Constellations
The moonlight shined brightly off Rainbow Dash’s mane as she glided through the skies, and to be honest, she wouldn’t have it any other way. While it was rather late at night for anypony to be out and about, Rainbow Dash had an admiration for the nighttime Princess Luna provided. Sure, she loved to sleep and treasured every minute of shuteye she got, but the cool, crisp nighttime air was something she had to experience every once in a while.
During the day, Ponyville was awash with ponies, unicorns, and pegasi doing their jobs and daily errands, with Rainbow being no exception. Being captain of the weather team had its fair share of responsibilities, and she always made sure to give everything her expected 120 percent.
But at night, everything settled down as all the town’s residents winded down for the day, gradually leading to a peaceful slumber for most. This was usually the case for Rainbow, however recently her normally satisfying slumbers had decreased drastically over a period of months to the point where she might only get upwards of a couple hours of restless sleep a night. Initially, Rainbow was able to keep this hidden from everyone else, and on the outside was seemingly normal, although she was more tired than usual. Over time she had to compensate for this lack of sleep, and this consisted of more coffee and additional naps on top of the ones she already took.
After a while her ability to hide just how exhausted she was began to fade, and cracks shone in the outer armor she wore. She started to miss deadlines, and Ponyville’s weather patterns suffered as a result. The weather became much more unpredictable, with single days consisting of clear sunshine and dangerous thunderstorms. Many of Ponyville’s citizens were very unhappy at the dramatic weather changes.
Rainbow’s armor of disguise still was strong enough to fool her friends at least, although Fluttershy had been dangerously close to catching her napping while they were out at lunch one day.
But one of her friends sensed something was fuzzy about the pegasus, and in retrospect Rainbow wasn’t exactly surprised that she was able to realize it. After all, how does one keep something from Twilight Sparkle? It’s quite the challenge to keep something hidden from the most observant unicorn in Ponyville.
And in fact, to the library which served as her friend’s humble abode was where she was headed. Rainbow needed to solve her insomnia problem, the sooner the better.
Not only did it start to interfere with her work, but the pegasus realized that the lack of proper rest had effects on her mood and actions. She tried to keep the relaxed yet upbeat attitude she had always retained, only to find this to be near impossible at times. Crankiness that rivaled Cranky Doodle Donkey's became a common occurrence, and she found that she could become a cauldron of emotions at times, more complex and unpredictable than the one in Zecora’s home.
With hope in her flight, Dash began a gradual descent to Twilight’s home. She was well aware that the bookworm was the frequent night owl, reading and studying into the wee hours of the morning.
“Well I guess I could study with Twi, that alone might make me bored enough to fall asleep,” she thought to herself, chuckling at just how possible this scenario was.
Upon her arrival, she realized that the library was devoid of any sort of light. Rainbow looked up at the large tree turned into structure, only now taking in just how large the place really was. It stood out with the soft glow of the moonlight behind it, almost making it seem like it was special in comparison to all the other buildings.
Rainbow flew up to the bedroom window of the unicorn, a lingering feeling that Twilight would still be awake, but maybe reading by a very dim light of sorts. To her surprise, the curtains of the window were open, and the purple covered bed was empty, but still perfectly kept like it had been made a few minutes ago.
The light cerulean pegasus cautiously checked to see if the window was unlocked, and to her surprise it was. Slowly she pushed the window open, making sure not to make any audible creaking noises so if Twilight was here, she wouldn't suspect a burglar. That, or so Spike wouldn't have a heart attack thinking an intruder was in the tree house.
Her bedroom was mostly dark, with the lone exception being the moonlight which shone through the windows. Rainbow made sure she was as stealthy as could be, keeping her motions smooth yet quiet. Her mind flash-backed to the incident at the hospital where she had tried to sneak back in and finish Daring Do, which ended up waking up half the town. She didn't want that to happen again.
Dash searched her way around the room looking for clues, while flashing a glance here and there at the peaceful form of Spike sleeping in his bed. Lo and behold she finally found something interesting, a large calendar desk calendar of events which Twilight seemed to use to keep track of things. Rainbow pumped her arm in a quiet victory.
