Hoof steps crunched through the blanketing of dead leaves as Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked side by side down a beaten dirt path through the peaceful autumn wood. Warm, late day light shone through the bare trees and the coll breeze whispered through the delicate leaves that still clung to their trees. The expansive wood-scape was painted brilliant shades of red, gold, brown and light green. Twilight marveled at the beauty of the forest, taking in deep breaths of the pure air, which was just beginning to develop the crisp chill the would be with them all through the cold months of winter. A content smile spread across her face as she unconsciously edged towards her marefriend, pressing her side against Rainbow Dash's. She could feel Rainbow's relaxed pulse and her warmth, it made Twilight's body almost collapse from comfort. She wasn't embarrassed in the least as she imagined laying down in the soft leaves, curled up with her marefriend, right then and their. They would lay together, and Twilight would name the type of tree each falling leaf came from and Rainbow would watch the fluffy clouds lazily drift by.
“Um, Twi, you're kind of pushing me off the path.”
“What!?” Twilight's eyes shot open, she didn't even realize she had closed them. Looking beside her Rainbow was standing lopsided, two of her hooves sunk into the leaves. A grove had been worn into the side of the path, likely a canal formed by the recent heavy rainfall. A blush lit up Twilight's face as she nearly leaped to her side, giving Rainbow room to extricate herself from the knee deep leaves. “I'm sorry! I was just lost in thought and I kind of closed my eyes and...”
“Hey, don't sweat it, it's just some leaves. Besides, I saw you were walking with your eyes closed, you just looked happy and I didn't want to shake you out of whatever daydream you were having... well, that is until you ran me off the road,” Rainbow chuckled.
“Heheh... sorry about that. I- Rainbow? What's wrong?” Twilight's embarrassment turned to worry as she watched a look of fear grow in her marefriend's eyes. Her gaze was fixed, but not on Twilight, but stuck on the dense trees behind her, a subtle chill filled the air. Following, Rainbow's stare, twilight began to turn, the path before her came and went from her sight as she brought her head about to see the forest behind her.
“Twilight!” Rainbow barked in a hushed voice.
“Wha-” Before she could turn bring Rainbow into a sight a torrent of leaves washed over her, pelting her face and tangling in her mane. The loud rustling of the leaves beside her ears gave way to a stifled snort of laughter. Twilight glared at Rainbow as she spat leaf fragments from her mouth.
“Oh you think you're funny huh?” Twilight grinned as her horn lit up a bright violet, wrapping all the leaves around her in a magical aura.
“H-hey! That's not fair! Twili-” Too late, a tsunami of leaves slammed into Rainbow, mostly hitting her in a flurry of shattered pieces, torn asunder from the force they were flung with. As the deluge subsided, Rainbow's fur was littered with leaves and small twigs. She sat there with a less than amused look as she worked the leaf bits around in her mouth with her tongue before spitting them out with a look of disgust. With a blurred flourish, she cleared her wings, the powerful gust stripping the ground around her of it's leaves, leaving the dirt and small patches of grass that found their home on the hard earth path.
“Geez Twi, I was just messing with you, you don't need to try and drown me!” She said with a lighthearted tone as she shook the debris from her mane.
“You know that book put me on edge! You should have known it would have scared me.”
“Well don't worry, no more tricks from me, promise!” Rainbow smiled as she lashed her tail, cleaning it of leaves before rubbing her side against Twilight's until they were cheek to cheek. Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.
“What am I going to do with you Dashie?” She shook her head.
“I can think of some things.” Rainbow smirked, pressing herself against Twilight.
“I think you need another leaf bath.”
“Yeah, I'm good thanks...” Rainbow casually wrapped her tail around Twilight, pulling her tail between them with hers. A soft pink colored her cheeks as she glanced away, into the forest. “Well anyway, it's going to be getting late soon... we- we should probably head home.”
“Yeah, you're right. Today's been great, besides you scaring me twice.” Warmth and joy filled her chest as she tugged on Rainbow's soft tail with her own, holding it tight. “Let's go home.”
“Lead the way princess.” Rainbow grandiosely bowed before pointing her hoof down the path.
“Come on.” Twilight said with mock impatience. Taking the lead, she and Rainbow continued down the path, tail in tail, together. Twilight kept her eyes on the path, her fears dispelled by Rainbow's touch, she once again lost herself in the scenery. Rainbow smiled as she watched her marefriend look to the vibrant canopy above and the rustic path before them, but her smile faded as she turned her head back to the disheveled patch of path they stopped at, it was almost bare of leaves now. Rainbow couldn't help herself as she glanced into the forest behind them. No, I was just imagining things...
“Wait...” Twilight came to a dead stop in the path, a perplexed and worried look was painted across her face.
“What's up Twi? Something wrong?” A reluctant chill ran down Rainbow's spine as she look around her, trying to seem as calm as possible. 'There's no way- I was just seeing things right?'
“Well, it's just that... I think we've been here before... These trees look familiar.”
“What do you mean? How can you tell?”
“There's that tree over there,” Twilight pointed into the forest at a tree that was growing between two large rocks. “Remember it, we passed that about half an hour ago...”
“Twilight...” Rainbow Dash looked at the tree, Twilight was right, it was the same tree. A sudden sense of foreboding gripped Rainbow as her hearing became more acute. “Twilight what are you trying to say?”
“Well, I think we're lost...”