//------------------------------//
// In Review 
// Story: A̶̷m̶̷a̶̷z̶̷i̶̷n̶̷g̶̷l̶̷y̶̷ ̶̷A̶̷w̶̷e̶̷s̶̷o̶̷m̶̷e̶̷ Poetry 
// by Indeliblink 
//------------------------------//

"Twilight?"

Twilight rolled onto her back, the notebook hovering a few inches above her as she blindly reached out for another heaping hoofful of popcorn.

"Twilight."

"Not now, Spike, I'm reading!" Twilight whined, shooing the dragon away. With a scoff, Spike spun on his heel, mumbling something about a "big surprise" of some sort -- but she could worry about that later. Loudly munching on her snack, the librarian let her eyes roam over the pages before her, muttering the occasional "ooh" or "yes" as she read line after magnificent line. She found herself becoming more impressed with her friend by the minute as the poems grew increasingly diverse in style and diction, as well as displaying more advanced examples of symbolism and existential topics. The sheer amount of effort and care that had been put into these works of art was not lost on her, and Twilight felt her heart warm at the thought.

It was a disappointingly short time before she found herself at the very end of the notebook, and as the final words left the page, the violet glow around the book faded away; she stared up at the ceiling, holding the precious book against her chest as she contemplated what she'd just read and the implications behind it. Just what could have prompted Rainbow to pursue poetry after all? Had she used any references? Any inspiration? Any... help? Twilight's eyes narrowed momentarily before she shook her head. No, despite the incredible spike in quality, the alicorn could tell from the occasionally awkward sentence structure and unspectacular grammar that the writing was, indeed, Rainbow's work. It wasn't too unbelievable, she supposed; Rainbow had proven time and time again to be full of surprises.

Her ear twitched as she heard the clearing of a throat from across the room. "Spike, please, I'm doing some very deep thinking right now." A moment passed in silence before a raspy voice called in reply.

"Yeah, that's nice."

Twilight shot out of her seat, coming face-to-face with a certain rainbow-maned pegasus, matching her grin with one of her own. "Rainbow! You... I..." Rainbow's eyes flicked past her to the notebook that was laying opened on the couch.

"Did you finish reading those already?" Receiving a vigorous nod in response, she cocked her head in amusement. "Didn't the mail arrive, like, forty minutes ago?"

Twilight blushed, dipping her head. "Well... yes. I'm a fast reader."

"Big surprise," Rainbow laughed. "Not like you spend your entire life doing it, or anything." Twilight stuck her tongue out at her, recoiling in disgust when Rainbow tapped a hoof against her muzzle with a loud cackle. "So, anyway, what'd ya think?"

Once she'd scraped the taste of hoof off her tongue, Twilight perked up, hurriedly retrieving the notebook from its spot on the sofa. "Oh gosh, I have so many questions..." Twilight flipped the notebook over in her hooves, pointing to the cover. "What is this 'Amazingly Awesome' part? Why is it crossed out?"

Rainbow raised a hoof to her forehead. "Oh, I wrote that after my second or third poem; then later I realized it was totally foalish and lame, so I got rid of it."

Twilight's lips curled into a smile, and she wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow's shoulders. "Aww, Rainbow, you're maturing before my very eyes!"

The pegasus rolled her eyes, shrugging the alicorn off. "Next," she grumbled impatiently, rolling her hoof in the air.

"Alright, alright." Twilight held out the notebook for them both to see, opened to a page titled "Lights," and pointed at a somewhat scribbly word near the bottom of the page. "What word is that? I tried using context clues to figure it out, but I couldn't do it for the life of me." Rainbow leaned closer, squinting her eyes at the word and silently mouthing something.

"Ambience," she said at last, and Twilight reread the sentence with that newfound piece of the puzzle in place.

"Ooh, got it. Good word."

"Erm... thanks."

