Chapter 8: Devotion
Chapter 8: Devotion
A furious scream rolled over Ponyville.
“DISCORD!” a drenched Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs from above the small home town.
Ever since Discord had been reformed, he had been around now and then, mainly to visit Fluttershy. Most of the time, the timid pegasus kept him in check, but he would always pull some pranks anyway. Harmless ones, admittedly, and after Discord had a good laugh, he would always change everything back to normal. Sometimes, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had even teamed up with him to step up their game and prank even harder.
Discord was still kind of a sore spot for Rainbow, though. She couldn’t get over the fact, that he took her wings and made her betray her friends once, just yet. So, getting pranked by the master of chaos was a bit of a touchy subject for her, especially when he interfered with her work. Thus, it was not really surprising that a horde of melon-sized floating orbs of water in the sky, each containing a living goldfish, ticked her off more than it should’ve.
“I KNOW YOU ARE HERE SOMEWHERE! SHOW YOURSELF!” Rainbow continued throwing her tantrum.
“Yes, my dear? Is something on your mind? You sound a bit… unsatisfied.”
Rainbow spun around in anger, looking for the troublesome draconequus. Much to her dismay, there was just another orb of water behind her. Or was it? Closing in on the physics defying liquid, the pegasus noticed the lack of a fish in this one. Instead, a tiny Discord lay on an air mattress atop, wearing sunglasses and holding a red and yellow cocktail in his claw.
“Care to explain? Or better, make them go away?” Rainbow snarled, pointing hoof at another orb of water next to her. The goldfish in it mutely opened and closed its mouth and swam wild circles.
“Why in the world would you want them gone? Is there a problem I am not aware of?” Discord asked innocently and lifted his glasses to give Dash a bewildered look.
“Yes. This noon is scheduled to have a clear sky and I am supposed to bust the clouds. And I have no idea how to get rid of these things of yours and it’s not like I haven’t tried,” complained Rainbow and glared at Discord, water dripping from her soaked mane on her nose.
“I know. That’s why I decided to lend you a helping hoof. Or paw, if you will.”
“Lend me a hoof? Then how is this charade supposed to help me, then?” Rainbow hissed under her breath, barely able to contain her anger.
The tiny Discord laughed heartily and teleported beside Rainbow, changing back to his normal size. Grinning, he put his paw on the pegasus shoulder. “Do you see any clouds, Rainbow? I don’t!”
“No… I mean yes… I mean… I…”
The regular contact with the draconequus had caused Rainbow to get mostly used to his twisted sense of logic. Sometimes she could even stand up to his jabbering and butting in. Usually the brash pegasus would let Pinkie do the talking, though. It was too easy to lose the thread, just like now. A dumbfounded look and a bit of incoherent stuttering was all the cyan mare could muster, much to Discord’s amusement. Rainbow groaned and smacked her hoof on her forehead. I should know better than arguing with Discord… the weather mare thought, mentally kicking herself.
“Where did you even get the fish?”
“Oh! These lovely creatures are from a pond near Ponyville. I was just walking by but they gave me such sad looks that I thought they might want to get out a bit. They are always gasping for air,” Discord answered, taking a sip from his drink and marveling the floating bubbles.
“I’d say they’ve got enough ‘fresh air’ for today, so why don’t you do us all a favor and bring ‘em back where they belong? With the water!” Rainbow added hastily.
“Yes, I could probably do that but where's the fun in it?”
“So… are you gonna do it? Now?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow in frustration.
“I might. If ask me nicely!” Discord smirked provocatively at the pegasus.
Oh, to Tartarus with you! We should have never let him out of that stone prison… Rainbow clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. “Would you kindly bring the water and the fish back to the place you got them from, please?” Her voice quivered in barely suppressed anger.
“Well, I just can’t refuse such a lovely propounded request, can I?” sneered the draconequus.
Discord had learned to be careful with his shenanigans. A bit of mocking now and then would be tolerated, if it didn’t involve something too offensive anyway… And there was a fine line he didn’t want to cross with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. There’d be no point in risking to be locked away into a stone prison again, is there?
Dodging the charging and inarticulately screaming weather pony, Discord snapped his claw and let the fish and the water vanish in a white flash. “There’s no need to be upset, my dear. Here is the clear sky you wanted.” Discord grinned.
Panting like an angry bull, the cyan pegasus mustered her last bits of self-control not to try and hit the draconequus as hard as she could. If she would say or do anything else, Rainbow would regret it and she knew it. Discord was impossible to come by if he managed to get you to lose your cool.
Rainbow gave a final huff and bolted away, Discord’s mocking laughter following her. If there had been any clouds left in the sky, they would have been ripped apart by her in an instant. Unfortunately for her though, Discord had done a pretty good job. Instead, Rainbow beat her wings as hard as she could. She had to cool down a bit, and flying was her favorite type of anger management. Right after beating the living daylights out of some unsuspecting clouds, that is. Maybe there was something else that could fulfill this role?
