//------------------------------// // Love: The Undying Force // Story: Twilight's Rainbow // by Kodeake //------------------------------// Love: The Undying Force Rainbow Dash lowered herself slowly towards the clouds below her, the necklace Twilight had given her still hung around her neck. She watched it sway with the rhythmic beats of her wings as she felt the beginning moisture of tears form in her eyes. Her mind was plagued by doubts; she was second guessing every decision she had made up to this point. There was part of her that believed Twilight would hate her even more because of this, or the thought that maybe nothing had changed at all. Then there was the tiny part of her mind that told her she shouldn’t have pulled up from her dive, but that tiny part was silenced by a shake of her head. There was another part willing to take over for it; hope. She hoped it was enough, hoped that at the very least she could be forgiven, and an even smaller part hoped that she could once again be loved by the lavender mare. She grimaced at the thought, preventing herself from believing it. There was no way; she had hurt Twilight far too much for that. The scars were simply too deep. Before she had time to contemplate the possibilities any longer her vision was filled with a bright white flash, followed by lavender fur. Her nose was assaulted by a sent she had been missing for over a month, her mind filled with a new found hope as she felt something collide with her chest, throwing her wings off balance and sending her tumbling down to the clouds. Her hope was replaced by dread as she felt her back hit the clouds, her assailant standing above her, forcefully pinning her to the ground. What was she going to do? Was she going to hit her? Yell at her? Whatever it was, she had no choice but to accept it; whatever it was, it was what she deserved, nothing more and nothing less. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing two shimmering violet orbs staring back at her own magenta eyes. She stared into those violet pools, she searched for some kind of emotion, some kind of answer, to either confirm or put to rest her fears. She searched for some kind of sign, but there was nothing. Nothing but the slight moisture of tears, tears of anger, sadness, or joy, she could not tell. Their muzzles were inches apart, and her lips yearned for her to close the miniscule gap, but she held herself still. She would not risk something like that, especially not until she knew for sure how Twilight felt. They kept their eyes focused, no words, no actions, no movements, nothing. Nothing but eye contact was made between the two. Rainbow felt the tension begin to build, slowly coiling in her gut like a spring compressed farther then it was meant to be. The air itself began to feel thicker, her breathing slowly growing deeper and more audible, Twilight’s doing the same. Anything could release the spring, the twitch of an eye, the sound of the wind, anything. And yet nothing did, the tension hung over them like a blanket, so thick you could cut it with a knife. Finally, something snapped, and Twilight finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry.” She whispered quietly, closing her eyes as a few tears began to leak down her cheeks. Dash’s jaw nearly dropped, Twilight was apologizing to her? For what? What could Twilight possibly be sorry about? “You have no reason to be sorry; I’m the one that should be begging for forgiveness.” Rainbow said sadly, switching her eyes off of Twilight’s onto the cloud roof of the back stage area. “No, all you did was try to make me happy, I see that now. But I forced you to do something that no mare or stallion should ever have to do; I made you choose between love and dreams. Please, forgive me…” Twilight closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to contain her tears, the salty droplets already running down her cheeks in steady streams. “I’m so sorry…” Rainbow Dash’s response came in the form of an action rather then words. Very carefully and slowly, she reached her hooves up from the floor and around the lavender mare standing over her, pulling her into what she hoped was a comforting embrace. At first Twilight hesitated, the touch unexpected, but still somehow nice. After a moment of hesitation she allowed herself to be pulled into the hug offered to her, lowering herself onto Rainbow’s chest. It was still just as soft as she remembered. A sense of safety washed over her, a feeling she had not felt for well over a month, a feeling she had missed dearly. On instinct alone she wrapped her lavender hooves around cyan body, careful to avoid the wings outstretched on either side. Twilight let her head rest on Dash’s chest, every move slow and cautious, ensuring Rainbow made no signs of being uncomfortable with the situation. However, upon receiving nothing but a light squeeze from the cyan hooves wrapped around her, she allowed her head to rest and her eyes to flutter closed. This felt more then safe, it felt right. Then, like a switch had been flipped, she started sobbing into Rainbows fur, her breath coming in short ragged gasps as two months of captured emotions flowed freely into Rainbow’s coat. Her anger had been vented when Rainbow first came back, but her sorrow