Luna began, knowing full well how much the element of loyalty hated her brusque and superior mannerisms. "Why would Twilight suddenly hate you? She's a clever pony."

"You don't know-" Rainbow Dash began, but Luna cut her off, not letting the pegasus pony get a word in edgewise.

"I know more than you think, but what worries me is that you think you hate her." Luna's voice had dropped down a little more, quieter still, forcing the other pony to listen attentively. Rainbow Dash looked up at the alicorn with narrowed eyes. Luna was prepared for another outburst, the type of which she was rapidly growing tired, but instead the smaller pony turned and walked a few paces away. When Rainbow Dash spoke, she sounded calm, almost detached.

"It's been my goal all my life. It's all I've ever dreamed. And every time something happens that distracts me from training, it could mean the difference between joining the Wonderbolts and, well, not. I... I like Twilight. A lot. But I don't think she feels the same. How could she?" It seemed that Rainbow Dash noticed the self-pitying whine that threatened to creep into her voice at the same time Luna did, and she took a deep breath to steady herself before she went on. "We're just so different. She's smart and clever and all that, and she's got magic, I-. When I see her, and she tells me it's all just a huge mistake, then I can go back to focusing on, on what's... important."

The last word was said with very little conviction this time around. The Princess of the Night felt her heart sink a little to see the usually confident pony so subdued. Rainbow Dash could not have presented a starker contrast to the picture painted by all of Celestia's stories about the elements.

Luna stalked over to the smaller pegasus and lowered her head slowly to look Rainbow Dash straight in the eyes, trying to eliminate all traces of humor and satisfaction from her voice when she repeated her earlier words.

"Yet, you're still here, Rainbow Dash."  She'd apparently only been partially successful, judging by the flush of anger that washed over the pegasus pony briefly, but nothing more came of it. "You're still here because you don't want to see Twilight Sparkle. You're still here, because you don't want what's happened to be a mistake. You fear the meeting, and you're delaying it. You're here because you have hope."

"Hope." Rainbow Dash repeated hollowly.

"Hope. Is your desire to prove me wrong - because you ironically consider me stuck-up and arrogant – greater than your desire to love and be loved, Rainbow Dash? If you're gonna fly away, now is the time." Luna made her words a challenge, and stepped back as if inviting Rainbow Dash to take off, but she knew she wouldn't.

Rainbow Dash frowned and tensed, her wings spreading.  Luna corrected herself.  She hoped she wouldn't fly away. Hope was precious. Hope was what had made sure that there was a Luna left when Nightmare Moon fell. Hope was how she went on, how she lived with herself.

Finally, the Princess' heightened senses picked up faint hoof-falls and the rustle of grass and leaves. Rainbow Dash had relaxed a bit and looked defeated.

"Differences are a good thing, child. Do you want to know a secret?" Without waiting for an answer, Luna walked over to the very edge of the cliff and leaned out, peering downwards. From where they stood, a perpetual fog made sure that they couldn't see very far down the sheer cliff face. "It’s too easy to assume that monsters lurk beneath the fog here, but if you look, you’ll find that at the bottom of the chasm here, there grows a flower that's unique to this area. It doesn't grow anywhere else. "

She frowned, thinking about what else she could possibly say, fishing for inspiration. "There are many sayings and natural phenomena that tell the same tale of what happens when opposites meet. It's not an obstacle unless you make it one."

With these words, the Princess kicked off and hovered slightly off the ground with slow, powerful wing beats. Rainbow Dash looked up at her, apparently still lost in thought. Luna didn't wait for a bow or any parting words – in a moment, she was gone, just as Rainbow Dash's ears perked up and noticed the growing noise of someone crashing through the undergrowth nearby.

*-*-*-*-*

Twilight knew she was foaming at the mouth. She was sure she was bleeding from a dozen nicks and scratches. And she was positively certain that she could go faster still, though her body complained. She was no athlete, but she ran like a pony possessed now - fallen into a rhythm, hardly even thinking at all. Had the path always been this narrow? She was about to consider that one thing she'd been afraid to ask herself, whether she was lost or not, when she crested a small hill and found herself facing the bridge that led to the temple in the distance.

And Rainbow Dash.

