Quibble Pants woke up freezing cold. That happened more often than he liked. Twisting around, he glared at Rainbow Dash. She had all the sheets and blankets wrapped tightly around her, leaving her looking like one of those raw rainbow-infused burritos the weather factory’s cafeteria sold to unsuspecting tourists. It had been one of their first dates; and he’d developed a taste for raw rainbow since. She thought he ate it to be a tough stallion. Really it was because brought up so many incredible memories…Quibble shook his head to focus; his thoughts had a tendency to wander off without him.
Rainbow stirred in her sleep, flicking her ear and snuffling into the pillow before settling into a more comfortable position. Quibble smiled; irritation was impossible to maintain when she was utterly adorable like that. He didn’t have the heart to disturb her trying to wrest some of her cocoon away from her so he could go back to sleep. Glancing at the clock, he decided to surprise Rainbow with breakfast. With a yawn, Quibble rolled onto his barrel and swung his hindlegs off the bed. His rear hooves hit the wonderfully fluffy cloudstuff that made up Rainbow’s house.
And kept going.
“AAAAAH!”
Quibble Pants shrieked like a little filly and flailed around desperately. He managed to dig his forehooves into the mattress and get a grip with his teeth. Rainbow snapped awake, shedding her blankets in an instant as she lunged across the bed to grab onto him.
“Don’t let go!” Quibble yelled, on the verge of panic and on track to go a good ways past that. His legs kicked futilely in the insubstantial floor. Rainbow put her full weight on his forelegs, stopping his slow slide off the edge.
“Hold on tight,” Rainbow warned as she flared her wings. Quibble nodded and dug his hooves in as best he could, even biting down on the sheets again to get a little better grip. Rainbow leapt over him, twisting midair and wrapping all four hooves around his barrel before he could drop more than a few inches. With a few mighty flaps she hauled both of them back onto the bed.
They lay there for a minute, hearts racing and breathing heavily as adrenaline wore off. Then Rainbow started laughing.
“I can—haha—I c-can’t believe you—haha—fell through—hahaha—the f-floor,” she chortled. She rolled onto her back, hooves kicking in the air in uncontrollable mirth, “You haven’t done that in years!”
Quibble glanced up, still trying to get his breathing under control, “Yes, me nearly plummeting to my doom is funny.”
Rainbow rolled off the bed and stuck her head through the floor briefly. “I would never let you fall,” she said, climbing back up onto the bed, “And anyways there’s that big rug downstairs we got the last time this happened.” The memory set her into a new paroxysm of laughter. Quibble rolled his eyes at her and looked around the room.
Not long after he’d started dating Rainbow, Twilight had enchanted a cloud-walking amulet for him. Ostensibly it was an early birthday gift. Quibble suspected she’d gotten annoyed with Dash constantly badgering her about the spell whenever he visited. Nowadays he wore it day and night, and usually didn’t even notice he had it on. But it was missing, now. He peeked over the edge of the bed, but it was nowhere on the floor that he could see. He glanced back at Rainbow who was still snickering, “Help me find the amulet! I had it last night; it’s got to be around here somewhere.”
She sat up, and looked around, then pointed with a wing at her dresser across the room. Quibble followed her gaze saw the amulet hanging off the side, its chain looped around a jar of wing balm.
“I don’t remember taking it off; how did it get all the way over there…?”
Rainbow blushed, and scratched at her ear, “I might’ve got a little carried away.”
He glanced at Rainbow, “Sooner you get me that the sooner I can go and make us breakfast.”
Rainbow licked her lips and trotted over to the dresser; snapping up the amulet with a flick of a wing. She turned back to Quibble; then stopped. She grinned, the sort of grin that sent ponies running for cover. Quibble gulped.
“Rainbow…?” he asked nervously.
She tossed the amulet from one wing to the other, balancing it on her primaries before flipping it back, “You know, I’ve never had a stallion stuck in my bed before…I kinda like the idea of having you all to myself.”
Quibble raised an eyebrow, “We’re you planning on sharing me with somepony?”
Rainbow laughed, “Haha, no. Just thinking about those Saddle Arabian romance novels Rarity has, where the heroine stumbles into a room with a bunch of hunky stallions lounging about and reciting poetry.”
“I do know a good bit of poetry,” Quibble admitted, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Or are you more of an ocean in storm?”
“Nah,” Rainbow replied, slipping the cloud-walking amulet around her own neck, “I think I’m going to take this, and have a nice hot shower. I know you like the wet mane look…” She strutted towards the bathroom, putting a little extra sway in her flanks. As she opened the door, she glanced back and winked at him, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
Rainbow slipped through the door, leaving it cracked open just a tantalizing sliver behind her. There was the rattle of the shower curtain, then the sound of running water.
Quibble looked around for inspiration. There was no way he was going to let Rainbow get away with that teasing, but how to turn the tables on her? His options were rather limited.
“What would Daring Do do?” He wondered aloud. A pillow knocked off the bed caught his eye. Pegasi’s possessions seemed to absorb enough ambient magic to remain in their cloud homes. Unfortunately the same could not be said for pegasi’s husbands.
But maybe…, Quibble thought, as he leaned out from the bed and snagged the pillow with a hoof, There might be an indirect option.
Once the pillow was closer, he hesitantly shifted more weight onto it. The pillow sank into the floor a bit, but held. With a grunt, he pushed himself back onto the bed. If all else fails, all I got to do is scream REALLY loud.
With a quick tug, he pulled the comforter from the bed, scooped the pillows into a pile, and got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash let the warm water from the showerhead run over her face and down through her mane. It was kind of like flying through a rainstorm, but cozy instead of miserable. She ran a hoof through her mane to check if the shampoo had all washed out yet. It had, so she sighed and reached for the knobs. As nice as the hot water was, she’d left poor Quibble alone for plenty long—
She gave a shrill, fillylike shriek as the shower curtain was whisked aside. Quibble grinned at her, “What do we have here!”
“Wha? How did you?” Rainbow stammered. She noticed that the door was open, and through it, she saw a line of pillows, blankets, and other things stretching across the bedroom, “Oh…”
Quibble leaned forward and kissed her, causing her wings to flare involuntarily, “It seems your harem of one has escaped.” He glanced down at the amulet she was still wearing, “And I think you’ve got something that belongs to me…”
She stepped back and grinned in challenge, “Come and take it!”
Quibble smirked, “With pleasure.”
Eventually, they had a late brunch at Sugarcube Corner.