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Out of difficulties grow miracles.
-Jean de la Bruyere
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Domain
Location Unknown
Rainbow Dash awoke, and was initially confused as to where she was. However, as soon as she felt Twilight's unnaturally cold body next to her, it all come flooding back to her in a wave of emotion. She stood up shakily, and gazed down at the lifeless body of Twilight Sparkle. It almost appeared as if she were trying to memorize the entire body of her dead friend.
The pegasus sat there, just staring at the dead alicorn, for what seemed like an eternity. A professional might have said she had gone into shock, but only Rainbow could know exactly what was going through her mind at the time.
Finally coming to a decision, Rainbow slowly walked away into the woods. Moments later, she came back, a small pile of stones on her back. She did this several times, until there was a relatively large pile of stones next to her dead friend. Then, she got to work.
Stone by stone, she began to cover up her lost friend. A solemn silence hung over the precipice, only interrupted by the soft sound of stone hitting stone. The entire situation was peaceful and serene, yet all Rainbow Dash could think about was how much better it would be if her friend was here with her. Silently, she placed the last rock, obstructing Twilight's beautiful face.
Unable to bear it any longer, Rainbow stood, and began to walk away from the grave, heading back to the camp. She trudged into the underbrush, but paused before entering the forest proper. Her ear flicked backwards. Then she heard it again. The sound of stones shifting ever so slightly. Then a muffled cough.
Slowly, she turned around to face the grave, not believing her ears. Then her eyes widened as she watched as the pile rustled, and a stone tumbled off.
Rainbow dove at the pile and began throwing off the stones around where the alicorn's head should be. She quickly uncovered the muzzle, which in turn opened wide to take a deep breath. Frantically, Rainbow cleared off the rest of the stones, revealing a very-much alive Twilight Sparkle.
"T- Twilight?" asked Rainbow, not believing the situation that she was in.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, only to be met with a blinding light. However as the light gradually faded, she saw a cyan head fade into her view, gazing down at her with a look of surprise. Twilight gazed back up at Dash hesitantly, and tried to speak. But all that came out of her mount was a cough. Then with a panicked look, she started gagging as bile appeared in the back of her throat.
Realizing that the alicorn was about to vomit, Rainbow quickly turned her on her side so she wouldn't choke. She softly rubbed her back as the mare heaved for several minutes, the stray though running through Dash's mind as to how she could have this much in her stomach after being dead for several hours.
When it finally seemed as if it were over, Rainbow softly pulled Twilight closer to her, and nuzzled her cheek. "Twi?" The lavender mare's eyes once again opened, and she looked back up at the pony hugging her tightly.
"Rain-bow..." she rasped, her throat still raw from before. "I- I can't move!" Her voice reached a crescendo as she began to panic. She only calmed down as Rainbow shook her gently. "Twilight, just calm down..." she ordered. "Tell me what it feels like. does it hurt?" Her magenta eye's shone with a hint of worry.
"N- no, I, well, I can't feel anything at all below my neck!" Twilight started to panic again.
"Stop! Twilight, calm down!" Rainbow pulled her friend into a bone-crushing hug as the alicorn began to sob uncontrollably. "Shhhh! Come on Twi, just calm down..." she cooed into her ear. "Why don't we just look on the bright side of things, huh?"
Twilight lifted her head as far as she could to look her prismatic love in the eyes. "W- what could possibly be bright about me b- being p- paralyzed?!" she cried incredulously.
Rainbow smiled down at her. "Well, for one, you're alive."
Twilight couldn't disagree with that one. She suddenly realized how Rainbow must have felt at seeing her dead body. And now she was complaining about a paralysis, which if she understood Luna correctly, would probably eventually go away when she was fully healed. "Rainbow I-"
"And also," the prismatic mare cut her off, and nudged Twilight's forehead. "Your horn is back." Twilight looked up, and sure enough, she could see a purple point right at the edge of her vision.
With some of her self-control and confidence restored, she used what was left of her limited mobility to weakly snuggle her head into Rainbow's fuzzy breast. "Rainbow I'm so sorry..." Twilight mumbled as she felt Rainbow pull her head up into the crook of her neck.
"No, Twilight. It's me who should be sorry," she said solemnly. "I shouldn't have pushed you away... I should've put the logic behind me, and just welcomed the affection. Instead, I questioned it, and you went and..." the pegasus's voice choked up. Shaking her head, she continued. "The point is, I love you, Twi. I can't believe it took your death to convince me, but in the end, I love you." Rainbow turned the lavender alicorn's limp body so that they were facing each other.
Then she leaned down and kissed her.
Twilight was extremely grateful that she could feel and have full use of her mouth. She graciously parted her lips to accept Dash's intrusive tongue into her mouth. It tasted strange, not unpleasant, but, unusual. It was a mix of the taste of breathing in fresh air, combined with a unique sweetness that she somehow knew could only come from kissing Rainbow Dash. Eager for a better taste, Twilight swirled her own tongue around the pegasus's. The intricate dance played out for what felt like hours, until they finally broke apart for a shared breath.
"Wow," whispered Twilight, as soon as she could speak again. "That was..."
"Exquisitely slimy?" finished Rainbow Dash in a perfect Rarity expression. Twilight giggled along with her, but couldn't help feeling a slight twinge of pain at the reference. She still missed the rest of her friends dearly. Even after the hope returned of them being alive somewhere.
