//------------------------------// // The Hypothesis // Story: Experiments // by The DJ Rainbow Dash //------------------------------// Experiments Chapter 1: The Hypothesis “No!” Dr. Negative cried, scrambling backwards on the ground as his own groaning servants began to swarm him. He managed to get a short distance across the courtyard before he backed into a wall. “What have you done? Wha-what have you done?” He fumbled through his satchel and seized a small vial with his hoof. His triumphant cheer was cut short though, as the vial was knocked out of his grasp and crushed beneath the hoard of drugged ponies. Frantically, he reached for his bag again, only to find it trampled beneath the hooves of a large red stallion; multicolored fluids coated the ground around it. “No!” “It's no use, Doctor,” Daring Do called out as she watched the physician's struggle from her perch on the balcony above. “You did this to yourself.” She hopped off the railing and started for the door, walking past a fedora-wearing Earth pony. “You're just going to leave him?” he asked, following her back into the manor. “Seems a little cold for you, Do...” Daring paused as the door shut, canceling out the screams of agony now echoing about the place. Her gaze fell to the floor with her wings.“It's not like he doesn't deserve whatever happens to him down there.” She shuddered. “Brainwashing ponies like that... It's... It's just wrong.” When no response came, Daring's eyes shot up. She could handle danger; give her a crazed doctor with way too many drugs or an ancient temple filled with traps and she couldn't care any less—but him? She needed him. If she upset him—scared him off or ignited his righteous fury—she'd never forgive herself. A quivering desperation seeping into her tone, Daring asked, “You... You don't think I'm a horrible pony for this, do you?” A brown hoof settled on her shoulder as Manehatten Silver looked her straight in her watery eyes. “No,” he said softly, pulling her into his embrace. “Negative's the monster here, not you.” Daring choked back a sob as she nuzzled deeper into Silver's chest. “Wh-when he had you—back at the lab... You... a-and the syringe... When you... When you...” Her words failed her and turned into incomprehensible sobs. Gently, a hoof patted her back. Soft words were whispered into her ears, causing her to only hold on tighter to the stallion she'd so nearly lost. “I was so scared,” she whimpered. Her whole body trembled in his forelegs, but he only held her tighter. “I wanted to kill him—I wanted to rip his throat out and stomp it into the dirt! I-I—” “Shh,” Silver whispered, running a hoof down the pegasus's gray-scaled mane. “It's over now,” he said. “It's all over.” “All I could think about was that night in Fillydelphia,” Daring continued, “And how stupid I was for walking out and... I'm so sorry...” Biting his lip, Silver shifted his weight and looked away from his long-time friend and rival adventurer. “Look, Dare, you don't have to—“ A tan hoof interrupted him and jarred his face down towards Daring Do's. Her eyes shone like rubies in the dim light of the hall. “Just shut up and kiss me,” she whispered, pulling him closer. Her wings flared as their lips furiously collided in a passionate— “What?” Rainbow Dash cried indignantly, raising her hooves in the air. She glared at the book before her with furious distaste. “That's... that's...” “So sweet,” Twilight sighed dreamily. She closed her eyes and smiled, her tail lightly sweeping across the wooden floor of the library. “Don't you think so, Rainbow?” “So stupid!” the pegasus finished, batting the novel aside. It flew across the room and smacked the wall with a ruffled thud. Paying no mind to Twilight's irritated stare, Rainbow began pacing around the room. “What about Rosetta?” she growled, flapping her wings furiously. She glared out the window at the sunset. “What about her?” Twilight asked as she picked up her new copy of Daring Do and the Devious Doctor Negative and carefully placed it back on her personal bookshelf. “She's still back at the college, right?” Dash huffed and blew a stray bit of her mane out of her face. “So?” “So...” Twilight rolled her hoof in the air, gesturing for her friend to explain further. When Rainbow didn't turn around, she sighed and continued: “What's the problem?” “Everything!” Rainbow roared, spinning around. Twilight stumbled back in surprise as Dash's hooves slammed into the floor and shook the picture frames on the walls. Nostrils flared, she began prowling around the room, circling Twilight like a hungry lioness. “How can Daring just... Why would she...” Twilight's brow furrowed. “Rainbow?” she said slowly, watching Rainbow