“Spike, Dashie, I’m home!” Twilight called out into the library as she closed the door behind her. A few days had passed since Shining and Cadance stopped by for a surprise visit. In the time since the argument, Twilight knew her brother would come to understand. It wasn’t easy; she was hurt by his reaction, but she also understood why he was upset. Dash had been there, reassuring her since he stormed out too. By that night, Twilight was convinced it wouldn’t take long for an apology.

And she was right, it didn’t take long. She received a letter from her brother only a few days after he left for Canterlot saying he would stop by on their way back to the Crystal Empire. He had already mentioned his intent was to apologize in the letter, but she also knew they still had a lot to talk about. He wrote that he spoke with their parents, and they told him about what she and Dash had told them. He made no effort to hide his concern about her diving into a relationship so quickly, and under their circumstances, so she had a lot to explain to him when he showed up at the train station.

Spike came barreling downstairs as soon as he heard Twilight’s voice. “So? How did it go?” he asked. He looked as though he was about to explode with anticipation if Twilight didn’t tell him. She patted him on he head gently, and reassuringly, calming him down.

Dash appeared from the kitchen, looking much more relaxed. “He apologized, Spike, how else would it’ve gone,” she said, grinding her hoof affectionately on the dragon’s head.

“I don’t know…After the way he left, I thought he might still be mad…” He looked to Twilight, waiting for her response.

The librarian smiled down at him. “It went as you would expect an apology to go,” she said with a small laugh. “He said he was sorry, we hugged, and we made up. That was it.”

“That was it? You were gone for two hours!”

“We talked about my relationship with Rainbow Dash too, but that was more brotherly concern.”

“So, Shining’s fine with you having a foal now?” he asked, still worried.

“It wasn’t easy…” She blushed a bit, looking at her marefriend. “But yes, he’s accepted our foal and relationship now. After hearing from Cadance the whole way to Canterlot, our mom and dad when they stopped there for a visit, and then having to listen to Princess Celestia at the castle, he changed his tune pretty quickly. He’s also not one to brood like our mother, so he was more willing to listen after about an hour.”

“See, told you.” Dash walked up, and wrapped a foreleg around Twilight’s neck.

“He’s still worried about how ponies in Canterlot will react once they hear, and to be fair, that’s a legitimate concern…” Twilight looked down, scratching the side of her face with her hoof.

“Celestia said she would handle that,” Dash said with a sigh, and a roll of her eyes.

“She said she would support me, that doesn’t mean ponies will just accept it…” Twilight reminded her. She sighed a bit before nuzzling into Dash’s neck.

“Your mom and dad did pretty easily, and it sounds like your brother did too once he calmed down…” Dash continued hugging Twilight, trying to be comforting.

“Yeah, sounds like the princess will just have to tell everypony what she told you two,” Spike added.

“I could still see some unicorns being more stubborn about it…” Twilight protested.

“Let them be stubborn. They’re not going to kick you out of Equestria if Princess Celestia tells them they can’t. If they really got nothing better to worry about than somepony else’s personal business, they’re stupid, right?”

“I guess you’re right…” she agreed. “I’m not worried about it—well, I am, but not nearly as much as I was with my family. We have some good news, so let’s just focus on that for now, right?”

“Right!” Spike said cheerfully.

“Yeah, everypony you wanted to be cool with it is, so we’ll have a little party tonight to celebrate. I’ll stop by Pinkie’s on my way to work today, and tell her we need a cake, and we’ll invite everypony over for a good time.”

“Sounds good,” Twilight said, placing a kiss on Dash’s cheek.

“So…speaking of work, I need to get going. I’ll see you tonight.” Dash kissed Twilight back, but she gave her a quick peck on the lips rather than the cheek.

“Have a good day,” Twilight called out to her as she slipped out the door. Dash stuck her hoof back in and gave a wave before closing the door behind her.

“She seemed like she was in a rush to get out of here.” Spike shrugged his shoulders.

Twilight glanced up at the clock, and giggled. “She’s late, that’s why. She waited for me to get back, how sweet.”

“I’m surprised Rainbow Dash even cares if she’s late…” Spike said as he walked back up stairs. A few moments later he came back down with a large stack of books that towered over the small dragon. Once he hit the floor, he dropped the stack.

“Of course she cares, Spike. We’ve used up quite a bit of her vacation time over the past month. She might be in charge of the weather team here in Ponyville, but that doesn’t mean she can take off whenever she wants.”

“She doesn’t seem like the kind of pony that would care…” Spike sighed as he turned back to go up the stairs.

“That’s just her. She doesn’t act like she cares about things she should care about to look cool,” Twilight reminded him. “But she does still care.”

