It Takes One to Admire One

by lolocs

Rating: everyone
Tags: Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Rarity
Length: 7179

Twilight develops strange symptoms after learning that Rainbow Dash helped her earn her cutie mark.

Twilight Sparkle starts to develop strange and alarming symptoms after learning that Rainbow Dash helped her earn her cutie mark.

Published 2012-11-04 06:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-04 06:00:01 UTC

It Takes One to Admire One

It Takes One to Admire One

“Dear Princess Celestia,

"Today I learned something amazing! Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them! If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky! Who knows? Maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow!”

Spike stopped writing mid-sentence and cautiously turned toward Twilight just to make sure she wasn’t really just an imposter using her voice. She had her head propped up on her forehooves and was gazing out the window of the library. She very well might’ve been an imposter, seeing how she had one of the dumbest smiles he’d ever seen on her face.

“Gross!” he remarked. “When did you get so cheesy?”

“Just write it, Spike,” she said dismissively, the sky keeping her attention.

Spike was legitimately concerned. He’d never seen Twilight act so... silly! Talking all dreamy and stuff? Please. He couldn’t possibly imagine himself acting like that.

As it turned out, Twilight had never seen herself act so silly before, either. Ever since she learned that Rainbow Dash was responsible for the Sonic Rainboom that made her unleash her full magical potential and pass her entrance exam for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she’d been feeling... weird. For whatever reason, she had a sudden desire to go and see Rainbow again. It was probably because she didn’t properly thank that silly filly for what she did that day so many years ago.

“I’m, uh... I think I’m gonna take a walk,” she announced to Spike as she swung open the front door of the library. “It is a beautiful day, after all!”

The dragon entered the doorframe as Twilight trotted merrily away.

“Hope you clear that head of yours while you do,” he grumbled.

Spike then reluctantly faced the neatly rolled letter in his hand. He slowly shook his head at the ugly thing, as if it should be ashamed of itself. But, eventually, he held the letter up to the sky and heaved a long sigh at it, engulfing it in green flames and sending it on its way.

Letting her subconscious take the lead, Twilight wandered about the streets of Ponyville, casually greeting ponies as she passed them.

The unicorn took in a deep breath through her nostrils. Something about today just felt great. Well, the weather was nice and cool (for summer, that is) and the air was as fresh as could be, but there was just some property she couldn’t quite pinpoint that made everything seem perfect.

She craned her neck toward the skies and started her search for the rainbow pegasus. It didn’t take long for her to find those signature stripes streaking high above the green treetops of the local park.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out to the stripes, which looped about and slowed down to a hover.

Big magenta eyes looked down to Twilight in surprise. Then, the eyes smiled.

“Oh hey, Twilight!” Rainbow swooped down to the ground, skidding to a halt just in front of her purple friend. “What’s up?”

The spruces swayed and rustled from the strong wind she created.

“Oh, not much. I’m just here to thank you again for what you did with that Sonic Rainboom of yours when we were little.” She giggled, “I mean, if it weren’t for you, I might’ve never passed my entrance exam, and if I never passed my entrance exam, I might’ve never earned my cutie mark! And if I nev-”

“Yeah, I uh, I remember.” Rainbow quickly stopped her from whatever tangent she was going off on. “No need to thank me, though.” She grinned. “I do know how amazing I am, after all. Heh.”

“Well, anyway, I take it you’re practicing another crazy move of yours?”

Rainbow gave a flap of her wings as her grin widened. “Yup! I’m trying to learn how to make a really sharp turn without losing too much speed by using a technique I heard about this one time. The trick was to...” she said, looking up and furrowing her brow in recollection, “...tuck yourself up in a ball to reduce wind resistance while turning your body toward the direction you wanna go.” Her cyan head nodded rhythmically as she spoke, as if to jog her memory. “Then, you gotta flap your wings and flare out your limbs as much as possible so you can stop your momentum in the direction you were... previously moving. Yeah – that’s what it was.”

“Well that sounds pretty cool.” The word sounded funny as it left her mouth. “Mind if I watch? I never really got the chance to study aerodynamics all that much, but the subject’s always fascinated me.”

“Uh – sure!” the pegasus piped. “There’s always room for an audience when it comes to moves as cool as these!”

Rainbow then resumed practicing her maneuver. But, when practicing anything else in life, there are usually certain... “hiccups” that happen along the way, and this trick of Rainbow’s was no exception. Occasionally, the maneuver would go out of control, causing the blue flier to spiral off into a tree or cloud. She’d always nervously glance over to her friend and rub the back of her head in embarrassment every time that happened, which would produce a few giggles from Twilight.

