One Life to Love

Chapter 2: A Leap of Faith.

Twilight sat on her haunches quietly, the soft rays of the midday sun illuminating an ever present smile on her face. She watched as a sunflower-furred pegasus flew from one tree to another, gathering birds for the evening's festivities.

The Pegasus landed in front of her lightly, part of her job done, and asked softly,"um. . .Twilight, you're a bit early aren't you?"

"Why yes, Fluttershy, I am," Twilight started, smiling brightly at her Pegasus friend. Fluttershy cowered under the almost uncharacteristic smile upon the unicorn's face. Sure, Twilight wasn't a dreary sort of pony, but she wasn't exactly the overly enthusiastic pony that some of their other friends could be.

"Um. . . well, what are you doing here so early for Twilight," Fluttershy asked, doing her best to put an emphasis to her words-which, due to her quiet demeanor, took much effort.

Twilight pondered upon the question a moment. She was unsure exactly why she was there earlier than expected. With all the work she'd put into preparations for the night's festival, she was sure she'd earned a break, she'd even wrote added a break to her list of activities for the days. Then, she remembered the morning with Dashie, and a blush covered face.  That was why she was here.

"I actually have something I want to talk to you about Fluttershy, something about. . .love."

The Pegasus' face went from a daffodil shade to that of a tomato at the mention of love.   Why on earth would her unicorn friend want to talk about that.

"Um. . .Twilight, I. . .uh-that is to say-I kind of already-"

"I don't mean it like that Fluttershy," Twilight cut off her introvert friend.  She chuckled at the idea of her shy friend thinking that way. Considering the situation earlier in the day, that was quite an ironic thought. "I want to talk to you about how to know if you're in love."

"Well, um, how would I know," Fluttershy whispered, turning her head away. Twilight could've swore her blush got even worse, that is, if she didn't already know for a fact that it was a physical impossibility. Fluttershy audibly gulped after a few moments. "Who do you think you're in love with?"

Twilight had to do a double-take to realize what her friend had asked. Then it was her time to blush.

"It's Rainbow Dash," Twilight answered, pointing her head to the ground."We kind of, maybe had some. . .fun. . . last night."

Now Twilight was positive that Fluttershy's face had invented an entirely new shade of red. Fluttershy may have been the least social out of all her friends, but she wasn't daft, she knew what Twilight meant, and it wasn't a subject she really felt comfortable about. Then again, she wasn't very comfortable talking about anything.

"Well, Twilight, that. . .um, I," Fluttershy started. She was at a total loss for words. Twilight chuckled at her friend as she stumbled through her words.  Although she was used to her pegasus friend constantly losing herself in conversations, but this conversation was slowly turning into something else for the yellow pegasus.

"So, what makes you think you might be in love, other than the. . .fun you've had," Fluttershy asked, her voice somehow even less audible than usual.

"Well that's honestly why I've come to you," Twilight answered, planting her hoof to her face in annoyance. "On paper, everything about Rainbow and I just wouldn't seem to work, but I just can't seem to get her out of my head. To be honest I doubt I would even want to."

"Seems like love to me, what would you need my help for," Fluttershy said nervously.  Twilight once again pointed her head down in defeat. With every other conversation in the world, she'd be ready with an answer pretty quickly, but with this conversation she was just out of ideas. Love was beating the crap out  of her mind.

"I just don't know, it just feels weird," Twilight answered," this whole situation seems so. . .odd. Rainbow Dash didn't even seem to like me."  Twilight hung her head in shame, suddenly feeling like all of this was for not.

"Well. . .um, maybe you should try asking her. . .I mean I know that can be hard to do, but if you really want to know, isn't it worth it,"Fluttershy said nervously in answer. "I..well.. I think you should do that. I mean, if you feel right about it, and you have a good feeling about it. . .then maybe you should go for it; that is to say,um, if you want to."

"Um. . .I have to ask though Twilight," Fluttershy continued nervously, "what makes you think she doesn't like you , she seems to like you enough from what I see."

"What are you talking about," Twilight started, then turned on the spot when Fluttershy motioning towards a spot behind Twilight with her head. There Rainbow Dash stood, a rag-tag bouquet of flowers, an awkward smile on her face as she stepped forward. Twilight couldn't help but blush at Rainbow's confidence as the pegasus stepped up to the unicorn mare and planted a kiss upon her cheek.

"Thought you'd like these," Rainbow Dash said, her smile growing as Twilight's eyes widened. "Call it a leap of faith."

"A leap of faith," Twilight Responded.

"Yeah Twilight," Rainbow said,"what do you say, you willing to jump with me?"

***

It was late in the night and the party had just begun at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had accounted for everyone but two very silly fillies. Two of her best friends were quite late for the party.  What was really weird was who the two were, Rainbow Dash she could see accept tardiness from easily, but Twilight Sparkle was missing too. She found it just a bit suspicious that both of them were missing at the same time, especially the very organized Twilight. She searched for them for about an hour, but could see neither hair not hide of either pony. She noticed Applejack by herself in the corner, sipping a large glass of cider, and decided to see if she knew anything about the two missing pony's whereabouts.

"Hey Applejack," Pinkie started, smiling brightly as she bounced up to her friend. She was met with an odd sneer from her apple loving friend, something that seemed oddly out of character for the honest farmer. "Have you seen Twilight or Dashie?"

"No, ah haven't," Applejack started, a hint of venom in her thick southern accent,"it's not mah job to deal with either of those crazy mares, especially Rainbow Dash." Applejack grimaced in anger.

"Aww, why are you acting like such a bad apple tonight AJ," Pinkie asked, her cheerful tone only somewhat fazed as she danced around the orange earth pony.

"Ah just wanna be left alone," AJ answered, her voice rising in anger.

Pinkie Pie stopped dancing around her friend and suddenly frowned, making to say something. She instantly gave up on whatever response she was going to say as her mouth fell agape in surprise. There, in the doorway, were her two tardy friends. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash entered in to the party with their front forehooves wrapped around each other, smiling awkwardly at any and all of the stares they were receiving from the ponies in the room who had noticed them.

"They're here, they're here," Pinkie squealed as she bounced delightedly over to the latecomers.

Pinkie hadn't payed enough attention to notice the rage in Applejack's eyes, but it was enough to bring any normal pony to their knees.