“You’re more than friends!” Spike held a claw to his mouth, choked up with emotion. “You’re my family.”
Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow hugged him from all sides while he cradled the phoenix egg. They broke apart and grinned at each other. Rarity let out a breath and slumped to the ground. “Ohh, too much running…”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, settling down on her hooves. “I’m just glad we’re outta that costume.”
Rarity shot back up. “What was wrong with the costume? We blended in perfectly with the other dragons, and there was plenty of room.”
“Nah, it was fine, just…cramped after a while, ya know?” As she spoke, Rainbow cast a glance at Twilight, then turned away quickly.
Twilight caught the look and raised an eyebrow. She took a tentative step forward. “Hey, Rai—”
“Cramped?” Rarity scoffed. “I thought it was perfectly roomy.”
“You did have the tail.”
“Girls,” Twilight interjected, “the costume worked well for what we set out to do, but even if we were just walking without a costume, we’ve been all over Equestria and at the top of a volcano. We were bound to get a little uncomfortable.”
Rainbow sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs, looking away. She mumbled something indistinct, and Twilight swore she could see a tinge of color on her marefriend’s face despite the low evening light. Her brow furrowed.
“Yes, well, it certainly was a tiring ordeal, I’ll give you that.” Rarity sat down and patted her mane. “I’m glad it’s over now and we can go home; I miss my bed dreadfully.” She glanced around the clearing and frowned. “Erm…where are we, anyway?”
“We’re just outside of Whitetail Wood.”
Rarity’s eyes widened. “That far? That’s quite the distance to teleport, even by oneself. Why here?”
Rainbow’s ears flicked at the mention of the woods, and she looked around the twilit stretch of meadow. She could see a lake off in the distance, next to the start of the woods, and a little hill within trotting distance. A smile spread across her muzzle as memories cycled through her thoughts: a blanket stretched out in the wildflowers, daisy sandwiches, the tantalizing smell of donuts, and most importantly, Twilight’s hooves around her neck, drawing her into their first kiss.
“…We needed to go somewhere safe, and it was the first place I thought of.”
Rainbow’s smile widened. She turned her head and found Twilight looking at her. Twilight’s small smile faltered; Rainbow’s returned grin was strained, and her marefriend looked away, pawing at the ground.
“Well, we’re hardly far at all from home, then.” Rarity let out a satisfied sigh and stood up. “I can hear my bed calling me. Shall we bid this quest adieu and go home, Spi—?”
They turned to Spike. He lay on his back, holding the egg to his chest and snoring.
“Aww, Spikey-wikey does still suck his claw!”
Twilight giggled and scooped him up in her magic, draping him over her back. He muttered in his sleep and hugged the egg closer. “C’mon, let’s go home,” she said.
They crested the hill and caught sight of Ponyville in the distance. A bounce entered Rarity’s canter as they headed back to town, while Twilight took careful steps to avoid spilling Spike. Rainbow walked at a subdued pace at her side, and Twilight kept trying to catch her marefriend’s eye. Her brow knit as they went.
They crossed the bridge separating Ponyville proper from the outlying farmland, and Rarity bounded towards her front door. “Oh, home sweet home,” she marveled. “I can practically taste my sleep mask!” She started and turned to her friends, smiling. “I certainly had an experience the last few days. You two take care! We’ll have to actually go to breakfast soon!”
They waved as Rarity let herself inside, and Twilight turned to Rainbow. She rubbed her knee with a hoof. “…I should get Spike to bed.”
Rainbow nodded. “I’ll walk with you.” She flashed Twilight a grin, and looked away. Twilight’s frown deepened, and they walked in silence across the town, empty in the darkening night.
Twilight opened the door to the library ahead of them, carefully crossing the threshold to avoid making extra noise. Rainbow trotted in after and stopped at the foot of the stairs, while Twilight went up to her bedroom. She tucked Spike into his basket, grinning at him as he clutched the phoenix egg, before turning back towards the stairs and her waiting marefriend.
She paused mid-step, her mind racing through a whole host of mixed signals thrown at her since they’d gotten out a danger. She let out a sigh and looked at her bed; a significant portion of her wanted to collapse on her mattress and deal with whatever the heck was going on with Rainbow in the morning.
She shook her head and clacked down the stairs. Rainbow sat by the fireplace, looking subdued and withdrawn, making her clench her jaw. She took a deep, steadying breath, and turned to her marefriend. “Is everything okay, Rainbow? You’ve been acting…funny.”
Rainbow glanced up, but didn’t make eye contact. Twilight raised an eyebrow; Rainbow was definitely blushing. She looked around the room, trying to find something to focus on, before pressing on. “You can talk to me. What’s bothering you?”
Rainbow took a deep breath. She drew her head up and met Twilight’s gaze head on, the dots of pink on her cheeks deepening. “Twilight…I just spent, like, three days staring at your ass.”
Twilight blinked. “…Oh.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it was great at first.” A coy smile broke through her expression for a moment, before she looked away again. “But Rarity was right there, and there was nowhere else to look, and you’re so damn hot, and I couldn’t touch you, and—” she rubbed her face with both hooves “—gah, I’m sorry; this is totally, like, not appropriate…”
Rainbow stood to leave, staring at the floor, but Twilight stepped in front of her. Rainbow looked up and found Twilight half turned away, her face rosy and a smile on her lips. “…Were you really that…bothered by me?”
Rainbow’s brow knit.
Twilight’s smile widened and she looked at Rainbow obliquely. “I didn’t know I could have that effect on anypony…Makes me feel nice.”
Shaking her head, Rainbow stared at her marefriend. “Seriously?” She marched forward. Taken by surprise, Twilight backed up until she bumped into a bookshelf. Rainbow, half crouched and bumping their snouts together, looked her in the eye. “I mean, yeah, Twi’, I’m totally into you ‘cause you’re fun to be around, and we can talk about stuff for hours, and all that junk, but do you really think this’d work out if I didn’t think you’re hot?”
Twilight meeped, pressed against the bookshelf with Rainbow flooding her vision. She could feel her marefriend’s breaths on her muzzle, and her heart sped up. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’re just…so amazing looking, it’s hard to accept you’d like plain old me like that.”
Rainbow stepped back, and Twilight felt eyes roving across her body. “Twilight Sparkle. You are anything but plain.”
A tense silence gripped the room as they stared at each other.
Twilight leapt forward and wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow’s waist, kissing her face and neck. Rainbow stumbled back, spreading her wings for balance, and Twilight’s hooves brushed over her feathers. They toppled to the floor with Twilight nipping at her coat.
“Damn, Twi’…”
“You’re so beautiful, Rainbow, kiss me.”
“Mnf.” Rainbow leaned her head back, locking gazes with Twilight. “Bedroom?”
Twilight darted back to Rainbow’s neck. “Spike’s asleep.”
Leaning up, Rainbow guided Twilight with her until she was half prone. “Damn. Where then?”
“Bathtub.”
Rainbow slipped and fell back to the floor. Twilight stayed with her, kissing and biting. “Wait—seriously?”
“You have a better idea?”
“…Awesome~!”