“Let’s see… April 2nd. Huh? It says Twi is out for her monthly stargazing.”
The Pegasus looked at the calendar with a look of confusion etched on her face. It mentioned that Twilight was out on the hills at the Eastern edge of town, which was the same place they had gone before as a group to see shooting stars. Rainbow hadn’t known that the unicorn was a fan of the stars, which was called something that began with A, but the word escaped Rainbow at the current moment.
With that in mind, she carefully snuck back out the bedroom window and closed it gently. Now she had a unicorn to find. Then again, how difficult could it be to find a purple unicorn at this time of night?
Rainbow darted up into the night sky, the wind whipping through her fur and making her mane and tail flutter in the cool humid air. If she wasn't so deadbeat tired, the Pegasus wouldn't mind gliding at this time of night for hours on end. The atmosphere of flying at night gave her a feeling of pure bliss, one that momentarily made her mind forget all her troubles, even if for a small amount of time. She dreaded the end of this, but she would have to land eventually.
Rainbow could see the landscape slowly begin to unfurl in front of her very eyes, the once flat-like ground beginning to take on character, with bends and peaks beginning to form. Sure enough, the rainbow-maned pegasus spotting the very unicorn she was looking for.
She initially thought about flying right into Twilight’s view, but decided against spooking the unicorn, and she actually wasn't in that playful a mood to begin with. Gradually Rainbow descended onto the crisp grass, careful to avoid making a spectacle of herself, since after all, she and Twilight were the only ones within acres of this area. She didn't approach immediately, choosing to stay back and merely observe the unicorn who seemed rather enthralled in what she was doing.
Twilight was sitting on the top of one of the grassy covered hills of the area, a rather sizable telescope pointed up at an angle facing the beautiful starry sky. Around the telescope was a spread of papers of all different types. One looked to be a star map of some sorts, while others seemed to be more so sketches of the actual constellations themselves, as well as some graphs and charts which Rainbow just shook her head at. Leave it to Twilight to complicate something as carefree as looking at stars.
But beyond this, Rainbow still resisted even the notion of talking to Twilight or making her presence known as she continued to stand a few yards behind her. She took in just how carefree and relaxed the unicorn looked as she watched the stars, sometimes with the aid of her telescope, but half of the time just with her naked eyes. Knowing the reputation she had Rainbow wouldn't admit it, but the bookworm looked as cute as can be when she was really captivated by something. She could see the excited look upon her face at times when she seemed to find a star or constellation she was searching for, as she would grab a piece of paper and sketch the said location.
At times, Rainbow wished such a simple activity as stargazing would provide her with as much glee. Sure, she would always love her flying and any athletic activity, but there were times where she just wanted to do something simpler like read a book or just talk with a friend. But she refused to, due to her worry over her appearance and reputation being impacted if people found out about that.
Maybe my reputation isn’t as important as I make it out to be...?
Rainbow pondered the thought for a couple seconds before forcefully shoving out of her mind. She became frustrated and even a bit angry with herself for even thinking that. Her reputation as being the coolest and best flyer in all of Equestria was something she worked extremely hard to achieve and keep, and there was no way she was going to damage it for something as simple as wanting to do boring activities.
Like playing a board game.
Or shopping.
Or talking about her day.
Rainbow’s composure fell following that thought, her facial expression resembling that of somepony who seemed lost and hurt. Everypony she knew seemed to have someone to talk to when they were at home, someone who would listen to their problems or things they achieved that day. AJ and Rarity had younger sisters, Twilight had Spike, Fluttershy had her animals, and Pinkie had the Cakes.
But herself?
She was always greeted by her lovely cloud home, but with nopony inside. The cavernous space of her home almost seemed to mock her with its quiet loneliness, conveying stark realization that Rainbow lived all by her lonesome. The Pegasus had nopony to vent to when she was angry, and no one to comfort her when she was down in the dumps. Even if she finally nailed a trick she had been practicing weeks on, when she came home from a hard day’s work, the only thing greeting her was her belongings. Not a soul was there to compliment her, give her a hug, or even just smile.