Half an hour later, Rainbow stepped back from the heap of rubble that had once been a windmill at the foot of the mountain they had once climbed to convince the dragon at the top to slumber somewhere else. It had been abandoned for a long time and probably forgotten by the previous owners given its poor state. When the athlete had found it a couple of months ago, she had found that the frail remnants of the mill were a great opportunity to blow off some steam.
Great… Now, I’ll have to find another mill! Dash thought, a little bit annoyed. In her rage, she had almost leveled the building, destroying everything that was satisfying and worth to destroy in the process. Her Sonic Rain-Nukes weren’t exactly subtle. Well, I’ll find myself something else. Can’t be that hard… At least, the rampage had helped a lot to calm her down. The cyan pegasus took a deep breath and took off in the air.
A gentle breeze wafted over her, as Rainbow reached a decent height and spread her wings wide, gliding aimlessly through the air. Speed might be cool, but the sensation of seemingly standing still in the air had some appeal too.
Rainbow sighed contently and closed her eyes. Despite how much the prismatic mare loved to fly as fast as she could, idly gliding through the air while the sun shone warm and bright on her feathers was one of the most relaxing things she could imagine. Almost too relaxing… Once, the athlete had dozed off midair. Luckily, she had a rather soft landing on a field, since her wings remained tense and merely carried her farther and farther until the pegasus had lost too much altitude and made contact with the ground.
With a quick shake of her head, Rainbow Dash shook off the unpleasant memory and looked around to orientate herself. Chuckling lightly, the cyan mare noticed that she had subconsciously headed for the Golden Oaks Library. Seems like I get used to the whole ‘being-together’ stuff...
Her thoughts drifted towards the lavender unicorn, Rainbow called her marefriend lately. It had been a bit odd, calling her that at first. Twilight was still primarily her friend and she had always seen her as such. Thinking of the bookish unicorn as her special somepony, or having a special somepony at all, was unfamiliar terrain to Dash. Though, slowly but surely she got used to it.
The first days had been a bit awkward for both of them. Twilight had overstressed herself as usual. Well aware that Rainbow had agreed to the relationship without having any romantic feelings for her, the slightly neurotic bookworm had constantly worried if she was too affectionate or intimate for her new marefriend, thus crossing the borders of the athlete’s comfort zone. Dash, on the other hand, had been rather unsure about what she was expected to do as a marefriend. Since neither of them had any experience, it took a while to get past these problems. They still had their insecurities but by now, they felt almost completely at ease with each other.
However, Rainbow and Twilight had agreed to keep quiet about them being a couple at the first day. No point in telling their friends about it when it showed after a week that it just wouldn’t work out between them, right? In truth, Rainbow was also a bit worried about her reputation and Twilight didn’t want to push her. For the past week, they hadn’t told a single soul, except for Spike, who had to Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone. Granted, they hadn’t talked very much to their friends either. This was mostly due to the fact that they simply spent pretty much all of their free time with each other, occasional errands and weather work aside.
The fresh couple had used that time to explore the benefits of a relationship. It surprised Rainbow how fond she had become of simply cuddling with Twilight. Sitting in front of the fireplace, a cup of hot chocolate in one hoof, the bookish unicorn in the other, had made it to the top ten of her favorite things to do. She’d deny it, if anyone asked but she enjoyed doing all the mushy stuff couples were supposed to do, together.
Rainbow knew that her way to deal with the romantic parts of their relationship wasn't exactly romantic, but to her, most of them were simply hilarious and she just couldn't do them while keeping a straight face. That had earned her more than one glare from Twilight, like when the unicorn had asked the brash daredevil to read a romantic play with them voice acting a dialogue between two lovers. But Rainbow had rolled over the floor after her third line, unable to contain her laughter. Not that the she didn't enjoy them, she just lacked Twilight’s passion for it and couldn’t take it seriously.
Nevertheless, they had become much more intimate over the past two days, had even shared the library's bed for the night, snuggling together until they entered Luna’s realm of dreams. Still, Rainbow wasn’t willing to carve their relationship in stone just yet. Something held her back. Something she could neither place nor deny. Something that kept her from saying 'I love you!', whenever Twilight told her the same. Ever since she had realized this, Dash had tortured her brain, hoping to find the reason for her reluctance.
Eventually, Rainbow decided that she had reminisced enough. Folding her wings and ending her glide, she dived towards the tree house’s balcony. Twilight had agreed to let the window or the door there open, as long as the weather would allow it, so that the pegasus wouldn’t have to knock if the library was closed. In return, the passionate stunt flyer had to promise not to try any stunts, fly too fast in the library or enter the building at high speeds, much to her dismay. It also gave the cyan mare the pleasant impression that the Golden Oaks Library had become a second home to her, to some extent, at least.
Just before she crashed on the balcony, Rainbow opened her wings to break her free-fall and landed with soft thud. No matter how much she disliked her speed restriction indoors, the prismatic mare wanted to keep her promise. Not wasting any time, the pegasus pushed the door open and stepped inside Twilight’s bedroom.
