Magnet

by KitsuneRisu

Chapter 1 - An Open Book

It was so... different.

Different was the word.

Twilight could handle many things, and had.

She took on crazy ancient gods, dragons, evil creatures of the forest, a parasprite swarm, and even that one time when Spike burnt her book.

She'd seen wonders that most ponies could only dream of, and lived to tell the tale.

She'd been granted the honour of being Princess Celestia's personal pupil.

And yet, this. This thing curled up in front of her was... different.

It was bothering her.

And it was the part of Rainbow Dash's self-degenerating process which made her instinctively curl up into a fetal position, using her own wings as a blanket, as her eyes roamed the background like a pony struck with madness.

Spike had this irresistible urge to poke her with a stick.

Twilight had this irresistible urge to wake up from this funny dream, and then later go meet up with Applejack to laugh about it.

Rainbow Dash simply whimpered.

"Um..." said Twilight, "it's been almost twenty minutes now... Do you want to talk about it?"

"We lost her, Twilight," said Spike, leaning over the ball of blue and looking into her vapid face.

"Spike, be nice. Anyway, as a friend, I think we should stay with her, at least until she gets back to... normal, I guess."

"Look, Rainbow Dash! It's the Wonderbolts!" Spike pointed out the window.

The saucer-sized eyes of the pony that lay on the ground moved. They shuddered in place as they attempted to turn toward the window of Spike's indication, managing to make it nearly halfway there.

"Well, it's a start." Spike shrugged, walking off to the other side of the room. "Anyway, you stay with her if you want to. I got chores to do."

Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped back.

"Um... alright, listen." Twilight sighed, regarding her damaged friend. "First things first, are you sure you have... you know, feelings? It's... not the first time you've jumped to conclusions, if you don't mind me saying."

"Then why do my kidneys hurt?" mumbled Rainbow Dash, finally responding.

"Your... wha?"

With a wing, she pushed herself back up to a sitting position, giving her ribcage a couple of taps with her hoof. "My kidneys, Twilight!"

"Those aren't–"

"Kidneys!" Rainbow repeated, just for emphasis.

"O...kay, your chest may be hurting for a number of reasons, Dash. Why do you immediately assume it's got anything to do with these feelings of yours?"

"Wait..." Rainbow thought, scratching her head. "There aren't any kidneys in my chest! Whaddaya talking about, Twilight?"

"Look, just forget the kidneys! That's your chest, OK? Your chest hurts. Your kidneys are near your flank!" Twilight said exasperatedly.

"Right. I knew that," Dash claimed. "So why do my kidneys hurt?"

"Rainbow Dash, so help me…" muttered Twilight, under her breath.

"Huh? Didja say something?"

"No. Listen. Please," begged Twilight. "First of all, are you sure what you're feeling are... these... feelings that you think you're feeling?"

"Um... I guess? I dunno. I mean, I've never really felt like this before. Although, I guess you could be right. Might be something else! Hey, Twilight, you're a genius! What other things cause a sharp pain here?" She pointed to her sternum.

"A lot of things, Dash. What other symptoms do you have?"

Twilight stood back up, trotting to a shelf that was a little off to the right, nudging a dusting Spike out of the way. A great number of thick, heavy tomes filled the space, one of which Twilight yanked from its resting spot and floated over to the floor where it sat itself neatly in front of the Unicorn.

"Physician's Desk Reference," explained Twilight, opening the book up and flipping through the pages. "Go on?"

"I also sometimes feel a tingling sensation in my left leg," Dash said, holding up her right leg. "And I get short of breath, like I just ran the Leaves."

"Ah..." muttered Twilight, pages turning over and over in the book like a hurricane blew through.

"And then after that, I get a bit light-headed, and dizzy, and then I feel like I wanna lie down for a while."

"Huh," exclaimed Twilight, suddenly taking herself away from the pages and looking straight at Rainbow, who sat there quite unmoving.

"What? What is it?" Rainbow asked, after a good half minute had passed.

"Well, you're still alive, so it's not a heart attack, then. Well, this is no good," grumbled Twilight, putting the tome aside. "Guess we have to... venture outside for a while."

