Twilight's Rainbow

by Kodeake

Crash Landing

Crash Landing

“Spike! Where is that book I asked for?” Twilight called, looking up from the book in front of her while closing it with a quick glow of magenta.

“You mean ‘Pegasus Courting Rituals, A History’?” Spike asked, his head poking out from behind a tower of books held in his arms.

“Yes.” Twilight said, more then a little annoyed her assistant had already forgotten what book she wanted. Sighing, she stood from the cushion at her reading table and levitated her book beside her.

“Why do you need that anyway?” Spike asked curiously as he started placing books back onto the shelves. He froze suddenly, inhaling sharply as the top of his stack started to wobble dangerously.

“Uh… no reason, just one of the last books in the library that I haven’t read yet, and I want to read them all.” Twilight said, her voice rising in pitch and speed as she spoke. By the end it was between ‘inaudible’ and ‘dog whistle’.

Spike sighed in relief as the tower steadied. Cautiously, he reached his claw a little closer to the shelf, only to have the top book slip off and land directly on his head. He stumbled back only to trip on the book that had fallen and land on his back. He squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the crashing of books on his chest.

“Spike, you should be more carful.” Twilight scolded. Spike tentatively opened one eye just a crack. Noticing the books floating a few metres above him in a pale purple glow he allowed himself to breathe again.

“Sorry.” Spike grumbled as she lowered the books back to the ground, forming a neat stack and making sure they were steady before releasing them.

“Now where is that book?” Twilight repeated, voice betraying her annoyance at the delay.

“It’s on the table next to the reading table, just like every other book you ask me to get while you’re still reading another book.” Spike grabbed a few books from the stack; less then half what he had previously, and continued putting them away. They hadn’t been checked out and Twilight hadn’t even been reading them. To be honest Spike didn’t even know why they were out, every now-and-then a pile of books would just appear, and Twilight would ask him to put them away. He just assumed they were part of her re-shelving. He swore she did that every other day.

“Oh… thanks.” Twilight’s cheeks grew slightly hotter out of embarrassment, but she quickly brushed it off as she walked up to the table indicated. Sitting on top in plain view from anywhere in the room was the book she had been looking for. Grabbing it in her magic with practised ease she turned back to the reading table and set it down, the cover opening to the first page. Glancing over to the window, she noticed the sun had begun its journey to the horizon. She had been reading all day. She made a mental note to plan more days with nothing but studying. One day was not going to be enough for what she wanted to know.

-_-_-_-

“Spike!” Twilight called, having finished the book. Upon getting nothing for an answer she looked around the library, eyes quickly finding a purple and green dragon. He was lying on the floor, chest rising and falling gently as he slept, the last book in the stack clutched to his chest with both claws.

Twilight giggled a little at the site. Gently, she levitated the book from the dragons grasp and put it on the shelf before lifting the dragon up the stairs and into his basket. He grumbled something about a demon cat (Twilight assumed he was talking about Opal) before snuggling into his bed and clutching his blanket. Twilight smiled at the heart warming site, he really was cute when he was asleep. Twilight’s thoughts were derailed by a snore loud enough to rattle the library. Okay, maybe he wasn’t that cute.

Sighing quietly to herself she walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind her as quietly as she could. She walked on the tips of her hooves back the main room of the library, and her reading stand. She quickly found where her book belonged and put it back without really thinking about it. At this point she had memorized every single book she had and where it belonged. Scanning the shelves she searched for the next book on her list.

“Who.” Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden noise. Whipping her head around she came muzzle to beak with large, yellow eyes. She squeaked and jumped back, accidentally colliding with the bookshelf behind her. In a flurry of panic and magic she managed to stop the bookcase from falling over, though not before it hit the one behind it and caused it to fall. It hit the ground with a large thud, books flying into the air along with a rather large dust cloud. Apparently Spike had fallen asleep before he finished dusting.

“Great.” Twilight muttered under her breath. She turned back to Owlowiscious, giving him a hard glare. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Who.”

“Me!”

“Who.”

“ME!”

“Who.”

“Forget it. Just help me clean this up.” Twilight sighed, admitting defeat.

“Who.”

“MMMMMPH.” Twilight glued her mouth shut, biting her tongue almost hard enough to draw blood. Taking deep breaths through her nose she eventually calmed down enough to start cleaning, Owlowiscious swooping down and grabbing the odd book to put back on the shelf.

