"So, there I was..." Twilight started. Everypony leaned in to hear the story better. Everypony but Rainbow, that is, who was slouched in her chair, blushing, for she was embarrassed that Twilight was telling this story to her friends. Twilight continued, "...Reading Equestria: A History By JKPon3 in the library about a month and a half ago. It's a really amazing book, with the complete history of how the war started between the two sisters, how each of them came to have power over a celestial body, and it even has information on-"
She was cut short by Rarity, almost screaming into her ear, "Darling, I know that you love to read, but can we get back to the story? I have some dresses I need to finish. Not that I don't want to hear the story, but could you hurry it up a bit? Thanks."
"Uh... Oh! Of course, silly me. I just love that book so much... Anyways. So, while I was reading, I heard a knock at the door. I went and opened the door, but I didn't see anypony. I shrugged to myself and thought it might've been an acorn from the tree falling and hitting the door. I turned around and there was Rainbow Dash, sitting there with a fiendish smile on her face.”
“And then she leaned in and kissed you and you instantly fell in love!” Pinkie exclaimed with a little squeak.
“No, darling, love doesn’t work that quickly… Right, Twilight?” Rarity replied.
“Yes… But something sort of like that happened…” Twilight sheepishly said.
“What, honey? What happened? I want to know!” Rarity asked.
“Well, Rainbow was sitting there with that fiendish smile of hers on her face, and I was a bit scared at that point, and so I asked her “How the heck did you get in here?’ and she replied with a small smile and an ‘I dunno.’ To this day, I still have never figured out how she got in. ‘So, forgetting the fact that you just appeared inside my doorway, why did you come over?’ I asked her. ‘I came here to… umm… borrow a book! Yes, that’s it, I came to borrow a book.’ She stuttered that part out.” Twilight said, as her marefriend blushed.
“I seriously think that you need to get that checked out by the way, your stuttering is driving me crazy these days, hon.” Twilight said to Rainbow.
“Yea, yea, yea. I will. Maybe.” Replied Dash, tiredly. She was curled up, her head resting on her flanks, not unlike a cat.
“Okay, then. Back to the story.” Twilight continued. “So, there we were, in the doorway, and I said, ‘Well, let’s get a book for you then. What would you like to read? Adventure? Romance?’ She stopped me short there and immediately asked, ‘Do you have a combination of the two?’
‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘It’s one of the Daring Do’s, actually. I remember you quite liking that series… Yes, you got interested in it at the hospital, right? When you were-’ Rainbow Dash cut me off. ‘Yea, yea. Can I see it now? Please?’” At this point, Twilight had all of her friends riveted by her story, and she decided to embarrass Rainbow a little bit more. “Rainbow had the cutest smile on,” Twilight started, “And I could tell that she was eager to read the book. She really has gotten into reading, hasn’t she?”
Her friends giggled. Dash blushed.
“Oh, of course, I thought that y’all had filed reading as a hmm… let me see… ‘Egghead Thing?’” Applejack joked.
“Whatever. Reading is cool. Plus, it’s how we got together.” Rainbow replied with as much dignity and ego as she could muster.
Twilight smiled as she remembered.
“I don’t mean to interrupt your daydream, Darling, but can we get back to the story now? I really need to go soon.” Rarity exclaimed, exasperated.
“Of course,” Replied the purple alicorn. “I seem to be getting easily sidetracked.” She blushed, and looked away, sheepishly. “At this point, the sun was just going down over the horizon. I went and grabbed the Daring Do book off the shelf. there was a very thin layer of dust on it, and I puffed and the dust flew off, making me sneeze. ‘Got it!’ I yelled to Dash. I walked in and she was laying on the floor on her belly, under a blanket. ‘Come on in.’ I just stared at her. For one of the first times, actually, I think it was the seventh time, but anyways, I didn’t know what to say. I was completely flustered at why Rainbow had just asked me to crawl under a blanket with her to read a book. I was actually a bit scared. ‘Uh… I… I thought that you wanted to borrow a book. Borrowing is where you take the book and then leave.’ She looked down at her hooves. ‘Well, I thought, maybe, I could read here instead.’ I was completely flustered by this, but I thought to myself, ”What’s the harm? she wants to read a book here, and she can, it’s not against the rules.” I said to dash, ‘Okay, but you’ll need a light if you want to read.’ Her face fell at this. ‘Oh, yeah. I guess I’ll have to go back to my house, then.’ For some reason, I didn’t want her to leave. ‘No, it’s okay, I’ll go get a lantern.’ I trotted up the stairs and got a lantern, but I didn’t light it. I wasn’t sure why, but I just brought the lantern down. The cyan pegasus was still laying patiently on the floor under the light blue blanket. I decided, ”What’s the harm? She’s just trying to keep warm.” So, I bent down then laid on by belly, and snuggled under the blanket with Rainbow, her prismatic mane tickling my shoulders. I gave her the book, and she opened it. She didn’t start reading. I was confused at this, and asked, ‘What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to read the book.’ She replied, without looking at me, ‘Yeah, well, I thought… maybe… you could read it to me. You know, because you’re a really good reader.’ Then she looked up at me. She had her undeniable puppy-dog eyes on. I couldn’t say no to those eyes, and I still can’t to this day.”
