Will She Love Me Too?

by Liechtenstein

It Was Only Love

As she left, Twilight faintly heard Rarity berate Rainbow Dash. Rainbow presumably produced a rebuttal, Twilight didn't know; she was too far away from hear any more. Well that was... insightful. Rainbow Dash is just so- just- gah! Twilight bucked a tree as she passed, in anger. It hurt her back hoofs slightly, but it seemed to relieve some of the anger; it was surprisingly satisfying. She's just so callous and stubborn, not to mention obnoxious. She doesn't care about anypony but herself. But she did raise a good question; why? Why do I feel this way. She's obviously so unpleasant, how could anypony love her at all? Does that mean that I feel physical attraction towards Rainbow? I don't think it's physical; I don't feel as if I feel attracted to Rainbow. Maybe it operates on some deeper level that I can't understand. No, Twilight, that is the lazy pony's explanation. Everything can be explained, you just need to look deeper.

Twilight walked quicker now; she wanted to get home as soon as possible, so as to not forget her current train of thought. As she walked through the door of her library she saw Spike, still as sound asleep as he was when Twilight left; blissfully unaware of her absence. A list. I need to map this out. Twilight summoned up a quill and a parchment; placing them down on her desk. She unfurled the parchment, laying it out flat in front of her, and preparing her quill. No. It is late, too late; even you need sleep, Twilight. Twilight had no problems in staying up all night to finish a dissertation, study or letter; by the time night came she was too involved in the academic process to register the time; or her need for sleep. But somehow, for some reason, she didn't feel as if she could start writing at this time, her brain was just too tired. Start it in the morning, Twilight.

The night was long and uneventful; Twilight couldn't sleep. Over and over in her head she ran through the same scenario, back at Rarity's, over and over again. Each time a different version of events played out; subtle changes that snowballed into a different outcome. She ran through all the different things she could have done and could have said. The changes in action, no matter how insignificant, or indeed how major, they were all seemed to return to the same ending. The same rejection. The same bitter vitriol. Her words were different, but Rainbow's meaning was the same, that much was clear. All the time Rarity sat idly by, watching; judging. Not saying anything but always observing. Like it was some pony interest story being played out in front of her eyes; her own little show. Eventually the events were so convoluted that Twilight was unsure were the truth lay in her created fictions. Twilight was angry but she knew not where her anger lay. Was she angry at Rainbow, for acting the way she had? Was she angry at Rarity for tossing her into the manticore pit so she may watch for her own amusement? Or was she angry at herself for every aspect of her life up to this point?

Twilight woke to the usual smell of breakfast, but there was no sign of Spike. The breakfast tray had been placed on the bedside table, presumably Spike didn't want to wake Twilight, or he had failed to wake her up. He had placed a slip of paper on the tray, it read "Thank's for the quilt." Scrawled in the untidy, nearly illegible handwriting of the baby dragon. That was nice of him, thought Twilight, before remembering her thoughts from last night. Grasping onto this recollection, she scarfed down her hearty breakfast and hurried to the desk where she had set up her quill and parchment. She stared at the desk for a time before fully remembering her intentions from yesterday. She would write up a list of Rainbow's qualities, one half of the page listing the positives, the other listing the negatives. This isn't an awfully 'nice' thing to do, and it is insensitive, but Rainbow will never see this, nor will any other pony. Plus Rainbow herself hasn't exactly been the most sensitive of ponies recently. But does that excuse you doing this?

Twilight decided to start as quickly as possible; before she forced herself to change her mind. Right, Twilight, think. Okay, Rainbow is brash, abrasive and annoying at times. But she is a good pony, fundamentally, and at least you know she'll never tell a lie. She's very work shy and seems very lazy, but she always does what is needed when it matters. She's arrogant, but she sort of has a right to be; she's fast, athletic and brave. I'd never lord my magic over somepony, but Rainbow's different; she's unique, she's competitive. I suppose, in a way, she is very fascinating; intriguing. Could my infatuation stem from me wanting to understand Rainbow Dash? I mean somepony as arrogant and boastful as Rainbow without some reason. She admitted that she probably strives do be better than everypony to prove her father wrong, but there must be something else for her to be as boastful as she is.

Twilight stopped her thoughts; she had finally found an answer to Rainbow Dash's question. A potentially extremely insulting answer, but an answer nonetheless. She would presumably never tell Rainbow this, but at least she sorted it out to herself. Where this left her, Twilight didn't know, but she did know that she wanted to learn more about Rainbow's past. To do that there was only truly one pony who she could go to, Fluttershy. Looking at the clock Twilight noticed that she must've slept in too long. It was either that or she had spent longer on her little brainstorming session than she had previously anticipated; it was just before noon. Luckily the library didn't usually have many visitors, especially not this early in the morning. She presumed Spike had taken on the responsibility of opening the library, but if he hadn't not too many ponies would've noticed.