curse and kick another book into a wall. “Are you okay?” “No!” the pegasus ejaculated, bringing her hoof to her forehead. “Yes!” She growled at the floor as Twilight stood up and stepped closer. “Ugh! I don't know! I don't get it!” “What don't you understand?” “She kissed him!” Dash spat; just saying the words left a bad taste in her mouth. “I can't believe it!” Frowning, Twilight gave her friend a curious look. “What's wrong with that? I think it's a very sweet conclusion to the story.” “But what about Rosetta?” Twilight brought a hoof to her head and rubbed her temple. “I don't think I understand where you're going with this, Rainbow,” she groaned. “What do you mean?” Dash rolled her eyes. “I mean that Daring totally belongs with Rosetta—not stinkin' Silver!” Jerking her head back, Twilight's curious expression quickly switched from bemused to amused. An eyebrow raised as Twilight shook her head. “What?” she snorted. “You're joking, right?” Rainbow's face hardened. Her wings ruffled. “No,” she said. “I'm not.” “But there's been no evidence that Rosetta and Daring feel anything more than platonic friendship at all, Rainbow,” Twilight giggled despite Rainbow's steadily growing scowl. “Not a single scrap in the whole series.” Dash's eyes drifted down to the floor and cursed silently. Without thinking, her gaze shot back to her friend and she protested, “They got milkshakes in the beginning of the book!” “Oh,” she said, smirking, “Then it must be true love!” “It was a date!” Rainbow stuck her tongue out. “And that's way better than some stupid kiss!” “It was not a date!” Twilight countered, “Daring Do has never gone to her for more than advice or to hang out!” “That's not dating?” Dash huffed, glaring at Twilight. “Daring's totally crazy for her!” “Just because somepony gets a milkshake with somepony else doesn't mean that they're romantically involved, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, a hint of annoyance seeping into her tone. “How many times have we gotten milkshakes on reading days?” Dash's wings flared and her ears slicked back behind her head as she turned to the side; the setting sun peered through the window and lit her face, coloring it red. Her cheeks felt warm. “I-it wasn't about the milkshakes, Twi...” she mumbled to the floor. “I mean, I could totally see that... that they were happy together...” Twilight shook her head. “Rainbow, I'm sorry. I don't know how you got the idea that Rosetta and Daring love each other—let alone the fact that they are both homosexual—but it just isn't there.” Rainbow's eyes never rose from the floor. There was a crack traversing the length of one of the boards on the far side of the room, she followed it across the floor to Twilight's hooves. “But... but it has to be...” she whispered so low that Twilight didn't manage to catch it. “Daring... Daring totally loves her...” “Besides,” the unicorn added, tapping her chin with her hoof. “Daring and Rosetta would make for a very strange couple—don't you think so, Rainbow Dash? I mean, Rosetta's a professor at Canterlot University—it'd be awful hard for somepony as adventurous and free-spirited as Daring Do to stick around and be in a real relationship with her.” Dash jumped to her hooves, her hackles raised. “She could do it if she wanted to!” Twilight raised her hooves. “I didn’t say it wasn’t possible, but if you read the book, it surely isn’t implied anywhere specifically.” “… But they expressions they had when they had the milkshakes, they were genuine! Anypony could totally see the passion in their eyes which they had for one another,” Rainbow exclaimed, getting somewhat annoyed at the stubbornness of the unicorn to agree with her. Twilight groaned and facehoofed, not what else to say on the manner presented at hand. Rainbow was never going to fully accept the outcome given in the book, as much as Twilight wanted to convince her that Rosetta and Daring were merely friends. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but I don’t see the possible relationship between them like you did. In my eyes, the two are just friends, nothing more, nothing less.” Twilight spoke in a soft voice, as she tried to get across the message to a stubborn Rainbow Dash without causing her to lash out again. Rainbow rose up off the floor and began following the same floorboard crack back to the unicorn’s front door, her head slumped down in defeat as she realized her argument really didn’t have much of a backbone to it. Earlier on when she was reading the novel, she had secretly wished that the relationship between Rosetta and Daring worked out like she fantasized it would. The brash and adventurous Daring Do falling in love with