Scrambled Egghead

"Are you sure about this?" asked Spike, watching nervously as Dash moved throughout the kitchen. "Cause this seems pretty crazy to me."

"It was your idea," noted Rainbow, checking on the cake in the oven. It looked good, so she slid the oven closed and allowed herself a brief break for the first time since she started preparing dinner.

"Yeah, that was when I thought you couldn't do it. Besides, I only ever said anything about dinner, and I kinda expected you to make me do all the work." Spike crossed his arms over his chest, smirking at the scene before him. Rainbow looked like a regular housewife, complete with a sauce-stained apron and a slightly-frazzled, tired expression. She had been at it for hours, trying her best to perfect the various dishes she had bubbling on the stove and roasting in the oven. “This is honestly a pretty impressive spread you’ve got going on here. And you only overcooked the eggplant a tiny bit. I’m almost proud.”

“Bite me, ya little twerp. I can cook.” This was a blatant lie on Rainbow’s part that wasn’t really fooling anyone. Just two weeks ago, she had to ask Spike how to hard boil an egg. “Besides, this is kinda a big deal, and I’m not about to let you steal my brownie points by taking credit for this.”

“If things go well, you’ll have more brownie points than you know what to do with,” said Spike. He crossed the kitchen and removed the lid from one of Dash’s pots, tasting the soup it contained with a nearby wooden spoon. He considered it for a moment, then gave a “so-so” gesture with his hand. “This needs salt.”

“I put in exactly how much your recipe said.”

“Yeah, but that recipe is for a half batch. You made twice as much but didn’t adjust your seasoning. Besides, Twi likes it a little salty.” Dash snickered at that, at which point Spike rolled his eyes. “Yeah, not touching that one. Just take my word for it, a little pinch more.”

“Fine, you’re the master chef here.” Rainbow elbowed Spike out of the way, then tossed in the requisite salt. She gave the soup a stir and tasted it. “Well, what do you know? You actually know what you’re talking about.”

“Go figure. Anyway, aside from the soup and dessert, you’re looking pretty much done. Should probably start plating,” said Spike. There was a knock at the door, which stole Rainbow’s attention away from her cooking.

“Yeah, actually, that’s them, so…” Rainbow pulled off her apron and tossed it at Spike. “Be a bro and set the table for me?”

“What happened to wanting all the brownie points to yourself?”

“It’s like you said, I’ll have more than enough after dinner.” Before Spike could argue, Dash gave him a thumbs up and zipped away, leaving him to contend with the plating and serving of food (nothing he wasn’t used to) while Rainbow let her guests in. Rainbow slid to a stop before the castle’s front door, the strange sensation of anxiety clawing at her. She knew she shouldn’t be nervous. It was just dinner with some friends, nothing to worry about. Even still, the magnitude of the night’s implications weighed heavily on her. Rainbow took in a deep breath before pulling open the door.

“Dashie!” Twily jumped into Rainbow’s arms, peppering her with kisses. “I missed you tons today!”

“Aw, it wasn’t that bad, was it? Trixie and Starlight showed you a good time, right?” Rainbow looked over Twily’s shoulder, where the “rival” couple stood. They were both dressed fairly casually, whereas Twily was in a pretty trendy, fashionable outfit, something Dash had ordered from Rarity a while back and kept on standby for a night like this. Rainbow knew that it must’ve drove Trixie mad to be dressed less extravagantly than Twily, so she made a mental note to thank her later for her rare display of restraint.

“Of course we did, Rainbow Dash. You shouldn’t have asked us to babysit your little idiot if you had any doubt that we would excel at it,” said Trixie, making up for her sense of restraint with a smug, over the top, petty jab at Twily. Typical.

“I’m not a baby, and you didn’t sit on me,” said Twily, peering at Trixie suspiciously. “How come nothing you say ever makes sense?”

“Come on in, dinner is just about ready,” chuckled Rainbow, hoping to get everyone to the table before Trixie burst into flames. She led the little party of four to the dining room, where their immaculately prepared meal was waiting for them. Spike walked in from the kitchen, carrying one last platter to the table with a cocked brow.

