All's Fair in Love and Twilight

by Short Stories

...To a Competition...

Rainbow's face was one of pure shock, Twilight mimicking her marefriend. "You...you what?" Rainbow asked, not sure if she heard Moondancer clearly. "You...you accept?" She had trouble picking her jaw up off the floor.

Moondancer stared at the two blankly, wondering if she did something wrong. "I accept," she repeated, looking from Rainbow to Twilight then back again. "Is that bad?"

"No, no no, no, no." Rainbow started, Twilight saying 'yes' at the exact same time. The couple looked at each other, Twilight giving Rainbow a look. Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes while Twilight shook her head. After a couple more seconds of the silent conversation going on, Twilight sighed in defeat and let Rainbow talk. "It's not bad," Rainbow continued, "it's just...different. Usually, ponies back away if I challenge them or...something..."

"This has happened before?" Moondancer asked, wondering how many ponies have fallen in love with Twily, only to be shut down by her brutish-like marefriend. "Interesting..." she mumbled under her breath. She'd have to make a note of that for later and see if others have brutish partners just like Rainbow Dash.

"Multiple times." Twilight deadpanned. Rainbow offered an innocent shrug, as if to say 'sorry I'm not sorry.' "I'd really rather--"

Rainbow flew in front of Twilight, cutting her off. She landed on the table, one hoof inches away from Twi's breakfast. "How'd you like to do this?" Rainbow asked, trying to not show any sign of excitement. "What should the deadline be?"

Twilight scowled despite her effort to stay positive and tried to move to the side to see Moondancer. "Don't you think you two--"

"If by 'How should we do this', you mean 'what should the rules be,'" Moondancer said as she conjured up a pad of paper and a pencil, "I'm not sure...the only serious one I can think of is no attempted...." she cleared her throat, her head fur turning a light pink. "You know."

Rainbow, who had gotten off the slab while Moondancer was talking and was currently sitting in a chair slammed both forehooves on the counter. "I'd never do that!" She exclaimed; "what type of pony do you take me for?!"

Moondancer glanced toward the kitchen door, wondering if she'd be able to escape with some dignity and leave all this absurd awkwardness behind her. She knew, however, that wasn't possible without creating an awkwarder situation then she felt it was already. Plus, she didn't come to Ponyville just to leave like a coward with her tail between her legs all because of an over-protective marefriend; she was going to try her best and win this whole thing. Maybe Twilight would appreciate her more afterward, and would finally agree to be hers!

"I don't think she meant it like that." Twilight whispered. "You girls really--"

"Right. Sorry; I lost my head there for a second." Rainbow mumbled sheepishly; Moondancer looked back at her, getting out of her trance. "I was thinking the deadline could be at the end of the week?"

The nervous unicorn nodded, albeit uncertainly. "As long as Twi's okay with that."

"I'm sure she is." Rainbow said, not letting Twilight speak. Twilight scowled at Rainbow, decided she couldn't take anymore of the stupid conversation if they were hardly going to let her get a word in edgewise, and teleported up to her room. "May the best mare win!" Rainbow cheered, giving Moondancer a quick hoof shake. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my marefriend is upset and I'm going to talk to her.

Rainbow dashed upstairs, leaving a rainbow-colored trail behind her. Moondancer watched her leave before getting out of the chair and cleaning up the breakfast mess. She couldn't help but wonder what she got herself into.

---

Twilight appeared on her bed, not expecting anypony to come up to see if she was okay, judging by the way they had treated her. That, and she didn't think anypony saw her leave.

"Twi?" Rainbow asked gently from the doorway, surprising the young alicorn. "You okay? You didn't seem that happy when--"

"Because you hardly let me talk!" Twilight yelled. She jumped off her bed and began pacing back and forth. "You never asked me for my opinion on the matter, or even if I wanted this ridiculous thing in the first place! And when I tried to say something about it, you or Moondancer kept cutting me off!"

Rainbow sheepishly ran her hoof over her luxurious mane. "Yeah, sor--"

"Mainly you." Twilight added. "I thought we agreed to talk about it if anypony were to agree. But you just kept running your mouth on and on and on. You know there's a limit to your superiority, right? This relationship isn't one-sided, Rainbow. But I'm kind of starting to feel like it is." She turned her back to Rainbow, facing an open window.

Rainbow recoiled at Twilight's words, knowing she was missing the obvious. "Oh, I'm sure you are." Rainbow said, "The Princess of Friendship, who hardly has enough time for her girl and let's one of her old friends stay the night, who--by the way--has a crush on you, gets mad because her actual marefriend, who feels like the "Princess" is losing interest in her, challenges another for your liking. Yet you go and blame it all on me. Definitely not one sided." She scoffed, "not one sided at all."

