//------------------------------// // The Morning After // Story: I'll Do Anything for You // by The Abyss //------------------------------// Twilight trotted down the street alongside her lover, Rainbow, nearing her parents’ house. “So... about last night,” Twilight said, flicking her eyes up to meet Rainbow’s as she licked her lips. “I hope it was good enough to live up to your expectations.” She leaned in and planted a light kiss on Rainbow’s cheek, then tugged her up against her side with her right wing. As she felt her cheeks warm up, she felt Rainbow lay her head against the side of her neck as they slowed down to a walk. “Heh, yeah. I don’t think it could have gone better, if you ask me,” Rainbow murmured. “We didn’t get much sleep last night, though... How come we couldn’t have slept in a little bit?” “I told my mom that we’d be back for breakfast. I love it when she makes pancakes on Sundays, so whenever I’m home, I make it a point to stick around long enough to get a nice home-cooked meal. And trust me, you won’t want to miss my mom’s pancakes!” She used her magic to push open the front gate of her parents’ house, then stopped in front of the door. “It probably would have been a good idea to take a shower back at the castle.” “Why, do we smell?” Rainbow lifted a wing and sniffed her side. “Nah, I think we’re good.” Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled. “No, from what happened after our date last night, silly!” She made sure that their dresses and leggings were still neatly folded on her back, then opened the door as quietly as she could. “Do you think we can make it upstairs and to the bathroom before my parents realize that we’re back?” “Only one way to find out!” Rainbow trotted forward, only to walk right into Night Light’s chest. “Oof!” She glanced up rather sheepishly, a nervous smile on her face. Her tail clamped down between her hind legs as she took a couple of steps back. “H-Hey, Night Light! Sleep well?” she asked. Of all the things to say, you said that?! Idiot, idiot, idiot! Night Light lifted an eyebrow as his gaze flicked between the two disheveled mares. “Your mother is almost done cooking breakfast, Twilight. I think it’d be a good idea if you and Rainbow freshened up upstairs,” he said with a blank expression. “Y-Yeah, sounds good to me!” Rainbow bolted up the stairs and around the corner before he could utter another word. “Hey Dad...” Twilight stepped inside and closed the door behind her, a shy smile on her face as she blushed furiously, avoiding her father’s gaze. She looked up, expecting for him to give her a lecture, but all she saw was a gentle smile. “You have a nice night out?” he asked, using his magic to pick up the dresses from Twilight’s back. Twilight’s ears flicked back as she bit the inside of her cheek. “Y-Yeah, it was great, Dad. Better than anything I could have hoped for.” “Glad to hear it, really,” Night Light said as he set the dresses down on a nearby chair. “Do these dresses need to be washed, or...” Twilight blushed furiously. “N-N-No! Uh-uh; they’re fine! We only wore them for a couple of hours, so they shouldn’t be—” She glanced up and saw her father smirking at her. “D-Dad!” She huffed as she ground a hoof into the wood floor. “That’s not what I meant, I—” “Hehe... it’s okay, Twilight. I know you’re not my little filly anymore,” Night Light said with a soft chuckle. “Now go on, go upstairs and get cleaned up before breakfast. Be quick about it, though! You know how your mother can get if her little filly isn’t at the table on time.” “Okay!” Twilight took a few steps up the stairs then paused. “And Dad? Thanks for, well... you know...” She shot him a nervous smile as her forelegs started trembling from relief. “It’s not a problem, really. Oh, and you might want to clean Rainbow’s lipstick from your neck before your mother sees.” Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared at her father in shock. “...Good idea, thanks,” Twilight muttered as she let her mane hide her face. Since when does Rainbow use lipstick? she thought, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. With a flick of her tail, she trotted upstairs and slipped into the bathroom, using her magic to shut the door as quietly as she could. “Hey, Rainbow?” she asked, gazing at the closed shower curtain. Rainbow poked her head out from the side with a lifted eyebrow. “Y-Yeah?” “Do you, um... mind if we take a shower together?” Twilight stuttered, licking her dry lips as she rubbed her left foreleg. “It’d take too long if we took showers one at a time, and Mom has already finished making those pancakes that I love so much, and since you’re already in there, I—” “Geez, Twi... you don’t have to come up with a laundry list of excuses if you want to shower with me.” Rainbow beckoned her in with a hoof. “Come on, there’s easily enough room for both of us in here!” “Y-You sure?” Twilight asked rather tentatively. Her heart yearned to feel Rainbow’s touch once again, but after last night, she didn’t know if she should give Rainbow her space, or to stay by her side even more. “Of course!” Rainbow wrapped a wing around Twilight’s neck and pulled her in, letting her stand underneath the showerhead. “So I was thinking we could go see your parents after breakfast today. That sound okay?” “Totally. We’re gonna have to carry Scootaloo and Spike on our backs though. I don’t know if I told you or not, but they live up in Cloudsdale.” “Yeah, I think I remember you saying something about that.” As warm water cascaded down Twilight’s back, she opened her wings a little bit, letting the water soak into her feathers. She lit her horn and grabbed the bottle of shampoo, but Rainbow snatched it out of the air before she could squirt any on herself. Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but instead saw Rainbow squirting some shampoo onto her front hooves. Once her lover had set aside the bottle, Rainbow rubbed her hooves together, then ran them through Twilight’s mane. With her mane all shampooed up, Rainbow squirted a line of shampoo down her back, then her wings. “You know I can clean us both in a minute, right?” Twilight asked softly, her ears flicking back as she felt Rainbow tend to each and every one of her feathers. Rainbow paused, then resumed washing Twilight’s feathers. “Yeah, I know, but after last night, I feel like I have to show you, even if it’s a small way, that I do appreciate what you did for me last night. I had a lot of fun on our first real date and, uh... I’d like to do what we did afterwards again,” she said, moving down to clean Twilight’s tail. Twilight felt butterflies appear in her stomach as her thoughts drifted back to last night’s events. “Y-Yeah, same... Oh, and since when do you wear lipstick?” She shot a smirk over her shoulder as Rainbow massaged her flanks, her tail swishing about in the sudsy water. “My dad said that I have lipstick on my neck. If I’d known that you had left some on my neck, I probably would have at least washed it off.” “What, you don’t want ponies to know that we’re lovers now?” Dash shot back with a sly grin. “It’s not that big of a deal, right?” Twilight shrugged. “Not really, although I’d like for us to have a little bit more discretion, especially around Spike and Scootaloo.” “Well, duh! It’s not like we’re gonna go flaunting it around the house, so... yeah.” “You didn’t answer my question,” Twilight said after several moments of silence. “You know, about the lipstick? I couldn’t even tell that you had any on.” “Oh, right, about that...” Rainbow blushed as she flicked her wet mane over her shoulder. “Well, since we were going out on our first real date, and since you got us those nice dresses, I figured that I’d, I dunno, try to look pretty for you? I kinda wanted it to be a night for us to remember.” “Twilight!” came Night Light’s voice from downstairs. “Your mother just finished cooking your favorite pancakes! You coming down?’ “In a minute!” Twilight yelled back. She stood up and let the water rinse the suds away. Grabbing the bottle of shampoo, she squirted a big dollop onto Dash’s mane. “Your turn, cutie,” she said with a soft smile. “What, you’re not gonna use your magic?” Rainbow asked, cocking her head to the side as soapy suds slid down her mane. “Nah. I wanna do this right.”