"No."
"Awwwww," Scootaloo whined. "Why not?"
Rainbow Dash looked down to the orange filly from the could above her. "Because you're too young," she countered.
The young pegasus glared at her. "I'm almost seventeen."
"Still too young!"
The situation between the foal and her idol was clearly going nowhere.
The argument continued as Twilight noticed the iridescent mane from afar, and started to head in that direction. She could tell that the two were clearly arguing about something, but from this distance, she couldn't tell exactly what. And upon her approach, the situation still made no sense. "Hey girls! How are you doing!" she asked cordially.
Scootaloo just grunted while Rainbow said something along the lines of, "never been better."
The duo proceeded to shun each other for a few more moments before the crusader spoke up again.
"Please?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "For the hundredth time, Scoots, you're too young!" She waved her hooves around in exasperation.
"Too young for what?" Twilight asked, growing even more confused by the second.
For whatever reason, Scootaloo blushed while Rainbow got a smug grin on her face. "Scoots just asked me out on a date!"
All hopes of ever telling Rainbow her true feelings vanished in that instant. However, the alicorn's brain continued to analyze the scenario, and attempt to come up with a solution. I did not just psych myself up to do this only to have my hopes shattered in an instant... I need to think this over.
"Twi? You OK?" Rainbow Dash had cocked her head to the side, looking back as Twilight just stared at her with an almost empty look in her eyes.
"Wha- oh!" The lavender mare shook her head to clear her thoughts, and in the process, got an excellent idea. "Well, anyways, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over for some smoothies, Rainbow," she lied. "I've got some new ones I created and I wanted to test them out on you! Scootaloo can come too!" She put way too much effort into the smile following her "suggestion."
"Smoothies?" asked both of the pegasi. After a brief moments pause, they booth agreed, however they seemed a little confused as to why Twilight would make the trek all the way out here, just to get Rainbow to go and try some smoothies.
The cyan pegasus leapt from her cloud and floated gracefully to the ground, following as Twilight began to walk back towards the library, or as it were now, palace, with Scootaloo close behind her.
"How about we just give it a shot?" asked the little pegasus, her wings buzzing.
"NO!"
The trio arrived back at the Princess's residence, and Scootaloo, who had never seen the thing up close, was caught with the awe of glittering crystal spires, in the vague form of a tree. They entered the grand hallway, and turned off into a small study, which Twilight had somehow managed to furnish and mold exactly like the old Ponyville library. Rainbow normally paid close attention to everything, considered that every little thing in the sky could affect her flight, and she knew a copy when she saw one, but in this part of Twilight's castle, she really couldn't tell.
"Wow... you even got the shade of wood right..." muttered Rainbow, who was gawking at the replica. Unknowing to her, however, the former unicorn blushed at the comment.
"So, just come over here, and I'll get those smoothies ready!" Twilight led them off to an extruding vestibule which led into an almost perfect recreation of her former kitchen. At this point, Dash was just purely stunned.
The cyan and orange pegasi sat down at a round wooden table in the center of the room, while Twilight prepared a blender, hastily thinking up a concoction that she hoped would at least taste relatively good. Five minutes later, the roar of the blender had halted, and a thick, green sludge oozed into everpony's cups. Twilight took a first, tentative sip, and was shocked to discover that it actually tasted quite refreshing. She open her mouth to speak, but before she could even get her first word out, Rainbow spoke up.
"So, squirt? Why'd you wanna' go out with me in the first place?" questioned the cyan mare.
Scootaloo responded with a sigh. "I wanted to know if it was true," she spoke solemnly.
Dash took a sip of her smoothie. "If what was true?"
"That you tasted like rainbows."
Twilight's smoothie sprayed across Rainbow Dash's stunned face.
"I am so sorry!" cried the lavender mare immediately afterwards. "I just... I-"
Rainbow wiped the smoothie from her face. "Twi... it's alright." She attempted to calm the now-panicking mare. "Scootaloo, I think you should just drop the topic for, like, ever..."
Confused, the orange filly rose, and walked out of the replicated kitchen.
Turning back to Twilight, it appeared as if the lavender mare was going to have a heart-attack. Her face was flushed, and silent tears were streaming down her face.
"Twi, it's just a little juice," the pegasus tried to assure her.
