A stack of books five or six ponies high teetered somewhat precariously in the main room of the library, many more roughly sorted on the floor in multiple, small piles. From somewhere within, a soft purple glow lit a few of the fibrous columns, and another book was added to the large, central stack.
"Ugh! I've ripped the entire library apart and I'm barely any closer to figuring this out!" Twilight moaned. "I'm going to have to re-shelve the rest of these before somepony gets hurt." Glancing around and spying a pathway to the kitchen, she rubbed her temples softly and sighed, "Lunch first."
The coolest mare in all of Equestria was sweating bullets at the door to a library - and not because of a fear of being seen with the latest Daring Do novel (no, she was over that by now - if a mare as cool as Daring was in books, they can't be that bad), but because of which particular library this was, and the pony inside.
Just knock - no, knocking is for losers, and besides - it's a public library in the middle of the day. 'The door's always open!' Except when it's not, of course, but, that's why they invented doorknobs.
Rainbow slowly creaked the door open a few inches, "Twilight?"
"Ack! Rainbow, wait, there's a stack of books right behind the doo-"
"Oh! Sorry, Twi'!" she panicked, slamming the door back shut.
Phew. She almost hit the-
*WHUMP*
"Gyah!!!"
The force of the door closing was just enough to set a few of the more lofty lumps of literature leering, and eventually, come crashing down on the unsuspecting unicorn below. She tried valiantly to catch them, but with so many objects to track and so little time, she only managed to save a few and hold them aloft before being buried below books.
Rainbow winced outside the door, "Oops," before slowly cracking it open again. "Twilight? Are you okay in there?" A few books were still hovering above the mess, being held in place by magic. Rainbow reached out to grab the one closest to her and read the cover to herself. Smirking and flipping through the pages, she snickered loudly when she skimmed over the later section. "Wow - Twiliight... this is what you're studying? I never knew..." Even the pegasus couldn't keep a blush off of her face, but she pressed onward a few more pages, "This thing is really detailed." She rotated the book to try and get a better view of one of the full-page diagrams, and added under her breath, "...I never knew ponies could bend that way."
Of all the books for me to catch, and of all the books for her to then pick up and read... are you punishing me, Celestia? What did I do to deserve this? Twilight crawled out from underneath the piles and bit her tongue, willing herself not to simply scream in anguish at the top of her lungs. The energy of that scream burned inside her, and she could feel it bouncing around like a pinball as she bit her lip. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and her eyelid started twitching wildly.
Rainbow knew that look - the look that screamed 'get out'. The look of a pony about to explode. Defying that look, she gingerly stepped forward, speaking slowly, "Twilight... it's okay. Everything's gonna be okay. I'm gonna help you put away all these books," Even though it really wasn't my fault this time! "...and everything will be back to normal, and I'll help you get better, and it'll be just like old times."
The lavender mare spun slowly to face Dash, and the eye-twitching increased in frequency, her bottom lip quivering underneath her teeth. Eyes wide, as if she were caught off-guard and trapped, frozen in place and immobile.
I have a bad feeling about this. "T-there, see? It's just me, your bestest pal Rainbow Dash, and I'm gonna fix everything," she smiled, her own sweat reappearing.
The pony in front of her snapped, and in an instant, she had collapsed to the floor, bawling and burying her face in her hooves. "Why?!" she choked, "C-can't... take it..."
Dash winced, then rushed over to try and comfort her, sitting beside her and gently stroking her mane, "It's okay, it's okay! I'm here, Twi'..."
"...w-what's... wrong with m-m-me? I can't even think straight." Mmn, that feels nice - why can't she stroke my mane more often? "W-wait. You... you," she whispered.
"...me? What about me?"
Horseapples! I said that out loud - is it really her that's making me upset? Of course it'd be something that stupid and obvious - these cursed hormones are making me loopy over a pony... I can't have. She still thinks I'm sick, though! I can't let her know how I feel... but I can't just claim I'm better when I'm acting like this. She's not dumb, and she'll see right through it, or one of our friends will. She coughed, "Uh - c-can you get me some water, please? I-I'm still not feeling good and I think I'm j-just stressed." ...did I just lie? No - not technically... I'm not feeling good about any of this. Now I have to pretend I'm still sick!
Rainbow nodded and, thanks to a few powerful wingbeats, hovered overtop of the chaos and destruction and made her way to the kitchen.
Is she really going to take care of me while I'm sick? I wonder how long I can pretend before she catches on... She shook her head and slapped herself gently with a hoof. Bad Twilight! That may not be technically lying, but it is dishonest. How am I ever going to get better if the very mare that's making me 'sick' is waiting on me hoof and other-hoof? Spending all day with me? Taking care of me, fetching me things, pampering me, and tucking me in at night? A smile crept upon her lips, and half-lidded, she rolled over on top of some of the other tomes. Okay. I can live with this.