Spike returned with yet another stack of books from upstairs, which was starting to nag at Twilight. “Why are you bringing all of these down?” she asked, levitating over the top book from the previous stack. She recognized the cover, it was a book she read a few weeks previous, and had finished.

Spike groaned as he dropped the second stack on the floor. “These are from your little private collection you keep growing up stairs. I thought somepony else might like to read them since you’re done with them.” He gave her a deadpan expression.

“Right…” Twilight gave a nervous laugh as she put the book back onto the stack. ”None of these were from my actual private collection, are they?”

“No, these are all ones you took from the library.”

“Good.” Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Since you finished them, I thought it would be okay to bring them back down.”

“That’s fine. Thanks, Spike. I’ve been meaning to do it, but time’s seemed to have gotten away from me lately…”

“Oh, and Lyra stopped by while you were gone. She wanted to ask you about a spell, or something,” Spike said as he jumped up to grab a few books from the top of the stack.

“Lyra did?” Twilight placed her hoof to her chin. “I suppose I should talk to her about that spell…”

“What spell did she want anyway? Can’t she just check out a book on magic, or something?” Spike wandered over to a shelf.

“It’s…complicated…” Twilight felt her face heat up as she tried to casually avoid specifics. “It’s a specific spell she wants me to teach her, and I told her I would, but I just needed to do some more research on it…to make sure it was safe.”

“Sounds pretty dangerous.” He didn’t even look up from the book he was staring at. Spike started placing books back where the belong as he continued his conversation with Twilight.

“Not really, now that I’ve looked into it…” Twilight picked up a few books with her magic as well. She glanced at the covers, and sent to books over to their respective shelves.

“What spell was it?” Spike asked as he continued working his way through the books in his arms.

“One you’re too young to know about.” Twilight could feel her face heating up more.

“Wait…” Spike looked over at Twilight with a confused disgust on his face. “Was it the spell that you and Rainbow—nevermind. I don’t think I want to know…”

“It’s probably better you don’t.”

The two slowly worked their way their the stacks of books. It didn’t take long with Spike sweeping the lower shelves and passing the books for higher shelves off to Twilight to put back. After a few minutes the stacks were gone, and the library shelves were looking a little more full than they had been.

Spike wiped his forehead as he sat down on the floor. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Now, I just need to finish the stack in my room…well, I guess it’s mine and Dashie’s room now.” Twilight laughed a bit to herself.

“Hey, when are you two telling her family anyway?” Spike asked suddenly.

She stared at him for a moment as she thought it over. They hadn’t really discussed a trip to Cloudsdale, or even when Dash wanted to go see her dad. Actually, now that Twilight was thinking about it, they hadn’t talked about Dash’s family since she first mentioned it. “I don’t know…” Twilight responded, placing her hoof to her chin as she did.

“You don’t know?” he asked with an eyebrow raised. “Well, I guess she’ll just tell you when she wants to go…”

As Twilight sat there, she suddenly found this little fact irritating. “I’m not sure if she will, Spike…” she muttered as stood up. The little dragon gave her a confused look as she walked passed him, and headed upstairs. When she reached her bedroom, she levitated over a book from a small stack on the floor. Her magic rapidly flipped through the pages until coming to a stop. Twilight climbed onto her bed with the book.

She had no intention of reading it, but it was a good excuse so Spike wouldn’t disturb her while she reflected on this a bit more. As she faked reading, Twilight started to sift through her memory to see whether or not she and Dash had any conversations about her family. The more she thought about it, the more the answer bothered her. She had been too preoccupied with her own drama that she didn’t even notice that Rainbow Dash had been avoiding the topic.

“Was it on purpose?” she thought as she stared at the page. “She did say that her and her father didn’t get along…”

“Twilight?” Spike interrupted her.

“What is it, Spike?” she asked without looking up. This was usually enough of a hint for him to leave her alone, but he continued to stand there.

“You haven’t turned the page since you opened that book. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong…”

“There is. You said Rainbow Dash probably wouldn’t tell you when she’s ready to go to Cloudsdale. Why wouldn’t she?”

“I don’t know, Spike.”

“If you tell me, maybe I could help,” he offered. His answer came in the form of Twilight closing the book loudly, making him jump.

“Spike, these are adult problems.” Twilight tried to give him a sympathetic look so he wouldn’t think she was mad at him. “I know you want to help, but this is something Rainbow Dash and I will need to discuss.”

“Everything seems to be adult problems with you lately…”

“I don’t mean it like that, Spike. I’m not saying that to make you drop the issue. This isn’t like an assignment, or a project for school; there’s not exactly a clear cut solution here. These things are complicated, and to be honest, I don’t even know if there is a problem.” Twilight levitated the book over to her night stand. “Rainbow Dash might have just not brought it up, and I may be worrying over nothing.”

