The Greatest Challenge

by Twilight-the-Pony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 3471

Rainbow Dash had a fair share of challenges in her life, but they were nothing compared to winning over a heart of the local librarian.

Rainbow Dash. Best flyer in Equestria, 20% cooler and the most awesome mare in Ponyville.

...But none of those traits can win over the heart of a local librarian...

This is one of the hardest challenges she faced so far...

Thanks to the amazing Cynical for the edits.

Published 2013-04-22 23:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-22 23:10:02 UTC

The Challenge

A soft knock on the library’s doors disturbed Twilight Sparkle’s focus. She groaned and waved her hoof in its direction, hoping in vain that the action would suffice for the door to open and let the pony on the other side enter.

A second, slightly louder knock spread around the room, falling on the librarian’s ears as she groaned again, turning towards the doors with an irritated grimace on her face.

“Come in... this is a public library... it’s open!”

As the third knock rang out, she finally traced it's origin to the other side of the library’s doors, now accompanied by the familiar voice of a certain sky-blue pegasus which she knew all-too-well.

“Hello, Twilight?”

“It’s open Rainbow, come on in!”

“It’s locked Twi,” Dash stated flatly.

“SPIKE!” shouted the librarian.

There was no response.

“Aw, ponyfeathers. I forgot that Spike took a week off,” Twilight muttered under her breath.

“Give me a minute!” she shouted towards the still-locked library door, craning her neck and trying to find the fastest way out from the pile of assorted books around her, cautiously calculating each step to avoid damaging the precious literature or hurting herself.

‘It looks like I was playing in a book fort,’ thought the librarian, snickering to herself and still trying to clear out a path through the pile.

A split second after her victorious escape from the book fort, Twilight let out a cheer of: “Finally free!” before slipping on a book entitled ‘Finding Your Balance,’ crashing down on her muzzle with a loud thud.

There was a fourth knock. “Twilight, are you okay? I heard somepony crashing in—”

The door flew open, revealing Rainbow Dash standing there and looking directly at the irritated mare and her bloody muzzle.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’b pine!” Twilight snapped as she pressed a hoof to the blood flowing from her nose.

“You’re what?” Dash asked with a visible grin of mockery on her face.

“I’b-” Twilight was about to repeat her answer only to realize that it would bring more audible giggles from the pegasus on her doorstep.

“I’b dot in de bood for dis Raidbow,” Twilight glared darkly at the laughing pegasus, “bat can I do for you?” she tried to continue, unphased.

Twilight’s words expelled another roar of laughter from the pegasus “I just can’t understand what you’re trying to say, Twilight. Can you please repeat that?”

Twilight glared darkly at the still laughing pegasus yet again before she sighed and lit her horn a moment later, starting the short process of mending the superficial wounds that she received in her oh-so-epic slip.

Sighing, she queried the raucous pegasus why she was visiting the local library.

“I was looking for some cool books...”

“Cool books?” Twilight scratched her mane, “what kind of cool books? I still have a bunch of comics that you haven’t read yet.”

“Comics? Nah... I was thinking cooler stuff... you know...” Rainbow looked down, “20 percent cooler stuff.”

“I don’t know what that means, Rainbow” Twilight replied, exasperated.

“You know... the cool stuff... something like advanced thermodynamics or astrophysics.”

Twilight’s mind locked up and her mouth flew open, almost hitting the floor.

“Excuse me?” she tapped her right forehoof lightly against her head, “heh, I’m probably hearing things, but I thought you said ‘advanced thermodynamics or astrophysics’. Can you please repeat that?” Twilight perked her ears and listened carefully to the answer so as not to mishear it again.

“That’s exactly what I said,” Rainbow continued, “either one or the other... I don’t think that I’ll have enough time to go through both of ‘em before my rental expires.”

Shocked, Twilight stared blankly at the pegasus.

“B- But when- did you- science,” Twilight tried to put together a coherent sentence.