All the while, though, no matter how horribly wrong the move would go the previous time, the pegasus would persist, often noting any changes she felt she had to make in order to perform the move properly. (“Okay, hang on... Maybe I gotta angle my wings up more,” or, “Yeah, I just probably need to turn a tiny bit faster,” she’d say to no one in particular.)

It really was quite astonishing; Twilight never expected to see Rainbow Dash, of all ponies, to be so diligent in her work. From what the unicorn observed, she seemed to be an “it’ll happen when it happens” kind of pony who, despite her high energy, preferred to go through life fairly passively, waiting for things to come about on their own. Perhaps she had a different attitude when it came to something she was passionate about, like joining the Wonderbolts.

The Wonderbolts...

Twilight had almost forgotten about that dream of Rainbow’s, and a feeling of sadness crept into her when it was brought back into her mind. Don’t get her wrong – she would never want to impede on any good pony’s goals. It’s just... she worried that Rainbow wouldn’t have much time to spend with her friends once she became a member. Granted, she was probably the last pony Twilight could think of who would abandon her friends, but still; Rainbow would most likely have to constantly travel all over Equestria in order to perform. And what if she makes some new friends in some faraway town? Then she’d have to set apart some time to spend with them, too! Oh, that would just be terrible! Ooh, Twilight knew that was a selfish thing to think, but she just wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she ever lost Rainbow as a –

“Yes!” the flier exclaimed from above. “That was it!”

Friend...

“Did you see it, Twilight? Wasn’t it awesome?” Rainbow said giddily with a huge smile on her face.

The blue pony was bathed in an orange glow.

The sun was setting already.

“Um... Uh, yes!” Twilight put on a convincing grin and nodded her head. “Very awesome.” She had completely missed it.

The pegasus placed her forehooves on her hips and took in a proud breath as she looked off into the sunset. “Wow... I thought I’d never get that one down.” She turned back and enthusiastically waved a hoof to Twilight. “Thanks for cheering me on, by the way!”

“Oh, uh – you’re welcome!”

Rainbow flapped over to the nearest cloud. “Anyway, I’m pretty beat after all that flying,” she said, plopping onto her back. “Think I’m gonna call it a day. I’ll see ya tomorrow, ‘kay? Promise.”

Giving the world a satisfied sigh, Rainbow Dash tucked her forehooves behind her head, crossed one hind leg over the other, and closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, the pegasus's ears picked up that signature twinkle of magic, a burst of energy, and a light swooshing sound. Then something blocked the sun from her face. The change made her scrunch up her face for a moment, but ultimately she relaxed and opened her eyes.

Twilight’s smiling face was hanging over her head. Upside down. Rainbow lazily stretched her neck back to find the rest of Twilight securely standing on a cloud just behind her.

“Uh, can I help you?” Rainbow greeted.

“Sorry. I just kind of wanted to hang out some more,” said the unicorn.

“You do know I’m pretty tired, right?”

“Huh? ...Oh. No, it’s okay; you don’t have to get up.”

“Then... what do you want me to do?”

“You can just keep relaxing! I won’t get in the way or anything.”

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow.

“What?” Twilight defended. “There’s nothing wrong with a friend watching another friend take a nap, is there?”

“Aaactually, there kinda is.”

Twilight’s smile suddenly widened. “Has anyone ever told you how cute you sound when your voice cracks like that?”

“Y- What? Okay, that’s it.” The pegasus forced herself to wheel around into a sitting position. “Twilight, what’s gotten into you? You’ve been actin’ pretty strange lately.”

The purple pony backed her head up, her smile fading. She stared down at her cloud. “Actually, come to think of it, I have been feeling a little odd recently.”

“Oh. A-are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just...” Twilight squinted in thought. “The entire day, I’ve really wanted to spend some time with you, but whenever I do, my face gets hot. Even weirder is that my legs start shaking as if I’m nervous, but I’ve never been nervous around you. I mean, come on, we’ve known each other for months now; why would I possibly be nervous?”

“That’s funny,” Rainbow snickered, limply pointing a hoof toward her friend, “It almost sounds like you have a –!”

Rainbow jolted, her smirk snapping into a look of unease and fear.

“...Yes? ‘It’s almost like I have a’ what?” the bookworm inquired, leaning her head in.

“I, uh...” Rainbow stammered.

Twilight was looking back and forth intently at each of Rainbow’s eyes, her mouth open a little. The pegasus had to back her own head up. Twilight was leaning in so far she might’ve fallen over if Rainbow didn’t say anything else.