“Who.” The owl said one more time. Twilight got the odd feeling he was mocking her.

-_-_-_-

It was a beautiful night. The stars shone brightly, the moon almost but not quite full, illuminating Ponyville with an incandescent glow. Not a single cloud in the sky to block the view. The night sky was always beautiful when you could fly above the clouds, but there was something about admiring it from lower that made it even better. You didn’t have the biting cold or the harsh winds. All you had was the silver glow and a light summer breeze. Things Rainbow Dash loved, but would never admit to.

No, loving something like the night sky was so not cool, no matter how beautiful it could be. Her reputation would be destroyed if anypony were to catch her admiring it. But she always had back up plans should she run into somepony during one of her night flights. She always flew in just a way where she could turn it into a stunt at a moments notice. That way she could say she was practising, and nopony could disprove her.

Sighing happily she flipped onto her back. The sky could not get any more beautiful, in her opinion. Looking ahead she saw nopony flying, and anypony on the ground would never be able to spot her against the black of a midnight sky. She looked back up at the sky as her lips stretched up into a smile. Not her cocky, self confident smile. Not the one she wore when she was trying to impress somepony, but an honest, genuine smile. It was rare for her to smile like that now. She had to maintain her reputation if she ever wanted to make it into the Wonderbolts, and smiling and being all happy was not cool. She liked being happy, but sometimes sacrifices must be made to get what you want. And she wanted the Wonderbolts more then anything.

There was only one thing in the world she would want over being a Wonderbolt. But that one thing she knew she would never have. So instead she focused on her more-then-achievable dream. She was already the fastest flier in Equestria. And once she was a Wonderbolt she wouldn’t need anything else. She would be content with her life. She would have achieved everything she had wanted since her filly hood.

Glancing forward to make sure she was on the right path she spotted the one thing she didn’t want to; another pegasus. A wave of terror swept through her mind, this was it. Her reputation that she had cared for and groomed all these years was over: All because she was a big softy who liked the night sky. It was then she remembered her contingency plan. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves she leaned back into a dive. She plummeted towards the town below, expecting to be high above an empty field. She was not however, and instead all she could see below her was a very large, very close house.

Another wave of panic sped through her as instincts took over and she pulled up, where she came face to face with a large tree. Directly in front of her was a window. Realizing she wouldn’t have the time to maneuver around the tree no matter how much awesome she had on her side, she just prayed she could squeeze through the window.

-_-_-_-

Twilight smiled at her now spotless library. It had taken nearly three hours even with magic, but she had done it. The bookcase was perfect. Exactly where it had been before it had been toppled (she checked against a few pictures she had of the room) and now the books were finally exactly where they belonged. Every tome was aligned, every volume next to the previous and next volumes. Perfect. She liked it when things were perfect.

CRASH

Suddenly a cyan and Rainbow blur shot through a window and right in front of her. Twilight knew what was going to happen before it happened. All she could do was shut her eyes as the intruder crashed into the bookshelf that she had perfected seconds before. Within seconds her ears were greeted with another crash. This time added by a few thuds as books fell to the floor, having been thrown free of the bookshelf from the force of the blow.

Twilight took a few breaths to calm herself down. She didn’t want to yell. She didn’t like yelling. “RAINBOW DASH! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING!?” Sometimes she just had to scream.

“Uh… just stopping by to say… hi?” The pegasus answered weakly. She stood up, shaking a few wood splinters from her coat. She was just thankful the window had opened rather then smashed; she didn’t like the idea of crashing through glass. Looking at the now open window, she spotted the object she thought was a pony, instead all that was in the sky was a large Bluejay.

“At one in the morning through my window?” Twilight accused. She managed not to scream, though she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from yelling anymore.

“Heh… yeah, sorry ‘bout that Twi, was just… practising…” Dash said, he eyes shifting nervously around the room until she found a rather interesting wood splinter on the floor at her hooves.

“You know what? I don’t care. Just help me clean this up. And in the morning you can help me get a new bookshelf.” Twilight sighed, beginning the process of once again picking up books. A sense of déjà vu over took her as she read one of the titles. She could have sworn she had just picked this book up... oh wait, she did. She grumbled something under her breath about clumsy pegasi and respect for books, but other then that she was silent.

