Viral Love

by housedoc

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Comedy
Length: 5684

Rainbow Dash gets a mysterious love letter. She is not amused. After a while, the letter starts affecting her friends in a weird way.

Rainbow Dash confronts her friends with an anonymous love letter that for some reason pisses her off. Soon, the letter starts bothering her friends even more.

Published 2015-06-12 03:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-22 00:13:14 UTC

1. LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs

...Every morning after I wake, I shoot a glance toward the clouds.
Hoping I might see you blaze by.
Always brightening up the sky.
The way your mane whips in the wind when you fly.
Your pretty smile makes butterflies dance-

“Okay, that does it!!”

The weekly tea parties at the Carousel Boutique had become a long-standing tradition for the five friends. It was an opportunity to hang out in a calm and tranquil setting and discuss the small things in life like regular friends do. Gossip, basically. No monsters, no drama, no grand adventures. In theory.

Though as fate would have it, the parties seldom went by without interruption. Today was no exception.

SLAM!!

The front door was kicked open violently and a puff of wind rustled all the dresses hanging in the showroom of the boutique. It did not, however, rustle the five attending tea party guests in the slightest. They were all too familiar with unexpected interludes by this point. Even the yellow pegasus was becoming jaded enough to not get startled.

One of the six elements usually never attended the tea parties. They were too full of stupid gossip and yucky tea for her. In other words, not particularly cool. Today however, was an emergency.

“Okay, who the HAY did this?! I want answers!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she stormed in through the door, stomping furiously with each step.

Rarity sighed and raised her teacup to have an unfazed sip. “Did what, dear?”

“THIS!” Rainbow hissed and slammed a piece of pink paper down on the round dining table. The tea nearly spilled out of the cups from the impact.

All ponies seated around the table stared down at the paper. It was immediately clear in so many ways that this was, in fact, a love letter.

Twilight snickered. “Hehe, looks you've got a secret admirer, Rainbow,” she said with a smug smile.

Rainbow's face started getting intensely red. A mix of embarrassment and wrath. She realized that she had come here emotionally unprepared. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure why her first course of action had been to come here at all.

Applejack joined the train of ridicule. “Yeah, I'll be darned. Ain't that cute?”

“NO!! I'm not... cute! I'm awesome! Who would have the guts to call me cute?! Tell me who wrote this!”

Twilight covered her mouth with her hoof to stifle her laughter. “Hihi, calm down Rainbow. Aren't you happy? Most of us would feel flattered if we got a cute- eh, cool letter like this.”

“Well, I'm not like most of you! I don't sit around sipping tea and blab about dreamy stallions for half a day! I'm cool and awesome and this letter is practically an insult to my coolness!”

Twilight frowned. “That's not what we do on these meetings!”

Pinkie suddenly reacted. “Meetings? Hey, I was told these were tea parties! You guys tricked me!”

Rarity looked at the embellished lettering and cleared her throat hesitantly. “Well, I can tell you one thing... a stallion did not write this.”

The whole room blushed. Rainbow felt herself reacting weirdly to those words... In a good kind of way, perhaps? She tried to play it cool.

“Ok, so... um, a mare... Any more specific ideas of the perpetrator's identity?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the choice of words, but decided to play along. “Well, the hoofwriting is quite fancy, so I guess it can't be from Applejack.”

“Hay! What's that s'posed to mean?!”

“Hm? What? Are you saying this is from you?”

“N- No! Maybe it's from you! Ah've seen the way you blush when Rainbows giving you flying lessons!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“She's even given you preening lessons, right?”

“Oh, for Celestia's sake!” Twilight planted her front hooves on the table in defense, before pointing one accusingly at her friend. “You hang out with Rainbow the most out of all of us, Applejack. What about your so-called 'friendly competitiveness'? Isn't that hinting at some other kind of... tension between you guys?”

Applejack chose to divert attention. She pointed her hoof at Rarity.

“Rarity! You're into sexy speed devils aren't you? The daring, heroic, athletic type and all that.”

Rarity's eyes perked up. “Sexy speed devils?”

“Yeah, isn't that what's in those romantic novels you read?”

“Never mind that, you just called Rainbow Dash a sexy speed devil.”

