The day after the night before

The Wind Beneath Her Wings

"Dash, what are you doing?" screeched Twilight from across the room, staring intently at the confused blue Pegasus.

"Wmph- What?" replied Dash incredulously, spitting out the dusting brush she was using to try and clean out the last of the pudding from the cover of yet another book.

"You're brushing too hard, you'll damage it!"

"But you said-"

"Dash!"

Twilight was not in a good mood. Most of the lower shelves in her library needed serious attention, and quickly. Twilight was doing as much as she could, grabbing books in her mouth and cleaning them off with one of Spike's dusters, scraping the chocolate pudding off into one of several buckets in the floor.

Twilight was not in a good mood. Her head was killing her, her horn felt like it was on fire, her library was a mess, Spike was returning later that day, and Cheerilee was bringing a class over in about an hour. Rainbow Dash was, as usual, sitting in the corner being pretty but ultimately not much use, though Twilight had to admit she was trying her best, bless her little wings.

Rainbow Dash could hardly be feeling more different - here she was, sitting with a goofy smile on her face, slapping away at something that didn't really matter, because she was sitting in Twilight's library, next to Twilight, helping Twilight do Twilight things. Even in a bitter mood, she was... Sparkling.

Dash finished off another book, and set it down in her tiny little pile. "Twi, I thought you said you could magic all this away?" she asked, leaning over to grab another book and giving her aching wings a testing stretch. Nope, didn't work, painful as all hay. Dash didn't really care, she remembered how they got that way, and that was more than enough for her.

"I can! Could! You're very distracting!" Twilight protested, but even her sour mood and tendency to snap didn't let her be mad at Dash for long. Dash grinned back at her, accepting the unintentional compliment. Twilight threw a book at her stupid gorgeous face.

Rainbow Dash, to her credit, did attempt to avoid it, temporarily forgetting that the slightest movement of her wings would send agony shooting through her entire body. So painful, in fact, that the book hitting her square on the forehead seemed funny, not hurtful, and she couldn't help but fall about laughing, finally realising the absurdity of the situation.

Eventually she slowed enough to choke out a few words. "Twi, you realise we're not gonna get this done, right? Or... anywhere near done?"

Twilight paused, sat down, and surveyed the room. Dash's meagre pile, plus her own significantly larger pile, was vastly outnumbered by the sheer quantity of books. Why did she have so many Celestia-damned books? Why did she have to fry her own horn the very day she really, really needed magic to fix this? Why was Dash still laughing at her?

"Oh, this is hopeless," Twilight groaned, throwing her duster to the floor in frustration. "Even Celestia would struggle with this... disgusting sticky mess. Dash, what're we gonna do?"

Before Dash could respond, there was a powerful and urgent sounding knock at the door. The two looked at each other. Twilight sighed, and Dash laughed even harder, her breaths becoming erratic as she struggled to get enough oxygen, finding more and more humour in the situation as it got more and more awkward.

Twilight's horn may not have been capable of even the simplest magic spell, but it was still hard, and it was still somewhat pointy. Dash stopped laughing after a dozen or so jabs, and then a few more for good measure. "Act natural!" hissed Twilight as she pulled Dash onto her hooves, and went to answer the door.

Try to open the door, in any case. Locks were difficult to use without magic, and it took several moments to jiggle the little knob along until the door was free to swing open.

"Ohmygosh it IS you! Pinkie-sense never fails, Twilight, I told you! Anyway, gosh, finally! I'm so happy for you, Dashie, and you, Twilight...ie?" gasped the pink ball of frothing energy and unstoppable enthusiasm that the locals called Pinkie Pie.

"What?" asked both mares, as if it was practised.

"Oh! My rump wiggled, and then my tail twitched, and then my heart fluttered, and that always means somepony just realised they were in love! And then Pumpkin Cake started walking through walls again and you said that wouldn't happen again unless she had a LOT of magic from somewhere, and then I smelled yours in the air, and Rarity once told me that unicorns do that sometimes when they have super fun times with their special someponies, and Dash has always looked at you funny even if she never admitted it, and oh gosh you two need a party!"

"What? Look, Pinkie, we're very busy, we have a lot of cleaning to do"

"Oh, the pudding? Let auntie Pinkie take care of that!"

Before the two knew it, Pinkie had jumped behind them and pushed them out of the door, locking it behind them. Twilight was locked out of her own house. She couldn't open the door without her magic. Dash couldn't fly in through the conveniently placed bedroom window without her wings. Being locked outside and grounded was a novel experience for both of them.

"Dash?" Twilight asked, turning to face the equally bemused Pegasus, "How did she know about the pudding?"

"Pinkie Pie." Dash replied. Twilight accepted that as the best answer she was ever likely to get. The only thing they could do was hope that Pinkie would pull through, because the weekly class visit from the local school would be coming along far too soon for comfort.

"So, uh. Pinkie knew, huh." said Dash in a perfectly calm and steady voice, "And she never said a thing. To either of us. I'll never understand that pony."

As if to underscore the point, Pinkie pulled Twilight's door open and threw out a small stack of papers, reeling off "7, tonight, Sugarcube corner. Go deliver these while I clean" before slamming the door shut once more.

The papers were about card sized. The papers were invitations. The papers were card sized invitations to "Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle's 'Congratulations on finding somepony special' shindig". Tonight, at 7pm, at Sugarcube corner. There was an invitation for basically everyone in town. It would be almost physically impossible to actually deliver all of these before the party had ended, never mind started.

"I... guess we have to tell everypony eventually, right?" Twilight asked, looking up at Dash's shocked face.

"Uh, yeah? The only reason I'm not shouting it from the rooftops is because I can't get up there, Twi!" Dash shouted, more through passion than anger. She looked away, dropping her usual facade for just a moment and quietly saying, almost as a whimper, "I need to know you know that. You're kinda a big deal to me, Twi."

Twilight was taken aback. She knew Dash was looking for more than just sore wings and a room full of pudding—not that they were ever doing that again. Seriously—but just how forceful she seemed about it scared her; more than Discord, more than charging straight at Nightmare Moon, maybe even scared her more than her final exams.

"Oh," Twilight whispered, her voice barely audible as her brain rushed to try to comprehend the enormity of what Dash was making clear to her.

"Look, you know I can fly, right? I didn't crash into you on your first day here because I can't control my wings. I saw you, and like... that was it. You were gorgeous, and I wanted to see how quickly I could get you into my bed. Then I talked to you, and all of a sudden I didn't want that any more, and it scared me. I'd never felt like that before. Then, when we were talking more, just you and me, in that celebration after we kicked Nightmare Moon's ass, I realised it. Twilight Sparkle, I love you. Always have."

"Oh."

"Look, just... think about it, alright? I'll start on these invites. I get it, alright? I'm not as dense as I look; I've had years to figure this out." With that, Dash's eyebrows un-furrowed, her eyes became as sharp as usual, and the carefree grin returned to her face. "So, see ya in a few hours, Twi!" she called behind her as she grabbed a bunch of invites in her jaw and started to trot away towards the nearest pony, ready to invite the lot.

"Oh." Twilight whispered silently to herself, and sat on her rump. "Oh."

"Oh."

Twilight was in trouble, she knew she was. Friends she could deal with, friends made sense. Hay, she'd literally written the book on friendship. Twilight knew all too well that the section on "Love" was non-existent. She knew nothing about it, at all—not even the basics. She needed to find a book on the subject, but she couldn't even get into her library. For the first time in a very long time, Twilight Sparkle felt utterly helpless.

If she failed a friend, they'd be disappointed, maybe even angry. If she failed Celestia, she'd just be disappointed. If she failed Dash, she had absolutely no idea what would happen. To make things worse, she knew very well how not to fail a friend, and how not to fail Celestia, but how not to fail Dash? Step 1... no idea. Not a clue. Oh sweet Celestia, not a clue.

Step 1 of Twilight's mental "knowledge acquisition" checklist, 'find a book', was unavailable. Step 2, 'ask Celestia' would be too awkward. That left step 3, 'ask a friend'. She obviously couldn't straight up ask Dash, Pinkie was out of order, and the best candidate was Rarity anyway. Twilight set off at a dash for Rarity's boutique, leaving the remainder of the invite pile lying by the side of the path.

"Rarity!" Twilight called, opening the door with an awkward hoof, "I need your help!"

"Rarity?" she called again, the silence seeming almost deafening. No response. Twilight continued on, the feeling of vulnerability creeping back into her mind as her over-active imagination started to list through everything that could have gone wrong. Rarity could be trapped under a heavy case, and Twilight would be helpless. She could have been attacked, and Twilight wouldn't be able to do a thing. Without her magic, Twilight felt something she hadn't properly felt for a very long time - fear.

"Rarity?" Twilight tried again, her voice barely more than a hoarse whisper, and her ears straining to pick out any sound against the rough silence. Again, no response. Twilight knew it was a bad idea, but she was getting worried for Rarity, so she steeled herself against the pain and started to concentrate.

Her horn flared with the dimmest glow imaginable as Twilight used as weak magic as she could manage, and she started to sense outwards, looking for any sign of her fussy white friend. Mere moments later, her fears were washed aside as she sensed Rarity somewhere above and to the left. Twilight dared not try to figure out more - though usually a simple sight spell was something she could do with 3 hooves tied behind her back, her current state was only very slowly improving.

"Rarity? Are you up there?" Twilight called as she scaled the stairs, opening the door nearest to where she believed Rarity to be.

"Twilight, do you mind! I'm indecent!" shrieked Rarity as Twilight burst into her bathroom, the bathwater still draining away as Rarity towelled herself off, "but enough about me - did you want something?"

Rarity looked fine. She always did. Her face, even without makeup, was near impeccable, and her hair, even soaking wet, looked fabulous. Twilight had absolutely no idea what Rarity would think of her post-bath if this was 'indecent'.

"I... wanted to ask your advice, as a friend; It's private."

"Oh my, how exciting! I'd love to, Twilight, of course I would, but I'm simply in no state to be seen right now. Why don't you wait downstairs, and I'll be down in no time at all?"

Twilight had no choice, and retired to Rarity's lower floors, finding a few beanbags in the corner to provide adequate seating. Rarity surely couldn't take more than a few moments to become 'decent', especially given that she knew Twilight was waiting here. Right?

Several... minutes? Hours?—Twilight wasn't honestly sure any more—later, Twilight had successfully figured out how Rarity's sewing machine worked, and managed to put it back together. With two screws left over, even - Twilight's design must be more efficient.

"Ta-da!" Rarity announced, swinging her mane around as she left the bathroom. She looked exactly like she normally did; every strand of hair perfect, as normal. She really would be the catch of a lifetime for any mare or stallion, thought Twilight.

"Now, Twilight, what did you need help with?"

"Well, Rarity... what does love feel like?"

Rarity was taken aback, she'd expected a question about how to deal with Spike, or what hat would go best with what dress, but not that. That was a question she was not entirely ready to answer herself, never mind for others.

Stalling for time, Rarity asked "Oh my, what's brought this on, Twilight?" and frantically started to think back to every cheesy romance novel she'd ever read. If she was being honest with herself, Rarity didn't really know what love was either. She'd once thought she had, but that night hadn't gone well.

"Somepony told me today that they loved me, and that they had for a long time, and I really don't know how I feel back. I think... maybe? You know more about this than me, Rarity, what do I do?"

"Oh, how juicy! Tell me about the lucky stallion!" Rarity squeed, forgetting her own troubles in the face of such juicy gossip.

"Oh! Sh- He's wonderful. Funny, and loyal, and brave, honest, and true. He's amazing, and talented, and driven, and gorgeous, and the best there is at what she- at what he does. Oh, and the way he looks at me, Rarity, it's like... nopony has ever looked at me like that. It kind of scares me."

Rarity sat enraptured by Twilight's passionate outburst, mentally comparing it with every trashy romance she'd ever spent a few hours in a scented bathtub consuming; every one was a match. "Oh, darling, do tell me more! Nopony is perfect, what's wrong with him?"

"That's the problem, Rarity, I don't really know. He can be kind of obnoxious at times, and sometimes doesn't look before he leaps, but I kinda like that. It's exciting, I could learn so much from her!"

"Her?" asked Rarity, tilting her head with a smirk.

Twilight shifted uncomfortably, wrapping her tail around the beanbag and brushing her hoof against the floor. "Him," she corrected hopefully.

"Twilight, you don't have to hide anything from me! Why, I just WISH I could see mares that way; it's so fashionable these days. I'm envious, truly." Rarity explained, her voice overplaying the drama of the situation seemingly without her knowledge. "Now, who is it?" she asked demandingly, pouting slightly and twisting her eyebrows into a face of desperation. It was a face that even the mightiest stallion would fall to, and one that Twilight found herself almost as hopeless against.

"Raohdsh," mumbled Twilight as her purple cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She knew how ridiculous it would seem, Dash was a friend. It was absurd. It was a terrible idea.

"I'm sorry, can you speak up?"

Twilight sighed and decided that given that Dash was going to tell pretty much the entire town, she may as well come clean. "It's Rainbow."

Rarity's eyes went wide as her head pulled back in surprise. "I knew it! I knew she was hiding something from me. Oh, the next time I see her I'll just... Oh, but Twilight, this is wonderful news! Don't think I haven't seen the way you look at her!"

"I do?"

"All the time. Remember when we were all helping at Sweet Apple Acres? I thought you were simply going to faint, standing there staring at her. Oh, Twilight, I'm so happy for you."

"No, Rarity, it's not that simple! Dash said she loves me, and I don't know how I feel! What if I let her down? What if I'm not what she really wants? What if-" Twilight said, exasperated and frustrated.

"Oh, calm down, Twilight! These things are meant to be, stop listening to your brain for once in your life and just listen to your heart. If it feels right, do it and I'll support you every step of the way," Rarity quoted almost verbatim from some cheesy romance novel she'd finished not too long ago.

Twilight considered Rarity's words. They were almost completely unhelpful. The very idea of ignoring the worrying of her mind was an alien concept to her, never mind "listening to her heart"; what did that even mean?

Still, though, Twilight understood what Rarity was trying to say—just try it. What's the worst that could happen? Other than heartbreak, ruined friendships, putting the entire kingdom in jeopardy, the potential end of the world, and probably dozens of other disasters that would come to her late at night.

What would happen if she stopped now, though? Dash seemed so indestructible, but the way she'd gone quiet earlier hinted there was something more there. Twilight couldn't bear to hurt her, the very thought filled her with a cold dread. Was that love? Was it close enough to make it worth trying?

"Okay. Thank you, Rarity. I'll try," Twilight said absent-mindedly, still lost in thought. "Oh, Pinkie already figured it out, you'll probably get a party invite later," she added as an afterthought.

Tonight was going to be difficult, Twilight thought. At least she had time to prepare. It's not like she had a guest lecture to give on basic magic theory to the unicorns in the local school ten minutes ago, or anything. Even if she did, it wasn't like she couldn't teleport over there in the blink of an eye.

Neither of those things were true. Twilight's eyes went wide, she made her excuses to Rarity, and she ran out of the door, galloping as fast as her nerdy, bookwormish frame could take her, leaving her mane and tail streaming behind her as if she were in gale-force winds.

Hoping to Celestia Pinkie had finished and unlocked the door, Twilight barreled into it, pushing out with a hoof and bursting through it into the main room of her library, where the class was already waiting semi-patiently while Cheerilee assured them Twilight would be there soon.

"Oh, Twilight, you're here! I was starting to get worried about you!" exclaimed Cheerilee with a wide, relieved smile on her face. Twilight looked around at her spotless library; there wasn't a single speck of dirt to be found. Some of the older tomes looked better than they had when Twilight had arrived, even. She made a mental note to thank Pinkie for saving her flank and quickly prepared to start teaching.

"Ahem, hello my little ponies! Today I'll be teaching you about something very dear to my heart, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash is... amazing, powerful, gorgeous, blue and confident, with a smile that melts my heart and a body that turns it to jelly." Twilight began, closing her eyes and losing herself in the lesson, like she normally did. Talking about the things she loved came so natural that she barely even remembered classes, as if it wasn't really a concious act and was just her gushing about the things she loved.

"Uh, Miss Twilight, are you talking about the weather pony?" Sweetie Belle asked, sticking her hoof up while she asked in a complete misunderstanding of what asking permission was really all about.

"...no, Sweetie, this is a lesson on magic," Twilight patiently explained - Sweetie Belle could be slow at times, but it was important not to leave anypony behind just because they had trouble moving at the same pace as everypony else. "Anyway, as I was saying, magic is a powerful and beautiful thing, but you have to use it responsibly. The magic you can perform is a gift, not a right, and if you misuse it then bad things can happen. For example, you'll notice I'm not using any magic; I actually can't do Rainbow Dash right now, because last time I did Rainbow Dash, I accidentally did it too hard. Some of you may have felt it, and I apologise for that, but I hope you can learn something from that."

Cheerilee was standing a few feet behind Twilight, her jaw figuratively on the floor as her mind started to catch up with what her ears could hardly believe they were hearing. She quickly, put her hoof on Twilight's back, thinking back to her teacher-training on damage control. "Ahem, Twilight, perhaps we should reschedule today's lecture?"

"Oh, no, there's no need! Don't worry about Sweetie Belle, I'll get her up to speed in no time, I promise!"

Cheerilee's hoof quickly met her forehead. "Twilight, I appreciate you teaching my class about magic, because I can't. I do not appreciate you teaching them about your... personal life. If that were appropriate for the classroom, I could do it, but it's not."

"What are you talking ab- oh Celestia I didn't?" Twilight said, realising mid sentence what she must have done, her purple face flushing red with embarrassment. "Oh Cheerilee I'm so sorry, it's been quite a day."

"Do you want to talk about it; I can finish class early today?"

"No, it's okay, there's only one pony I need to talk to right now. Thanks, though." Twilight smiled, before immediately turning around and running upstairs away from the giggling eyes of the class and the worryingly concerned teacher. Twilight hadn't been lying, there was only one pony she really needed to talk to right now. That pony was outside somewhere, and outside required going out past the class again.

Twilight hid upstairs for what seemed like hours, Cheerilee leading the magic lesson as best she could. Why they didn't go back to the schoolhouse Twilight wasn't entirely sure. Where Spike was, Twilight wasn't entirely sure. Where Rainbow Dash was, Twilight wasn't entirely sure. What Twilight was going to do, Twilight was not entirely sure.

"Oh, hey Cheerilee, you seen Twi around?" Dash asked, her voice echoing up into the higher areas of the library where Twilight was currently cowering, hoping to Celestia that either Dash would appear or Cheerilee would go away.

"Up here, Dash! I'm up here!" she called, sticking her head around the door.

"Oh hey, Twi! Twi? Twilight?" Dash called up, wondering why Twilight was hiding away upstairs, and wondering why all of the fillies and foals were laughing at her every time she looked away.

A few moments of silence later, she decided to go up and look. She barely got a step into the room before Twilight pushed her out of the way, closed the door, locked the door, bolted the door, pushed a wardrobe in front of the door, and kissed her.

"Twi-" Dash began, before being interrupted by the kiss and closing her eyes, completely forgetting whatever clearly unimportant thing she was about to say and pushing back into Twilight's mouth. Their tongues danced, making laps in each other's mouths as both of the involved ponies forgot their stresses and troubles, instead putting their efforts into an honest and sincere attempt to swallow the other pony's face.

Dash, just this once, was quite happy to take the submissive role, letting Twilight drive their motions and steer their bodies. Twilight's lips ran over Dash's as she endeavoured to explore every inch of Dash's mouth, pushing in harder and harder to find out how the very depths of Dash's body tasted and felt. The rational part of her mind realised that she couldn't possibly completely understand her feelings without acting on them, and the rest of her was completely preoccupied with the thought of making Dash moan under her hoof.

Twilight, unfortunately, didn't realise she was leading, and Dash's sore wings weren't up to the task of keeping the two balanced, so they quickly found themselves tumbling to the floor, landing in a messy pile resting against the wall. Dash finally had time to look around, and realised they were in Twilight's bedroom—exactly where she wanted to be.

"Twi, I-" Dash started, wanting to explain so many things, from that she'd finished delivering the invites, to how she'd spent every minute of it alternating between thinking about Twilight and talking about her.

"No, Dash, please don't say anything," Twilight whispered back, efficiently shutting Dash up. "You've ruined today, you know. I haven't ticked off a single item, and it's your fault. I ruined my lecture because of your stupid gorgeous ass. And to make it even worse, you spent the entire day Celestia knows where leaving me stuck up here thinking about all the things I'd do to you, and I can't even do most of them because you broke my magic." she hissed, the irritation in her voice contrasting with the lusty sheen in her eyes and the hoof slowly trailing its way down between their bodies, teasing over Dash's body and slowly snaking its way downwards.

"Even worse than that," she continued, taking breaks between each word to lightly kiss along Dash's neckline, tracing a slow and deliberate line around her body, "you told me you loved me and then just ran away, leaving me to spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how the hay I feel back. I even went to see Rarity, you know, she's very happy for us."

Twilight's verbal assault was matched by the ferocity of her physical assault, a day's emotional turmoil and what was surely hours of physical turmoil as she'd grown more and more aroused imagining all the ways she could punish Dash for what she'd done to her starting to unwind itself. Twilight's hooves couldn't keep themselves away from Dash's body, and even her bitter words were hissed into Dash's coat between kisses and sucks. Twilight wasn't even sure Dash was listening any more.

Dash was, actually, hanging on Twilight's every word, struggling against the sparks of pleasure that each kiss from her lips, and each brush from her hooves, sent shooting through her body. The shocking joys that filled her form were nothing next to the anticipation in her mind as Twilight's ranting grew closer to it's inevitable conclusion.

"So here I was," Twilight's monologue continued, each word getting further apart as Twilight's kisses grew longer, and trailed further down Dash's body, her voice growing lower and huskier with each word, "hiding away because I couldn't stop myself from talking about how incredible you are in bed in front of a class of fillies, thinking about all the different noises I want to make you make, and you were too busy outside to give a flying feather what I was going through, and I've had enough. I love you, Dash, you stupid mare, and don't you dare go anywhere until I'm finished with you."

Dash didn't catch the last of that sentence, the metaphorical record player in her mind skipping on the first three words. "I love you", over and over again, each time she thought it to herself coinciding with another kiss, or Twilight repositioning one of her sweaty hooves and pressing into yet another part of Dash's sensitive body.

Twilight, having finished her rant, made her way downwards more quickly, seeking the easiest way she had to make Dash hers without using a single spark of magic. Her target was hidden from her by Dash's poorly placed tail, but Twilight was in no mood to wait. She pushed her nose through, breathing deeply as she went.

Dash's scent was dazzlingly beautiful; a heady mixture of sweat, various different kinds of cloud, liquid rainbows, and the smell Twilight had really come for—the musk of arousal. Closing her eyes, Twilight breathed deeply as she burrowed through Dash's tail, the harsh hairs scratching against her face as she went. Twilight didn't care that Dash clearly didn't wash her mane often; it didn't even register with her. Her mind had one target, and that was satisfaction of her body.

Finally she emerged on the other side, and opened her eyes to stare straight at her goal—Dash's slightly puffy, slightly damp, incredibly alluring pink slit. Her lips were slightly parted as her body recognised Twilight's plan; There was one checklist Twilight refused to not complete today.

Wasting no time, Twilight enthusiastically licked out, making a long, sloppy line from top to bottom in a single quick stroke. Dash tensed up at her touch, and let out a light gasp as she struggled to contain herself. That wouldn't do, Twilight thought, Dash's punishment had to be extreme enough to bring out screams, maybe even begging.

Putting her plan into action, Twilight returned to the bottom, licking more slowly this time, moving deliberately and forcefully upwards. Dash still didn't go further than screwing her face up and biting her lower lip.

Twilight returned to the bottom, this time pushing her tongue just a little inside. Dash's insides tasted impressively similar to her outsides, and her mouth - delicious, though Twilight may have been biased. What was different inside of Dash's most private areas was the raw heat radiating outwards, and the moist air surrounding it. Dash's outer areas didn't pulse against Twilight's tongue in quite the same way, and they certainly didn't grow wetter after her tongue left them behind, just waiting for the next run.

Still Dash's reaction didn't get further than a slow groan as Twilight made her journey upwards inside of her. Twilight returned to the bottom, delving deeper this time. Sticking her tongue inside, Twilight tried to probe Dash's depths, pressing her nose inside Dash's body and holding her breath. As Twilight probed and rolled her tongue around inside of Dash's body, giving her the full sensation of a hot, sticky, slimy penetration, her groan grew stronger as it overwhelmed her lower lip's soundproofing abilities. Still it was not enough.

Pulling out for just long enough to gasp for breath, Twilight dived in further, pushing herself as far in as she could go until her entire muzzle was inside in a perverted imitation of the traditional nose rub. Pushing her head from side to side while she pushed her tongue ever deeper, Twilight felt Dash rock against her body, her hips starting to thrust against her face, splashing her chin and closed eyelids with Dash's juices, and staining her coat a darker purple. Twilight liked it.

By chance, Twilight twisted her head at the same time as one of Dash's thrusts, sending a lock of Twilight's hair to brush against Dash's incredibly sensitive clitoris, bringing out the sort of noise Twilight was looking for - an unrestrained, passionate groan of ecstasy.

The shockingly small stimulation that Dash required in her hyper-sensitive state spurred Twilight on to be a little adventurous. Taking control of her mind once more, Twilight began to call upon her magic, struggling to find a way of using as little energy as she could to start a simple telekinesis spell. A few moments later, and with a record low magical drain, Twilight's horn began to glow. The tiny fraction of her brain still capable of thinking about practical things made a mental note to write a paper on her technique later, thinking of all the potential applications it could have for magically-impaired unicorns.

The rest of her mind was thinking of all the potential applications it could have in turning Dash into a quivering pile of flesh, something her new spell was impressively adept at. The magical tendrils wrapped around Dash's small stub even while Twilight's muzzle remained buried. Twilight's hooves found their way to grasping Dash's big blue butt, using it to hold herself in place while the slightest brush of a magical wave sent waves of pleasure through Dash's body. Every muscle tensed and released as they ripped through herform, sending her limbs and wings spasming about and her body juddering from side to side, pushing Twilight's face into one of her hot, slick walls or the other, letting Twilight greedily lap up more of Dash's fluids, and further staining her face.

The physical trauma of constant stimulation proved too much for the battered Pegasus as the waves of pleasure echoed around inside of her, building up and shattering every concious thought in her mind as her body became saturated with the feeling of unbridled passion. Her thrusting grew both more powerful and more erratic as her groaning grew into a fully fledged scream, her voice breaking under the strain and leaving the room filled with the low echoing sound of a Rainbow Dash lost completely to the whims of her lust.

When Dash's body finally stopped rocking, and almost all of her motion ceased, save for her heavy breaths and the rise and fall of her chest. Twilight pulled out and gasped for breath, resting her head on Dash's stomach while she recovered.

"Dash, you awake?" Twilight whispered, awaiting Dash's response. None came.

"Excellent!" Twilight cheered, struggling to her feet and stumbling over to her pad of paper. Grabbing her quill between her tired lips, she began to check off.

Tell Dash I love her [X]

Kiss Dash [X]

Punish Dash for this [X]

Leave Dash unconscious[X]

That felt good. Ticking was good; calming, even. Twilight read over her checklist, and then looked back at the unmoving mare, still lying in a pool of her own juices and trying to recover. Probably not actually unconscious, just not paying any attention.

"Heh, maybe I went a little overboard there," Twilight quietly laughed to herself.

"A little?" Dash wheezed back, her throat once again sore and her breath only barely returned to her, "I don't think I ever want to move again," she laughed, seamlessly transitioning into a coughing fit.

Twilight giggled and made her way back to Dash, who was even now still lying against the wall mere feet away from the door. Bending over, she twisted and landed beside Dash, resting against her and pushing a hoof under her body for a much wanted hug. Dash's unresisting, soft, worn out body proved to be a perfect pillow as Twilight rested her head on Dash's shoulder, closing her eyes and squeezing.

"You meant it, right Twi?" Dash whispered after a few moments of silent embrace.

"Some of it," Twilight whispered back, squeezing a little tighter, "I'm not really mad at you, but I do think I love you. I don't know, the dictionary isn't very detailed, but I think so. I've never felt like this about anypony, that has to count for something."

Dash didn't say anything further, merely letting her head flop to one side to rest on top of Twilight's, barely missing her horn. Again, they remained in a wordless cuddle, made less innocently adorable by the strong smell of recent sex, the way Twilight's coat was matted and stained darker all over her face and upper chest, and the way even now both of their crotches were sodden and slick.

"I really ought to pay you back for that" Dash eventually whispered, before pushing out her tongue and teasing the exposed end of Twilight's horn, remembering the heights of pleasure stimulating that could take her to.

Twilight quickly pulled away, the energy sparking through her horn sending shooting pains through her head once more. "Ow! Not there, Dash, not yet. I still can barely do anything with it. Give it a few days," she complained, before letting herself slip back into a heated cuddle.

Dash was undeterred, and merely changed her tack. She knew of other techniques, she didn't need a horn to make Twilight moan. Dash hugged Twilight closer with one hoof, and brought the other one down between her legs. While it wasn't as effective as Twilight's oral assault, Dash was in no state to exert herself like that, but she could move a hoof around a little.

It was even less challenging, as Twilight's natural lubrication removed almost all the friction from Dash's strokes, letting her slowly and almost absent-mindedly move her hoof up and down over Twilight's body. Twilight simply hugged into Dash harder and pressed her face into her brash, scratchy mane, making a mental note to wash it for Dash later.

Neither of them was in any great rush, so Dash didn't feel the need to go fast, wanting for once in her life to savour the moment. She'd yearned for something like this, some perfect instant, for so long. She'd never actually thought she'd find herself resting against a wall in Twilight's bedroom, mere feet away from her bed, snuggling with the mare of her dreams while both of them soaked in the juices of their mutual love. Especially not while she had a hoof at Twilight's nethers, slowly bringing Twilight up to the brink of delight and giving her a perfect moment back in return, just lying there without stress, worry, or concern.

"Oh Celestia, my letter!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed, realising how long it'd been since she'd written to Celestia. Luckily, she had the perfect subject to write about. "Dash, finish me off!" she commanded with a grin.

Rainbow Dash was no stranger to going fast, and when she's gotta go fast, she's gotta go fast. The slow, gentle stroking quickly reached a frantic beating; Dash's hoof ran over Twilight's entire length, the hairs down her leg tickling against Twilight's clit as each thrust took Twilight closer to release. Each slide coincided with Twilight groaning into Dash's mane, each groan forcing out another little bit of saliva, coating the poor Pegasus in yet another liquid.

Before long, Dash's attention to speed drove Twilight over the edge; her lusty, sex-crazed body barely needed any stimulation to finally tip over the edge. Her orgasm was punctuated not by a piercing scream, but by a crushing hug as she squeezed herself into Dash harder than ever before, her mind enjoying the sticky squelching sound as their sodden coats rubbed against each other.

Twilight's embrace slowly grew softer as she returned to full consciousness. "Dash," she whispered through the rainbow mane, "can you reach my parchment and quill, they're just on that desk."

Dash looked around, spotting the items in question. A little flailing about later and she managed to wiggle over enough to pull the items towards her. Twilight, impressively, managed to stay holding on to Dash the whole way.

"Can you write it, too? I'm a little tired," Twilight whispered, waiting for Dash to pick up the quill before she began to speak again.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Yesterday I learned that friendship can go much deeper. Last night I learned that friendship can feel better than anything else. Today, I learned that when friendship goes deep enough, we call it love, and that my studies in love have only just begun.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Dash finished scribbling it down a few moments later, adding an extra to the end, "and her faithful partner, Rainbow Dash."

"I'll get Spike to send that whenever he turns up," Twilight whispered as Dash put the parchment back onto the desk, ready for delivery. "Oh, when's that party Pinkie was talking about?"

Dash froze, the blue fading slightly from her face. "Oh, heh, yeah. That's what I came up to tell you about—they're downstairs"

So began Twilight Sparkle's greatest adventure; a story that would cross two lifetimes. So began a tale that was to span the dizziest heights, and the most terrible lows. So began a story that neither of them would ever forget. It began in potentially the most embarrassing manner possible—the bathroom was downstairs, and both of them really, really needed a shower.

Calm inside the storm

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: 2-3 weeks after the day after the night before.

"Dash, where do you keep your shampoo?" Twilight called, her voice echoing around Rainbow Dash's house in the way only a cloud house can, the light, thin walls letting almost all sound pass through unimpeded, and the heavier outer walls blocking it and letting some bounce off. Twilight hated it, it was like living in an opera house. Dash loved it, it meant she got to hear her own voice more.

"My what?" Dash groaned, rolling over and sitting up in her comfortable cloud bed, rubbing her eyes with a hoof and wondering to Celestia why anypony would be awake at the absurdly early time of 10:30.

"Shampoo, Dash! Have you seen my mane? Rarity'd have a fit if I went out like this!" Twilight yelled back, the unmistakable tinge of desperation entering into her voice. Why was her mane such a mess? Dash thought back to the night before, and remembered - the same reason her mane was. The same reason the clouds supporting her were probably going to need cleaning, and the same reason her legs were kinda sore.

"Oh, right, that" Dash awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of her neck with her hoof even though there was nopony around to see it, "I'm all out. Been meaning to buy some more for like, weeks now, heh"

Twilight twitched slightly. Some days she thought Rainbow Dash made it her day's task (Literally, the day's task. Between all of her sleeping and training, Twilight didn't think Dash achieved much else. She'd offered to write up a schedule for her, but Dash had refused) to drive her crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Today was one of those days. Twilight clearly remembered the night before, the way Dash had quite literally swept her of off her hooves and carried her up to her house, intent on ravishing her body and leaving her a sticky mess come morning. Twilight, of course, had complained bitterly - not only was it unplanned, Twilight had a report that needed to be finished by midday and sent off to Celestia. Should she miss her deadline, who knew what could happen? It was unlikely that her report on the life cycles of one of the indigenous species of insect was of critical importance to the running of the kingdom, but Celestia worked in mysterious ways.

Twilight had relented, on the condition that Dash wake her up bright and early so she could go and finish up, there wasn't really more than a few hours work left to it. Dash had, of course, agreed quite enthusiastically and immediately gotten on with the ravishing, and Twilight had found herself quite unable to care about small insects soon afterwards. Now, of course, was quite different. Twilight had a headache from oversleeping, her left hindleg ached every time she twisted it to the right, she hadn't had any coffee, and her mane kept getting in her eyes.

"Dash, I can't believe you! I asked you to wake me, now I'll never get this done! Oh, Celestia's going to be so disappointed" Twilight shouted through, rummaging through Dash's ill-stocked bathroom for something - anything - she could use to clean her mane and coat.

"Just keep it under the water a while, Twi, that's what I do. You like my mane, don't you?" Dash replied, rolling back over in bed and pulling the covers closer to her, relishing in the heat and closing her eyes again.

Twilight sighed, ceasing her search and giving the cloud on the bathroom roof a quick buck. Moments later, it started to rain heavily, and warmly. Shower-clouds were fascinating, the first time Twilight had slept over at Dash's house they'd tried the shower out together. Unfortunately she'd been a little distracted and hadn't looked around for shampoo, else this whole disaster might have been averted. Twilight had looked up how they worked the very moment she got back to her library and spent the rest of the day engulfed in a pile of books on cloud-tech, discovering everything from how rainbows are synthesised, to what the purpose of lightning was. She'd started to gush about it all to Dash the next time they met up, only to find out that Dash already knew it all, and in more detail than the books went into to boot. They didn't sleep much that night, but Twilight didn't mind, she learned an awful lot.

The water was hot - not quite scalding, but hot enough. Twilight preferred her water a little colder than Dash, but she was nowhere near experienced enough to feel comfortable reconfiguring her clouds, and the wet heat rushing against her face wasn't that bad. The water flowed over her body, soaking her to the bone and hopefully dissolving all of the remnants of the last night's activities. It dripped off of the tip of her horn, and rolled down her legs in tiny winding rivers, always bending and shifting as the water took different paths over her body.

Focussing her mind, Twilight imagined a brush. Something simple, with dozens of little spokes on it that she could run through her hair to eliminate the knots and remove the tangles. A simple enough task to make such a shape with her magic, and she was soon running the invisible tool through her mane and tail, wincing slightly every few moments as the magical force caught against a stray loop or bend in a hair. Without any kind of shampoo or conditioner that was the best she could do on short notice.

Imagining the spokes growing shorter, Twilight took her mental device over to her coat, brushing it as clean as she could. She liked this bit, it felt nice - calming. She made a mental note to buy a physical brush that Dash could use, and maybe a bouquet of roses to convince her to use it. Dash always loved a snack after a long shower.

Sighing quietly as she ran her magic over her still-sensitive body, Twilight let her neck stretch upwards and allowed the water to run all over her face, against her closed eyelids and around her mouth and nose. She spluttered slightly as a little water gathered around her tongue - doing that always felt like a better idea before you'd started.

"You done yet, Twi?" Dash casually asked from her position leaning against the open bathroom door, where she'd apparently been standing for quite some time, watching the purple mare effectively grope herself. Twilight blushed and shoved the door closed with a horn-pulse - she didn't mind Dash watching, per-se, but she'd appreciate a warning, If only so she could try and act a little more dignified.

The mood ruined, Twilight quickly finished up, shutting the cloud off with a magical push and grabbing a set of towels from the corner of the room, wrapping a few around her mane, tail, and body. What was the time? 11:00.

Dash, still slightly dazed from being roughly thrown into the soft wall, was knocked over once more as the bathroom door was flung open. "Dash, I'm do- Dash?" Twilight called out, stopping when she realised the blue Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, there you are! Don't stand so close to the door next time, then" Twilight not-apologised, motioning back to the bathroom with a wave of her hoof to tell Dash that it was free now. "Anyway, I've got an hour to do 3 hours of work, so see you around Dash" she continued, punctuating the end of her sentence with a bright flash and a teleport.

"Twi, wait, I... damnit" Dash quickly interrupted, hoping to catch Twilight's attention before she vanished. "Love you" she bitterly added, wandering into the bathroom and giving the showercloud a potent buck. The torrent of water hit her like a tonne of bricks, flattening her mane against her body in an instant. The water was too hot, Twilight liked it colder than this, Dash realised with a grimace. Nopony had told her that having a "special somepony" would be as much work as it was play. When Derpy had sold her that hearts and hooves day card (The one she'd almost, but not quite, gotten the courage to actually use) it hadn't come with a disclaimer.

"Warning", Dash muttered to herself, "Gorgeous purple unicorns are probably too good for you anyway". She sighed, dropping her head and letting the water run over her face, part of the stream running down her nose straight into her mouth and down her throat. Coughing, Dash pulled herself out of the shower and landed against one of the drier walls, the cloud quickly absorbing most of her excess water. No shower today, then. Twilight would nag at her, but Twilight seemed to do that a lot. Dash knew she didn't mean anything by it, but she still did it. Maybe she should take a little more care of herself, and maybe she should take life a little more seriously, but she didn't. That was just how she was.

Dash punched the wall in frustration, her hoof going straight through the thin cloud. Why did she have to be so insecure about all this? Because what, Twilight left without saying "I love you" again? Twilight was right, Dash should have woken her up. She was rushed now, it was entirely Dash's fault. With a sigh, Dash resigned herself to just apologising later and got on with getting ready for work, trotting over to her towel cupboard and pulling out absolutely nothing, because there were no towels in her towel cupboard. Twilight's habit of teleporting back home on a morning had finally robbed her of every towel she owned.

"Okay, no problem" Dash thought to herself, "I live in a house made out of clouds." She shoved her head into the nearest wall, moving around and trying to collect as much cloud against her mane as she could, hoping they'd suck the excess moisture out.

What was the time now? 11:05. The one schedule Dash had let Twilight write up for her was her weather shifts, it proved a lot easier to have them all on one sheet than having to page through dozens of different lists to find where she was meant to be and when. Thus, it took her no time at all to find out that today's shift had started 35 minutes ago.

"Oh, Dash, you featherbrain" she groaned into the inattentive house and set off towards the window at a gallop, jumping through and spreading her wings the moment she was clear. Shaking her head to knock off the cloudbits, Dash began to beat her wings, picking up speed with every flap and feeling the wind rush against every part of her body. If hooking up with Twilight had taught her one thing, it was that when she'd said that flight felt better than sex, she hadn't been lying.

Her wet mane quickly dried as Dash cut through the air as quickly as she felt comfortable going this close to Ponyville. The Sonic Rainboom had long since become her signature move, and she could do it with a hoof tied behind her back, but ponies tended to complain about the noise, never mind the shockwave. Dash kept subsonic most of the time, it was easier. Even so, feeling the air currents whip around her, each feather on her outstretched wings sensing almost imperceptible changes in temperature, air density, wind speed, updraughts, humidity, and more factors - only some of which Dash could pronounce - and shifting slightly to keep her flight steady.

Nothing could touch Dash in the air. In her element, she felt indestructible. Her unshakable self-confidence took over from the part of her that still felt like a scared filly and let her forget her problems - so Twilight didn't say "I love you", so what? She could see it in her eyes. Everyone could, half the town had come to congratulate her on finally getting her mare. Even though she hadn't told them, and she was pretty sure that she'd hidden it perfectly. Dash assumed that Pinkie had told them, even though she swore blind she hadn't.

Even though Dash's shift today was on the outskirts of the land around Ponyville, and basically as far away as you could get without actually entering Manehatten's airspace, she reached it in barely any time at all. Dash was proud of her cruising speed, always straddling the speed of sound but never actually going over it. Twilight said she'd heard the other Pegasi being quite jealous of it.

"Dash!" shouted a stray cloud right in the middle of Dash's territory, shaking slightly as the pony inside of it pulled herself out. Cloud Kicker continued, "You were meant to start half an hour ago!"

"Yeah, sorry, I was too busy having sex with my girlfriend." Dash snapped, her fine mood broken by yet another pony nagging at her. She RAN the weather team, who did Cloud Kicker think she was to call her out on being late? Sure, Dash had delegated her to doing the schedules (Because Dash couldn't be bothered to do it herself), but that didn't give her the right to enforce them, did it?

Dash guessed it kinda did. Then she felt like a bit of a dick, she knew full well that Cloud Kicker was alone, and she knew full well what that felt like - it'd only been a few weeks, after all. Dash didn't apologise for things, though - if you said something, you said it, as far as she was concerned.

"Great, Dash, but now your girlfriend is going to have to deal with a storm next week because there's no way you can get enough clouds in position before today's rains." Cloud Kicker countered, not taking pity as she started to explain exactly how Dash wasn't doing her job, "Without those rains, of course, the farm can't grow their crops, and without crops we don't have food. But no, Dash, I'm sure what you were doing was far more important. Pull yourself together and do your job"

"I... I run this team! I could fire you!" Dash yelled after the retreating Cloud Kicker as she flew off to do her own job. "I... I could" she whimpered afterwards, sitting down on one of the few clouds hanging around in the sky. She was right, Dash'd screwed up.

She could worry about that later, though - right now she had about 40 minutes to pull together a decent sized storm. At her regular speed, the weather station was about 5 minutes flight away and Cloud Kicker was right, she didn't stand a chance of making enough round trips to have a good storm going. At her full speed? Dash didn't know, but she was going to find out.

39 minutes, 30 seconds later, Dash crashed onto her thick, wide island of cloud, the huge mass of thick vapour easily supporting her weight and letting her lie there exhausted. She was pretty sure she'd broken the current airspeed record (Which, of course, she'd set) and was absolutely certain she'd get a pile of complaint letters over the next few days whining about the noise. Dash grinned - everybody in town knew about it when she flew that fast. Probably everybody in Manehatten, too. Hell, the repeated rainbooms for each lap were probably noticeable in Canterlot. All in all, a good day's work.

As with every good day's work, Dash punctuated it with a nap. Her body lay sprawled on the cloudscape as she softly slumbered, not even waking up as her shift ended and another team of Pegasi arrived to shift her clouds over into position, watering part of the town. Even as the clouds started to drain and the midday sun began to slink down the sky, growing colder with every moment, Dash remained contentedly napping. Nobody would wake her up like this - she was adorable when she slept, and irritable if she was awoken. Better to let a sleeping horse lie.

"Rainbow, wake up!" Cloud Kicker shouted as she performed her trademark action on the cloud beneath Dash, shocking her awake and immediately putting her on the defensive. Dash held her hooves close to her body and kept her wings on edge, a completely instinctual reaction, and one that would have kept an uncivilised Pegasus alive - not so necessary in modern society.

"Oh, what the hay Cloud? Right in the middle of dreaming about racing, too!" Dash complained as she noticed what'd happened and started to calm down, fighting against the adrenaline still racing through her body. "I got the damn clouds, what more do you want from me?"

"I didn't say you couldn't do it as a challenge, Dash, because I didn't think you were stupid enough to fly that fast immediately above Ponyville, never mind do it a dozen times. Do you even know how many windows you broke?"

Dash grinned - much as she shouldn't be proud of wanton destruction, it always gave her a primal thrill to be told how much damage she could cause even when she was trying her best to keep the shockwave away from populated areas. "Man, I dunno. All of 'em?"

It was Cloud Kicker's turn to grin as she bore the bad news, saying with just the tiniest hint of glee in her voice "Nope! Just one. Twilight's. She shielded the town from the rest, but boy is she pissed." Her grin widened a little as she jokingly added "I think I even saw her jabbing needles through a little Rainbow doll's eyes", enjoying her chance to make Dash squirm without actually putting her job on the line. She knew Dash would never actually fire her, that would mean she might have to do some legitimate work until she could find somepony else stupid enough to take on all the scheduling work, but Dash could still make her life difficult if she wanted to. Normally Cloud Kicker kept it to light teasing or the occasional justified rant if Dash particularly screwed up, but today she finally had an excuse, and she was loving it.

"Aw hay" Dash gulped, her fur somehow becoming noticeably whiter, "just what I needed." Dash figured she should probably go and explain herself. Hopefully she wouldn't have to apologise for being so awesome she could break windows with a beat of her wings, but Twilight didn't always see things that way.

Actually, Twilight never saw things that way. Maybe Dash should apologise, that might come across better. She could work that out when she got there, Dash figured as she mumbled a thanks to Cloud Kicker and jumped off of the cloud, spreading her wings and gliding down into town.

Twilight's library seemed fine from the outside, barely a leaf out of place - and that was justified given the rainstorm. Dash glided around the library, looking for an open window to dive through - Twilight always kept a window open these days, so Dash could pop in whenever she was free and they could do things together. Sometimes they even made it to the door before Dash's impressively awesome, amazingly windswept mane overwhelmed Twilight's senses and caused her to swoon, or so Dash liked to believe.

There were no open windows. Not a one. Not even the bedroom window - that one stung. Hell, Dash deserved it, she'd been nothing but a pain in Twilight's side today - from being useless to her in the morning, to actively getting in the way of her work, to breaking her house and inconveniencing her further by forcing her to protect the town, Dash wouldn't be surprised if Twilight didn't want to see her at all.

Dash tilted a wing and pulled another back, twisting in the air and swooping down, landing perfectly on Twilight's doorstep. If only there had been somepony around to see that, Dash lamented as she raised a hoof to the door, and after a few moments hesitation, knocked.

"Dash, is that you?" she heard Twilight call from somewhere deep within her library. Twilight clearly wanted to be left alone - only a Pegasus (or Pinkie Pie) would have even heard that, and that she was asking for Dash specifically... Twilight clearly wasn't in a good mood.

"Yeah, it's me - you gonna open up?" Dash shouted back, calling through the door and starting to become slightly irritated at how soaking wet the rain was getting her. At least her feathers were waterproof, but her coat wasn't. At least Twilight had all of her towels.

The door glowed almost imperceptibly and swung open, as if by an invisible hand, and Dash quickly stuck to her name and dashed inside, away from the chilling rains she herself had created.

Immediately, she was jumped at, attacked from every direction at once by magically enchanted items scraping against her coat and pushing against her wings, while other magical tendrils pulled them taut, presumably ready to be attacked by other waiting instruments. "I- ow!- I'm sorry, Twilight! I didn't think, okay?" she called out as the great planes of something wrapped around her, binding her limbs and holding her tight. She didn't know what Twilight wanted with her, but it was surely not good.

"Ow, jeez, look, I'm sorry, okay? I should have listened to you! I didn't mean to annoy you, I'm sorry!" Dash continued as Twilight's assault continued, the white, fluffy towels pressing themselves against her body and rubbing around, soaking up the rain and leaving Dash much drier. Unfortunately, it also left her coat and mane standing on end, making her look completely ridiculous.

Apt, given how she felt as she came to understand that the "unprompted" and "brutal" "attack" was a kind and soft towelling, the previously distant and shadowed Twilight now more clearly just one standing across the room, laughing at Dash's messy coat and terrified expression. Dash silently thanked that Unicorns didn't have anywhere near as good hearing as she did and started to walk over, shrugging off the towels wrapped around her wings.

"You... aren't mad at me?" Dash squeaked, her body still shivering slightly as she fought off the fight or flight instincts and instructed it to do neither.

"Huh? No, why would I be mad at you?" Twilight replied, raising an eyebrow as if she actually didn't understand what Dash was talking about. Knowing Twilight, she probably didn't.

"But... your windows were closed, and you seemed really mad earlier, and then Cloud Kicker told me I broke your window and you were even madder!" Dash explained, not entirely convinced that Twilight was bring completely honest and that she wasn't actually mad.

"It's raining, Dash. I closed the window so everything didn't get wet." Twilight explained, speaking as she would to a small foal as she explained the concepts so obvious to her, "and as for your stunts earlier, you looked great! I can't believe you didn't pass out, we'll have to make use of that endurance later. I fixed the window and held back the shockwaves, I was glad for the practice, honestly." she continued, making Dash blush with the way she'd so plainly weave plans for a late night rendezvous into a conversation, not stopping to think how it'd sound. It was exciting when they were alone, but embarrassing when they weren't.

"So... you aren't mad at me?" Dash grinned, wanting to make sure she hadn't misheard, "you got your report off and everything?"

"Sure did, it didn't take as long as I'd thought, not once I made Spike help. That was everything on today's to-do list, too, I wanted to keep this evening free. Of course, I've sent Spike out, he's looking after Applebloom and her friends - or they're looking after him, I'm never quite sure which" Twilight laughed, "but anyway, tonight's free"

Dash took the hint, leaning forward and giving Twilight a light kiss on the corner of her mouth, tilting her head slightly and breathing in deep. The relief of knowing she hadn't, in fact, screwed everything up felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of her wings, and she felt ready for everything - even if her body still ached slightly from the day's overexertion, she didn't want to disappoint Twilight again.

Twilight closed her eyes in return and rested her forehead against Dash's, the edge of her horn resting against her mane for just a moment until she pulled back. "No, Dash, I mean I need to talk to you" she said in a serious tone, shattering Dash's false sense of security.

"Oh?" Dash croaked, the rising dread in her stomach telling her what was coming. She'd learned to trust her gut from years of flight, where a split second's hesitation could land you in hospital, or worse. Her gut was telling her run, just dart for the window. At this distance she knew she could build up enough speed to break through it, and if she kept her wings close to her body while she did it she'd have no trouble fitting through. Then she could be away, flying through the open sky where there wasn't a force in Equestria that could stop her.

Dash mentally slapped her body - reactions like that were no help here. Running away wouldn't solve anything, and anyway, if Twilight really wanted to talk it's not like she wasn't capable of teleporting Dash to her. She'd done it before, after all - not that she'd wanted to talk.

"Yeah. I was talking to Cloud Kicker earlier, eventually I managed to stop her ranting for long enough to actually figure out what her problem with you was, and I agree. You're kinda out of control, Dash. It's not just this morning, it's you. I don't want to say you're lazy, but really, I think something has to change"

Dash felt her heart forcibly rip itself out of her chest and start pulling its way around inside her body, trying to fly out of her mouth and presumably fall onto the floor where it could die with dignity. She fell back, resting on her rear and barely holding herself up with her forelegs, her wings resting weakly by her side, too distracted to even fold in beside her. All thoughts of escape had fled her mind, leaving it preoccupied with the complete collapse of everything she held dear. How would the Wonderbolts ever accept a pony who couldn't even keep the mare of her dreams for a single month? What did that say about her dedication?

"So, I've been wanting to do this for a while, but it can't really wait any longer or we're both going to get hurt. I know this won't really seem fair right now, but it really is the only way, you're going to have to move in." Twilight continued in her stable, serious voice, completely oblivious to the way Dash's dreams were lying in a confused and broken pile in front of her. "It just makes too much sense, I'll be able to work better, you'll be closer to the town, I can wake you up so you're not late and make sure we have all the essentials, and we can fix this stupid towel problem. I have towels behind bookshelves now, you know? I don't want them, please take them back! Anyway, I think it's important we do this. I don't want to force you into making any snap decisions, but my timetable is completely free until tomorrow, so we could go bring anything you want over here right now"

Dash's brutalised and devastated heart meekly shuffled back into position, reducing the load on her chest and starting its work gluing her dreams back together, starting with the twin revelations that she hadn't lost Twilight, and that Twilight really needed some lessons in tact.

"I... uh, yeah! Twi I'd love to! I guess I don't really have much to bring, just all my weather stuff and few clouds but sure, let's get this over with!" Dash almost-squeed, grinning an enthusiastic, relieved grin as she hopped around on her hooves just a little, unsettling the towels still wrapped around her body. Twilight was right, between them they had way too many towels. Dash could get official government towels through her weather patrol status, and she did so often - it was the only way she knew to get towels with her cutie mark emblazoned on them. Dash loved government funding.

"Excellent!" Twilight agreed, knocking her hooves together in something resembling applause as she jumped past Dash and opened the door, staring out into the pouring rain, punctuated by the occasional clap of thunder. Her vision was limited, and Dash's capable Pegasus eyes weren't much better. All things considered, going out into it would be a terrible idea.

Twilight closed her eyes, concentrating on the world around her. Everything grew still as her horn began to glow, and she started to draw upon her magic once more. One of the first things Twilight had been taught, back at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, was the tool she'd need to control the vast reserves of power she could command - the ability to clear her mind of distractions and concentrate on what was really important.

Using just a little of her power to help see the world around her still and unchanging she could perform tasks needing incredible accuracy or co-ordination. At first, it had been difficult, but as the years went by it became as natural as breathing. She could do anything from fixing a shattered window pane to plucking raindrops out of the air to keep a pair of ponies dry.

She sensed Dash's mouth begin to open, the electrical impulses in her brain firing off and telling various muscles to expand or contract in the right sequence to form the words "Got an umbrella?"

"I... oh", Twilight blushed, letting the glow of her horn dim slightly as she came out of her trance, imagining an umbrella made for two and effortlessly creating an appropriately shaped lump of magic. Maybe she'd been going for overkill just a little. "Come on, then, we can make it in under 10 minutes if we run"

"Or under 2 if we fly!" Dash replied with the sort of grin that Twilight had come to know as her "I have a terrible idea, but I haven't realised just how terrible it is" grin.

"I've never even done that spell on myself, Dash, and I wouldn't feel comfortable flying in these winds anyway" Twilight patiently explained, telling Dash exactly why her idea wasn't going to work. The small part of Twilight's mind that always said "Oh, go on, what's the harm?" was very angry at her for doing it, but she only listened to that part of herself when she was desperate.

Dash's grin widened as she set off on a run, straight at Twilight, shedding the towels wrapped around her body as she went. "That's not what I meant!" she laughed, pouncing at Twilight and knocking both of them out of the door as she wrapped her legs around Twilight's body, holding her tight as she spread her wings and flapped hard, pulling both of them up into the sky.

Twilight, to her credit, even managed to keep them dry, concentrating on keeping the magical umbrella in the right position to block the rain to stop herself from being absolutely terrified. "DASH!" she started to yell as that plan faltered, "DASH PUT ME DOWN YOU'RE GOING TO DROP ME, DASH!"

Dash answered by hugging her tighter, squeezing Twilight's body snugly against her and keeping her secure. "C'mon, Twi, you know I can do this. Just stop wriggling and we'll be fine!" she said with a confident, slightly irritating grin. Nothing could get Dash down in the air, the air was her home. Twilight repeated that to herself, hoping that if she said it enough, she'd start believing it - not all of the crashes she'd seen had been intentional, after all.

Twilight fell silent, holding on to Dash's hooves with all the strength she could muster. Dash's face was hardened in concentration, and neither of them were speaking. The air was filled with the sound of raindrops splattering against the ground beneath, and splashing against the magic field Twilight was holding a few inches ahead of them. Each slow, strong beat of Dash's wings cut through the air almost silently, throwing what seemed like a strong gale against Twilight's body - it made sense, Dash had a lot of weight to hold up.

Dash may have been steely and determined on the outside, but inside she wanted nothing more than to start loop-the-looping, whooping and cheering, and anything else that came to mind. Twilight - in her arms! Sure, Twilight could probably catch herself if she fell, but that wasn't the point, Twilight wasn't even struggling. There were a dozen ways she could escape Dash's arms, but she wasn't. Dash wouldn't have minded staying like this forever.

"Dash? Dash! Your house! Dash!!" Twilight screeched as Dash, lost in thought, plowed straight through one of the walls of her house, breaking through and crashing on the room's floor, thankfully unhurt.

"Heh, I uh... I meant to do that! I always hated that wall anyway!" Dash grinned, almost convincing Twilight she hadn't just come within an inch of death.

"Right. Let's just grab your stuff and head back, okay?" Twilight said as she pulled herself up onto her hooves and started to walk around. They'd landed in the bedroom. Twilight knew her way around Dash's bedroom quite well, and wasted no time in locating all of the various papers, folders, and inserts that comprised Dash's weather patrol paperwork. It was a mess - none of the sheets were dated, and those that were just included the day, not the month. Some just had the year hastily scrawled on the upper left, and others were practically illegible. Twilight assumed that Dash's position had more to do with her ability to get stuff done than her ability to document it.

"This all the weather stuff?" Twilight asked as she started to pull the papers together into a stack, putting them into the best order she could. She'd have to look over them more closely later, perhaps have a look in Canterlot's library for any spells that could help identify how old something was.

"Huh? Oh, most of it. The rest is down in the kitchen" Dash replied, her head poking around her bathroom door as she momentarily stopped trying to pull her shower-cloud out of the roof. A few moments of awkward staring and silence later, she added "What? I do it with breakfast sometimes. It's only a little stained!"

Twilight sighed and dutifully trotted downstairs to gather the other papers, thankful that at least once she had Dash safely back home she could start stamping out behaviour like this.

A little while later, the two looked at the small pile of things resting on Dash's floor. "Y'know, I thought I had more stuff than this" Dash said as she realised how impressively few things she really had. Other than the various pieces of paperwork for her job, every one covered in ink and her hatred, she had a few utility clouds, a stack of flight magazines, the dictionary she'd bought on the cheap because Twilight had implied she didn't have one, and a couple of reference books she hadn't opened since her Flight School days. Other than that, her house could blow away on the wind and she'd never really miss anything.

"Nothing wrong with living light, Dash" Twilight comforted her, noticing the vaguely pained expression on the rainbow mare's face. "You remember when I moved in? The deliveries didn't stop for weeks. I thought Spike would sleep for days by the end of it, but he didn't, the little trooper." She smiled, resting her hoof against Dash's neck - Twilight knew these moments of weakness didn't come along often, Dash was by far the strongest pony she knew. She wanted to be there for her, knowing that Dash would always be there in return.

"Heh, yeah, you're right. Come on, let's get this stuff back to yo... home" Dash grinned, hiding behind a veil of indestructibility once more. "I can't carry all this AND you, though"

"Oh, I can do that" Twilight nonchalantly admitted, concentrating for a moment and raising the small pile into the air, surrounded by a translucent red layer, protecting it from the elements. Turning around and facing away from Dash, Twilight lowered her neck and invited Dash to mount her. In a manner of speaking. "What're you waiting for, Dash? Get on." she added after a few moments of Dash being slightly distracted by Twilight pushing her behind straight into her field of vision.

Hopping up, Dash grabbed Twilight once more, being more careful this time, given that she was the only thing securing literally all her early possessions. And the mare of her dreams, that too. Slowly flapping, they rose up, and flew out of the same hole they'd entered, straight back out into the storm.

Dash's mane was instantly pressed against her face as the torrential flood of water slammed into her, the very tip of it rubbing against Twilight's upper body as she received much the same treatment, albeit lessened due to hiding beneath Dash. "Twilight! What happened to the magic?" Dash spat, clearing a small pool of rainwater out of her mouth as she spoke.

"I can only do so much at once, Dash!" Twilight lied, "Do you want all your stuff getting wet?" Twilight was, of course, more than capable of shielding both of them. Were she to really concentrate, Twilight was pretty sure she could stop every raindrop in the sky dead, but she was willing to take the ego hit if it meant enacting the second part of what she'd spent the afternoon idly planning.

"I... I guess" Dash shouted over the deafening roar, the storm now very much in full swing. Maybe a little more rain than was asked for, and Dash slightly regretted showing off when building it. Powering on, Dash went as fast as she felt comfortable while carrying Twilight - which turned out to be her regular cruising speed anyway. She was in the air, even in heavy winds and heavier rains, and far less aerodynamic than normal, the Pegasus imperative to fly never left her.

30 seconds later, they dived down at the library, Twilight remotely opening the door and sending the pile of things in ahead of them. Unbeknown to Dash, she was also pulling out the towels strategically hidden throughout the room to make a fluffy, comfortable crash landing pad. Not that Dash knew she was going to crash yet.

"Hey, Dash!" she yelled as they neared the end of their dive, "Think you can make it through the door before we land?"

"Uh, yeah!" she screamed back, narrowing her eyes and subconsciously working out a flight vector, adjusting for wind as naturally as she breathed, and twisted a wing just a little to take her on a smooth curve through the door.

As they passed through the doorframe, Twilight sprung her plan into action, grabbing hold of Dash's wings with a magical force and pulling them to her side, sending both of them tumbling to the comfortable, water-absorbent floor beneath, and twisting them around in the air.

"Gah, Twi, don't d-" Dash started, her words cutting off as her back impacted against the towelled support and the sudden change in momentum drove Twilight straight at her, just as planned. Her mouth open, halfway through her vocalisation, Twilight found no issue meeting her in an unprompted kiss.

Dash, despite her normal insanely fast reactions, found herself frozen and slightly zoning out as she felt Twilight's tongue roll around her mouth, pressing against her cheeks and entangling with her own, which was reacting without her acknowledgement or care. Twilight's body pressed against Dash's, a hoof stretched out to either side to keep herself balanced and hold Dash in place for a much-anticipated ravishing.

"All day I've been planning this" Twilight breathlessly panted as she broke the kiss, pulling slightly away and resting her head against Dash's chin to catch her breath. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to leave your stupidly pretty body alone in the morning?" she continued, jokingly complaining, but secretly very happy she could schedule morning activities now.

"Heh. Hey, we should go get cleaned up" Dash suggested, fully aware of what dirty rainwater would do to her wings if she left it alone too long, and fully aware that Twilight wouldn't let her do it alone.

"Oh, great idea! Hang on, I'll go get the shampoos" Twilight agreed, bouncing off of Dash and trotting over through to another room, retuning a moment later with several bottles floating by her head. Impatiently, Twilight picked Dash up and had her join the bottles behind her as she forcibly dragged the lot up her stairs and into the bathroom, setting each item down where it belonged - one shampoo bottle on the shelf, one inside the cupboard as a spare, and a Rainbow Dash inside that bathtub directly underneath the already running shower head, just as hot as she always liked it.

Jumping in behind her, Twilight pulled the shower curtain shut around them - her bathroom wasn't made of water-absorbent clouds, after all - and stared at Dash from the opposite end of the bathtub with 'that look' in her eye. The one that would terrify fillies, confuse stallions, and excite Rainbow Dashes.

Though Twilight wasn't as athletic as her multicoloured target, her dive was still impressive, striking Dash in the middle of her chest and knocking her backwards, pressing her against the smooth back of the bathtub and keeping both of them directly in the path of the arcing water shooting from the showerhead above, the constant stream of water rushing over their bodies and beginning to clear away the day's dirt.

Grabbing a conveniently placed cloth in her mouth, Twilight got to work - if Dash wanted to be clean, Twilight was going to make sure of it. After squeezing a little shower gel onto it, Twilight gripped it more securely in her mouth and lowered her head to Dash's neck. Slowly, she began to rub, keeping Dash pinned in place with a hoof while she slowly ran the soft, frothy cloth over Dash's neck and upper chest, paying special attention to making sure every inch of her beautiful blue body was made spotless.

Dash wasn't used to such pampering - though Rarity had once tried to convince her to visit the spa, the ensuing minutes of laughter ensured she never tried again. This was new - this was nice. Most of their sessions so far had been snatched hours from a busy schedule, more frantic and heated than this slow, intimate encounter.

Twilight continued, spurred on by Dash's happy sighs, as she moved a little lower, across Dash's stomach. Most importantly, the bases of her wings. Dash gasped as she felt the silky fabric start to tease against her feathers, closing her eyes as Twilight carefully rubbed further down, cleaning the dirty water away and leaving a soft trail of bubbles in her wake, across the entire length of Dash's wing. Twilight was especially careful given that she knew from experience just how sensitive Dash's wings could be, and didn't want to tire her out too quickly.

Quickly giving the other wing the same treatment, Twilight continued onwards, grinning with the material between her teeth as she saw that Dash was quickly being reduced to putty in her hooves by the slow pampering. Moving down further, Twilight rubbed lower, scraping the soft sheet over Dash's stomach and teasing the very top of her thin pink pony slit, tickling over the tip of it just enough to wake Dash up.

"Mrow", Dash whispered as she looked down at Twilight, her head practically touching the bottom of the bath as she leant down in front of Dash, her hindquarters sticking upwards into the air and her tail prominently raised, making her arousal quite clear. The hot shower water didn't help matters, splattering against Twilight's body and getting her coat damp and slick, the beads of water rolling down her body and dripping off of every exposed area. Dash grinned as she took advantage of the helplessly presenting mare, wrapping her hindlegs around her neck and pulling her further down.

Twilight spat the cloth out as she felt Dash close around her, realising that the time for cleaning was over. Moments later, she found her head roughly jerked downwards, scraping the edge of her nose against Dash's fur and filling it with her scent as she was brought face to face with Dash's slightly parted nether lips. Twilight licked her upper lips as she figured out the best plan of action - but her planning was interrupted as Dash gave her neck an impatient squeeze, pushing her closer in.

Twilight took the hint and released her tongue. Letting the shower water roll down her body, across her chin, and down it to splatter against Dash's centre of arousal she took a dive in, twisting her head slightly as she started to kiss. Letting the water lubricate her lips, Twilight pressed them against Dash's, letting her tongue teasingly push ever so slightly inside, only moving a little further in every time Twilight's rolling lips slid a little too close to Dash's exposed and sensitive clit. Each time, she elicited a low moan as Dash let her head fall back and her soaking mane fall over the side of the bath as she lay there, resting backwards and holding herself steady against Twilight with her forehooves.

Dash grinned - this was the life, for sure. Twilight's licks were growing more enthusiastic as her tongue tunnelled deeper, her jaw straining to open wider now as she tried to insert her wet, sloppy length even further inside Dash and her entire body shifting as she moved her head back and forth, giving Dash quite a spectacular view of her rear end bobbing around in front of her eyes. Dash's only regret was that she was unable to get more hooves-on with it, as moving would let Twilight pull back and that simply wasn't an option either of them wanted to pursue.

Dash let her head fall back once more, resting her neck against the side of the bath as she gave in and let Twilight do what she wanted without resistance. She felt the probing tongue delve deep inside of her, scraping about against her sensitive inner walls and feeling Twilight's heartbeat race through it, pulsing against her and raising her pleasure each time. Twilight's hot breath was heavy, and mixed with the occasional moan as she satisfied herself entirely through the service of another.

Every couple of long, slow licks and penetrations, Twilight would turn her head and take a different approach, shifting positions to keep it interesting and keep her exactly where Twilight wanted them. Twilight's wet, matted mane was covering her eyes and sticking forward, and every time she shifted it would tickle against Dash's clit yet again, sending waves of pleasure through her body and punctuating the regular beat from Twilight's attentions with pleasurable metaphorical exclamation marks, and the occasional interrobang as Dash was momentarily overwhelmed, letting a happy groan escape her mouth to echo off the bathroom walls.

Finally, the pleasure became too much for Dash to handle, and she started to lose control of her body. At first, it was just her hips subconsciously thrusting, easing Twilight's work and exciting her further as eash thrust pushed her further inside. Soon after, however, Dash found her powerful wings failed to respond as her body decided now would be a good time to test stretching all of her muscles, sending her wings shooting to her back and pushing her away from the bath's side, sending her tumbling forward and pushing Twilight's neck backwards.

It didn't take Twilight long to realise that Dash probably shouldn't be trying to bend her neck that way quite so much, and she quickly closed her eyes and concentrated - harder than it looks when you have a Rainbow Dash shoving her delicious, sensitive, moan-y self in your face, but Twilight managed anyway - and teleported a few feet upwards, landing on Dash's back a moment later as she hit the bath with a splash.

Dash's tail was tickling Twilight's nose, and Dash could feel Twilight's quivering marehood against her upper neck. Both of them quickly realised that Rainbow Dash was entirely the wrong way around for this.

"Uh, I can turn over if you just..." Dash started, prompting Twilight to awkwardly lift herself up, each leg pushing against the bath as she tried to give Dash room to move. Dash grunted as she pulled herself around, accidentally knocking Twilight's leg with her own as she span and sending her tumbling down to land exactly where Dash would like her to be - spread across her chest, legs to each side of her head, and with her gorgeous purple behind mere inches away.

Wasting no time, Dash dived forward, gripping Twilight's flanks with her hooves and pulling her in as she tried to give Twilight the treatment she'd been receiving so shortly before.

Twilight wasn't so lucky. With Dash holding her in place, Twilight found her tongue falling slightly short. Licking Dash's stomach didn't really hold the same appeal, but it was all she could reach. As Dash got to work, though, she quickly forgot her troubles, letting herself melt down into Dash's hooves as her wonderful tongue started to roughly twist around inside of her, wasting no time and going straight for the goal. Twilight quickly found herself pushing her face down into Dash's stomach, desperately attempting to muffle the moaning as Dash reminded her of just another thing she could do quickly - make Sparkles cum.

Seconds later, Dash's over-active, eager tongue brought the familiar tingling feeling back to Twilight's groin as she sensed her oncoming orgasm. Twilight knew that she was never left in any useful state after Dash left her floating in a sea of post-coital bliss, and that meant Dash would have to go unsatisfied. No.

Twilight's eyes were already scrunched closed, but she made sure to close them harder as she started to concentrate, feeling like she was getting ready to slay a dragon with how much effort she needed to control her magic as she spawned the smallest tendril and sent it outwards, searching across Dash's body for the small, wet, sensitive nub she was looking for. Quickly finding it, Twilight set about distracting Dash with a two-pronged attack - one magical force would lightly rub and tease her exposed clitoris, while another one tried its best to tease her soaking wet vagina, pushing its way in and parting her with an invisible force. To any onlookers, they would have been quite the display, both fighting against each other to not cum first - Dash out of her sense of pride, and Twilight out of duty.

Dash lost first, Twilight's powerful magical attack overwhelming her already highly stimulated body. The ripples of pleasure shot through her body, every muscle quivering in turn as she completely lost touch, her last actions as a concious being being one final, heartfelt penetration. Twilight had stopped trying to resist by that point, and that was all she needed to finally tip over the edge with her lover, screaming unintelligible profanity into her light blue coat and beating her hooves against the bathtub's side as her magic dissipated.

Then, there was silence. Apart from the constant pitter-patter of the shower, still happily putting out gallon after gallon of steaming hot water, just the way Dash liked it, and the roar of the outside storm, there was nothing. Other than the heavy breaths of two happy ponies.

Apart from the rise and fall of their chests, or Twilight's lazy shuffling as she tried to turn around and lie next to, not on top of, Rainbow Dash, nothing moved.

Several minutes later, when Twilight had stopped being a completely uselessly happy lump of smiling pony, she realised that Dash still hadn't washed her hair. Clambering a little higher up, she rested her chest on Dash's shoulder and started to nibble on the edge of her ear as a hundred different magical forces awoke and pulled Dash's mane out for inspection.

Unscrewing the shampoo bottle, she got to work...

"Twi-liiiiiiight" Dash moaned, "My mane smells funny!"

"No, Dash, it smells nice. Now shut up or I'll make you help Spike file away all your things" Twilight threatened as she idly brushed Dash's hair, using the threat of hard work to keep her in line as she slowly, and painfully, brought Dash's mane closer to something resembling respectable, knowing full well that heavy winds and rains would ruin her hard work the very moment Dash left for her shift. Twilight didn't mind, it meant she got to do it all over again.

"Oh, and Spike? Take a letter:" Twilight called down, impatiently waiting for Spike to finish tidying up what he was currently doing, and grab a notepad.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned a very valuable lesson about love. Today, I asked Rainbow to move in, and she accepted. Sometimes, in order to help someone you really care about, you need to be willing to take risks, and tell them how you really feel - because if you trust them to never let you down, they can do the same.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle"

"Got anything to add, Dash?" Twilight asked, waiting a moment before instructing Spike to send it.

"Oh, no, not really" Dash said, absent mindedly lost in thought. Twilight was right, and it was high time she started trusting that.

Winds of Change

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: One month later

"Hey Twi," Dash yelled through from the kitchen to the library's main hall, where Twilight lay on her side idly reading through an ancient tome on Equestrian fauna. "Want anything for breakfast?"

The purple mare stirred, her concentration breaking as she realised Dash was talking to her. Over the past few weeks, she'd slowly been trained to pay attention when Dash talked by scientific applications of tickling - namely, if she didn't pay attention, she'd be made to.

"Huh?" Twilight asked while she mentally processed the question, "Oh, sure. Just some hay and milk would be lovely, thanks!" she suggested, going back to her reading.

Back in the kitchen, Rainbow Dash grinned. She knew Twilight didn't think she was a very good cook, but Dash planned to prove her wrong. Cooking was just making sure everything was in the right place at the right temperature, as far as she could tell, what could possibly go wrong? Why, if Dash had her way, Twilight'd be asking her to cook before too long, not asking her not to.

"Uh, Dash?" Spike whispered, poking his head around the kitchen door as he went about his own chores, "You have to take the hay out of the wrapper."

Spike left without waiting to see Dash's reaction, muttering about wondering how Twilight put up with her. Rainbow Dash looked back at the bowl. The small, wrapped up bale of hay did look delicious, but Spike might have a point - the paper wrapping probably wasn't as nice. Well, can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, Dash supposed, and started to open the packaging; A simple task for a pony with as fine motor control as Rainbow Dash.

Thirty seven seconds later, Dash emerged from the kitchen victorious. She was flying a few inches off the ground, happily grasping a bowl in her hooves with a triumphant grin on her face. Her mane was even more of a mess than usual, singular sticks of hay embedded deep within it at seemingly impossible angles, and flour lightly coating her body. The bowl was perhaps a third full, the remaining pieces of hay strewn around the kitchen and contained within her mane and tail. Nonetheless, the wrapping lay torn and defeated on the kitchen floor, and Dash was the master once more.

"What in the wide world of Equestria did you do in there, Dash?" Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow and peering over her book as she spotted the blue, and now yellow, mare floating towards her.

"Made you breakfast! Look, I did it, you said I couldn't, but ha! You owe me now, Sparkle." Dash grinned, winking at the end of her last sentence as if proving Twilight wrong was a victory rather than a challenge.

Twilight plucked the bowl out of Dash's hooves and peered into it.

"Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the milk?"

Dash looked down at the bowl, inspecting the contents for a moment.

"Uh... I guess I kinda... forgot." Dash sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof and knocking a few errant strands of hay out onto the floor. "But hey, I still made a meal! I told you the only reason I ordered in every day was because I didn't wanna just make it for myself, didn't I?"

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. She'd heard Rarity's tales of woe about Sweetie Belle's cooking, but she never expected to be able to trade war stories. How exactly Dash had managed to get flour on the tip of her nose Twilight was completely unsure. It was adorable, it looked great on her, but there wasn't actually any flour in the packaging. She must have actually ground the hay down with her hoof somehow. Impressive, albeit completely inept.

"Fine, give it here, I'll go get some milk!" Dash protested, grabbing the bowl and retreating, leaving a small cloud of impossible flour behind, which Twilight wafted away with a stroke of her horn. At least Dash couldn't possibly screw up pouring milk into a bowl.

"Oh horseapples," Twilight heard echo through from the kitchen, a moment before a tinkling smash as what was presumably the milk bottle impacted the ground, shattering. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash returned from the kitchen, her mane dripping.

Twilight blinked - Dash was completely soaked. Her mane was stuck to her body, and tiny droplets of white liquid peppered her entire coat. As she stood there in the kitchen doorway, the ends of her hair dripped away, coating the library floor in a thin layer of milk and somehow making even more of a mess than Dash had already managed.

"Oh, Rainbow..." Twilight sighed, filing her book away and rolling over onto her hooves, walking over as she shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?" she laughed, lightly nuzzling a dry looking patch on Dash's cheek.

