One tap.
"I'm awake... yeah I'm... I..."
Two consecutive taps.
"Just five more... five more minutes..."
Five minutes was all she could've asked for, really. If time were a wheel of cheese, she could only afford a sliver of it. Before that, there was this whole chunk on her plate, but it had all been gobbled up; it had all been melted and cooked into a scrumptious dish by the only other pony in the room who probably had done a lot more productive things in one morning than she could do in her entire lifetime.
"Alright, alright, I'm waking up!" declared the ever impatient Rainbow Dash, springing up from her bed with a stretch of her wings and hooves and a languid yawn fleeing from her mouth. She dozily glanced around her (or was it their?) bedroom, lips forming a meek smile once she saw the bright-faced pony in front of her.
"You're up early today, Tassee."
Taciturn Bleach gave a quick, excited nod, wings flapping fervently in place. Being the early bird of the couple, it wasn't surprising for Rainbow to always hear his wake up calls, even if he wasn't talking. At least he had the decency to shake her out of her sleep instead of dumping water on her like Pinkie Pie would.
He was always that quietly mysterious and purely affectionate pony that she knew him as. Despite being dignified as an artist and painter, Taciturn rarely did any work; his profession seemed more like a hobby than some back-breaking task to do. That was how Rainbow knew him as ever since their first encounter at the hospital and even though he was not as adventurous as many of her male pegasi friends, he had that something... a 'something' that made her ever the more fond of him; a 'something' that goes against every challenge they met and holds their love together.
"You fed Tank already?" Rainbow asked.
The white pony gave a simple, fitting nod, followed by a wide, proud smile; a conventional sight for anyone acquainted with Taciturn Bleach, yet a sight for sore eyes indeed. Trust him to feed the tortoise a slice of lettuce, Rainbow said to herself. Then again, she could trust him do anything these days.
"Just don't pamper that little guy," she added with a chuckle, rubbing her eyes.
"You know what happens when your pets get pampered."
The stallion just rolled his eyes with a smirk, before trotting out of their bedroom and leaving Rainbow to get her senses working for the new day. Stretching her wings, the cyan mare zipped from her bed and into the bathroom, wings flapping with every heartbeat of a chest, already excited for the coming hour and, of course, starting off with a quick bath.
A spray of water later, Rainbow snatched a towel and wrapped it around her soaking wet form, ridding of any drops of water from her body and mane. With a grin reflected by the mirror, she brushed the latter to the side, humming a small tune until suddenly, she stopped, face turning a slight gray and eyes fixated on a certain point of her head.
A large scar.
Rainbow Dash shuddered at the sight. She could remember it clearly, the stone cracking into her skull... the lightning flashing overhead... but what scared her most was the terrifying expression of his face. It was the darker side of Taciturn Bleach that most of Equestria, despite knowing him as the household pony of art, had never known about the shocking events surrounding their Hearts & Hooves Day together. It was the one side she hoped to forget soon.
She always blamed herself for it. Never Taciturn, but herself. He seemed too innocent to do such a thing. She knew that in his heart, Taciturn would blame himself as well, yet the presence of the other pony always prevailed in the end, ridding their guilt and guiding their head towards their future together.
It was with this in mind that Rainbow Dash happily pranced out of her room, following the savory smell of an omelette and the sound of it sizzling in a frying pan. Already, her mouth was starting to water, though she chuckled at the sight of the cook, hesitantly dashing a pinch of salt across and just staring at it for a few seconds before resuming flipping the omelette with a wooden spoon clenched in between his teeth.
"Man, I'm starving!" she hollered, grabbing his attention.
"Whatever your cooking there smells good, Tassee!"
Taciturn couldn't agree more. Though cooking wasn't as much of a forte to him as painting was, he had been gradually improving. The best he had cooked was a bowl of spaghetti carbornara; the cheesy, tempting taste of it was still lingering in her mouth, pushing Rainbow to crave for more.
It wasn't long before he shifted the omelette from pan to platter, dicing it up evenly and serving it for the both of them to relish. The first mouth already was ecstasy for the cyan mare, who could only hum in delight with a snippy beat of her wings. That was enough to make Taciturn smile, proud at managing to satisfy her marefriend like the thousand times he did before. Many would've wondered if his talent wasn't only at painting.
"You ready to meet the rest?"
An eager, cheek-bulging nod. Swallowing the last of her food, Rainbow Dash quickly got up to her hooves and trot towards the door, turning back just to see her coltfriend stumbling after her, still hastily chewing his omelette. She smiled to herself: she'll never get enough of his innocent antics, that's for sure.
