Twilight was woken up from blissful silence by the thunderous sound of hooves banging on her front door.
Yawning, Twilight threw her blanket off of herself and drank a sip of water, from the cup she had on a nearby table, then started trotting towards the door.
Agitated at being woken from her slumber, Twilight frowned as she opened the door "Do you know how early it is? I-" her sentence was cut short when she noticed who was at the door.
"Cadence! Your here!" Twilight exclaimed, bringing the pink alicorn in front of her in for a hug.
Cadence laughed at her sister-in-law's change of face, "Of course. I knew I had to get here quickly before you embarrassed yourself."
Twilight broke the hug, blushing lightly "Yeah, I might've already done that..." She shook her head "That aside, what can you do to cure me?"
"Why, I'm doing fine, thank you." Cadence sarcastically said "Thanks for asking!"
Twilight blushed "Sorry, it's just that I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."
Cadence nodded "Well, first I need to assess your symptoms. After that we can work out a cure, and maybe have lunch and catch up?" She leaned in, "It can get a little boring ruling over a kingdom, and I'd like a change of pace." she whispered.
Twilight grinned "Sounds great. Come on in!" She beckoned with her hoof. She and Cadence entered the library and tried to walk as quietly as they could towards her room, as to not wake up Rarity or Spike.
Once they were sure their voices wouldn't wake anypony, Cadence started talking.
"Alright, I'm no potions expert. But, I do know a little about love." She looked at Twilight "And while I can't magically cure you, I do know a spell that can tell me how badly you've got it. We can work out the specifics after that" Cadence closed her eyes, and her horn started to glow.
"This may tickle a little." She said, and Twilight stood quietly looking back and forth between Cadence and herself. After a few seconds, Cadence's eyes opened and she frowned.
"There's definitely something messing with your head." She raised an eyebrow "But I'm not sure why you'd be affected this badly, it barely looks like there's anything affecting you."
Twilight frowned "But, I'm sure I drank a good amount of the poison!"
"I'm sure you did, but now it seems as if the effects are wearing off." She frowned, "but that's not the weird part."
Twilight shook her head "So, the poison just washed out of my system?" The corners of her mouth twitched upwards, before she resumed her slightly panicked expression "Wait, 'weird'? What do you mean?! Is something wrong?! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"
Cadence backed away slightly at Twilight's outburst "What? No. You're not going to die, I swear." Shaking her head, Cadence wrapped a hoof around Twilight "Listen, I've run into this problem before."
"Really? You've helped other ponies who've drank love poison." Twilight asked curiously.
Cadence's face darkened "Poison, and very well made love potions. Unfortunately not many of them drank them by accident." She smiled lightly "So I've been offering my talents at various hospitals in the Crystal Empire, whenever somepony is brought in and is exhibiting symptoms."
"Occasionally, somepony may exhibit the effects of a powerful poison without having that much in their system, which at first was confusing. After all, how could somepony who hasn't had a heavy dosage feel the effects to that extent?"
Cadence sighed, with a slightly amused look on her face "Well, after some research I realized why..."
***
Rarity was finally torn away from sleep by a combination of voices and light. Rarity blearily blinked open her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. She was exhausted, and her blankets were so warm...maybe only a few more minutes.
Rarity rolled over and saw Spike, Twilight, and Princess Cadence. Yawning, Rarity closed her eyes and felt sleep once again beginning to take-
Cadence? CADENCE! Rarity shot up from her makeshift bed, in her haste getting caught up in the covers and falling onto the decidedly less warm and less soft, hardwood floor.
"Oh dear, are you okay?" Rarity looked up from the ground and saw the slightly worried expression of Cadence above. Rarity grabbed hold of the hoof being offered to her, and was pulled off of the floor.
"Thank you, Cadence. Sorry about that, I...got excited." Rarity coughed into her hoof. "Well, nice to see you again!" She smiled.
Cadence chuckled softly "Indeed it is. May I ask what excited you so much?"
"Oh, I was just hoping you had cured Twilight." Rarity simply stated, "Please tell me you have." She added, sounding slightly desperate.
Cadence's eyes darted to Twilight before finding their way back to Rarity "Well, mostly. She doesn't seem to be affected by the poison much anymore. It won't be much longer before she's completely fine."
"Really?" Rarity asked in disbelief, before turning to Twilight.
"I feel a lot better!" Twilight grinned "Sorry about everything, by the way. I might've gone a bit overboard."
"You were insane." Spike deadpanned.
Twilight lightly punched him as she walked over to Rarity, and brought her into a light hug "But yeah, I'm fine now."
"Are you sure?" Rarity asked.
Twilight simply nodded, although something seemed off. You're just imagining things, Rarity thought to herself. "Thank goodness, I was worried for a while."
Twilight stepped back from her friend with a large grin "Now that that's out of the way, does anyone else want something to eat for breakfast?"
Spike's stomach roared. Everypony's eyes were locked on the small dragon "What?" Spike held up his hands "I haven't eaten since last night!"
"I think that's a yes." Cadence chuckled following Rarity, Twilight, and Spike into the kitchen.
***
"So, Rarity." Cadence started "How has dressmaking been lately?"
Rarity grinned "Well, I just finished a huge order a few weeks ago for a wedding. Besides that I've only had my usual amount of orders, but I'm getting a good amount of exposure. So, it has been going very well lately."
"That's good to hear." Cadence nodded, and took a sip of her tea. She, Rarity, and Twilight were all sitting around the living room of Twilight's home. After a short lunch, Spike left to pick up an order at Sugarcube Corner, and it didn't seem like he was going to be back soon. It was quiet, and relaxing, and-
"Twilight!?" Sweetie Belle yelled as she burst through the front door of the library, gasping for breath.
