Accidentally on Purpose

“Oh,man! Am I pooped!” yawned Pinkie pie.

The four mares were lying on the ground, exhausted. Cleaning was hard work. With magic or not, a Pinkie Pie mess was a Goddess sized problem, or at least a ten pony problem, and these four had to clean it on their own.  Applejack let out a loud groan as she stretched; sighing contently once a loud crick in her back was heard.

“Boy howdy, Ah’m plum tuckered.” murmured the farm pony sleepily.

Rarity was already lying on the floor, snoring softly. Twilight noticed this and smiled. The lavender unicorn levitated the other onto the couch and wrapped a warm blanket around her sleeping figure.  Bending down, she placed a small kiss on Rarity’s cheek, “Sleep well, Rarity. I’ll find a cure for you soon.”

Standing back up, Twilight suddenly felt the impact of fabric and feathers smack her in the face. Blinking rapidly, she saw the grinning face of Pinkie Pie, who held a pillow over her head.

“Pillow Fi-”

Before she could finish, an orange hoof was shoved into her mouth, “No. Nuh uh. Ah wanna go back home and sleep.” growled Applejack, glaring into the blue eyes of the party pony.

Twilight snickered, “She’s right, Pinkie. It’s late and we’re all tired. Applejack’s getting cranky and we all know how she is when she’s cranky.”

Pinkie Pie visibly deflated, literally. Her bright, poofy pink mane straightened and drooped as she stared at Twilight with pleading eyes, “B-but…pillow fight!”

“And I told you I’m too fabulous for Haute Couture!” mumbled a sleepy voice. The three ponies turned their heads to see Rarity flip around in her sleep, dangling half off the couch Twilight had placed her on. With a patient sigh, the lavender unicorn trotted to Rarity’s sleeping figure and gently nudged her back onto the couch, adjusting the unicorn’s blanket she did so. The white pony smiled contentedly in her sleep.

Pinkie pouted slightly before shrugging and springing to her hooves, her hair regaining its poofiness as she did so, “Wow, Rarity seems exhausted!” she exclaimed, “Maybe you’re right, Twilight, it is a little late.”

With a little bounce her in step, Pinkie Pie trotted off to the door of the library, “Later, Twili-”

At that moment, the door was bucked open by a bright cyan pony. The party pony had to jump out of the way of the speeding Rainbow Dash as she rushed in, with Fluttershy close behind her.

“I DID IT! I FIGURED IT OUT!” boasted the Pegasus.

“Shhhh!” hissed Applejack, “Ah’ve got a doozy of a headache righ’ now.” The farm pony groaned and pulled her hat over her eyes, lying down as she did so.

“What’s going on, Rainbow?” asked the lavender unicorn.

“Filles, may I present to you…drumroll please, the cured Fluttershy!” grinned Rainbow Dash, posing dramatically in front of the yellow Pegasus, who was looking down uncomfortably at the floor.

“Quiet down, Rainbow, Rarity’s sleeping.” chided Twilight. However, she walked over to Fluttershy to examine her. Had she really been cured? The yellow Pegasus was standing modestly to the side, unsure what was going on.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the fact that she wasn’t hanging off of Rainbow Dash’s neck, or nuzzling her. The second thing was the love-struck school filly look in her eyes was gone, replaced by Fluttershy’s clear minded set of aqua irises.

“If it’s not any trouble, could somepony please tell me what’s going on?” asked Fluttershy meekly, watching curiously at the lavender unicorn’s inspection of her hooves.

Twilight finished prodding at one of Fluttershy’s wings to raise her head and meet the confused eyes of the Pegasus.

“You were poisoned.” Twilight stated simply.

A small gasp escaped the Pegasus. “P-poisoned?” she stuttered.

Twilight gave her friend a comforting pat on the back, “Don’t worry, not poisoned poisoned. Rather, you were the victim of a potion that clouded your…views on a certain pony.”

Fluttershy blinked, “Pardon me?”

Pinkie nodded, “You were in love with Dashie!” she added, trying to help the Pegasus understand.