“I mean nothing! Heh heh.” Rainbow smiled awkwardly, staring off into the distance. “It was a silly idea anyways.” Her voice was cracking all over the place.

“Oh, okay then,” Twilight said, backing off. “I should probably head back to the library and see if I can find anything about my symptoms...”

Rainbow continued occupying her eyes with the horizon and nodded her head. “Y-yeah. Sounds like a plan!” she sputtered.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you later, then.” The unicorn started moving her cloud back down to the ground.

“Yeah,” the pegasus said quietly. “See ya...”

“Thank you so much for seeing me, Fluttershy,” said Twilight. “I hope I’m not disrupting anything.”

Bright morning light filtered into Fluttershy’s cottage as the yellow and purple duo walked into the living room. The humble home was filled with sounds of excited animals croaking, chirping, and buzzing just outside.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all. I’m always glad to help,” Fluttershy reassured her friend. “Besides, I know how rough it can be trying to get a doctor’s appointment sometimes. They’re always so busy.” She lowered her eyes in condolence.

Twilight approached the couch, pushed herself up onto it and sat upright on her rump while Fluttershy did the same on the well-padded chair across the room.

“So.” The yellow pony whipped out a clipboard and pencil. “What seems to be the problem?” she recited, crossing her hind legs.

“Well,” Twilight began, uncomfortably swinging her hind legs back and forth off the front of the couch, “occasionally, I start feeling weird. My heart rate and breathing rate increase, I get shaky, and my entire body feels like it’s getting warmer.”

The pegasus was rapidly jotting down notes. “I see.”

Twilight twiddled her hooves. “But the strange part is, as far as I can tell, I only get this way when I’m around Rainbow Dash.”

Fluttershy flinched and the sound of scribbling stopped. She gradually looked up from behind her clipboard. She looked extremely worried.

Twilight reflected the expression. “Oh no. Is it bad?”

“What? N-no! I mean, no, I don’t know.”

“...You... don’t know?”

“Well, I... I’ve just... never come across... anything like that. B-before.” Her professionalism was completely gone.

“You can’t think of any reason my body would be acting this way?”

“I...” Fluttershy’s eyes glued themselves to the floor. “Well, I kind of thought that um... you would know... w-what that meant.” She squinted up at the unicorn.

“Why would –? Ugh, of course I don’t know, Fluttershy! I looked through all my medical books and I couldn’t find anything! That’s why I came to you!”

The yellow pony cringed and shrunk back in her chair to try to get away from all the yelling.

Twilight sighed, relaxing her muscles. “Sorry... I’ve just been really worried about this, is all...”

“No, it’s okay,” the doctor said, slowly sitting back up.

A sudden, uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Twilight patiently looked about the room. “So... now what?”

“Um, well, I... guess we should do a checkup.”

The checkup that Fluttershy performed was... highly efficient, to say the least. When it was time to check Twilight’s weight, Fluttershy completely picked her up, plopped her down on the scale, slid the little weight on the front to some position, took some notes, and swiftly removed her – all in a matter of seconds. The entire time during the procedure, the yellow pony maintained a very serious and concentrated face, sticking her tongue out every once in a while to focus extra hard on something.

At one point, Twilight found herself standing with two red thermometers in her mouth while Angel Bunny crawled around on her body in order to place a very cold stethoscope onto her various body parts. The instrument made her twist and squeal the first couple times it was applied and prevented her from remembering how to stand up comfortably, so she decided to hold as still as she possibly could, just hoping it would speed up the process a little bit. Fluttershy turned back toward the unicorn and inserted yet another thermometer into her mouth, making it clink against the others. The doctor stared at each of them intently and scribbled in her notes before immediately turning away again to prepare something else.

Twilight crossed her eyes to try and read the new thermometer, but something else caught her eye instead. Angel was now on the table in front of the purple pony. He turned her face toward himself with his little paw and suddenly shined a small, piercing light into her right eye. She snapped her eyes shut and reared her head back out of reflex. This made her oral thermometers strike the bunny, knocking him off his hind legs and onto his back. He picked his head up off the table, pursed his lips and gave her an angry gesture that must’ve meant, “Hey – I’m trying to help you here!” Twilight gave him the most apologetic expression she could muster with three glass rods in her mouth, but the apology most likely didn’t help much, seeing how the rabbit stomped over to her and instantly went back to forcefully turning her neck around and probing her eyes and ears with the tiny light. This time, however, he nimbly dodged and leapt over the thermometers as they swept in time with her head across the table.

In another instance, Fluttershy was leading the unicorn over to the couch.

“Okay, lie down on your side for me, please,” the doctor requested.