"What? We're not going out, Twilight. I don't wanna get anypony else involved!"

"No, no, Dash. I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was... well, I usually don't resort to weeklies, but I suppose desperate times… you know," Twilight half-smiled, almost as if she were slightly ashamed of what she was about to pull out next.

From a small rack that sat unnoticed in the corner came a piece of literature that was remarkably unlike any other found in the entire library. It was soft, and floppy, and it contained within itself a great number of pictures and articles rather than short stories or references.

The title of the rag read:

Rainbow Dash kept a wary eye on it as it floated over. She had heard tell of this strange and exotic beast, but never before been so close to it in real life. In fact, a few alarm bells had started to ring in her ear when she realised that Twilight – of all ponies – had this sort of publication stashed away in her home.

"Why do you even have this?" asked Dash, incredulously. "I didn't know you read this kind of stuff!"

"Oh I don't, really." Twilight tilted her head and smiled. "Spike brought it home that one time after visiting Rarity, when they–"

"Hey! Hey! Don't tell her that!" Spike yelled from the other side of the room.

"Ah… yes." Twilight halted herself. "Well, either way, I decided to keep it! I read it for the articles. I swear."

The magazine gently floated down like a leaf, settling itself on the floor where the magnificent medical manual once was. A quick glance was really all that Rainbow Dash could stomach, but even that was enough to see the pretty, gussied-up model displaying herself like a peacock all over the front cover, selling prettiness as a commodity to all who would buy it.

"Be just like her!" the magazine demanded. "And we'll show you exactly how!"

But that wasn't the bit that made Rainbow squirm inside, like a thousand worms were dancing in the pit of her belly.

What caught her eye was one of the many blurbs that ran down alongside the periodical, each celebrating a feature of this issue's contents.

And this specific edition had…

"Miss Big Heart's Are-You-In-Love Quiz!" Twilight read out excitedly, flipping to the page almost as if she had known exactly where it was.

"Miss who-now's what-then?"

"Miss Big Heart. Oh, I'm sure it's just a nom de plume." Twilight chuckled, busting out the fancy terms. "It's just a quiz! These magazines always have them…"

"…as I understand." Twilight quickly appended, after noticing the strange look Rainbow was giving her.

"And look!" Twilight continued. "It's a special Pegasus edition! Isn't that perfect for you two?"

"Well, yeah. I guess so," muttered Dash. She rubbed her chin on the floor as she glared at the magazine, like a lion stalking its prey. But all of a sudden, after a moment of thought, her body shot up and transferred the glare to Twilight.

"Wait a minute," Dash said, her body rearing back defensively.

"What?"

"You said 'you two'." Dash's wings ruffled as she pointed toward the magazine with an accusing hoof.

"Yes, the both of you." Twilight blinked.

"I never said anything about her being a Pegasus too!"

"Well… it's obvious, isn't it?" Twilight answered, without skipping a beat. "I mean, who else could keep up with you?"

"Well, that's true, but–"

"And you spend most of your time in the sky. I don't see you grounding yourself for anypony else!"

"Well, yeah! But–"

"No matter which way you look at it, it's gotta be another Pegasus. Isn't that right, Spike?"

"Yeah," the little dragon responded, distracted with his important dusting duties. "It's gotta be Fluttershy!"

"I–" gasped Rainbow Dash.

It was about that time when all conversation decided to leave the room for just a moment.

Rainbow sat there with her mouth agape, her eyes bubbling slightly as they boggled around inside her head.

Twilight shut her own, bringing her head down and shaking it ever so slightly.

Spike just stood there, wondering why the awkwardness level rose a couple points.

"Who told you?" was the first line to escape Rainbow's lips when words decided to rejoin the party. "Who told you? Who told you?"

She ran her hooves through her mane in a stark panic, dishevelling her hair every which way.

"Nopony told us, Rainbow," Twilight said, deliberately, eyes locking onto Spike.

"Yeah, it's… it's obvious, isn't it?" Spike said cautiously, turning to look to Twilight for reaffirmation. "Isn't it?"