“Hey Trixie, Star, good to see you,” he said, setting down the food.

“Hi Spike,” said Starlight with a grin. She’d always had a soft spot for the little guy. “Holding in there okay?”

“Well, Dash has me doing slave labor.” He snickered, puffing out a few sparks of flame from his nostrils. “So, you know. Same old, same old.”

“Hey, at least I’m letting you stick around for dinner,” pointed out Dash. “You should be thanking me, really.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that. Anyway, you guys wanna do drinks to start with? I’ve got some wine Celestia sent from Canterlot Castle, real top shelf stuff.” The group nodded their appreciation, and Spike quickly ventured into the kitchen, returning with a platter of wine glasses (one of which was, curiously enough, already filled with a deep purple liquid), as well as the bottle of wine itself.

“This one is for you, Twily,” said Spike, offering her the pre-filled glass. “I know you don’t like wine, so I got you some grape juice instead.”

“Thanks, Spike! You’re the best!” Twily gratefully accepted the glass, bouncing and swaying on the spot with excitement as Spike doled out drinks to the rest of the group.

“I’m probably supposed to, like, do a toast or something here,” said Rainbow. She shrugged, raising her glass up. “But I suck at that sort of thing, so… Cheers, I guess.”

After a chorus of “Cheers, I guess” from the group, they all clinked their glasses and enjoyed their drink. Rainbow watched carefully as Twily drained her glass, a genuine, overjoyed, childlike gleam in her eye. Twily blinked, clutching her head dizzily.

“Hey, Twily, come with me for a sec,” said Dash. Twily nodded slowly, accepting Rainbow’s hand and letting herself be led out of the room. Rainbow didn’t say anything as she shepherded Twily away from the dining room. Twily groaned, her head clearly swimming, but she followed Rainbow all the way to the bedroom dutifully. The two entered the room, and Dash swung the door closed behind them.

“Rainbow? What’s going—” Twily couldn’t get much more out before Dash pulled her close and kissed her, taking her breath away. She was surprised, but allowed herself to melt into Rainbow’s embrace nevertheless. She was so distracted by Rainbow’s kiss, her tongue on her own, that she didn’t realize what was about to happen until it was already in progress. Her eyes shot open, beaming out white light. She slowly drifted off of her feet, floating into the air for a moment before crumpling back down into Rainbow’s arms.

“Welcome back, egghead,” said Rainbow, smiling as Twilight steadied herself. The princess shook her head firmly, as if trying to readjust to her formerly empty head being suddenly stuffed back to maximum capacity. “How do you feel?”

“Ugh… Scrambled…”

“Good scrambled?” Dash felt her heart soar at the tiny smile she received from Twilight.

“Very good scrambled. I’d never been Twily for so long,” said Twilight. She blinked again, trying to steady her thoughts before she hugged Rainbow as tightly as she could. “It was insane. So much fun.” She giggled, pecking Rainbow on the cheek. “And your little trick with the fake vial? Brilliant.”

“I figured, if Twily thought she was gonna stick around forever, it would make her happier,” said Dash, returning Twilight’s kiss. “This way, she won’t get sad about having to leave, and next time we turn you to Twily, she’ll just think that she lost track of time.”

“Exceedingly clever, Rainbow Dash. I’m very proud of you.” Twilight sighed contentedly, still trying to get back into the flow of using big words and actually thinking. “So… What now?”

“Now? Now, the others are here for dinner. Let’s not make ‘em wait too much longer.”

"And you're sure Spike didn't help you with this?" asked Twilight, gesturing to what remained of the meal. "Because, frankly, I'm having a hard time believing that you managed something this sophisticated and well-executed."

"Come on, man, give me some credit…" Rainbow pouted slightly, though she shared a laugh with the others at her own expense. "I can cook, dude."

"The one time I've seen you in the kitchen, you managed to come up with burned eggs that were still somehow raw in the middle," noted Starlight. "And you absolutely cremated the bacon.”

