It was a dark and windy night. The leaves on the trees sounded like they were whispering as the wind tore through them, jostling them out of their orderly positions.
Twilight sighed as she shut her book and looked at the clock. It was getting quite late, nearly midnight, and this was the third night she'd stayed up reading. She'd been using a spell to pick books from random off the shelves, and had been pleasantly surprised each time. Tonight's had been a whirlwind tale about a pegasus who sweeps his love away from their boring lives in Cloudsdale and off on an adventure round Zebrica as he opened up about his secret identity as a wildlife conservationist. The pacing was fast and she was left spellbound until the end.
She levitated a baby blue blanket over herself and contemplated whether or not to read another book or got to sleep. She smiled to herself as she gave in- like she always did. Books were just too addicting.
She concentrated on casting the spell to pick a random book, closing her eyes and letting her mind forget all things except the constantly growing list of books in the library, letting the list spin round in her mind like a Ferris wheel before she suddenly halted it and picking the book title she saw first. She relaxed and opened her eyes. After a few seconds of rest, she summoned the book to appear in front of her. Placing it carefully down on the ground with a smile, she shifted her position a bit to get more comfortable and opened the book to the first page, ready to enter a new world.
Before she could even read the title of the book, a pattering noise distracted her. Grumbling, she looked out the window to see rain falling, softly at first but then coming down quickly and fiercely.
I'm glad I'm not outside tonight, she thought to herself, as she tried to block the consistent sound of raindrops hitting the window from her mind and concentrate.
She was jolted out of her book once again by a loud racket, as if someone had hit the library with a stone statue. With a disgruntled look on her face, she dragged herself away from her cozy blanket, letting the book fall to the floor gently and, bracing herself for an onslaught of bad weather, opened the door and stuck her head outside.
Squinting because of the rain blown into her eyes by the fierce gale, she created a shield around her face and peered around the perimeter of the library, looking for whatever had been blown into her library by the storm.
She was expecting a log, or maybe an object of similar size and strength. She was not expecting one of her friends, rubbing their head with their hoof sheepishly.
"Sorry Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, trying to sound apologetic. "I really can't see well in this storm."
"Obviously," smiled Twilight Sparkle, and then her expression became worried. "What are you even doing up at this hour anyway? And why are we still standing outside? Come in, you might as well stay the night."
Rainbow grinned and trotted inside, shaking her wings to get rid of the water droplets on them, like a dog. Twilight chuckled at this.
"You seem determined to wreck the place tonight, Rainbow." she commented, closing the door behind her. Realizing there was still a chill in the room, she conjured up a fire, held safely in a jar, and set it down next to her book and blanket. She warmed her hooves against it and Rainbow Dash came to rest beside her.
"To answer your earlier question, I was going for a quick flight before going to bed, but then the storm hit. I guess I must have gone off course." Rainbow smirked, pushing her dripping mane out of her eyes. "What about you?"
"Oh, I was just catching up on a bit of reading." Twilight gestured to her book. "I recently found this spell that lets me choose a book at random from the archive of books here in the library."
As Twilight was explaining her spell, Rainbow Dash glanced at the book and its blurb. What she read made a blush creep up to her cheeks, even though she wouldn't consider herself prudish at all. What in Celestia's name was her friend doing with a book like this? Rainbow would never have guessed Twilight was so ... Informed.
"Um, Twilight?" she asked, interrupting her friend mid-rant. "Why are you reading "To Love a Mare"?" she asked. Twilight snatched the book of Rainbow Dash, cursing herself. She really needed to start reading the blurbs of things before displaying them.
"It picks at random!" she tried to defend herself, while Rainbow Dash laughed at the blush rising on her friend's face.
"Sure it does," she teased.
"I can still kick you out." retorted Twilight, and Dash quickly tried to stop laughing. Twilight sighed and sent the book back to its rightful place on the library shelves.
The two quickly lapsed into a content silence. Twilight realized that they'd been doing this a lot lately. They would be talking, or hanging out, or flying, and then suddenly a silence would overcome them, one that wasn't awkward or because they had nothing to say, but simply because they enjoyed spending time in each other's presence. They didn't need words or laughter all the time, all they needed was each other.
