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The Thing I Want Most2,105 words
Is to be By Your Side2,416 words

Is to be By Your Side

“So... you want me to clean up the mess?” Rainbow asked as Twilight glared at her.

“Oh yeah, you’re totally cleaning up this mess!”

“B-but what about your magic? Don’t you know like, a hundred different cleaning spells? Come on, just make it all go away!” Rainbow said with a small giggle.

“Do you have any idea how hard that would be for me?” Twilight groaned and looked around her kitchen. “If I wanted to clean this all up, I would have to focus in on every single piece of soot and pancake mix separately, and then I’d have to pull everything together into one big ball to place in the trash. We’re talking about tens of thousands of individual particles, and you expect me to clean up your mess in that manner like it’s nothing?”

Twilight stomped over to the soot-covered fridge and yanked it open. She used her magic to snag a couple of yogurts, then she ripped off the lids of each one. Without pausing, she opened her mouth wide and squeezed the contents of the container into it, then swallowed it all in one big gulp. She tossed the empty carton aside as she did the same to the second yogurt. As she walked out of the kitchen, she took one last look around and sighed, then she left Rainbow alone.

“Dang... she ate those yogurts faster than a Wonderbolt pit stop!” Rainbow giggled as she reached under the sink for the rags that Twilight stored there. She grabbed half of them and placed them on the kitchen table, then grabbed the first one and ran it under some water from the faucet. She squeezed out the excess water, then started rubbing everything down, taking care to not miss a single spot. It took her a good couple of hours to get it all done. Being the hard worker she was, Rainbow only took one small break, and that was just to eat breakfast.

“Phew, all done!” Rainbow wiped her brow and tossed all of the damp rags into the sink. The kitchen was now free of all the soot that she could find, leaving the kitchen in about the same state that she had found it in that morning. I wonder how Twilight is doing... Hoping that she could help alleviate her marefriend’s stress, she brewed a few cups of coffee. With her tail flicking back and forth from her excitement in making Twilight happy, Rainbow found Twilight’s favorite thermos and poured it all the way to the tippy-top, then screwed on the lid.

After she had poured the rest into a purple-colored mug for herself, Rainbow snagged a small tray and placed both the thermos and her cup onto it, and balanced it on her back. With a pep in her step, Rainbow trotted out of the kitchen and walked down the hall, figuring that Twilight would be in her own personal library.

Coming to a halt in front of the closed door, Rainbow knocked on it with a hoof and let herself in. She spotted Twilight on the other side of the room deeply engrossed in her studies. Twilight’s personal library was a mess. Books lay all over the place, covering the floor, the couch, and even the desk, leaving anypony little room to move about.

Rainbow stepped up to Twilight and set the tray on some closed books to her right. Twilight gasped lightly as she finally realized that Rainbow was there. “Hey, Twi... I hope I’m not interrupting, but... I made us some coffee.” She sat down beside Twilight and pressed their flanks together, then flicked her tail to lay around Twilight’s butt. “Here.” Rainbow slid the thermos in front of Twilight and smiled apologetically. With her ears laying flat on her head, she fluffed her wings and smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry about making that big mess back there...” She took a sip from her mug and smiled as it warmed her up from the inside.

“It’s... fine.” Twilight took a sip from her thermos and sighed in content. “Ahh... I love straight coffee. Thanks for making this, Dash.”

“No problem.” Dash laid her head on Twilight’s shoulder and sighed. “Mind if I hang out with you? I don’t have anything to do for the rest of the day. Maybe I can help around here? Ya know, maybe I can get books for you instead of you using your magic?”

“I suppose...” Twilight said with a hint of unsureness in her tone. “I can’t talk much, though, and I need absolute silence for me to get anything done. I simply have way too much work to do.” She smiled as she took another sip of coffee. “But it’s nice to have you here. I’m sorry I snapped at you back in the kitchen.” Twilight nuzzled the back of Rainbow’s head with her chin.

“It’s cool. I probably would have done the same thing if someone did that to my kitchen, too.” Rainbow lifted her head from Twilight’s shoulder and sat up. “So... you need me to grab you a book?”

“Actually, yes. I need you to grab the one at the very tip top of the shelf for me.” Twilight pointed her horn at it then lit it up with a spell. “Do be careful, though, the books on top of it are incredibly rare.”

Rainbow set her mug down on the desk and flew up to where Twilight had pointed out the book for her. Its size paled in comparison to the ten or so books that sat on top of it. Rainbow rolled her eyes then rubbed her chin. Trying to wiggle that book from under all of those big books is gonna take a ton of work... Hm... Ahah! As a smile grew on her face, Rainbow lifted the top book off of the stack and set it aside. She took the next one, and the next one, and the next one, then kept moving the books until at last, her prize was revealed. “Got it, Twi!”

“Great. Now bring it down,” Twilight murmured.

“Okay.” Rainbow turned and with a great flap of her wings, she darted back to Twilight’s side. “Here you go!” She held out the book a couple of moments before she heard a low creaking noise come from behind her. Uh oh... Rainbow turned around just in time to see the books she had just moved aside all come crashing to the ground, one right after the other. She knew that she’d only get hurt trying to keep them from falling, so she made no attempt to stop them. Many moments passed as she watched each tome slam to the ground, expelling large amounts of old book dust.

Twilight simply glared at her. “Remember what I said about absolute silence, Dash?”

Rainbow sighed as she stood up. With her head hung low, she slunk from the room with her tail tucked between her hind legs and flew away. For a day that was supposed to go so perfectly, it sure didn’t end up like that... Rainbow flew around aimlessly for a few solid hours, never once stopping to take a break. She pushed herself to the limit, and then, as her muscles screamed for her to take a break, Rainbow found a nearby cloud and collapsed upon it. As she panted heavily, she rolled over onto her back and spread her wings wide to help cool off.

