Trixie's Threeway Trouble

by crowscrowcrow


Chapter 2 - Something long overdue

At last Trixie had some privacy with Dash. Surrounded by walls of gray clouds on all sides. Somewhere down below, she could hear the rain land, but up here it was actually much more quiet that she had expected a storm cloud to be.

Clouds were so very versatile. Case in point. A large storm cloud over a certain library made a great tool for revenge. That much was obvious. But, who could have guessed that same cloud could also serve as a secret bunker for love struck fillies?

“Do they teach this stuff in pegasi schools?” Trixie asked idly while letting a hoof run along Rainbow’s side then trailed off to flick the cloud. “The cloud bunker thing, Trixie means.” All she felt was cool damp air. The cloud just allowed her to pass through without even seeming to take any notice of her.

Normally, Trixie wouldn’t take kindly to being ignored like that, but she supposed she could make an exception for inanimate objects. It also helped that it was exactly this quality that made clouds Trixie’s favorite place to spend time with Dashie. 

After all, while Dash could lay on the supposedly soft clouds, Trixie got to lay on her. Which as far as Trixie was concerned was a much better deal. In fact, Trixie decided she would ignore the cloud right back and focus her attention on Rainbow instead, caressing a wing.

“Honestly? Kind of, yeah.” Rainbow squirmed a little under the touch, ticklish perhaps. “Most of Cloudsdale is made out of just clouds and rainbows. I grew up messing with it, kinda like a sandbox, I guess?”

“Wait, you can walk on rainbows too?” Trixie asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Heh, of course not. That’d be weird.”

“Oh sure, ‘that is a bridge too far.” Trixie mock complained, “Though Trixie supposes that makes sense. It is just light after all.”

“We can swim in it, I guess, but we aren’t supposed to.” Rainbow Dash motioned to her colorful mane. “it's really hard to get the stains out, see?”

“You… you’re messing with Trixie, right?” She was pretty sure that wasn’t a thing.

“Just a little.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “My mane has always been this way, but I did swim in a rainbow pond once. After I crashed into it. It does stain pretty bad but nothing my mom couldn’t get out with a bath and a good brushing.” 

Trixie pushed herself up on Rainbow’s Chest, staring down at her incredulously. “Trixie can’t tell if you are lying.”

“Hey, you can ask my mom if you don’t believe me.” Rainbow retorted with a grin. “And I’m pretty sure Dad took lots of pictures and everything too. Might be a little hard to find them, though.”

“Oh, how convenient for you. And pray tell why would it be hard to find such a picture?” Trixie was beginning to believe this story less and less.

“Because there’s loads of them.” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly as she looked away. “They kind of… took pictures of everything I did ever since before I was born.”

“Before you were born?” Trixie tilted her head in confusion. “Oh! Like an ultrasound?”

“I dunno. They were all black and whitey. It looked super weird.” Rainbow Dash shivered. “Can we talk about something else, please?”

“Anything else?” Trixie mused as she ran a hoof through the ‘wall’. According to Rainbow Dash, clouds were some of the softest things in equestria, but to Trixie it was as though nothing was there. 

Watching her, Rainbow Dash reached out and tapped the cloud wall in the same spot Trixie had just passed her hoof through. However, Rainbow Dash connected with the cloud as if it were a poofy cushion, causing it to jiggle in place a little. “The clouds thing again? Seriously, did you not know any pegasi growing up?”

“The Great and Cultured Trixie will have you know that she was in fact raised by one of the greatest pegasi ever.” Trixie huffed indignantly. “It’s just that we were more down to earth where Trixie is from.”

“Whatever.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “What did you want to know now?”

“This is a rain cloud, right? And it’s currently unleashing some monsoon like torrent on Twilight’s house below us.”

“Nah, it’s a storm cloud. Close enough, though. Why?” 