“Don't even get me started on what she did to that coffee…" added Spike. “Never tasted anything like it. Don’t know how she did that.”

"Okay, fine! Maybe I can't cook," conceded Dash. "But what I can do is follow directions, and Spike's recipes are pretty easy to follow along."

"You? Follow directions? Trixie finds that hard to believe," chuckled Trixie. "Based on what we’ve been getting into these last few weeks, I imagine you’re more into giving directions, if you catch my drift.” Starlight firmly elbowed Trixie in the ribs. “Ow! What the—?”

“Not a good time for that, Trix,” said Starlight flatly. Trixie seemed to only then realize that what she said may have been inappropriate. She shrunk down slightly, displaying a very rare level of shame and remorse.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to… Well. Sorry.” Twilight raised her eyebrow, confused and a bit concerned by Trixie’s sudden shift in demeanor. They’ve known each other for quite some time, been enemies and rivals and maybe even friends, but Twilight had never known Trixie to apologize for anything she said. “Trixie will be more tactful moving forward.”

“Thank you, hon.”

“You two are more… serious than I think I first realized,” said Twilight carefully. “Perhaps it was because I wasn’t myself, but I guess I thought you two were just… Well, in any case, I’m happy to know that I was wrong in thinking that.”

“To be honest, we didn’t really see this coming ourselves,” said Starlight. “When we met, we never really had plans to do date night with other couples like this. It’s nice.”

“Yeah, man. Being an adult doesn’t suck that bad after all,” said Rainbow with a shrug. She gave Spike a devious glance out of the corner of her eye. “Shame Spike is the odd man out. When are you gonna get yourself a nice lady to bring home to dinner?”

“Geez, you sound like Twi,” groaned Spike. “I’ll have you know, I’m keeping the ladies at arm’s length so I can enjoy my bachelor lifestyle.”

“Right, that’s what that looks like.”

“I missed this,” said Twilight with a smile. “Obviously, I enjoyed being Twily, but she didn’t have the capacity to really participate in this kind of conversation.” She matched Dash’s sinister grin before nudging Spike with her elbow. “Seriously, though, don’t be afraid to bring a girl home, Spike. We’ll be sure to only embarrass you a little.” Spike opened his mouth to retort and, upon seeing how eager the girls around him were to tease him, hung his head in defeat.

“Thank you, Twi, I’ll keep that in mind…”

The girls shared a laugh, one that Spike eventually found himself joining in after a short while. Although he was the butt of the joke (as he often was), he was glad that Twilight was back. Despite the tricky, complicated nature of his relationship with Twilight and Twily, he loved and cared about Twilight more than just about anything. Twily was fun, but Spike had begun to miss his sister.

Dash leaned back in her seat, very pleased with herself with how things had gone so far. Dinner was delicious, Trixie was being uncharacteristically polite and civil, perhaps even friendly (no doubt because she understood the importance of the night), and, most importantly of all, Twilight was back. She was back, and she was happy, smiling and enjoying herself. Rainbow had managed to accomplish everything she had set out to do for the night, save for one thing. Cooking and putting together her little dinner party was a cakewalk by comparison.

“Not that I mind it, but I am curious,” said Twilight. “Why go through all this trouble? I know I was away for a while, but you really busted out all the stops here. What’s the occasion?”

Here it is. No use in dawdling now. All Rainbow had left to do was take action.

“Well, you know, we’re all happy to see you back. Figured it was worth celebrating,” said Rainbow, a bit evasively. She locked eyes with Spike across the table, his arched brow and disappointed shake of the head urging Dash to keep herself from backing down. Rainbow sighed, took a sip of her wine, and trudged on. “Besides… I’ve been waiting for you to get back, ‘cause there’s a question I wanted to ask you.”

“Hm? Something too complicated for Twily, I imagine?” Twilight seemed oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere at the dinner table. “So? What’s up?”

“Well, I… I’ve been thinking lately. About you and me. How I missed you, how I feel with Twily. And, like, it’s weird and kinda messy, with there basically being two of you now. And, well… Ya know what?” Dash rolled her eyes, digging into her pocket. She was done trying to say this with words. She had always been impatient, more of a mare of action than anything else. “Fuck it, I’ll just ask.”