Twilight Sparkle nearly fell as she skidded to a halt, barely avoiding a painful collision with the supports of the rickety wooden bridge.

The blue pegasus pony stood frozen, staring at her, eyes wide. Relief flooded Twilight when she saw that Rainbow Dash appeared to be unhurt. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected, but her heart practically jumped at the sight. She tentatively approached her friend.

"Rainbow, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't realize, I didn't think, I'm so stupid!" she began, stammering.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I mean, sure, I tend to get a little caught up in things sometimes, or, often, actually, but I should have stopped to think-"

"Twilight." Dash tried again, glancing up and down Twilight's body. Twilight’s vision blurred a little with tears.

"And then Fluttershy told me about the feather, and I've been thinking, and-"

"Twilight!" Dash said, her voice carrying a note of alarm now as she approached, looking mortified.

"And- oh, the feather!" Twilight quickly twisted around to undo the buckle on the one of her saddlebags that remained somewhat intact. "Rainbow Dash, I, I'm so sorry!"

"TWILIGHT!" Dash yelled at the top of her lungs, and before Twilight could say anything more, Rainbow dash had put an uncharacteristically gentle hoof on her mouth – at odds with her expression which conveyed urgency, fear, and – was that anger? "Just shut up! Tell me, are you okay, Twilight?"

Hoof removed, Twilight took a steadying breath, but she could think of only one thing. She slowly opened the saddlebag, showing Rainbow Dash the feather which rested inside. Part of it was singed, it was caked with dirt, and there was some dried blood on it. Where had that come from? Shaking her head a little, Twilight looked over at the pegasus again and sniffled, once.

"I ruined it. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." Very carefully, she extracted the feather with her mouth.

Rainbow Dash hadn't even looked at the feather. She was still looking straight at Twilight. It was obvious that she was doing everything she could to hold back tears herself.

"Are you giving it back?" Rainbow Dash asked, quietly.

Twilight stared at her, a little confused. She was also feeling a little dizzy, thought she wasn't sure why. She blinked heavily a few times. Rainbow Dash got a little blurrier with each blink.

Rainbow Dash asked again, intense and urgent, "Are you giving me back the feather?"

Twilight suppressed the urge to point out that Rainbow Dash had technically never given her the feather, or told her what she felt. What Twilight hoped Rainbow Dash felt, rather. That Twilight hoped for it in and by itself was a revelation.  If Twilight had any designs of a longer, convoluted answer, brevity was blessedly forced upon her by the fact that she had the feather in her mouth. That poor, abused, beautiful soft feather, and what it meant.

The purple unicorn simply shook her head, grimly.  The feather was hers.  This triggered another bout of dizziness, and she staggered a little. When she tried to regain her balance, she found that one of her hooves wouldn't support her, and she fell to the ground as if she'd forgotten how ever stand at all. Dash cried out, but Twilight found she couldn't say anything for fear of losing grip on the feather. She bit down on it with all her might as her mind taunted her with visions of the wind seizing hold of it and carrying it far away.  Before she knew it, she was dreaming, lost in a chaotic mess of feathers and dark shapes.

When next Twilight came to, eyes cracking open, it seemed all was white. It took her a few moments to realize she was abed. Celestia's sun was streaming in through an open window making everything eye-blindingly bright. Automatically, assuming her morning routine, Twilight tried to twist around and get out of bed, but her body was sluggish. She hesitated, struggling to pry her eyes fully open. Something was off. Her walls weren't supposed to be white.

She was in a hospital room. She remembered, and stopped breathing for a second, looking around in a panic. What she saw calmed her more surely than anything else could possibly have done.

All around the room lay her friends, sleeping and snoring soundly – or delicately, in the case of Rarity. Pinkie Pie lay on her back over Applejack's flank. Rarity was asleep in a chair, her mane in a tangle – Spike was curled up half-way under the same chair. Fluttershy slept at the foot-end of Twilight's bed, one wing draped over Twilight's flank and back legs.  But no Rainbow Dash.

What had happened anyway? Twilight made a second attempt at getting out of bed, but stopped when using her front left hoof rewarded her with a flare of pain. She brought it out from under the covers and saw to her great surprise that it was in a cast! Pulling back the covers with her other hoof, she saw that bandages covered much of her body. It didn't hurt as much as her hoof, though. Had it been the fall? The creature? She had to admit she didn't remember much after that.