“So, that means This thing is full of water or something, right?”  Trixie asked while she waved her hoof through another patch of storm cloud without any effect. “Shouldn’t we be getting wet?”

Rainbow snickered to herself.

“What? It was a serious… Oh…” Trixie dragged a hoof over her face as she did her best to ignore her incredibly immature girlfriend shaking with laughter beneath her. “You are the worst. Forget it.”

“Oh, you wish.” Rainbow grinned while her wings wrapped around Trixie. “This’ll keep me going for days.”

“Ugh,” Trixie huffed as she got cocooned in feathery warmth. Despite herself, she curled up a little more comfortably. “At least Trixie has entertained somepony today. Perhaps she should have become a comedian rather than a magician.”

“Eh, you’re not that fu-” Rainbow noticed Trixie glaring at her and did her best to abort, “-uuuunnny? I, erm, I’m sorry. I tried. Couldn’t think of anything that would’ve worked. Oh, maybe funeral?”

“Yours maybe.” Trixie rolled her eyes.

Rainbow Dash scrambled for a change of subject. “Sooo, what was that you asked before? Why this patch of cloud is dry? Well that’s easy! It reacts to how I feel. If I’m in a good mood, so is the cloud! Actually, I’m limiting how much I shape this one otherwise it’ll stop raining. Isn’t that interesting? Or something?” She put on her cheesiest smile.

Trixie eyed Rainbow for a couple of quiet seconds but then her grumpy demeanor quickly crumpled. “You’re lucky you’re so cute.” She said while pushing herself up to loom over Rainbow Dash’s face with a sly smile. 

"You meant to say awesome, right?" Trixie's cute pegasus pillow said. 

“Trixie knows what she said. And you were right earlier. That is interesting. You are creating some sort of barrier to keep your emotions from affecting the cloud’s structure?”

”“Uh, I guess?”

“Let’s stress test that shall we?” Trixie leaned in close.

Catching on, Rainbow Dash flushed red. “And how do you intend to do that?” she asked with faux ignorance as she pulled Trixie in for a kiss. 

It didn’t take long for the large, dark storm cloud to sprout a little fluffy white patch on top of it that was entirely out of place with the rest of it. Amidst the clatter of rain now emanated the sounds of giggling fillies fooling around.


“You were right, Spike. I did need this.” Twilight sighed contently while she flipped to the next page of her book. It was one of her favorites. A classical thesis written by Starswirl the Bearded on the theory behind color alterations between unicorn auras. Volume II of XII.

Of course, that wasn’t the only book. There were about three piles more of them stacked up around her as she lay sprawled on the floor. “I should have taken a little break ages ago.” Smiling, she took a sip from another fresh cup of chamomile tea. 

“Told ya,” Spike said as he came in from the kitchen with a gem-encrusted sandwich in one claw and a flipped-open comic book in the other. “If nopony is going to come through the storm anyway we might as well think of it as vacation time,” he said before taking a big bite without taking his eyes off the page. 

Twilight smiled at him. “Yes, a different outlook really makes a difference. I don’t even notice the rain anymore. I’m much more interested in...” she turned back to her book, “...the magic make up of lime pigmentation.” 

“Huh?” Spike perked up from his comic book. A hefty feat, considering Sir Drakon had just rescued a grateful maiden. “Actually, now that you mention it… I haven’t needed to mop the front door in a while now and… I don’t hear it anymore, either?”

Glancing to the nearest window, Twilight noticed there were no rain drops rattling against it anymore. In fact, she could actually see the sky rather than a curtain of water. “That’s strange… it… stopped?” she asked in disbelief.

“Maybe it ran out of rain?” Spike offered.

“I doubt that, Spike. If that was possible it should have stopped a long time ago. It draws moisture from the air to keep going and we have plenty of that around here.” 

Twilight pondered the possible implications. It was of course possible Rainbow Dash had cooled down, but it was just as likely that this was meant to give her some false hope. Or perhaps Rainbow Dash was merely swapping the last cloud out for a bigger one and this lull would end any moment now. 