"I uh," Dash started, flaring out her wings and giving herself a shake to try and throw off as much milk as she could, "We're out of milk."

Twilight blinked, blowing a wet strand of hair out of her eyes as it was weighed down by Dash's displaced liquid, before tutting and wringing her mane dry with a pulse of her horn, siphoning the milk off and holding it in the air.

The two ponies stood there, staring at each other, wondering which of them would break first. Dash was fairly sure she could spin this as not entirely her fault, and Twilight just wondered how long Dash could manage to stay still.

"Oh, will you two grow up?!" Spike shouted through from the kitchen, cloth in one hand and sponge in the other as he began to mop up the spilt milk.

"Oh, Spike, you're just a baby dragon remember! You'll understand one day," Twilight patronised.

"Oh, thanks Spike, I owe you one," Dash thanked, having absolutely no intention of helping clean up. Cleaning wasn't cool.

"Heh, I guess I ought to go grab some more milk then," Dash offered, the shopping trip a metaphorical olive branch.

"Oh, I can do that, it'll be faster. You should get off to work, you have a shift soon remember?" Twilight replied. Dash hadn't remembered, Dash never remembered. The timetable was affixed straight above their bed so that Dash would always, in theory, wake up looking at it, or at very least see it at some point. In practice, she was often distracted by the purple unicorn lying next to her, so she had yet to actually memorise it. Even though she'd been following this particular timetable for almost six months.

"Oh, I've got plenty of ti- did you say you'd be faster?" Dash gawked, cocking her head, "because I'm pretty fast, y'know. Fastest Pegasus in Equestria. I could do it pretty quick," she boasted, certain her milk-run skills easily outmatched Twilight. What was she gonna do, spend the rest of the day on a shopping list and only actually get there after closing time?

"Well, I can teleport, you know," Twilight stated, "You're very fast, but..."

Dash shot forward in the blink of an eye - she'd say half a blink - and stared into Twilight's eyes. "Are you saying you're faster than me, Twi?"

"Of course not, Dash," Twilight admitted, "I wouldn't technically move there, just appear. My velocity would stay much lower than yours at all times. I'd still get there before you, of course, but I could never beat you in a fair race."

That wasn't good enough for Dash. Rainbow Dash was the fastest mare in Equestria, no matter what. "I'll race you," she warned, "Don't think I won't."

Twilight laughed nervously. The situation had gotten a lot tenser than she'd expected, a lot faster than she'd hoped. She could win, of course, it wasn't a fair race. She just didn't want Dash to feel hurt - which, of course, she would if she refused to race. She'd also feel hurt if Twilight didn't try her best.

"Okay, Dash. Winner is the pony who gets the milk back here first, we'll start on the count of three," Twilight instructed, using her regular race rules - though temporarily amended to allow the use of magic. Regular races would be unbalanced by teleportation, but that was the point here. Twilight felt sorry for Dash, really.

"Three two one GO!" Dash shouted, speeding out of the room. Twilight concentrated, and the world slowed to a standstill around her. Dash's tail slowly fluttered in the air as she sped towards the open window, reaching her arms out in front of her and curving in her wings to slip through the tight opening.

Twilight found her concentration slipping - her victory was so assured she could take a few moments for herself anyway - as Dash's tail whipped back and forth excruciatingly slowly, and Twilight found her eyes drawn to Dash's toned behind. Never mind fastest pony in Equestria, Twilight knew she'd found the hottest. It was a shame she felt the need to challenge anypony who even accidentally implied they might be able to do something faster than her, but she'd get over it, Twilight was sure.

Closing her eyes, Twilight concentrated further. The nearest shop was a few hundred feet away, but that was no issue for Twilight. Reaching out with her magic, she sensed outwards, sending a magical pulse out in all directions searching for the shop. Within a few instants, she found it. Dash had not yet left the room.

Concentrating hard on the shop itself, Twilight found a nice spot that was safe to appear in. She knew from firsthoof experience that teleporting inside of another object did not end well for that object. She didn't want to repeat that. Twilight let a little energy build up in her horn, and vanished in a flash of light.

"Hey, need milk, no time to explain, just take my bits," Twilight called over to the shopkeeper, throwing a few coins through the air as she grabbed the milk bottle between her teeth and concentrated again, vanishing in another flash of light and appearing in her kitchen.

Almost slipping on the wet floor, Twilight triumphantly pulled open the refrigerator to place the milk in it's rightful position, only to find there was already a full bottle there in its place.

"Ha!" Dash cried, tackling her from behind and bringing both of them down onto the wet floor. "Told ya I was fast!"

"I... but I...!" Twilight complained, baffled that she could have been beaten. "How did you...?"

"Fastest. Mare. In. Equestria." Dash slowly stated, ruffling Twilight's mane a little more with each word. Dash knew she could sometimes come off as a little overconfident, but on her speed, she knew she was just confident. "That's why I know I'll get into the Wonderbolts some day, because nopony has beaten me yet."

"Huh," Twilight answered, mentally adjusting how fast she thought Dash was. She had to admit, most of the time she saw her flying she was holding back. Even when she'd seen her race, Dash tended to win almost effortlessly, certainly not straining herself.

Reaching out with the tiniest bit of magic, Twilight started to probe Dash's body, looking for the signs of exertion. Her heart was still beating at twice the normal rate, and she was still breathing heavily. She'd done a tiny bit of damage to a wing muscle - which Twilight repaired - and the tendons in her legs seemed a little stretched, presumably from grabbing milk at absurdly high speeds. Twilight hoped Dash'd paid for that milk.

"Hey, that tickles!" Dash laughed, lightly punching Twilight in the shoulder and letting her body slip a little, rubbing against Twilight's now damp form. Twilight shivered, the cold milk sucking the heat out of her body and leaving her in need of warmth.

"You," Twilight accused, grabbing Dash around the chest with her hooves and pulling her closer, "are too amazing for your own good."

Twilight, luckily, didn't have much problem admitting when she was beat. When it didn't have anything to do with magic, of course. Rainbow Dash was much the same way, not that she'd ever admit it. Telling her she couldn't cook ruffled her feathers, but little more. That didn't mean she wouldn't try and prove she could, though.

"I know," Dash grinned back, happily accepting Twilight's victory hug, secure in the knowledge that once again, everybody knew she was the fastest thing in the house. As it should be. "and you're soaking."

"Yeah. I should go clean this off, you need to get to work."

"Oh, to hay with work. I'll clean you, right here, and you don't get to say no because I won, okay?" Dash stated, the grin on her face and glint in her eyes telling Twilight that this was no time to deny her, and she should really just play along.

"Fine, but don't blame me when Cloudkicker gets angry at yoouuhhhhh-" Twilight's sentence was cut off as Dash began to do exactly as she'd promised, starting with a long slow lick around Twilight's neck. There wasn't any milk there, but Dash wanted to do a thorough job. Twilight let her eyes close and her mouth remained slightly parted as she gasped under Dash's attentions, the blue mare's tongue slowly making its way around her body, lapping up the spilt milk and pressing against every inch of her body.

Dash struggled slightly to pull out of Twilight's hugging grip as she moved downwards, Twilight not really noticing it as she lay there concentrating on the way Dash's tongue would travel over her coat and rub against her skin with every lick, and every lap. Twilight knew that some species of animal regularly did this for cleaning, and she'd heard that it was fairly popular among Pegasi for two partners to 'preen' each other. She could see why, Dash's flexible and sensitive lips felt amazing pressing against her. Twilight made a mental note to do some reading and look into how that worked.

For now, though, she was happy to simply lie back and let Dash claim her prize - Twilight thought she ought to lose more races. Losing felt nice. Dash's slow procession continued, moving down her body and leaving the areas above it feeling clean and relaxed, like some sort of intimate massage.

"Hey guys, what's oh Celestia Twilight are you okay?" Spike exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen, finding the two mares in the throes of lovemaking, though not quite understanding that. "Are you hurt? Dash, what happened!"

"I... uh... we... slipped. In the milk," Dash explained, looking down at Twilight for assistance. She shrugged, lying wasn't her forte.

Spike considered Dash's words for a moment, wondering why she'd so obviously lie, before the truth burst into his head like a freight train made of awkwardness and getting in the way. "Oh, gosh," he stated, walking backwards out of the room without another word, as if he'd really rather just forget about it.

"Oh, I hope he'll be okay," Twilight whispered, "He doesn't really seem to have noticed 'us' yet."

"Yeah," Dash replied, fairly disinterested. She was sure Spike would be fine, they always had a laugh when it was just her and Spike, so she didn't know why adding Twilight into that would be so bad. "Where were we?"

"You," Twilight answered, pushing Dash off with a hoof and wringing the two of them dry with a quick glow of her horn, "were going to work. I want to make sure Spike is okay, alright?"

"Aw, but Twilight!" Dash complained, looking crestfallen and shaking her wings around defiantly to dislodge the last few droplets of milk, spreading them around the entire kitchen. Small victories.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, "Go on, you're going to be late already," she commanded, watching Dash take a running dive at the open window, spreading her wings the moment she'd cleared the library and soaring into the sky and out of sight. She looked beautiful in the air, and it saddened Twilight that she didn't get to see Dash perform anywhere near as much as she'd like, given that she could never schedule for something that Dash herself didn't plan in advance. Twilight made a mental note to clear up as much empty "buffer" time as she could next time she rewrote her schedules, hoping she could catch a performance or two that way.

"Spike?" she called out through the library, trying to catch the attention of her number one assistant. She heard no reply - that was completely unlike Spike, he'd normally already be asking what she wanted. Twilight's brow furrowed in concern as she started to search, sensing outwards with her horn for the familiar, unique, and unmistakable aura of a dragon.

He was upstairs, in their bedroom, leaning over into something. What was he doing?

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked a moment after her teleport. Walking felt so inefficient to her these days.

Spike screamed and fell backwards, and the sack he'd been leaning over fell onto its side, letting the contents spill out onto his bed. "Twilight, don't scare me like that!"

"Spike, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, the concern clear in her voice as she looked upon the sack, filled with his possessions.

"Oh, I think it's time I moved on, Twilight. I'm growing up, you're growing up, I think you and Dash want the place to yourselves, and I think it's time for me to take my place in the world," Spike said, almost as if he'd rehearsed it. Gathering up his things, he slung the sack over his shoulder and began to leave the room.

Twilight picked up the baby dragon and tugged the sack out of his hands, holding him in the air in front of her. "Spike, no! You're not just a baby dragon, you're MY baby dragon, and I don't want you to go anywhere! Where would you even go?" she asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and astonishment, and on the verge of tears.

"Well... Rarity said I could come by any time I wanted, and she probably wouldn't want me out of the way all the time," he offered hopefully, trying not to give away the fact he hadn't planned that far ahead. Or really, much at all.

"Oh Spike!" Twilight sighed, slightly exasperated. "Why would you think I wanted my number one assistant out of the way?"

"That's my bed over there, but I've barely slept in it in a month. You're always sending me out on errands you used to do yourself, and I think I've babysat the CMC sixteen times in the last three weeks," Spike countered with a series of completely accurate, and fairly damning, points.

Twilight considered it - Spike was right. She did give Spike pointless activities to perform to keep him out of the way whenever Dash happened to pop round during the day, and having Spike there at night was always awkward. Even knowing Spike was merely feet away, and knowing how lightly he slept, it was hard to keep Dash still and get her to just go to sleep.

"You're right," Twilight admitted, thinking back to all the times she'd thoughtlessly sent Spike away, too preoccupied with her own problems to think about his. "I'm sorry, I should have thought. Oh, Spike, of course I don't want you to go! You're my family!"

"What about Rainbow Dash?"

"She's my family too now, Spike. I don't want either of you to go," Twilight answered, lowering Spike to the floor and bending her neck to rub her cheek against Spike's. A few moments later, she added in a whisper, "Please."

"Promise to stop making me do pointless things?"

"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "Speaking of that, you could help me clean up downstairs?" Twilight offered. Normally she'd make Spike do it alone, but normally Spike hadn't just tried to walk out.

Five minutes later, Twilight was frustrated. "How did milk get on THIS?" she screeched, scrubbing at a pot with a cloth held in a magical grip while Spike continued mopping up the pool on the floor. "And why isn't it coming off!"

Spike sighed and proffered another cloth at Twilight. "Wring that one out into the bucket, it's soaked. Man, it's a good thing I didn't leave, you're hopeless," Spike half-joked as he saw how impressively inept Twilight could be at seemingly basic skills.

"I've never dropped milk before!" Twilight complained, trying to justify herself. The rest of the cleaning went smoother, as Twilight worked under Spike's guidance and they eventually got every drop. Quite how milk could get into so many places Twilight wasn't sure. Next time somebody spilt some, she promised herself she'd disintegrate the room and just buy new cutlery.

"There, all done!" Twilight beamed as the last droplet of milk found its way into the bucket, and the bucket was promptly teleported far, far away where Twilight didn't have to look at it any more. Twilight made a mental note to research low-level shielding magic a little more so she could ensure bottles would never break again.

"Hey, Spike? I know you're still young, but maybe it's time we sorted out one of those rooms we never use for you?" Twilight suggested. "You could put all your things in it!"

"Really?" Spike asked, his face lighting up as he started to imagine the joys of having his own room. "Aw, I'd love to, Twilight!"

Twilight smiled back, and walked off. She had a particular room in mind - it was easily the smallest room in her library, but that was probably a good thing given Spike's struggles with his hoarding instincts. It was also very far away from Twilight's room, through several meters of solid wood, and it should be impossible for sounds to reach it. Could be slightly problematic for waking him up in the morning, but excellent for not waking him up at night.

Twilight grabbed Spike's bed as she walked, weaving it through the room behind her as she trotted down the steps into the lower floors of her library. Though the actual tree housed all of the public facing areas, as well as her bedroom, the lower floors were quite large and Twilight generally only used them for storage or experimentation that required a fairly large area.

Spike's soon-to-be room was just below the ground floor, and Twilight wasn't sure she'd been inside of it since she first arrived. Appropriately, it was caked with dust, which Twilight quickly dealt with using a quick pulse of magic. Coughing slightly at the last few specks of dust, Twilight set Spike's bed down in the small room. It still looked quite dark and lonely.

A few candles, one of her spare wardrobes from upstairs, and a pot plant later, Twilight was happy with it. Spike had been happy with it all along, of course, but Twilight wanted to apologise properly. Spike was right, he was growing up too, and she needed to respect that.

Twilight left Spike to get used to his new room - or, she suspected, to get started on the pile of comic books she'd seen him sneak in. One of the two. Twilight had reading, writing and research to do anyway, made all the more urgent by the morning's events.

Several hours later, Rainbow Dash soared back through the window, showing off once more as she flared her wings and came to a stop in the middle of the room, letting her mane fall into place behind her a moment later as she stood there as if expecting applause. As usual, it never came.

"Do you really need to blow over all my papers every time you come in?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Dash admitted. Sometimes she just liked making a show.

Twilight laughed and shook her head, refiling the papers almost effortlessly. There was a reason she kept everything numbered, after all. "Nice day?" she casually asked, peering over the top of her book.

"No, Cloud Kicker was pretty mad and was like, really passive aggressive the whole shift. You really ought to start making me go in on time, you know," Dash answered with a completely straight face, apparently forgetting that it was her own fault she was late. "Oh, hey, Spike okay?"

Twilight put the book down and started to explain what'd happened while Dash had been out.

"Hey, so we'll be alone every night now? Awesome!" Dash responded. "Oh, and Spike isn't leaving, that's great too."

Twilight threw a book at Dash, which she of course deftly avoided, but the point was still clear. "The whole problem was that we weren't thinking about him enough, Dash! Go talk to him, make sure he knows you care."

Dash sighed and trotted down the stairs, walking over to Spike's new room and bursting in. "Hey Spike, what's up?"

Spike fell backwards in shock once again, the comic book slipping out of his hands and dropping to the floor. "Will you guys stop doing that?!"

"Heh, sorry. Hey, what're you reading?" Dash asked as she spied a familiar grey maned yellow pegasus on the front of Spike's reading material. "Ohmygosh, they make Daring Do comics? Why did nopony tell me about these?" Dash squeaked as she started to read the title. "Please tell me you have the others, Spike?"

"Uh, sure, they're in that pile."

Three hours later, Twilight walked into the room wondering what in Equestria was taking them so long. She found Dash and Spike excitedly reading a comic book together, lying back on Spike's bed while each of them held one of the pages.

Twilight coughed.

"Oh, hey Twi, me and Spike were just doing some reading. Hey, you should join us, these are great!" Dash suggested.

"I'm sure they are, Dash, but it's Spike's bedtime. Come on, Spike, you need your rest."

"Aw, but Twilight!"

"I mean it, Spike. You'll regret it in the morning if you don't."

Spike grumbled and put the comic away before jumping into bed. Twilight blew out the candles, and tucked him in, before ushering her and Dash out and walking back up to the higher levels.

"See, you do get along," Twilight pointed out.

"'course, we always get along. Spike knows that. Jeez, Twi, it's not like I ignore him," Dash replied, refuting Twilight's implications.

Twilight sighed. "I guess it is all kinda my fault, really," she realised, sitting back down in the middle of the library and resting against a bookshelf. "How do you do it, Dash? How do you manage to never let anypony down?"

"I dunno," Dash helpfully replied, taking a seat beside Twilight. Dash didn't recognise what Twilight was saying, but she did recognise the way she was saying it - it reminded her of herself when she was feeling less awesome than usual. "I guess I just know how much they all mean to me, so I never stop trying. Anything that's worth doing is worth keeping trying for. I guess I kinda have to prove to myself I can not forget anybody, so I know I can do it when I'm in the Wonderbolts."

Dash shrugged. She didn't really know, she tried not to think too much and just do what felt right, but she knew Twilight'd hate it if she said that.

"Yeah," Twilight sighed, cheering up a little. "Yeah, you're right. I'll prove I can not forget anybody now, so I don't forget anybody when I..." she trailed off. When she what?

"When you?" Dash prompted.

"I... don't know. I've never really thought about what I'll do after my studies. Why haven't I thought about that?" Twilight asked, her voice rising in pitch as she spoke, trying to come to terms with planning out her day to day life to within the minute, but having no long-term goal. Her eyes watered slightly as she realised just how little of a path she had carved out for herself. She knew where the next few steps where, but not where they were going.

"Oh, Dash, what am I meant to do?" Twilight asked, her voice once more on the verge of tears as she leant over and rested her head against her blue partner.

Dash didn't know. She'd been hoping for a relaxing evening, maybe a little bit of reckless sex, not a nearly hysterical Twilight who was starting to question her life choices. Rainbow Dash didn't know how to deal with that. Rainbow Dash didn't think she'd ever know how to deal with that. All she did know was that Twilight was crying into her shoulder, and that was horrible.

All she could think to do was wrap a leg around Twilight's body and pull her a little closer, wrapping her up in as warm an embrace as she could manage. She even stretched out her wings and wrapped those around her too, trying to hold Twilight as close as she could without hurting her.

"I dunno, Twilight. I guess I'm pretty lucky having a really obvious choice. Whatever you do, though, I'll be there. Count on that," Dash whispered, resting her head on top of Twilight's and nuzzling her horn.

"Thanks, Dash," Twilight whispered back, pressing her head even further into Dash's shoulder and mane, wriggling closer and trying to lose herself in the embrace. First Spike, and now this - some days just weren't worth getting up for. "I don't know how I'd get through this without you, Dash," Twilight whispered, ignoring the fact that Dash was the catalyst to all of these events. Some people were worth it.

Twilight remained still, no longer crying, but not wanting to move either. Dash, to her credit, only fidgeted a little bit. The sun was setting any both of them were quite tired, Dash from a day of physical exertion and Twilight from mental exertion, and Twilight suggested they should probably head to bed.

A little awkward shifting later, the two silently walked side by side up to the bedroom, and slipped into bed. Twilight tucked them in with her magic, and Dash held her close with her legs. Dash had been hoping for reckless sex, but she knew that wasn't an option, not today, and that Twilight needed to know she was there.

"Night, Twi," Dash whispered almost silently a few minutes later as she held the slumbering mare close, resting her head between Twilight's ears and wondering what in Equestria she could do to make this better. Eventually, she drifted off too.

Twilight groaned as the light of day streaming through the parting in her curtains quite unfairly woke her up, and brought her back into the land of the living. Why did mornings have to be so bright, she asked herself as she pulled the curtains shut properly and tried to go back to sleep.

It didn't work, she was too awake to be asleep. Twilight resigned herself to simply having to lie beneath the warm covers, feeling Dash's tight hug squeeze her body and sensing every motion the fidgety pegasus made push into her.

Strange, Dash was normally awake long before her, Twilight thought to herself as she snuggled a little closer, smiling softly as she felt the blue coat brush against her. Still in that joyfully ignorant period where she hadn't quite woken up and remembered the day before, Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, content simply to bask.

Wasn't there something she'd wanted to do to that coat yesterday, she wondered. Oh yes, she'd wanted to try preening, like Dash had done for her in the milk just before Spike came in.

The memories of the day before rushed towards her as her brain began to unwind the strands of everything that had happened, and Twilight remembered. Suddenly the hugging seemed less warm, and more comforting - Dash had said she'd be there, right? She wouldn't lie about that. Would she?

"Dash?"

"Dash!"

Rainbow Dash stirred slightly, fluttering her wings under the covers and shifting her head. "Buh?" she groaned, not opening her eyes. "Ugh, Twi, it's like three am!"

"It's already light outside," Twilight complained. That wasn't like Dash at all, she was normally up the moment the sun was. "Shouldn't you be up already?"

"I guess I didn't get much sleep last night, Twi," Dash yawned, rolling over and leaving Twilight feeling much colder.

That sounded ominous, Twilight thought. "Oh? Is it about what you said yesterday?" she quietly asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. Twilight had no idea how such a goal-oriented pony would take the revelation that Twilight was drifting.

"Yeah, I guess. I've never had to cheer somepony up before, so I was thinking, what can I do?" Dash admitted, sitting on the side of the bed and looking away, keeping herself balanced with her wings. "I don't know much about, like, magic and stuff, but I know you do, so I'm sure whatever you do you'll be great at it. I just wanna be there when you do it, okay?"

Twilight started to tear up yet again. She felt more like a cloud than a pony given how much she'd been doing that over the past day. She still had no idea where she wanted to go, but maybe there were more important things in life. Maybe. Twilight wasn't sure, but all she knew was that hearing Dash tell her she didn't mind lifted her spirits like nothing else. Except Dash still wasn't looking at her.

Dash felt Twilight's hoof touch her back as she sat there, wondering how Twilight would take it. Would it be enough? Twilight had had guidance her entire life, and Dash couldn't provide that, she didn't know how. She just hoped that Twilight could get by without it. She turned, twisting her body to come face to face with Twilight's teary but smiling face.

Three quarters of a second later, Dash had Twilight pinned down against the bed, squeezing her between her wings and holding her close. "That okay?" Dash asked with a hopeful grin.

"Yeah," Twilight replied, sniffing the last few tears away and smiling back. "Yeah, it is. But you're wrong, you can do something for me."

"Oh yeah?"

"We were interrupted yesterday," Twilight whispered suggestively. Dash took the suggestion.

Leaning down, Dash started fresh. Twilight didn't really need cleaning - she wasn't perfect, but she wasn't too dirty either - but Dash didn't really mind. It wasn't the point anyway.

Lacing the edge of Twilight's collarbone with a string of light sucks and nibbles, Dash got to work, admiring the way her purple lover's body shivered under her touch. She was still sniffling, and her eyes were still a little puffy, but Dash sensed that every touch of her mouth made it a little better.

Slowly, she began to work her way down Twilight's body, winding a trail of kisses along her coat and letting her wings freely rub and squeeze against her. Twilight gasped almost silently as Dash suddenly gave her fur a light suck, trying to vary her actions to keep Twilight interested.

Twilight lay back against her pillow, trying to lose herself in the sensations. Rainbow Dash was darting all over her body, tracing lines of kissing and sucking as she went, and her wings were still hugging tight. It was comforting, Twilight thought, to know that Dash would be there for her.

Dash stopped cleaning - Twilight's coat was fine anyway, and she'd stopped responding with the same ferocity on each kiss. It was time to do something a little harder. Sitting back up, Dash stretched out a wing - she'd never done this before, but she was eager to try.

Dash moved her wing and began to trace over Twilight's body with the very tip. It felt nice, for both of them - Twilight feeling a soft and smooth sensation, and Dash getting some of the sensations her ruffled feathers would give her during flight. That wasn't enough for either of them.

Slowly, Dash moved the tip down, tickling over Twilight's body in a smooth descent. As it went, the edge of her wing scraped almost imperceptibly against Twilight's exposed clitoris, prompting a quiet, but very content sigh of relief. That one was going to be enough.

Her wing aligned itself as Dash moved to give herself better footing, positioning it so she could smoothly thrust inside of Twilight's now slightly parted nether lips. Dash needed this - last night had left her feeling unsatisfied, she wasn't used to that.

"Dash, wait," Twilight whispered as she felt the first set of feathers tickle against her. "I'm not ready," Twilight sighed. Not ready? What the hay did that mean, Dash asked herself.

Twilight answered a few moments later by closing her eyes, and letting her magic start to flow. Rainbow Dash felt Twilight's magical tendrils begin to lightly touch her body. Dash gasped as the warm, almost slimy, writhing areas of force brushed against her.

"If," Twilight said, her eyes still closed shut as she concentrated on using her magic to sense everything she needed, "if you're going to do something new for me, I want to do this for you."

Rainbow Dash had asked her about this before - if she could rebuild a dam, surely she could show a mare a good time. Twilight had refused, she'd said that ever since their first time, she'd never been comfortable using much magic in the heat of the moment. The tiniest force, or the slightest touch, but never anything with any real power to it.

"You sure?" Dash asked, closing her eyes and letting Twilight run her mind all over her body, exploring every inch and getting as intimate with the rainbow maned pegasus as she could without using spells frowned upon by most modern scholars.

Twilight reacted by sending a wave of energy through her magical grip, massaging the poor pegasus' body and sending a light jolt of electricity through her form, eliciting a squeak and a grin. Twilight was a very smart pony, but she wasn't a weatherpony, she wasn't a pegasus, and she didn't know everything. She didn't know exactly why giving a weather pegasus an electric shock was a bad idea.

Dash thrust forward, slowly pushing forward and slipping the tip of her wing inside of Twilight's aching body. Centimetre by centimetre, Dash pressed forward, feeling the feathers on her wingtip press down and grow slightly damp, as if she were flying through a stormcloud. When she was an inch or so deep inside, Dash flexed her wing and discharged the electricity, sending literal lightning bolts of pleasure through Twilight's unprepared form.

Twilight's magic vanished as she groaned into the air, her body shivering as the slight shock reverberated through her, sending her muscles into spasms and her mind reeling, assaulted from all sides with new-found sensation.

"Ha!" Dash breathlessly gasped, still recovering from the way Twilight's mind had been assaulting her body, "bet you didn't know we could do that!"

Twilight recovered quickly, starting her magic back up and encasing Rainbow Dash in a magenta glow, starting to more vigorously rub her body and massage her skin, though taking more care than ever not to accidentally discharge any magic into Dash, lest it be used against her. It had felt nice - too nice, she couldn't possibly hope to stay concentrating under that bombardment.

Twilight began to feel around Dash's body - squeezing and kneading it was enjoyable for both of them, but it didn't have the same "oomph" that Dash's slow strokes were having. Her wing moved slowly, but every millimetre felt as distracting as an oncoming exam. If Twilight didn't have a subject as infinitely fascinating as Rainbow Dash's sexy, lithe body to concentrate on, she'd probably have given in.

She did not. Rubbing was fun, but some areas were more conductive to rubbing than others. Dash's wings were off-limits, she wouldn't be able to keep concentration, and if Dash stopped slowly thrusting in and out Twilight would be very sad. Searching around, Twilight made a mental list of possible targets, looking at everything from tugging on Dash's tail, to massaging her almost imperceptibly small teats. Twilight toyed around with the latter, slowly rubbing magical circles around them and giving teasing pinches and pecks. Dash didn't really seem to notice - a pity.

Moving on to the next check-list item, Twilight shifted her attentions a little lower, letting her magic concentrate around Dash's crotch. She smelled the heat, tasted the way her heartbeat would cause the parted lips to pulse ever so slightly, and heard the slick lubrication slowly emerge from their depths. Twilight was glad she'd had most of her life to get used to the sensations of "seeing" with magic, because looking at Dash in so much detail was worth every sleepless night that got her through her education. Every single one.

Dash felt Twilight's attentions shift, the light tendrils wrapping around her legs and pulling them open, before they began to slowly tease around, exploring her lower end in excruciating detail. Though their touch was light, and only a pony who routinely needed to feel minor changes in windspeed would have any hope of noticing them, the light brushing against her most sensitive areas was enough to drive her wild. She let her eyes flutter closed as Twilight searched - she didn't need to be able to see to hold herself up on her hooves and slowly twist her wing around inside of Twilight anyway.

Once Twilight was satisfied with knowing she could pinpoint every hair on Dash's (now scientifically proven to be) unfairly attractive body, she delved in deeper, letting her red field grow stronger as it began to form into more of a shape. Once Twilight was satisfied the object she visualised in the centre of her mind was sufficiently phallic, she began to tease as best she could, running its tip along the edge of Dash's puffy lips.

Dash groaned, the dual attentions of Twilight's continued exploration of her body, and the solid object now pressing against the focal point of her needs, threatened to overwhelm her. She steeled herself against it and continued to slide her wing up and down, more strongly than before - maybe if she could make Twilight cum first, she might maintain composure long enough to actually please her partner. Some days Dash thought it might be easier for her not embodying the concept of Loyalty, but this wasn't one of those days - making a Sparkle moan was never a chore.

Twilight's composure noticeably weakened as Rainbow Dash's assault began to build up a new kind of energy in her loins, an unmistakable feeling building up and starting to spread through her body. The impossible to resist, unmistakably strong sensation began to burn, driving all other feeling from her, from the way the (rather damp) bedsheets felt against her skin, to the way Dash's heavy breaths felt against her skin. None of that remained as the area of intense tingling and undeniable pleasure continued upwards, rising through her body.

Twilight knew the moment it hit her head, that would be it - no more magic, no more thinking, just mindless pleasure. Dash was nowhere near ready, she would go disappointed. That was unfair, and Twilight did the only thing she could think of - gathering yet more magic inside of her, she began to concentrate harder than she had for weeks, maybe even months. Struggling with herself, she managed to slow the oncoming storm, keeping herself teetering on the edge of ecstasy, but not falling in. The feeling was indescribable - her entire body tingled and throbbed with pleasure, her back arched and her neck fell loosely, her eyes closed and her mouth falling open. A small string of saliva dripped from her extended tongue as her entire body simply stopped responding, helplessly moaning in pleasure as Dash took complete control of it.

Her mind, however, was free. Her body was currently unavailable, but her magic still worked. Twilight took control of her magical phallus once more, and eagerly thrust it inside, marvelling at the sensation of feeling Dash's red hot, tight walls surround her entire being - her body wasn't providing any sensations other than boundless pleasure, so her magic was all she could rely on. She felt Dash's heartbeat reverberate against her, and her fluids drip around her. She heard the way each time she pushed herself inside, Dash's body would twitch a little more than the time before, and she tasted Dash's groans growing louder on the air.

Concentrating as hard as she could, Twilight began to lose herself in the actions, letting her mind wallow in pleasure as the tiniest fraction of it continued her task, roughly and passionately penetrating her Rainbow while another, even smaller fragment of her mind began to lightly brush and suck at Dash's exposed clitoris. The groans tasted even sweeter as they echoed throughout the room, and every muscle in Dash's body began to shiver. Twilight probably would have felt the way Dash's wing spasmed around inside of her, but her body was too far gone to differentiate shades of pleasure like that.

With barely any warning at all, Dash snapped. Her body slumped forwards as she finally gave in, moaning helplessly against Twilight's chest as she continued thrusting, even as Dash's walls contracted around her and squeezed her mind, juices flowing freely over her.

Dash struggled to retain enough composure for one last act, taking her free wing and roughly brushing it against the bed, building up as much static electricity as she could. A moment later, she discharged, the end of her wing still deep within Twilight's unresponsive body.

The electric shock zapped through Twilight, seeking the path of least resistance to the area least pleasured - Twilight's mind. The unexpected shock broke through her magic, and the pleasure washed in. Her magic vanished in an instant as her mind finally joined her body in completely helpless pleasure, completely ignorant of the outside world as both of them lay there breathing heavily, panting against one another, with their eyes closed and their minds quite happily switched off.

Some moments later, Dash began to stir, still smiling with the slowly fading feelings of post-coital bliss. Twilight would be a few minutes still, she knew, climbing a little higher up and taking Twilight in a sticky, tired embrace, wiping the end of her wing on the already ruined sheet and giving it a few carefully placed nibbles and sucks, cleaning out the worst of it.

Eventually, Twilight sighed happily as she came to, turning her head and smiling over at Dash, who was still quite happily hugging, partially dozing off as she waited for Twilight to give some sign she'd awoken.

So Twilight had yet to figure out the path she was taking. So what? It no longer really mattered to her where that path was going, so long as there was room for two.

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: Two Months Later

"Oh, and this one was taken at last year's try-outs!" Rainbow Dash continued, holding up a picture of the Wonderbolts flying in formation across an open sky. Twilight Sparkle had made the mistake of asking Dash what she was reading.

Equestrian Fliers Monthly was, as the name suggested, a monthly magazine full of articles about the hottest fliers in Equestria. Rainbow Dash still had the cut-out from her own article, after winning the Best Young Flier's competition a few years back, where they had praised both her speed and agility. Dash had circled the particularly awesome sections in red pen.

Twilight hadn't recognised this month's cover, and had absent mindedly questioned it after finishing her own book, a rather dry piece on aerodynamics. Not Twilight's favourite subject by a long way, but she'd grown sick of not being able to comment on any of Dash's tricks beyond a rather shallow 'Wow, Dash, that looks even better than your last one!'

Now, Dash was walking Twilight through this month's Wonderbolts gallery. From pictures of Spitfire that were perhaps a little racier than she would have expected from a national institute's lead flier to carefully orchestrated images of them in the middle of a complex stunt, the multi-page spread must have been almost like pornography to the Wonderbolts-obsessed mare.

Twilight noticed the date on that last image, which showed the 3 members of the first Wonderbolts flight wing handing over some jumpsuits to three lucky new recruits - it was just under a week from now, except last year. If the try-outs were yearly, then that meant they'd be coming up very soon!

"Try-outs, huh? Are those a yearly thing?" Twilight coyly asked, using every last ounce of espionage ability she'd picked up from reading a few too many spy novels.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Dash admitted, "I think I missed this year's though. I'll try next year."

That was weird, Twilight though, she would have expected Dash to be sure whether she'd missed something that important to her.

"I don't think so, Dash, that date isn't until next week!" Twilight insisted, pointing at the photograph. "Luckily for you, that's more than enough time for me to organise everything!"

Twilight grinned, knowing for sure Dash would love the chance to finally get into the Wonderbolts. She was more than happy to help Dash achieve her dreams, because she knew that the blue-feathered Pegasus had what it took.

"Hm," Twilight added after a moment, not noticing that Dash's facial expression was frozen, "everypony else is going to want to see you succeed too. Oh, I know, let's all go!" Twilight exclaimed, wiggling her ears in excitement as she started to imagine all the things they could do. "We barely saw any of Cloudsdale last time, let's spend a few days there and see the sights! Oh, I've heard such wonderful things, you'll have to show me them all, Dash!"

"Heh, uh, you don't need to do that, Twi! It can wait, really." Dash back-pedaled. It wasn't that she didn't think she could get in - she was Rainbow Dash, of course she could get in - or that she didn't want to - it was her dream - it was... Scary.

"Oh, I don't mind, Dash, I'd love to, really!" Twilight insisted.

Dash realised she had no other option. She could do this, she told herself, it wouldn't even be fair on the other competitors. 'Competitors' - like there'd even be a competition.

"Awesome, what're we waiting for, then?"

"Ooh, ooh, there she is!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she spotted Rainbow Dash soar over the horizon. Jumping up and down and pointing over with her hoof, she continued, "I told you she wouldn't be late for her own party!"

"I never doubted you, darling, I was simply expressing my dislike of standing out here in the wind for so long. My mane is ruined." Rarity complained, despite her mane looking as hair-perfect as it always did.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack were waiting on top of one of the highest hills within trotting distance from Ponyville. Cloudsdale was a moving city, and of course this meant that it was about as far away from Ponyville as it was possible to be. Rainbow Dash had been sent to retrieve Twilight's balloon, and then pull the lot of them across Equestria.

While they waited, Twilight was preparing the spell that would allow them to not immediately fall to their deaths the moment they set foot on a cloud. This was an important step. Given that the plan was to head for Cloudsdale a few days early, and make the whole thing a trip, the regular 3-day spell wouldn't suffice, and Twilight was having to get imaginative, something which required the utmost concentration.

"Hey Twilight! Hey! Twilight, hey! Twiiiiilllliiiiiiight!" Pinkie gasped, prodding Twilight's side with her hoof incessantly and pushing her face between Twilight and her spellbook.

"What?!" Twilight snapped, completely forgetting what stage of the spell she was at.

"Dash is over there! Look, she's got the balloon!" Pinkie gasped as Dash got closer. Twilight sighed.

Picking Pinkie Pie up in a magic glow, Twilight moved her somewhere else. Somewhere not on top of her. The spell shouldn't be that difficult, she thought. The existing one was a short-term spell because it was designed to be cast once and then forgotten about, like most enchantments. With a few alterations, Twilight felt certain she could make it continually draw power from her until it was dispelled. The upshot of that would be that they could stay in Cloudsdale as long as they liked - the downside was that if she needed to, at any point, completely exhaust her magical reserves, her and her friends would fall to their deaths. Twilight hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Okay, everypony! Stand still!" Twilight warned as she put her spell into action, closing her eyes and letting the magic flow through her. One by one, she found each of her friends, save Fluttershy, and carefully weaved her own magic around their essence, weakly binding them to her. An instant later, Twilight let her magic flow through them, casting the enchantment.

"There, done!" she grinned, fairly sure that clouds would now appear fairly solid to each of them. The drain from keeping the enchantment active was noticeable, but barely - Twilight would get used to it.

"Y'all sure about that, Twilight?" Applejack asked, "Y'all struggled a mite more last time."

Her concerns were understandable, what with the falling to her death and all that, but Twilight brushed them aside. "Of course I'm sure, Applejack. I'm just better at it this time around, it'll be fine! Dash can catch you if you fall anyway, right Dash?"

Rainbow Dash had set hoof on the ground a few moments before, and had been trying to sneak up behind Twilight. She hadn't decided what for yet, it might have been a hug, it might have been to ruffle her mane, or any number of possibilities. Sneaking up on Twilight when she was actively using magic to probe around the area was impossible - not that that stopped Rainbow Dash trying.

"I uh," she said, freezing on the spot and looking particularly downtrodden - she'd been sure she'd make it this time. "Sure yeah whatever."

The 4 gathered ponies not capable of flight didn't seem very comforted by Rainbow Dash's enthusiasm.

"C'mon, let's go, I don't wanna fly at night." Dash suggested, flaring her wings and pointing back into the balloon's basket. It was early in the morning, but Cloudsdale was at the opposite side of the country and it would be a long, hard flight.

Fluttershy pulled on the second pair of reigns and stood by Dash's side while Twilight and the rest jumped into the basket. It wasn't a lot of space for 4 ponies, but Twilight felt confident that they could all huddle together and have fun throughout the whole trip.

"Are we there yet?" Pinkie asked, for the hundredth time.

"No," Twilight replied, for the hundredth time, "You'll know when we're there because we'll be in Cloudsdale!"

"Oh, that makes sense!" Pinkie accepted, before lying back and staring off into the sky. "Ooh, I know, let's play a game! I spy with my little eye, something beginning with C!"

The five ponies around her all simultaneously shouted "Cloud!". As they had the last four times Pinkie had tried to play that game.

"Oh! Yes, just like that, Twilight! Maybe a little to the left?" Rarity instructed as Twilight tried her best to tidy Rarity's mane after a particularly strong gust of wind had ruffled a few of the hairs. "Oh, excellent, thank you dear. I don't know how I'd have gotten through this without you."

Pinkie Pie was uncharacteristically silent. This was due to the gag. Three hours into the journey, Applejack had given her an ultimatum - stop talking, or Applejack would make her stop talking. Pinkie Pie had giggled, stuck her tongue out, and asked Applejack to make her.

The next several minutes were uncomfortable for everypony present, and left Pinkie Pie tied up on the basket floor, and Applejack blushing profusely. Twilight and Rarity knew better than to ask what that was really all about.

Many hours later, the sun was just setting over the distant horizon as the six finally started their descent into Cloudsdale's landing strips. Fluttershy had given up quite some time ago, and was exhaustedly sleeping on the basket floor. Pinkie Pie also slept soundly, quite comfortable in her impressively tight binds, and Rarity was lying in the small strip of available sunlight, sunbathing like she had been for most of the trip.

Twilight had been amusing herself mostly by trying to create a perfect magical replica of the balloon, at 1:25 scale. She thought she had it, but the project had been problematic. Making a magical model of something required getting a very good mental model of something, and doing that required looking at it from all sides and paying great attention to detail. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash's rear end was connected to the balloon, and that meant it needed to be included in the model.

The model replicated it with outstanding detail.

Twilight noted that Dash's movements were a little jerkier than normal. Not something anybody else could have noticed, but for somebody who pays attention to the way Dash bends quite often, it was as clear as day. She didn't seem to have any muscle damage, so Twilight couldn't pinpoint why - she made a mental note to ask Dash about it later.

Applejack finally finished off the single length of hay she'd been chewing on for the whole journey as the balloon set down on the cloud, and the journey was finally over.

"Are we there yet?" Pinkie Pie asked, slipping out of her binds and jumping out of the balloon, bouncing along the cloud. "Gosh, we are! Come on, everypony, let's go exploring!"

The five tired ponies looked at her - all they wanted to do was book the nearest hotel and sleep until morning. Pinkie Pie had entirely too much energy at the best of times, never mind after a whole day of cramped travel. She did her best to calm down after the stares stopped being so piercing.

"We can just leave this here, right?" Dash asked, stifling a yawn as she unclipped herself from the reigns and let them fall to the cloud.

Twilight jumped out of the basket, mentally preparing herself for falling straight through and having to let Dash catch her in those lovely strong arms of hers. Twilight momentarily considered dispelling the enchantment, but thought better of it - just a side effect of having spent a 12 hour trip staring at Dash's ass. She touched down onto the soft cloud a moment later, feeling just enough pressure beneath her to hold her up.

It'd been so long since her last trip to Cloudsdale she'd almost forgotten what it was like, and even then she'd barely spent more than a few hours enjoying the sensation. It felt nothing like Rainbow Dash's house - it was like the difference between walking on a tiled floor and trotting along an open field. As uncivilised as it seemed, Twilight had always enjoyed the feeling of walking on grass, and this wasn't much different.

"Yes, Dash, I hired the whole strip for the duration of our stay, we can just leave this here." Twilight answered, more easily silencing her own yawns. She was no stranger to a late night, after all. "Come on, girls, the hotel is this way."

Twilight set off at a slow trot down the landing strip, heading into the city, while her friends hurried behind her. Everyone but Pinkie Pie was more interested in a good night's sleep than much else, but even she was looking forward to slipping between a comfortable cloud-bed and some nice, warm cloud-covers.

"Sorry, we've only got the one room left," the receptionist apologised. "The good news is that it's one of the suites, with an alicorn-size bed and an on-suite bathroom, for only 395 bits a night!"

Twilight sighed. The price was extortionate, the single bed was problematic, the single bathroom would drive Rarity mad, and they were all absolutely exhausted from walking around what felt like the entire city - twice - to find a hotel that wasn't fully booked up. Twilight hadn't realised how much of an event the Wonderbolts try-outs were, and figured she should be happy with what she got.

"Alright, fine," Twilight conceded, pulling out a large bag of bits, and returning a much lighter one a few moments later, "Where is it?"

"Up the stairs, to the left, down the corridor, to the right, down the stairs twice, and then it's the room with the 'one' on the door." the receptionist directed.

The price didn't seem so unreasonable as the six walked into the huge bedroom. "Down the stairs twice" hadn't been a slip of the tongue - the suite was located immediately below Cloudsdale's ground level, and the view from the many windows was "Simply spectacular!", according to Rarity.

The important part of the room - the bed - also exceeded expectations. "Alicorn-size" apparently didn't mean 'Could fit an Alicorn', it meant 'Could fit several Alicorns with room for an entire guard battalion'. Twilight made a beeline for it, grabbing a protesting but tired Rainbow Dash as she went, before shoving her under the duvet and getting in alongside. She'd spent the entire journey there staring at dat ass, and she wasn't going to let something like all her friends being in the same room watching keep her from giving it a squeeze. Twilight had read enough spy novels to be an expert at stealth, she was fairly sure.

"Twilight, I-" Dash began, before Twilight wrapped her forehooves around Dash's neck and pulled her in tightly, squeezing the beautiful blue face against her chest.

"Shut up, Dash." Twilight whispered, closing her eyes and squeezing a little tighter. Both of them were exhausted, and in a room full of friends this was about as intimate as they could get.

A moment later, Pinkie Pie joined them, cuddling up against Twilight's back and almost immediately falling asleep, leaving Twilight sandwiched between two snoozing ponies. Before long, that was three snoozing ponies.

Main disadvantage of sleeping slightly below cloud level: The first rays of sunlight stream directly through your windows and wake you up.

Twilight discovered this first hoof. Sleeping with her chin resting on top of Rainbow Dash's head had seemed like an excellent idea the night before, but now it only served to put her head first in the firing line for a blinding shaft of sun, unfairly awakening her.

She couldn't move. In front of her was a tightly held Rainbow Dash, and behind her was a tightly holding Pinkie Pie. Behind Rainbow, Fluttershy had decided to join in, resting against Dash's back just a little too close for comfort.

Twilight wasn't jealous, was she? That would be ridiculous. Fluttershy was a) a good friend to both of them, and b) far too kind and shy to ever do something like that maliciously. So why did seeing somebody else huddle close to her Rainbow make her heart twinge so?

Twilight tried to set the thought aside, and pulled down the blinds on the offending windows, figuring she could just rest a few more minutes before getting up and starting the day.

Four hours later, Twilight Sparkle awoke to the sound of shouting.

"Applejack, you open that door this instant or Celestia help me I shall break it down!" Rarity yelled, hammering at the bathroom door with an insistent hoof.

"Rarity!" Applejack shouted back, her voice muffled by the thick bathroom clouds, "I ain't done yet! Y'all can wait your turn like everypony else."

Rarity walked away pouting. It was a pout that, had Applejack been able to see it, would probably have killed her. Twilight stopped paying attention, letting her head fall back onto the comfortable cloud pillow. It reminded her of Dash's old house, except about a dozen times more comfortable. The mare she'd wrapped herself around was just as comfortable as she used to be, though.

"What time is it?" Dash groaned, shaking her head and trying to wake up. Dash liked to wake up with the sun, which meant keeping blinds open so she could know when the sun was up. She'd overslept.

Twilight rolled over. Pinkie was nowhere to be found, giving her the room to manoeuvre she needed to finally get out of bed. Unfortunately, the moment Twilight had rolled onto her back, and was preparing to go the rest of the way and finally land on her hooves, Rainbow Dash took the initiative and was pinning her to the bed in the blink of an eye.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her prey and grinned a sly grin. "Didn't think you were getting away that easy, did you?" she whispered, lowering her head to Twilight's ear and giving it a teasing nibble. Twilight knew she should remind Dash there were others in the room, but every time she opened her mouth, all that escaped was a happy sigh as Dash's mouth nibbled away at her ear, or her hooves stroked against the side of Twilight's body, or any number of other wonderful things that Twilight simply couldn't bring herself to stop.

"Da-" Twilight tried, knowing that she really should stop her. "Da-aahhh!" she quietly moaned, a stray tickle of Dash's wing rendering her completely incapable of speech. Twilight gave up, she couldn't stop Dash, and she certainly didn't want to. The idea of Rainbow Dash taking her there and then, in front of all her friends, even gave her some perverse sense of excitement.

Something squeaked. Bedsprings squeaking wasn't new to either of them, but clouds don't have springs.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Fluttershy squeaked from the far side of the bed, "I was just startled."

"Twilight," Dash whispered straight into the blushing purple mare's ear, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Dash's face was tinged slightly pink for various reasons - unfortunately, Fluttershy being behind her, Rarity having left the room, Applejack hiding away in the bathroom, and Pinkie Pie being Elsewhere had led Dash to believe they were alone. They were not alone.

"I was trying!" Twilight protested, picking Dash up and dropping her onto the bed beside her while she rolled over and stumbled onto her hooves. "Anyway, come on, Fluttershy, this is no time for sleeping! We have a long day ahead of us!"

That day was the last day for triers to register to compete. The next day would be when the games began, and the several hundred hopefuls would be whittled down to just one or two successful competitors. That meant that, apart from the few minutes it would take to register Dash, they should have the whole day free. Twilight was looking forward to being shown around Cloudsdale - last time had been so rushed.

The bathroom door opened, finally, and Applejack walked out with her mane wrapped up in a thick towel. "Rarity!" she yelled. "Rarity? Oh, for pete's sake, has that fussy little mare really left?"

"Oh, Applejack, lovely! I'll just quickly wash up, then." Twilight suggested, starting her walk across the room.

As if somebody had notified her, Rarity chose that moment to storm back through the door at a full gallop, diving into the bathroom with a triumphant "Ha!" and swinging the door shut behind her.

This was going to be a long morning.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash stood at the end of a spectacularly long queue. It was one of four queues, all leading to an impressively understaffed desk. Apparently the Wonderbolts were quite well known, and there were a lot of ponies wishing to compete. Twilight maintained that she couldn't have predicted the sheer quantity of attendees, but her friends were unsure.

One by one, the others had left to find something else to do - except Pinkie, who still had yet to surface - leaving Twilight and Dash alone together. Not as alone as they'd have liked, given the hundreds of ponies around her, but together all the same.

"You think they'll know who I am?" Dash asked excitedly as she peered over the crowds, looking towards the staff.

"Maybe," Twilight replied, "but they might just be temporary staff, they might not care about flying at all." she warned, not wanting Dash's hopes to be dashed too hard.

"Oh, and over there's where I won my first race! And my second, and my third. Man, I loved preschool."

"Hey, you can see my old house from here! Look over there!" Dash insisted, jumping on Twilight's back and grabbing hold of her horn between her hooves, pulling Twilight's head until it was pointing in the right direction.

"Dash!" Twilight complained, her irritation twofold - partially, she didn't like having her horn grabbed and yanked around (understandably), but mostly because Dash resting on top of her and letting her little legs dangle at Twilight's sides gave her far too many ideas she simply couldn't follow through on with the hundreds of ponies present.

"No, look!"

Twilight looked at where Dash was pointing. The house there looked almost exactly the same as her one back in Ponyville had - cute. Slightly worrying, but cute.

The sun was directly above them, and the queue still stretched ahead of them far enough that Twilight was having difficulty making out who the staff were. Dash told her that she didn't recognise any of them, which probably meant they weren't anybody important.

Dash continued pointing out landmarks (Cloudmarks?) and all the places she remembered from her past. Twilight found it adorable how wide Dash could smile when she remembered all the different places she'd won races, and thankfully she'd won enough races that she could pass the time reminiscing about them.

Unfortunately, without any cloud cover to speak of, the sun was punishingly hot, and both mares were parched, tired, and a little sweaty. That didn't help Twilight's fascination with Rainbow's rear one bit.

Twilight bit her lip. "What about that one over there?" she asked, waving her hoof in the general direction of something she couldn't really make out, and trying to let Dash's words distract her.

Celestia only knows how much later, the two were nearing the front of the line. Dash had run out of cool stories to tell about the places she could see.

She'd been telling them continually for hours for a very good reason - now that she'd stopped, her heart felt like the drum in a marching band, and her mouth felt like a desert. Her hooves were shaking, and her face felt a little less blue than normal.

"Hey, Twilight?" Dash asked hopefully, "Maybe we should just come back next year, maybe it'll be less crowded, huh?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Dash, we're almost there!"

"I mean, can we go? Please?" Dash almost-begged. If it was up to her, she'd already be halfway back to Ponyville, the try-outs could wait until next time, when she was completely certain she'd win, rather than just almost complete certain. She couldn't fail, she just couldn't. She didn't know what would happen if she failed.

"Dash, are you feeling okay?" Twilight asked, concern tingeing the edges of her voice as her face grew a little worried. "Are you sick?"

"No, I- I'm fine, I just can't do this, not now." Dash tried to explain, her breathing growing slightly erratic. She was panicking, her instincts told her to fly and not to look back, and the only thing stopping her from doing it was knowing how worried Twilight would be if she just took off.

"What's gotten into you, Dash? Of course you can do this, you just have to sign your name!"

"It's not that! Twilight, I only got Best Young Flier because I was lucky, what if I can't do this? I'm sorry, I just can't risk it." Dash stammered, before taking off as quickly as she could, pointing her nose in the direction of Elsewhere and beating her wings with as much strength as she could muster.

She went nowhere.

"Dash," Twilight gasped, holding the terrified mare in place with a red glow, "What are you talking about? You're a fantastic flier! You could fly circles around anypony here!"

"What if I fail?" Dash whispered quietly, more vulnerable in that one moment than Twilight had ever expected to see the overwhelmingly confident mare ever be.

"I'll still think you're the best flier in Equestria." Twilight replied, after a few moments. "But you won't fail. I know you won't, I believe in you."

She meant it, too. For maybe the first time, she hadn't really had to think about it. Her answer wasn't thought out, or designed to motivate, and it wasn't a quote from any book. It came, as disgusting and cliché as it sounded to the overwhelmingly practical and realistic mare, from the heart. She had to suppress a gag when she realised that.

Dash seemed to shrink. Her wings pulled back to her sides, and when Twilight let her go and she dropped back to the cloud, she didn't quite have the same stature she had before. Her eyes didn't have the same overconfident edge to them - but they weren't darting around in fear either.

"Okay," she said after several very long moments. Her eyes hardened as she looked into Twilight's, "I'll do it. I'll show them all what I can do."

The ponies in front of them chose that moment to step away. Rainbow Dash was next in line.

"Name?" the staff pony called out to her.

"Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash replied, putting as much of her characteristic egotism into it as she could.

"Alright, sign here." they replied, unimpressed. They hadn't heard of her.

Dash took the quill between her lips and signed her name. That was all she needed to do, and they were free to go.

"Name?"

They stepped away, walking silently back towards Cloudsdale's centre, where most of the interesting things lay. Rainbow Dash wasn't really in the mood for a city tour, though.

"Hey, Twi, I wanna show you something." Dash said after a few minutes of silent walking. She broke off at an angle, speeding up into a gallop as she made her way to one of Cloudsdale's many racetracks.

When she arrived, Dash began jumping from cloud to cloud, making her way to one in particular. Twilight did her best to follow, repeating to herself "Just don't look down" every time she leapt over one of the gaps. She knew Dash could catch her long before she got near the ground, and failing that she could probably catch herself. Still, it was a long way down.

Twilight finally caught up with Dash, and immediately collapsed into the cloud. It was the furthest cloud from the city, at least in this particular course, and was quite secluded. It was hidden from the main city by the other clouds in the course, making it almost private.

While Twilight struggled to catch her breath, Dash rested against the cloud. It was angled, and facing outwards - lying on it, you could look out across the land, or stare up into the sky without obstruction. The view was beautiful, even Dash couldn't disagree.

"This is the only course in the city I've never won anything on," Dash admitted once she was sure Twilight was paying attention, not just gasping for breath. "and the one I lost the most on."

"Huh?"

Twilight rolled over, lying next to Dash and really taking in the view for the first time. "Oh, wow. Dash, this is beautiful!"

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway," Dash countered, not wanting to get sidetracked from what she wanted to say, "I like this cloud. This is my favourite. I've seen a lot of clouds, but I'll always remember this one."

"I thought your favourite cloud was back home?" Twilight asked, referring to the tiny cloud Dash currently kept in one of Twilight's cupboards. "The one in the jar?"

"Yeah, that's a bit of this one. Anyway, I uh, this is where I had my first kiss. And a bit more. It was kinda like this, the sun was setting, we were all alone, and I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world." Dash remembered, thinking back to her Flight School days. It felt like a lifetime ago, now.

Twilight's heart twinged again. She didn't understand why - Dash was talking about the past, not now. There wasn't even anybody to be jealous of, why would she feel like there was?

"I was wrong, then. I'm not now," Dash said, letting her head fall to the side to look straight at Twilight, not the vista in front of her. "She wasn't, but you are, Twilight. You think that's beautiful?" she asked, pointing out at the landscape ahead of them both. The sun was setting, and it cast long shadows across the land from every hill and mountain. It was unquestionably gorgeous. "You, Twi, are like, a million of those to me."

Twilight blushed.

"I couldn't have done today without you. Hay, I've been putting it off for years, waiting until I felt ready. You made me feel ready today," Dash gushed, blushing in return. She scratched the back of her neck with an idle hoof and squirmed, "Man, when did I become so... soppy? Promise you won't tell anyone?" Dash joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Only if you keep going." Twilight joked, giggling at the unexpected compliments. She'd only been doing what had felt right.

"Aw, really?" Dash half-complained before continuing anyway, "My whole life felt like it was waiting for something big, ever since I was a filly. My parents said that was just me being me, and I believed it until you came along. Then we kicked Nightmare Moon's flank and I thought that was it, that was me, I was special again."

Dash looked back over at the horizon. "I'm no good at this." she whispered, still blushing profusely.

"You're doing fine, Dash, but you don't have to continue. I already know." Twilight reassured, touching the side of Dash's leg with a hoof.

"No, I wanna finish," Dash responded, the touch giving her all the courage she needed, "After that, it took me a while to realise that I still felt like there should be more, like I had some other destiny. Wasn't Discord, the feeling didn't go away after that, it was you. I don't feel it any more, Twi, I look at you and I see everything I've been flying for my whole life."

The two stayed silent while Twilight absorbed Dash's outpouring. After a few minutes, when Dash felt confident she could do anything at all without being incredibly uncool and starting to tear up, she added "But seriously, you tell anypony about this, and I won't do this for a month."

Dash stretched out a leg and slowly traced her hoof down Twilight's chest. She gasped as the simple motion sent a jolt through her entire body, running from the tips of her hooves to focus on the thin line Dash drew down her body with the lightest touch.

"Oh!" she sighed, wanting to continue and say something else as her mind still struggled to comprehend just how Dash had described her feelings, but finding herself unable to form the sentences. Her mouth remained open for just a moment, before she reigned herself in, nipping her bottom lip between two teeth.

Her breaths were shaky and uneven as Dash's hoof went back for another stroke, simply brushing against her coat and nothing more. Twilight's already flushed cheeks grew redder as the little bit of her mind that still wanted to retain rational thought realised just how badly she was smitten, that a single touch was enough to turn her into putty at Dash's hooves.

"And you are so cute when you're horny." Dash whispered into her ear immediately before rolling over and pressing their bodies together. Twilight could only quietly moan in response as she felt Dash's weight push her an inch further into the cloud, convincing that one little bit of her mind that there was only one thing in the world she wanted right now. Not knowledge, not books, not even to impress Celestia herself, just Dash.

Rainbow Dash sensed Twilight's helpless and complete submission, and took charge, leaning in and lightly nibbling the tip of her ear, slowly drawing an arc across it. Each breath she took sent tiny winds rushing through Twilight's inner ear, the almost imperceptible sensation pulling her over the edge - to hay with everything else, she wanted this mare right here, right now.

Twilight's body felt like it was on fire, every inch of her skin burned with the desire to touch, or be touched. Her forelegs moved to grasp Dash's face, lightly pulling it to her, letting Dash's cheek brush against every hair on her head as it made its slow journey towards her mouth.

Her hindlegs simply wrapped around Dash's lower body, moving and writhing with everything she could spare. Feeling Dash's body against her sent shivers through her form, and the only cure was feeling more Dash.

Finally, Rainbow's head was brought alongside, and Twilight's forelegs pushed backwards, feeling their way through the gorgeous multicoloured mane to wrap around the pegasus' neck and hold her close.

Twilight's lips were ablaze with need, requiring Dash to touch them just as badly as every other part of her body. Dash was happy to oblige, softly pressing their noses together as she let her lips roam free, pushing and rubbing against Twilight's to sate her own desires, too.

"Da-aah," Twilight attempted, trying her best to whisper around the indescribable lips pressing against her face, "I-"

"Shut up, Twi." Dash wasn't having it. Her hooves found their way around Twilight's body, pushing between her and the cloud to rub and press against every part of her back, instantly robbing her of speech once more. The sensation sent a thrill through Dash's body, easily comparable to the sparks, jolts, and shivers coming from every single point the two mares' bodies touched - Twilight was hers. In every way that mattered to her, she finally had her right where she wanted her.

The place where Dash had kissed the first person she'd ever kissed was also going to be where she kissed the last, she promised herself as she let her tongue slowly slide out of her mouth and push between Twilight's slightly parted lips.

Twilight's tongue played its part, not resisting Dash's advances, but playing along with them, happily mirroring her action with enough force to be pleasurable to both of them, but not enough force to get in Dash's way - both of them knew who was in charge here.

Their mouths opened wider as theirs heads tilted and their arms pulled tighter, trying to pull their bodies tighter than they could physically go and become closer than it was possible to become. Every centimetre further either of them got was a victory, and one they instantly celebrated.

Their mouths locked, becoming airtight as they realised they couldn't go any further, and became content just to stay where they were. Their hooves jumped over each other's bodies, appeasing centre after centre of burning passion that told them to touch somewhere else, because there was always a somewhere else that needed touching, and their tongues explored the very deepest points of each other's mouths, tasting everything the other had to offer.

The absorptive properties of the cloud were essential, easily mopping up the waterfalls down below as both of their arousals went into overdrive. Simply twisting and writhing against each other wasn't enough, they needed more. The empty spaces between their legs throbbed and yearned for something - anything - to fill the gap, and a desperate and frantic hoof just wasn't enough.

Dash pulled away, leaving Twilight to gasp into the air as she felt the blue hooves press against her chest as Dash slowly pushed herself downwards, scrunching her eyes shut as the wet, matter hairs on Twilight's body brushed lightly against the very centre of her passion. Twilight thought the feeling was overwhelming, and Celestia only knows how Dash could have described it.

Twilight refused to let go of Dash's lower body, and as she moved and shifted, bending her legs to keep hold lifted her a little way out of the cloud, just where Dash wanted her. Dash's slippery sliding journey ended the instant Twilight's back arced with intense pleasure, as their two slits rubbed together.

Their juices mixed freely as Twilight's helpless writhing ground them together, every movement filling her body with ecstasy, and every ecstasy-filled moment causing her to move more. Dash joined her, leaning forward to put all of her weight against Twilight's chest as she ground back in response, letting both of their bodies push together and try to fill the aching gap.

Dash's head fell forward as she put every bit of her concentration into staying connected, letting her mane flow forward around her face and brush against Twilight's coat - even that tiny sensation still registered in her lust-addled mind, though it was lost among the boundless pleasures.

Twilight's legs gripped tighter, holding Dash as close as she could, as if begging for more. Every time she managed to squeeze a little bit harder, the sensations multiplied as their two bodies entwined harder, scraping and rubbing, twisting and turning, and driving both of them closer and closer to the release they both yearned for so dearly.

Twilight felt the sensations racing through her body start to solidify, and the ache was slowly replaced with a dumb tingling as all feeling, bar one, was purged from her body. Slowly, the pure pleasure spread outwards, moving from between her legs, to the end of her legs, and slowly up to her head.

"Da-aah-ash!" Twilight moaned, deciding and assuring herself that she was going to tell Dash if it was the last thing she did. The pleasure became overwhelming as it finally stretched up her neck and took the last few threads of conscious thought from her as she finally climaxed, her entire body jerking and spasming as she completely lost control.

"Dash, I love you!" she screamed absent-mindedly as the sun finally swung behind the horizon, her voice filling the air, and her declaration being the one thing to finally push Dash over the edge into mindless ecstasy with her.

Dash's arms couldn't hold her up any longer as her muscles forgot what they were meant to be doing, and she collapsed on top of Twilight's half-conscious form in a haze of pleasure, their two bodies sticky and warm as they pressed back together, sated for the moment, but by no means done with each other.

When Twilight returned to consciousness, the stars were all that lit the landscape in front of her. Dash was still lightly slumbering on her chest, curled up with her tail pulled around her body for warmth. Twilight's heart melted at the sight - that was the mare she loved. There was no question about it in her mind any more. She didn't understand how anybody could look at Dash and not instantly fall in love. On the other hoof, she was happy they didn't, Dash was hers and hers alone.

"Hey, Twi." Dash whispered a few minutes later, catching Twilight off guard as she stared up into the sky with a single tear at the corner of her eye, marvelling at how beautiful everything seemed to her at that one moment.

"Hey, Dash."

"It's kinda late, isn't it? Maybe we should head back?" Dash whispered, uncurling and wriggling over to Twilight's side, lying next to her and staring out into the sky.

"Can we just stay here?" Twilight asked, with a happy sniff. "I don't think I could jump back across the course anyway, but... Oh, Dash, isn't it all so beautiful?"

Dash looked out across the stars. It was, but she wasn't about to admit it. "Gee, Twi, when did you get so soppy?" she joked, wiggling a little closer to the mare of her dreams and pushing a leg under her body to hug her tighter.

"Hey, it's your fault," Twilight joked back, leaning into Dash's embrace and resting her head on her shoulder, pushing into Dash's even-frizzier-than-usual mane, "You did this to me."

Dash smiled, and hugged a little tighter. It was late, it had been a long day, and sleep sounded just... perfect.

Main advantage to sleeping outside: the first rays of sunlight shine straight onto your body, warming you and waking you, and letting you stare into the love of your life's eyes.

"Morning." Dash yawned, before pulling her wing back - she'd been using it to cover Twilight's body and keep her warm, but she needed it comfortable and ready to work at top performance later, for her show.

"Hey, Dash," Twilight yawned in response, shakily getting back onto her her hooves. "Your wings look a little unsteady, want me to take a look?" she asked, knowing how important the day was going to be for her.

Dash nodded and sat down, closing her eyes. She didn't let Twilight concentrate on her wings too often, not because she didn't trust Twilight to a good job, but because she didn't trust anybody but herself to do a good job. Maybe it was worth a shot, though.

Twilight closed her eyes too, concentrating on the pegasus' wings. Her magic travelled across every feather, muscle, bone, and tendon in them, doing what it could. Feathers were straightened, muscles were massaged back into full heath, bones were checked for micro-fractures and fixed where any were found, and tendons were exercised and made ready for anything. A few minutes later, the slight glow around Dash's wings died down, and she flared her wings experimentally.

Taking a run, she dived off of the cloud, doing a few testing loops in the air before stopping dead and slowly gliding back to the cloud. "Perfect!" she grinned, nuzzling the side of Twilight's neck. "But I need to head over there now, I think, you coming?"

Of course Twilight was coming.

"Sorry, only competitors allowed." the receptionist blocked, holding out a hoof to stop Twilight from entering.

"But... Dash is a competitor!"

"Yes, and she can come in. You can't."

Twilight and Dash walked a few meters back. "H-hey, it'll be fine, Twilight! I can do this without you there, can't I-I-I no I can't, Celestia damn it." Dash admitted, collapsing to the ground.

"Dash!" Twilight snapped, "Get up. You can, and you will. I'll be there for you, just waiting outside. I still believe in you, even if I can't watch you win. Now, get in there and show them what a real pegasus can do." she demanded, pulling Dash to her hooves with a magical glow and giving her a forceful, albeit short, kiss.

Dash blinked - Twilight was normally a lot more sedate.

"Go!" she snapped, pointing at the door. Dash couldn't be scared of competing if she was more scared of NOT competing, right?

"Ooh! Where were you last night, Miss Sparkle?" Pinkie Pie giggled as Twilight's 4 other friends arrived at the stadium, a few minutes after they were meant to. Twilight had counted. She had nothing else to do. "And where's Dashie, we made a card!"

Pinkie held out a hastily made "Good Luck" card, complete with a crude drawing of a sonic rainboom on the front. Pinkie still had the crayon colours smeared around her lips.

"Non-competitors aren't allowed inside." Twilight bitterly responded.

"Oh," Pinkie replied, slightly annoyed that she couldn't deliver her card, "well that's okay, we'll just wait until she comes out!"

"Oh, Applejack, where did you say that shop was? I'm simply parched, if I don't get a glass of water soon I fear I'll shrivel!" Rarity asked, the beating sun proving quite the irritation to her.

A few minutes later, Rarity returned, holding five glasses of water in a magic glow. Three of the gathered ponies gladly accepted them, but Twilight was too lost in thought to notice.

"Twilight?" Pinkie asked, prodding the distracted mare with the end of her hoof, "You okay?"

Twilight sighed. "Not really, Pinkie, but thanks."

"Oh... wanna talk?" Pinkie asked. Pinkie Pie was good at talking - she liked to think she was pretty okay at listening, too.

Twilight turned around and looked at the concerned blob of pink hair and energy. "What if she can't do it, Pinkie? I practically forced her every step of the way because I think she can do it. What if she can't? What if she hates me? What if-"

"Silly Twilight, she won't hate you!" Pinkie giggled, scolding Twilight, "I don't think Dashie could ever hate you, even if she wanted to!"

"Yeah, Twilight!" Applejack chimed in, "You'n Dash are like Apple Pie!"

"You've used that one before, Darling." Rarity interrupted.

"Uh, are like Apple Strudel, then! Y'all can have the ingredients on their own, but you put them together and it ain't like nothing else."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, guys."

"Oh!" Fluttershy added, "and you're just so adorable I want to just run up and hug you sometimes."

Everybody looked at her.

"Um, or I could not do that."

They laughed. Even Twilight, though her laugh was still tinged with worry and concern.

"Aagh!" Twilight groaned, "Where is she? She should be out by now!"

The sun was soon to set behind the mountains, and the five had been waiting outside all day. Rainbow Dash should have been out ages ago.

"Well," Pinkie suggested, "Maybe she was under R for Rainbow, not D for Dash!"

"She should still be out!" Twilight countered.

"Twilight, darling, please calm down. I'm sure she'll be out soon." Rarity offered, resting a hoof on Twilight's back in support.

"But... what if she couldn't do it, what if-" Twilight started, before being interrupted.

Her face broke into a grin as her brain processed the sound - a massive explosion from somewhere up above. A completely unmistakable sound, and one that marked the end of any of Dash's "I'm doing this to impress you" routines. The multicoloured rings of the Sonic Rainboom filled the skies, tingeing the light from the dying sun with colours from every end of the spectrum. Dash's unmistakable rainbow trail curved back down into the stadium, and Twilight lost track of her again.

"Woah." they all said, in perfect synchronisation.

A few minutes later, Dash left through the same door she'd entered. She looked devastated.

"Dash?" Twilight asked in response to her silence. "I love you." she reassured, in lieu of any question on her performance. Hopefully that'd help.

Dash smiled weakly for a moment, but her face returned to glumness. "Reserve!" she spat. "I'm on reserve!"

"What does that mean?" Rarity asked a moment later. They were all fairly ignorant of the specific terms the Wonderbolts used, and even Twilight could only have guessed.

"Yes, but not yet. There's no room." Dash sighed, "I won't be a Wonderbolt until somepony else leaves."

"When'll that be?" Twilight asked.

"I dunno. They dunno. Could be months, could be years," Dash sighed, kicking at a lone tuft of cloud. "I just... I'll be at the hotel, guys." she sighed, before kicking off and soaring through the air, diving underneath the city to take the shortest route.

"Oh no," Pinkie gasped, "She didn't seem happy at all!"

"Oh, it's terrible, isn't it? She does her very best, but they just can't give her what she wants! Why do they have these awful competitions if there's no room!" Rarity wondered out loud.

Twilight sat in silence - was this her fault? Undoubtedly, yes. She got Dash here, she convinced her to register, and she convinced her to try. It was her doing. She was the problem here.

And she was going to fix it.

"Twi, I'm not really in the mood." Dash sighed, not even bothering to struggle as Twilight pulled her out of the hotel room, telling her that she wanted to go back to that cloud from yesterday.

"No, I've got something to show you, Dash."

"Fine."

A few minutes later, they arrived at the course. "Follow me, Dash!" Twilight instructed, before taking her first jump. It was dark, and she could barely see further than the next cloud. A single slip and she'd fall - she knew Dash would catch her, but that would ruin her surprise.

Through a combination of skill, calculation, having practised the path about a dozen times before going to get Dash, and most importantly, luck, Twilight made it through to the cloud. Dash had easily kept up with her, and landed beside her an instant later.

Jammed into the side of the cloud were three metal rods - a tripod, supporting one of Twilight's favourite telescopes. Twilight hadn't realised how much more expensive luxury items were in Cloudsdale, but she didn't particularly care, a lighter saddlebag was a bargain to lighten Dash's mood.

"Yeah I've seen telescopes before, Twi." Dash said, unimpressed.

"Look through it."

Dash did, bending down before the eyepiece and staring through it. Twilight had aligned the telescope to point towards one of the few planets visible in the night sky.

"Cloudsdale is better for this," Twilight explained as she walked over and sat next to Dash, not touching her to ensure Dash could properly absorb the view. "There's no cloud cover, no lights dirtying the view, nothing.

"I know you agreed yesterday, Dash, the night sky is beautiful. It was beautiful last night, it was beautiful before I met you, and it'll be beautiful when we're gone."

"Yeah..." Dash whispered, still absorbed by the view. The rings of the distant planet looked almost identical to Dash's Sonic Rainboom, just a few million times bigger, and a lot further away.

"Just because you didn't get what you wanted today hasn't made anything less beautiful, Dash. It's a setback, but that's all. I still see the best flier in the world when I look at you, Wonderbolt or not."

Twilight leant to the side, resting against Dash's body. Dash pulled back slightly, giving herself just enough room to uncurl a wing and rest it over Twilight - it was a cold night. It was a cold night, and Dash didn't want to be anywhere else.

Storm cloud

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: One month later

Twilight raised the test tube to her eye, staring at the contents held within. The once-clear liquid had been stained red by her experimentation, and now bubbled slightly. She noted this down. She raised another tube, this one filled with a slightly frothy green liquid, and stared at it.

It was ready. Twilight had spent all day preparing these liquids from the leaves of two plants that she'd been growing for the past week. They were both imbued with powerful magic that they'd soaked up from the area around her house as they grew, and if her experiment was a success it would shed new light on an area of magical study that hadn't been advanced in generations - the ability to store magic in non-magical objects, and discharge it in a non-magical way.

While enchanted items did exist, and magical scholars had put thousands of equine-hours into researching new ways to improve them, there was one small area that had always fascinated Twilight. Enchantments came in a few flavours - ones cast on a pony that abated naturally, a physical item that could give a constant effect on its bearer, or an item that held charge that could be magically released. What did not exist was an item that could have its charge released by non-magical means, much like the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight lifted the green tube overhead, and began to tilt it. Another few degrees and the two liquids would mix. Do it too quickly and they'd release their power, too slowly and it would evaporate back into the air - but do it just right, and Twilight might be one step closer to creating something incredible.

"Twilight I am so bored!" Dash suddenly cried, flying in through the open window and half-crashing onto Twilight's bed. "What'cha doing?"

Twilight twitched. A few drops of green mixed with the red, and it began to glow. Glowing was bad. Glowing was very bad.

"Dash, fly, you foal!" Twilight yelled, grabbing the confused blue pegasus in a magic field and throwing her back out of the window. An instant later, she followed, teleporting outside and diving to the ground.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Dash asked after she managed to stabilise and glide down to land next to the cowering equine.

"Waiting for the smoke."

"What smoke?"

Twilight's treehouse trembled. An instant later, thick black smoke shot out of the open bedroom window with enough force to whistle, as if the entire tree was a giant kettle.

"Oh," Dash said, in a deadpan tone. "That smoke. Why'd you do that, Twi?"

Twilight twitched again. Over the past few weeks, Rainbow Dash had been slowly but efficiently driving her completely insane. Against Twilight's advice, Dash had left her job on the weather team to focus on her training - she had enough bits saved up to live off for a long time, and Twilight had enough educational grants coming in to support both of them - several times over.

Thus, Rainbow Dash had discovered just how many hours there were in a day. Too many to fill with just practice and sleep, no matter how much she tried. Twilight had tried to deal with the problem by shipping Dash out to play with one of their friends so she could be left alone to work, which had worked. Until today.

"I was trying," Twilight snapped, "to make a magical breakthrough that would have caused unforeseeable repercussions for generations!"

"Awesome, that's my Twi," Dash congratulated, "So hey, I was thinking, I'm pretty bored. Wanna go do something?"

Twilight's ear spasmed. Rainbow Dash was one of the most annoying ponies she had ever known. "I was doing something, Dash, and you ruined it. That experiment took me a week to prepare, and even if I start again today this means I have too much to do and not enough time to do it. You've completely ruined my schedule!" Twilight shouted.