an intelligent studious mare like Rosetta would be the unexpected, yet perfect finish for the book, and if it happened, Dash would easily place it among her favorites of the series. There was also other more personal and specific reasons Rainbow wanted to believe the pair held something special. “Rainbow… are you alright?” She turned around to meet the violet eyes of a concerned Twilight Sparkle, who definitely knew that something was up. Twilight was no slouch when it came to the well-being of her friends, although she could be narrow-minded and oblivious at times, especially when it came to her studies. Dash inwardly cursed to herself, not for Twilight’s concern, but for how she let a book turn her into a whirlwind of emotion. “Yeah, I’m alright,” Rainbow lied, hoping it was enough to deter Twilight for the time being. “I got worked up so much over that part where it kinda gave me a headache.” Rainbow grinned a bit and rubbed part of her temple. She had actually gotten a bit of a headache thinking about the matter at hand, so that itself wasn’t a total crock. Twilight cocked her head slightly, sensing something weird was up but deciding to leave the pegasus be. Her instincts told her that her friend had a problem, but Twilight had learned that sometimes ponies need their space and would rather deal with them alone. Of all the ponies she knew, Rainbow Dash was one to fit this mold extremely well. “I’ll see ya later Twi,” Rainbow said, turning to her once as walked out, leaving Twilight standing there in her wake. My alarm clock read 9 pm and here I was, all snuggled in bed, comfy as can be. The cloud bed I happily called my own seemed to be as soft as ever, as were the pillows my head was currently rested on. Surely this must mean I’d be fast asleep like always right? Well tonight apparently wasn’t one of those nights. I assumed that the quicker I left Twilight’s, the better my head would feel as put that embarrassing emotional outburst behind me. It annoyed me to no end that I let a book, a book of all things rile me up and cause me to turn into a near emotional wreck. If I would expect that to happen to anypony, it would be Twilight or Rarity, but not me. As much as a tried however, I knew that this wasn’t the issue at hand. The embarrassment I made of myself at the library was due to my own inner conflicts and feelings, all of them centered around the egghead herself. To figure out just when I decided I had a crush on Twilight is difficult, because I really have no idea. All I can recall is that one day when the six of us were all hanging out, Twilight just seemed to stand out more than usual to me. I can actually slightly remember the moment; it might have been one of the occasions when we all came together with the elements. The way Twilight handled herself was incredible, she looked so calm yet ready for action; she looked absolutely fearless… exactly like me. To compare the Twilight who first arrived to Ponyville to the Twilight we all love now would show just how much she has changed overall. I remember when I first met the mare. She seemed extremely uneasy, and how she carried herself gave off a feeling of not wanting to really meet anypony. All the unicorn wanted to do was study and keep to herself, Spike really being her only company. Now she seemed to help everypony if they needed her, and showed her care for all of us, putting her friends ahead of her knowledge and books. Heck, the mare seemed to enjoy hanging with us just as much as she does reading about astrology or biology, or one of those egghead related topics. My feelings for her seemed to increase pretty much on every occasion I spent time with her, whether it be with everypony else, or just the two of us. Following that day, I had asked her about having reading days, and now I go over and read Daring Do with her every week. With every new novel of the series, the two of us would read sections of it, and then just talk about what happened. Surprisingly, I even learned a ton about writing itself from these chats, and I even know a bunch of literary elements now thanks to her. I still have a long way to becoming an egghead like her though. It was probably those occasions where I think I fell head over hoofs for the quirky egghead. It firmly established for me that when Twilight read and studied her books, it didn’t mean stare at them endlessly and memorize things. Instead, she seemed to make fun out of reading, anything from Daring Do, to even a book on pegasi aerodynamics which we decided to look at once or twice. I kid you not, that was probably the only time in my life I found physics and math to be really interesting. But Twilight seemed to be so