Twilight awoke when the light of the sun filtering in through her bedroom window washed over her eyelids. Her face scrunched up in discomfort, she flopped lazily over onto her other side and let out a quiet groan. Could the sun wait another ten minutes? Please? She really wanted to get some more sleep.
Alas, the day had made its decision. The light from outside was growing brighter, and alongside it, the temperature of the room slowly began to climb. After a few minutes, the warmth under Twilight’s blankets began to make her sweat. That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. With a disgruntled sigh, Twilight opened her eyes and slid sluggishly out of bed to begin her morning routine.
She stepped into the bathroom and spent a few minutes tidying herself up for the day ahead. Once she was satisfied that she didn’t look like a rat’s nest, she emerged back into the bedroom, ready to rouse Spike and Rainbow and figure out what the agenda was. They still had Discord to deal with, after all.
However, to her surprise, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found. Her bed sat empty, and the blue band she kept on her nightstand for her mane was absent.
Twilight frowned. “Huh… that’s strange. Spike?” she called over to the sleeping dragon, causing him to groggily peek out from under his blankets.
“Mmf. Wha…?” he grumbled.
Twilight gestured at Rainbow’s bed. “Do you know where Rainbow is? She’s not usually up before we are.”
That got Spike’s attention. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and gave the bed a curious glance. With a look of bewilderment on his face, he could only offer a helpless shrug. “Sorry, Twilight, I don’t have a clue.”
Twilight hummed to herself, her mind kicking into gear to try and find an explanation. Maybe she had a nightmare or something? Rainbow did have those from time to time, though they were never usually bad enough to wake her up, and from all accounts, Princess Luna typically intervened before they ever got serious.
“Maybe she’s downstairs,” Spike offered before slowly resting his head back down on his pillow and covering it with his blanket. “Go look. I’ma get a few more z’s…”
Twilight rolled her eyes but elected not to press him for the time being. Instead, she turned and made her descent into the rest of the library. She arrived just in time to see the front door swinging open, and a very tired-looking Rainbow Dash stepping inside.
Twilight stopped the moment she saw her, red flags going off in her head. Something was wrong. Rainbow didn’t just look tired… she looked drained. Her posture was sagging, her ears were having a hard time staying upright, and her eyes… Twilight winced when she realized how distant Rainbow’s eyes were. It was as if she were staring at something a million miles away through a dense fog.
The door closed with a thunk, and Rainbow leaned against it. She took a long, deep breath before glancing over and spotting Twilight. She gave her a weak smile and a nod. “Morning, Twi.”
Twilight blinked and weakly returned the nod. “Uh… good morning,” she greeted, her words putting her confusion and uncertainty at bay.
Rainbow, however, despite being one of the most perceptive ponies she knew, did not seem to take any notice. Yet another red flag. The pegasus pushed away from the door and made her way over to the couch, where she slumped down into a laying position. She was quiet for a few seconds before glancing up at Twilight. “Sleep good?”
“I should be asking you that,” Twilight countered, quickly regaining her composure and stepping forward. “We usually have to wake you up ourselves.”
Rainbow was quiet for a moment before rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. “Ah… No, I didn’t sleep all that good. Don’t worry, I’m okay, just tired,” she explained, leaping to deflect any questions.
Twilight’s frown deepened and she parked herself next to the couch. “Are you sure?”
“Totally,” Rainbow confirmed with a nod of her head. She then shifted and looked directly into Twilight’s eyes. “What about you… are you okay?”
Had Twilight been moving, she might have stumbled. Her jaw fell open while her mind briefly stalled at the abruptness of the question. The look in Rainbow’s eyes alone would have been enough to give her pause. There was an intensity behind those pools of deep pink. She wasn’t angry or sad, though. It was something else.
After another second of processing, Twilight tilted her head to one side and cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” she asked carefully. “Because I’m getting the feeling you aren’t worried if I’m hurt for not.”
Rainbow gave a short snort of laughter before hauling herself up into a sitting position. “Heh. You’re right about that, I’m not,” she confirmed before looking directly ahead. “I was just thinking while I was outside. You know, about Discord, and how you don’t remember any of the stuff he put us through.”
“I’ve been given the gist of it,” Twilight nodded along slowly. “But I’m still missing a lot of details, yeah. But…” her ears twitched, her face contorting with confusion. “You told me you didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Still don’t,” Rainbow pointed out. “But I do want to know how you’re taking it. I mean, you’ve been an amnesiac for around a year, and you’ve come a long way. But I know you, Twilight, and I know that there’s more going on behind that face of yours.”
Twilight watched as Rainbow leaned slightly closer, her intense expression softening with something along the lines of concern. “But whether or not all that extra thinking is good or bad, I dunno. That’s why I’m asking… are you okay? With the amnesia and all that. Just…” the pegasus shifted back, her ears drooping as if she were afraid of what she might hear next. “...Are you happy?”
Was she happy?
Twilight blinked, her eyes starting to wander as she gave that question some serious thought. “You know… I haven’t really been thinking about it,” she eventually said, taking a seat next to Rainbow Dash. “I mean, yes, I am in a much better place than when I first woke up. I feel like I know myself, and I know all of my friends again.”
“So, you are happy, then?” Rainbow asked hopefully, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at Twilight’s face.
She frowned and after a moment shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, Rainbow. Maybe? I’m happier than I was, but…” she sighed and looked directly ahead. “I still wish I knew more. I wish something would come along and trigger my memories one of these days…”
Rainbow hummed quietly to herself and looked away. “Right… well, the odds of that happening-”
“They’re slim, I know,“ Twilight cut her off in a despondent voice. “That doesn’t stop me from hoping. After all…” she gave Rainbow a small smile. “You’re the one who told me that I don’t give up, right? I gotta believe I’ll remember someday.”