Now free of thermometers and bunnies, Twilight felt much more at ease, so she happily followed her orders and rolled onto the welcoming cushions.

“Good girl,” cooed the yellow pony, slowly stroking the unicorn’s mane.

Twilight gave her a grumpy stare.

The veterinarian looked at her for a moment, not following. Then she vigorously shook her head in realization. “Uh – right. Diagnosing a pony. Sorry...”

Resuming the task at hoof, she retrieved a nearby reflex hammer, lined it up with Twilight’s back leg, and struck with it.

The leg involuntarily bucked, launching the pegasus into the wall across the room and knocking down a few bird houses.  The unicorn simply tensed up and stared in surprise.

Once a small bandage was applied to the doctor’s forehead, the checkup was complete. The two ponies moved back into their respective positions of couch and chair.

“So?” asked Twilight. “How are the results? What’s wrong with me?”

Fluttershy was flipping through pages and pages of notes. Once she finished, she politely placed the clipboard on her lap and looked up.

“Well,” she sighed, “it seems there’s nothing wrong with you. Your respiratory rate is fine, pulse is normal, I... um... Y-you’re perfectly healthy.”

The purple pony let out an exasperated sigh, stared at the floor, and threw up her hooves. “I can’t believe this! What am I supposed to do now!?”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, um... is it really that bad that your body acts up the way that it does?”

Twilight glared at the pegasus. “You don’t understand, Fluttershy! If this isn’t caused by an illness, then it could be magic-related!”

“You mean to say you’ve never felt this way around anypony else before?”

“What? Well, Princess Celestia, maybe...”

Fluttershy pulled back her head and squinted in disgust.

“But that’s only because I was intimidated by her when I was little! I’m not intimidated by Rainbow Dash; she’s one of my best friends!”

“I... really don’t think this is that big of a problem...” the yellow pony said, noticing that Twilight was pacing around the room at this point.

“Fluttershy, if this is caused by some type of spell that was cast on Rainbow, who knows what it could do next! It could drain me of all my energy and I’ll never be able to use magic ever again, or it could even make me lose my mind!”

She planted her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Are you sure you don’t remember seeing some strange unicorn cast a spell on Rainbow Dash recently?”

“Um... no, but I –”

“Then I suppose I’ll just have to ask everypony else. I need to get to the bottom of this,” she declared, and galloped out the front door of the cottage.

Fluttershy groaned and slumped down to the floor in defeat.

Twilight ran off in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack would hang out with Rainbow Dash often, so maybe she knew whoever it was who cast this horrible spell on her.

The unicorn forced herself to stay off all main roads and instead navigate to the farm via alleyways, areas with thick shrubbery, you name it – any place that was out of sight from the skies above to ensure she wouldn’t be spotted by the enchanted pegasus. She couldn’t risk spending one more minute next to anyone who affected her in such a way without at least knowing the repercussions.

As she poked her head out the top of the itchy bush she was occupying, she realized that it really did feel wrong to avoid Rainbow Dash like this, but she thought that it was necessary.

Suddenly, a dark pink blob-like monster exploded out of the bush with a piercing scream! Twilight recoiled and leapt out into the field, keeping the beast in view and readying her protection spell –

...It was Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, what the hay are you doing!?”

“Playing hide-and-seek! And I found you!”

“What!?” Twilight couldn’t think straight. “No, listen, Pinkie, I don’t have time for –”

“Dashie, I found her!” sang the party pony toward the sky.

The mention of Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a jolt. She wheeled around as the pegasus zipped in.

Rainbow sighed at the unicorn. “There you are. I was wondering where you went!” she said, her raspy voice echoing off the nearby houses.

Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her head and glanced about. She had to escape and find Applejack! “Oh, uh, really? That’s nice, I guess!” she babbled.

Pinkie cheered. “That was tons of fun. Ooh, we should play again! I’ll hide and you seek. Readysetgo!” she blurted and dove back down into the shrubbery.

Rainbow landed and started to trot toward Twilight. “Man, that Pinkie Pie,” she chuckled.

Twilight contorted away. “Yeah...” She forced a shaky laugh. “I have to go.”

“What?” The blue pony groaned. “I promised that I’d hang out with you today! What makes you so busy that you can’t?”

The unicorn forced herself to calm down. “Well, if you must know, we can’t spend any time together until further notice because I suspect that the reason I feel so weird around you is due to a spell. Somepony must’ve cast something on you that somehow affects me specifically, so I need to stay away from you as much as possible to prevent it from affecting me any further than it already has.”

Rainbow sputtered with laughter. “What!? That’s just silly.”

“No it’s not! It’s a genuine concern.”

