As Rainbow Dash flew through the skies towards Ponyville, she sighed in relief. Her favorite thing in the whole wide world of Equestria was flying, and there was nothing like flying for yourself, for fun. Much better than flying around kicking clouds and making sure the clear skies scheduled for today actually happened.
She wasn't flying just for fun, however. There was a specific place she went every Wednesday: The Ponyville library. Her friend, Twilight Sparkle, lived there. Twilight was a lavender unicorn with a dark purple mane with a pink streak in it. She was the personal protégé to Princess Celestia, goddess of the sun.
The library came into view, a large tree at the crossroads near the middle of Ponyville. She decelerated, coming in for a mostly safe landing in front of the library’s front door. After a few moments of cool down stretching, she trotted up to the door and pushed it open.
The inside of the library was what you’d expect from a tree made into a building. The floors, ceiling, and walls were made out of wood. Well, technically the walls were mostly books, them being inset with bookshelves filled with, big surprise, books. The smell of tea filled Rainbow Dash’s nose, a familiar smell when Twilight was taking time out of her schedule for herself. Of course she filled this time with reading, books being her favorite thing in the world.
She found Twilight in her usual spot, upstairs in the more private part of the library. Normally the ponies who went to the library weren’t allowed upstairs, but Rainbow Dash was a special case. Twilight was lying on her stomach, legs tucked underneath her, on a dark blue pillow with gold trim. She had a book on the floor in front of her, and she was so intensely focused on it that she didn’t even notice Dash enter the room. Rainbow giggled at the sight, but left the unicorn in peace. She didn’t want to bother her in her peaceful time between appointments.
So she simply grabbed the familiar green book from its perch on top of a bookshelf by the wall. The cover showed a yellow pegasus with a monochrome mane jumping across a pit of spikes. In large letters the title said, “Daring Do and the Doomed Temple” not the most original title, but Dash wasn’t worried about that.
She opened it up to where she last left off, laying down on her back and holding it above her head. Twilight often asked her how she stayed like that for long periods of time, but Rainbow Dash merely shrugged and flexed her wings whenever it was brought up.
It was true, her wings were in the perfect position that they kept her spine from coming into contact with the hard ground. She put all her weight on her wings, relieving pressure from her back and keeping them tense. It was like an intense workout all by itself, and she barely had to do anything.
Her sigh of content as she began reading was enough to break Twilight’s concentration. Not for very long, but it was enough. Twilight looked up from her book, smiling as she saw Rainbow enjoying her book.
Twilight enjoyed books almost as much as Rainbow Dash enjoyed flying. They were her passion, her center. Any information she needed could be found between the front and back cover of a book. It warmed her heart immensely to see one of her friends showing a similar interest in them.
The two fell into the comfortable embrace of reading. A silence permeated the room, broken only by the rustling of pages and the slurping sound of tea being drunk.
A few hours passed before the silence had to be broken. Twilight looked lazily up at the clock, hoping that her suspicions about the time weren’t correct. They were, and time was drawing closer to her next appointment. She sighed and stood up, stretching her legs after the amount of time spent laying. The unpleasant sensation of pins and needles flowed through them, and she winced while she walked around the room.
Her horn lit up, and the pillow and book became outlined in a purple aura, moving into their respective places.
She sighed, “Alright, that’s all the time I had allotted to reading today. Feel free to stay, but please take care of your book when you’re done.”
Rainbow Dash looked up, “Do you really have to fill up every moment with something? It’s so much more fun to be spontaneous!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “I bet it is, but it’s simply not how I operate.” It was true, if things didn’t go according to her plans, everything fell apart.
Rainbow returned to her book, “Whatever, do what you like. I’ll just stay here and be awesome.”
Twilight smiled at that, Dash loved to talk about herself. She walked out of the room and downstairs. Rainbow Dash continued reading for a few pages before, “Bored now!” She folded down the corner of a page and closed the book, not as gently as Twilight would have liked, but Twilight wasn’t there anymore.
As she moved over and put her book back on top of the shelf where she got it, her eyes passed over the cover of the book Twilight had been reading. She froze, staring wide eyed at it.
The word shot out at her, that word, the one from her dreams. It mocked her, forcing her to remember them all. Emotions washed over her, anger, sadness, a sense of loneliness even.
The book forgotten on the floor, she rocketed out of the room, leaving a rainbow streak leading out the window into the wide open skies.