“I only borrowed those books so that none of them would make you think that dating me was a bad idea. I gave back the ones that’d encourage you to go out with me, and I left the rest in my cloud house.” Rainbow leaned her hooves on the table and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
The only sounds to reach her ears were her own rapid breathing and some noise that she couldn’t identify. She opened her eyes, and Twilight was giggling.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow, but you just looked funny trying to be all serious with your eyes closed like that.”
“What?” Rainbow threw her forelegs in the air. “Were you even listening? I only signed those books out to trick you! I didn’t even read all of them – I got other ponies to help out!”
“Oh, I was listening. What I heard was that you borrowed a hundred books, read most of them, encouraged other ponies to read with you, and finished all of the books in a night, just to go on a date with me. Did I hear wrong?”
Rainbow gaped. “But don’t you get it? What I did was as bad as... as... as what Dr. Negative did to Daring Do! He brainwashed all of her friends so that whenever she went to them for advice about why Manehatten Silver was acting so weird, they all told her to trust him. And I set things up so when you looked to your books for advice, they all told you to go out with me.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “First, I’d like to point out that Dr. Negative kidnapped Silver and replaced him with a cyborg clone, and I seriously doubt that your plans were anywhere near as nefarious as that. And second, I’m a bit disappointed that you thought I’m that easy to manipulate. When I have to make a choice, I don’t just gallop to my books and ignore everything else.”
Rainbow stared, deadpan, and Twilight blushed.
“Okay, it might seem like that’s what I do, but it’s not. At least, not this time. I thought about all the time we spent together, and the way that you’ve always been there for me and the rest of the girls, and how much fun I have on our reading days and flying lessons, and decided to go out with you. I wouldn’t have made a decision like that just because a book told me to.” Twilight drank another spoonful of soup.
Rainbow took a step back, her heartbeat slowing, and sat back down. “What about The Egghead’s Guide to Corporal Punishment? Spike said that he kept it signed out so that you’d never read it.”
Twilight spluttered with laughter, soup spraying out of her mouth, and Rainbow ducked back to avoid being drenched. A second later, a napkin encased in a purple glow wiped the spill off the table. “The Egghead’s Guide to Corporal Punishment, by Harsh Mistress? Rainbow, I’m the pony who’s responsible for that book never being returned. As long as I keep ‘forgetting’ to pick it up from Lyra Heartstrings, I get discounts at Bon Bon’s store. It’s a win-win situation.”
Rainbow frowned thoughtfully, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “But those two don’t have foals...”
Twilight winced. “Yeah, uh, actually, don’t tell them I told you any of that. In fact, could you just forget I said anything?” Rainbow’s eyes widened and Twilight hastened to continue. “So, do you want to finish reading Daring Do and the Devious Doctor Negative?”
“Yeah, sure!” Rainbow leapt up. “Uh, wait, where is it again?” Twilight’s gaze was fixed on something over her shoulder. Rainbow turned to look, and it was the clock.
“Rainbow, it’s nearly nine o’clock. I’m sorry, but if we want to end this date by nine, we can’t finish that book tonight.”
“And why do we need to wrap it up by nine? Because your books tell you to?”
“Well, yes, when I averaged the ending time of a first date among all of the books that you returned, I ended up with three minutes past nine. Please, Rainbow?” Twilight looked up at Rainbow earnestly, eyes wide and bottom lip quivering in blatant imitation of Rarity.
“Are you seriously trying to shorten our date?” Rainbow’s mouth dropped into a harsh line.
“When you put it like that it sounds bad, but when you think about it, this just leaves more things for us to do on our next date.”
Rainbow’s glare softened. “Next... next date?”
“How does tomorrow at seven sound?”
Rainbow scratched her head. “I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of rule that says we have to wait three days or something.”
“That’s what the dating guides said, but the romance novels averaged out to roughly eight hours between the first and second date, and twenty-two hours is a nice compromise. Besides, tomorrow’s a reading day, and that’d probably end up turning into a date anyways.”
“Heh, yeah, I guess it would.” Rainbow smiled, and her heart was so light that she thought it might just fly out of her chest, and Twilight would have to chase after it and catch it. And of course, Dash would have to be there to help her land, and for some reason she was perfectly fine with that.
Twilight moved the pot, bowls, and spoons into the sink, and Rainbow piled up the cushions from the flying lessons. When Rainbow was done, she flew to the window and, hovering outside, turned back for one last glimpse of Twilight. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“No, wait!” cried Twilight, looking up from the sink. “You can’t just fly out! You have to go out the door, so that we can talk awkwardly on the doorstep and then kiss.”
Dash smiled, flew back in and nuzzled Twilight’s mane. “I’m cool with that.”
Rainbow walked with Twilight to the door, opened it, and hovered outside. The night echoed with the chirps of crickets. The stars hung in the black velvet sky. Rainbow breathed in a flowery fragrance: daffodils, but she wasn’t sure if they were real or just from Twilight’s shampoo. She decided it didn’t matter.
“All right,” Twilight said. “Now say something witty, preferably a one-liner –”
“Just shut up and kiss me,” she whispered, pulling Twilight closer. Her wings flared as their lips furiously collided in a passionate –
BANG!
Rainbow and Twilight spun around and froze, jaws agape. The inside of the library was covered in confetti and brightly-colored balloons. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike stared at them from around the snacks table, while Discord lounged beside a bowl of punch. A banner on the wall read “Congrats-On-Getting-Together-Twi-and-Dashie!”
Pinkie Pie bounced up to Twilight and Dash. “Hey, what do you two think of this party? Isn’t it just super-fantabulous? Wanna play Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pony?”
Discord grinned and shot Twilight and Dash a wink. “Or, if you want, you two can keep making out.”
And so – an hour of party games, snacks, and good-natured teasing from their friends later – they did.