Twilight said nothing. Instead, she shook her head slowly, spread her wings, and flew out the window. Rainbow face-hoofed herself for being so inconsiderate and spread her wings as well, ready to apologize to the sensitive Twilight. "Smooth." Moondancer's voice mocked from behind Rainbow. She whirled around to see Moondancer in the open doorway, slowly clapping her hooves. "Real smooth." Rainbow groaned, irritated that Moondancer had followed her. She should have closed the door as soon as Twilight started blaming her.

"It's not like you could have done any better." Rainbow scoffed, "your still learning about friendship. I doubt you even know what love is."

Moondancer smirked, raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you do?" She asked. "Love is having a mutual feeling of trust between two or more individuals, while also feeling safe, protected, and having a deep affection towards one another."

"Typical egghead." Rainbow mumbled, rolling her eyes, hiding her wonderment. "I bet you read that from a dictionary or something."

"Yeah." Moondancer said calmly, walking towards Rainbow. "Or something."

Rainbow groaned, hating how cocky Moondancer was acting. "Whatever." She mumbled, "I need to apologize to Twi now, maybe get her some daffodils, too. Just stay out of my way, okay egghead?"

"You know, you should really stop telling me what your going to do." Moondancer advised, looking out the open window. "It'll just ruin your whole 'plan', if you even have one." Rainbow's ears started to turn red at the tips, a sure sign she was getting angry. "Besides, how do you know I haven't already done that?"

"Huh?"

Smirking, Moondancer cast a spell on herself, then blinked away. Rainbow gasped as she realized what the mare had meant. Quick as a whip, she flew out the window, after Twilight, worried she was already too late.

---

"Daffodils, daffodils...where are the stinking daffodils?!" Moondancer mumbled, prancing in place like a crazy pony. She had been worried Rainbow would knock her upside the head for not being apathetic in the least, and was now scared that Rainbow would already be with Twilight, made up and everything, by the time she got there.

Hearing a loud zoom overhead, her attention was directed upward to see a rainbow trail in the sky; one that hadn't been there before. She followed it by eye westward and saw a small speck in the distance, presumably Rainbow, flying at a faster speed then before. "Sweet Celestia..." she mumbled. Looking left then right frantically, she spotted a small patch of daisies by a fruit stand. She figured daisies were better than anything, so she plucked a couple with her magic, cast a water spell on them, so they wouldn't die as quickly, and put them inside her saddlebag. She instantly felt her saddlebag become wet the second the daises were placed inside. She groaned to herself, but didn't take them out.

She had a feeling Twilight was on a cloud somewhere; it was just in her gut. She had cast a cloud-walking spell on herself before she left, for precaution. The only trouble was actually finding the alicorn. It was a pretty cloudy day and Moondancer was incapable of flying, obviously. She moved away from where she had been to get a better view of her surroundings. If only she could get a hot air balloon, it would help her tremendously.

Hot air balloon, hot air balloon....

"Hot air balloon rides!" A stallion called from a block or two away. "Two bits per hour! I'll take ya anywhere ya need in my hot air balloon!" Moondancer nearly jumped up and down, she was so happy. She was also suspicious of how coincidental the whole thing was. She had just needed a hot air balloon, and this stallion had started announcing about his as soon as she finished her thought.

She glanced over at the stallion again, saw a purple pony with a deep purple mane walking towards him. "Not on my watch..." Moondancer grumbled. Firing up her horn, she teleported in front of the mare and proceeded to growl at her. She didn't care if she looked insane, Twilight was the only thing that mattered right now. The mare stopped dead in her tracks, one hoof raised, more than a little frightened. She ran in the other direction, probably hoping the strange pony didn't come chasing after her, barking.

Moondancer turned around to face the stallion, who was minorly shocked at what had happened. She levitated a bit out of her bag and dropped them on a little table he had next to him. She didn't even need a half an hour, for she was going to jump and land on the clouds once they got close enough. "I'm kind of in a hurry," she told him as she trotted aboard. "Could you hurry up, please?"

The stallion looked at her with wary eyes. He put the bit in a container, tucked the container away under the table, and boarded the balloon, trying to stay as far away from her as possible in the small space they had. He untied the rope that kept the mechanism from floating away and started the fire in the center.

It was all taking much too long for Moondancer's liking. She huffed, then cast a spell on the tiny flame to grow bigger. The stallion that was close to the flame was caught by surprise when it got a sudden 'growth spurt'. "Woah!" He cried, jumping backwards so his face wouldn't be well done. "That's quite the spell you got there." He added, chuckling slightly.

"Thanks." Moondancer mumbled as she put both forehooves on the side of the basket. She looked down and saw they were already far above Ponyville. She looked up and saw that the bottom of the clouds were within a hoof's reach of her. She reached out and saw part of the cloud dissolved by her touch. The spell must have worn off. As soon as they were above the clouds, she cast the cloud walking spell on herself once more and jumped down.

"What about your balloon ride?" The stallion called from over the edge. He almost had a heart attack, for he feared she was going to attempt suicide.