“I don’t know... since you’ve awoken my passion for reading, I’ve read all the Daring Do books at least four times. But after the third time around, I got a little tired of it and decided to read something else,” Rainbow looked at the librarian, “something more... meaningful. And since I want to be the best flyer in Equestria, I want to know if I missed something. Subjects like thermodynamics' tend to help. Astrophysics is just... you know... a light read before bed...”

Far more shocking than the fact that a brash and careless pegasus flyer was interested in science, was the fact that the subject she treated as ‘a light read before bed,’ gave headaches to many scholars from Canterlot, including her.

“I-just-want-to-hug-you-now,” blurted the still-shocked Twilight.

Rainbow felt a warmth rise in her cheeks as she gazed at Twilight, who was still zoned-out. ‘She probably didn’t mean that’, the pegasus quickly snapped back to reality. “Heh. Do you have one of those books or not?”

Twilight shook her head in an attempt to regain her composure.

“Twi? Do you have them or not?” the pegasus asked again.

“Oh, the books.” Twilight finally snapped out of her reverie, “right,” she looked in the direction of the semi-chaotic pile of books, “I have both books here... I’ve already read the thermodynamics book yesterday, but I put the astrophysics away for reading later. It should be around here somewhere.”

Twilight trotted towards the dubbed ‘book fort’ with the intent to find the aforementioned reading material for her friend. Unfortunately a book named ‘Finding Your Balance’ decided to make her little trip a bit more exciting, causing her to slip and propelling her into the now, pretty-much, demolished fort.

“Ow...” Twilight groaned as she heard the pegasus behind her exploding into fits of laughter yet again.

Moments later, she turned towards her feathered friend with 3 books floating by the glow of her horn.

“I see that somepony managed to get a new set of funny bones,” Twilight glared at Rainbow, “here. Keep these two books as long as you need them. There won’t be any charge.”

Rainbow, still giggling, turned to Twilight: “What about the third book?”

“I don’t know what that is... I’m not sure how it ended up on the floor but I haven’t read it yet. It’s made me slip on it twice today, so I assume it wants to be read.”

Rainbow snickered again.

“Do you want me to help with that pile of books, Twilight?”

“Thanks for the offer, Rainbow... but I think I’ll manage to clean up on my own.”

Rainbow paused as she looked at the unicorn with a soft blush on her cheeks “Twilight, I-,” she stopped in the middle of the sentence and sighed.

“What is it, Rainbow?”

“It’s nothing. Forget it.”

“...Rainbow?”

“It’s nothing, really... I forgot what I wanted to ask you anyways...” as she turned towards the exit. “Thanks for the books. Laters Twi.”

“Bye, Rainbow.”

“Ponyfeathers. So close,” Rainbow muttered moments after hearing the library doors swing shut behind her.

~*~*~

Twilight closed the doors behind the pegasus and looked around the library, snickering, “Hah... this looks like a war zone... I should really clean this up... maybe even reconsider Rainbow’s offer to help me with sorting up this mess...”

“Or maybe not. It’s not that big of a mess, anyway.”

It had taken her only a few steps to involuntarily find ‘Finding Your Balance’ yet again with one of the forehooves which, once again, sent the librarian front flipping with her nose landing on the floor and her flank in the air.

“Oh, for the love of- AGAIN?” Twilight snorted, “That’s it! I’m going to bed!”

The unicorn stomped furiously on her way up the stairs muttering “What a weird day,” and fumbling into her bed.

“What a weird day indeed,” she said to herself, rubbing the top of her injured muzzle, “very, very weird.”

“Oh, before I forget…” Twilight looked into the direction of the demolished fort, “what was in that book anyway?” the librarian’s magic wrapped the unfortunate book in a soft magenta glow, floating it onto her belly, “let’s see...”

After quickly skimming through it, she concluded that it was one of those philosophy schoolbooks with half-blank pages for writing in your own thoughts, explanations or notes.

“Just a painful touch of irony then,” she surmised, “but I think that it’s really time to call it a day. I don’t think I can handle anything weirder today,” the unicorn yawned.