"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity looked up from her tea, surprised.
"Hi sis." Sweetie Belle waved in her general direction, eyes fixed on Twilight "Miss Twilight, would you like to try some lemonade the Cutie Mark Crusaders and I made." She presented a small glass filled with "lemonade", or whatever monstrosity the CMC had created in attempt to make lemonade.
"No thanks, Sweetie Belle." Twilight politely declined "I just poured myself some tea, and I wouldn't want to waste it." Twilight closed her eyes and brought the cup to her lips with magic. That was close...thank goodness I had an excuse. Sweetie Belle's history with cooking was well known, and although it was only lemonade; it's best not to take life-threatening risks.
When she opened her eyes Sweetie Belle was inches away from her face, wearing her best "hurt puppy" expression "Please Miss Twilight! I feel awful for poisoning you, and I was hoping to make it up to you somehow."
Well, I don't want to be poisoned again...is what Twilight desperately wanted to say, but instead gave in "Alright. If you worked to make me some lemonade, it would be rude to not drink it..." She trailed off, taking the glass from a now beaming Sweetie Belle. Cadence looked at Twilight's apprehensive expression, and Rarity's frown and furrowed eyebrow.
Cadence leaned over to Rarity, and whispered "What's the matter? You two look like you're about to eat a bug or something."
Rarity slightly shook her head as Twilight lifted the glass to her mouth "I'm just sorry for what Twilight has to go through."
Cadence curiosity was piqued "Surely she can't be that bad at making lemonade."
Rarity let out a dry chuckle "I've seen her cooking, but I've never seen her making drinks. I'm just preparing for the worst."
Cadence looked back to Twilight with rapt attention "This is going to be good." She mischievously grinned.
Twilight downed half of the cup in one go, and for a second everypony was silent. Twilight looked at the liquid, then to Sweetie Belle. Then back to the cup.
"That's not lemonade" Twilight flatly stated, before putting the cup down. Her face was neutral, but on the inside she was trying not to spit it all out.
"Well, no." Sweetie Belle admitted "But did it work? How do you feel."
"I feel you should learn how to make lemonade." Twilight curtly responded "What exactly was that?"
Sweetie Belle gave a shrill burst of laughter "Oh, it was something meant to cure you."
"So, you thought the solution to the mess you made, by unknowingly putting potion in her drink...was to unknowingly put potion in her drink." Rarity shook her head "Sweetie Belle, I appreciate your attempt to make things better, but Cadence has already cured Twilight."
"Cad-" Sweetie Belle looked around the room, seemingly having not noticed the alicorn sitting next to her sister "P-Princess Cadence!?"
"Hello, Sweetie Belle." She waved. Cadence got up from the couch and trotted over to Sweetie Belle and the cup "So, you made a cure?"
Sweetie Belle nodded, with a determined expression "Yes, with some help from Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, I managed to make a cure."
Cadence, raising an eyebrow, picked up the glass with her own magic. She inspected the liquid in the cup, swished it around a bit, then drank the rest of the cure. She grimaced as she swallowed.
"Sure tasted like the cure for love poison." She cringed "Ugh, nothing tastes worst."
Twilight simply nodded.
"Wait...does that mean she made it correctly?" Rarity asked, shocked.
"Actually, it does." Cadence looked down at the filly before her "I'm not sure how, maybe it was skill, or plain dumb luck, but they managed to make a fairly effective cure for love poison." Cadence grinned "Sweetie Belle?"
"Yes?" Sweetie stopped looking at the ground and focused on the princess before her.
"That's very impressive..." Cadence patted Sweetie Belle on the head "I would've never expected for somepony so young to accomplish that."
"Really?" Sweetie blushed at the praise.
"Nonetheless, I said no more messing with potions." Rarity said stepping up towards her sister "So, I'll make sure to have an appropriate punishment for you in a little while." She turned towards Twilight, who was rubbing her stomach, and Cadence who still looked like she was cringing slightly.
"Well, I'll talk to you girls tomorrow. Goodbye Twilight, Cadence." They waved good-bye as Rarity escorted a pouting Sweetie Belle out of the library.
***
Twilight looked up at her ceiling. It must've been past midnight, or at least it felt so. The rest of the day had been fun. She and Cadence had caught up with each other, and made plans to visit the Crystal Empire in a few weeks. Rarity was going to take a small vacation in Canterlot, and would be leaving tomorrow morning.
Spike had been pretty quiet, but he didn't seem to want to talk about why. Twilight understood the feeling. Her thoughts kept returning to what Cadence said, and it didn't seem like burying her face into her pillow would get rid of them.
"A pony with a low dosage, but one with preexisting feelings for the pony they fall for will feel the effects of a very strong love potion or poison." Cadence had said, before giving her a small vial of something to help get the rest of the poison out of her system faster. After that Cadence had dropped the subject, although it was obvious she was curious.
Did I have feelings for Rarity? Twilight closed her eyes. Sure, we're great friends and we get along well. But...in love? Now that the effects had worn of, she no longer felt intense love for Rarity. I guess it was just the poison.
Do I have a crush on her? Is that it? Just something small that was amplified by the poison? This was confusing, and it didn't help that she was exhausted. Letting out a deep breath, she got up from her bed. I need a glass of water. As she was leaving her room, she noticed her notebook lying open on her desk.
Walking over to it, Twilight sat down and looked at the list she had made yesterday for almost a minute before she picked up a quill and slowly began to write.