"Come on," Rainbow got up and maneuvered Twilight onto her back. "Let's heard back to camp. It's a slightly far walk, and it's getting late." With that, the pair headed into the forest, back towards their new, and hopefully temporary home.
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The sound of Rainbow's hoofsteps crunched through the forest. The two had been walking for almost and hour, and yet they still had not gained sight of the clearing with the lean-to.
"Are we lost?" asked Twilight, exasperated.
"N- no..." panted Dash. "We, we're just almost... almost there!"
Two hours later, Twilight was flopped down onto her mat, a panting Rainbow standing over her. She let out a small "oof" as she felt the air got knocked out of her lungs, but was more relieved that she could feel that than anything. "Why are you panting?" she asked Rainbow. "I thought you were athletic!"
Rainbow waved her hoof at her. "I -gasp- am! It's -cough- just that, that I'm not used to carrying something that -gasp- that heavy without my wings!" she panted out between deep breaths.
"Are you calling me fat?" Twilight replied playfully, a smirk running across her face as Rainbow collapsed on her own mat next to her.
"What?! No! No!" the cyan pegasus hastily tried to retract her former statement, having not meant what the alicorn was implying. "I didn't mean that!" Dash rolled over so that she was closer to her love, and wrapped a wing around the shaking mare. "Twi, I-" Suddenly, she realized that the mare was laughing, not crying.
"Heh heh! I so had you there!" she giggled as she buried her head in the prismatic mare's wing. Rainbow just rolled her eyes, and rolled Twilight closer to her with her wing. "I know I'm a bit generous around my flanks!"
Rainbow just sighed, and planted a kiss at the base of the lavender mare's horn. "Twi, you have the most beautiful flank that I have ever seen!" she assured her.
Twilight giggled and looked up. "You saying I have a cute butt?" she asked humorously. Her partner smiled down at her.
Rolling so that Twilight was on top of her, Dash replied, "You bet I'm saying you have a cute butt!" This time, she kissed the tip of Twilight's horn, taking a small point of the cusp into her lips.
Twilight emitted a gasp, and the room popped with a flash of purple magic. "D-don't do that R- rainbow!" she stuttered as she tried to recover from... whatever just happened.
"What... what was that?" asked Rainbow, trying to recover from her surprise.
"It... it happens when unicorns receive stimulation to their horns..." explained Twilight, blushing a deep crimson.
"Oh, uh," Rainbow, for once, was at a loss for words. "Just, uh, don't burn the 'house' down, okay?"
Twilight giggled in reply, gently kissing her lover's lips. "I won't."
---
Three Months Later...
Twilight stood on the precipice, gazing out over the vast landscape stretching out below her. The setting sun painted the land with a myriad of red, orange, and yellow. It was a canvas of beauty, and the lavender Alicorn took it all in.
She was amazed really, at how much had happened in the short three months that the couple had been confined to this mountaintop. A few days after Twilight woke up, she slowly regained the ability to move. Eventually, she even regained the ability to use her magic.
With the help of Rainbow Dash, she also trained her wings back to their working order, and the Alicorn soon became able to fly even more gracefully than she had before. After regaining her flight, Twilight soon became Dash's wings; caring the cyan mare on her back for short fights. Rainbow was convinced that she could eventually teach Twilight how to break the sonic barrier.
"We'll have to come up with a name for it..." she had said excitedly. "Maybe the 'Magic Flash' or something."
Twilight smiled at the fond memory. It was overwhelming at how many of those she had from her time with Rainbow, than in the past six years. How did that happen? She honestly didn't care.
Turning her head slightly, she looked back towards the clearing where her marefriend was currently working on vigorously chopping down trees. In the center of the clearing stood a roughly rectangular platform of stones. This would later act as the foundation for the small cottage the two had planned on building.
Smiling, Twilight looked back out over the terrain. It was a difficult decision, building the cottage. In truth, neither of them truly knew how long they would be here, or even if they would ever leave.
Out of her own personal decision, Twilight had refrained from telling Dash about her encounter with Luna. She didn't feel it was right to give her new marefriend false hope.
Twilight looked to her side, toward a small garden by the cliffs edge. In it was a flourish of multi-color flowers, organized into six groups. Yellow, Orange, and White lined the perimeter of the garden, and an inner row of purple surrounded a large circle of lavender and cyan. At the side facing the future cabin, a large flat stone protruded from the shallow dirt. And on it was a crude engraving; "Friendship is Magic."
At the moment, all thoughts of the mysterious "Equine Fall" that Luna had mentioned was out of the lavender mare's mind. Even if it were a true threat, there was no possible way that either Rainbow or herself would ever live a long enough life to see it through. For now, all that mattered to Twilight was her love for the cyan pegasus that was now standing beside her.
"Rainbow," she said.
"Yea Twi?"
Twilight sighed. "I'm happy."
The two mares leaned into each other, wings wrapped around the others flank.Then, the most unexpected thing ever happened.
Descending out of the sky, clutching a pink and purple polka-dotted umbrella, was the master of chaos himself.
"Hello, my dear ponies! Enjoying your Elysium?"
The two mares in question stared back at Discord in surprise, shock, and disbelief. Then their gazes slowly transitioned to anger.
"Not anymore," replied Twilight and Rainbow simultaneously.
-END OF PART ONE-