“Really?”

Twilight forced a smile. “Really.”

Spike smiled back. “Alright then. I guess I’ll go clean up for the party tonight.”

“Thanks, Spike.” Once he was out of sight, Twilight sighed. She desperately wanted to believe there wasn’t something wrong, but with how things had been going for her lately, she was skeptical. The way Rainbow Dash talked about her dad last month only fueled these doubts in Twilight’s mind. Dash didn’t think highly of her father, Twilight was aware of that from their last conversation about him, but he was still her father. He had a right to know.

“I may not like it, but if they don’t get along, that’s not really any of my business. I just hope she doesn’t plan on not telling him…” Twilight sighed again. Her eyes bounced back to the book she just sat down. The title piqued her interest when she first pulled it off the shelves downstairs, but now she found it rather pertinent to her situation, or at least possible situation. She levitated the book over once more. “The nature of arguments…”

Twilight sighed again as she cracked open the book. “I just hope I’m worrying too much…for once…”

------------------------------

“I’m home.” Rainbow Dash opened the door to the library. Immediately she spotted Twilight laying in the living room reading a book. She hadn’t expected her marefriend to do much else today, but then again, she didn’t have anything else to do.

As soon as Dash stepped inside, Twilight stood up from where she was reading from. “Welcome home,” she said with an unusually plain tone.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted around the library for a moment. Twilight was usually a lot more cheerful when she got home, but she dismissed the lack of enthusiasm on her having been reading. “So, where’s Spike?” Dash asked as she looked around.

“He went to tell our friends we’re having a party tonight.” She levitated the book up off the floor, and closed it before placing it back onto a bookshelf.

“Cool. So, I stopped by Sugarcube Corner, and told Pinkie to bring a cake over tonight. It’s just the seven of us, right?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied with a soft, almost emotionless voice.

Dash took a step towards Twilight. Something was wrong, she knew her too well to think otherwise. “What’s up?” she asked with a growing concern in her voice.

Twilight looked at her with an almost reluctance. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have, but there wasn’t any way around this issue without talking about it. She sighed as she braced herself for a worst case scenario. “Dashie, when do you want to go see your father?” Twilight asked, sitting down on her hind legs.

Dash blinked a few times at how absurdly mundane that question was. With how Twilight was acting, she expected something way more serious—like a natural disaster or something. Dash chuckled a bit as she placed her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry about that right now. Let’s just focus on the party tonight, okay?”

Twilight shook her head. She wasn’t going to let Dash just shrug this off like she did before. “I’m being serious, Rainbow Dash. When do you want to go tell your father about us?”

“We can tell him later. Don’t worry about it for now.” Her hoof slid down off Twilight’s shoulder. She gave a confident smile to her marefriend before walking into the kitchen.

Twilight wasn’t satisfied with that response, or smile. She followed the pegasus into the kitchen, determined to get an actual answer from her. “Dash, I want an answer.”

“I gave you one, Twi,” she responded casually as she scooped up an apple from the counter with her wing. flicked it into the air, catching it on her hoof.

“Rainbow Dash, why don’t you want to talk to him?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then why are you avoiding the subject?”

“What do you want from me, a date?” Dash yelled suddenly, stopping Twilight in her tracks. “Maybe the time too? A weather report? A second-by-second schedule?” She turned around with an almost glare. “I said we’d talk about it later, so just drop it.”

Twilight stared at her for a moment before her gaze fell down to the floor. This was one of the few situations where Twilight didn’t like being right. “Dashie, I just think we should tell your dad. We told my family, and now we need to tell yours…”

“Twi…please, just drop it…” she muttered angrily. “I don’t want to have a fight, alright?” She continued to glare at Twilight even though the unicorn was focused on the floor.

Twilight sat silently as she weighed the options. This was important, not just to her, but to Rainbow Dash too. They had to tell her father. It wasn’t right to not tell her dad about their relationship, or their foal. Yet, at the same time, she shared Dash’s sentiment; she didn’t want to have a huge blow-out fight either. Today was supposed to be a good day where they just relaxed, and celebrated how far they had come.

Twilight sighed. “Alright…” she said softly.

A smile broke through on Dash’s face when Twilight relented. She set her apple down in the counter again as she walked up to Twilight, and gave her a hug. “We got a party tonight, so I don’t want us to be mad at each other.” She lovingly rubbed her muzzle against Twilight’s mane, showing the librarian she wasn’t upset.

Twilight hugged her back. “I don’t either.” She returned her marefriend’s affection by rubbing her cheek against Dash’s neck. Just as she was enjoying the affection, Twilight put her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s chest, and pushed her back a bit from their embrace. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t let this be. “But we are going to talk about this eventually…” she added softly, making Dash stop nuzzling her immediately.