“In…love?” Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk as she turned to face the cyan Pegasus, “R-Rainbow, I d-don’t feel th-that way about y-you.” stuttered the butter yellow pony awkwardly.

Rainbow Dash beamed, “I know! And that’s totally okay!” With a slightly delirious smile, Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground, giggling slightly to herself. The nightmare was over, she could finally rest.

“What we’re trying to say is that you accidentally ingested some love poison and fell in…well, not love…” Twilight pondered for a moment, “You became extremely infatuated with Rainbow Dash, but now…it appears that you’re okay.” The unicorn frowned for a moment, “Rainbow, what exactly did you do to cure Fluttershy?”

The cyan pony on the ground perked up, “I have absolutely no idea! I’m just that awesome!” she declared loudly.

“CELESTIA DANG IT, FILLY!” Shouted Applejack, “AH AM TIRED! I AM PLUM TUCKERED OUT, AND JUST WANT A NAP! USE YER GOSH DANG INDOOR VOICE!”

“OH, GRACIOUS!” whined a grand voice, “Will somepony, please, BE QUIET?!”

Applejack cringed at the sight of a waking Rarity stumbling to her hooves, “Oops, my bad.”

The unicorn pouted as she looked around, “This isn’t my house."

“You fell asleep here, Rarity, after the cupcake baking contest.” said Pinkie Pie with a grin.

Rarity’s brow furrowed, “What cupcake baking contest?”

Pinkie nearly deflated again, “The one where we all had super-duper fun at because we’re such great friends and cupcakes are delicious, and oh please tell me you had fun!” she squeaked.

The fashionista frowned, “I’m sorry, darling, but I don’t exactly remember what happened.”

“Fluttershy didn’t remember anything either!” Added Rainbow Dash, seeing a pattern.

The yellow pony frowned, “Well, actually I remember you being grumpy when we were at a stream…”

Twilight Sparkle was trying her very best to withhold her frustration, “Rainbow Dash, tell me exactly what you did with Fluttershy today.” She ordered.

The Pegasus blinked, “Um, okay. Well, first we went to the stream to watch a bunch of birds flap around be lame, then I fell into the stream, uh, then we played tag and I met some bunnies.”

The unicorn nearly facehoofed, this wasn’t enough information for an analysis, “What were your thoughts, feelings? Anything? Work with me here!

“Alright, sheesh calm down, Twilight.” Rainbow scratched her chin as she thought back to the day’s events, “Well, in the beginning I was pretty annoyed with the whole situation, you know, Fluttershy being all lovey dovey,” the yellow Pegasus blushed and buried her muzzle into her hooves at this, “and I wasn’t having fun at all at the stream, and then when the stupid trout tricked me into jumping into the stream, oh that really sucked, and-”

“Get to the point, Rainbow.” sighed Twilight.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Right, so I was just about to stomp away, but then a little voice told me, hey, just think of it as self-sacrifice. Fluttershy was having fun, and I didn’t want to be a fun sucking sucky pants, so I just went with it. Something tells me she would have done the same for me.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Is that all?”

The cyan Pegasus suddenly turned red and looked away, “Um, well, then at the end of the day, after our game of tag, I um, kissed Fluttershy on the forehead and told her that I loved her and was glad we got to spend the day together.”

The yellow Pegasus in question was a bright shade of crimson as she tried to disappear within her mane, trying to be as small as physically possible. It was even worse that she didn’t remember anything.

“BUT IT’S NOT LOVE, AS IN…YOU KNOW, LOVE LOVE. JUST FRIENDSHIP LOVE!” choked out the cyan pony quickly, “I didn’t mean it the other way!”

“Hmm…I think that just might be it.” murmured Twilight to herself, “Rarity, dear, how do you feel?”

“I feel just fine, darling, thank you for asking!” chirped the unicorn.

There it was. Or rather, wasn’t. Rarity wasn’t gushing over Twilight, nor was she calling her silly pet names. It seemed as if the unicorn was also cured, but how?

“Rarity, do you remember anything at all after the cupcake contest?”