enthralled with talking about that where it was the cutest thing in the world. Even where she went on tangents where I had no idea what she was talking about, I couldn’t help but smile and listen to her voice, full of excitement and life. I finally knew how it felt to hear myself obsessively talk about the Wonderbolts. But as much as I wanted to let her know how much I cared for her, and my overall feelings for her, I had a nagging uneasiness about it all. I mean sure, I could go up and ask her out and tell her that I love her. She could even say yes, which would make me the happiest pony in all of Equestria. There was the chance she could also say no, and flat out refuse me. I know she would try her best to appreciate the gesture, but my fear wasn’t about approaching her about it. Instead, I’d be afraid that things would never feel right between us. All these things we shared, and the time we spent hanging out would be filled with awkwardness and hard feelings. And I don’t know how I could manage hanging out all the time with a pony who I loved so much, who I was so close to, yet at the same time, be so far away. I rolled over and looked at the small cage which Tank called his home. The tortoise seemed at peace, its head was nowhere in sight, and probably was tucked inside his shell. His head rolling away or falling off probably wasn’t very likely, although Pinkie would think something of the sort. I wish I could be as carefree as Tank right now, not a thought in the world other than food and shelter, both which was in great supply. Knock knock My wings flared out and I hopped fully out of my bed as I heard the knocking on my front door. It isn’t that I was scared or something, but normally I didn’t get any visitors at night. Because my home was in the clouds, I expected to see Fluttershy standing shyly on my doorstep. Instead, I was surprised to see a violet unicorn who wore an expression of concern and uneasiness. My first instinct was to pretend like I’m sleeping and leave the door be. Twilight would wait a bit at the door, and eventually assume that I’m asleep, and then would go home. But my element got the better of me, and I know it must be pretty important if Twilight had come at night. So I took a huge breath of air down into my lungs, and hoped that I wouldn’t embarrass myself any further today. “Oh! Hey Twi, what are you doing up here at this hour?” I smiled at her warmly, and motioned for her to come inside. She nodded and walked in, slowly taking a seat in one of places on my couch as I did myself. Both of us ended up sitting on each end of the couch, leaving an uncomfortably empty gap between the two of us. “First off, sorry if I came unexpected at such a late hour. This was really bugging me all day,” she began, a touch of guilt in her face and voice. I hated to see her feel guilty, as most of the time it wasn’t her fault in the start. “…Well… to be honest I was here to talk about you,” she finished. Of course, the first thing I did was cough, as my body decided to completely forget how to breathe. I didn’t expect that to be the first thing to come out of her mouth, and now was a bit curious onto what she seemed concerned about. “You wanted to talk about me?” Confusion was also something I was experiencing right now. “What do you mean Twi?” “Well earlier at the library when you suddenly had an outburst while reading the new Daring Do novel, your emotions seemed to be all over the place. That, and you looked really upset when you left. I just came over to see if you were alright, that’s all.” There were three things I felt right now. The first one was relief, in that Twilight’s question wasn’t directed towards anything about my secret crush I had for her. Anytime she got anywhere near the subject, my mind would fail miserably at covering the fact up. To be fair, I’m quite surprised that she hasn’t figured it out yet. I guess Twilight can be slightly oblivious at times, but it’s harmless. The second one was appreciation. I was taken aback for a second that Twilight would bother to come all the way up to my home, at night nonetheless, just to check to see if I was alright. It showed her overall caring nature, and just how much she valued me as a friend. Even though I’m normally not a sappy kind of person, the gesture was really sweet, and I’m thankful to have a friend like her. Third, was skepticism… I think that’s what she called it anyway. Basically, I just had this doubt that she only had come up to visit just to see if I was alright. But I had to smile and hug one of my best friends at such a concern over my well-being. And this is exactly what I did. I was told that hugs are a great way to show satisfaction and