//------------------------------// // Introduction // Story: How To Become More Than Friends // by Olpert //------------------------------// Haven't we all had this problem? You're friends with a pony, good friends. And then, suddenly, you feel that there's something else, too? That you like this pony as more than just a friend? That this stallion or mare could very well be your very special somepony? And then you start to think. What if I confessed my feelings, but my friend doesn't feel that way? I don't want to ruin this friendship by making things awkward, or worse, destroy it completely. I just don't wanna take that risk! Well, dear reader, fear not! In this book, you will not only learn of a way to become closer to your friend, even up to being a romantic couple, you will have safeguards and rails at every step of the way so that at no point you are in danger of ruining your friendship! And all in just five easy to follow steps! Of course, as every relationship is different, we can not guarantee the ultimate success of the methods used in this guide. However, what we can guarantee is that no matter what, if the relationship was meant to be, if you follow our steps, it will happen, and if it wasn't you will not ruin your prior friendship. There's nothing that could possibly go wrong, so what are you waiting for? Dig right into 'How to become more than friends: A guide in five easy steps'! Excerpt taken from 'How To Become More Than Friends: A Guide In Five Easy Steps', Back Cover Description Twilight Sparkle usually had pretty uneventful nights. The Golden Oaks Library was—to Twilight's chagrin—rarely frequented even in the daytime, let alone at night. And Spike, as a heavy sleeper, hadn't accidentally woken her up ever since he learned to control his fire breath in his sleep, a skill that Princess Celestia had insisted the dragon should obtain after the immortal ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Sun got quite tired of waking up covered in various household utensils and, in one very unfortunate instance, Twilight Sparkle. Most importantly though, as her friends had found out the hard way, Twilight was, to put it mildly, quite grumpy if she was awoken before she had gotten her self-allotted optimal amount of sleep. And nopony that knew her was willing to risk facing the probably most magically gifted unicorn of recent memory in a mood that could politely be described as stark raving mad. So, when the librarian was awoken by the sound of a bookshelf toppling over at about one in the morning, she stayed calm, got out of bed, and went to investigate the source of the commotion. The high-powered stun missile spell she was preparing was just a safety measure, really. When Twilight arrived in the main part of the library, she first cast a lighting spell, leaving the hall of books only illuminated enough to barely make out shapes. She saw pretty much exactly what she had expected to see: A bookshelf had fallen over, its precious, knowledge-filled content spilled on the floor. It was clear to see that the fall had not been kind to those books. Most of them would surely suffer at least a minor case of dog-earing, and some of them even seemed to have not only their cover, but also the actual pages scratched and in some instances even torn. Twilight, just for additional safety, powered up her stun spell from 'knock out cold' to 'this is supposed to be a stun spell, you know'. The bookshelf was not the only thing she saw, however. Badly hidden behind one of her reading pedestals, she could make out the shape of a pony. Ah... The culprit. Twilight spoke up in a voice that carried enough ice to reanimate a dying glacier. “I know you're there, whoever you are. You have five seconds to think of an explanation of why you're here, or I'm going to give you about ten more hours of deep sleep to think of one. Your choice.” The figure behind the pedestal didn't move an inch. A small bit of satisfaction crept onto Twilight's face. “You want it the hard way? Fine with me.” She began counting. “One. Two. Three. Four. Fi—" “Alright, alright, you got me!” The so-far concealed pony in question jumped out behind her cover, revealing itself to Twilight. “R-Rainbow Dash?” As soon as Twilight realized who the intruder was, her anger disappeared, to be replaced by confusion. Why is Rainbow Dash invading my home in the middle of the night? As she thought that, her cheeks flushed a little. No, that definitely isn't it. Focus, Twilight! This isn't the time for that! “Uh... excuse me, but... what the hay are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash fidgeted a bit. “Uh, well, you know, I was... looking for a book!” Twilight raised her eyebrows. “At one in the morning?” There was no answer from Dash for a while as she thought of what to say. “Uh... Oh! Yeah, I just remembered before going to sleep that I have to get this book for a friend by tomorrow, so I felt really bad, and I wanted to get it as fast as possible! Oh, and I didn't want to wake you up, so I just let myself in.” This rather lousy excuse of an excuse brought up more questions than it answered, and Twilight asked one of the more obvious ones. “Why do you have to get this book by tomorrow?” Dash thought again, then