Beneath the Starry Sky
A Twilightful Dash of Caprice ~ Beneath the Starry Sky
A prismatic streak of color raced across the sky on the outskirts of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was in her element as she soared through the springtime air. Each powerful wingstroke from the pegasus filled her mind with boundless joy and elation. This was what Rainbow lived for. Even if nothing else exciting happened for the rest of the day, she would have her flight. But today was special: far below her, a certain unicorn rested comfortably in the grass.
Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow played the name through her head as she casually shaped a particularly fluffy cloud to resemble her likeness. The unicorn was a bit of an enigma to the pegasus—for all of her abilities and intelligence, Twilight never seemed to be willing to show them off. Instead, the purple mare opted to quietly study in her library all day, and it was only when there was some established social get-together did she pull herself from her books and reports to partake in the festivities.
Today was no exception for Twilight. Rainbow arrived mid-morning after her customary nap from an intense half-hour of actual weather patrol work. Her natural talents made work fast and boring which in turn allowed even more time for pranking, napping, and all things flying. Normally, Rainbow would seek out Fluttershy’s company for her daily practice sessions, but her usual audience was busy dealing with an outbreak of bunny-flu. Rainbow’s other friends were equally occupied: Applejack with springtime crop tending, Pinkie with a large baking order, and Rarity with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. This left the bookish unicorn as Rainbow’s only possible chance at an audience.
“Absolutely not,” Twilight had stated firmly, adding, “I have a lot of studying to do, and if I don’t complete this book I won’t be suitably prepared when night comes around.” Even after explaining her reasons, Twilight still seemed uncomfortable with denying her friend’s request. The look of disappointment on Rainbow’s face didn’t make the refusal any easier.
As much as she prepared for such an outcome, Rainbow still couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that a book could be more awesome than her flying. Twilight was going to come and watch her practice today even if she had to forcibly shove the unicorn from the library to the grassy fields west of Ponyville. “Twilight. You’ve been in this library for two weeks, you need fresh air, you need sunshine, and most of all, you need to some social interaction!”
Twilight checked off each of the reasons Rainbow had listed. It was true that she hadn’t really been out in over two weeks beyond acquiring food and a party nine days ago. She was comfortable surrounded by her books, but fresh air did have it’s appeal. Besides, the sunshine outside seemed rather appealing.
She sighed with resignation. Rainbow was right. She should get out more, and today was a good opportunity to do so. “Fine,” she stated plainly and gathered up her book, notepad, quill and inkpot.
“What’s all that for?” Rainbow looked at the items floating into a saddlebag as it was unceremoniously placed over Twilight’s back.
“I said I needed to finish this book, but I can do it outside.” Twilight stepped out of the library and prodded Rainbow with a hoof. “I’m not letting fresh air and sunshine get in the way of my schedule. This just happens to be a convenient way to handle a few things at once.”
But how are you going to watch me if you’re reading? Rainbow shrugged off the brief flicker of concern. At least Twilight was going to come and keep her company. She decided it was enough for now.
The trip to her usual practice field took an eternity for Rainbow. It didn’t help that the unicorn tagging along, forcibly, spent most of the time with her face buried in a book levitated in front of her. Rainbow’s best attempts to make conversation met with little success. Every time her eyes met Twilight’s, the unicorn would quickly look away leaving Rainbow completely befuddled.
“Twilight, mind if I do a few tricks while you walk?” The question was accompanied by a prod to the shoulder.
“Mm...no...” Twilight mumbled incoherently while she hid her face from Rainbow in the mysterious tome of knowledge.
Rainbow needed no further bidding. She launched herself into the sky doing twists and loop-de-loops as she pleased. She realized the thought of having a singular audience was almost as good as having an actual audience, perhaps even better. It turned into a game where the objective was to fly as close as possible to Twilight in an attempt to catch her attention. It worked: Twilight was watching, as much as she tried to focus on reading.
By the time the two of them finally reached the practice field, Rainbow was ready for a nap. Normally a half-hour practice session would barely phase her, but today was different. She tried every single trick she knew, and tried to pull them off under tighter restraints in an attempt to catch Twilight’s attention. As Twilight settled into the grassy field with her book before her, Rainbow landed next to her, panting slightly.
“Phew, I haven’t flown so many tricks in a row in ages. I need a nap.” She fell over onto her back with her wings splayed looking up at the cloudy skies.
“Go right ahead Rainbow. Just try not to snore,” Twilight responded calmly while turning the page of her book.