“Twilight...” Rainbow was still snickering. “No one’s cast anything on me. Like, ever. I work hard to stay away from that crazy stuff anyways.”

Twilight sighed.

Rainbow Dash wouldn’t lie about something like this. Then again, the spell could’ve affected her behavior...

“...A-are you sure?” the unicorn asked.

“Positive.” She gave a warm smile.

Rainbow’s actions allowed Twilight to fully relax. She found herself smiling, too.

It would be nice to not have to worry about this anymore.

She gently closed her eyes. “Alright then. I trust you.”

Rainbow smirked. “Awesome.” She leapt into the air. “Now come on! Let’s go get somethin’ to eat! I’m starving!” she said, and dashed off in the direction of the nearest diner.

Twilight’s stomach groaned to her.

The purple pony giggled. “Me too, apparently.”

About an hour later, the two ponies slowly walked out of the restaurant.

“Wow,” Twilight sighed. “That was delicious!”

Rainbow made a burp so loud that it made Twilight recoil in fear. It was awesome.

“Boy, I’ll say,” she said. “So what do you wanna do now? You wanna watch me do some more of my special...” She took to the sky, doing a few loop-de-loops. “...flying tricks?”

Twilight wasn’t looking. She was reading something on some bulletin board. “Well, you just ate. It’s not the best idea to exercise while your body’s digesting.”

The pegasus rolled her eyes.

“Anyway,” began Miss Egghead, “it says here that The Buckfriars Theatre is hosting a play at three o’clock. That might be fun!”

Rainbow landed. “Twilight, it’s a play. Who wants to spend several boring hours sitting down and watching two boring ponies talk at each other about their boring problems? It’s... it’s boring!”

“Oh come on! I’m sure it can’t be that bad.” She removed the flyer from the bulletin board and squinted at it. “Ooh look; right here it says, ‘Full of Action and Suspense!’ You like that kinda stuff, don’t you?”

Rainbow replied with an apathetic glare.

The bookworm lay down, burying her nose in the ad as she continued reading it aloud.

Rainbow sighed and looked around, trying desperately to keep herself entertained. She walked over to a table right outside that diner. It had some crayons, pencils, and paper drawings of explosions on it, which was pretty cool. The drawings were probably made by some kid who was bored out of his mind, waiting forever for his food to cook.

Suddenly, she got an idea. She grabbed one of the pencils in her mouth and waited until the coast was clear. Twilight was still quoting the ad, talking about somepony’s missing girlfriend or something. Perfect. It was time to make the bookworm pay attention to something a little more... interesting.

Rainbow turned away from Twilight, readied herself, and dropped the pencil to the ground.

...The stupid pencil landed completely silently, its impact absorbed by the dirt. It mocked her as it lay lifelessly on the ground.

She’d have to get Twilight’s attention some other way.

“OOPS! I DROPPED MY PENCIL,” Rainbow bluntly called back to her, one hoof over her mouth to hide her “embarrassment”. The moment she got Twilight to raise her head, she grinned and bent down to grab the pencil with her mouth.

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Pencil?” She looked over. “But, you weren’t even writing anyth-” Her eyes flashed open wide.

Rainbow Dash had her backside turned straight toward Twilight, her cyan wings flared proudly outwards. Her brilliantly radiant tail was raised, and it slowly swished back and forth as high as it could in the warm summer air. Her hooves dug roughly into the ground. Her lean back legs were flexed, straightened in an unusually wide stance. Beyond the stance were her front legs, which were bent up against the dirt, making her front side go as low as it could possibly get to the ground.

She sure had been down there for quite a while just to pick up a pencil; why was she taking so long...?

Her sleek inner thighs were exposed. They led up to her soft underbelly, which protruded ever so slightly as she breathed. Up above was her rump, which was as firm as could be, perfectly toned after all those years of acrobatics –

Rainbow finally picked up the pencil and was turning her head toward Twilight. The purple pony tore her gaze away before the pegasus could notice she was staring.

...Twilight felt weird.

She reached up and tested the temperature of her cheek.

“Uh oh,” she said.

Rainbow finished turning around. “What’s wrong?” she asked, still grinning.

“My face is hot again.”

“Oh no!” the pegasus cried. “Let me feel!” She sprinted over to her and suddenly pressed her cheek against hers, catching the unicorn off guard.

“...Really? I don’t feel anything odd...” Rainbow said abnormally calmly, smiling all the while.

The blue pony continued to slowly rub her face against Twilight’s cheek, almost massaging her now burning skin –

Twilight bolted away. “I’msorryIhavetogo!” she exclaimed, running toward the library.

