The cyan pegasus approached her destination as she crossed the early morning, dew-laced Ponyville. Saddlebags carrying her load, her first borrowed set of Daring Do books, bounced off of her athletic sides as she walked along. She was heading over to the tree that stood tall and proud as Ponyville's own library, which was also occupied by her good friend Twilight Sparkle.
The mare was heading over there to pick up another set of the undeniably, unrevokably, unquestionably, unputdownable series known by the title, 'Daring Do'.
Trotting up to the door, with the saddlebags bouncing uncomfortably beneath her wings, Dash raised a hoof and knocked firmly on the wooden frame, which reverberated in its hinge as each blow landed against it. After a few long seconds of knocking, a violet aura of magic encapsulated the door and the door flew open to let her in.
Rainbow Dash proceeded into the lobby, which also doubled as a living room for her friend. Not a book was out of their respective shelves, indicating that Twilight must have put away any stray books last night. She heard Twilight stifle a yawn out, "I'll be right there, just give me a second."
Dash sighed. She hated waiting, but she knew that the books would be worth the wait. After a few seconds of impatient waiting, Rainbow saw her friend come down from the flight of stairs that led up to the unicorn's bedroom.
"Oh, hello, Rainbow. You're here for another set of 'Daring Do', aren't you?" inquired the lavender mare.
"You bet I am. This series just keeps getting better and better."
"It is rather intriguing, I'll admit, but don't go too fast, or you'll run out of books in the series in no time." suggested the bookish unicorn.
Rainbow nodded in agreement, if slightly reluctantly. She had to admit that she had spent the vast majority of her free time reading the series, even neglecting some of her chores, like ensuring her pet turtle, Tank, always had water.
"For somepony that just started reading, you sure have sped through the books. Do you speed read or something?" Twilight broke the momentary silence that had manifested between the two.
"Eh... It's not like I've NEVER read before, Twilight. It's just very rare for me to ever find a book or series that interests me. Most books are boring to me. I read the books assigned in school, but those really put me off the idea of reading for fun because I didn't have a choice, in the slightest, in reading them. Even then I considered it an 'egghead' activity, and being forced to do it just made me dislike the idea even further. Which, now, I can see how shortsighted that is, and I sorta regret not picking up a book more often."
Twilight nodded her head in agreement with what Dash had said. "Well, that makes sense. We all make mistakes sometimes, Dash. Some with more unknown consequences than we would expect or ever predict. Still, all that aside, do you speed read or something?"
"Um... not really, Twilight. I'm not like those eggheads that can finish a 700 page epic in an hour and a half. Nor do I slave over every last word to draw the most detail out of it, I just read the words on the page, imagine the scene in my head, and try to immerse myself in what I'm reading. Which, I guess, helps me read faster?"
"Interesting. When I read, I do a similar thing. Well, at least, when I'm reading fiction. When I'm reading giant history tomes, I just set about trying to relate things to other things so I can have an easier time remembering them." The unicorn took a deep breath after her long, for that early in the morning, statement.
With the topic of conversation coming to an end, Dash spoke. "Anyways, Twilight, the books. Can you get them?"
"Sure." The unicorn directed her horn to an upper shelf to her left. She used her magic to envelop the next set of books in the 'Daring Do' series in her violet aura. The books departed from the shelf and into the air. Twilight levitated the six books from the heightened distance down to her pegasus friend.
As the books approached her, Dash lifted her wings. Twilight used another strand of magic to unlatch the saddlebags Dash had brought along. With the flaps open, she pocketed the books evenly into each container.
Dash adjusted her posture to better comply with the added weight the semi-thick novels put on her athletic frame. "Thanks, Twilight. You're a great friend. No other pony would've even thought to give me a book while I stayed in the hospital."
"Anytime, Dash." Twilight smiled at the mare. An idea popped into her head. "Hey, you do know you can come over anytime, right, Dash? We could read to each other or talk about the series. I have read all of them, more than once. It was one of my favorite series as a filly."
"I dunno, Twilight. Maybe." Dash gave her a sympathetic look. "Perhaps once I'm done with the series we could sit down and have a nice long discussion about it."
A momentary awkward silence formed between the two. The pegasus was the first to break it. "Well, I gotta go, Twilight. Got adventures to read and get lost in. Not to mention pet turtles to water and feed."
"Don't wanna stay for breakfast? I could whip you up some waffles or something." offered Twilight.
"Sorry, egghead. I already ate before coming over here. I woke up starving. Had waffles." Dash turned down the proposition.
Twilight felt disheartened slightly that Dash hadn't immediately taken her up on her offer of discussing the series, but she shoved the disappointment out of her mind. "Bye, Dash. See ya... later."
At this, Dash turned round and proceeded to the door, which opened with a violet aura.
The pegasus sped across the early morning, dew stricken Ponyville to her cloud home. Today was her off day, and she planned on spending most of it reading.