"Okay, now--" Twilight flipped to the final page. "This last one, about time. It's so appropriately rhythmic and... efficient. It reads very quickly, just as time passes. It's brilliant, Rainbow. And it fills the entire page, just as time fills the entirety of our lives, and," she shook the notebook giddily, quite excited to share her thoughts with the author herself, "and the ending... or should I say, lack of an ending, the way it just... cuts off mid-sentence, no warning. I perceived that as symbolism for the everlasting nature of time -- how it has no true end. Or perhaps it was supposed to represent the idea that the 'end of time' could come at any moment, and we'll never know until it happens. Oh, listen to me ramble..." She tittered nervously, turning her wide-eyed stare to the blue wordsmith next to her. "So, I was just wondering what exactly you were going for there. Was I anywhere close?"

Rainbow Dash frowned, taking the notebook from her friend and scrutinizing the poem carefully, her eyes scanning the page as though she were reading it for the first time. After a solid ten seconds of silence, she passed the book back to Twilight, meeting her expectant gaze. "I ran out of space."

"You ra..." Twilight's voice died out, her mouth hanging open in disbelief, and she slowly inclined her head to stare at the incomplete poem. Out of space? Out of space?! Her eyes locked onto the desk nearby, and a purple aura frantically tore the drawers open, snatching up a pile of blank paper and waving it in front of the pegasus. "Well, h-here, then!"

Rainbow glanced at the paper with disinterest, shrugging as she turned her eyes toward the window. "Meh, I don't really feel like writing any more, anyway."

Twilight let out a pained breath, her legs trembling in desperation. "B-B-But... Rainbow, it's not done, you have to finish it!"

"Nah, I'm good." Rainbow flicked her tail, flashing a smile over her shoulder. "Glad you liked it, though." She had to cover her mouth with a hoof to hold back a snicker as an agonized groan emanated from behind her. That's for making me write poetry, Egghead.

"Rainbow..." Twilight cried, slumping onto the floor. "You're killing me." She glanced up in time to catch her friend's quivering, hunched-over form, and sent a nasty glare into her back as muffled giggles met her ears. "You jerk."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, turning around with a smug grin plastered across her muzzle. "Twilight, if I hadn't told you what really happened, you'd still be gushing over the complex 'hidden meaning' of the incompleteness of the poem, or whatever." She scrunched her muzzle and waved her hooves on the words "hidden meaning," her smile widening as Twilight's expression soured. "It seemed fine the first time you read it, right? So just take it for what it is, 'kay?"

"It's not as simple as that and you know it," the alicorn grumbled. Had there been more space, might the poem have run for another page, or two, or five, all filled to the very last line with brilliance? She groaned again, raising a foreleg to cover her eyes, as if trying to shield herself from all the what-if's racing through her mind.

"Twi, just because an interpretation of literature isn't technically correct, it doesn't make it invalid. Your initial idea of what I was going for was still interesting." Rainbow idly rubbed one of her forelegs, eyes fixed on the floor. "I kinda wish that had been my intention, actually. It's clever."

Twilight lazily rolled her head to gaze up at the pegasus. "Yeah?"

Rainbow stood and approached the prone pony, holding a hoof out to help her up. "Yeah. C'mon." Twilight sighed, accepting the hoof up and motioning towards the sofa, where the two soon sat quietly, the notebook resting on the cushion between them.

Rainbow took a deep breath, drawing Twilight's attention. "Listen... Thanks for suggesting this, Twi. It wasn't as awful as I thought it'd be." Rainbow leaned over and playfully jabbed the purple pony in the side. "Gave me an excuse to use my thesaurus for more than a doorstop."

Twilight gripped the pegasus's foreleg lightly, her expression turning solemn. "No, Rainbow, thank you. I forced this whole thing onto you, and not only did you comply, but you went above and far... far beyond my expectations. You let me see a side of you I never would've thought existed, and it means a lot to me that I could help you find a way to express yourself and develop your skills with writing." Twilight shook her head in awe as she went on. "On that note, your progress is simply... inspiring, especially considering that you were on your own for this endeavor. Yet..." She gently lay a hoof on the cover of the notebook. "Reading these poems, I feel as though I were right beside you the whole way. I'm proud of you."

Rainbow stared back at her friend, stunned into silence by her heartfelt reply. After a few moments, she nodded dumbly, and Twilight let out an amused snort. "Eloquent as ever, Dash."

Rainbow shrugged, leaning back on the couch and folding her forelegs behind her head. "What'd you expect? I'm no poet."