“Go on, Rainbow. Honestly it's just one hour. I'll be right outside if you need me.” Princess Twilight smiled at her friend encouragingly then she closed the door with her magic, leaving her alone in the office.
Rainbow Dash sighed deeply as she trotted next to the window and sat down on one of the couches that was in the small room. She had, by no means, come here willingly. Twilight Sparkle had convinced her to come here and at least try therapy in hopes to help her, how did she put it? To help her come to terms with certain “issues”.
Rainbow wouldn't call these things an issue in her opinion, but Twilight said if something was bringing a pony any sort of emotional pain, then it was therefore an issue. So here she was.
Well, maybe if I just make it though this one session then Twilight will shut up and let me go about my life without butting into my personal issues.
Rainbow knew that Twilight was just trying to help her, but still. Sometimes she just wished that she would keep to herself and stay out of everypony's business.
At exactly 3:00 on the dot, the door to the office opened and the therapist walked in. Rainbow looked to see what she looked like and was surprised to see that her “therapist” was none other than Princess Cadence herself.
Rainbow Dash was shocked at first, but once that wore off she rolled her eyes as she slumped down in her seat, beyond annoyed at her friend now.
“This is obviously some kinda joke,” she huffed. “Twilight told me I was going to see a ‘therapist’, not the freaking Princess of Love herself.”
Princess Cadence seemed to ignore everything she had just said, because all she did was sit down on the couch across from Rainbow’s before pouring herself a cup of tea.
“Are you serious right now?” Rainbow asked.
Cadence still didn't speak, she simply stirred the cream into her teacup with her magic and gave Rainbow a serious look.
She groaned in annoyance. Why in the wide world of Equestria couldn't Twilight have at least told her that this really wasn't a therapy session and that she was basically having a meeting with a love guru? Rainbow looked up at the Princess and bite her lip. She knew that there was no getting out of this one now, so she may as well make the best of it.
“Fine. I suppose since you're giving me the silent treatment I should just do what I came here for, right?”
Rainbow expected her to at least say something now, but Cadence still didn't say a single word to her.
“Alright.” Twilight Sparkle, I am so going to get you for this.
“I guess Twilight had you come here because she's noticed that I've been acting strangely lately.”
There was no response from the alicorn as she simply kept her eyes trained on the pegasus, stretching her wings a little as if they were becoming stiff from boredom.
“Well then, if she did or didn't, it doesn't matter. I'm perfectly fine. Honestly, she just needs to stop worrying about me. There's nothing that can sway me.”
The silence suddenly made Rainbow uncomfortable as she was forced to just stare into Cadence’s emotionless eyes, feeling them burn into her very soul, exposing the obvious lie she had just told.
“Okay, okay! Maybe I'm not perfectly fine,” Rainbow admitted. “But it's not a big deal. Fluttershy just kinda told me some weird news a few weeks ago.”
Rainbow wasn’t entirely comfortable with telling Cadence this, but she was the Princess of Love, right? She of all ponies shouldn't judge her for this.
“It was really unexpected. And I never thought that she would ever come clean about this. But I suppose she finally decided to. To admit that she has a crush on me, that is.”
Cadence still did not speak a single word.
“I guess that it's not really a big deal, but I'm making it a really huge deal. Because, well you know, she's my best friend. What am I supposed to do about my best friend liking me more than that? Wanting to be more than that? It's weird.”
Rainbow felt a bit guilty putting it like that so she quickly tried to change her words in hopes to make it sound better.
“Hey, I don't mean that it's really weird. I just feel like it's weird, because…well, um. Because I've grown up with her, been around her my whole life, so she's basically a sister to me. But now that she's told me this it kinda changes something between us.”
Rainbow Dash slowly felt her emotional wall crumble a bit as she continued to speak.
“Every day I think I can do it. That I can go through the day either without feeling a single thing or just at least act normal around her and all our friends. As if nothing was different. But it's not. We both know that it's not.
“Every time I see her face it just changes me. It's as if my whole body is being thrown off a cloud and the only thing holding me up, preventing me from falling to my death is her. I try to fight it. But it feels impossible. No. It basically is as of now.”