However, the element of magic was not taking it too well. Suddenly, comprehension dawned on the alicorn's face, and she rushed to spawn some towels, and vigorously wiped the pegasus down. "Sorry! I'm sorry!" she said, her voice rising with panic.
"Twilight! What has gotten into you?" Rainbow didn't know whether or not she should be scared for her life, for the princess appeared to almost be in a maniacal state. Without any other way to think of calming her crazed friend down, Rainbow cautiously wrapped her legs around the lavender mare, holding her still. Twilight just seemed to sob harder as her magical grip on the towels failed, and they fell to the floor. "Please, Twi. Tell me what's wrong." Rainbow held her crush closer, and some sick part of her brain reveled in the moment of being so close to her.
After what felt like an eternity, Dash felt slight pressure against her breast, and realized that Twilight was trying to push away. She opened her forelegs, letting the mare escape her grasp.
"I-I'm sorry Rainbow," she sniffled.
"Twi... it was a smoothie. No big deal!" Rainbow put her hooves on the alicorn's shoulders, in an attempt to calm her down. Suddenly, without warning, Twilight lunged forward, and pressed her lips against Rainbow's.
The pegasi's eyes widened for a few moments, before they slowly shut, blocking out everything in the world except for the faint taste of lilac pressed against her lips.
After a few moments, or hours, whichever increment of time had passed, the two broke apart, and Twilight lowered her head into the cyan mare's chest, continuously mumbling, "I'm sorry Rainbow, I'm so, so sorry..." And Rainbow finally realized what she was actually apologizing for.
Twilight awoke submerged in a warm, fuzzy mass of light blue. She mumbled something incoherent and snuggled in closer to the blue mass. Suddenly, the "thing" moved and the lavender mare's eyes shot open. She slowly raised her head, and looked down at the peaceful face of Rainbow Dash, who was currently pressed up against Twilight, with a wing draped over her flank. She murmured in her sleep as she shifted again, pulling Twilight closer. Twilight did the only true logical thing she could think to do at the moment. She screamed. Loud.
Rainbow Dash bolted upwards the the ceiling, letting out a string of curses and shouts, waving her head around, trying to locate the offender. "Comere an' ah'll buck yer pony-ass right into-" she finally noticed Twilight, stiff as a plank in the bed, staring with wide eyes at her.
"R-Rainbow D-Dash..." she stuttered. "I'm sorry!"
Already? With the apologies? I just woke up! Rainbow floated down onto the bed, sitting next to Twilight, who somehow managed to make herself appear even more nervous. "Twi! It's alright. I don't care about the smoothie!" Even though she was pretty sure she knew that the mare in front of her wasn't apologizing specifically for that offense, she wanted to hear it from the source itself.
"It's... it's not the smoothie, Rainbow," the alicorn tried to explain. "Well, I mean, I am sorry about spitting it all over your face, but that's not the main reason I'm apologizing."
Rainbow continued to play dumb. "Then what is? I can't forgive you if I don't know what it is!"
Twilight fidgeted with her hooves, her brain practically screaming not to say the next three words, but her heart was slowly gaining triumph over her rationale. "I- I think I love you."
Nothing could have prepared Rainbow for those words. She had expected something along the lines of, "I didn't mean to kiss you!" or even something as far-out as "I accidentally spiked the smoothies and got drunk with three sips!" But never, "I love you." Rainbow had thought that Twilight's decision earlier in the week was final, and she made it blatantly clear that she didn't romantically like mares. She did mention that if it turned out she was wrong, she would go to Dash first, but Rainbow had expected that to be later, possibly years in the future, if she even came to that conclusion.
Twilight turned away suddenly, and began to cry, snapping her our of her stupor. Rainbow realized that her dumbfounded silence could have easily been mistaken for cold-heart rejection. "Twilight, I..." She didn't know how to finish the statement. The pegasus accepted the alicorn's love, of course, but she didn't know how to put her emotions into words. So why not show her? a voice in her head nagged.
Acting on instinct, Rainbow Dash leaned forward and embraced the lavender mare. The fresh scent of purple flowers ranging from lavender to lilac seemed to explode from her mane, filling Dash with a sensory overload. She felt her chest fur become matted down with tears, and tilted her head, nuzzling Twilight's cheek with her muzzle. "I love you too, Twilight," she replied as a tear rolled down her own cheek. "I love you too."