"Twilight."
Twilight's mind barely registered the voice. She made a noncommittal grunt and snuggled deeper into her pillow. The pillow responded by poking her in the belly. She groggily yawned and cracked open her eyes.
Her vision was filled by a world of blue fur. As her mind rapidly booted up, she also noticed she had a feather in her mouth. Rainbow Dash's feather. She also felt the warmth of Rainbow Dash's barrel under her legs.
Oh Celestia, am I... cuddling with Rainbow Dash?!
Her mind now fully awake, Twilight threw herself in the other direction, flushing as she tried coming up with an excuse for what she had just done.
"Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, I didn't mean to..." Twilight stammered.
"Twilight, were you trying to preen me in my sleep? I mean jeez, buy me dinner first or something." Rainbow Dash joked, hiding the fact that she was blushing too.
"I didn't mean... I'm sorry!" Twilight apologized.
Rainbow Dash winked at Twilight, causing her blush to grow even more in strength.
"Aw, it's alright Twi. I'm used to ponies being head over hooves for me. We are married after all."
How many times are ponies going to say this? A civil union is quite different from a marriage! We're only recognized as a legally bound group on a provincial level, meaning just in Canterlot! Aside from being able to adopt a foal together, we have no rights as a couple anywhere else in Equestria!
"Oh for the last time we aren't married! We're in a civil union!" Twilight complained. "And I don't even like you that way."
Despite the fact that I was just cuddling up to you in my sleep, but let's disregard that.
Rainbow Dash fixed Twilight with her trademark smirk. "That doesn't change the fact that you were cuddling me. I never pegged you for a cuddlebug, Twi."
Twilight's mind flashed back to the dream she'd just been having. Not a nightmare by any standards, but surely the mere concept of Pinkie Pie trying to add extra-cheesy quesadillas to the Sugarcube Corner menu was enough to unnerve any sane pony. Besides, after the extremely stressful events of the day prior, could anybody blame her for having... less than pleasant dreams?
"Well I... uh... tend to end up cuddling my pillows at night. Especially while stressed." Twilight retorted, raising her voice. "It's not my fault we were stuck in the same bed!"
Twilight heard a soft squeak coming from another part of the room. She quickly lifted herself up with a hoof to see Scootaloo's panicked expression as her head popped off her pillow. She blinked a couple times and visibly calmed down, letting out a long sigh.
Oh, the poor dear. We must have woken her up with our bantering, and she's probably still not used to waking up in a safe environment.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" Twilight asked gently.
"Fine. I'm fine. Just... when I got woken up by arguing, it usually meant dad was home. And that he was drunk. Which usually led to..." Scootaloo trailed off, looking to the side.
Twilight bit her lip, knowing she needed to say something to calm the filly and lift her spirits. Fortunately, she was rescued from her troubles as Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed, electing to sit next to Scootaloo and pull her into a hug with her foreleg.
"Don't worry, you're never gonna have to worry about being hit again. And we weren't arguing." Rainbow tousled Scootaloo's mane with her other foreleg. "I was just bullying your mom."
Scootaloo beamed up at Rainbow Dash as she addressed Twilight as "mom". Twilight found herself also giving off a small smile. Truthfully, she hadn't grown nearly as close to the filly as Rainbow Dash had, even though with Rainbow Dash being in the hospital, Scootaloo had spent more nights at Twilight's place. She knew she and Scootaloo did have a healthy relationship, but the fact that Scootaloo found them close enough to look that happy when Twilight was referred as her mother warmed Twilight's heart.
Twilight was so lost in her inner thoughts that she missed the next few things Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash said. She found herself snapping back to reality when Rainbow Dash turned to look at her with that same smirk.
"So my darling wife, what's the plan for the day?"
Really, with that again? Twilight couldn't help but to roll her eyes at the comment.
"You're really laying it on thick there, Rainbow."
Rainbow Dash just smiled and waggled her eyebrows.
Twilight's mind flashed back to the letter she had received the first night in Canterlot, detailing the plans for the trip. "The chariot should be coming to pick us up in about..." She gazed out the window, taking a moment to gauge the time by the sun's position in the sky. "An hour and a half. So how about we go get something to eat and walk around for a bit?"
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both smiled and agreed.
Scootaloo had asked about the plans for the day after the chariot had come and picked them up. Twilight, who had of course meticulously planned out the details from that point on, was all too happy to ramble on about her planning.
"I had laid out a rough plan to inform our friends of the proceedings that we would have gone through on our trip, and make sure everyone was caught up on the plan and the story. But of course, there was the fact that sending five scrolls to various locations all around Ponyville was a task I'd never attempted. I did read up on quantum tunneling to see if that might help, but figured that may not help that much after some reading. At such a range it would have... unpredictable results. However, I did manage to lock onto Rarity’s magical resonance and that allowed me to accurately get a letter to Rarity last night to let them know about when and where we should be arriving. I figure she could spread the word more efficiently than a few potentially misplaced scrolls sent all at once. I've never teleported anything that far, so I hope it was accurate. Dragonfire is always more reliable, but Spike was left at Rarity's..."
Despite how interested and polite Scootaloo was trying to look, she found herself spacing out as Twilight rambled.
"Teleporting myself, and even others with me is one thing, but teleporting other things without me is something different entirely. Especially all the way from Canterlot to Ponyville. And the really interesting thing about that is that we need much more energy in the classical picture version of magical quantum tunneling, so teleporting myself and other ponies actually makes it easier, and typically more reliable. Of course, this is assuming you have a firm grasp on the spell."
"Hey, we're almost there!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, pointing toward the distant, but easily recognizable form of Ponyville.
"Wha- already?" Twilight blinked in confusion. "It feels like we've only been flying for half an hour."
They had, in fact been traveling for three times that.
Rainbow Dash sighed. "That's because you went full egghead mode."
Twilight scrunched up her muzzle and grumbled something under her breath about Rainbow Dash's lackadaisical approach to advanced magical spells. She could at least pretend to care.
The chariot touched down in Ponyville, right outside town hall. Waiting for them there, exactly as planned, were Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Applejack, and Rarity.
"Thank you very much for the ride, sirs." Twilight smiled at the two pegasus stallions who had been pulling the chariot. The trio disembarked, and traveled over to greet their friends. Scootaloo was immediately accosted with affection as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both decided to fire a stream of never ending questions at their young friend.
Scootaloo held up a hoof to silence her friends. Pausing for dramatic effect, as she felt the eyes of every pony there watching her, she proudly gestured to Rainbow Dash and Twilight behind her. "Girls, I'd like to introduce you to... my two new moms!"
"Wait, two new mothers?" Rarity asked in confusion as the two other fillies gasped and ooh'd. "I thought Rainbow Dash alone would be adopting darling little Scootaloo."
Here we go...
"Well that wouldn't work." Twilight lectured. "To adopt while single in Equestria, you need to be at least 25. So Rainbow Dash and I were forced to enter a civil union-"
As Twilight expected, Rarity's face instantly broke out into a manic grin as she grabbed Twilight's head and brought it up to her own.
"You got MARRIED?!" She practically screamed.
And there it is. It's gonna be a long day.