The library’s caretaker was, as expected, not here. She’s probably down in the hall, reading some egghead stuff that’d give me a headache… Since Rainbow had come to talk to Twilight, for the purpose of lightening up her mood after Discords antics, the pegasus left the empty bedroom and flew down the stairs. A grin flashed over the prismatic mare’s face when she spotted her marefriend at one of the study desks, her nose buried in a pile of maps and two bags of light blue crystals beside her.
Fun time! Rainbow softened the beats of her wing until she was just able to hover over the ground, reducing the flapping noise to a minimum. Her grin gained a mischievous touch and she positioned herself just over Twilight without actually touching her. The pegasus’ ears perked up when the librarian started mumbling something unintelligible. Had she been heard?
“…if I… mmmh… no… but when… no… maybe like this? That could work… mhm…” Twilight murmured and moved a little stone over the map of Ponyville that lay before her. Then she fell silent again, contemplating over the new layout.
Relaxing a bit, Rainbow wiped her hoof over her forehead, relieved that the unicorn hadn’t noticed her yet. It was crucial for her improvised prank that Twilight didn’t see her until it was too late.
“Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student, don’t you want to bow before me?” Rainbow asked in her best imitation of Princess Celestia.
The reaction was as immediate. To Rainbow, it looked like Twilight tried to apologize, turn around and bow, all at once. What actually happened, was that the purple unicorn tripped over her own legs and fell on her face with an inarticulate ‘I’m sor-mpf‘. She sort of bit her leg as well.
The cyan prankster clenched her teeth but remained silent. It wasn’t over just yet. Hardly able to contain her laughter, she watched as Twilight got up again and look around in panic, trying to find her mentor. Phase two begins… Rainbow’s wings retracted back to sides, no longer keeping her in the air and the pegasus slumped down on the back of the unsuspecting unicorn. The purple librarian yelped and collapsed, her legs unable to support the suddenly much higher weight.
“Geez, Twilight… I thought you’d be stronger than that. I’m not that heavy,” Rainbow complained when she rolled off the lavender unicorn, who was sprawled out on the floor, and got back on her hooves.
Dazed by the impact and still in panic, Twilight stood up a second time, again trying to find out where Celestia was. Then her eyes fell on the prismatic pegasus, who was causally dusting herself off and it dawned on her that Rainbow had pulled a fast one on her, or rather two. Anger surged in the pranked librarian. She was usually rather easygoing when it came to pranks but imposing her teacher somehow rubbed her the wrong way. It wasn’t too bad, but enough to annoy her.
“Rainbow!” she yelled. “What in Equestria do you think you are do-“ Twilight didn’t get any further.
As soon as the unicorn had started to rant, Rainbow had closed in and sealed the librarian’s lips with her own. A cyan hoof wandered around the lavender mare’s neck and pulled her deeper into the kiss. Twilight, too perplexed by the surprising action didn’t put up any kind of resistance as Rainbow’s tongue slid into her mouth and started roaming it freely. Desire welled up in the purple unicorn as she felt the athlete playing with her tongue, like a lover would ask for a dance. Just as she began to forget that she was angry at her marefriend and tried to push back with her own tongue, the pegasus broke away as sudden as she had come and backed off a couple of steps, grinning at Twilight in a provoking manner.
Rainbow watched in amusement as various expressions flashed over Twilight's face. Panic. Anger. Desire. Confusion. Anger again. The cocktail of emotions and the adrenalin rush did their work and overloaded the bookish unicorn’s brain, rendering her unable to move or even realize what was going on around her until she either managed to sort it out, which could take hours, or someone snapped her out of her catatonic state. For now, though, Rainbow was content watching her marefriend trying to unjam the gears in her head.
The cyan mare had discovered this phenomenon a while ago, when she had accidently spilled ink over some of Twilight’s work, ruining it completely. Afterwards, she had come to Twilight and honestly tried to apologize with such a guilty expression, that the lavender unicorn had been caught between being horrified, angry and giving Rainbow a hug to make her feel better. Since then, the pegasus had tried to figure out how to use it for her entertainment and had been rather successful.
About ten minutes later, Rainbow got bored and decided to finally help her special somepony out a bit. Fetching a book and a burning candle, the pegasus walked up to her lover and held the book up to Twilight’s eyes. Now she brought the candle closer and closer to the book, waiting for the librarian’s book preservation instincts to kick in. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Are you crazy!?” Twilight screamed in terror, when she became aware of the situation and snatched the book away from Rainbow and the flame of the candle.
“Sorry, Twi. It’s still the best way to unfreeze your brain,” Rainbow stated matter-of-factly.
The bookworm threw her a confused glance. Then she remembered the events that had led to the situation and connected the dots. Exhaling and giving Rainbow an exasperated glare, Twilight lowered her head.
