Something Sweet

The next few days passed like leaves blown by the wind, quiet and insignificant but still there without a doubt. Of course, that day at the Boutique did change things, but the changes were small and soon seemed to settle in, just as they came, without any commotion. Rarity had surely been perplexed upon discovering Rainbow Dash’s unannounced exit that day her friend had come to visit, but asked no further questions after having the entire incident explained to her by Sweetie Belle to the best of her ability. Though Rainbow Dash imagined she must have been quite confused, Rarity didn't seem angered or offended by what happened, and actually acted no differently than she normally would have the next few times she saw that particular friend of hers.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t worried too much about finding a marefriend in a while. She hadn’t worried about anything in a while, really. The days were blank, uneventful, her mind clear of deep thoughts. She did her daily tasks with the weather team, and spent her free time taking leisurely flights through the crisp autumn air, or giving Fluttershy and her animals a visit, or reading an adventure story at Twilight's library. Some nights when she dropped by, Pinkie Pie was there as well. However, Rainbow Dash was pleasantly surprised on multiple occasions when Pinkie Pie didn't go on her usual rambling about her marefriend. She was glad to finally enjoy some peaceful time with a few old friends without being pestered by the constant notion that she still didn't have a special somepony. Things were back to normal, and Rainbow Dash treasured the feeling for as long as it could last.

That didn't turn out to be very long, though, as it became clear to her one night when she decided to return to the library once more. She had been in the middle of a novel with a plot that wasn't quite as compelling as most, but nonetheless was quite intent on finishing the book. She had taken a flight down to the library, a bit later than usual, hoping that Twilight wouldn't mind her unexpected visit--they were friends, after all. The librarian pony had been surprised when she arrived at such a late hour, but not unpleasantly so. She simply let the mare inside and allowed her to settle down with the story she had been looking for.

All was well as Rainbow Dash slouched on a pillow against the wall, turning the familiar pages of the book propped up on her crossed legs in front of her. Though after nearly an hour of steady reading had passed, her mind began to stray from the world within in the pages of the book. She looked down at her pale blue legs, which she was surprised hadn't fallen asleep within the time they had stopped moving, and stretched them a bit. Then she moved her head around in little circles, trying to get the kinks out of her neck. As she raised her head, she looked ahead of her and noticed that Twilight Sparkle was no longer sitting with her book in the clearing where she'd been when Rainbow Dash had begun reading. Confusion turned to curiosity, and soon, after setting the hardback book on the floor, an uncertain pegasus was once more up and plodding across the room.

"Twilight?" she called after she had taken a few steps forward into the wide room. She turned her head one way, then the other, scanning the area for the purple unicorn from whom she still awaited a response. When she found nothing but the tall shelves of books that regularly occupied the room, she turned to her left and after a few more quiet steps proceeded up a flight of wooden stairs against the wall. She didn't often enter Twilight's room, so naturally she felt a bit guilty as she was about to do so now, but her friend couldn't have strayed far from her original setting without informing Rainbow Dash in advance. After she reached the top of the staircase, she approached the door and gingerly pushed it so that it swung open. Luckily it hadn't been locked, which made Rainbow Dash feel a bit better about what felt like a bit of an intrusion.

The room that she entered was one she had never seen before. It was a wide room, though perhaps not quite as large as the others, with wooden walls that were in certain places covered by bookshelves that resembled the ones all about the other rooms. Many books lined these shelves, though some lay scattered about the floor, a sight Twilight probably wouldn't have wanted many other ponies to see. Upon the chestnut-colored floor was a pinkish, round-shaped rug. The room had a quiet, peaceful stillness to it. At the time Rainbow Dash was unsure whether to be relieved or worried by that, but it didn't really matter since she soon found what was to be her reassurance that all was safe. Or at least, Twilight was safe,  there beside her bed lying comfortably on the ground with a cobalt blue blanket draped across her back. Rainbow Dash smiled warmly at this sight. At least, that was until her brain processed the observation that Pinkie Pie was under the blanket as well, snuggled up close to Twilight and holding onto her hoof.

Pinkie Pie, Twilight's marefriend.

Rainbow Dash didn't have a marefriend.

In that moment, all of Dash's worries from before that she had managed to forget for the past week came tumbling right back to her. Pinkie Pie's gloating about her delightful relationship. Rainbow Dash's determination to find a girlfriend herself. Her attempt to ask out Rarity. The downright failure of the event.

The constant loneliness that nagged at her, though she could never admit it, whenever the word "marefriend" entered her mind, and the events that had triggered these rotten feelings of regret so long ago.

And her friends were here sleeping peacefully as if nothing was wrong in the world, not even in the mind of this pegasus who they were sure they knew so well.

