Rainbow Dash was laying on her empty bed, trying her hardest to fall asleep. She had gotten home a couple hours ago and had gone straight to bed, exhausted from the long day. She was thankful that the storm from the other night had pushed her house closer to Ponyville because it had made the return flight home a good bit shorter.
Besides, if you two aren’t in bed soon, Santa Hooves might skip our house! Twilight’s words echoed in Rainbow’s mind over and over. Rainbow had noticed the look of confusion on Scootaloo’s face when Twilight mentioned Santa Hooves’ name, but she had assumed it was nothing. As they were leaving the party, though, Twilight had pulled her aside and told her that she suspected that Scootaloo’s parents never gave her presents for Hearth’s Warming Day. Just the thought of Scootaloo not getting to experience the same wonders and joys that she’d felt as a filly made her feel sick to her stomach.
She had been about Scootaloo’s age when her parents had told her that Santa Hooves wasn’t real, and it had really messed with her. She had eventually gotten over it, like all fillies and colts do, but the initial shock from finding that something that she had believed in for years wasn’t real was jarring, to say the least.
If she could let Scootaloo experience the same joy that she had in the past, even a teensy tiny smidgen, it would be worth it. That thought gave her a small amount of comfort, letting her twisting stomach relax just a little. She hoped that Scootaloo would love her new scooter; she’d bought the most expensive model the store carried.
Now, she was snuggling with her favorite pillow again, the sheets pulled in tight around her. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Rainbow pushed the pillow into a different position and rolled over onto her other side, letting a small groan of frustration escape her.
Ever since she had accidentally snuggled with Twilight the other night, her favorite pillow just couldn’t measure up to her expectations anymore. Before, it had worked just fine in helping her fall asleep, but it quickly lost its charm once she had experienced the bliss of sleeping with a warm body instead of a cold, lumpy pillow. As she thought, she realized that the night she slept with Twilight was without a doubt one of the best nights of sleep that she’d gotten in months. She’d usually wake up several times in the middle of the night only to roll over and fall back to sleep, but when she had slept with Twilight, she had not woken up once.
A few more minutes passed in silence as she mulled over the events from earlier. She tried to let her mind go blank, but it was all for naught. The kiss that she’d shared with Twilight kept playing over and over in her mind, keeping her adrenaline pumping as if she was about to lean in for another kiss.
Come on, Dash! It was just a kiss, and nothing more than that… Rainbow thought, pulling the sheets tighter around her hind legs. ...R–Right? Her rear hooves were still a little cold, so she rubbed her hind legs back and forth, trying to create enough friction to warm them.
“Ugh!” Rainbow sat up and chucked her pillow across the room. She crossed her forelegs and groaned. “Come on! Why can’t I fall asleep?” She flopped back down onto the bed, letting her wings unfold to their full length. She stretched and arched her back, using her wings to push herself up. She held that posture, hoping that wearing herself out would tire her enough to fall asleep.
Several more minutes passed in silence. Still feeling as wide awake as ever, Rainbow let herself go limp, falling back to the sheets with a soft ‘oomph.’ Rainbow took a deep breath and sighed. She rolled back onto her side and made herself comfortable with another pillow, not even bothering to retrieve her favorite one from its position near the door. She closed her eyes and pulled the sheets back up with a wing. As the sheets started to warm her, her bedroom window suddenly burst open, quickly filling her room with a freezing chill.
Rolling her eyes in frustration, Rainbow threw the sheets off her and trotted up to the window. She slammed it shut and locked it, making sure that it wouldn’t open on its own again by placing a couple of nearby books on the windowsill.
Just as she was about to turn and go back to bed, something caught her eye. Peering through the window, she was just able to make out the Golden Oaks library all the way back in town. The downstairs lights were still on, showing that Twilight was still awake.
Rainbow sighed again. She crossed her forelegs on the windowsill and sat down, laying her head on her folded legs. As she listened to the wind howl outside, she felt a pang of loneliness hit her, right in the gut. This feeling was nothing new to her. In fact, it was starting to become as familiar to her as any one of her friends, a fact that she resented with all her being.
She lifted her head and looked down the hallway. It was as neat and tidy as always, mainly because she didn’t make any messes to clean up. Most would love a clean house, but she didn’t like it at all. What she really wanted was to have the mess of a real and functioning home, like her parents’ one back up in Cloudsdale. The mess of her old home had, well, made it feel more homey, more welcoming, something that her own house lacked. She glanced about her room, hoping to feel just a teensy bit of that old sense, but nothing came. With another small groan, she turned and laid her head back on her hooves, staring right at the library.
Spending Hearth’s Warming night by herself last year had nearly left her in tears. Just the feeling of being utterly alone and unloved by a special someone had really pushed her to the edge, and it had taken all of her strength not to break down. Even now, she felt that same feeling of loneliness start to creep back into her mind and she felt her throat seize up. She took a couple deep breaths and tried to keep those thoughts at bay, but they just kept coming back.
