About an hour past dusk, the door to the Golden Oak library was opened, and a hooded figure slipped inside. She stood still for a few moments, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the nearly pitch-black room. Once she’d located the stairs, she set her course toward them – only to stumble upon something a few steps later.
“Ow.”
The room was suddenly engulfed in what must’ve been the combined light of a thousand suns.
“Ow. Ow. OW. What the hay!” She shielded her eyes with her hoof, but it didn’t do much to alleviate the pain.
“Rainbow?” a familiar voice asked.
“Ahh! Spike! What the hell did you do?” Rainbow demanded, rubbing her eyes.
“Uhh, turned on the lights?”
“Right, that makes sense,” Rainbow mumbled, realizing she was on the floor, and not in a particularly comfortable position. “Still, I’m a pegasus! Just because your eyes don’t care about bright stuff doesn’t mean mine don’t too!”
“Sorry,” Spike shrugged, moving to pick up an impossibly thick tome responsible for Rainbow’s sour mood. “Why – Oh, right. You are here because of the thing?” Spike whispered, leaning closer to Rainbow, who quickly shushed him.
“Yes, I am here to do the thing,” she hissed, earning a smirk from the dragon.
“Well, in that case, Twi is in her room, upstairs.”
“Alright.” Rainbow walked to the stairs, before stopping and putting on a slight frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be, you know, asleep?”
“Nope, I still gotta clean up this mess. Besides, I am going along with Twilight’s sleeping habits,” Spike said, heaving another heavy book onto a shelf. Looking at the young dragon work, made Rainbow want to offer assistance, but she had other, more important business to attend to.
“Noted, but nopony knows I was here,” Rainbow quickly said, and turned to walk up the stairs.
“Well, technically, I am a dragon, so, sure,” Spike said, tangling on the side of a ladder.
Rainbow’s wings twitched as they were ready to swoop in and catch the dragon were he to fall. Luckily, he didn’t. This would’ve been so much easier if he had wings.
She caught the thought and spun it around in her head before depositing that, and any other irrelevant thoughts to the very back of her mind. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door to Twilight’s bedroom.
“Come in!” Twilight's cheerful, albeit slightly drained voice called.
Rainbow pushed the door open and was left staring into the room. It looked like Twilight’s bedroom, only more mystical. The room was bathed in a soft mix of moon- and candlelight. There were some cushions set up in front of Twilight's bed, on one of which Twilight herself was sitting. In front of her were a book, something Rainbow could only assume was coffee, and most importantly, cookies.
“I’m glad you made it,” Twilight yawned. “Sorry, kinda tired. Doesn’t matter, though. I’ve been up for far longer, doing that stupid report… just, nevermind.”
Rainbow chuckled and closed the door behind her. “Well, I said I’d be here, didn’t I. Couldn’t just leave my friend hanging.”
“Of course you couldn’t. Now, did you bring the book? ‘Daring Do and the Treacherous Tides’ was it?” Twilight asked, her tiredness seemingly evaporating.
“Yup, it’s right-“ Rainbow lifted her wing to take out the book, which apparently did not get the memo, “-here… Agh, I probably dropped it downstairs. Hold on, I’ll get it.”
“Eh, you can have mine,” Twilight said dismissively. “I have it practically memorized, besides I was going to give it to you anyway.”
Rainbow stopped and looked at her friend with a slightly confused expression, her hoof still on the door handle. “Why would you give it to me? I already have a copy, you know, downstairs.”
Twilight put on what would in her case count as a sly grin. “A first edition signed by A. K. Yearling. I doubt that.”
It took a few seconds for Rainbow to truly understand the meaning of Twilight’s words. “Y-you have a…” Before she realized it, she’d already scooped up the relevant book and flipped it open. Sure enough, the glorious signature of A. K. Yearling was only enhanced by the flickering candlelight. “How did you… no, why are you giving it to me?”
