Chapter 6: Inner Conflict
As Dash hastily flitted away from Twilight's house, she smacked herself with her hoof. "C'mon, Rainbow Dash!" She said to herself. "You can't be falling for a stallion now... Especially one you just barely met..."
"But his voice..." Another voice inside of her head retorted. "And his long natural brown mane..."
"No!" She said aloud, narrowly, missing a tree. "No, I don't care if he's good looking or talented... I don't trust stallions as far as I can throw them!"
"There's something special about him..." Her inner voice sighed dreamily. "You can feel it, Dashie."
"Uh uh!" She shook her head. "Applejack seemed to take a shine to him anyway. I wouldn't even have a chance... I don't care anyway..."
"Yes you do... What about those golden apple eyes of his?"
"SHUT UP!" Dash roared as she accidentally lost altitude and slammed into somepony.
"GAH! Rainbow Dash!" An elegant female slightly British voice reprimanded. "What in Equestria are you doing?"
"Oh...heh...sorry, Rarity." Dash picked herself off a white unicorn with a long styled purple mane. "I was just heading home from Twilight's..."
"Apparently not looking where you were going didn't seem like a priority. At least, when you were talking to yourself." Rarity said, brushing herself off and using magic to clean up the box of dresses Dash had spilled.
Dash widened her eyes, "You... I wasn't talking to myself! I'm fine!"
"Dashie, dear, even one as sophisticated as I can see you are a little at war with yourself about something that shouldn't concern me." Rarity said, levitating the box into her saddlebag. "But, as I am your friend, I do care. You seem deeply troubled..."
Rainbow Dash flared up. "I am not troubled by anything or anypony!"
Rarity narrowed her eyes, "Anypony?" And then she understood. "Oh!" She smiled. "Does Rainbow Dash, the hard-to-get mare of Ponyville have a stallion on her mind?"
Dash growled, "No! No I don't! You know I don't trust stallions!"
Rarity giggled, "Well, Dash, I didn't know you flew that way... Who's the lucky mare?"
Rainbow looked shocked. "What! Grrr... NO!" She stomped a hoof on the ground. "It's not like that, Rarity! Just..." She bowed her head. "Never mind... Sorry I bumped into you." Dash took off with her head bent and flew away towards her floating cloud dwelling with rainbows spilling out of it in a waterfall.
Rarity narrowed her eyes, "I will get to the bottom of this..." She said out loud. "And if anypony will know what's wrong, it'll be Twilight."
With that, Rarity started off at a brisk trot towards the library.
Dan was lounging in a guest bedroom that Twilight had created with her magic in her basement where all her science stuff was. She stored it all in a closet and produced a queen-sized bed for him to sleep on for the time being. He was laying down reading a book called, "A History of Equestria, Vol. II." "Might as well get to know the place I'll be in for awhile..." he muttered, flipping through it with his hooves, which, to his surprise, could grab and pick up things just as well as human hands.
Through his half-an-hour reading session, he learned why the two Princesses don't battle for power...well, anymore that is. What astonished him the most was that Twilight and her friends were heroes, saving this world not once, but twice, from Nightmare Moon, or Luna, and Discord, a weird combination creature that dwelled on chaos and disharmony. "Using the elements of harmony..." he read aloud. "The unicorn Twilight Sparkle and her friends AppleJack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash... Hey, Rainbow Dash was involved in this..." He paused, looking over at a picture of a stained glass window that showed the six defeating Discord. "They saved Equestria yet again from a never ending nightmare of chaos."
Dan slammed the book shut, "That's interesting." He slowly slid off the bed and trotted up the stairs to converse with Twilight some more about where he could obtain some musical instruments. "Who knew there would be devilishly evil villains in a world like this?"
He opened the door and stopped when he saw another mare was in the room with her. A white unicorn. Dan paused. "Ah, you must be Rarity, the fashion designer."
Rarity rose an eye at him, "Ah, so Twilight has told you of me?"
"No, she gave me a book." Dan shrugged.
Rarity giggled, "How typical, Twilight. Letting a book do the talking for you."
Twilight coughed dryly, "Anyway, Rarity, this is Blue Bass. Ace, for short. He's moving here to Ponyville soon and I'm arranging him temporary living space downstairs."
Rarity thought for a minute, "I see... Um, Mr. Bass? Could you-"
Dan rose a hoof, "Please, Miss Rarity. Call me Ace." He smiled.
Rarity sighed, "Okay, Ace. Could you leave the room for a moment? I have a private matter I'd like to discuss with Twilight."
Dan waved a hoof as he walked across to the kitchen. "No prob. I was just gonna go get a glass of water before bed, anyway." Before he entered, he stuck his head out and said to Twilight, "Let me know when you're...fillytalk...is over." "Nice."
Both of the mares giggled slightly, and Dan disappeared into the kitchen.
"Charming isn't he?" Twilight said, glancing back to make sure the kitchen door was shut. "Okay, Rarity, so what's up?"
"It's Rainbow Dash." Rarity said, taking on a tone of overall seriousness. "She charged headlong into me without so much as a sideways glance at where she was going. And she was rambling on to herself as well, like she was having some kind of inner battle with herself."
"I noticed her different behavior alright..." Twilight said, making her notebook float in front of her face, flipping through the pages. "This is the first she's ever been concerned with what somepony else thinks about her, let alone a stallion she's just barely met."
"Really?" Rarity said dryly. "THAT'S what gets to you? The excessive shuddering, her slapping of herself, her running INTO ME!" Rarity paused when she realized she was yelling and quickly looked over to see if Dan didn't come in.
Twilight shook her head, "She showed up with Ace, and now she's all crazy around him."
Rarity smiled, "I think we might be onto something, dear Twilight. This may sound incredibly ridiculous, but I think she might be interested in your friend Mr. Bass."
Twilight scoffed, "She barely even knows Ace. No pony knows him right now. I still find it fishy that Celestia found it fit to actually send me a letter via Spike telling me of his arrival." She flipped through her notes some more, growling in frustration when she came up with nothing.
"She obviously finds something about the stallion special." Rarity sighed. "She was acting just the way I did when I had that little crush on the Prince."
Twilight hissed, "Ooooh, yeah. That didn't end well."
"Don't. Remind me." Rarity murmured.
"I'll look into it as soon as Ace gets settled in." Twilight muttered, opening the door magically for Rarity. "Good night, Rarity."
"Please do something about it." Rarity said as she got up and left. "I worry for the poor mare."