“You got it, Twilight.” Rainbow wasn’t actually sure how she would keep herself from snoring, but she figured she’d get prodded awake if she did actually snore.
Sure enough, the gentle prodding of a hoof against her chest woke her from her slumber. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around trying to get her bearings. “What...what’s going on? Where am I?”
“You’re laying in a field. You were flying around like a maniac earlier and ended up taking a nap.” Twilight sighed and looked up at the sky as if seeking patience from the heavens. “A nap which turned into a full blown snooze. It’s almost dark out now!”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to sleep that long.”
Twilight shook her head and smiled, “Don’t worry about it, Rainbow. I had my book with me. so my day was perfectly productive.” She flourished several pages of notes in front of the pegasus’s face. “See? I have pages of notes on a very interesting topic.” She grinned and winked.
“But... I was going to show...wait, very interesting?” Rainbow leaned closer trying to read the contents of the notes floating inches from her face. “What kind of interesting?” The notes de-materialized suddenly with a bright purple flash. “Woah! What could be so interesting yet so secret you’re going to hide it?”
“That...” Twilight smiled coyly, “is a secret.”
“Oh, that’s not going to fly, girl! Not with Rainbow Danger Dash!” The element of surprise was on her side as she tackled the unicorn, her hooves searching over Twilight’s body for points of weakness. “Gotcha! Are you going to spill the beans?”
“Never! Bring it on, featherbrain!” Twilight retaliated with precision, her hooves seeking out the pegasus’s sides. “A researcher will always defend her research! You won’t be able to break me!”
“We’ll see about that, egghead! It’s time to bring out the big guns.” Rainbow flared her wings and used their full span to stroke along Twilight’s sides. “You better tap out fast!”
“N...never!” Twilight’s horn flared surrounding Rainbow in a purple glow. “I have big guns, too!” She levitated Rainbow Dash in front of her and flipped her around. “I’ve heard pegasus wings are very sensitive at the base. What do you think? Should I conduct a personal investigation?”
“You keep your hooves off me!” Rainbow struggled against the magical bonds, her body tensing and heaving with exertion as she tried to break free. “You may have me in your grasp, but you’ll regret the day you touch my wings!”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for you, Ms. Rainbow Danger Dash. You see, I’ve already won!” Twilight did her best impression of an evil cackle as her hooves sunk into Rainbow’s back rubbing along the base of her wings furiously. The pegasus squirmed insolently within her grasp.
“Ah...Twilight, s-stop it! I...that feels funny...don’t do that!”
The jovial nature of the ponyplay crumbled around them. Twilight abruptly released Rainbow, who fell to the ground with a thump. “Rainbow...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...” Twilight sighed and turned away, burying her head in her hooves.
“Hey...don’t do that.” A hoof gently rested upon Twilight’s shoulder stroking along her back. Wow...her fur is so soft, why didn’t I notice it before? What a weird thing to think. Rainbow cleared her thoughts and refocused on the distraught unicorn. “You were just playing around, we both were. I’m fine.”
Rainbow trotted over in front of Twilight and gently nudged her hooves away with her own so she could look Twilight in the eyes. She wasn’t prepared to see such deep pools of purple tinged with guilt. “Twilight...look, I’m fine, see?” She brought a hoof up to Twilight’s face slowly and gently wiped away the lingering tears at the corner of each eye. “You didn’t do anything wrong, we were just having fun together. I love fun things.”
“But I...”
A hoof interrupted her. “Twilight, stop worrying about it. You’re gonna stress me out.” Rainbow sighed. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have jumped her like that. What came over me? “C’mere...” Rainbow tugged Twilight into a hug and squeezed her tightly within her hooves. “I’m fine, okay? It’s been an awesome day with you today, let’s not get all sad.”
Twilight sniffed in response.
Maybe if I say something nice, she’ll snap out of it. Think Rainbow think... “You look nice in the moonlight.” Wait, what? What was that?
“Thanks, Rainbow...though, I know what you’re trying to do.”
“It’s working, right?” Rainbow smiled as widely as she could at Twilight.
“Well...” Twilight realized that Rainbow had the goofiest looking smile on her face. It was borderline creepy, actually. “Yes, but only from you, Rainbow.”
“Yes!” Rainbow leapt into the air doing a flip. “I never let my friends down!”
“Even if you’re a little brash and forceful at times.”
