"So how exactly did this happen?", the doctor asked while he inspected the damage to my arm.
"I hit a tree.", I answered.
"But the damage that is done here is..."
"Multiple times.", I added.
He looked at me for several seconds, then he picked up his clipboard. "Reason for injury...", he read out loud. "Stupidity", he said while he wrote it down.
He wrapped my stump in new bandages. "Well Miss Mulier, we stopped the bleeding, and we will cast another healing accelerator. Your condition is much better than last time... so if you promise not to punch any trees again, you could leave the hospital in about an hour."
"I will make sure she won't.", said Twilight who sat right next to me.
...
"Hey, Twilight. I'm pretty hungry.", I said as we entered the library again.
"Well, you were in the middle of making curry when... you decided to punch trees instead. Since you have to take it slow for a while, I could finish it. I always wanted to learn a bit more about cooking."
"Sounds like a good plan.", I replied while my stomach answered with a growl.
Twilight laughed at this as we entered the kitchen, her stomach growled just seconds later. "Okay, maybe my suggestion wasn't completely selfless.", she said, and we both laughed.
I stopped laughing when I saw the shattered cup on the kitchen floor. "Remember your promise to talk to me about your feelings.", Twilight reminded me.
"I feel ashamed for what I did.", I told her.
"And why do you feel this way?", she continued asking.
"Because I hurt you.", I said with tears in my eyes. "I always wanted to protect you from any harm, but instead I hurt you myself."
"Yes, you did hurt me. More than any pain from our connection, it hurt me to see what you did to yourself, but it was... a very unique situation and I can understand how you ended up in it. I forgive you and what we are doing right now will prevent it ever happens again.", she said and kissed me softly. "You have to remember, no matter what, I will be with you, and we're always stronger together."
"I love you so much right now.", I told her and kissed her more eagerly.
"I can feel it, and I feel the same... but we should stop...", she said but had a hard time doing it herself. "You know we have to be careful with your arm... and things would get crazy if we gave in right now. Plus we should eat something."
"I know you're right, but...", I sighed. "Okay, one last kiss, before we focus on the curry again."
As our lips touched again, I made sure she felt all my desire for her as my tongue searched for an opening. She was more than happy to give me access and her tongue felt even more eager than mine.
After a minute we separated, even though we both knew we wanted more.
"Okay, cut the remaining vegetables for the curry.", I told her.
"What?", she mumbled with dreamy eyes. She shook her head. "Oh right, the curry."
I smiled, Twilight looked so cute when she was confused. I watched as she used her magic on a large chef knife to cut the ingredients. Coconut milk was the only thing missing, Twilight had told me we could get it in high-class stores of Canterlot, but today normal milk had to do.
Well... since she had told me cows were intelligent too and some of them lived in Ponyville... there was nothing "normal" about milk anymore, but I had decided not to think about it to much.
Under my guidance, she prepared everything and pretty soon it was cooking on the stove. Half an hour later both of us sat at the table with Spike, each of us had a steaming bowl of curry and a pile of bread.
"Mmmmhhh... this is good.", Spike said after trying it. "And not having to cook for once makes it even better."
I dipped my bread in the curry and tried it myself. It tasted real nice but there was a lot of room for improvement.
"It was fun to make this together.", Twilight admitted. "I would like to repeat that."
"I tried to convince her for years to learn some cooking.", the little dragon complaint. "You come here and *bamm* she tries it."
"Well maybe I have other methods of convincing her.", I replied and kissed her. He blew a raspberry in response.
After finishing our meal, me and Twilight rested on her bed upstairs. We had decided Spike could wash the dishes in return.
"Do you think we could get a bigger bed?", I asked her while we snuggled.
"Yeah, we definitely should, there is a carpenter in town who can build us a custom bed. And you should have a closet for your clothing."
"Isn't this all pretty expensive?", I asked.
"Every month I get some money from the princess... since I usually don't use it for much, a have a huge pile of it in a chest, so money shouldn't be a problem."
"There's another thing I should think about, finding a new job or something else to keep me occupied."
"I can think of ways to keep you occupied...", she whispered and kissed me. "You don't have to hurry to do something else."
"Kissing the cutest, most beautiful thing in the world is a pretty nice job description, but I still will think about things I could do in addition to this job.", I told her smiling and kissed her again. "By the way, what's my payment for this?"