perked up. “Oh, it's my friend's birthday!” “Really? Who is it? I don't know of any of our friends having their birthday tomorrow.” “Uhm, you don't know her. She, uh, lives in Cloudsdale.” “And you're borrowing this book from the library, so you're gonna have to take your gift away within a week of you giving it to her unless you want her to pay library fees.” “Well, uh... She's a fast reader.” Twilight put her hooves to her temples, slowly massaging them. While she was precisely aware that the story that Rainbow gave her was horseapples, she had decided that while she usually loved to talk to all of her friends, and especially Dash, time spent trying to find out the truth right now was time not spent towards her planned optimum of eight hours of sleep. “Alright, whatever. Just show me which book you want to borrow so I can make an entry in the library files.” Rainbow smiled at her thankfully, then dove toward the scattered mass of books lying on the ground. While Rainbow was searching for her book, Twilight checked to see which section the shelf that had been knocked over was in. The self-help section? What could Dash possibly want from there? The mare in question rummaged around a bit, picked up a book, then showed the cover to Twilight. She read the title of the book out loud. “'Your Horn and You: 101 Magic Tricks For Unicorns'?” Rainbow fumbled with her hooves again. “Uh... yeah?” Twilight was about to respond how little sense that made, but instead gave a sigh. “You know what? Never mind. Just take the book.” Her friend looked genuinely relieved as she responded. “Thanks, Twi! You're the best!” And with that, she made her way to the door, leaving the library with the book still in her mouth. Twilight gave another sigh. I'm gonna have to figure out what Rainbow really wants to do with that book. But not now. Tomorrow. For now, I should probably get this bookshelf back in order so I can go to bed. The librarian used her magic to lift up the case, then began quickly sorting the fallen books back into their intended positions. As Twilight knew the contents of the self-help section by heart, having read every single book in there at least twice, the sorting took only about a minute. When she was done, however, she noticed something odd. There was a book missing. That was, other than the one that Rainbow had borrowed. Right between 'How To Avoid Being Mauled By Sharks' and 'How To Conceal Deadly Weaponry From The Shark Police', there was a gap. She knew exactly which book usually filled that gap, as it was of special interest to her. Curious... I know that book was there when I went to bed. Then it struck her. Rainbow Dash! She must have taken that book as well, hidden inside the other one! That answered the question of what Dash had wanted with that first book. However, the nature of the second book had Twilight even more puzzled. Its title was 'How To Become More Than Friends - A Guide In Five Easy Steps'. Why does Rainbow Dash want that specific book? And why was she trying to hide from me that she got it? She began to think. Twilight Sparkle was known throughout all of Equestria as one of the most brilliant analytical minds alive. She was gifted with a keen sense of observation, and a knack to rationally deduce correct conclusions from the given circumstances and outcomes. Most importantly, though, was her ethical integrity that allowed her to stay completely objective and impartial when reaching her conclusions. It should be noted, however, that said objectivity had not yet been tested when the subject matter was her own love life. Thusly, her thesis regarding the recent events with Rainbow Dash reached the final stages of publishing within her head. There was absolutely no other conclusion than the one she had come to. Yes, there was only one logical explanation for Dash's behavior. Rainbow Dash has a crush on me, too! Her blushing and giggling like a little filly were completely unrelated to the result she had reached. Twilight's rational part of her brain gave herself a few more seconds of feeling giddy before it reminded her that as she hadn't even had any dates so far, she had absolutely no idea what the given protocol in this situation was. And that thought terrified her. Oh no! Rainbow Dash has a crush on me, too! There's nothing in the self-help section about somepony having a crush on you! I have no idea what she's going to do! Or what I'm going to do! And if I don't know what to do, Rainbow Dash will hate me! And I'm going to lose her as a friend! And the others won't want to be friends with somepony who broke the heart of another friend! And then I won't be able to study friendship anymore and Princess Celestia will banish me and I'm going to live the rest of my life as an outcast without any friends! As her train of thought had finished derailing and violently crashing and burning, Twilight had reached one hundred percent certainty that she needed to find out as much as she could about dating and romance so that the events portrayed in her head would not come to pass, which they surely would if immediate action was not taken. Luckily for her, though, she knew an expert on the subject, somepony who was sure to know exactly what was to be done in a situation such