It was at this moment she started to realize…
Unexpectedly, Dash heard the audible sound of a rather large leaf crunching against the underside of her hoof. The noise completely interrupted her thoughts, as well as the musing of the pony she was currently watching.
“Hello?! Who’s there?!” Twilight spun her head around as she sensed the sound of a hoof stepping on a leaf.
Rainbow meekly waved in her direction. “Hey Twi.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh hi Rainbow, I didn't expect anypony to be up at this hour.” The unicorn chuckled softly to herself. “What brings you out here so late on a weeknight?”
“I would ask you the same thing, but I think all of this stuff is kinda giving it away,” Rainbow said, gesturing to the telescope and various papers.
“Oh, well usually once a month or so I reserve some time for a late night stargazing trip for one. I always try to aim for a day where the sky is as clear as can be, and tonight was as good a night as ever, “Twilight cast a glance over her equipment lying on the ground beside her. “Well that’s my reason, so what’s yours? I would expect you to be sound asleep knowing you.”
Rainbow shuffled her hooves as Twilight questioned her. For one of the few instances in her life, the light blue Pegasus was actually a bit nervous. “Well… to tell you the truth, I was looking for you.”
Twilight seemed relatively surprised at this, but became a bit worried that she wasn't available for her friend when it was clear she was being sought out. On the flip side though, whatever it was Rainbow needed must have been pretty important for her input to be needed this late at night.
“Oh, well, what can I help you with then?”
“Well… over the last month or so I’ve had problems sleeping. At first it wasn’t too much of an issue, at most I lost an hour or so of sleep, and I could deal with something like that. But at this point I’m lucky to even fall asleep for a couple of hours, and it’s really affecting everything I do. I can’t even think straight sometimes…”
This solidified Twilight’s suspicions which she kept to herself for fear of leakage. Over the past few weeks she could sense a change in how Rainbow handled herself, from her composure to just how she would converse with somepony. This was especially evident within the last week, as the pegasus seemed to lack all confidence and swagger she usually had, instead becoming a reserved and jumpy individual. Twilight was able to easily see this, but said nothing initially, knowing that as soon as she went to Rainbow about it, she would instantly deny anything was wrong, because that’s how she was. Twilight knew that Rainbow still thought that the outer armor she had was still strong enough to mask how she really felt for the time being, and that she had all of them fooled, which wasn’t the case.
“… I just was wondering if you had a spell to help me actually get a decent night’s sleep- something, anything!” At this point Rainbow’s voice was nearly that of somepony pleading for help.
“Well… I might have something I could do for you, but I never used it before…”
The look of desperation in Rainbow’s eyes showed that she was convinced anything was better than nothing, but before she could cut in Twilight continued.
“… but I don’t want to play with something as complex as the mind, Rainbow. I have no idea what effects it’ll have on you, or what it could possibly cause.” The violet unicorn watched as Rainbow’s expression went from one of hope, to that of somepony taking a hammer and smashing said home into a million microscopic pieces.
Even worse, Rainbow looked on the verge of tears.
Twilight walked over and wrapped her arms around the teary eyed Pegasus, bringing her close to her chest. To her surprise, Rainbow didn't resist in the slightest, and in fact even went as far as snuggling up against her, causing Twilight to jump a bit as a result, however this wasn't noticed to anypony but herself. Tears still slowly leaked out of her eyes as they stood there, and Twilight attempted to calm her friend by gently stroking her multicolored mane.
They stayed like this for a few minutes, neither pony moving or wanting to move an inch out of the spot they were in. For the first time in weeks, Rainbow felt a strange sense of serenity overtake her as she relaxed in the arms of her friend. To say it was strange to be in such an intimate an encounter with somepony she considered her best friend was true, but there was no denying that she liked being held like she was. In fact, she would go out on a limb and say that she loved every second of it. A slight blush began to form on her face on the thought of the word love.
“Feeling any better?” Twilight asked, still a hint of concern in her voice.