Well, except for talking to Rainbow Dash. She remembered each and every word they'd traded before she presumably passed out. She remembered them perhaps too well. Twilight Sparkle was unable to keep herself from replaying the scene over and over in her mind. Had she blown it? Had she destroyed any chance of them being more than friends? Had she ruined their friendship, too?

Twilight felt tears come to her unbidden again. She hated this part – she sat there sniffling like a foal, not wanting to wake any of her friends. She didn't know exactly why she didn't want to wake them, but she did know why she was crying.

There was one thing she'd realized as she made her way through the forest yesterday, a single thought that began as a flickering flame but rapidly grew into a bonfire and sped her along. She loved Rainbow Dash. No, she didn't know the specifics, and yes, the analytical part of her mind hated that, but she also loved the wild rush and the freedom of just feeling this way. And she loved the thought of telling Rainbow Dash.

Apparently, she'd been too late. She hadn't considered the option that Rainbow Dash wouldn't feel the same anymore after being rejected. Twilight didn't know how long she sat there, trying not to feel alone despite being surrounded by almost all of her best friends, but it felt like an eternity. Pinkie Pie muttered something about oatmeal in her sleep. Fluttershy stretched her wing to cover Twilight a bit more. Spike actually had the hiccups in his sleep, which would have been hilarious under any other circumstance.

Twilight soon found herself dozing off in short intervals, tired, and tired of being tired. She woke up once to see Nurse Redheart exiting the room. After falling asleep again, she woke up a second time, expecting the same kind-hearted earth pony, but instead, Rainbow Dash stepped inside, with an odd yellow flower in her mouth and rings under her eyes betraying a lack of sleep.

-*-*-*-*-*

"Uh, hi, Twilight" Rainbow Dash muttered. Her resolve faded a little when she saw Twilight Sparkle was awake. She had wanted to be there when she woke up, for some stupid reason. She put the flower down on the bed, near Fluttershy, and frowned as she worked her tongue around her mouth. Princess Luna had neglected to mention that they were in fact also exceptionally foul-tasting flowers.

Dash hadn't been able to stop thinking about the alicorn princess' words since they'd parted, excepting a brief spell of panic, of course, when she'd seen Twilight. That thought snapped her back to reality quick enough, and she looked up at the unicorn, awkwardness forgotten momentarily. Twilight had barely moved, so Rainbow scooted over to sit on her haunches by the bed.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Twilight appeared thoughtful for a second, as if she hadn't even considered that, then nodded. "I'm a little stiff, but I'm otherwise fine, I just don't know what happened."

Rainbow Dash could only nod at that. The unicorn had seemed almost delirious before she passed out. She swallowed as a stab of fear lanced through her. Did this mean she didn't remember anything?

"Um, Rainbow? I am going to be okay, right?" Twilight asked, apparently distressed at the pegasus' expression. Rainbow Dash quickly regained her composure and gave her a great, fake grin.

"Oh yeah, you hurt one of your legs real bad, but the nurse said you'll be fine. You don't remember how you got wounded?"

Twilight did remember. She winced and looked down at the bed, wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, I do."

Neither pony seemed to want to speak up. Twilight looked at absolutely nothing in particular, and Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight – staring and bearing a slight frown, as trying to solve a puzzle.

Pinkie Pie rolled over in her sleep, causing Applejack to shift a bit. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash both tensed up, then shared a quiet little smile.

"I carried you-" Dash began.

"I think I hurt-" Twilight started to say.

They both shut up at the same time, Twilight motioning for the pegasus to go ahead first.

"It's how you got back. I carried you after you, um, after you found me." She wanted to say more, but she feared that Twilight had forgotten what she had said. Frankly, Rainbow Dash didn't care so much about that stupid feather anyways, she just figured Twilight might. And she apparently had. And then she'd forgotten? Dash searched Twilight's eyes for any hint of recognition, but the latter of the two just looked lost. "You were pretty beat up. Heh, it was kind of cool actually. What the hell were you doing anyway?" Rainbow Dash felt her face heat up a little. It wasn't cool at all, actually, when she thought about it. "You could have gotten hurt worse. You could have gotten killed, you idiot!"