“That’ll come in handy later, won’t it, Dashie?” Pinkie exclaimed. “You could use that for… Oooh! You could use that for getting people to do what you want!”
“I think she knows that, dear.” Rarity said with a grimace that conveyed she was in one of her ‘Ugh...’ moods. “Can we get on with it? I REALLY need to get back to working on my dresses. Fancy Pants himself has asked me to do a dress for his wife for the upcoming wedding. I wonder who’s getting married? Anyways, back to the story, Twilight.”
“Okay, then,” Continued the purple mare. “So, we were laying there under the blanket and Dash had just asked me to read the story to her. And so I did. We got to chapter three that night, and I looked over at Rainbow and she was just about to drift off to sleep. I decided that it would be rude to wake her up, so I slipped out from under the blanket, and went to sleep.”
“Wait just a rock-farming minute here!” Pinkie half-screamed. “Where’s Spike? Wouldn’t he be tending to you two?”
“Oh, you don’t know?” Asked Twilight. “He was doing such a good job, so I sent him to have a vacation at Canterlot Regal Suites. I told him he could come back when he was ready, and that his vacation is paid in full. He must not be ready yet, because, as you may see, he isn’t here.”
“Back to the story, Twilight! Please!” Rarity said, exasperated.
“Fine. No more interruptions, then, from any of you! Got it?” Twilight asked the group at large.
They all nodded their heads.
“Okey-Dokey-Lokey!” Pinkie agreed. She grinned broadly.
“So, I woke up the next day, feeling happy. I wasn’t sure why, until I trotted down the stairs, and I saw Rainbow laying there on the floor, the blanket still covering her cyan fur. So, we continued like that for a week or so, reading at night, Rainbow sleeping over, and it went pretty well. We finished the Daring Do book, and so I went over to the adventure section to pick out a book the next night. ‘No!’ Rainbow said so forcefully that I stopped right in my tracks, not daring to move even an inch. ‘I mean, I don’t want to read an adventure book.’ Rainbow said, sheepishly. I thought that I had heard her wrong. ‘What do you mean? That’s the only kind of book that you’ve ever checked out.’ I replied, surprised. It turns out that she wanted to read a Romance novel. Yes, that’s right, a Romance novel.” She repeated at the looks of surprise on her friends’ faces.
“So, I picked a romance novel out and I walked back into the living room, where we usually read.” Twilight continued her story. Her friends were all leaning in now, holding on to her every word. “She didn’t have the blue blanket out this time, in fact, she didn’t have any blanket at all on. She was just laying there, looking at me. Something clicked in my head. It was then that I realized that she was into me. The way that she looked at me, with longing, hope, and admiration, I knew, at that exact moment, that Rainbow Dash was in love with me. Of all of the mares in Equestria, me. I decided to keep it from her that I knew. I trotted over and sat laid down next to her, lit the lantern, and started to read. This continued for another week, until one night she said that she had to go to the bathroom. She got up and left, and I was left to my thoughts. ”How long will this last? How long will it take for her to ask me-” She woke me from my thinking when she trotted into the room. ‘You’re back?’ I asked her. ‘That was quick.’ ‘Yeah,’ She agreed. ‘Turns out that I didn’t really have to go in the first place.’ She trotted over to me. I started reading again. By this time, she had reached me. She stretched, her wings flapping all the way out, then she let go of the stretch. Her wing came down on me, and it startled me. I looked over at the cyan pegasus, and she looked over at me at the same time. She blushed, then leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. She withdrew, and blinked. I was startled. I thought I didn't know what to do. But, in some recess of my mind, I actually knew just what I needed to do."
“I kissed her back.”
At those four words, all of her friends smiled, happy that it had, in fact worked out. In Rarity’s case, she looked relieved, for she knew that the end of the story was near, and she could soon get back to her work. She wanted to stick around for the finish, though.
“I pulled away,” Twilight continued, “But Dash wouldn’t let me. She kissed me full on the lips, and I have to say, she’s actually really good at it. We stood there, kissing each other. Rarity, you were right when you said that your first kiss feels like it goes on forever. I needed to break the kiss for air, but I couldn’t. I was just so immersed in the beauty of it. So, there you have it. That’s how we got interested in each other. We went on some other dates, but that was how we first got together. And I love her with all of my heart.” Twilight concluded.