“Rainbow, sometimes you are just insufferable…”
“…ly awesome?” the addressed pegasus added smirking, causing Twilight to facehoof and groan. Laughing light-heartedly, Rainbow pulled the purple mare into a hug and nuzzled her cheek. “You know I just love to tease you a bit.” She leaned back a bit to look into her lover’s purple eyes. “Ya know, I don’t wanna be mean or anything, right?” the cyan mare asked with a slightly unsure undertone.
Twilight’s anger flew away, when she met Rainbow’s gaze and a soft sigh escaped her lips. The athlete’s magenta eyes showed earnest concern about her and filled her with the warm feeling of security, knowing that somepony deeply cared for her. How could she possibly stay angry with with the colorful pegasus?
“It’s fine, Dash. Just don’t do it too often, okay?” Twilight smiled weakly.
“Deal!” Rainbow agreed with a broad smile.
Happy about her success, prank-wise and making-up-wise, the cyan pegasus kissed Twilight on the nose and tightened the hug again. For a while, neither of them moved, simply enjoying the warmth of the other, feeling the slow rhythm of their heartbeats together.
Eventually, they ended the hug and Rainbow curiously glanced at the desk, Twilight had been working on until she had interrupted her. “What were you doing anyway, Twi? And what’s with these crystals?”
“Oh, yeah. I was working on an early warning system. I think I’m almost done. Last thing to do is coming up with a practicable positioning,” cheered Twilight and clapped her hooves together in excitement.
“I’ll probably regret asking, but what and why are you doing this again?” asked Rainbow with a crooked grin, knowing very well that the librarian loved to talk about her breakthroughs and magical accomplishments and since nopony else was around, she’d have to be the listener, no matter how little she understood.
“I’m glad you ask. You see, every living entity has a certain amount of magic in it. How strong it is, depends on what kind of creature it is. A bunny has less magic than a pegasus like you, but it also differs between individuals. For example, I have more magic than the average unicorn. This shows in what is called the magical aura. The more magic you possess, the stronger your aura gets.
“Now, the darkling that froze Rarity’s boutique is a creature of pure magic and if you think about how much magic it takes to siphon enough energy to get a large room, like the inspiration room, down to these temperatures we saw, it must be pretty powerful. Its aura is probably almost as strong as Celestia’s!” Twilight explained in awe.
“Okay, I get it. Most of it, anyway, but was that about an alarm system?” Rainbow interrupted and walked up to the bags of crystals.
“Well… Actually, it’s more a detection system.” Twilight continued, “I grow these crystals in my lab. Alone, they are little more than rocks but what makes them special is that you can give them special properties with the right spells. Depending on how you enchant them, they can store energy, give it off as a beam of light, get extremely heavy on command, lock something in its current position even mid-air via telekinesis and almost anything else. The only problems are that whatever they do, they still need the same amount of magic it would take you to cast the spell and have to be charged with magic regularly, if you use them for something that needs energy since they don’t generate their own and they have special requirements if you want pure ones. You can use flawed ones too, but they have a very limited capacity. Because of this, the ones I use are pretty rare.
“I adjusted half of these ones to absorb energy. Since the magical aura is kind of an energy field around you, if something with a strong aura gets close to them, it will charge them to a certain degree,” continued Twilight and pointed at one of the bags. “Next, I’ll link each one with another one that glows. The more energy is absorbed by the first crystal, the sensor, the brighter the other one, the receiver, shines. So, basically, if the darkling gets close to one of the crystals I’ll put up in and around Ponyville, its counterpart will give off light. And if I arrange the receiver crystals on a map in the same pattern as the sensors in town, they’ll also tell me the location of the darkling!” Twilight finished with a gleeful grin and looked towards Rainbow.
The pegasus met the unicorn’s eyes with a rather bland expression. “So… you want to place these crystals around Ponyville and next time the darkling shows up, you know where it is?” Rainbow tried to summarize what she had understood.
“No, it’s…” Twilight begun, but stopped immediately, reminding herself that she wasn’t talking to a magical expert. “Actually, yes. That’s pretty much it. I just have to take a look at how tight I’ll make the sensor grid and where exactly I can put them without interfering with anypony’s dealings.”
“Uhu… I’ll let you figure that one out yourself,” Rainbow stated flatly, “I’ll be upstairs, reading a book or something, maybe taking a nap.” She trotted towards the stairs again and shot a glance over her shoulder back at Twilight and grinned invitingly. “I wouldn’t mind having a bit of company, though…”
The lavender unicorn looked confused for a moment until she recognized the hint. “Oh… ähm… Sorry, Rainbow, I really want to get this done as soon as possible and I’m almost done. I’ll come up later, okay?” she apologized in an almost regretful tone, a faint blush gracing her muzzle.
“Awww…” pouted Dash. “Don’t take too long, I might get bored.”
“I won’t, Rainbow, I’ll be there soon!” Twilight called after the pegasus with a smile.
The cyan mare flew up the stairs without a response. Up in the bedroom, the Rainbow dropped on Twilight’s mattress and grabbed a book from the nightstand, a novel her marefriend had recommended to her. It had started rather interesting and the pegasus had decided to read it whenever she spent some time alone in the library. Leaning back on the pillow, Rainbow opened the book and flipped through it, looking for the part she had left off.