Dash lowered herself to the ground and sat sheepishly. "Oh. Heh, sorry," she apologised, before standing up and starting to walk towards Twilight very slowly. "I don't suppose," she whispered with a predatory look in her eyes as she slunk towards the angry purple love of her life, "there's anything I could do to make it up to you?"

She punctuated the last few words by slowly running her hoof up Twilight's cheek, before leaning in whispering "Anything at all?" straight into her ear, close enough that every word sent a shiver down Twilight's spine.

"Actually," Twilight whispered back, letting Dash slowly nibble on her ear, "there is one thing," she continued, closing her eyes as she felt Dash's warm body press against hers. "You can help me with my experiments."

Dash continued, running her lips around the curve of Twilight's ear before pulling back just far enough to let her speak. "That can wait, right?" she whispered, letting her lips tickle against the hair on Twilight's body.

"Yeah," Twilight replied, still basking in Dash's attentions, before opening her eyes and pulling the unfairly seductive mare off, dropping her a few feet away and holding her at bay. "But cleanup can't, come on, the library's a mess."

"Seriously?" Dash asked, making her best seductive pout. On any other day, it would have worked, and Twilight would have been putty in her stupid pretty blue hooves, but on any other day she wouldn't have had a week's work ruined by Rainbow's boredom.

"Yes, come on. I'll drag you." Twilight warned, walking back into her house and starting to swing around a magic field to waft away the smoke. At very least, the experiment had proved the two liquids could hold significant magic power, and that the shield enchantments around her bookshelves could hold. Unfortunately, it reminded her of the day her and Dash had finally discovered their love - there was goo everywhere. Everywhere.

Twilight handed Rainbow Dash a wet cloth and a brush. "Okay, you clean the roof, I'll clean the floor, and we'll discuss what to do about your boredom problem later, okay?" she commanded. Dash knew better than to say no - much as she hated housework, she could tell Twilight was kinda pissed.

Three hours later, Rainbow Dash crash landed on top of Twilight. Her mane was dripping wet, partly through sweat, partly through water, and partly through a mysterious magical goo that Twilight hadn't even tried to identify yet. Had Twilight been awake, she would have found the way Dash's mane stuck to her body quite fascinating, in a "oh Celestia just hold me down and rut me now, please" kind of way. As it was, Rainbow Dash soon joined her in slumber.

Housework was surprisingly difficult when you had to clean literally every surface, especially when there was so much scrubbing involved and Twilight had to keep warning Dash not to get any of the goo on her, interrupting her own efforts to remove it from yet another bookshelf. At least the books themselves had remained safe this time.

After a few minutes, Dash sort-of woke up. "Twi?" she whispered, keeping her eyes closed and her legs tightly wrapped around the purple pony's midsection, "you awake?"

"Yeah," Twilight whispered back, her response joined by a tight squeeze and a nuzzle. "I think we got it all now."

"We're filthy. Fancy a shower?" Dash asked. That woke Twilight up.

"Dash! I said not to get any on you! I have no idea what that stuff might do!" Twilight said, her voice an equal mix of exasperation and concern. "Come on, go. Shower, now."

Rainbow Dash grinned - if Twilight wanted to pretend what she wanted was science, then so be it. She knew Twilight wouldn't be able to resist getting in too.

"Hold still!" Twilight snapped, trying to keep hold of a struggling Rainbow Dash while the shower water splashed against her, causing her to cough and splutter. "There was enough magic in that goo to turn both of us inside out, so I'm not taking any chances!"

"Why don't you come in here and rub it off yourself, Twi?" Dash asked, as seductively as she could. Which is to say, not very - Rainbow Dash was not a master of subtlety, and most of her attempts at seduction boiled down to crude propositions that thankfully Twilight was usually quite open to. "Maybe with your tongue?"

Twilight sighed, shaking her head, and turned the shower up. Dash spluttered harder as the water flowed over her head, washing out most of the viscous goo. Unfortunately, some of it remained, too entwined with the blue coat to simply wash out.

Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate, running her thoughts over every inch of Rainbow Dash's body, finding the areas with stuck goo. Slowly, she began to massage it out, trying to ease its journey and not just yank it so that it wouldn't hurt Rainbow Dash.

Dash moaned happily as Twilight's unexpected massage began to cover her body. There was goo all over her, and Twilight's concentration found itself split a dozen or more ways, leaving each individual massage sloppy and maybe a little more sensual than was strictly necessary. She told herself that was why, anyway - Dash could have pointed out that Twilight had little trouble doing a dozen things at once normally, but she didn't want to make Twilight stop.

Twilight slowly worked the thick substance away from Dash's body, running her magic around in small circles against the pony's skin. She figured that while she was there, she may as well try and rub some of the stresses and strains away - she was the one that had made Dash spend all that time cleaning, after all, it was only fair if she fixed the aches and pains that it would cause.

Within a few minutes, Dash's body was free of contaminants, and Twilight's massage was completely for Rainbow's benefit. Probing a little deeper with her mind, Twilight discovered all the tense spots and the niggling pains, and began to slowly rub and push, working the stresses away in the way only a unicorn could. Rainbow Dash hung in the air, suspended entirely by Twilight's thoughts as she relaxed into the strong grip, letting her head fall back and letting the steaming water flow over her mane. Her lips parted slightly to let yet another happy sigh escape as Twilight's attentions ran over her body, skipping from place to place and making every square inch of her form feel relaxed.

"You're not exactly clean yourself, Twilight," Dash whispered after a few minutes of letting Twilight do whatever she wanted, "and there's enough water for both of us."

Twilight resisted. She was mad at Rainbow Dash, and she needed to restart her experiments. She'd already lost too much time today, and she couldn't afford to lose more time to frivolous pursuits like this. She could clean when she had her shower the next morning, as her routine demanded.

That was what Twilight's mind said. Twilight's body, on the other hand, was already in the shower.

The water hit her in an instant, pushing her mane down into her eyes and across her face, and instantly soaking the entire front of her body. The freshly released Rainbow Dash hovered above her, marvelling at the way Twilight's mane could turn from "pretty" to "sexy" in an instant. Instant sexy, just add water.

Dash's fascination lasted for about five seconds. The instant she became bored with simply staring, she pounced. The slippery bathtub floor provided no grip to stop Twilight from being pushed downwards, and Dash easily pinned her against the slick white surface. "Can the experiments wait now, egghead?" she whispered, her body resting over Twilight's and her mouth a millimetre away from Twilight's ear.

Without waiting for an answer, she immediately began to nibble once more. Ear nibbles were Dash's nuclear weapon - it was very, very rare that Twilight could resist an ear nibble. It happened about once a month, and given that it had already happened once that day, Dash knew it would work now.

Twilight didn't respond to the question verbally, she simply shifted her head upwards to rub her neck against Dash's in the most "oh, just rut me now" way she could. Science be damned, Twilight could only resist Dash for so long - she still planned to force Dash into being her glamorous assistant, but later.

Much later.

Rainbow Dash grinned between nibbles - she had Twilight right where she wanted her, and needed to thank her for the unexpected massage. Twilight didn't really need the shower, she wasn't dirty, but that wasn't about to stop Dash.

Taking her time, she began to lower her nibbles, teasing down the edge of Twilight's ear until there was no ear left to nibble. Slowly, she began to kiss, leaving a leisurely trail all the way down to Twilight's soaking mane covered neck.

Twilight's light sigh was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath as Dash tried her nibble on something that most certainly wasn't an ear. Rainbow Dash took the squeak as a positive sign, and continued, running a ring of kisses around Twilight's neck, punctuating it with the occasional nip. "Still mad?" she whispered, and started to run her hooves along Twilight's wet body, pushing and squeezing at her sides in a sensual parody of a good massage.

"Yes." Twilight whispered back, every part of her voice screaming "No." except the words, and every part of her body letting Dash apologise in as heated a manner as she liked. Rainbow Dash grinned once again, pressing against Twilight's body with her hooves to give herself enough grip to slowly pull down, scraping their bodies against each other as Dash made a calm journey down Twilight's back, leaving a stream of wet licks and kisses all the way down the frustrated mare.

Rainbow Dash slid to the side, slipping off of Twilight's slick body and rolling to the side. The steaming shower water flowed over both of them as they lay at the bottom of the bath, leaving both mares shiny and wet - in more ways than one. "Still mad?" Dash asked, slowly tracing along the lines of Twilight's cutie mark with a lazy hoof.

Twilight gasped as Dash pushed against her sensitive skin, the cold hoof providing a sharp contrast against the heated water and Dash's slow, sensual actions providing a very sharp contrast against all the reasons Twilight was mad with her. Maybe Dash could be subtle, when she wanted. "Y...yes." Twilight gasped, letting her eyelids slide down as her head lowered to rest against the warmed ceramic bath as she let Dash continue her apologies.

The apologetic pegasus continued, bringing her lips to Twilight's rear to give a light suck to the sensitive mark. Her hoof made a lazy and winding journey over to the other side of Twilight's body, to press against her other mark and hold her close. "Can I," Dash asked between kisses, "make it up to you?"

"Yes."

Rainbow Dash used the her grip to pull Twilight's body over, letting the wet bath slide against her slick body as she span, until Twilight was quite upside own in front of her. The shower splattered against her face and the droplets of water ran down her neck and across her head, pulling her mane out in every direction and letting it flow around in the water currents.

Rainbow Dash bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Some days, she had to remind herself that the frazzled, exhausted mare in front of her could be this gorgeous, but not this time. This time, it took all of Dash's effort to stop herself from simply ravishing the beautiful purple body in front of her immediately.

Actually, why wasn't she doing that?

Rainbow Dash pounced, diving forward and landing on Twilight's body with a wet squelch. They slid against each other for a moment as Dash approached her target - Twilight's happily contented face. A moment later, Twilight was once more pinned beneath the rainbow maned mare, and the steamy shower splashed down against the back of Dash's head. The water flowed around her, tracing down her mane as it fell around them providing a multicoloured curtain to shield the two mares' face from the outside world. Everything but each other was irrelevant, so why see it?

Dash dived, aiming for Twilight's slightly parted lips with her own as she brought their heads together. Twilight's eyes flew open for just a moment as she felt Dash' mouth press against hers, but they quickly closed again as Twilight gasped at the feeling of Dash's tongue slowly running along her teeth. Dash pulled back almost imperceptibly, leaving their lips still touching so that every word brushed against Twilight's and sent another shiver through her body. "Happy yet?"

"No," Twilight whispered back, lifting her head as she finished the word and pressing her mouth back against Dash's for a quickly stolen kiss, "but you're getting there."

Dash smiled. The movement of her lips pressed against Twilight's, and she pushed forward once more, taking advantage of Twilight's still open mouth to dive in, slipping the very tip of her tongue between Twilight's teeth and into the warm confines of her mouth. Twilight moaned slightly in response as she felt Dash's tongue brush against her own, and felt Dash's weight press into her. Every breath either of them took slightly shifted each other's body, and every slight motion sent shooting sensations through both of them.

The teasing had gone on long enough. Rainbow Dash's body burned with anticipation, and Twilight's flushed cheeks and heavy, stuttered breaths betrayed that she felt the same way. Dash raised her hooves to Twilight's head and gripped it tightly, pulling it closer to her at the same time as pushing her head further to kiss Twilight as deeply as she could.

A few moments later she broke off, leaving both of them breathless and desperate. With a single flap of her wings, Dash spun round, stopping dead as her face aligned with Twilight's soaked behind - even though the shower water didn't reach this far back.

Dash's soaking mane dripped, and every speck of water impacting against Twilight's body was joined by a sharp gasp. Twilight was sensitive enough that the tiniest pressure was enough to send a jolt of pleasure through her entire body, and Rainbow Dash planned to take advantage of that.

Instead, her own body betrayed her. Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Dash's rear and pulled it in, burying her nose between Dash's nether lips before the teasing pony could do the same to her. Rainbow Dash collapsed, letting her head fall to the side as she groaned, unable to resist Twilight's attentions. She felt the writhing hot tongue penetrate slightly inside of her as the shower water ran over her rear.

Twilight's tongue quickly lapped between Rainbow's legs as she tried her best to stop the annoyingly pretty mare from weakening her resolve - Twilight was meant to be mad with her. Twilight took a moment's break from her licking to take a quick breath, and to brush her lips against Dash's quivering clitoris to keep her at bay a little longer. Nobody ruined Twilight's experiments and got away with it, and Dash was no exception.

Rainbow Dash felt her legs turn to jelly as she fought against her own surrender, unable and unwilling to stop Twilight's teasing and tempting tongue from pushing between her folds and sending wave after wave of unhampered pleasure through her body. Her face pushed against the ceramic bathtub as her parted lips let out yet another moan and her body did nothing - Twilight was getting good at keeping Dash under control. Rainbow Dash knew that she couldn't last long when Twilight was trying her best to finish her off, and she knew that something had to be done if she was to succeed in finishing Twilight off first.

Dash may have quit her job as a weather pony, but that didn't mean she couldn't still command it. Her secret weapon - the power of lightening itself - was something that even now could bring Twilight to her knees - or in this case, when she was already on her back, could hopefully distract her for long enough for Dash to take control. Scraping her wing along the side of the bath with every scrap of concentration she had, Dash gathered all the energy she could, and then zapped, letting the lightening arc out of her wing into the water, giving Twilight a light and very distracting shock.

Rainbow Dash hadn't considered that she, too, was soaking wet and lying on top of the soaking wet Twilight. The energy arced through both of them, setting their nerves alight and filling the room with unfettered groans as they both collapsed, breathing heavily and moaning with each movement they made.

Dash recovered first, luckily, and immediately set herself upon Twilight's body, sticking her muzzle straight between Twilight's lower lips and licking with all her might. Dash didn't do subtlety, but what she did do was empowered by sheer enthusiasm and an indomitable energy, and Twilight's back arched immediately while Dash's tongue pressed inside of her.

Twilight let out a throaty groan while her forelegs struggled to grasp Dash's sides and pull her back in -- her every motion was a battle against her own body as it willed her to give in and take it. Through willpower alone, she reached up and pulled down, joining her muzzle and Dash's slit once more and letting her tongue play.

Before long, Twilight felt the heat radiating from Dash's body begin to overpower the steamy shower, and each touch against the blue body caused shivers and quivers. Every time Twilight's nose brushed against the sensitive clit, Dash's actions paused for a moment for her to helplessly moan - and the same for Twilight, whenever Dash took hers between her two lips and gave it a suck.

Finally, the hot water rushing over Twilight's face was joined with Dash's steaming juices when she finally achieved orgasm, happily groaning against Twilight's body as her muscles spasmed and her body writhed in pleasure. Twilight giggled, waiting for Dash to recover so she could be finished off too, and raised her head again to lick the spent mare clean, aiding the fast flowing water from up above.

Dash was an athlete, and recovered quickly, as always. The moment she could, she dived back in, mercilessly ravishing the purple pony with all her might. Without the distractions down below, she could ravish at her full potential, and Twilight was taken to the edge within moments. Dash's writhing, teasing tongue and rapidly moving lips quickly took Twilight to ecstasy, and she made it known - the groan filled the bathroom with noise, echoing off the walls and drowning out the pitter patter of water against ceramic.

"So," Dash asked while she pulled the towel around her hair a little tighter, and rubbed another towel against her body, "you still mad?"

Twilight didn't answer for a moment, too busy concentrating on wringing her hair dry with a magical twist and drying her coat with a magical heat. When she was satisfied with herself, she looked back up at Dash. "Yes I am, Rainbow."

Twilight pulled the towels away from Dash, and gave her a similar treatment - she knew Dash usually liked to let her mane and coat dry naturally to preserve "her stunning good looks", but that took too long and Twilight needed her now.

"But that's not the point, Dash. The point is that your boredom is becoming a problem for everybody, not just you. I did say you shouldn't have quit."

"Yeah but Twilight, what's the point! I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt, what's the point in carting clouds around when I should be practising?" Dash protested, unfolding her wings so that Twilight could pull the water out of them too.

"The point is keeping you occupied, Rainbow, and seeing as you clearly can't do that yourself, now I have to find you something to do!" Twilight said, more exasperated than angry. "So, starting now, you're my new research assistant. Don't argue, you're doing it." Twilight commanded, threateningly pointing her hoof at Dash.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side, considering it. On the one hand, that sounded like work, but on the other Twilight did have a point, and she was bored out of her mind. Her plans usually included sleep, practice, and Twilight - unfortunately while the first two were always there for her, Twilight often had things to do that weren't sleeping with Rainbow Dash whenever she wasn't practising. Unfortunately.

"Awesome," Dash grinned, "When do we start?"

"Oh, tomorrow morning!" Twilight responded, pleasantly surprised that Dash wasn't against the idea. "We need to start early, so wake me up when you get up, okay?"

Dash nodded, and the two tired ponies went to get some lunch before separating again - Twilight had a goo to analyse, and Dash was going to be very busy napping.

Twilight groaned. "Dash, the sun isn't even up yet!" she complained, pulling a pillow over head head and rolling over.

Dash yanked the pillow away and rested her head against Twilight's neck, waking her up with a playful nibble. "We could always stay here if you don't want to science, y'know?" she whispered, running a hoof up Twilight's neck.

"Science isn't a verb, Dash." Twilight sighed, pushing the mare away and regretfully leaving her warm, comfortable bed to enter the awful cold sunless reality that Rainbow Dash called 'morning'. Twilight aught to show her a dictionary some day, because it wasn't morning, it was still night.

"Whatever, bookworm," Dash yawned, jumping out of bed with an annoying amount of energy and enthusiasm. "Want some breakfast, I can uh..."

Dash paused for a moment, considering her culinary options.

"I can go and grab us some flowers from outside?" she continued, gliding down to the main room.

"No, I've got some expedition supplies ready in those saddlebags, just grab something from there." Twilight responded, yawning and trying to clear her eyes while she stumbled along to the bathroom for her morning shower.

Dash moaned happily to herself as she swallowed another fruit bar down, lying on the floor next to the saddlebag and wiggling her hooves in the air while she waited for Twilight. Eventually, the bathroom door opened, and a perfectly dry Twilight walked out among the steam and condensation. "Mmm, these are good, Twi, where'd you get 'em?" Dash asked, finishing off the bar.

"How many of those have you eaten?" Twilight sighed, pulling the away and affixing them to her back. "They're meant for both of us, and lunch too."

"Oops."

"Whatever, I'll grab some more later. Just, try not to mess anything else up, okay Dash?"

"Yes Ma'am." Rainbow Dash mock-saluted, following Twilight out of the door on their way to Science and Adventure!

"I thought you were doing this so I'd be less bored?" Dash complained an hour or so later, hanging from a tree and occasionally spinning around the branch, using her wings to propel her. Rainbow Dash was bored out of her mind. "All you've done so far is take notes, why are we even out here? Can I go grab a cloud to sleep on?"

"That is why we're here, that is all I've done, we're here to test long range teleportation, and no you can't." Twilight responded without so much as looking up from her journal. She was writing by hornlight, and by her calculations the sun wouldn't be up for hours. That may work well for her purposes, she thought.

A few moments later, she stood up. "Right, I've written down everything relevant. Are you ready to begin the first test, Dash?"

Rainbow Dash fell from the tree, righting herself in mid air and landing on her hooves. "I've been ready for the past hour, Twilight." she complained, ignoring the fact they'd barely been there for half that time.

"Good," Twilight responded. "I'm going to need you to catch me, okay?"

Without further explanation, Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her ability to teleport was incredibly useful, but still limited. She had to know where she was, where she wanted to be, and where those two places were relative to each other in intimate detail, making the act difficult to perform under pressure or over long distances. Twilight had been researching the best way to fix that - Celestia's explanation of how she teleported had helped, and Twilight had devised a plan.

Magic permeated everything, from the ground she walked on to the air she breathed. More importantly, the magical background of the world wasn't completely flat - it had landmarks, just like the physical world. Most ponies couldn't see this, but just like how a pegasus could see the imperfections in a cloudscape, Twilight could see the imperfections in the realm of magic itself.

Where was she? In reality, about a mile south of Ponyville, next to a tree. In magic, she rested at the bottom of a three dimensional trough. Where did she want to be? Up. A mile or so up. In physical terms, she could both not know exactly where she was going, nor exactly how far away that was - but in magical terms, she already knew. She could see it before her as clearly as a pony could see their own hoof.

Twilight vanished, casting her spell. She opened her eyes, and was immediately blinded by the sun just peeking over the distant horizon. She looked down, and saw the ground a very, very long way away. Success!

Then she fell. Within moments, the wind rushing past her ears was deafening, and the ground was getting very close very quick. Where was the tree she'd been sitting next to? Where was Dash? She had just gone straight up, right? Twilight was fairly sure she'd converted between physical and magical co-ordinates right, but she was growing less sure every meter she fell, and the ground was getting awfully close. How did that parachute spell go again?

"NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" Rainbow Dash screamed, grabbing Twilight out of the air a few dozen meters above the ground with a solid rainbow trail streaking behind her. Immediately, she pulled up, looping back on herself and carrying Twilight away at, by Twilight's best estimations, about three times the speed of sound. "What the hay were you thinking, Twilight? What's wrong with you?!"

The sound of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom hit her ears a few seconds later. Twilight blinked, screwing her eyes together to try and block out the wind and tried to steady her breathing - Rainbow Dash had her in a hold so tight it made it difficult to breath.

"I... I thought I converted right!" Twilight protested, keeping her eyes closed to shield herself against the heavy winds while Rainbow Dash slowed down and glided back towards the tree. Twilight had almost been right, she had indeed gone a mile or two up - she'd just also gone a few dozen miles to the left, as well.

"I barely saw you up there, you stupid mare," Dash snapped, "Next test I'm going with you, and don't you dare argue." Dash said, matter of factly as she dropped Twilight the last foot and landed in front of her, holding her body up with a hoof while Twilight steadied herself. Twilight didn't argue - she'd never seen Rainbow Dash this angry.

As soon as Twilight was standing on her own hooves, Dash walked off to rest against the tree in silence, staring at Twilight with accusatory eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I screwed up my calculations, but it worked!" Twilight said, laughing half through elation and half through the delayed terror of realising how close to death she'd come. "I did it, Dash! With more practice, I should be able to teleport much further than I could before!"

Rainbow Dash sighed - still about the science. "Okay, I'm gonna go grab a cloud, don't you dare try anything without me, okay?"

Twilight nodded enthusiastically, before returning to her books to try and figure out what she did wrong. Dash slowly flew off, looking behind her as she went to watch Twilight work.

"Aha, of course! The polar axis here is reversed from the magicscape! All I need to do is invert the polarity of the hornflow metastasis effect and the tele-position will reorient to the new vector!" Twilight explained, grinning. She didn't actually say that, of course, Rainbow Dash had absolutely no idea what she actually said. Rainbow Dash concentrated on Twilight smiling, and tried to pretend to pay attention.

"Are you listening, Dash?" Twilight asked.

"Ye... no. I have no idea what you're saying," Dash admitted, "but I'm still going with you."

"Okay, good, climb on my back." Twilight demanded, giving her notes one last read to ensure she hadn't missed any crucial mistakes. This would either work, or leave them stuck inside the ground. Twilight felt fairly certain the latter wouldn't happen, and even if it did the teleportation effect should still generate enough room for them, and she could just reverse the calculations to escape. It was a perfect plan!

Rainbow Dash was less sure, but she was absolutely positive she wasn't letting Twilight do something that stupid alone again. She got on, holding Twilight tightly and preparing to carry her.

Twilight closed her eyes, and found a new target to concentrate on. An instant later, they vanished in a flash of light.

Twilight opened her eyes. Rainbow Dash's wings were spread wide, and illuminated with the glow of sunlight. She looked down and saw the ground far below - too far to make out any details. "Hey, Dash!" she shouted above the winds, "Is that our tree down there?"

Dash looked down, searching around for something obvious. Within a few moments she noticed Twilight's notebook lying on the ground. "Yeah, can we go down now? It's freezing up here." she curtly replied.

Twilight agreed - it was chilly. Dash was colder, though. The moment they touched down, Twilight pulled away and turned around. "You okay, Dash?"

"Yea- No," Dash replied, losing the defensive edge in her voice, "You could have died back there, Twi, I barely caught you, and I'm me. I... I dunno if you're used to taking risks like that with yourself, but I'm not."

Dash turned her head away, as if she was trying to tell herself to stop talking before she said something she would regret. "What, Dash?" Twilight prompted, wanting everything to be out in the open at least.

"Just don't dare do anything like that to me again, okay?!" Dash snapped, "What if I hadn't been here, huh? Think I'd ever have found your... yeah. Just don't do that again." Dash continued, ending her sentence with a whisper.

The wind continued to lightly blow through the field as the two ponies stood there. Twilight bowed her head in thought, and Dash just looked away, waiting for Twilight to say something.

Twilight picked up her notebook - that was enough research for the day, she thought. "Okay, I'm sorry. I screwed up, Dash, okay? This is just really important, I can feel it. Come on, let's go home - you up for flying, or shall we just walk?"

"Let's just walk." Dash replied, landing next to Twilight and resting a wing over her body, pulling her a little tighter. They walked silently side by side back towards Ponyville, Twilight's house, and a good hot meal, letting each others bodies rub against them.

Halfway home, Twilight tilted her head to rest against Dash's, and whispered "You still mad at me?"

"Yep."

"Can I make it up to you?"

A week later, Twilight checked on her magical plants, and grinned, seeing them in bloom - she could run her experiment again, hopefully less ruined this time! Twilight had had the foresight to grow a few batches of plants this time, not just the one, so she could take a failure or two.

Rainbow Dash's anger had quickly abated, but her protective streak hadn't, making Twilight's experimentation problematic. Her work into teleportation had proved quite fruitful, even with Dash making her triple check all her calculations (a second time) and come along with her. Twilight appreciated the company, at least, magical research was usually such a lonely pursuit - though the occasional nuzzle proved more distracting than helpful, and productivity was down. Her tail was up, though, so things tended to balance out.

Regardless, Twilight had a solid theory of long-range transportation written down onto a small stack of papers, ready to be sent to Celestia once Spike returned from his personal work in Canterlot. Twilight didn't know what he was doing, and had made a mental note to question him when he returned, but she kept forgetting until he left again.

"Dash?" she called, wondering if the protective pegasus was still in her house, or whether she'd gone for one of her frequent practice or nap sessions. She got no reply - perfect, no distractions. Twilight picked up two of the flowerpots and cleared her experimentation table, starting the process of extracting their essences.

They were ready. There were to be no distractions this time. Twilight put the two tubes safely within the wooden stand and went to seal the windows, ensuring there wouldn't be any bothersome blue buzzing.

Twilight was too late - Dash was sitting on her bed. "Hey Twi, what'cha doing?" she asked, peering around Twilight's body to her table.

Twilight froze. "An... experiment." she cryptically answered, hoping Dash would leave it at that.

"Is it dangerous?" Dash asked.

"Not at all, not if I do it right."

"Can I help?"

"Not really, I've got this."

"Oh, okay." Dash said, and lay back on the bed. That was unexpected, but very much welcome.

Twilight wandered back to the table, and held the tubes up to her eye, gauging how much liquid she should mix together for the optimal effect.

"Oh, is this that one that exploded last week? Maybe you should do that outside?" Dash suggested. She had a point - she was getting better at the whole 'assisting' thing.

Twilight agreed, and wandered outside. Dash quickly joined her, watching closely.

"Hey, can I do it?" she suddenly asked, a moment before Twilight could begin pouring.

"I've got this, Dash."

"Yeah, well, it kinda exploded last time. It took a few seconds to blow, I could have it a mile up by then if something went wrong." she suggested. Nice thought, but...

"I've got this, Dash." Twilight repeated, more sternly this time. Rainbow Dash backed down and let Twilight pour. The two liquids slowly mixed, and the whole compound began to solidify. The glass cracked and broke as the solid expanded, and soon Twilight held a fully formed crystal in her magical grip.

"It worked!" she laughed, as surprised as anybody else at the result - she'd expected something that could discharge energy, but a proper crystalline structure straight off? That was completely unpredicted. "I... I need to get this back to my lab immediately. Dash, the library's closed, I don't want anybody interrupting me unless it's an emergency - and I mean that. Kingdom in danger or worse, nothing else."

Twilight ran back into the library with the crystal trailing behind, slamming the door behind her. Rainbow Dash shrugged and flew off to find a cloud, dragging it back to the library and taking up her post as a guard. By sleeping in front of the door.

That night, Rainbow Dash sneaked down into Twilight's laboratory to check up on her before the night's sleep. It was late, and both of them should have been in bed hours ago.

"Dash, come here!" Twilight enthusiastically prompted the moment Dash got inside the room - so much for stealth. "This is incredible! This is... monumental, this is world changing!"

"It looks like a crystal to me, Twi." Dash questioned - she'd seen crystals before.

"Not just any crystal. Look, touch it!" Twilight prompted, grabbing Dash's hoof and pressing it against the semitransparent object. It grew warmer, but nothing else.

"O... kay, I think you've been awake too long, Twi. I've seen hoof warmers before."

"Not that, Dash! This isn't a hoof warmer, it's just acting like one. The crystal can absorb magic, and then cast a spell on command - as far as I can tell, any spell, but I haven't properly checked yet. But look, you could use it! Anybody could use it! Dash, this is going to change the world! Earth ponies that can fly, pegasi that can do magic, unicorns that can grow crops, everything! And I couldn't have done it without you!" Twilight gushed half-breathlessly, before diving at Dash and hugging her to the floor. Rainbow Dash didn't know why she deserved credit, but she wasn't about to turn it down.

Twilight looked back at the crystal with awe. "I need to do more tests." she stated.

"No, you need to come to bed, it's late. It'll still be there in the morning, come on. I'll drag you if I have to." Dash warned, in no uncertain terms. Twilight might not need the rest, but Dash needed to know she was getting it.

"I... yeah, you're right. Fine, come on." Twilight relented, skipping up the stairs with a grin on her face. Her first major magical breakthrough was waiting in the morning to be even more rigorously tested, and Twilight's timetable had been completely rewritten to allow for further experimentation.

Several days later, Twilight's squeal of joy woke Dash from her mid-day nap. A moment later, the tired pony was knocked out of her cloud by a leaping Twilight, and she found herself pinned to the floor and passionately kissed, with her limbs pressed against the ground and her mouth held open by the sheer force of Twilight's embrace.

"I've done it, Dash!" she gasped, a moment after pulling back.

"Done what?" Dash asked, after taking a break to nibble on Twilight's lower lip for a few seconds.

"Okay, you know the second crystal I made from the other plants?" Twilight whispered in response, drawing her lips across Dash's cheek.

"Yeah?" Dash replied, nibbling the corner of Twilight's ear and whispering straight into her.

"And you know the teleport spell I was working on last week?" Twilight moaned, melting in Dash's hooves.

"Yeah?" Dash asked, only semi-paying attention as she stroked Twilight's mane and continued her nibbling.

"I've managed to combine them - one crystal teleports to the other, and vice versa! This could replace trains, carriages, everything!" Twilight excitedly chattered, pulling herself off of Dash and bouncing away, "And we need to go test it, come on."

A few minutes later, Twilight and Dash arrived at the field with the tree. Twilight placed one crystal on the ground, and handed the other to Dash. "Can you go fly this a few miles that way?" she asked, pointing off into the distance. Dash took the crystal and shot off, flying on a long arc off beyond the horizon.

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a few minutes to ensure she'd set the crystal down, and then tapped her hoof against the side of her own crystal. She vanished in a flash of light.

Twilight felt like she was floating on nothing. She looked down her her hooves, but found nothing there. No ground, no hooves, nothing. Looking around, she realised that there wasn't anything at all, even herself. That seemed strange to her, but she was oddly calm, like there was no reason to be concerned at all.

After a few minutes, or whatever passed for time in wherever she was, she realised "nothing" wasn't quite accurate. After a few more minutes of studying the almost imperceptible landscape, she realised that she knew exactly where she was - the field with the tree in it. Not physically there, but magically. That wasn't meant to happen.

Twilight pulled back, moving by force of will alone to see more of the magical landscape. She turned her viewpoint (for she was unwilling to think of her bodyless form as having a head) around, looking for one thing in particular - herself. Twilight Sparkle, as modest as she tried to be, made quite an impact on the magical landscape - she was a spike. Twilight recognised herself immediately, and quickly shot over to it - a pony's mind and body weren't meant to be separated, that wasn't a good thing. If she moved just right, though, she could...

"Twilight? Twilight, are you okay? Doc, her eyes are open, is that good?" Rainbow Dash's voice shouted as Twilight's senses began to come back under her control, and everything stopped being so hazy. Slowly, the soup in front of her began to resolve into an image.

"H-" Twilight coughed, trying to talk without realising how dry her throat had become. Rainbow Dash immediately turned to the noise, and the sight terrified Twilight - Dash's eyes were red and puffy, and twisted with concern and fear.

"Twilight? Are you okay? Do you need water? There's some here, come on, drink it." Dash said, mostly talking to herself as she handed Twilight the glass of water and watched her drink.

"What happened?" Twilight hoarsely asked after the first couple of gulps took the worst of her aching throat away. She was in a hospital bed, surrounded by bright white walls. She recognised it as one of the intensive care rooms in Ponyville General Hospital. At the far side of the room stood one of the doctors, though he was staying back to let Twilight and Dash talk.

"I took your stupid gem out and waited a few minutes, and then you appeared and collapsed. I brought you here, and you've been here ever since. Its been days. Everybody else went home to sleep, but... The... the doc didn't know what was wrong, and without Spike here I couldn't get a message through to Celestia." Dash explained, taking Twilight's hoof between her own and squeezing. "You promised not to ever do this to me again, Twi." she whispered, pressing her forehead against it and scrunching her eyes closed.

Twilight took a moment to clear her throat and take another couple of sips from the glass. The water, much like the room itself, tasted stale and over-cleaned. Twilight let her head fall to the side and looked towards the table at her bedside. Her friends had left a card - a tiny helium balloon was tied to the corner. Twilight knew they must have been so worried.

"I... had to, Dash. It'll work, I know it will. It has to, I know what went wrong, I think. I can do it again, I'll get it right this time. There wasn't enough energy in the gem, it didn't complete the transfer and it clearly took some time for my mind to notice. It just needs more of a charge time, that's all, it'll work."

"No." Dash said.

"Dash, I have to." Twilight plead. The room seemed to grow still as the atmosphere froze - Twilight knew that she couldn't stop, but she couldn't imagine doing something Dash was so adamantly against either.

"No, Twilight. I said no," Dash replied harshly. "I can't take it, okay? I can't take not knowing if you're going to come home at night, I can't take being scared for you every time you go down to your damn lab, I can't take it any more. I won't let you risk your own life like that, Twilight. It might not mean much to you, but it's everything to me."

Dash pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. Her voice had grown unsteady throughout her rant, and she'd cried enough over the past few days - no more. "I'll do it. Whatever your testing is, I'll do it."

Twilight gasped in shock. "Dash, you can't, it's not safe!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief and laughed bitterly. "That's the point, Twilight." she snapped. With that, Rainbow Dash turned and left the room, and Twilight was left quite alone with a suddenly very cold glass of water.

"You don't have to do this, Dash, I'll call the whole thing off." Twilight hopefully suggested as she made the last few adjustments to the crystal, adding another layer of safety fallbacks and emergency spells. Twilight was 99.9% certain that that crystal was now the safest method of transportation that had ever been devised. Twilight had tied her mane back with a stray piece of hay after the sweat and lack of brushing over the last week had started to annoy her.

"I heard you talking, Twi. I trust you, okay, this is gonna be big, and I'm happy to put my name to it." Dash responded, her voice dripping with confidence. Her eyes betrayed her true feelings, however. She hadn't been the same since the accident, and Twilight just hoped that finally getting this over with would get things back to normal.

"Okay, when you're ready, just touch the crystal with your hoof," Twilight instructed, stepping back. "Oh, and before you go..." she added a moment later, before pulling Dash's head towards her and kissing her. "For good luck," she explained, resting their foreheads together. "Come home safe."

Their faces lingered together wordlessly for a moment before Dash broke away. The weather was perfect - there was barely a cloud in the sky, and the air flowed slowly with a warm breeze. It was not the sort of day that things could go wrong on.

"I always do, don't I?" Dash cracked, before slapping the side of the crystal with her hoof. A second later, the charging was complete, and Rainbow Dash vanished in a puff of magic.

Twilight already had her eyes closed, and was concentrating as hard as she could. The crystal was an incredibly complex piece of magic now - if it failed, Rainbow Dash's spirit would be trapped inside of it, rather than just being cast out where even Twilight would probably never find it. A quick test proved that that wasn't the case, however - Dash must have made it through intact.

An instant later, Twilight teleported - she'd spent the past week practising every bit as hard as Rainbow Dash, and while long-range teleports still weren't quite second nature to her in the same way short range ones were, she was getting more comfortable with them.

"Dash?" she immediately asked, not even waiting for the magical glow to subside.

"Right here, Twi." Dash replied, standing next to the other crystal. It had worked.

"How do you feel?" Twilight asked, keeping her eyes closed as she probed Dash's body. Everything was within acceptable tolerances - heartrate was up, she was sweating and her muscles were all tensed, but that wasn't completely unusual, just indicative of fear.

"Okay, I think. I don't ever want to do that again, but I'm glad it worked," Dash answered, walking over to Twilight and nuzzling her for the first time in a week. "Are you done yet?"

Twilight sighed. "Dash, don't you get it? You just teleported! Anypony could have done it, and the only thing it needs to do a longer distance is more time to charge. I can't just stop now!"

"That's not what I meant, Twi. You sure this thing'll work?"

"Of course, it just did!"

"Well go show it to the unicorn council or something, then."

"The Corral of the Wise?" Twilight asked absent-mindedly. Now that Dash mentioned it, she probably should. The Corral were responsible for ensuring safe and fair use of magic, and using it for the good of the kingdom. The members themselves were a closely guarded secret, but Celestia had once told her that every single one of them had once taught at the school for Gifted Unicorns. "I suppose they would be interested, yes. I'll write a letter explaining my findings at once!"

Dash smiled - maybe now they could put all this stuff behind them and Twilight could stop risking her neck every couple of days.

"Denied?!" Twilight shouted a few days later, the force of her voice shaking the walls of the library. "What do you mean, denied?!"

"Aaagh!" Spike yelled, hiding behind a bookshelf. "I didn't write it, Twilight!" he protested. Spike had just burped up a reply letter from the Corral of the Wise, and Twilight had opened it enthusiastically expecting a personal invitation and a congratulations on becoming Equestria's newest benefactor. Instead, she held in her hooves a short, to the point letter.

Dear Misses Dash and Sparkle,

Your research paper's claims, if true, are extraordinary. However, due to your lack of recognition in the field, as well as insufficient research and evidence for the effect at hoof, we are forced to deny your request for an audience. Please feel free to respond with a more solid proof, and we may reconsider.

-The Corral.

"Lack of recognition?!" Twilight screeched, tearing the letter up in a puff of angry magic, "What does that even mean?"

"Well, Twi," Dash said, gliding through the bedroom window, having heard Twilight as she was flying overhead, "We have only saved Equestria, oh... seven, eight times?"

"Shut up, Dash, this isn't funny. This was my big chance, and I blew it. My chance to really make something of myself. Remember when I said I didn't know where I was going in life? I thought I'd finally figured it out, and I was going to help everyone. Now here I am, back at square one." Twilight pouted, walking over to a bookshelf and collapsing against it.

She pushed herself into the wood and rested her head against one of the shelves, staring upwards into the ceiling as she started to lose herself in thought. What was she meant to do now?

A few moments later, Rainbow Dash joined her, sitting by her side and resting her head against a book. They stared outwards in silence for a few seconds before Dash began to talk. "So don't take no for an answer. Go up there anyway."

"I can't do that, Dash. These guys are meant to be the best, I can't go against them." Twilight sighed.

"Sure you can, Twi. You think I'd just lie back and take it if the Wonderbolts had said no?"

"I can't do that. You're stronger than me, Dash." Twilight admitted, leaning against Dash's body and resting her head on a blue shoulder. Rainbow Dash sighed and stretched a wing around Twilight's back to hug her a little closer.

"Nah, I'm just good at pretending. Look, let me tell you a story, okay? I grew up in Cloudsdale, but I was never really one of the cool foals. I wasn't an outcast or anything, but I didn't get invited to all the parties either. Then I did my first Sonic Rainboom, and it felt like everything was gonna change, I was gonna be everything I'd ever dreamed of. It wasn't, nopony believed it and some of them just made fun of me for it." Dash admitted, her face growing a little grim as she remembered that not all of her memories were so sweet.

"So I made some bad friends - you've met one of them - and by the time flight camp came around my heart just wasn't in it any more. I dropped out so I wouldn't get kicked out and drifted a while doing weather jobs whenever they were open, then I came here." Dash continued, talking out into the air and resting her head on the side of Twilight's, taking care to avoid the horn. "They had a proper opening on the weather squad, so I took it. I'd lost contact with Fluttershy back when I dropped out, but I found out she was here too, and it just felt right, y'know? I felt like everything was gonna change, like I'd finally found where I was meant to be, blah blah blah.

"It didn't, I was still drifting, just in one place now." Rainbow Dash sighed, not enjoying the trip down the worse parts of memory lane, "Didn't feel right leaving, though. Then you came along, and you know how I felt about that. Now look at me, I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt and I feel like I'm finally going where I want to be, and I owe it all to you. I'm not stronger than you, I've just got somebody holding me up." she continued, growing more enthusiastic as her tale turned to brighter times.

Dash looked away. She knew Spike was listening, but it didn't really seem important. Twilight opened her mouth, but Dash quickly shushed her, "I'm not done."

After a few moments to gather her thoughts and think through what she had to say, Dash continued. "So don't you dare give up, okay? You drive me mad sometimes, Twi. You take risks I wouldn't dream of, you don't think about how things'll make me feel, and I hate it, but I'll stand by you every step of the way. You're everything to me, you stupid mare, and I'm not ever letting you go, even if that means I've gotta do stupid things just to keep you safe." she monologued, squeezing Twilight as tightly against her as her wing could manage and trying her best not to tear up.

"Anyway, the point is, I believe in you. I think you know what you're talking about, I think you think you're right and I think that's good enough for me, because I love you. Screw what they think, go shove that paper down their throats." Dash finished, ending her rant far more aggressively than she'd intended.

The room was silent, save for Twilight's sniffles. The silence was almost deafening to Dash - she hated pouring her heart out. Hated all of it. Why couldn't Twilight just know these things, like she did? Why did she have to be told?

"You can talk now." Dash whispered.

Twilight rolled over, burying her head in Dash's shoulder to silence the tears and holding herself there. They stayed like that for minutes, with Dash holding her close just to say "I'm still here." even as Twilight's body shuddered with each sob. Spike hid behind the bookshelf as silently as he'd ever done anything in his entire life.

"I love you too, Dash," Twilight eventually whispered, turning her head to simply rest it against Dash's tear-stained coat. "And okay, I'll go down there in person and make them look."

"We." Dash corrected.

Both of them were interrupted by a quiet snort as Spike blew his nose on a hastily procured napkin.

"Spike?" Dash asked, raising her head. "If you-"

"tell anyone, you'll leave me on a cloud heading Celestia knows where, I know. I won't."

"I was gonna say, if you want you can join in, I think Twilight wants you here too." Dash retorted. They laughed, and Spike emerged with tissue in hand before taking his place on the other side of Twilight.

Everything was going to be just fine, Twilight thought. There wasn't a force in Equestria that could stop her and Dash, and it was time Canterlot's elite unicorns found that out.

After the Storm

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Rainbow Dash twitched. Though her mind felt as rejuvenated as it ever did after a long night's sleep, her body was in agony. Something hard and sharp was jammed against the base of her spine and her head rested against something quite solid.

She found some small solace in realising Twilight Sparkle was still clutching her tightly, and that Twilight's head was still resting against her neck, however that only served to ensure Dash couldn't so much as stretch to try and push away the pain.

The two of them still lay against one of the library's many bookshelves in the same embrace they'd taken to the night before. Rainbow Dash hazily remembered suggesting Twilight simply levitate a blanket over to them rather than actually going to bed—she now realised that had been a mistake.

Spike should have been on the other side of Twilight, but Dash couldn't sense him there. She couldn't crane her neck far enough around to actually check, but she also couldn't hear his breathing. Rainbow Dash prided herself on her senses, so if she couldn't hear something it probably wasn't there at all.

What Dash could see was a note lying on the desk. A note she couldn't reach because Twilight was too busy sleeping against her. At some point during the night, the normally respectable mare who measured every action she took had stopped crying and started drooling—Rainbow Dash's coat was ruined. A small price to pay, she supposed.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on something other than all the different ways her body was telling her This really hurts, which of course meant she immediately began focussing on what was causing the most pain: her wing. She'd draped it over Twilight's shoulders the night before, but now Twilight was pinning it between her and a bookshelf, and pegasi wings just weren't built for that kind of thing. They were built for flapping, and maybe some preening, but not eight straight hours of being pushed against a hard wooden surface.

Enough was enough. Twilight needed moving. Rainbow Dash weighed up her options, and chose her usual method of waking Twilight up in such a way that she wouldn't be shouted at for disrupting her schedule. Twisting her head as far as it would go, she enacted her plan.

Twilight sleepily and subconsciously giggled as Dash's teeth nibbled the tip of one of her ears. Dash continued, slowly moving down the side and increasing the force of her bite with every centimetre until Twilight finally stirred.

"Ow," Twilight whispered, apparently suffering from the same uncomfortable sleeping position Dash had. "What time is it?" she yawned, shifting her body just enough to give Dash's wing some temporary relief.

"I dunno, I've just woken up. Hey, co-"

"Can you see the sun?" Twilight interrupted. "You're a pegasus, you should know these things," Twilight snapped, partly through genuine irritation—Twilight liked to know what time it was, and Dash should indeed have been able to tell—and partly through the pain.

Dash was silent for a moment, unsure exactly how to respond. Realising it was pointless trying to argue with Twilight when she was in a mood, she looked over to the window and tried to see if she could figure out where the sun was. Most ponies would have repeated "I dunno", but Rainbow Dash took sentences like "you should know these things" as a challenge. Rainbow Dash did not back down from challenges.

From this angle, the view outside of Twilight's bedroom window was entirely obscured by one of the nearby trees. However, the sun cast shadows and those shadows tended to point away from the sun. Rainbow Dash was used to calculating flight vectors, not shadow ones, but it was close enough that-

"Eight twenty three," Dash responded confidently. "Now would you mind ge-"

Twilight sprung up, kicking out with her legs and dashing over to the window to confirm Dash's estimation. Rainbow Dash lay on the floor for a moment cradling her poor wing before gingerly giving it a few stretches and folding it back away at her side. It'd be fine, it was just like when she accidentally slept resting her head against one of her legs. Come morning she always found it completely numb and almost unusable for several minutes while it regained feeling.

"Dash, come on, we've gotta go!" Twilight insisted, running up to Dash and giving her a helpful push as if she wouldn't understand what "we've gotta go" meant.

"What? Why?" Dash wearily asked—she'd only just woken up. She usually preferred fifteen minutes lying in bed, maybe grab a bit of breakfast, perhaps even a few nuzzles—or more, if she was lucky—before she even considered going outside.

"The train to Canterlot leaves at eight twenty, but there's a five percent chance it's running six minutes late, in which case we could arrive just in time!" Twilight explained, again insistently prodding. Rainbow Dash resisted, confused.

"Why do we need to be on that train?" Dash asked, before yawning to underscore her point.

Twilight sighed. "To go see the Corral of the Wise and make them look at my research! Were you even listening last night?"

"Oh, you want to do that now?" Dash asked, wandering over into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. "We've already missed the train, Twi, I'll fly us over in a bit."

Twilight paused to consider it. On the one hoof, the train was warm, comfortable, and gave plenty of time for reading. On the other, Dash would get her there faster and she'd get to feel Rainbow Dash for the entire duration of the flight. "Hey, I could probably teleport us there!" she exclaimed, realising that her research could come in useful for more than just proving she could do it.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not doing that again, Twi. I'm flying us."

A moment later Twilight smiled and nodded, giving in before wandering over and nuzzling Dash, partially out of thanks and partially to get her away from the kitchen counter so she didn't actually try and make breakfast. Twilight didn't want to fly with her if she was still sticky.

"Oh, I'll have hay with apple slices if you're asking. I'll be over there when you're done. Napping." Dash replied, hopping over to their bed and lying on top of it for a few minutes rest. It wouldn't be that long a flight, but it would be the longest she'd flown carrying something as heavy as Twilight. Dash made a mental note to say "a pony" instead of "Twilight" if she ever verbalised that.

"Tell me again why I have to carry your stuff?" Dash asked as Twilight pulled the straps of Dash's saddlebag tighter around her body. Inside rested several of Twilight's notebooks, some of the crystals in case she needed to do a practical demonstration, and a bunch of daisies in case Dash got hungry mid-flight.

"Dash, you're carrying all my weight anyway," Twilight explained, for the third time. "This way I'm at least rounder and easier to grip. I still wish you'd let me get on your back."

"And if I hit turbulence? I know I can keep my grip on you, but you might fall off. Nuh-uh, I'm carrying you."

Twilight backed down. Argument was pointless when Dash was like this, Twilight knew she wouldn't win, and it didn't really matter anyway. "Alright, well, let's go then?"

Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and wiggled her body to test the straps.

"Uh, Twilight? You need to open your legs a bit more." Dash suggested a few seconds later, ignoring the way Twilight was heavily distracted and metaphorically salivating at the thought of Dash standing before her wiggling. Maybe the flight was going to take longer than they'd thought. Dash's wording certainly didn't help Twilight's mental state—she wanted nothing more than to open her legs a little more, but she had a meeting to get to.

"So I can grab them and lift you?" Dash added after another awkward couple of seconds. Twilight's eyes lit up with understand and she shook her head in a vain attempt to clear it, silently cursing her body's betrayal—she didn't need this right now. Now was the time to be a professional magic researcher, not to stand around like a filly flushed with her first heat.

Twilight positioned herself and Dash hovered over to grip her, hooking all four of her limbs with Twilight's and flapping her wings to lift them into the air. Twilight gulped as she watched the ground receding. Dash had taken her on a few short flights, and there was that unfortunate business with the badly aimed teleport, but other than that Twilight was very much new to flight. This was to be her first full length journey. Were it not for the way Rainbow Dash was holding her so tightly and so close, Twilight felt certain she'd already be asking to be put down.

Rainbow Dash rose to a fair height, resting a few dozen meters off of the ground. Canterlot had been built on the side of a mountain, and they'd have to rise a lot faster than that, but Dash could do that during the journey. For now she just needed a decent height to get started.

Rainbow Dash's head faced forward. Her neck arched over the back of Twilight's head, and their bodies squashed together as closely as Dash could manage—mostly for aerodynamic purposes. Couldn't be having an airflow between them to cause eddies in her air stream. Twilight was forced to stare downwards at the ground beneath, lest her forward-facing horn find its way towards jabbing Rainbow Dash in the chin. "You ready, Twi?" she asked.

"I think!" Twilight called back. She knew she had no real choice, she had to get to Canterlot and this was the bes- this was a way of doing it. Maybe she could just get down and take the afternoon train, or take her balloon out for a spin again, or maybe Pinkie Pie had another contrapti-

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, and the duo shot off into the distance. Within a few seconds they cleared Ponyville airspace and were heading towards the distant Canterlot as fast as Rainbow Dash thought Twilight could handle—so slowly she was bored.

Twilight was absolutely terrified. The ground beneath her moved to quickly it was a blur and she couldn't make out a single detail. The air rushed over her face quickly enough to bring tears to her eyes and send her mane whipping around in the wind. While it was true that Dash had carried her faster before, on that occasion she'd been more preoccupied with not having just impacted the ground at close to her terminal velocity and more interested in having her eyes closed and still being in shock—no such luck here.

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and pretended it was all a dream.

A few hours later, Rainbow Dash glided down onto something that looked like a landing pad. She flared her wings and felt her speed drop from a mind-numbing slow flight to something resembling a fast run, and then eventually to a reasonable trotting speed. Hovering a few feet above the surface, Dash released Twilight, assuming she'd notice and land on all four hooves.

Rainbow Dash winced as Twilight smashed into the stone pad head-on. "Whoops."

"Ow..." Twilight moaned, pulling herself to her hooves. "Are we there yet?" she asked, refusing to open her eyes in case they'd just stopped for a rest on a particularly solid cloud.

"Uh, yeah." Dash landed next to her, folding her wings away and giving her body a little shake to throw off all the excess moisture from spending so much time around clouds.

Twilight's eyes opened. "Excellent!" She gleamed, looking around her. She could see purple, and nothing more.

Dash giggled and pushed Twilight's mane out of her eyes before stepping back to admire her new hairdo. Twilight's regular sharp edges and perfect angles had been replaced with a ruffled, jaggy mess of hair not unlike Dash's own.

"How bad is it?" Twilight asked. "Would Rarity kidnap me?"

"She's never kidnapped me before," Dash teased. "Well, once. She won't do that again."

Twilight blinked, before closing her eyes and starting to imagine a brush. Her magic coalesced into a small surface covered in bristles and rods, designed to perfectly mimic the hairbrush she kept on her bedside table. She lacked a mirror, but that would have to do.

Rainbow Dash liked it, it reminded her of her. She liked her hairstyle, even if it did look better on Twilight. She wanted to keep it around as long as she could. Dash interrupted Twilight's concentration with a quick kiss, instantly dissolving the brush and forcing Twilight's eyes open.

"Nuh-uh, I like it!" she insisted, giving Twilight a playful lick on the end of her nose.

"But-"

"No buts. I like it! can we keep it for a while at least?" Dash asked, halfway serious. She did like it, it looked nice. On the other hoof, the feelings it evoked might make certain day-to-day activities difficult. Like any of the activities Dash filed away under the mental heading of "Not rutting Twilight silly".

"...fine, if it'll make you happy. Come on, the Corral should be this way." Twilight pointed up to one of the towers that broke Canterlot's skyline, and the two set off.

After a few minutes of walking, Twilight interrupted their small talk—currently on the topic of what would happen if two weather pegasi tried to give each other an electric shock at the same time—with a more serious statement. "Thanks for doing this, Dash. I'd have got over the letter, but... thanks."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

"Friends?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A girlfriend is still a friend! It totally counts!" Dash protested, laughing. "Anyway, you did it for me, and you know I'd never let something like this keep you—or anypony else—down."

Twilight smiled. "Well, you don't have to come in and see the Corral if you don't want, they can be pretty scary." Twilight spoke from experience. Her class had visited back in Magic School, and she'd had a new respect for how eerie capes and shadowed hoods could be ever since.

"Pff. I'll show 'em scary if they even think about touching you," Dash threatened, completely seriously and apparently not caring in the slightest that she was talking about some of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria.

Twilight laughed and shook her head—she would never understand Dash. "That won't be necessary, Dash, these are professionals."

"I'm just saying, if you don't come out of there smiling. I'll kick their flanks!"

A few minutes later, the two reached the main reception at the bottom of the Corral tower. A huge spiral staircase stood at the far side of the room, but between the there and the entrance stood a wooden desk and a receptionist. The exquisite stone walls and exquisite marble pillars created an intimidating air of elegance and power. The walls were lined with the portraits of every archmage Canterlot had ever had, punctuated by lightly glowing runes.

The desk was dwarfed by the high ceiling—high enough that Dash thought she could fly comfortably around it—and distant walls. The room was filled with glass boxes housing dozens of obscure magical artefacts and trinkets, commanding attention from all present.

Twilight stood in awe.

"Go on," Dash whispered, pushing her ahead.

The receptionist looked up and stared at them. He was a brown coated unicorn with a dark mane wearing some kind of jacket. His nametag denoted him as Short Quill.

"Can I help you, young mare?"

"Uh, yes. I'd like an audience with the Corral so I can share my research with them immediately, please!" Twilight asked. Her voice was an octave or two higher than normal due to the stress.

"It's usually more appropriate to send an, ah, written request, such that the Corral can appraise your research before deciding. They are busy ponies, and cannot grant an audience to just anypony."

"Oh, I've done that! They turned it down, but they're wrong, and I need to show them!" Twilight helpfully added.

"I see. I'm afraid I can't help you. Perhaps you should look into some lesser mages who may have time for the 'research' of a child," Quill snarked, clearly short of patience. "Now, if you don't mind I have papers to file, and real researchers to deal with."

Twilight Sparkle turned to leave with her head hanging low and her ears flattened against her head. It had been worth a try, but Dash would just have to carry them home. Maybe Twilight could teach magic at Ponyville's school for the rest of her life or something.

Where was Rainbow Dash? She had been waiting by the door, but she wasn't there any more. Was she so ashamed that she'd flow off, leaving Twilight alone?

Twilight heard a crack as Quill's wooden stool struck the stone floor, and quickly spun to see him pinned to the ground under Dash's gaze.

Rainbow Dash's head was an inch or less away from Short Quill's, staring him down. "Do you have any idea who I am?" she spat.

Short Quill took a step back and looked at her. "Not a particularly talented mage, I assume? Don't presume to threaten me, little pegasus."

Dash remained where she was. "Alright, no, I'm not. But she is," she said, pointing behind her to where Twilight stood- "Do you know who she is?"

"From the looks of her, another plucky kid fresh out of some low-standards magic school that couldn't teach research methodology any better than they do mane maintenance. I don't have time to deal with foals." Quill snapped, picking his seat back up and pushing Dash back with a sharp magic force, sending her tumbling across the room. Any normal pegasus would have hit the wall hard enough to daze them for a few seconds. Rainbow Dash recovered within a few feet and shot back forward faster than Short Quill could blink, near-instantly pinning him to the floor. Nobody got to say things like that about Twilight. Nobody.

"Dash! What are you doing?" she screeched, grabbing the angered mare in a magic field and pulling her off. "You can't do that!" she snapped, pulling Rainbow Dash away.

Despite what Twilight thought, Rainbow Dash could do that, and she planned to continue. She'd been flying through clouds all day long, and given that Canterlot was built on the side of a mountain and thus she hadn't had a chance to touch the actual ground yet, Rainbow Dash had gathered quite a lot of magical energy in her body that she hadn't dissipated yet. Twilight would normally shout at her for doing this, but Dash felt it was worth the risk.

Still captured in a magical bubble, Dash brought her wings close to herself and cocooned her body as well as she could. Concentrating, she brought out all the excess energy in her body. While almost any pegasus could cause a cloud to shoot out a bolt of lightning, and any trained weather pegasus could harness ambient energy into a small electric shock, and particularly talented ones could even shoot out small bolts themselves, Rainbow Dash was a little more than just particularly talented.

The lightning bolt hit Twilight Sparkle directly at the tip of her horn. The energy had nowhere to go but through her body, arching through her head and down her legs into the floor beneath, instantly overwhelming her and knocking her to the floor. Dash knew she'd be okay—it was a lot of energy, but a fraction of what some of her more advanced spells would require.

Within moments, Dash was pinning Short Quill to the floor once more.

"Please don't hurt me!" he squeaked, hiding his face behind his hooves.

Rainbow Dash knelt down and stared into his eyes. "That 'kid' over there is Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic itself, personal protégé of Celestia, and I happen to know she graduated top of her class at the school for Gifted Unicorns. If that's not enough for you, she's also my girlfriend, and you're going to shut up and let her see the chorus—or whatever—before I buck you off the side of Canterlot, got it?"

"They're busy, I can't just let you in-" Quill protested. Dash pulled her hoof back, threatening to strike. "-but I can make an appointment for the student of the princess! Come back in a few hours, it'll be ready!"

"Promise?"

"I swear!"

Rainbow Dash kicked off and backflipped through the air to land next to Twilight, who was only just pulling herself to her hooves. She took one disgusted look at Rainbow Dash and fled the building. "Whoops," Dash whispered to herself before taking off after her.

"Twilight, I'm sorry, okay?" Rainbow Dash apologised for the umpteenth time, having found Twilight sulking on a nearby bench. Rainbow Dash was wisely staying in the air, just out of horn-stabbing distance. While Twilight was reserved enough to not use her magic in anger, the same did not ring true for running at ponies with her head down and her horn pointy.

"What does it matter, Dash? You've done it now, they'll never take me seriously. I'm just another brute from some backwater town who wants to play scholar and brought her big dumb girlfriend along for the ride. I mean, really? Beating up the receptionist? What were you thinking?" Twilight snapped.

"I guess I wasn't. I kinda saw red when I saw your ears drop, I couldn't let him do that. Sorry for the shock, by the way. Nervous reaction, kinda," Dash apologised.

"I didn't even know you could do that."

"Yeah, I don't spread it around. I'm pretty sure the Guard think I'm dangerous enough with just my Sonic Rainboom."

A few seconds passed in silence before Dash continued. "Hey, we got an appointment, that's something, right?" A few more awkward moments passed before Twilight looked back up.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, come here, Dash. Promise not to stab you." Twilight moved to the side to give Dash room to land on her bench. The moment Rainbow Dash was sitting comfortably, Twilight pushed off with her forelegs and lunged at her, keeping her head down and aiming at the centre of Dash's chest.

"Ow! You said you wouldn't!" Dash yelped, rubbing her chest with one of her hooves while Twilight pulled herself back up and curled up against Dash's shoulder.

"Yeah well, I'm still mad at you." Twilight paused for a few seconds, wriggling a bit closer to Dash and resting a hoof over her chest. "You're adorable, you know that, right?"

Rainbow Dash was taken aback. She'd been nothing but awesome today—maybe a little stupid, too—and hadn't ever done anything she'd class as "adorable". Rainbow Dash didn't do "adorable", that was girly. "I am not."

"Yeah you are. That stallion insults me and you, you big dumb brute, try and beat him up for me. I've read romance novels less cheesy than that. You, Rainbow Dash-" Twilight said in a deliberately sing-song voice, before raising her hoof and poking Dash on the nose- "are adorable."

"Are you still mad at me?" Dash asked, confused at whether this was a declaration of love or a punishment. Or both? "Because I think I preferred the jabbing."

"I can't stay mad at you for trying to protect me, even if you did it in the stupidest way you could possibly have thought of. Oh, and the way you talked about me. Personal protégé? I didn't even think you knew words like that."

Dash felt herself start to blush. "S- Shut up," she warned.

"You happen to know I graduated top of my class? You've been looking at my diplomas, haven't you Rainbow Dash?" Twilight giggled, hoping to make Dash even a hundredth of how embarrassed she'd been.

"I glanced at them! You have an awful lot, they're hard to miss."

"And gosh, bearer of the Element of Magic itself? You've been reading too many of Spike's comic books. I cringed at that and I could barely hear you. I might have to buy you a bell so people can hear you coming and get ready for clichés."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Dash mumbled, looking away to try and disguise how brightly her face was glowing. "Don't we have anything more important to be doing?"

"I suppose we could go and look at the Biographical History section of the Library, there must be somepony else who was stupid enough to try and force their way into the Corral. Maybe we can learn from them?" Twilight suggested, still resting her head against Dash's shoulder and letting her horn lightly push into the back of her neck.

"Sure let's do that," Dash agreed, glad for an excuse to turn the conversation away from reasons Rainbow Dash had been an idiot today—not her favourite subject. "Which way is that?"

Twilight paused and looked up at the skyline, trying to get her bearings. A moment later she pointed at one of the distant towers. "It's a long walk, we should get goi-"

Rainbow Dash grabbed Twilight's arms and took off, zipping across Canterlot at reckless speed. She knew she was breaking the air-speed limit in Canterlot's airspace, but she also knew she was faster than anypony who would enforce that speed limit, and thus didn't care.

"Put me down!" Twilight screeched, screaming as she watched spires and towers speed past mere feet below her, or most worryingly a few feet to the side of her. "Put me down!"

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash pulled her wings to her sides and dived through an open library window. She left a good inch or so of space on either side of them, there was plenty of room for both to fit through. The instant they'd cleared it, she flared her wings and slowed to a stop within a few feet, dropping Twilight the last few inches and landing beside her in a victorious crouch.

"Adorable? More like awesome." Dash grinned, closing her eyes and striking a pose. The sun was off to the side of them, and Dash had dropped Twilight to the other side—as soon as she looked up, she'd simply see Rainbow Dash with sunlight filtering through her windswept mane. Rainbow Dash was very good at making herself look cool.

Rainbow Dash yelped as Twilight's horn made contact with her lower leg, and she tumbled to the ground. "It's even more adorable that you think you need to prove you're still awesome to me, Dash," Twilight teased. The flight had been terrifying, but... it had cut their travel time down from half an hour to about twenty five seconds. "Come on, put that speed to use and go find a useful looking book. We're looking for anything that mentions the Corral."

Quite some time later, the two were still searching. While the Royal Canterlot Library held books of every form, and all kinds of literature both common and esoteric, it was seeming more and more likely that nobody had ever attempted to strongarm their way into seeing the Corral. Ever.

"Hey, this one's about somebody who screwed with the chorus," Dash exclaimed. "May- oh, wait, no. They turned him into a frog, ignore me."

Twilight sighed. That didn't bode well for them. "He wrote that as a frog?"

"Apparently. Look, there's even a picture in the back!"

"At least he's a nice looking frog. We have something to look forward to, at least."

"If they turn you into a frog I'll kick their asses, Twi."

"And if you're a frog?"

"Yeah. They might be small and green, but frogs have a mean kick on 'em. Or so Fluttershy tells me, anyway," Dash said, completely seriously.

"Gah, this is pointless, there's nothing here!" Twilight exclaimed, shelving the dozen or so books around her back where they belonged. "Maybe we should check general magic history?"

The magic history section was on the other side of the tower, but it was a short walk. It was Twilight's favourite section of the library, and the one she was most intimate with. She'd spent a good portion of her childhood there, after all.

"Back before I came to Ponyville, this place was like my second home," Twilight explained as she pushed open the door and revealed shelf after shelf of dusty tomes and ancient manuscripts. "This room contains everything we know about magic. Every peer-reviewed spell, every published paper, every major magical event and the life-story of every royal arch-mage since Starswirl."

Rainbow Dash was unimpressed; It just looked like a big library room to her. There were a lot of books, sure, but she wasn't going to read any of them.

"I liked it in here, it was quiet. Nopony else ever really came in, it was... peaceful. I used to sit right over-"

Twilight stopped talking and froze. She was pointing at a bookshelf, but apparently expected something different. She ran over to it and inspected it. "This isn't meant to be here! This section should be over there! I... oh no, this is awful!"

"What is?"

"They've reorganised it! They've reorganised my library! Oh, I knew that librarian was just waiting until I was gone to ruin everything. It made sense before! Now look at it!" Twilight twitched.

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck and looked around. It still looked like a library to her.

Twilight's horn lit up and the bookshelf before her lifted. She placed it against one of the bare walls and smiled. "That's a bit better!" she exclaimed, before looking back at the hole she'd left. Before her lay a thin space between two other bookshelves, probably wide enough to fit a pony if they squeezed themselves in.

Twilight's face fell. She fell backwards, sitting on her rear and, and her ears began to quiver. "She took my hole." Twilight flatly stated.

"Huh?"

"My hole! I used to sit here all the time, I loved that hole. I spent most of my crazy fillyhood in there."

"Crazy fillyhood?" Dash asked, legitimately interested in how Twilight could consider any part of her upbringing "crazy".

"Yeah! The late nights reading, or doing my homework the day before it was due instead of the night I got it, or reading naughty books, or even just lying in there imagining things. I had it filled with all my favourite books, and now they're gone!"

"Twilight, all your favourite books are back home in Ponyville now. Wait, naughty books?"

"Well... not so much these days, but back when I was a filly romance novels seemed very naughty." Twilight turned around and carefully walked backwards, trying to see if she could still fit inside. After a tiny adjustment of the surrounding bookshelves, she was sitting quite comfortably. "I even let myself spend a little time wishing, sometimes. Only when I didn't have homework, obviously."

"Obviously. What'd you wish about?"

Twilight blushed, realising she shouldn't have mentioned that. "Oh, nothing."

"Hey, you mentioned it, you can't just go not telling me now, that's not fair!" Dash protested.

Twilight's blush deepened as she realised Rainbow Dash had a point—it wasn't fair on her to leave her guessing. "Well, like I said, I read some sappy romance novels in here, so... some nights were kinda lonely. I always wished some handsome stallion would walk into the section and try and take out one of my favourite books, and he'd be sad it wasn't there until I jumped out and gave it to him, and then we'd start talking and get along really well and then one thing would lead to another and..."

Twilight stopped talking, realising she'd gotten a little lost in her remembered fantasy. Her blush reddened further.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyelid. "Stallion?"

"I was young! All the mares I knew were from school. They were either bullies or spent more time thinking about their mane than they did magic. I guess I just assumed mares couldn't be... brave or heroic, or ready for anything, or would always be there for you, or..." Twilight trailed off, realising she was getting worryingly close to losing herself in describing Rainbow Dash again.

"But yeah, go on, laugh. I'm sure you had fantasies of somepony coming and sweeping you off of your hooves too," Twilight accused, trying to take a little attention away from her cheeks.

"Nah, not really. I always thought..." Dash started, before walking towards Twilight and squeezing inside her hole. It was easily long enough to house two ponies, though it probably hadn't been when it was filled with old books. Soon Dash and Twilight were eye to eye. "I always thought that maybe if I beat one of the class jocks in a race they might lighten up and be nice. They didn't, they just got worse—said I hadn't really beaten them even though it was totally fair—and I kinda started to think that maybe I wasn't looking for 'nice'. I didn't realise that I still was until you came along, so... yeah. None of my foalish fantasies came true, and I'm fine with that."

Twilight leaned forward and rubbed her nose against Dash's cheek. Rainbow Dash always seemed somewhat subdued when she talked about her childhood. She had little of her characteristic energy, and she only seemed to talk about it when she had to. Twilight was the same, she supposed—her upbringing could have been worse, but what was the sense in reminiscing on it when the present was so much more palatable?

"I don't suppose this section has any Daring Do books, does it?" Dash suddenly asked after a few moments of silence.

"...no, of course not. This is the magic history section, Dash. You do realise Daring Do is fictional, right?" Twilight asked, vaguely worried that Dash had been taking the series as fact. That could really screw up her sense of history—especially Daring Do and the See-through Snout which implied that ponies might have been created by aliens.

"Gosh, I am really sad that they don't have that book!" Rainbow Dash flatly exclaimed, staring into Twilight's eyes.

"They probably do down in the fiction section. Is now really the time, Dash?"

"I said, I'm really sad it's not here. If only somepony could bring it to me," Rainbow Dash continued, not even bothering to put emotion into her voice any more and just flatly reciting it.

"I... I guess we can go, if you really want. You can only take books out for a month, though, wouldn't it be easier to just wait and use our copy back home?"

"Twilight, you are the dumbest genius I know," Dash sighed, before leaning forward and kissing her. Twilight squeaked as she realised what Dash had been saying, and her cheeks somehow reddened even further.

"I- Oh," Twilight whispered. "Here?"

"You said nopony ever came here, and it's not like we're finding anything useful. Anyway, you don't get a say in it. You want a handsome hero to whisk you off your hooves? Here I am!" Dash replied, before darting forward and pushing her forelegs under Twilight in order to lift her up and push her against the far wall.

"I said stallion, too," Twilight teased. There wasn't much she could do about it anyway, Rainbow Dash was quite easily holding her pinned against the wall a few feet above the ground, and she always found it difficult to concentrate on magic when Dash was brushing their bodies together. It was quite unfortunate.

"You know I'm better."

Rainbow Dash punctuated her point with a light nip to Twilight's neck. It was slightly awkward both keeping Twilight pinned to the wall and making her squirm, but Rainbow Dash felt she was up to the challenge.

"Say, couldn't we use one of these bo-"

Twilight slapped Rainbow Dash with a sharp magic jolt. "Don't you dare, Rainbow. These books are antiques."

"Aw, fine, I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way," Dash complained. She raised one of her hindlegs and positioned it between Twilight's—she was already wet from the idea alone. Soaking, even. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said this was a fantasy, were you?" Dash whispered, before leaning in a little higher to nibble along Twilight's earlobe.

Twilight squeaked again. She hadn't ever expected to actually do something like that, and her mind was reeling at the revelation that she actually would. She'd had enough trouble decoupling the smell of old books from dirty thoughts in the first place, this was going to make that almost impossible. Twilight didn't care.

She took a shaky breath and tried to clear her head, but Dash's proximity made it impossible. That much force pinning her to the wall ought to have hurt, but instead it just sent shivers of anticipation through Twilight's body—an anticipation that had been there, and growing, since she was a child. So it wasn't with a mysterious, scholarly stallion who could teach her everything she ever wanted to know about magic. Twilight knew Dash was better.

"How'd your daydream go, then?" Dash whispered.

"Well, we'd talk for a while-"

"Check."

"Then we'd kiss a bit-"

"Coming right up."

"Then I uh, I didn't really know what came next but I knew he'd know how to do it, so he'd show me and it'd be amazing." Twilight's fantasy had been uncharacteristically unplanned—though she supposed that was what excited her most about it. She wouldn't know what was going to happen, but she'd trust her partner enough that it wouldn't matter. In that sense, Twilight supposed, her fantasy was already reality—life with Dash was almost impossible to plan. Almost. Twilight still managed.

"Gotcha," Dash whispered, before leaning back in and giving Twilight's upper lip a quick suck. Immediately afterwards, she moved down and nipped her lower lip, just hard enough to cause a gasp but not hard enough to break the skin. Twilight gave a happy moan as Dash's lips caressed her own, and she let her limbs fall loosely to her sides as she gave up any pretence of control.

Twilight allowed Dash to prise her lips open with a single swipe from her tongue. She let more happy gasps and groans escape straight into her blue captor's mouth as Dash's tongue explored the well-trodden grounds from a fresh perspective. After a few moments of exploration, Dash pulled back and started to slowly nuzzle along Twilight's neck.

"Well, aren't you a curious young student, Twilight?" Dash asked, putting on the most scholarly voice she could in a vain attempt to roleplay. She'd taken a drama class back in Cloudsdale once—well, she'd slept through a drama class—and thus it should be no trouble at all to play another part here.

"I most certainly am, but I don't even know your name!" Twilight squeaked back.

"I am-" Dash replied, letting her eyes dart around the room looking for a suitably scholarly sounding author name. She had a fraction of a second to find something, and so took the first one that sounded familiar- "Starswirl the Bearded!"

Twilight started laughing. "Dash, you look nothing like Starswirl, and he died hundreds of years ago. Pick something else."

"Uh... Bearded Star?"

"Oh, Bearded Star, you've shown me things I could never possibly believe in this night?" Twilight quipped, quoting from one of her least favourite romance novels. "Let's just keep our names. I like your name."

"I... am Rainbow Dash!" Dash exclaimed with pride. A moment later she shook her head. "Yeah this isn't working, can we skip the pretending?"

"Yeah." Twilight thought she would prefer Dash to be Dash anyway. She didn't need a fantasy stallion any more.

"How about I show you how to deal with pesky unicorns who still wrongly think they're better in bed than I am?" Dash asked, shifting her hindhoof around a little to excite Twilight a little further.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head upwards and gave the base of Twilight's horn a teasing lick. "Didn't you once say the library is magically sealed?" Dash whispered, before planting a few kisses around the base.

"Yeah!" Twilight gasped, partly through the sensation of Dash's tongue slowly rubbing against her horn, but mostly out of surprise Rainbow Dash listened to one of the times she'd been gushing about the royal library. The entire tower was enchanted with a series of powerful magics. It was, on the surface, similar to Twilight's libraries own enchantments—designed to protect the books—but cast by some of the most talented unicorns in the kingdom who had spent their lives researching defensive charms. The entire library surface was completely magically reflective. An outburst would simply bounce around until it dissipated naturally.

Unicorn horns are strange and wondrous things. On the surface, they're very hard structures, more similar to bone or hoof than skin. Underneath is more fleshy, and has a direct line to the unicorn's brain. They developed mostly as a tool, and allowed a unicorn to take direct concious control of their natural magic. They also give some amount of additional sensory perception, whether simply enough to 'see' a held object in order to manipulate it, or in Twilight's case a fully realised additional sense. The upshot of this is that while the unicorn horn is bone, Twilight could feel every single tastebud on Dash's tongue scrape against its surface in unparalleled detail, driving sensation directly into her mind.

Twilight's mouth immediately dropped open as her brain stopped focussing on little things like stopping her from drooling all over Dash's chest and started dealing with the overload of sensory information coming down her horn. Twilight could have stopped listening to her horn, but she saw no compelling reason to.

Instead, she merely groaned in ecstasy as Dash's mouth slowly moved higher. Rainbow's tongue still danced across the horn's surface as she went, exploring the grooves and slowly warming the whole surface up. In parallel, Dash began to slowly slide her hindleg back and forth, stimulating Twilight's lower lips and sending judders through her body as the second source of pleasure began to overwhelm her.