I… I wonder if Twilight would let me spend the night at her place… Rainbow suddenly thought. Her heart sped up and she felt it thumping in her breast. She giggled as she felt a sense of giddiness sweep through her, and her tail started flicking of its own accord. What if she lets me… snuggle with her again? As friends?
“Nah… she wouldn’t…” Rainbow murmured, already starting to doubt herself. “Would she?” She glanced to the side as another menacing thought slipped into her mind. “But what if she says… no? What if my asking would hurt our friendship? What if she wouldn’t want to be friends anymore?” She punched the wall in frustration. “Ugh… I don’t know what to do anymore…”
Just then, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked up and out the window, spotting a lone snowflake drifting on the wind. Closer and closer it came to her house, floating through the clear night sky. As she watched, it landed flat against her window, sticking in place.
Rainbow chuckled and laid her head back on her legs. Heh, what are the chances of tha… Hold on… Rainbow couldn’t believe her eyes. She rubbed them with her hooves and opened them again, hoping that what she was seeing wasn’t just a figment of her imagination.
The snowflake was centered right on top of the Golden Oaks library. “Is this… is this a sign?” Rainbow asked hopefully, staring right at the snowflake. As if to answer her question, a gust of wind caught the snowflake in its grasp and tugged it from the window, blowing it towards Ponyville.
Rainbow didn’t care if it was a sign or not; that snowflake was all the reason she needed to go to Twilight’s. Why spend Hearth’s Warming morning in misery? With a grin, Rainbow bolted downstairs and out the front door, not even bothering to grab a scarf on the way out. Like her father always used to say, there is no time like the present. Keeping those words firmly lodged in her mind, Rainbow flapped her wings harder and harder.
The freezing wind bit at her eyes as she rocketed towards the library, forcing her to squint until they were just mere slits. She sped over the outskirts of town and landed in front of the library not even half of a minute later. Folding her wings, she looked through one of the windows on the first floor of the library and spotted Twilight sitting at her desk, sipping from a mug of something steaming.
Rainbow trotted forward through the snow and approached the front door. She raised her hoof to knock, but something in her mind told her to stop. What if she thinks I’m weird for coming by so late? She put her hoof back down on the ground and bit her lip as she thought. What if our kiss made things awkward between us? I don’t want to lose Twilight as a friend… That thought alone almost made her fly back home, but the sole fact that she didn’t want to wake up alone on Hearth’s Warming Day kept her rooted in place.
“Ugh!” Rainbow groaned as she turned around. She flapped her wings once, not hard enough to provide lift, but just hard enough to blow off a little steam. Rainbow started poking the snow as her thoughts ran rampant in her mind. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Rainbow bit her lip and looked back over her shoulder through the window. She shuddered as a particularly cold breeze hit her and she looked away, letting her gaze drop as her insecurities plagued her mind once more. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness fill her, and tears began to well up in her eyes.
Minutes passed in an agonizing silence as Rainbow tried to decide what to do. She contemplated just going back to her house, but that thought was quickly purged from her mind when she heard the library’s door click open behind her, shocking her back to reality.
“Ra… Rainbow?” Rainbow heard Twilight ask, her voice tinted with a small amount of concern. “What are you, um… What are you doing out here?”
Rainbow turned around and looked up, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes. “I… I…” she stammered, at a complete loss for words. Before she could try and explain her presence, Twilight swept forward, pulling her to her hooves with her wings.
“Come on, you,” Twilight said softly as she led Rainbow inside. “Let’s talk.” Needless to say, finding one of her friends in tears outside her house was unsettling, and she was determined, as a good friend, to get to the bottom of things. Silently, she led Rainbow to her couch and they hopped on, laying beside each other. Twilight kept her wing draped over Rainbow’s back to keep her warm and she lit her horn, summoning her mug of hot cocoa from her desk. She gently levitated it into Rainbow’s hooves, only releasing it when the pegasus had a firm grasp.
“So…” Twilight started, keeping her voice soft for fear of waking the other two sleeping upstairs. “What’s up?”
Rainbow stayed silent for a few seconds, wondering if she should tell Twilight about her crippling feelings. “I… I don’t know if I should say…”
“Well… that’s fine, I guess.” Twilight lit her horn once more and grabbed a blanket from the closet. She draped it over the two of them and continued. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I promise you’ll feel better if you do…”
Rainbow took a couple moments to collect her thoughts. “Alright. I… I don’t know how else to say this, so I’m just gonna say it. These past several months, I’ve been feeling… empty,” Rainbow choked out, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. She raised the mug to her lips with a shaky hoof and tentatively took a small sip. “I haven’t slept well in ages, except for when…”
“When what?”
“When we… when we slept together at the hospital.” Rainbow gave a small, nervous chuckle. “I’d trade anything for another solid night of sleep like that…”
“Well…” Twilight trailed off as she started thinking. Biting her lip, she looked down and inspected her hooves. Several moments passed in silence before she spoke up again. “You… you don’t snore… right?”