"I'm sorry." Twilight's voice was just a whisper, at first, but she grew more intense with each word. "I'm sorry I almost lost it. I'm sorry I got hurt, but- you know, I'm not sorry I came looking for you.  And something took your feather, some monster, I don't even know, and I, I hurt it. I don't know what happened to it, and then I messed up the feather, and I don't know where it is. I thought I'd lost you. I-" She stopped herself and sobbed. Rainbow Dash was still looking at her, her jaw squared.

Luna's words, annoying as though she had been, had made some sense. What she'd since realized, though, was that she didn't have to choose. The Wonderbolts had always been her goal, but it didn't have to be a straight path there, did it? It's wasn't like Twilight's books were useless. She was surprised when she realized that when she feared she might lose Twilight as a friend, she also regretted the thought of losing their study nights.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice was faint and pitiful, and Rainbow barely heard her. How could she live with herself if she shied away from a challenge? Much less a challenge that she really did want? How was this different from a sonic rainboom?

Not that the question even mattered. She knew what she wanted. She didn't have to answer which one she'd choose if she had to choose. Because she chose not to choose.  Her head spun a little at that thought, but she was satisfied all the same.

Rainbow Dash slowly got up and turned to the nightstand next to Twilight Sparkle's head, fully aware that Twilight was watching her all the way. Twilight was trying to be quiet and hold back a sniffle.

"Where the hay- ah. It fell on the floor. Wind must have caught it." Rainbow Dash muttered as she leaned under the bed and picked up the displaced feather with her mouth. Without hesitation, she stuck it in Twilight's mane, the unicorn too surprised to do anything but stare. "Stop crying." Rainbow said, though she smiled. Her face like it was burning. "You're making me feel bad."

Twilight swallowed, and said nothing. Rainbow Dash stifled a surge of anger and doubt.

"I never gave it to you, you know, like I should have.  Like I meant to.  Now I have. Unless you don't want it." The last few words have sounded almost angry, and Rainbow Dash felt a little ashamed, looking down, trying to shut up the nagging fears.

She had all of two seconds alone with those fears before Twilight leaned over and planted a kiss on the tip of her muzzle that seemed to burn them away. The unicorn's violet eyes were still glistening with tears and her cheeks were burning, but Twilight met her gaze steadily. Rainbow Dash's heart felt like it was going to explode. Sonic rainbooms were nothing.

"Thank you." Twilight said, simply. Before she could say any more, though, they were interrupted by a muffled squeak.

Fluttershy raised her head up from the bed an inch and looked like she wanted to melt and seep through the floor – which was probably not too far away from the truth.

"Oh my goodness I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just, I've been awake for a little while and ohmygoodness I didn't mean to spy, I just woke up and I didn't want to interrupt you, and now I have I'm so sorry I- I'm just going to, I don't, what do I do oh I'm so sorry please don't hate me." the yellow pegasus fretted urgently yet quietly.

"I think it's okay, Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle whispered, glancing over at Rainbow Dash hopefully and wiping her eyes with her good hoof.

"Yeah. It's cool." Rainbow Dash agreed, taking Twilight's hoof in her own and leaning back in to kiss her.

"Oh my goodness." was all Fluttershy could manage.

When their lips parted, the silence that settled was comfortable and fuzzy in all the right ways for at least two out of the three ponies. But there was one thing that Rainbow Dash hadn’t quite figured out.

"Um, Twilight? How did you know where I was?"

Twilight hesitated a bit, looking sheepish. "I didn't, really. I thought you would be where we found the Elements. You know, reflecting on them."

Rainbow Dash blinked and raised a brow. “Dork.”

"It's what I'd have done, I think!" Twilight said, a little defensively. "But I guess I should have known better."

"I'm glad you didn't know any better then, I guess." Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"What were you doing at the bridge, anyway, then?" The question caught the pegasus a little off-guard.

"I... it's where I first realized..." her voice petered out. She couldn't complete the sentence, but Twilight caught on rapidly in a rare moment of understanding. Twilight blushed.

"Oh. I see. And... the flower?"

Rainbow Dash had forgotten about that, glancing down at the single, forgotten flower. Not much of a romantic, she shrugged and said the truth. "I think that one was more from me to myself."