“A little bit, but I’m not really sure exactly.” Rainbow finally looked up at Twilight, a small yet unsure smile on her face to go along with her tear-stained eyes.
“You know, I never had a friend come along when I went stargazing. Would you care to join me?” Twilight questioned, a smile on her face as well.
“I guess so, as long as there isn’t egghead stuff which I won’t understand.”
Twilight chuckled at the remark. “Nope, we don’t need any of my stuff to just stare up at the night sky. It’s just because I like to do a little extra research about this stuff.”
“That applies to a lot of things,” Rainbow remarked. They both laughed at just how true that remark was.
Rainbow flopped down onto the cool damp grass, moving around till she found a comfortable position with her hooves folded in the back of her head. She stared directly upwards, marveling at the thousands of twinkling stars in the sky, and began to try to recognize some constellations out of them. Rainbow thought about asking Twilight about certain constellations, but was afraid that it would lead to an hour-long lecture about egghead related things. Not that she didn’t mind listening to Twilight, she just didn’t feel up to it right now.
Twilight began to lay down right next to her, making Rainbow shiver a bit at the lack of space in between the two. To her surprise, Twilight remained quiet and to herself, merely content with admiring the nighttime sky filled with stars. The lack of conversation caused Rainbow’s mind to wander yet again, but this time all her thoughts were directed towards the mare to her left.
Why am I getting so antsy around Twi? We’re just friends, and she is the least judgmental person I know.
Dash blinked repeatedly, trying to drown out any thought of the violet unicorn beside her, but to no avail. Out of all her friends, it was Twilight who shined a bit brighter than the rest, for certain reasons.
It started months ago, when she and Twilight were having one of their weekly reading sessions. The unicorn was busy reading some educational book, the title which escaped her, while Rainbow was working on the latest Daring Do. It had been merely a glance up to see if Twilight was enjoying her book as much as she was, and it turned into a near stare straight into her eyes. Twilight had been completely oblivious to the situation, and she was able to shake it off eventually. But those violet eyes of hers made Rainbow heart do backflips inside her chest, and she loved the feeling.
However, Rainbow wasn’t sure why of all ponies, it would be Twilight who she would be attracted to. The mare was a studious pony who enjoyed her alone time and studies, seemingly her polar opposite. But at the same instance, Twilight was just as loyal as herself, and cared for everypony she knew as much as she did herself.
But there was much more than that.
Rainbow adored how Twilight carried herself. The unicorn was as modest and down to earth as Applejack was, something Rainbow knew she wasn’t. Heck, she lead herself and the others in saving Equestria two times over, and didn’t even think twice about the attention it brought to her, preferring to put everybody first. Although she would doubt it, Rainbow rather enjoyed the celebrity status saving Equestria gave her and her friends.
And even thought it seemed like Twilight never noticed herself, Dash found her to be overwhelmingly beautiful in her appearance. Apart from her eyes, Rainbow knew that the mare took great care of her physical appearance. She lost count at how many times she had sneaked glances of her friend’s svelte, yet still shapely body. However it was her mane that might have been her favorite asset of Twilight’s. The unicorn possessed beautiful dark sapphire locks which cascaded down her neck, accented by a vibrant violet stripe, which nearly matched her eyes.
There was also a very sensitive side to the mare which only her closest friends saw, and every one of them were grateful for that, especially Rainbow. She had gone to Twilight before to talk about more personal issues before, and to be honest, felt quite comfortable doing so. Twilight, while being the best leader she ever knew, was also one of the best listeners as well. Equestria brought her.
Rainbow internally groaned, unsure of how to break it to herself, but nonetheless she had to accept it.
She liked Twilight.
And by liked, she meant like-liked.
Rainbow blushed again at the thought, unknown to Twilight beside her, as she was too enthralled by the scene presented above her. But she was still curious onto why Twilight was being so quiet.
“So… you’re not going to lecture me on the different types of stars and what not?”
Twilight responded with a simple shake of her head. “Nope. I understand that I tend to go overboard on that stuff, and truthfully, me lecturing you isn't going to help your situation.”