In any case, there would be time enough to investigate after she’d finished reading. If the rain hadn’t returned by then anyway. 

“We’ll look into it later, after our break,” she winked at Spike before her attention returned to her books, swapping to Volume III for good measure. 

It was almost strangely quiet now. The sound of rain had been such a mainstay this week that it was a little jarring to go without it now. Still, not so jarring that it slowed down her reading at all.

Twilight didn’t pay attention to how much time passed, but by the time she’d reached the midway point of Volume VIII, something finally broke the almost eerie silence.

**Knock, knock, knock.**

“Just a minute.” Twilight quickly levitated the piles of books onto the shelves as she made her way to the front door. A quick peek out the window confirmed that the rain was still gone, so the odds were good this was actually somepony here to find something to read!

Enthusiastically, Twilight swing the door open. “Welcome to The Golden Oa-Oh, it’s you, again.” 

Trixie stood on a drowned patch of muck that might have once been a welcome mat. Somehow she looked even more smug than usual. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned, yes. An encore is in her nature after all.” 

It was already starting. Twilight could feel the irritation build right back up the more she looked at Trixie. In particular the way Trixie now seemed to be so much more relaxed than she was despite the fact she was lounging in her own personal heaven just a minute ago. 

Unable to stand looking at Trixie for another moment, Twilight let her gaze wander past her. It was the first time she’d gotten a good look at the area surrounding her library in a week. As expected, the ground was one big mud pool, but when she tilted her head up to look at the storm cloud she found the whitest puffiest friendliest cloud she’d ever seen instead.

“Do you like it?” Trixie asked with an annoying sing song quality to her voice. “Trixie didn’t have any white flags lying around, but a white cloud is just as good, right? Take it as a sign of good faith. Can Trixie come in?”

“What?” Though Twilight wasn’t quite sure what Trixie was on about, she knew white flags were used to signal for surrender or truce. She doubted it was the former. Twilight sighed and turned around to lead Trixie inside. “You know I can’t bar you from the public library. Come on in.”

“Trixie thought she’d try to be more polite this time.” She actually used one of the towels that was near the door for floodwater to clean off her hooves this time before she continued further in. “Can we talk, privately?”

“Technically, I’m not obligated to speak to you.” Twilight had read the rulebook on library management front to back several times in an attempt to find some loopholes to annoy Trixie with. So, she knew she could ignore her if she wanted. “However, if this really is your work, I’ll hear you out.”

“Great!” Trixie chirped as she was lead into the main reading area. On the way, she could see the little dragon, Spike, trudging up the stairs to another floor.

Twilight settled back down in her reading spot, next to the tea pot. She gave Trixie an annoyed look as Trixie sat down in front of her. Twilight had half hoped Trixie to have just been messing around. After a moment, she reluctantly accepted the fact this was really happening now. “Well? I’m listening.”

For her part, Trixie folded and unfolded her hooves trying to get into a more comfortable position. She hadn’t really expected to get this far on the first try and nerves were setting in. She cleared her throat a couple times. “Could Trixie get something to drink? No? Uh, that’s fine. Well, here goes then...can we be friends again?” Trixie asked bluntly.

“What? No!” Twilight could hardly believe the nerve of this mare.

“Woah, there.” Trixie raised her hooves in a surrendering gesture. “Okay, okay. Maybe not friends, how does friendly acquaintances sound?”

“No!” Twilight said, springing upright to glare down at Trixie.

“Just acquaintances then?”

“What is wrong with you?”

“What about ‘Not Enemies’? Final offer.”

Twilight stared at Trixie in disbelief. “This isn’t a fish market, you can’t just barter for, for whatever it is you think you’re doing. Actually, that is a good question. What are you doing?”

“Trixie is…” There was a moment of quiet as Trixie contemplated the question. “Trixie is trying to make you and Dash friends again.”