“...Nah, I didn't.”

“You most certainly did.”

“Whatever! Honestly, this letter looks like your work with all the fancy squiggles.”

Twilight chipped in. “Yes, and longhoof writing like this is obviously easier with magic, so the likeliest candidate would be a unicorn.”

“Or alicorn,” Rarity added.

“Hrmf, I don't know about that,” Twilight mumbled.

Rarity went to the next pony in line to take the stand. “What about you, Fluttershy? They say opposites attract.”

Fluttershy looked terrified at suddenly being noticed.

“Well... I've known Rainbow for a very long time, and she's always been very supportive and kind to me and I do love her...”

“A-HA!” Twilight blurted accusingly.

“...as one of my best FRIENDS.” Fluttershy actually saw fit to add some assertiveness to her voice. She did not, however, have the gall to pass on the blame. Luckily, that got handled for her.

“Pinkie? You've been awfully quiet... Uncharacteristically so, even.” Twilight said and squinted her eyes in suspicion.

“Yeah, what about all the prankin' you and Rainbow used to do together?” Applejack added.

Pinkie gasped. “Yeah, and look! The letter is even PINK. What a giveaway!”

Twilight lifted an eyebrow. “...Eh, you're framing yourself, Pinkie.”

“Well, you just called me uncharischmatistic, so I had to say something!”

Twilight was starting to get annoyed. She looked at Rainbow, who was quietly observing all the bickering. Judging by the silly look on her face she was actually enjoying it quite a bit.

“Why do you even think one of us wrote it?!” Twilight asked Rainbow, who snapped out of her self-absorbed trance with a startled blink.

"Huh?" Rainbow did not really have a good answer. She scratched the back of her neck with her hoof. “W- well, I just... assumed that-”

“That one of us has a crush on you?” Twilight asked, dead-serious.

Upon hearing those words Rainbow felt a nice tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach. Was that why she had actually come here? She wanted answers, but which answer did she actually want?

“Y- yeah, well... I am awesome. It wouldn't be that surprising,” she said, proudly lifting her chin up.

“According to this here, you're more 'cute and pretty' than awesome,” Applejack said.

Rainbow's teeth grated out an angry squeak. “I'M. NOT!”

Pinkie was as lighthearted as usual. “Oh, come on, Dashie! Having an admirer is awesome! You have a fan club, right? This is the same thing, but even more awesome!”

Rainbow Dash felt this entire intervention had backfired. She would not be okay with ponies seeing her as some softie who swoons over cute love letters. It was bad enough that she had cried in front of everypony that time Tank had to go into hibernation. Cute?! Pretty?! This time, she had to drive the point home. In desperation, she could only think of one last thing to do.

“You wanna know what I think of this?!” Rainbow picked up the letter with a spiteful smirk upon her face.

RRIIIIIP!

Everyone stared in disbelief at the paper shreds floating towards the floor. A moment of disapproving silence followed.

“That was very insensitive of you, Rainbow Dash...” Rarity mumbled.

Rainbow Dash started to realize what she had just done. She allowed another moment of shameful silence to pass. Finally, she opened her mouth and a coarse whisper came out. “I'm... sorry, I... shouldn't have done that. Whoever wrote it, that is, if you're here right now... thank you... I really mean that...” The last part was barely audible.

Rainbow hurriedly collected the pieces of paper from the floor and stormed out, tears trailing behind her as she flew off into the sky.

After yet another short moment of contemplative silence, Rarity spoke up. “So... that was... interesting. Which one of you wrote it?”

No one answered. They all stared down into their teacups or out into the thin air, sharing the same deflated gaze.

“Right, I think it would be for the best if we postpone the rest of this social gathering. The tea has gone cold anyway.”

Later that day at the Ponyville Post Office

The postmaster looked at Derpy with stern eyes. “There have been complaints again, Ms. Hooves.”

Derpy looked back at the grey stallion with one worried eye. The other one stared down in shame at the floor. “Yeah, I just don't kn-”

“-ow what went wrong. Yes, yes, I've heard it a million times, Ms. Hooves! Last week it was a mailbox somehow catching fire, the week before that it was a whole day's worth of mail floating around in a lake! This time it's misdeliveries! Hundreds of misdeliveries! We're talking a young colt receiving hard apple cider for his cute-ceañera! Old Granny Smith got a... well, I won't go into any details but it didn't work very well as an egg beater!”