As Dash reached the tip of Twilight's horn, she paused to look down upon her prey. Twilight's eyes were closed and her mouth hung open, slowly spooling out drool. Her limbs hung uselessly at her side, save for her hindlegs which were reflexively held apart to allow Dash entry. Twilight was so cute when she was horny.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and lowered her head. Twilight's horn slowly pushed between her lips and Dash began to suck. Immediately Twilight's mind was flooded with sensation. The way the saliva on Dash's tongue lingered on her horn as it made another sweep. The way Rainbow's lips pressed against her horn, and the way she kept going back and licking them to ensure she had enough lubrication to push forward. More than that, Twilight felt the blood pump through Dash's cheeks, and the breaths being pulled and pushed through her nose. Twilight felt the beating of Rainbow Dash's heart and the rhythmic flexing of her lungs. She felt the way her wings flapped with just enough force to keep both of them pinned against the wall, and she felt the way Dash's lower hoof was immersing itself in her hot, slick vagina.

Twilight Sparkle felt everything to do with Rainbow Dash, from the flexing of her muscles to the food digesting in her stomach. Rainbow Dash felt some of that too—Twilight's magic was on overdrive, reflecting a little of every sensation right back into Rainbow's body. Rainbow Dash immediately remembered why she'd enjoyed this the first time.

Rainbow Dash's sucking grew more enthusiastic as she realised that every scrap of pleasure she gave the helpless purple unicorn would be reflected back onto herself. Her wingbeats grew less measured as her body flushed with the same passion Twilight's had; A powerful yearning that Dash felt every bit as strongly as Twilight.

"Oh, Dash!" Twilight gasped as Rainbow's lips reached the base of her horn once more, completely enveloping it in her mouth. Dash's tongue teased and tasted around it, taking in every inch and exploring every groove and imperfection, filling both of their minds with pleasure.

"Oh, Dash!" Dash mirrored an instant later. Her voice was muffled and her tongue couldn't quite make the right shapes around Twilight's horn, nor had she meant to say it, but neither of them cared. Rainbow Dash slowly pulled her head back, squeezing her lips as hard as she could. Her hoof continued stroking enthusiastically, and she bent her leg to ensure that every couple of strokes would brush against Twilight's clit and sent a powerful lightning strike of pleasure arching through their bodies.

Rainbow Dash was dripping. Her fluids slowly trailed down her free hindleg and fell to the floor beneath as her body became more and more convinced it was being enthusiastically serviced, and her mind ceased to differentiate between Twilight's sensations and her own. Twilight would likely have been doing the same, were it not for Dash's hoof using her fluids as lubrication and letting them soak into the coat on her leg.

"I'm telling you, I heard something!" a voice called from somewhere outside the room. The tiniest fraction of a fraction of Twilight's mind was still taking care of unimportant parts of her body like hearing and vision, but no part of her body was paying any attention.

Rainbow Dash had long since given up trying to hear or see anything—it seemed unimportant when all her senses were being overloaded with pleasure—but there was still a part of her that was still listening to what came through from Twilight.

Somebody had heard them.

Rainbow Dash reluctantly pulled back. They probably shouldn't be caught like this.

"Why'd you stop?" Twilight whispered a second later, still breathing deeply and hardly caring for the outside world.

"Shh, I think somebody heard us."

Two ponies chose that moment to walk into the room. Both unicorns, one male and one female. "I'm telling you, it really sounded like somebody was... y'know," the female insisted.

Twilight concentrated, and started to sense outwards. Rainbow Dash's body was very distracting, but if she could just ignore it she could...

Rainbow Dash's body was very distracting. The way it curved, the way that her tail was raised so high it was almost ticking her back. The way she breathed, the way her mane moved as she flapped. Twilight gave up looking and concentrated on Dash's body again.

Rainbow Dash was luckier in that she could block out Twilight's body by simply closing her eyes. She listened—the footsteps were getting closer.

"Twi, you up for a teleport?" she whispered, shifting a little closer. "They'll hear my wings soon."

"Can't—reflective walls. Maybe..." Twilight pondered, before quietly lighting her horn up and casting a spell.

Immediately, Dash's world flipped and she found herself the wrong way up. Though she could normally have righted herself, her body was in no condition for trick flying, and she fell to the ceiling. The two slid up the wall and rested on the roof where—hopefully—the two intruders wouldn't look.

"You can do that?" Dash whispered extra-quietly, watching the two ponies below explore the room.

"Sure, simple gravity inversion. Shh."

Rainbow Dash crossed her hindlegs and hoped that inverted gravity worked for fluids too, lest they be given away in the most awkward manner possible.

The two ponies down below explored for a minute or two further. "Yeah, you're hearing things. Come on, we need to study," the male said, and the two left the room.

The instant the intruders were probably out of earshot, Twilight pounced and knocked Dash over. The two rolled around on the ceiling for a few moments trading kisses and nuzzles while Dash tried her best to get her bearings. She still felt upside-down. It wasn't right.

"Anyway, where were we?" Twilight suggested.

"Here?"

"Nopony ever looks up here, and it's not like we were finding anything useful on that wall," Twilight replied, echoing Dash's earlier justification.

As Dash took Twilight's horn back into her mouth, she discovered that liquids were not, in fact, affected by the gravity inversion once they left her body. The pitter-patter of falling fluid onto the stone floor would have been audible were it not drowned out by the cacophony of groans the two immediately began producing.

They'd been close before their interruption, and they easily found that rhythm again. Rainbow's tongue danced its way up and down Twilight's lengthy horn, and her hoof slid along her slit, tickling along her clit and sending spikes of pleasure through their bodies. Every instant brought them closer to release—their climax would be simultaneous by its very nature here.

Twilight's horn began to glow as the sensations finally started to overwhelm her. Her body lay dormant, shivering and writhing helplessly, and her mind wasn't far from joining it. Every instant brought their pleasure higher until finally the last shred of resistance in Twilight's body snapped, and their minds whited out in a storm of blinding lust.

Magic exploded outwards from Twilight's horn, carrying the wave of pleasure outwards as it went. The last time that had happened, the nerves inside Twilight's horn had been scorched and she had to wait for them to heal—this time, she'd been practising. It still stung a little, but that was all.

The reflective walls of the royal library had no problem turning the blast back, ensuring that the population of Canterlot remained unmolested. Unfortunately, all the walls of the library were reflective—there was nowhere else for it to go.

Some time later, Rainbow Dash woke up. She was still on the ceiling, but she didn't care—Twilight Sparkle lay before her and she felt like she was in high heat. She needed that pony.

Immediately, she pounced. Twilight woke to Rainbow Dash's tongue slithering along her body, and moaned happily in response. The reflecting waves of pleasure still bounced around the library filling their minds with a mixture of joy and lust with every wave, and it was impossible for Dash to resist.

"Da- aaah," Twilight attempted, before another wave of magic overcame her and provided a potent distraction. "Dash, you- aaah."

After a few minutes of fruitlessly attempting to talk, the one part of Twilight's mind that didn't want to immediately submit—she had an appointment!—decided to take a different approach. It threw a magical bubble up around the two, sheltering them from the magic. Within a few moment, Dash stopped. Her body was exhausted and her mind was sated.

"Huh, that's new."

"Yeah, I guess I should have realised that'd reflect too, sorry," Twilight apologised, before closing her eyes and slowly returning their gravities to its normal state, floating them down to the ground.

"Hey, don't apologise. Think we can get some of that back home?" Dash asked.

Twilight laughed. "You're so adorable when you're horny, Dash."

"Yeah yeah."

Twilight lead the way out of the library, keeping the bubble around them as they made their way to the spiral staircase at the centre of the tower. Before they reached it, Dash's keen ears picked up another sound—ecstatic, pleasured moans. Coming from one of the study rooms.

"Whoops." Twilight giggled. "The magic should wear off in a few hours, I think."

Twilight and Dash made their way back to the Corral Tower. Twilight refused to be flown, especially given that there was no rush. The topic of conversation along the way was Rainbow Dash practically begging Twilight to learn the mirroring spell.

"Wait, Dash, shut up."

"Oh, but it'd be so aweso-"

Twilight clamped Dash's mouth shut with a magic field and hissed "Listen." into her ear.

Rainbow Dash paused and listened. Everything sounded normal. They were on a relatively unpopular high street, but there were still plenty of ponies around. Buying things, selling things, taking lessons on elocution, so on.

"Sounds normal to m- wait," Dash replied. Her ears twitched as she tried to focus in on one particular sound. Twilight had caught a whisper of it on the wind, but she'd known Dash would be able to pinpoint it. "This way." Dash pointed towards one of the shops.

The two made their way inside the building—a shop that offered training on speaking patterns and style—and looked on in amazement. Standing on a stool with his eyes closed and wearing a small jacket was none other than Spike.

"I thought he was still in Ponyville," Twilight whispered, trying not to catch his attention.

"Me too. He was last night, though I didn't see him this morning."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. "Spike!" she called.

Spike jumped in surprise and fell over, tumbling to the ground. "Ah, one moment," he quickly said to the pony next to him. She nodded and he wandered over.

"Hey Twilight, Dash. What's up?" he casually said.

"Uh, yeah—we thought you were still back home." Dash accused.

"And what are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"I left you guys a note, didn't you read it?"

"Whoops," Dash replied. She had seen the note, but she'd completely forgotten about it. "That was from you?"

"Yeah, I told you guys I was here on personal business. Now, if you don't mind?"

"You still haven't answered my question, Spike," Twilight prompted.

"Oh, I uh... I'm taking elocution lessons," Spike admitted a little sheepishly. "I figure Rarity might notice me more if I speak with a-" Spike cleared his throat and put on his fanciest accent- "proper speaking tone."

The pony across the room—presumably his instructor—buried her head between her hooves. His accent had been terrible. Still, at least he was trying.

"We... we'll leave you to it, then. Good luck," Dash said, dragging Twilight out of the building. The moment the door closed behind them, Dash burst out laughing. The accent had been that bad.

"Dash!" Twilight scolded, "I think it's cute. At least it explains where he keeps going. Oh, poor Spike, I hope Rarity lets him down gently."

"If he talks to her like that I think she'll faint," Dash laughed. She yelped as Twilight's horn jabbed into the side of her neck.

"Don't forget what you did to tell me you liked me, Dash. I still have that manuscript, by the way. I'll show people if you make fun of Spike again."

Rainbow Dash stopped laughing.

Finally, they made it to the Corral tower once again. Their manes were equally windswept, their coats were ruffled, and if somebody sniffed them too closely they'd probably be able to tell what they'd been up to, but Twilight was too nervous to notice. Her hoof shook as she held it up to push open the door. Dash lightly pushed her to the side.

"Hey, Twi, it's gonna be fine. Your stuff works, you can prove it. You've got nothing to worry about."

"What if they don't let me show them?" Twilight whispered, still shaking.

"Then I'll kick their asses until they do," Dash joked. "Worked last time."

"Don't you dare. These guys are the best, they'll make that receptionist look like a foal."

"Don't care, I'll still do it. For you."

"You really are adorable, Dash."

"I'll kick your ass if you keep saying that, too," Dash laughed, trying to play off the blushing.

Twilight look a deep breath, and turned around. "Okay, let's do this."

They strode into the building side by side and walked up to the receptionist in silence.

"They're waiting for you," he said.

The two moved towards the spiral staircase.

"Just the unicorn. we generally don't allow non-mages inside the tower," the receptionist objected.

"Make an exception," Dash insisted, not bothering to break stride. She wasn't letting Twilight go in there alone.

The receptionist stopped talking.

At the top of the spiral staircase were two large wooden doors. As Twilight approached, they swung open on their own power, and the two walked into a darkened room. Glowing runes adorned the walls and floor, and Twilight could see very little.

"Hello?" she called outwards. There was no response.

Rainbow Dash had somewhat better night vision, and could see the Corral standing at the edges of the room. They all wore capes and hoods, and she couldn't see anything more. "They can hear you, Twi."

"Indeed we can, Rainbow Dash." the most central member announced. His voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once, but only one of the hooded figures' mouths were moving.

Another spoke up. "So, Twilight Sparkle. You seek our audience through deceit, and then force. What is it that requires our attention so strongly you would falsify such reams of evidence?"

"Fals- I did no such thing! I wouldn't ever do that!" Twilight objected.

"Surely you are not suggesting that you have actually succeeded? We watch over all, none but you have found this endeavour possible. I ask again, Twilight Sparkle, what are your true intentions?"

"Hey!" Dash shouted. "You call her a liar one more time and-"

"And what? You cannot harm us, little pegasus."

"-and I slam into your little tower fast enough to turn it to dust, that's what!" Dash yelled. She dropped down into a combat stance and flared her wings, scraping her hoof against the ground threateningly. It wasn't an empty threat—Twilight had once told her that at the moment of Sonic Rainboom, there was more energy in Dash's body than any shield in Equestria could withstand; One little tower wouldn't be a challenge.

A deafening silence filled the room. Nobody moved for entire seconds. Finally, Twilight's hoof slammed down into the cold stone floor. "Enough!" she yelled. "Dash, calm down. Corral, look at the crystals." she demanded, pulling her work from Dash's saddlebags and thrusting them at the apparent leader.

The silence continued while the Corral inspected the crystal. The sister crystal in Dash's other saddlebag began to glow in response, and it was quickly retrieved too.

A few minutes later, the members of the Corral broke the loose circle they used for talking. The runes began to glow brighter, and the room became better lit. One of them—Twilight had lost track of who was who, and Dash was in no mood to care—lowered his hood as he brought the crystals back. "Hey, sorry about all that," he apologised, holding the crystals out for Twilight to recover. "That was, uh. That was my fault."

"Your fault?" Dash accused, flaring her wings again. Twilight's horn glowed and Dash's wings were forcibly stashed away.

"Calm, Dash. Calm."

"Yes, my fault, I'm afraid," the Corral member said. "I'm Star Spokes, leader of the Corral of the Wise. And, apparently, an ignorant old fool.

"Before today, young Sparkle, I considered your work impossible. Indeed, this kind of stored magic was something I wasted much of my youth chasing. It was my holy grail-"

Dash's ears perked up. The Holy Grail was a plot device from one of the Daring Do books—if this guy read those, maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

"-and I failed. Completely. I judged it impossible, and most of my peers did as well. So when your letter arrived claiming that you had solved it, both in such a short timespan and at such a young age, I confess I did not even read it. I am an old fool, please forgive me."

"But why? The answer was so obvious, exploiting the inherent dimorphism of the magic/anti-magic forces polarised by a flora focal point and then distilled to a reformed core with an inverted polarity burst was simple!"

Rainbow Dash and Star Spokes blinked in unison. Neither of them had caught a word of that.

"Sparkle, I-"

"Please, call me Twilight."

"Twilight, I spent years researching this, and I have no idea what you just said. Yesterday, I would have ignored you, or called you mad. Today I appreciate your genius. If you want it, my job will be yours one day, I'm certain of it."

Twilight blushed and awkwardly scraped her hoof against the floor. "Gosh, thanks."

"No, you earned it yourself, Twilight. This research could revolutionise everything... however not as it stands right now."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we, as scholars, have a duty to leave the world a better understood place than we joined it. Your research does not do this. It produces results—incredible, impossible results—but none of us know how you got there. You have pages and pages of tables containing the ambient temperature, but nothing describing the correct mixture of ingredients, for example. Reproducing your experiment would be impossible for anypony other than yourself."

"I... Oh." Twilight's ears dropped. She'd tried her best to note down everything of importance. Rainbow Dash twitched and she tried to hold herself back. She couldn't. She lunged at his throat.

Rainbow Dash hit an impressively solid magical barrier a few inches away from Star Spoke's body and fell to the floor. "Ow..." she moaned in agony.

Star laughed. "I have not been ignoring you, Rainbow Dash. I apologise, I do not mean to incur your wrath by insulting those you care for. I mean well, her skill and knowledge are clear from her results, but her documentation and method are lacking. Nopony is perfect."

"She is," Dash insisted.

"Perhaps to you, but we require a more rigorous scientific method to accept her research."

"Dash, it's fine," Twilight insisted, "He's right. I'll just have to try and do better next time."

"But-"

"No buts, Dash. Why don't you go wait outside, blow off some steam or something?" Twilight suggested. Rainbow Dash reluctantly left the room.

"Sorry about that," Twilight apologised. "She's a little protective sometimes."

"You should listen to her. One of the issues I have with your research is the danger of it—there's no reason to do personal testing here. A rock—or anything else—would suffice. You're too important a mind to lose over some stupid mistake, Twilight, and I think your friend will keep you on track. Don't take her worries as folly."

Twilight nodded. "Would you mind explaining what else I did wrong?"

"Certainly, let's go grab a desk."

Many hours later, Twilight Sparkle left the tower levitating a large stack of papers behind her. They were notes on how to improve, in as much detail as she could manage. She felt ready for anything.

Anything except Dash not being there when she left.

"Da- Dash?" she called, looking out into the distance and feeling around with her magic. She couldn't sense her, not even a little. Had she finally pushed Dash away one too many times?

"HEY!" Dash yelled, zipping past her in approximately an eighth of a blink of an eye. A few seconds later, Dash flew by again much slower and skidded to a halt on the stone tower entrance. "What took you so long, Twi? I just broke my own airspeed record again, by the way, in case you heard. Got from here to Ponyville and back in under 5 minutes. I think I'm gonna go nap now."

True to her word, Rainbow Dash immediately fell over, landing on the ground already sleeping. Twilight picked her up and gave her a quick check over—she'd pulled a few muscles in her wings and managed to exert so much energy that by the time she woke up she'd probably eat for hours, but she was okay. Twilight fixed the muscles.

Without Dash to fly them home, and with the hour being so late, Twilight realised they'd be staying the night in Canterlot. She assumed her old room in one of the castle towers would still be available, and began trotting towards it with her paper and pony cargo hovering behind her.

Once she was done dropping everything off there, she thought, she'd drag Dash's sleeping body out to one of the nicer restaurants in the city and let her order until she was satisfied. Star Spokes was right, she should show Dash how much she appreciated her more often.

A New Wave

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: One Week Later

"Want a cupcake?" Pinkie Pie asked, holding out the titular treat on an outstretched hoof.

Twilight gratefully accepted, taking the item in a deep magical glow and holding it in front of her. "So how are the babies getting on?" she asked, trying her best to make small-talk before moving to her main point. Though once she hadn't needed to, Twilight made an effort to not ignore any of her friends. Whether that be a visit to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy, baking with Pinkie, or any number of exciting apple-related activities with Applejack, Twilight tried to make time for everyone, every week, without fail.

"Oh, they're doing great! Pumpkin called me 'Auntie Pinkie' last week!" Pinkie exclaimed, smiling as hard as she could—and much harder than any normal pony could dream of—as she thought about the Cakes' foals.

Twilight had known about the name-calling from Pinkie's I'm an Auntie! party, where Twilight had tried her best to explain the actual meaning of the term 'Auntie' to no avail. "They're growing up so fast, huh?" she said, ending her sentence with a quiet laugh. Everything was growing up so fast. Even though it'd only been a few short years since Twilight's introduction to Ponyville so many things had changed, both for the better and the worse. Maybe one day soon, Applebloom and her friends would finally get their cutie marks.

"Yeah," Pinkie happily sighed, "We're gonna have so much fun! We can play ball, and run around, and roll in the grass, and oh gosh Twilight you should join us!"

"I think I'll be busy," Twilight said, "but thanks for the offer. Anyway Pinkie, I had a question fo-"

"The Equestrian Fair!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, pulling out a poster and pinning it to a nearby wall. Twilight blinked.

"Anyway," she continued after a long and awkward pause, "I've been thinking lately, I want to take Rainbow Dash somewhere nice. Somewhere she'll appreciate and have fun. Any suggestions?"

Pinkie bounced up and down and wordlessly pointed at the poster.

"How did you...?"

"Well, duh, Twilight. Of course you wanna take her somewhere nice! The Equestrian Fair only happens like, once a hundred years, and this year I got to do the catering! So I have two tickets! But I can't go because I have to babysit, so obviously somepony else has to go, so obviously you'd be wanting to take Dash somewhere because it's so convenient that I just happen to have tickets! Otherwise I'd have to find somepony else to take them, and I think we all remember what happens to ponies when tickets are involved." Pinkie's gaze grew dark and serious as she pulled two golden tickets from her mane and pressed them into Twilight's hooves. "Tell nopony of this," she insisted.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. There were some days she thought she'd finally figured Pinkie out, and then there were the days she actually talked to her. She'd never had a friend quite like Pinkie before, she knew that for a fact. "Well, thanks, Pinkie. I think. It sounds wonderful, I'm sure Dash'll love it!"

"Oh, she will! They have cloud-coasters that go all the way up to Cloudsdale!" Pinkie beamed.

"Anyway, I have a report that needs finishing. Thanks again for the tickets, Pinkie!" Twilight said, smiling and waving as she began to walk to the door. Pinkie waved back and watched her talented purple friend vanish in a puff of light.

"That pony is always in such a rush! She should take things slow, like us—right Gummy?"

Twilight raised the thin glass tube to her eye and stared at the compound within. To one side was a stack of notes and measurements from every step of the process, and to the other was a Rainbow Dash carefully monitoring the situation.

After the last few disasters, Rainbow Dash had named herself Safety Director, donned a white lab-coat and goggles, and started watching over Twilight's experimentation with an eagle eye. Twilight should have hated it; she knew what she was doing and didn't need babysitting. However, Dash's concern was matched only by her ignorance of advanced magic, and Twilight was fairly sure that Dash wouldn't recognise a danger until it was actually exploding—at which point, she would appreciate the high-speed rescue.

Rainbow Dash also looked adorable in a lab-coat and goggles.

"So anyway," Twilight absent-mindedly chatted while noting down a few extra numbers and shaking the tube. "Have you heard of the Equestrian Fair?"

"Oh man, yeah!" Dash exclaimed, "It's only meant to be the best fair ever! They only do one every couple of years. There's one this year, but I couldn't get any tickets. Not even when I told them who I was! I'd have loved to go, though."

Twilight suppressed her grin—Pinkie had been right. "Oh, well I was talking to Pinkie earlier—apparently she did the catering. She couldn't use her free tickets, though, so she gave them to me. I was thin-"

"Put that tube down," Dash insisted. Twilight looked at it. It seemed fine.

"Are yo-"

"Down. Now. Safety veto."

Twilight lowered the tube to one of the containers on her desk and carefully set it down, making sure not to disturb the delicate balance of magic and chemical within it. Immediately, Dash pounced. She crashed into Twilight hooves first, slamming both of them into the cold wooden floorboards.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" Dash squealed, grinning and fluttering her wings. "I've wanted to go since I was a filly! Even the Wonderbolts go there! Oh my gosh, Twilight thank you!" She grinned and gave Twilight a strong and forceful kiss.

"It's Pinkie you should be thanking, not me," Twilight said, struggling to find time to speak over Dash's squealing and kissing.

"I should! I could kiss that mare right now! Not- not that I would, of course. Unless you were into that sort of thing."

Twilight stared back at her unamused. "Go on then, I have experiments to finish anyway. I think this batch will increase the transmagic residue containment and ease the energyflow matrix pattern adjustment proto-rune's existential metastasis readthrough effect for a one point seven percent increase in in spell discharge efficiency!" she said. Or something like that, Dash was neither listening nor there, having already left the building. There was a bubbly pink pony who needed a hug, and probably a prank or two.

Rainbow Dash flared her wings and came to a sudden stop, hitting the ground trotting and walking the last few feet over to Pinkie Pie. She had flown straight to Sugarcube Corner, and flipped the sign on the door from Open to Closed as she passed.

The two looked around suspiciously, checking to make sure they were alone. "Cup and Carrot are buying ingredients, we're all alone!" Pinkie exclaimed, pouncing on Dash and knocking her to the floor in an enthusiastic embrace. Dash immediately returned it, wrapping her hooves around Pinkie and squeezing back.

"Thanks, Pinkie," she whispered, "I really owe you one."

"Nuh-uh! I love you, Dashie!" Pinkie said, before gasping and covering her mouth with all four hooves. "I mean in a friend way!"

"I know what you mean, Pinkie." Dash laughed. Pinkie bounced to her feet, and Dash rolled over onto hers. "So, are we go?"

"Project corona is underway!" Pinkie said, in her best secrets voice. "Everything'll be ready for you!"

"Thanks, Pinkie. Really, I mean it, I don't think I can ever pay you back for this."

"Don't be silly, Dash! Knowing you're happy is all the thanks I'll ever need!" Pinkie giggled and bounced over to the door, flipping the sign back. Dash gave her a light nuzzle on the back of the neck on her way out, though her heart was beating faster than on a thousand mile flight. Keeping secrets from Twilight was difficult at the best of times, this one was going to be almost impossible.

A few days later, the purple and blue ponies walked onto the grounds of the Equestrian Fair and stood in awe. The fair was held on the largest unused flat stretch of land Equestria had, and it went as far as the eye could see. Around them stood stalls advertising every possible fairground game, from fishing for parasprites to knocking over a precariously balanced stack of cups with a tiny plastic ball.

Above them hovered Cloudsdale, the mighty cloud-home of the pegasi. Usually it moved across Equestria providing weather and weather support where necessary, but here it was anchored by dozens of cloud-structures spidering off it down to the ground. Everything from cloud-based roller-coasters, to gliders for the less-winged races, to cloud-candy floating down from the sky. The full attentions of the industrial city had turned to entertainment, and it showed.

"Oh my gosh," Dash whispered under her breath, staring outward at the huge tower spiralling down from the centre of the city. The structure was the fair's Pièce de résistance—a several mile free-fall followed by the longest and fastest roller-coaster in Equestria's history.

Twilight Sparkle gulped—she was not good at roller-coasters. She shifted on her hooves and felt the comforting weight of her papers held tightly within her saddlebag. She wanted to do something nice for Dash, but research is safer.

"Where first?" Dash asked, turning around to face Twilight. Their options were innumerable.

"Oh, I'm not sure. There are so many things to do! Why don't you just go off and have fun, and I'll stay here and work on my papers," Twilight suggested.

"Oh, come on, Twi! Let's have some fun!"

"My papers are fun," Twilight muttered quietly. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and pulled her over to one of the nearby stalls.

"Welcome, welcome, madam and ma'am, to our game of skill and chance!" the stallholder announced, grinning and twirling his hat around on his horn. "The goal of the game, you see, is to throw this here ball-" He produced a small plastic ball from behind the counter and placed it on the stall- "into those there cups, and win prizes!"

The prize stand contained everything from woollen jumpers to life-size pony dolls as prizes for sending some, or all, of the cups tumbling. "Just a bit a ball, ladies—can you afford not to try?"

Rainbow Dash grinned and pulled a metal coin from her saddlebag, flipping it up into the air to land on the stall's surface. "Hey Twi, which one do you want?" she asked.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "You can't win it, Dash, these are all rigged! The cups are probably glued together or something."

"Well, duh. Which one do you want, I'm gonna win it anyway."

Twilight shook her head. There was no getting through to that point. "Any of them would be lovely, but a full-size doll for experimenting on would be very useful."

Rainbow Dash nodded and took the ball beneath her teeth. She turned her neck to one side, and flung the ball as hard as she could straight at the centremost cup. Architecture wasn't really Dash's strong suit, but she knew enough about how it worked in clouds to tell that one was a load-bearing cup, and with it gone the rest would clatter to the floor.

Her senses heightened as she watched the ball zip through the air. She watched the stallholder like a hawk, ensuring there was no foul-play, and followed the ball's path along the air. Though the whole thing only took a fraction of a second, Dash was good at working at high speeds.

The ball deformed with the force of impact, squashing slightly as it struck the cup. The tremors shook out along the thin plastic surfaces and the entire structure wobbled. A single cup from the very top fell down and tinkled against the floor.

"Told you," Twilight said, breaking the silence a few moments later. Dash couldn't believe it; her mouth hung open in surprise.

"But..."

"Like I said, they're rigged. It was sweet of you, but let's just go grab some cloud-candy or something. Pinkie Pie recommended it specifically!"

Rainbow Dash's head fell.

"Don't worry, you still get a prize! Now, do you want this wonderful toothpick, or this incredible scarf?"

"Rarity always says you look good in a scarf, Rainbow," Twilight suggested. Rainbow Dash was not convinced, and she shook her head.

"I don't want it. Give me another ball."

Twilight spoke up, "Dash, they're ri-"

"Nuh-uh. I said I was gonna win you something nice. Can you take a look at those cups and see what's holding them together?"

"That's cheating!" Twilight protested, as if that wasn't the first thing she'd done upon seeing it. "But okay, it's glue. Strong, but flexible, the most you're going to be able to do is make it wobble."

Rainbow Dash disagreed, and took the second ball in her mouth. Without warning, she took off, soaring into the skies with a single beat of her wings. She flew far enough that she was barely a speck in the distance, and hovered there. Then she started to get closer, picking up speed all the while.

Twilight realised what she was about to do. "You should get out of the way," she shouted at the unlucky stall-keeper, before taking a few steps backwards as Rainbow Dash zoomed overhead. An instant later the ball, now travelling at a high fraction of the speed of sound, smashed through the troublesome cups, and the wooden stall, and the stall behind it, and the stall behind that.It finally came to rest embedded a few inches under the ground some twenty meters away, and Rainbow Dash victoriously set foot on the ground once more.

"So how'd I do?" she asked, grinning triumphantly. Twilight lit her horn and cleared away the smoke and dust to allow Rainbow Dash to see the chaos she had unleashed. Most importantly, to allow her to see the perfectly round, ball-shaped hole in the perfectly steady pyramid of cups. "I... Twi, can you just knock that down before anypony notices?"

Twilight laughed and complied. It wasn't like a little extra damage would be noticed anyway. The thick glue dissolved in a harsh red field, and the cups came clattering down onto the ground.

"Aw yeah, we make quite a team!" Dash grinned and hopped over the devastated stall to grab the thankfully unharmed doll. "And now we've got you a test dummy!"

She walked away and Twilight quickly followed. Hopefully nobody would notice. As soon as they'd reached a minimum safe distance—around the corner, hiding behind another stall—Dash pulled the pony plush from her back and handed it to Twilight.

"Thanks, Dash." She smiled, picking the toy up and inspecting it. "This'll do perfect for some of my experiments. You're gonna fly, little guy." Twilight lifted it onto her back and positioned it snugly. It reminded her of the moment before being carried by Dash, though of course the faux-filly was going nowhere of its own volition.

Twilight could sense something off about her lover. While normally she was eager to please, there was almost a tinge of desperation in her voice; as if winning a cheap doll was somehow important. A stealthy once-over with a magic field confirmed it—Dash's heart rate was well above normal and her muscles were tense. There was so much adrenaline running through her system Twilight could have sworn she was getting ready to fight.

"You okay, Dash? You seem tense," she asked, resting a hoof on Dash's neck. The blue pony shied away, as if the contact made her uncomfortable, and blushed almost imperceptibly—Twilight could only detect it because she was still concentrating so hard on Dash's body.

"Yeah, just after-flight nerves. Hey! Let's go get some cloud-candy!" Dash exclaimed, spotting a stall off in the distance and running off, forcibly changing the subject. Twilight followed with an awkward and unsteady canter as she adjusted to the weight on her back.

By the time she arrived, Dash had already sneaked to the front of the queue and was walking away with two treats in her mouth. She mumbled something around them, but Twilight couldn't make out a word.

Eventually, Twilight realised the difficulty Dash would have eating those—a revelation aided by the constant meaningful stare—and plucked them from her grip, helpfully holding them under the cyan mare's nose.

"Thanks," Dash said. "That one's for you."

Twilight took her treat and left Dash's hovering just in front of her while they walked, looking around at the rides and wondering what to do first. She took a small bite an-

"Eugh! This is awful!" Dash exclaimed. "This is just clouds and sugar! Who eats clouds?"

"I don't think it's so bad," Twilight replied, "but then I've never had one before."

Rainbow Dash stopped and looked straight at Twilight. "You've never had a proper cloud-candy before? Never ever?"

"Nope!"

"Right, come on, there's gotta be somewhere around here that does good ones."

Twilight Sparkle sat in the cool shade of Cloudsdale sipping a steaming cup of tea and snacking on a bowl of oats. She was writing away at yet another blank sheet of paper, expanding her hypothesis' and collating her evidence. She was coming close to a publishable theory of crystal-smithing, she was sure of it.

On the far side of the fair, many miles up, Rainbow Dash paid for two authentic cloud-candies from her favourite stand—one not built for tourists and amateurs, but one built for connoisseurs such as herself. She dived and glided down to where she'd left her purple friend calmly sipping on a hot drink.

As she set foot on the ground, she noticed something was wrong—there was a crowd surrounding where Twilight had been. "Oh, great," Dash muttered, and pushed her way through the crowd, taking great care to keep the candies safe. When she reached the centre she saw the reason for the commotion—Twilight had encased herself in a magical shield and was fiercely writing away.

"She's crazy!" one onlooker shouted.

"I've never seen anything like it!" another called.

Rainbow Dash jumped on top of the glowing sphere. "Hey!" she shouted, catching everybody's attention. "Leave her alone, she's just working."

"She wouldn't answer any of our questions, and then she did this! We just want to know what she's doing!" a crowd member shouted. Rainbow Dash bared her teeth and stared at them. The crowd slowly began to disperse until Twilight and Dash were left quite alone. Twilight didn't notice.

Rainbow Dash rapped against the side of the shield, hoping her knocks would resonate within and alert the busy librarian. They did, and Twilight lowered her shield.

"Hey Dash!" she casually said, as if the situation was perfectly normal, and took one of the candies. "Mmm, delicious!" she replied after taking a quick bite. "You're right, these are good."

"So uh, what was that all about?"

"Oh, they just wouldn't leave me alone. Honestly, I just want to write in peace!"

"Well, we are at a fair. Y'know, fun and games and stuff?"

"This is fun!" Twilight insisted.

"Yeeeaaaah, no. Come on, you ever been on a roller-coaster?"

Twilight Sparkle's eyes grew wide as she looked upon the rickety wooden structure in front of her.

"It's called a roller-coaster," Princess Cadence explained, "Do you want to try? I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Yes!" Twilight nodded, jumping aboard the structure and letting Cadence strap her in. She trusted her foalsitter and was sure their time at one of Canterlot's fairs would be enjoyable.

The ride started with a lurch, forcing Twilight back into the unpadded wooden seat. Within moments her cart was chugging down the track.

"What are you doing?!" Candence shouted towards the ride operator, "I can't let her go alone! She's not even taller than the line!"

"Sorry ma'am, you can't get off Mr. Pones' Wild Ride." he replied, shaking his head. "Ain't no way to make it stop."

"Twilight! Just hold on!" Cadence shouted, hoping she wasn't drowned out by the clattering cacophony of wood against metal. Twilight clung to the cart with all her might, but the ride just kept getting faster.

The fair was held at the very edge of Canterlot, on one of the gardens overlooking the kingdom. A few meters away was a thousand feet of empty air: a very long drop. As luck would have it, the ride was damaged and one of the rails didn't quite fit.

As the ride built up speed on a descent, it suddenly jerked as one of the rails was pulled free and the cart escaped the tracks. Momentum alone kept it travelling, and it continued up the track to fly off into open air. Twilight screamed as the cart plunged, quickly falling beneath Canterlot and rapidly approaching the ground.

"Gotcha!" Cadence shouted, plucking the terrified filly from her deathtrap moments before it hit the ground. "Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry! I'll never let you go alone again!"

"Wow, that's..." Rainbow Dash trailed off.

"Yeah. But don't let me spoil your fun, I'll be fine here, really! I need to solve the covariant matr-"

"No!" Dash interrupted. "Come on, Twi, give it a try! It'll be fine, these ones don't even have rails!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, they're clouds. Mostly. Mostly clouds. There's nothing to go wrong!"

"Well..."

"Come oooooooon! What's the worst that can happen? If we fall off, I'll catch you!"

"What about Terry?"

"Who?"

Twilight pointed at the pony doll.

"You named it? Whatever, yeah, sure, I'll catch Terry too. Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Fine, fine, just let me finish up here okay?"

Rainbow Dash grinned—it was going to be so much fun!

"Next!" the ride attendant called as Twilight and Dash reached the start of the line and were offered a place on one of the carts. Twilight had been assured that the clouds had been enchanted by the best unicorns in Cloudsdale—who were, by definition, good at their trade—and it was highly unlikely she'd fall through, but she'd still enchanted herself to make sure.

"We paid for that tea, right? I should go back and che-"

"Yes, we paid. No, you don't have any excuses left," Dash replied, pushing her onto the cart and pulling the cloud-strap over her body, locking her in place. Twilight's expression twisted with concern as she tested the strap and found it was slightly loose.

Before she could say anything, however, Rainbow Dash jumped aboard and strapped herself in. The other carts were filled with happy and chattering ponies of all races and backgrounds, all happy to be at the fair.

Twilight was clutching at the side of the cart and shivering.

"Twi, it'll be fine. You can probably fly with your magic anyway now," Dash soothed, checking her own strap and sitting back, waiting for the ride to begin. It was true—after Twilight's last near-death fall she'd been inspired to practise more slow-fall and parachute spells, just in case. Rainbow Dash had approved, and helped her test them, and even if the ride did—somehow—break down, Twilight would be fine.

"Dash, I want to get off."

"Twilight, it'll be fine," Dash insisted, resting a hoof on Twilight's foreleg.

"Dash, I wa-" Twilight's request was cut off as the ride slid into motion. "Oh Celestia," Twilight whispered under her breath, and closed her eyes. The clouds took a winding path up towards Cloudsdale, generously dispensing stomach-wrenching drops alongside the ascent. Twilight's purple exterior took on a green tinge and she found herself almost frozen with fear.

"See, it's fun, isn't it?" Dash asked, shouting over the winds. "Twi?" she asked again, after a few seconds without a response. She looked over and found her partner shivering and locked in place. "Twilight?"

The ride dropped, hard. The clouds were almost as high as Cloudsdale itself one second, and the next second they weren't—tumbling down towards the ground in a pattern so well orchestrated Dash could have sworn it was freefall.

Dash looked back towards Twilight, wanting to check on her and hoping she was okay. She wasn't okay, but more importantly she wasn't there. Her belt hung in tatters. An instant later, Dash had ripped her own belt off and sped into the air, frantically looking downwards to spot the tumbling Twilight.

"Sorry!" she heard, almost a whisper carried on the wind. Most ponies wouldn't have even heard it, but Dash never had been most ponies. It had come from above. Dash flipped over and saw Twilight slowly floating downwards on a thin film of magic. "Sorry, I just couldn't... I'm sorry for ruining your day, Dash!"

"Twilight," Dash said, shaking her head and smiling, "you di-"

Twilight vanished in a burst of light, leaving Dash alone in the sky. "-n't ruin my day," she finished, before sighing. "Great, what now?"

Though Dash's eyesight was almost unparalleled, she couldn't see through walls. She also couldn't see through the ground, and she knew how far Twilight could teleport now. If she didn't want to be found, it would be almost impossible to find her. Rainbow Dash began the long and lonely glide back to the ground, returning to the ride's entrance to grab Terry from their storage.

"Ooh! Who's your new friend, Dashie?" Pinkie gasped as Dash walked through the door of the kitchens, where Pinkie was organising the food, baking the food, sorting the food, serving the food, as well as a host of other jobs that would usually take many ponies to perform.

"Oh," Dash replied dejectedly, "I won him for Twilight."

"Aww, that's so sweet! You two are so great together!"

Rainbow Dash sighed. "I wish. I only won this because I didn't listen to her. She said not to bother, and then we had to cheat to win. Then just now I made her do something she really didn't want to do, and now I don't know where she is. I really screwed this one up, Pinkie."

Pinkie pulled out two chairs and a small table. "Why don't'cha tell Auntie Pinkie all about it?"

"I'm older than you, Pinkie."

Pinkie reached forward and prodded Dash on the end of the nose. "I can still be an aunt, silly! Twilight was explaining all about it last week. That pony is such an egghead!"

"That's my girl you're talking about, there," Dash jokingly warned, her face breaking into a small smile for just a moment. "Or was, anyway. Damnit, Pinkie, me and my big mouth."

"Well, you're gonna have to tell me what happened! The suspense is killing me!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Twilight had a really bad time with roller-coasters when she was a filly, and I practically forced her to go on one, even though she's terrified of them. Then she ran off, and I don't know where she is. That's about it. Damnit, I should have listened."

"Did she actually say she was scared of them?"

"Well, no, but-"

"And can you really force her into anything? That pony can be stubborn as a mule when she wants to be!"

"Well, true, but-"

"And I know where she is!"

"What?! Where?"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not telling you. It's not your fault, Rainbow, she wouldn't have tried if she didn't think it'd be fun! So it wasn't, so what? We all have some things we don't find fun!"

"Really?" Dash asked, surprised that Pinkie could find anything she didn't enjoy.

"Yeah! I don't find LOTS of things fun! Like fighting and screaming and not being happy, they're no fun at all!"

"So, you gonna tell me where she is or what?" Dash impatiently asked.

"She's outside sitting at one of the tables. But first, I have some advice! A good relationship is a lot like a cupcake-"

Rainbow Dash had already left, shaking the table and casting a strong breeze throughout the entire room as she darted through to the main building the kitchen served. She immediately spotted the lavender mare sitting quietly at a table writing, though she had none of her earlier enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash took a seat opposite her.

"I'm sorry," they both said at exactly the same time.

"Wait, what?" Dash snapped, "What are you sorry for? You've got nothing to be sorry for! This is my fault, not yours!"

"No, Dash, it's not your fault. It's mine, I thought I could do it if you were there. I was wrong. I'm sorry, I should trust you more, I just..."

"Hay-bales! I made you do it, it's my fault. I should have listened to you!"

"No, I didn't stop you. It's my fault."

"It's my fault!" Pinkie suddenly announced, popping up from beneath the table. "I gave you the tickets! Now will you two stop arguing and make up already?"

Dash spoke, "Pinkie, I-"

"Make up," she threatened, narrowing her eyes and staring at both of them simultaneously.

"Okay. Look, Dash, I'm sorry I didn't make it more clear. I'll forgive me if you forgive you."

"Deal."

"Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now kiss!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight snapped. Pinkie's ears dropped and she slowly retracted below the table, vanishing.

"I will never understand that mare." Dash sighed and shook her head.

"Nor I. Mostly I'm sorry about ruining your day, Dash. I wanted this to be special. I've not been showing you you're special lately, and I wanted today to be different, and I've gone and ruined it. Here we are at the fair, and I hate it and just want to work, and I'm sorry. You deserve better than that."

"Twilight, I don't care about roller-coasters! I care about you!" Dash snapped, almost angry that Twilight could have thought different. "I don't care whether we're eating cloud-candy, or on a roller-coaster, or standing by your desk doing things I don't really understand. Don't you get it, Twilight? I love you, I don't care what we do. That's not important, okay? You are."

Twilight sniffed. "I- I know, but I just wanted to give you a really nice day. I know you're not really all that interested in my work, even if you're happy to help. I just thought-"

"Then stop thinking!" Dash interrupted. "Your heart is what matters here, not your head. My heart says I love you, and my head isn't smart enough to disagree." Dash chuckled at her own weak joke.

Twilight looked down. "Would it disagree if you were smarter?"

"If it did, I'd fly head-first into walls until it didn't," Dash promised. "Now, come on, repeat after me: I love you."

Twilight smiled. "Do I really have to say it, Dash? You know, right?"

"Come on, I want to hear it."

"I love you."

"That's my girl. You ready to go back out? We could do something a little slower if you want, or just walk around a bit—maybe win a few more prizes?"

"I think we're banned from winning those now, Dash. But okay, let's go," Twilight replied, picking her stuff up and stashing it away in her saddlebag.

Unbeknown to her, Rainbow Dash wanted it to be a special day too. The specialest of days.

"So, what's this one?" Twilight asked as the two joined one of the many queues lining the grounds, to one of the many rides.

"Gliding!" Dash replied. "You're carried up in one of those gliders, and then let go, and you get to fly to the ground. A chance to get a glimpse of how awesome it is to be me!"

"But you carry me all the time, Dash."

"It's not the same, you're not in control. Just, come on, try it. If you want to, y'know. I'm not gonna force you again."

"You'll catch me if I fall, right?" Twilight asked, though she already knew the answer. Dash grinned and nodded, knowing that Twilight would only ask that if she'd already agreed to do it.

"Next!" the attendant called. Twilight stepped forward, and was quickly strapped into the glider. It wrapped around her torso like a saddle, and the wings stuck out several meters to each side. Dash approved of the aerodynamic stability and was happy with the build quality—not that she'd ever mention it in those words, lest she feel like a nerd. It was something she felt safe sending Twilight up in, though.

"Next!" the attendant called again, ushering Twilight on to one of the pegasi who would carry her up into the air. The attendee looked at Rainbow Dash and raised an eyebrow. "Ma'am, you already have wings," she deadpanned.

"Uh-huh."

"You don't need a glider."

Dash nodded. "Yeah. I have a reservation, name's Rainbow Dash. Hurry up about it, too."

The attendant checked her list, scrutinising the series of names until she came across the desired entry: Dash, Rainbow. One bag of rainbow.

The attendant handed the closed bag to Rainbow Dash, and she took off. Her heart was beating like a drum and her hooves were almost shaking, but she managed to stay in control. Twilight was almost at the top, where she would be released and allowed to glide back down. Dash needed to beat her there, so doubled her wingbeats and shot upwards in chase of her.

"Hey, Dash!" Twilight waved. Her legs dangled in the air as she was raised ever higher, and the winds had begin to ruffle her mane and chill her coat. "How do I work this thing?"

"What?" Dash asked, roused from her distraction. "Oh, it's easy. Lean left to go left, right to go right, forward to go down, so on. Can't go wrong!" Dash added under her breath a moment later, so quietly Twilight couldn't hear, "Better not go wrong."

All of a sudden, Twilight was released. She shot forward, gliding through the air with all the grace of a spectacularly agile hippo.

"Aaaagh!" she screamed, leaning left and right at random and twisting through the air. "Aaaaaaaaaagh!"

Dash rolled her eyes and flew alongside, positioning herself underneath Twilight and helping to stabilise her. "You're overcompensating for your rolls, Twilight! Turn more smoothly!"

"I don't know what that means!" she yelled back.

"Now you know how I feel. Just be calm and try not to lean too far!" Dash instructed, feeling Twilight's glider begin to slow its spin and return to a relatively stable descent. "Yeah, just like that! Think you can keep this up?"

"M- maybe?" Twilight replied, entirely unsure. She was used to doing things with her mind, and even then entirely with her hooves on the ground, not with the wind whipping into her face and the ground so very far down.

"Twilight?" Dash yelled, wanting to make sure the anxious mare could hear her properly.

"Yeah?"

"I've got something to say." Dash's throat felt dry and speaking almost hurt. Her body shivered and tensed as the adrenaline rushed through her, and she closed her eyes in the hope that fewer distractions would help her through.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," Twilight joked.

"I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but I can't imagine life without you," Dash said, looking straight forward and holding Twilight steady. Her body felt like it was on fire and every muscle told her to run, but she knew this was more important. "These past few months have been the best I've ever had, and I don't ever want that to change. I'll always love you, Twilight. I've always loved you. I never believed in fate before you, it always seemed too girly. Something Rarity would like, along with pretty dresses and makeup." Dash bit her lower lip to try and clear her head—she had something important to say, she wasn't here to gush about Twilight.

Twilight listened intently, but didn't say anything. She couldn't handle the mental load of listening, maintaining her flight, and talking. Her hooves were lightly shaking partly through fear, partly through adrenaline, and partly through the anticipation of not knowing where Dash was going with her tirade.

"But anyway, I think we were brought together for a reason. I don't care if that reason was to kick some ass, as far as I care that doesn't even matter." Dash squeezed a little tighter and fluttered her wings slightly as if she were preparing to stop gliding. "We came together because of us, and I don't ever want that to change, so..."

Rainbow Dash let go and dropped, falling a good few dozen meters before spreading her wings and taking flight. She quickly sped away, reminding Twilight just how impressive Dash's flight was. Her own felt like she was going a million miles an hour in the middle of a chaotic storm, and Dash outstripped that a hundred times over and made it look effortless. As she flew, Twilight noticed a bag in her forelegs. She opened it, and her rainbow trail suddenly became more solid, hanging in the air without dissipating.

After a few moments, Twilight realised Dash was writing something in the air, but her angle was wrong and she couldn't make out what. Worse, she was flying away from it, and didn't trust herself to turn around.

"Okay, come on, Twilight. Remember what Dash said, take it slow," Twilight whispered to herself, closing her eyes as she tilted to the side. She felt her entire world turn as the glider began to rotate, and soon she was facing the opposite direction and managed to steady herself once again.

She opened her eyes and read the message in front of her, written in fifty-foot letters above one of the biggest events of the year, attended by ponies from all over the kingdom.

Twilight Sparkle, the message read, Marry me?

Far below them, the ponies milling around on the ground looked up. There was a message in the sky.

A moment later, the keener-sighted of them noticed something else. A lone glider, far outside of the designated gliding zone, was in trouble. She was flailing about and falling fast, and it was unlikely any of the fair safety technicians would be fast enough to catch her.

Luckily for all involved, another pony was there to save her. Her rainbow-streak trail soared across the sky and picked up the distressed mare, holding her in the air for just a few seconds. An instant later, they both sped away—the pegasus carrying the glider. A huge explosion rocked the sky and blew away the message with its shockwave, and a rainbow began to form on the horizon.

It took the form of a message.

She said yes

A few minutes, and many miles, later, Twilight lay cradled in Dash's wings on top of a slowly drifting cloud. Her saddlebag had been discarded and throw off to the side to lay forgotten, and Terry was in the capable hooves of Pinkie Pie.

"Aren't I meant to have a ring?" Twilight teased, tilting her head back and resting it on Dash's neck. "There was always a ring in my books."

"Heh, yeah. We'll get one, I just didn't really know what you wanted."

"You."

Dash blushed and hugged a little harder. "So, Rainbow Sparkle or Twilight Dash?" Dash asked, mostly joking. "Man, both of those sound awful."

"Yeah, probably best if we don't. There's a lot to think about, though."

"Not to me," Dash replied, "Looks simple from where I'm standing. I'm already yours, I just wanna make it official."

"That's sweet, Dash, but weddings are a lot of work! We'll need food, music, guests, dresses, a venue, a time, a photographer, everything!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "We'll clear those clouds when we come to them," she said, "but for now-" Dash leant down and gave Twilight a light kiss on the side of her mouth- "just enjoy it, okay? Nothing's gonna ruin today."

The two stared out across the kingdom. On one end of the horizon hung Cloudsdale, and on the other, Canterlot. Somewhere in-between the two was their little bit of it—the small area that they could call theirs. That was enough for them, because no matter that was to come in the future, they knew they'd always have each other.

A Sunny Day (But With a Chance of Showers)

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: Four Months Later

"Rainbow Dash, sit still!" Rarity shrieked, shaking her hoof in mid air and threateningly brandishing the collection of pins, needles, and pieces of cloth held in her delicate magical grip. "I cannot work if you insist on fidgeting in every waking moment. Honestly, this is worse than measuring you!"

Rainbow Dash sat as still as she could bear on the main podium of Rarity's boutique. That was to say, she was not very still at all, but she was trying. Resting over her body almost as elegantly as a stream of air could flow over it lay the most exciting dress Dash had ever worn—her wedding dress. It had been a long road to get to this point, but all that was over now.

"Rainbow Dash, sit still!" Rarity yelled, advancing on her cyan prey with an evil glint in her eye and a collection of sewing needles in her grip. They surrounded the terrified pegasus, boxing her in and slowly backing her into a wall from which she would have no escape.

"Rarity! Leave me alone!" Dash shouted, while snapping her head from side to side looking for an exit, but finding nothing. The air was thick with thin metal spikes; instruments whose only use could be torture and destruction, by Dash's reckoning. Seeing no exit, she took another step back to stay away from her clearly insane friend for another second. "Twilight!" she called, "Help!"

"Twilight isn't coming, darling. I simply need to measure you," Rarity insisted, brandishing a thin strip of ice-cold metal like a pegasus might brandish a spear.

"No! Away!" Dash shouted. She hadn't realised that measuring would be so invasive—she'd pictured herself standing in front of a wall and having various heights marked, maybe a bit of complimenting on how lean her body was or how muscular her legs were. She hadn't expected to be immediately set upon by great metal spikes and rods, like Rarity's boutique was just a front for some perverse torture chamber.

Dash's tail brushed against the wall. She was as far back as she could be. Rarity was right—there was no escape—and suddenly running had been crossed off of her "options" list. The one remaining choice was "fight".

Dash nervously laughed. "Yeeeah, that won't happen again," she promised, "how was I to know those things were for my hair? And that measuring tape is really really cold, you should have warned me!"

"Rainbow Dash," Rarity sternly said, "I cannot believe you would blame me for your not knowing basic fashion techniques! Why, you're lucky I measured you at all after what you did. My tail is still growing back lopsided."

Dash awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and muttered something close to an apology. Her hoof knocked against her now perfectly-styled mane, displacing it and pushing one of the supporting mane ties free, letting her flowing hair flow, undoing much of the morning's work.

Rarity twitched.

"Twilight, it'll be fine!" Applejack soothingly said, offering her support while Fluttershy went about the difficult task of properly dressing Twilight. Rarity had, of course, designed and made the dress herself, but the group had decided that it was best if she dressed Dash when it finally came to the day. In case anything went wrong, like it had in all of the practise runs.

"It wasn't fine last time!" Twilight snapped, her eyes filled with worry and concern. "Maybe I should go check on them, ma-"

"No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, stopping her delicate work styling Twilight's tail. "You aren't allowed to see her until the ceremony! It's against the rules!"

"But-"

"Now now, no buts, Twilight," Applejack cut in, "Y'all wanted a traditional ceremony and that's how we're gonna do it."

Twilight stayed silent, but her imagination ran free with images of all the terrible things that could happen. Dash could have another misunderstanding and end up hurting herself again, or the dress could get torn, or Rarity could finally snap and refuse to re-do her mane for the dozenth time that morning, or-

"Twilight, will you stop worrying?" Applejack interjected, seeing the worried unicorn's face. "It'll be fine."

"But she always comes and sees me when she's done..." Twilight trailed off, realising how whiny she sounded.

"Not today, sugar, because this ain't practise," Applejack replied. Quite how she'd gotten the job of moral support she wasn't sure, but she'd be damned if she was going to let a friend suffer. "Just calm down, you've planned everything, nothing's gonna go wrong now."

Twilight sighed and nodded. "You're right, Applejack, everything's going to be just fine."

"Run!" Dash yelled, motioning to the door to tell Rarity to get out. She followed as quickly as she could manage without disturbing her dress, reaching speeds almost comparable to a brisk saunter. She made the mistake of looking behind herself and saw the waves of molten icing quickly catching up to her. If it reached her, the dress—and thus day—would be ruined. This was unacceptable. She shuffled with all her might, cursing the restrictive clothing and wishing she could break out into a gallop without having to worry about the long train catching on anything.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity yelled, "You've ruined my shop! Oh, of all the possible things!" she moaned, theatrically raising a hoof to the heavens. "There's nothing else for it, we'll simply have to finish you up out here, Rainbow. Rainbow?" Rarity looked around for the almost captive pegasus, but saw nothing.

"Rarity!" Dash yelled, catching her attention—she was still inside the boutique! Rarity quickly leaped into action, calmly strolling into the store and picking up the train in her mouth so Dash could move a little faster and escape the oncoming tide of misplaced ingredient. Together, they managed to outrun the flood and escape out into the open.

"That's the spirit, Twi, they're probably just worrying about us!" Applejack replied with a grin. "Now, who wants an apple?"

"Oh, no thank you, I still have all of this make-up to do," Fluttershy said.

"Make-up? I don't think that's really necessary, is it?"

"Oh yes! Rarity says it's essential. She made me promise. You wouldn't make me break a promise, would you Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, looking down at the floor and scraping her hoof against it. Twilight sighed and shook her head—make-up it was.

At least everything Dash's end would surely be going to plan. She'd made Rarity promise.

"Make-up?! Nuh-uh. The hair was pushing it, no way am I wearing make-up."

"Oh, but you must! It's essential! What will you say when you show the wedding photographs to your foals and they ask why mommy looks so dull and lifeless?!"

Rainbow Dash stared at her unamused.

"You're wearing it."

"Nuh-uh."

"But your mane looks unbalanced without it! It's an important part of your look, and it simply won't work without it. Why, I'd go as far as to say that Twilight should be embarrassed to be seen with you without it."

"Really?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, obviously not as you normally are, darling. For whatever reason she seems to like that rats nest you call a mane, and I have to admit it does have some charm—purely aesthetic, of course—but that's beside the point! The style I have chosen for you requires make-up, and there isn't enough time to change it." Rarity leaned inside the boutique and picked up a few choice pots, containers, and brushes, brandishing them in front of a slightly irritated bride-to-be.

"Please do keep calm," Rarity soothingly whispered as she started to apply a carefully chosen foundation to the almost-unwilling face in front of her. "We don't want a repeat of the first time we tried this, do we?"

"Eugh! This tastes awful!" Dash gagged and pawed at her tongue to try and scrape the terrible powder away.

"W- why would you eat it?!" Rarity asked, completely bemused. "That is a cosmetic, not confection. Do you ever listen?"

"Yeah! You said this one wouldn't cake on my coat, and uh, I kinda stopped listening at 'cake'," Dash sheepishly replied. If she were honest with herself she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing there. It was the first time she'd spent any real time with the town's seamstress, having arrived there only a few weeks earlier in search of work, and something she couldn't quite place.

She'd found the first; A stroke of luck brought her to Ponyville just as a member of the local weather team left, and after a short interview she was given the place—not a temporary position like all the other places she'd worked since leaving Flight School, but a proper position. The second still eluded her, only partially because she still wasn't sure what it really was; some compulsion to be there, for some reason she couldn't understand.

"No, dear, this is make-up. It's there to make you look prettier," Rarity explained. She didn't have a great many friends who appreciated looking good, and she was hoping this newcomer would.

"Uh, that's not really my thing," Dash said.

"Oh, a little can't hurt, right? You showed me what you can do, it's only fair if I do the same, right?" Rarity replied. It was true, Dash had taken the opportunity to show off a few moves in the interests of impressing people around her, but she hadn't expected it to turn out like this.

"S- sure, can't hurt!" she said. What was the worst that could happen?

"Aaaagh! It burns!" Dash yelled, rolling around on the floor and kicking wildly with her legs. "Get it off!"

"It's just make-up dear, there's nothing to worry about."

"Aaaagh!" Dash shrieked, barrelling out of the nearest open window and flying straight into the nearest cloud, dousing her face in a torrent of water and washing away the burning, itching powder.

Rarity shook her head and looked down at the pot, noticing a slight wrinkle on the label. Intrigued, she pulled at it and found it was barely affixed—and under it lay another. It was chilli powder. Who would do such a thing?

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity yelled, "Where are you? You have ruined my boutique!"

As if by magic, Pinkie poked her head around the door. Her mane was covered in a thick layer of frosting, another glob of which rested on the tip of her nose. She turned around and stared into the ruined room, taking in the devastation and destruction with her wide eyes and open nose. She slowly knelt, as if staring the sweet down. She opened her mouth and scraped her tongue across the floor in a single long sweep.

"No I didn't, I made it tasty!" she exclaimed, bouncing back up and cartwheeling out into the open air, shedding frosting from her mane as she went. Rarity immediately went into dress-protection mode, throwing up an inexpert, but enthusiastic, magic shield between the baked bandit and the damsel in a dress.

"I didn't know you could do that, Rare," Dash said, marvelling at the frosting hovering mere inches in front of her nose; the threat to her attire dealt with. Rarity had not been so lucky; the icing stuck to her mane like leeches blemishing perfect skin, her new sweet and sugary coating providing the perfect counterpoint for her sour mood.

"Pinkie, I am trying very hard to give our friend the perfect day, so can you please be calm for once in your life?" Rarity pleaded, all but dropping to her knees and begging.

"There, all done!" Fluttershy said, before hopping in front of Twilight and pulling over a mirror. Twilight looked at herself and gasped; Rarity had outdone herself. The plain white dress hung over her body like the finest silk, as light as a cobweb but as striking as anything else. Her hooves were adorned with frilled white cuffs, and her tail shot out from a tiny hole in the back, making the dress seem small and form-fitting rather than having the large rear so many other dresses suffered from. On her head rested a thin, almost transparent white veil, held in place by golden fastenings on her ears and horn, with a single lily carefully woven into one side.

"Fluttershy, it's gorgeous!" Twilight exclaimed, carefully turning around to her more fashion-inclined friend and slowly nuzzling her on the cheek. It wouldn't do to mess up the dress now.

"Twilight!" said Applejack as she walked back into the room with a steaming apple pie resting on her back. "You look lovely. Why, I'd go as far as to say that Rainbow's gonna have a hard time remembering her lines!" Applejack bucked the pie onto the top of a nearby dresser and raised a hoof to wipe a single tiny tear from one eye. "This reminds me of that time my brother almost got hitched."

"You mean to Cheerilee?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "That love potion thing Applebloom cooked up?"

"Well, yeah, but they still looked as happy as apples to me. You and Dash remind me of that. Heh, never thought it'd be you getting wed before Rarity."

"And what's that meant to mean?" Twilight asked.

"Well, just y'know. You weren't really much of a romantic back then, never figured you'd be one for marrying."

Twilight sighed. "Neither did I, but Dash didn't really give me much choice. I do love her, of course I do, and I couldn't say no to her even if it's a bit fast."

"Oh dear, you aren't getting cold hooves, are you?" Fluttershy squeaked, taking a break from smelling the sweet aroma of the freshly baked pie. Her ears fell and her eyes began to water in anticipation.

"No! No, Celestia no," Twilight quickly responded, trying to assuage her friends' fears. "I love her, and I want to be with her for the rest of my life, but we're moving faster than most and not as fast as the couples in most of my books. There aren't any resources on how to deal with this."

"Oh, is that all, sugar? How many times do we need to tell you, you don't need a book to tell you how to feel. Just listen to your heart, it'll tell you."

"Great. Got a heart to Equestrian phrase book in one of those drawers?" Twilight snarked. "I just don't want to screw this up. It seems to mean so much to Dash that I want to be perfect, and I don't know how to do that."

"Oh, Twilight," Fluttershy said, "I've known Dash since I was just a tiny little baby, and she's always had criticisms of everything and everyone—even you—but I haven't heard her say one bad thing about the wedding. I think she'll think it's perfect just because you're there, and you should stop worrying so much!" She ended with a light strike of her hoof against the wooden dresser, almost—but not quite—making a noise. "But that's just my opinion," she muttered.

"Thanks," Twilight replied. "I guess I'm just going to have to do my best."

"That's my girl, Twilight. Now, who wants some pie?"

"Hey Pinkie," Dash said, "How's the catering coming?"

"Well," she replied, "there's been a teensy issue with making a little too much frosting."

"Gosh, really? Why don't you tell me about it?" Rarity said, rolling her eyes and continuing to brush Dash's mane and ensure it was completely perfect. They had a train to catch and the unruly hair simply couldn't be allowed to roam free.

"Well, I looked at all the cakes we were going to need and realised we'd need a lot of icing, so I thought I'd make all that first, but I accidentally made enough icing to cover all the guests, not all the cakes!" Pinkie cheerfully replied. Rarity twitched, but continued to brush.

"So, are the cakes ready? We kinda need to go soon," Dash asked.

"Oh yes, they're all ready! Just gotta carry them all to the train!"

"...yourself?" Rarity asked, dumbfounded both that Pinkie would leave such a crucial step to Pinkie Pie.

"No, silly, I have a tray!"

"Hurry!" Applejack shouted, running down the cold stone station floor to the waiting train. Fluttershy and Twilight followed a little behind; Fluttershy because she was naturally cautious, and Twilight because she was concentrating so hard on keeping herself absolutely perfect, holding things in place with magic grips and trotting along at a brisk pace. The train to Canterlot was about to leave, and they had to be on it—the next train wouldn't be until that evening, well after the wedding was over.

"Oh, Twilight, we can't risk you seeing Rainbow before the ceremony! Hurry onto the train, quickly!" Fluttershy insisted, pointing at the waiting carriage door as she flew towards it, leading Twilight in. They had booked the first and last room on the train—the front one for Twilight and friends, and the back one for Dash and friends. The timing was critical, they couldn't be allowed to enter the train at the same time lest they see each other and ruin the entire event. Little did Twilight know, that wasn't going to be a problem.

Shortly after they entered, the train pulled out of the station and began its long journey to Canterlot. Twilight sat on one of the chairs and relaxed. There was nothing to do after the train set off, that was the end of the preparation. From here, it would be plain sailing.

"What?!" Dash shouted. "What do you mean we missed the train?"

"I was putting all the cakes on it, and then I came back to find you, and now it's gone!" Pinkie explained.

"So the cakes are on the train?" Rarity asked.

"Nope! Some are, but they're lonely now," Pinkie replied, losing her smile at the thought of her cakes going friendless.

"And we aren't?"

"Well, duh."

"Girls! Shut up and stop arguing," Dash yelled, "When's the next train?"

"Not until tonight, I'm afraid. We could get a carriage, but that could take hours longer than the train. Oh, I'm sorry Rainbow, there's no way to get there on time without the train."

"Then we fly." Rainbow Dash flared her wings beneath the dress, pushing it outwards. "Damn, I can't get any air in this thing. I knew I should've argued."

"No! You'll ruin your mane, I can't allow it!" Rarity protested, stomping her hoof at the very thought of her morning's work being ruined. "You'll just have to be late."

"No." The determined pegasus's wings tore through the once-beautiful material, spreading themselves ready for flight. Rarity fainted as her gorgeous dress was ruined in an instant. "I'm not being late for my own wedding. Nuh-uh. I have bad experiences with that. We're going, now. Pinkie, grab Rarity and jump on my back."

"Yes ma'am!" Pinkie exclaimed, stifling a giggle as she pulled the unconscious white unicorn onto her back and jumped aboard. The cakes soon followed, balanced on Pinkie's outstretched leg like an absurd circus trick.

By the time Rarity awoke from her shocked slumber, the trio were high in the sky and well on their way to the capital. The skies were clear and the weather was fair; the sun stood tall, watching over everything and keeping everyone warm. The farmlands and fields beneath them streaked past, and the wind rushed past them.

"Rainbow, your mane!" Rarity exclaimed, mere moments after opening her eyes to find the sorry sight of Dash's hair flowing through the breeze. "And your dress! Oh, it's all ruined!" Rarity did her best to produce a theatrical flourish of desperation without toppling from her determined steed.

Dash gritted her teeth and ignored the complaints. She didn't have a choice, and her mane was just an unfortunate casualty of that. It didn't really suit her anyway.

Rarity looked away, trying not to think about the careless destruction of her hard work, and stared into the distance. After a few moment she spotted a moving pillar of smoke winding around the mountain—the train! "Dash, it looks like they're almost there, can't you go a little faster? Why, just last week you were boasting about doing this in 'five minutes'!"

"Alone!" Dash snapped, "Under perfect conditions, and when I didn't mind anypony seeing the shockwave! I'm going as fast as I can, alright?" Her voice was hard and harsh and laced with both anger and determination. She stole a look at the train, but immediately regretted it. Every moment brought it closer to Canterlot, and closer to her being late. Her wings began to beat a little harder, and she felt her two passengers cling on a little tighter. Pinkie's cake tray was almost vertical, relying only on the wind to keep the cakes in place unharmed.

"Don't worry, Dash! Twilight'll understand if you're late!" Pinkie supportively patted Dash on the back with a free hoof, realising only moments later that she needed that hoof to cling on for dear life.

"It's not that," Dash grunted through still-gritted teeth, "I just really don't wanna be late."

"Do you... want to talk about it, dear?" Rarity offered.

"No."

"Tea?" Fluttershy asked, holding a steaming teapot in her outstretched hoof. The train, despite moving at a considerable speed across rough terrain, provided a smooth and unremarkable ride. As they circled around one of the mountains near Canterlot, they occasionally caught a glimpse of the great city. Fluttershy and Applejack still stood in awe of its sheer scale and majesty, and though Twilight had lived there most of her life she still had a healthy appreciation for its splendour.

"Yes please," Twilight replied. "We'll be there soon. Oh, I hope it goes well. Dash has been so tense about it lately, I hope she's okay."

"Have you talked to her about it?" Applejack asked.

"I've tried, she won't admit anything's wrong. I don't understand her sometimes, Applejack. Sometimes she wants this so badly, and other times it's like she can't wait to get it over with. I know she doesn't think I notice, but she's barely slept these last few nights." Twilight looked down and stirred her tea with an errant thought, trying to distract herself from the obvious implications. "What if she do-"

"No!" Fluttershy squeaked. "It's not that! Just leave her alone and she'll be okay!" Fluttershy threw her hooves to her mouth in embarrassment as she realised how loud she'd been talking, and how surprised looking her two friends were. She tried to make herself look small and hid behind one of the carriage seats.

"I can't leave her alone, Fluttershy, I'm marrying her. She should be able to talk to me! If she can't rely on me, then-"

"Please, Twilight. Just don't blame her," Fluttershy whispered, just loudly enough to catch their attentions.

"You know something, don't you?" Applejack asked, being very careful not to accuse anything. "I'm sure Rainbow wouldn't mind Twilight knowing, right?"

"Well, um... she made me promise not to say anything."

"Oh, I'm sure that doesn't count any more! We don't keep secrets from each other!" The last sentence somehow managed to be both a statement of intent and a threat, and as much as Twilight didn't want to scare the yellow-bellied pegasus, she had to know what could keep Rainbow Dash, the bravest pony she knew, up all night fretting.

"It's not my story to tell," she whimpered.

"Twilight," Applejack said, "maybe you sho-"

"No! No, I have to know. Fluttershy, you have to understand, I just want to help her. I can't do that if she won't tell me what's wrong, so if you know then please. I don't know how I can marry somepony that can't even talk to me."

"Aagh!" Fluttershy screamed, emitting a quiet whine barely audible above the engine chatter and scraping of wheel on track from below. "It's because she loves you!"

"She's worried about marrying me, irritable and snappy, and can't sleep, because she loves me? Well, thanks for that revelation, Fluttershy. I thought she proposed because we were really good friends," Twilight snapped, finding her temper particularly short and her veil skew-whiff. If Fluttershy really knew something, it was coming out one way or another.

"It's her parents," Fluttershy whispered, shrinking down into the seat as she went. Twilight craned her neck over to keep her eyes on the fleeing pony. "She doesn't talk about them much, but I think she blames their wedding for everything that happened."

Twilight suddenly realised that not only had she never met Dash's parents, she knew nothing about them. Though she'd never thought to ask, they'd never been mentioned. Her fiancé's childhood tales were always ones of trying to make it alone. When she dropped out of Flight School she went travelling rather than simply going back home, for Celestia's sake. Twilight began to feel very stupid that the thought hadn't ever crossed her mind. "I- I don't know what happened. She never mentioned them." Twilight sighed and sat back down in her seat, staring blindly out of the window but completely ignoring the beauty she might have marvelled at were she in a better mood.

"O- oh. I'm sorry, Twilight, she doesn't like talking about them. She acts tough, but underneath I think she just needs somebody to support her."

"That's meant to be me, not you," Twilight muttered. "No offence," she quickly added.

"It was a long time ago, I just think she doesn't want to open old wounds. I only know about them because she mentioned them when we were fillies. You'll have to ask her if you want to know the rest, it's not my place to say. Just please don't blame her for it."

Twilight nodded and gave a tight smile in return, before staring out of the window to watch as the train turned its final loop and began the last leg of the journey, just a few miles from Canterlot. The train juddered and vibrated as the engine up front sped up; its internal flames roared high from a combination of coal and the magic only a few gifted unicorns could ever produce. Twilight would, had she not been so pre-occupied with selfish matters, have worried that her current magical research was most likely going to send them into unemployment.

Her point-to-point teleportation was a useful trick, but Twilight knew the real value of her research lay elsewhere. Any spell she could master could be imbued into one of the crystals—of which she had now grown a sizeable collection—and cast by anybody, even those with no magical talent or knowledge whatsoever; in many cases, Rainbow Dash was the tester, whether the spell was for agriculture or zoology.

Though learning proper rigour and documentation was slowing her work considerably, the Corral were keeping a close eye on her progress. The more optimistic among them predicted that Equestria could be a completely different place in just a few short years, with the distinctions between earth, pegasus, and unicorn ponies blurred to the point of obsolescence.

What had begun as a trivial and routine experiment so long ago had spiralled into taking the majority of Twilight's time, side-lining many of her other studies—though not her main studies into Friendship—and taking up many a journal or notebook. Twilight was no longer certain exactly what she hoped to gain, but in her more romantic—and salted—moments she may have slurred something along the lines of leaving the world a better place for the next generation—for her next generation.

Rainbow Dash watched the faraway train coast to a stop in Canterlot station with the edge of a tear in her eye. Had she been able to draw on her full strength, the journey could have been made in a matter of minutes, but at that speed she was as much a visual spectacle as anything else. While she was usually more than okay with that, the resulting shockwave and light show would attract attention all across the kingdom—but most importantly, Twilight would see it and know.

She beat her wings harder, trying to straddle the line between sub and supersonic speeds as closely as she could. Rarity and Pinkie Pie hung on for dear life, and the cakes had once been destined to provide the centrepiece of a grand feast had been squashed by the raw force of wind. She knew she still had a few minutes—she was meant to arrive at the temple first and Twilight would enter as the ceremony began. She still had some time.

"You're going too slow!" Pinkie shouted, trying to drown out the winds by yelling with all the might in her lungs. "We're still too far away!"

"I can't go any faster, Pinkie! If I do a sonic rainboom this high up the whole kingdom will see it! Anyway, you guys would get thrown off, the shockwave is pretty strong."

"But you did it with Twilight, she said!"

"Yeah, but she was underneath and I could pull her close, it's calmer there. You guys wouldn't stand a chance."

"Put us down," Rarity insisted. "We'll be okay, just get there."

"No! I want you there too!" Dash shouted back, watching the train's smoke stack dissipate as the engines shut down and cooled off. Twilight had arrived and her remaining time was in the single minutes. Pinkie was right, at the rate she was going it could be half an hour before they arrived, and then she would be late. She couldn't be late.

"Rainbow, I want to be there too, but it's more important that you're there. We'll make our own way."

Rainbow Dash sighed and began to descend. Her wedding hadn't even started and already the day had been one disaster leading into another, joined together by smaller disasters. She hoped Twilight's party was having better luck, and began to search for a suitable landing place. While normally she would have no issue coming to a dead stop, Rarity wasn't built for those kinds of forces, so a slower deceleration was called for. Spotting a nice long clearing, she tilted and glided down, slowly coming to a stop and spending the last few meters winding her gallop down to a leisurely trot.

Her passengers disembarked, hopping off and onto the ground. Rarity fell to her knees in exhaustion, hugging the ground as if she'd been away from her comfortable home for weeks, not hours. Pinkie uprighted her cakes and pulled a picnic basket out from under her mane, setting up a meal for the two abandoned mares.

"I'll send somepony to come get you, I promise," Dash said, before spreading her wings once more and taking off. Within seconds she was exceeding her previous speed, and a few moments after that the leaves on the trees buckled and waved in the shockwave of a sonic rainboom low enough to avoid detection up above. Her rainbow trail streaked off into the distance, quickly approaching the city of Canterlot fast enough to terrify any of the on-duty guards.

"Cupcake?" Pinkie asked, offering the significantly squashed, but sugary and salivating snack to the frazzled and very lost mare standing next to her, desperately trying to fix her mane without a mirror.

"Did he say why we couldn't go in yet?" Twilight asked, tilting her head as she stood outside the largest temple in Canterlot. The bees buzzed, the birds sang, and the butterflies flew free through the tall trees and fragrant flowers. The temple was remote, situated on the peak of a tall hill immediately outside Canterlot. It overlooked the city, but was separate enough that they wouldn't be disturbed. The great wooden doors stayed shut, barring them entry, and the three were forced to remain outside. The rest of the guests had already entered and were awaiting the start of the ceremony.

"Nope, just asked us to wait a few 'if we'd be so kind'," Applejack replied, shifting uncomfortably in the dress she'd hastily equipped in the last few minutes of the journey. As much as she hated wearing anything that could be classed under froo-froo, it was a special occasion and she had—regretfully—allowed Rarity to select the most restrained and practical dress she could muster.

"Oh! M- maybe it's that!" Fluttershy exclaimed, spotting a familiar streak of rainbow spearing across the sky. Immediately after she said it, she realised that she shouldn't have—if Dash was late, that was something Twilight certainly shouldn't know. At her current speed Dash should be at the venue in just a few seconds, so Fluttershy thought as quickly as she could and pointed in the opposite direction, directing Twilight's gaze away from the delayed pegasus for long enough for her to pass undetected.

"A tree? Fluttershy, this is no time for your obsessions!" Twilight said, exasperated. There wasn't meant to be a delay—no delay had been timetabled; they were behind schedule, even accounting for Dash's habitual lateness. Everything had gone so smoothly up until now, what in Equestria could be holding them back now?

Rainbow Dash pulled her wings to her side and held her legs close as she aimed herself at one of the more open windows of the temple where she was to be wed. It would be a tight fit, but she'd spotted Applejack outside and Twilight was almost certainly with her, making the front door no longer an option. Entering through windows was her speciality, anyway.