“Wha?” Twilight blinked in surprise. “If that’s it, why are you here asking to be friends and not Dash?”

“Because it’s kind of Trixie’s fault that she’s so mad at you. In part, anyway.” While Trixie felt Twilight and Dash were responsible as well, she figured Twilight might not respond well to accusations right now. “Trixie had a fight with you. Now Dash is mad at you, right?”

“Right.” Twilight answered reluctantly, carrying a pained expression.

“So, if that’s why she’s angry, obviously the solution is for us to make up!” She announced with a touch of flare. “Honestly, Trixie thought this whole thing was pretty funny at the beginning, but she hadn’t really considered how much it was affecting everypony else till she saw Spike earlier. It’s not fair to him.”

“But it’s fair to me?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Fine, it’s also probably not really fair to you either anymore. Actually, Trixie never meant for any of this to happen. Dash took initiative and Trixie was just really happy that she cared so much that Trixie didn’t really stop to think about if it was a good idea, okay?” 

“You are being weirdly agreeable.” Twilight thought it was suspicious, but she did want a resolution as well. “Okay, so let me see if I’ve got this right. You came here to apologize, so that we can all get along again?”

“Basically, except Trixie is not apologizing.” Trixie polished a hoof against her fur. “Trixie feels she was justified.”

“What?” Twilight glared at Trixie. “You want me to apologize? But I—”

Trixie interrupted. “You also feel you were justified too. Obviously. That’s why it’s been a week and all we’ve accomplished is wasting everypony’s time and nopony is happy. You don’t like this. Trixie doesn’t like this anymore. Dash doesn’t even like this; she’s just doing it cause she feels guilty and choosing between her friends is hurting her but she’s committed now.”

It was weird to hear news that simultaneously made one feel better and worse at the same time. On the one hoof, Twilight didn’t like to hear that Rainbow Dash was hurting, but on the other it was good to know that Rainbow still thought of her as a friend, even if they were fighting. It was something that Twilight hadn’t been so sure of recently.

After giving Twilight a moment to contemplate, Trixie pressed on. “However, neither of us would ever apologize to the other, right?”

“I suppose?” Twilight wasn’t entirely comfortable putting it that strongly. Especially now.

“So, let’s not but say we did?” Trixie offered with a sweet smile. “As long as we act like we did, who’s going to know the difference?”

“You want us to just pretend to be friends?” Twilight asked, slightly offended.

“You know what they say, right?” Trixie grinned. “Fake it till you make it.”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think I can agree to this. Princess Celestia specifically instructed me to study the magic of friendship. That means real friends. I can’t just start pretending to be friends with somepony just because it is a convenient solution.”

“Don’t be stupid!” Trixie stomped her hoof, clearly agitated. “What else are you going to do to solve this?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll have to figure it out. The right way.” Twilight motioned toward the door for Trixie to leave. “I’ve listened to what you had to say, and while I appreciate what you were trying to do here... I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

“Wait.” Glancing toward the door, Trixie saw it swing open under the influence of Twilight’s magic. “Before you ask Trixie to leave, there’s just one more thing. You said you were studying friendship, right?”

Twilight nodded while she approached the door to see Trixie out. “Yes, now if that’s all I’d like you to—”

“Don’t you think you are being unscientific?” Trixie blurted out.

There was a little twitch in Twilight’s face as she came to a sudden stop. “I’m sorry...” The door swung shut, followed by an audible click. “What did you just say to me?”

Trixie had the distinct impression she’d just catapulted herself into a minefield. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. “Well, uhm, the thing is…” Trixie sputtered as she somehow found herself being dwarfed in Twilight’s shadow. “Don’t you need a control group?” She managed to squeak out as she closed her eyes tightly, preparing for the worst.

“I’ve already got that. Everypony who’s not in the friend group is the control group.”

“Okay! But what about a placebo group?”