The two steadily floated lightly down from their cloud house, hooves landing and crunching into the snow. Both ponies wrapped a scarf on their respective necks, Rainbow's being magenta colored and Taciturn's black, before setting off down the path to the cheerful town of Ponyville.
Everypony was certainly in a Hearth's Warming spirit: the moment they stepped into town, they were greeted by various sorts of ponies with bright smiles, all busy finishing the last of the decorations. Rainbow could already imagine it at night: the strings of dazzling lights vibrant enough to rival the stars with enough colors to fill her mane as they hang from each window; the wreaths hung on doors with golden bells tied to it by a red ribbon in a bow, but the biggest of them all is the giant tree standing at the front of town hall, decorated in various assortments of ornaments and lights, with a large golden star perched at the very tip.
Their destination would be a fruitful one. After all, never would there be a bore if one steps into Sugarcube Corner, where the air is rich in the hospitality of the Cake family and the optimism of Pinkie Pie. Like most others, the bakery is covered in a layer of snow, its cake-like structure able to make one believe as if frosting had been varnished upon it. Both pegasi strutted in through the flapping doors, the bell ringing and signaling their arrival.
"My favorite customers!!
Pinkie popped her head up from behind the counter, smiling gleefully at her two visiting friends. Before the couple could even sit down, the pink mare zipped up to their side, already serving them Taciturn's favorite drink: chocolate milkshake, this time with a swirly mound of cream at the tip of it. Eagerly, Taciturn started nipping at the green straw, savoring the sweet concoction as Rainbow looked on, content already from her coltfriend's happiness.
"Mr Cake? she shouted to the kitchen.
"Can I take five?"
"Sure thing, Pinkie!"
"So whatcha two lovebirds doing here?" Pinkie asked gleefully.
"Are you guys in the Hearth's Warming spirit yet?"
"I think we're still working on it," Rainbow admitted.
"Where's the rest? I was sure we could finally go for a real snowball fight for once! Maybe we'll settle the battle between Team Rainbow Dash and Team Pinkie this time! Then there's the sledding, the ice skating and stuff... sheesh, I hope we could get everything done! Think we'll finish it all by today?"
"Of course we can! We could've finished it last year, but somepony was pretty occupied, isn't she?"
Rainbow just scrunched up her face, pouting with red cheeks as her friend laughed louder than a wailing siren. Even though it had already been a year since she and Taciturn were together, she had been teased over and over about her relationship with the colt. On the other hoof, there was also the barrage of ponies asking if they were ready for the next step in their relationship together. After all, they were already sharing a house and they were always seen together around town, being the doting couple they are; it wouldn't surprise her for others to think that way.
Twilight was one of those ponies that asked out of curiosity. Despite saying that she wasn't ready, her friend still recommended being the one to propose, considering Taciturn's nature. What Twilight didn't know was that she had already been thinking about it in the past several months, even going so far as to prepare a hoop she bought from Fillydelphia. However, despite having the confidence to get it, she doesn't have the confidence to marry him.
Rainbow had always wondered what life with Taciturn Bleach would be like. Sure, she was already spending most of her time with him, but to devote her life to becoming his spouse was certainly on an entirely different level. She still held on to her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt; a job that would propel her straight into fame and publicity, both of which Taciturn and her had bad experiences from.
"Well, I'm not preoccupied now, at least," she told Pinkie.
"Plus, Tassee would get a chance to paint us sledding! Ain't that right, bud?"
Taciturn nodded eagerly, tail wagging like Winona's when her dog bowl is filled with food. After a bunch of chuckles, Rainbow leaned back into her seat, huddling up next to her coltfriend as she glanced around the shop. She had already expected a crowd of ponies here to order their festive treats, though surprisingly only a few visited so far and tended to calmly by Mr Cake at the counter, which was a rather rare sight to see indeed. Must be the morning, she surmised.
"By the way," the cyan mare asked.
"Where's the rest? I thought they'll be early."
"Oh, they'll come soon! They're probably finding presents and putting them under the tree!"
"Of course," Rainbow muttered, smiling to herself. It was a new tradition that the Ponyville Council came up with, in which Twilight disclosed to everyone through an announcement in the town hall. Everypony can buy a present, wrap it up anonymously and place it under the tree. At the very end of Hearth's Warming, all the ponies in town would gather up around the tree and then pick out a random box from the lot, never knowing what would be inside.
"I'll do the present thingy later," she said with a nonchalant wave of her hoof.
"For now, I gotta do something awesome, y'know? I'm craving for an adrenaline rush right now!"
"Well, you've come to the right place!" Pinkie declared.