Rainbow was beginning to find this much easier than she thought it would be. It was strange, but the more she talked about her feelings the more she was realizing how much she was truly hurting because of this. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was really finding it nice to talk to somepony about this. Somepony that she didn't really hang around all the time and wasn't, in her opinion, biased about the situation.
"It hurts. You wouldn't believe how much it hurts me sometimes. To see her every single day. To feel her beautiful eyes stare into my own. Sure, I stood up for her when those two jerks were bullying her years ago, but did I ever think that she would read more into my actions than simply me trying to help a friend out? Absolutely not." Rainbow Dash shook her head sadly as she glanced towards the huge grandfather clock that sat in the corner of the office.
The alicorn quietly levitated a cup of tea to Rainbow with her magic, still listening intently to what the young mare had to say.
“Thanks.” Rainbow took the cup gratefully and drank the sweet beverage, allowing it to soothe her anxious nerves.
"She didn't say anything about it back then, but I knew that she didn't see me in the same way she used to anymore. I could tell by the way she acted whenever I was around her. How her voice got extra squeaky when she was trying to say something to me.
“Honestly I thought it was adorable, but...I couldn't allow myself to think like this. No. I've lost way too many ponies because of stupid situations like this. To make matters worse, she's my best friend so I know that it'll hurt that much more if things end badly between us."
Not a flicker of emotion betrayed Cadence as Rainbow spoke, all she did was take a couple more notes, waiting patiently for her to continue.
"I tell myself over and over again that I'm over reacting. That we're still cool and that I still have my best friend...but I have my doubts. Sometimes I just wonder...am I just so desperate for things to be normal that I'm forcing it?” Rainbow scoffed.
“Whenever I finally feel like I'm her best friend or that I still have that freaking awesome connection I had with her before that conversation happened, it makes me feel so happy. When I still can make her smile or laugh, I feel my heart lift up my chest, my anxiety all but disappears. It's like every horrible thing a pony could say or do can't touch me any more because she cares. And that's all I need.”
Rainbow was all but forcing herself to not start crying in front of Cadence. She wouldn't let herself break. Not again.
“But when I'm basically invisible to her or when she’s avoiding me because I've hurt her, I feel my body falling. Down down into the deep pit of hell I've made for myself. It's honestly much worse than losing my pride. And it's painful as freaking heck.”
Rainbow laughed wryly to herself as she scratched her muzzle, trying to hide the fact that she was forcing herself to not cry.
“I guess I love her more than I realized. Sure things happened, sure I thought she was great, but love? Whatever would I do with that? Especially with her? I never thought of her that way nor did I think I would, but…when I looked into her eyes that day and saw the love in them I knew. When those words fell from her mouth I knew...I loved her."
Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do as she looked desperately at Cadence, hoping and praying that she would finally speak to her now.
“Princess…what am I going to do?”
The pink alicorn smiled at the pegasus, before she stood up, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.
“Go to her, Rainbow. Don't be foolish. If you know that she loves you then what's to stop you from telling her that you love her as well?” she asked. “Everypony deserves love, Rainbow. But only those who chose to accept it will be happy in the end.”
Thoughts scrambled in Rainbow’s head as she let Cadence's words sink in. But what would I say? How could I even face her? Would she reject me? Do I even have a chance now that I've waited so long?
“Rainbow. You're thinking too hard on this. If you two are truly meant to be things will always work out. Love is a very powerful magic, my little pony. Never doubt it. Especially now.”
Rainbow Dash then took one last look at the alicorn then flew out the window as quickly as she could. Cadence smiled to herself as she thought of what the pegasus-who she knew was heading to Fluttershy’s cottage-would do when she finally spoke the words that had been weighing her heart down for who knows how long. She thought of how happy Fluttershy would be when she finally heard the words she had been waiting so long to hear from the one she loved. All of these beautiful thoughts made Cadence’s heart soar.
“Ah. Young love. Such a sweet romantic time.” The Princess laughed at herself one last time before she trotted out of the room, closing the door gently behind her, ready to tell an eager young Princess that was waiting outside what had happened.
