Twilight Sparkle heard the door to the library open. Mentally marking her place in the paragraph, she looked up from her book and did a double-take.
Rainbow Dash was walking into the library. Not flying in. Not crashing in through a window. Walking. Her head was slightly downcast, and Twilight could instantly tell all was not right.
"Rainbow? Are you ok?" she had to ask.
"Hey, Twilight," Rainbow said. "I was hoping you'd be here."
Twilight grinned. "I'm always here."
"Yeah, I know. And here's where Applejack usually isn't, so I figured I'd come by and talk."
"Actually..." Twilight paused as Rainbow's words sank in. "Talk about what, Rainbow?"
"Life."
"That's... a broad subject," Twilight said slowly. "Anything in specific?"
Rainbow sighed. "I'm just so... confused. All these feelings..."
Twilight quietly reached for a quill and tried to hide the smile on her face at the prospect of a little impromptu field research. "What kind of feelings?"
"Well, you see... Um... You know..." After a few false starts, Rainbow closed her eyes and spoke. Her words came out fast and jumbled, as if afraid that if she stopped, she would never start again. "Do you ever feel like everything makes sense, but nothing makes sense at the same time? Like you're so happy you want to fly east forever, but then so wound up you just want to scream, and then so depressed that all you want to do is take a cold shower?"
"That's a bit more helpful," Twilight said, lowering the checklist she had just made, "and extraordinarily complex. When do you get these feelings?"
Rainbow Dash looked up. "You want me to come out and say it? Fine. Fine, I'll say it." She took a deep breath, opened her mouth... and dropped into a sitting position with her head lowered in shame. "I can't say it," she whimpered, her eyes pointed firmly towards the ground.
"Do you feel these feelings around another pony?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe."
Twilight smiled as she got up off the couch. "Rainbow Dash, you fit the description of a pony in love."
"I know."
Twilight blinked. "If you know, why are you here?"
Still with her eyes on the ground, Rainbow answered with a question of her own. "What do you know about love?"
Twilight smiled. "I've read plenty about it. In fact..."
Rainbow Dash exploded. She shot into the air, forcing Twilight to take a step backwards. Her eyes were narrowed, and her teeth were bared. "No! No books, Twilight. This is real life, ok? There is no happy ending, there is no easy way out, there is no 'everypony winds up satisfied'. Look at me, ok? Look at me! My dream for forever has been joining the Wonderbolts. What do they do?"
"Sh- show their flying prowess and act as special forces units?" Twilight answered hesitantly.
"They tour. They visit different places. They're the cool diplocrats from Equestria."
Twilight was half tempted to correct her, but quickly decided against it.
"But they don't go home. Right?"
Twilight nodded, then shook her head, then went with a much safer, "Correct."
"Now imagine that a Wonderbolt which may or may not be me has fallen in love with somepony here in Ponyville who will never leave. She can't leave. What happens then?"
"You'll... drift apart?" Twilight guessed.
"Exactly! So we're happy for a bit, and then -bam-. Things won't work out. So I don't think I even want to bring it up anyway. But then I'm stuck with all these... feelings inside, and it's tearing me apart, Twilight. She is everything I want in a special somepony. She works hard. She's beautiful. She doesn't quit."
Twilight blinked. This was very unusual behavior, especially coming from Rainbow Dash.
"Celestia help me, she's almost as awesome as me."
Ok, that was a little more appropriate.
"Either way, we both lose." Rainbow Dash sank to the floor. "And that's assuming Applejack even likes me back. What do I do, Twilight? What do I do?"
Ooh, accidental name-drop. Twilight thought quickly. "Well, I..."
"If you're going to say 'read something in a book', I swear I'll leave a raincloud over your library for two weeks," Rainbow growled.
Twilight kept a flat expression. "I was going to say, 'talked with Princess Celestia'..."
"Oh."
"When I first learned of Hearts and Hooves day, I was so confused as to why that was even a holiday. I asked the princess, and she told me about it."
Rainbow looked up. "How exactly does that help me?"
"Let me finish. I also asked her if she had ever fallen in love."
"Oh, 'cause she's, like, immortal and stuff, right?"
"Right. She went quiet for a moment, and then she said yes. I then asked her who her special somepony was. She said she'd had a few, but they had all died."
Rainbow crinkled her nose. "That's... depressing."
"That's what I thought, and I told her so. I asked, why even bother falling in love if it was just going to hurt? She smiled and said, 'Yes, but Twilight, the good times are worth all the pain'."
"So..."
"So tell her, Rainbow."
"I don't know if I can."
"You can, Rainbow." Twilight smiled as she raised Rainbow's face with a hoof. "You're the most awesomest pegasus this side of the ocean. It'll be awkward, sure; but it'll be worth it."
"You think so?" Rainbow asked, a hint of hope coming into her voice.
"I know so."
Rainbow shot to her hooves. "That's just what I needed! Now I just need to go and find Applejack, and..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Twilight's nervous expression, and Rainbow's face fell.
"She's here, isn't she?"
"Kitchen." Twilight said sheepishly. "Making pies for that parade later."
"She couldn't make them at home?"
"They'd be cold when they got here."
"And she heard all of that, didn't she?"
"Most likely."
There was an awkward pause.
"I should go talk to her, huh?"
"I thought that's what you wanted to do anyway?" Twilight had to ask.
"Well, yeah; but that was before she was here. Now she's here and..."
"And there's no backing out now." Twilight grinned. "It's just like taking a test--the hardest part is starting. Once you start, it's all downhill from there."
For some reason, this did not comfort Rainbow Dash.
"We'll stay out of your way." Twilight turned up the stairs and called, "Spiiike!"
"What?" the dragon yelled back down. He sounded mildly annoyed at being interrupted.
"I'm going to see Rarity, want to come?"
He could not have been at her side quicker had he been teleported.
Twilight gave a reassuring smile as she led Spike out among questions like 'how do my spines look?' and 'do I need a breath mint?'. "Remember, Rainbow. It'll be awkward, but worth it."
Rainbow repeated that mantra silently as she watched Twilight leave the library, as she turned towards the kitchen, as she left the reading room, and as she took a steadying breath before opening the kitchen door.
Awkward, but worth it.
Sure enough, it described that conversation.
Sure enough, it described that first kiss.
Sure enough, it described those first few days of their relationship, trying to adjust to each other.
Sure enough, it described their first night together.
Sure enough, it described their situation when Apple Bloom walked in on them in the barn.
Sure enough, it described their life when Rainbow got that acceptance letter.
Sure enough, it described it when Rainbow had to miss their fifth anniversary for Wonderbolt detail.
But those are all stories for another time.
This is where this chapter ends, with one pony nervously entering somepony else's kitchen in a building she rarely set hoof in to try and confess hidden feelings to a pony who was not often here either and who might not even reciprocate those feelings in the first place.
Looking back, that decision to go into the kitchen was the best and worst decision of Rainbow Dash's life. Throughout all the years that followed, that phrase followed too. Together with Applejack, her life was surprisingly awkward, but definitely worth it.
And she never regretted it one bit.