//------------------------------// // Reluctantly Yours // Story: Egghead and Featherbrain // by TheLastBrunnenG //------------------------------// “No. I am Rainbow Dash, the one and only.” The one and only Rainbow Dash stood on the balcony of the Golden Oaks Library, hooves crossed and face scowling. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes were watering and her voice quavered. “But Dash, we talked about this. You promised!” Dash snorted. “Have you been taking whining lessons from Rarity? ‘Cause that was epic whining, egghead. You have the nasally tone just right, and those eyes are really top notch.” Wrinkling her lavender muzzle, the librarian glanced sideways at Rainbow through squinting eyes. “I’ll have you know that was not whining, featherbrain! It was emphatic pleading, which is entirely different. And I only took the one lesson.” “Yeah, well, I promised nothing and we didn’t talk about this at all. You talked about it, and I might have been in the vicinity, but that doesn’t count. It’s not my fault that my snoring sounded like acknowledgement to you.” The unicorn stepped to the other side of the balcony and drew her hooves tight around her, shivering in the evening breeze. Her gaze downcast, she sniffed, “I… I guess that’s it, then. You really don’t love me, do you? If you did, you’d say yes. Instead I’ll be alone here, the old spinster librarian, unloved and lonely, heartbroken and pining away for the mare of her dreams, now long lost.” “Nailed it, Twi! Nope, I don’t care in the slightest.” The pegasus put a hoof to her temple and shook her head. “ I’m just here for Spike’s cooking and the Daring Do collection. Your smokin’ hot flank’s got nothing to do with it.” Twilight’s expression changed instantly from downtrodden to decidedly sultry and she sidled over to the azure mare. She ran practiced purple hooves over suddenly flaring wings, leaving a trail of hot breath and biting kisses up her lover’s neck. She stopped to draw teeth across the tender tip of a twitching blue ear before whispering, “Just say yes, Dash. My sweet, sexy Dash… I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.” Her hooves traveled down, down, past athletic hips and muscled flanks and lightning-cloud cutie mark and she added, “Very, very worth your while…” Stepping away with wide eyes heart pounding, Dash spun and held a hoof out to stay the stalking unicorn. “Wow! Just - wow. Okay, seriously, that was amazingly hot, Twilight. And it would totally have worked to get me to agree if we didn’t, you know, do that anyway. All the time. Constantly.” Twilight arched an eyebrow. “We do? Since when? What other lavender unicorn librarian Element-bearing students of the Princess have you been seeing?” “I’ll have you know that one time for real is worth three or four times in my dreams and at least twice in my daydreams, egghead! So there.” “Stick that tongue out again and it’ll be on my desk in a jar of formaldehyde, filly.” Twilight slid next to Dash, taking a place alongside her against the balcony railing. She lay a hoof around the pony’s shoulders and sighed. “Okay, I give up, Dash. What will it take to get you to agree? It’s not that big of a change, you know.” The pegasus leaned over and lay her head on the cushion of a silken pink-striped lavender mane. “It is to me, Twilight. It’s part of me. I’m ‘the’ Rainbow Dash! It’s part of my identity, as much as my wings and my cutie mark and my mane and tail. I can’t just give this up!” “But you’ll still be you, Dash! You’ll still be the Best Young Flier. You’ll still be the Element of Loyalty.” She nuzzled the prismatic mane beneath her muzzle and smiled. “These gorgeous wings will still be my two favorite blankets when I’m cold. None of that will change.” “And the fastest pegasus in Equestria! Don’t forget fastest.” Rainbow fought back a quiet sob and drew Twilight closer. “You swear you won’t think any less of me, Twi?” Laying a soft kiss on Rainbow’s forehead, Twilight whispered, “Not a bit. You’re the bravest pony I know, Dash, You can do it.” Rainbow held the embrace for a few long minutes. “Okay, you win. I’ll do it.” Twilight turned to face her beloved, muzzle to muzzle, and held her hooves. “Can you say it to my face, Dash?” Dash looked up and locked her gaze on Twilight’s. “Rainbow.” “Go on.” “Dash.” “Almost there.” She gulped visibly, her muzzle contorting as if she’d swallowed something bitter and viscous and wriggling. “Sparkle.” Twilight launched forward and threw herself into a warm, smiling, and tearful hug. “I knew you could do it! Oh, I love you, Dash! I can’t want to tell everypony!” Silently Dash mouthed the words, “Rainbow. Dash. Sparkle.” Shaking her head, she muttered, “I swear, Twilight, the first time anypony calls me Rainbow Sparkle, the wedding’s off.”