“Well, seeing as that’s the only book series you are willing to read – and that too in absolute secret-“
“Hey! I don’t read it in absolute secret!” Rainbow protested.
“Uh-huh. Then what’s with the cloak?” Twilight did her best to raise an eyebrow. She failed quite spectacularly, but Rainbow was too flustered herself to notice.
“Oh, that,” she gave out a nervous chuckle, “I was, uh, cold.”
“Suuure, let’s go with that.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I am giving it to you because I thought you’d be happy to have it. And seeing you happy makes me happy.” Twilight turned her head, and thus the bear-hug caught her completely off guard.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Rainbow sniffled, tightening her vice-grip.
“I am- glad,” Twilight choked out. “But- oxygen… a thing.”
By the time Twilight had an adequate amount of air in her lungs, Rainbow had made herself comfortable on a cushion and was devouring a cookie.
“So, did you like the book?” Twilight asked.
“Mmmhell yeah,” Rainbow said, dropping some crumbs on the carpet. Twilight quickly picked them up with her telekinesis and set them down on the plate. “I mean, there was this part, where Daring Do runs into that manticore, and it almost dislocates her wing, and then the snake lion thing, I really don’t remember what it’s called and then the trap-“
“Chimera.”
“What?”
“The ‘snake lion thing’ is called a chimera,” Twilight explained, taking the book from Rainbow and flipping through some pages. “And, in my opinion, that part isn’t Yearling’s best writing.”
“What!?” Rainbow’s mouth was hanging open as she stared at the pony willing to let such sacrilege slip out of their mouth.
“Or the whole book for that matter,” Twilight nonchalantly added. The lack of sleep was once again catching up to her, making her yawn and take a sip of coffee.
Rainbow was speechless. The book was the pinnacle of fiction! How could the librarian say it wasn’t even on par with the others? “But, but the way she fought out of the cave, with her wings tied to her back! It was totally awesome,” she put on a defiant stare.
“A cavern, technically. But that’s just my opinion. There was a lot of action, true, but some of it seemed a bit unrealistic,” Twilight said, carefully tossing the book back to Rainbow. “Like the chimera part, for example. It lives in the fire-swamps, right?”
Rainbow nodded.
“Well, the book takes place on the opposite coast. Nowhere is any location near the fire-swamps even mentioned – I checked.”
“Maybe they just mitigate?” Rainbow crossed her forehooves.
Twilight snorted. “You mean ‘migrate’? No, we’d know about it. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The story lacks any real motive. The way it’s written makes it seem like someone is blackmailing Daring Do into going head-first into a death-trap. While it would make an interesting twist, were the ending written a bit differently, but it was obviously not Yearling’s plan. It’s like the lack of a plot was replaced by drawn-out fight scenes.”
“Not everyone is an expert on snakeliongoats, Twi,” Rainbow huffed. “And the fight scenes were awesome! Don’t tell me you didn’t like how she was gliding sideways over a river while deflecting arrows with a rusty horseshoe!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Yes, but it makes her sound like the best flier in all of Equestria. Kind of breaks the immersion, you know. No pegasus could, and I quote ‘fly through an opening only a few dozen inches wide and come to a full stop no more than a yard later while being chased by a flock of angry parasprites.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow glared, “says the pure unicorn without wings.”
Both mares recoiled at Rainbow’s words. Twilight’s face showed hurt and rightful anger. Rainbow was even more shocked – she hadn’t meant to say anything like that. She wouldn’t say that to anypony, especially her to friend, and even more especially to Twilight.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly before Twilight could escalate the situation any further. “I didn’t mean anything I said, I am just…”
“Tired?” Twilight gave her a weak smile. “Yeah, me too. I’m sorry too, we shouldn’t let a book divide us like that.”
“Yup,” Rainbow sighed, before getting pulled into a hug, this time not initiated by her.
“I still think it was a good book,” Twilight said, letting go of Rainbow. “For example, I think Daring Do and Silver were excellent partners. The way they used the loose stones to trap Dr. Caballeron was ingenious.”