She felt the wooden window frame scrape against the tip of her ears and the edge of her tail as she passed through, threading the metaphorical needle with relative ease. The instant she was clear she flared her wings and came to a quick stop, planning a dramatic landing on one of the chairs to disguise her late entry. Unfortunately, the tip of her dress snagged on the edge of the frame, ripping and sending her off-balance enough that her dramatic entrance became a miserable failure, leading to her tumbling to the floor amidst a mess of splinters and feathers from the now-ruined chair that broke her fall.

The temple was a grand and opulent construction. The whole thing was build from thick stone, with marble pillars dotting the interior for both support and aesthetics. The altar was located at the opposite end from the main entrance, and the space between was lined with chairs, split into two halves by a long length of carpet that ran to both ends of the building. The walls were lined with tables and shelves, covered with either books and flowerpots or an assortment of foods and cakes depending on how close to the buffet you stood. Ponies stood around it in little social groupings, but now every single one was staring at one particular point.

"He-" Dash spat a few feathers out of her mouth- "Hey everyone!" she sheepishly announced, as if the entire mass of guests wasn't currently staring at her incredulously. Nobody said a word as Dash gazed upon the collected guests, sweeping her vision from left to right to take in the sight. Commanding the most attention, Celestia stood at the altar with a wry smile on her face. The rest of the room was filled with family and friends; it seemed like most of Ponyville had turned up—Pinkie made the invitations—as well as a select few others that Dash would get to in a moment.

Picking herself up and dusting herself off, Dash made her way to Celestia as quickly as she could before anybody else could react. She leaned in and whispered into the princess's ear "I uh, had a bit of trouble getting here. Could you send somepony to go get Rarity and Pinkie Pie? They're a few miles that way," Dash asked while pointing in the vague direction of where she'd come from. Celestia chuckled quietly enough such that only Dash could hear and slightly nodded, both answering Dash's question and calling over one of the guards.

Dash stepped down from the altar and grinned at the gathered guests. The punctual ponies were perhaps perturbed by her late arrival, and Dash standing before them with windswept hair and a tattered dress, complete with holes for wings and cake frosting smeared down one side certainly didn't help matters. Her slightly frazzled look and too-wide grin completed the image of a pony possessed, but at least the worst of it was over now and the ceremony could begin.

"Hey!" a voice called, catching Dash's attention immediately. It was familiar, though she didn't hear it often. "Nice party," Spitfire continued, walking up next to Dash in full Wonderbolts attire, "and nice entertainment. Not often we do weddings, but we'll try and make it special. Got you a gift, too."

Dash squeaked. "Oh my gosh, I didn't know you guys were performing here!"

"Hey, you're almost a full-blown member now, 'course we're here." Spitfire glanced across the room to where the remaining members of the Wonderbolts' primary squad were loitering. "Oh, hey, I should go. Can't leave Soarin' alone for five minutes or he'll probably start flirting with the guests again. Have a good one, Dash."

Dash squeaked. The problems were over and done with and it was plain sailing from here on in. She looked across the room with an ever widening grin, waving back as ex-colleagues and friends greeted her from across the room. Twilight's parents sat on the front row of one side, patiently waiting next to a bored and fidgeting Shining Armor. Princess Cadence was nowhere to be seen, but Dash was sure she couldn't be far away—no princess of love would miss a wedding.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Shining Armor muttered, "Weddings in this city never go well." His cynicism wasn't directed at the to-be-weds, but the outstanding ability of Canterlot to throw inexplicable danger at any major wedding, whether it be his own, the noblemare who was set upon by a plague of cats, one of the many ceremonies that, for unknown reasons, became the target of a swarm of parasprites, or any other disastrous wedding.

"Oh, Shiny," his and Twilight's mother scolded, "Relax. You know what your sister is like with plans, nothing'll go wrong."

There was only one thing left to make the day absolutely perfect. Dash's long gaze across the room continued until her eyes fell on the front row of the opposite side, and the two seats reserved for her own parents. She knew they were coming because they, like everyone else here, had replied to the invitation, and because no good parent would ever miss their child's wedding day.

Except they weren't there. The two pieces of card marking their planned seats stood tall and unmoved, as if nobody had come to collect them—because nobody had. Dash's grin shattered in an instant. "No..." she whispered, before taking off as fast as her wings could carry her and heading for the open window, looping round to land on the temple roof where she could be alone for a while.

"Mmm, these carrots are top!" Golden Harvest muffledly exclaimed with a mouth full of vegetable. Her and a few other Ponyvillians stood around the snack table munching on the fruits, vegetables, oats and seeds to their heart's content while they waited for the ceremony to start.

"Yeah they're pretty good. Hey, shouldn't it have stared by now?" Cloud Kicker asked, growing bored and listless with the slow pace. "Not like Rainbow Dash to delay anything."

"Oh, she's right over there!" Rose said with a single petal stuck to her upper lip. As soon as she'd finished speaking, she returned to gorging herself on the decorative flowers, much to the distaste of the temple's florist—but he dare not say anything to the guests of such a famous couple. More flowers for Rose.

Cloud Kicker looked over to where she'd been pointing and saw Rainbow Dash standing, grinning like the moron she was, with the leader of the Wonderbolts walking away from her. Why was it, exactly, that idiots like Dash had all the luck while hard working but unremarkable pegasi like herself got nothing? At least she was running her own weather department now and didn't have to answer to possibly the laziest leader she'd ever seen. Every grey cloud had a silver lining—literally, now she had the funds.

Still, as problematic as her and Dash's relationship was, most of her issues ended when she wasn't working under her any more. She really did only wish Dash well, even if she was an amazingly dense pony she still deserved whatever happiness she could carve out of the world, just like everybody else. However, if Dash kept insisting on ruining her cloudy night skies by punching holes for Twilight's telescope, she'd have to see how expensive one-way tickets to Tartarus were.

She watched Dash's face fall for some inexplicable reason, and in the blink of an eye she was gone.Though she was naturally a loud, noticeable and showy pony, it was possible for Dash to fly without making herself the centre of attention, and she managed to slip away apparently without drawing attention. As Cloud Kicker looked around the room to see who else had noticed, she caught Celestia's eye. Cloud gulped; she'd heard stories about the princess, but hadn't ever put much faith into them. That one moment of connection felt like an entire wordless conversation, a single look into those ancient eyes perfectly describing Celestia's intentions and current desires. Celestia had seen Dash go, but she wasn't going to be the one to bring her back. Cloud Kicker was.

Rainbow Dash sat on the roof of the building, resting against the sloped surface and staring out across Canterlot with blurry eyes and no desire to appreciate it. She was trying her hardest not to cry, but all she could think of at the present moment was a slideshow of a terrible childhood, and tears seemed so very appropriate. She didn't think anybody had seen her leave, so at least she might have a while before anybody came to find her, not that she was sure what she was going to say. She briefly considered taking to the air and flying as far away as she could, but she couldn't bring herself to abandon Twilight like that.

Such was her sorrow that she didn't hear Cloud Kicker's approach, only taking note when the weatherpony sat next to her without a word. The two remained there for several seconds, not even acknowledging each other's existence until Dash finally snapped "What do you want?" in as "leave me alone" a tone as she could.

"To knock some sense into you, I guess. What the hay are you doing out here, Dash?"

"Oh, great. Well, sorry to disappoint yet again but I'm not in the mood. Go away."

Cloud Kicker stood up and started to leave. "Oh, what should I tell Twilight? She's waiting out front, she doesn't think anything's wrong but she's getting pretty restless. Gotta tell her something, right?"

Dash didn't answer.

"Okay, I'll just go tell her that her so-called fiancé is too busy being a baby to come out and marry her. So much for love's young dream, huh?"

"W- wait," Dash snapped, "Don't do that." Dash's head dropped into her forehooves and she wiped away the thin streak of tears down each eye as she turned to stand proudly. A moment later her confident front crumbled once again as she stumbled and fell, landing on the solid roof with a painful crack as her chin struck ceramic. "Please, not that."

"Then what, Dash? What's wrong? Nopony can help if you won't say what's wrong."

"I don't need anypony's help!" Dash shouted, flapping one of her wings in anger and creating a wind strong enough to send Cloud Kicker sliding back a few feet. The weathermare braced herself and flapped back, regaining her balance. She cautiously walked back over to Dash, who was lying silently on the roof tiles as if she was trying to ignore the entire world.

"We all need help sometimes, Dash. Even you." The quivering pony shook her head, but Cloud Kicker continued on, "But I bet you won't let me help, and quite honestly I don't want to. Not my business if you want to go screw up your relationship. I think Twilight would care, though, so I'm gonna go get her. Don't go anywhere."

Cloud Kicker kicked off and glided around the building to where Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were still waiting. Applejack was passing the time by talking to one of the local trees, and Fluttershy was chatting with the nearby animals. Twilight was just impatiently sitting there trying her best not to crease her dress. She looked gorgeous, Cloud Kicker thought, and Dash was a lucky mare. Too lucky, it just went to prove that life wasn't fair.

"Oh, hello Cloud Kicker! Are you here to escort us in?" Twilight hopefully asked, standing up. Applejack and Fluttershy turned to hear the answer.

"Uh, not exactly. I'm here to escort you up there."

Twilight cocked her head, not understanding what the surprising chauffeur was trying to convey. All that was up was the roof, and why would she want to go there?

"Look, you'll see. Just get up there, okay?"

"This is about Dash, isn't it?" Fluttershy meekly asked.

Cloud Kicker nodded. Twilight's face twisted into an expression of concern, and she looked up at the tall temple's top before vanishing in a blink of light. High up, where her lover was still weeping, Twilight appeared—or didn't appear, rather. As she teleported, she had cast a simple invisibility charm to ensure she would go unseen, neatly sidestepping the "No seeing each other before the ceremony" tradition. The day still had room to be perfect.

"Dash?" she asked, sitting by the blue pegasus' side. "What's wrong?"

Rainbow Dash's head rose as she looked around for the source. She saw nothing. "Great, now I'm mad too," she muttered, lowering her head back into her hooves.

"No, I'm just invisible."

"Of course you are, Headsparkle," Dash said, dismissively. "I guess you're going to ask what's wrong and then you'll say what I think Twilight would say and it'll all feel better, right? Nuh-uh, if figments of my own imagination could have fixed this they'd have done it back when I still had imaginary friends."

"I'm real. We're not allowed to see each other before the ceremony, so-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Go away."

Twilight grunted in exasperation. "Aagh! You can be so stubborn sometimes!"

"Yeah well, you'd kn-" Dash's self-bickering was cut off as Twilight grabbed her around the cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss. It was short, but passionate. It may not have lasted long, but it was real, and Dash could tell. "I- oh. I guess it is you."

"Yeah," Twilight whispered, giving Dash a tiny kiss on the upper lip before pulling back and sitting next to her once more. "You gonna tell me what's wrong now?"

"My parents aren't here."

"Oh. Maybe they're just late?" Twilight asked.

Dash shook her head. "Nah, not them. Dunno why I ever thought they'd turn up. Just being a stupid kid again, I guess."

"Want to talk about it?"

Dash sighed and turned to look Twilight in the eye. While it was true she couldn't see her, that didn't mean that she couldn't hear her every movement, smell her scent, or feel the way her motions shifted the air. Dash felt sure Twilight would force her into hours of experimentation to try and make an invisibility spell that would actually be effective against her later, but for now Dash would be happy with being able to see Twilight every way but visually. "It's kind of a long story, but..."

Rainbow Dash glided through the open cloud door of her home after a long day at school. She dropped her saddlebag on the floor and pulled her lunch box out in her mouth before skipping along to the kitchen to clean it out. Inside it had been an oat sandwich—her favourite—and a few flowers to snack on throughout the day. It was her favourite, like always, because she'd made it herself, like always.

When she was done cleaning, she put the box to one side to let it dry and started to walk through to her room. She hadn't announced her arrival to her parents because she assumed they weren't home at all. They almost never were. This day, however, was an exception.

"Rainbow!" a deep voice thundered—her father. "Come here at once. I got your report card today."

Rainbow Dash braced herself. "How'd I do?" she asked, smiling.

"Terribly, I'm cutting your allowance. Four Ds and not a single B! I didn't raise you to be a failure, girl. The comments are just as bad: "chatty", "rowdy" and "potentially disruptive". Get out of my sight."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dash."

"Yeah, well, it didn't stop there. Nothing was ever good enough, even when I found out how good I was at flying he still wanted more. Wouldn't believe I could do a sonic rainboom either, just like everyone else. I lived with him, but we didn't really speak much unless he was shouting at me. I guess that's why I always try to be the best, just so I can hope that one day he'll be proud of me." Dash laughed, a dark and self-directed chuckle.

"I'm proud of you. Forget him, Dash, you'll always be good enough for me. No matter what."

Dash reached out with one leg and pulled Twilight close, feeling her warm body through the cold silky dress and, a moment later, feeling Twilight's own forelegs hug back. They were glad nobody could see them, fearing it would look quite ridiculous to have Dash squeezing thin air. "Why would you even want them here, though?" Twilight asked.

"Just being stupid, I guess. My mom left when I was little and my dad always blamed the wedding. He was late and his folks didn't turn up and the venue was a mess and the whole thing was a disaster, and he always said that was where it all started," Dash replied, talking into mid air and staring out across the city. Twilight thought she was finally starting to understand why Dash hated talking about her childhood so much. "And now it looks like ours is the same," Dash finished.

"Dash, I'm not going to stop loving you because you were late, or because one of the guests didn't show up!"

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted it to be perfect, y'know? Only get to do it once, gotta get it right."

"It is perfect, it's with you. That's all I care about."

"I lost Rarity and Pinkie back in the forest."

"What?!"

"I've had a bad morning."

Twilight's hoof met her face. "Someone's looking for them, right?"

Dash nodded.

"Then that's okay. We can just wait. If I have you and all my friends here, then today can't not be perfect."

Several hours later, Pinkie Pie came bouncing out of the bushes and announced her entrance to everyone. The guests were all restless and bored, having been sat around for hours, and most were glad to have a party-expert entering the building. Rarity arrived a few minutes later, looking as pristine and well-maintained as if she'd just exited the spa. The guard that guided them back took his place guarding the entrance once more, and the wedding was ready to begin.

Rainbow Dash had done her best cleaning herself up, but she still looked as if she'd flown through a hedge—backwards, upside-down, and while it was on fire. The guests sat on the rows of seats ready for the ceremony to finally begin. The snack table had been refilled several times with the finest food Canterlot had to offer—Celestia's treat—and many of the ponies were tired and stuffed, yawning on their seats. Rainbow Dash didn't notice, she was too focussed on the entrance, two huge wooden doors teasing her with their closed-ness.

Eventually—finally—the doors began to open, swinging around their hinges as the two guards pushed. The hour was late and the sun was low in the sky, silhouetting Twilight as she walked into the temple and began to trot down the isle. As the doors closed and the sun was blocked, Dash found herself staring as Twilight made her way to the altar. Twilight did the same, finally able to appreciate the sheer scale of devastation Dash's dress—and thus Rarity's mental state—had endured.

Twilight walked to stand at the opposite side to Dash, carefully watching her face to make sure she was okay. Her smile wavered slightly when she glanced over to the empty front-row seats, but didn't break. "Hey," Twilight whispered.

"Hey," Dash answered with a smile.

Celestia cleared her throat above them, signalling that she was ready to begin. "Welcome, gathered ponies. We came here today to witness the joining of two national heroes in wedded bliss. This day—like their lives—was punctuated by unforeseen complications that they rose to meet. All of us owe them and their friends our lives, and we are here to wish them well in theirs. Twilight did write her own vows, but in the process of sending them her dragon unfortunately fell violently ill. Unrelated, I'm sure." The crowd laughed, most of them quite intimate with Twilight's ability to over-write. Spike rolled his eyes and folded his arms in protest. "We shall go with something a little more traditional. Twilight, repeat after me."

"I, Twilight Sparkle, take Rainbow Dash to be my lawfully wedded partner, under the eyes of Equestrian law and Celestia herself, and pledge to love and to cherish until the end, to tolerate and appreciate on every day and to never take her for granted. Under the spell of true love I do here swear to uphold her with all my might."

Twilight began to recite the ancient words—written by one of Princess Cadence's predecessors as avatar of Love—with honest meaning in her voice. As she spoke, she stared into Dash's large, beautiful magenta eyes and knew she was doing the right thing. Any doubt or hesitation she'd had before that fell away. It just felt right.

"Okay," Celestia said, signalling that she was ready to continue. "Rainbow Dash, repeat after me. I, Rainbow Da-"

"Hey, I wrote my own vows too, remember?" Dash interrupted.

"Ah, no. I never got those."

"I had to give them to you?"

"Well, yes, of course. How else can I do the ceremony?"

"Eh, I can remember them," Dash said, before turning back to Twilight and staring into her eyes while she spoke from memory. "Twilight Sparkle, I love you more than anything else. Be my bride."

Celestia waited for several seconds to make sure nothing more was coming. Nothing more was. Rainbow Dash was succinct, as usual. At least Twilight appreciated it—it wasn't fancy, but it was very Dash. Celestia nodded to Princess Cadence, who had appeared in the audience at some point—neither Twilight nor Dash had been paying much attention—and stood back as the love princess's horn lit up. "You may now kiss the bride," she announced as the sky lit up with fireworks and heart-shaped clouds. A moment later, the Wonderbolts zoomed overhead in yet another celebratory pattern, telling anybody for miles around that looked up into the sky that the wedding was over—Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were entwined for life.

Calm Ocean

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: One day later

Rainbow Dash streaked across the open beach, leaving a widening cone of disturbed sand in her wake. The waves crashed against the cliffs some hundred meters away, and the sunlight glittered off both the vast ocean stretching out in front of the sunbathing Twilight Sparkle and the windows of their small cottage.

The speeding flightster pulled up, soaring into the almost cloud-free sky, and slowly came to a stop. She looked down, gazing over her domain, and grinned; there was nobody around. She and the purple bookworm reading so far below her were as alone as it was possible to be; even at her extreme height, the coastline of the Equestrian mainland barely crept over the horizon, underlining their seclusion.

She pulled her wings to her sides and let herself drop, reaching terminal velocity in only a few seconds of glorious freefall. A few feet from the water's surface, she spread her feathers and converted all that falling momentum into speed, zipping over the coastline fast enough to blur the land behind her in a haze of displaced sand. A minute—or less—later she landed back where she started, skidding to a halt a few feet after that.

She was completely alone; The beach stretched on around the entire island, and there wasn't another set of hooves on it.

Dash paused. There should be one other pony there, where had she gone? The sand dunes covered the landscape in front of her, blocking some areas from her view, and Dash was about to take to the skies once more in search of her lost lover when the tallest of those dunes began to vibrate and crumble. A faded but intense glow shone out from between the particles as they began to rise into the air, forming a large ball of floating sand.

The light flashed and the ball shot towards Dash. She let her body take over, flapping her wings and shooting several feet backwards, easily avoiding the granular assault. Where the dune had once stood sat an irritated looking mare who was still pulling grains of sand from her mane. "Ha!" Dash boasted, "Missed m-" Her ego-trip was cut short by the surprising—yet obvious in hindsight—lack of ground beneath her hooves. A few seconds later, she struggled back to the surface of the water, coughing and spluttering and trying to wipe her sodden mane away from her eyes.

"Serves you right for covering me in sand," Twilight said, turning her book upside down and shaking it until the steady flow of golden particles slowed to a stop. "Honestly, we have this entire island to ourselves for the week; surely you can find a flying spot that's a little more secluded?" Twilight closed her eyes in concentration, and a moment later the sand peppering her body moved a foot or so to the side, maintaining an equine shape for a split second before collapsing down onto the beach.

"Twilight put that book down! This is meant to be a honeymoon, not a studymoon!" Rainbow Dash took a moment to titter at her own joke. She slowly swam back to the shore, using her wings as makeshift paddles to propel herself. She didn't particularly like the ocean; it was cold, and wet, and once the water got all over her wings it was difficult to get back into the air, and there was nowhere to land in it.

Before long, she set hoof on the dry beach once more. The grains stuck to her damp body and her mane stuck to the sides of her face. Her entire coat looked ruffled and soaked, and her wings were sodden. Twilight failed to stop herself breaking into a smirk at the sight of her. "You look good when you're wet."

The soaked-through mare snorted and shook her wings dry. She then wasted no time darting forward to grab Twilight under her forelegs to carry her out a few feet into the ocean. "Say sorry!" Dash insisted.

Twilight laughed. "Nuh-uh, you say sorry! This is your fault anyway; you have the whole ocean for flying! I'll dry you off if you want, though."

"You look good when you're wet," Dash said, mirroring the prior pony's teasing.

"Huh? Oh no Dash do-" Twilight's protesting was cut off as the dripping pegasus let go, allowing her partner to drop. She quickly fell towards the ocean's surface, shielding her eyes with a hoof and holding her breath in preparation for an immediate and unwanted submerging.

"Ha!" Dash boasted an instant later. Twilight opened her eyes and found herself once more suspended above the water, though this time she was barely an inch higher than its surface. "You didn't think I'd actually do it, did you? C'mon, Twi, you know I'd never do that." Dash grinned, hoping her joking would be taken light-heartedly.

"Ugh, why did I marry you, again?"

"Because you love me," Dash replied, prodding Twilight in the side of her body with a free hoof. "And I don't need an ocean to get you wet."

Twilight cringed. "Okay, that's it. I'm banning you from euphemisms for the entire week."

"Euphawhats?"

Twilight sighed. "Remind me to shove a dictionary down your throat one day, Dash. Now, where were we? Something about you being wet?" Twilight closed her eyes and held her breath in preparation, and then began to concentrate. Her thoughts travelled along the edge of her body until she found the places where her and Dash met. Her mind's eye scrolled across her flying support's body, admiring the way her body and muscles gave lumps and firm flesh for the water droplets to rest over, or slowly drip down. She lingered for many instants as her mental gaze shifted over the pony's hindlegs, sensing every minutia of her emotions. Having Twilight held so closely and—so she thought—helplessly for so long hadn't not had an effect on her; that showed in everything from her heart rate to the depth of her breath. Eventually, Twilight found the two areas she'd been looking for: Dash's gorgeous pair of wings. Her concentration hardened, and their flapping stopped.

"Hey, that tickles! Wha-aah!" The moment Dash could no longer suspend herself, the duo fell the tiny distance down into the warm and clear ocean beneath them. Twilight relaxed for a few moments, enjoying the warm submersion and the few seconds of peaceful silence as she floated there quietly.

The peace was broken as Dash once more struggled and spluttered her way to the surface, returning a moment later to pull Twilight out with her. "I was joking! I wouldn't really have done it!"

"I would," Twilight replied, before sticking her tongue out defiantly. "It's lovely out here, don't you think?"

"Not really," Dash replied. "I hate the water."

"I thought you made Pinkie teach you how to swim after that last time you almost drowned?"

"Well, yeah, but I still don't like it. Eugh, give me a warm updraft over this any day. You don't know what you're missing, Twi. I wish you'd practise that wing spell some more so you could come out flying with me. Rarity had a great time, remember?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. She remembered. "Dash, she almost fell to her death. Anyway, I can't cast spells like that on myself. Too many stages, and doing it on me would break my concentration. I don't mind you carrying me!"

"It's not the same. What about one of those crystal things you keep making, could they do it?"

Twilight pondered, tilting her head to the side. "Maybe. I haven't made one so complicated yet, but that could be a good test. Okay, deal; when we get home I'll give it a try."

"Awesome! Ask nicely and I might even teach you a trick or two," Dash boasted. "I'm th-"

"The best flier in Equestria, I know," Twilight finished Dash's sentence, cutting her ego-trip off before it could properly begin. "Can't fly much right now though, can you?" she teased. The two of them were up to their necks in water, slowly paddling to keep afloat—Dash using her wings for stability, and Twilight completely cheating by holding herself in place magically—and absolutely not rising into the air.

"W- I- no, but that's your fault! I'll dry off pretty quick in this heat," Dash said, starting her paddling back to the coastline. After a few moments she realised she wasn't going anywhere, even given her poor swimming technique. "Uh, could you give me a hoof, Twi?" she asked, looking back at the far more competent—albeit illicitly—swimmer.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not done with you!" Twilight replied, slyly smiling at the drenched pegasus she was holding in place with an absent-minded thought. Lightly concentrating once more, Twilight began to shift the currents between her and her helplessly trapped prey, drawing her closer no matter how much she struggled. Dash began to swim more strongly, beating her heavy wings with all the strength she could muster, but to no avail. "You didn't think I'd let you get away with dumping me in here, did you? I was having a great time reading before you came along," Twilight said as threateningly as she could manage while trying to stifle the giggles from watching her partner's adorable attempts at swimming.

"W- What're you doing?" Dash asked, giving up any attempt to escape and letting the water flow bring her straight into the waiting forelegs of Twilight Sparkle. "You know I don't like the water!" Dash paddled and treaded water as she grew closer. She had to admit that Twilight had a point, not that she would admit it, and that the warm water was quite comfortable once she'd gotten used to it. The lack of flight was still highly problematic, but what was the worst that could happen when Twilight was there?

"Oh, Dash, you're so cute when you're wet," Twilight teased the instant the helpless mare was brought close enough for her to lean forward and whisper into her ear. "It's not often I get you when you can't fight back," she continued, nibbling on the tip of Dash's ear the tiniest bit stronger than she'd usually ever dare.

Dash winced slightly. "What's gotten into you, Twi? You're never this forceful!"

"It's our honeymoon, isn't this what we're meant to do?"

"Well, yeah, but I normally lead!" Dash complained, partially through honest indignation but mostly through the embarrassment of knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop Twilight—save for asking, of course, which she'd never do—and how excited that made her. "C'mon, let's go back to shore and I'll-"

Twilight cut Dash's whining off by plunging their mouths together, pulling her partner's head in with an irresistible magic grip and holding it there while she pushed her tongue around, fighting against Dash's until it gave in and let her explore in a fresh and exciting manner, going where she wanted to go and nowhere else. After a few moments—when Twilight decided—she pulled back and gazed into the floundering pegasus's eyes. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this," she whispered. "I've never gotten the chance before. The moment I so much as blush you'll be pinning me to the floor, or against the bed, or just taking charge. When I'm outside and you've just finished practising, you're the one that swoops down and takes me by surprise."

Twilight leant back in and kissed again, taking an uncharacteristic break from her monologue just to keep Dash on edge. She lightly bit down on Dash's lower lip, not hard enough to break the skin but hard enough that she could hear Dash gasp against her, even though all that air just went straight into Twilight's waiting mouth. "You, Rainbow Dash, are always so strong and commanding, and I think it's time you got some of your own medicine," Twilight whispered, before moving to the side and giving the side of Dash's neck a long, wet lick. "Because I love it."

Rainbow Dash was shocked into silence. This was not the passive, though passionate, lover she knew. Twilight's muzzle forcefully ran over her neck planting kisses and nibbles over its surface. Every few moments, the purple horn would brush against her coat and send a jolt of energy into her body, keeping her on edge and exciting her all the more. Though her rear was completely submerged in the warm ocean, Dash could still feel the heat building up and the telltale sensation of her tail twisting upwards and out of the way. Though Twilight wasn't restraining her in any traditional manner, any attempts she made to move were thwarted; Dash couldn't tell whether it was Twilight was doing that or her own lack of expertise. As Twilight laid a particularly adventurous bite on her collarbone, Dash instinctively gasped and prompted herself into action. "Twi... I didn't mean to smother you or-" She winced and quietly moaned as Twilight lightly sucked on the area of her last bite, soothing the pain but intensifying all the burning longing that was building up in her body. She usually dealt with that in her typical outgoing style—were they on the beach, Twilight would already be pushed half an inch into the sand and hopefully squirming.

"Yes, Dash?" Twilight asked, keeping her face so close to Dash's body that her breath flowed over the needy mare's sensitive skin. The small waves rising around them didn't even appear to register to Twilight, who could apparently keep herself completely aligned without any significant effort. That sort of stability was a skill Dash had taken years to acquire, and to have it used entirely for teasing her sent a flush through her cheeks.

"I should've let you have a turn," Dash managed to gasp out between heavy breaths and the occasional struggle to keep her head above the water. Though she felt sure enough Twilight would save her if anything went wrong, an interrupted sentence apparently didn't count as sufficiently wrong.

"No time like the present."

Dash took a deep breath and immediately clenched her teeth around her lower lip. Even when she took things slow, it had always been her taking things slow—it was slow because she'd made that choice. Not so here. "You know I like it a little faster than that, Twi, right?"

Twilight raised a hoof out of the water and stroked it down the side of the surprisingly straight, but completely sodden rainbow-shaded mane. "I know a lot about what you like," she whispered, "I have a list. Rainbow's Raunchy Reactions. I've been keeping it for a few months now and I think I've got another list of new things you might like."

Dash gulped. "Y- yeah? What like?" she breathlessly replied. Her body felt like it was on fire, and every inch of her skin yearned for something's touch, but no matter how much she tried, she was in no position to take it, as she usually would. She had no choice but to hope Twilight was right when she said she knew what she liked. The thought of putting every last shred of her pleasure into the hooves of another was surprisingly exciting, and not something she'd anticipated—she was Rainbow Dash, she didn't need anybody else to show her how to satisfy her wife, surely?

"This," Twilight replied, bringing her hoof to cradle the side of Dash's face, lingering on her cheek for just a moment before she pushed, sending Dash spinning helplessly in the water. After half a rotation, she grabbed back on and slowed her circling to a stop. She began to slowly massage both of Dash's cutie marks, tracing along their edges with slow and light movements. "Just tell me if I'm being too slow for you," Twilight soothingly said, though she felt certain in her statistics.

Dash's brain screamed at her to reply, "Yes, for Celestia's sake, get on with it!", but her body passionately disagreed. The lightest of Twilight's touches relieved the powerful yearning for just a moment, replacing it with an instant of pure bliss. She knew she couldn't lie to Twilight anyway, even a non-magical examination would show her cheeks flushed so red they threatened to remove her definition as cyan, and even full submersion couldn't hide how clearly her body was aroused. Between the tail that now rose out of the water and her puffy and parted nether lips, anybody could have seen that there was absolutely no reason for Twilight to hurry up.

Twilight grinned at Dash's lack of response. She had known her analysis would be successful—she should publish her techniques, she realised. Though her massage didn't get any harder or faster, a mare as magical as her had plenty of tools to work with.

"Mmngph-" Dash moaned, biting down on her lip in a failed attempt to stifle it, as Twilight encouraged the currents of water to flow against the blue mare's most needy areas. "Twilight, what are you-"

"Shh," Twilight interrupted, moving her massage higher, playing her hooves against Dash's lower back and across her spine. She had, through many hours of practise, achieved a high level of skill at magically inspecting Rainbow Dash's body, though not all of that practise had been strictly academic. Now she used those skills to peer a little below her skin and locate all the tiny pains and knots in her muscles, every scrap of stress and twinge of tension in her body so she could target them as efficiently as possible. Her hooves slowly pressed into Dash's firm and muscular body, prompting grunts, gasps from her completely helpless mouth as her desires were sated, and her body was relaxed.

"Oh, Twilight... why didn't you do this before?" she whispered, relaxing as completely as she possibly could. She hung in the water, floating partially on her own buoyancy and partially with assistance from the many currents Twilight had set flowing against her body. She could feel every one slithering and snaking against her—even given the sensual massage her upper body was receiving, her lower body still begged to be touched. The water was something, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. "You could easily overpower me with that horn of yours."

"You always seemed to be having so much fun I didn't want to interrupt. Not that I wasn't having fun too—oh Celestia are you fun—but I wanted this time to be special. For both of us." Twilight's massage moved up, teasing around the base of Dash's wings and pressing against all her major flight muscles; They felt exhausted—swimming with wings clearly wasn't very efficient—and Dash visibly shuddered with relief as Twilight's hooves began to press against them, pushing and massaging in all the right places to make all the strains go away.

She relaxed even more, letting her head droop down into the water until it submerged up to her nostrils and closing her eyes, and started to lose concentration. Before long, her thoughts were occupied entirely by all the things Twilight was doing to her; the massage that had moved onto her wings and the light currents flowing between her legs providing a low but constant level of stimulation that was just enough to keep her excited and ready without actually ruining it for either of them.

Dash's eyes flew open as a yelp bubbled out of her mouth. "Tw- Twilight, what are you doing?"

"Preening!" Twilight replied, pulling her lips away from the outstretched wing. "I read a book on it! Why, am I doing it wrong? Should I stop?"

"No! That felt great!" Dash exclaimed, "Nopony's done that in years. No offence, but your magic just doesn't feel the same."

Twilight playfully jabbed Dash in the side of the neck with her apparently inferior horn and went back to preening. There weren't many books on the subject, but she'd managed to piece together the basics. Inch by inch she travelled along Dash's wing pulling each misaligned feather back into place or massaging every strained tendon between her lips. It wasn't long before the pampered pegasus began to express her appreciation in the form of quiet moans and tiny shivers as she felt sensations streaming through her wings that she hadn't felt for many years.

It was slow work, however, and Twilight quickly found herself getting bored. That was not a difficult problem to solve when she had a relaxing, still impressively aroused Rainbow Dash floating complacently in front of her. Once more her thoughts travelled out of her body and along to her partner's, tracing over the curves of her rear and the ripples in her muscles, and the way the ocean water rose and fall along those contours. Most importantly, she felt the extra heat radiating out from just below Dash's tail, for though the water was quite mild Dash's passions were anything but.

"Gaah!" Dash exclaimed. She let her groan bubble out to the surface as Twilight's thoughts skimmed past her parted rear lips, sending a sudden gush of water into them. Twilight's head and hooves remained occupied with her wings, and the sensation from that alone was almost overwhelming to the poor pegasus. Twilight did want to make this special, though.

"Still think my magic doesn't feel as good?" Twilight teasingly whispered, running a translucent tendril over Dash's submerged slit. Before she even had a chance to assemble a response, the tendril returned, pushing a little inside as it stroked downwards once more. Twilight's assault became unending; every moment not filled with pleasure streaming in from her wings was saturated by the passion emanating from behind.

It took all of Dash's concentration to simply shake her head. Whether she wanted to or not—and she did—she had no choice but to submit to Twilight's will and desires. More groans bubbled out from her mouth as she let Twilight's attentions overwhelm her, alternately overcome by the two distinct sources of ecstasy currently ravaging her.

Far too quickly, Twilight finished one wing and slowly swam around to the next. As she paddled around, her magic finger went into overdrive to compensate for the lack of preening. Instead of merely stroking a centimetre or so deep, it began to slowly slide deeper, expanding all the time to fill Dash's hole. Dash's back arched in pleasure as the tool wormed its way inside, squirming from side to side as it delved yet another inch inside, and her eyes scrunched closed as the sudden intensification overwhelmed her.

Twilight couldn't resist taking a look as she paddled past the pleasured pegasus's beautiful face, marvelling at the depth of emotion visible. Her lips were kept a few centimetres apart, widening a little to let out a tiny groan or little moan every few seconds as the ghostly tentacle began to slide herself in another time. Her eyelids were kept shut, looking so peaceful she could have been sleeping, were it not for the heavy breathing. Her legs floated idly beneath her—she'd long since delegated all floatation matters to Twilight.

The unicorn stopped swimming. There were many things she thought impossible in the world, and it turned out that passing Dash by when she looked like that was one of them. In a single smooth motion, Twilight pushed herself closer and grasped Dash's cheeks between her hooves, pulling her head out of the water and kissing her.

Dash's eyes slid half open to stare back into Twilight's as she locked them into a long and slow embrace, even while speeding up her activities behind. She felt every thrust through the tiny twinges and spasms of Dash's tongue as she scraped against it with her own, and the sudden gasps or rushes of hot air as she pulled out or plunged in, respectively.

Twilight pulled back, lingering for an instant longer on Dash's lower lip, taking her time. "I love you," she whispered.

"I- I love... you," Dash spluttered out between forced groans. Twilight's ravaging of her rear had accelerated to the point she could barely think, never mind speak coherent sentences, and had the concept been anything less self-evident than her love for a Sparkle she wouldn't have managed it at all. "H- Harder?" she grunted.

Twilight grinned and paddled a foot or so further back. That wasn't the sort of request she could deny. The desperately pleasured pegasus found herself resting against a wall of magical energy that kept her in place even as the magical pounding behind increased in both speed and ferocity. She cried out as the semitransparent feeler plunged deep into her yet again, writhing and twisting inside of her and filling her up in ways no ordinary object ever could. The water currents shifted and changed, sending liquid flowing over her now very sensitive clitoris for constant and unending stimulation.

Dash's mind blanked out as the sensations began to mix inside her body. Her flesh's yearnings slowly began to be replaced by a slow surge of bliss spreading outwards from her well-tended to slit, overtaking her body and mind. Every thrust and stroke Twilight made sent a shiver of joy through every muscle she had, from the tips of her hooves to her very last feather. The pleasure spread through her like an unstoppable cold-front leaving storms in its wake, and far too quickly it slipped over the few remaining barriers of her mind, flooding her with boundless ecstasy. Her voice rang out across the ocean, likely travelling for miles before simply fading away with only one other soul around to hear it.

The sensation began to fade and the clouding of her mind started to simmer. Before it could vanish completely, however, her hind flared again and her body rocked with sensation once more, spiking through her mind even more powerfully than the first time. Dash's screams cried out as loudly as she was capable and her hooves struck helplessly against the water as she tried to distract herself from the overwhelming and mind-blowing orgasm that felt so good she didn't even know how to deal with it.

As that faded, yet another spread throughout her form, taking her to even higher planes. Her voice cracked mid-scream as she groaned herself raw, too lost in pleasure to even care. Twilight didn't stop, sending orgasm after orgasm through the cyan pony's body until she was finally completely exhausted and incapable of more.

She collapsed, letting every muscle in her body fall completely idle as Twilight held her just above the water, letting her recover of her own accord.

Twilight paddled over, leaned in, and kissed Dash lightly on the end of the nose. "That's what you do to me every day, Dash."

"Man," Dash breathlessly whispered, "I'm good." She then promptly fell unconscious.

An hour or so later—at least as far as Dash could tell from the changed position of the sun—the exhausted pegasus awoke, finding herself lying sprawled out on the beach not far from their cottage. Twilight lay a few meters away reading one of the many books Dash had tried convincing her not to bring with a cold drink hovering a few inches from her head. Her mane was still soaking wet, though the rest of her body was now dry. Staring at those engaged, excited, educated eyes set against a gorgeous face and fantastic body reminded Dash of exactly why she felt the need to marry that mare.

"Hey," she croaked. She coughed a few times. "Ugh, what's up with my throat, I feel like I just flew through a stormcloud."

"Here, drink some of this-" Twilight moved her drink over to Dash's lips and prompted her to take a few sips- "It'll help. The groaning does that to you, I think it's worth it." Twilight set her book down, noting the page number in her head, and walked over.

"You get this every time? Why didn't you say something, I could have gone easier on you!" Dash hoarsely whispered.

"Because," Twilight replied, leaning down to nuzzle the side of Dash's neck, "I don't want you to go easy on me. Besides, I'm used to it by now."

"Ugh, my everything hurts," Dash moaned—though unfortunately for her, not the kind of moaning that caused the problem. "How do you put up with me?"

Twilight sat down next to her and leaned, resting her body against the pained pegasus. Dash stretched a wing over her in return, hoping she could distract herself with a bit of Twilight. "You really aren't used to this, are you?" Twilight asked.

"No! I mean, I usually get off just fine, but nowhere near as hard as that. That was... so awesome."

"Like the ocean a bit more now?"

"No, but I like you."

"Pff. Come on, we should get out of this sun for a while. Celestia left us some board games I've been wanting to try."

"Are you serious? Board games? Me?"

"Think you're up to doing anything more exerting?"

"Good point. I uh... you're gonna have to carry me, I think."

"Earth pony three to D4!" Dash said, speaking aloud to the game board in front of them. The piece in question, a spectacularly detailed rendition of a hornless and wingless equine, slid a few tiles over as if by magic.

Twilight, providing complete contrast to her more outgoing other half as per usual, had her muzzle stuck in the rulebook. That the board wouldn't allow you to command an illegal move didn't seem to matter to her, she had to understand what made the game tick. She flicked through page after page, speed-reading sections from How to play to Winning conditions.

"You gonna move? My pieces are getting bored."

"Uh, one moment, Dash. I'm not sure whether I should make one of my pegasi start changing the weather or start to set up magic research," she absent mindedly said, still flicking through the various different ways she could score points.

"Uh, I don't think you're meant to give your strategy away, Twi. Put that book down, I'm banning you from reading."

Twilight lowered the book and stared. "You can't ban me from reading."

"Yeah I can-" Dash leaned forward and bit the top of the book, yanking it out of Twilight's grip and throwing it to the side- "It's unfair if you know all the rules and I don't!"

"Ugh, fine. Pegasus two to cloud layer. Who knew Ponies and Parties could be so complex? Maybe we should get Pinkie to start running some game nights."

"Unicorn five to the dance floor!" Dash exclaimed, pumping her hoof in the air victoriously. "Ah- ow! Shouldn't've done that," she grunted an instant later, having once more coerced her aching muscles into doing something they didn't want to do.

Twilight brushed a few strands of mane out of her eyes and inspected the board. "Well, looks like you won," she said, clearly disappointed. "I guess I shouldn't have underestimated you."

"Of course I won, I always win!" Dash boasted.

Twilight thought back to their scrabble night. Night, singular. It happened once. Never again. Between the misspellings and words that simply flat out did not exist, Rainbow Dash had proved she was not a good scrabble player. She chose not to mention it. "Congratulations. Having more things to do that aren't flying'll help when you're stuck at home looking after a foal," Twilight joked.

Dash coughed and spluttered for a few moments and ended up nearly falling off of her chair. "Wha- what? Twilight, where'd that come from?!"

"What? I was just joking, that's all!"

"You don't say things like that unless you've been thinking about them!"

"I guess!" Twilight replied, "The idea has crossed my mind, but it's ridiculous."

"Completely impossible," Dash agreed.

"It just couldn't work."

"We're both mares!"

"And we both work too hard."

"It couldn't ever work," Dash reiterated, shaking her head emphatically.

Twilight was silent for a few moments. "You've thought about it too, haven't you?" she eventually said, staring across the table at Dash, who was now visible flustered.

"I- Yeah," Dash admitted. She sighed and slumped forward against the table. "It couldn't ever work though, could it?" she said dejectedly.

Twilight sighed and joined her. "I dunno. Probably not; I don't think either of us have time."

"When do magic researchers retire?"

"Starswirl published his last spell on the day he died."

"Figured."

"Wonderbolts don't fly forever too, do they?" Twilight asked, walking around the table to sit next to her.

"Nah, but that won't be for... forever. That's a long time to wait."

Twilight nuzzled Dash in the side of her neck. "Worth it, though. They'll better get your eyes."

"Your brains, though, egghead—Celestia help them if they get mine. Gotta have wings, though!"

"Oh no, I've had enough of pegasus babies from sitting the Cakes' twins with Pinkie. They're even harder to control than you are. We're having a unicorn."

"Yeah yeah, we'll see," Dash replied, wrapping her wing around Twilight's body and squeezing tight. "You'll look good fatter."

Twilight nervously laughed. "No, you will. I'll have work to do. Think of it as an excuse to sleep in places people would usually shout at you for!"

"Ugh, fine," Dash jokingly replied. "So long as I get to hold her first!"

"Deal."

They sat there happy in each other's embrace, and the fantasy they'd created, for a few more moments before reality began to seep back in. "A long way off, though," Twilight whispered.

"Plenty of time for practise, then," Dash replied, lifting her wing and using it to twist Twilight's head up to her own for a kiss. Far from her usual forceful and dominant embrace, this was slower and more passive. Twilight took the hint and kissed back, no faster but with more focussed direction, leading the two of their tongues around in a passionate dance. Finally, she pulled away.

"It won't work like that," Twilight whispered, "We'll have to do it magically. Can't really practise that."

"Don't care. I won the game, you don't get to disagree with me now," Dash happily replied.

"Fine, let's practise," Twilight replied. There was no use arguing the point, especially if it was something standing between her and what Dash wanted to practise on her.

"Okay, so... what do you normally do?"

"Huh? Dash, we've done this enough times, you know what to do."

"Yeah, but... what you did out there—in the water—was something else. I guess I'm kinda in the mood to try it your way now. I know I always enjoy whatever it is you do even if I kinda... drift off."

"You are such an oaf." Twilight tapped her collarbone with a hoof. "Start here, work down. If something feels... natural, then do it."

"Gotcha!" Dash grinned and turned towards her, before lunging forward and pinning them both to the floor. She started to kiss the very point Twilight had prompted her to, and moved downwa-

"No, Dash! Get off!" Twilight's horn flared and the enthusiastically forward pegasus found herself suspended in mid-air.

"What? Did I do something wrong? Are you okay? Did you hit something when you fell?"

"No, yes, no," Twilight replied. "You did fine—your way. I don't pounce."

"Yeah, you do. Sometimes. I like it when you do."

Twilight's cheeks reddened as she realised Dash was right. She had occasionally, whether purposefully or accidentally, done something that could under certain lights be referred to as pouncing. "Okay fine, but I don't mean to! It's not like me."

The levitating pegasus shrugged. "You should do it more. I won't bite. Well, ma-" Twilight cut Dash's sentence off by letting her drop from her magical pedestal straight down onto her. Dash grunted as she picked herself up. "What was that for?"

Before Twilight could answer, Dash pounced—as herself, this time—and grabbed Twilight's ear between her teeth, biting down on it just hard enough for it to hurt a tiny bit.

"Ow!" Twilight squeaked. "I wouldn't do that!"

Dash bit again, moving a little further down each time as Twilight squirmed and flinched between her teeth. "Maybe you should," Dash replied a few seconds later. "Good day for trying something new." She leant down to Twilight's neckline and gave it a similar treatment, chomping down hard enough that Twilight would yelp with the sudden pain, but not hard enough that it would be more uncomfortable then pleasurable.

Rainbow Dash knew exactly what she was doing. She wasn't trying to get Twilight off, and she wasn't trying to sate any of her own desires. She was teasing, baiting, and nothing else. Her forehooves rubbed along Twilight's body, an inch or so away from any of her favourite spots. Close enough to get the unfortunately submissive mare excited, but far enough away that that excitement would end unfulfilled. Within a few minutes, Twilight's cheeks were flushed and she was biting her lower lip in anticipation. Her body was screaming at her for more so loudly that Dash could have sworn she heard it at the edge of her hearing, and she knew she could see all her favourite signs of arousal, from the closed eyes to the open slit.

Twilight eventually sighed and opened her eyes. "Dash, are you doing this on purpose? You're normally much better."

"Why don't you show me?" she shot back.

"You always lead!"

"Yeah, and what a great job I'm doing of it, huh?" Dash replied, biting down on the side of Twilight's foreleg much harder than before. Not arousing in the slightest, closer to painful.

"Ow! Well if that's how you want it..." Twilight warned, getting that glint in her eye that meant either "Run" or "Don't even bother running", depending on whether you were on her bad side or her very very good side. A fraction of a second later, Rainbow Dash was pinned against the floor and Twilight was standing up and unruffling her coat. "You didn't really think you could actually overpower me, did you?" Twilight giggled and sat down on Dash's stomach.

"I know you'd never do anything to hurt me," Dash replied. "Unless I asked for it."

Twilight leant down and nipped the tip of Dash's ear between her teeth, feeling the blue pegasus cringe at the pain. "Are you sure, Dash? This doesn't really seem like your style."

"Yeah, you really opened my eyes this morning, Twi. I still sorta ache from that, though, so uh... a bit lighter this time."

Twilight moved over and kissed Dash on the end of the nose. "Anything you say." The magical bonds released and Dash found herself rather more able to move.

"Hey, what gives? I thought you were-"

"Shh," Twilight whispered, cutting her off. "It's not really me leading if I'm just doing what you ask, is it?"

"Well, I guess, but-"

"Good! Okay then, from the start." Twilight tapped a familiar spot on her shoulder, prompting Dash to slither up to her and plant a rather more cautious kiss on her collarbone. She remembered Twilight's advice—if it feels natural, do it—and moved an inch along to give the next spot along her neck the same treatment. She continued moving around, letting Twilight's reactions—the gasps and noises escaping from between her lips, the shivers that ran through her body, the heat radiating off of her, and the longing, yearning look in her eyes—guide her motions. Though she'd done similar things before, they'd always been on her terms. This was different; Twilight was guiding her, even if it was subconsciously.

After a few cycles back and forth along Twilight's shoulders, Dash decided to start moving down; Twilight's reactions were starting to fade and her interest was beginning to wane. Her body's twinges immediately returned to full strength as her attentive partner's lips and tongue explored down her chest and stomach, leaving a thin trail of saliva behind that helped as a salve to her needs.

"Mmm... I'd do that bit more," Twilight moaned in response to Dash's lips flicking over the nipple of one of her teats. The mound of flesh burned with a cold desperation to be touched, and there was only one pony who could touch them.

"You've never done that before," Dash whispered back. "What if I do it wrong?"

"You don't like it, I do. You'll do fine, just follow what feels good."

Dash returned to Twilight's body, wrapping her lips around the stiff nipple and licking around it. Twilight's reactions gave her all the instruction she needed—if it made her squirm, do more of it. Twilight squirmed and fidgeted while Dash's attentions wreaked havoc over her body, sending sparks of bliss through her seemingly at her partner's whim. It built up in her body, adding to all the previous teasing and tempting and all the unspent arousal from their morning activities to overwhelm her, and before long at all Twilight didn't want any of the minor pleasures.

"D- Dash, enough. More... I need more."

The pegasus didn't wait for further instruction. She'd been able to smell Twilight's intense and increasing arousal ever since she reached her stomach, and the scent had been driving her wild all that time. The floor beneath them was already damp and sticky from Twilight's uncared-for emissions and Dash couldn't think of much better than burying her muzzle between Twilight's legs and slurping for all she was worth.

So she did.

"Y- yeah, that's it," Twilight moaned, letting Dash's tongue slaver over her while it scraped over her body, filling it with glee and brushing for just the tiniest moment against her clit. It was like opening the gates from the ocean outside, and soon Dash could have sworn she was underwater once more. The fluids flowed over her snout and into her mouth, but she kept licking, probing a little deeper every time she returned. "Oh, Celestia, I love you Dash!" Twilight gasped. Her body arched and shook as Dash's lips pressed against the most sensitive parts of her anatomy, and her tongue was squeezed between her thick, warm inner walls.

Twilight lifted her hindlegs and wrapped them around Dash's neck, squeezing them to push her further in. "More!" she gasped, feeling her partner's lips press against her sensitive button, filling her with a blissful sensation and a burning need to have more of this mare inside of her. Dash responded favourably, trying her best to delve deeper and wring every last drop of pleasure out of the purple folds not without considerable success.

Twilight gasped and groaned as the feelings overcame her, spreading out from her rear to cover her entire body in a blanket of ecstasy. She scrunched her eyes closed and squeezed her hindlegs as tight as she could, holding Dash in place while her body contracted around her and drenched the rest of her face in hot, sticky fluid. She screamed, knowing there was nobody else around to hear it, as she finally lost control of her body and fell to the side, releasing Dash's head as she went.

"Pretty sure that's what you do to me every time," Dash said.

"Man, I'm good," Twilight said, and promptly fell unconscious.

Rainbow Dash sat up and licked her lips. "Mmm," she moaned, approving of both taste and texture, and, after checking to make sure Twilight was completely under, returned to her inner thighs for a little cleanup.

Some time later, Twilight awoke. Dash had dragged her up onto one of the larger padded chairs immediately outside of the cottage so she could wake in the evening sun. Uncharacteristically, Dash had one of Twilight's books resting on the floor beneath her, which she was slowly reading. Twilight watched in awe as her partner's eyes slowly made their way across the page, finally culminating in an awkward struggle to turn the page with her nose.

"Do you understand a word of that?" Twilight asked, pointing to the copy of Advanced Horncraft: Mysterious Mixtures and Forging Fluids.

"Nope," Dash cheerfully replied, closing the book—without even bothering to note down her place—and putting it to the side. "But I like the pictures. This is where you got all that water stuff earlier from, isn't it?"

"Some of it," Twilight admitted. "The sex was my idea, though."

"Okay, you're unbanned from reading," Dash joked. "Don't make me regret it!"

Twilight rose and stumbled over to where Dash was sitting, bolstering her shaking legs with a little magical support until she could lie down alongside. "I think my legs have gone funny."

"Yeah, that happens most times. Why do you think I always fly afterwards?"

"You always fly anyway."

Dash paused. "Yeah, okay. You'll get used to it."

Twilight looked out across the island at the view Dash had chosen. "It's... beautiful," she whispered a moment later. The whole island stretched out before them, from the beaches at their side to the hills at the far end. The sun, though it was far from night, was already starting to slide beneath those hills, giving them an unexpected but not unappreciated sunset.

"I'll fly us to that mountain later so we can catch a bit more light," Dash promised.

"Thanks, Dash. You're so thoughtful these days."

"I've kinda had to be. I owe you so much, it just wouldn't be fair to not make every day special. I don't deserve you, Twi, but I do love you."

"I'm glad you've got me anyway, then," Twilight replied. "And I love you too."

--Weather Report (Interlude/Recap)

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

End Of Part One

Nine months and two days have passed since Rainbow Dash finally revealed the true depth of her feelings for Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, student, and scholar she now calls her wife. They had been friends for many years before that, standing side by side to face challenges and adversaries with strong wills. Together with their other four friends, they comprised the six Bearers of Harmony—Equestria's protectors and heroes, even if the population didn't really pay as much attention to them as they'd like.

They were such capable protectors that when the time came that Rainbow Dash's emotions could finally no longer be kept in check, there was nothing left to protect against. Equestria's enemies were either vanquished or knew better than to attack, and the citizens lived in peace and prosperity. A new golden age was dawning, and it was destined to not be enough for any of them.

Nine months and one day ago, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash set out to tackle the rest of their journey together. It was a rocky start, leaving Twilight physically vulnerable and unsure of her own emotions, and Dash emotionally vulnerable, though sure of hers. Pinkie Pie was the first of their friends to find out about their coupling, and since then she's proven herself as an immeasurably useful friend time and time again.

The first troubles hit soon after they began. Years of emotional isolation on both sides lead to an explosive need to be together, leading to the inevitable—changing houses every day was unworkable for either of their schedules. The worst affected was perhaps Cloud Kicker, one of the ponies Dash delegated her weather squad management work to. Tensions began to rise as the stress hit both of them.

The only solution was for Dash to move in, joining Twilight in her treehouse. Moving all of Rainbow Dash's things was a snap when they worked side by side—not that Dash had a great quantity of possessions anyway.

Living together only came with a new set of problems, however. Newly distracted, Twilight began to slip on things she'd thought unshakable—her relationships with her friends, including her oldest—Spike. Initially laying the blame at Dash's hooves, Twilight soon realised the true problem after moving Spike into his very own bedroom—located far out of earshot of her own—and seeing how well he and Rainbow Dash really got on.

Twilight was the problem. Rainbow Dash inspired herself to not forget anybody by promising herself she wouldn't do it when she was a Wonderbolt either. All that revelation inspired in Twilight Sparkle was a knowledge that while her daily schedule had set breaks for daydreaming, she didn't have a life goal any more.

Rainbow Dash got her first chance to prove she was more than just a pretty face that night, promising Twilight that whatever path she decided to take she'd be right there by her side. For the first time, Twilight began to wonder if knowing exactly where you were going was as important as knowing who you were going there with.

Rainbow Dash's promises to not forget looked like they were to be tested earlier than she'd anticipated as Twilight discovered the date of the next Wonderbolts try-out, and organised a trip for them and their friends before Dash had a chance to object. Nerves came close to getting the better of her as she stood in the line for registration, and only the quick thinking and care of the one unicorn that stayed queuing with her through endless hours of baking sun stopped her from flying somewhere—anywhere—else.

Twilight's encouragement and love did more than inspire Dash to do something she'd tried, and failed, before. They made her realise that those feelings were coming from her heart, not a book on How To Inspire. For the first time, Twilight realised that she might think about the pegasus before her as strongly as she felt back.

Immediately afterwards, Rainbow Dash took both of them to see somewhere special to her. Her favourite cloud floated on the outskirts of Cloudsdale, and atop it she'd had her first kiss. Atop it, she thanked Twilight honestly for helping her reach the heights she never could have alone, and expressed just how much the unicorn meant to her.

The following day, Rainbow Dash took part in the try-outs, leaving her five friends anxiously waiting outside. The sound and spectacle of a Sonic Rainboom put an end to their worrying, but soon after Dash left the stadium with a sullen look on her face. Though she'd proven once again she had more than enough skill to be a Wonderbolt, they had no openings and she was simply placed at the top of the reserve list. Though Twilight tried her best to cheer Dash up, it was a pain that could only be dulled, not eradicated.

No longer seeing the need for her Weather Squad position, Dash filed her resignation shortly after, letting Cloud Kicker finally take over the role in name as well as function. During the times Dash was either hard at work practising or sleeping, Twilight busied herself exploring new areas of magical research. Unfortunately, practise and sleep couldn't take up all of Dash's time, often leaving her bored and restless. A restless Rainbow Dash was a problem for everybody, and Twilight's only option was to draft Dash in as her glamorous assistant.

The move proved worthwhile shortly afterwards, as an experimental teleport spell put Twilight very high above the ground with no easy way down. As much as that drew Dash's protective anger, it wasn't until another experiment put Twilight in hospital for days, leaving Dash—and the doctors—clueless as to when, or indeed if, she would recover that Dash had finally had enough. She banned Twilight from self-experimentation and took her place, hoping to force her into performing safer science.

Whether that succeeded or failed, the end result was the same. Twilight's next experiment was an overwhelming success, albeit one with hugely over engineered safety precautions. Twilight had created a pair of crystals that could teleport a pony—any pony—between two points without any need for a unicorn's intervention. The applications were obvious even to Rainbow Dash, who suggested Twilight take her discovery to the highest magical authority—the Corral of the Wise.

The Corral promptly rejected the very idea. While Twilight was all-but ready to give in and accept it, Dash wouldn't let her. She flew them to Canterlot the very next day. After a little minor unpleasantness with the receptionist, Twilight managed to see the Corral and, after a little coercion and a lot of shouting, convinced them to take her seriously and proved she was in the right. They sent her away with new orders to better research the effects.

A short while later, both Dash and Twilight wanted to do something nice for each other, but had very different ideas on how to go about it. Dash took Twilight to the Equestrian Fair—the largest of its kind—where she won a small stuffed bear, introduced Twilight to the wonders of cloud candy, and proposed. Soon after, they were wed.

Save for a week best left private—their honeymoon, on a deserted island some way off Equestria's main coastline—that brings us to the present day. It's been a long journey for both of them, and it hasn't always been easy. Now, however, they both know where they want to be, who they want to get there with, and are well on their way to being there. Now, everything seems like it's going to be smooth sailing from here on in.

But appearances can be deceptive.

Thunderclap

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: Two years, six months later

The bell above the door jingled, filling the main room of Sugarcube Corner with a sweet melody. Pinkie Pie had come to know it as the sound of either friends or profit—most likely both. A small gem set into the kitchen wall repeated the noise, ensuring that she could hear it even while in the midst of a long baking session. “One minute,” she called, and began to put the finishing touches onto a tray of newly baked cupcakes. They were orange and adorned with slices of apple. They were not for sale; they were hers.

“Hi! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, where the real sweetie is yo- oh, hello Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie bounced through into the main room with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. “How're the foals?”

Mrs. Cup Cake stood immediately before the counter, inspecting the selection of tasty treats under her nose with great interest. Pinkie couldn't help but notice the look of indecision on her face, or the freshly licked lips. “Just take one, on the house!” Pinkie said, pushing the trays closer to her.

“Oh dear, I couldn't. I wouldn't want to start eating your profits already, Pinkie! Anyway, if I get too fat I'll have to diet again.” She stifled a laugh with her forehoof.

“Don't be silly, Mrs. Cake! You look fine, and I could never repay you properly anyway! Try the doughnuts, they're my own recipe!”

“Well, just this once can't hurt… Anyway, dear, how many times have I told you, call me Cup.”

“Nope! You'll always be Mrs. Cake to me,” Pinkie jumped over the counter in one smooth motion to nuzzle what was practically her adoptive parent. “I mean it. I could never repay you—either of you.”

“Don't mention it, Pinkie. Your happiness is all we've ever wanted.”

“Oh, I am! I have everything I've ever wanted.” The gleeful edge to her voice wavered slightly, “Well, almost.” She bounced back over the counter, once more taking her place selling sugar, sweets, and happiness to the citizens of Ponyville. “So how are Pound and Pumpkin? Can I come visit soon?”

“Of course, dear! Any time, just pop in, they'll be glad to see you. Why, Pound was asking after his Auntie Pinkie not more than a week ago! They grow up so fast.”

“Yeah…” Pinkie smiled, recalling how small they'd been just a few short years ago.

“You have too, Pinkie.”

“Huh? Nah, I'm just Pinkie Pie, same as ever!”

“You're too modest, dear. Why, before the kids were born we could barely trust you with watching over the shop for an afternoon. Now you're running it. I'm so proud of you, dear.”

“Thanks. Ooh, try one of these cookies, too! I made them specially for some of my friends!” Pinkie pointed over to one of the trays; Purple cookies with blue icing generously applied to the top. The tag stuck to the end of the tray read True Love—1 bit each.

“I'd love to, but I really must be off. I was only popping by to make sure you were getting on okay.”

“I'm fine, Mrs. Cake. I'm absolutely fine.”

The older mare smiled. She grabbed one of the previously proffered doughnuts and turned to depart, leaving Pinkie alone in the shop once more. “Hm, almost mid-afternoon,” Pinkie noted, checking the clock on the room's far side, “I'd better eat something before the lunchtime rush, right Gummy?”

Gummy blinked.

“You're so right, Gummy! I'm surrounded by things to eat!” Pinkie grabbed one of the less popular items from one of the more awkward to reach trays and carried it through to her kitchen, experimentation chamber, and break room. However, before she'd managed even a modest bite, she heard the familiar sound of the bell chime once again. “Forget something?” she asked, hoping Mrs. Cake had decided to take her up on her offer of True Love.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Jeez, Pinkie, I know I haven't been around in a while but that doesn't mean I've forgotten you. Is this a bad time?”

Pinkie gasped. “No! No, I thought you were somepony else! Now's fine—want a cookie? I made them specially for you!”

“Heh, I'll pass. Gotta watch my figure.” Dash half-smiled for an instant, then her face returned to something unreadable. Her eyes were slanted in concern, but quivered as if she were trying to hide her typical bravado.

“Yeah, I guess they can't have a house flying in the Wonderbolts, huh?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Dash replied with an almost bitter sounding laugh. “So, hey, can we talk?”

“Of course we can talk, Dash. I've barely seen you for months; we have so much to catch up on! How's training? Everything you thought it'd be? How are you and Twilight, I've barely seen her either! Say, do you still talk to Applejack much, because I've bar-” Pinkie froze. Her ears dropped and she finished her sentence at barely a whisper- “barely talked to her.” Pinkie sighed. “I guess we're just all so busy these days.”

“I guess,” Dash dismissively replied. “That's not really what I wanted to talk about. Have you seen Twilight much lately?”

“Nuh-uh.” Pinkie shook her head. “Not since they opened the neckasorus.”

“Nexus,” Dash harshly corrected. “Sorry, Twilight's drilled the word into my head.” They were silent for a few moments. Pinkie, of course, had things to say, but Dash's face told her that whatever was coming next wasn't easy for the pegasus. “H- hey, can you close up for a minute? I kinda need this to be private.”

“Sure, Dash.” Pinkie walked over to the door and pushed the Open sign around to Closed. Nobody would disturb them now. “What's wrong?”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Maybe I should start from the beginning?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Okay. Y'know, everything seemed like it was going so well. I was… We were happy. Twi had her research and I had my practising and my helping her with her research, and Spike was spending more time out of the house so we uh, we never really got much research done. Everything was great- no, better than great. Everything was perfect.” Dash sighed and sat down on the floor.

Pinkie handed her one of her special cookies and sat a few feet away, listening intently. Dash's use of past tense was starting to scare her.

“Then everything changed, almost overnight. Twilight woke me up one morning with the latest edition of Equestrian Fliers Monthly and the big story was all about Fleetfoot's sudden retirement. My initiation ceremony was a week later. A week after that Twilight got news from Canterlot that they wanted to build a travel network using her teleport rock things. That's where it all started going wrong, I think.”

“What do you mean, Dash? Are you and Twilight okay?”

“I dunno, Pinkie. She barely talks to me anymore, and when she does she doesn't look up from her work. And this cookie just tastes bitter.”

“Can I… help?”

Dash shook her head. “I just wanted somepony to talk to about it. You know you've always been my best friend, I just didn't know who else I could…” Dash trailed off. “Look, forget it. I shouldn't have come here, this isn't your problem.”

“Dash! You're my friend, of course it's my problem! I just want to see you happy, that's all.”

Dash shook her head and turned to leave. Before Pinkie could do more than raise a foreleg to stop her, Rainbow Dash had proved once more that she was the fastest pony in the room, and left it. The gust of wind from her wings blew the sign on the door back around to Open as if fate itself thought that Pinkie was going to leave it at that.

“I'm going to get to the bottom of this.” Pinkie shook her head. “You coming, Gummy?”

Gummy blinked.

“Suit yourself.”

As the door slammed shut a second time, the sign read Closed. Pinkie didn't know where Dash had gone, but she knew where Twilight would be. Pinkie moved through the lunchtime crowds with a purpose, bouncing over those ponies shorter than her and slipping under those that dwarfed her. The modern Ponyville crowd was even more diverse than it had been just a few months prior, housing ponies from all ends of Equestria. Pinkie uncharacteristically ignored the new faces as she made her way to the town's public library; old friends came before new friends.

The sign on the treehouse's door read Closed. Pinkie opened it anyway and set foot inside a darkened room. Books were strewn across the floor and the shelves seemed disorderly and unmaintained. Pinkie looked over to the section marked A and gasped in horror as she spotted a book by an author called Bluebell. Something seemed very wrong.

“We're closed!” Twilight snapped. Her voice echoed through the tree, disguising her true location. “Please come back later.”

“Twilight, it's me! Pinkie Pie! Hello!”

“Oh, hello.” Twilight echoed through the room, “What can I do for you, Pinkie?”

“Oh, I just wanted to talk to you!”

“Can it wait? I'm very busy.”

“It's about Dashie,” Pinkie said, calling out to a location unknown. A moment later, Twilight appeared before her in a brief flash of light. Her mane was unkempt and her eyes looked tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. “You look exhausted, Twilight.”

“I'm fine.” Twilight straightened her mane with a quick application of magic and closed the door behind Pinkie, plunging them into near-darkness. A second later, her horn lit up, soon followed by the candles littered around the room. “I'm just busy, as you can see. I've-” Twilight paused to yawn- “got a lot of books to read and a lot of things to manage. What did you want, is Dash okay?”

“I don't know, she seemed really stressed and I haven't seen her for ages,” Pinkie said, ending her sentence with a sigh. “Or you. What happened to us, Twi?”

“I don't know, Pinkie, when was the last time you threw us a party? That used to be a weekly event at least.”

Pinkie Pie sighed, thinking back to the last time she'd had time for an excuse-free party. “You're right, I should throw one tonight! That'll fix everything!”

“Too busy, sorry. There's a huge shipment of grain coming in from Manehatten that needs to get to Cloudsdale and they still haven't gotten their crystal fully set up. I'd have gone myself, but I don't have the time.”

“Tomorrow?”

“The Canterlot railway line is moving to one journey a day; I'm anticipating higher usage and need to stick around to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“Any time this week? Next?”

“Sorry, Pinkie.”

“O- okay, that's okay! We'll have the party here!”

Twilight shook her head. “Too many distractions. I'm getting behind just talking to you, Pinkie; I have three different projects and a contract that need to be finished by tomorrow. It won't last, things will get smoother and then everything'll be o-” Twilight stumbled mid-sentence and the candles around the room flickered and dimmed. Twilight's horn sparked softly, providing the room's only source of light.

Pinkie immediately moved forward to catch the falling unicorn. “Twilight! Are you okay?”

“Y- yeah. That keeps happening, haven't had time to track it down. Probably not important. I really need to get back to work, Pinkie, if you don't mind…” Twilight stretched her hoof out towards the door, which swung open at her command.

“Twilight, I'm your friend, I could help.”

“Celestia damnit, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted. “I don't need help, I just need time! I can do this on my own! I don't need anypony else, I've never needed anypony else! Just get o-” Twilight's voice faltered and returned as barely a whisper- “just leave me be. Just give me time. Why won't anypony leave me alone? Between constant interruptions from ponies like you, Dash snapping at everything I say, and Celestia sending me letters I just don't have time for I don't know what to do!”

“Remember when you first got here, and Applejack wouldn't accept any help bucking apples? She didn't think she needed help either.”

“Out!” Twilight yelled. She scrunched her eyes shut, her horn flared, and an instant later Pinkie found herself on the far side of the door. It slammed shut an instant later. Before Pinkie could run back inside, the surface of the tree took on a translucent red sheen as Twilight cast a protective charm across the whole structure. Pinkie Pie didn't know a great deal about magic, but she did know that there weren't many things that could breech that sort of shield, even when cast in anger.

Defeated, Pinkie slinked home. The lunch rush was over and she could at least walk without drawing attention to herself. You aren't going to let this stop you, are you, Pinkie? she thought to herself.

“Of course not!” Pinkie replied, utterly silently. Pinkie's conversations with herself were for her ears only. She opened the door to Sugarcube Corner and slipped inside. The sign remained firmly Closed. Cakes and cookies were all well and good, but they couldn't solve this particularly friendship emergency.

So what're you gonna do about it, huh?

“I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out! They're my friends, I have to!”

Well, think fast, Pinkie's reflection got up and walked away. A few seconds later, her normal, less talkative reflection reappeared. It properly mirrored her actions, watching obediently as Pinkie looked through her cupboards for something—anything—that could help in the current situation. She found nothing.

“I wish you wouldn't do that,” Pinkie said aloud, to nobody in particular.

I know, I can hear your thoughts.

“You are my thoughts!”

Pinkie got impression of a shrug, though of course she had nothing to see to confirm it. Pinkie's subconscious often had ideas—many of which had come in useful and some of which she'd never have thought of—but it was still just her. Twilight had once mentioned that talking to oneself was a sign of insanity.

We're not crazy, we're just friends!

Pinkie—and her subconscious—giggled. It was a short lived laugh, however, as Pinkie fell back on her haunches, having exhausted her room's supply of assorted stuff and having found nothing of use. This was a friendship emergency that couldn't be solved even by the pike of happiness, and she didn't have a single suitable ammunition for the party cannon.

“I'm going to need help on this one, Gummy.”

“I know, darling, but what can I do about it?” Rarity mumbled around the selection of pins she held between her lips. She was hard at work sewing her latest design; its popularity had surprised even her and the demand was leaving her exhausted. “I can't even keep up with my own problems, never mind everypony else's. Anyway, those two are simply storybook, this is a blip, I'm sure of it.”

“But Rarity, she seemed really angry! Twilight, angry! At me!”

“Celestia forbid, Pinkie.” Rarity rolled her eyes and kicked her sewing machine into a higher gear. Her eyes darted around the material as she straightened or bent the fabric with concentrated magic to fold it into the perfect shape for a perfect dress. “Have you considered she really was just busy? You can be very demanding, dear.”

“Yeah but… What about what Dash said?”

“Rainbow Dash is probably just tired. I'm quite certain she's not used to doing any real work; the training is probably exhausting the poor dear. It's nothing, Pinkie, I'm sure of it.”

“So you won't help?” Pinkie snorted and folded her forelegs, falling back on her hind to steady herself.

“It's not a case of won't, I don't have the time. Little Applebloom—well, I suppose not that little anymore—is coming over later to repair one of my spare machines so I can finally get some help, but right now I can hardly spare the time for this, never mind some wild goose chase! If I miss another Spa appointment Fluttershy'll be quite devastated, not that the dear would ever admit it.”

“Fine, I guess I'll have to do it alone.” Pinkie turned to leave, fully planning to slam the door, no matter how childish it might make her seem.

Pinkie turned back, opening her mouth as if she had something to say. Uncharacteristically, nothing came out, and she turned to leave once more a few seconds later. The door closed softly behind her, and Rarity sighed in relief. She pulled a needle from between her lips and began to weave it through two sheets of silk in preparation for the next section of dre-

“Oh!” Pinkie exclaimed, crashing back through the door with all the subtlety of, well, Pinkie Pie. “I'm gonna throw a party next week, please say you can come!”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world, Darling.” Now for Celestia's sake leave me alone—I think Twilight has the right idea shouting at you. We're busy, dear!

“Yay! See you around, Rarity!”

“Fluttershy!”

You want to bring Fluttershy around questioning people? Pinkie thought, She's afraid of questions.

“What about Applejack, then?” Pinkie asked. She was slowly wandering through Ponyville's town square. It was early afternoon—normally time for a snack, but today Pinkie had no time for snacks—and the streets were only sparsely populated. Most of the ponies hanging around were travelling either to or from the elegant looking building just by the town hall that had been built only a few months prior.

Too busy working, she'd get behind.

The architecture didn't match its surroundings; the ornate and chiselled walls were more reminiscent of Canterlot than Ponyville, and the four pillars supporting the roof were clear influences from Pegasus designs. The pair of imposing doors at its front would have been more at home leading into Canterlot's throne room than the sparsely decorated interior. Indeed, the only things visible inside were various crystals set into the wall, and even they were functional, not decorative.

As Pinkie looked on, one of the crystals began to glow. An instant later a prim and well-trimmed looking unicorn stallion appeared. Before Pinkie could get a good look at him, he walked over to another crystal and touched it with his hoof. A moment later, he was gone.

“Impressive, isn't it?” Cloud Kicker asked, slowing her flaps and landing beside Pinkie. The earth pony nodded. “It's all pegasus run, you know? Nopony wants flying carriages anymore, so travel pegasi are all coming over to this thing.”

“Hey, you're Dash's friend, aren't you?” Pinkie asked, turning around to get a proper look at the pegasus beside her. She'd seen her with Dash, though not recently.

“Not really. Moreso than we used to be, or at least I thought we were. She kinda vanished after the whole Wonderbolt thing. So much for all those promises about not forgetting us, I guess.”

“So you haven't talked to her at all?”

Cloud Kicker shook her head. “Sorry, Pinkie. Anyway, I gotta head off to work, see you around.”

“Yeah, see you,” Pinkie absent-mindedly replied, before walking off deep in thought. If she was to get to the bottom of this, she'd have to figure out who Rainbow Dash did still talk to. Her gaze crossed over the seemingly misplaced building once more.

Rainbow Dash soared across the cerulean sky with her wings spread wide and her teeth clenched. With every beat, she moved a little faster; she speared through clouds and shot across the open landscape at such a speed that she didn't cut through the air so much as smash it aside. She dare not take a breath, knowing that at this velocity, the air would be ripped from her lungs in a heartbeat and she would have no choice but to decelerate.

Canterlot, seat of power and the most influential and powerful location in Equestria, sped by in the blink of an eye. The towers glistened in the early-afternoon sun, but barely registered with the pegasus. Her every thought was occupied with minute adjustments for wind speed, anticipation and correction for turbulence, plotting the most efficient path to her goal, and trying to suppress the flaming ache in every muscle, bone, and tendon her wings possessed.

Ponyville blurred underneath her. The fields of Sweet Apple Acres and the treehouse she still tried to call home passed by before she could whip up a coherent thought recognising them. Dash's ears twitched as she heard something begin to crackle and spark. She'd achieved a sonic rainboom barely a few hundred meters from Cloudsdale's limited-flight zone; this was something else. Something new.

Dash looked directly forward, across the rolling hills of Equestria's outskirts and onto the ocean beyond. She had room to speed up, she realised. Her wingbeat increased in ferocity. The crackling in her eyes began to grow deeper. The air streaming around her body began to fade away as if it were no longer there. Her vision began to blur and spots in front of her grew darker, similar to something covering her eyes but somehow different. Her wings became a blur as she flapped harder than she ever thought possible. Every muscle twitched and convulsed as she turned her entire body into a streamlined flying machine, constantly adjusting for every imperfection in air pressure to keep her flying straight and true.

She blacked out.

“Ugh, what happened?” Dash asked nobody in particular. She felt weightless, and weak, as if she'd been in some great accident and Twilight was holding her up for protection. She could tell that wasn't that case, however, from the ache in her wing joints; Twilight was too practised at making those better.

She opened her eyes. Everything was blue. She turned and saw the horizon, and the ocean below her getting increasingly closer at a terrifying pace. “Horsefeathers.” Dash swore under her breath, groaning in pain as she extended her wings. A little twisting later and they caught the wind, slowing her descent and allowing her to transition into a relatively smooth glide.

The coastline was just barely visible at one end of the horizon, but Dash had nowhere else to aim for. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and began to gingerly flap, eager to return to solid ground but painfully aware she'd stretched herself beyond her limits and needed time to recover. It was to be a long flight home.