Returning with a glass of water in her hoof, Rainbow properly surveyed the damage as she passed it to Twilight. "Wow. This... might take a while to fix." A bit of warmth in her cheeks, she glanced sidelong at the unicorn, "I mean, if you don't mind, and you really want my help and all."
"It's okay, Dash - we can take as long as we need."
As the penultimate paperback was precisely pigeonholed in its perfectly positioned place by pegasus power, Twilight grabbed the last book with her magic and grinned. Of course it's this one. Before she could tuck it far, far away, or hide it, or burn it, Rainbow snatched it out of her hold and clutched it protectively.
"Twilight, can I borrow this?"
"...you're joking, right? I don't even think we should have that book, let alone be lending it out to anypony."
"Well, if you can't lend it out, can we read it here?"
"Ugh, sure - I guess so. Wait, 'we'?"
"You said yes!" She grinned victoriously, "Come on, Twi' - it'll be fun! We can point and laugh at the pictures and stuff."
"Rainbow, I don't even want to look at some of those drawings, let alone visualise them mentally." Like right now. Gah! A small blush on her cheeks again.
"Well, what else are we gonna do while you're still sick?"
Crap - right! "Oh, uh..."
"'Sides, it's almost dinner time - Spike should be back soon," a coy grin appeared on her face, "You know - he always cooks for you, right?"
"Almost always. I mean, I can fend for myself if he's out." Come on, Twilight - sandwiches and instant pastas aren't exactly 'meals'.
"...right. I was thinking... maybe I could make you something? Like soup, you know, to help you get better? I had Fluttershy show me how she makes stew - I figured if I asked Pinkie, I might end up with a pot of icing or something."
Twilight giggled at the thought, "Or, you know, rice pudding. Which actually would also be delicious, but stew sounds nice." There goes that heartbeat again - at least now I know I'm not about to have a heart attack. Hopefully.
Is she blushing? Oh no, am I blushing? Keep it together, Dash - you just got to show her you're not inep-... uh... useless, and that you care about her, and she's sure to go out with you. She couldn't suppress a small return grin at her internal monologue, "Yeah. Delicious."
As if on cue, Spike burst through the front door, carrying all manner of objects and bags, genuinely struggling, "L-l-little help here, g-guys?"
Rainbow had started to move towards him, but Twilight had already grabbed the entire load from Spike's arms telekinetically, and started sorting things in mid-air, sending some items to the kitchen and pantry, and others to various shelves and drawers in the library.
Spike scratched the back of his head with a claw, "Wow, Twilight - you look way better, now!"
Ack! Got to ham it up, now. Twilight coughed loudly and covered her muzzle with a forehoof to mask it, "A-almost, Spike. Still not feeling too good, sorry." She sniffled a bit for emphasis and smiled. The nervous sweat worked in her favour, however, and added to the illusion.
"Spike, did you get any carrots while you were out?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes ma'am, uh - Twilight put them in the kitchen."
"Onions?"
"Yep."
"Celery?"
"Uh-huh."
She raised an eyebrow cautiously, as if daring him to say no to her next item, "...tomatoes?"
Fidgeting a bit, he touched a claw to his chin and stuck his tongue out in thought, "...do tomatillos count?"
"Aha, I win!"
"No you don't, Rainbow," Twilight interrupted, "Tomatillos are another plant in the nightshade family, related to tomatoes. They're supposed to taste like green tomatoes, but sweeter. You could use them instead."
"...but they're not tomatoes. They're related, but you and your brother are related, and you're not him. You're also a mare." Rainbow grinned, then facefaulted slightly. Oh, Celestia - she's turning me into an egghead already!
Twilight's eye twitched again briefly, but she paid it no mind, "...right, Dash. I'm a mare. Not a tomato."
Spike snickered, "You kind of look like a tomato, though."
What? Oh no - am I really still blushing that bad? She grew even redder.
On a roll, Spike added, "And if you're letting her cook," he gestured to Rainbow, "You might end up green like a tomatillo later, too!"
"Hey! That's not cool!" the pegasus protested, her voice cracking, "I'm nowhere near as bad as Applejack and her baked bads. You'd think she'd have learned from Granny Smith or something by now."
"'Baked bads' or not, those were good! I still don't understand why you ponies had such a problem with them."
Memories surfacing, both ponies wretched slightly at the thought. Rainbow was the first to recover, "Whatever - I'm going in there, and I'm gonna make us stew, and it's going to be delicious, and no one is going to be sick. Got it?" She bolted off for the kitchen, and started rummaging through cookware and ingredients.
Spike turned to Twilight, "Bet you a ruby she hurts herself and ends up seeing the nurse before we get dinner."
Twilight gasped, "Spike! That's horrible!"
A loud *clang* came from the kitchen. "Ow! I'm okay; I got this!" Another crash, followed by semi-incoherent mumbling, "Stupid saucepan..."
"You're on."