"Well, it is, Spike. But we don't go around just saying things like that. It's a delicate situation," Twilight said, using that voice she reserved for when Spike needed to have something explained to him subtly.

"But… why not?" reasoned Spike. "I mean, Rainbow Dash knows who it is, and we know. And we know that Rainbow Dash knows. And Rainbow Dash, well, she didn't know that we knew, but she doesn't know much anyway."

"Hey, I'm sitting right here, you know!" Dash shot out.

"I know!" yelled Spike indignantly. "And now you know that we know, what's the problem? Now we can all speak freely, right? No more sneaking around and being evasive?"

"Spike! That's not how it works!" Twilight continued directing the conversation to her little naïve friend. "Rainbow Dash is going through some… new things, okay? Something she hasn't experienced before. And she's scared, and nervous, and confused, and being stupid about it…"

"Still here, guys!" Rainbow interjected.

"… and she's in love, and you don't throw things in the face of someone who's in love! Especially at a pony like Rainbow who doesn't like the word, and would never admit that she's in love, and is uncomfortable with expressing her feelings!"

Rainbow Dash threw her legs up in the air and looked around, as if hoping to find somepony else who would help her make it known that she was still in the room.

"Wait, she's in love?" asked Spike.

"Uh, yeah, Spike." Twilight nodded. "What did you think we were talking about?"

"Well, that's what I meant about being evasive! How was I supposed to know that she was in love? I just thought she, you know, liked Fluttershy! As a close friend!" the dragon whined.

"Wait, you guessed she was talking about Fluttershy, but you didn't realise that she was in love?"

"Yeah! I mean one of those things is so much more obvious than the other, right?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, Spike, it's not. It really isn't."

"So, Rainbow Dash is in love?" Spike asked again, for reconfirmation.

"What did you think 'feelings' meant?" Twilight asked, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, that's enough!" yelled the quaking blue Pegasus, dragging the attention of the two gossipmongers back to her. "I'm not… in… lu…luhh… loovveeeeahhh, alright? We don't know that!"

And ever so slowly and sneakily, Twilight's eyes trailed down to the magazine and back up again.

"There's a way we can find out." She grinned.

 
Chalking up one more point on Rainbow Dash's 'uncommon experience' list was the pencil she had in her mouth. Quills were for Unicorns – you know, the ones with enough control to have good penmanship – but the Pegasi, like the Earth ponies, had to make do with a stick of wood clamped between a tight jaw.

Rainbow Dash didn't write. She never really needed to, in her daily life. And even though her one single job was to write down the question numbers and letters pertaining to her answers on a nice fresh sheet of loose-leaf paper, the implement in her mouth felt as foreign as the last time Applejack had invited her to chew on some Timothy-Grass.

'For th' flavour.'

The pencil was leaving a similar sense of distaste on her tongue.

Rainbow had already made her worries known, all of which were shot down by Twilight with words of comfort and assurance.

"Don't worry," she had said. "I'm sure it won't be embarrassing!"

"Of course I won't tell anypony else, Rainbow."

"No, Spike won't tell anypony else either, will you Spike?"

"No, I haven't done this before. Why do you ask?"

Spike had vehemently refused to go upstairs. He rattled off some unbelievable excuses about having to be the voice of reason in the crowd, but everyone in the room knew that he was just there for the show. Besides, it was probably better to have him be around and promise not to say anything than have him spy on them from above and gossip wildly to everypony in town. But Rainbow had forced him to sit in the far corner and not say a word, and an agreement was met.

And Twilight was the one who was radiating the most excitement. From all the days that Rainbow Dash had known Twilight, it was certain that Twilight was getting more out of this than she was. This was just one of her experiments, wasn't it? It was probably just an excuse to see that quiz in action for herself.

Oh, of course Twilight denied it. And despite knowing this, Rainbow Dash still found herself playing along, pulled by the invisible strings of the puppeteer that was her own confused feelings.

Perhaps Rainbow Dash herself subconsciously wanted to confirm her own feelings, but did not have the self-reflection necessary to seek the answers herself.

Perhaps even Rainbow was using this as an excuse to find out the truth.

All of this inevitably led back to the pencil.

