Don't Give Up

Don’t Give Up

Chapter 12

Temptation

“Spike?” Twilight called as she walked into the darkened library.

“Spike?” She called again when she didn’t get an answer. After a few moments of swivelling her ears she the not-so-faint sound of the baby dragon snoring in the bedroom.

“He’s asleep.” She said as she walked into the library, motioning for Rainbow Dash to follow her. Together they walked into the main room of the library. The room illuminated by the light of the distant sunlight streaming in through the windows, bathing the room in a dim, golden light.

Together they sat down on the couch, Rainbow on one side and Twilight beside her, a look of disappointment on Twilight’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Dash asked, having seen the look on Twilight’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight said quietly, looking away from the Pegasus beside her.

“What do you have to be sorry for?” Dash asked, caught off guard by the apology.

“That date was terrible, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to go out for dinner, if I had just listened to you, none of this would have happened.” Twilight said, her voice betraying the fact that she was trying not to cry.

“What do you mean terrible?”

“All those ponies staring at us, you got so mad, I’m sorry, Rainbow, I should have listened to you.”

“Hey.” Dash said, lifting Twilight’s head with a hoof and looking her in the eye, “It was not your fault. You hear me? It is not your fault what those other ponies thought, you can’t control that. I had a wonderful time.” Dash said, playfully tapping Twilight on the nose; drawing a giggle from the purple mare.

“You really did?” Twilight asked, looking hopefully at Rainbow.

“Of course I did, I was with you. All those other ponies can go buck themselves for all I care.” Dash said; her tone serious yet comforting. Twilight answered by pulling the cyan mare into a tight embrace.

“You know, Rainbow, we were right in the middle of something when we left.” Twilight said in a low, seductive tone.

“And what was that?”

“This.” Twilight said, pulling Dash into a kiss.

“Twilight, darling, are you here? Twilight- oh… I, uh, I can come back.” Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight whipped their heads around to face the intruder, her normally white coat stained red across her muzzle.

“RARITY?” They both cried out in shock.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Twilight said quickly, quickly jumping out of Rainbow’s forelegs.

“Yeah, it was just, uh, an experiment!” Rainbow added quickly, trying to hide her blush, though loosing the fight like Twilight.

“Really?” Rarity said, stifling a giggle, her embarrassment having been replaced with amusement.

“Yes. And what are you doing here anyway? We’re closed this time of night.” Twilight said, hoping to change the topic as fast as possible.

“The sign on the door did say you were open, darling, you really should remember to change that if you want privacy. This is a public library, after all.” Twilight did a slight face hoof. How could she forget to do something like that? Dash, it was her fault, if she wasn’t so damn distracting, she would have remembered. Twilight decided mentally, flicking a quick glare at the still blushing Pegasus before looking back to Rarity.

“Why are you here anyway?” Twilight asked, deciding to keep Rarity focused on anything other then what she had seen.

“I heard from a stallion working with the police that you reported a murder. I was just coming to make sure you were alright. Things like that have been known to traumatize ponies, but I see that you have Rainbow to help with that.” Rarity said, still struggling to suppress giggles.

“And what do you mean by that?” Rainbow said aggressively.

“Oh come on, it’s obvious you two like each other. You haven’t been looking at anything other then each other. Anyway, I’ll see you two later. Don’t worry; I won’t tell anypony, I’ll let you decide when you’re ready.” Rarity said as she started walking towards the door, Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat in silence for a few moments, processing what had just happened.

“So…” Twilight began awkwardly, “Should we tell the others?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t care either way, it’s up to you.” Dash said, obviously uncomfortable with the question.

“They’ll find out eventually one way or the other. It’s probably best that we tell them before they hear about it through rumours.”

“I guess, what do you think they’ll say about it?” Twilight asked nervously, rubbing her hooves together anxiously.

“Most of them probably won’t care, like Rarity, but AJ might, she’s very old fashioned.”