as this. Yes, Rarity would definitely know what to do. Twilight made a mental note to get to Rarity's boutique first thing in the morning to discuss the modus operandi of romantic relationships. She then made an actual note with the same content, which she put on her desk. Then, she made another note reminding her that she had a note on her desk, which she put on her nightstand. After that, she made a third note reminding her that there was a note on the nightstand. After a brief period of thinking of sensible places to put the third note, she pinned it to her horn. As opposed to Twilight, Spike did not in particular care about the pinpointed amount of sleep he got, as long as he wasn't woken up. With Twilight's habit of getting up at exactly eight in the morning and zero seconds, however, not being woken up usually meant being awake before that, which kind of defeated the whole point. This day, however, he was lucky enough to not be awoken at all. When he got out of bed at about nine, he soon found out why. Spike rolled his eyes and picked up the note that Twilight had left on his nightstand reminding him that she had put a note on his door. The latter one read, in Twilight's perfect lettering: “Gone for the morning. Will be home around lunch time. Left you a list with chores on my desk.” Spike was a bit grumpy when he walked up the stairs to Twilight's room. Of course, just go wherever and leave the housework to me. And would it hurt her to give me a 'Please'? But Spike couldn't stay mad for long. He knew that Twilight just didn't think about things like that, and that she loved him like a brother even if she didn't let it show very often. And she knew that he felt the same way about her. They were family, and there was almost nothing that could get between family. As he arrived at Twilight's desk, Spike picked up the list of chores, read it, and grinned. The tasks he was given would only take about an hour, and if he got them done soon, he would have about two hours of free time until Twilight came back, which he intended to fill with reading as many comic books as possible. Intending to get started ticking off the chores as soon as possible, Spike searched the desk for a pen to take with him. However, as he looked across the table, he saw another one of Twilight's notes. Curious, Spike reached for it, and read. It said “To do: Talk to Rarity about possible romantic relationship.” At nine in the morning, Carousel Boutique was still closed, as it always was. While Rarity was an early riser and usually already awake for an hour or two at that time, she preferred to have the early morning hours to herself. At this time of day, when the morning birds were singing and the sun began its daily trip around the globe, the fashionista found herself to be at her most creative. Every day until around ten, when she opened the Boutique to the public, she was in her work room, visualizing, conceptualizing, sketching designs for dresses, but never actually beginning to fabricate them. During this period, she laid out what she was going to do for the day, how she was going to fulfill the wishes her customers had voiced to her, and how she could give each of the dresses she was going to make today the best possible look that would not only be a great standalone design, but also complement the pony that she was making the dress for. It was the most important part of her day, and she didn't like being interrupted during it at all. So, when she heard a knock on the door while she was finishing a particularly challenging sketch for a summer dress, she gave an annoyed huff before raising her voice to address the unknown pony outside. “Terribly sorry, but the Boutique is still closed. I'm fairly certain that the rather impressively sized 'Closed' sign I hung up could tell you the same thing. Oh, maybe you didn't read that one because you were so distracted by the other sign. You know, the one that reads 'Do not disturb'? Whatever the cause, I would very much appreciate it if you were to come back during opening hours. You should be able to gather those from the sign labeled 'opening hours,' but just to be safe, that means in an hour from now. Oh, and just so I can look forward to your company later in the day, who are you?” From outside, a familiar voice responded to her tirade. “Uhm, it's Twilight. I wanted to talk to you about a problem I have, but I can come back later if you don't have time right now. Sorry for disturbing you.” Rarity bit her lip, dropped her sketching pencil, and began walking to the door. “Oh, I am quite sorry darling. The last few times somepony knocked here this early, it was because they think themselves too important for opening times, so I was expecting somepony from that category. I always have time for a friend in need, though.” She had arrived at the door and opened it. “So, what is it that you wanted to -” Rarity then stopped and wrinkled her brows. “Excuse me, Twilight, but why do you have a piece of paper pinned to your horn?” Twilight rolled her eyes all the way upward and could just make out the edges of the note she had stuck to her horn. “Oh. Well, that explains the looks I've been getting on the way here...” Blushing slightly, she levitated the paper off her