“Dash? Are you okay? You’re not normally like this, I…” Twilight trailed off as she saw what it was Rainbow was rooting around in her pockets for. A small black velvet box, which Dash held in the palm of her hand. Twilight stared at it for a moment in stunned silence until Rainbow opened it up to reveal its contents. Two simple silver rings, each inset with a single, flawless, shining diamond. The bands were etched with a multitude of symbols, the ones that made up the outside of Twilight’s Circle of Alteration. “Rainbow…”

“Don’t worry, I did my research before I ordered these. They’re enchanted with this magic repellant charm thing, so the runes won’t work unless you want them to,” explained Rainbow. “I don’t even know if just having the runes would be enough to accidentally trigger the spell, but better safe than sorry.” Rainbow Dash shook herself, trying to swallow her anxiety in order to keep going. “Anyway, like… I love you, okay? More than I thought it was possible to love someone. And I thought it would be awesome if you’d be my princess, forever. So… Marry me?”

Twilight covered her mouth with her palm, tears welling in her eyes. She surveyed the table, who were all watching expectantly, which made it incredibly clear that they were all in on it. Overwhelmed didn’t begin to do justice to how Twilight felt just then. She trembled as she stood up, shakily walking until she was just in front of Dash. Her whole body shook, and Rainbow at first thought she was crying. That soon proved not to be the case.

“Rainbow… I know I say there’s no such thing as stupid questions,” laughed Twilight, her voice shaky and eyes watery. She dove onto Rainbow, wrapping her arms around her tightly. “But did you really have to ask?”

“So…” Rainbow grinned, feeling a bit of tears in her own eyes. Twilight released her grasp on Dash just long enough to kiss her. When they broke apart, Twilight nodded, unable to hold back her tears anymore.

“Of course I’ll marry you.”

Spike and Starlight cheered as Rainbow slipped both rings onto Twilight’s finger, and even Trixie gave the couple a polite round of applause. Twilight held her hand in front of her face, trembling as she inspected her new gemstones, absolutely blown away. It was obvious that even with her restored intelligence, she wouldn’t have expected this from Rainbow Dash. To call this a pleasant surprise would be quite the understatement.

“Is this why you let Twily stay?” asked Twilight. “To surprise me?” Rainbow shrugged almost noncommittally, trying to return her air of careless, nonchalant confidence. The thought she had put into things, as well as the wide, goofy grin she wore, exposed her facade very easily.

“It was part of it. But I care about Twily, too,” admitted Rainbow. “I love you both. My egghead and my dummy.”

“She actually said yes?” scoffed Trixie. “Are we certain Rainbow Dash gave her all of her intelligence back?”

“Could you say that again, Trixie?” said Twilight with a smirk. “I couldn’t hear you over the sound of my engagement.”

“Ugh. Your comebacks are better when you’re smart. Still not good, mind you. But better.”

“You know this means that, when you propose to Starlight, you have to buy her three rings, right?” Twilight tilted her head, feigning innocence. “Unless, of course, you feel like conceding the point that you’re not the better couple.” Trixie glared at Twilight, who returned with enough smug satisfaction to put the magician to shame. Finally, Trixie smiled, giving the newly engaged couple a thumbs up.

“Well met, Sparkle,” admitted Trixie. “You are truly a worthy rival for Trixie.”

“Trust me, Trixie, there’s no rivalry to be had.” Trixie glowered for a moment until Twilight returned her thumbs up and continued. “I think, after all that you and Starlight did with Dash and Twily, we can be bold enough to call ourselves friends now.”

Dash watched the two go back and forth, pulling Twilight onto her lap and holding her tight. Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off of her rings, so excited that she just absolutely had to tell people. She hummed to herself as she summoned a quill and parchment, immediately writing a quick letter to her friends and family as she deemed necessary.

Rainbow just smirked and watched, just imagining how excited her new fiance would be during their next session.