Dash sighed. “That’s not dropping it, Twi…” she muttered in irritation.

“I’m temporarily dropping it…” she clarified. Twilight pulled back from their hug with a small, almost sorry sort of smile.

Just looking at Twilight, she could see the unicorn wasn’t teasing. She was reluctant, but she also wasn’t backing down. Dash furled her brow. “So, you lied to me?” she asked, trying to keep her anger from boiling up again.

“No, I won’t mention it…during the party. We will be talking about it later however,” Twilight said as she turned around. She slowly walked out of the room leaving Rainbow Dash standing there with an angry glare.

Rainbow Dash continued to glare at her as she left the kitchen. This didn’t make sense. Twilight said they wouldn’t have a fight, and then started acting like she was upset. “Are we having a fight?” she asked, taking a step after her marefriend.

“No, we agreed not to,” Twilight responded with a strangely upbeat tone.

That chipper tone was a slap in the face for Rainbow Dash. She gave up on pursuing Twilight after only a few steps, instead falling back onto her hind legs. “This is really passive-aggressive, Twi, and it’s not cool!” she called out after the librarian.

------------------------------

Rarity knocked on the door to the library. “I hope we’re not too early,” she said to Fluttershy and Spike standing behind her.

“No way, it should be fine,” Spike replied.

The latch drew everyone’s attention back to the library’s entrance. Pinkie Pie was the one to open the door. She poked her head outside with an obviously uncomfortable look on her face. “Good, I’m glad you guys are here,” she said with a nervous laugh. The party pony opened the door, and motioned for the three friends to come inside.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong, silly. Just…umm…it’s not great.”

Just stepping inside, Rarity and Fluttershy could feel the tension in the old tree. Rainbow Dash was flying around hanging some decorations, and Twilight was setting up a table for food. The room was awkwardly silent. Rainbow Dash had a scowl on her face, while Twilight hummed a small tune to herself.

“Hello, Twilight, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, grabbing their attention. Twilight nodded with a smile, while Rainbow Dash waved her foreleg once without even looking her way.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked Pinkie softly so that the two lovers wouldn’t hear.

“I don’t know, they were like this when I got here. I brought in the cake and a bunch of cool party stuff, but they won’t talk to each other. I thought all this stuff was to celebrate, but they’re all angry. Dash sounded so happy when she stopped by Sugarcube Corner too…”

“Are you two fighting?” Spike asked abruptly.

Rarity shot him a glare. “Spike, show some tact.”

“No,” Twilight responded plainly.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash replied right after. She shot a glare across the room to her marefriend as she pounded in a nail with her hoof. Twilight just ignored her lover’s scorn though, instead focusing on her own setup.

“So, are you?” Spike asked, genuinely confused.

“We have a fight on hold,” Twilight clarified.

“Oh hold?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s not really on hold when you keep bringing it up…” Dash stamped in a nail to hold up the last streamer. As soon as she touched down on the ground she sighed. “Pinkie, please tell me you brought something to drink…”

“I brought some punch and juice,” The party pony tried her best to keep an upbeat attitude, especially since her friends were fighting. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem like a situation an upbeat attitude could solve.

“I need something a lot stronger than juice.” Dash sounded exhausted. She pressed her hoof to her forehead. Apparently Twilight’s little act was wearing on the pegasus.

“I think I have some—”

“We have alcohol in the kitchen cabinet, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight chimed in, making Dash roll her eyes.

“I thought Twilight didn’t drink…” Rarity said softly.

“Rainbow Dash does…” Spike replied. “So we started keeping that type of stuff in the house…”

Another knock came from the door. Pinkie’s expression lit up for a moment. “That must be Applejack!” she said as she dashed over to the let the pony in.

As soon as the door opened, Applejack came inside with a case strapped to her back. “Howdy, everypony. I ain’t late, am I?” she looked around seeing that all of her friends were present already.

“No, just in time.” Twilight smiled as she walked over to her friends.

“I know ya can’t drink there, Twilight, but I brought some hard cider just incase anypony else wanted some. I also brought some of the virgin stuff fer ya and Spike too.”

“Thank you, Applejack.” Twilight responded with an overly-nice tone that made Applejack take a step back.

She looked over at her friends finding them all looking rather uncomfortable as well. “What’s goin’ on?” she asked softly.

“Nothing’s going on,” Twilight replied as she used her magic to take the cases from Applejack. She set the cases next to the table with the punch and snacks, and opened both of them. She levitated out a bottle. and opened it. Twilight held the opening to her nose, and gave a small whiff, before taking a sip. “I’ll go make some signs for these, so no pony confuses them.” She said trotting off.