“Tomorrow?” Twilight offered hopefully, wanting to the delay it as long as possible.

“Sure. Now, go flip that damn sign to ‘closed’.” Dash said, wishing to make sure there would be no more interruptions.

“Already done.” Twilight said, the last few sparks of magic fading from her horn, though her voice was off, like she was contemplating something.

“Something wrong?” Dash asked, cocking her head slightly.

“No. It’s just… I don’t know.” Twilight said quietly.

“Don’t know what?” Dash said, even more confused then she had been.

“I don’t know about this, Rainbow, you, this, everything. I have no clue what I’m doing, or even if I want to do it.” Twilight admitted.

“Not this again.” Dash sighed, “Listen, I get that you’re not sure, I wasn’t for a long time after I found out I liked mares. If you need some time to think, then fine, take time to think. Just don’t play with me like that, first you kiss me and take me out for dinner, then you don’t know if you even want to be close to me.” Twilight was shocked. She knew Dash wasn’t as dumb as most thought her to be, but Twilight never would have guessed anything so thoughtful could come from her.

Twilight didn’t say anything for a while; taking time to let the wisdom soak in. She allowed a smile to appear on her face. Sure, she wasn’t sure. Sure, she had no idea what she was doing. But that didn’t matter to her; Rainbow would be there for her, no matter her decision. Just like the rest of her friends. She would never be alone.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“Hmm?”

“What if I say no?”

“Then I’ll accept it and move on. You wouldn’t be the first.” Dash said calmly; all too used to being rejected.

“Will you still be… friends with me?” Twilight asked slowly, fearing the answer.

“It’d take more then that to stop me from being friends with you, Twi, you know that.”

“Thanks.” With that Twilight walked silently up the stairs. “I’m going to bed, see you in the morning.” She called from the top of the stairs.

“Alright.” Dash called, lacking much of her usual bravado. Dash stayed like that for a while, sitting on the floor. Not really thoughtless though not really thinking, just letting her mind wander, thinking what ever it wanted to think about. Which was mostly something bout a purple unicorn on the floor above.

Her thoughts were finally broken through by a rumble from her stomach. By this point she was used to it; go somewhere to eat, get hungry ten minutes later, such is the curse of a high metabolism. Sighing slightly she wandered into the kitchen, hoping to find something for a midnight snack. After rummaging through the fridge a bit she found a very familiar purple drink.

She just sat there for a while; staring at the purple liquid that had started this. Suddenly, and idea popped in her head; what if Twilight were to drink some? She’d probably pass out after a while, like Dash, then wake up under the affects of the aphrodisiac, like Dash. There would be no second thought in Twilight’s mind about anything, she would love Dash like Dash loved her, no questions about it.

But then what? It would wear off eventually, and then Twilight would wake up. Sure, she wouldn’t have any memory, like Dash, but it wouldn’t be too hard for her to figure out she was drugged.

“She would never suspect me.” Dash said to herself, a hoof moving toward the purple liquid. It was the perfect plan, if she divided it right it would last a while. She would run out eventually, but for a while she could have exactly what she wanted. She didn’t need to think about the future, all she needed to think about was what she wanted now. And that was a certain purple mare.

Dash picked up the glass and slowly extracted it from the fridge. It sloshed lightly around within the glass, a label reading ‘do not drink’ written on the side.

“No.” Dash said firmly, shoving the drink to the back of the fridge and slamming it shut. Ignoring her grumbling stomach she climbed up the stairs toward the guest room. Her mind still filled with thoughts about the purple drink. And what she had thought about doing. Is scared her, that she was actually thinking things like that.

It was Twilight’s decision, not hers. She walked into the guest room, closing the door behind her.

“I’m sorry.” She said aloud, talking to nopony but herself. Though wishing that everypony could hear.

“It won’t happen again.” She said as she slipped into bed, her eyes drooping as soon as her head hit the pillow.

“I promise.”