Derpy knew it was bad. This was one screw-up to many, and they were already too many to count.

“I feel very much like kicking you out of this post office once and for all, Ms. Hooves. What have you got to say for yourself? And it better not be 'I just don't know what went wrong'!”

Derpy tapped her chin with a hoof, to help her think better. “I... know what went wrong?” she finally said with an honest shrug.

The postmaster's face turned a deep shade of furious red. A blood vessel popped in his left eye. “Get out of my office, Ms. Hooves, otherwise I'll soon be the one not knowing what went wrong...”

2. AppleDash

Applejack trotted home from the tea party slightly disturbed by what had occurred. She felt off somehow, almost sick. Hopefully, it would not get any worse. There were a lot of trees that needed a good bucking that afternoon. She was not particularly in the mood for working though, despite the fine weather. The sky was cloud-free, and there was just the right amount of breeze to cool oneself off during physical labor.

Applejack looked up at the smiling sun. I wonder if Rainbow is responsible for this weather. Those pegasi on the weather teams sure have a great deal of influence over other ponies' lives... and feelings. I wonder if Rainbow ever thinks about what type of weather would be best for apple-bucking? Do they just follow a scheduled forecast, or can they decide to clear the skies when they feel happy, or make it rain when they feel low?

Applejack walked in through the front door, hearing a whirring sound coming from the kitchen.

“Hey there, Granny Smith! Watcha makin'?” she asked, already feeling more cheerful from the smell of cooking.

“Oh, shoot Applejack! I'm tryin' to make some of my aunt's famous blueberry pancakes, but this here new fancy magic powered egg beater thingamajig Ah ordered ain't doin' crud!”

Applejack looked at the vibrating... thing submerged in the raw eggs.

“Uhh, are ya sure that's an egg beater, Granny?”

“Are you ready to go, sis?” a low voice asked from the doorway without greeting.

“Uhh... yeah, sure Big Mac.” Applejack was still distracted by the... equipment. “You should call the post office, Granny. I think there's been a mishap.”

The apple-bucking went by like usual. The weather was good and they managed to buck the apples off a couple of hundred trees in a few hours.

As Applejack was working on her final tree for the day, her thoughts kept drifting to Rainbow Dash, or rather to the letter. It bothered AJ for reasons she did not understand herself. After all, what did it matter to her?

The pink paper, the fancy lettering. It must be Rarity. Only that prissy unicorn would write something mushy like that letter. I thought she was into stallions, must she go chasing after mares as well now? She must have tons of admirers coming into her store every day, what with her high society connections and all.

Applejack subconsciously started bucking the tree harder, lost in thought. What would somepony like Rainbow see in a prudish drama queen? Rainbow likes action, and speed, and pushing the limits...

“Hey, Applejack?”

Splinters were flying off the poor apple tree, as the bucks got more aggressive.

She needs somepony who's active, competitive, fun, down to earth...

“Hey, sis!”

Somepony like...

“APPLEJACK!!”

CRAACK!!

“Huuh?!”

Just as Applejack was pulled from her thoughts, the tree trunk finally shattered from the onslaught, sending the top half of the tree tumbling down towards the ground with a violent rustle. Applejack lost her balance completely as she suddenly bucked thin air, and landed flat on her stomach like the fallen tree.

“What the hay are you doin', Applejack?” Big Mac asked, immediately back to his calm self. “Is everything alright?”

Applejack looked at the remains of the tree. What... is going on with me?

“Yeah, Big Mac, I... just got carried away...”

“If ya say so... Well, that was the last of 'em for today. I'm goin' inside...” Big Mac pulled his cart of apples to the barn, with a last suspicious glance at AJ.

Applejack sat herself up and remained by the fallen tree. She wasn't done going over certain things in her head. Such a violent display, over something so trivial?

Rainbow. She needs somepony like- or rather...

Could it be that... I need... somepony like... her..?

Twilight's voice echoed in her head. “Isn't that hinting at some other kind of... tension between you guys?”

