Love is Life

Twilight pushed the door to Sugarcube Corner open with her magic and allowed Rarity to enter first, the two mares were assaulted by the wonderful smells of baked goods and Twilight got the added whiff of somepony who had just finished doing something very, very naughty.

"It smells wonderful," she said at the same time Chrysalis thought it.

Suddenly, a pink blur appeared down the stairs, "Hi Rarity! Hi Twilight! How are you? I'm doing great cause today's my day off and I've been spending all day getting to know myself in new and exciting ways so I hopefully don't ever freak out and turn into a saddy sad-sack like I did that one time I forgot it was my birthday. Honestly, how could I forget my own birthday?"

As the pink one continued to ramble, the changeling in Twilight's head sighed, 'Does she ever breathe?'

'My latest theory is that she has trained herself to talk in the same pitch and cadence while inhaling, turning her vocal cords into something like a harmonica.'

'Hi, Twi! Who ya talkin' to? I thought I was the only who talked in this space? Oh! It's Chrssy! Hi! No hard feelings, really. Changelings are really cool! Can I have the ability to change shape? Huh? Can I can I can I pleeeeease? I promise I'll only use it for good! Wait, Twi, why's the queen of the Changelings in your head?'

To top off the weirdness of this situation, Pinkie was still talking to Rarity about designing a new dress based on cupcakes and cupcakes based on dresses.

Twilight could only gape and blink for a few moments before she shook her head, 'Pinkie, come by the library later and I'll explain, okay?'

'Oki Doki Loki!' Pinkie thought back and finished her rather one-sided conversation with Rarity, "So what's up? Here for a snack? or to have me plan a party?"

"Well, we just spent the morning unpacking my luggage, so we are rather hungry, darling."

"Oh! Well, in that case, have a seat and I'll get us all something! Just need to wash my hooves first!" she said, bouncing off to the back room.

The two unicorns looked at each as three voices said in unison, "I don't want to know."

A few minutes passed and Pinkie returned with lunch for the three of them. They ate, Twilight barely able to enjoy it as Chrysalis tuned into her taste buds and moaned in pleasure with every bite. Once the lunch was finished, the two unicorns excused themselves and left, Rarity returning to her boutique as Twilight made her way to Sweet Apple Acres to help her Earth pony friend catch up on all the applebucking she missed during the wedding.

On her approach she felt an odd sensation, waves of something more than normal friendship as Rainbow Dash flew overhead and settled into orbit around the unicorn, "Hey, Twi, what's up?"

"I promised to help Applejack catch up on her harvest, considering she lost almost two weeks of work to the wedding. Hopefully my magic can help make up for that."

"Yeah, I feel ya, I'm still running damage control with the weather team. I left Cloudkicker in charge, but keeping Derpy from screwing up requires a finer touch than she has..."

"I don't know why you keep calling Ditzy that."

"Her eyes are always derped, besides, we talked, and she's cool with it. She knows I'm not making fun of her for how she is after the head trauma. and the head trauma."

Pinkie Pie popped out of a bush and glared at Rainbow, "Hey! No making references outside the show!" she shouted before vanishing again.

The two just stared at the bush, then glanced at each other and shrugged, "Pinkie Pie." they said in unison before continuing along the path to the Apple homestead.

Twilight couldn't let the feeling go, "So, um, Rainbow? How do you feel about me?"

"What do you mean? You're my friend, and an awesomely powerful unicorn. You're a bit of an egghead, but I can let that slide."

The librarian rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant. I meant... Do you ever feel anything other than just friendship?"

The waves of feelings rolling off the pegasus twitched, then fluctuated wildly. Fear, shock, and annoyance all overpowered the love that had been there, "I, uh, have no idea what you mean. I'm not a filly-fooler."

"I'm not saying you are. You can love another mare without loving another mare. And please don't use such terms around me, Rainbow. They're offensive."

"So you are...?"

"Well, not really. I've discovered I like both stallions and mares recently. Of course, that could just be misreading the data considering my cycle is next week."

"Oh, eesh, that's always fun. Mine's next month, so if you don't see me for a few days, it's because I've locked myself in the house and am probably screaming into my pillow for... various reasons."

The two shared a giggle before Rainbow facehooved, "Right, I gotta go see if I can catch a thundercloud Derpy left over by Whitetail Woods. I'll talk to you later." the pegasus said before swooping off.

'That mare has some issues, I think.'

Twilight sighed as she approached the barn, where she could hear Applejack's voice coming from inside, 'When I first walked into that library two years ago, I said that everypony in this town was crazy. I was right.'

'Well, now you fit right in with a voice in your head telling you to do things and an insatiable craving to be close to your friends.'

'I once petitioned Princess Celestia for the funds to conduct a psychological study of Ponyville. She said there would never be enough bits in the budget to scratch the surface.'

'So the lunatics run the asylum?'

'What do zealot worshipers of Princess Luna have to... Oh! You were using the more modern colloquialism.'

She could almost feel the changeling queen double face-hoofing in response, 'I knew I should have picked that one mare named Trixie...'

Twilight shuddered involuntarily, 'The Great and Powerful Changeling Queen would probably have ruined the entire world by now.'

'You're probably right...' Chrysalis gave a mental sigh as Twilight reached the barn.