"Sometimes work is its own reward."
I decided to 'work' for a few more minutes.
...
I woke up from a nice afternoon nap next to my lovely marefriend. I managed to sneak out of the room without waking her. As I went down the stairs, I smelled curry again and pretty soon I found the source for that. Rainbow Dash sat on the table and ate the remains of our curry. It looked like Spike had reheated it for her. She was dipping bread in her bowl and had the happiest smile on her face.
"This is sooo good.", she announced grinning when she noticed me. "You have to invite me the next time you're making this stuff."
I sat opposite of her and watched her eating at record speed while the curry was dripping of her chin. 'She is fun to be around', I thought. 'She is in high spirits all the time.'
While I waited for her to finish her meal, I thought about these pegasi and their incredible ability to fly. The flight maneuvers Rainbow had shown me laughed in the face of physics as I knew it. "Would it be okay for me to touch your wings?", I asked her.
Surprised she stopped eating and looked at me. "Sure, but just touching, no rubbing or other stuff."
"Why is that?", I asked curiously.
There was a little blush on her face. "Just don't, okay."
I nodded and walked over to her while she continued to shove food in her mouth, she was on her third bowl. I carefully touched one of her wings, it felt very soft and dry. I had expected some oils to protect them from water.
"Do you have problems flying when your wings get wet?", I asked her.
"Nope, I can fly in the rain just fine."
'Well, she can also walk on clouds, so maybe I shouldn't expect to much logic.'
I carefully expanded her wing and admired the beauty of all these feathers working together so perfectly.
"They are beautiful.", I told her and let go of her wing which went back to its folded state.
"Thanks.", she replied. "It takes a lot of work to keep them in perfect condition." She burped and leaned back in her chair. "Ohhhh, I'm full."
"Well about that talk I owe you...", I started.
"Give me five minutes. We can take a walk together then.", she told me and burped again.
I just nodded and decided to brush my teeth in the meantime. It was kind of a hassle, like so many things I was used doing with such ease before. I looked at myself in the mirror, I still wasn't used to this sight, I moved my right arm to see the bandaged stump from different angles. It looked gross in any way. There was no nice thing about it.
As I left the bathroom, Rainbow Dash was full of energy again. "Come on slowpoke, let's move.", she said while she stretched her wings.
We left the library and had a nice slow walk until we reached a small lake.
"I hadn't expected you could do anything in a slow way.", I told her, while we sat down next to each other. "Or to be that quiet for such a long time."
She was surprisingly quiet.
"You scared me.", she finally said. "Yesterday… I had not expected you could be this cruel against your body."
"I'm sorry, my missing hand is…"
"Yes you lost your hand, I know that. I understand how you fell in this rage mode, but you're looking at the situation the wrong way."
"What do you mean by that?", I asked her.
"You can’t let this be a handicap, you have to see it as a challenge. Your arm is not coming back, instead of grieving you should look for new ways what you can do. If something is holding you back, find a way to bypass it, or change your goals."
"That is a lot easier said than done!", I said a bit more harsh than intended.
She looked at me. "Have you met the Cutie Mark Crusaders yet?"
This brought a smile to my face. "Yeah, three fillies bursting with energy. They are fun to be around, a bit like you. But what does that have to do with my situation?"
"Did you notice anything about Scootaloo?", she asked.
"Not really, these three had been the first fillies I saw up close, why?"
"You know... her wings are really small for a pegasus, she may never be able to fly. Instead, she uses them to give her crazy speed on her scooter, and she can do a whole range of cool moves this way. Of course, she still would love to fly, but she found something else she can be awesome in instead."
I locked to the ground while I thought about her words.
She wrapped her wing around me. "Instead of grief for the thing you lost, focus on what you can do."
"Wow, I like this serious Rainbow Dash.", I told her and wrapped my arm around her. "Thank you for that talk, you gave me a lot to think about."
"You know, you can call me Dashie if you want.", she said smiling. "Your one of my cool friends now, so no more moping."
"Thank you Dashie. For everything."
"Saaay... are you thankful enough to give me a little peek at your udders?"
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, what the heck, I can see your udders from here. But you have to help me putting on my bra afterwards. It's difficult with just one hand."
She was more than happy to help, her wings were already extended and throbbing.