Rainbow fell to the ground, kicking her hind legs and squealing in uncontrollable laughter.

“Wait, come back!” she yelled between guffaws.

Rarity strolled through Ponyville Square, humming a happy little tune as she walked. She was just in the middle of running a few errands. Eventually, she reached her destination: the Ponyville library. She approached the front door and gave it a gentle, yet firm, knock.

Twilight weakly called to her from within. “Oh,” she said, coughing a few times, “Come in!”

“Twilight?” she called back, entering the home. “Are you alright?”

Twilight responded from her bedroom. “Oh, hi, Rarity! Yes, I’m fine; just feeling a bit under the weather is all.”

“Oh? This isn’t a bad time, is it?”

“Not at all! How can I help you?”

“Oh, well alright...” Rarity started her way upstairs as she continued calling to her. “I was just coming by to see if I could pick up a book on this new diet I’ve been meaning to try. You know the fashion world: expecting everypony to look their very best on all days of the w-”

Rarity’s hoof clinked against a vial on the floor at the top of the staircase, and she reflexively contorted her leg away. As she looked around the boudoir, she realized there were dozens of vials and contraptions littered about the area. She swore she remembered seeing half these things at her favorite spa: humidifiers, incense, topical creams – the works.

Up on the landing, she observed her friend, bedridden and clutching a pillow in her forehooves. Her mane was an absolute mess. She had bags underneath her bloodshot eyes, and an icepack draped its way across her forehead. To be blunt, she looked ghastly.

Rarity galloped up the stairs to come to her aid.

“Twilight, you look horrible! Just a few hours earlier I saw you as fresh as a daisy! What’s happened to you? What is all this?”

Before beginning, Twilight sighed loudly in frustration. She must've been extremely annoyed about the whole situation...

“So whenever I’m around Rainbow Dash my face always gets hot and I start shaking like I’m nervous but I’m not nervous, and I didn’t know what that meant so I looked in the books here at the library and they didn’t give me anything conclusive so I went to Fluttershy’s to have her give me a checkup and she didn’t know what that meant even though she gave me the checkup so I came back here to send Spike to Zecora’s place to see if she could help –”

The poor girl was out of breath, so she gasped for air and then proceeded to have a coughing fit.

“...And at this point, I’m just trying as many remedies as possible in some feeble attempt to figure out this stupid problem,” she groused.

“Oh, Twilight,” Rarity soothed. She made her way over to her friend and lay down on the floor beside her. “As it turns out, I believe I know the reason for your... condition.”

At the sound of those words, Twilight immediately sat upright with enough enthusiasm to fling the icepack on her head across the room. “You do!?” she gasped.

“As a matter of fact, yes, I do.” The white pony stood up. “I don’t quite know how to say this... So I guess I may as well just come right out with it.”

Twilight furrowed her brow in confusion and anticipation.

“You have a crush on Rainbow Dash.”

The purple pony backed her head up and started laughing, of all things. “Ah, that’s a good one, Rarity,” she chuckled. “No, but really, what’s the cause?”

Rarity fidgeted uncomfortably in her place.

Twilight frowned. “You’re not serious... are you?”

The other unicorn gave a slow and sincere nod of the head.

“What? No, that’s not...” Twilight scrunched up her face again. “Rarity, she and I are both mares! Isn’t that... well... not how it works?”

“Darling, nopony can control how they feel for somepony else. Not outright, at least.”

“But it wouldn’t even make logical sense for me to like her in that way!”

“No?” Rarity raised her eyebrows in a knowing look. “You and Rainbow Dash aren’t as different as one might think, Twilight.”

“Are you kidding? We’re practically polar opposites!”

“And opposites attract because they complement each other so well,” she explained. “They have their differences, but those differences are... compatible with one another.” She knew that wouldn’t suffice for a proper answer, so she had to elaborate. “Um... Ah! Take the two colors, white and black, for example. White is the absence of black, and black is the absence of white. Add them together, and you get a healthy medium: grey. Now if you were to consider the color white and – oh, I don’t know – something along the lines of a carrot, they wouldn’t complement each other in the slightest because there’s nearly nothing they having in common. White is not a vegetable, just like a carrot is not a color. The reason that you and Rainbow Dash work so well together is because you exist on opposite ends of the same spectrum.”

“Hah. ‘Spectrum’. Very funny.”

“What...?” Rarity’s rhythm was all thrown off. “Look, the point is that you two are meant for each other and you can’t go around bottling these feelings up any longer. I want you to march right up to Rainbow Dash and tell her how you feel.”

“Wait, whoa. Noooononono. There is no way I’m going through with that,” Twilight explained.