“Ma'am? You can't go there,” the attendant cheerfully said, blocking Pinkie's hoof from touching the shiny crystal marked Cloudsdale. She stepped back and retracted her wings, allowing them to settle calmly at each side of her body. Her coat was somewhere between beige and light orange, and her mane was a curious shade of red. Her mouth was twisted into a false grin and her eyes sparkled in the light filtering through one of the stained-glass windows set into the front wall of the crystal building.

“But I've gotta!” Pinkie replied.

“That crystal leads to Cloudsdale, there isn't a ground there. You'll fall.” The grin remained unshaken.

Pinkie paused, realising the attendant was right. “But it's really important!”

“Well, we do have some more experimental crystals Twilight dropped off a few days ago we haven't had a chance to properly test yet, but-”

“I'll take 'em!”

The attendant sighed and turned around, somehow maintaining her smile, and rummaged through the drawers of a desk on the far side of the room. The desk itself was covered in stacks of papers and reference manuals, presumably dropped off by Twilight or for delivery to her later. After a few moments of searching, four horseshoes were retrieved and dropped at Pinkie's feet. “With these you shouldn't fall through the clouds. They're completely untested and, given how Twilight Sparkle has been acting lately probably don't even work. So, scream when you get there and maybe you won't die.”

“Okie dok-” The attendant shoved Pinkie towards the crystal marked Cloudsdale and watched her vanish in a puff of magic. Her grin returned to a more neutral expression as she trotted over to her desk, where there was yet more paperwork to be done. Twilight Sparkle was expecting these by late afternoon for review, and the attendant had neither the time nor patience for Pinkie Pie.

“-ie, I'll be sure t- ooh, that was fast!” Pinkie exclaimed, barely even noticing the trip. She looked down at her hooves and bounced a few times, marvelling at the way the cloud compressed under her horseshoes without giving way. Pinkie looked around, spotting nobody, and decided to test something.

Pinkie Pie's head emerged underneath the cloud layer, letting her gaze fall upon the surface of Equestria. Cloudsdale was currently passing over some small farming settlement. The cornfields stretched off for miles, and though the trees were golden brown—as fitting the season—many of them still seemed to bear fruit. Tiny ponies trotted down below, like ants or toys, going about their daily lives unaware they were being watched by a Pinkie overhead.

Something on the horizon caught her attention. A familiar streak of rainbow crossed the sky, though travelling slower than she was used to. At its tip, a Rainbow Dash unevenly flew.

Pinkie pulled her head back up to the surface, leaving a small hole behind her. She pushed at the cloud surrounding it for a few moments to try to cover over the hole, but found it unmalleable. Eventually giving up, Pinkie darted outside and began to look around.

The outside of the crystal building looked very similar to the one back in Ponyville, except it was constructed entirely out of clouds. Again, it simply looked out of place among the pillars and hard edges of modern Cloudsdale architecture. Unlike Ponyville's, it didn't seem to be attended, nor was it particularly active; there was only one crystal there, marked Ponyville.

The rainbow trail soared overhead, immediately catching Pinkie's gaze. She began to trot after it, jumping over small gaps between clouds and leaping atop of buildings as she went. Even slower than usual, Dash was almost impossible to catch by any conventional means. Pinkie was not a conventional pony.

In spite of this, Dash got away. The cloud Colosseum was separated from Cloudsdale's main body by a gap many dozens of meters too wide for Pinkie to leap, and she had no choice but to take another path. The only access on hoof was from the front, where a thin strip of cloud bridged the gap.

“And just where the hay have you been?!” Spitfire's hoof rose pointedly, pushing into Dash's chest and causing her to stumble back a little. “What are you playing at, Rainbow?”

Dash's wings twitched, opening a little wider, though still staying mostly closed at her sides. “Breaking my own damn speed record again, that's what.”

“In the middle of a training session? I don't give a damn what you've achieved, rookie, we need to work as a team!”

“I already know all of your tricks! I've practised them for years! Why can't I just fly with you guys?” Dash's wings opened a few degrees more, and her eyes sharpened as she stared the flight captain down.

“Because you still can't hold back to fly with other people.”

“That's because I'm better!” Dash shouted, letting her wings spread threateningly. They were still weak from her earlier accident, but none of that showed in a mere display of aggression.

“Hey!” Another member of the Wonderbolts chimed in, quickly running up to the disturbance. “Hey, what's going on, cap?”

“Nothing, Soarin'. Me and Dash are just having another discussion, right Dash?” Spitfire tried her best to calm the situation and defuse the time-bomb ticking in front of her.

“No, not right, I'm sick of this. It's been months! I waited years for you guys, and it's been months, and I still haven't even flown with you!” Dash's wings quivered as her voice began to crack, tinting her aggression with a weakness she didn't want to show.

“Cool it, Dash,” Spitfire ordered. “You can fly with us once you've proven you aren't a liability, and stunts like today just show you aren't ready. You could hurt yourself—you could hurt us. You could hurt somebody that just happened to be around. You've gotta be more responsible, Dash.”

“Responsible?! What the hay do you know about responsible? You guys can't go a day without bringing somepony new into your beds. Hey, hooves up who here is actually loyal to somepony?” She waited a few seconds in silence. “Yeah, thought so.”

“C'mon, Dash,” Soarin' interjected. “You're angry, I get it; I had to do the same thing. It doesn't seem fair now, but you'll get over it.”

“Go to hay,” Dash spat. “I've seen your record; you were on prohibition for a week.”

“That's because he could follow orders.” Spitfire snarled back. Her own wings were starting to twitch.

“This is horsefeathers.” Dash's wings flared to their full standing, causing the ponies gathered around her to take a step back. They knew what Dash was capable of, and none of them wanted to provoke that. They sighed a collective sigh of relief as she took off, darting away into the distance before any of them could say another word.

Pinkie Pie stood at the far end of the Colosseum with her mouth hanging open. That wasn't the Dash she knew. The other members of the Wonderbolts wiped their brows and began to disperse, heading back to whatever it was they were doing before. The fiery captain walked away talking with her stallion co-captain, heading towards one of the rooms set into the walls of the structure. Pinkie Pie bounced after them.

“Hey!” She hurried, hoping to intercept them before they got away. “Hey, Wonderbolts! It's Pinkie Pie!”

The two turned to look at her. Soarin' took a step back in surprise as his eyes darted to the sides of her body, noting the complete lack of wings. “Celestia, what happened to you?”

“Huh?”

“Your wings, they're… gone.”

“I've never had any wings, silly! Well… Once. I think. Anyway, I need to talk to you!”

“Sorry, we don't have any places open,” Spitfire replied in a half-serious drawl. “Well, one. I think.”

“Hey, give her a chance.” Soarin' looked over to the captain, breaking his gaze from Pinkie's body.

“She's had a chance, Soarin'! She's had three months worth of chances, and she keeps blowing them. If it wasn't for Celestia breathing down my neck I'd have kicked her out on her flank weeks back.”

“Are you talking about Dashie?” Pinkie's face twisted in concern. “I'm her friend, you can tell me!”

“Yeah, we're talking about Rainbow Dash. I think she's the youngest 'bolt yet, but it shows. She's just a kid. Can't hack it in a team.”

Soarin' shuffled on his hooves. “Come on, be fair. She's a bit rough around the edges, but-”

“No, I've had it with her. I don't care if you want to sleep with her or what, Soarin', I'm not changing my mind.”

Pinkie gulped, but it didn't help her throat feel any less dry. “You can't,” she whispered. “She'll be devastated.”

“What else can I do? I let her onto the team like she is now and we're all dead. She can't help but show off. That's fine for most, but if she decided to 'show off' during a show we'd get blown out of the sky.”

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “No! It's been her dream since like, forever! You can't! I'll- I'll… bake you cookies! Cupcakes! Anything!”

Spitfire shook her head. “I'm not just making my mind up now; this is just the last feather.”

“But-”

“No buts. Look, I know you're her friend and I know this must be difficult for you to understand, but Rainbow Dash simply isn't Wonderbolt material.” Spitfire turned and walked the short distance into the room carved into the thick cloud wall of the Colosseum. Soarin' looked as if he were going to speak, opening his mouth in preparation, but nothing emerged, and a few seconds later, he followed his captain. Pinkie Pie was left standing, and had she not been above it she could have imagined the sky was falling on her head.

Celestia, Pinkie thought.

“Huh?”

She said Celestia was “breathing down her neck”. Weren't you listening?

“So? She's made her mind up, me… What can I do?”

Get Celestia to come down here and give her another chance! You can be so dense sometimes, me.

“But I can't get there in ti- ooh, the crystals! Good thinking, me!”

Pinkie Pie set off at a gallop for the far side of Cloudsdale and the building she'd arrived at. It seemed fitting to her that Twilight's invention was going to save Dash's life.

Rainbow Dash held her hooves out before her. Her wings, though aching, still carried her through the air with grace and power. She pushed herself faster, not caring about the pain that was building in her muscles, and smashed into yet another cloud. It exploded outwards, dissipating into the air and fading away into invisibility.

It didn't help. Cloudsmashing usually helped. What had once been a racecourse now lay in tatters, but Dash didn't feel any better.

She screamed, throwing one wing to the side and pointing another at the last cloud in the sky. The residual energy from tearing apart several dozen clouds tore out of her body, forming a lightning arc between her and it. The thunderclap echoed out across the sky, and the one last cloud in the sky was no more.

It didn't help. Dash swooped down over to the viewing stand next to the once-racecourse and ripped a chunk of seating out, carrying it up into the air to hang over Cloudsdale. She sat in silence, watching as pegasi went about their daily lives. Pinkie Pie was there too, galloping through the streets. Dash wanted to go say hi, but she couldn't let herself.

“What the hay is wrong with me,” Dash groaned, cradling her head between her forehooves. There was no answer, either from herself or another. She thought back to that morning.

“Ugh, Twi, what time is it?”

“Uh, I'm not sure,” Twilight groaned, rubbing her eyes with a hoof and squinting around for a clock.

Dash felt to her side, to the half of the bed the librarian usually inhabited. It was cold. “Twi, you've slept, right?”

“No time.”

“Make time.”

“Can't, Celestia'll kill me if I break causality again.”

“That's not what I meant. You can't keep skipping sleep, Twi, not even you.”

“I'm doing fine! I have lots of spells to keep me awake, and they're working just fine.” Twilight yawned again and stumbled over to the side as she walked through her untidy library to find a single scroll in the forest's worth of junk that covered her floor. She half-heartedly laughed to herself. “Ironic, really, that a treehouse is used for this testament to equine wastefulness.”

“Huh?”

“The scrolls, Dash.” Twilight sighed. “So many scrolls.”

Dash rolled over and fell out of bed. She started to do some stretches, waking her body up for the day. She emphasised some of her more provocative motions, trying to catch her lover's eye.

“Have you seen last week's schedule, Dash?” Twilight began to look through one of the piles, lifting books and scrolls alike in her search.

“No. Stop changing the subject, anyway, you need rest. Come on, get to bed, the scrolls'll still be here tonight.”

“No time.”

“What if I take you to bed?”

“No time!” Twilight snapped, slamming her currently lifted tome onto the floor hard enough to cause a bang.

Dash winced. “Come on, Twi, it's been weeks. I'm drying up over here.”

“I'm sorry, Dash, there'll be time later.”

“That's what you said last time. It's always later; everything is always later. I'm getting sick of it, why do I come second to everypony?”

“What are you talking about, Dash?” Twilight didn't look up, too busy searching. “You are- oh, excellent, the schedules! One moment, Dash, I need to note something down.”

Dash leapt, soaring through the air in a perfect arc to strike Twilight between the shoulders and push her down to the floor. Dash began to nibble at the tip of Twilight's ear, moaning quietly between her teeth in anticipation. “Come on, just an hour won't hurt, right?”

“Dash, no!” Twilight snapped, flinging the pegasus off with a magic shunt. “I'm not telling you I don't have time to keep you on edge, I quite literally do not have time.”

“So I come second to a book. I thought you'd gotten past that, Twilight.”

“I don't have time for you.” Twilight closed her eyes, and a second later she was gone. As was everything else. Rainbow Dash found herself dumped unceremoniously outside of what had once felt like her home.

“Horsefeathers,” she spat. “What the- what the hay am I meant to do now.” Dash's head fell and she swallowed deeply, wishing that just this once, her feelings would go along with her saliva. “Maybe Pinkie's free.”

“Maybe Spitfire's right,” Dash said, reflecting inwards upon herself. “Maybe I am just bad at fitting in. Hay, I should apologise.” Dash spread her wings, wincing slightly as one of them fought back, and kicked off her stolen chair to glide back to the Colosseum.

When she touched down on the soft cloud ground, there was nobody else around. The entire stadium seemed deserted, though that was hardly unusual. Dash guessed that Spitfire would be in the main office, and trotted over to the door. It was slightly ajar, and she could hear the conversation inside before she got too close. Spitfire was inside.

“Look, I'm just saying,” Soarin' pleaded with a hint of exasperation in his voice, “Celestia has a point. She's the best damn flier I've ever seen and she can do things with her wings I don't even understand.”

“Yeah,” Spitfire shouted back, “I get it, you want her. Don't bring your damn bedroom politics into my stunt team, Soarin'.”

There was a bang, as if a hoof had been slammed down onto a desk. “That doesn't matter, she's still a damn fine pegasus, and she idolises us. We can make her listen, I'm sure of it.”

“Yeah, and how long do you want? Another month? Another two? All this time we're flying one mare down and our ticket sales keep dropping because we still don't have anything new. No, Celestia be damned. If she wants to lay down the law then let her, but I'm not gonna keep Rainbow Dash around because she whispered in my ear.”

“I'm not gonna change your mind on this one, am I? Right, I see. Who's gonna tell her?”

“I will; it's only fair.”

“Want me to come along?”

“Nah, she's a hothead, but she's not stupid.”

Dash fell backwards. They were talking about her. As quickly as she could tear apart a cloud with her bare hooves, the moisture drained from her mouth and throat. She coughed to try to clear her airways, but it didn't help.

“Oh, hay, did you-”

“No, that was outside.”

The door opened, revealing the captain and co-captain of the Wonderbolts. Soarin's eyes closed and breathed in through his teeth. He turned back, silently walking into the room and leaving Spitfire to walk out towards the still-silent pegasus.

“Dash, we didn't want you to find out like that.”

“I-” Dash coughed again. “You're just… what? Gonna kick me off? You can't, I- please.”

Spitfire shook her head. “I'm sorry, Dash, I really am. You just aren't cut out for this.”

“I am…” Dash's eyes closed in a desperate attempt to keep the tears from spilling out.

“No.”

Dash turned to run, spreading her wings a few steps afterwards and taking off. Spitfire sighed and turned around. “You can come out now,” she called. Soarin' poked his head out of the room a few seconds later.

“I can't believe she heard all that. I hope she doesn't sell it to some gossiper, I'd never live it down.”

“Hey, have some respect, we ju-” Spitfire's words were drowned out as a rainbow-streaked explosion rocked the sky. The clouds beneath their hooves trembled from the force of it and the sky filled with a bright and angry spectrum.

“I'm sure this isn't necessary,” Celestia said, in her typical soothing royal tones. “Rainbow Dash is an exceptional mare, and whatever happens she will prevail.”

Pinkie jumped behind her and began to push, forcing the princess out and into Cloudsdale. There were a few ponies gathered now, all of whom bowed at her presence. “Nuh uh, Dash is in real trouble, and- oh, there she is!”

Rainbow Dash streaked overhead, building up speed as she went. She was too high above them to hear Pinkie's calls, not that she would have responded had she heard them. The concentric rings of her trademark sonic rainboom were visible for a few moments before the shockwave hit, dissolving the awkwardly designed travel building as if it were made of nothing but fluffy clouds in a thunderstorm.

Pinkie raised her hooves to shield herself from the blast, falling backwards as the ground vanished from beneath her. Her four horseshoes seemed to evaporate, disintegrating into the air with a quiet explosion as she dropped. She watched Dash dart off into the distance for several seconds, falling further with each one. Another second passed and Celestia caught her.

“Oh dear, this is worse than I'd hoped.” Celestia carried Pinkie over to the nearest unaffected area, before dropping her on her back; without those horseshoes, she'd need support to stay among the clouds. The city itself was constructed of highly compacted cloud that could resist a shockwave like that, so long as it was far enough away. The newly constructed parts didn't have that luxury, and melted away into the wind.

“Where's she going?”

“Ponyville, I would have thought. I think she's going to need you more than ever now, Pinkie Pie.” Celestia turned and slowly walked further into Cloudsdale. Pinkie rode atop, comfortably resting on the princess's neck. “There are times in all of our lives that are the most testing, and I think this is Rainbow Dash's.”

“What should I do?”

“You're the lucky one, Pinkie. When Laughter is tested, it only has to hold strong to emerge victorious. You can bring a smile to anypony's face, and Dash is going to need that now. Her loyalties are to be tested, but for her to make it through this she's going to have to choose which of those loyalties is most important. She's going to need more than just a smile to get through that, but the smile will help.”

“Can't you do anything?”

“Perhaps I could, but I will not. My subjects rarely thank me for meddling in their personal lives, and this is a lesson Rainbow Dash will have to learn for herself.”

“Where are we going, princess?” Pinkie asked; their winding path between houses and down streets didn't appear to be leading anywhere in particular.

“Ponyville, my dear. For now, though, I find it's always best to have difficult conversations while walking. It makes the awkward pauses so much more palatable.”

“Ohmygosh, you're right! We need to get to Ponyville before Dash so we can calm her down! Teleport!” Pinkie's hindleg kicked against Celestia's flank to spur her on.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Does Twilight Sparkle no longer share the contents of my letters as freely as she once did?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it can be so hard to watch you all grow up, making the same mistakes I've seen a thousand times before. I can't teleport to Ponyville; Twilight's crystals create too much magical interference. I keep urging her to move her hub, but she refuses to listen. It's deeply concerning to me, but unfortunately I cannot force Twilight to do anything.”

“Sure you can! You're the princess; we have to do everything you say!”

Celestia smiled. “I long for your naivety, Pinkie Pie. Commanding solves nothing. Twilight would do as I asked if I asked her strongly, but she would learn nothing and would make the same mistakes again. As much as it pains me, I must allow everypony to make their own mistakes.”

“What mistake has she made?”

“It's complex and magical; I wouldn't want to give you the wrong id-”

“Please, princess, I'm her friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to her.”

Celestia sighed and looked around, ensuring they were alone. “Very well. Twilight Sparkle is not just a unicorn. In many senses, she is the unicorn. Magic doesn't come naturally to her; it comes naturally from her. This is why she struggled so to learn it, because no teacher could possibly understand what she can do. Not even I can truly know that feeling. While I held her element, I did so as a guest—she is its true home.”

Pinkie nodded. “She makes me feel different to normal unicorns.”

“Yes, as a bearer of harmony you have a tight link to her. You can feel a fraction of what it means to be her.”

“So what's she done wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. She has achieved greater heights than any other living pony, and is destined to shine brighter than Equestria has ever known. Right now, however, her experiments are rough and inefficient. Her crystals, though beyond anypony else's understanding—including my own—are upsetting the balance of magic.”

“What does that mean?”

“As I said, it's complex and magical. I'm not sure anybody but Twilight could truly understand it. I can merely guess from what little I can see from millennia of practise. For her, it's a birthright. Whatever is happening, though, it is not good for her. You've noticed a change in her behaviour too, haven't you?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Her letters have changed noticeably in tone. They're taking longer to send, too, though I don't know how that's possible. Yet she cannot see it, and refuses to accept that I am right. That in and of itself is deeply concerning to me.”

“What are you going to do?”

Celestia shook her head and spread her wings, beating them to propel both of them into the air. “I don't know.” They flew, following the faded rainbow trail to its destination. Even weakened, Rainbow Dash was faster than Celestia could hope to be, but she had no other choice.

“Now, what the hay's this commotion about?” Applejack stood in Ponyville's town square. Beside her was an upturned cart of not-so-fresh apples, blown over by something entirely unexpected.

“Why, I have no idea,” Rarity replied, staring over at the now-collapsed crystal nexus. “It just seems to have exp-” Rarity's voice cut out as a second explosion blew out of the destroyed building. She fell to her hooves in agony as the magical aftershock flowed through her horn.

Applejack immediately jumped to her side. “Rarity, you okay? Rarity? Aw horseapples, somepony he-” Applejack's voice cut out as she looked around the square. There wasn't a single unicorn still standing, every last one was at best on their knees. Even the pegasi seemed to be struggling to stay in the air, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a little weaker.

“Apple… Applejack, what-”

“Ssh, Rarity, it's okay. It's gonna be just fine.”

Twilight Sparkle chose that moment to stumble out of a teleport a few feet away from them. “What just happened? I felt something happen.”

“Y'all's building just exploded, Twilight! Then Rarity here collapsed!”

“Oh gosh, Rarity! Are you okay?”

“I- I think so. Darlings, that was simply awful, I feared for my life. I think I can stand now-” Rarity attempted to struggle to her hooves, managing to stand after using Applejack as a support- “Yes, I'm okay. Goodness gracious, Twilight, what was that? It felt as if my horn were aflame. You aren't keeping Dash locked up in there again, are you?”

“No, no she's… somewhere. Doesn't matter. I… need to go look at that building, see what happened.”

As Twilight walked over to the wreckage, Applejack busied herself helping unicorns stand. They all seemed to have mostly recovered, and the pegasi were flying as strongly as ever. Whatever had happened would appear to be over, and the only casualty was Applejack's applecart. “Help me pick some of these up will you, Rarity?”

“Of course, Darling.” Rarity concentrated on a small selection of apples, hoping to pick them up and deposit them in the cart. Applejack made short work of returning it to its rightful position resting on four wheels. The apples flew off into the distance.

“The uh, the cart's right here, Rarity.”

“Dreadfully sorry, darling, I don't know what came over me. I have been having more trouble with magic these last few months, but Twilight assured me it was nothing.”

“Well, if ya'll can avoid cracking my apples wide open on that there wall, that'd be appreciated.” Applejack began to pick apples up between her teeth and drop them in the cart while Rarity, much more carefully, raised bunches.

“It's… strange, this feels easier than it should be.” She looked over to the purple bookworm currently inspecting the building. Any pride she may have felt in her magical prowess evaporated as she watched the unicorn lift the building into the air and rearrange the pieces, inspecting each one in turn.

“Yeah, I bet it'd be easier for her. Gotta admit, Rarity, that mare scares me sometimes. The things somepony less honourable could do with what she can do, y'hear?”

Rarity nodded. “Twilight, darling?” Her voice was raised as loud as was socially acceptable for calling across a town square.

The librarian looked back. “Yes, Rarity?” she called, amplifying her normal speaking voice with magic to the point it echoed through off the buildings surrounding them.

“Did whatever just happened affect my magic?”

Twilight shrugged. “I have no idea what just happened.” She set the pieces of the building down approximately where she'd found them and walked back over. “The crystals are just gone. I don't understand; that shouldn't be possible. What did it look like when they exploded?”

“Rainbow-y, sorta like Rainbow's move 'cept it nearly blew us off our feet.”

Twilight's face clenched in thought. “It- impossible. There isn't enough magic in them to do that. Un- unless Dash… no, she wouldn't.”

“What?”

Twilight sighed. “Unless Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom within the immediate vicinity of one of the relay hubs, which would cause a magical feedback loop throughout the entire system. But she wouldn't. She knows that would happen, and besides, she knows she can't do that sort of thing in populated areas.”

“Well, looks like now's your chance to ask, darling,” Rarity said, pointing behind her at the multicoloured streak arching across the sky. Rainbow Dash began to slow as she glided down to swoop through the open bedroom window of her treehouse. Twilight closed the window. Dash swerved at the last second and managed to salvage a landing just in front of the library, slowly trotting to a stop a few feet away from the awaiting mares.

“Hey, Dash,” Twilight said.

“Hey. What'd you close the window for?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Great, you didn't need to talk to me this morning. Or any morning. Or any evening, either, come to think of it.”

“H- hey, that's not fair. I've been busy.” Twilight's voice cracked slightly as she spoke.

“I'm busy too; I still at least try to make time for you. If you'd let me,” Dash spat.

“I'm… I'm sorry, Dash. You're right, I've been selfish.”

“Yeah.”

“That won't be a problem now, though, at least not for a while. Which is kinda what I had to talk to you about. Where did you just fly from?” Twilight spoke calmly and clearly, trying to ignore the turmoil of emotion within her head.

“Cloudsdale, obviously. That's where I've been all day, unless you didn't care.”

Twilight tried her best to ignore that. The emotional part of her brain was already overloaded. “Did you do a sonic rainboom in Cloudsdale?”

“I can't remember. Maybe? Probably? What does it matter.”

“Dash, you know why it matters. Did you do it?”

“Yeah, alright, I did it.”

“Why? Oh, Dash, that's months of development time ruined! I don't even know what the long-term effects of that could be! Dash, I made you promise, how could you do this to me?”

“Well, you promised never to take me for granted. Y'know, your wedding vows?”

“I-”

“Now, just wait one apple-picking minute, Dash, what's brought this on? I don't know what's going on between you two, but that's just cruel.”

“No, you wanna know what's cruel, AJ? Twilight Sparkle meant the world to me. Everything was perfect, and everything's gone wrong.”

“What are you talking about, dear?”

“I'm- I've been- I'm not… Everything's ruined. I can't take it anymore, okay? I can't take not waking up to the mare that loved me, I can't take setting off every morning without even a goodbye, I can't stand the way she looks at me like I can do anything, when I can't. When I just can't. I can't take spending every day feeling like I'm disappointing somepony who I'm not sure even remembers who I'm trying for.” Dash closed her eyes, but they didn't do much to hide the tears.

“Dash, what are you saying?” Twilight whispered. “I know I've been distant lately, but that's only because I was busy and I thought you needed the space. I- I can't talk to you these days, everything makes you mad. I- I thought it was me, I thought if I gave you some space you'd be okay. I just didn't know what to do, I'm sorry! Please don't-”

“So it's my fault now? Is that what you're saying?”

“No, I-”

“Great, real great, Twi. I just can't do this anymore, okay? See you around.” Dash spread her wings and flew, achieving yet another Sonic Rainboom a few seconds later, clearing the sky of clouds, and heading off in some direction Twilight neither recognised nor fully comprehended. In the depths of her library, one of the crystals caught the shockwave and transmitted it to the sister-crystal lying some few feet away. The two began to resonate.

“Can't you fly any faster, princess?” Pinkie said, gripping tightly onto the white body.

Celestia gasped. “No- I haven't… Haven't flown this much for three hundred years. A little out of shape.”

“Look, there's Ponyville! C'mon, princess, just a little more!” Pinkie kicked her hindlegs into the princess's side, spurring on a slight increase in speed. The princess was too exhausted to complain and simply thanked herself that there was nobody around to see.

Ponyville slowly grew larger as they neared. It was not, however, the Ponyville Pinkie had left. One of the buildings seemed to be in tatters, barely even resembling its former self. Much worse, another building appeared to be on fire. A building that was also a tree. The smoke rose up into the air to tarnish the sky.

The instant Celestia set hoof on the ground, Pinkie bounced off and ran for the town centre. There was a small crowd surrounding the burning library, and pegasi swarmed above it trying desperately to gather enough cloud-mass to douse the flames. Pinkie jumped over the crowd and spotted Applejack.

“Applejack! What happened?”

“I ain't quite sure on that one myself, Pinkie.”

“Oh, it's simply terrible! Why, next time I see that ruffian of a pony Rainbow Dash I'll be forced to give her a piece of my mind. Leaving Twilight in such a state! How could she?”

“Dash… left? To where?”

Rarity wiped her brow with a theatrical hoof. “Why, we don't know. Twilight is in a frightful state, though. I took her back to the boutique, but she just wanted to be alone. Honestly, I don't blame her.”

Celestia caught up with them. The crowd parted to allow her through. As she walked, her tired wings spread and her horn lit up, easily matching the ferocity of the flames that preyed on the wooden branches and organic leaves of the tree before her. The sky darkened as clouds began to form, and soon the entire village was doused in an unprecedented downpour.

“Oh, my mane!” Rarity squealed, taking off at a gallop towards her boutique. The crowd began to disperse, running for their own homes to escape the torrential rains. The flames, however, did begin to falter.

“Well that sure solves that problem,” Applejack shouted, almost being drowned out by the constant rainstorm.

A minute—or less—later and the fires were extinguished. Celestia called off her assault, clearing the sky once more and revealing a large gathering of jealous pegasi. Though the fires were gone, the treehouse was not a pretty sight.

“Horseapples,” Applejack whispered, staring upon what had once been a proud centrepiece to the village. The branches were darkened and charred, the leaves were mostly ash and whatever made the tree into a home—doors, windows, balconies—looked closer to condemned than livable.

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure. “Come, Twilight Sparkle will need you.”

When they arrived at Rarity's boutique, they found Twilight sitting silently on Rarity's couch. She stared across the room, unseeing, and didn't make a sound. Rarity wore her mane long and straightened. “It was all I could do on such short notice,” she explained. “I'll style it properly later.”

“Ya'll can shut up about your hair, Rarity, how's Twilight?”

“Oh, the poor darling. She hasn't said a thing. I think she's in shock.”

Pinkie walked over, ensuring Twilight could see her coming and she wouldn't be an unwanted surprise. “Twilight? Are you- do you want to talk?”

Twilight shook her head in tiny, timid movements.

“Okay. I'm here—we're all here. When you need us.”

Pinkie walked back over to the others. “She looks awful.”

Celestia looked away. “Heartbreak is a feeling we all must learn some day. I had hoped Twilight would be an exception to this, as she is so many other rules, but fate is a higher council than mine.”

“But like this? Oh, the cruelty of it all! Rainbow Dash was her darling. It breaks my heart to see her like this.”

“I hope all those books weren't originals,” Applejack chimed in.

“They're okay,” Twilight said. “The books, I mean. They're fine. They will be, anyway. They were enchanted, fire wouldn't touch them.” She spoke mechanically and without feeling, relaying only the facts.

“That's something, I guess,” Applejack replied.

“Not my notes, though. They weren't. They're gone.”

“Then you'll be glad to know I keep copies of all our correspondence, Twilight,” Celestia said in a voice so soothing it made her usual tones seem rough and acidic.

“Not the most recent stuff, I didn't send that to you. It's… it's gone.” Twilight broke into a whisper. “It's all gone.” A single tear fell from the corner of one eye. “Oh, what am I going to do?”

“Y'know, Twi, when an apple falls out of the tree, that ain't the end for it. That's just the start of a whole new life. Don't think yours is over just 'cos you've fallen down.”

“That's… My life. My work and Dash; that was it. That was all I had. Now it- it's gone? Just like that?” Twilight looked over at her friends and mentor. Her eyes were wide and questioning, as if one of them replying “No, it can't happen like that.” could undo the day's events. “That tree was my home, where am I going to stay? What if Spike had been home?”

“You can stay here as long as you wish, Twilight,” Rarity assured her. “Celestia can send a letter to Spike and he can be here for you too as soon as he can. We're your friends, Twilight, you aren't alone in this.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” Twilight was silent for a few seconds. “She- she didn't even say why. She didn't even say what I'd done. Why I deserve all this. What did I do?” Twilight's voice grew less controlled as her tears began to flow more freely.

“It wasn't you, Twilight,” Pinkie said. “She just got kicked out of the Wonderbolts. I think she's hurting just as much as you right now. Please don't be too hard on her. I couldn't live with seeing you two hate each other.”

“I could never hate her. I love her. I wake up in the morning for her. She's my everything! W- was. I'm going to have to get used to past tense. Oh, Celestia, what do I do?”

“I don't know, Twilight. What you do now is your decision. Know one thing, however—I took you as my student for a reason, and it wasn't for your love life. No matter what happens, you will always be an amazingly talented mare, and academic setbacks like losing a few notes won't ever change that.”

“I can't… Princess, I can't,” Twilight cried. She spat out her words in what time between sobs she could grasp.

“Of course you can, my dear. I won't ever stop believing in you.”

“No, I mean, I can't. I close my eyes to try to concentrate and all I see is her flying away from me. I couldn't stop her. I couldn't save my library, even though I know the spells. Every time I try and cast anything, all I can think about is her. I- I can't do it. It hurts, princess, it hurts too much.”

“Yes. Yes, it does.”

Aftermath

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: Two Weeks Later

Twilight unclenched her teeth and allowed the quill to drop down and rest upon the notebook below. Its pages were black with ink, covered in a spiderweb of words in a form of cursive that could be most mercifully described as functional. Other books and pads towered around the unicorn, obscuring her view of anything else and letting her pretend nothing more existed.

However, her inkpot had grown dry yet again and she had no choice but to venture forth in search of a replacement. She looked down at the page before her and sighed. The words she had written were beyond almost anybody else's comprehension, and yet they were a shadow of her former work. The tomes piled around her were a combination of what few reference materials from her library remained—the rest having been returned to Canterlot—and the copies of her own notes that Celestia had kept.

It had been the same carriage—a flying carriage, pulled by pegasi. Another reminder of her failed plans—that brought her work to her, and took her books away. Twilight hadn't had the heart to argue, and she knew deep down it was the only choice. She no longer had anywhere to keep trivialities like Slumber Party 101, A Guide to Pegasus Anatomy, or Making Magic: A Filly's Guide to Her Changing Body. Canterlot's library had plenty of room. All she'd managed to negotiate was material directly relating to her work attempting to recreate her research.

There was a knock at the door. Twilight looked up. The room around her was dark, save for her working area, which was illuminated by a simple candle. The windows were shut and the curtains pulled, locking the sunlight outside where it belonged. The door was unlocked, but everybody in town knew not to enter.

“Twilight, darling?” Rarity's voice called, piercing through the silence Twilight had grown familiar with. The scratch of a quill on paper and the sound of a page being turned were the only sounds she had heard recently. “Twilight, may I come in?”

Twilight sighed and pushed her chair back, scraping it along the wooden floorboards. She turned the door's handle with a hoof, and pulled it open. Her face twisted into her best impression of a smile, a facsimile of a grimace. “Hi, Rarity. What's up?”

“I made you some food, dear. I was rather hoping we could eat together.” Rarity smiled. Unlike Twilight's, it seemed honest.

Twilight felt her heart lift a little. She nodded, and then began to walk through to the kitchen with Rarity following alongside. “I'm sorry I haven't been much company lately, Rarity.”

“Oh, I don't blame you, Twilight. Why, I was simply inconsolable last time my prince charming turned out to be anything but-” Rarity paused for effect, as if acting out a play that called for her to be stricken with grief. She fully recovered an instant later- “But I got over it, and now I'm fine. Now, it's not so straightforward here, but-”

Twilight stopped and turned towards her friend, then laid a hoof on her back. “Thanks, Rarity, but that isn't my problem right now. Quite honestly, Dash hasn't even sunk in yet. I still think she'll come back.”

Rarity shook her head. “Oh, I'd skin her alive for what the brute's done to you, Twilight.” She snorted. “Loyalty indeed. It's a wonder we managed to save the kingdom at all.”

“That's just it, Rarity.” Twilight's smile flickered into honesty. “You can't lie about these things. You couldn't not be generous, Pinkie Pie couldn't not be Pinkie Pie. Dash couldn't turn her back on me, she just couldn't.”

“And your magic?”

Twilight's smile faltered and faded back into a fiction. “Well, that- that's different. You know how it is.”

Rarity walked forward, heading towards the kitchen once again. Twilight followed along in silence. Atop the table lay two plates of steaming pasta, decorated with oat-shavings. Twilight smiled. Rarity pulled out her stool and sat down. “I know you like it. Just do try and ignore the burns; I usually order in.”

Twilight walked over to the table and pulled the stool back with a forehoof, then sat. “I don't think I've eaten anything nicer than a daisy sandwich for days!” She reached forward to grab a utensil—a fork, or a spoon, or something. She wasn't entirely sure what earth ponies and pegasi ate this sort of thing with—only to find the space around her bowl was bare. Her smile wavered once more.

She looked up to find Rarity staring at her with a single morsel held in a magic grip. Her eyes flickered down to the food, then off to the side at something off to the side she could pretend was interesting.

“Rarity, I-”

Rarity quickly interrupted. “No, no, I'm sorry. I'll get you something.” With her magic, Rarity opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a set of wooden utensils, which she then presented to Twilight. “I was just hoping you'd try. Just for me, darling?”

Twilight grabbed a fork and plunged it into the meal. “You know it isn't that simple, Rarity,” she said, then grabbed the pasta with her teeth and began to chew.

“Well, no, I rather don't. I've had my fair share of heartbreak, Twilight, but I've never seen anything like this.” She dropped her pasta back onto the pile and leaned forward. “It breaks my heart all over again seeing you like this.”

Twilight shook her head. “I'm okay, Rarity. Well, I'm not that not okay.”

“But your magic, Twilight! It's… Who you are! I myself don't know how I'd manage if I couldn't manage a design.”

Twilight flashed her best attempt at a smile. “It's not like it's gone forever, Rarity. Truth be told, if I tried I could use it, but I can't risk it. It'd be too dangerous and I'd never forgive myself if I did anything to your shop.”

Rarity frowned and tilted her head, then emitted a questioning grunt. “What in Celestia's name are you talking about, dear? I know you wouldn't damage anything, you're my friend!”

“I- Oh, sorry, Rarity. Forgive me, I forget you didn't grow up in Canterlot.” She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, imagining a textbook in front of her—with the original back in the royal library, her memories would have to do. “A Unicorn's Magic is formed of two discrete components. Primarily, there is the horn, which acts as an antenna of sorts and functions to collect and manipulate ambient magical energy. It is for this reason Canterlot was built in its location, centred around a magical hotspot for research. However, in addition to this physical component, the unicorn's mental and emotional status functions to temper the raw energies their body commands. Without a balanced mind, magic can be unwieldy”

Twilight opened her eyes to find Rarity nodding. She continued to nod for several seconds afterwards. Eventually she noticed Twilight had stopped speaking. “I'm afraid you lost me at discrete, Twilight. Could you rephrase that for…” Rarity coughed indignantly. “A less scholarly mare?”

Twilight sighed. “You shouldn't do magic unless you're calm or you might not be able to control it. For most unicorns that means accidentally breaking a plate. For me, it's accidentally breaking a tectonic plate.” She laughed under her breath, but then continued. “I'm exaggerating, of course. I think. Last time I lost control was terrifying and I don't ever want to repeat that.”

Rarity frowned. “I thought you said you were alright?”

Twilight closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and cradling her head in her hooves. “I lied, Rarity. Of course I lied. I've lost my home, my work, my wife; My life. I wake up in the morning and I think the only thing keeping me from breaking down is knowing Dash won't be there to make it better, and I don't know how to manage without that any more. So I can't stop. I have to keep going, because I don't think I can start again if I stop.”

Rarity swallowed nothing and extended a hoof, resting it against Twilight's. “Everybody else is still here for you, Twilight. We may not be her, but we're here.”

Twilight nodded, letting her hooves drop to the desk and opening her eyes. She smiled a thin smile. “I know. I appreciate it, but… You're not her. Nopony else is. I made her promise me once that if I lost control, she'd stop me no matter what it took. No offence, but nobody else could touch me.” Twilight closed her eyes again. “Within a minute of losing control, anything within a hundred meters would be dust. Within three, Ponyville. Within five, me.” She spoke quietly and clinically as if quoting a foregone conclusion from a textbook.

“Twilight!” Rarity pulled back. Her forehead wrinkled in concern. “Don't talk like that!”

“Sorry.” Twilight speared another few pieces of pasta and quietly began to chew. “I hope you understand now, though. I will try again when I feel ready. If I felt like I put any of you in danger, I'd want to be near Celestia or Luna. They'd know what to do, they're always calm.”

Celestia's hoof smacked against the stone cold floor of the throne room. Her metallic horseshoe's clink echoed from the well lit, yet dull walls. From the point of impact, a small cloud of dust and rock-shards emerged, scattering a few feet around her. The sound silenced the functionaries and dignitaries performing their assigned tasks, sharply drawing their attention towards the source of the commotion.

It did not silence Princess Luna. “Sister, this is hardly a debate! Our course of action is as clear as your day.” Luna's mane flowed angrily at her side, whipping around in the air as if controlled by an unfelt gale. The space around her seemed dim, surrounding her in a dark halo as if she cast a shadow away from the gaze of anybody who clapped eyes on her. The other ponies in the room noticeably avoided looking directly at her, though they thought she didn't notice.

The ponies began to leave the room, slowly at first but quickly speeding up until the large double-doors at the far end seemed more like a finishing line for subtly galloping competitors than an inviting pillar of a fair rule. Disagreements between the two as sisters were not unprecedented; as princesses, they were.

“Luna, times have changed. I do not know why you cling to the old ways so, when they drove you to such terrible lows.” Celestia brushed her hoof against the chipped floor, but that was apologetic as she was willing to go. The stones of Canterlot castle were old and had seen worse punishment in their time, but any further damage was still regrettable.

Luna frowned. “This… is not about us, Celestia. This is about the safety of the kingdom—nay, our entire world.” Luna's hoof pointed around the room as she talked as if to underline the point.

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Don't be so dramatic. You have no more reason to believe that than I. Times have changed, Luna—I have changed. I cannot, and will not, interfere with the lives of my subjects unless given reason!” Her hoof twisted, grinding the stone chips down to dust.

Luna snorted, then gritted her teeth. “How is this not sufficient reason? Were this not your prized student you would have done it weeks ago!” The silence that dawned over the room was only amplified by their loneliness; Not a single other pony still stood nearby.

“Perhaps.” Celestia turned and walked over to the window, before staring out across Canterlot. She stood in a pregnant silence, letting the calming view temper her mood. “However, she is. Concessions must be made.”

“Will you be saying that as Canterlot burns?” Luna walked over and stood at an adjacent window, allowing the view to grant her opinions new fire. Pegasi idly hung in the sky, maintaining Canterlot's perfectly architected cloudscape; Unicorns stood in the streets and on the rooftops, going about their daily lives with barely a care in the world.

Celestia snorted. “I see your tendency to overreact has not been tempered with age. There is no need for haste here, sister. This is a delicate situation and we must deal with it carefully.”

The two sisters both stumbled a step to the side as if hit by some invisible force. Outside, the pegasi wavered and flew a little harder to maintain their positions. The unicorns shook their heads to clear some ache. Within moments, everything returned to normalcy.

“No need for haste? The disturbances are getting both more frequent and more dangerous. Our subjects will soon begin to notice, and we are loathe to consider the effects on neighbouring sovereignties. If you will not allow us to force your hoof, political pressure will. I assume we have no need to remind you of our responsibilities?”

“It's not that simple!” Celestia snapped. “You have no experience in these matters, Luna! If I allowed you to take this action it would destroy her.”

Princess Luna laughed, though it was cut short. “Experience in what? Magic, or love? I assure you; despite my time imprisoned I surpass you in both.” Contrary to her statement, Luna's cloak of shadow had dissipated into the light, leaving her seeming almost naked to the sun-goddess's gaze. What would have been a sign of weakness to an enemy was a white flag to a friend.

“In Twilight, Luna. You forget, I have watched her grow, and mature. I have watched her fall in love, and now I am watching her heart break. What you suggest would end her.” Celestia spoke quietly and slowly, choosing her words carefully.

“You are not her mother, Celestia. It is not your responsibility to keep her safe. It is your responsibility to keep the kingdom safe, and if that means sacrificing one subject then so be it.” Luna spoke harshly in clipped tones and cold words.

“You miss my point, dear sister. I speak not of her emotions, but her abilities. I know what she is capable of more intimately than any other. You believe your magic surpasses mine?” Celestia's lips twisted into a small smile. “Perhaps. And yet, you are as an ant to her.”

Luna threw her head back for a room-filling, echoing laugh. “A unicorn? Hardly. Do you forget our battles so readily?”

Celestia shook her head. “As I said, you do not know what she is capable of. She is a child, untrained and unskilled. You are a master of your craft. In poise and subtlety, you could cast circles around her, but I do not know how deep her power runs. It may not end. If you wish to employ Cadence's abilities to 'fix' her it will not go unnoticed, and her trust in us will shatter. Political problems are secondary to retaining the trust of the bearers of harmony; surely even you can see that?”

Luna was silent for several moments, then walked over to her sister and draped a wing across her body. “I do not mean to fight you, sister. You make it so hard.”

Celestia smiled and rubbed her muzzle against Luna's cheek. “Patience, Luna. You must always have patience. Perhaps one day you will learn some.”

The princess of the night snorted. “And yet you offer no paths of your own. Will there come a time when losing her trust is better than the alternative? How many seconds late was the dawn today, sister?”

Celestia sighed. “Too many.”

The air crackled. The ground, hundreds of feet below, blurred and twisted into a smudge of green and brown. The sky before Rainbow Dash began to lose its blue tinge and render as monochrome. Her wingbeat was punishing, but she still willed them to move faster.

“Another,” the pegasus snapped, pushing a now-empty bowl back across the bar. The salt had crusted around her lips, but she neither noticed, nor cared. Her mane had slipped from purposefully messy to just messy, and her wings still twitched in time with grimaces and winces from her face.

Her shadowy surroundings faded into a pointless darkness. Had she concentrated, their mysteries would have revealed themselves to her, but the only thing Dash was concentrating on was the stream of fresh salt being deposited into her bowl once again. The dirty stool beneath her creaked as she leaned forward to snatch it from the bartender's hooves.

“Don't you think you've had enough, miss?” He looked at her. His eyes were uncaring; the question was an obligation and nothing more. miss, Dash thought. Not miss Dash, or Rainbow, or anything indicative of any amount of care or knowledge. He was just another stranger in a city full of ponies who didn't know who she was.

Earth ponies serving bars were rare. Dash knew this from experience; this was the first one she'd found where the staff weren't unicorns. The first one she could sit in and forget. She grabbed the bowl between her hooves and began to swallow, downing the foul substance with practised ease.

The streaks of blurred cloud around her began to disappate as she reached even greater speeds. All that was below her now was the ocean. Failure wasn't an option. Dash's thoughts began to blur as her brain put all its concentration into maintaining flight. Even the fleeting images of a purple unicorn began to dim, replaced with micro-fractions of a movement in a secondary flight feather.

The air rushing over Dash's body began to lessen as she twisted and turned with the eddies and currents, becoming more aerodynamic every moment. The friction dropped off and her speed began to increase further. A dark cone of something began to form before her. Something Twilight could have pinpointed, probably.

The unicorn passed before her eyes once more and Dash felt a feather snag on the wind. It ripped out immediately, taking with it a few drops of blood and a significant fraction of Dash's speed. It was only a minor feather, but without it she couldn't maintain complete aerodynamic stability.

“At least have a glass of water. On the house.” His gaze didn't waver. The eyes still didn't care.

Dash shook her head. “I'm fine,” she rasped from between dry, chapped lips. “Another.”

The barman shook his head.

“I'm good for it, you know I am,” Dash pleaded. Despite his unchanging stare, Dash put on her best hopeful expression. Ponies were eighty-five percent water, Twilight had once said. Dash knew she had a long way to go before she was dehydrated enough to stop caring. “C'mon, I need this.”

He shook his head. Those eyes closed, then he turned away. Dash jumped, kicking off and leaving the stool to clatter against the floor. “Fine, I'll just go somewhere else.” Dash spat—or tried to, failing due to lack of fluid left in her mouth. “Anywhere'd be glad to have me. I'm Rainbow bucking Dash, remember that!”

The wooden door crashed against the outside of the building, violently reacting to Dash's kick. The sun hung low in the sky. Evening? Morning? Dash instinctively looked around for a familiar reference point to orient herself around, but found nothing. The tall buildings of Manehatten surrounded her in every direction, blocking off her view of the surrounding world. It didn't surprise her there were few pegasi living in the city; such constraints would have been akin to Tartarus had they not been what she was looking for.

Dash fell, spiralling through the air with a thick trail of rainbow chasing her tail. Her eyes were closed, as were her wings. At thousands of feet above the ocean, Dash knew she had entire minutes of freefall before she'd have to spread her wings once more and return to civilisation, with yet another failure on her belt.

Dash opened her wings. The damage had started to heal, and flight was merely uncomfortable rather than painful now. The mare was no stranger to injuries, but she recognised this one as something that wouldn't heal; at least, not without magical intervention. Maybe later, she thought.

“Hey!” a voice called, coming from somewhere behind her. Dash turned her head and spotted a young pegasus mare chasing after her. Older than flight school, but not old enough for the Wonderbolts. There's something we have in common, Dash snapped at herself.

“Wh- Are you talking to me?”

“Yeah! Wait up, Rainbow Dash.” Within a few moments, the newcomer had caught up, and stood slightly out of breath before Dash in the middle of a cobbled and alien street.

Dash looked the mare up and down. Her coat was a light brown, and her mane a soft red. Her side was emblazoned with a gleaming cloud. All of that was irrelevant, however, when Dash looked at her eyes. They glimmered and flickered between all the different parts of Dash's body. The look was somewhere between respect and adoration—something Dash hadn't felt for almost two weeks, now. “Um… hello?”

“Hey! I- I thought I recognised you back at the bar. You're Rainbow Dash, right? Wonderbolt?” She spoke breathlessly, though it seemed to be only partially due to the run.

Dash nodded.

“I'm a huge fan! I was devastated when I heard you quit!”

Dash coughed. “What? They said I- Yeah, yeah that's right. Sorry. I uh, yeah I quit.” She shuffled on her hooves, uncomfortable with the lie even to a stranger.

“Oh, sorry; you must be parched. Say, why don't you come back to my place for a drink?” The newcomer looked up at her with a hopeful face.

Dash opened her mouth to make an excuse—No, I can't, sorry. I have to go back to my cheap floatel and mope.—but none came out. “I uh- I can get water.” Dash mentally placed her hoof over her face, blaming the dehydration for her lack of ability to come up with a good answer. That wasn't quite fair, though—even when fully watered, Dash had taken to relying on Twilight's wordsmithing to get her out of boring things.

“How about company, then? You're the first pegasus I've seen since I got here, and I'm kinda missing flight talk.” She shuffled on her hooves.

Dash frowned and stared at her, trying to ascertain whether she was serious or not. Dash was a mess, she knew she was, and she knew anypony would notice.

“Fine, okay.”

“Awesome. Name's Cloud Shine, by the way. My place is just round the corner.”

Twilight Sparkle took a few steps into Rarity's spare room. The seamstress had told her to treat it like her own—she had—but it still didn't feel like home. It had used to contain materials and failed designs, now it contained reference materials and failed dreams. Twilight carefully swung the door closed with one of her hindlegs and turned back to her work area.

Spike!, she thought, almost calling out for him instinctually before recalling his absence. At first, he'd been enthusiastic about sleeping at Rarity's house, but after a few days Twilight had realised that she didn't want the company.

Twilight knew that she'd sent him to Canterlot to re-organise her royal accommodation for purely selfish reasons, but she refused to admit the biggest to herself. Spike was her real-time link to Princess Celestia. The third day of “How are you holding up, Twilight?” or “If there is anything either I or my sister can do, we are at your command.” proved unbearable. At least without Spike, Twilight could choose when to open the letters.

Twilight walked over to her desk and peeked around the thick walls of literature surrounding it. A small pile of unopened parchments, still sealed with a waxen royal insignia, rested against the wall. Tomorrow, Twilight thought. She took a step back, then sat on her stool once again and looked down at the page. The title Asymbiotic Flora Fields and Their Effects On Magical Transceivers peered back up at her.

Initial research indicates the specific crystalline formation of the Magic-induction form is heavily influenced by the local maxima of magic energy fields. This is most notable inside large conductors, such as sufficiently sized trees or totems, and

The sentence cut off partway through, partially through lack of ink and partially through apathy. Twilight stared at it, willing it to vanish. She wished Rainbow Dash were there even more, not simply for companionship or simple affairs of the heart, but as the pegasus had proved herself as a research assistant time and time again. Mostly through her ignorance allowing her to consider absurd solutions which couldn't possibly work, but occasionally contained a grain of genius.

“What's the point of writing this stuff down if nopony else can read it anyway, egghead?” Dash lightly tapped the side of Twilight's horn from her position resting atop her back. The pegasus was naturally light, but Twilight had grown so used to lifting her magically it was effortless—Dash could rest on her without causing either of them discomfort. Her multichromatic mane fell against Twilight's as Dash looked past the unicorn's purple, and delicious, ear to scan the text before her.

“It's a research paper, Dash, not a magazine article,” Twilight snapped under her breath, subconsciously listening to ensure nobody overhead her faux-conversation.

“Yeah, and who reads research papers? Come on, explain it to me. Make it interesting or I'll start napping.” Dash rested her head atop Twilight's and let her legs droop freely down her sides.

“Fine, fine. Basically, what it means—in simple, general terms—is that the specific location you grow the crystals is vital. That I happened to do it somewhere that they'd work was just chance, but it gave me a chance to realise that.” Twilight sighed.

“Hey,” Dash whispered, resting a hoof on Twilight's cheek. “Come on, you didn't do that badly. I think I understood most of those words, even!” The pegasus grinned, though Twilight couldn't see it. The unicorn's demeanour did not improve, however. “Hey, what's wrong, Twi?”

“What's wrong is I'm going crazy. What's wrong is that all my research was for nothing, because I can't grow these outside of our treehouse, and you burnt it down.” Twilight closed her eyes and brushed the hoof from her cheek, almost being surprised when she felt nothing there. “You aren't even here. I don't even know where you are. I don't- I don't even know if you're coming back.” Twilight's head dropped, and her ears went with it. “I don't know what I can do. I-”

“Twilight, darling? I was wo- oh.” Rarity's head peeked around the ajar door. Her lips quivered as if there was so much more she wanted to say, and her eyes shivered as if there were so many other things she'd prefer to see. She stood there silently.

Twilight looked up. A thin streak of tear-sodden mane descended from each eye. “I don't even know if she still loves me.”

“Oh, Twilight.” Rarity opened the door further and slipped inside, then walked over to Twilight and sat beside her. “I thought you two were meant to be together, but… Well, it's no secret me and Dash don't always see eye to eye-”

Twilight snorted, recalling all the times Rarity had—unsuccessfully—tried to get Dash into fashion.

“-but, well, if she's anywhere near worthy of having you, she'll come back. If she doesn't, then you're better off for it. Goodness knows how she'll manage a sufficient apology for all the awful things she's done to you.”

Twilight forcibly shook her head. “No. No, I'm not better off without her ever, Rarity. How could you even say that? How could you… How?”

Rarity's head moved back a little. “I- oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!”

“Then how did you mean it?” Twilight snapped, “Is that what you read in one of your magazines? That even when you love somepony so much that you can't even sleep because you're too scared you'll dream about them again, and then you'll have to wake up and remember they're not there, you should make them apologise?” Twilight glared at Rarity with tears streaming down her face and a voice that thought maybe if she shouted loud enough, Dash would hear. “I- I don't care why Dash did what she did. I don't care if she never says sorry; I don't care if she never explains why; I don't even care if she does it again, I just want her home.” Twilight grew silent, croaking out her next words between sobs. “I- I need her home.”

Silence fell upon the room. Rarity looked away, leaving her mouth slightly parted in preparation to speak, but without ever taking that final step and vocalising her thoughts. The air grew chillier than a winter's night as their silence lengthened.

Twilight finally sighed, giving the world one last sniff. “And you didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry, Rarity, I've had a bad day.”

Rarity smiled and sighed a quiet sigh of relief. “Darling, you've had a bad fortnight. And ah, please don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to talk to somepony, I'd prefer it was me, not an imaginary Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight laughed and scratched the back of her neck with a hoof. “Okay. Maybe you're right. I'm not making progress here anyway, a break can't exactly hurt.”

Rarity smiled. “How appropriate you would say that! I happen to have a spa appointment this afternoon, I'd love it if you'd come along. Nothing helps you forget your troubles quite like a sauna, Twilight.”

“I…” Twilight looked around the room. “I dunno, Rarity, I'd rather n-”

“Oh, but I already have two bookings, and poor Fluttershy can't make it!” Rarity looked down and pouted, staring up at Twilight as if she were utterly innocent. “Why, Lotus would be devastated if I were alone!”

“Well, in that case, I don't suppose I have much choice, do I?” Twilight looked over to her friend.

Rarity shook her head. “We're worried about you, Twilight, that's all.”

“I'm fine!” Twilight insisted, and then paused for a moment to consider the last five minutes of her life. “Huh. I'm really not, am I?”

“You'll get there, Twilight. Everypony has to eventually.” Rarity smiled, resting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

Twilight slowly nodded, giving her self-authored prison one last glance before standing up and walking out of the room. Rarity followed immediately afterwards, slamming the door behind her hard enough to rattle the walls.

“Oh, fiddlesticks, I've done it again.” Rarity turned to face the door and gave it a little push with her forehoof. It didn't budge. She frowned, then furrowed her brow as her horn lit up and surrounded the door in a quiet magic field. It didn't budge. “Hmf. Twilight, darling, would you give me a hoof?”

Twilight frowned, then walked back and gave the door a shove. It was jammed tightly against the frame—Twilight made a mental note to scold whoever built it—but couldn't stay shut against Twilight's weight for long.

Rarity smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. You're stronger than you look, you know.”

Twilight emitted a quiet snort. “Dash never gave me a choice. My days of sitting around reading all day came to a sudden end when she moved in. Not that I was ever particularly unhealthy—Celestia wouldn't allow it—but… Well, Dash gives excellent full body exercise training.” Twilight's gaze dropped. “Or gave, anyway.” The unicorn scoured her mind for something to change the subject to.

“Wait,” she said, “the door wasn't that stuck. You should have been able to open that. Was that another feel-good thing, because… I don't get it.” Twilight tilted her head and looked at her friend.

“Ah, no. That was actually what I was coming to talk to you about, Twilight. I didn't want to bother you, but this is becoming really quite worrisome and it's starting to interfere with my work.”

“Your magic is weak? Have you tried cockatrice milk? Fluttershy should be able to get you some.” Twilight was quite knowledgeable on the subject of magical illnesses. Spike called her a hypochondriac. Dash didn't know what that meant.

“No, not exactly. Perhaps I should show you.” Rarity lead Twilight through to her main workroom, where half-finished dresses adorned plastic ponies and scrolls lined the walls filled with ideas and concepts. Materials and resources were scattered over the floor, leaving barely a square inch of the once-luxurious carpet visible beneath.

“Celestia, Rarity! This looks like… Pinkie Pie hit it. Is your horn okay, can you even output this much magic?” Twilight leaned close and inspected the ridges on Rarity's thin white horn. She couldn't notice any damage, though without using magic of her own she couldn't do a deep inspection to prove it.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “No, this is normal. Honestly, does nobody in this town understand creative zen? No, look over here, at the wall.” Twilight carefully made her way across the room, avoiding reams of fabric and rolls of cloth, though unfortunately standing on a few scribbles—Rarity would say works of art—and creasing them slightly.

The wall in question looked normal in every way. It was painted white, with a perfectly even coat stretched across the smooth interior wall. On it hung a few posters and noticeboards, filled with upcoming fashions and old fashions likely to come back in this season. Twilight didn't understand any of them. “I don't get it.”

“To your left, Twilight, that sewing needle.” Rarity pointed at a small needle sticking out of one of the noticeboards, protruding a few centimetres into the room. Twilight gripped it between her teeth and pulled, fairly easily sliding it from its hole. Several inches later, it was free.

“Oh! Ha thee gee ee?” Twilight mumbled, speaking around the needle with a minimum of success. Rarity plucked the strip of metal from Twilight's jaws and jabbed it a little way into the noticeboard again. Twilight began fresh. “Oh! How'd that get in?”

“Well, I was rather hoping you could tell me. I was using it, and then all of a sudden everything I was holding flew across the room. I ruined the design, and poor Opalescence was just terrified.” Rarity paused, frowned, and looked around, searching for the cat. “She usually comes out of hiding in, oh, a few days.”

Twilight's brow furrowed. “How abnormal. Magical weakness through illness is fairly common, but strengthening? That shouldn't be possible, you can't just make a pony more receptive to the magic field. Believe me, I've tried.”

Rarity blinked. “You lost me at receptive, I'm afraid. Not a scholar, remember?”

“Oh, doesn't matter. Are you sure you didn't just… accidentally fling it across the room?” Twilight looked on hopefully.

Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Twilight, were I able to throw a needle through a wall, there would be many ponies in this town who would do well to watch their backsides. I assure you, such uncouth brute force is beyond me.”

“Oh. How interesting. Maybe it was just a fluke, maybe… temporal ripples or parauniverse crosslapse or something.”

Again, Rarity blinked. “You lost me even earlier there.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, I just made that up. Sorry, bad habit, but it's easier than explaining to Dash that I don't actually know everything about magic.”

Rarity laughed. “Unfortunately, I'm afraid this isn't the first time, either, it's ha-”

“What?!” Twilight's head immediately snapped round the lock Rarity in her gaze. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Well, surely that's evident, Twilight? I don't want to trouble you.”

Twilight shook her head. “It'd trouble me more not to know! Or… you know what I mean.”

Rarity nodded. “I apologise, Twilight. I visited the hospital, but nurse Redheart didn't think it was serious.”

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned. “She doesn't know the first thing about magic. She once asked how often I had to shave my horn to keep the hair off it. No, this is serious… maybe.”

“How serious? I'm not in any danger, am I? This season's fashion is just starting to bloom, I really can't afford to miss the initial rush!” Rarity looked concerned, Twilight noted, but once again missed the point.

“No, no. Well, I don't think so.” Twilight paused. “I don't know. Look, there aren't many rules about magic, really, but the big one is that you can't change anything that makes a pony who they are.”

Rarity thought back to both her own magical education, and the spells she'd watched Twilight cast. “Oh, is that why you had so much trouble giving me wings? Because I'm not meant to have them?”

Twilight frowned. “Sort of. Those fake ones are easy, but real pegasus wings are impossible. Yours were mostly hard because I was still thinking about Dash's tail.” She paused. “Hm, that came out wrong.”

Rarity coughed, then licked her lips to moisturise them. Twilight looked around.

“Anyway, the point is, you can't change a pony's cutie mark, you can't significantly alter their personality, and you can't make them more magical.” Twilight frowned. “Discord could do it, but nopony knows how.” She raised a hoof to her horn and gave it a rub, as if to clear her head. “I don't… I've been feeling something, some… fluctuations lately. I wrote it off as, well, you already know.”

Rarity tilted her head slightly. “Do you think they're related? Can you fix it?”

Twilight shrugged, turning to inspect the pinprick hole in Rarity's wall. “I don't even know what the problem is. It could take weeks of research to narrow it down, and that's with magical help.”

“But if there isn't a problem with your magic, then cou-”

Twilight's head snapped back to look at Rarity. “No. You know why.”

Rarity began to pout. “But Twilight, you seem so calm! Surely you're calm enough to try, at least? For me? I'd appreciate it ever so much.”

Twilight looked away, resting a hoof on the wall and closing her eyes. “Look, I know you mean well, but… I spent years up in Canterlot learning how to hide myself from everypony else. I know I can't do it. I think about doing research and all I can see is Dash's face smiling back at me, with that stupid labcoat she always insisted on wearing and her mane tied back. She was no help, not normally, but… I can't imagine doing it without her now.”

Twilight sighed. “I'm sorry, Rarity. When I do magic I feel like I could bend the world to my will, but I just want it to go away. I don't trust myself right now.”

“But-”

Twilight shook her head, cutting her friend off. “I'm sorry, I can't. Maybe you could try one of the unicorn doctors?”

“Hmf, I suppose. However, I absolutely refuse to leave you alone. You shall still accompany me to the spa, right?” Rarity stared, wavering her eyes at precisely the correct level to seem desperate.

Twilight nodded. “Honestly, I think I could do with the massage.”

“So hey, it's not much,” Cloud Shine said, pushing open the cheap wooden door to the cheap ground-level apartment in one of Manehatten's less popular areas. “But it's home to me, and I've got plenty of water.”

A mouse scurried across the stained and scratched wooden floorboards, fleeing from the invasion of its home. It scampered into a small hole in one of the walls at the far side and vanished.

“Should get Fluttershy to talk him out of there,” Dash slurred. Fluttershy would know what to do with animals, she always did. The last time a mouse found its way into the treehouse, Twilight had almost pulled her mane out fretting over damage to the books. It had only been quick thinking on Dash's behalf that had stopped the librarian from pulling her library apart in search. Fluttershy spent five minutes chatting to the thing, and half an hour later she had a new friend.

“Who?” Cloud called through from the kitchen, moments before Dash heard the tinkle of water being poured into a glass. That single word was enough to pull her back down to Equestria and rip her head from the clouds.

“Nevermind.” Dash walked through to the apartment's other room, which contained a scarred sofa and a small pile of cheap magazines. Equestrian Flier's Monthly was among them, as was a months-old copy of Playmare.

The walls were bare; they'd clearly once been wallpapered, but that was “once”. Not now.

“Here you go.” Cloud Shine held the glass out for Dash to take, then sat on the sofa by her side. “So hey, what brings a superstar like you down to Manehatten?”

Dash took a drink. The water felt like ambrosia to her salt-cracked lips and dehydration-addled mind. As the cool liquid flowed down her throat, she couldn't help but think back in time, back to the first time she'd really learned to appreciate water. Back on her honeymoon.

Suddenly the water tasted bitter, like somepony had dumped rock shavings in it. “Eugh.” She set the glass down on the floor next to the sofa, lamenting the lack of any kind of table or surface. “I'm here because… Man, it's a long story.”

“I'm a good listener,” Cloud promised. She pulled her legs up onto the chair and curled them around herself, getting comfortable ready for a story.

“I'm a crappy speaker, sorry.” Dash sighed. “I shouldn't be here, I'm not great company.”

“Oh, sure you are!” The red-maned mare nodded eagerly. “Come on, you're Rainbow Dash, how could any of your stories not be awesome?”

Dash grinned. “Yeah, yeah you're right. I guess it is kinda cool. In a way.”

Several seconds passed. Cloud tilted her head. “Well?”

“Oh, I kinda tore a muscle in my wing or something. I think, anyway, I'm not all that hot on doctor stuff. I flew a bit too fast, probably shouldn't have.” Dash's grin faded.

“Trying to break your speed record? Be fair, Rainbow Dash, or nopony'll ever beat you again!”

Dash smiled. “Nah, I was… flying away from somewhere. Doesn't matter.”

The other mare shook her head. “Nuh-uh, if something can make you fly too fast, I wanna know what it is!”

“Look, it's not- I don't really feel like talking about it, okay?”

“Oh. Oh, okay.”

Silence draped itself across the room, almost suffocating the mares with the force of its presence. Dash picked up the foul liquid once more and took another drink, sating her body's desires and reminding her mind of what she'd lost yet again.

She sighed. “It was a mare.”

“Anypony nice?”

Dash laughed. “Yeah, the nicest. Celestia, what've I done? I lied before, it's not kinda cool at all.” She looked down, letting the half-empty glass tip almost to spilling point before she caught it.

Cloud reached out and pressed a hoof onto Dash's leg. “Wanna talk about it? I wasn't lying, I am a good listener.”

“I dunno. I kinda suck at the whole feelings thing. That's why I'm here, I guess. Horsewhips, why couldn't I have just talked to her? Why'd I have to- Why did I do that?” Dash stared at her host, with the slightest hint of a tear in the corner of her eye, hoping perhaps she might have the answers.

Cloud Shine shrugged. “Why do we do anything? Some things just aren't meant to be.”

Dash took another swig of the water. It still tasted awful, and she could have sworn she saw a few specks of dirt spiralling around in it, had she not been convinced her mind was playing tricks on her. “What if it was meant to be, and I screwed it up? Can you do that, can you… break fate like that?”

“She was your first, wasn't she?”

Dash shook her head. “No, only the first I loved.”

“That's what I meant. C'mon, everypony goes through it. First love, you don't really know what you're looking for. You don't have that experience that tells you what'll drive you mad. There's no shame in cutting your losses and finding somepony else, Rainbow.” Cloud rubbed the side of Dash's leg and leaned towards her.

Dash shook her head. “No, I don't wanna give up on her. I can win her back, I know I can. I don't wanna live the rest of my life without her, I dunno how to.”

“Nopony ever does. You sure she'll ever take you back? Is it worth chasing after her if she won't?”

“She- No. I don't know if she will. I kinda… Made a really bad exit.” Dash sighed. The tear ran down her face without impairment. “The hay do I do if she won't take me back?”

Cloud shrugged, shuffling a little closer. “Move on,” she whispered. She raised her hoof to stroke Dash's cheek. “Find somepony else to be special.”

Dash shied away, but only for a moment. It had been so long since she'd felt a warm hoof brush against her face she'd almost forgotten what it had felt like. “How? How do I just… turn my feelings off?”

The glass clattered against the floor, spilling the last few drops of liquid onto the floorboards, as Cloud pulled herself forward and rested her lips against Dash's. “Drown them out.”

She moved the tiniest bit forward, tilting her head to the side and brushing their lips together. She raised her hooves and lightly held Dash's head between them, keeping her in place as she kissed. A full second later, she pulled back, keeping Dash's lower lip between her teeth for just a moment longer.

Dash gasped. “I-” Her heart was racing. Her head felt fuzzy and her hooves felt sweaty. It reminded her of that time so many years ago when she first met Twilight, and could barely manage to speak two words to her without needing to do something to impress her.

“Shh,” Cloud whispered, pressing a hoof against Dash's lips to silence her. “It doesn't have to mean anything. You and her aren't together, you aren't betraying anything.” She leant down and began to lightly kiss down Dash's neck. “You're Rainbow Dash. You could have any mare you wanted. If whoever she is is too selfish to see what a catch you are, then I'll have you.”

Dash closed her eyes and let out a quiet moan, savouring the feeling of wet lips sliding against her coat once more. Her body seemed to pulse with every heartbeat, flushing with heat at every opportunity. Her skin burned, becoming uncomfortable everywhere but the sweet moments of nirvana emanating outwards from the pale mare's lips. “I- ah!” She groaned, twisting her body underneath Cloud Shine's.

She knew she should pull away. She knew that every second that went by reduced her chances of winning Twilight back even further. “I- stop…” she moaned, fighting against her body's near-overwhelming desire to give in as she felt the teeth nip around her collarbone, sending sparks of desperation tingling through her. “I'm… I'm a married mare,” she whispered, raising her hooves to Cloud Shine's flank almost involuntarily. The meaty flank squashed and misshaped under her hooves, sating a tiny fraction of her body's desire.

“Sounds like it's already broken.” Cloud moved down, running her tongue along Dash's chest, down almost to her stomach.

Dash cried out in pleasure, throwing her head back and to the side. “Y… yeah,” she moaned out, screwing her eyes shut to try and block out the nagging voice in her head that still screamed stop. Everything Cloud Shine said made sense. Twilight was a lost cause, she had to move on.

She opened her eyes, staring across the room as she felt the dancing tongue dart across her stomach, and the mare's hooves press against every inch of her sides even as her own hooves did the same. The room suddenly seemed so much more homely. She could see herself here—decorations were overrated anyway. The only real problem was the dark stain from the cracked glass a few inches away from the sofa, a black stain filled with tiny white specks, contrasting on the ground like a starry night sky.

“Huh,” Dash groaned, “What's that?” Her mind was foggy, and she was thinking through soup. Every new idea or concept she thought of by herself had to be dragged through a distant haze. “Did yo- you?”

Dash shook her head, raising her forehooves to press against her eyes. “Ugh, I can't- what am I…” She froze, then slapped herself across the face with all her might. The fog grew less dense, and the haze that had fallen over her surroundings lifted. She bucked outwards, sending Cloud Shine flying across the room to impact on the far wall. A moment later, the mouse scurried out of its hole, running away from the disturbance once more.

Cloud picked herself up, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof and gingerly testing her wings. “What the hay, Rainbow Dash?”

Dash struggled to her feet, propping herself up against the sofa until she felt stable. She staggered over and pushed her hoof into the mare's chest, sending her stumbling back a step to touch upon the wall. “Did you salt my drink?”

Cloud Shine looked away. “I- No! Maybe?” She looked up, keeping her lower lip between her teeth. “You looked like you needed a good time.”

Dash shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don't need a good time, I need Twilight back, damnit. If you can't do that then buzz off and go to Tartarus!” Dash staggered back, tripping over the upturned glass but managing to stay on her feet as she stumbled towards the kitchen for a real drink.

Cloud Shine followed after. “Sorry! I didn't think you'd mind!”

Dash shot a look of disgust at the mare, then nosed the kitchen's tap until a flow of sweet water emerged. She eagerly gulped it down, feeling her body rejuvenate properly.

Water flowing all around her as Twilight's hoof stroked against her cheek. Water from a cloud hammering against them as they ran through Ponyville, Twilight repeatedly berating Dash for locking them out but laughing along all the same. Water from a shower splattering around them, running down their faces and across their bodies. A hoof running through her mane, removing the knots and dirt. A hoof running along her tail, teasing almost innocently in only the way Twilight could.

Rainbow Dash had hated the water once. She still hated it when she was alone. The tinkle of spilled water from the tap echoed across the room, and Dash felt more alone than she ever had.

After what felt like an eternity, she raised a hoof to shut the supply off. Her lips, though broken and with the sour aftertaste of another cheap salt-lick sticking to their corners, felt more alive than they had for days.

Dash turned to face the other mare. Cloud Shine stared down at the floor, occasionally taking blinks that lasted entire seconds in length. Her ears were folded back and her wings drooped towards the floor.

Dash grinned. “I could kiss you right now, y'know?” She jumped over, now only slightly unsteady on her hooves, and grabbed the mare in a crushing, but quick, embrace. “I won't, because like, that'd be stupid of me, but I could.”

“I- Huh?” Cloud looked up, tilting her head in confusion. “I thought you hated me?”

Dash laughed uproariously, almost toppling to her side in one particularly hearty effort. “Nah, I get it now. Hay, look at you, you're pretty cute. Anypony else, yeah you'd probably have got what you wanted, but you were so wrong about Twilight. You were right about me, though—I could have anypony I wanted. I know who I want.”

“But… You said you didn't even know if she still loved you!”

Dash rolled her eyes. “So? I've spent like, forever fretting about it. I dunno what I'd do if she said she didn't, so I'm just gonna have to make her love me again. I can't live without her; how featherbrained am I to think I could run away from that?”

“Look, I feel awful about this. You live in uh, Ponyville, right? That's like, a day's flight away. Rest up here first, you're in no state to fly. I promise I won't try anything.”

Dash shook her head. “A day? I could get there and back in half that without breaking a sweat.” Dash flared her wings to prove a point, but immediately regretted it. Though they were healing, a motion that fast still hurt. She visibly winced. “Heh, okay, maybe not back. Screw it, I'm not coming back.”

Dash almost danced for the door, pulling it open with a hoof and jumping out into the street. Almost as an afterthought, Dash looked behind herself, at Cloud Shine standing in the doorway. “Just for the record, I didn't quit the Wonderbolts. They threw me out.”

The debris littering the street scattered with the force of the shockwave as Rainbow Dash took to the skies, shooting upwards with a single strong wingbeat. She felt a little uneasy still, but every second in the air felt like it was bringing a little more of herself home.

Rainbow Dash was in the air, and nothing could stop her. She looked down at the ponies beneath, taking in the view from on high. Though pegasi were rare in Manehatten, those that did exist were easily spotted flapping through the streets or on the rooftops.

One by one, they began to fall from the sky. Those earth ponies Dash could spot stumbled as if hit by an invisible wave, and the flight of those in the air came to an abrupt end. She looked straight down, catching a glimpse of Cloud Shine before she too stumbled to the side. Dash felt her wings weaken, as if that very same force was threatening to pluck her from the air.

Despite this, Rainbow Dash hit the speed of sound seven seconds later.

Canterlot shook. The floor beneath Celestia's hooves shivered with yet another pulse of an unseen force. Though both she and her sister stumbled, not a single book trembled on the library shelves surrounding them. Her gaze strayed to the nearest window, overlooking a large swathe of the city. As expected, this time was worse than the last.

Celestia felt Luna's gaze burn into the back of her neck, however she could not tear her eyes from the scene before her. The pegasi who had been unlucky enough to stay near the ground simply fell out of the sky, striking Equestria's surface an instant later. Those higher up were more lucky, and only fell a few meters before the pulse ended. The pegasi were the most obviously affected, but Celestia knew the rest of her people weren't left untouched. Even she felt her power waving.

“We are running out of time, sister.” Luna spoke slowly and without force, though her authority on magic was undeniable.

Celestia sighed, tearing her gaze from the window and pointing her head back between the pages of a book. Though Celestia had thousands of years of magical practise behind her, maintaining a gentle enough grip to ensure the ancient tome remained undamaged was mentally draining. “You are correct, as always, Luna.” Celestia snapped, her patience growing thin. “However I remain entirely unsure as to our next move.”

Luna nodded, placing her own book down on a nearby shelf. “As am I. Assuming your assessment of the young Sparkle is correct, we are running low on possibilities.”

Celestia closed her book, slamming it shut hard enough that any librarian would have evicted her immediately. Luckily, there were none present. “Have the Corral come to an agreement?”