“It might…”
Rainbow grinned mischievously, earning a quick glare from Twilight who turned her head so that she would clearly see the look on her face.
However, Dash failed to even notice the displeased look Twilight wore. The Pegasus was simply enamored with the light violet eyes of the mare before her, as she was nearly hypnotized by their seemingly endlessness.
Wow… I never knew Twi’s eyes were so… cool looking…
“…Uh, Rainbow Dash?”
Dash shook her head multiple times, finally registering the purple hoof which was waving in front of her face, asking for her attention.
“Sorry ‘bout that Twi, I guess I spaced out a bit.”
Twilight merely cocked an eyebrow at her friend’s odd behavior as of recently. She knew that insomnia can have its effects, so dismissed it as being a side effect of the lack of sleep Rainbow has had.
The duo continued to stare up into the heavens above them, marveling at the cosmic wonders that seemed to stretch for eons. Dash had to admit, even though she was so exhausted that everything in her world was seemingly going wrong, this was the most relaxed she had been in some time. The lack of sleep had caused the pegasus to become very jumpy and restless, two feelings she had never really experienced in any sort of volume before. But now, the vastness of stars above them emitted a sense of calmness, a sense which thankfully agreed with Rainbow Dash.
However, it could be argued that the pony next to her was still giving her the jitters.
On the flip side, Twilight definitely could sense something was up, and was definitely motivated enough to get to the bottom of it, in order to help Rainbow. But as much as Twilight wanted to aid her desperate friend, she was afraid to be forceful knowing how sensitive the mare beside her currently was. However, Twilight had a hunch on what was going on, and she decided to take the risk. Even if it caused Dash some annoyance, and possibly some harsh feelings towards herself, all in all it was for her own good.
“So Rainbow… about your whole insomnia issue, I think that there is more you’re not telling me.”
Dash seemed to shiver a bit, almost in anticipation that this question would appear eventually. After all, Twilight was extremely intelligent, and was bound to figure it out eventually. But she didn’t want to tell her how she felt quite yet, so she decided to try and bait the unicorn.
“Um… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded in a shaky uncharacteristic voice.
Smooth Rainbow… smooth.
“Look… the only way I can help you at all with this, is if you help me with it too,” Twilight responded softly, “Perhaps there’s something that is causing you’re insomnia, like an emotional problem. I may not be a psychiatrist in any way, but I’ve read enough to maybe give some insight into…”
“How does it feel to have Spike around all the time?” Rainbow questioned, cutting off Twilight, although not in a rude manner.
Twilight found the question unexpected. As she looked at Dash’s face, she swore to Celestia that a single tear was gracefully making its way down her face. She wanted to just hug her friend and tell her everything was okay, but she had to keep going with this.
“It’s nice to have him around. He is so helpful all the time with what I do, and I really appreciate all he does. Besides, without him around the library would feel…”
“…lonely,” they both said together.
Twilight seemed to finally come to the realization of Rainbow’s issue. The pair stood in silence only a few seconds, but these seemed to move so slowly where they felt more like centuries to the unicorn.
“When you go home every day, you get to talk to somepony who understands you. You can tell that person about your day, whether it be good or bad, and that person will congratulate you or comfort you. All of you have that, even Fluttershy has that sort of connection with her animals. When I go home after a hard day’s work, or after finally nailing a trick I’ve been working on for weeks, nopony is there to tell me good job, or to tell me everything will be alright. I… I envy you girls. Living alone really sucks.” Rainbow poured out, tears that have been welled up within her starting to cascade down her face.
That once nearly indestructible wall, which she had made to hide all her true feelings, was beginning to slowly crumble after so many years. Rainbow hated her negative emotions, and recognized this as a sign of weakness in herself, one she refused to let anypony know about, because she had to look cool. Her image was something she held near and dear to her, so in her mind the solution was to hide from everypony and keep all of this bottled up and corked tight. She hid these thoughts and feelings in the deep recesses of her mind, making sure that they never need be brought up again.