"Question one!" Twilight declared, sliding a hoof down the glossy, decorated page.

Rainbow pushed the pencil to the other side of her mouth with her tongue.

"You are eating lunch with your companion, and you both order the same dish. However, there's only one serving left. Do you: 'a', let your companion have it while you order something else; 'b', order it for yourself; or 'c', order it and share it between the two of you?"

"Why would a restaurant be out of food?" mumbled Rainbow.

"It's a scenario, Dash. Just answer the question."

"I don't know!" Rainbow shrugged, the pencil falling from her mouth. "It depends what the food is, doesn't it? And how I'm feeling that day! Like if I were in a sandwich mood, and I just had to have a sandwich, I'd probably have to say 'b'. But if it were like, bean soup, and I don't know why I would ever order bean soup, I'd totally answer 'a', you know? It's really between 'a' and 'b'! How am I supposed to choose?"

"Dash, it's a simple question. You're kind of over-thinking this."

"'C'," answered Rainbow with a sigh, shoving the pencil back into her mouth.

"OK! 'C' is… three points." Twilight nodded, referring to the page.

Rainbow just stared blankly.

"Write down 'three', Rainbow." Twilight pointed to the blank sheet of notepaper in front of her companion.

Rainbow wrote down 'three', and then proceeded to continue staring at Twilight.

"I don't know, alright? It's how it works! Just do it!" Twilight exclaimed.

"You didn't say there'd be numbers involved," grumbled Dash.

"Question two." Twilight began, ignoring the complaint. "You, your best friend, and your companion are out together. When deciding what to do for the day's activities, your best friend wants to see a performance. Your companion wants to go shopping. Who do you go with?"

"'A'," Twilight continued, "Your companion, always; 'b', your best friend, always; 'c', whichever one has the better idea; or 'd', there's no problem because your companion is your best friend."

"Um…I don't know, Twilight. Can I not answer this one?"

"No, you can't. That's not how these things work. There are rules, you know."

"Fine, fine. I guess… 'c'?"

"Really? I'd have thought it would be 'd'."

"Well, I don't just have the one friend, do I?" Once again, the Pencil clattered to the floor. "Just because I like someone doesn't mean that suddenly my best friends aren't my best friends anymore, right?"

"That's a very good point, Dash." Twilight nodded. "And speaking of points, that 'c' awards you four, for some reason."

Rainbow dutifully wrote it down, ever increasingly bothered by the nature of these questions.

"Question three."

"Just how many questions are there?"

"Twenty."

"Jeez!"

"Question three. What's your idea of a perfect evening at home? And yes, Rainbow Dash," Twilight added, "I know none of these choices appeal to you, but let's skip the complaints and just choose the best one, alright?"

There was no response save a silent rolling of the eyes.

"'A', sitting at home and chatting for hours about nothing."

"How do you chat about nothing? You can't chat about nothing." Dash complained anyway. It was the principle of it.

"'B', cooking a delicious meal for the two of you while your companion reads a book and relaxes."

"What book? Is it Daring-Do? I wouldn't blame her if it's Daring-Do."

"'C', getting a massage and being pampered by your companion."

"Ummmmm…" Dash shook her head. "No."

"So, which one?" Twilight asked, with a cheeky grin.

"Those are all pretty terrible, you know. I mean, if I were to take her out, we'd be doing something we both did. So we wouldn't be speed-flying, cause she hates that. And we wouldn't be hanging around animals, cause I kinda hate that. Well, except for Tank, of course."

"Oh, how is Tank?" Twilight suddenly asked, reminded of the little pet.

"Um… just fine, I think. Fluttershy takes care of him most of the time. He can't really… come home with me, you know? Turkles and clouds don't really mix."

"That's 'turtle', Dash. And anyway, Tank's a tortoise."

"Yeah, well… you know. Animals were never my thing." Dash shrugged with a touch of regret.

A short, slow draw of breath escaped her lips. Twilight hadn't any idea what Dash was thinking about at that point, but it seemed that bringing up her pet had touched a nerve.

"Maybe I should've spent more time learning about animals and turkles and stuff," Rainbow mused, finally speaking up. "Maybe she'd like me more if I did."

