Rainbow Dash groans. This sucks. This is boring. A two-pony book club had been a good idea in theory, but Twilight had insisted on expanding her literary palate with some more… distinguished works of literature. And in Dash’s humble opinion, they are terrible. Just the absolute worst.
Where are the swordfights? The plots to take over the world? The dei ex machina and the far-fetched, last-ditch plans that succeed against all odds? Where’s the action? Where’s the fun?
Instead, she focuses on Twilight. She’s deep in the book, as she always is, talking about a certain passage and something called “death of the author,” which at least sounds rad. And she’s flipping her bangs out of her eyes, scrunching her brow as she concentrates on her thoughts, and she has that excited glint in her eye that she gets when she’s really passionate about something. Small things that Dash has noticed for a while.
And she almost misses it when Twilight finishes her monologue, looks at her, and says, “What do you think, Dash?”
“Huh? About what?”
Twilight frowns. “About the author’s political views and the passage.”
“Oh. That,” Dash says. “Yeah, I didn’t read the book.”
Twilight’s frown grows. “Again, Dash? I gave you a week to read just half of it.”
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t get past the first page! It’s so boring, Twi! I don’t care about some weird 17th century romance or whatever!”
“18th century,” Twilight automatically says, and then she shakes her head. “Ugh, not the point—Rainbow Dash, if you’re not gonna read the books I suggest, then why do you keep saying you will? Why do you keep coming to our meetings? Why are you here?”
A rash of irritation jolts through Dash then, and she can’t stop the words tumbling from her mouth. “Uh, I don’t know, Twi, maybe it’s because I like spending time with you? Maybe ever since you became a princess it’s been hard to get you alone and just talk to you? Maybe I just want to be around you because I have a crush on y—”
She quickly claps her hooves over her mouth, but it’s too late. Twilight’s eyes are wide, her jaw is slack, and she’s completely silent. Maybe, Dash frantically thinks, she didn’t hear what she—
“You… have a crush on me?” Twilight asks quietly.
Well, darn. Dash brings her hooves back down to the floor. “I… yeah,” she says. “Yeah, I do. For a while, now.”
Twilight’s face colors. “O-oh. Well—Dash, I—if I’d known”—and she glances away, sheepish—“w-well, I would’ve just asked you out instead of forming a book club for only two ponies in an admittedly convoluted attempt to spend more time with you and make us fall in love with each other and then eventually start dating and get married and adopt some foals and—”
“Whoa, Twilight!” Dash cuts in with a laugh, and the sound is a shock of relief at the turn of events. “Maybe let’s start with the fact that we like each other first.”
Twilight’s giggle is nervous, excited, and giddy all at once. “O-oh, right. That’s a much better idea,” she says, and her bright smile is better than any book.