Now here she was, admitting some of them to Twilight, showing that the pony her and the rest of her friends once saw as brave and nearly perfect was indeed far from so.
Dash looked away from Twilight, a burning sense of embarrassment flushing her face, as well as white hot anger which pulsed through her veins. But however, this was soon replaced with one of acceptance and comfort as the purple mare gently pulled her into another embrace.
One half of her mind still said to resist and not give in to one of her weaknesses. But she finally seemed to realize something.
“Is it… bad to admit one’s weaknesses?” Rainbow questioned, still in the embrace her unicorn friend was providing her.
Twilight seemed a bit perplexed by the question, not because of the lack of an answer, but because she found the question to be rather surprising. Twilight assumed that Dash sometimes could confuse things here and there, but her view on her weaknesses seemed to be the complete opposite of the truth. The mare finally seemed to realize that Rainbow had gotten so wrapped up in keeping up her image everypony was so used to seeing of her, where she had warped aspects of herself around keeping that image. This included her weaknesses.
“Dash… admitting one’s weakness is one of the bravest actions a pony can do.”
Rainbow looked up, blinking away tears with an added look of befuddlement. “Really?”
“Of course. I mean, everypony tries to be perfect, but in reality, all of us have flaws in one form or another. I know I have plenty of flaws, but I don’t let that stop me from being myself,” Twilight brought her face closer to Rainbow’s, causing a massive blush to appear on Rainbow’s muzzle, “You could be the flawed pony in all of Equestria for all that matters. That doesn’t stop you from being Rainbow Dash… and we all love you for being her.”
Dash felt almost at peace as Twilight finished her sentence, but however still felt flushed. The coolness of the breeze as it passed in waves over the grassy covered fields did nothing to aid her, as she felt like she had a fever of over a hundred degrees. This was accompanied by another feeling entirely though, one that Rainbow was not used to in any way, form, or matter.
In fact, Rainbow had a revelation that very second. She didn’t just like Twilight. – She loved her.
Rainbow stopped denying herself how she felt, and knew that this had been brewing for months now. The feelings of anxiety which she contracted around Twilight now made perfect sense, as well as the sudden flashes of heat she would have when in close contact with her. Her insomnia even made a bit of sense now, as she couldn’t count how many of those nights were spent gazing at the ceiling thinking of some sort of way to make Twilight aware of just how she felt.
And here the two were, under perhaps one of the most beautiful skies Rainbow ever encountered in her life, basking in the soft glow of the moonlight, observing the thousands if not millions of stars above them. One could call it the most romantic sort of scene, of which probably both ponies would agree, if not directly.
Rainbow realized this, and decided to go for it.
Live life in the fast lane right?
The pegasus looked up into those pools of violet which seemed to make her entire world melt, everything around her becoming an incomprehensible blur of color.
Come on, go in for the kill.
Rainbow sat up so she was level with Twilight’s face, their noses merely an inch apart from one another. She swore that she could feel the pulse of the unicorn increase with every passing moment, and could feel Twilight’s hot breath on her own face.
3… 2… 1…
The once minuscule gap between the two was erased as Dash pressed her lips against the mare in front of her. Sparks and fireworks galore were going off inside her mind as she kissed Twilight, a feeling of euphoria overtaking her for those couple of seconds as she proceeded to truly show her formerly hidden feelings for her friend. She could only hope that Twilight would return her offer with even half as much passion as she was providing.
Twilight meanwhile, couldn’t find a word to describe the feelings she was experiencing. The phrase “butterflies in one’s stomach” could fit the situation, although the amount of butterflies the mare was experiencing was more along the lines of a butterfly invasion. Shivers went down her spine as Rainbow Dash gave her the most passionate kiss she had ever received from anypony in her life, not to mention her first kiss. However, she didn’t know exactly what kind of shivers these were. Nonetheless, Twilight felt a massive surge of adrenaline all of a sudden, and began to push back and returned the cyan pegasus’ kiss.
For some reason, Twilight determined that this feeling she had right now…
It was right.