 “...Go on.”

Peeking with one eye, Trixie spotted Twilight right in front of her with a mixture of impatience, skepticism and interest painted across her face. “W-well... surely you need something to contrast with? How else are you going to tell what the effect of friendship is rather than just what looks like friendship?”

“Huh,” Twilight’s expression softened as she trotted off toward one of the nearby bookshelves and pulled down a notebook. “That’s actually not a bad point. Contrast ‘Friends’ with ‘Fake Friends’. I’m sure that’s a common enough occurrence that it warrants some kind of study anyway to tell the difference,” she said while flipping through it.

Trixie was stunned. “You’re actually buying this? Trixie was making it up as she went along.”

“It’s not something I’d previously considered, admittedly, but I should look into it. The Princess told me to study friendship and I can’t very well do that if I can't differentiate between real friends and fake friends.” By this point, Twilight had produced a quill and was jotting something down. “The only question is where am I going to get a placebo group?”

It took Trixie a moment to recognize that Twilight was staring in her direction. She checked behind her, but obviously found nopony there. “Oh. Oh!” She swiftly raised a hoof. “Trixie volunteers! She’s been pretending to like you from the beginning so you know she’s qualified.”

Twilight was already in the middle of taking more notes. “Great that’ll help with the study and...“ She paused suddenly.  “Oh, hm... That kind of stung a lot more than I expected… were you really?” she asked as she looked up from the notebook to Trixie.

 “No, of course not.” Trixie flashed her lustrous smile. ”Trixie was just trying to help. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

“We’re not really friends.” Twilight reminded her. 

“Right.” Saddling up to Twilight's side, Trixie tried to get a peek at the notes. “Sooo, we’re good? Trixie is just asking since you were pretty adamant about the whole Trixie being evil thing earlier. ” 

Levitating her notes out of Trixie’s sight, Twilight took a step away and turned to face her. “Sure. Well I figure there are two ways this can go.” She smiled with cautious optimism. “Maybe I was wrong about you. You did come here with a peace offering and tried to sort out our problems so we can all be friends. I was pretty worried about how this was going so it’s a real boon. I hope we can get along from now on. I’ve not been kind to you and this is a good opportunity to start fresh.”

“Oh,” Trixie looked a bit taken aback. “That is much more reasonable than Trixie was expecting to be honest.”

“In fact, I’d like us to spend a lot more time together and get to know each other better. How does that sound? As friends we should be close.”

“Trixie would like that.”

“Great! Of course, there is another way this could turn out.” Twilight snapped her notebook closed, catching Trixie’s gaze with her own. “Maybe I’m not wrong about you. In which case I’m a lot more likely to catch you out this way. I’d prefer you where I can see you until I figure it out. As even closer ‘friends’.” 

“The Great and Perceptive Trixie had picked up on that implication, yes.” Trixie smirked as though this was all just part of some stage show only she knew the program to. “It was generous of you to spell it out, though. Feel free to keep a close eye on Trixie, she does her best work with an audience,” she said with a wink.

Twilight frowned. At least she could be sure Trixie was still as infuriating as first thought. “While we are being this up front. Care to tell me the truth while we’re alone?”

“Trixie is innocent, of course.” Trixie stated matter of factly.

“Of course.” Twilight sighed. 

“Now, while this has been fun, we really must be going.” 

“Go where?”

“To visit Rainbow Dash and show her we put this whole mess behind us,” Trixie said while she approached the door and enveloped the knob in a soft glow before looking over her shoulder at Twilight. “Ready to pretend we’re friends in front all your real friends to keep the peace?” 

“Not when you put it like that.” 

“Don’t worry. It’s easier than you think.” Trixie said almost encouragingly. “Trust Trixie on this. She’s been pretending most of her life!”

“How reassuring...” Twilight mumbled as she trotted after Trixie.