“Hey, Applejack…” Rainbow Dash fluttered out of the kitchen with a glass in her hoof.

“Uhh…Hey there, RD…” She gave a wave to the visibly irritated pegasus before turning back to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. The cowpony silently asked for some kind of explanation about the situation, but was met with only awkward smiles and shrugs.

“Pinkie, would you be a dear and perhaps start some music?” Rarity suggested while motioning for Applejack to come closer.

“Okie Dokie!” she replied as she bounced off to a record player.

As Pinkie bounced away, Applejack came closer to Rarity and Fluttershy. “So what’s goin’ on?”

“Apparently, they’re having a fight.” Rarity placed her hoof to her chin.

“No, their fight’s on hold,” Spike corrected. “Whatever that means…”

“Twilight doesn’t seem like she’s fighting though…” Fluttershy added, glancing over at the librarian as she came back downstairs with two signs. She was still smiling and humming a soft tune, which really didn’t strike any of them as her being upset.

“She’s acting a lot more cheerful than she’s feeling, dear. Fluttershy, why don’t you and I go talk to Twilight. Applejack, could you…” Rarity stared at Rainbow Dash with concern as the pegasus tipped back a bottle of cider. “Could you keep an eye on Rainbow Dash…”

“What do ya mean keep an eye on her?”

“She’s already on her second bottle of cider,” Rarity said, subtly pointing towards the athletic pegasus. “And that’s after that glass she came out of the kitchen with…”

Applejack turned her attention to the pegasus, and sighed. “I really wasn’t lookin’ fer one ’a these kinda parties tonight…” she muttered. “I got work in the mornin’…”

“I’m sorry, dear, but we should try to get them back to their normal lovey-dovey selves.” Rarity smiled, hoping that would sway the cowpony.

“What about me?” Spike asked, grabbing their attention.

“Why don’t you play some party games with Pinkie.” Fluttershy offered.

Spike sighed. “I never get to do anything…”

“Trust me, Spike. Yer gettin’ the better end ’a the stick on this one,” Applejack said as she turned to go talk to Rainbow Dash.

“Sure I am…” Spike slumped as he started walking over to Pinkie Pie.

When the other two left, Rarity motioned for Fluttershy to follow her. “Twilight, dear,” she called out, grabbing the librarian’s attention.

“Hi, Rarity. Hi, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled.

“So, how have you been, darling?”

“I’m fine…” She hesitated for a moment before giving a small nod. “Everything is fine…” Twilight levitated the opened bottle of cider over. She gave a small sniff to make sure it was still the same alcohol-free bottle she opened before going up stairs before she took a sip.

Rarity glanced over to Fluttershy before looking back at Twilight. “Things don’t seem fine.”

“Why are you and Rainbow Dash fighting?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“We’re not fighting. We probably will be later tonight, but for now, things are fine.” Twilight only continued to force that smile, though her eyes didn’t sell her enthusiasm.

“You will be later tonight? That doesn’t sound very reassuring.” Rarity looked over at a jug of juice on the table next to them. She levitated the jug up, and poured herself a small glass before looking at Fluttershy. “Would you like some too, Fluttershy?”

“Umm…no, thank you…” The shy pony looked back at Twilight. “If you two aren’t fighting, why is Rainbow Dash acting so upset?”

“That’s—” Twilight sighed, letting her smile fade, “—a long story…”

“Well, we’re here to listen,” Rarity reminded her.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Alright…”

------------------------------

Rainbow Dash set down her bottle after she finished it. “I ain’t mad, Applejack!” she defended.

“Well, why’re y’all fightin’ then?”

“Because Twilight won’t learn to just let some things go!” Dash scowled as she tapped her hoof on the table she set the bottle down on.

“Did ya think she might have a reason ta bug ya about some things?”

“I told her to drop it, so she should!” Dash slammed back another swig of her cider before slamming it down in the table again.

“Rainbow Dash, yer just as thick headed as ever.” Applejack took a sip of the bottle in her hoof. “Tellin’ Twilight not ta worry about somethin’s just gonna make her worry more. That pony just don’t know when to quit, even if it’s fer her own good.”

“Don’t say that about her.” Dash glared at Applejack.

Applejack only chuckled. “It ain’t always a bad thing.” She took another sip of her cider. “I don’t know what she was buggin’ ya about, but I’m sure she’s got yer best interest at heart, that’s all I’m sayin’.” She watched Rainbow Dash starting to wobble back and forth a bit as she stood there. Drinking too fast will do that to a pony if they’re not careful, but Dash didn’t seem worried about restraint. If anything, Applejack guessed that Rainbow Dash was drinking so fast on purpose, just hoping to pass out to avoid an argument tonight.

“She’s fixin’ ta get Twilight real mad if she ain’t careful…” Applejack thought to herself.

