Just an Experiment

Twilight and Rainbow Dash left their dinner and went to the library. As Twilight chose random books to read, Rainbow Dash hovered around confused and awaited to hear Twilight's idea.

As the minutes passed by, Twilight read her books and Rainbow's patience grew thin. Unable to wait any longer, she asked, "So what is this idea of yours Twilight?"

"Well, you want to do something that nopony else has done. Correct?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, with what I have in mind, only a certain princess of the night has achieved this."

"Woah woah woah. Wait a second Twilight. You want me to do something only a princess has done? I mean, I know I'm awesome, but what could I do that only a alicorn has accomplished?"

"Oh nothing much, you are just going to the moon."

"Oh okay."

"..."

"..."

"WHAT!?!" Rainbow Dash screamed at the thought.

Twilight realized that it sounded more innocent in her head. "Wait Rainbow Dash, let me explain."

"Was it because of dinner? Did I make you mad? I thought the food was good! I barely even drank the cider!" Rainbow spoke without taking a breath. "Now I know why you brought us to the library, you are looking for a spell to send me to the moon!" Rainbow flew all around the library; like a fly going in random circles with no clear destination.

"Rainbow! Calm down!" Twilight shouted as she trapped Rainbow Dash in her magical aura. She then levitated Rainbow to the floor and had her rest right next to her. "Now listen to me. I am not sending you to the moon. For what I have in mind, you are going to travel to the moon and back."

Rainbow Dash was only able to mumble, rather than give a proper reply.

"Oh right," Twilight then released Rainbow from the magical trap.

"Okay," Rainbow started as she stretched her muscles, "let me get this straight. Your idea is to have me fly from here, ALL THE WAY to the moon and back? How do you expect me to do that?"

"Well, if I read the 'Elements of Harmony' correctly, it looks like Nightmare Moon landed on the moon in an instant. Which means she had to have been traveling the speed of light to do that."

"The speed of light?"

"Let me put it this way; the speed of light makes you look ridiculously slow."

Although this was true, Rainbow Dash could not help but take that as an insult. For she found the words "slow" and "Rainbow Dash" don't go together.

"Right, so in other words?" Rainbow questioned.

"From what I see from you Rainbow, with the information I'm getting from these books, at your current speed, it would take you months to reach the moon."

"Twilight, I'm all for challenges, but I am not going to fly for months to get to the moon."

"And I don't expect you to."

"Huh? But you just said-"

"If you let me finish explaining then you would know what I had in mind," Twilight interrupted with an annoyed tone.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut to let Twilight finish.

"Now, as I was saying, at your current speed it would take you months to get to the moon. However, once you pull off a sonic rainboom, you go ten times your normal speed."

"So how long would it take me to get to the moon at that speed?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, it would still take you a couple of days to reach the moon."

In an instant, Rainbow's excited expression disappeared into a look of disappointment.

"Thanks a lot Twilight, but I don't think I can make this trip to the moon. Maybe if you check back with me in a month or two, we can work something out," Rainbow said jokingly.

"Rainbow, I have a spell in mind that could help you get to the moon in just a few hours."

"Really? That's awesome! Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

For a moment, Twilight did not say a word. Instead, she hesitated with a worried expression. "You know what, this wasn't the best idea. We can think of something else to do."

"Huh? Why?"

"Forget it. It's nothing. We can try something different; something simpler. You know, I don't think anypony has a record for flying across all of Equestria," Twilight tried to make it sound exciting.

"Twilight, what is it? You were excited on me going to the moon, but now you are limiting me to space. I gotta admit that you even had me excited for the moon. So why change your mind?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight gave a deep sigh and shown deep regret for her suggestion. However, for Rainbow to understand, she knew she had to explain. "Rainbow, the spell can help you get to the moon quicker, but... I'm concerned about your safety."

"My safety?"

"Rainbow, one sonic rainboom is dangerous enough going at such incredible speed. To think that doubling or tripling it, I don't know what would happen to you. You could get seriously hurt... or worse."

"Worse?"

"Rainbow, I don't know what is going to happen. All I know is that we would be dealing with physics that we don't truly understand."

Rainbow Dash seemed to finally understand what she could be getting herself into. Twilight hoped that Rainbow Dash would have agreed and keep the idea away from her mind. However, Rainbow was actually deep in thought and Twilight had regrets.

After a few minutes of careful thought, Rainbow Dash broke the silence, "Twilight, I have done many challenges and this is without a doubt the most dangerous one ever. After what you just told me, I have to admit that it has got me shaking-"

"It's okay Rainbow. There is no shame in being afraid. As I said, there are other-."

"Afraid? Are you kidding? I was going to say you got me shaking in excitement! There is no challenge too big for Rainbow Dash!" she shouted proudly.

"What!?! Did you not hear anything I just said!?!"

"Of course I did!"

"Of course you did," Twilight said with less enthusiasm. "Rainbow, we really shouldn't-."

"So when do we get started?"

With a deep sigh, Twilight knew that it would be pointless to try to talk Rainbow out of it. Rainbow's mind was set and now she felt the need to follow this through with her friend. What was supposed to be an experiment on romance, turned into a magic experiment. "Wait Rainbow, before we even try this spell, we should take all the necessary precautions. I want to study this carefully before we even attempted this."

"Okay okay, but when can we get started."

"Ugh, give me a couple of days and I will come get you."

"Great! This is going to be SO AWESOME! I can see it now, 'Headlines! Rainbow Dash First Pegasus on the Moon!' I like the sound of that. I will be the best of the best." Rainbow Dash said with excitement and a new drive built up inside her. "Thank you Twilight. I am going to practice for it right now!"

"What? Now? But look how late it is?"

"Ha! That's not going to stop me now. I will see ya later Twilight!" Without another word, Rainbow dashed out of the castle to "practice" for her trip to the moon.

Twilight, now alone, began to research for her friend.

A few moments later, Spike entered the library with a cupcake in hand. "There you are! You thought you could hide this baby from me huh? Well I proved you wrong Sparkle. I-." Spike stopped himself as he saw Twilight trapped in her book. Twilight always has her muzzle into her books, but somehow, he knew that something was different. He knew that something was bothering his best friend. "Umm, Twilight? Are you okay?"

Not looking away from her book, she replied, "All I wanted was a nice quiet evening with her..."