Formula Fangirl

As Twilight trotted away from the bathroom, she pulled out her Scientific Method book once more and started reading aloud. "Now that I have my question, I should start step 2 of the Scientific Method: Do Background Research. I already have a little from what Rainbow Dash told me, but I should probably check my books for more information." And with that, Twilight set course for the castle library.

After about 10 minutes of searching her library, Rainbow Dash stormed in and interrupted Twilight. "Ok, what are you doing?"

"Research," Twilight said simply. She didn't want petty questions interfering with her findings.

"Research on what? Twilight, you know that a fangirl moment doesn't qualify as a real emotion, right? I guarantee you won't find anything in any of your book-"

"Found something!" Twilight shouted. She levitated an ancient-looking book above her head in triumph.

"Seriously?" Rainbow was aghast.

"I think so. It's titled 'The Secret Emotion'," Twilight said enthusiastically.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened suddenly. "Is the cover made of pony hide?"

"Looks like it," Twilight replied happily. "That means that this is a really old book. I wonder if it states the author." Twilight looked in the back of the book at the final page. Her eyes widened so that they were bigger than Rainbow's. "No way! It says that the author is Starswirl the Bearded! I thought he only wrote scrolls! Could this be a secret novel that he wrote? The title does imply this. But maybe he just titled it as such to make it seem intruiging-" Twilight stopped herself suddenly. "I felt it," she murmured.

"Felt what?" Rainbow thought she already knew what it was that Twilight felt, but she also felt the need to humor her friend.

"A fangirl moment! I think I just had one! It's exactly like you described it!" Twilight looked very excited. "But this doesn't mean that I can be through finding background research. While having field experience will be useful in my report, I can't just let the opportunity to cite this ancient, forgotten text go to waste." Twilight muttered this last part to herself.

Rainbow Dash, of course, groaned her disapproval. "Field experience? Report? Twilight, what exactly do you plan on doing with all this useless information?"

Twilight grunted. "I'll have you know that anything Starswirl the Bearded studied is not useless. This could be a breakthrough in science. Just think of how much knowledge is in this ancient text alone!"

"Fine. You can go have your dork-fest, but count me out of it. I don't want your egghead disease to rub off on me." With that, Rainbow Dash flew out of the room in a huff.

"Fine! I don't need your help reading this book! I can do it on my own!" Twilight screamed after her. Her only reply was the heavy bang of the palace door slamming shut.

Still angry at Rainbow, Twilight cracked open the ancient text and began to read. A few paragraphs in, she began taking notes.

"Yes, this does seem to describe the feeling Rainbow spoke of," Twilight muttered to herself after filling in a whole notebook full of research. "And there's even an unfinished research project that Starswirl himself designed. If I can just fill in these last few variables with solid facts, I'll officially be able to continue this ancient project." She glanced up away from the book and towards the ceiling. Light was filtering through a window, casting a dim glow over her. "I've been doing this for hours. I need a break," she realized. It was now well past noon, and she had been in the library studying since about an hour after breakfast.

She walked out of the library and into the dining hall, only to find that somepony had already laid out a spread of food for her. "Probably Spike," she thought to herself.As she ate the pre-prepared meal, thoughts about Starswirl's book flowed around inside her mind. She was very excited to get started on his project, but she knew that much preparation would be needed. She pulled out her Scientific Method guide once more and turned to the third step.

"Construct a Hypothesis," she read aloud. "This is an easy one. But it should probably wait until morning." Her meal finished, she trotted out of the dining hall and retired to her chambers for the night.