• Published 23rd Feb 2013
  • 5,259 Views, 167 Comments

Twilight's Rainbow - Kodeake



Twilight studies every move she makes. But sometimes she can only learn what she wants by expirience, and that's hard to come by with what she wants to know.

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Shelves

Shelves

Twilight’s vision was filled with a bright orange as she awoke. The sun streaming through her window pierced through what little protection her eyelids gave and found its way into her eyes. She grumbled groggily, rolling over and hopefully away from the light. Instead all she managed to do was roll off her bed. She hit the ground with a thud, and for a minute she contemplated going back to sleep on her bedroom floor. There were a few things, however, that stopped her from doing this. One was the fact that the sun was still somehow in her eyes. And the other was the fact that she didn’t remember getting into her bed last night. To be honest, she didn’t remember much of anything past Rainbow Dash crashing through her window and wrecking the shelf she had just fixed.

Slowly and begrudgingly she lifted her self off the floor. What she failed to take into account was the fact that her back legs were still tangled in her blanket, resulting in a rather painful face plant into her wooden floor when she tried to walk. Trying again – this time kicking the blanket off before trying to get up – she made her way over to the door.

As soon as she opened the door her nostrils were assaulted with the smell of cooking, her stomach announcing its opinion with a loud rumble. With an empty stomach and a curiosity about how she made it back to her room she descended down the stairs. Upon reaching the ground floor she spotted the source of the smell; a grilled tulip and daisy sandwich sitting at the table. It was fresh enough that she could see the steam wafting up into the air. Though it was not the only thing at the table.

Switching her eyes over to the other side of the table where a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane sat eating her own sandwich.

“Morning, Twi.” Rainbow said cheerfully, waving to the unicorn standing at the opposite side of the room.

“Uh, hi. Um, Rainbow, why are you here?” Twilight asked cautiously as she made her way over to the table, sitting across from the cyan pegasus.

“You said you wanted me to help bring the new bookshelf here, remember?” Dash shoved another mouthful of sandwich into her mouth as she spoke, still wearing her cheerful smile. As if she was going to enjoy manual labour.

“I did? Well, now that you mention it, I do remember you crashing into my bookshelf… no wait, I did!” Twilight said as her face lit up, her memories from the night before started to clear up. The fuzz caused my exhaustion slowly fading to crisp, clear images. She remembered Dash crashing into the bookshelf that she had just finished fixing. She remembered making Dash help. She remembered staring at Dash’s- ok, maybe she remembered a little more then she would like to.

“You forgot?”

“Well… I was tired.” Twilight grinned sheepishly, quickly taking a bite of her sandwich, hoping against hope that Rainbow would leave it at that.

“Tired or distracted?” Dash smirk maliciously; sure, she was convinced Twilight staring was her imagination. She had all but given up hope on that, but something just wanted to see where this would go. Some part of her still believed she had a chance.

“Just tired.” Twilight answered quickly, though Dash could have sworn she saw her muzzle turn pink before she looked away. She convinced herself it was just a trick of the light.

“Alright,” Dash said, shrugging off the incident, “So when did you want to get that bookshelf? It’s almost noon.”

“What? Oh, I don’t know. As soon as I’m done my sandwich, I guess, this is my favourite.” Twilight put on her most innocent smile, hoping Rainbow wouldn’t notice the very distinct blush on her face.

“I know, that’s why I got it. I figured I could at least try to make up the whole destroying your bookshelf to you. And what better way to start then you’re favourite sandwich for lunch?” Dash quickly tossed the last of her sandwich in the air, shooting her neck forward and crashing it in her mouth with practised ease. Twilight had to admit; she was kind of awesome sometimes, at least when she wasn’t crashing through windows.

“Oh, thanks. I thought it was Spike.”

“Nah, he was just leaving when I got here. Something about dragon sitting cutie marks and hiding from Applebloom.” Dash said, looking puzzled over the very cryptic message Spike had given her earlier that morning.

“Yeah, I heard about that. Apparently it was Sweetie Belle’s idea, since she always saw him at Rarity’s shop.” Twilight giggled when she remembered the look of pure terror on the dragons face when he had first learned of their plans. It was somewhere in between ‘running from a Manticore’ and ‘out of gems’. How he was more scared of running out of gems then a Manticore, she had no idea.

“Any idea where he was going to hide?” Dash asked, getting off of her chair and hovering beside the table, obviously getting tired of sitting still.

“No, he said something about bribery and secrets or something. I don’t know, at that point I had tuned him out to read.” Twilight noticed Dash’s restlessness and quickly took the last few bites of her sandwich. While she would rather savour it something told her that if she took any longer Rainbow would start practising. And with her luck she would crash into another bookshelf.

“Awesome, let’s go.” Rainbow was at the door in a flash, needing only a single flap from her powerful wings. Not even waiting for Twilight she opened the door and flew outside, only to be dragged back into the library by a magenta glow around her tail.