The ponyville weather station was a boring place. A testament to this fact were the paper airplanes that scattered the ground after many a fateful encounter with sturdy walls that would tolerate no escape.

Recently Rainbow Dash had been trying to avoid spending any time in the little office she now found herself in again. She’d be long gone if it weren’t for Trixie's request to wait here for her arrival.

Rainbow Dash tried to relax as she leaned back in her chair, hind hooves on the desk. It wasn’t helping. Where normally she’d be bored to death, this time she’d welcome boredom if it meant she didn’t keep thinking back to Trixie’s little ‘stress test’. 

“Gah, I can’t believe her.” 

Suffice it to say, she’d failed that little test spectacularly. Not that she minded all that much in the moment, but now in the aftermath she’d been left with an incredibly smug Trixie and a pristine white cloud that proved she’d been unable to keep control. 

On top of all that, she’d lost her tool of vengeance in the process. Although, perhaps that was a good thing. It had gone on for far too long. She’d wanted to stop it earlier, but got distracted and by then the whole thing had gotten away from her. If she suddenly stopped, how would she explain? In fact, that was the problem now.

“What am I supposed to say next time I see Twilight?” Rainbow groaned. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. Granted, that was the least of her worries.

It was impossible to play it cool when everything around you showed how you really felt about some pony. A fact that Trixie had happily abused to confirm Dash’s feelings for her. 

While that part was a bit embarrassing, what was worse was that the treacherous cloud also revealed her insecurities when talk turned to her job again. While any other time Dash was able to dismiss the topic as something she’d totally figured out, the darkening cloud had been enough for Trixie to take it upon herself to help out.

That was how Dash had ended up back in the office, unsure of what exactly Trixie had in store. Trixie didn’t have a great track record in resolving problems without creating a few new ones. 

“Not that I’m any better, heh.” Rainbow chuckled as she sat up straight and tried to bring her attention to the piles of paper on her desk. She was pretty sure she’d caused herself a lot more problems with her solution of just ignoring them.

The door creaked open.

“Hey Dashie!” Trixie said cheerfully as she came trotting in with the kind of bounce in her step usually reserved for a foal on Hearth’s Warming Day.

“Finally! I feel like I’ve been here for days.” Rainbow Dash leaped from her chair to hover mid air in front of Trixie. “So, what did you—Twilight?” 

Behind Trixie, Twilight was standing just outside the door, looking about as conflicted as Dash was surprised. “Erm, Hello, Rainbow Dash. How’ve you been?”

“Yeah, uh, good, I guess?” Rainbow Dash looked to Trixie for some kind of explaination, but was just met with her stupid smug grinning face. Apparently, she was on her own for this one. However, if Trixie led Twilight here, something must have changed? 

“I suppose you might be wondering why I’m here.” Twilight said as she gave a glance over at Trixie and came away looking just a little more tired than before. “Trixie and I have sorted things out between us, and I’d like to talk with you, if that’s fine?”

Trixie saddled up beside Twilight and wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders in a comraderly manner. “That’s right! We’re friends, again. Isn’t that something?” She said while taking a few awkward steps forward as though she’d lost her balance, inadvertently maneuvering Twilight into the office with her weight.

Twilight stumbled forward and shot Trixie a glare, who quickly slipped her hoof away. “Yes, friends. We haven’t really covered personal space yet, but that’s what friendship is all about; getting to know your friends in more depth as you go.”

Although the whole thing was kind of a lot to take in all at once, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin at the familiar trouble. “Tell me about it. She gets real touchy real quick. Hey, maybe we should cover that some time too, huh, Trixie?”

“Oh, certainly.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Trixie will be sure to ask the pot and kettle for advice. Weren't you two in the middle of something? In fact, The Gracious and Tactful Trixie will give you some space,” she said while stepping backward out the door before pulling it shut.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were suddenly left alone in the office. Each regarding the door for a moment before turning to face one another. 