Images of all the things AJ and Rainbow had done together flashed before her eyes, but this time accompanied by a tingling sensation in her tummy. Almost like those moments were now the best moments... ever. She remembered the time they had spent together in that creepy castle, pretending not to be frightened in front of each other. She remembered Rainbow's determined face surrounded by falling autumn leaves as they raced side by side during The Running of the Leaves. She remembered how Rainbow had laughed herself to tears after seeing a picture of AJ dressed up as 'Applejewel', the fashionista. “Ahahahaha!! You look like you're in charge of a brothel, AJ!” Applejack had tried to glare at Rainbow sourly, but she hadn't really been angry. The sound of Rainbow's laugh had warmed her heart all too much.

It was suddenly so obvious. Like she had always felt this way, but ironically had not been honest with herself.

Night was falling over the orchard. As time passed, her conviction was becoming clearer. It was almost pitch black outside when AJ was concluding her train of thoughts.

That's it! That letter was a wake-up call! I need to show Rainbow before it's too late! I must live up to my element, dangit! I am the pony for her! Clear as moonshine!

But now, it was almost too late. Somepony else had her eye on Rainbow Dash. AJ glanced up at the sky. Rainbow's cloud house was visible in the far distance as a few faint lights in the darkness. If I had the magic to do so I would go up there right now and tell her...

Well, what would she tell her? That she had less guts than Rarity of all ponies? That she had figured out five minutes ago that she was in love with her? No, she needed a proper plan. There was still time. There had to be.

It had started to rain lightly, so Applejack decided to go back to the house. No one was awake as she snuck up to her room, as silently as one could with hooves on a creaking staircase. Seems like I missed the blueberry pancakes... As she crawled into bed, she decided to keep the curtains of her bedroom window open during the night. She could still see the lights from Rainbow's cloud house through the window.

She did not catch much sleep that night, as she instead spent her time developing a plan. A plan in the name of love and honesty...

Meanwhile in Rainbow Dash's cloud mansion...

Rainbow Dash was awake much later than usual. She had work off the next day so it wasn't really a big deal. After what had happened earlier, she doubted sleep would come easily tonight anyway.

She sat on her living room floor, staring at the letter, almost completely pieced back together. It all felt so stupid. When she had gone to the tea party, it wasn't really because she had been upset. She had felt excited, and curious, and sometimes her emotions got a bit... jumbled.

It was wrong of her to make a big deal out of it in front of her friends. She had no right to call anypony out like that. And of course, Rainbow was actually grateful. Her display of anger was just a facade, and it had all gone too far. She had realized all that just as soon as the torn letter had fallen to the floor.

Hopefully no one had seen her tears, at least. That was a bit much.

She still wanted to know who had written it, though. Now more than ever. The more time she spent looking at the pink letter, the more obsessed she felt. It was as if pure love was radiating out from the paper, or something. Perhaps it was just perfumed.

There was still a small hole in the center of the letter, even though Rainbow had already reassembled all the pieces she had picked up. She figured she must have left a piece of paper on the floor at the boutique. Rarity's boutique... Rarity's face appeared in Rainbow's mind. Could it have been her? I mean, it seems like something she would do. Write a sappy pink letter. Nah, pretty sure she wouldn't go for somepony like me... would she? Would I go for somepony like her? Whatever, it probably wasn't even her... But what if it was? Four other familiar faces flashed by her mind's eye in quick succession. It could be anypony. Maybe even somepony else entirely. But how can I find out for sure?

Rainbow's eyelids started to weigh heavy and the letters on the paper were blurring together.

I need to find out... whoever it was, I... I owe her... love, I think?

Rainbow fell asleep on the floor right next to the letter. Soon enough, her snoring had sent the paper pieces flying into a jumbled mess once again.

3. TwiDash

Daring Dash leapt across the chasm, holding the golden staff in her mouth. As she landed on the other side with a skid, she shoved the staff into one of her saddlebags. “Hey, egghead, get a move on!” she shouted to Twilight, still perched on the other side of the chasm.

Twilight watched as large boulders and stoney debris tumbled into the huge gap between herself and the adventurous pegasus. The ancient temple was collapsing around them, fast. “I- I can't! My magic doesn't work in this place...”