There it is! Dash put her hoof between the pages, shuffled herself into a more comfortable position and started reading. Soon, she was rapt by the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring in the Mines of Mareia, forgetting the world around her.
Two hours later, a clip-clop from the stairs told about Twilight Sparkle’s arrival. The door to the bedroom creaked quietly as it was pushed open by the librarian’s magic. Twilight’s head appeared in the opening and granted her an open view into her room. She giggled lightly when she saw Rainbow Dash snoring on the bed, the open book lying on her face, covering it up completely.
She must be really tired. Maybe her work was exhausting today… Smiling softly, Twilight stepped beside the bed and enveloped the book in a magenta aura to remove and put it somewhere safe. The nightstand was the usual pace for Rainbow’s books, so the unicorn turned towards it and placed the novel in it. Unfortunately for her, she lost sight of the prismatic mare in the process.
The lavender unicorn yelped when she was suddenly grabbed by two cyan legs and yanked into bed. Before she could even think about reacting, the same hooves that had captured her, started to poke and prod her sensitive ribs, causing her to shriek out loudly. Encouraged by their success, the hooves continued to work on Twilight’s sides and turned the squealing into uncontrollable laughter in which Rainbow joined in with her raspy voice.
Finally overcoming her initial shock, Twilight attempted to wriggle herself out of Rainbow’s grip. In return, Rainbow tightened her strong, yet gentle embrace and unfolded her wings to aid her tickle-ambush. The librarian’s legs flailed around wildly in a desperate attempt to free her but no avail. The shameless attacks on her ribs continued relentlessly, letting her helplessly gasping for air.
In her last resort, Twilight used what little concentration she could muster to flare up her horn and tried to push Rainbow away from her. Though, no matter how much effort she put in it, the pegasus didn’t even seem to notice. Damnit… The anti-magic amulet! With another assault on her most ticklish spots and another fit of laughter, the lavender unicorn lost her focus again.
“Rai-huh-nbo-ha-w, waaaah. Let me-ah uhahi-go-ho-hu! Ple-hihi-ase-haha!” Twilight barely managed to get out.
The cyan mare ceased her onslaught for a moment and let Twilight catch her breath. Her hooves and wings remained in place, though, wrapped around the librarian’s midriff, inches away from her ribs. After all, why should she give up her advantage so easily?
“Anything wrong, Twi?” the pegasus asked with a playful grin.
“That’s not fair, Rainbow! I can’t use my magic and you have your wings!” complained Twilight, scared that any movement would be considered an escape attempt and punished with more tickling.
“So? I’d call it revenge. Till now, you’ve always had the advantage. It’s time to turn the tables!” Rainbow replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Yet again, Twilight found herself at the questionable mercy of Rainbow Dash’s hooves and wings. The librarian couldn’t say how long she squirmed in her lover’s grip. In reality, it was about ten minutes, but to her, it felt like an eternity.
Eventually, Dash decided it became boring to restrain and tickle Twilight from behind and rolled over, throwing the laughing mare on the bed so that the unicorn landed on her back and buried her marefriend under her own body pinning her down with ease. Her mistake was to let the librarian regain her self-control.
Seeing her chance, Twilight grabbed the blanket with her magic and wrapped it around them, constricting Rainbow’s wings and both their legs with it. In the end, both of them couldn’t move anything but their heads that stuck out of the cocoon of fabric that bound them together face to face.
“Awww… Come on, Twi. Was that really necessary?” pouted the cyan mare.
“Sorry, Rainbow. I need a break,” panted Twilight heavily.
“Already? I barely started!”
“And that’s exactly why I won’t let you out just yet.” Twilight laughed out of her breath.
Rainbow shot Twilight a slightly annoyed glare. Then her expression became impish. “Well… If you won’t let me out, I’ll have to find myself something else to do,” she cooed into the lavender unicorn’s ear and started biting lightly on it.
A slight moan escaped Twilight’s lips as Rainbow nibbled her way along the ear and started kissing it every now and then, much to her lover’s delight. When she reached its base, Rainbow let go of the ear and continued her ministrations on the neck of her marefriend, earning another moan, accompanied by a deep sigh of content.
Twilight relaxed and released the blanket from her magic to wrap her legs around the cyan mare whose loving endearments she enjoyed. Free of her bonds, Rainbow returned the embrace with both wings and legs, keeping the lavender unicorn close to her chest.
Aiming for Twilight’s lips, Rainbow placed a trail of kisses along the line of the librarian’s neck. As the cyan mare reached her goal, she touched Twilight’s nose with her own and stared into the purple pools the purple unicorn called her own.
Her thoughts consumed by the sheer amount of love in Twilight’s gaze, the daring pegasus felt her heart beat quicken its pace. Not wasting any more time, the cyan pegasus tilted her head and placed her lips upon her lover’s and let her tongue ask for entrance. The librarian didn’t hesitate to comply and gave in to Rainbow. Not before long, they were lost for the world and the world for them.