Fluttershy, Twilight thought to herself again, Fluttershy. There was, however, no rush to go anywhere, but Twilight wasn't sure if that was because she wanted to relax and talk to Spike for a while, or if she was just too lazy to face the massive hassle that talking to Fluttershy about everything would be. Nevertheless she decided to at least try and have a conversation with Spike for a while; if for nothing but to easy her sense of guilt for leaving him alone a lot over the past few days.

"Good morning, Spike," Twilight said as she descended the stairs, "Thank you for letting me miss so much of the day." She said in a fake tone of bitterness. However the dragon didn't seem to understand Twilight's sarcasm.

"I'm so sorry Twilight! I am, honest. I was trying to wake you up but you just weren't stirring. And then Owlowi-"

"I was joking, Spike," Twilight interjected, before her assistant talked himself out; he could talk quite fast when he was anxious, "It was nice to have a lie-in, anyway," Twilight paused and looked at Spike, "For once." Spike did understand Twilight this time, at least he seemed to; either way he chuckled with Twilight for a short time. The two sat down on the sofa together.

"So what have you been doing when I haven't been around to order you about?" Twilight asked Spike, with an air levity in her voice, "That is, of course, besides eating all the ice-cream."

"Heh, heh, so you saw? Well I've just been doing all the usual stuff you'd tell me to do. I'd have gone out with Owlowiscious more but he's always sleeping. Oh! I've also been sleeping, a lot."

"Nice to see you've been making the most of your free time." Twilight said, sarcastically.

"What about you, Twi? What have you been doing?" The question sent an alarm through Twilight's system. What do I say? What have I been doing? Besides alienating at least two fifths of my friends?

"Oh, you know, just... stuff- friendship stuff. Just a lot of practical studies; keeping busy." Well that was terrible.

"You work too hard sometimes, Twilight." chuckled the dragon.

"Yeah, I guess." Responded Twilight, "Oh, speaking of; I have to go see Fluttershy soon, will you be okay seeing to the library?"

"I've been fine these last few days, so probably." Came Spike's answer, Twilight couldn't tell if he was being intentionally sarcastic or not, but decided to ignore it anyway.

"I shouldn't be gone for more than a couple of hours, but if there happens to be a major influx of ponies to the library you'd know how to assist them, right?"

"Of course, Twi, I am the number one assistant, remember?" Spike shot Twilight an innocent smile, and Twilight smiled back.

"Okay then," Twilight said, leaving the library, "See you later, Spike."

"See your later Twilight." Called Spike out of the door, before closing it behind Twilight.

The walk to Fluttershy's cottage was mostly uneventful; there was the usual hustle and bustle of the town centre, with various ponies selling their fruit and vegetables, but other than that Twilight rarely had to traffic to contend with. The weather was well enough, but there was only the slightest of breezes which, although slight, chilled Twilight a little. The pegasii were presumably preparing a minor shower; as the reasonable number clouds in the sky were allowed to stay, unchallenged.

As she approached, the cottage emanated the familiar air of life it always seemed to present. There was a plethora of various woodland creatures frolicking and flying around, which Twilight took care not to disturb on her way there. When she finally found her way to the door she gave it a few quick, hard knocks. After half a minute she gave it another, harder knock. She waited a while but there was still no response. Fluttershy must be busy, either that or too afraid to answer the door. She lead close to the door and called out,

"Fluttershy, it's me, are you there?" But still there was no response. Growing impatient, Twilight went around the back of the cottage; where Fluttershy would sometimes tend to Angel, and other small animals. She was met with a predictable sight; there were various animals, Angel among them, however Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Right, no Fluttershy. Where could she be? Angel Bunny seems to understand Fluttershy most of the time, perhaps he would assist me? It's worth a try. Twilight approached the bunny as gently as she could, but he retreated into the house through a small hole that Fluttershy had fitted for him. Well done, Twilight; another rousing success that was.

Comments

[Liechtenstein]

Do you know what one of the hardest things about writing for me is, in all truth? Continuity. Every time I write something I feel the need to go back and check that it doesn't conflict with any thing that preceded it, and indeed trying to make sure everything is "canonical", as in Carousel Boutique is described as such, and not some mythical place I made up. Well, actually the hardest part about writing a story is coming up with names for things, an obstacle that I don't need to face here, thankfully. The rest, the whole "bulk" of the story comes quite naturally, once I have decided where to go with the chapter, though the plot usually takes a good, long time to think up. Sometimes I get some massive epiphany and the story is blasted out with many a word being written, other (more often) times I stare at the screen, listening to music trying to imagine a suitable scenario and ometimes I get good ideas for individual lines or dialogue, but I can't fit them in anywhere. Also I can't write dialogue. I just can't do it.

Something that I want to mention is that only recently was it that I came to the realisation of exactly how many people have read this. It was the other day, when checking the view graph did I see that I had an unusually large amount of favourites in a 42 hour time period a couple weeks post release, so I assumed that something may have happened. And so I did see the view graph, fluctuating in a usual pattern with a large spike of 50 or so people. It was then that I realised that each little number is a person, who has took time the time out of their day to read something that I wrote. But it also made me realise anomalies, such as how five hundred and thirty three people have viewed chapter ten, yet six hundred and twenty two have viewed chapter fourteen. Oh internet peoples, you so silly, and I love you all. Except Lee Cattermole.