"I don't know about that," Twilight said. "But anyway, your choice?"

"I guess it'd have to be 'a'." Dash decided. "I can't cook, and I really hate being touched."

"Well, that's another three points, then!"

Rainbow looked up from the piece of paper that had three rather meaningless numbers scrawled upon it in bad print.

"I don't get this, Twilight. So I have three and three and four. What's that supposed to mean? I like her ten?"

"Well, each answer has a different score, you see. At the very end, we tally up the scores. Your final amount will lie within the range of three different assessments, and your score determines–"

"Use words I understand, egghead!" Rainbow groaned.

"Um… well, if you get a low score, you don't love her. If you get a medium score, you sort of love her. And if you get a high score, you've found your very speci–"

"What, that's it?" Rainbow exclaimed, pushing herself back up from off her chest and resting on her hindquarters. "That's all this thing is?"

"Yes, apparently." Twilight quickly scanned through the rules again to make sure she hadn't misunderstood.

"This is… this is dumb!"

"Rainbow…"

"No! Listen!" Rainbow yelled, before taking it down a notch after catching the frustration creeping into her tone. "I mean, listen. I know I'm not as eggy as you are, Twilight…"

"I really wish you'd stop using that term, Rainb–"

"… but even I can see that this is kind of… you know?"

"No, I don't, Rainbow. What?"

"I mean, it's so stupid! First of all, the answers don't even really apply to me! How am I supposed to choose? And these questions don't even really have anything to do with how much I love her, do they? Why can't I just love Fluttershy and not have to worry about it? Why do I have to think about all these weird scenarios and these extra things?"

Twilight was already closing the magazine, a sly smile plastered across her face. She'd also taken back the loose sheet of paper and the drool-coated pencil, having placed them next to the old, used publication.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. What was that you just said? I didn't quite catch it," Twilight chittered, playfully.

"I said, why can't I just love Fluttershy and not have to… oh."

"That's right." Twilight nodded.

It felt odd saying it out loud like that – without reservation and without the normal conscious stuttering that accompanied it every time Rainbow had tried to approach it in the past. It wasn't bad, really; it seemed to come out much more comfortably than she would have ever thought it could. But still, there was that aura of unfamiliarity that she had to overcome.

"Love her. Love Fluttershy," Dash kept repeating over and over to herself, not even caring that Spike was standing behind her trying his best not to giggle inanely. In front of her, Twilight still kept that know-it-all smile of triumph, her eyes closed in satisfaction of a point well made.

"It's not that hard, is it, Rainbow?" Twilight encouraged her on. "I think you just needed to hear yourself say it, that's all."

"I… still feel kinda weird about it, Twilight."

"Well, that's to be expected. After all, you're still you, right? But not admitting it and not having it are two different things. Once you know you have it, then you can start to work on admitting it."

"I… I just don't get it."

"What's not to get?"

"Well… I mean, why her? I guess one of the big questions in my mind was… why Fluttershy? I mean, I don't even like her. I mean, I do, but I don't… you know what I mean!" Dash threw her legs in the air, waving them around wildly and finally letting them drop at the end of her attempt to describe her issues. "It should'a been Soarin' or, I dunno, you know that nice stallion who plays tennis all day?"

Twilight nodded. She knew the one.

"You know, someone more like me. But then suddenly I find myself… just… you know? Fluttershy, she's so quiet and stupid and animals. She's the complete opposite of me. And I know, we've done a few things together. She's always supported me, and helped me get Tank and cheered me on during the flying competition and even helped with getting the water up to Cloudsdale and all that…"

"That's reason enough, isn't it?"

"You know, I don't even know why I tried that hard to get her to join in for the tornado! Not like I really cared or anything!"

It was Rainbow's usual dismissive nature to immediately discard what she didn't understand. But just as those words left her lips, her chest tightened again with the guilt of even approaching the thought of not caring for that sweet yellow candy corn of a Pegasus.

"Maybe I do. Just a little," admitted Dash. "But I still don't get why it's her."

"It's like a magnet, Rainbow." Twilight shrugged, eyes looking off to the side in thought.