Dash wobbled over to grab another cider, taking care to avoid eye contact with Twilight as she did. That didn’t seem to stop Twilight from being helpful though as the unicorn levitated another cider up for her marefried to grab as she approached. Dash snatched it without so much as a thanks. As Dash wobbled back, Applejack noticed Twilight continuing to use her magic to support her and keep keep from falling over.

“At least they ain’t too mad to stop carin’ about one another.”

------------------------------

“It’s a personal reason that I don’t think Rainbow Dash would appreciate me discussing with you girls, but we’ll work through this.” Twilight kept her eyes on Rainbow Dash until she finally made her way back to Applejack on the other side of the library.

“Are you sure you two will be fine?” Fluttershy asked, her motherly concern starting to show in her voice.

“Of course, it’s just an argument. It’s not our first one either…” Twilight tried to sound optimistic, but she still looked hurt. “It’s just if we could talk about it, we could resolve the issue, but she doesn’t want to talk…”

“Oh, don’t worry, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie jumped into the conversation, wrapping her hoof around the librarian. “Things will be back to normal by tomorrow!”

“What makes you do sure about that?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow at Pinkie.

“Well, things always work out for the best in stories,” she said offhoofedly.

“Pinkie, this isn’t a story.” Twilight shook her head.

“No, but it’s playing out like one.” The party pony scratched her chin with her hoof, almost like she didn’t understand her own statement. “Anyway, I’m sure you and Dash are just having a little bump in the road.”

“Who’s playing with Spike?” Fluttershy asked, just now realizing the implications of Pinkie standing with them. She glanced over to see Spike wandering aimlessly with a blindfold on, trying to pin a tail onto a picture of a pony.

“He’s fine,” Pinkie said with a snort. “Anyway, I gotta go!” With a sudden pink blur, Pinkie vanished from around Twilight’s neck.

“That pony is just strange sometimes…” the librarian remarked.

Fluttershy turned her attention from Pinkie back to Twilight. “Umm…I do have to say though, this whole acting like nothing is wrong thing doesn’t really seem like you, Twilight…”

Twilight’s eyes fell to the floor for a moment. “I know…” she paused for a brief moment as she collected her thoughts. “I thought Rainbow Dash might react like this, so I did a bit of research into how best cope with…outgoing personalities like hers. A passive-aggressive approach seemed to be effective, though I don’t like looking at fights like this. I love her; I don’t want to look at our fights in terms of win–lose scenarios. I feel like I’ll still lose this even if I win...because she loses…”

Rarity smiled. “That’s proof that you care about her, dear.”

“This still feels impersonal though…By acting like nothing is wrong, but still making her aware something is wrong, it supposed to wear down her defenses, or something like that…” Twilight sighed. “I feel awful for doing this, but…I really need her to talk to me about this problem…”

“Well, if it’s as important as you say, I’m sure it’s for her best interest…” Rarity said before taking a small sip of her juice. “I’m sure Rainbow Dash will come around in time.”

“I would rather it not take time. I don’t know how long I can even keep this up…I just wish she would talk to me…”

------------------------------

“I just wish she would let things go when I say I don’t want to talk about it.” Rainbow Dash was bracing herself up against a wall. Next to her, on the table was an almost empty bottle of pineapple vodka. “She always does this…” she muttered as she raised her glass to her mouth.

“Does what?” Pinkie said popping up next to Rainbow Dash.

“Always focuses on stuff that’s stupid…” Dash muttered, completely missing the fact that another pony had just joined in her conversation. “We wouldn’t even be fighting if she just dropped it like she said she would…”

“RD, ya gotta let it go too. That’s Twilight bein’ Twilight. She’s always gotta see things through till the end, and ya knew she was like that before y’all even got together…”

“I just don’t wanna fight with her…” Dash added, setting her glass on the table heavily. Just looking at the drunken pegasus, Applejack thought she might start crying. The thought of fighting with the pony she loved was enough to drive her to tears.

“Well then, don’t fight!” Pinkie said with a cheery, upbeat tone that only made Rainbow Dash glare at her.

“She’s the one who’s fighting! Her and her happy–mad routine she’s doing!” Dash tried to poke Pinkie in her chest, but missed, nearly stumbling onto the floor. Just as she was about to lose her balance, a magenta aura appeared around her, holding her up straight. Once she was up and stable, she muttered, “I just don’t wanna talk about it, but I don’t want her to be mad at me either…”

“Dashie, I think you’ve had enough…” Twilight said, coming over to her.

“We’re having a party, Twi. It’s fine…” she replied.

