Spell

by The Wizard of Words

Over You

Author’s Note: Ignore for a moment that this can go at the end of the document. There is something important that must be said.

The song is a song fic. This means that I have lyrics to a song put throughout the story. They may or may not refer to the events actually happening, but are more of a guide to let you know what part of the song I am listening to as I write, or feeling that I am attempting to convey.

This, as of right now, is a one shot. However, if it is successful, I may move it up to a series of song fics, as was planned before, but kind of got shot down due to time restraints. Also, Twilight is not an Alicorn. This is something I will state specifically in my stories as of the Season 3 finale… but with the new Twilicorn tag, I don’t have to!

Enjoy!

Looking back, it should have been obvious. It wasn’t at the time, and they knew that, but it was now. All those brief moments they spent together, the close encounters, it was like they were dancing around the subject.

They never smiled quite the same when they weren’t near one another. There was always something missing, something small, seemingly insignificant.

A spark of warmth.

A dash of happiness.

A thing you wouldn’t know was missing until you saw it return.

In times of crisis, they always thought of one another first. It didn’t matter the size or scale of the problem, be it a bad batch up cupcakes from the Ponyville Baker or a stray thundercloud building itself into a typhoon. One would always look to the other, for advice, help, or even motivation.

Their interests were completely opposite to one another, both taking a different path at the fork in the road.

One of them enjoyed the world, wanting to understand every part of it. She wanted to know everything about it. From the magic of creation to the magic of friendship, she found no subject distasteful to her palate. So her mind flourished with knowledge.

The other, however, cared little for the world’s mysteries. She instead found more love from searching inward. It wasn’t about knowing the most, or seeing the most. It was about doing the most. Being the best, the fastest, the idol to ponies Equestria wide. So her body grew with strength.

But despite their difference in dreams, their outlooks on the world couldn’t have been closer together. For the one who cared for the knowledge, she would trade everything she had ever learned if it meant protecting those she cared for. For the other who loved her own strength, she would let herself become a cripple if it was to keep those close to her safe.

In the end, they both wanted the same thing. What they didn’t realize was how close they were to having it.

But like all good things in life, it came to them when they least expected it, surprising them like the first bud of spring with its sudden appearance. It grew with time, nurturing itself into a beautiful flower of prismatic petals, dancing under the fading light of dusk or new rays of dawn.

And, like all good things, it began with something so very small.

Rainbow Dash hummed peacefully in her sleep.

Her back was lying across a bed of pillows that was guaranteed hoof stitched from Canterlot. The cotton inside of them had just the right amount of softness, making her believe that was resting on a cloud outside. But where the cloud would leave her in the air, vulnerable to the cold winds, she was inside a warm oak tree with a fireplace nearby, warming her coat like a soft blanket.

She turned in the midst of a dream, falling onto her side. Her wing unfolded across her body, reaching forwards like her hooves. She shifted left and right, nestling herself deeper into her faux cloud. Her forelegs moved restlessly, extending and flexing in a cyclic pattern that was easily recognizable as a trot. The smile across her lips never faded.

Sitting near her, Twilight Sparkle giggled behind her smile.

Much like her prismatic maned friend, the lavender unicorn was situated on top of her own bed of pillows, lain out across the Library floor. A book was nestled in front of her, stuck between her hooves as she hungrily devoured the information it contained.

It was a rare find too, something she had to ask her dear mentor back in Canterlot help with obtaining. It was a detailed memoir regarding early pony culture, possibly even before the founding of Equestria and the unification of pony kind. By all rights, it was a book she should have finished hours ago.

Except, a single look towards her pegasus friend, and all other desires left her.

Twilight was enjoying herself far more with just watching Rainbow Dash sleep.

It was late into the day, and Spike was preparing himself for bed. Dash had knocked, asking for a book to read so she could let her muscles cool down after her usual training regimen. Twilight was only too happy to agree. The pegasus settled on the pillows and made it to page eight before her eyes shut and her REM cycle began.

That was over two hours ago.

Now Luna’s stars were dancing outside. They littered the Equestrian landscape with sparks of light as her moon blanketed the ground with a cool blanket. Every other pony in Ponyville was doubtlessly inside as well, either entertaining themselves in their own realm of dreams or preparing himself or herself for the excursion. Spike was among them up in her room, doubtlessly dreaming of a hoard of gems to eagerly chew on.

Twilight found the sleeping visage of Dash a dream in itself.

“Hmm…” The soft moan came from the back of Rainbow’s throat, causing the unicorn to giggle again. The pegasus rubbed her head against the cushion she rested on, puffing and moving the soft material within. Her wing pulled back against her body, keeping in low amount of heat that left her coat.

The smile over the pegasus’s muzzle told Twilight she was lost in some level of bliss. A small tingle of envy wormed its way into Twilight’s chest.

The air in her home seemed colder in that moment, as if the fire wasn’t lit and it wasn’t the beginning of spring. Instead, it felt like the cold of winter was upon them and her fireplace had been dead for years. Twilight’s legs shuffled against one another, savoring the little heat they generated, but it wasn’t nearly enough for her.

Her lavender eyes returned to the book beneath her, resting open and half-way finished on page two hundred forty four. Then they drifted back to the pegasus, so lost in her dreams that she didn’t even realize the voyeurism of her friend. Twilight bit her lip beneath her teeth, gnawing on the skin.

The idea was there, definitely, but so were just as many reasons not to do it. Personal space, comfortability, privacy, and many other words that all danced around the obvious subject. And yet, for maybe not the first time in her life, but spaced apart enough to be a rare moment, Twilight fought against her own common logic.

A sigh passed her lips just after the spontaneous decision affirmed itself her mind.

Her horn hummed with power as a lavender aura surrounded her book. The thick volume was quietly shut and lifted into the air, moving to a table that sat underneath her curved staircase. A draft of cold air rushed underneath her as she stood up on all fours. A shiver ran through her coat, but she put it out of mind.

Her hooves clicked softly as she trotted around the pegasus, stopping only when she stood in front of her friend. The smile across Dash’s lips was much easier to see now. Her hooves were still extended outwards, but no longer caught in a motionless trot. Instead, they fell against the pillows as if she had been dropped there, splayed outwards with no direction.

It was such an inviting sight.

Twilight bowed her head, inching closer to the pegasus. Her muzzle was directly above her forelegs, the soft cyan fur of the pegasus moving in tune with her breath. It was ironic, at least to the unicorn, whose own fur was standing on end. It was difficult for her to place the reason behind the chill in the air or the nervousness behind her actions.

She pulled her head back, far enough so that the air she let out wouldn’t touch the pegasus. Twilight let in a breath, holding it in her chest as she built up her resolve. A small, but firm, nod of her head, and she turned towards Dash again.

With a small push from her neck, Twilight nuzzled her way into the pegasus’s legs.

The heat of the pegasus was instantaneous, enveloping the unicorn like a freshly steamed towel from the spa. She fought against a pleasured sigh as her jaw shook, eyes fluttering shut as the inviting heat continued to hug against her coat. It felt like there was a pocket of volcanic air tucked beneath the pegasus and Twilight was eagerly digging herself into the center of it.

The pony she was pushing against hardly stirred as Twilight invaded her space, little more than soft snores of rest coming from her lips.

When her invasion was complete, all ground gained, Twilight stilled herself in the grasp of the pegasus. She was warm - unbelievably warm, and comfortable to - enough so to say she had never felt it before.

The heat invaded her like one would claim rain invaded crops. She sucked up the warmth greedily, fighting an urge in the back of her throat to let out a groan of satisfaction. As deep a sleep as the pegasus was in, Twilight felt no urge to stretch the already fragile boundaries she was pushing on.

She bit her lip as the thought passed her mind.

Twilight was inching away from the comfortable norm she was used to. This wasn’t a slumber party or a get together. This was her forcing her way into Dash’s bed as she slept. There were no less than four different laws prohibiting the action. If Twilight were older than the pegasus she was snuggled against, it very well could have been five.

Her resolve crumbled beneath the flood of her guilt, hooves shivering in shame. One of her rear legs reached out, searching for a hard plank of wood to push against. Any second further in the embrace of Dash was a second more she would consider staying there. She felt the cold floor touch the end of her hoof. Her legs flexed to pull against it, to allow the beauty of frictional forces to remove her from this completely wrong situation.

But then Rainbow prevented that.

The pegasus’s legs pulled against Twilight with a possessive force, dragging the desperate unicorn further into her embrace. Twilight found herself forced against the undercarriage of the athletic pony, completely suffocated by the warmth she found there. The only thing that kept her from gasping in surprise was the lack of air in her lungs.

Her muzzle rubbed at the delicate cyan fur of Dash’s chest, tickling and nuzzling her at the same time. A goofy smile slipped over her lips before she even knew it. The hooves that once shivered in fear were now calm as water, hugged between herself and Dash.

Twilight thought she was cocooned in warmth before, now she was trapped around the heat.

She fought against herself to stay awake, the hotness ebbing into her with every passing second. It lulled her like a warm glass of milk, soothing her better than any massage. She thought to compare this to the hot towels at the spa? They would wish to be able to reach such a temperature.

Any thoughts Twilight had of leaving the embrace dissipated into her mind, leaving her as she left the waking world.

Rainbow Dash was never a pony to wake quickly. She slept as often as she could and rested for as long as time would permit. Being forced to wake up for nearly any reason wasn’t a reason good enough for her.

Her mind was always slow to wake because of that, savoring the world of her dreams like the last drop of Apple Cider in a wooden mug, shaking the object until the sugary sweet liquid was her prize. Waking her up felt like taking that small victory from her.

That was why when a harsh light fell over her eyes, Rainbow let out a groan of disappointment. Her body shifted as to turn, to roll away from the treacherous rays of sun.

But, it was the soft material in her legs, moaning the same as her, that made her still.

Her mind slowly awoke as her body was static as stone. The light from the early morning kept her blind as her eyes opened. She was still too used to the comforting darkness of sleep. But, in tune with the speed of her mind waking up, Dash’s eyes began to adjust.

The first thing she saw was Twilight Sparkle nestled into her arms like a foal, smiling like a doofus.

Dash wasn’t a pony that woke easily in the morning, almost ever. But with the sight assaulting her eyes, her mind began to run at speeds she would have normally thought painful.

She kept her body still as stone as her eyes looked over the unicorn mare. Her muzzle was tucked tight against her, breathing at a volume just high enough to be heard above the silence of the rest of the room. But more importantly to Dash, her blue legs were curled around the unicorn tightly, almost possessively even.

She had absolutely no memory of how this happened.

She felt her heart beginning to increase in tempo, ready to start the hyperventilation process, but she was a hoof ahead. Her chest took large, deep breaths of air, expanding and contracting her diaphragm. It was a breathing exercise she had done countless times before, getting ready for races or just building the urge to do something crazy.

There were so many things wrong with this.

She and Twilight were good friends, great friends. Friends didn’t sleep with one another like this. Sharing a pillow? Fine. A bed? Sure, why not? Hugging one another like they were… together? No, that was a line she couldn’t cross. Not like this.

There was no telling what Twilight would do if she woke up to this. She was a calm mare in most cases, but all it really took to set her off was one act too far outside the norm. Dash didn’t have think hard to know that this was one of those cases.

Right then, she was starting to think. Definitely crazy.

Her mind flew backwards to yesterday, searching for the earliest memory she had. It was with Applejack. The farm pony had asked her to help buck a few apple trees while Big Macintosh was off looking for herbal supplies from Zecora. Something about a dead tree. Rainbow couldn’t remember what exactly, but she did remember taking care of a couple dozen Golden Delicious apple trees before snagging one of the sweet fruits and flying off, the cowpony waving her hat in thanks.

Then what? Her tongue ran over her lips in thought. Where did she go after helping Applejack? She allowed her neck to give only the smallest of nods as her mind finished the track.

She went to Fluttershy’s then. Rainbow was out of food for Tank, and she didn’t want her favorite tortoise to be left hungry for even a moment. But when she got there, the shy pegasus needed her help with a lost animal friends. A couple minutes and a few miles later, Rainbow Dash had found the lost squirrel scurrying around some trees, trying to catch a good wind to fly on. It was hard for the cyan mare to forget the strength behind the hug Fluttershy had given her in thanks.

Then… then she took a nap. Yeah, that was it. She found a good cloud above the Ponyville market and took a nap. She didn’t need to work and nothing beat the feeling of sleeping on a cloud.

At least, she would have taken a nap, but it was hard for Dash to forget the urgency, or ability, of Pinkie Pie to snatch her off of her perch. The mare, however, did offer her the chance to pull some wicked pranks on Rarity. Definitely something she could postpone a nap for.

She clearly remembered regretting that decision.

The unicorn mare had caught the two of them reorganizing her linens and fabrics, mismatching them until they were in the most chaotic setup possible, save for any antics Discord could have done. Rarity proved her worth as an elder sister as she got Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to replace everything they had intentionally messed up.

It never took a pony long to act without thinking. It took a long time though to think before acting. Rainbow had to try and remember every drawer she had opened and cupboard she had raided as she put all of the fabrics and silks back in their respective homes. She didn’t bother trying to remember those details. They were better off left forgotten.

When they were finally done, the sun was already almost down. She couldn’t remember what exactly, but Dash knew she expressed her displeasure with some kind of word. She was sure it wasn’t anything too extreme, hopefully. She flexed her wings outside Rarity’s home and then took off into the sky.

But then… nothing.

She thought as hard as she could, gritting her teeth and clenching her eyes till she was sure she was scowling at nothing, but she couldn’t come up with a single idea for how she ended up at Twilight’s, let alone why the mare in question was caught between her hooves and still sleeping like a foal.

Her neck bent upwards, looking for some kind of clue as to how this predicament came about. Maybe a few empty bottles would be there. That would explain a lot, though not in a way Rainbow would enjoy.

Her mind half entertained the idea that she would see another Twilight standing above her, stifling a laughter as she held up the illusion of “herself” in Dash’s hooves. That would have been a great prank. A bit far, but it would have been an undeniable burn.

Instead she saw a book. It wasn’t terrifying or dark, or even large for that matter. It was about the thickness of any average Daring Do novel she had read, with a cover looking much the same. At the angle she was lying at, it was hard to see, but the definite shape of a pony riding a broom was impossible to miss. She was only too lucky the spine was turned towards her

“Harry Trotter and the Alicorn’s Stone,” Dash whispered the title aloud.

Something clicked in Dash’s mind.

The only thing that stopped her from putting her hoof to her head was the unicorn still in her grasp.

That was a book Twilight had recommended to her days ago. She had said at the time it was checked out. She said she would let the pegasus know when it was ready for pick-up. That day was yesterday.

Dash remembered now.

She had flown right above the unicorn’s library on her way home, and the book flew into her mind the same way she enjoyed to travel. The thought of reading something like Daring Do was honestly exciting to her. And besides, she needed a new excuse for sitting down.

Twilight was only too happy to see her when she opened the door. Rainbow had an exceedingly easy time remembering the smile that broke out over the unicorn’s features, mainly because she remembered feeling just as cheerful at the sight. After hours of sorting and cleaning up a mess, the idea of sitting down and doing nothing but reading was only too welcome to the worn pegasus.

Twilight had shown her inside, offering her a comfortable spot on a bed of pillows. Dash could clearly remember the fireplace being lit, because when she lay down on those pillows, it felt like a bed of coals. In a good way, of course. In a good way.

The next memory Dash had was waking up the way she was now. Except, right now, she wasn’t too worried. She knew how she got here, and given how easy it was for her to fall asleep on a cloud outside, during the day, above the market, falling asleep inside a warm house with fluffed pillows and acking muscles didn’t seem too far outside the norm.

That only left the mystery of how the mare in her hooves got… into her hooves.

Rainbow let out a soft sigh, careful to angle away from the unicorn’s sensitive ears. She wasn’t going to get any answers for what happened after she fell asleep, at least not while she was still the only pony awake in the room.

Her hooves retracted from the lavender coat of Twilight, carefully lifting and rotating away from the resting pony. Dash heard a few joints pop with the motion, feeling her shoulders give a few small jerks at the sudden shift in weight on bone.

A quick glance showed that Twilight is shuffling against Dash, much more than one would in resting state. The pegasus froze as she bit her lip, willing her body to hold stone still. As sure as she was that there was a reason for this, she didn’t know if Twilight was aware of it or not.

It wouldn’t be good for anypony to scare Twilight, not with something… like this.

But as still as Rainbow was, the unicorn continued to shift, rubbing herself against Dash, trying desperately to huddle in closer the cyan mare. Her eyes were slightly clenched: a look the pegasus instantly recognized as deep thought for her unicorn friend. Yet, what struck Dash the most wasn’t what she saw; it was what she felt.

While her left set of legs were now completely free of the unicorn, her legs trapped underneath the mare could feel the heat of Twilight’s body extremely well. But beneath that, she felt the hairs shivering, shaking back and forth in an exceedingly quick manner.

Rainbow knew exactly what that meant.

“Serious, Twi?” she muttered in a low whisper, unable to repress the grin rippling across her features.

“You got in with me cause you were cold?” The lavender mare didn’t respond as she continued to shiver lightly in her sleep. The pegasus was having an exceedingly difficult time keeping herself from giggling.

The idea seemed insane, or incredibly unlikely given the many other options the unicorn had available to her. She had a bed just up the stairs, a whole other section of pillows right next to her, not to mention the blankets Dash knew were in the closet. There were a hundred and one other options at least to choose from, but the over-achieving student of Celestia chose to snuggle into the warm embrace of a pegasus instead.

To Rainbow. She honestly felt a little flattered.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t just trust her enough to get into her embrace; she did so with other options available to her. Speaking just the facts, she chose to nestle into that four legged grip. If the smile that was on her muzzle before was any indication, she didn’t regret the decision.

But right now, Twilight looked as if she was sleeping in the snow, desperate to grab at any source of warmth that was nearby. The first action that came to Rainbow’s mind wasn’t one she could argue with. If anything, she enjoyed the thought. And the thought is what counts.

“I guess a few more minutes won’t hurt.”

Dash wrapped her hooves back around the mare, watching as the small smile of satisfaction returned to her lips, her head nuzzling the fur of Dash’s underbelly again. She settled into another fitless state of sleep. Rainbow’s own smile didn’t feel any need to move.

Her wing extended over her eyes, hiding the rude rays of the sun from her closed lids.

Honestly, it wasn’t too difficult for her to find rest again. Not with Twilight so close to her.

The pegasus shifted her head above the unicorn’s, letting the purple strands of Twilight’s mane tangle and twist beneath her chin. It felt like she was holding a cloud in her hooves, holding something warm and soft to her as she readied herself for another descent into dreams.

“No,” Dash whispered. “Twilight’s easily more comfortable than any cloud I’ve had before.”

She fell asleep with that thought at the forefront of her mind.

Twilight woke into a lucid dream.

Her body groaned with her lips as a low growl of annoyance rose to her vocal cords. The horror of the waking day slowly ebbed into her mind, reminding her that the night was gone and she had work to do, no matter how comfortable she was.

Her legs pushed outward on her fluffy bed, expecting to feel the thin sheets stretch above her. She would groan, Spike would mumble, and the beginnings of any other day would begin.

What she didn’t expect, and what she got, was the groan of another occupant in her bed.

‘Wait,’ her mind flashed with a reminder. ‘I never made it to my bed last night. I slept on the pillows… with…’

All thoughts of rest and fatigue left Twilight on a wind’s breath, leaving her with complete clarity. Her eyes opened wide, greeted with the sight of blue fur up against her muzzle, tickling her as it warmed her. A small giggle of satisfaction emanated from above her, and the wide eyes of Twilight looked up.

Her lavender irises settled on the peaceful visage of Rainbow Dash, snuggling into the unicorn’s mane with a giddy smile on her face.

Of course now, the muzzle that was once twisting through her lavender hair was now pushing rather firmly against hers.

Twilight’s face lit up like Hearth’s Warming Morning.

Every muscle in her body froze, horrified and mesmerized by the position she was in. Her legs shrank into her, curling her into a tiny ball as she dragged her head on the pillows, slowly retreating from Rainbow Dash’s touch.

The pegasus was having none of that.

The unicorn was able to utter only an eep of surprise as she felt the strong hooves around her body grip her tighter, pulling her back up to Rainbow’s waiting muzzle and sensitive undercoat. Movement became an imaginary action as Twilight felt every muscle in her constrained, caught between Dash’s body and her own.

That was not to mention the heat that seemed to surround her. The pocket of heat that surrounded her seemed impossibly hot. The small part of Twilight’s mind that maintained reason theorized that the amount of warmth she was experiencing was more likely to occur in the fiery underside of a volcano’s inner chamber than in the powerful grasp of her pegasus friend. She would have to make addendum to her notes on heat dissipation later.

But to do that she needed to get up, or more importantly, move.

Her magic was definitely not an option. The close proximity of Rainbow to her horn would nearly ensure some kind of magical feedback harming the pegasus mare. Struggling would have been an option if she had even have half the strength of the athlete. Unfortunately, it was unlikely she was even on a comparable scale. That left just one, rather embarrassing option.

“D-Dash?” Her voice weakly spattered out. The only success of her rather pitiful attempt of speech was leaving an empty pocket in her lungs and letting the hot air of her breath flood her face. No ground was gained.

Sucking in another pocket of air through the pegasus’s coat, doing all that she could to ignore the taste of rain and sweat, she tried again.

“Rainbow?”

The pegasus above her squirmed at the intruding voice, giving a groan of displeasure as her hooves gripped Twilight even tighter. The unicorn braced her hooves as best she could, resisting the dominating force that continued to overwhelm her.

“Dash!”

That worked.

“Wha?” The voice above her mumbled in confusion.

Twilight felt the pegasus rub her head more vigorously into her mane. She simultaneously did her best to suppress the rush of heat across her cheeks. The legs around her torso squirmed in discomfort, leaving Twilight at the mercy of the frictional forces generating thermal responses.

“Hmm…” Twilight heard the small hum above her again. Shortly after, she felt the pressure atop her head slowly retract, leaving her free again to twist her neck, but with a suddenly cold patch of fur and hair.

The unicorn bent her neck back, letting her eyes look up again towards her friend. There was undoubtedly far more caution put into the movement than she had before.

But Twilight felt nothing. All she saw was Dash looking at her with sleep filled eyes. Scratch that, Twilight was still feeling the intense heat of a sun’s nova.

The pegasus smiled down at her, wearing a grin that seemed caught between content and inebriated. Twilight had an impossible time naming a more beautiful sight.

“Hey Twilight.” The pegasus whispered, enunciated just enough to escape being called a mutter. “Sleep well?” The unicorn was forced to suck in a slow breath of air before she could respond.

“Y-Yes.” Her weak voice stuttered out. She may have succeeded in awakening her friend, but she still had no words she could think of voicing. However, Dash was awake now, as no part of her brain could deny. That meant freedom was within her reach. Her hooves lightly pushed against the cyan mare, hoping the message would be clear.

The message was either unclear or unsuccessfully transferred.

Dash’s hooves hugged themselves tighter around Twilight, and the mare could only gasp in surprise.

“Nu uh,” Dash muttered, muzzle dipping into the unicorn’s mane. “I’m still tired, and you’re still a keepin’ me warm. You leave, I’m gonna get cold and lonely again. So you stay here. Right. Here.” With the last words she spoke, Rainbow gripped Twilight tighter, each word only making room for her hooves to increase their strength.

“It’d be a problem if ya left.”

That wasn’t the problem Twilight thought the situation would create.

“This… doesn’t bother… you?” The unicorn braced herself for the inevitable.

Rainbow was clearly in her morning state, as Twilight and the rest of their friends had opted to call it. It was a difficult task for most words to reach the mare while she was in the state that she was. Actions, however, seemed to permeate her thick membrane rather well.

Dash would definitely grow more and more lucid by the minute, realizing the situation they were in. She would probably shout in surprise, shoot her wings backwards as she scrambled off the lavender mare. Twilight would weakly call her name, trying her utmost to calm the pegasus, but would only succeed in scaring the racer out of the library and off into the new morning air.

That was easily the worst case scenario and, unfortunately, the most likely scenario.

However, to Twilight’s utmost surprise, and undeniable delight, Rainbow started laughing.

It was quiet, low in volume, but rumbled like thunder with the close proximity Twilight had to Dash’s undercarriage. It made the already over-heated unicorn nearly faint with the new wave of heat that filled her.

“Dead honestly, I woke up already a little bit ago. Kinda… confused me, but I figured it out.” Twilight gave a confused twist of her head and raised brow that the pegasus’s words.

But then, a cold rush of air washed over her. She shivered like she was left in the snow. Dash snickered above her.

“I’ll admit, it was pretty funny at first, knowing that you snuck in to sleep with me cause you were a little cold.” Twilight was going to pass out. If not from the all-consuming heat, then the absolutely legendary levels of embarrassment, one or the other. As the legs soft cyan legs of her friend surrounded her again, Twilight became sure it was the former that would do her in.

“You…” she began weakly, but gave up after the first word. It was hard to say anything else with an empty head.

“Relax Twi,” Dash spoke with a tired tone. “I’m still waking up and you’re too comfortable to let go of.”

Twilight took in a slow breath of air as the little room she had left to move was pressed from existence, her form completely trapped by Dash. The minute amount of room she had left was just enough for her to breath in, but not a hair more and thankfully not a hair less.

Depending on the direction of her eyes, she was either gazing into the under fur of one of her greatest friends, or looking into the rainbow mane that had earned the pegasus her name. It was hard for Twilight to call either sight anything less than captivating.

But what she felt, nestled and trapped inside Dash’s grip, was something she had felt only a few times before. Twilight had savored the feeling when she had held it as a filly, curled underneath the wing of Princess Celestia after long hours of practice with magic. She adored it just as much when Cadance would lull her to sleep after fitful dreams in her foalhood. Now, she embraced the emotion Dash was offering to her.

Twilight felt safe. She felt safer than she had in her entire life.

A smile slipped across her lips.

“Dash?” Twilight’s voice spoke with all the strength she could find.

“Yeah?” The weak mutter came from above her.

“Thanks.”

“Any time, Twilight.”

It was after then that the two started to prefer the contact of one another. It did not mean they walked with a wing over the other, or a hoof around the neck. It was much smaller than that.

They found it more enjoyable, more natural, to sit near one another when picnics came around, when camp fires were being arranged, or any other get-together they enjoyed with the rest of their friends. The small contact of their coats against one another, the way their fur hairs would mingle on contact; they couldn’t call the meeting complete until they felt that small sensation.

Whenever they were forced to separate, to move locations or to join in the daily activity, the loss of warmth was impossible to ignore. The loss of heat, the absence of contact, was enough to make the mares shiver when apart.

What followed that was natural.

They needed to be near one another, so they easily found reasons to.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash found many of the books within Twilight’s library far more fascinating than she had before. From the epic tales of J.R.R. Trotkien to the philosophical journeys from Orion Colt Card, the cyan mare began to read them all. She absorbed herself into the text, letting herself battle the demons off far off lands to flying through Luna’s stars beside an all-knowing super computer.

With every page she turned and word she read, Twilight was just beside her, reading her own books or doing her own work. They were nestled against one another, side to side or back to back, letting the warmth seep between them as the minutes turned to hours and the day into the night.

Far more than once, Twilight would hear the mare behind her start to let out the rhythmic breathing of sleep, turning then to see Dash’s face nestled comfortably between two pages in a book. The unicorn would giggle, smile contently, and gently levitate the book from beneath the mare. Then with another flash of her horn, the pegasus shift just enough for her hooves to reach for a new target, namely the mare with magic.

Rainbow Dash never woke up surprised, disappointed, or discontented.

When it came turn for the prismatic pegasus to practice her flying or prepare for work, Twilight was never far behind.

The unicorn often became the goal at the end of a long flight, or the marker Dash would have to pass every lap. Contact was absolutely necessary to prove she had made it. From sprints, to distance, and even endurance, Twilight was there for every one. When the flight training had to truly leave the ground, still she followed.

What Rainbow Dash would describe as strength training for her wings Twilight would rename as joy riding.

She would hang onto the back of the pegasus, hooves around Dash’s neck as the athletic mare flew high into the sky, doing deft twirls, insane tricks, and every other stunt the mare wished to practice. If she could perform the move with a unicorn on her back, then flying solo would be a piece of cake. Yet, despite the clear danger of every move, despite the undeniable fear of falling from such heights, Twilight still felt safe with her hooves around the pegasus.

She knew, they both knew, they could count on one another.

There was a word for what they had become outside of merely the physical attraction of one another’s touch. Confidants. They could truly trust one another with their thoughts and feelings. There didn’t have to be walls, barriers, lies, or any other word for a mask. They didn’t have to hide from their friends what they felt; the only had to find one another.

Such bonds were pushed and tested only weeks after they realized they were there.

The wedding was over.

The celebration was coming to a close, night dancing across the sky, slowly waning into the morning into the later hours. Guests were leaving in groups, saying their farewells to the newly wed royal couple. Small amounts of trash littered the royal gardens, plates and silverware laying across the cut grass. Half eaten salads and barely tasted drinks sat on the table tops, slowly growing stale in the cool night air.

Princess Cadance and the newly coronated Shining Armor gave their thanks to every passing couple, shaking hooves and offering hugs to all the ponies they thought of as friends. In the wake of a day that had begun with terror, ending with a celebration they would forever remember, it wasn’t difficult for them to hold their smiles of joy.

As the last of the guests left, the clean-up began. And although they were guests of honor, more than one of the ponies from Ponyville felt obligated to help out with the process.

Applejack, ever the helpful mare, volunteered and took action with cleaning up and folding the many chairs and tables placed across the castle grounds. She handled the furnishings like they were her own tools from the farm, taking extra care to make sure they were put back where they belonged.

Rarity took the initiative to manage the more delicate of the decorations. Crystals, rubies, diamonds, and of course, the jewel-encrusted utensils, were all cleaned and cared for with practiced precision. The unicorn hummed all the while, happy to be able to appreciate the carefully crafted materials she handled.

Pinkie Pie was unmatched with her ability to handle the left-over food. Be it healthy or sweet, the energetic pink pony found a place for it either in her belly, in the trash, or carefully wrapped and put away for a hungry pony in the coming week.

Fluttershy, gentle as ever, was able to guide and lead all of the animals of the royal garden away from the festivities, calming them down and keeping them entertained. Their company kept her just as joyful as they were.

Dash, unlike her friends, took the time to enjoy the Canterlot airspace. The pegasus knew she’d hear no end of complaints later for it, but in the moment, she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to fly through the night air of Equestria’s Capital City.

Canterlot was different than the clouds of Cloudsdale or the vacant sky above Ponyville. Not better, but just different. She didn’t have to be cautious of running into another pegasus as she scaled the high rise buildings. It was an odd feeling of satisfaction she couldn’t enjoy in the rural town of Ponyville.

Flying above the capital of Equestria was a sight she was sure very few had ever enjoyed. Even from above, it looked like every building was carefully laid out in an almost artistic detail. Honestly, Dash had never really cared for how things looked. If it did what it was supposed to do, and did it well, who was she to say it had to look any better? That was Rarity’s job, not hers.

Still, she could appreciate the almost mural pattern the high rise buildings made as she flew over them, each one trying to reach the sky with stone and bricks. All she needed was the wings on her back and enough air to move with. The gardens, however were different.

Rainbow knew they were supposed to be enjoyed from the ground, for unicorns and earth ponies, the kind of ponies that mostly lived in Canterlot. That’s where you got the best view of the flowers, the trees, and all the other floral designs. But looking down at the garden from above, Dash would swear that a pegasus helped to build it.

The flowers and plants were all arranged into shapes and colors that reminded the aerial pegasus of the stained glass inside the castle. She saw Princess Celestia raising the sun, her coat made of white petunias and golden dandelions shimmering like the celestial orb she commanded. She saw Princess Luna made of dark violets and glowing nightshades swirling with the life of fireflies. They both looked large and imposing to her, even knowing that they were rooted to the ground while she was free to fly.

It was a sight she couldn’t let go of.

Her eyes continued to explore the garden from above, appreciating every intricately planted flower and precisely grown bush, shaping the simple objects into mesmerizing images. As her flight path took her over the hedge maze, something she didn’t much more than a few beats of her wings to solve, she saw something else. It wasn’t made of flowers, plants, or anything else green.

It was alive, like her. Huddled into a dead end in the green puzzle, Dash watched the shape, too small for her to name from above, curling in on itself.

The pegasus perked her ears, slowly descending to the ground below. She could hear the soft sobs of misery rolling from the object, quiet and deep, like the mysterious figure had been sobbing alone for hours. Dash watched its shoulders slowly rise, stretching the fabric that hung on its dress, before falling back down, shivering like it was freezing.

That’s how Rainbow Dash found Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilight?” Rainbow called lightly, her voice laced with worry. The unicorn turned towards her friend, letting out a small gasp of surprise. Dash gave one of her own at the sight of her friend.

Twilight looked like a wreck.

Her carefully stitched and threaded dress was wrinkled from laying on the ground, splattered with grass stains where she had curled in on herself.

The make-up that was carefully applied to her coat was smeared beyond comprehension. Ugly black lines ran down her eyes, lacing with her lavender fur and ending with blurry points. The fibers of her hair were matted and twisted in different directions, doubtlessly from rubbing her hooves over eyes and face, trying to rid herself of the messy tears. It wasn’t working.

“Twilight.” Dash spoke again, trotting closer to the mare. She didn’t miss the way the mare shook as she approached. Something was wrong.

“H-Hey Dash.” Twilight spoke weakly in reply, voice caught with tears and exhaustion. She sniffled her nose, trying her best to put on a smile. It looked horrible.

“What’s wrong?” Rainbow asked as she brought herself close to the unicorn. Twilight didn’t fight her, not in the slightest. She felt the pegasus lift a hoof to her shoulder, putting a warm pressure on her coat. She savored it, lifting her own hoof up to lie over it.

Twilight turned her hazy eyesight to Rainbow. The pegasus looked at her with nothing close to judgment. In those pink eyes, the unicorn only saw worry.

“I-I’m just… just…” Her words stumbled out of her lips, falling to the ground uselessly. Dash let her hoof slide to the unicorn’s back, letting it settle into a warm embrace. She felt Twilight lean against her. “Just… letting out some… feelings.” Dash bit her lip before she responded to the unicorn.

“Are you… sad about…” Rainbow began to speak, searching for the right words in her mind. Twilight continued to watch, her breaths slow, labored. Dash ventured her guess. “Your brother?”

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight spoke with a chirp, followed by a hiccup that caught and swelled in her throat like a bad infection. “I-I just… can’t believe… you know, gone. Not gone gone, but… yeah.” Twilight let her hoof circle around her make-up smeared face. “Happy tears.”

Dash didn’t look happy.

Her face wasn’t edged in anger, or curved in distrust, it was… flat, plain, like she wasn’t hiding anything at all. Even with teary eyes and shaking breaths, Twilight could see everything Dash was thinking. Worry, pain, and a little bit of sorrow. Then, with a slow sigh, Rainbow spoke.

“You’re not sad about your brother, Twi’.”

The flatness of her tone was matched only by the neutral lines across her muzzle. It caught Twilight by surprise, make her look on with silent shock, slowly shaking her head in denial. That wasn’t what she was expecting at all. She expected the pegasus to comfort her, tell her it was all okay. Not that… she lied.

“N-No! Y-Y-You’re right, like always.” She eagerly tried to dismiss, waving a hoof at the pegasus. Her gaze tried to avert from the pegasus, finding a wall of shrubbery immensely more interesting than the friend who was embracing her.

“First of all Twilight,” Dash began attempting to turn the shivering unicorn with her muscled leg. “I’m almost never right the first time. Ever.” Twilight’s ears flattened against her head the more Dash spoke. “Second, you’re a horrible liar. Seriously, I thought Applejack was bad, but you don’t even know you’re lying and you’re giving it away.”

“I… I don’t… y-you’re wrong!” Twilight angrily declared, swaying her head from side to side. She was gritting her teeth again. Dash did her best to ignore the tears that fell onto her muzzle. With her pink gaze focused on Twilight’s miserable features, complete with two small rivers flowing down her coat, it was impossible.

Taking a deep breath to calm her slowly quickening heart, Dash finished her points.

“Third, Ponies don’t smile when they’re talking about something that makes them sad.”

Rainbow Dash’s words were undeniable, and Twilight Sparkle knew she was caught.

Her breath caught as the words flowed through her ears, catching her off guard with their honesty, and accuracy. Her jaw shivered as she watched Dash, terrified of what she had said. Truly, honestly, terrified by the words she had heard. There wasn’t another way to describe it.

“What you crying about Twilight?” Dash asked again.

Twilight knew she was crying. More importantly, she knew why she was crying.

It was obvious, painfully obvious as it was. She had gone through a difficult ordeal with a queen of a foreign race followed by rushing the preparations of a ceremony that, by all rights, should take months to properly order. That wasn’t including the faulty preparations before Chrysalis’s reveal or the rescue she had to stage whilst inside the Crystal Caves.

In the course of a single day, she had gone through nearly all forms of stress on her mind and body.

But none of that was behind why she was crying.

“D-Dash.” Her shaky voice asked again. She swallowed on some tightness in her throat, hoping to open her airway enough to be able to speak. Dash watched on without a trace of judgment in her gaze.

“Yeah, Twi’?” Dash felt the unicorn shiver. She watched Twilight take a slow breath of air before speaking again.

“Do you trust me?”

Dash sucked in a quick breath of air.

The question, honestly, had caught her completely off guard. It shocked her senses, requiring her to play back the words in her mind once, then twice, again. They still didn’t make any sense.

“What?” Dash asked the unicorn, her mask of neutrality falling into pieces, leaving nothing but her shock and confusion to show. Twilight pressed on.

“Do you… trust me?” The words waved as she spoke them again, but Dash heard them all the same. With a slow shake of her head, as if to dislodge the nagging thought of disbelief, she answered the unicorn.

“Yeah, of course. Why would you think otherwi… Oh…” That was when Dash got it.

It wasn’t a question of if she actually trusted Twilight. It was a question of why didn’t she when she needed her.

Why did she trust a fake princess over her best friend?

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them.

They didn’t let go of one another, at least Dash didn’t let go of Twilight. She kept her hoof on the unicorn’s back, letting her lean against her underbelly, leaning on something that wasn’t as unforgiving as the ground.

Rainbow let the air come and go through her lungs as they needed to, her mind too focused on what to say. It was more than clear, beyond just obvious, that this had hurt Twilight immensely. How couldn’t it? She had depended on her friends, her family, for something extremely important. She needed them by her side, but when push came to shove, they weren’t there.

There wasn’t an easy way to say what went wrong, at least not one Dash could think of. The circumstances were… unique. That was a good word. She should have trusted Twilight; she should have flown to her friend’s side, like Twilight had for her time and time again.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Twilight…” Dash spoke as softly, as caringly, as deeply as she could. Her hooves wrapped around the mare, pulling her as close as possible. Twilight tensed for only a moment before settling into the embrace.

She didn’t sob. She didn’t cry. She had done enough of that before the pegasus had arrived. Right now, she didn’t need a shoulder to cry on. Twilight needed a pony to hold.

Hardly moving, barely breathing, she held herself against Rainbow like any athlete would a wall following a race. She was a tool for support right now, that was all. That was what Twilight needed, and that was what Dash would let herself be.

Her hooves rubbed over the unicorn’s back, making slow ministrations over the dress on the pony’s coat. It was soothing, calming, just what Twilight needed.

“I’m not gonna lie to you Twilight.” Rainbow began to speak, letting her voice carry only as a whisper next to Twilight’s folded ear. “We both screwed up back there. Pretty bad, too.” Dash felt the unicorn stiffen in her old. She responded by holding Twilight just a bit harder. “Yeah, both of us. You and me.”

“R-Rainbow?” Twilight’s voice hitched as she questioned her friend’s name. Dash spoke on regardless.

“I should have been there for you, cause you’ve never left me hanging, not like I did to you.” She felt the unicorn squirm in against her chest. Dash couldn’t tell if it was because she was trying to get away or trying to get closer. “But… honestly… can you really blame me?”

It only took one look for Twilight to let Dash know how harsh and rending those words were. She couldn’t wait for a response.

“You rushed into the hall, calling the princess a fake because you thought she was, shouting as loud as you could like some filly that had lost her doll.” Dash made her grip just a little bit tighter. She didn’t want the unicorn squirming away just yet.

“But that happens, right?” She asked the rhetorical question. “We think we know the answer to something, like it’s really obvious to us, and we jump at it, thinking every pony else is doing the same thing. It isn’t until we’re wiping ourselves off the walls that we realize just how bone-headed we were.” Dash wanted to laugh, she really did. Instead, she just sighed.

“Then when we are right, and no one else realizes it, we just hope that every pony else is going to catch on to what we’re saying.” Dash grit her teeth. “It’s hard not to get angry at them when they don’t.” Twilight felt the pegasus sigh.

“Look, Twilight. You were completely right about the princess, or the fake princess. It was stupid of me to doubt you. No other words for it.” Dash blinked slowly, taking in and releasing a breath in the time it took her to do so.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I… I really am.” The words felt like a confession to her, like a dark secret she was hiding from the friend buried in her arms.

But if there was any pony she could confess to, it would be Twilight Sparkle.

“Dash?” The lavender mare lightly asked, looking up at the pegasus from her small sanctuary. Dash shifted the unicorn till she was looking at her eyes.

Even with the ruined make-up, frazzled mane, and absolutely soaked coat, the Twilight had one of the most hauntingly peaceful smiles she had ever seen. If felt warm to look at. With a smile of her own, Dash answered her.

“Yeah, Twi’?”

“I forgive you.” Twilight spoke with words with more heart than almost everything else she’d said that day. “If… you’re willing to forgive me.”

Dash’s laugh was one of the most calming things Twilight had heard all day.

“Of course, Twi’. No matter what.”

With calm breaths and a peaceful mind, Twilight settled back into Dash’s hooves, believing for the entire world there wasn’t a place she’d rather be. Dash held her knowing there wasn’t a thing in all the world she’d rather have.

They were at absolute peace.

What began as simply enjoyment had grown into comfort. But more than that, it was now almost necessary for the two to be near one another.

It was impossible for either of them to deny what they felt. It was just a bond that wanted to grow, some pleasant feeling they wanted to joy. It had left the boundaries of want long ago. Things a pony wanted were things they could truthfully do without. An extra cupcake from a batch of sweets, another hour sailing through the clouds, or the long awaited completion of an epic novel.

Ponies didn’t need wants to live. Wants were wants, unimportant, but pleasurable objects or feelings.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle needed each other.

They needed to be near one another, to be close to one another, to be able to see the other pony with merely a twist of their head or call of their voice. It was no longer a discomfort to not be near one another, it was agony. It wasn’t a simple pleasure or comfort to be touching one another, it was a lifeline.

Apart from one another, there was hardly a way they could complete anything. Life, simply put, felt hollow, empty, like the only purpose each of them had to live for was gone. Books didn’t have text. The sky didn’t have wind. The fire within their passions was nothing but charcoal. When they were near each other, the their worlds were right with order, no activity seemed complete unless the other was involved.

Dash no longer treated Twilight as the goal at the end of the race, or the weight upon her wings. The unicorn had become the purpose of her flight. The air, the wind, the clouds, and the sky. Twilight had become all of it. Every record Dash broke, every race she won, it was all with Twilight either close behind or on her mind.

Unless Dash was flying for Twilight, she couldn’t fly at all.

Twilight fell into much of the same state as her pegasus friend. She had read novels that expanded across the ages, studied tomes that told of spells and lore forgotten to all, but she could memorize none of it, less it involve the pegasus she so nearly depended all her life on. No arcane magic sparked her interest lest it told of feathers or wing. No ancient text took to her mind unless it held the history of the pegasi within.

Unless Twilight was thinking of Dash, she couldn’t think at all.

It was becoming too much for either of them.

Dash’s flight sessions became catastrophes. The simplest of tricks started to escape her mind, often leaving her in a directionless spiral. But no matter how many falls she took or stunts she ruined, the lavender unicorn would not escape her mind.

Twilight fared little better. Her once detailed and flawless notes and research began to slip in care. Sections were misplaced, results lost, and more than once she received letters from her professors and beloved mentor in Canterlot worrying for her better health. Truth be told, she was as well.

It took months to gather the courage, weeks to plan the time, and eventually days mentally preparing herself for the event she dreaded with every spark of magic within her.

It all came down to a single night neither pegasus nor unicorn would ever forget.

Twilight had never felt so nervous before.

She had been tasked with studies under the ruler of the nation, given magical artifacts of unimaginable power, survived countless encounters with monsters, spirits, and possibly even gods. She’d been taken advantage of, tricked, and humiliated more than once in her life. But none of that compared to what she was doing now.

Rainbow Dash stood in front of her, an uncharacteristic look of seriousness across her features. Her lip was drawn straight as the brow above her eyes. It wasn’t threatening, or angry, but stern, focused. It was like the gaze she gave a stadium before beginning a routine. No joy. No love. Just solid-as-steel determination.

Taking a very slow, very steady, breath of air, Twilight began to speak.

“Rainbow,” she began carefully, swallowing in hopes to quench her dry throat.

“This… This has to stop.”

Silence followed her for only a moment. When the pegasus spoke, it was with the most neutral of voices.

“What does?” Dash asked in a calm tone. Nothing about her suggested a mocking, or even sarcastic, tone. Biting her tongue, Twilight ventured forth again.

“This. Us. You and me. Being together like this.” She didn’t want to say it. She was dancing around it like the pink dragon in the room, but she wouldn’t call out on it. She couldn’t.

“You think we should stop, what? Hanging out?” The nervous butterflies inside Twilight began to buzz like bees.

“No!” The unicorn yelled with a stomp of her hoof. She immediately regretted it, her lips pulling back into a horror stricken frown. “No… no I-I… I…” Her throat swelled with the pressure of her words, watering her eyes and shaking her body. Her head fell down looking at the ground.

As if on instinct, or perhaps just concern, Rainbow Dash approached the unicorn trotting to her side. She was just by her friend, standing side by side with the unicorn like she had been doing for months prior. Without hesitance, her wing extended outwards, ready to wrap around the carriage of the other mare.

As soon as her feathery appendage made contact, Twilight jumped back.

“This!” Twilight shouted without restraint. Dash felt herself stiffen, her calm façade gone to the wind as she looked, truly looked, at the unicorn in front of her.

Twilight’s face was scrunched in rage, her lips turned into an angry scowl. Her nose was flared upwards, ready to spout steam. But behind all that, the most noticeable detail as seen.

She was crying.

The tears were running down her cheeks like the water in a stream. Subtle, calm, but the one detail you couldn’t avoid staring at. Dash couldn’t take her eyes off of the unicorn, or her tears, even as her own vision began to grow bleary.

“Th-This has to stop! I… I can’t keep thinking of you first.” The words rolled and fell from her tongue like a confession, like finally telling a secret she had kept buried for years.

“I can’t keep thinking of you before any pony else. I can’t keep asking myself where you are, what you’re doing, or when I can see you again. I can’t be thinking of you every moment I’m awake! I… I-I can’t have you be the most important pony in my life!”

Out every horrific and mind-rending word the unicorn had shouted, the only few Dash cared to remember came at the end. They pounded within her skull, shaking her worse than any storm she’d flown in before. There were only a few words she could think of saying.

“Why not?” Her voice dripped the words like a dying faucet. Swallowing a ball of stress, taking a breath of strength, Rainbow tried again. “Why not?”

“Because… because we’re friends, just friends! I-It’s what we’re supposed to be. I… I-It has t-to be that way!”

Twilight continued to shout, tears shaking free from her eyes with every shriek she threw. Dash’s shock and confusion was slowly stripped beneath every harsh word, leaving only the single demanding question behind.

“Why?!”

“I… I just can’t! I can’t!”

Something in Dash snapped, violently.

“Why?!”

The pegasus shouted with all the force of her lungs. It made Twilight jump in her coat, shivering with wide fearful eyes at the mare in front of her. Rainbow’s legs dug into the ground, flexing as if to hold herself in place.

“Why is that so wrong?!” Dash shouted again. The rage that littered her beautiful face a more menacing mask then anything Twilight had laid eyes on before. It tore into her mind and soul, rending any confidence she had.

With the ball in her throat, and body shivering in fright, Twilight answered the pegasus as best she could.

“Because… it’s not fair Rainbow.”

“Unfair to who?!” The pegasus shouted. She took a step forward.

Twilight pushed herself back.

The angry gaze across Dash’s pink eyes widened, whether it be in shock or realization, the unicorn couldn’t tell.

She drew her leg back, taking several breaths, deep and long, to calm her shaking body. It felt like trying to calm a nerve excited by adrenaline, demanding action. Her hooves clenched and unclenched, legs going from stock still to violently quaking, but she kept her gaze from Twilight, at least for now.

The unicorn watched as the pegasus tried to calm herself, Dash’s trembling breaths the only sound in the library aside from Twilight’s sniffling. This had gotten out of hoof too fast, too quickly. She had no idea what to do.

“What…” her voice began carefully, as if she were testing her own restraint. “What about this is… unfair?” Dash’s voice had calmed to a steady tone, but her eyes were knit tighter than an archer’s bow. Twilight’s expression of misery had been altered little since the rainbow pony’s shrieks.

“I… I-I…” The unicorn attempted to speak, but every word she began to say fell into pieces as it left her lips. The tears were broken in exactly the same manner. Dash grit her teeth at the sight, but she did not back down.

“Are you worried about that harmony thing? About picking favorites with a friend?” Twilight whipped her head hard from left to right, the words swelling in the throat. Dash nearly felt her teeth crack. “Then what?! What is so bad about this?!”

Now Dash was crying. Screaming in rage as harsh tears fell from her eyes.

The sight did nothing but torment Twilight’s already flailing mind. The little restraint she had within herself, that small ball and chain keeping dark her inner secret strained under the sight. The stress was reaching limits it couldn’t handle, and the forces acting upon her had yet to cease. She was still crying, Dash was still angry, and Twilight didn’t have a clue how to stop it.

“I can’t… think about anything else! Nothing!” The unicorn screeched, already giving up on suppressing the emotions swirling within her. “I’ve been missing assignments, forgetting papers. I-I even forget to send my own brother a present for his honeymoon! You’re… You’re all I can think about and that has. To. Stop!” Her hoofs slammed on the ground with every word.

“You think you’re the only one who’s like that Twi?” Dash accused, stalking closer to the unicorn like prey. “Do you know how many times I usually crash when I’m flying? Do you know how many times I’ve crashed recently? Let me give you a hint. I’ve been hitting the ground a buck ton more!” Twilight flinched with the screech of profanity, but Rainbow Dash did not relent. “I’ve been hitting trees, clouds, and even the broadside of Applejack’s barn! Dang it, unless you are there I can’t fly!”

Twilight sniffled her nose, wiping her hoof over her eyes to clear her vision. She only succeeded is swirling and matting the liquids to her coat, making her feel sticky and vile. She felt the same now within and without.

“Then… then you know why we… have to…” Her voice trailed off, her strength leaving her as her dread grew. Dash did know. Twilight knew she knew.

“But you know what?” Rainbow continued on, as if Twilight had never spoken. “I don’t care!” The unicorn watched with a terrified gaze as the pegasus began to smile.

It wasn’t manic, or crazed, or even dark the slightest. Rather, instead of all that, it seemed brighter, like the only source of light in her home, even through the light trail of tears that ran down the blue coat of her friend. Twilight couldn’t decided between feeling admiration or terror.

“I don’t care that I keep thinking about you.” She continued, smiling through everything dark around her. “Why does it matter that I keep thinking about you? Who am I hurting if I say I just want to be near you? I don’t care what happens to me, or any other pony out there!” Her hoof waved through the air, dismissing everything around her. When her pink eyes met Twilight’s own, her hoof moved back towards her pointing towards the unicorn.

“Just you Twilight.” The voice was so soft compared to screams that had shaken the room before. “I just care about you.”

Twilight was sobbing again. She grit her teeth as she sucked in a breath, feeling it shake down her throat as it slowly swelled in her chest, stiffening the erratic muscles that told her to scream.

“I… do too…”

The words came out lower than a whisper.

“What?” Dash asked in a low voice of her own, trotting closer to the pegasus as she spoke.

“I… I said I feel… the same.” Twilight admitted again, focusing her bleary eyes on the pegasus.

Rainbow’s smile had only grown.

Twilight’s own lips continued to grimace.

“That’s… that’s the problem Rainbow.”

Any traces of joy Rainbow had slowly vanished as the words hung in the air and rang in her ears. Her gaze drew back into the anger stare that it was before, pink eyes shimmering with fire as she glared at the unicorn.

“What the buck is that supposed to mean?!” She was shouting again, screaming with rage. Twilight shrunk beneath the shout, but she didn’t retreat, she didn’t look away.

“I-It means… means that… that is the problem.” Twilight swallowed on the growing ball in her throat, desperate to continue. “The more… the more I imagine being around you, spending time with you… the worse I do in my work. When I’m finally able to push you… out of my mind… Everything is just… empty.”

“Then what?” Rainbow Dash harshly spat at the unicorn. “You just wanna throw this away, act like it never happened?” Though Twilight was mute with a response, she was not deaf to the pegasus’s words. With a snarl, the mare continued. “Sorry Twi’, but it ain’t that easy.”

“Easy?! Ha!”

The bark of laughter from the teary eyed Twilight forced Dash to take large steps back. Her pink eyes were having a difficult time looking at Twilight. The unicorn’s face, her eyes, her lips. They were caught between laughing and sobbing, a woozy smile, blurry eyes, and shaking cheeks.

“Twilight?” The pegasus spoke her name carefully. The unicorn offered her only a small choke from her throat before she began to speak again.

“I-I have never done something so hard… ever before in my life. I’ve studied under the princess, read countless books, hay, I’ve even saved the country, but… but I wanted to do those things.” Another difficult roll of laughter came from her lips. Her lavender hoof rose from the ground, wiping away at her eyes.

“I… I don’t want to do this. I don’t!.” Dash felt herself shiver as Twilight shrieked again, but she felt herself shake as the unicorn looked at her, the trails of tears falling down her coat. “B-But… I have to. I-I can’t let… this….”

Her head bowed looking away from the pegasus.

Silence reigned through the small home.

Dash watched the unicorn with extreme interest.

On one hoof, the unicorn was absolutely correct. They were distracting one another. By any other standard, they really were stopping one another, just by being around. It was… stupid. Incredibly stupid, but it made sense.

How was Dash, the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, supposed to learn how to fly better when she always had something else on her mind? How was Twilight Sparkle, the most intelligent unicorn to grace Equestria in who knows how long, prove herself to the rest of academic community?

If Twilight was… right, and they did leave each other… alone… then… they could both get better. They could start working on their dreams again, start to… improve their ability. Maybe a few months, or a year, but they’d get it. Leadership, prestige, Wonderbolts… they’d get it all…

Taking a slow, deep breath, Dash spoke to Twilight.

“No,” Dash declared. “I’m not buying it.”

With those words she started to approach the unicorn. There wasn’t a trace of hesitance in her steps.

“Rainbow?”

“I’m not gonna get up and take off from this like nothing ever happened.” Dash continued on. Twilight couldn’t suppress a shiver of discomfort under the gaze the pegasus was giving her. She gave a few slow trots backwards, but the pegasus was moving to her faster than she was retreating.

“Dash, sto-”

“You’re telling me to give up the one thing I think I might like more than flying, just because we’re getting a little distracted by one another.” There wasn’t a question in the sentence she spoke. “If you really want to leave, you really want me to just pack up and go, then I’ll do it.”

Rainbow stopped just in front of Twilight.

The unicorn looked up at her, quivering between terror and shock, unable to look away from those determine pink eyes she had become so desperate to see. She couldn’t’ look away.

“But before I do, you have to give me something.” Twilight felt herself grow weak with the demand.

“W-What?”

With a proud smirk, and wanting gaze, Dash stole her kiss from Twilight.

Twilight never stood a chance.

As soon as their lips met, every buried passion and fire came to the surface, lighting her nerves and filling her senses. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else could matter. It was impossible for Twilight to describe anything else at all.

With Dash breaking through the absolute last barrier between them, Twilight’s resolve shattered with it. She couldn’t speak any words of protest. She couldn’t mutter any syllables of denial. This was happening. This was real. This was something she needed.

Twilight surrendered to Dash.

Her mind was filled with every touch the pegasus pushed over her, her sense keeping complete and flawless track of their movements. Her eyes shut with the overwhelming bliss of release.

The unicorn was on her back, resting on the bed of pillows where all of this had begun. She was trapped, caught between the muscled and well-toned figure of the pegasus and the plush divot in the pillows their conjoined weight created. No… trapped wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t even close, because Twilight wouldn’t embrace a pony trying to capture her.

Everywhere that Dash touched her, she felt like she was on fire. It was as if the pegasus was racking warm embers over her coat, leaving her drowning in heat. But the absolute worst, or simply the best, was the point of most contact.

Their lips.

Dash’s tongue conquered Twilight’s, leaving the unicorn at the mercy of the hungry and determined pegasus. The invading wet appendage swam inside her mouth, tracing the lines of her teeth and wrapping around her own wet muscle in a battle for dominance she had no hope of winning. Hot breath rushed into Twilight as her own heated pants left.

The pants turned into grunts, small forceful bouts of air looking to escape. But they slowed into long pleasured moans, moans of absolute wanting. They crawled from the back of her throat without thought or permission, muffled against the lips of the mare who was dominating her.

Every time their tongues crossed paths or saliva was exchanged, she felt another wave of adrenaline surge through her, heating her faster than any exercise and exciting more than any dream. This was definitely better than any dream.

The pegasus’s hooves traveled along the unicorn’s body, letting all her weight rest on the lavender mare as she did. Whimpers of pleasure were muffled in their kiss. Rainbow felt herself growing weaker and weaker the longer they continued, her lungs burning for oxygen as her lips craved the touch. She had Twilight with her, she had finally broken through that last bit of space neither dared to breach, but the needs of her body were telling her to stop.

It was a battle she wanted to win, but quickly losing.

Lifting her head from Twilight, Dash sucked in a huge breath of air. She collapsed as a useless mass of fur and feathers.

Hot pants entered and left her, barely enough energy left her body to breath. Saliva dripped from her mouth in copious amounts, staining the well-made pillows beneath her. Somehow, she realized, that wasn’t the worst stain on them.

With the little strength she had left in her legs, pushing against the plush pillows, Dash let her gaze look downwards to the mass beneath her.

The first sight she saw was Twilight, coat dampened and matted in sweat, mane billowing along the pillows around her like a lavender halo, eyes half-lidded in mind numbing pleasure, and lips parts with saliva dripping from her rolled out tongue. There wasn’t a force in all of Equestria that could have suppressed Dash’s wings in that moment.

It was at least a year, by her numbers. A year of building tensions, testing the stress, until finally releasing everything in this one brilliant moment.

Dash couldn’t have felt more satisfied.

“Still want me... to... leave?” She asked breathlessly to the mare beneath her, only able to give half of her trade-mark grin.

Twilight’s head twisted to the side, looking up at her with what the pegasus could only describe as the most erotic look of curiosity she had ever seen. It didn’t help that the unicorn slowly spread a smile over her drawn wet lips. Her hooves reaches and pulled the pegasus down to her.

Dash didn’t have a chance.

Twilight snuggled her head deeper into Dash’s coat, savoring every wet fiber she came across, be it dampened by sweat or saliva. It all felt wonderful to her. The touch, the warmth, everything.

Dash pulled her closer with the little strength she had left. Holding the unicorn closer, making sure they were as tight against one another as nature would allow, was more peaceful than almost anything she could imagine. Flying had a hard time keeping up.

“Didn’t think the night… would end like this… huh?” Dash asked cockily with a matching grin across her muzzle. Twilight laughed into her coat, making her already boiling hot body feel molten.

“I don’t think many ponies would.” Twilight agreed, twisted her head to expose her muzzle. She took extra caution to make sure she didn’t move off of the pegasus’s underbelly. Dash was too soft and too warm to let go of.

“Yeah, so,” Dash began, eyes trained to the ceiling above her. Her hoof unconsciously rubbing through Twilight’s mane, separating the stick hairs that were matted down with… something. “Does this mean we’re… you know…”

“We better be.” The pegasus couldn’t help but smile, feeling the weight of the words drifting away beneath Twilight’s determined words.

“I’m wearing off too much on to you.” She noted playfully. Twilight was more than game.

“It’s an acceptable side-effect to the physiological responses I enjoy through your touch.” Both mares were ready to melt between their burning coats holding onto one another, and the blushes that were conquering their cheeks.

“You’re a little… too good at this Twilight.” Dash snickered as she moved her hoof from the unicorn’s mane to her neck, rubbing at the sensitive muscles under the mare’s chin. Twilight cooed in response. “But I guess that just makes this twenty percent... hotter. Yeah, definitely hotter.”

Twilight openly laughed at the words. Dash joined her snuggling closer to the unicorn across her chest.

The library was silent aside from their breathing of two, interrupted by the occasional sigh of pleasure or ruffle of fur. The two continued to hold one another, believing for all the world that there wasn’t another thing they had to worry about. Maybe later, maybe when tomorrow came. But for now, in the moment, there was nothing more important then the mare in each of their hooves.

Twilight giggled lightly, rubbing herself deeper into the embrace of her pegasus companion. Dash was only too happy to let her come closer to her.

“What’s so funny egghead?” Rainbow questioned lightly, letting her hoof run through the long lavender mane of her fellow mare. She watched a tuff of her fur bend over as Twilight released a content sigh through her muzzle.

“Just thinking.” Twilight spoke honestly. “We were acquaintances, then friends, now… more. I just can’t believe it happened.” Tilting her head until her sweet lavender eyes met Dash’s own pink, Twilight asked her question.

“How did this happen?”

There was no regret in her question. Only bland obvious curiosity, the kind of thinking Twilight always had. Rainbow only smiled at the question, lowering her head to nuzzle it into the unicorn’s mane.

“I think I know how.”