“Rainbow, have you thought about what we will tell the others tomorrow?”
Bewilderment spread on the addressed pegasus’ face. One moment, Rainbow was enjoying Twilight’s affectionate snuggling after a very satisfying, over an hour-long make-out session, the next she was faced with a question regarding something of which she didn’t even know what it was about. On top of that, the librarian had asked with an unsettling undertone that indicated that this question was really important to her, in more than one way. The cyan mare couldn’t exactly place it, but she knew it meant that she treaded on thin ice.
“Uhm… could you remind me what you have planned? I think I may have forgotten it,” she answered with a sheepish grin and inched away and down until she was able to look the librarian into the eyes.
“You really don’t remember?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Tomorrow is our monthly picnic for all six of us!” Seeing Rainbow’s mouth form a silent ‘O’, Twilight put her hoof on her forehead and let out a slight groan. “Anyway, what I wanted to know is, if I can tell them about us or not.”
“Oh… aehm… You know… I… err…” the pegasus stuttered and trailed off, trying to buy herself more time.
Her first impulse would have been a decisive ‘No!’. Unfortunately, Rainbow had the feeling that Twilight wouldn’t take that answer too well for some reason, so she had to come up with something else. Then again, what did the unicorn want in the first place? Why was it so important for her to tell the others?
Before Dash could find her answer, Twilight sighed disappointedly. “So you still don’t know if you really want to be me, huh?” After a short pause she rolled over until she looked at the wall, turning her back towards Rainbow but the sad frown that had showed on Twilight’s face hadn’t gone unnoticed.
So that’s what this is about! It hit Rainbow like a train. Twilight was afraid that the carefree and independent pegasus would just leave her eventually and let the lavender unicorn yearn for the love she had been allowed to taste. Or even worse, that Dash would stay with her, due to her loyalty, a constant reminder that her love would never be really reciprocated. She really loves me that much…
In the back of her head, Rainbow had already known it for a while but had always shoved it aside, the little fact that the studious mare didn’t just have a simple crush on her. And now it came crashing down on her with all of its might. All the little things she now realized what Twilight had been doing to show Rainbow Dash her love.
Twilight had practically done everything she could to give Rainbow a second home in the library. She had trusted the pegasus with her innermost secrets, like the dream the lavender unicorn sometimes had, that Celestia would be her mother and cared for her like one instead of a mentor. She had literally offered her heart to Dash and what had the athlete done? Treated the whole affair like her dirty little secret.
“Twilight, I… I…”
“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Twilight responded unconvincingly.
“No, I mean…”
“No, Rainbow. It was stupid of me to think you would love me back anyway. Can you please leave me alone now?” Even the brash and thick-headed Dash could hear clearly that Twilight was more than upset.
Taken more than a little aback by the unexpected request, the cyan pegasus sat up and stared at Twilight’s curled up form and laid a hoof on the spot on the blanket where she assumed the unicorn’s shoulder was.
“You sure? You don’t sound like I should really-“
“Just GO!” Twilight suddenly burst out causing Rainbow to jump off the bed, retracting her hoof. A sob sounded through the room. “Please… Leave me alone…”
Rainbow was torn. For one, her best friend and marefriend was clearly miserable and she felt the almost irresistible urge to console her, seeing it not only as her desire but also her duty. On the other side, she felt that she herself was the reason for Twilight’s state of mind and the unicorn wanted Dash to give her some space. Also the athlete’s mind was buzzing with thoughts and worries on what they saw differently in their relationship, desperately trying to find a way make this all okay.
For many long seconds, Rainbow stared silently at the pile of fabric Twilight had buried herself under. Neither did she hear if the librarian cried and sobbed under the blanket, nor did she have any idea what she could possibly say to ease the situation. In the end, the pegasus turned around and fled through the window.
Beating her wings mercilessly, Rainbow shot into the gloaming sky. She was angry. Mostly at herself. How could I mess this up so badly? She snarled at a passing bird, giving it almost a heart attack. What did even happen there?
The colorful weather mare spotted her cloud mansion at Ponyville’s outskirts and flew towards it and stopped over it. Why did she get so upset? Twilight was disappointed because Rainbow didn’t want to make their relationship official. Okay, that wasn’t very nice, but that alone wouldn’t make such a mess out of her marefriend alone.
Rejecting or toying with her feelings would, though… Rainbow Dash suddenly realized what was the problem. She thinks it’s just a game for me… That I’m leading her on, taking advantage of her… Why else would I be so reluctant to tell the others? More than ever before, the impulsive daredevil wished she was flexible enough to bite her own flank. How could you miss that, you stupid featherbrain?
Cursing herself for quite a long time, Rainbow landed on her roof and smacked her hoof against her forehead repeatedly. When she finally stopped, her head hurt and she had run dry on swearwords. Even if it didn’t help, she definitely felt like she deserved it.