Maybe, she thought as she watched them doze off in their carefree manner, it would be best to leave them be and take her worries elsewhere, somewhere they weren't so out-of-place. This wasn't her house, after all. Even if Twilight had allowed it, it was wrong of her to have come to visit at such a late hour when her presence had certainly not been expected in the first place, she thought. Turning her back to the still snuggling pink and purple ponies, she prepared to exit the room. Though her intention was to leave silently and surreptitiously, her first few steps were a bit clumsy rather than graceful and smooth motions like she had planned. Though the sounds of her hooves hadn't been awfully loud, and she did manage to regain her balance for the most part, in her frantic attempt to do so and make her escape just as well she had overlooked a book that lay but a few inches before her stumbling hooves. The result of her blind continuation of the short yet somehow perilous journey out of Twilight's room resulted in a collapsed heap of a blue pegasus who soon lay, disoriented and with a stubbed front hoof, on the floor. So close to the door she had been before the fall, and yet so far.

She lay there for a few seconds more, too weak at the moment and in too strange a position to want to move. For a second she was almost convinced by her own thoughts to simply giving up on the hassle of getting up and escaping at all and instead remain at her exact position and simply fall into a deep sleep like the one into which Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie had already slipped. A rustling sound that emerged behind her, which she assumed to be the mentioned mares shifting around under their blankets as they began to awaken, soon convinced her otherwise. She flailed her limbs, apparently in some sort of attempt to get up (though it didn't really appear as such).

A yawn came from one of the ponies behind her, followed by a well-known voice that seemed to clearly express concern in spite of sounding tired. "Rainbow Dash...Oh, Rainbow I'm sorry!" Unseen to the mare to which she spoke, Twilight Sparkle hopped up and trotted briskly to Rainbow Dash's side. The winged mare still lying on the floor turned her head so she could see her friend, who continued in a tone that now sounded rather uncomfortably confused. "Wait, how did you get there on the...ground?" After studying the scene more closely, she blinked twice and gave a troubled look at the obviously inanimate little green book that lay slightly behind Rainbow Dash's back legs. "Oh...right, the...books. I'm sorry about that--I really should be more careful with the...ugh." With an interruption of a silent yawn entering her speech, Twilight rubbed her eyes, not yet having fully awoken from her nap.

"Sorry, I...hadn't realized you hadn't left before. Sorta just snuck upstairs with Pinkie Pie and started to read. We were going to go back downstairs and eventually see you off, but we lost track of time. You know, you're just as welcome to leave when you please as you are to drop by." Twilight grinned at Rainbow Dash, who had slowly gotten herself back on her hooves while she listened to Twilight Sparkle's explanation for her disappearance.

"Nah, are you kidding? Don't be sorry, Twi. It's my fault for coming over here so late. I mean, who wouldn't be tired by now, er... well, even by an hour ago?"

"Actually, I'm normally able to stay up this late. I guess I've just been staying up too much trying to squeeze out ideas for friendship letters lately..." Even though Twilight was a princess now, her journey of learning about friendship didn't stop. She rubbed her foreleg with one hoof as she spoke, then giggled. "Then there's Spike, who doesn't seem to ever want to go to bed at a decent hour. I have to explain to him that it's not exactly encouraged to stay up at crazy hours like mine even if he were doing something productive with the time."

"I think you're forgetting that he's not exactly a baby dragon anymore... " Rainbow Dash chuckled at Twilight's over-protective sisterly nature. "But still, it's not a good idea for anyone to stay up later than they should. That includes you, Twi, friendship letter or not."

"I guess you're right. I can finish writing the letter tomorrow," she said as Rainbow Dash began to turn to the door, getting ready to leave but still listening to last few things the librarian had to say.

"If you're still stuck for ideas, how 'bout... 'Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that it's okay to say no to your friends if you need to, as long as you're not being rude. Spending time with friends is important, but it shouldn't have to interfere with your sleeping schedule.'"

Twilight laughed again. "I'll think about it." Rainbow Dash winked, then they said farewell, and after Rainbow Dash thanked Twilight Sparkle for the visit, she made her way out of the library.

As she walked through Ponyville, her eyes swept around the vicinity. Though her surroundings were darkened by the night, they were mostly familiar. It made her smile gratefully as she took in the view of this small town before spreading her wings and embarking on her trip back to her own home in Cloudsdale.

As she flew, with her wings flapping and the immense grayish-looking clouds zooming past her up in the starry, navy blue sky, she thought about Spike growing up, and about friendship letters and Princess duties, she thought about the new animals Fluttershy had found and Applejack’s preparation for cider season, and all of the things that were happening in her friends’ lives that she could have been thinking about in the time she had spent worrying about something silly like getting a marefriend. And simply because she didn’t have the particular desire to, she didn’t spend too much time wondering about Rarity that night.