Rainbow Dash was the first to break the quiet with a chuckle. “See? What did I tell you?”

“That wasn’t quite what I imagined when you said she was ‘real touchy real quick’.” Twilight admitted, looking out the window. Trixie was already wandering off. “Should we follow her? She looked upset.”

“Nah,” Rainbow Dash said while she dropped out of the air at last, landing behind Twilight to take a look as well. “She can’t be that mad.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “She just walked out on us like that.” 

“Don’t you think she looked kinda… I dunno, Pleased?” It was easy enough for Dash by this point to suss out Trixie’s moments of pseudo outrage. As far as Rainbow Dash was concerned, that was proof enough everything was fine. Which had to mean Trixie and Twilight really had worked things out somehow. If that was true, she didn’t need to worry about the whole cloud thing anymore. What a relief, that would make this whole thing so much easier.

“Pleased?” When she thought about it like that, Twilight immediately became suspicious. As long as she was in here, Trixie could be sure the library was relatively unguarded. What if this was some kind of ploy? Perhaps there was something else Trixie wanted to steal. Twilight couldn’t imagine what, but she couldn’t just let it happen.

“Anyway...” Rainbow Dash headed back to her desk and pulled out a chair for Twilight, and then took one for herself before shooting Twilight a smile. “I’m glad you are here. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“What, Oh, yes.” With a titanic effort, Twilight managed to pry herself away from the window, just managing to catch sight of Trixie turning a corner. Silently cursing, she took the offered seat, feeling that she’d been had. Rainbow Dash seemed happy to talk to her now, but If she left immediately to go chase after Trixie that would only prove to Rainbow Dash they hadn’t actually made up at all.

Shoving some papers aside, Rainbow Dash cleared up her desk a little. It almost might have looked diligent, if she hadn’t merely swept them all into an open drawer. 

Twilight figured that whatever Trixie was up to clearly needed time or she wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of setting this up. She couldn’t just storm out, but maybe she could hurry things along a little bit and cut to the chase. “Are we still friends?”

“Uhm, maybe?” Rainbow Dash looked taken aback. “I mean, I guess, if you still wanna be? I, well… I’d understand if maybe you... didn’t want to be.”

“I do!” Twilight said hastily, noticing a surprising feeling of relief within herself. She hadn’t really been convinced when Trixie claimed Rainbow Dash was as eager as she was, but now she could be sure. Twilight brushed her mane back.  “Hah, that’s so much better. Okay, then I think we need to... I don't know. Talk? This is mostly new friendship territory and I'm not really sure what the next step is. Do we just drop it now? Or is there something else we should be doing. I know that when Rarity and Applejack had their disagreement during our slumber party they bickered a fair bit but didn't really bring it up much after it was resolved. Although, they also seemed pretty reluctant to attend another one. What do you think?”

Rainbow Dash was giving her a look as though she were waiting for a punchline. “You had a slumber party? With Rarity and Applejack? I have a hard time picturing either of them just hanging out.”

“That's your takeaway?” Twilight groaned. “Yes, during the storm. It was fine, eventually.”

“Huh, so did we. I think I'm starting to understand why Pinkie was being weird…” She said while looking over to the window with a sense of foreboding.  

Looking at the window, there was nothing there as far as Twilight could see. “What?”

“Pinkie Pie dropped by earlier saying something to Trixie about not visiting her.” Rainbow Dash started. “I dunno if she was just talking to her.”

“Oh,” Twilight pondered the implications for a moment.  It didn't take long. "All of us were having fun without her... so maybe she is worried about being left out? We should do something about that.”

“Like what?”

“Some sort of get together, maybe.” Twilight said as she slipped out of her chair and paced around in small circles. “Since I won’t have to bail water out of the library anymore, tomorrow morning should be free for me. Pinkie should be at work, but that’s fine we can visit her there. She’ll probably like that. I’ll just have to check with everypony else. What’s your schedule like?” She said, suddenly turning back to Rainbow Dash.