Her mind returned to the problem at hand. If I don’t play with her, then what am I doing? The cyan mare knew she felt something for Twilight, so she wasn’t exactly leading the librarian on and she certainly didn’t want to give up their relationship either. Going through what happened wouldn’t help anymore, since Rainbow knew what the unicorn craved so deeply and everything else boiled down to the one question to herself, she didn’t have the answer to.
Why can’t I just tell her that I love her too? It was clear that there was a deeper problem. But what? The feeling was a strangely familiar one. It reminded her of her many failed attempts of a Sonic Rainboom before the Young Flyers Competition almost two years ago for some reason. Not the failures themselves however, but rather the time just before. The feeling had been almost the same now. Rainbow Dash had been…
I am… afraid? Her friends knew about her stage fright and how stressed she had been during the competition, she could hardly deny it, but her training hours with Fluttershy had been a different story. Yes, she had always done well in her routines. Until the Rainboom, that is. She knew how difficult it was to pull one off and knew she had done one before but every time the Mach cone had formed around her, fear had crawled up her chest, the fear of failure. The fear of being not good enough to achieve her dream. This fear had held her back, weakened her resolve, paralyzed her wings.
When wasn’t just for anymore, when Rarity plummeted to the ground, Rainbow had no time for fear. Every thought about what would happen if she failed had been overridden by the need to save her friend. There had been no space for doubt left. And she had succeeded.
But here? What was she afraid of? Rainbow reflected about the last time these feelings had surfaced. Yesterday, she had been dozing on the couch when Twilight had come over and rested her head on her marefriend’s chest, simply staring into her magenta eyes. Her gaze had been so full of love and commitment. It had held the unspoken promise of eternal, unbreakable love, the promise to be hers forever. This had been the moment a shadow of doubt had snuck its way into Rainbow’s heart.
Was it this what Dash feared? The magnitude of Twilight’s love for her? No… Not directly anyway. The lavender unicorn didn’t cause the fear directly. It was more Rainbow’s own mind that caused the reluctance. The prismatic mare hadn’t managed to do the Sonic Rainboom before because she was scared about the consequences of her possible failure. Here, she feared for the future as well but in a different way. Her worries weren’t about her…
Am I ready to devote myself to Twilight? Am I willing to spend my life with her? Can I give her what she needs? Rainbow felt lost. She had finally discovered her problem and it weighed her down like nothing else before. Never had she felt this insecure before. Not only was her own future at stake but also Twilight’s. This was the first time for Rainbow to make a decision of this gravity for somepony else and she was not sure if she was up to the task.
Love was new ground for Rainbow. There was no experience whatsoever she could rely on. The entire relationship had been an experiment from the start and now, it had become more serious than they had expected. The pegasus sat back on her haunches and looked up to the stars that had risen while she had tortured her mind.
The right question… Twilight always says, you have to ask the right questions to get the answer you need. Sure, it’s mostly about her egghead stuff, but it’s worth a shot. the cyan mare thought and a jolt of vigor shot through her. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and now, she had finally seen it.
Sooo… how would it affect my dreams and plans if I stay with Twilight? Can I see myself becoming old with her? Rainbow wanted to be a Wonderbolt. There was nothing that could faze her in this regard. It was her dream since she was merely a foal, she had trained her whole life for it and her stay at the Wonderbolt Academy had shown that she was doubtlessly capable enough to join them. What the weather mare had learned there about the life of a Wonderbolt wasn’t very much, but enough to give her a clear perspective of her future life.
The Wonderbolts had four training grounds of which one was the Wonderbolt Academy, obviously. The other three were in Cloudsdale, the traveling city of the pegasi, Fillydelphia, the city of progress, and Canterlot, the capital of Equestria and cradle of unity between the three tribes, the city of the rich and the famous. As far as Rainbow had understood, she could ask to be assigned to one of them as soon as she was officially part of the team.
Each training ground had its own captain but they all reported to Spitfire. She was the one in charge of every little aspect of the whole organization. What most ponies didn’t know was how large the Wonderbolts really were. Celestia had originally formed them out of the pegasi’s old fighter squadrons when there had been no more wars in Equestria. Now there were mostly athletes but still reported to Celestia like any other part of the military. As long as Equestria had peace, though, they were allowed to act as they see fit.
Their active members had only the obligation to show up to the regular training sessions to stay in shape, and participate in races and aerial shows around their area of responsibility. Besides that, they were mostly representatives and special task units for official events or secret operations.
Effectively, Rainbow would have pretty much the same amount of free time as she had now, with the only difference that her work would become her training and vice versa. She would have to move out, though. Commuting would be hardly practicable.
Maybe if we move to Canterlot? Twilight won’t stay here forever anyway. It’s just a matter of time before she becomes Celestia’s archmage or something. After all, she’s pretty much the most powerful and intelligent unicorn in the world! A bit crazy sometimes, but I guess it’s okay if you are in that position.
