TwiDash Prompt Collab

by TwiDashCollabs

Countdown - bats

“Ten! Nine! Eight!” The bustling town square was filled with rumbling hooves as the excited chant bellowed from every lung, bouncing around the buildings in a cacophonous din. The flashes of light above the town hall filled the sky with numbers, leading the countdown in the chill winter air. Rainbow pulled her light purple scarf, a Hearth’s Warming gift from Twilight, closer around her neck as she shouted.

“Seven! Six! Five!” Twilight watched the puffs of her breath hang white in front of her muzzle as she yelled. A shiver raced up her spine, half from the cold and half from the infectious cheer hanging in the air. A sky blue wing unfurled and wrapped around her back as a warm blanket.

“Four! Three! Two!” The unicorn nuzzled her marefriend’s neck in gratitude. Rainbow Dash’s voice dropped in volume as she turned, locking eyes with Twilight. Magenta and violet, catching glints of reds and golds from the firework numerals, gazed deeply. The crowd fell away and transformed into a muted roar surrounding the pair. They moved closer, brushing sides. The frigid ends of their coats instantly thawed under the shared heat they passed back and forth, their muzzles drifting closer as they strengthlessly mouthed the final digits.

“One! Happy new year!” Purple and blue lips met on the final count. A second wing unfurled as they turned to face each other, encircling Twilight’s back as she raised her forehooves. Purple limbs slid around blue shoulders, pulling Rainbow to her chest. Their mouths opened simultaneously, an impassioned quest for more warmth and contact. Twilight could taste hot chocolate on her mare’s breath.

As the chant shifted to shapeless shouts and well-wishes, Rainbow Dash swept her hooves around Twilight’s back and flared her wings. With three swift flaps, she lifted them both into the air. They hovered above the crowd, oblivious to the few whistling cat-calls aimed at their embrace. Twilight traced her hooves gently through tousled mane, focusing on the fluttering beat of Rainbow’s heart pressed up against her chest.

Two pairs of eyes slid half open as they parted, seamlessly resuming their enchanted stare. They panted breathlessly, steaming vapor puffs wisping off their parted muzzles. Twilight continued stroking greens, blues, and purples. Rainbow Dash offered Twilight a tiny smile; one only she ever got to see that was devoid of her standard bravado. “Happy new year, Twi’.” She leaned forward and pecked the unicorn on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you, Rainbow.” She returned the brief kiss with one of her own, a foreleg drifting back to cup the blue mare’s face. “Happy new year.”

A chorus of ‘awws’ erupted below them. The daredevil cast a glance at the gathered ponies making moony eyes up at the pair and rolled her eyes. Smirking, she beat her wings rapidly. The couple soared through the winter night. Luna’s moon continued its trek across the sky as the year fully came to a close.

It was a time of new beginnings.