"A magnet?"

"Yeah, opposites attract, right?"

"I still don't get it, Twilight. I don't even know how actual magnets work."

"Well, that's not the point, Rainbow. But basically, you have electrical charges and tiny little basic particles inside each magnet which spin to cause what you call a magnetic fie–"

"No! I'm not really asking you, Twilight! Don't start with your egghead stuff! You know it just upsets me. That was just one of those, whaddaya call 'em? Robotical…"

"Rhetorical."

"… questions," Dash explained. "Yeah, whachamacallit."

"What can I say, Rainbow? Opposites just tend to attract. If you found somepony who was exactly like you, I'd say it'd be pretty boring. I mean, Applejack's like you in many more ways than Fluttershy is. Have you ever thought about being romantic with her?"

"Applejack? Eeew! Gag!" Rainbow struck a hoof toward her mouth.

"There you go then. Oh, and speaking of Applejack, you know who might be able to help you?"

"You can't be serious," Dash waved it away.

"Well… yeah, I am, Dash."

"No. No Twilight. No. No way. No way."

"To be fair, she does know a lot about relationships."

"Who, her? Miss farm-pony? You're kidding." Rainbow pointed toward the door for effect.

"No! I wouldn't have pegged her for it myself, honestly. But she knows a lot more than the rest of us, and I don't think I can help you further. I don't really have the experience, after all. And all my books say that real love is best experienced, and not learnt about from… a book, ironically."

"This can't possibly be all you have to offer me, Twilight! You know everything!"

"Well… not about this. Rumours of Princess Celestia and me are… greatly exaggerated." Twilight grinned sheepishly. "All I can do is… well, open your eyes a little. I can't actually tell you how to go on from here."

"But, Twilight… Applejack. Really? Applejack? I couldn't tell her this. She can't possibly know. What can she do for me that you can't?"

"Well, like you said, you're uncomfortable with your feelings, right?"

"And?"

"Who's the most comfortable, well-adjusted pony you know?"

"…"

"Who has never let anything bother her, and has always been able to keep up close relationships with everyone else?"

"…"

"Who's the one single pony who has the tightest, most close-knit family this side of Equestria?"

"…"

"I think you're going to have to talk to her, Rainbow," Twilight declared.

"No, Twilight. I am not. Going. To. Tell. Applejack."

Rainbow stood firm, her four hooves falling flat on the ground as unflinching as the mountain that Canterlot was built on.

"Uh… tell me whut?" asked Applejack, leaning on her fence.

It took her by surprise, mainly because she only just now allowed the full impact of where she was and what she was doing come rushing in. She opened her eyes a bit wider, noting the rusting, open fields, the apple trees and the corn stalks growing in the distance, the bright red barn that marked the territory of the Sweet Apple Acre estate, and the bemused farmer standing in her midst, Stetson perched on her head and one of those ridiculous blades of Timothy-Grass in her mouth.

When did she even leave the library? She didn't remember. All she did remember was Spike's none-too-subtle laughter as soon as the door swung shut, and more thoughts than she could handle suddenly invading her incapacitated brain.

And she walked. Trudging through the town until pavement turned into dirt, and dirt turned into soil. She didn't even fly – she simply didn't have enough brain power at the time to handle it.

It wasn't a short walk, but through it all she ran the questions she had to ask and the thing she needed to say over and over, and before she even realised it, she was there, standing in front of her rival.

She only just caught the phantom of what she had said to Applejack. It was like listening to an echo – the words didn't seem to have come from her own lips, even though they very much did.

And it was a minute ago when she made her way, zombie-like, to the gates of the farmstead, spotting Applejack taking a short break under the shade of a tree, and stopping there.

45 seconds when she stood, swaying back and forth as if in a daze, and when Applejack came rushing up to her to greet her friend.

Half a minute ago when she played with the idea of saying something – anything – and when Applejack watched her with a worried expression, trying to figure out why Rainbow Dash was impersonating a fish.

And finally, after a long gaping experience, 5 seconds until Rainbow Dash finally said, defeated:

"Hey, Applejack? I need to tell you something."