“I don’t think it’s fine.” Twilight looked to Applejack and Pinkie, both nodding in agreement. She turned around to see Rarity and Fluttershy behind her, looking on with concern. Across the room, Spike had pulled off his blindfold when he heard Rainbow Dash yell. “I’m sorry girls, we were supposed to have a lot more fun than this…”

“I wanted to,” Dash retorted while stumbling over to Twilight. “But, no…”

“It’s alright, sugarcube. These type ‘a things happen.” Applejack nodded in understanding. Twilight looked around at the rest of her friends, who were doing much the same. “Y’all had a little tiff, and it didn’t get patched up in time fer our little shindig, but we don’t hold it against ya."

Twilight sighed before looking back at her wobbling marefriend. “I think we’ll call it a night,” she said, mostly to Rainbow Dash.

Dash only glared at her in drunken defiance. “The night’s still young, Twi. We can keep going…”

“Rainbow Dash, please…” Twilight pleaded with her, but Dash just kept that same defiant glare.

“I think that sounds like a good idea…” Fluttershy said softly, agreeing with Twilight.

“Indeed.” Rarity turned around to the little dragon looking on, utterly confused. ”Spike, why don’t you spend the night at my house tonight. I have a feeling it might be a little more…relaxing than here.”

Spike suddenly got a big smile on his face, and nodded eagerly. “Alright! I’ll go grab my stuff,” he said before rushing upstairs.

“Thanks, Rarity.” Twilight smiled at the designer.

“No, the party’s not over yet!” Dash protested, but she felt Applejack’s hoof on her shoulder.

“Yep, we’re gonna pack it in fer the night, RD.” Applejack let her hoof slide off Rainbow Dash’s shoulder as she walked towards the door. Fluttershy and Pinkie followed behind her, cementing the idea that the party was over for Rainbow Dash. The pegasus groaned.

“I’m sorry we dragged you into our problems everypony…”

“It’s fine, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “We understand that you can’t really avoid it sometimes.”

Twilight didn’t like having to apologize to her friends, or ruin their fun, especially over something so silly. She could have avoided this if she just listened to her marefriend, and let the whole issue slide for the night. But, Twilight knew she would still have obsessed on it like she had all day, and eventually would have brought it up. If anything, this may have been her way of avoiding a huge fight in front of her friends.

Once Spike came back down stairs with his blanket and pillow, everyone said their goodbyes, and left the library. As soon as the door was closed, Twilight used her magic to turn off the lights downstairs, and lock the door before she forgot. Once the library was ready for bed, Twilight sighed heavily. She found herself looking at the floor, trying to brace herself for the coming storm. “Rainbow Dash—”

“I told you I don’t want to fight, Twi…” she spit out before Twilight could even finish a sentence.

“And what makes you think I do?” she asked, keeping her voice very calm. She looked up to see Rainbow Dash taking a step and stumbling again. She sighed once more as she caught the pegasus with her magic. “Dashie, why can’t we just talk it over. Tell me why! Let me in!”

“Because it’s stupid!” Dash snapped before sitting down on the floor.

Twilight couldn’t keep her emotions in check at this point. The implications of what Dash said was just too much for her to keep inside anymore. Her heart sank down low in her chest, aching the whole way down. “Me wanting to talk to you about something is stupid?” She asked, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“No, what you want to talk about is stupid!” Dash clarified, but it didn’t make Twilight feel much better.

“What is so wrong about wanting to go talk to your dad? You’ve met mine, don’t I get the chance to meet yours? Dash, I’ve let you into my life—far more than anypony else has ever been! You’ve met my family, my mentor, my brother, but when do I get that same respect?”

Dash just grumbled as she sat there. She didn’t answer Twilight, nor did she plan to.

Twilight stared, at her, and suddenly the realization hit her. Dash was drunk. This was all just drunken spite-filled speech that she didn’t mean. Twilight couldn’t let what she said tonight get under her skin because Dash wasn’t thinking right. Even more likely, Dash didn’t have the mental capacity right now to even have deeper meaning behind what she was saying.

After a few moments without a response, Twilight just gave up. Dash was too stubborn and too drunk to argue with. “Let’s just go to bed, alright?” she offered. Dash just continued to sit silently, ignoring Twilight. “Can we agree on that?” she asked again, telling her marefriend she wanted an actual answer.

Dash still didn’t respond. She looked around the empty room like something was missing. “Where’s Spike?” she asked suddenly. The pegasus stood up, and tried to walk over to grab another drink.

“He’s spending the night with Rarity.” Twilight shook her head as she rushed over to her marefriend’s side. Twilight suddenly brushing up against her stopped Dash in her tracks before she could get to the cider. Twilight walked up next to her lover, and started guiding her upstairs. To keep the pegasus steady, she decided to let Dash brace against her. It only took her a few steps to lean into Twilight entirely, putting all of her weight onto the unicorn.