…and it happened to be one of the best feelings she had ever experienced in her life. But she couldn’t help but realize that everything was going by in a blur, and that maybe things were moving way too fast for her liking.
The pair withdrew from one another, a satisfied, relieved, yet regretful look plastered on the face of Rainbow Dash, while Twilight wore an expression of uncertainty. However she couldn’t deny her enjoyment of the affection Dash gave her.
Neither mare knew really how to break the ice to one another following something as monumental as a kiss like that. Rainbow tried to formulate something in her mind to ask Twilight, something that would give her the closure she so desperately wanted, and at this point, even needed.
Rainbow tried to mentally prepare herself for a rejection if it so happened to result. She realized that her heart was now put onto the table with no protection surrounding it, its vulnerability evident to any emotion in the world, love being the most potent of these. If she were to be rejected by the unicorn, things would definitely change, and most likely for the worse. She knew that any situations involving Twilight would in turn become hard to deal with, and might even result in her distancing herself from the mare. Rainbow knew in the back of her mind though, that the friendship they had would always be intact, even if it were to be damaged.
She still could say yes, look at her! She liked it!
If Twilight said yes to her wordless offer, Rainbow could probably easily do a sonic rainboom right then and there, although it would make many Ponyville citizens lose a lot of their precious beauty sleep. Especially Rarity, now there was one pony you didn’t want to mess around with when it came to beauty sleep.
Twilight was flabbergasted when it came to figuring out a solution for the situation at hand. She certainly didn’t want to upset Rainbow, and it was obvious that the Pegasus cared deeply about her, even more so than some of her other friends. Twilight knew enough to not flat out reject the offer of what she was just given, as who knows what kind of heartbreak it would result in for Dash.
She went over different scenarios in her head, all the while cursing mentally at herself for never reading or learning how to deal with this type of situation, or any romantic situation at all. Twilight only now realized just how clueless it was on the concept of love.
One thing was certain however, and that was the feeling of gratitude that she felt towards Rainbow Dash. She already had a sense of this for how good a friend she was, but now Twilight was overly flattered at what Rainbow’s feelings for truly were. She never thought somepony like Dash would hold somepony like her in that sort of light, it almost felt like an honor, in an interesting sort of way.
In her mind, Twilight wanted to accept Rainbow’s offer, but she needed one element before proceeding with a decision like this - time. However, it would be hard-pressed to request patience from the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. The unicorn also had no idea just how long Rainbow had been waiting to admit what she just did, and making her wait any more than she already had was cruel.
“But that kiss…” she thought to herself. Rainbow’s passionate kiss didn’t show much in the way of lust. Twilight instead felt a sense of longing, along with a deep admiration of who she truly was, and was surprised that Dash viewed her in such a manner. The pegasus and herself were complete opposites in terms of overall personality and interests. But the unicorn remembered that there are also situations in which opposites attract, and maybe this was one of them.
Nevertheless, Twilight knew she needed some time to think things over, even if it might stress Rainbow out. She had never been in a romantic relationship before, and really had no clue where to begin. The dozens of romantic novels she read all did a wonderful job at depicting romance, but never did they tell her on what to do in said situations. So in this case, Twilight knew just about zero.
But Twilight did know one thing, and this is that Rainbow is one of her closest friends. She knew that Twilight would almost definitely give her a chance if she was the one asking to be Rainbow’s marefriend, so the least the unicorn could do was return the favor. But there was still a lurking uncertainty in the back of Twilight’s mind which started to depict scenarios of what would happen if it didn’t work. Would their friendship change? Would they be friends at all?
Then again… love can be in the last place you look.
“Rainbow, I… wow,” Twilight blurted out, mentally facehoofing herself.
Rainbow looked about as on edge as she could be without exploding.
“…That was an amazing experience, being my first kiss and all, but I don’t know if my answer is what you’re looking for.”
Dash tried to prepare herself for this, but knew there was no way to take a rejection like this lightly, especially from somepony she had a love for. Her exposed heart felt like somepony was getting ready to smash it with a huge hammer into a million pieces.