“Hey! That’s my endearing side.” Rainbow looked away from Twilight and pawed at the ground with her hoof. “I just can’t help the way I express my affection.”
“I didn’t say it was bad.” Twilight sided up to Rainbow and nuzzled her cheek gently. “It certainly is effective given the circumstances.”
“Yeah, but only after I upset you.” Rainbow stomped the ground and looked up at the sky. “Stay here, Twilight. I’ll be right back.” Her wings flared wide and a powerful beat of her wings launched her into the night sky.
Well. There she goes. Twilight sat quietly in the grass and waited for Rainbow’s return. If she could figure out what Rainbow was thinking, it would make everything so much easier. Instead Rainbow kept throwing her off by alternating her behavior between brash and sensitive.
A breeze overhead pulled her from her thoughts as she involuntarily glanced upward to see Rainbow hovering just above with a basket clutched firmly within her mouth. She landed and spread the contents of the basket out before Twilight. “I grabbed a few things quickly from Pinkie. Everything we need for a picnic.”
Twilight blinked and smiled at Rainbow. “You do know it’s a little past the normal picnic time, right?” The question was actually rhetorical at this point, she just wanted to buy herself some time to figure out why Rainbow was suddenly being...less brash than usual. Well, there goes that theory. That’s two sensitive things at in a row. Though she’s pretty much forcing a picnic on me. What does that qualify as?
As Twilight mused over whatever ulterior motives her friend might have, she watched Rainbow try to lay out a blanket. But for whatever reason, the blanket always ended up rumpled from too much force one direction or the other. Smiling ever so slightly to herself, she channeled a little concentration to her horn and straightened out the cloth so it laid neatly on the grass.
“Thanks...” Rainbow muttered quietly and looked away toward the picnic basket.
Twilight giggled a little and crawled onto the blanket. “You’re welcome, Rainbow. Thanks for getting all of this. The blanket will be nice when the cool breeze at night rolls in.”
“Mm-hmm,” came the muffled reply as Rainbow lifted the picnic basket onto the blanket. Removing the handles of the basket from her mouth, she flipped open the wicker container and pulled out half-a-dozen sandwiches, juice, and a couple of cookies.
“Wow, those sandwiches look delicious. I’m not sure if we can finish all of them between ourselves, though.”
“Heh, when you do as much flying as I do, six sandwiches is nothing!” Rainbow nosed a sandwich over to Twilight before grabbing one herself.
“As much as sandwiches by the moonlight is nice, I can barely see anything. Let me get a fire going.” Twilight lit her horn, and a few minutes later they were in possession of a crackling fire surrounded by a ring of rocks. Positioning her back to the warm flames, Twilight turned and smiled at Rainbow.
Sandwich forgotten, Rainbow found herself unable to tear her vision away from the pony in front of her. Somehow, this moment with Twilight filled her with a sense of ease and serenity she thought was only possible during her solitary flights late at night. Perhaps it was the soft orange glow of the fire reflecting off Twilight’s lightly groomed coat. It might’ve been the sparkling golden embers rising into the night contrasted by the glimmering stars in the background. Whatever it was, Rainbow found herself captivated like a moth to a flame.
“How’s the fire, Rainbow?” Twilight asked quietly.
“Beautiful,” Rainbow mumbled out quietly.
Twilight giggled again and levitated a sandwich to her lips. “When you say it like that, it makes it sound like you’ve never seen fire before.”
“What? Of course I’ve seen fire before!” Rainbow took a bite of her sandwich hastily and tried not to blush. Swallowing, she shrugged casually and looked up at the sky. “It’s pretty cool that you can put together a campfire like that.”
“Thanks, Rainbow. It’s the least I could do after you flew all these picnic items out here for us.”
“No problem. How’s your sandwich?”
“Great! How did you know I liked daisy and daffodil sandwiches?”
“Well...” Rainbow finished off her first sandwich and grabbed another one. “Do you remember when you got those tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala? I might’ve overheard your order.”
“Rainbow...” Twilight shook her head in amazement. “That was a long time ago. I’m surprised you remembered.”
“Huh... you’re right. I’m surprised I remembered too. Still, daisy and daffodil is delicious.”
“Mmmph,” Twilight agreed with her mouth full, nodding her head.
By the time they were done eating, Rainbow was completely stuffed. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the night sky. “So, Twilight. What was that book about? I know it’s a secret, but it’s not like you Pinkie-promised not to tell.”