Luna chuckled. “Now I am certain you're desperate, sister.”

“They may only be unicorns, but this is very much their domain. They may have spotted something we missed.” Celestia spoke without conviction, merely to ensure the room did not plunge into another awkward silence while the two princesses thought alone.

“Yes, yes, I'm sure. No, they remain silent. Perhaps if one of us requires a horseshoe enchanting they could produce results within several weeks, however I doubt we can rely on them here.” Princess Luna stood, raising a hoof to her mouth to stifle yet another yawn.

Celestia rose in turn, then walked to her sister and met her in a quick embrace. “You should sleep. There are a few hours still until you must raise the night, you need your rest.”

The princess of the night shook her head. “I will survive.” Luna rubbed the side of her horn and ran her tongue around her mouth, hoping to clear the exhaustion that fell over her.

“Lu, please. You have been awake for days, now, and we both know how well our enchantments are holding under this bombardment.” Celestia rested one of her forehooves against her sister's back, leaving it there until Luna pulled away.

“How can I sleep without any certainty of tomorrow's dawn? How can you?”

Celestia moved closer, resting her entire leg over Luna's body and lightly hugging her. “I've had a thousand years of practice at sleeping when I should not be able to. I do not expect sound slumber from you, however you require rest. I fear there is little we can achieve now anyway.”

Luna stepped back, her face twisting in shock. “So you're giving up? How can you merely st-”

“No,” Celestia quickly interrupted. “I am not giving up. This is a new problem, we will not find a solution in the history of our people. I fear we have only one hope left, but for that I require you well rested. So go, sister, find your bed and take your slumber. We shall require it.”

The evening sun cast deep shadows across the town of Ponyville, pulling a dark spire out from even the smallest fencepost. Were it not for the candles and magic lanterns dotting the streets, it could have been a foreboding sight before Twilight Sparkle and Rarity as they set off towards the town's spa.

“Darling, have you seen the time? We're going to be late.” Rarity strode ahead with purpose, trotting as quickly as she could without breaking into an unfashionable canter, or worse, a gallop. She winced slightly every time her hooves connected with the hard dirt underneath the now slightly yellowing grass. “And honestly, somepony really needs to talk to those pegasi. As much as Dash and I disagreed on when it should rain, she did at least do so.”

Twilight shook her head and muttered something under her breath, hurrying along after Rarity. Her saddlebags were packed with a few hastily grabbed books, and her mane looked a little tamer. Rarity had refused to allow her to be seen in public without at least brushing it.

“What was that, dear?” Rarity looked back, slowing slightly to ensure she didn't get far ahead of her friend.

“It's not lack of water.” Twilight stopped and pressed a hoof to the ground. The dirt crumbled as she moved it around, and blades of grass simply fell apart. She raised one to her mouth and nibbled the tip. “Eugh, and it tastes foul.”

Rarity shook her head. “Twilight, ponies walk on this. Of course it's foul, it isn't even imported.”

“No, I mean… eugh. It's bitter. Might be something wrong with the rain, do you mind if we skip this and I go grab a sample to do some tests on?” Twilight turned to the side and pulled out a small container from her pack, prying off the lid with her teeth before lowering it to the ground.

A thin blue film surrounded it, and it was plucked from her hooves. “Yes, dear, I do mind.” Rarity placed the container back inside Twilight's saddlebags, then yanked the whole apparatus from her back. “We're trying to relax, Twilight. I don't bring my dresses, so you shan't bring your books.”

The ex-librarian frowned, almost dismayed as she watched her gear float back into Rarity's house. “But Rarity, I-”

Rarity shook her head. “My dear, if I must teach you how to relax, I shall. Come on, it's late enough already, our appointment was…” Rarity paused. “Some time ago.”

Rainbow Dash winced, flinching as yet another bolt of pain trembled through her wing. With an almighty effort, she gave one last powerful flap upwards, sending herself on a high arc through the air, and pulled her wings to her side. Though her body was slowly repairing itself, Rainbow Dash ignored all the signs that she should slow down until the very last moment.

She slammed into a particularly soft looking cloud at a significant fraction of the speed of sound, knocking it off course and embedding herself several feet within it. Thankfully, it held, allowing her to catch a few moments of rest before taking off once more, bursting from the other side of the runaway puff of water vapour and weatherwork. It had tasted like Las Pegasus, maybe with a hint of Cloudsdale. A well-travelled cloud, and not one that wouldn't recover.

Dash squinted, raising her hoof to shield the sunlight from her eyes. Though Ponyville was still beyond the horizon, she could spot many of the landmarks she used for navigation there. Canterlot, the kingdom's seat of power, made an excellent point of reference. Raised high off the ground, Rainbow Dash could use both its distance and angle to calculate her position.

“Thirty seven,” Dash said, pointing towards a thin red line crossing a graph on Twilight's desk. The librarian looked up from her breakfast, a medley of apple and freshly cut grass, and tilted her head.

“Huh?”

Dash strolled away, walking past Twilight and batting her with the side of her tail as she went. “Your graph's wrong.” She grabbed her own bowl and, after shaking her head and rubbing her eyes to clear the early-morning blur, began to grab a meal of her own.

Twilight laughed. “Is this one of your jokes? That's a translinear exponent magicform graph with a quadrilateral energy matrix overlayed onto the background mental interference,” she said, or said something like it. Or said nothing like it at all, Dash had lost interest at “trans”.

“I have no idea what that is.” Dash threw her plate of food across the room, instantly working out the correct angles to adjust for gravity and any ambient drafts from the open bedroom window. It landed with a loud clink, hitting the side of Twilight's bowl.

“Careful, Dash, you almost hit mine.” Twilight frowned. Twilight was cute when she thought Dash made mistakes like that.

Rainbow Dash landed with determination, immediately in front of her bowl, leaving her pressed tight against Twilight's body and holding her in place with a wing. “Nuh-uh, I meant to put it there. Just like I meant thirty seven.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and pulled the chart across. “Look, this is a relatively simple calculation. Take the magic reading, translate it around the interference matrix, and you ge-” Twilight froze. Her eyes flicked between the page and the pegasus. “You get thirty seven.”

“Told ya.” Dash grabbed the bowl and raised it to her muzzle, wolfing down the breakfast treat in a matter of seconds. “C'mon, I've gotta go practise, you coming?”

Twilight frowned. “You don't have a mathemagical background, Dash. Is this one of you and Pinkie's pranks?”

Dash looked around, then peeked under the table. She returned to tap Twilight's nose with her hoof. “I don't think so. C'mon, Twi, that stuff's easy. It's just like flight vectors.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Flight mechanics was the only class I actually passed, I think. Oh, except cloud ec, but c'mon. Everybody passed that.”

Visions of wearing her white lab coat—worn to protect her carefully styled body, and seduce Twilight Sparkle—and helping out in Twilight's lab flashed through Dash's mind as the ground beneath her vanished. What was behind her may as well have fallen off the side of Equestria, it held such little relevance. What was ahead seemed to stretch out to infinity. Every wingbeat drove her faster, and yet the distance didn't decrease as fast as Dash would have liked.

Treetops bent and swayed as Dash passed, bringing with her a gust of wind strong enough to knock birds out of the sky. Despite this, the forest beneath seemed endless, stretching before her without limit or constraint. While every foot she flew was a foot closer to Twilight Sparkle, it was yet another fraction of a second she had to spend in twisted anticipation.

The sky was clear and blue, without a single imperfection or wrinkle. Dash thought back to the weather schedule, the one pinned to the roof above her bed. While it had originally been placed there in a desperate attempt to ensure she remembered it, Twilight knew it better as her focal point during bedroom turbulance. Today it had been followed perfectly, something Dash knew Twilight knew intimately.

Fresh from taking the last few scraps of cloudstuff back to Ponyville's main depot, Rainbow Dash spotted Twilight half the town away, calmly strolling across the main square. In her magic grip she held a stack of papers and documents, keeping them a few feet away from her and hovering in the air.

Rainbow Dash felt the wind tickle against her body and factored it in to her angle of descent as she dropped, aiming to take a low swing at the unicorn and knock her off her hooves.

Around Twilight stood Ponyville's market place, but the stalls were no issue. Dash pulled her wings to her sides and extended her hooves, zipping through tight spaces and bursting past paper signs advertising deals and savings. The purple mare grew steadily in Dash's vision until there was no room for anything else, the sky and ground and everything around having been pushed from her eyes.

“Ow!” Twilight groaned, picking herself up a few feet away. Dash mumbled something, shifting between out cold and merely dizzy. “Dash!”

Twilight picked the pegasus up too, brushing her off with a few well placed planes of force and then setting her onto her hooves, as if Dash was a lifesized doll to be manipulated. Rainbow Dash didn't mind, especially not when her puppeteer's strings could be pulled back.

“I uh- Hi.” Dash coughed. “You normally catch me.” Rainbow Dash shrugged, then looked away. Behind her was the remains of a small stall that had once held cabbages. Once. “That was me, wasn't it?”

Twilight nodded. “Sorry, I was a little distracted. I've been thinking, Dash. You're pretty good at quick mathematics, so ho-”

“Hey!” Dash snapped, quickly glancing around to ensure there was nobody else nearby. “Shh! I am not! Pinkie'd never let me live it down!”

“Ahem. So how about you help me with some of the theory stuff, too, not just the field research? I know you seem to enjoy it, and I'd appreciate the help.” Twilight tilted her head to the side, and lowered it, staring at Dash with two wide eyes. 'No' was an impossible answer.

“Do I get to wear my lab coat?” Dash grinned.

“Uh… Sure.”

A tree branch scraped against Dash's leg, shocking her back into reality. She had a few small instants to take in the scene before her, then she crashed head-first into a tree.

Lightning Strike

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Celestia squinted at the dying sun, feeling her power begin to wane as she handed control of the skies over to the night. Though the event was often a spectacle and watched by many, that night she was almost entirely alone, staring out through a thin slit in the thick stone walls of a grand tower the Corral of the Wise called home.

Star Spokes, leader of the Corral, stepped forward, coming to a rest immediately behind the princess. His cowl rested against his shoulders, exposing his short chestnut brown mane. Though he had little but questions, his silence filled the room.

Celestia raised a hoof to the wall, steadying herself against it and closing her eyes. Her gold-trimmed horn glowed a little more deeply and before long it was the only thing illuminating the room. In an instant, it shut off, plunging the two into a moment's darkness. A second-natured wave of Star's horn lit the room's candles.

“Permission to speak freely, your majesty?” Star Spokes bowed, going so low his horn tickled the stone flooring.

Celestia's nostrils flared, but were instantly replaced by a soft smile and a nod. “Of course, I always value your word.” She spoke as softly as she would to any subject.

“It pains me to see you like this, your majesty. I regret to inform you we have discovered little we could not have inferred from your description.” He rose, then pulled a few parchments from atop a nearby table. Unrolling them in mid-air, he began to point and explain the various diagrams and notes. “As everypony knows, our magic comes from the world around us, and our aptitude is modified by various factors—inherent ability, training, mood, even our surroundings—but what fewer ponies know is why this is.”

Celestia turned to face him, stifling a yawn. Her mane lagged a moment behind, as if it hadn't noticed she was moving. “Yes, I know this. Do you have anything that could help?”

Star Spokes nodded. “Yes. Maybe. We think. What most ponies can't see is that there's an entire magical landscape somewhat superimposed upon our world, which we draw our energy from. All of us, unicorns and pegasi and even earth ponies alike. It's almost static and unmovable, except by the exceptionally powerful. Even then, we have few records of any real manipulation of it, nor any practical uses.”

Celestia shook her head. “Please, while I am—of course—fascinated, we do not have the time to stand around talking. Make your point.”

“It's collapsing. In a sense, anyway; it can't be directly compared to our three-dimensional world, but collapsing is a good metaphor. Some unimaginable force must have damaged its very core, and it is slowly unravelling.” Star Spokes stood uneasily, shifting his weight from side to side. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly locked it shut again.

“That isn't a solution, Spokes.” Celestia sighed. “You do have one, correct?”

“Uh, well, we have- in a sense.” His shifting grew more pronounced, he gulped and licked his lips. His ears locked down to the back of his head. “You have to understand, the greatest unicorns in history have attempted experimentation on this field without great success. Whatever did this was immense… Completely beyond our comprehension. The power of the sun as seen by a blade of grass.”

Celestia stared. Though she was tired, all it took was a minor application of magic to ensure her gaze was piercing and fearsome.

“But uh- Yes. Maybe. We have been tracking your student, Twilight Sparkle, for a few years now. Though she has much to learn, not least patience, neither I nor any other member of the Corral has any belief that our combined raw power could even be displayed on the same chart as one containing hers.” Star Spokes quivered under Celestia's gaze. “That is to say, she's more powerful than we can measure, though of course she has no idea how to tap this potential. She is likely our only hope.”

Celestia frowned. “As I explained to you earlier, she is in no state to perform such a task.”

“With all due respect, princess, we do not have a choice.” Star Spokes sighed. “I do not believe she will come through unscathed, however the consequences will be even more dire should she not attempt it, for her as well as us.”

“There must be another option, I will not allow my student to be hurt while there are other avenues to be researched.”

The candlelight flickered, momentarily plunging the room into a silent darkness once again. When the small flames grew back to their former glory, Princess Luna stood at the side of the room. “Is she stronger than us, and our sister?”

“Incalculably.”

Celestia spun around to face her. “Sister, you wake early, we are not yet prepa-”

The lights blew out once again.

“O- Ow…” Dash groaned, rubbing her face under her forehooves. Every limb—every hair on her coat—hurt at least a little. She forced her eyes open, wincing as the dim light of the moon stabbed through her eyeball to flare inside her brain.

Her vision began to adjust to the low light, transitioning the vague shapes and monochromatic blurs around her into sharp and clear images over the course of several minutes. She lay at the bottom of a tree, covered in a light sprinkling of leaves and broken pieces of bark. The branches above her were bare, and her point of impact was clear—a Rainbow Dash sized hole had been impressed upon the surface.

Dash lowered her hoof to try and pull herself back up, but spotted a glint of deep red staining her coat. She licked it to confirm, recognising the taste of her own blood from dozens of similar incidents before. “I- agh!” Dash grunted, as her other hoof scraped across the wound. The side of her cheek felt like it was in tatters, though she couldn't taste any blood inside her own mouth, so the cut couldn't be that deep.

Gasping for breath through the aches in her limbs, Dash stumbled onto her hooves and grabbed onto a low-hanging branch for stability. She didn't recognise the forest, though she'd been flying over the outskirts of the Everfree the last time she'd checked. The trees around her seemed familiar enough, but she could say that about almost any tree in Equestria; they all looked the same.

“Seventeen.” Dash hung upsidown in the air above Twilight's desk, occasionally opening her left eye to read the equations Twilight was jotting down, and spinning a quill between her teeth. As they'd discovered, Dash had a natural aptitude for calculating flight vectors, and absolutely nothing else. Fortunately, for many problems it took Twilight less time to rephrase them suitably than to work them out herself.

“Okay, what ab-”

“Nine.”

“A-”

Dash plucked the quill from her mouth and threw it down onto the graph to land on the correct answer. She slowly drifted to the side, remaining decidedly inverted until she reached her bed, at which time she pulled her wings to her sides and dropped. “Okay, I'm bored. You done yet, Sparkle?”

Twilight looked up, then shook her head. “Dash, we've done thirteen calculations, I have pages left.”

“Why're you even doing these, again?” Dash yawned, stretching and lightly rocking from side to side against the bedcovers.

“It's magic stuff. Spell trajectories, energy curves, shield resistances, that sort of thing. Shining asked me to do them, the royal guard are having trouble developing new spells.”

Dash sat up. “Magic for fighting? Twi, there hasn't been a battle in Equestria for like, a million years. I mean, except for the ones we won. Let's go do something else.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, coughing a little to clear her throat. The air was cold and humid. Each breath scorched her throat, though she couldn't tell whether that was from the air or something else, and her limbs felt as stiff as the branches of the trees surrounding her on every side.

She stretched her wings, spreading her entire width between two tree-trunks and tickling her furthest feathers against bark. She twitched as a muscle somewhere within one wing sent a sharp pain through her, but decided to ignore it.

The dark, oppressive gloom of the forest began to slowly fade as Dash broke into a run, darting between trees and jumping over rocks and exposed roots to build up enough speed to break into flight once more. Though she was quite capable of taking off from standing, the muscle pains were getting worse each time she pushed herself.

The trunks rushed past her, left and right, occasionally zipping past so close she felt them brush against the tip of her mane. The wind blew past her face fast enough that she knew she could get into the air, and she spotted a small pile of rocks that would make a perfect takeoff point. She jumped, expertly landing atop them in preparation to jump again.

She did, spreading her wings to catch the air and flapping them a few times to gain enough altitude to reach the treetops once more. Canterlot still loomed in the distance, lit by ten thousand tiny pinpricks of light as the population switched to candles, not sun.

Twilight Sparkle held the pony-wide parchment in front of Rainbow Dash's face, pointing towards one of the less understandable squiggles and smiling. “See?”

“Uh.” Dash jumped into the air and spun on her axis, ending up upsidown. “Nope, still don't get it. What is it?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, grabbing Dash in a magic field and flipping her back onto her hooves. “It's a new trick. Look, the red lines are you, and the blue ones are me!”

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the side. “Uh, Twi, you feeling okay?” She unfurled a wing and poked Twilight in the side with its tip. “You're kinda missing these.”

Twilight laughed. “No, silly, I don't fly, I just help you turn and not crash into things!”

Dash's eyes grew even narrower. “I don't need help turning.”

Twilight pointed towards one of the places the thin red and blue lines collided. “That's a turn of one hundred and sixty three degrees in point two two seconds, or about three times faster than a normal pony can turn without losing conciousness.”

Dash paused, reconsidered, and then nodded. “Let's go.”

Though she was flying in a straight line, Rainbow Dash felt as if she were pulling turns of that magnitude every moment, though this time without assistance. The flight before her seemed to grow in scope every moment, with every wingbeat only increasing her exhaustion.

Rainbow Dash could not go on. She was tired, injured, and running on empty from two weeks of self-punishment. She needed a new plan.

Twilight Sparkle laid back, letting the gently steaming water rise over her body and fill her with warmth. She quietly sighed, closing her eyes and letting her limbs fall to her sides. “Oh, Rarity, this is divine.”

The other unicorn gave a quiet noise of appreciation, keeping her eyes closed under the thin slices of cucumber. “You really should reconsider turning down this cucumber, dear, your eyes look so puffy.”

Twilight's easy smile wavered. “No, I've never been able to wear them.”

“There's no challenge to it, Twilight. You just… lie there.” Rarity demonstrated the technique, lying in a shallow pool of water with her head resting on a soft pillow.

“I admit it looks comfortable, but uh… Dash would always eat them.” Twilight grinned openly, recalling the few times they'd managed to get Dash to come along to the spa.

Rarity lifted a slice from her eye and looked over at Twilight, whose grin vanished immediately. “Then now would be a good time to try it, no? For all you know she could be back tomorrow.”

Twilight smiled. “You've changed your mind on her, then?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, but you believe in her, and as your friend I have to accept that. I'll still have some words to give to her when she reappears, but you may be right—she'd never abandon anypony.”

Rainbow Dash bit dirt, slamming into the ground yet again. Her wings simply wouldn't keep her in the air. The mist coating the ground at least softened the physical blow, but the psychological ones hit just as hard.

“Come on, you stupid things,” she spat, shaking her wings to clear the building ache. “I- Ugh. Where's Twilight when you need her?” Dash took another few steps forward before stumbling and once more falling flat on her face. “I… Maybe just five minutes…”

The forest around her began to fade into darkness as Dash slipped into an unsteady sleep. The trees slowly twisted into unfamiliar forms, and all of a sudden the ground disappeared.

Dash lay on the sky, resting against the endless blue of a summer's day. Clouds shuffled past, occasionally impacting against her body and breaking up into smaller clouds, all of which were shaped like Twilight Sparkle. The ground seemed so very far above her, but it came as no surprise that one of the Twilights grew nearer to her.

It sat on the edge of Dash's nose, occasionally shifting its position but always staring into her eye.

Rainbow Dash lay there, watching the clouds drift by, until the tiny puff of unicorn-shaped cloud finally caught her attention by sneezing, and releasing a tiny spurt of cloudstuff down her nostril. “H- hey! Get off!”

The cloud-mare tilted its cirrus head and opened its foggy mouth. “Why?” it said, in a perfect impression of Twilight Sparkle's voice. “So you can abandon me again?”

“Huh? I never-”

“Really?” Another cloud spoke up as it drifted past her ear. “Doesn't feel like that.”

“No, that's not what I-”

A third cloud brushed against her side. “Not what you what, Rainbow? You left us. You left all of us, we're all so alone and it's all because of you.”

“No! I love you!” Dash turned to try and catch the drifting clouds in her hooves, but they simply disintegrated as she touched them.

The nose-cloud spoke up once more, stamping its hoof ineffectually against Dash's face. “You love us so much you left us behind? We hate you, Rainbow Dash! We hate you!”

“No!” Dash cried, flipping over in the air and throwing the cloud away from her. As she turned, so did the world, and soon she found herself dropping towards the ground at extreme speed. “No, Twilight, I love you!”

The clouds beneath her parted, pulling out of the way to ensure she had an uninterrupted journey to the ground. As she passed, Twilight-shaped heads hissed at her, or shouted some insult that was quickly lost to the wind. Dash spread her wings, but found them missing, replaced with a smooth coat as if she'd never had them at all.

The ground grew ever larger, rising up in Dash's vision at an alarming rate. The trees beneath her turned and began to take swings at her with their branches as she tumbled through them, being assaulted from all sides. Eventually, finally, she hit the ground, and it all went black.

Rainbow Dash's head shot up. Her body ached, though she was fairly sure that was from a terrible sleeping position rather than a fall to her death. A quick look behind assured her that she did indeed still possess her wings, but a reflexive stretch assured her they weren't quite in working order.

She struggled to her hooves, then looked around. There was no sign of any mysterious cloud. “What the… What just happened?” Dash grumbled. “Twilight doesn't feel like that, does she?”

Dash closed her eyes tight and hung her head. “No, she can't,” she whispered. After a few moments, she looked back up, and stared into the darkness of the forest with new determination. “No, she can't. She won't, I won't let her.”

Dash flared her wings, ignoring the searing pain, and threw her head back to shout into the silence. “Twilight Sparkle loves me! You hear that, you damn clouds? She loves me, and I'm gonna prove it!”

She looked back down, gingerly spreading her wings to no avail. “S- Somehow. C'mon, Rainbow, think.”

She sat and began to ponder her options. Flight was out of the question, but without clear line of sight to a landmark, Dash couldn't be sure she was even walking in the right direction. If she had a cloud, she could ride that home, but all the clouds were high up in the sky. Rainbow Dash also wasn't eager to find out if that dream had elements of reality.

As Dash thought, she idly played with the mist under one of her wings, condensing and evaporating it around her. It was a weatherpony's birthright to hold influence over the elements, and Rainbow Dash had always been exceptional at it—though the career had never appealed. Whether it was sparking a bolt of lightning or whipping a cloud into shape, Dash tended to excel in ability, if not dedication.

Not that that helped without a cloud to shape, however. Dash stood up and began to pace. “Damnit, I don't even know what direction to go!” She kicked out with a foreleg, sending a small wave of fog rolling off into the distance. Dash watched it go, travelling into the distance without pause and easily shifting around the trees.

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash stretched her wings out, ignoring the pain, and gave them one big swing against the fog. The wave arched out in front of her, rising a few meters onto the trees. Her face broke out into a grin as her mind began to formulate a plan and her body began to put it into action.

Gritting her teeth, Dash wrapped her wings around her body, drawing the mist towards her and condensing it until it was thick enough to support her weight. She spread her wings once more, pointing upwards, and drew the mist into the air. She rose with it, carrying herself on a pillar of water vapour that easily rivalled the tree-trunks around her.

Dash's wings wavered, and her eyes twitched. She began to breathe more deeply and the pile of improvised cloudstuff beneath her began to waver. “N- No, I can do this,” she whispered under her breath, before spreading her wings wide and forcing her platform back into stability.

A few moments later, she began to move, slowly at first but eventually picking up speed. The trees to each side blurred past as if painted by an unsteady hoof, and those before her posed no issue; the rolling wave of fog simply flowed around them.

The candles sitting between Twilight Sparkle and Rarity flickered, casting jittery shadows on the far walls. Twilight's eyes were covered with two thin slices of cucumber, and Rarity had joined her in the hot tub.

“It's getting quite late, darling, perhaps we should consider retiring?” Rarity raised her hoof from the water, frowning at the wrinkled skin. She squinted through the dim glow as the candles continued to waver and shiver.

Twilight let out a quiet irritated moan. “Do we have to? I don't ever want to move again.” She lifted a hoof and raised one of the slices from her eye, looking over at the now-smiling unicorn beside her.

“Of course not, I'm sure Lotus won't mind.” The candles blew out for a moment, but reignited an instant later. “Though we may have to see about improving the lighting in here. This room is not built for nocturnal use.”

Twilight placed the vegetable back over her eye and rested against the wall of the hot tub once again, emitting a quiet sigh as the water enveloped her neck. “This is really very relaxing, I might have to try covering them in Pinkie's hot sauce or something when Dash comes back.”

The candles blinked out. One moment they were lit, and the next they were gone. Rarity looked around in silence for a few moments, noting that Twilight hadn't seemed to notice, then tutted. She lifted herself out of the pool and began to rub herself with one of the nearby towels. “Do excuse me, dear, I fear I need to find something else to light the room. I shan't be lo-”

A clap of thunder filled the room, immediately followed by a shockwave that knocked Rarity back into the tub and flung the cucumber off of Twilight's face. Both mares quickly jumped to their feet and looked around, though the darkness was so complete they could see nothing at all.

The noise of flowing water filled the room, and Rarity felt the warmth begin to leave her body as the hot tub drained. She heard a clatter, sounding like metal striking the laminated spa floor, and her own breath, but little else. She stood there, frozen, for a few more moments, before a faint red glow filled the room.

Her head snapped to the side to lock the source of it between her eyes. “Twilight!” she gasped, looking upon the mare. Her horn was aglow with faint magic, filling the room with light.

Twilight looked over at her. Her face was twisted with concentration—more concentration than the weak glow would imply—and stumbled to the side. “I can't- Can't hold it back.” She grunted and fell to her knees, submerging her head for a moment until the water level dropped past that too. “Rarity, you shou- Wait, is that…”

Rarity followed her friend's gaze, but paused as she gazed at the side of the tub. Far from the crack or broken side she'd been expecting, there was simply a hole. She reached out to run a hoof over the edge, and found it completely smooth, as if the shell had been designed with it. “What could do this?” Rarity asked, but Twilight merely extended a hoof and pointed through it to the crumpled figure in the middle of the room.

Rarity gasped. “Princess Luna?!” The princess of the night lay a few feet from them. Her starlit mane was dim and motionless, lacking its usual sparkle and wave. She jumped from the tub and ran over to the motionless form lying sprawled across the floor. She leant down close to the princess, and let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. “She's breathing.”

Twilight staggered over, tripping on the side of the tub but catching herself with a field of magic before she hit the ground. “That's- that's good,” she panted. She closed her eyes, and Luna's body pulsed with magic.

“Twilight, dear, I can't help but notice that you're using magic.”

Twilight nodded. “Luna's fine, she's just… she seems exhausted. I don't know what's happened to her, but she'll be okay.” She sat down next to the princess and placed her hoof on the long, dark horn protruding from her head. “Could you pop over to the library and ask Spike to send a let- Oh. Or… Hay. Uh, how do you usually send letters without a dragon?”

“Pegasus post generally suffices, I find.”

“Okay, can you go do that? We need to let Celestia know what's happened, assuming she doesn't already know. I'll stay here in case she wakes up.” Twilight twitched, her movement joined by a spike in the brightness of her horn. Rarity didn't move. “Rarity, go!”

“I can't leave you here, Twilight.”

Twilight's body pulsed, seeming to have a light film around it that reflected the light of her horn back into the room. “I'll be fine. Go.” She gritted her teeth and almost smiled.

Rarity closed her eyes and sighed. “Okay. I'll be back shortly, Twilight. Don't… don't do anything rash.” The unicorn turned and ran from the room, throwing the doors open with a burst of magic. They slowly swung closed as Twilight watched the mare gallop down the short corridor to leave the building.

“Hold still, Luna, I can help.” Twilight closed her eyes and directed a stream of magic towards the crumpled pony before her. Luna's mane began to rise, inch by inch returning to its former glory. Twilight's own magic glow began to dim and retreat back into her horn, though the field around Luna grew in intensity every moment. As Luna's mane reached its apex, flowing in an otherworldly breeze as it normally did, another magic flash filled the room. The remaining water boiled away into a cold steam all at once, and Twilight collapsed to the floor.

“U- Ugh…” Luna's eyes fluttered open. Her mane lifted a little from the floor, betraying Luna's newfound conciousness. She tried to lift a hoof, but after a few attempts she let it fall back to the floor.

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle. We are relieved it is you.” Luna broke down into a fit of coughing. “We-” She coughed again.

“I- I need a minute,” Twilight whispered, before closing her eyes. The tip of her horn seemed to smoke, and her coat alternated between a dimmed version of her standard purple, and black singed edges.

Luna rose, standing on her own four hooves without difficulty. “Twilight Sparkle, are you okay?”

The unicorn gave no answer.

Another tree whisked past Dash's head, so close she could almost feel the wrinkles in its bark brush against her wing, and then there were no more. The forest had finally ended, and Dash could see Ponyville looming in the distance. She turned, looking behind her even as her wave of mist continued its unstoppable journey on, and realised she must have travelled along the edges of the Everfree Forest. She shivered, but quickly steeled her resolve and continued on.

The fences and small houses dotting the fields near Ponyville proved no obstacle, the rolling mass of almost-cloud simply flowing over them. The sight of Ponyville—her home—invigorated her, inspiring her to draw on ever deeper sources of energy and travel the final few miles.

The blades of grass flattened, first under the crushing weight of condensed water vapour, and finally under Dash's hooves as she crossed the boundary into Ponyville and let her vehicle turn back into the mist it longed to be.

Dash strode through the outskirts of Ponyville, puffing up her chest and holding her wings stretched at her sides. Every step sent the mist whirling away, glimmering in the light of the night's full moon. A quiet wind whistled through the town, blowing Dash's mane lightly to and fro as she walked with great purpose towards the centre of town and Twilight's treehouse.

Visions of Twilight's gleaming face assaulted her as she imagined knocking on the door, and waiting for Twilight to answer it with a cocky, yet apologetic, grin. Her plan couldn't fail—she was Rainbow Dash. Who'd turn her down?

She took one more step, walking around the corner of one of Ponyville's many houses, and slammed straight into an invisible wall. She stumbled backwards and fell onto her rear, shaking her head to clear the ringing from her ears. As soon as she was able, she looked up to see Rarity storming towards her with rage in her eyes.

“Hey, Rari-”

Dash fell to the side with the force of Rarity's blow. The sound of the smack echoed off the nearby walls, and Dash's hoof raised to her cheek instinctively. “O- Ow! Rarity, you slapped me!”

“Oh, did I, darling?” Rarity snorted. “My mistake. I'd never hurt a friend. But then, I'd expect them to do the same.”

“H- Hey! That's not fair!” Dash struggled back onto her hooves. Her body had already been screaming at her, and further assaults were doing her no favours. “I messed up, I get it! I'm sorry, okay?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, you say sorry when you accidentally ruin a dress. I should hope you have a little more inside that cramped hole you call a head when you speak to Twilight.”

Dash looked to the side, staring in the direction of her and Twilight's treehouse, though she couldn't see it through the buildings between. “Yeah, I was just heading there now.” Dash looked around to make sure nobody else could overhear. “I dunno what I'm gonna say. I think I'm gonna wing it, I never was very good at speeches.”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. “If you're going to see Twilight, you're going the wrong way. She's at the spa, and when she's done I'm taking her back home to the boutique, where she's been staying since you burned her house down.”

Dash spluttered. “Wh- What?! I didn't-”

“Yes, you did. So understand, Dash, why I'm not quite ready to forgive you just yet.”

“I-? She's-? Oh, hay.” Dash stared off into the distance. “I didn't mean to do that.”

“I know, but we have to take responsibility for our own actions, Rainbow. Not all of us can blame our problems on everypony else.”

“So. Twilight hates me then, huh? She must do. Hey, I'll just… Hay, I dunno. Don't tell her I was here, okay?” Dash said, turning around. Her wings lay drooped at her sides, and her eyes were closed as she began to walk away. A few moments later, she struck another invisible wall.

“I shan't tell her you're here, Dash, you shall do that yourself.” Rarity spoke quickly and harshly.

“But… she hates me.”

Rarity sighed, walking up to the pegasus. She rested one of her hooves over Dash's back and gave her horribly mangled mane a quick brush. “She doesn't, even after everything you've done. You've disappointed me, Dash, but for whatever reason Twilight is still sitting in there waiting for you to come back to her. If you even think about walking out on her again, then… I don't know. I don't think she knows how to manage without you any more.”

Dash tilted her head, looking back at the unicorn with wide eyes. “Do you think she'll-”

“Dash, I'm not the one you have to talk to.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, shrugging Rarity's hoof from her back and rising to her own. Without another word, she turned and began the short journey towards Ponyville's spa. Before she turned the corner, however, she looked back. “Thanks for not being angry with me, Rarity.”

“Darling, I'm furious. However, Twilight needs you, and I shan't impede that.”

Twilight Sparkle's ear twitched. Her eyelids slid open a few moments later. She ran her tongue around her mouth, remoisturising it, and pushed herself up to rest on her rear. “Ugh… Wha-” Twilight's head shot up, followed an instant later by her ears. “Luna! Are you okay?”

Luna nodded, smiling softly down at the unicorn. She stood soundly, towering above a normal pony both in size and stature, and her mane once more blew in a phantom flow, though it flicked and snapped more harshly than usual. “We are. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, we had not anticipated such difficulty arriving here.”

Twilight winced. Her horn sparked lightly, but seemed to fade back into normality shortly afterwards. “What's happening? I don't understand.” Twilight struggled onto her hooves, inwardly cursing her limbs as they lagged behind where she wanted them to be.

“Celestia and I were rather hoping you would be able to tell us, though I suspect from the fact I still live and breathe you already know.” Luna walked alongside, keeping Twilight's agonisingly slow pace as she stumbled towards a nearby wall for something to rest upon.

Twilight nodded, coughing slightly. “I think so. You'll have to excuse me, princess, I'm a bit rusty. I haven't really kept up on practising lately.” Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, yes. When you… appeared, you appeared wrong. Kind of like crash landing, except for a teleport.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “How is that possible? I am not unpractised.”

Twilight coughed, and shook her head. “No, no, not at all. Something is very wrong, but you teleported in badly and your magic—your spirit—didn't reconnect with your body. You're lucky I was here, had I not forced it back inside of you you may never have been able to find your way back.” Twilight laughed nervously, padding her hoof against the ground. “I uh, I think I got it in right. Do tell me if anything seems backwards.”

Luna gave a soft laugh. “Everything feels correct, however we have little time for pleasantries. The kingdom is in grave danger, Twilight Sparkle, and you may be our last hope for saving it.”

Twilight Sparkle sucked in a cough, then spent the next several seconds spluttering. “What? Why didn't Celestia mention in her let- Oh.” Twilight began to lightly blush, and quickly continued. “What can I do that you can't?”

“Our sister can explain further, we have very little time. Do you feel ready to take us to Canterlot?” Luna stood and walked to the centre of the room, motioning for Twilight to follow. The unicorn stayed put.

“Me? No, I'm sorry. If we really have to get there, can't you take us? I'm not feeling up to it right now, sorry.”

Luna flared her nostrils, and her mane began to whip from side to side with even greater ferocity. “Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of Princess Celestia, you possess an unspoken bond to this kingdom and, in its time of need, you are honour-bound to jump to its aid. I ask again, are you ready?”

“I- But- Okay, okay. I'll try. It'll take me a moment, I haven't done this for a while.” Twilight stood up and, with limbs lightly shaking, moved into the centre of the room by Luna's side. She closed her eyes and filled her horn with mystic flame. “You might want to step back,” Twilight warned, lacing her voice with several of the tiny public speaking enchantments Celestia had taught her so long ago.

Luna began to move backwards, but to Twilight's mind she may as well have stopped. Though it had been some time since her last major spell, she stepped back into her own mantle effortlessly. The world became motionless, even the frantic motion of Luna's mane ceasing. Twilight's thoughts escaped her body, as they had been yearning to do for so long, and began to explore.

Through the penetrating lens of magic, Twilight viewed Luna's magic field—what a less scientific pony would call a spirit—and gazed upon the baseline field that permeated everything. Both of those things were wrong. Though Twilight's mind was moving too fast to process concern or worry, or anything beyond a simple collection of facts for later discourse, she could still sense some intense failure in the world.

Ponyville, once home to a flat plane of magic like any other, save for hotspots like Canterlot or the Everfree, held a tremulous plane, feeling akin to the skin of a drum immediately after it had been struck by a drumstick, though resonating many thousands of times slower. Given how vital and fragile the transition from magic plane to mortal plane was in even the teleportation of an Alicorn, what little analytical processing ability Twilight still held was unsurprised by Luna's earlier failure.

Fact finding was merely a distraction from her true task, however, of gathering enough energy within herself to project both her and Luna to Canterlot for whatever task needed performing so direly. Twilight had no excuse to avoid it, so had little choice but to take the magic in through her horn and prepare to make the leap across magic and space.

Half a second, or less, later, Twilight turned to look at Luna. “I'm ready, shall we go?”

Luna was halfway through a sharp nod when an errant thought Twilight had absent-mindedly sent to check up on Rarity returned with an unexpected result.

Rainbow Dash galloped across town. Violent hoof-fall after another, she sped towards her destination. Though the spa was at the other side of town, it only took her a few minutes to arrive. The lights were out and the doors were closed, and the little window set into the entrance allowed her to see the sign marked “Shut, come back tomorrow”.

Rainbow Dash didn't stop, barrelling into the pair of double doors with all her might. The thin metal lock gave way immediately, allowing her access. She darted to the far side of the reception and looked down the corridor which gave access to all the various utilities the spa provided. A door at the far end was ajar, and Dash could catch the merest whiff of a conversation happening on the other side.

She stopped with her hoof against that door. A thin strip of wood was all that separated her and Twilight Sparkle, and yet now she hesitated. Now was her moment of truth, and the time she found out whether tomorrow would be spent drowning in salt or happy tears.

“I'm ready, shall we go?” Dash heard Twilight speak through the door. She supposed that meant she should make herself known, before Twilight and whoever was in there with her opened the door and discovered her.

Before she could make that choice, the door ripped itself from its hinges and fell into the room, bringing Dash toppling along with it. Dash landed on her side and attempted, but failed, to execute a combat roll onto her feet, ending up upside down and facing a very surprised Twilight Sparkle. Princess Luna was also there, but that was irrelevant.

“D- Dash…” Twilight whispered. The glow that had surrounded her horn vanished in an instant, and she slammed her eyes shut.

“I uh… hi?” Dash shifted her weight, trying to roll over without putting too much pressure on her aching wings. “I guess I should pro-”

“Shut up,” Twilight snapped. When she opened her eyes again, her pupils had vanished, to be replaced with what seemed like an infinite pool of white. “Get out.” Her horn began to glow once again, soon followed by the rest of her body.

“H- Hey, Twi, I can explain, okay? I-”

“Get out.” Twilight's forehooves lifted from the ground.

Princess Luna coughed, catching Dash's attention. “Rainbow Dash, this is not the time. Our actions are of utmo-”

“GET OUT,” Twilight screamed. “Both of you. Now. Go, I can't-”

For Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash, the world flashed white. When the glow receded, they found themselves a few feet above the ground and several meters from the spa. Luna spread her wings and glided down to the ground. Rainbow Dash was not so lucky, and hit it face first for yet another time that night.

“Horseapples.” Dash spat, clearing her mouth of a few specks of dirt. “What the hay'd you do that for?” Dash turned to stare at the princess, who was currently rubbing the side of her horn with a hoof and frowning.

Luna's head snapped around to pin Dash under her gaze. “We beg your pardon, subject?”

Dash snorted, slamming a hoof against the ground and throwing a cloud of dirt and broken grass into the air. “You heard me!” she shouted. “What'd you do to her?”

“We have done nothing, and we suggest you lower your tone.” Luna's eyes narrowed.

Dash leapt up onto her wings, drawing herself up to Luna's head level to return her stare. “Remember what happened first time we met, princess, and then tell me,” Dash shoved a forehoof into Luna's chest. “What did you do to her?”

“We- I did nothing.” The ground trembled lightly beneath her feet, or perhaps Luna was just nervous. She padded from side to side. “Please, Rainbow Dash. There is no need for this hostility, neither my sister or I have shared so much as a conversation with her in over two weeks.”

“So then what the hay just happened? And-” There was an almighty crash as the roof of the building next to them collapsed, drawing both of their gazes. A few moments later, the walls followed, rendering the entire structure a pile of rubble. “Tw- Twilight!” Dash screeched.

Luna gulped. “Curse this night,” she whispered, breaking into a gallop towards the ex-building. Rainbow Dash easily equalled her speed, and then bettered it, zipping towards the building and starting to pull at stones over where Twilight had stood.

“Stand aside, Rainbow Dash.” Luna stood on the precipice of the building with her horn-glow ready.

“No way, you've done enough damage already!” Dash shot back, pausing for only an instant before reaching down and begging her aching limbs to shift another slab of stone. “C'mon, Twi, hold on,” Dash snarled, more for her own benefit than Twilight's.

“Rainbow Dash,” Luna snapped, twisting ancient magics into her voice designed to strike fear into the hearts of mare and stallion alike. She knew Celestia disapproved of using them, but times were desperate.

Dash looked up. Her head twisted around and within three seconds, her snout was millimetres away from Luna's. “Don't you ever do that again,” she snarled. “I've lived with Twilight, I know what magic feels like. I've gotten pretty good at sensing when she's trying to do something stupid, and I'm getting that from you right now.” She pulled back, putting a few feet of space between them. “Back off, princess.”

“I only wish to help. We need Twilight right now, I cannot gi-”

“You need her? I need her! You don't know the meaning of the word!”

Luna's eyes flicked between Dash and the pile of rocks behind her. “Ah, Rainbow Dash, y-”

“Hey, I'm not done! I don't care what you want her for, I need to talk to her! I… I just need to know if she still loves me.” Dash looked down. “I dunno if you've ever been in love. I guess so. You can understand, right?” She looked up, as if to plea.

Luna pointed at Dash. “Rainbow Dash, you really need to come over here.”

“N- No! You don't get it at all!” Dash's mane whipped around her face, blowing in the heavy gusts of wind. “I'm not gonna stop until I get a straight answer from her, because…” Dash trailed off. “Hay, I guess I might as well admit it. I don't have much else right now, okay? That's all that's keeping me going.”

“Dash, look behind you.”

“Damnit, I don't have time for this! No offence, princess, but you're not the only one with problems.” Dash turned around and prepared to pull another stone from the pile. Instead, the pile was missing, and the stone she wanted to pull was flying towards her with great speed.

“Woah!” She gasped, pulling in her wings and twisting her body such that the stone merely scraped along her side, and didn't swat her out of the air. She flapped backwards, shooting across to where Luna stood and landing on three hooves. Her fourth was held involuntarily against her side. It felt hot, and wet.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked.

“Never mind me,” Dash snapped, peering into the maelstrom of burning white magic and flying masonry she'd just escaped from. Hanging in the centre was a dark figure with an ethereal mane, that twisted and moved in ways even Luna found unnatural. Its eyes glowed with a light brighter than a summer's day's sun, and the very air seemed to hum. “What about Twilight?”

Luna took a step backwards as a bolt of raw magic tore a clump of grass apart before her. “I fear for ourselves as well.”

“Screw us, what're we gonna to about her? What the hay were you making her do?”

Luna sighed and closed her eyes. “A long-range teleport to Canterlot, which perhaps, in hindsight, was a bad idea given her condition.”

“Condition?”

“She has not been using magic for this past fortnight, I believe due to your departure.”

Dash smacked her lips for a few seconds while she processed that. “Feathers.”

Luna nodded. “It was rash, but we run low on time. Celestia is aware of my actions, she will no doubt arrive somewhat promptly. She may not risk the teleportation as I did, however pegasus carriage is capable of good time.”

“Two hours fourteen minutes,” Dash absent-mindedly thought, “If all your best fliers are available, which they probably aren't.” She stood still, not reacting even as the size of the magic sphere around Twilight grew. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before perking up her ears and flatly stating “Okay, sure. I'm going in.”

“Do not be absurd,” Luna shook her head. “Even we could not shield ourselves. We shall wait for Celestia, her knowledge of Twilight Sparkle may be able to calm her.” Luna took another step back as a chunk of ground ripped itself from under her hooves, joining a thousand others in the vortex of destruction before her. “I fear if either of us enter, we shall not leave.”

Dash turned back to stare Luna down. Her mane whipped around her face, but she didn't seem to notice. “I'm not waiting for Celestia to calm my wife down, okay? If anypony can do it, then it's gonna be me, because…” Dash trailed off, or was drowned out by the roaring winds around them. A piece of the spa slammed into the ground barely a few feet from her, but she didn't flinch. “Because if it's a choice between dying out here, or losing her, then it's not really a choice.”

Dash took a step forward, but Luna quickly reached out and held her back with a magic grip. “The kingdom needs you too, Bearer of Harmony. I cannot allow you to sacrifice yourself.”

Dash growled. “I don't care about that, okay? Why does everybody else seem to care about that so much more than us? I don't care if I'm Celestia-damned supermare, and I don't really give a feather what you want from me.” Dash dropped down, bending her knees and keeping her centre of gravity low while scraping a forehoof across the battered ground. “You keep me away from Twilight for one more second and you'll see how much I need those element trinkets to beat you, get it?”

Luna did not respond in words, but Dash felt the familiar and strangely comforting magic grip fade away. She turned back to stare at the heart of the devastation before her. Twilight Sparkle hung in the air, her mane amorphous and moving in the very-real winds that tore the air around her to shreds. It almost looked serene to Rainbow Dash's eyes, but her wings knew the whole story. Luna was right, if she went in there she'd be lucky to last for ten seconds without being ripped apart, even assuming she could avoid the debris now circling Twilight at a significant fraction of the speed of sound.

Dash kicked off, shooting into the air and heading towards Twilight as fast as her half-broken wings could take her. The air buffeted her around, and several times she had to dive out of the way, or even make a tactical retreat, when a piece of something hard came within a few inches of ending her. Her mouth felt dry, and yet she could have sworn her heart had raised up into it to beat against her tongue. Her vision began to tunnel as she concentrated on her goal, relying on her wings to sense obstacles before they hit and let her take evasive action.

The wind speed increased as she grew closer to the glowing, writhing form still out of reach, and her flight turned from uncomfortable yet functional to a new hell on Equestria. Her feathers burned and the air was snatched from her nostrils before she had a chance to breathe it. Her skin felt as if it was being blasted with an unending collection of Rarity's sewing needles, and every few moments she felt another sharp pain as another feather left her, being whisked away. She considered retreating, but her wings had long since given up screaming and she knew it was only momentum and strong will keeping her airborne.

“Twilight!” she screeched, using most of her precious oxygen in a desperate attempt to catch the mare's attention.She didn't react. No matter how hard Dash strained forward, the air around Twilight's body seemed impenetrable, knocking her back at every attempt to pierce it. No matter how hard Dash strained upwards, she was losing height, and her broken wings could still tell that the wind speeds below Twilight were deadly, even ignoring the storm of dust and fragments of brick and stone shooting around faster than a war-pie.

Dash's body felt numb, no longer even pleading her mind to stop but instead giving no feedback. Not pain, not pleasure, not even the ache of overexertion. No matter how hard Dash pushed them, every part of her was slowing down, and her height was dropping fast. She took one last look at the being before her, the thing she'd wished so hard was Twilight Sparkle, and closed her eyes. “Twilight, I love you.” Lungs exhausted and wings non-functional, Dash dropped.

Rainbow Dash awoke to silence. Her body was devoid of all feeling but a warm glow at the tips of her hooves, and her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. She recalled in vivid detail what could only have been the last few moments of her life, and yet there was no panic. She felt, for once, completely calm. “I love you,” rang through her head, probably an echo of her last words.

“Damnit Dash, wake up!”

Rainbow Dash's mouth opened, her lips so dry they seemed to stick together until the last moment. She reflexively released her tongue to moisturise them. She felt a gust of wind flow over the newly wetted parts of her face.

“Huh?” Dash groaned, as if the minor sensation from outside reminded the rest of her body it was meant to be updating her on how it was doing. Agony struck from every direction, save the lower half of each leg. She shook her head, coughing to try and clear her throat, and pulled her eyelids up as though they were made of lead. “I- Ugh.”

“Rainbow Dash, wake up!”

Dash's eyes began to focus. She squinted through the glow assaulting her every side and managed to make out a pony-shape before her. She looked to her side, but shied away as her battered and bloody wings began to lose the blur that made them almost tolerable. She could still feel them, a pain burning brightly even among the bitter stings coming from every inch of her.

“T- Twilight?” She coughed again. “Twilight, is that?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay?” Dash fell into a coughing fit, convulsing for several seconds until the warm glow making its way up her legs quickly shifted to her chest and the pain began to fade.

“No.”

Dash winced as a small rock struck her in the side, almost embedding itself in her coat. The pain faded into the backdrop of pain a moment later, but it stung all the same. “Sorry,” Twilight said, or thought, or perhaps Dash was imagining it all. She couldn't tell. “It's taking all my concentration just to shield you. Can't think. Can't hold it.”

“What's wrong, Twi? What's going on?” Dash shook her head again, clearing her thoughts a little more. She could see clearly enough to know whatever was happening wasn't good. Twilight's sphere of destruction had increased, absorbing the houses immediately around the spa as well. Luna was keeping back, her horn aglow in an ineffectual attempt to protect some of the nearby structures.

“Everything. Sorry, can't talk fast right now. Needs too much thought.” Twilight's voice, or whatever communication it was, as Dash doubted even she could pick up a voice above the winds, was shaky and slow, taking unnatural gaps between words and several-second pauses between sentences. “Everything wrong. Magic won't stop, can't stop. Too much of it. Your fault, maybe. Not blame, just assignment. I think.”

“My fault?!” Dash croaked. “How is this my fault?”

“Lots of reasons. Had too much magic flowing when you appeared, lost control. Can't concentrate properly, you're too distracting. Magic plane is broken, too. Think that's you. Nothing else strong enough.” Twilight spasmed unusually strongly, accompanied by a piercing scream through Dash's head. A moment later it stopped. “Sorry, it's getting worse. Have to stop. Can't stop. Close to burning out. Can't stop it.”

“Wait, wait, hold up. Explain how this is my fault? What have I done?”

“Left me. Then came back. Magic doesn't work as well. Extreme emotional stress interferes. Wanted to stay single because of this. You changed that. Your fault. Don't blame you.” Twilight spasmed again, this time sending a beam of pure magic lightning high into the sky. A moment later, the ground Dash could see lit up for a few moments, as if night had temporarily turned to day. “Plane damage also your fault. I think. I can see it all. See everything. So much. Never looked at it all before. Was always too much. Can't think about it all at once. But yes, crystal nexus clear epicentre. Further damage in all other places that held endpoints.”

“You're saying that… what?” Dash winced as the warm magic glow hit her stomach, stealing away the pain. Her lower body almost felt normal now.

“Your Sonic Rainboom was transferred. Too much energy being put into magic background, then crystals overloaded. Energy didn't come back. Had nowhere to go. Been increasing. Coming out through me.”

“Wait, you're trying to do a Sonic Rainboom? Without flying, in Ponyville?”

“No. Yes. Don't know. Don't have a plan. Trying to contain it. Can't. Don't have a plan.”

“Twilight, you always have a plan!”

“No. Never planned for you leaving, couldn't imagine it. Still don't know why. Don't care. Doesn't matter.”

“Wanna know why? It's- I'm sorry, it's stupid.”

“No. Not really. Don't care. Love you. Love me?”

Dash gulped. “Yeah.”

“Then help me. Please. It's too much.”

The warming glow raised to the centre of Dash's body, clearing out pains and warning signs she hadn't even realised were going off. “Okay. Uh, what're you doing to me?”

“Sorry. Healing. Too much concentration to explain it. You're dead. Were dead. Almost. Would have been. No idea what you've been doing. Should have gone to a hospital, some of this isn't new damage. Sorry, should have mentioned. Can't remember exactly how you work, having to use me as reference. Should be okay.”

“Whatever. I don't understand what you just said, but whatever. What're we gonna do, Twi? Just- Just look out there? Can you see?”

“No. Can sense with magic. Sense everything. Luna needs to run, but she isn't. Trying to protect town. She can't, she's still weak. Was always too weak, now moreso. Need to release this energy, also fix the damage. Don't know how.”

“Ugh, what, so this is… what, my energy? How?” Dash glanced out across the visible town. The ground beneath her was a wreck. Twilight's healing had reached her wings, and split out into two separate fields to tackle each.

“Can explain later. Now quiet, wings are hard. Can't fix these later, need them now. Hold still.” The world around Dash and Twilight began to shake and the event horizon of total destruction leapt out several meters. Princess Luna failed to move out of the way, and was instead swatted aside by a burst of magic, thankfully landing against a wall some several feet outside the worst of the vortex. “Damnit, can't hold both.”

“Twilight! I'll be okay, you do what you need to do!” Dash yelled, still trying not to move as the weakening glow worked its way up her wings. What was once torn feather—or worse, exposed skin or broken bone—knitted itself back into shape. Where feathers were simply missing, new ones materialised in their place, though instead of a pure blue these were slightly tinged with purple. Twilight didn't respond to Dash's plea, but continued, reforming the broken stubs into something resembling Dash's old pair of wings.

Dash grinned, despite the gravity of the situation. She'd been without perfect flight for far too long, and her wings finally felt healthy again. “Ha! Awesome, Twi. Now c'mon, what do we do?”

“No problem. Well, big problem. Can't hold. Burning out. Horn on fire, I think. Can't- I'm sorry. I love you, Dash.”

Twilight fell silent. Her body threw itself into further spasms, and the tiny area of safety Dash had inhabited vanished, immediately replaced by the deadly vortex of dust and rock she'd feared so much before. Dash was whisked away in an instant, joining the larger chunks of spa and house as an uncontrolled object on a crash course with everything in town.

Unlike brick and mortar, Rainbow Dash had a set of perfectly healthy wings. She spread them, letting the feathers tell her how to align them with the wind to keep air resistance at a minimum and prevent damage. She soared around the vortex, clipping obstacles and jumping from stone to stone as she worked her way towards Twilight. The once-impenetrable wall around her was now merely problematic, and Dash broke through within a few moments.

She grasped Twilight between her forelegs, holding her tight. “Twilight?” she yelled. “Twilight! Wake up!”

The unicorn's eyes fluttered. “Dash…” she whispered, so quietly Dash almost missed it. “Sorry. So sorry. I loved you always. Not your fault. Not ever your fault. Never stopped loving you.” She fell silent.

Dash screamed, letting a tear fall from her eye and mingle with the blood still matted into her face. “No! No, no, no! Damnit, Twilight, I've just got you back, I'm not losing you again! Tell me what to do! Anything!”

Twilight coughed, convulsing in Dash's arms. A speck of her blood landed on Dash's chest. “Remember me,” she croaked. “I'll live on in your heart. Can't-” She coughed more, closing her eyes and clinging onto Dash until the attack passed- “Can't lose me if I'm in there.”

“No, Twi, screw that! You know Celestia-damned well I'd race to the end of Tartarus for you, so give me something to do!” Dash screamed, not even noticing the liquid seeping from her eyes that dampened both of them."

“Nothing…” Twilight's eyes slid closed, then snapped open again. “Nothing you can do.”

Dash gulped. “Then at least tell me… What's gonna happen to you?”

“Too much power, can't hold it back. Twenty five seconds, maybe thirty, it'll be too much. Horn'll go first, hopefully won't shatter. Slight chance of survival if it does, most of the energy might explode outwards. Ponyville wouldn't make it. Hopefully will just break, then it's all in me. Probably shouldn't hold me, Dash. Just go, save yourself.” Twilight managed to hold her eyes completely open for a few moments, looking into Dash's knowing it was the last thing she'd ever see.

Rainbow Dash leant forward and pressed their lips together, kissing Twilight as deeply and passionately as she had on their first date, or their second, or their third. Truth be told, every kiss still felt as magical as their first, even this one.

She left, beating her wings and shooting upwards as fast as she could go. Twilight was still in her arms.

“Dash! I said- Nothing you can-”

“Shut up,” Dash snapped. “I don't know how your magic stuff works, but I know for sure I can't do a Sonic Rainboom going slow. So we're flying, okay?”

“No! It's not the same, it doesn't work like that! You're just gonna get yourself killed!” Twilight struggled, but Dash's grip on her was too tight, and her protests borne of a body that could hardly control itself.

Dash curved in the air, shifting from flying straight up to heading directly for the ocean. She beat her wings and began to build up speed. “I don't care. The moment you die, I don't have all that much to live for. And shut up, I know how much our friends care about us—both of us. If we go out trying to save you then damnit, at least we tried something.”

Three seconds later, Dash hit the speed of sound. Her wings felt as if she could do that all day, but the familiar rainbow exploding outwards that usually accompanied the feat was missing. Dash didn't slow, rather she accelerated. “Hey, Twi? Remember how you said I'd probably get myself killed breaking a speed record? Wanna try for it?”

Twilight gave a short laugh, before dropping back to a cough. “You always were stubborn as a mule, Dash. Fi- Agh… Fine. Break it, then, for us.”

“Gladly.” Dash's wingbeat doubled, then tripled, then tripled again. Despite the passenger, she kept their bodies aerodynamic and turned them into a two-mare missile screeching across the sky. Within ten seconds, they were over the ocean. Within fifteen, Dash felt the air drop off. She'd already failed at breaking this speed so many times, but not this time. This time she wouldn't let herself.

The countdown timer in her head ticked another second down. The last few seconds of their lives; she'd make them count. Spots formed before her eyes, and then they turned to streaks, and then the streaks turned into waves. The ocean below her and the sky above her became irrelevant, and her world was only the beat of her wings against nothingness, and the beat of Twilight's heart against her tightly-clinging legs.

Then there was nothing. An expanse of a nothing that seemed both blindingly bright and completely dark at the same time. Several seconds passed, or perhaps longer. Dash couldn't tell, because there was nothing to tell it by save the beat of Twilight's heart. Eighty beats later, Twilight finally spoke.

“Dash?”

“Twilight?” Dash's throat felt dry, and she hardly dared to breathe in case that breath was their last.

“You can let go now. It's over.”

Dash's grip slowly loosened, letting the unicorn slip from her grasp. “So that's it, huh?” She looked around, but the only point of reference was Twilight underneath her. Or was it above?

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. You stubborn, boisterous, egotistic idiot!” Twilight waved her hooves about to emphasise her points. “You could have been killed!” She shot forward, apparently under her own propulsion, and grabbed Dash in a four-legs hug, presumably sending both of them floating throughout the infinite-seeming void.

“Bwuh? I thought we were dead? What happened to burning out? Exploding?” Dash's mind was filled with questions, though her body was happy to merely return the hug and her head was happy to just rest against Twilight's, taking special care to avoid touching her horn, which was still burning-hot.

Twilight laughed, and sent them spinning. “You're a genius, Dash! You were right, speed was all it took! I couldn't hold the magic in, so you plugged the hole by taking us into the magic plane! Or… our minds, at least. Our bodies probably did burn up.” She frowned. “I can't believe you did that.”

“Wait, I thought we weren't dead?” Dash asked, screwing up her face in confusion. She hugged Twilight back regardless.

“We aren't. Well, I guess halfway. All a teleport really does is turn your body into magic energy, then reconstitute it somewhere else. Longer range teleports send that energy through here, because it's easier for magic energy to travel when it's not surrounded by non-magic things, but it's the same principle.”

Dash blinked. “Can I have that in Equestrian?”

“Uh…” Twilight paused for a few moments, before her wings shot out in satisfaction. “Oh! We've half-teleported. All we have to do to get back is do the other half of the teleport, and that can't be that hard, I don't think. I did it before. Though I did have a body to return to then. Still, I can probably do it.”

“Uh, Twi?” Dash's head tilted to the side as she peered at the unicorn's back.

“Okay, okay, sorry. I can't really simplify it any further, but just trust me on this one: we're okay.”

“No, not that.” Dash peered at the appendages and brushed one of her hooves against them. “Why do you have wings?”

Twilight looked behind herself, screeching as she noticed the pair of perfectly regular wings that now adorned her back. “Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. I uh… Oh, horseapples. I think I got mixed up when I was healing you.”

“Huh?”

“I normally just look at how your magic aura is and figure out what's wrong, but there was too much interference. I had to refer to mine, and I think I might have forgotten to er… remove the wings I added.” Twilight blushed. “I was distracted!” she added after suffering a few moments of Dash's amused gaze.

“Hey, I still have mine. It's not like you'll have them when we get back home or anything, anyway, right? We're just uh… ghosts or spirits or whatever, right?” Dash grinned. “See, I do listen!”

Twilight smiled and shook her head, then leant in to nuzzle Dash's neck. “Almost, but no. We don't have any bodies to go back to, so what we look like now is how we'll go back. I… really don't want to do any more aura manipulation. I was desperate and already burning myself out last time, I couldn't do it again.”

Dash frowned. “So… you will have wings? My wings?”

“I uh- Sorta, yeah. I probably won't use them, I don't actually know how to move them or anything, I hope you don't mind.” Twilight hugged Dash again, though this time she paid a little more attention to the pegasus's wings.

“Mind? No way! This is awesome. You don't have any excuse to not come to my practise now, you can join in!” Rainbow Dash grinned and flared her own wings, flapping them a few times to send them soaring through the expanse. Without air she couldn't get the wind rushing through her mane, but it was better than nothing.

Twilight laughed and shook her head. “I don't think so, I can't even put these away. They won't move at all. No flying for me, I'll just have to put up with them. Maybe hang some extra bags off of them.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Pft, it takes foals a few years before they can do it too. C'mon, I'll teach you! This is gonna be so awesome.”

Twilight smiled. “Fine, okay. I'll set aside some time once we get back home.” Her smile faded. “Or… well, once we find a new home, anyway.”

Dash grabbed Twilight and held her close, hugging with all four legs and both wings. “I don't care, Twi. Here's home. Anywhere's home, so long as you're there too. We could crash at Pinkie's place, or hay, let's sleep in the Everfree forest. I don't care. I just want you by my side.” Her smile faded. “I've been a total jerk, and I'll get if it you need some time to think, but I… What's that thing Rarity says? Abseiling makes the heart grow rounder? Whatever, doesn't matter. My heart is round for you. Doesn't matter what happens, I'll go anywhere you want me to.”

Twilight looked up. “Always. I can't leave you. Obviously I don't ever want to, but I mean, I can't. I fell apart this past fortnight, Dash. Don't you ever leave me again. Ever. I can't manage without you anymore. I… I think I mentioned before, back in Ponyville, that I'd wanted to remain single so I wouldn't ever have to go through this. I was wrong, I was so wrong. It hurts more than anything else I've ever known to lose you, but you're worth it.”

“I love you too, Twi,” Dash whispered. “It was stupid. My fault. I just- I felt like everything was falling apart. You were so busy with your work, and every day I flew out to Cloudsdale for more Wonderbolts training and it just kept going nowhere. I tried, I did, I tried so hard, but they just kept pushing me back. I'm a damn good flier, but they wanted me to fly slow so everypony else could keep up. That's not fun, that's not exciting. That's not my dream.”

Twilight nodded. “No, it's my fault too. I could tell something was wrong, but I didn't know what to do. I just worked harder and hoped it'd pass. I'm sorry, I let you down. I said I'd always be there for you and I wasn't.”

Dash's nostrils flared. “No! Twi, it's not your fault! I screwed up, not you!”

Twilight shook her head. “That's not how it's meant to work, Dash. Neither of us are to blame. I don't blame you, just please don't ever leave again. I promise, if ever you're hurting I'll be there.”

“I'm hurting now, Twi.”

“And I'm here. I'll always be here, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly.” Twilight grinned.

Dash grinned back. “I was so scared I'd lost you, Twi. I'm not gonna go anywhere, not ever. Just take us home, I think I have some apologising to do to the girls.”

Twilight scratched at the base of her wings and laughed, eyes darting around the void. “About that, I'm not entirely sure how to get us home. It might take a little while.”

Dash darted forward and planted a kiss on Twilight's cheek. “That's okay, I can wait. Gotta admit, I'd rather spend time with you than Rarity right now anyway.”

Thick Fog

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Deep within the Everfree forest, a tree stirred. Its side still held an accurate impression of Rainbow Dash's body, and a few specks of dry blood still stained its bark. The forest was silent and still; yet this tree seemed more attentive than the rest. This tree had been awoken, and had not yet gone back to sleep.

Animals—with claws for tongues and tongues for ears—pulled themselves across the land on writhing tentacles and rows of teeth, preying on other creatures that had found themselves unlucky enough to be born poorly armed.

One such creature, six feet five inches tall and with fangs five centimeters thick stalked through the darkness. All such creatures like it had been banished from Equestria long ago, back when the nation was first drawing up its lawbooks and constitutions, but law could not banish something from the Everfree forest.

Its eyes, attached to its almost comically miniature head by tiny stalks, were turned upwards to scour the skies. Its legs were coiled and folded in on themselves time and time again, as if it wished to emulate a tightly wound spring. The long thin pupils tracked a small craft as it drifted through the air, piercing through the clouds lazily floating above.

Its hindlegs uncoiled, letting loose an ear-splitting crack—for those creatures equipped to hear it—as the knees broke the speed of sound and the beast kicked off against the hard dirt surface of the forest. It shot into the air, raising its forelegs and revealing the foot-long claws at each end. It sailed through the air on a well timed crash-course with the craft above.

The moment before impact a gossamer glow, coloured light gold when the faded moonlight hit it just right, struck it from the side and sent it off course. It flew a few moments more on its newfound parabola before striking the ground and scampering off beneath the tree's canopy, to no doubt try again shortly.

The craft was constructed from a mixture of wooden planks and thick iron, taking the same approximate shape as a water-bearing boat would have. Instead of a sail, however, it bore a balloon, ten meters thick at its widest and enchanted with the most potent anti-gravity charms Canterlot had to offer. Its side bore the royal seal, and its surface bore princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria.

“Star Spokes, do you see that?” Celestia held her hoof above her eyes, shielding the moon from her gaze. She looked out upon the landscape, and most importantly the area where Ponyville was to be expected. An expanse of darkness, noticeable only through the absence of all else, was only just visible on the horizon, and a thin trail of liquid rainbow mist floated along a path between it and Ponyville.

“I do, my lady.” Star Spokes held a telescope before him in his own magic field. “My vision surely does not match yours, however what we are seeing is quite unmissable.” He scanned around the area of Ponyville, looking for any movement.

Celestia turned away and walked towards a reasonably large wooden door set into the cabin of the airship. “As soon as we approach, land the ship.”

A sky-blue maned pegasus stuck his head out from over the ship's controls. “Princess? The Chariot ain't designed to land. I'm happy to fly anypony else down m'self, but the ship ain't safe below the clouds.”

Celestia turned her head to look towards him, but kept walking, opening the door before her and entering her quarters. “Ponyville does not have an air-dock, and we must depart and take passengers. Land the ship, captain.”

The wooden door slammed behind her, minutely shaking the entire vessel; few would have noticed, but the captain did.

The airship sailed on, cutting its way through higher layers of cloud and floating above the lower layers. The Chariot, Equestria's most expensive and luxurious airship, was not designed for journeys in hostile skies and as such did not include the thick layer of compacted cloudstuff most other airships boasted. The royal craft had been built as a figurehead—a literal flagship, when the giant sheet of dyed material was unrolled from its aft—with gold and silver streaks criss-crossing over the wooden shell to represent the sun and moon. Being built for two beings with wings, it had never flown far, only being used for diplomatic meetings.

As it made its approach to the small town of Ponyville, the captain obediently ordered it to descend. The structure shook and shivered as the ship ploughed through clouds until eventually the small town was fully visible before them.

Star Spokes gasped. “Of all the terrors in Tantalus… Princess!” He turned, lighting his horn to knock on Celestia's door with impatient haste. “Princess Celestia, you need to see this!”

Several seconds later, the door slowly swung open. Celestia's mane hung by her side, not lifeless, but instead tied down with a thin black band. Under each wing hung a saddlebag, both almost overflowing. Her customary golden armour was missing, replaced with a few more straps to hold leather bags filled with scrolls and potions of every description. She walked forward, ducking slightly to avoid catching her horn on the wooden doorframe, and made her way to the bow of the ship to survey the village. “It is as I feared, then?”

“I'm afraid so, princess. The damage looks significant.” His eyes flicked between Celestia and the landscape beneath. After a few moments of silence, he continued. “May I be so bold as to ask what exactly it is you are wearing?”

“The people of Ponyville have been hit hard, and will require support. I intend to aid in the reconstruction as soon as I have found my student and my sister.” Celestia spread her wings and allowed the wind to tickle her feathers. “Captain, set her down just outside the town. We can discuss trespassing with whoever owns the land when we are done.”

Star Spokes looked back down at the devastated town. “Permission to speak freely?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Will there ever come a point you will stop asking, and merely speak?” Star Spokes remained silent; his eyes betrayed no emotion beyond the steely seriousness the situation demanded. Celestia sighed. “Yes, of course. Permission granted.”

“We both felt some great magical disturbance here before our departure. We know that your sister left to acquire Twilight Sparkle-”

Celestia snorted. “An act which I still have not forgiven either of you for.”

“Yes, I apologise once again. We know Luna left, and mere minutes later both of us feel a huge shock. Quite interestingly, the previous issues with our magic appear to be gone, and the magic plane does—at least to my inexpert eye—appear to be slowly stabilising.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “Do you have a point to this, or are you simply recapping our journey?”

“My point, princess, is that that is not what Princess Luna left to do. Whatever happened was not part of the plan, and we have not heard from either since, though it has been many hours. We have to entertain the possibility that we may not find them chatting over tea and fresh hay.”

Celestia sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and hanging her head. “I would love to be able to tell you I could sense their fates, but that would be a lie. There is still far too much magical energy resident here for me to locate either of them. We must search the old fashioned way, with our hooves and our eyes.”

“And if we don't find them?”

“Then we look again.”

Twilight Sparkle's wings stretched to their straightest, mirroring the rest of her body as she screamed in pleasure. “D- Dash, oh- Yeah, right there!” The curious surface quivered in excitement, the two distinct colours of feather blurring together as the entire surface shook. Twilight hadn't yet figured out why some of her feathers were purple, and the others were blue, but she had noted that for every blue feather in her wings, Rainbow Dash had a matching purple one.

Dash's tongue swirled, and her hooves kneaded and massaged, driving Twilight's back into spasms; she rocked back and forth, sending both of them spinning through the infinite void. “Man, Twi, you're taking this like a pro!”

“D- Don't stop, Dash. I love you- Ah! I love you so much!” Twilight gasped and panted, grabbing Dash's body in her forehooves and holding her tightly. Her feathers tingled and tickled the air, or lack thereof; her body was at Rainbow Dash's mercy.

“You're just saying that because I give a good preen.” Dash laughed, finishing off the last couple of feathers with a few rough tugs, biting down and yanking the plumage back into place.

Twilight clung a little tighter. “Dash! You know that's not tr-”

“Joke,” Dash interrupted. “Joke! Jeez, you are so easy to wind up, egghead.”

“I- I know, I'm sorry. I just don't want to lose you again.” Twilight pulled Dash closer in and kissed the end of her nose.

Rainbow Dash made a forced gagging sound. “C'mon, Twi, I'm not going anywhere. Uh, I can't go anywhere, either. When're we getting out of here? It's great hanging out again, but my hooves are starting to ache for the ground and it's no fun doing tricks in here.”

Twilight let go and used her hindlegs to kick off from Rainbow Dash's chest. The pegasus flapped her wings a few times and caught up with ease. A few moments later, Twilight slowed to a stop. “We should be able to get out this way, but something's blocking it, see?”

Dash scratched her head. “Uh, no? Looks just like the rest, to me. Look, I'll fly straight through it!” Dash took a few wingbeats back, then charged at the area Twilight was pointing at.

“Dash, no! Don't do tha-” Twilight winced and looked away as Rainbow Dash smashed head-first into an invisible, but nonetheless solid, wall. “Don't do that. It… yeah. It'll hurt.”

Rainbow Dash slowly drifted back over to Twilight, rubbing the side of her nose. “You sure we can't get hurt in here? Because… ow!”

Twilight giggled, covering her mouth with a hoof. “We can't get physically hurt. Any injury our minds think we should have, though, we'll still feel.”

Dash snorted. “Yeah, I know you still feel, Twi. I bet Ponyville heard you last night, and I don't even know which direction that is.” Dash paused. “That was last night, right?”

Twilight shrugged. “We don't exactly have Celestia to guide us in here, Dash. Nor do we need to sleep, apparently, so night and day seem somewhat arbitrary.”

“Hey, speak for yourself! I feel another nap coming on already.” Dash yawned, stretching her legs theatrically.

“I mean, there's literally no need to sleep. Physiologically we don't exist, sleep serves no purpose.”

Dash stretched her wings and flew in a lazy circle to land on Twilight's back, at which point she placed her head against Twilight's mane and balanced the rest of her body between the unicorn's wings. “You keep telling yourself that, Twi. I'm gonna nap. See you in the morning.”

Rarity screamed. She scrambled backwards, pushing against the rubble and dust and sending it scattering off into the darkness. Her forehooves raised to cover her face and she tripped, falling backwards onto her rear. She screamed again, jumping further backwards and landing on the scorched remains of Ponyville's town centre. “Get it off! Get it off!”

She batted at the chips of stone and wooden splinters that had taken up an unwanted residence in her mane, attempting to evict them with every swipe. “Rarity!” she snapped, slapping herself across the cheek. “Ow!”

She shook her head, knocking a thin cloud of dust from her mane. “Rarity, calm down! In order to find out what has happened, I must stay composed, as any lady would.”

Rarity slowly opened her eyes again, immediately focussing on the mirror that had drawn her terror before. She gulped, staring into its depths and finding a dirty, ill-washed creature staring back at her. It had her face, and her mane, but none of the casual class her usual demeanour bore. She sighed.

What seemed like hours later, Rarity tore her gaze from the horror, only to find another. The ground she was standing on was covered not in soft blades of grass, but in ash, charred greenery, and scorched earth. A hopeful shadow, not of darkness but of untouched grass, stretched out from each of the nearby trees and houses. Rarity turned to look at the point all those false shadows pointed towards.

She took another step backwards. A crater in the ground was illuminated by smouldering buildings and burning wood, strewn around the centre of town as if it had just been dropped there at random. “N- No!” Rarity took off at a gallop, gritting her teeth as her horn glowed and she picked up as much of the rock chips and stone dust as she could until she was being followed by a modest tornado of grey earth.

Her boutique—her life—burned on one side. The devastation from whatever had occurred stretched between it and where the old Spa had been, and then that same distance again. Rarity began throwing the dust and dirt onto the flames, hoping to squash them out beneath a carpet of something that couldn't burn.

The flames spread. What was covered in dirt one moment simply caught alight again once more a moment later. Rarity doubled her efforts, ripping up the ground beneath her hooves and flinging chunks of ex-grass and once-dirt at the sides of her home, but it was no use. The flames spread faster than she could extinguish them.

Rarity threw one final chunk of ground, then sunk onto the last outcrop of dirt she hadn't thrown. Behind her lay a hole over a meter deep of excavated firefighting material. A tear rolled down her snout and dropped to the floor as she was struck by visions of her dresses catching alight.

Another droplet of water joined the tear, and then a third. Within moments, Rarity had lost count. She looked up and saw the sky had filled with pregnant rainclouds, which were emptying themselves over the town with clear enthusiasm. The water rolled across her face, cleaning away the tears, and clearing away the flames engulfing many of the nearby buildings.

Rarity broke down into joyous laughter. “Aha! Thank Celestia, I'm saved!”

In the darkness, somepony coughed.

“H- hello? Is somepony there? Do you need help?” Rarity turned and looked around, surveying the area but finding nothing. Luckily, the destruction seemed to have taken place in one of the less densely populated areas of Ponyville, only affecting the outskirts and not doing much damage to the residential areas.

“Yes.” The voice coughed again, and then Rarity heard a soft knocking sound coming from a free-standing wall that likely used to comprise some kind of building. It was barely audible above the crashing waves of rain drowning the town. Rarity had never seen a storm so ferocious, and thought it highly fortuitous it had happened with such spectacular timing.

She moved, carefully avoiding the hole she'd left, and walked through the mud. Her mane was ruined anyway, and somebody needed help. She turned the corner, extending a hoof for the poor soul trapped behind it to grab onto.