“Hold on, I still need to do a few measurements, not to mention figure out how many bits I’ll need.” Twilight quickly went about the task of grabbing a measuring tape from her closet in a purple glow and stretching it across an empty space in the room.

“Not to burst your bubble, Twi, but I don’t think you can measure the bookshelf while it’s nothing but a pile of splinters.” Dash cocked her head at her odd behaviour. She didn’t see how measuring air was going to help find a new bookcase.

“Pictures, Rainbow, I can tell where the bookshelf was from these pictures, and using these I can find reference points, and using those I can find where the bookcase would have been, and if I know that then I can measure it” Twilight said, shoving one of the pictures in her face as if to prove a point. Though what was more interesting was what the picture was of. It showed the reading table, with a familiar cyan pegasus reading a book in it.

“Uh, Twi, when did you take this picture?” Dash flipped the picture over in her jaw, showing it to Twilight.

“I took that one a while ago, when you first decided to start reading here instead of your house.” Twilight said calmly, still checking and double checking measurements and jotting down notes on a parchment floating in front of her, quill and ink next to it.

“I don’t remember you taking a picture.”

“Of course not I- uh… what picture?” Twilight suddenly snapped her head out from behind her parchment, nearly dropping her ink, saving it just before it tipped. Everything else she was holding was not as lucky as her magic failed, the room filled with the clattering of quills, measuring tapes, and a few objects she had moved to match the pictures.

“This one.” Dash sounded somewhat annoyed as she pointed at her now empty muzzle.

“I don’t see a picture.” Twilight said, giving a grin far too large for the rest of her head..

“This one- wait, where did it go?” Dash looked around, confusion etched in her features; she could have sworn she had just had it. She was sure she hadn’t dropped it, and if she had it would be below her, but it wasn’t.

“Are you feeling alright?” Twilight asked, letting a little concern bleed into her voice at her apparently hallucinating friend. She was just thankful Rainbow hadn’t noticed the flash when she had teleported it back to her room. She hoped it had gotten into her photo album alright. Teleporting an object inside of a solid object was not something Twilight wanted to do again.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PICTURE!?” Dash yelled, flying frantically in circles, checking every square inch of the room for the photo she was positive she had seen.

“I’m not sure what you thought you saw, but I’m done with this, so let’s go get a new shelf.” Twilight said quickly, jotting down the last few measurements as she picked her parchment back up and started ushering the dumbfounded pegasus towards the door.

“But… the picture… I… and you… and reading… and you said… and… I know what I saw…” Dash mumbled out, waving her hooves in the air as if connecting invisible dots as she was slowly dragged through the air towards the door.

“Don’t go crazy on me yet, you have a shelf to carry.” Twilight mocked as she stepped out the door, a very confused Rainbow Dash floating behind her.

-_-_-_-

“Here are the measurements I need, what do you have?” Twilight tossed her list of measurements onto the counter at Shelves ‘n Such. The clerk behind the counter examined the list for a moment before smiling and motioning for Twilight to follow him.

“I think I have exactly what you need.” He said as he led the pair down one of the many isles.

“What exactly do we need?” Dash asked, leaning her head down so it was level with Twilight’s as she flew beside her. The slow speed was finally starting to get to her.

“A new shelf, to replace the one you broke.” Twilight smiled as they rounded another corner and were in the shelving section of the store, the clerk standing next to a particularly large mahogany shelf.

“Uh, does it really need to be that… big?” Dash swallowed nervously as she imagined how heavy it was going to be. Why did she offer to carry it too?

“To hold all the books you knocked on the floor.” Twilight accused mockingly. She gave the pegasus a sarcastic glare as they approached the shelf in question.

“I think you’ll find this to suit your needs quite well. Ah, hello Rainbow Dash! I didn’t see you before. I take it this is due to another one of your stunts?” The sales clerk chuckled as he saw Rainbow’s face turn a light pink. She was a regular customer by this point; there were just too many houses and not enough fields for her to crash into. And surprisingly often she ended up agreeing to either pay for or carry a new whatever it was she broke. There were very few houses that did not have a meeting with a rainbow blur.

“This time it was my library.” Twilight grumbled, giving a real glare to the pegasus before looking back to the clerk. “I think this will do just fine, how much do I owe you?”

“Well, this is a rather large one, mahogany, too, a very fine wood. I’d say… 80 bits.”

“That seems reasonable. Thank you.” Twilight said happily, fishing through her saddle bags for the appropriate amount of bits before a blue hoof on her shoulder caused her to stop.

“I got this.” Dash smiled softly, reaching into her own saddle bag with a wing.

“Are you sure? It’s a lot of money. I have more then enough coming from the princess for my studies. I wouldn’t mind paying.” Twilight assured, though she new it was a loosing battle if Rainbow actually wanted to pay. She could be stubborn, but nothing compared to Rainbow Dash when she had her mind set on something.

“No. I broke it, I should pay. I have enough.” Twilight allowed herself to smile a little. Dash may be stubborn, brash, and cocky, but she knew when she screwed up and when she needed to fix something. She just nodded as the pegasus fished out the agreed amount and gave it to the clerk.