“Well, now that I think about it…” her voice trailed off for a moment, “I remember a lot of laughter. Something was really funny…and while I have no actual memories of what happened, I can feel some sort of fuzzy warm feeling associated with the contest.” Rarity smiled sheepishly, “I don’t meant to sound cheesy, but it was that happy feeling a pony gets when she spends time with ponies she loves; her friends.”

Twilight processed this for a moment, before levitating a small book from one of the shelves and placing it before her. Eros, Agape, and Philia; The Types of Love, it read.

The unicorn flipped to a page and began to read.

Eros is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Eros can be interpreted as a love for someone whom you love more than Philia, love of friendship. It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage.

Agape means love, or unconditional love. It often refers to a general affection or deeper sense of "true love" rather than the attraction suggested by Eros, it is also a sacrificial love and can also be described as the feeling of being content or holding one in high regard, used to put the needs of others before oneself.

Philia means friendship or affectionate love; it is a dispassionate virtuous love including loyalty to friends, family, and community. In ancient texts, philos denoted a general type of love, used for love between family and between friends.

Twilight closed the book with a small smile, “I know what happened.”

The other five leaned in, listening intently, “The cure is to show love right back.” Said the unicorn, echoing the farmer’s words from when they had first read the effects and conditions of the potion.

“While the love poison put the drinker under the effects of Eros love, in laypony’s terms, the kind of love hormonal teenaged ponies feel, the cure was to show love back to them, in the form of either Eros, Agape or Philia.”

Applejack frowned, “Pardon?”

“Remember Rainbow’s reaction to when she found out she’d have to ‘love’ Fluttershy back? Rainbow expected Eros love, you know, the kind of love that leads to marriage.” Twilight grinned again, “But the book never specified what type of love one had to show back to the drinker. Rainbow showed Fluttershy Agape love instead; when she swallowed her pride and hard-headedness and decided that she was going to make Fluttershy happy, instead of attending to her own wants and needs. Agape is the love of self- sacrifice, very fitting for the element of loyalty might I add.” said the unicorn with a wink.

“So that cured Fluttershy…” the farmer pony realized, “But then, Rarity?”

“Philia, the love of friends and family.” Stated Twilight, smiling proudly at the fact that she had pieced all the clues together, “I’m guessing since Fluttershy remembered Rainbow acting like a grouch before she decided to pony up and deal with the situation, the whole game of tag and kiss was what ultimately led to Fluttershy’s recovery, therefore it was those events she had forgotten.” Twilight took a breath and continued, “Similar to our cupcake contest with Rarity. She has no recollection of the contest, nor the clean-up, and right afterward she fell asleep. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that if she was awake, she probably would have remembered the events up to Rainbow’s sudden entrance.

Applejack thought for a moment, “That…that makes sense.”

Twilight nodded, “The bonding between friends, and the clean up afterward, where we all had to work together, and despite the labour, the fact that we accomplished our goal together was satisfying and fulfilling. And…well, I kissed her cheek when I ‘lovingly’ tucked her into bed, that might have had some effect too, I guess.” half chuckled the unicorn.

Rarity blushed slightly, “Oh, stop it you.”

“Hey…now that everypony’s okay…” said another voice.

A small purple dragon slowly entered the main foyer of the library, shuffling nervously, “Uh, I just wanted to apologize to Rarity and Fluttershy.” Said Spike.

Rainbow Dash glared at the drake.

“Okay, I wanted to apologize to everypony for the trouble I put you all through when I accidentally… purposely poured the love poison into the tea.” The dragon frowned guilty, “It was wrong of me.”

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes, “Well, as long as it was a purposeful accident.” The unicorn cracked a smile, “Come here, Spike.”

“GROUP HUG!” Shouted Pinkie Pie, grabbing all six of her friends to squeeze together.  Twilight was grinning widely as she felt the comforting presences of her closest friends. Their friendship really was magic.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that while we show our family and lovers one type of love, and our friends another, that doesn’t mean that we love anyone of them less. In fact, sometimes we need more than one of the three kinds to have a healthy relationship between each other. Along with that, the emotion of love is something powerful and we shouldn’t go out of our way to manipulate it, we should just let it be. No pony can force two ponies to be together, as both parties need to share the mutual feelings.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle