Spellbound Fireflies

by bats


XIV: The Letter

Chapter 14
The Letter

Rainbow Dash settled gently on the library’s balcony. Twilight slid from her marefriend’s back and patted down her windswept mane. When she turned to face Rainbow, her expression grew puzzled. Rainbow looked at her with a tentative uneasiness that reminded her of the night they had gotten together. The pegasus stepped forward and grasped Twilight’s face in her hooves, kissing the mare quickly and somewhat roughly. She pulled back and smirked, the smile not quite convincing, drawing Twilight’s brows further together in confusion. “Wait here,” Rainbow mumbled.

Opening the balcony door, Rainbow jumped into the air and sailed through the room and down the staircase. Still bewildered, Twilight tentatively entered her bedroom. The gentle clack of hooves on risers drew her to the staircase as Rainbow came back into view. Her marefriend had an opened envelope in her mouth. Smiling wanly around it, she leaned forward to present it to Twilight.

Lifting the envelope in a glow of magic, Twilight pulled the letter out and unfurled it in front of her.

Team Lead Rainbow Dash,

Your required two year Wonderbolt Academy enrollment is due to be completed by the end of the month. In light of your outstanding academy record in physical skill and leadership ability, a special deliberation committee was called to order last week, discussing you and your talents.

By unanimous decision, the Wonderbolts extend to you an official offer for placement on the team. A standard five year commitment contract pending your review and approval will be rendered available on Academy grounds in seven to ten business days. If you accept, a month-long team acclimation training period will be scheduled to begin the first of the month.

Congratulations, cadet.

With regards,

Captain Spitfire, WB

Twilight’s slack jaw gradually shifted into an enormous grin. She quickly moved the letter away from in front of her face and beamed at Rainbow. “Oh my gosh! You made it, Rainbow! I’m so excited for you!” Twilight rushed forward and swept Rainbow off the floor in a crushing hug, drawing a surprised wheeze. “You have your dream! Oh, this is such wonderful news!” Rainbow chuckled weakly as Twilight spun her around and set her back on the floor. Twilight hurried to her desk. “This calls for a Pinkie party! We need to tell everypony right away!”

Rainbow shuffled her wings without opening them and cleared her throat. “Yeah, that sounds like fun,” she said quietly.

Twilight halted and turned back to the surprisingly reserved mare. “Is everything alright?”

Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “Yeah, yeah…” She gave Twilight a small smile. “I’d kinda like to maybe do somethin’ with just you first, though.”

Twilight’s confusion melted and her expression grew warm. She reapproached Rainbow and hugged her marefriend more gently. “I’d love to do that, Rainbow. Let’s go to that new bistro, just the two of us.”

Grinning, Rainbow pecked the unicorn on her cheek. “Sounds great.”

Twilight hurried away again, bee lining for the bathroom. “Oh, I have to get ready!”

Shaking her head and smirking, Rainbow slowly descended the stairs to the main room of the library. She wandered to the fireplace and sat down, fidgeting her wings. She grabbed a book without looking at it and tried to read, finding herself glancing up at the stairs every few minutes.

After an agonizing amount of time for Rainbow Dash, Twilight came down to meet her, looking much the same as she had before, although her mane and tail were completely devoid of signs that they had flown home and her coat shined almost imperceptibly brighter than normal. “You’re not going to get ready?” She blinked and shook her head. “Of course you’re not going to get ready; you always look good. C’mon, let’s go.” She floated a saddlebag around her neck.

Snickering, Rainbow dropped her book and headed for the door. “You always look good, too.” She held it open for her marefriend with a smile.

“That’s because I work at it. Believe me, when I was studying for finals as an undergrad, there was a solid two weeks where the only thing I did was shower to get the ick off.” Rainbow shut the door behind them and they took off at a sedate canter towards downtown Ponyville. “If I’m remembering right, I was almost late to my last exam because a couple of birds tried to use my mane as a nest.”

Rainbow gently shoulder checked Twilight. “I’d pay to see that. Bet you’d look even cuter with Owlowiscious curled up asleep on your head.”

Giggling, Twilight shoulder checked back. “Couldn’t be cuter than when Tank falls asleep on your back.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. That little guy’s heavy. Makes me feel like he’s a paperweight and I’m a stack of papers.”

They shared a chuckle. “Has he done well since the move, by the way? I don’t see him around the library very often, and you always read him better than me, anyway.”

“Oh, he’s been fine,” Rainbow said nonchalantly, “He just keeps to himself a lot. Loner type, ya know? Plus, I think he found a lady tortoise friend who lives in the White Tail Woods.”

“Aww…”

“Chicks dig flying tortoises.”

Twilight giggled and shoulder checked Rainbow again. “I certainly dig the owner of one.”

“See?” she teased, “He’s just doing his job.”

Twilight glanced up, catching sight of the sign hanging above The Nosh and Nicker Bistro. “Wow, we’re here already.”

Rainbow held open the door for her marefriend and they stepped inside the cozy restaurant. The rich, stained wood walls and floor held an intimate warmth that was accentuated by the flickering lantern lights set along the walls and in the center of each table. After a short wait for a place to sit to come free and be cleaned, they were sat at a two-pony table in the middle of the main dining room, surrounded by the low murmur of conversations occurring throughout the space.

Their conversation shifted to discussing dishes, and after they had ordered their meals, Twilight smiled fondly at Rainbow across the table. She watched her marefriend shift and twitch her folded wings. “You look like you’re itching to fly, Rainbow. I’m so happy for you. We knew this day was coming, but it’s still so exciting!” She blinked and shook her head. “Oh, gosh! Think about how excited Scootaloo’s gonna be!”

Rainbow snorted and shook her head, grinning.

“Think about it!” Twilight teased, “Especially if you told her right after her first flight! She’d explode!”

Laughing lightly, Rainbow reached across the table and cupped Twilight’s hoof. “She totally would.” She grinned at the unicorn, idly stroking the soft hairs of Twilight’s coat. “Thank you, Twi’. For helping me plan all the training.” She looked down at that table, her expression growing coy. “After that very first speed test, I stopped worryin’ so much. I was prepared for her to start off way worse than she was…” Her smile fell as a ghost of memory passed over her face. “…My dad told me he couldn’t do one wing-up at all when he started learnin’ to fly…”

Twilight moved her other hoof to the table and squeezed Rainbow’s limb.

Squeezing back, Rainbow continued, “But after that? After I saw she’d definitely be able to make it?” Her smile widened and she shook her head. “I never would’a been able to plan the ‘Bolts training without your help.”

The server arrived with their food and they sat back, providing room for their plates. Twilight turned to the server and smiled. “Thank you.” She turned back to her marefriend. “And you’re welcome. I was happy to help. I’m so glad I did, too; being there for the training and watching the two of you together has been wonderful.” She inhaled the aroma of her eggplant parmesan. “Mmm, this smells good.”

“I’ ‘astes ‘ood, ‘oo,” Rainbow mumbled around her enormous mouthful of noodles.

Giggling, Twilight took a modestly sized bite. “It does taste good. Anyway, I’ve been more than happy through all the training.” She smirked ruefully between mouthfuls, her speech slowing down with pauses as she ate. “I’ve always liked watching you fly, but helping with the plans and watching you and Scootaloo in action…I get it now. I mean, I understood before, abstractly, but I really get it now. How much work and effort you put into it. It’s really amazing. And seeing you with Scootaloo…” Her smile widened. “It’s cute. She adores you.”

Rainbow snorted derisively, shoveling another wad of noodles into her mouth. To her credit, she swallowed before saying, “It’s been great seein’ you tutor her. I know she was a little cold for a while, but she definitely warmed up to you. That’s cute. Scoots an’ me? We’re cool. Get it right.”

Twilight had to swallow quickly to keep from choking from her chuckles. “My mistake.”

“You’re cool, too, so I’ll forgive you.”

Waving a hoof in a playful dismissal, Twilight mused, “Fine, if you say I’m cool, I can be cool. But you’re cute.”

“Slander!”

They fell into giggles, working their way through the rest of their meals. Twilight’s grin gradually shrunk and became introspective. “…It’s been really great having Scootaloo around so much.”

“Yeah, it has.” Rainbow finished licking her plate and set it back down as the waiter approached. She quirked an eyebrow at her marefriend. “Dessert? I think I saw tiramisu earlier.”

“Mmm, coffee.”

The waiter nodded congenially and cleared their plates. A pleasant lull fell over their conversation as they waited, bellies full of food. Rainbow sat back and sighed in satisfaction, fidgeting her wings.

“There you go again,” Twilight teased, “Still wanting to fly. I’m surprised you actually walked the whole way here.”

“It was a short walk.” The waiter returned with their dessert and the check.

Twilight levitated a fork to the plate and grinned mischieviously. “Open up; tell me how it is.” She floated a bite past her marefriend’s lips.

Rainbow’s eyelids fluttered as she chewed. “Oh, man…” she murmured. Her voice grew serious. “It’s poison. I’m gonna have to eat all of it, just to protect you.” She grabbed a fork and dug out a large piece.

“I’ll take my chances,” Twilight struggled out through her mirth, bringing a bite to her mouth. “Oh, wow…” Her muzzle crinkled in satisfaction as she chewed. “We’re definitely gonna need to bring the girls here. They’d love it. The food is terrific and the atmosphere is—”

Rainbow cut her off, as much with the sudden downshift in tone as what she said. “I’m not gonna do it.”

Twilight froze with a forkful of tiramisu halfway to her mouth. Her eyes trained on Rainbow’s face, suddenly as serious and resolute as her voice. She set her fork back down. “What?”

“I’m gonna tell Spitfire no.”

Shaking her head hard enough for her ears to loudly flap against her head, Twilight marveled, “What? Why? We’ve been waiting for this for years!”

Rainbow shrugged noncommittally. “Not gonna do it.”

“But it’s your dream, Rainbow! You can’t get cold hooves now, just because it’s here! You’re the best flyer I’ve ever seen; you’ll do fine—fantastic even—you have to say yes.”

Taking a long and slow breath, Rainbow shook her head. “I know I’d be great. I know they’d love me an’ I could make a name for myself doin’ it. I could probably make captain after Spitfire retires.” She took another chunk of their dessert and chewed it slowly. “Still not gonna do it.”

Twilight stammered in disbelief. She shook her head again. “Why?! It’s your dream!”

“It was my dream, Twilight.” She sat forward and smiled wanly at her marefriend. “It isn’t anymore.”

Twilight gaped silently.

“Y’know what bein’ a Wonderbolt means, Twi’?” Her eyes dropped to the table, lingering over the sticky crumbs of the finished tiramisu. “Month long trainin’ at the academy, then I’d go on tour. Tours are three months, with two weeks off in between ‘em. Outdoor stadiums for warm months, indoor coliseums for cold ones. Couple’a weekends off here ‘n there, a break for Hearth’s Warmin’, and then I’d do it all again.” She sat back, shaking her head. “Five year contract to start. Then another, an’ another. Most ‘bolts stay active for twenty years.” Her eyes became hard set and she met Twilight’s gaze unwaveringly. “Twenty years, Twi’. Twenty years of me bein’ home for three months of the whole year.”

“Rainbow…” Twilight reached across the table and held her marefriend’s hoof. “We’ve talked about this before. We’ll find time. I can come to some of the shows and we can spend down-time together. Sure, we’ll be busy a lot, but we’ll make it work.”

Rainbow smiled sadly. “We talked about it when I went to the academy; that was two years ago, Twi’.” She set her other hoof over Twilight’s and squeezed tight. “So much has changed since then. For us. We were together then, yeah, but now…” She dropped her head again, her voice growing even more reserved. “I love you, Twilight. I love you with all my heart. I wake up every day with you right there next to me, and go to sleep every night curled up around you, and I don’t ever want that to stop.

Twilight bit her lip and blinked rapidly. “Rainbow…”

“Goin’ away for a week regularly was one thing, but a whole month? Three whole months? Three months away, stealin’ little bits and pieces of time with you?” She shook her head, looking back up. “No. No, that’s not a dream of mine. I’ve got too much here. Too much of me here, in Ponyville, to leave like that. What’m I supposed to do with Tank?” Twilight opened her mouth, but Rainbow shook her head. “I know you’d take care of ‘im, or Fluttershy, but that’s not fair to the little dude. He’s got his home. With me. With us.”

“Rainbow, I—”

“—Hold on, I’m almost done.” Her small smile grew a little in strength, taking on a wry quality. “Tank’s hardly the biggest thing. What about the other girls? They’re not gonna be able to drop stuff to come to shows. I’ll hardly see anypony at all for years. And…and what about Scoots?”

Rainbow dropped her gaze again. “…Sure, she’s just about done trainin’, but you’ve seen what those Taker ponies are like. She needs us there. She’s spending more an’ more time at the library each week. I can’t get her flyin’ and then take off for the ‘bolts, Twi’.” She shook her head, vehemently, angrily. “I refuse to just take off. I refuse.” Her voice wavered with emotion on the last word and she paused, swallowing the lump in her throat. She extricated one of her hooves and wiped at her eyes.

Twilight’s voice grew concerned. “You okay?”

Sniffling and swallowing again, Rainbow answered, “Yeah,” her voice low and husky. She cleared her throat. “My…my dad died right after I got back from Junior Speedsters. He, uh…he helped train me right before I left for it. It was the last thing we really did together.” She sniffled wetly again. When she met Twilight’s gaze, her eyes looked haunted. “I can’t train Scoots an’ disappear from her life, even if it’s just most of the time. I can’t. And if I did, I’d miss so much.” She shook her head again. “I’d miss helpin’ her after her first crash, helpin’ her with her first trick, seein’ her first trick. I’d miss all of it.

“And I’d miss you, Twi’. Stolen weekends and off-hours stuff every once in a while on tour sounded okay two years ago, but it doesn’t anymore. Does it still sound good to you?”

Twilight paused for a long time, meeting her marefriend’s steady and saddened expression. Very slowly, she shook her head. “…No,” she whispered, “No, but I’d deal with it.”

Rainbow nodded. “I’d deal with it too, if that’s all it was. But it isn’t, Twi’. There’s too much other stuff.” A smile cut through her melancholy and she leaned forward, lifting Twilight’s hoof off the table and holding it fiercely. “Too much good stuff. I’m so happy, Twi’. I love my life. Weather stuff is fun most of the time, and even when it isn’t, I’m done so fast it doesn’t matter. I make just okay money, but uhh…” She flushed, her face and voice coloring with embarrassment. “...Well, we’ve been over the bills…I don’t need to make a lot, anyway. We’re comfortable as it is.”

Twilight stroked Rainbow’s hoof soothingly; she knew the subject was touchy for her marefriend. Rainbow smiled at her and a bit of the color drained away from the mare’s face.

Rainbow cleared her throat. “Anyway, so money’s not a problem, and I get to fly for fun all the time already, so who cares if it’s on a team or not? It’s all flying, an’ I get to do it as much as I want right now. And work stuff aside, I get to spend all this time with our friends, and trainin’ Scoots, and seein’ you. You’ve made me the luckiest mare in Ponyville.”

Still smiling, Rainbow squeezed Twilight’s hoof again. “Bein’ a Wonderbolt? That was the dream of a different pony; one who needed everypony to know who she was, ‘cause she didn’t have anypony at all. Before I met you, I was always on my own. No real friends, ‘cept Gilda who I never saw, goin’ from place to place, never droppin’ anchor. I could always be a ‘Bolt, ‘cause I never had a home, Twilight. My home died with my dad.” Her voice and eyes wavered. “You gave me a home again. And I’m not gonna give that up for a fillyhood dream that doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. Not when I have a new dream. A better one.”

Rainbow let go of Twilight’s hoof and stood from her chair. A pregnant hush fell over the restaurant as heads turned in curiosity to regard the striking pegasus. With deliberate and practiced slowness, Rainbow stepped around the table and lowered down in a half bow, half crouch. Her twitching wings extended from her sides, sweeping in front of her towards Twilight.

Twilight looked down at Rainbow’s feathery limbs with wide and bewildered eyes. In the crook of Rainbow’s right wing, hidden from view throughout the evening, she held a small, worn, wooden box. With the strange and innate wing dexterity that all pegasi seemed to have and which Twilight always puzzled over, Rainbow slid the box to the end of her right wing and grasped the lid with her left.

Rainbow’s voice, while gentle and bare, carried across the preternaturally still restaurant. “Twilight Sparkle. Will you make me the luckiest mare in all of Equestria?” She opened the box.

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. The humble container, lined in old and worn burgundy velvet, served as a stark contrast to its contents: a single, tiny, blue feather, the sheen on its vane worn dull with time and the quill stained by age to a dirty yellow. She recognized it immediately: a molted pegasus feather. Rainbow’s first molted feather. She shut her eyes and tears rolled down her face.

“Oh, yes, Rainbow, yes!” Twilight leapt to her hooves. She cupped Rainbow’s face and pulled her up to standing, kissing the pegasus fiercely, emphatically, pouring the full weight of her acceptance into the act. She wrapped her legs around Rainbow’s neck as her fiancée gripped her waist. She felt the tears on Rainbow’s cheeks mix with her own.

In their embrace, Twilight’s horn began to glow. A shimmering field of magic surrounded both ponies and slowly, delicately, they floated off the hardwood floor. Suspended in space, enrobed in energy, they were two individuals cut off from the world around them. There, in the moment, they had each other and nothing else mattered.

Twilight had never felt so in love.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t, either.

When they eventually drew away, grinning broadly with happy tears trailing down their faces, Twilight’s magic slowly faded. As they drifted downwards, Rainbow whispered, “I guess we’ll open that bottle of wine early.” Twilight cupped Rainbow’s face and kissed her again. Still tightly in each other’s hooves, their hindlegs clicked down on the floor.

The entire restaurant roared to life in applause.

Hooves rhythmically stomping, cheers and whistles rebounding off the walls, the intimate venue became an overwhelming din of noise. Twin blushes spread across Rainbow and Twilight’s ecstatic faces, but despite the sense of embarrassed exposure, neither had the heart to let the other go right away.

Rainbow kissed Twilight once more and stepped away with lingering reluctance. Still smiling hugely, they nodded thanks across the room to the many calls of congratulations and sat back down. Eventually the restaurant quieted enough that they could hear each other speak, but for a while afterwards all they could do was grin stupidly at each other.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “So…”

“I love you,” Twilight said simply.

Rainbow paused, smiling fondly. “…I love you, too, Twi’.”

Her voice growing tentative, Twilight asked, “Are you really going to decline?”

“I mailed a letter saying 'thanks but no thanks' this mornin’.” She took one of Twilight’s hooves in her own again. “This is my dream, Twi’. This life we’ve made together. Might not be as flashy as bein’ a ‘Bolt, but it’s what I want. Just this…” Rainbow’s smile lost distinction and her eyes grew distant and introspective. “This and some other stuff I wanna talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

Rainbow refocused on her fiancée and grinned impishly. “Stuff about Scoots...but let’s go home and open up that wine first.”

Twilight removed a pouch of bits from her saddlebag to pay their tab and slid the wooden box inside to take its place. After shaking hooves with a number of well-wishers, they left the restaurant, Twilight occasionally pressing her hoof to the contours of the box inside her bag, assuring it was still there, relishing in its existence. Twilight and Rainbow took the winding way back to the library, pressed shoulder to shoulder the entire trip.

Once home, the bottle of wine disappeared quickly amidst excited conversation. Two more fell shortly after that. As the rays of morning peeked their way over the horizon, Twilight and Rainbow finally nodded off, nestled in each other’s hooves, staggeringly drunk, slightly queasy, and hopelessly in love.

“Ugh, Rainbow, my head…”

“C’mon, Twi’, I feel like mud, too. But we talked about this; it’s somethin’ I gotta do.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“Um…We kinda slept for fourteen hours…”

”What?!”

“Augh, not so loud, Twi’…But yeah, it’s the middle of the night. And you know Scoots is gonna say she’s ready to go—”

“—the first possible second, yeah.”

“So if we don’t leave now, we’re not gonna get back by tomorrow afternoon.”

“…Okay, Rainbow. Make some coffee.”

“Already did.”

“…I love you.”

“I love you, too.”