“Just use your wings then!! It's not that far!”

“I'm not sure I can... There's rocks falling everywhere! I'm not agile enough to dodge them!”

“Well, your other choice is to get smashed by a rock right where you're standing! I'm NOT coming back over there to get you, egghead!”

Twilight swallowed hard and peered over the edge down into the endless dark. She flapped her untrained wings and started a wobbly attempt at crossing the chasm. Huge pieces of the stone walls were falling all around her, and she tried her best to steer clear of them all. She had her aim set at Rainbow. She was so close! Almost there! She could practically reach out and touch-

SLAM!

A huge piece of jagged rock hit Twilight's right wing, and she spun out of control. There was a jarring stab of pain, and the world was a blurry mess. Somehow though, Twilight managed to grab onto something...

She was hanging on to a ledge by her hoof. Her right wing was in great pain, clearly broken. She looked up, and saw Daring Dash staring down at her with a weird smirk on her face.

“Oh, Celestia, my wing hurts!! Wha- what are you smiling at?! Please, grab my hoof and pull me up, Rainbow!”

Daring Dash just laughed at her.

The colorful pegasus' voice had adopted a mocking tone. “Nah, I don't think so. You've just been slowing me down this whole time!”

Twilight could not believe what she heard. Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes. “R- Rainbow, please..!”

“You're just a nerd, Twilight, and I'm way to awesome for ponies like you.” The beautiful glimmer in her eye was suddenly spiteful and mean. The blackness of the eye engulfed Twilight, suddenly an endless pit leading straight down to Tartarus. Twilight lost her grasp. She fell, as a raspy laugh echoed in the darkness...

Twilight awoke cold with sweat. To her despair, she could hear birds chirping outside. This of course meant that it was no longer night, and therefore going back to sleep was not really an option.

Twilight's bedsheets were a bundled up mess, and not for any good reason. She had tossed and turned in bed all night, only managing to catch a few nightmare-ridden moments of sleep. Twilight did have a tendency to get insomnia, but she could usually explain the cause of it. This time, she wasn't really sure what the deal was. That dream...what the hay was that about?!

She got out of the moist, sweaty bed, and walked over to her dressing table. She looked in the mirror with a small sigh. It was all as messy as the bedsheets. Bags under the eyes, a sticky and oily mane. Worst of all, something bugged her, and she didn't know why. She went to take a shower. Not only would it clean her from the sticky sweat and help her wake up, the shower was also one of the best places in the world to just think about stuff.

The water streamed down over Twilight's purple coat as her thoughts drifted. A certain pink piece of paper entered her mind. It wasn't even grammatically correct! Perhaps Rainbow was right to call it an insult. Really, who is so careless that she misspells a love letter..?

That question should have been left as a rhetorical, but some part of Twilight kept the thought going. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up towards the shower head, letting the fresh water wash over her face. It felt purifying.

...Applejack? Pinkie Pie perhaps? I shouldn't think such things about my friends, but AJ's education is very rural, and I'm not sure if Pinkie even has an education at all. Applejack doesn't seem like the type though. To write a sentimental love poem, that is. Pinkie Pie, however...

Twilight closed the shower faucet and dried herself off with a purple towel embroidered with her own cutie mark. She then wrapped her mane inside another towel and exited the bathroom.

Pinkie Pie is so goofy sometimes that it's hard to imagine her actually capable of being in love, but if she was she would probably express it... well, like a little filly. An anonymous letter is probably very much something she would do... in fact, it was even pink, like a childish clue almost.

Twilight looked out the window. The weather had gotten considerably worse since she had entered the shower. The trees were moving violently in the wind. Feeling discouraged by the grey sky, Twilight just wanted to go back to bed. However, one glance at the messy bedsheets made her reconsider immediately.

She instead laid herself down on one of the bedroom's chaise lounges. A type of furniture that the castle had quite an excess of, for some reason. Twilight guessed that Rarity or somepony had felt that they gave a royal touch to the place.

Twilight should have found Pinkie's letter sweet, but the more she thought about it, she instead just felt grossed out. She stared blankly out at the gloomy sky.