“Huh?” That caught Rainbow completely off guard. “No, I don’t– I don’t think so… Why do you ask?” She felt her tail start flicking again as her hopes for snuggling rose ever so slightly. There’s no way that she’s gonna ask me to snuggle with her… is she? Rainbow looked up at Twilight, breathlessly waiting for her to respond. She bit her lower lip and her ears fell flat against her head as the seconds passed in a tense silence.
Twilight ruffled her wings and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. Letting off a soft sigh, she said, “I… I’d be a liar if I said that I didn’t like snuggling back at the hospital as well.” She giggled when she saw Rainbow’s eyes widen a little. “But this would be just as friends, right?”
“Ye– Yeah!” Rainbow said, a large smile spreading onto her face. Trying to keep her emotions in check, she tried to play if off a little smoother. “I mean, yeah, just as friends.”
“Hehe, alright then,” Twilight said, sliding off of the couch. “Let’s get to bed then; it’s getting late, and I don’t want to be half-asleep tomorrow morning.” Watching Rainbow hop off the couch, she let out a small yawn. “Oh wait, we still have to set out the presents!” She trotted over to the closet and pulled the presents that Rarity had brought by and pulled them out. Using her magic, she levitated them under the tree and arranged them in a neat little pile. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, her horn glowing bright once more. With a small flash of light, Scootaloo’s wrapped scooter popped into existence to the right of the rest of the presents.
Twilight took a deep breath and stepped back, admiring her work. Everything was arranged exactly the way she wanted them to be. Upon hearing a yawn come from behind her, she asked, “Alright, ready to head upstairs?”
“Yeah, sure…” Rainbow said, trying to fight back another yawn. “Sounds good to me…” She quietly followed Twilight upstairs and into her bedroom, taking care to not make much noise. Scootaloo was fast asleep in the bed on the left, her small chest rising and falling ever so gently with each breath she took. Rainbow smiled, knowing that the filly was going to have a blast tomorrow.
Rainbow was broken from her thoughts when she heard Twilight’s horn light up. Her familiar magical aura surrounded the edge of the sheets and pulled them back. After shooting one last glance over at Scootaloo, Rainbow hopped on Twilight’s bed and settled down. Twilight climbed on a moment later, laying down beside her.
Rainbow was just about to open her mouth and ask how they should do this when Twilight started leaning over. Her heart started beating faster and she blushed, thinking that Twilight was leaning in for a kiss. But instead of going for her lips, Twilight went further, up to her ear.
“So, um… you want to be the big spoon, or the little spoon?” Twilight whispered, pulling the sheets over them with her magic. She fluffed a couple of pillows and laid them down beside each other, one for each of them.
“The– the what?” Rainbow whispered back, confused.
Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. “Do you want me to hold you, or do you want to hold me?” she asked. “I don’t mind either way.”
“Oh… Oh! Um, hehe, I’d like to…” Rainbow trailed off nervously, letting her nerves get the best of her.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“I want to… I want to hold you…” Rainbow whispered back, giving the alicorn an unintentional nuzzle as their cheeks rubbed together from their close proximity. She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment and her ears fell flat against her head. Her breaths shortened and she bit her lower lip, praying that Twilight wouldn’t interpret that as getting a little too personal.
“Al… alright,” Twilight said, laying down on her side. She yawned again and slid back a few inches.
Rainbow let out a soft sigh of relief and relaxed. She pulled the sheets up past her shoulders and smiled as she slid closer to Twilight. Just as friends, eh? Well, I sure can get used to this… Her breath caught in her throat as her breast touched Twilight’s soft wings. Oh my gosh, this is awesome… Rainbow thought as she slid the rest of the way up against Twilight’s back. She gingerly wrapped a leg around Twilight’s midsection, right under her forelegs. Angling her hips to press up against her friend’s lower back, Rainbow flicked her tail so that it landed around Twilight’s flank.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow finally let her muscles relax as she laid her head on one of the pillows. She pulled Twilight a little closer to her and scooted up just a little bit, just enough for her friend’s head to clear her chin. Feeling Twilight’s head slip into the crook of her neck, Rainbow let off a small, happy hum of content.
A couple of moments passed in silence. When Twilight’s breathing started to slow down, Rainbow smiled and whispered, “Comfortable, Twi?”
“Mhm…” Twilight mumbled back. “Very much so…” She snuggled a little deeper into Rainbow’s embrace and latched onto her leg with one of her forelegs. When Rainbow laid a wing around her, she felt her cheeks flush and she smiled, a soft chuckle escaping her lips as the soft feathers caressed her belly. She didn't mind that one bit, though, because Rainbow's feathers were warm, giving her an additional source of comfort on this cold night. A few minutes passed as she quietly enjoyed being held by somepony, and just as she was slipping into the realm of dreams, she whispered, “Oh, and happy Hearth’s Warming Day, Rainbow…”