The silence was torture for Rainbow Dash. She had nothing but the flapping of her wings and the faint hum of magic for company. Somehow a quiet Twilight was worse then no Twilight at all. “So… What are you doing up at this hour?” Dash started, weakly trying to strike up a conversation.

“Studying.” Twilight answered, not even looking at the pegasus as she levitated a stack of books to a back room with an empty shelf.

“Studying what?” Dash pressed, holding a dust pan in her hoof and a brush in her mouth as she swept up wood splinters from the recently destroyed bookshelf.

“Just some books… on history.” Twilight answered nervously, feeling a slight blush start to form.

“How very egghead of you.” Dash chuckled, shaking the pan into one of the waist baskets scattered about the library. Twilight’s heart fluttered at the nickname. It was usually an insult, but coming from Rainbow it made the unicorn feel special; like she meant something to her. She new it didn’t mean anything, but she could always pretend. Her blush deepened as she thought more about it.

“Twi? Hey, Twi! Earth to egghead.” Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts by a cyan hoof waving in front of her.

“Huh? Wha? Oh, sorry Rainbow, just thinking.” Twilight said, starting to sort the books she had dropped in front of the temporary bookcase.

“Something wrong?” Dash cocked her head slightly, noticing she just put ‘Daring Do and the Griffons Goblet’ after ‘Daring Do and the Temple of Sand’; something no self respecting Daring Do fan would ever do.

“No. Everything’s fine. I’m just tired. It’s been a long night.” Twilight said almost too cheerfully for Rainbow’s taste. But for now she let it slip. Her mind could just be making the situation fit one of her many dreams or fantasies. Hearing things that weren’t there. She would have to remember to get more sleep from now on so her mind couldn’t betray her like that.

“Alright, well I guess we should hurry up and finish then, huh?” Rainbow offered, fixing the mistake Twilight had made. And another… and another. It seamed like every book was out of place. Not that she would know or care, they just looked wrong to her.

“Yeah.” Twilight said quietly, not even paying attention to where she was putting the books. Instead she was just watching the pegasus fixing her mistakes. There was something about the way she flew. How her muscles moved under her coat. How she hovered so effortlessly, just like she was standing. The steady beating of her wings almost hypnotic to the already distracted unicorn.

“Twi? Twi! Come on, you gotta stop zoning out or we’ll never get this done.” Twilight was once again forced back to reality, a heavy blush on her face as she realized she was staring. She quickly looked away and actually paid attention to what she was doing.

“GAH! Nonononononononono. Those books go on that shelf! And those need to be to the left of those, and... Oh I’ll have to restart.” Twilight rattled off, shaking her head, her mane whipping around as if she was in a tornado. There was something about her mane flying about that Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but stare at, something oddly alluring about the flying purple strands.

Rainbow was suddenly pelted with books flying off the shelf, a rather thick hard cover hitting her directly in the face.

“Hey, be careful with where you throw those things.” Dash said as she rubbed her throbbing nose. When Twilight didn’t answer she turned to look at where the purple unicorn had been sitting moment before. She was now lying on the floor, a book leaning against her side.

Smiling to herself Rainbow just watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful, so calm. Her face was relaxed into the slightest of smiles as her chest slowly rose and fell in time with her slow, methodical breathing. There was something about watching Twilight sleep that relaxed the cyan pegasus. Just how cute she could be still surprised her.

Giggling, she flew out of the back room on silent wings, carrying a sleeping purple mass on her back up the stairs and into the bedroom. Gently, being careful not to wake her, she tucked Twilight into her bed before turning back towards the door. She looked back one more time at the door way, allowing herself one last look before closing the door, whispering a ‘goodnight’ as she did so.

Comments

[Zerg]

You have my attention sir

[magicalbananaman]

mine as well

[The Mysterious N]

And my axe!
Sorry. Had to do that.

On a more important note, good start. Looking forward to seeing more.

[metroid_freak]

Good so far. Keep it up!

[Victory]

A minor typo: "She new it didn’t mean anything" -> knew

[HellTurkey]

Lol she just feel asleep at the spot?! well she has some serious health problems then x.x

[Daring Cammie Do]

:3 such adorbs.