“Thank you. I’ll have a cart here to deliver it within ten minutes.” He said, starting to walk back down the isle.

“That won’t be necessary, we can carry it.” Twilight called after the clerk, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“Miss, I understand that you’re a unicorn and can lift rather heavy objects, but that is one of the heaviest shelves we have.”

“I know. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Twilight assured, turning back to Rainbow Dash and levitating a few ropes from her saddle bags.

“Uh, Twi, I know I said I’d carry it, but I don’t think even I could carry that without a cart.” Dash chuckled nervously. She might be Rainbow Dash, but she was pretty sure nopony alive could lift that without a cart.

“Don’t worry. Just stop flying for a second so I can tie this on.” Twilight Scrunched her eyes closed and grated her teeth as Rainbow slowly stopped flapping and fell to the ground, landing on all four hooves and tucking her wings to her sides. After a moment the bookshelf was encased in a purple glow and the aura around Twilight’s horn doubled in size as she dug her hooves into the ground. A few seconds later a quiet pop echoed through the store.

Twilight wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hoof as she opened her eyes. “There, now to just tie it on.” She panted slightly before closing her eyes again and picking up the shelf in her magic. It slowly floated over to Rainbow Dash, who squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for the weight about to land on her back. Then she felt what felt like a pillow land on her back. Risking opening one eye she saw that Twilight was trying to contain her laughter as she levitated the ropes over, tying them around Dash’s waist. She couldn't believe that the shelf was that light, Twilight must have been holding it in her magic still. That must be it.

“You can open your eyes, Rainbow.” Twilight giggled before letting the magic fade from her horn. This was it, she was going to let go of the shelf and it was going to crush her. There was no way she would be able to hold it up. Sucking in a breath she waited for impending doom, and then it didn’t come. Looking up, she confirmed that the bookshelf was in fact, resting on her back. No magic was holding it. Nothing was stopping what must be tonnes of wood from crushing her.

“Huh, it’s not that heavy.” Dash said, standing up fully, shaking slightly to ensure the ropes around her waist were secure. An action that did not go unnoticed by Twilight as Dash’s flank rocked back and forth directly in front of the now heavily blushing unicorn.

“Of course not, I put a ‘Light Weight’ Spell on it, should be as light as a pillow.” Twilight just managed to look up in time to see Dash turning her head back to look at her.

“Cool. Well, I guess we should be getting back to the library now, we still need to but all the books back, right?” Dash took a few steps forward. Unfortunately, while the bookcase didn’t feel heavy to her, it still had mass, and as such it still drastically changed her center of balance, causing her to sway back and forth as she struggled to stop herself from falling. All the while Twilight was staring at the lithe cyan figure swaying directly in front of her.

“Uh, Twi? A little help here!” Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts by a now panicking Rainbow Dash, narrowly missing crashing into the store clerk, who was desperately trying to protect the rest of his merchandise.

“Wha? Oh, right, sorry. Hold on, I got it.” A magenta glow quickly encased both the bookcase and Rainbow Dash along with her horn. As she extended her senses to help control the out of control bookshelf she couldn't help but ‘sense’ the pegasus it was attached to. Fit, muscular body, yet still small and light to allow for flying, the muscles flexing individually under her skin to maintain balance. She felt everything, and something about it made her want to keep looking, to keep studying. However, another thought managed to fight its way through the jungle of desires and fantasy her mind had become: What would Rainbow Dash think? At that single thought she quickly got to her task of balancing the pegasus and letting go as soon as she was stable.

“Whoa, that’s not what magic normally feels like. Normally it was just a light tingling. That was… something else. What did you do?” Dash asked, quickly spinning to face the unicorn behind her, forgetting all about the giant shelf on her back and loosing her balance yet again. Only this time Twilight was ready, she managed to catch Rainbow before she took two steps out of place and balance her yet again.

“Nothing, I just used a bit more power then normal. Come on; let’s get back to the library.” Twilight walked briskly past both Dash and the sales clerk, who was still crouched in a defensive pose in front of one of his more valuable antiques. Rainbow gave a sheepish grin to the sales clerk as she walked past him, this time being more careful to not bend more then was necessary to get out of the store.

“Hold up!” Dash called after Twilight, who was already almost out of the building, wishing for her cheeks to stop burning before dash caught up. Luckily it died down just enough that in the light outside it could go unnoticed unless you were specifically looking for it, and she was pretty sure Dash was not looking for it.

Catching up Dash just barely managed to squeeze through the door with a bit of magical guidance and was standing next to Twilight. Though she could have sworn the lavender unicorn was blushing, she chalked it up to a trick of the light and started the short journey to the library. It was only occasionally interrupted by her loosing balance and a following glow of magic to steady her. Though each time it happened Dash couldn’t help but notice that the magic just felt different. Normally she didn’t like having magic used on her, it always felt weird. This magic, however, was more gentle, more relaxing. Almost like a massage. Not that she liked massages, they were so not cool. But she couldn’t deny her muscles had been a little tense recently.