Twilight woke up with a start. The room was dark, save for a little bit of moonlight that slipped past the tightly-drawn curtains. A warm weight pressing up against her side provided a small modicum of comfort. She felt that weight move, then felt the familiar touch of Rainbow’s feathers graze against her belly. She coughed a few times, the pain in her head doubling. “Ugh... R-Rainbow? That you?” she softly asked, looking to the right as she rubbed her eyes with her hooves.
“Yeah, it’s me, Twilight...” Rainbow whispered. She folded her wing back to her side then lifted her head. She nuzzled Twilight’s cheek with a tender, loving touch. “How’re you feeling, cutie?” she asked, planting a light kiss on her lips.
“Horrible... Like I’m gonna throw up.”
Rainbow sat back, wondering if she was actually going to throw up. “You want some water? Your mom left us a couple glasses on my nightstand,” Rainbow said, grabbing one of the glasses with her other hoof. “Here, sit up a little more so you can drink this.”
Twilight gingerly pushed herself up, then rolled onto her belly. Her vision was swimming so badly she felt her stomach try to push something up. “We’re back at my parents’ place?” she asked, struggling to keep the contents of her stomach where they should remain.
“Yeah. You passed out when we were like, ten minutes from Canterlot. You literally collapsed on me, so I had the pegasi flying us race as fast as they could. A guard checked you out when we landed and said that you just needed rest. You were going in and out once we landed... You remember any of that?” Rainbow held the glass up to Twilight’s lips and let her take a few sips.
Twilight tried to remember arriving at her foalhood home. “Not at all.”
“Probably for the best,” Rainbow said with a wry chuckle. She lifted the glass up again. “Your parents were freaking out a ton; they thought something horrible had happened to you.”
“Sweet Celestia...” Twilight groaned as she closed her eyes, her ears flopping down to lay flat on her head. “I’m sure they’re worried sick...” She lifted a hoof, tilting the glass of water back towards her lips.
“Oh yeah, they totally are. It took me ten minutes trying to calm them down before they would even listen to me. Your dad is, uh... pretty upset with me. He blames me for what happened to you, and... I think he’s right. You wouldn’t have had to teleport us all, our table, and our seats back to the hotel room; I bet we could have just snuck out and found some guards, and then Scootaloo’s mom would be behind bars instead of... wherever she is now.” Rainbow placed the empty glass of water back on the nightstand and scooted back over until their sides were touching. She wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s, then nuzzled her cheek. “I’m so sorry for putting you in that situation, and I’m sorry for yelling at you. I feel sick to my stomach seeing you like this, and... I know I already apologized, but... I still feel horrible for making all of this, well... happen the way it did.”
“Thanks.” Twilight licked her lips and laid her head against Rainbow’s. “How long was I out for?” she asked, praying that her headache would go away sometime soon.
“After we got back here? Dunno, between three and six hours? There’s no clock in here.” Rainbow tightened her grasp on Twilight’s hoof and laid a wing over her back.
“Geez...that long?” Twilight asked. She felt Rainbow nod. “How are Spike and Scootaloo?”
“They’re worried sick, of course. It took your mother half an hour to get them to go to bed.” A particularly loud snore came from the other side of the door. “Oh yeah, and did I mention that your dad is sleeping in front of our door?” she asked with a chuckle. “With the guards out front, your dad in front of our door, and me in here, I don’t think anything bad can happen.”
“Don’t think you mentioned anything of the sort, no,” Twilight said. She lifted her head and looked into Rainbow’s eyes, shooting her a soft smile. “I’m still feeling a little queasy, so... can we snuggle some more and talk about this tomorrow?” Rainbow opened her mouth, but Twilight simply placed a hoof on her lips. “And yes, I want to be the little spoon.”
“Heh, how’d you know I was gonna ask that?” Rainbow asked, letting go of Twilight’s hoof.
“Because, believe it or not, I know you very well,” Twilight said, letting a little bit of mirth tint her tone. She rolled over onto her side, then fluffed up the pillow. “It’s not nice to keep a mare waiting, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know...” Rainbow murmured. She snuggled up against Twilight’s back, tucking her marefriend’s head into the crook of her neck as she took care not to poke an eye out on her horn. Rainbow closed her eyes as she leaned forward a little bit, planting her lips at the base of Twilight’s horn. Her head shot back as she felt a bit of heat radiate from it. “Uh... Twi? Your horn is pretty warm.”
“So that’s why I still have a headache... great.” Twilight sighed. Her tail swished about on the sheets until Rainbow’s came to rest on top of it. Rainbow draped a hind leg over her flank and tugged her close, her wing coming to rest across her forelegs, just how she liked it.
“Why is it like that?” Rainbow murmured. “And are you warm enough?”
“Thanks to you, yeah.” Twilight nuzzled the bottom of Rainbow’s chin. “And as for my horn? It’s like that because I had to teleport everything around us. I didn’t have time to focus my magic on everybody, so I just teleported everything in a sphere around us, and... now I have to suffer the consequences.”
Rainbow’s eyebrows furrowed at her words. “What do you mean?”
“Well... If I want my headache to go away, then I’m gonna have to keep myself from using magic. My headache will only get worse if I try to use magic.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” Twilight nodded. “So it’s that bad, huh? When do you think you’ll be able to use magic again?” Rainbow asked.
“Probably sometime in the afternoon, though it’s never been this bad before.” Twilight snuggled deeper into Rainbow’s embrace. “You don’t have to worry; things like this can happen if you’re not too careful.”
Rainbow pushed a hoof in between Twilight’s forelegs and held her as close to her body as she could. “I can’t help but worry about you, Twilight. I hate seeing you like this.”
“Yeah... hopefully we’ll get some good news tomorrow from Celestia.”
“Ya know, if she tells us Scootaloo’s parents were caught while we were sleeping, I’d probably have Celestia marry us on the spot,” Rainbow said with a giggle.
Twilight’s eyes shot open wide. “Heh, that would definitely make tomorrow pretty awesome.”
“Totally! And you know I’m all about being awesome...” Rainbow hummed softly in content.
Twilight lifted a single eyebrow as she replayed Rainbow’s words in her head over and over. “Um, so... that wasn’t your way of asking me to marry you, was it?” she asked, keeping her tone as neutral as possible. She felt Rainbow tense up, her mind overflowing with worry.
“What? N-No, of course not! When I—” She nervously cleared her throat. “I’d never ask you to marry me like that.”
With her racing heart starting to slow down in her chest, Twilight thought back to when they were flying to Cloudsdale, remembering how she had told Rainbow that she was thinking about their future together. Is she on the same page as I am? We’ve only been together for what, a month or two? We’ve been best friends for years, though, so... would that make up for it? Is it even proper to ask for somepony’s hoof in matrimony after a couple of months? A rather insistent nuzzle from Rainbow jerked her from her thoughts.
“I love you, Twilight,” Rainbow whispered. “I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.”
“You and me both...” Twilight relaxed, letting her body go limp in Rainbow’s grasp. Feeling the need to plant her lips on Rainbow’s, Twilight rolled over and grinned as she felt no small amount of butterflies flitting about in her stomach.
“What’re you—” Rainbow’s words were cut off by a loving smooch from Twilight. “Oh, hehe... Should have seen that coming.”