As they walked, Twilight felt Dash loosen up more and more. Her body stopped holding itself up, and she was starting to hang on Twilight rather than just use her for a support. “Hey…” Dash said softly.

“What?” Twilight tried to not sound annoyed, but her patience was already past wearing thin.

“Spike’s gone…” Dash turned to Twilight with a drunken smile.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “She’s so drunk she forgot we’re mad at each other…” She shook her head to her marefriend. “We’re not having sex tonight, Rainbow Dash…”

“Come on, Twi. Just because we’re fighting doesn’t mean we can’t do it,” she said with a drunken giggle. her head fell into Twilight’s neck, and she started rubbing her face against Twilight’s fur. “You just smell so good…”

“You’re drunk…” Twilight said. It was more an excuse to herself for Dash’s behavior rather than a reason against having sex with her. If she wasn’t drunk though, they would probably still be downstairs arguing, so she could at least be thankful for that.

When they hit the top of the stairs, Dash put her wing around Twilight. The soft feathers gently brushed against her side, only making Twilight more irritated. “Stop it, Dash.” The tickling stopped, but the pegasus still didn’t remove her wing.

When they came to their bed, Twilight pushed Rainbow Dash over onto it, and used her magic to pull the cover up over the drunken pegasus. Once Twilight put Dash into bed, she climbed in next to her. As soon as she hit the pillowy surface, she knew she was going to be in for a rough night. Dash immediately grabbed Twilight, and started nuzzling into her neck. Twilight sighed again as she tried to push Rainbow Dash off of her. “Dash, stop. I’m not in the mood.”

“I just want to hold you…and cuddle…”

“No, you want to have sex.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“No I don’t,” she protested. She kept her forelegs wrapped around Twilight’s chest, holding her tightly. As she breathed, the stench of alcohol hung heavy on her breath. It wasn’t exactly an appealing scent, but it also brought up some memories she treasured. That smell brought her back to her first night with Rainbow Dash.

Twilight placed her hoof on her marefriend’s. “I don’t like it when we fight, Dashie…” she said softly. her hoof gently stroked from Dash’s hoof, up her foreleg, and back down.

“I don’t either…” Rainbow Dash replied, nuzzling into Twilight’s neck more. “I just want to lay here with you, and not fight.”

Twilight took a deep breath. ”We still need to talk about your dad though…”

“Please don’t, Twi…”

“Just…Please, Dashie…For the love of Celestia, please tell me. What do you have against your dad?” Twilight pleaded one final time.

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond for a few moments. Her hooves were still around Twilight, and her muzzle was still pressed to her marefriend’s neck, but she wasn’t moving anymore. Twilight listened to the rhythmic breathing of her lover against her back, noticing how steady it was. There was no change, which meant she was thinking about it. She wasn’t upset or angry over what Twilight had asked, which was a good sign. So, Twilight waited patiently for Dash to respond.

“You’re really never gonna drop this, are you…” she said finally. Twilight shook her head slightly, which only made Rainbow Dash sigh. “Fine. I don’t like my dad, and he doesn’t like me…” she said finally.

“Did he hurt you or something?” Concern grew in Twilight’s voice. Suddenly she felt guilty for pushing the issue so hard.

“No, he’s just a jerk.” Dash went back to nuzzling Twilight’s neck.

“Then why did you bring him up when we needed to tell my family?”

“I don’t know…I guess I just felt like he should know too…”

“Then why can’t we plan a day to do so?”

“Because I don’t wanna think about going.” Rainbow Dash stopped rubbing her muzzle against Twilight’s fur again. “Can’t we just send a letter or something?”

“No, Rainbow Dash. He deserves to be told in person.” Dash groaned just hearing Twilight say it. “Hold on, now. You stood by me when we told my parents and the princess, so I’ll stand by you when we tell your dad. It won’t be so bad.”

Dash sighed. “Fine, we’ll go. Just because you won’t drop it though.” Dash pulled her forelegs from around Twilight, and rolled over onto her other side. “Good night…” she muttered angrily.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. She rolled onto her other side, and wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash. “You’re cute when you’re stubborn.” She nuzzled into Rainbow Dash’s neck making the pegasus half groan. “Thanks, Dashie…” Twilight said, hugging her marefriend tightly.

“Yeah, sure…” she muttered back.

“I’m sorry I ruined tonight…” Twilight whispered to her.

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond right away. She was still awake; Twilight could tell as much by her breathing, but she laid there in silence for a moment. Twilight felt Dash’s hoof appear on her own. Finally, she whispered back, “Me too…”

“I love you.” Twilight placed a kiss on her lover’s neck.

“I love you too…” she replied.

Author's Notes:

Note: Twilight's actual private collection is porn.