Gee, I sure messed up... Now, how can I make this up to her? Rainbow rolled over to let the heat of the sun warm her back, then let out a content sigh. After a few moments of thinking, she sat upright. “Hey, now there’s an idea!”

With that thought in mind, Rainbow jumped off of the cloud and flew off in the direction of her home.

As the sun began to near the horizon, Dash closed her front door and flew as fast as she could in the general direction of Twilight’s castle. Figuring that she’d given Twilight enough quiet time to finish most, if not all of her work, Rainbow made a beeline for the castle and screeched to a halt right outside the front doors. She opened them as quietly as she could, then trotted inside. She let her saddlebag slide off of her back, then retrieved the box of chocolates that she’d bought a little earlier.

Holding it under her left wing, Rainbow trotted through the castle until she found Twilight, who just so happened to be in the exact same spot from earlier. She walked up to her and sat down just like she had done earlier, pressing her flank up against hers. As the sunlight began to dim against the wall in front of them, Rainbow dropped the box of chocolates on top of the open book in front of Twilight. Staying silent, she laid a wing over Twilight’s back and tugged her close.

Rainbow sighed softly as she nuzzled into Twilight’s neck. “I don’t like to be neglected, Twi...”

Twilight shrunk as her marefriend’s words pierced her heart. She opened her right wing and laid it across Rainbow’s back and held on tightly. “I’m sorry for being harsh on you... I just, well... you know how much my work means to me.” She bit her bottom lip and sighed a few moments later. “But that’s no excuse to treat you so badly. Can you forgive me?”

“Already have, my adorable bookworm.” Dash held Twilight’s hoof with her own and laid a small kiss on the side of her neck, just under her chin. She opened her other wing and flipped the lid off of the box of chocolates. “Here, I got you these. I figured we could both indulge ourselves tonight.” She lifted her favorite piece, the one filled with caramel, and held it up for Twilight. Twilight’s ears flicked back and she blushed a bit as she opened her mouth for Rainbow. With a flick of a feather, Rainbow popped the delicious treat into Twilight’s mouth.

“Mmm... that’s goooooood.” Twilight smiled and used her magic to lift up a piece of chocolate for Rainbow.

Rainbow lunged forward and snatched it out of the air with her teeth, then swallowed the entire thing whole with a chuckle.

“Does everything have to be a competition with you, Dashie?” Twilight asked with a light giggle. “Anyways, what time is it?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes with a hoof.

Rainbow nuzzled her and said, “It’s dinner time.”

The two of them flew from the castle out into the night sky. The sun had just vanished below the horizon, the last vestiges of light fading away slowly. Instead of flying as fast as possible, Rainbow held herself back for Twilight, knowing that nopony likes to show up to dinner all sweaty and exhausted.

“Trust me, you’re gonna love this.” Dash landed on the cloud outside of her front door and placed a hoof on the doorknob. Then, without wasting another moment, Dash opened the front door and nodded for Twilight to go in.

Twilight shot Rainbow a curious smile as she stepped inside. Rose petals lined the floor leading further into the house, and what looked to be hundreds of little red paper hearts hung from the ceiling. “Dash, this... it’s beautiful,” she whispered in awe. It must have taken her hours to set this all up!

“Well, beautiful ponies deserve beautiful things,” Rainbow said. Twilight glanced at her and snickered. “Okay fine, that was super cheesy, but hey, I had to try!”

“Oh, it was totally cheesy, but luckily for you, I like that sort of cheesy.” Twilight followed Rainbow down the path of rose petals until they stopped in front of a small glass table set near the large bay window of the living room. Two candles lay already lit, their flickering glow providing a light soft enough to light the dark room. Two thick cushions sat on either side of the table, so she picked the one on the left and sat down.

Bread lay in a basket to her right with a small tray of olive oil right next to it. To her left lay a large bowl of salad, and right in the middle sat a small bowl holding eight chocolate-covered strawberries. “Rainbow, this... wow,” she said breathlessly. Her ears flicked back as Rainbow smiled at her, and she felt her cheeks warm up as she blushed. “After how I treated you, this is...”

“Shh... it’s alright.” Rainbow lifted a strawberry from the small platter, leaned over the table, and pressed it up against Twilight’s lips.

Twilight opened her mouth and let Rainbow place the strawberry on her tongue. A multitude of sweet flavors caressed her tongue before she swallowed it. “Dang, I never knew you could make all of this,” she said as she eyed another strawberry.

Dinner was spent mostly in silence as the two of them dug into it all. They snuck many looks at each other, always looking away when the other caught them. Before long, dinner was done and all the food was gone.

“Here, since you spent so much time putting all of this together, I’ll take care of these dishes.” Twilight stood up and lit her horn, then lifted up all of the dishes from the table. As she began to trot away, she heard Rainbow scramble back to her hooves a moment later.

“Hey, er... wanna just go upstairs and snuggle instead? We can totally do the dishes later!” Rainbow said rather quickly. She flew in front of Twilight and made her stop right outside the kitchen door.

Twilight stepped past Rainbow and pushed open the kitchen door as she looked at her marefriend. “Oh, don’t be silly, Dash! We can clean these real quick, and then... oh.” Twilight found Rainbow’s kitchen an absolute wreck. Dirty dishes covered nearly all of the space on the counters. “Hehe, so you wanted to trash another kitchen, hm? I hope that this isn’t going to be a thing with you...” she said with a giggle as she placed the plates into the sink.

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about that!” Rainbow stepped up to her and guided her back around outside of the kitchen. “So... ya wanna go snuggle and read a book together upstairs?”

Twilight kissed Dash on the lips and bumped her flank with her own. “You knew just what was on my mind, Dashie!”

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