"If an adrenaline rush is what you want, you'll get one lickety split when Pinkie Pie's in the house! And that's a Pinkie Promise! With courtesy of the Pie family, of course!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rainbow retorted, sharing wide smiles with Taciturn. With a excited flap of her wings, the cyan pegasus leaped from the chair, hoof clenched with a determined grin.
"Let's get sledding!"
'WOOHOO!!"
The yuletide hill was shredded of snow as Rainbow and Pinkie Pie screamed for dear delight on their sled with hooves flailing in the wind, carving out a snake of a path down the valley. They swerved from side to side, recklessly dodging past small jutting rocks and standing trees, before the sled finally pummeled into a wall of snow, sending both mares flying into the air.
Rainbow was quick to slow herself down with a flap of her wings, though that didn't save her from following Pinkie and pummeling into the snow. The two stared at each other, before bursting out laughing and rolling around the field with hooves clutched onto their stomachs.
"Let's do that again!!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Sure!" the cyan mare agreed.
"Just give me a moment!"
Hastily, Rainbow galloped towards a lone cluster of small trees, beaming at Taciturn staring at his unfinished painting on an easel in deep concentration, paintbrush gripped in his mouth. The rest of her friends were there as well; Twilight, Rarity and Spike were building a snowpony, Applejack was talking to Fluttershy and the Crusaders were throwing snowballs at each other from behind small walls of snow, giggling loudly with glee.
"Hey there, Tassee," she whispered in his ear, hugging from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. Quite surprisingly, the stallion didn't jump, much less budge at all. Perhaps he's a little too absorbed by his craft, she thought to herself with a chuckle.
"You almost done with the painting yet?"
Taciturn craned his neck around, before smiling and nodding eagerly. There was it again, that warmth blooming in her heart the moment she saw his smile. Rainbow could not count how many times she stopped just to admire it. Perhaps it was the way his eyes sparkle... or it was the way his lips curved. Whatever it was, it may probably be Taciturn's best kept secret.
"I must say, you two always look adorable together," Rarity exclaimed quite suddenly, snapping her friend out from her reverie. Immediately, the mare's face blushed a deep red, pouting once again as her friends giggled underneath their misty breaths. One day, she told herself, she would get used to all this teasing.
"Well, you guys wanna go sledding?" she asked.
"I think I need somepony to chip in my spot. Tassee seems to need a little company."
"Ah'll volunteer!"
Applejack hopped up to her hooves, trotting past Rainbow Dash with a understanding nod. Wearing a grin, Rainbow settled herself next to Fluttershy, eyes fixed at her coltfriend eagerly finishing his creation. She managed to make out her and Pinkie Pie's face adorned in bright smiles, though there was something about it; something jagged that make it seem crystalline in nature.
"He's a very good painter," Fluttershy muttered, following her friend's gaze.
"You love him a lot, don't you?"
"Yeah..."
"Oh, I do wish Big Mac could come," the yellow mare sighed with a chuckle.
"He always wanted a picture of us painted, but he's so busy picking the last batch of apples he couldn't find the time to join us. Applejack told him she wanted to help but... but he said he didn't want to get between our plans and... well, he's such a sweetheart sometimes to the point that I don't know what to do."
"It's alright, Flutters," Rainbow assured.
"I mean, he's bound to finish somehow. After he's done working, I'm sure he'll prepare something special for you tonight. You'll never know what might happen."
"Maybe..."
A small chirp caught both their attention, the sight of Taciturn beckoning them over to the painting. Excitedly, the two pegasi scamper right up next to him, gasping at the marveling sight of what stood on the easel, eyes sparkling in amazement and awe.
It was both Rainbow and Pinkie, zipping down the snowy white hills on a sled with hooves high up in the air. A closer look revealed that the painting was carved out of small polygons, formed out from different shades of colors. The way it was arranged... it was almost as if the painting was coming to life!
The rest of the ponies went up to the painting, chattering excitedly among themselves as they stare at the painting. The proud creator of it sat their proudly, wearing his signature puff-cheeked grin of pride with his paintbrush still clenched within his lips, the tip dripping with paint onto the snow.
"Oh, Tassee..." Rainbow said with a chuckle, hugging him tightly.
"What am I going to do with you?"
Taciturn Bleach just smiled a sweet smile.
Five minutes.
Rainbow Dash would love to flop back into the room, plop her head on the bed and just snore the whole of Equestria away, though she promised Taciturn that she would stay awake, no matter how tired she may be. All she needs to do is to keep her eyes wide open for the next five minutes as they sat at the balcony and gaze at the night sky with just each other. Simple as it sounds.