~*~*~

Tap, tap, tap. A hoof lightly nudged her mane.

“Mmmm,” Twilight moaned, “five more minutes, mom.”

Tap, tap, tap.

“Five more minutes, mom. Mmmm... I’m having such wonderful dreams.”

The light tapping of a hoof on her mane repeated itself.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes and after seeing a blue winged silhouette, her eyes flew open immediately.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here in the middle of the n-”

“Night?” the pegasus jumped into her sentence, “It’s noon Twilight. Are you okay? You don’t look too hot,” she continued.

“I had the most amazing dream... I had wings and I was soaring through some amazing crimson skies. And, and, and... There was more, but I just can’t remember.” Twilight hung her head, as if she was embarrassed not to remember what she was dreaming just a few minutes ago.

Rainbow tapped the librarian’s mane yet again.

“What?”

“I see that you still need that helping hoof,” Rainbow pointed to the pile of randomly scattered books on the library floor, “would you like me to help you out today?” she offered.

“Yes, please,” she looked at the offending ‘Finding Your Balance’ that caused all three crash-landings yesterday, “I crashed yet again and I went to bed because of this stu-”

“Twi!”

“W- What?”

“Snap out of it. So you crashed. Big deal. Try to see how many times you crash when you learn how to fly,” Rainbow snickered.

“Heh. I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am... It comes with being awesome!” Rainbow added quickly.

Twilight laughed softly and slowly got out of the bed.

“Let’s see what you have here,” Rainbow looked towards the pile of chaotically placed books. “Are you sure that Discord didn’t help you with sorting these books?” She snickered before turning back to it.

“Math, cool,” she stated, starting to browse through the pile, “history, boring, more history, more boring, physics, even cooler. And what’s this? Poetry? Romance? Twilight Sparkle has a sappy side?”

“Ahem,” the softly blushing unicorn sounded behind her back, “that’s just classic literature.”

“Really?” the pegasus curiously quizzed the librarian, “I didn’t dive into literature that much, but I’m not quite sure that ‘Finding a Perfect Stallion’ counts for classic literature?” she snickered.

Twilight, now visibly blushing in hues of red, pink and purple, tried to divert the answer “Rainbow, I hope you didn’t come here to mock my reading material,” she evaded, still heavily blushing.

“Ah don’t worry, Twilight,” the pegasus replied. “I’m not really interested in what you read.” she continued, “it’s just” she took a deep breath, “I—I’ve already read the books yesterday. And I was wondering if you have anything... you know… like… harder... like maybe the physics of the sonic rainboom or some advanced math?”

“D- Did you just say that you’ve already finished the books? Both of them? But- They both have 200 pages; at least 200 pages.”

“Heh. It was just a light read. Nothing as advanced as I’d hoped...”

Twilight blinked. Just a light read and nothing as advanced as I’d hoped echoed in her mind. nothing as advanced…

“Hm,” she muttered, “so you’d like a little bit of challenge, would you?” her eyes lit up, “help me clean up this mess and I will give you something challenging, okay?”

“Challenge?” Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “Oh. You. Are. So. On.”

A little over an hour later, the duo finished sorting and compiling the scattered books as well as cleaning the rest of the library.

“Well?” Rainbow asked, “So what’s the challenge?”

“Well,” Twilight said, “I had this complex homework when I was still at school in Canterlot. And I’d spent plenty of time trying to figure it out.”

“How much?”

“Let’s just stick with ‘plenty’, okay?”

“Hm.” Rainbow looked at the unicorn in suspicion “What kind of ‘complex homework’ are we talking about?”

“Stellar mechanics,” offered Twilight, floating up a paper with a single question on it

‘’Excluding the effects of redshift, describe the rotation of Pulsar PN-8621 in terms of cycles per second.” Rainbow read out loud.

“So… how much time do I have to solve this?” she added, still looking at the paper.

“You don’t have any time constraint Rainbow.” said Twilight “But if you resolve it in a month, you’ll get all the Daring Do’s that come out this and next year, okay?”