Twilight gave her an odd look at that, but did not protest.

"Twi'! You're awake!" Applejack's exclamation roused the other ponies who began shaking off sleep in various ways, but Twilight and Rainbow Dash kept holding hooves.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Princess Celestia, Matriarch and Ruler of Equestria, was exactly where Luna had expected her to be at this time of day. She always took a few minutes off around high noon to stand at the highest balcony of the castle. As to why, Luna was not quite sure. It could be because of the effect it had on its subjects to see the Sun Princess in her full splendor. It could be because a narcissistic streak compelled her to gloat when her power was at its highest.

Luna mentally berated herself for thinking that, even for just one second. It felt like a cloying film of shame stuck to her coat for having had that thought. Celestia's eyes were not turned skywards, but to the horizon.

She was watching her subjects – their subjects, she reminded herself – and thinking about them all.

"My dear sister, welcome back. Where were you last night?" Celestia said, and Luna bathed in the warmth of her presence, refusing to brood and end up in a mood again.

"Hello, 'Tia." she replied as she trotted up to stand at her sister's side. "And I think you know the answer to that."

"Do I?" Celestia asked, gracing Luna with a smile. She almost always smiled, of course, but Luna knew what this smile told her. It said, of course I know, but humor me. Luna huffed and glanced towards the distant Ponyville.

"How much of this did you orchestrate, sister?" Luna asked, sincerely.

At this, the omnipresent smile faded, bit by bit, until Celestia looked thoughtful. Luna instantly regretted not simply playing along.

"You don't give ponies enough credit, dear. I've done nothing except request that Spike stay to help me with his dragon fire for a little longer than I had originally intended" was Celestia's reply.

Luna felt a little slighted at that, but she felt a pull to get answers, all the same. "Acting by proxy and pulling strings doesn't leave your hooves clean." Luna ventured, quickly adding, "Not that anything wrong has been done." Celestia remained looking disappointed. Her eyes seemed to bore straight through Luna, who began to fidget a little.

"Who did I manipulate?" Celestia queried, gently.

"Me." Luna answered.

Celestia's frowned at that. It wasn't a menacing frown. Luna had seen Celestia angry. It was a very rare sight, but this was not one of those frowns that made her hackles rise – or made her want to hide from the fury of the sun.  It was far, far worse.  Celestia seemed truly saddened.

"What I told you was that Twilight Sparkle had written to me about Rainbow Dash, and nothing more. Do you still fear me so? Do you still hate yourself so much that you can't accept that it was you who heard the plea for help in the middle of the night, your domain? Can you not take credit for what was a good deed?"

Luna's head dropped, and instantly, she felt the warmth of her sister’s body as Celestia leaned slightly on the smaller alicorn.

"You did a good thing." Celestia whispered. "Even though I think you may do well to never let Rainbow Dash know you threatened Twilight so."

"She was never in any real danger. I had full control." Luna murmured and leaned back on her sister.

"I know." Celestia assured her, draping a wing protectively over her.

*-*-*-*-*

The sounds of Pinkie Pie's party were muted, reduced to dull throbs of the bass through the floor of Twilight Sparkle's bedroom. Naturally, Pinkie had wanted to throw a party to celebrate her being released from the hospital. Almost equally naturally, it had been a surprise party. How that pony managed to secretly hide close to a hundred ponies inside her library for even a second, Twilight would never know.

She turned the page of her book with a hoof just as there was a creak from the door to her room.

"I'll be down in a second, I just need to finish this chapter." Twilight said. After a moment, a gust started blowing in her room, messing up her mane and turning the pages of her book willy-nilly. Twilight rolled onto her back and stared up at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering over her bed, grinning broadly.

"Heya!" Rainbow Dash giggled.

"Hi. I suppose I really should rejoin the party downstairs, shouldn't I? Guest of honor and everything." Twilight admitted with a theatrical huff.

"You know Pinkie Pie, Twilight. She'd keep it alive even if she was the only pony there." Rainbow Dash paused for a brief second, her eyes glazing over as if reliving a terrible memory, before she caught herself. "Uh, yeah, so anyways, I don't think you'll be missed, I mean." she concluded.