“It sure was,” Rainbow said, looking down at a half-eaten cookie on her plate.
“And when the water started filling the cavern – that was very well written. I totally believed I was there,” Twilight said with a hopeful tone.
“It was cool.” She still didn’t lift her gaze.
Twilight closed the book and moved to sit beside Rainbow. “Look, I am sorry, I let my mood get in the way. Although, the point of the book club is to express different opinions, still-”
“No,” Rainbow shook her head, “don’t apologize. I don’t agree with you, but you’re still my friend.”
“But you’re hurting,” Twilight insisted. “I can see that, even without knowing the context of all the psychology books in the library.”
“I am sorry, just what I said-“
“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Twilight put her hoof around her neck. “You weren’t in the right mindset, and I don’t blame you. Honest.”
“Thanks,” she glanced at Twilight, who had a warm smile on her muzzle, before going back to staring at the carpet. “But it’s not just that either. Ugh, this is the worst time to ask.”
“Ask what? I am your friend, you can ask me anything,” Twilight said, being careful not to be too pushy.
“And that’s the problem,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.
“What was that?”
Rainbow stayed silent.
Twilight got up from the cushion and lit her horn. Soon, both ponies were under a shimmering dome. “There,” Twilight said. “Total privacy, nothing you say will ever leave this bubble. It’s something Princess Celestia used to do with me.” She laid down in front of Rainbow, looking directly into her violet eyes. “I promise I won't think any differently of you.”
Rainbow let out a groan, but her body loosened up a bit. “Fine, will, I mean, do you want to grab launch someday, or…” She briefly looked at Twilight, who was more confused than anything else, so she continued, “you know, go out.”
“Rainbow?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “Are you trying to ask me on a date?”
“Yes!” she shouted, quickly covering her mouth with her hoof.
The safety barrier promptly shattered as Twilight slowly rose into a sitting position. Rainbow winced and covered her head with her hooves. “I should just go,” so said quietly.
“No, wait!” Twilight practically shouted. “Don’t go, I was just surprised that’s all,” she said in a more controlled tone. “And confused. You have made it pretty clear in the past that you were only interested in pegasi. And I am a totally wingless unicorn.”
Rainbow rolled onto her back, dragging her hooves over her face. “I thought so. For the longest time, I believed it. I made myself believe it. I know it sounds stupid, but I see it now. I was never really interested in only pegasi.”
“Oh,” Twilight wanted to give her friend a hug, or anything to support her, yet she couldn’t bring herself to do anything of that sort. “In your defense, you seemed to have good reasons.”
“Excuses,” Rainbow said, staring at the oak ceiling. “They were excuses, which I am pretty much out of at this point.”
“Excuses for what?” Twilight frowned.
“For not asking out a certain unicorn,” Rainbow said slowly, avoiding eye-contact with Twilight.
“Well, I have a guess as to who that might be,” Twilight let out a small giggle, “but why?”
“I was scared,” Rainbow whispered. “But then you go and smash every imaginary boundary I set to stop myself. Can’t walk on clouds? A cloud walking spell. No wings? Just give yourself some butterfly ones. Don’t like napping. Then you completely mess up your sleep schedule.”
Twilight chuckled at the last mention, before realizing that this was, in fact, a real issue. Then she came back to Rainbow’s words. “Scared of what other ponies might think?”
She shook her head. “I- I was- am scared you’re gonna say no.”
“Oh, well then, fear not, I would very much like to go out,” Twilight smiled.
To say Rainbow was relieved would’ve been the understatement of the month. She almost melted into a puddle, letting go of her breath and putting on a content smile. Once the rush of adrenaline had died down, she came to her hooves and shook her wings lightly before giving Twilight yet another hug – this one lasting a bit longer than they would usually be comfortable with. This time though, it didn’t matter. She was going on a date with Twilight!