As she was thinking this, she subconsciously leaned into Rainbow Dash, accepting the body heat from the other mare. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she glanced down at her friend. It wasn't that the gesture was uncomfortable- it felt right, somehow.
"Twilight, what are-" Rainbow started to say.
"It's cold." Twilight mumbled, as an excuse. She wasn't sure what had prompted her to lean into her friend, but it just felt like the right thing to do. And sometimes, you just had to follow your gut instinct.
"Well, use your wings." Dash said. This only earned her a blank look from Twilight Sparkle.
"You mean I haven't taught you the proper use of wings yet?" she laughed in disbelief.
"You've already taught me how to fly." Twilight smiled up at Rainbow Dash. Even though she'd grown in height since she transformed into an alicorn, the way she was angled against Rainbow Dash made her friend seem taller than her. Twilight kind of liked it.
"There are other things wings are useful for." Rainbow smiled. Twilight blushed. Rainbow moved slightly away and Twilight felt a slight discomfort as her source of heat was taken away.
"Let me teach you the ways of my people," Rainbow Dash joked. "Now, extend your wing. The one on the side nearest to me."
Twilight followed her friend's instructions, wondering what Rainbow Dash was doing.
Rainbow slowly inched back into Twilight's side, her body heat warming up Twilight again.
Rainbow Dash tugged Twilight's wing gently around her with her teeth, so that her wing embraced Rainbow Dash, allowing the two mares to have closer contact than ever. Twilight wasn't sure if it was the heat of the fire, but something was making her cheeks glow red like a burning coal. She figured that she must resemble a strawberry right now.
"Is this warmer?" Dash murmured. Twilight was both relieved and amused by the fact that her friend was blushing too.
"It's lovely," Twilight said, and they lapsed back into a comfortable silence.
Twilight took in the feel of Rainbow Dash against her, feeling each tiny hair on the mare's body tickle her wing, their coats brushing up against each other, and Rainbow Dash's wing feathers ruffling in pleasure.
She realized she liked this- a lot. And she wanted more of this. She wanted long afternoons spent reading books with her wing wrapped around Rainbow Dash. She wanted more nights like this where they could simply enjoy each other's presence.
"Twilight, when I told you that I'd just been flying, I may not have been telling the truth. I was actually thinking of you. And I want you to know that you're almost as awesome as me." Rainbow Dash smirked.
Twilight smiled. "I am pretty cool."
Rainbow Dash sighed and snuggled closer to Twilight, breathing in the scent of parchment and lavender. For a such a smart pony, Twilight was being really, really dense tonight.
"We should do this more often," she suggested, trying to get her point across.
"I agree. It's strange how this is warmer than heat generated from fire, but I suppose it could be to do with the way wings work," Twilight began to say, "I'm going to have to look this up, I wonder if there's a book in the library-"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Twilight still wasn't getting it.
"Twilight, I'm trying to ask you out!" she exclaimed, finally interrupted the other mare and letting out her feelings.
Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash for a moment. She wasn't exactly in shock. It wasn't like she expected one of her friends to ask her out, but the fact that it was Rainbow Dash ...
She realized what she was feeling was an intense happiness. She thought of her yearning to spend more days with her wing wrapped around Rainbow Dash, and she smiled.
She bent her head a little and kissed Rainbow Dash's flushed cheek.
"Rainbow, would you like to go with me to Pinkie's New Year's Eve party tomorrow?" Twilight asked shyly, smiling at Rainbow Dash.
"Sure!" grinned Rainbow Dash, practically oozing glee. She tried to appear cool, though.
"I mean, I was gonna ask you anyway," she said, chuckling. Twilight laughed too, but was interrupted by a yawn. She looked at the clock and realized it was nearly two in the morning.
"We should get some rest," Rainbow muttered, getting more comfortable, seeing that her friend (fillyfriend?) was getting tired. To be honest, she was pretty tired as well. Flying in such bad weather was exhausting.
Twilight settled down as well, clutching Rainbow Dash to her body.
"Good night Twilight," Rainbow Dash smiled.
"It's actually morning," Twilight corrected sleepily, but her words fell on deaf ears. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep straight away.
Twilight smiled as she started to doze off too.
What a brilliant end to the year.