Twilight nodded gratefully at that, very eager to agree, or just believe. She lay very still, looking up at the rainbow-maned pegasus who lazily did circuits around Twilight's room. When she started thinking, it was hard to stop, but she liked to think she felt secure enough in herself to broach a subject that had been nagging her.

"Hey Rainbow. Why me?"

Rainbow Dash had apparently either been thinking about just that recently, or she was just quicker on the uptake about these things than Twilight, but either way, she didn't ask for an explanation or a clarification.

"'Cause you're cool."

Twilight couldn't stop herself from laughing at that, and once she started laughing, she found it hard to stop. Rainbow Dash even joined in for a little while, but she sobered up quickly and looked unusually pensive.

"Rainbow, I'm everything but cool. I am probably the least cool pony in Ponyville."

"Says who?" Rainbow challenged.

"Everypony." Twilight shook her head, wondering where this was going.

"Except me. And I'm pretty much the coolest pony in Ponyville, so..." Rainbow Dash said with a note of triumph. Twilight blushed but she had to know.

"Seriously, though." the unicorn implored, now almost coming to regret asking.

"Seriously." Dash said, hotly. "Do you have to think so much all the time? Shut that big brain of yours off for a second and just feel instead of thinking. What do you feel when you do that? You know what I feel? I feel that I love you, and that I want to be with you. And I do think you're cool. And you're smart, which is cool, so that's twice as cool." When she finished, Rainbow Dash was a little flushed.

"I think you're right." Twilight admitted, mulling those words over and extending a hoof towards the airborne pegasus. Rainbow Dash landed on the edge of the bed but didn't come any closer. She muttered something inaudible that Twilight couldn't hear, her ears flat backwards.

"Sorry, what's that?" Twilight asked, though she had an idea of what she'd just said.

Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight and repeated herself, still too low for the unicorn to hear. Twilight failed to hold back a smile.

"You're going to have to speak up, Rainbow Dash."

Two minutes later, the casualties were up to three pillows, a set of bedsheets, and entirely too many books, but Twilight Sparkle couldn't make herself mind all too much. Presently, she lay pinned under Rainbow Dash, who was considerably less worn out from the ordeal than she was herself. Yet the pegasus pony looked flushed all the same, and her expression was urgent.

"Tell me!" she snarled, her snout mere inches from Twilight's. There was a trace of real need, if not anger, in her tone. Twilight was still trying to catch her breath, and couldn't answer even if she wanted to. "Just tell me! Just, please. Tell me. I have to know."

Twilight's expression slackened as she thought she heard a note of real hurt in Rainbow Dash's voice. Figuring the game had gone on long enough, she nodded. Rainbow Dash remained still atop Twilight, staring down at her.

"Because-" Twilight took another breath.  "Because I love you."  

The desperation painted on Rainbow Dash's face grew. Twilight leaned forward and nibbled on Rainbow Dash's lips briefly before drawing her into a kiss. It certainly did nothing to alleviate her shortness of breath, but it bought her a few seconds.

"Because you give me strength. Because you inspire ponies, me included. Because you have a good heart. Take your pick." Twilight said, not even sure where the words came from, but she knew she meant them. "But most of all I love you just because I do, and that's not something I would have thought possible a month ago."  Twilight finished.  They stared into each others' eyes for a few seconds, both of them breathing heavily now.

"And because I'm cool, right?" Rainbow Dash said, grinning.

"And because you're cool." Twilight Sparkle laughed.

The End

*-*-*-*-*

Author’s Notes

Thank you for reading!  As this is my first completed work of fan fiction, feedback is greatly appreciated, even if it’s just to say you liked it - or that you feel I missed the characters or the settings entirely, and that you hope I come with with a severe case of the plague!

Regardless, feel free to drop me a line at cloudyskieswrites@gmail.com

I would also like to thank the colt and filly who served as my pre-readers.  Without you two, I really wouldn’t have had the motivation to ever complete this.

Beta-Filly’s Notes

Uh, so adding this in hopes Cloudy won’t mind - VERY SORRY to those of you who read when it first went up, before I got a chance to explain the nuances of paragraph formatting to my grammatically wayward big brother. ^_^;;  

Thank you guys for reading, and seriously, send him emails!  He gets all flustered when he gets fan mail, and it’s fun to watch. ;)

~Sunbeamer