Sorry about the delay in posting this; I had thought I'd only have to go into college for a single induction day; but then I decided to go for the entire week because I was paranoid that if I didn't then I'd miss out on everything, and by the time I go to Sixth Form for realsies everyone would be the best of friends and I'd be a lonely outcast for two years.

[Dracuaxis]

Oh yeah, continuity is a bitch.

I'm glad you appreciate our viewership, comments, and what not. Sorry I tend to leave short ones but considering this is short and episodic, writing out full thoughts might as well be writing a whole other chapter for this.

Glad to see you're still at this. And good luck with college.

Spelling/Grammar errors I noticed:

I see you're using bold as emphasis, my advice, italics work better, and when you're already in italics like a thought, authors just revert to plain text.

The pegasii were presumably - Double i

As she Twilight approached, the cottage emanated the familiar air of life that the cottage always seemed to present. There was a plethora of various woodland creatures frolicking and flying around the cottage, which Twilight took care not to disturb on her way to the cottage. - You have a lot of redundancies here. Just copypaste this revised version: "As she approached, the cottage emanated the familiar air of life it always seemed to present. There was a plethora of various woodland creatures frolicking and flying around, which Twilight took care not to disturb on her way there.

[Liechtenstein]

892987 I thank you, once again, good sir. I need to stop writing at 12am-4am; these are not suitable times for writing. This was intended to be a huge, mega long chapter, but I decided it'd be best to just dedicate a separate chapter to the next event, instead of force two chapters into one, and make it seem even more rushed than what it undoubtedly will be. Oh well, now to finish off the other chapter of the other story.

[phillipphoenix]

This is a great story and you write well!
But as previously commented, there are a few mistakes here and there... But it's not an amount large enough to really irritate me as a reader.

Please continue! I'm looking forward to see, what happens next!

[M1SF0RTUNE]

I've been reading a hefty chunk of this story. I gotta say it's got good potential, and it's interesting diving into the mind of Twilight, but I think you're hurting in some areas that could definitely use improvement.

First of all, you *do* have a story to tell, it's just you don't have it going along at a very good pace. Part of the problem seems to be you spend too much time in mental-verse and too little time moving the story along. It needs pacing. It was hard to stay interested when it was taking forever for the next thing to happen to come around. Secondly, you really need to extend your chapters, and lose the authors notes. The notes can be a little unprofessional, and the small chunks can be just a little too small when one like myself is trying to get invested and I feel like I keep hitting roadblocks when I wanna know what happens next. Apart from that there's quite a bit of spelling issues, and you got the characters down well, especially Rarity, though Twilight is a bit questionable. Same with Celestia and her brief appearance.

I definitely wanna continue reading this, but definitely work on your pacing and story progression a little. Hope this bit of feedback helps!

[MLP BRONY 27]

928897 im sorry, but that was just too damn funny, you sir have made my day... love the story too

[Candor Champion]

I WANT MOAR

[MLP BRONY 27]

218619 damn straight...

[fim1231331]

Well. I hope I will get to see more of this

[Liechtenstein]

1437794 Was a bit weird, coming onto this site to check everything, having had no notifications in about two weeks and suddenly I have ten. I thank you for the corrections, I always appreciate opportunities to correct mine own failings. You have earned this,

[fim1231331]

Oh god I'm sorry I didn't know all these comments would stack up here
Feel bad for spamming

[Surprise Anschluss]

You definitely have to continue this... It makes me really want to see how it ends, though I hope they can set aside their problems at least or, best case, RD overcomes her past and opens her mind to see how wonderful Twilight is!
And you somehow make me not lose hope for Twi even though so much is against her.

In short: make more. It is torture to wait!

[Ratsenkio]

I agree.. You really should continue this story... It's a realy good story what you got here... I highly recomed that you continue this story... And i think i'm not the only one...

[Norden]

And btw... when are you going to continue this? It's really great! There aren't many people that can write a story so well about a subject this heavy and that you do in such small chapters. Hell you do it even better then those who have 3-5000 words in every chapter of their 35 chapter opus! PLZZZZZZZZZ continue?!?!?!?!?!

[Clouded Mind]

I'll get the shovel.

[ModMCdl]

4061341 That'd be funny if it weren't so sad...

[Daring Cammie Do]

So this story's been on hiatus for, what? 2 years now? Are you ever going to finish it? People really liked it so I see no issue with putting it on pause. Well, I guess you said it was your first fic so I guess you may have gotten bored of it. Still, it's interesting and would be nice if it ever gets finished.

[ModMCdl]

6182470 Dude. Rule #1 of fanfiction: Be prepared for stories never getting finished.

[Daring Cammie Do]

6390107 I kinda expected that

[Nanomachines]

Never to be finished again!

Good story by the way

[Dev35]

Bro I was so interested where this was going.

Damn that sucks it is what it is.