Fortunately, the rest of the week went smoothly for the two. No more ridiculously embarrassing moments, either in public or to themselves. By some considerable work of magic, they made it to all of Twilight's museums and exhibits- being Twilight, there were a lot of them. To her surprise though, they had found one which Rainbow Dash not only enjoyed, but learned something from. Granted, that learning happened at a display on pegasus anatomy, and the only thing she learned was why she ended up in the hospital so often. Still, Twilight felt as though she was making progress towards uncovering Dash's academic side.
As to her surprise, Rainbow Dash ended up having the same feelings- Twilight took notes at the derby. I've heard of weirder ways of learning to fly, I guess, the pegasus thought to herself when she saw it. Being born a practically natural flier who usually didn't even think about touching the ground, she found it weird- very weird. Still, she thought. It's kinda cute. The flying lessons went well, too. Twilight needed a massive confidence boost, but she wasn't bad at it. In fact, she was quite good at it, and visibly improving all the time. Sadly, all good things must come to an end- the week went by in the blink of an eye, as it were.
"Come on, Dash! wee need to get to the castle!" Twilight shouted at her friend, only the slightest hint of impatience in her voice. She knew she'd need to change quickly, though she continued to exercise the utmost patience toward her chromatic friend, who completely and utterly lacked any sense of urgency.
"I would race you there, but let me guess- you don't think you're ready." Dash shot a quick smile at the princess, who now seemed to be getting visibly angry with her. Slowly, the violet mare drew a deep breath and lifted a hoof to her chest, the same breathing exercise Cadance taught her.
"Not at all. I KNOW I'm not ready for that. Besides, it'll be nice to just fly together, no stress." While she wouldn't be the first to admit it, just flying with Dash seemed nice. How am I going to tell her, Twilight thought. Those feelings had been quite a source of embarrassment for her, and she just wasn't sure that after the fact she could face the truth.
Luna came to her in her dreams last night. She and Dash had been snuggling in the library near the start of winter. Under the blanket, next to the fireplace in the loft of the library. Twilight had been reading poetry all night, and Rainbow Dash had seemed to enjoy it. She'd fallen asleep against Twilight's side what would have been hours ago in her dream, yet she continued to read to her. Luna had manifested in her dreamworld to see the two there. "Well," she had begun. "This is a pleasant surprise." Luna had visited Dash's dream before and had seen many variants of the same situation. As Twilight began to stutter out a response, Luna covered her own tracks. "Worry not, child. I won't tell anypony." Twilight swore she would never dream again as Luna left the scene.
As they flew along, Twilight turned to her friend. "Thanks for flying with me, Dash. I'd probably fall right out of the sky without you here." As the two flew Canterlot's Royal Skyway, they looked down on all the people. This skyway was for royal purposes only, as the name would suggest. As such, it was quite high up and nearly deserted. They had been in Canterlot for six days, and they'd had a lesson each day for at least an hour. Twilight would be the first to admit she needed help, and Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Ponyville, if not Equestria, seemed like the perfect candidate. Plus, the cyan mare seemed more than happy to catch her when she fell, which was quite frequently. Admittedly, though, she was getting better.
"You're not that bad. Besides, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to use Canterlot's Royal Skyway, could I?" As she gazed into her friend's violet eyes, Rainbow Dash was stricken by a heartbreaking fact- in 6 days, she hadn't told Twilight how she felt. Soon, it wasn't even a possibility she'd get alone time with her. Despite the wave of sadness that had nigh overcome her, Dash forced a smile onto her face. "Besides, it's kinda cool hanging out with you." Hint, hint!
A thought creeped it's way into Twilight's head. Could she really feel that way about me? It was just distracting enough to cause Twilight to lose her focus. She lost all sensation to her body, her brain dedicating all of it's considerable processing power to the possibility of mutual feelings between the two ponies. Without that focus on the task at hand- flying- she suddenly started falling. Another thing Twilight needed to work on- not her focus, but her recovery. Over the course of all Twilight's lessons, Dash had been there to catch her if she fell, with the exceptions of low-altitude flying, where a fall wouldn't do any considerable damage. But this wasn't low-altitude- in order to ensure privacy and speed, that skyway was almost 75 meters up. As she always did when she fell, the alicorn panicked. And, same as always, when she panicked, she couldn't fly.
Rainbow Dash's reflexes weren't quite fast enough to catch her. She did, however, hear Twilight's screaming- it was hard to miss. Jolting down, she took quick note of the situation. She had about 200 feet to think of a solution. Fortunately, the pegasus was born to fly, and had earned her Cutie Mark for being a speed demon. Slicing through the air, she noticed the violet hooves flying through the air at alarming speeds- as long as Twilight was flailing about like that, any rescue from that side would have been impossible. She remembered Rarity doing the same thing at the Best Young Flier's competition in Cloudsdale- she had indeed knocked three potential rescuers unconscious. She, and the Wonderbolts, were only rescued thanks to Dash's quick action, and a Sonic Rainboom. With that though, she slid ever so slightly outward, getting level with Twilight. As she overtook the alicorn, she slid back underneath, on Twilight's backside. 150 feet, Dash thought to herself. She placed her forehooves on Twilight's backside. 100 feet. Lastly, she started to push up, hoping to save her friend. 50 feet. Suddenly, she noticed the most important part of the situation. No matter how hard she pushed, they weren't flying up. It was her last thought as the two hit the ground.
Twilight had sustained heavy injuries, remarking the pain as she was able to stand up. The worst pain of her life shot through her legs, up her back, and into her wings. She looked over at the small hole in the ground and caught sight of an unconscious pegasus there- Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow!" The words barely made it to Twilight. Quickly, she used her magic to lift the pony onto her backside, and began running. Running, she went. Running faster than she- or anypony she knew- had ever run, straight for Canterlot Hospital.
"Rainbow?" she heard Twilight ask faintly. "How's that for two percent! Rainbow, can you hear me?"
As the pegasus awoke, she was greeted to a most welcome sight- her friend, Twilight, and she felt flattered. The two may have been friends, but the entire reason they were in Canterlot was for Twilight to perform her royal duties. Yet here she was- at her bedside.
"I'm in the hospital, aren't I?" It didn't surprise Twilight how calm the pegasus was. Ending up in the hospital was to be expected at this point.
"Yeah, you are." Twilight said in a kind voice, like she was trying to imitate Fluttershy.
"How bad?"
"Bad. I'll spare you the details, the doctor should explain."
"I'll need a mirror. Soon, please- I want to see. Before that, though. How was the Council?"
"I didn't go. I stayed here, with you." Twilight was embarrassed now.
"Oh. I see." I'm supposed to represent loyalty, egghead. "The mirror, please?" As Twilight held up the mirror for her, Das was thankful her face was mostly intact. Then she noticed the feathers in her hair. "Uh, Twilight? Why are there violet feathers in my mane?"
"Well, I thought maybe it would help you wake up." Twilight was visibly blushing now.
Does she... Rainbow thought to herself. "I remember specifically telling you why pegasi-"
"I love you, Rainbow Dash," Twilight interrupted. "I love you."
Dash wrapped her free foreleg around her love. "Good," she whispered. "Then what I'm about to do seems much less awkward." Twilight almost began to question what was about to happen, but for once in her life, allowed it to just happen. Dash pulled Twilight closer, gently nuzzling her. "I love you, too, egghead." With that she pulled Twilight the final step, and the two shared their first kiss. A kiss neither would forget.