I feel bad for thinking this, but really, what would Rainbow do with somepony like Pinkie? Sure, they are both into pranks and games, but Rainbow is... more down to earth than she seems. She doesn't want it to show, but I've come to realize lately that she has such a gentle side to her.

Twilight thought of the flying lessons she had been getting from Rainbow since her transformation. Whenever Twilight had faltered, or crashed, or given up, Rainbow had grabbed her hoof and picked her back up with a reassuring and determined smile. “C'mon, princess, let's try it one more time! I know you can do it! After all, you're getting lessons from the best flier in Equestria!”

And then of course, there had been those rumored preening lessons... Twilight remembered feeling so very embarrassed when she had asked for Rainbow's help on the matter, but she hadn't known where else to turn to.

Rainbow had scratched her own neck and blushed at the request. “Uhm, it's kinda... y'know, intimate. Usually the parents teach their foals how to do it when they are very young, but... I guess there is no other way...”

Twilight remembered extending a trembling wing for Rainbow Dash to demonstrate on. “Oh, man, this is so damn awkward..,” Rainbow had mumbled, staring hesitantly at the wing in front of her. Twilight had seen that Rainbow was blushing just as bad as herself, which in a way had made her feel a bit better.

The thing is, Rainbow could very well have refused to do it, or told Twilight to just read a book about it. But in the end, she had handled it like a professional. A blushing, stuttering, awkward professional...

As she looked back, Twilight couldn't help but smile. There was so much more to Rainbow Dash than the strong, confident athlete. There was also the kind, supportive and caring Rainbow, the one for which she had earned her element of loyalty. The one who wouldn't give up on a hopeless case such as Twilight. The one who passionately discussed Daring Do books over mugs of hot chocolate on cold winter nights. The one who... I think I'm falling in love with...

The realization hit Twilight's gut like a ton of bricks.

“Uh, helloo?!!” a voice suddenly shouted from downstairs.

Twilight was not in the mood to receive any guests, or attend to any princess duties whatsoever. She just wanted to lie right where she was... for the rest of the day. “Who is it?! We're closed! I mean, we're busy! I'm busy!”

“Twilight? It's Rainb-!”

POOF!

The alicorn suddenly appeared a few inches in front of Rainbow Dash's face downstairs in the entrance hall.

“Rainbow!! How nice to see you!” Twilight said, smiling hyperactively.

Rainbow flinched backwards, almost falling onto her butt. “Oh! H- hi, Twi! Uhm, heh, you're looking good, girl!”

Twilight's eyes and wings started opening wide and she felt a blush coming on. “Wh- whaa?”

Rainbow pointed a hoof at the towel on her head. “Nice turban!”

“Huh?!” Twilight forced her wings to snap back into place. “Y- yeah, right! Hehe, it's just for drying my mane, you know.”

“Yeaah, I get that, Twi,” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Wow, aren't you a sight for sore eyes..! I- I mean, my eyes are sore because I couldn't sleep last night because of nightmaresandstuffand-” Twilight quickly stopped herself before it was too late. “Um, don't you have work today?”

“Nope, Thunderlane is in charge... which explains the crappy weather.”

Twilight laughed a bit too much at that comment, especially considering how she didn't even understand the reference. “Hahahaaa! So, what brings you to the castle, Rainbow?”

“Oh, nothing special, I just came by to pick up the Daring Do book I think I left here a few days ago.”

Nothing special. Twilight's heart sank somewhat. “Ah, yes, the Daring Dash book. I think it's right over there on that chaise lounge.”

“Oh, thanks, Twi- ...Daring what?”

“Hm?”

“N- never mind. I'll just grab it and get going, I have things to do.”

Rainbow walked over to one of the sofa-things and grabbed the book from the seat. Then, there was a moment of hesitation.

“Hey, Twilight? There was something I wanted to ask.”

Twilight noticed a nervousness in Rainbow's voice that hopefully meant something special. “Yes, Rainbow?” she answered in the softest tone she could muster.

“The letter... d- did you write it?”

Twilight thought carefully about what to say. “No, I didn't...” She looked down at the ground. I have to be honest. “B- but now I kind of wish that-”

SLAM!

Again, disruption from an opening door. Both Rainbow and Twilight turned their heads toward the sound of intrusion. A pink unicorn mare stood in the door opening. Twilight was deeply annoyed. She couldn't have come at a worse time.