“What if I solve it in like… a week?”

“Then I will give you everything that I can; within my limits of course.”

“Of course,” Rainbow looked at the worn-out schoolbooks, “I think I have a date with your homework now.”

Twilight giggled, “Bye, Rainbow.”

The door closed behind the pegasus as she sighed, ‘It’s just -Do you want to go out with me?’ A tear fell down her cheek. ‘I’ll never be able to say that.’

Meanwhile, Twilight’s stomach growled, ‘Hm. It’s lunch time, but I hate eating alone, since Spike is still elsewhere... maybe Rainbow is still around to join me...’

The doors swung open for Twilight to find the pegasus still standing in front of the library.

“You’re still here?” Twilight asked.

“Just about to go.” Dash replied.

“Oh. I was wondering if you’d join me for lunch. I usually eat with Spike and I’m never sure how to cook for just one pony”

“I thought that the library was a little too quiet... Let me guess,” Rainbow asked. “He’s with Rarity?”

“Yes. One week of digging for gems with her. He’s most likely in baby dragon’s heaven,” both ponies snickered.

“Oh, lunch...” Rainbow returned back to the question. “What are you having?”

“Um. How do you feel about hayfries?”

“Blech. Do you have any proper food?”

“N- No, sorry.”

“In that case, I can’t join you. I’m allergic to hayfries. Sorry.”

Twilight sighed. “How about lunch out?”

“I can’t Twi. Somepony gave me a complicated challenge. How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow it is,” Twilight sighed as she watched the pegasus distance herself from the library.

‘Allergic to hayfries. You’re the worst liar ever, Rainbow Dash,’ Rainbow thought, ‘but at least now you have time to solve this...’

Twilight sighed again, retreating into the library. She downed a portion of quickly unfrozen, but still cold, hayfries “Blech. That was really terrible. I should really consider eating out next time... Maybe I should ask Rarity for some advice regarding restaurants...” She got lost in that thought which quickly switched towards the task she gave to Rainbow.

“Stellar mechanics,” she grunted, “After all these years... Still not one of my favorite subjects...”

She snapped out of her thoughts.

“It’s a beautiful day. I think I’ll just read outside for the rest of it,” she muttered as she lit her horn and picking up ‘History of Equestria: Second edition’ from the nearby shelf. “I think that this should do nicely.”

~*~*~

Tap, tap, tap.

The hoof of a rainbow-maned pegasus tapped the sleeping librarian softly on her mane.

“I promise I won’t turn you in the potted plant again da-”

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

Twilight groaned and twisted her neck to face the offender.

“Huh? Rainbow? What are you doing here at 3am?” she asked in a groggy voice.

“It’s 42.”

“Who-the-what-now?” asked the half-asleep librarian.

“The solution to your problem. It’s 42.”

“That’s great honey. Now go back to sleep.” Twilight flopped back to her pillow and attempted to return back to sleep.

Rainbow snickered, but fought the urge to join Twilight in her sleeping endeavors. She laid her head on the bed, just watching the unicorn sleep, slowly inching her way towards her mouth, ‘I want to know how it feels. Just this once.’

“Mmmmmm,” Rainbow moaned softly as her nose bathed in the intoxicating breath of the librarian. ‘I don’t think that I could ever get tired of this. But I should go…’ however the combination of Twilight’s breath and her lack of sleep rendered the pegasus immobile. ‘Ponyfeathers,’ her mind cursed. She felt herself drifting off into dreamland, the last thing that she could do was to make her lips form the inaudible words: ‘I love you, Twilight Sparkle.’

~*~*~

Twilight shot up in panic and confusion the moment she saw the blue silhouette lying directly in front of her, expecting the worst-case scenario.

But observing the pegasus for a couple of seconds, seeing her chest rhythmically raising and falling accompanied by soft snores led her to the only viable conclusion, sighing in relief. “Asleep. Right in front my nose.” she snickered.