gratitude of a situation, at least that’s what Pinkie mentioned once. She seemed rather level headed when telling me that too, so in that case it must be true. “Honest, I’m alright, the whole thing was just an overreaction on my part,” I replied, giving myself a jab, hopefully taking some of her guilt away. She smiled in response, but didn’t seem convinced. “Are you sure? Dash, if you’re hiding something you can tell me. I pinkie promise I won’t ever tell anypony anything.” At this point, there was a 75 percent chance I was beginning to sweat as she neared closer and closer to be giving up my secret. “Really, I’m okay. Remember, I’m the awesome Rainbow Dash! Besides, something as little as an overreaction is nothing to be concerned about.” I continued to build the façade my secret was hidden behind, and it seemed to be working. “Well, I guess if you say so. Good to see you’re in good spirits then,” Twilight replied in a more cheery tone, “which brings me to my other question, although it might be more like an offer.” Remember when I mentioned doubt? “An offer? Do explain.” I gestured to her to begin “Well, so I was thinking after you left about the whole notion about Daring Do and Rosetta embarking on a possible relationship. Now, obviously my romantic experience and relationship experience is basically, well, zero,” she rolled her eyes after she said that, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. “And from what you say about being too busy to bother with relationships, I’m going to assume you don’t know much on the subject matter yourself.” “Well, I can’t argue with that,” I admitted. “So here is my idea for a little experiment. Fluttershy and Rarity seem to be the most knowledgeable when it comes to these topics as far as I can see. Fluttershy reads romance novels like there is no tomorrow, and actually has helped other ponies into relationships. Rarity also reads a ton, and has been with a couple stallions on occasion…” “Where exactly are you going with this?” “Patience Rainbow,” she said, again rolling her eyes. “My idea is that we take the idea of having a Rosetta and Daring Do relationship to them and see what they think. Even though they don’t read the series, both of us can explain the characters enough to the point where they could establish a conclusion on the matter.” To my own surprise, the idea seemed logical and pretty straightforward. Not only would this allow me to spend some time with Fluttershy, which I haven’t done enough of, it would also perhaps give some kind of insight into if a relationship between two ponies like Twilight and myself would work. “So I’m assuming since I know Fluttershy much better, I would go talk with her then?” “Correct. And I would talk with Rarity, since we do get along well, much better than you do. I don’t think you’d like to get a fashion makeover if I’m right?” I could only groan at the potential outcome, which got a laugh from Twilight. “Sounds like a good idea to me. So we can both do this tomorrow, and meet the following day about it I guess? This way, we can both combine our conclusions to help prove if the, um, hypothesis is valid?” Twilight immediately beamed and clapped her hoofs together, pleased in how I used one of her confusing scientific terms. “Well, you seem to be listening to my explanations more, because you used hypothesis correctly.” I couldn’t help but grin a bit myself in how impressed she seemed. “So tomorrow is going to be an interesting day huh?” Twilight had gotten up and I followed her over to the door and opened it for her. “Indeed it will, but it will be a day of research! See Rainbow, research can be interesting.” She looked at me with a face that basically said “admit it Rainbow.” I couldn’t deny it though, the idea did sound interesting, and I would be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn’t anxious onto the answers we might get. “Oh, don’t forget to take notes. We need a bunch of information to compare later on, it’s critical to the task at hand,” she explained. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to bring some paper and a pen with me Twi. Goodnight!” “Goodnight Dash!” With that, the unicorn hopped into her hot air balloon, which I had just taken notice of now. To think, I was the one who said she was oblivious when I couldn’t notice a massive air balloon nearly half the size of my entire home. As I scaled the steps back to my bedroom, I couldn’t help but feel the heaviness of my eyelids increase. Looking at one of my clocks, I could see the time reading 9:30 pm, still very early for my own standards, but I guess my mind was excited for the day tomorrow. And tomorrow would be an interesting day indeed.