“Amethyst Star?! Haven't you heard of knocking? This is a private residence!”

“Uhm, is this where I'm supposed to return books now?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Return books? We haven't even started loaning books out yet! We're still in the process of collecting enough to have a presentable selection available.”

“Well, I loaned these... quite some time ago,” Amethyst said, and levitated the books out from her saddlebags.

Twilight frowned and grasped the books with her own magic. She flipped one of the books open directly to the last page and looked at the date due slip.

“Hrmf, so you borrowed these from Golden Oak?”

Amethyst gave a bashful look. “Yeeaah.”

“Must I even remark that they are way overdue?”

Amethyst suddenly jerked her head defensively. “Look, what was I supposed to do after the place blew up?!”

“You could have come here, for instance. I've had a hard time as it is indexing all the books that could be salvaged from the previous library, and it sure helps if ponies at least returned the books they borrowed there on time. I thought you were more organized, Amethyst.”

Amethyst gave Twilight a piercing glare.

Twilight didn't notice, however. “I'll give you a pass this time, considering the circumstances.”

“Wow, how noble of you. Thanks a lot, princess!” Amethyst said with a voice that reeked of contempt, before walking out the front door, slamming it shut behind her.

Twilight and Rainbow were once again alone, and this time Twilight wouldn't let the moment slip away. “So,” she began and took a deep breath to steady herself. “Rainbow, I-”

“Who was that?!”

Twilight exhaled despairingly. “Wha- her? Eh, her name is Amethyst Star. Why do you ask? Haven't you met her before?”

Rainbow's eyes were still glued to the door where Amethyst had left. “Yeah, I think I might have, but I've never really noticed her before...”

Twilight didn't know what to say to that. She had lost all her momentum at this point.

“Look, Twilight, I gotta go! See ya! Oh, and sorry about that drama yesterday, it was all pretty stupid!”

And in the blink of an eye, Rainbow had disappeared out the door, leaving a fading rainbow trail behind her. Twilight just stood there, holding the books that Amethyst had returned. Love Potions 101, True Love Through Persistence, How to Seduce the Unwilling (banned in 40 countries!).

Next time, the abandoned princess thought, next time I will NOT let her get away!

As soon as Amethyst walked out the massive front door of the castle, a chilly gust of wind rustled her mane. She shuddered slightly at the harsh weather, and started trotting briskly towards home. At least it was better than spending more time inside the castle with those two.

The weather wasn't all that nice today. Surely, Thunderlane couldn't be responsible for something as unpleasant as this... Of course, if he was, Amethyst was sure it was all perfectly necessary. The wind was probably good for the crops, or the trees, or the rocks... or something like that. As far as Amethyst was concerned, Thunderlane was the best weather pony in all of Equestria. Other ponies would go on and on about Rainbow Dash being able to clear the skies in 'ten seconds flat', but Amethyst had seen through her facade. Rainbow was just... well, a show-off! Just like her friend, the 'princess of organizing'.

Amethyst almost regurgitated her breakfast just from thinking about the damn alicorn. Really Celestia, was that transformation/ascendance necessary? Thanks, My Almighty Lard-ass. Just keep rubbing it in. Twilight had taken Amethyst's organizing career and nonchalantly trampled all over it almost as soon as she had moved to this town. Show-off!

Just like that damn Rainbow Dash was giving poor Thunderlane flak for misaligning a couple of thunderstorms, or some such nonsense. Those houses could be rebuilt, easily!

As far as Amethyst knew, Rainbow was known for both sleeping in and taking naps during work, so she shouldn't be criticizing others. But of course, she too had the princess's favor, so Rainbow Dash was Thunderlane's boss, instead of the other way around as it should have been.

Amethyst looked up at the skies by pure habit, hoping to see him somewhere. It had been some time since she had last heard from him. Thunderlane had been quite upset after Amethyst's last attempt at charming him. He had even threatened to get a restraining order against her. She could never understand how he didn't see what Amethyst saw: that they we're clearly meant for each other and should be together for eternity.

But this time, he will see! My letter must have convinced him. According to Zecora, the love potion should have started working by now...