“You don’t like me that way do you?” Rainbow questioned, her somber tone making it all too easy to figure out how she currently felt.
Twilight walked over and put her hoof under Dash’s chin, raising her face up so that near violet irises met violet irises. She noticed the heartbreak clearly in the way Dash was looking at her, and hoped she didn’t make a mistake in how she worded her response.
“Well I was very taken aback by your offering to say the least,” Twilight began, “After all, it isn’t every day I get kissed by a beautiful mare like yourself.” Rainbow’s faced turned a deep crimson in embarrassment at Twilight’s compliments. She had never gotten such a comment on her looks before, although Rarity made mentions of how cute she would look if she’d actually do her hair for a change. However, Dash was getting a bit annoyed at the lack of a concrete answer from the unicorn. “So, what exactly are you saying then?”
Twilight merely smiled, and motioned for Rainbow Dash to take a seat on the cool crisp grass next to her. She did, and the pair silently gazed at the heavens above them for a solid minute or so. Twilight then began pointing out a certain constellation as Rainbow observed intently, noticing that the stars seemed to form almost a magic staff with a heart atop it.
“That constellation is the lover’s staff. According to my book on astrological legends, if the stars that make up the heart twinkle, chances are great that you are within the vicinity of your potential love. Twinkling stars mean love is in the air.”
Dash had been paying attention to Twilight’s explanation right up until the very last sentence. With that she turned her focus entirely towards the stars which made up the heart of the staff. Sure enough, all of the stars were twinkling, visible enough for her eyes to see. With that, a beaming smile formed on her face as she recalled word for word the legend Twilight had just told her.
Twinkling stars mean love is in the air
Dash was a little more than curious to see if Twilight had noticed the same twinkling she did. “So Twi, did you see those stars twinkle?”
Twilight didn’t answer immediately, and seemed to be focusing on the very constellation she had previously explained.
“Hmm… It looks like they are, but right now I’m going to need a couple of more stargazing dates in order to truly figure out whether or not that is true.”
Rainbow looked a bit puzzled, but realization struck her.
“Would you like somepony to accompany you on these stargazing events..? Not that astrology is for eggheads or anything.”
Twilight chuckled, glad to see the humor and brightness return to the cyan Pegasus who always seemed so full of liveliness.
“Well considering neither of us would like to wait another full month, how about next week at the same time? You seem to be enjoying yourself, and I appreciate the company.”
Dash leaped up and did a little flip in the air, her wings extending outwards as she flew up into the air with much gusto before landing perfectly on her hoofs.
“Consider it a date!”
Twilight shook her head at the rather excited reaction given to her by the rainbow haired mare as inwardly anticipated spending an entire evening with her. The pair had never really done anything together without any of their friends in tow, so being on their own would be an interesting experience. Perhaps she could get to know more about how Dash’s other interests and thoughts. She could almost sense that Dash must be more complex than she seemed given the rollercoaster of emotions she received from her tonight, and it had her wondering just how long she had waited to admit her feelings.
Twilight looked over and only realized that she had spaced out in her own thoughts for much longer than a few minutes. She felt somepony snuggle up against her side, and found Rainbow to be fast asleep, a serene calmness on her face. Twilight couldn’t blame the mare for falling asleep so suddenly, after all, she hadn’t gotten proper rest in so many days where it was a miracle she was able to function to the level she had been today.
Normally, Twilight could use her magic to teleport everything and Rainbow back to her house, but she was surprisingly relaxed where she was. On top of this, Dash looked so innocent and cute snuggled up against her, where she didn’t want to disturb the slumbering pegasus.
Smiling, she gently stroked her rainbow mane, before sleep began to overtake her mind as well.
Twilight knew that she had a pretty major task ahead of her the next few weeks, and hoped that whatever path she took, it would be the best one. For now, she could act as Dash’s best friend, and maybe her eventual marefriend for all she knew.
She took one last look at Lover’s Staff, and couldn’t help but notice a very faint twinkling of stars which formed the heart of the staff.
“Look to the stars Dash. Look to the stars…”