“Tomorrow morning...” Rainbow Dash glanced down at the documents spilling out of the bulging drawer. “Y-yeah, I think I can make that work.”

“Great. I’ll go ask the rest of the girls,” Twilight said while making her way to the door. While she certainly intended to make good on that statement, she couldn’t deny it also made for a convenient excuse to go track down Trixie. Hopefully, before anything happened.

“Wait.”

Twilight paused halfway out the door and looked back. “Yes?”

“It’s just… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done any of that stuff.” Rainbow Dash stepped out from behind the desk and rubbed her neck nervously. “I knew it was wrong… You didn’t deserve it.”

Shutting the door, Twilight regarded Rainbow Dash for a moment. It was strange to see her act so self conscious. Stranger still to hear her say that she’d known she was wrong from the start. Perhaps something had influenced her at the time, something magical. She couldn’t leave without digging deeper. Readying a spell, she cautiously asked, “Then, why did you do it?”

“I was just. I dunno. Everything was going wrong and I was angry. I thought I’d feel better if I could just blow off some steam at somepony. Any pony. Then you ticked me off and…   and I guess all I saw was an excuse.” Rainbow Dash averted her gaze. “I’m sorry.”

As Rainbow Dash looked away, Twilight quickly cast the spell. It’s purpose was to detect magical residue. Something simple, hardly intrusive, but still she knew it was something she was doing without permission. 

The results weren’t what she expected. Nothing out of the ordinary. No traces of magic beyond some remaining sparkles from their experience channeling the elements of harmony. 

If that was the case, then… 

“What was bothering you so badly that you acted out like that?” Twilight found herself thinking aloud. She felt a hot flash rise up from her chest, she hadn’t meant to actually ask that. At least not like that.

Rainbow Dash looked embarrassed, but seemingly resigned as she slid back into her chair. “W-well.. Work and personal stuff, I guess.” Noticing Twilight was about to keep asking follow ups, she swiftly kicked the desk, which caused the drawers to open up with enough force to spread the contents like confetti. “I mean work! Just that. Busy busy.”

“What?” Taken by surprise, Twilight started collecting the wayward pieces of parchment while Rainbow Dash babbled in the background about everything she’d tried, the troubles that came with it and some very poor management choices she’d made along the way. Between the semi coherent stream of consciousness and the things Twilight was reading mid flight, it seemed things had gotten drastically out of control. 

Rainbow Dash was in the middle of sweeping the documents back into the drawers when a magenta glow enveloped and pulled them away from her. “Hey! What gives?”

“What does it look like? I’m organising.” Twilight meanwhile had retaken her seat on the other side of the desk and was in the middle of sorting through everything, creating neat stacks as high as a pony on either side of her. “It was bothering you this much and it never occurred to you to just ask for help?”

“But,” Rainbow Dash sputtered. “You don’t know anything about weather organisation.”

“You’re half right.” Twilight said without even looking at her, eyes scanning half a dozen pages at a time. “I know about as much about the weather as you do about organisation.”

“I know next to nothing about that!” Rainbow Dash groaned exasperated as she flitted about the room in agitation. “That’s the whole problem!”

“True, but vice versa…” Twilight noticed the blank look on Dash’s face. “I mean, the opposite is also true. You know about Weather and I know about Organisation. I’m sure that between the two of us we can figure this out. Together. Well, eventually.”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash came to a sudden halt then slowly descended back into her seat. “You’d do that? Even after… ya know?”

A precursory evaluation revealed to Twilight that this would not be an easy or swift task. Committing to helping Rainbow Dash like this most certainly meant she’d miss out on the opportunity to chase Trixie and attempt to catch her doing… whatever she may or may not be doing. 

She’d have to choose which was more important to her.

Finishing construction on a third pile, Twilight shot Dash a smile. “What are friends for?”