She had never felt so worn out in her life, having went sledding for almost two hours straight, followed by the most anticipated snowball war that lasted until nightfall. After that, she just laid herself on the couch, almost about to wander off into her dreamland until Taciturn's whimpers woke her up, protesting the fact that she was missing out on what she had planned for them to end the day.
Her glance teetered towards her coltfriend, whose pale face just stared up at the glittering night sky, almost as if waiting for something to happen. It almost seemed as if he was glowing slightly, considering how white he was from mane to hoof, just like the surface of the distant moon.
"You've been expecting this, haven't you bud?" Rainbow said with a chuckle after a minute of silence.
Taciturn nodded with that big smile of his, his black eyes glittering like onyx gemstones. With a tired yet serene sigh, Rainbow rested her head onto his shoulder, humming in his warmth when she felt the feathers of his wings brush against her skin, wrapping around her like a soft blanket. The mare let out a yawn, before following his gaze up into the night sky, her lips pursing into a smile.
"It's beautiful," she muttered.
Another nod.
"You ever wondered...?" she began quietly, not wanting to upset him.
"What would've happened if we've... never met?"
Taciturn just shrugged. Her thoughts exactly.
"Think about it," Rainbow continued with a yawn.
"You might be somewhere in a hospital for the rest of your life, and I'll... well, I'll just be here, y'know. Wondering if there was somepony out there for me that could protect me like you did, that could make me happy like you would... You ever got that feeling?"
The colt just shook his head, his smile still bright as ever. There was it again, that feeling of her heart bursting with warmth the moment she saw that perfect smile of his. If it was a heart attack, Rainbow would've gone through that enough times to cause an earthquake.
"Dashie," he squealed happily, tapping her forehead with the tip of his hoof.
"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't think about it that much," Rainbow professed with a short laugh.
"After all, you're already my coltfriend, not to mention also the most awesomest one I could ever ask for. Why would I bother thinking about that anyway?"
Taciturn purred with satisfaction, making her giggle before they resume their stargazing. Silently, Rainbow had been counting in her head, her wings beating out of impatience as the countdown finally reaches ten, descending slowly, if not languidly, like a feather gliding to the floor. It was a minute before twelve, though with just the one final second, the moment the couple had been waiting for finally came.
"Happy anniversary, Tassee," Rainbow whispered.
Happy anniversary. The anniversary of the day that they first met; that Rainbow was still reluctant and Taciturn was still reticent; that their single meeting triggered a conundrum of events involving them sashaying into each others' lives before finally reaching where they were now.
Taciturn Bleach just closed his eyes, relishing the moment of the passing of their single year together. Rainbow rose up and trotted to his front, resting her forehead onto his own and prompting him to snap open his eyes, the mare grinning when their gazes meet and whispering ever so softly:
"I love you."
Slowly, their lips moved forward of their own accord, before planting against each other. As quick as it was for them to do as such, they were quick to break it, leaving them huffing slightly as they stare deeply once again into the other pony's glistening eyes.
"Dashie..." Taciturn mumbled dreamily.
"Tassee..." was her fond reply.
Another kiss, this time deeper, more surreal. Taciturn stumbled onto his back, dragging Rainbow along with lips still connected. Their breathing slowed, their hearts pumping vigorously just as the mare wrapped her hooves around his back, locking him into her embrace. She didn't want to let go. He didn't want to escape her clutches. It was only the rustling of wings, the small moans and the wrestling of lips that filled the night air. It was only all that they could hear, yet they were still perfect.
One click and their lips parted once again, leaving them panting as Rainbow stared down at him and his bright, reddened face, his cheeks bulging in a grin of pleasure. She just wanted so badly to kiss him once more, yet she decided twice was enough for the night.
"Come on, Tassee," she mumbled, rising off his chest and helping him up.
Something else, however, soon captivated his attention. The sight of something white fluttered down like a wandering dandelion, guided by the smooth breeze and landing right at the tip of Taciturn's snout. Immediately, the colt sneezed out a storm, causing Rainbow to laugh out loud.
"Snow..." she muttered, gazing up the sky once she stopped, the colt doing the same.
"Fine, white snow... the first of Hearth's Warming Eve."
A nod.
"Funny," Rainbow continued, turning to Taciturn.
"It's just been a year, huh?"
Another nod, quicker this time.
"Well then," she said, grinning happily.
"We've done a lot in just a year. I really can't wait for the next one. Just wondering, what do you think we could be doing next year, Tassee?"
Taciturn just shrugged with that smile of his, making her grin. However innocent he may be, Rainbow knew he had optimistic expectations for next year as well. Then again, not everypony could predict what might happen in the future, which only made his silent yet palpable answer ever the more suitable.
Only time will tell.