horn before crumbling it and throwing it in a nearby trashcan. “Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I have a huge problem on my hooves, and you're the only pony I know that can possibly help me.” Rarity gave Twilight a concerned look. “Oh dear, that sounds serious! I will of course do everything in my power to help you. Though, what problem could it be that only I can help you with it?” “Well, you see...” Twilight inhaled as much air as her lungs could intake, and her poorly held back inner panic was released along with it as she spoke almost too fast to understand. “Rainbow Dash has a crush on me and I've never even been on a date and that means I don't know what to do and if I don't know what to do I'll mess everything up and that will make Dash hate me and then everypony will hate me and I'll die lonely and friendless!” Rarity waited for Twilight to regain her breath after finishing all of that within a single intake of air, which also gave her time to regain her composure after what she had just heard. “Now, I can't say I understood any of that apart from your opening statement. That, however, seemed quite important to me, so I would like you to repeat it to make sure I heard correctly. You were saying that Rainbow Dash has a crush on you?” Twilight nodded, still frantic. “Yes, and that means everypony will hate me because—” Rarity lifted a hoof. “Stop! First of all, calm down. Everything is fine, nopony is going to hate you, and you'll always have your friends around no matter what. I'm here to help you, Twilight.” With a encouraging look to Twilight, she lifted a hoof to her chest while breathing in, then breathed out while extending her hoof. Twilight's heavy breathing slowed down, and after a few seconds she repeated the gesture. She then gave Rarity a small smile. “Thanks for that. I guess I just panicked.” “Don't mention it, dear. Now, we have quite a bit to talk about. First of all, why do you believe that Rainbow has a crush on you?” “Well, it's pretty obvious. Yesterday night there was a break-in at the library, and Dash knocked over a bookshelf, which was quite suspicious because why would she even need a book from that section, right? Anyway, she borrowed a book, but that wasn't actually the book she wanted, just a cover story—hah, did you see what I did there? Well, after she was gone, I noticed that the book she really wanted was missing, so she must have taken that, and she didn't want me to know about it! So that means that Rainbow must have a crush on me. Obvious, right?” Rarity blinked. Then she blinked again. Then she slowly opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, then closed it again. Then she gestured with her hooves trying visualize what Twilight had just spoken. Then she gave up. “Yes, ahem, obvious. But, just so I'm sure I didn't miss anything, could you please tell me all that again? And, please, make sure to include even the minutest of detail this time, no matter how irrelevant they may seem to you.” “Well, I don't see why, but sure, if it helps.” Twilight then proceeded to give a recap of the events of the following evening that was understandable by a pony that wasn't psychic or Pinkie Pie. After Twilight had finished, Rarity responded thoughtfully. “Hmm. So, you think that Rainbow Dash wanted to take this book, 'How To Become More Than Friends', from the library without you knowing about it so that she could court you using the methods detailed in said book?” “Yes, of course! There's no other explanation, is there?” “Hmmm.” Rarity tapped her chin with her hooves. “Well, it does seem like Rainbow Dash has a crush on one of her friends, yes.” Twilight furrowed her brows. “What do you mean, one of her friends?” “Well, I'm not trying to step on any hooves here, but... what makes you so certain that you are that specific friend in question?” “Really, Rarity? Come on, she specifically hid the book from me! Why else would she do that?” Twilight tried to keep a composed tone while she said this, but it was clear that Rarity had indeed trampled on some horseshoes there. Rarity could think of a few reasons, mostly concerning how Rainbow Dash hadn't wanted anypony to know that she did something as uncool as reading before, and that she definitely wouldn't want ponies to know that she was doing something as uncool as reading self-help books about romance. But, seeing the hurt look in the eyes of her friend made her hold her tongue. “Ahem, I can't think of anything right now.” Twilight immediately shook the sadness from herself. “See? She has to have a crush on me!” “It is quite likely, yes. All I ask is that as you are clearly infatuated with her, you don't set up expectations in your head that might not come to pass.” Twilight waved her off. “Sure, sure.” Then she realized what Rarity had just said. “Wait, how do you know that I... Uh, I mean, what makes you say that I'm infatuated with Rainbow?” Rarity giggled. “I'm quite confident in my ability to judge the feelings of a pony, and I'm certain that if you did not have any romantic feelings towards Rainbow, you wouldn't have been quite as flustered about this whole situation. Also, you just pretty much confirmed my hunch with your response.” Having been pointed out like