Twilight gently placed a blanket over Spike as he snuggled up against his pillow, protective dragon doll firmly in hand. She gave him a little kiss on the forehead and whispered “Goodnight, Spike.”
“Goodnight, Twilight,” Spike said groggily, his eyes already closed and a content smile on his lips that made Twilight put a hand over her heart to make sure it wasn’t literally about to burst with affection.
She turned the upstairs bedroom light off and moved to head back down the stairs, but his sleepy voice calling her name stopped her.
“What’s up, Spike?”
“Um,” Spike’s yawn did little to hide the embarrassment that stemmed from whatever he was about to ask, “is Rainbow coming back tomorrow?”
“I think so,” Twilight allowed a devilish grin to creep across her face. “I’m glad you like her. I knew you would.”
“Well, I mean—” Spike’s face turned bright red and it brought a giggle to Twilight. “Okay, I like her. I think she’s cool. You win, you’re always right.”
“Yup,” Twilight said proudly, adjusting her shirt to look suitably victorious, “I always am.”
“Just,” the playful tone in Spike’s voice was gone, replaced with noticeable apprehension as he clutched his doll even harder, “promise me one more time that she won’t hurt you?”
“No one is going to hurt me,” Twilight walked back over to Spike and knelt at his bed, taking his hand in hers and gently caressing it with her other hand, “or you. And that’s a promise.”
“Okay,” Spike yawned and crashed back onto his pillow. “I love you, Twilight.”
“I love you too, Spike,” Twilight gave her son one more kiss on the forehead before heading downstairs and letting him sleep peacefully.
When Twilight returned downstairs, she found Rainbow Dash stretching her arms above her head as she stood up, letting out what was less a ‘yawn’ and more a small roar.
“Headed home?” Twilight asked her.
“Yeah, ‘fraid so,” Rainbow almost sounded more disappointed than Twilight was. “I got up super early today to come he—er, for some reason,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as her cheeks turned pink, and while Twilight tried pretending not to notice, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Anyway,” Rainbow continued as she took the second and third Daring Do books that Twilight had lent her and put them into her backpack, “I started falling asleep like two hours ago, so I gotta go to bed. Sorry we couldn’t hang out more one on one, but your kid is super rad, so it all worked out.”
“It is too bad,” Twilight chuckled and sat down on the reception desk, crossing one leg over the other. “I was hoping to have you all to myself tonight— that sounded bad,” Twilight immediately felt awash with shame and covered her bright red face with her hands, “that was awful, I’m so sorry I said that.”
“I thought it was cute,” Rainbow laughed, and Twilight peeked at her from between her fingers, her hands feeling like they were on a lit stove as they touched her face.
“Are you, um,” Twilight cleared her throat as she walked behind Rainbow to the library door, “are you coming back tomorrow?”
“Yep,” Rainbow nodded, “same time we agreed on, eleven o’clock.”
“Or three o’clock if you sleep past eleven,” Twilight added teasingly, getting a chuckle out of Rainbow.
“Right,” she said, poking Twilight’s nose, and Twilight bit down a smile in response, “and hey, do you mind if I bring a friend with me? She’s not a Slayer.”
Twilight was of two minds; on the one hand, there was a part of her that couldn’t wait to meet more ponies, but she also was afraid of getting overwhelmed, or of overwhelming Spike.
But surely one more friend wouldn’t hurt, right?
“I suppose,” Twilight shrugged with a smile. “The more the merrier, right?”
“Exactly!” Rainbow beamed.
“So who is this friend?”
“She’s this super-hot blacksmith I know,” Rainbow said excitedly, flicking her fingers in front of her. “You’ll like her a lot, I promise!”
“Oh?” Twilight arched an eyebrow with a teasing grin on her face, crossing her arms and leaning against a bookcase. “She’s ‘super-hot’ huh? I like her already.”
“Did I say that?” Rainbow’s blush could only be described as ‘furious’ as she awkwardly ran her fingers through her short mane. “I meant she’s, like, a, uh—a regular blacksmith.”
Not even Rainbow believed that lie, judging by the utter bemusement painted on her face, like she literally couldn’t believe what she’d just said.
“Does some pony have a crush?” Twilight asked teasingly.
“Maybe,” Rainbow huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from Twilight with her cheeks puffed up. She quickly deflated like a balloon though and looked apprehensively at Twilight. “Honestly, can I ask you a favor?”
“Uh, of course?” Twilight said concernedly, chewing on her fingertip.
“This girl is really hot,” Rainbow’s shoulders tensed up and she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, “but she’s also super cool and smart and rad and amazing and—ugh, you get it.
“Point is, whenever I try to talk to her, I get super flustered. I was hoping that having another cool pony around might help me break the ice.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and added, “Rarity’s a cool pony too, but she’s definitely not an ‘ice breaker’ type. She’s more a… ‘steals all the attention just by being in a room’ type. Which, I mean, good on her but that doesn’t really help me.”
“Uh, well I don’t know who ‘Rarity’ is, but—”
“Just a friend from the Guild,” Rainbow dismissively waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
Twilight shrugged and completely forgot about this ‘Rarity’ pony right away, certain she wasn’t important. “Well, I’m happy to help, so feel free to bring your hot blacksmith friend over with you tomorrow.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow cheered, pumping her fists and giving an excited thumbs-up. “You’re really helping me out here, Twilight, thanks a million!”
“It’s no problem,” Twilight laughed softly and brushed a finger under her bangs. “You came back to the library to talk to me, even though you didn’t have to, you hung out with me and my son all day, and you weren’t—”
Twilight found herself reflexively rubbing the back of her neck, musing how Rainbow was already rubbing off on her. “You didn’t judge me for my aversion to the Celestial Slayers. You were nice to me about it, and that means a lot to me. So thank you, Rainbow.”
“No biggie,” Rainbow shrugged, and the ear to ear grin she was sporting made Twilight’s heart melt. “See you tomorrow, Twilight!”
Rainbow headed out the door and Twilight waved at her, watching her new friend shrink into the horizon of the snowy, sleepy city of Canterlot’s Moon District.
“Goodnight, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out, and she smiled giddily as Rainbow waved back to her.
Twilight bit down a smile, but she couldn’t hold it back for long and beamed as she held her arms and leaned her back against the door of the library, slowly sliding down to the floor with a tender warmth blazing in her heart.
“See you tomorrow.”