Moondancer made the flame in the balloon die down, back to the small state it was at before. The balloon started to float down, giving her enough time to pay the stallion two bits. "Give that one mare a free ride," she told him, "Tell her I felt bad for scaring her off, so it's on me."

The stallion smiled at her generosity before disappearing below the clouds. Moondancer watched the top of the balloon sink down for a second more, the turned around, looking for Twilight. She spotted a tiny purple dot just west of where she was. Quickly, she cast a long-lasting spell on her so the cloud walking one wouldn't wear off and galloped towards her love.

---

"Oh, I'm sure you are." Rainbow said, "The Princess of Friendship, who hardly has enough time for her girl and let's one of her old friends stay the night, who--by the way--has a crush on you, gets mad because her actual marefriend, who feels like the "Princess" is losing interest in her, challenges another for your liking. Yet you go and blame it all on me. Definitely not one sided." She scoffed, "not one sided at all."

Twilight fought to turn back at yell at Rainbow more, knowing it would cause a bigger mess. Instead, she slowly shook her head, spread her wings and flew out the window as fast as she could, tears flying from her eyes and absorbing in the clouds below. She found a small, puffy cloud at long last--right over Sweet Apple Acres. She had just put her head down to think about what had happen when Rainbow zoomed by, caught her eye, and back peddled to where she was.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." She apologized quietly, "I shouldn't have been such a jerk. I should have asked your opinion on the whole thing instead of speaking for you and interrupting you. I should have..."

"You should stop apologizing." Twilight informed her with a gentle tone. "I over reacted, Rainbow. I'm the one who can't schedule my time properly."

Rainbow laughed, pulling another small cloud over so she wouldn't be using her wings the whole time. "Your kidding me, right?" she asked Twi, "The queen of checklists and scheduling stuff can't scheduling her own time?"

"You get what I mean." Twilight sighed, "sometimes, I wish I was a basic unicorn again. Then I wouldn't be so stressed and maybe even enjoy this 'battle for my love' thing." She paused, thinking about what she had just said. "No. I still would hate it. You called it off, didn't you?"

"Uh..."

"Twilight!" Moondancer called from behind. Rainbow turned her head to see the rival a couple clouds away.

Celestia darn it! Rainbow thought, I'm going to look bad in front of Twi again! No thanks to that rotten unicorn. Twilight was about to turn her head to, Rainbow stopping her in the nick of time. "Are you busy now, Twi?"

Twilight shook her head. "No. Did you hear my name being called?"

"That was me." Rainbow said quickly, ready to kick some clouds away. "I wanted to know if you'd like to continue that date?"

"Twilight!" Moondancer called again, closer than before. Rainbow mouthed 'Twilight' a little late, hoping she would buy it. That Moondancer was really starting to get on her nerves.

The princess tried to turn her head again, denied by Rainbow once more. "Are you sure?" She asked, "because it sounds a lot like Moondancer's voice...." She got off her cloud, which Rainbow quickly bucked away, and turned around to see if she could find her childhood friend. Rainbow quickly got in her view and, without thought, kissed her on the lips.

The alicorn, who normally wouldn't mind that action, pushed Rainbow away, irritated that she wouldn't let her see what was going on. "Not right now, Rainbow," she mumbled, not wanting to hurt her darling once more.

Moondancer landed on a nearly invisible cloud that was right next to Twilight. She smiled, used her magic to levitate the daisies out of her saddlebag. They were wet and slightly droopy, but she didn't seem to notice. "Twilight," she panted, "I got these....I got these for you."

Twilight enveloped the daises in her magic, smiling back at the exhausted mare. "Why, thank you, Moondancer!" She exclaimed. She took a sniff of them, then teleported them into a vase back at her castle. When given a slightly hurt look, she told Moondancer they were back home, safe and sound. "Did you and Rainbow make up?" She asked.

Moondancer looked at her with wide eyes, looking either shocked or trying to be endearing, Twi couldn't tell. "About that..." Moondancer chuckled sheepishly. She was shocked; definitely shocked. Before she could answer, Rainbow, who's ears were full-on red, bucked Moondancer's cloud out of existence. To Moondancer's and Twilight's horror, the unicorn started free-falling back town to Ponyville, with no idea how to stop herself.

"Moondancer!" Twilight cried.

"Leave her be." Rainbow said calmly, "I timed it so she'd fall in a tree. No harm, no foul."

Twilight frowned at how ridiculously rude and strange Rainbow was acting. She didn't like this side of her and had a feeling why she was acting so mean. "Serious harm, serious foul, Rainbow!" She yelled, "You will come with me down to Sweet Apple Acres, you will apologize to Moondancer, and after that, I swear, Rainbow, after that, we are through!"

Comments

[p61blkwidow]

oh rainbow what have you done! this is one fine story! i can not wait to see what next chapter brings! well done to you!!

[The Bricklayer]

Oh boy, Rainbow's done it this time...