that, there was little left to do for Twilight but concede. With a blush, she answered, “Uhm, okay, you're right. I... do have a crush on Rainbow.” She then looked at Rarity pleadingly. “Which is why I need your help! I don't know the first thing about dating and romance, and I want to do the right things! You're an expert in the field, and that's why I've come for your advice!” Rarity shuffled her hooves. “Well, I don't know about being an expert in the field...” In fact, aside from a few dates and short-term relationships, Rarity's knowledge about romance came mostly from the dollar bin at the local bookshop. “But, I am always willing to help as best I can.” Twilight gave her an appreciating smile. Rarity continued: “Now, you want me to give you advice on what to do next, correct?” Twilight nodded. “Okay. Now, to start, considering that if Rainbow were to make a move on you, she would be using the methods detailed in the book that she borrowed, so the first thing we need to do is get ourselves a hold of a copy.” As if she had just remembered it, Twilight pulled something out of her saddlebags. “Oh, right! That won't be a problem, I have my personal copy right here with me!” Rarity lifted an eyebrow. "Personal copy, huh?" Twilight blushed. Rarity giggled. Twilight blew a raspberry at Rarity, then giggled as well. And that was that. “Anyway,” Rarity continued, “that's good news! We will know exactly what to look for!” With a qestioning look on her face, Twilight asked, “We?” “Well of course, darling! I'm not going to let a friend of mine go into the battlefield of love without a confidante! Don't you worry, I will be with you the whole way to help and support you. That's what friends are for, is it not?” Approximately 1.618 seconds later, Rarity found herself to be quite hugged by a teary-eyed Twilight. “Oh, thank you! That means a lot to me. This whole romance thing is so intimidating, but with you by my side, I'm sure I'll be able to handle it.” Rarity patted Twilight on the back gently. “Oh, don't mention it. I'm sure you would do the same for me. That is, if the problem I was having had something to do with biology. Or chemistry. Or, uhm, bibliography.” That got a giggle out of Twilight as she removed herself from the hug. “I'm pretty sure that word doesn't mean what you think it means, but yes. I would.” After a brief appreciative smile from Rarity, she went back to business. “So, tell me. What exactly does the book instruct the suitor to do?” And then Twilight told her. When Twilight returned to the library, she noticed that it was already half past noon. Shoot! I told Spike I'd be back in time for lunch! She bit her lip. I hope he isn't mad at me. As she went inside, she called out to him. “Spike? Spihike?” No response came. Curious... He's usually so fast to welcome me. I'd better go look for him. She went around the library, to the kitchen, the bath, the cellar, her own room, constantly and increasingly worriedly calling out to her de facto brother. She finally found him on the astronomy balcony on top of the tree that made up the library, surrounded by comic books and empty tubs of ice cream. “Spike! There you are! Why didn't you answer me? I'm sure you must have heard me.” Spike looked up with disinterest from the comic book he was reading. “Eh. Didn't feel like it.” “Err... what?” Oh, he must be miffed because I didn't come back in time for lunch. “You know, I'm sorry I'm late. I'll get right onto making dinner for us. How's that sound?” Spike gave a disinterested “eh” before getting back to reading his comic. What's with him? He's usually not this huffy. Maybe something about the chores I gave him? “Oh Spike, I hope that you weren't too busy with the housework I left you this morning. Did it take long?” “No,” he replied. “Didn't take long because I didn't do it.” “Huh?” He never shirks his chores! Sure, he complains, but just not doing them? “Spike, why didn't you?” “Didn't feel like that either.” What is going on with him? “Spike, you can't just not do your chores because you don't feel like it!” That finally got a reaction out of Spike. An angry one. “Oh, so now you are going to lecture me about feelings, huh? That's rich. Tell me, where did you go this morning?” Twilight was taken aback. I can't tell him what I talked to Rarity about! Quick, think of an excuse, think of an excuse... “Well, I had to help Fluttershy massage a bear! He was having terrible back problems.” Spike gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Well, how fitting. You seem to be quite capable of handling things behind the back of people. I'm gonna go out for a while. Bye.” And with that, he made his way down the stairs. What was that all about? He's never like this. What did I do? But no answer came to her. She sighed. I'm just gonna give him his space. I'm sure he's gonna talk about this when he's ready. Besides—and Twilight got a little flustered and excited at that thought—there are much happier things to think about. So she thought about what she had talked about with Rarity, what they had decided to do, and what would hopefully be the result. And while that result couldn't come soon enough to Twilight, for now, there was only one thing for her to do: Waiting. So wait she did.