“What’s got you so interested all of a sudden, Rainbow? I never took you for the inquisitive type.” Twilight scooted over and laid down next to the pegasus, her eyes cast skyward toward the multitude of stars dotted above them.
“And I’m not! I’m just curious about what’s so interesting in a book that you barely watch my tricks.”
“Oh...afraid that something is going to outshine you?”
“What? Of course not! No way a book could outshine me.” Rainbow tapped herself on the chest with her forehoof.
Twilight giggled and turned her head to look at Rainbow at her side. “That’s probably true, though the contents of the book just might. Would you like to see?”
Through narrowed eyes, Rainbow seized Twilight up. “I don’t know, Twilight. It’s not boring, is it?”
“I don’t find it boring. Plus, it’s up in the sky if it makes you feel any better.”
Rainbow sighed and stretched out her limbs. “Mm, fine. I don’t really feel like moving anyways after all that food. But if it’s boring, you owe me.”
Twilight nodded. “Deal.”
“So...what exactly are we waiting for then?”
“Huh? Oh, we’re waiting for our eyes. I just put the fire so it might take a bit for our eyes to adjust.”
“Adjust to what?”
“The night sky. Just look up and try not to focus too hard.”
“Okay.”
Rainbow relaxed her body and cast her eyes upward. The canvas of the night rolled forth before her and delicate bright brushes of light dotted the endless sheet with countless stars. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the stars gave way to soft white glow of billions of stars illuminating the darkness in one cohesive effort. As stunning as all this was, what was the most amazing was the fact she never noticed. She flew at night all the time, but she never took the time to look.
“Wow...” Twilight softly gasped out.
Rainbow looked to her side, expecting to see Twilight equally bedazzled by the night-time show. Instead, she found Twilight staring intently at her. Blushing, she looked away and returned her vision to the stars above her.
“Rainbow, I didn’t take you for a star-gazer,” Twilight teased.
“I’m not! I was just caught by surprise by all the stars.”
“Mmhmm...” Twilight agreed with just a touch of smugness in her voice.
“Arg, fine. If you hadn’t asked me to stay and look, I never would have noticed. So...thanks. It’s cool, I guess.”
“Wow, I’d never expected to hear that from you, Rainbow. Would you like me to point out some constellations unique to the spring season?”
“Sure.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as Twilight squealed in delight. Relaxing back into the blanket, she let her eyes wander the skies as Twilight guided them through the cosmos, pointing from one brilliant pattern of stars to another.
“...and this star here is a very unique one. Because of where it’s at, the light it gives off often gets discolored and changed by those around it. So early stargazers called it the all-color star. But, once a year, the angle is just right and we can see it for exactly what it is.”
The star glittered brightly with a pure soft blue hue.
Rainbow admired the star she was directed to by Twilight’s outstretched hoof, but something didn’t seem quite right. Suddenly, it clicked. “That’s it? You spent all day reading about stars and wouldn’t tell me?”
Twilight blushed and rubbed her hooves together nervously. “Well, I thought you might find it boring. Remember when I told you I read a book about running and you fell over laughing?”
“Yeah, but this is different! The stars are nice, but I dragged you out here because I wanted to hang out with you and show off my tricks. It doesn’t matter if you like reading about stars.”
“Oh...Oh!” Twilight brightened significantly and reached her hoof out over to Rainbow’s. “So, does that mean you’d like to go stargazing with me next week?”
Rainbow grasped the hoof and squeezed it with a smile. “I’d love to, Twi. Though, you’re responsible for the picnic next time.”
“You got it, Dashie. I’ll be more than happy to.”
Twily by AeronJVL (used with permission)
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Lovely. Twas a beautiful read.
Indeed, these were a lot of fun and obviously quite heartfelt. Well done!
All theses slice of life of Twilight's and Rainbow Dash's relationship was beautiful it's a sham it has come to an end
But they were all good and well done I look forward to whatever of your works interests me in the future. 
This is adorable Twidash with some very vivid descriptions and stunning scenery. The setup with the fire is particularly nice. I like how this chapter just focuses on the purity and innocense of a slowly budding attraction.
Dawww, so adorable
3003831 This was written a long time ago. I was mostly poking fun at the variety of colors assigned to Rainbow Dash. My editor said the joke was too subtle, but I left it in anyways. Her eyes are officially "moderate-cerise".
Sad to know these stories are finally over.
Aww, I'm sad these are over. They're some of the best written TwiDash I've read on this site ^_^