and loneliness had yet to leave her, and now that it saw a path to escape, it did not look back. The safety she felt when she was held by Rainbow was something that had not faded, not after two months of separation or the sting of betrayal. It was something that would always be there. It was something hard wired into her brain that nothing could truly get rid of it. She realized now why it was so hard for her to stay mad, why it was so difficult to yell at her, and to watch her cry. Twilight realized that she still loved Rainbow Dash, and nothing had changed in that respect. “Rainbow?” Twilight sniffled quietly, her sobs having subsided with her realization. “Yeah Twi?” Rainbow had hardly heard the unicorn speak at all, too wrapped in her own thoughts to notice anything else. After two months of hardly any contact between the two, she felt no different in the position they were in. It still felt natural to her to hold the unicorn in her hooves. It still made warmth spread through her entire body, no matter how much her mind told her that this shouldn’t be happening. The position they were in now… it was as if Rainbow had never left at all, it was like nothing had changed at all between the two. It was like it was all a bad dream that they were just now waking from. It was like Twilight had both forgiven her, and still loved her. Something she had not allowed herself to truly hope for. “Can you forgive me?” Twilight asked, her voice was tinted with the worry festering in her heart and mind. Was this just a heat of the moment thing? Was this going to end as soon as her tears stopped? Would Rainbow Dash decide not to forgive her? Would Rainbow dash hate her? “Only if you can forgive me…” Dash had to suppress a chuckle at Twilight’s question; she still thought she was the one at fault. Rainbow knew that Twilight was not at any fault, and yet Twilight demanded some form of blame fall on her, just like always. She couldn’t just let others take the blame; she had to take the fall with or for them. It was one of the many reasons Dash loved, and still loved, Twilight Sparkle. “I can’t forgive you, Rainbow,” Rainbow’s breathing froze in her chest. Twilight couldn’t forgive her? Why not? Had she just screwed up that badly? “Not for something I forced you to do.” “Twi, you didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t need to do in the first place.” Rainbow allowed a small smile to stretch across her lips, her hope restored that she had been forgiven. But her mind still fooled with her hopes, for every thought she had that said she had been forgiven was countered by a thought of uncertainty. It was time to put the fears to rest. “I chose to do what I did, and I’m sorry. Can you forgive me for abandoning you?” Rainbow asked again, putting a bit more force behind her words. She needed to know. She needed to lay her fears and doubts to rest, no matter what the answer would be. “Do you still love me?” Twilight asked quietly, closing her eyes in anticipation of both the answer she feared and the answer she hoped for. The question caught Dash a little off guard; it was a question she had not expected. Why would Twilight care? What could her answer possibly change between them? There was no way Twilight still felt that was about her. Whatever the reason, Dash knew the answer, and she refused to lie to Twilight any more then she already had. “Yes, I do. But I don’t blame you if-” Rainbow was cut off as something very strange happened. Very strange, but not at all unwelcome. Twilight closed the gap she had contemplated closing countless times over the course of their talk. The gap her lips begged her to close, but her mind prevented her from granting that wish. It almost seemed like it was forbidden to do what she wanted, and yet Twilight had just done it. Twilight had closed the final gap between the two, and once again their lips could meet, and meet they did. Rainbow’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull at the sudden contact. She stared numbly at Twilight’s closed eyes for a second before closing her own and putting a little more pressure behind the kiss. It was a hope she had not allowed herself to believe in, a thought she had shut down time and time again, an idea she had ruled out as impossible. But the proof was above her, the unmistakable feeling of Twilight’s lips on her own confirming what her eyes refused to believe. Twilight was kissing her. Twilight loved her. Despite what she had done she still had Twilight. She still had the most wonderful mare in the world, and nothing would ever change that fact. She would choose Twilight over everything else. Twilight had been too kind to her, she never deserved the kindness and love she had been shown. And yet Twilight had given it to her, twilight had given her the one thing worth more to her then the Wonderbolts, worth more then life itself. Rainbow swore to herself, from this moment on she would never, ever leave Twilight again. Never again would Twilight be alone. Even if that meant she had to give something up, it would all be worth it. It would be all worth it if she knew that somewhere a lavender unicorn loved her, it would all be worth it if Twilight loved her. Neither Twilight Sparkle nor Rainbow Dash would ever be alone again.