Rarity chirped, “Well, after... freshening up a bit, of course...” She cleared her throat.

In frustration, the purple pony struck the pillow she was holding. “Rarity, I can’t do that! Do you have any idea how easily and drastically that could disrupt the friendship that we – not just Rainbow Dash and I, but all of our friends – share?”

“Yes, I do. And I also know how stressed out you’ll be if you don’t. Just look at how worked up you’ve gotten yourself about it already!”

Twilight looked away in shame, tightening her grip on her pillow.

Rarity continued. “‘To deprive the self of its desires is simply unhealthy.’ That’s what one of my diet books says, and I agree with the statement in full. For instance: if you’re craving a piece of cake, it’s actually healthier to just get on with it and have the piece of cake. Otherwise, you’ll go around the whole day acting like a fool, eating a whole medley of things to try and satisfy the craving in some other way. And in the long run, you’re better off just doing the thing you wanted to do in the first place. So if you keep postponing dealing with this, I can tell you with no doubt in my mind that it’s going to eat you up inside.”

Twilight stared at the floor. “Wow, I... You’re absolutely right, Rarity.”

The bookworm heaved a long sigh. “I suppose I have to have a talk with Rainbow Dash now. But, I just... need some time to prepare.”

Rarity put on a satisfied smile and patted her friend on the head. “Take your time, dear. Always happy to help,” she said, making her way toward the stairwell.

“Did you want me to help you pick out that diet book you wanted?”

Rarity continued walking. “Oh, never mind about the book, darling. For now, I’m off to Sugar Cube Corner – all this talk about food has given me quite the appetite! Would you like to come along?”

Twilight giggled. “Thanks, but no thanks, Rarity. I’ve got to start cleaning up this mess.”

“Alright, then! Tah-tah!”

Rarity left the other unicorn alone with her thoughts. That and a bunch of incense.

The only sounds in the library came from a horn using magic, and a quill diligently writing (which occasionally tried to quench its own insatiable thirst for ink).

Twilight hovered over her work desk in thought.

What should Twilight say to her?

“Rarity stopped by to talk to me about dieting...”? Eh, that won’t work. Too lengthy.

“I think I love you”? Nnnno. Too many implications.

“I know the reason for my symptoms”? Yes. Gets to the point quickly, leaves little information from which to infer. The quill circled that option.

Twilight was ready to talk to Rainbow Dash again. She backed up, looking at her good (albeit short) work, and gave a content sigh.

Thinking back, Twilight realized how funny her recent behavior must’ve seemed, especially if one knew the reasons behind it. (A perfectly mature mare, getting all stressed out and hiding in bushes just because of a simple crush? Twilight chuckled at the concept.) On that note, she began remembering how some of her friends reacted to her demeanor. Fluttershy downright denied that there was any problem to begin with, and Rainbow Dash...

Wait a minute.

The unicorn suddenly slapped her forehooves onto the table and stood upright.

Rainbow Dash knew about Twilight’s crush on her all along! Then why didn’t she just tell her? Instead, it was as if she was just playing a prank on her the whole time!

Twilight had made up her mind. She filed her notes away and headed out the front door. It was time for that pegasus to receive a stern talking-to!

Twilight rounded a corner and found Rainbow Dash up in the clouds. She must’ve been in the middle of performing her weather duties.

The pegasus picked up one of the dark rainclouds with a forehoof and wiggled it around. “You will never defeat me, Rainbow Dash!” the cloud said in a growly voice.

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow replied. “We’ll just see about that!”

“Be careful, Rainbow Dash!” said a whiter, more effeminately voiced cloud.

Rainbow tackled the raincloud and tumbled about with it for a while, grunting various insults. Eventually, she gave it a final kick to that fluffy mess it called a face, and completely vaporized it.

“My hero!” the white cloud said.

Rainbow approached it, leaning in for a kiss.

The sky was still filled with rainclouds.

Twilight loudly cleared her throat.

Rainbow jolted. “H-hey Twilight!” She quickly kicked the cloud into oblivion. She was obviously nervous, but that disrespectful smirk of hers soon returned. “I guess you’re feeling better, huh?” she asked, stifling a few snickers.

Twilight wore a calm smile. “Oh, yes, much better.”

“Good to hear. I hate whenever I can’t hang out with you.”

Awww, Rainbow really does care for her, doesn’t she?

Wait, no. Twilight needed to stick with her plan. She just had to talk this issue through with Rainbow Dash. I know the reason for my symptoms.

Rainbow looked at her, not quite sure what was going on in that egghead’s... head of hers. “So, did you wanna go do something?”