“Hey, Rainbow,” she spoke softly, tapping the rainbow-colored mare gently on her mane.
“Mmmm. I love you too, Twi” Rainbow muttered sleepily before curling her head and tucking the muzzle under her wing.

Twilight blushed, losing her ability to move for a few moments, already muttering to herself, “At least everything makes sense now. Almost everything anyway.”

She looked at the still-sleeping pegasus with playful sparks in her eyes, “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”

She climbed quietly out of covers, moving around to the foot of the bed before watching Rainbow, still sleeping peacefully for a moment.

“TEN-HUT! NO SLEEPING ON THE JOB, CADET DASH!” Twilight shouted, flawlessly imitating Spitfire’s voice.

Rainbow shot up in confusion looking around the room, yelling, “What? Where? Who? How?” while Twilight laughed out loud.

Rainbow glared darkly towards Twilight, “That’s not funny, Twi.”

“You’re right, it’s not. It’s hilarious. A little payback for that disappearing ink prank,” countered the still-laughing librarian before managing to stifle her laughter to a few snorts and giggles, “I think I remember you saying that you managed to solve the homework?”

“Yeah. It’s 42.”

“42 of what?” Twilight raised her eyebrow quizzically.

“42 cycles per second Twi... here, look...” she brought out a small notepad, sky-blue with a red stripe across the front. Twilight took the notebook and flipped it open, immediately grimacing.

“Yuck. Your writing is uglier than I’ve expected...”

“Sorry.”

“Heh. Let’s see... Hm,” Twilight looked into the notes, completely serious now, “That’s a completely different approach than I took, but...”

“But?”

“But the result is correct and you deserve your reward. So what did you wish for?”

“Let’s see... I wish for...” the blue pegasus paused, you echoing through her mind as she tapped a hoof to her face theatrically, “I wish for… erm... a yearly ticket to the Wonderbolt shows?”

“Hm.” Twilight turned her head towards Rainbow and raised an eyebrow, “nothing more... meaningful?”

“M- Meaningful?” echoed Rainbow.

“Yes. Because I can’t give you what you asked for. However...”

“W- What?”

“I can,” Twilight took a step towards the rainbow-maned mare, “give you,” another step, “what you,” last step brought the librarian close to the pegasus that she could feel the heat of Rainbow’s muzzle, “really want.”

Rainbow gulped loudly, feeling as her heart wanted to escape her chest as she gazed into librarian’s eyes, “What are y-”

Twilight pushed her muzzle towards Rainbow, locking lips with her as Rainbow’s wings shot skywards, closing her eyes and melting away all her fears and doubts in delight of the moment.

Minutes must have passed before their lips parted, both ponies slowly opening their eyes.

“How did you-” gasped the pegasus, her lungs still grasping for more air.

“-know?” Twilight finished the sentence.

“Yeah.”

“Science my dear Rainbow. You were continuing to impress me with subjects which even I had problems with in school. And can still prove tricky now and again.” Rainbow snickered, “that’s like trying to impress AJ with bucking more apple trees than she could,” continued Twilight, “or Rarity with making prettier dresses than she does.”

“Plus, I’ve seen you staring at my flank more than once,” she added with a smile, watching in amusement as the pegasus’ face radiated in the light hue of red. “The biggest clue however…” she continued, pausing as Rainbow leant forwards expectantly, “was you talking in sleep,” she tried to unsuccessfully mimic Dash’s ‘I love you too, Twi,’ which resulted in laughter from both mares.

“There is something I still can’t figure out, however,” Twilight said, scratching her head, “all those tasks, all those assignments that were in the books and that one that I gave you were all really hard. How did you manage to solve all of them so quickly?”

“That’s easy,” Rainbow smirked, “those weren’t challenges at all,” she turned to Twilight, “those were just small distractions,” Rainbow nuzzled her. “The greatest challenge, Twilight Sparkle,” she pushed her muzzle a little further, stealing a kiss from the librarian, “the greatest challenge was to win over your heart.”