Rainbow was quiet for several seconds, her eyes drifting closed. “Alright. I think I got it. You’re not ‘happy’ per se, but you’re getting better, and you’ve got hope that things will keep improving. That about right?” she eventually asked before opening her eyes and meeting Twilight’s gaze with her own.
The alicorn nodded. “Pretty much, yes.”
After a few more moments of quiet consideration, Rainbow visibly relaxed, her face lighting up with a far more serene smile. She let out a relieved sigh before leaning against Twilight’s side and closing her eyes. “I’m glad…”
Twilight’s smile wavered for a second from the unexpected physical contact, but after a few seconds, she allowed herself to relax. She had to admit, the warmth granted from the proximity was actually rather nice.
“Mind if I nap here for a bit?” Rainbow suddenly asked in a drowsy voice.
Twilight shifted to give her a curious look, one eyebrow flying up to hide beneath her mane. Rainbow cracked one eye open to look back at her, showing just how comfortable and sleepy she was. It was… cute, in a weird way. After a few more seconds, though, Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded. “Sure, but I reserve the right to nudge you off, and I’m moving when Spike makes breakfast.”
Rainbow closed her eyes and leaned more fully into Twilight’s side. “That’s fine… I just need a little bit, that’s all…” she murmured before going quiet. It didn’t take long for her breaths to slow down into a steady, shallow rhythm.
Twilight looked at her for several seconds before, with a degree of hesitation, she unfurled one of her wings and draped it over the pegasus like a blanket. The added intimacy made her shudder internally, but she was quick to bite it down and focus on something else. She spotted an old, outdated newspaper on a nearby end table.
Pinned as she was, she lit her horn and quietly brought the newspaper over, along with a trash bin. Once they were in front of her, she took a deep breath and slowly began to tear the paper into small shreds, being careful not to make any noise or sudden movements. She didn’t want to wake Rainbow up, after all.
Rainbow Dash woke up sometime later when the tell-tale scent of Spike’s cooking wafted into her nose. She inhaled reflexively, and her eyes fluttered open. To her surprise, however, they did not open to the sight of her bedroom, or even the living room. Instead, she was treated to a wall of lavender fur.
It was at about that time that she realized her face was in Twilight’s lap.
Rainbow quickly sat up, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. She quickly surveyed the scene. She didn’t see any sign of Spike, but the smell reminded her that he was in the kitchen, cooking. Twilight was still where she had been before, albeit now giving Rainbow a quizzical look. For some reason, she had a shredded newspaper in her magic, most of its paper down in a bin.
Twilight’s face softened into a smile. “Sleep well?”
“Did Spike see me?” Rainbow suddenly asked, dread welling up inside of her. “Please, for the love of my mom, tell me he did not see me sleeping in your lap!”
“I saw!” Spike’s voice called from the kitchen. “It was adorable!”
Rainbow’s face went ashen, her ears drooping to rest flat against her head. “Nooo…” she whimpered in dismay, covering her now furiously blushing face with her hooves.
Twilight giggled at the exaggerated display and reached over to rustle the pegasus’ mane. “What? Is something wrong with that?” she asked in a teasing voice.
Rainbow peeked out with one eye from behind her hooves. “I’m not cute,” she huffed indignantly. “I’m supposed to be awesome…”
At this point, Spike came waddling into the room with a cheeky grin “You can be cute and awesome at the same time,” he pointed out encouragingly.
“Can I though?” Rainbow asked in a deadpan, removing her hooves from her face and pouting at him. “Can I really?”
“Totally,” came the easy reply. Spike exposed a fang before pointing his thumb towards the kitchen. “Anyways, the food’s ready. You two should eat up. We gotta go in a while.”
Rainbow blinked, her eyes widening somewhat in confusion. “Huh? Where?”
“Celestia had one of her guards deliver us a message earlier,” Twilight replied for the drake, briefly flicking her eyes towards Rainbow before sending a beam of focused magic at the newspaper. Rainbow squinted when the spell made contact, as a bright light expanded outwards before fading away. The newspaper was completely untouched.
Twilight huffed. “Shoot…”
Rainbow blinked before shaking herself and shifted on her haunches. “She did? What did the guard say?”
Twilight looked over at Rainbow again. “She said she wants to meet up with us and our friends later today and spend some time in town. She’s making good on wanting to be with you, I think,” she explained before attempting the spell for a second time.
Rainbow was quiet for a second before looking over at the door. “...Ah.”
The two fell into a companionable silence at that point. Then, with a shrug, Rainbow hopped down from the couch and started for the kitchen. “Okay, well, I’ma go eat,” she declared. She paused in the doorway and glanced back at Twilight with a curious look on her face. “You coming?”
“In a minute,” Twilight replied with a nod, her eyes trained on the shredded piece of paper. “I think I almost got this…”
“Well, don’t blow your horn out,” Rainbow called back to her before disappearing into the kitchen.
Twilight hummed in response, her focus now entirely on the paper. Her horn lit up with more energy before she unleashed it just as she had before, narrowing her eyes with strain. The light of the spell grew several times over before she cut the stream of power, finalizing the spell. There was a small twinge of pain in her skull, making her wince.
“Holy cow!” Rainbow’s voice called from the dining room. “Twi! Ancel-cay on the pell-say! Spike made you hayburgers!”
Twilight’s eyes darted towards the kitchen, her wings snapping open. “What?! REALLY?!” she squeaked quite adorably before launching from her seat.
So absorbed was she in her desire for her most favorite of foods that she completely missed it when a now-completely restored newspaper landed in the bin with a gentle rustling noise.