Why was this so hard? It was just a few words...

“Helloooo?” ...Rainbow was starting to get annoyed. She casually leapt over to her friend to try and get her to come out of her little world. “Hey, maybe we could go and see that dumb play you said you like so much!”

Rainbow pressed the side of her face against her friend’s cheek again. “Come on...” she coaxed.

Twilight screwed her face up in frustration.

It’s not that big of a deal! Just say it! I know the reason for my symptoms, I know the reason for my symptoms, I –

“I know the reason for my symptoms,” her mouth said.

Rainbow Dash froze. Then she backed off. “Oh, uh... t-that’s good news! Hopefully it’s not one of those incurable diseases or whatever, right?”

Heat spread across Twilight’s face, fueling her anger. She marched toward the pegasus.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Rainbow. You know what it is. You knew all along! Why didn’t you tell me?”

The blue pony had to back away to stay at a safe distance. “Well, I –”

“Did you ever stop to consider that maybe – just maybe – it’s not right to pull pranks on ponies when it involves their most intimate feelings?”

“I-I don’t think it’s that big of a d-”

“It is ‘that big of a deal’, Rainbow! You’ve gone just a little too far with these practical jokes of yours!”

Twilight’s voice was piercing the pegasus’s ears at this point, and it forced her to hover in the air to try and avoid the unicorn’s scorning.

“But –! Do you have any idea how awkward of a conversation I would’ve –”

“I don’t care how awkward anything would’ve been! You lied to me, Rainbow, and for whatever reason, you didn’t have the decency to tell me what was really going on! Everything would’ve been so much simpler if you had just told me the truth in the first place!”

Twilight had this seething anger and passion in her eyes that Rainbow had never really seen before, and it horrified her. It was as if the unicorn was about to end their friendship right then and there.

“N-now hold on a sec!” Rainbow retaliated. “I only did that because... uh...”

Wait, Twilight had yelled about that already. Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in concentration.

“Well, yeah, but what about the –! Hmm.”

Darn it, Twilight had all the bases covered!

Rainbow let out a loud groan that eventually turned into a sigh. She slackened her legs in surrender. “Yeah, you’re right. I was being a jerk.”

Her friend’s face softened a bit, so she continued.

“I admit it. I started messing with you because I had thought that it was funny.” She let out a short chuckle. “To think, that you had no clue that...” She stopped, shaking her head to stay on-task. “B-but at some point, I thought it was actually kinda... cute, seeing how worked up you’d get over everything. And I didn’t wanna have that awkward situation of explaining something like that to you, so I guess I just... delayed the inevitable, huh? Kinda poor planning on my part, I guess. Although, it eventually became more than just that. I eventually... kinda... started to like you. Like, like-like you. And, I was thinking... maybe you’d like to go out! With me.” She put on a wide grin to help her case.

Twilight’s expression swapped itself with a look of surprise.

“Oh! Oh gosh, I... didn’t even consider that,” she said, blushing. “I thought you were just messing with me; I didn’t think that you actually liked me... Are you sure? I mean, I don’t know about this; I haven’t even weighed all the pros and cons yet and I... I wouldn’t even –”

Rainbow plugged up the rambling pony’s mouth with a forehoof.

“Look. Juuuust think of it as a repayment for all those stupid pranks I pulled on you.” She smiled. “I mean, it can’t hurt just to try it, you know? You really need to learn to just go with things every once in a while, Twilight.”

The unicorn smiled around her friend’s hoof, then dislodged it. “Alright. I accept your offer of courtship. But only if you promise that you won’t keep any secrets from me anymore! Even if you have to have an uncomfortable conversation every once in a while, I want you to let me know of everything that you think I would benefit from knowing.”

“Okay, I promise.” Rainbow nodded. “Welllll, unless the situation’s funny enough.”

Twilight gave her a friendly jab in the shoulder. “Come on, Rainbow, cut it out,” she giggled.

Rainbow smirked back. “No, you cut it out!” She tackled the purple pony to the ground.

They rolled down the hill as they pretended to fight with one another. Eventually they stopped at the bottom, laughing and laying in a heap together.

Spike raced across town. “Twilight!?” he cried.

He rounded the corner and discovered the purple pony lying across Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight!” He sprinted toward them.

The two ponies looked at him in alarm and confusion.

“Oh no, I’m too late!” Spike exclaimed. He started pacing back and forth. “Twilight’s already become a lovey-dovey mushy-pants, and Zecora said there wasn’t a cure! Oh, what am I gonna do!?”

Twilight and Rainbow stared at him for a moment.

Then, they burst into even heavier laughter.