The more Rainbow thought about it, the more appealing it became. Even if the ponies in Ponyville tended to forget it, Twilight was one of Canterlot’s top elite, practically royalty because of her brother’s marriage with Princess Cadence and being Celestia’s personal protegeé. She wouldn’t have any problems to move back to her home city and Rainbow would be part of the elite as well, being a Wonderbolt and all.
In addition, the Canterlot society had rather loose morals as a whole, so there wouldn’t be any problems with them being two mares either, unlike in some rural areas or Cloudsdale. Not that homosexual couple was officially shunned anywhere in Equestria but not all ponies were equally accepting of fillyfoolers and coltcuddlers and Rainbow had little interest in dealing with homophobic comments.
Alas, her life as a Wonderbolt wouldn’t last forever, she knew that all too well. As much as she hated the fact, Wonderbolts had an expiration date. Twenty years where the maximum of time a Wonderbolt was allowed to be a full-time member. The strain of the regular extreme training to uphold their endurance and agility would wear out her body. She would be still able to race now and then and teach new recruits but her peak performance would be in the past and someday, she would have to retire completely. Then, she would be glad to have somepony to be there for her. She would be glad if Twilight was there.
A smile graced Rainbow’s lips as she let herself fall on her back. Seems like I asked the right question… Thank you, Twilight. The cyan mare closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind wandered towards the lavender unicorn. And what recent event had led to her current position.
Horseapples! Rainbow’s eyes flew open, when remembered how bad Twilight’s mood had been when she left. How could I leave her like that? I have to get back to her! Panic filled the pegasus as she jumped up and flew through the starry night as fast as her wings would carry her.
Soon, she spotted the Golden Oaks Library and descended towards it. Much to her relief, Dash noticed that the balcony door to Twilight’s bedroom was still open. Careful to not make any loud noises, Rainbow landed on the wooden floor and snuck into the dark room.
The athlete’s ears perked up, trying to filter out any information they could as long as her eyes were getting used to the dark interior. The soft breaths of a sleeping pony filled the room and not before long, the cyan mare recognized Twilight's sleeping form on the bed. With quiet steps, Rainbow approached her to get a look at her lover’s face.
Dash flinched when she got a clear view on the unicorn. Dried tears and mucus stained her fur and she was still curled up in a fetal position. Twilight must have cried her eyes out because of me. Guilt washed over Rainbow. At least I can give her the answer she wants now… If it’s not too late... the cyan mare anxiously thought and straightened herself.
“Rainbow?” a weak voice sounded through the darkness. “What do you want?”
Twilight had woken up and stared at Rainbow with an incredibly sad expression. A feeling of remorse, newfound dedication and love replaced the guilt she had felt earlier and clenched around her heart almost painfully. Why did I ever hesitate to give her my heart too?
Without a responding to the question, the cyan mare climbed on the bed and laid herself beside Twilight. Carefully but firmly, she extended her legs and pulled the librarian closer to her, ignoring her feeble struggling.
Once she was close enough, Rainbow leaned in and pressed her lips against Twilights. There was none of the lust and hunger in the kiss, she had shown earlier this day. Instead, it was full of passion and devotion to the unicorn, not leaving a doubt how much the pegasus loved her. Not breaking their connection, Dash nestled her whole body against Twilight’s, feeling her resistance dwindling away and giving in to her.
Eventually, they broke apart and Rainbow gazed into the librarian’s purple eyes. The last bits of doubt vanished from her mind. This was the pony she would love to share her life with, standing together for all times, no matter if they were good or bad. There was no place for hesitation or denial anymore.
“We’ll tell them. Together.” Rainbow gave the purple mare a heartfelt smile.
Twilight’s eyes widened a bit. “What? I mean… Why now? Wha-“
Rainbow interrupted the question with another kiss. No more doubt. No more waiting.
“Don’t ask, Twilight. I just had to clear my mind about something.” Letting her words getting swallowed by the darkness of the night, Dash cradled the lavender unicorn’s head into her chest.
“I love you.” Hearing these words for the first time from her lover’s mouth, a smile of content snuck its way on Twilight’s lips as she closed her eyes and fell asleep again.
Rainbow sighed and rested her head on her marefriend’s. Her life had just taken a new turn, one she had never expected but she would enjoy it to the fullest. After a long time, Rainbow was finally completely in peace with herself again. Exhausted, she followed her lover’s lead and drifted away into the realm of dreams.
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At least Rainbow got her $hit straight...
3635848 Reminds me of my own parents.
My answer to your question, dear author, is yes.
I read it for TEH ADVECHAH! as well as the fluffy feel good moments.
Like your version of the wonderbolts more than others I've read
Adventure is one thing but I came to get my twidash on
I read for both, really. You really are making this realistic as well, and I like that. Can't wait for the next chapter, even if this was last updated over a year ago. It's not canceled so I still have hope! Have a like and a fav, as well as a tracking!
So, um... What about the monster?
It just suddenly disappears?
Although it would be funny.