“P- Princess Luna?” Rarity took a step back again, slipping on a puddle of mud and crashing down onto it. “Eugh! Oh, it's going to take days to feel clean again.” Rarity frowned, but quickly recovered. “Princess, you're okay! Where's Twilight? We could really make use of her magic here.”

Luna coughed, motioning for Rarity's outstretched hoof. Rarity extended it once again and helped the moon goddess to her hooves, brushing some of the rubble and rock from her sides. “I'm afraid I do not know.” Luna tried to take a step forward, but winced as her right foreleg took pressure. “I appear to have broken my leg, I'm afraid I won't be much use. It's taking all of my magic to maintain this storm.”

“Oh!” Rarity gasped. “This is your doing?”

Luna nodded. “Your commotion woke me, and my wings were all that felt capable of moving freely. Some weather manipulation was all I could do, but it has left me drained.”

Rarity dived forward and hugged Luna, taking special care to avoid her injured leg. “Thank you! You saved my shop!” Rarity coughed. “And the rest of the town, of course. That's also important.”

“It was my pleasure, subject. Now, do you know what happened?” Luna limped over to a sturdy looking section of wall and rested against it.

“No, I was rather hoping you could tell me. When I left, you were unconscious and Twilight was acting quite unusually.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, she managed to revive me, and then Rainbow Dash made her presence known. At that point, Twilight Sparkle… did this. Rainbow Dash attempted to calm her down, but in the process of defending the town I was overpowered. I awoke to your wails, I do not know what became of Twilight Sparkle.”

Rarity gulped. “Ah. Perhaps I misinterpreted Twilight's mood. I told Dash she should go and confront Twilight, I do hope I didn't make a terrible mistake.”

Luna shrugged with her wings. “None of us could have seen it coming.”

“Princess, she can't take much more of this!” The captain of the Chariot struggled with the airship's controls, flinging them left and right to counteract the buffeting forces of wind. Water streamed from the sides, flowing over the deck and dripping down into the interior. The main dining room was ruined, and the royal bedrooms were heading the same way. “We've gotta get above the clouds!”

Celestia's head snapped around to stare at him. “No, we must land. Hold her steady and bring her down, captain.”

“I'm giving it all she's got, princess!”

Celestia sighed and turned back to stare over the bow at the town now not so far below them. The crater was clearly visible from this height, and the fires surrounding were beginning to subside.

Star Spokes huddled under a thin sheet of magic, shielding himself from the worst of the rain. Even so, he waded through the water covering the deck. “Princess, much as it pains me to make a request of royalty, I'm sure we are both aware of your command over the weather. A lesser storm would help the ship extra-ordinarily; the balloon's enchantments are beginning to waver!”

Celestia shook her head. “This storm is not natural, and while the moon shines in the sky I could not touch it if I wanted to. My sister is down there somewhere, this is unmistakably her work.”

Star Spokes shivered, widening his umbrella to try and stay as dry as he could. “Are you certain? I've never seen her command forces this powerful before. With Twilight's aid, perhaps?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, Star. This is the night. This is her domain. The night skies are hers and none can challenge that. Twilight Sparkle herself would struggle, and regardless, I have never taught her any weatherworking. My sister is down there.”

The captain yelled over the increasing rains. “Yet we cannot be! Princess, we gotta turn back.” As if to back up his point, one of the thick ropes connecting the wood and metal ship to the enchanted cloth of the flight balloon snapped, sending the entire vessel tilting on its side.

Celestia nodded, took two steps forward, and spread her wings as she dropped through the air.

Rarity huddled under the singular wall alongside princess Luna, hiding from the torrential rains and watching the last of the smouldering embers dim. The wind whistled through broken window frames and blew some of the dust around, forcing Rarity to shield her eyes whenever she poked her head outside their inadequate shelter.

“What are we going to do, princess?” Rarity sat against the wall, occasionally brushing her mane with an errant burst of magic, but not making much headway into cleaning the rat's nest now lying on her head. “Where are Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash? Or, for that matter, anypony else? One would have thought the disaster would have awoken them.”

Luna shook her head. “One of my first actions was to surround the area with a magic shield. I hoped to contain the damage, but at very least I managed to silence it. Thankfully I do not believe anybody was hurt.”

Rarity nodded. “Aloe and Lotus had left for the night, so th- oh ponyfeathers, I promised to lock up before I left. I suppose it's a little too late for that, now.”

Luna shrugged. “We may be able to locate the door. I doubt its effectiveness now, however.” She coughed, struggling to her three good hooves and crawling over to the edge of the wall to look out over the undamaged parts of Ponyville. “They shall awaken to something more reminiscent of the old battlefields than a modern town. We should concentrate on helping them.”

Rarity snorted. “What about my friends?”

Luna shook her head. “I was cast aside as if I were a leaf on the wind. I find it unlikely they survived.”

Rarity gasped. “Princess, no! We cannot give up hope, they could be feet away under one of these houses! We have to look for them.”

“Knowing my sister, she should be arriving shortly. No doubt she will share your optimism and you may search together.” Luna stared out across the sky, gazing over the clouds high above.

“Oh, I do hope so. Her help would be invaluable.”

“Indeed.” Luna snorted. “No doubt she will immediately run off on some fool's errand searching for your friends and be of little aid to anypony. She should be here by now, though. I do hope she isn't slowing down in her old age.”

Rarity squeaked, pointing up into the sky. Luna followed her hoof, looking up at a small dark spot set against the clouds. An airship hung there, still descending but clearly facing difficulties.

“Oh, sister.” Luna's horn glowed and the dirt underneath her reared up, helping her struggle to her hooves. A wooden fencepost that lay discarded some feet away flew through the air and, using a few thin strips of material torn from a sodden curtain, tied itself around Luna's broken leg.

“'Sister'? Is that… Celestia up there?” Rarity tilted her head.

Luna nodded. “Apparently thinking herself incapable of flight, she has brought our royal airship. While, yes, it is among the fastest ships in our fleet, it is also not in any way waterproof.” As if to prove her point, the ship in question suddenly swerved to the side, swaying wildly. The balloon above it tilted and a moment later it began to ascend.

“She- She's turning back!” Rarity stared up at the airship from behind a few carefully held shards of glass, holding the worst of the downpour from her already damaged mane.

“Yes. Ponyville is not exactly a hub of modern convenience, and my sister appears to have forgotten that it lacks an air-dock. She shall be later than even I had anticipated.”

There was a quiet clatter from behind as Celestia's hooves touched the rubble. Her wings folded back to her sides and she stood, paying no mind to the rain streaming down her face. “I am never late, dear sister; I arrive precisely when I mean to.”

Luna winced. “Does this hold true of my last birthday party, as well? Did you mean to arrive a full hour behind the other guests?”

Celestia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Shall I ever be forgiven for that? It had been one thousand years, Luna, forgive me for forgetting.”

“I remembered yours. I even recalled your favourite flowers.” Luna rested against her makeshift splint, glaring at Celestia. “And what in Equestria are you wearing? I realise much has changed in the past one thousand years, but surely we still do not leave the castle in our nightclothes?”

Rarity coughed, and then coughed again several times to catch the two princesses' attentions. “Princesses? May I remind you that Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash are still missing, and that Ponyville is an absolute disaster? Can we please focus?”

“Indeed.” Celestia nodded. “Luna, you ignored my word and brought this disaster here yourself, I hope your injuries serve as a reminder of this while you search for my student.”

Rarity coughed again, drawing Celestia's gaze. “We are also looking for Rainbow Dash, she appeared shortly before Twilight…”

“Very well.” Celestia made her way across the uneven terrain to Luna's side, where she wrapped a wing over the injured alicorn's side. “Luna, I want you to go and search for my student while I remain here and support the citizens.”

Luna snorted. “I have no desire to travel on a fool's errand, sister. I cannot sense either of them, and though I am weak I can assure you that they would not go undetected. I can be of more use here, helping to rebuild the town.”

Celestia pulled away and walked out into the pouring rains. “I am disappointed in you, Luna. First you disobey my clear instruction, and now you give up hope on the ponies that have given you so much. Tell me, dear sister, how can you ever hope to join me in ruling the land if you cannot control yourself?”

Luna staggered over, placing weight on her splint only if necessary and using her wings to keep balance. “We can control ourselves perfectly, sister. You would have stood by and done nothing. At very least we have achieved something, or have you failed to notice that there have been no magical anomalies since?”

Celestia stared up into the sky, watching the Charriot sway about in the forceful winds high above them. “I believe the storm has run its course, Luna. I'm sure the ponies above us would appreciate the reprieve, lest your actions hurt another this night.” Celestia looked down and shook her head. “Tell me, Luna. Do you consider this minor victory worth the life of any of our citizens?”

“Twilight Sparkle was not just any citizen. She knew her duty.” Luna's voice wavered. “I never meant for this to happen.”

Celestia frowned. “Twilight Sparkle was born into it, she was never given a choice. That made her safety even more vital to us; if we cannot protect those who pledge everything to us, how can we protect those who merely rely on us?”

Luna stammered. “We- I- She was never meant to die, Celestia, believe me. My plan could not have anticipated Rainbow Dash's actions.”

“Which is why I wait before acting. Until you can see every piece in play, you cannot predict what outcome any move will have. A ruler should not gamble with the fates of her people, Luna.” Celestia moved closer to her sister's side, and wrapped a wing around once more. “I hope you learn something this day, for next time you may not be so fortunate.”

“Fortunate?!” Luna snapped, “How have I been fortunate? I have clearly lost your trust, lost the lives of those I owe my own to, and this town shall doubtful allow my presence again! How can I be judged fit to rule after this?”

Celestia held tighter and softly laughed. “You have injured my trust in you, but you cannot ever slay my love for you. Nor can you slay Twilight Sparkle, through either action or ill-planning. Tell me, do you still feel magic in your bones?”

Luna nodded. “Of course. Weaker than on most nights, but undeniable.”

“Then the Element of Magic still lives.”

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She stretched her wings and legs, uncurled her body and yawned quietly. “I miss clouds.” She looked over at Twilight Sparkle. “Hey Twi, are we going home yet?”

Twilight's head turned to stare. “Nearly, I just have to recalculate the transition vector to ensure the magicfocal bipositioning alternation doesn't-”

“Okay okay,” Dash interrupted, “I already know your life story, Twi.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to the stack of papers before her, scribbling words and symbols onto the parchment.

“Hey, where'd you get those? Pretty sure we haven't had a delivery in the last… Hey, how long have we been here?” Dash tilted her head and slowly glided closer to Twilight. She glanced at the equations before her for a few moments, but quickly decided to avoid the headache.

“Hm, I'm not sure.” Twilight scratched behind her ear before turning to face Dash. “You usually take a few hours to recover whenever I do that thing with my tongue, and we've done that… hm…”

Dash's ears perked up “We've done that loads, I do not take hours. I'm Rainbow Dash, nothing slows me down!”

“I'm glad it takes you time to recover, Dash; I'd never get anything done otherwise. I suppose that must mean we've been in here for quite a while, but time doesn't work the same way here anyway.”

“Oh, is this that relatively stuff you were going on about a few months ago? Like how if I fly fast enough I'll go back in time or something?” Dash spread her wings and gave them a slow shake.

“No, you'd face so much air resistance you'd catch fire long before you got that fast. But yes, it's about the same concept, except sometimes it's us going really fast and sometimes it's everything else.” Twilight frowned.

“What if we appear and we're like, in the past? Or way in the future? What if Pinkie's so old she can't bounce any more?” Dash joined Twilight's frown.

“Hm? Oh, no, I doubt Pinkie Pie will ever stop bouncing.”

“That wasn't my point, Twi. We've gotta get back when we left. What if we're gone for ages? What'll our friends think? I've already abandoned them once, I'm not doing it again. Ever.” Dash snorted. “You've gotta get us back.”

Twilight nodded. “After… last time I had to promise I wouldn't do any more time manipulation magic.” Twilight coughed. “I still researched it, of course. I haven't practised, but I'm quite confident I can get us home on time.”

“When?”

“I've had the spell ready for a few hours, but I didn't want to start without explaining the dangers to yo-”

“Go. C'mon, Twi, I don't care. I know that anything you'd do to me is probably a million times safer than me flying anyway.” Dash grinned and darted forward to rub her cheek against Twilight's.

“I'm serious, Dash. If this goes wrong, we could end up inside out, or worse!”

“So, just like flying then. Come on, let's go home.” Dash grinned.

A drop of water tumbled from the edge of a leaf, hanging from a branch on one of the many trees dotting Ponyville. One side of its bark was scorched black, and the leaves on that side were shrivelled and in tatters. The other side sprung with life and was a symbol of health.

The midday sun beat down upon it, warming every inch of its surface and evaporating the raindrops away. The great orb in the sky rained heat down over the rest of the town as well.

Celestia brushed the sweat from her forehead with a hoof, and steeled herself to lift yet another slab of stone. “Where-” She panted- “Where do we want this one?”

“Oh, just over here, princess!” Carrot Top pointed over to the side of a large plot of land, still punctuated by a few orange splashes of colour. “Thanks again for all the help you've been!”

Celestia nodded and moved the stone surface over to the indicated area. She softly placed it on the ground, and then gave it a shove to firmly cement it in the dirt. She looked over at the large pile of stone, in various shapes and sizes, and sighed internally. “Of course, my subject. I will always be here when you're in need.”

Though Celestia had recruited many capable unicorns from Canterlot before leaving, they were all stuck high above on an airship which refused to land. Undeterred, Celestia had chosen to help rebuilding the town by herself.

Celestia turned and moved to raise one of the slabs of “wall”.

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie bounced over her head and landed on her back. “Hi Princess! I brought you a drink!”

“Oh, thank you so very much, Pinkie. That sounds delightful.” Celestia smiled. Her throat ached, continually reminding her that she had yet to even partake in her morning coffee.

“Okie! It's right here!” Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out an empty glass. She stared at it for a few moments, and then frowned. “Oh yeah. Sorry, I got thirsty on the way over. My bad!”

Celestia's smile didn't waver. “That's quite alright, Pinkie.” Pinkie Pie sat on Celestia’s back for several seconds more. “Did you want anything?”

“Oh, yeah! My eyes started watering and I started to see things!”

Celestia’s ears quivered. “We are all concerned for Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, believe me. I assure you, I shall do everything in my power to find them.”

Pinkie shook her head and bounced over to land on the pile of stone. “Nuh-uh, I know where they are! I saw them! I think they need our help! I’ve already told the others, they’re on their way, but we need you too!”

The infinite expanse around Twilight and Dash appeared to flicker in time with the fickle glow of Twilight Sparkle's horn. Billowing clouds popped into existence above them, and the gossamer magical landscape far beneath them began to fade into a more familiar slab of green and brown.

“C'mon, Twilight, we're almost there!” Dash strained forward, flapping her wings and trying to push them closer to the ground. Twilight Sparkle clung on tight, with her eyes held closed and her mind held open.

“Keep going, Dash. Think of home.” Twilight shouted over the sudden rush of air as they began to descend through Equestria's atmosphere. A thin red cone formed around them, growing stronger and more visible every moment as the air thickened and Rainbow Dash increased her speed. The infinity behind them began to stretch away, slowly at first but growing faster with every foot they flew away from it.

“There's Canterlot!” Dash tilted her wings and changed course, curving through the air until her nose pointed straight at the ancient castle-city that marked the political centre of Equestria. “I'm going in!”

“Careful, Dash, we're still not completely here yet.” Twilight hung on, but opened her eyes to watch their descent into Canterlot. The city's architecture stretched out before them, and around them. Dash soared between gigantic towers decorated with gold strips and dark spikes. Rainbow Dash wasted no time in swinging around to the castle's private air-dock and coming to a halt on Celestia's personal landing balcony.

“Man, I've still got it.” Dash brushed a non-existent speck of dirt from one wing, while using the other to help Twilight down onto the ground. “I can't wait to show you how it's done, Twi.”

Twilight laughed. “Maybe later, I have a lot of work to do now we're finally home.”

Dash jumped into the air and flipped upside down to hang before Twilight. She pouted. “C'mon, you have to take a break eventually! I know you have a lot to do, but-”

Twilight raised a hoof to Dash's nose and slowly pushed it away from her while twisting to the side and bringing Dash the correct way up once again. “You can help if you want, then it'll go faster. Right now we need to find Celestia, we have a lot to talk about.” She turned and, after a few moments of awkward magical fumbling, managed to overwhelm the lock enchantments and unclip the metal bar on the inside of the two large doors leading from the balcony into Celestia's main bedroom.

The room was dark, with the only light being that which reflected from the open doors. Twilight could see a figure silhouetted inside the four-poster bed, sleeping softly. “Princess!”

The figure stirred, softly at first but then jumping up and landing atop the sheets. The doors slammed shut behind them. Rainbow Dash caught the image of Twilight Sparkle being flung through the air a fraction of an instant before she felt the same force applied to her. Her head stung and her ears rang, but her wings were telling her that if she hit the wall at that speed neither of those things would matter. After a momentary pause, Dash spread her wings and slowed herself to enough of a halt that she could safely land against the wall and kick back.

As Dash flew through the air the other way, she noted Twilight's trademark flash of light as the unicorn teleported back to safety. She let her worries about Twilight drop away and focussed on bursting through the drapes surrounding the bed as fast as she could. As she sped through them, the thin wooden circlets attaching them to the top of the bed gave way, and a few moments later her and the shadowy figure within slammed into the ground on the other side.

“Who they hay are you, and what are you doing in the princess's chambers?” Dash spat, tearing at the thin material with her teeth to reveal their attacker's face. Twilight Sparkle ran up to them and lowered her head, pointing her horn at the figure within the sheets.

“Guards!” The figure pushed outwards. Rainbow Dash was thrown back, but quickly recovered and hung there in the air. The thin material glowed black, and then vanished, revealing princess Luna.

“Luna!” Twilight jumped towards her with her arms outstretched, but was thrown back again.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Luna evaporated the rest of the drapes. Rainbow Dash ducked as a chunk of dark metal armour flew over her head, locking itself around Luna's body. “How do you know our name?”

“P- princess?” Twilight took a step back. “I'm… Twilight Sparkle, of course I know your name. Is Celestia around?”

Luna's eyes narrowed. “None have spoken that name to us in a thousand years. We thought her forgotten.”

Dash gulped, and looked down at Twilight. Twilight shrugged. “I don't know, Dash. Perhaps we overshot?” Twilight turned and faced Luna. “What year is it, princess?”

“The year one thousand and one of the great Lunar Empire, of course. I do not know what you are or what you know, but I cannot allow you to leave.” Luna's eyes flashed and the rest of her armour flew from the sides of the room and encased her almost completely in a second skin of dark metal and black rock. Her eyes shone a dark green and her horn lengthened, growing jagged near the tip. Her mane began to flash with short bursts of lightning.

“W- woah! Twi, I think we need to go.” Dash swooped down and grabbed Twilight under the forearms. At that moment, the main door of the room burst open and guards began to stream in, some flying on bat-like wings and others wielding sharp-pointed weapons in the grip of their horns. All were armoured similarly to Luna, however none had her imposing stance. “Empress Nightmare, we are at your command.”

Rainbow Dash immediately darted for the balcony, smashing through the thick glass with the tips of her hooves and taking to the air. She beat her wings and flew.

Twilight screamed and pulled both of them to the right. An instant later, a bolt of energy passed through just beside them, singeing the tip of Dash's wing. “Careful, Dash, she's following us!”

“What. The. Hay.” Dash barrelled left and right to avoid the attacks of both Luna and her guards. “Is. Going. On.”

“We- We missed! This isn't Canterlot!” Twilight threw up a bubble shield around them, deflecting a few bursts of Luna's dark energy. It shattered after a few more bolts that Dash couldn’t avoid in time.

“It looks like it! The stars are even right!” Dash pulled her wings back to her sides and went into freefall for a few moments, avoiding a series of bursts that filled the sky above her. “We haven't been gone that long, Twi, I can still navigate!”

Twilight closed her eyes and made a platform a few feet below them. Dash landed on it, and then immediately kicked off. A blast of magic two feet wide shattered the platform an instant later. “No, we're in the wrong Equestria entirely! We missed when we tried to get home!”

Dash darted straight up for a moment, flinging Twilight high into the air. She sped off, twisting and changing directions on the head of a pin to evade a salvo of magic bolts that were tracking her. Twilight closed her eyes and felt out with her horn, extinguishing them one by one while Rainbow Dash distracted them.

Moments before Twilight hit the ground, Dash swooped back over and plucked her from the air. “How could we miss Equestria? It's pretty big!”

Twilight grabbed onto Dash's mane with a hoof and pulled herself up onto her back. The pegasus grunted in pain, but kept flying. “Okay, we exist in three dimensions, right?” Twilight turned around and pointed her horn at the ground beneath the ensuing army. After a few seconds of straining, the ground began to rumble, and then crack. A sheet of rock burst out in front of the unicorns chasing them, cutting the size of Luna's army in half as they sped away.

Twilight lit her horn up again and made a line that hung in the air. “Length.” The line jumped and stretched, becoming a rectangle. “Width.” The rectangle jumped towards them, becoming a fully realised shape. “And depth.”

Twilight let go of the magical shape, watching it tumble back into the clouds of pegasi chasing them and knocking some of them from the sky. “There's another dimension, one we don't have a name for yet.” The cuboid behind them split and shattered into a million different pieces, simultaneously glowing and sucking in all light. Twilight looked away from it. “That's magic. If we go one direction, we get to the magic plane. We don't go in the other direction, usually, but I think we might have.”

Dash gulped and swooped down into a field of low-flying clouds, swinging between them to try and disguise their positions. “Why don't we?” Dash flared her wings and came to a stop against one of the clouds in a layer beneath the top, where they couldn't be seen.

Twilight sighed, jumping from Dash’s back and stretching her legs. “In ancient times, magic scholars thought that friendship and love were responsible for magic. There was a movement a few hundred years ago for the opposite—that greater magic inspired greater friendships. Nowadays we understand that neither causes the other, and that they're the same thing. The further we go from our Equestria, the less friendship and magic we'll find.”

Dash looked around uneasily. “I wouldn't call their magic weak, Twi.”

Twilight shrugged. “That's good, it means we're not too far from home. Luna is exceptionally strong in our world, too.”

Dash's ears twitched. She broke into a run and tackled Twilight off of the cloud mere moments before another beam of dark energy ripped it apart. A few seconds later, her wings caught the air and they soared back into the sky, being chased once more. “Can you beat her, Twi?”

Twilight gulped, closed her eyes, and teleported from Dash's arms onto her back. She shook her head. “I don't think so. I've never been… I'm not a battlemare, and she is.” Twilight grunted as another blast hit the side of the bubble shield she held around them.

“Great. Can I beat her?” Dash laughed, then curved off to one side to avoid a spear thrown by one of the pegasus archers worryingly close behind. “Don't answer that. They're catching up, I can't fly as fast for some reason.”

Twilight snorted. “Magic, Dash. There's less magic here. I can't cast as strong spells, and you can't fly as fast.”

“So what do we do?”

“I don't know.”

Clearing Up

View Online

The Wind Beneath Her Wings

==========================

Star Spokes stood to one side of the Chariot's mast. His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and steady, matching the light pulsing of the magic flowing through his horn. The two frayed ends of the broken rope hovered in the air before him, slowly fusing back together as each strand was matched with its old partner. The ship swayed from side to side as he worked.

“'least the rain's stopped, eh?” The captain twisted the ship to the side, breaking Star Spokes's concentration and causing the two ends of rope to fall apart yet again.

He sighed. “Quite. Would you mind not doing that?” Star Spokes opened his eyes and looked around for the length of rope, and then began from the start again.

“Ship's gotta turn. Nothing stays still up here, not ever. You unicorns, sitting in your towers and castles, can't understand what it's like to be up here.” The captain turned the wheel again; the rope fell to the deck.

Star winced. “I assure you, I'm learned of aerodynamic theory. The enchantments on this very ship have components of my work in long-duration spells.”

The captain took his hooves from the wheel and walked over to where Star Spokes was standing. He adjusted his goggles with one hoof and stretched out a wing to feel the air. “I'm no slouch neither. I know who you are, and I ain't impressed with those credentials. I know your work, and I'll have you know I know this ship like the back of my wing—spells and all.”

Star Spokes snorted. “Magic is more than just equations and chanting. Whatever you know is nothing compared to feeling it flow through your body. It's a way of life, not a-” Star Spokes stumbled to the side as the ship turned once again. His hoof slipped on the side of the rope and he found his flank striking the deck. “Stop doing that!”

The captain extended a hoof. “Like you say, I ain't a unicorn. I can't steer the ship if I ain't at the wheel, then it's all for the wind. I can't get magic? You can't get the sky.” The ship violently tilted to the side, almost tipping Star Spokes over the edge. The captain grabbed his hoof and pulled him further onto the deck, before darting over to the wheel and wrestling it into submission.

Before the wind could throw the ship around again, it was back under control. The captain lowered his goggles. “Up this high, we go where the wind wants us to and if we got a destination, we just ask nicely. We give a good impression, but there ain't no pegasus that's a-”

“Master of the skies!” Dash screeched, rolling to the right and kicking off the side of one of the dark-armoured pegasi. She changed direction in an instant, heading straight towards another pursuer and striking it with her forehooves, before repeating with another set.

Twilight Sparkle hovered in the air some five hundred feet away, watching a thin streak of rainbow arch between distinct black spots silhouetted against an imposing moon. Her horn pulsed so quickly the average pony would have called it a solid glow, holding her exactly in place.

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to chew on the tip of her hooves. Her eyes followed Dash intently, knowing that if anything went wrong she was too far away to help.

A thin purple film covered the sky around them, holding the majority of the ensuing army away from them. Luna—Nightmare Moon—flew around it carefully inspecting the shield for imperfections. Twilight Sparkle knew she would find none. Unfortunately, by the time Twilight had managed to cast the spell, a few of the guards chasing them had caught up.

Rainbow Dash hugged her body with her wings and dived, before grabbing hold of the wing of one of the ponies attempting to strike her with his spear. She heard a crack as the bone sheared in two, and quickly pulled herself up to kick off the now-falling guard and land on another.

Dash froze, then stumbled to the side. A spear flew through the space where her outstretched wings would have been and embedded itself into the guard she stood atop. He groaned and began to fall freely, losing control of his wings. She turned to the pony who threw it, stuck her tongue out, and took to the skies once more.

Twilight's heartbeat slowly began to return to normal as the cloud of pony-shaped pinpricks around Dash's bright rainbow trail began to dwindle. She knew she could hold her shield indefinitely, so as soon as the ponies chasing them were unable to follow them she could shrink the shield and allow the rest of the army to retrieve them and ensure they got the medical attention they would need.

“She is not of this world, is she?” Luna asked, floating behind Twilight.

Twilight span around, lowering her head to point her horn towards the voice. “What?! How did you get in here?”

Luna smiled. The movement ripped throughout her armour, as if it were more of a second skin than a sheet of metal. The patterns that wrapped around its surface glowed a deep purple, and the black sheets that comprised the rest seemed to suck in any light that fell upon them. Her wings beat powerfully, but at a slow rate. “Breaking through the magic of a mere mortal is no challenge.”

Twilight gulped.

Nightmare Moon's mane drifted across the side of Twilight's face. Every time it brushed against her skin, Twilight recoiled in pain. It was closer to a cloud of magic night than hair, and every inch of it stung. “This world obeys my whim, and none can stand in my way. I control the stars, the sun, and the Elements of Harmony. The world is united under my rule, and yet I find myself interested.” Luna reached forward and pushed Twilight's chin up, forcing her to look into her eyes. “Who are you, little pony?”

Twilight stole a glance over towards Rainbow Dash, who was barely evading the last couple of guards. Whether she was in trouble, or toying with them, Twilight couldn't tell.

Luna's horn glowed and Twilight felt her eyeballs turn against her will. “Answer me,” she hissed. Her eyes glowed green and Twilight felt a powerful magic wash into her, reminiscent of the schools of magic utilised by Changelings or dark magicians. The sort of magic that could wipe a pony's mind clean.

Twilight thought quickly, and then subtly cast her own magic in response to give her eyes the thin green glow Nightmare Moon would be expecting. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am a unicorn from Ponyville. I grew up in Canterlot and I shall pose no threat to you.”

Nightmare Moon smiled.

“Hi-yah!” Dash yelled, bringing her hoof down on the final guard's armour. He spiralled down through the air to crash into the trees beneath, joining a sizeable pile of vanquished foes. She grinned, brushed the dirt from her mane, and then looked over to Twilight.

“Oh, horseapples.” Before Dash could react, the glow around Twilight's body was replaced by the dark blue glow of Nightmare Moon, and Dash felt her own body become surrounded by Twilight's familiar field. She strained, and pulled, but Twilight was too strong and she couldn't escape.

“Damnit, no!” Dash tried to pull away, but Twilight brought her closer and closer until she could finally hear the conversation between the two of them.

Nightmare Moon smiled, caressing Twilight's neck with an idle hoof. “Thank you, subject. Who is this?”

Twilight stuttered. “R- Rainbow Dash. She also lives in Ponyville, but grew up in Cloudsdale. She will be no threat to you, majesty.”

Dash seethed. “Twilight, fight her! Twilight!”

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Will she be of use to me?”

Twilight opened her mouth, but nothing came out for several seconds while she thought. “I- She's- I love her.”

Luna's laugh filled the shield spell. “No, but seriously.”

“What will you do to her?” Twilight shook.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “She has single-hoofedly defeated a sizable chunk of my army. She will be put to death immediately.” Her horn glowed brighter.

“No!” Twilight shouted, and immediately dropped Rainbow Dash. The glow faded from her eyes as she kicked off Luna's embrace and floated under her own power once more. “I'm sorry, Luna, I gave you a chance to prove you were still you under all that, but this is just wrong.”

Nightmare Moon gasped. “Impossible! None can resist my power!”

Twilight snorted. “Please, mind control? I covered that in magic kindergarten, and I surpassed your level before I was even accepted into Celestia's academy.”

Luna snarled. “You keep mentioning things which do not exist! My sister has been dead for two thousand years, she has never had an academy! There has never been a town called Ponyville! Cloudsdale fled Equestria a thousand years past! How do you know of these things?!”

Dash laughed. “She lives in a library.”

Luna's head snapped around and she gripped Dash with all her might. “I do not know what you are, but I will have no threats to my rule. Goodbye.” Luna threw Rainbow Dash straight down, and shot a bolt of magical lightning straight into her.

“No!” Twilight yelled. Her hornglow grew, becoming so intense as to be too bright to look directly upon in a matter of microseconds. Time seemed to slow around her until it finally came to a stop. Nightmare Moon still faced Rainbow Dash, but her eyes stared unmoving at Twilight. Her wings were mid-beat, showing feathers misshapen by the air.

More importantly, the burning bright streak of magical energy hung in the sky between her and Dash. The black aura around Nightmare Moon seemed to drain all light from the world, becoming so dark it stung to view. The thin beam of glowing energy arched between her and Dash, punishing Twilight’s eyes even further as she traced its path to the burnt coat on Dash’s chest.

Princess Luna hobbled forward along a little-used dirt path leading towards the coast. On one side of her lay empty fields and rolling hills, and on the other was the same for a mile, or more, before it abruptly turned into the untamed wilds of the Everfree Forest.

“This is absurd.” Luna swore under her breath, wincing every time she placed pressure on her injured leg. She had been walking for hours, and her enhanced anatomy was only just beginning to heal in earnest. Even so, the bone stung.

She looked up into the sky. High above her, tickling the edge of the sky, flew the Chariot. Due to Ponyville's distinct lack of an airdock, and the damage done to the local train station, Luna was travelling to the nearest civilised town.

More importantly, both her and the airship so far above followed the same signpost. A trail of rainbow scarred the sky, many times too weak to be seen by the unaided eye. The magical residue of it was so great that even the mere unicorn guiding the ship above could sense it clearly.

Whatever they would find at its end would hopefully explain once and for all what happened to Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.

“Dash!” Twilight shouted in slow motion, though of course the unmoving figures around her couldn't hear a thing. She closed her eyes and imagined herself by Dash's side, feeling the familiar sensation of momentarily being in two places at once that always accompanied teleportation.

Dash had twisted in the air, raising a foreleg to shield her body and wings and turning away from the blast. The very tip of it grazed the side of her body, burning a thin streak of coat along her side, but never going any deeper. Nightmare Moon had missed. Only just, but only just was all it needed.

Twilight let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, and looked back at Luna. Though the princess was undoubtably extremely powerful, she was weaker here than she was back in the real Equestria, and far less skilled. Twilight tilted her head and began to think, setting up an array of traps and barriers that would spring to lock Nightmare Moon inside as soon as time began to flow once again.

Several minutes later—or no time at all, depending on your viewpoint—Twilight lifted her spell.

Luna screamed a low, angry scream as she realised Dash had evaded her attack. She launched another, aiming for the center of Dash's chest; the easiest area to hit.

Rainbow Dash contorted, moving her centre of gravity to push her body out of the way. The bolt arched harmlessly between her wings, and she darted to the side. The next three bolts were avoided with effortless loops, and by the time Luna looked back towards Twilight, it was too late.

Luna's eyes twisted with hateful malice. Her armour shone with the darkest magic, with pitch-black tendrils tasting the air around her. The few chinks in the full covering of unholy metal glowed with a dark purple, and her mouth tore into an angry snarl. Her body shook as she fired bolt after bolt into Twilight Sparkle's body.

The first harmlessly impacted against a small pane of magic. The second ricocheted from a hastily conjured mirror. The third struck Twilight on the horn and was effortlessly absorbed, adding to Twilight's power. The fourth fizzled out of existence over a foot away, and the fifth simply ceased to be. The sixth never came, and by the seventh Luna's face had twisted into shock. Before the eighth, Luna's glow faded; her armour became a dull matte black and her eyes returned to how they used to be. “What are you? No mortal could do this.”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I hold the Element of Magic; I graduated from Celestia's school for gifted unicorns with a perfect grade; and I am so sorry for what I'm about to do to you.” Twilight triggered her spell. A cage of thick magic walls formed around Luna, inscribed with ancient runes from another world and extending down into the magic plane, ensuring that any kind of escape was completely impossible. Twilight watched for long enough for Luna to realise what was happening, and then time within the bubble ceased, locking her inside like a fly trapped in amber.

“Nice.” Dash landed proudly atop it and folded her wings back to her sides. “I'm uh- I'm gonna go take a…” She stumbled to the side and tripped, landing hard against the transparent structure and resting on her side.

“Dash!” Twilight teleported up to her side. “What's wrong? Are you okay?”

Dash coughed. She looked up at her and grinned. “You- You should see the other guys.” Her head struck the surface and she was soon shakily sleeping.

Twilight set herself down by Dash's side and sat down, watching the pegasus's chest rise and fall as she monitored every vital sign she could think of with her magic. Almost as an afterthought, she shrunk the shield around them to something easier to maintain, and then tried to make herself comfortable. It was to be a long night.

“Climb aboard, m'lady!” The Chariot's captain motioned for Princess Luna to walk along the thin wooden plank joining Manehatten's air dock with his ship. The dock itself was, much like most of the city, dirty and well-used. The gold-lace extravagance of the airship posed a stark contrast to the grey rectangles that composed most of Manehatten's distinct architecture.

Star Spokes walked into view and nodded to the captain. “The rope is secure, she should fly straight now.” He looked towards Luna. “Princess.”

“Spokes.” Luna took her first step onto the impromptu walkway and winced as it creaked. “This is safe, correct?”

“We are short on time, Princess. We do not have the luxury of Canterlot's royal staircase, nor Cloudsdale's accommodating nature. Were it not for my own earlier need to depart, you would be asked to fly.” Star Spokes shifted uneasily on his hooves. “An act which, I must admit, I am unsure why you did not take last night. Your journey did not look comfortable.”

Luna snorted. She strode across the rest of the walkway and onto the deck of the ship. “Your grasp of my anatomy is weak, Spokes. I expect better of my appointed magicians.” Star Spokes frowned. She turned towards the captain. “You, what is your name?”

“Air, ma'am. Air Haddock, at your service.” The captain tilted his goggles in reverence.

“We shall depart immediately. Prepare our course and ensure the afternoon meal is punctual.”

Princess Luna began to walk towards the ship's main cabin, knowing Celestia would have taken residence there and that it could be safely assumed to be habitable. Star Spokes hurried alongside. “Fascinating, you can't fly?”

Luna shook her head. “We can, but we shall not. Last night's storm left us drained and we shall not truly recover until the moon is with us tonight. We must allow our magic to rest so it can concentrate on healing.”

Star Spokes looked over at the crutch hugging her leg. “Surely it cannot be so important that you had to walk a journey that could be flown in half the time?”

Luna opened the thick wooden cabin door, and motioned with her uninjured leg for Star Spokes to enter. When he did, she followed, and then closed the door behind them.

The room was sizable for the aged unicorn, but best described as 'cozy' for an alicorn. Though it was rarely used, the room was well decorated with sol-themed memorabilia and items. At the edge of the room was a desk, which held a map.

Luna walked towards the desk. “It was indeed. We expect you to treat this information sensitively, but neither me nor my sister are well. Recent events have left us quite drained. Flight alone is a struggle now; flight and healing would leave me exhausted.”

“What are you saying, Princess?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “I'm saying, Spokes, that it would be unwise of you to expect great action from me on this day, and should you wish to complete the impossible task set before you, you shall have to do it on your own.”

“Actually, Princess, I do believe I know where Twilight Sparkle went.”

Pinkie Pie bounced along the path, each leap taking her on an arc higher than Celestia's head. Her forward progress was less impressive, and Celestia slowly trailed behind.

The princess paused to brush the sweat-soaked strands of her mane from her eyes, and looked past Pinkie's oscillating body to figure out where they were heading. “Pinkie Pie, would you be so kind as to take me somewhere I could have a drink of water?” She coughed to underscore the point.

Pinkie began doing forward flips, looking back towards the princess at the top of every jump. “Sure-” She landed and jumped again- “thing, Pri-” Her hooves touched the ground, and just as soon left it- “ncess!”

Pinkie Pie did not change course.

Twilight Sparkle gazed upon the softly slumbering body of her wife. Dash's chest slowly rose and fell to a particular rhythm Twilight had spent the past hour growing accustomed to.

Twilight reached out and brushed a hoof across the mare's chest, tracing the scorch mark that tarnished her otherwise perfect coat. It felt like a very long time since Twilight had had time to simply gaze upon Dash's sleeping body.

Twilight yawned, raising her hoof to cover her mouth and stifle the noise, taking care not to wake Dash.

“Hey,” Dash whispered. She brought a hoof to rest against the one pushing lightly into the burnt tissue on her chest and gingerly pulled it an inch or so up, then held it tight.

Twilight winced. “Sorry, I shouldn't have touched it. I didn't mean to wake you.”

Dash shook her head. “It's fine. Gonna take more than that to keep me down.”

Twilight closed her eyes and breathed in through her mouth. “No, I was stupid. I don't care how tough you think you are, any one of those spells would have killed you.”

Dash gave a weak laugh, taking care not to move her chest too much. “Like she could hit me. C'mon, Twi, you know me. They don't call me the fastest thing in the skies for nothing.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “They?”

“Uh… Me. But I still don't do it for nothing.” Dash grinned, squeezing Twilight's hoof.

The unicorn shook her head. “I can't believe you sometimes. Just look at your chest, Dash, that was way too close for comfort. I've just- I can't-”

Dash raised her hoof to Twilight's cheek. “Hey, Twi, shut up.” Dash brought her other hoof to the other cheek, and pulled herself up to lock her lips against Twilight's for a weak but passionate kiss. After a few moments—or several hours, to Twilight's battered senses—had passed, Dash pulled back and stared Twilight in the eyes. “Lightning travels instantly, right?”

Twilight nodded, taking care not to break eye contact.

“Then I'm faster.”

“Nothing is faster than instant, Dash.”

Dash's mouth widened into an even cockier grin. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”

“I- It's- No, Dash, that's the definition of the word.” Twilight frowned.

“Since when did I care about dictionaries? She took so long to cast those spells I could have flown circles around them.”

Twilight opened her mouth in disbelief, but found no words. She laughed and shook her head. “Will you ever stop surprising me, Rainbow?”

“Never mind me, what about you?” Dash tapped a hindleg against the sheet of glowing translucent magical cage beneath her. “You in the princess hunting business now?”

Twilight blushed. “Uh, no, I wouldn't ever-”

“Relax, egghead. I know you're a teacher's pet.” Dash grinned wider.

“I am not, I just don't think Celestia would be happy if she knew I trapped Luna in a magictime singularity, even if it is…”

“Evil Luna?” Dash offered.

Twilight shrugged. “I guess. She's certainly not the same pony we had dinner with on our wedding night.”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, she was better dressed. I think Rarity'd have a fit if she saw that armour.”

Twilight's hooves found grip on the slippery surface, and she stood up to get a better view of the surrounding area. “Since when did you think about fashion, Dash?”

Dash also struggled to her hooves, awkwardly holding a hoof up to her chest to cradle it. “Hey, I always dress in style.”

“You never wear clothes, Dash.”

“That's 'cos I'm always in style.” Dash staggered over to Twilight's side, and stretched out a wing to balance against her.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You don't look so good, Dash. How're you feeling?”

Dash blinked a few times and ran her tongue around her mouth. “Like I've been run over by Pinkie Pie, twice. I'm fast, but there were a lot of them. They-” Dash coughed- “They got a few hits in. Hey, if you're up to it, I think I could do with a checkup.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, Dash, not an option. I still don't know what effect last time had on your anatomy, and everything feels off in this place. I don't want to do any fine magic until we get home.”

Dash looked beneath them. “That's not fine?”

Twilight shook her head. “That's just big. That's like you doing a Sonic Rainboom. Medical magic is like you flying through a hoop barely bigger than your head.”

“Okay, so, no magic. Jeez, this feels wrong to say, but I've gotta admit it Twi, I don't really feel up to carrying you.”

Twilight nodded. “I didn't think so, your wing muscles look pretty shot. We should be safe in here for a while until we figure out what to do. I should be able to hold Luna in there indefinitely, though she’ll escape eventually once we’re gone. Hopefully we’ll be somewhere she can’t get to us by then, though.”

Dash looked around the tiny walkable surface. “Any chance of a place to stretch my legs?”

Twilight thought for a moment, and then grinned. “Not really, but I can turn gravity off!” As she said it, Dash felt herself rise up off the bubble and into the air.

“Great.” Dash did a little pirouette in the air. “So we're back where we started, now.”

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. “You think you know where Twilight Sparkle went?”

Star Spokes nodded, and trotted over to the table at the far side of the room. He pulled a few coloured pins out of a container to the side of the map, and affixed them along several points of a curve leading from Ponyville out to sea. “This is our course.” He pulled a piece of chalk out of another box and rubbed it against the end of that curve, creating an area of obscured sea. “And this is our destination.”

Luna looked down upon the parchment and frowned. “I'm afraid you're going to have to be more explicit.”

“The trail we're following now is Rainbow Dash's, correct?”

Luna nodded. “Correct.”

“I spent much of the journey to Ponyville attempting to locate you and Twilight Sparkle, and so I was watching when she vanished. I feel it is unlikely I would have missed it even were I not watching, such was the ferocity. I am surprised you do not know of what I speak?” Star Spokes brushed the chalk against the map a few more times, cleaning up the edges of his mark.

“Yes, well, we were otherwise occupied at the time.” Luna motioned down at her leg. “There were larger concerns afoot than magical anomalies.”

Star Spokes frowned, but continued. “Yes, well, this was a significant event. Far moreso than I would have expected had either of them simply perished. This was something quite unlike anything I have ever seen, and it appears to be the event which fixed the rest of the magic plane.”

Luna took a deep breath. “So what is your prediction?”

Star Spokes laughed. “I cannot, princess. All I know is that the problem was one I had never before seen, and this solution is the same way. What we will see when we arrive I cannot tell you.”

“So then we must wait?” As if in answer to Luna's question, the entire ship jolted as it broke free of the restraints of Manehatten's airdock and began to rise.

“We should not have to wait long, princess.” Star Spokes grinned. “This ship is among the best in our fleet, it is rare I get to see any of my enchantments stretched to their limits. If we are done, I would very much like to watch.”

Luna nodded and turned back to the map. “Of course, I shall summon you should I need you.”

Pinkie Pie landed on the doorstep of Sugarcube Corner, and bounced forward. She crashed through the door and landed sprawled in the middle of the room. A few moments later, princess Celestia followed her inside.

“Howdy, Princess.” Applejack lowered her hat in reverence. She stood with Rarity at one side, and Fluttershy at the other. “I guess Pinkie's gone told you why you're here, then?”

Celestia opened her mouth to reply and looked around. Her gaze drifted across the shop's kitchen. “I- She- Is that a kitchen? I would very much like a drink of water, if it's no issue.”

Applejack frowned. Fluttershy squeaked and started towards the kitchen. “Of course! One moment, princess.” A few steps later she stopped and looked back. “Um… Applejack, Rarity, would you please give me a hoof?”

The three ponies continued on into the kitchen, leaving Pinkie Pie to jump to her hooves and entertain the princess for a few moments.

“Fluttershy, darling?” Rarity closed the door behind her. “Are you quite feeling okay?”

“Yeah, ain't nopony needed my help to pour a glass of water before.”

Fluttershy scraped her hoof against the tiled floor. “I just wanted to speak to you privately.” She looked away.

Applejack frowned and tilted her head. “What about? There's nothing wrong with ya, right?”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy shook her head from side to side. “I'm fine, but um… Did Princess Celestia look okay to you?”

Rarity looked behind herself to check the door was still closed. “Well, now that you mention it, that outfit is a disaster. I realise she's a princess, but that does not mean she should be allowed to choose her own wardrobe.”

“I think she's got a lot on her mind, is all.” Applejack shot a glance at Rarity. “Like us all should, there ain't time for frilly dresses while our friends ain't here.”

Rarity gave an indignant snort. “Well we can hardly go looking for them ill-prepared, can we? Honestly, six ponies lost instead of just two would serve nopony at all.”

“Girls!” Fluttershy tapped her hoof against the floor. The two ponies looked towards her. “Um, sorry, but can we focus please? It's important, I think. Princess Celestia looks really tired, and she asked for a glass of water.”

Applejack adjusted her hat. “So? Ponies want water all the time. Ain't no substitute for a fresh apple cider, for sure, but wanting it ain't a sign of being ill.”

“Don't you remember last time she was here, Applejack? She didn't ask for a thing. She's never asked for a thing.”

Rarity tilted her head in thought. “Hm, I believe Fluttershy may be right. And perhaps we should get her that thing, rather than standing around talking about it, hm?” Rarity's horn glowed and brought a cup over to the sink. She poured a full glass of water and then turned to leave.

“Oh, thank you very much, Rarity.” Celestia pulled the water from Rarity's grip and gulped it down, before finally discarding the cup on a nearby surface. She gave a relieved sigh and rubbed around the base of her horn with a hoof. “That's better. Ah, no, Pinkie Pie has not filled me in to your plan.”

Applejack walked out of the kitchen, with Fluttershy shortly after her. Applejack walked before Celestia. “Princess, you feeling alright? Ya'll seem a bit tired, is all.”

Celestia nodded. “I have not been sleeping of late, it is starting to catch up with me, I fear.”

Pinkie Pie rolled onto her hooves and grabbed a clipboard with a crude drawing of two ponies scrawled on it between her lips. “Mmmph-mm! Mm-mmm mm!”

Celestia took the clipboard, and Pinkie immediately jumped onto her back and clung around her neck to point at it. “Look, it's Twilight and Dash!”

Celestia was silent for several moments. Her eyes skipped between the rough lines on the page as she took the image in. “It looks, ah… very abstract, but I'm afraid we already have an artist for the stained glass windows.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Nuh-uh, those are things that have happened! This picture hasn't happened yet!”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I was walking down the path to go see Rarity and make sure she was okay when suddenly I saw Twilight and Dash in trouble! They were floating around in the air and it was night and Luna was there but she wasn't moving, and they didn't know how to get home!” Pinkie stopped to breathe. “And I think they really need our help!”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Pinkie, if this hasn't happened yet, then how can you-”

“Princess-” Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all spoke at once.

“Oh my! Sorry.” Fluttershy shrunk to hide behind Rarity, who nodded towards Applejack.

“Princess, just roll with it. It ain't easy to explain, but ya'll really shouldn't question it.”

Pinkie nodded. “Even Twilight couldn't figure it out, and she's the smartest pony I know!”

Celestia smiled. “The same with I, so I shall defer to her judgement. Very well, so say this is correct. What exactly can we do?”

Dash kicked off the side of the thick purple forcefield that surrounded a few hundred meters of land around where Twilight sat, eyes closed and deep in thought. She sailed through the air with the wind in her mane until she hit the other side, at which point she flipped around and kicked off again.

“Damnit Twilight, couldn't you have caught a cloud in here or something?” Dash looked towards the unicorn, but received no response. She rolled her eyes, and then aimed her next kick so that she would land next to the mare.

“Twilight?” Dash prodded her in the side. “Twilight?” Dash lowered her face to stare directly at Twilight's muzzle. On a whim, she kissed the side of it. Still no response. “Damnit, Twilight. I am so bored.”

Rainbow Dash looked down to where the last few members of the army that had been following them still waited, and kicked off to land against the forcefield barely a few meters from them. She sat there, completely still, until they noticed her.

Rainbow Dash began making faces.

Twilight Sparkle sat in the centre of nothing. Beneath her was nothing. She gazed off into nothing. Her nostrils expanded and contracted to aid the movement of nothing in and out of her body. For Twilight Sparkle, the world was her and thing else.

She felt out with thin tendrils of magic, testing and teasing the walls that held the world together. They wobbled, but held. She pushed against them with more force, but again they held. She struck out with beams of energy, but still the walls only shook.

The nothingness around Twilight Sparkle shattered, and was replaced by the reality she'd been ignoring. She opened her eyes and looked around. After a few moments, they were drawn to Rainbow Dash, sitting down near the bottom of the bubble taunting a few guards.

“Dash!” Twilight grabbed the pegasus's tail and pulled her upwards.

Dash yelped and spun around in the air. “Hey, Twi! I was just uh…”

Twilight giggled, then pulled Dash up beside her. “It's okay, I'm just surprised you weren't asleep.”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, there's nothing comfortable in here. No clouds, or enough moisture in the air to make any clouds, and you weren't lying down. C'mon, we out of here yet?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “We shouldn't be here. Nopony is strong enough to break through alone.”

Dash reached forward and rubbed her cheek against Twilight's neck. “Hey, cheer up, Twi, alright? It's okay if we're stuck here for a little while, we can just wait until you figure it out. I hate seeing you like this.”

Twilight gulped, but her throat still felt dry. “No, Dash, it's not a case of 'a little while'. We're stuck here. Permanently. Forever. I can't-” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I'm not good enough. Not strong enough. I can't do it.”

Dash snorted and quickly brought her hoof up to Twilight's chin. She roughly forced the mare's head up and glared into her eyes. “Shut up, Twi.” Dash darted forward and locked her lips against Twilight's, letting what felt like minutes go by until the unicorn finally relaxed and reciprocated. Finally, she pulled back, leaving both of them panting.

“Dash, I-”

“I said shut up.” Dash raised her hoof to cover Twilight's lips. “I believe in you. I know you can do it. You-”

Twilight's hornglow surrounded Dash's hoof, pulling it away. “Dash, I can't. You can’t just rant about how you believe in me and make everything better. I can't do everything, I'm not… I'm not Celestia. I'm barely out of magic school, Dash. I can't- it won't work. I need to be stronger, but I'm not, and I can't be. Even if I was the most skilled unicorn in Equestria, it wouldn't be enough.”

Dash frowned and barked her response. “I said shut up, Twilight.” She pulled her hoof out of Twilight's loose grasp and held her head with it again. “Whatever, don't believe in yourself. Do you believe in me?”

Twilight nodded. “I know yo-”

“Shut up. I believe in you. If you believe in me, and I believe in you, then that's enough, right? Don't ever tell me you can't do something, because I don't believe it. You can do anything, Twilight. You have to be able to do anything.” Dash looked away, closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth. “I don’t know where I’d be without you now. What happened with the Wonderbolts, it kinda… hit me really hard. Gotta admit, I still don’t know what to do. If I hadn’t had you to draw me back I’d probably still be out there salting myself to death, and if you can save me from myself then you can do damn well anything. You know how pig-headed I can be.”

Dash relaxed and unclenched her jaw. “Look, even if you can't do it alone, you know how to get other ponies to help. We did it together once, and we can do it together again, and don't you dare disagree or I swear I'll drag you back home on my own, got it?”

They hung there in silence for a few moments. Finally, Twilight took Dash's hoof in her own and pulled it away from her face. “Okay.” She nodded, and pulled Dash towards her into a hug. “Okay, I'll try. I'm not making any promises, but I'll try.”

Dash grinned. “So what do we need? Just tell me what to do.”

Twilight shook her head. “It was different last time. I had more magic than I could control inside me, and you were…” Twilight froze, then grinned and kissed Dash on the nose. “Amazing. Your amazing self. Dash, you're incredible!”

“Uh, duh? What for this time?”

“We can't break through because it can't be done from one side, there just isn't enough power. There are…” Twilight conjured a small blackboard and chalk and began drawing diagrams. “There are limits on what we can all do, okay? Like… speed limits, but enforced across the whole world. Nobody can move faster than them.”

Dash brushed some imagined dirt from her shoulder. “You're on.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “That wasn't a challenge, Dash, but yes, I think you did. The rules of-” Twilight waved her hooves around- “everything get a bit messy when there's that much magic involved.”

Dash frowned, then nodded. “So just gotta fly that fast again, huh?”

Twilight smiled. “That would do it, but unfortunately that's not an option, at least not without seriously damaging this world's magic. I theorise that it might be possible to break back through if we try and do it in the already weakened area that we broke through the first time, so long as we had ponies on the other end helping.”

“But how do they know to help if we can't tell them?” Dash asked.

Twilight's grin faded away. “They don't.” She sighed. “But they've never failed us before, and it's the best shot we've got.”

The airship Chariot shuddered and rattled as it flew through the sky, approaching the speeds of all but the fastest pegasi. It flew high enough to avoid the clouds, but still left a thin trail of sparkling cloudstuff in its wake.

Star Spokes stood at the bow of the ship watching the clouds fly beneath. Every so often there was a gap in the cloud cover, and he could see the ground beneath as it slowly turned from well-toiled farmland to the untamed greens around Equestria's borders. Finally, it turned to ocean.

“We should go lower!” He yelled over the wind whistling through the ropes and wooden struts of the ship. Shortly after, he felt the deck begin to tip and the entire vessel slowly dived down towards the clouds.

Star Spokes nodded to the captain and began walking towards the princess's cabin. He knocked on the door with three strong raps of his hoof. “Princess? We're almost there.”

He received no reply. He tried knocking again, but still there was nothing. After a third attempt, his horn flared as he began concentrating on the locking mechanism inside the door. It was relatively simple, and the defensive enchantments were his own and therefore easily worked around. Within a few seconds, the door clicked open and swung in on its hinges. “Princess?”

He walked in, quietly shutting the door behind him. Luna lay sleeping at the desk. A thin layer of drool smudged the map's once-fine craftsmanship, and her wings occasionally fluttered at her sides. Star Spokes reached out and rested a hoof on her shoulder, lightly shaking her. “Princess, wake up.”

Luna's eye slowly fluttered open. “I said-” She yawned. “I said I would summon you.”

“We're here, princess.”

“Impossible, it is a several hour trip.” Luna pushed herself up and shook her head to clear the fog.

“Yes, it is. You appear to have fallen asleep.”

“No, we were merely resting our eyes. Sleep is needed only by the weak, we can function perfectly well without it.” Luna yawned again.

“I'm sure, now co-” The room seemed to invert as the ship fell from the sky. Both Star Spokes and Luna were pushed up against the ceiling. Star Spokes rolled to avoid the rain of free items that threatened them. Luna shielded herself with a wing, and then immediately jumped to her hooves.

“What is happening?” She pointed her horn towards the door and frowned.

“I- I'm not sure. We need to get out there, can you open the door?” Star Spokes struggled to his feet, finding footing against the ceiling, and pointed at the door.

Luna jabbed her horn in that direction yet again. “We- No. No we can not.”

“Oh.”

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the two ponies found themselves flung to the floor as the airship found traction once more. Star Spokes slammed down onto the wooden floorboards, embedding his horn a quarter inch into them. Luna managed to right herself in the air, but landed on all four hooves. She collapsed in pain an instant later.

“Princess, are you-”

“We are fine.” Luna winced, and gingerly moved her broken leg from beneath her. “We can walk, we simply cannot land with any great urgency.”

Star Spokes struggled to right himself, but finally managed to land on his hooves. He quickly turned and pulled the door open, then ran out onto the deck.

Luna hobbled after, but slowed to a stop as she left the cabin. Star Spokes looked behind him and watched her staring out into sea. “Princess? What is it?”

Luna turned to look at him. “Can you not see that?”

Star Spokes looked out across a featureless and unremarkable ocean. “See what, princess?”

Luna shook her head. “Your eyes are open, and yet you are blind. Look, Spokes. Truly look, with more than just your eyes.”

Star Spokes walked to the edge of the deck and slid his eyelids shut. His horn began to glow as he surveyed the sight before him. His jaw steadily dropped as he looked. “Oh Celestia,” he swore. “This is like nothing I have ever seen.”

Luna nodded breathlessly. “We also are not familiar.”

“What?” The captain ran over, leaving the wheel locked in place. “I can't see nothing out here but sea and sky.”

Luna joined Star Spokes at the edge of the ship. “It is… indescribable, I'm afraid. Almost humbling.”

Star Spokes snorted. “More than almost for some of us, princess.”

“Quite.”

The captain frowned. “Damn you snooty 'corns. I've watched griffon warships get smashed to pieces in goblin raids. I've seen lightning glitter in the sky near the crystal empire. I’ve flown through storms a hundred pegasi strong. Try me.”

Star Spokes and Princess Luna turned in unison. Star Spokes took a deep breath. “We know where Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash went.”

Luna pointed behind them with a wing. “They went into the realm of Magic, and as soon as my sister arrives we are following them.”

The captain shook his head. “No.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “You deny both me and my sister? Brave.”

“This ship is mine to command. You have your kingdom, and I have mine. She may be a bit smaller than Equestria, but the Chariot answers to me. We damn near fell out of the sky just getting near here, we're going no further.”

Star Spokes took a step forward and raised his hoof. “But we didn't fall. We must persevere! The things we could learn…”

The captain interrupted. “Look down, you dense-headed fool. I'd say you unicorns all have your heads in the clouds, but, well…”

Star Spokes turned back to the front of the ship and looked over the railing, straight down. The ship was embedded within a thick layer of cloud, slowly drifting throughout the sky. “I don't understand.”

The captain snarled. “Look at the wheel. It ain't turning, because we ain't moving. We're dead in the air: There's no wind, the enchantments on the balloon're completely drained, and there's an inch-wide crack down the hull. We ain't taking off again 'till we drift back to Canterlot and get some damned repairs.”

Luna softly nodded. “Well then, we're going to have a problem.”

Cyclone

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The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Celestia paced from one side of Sugarcube Corner to the other, as she had done for many minutes. Each iteration she stole a glance out of the window; each time she continued on impatiently, hoping that next time she could catch a glimpse of a pink mane on the horizon.

“You are certain this information is accurate?” Celestia finally stopped, staring at Applejack. Celestia’s gaze was uneasy, and her hooves found it difficult to remain stationary.

Applejack's head bobbed up and down. She had her hat pulled low to shield her eyes from the setting sun that streamed through the building's windows. “Hoof on heart, princess. If Pinkie says it's so, there ain't an apple's chance in cider season it ain't so.”

A faint tapping sound came from the corner where Rarity sat as her two knitting needles struck each other again. She looked up, splitting her attention for a moment. “As much as I often find Pinkie Pie an enigma, in this case I have to agree. When it comes to impossible predictions, she is rarely wrong. When it comes to fashion, however-” Rarity lifted up the several foot long scarf she had spent the past several hours knitting- “It is I who is unerring.”

Rarity lifted the scarf over to Celestia's neck and quickly pulled it tight. “There, now you look… Well, like a princess, if I do say so myself.”

Celestia laughed softly, and smiled for the first time since Pinkie Pie had told her the news. “Thank you, Rarity. I assure you I shall cherish it. For now I would rather get moving, however.”

Applejack walked over to the window and stared out across the cloudless sky. “Now, I ain't saying I'm happy waiting to go save our friends, though I'll probably have to buck Rainbow's head against a wall for bein' so stupid, but where's the rush? Ya'll're antsier than Applebloom on report day.” Applejack turned around. “Uh, your highness,” she added.

Rarity pulled a ball of thread—dark blue, this time, as opposed to the glittering yellow she had used previously—and began to wind it around her needles. “Why, the sooner we rescue Twilight and Dash the sooner we can put this awful ordeal behind us, right princess?”

Celestia nodded. “If I interpreted Pinkie Pie's, ah, vision correctly-”

Applejack interrupted. “It's more of a sense, really. She don't see nothing, just has some idea of what's gonna happen.”

“Right. If I interpreted Pinkie Pie's sense correctly, as well as what news the Corral was able to ascertain before I left, then our missing ponies may have accidentally found themselves in an alternate Equestria. It is of the utmost importance we help them get home as soon as we can.” Celestia turned to face the door again. “Which is why I cannot face this wait with my usual nature. Time is very much against us.”

Applejack frowned. “Beg pardon, princess, but why's that put us on the clock?”

Rarity squeaked. “Oh, I know this one! Months ago, when Rainbow Dash was practising or napping or whatever it is Rainbow Dash does when nopony is watching her, I brought Twilight a few samples of that season's ear warmers. The nights were getting chilly, you see, and her enjoyment of nighttime reading was devastating to her coat's health, so I simply had to-”

“Rarity! Get on with it,” Applejack snapped.

Rarity emitted an indignant grunt. “Very well, some ponies have no appreciation for a good story. As I was saying, I visited Twilight, and she was doing what Twilight always does when she’s researching a new topic and telling everypony within earshot everything about it. That week was ah, interdimensional worlds, or something quite similar.” Rarity paused for a few moments to tackle a particularly complex piece of patterning on the second scarf.

“Apparently travel between worlds is impossible because of how quickly the walls between our worlds can repair themselves. Twilight found that quite fascinating. I was less enthused, but I have to say that that mare certainly can wear an ear-cozy.” Rarity's gaze strayed to the top of Celestia's head.

Celestia quickly shook it from side to side. “My extremities are quite warm enough, I assure you. However, your description of the situation is quite accurate according to current magical knowledge. How Twilight broke through we do not know, and likely will not find out unless we can bring her back. The damage to our world may already be too far repaired for them to travel back, so every second counts.”

Applejack walked back over to the window. “So what you're saying is, if we don't get 'em back soon, we ain't getting them back?”

Celestia shook her head. “What I'm saying is that it may already be too late.”

Applejack gulped, and joined Celestia staring out the window. “Hurry home, Pinkie,” she whispered.

Pinkie Pie ran across an open field, leaping over rocks and fences and ducking under tree branches. Her eyes were locked on a cloud only a few feet from drifting into the Everfree Forest. “Come on, Fluttershy, just a few more!”

Fluttershy flew a few meters behind her, struggling to keep up. Every time she passed another small puff of cloudmass, she picked it up and dragged it back to the growing lump behind them. “Pinkie-” She panted- “I can't-” Her wings shivered mid-flap- “Can't keep up.”

Pinkie span round and continued running backwards. “C'mon, Fluttershy! You can do it! Everypony is waiting for us, we can't give up now!”

Fluttershy's wings gave one last beat, and then she fell to the ground. Pinkie Pie darted beneath her and softened the fall, but both still ended up sprawled over the floor.

Fluttershy sniffed. “I'm sorry, I'm not used to so much flying. Oh, if only Rainbow Dash were here.”

Pinkie Pie nudged Fluttershy with her nose, rolling the pegasus mare over. She stood towering over her, and lowered her nose until it brushed against Fluttershy's. “She'll be here soon, I promise. We just have to get this stuff for Princess Celestia, and then we can go save them, okay?”

Pinkie's eyes wavered at Fluttershy's silence. “Please, Fluttershy. I can't do it myself. They're all counting on us—on you.”

Fluttershy shivered and looked away to the side. “I'm sorry, it hurts. I- I haven't been flying so much lately, I'm a bit out of shape.”

Pinkie Pie frowned. She stood up and took a few steps to the side. “Look over there! There's just one more cloud, I know you can do it!”

Fluttershy rolled over and sat up. “I don't know… Rainbow Dash always used to make me fly with her in some of her practise flights. I always thought she was being silly, but she um, she stopped after she became a Wonderbolt.” Fluttershy stretched out a wing and winced. “I didn't realise how much she helped.”

Pinkie Pie slowly nodded, then walked over to sit beside Fluttershy. “I know she didn't tell anypony, because she's Dash, but… When Mr. and Mrs. Cake first gave me the shop, I wasn't sure what to do. I was having my own personal panic party, except instead of balloons I had scary thoughts!” Pinkie turned her head and looked over at Fluttershy. “And then I thought, 'Hey, what would Rainbow Dash do?' and I realised what I needed to do. Not what Dash would do, because she'd probably do something silly like sleep or eat all the sprinkles so fast they’d cake around her mouth, but what Dash would want me to do. That's what kept me going.”

Fluttershy gulped. “Why are you telling me this, Pinkie?”

“Because, um… I really care about you, we all do, and we all believe in you. I think you're stronger than you think, and I think that maybe if you knew Dash was relying on you then maybe it might give you the strength to go on. I knew Dash would want cupcakes, so I made sure the shop was okay and I baked cupcakes.”

“Okay. For Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy nodded and spread her wings, leaping into the air and pulling ahead to grab the last clump of cloud from the sky. She clung to it, breathing heavily for a few moments, and then began to drag it back.

“Yeah! Hooray!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down beneath her. “I knew you could do it! Now we've just gotta get all this cloud back into town!”

Fluttershy almost fainted.

Applejack stood in the open doorway, scanning out across the sky with darting eyes. “Where in tarnation are those two? How long can it take them to gather up a few measly clouds?”

Rarity looked over her sewing needle. “I'm sure Fluttershy is trying her best, Applejack.”

“I'm right sure she is, I just miss Dash being here is all. She'd have these clouds rounded up before you could core an apple.”

Rarity got up and began to walk out to stand by Applejack's side. “Yes, but if Rainbow Dash were here, she wouldn't have to.”

Applejack snorted. “Ain't the point. I don't see why we need these pesky clouds anyway, can't you just carry us, princess?”

Celestia looked over, mid-yawn, and shook her head. “Nightfall approaches and I have yet to recover from these past weeks. I cannot extend my wakefulness much longer without the sun above my head. Nor, it seems, can Canterlot hear my calls and send an airship.”

Rarity looked over at the princess. The silence lingered in the air for a few moments before she finally spoke, quietly at first. “Are you still struggling with your magic?” Rarity closed her eyes and experimentally pulsed her horn, vibrating a small doughnut on the other side of the shop floor. “Mine seems quite back to normal, whatever Twilight did must have helped at least.”

Celestia shook her head. “Yes, yes, it is returning to normal. It is only the more advanced magics, like teleportation and apparently long range voicecasting that still elude me. I assume they will return in time, but for now we will need to create a vessel by ourselves.”

Applejack looked over to the horizon, where a large clump of clouds was slowly starting to near them. “So you're gonna shape those clouds into something flightworthy, huh?”

Celestia laughed. The edges of her mouth curled in amusement as she smiled for the first time since she’d arrived at the shop. Far from comforting, the sight sent a chill down Applejack’s neck. “Oh no, dear Applejack, we haven't the time for that.”

Star Spokes stared off into the distance. He stood at one side of the Chariot's deck. By his side was a makeshift writing desk, constructed from a few unused boxes and a large sheet of wood taken from the broken hull of the ship. Occasionally, he would look down at it and scribble some scant few words, or a small collection of numbers, onto the parchment resting upon it.

Princess Luna stood some few meters behind him, staring into the void. Though she didn't write anything down, she did occasionally close her eyes and reach out into it with her magic. Every time she quickly retreated, however.

The captain, Air Haddock, hung at the side of the ship in a leather harness, hammering a sheet of waterproof cloth into the side of the ship to protect against rain or accidental exposure to floating clouds.

Other than that, the scene was one of silence. The sea so far beneath them was static, with only the smallest waves rolling through. The sky was unmoving, the few clouds that existed seemed pinned to the sky. The sun was painted on the horizon, casting deep shadows from the ship's every component and near blinding anybody who looked upon it.

The captain, having affixed the protective sheet to his satisfaction, began to pull himself back up onto deck. When he reached halfway, a dark blue hoof extended to pull him up the remaining distance. Princess Luna stood before him, with what seemed like bags below her eyes, and a distinct lack of twinkle in her mane. “I hate to make clear the obvious, but I don't believe we have moved an inch.”

“No?” The captain grabbed the rope holding the now-empty harness between two hooves and began to reel it back in. “Ain't got any landmarks out here to check, but we ain't moving fast.”

“We have one landmark.” Luna motioned behind herself, to the empty spot of sky Air couldn't see. “And unless it moves with us, we do not move.”

The captain opened his mouth and ran his tongue around inside it, dampening his dry lips. “Ain't any wind, and every enchantment on the ship is shot. Didn't want to worry you unnecessarily, ma'am, but seeing as you've figured it anyhow, there's no sense keeping it.” He pointed up at the balloon that towered over their heads, and in theory kept them afloat. “We're gonna have to cut that thing loose soon.”

“That will leave us stranded. The flight back to mainland Equestria would be taxing even for I, and that is not considering a unicorn passenger. Certainly the ship herself would be lost.” Luna shifted uneasily on her splint for a few moments in silence. “Truth be told, we do not feel strong enough to return. Perhaps with the moon behind our back, but even then I hold my doubts.”

Air Haddock slowly nodded. “Gee, princess. I had no idea my ship required the balloon to fly.” He rolled his eyes and turned to point at one of the great connecting ropes that held the wooden ship and the once-magical cloth balloon together. “But yeah, you're right. We cut those and this ship ain't got a feather's chance in a furnace of flying again. 'Course, we don't cut 'em and in an hour or two it'll come crashing down on us, and will probably drag the ship clean off this handy cloud I steered us into.”

Luna snorted, then looked across at the five other ropes. They were each thick, easily two hooves wide at every angle and made of the strongest non-magical materials Manehatten's elite could produce. There was little hope of them breaking alone, though one in particular looked much weaker. The scorch marks on one side indicated it had been struck by lightning, likely during the storm in Ponyville.

“Then we should remove the balloon at once.”

Rainbow Dash began to wake from her slumber. Over the course of what felt like minutes, her mind stopped dreaming and began to process reality again. On the whole, she considered this a bad move. Reality and fantasy were kept separated by several important things. Reality didn't have Pinkie Pie baking cookies in an oven embedded in one of those trees. Fantasy had her sleeping in a bed fit for royalty, not a hard dirt ground covered in twigs and leaves. Worse, the chill air of the real world began to curl around her, prompting shivers and chattering teeth.

Reality did have one thing going for it, though. The slumbering unicorn pressed into her chest and held tightly between both sets of legs worked wonders for washing away her irritation at being woken up. The mare's horn grazed against her chin every few moments as she took another breath, still deep in sleep and hopefully dreaming of happier things. Her wings twitched in time with her breath. In many ways, it reminded Dash of watching any young pegasus dream—it always took a while for the dreams of flight to become a reality.

Dash looked around, trying to find whatever alerted her. The scene looked exactly as it had before they'd tried to get some rest: a soft breeze rustled the leaves on the trees; the stars twinkled, though their light was diminished behind the purple sheen of a magical barrier; the sphere surrounding what used to be Princess Luna glittered as the moonlight moved over it.

Her eyes skimmed the forest. It seemed easier to see than it had, though thanks to Dash's pegasus anatomy, night vision had never been a great problem. Even so, the shadows seemed to give up their secrets a little too easily.

Dash looked down and tapped her nose against Twilight's skull. “Hey, egghead,” she whispered. “Hey.”

After a few seconds, she convinced herself Twilight was as heavy a sleeper as she'd always been, and slowly uncurled her wings from around the snoring pony. She slipped out, inch by inch, and lowered Twilight's head onto the tiny piece of cloud Dash had managed to pull from a particularly passionate breath Twilight had taken. Rainbow Dash was willing to go to many lengths to have a comfortable sleep. Even if she couldn’t fly, Twilight had enough pegasus in her to sleep on a cloud. Another thing Dash would have to get her used to when they got home.

With Twilight safely sleeping, Dash leapt into the air and took to the skies—or what small section of the skies she could reach inside the tiny bubble of safety. As much as the enclosure felt like a cage to her, she couldn't think of a better cagemate.

She stopped a few dozen feet above the trees and looked around, unable to shake that feeling she'd been woken for a reason. The forest seemed as silent as ever, and their princess-in-a-bottle was stuck fast. She caught a glimpse of the moon reflected against her cage—a real cage—and turned around.

“Oh, yeah, that'd wake me up.” Dash flipped upsidown and pointed herself at Twilight, then took off without a second thought. She landed with a hoof on each side of the mare, and after a few seconds of fighting with her instinct to never interrupt a good nap, began jostling Twilight awake.

“Ugh… Dash?” Twilight looked up and raised her hooves to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Again, already? I thought the idea was to get some rest.”

“No! Moon, princess! Coming!” Dash frantically gestured at the sky.

“What? Luna is right there, Dash. Are you alright? Oh, I wish I could check you for concussion, but I don't trust myself-”

Dash silenced her with a quick hoof against her lips. “No, not 'moon princess'! 'Moon' and 'Princess', different words!”

Twilight pushed Dash's hoof apart and yawned. “Look, it's late—I think—and I'm tired. I don't think I've properly slept for… I don't know. Please, Dash, can you just explain this like I'm Pinkie Pie?”

Dash rolled her eyes. “The moon is getting bigger, and Nightmare Moon is grinning.” Dash pointed up at the sky. “C'mon, go see.”

Twilight frowned. “Are you sure?” She stretched her forelegs out and tried to grab hold of Dash's shoulders. “You're going to have to carry me, I'm afraid. I somewhat overexerted myself yesterday with all that excitement.”

Dash nodded and flipped over in mid air, allowing Twilight to grab around her neck. A few moments later she was off, fighting back chokes while Twilight's inertia caught up with hers.

“Oh my.” Twilight stared out across the sky, and didn't take long to spot the difference. Wheras just a few hours previously, the moon had been approximately moon-like in both size and shape, it now filled most of the sky. “That's problematic.”

“Yeah, you think?” Dash fidgeted, trying to coerce Twilight into taking a more comfortable seat. “How long do you think we have?”

“Uh, how long were we asleep?” Twilight frowned.

“Celestia, I dunno, Twi. In case you hadn't noticed, moondials don't really work when the moon is flying towards us.”

Twilight winced. “Okay, okay. Stupid question. Uh, I'd estimate anywhere between several hours and two days before it actually hits, but we don't need to worry about that.”

“Uh huh, and why not?” Dash steadied herself in the air and crossed her forelegs.

“The extra power Luna can draw from the moon will let her escape long before that. I ah… don't think she'll be happy to see us.” Twilight craned her neck to look around at the princess. Already the telltale signs of a weakening spell were playing across her prison's surface.

“Right, so we gotta accelerate our plans a little, huh?” Dash licked her lips. “We do have plans, right?”

Twilight shook her head. “We had plans, but my plan was to wait here for a few weeks until I'd gathered enough magic to break back through. Even with our friends helping on the other side, we're going to need a lot of power..”

Dash nodded. “Any way I can help?”

Twilight shook her head. “I'm going to need your sonic rainboom to pull us through, but unless you know of some way to generate enough magical energy to raise the sun two hundred and-” Twilight did some quick mental arithmetic- “seventeen times, I'm afraid not.”

Dash snorted. “Sure, can do. Can you absorb lightning for that?”

Twilight's left eyebrow twitched. “Well, in theory, but I've never tested it. It would require an incredibly powerful storm to achieve, though, where are you going to find one?”

Dash threw her head back and laughed. “Find one? Twi, I'm the best damn weatherpony Cloudsdale has ever seen. You need a storm? One storm coming right up.”

Twilight coughed. “The amount of energy we're going to need could rip the sky in two, Dash.”

Dash closed her eyes and thought about it for a few moments, before finally coming to a conclusion. She nodded. “Uh-huh. Not a problem.” She paused, frowned, and raised a hoof to her chin. “It's been uh… A long time since I paid attention in class. Actually, I never paid attention, but a few things still managed to get stuck in my head. This storm's gonna be big, I'm probably gonna need your help on this one.”

Twilight nodded. “I can do ground support while I set up the lightning collection points. We’re going to have to be fast, though, if Nightmare Moon is already starting to escape.”

“Forget about that.” Dash shook her head and spread her wings. “See, I'm gonna need you in the air.”

“Princess, I ain't-” Applejack raised her hoof to grab Celestia's attention, but was silenced by a sharp glance. The sun-princess was appropriately silhouetted by the setting sun, making even the quick look towards her painful for the earth pony's eyes.

“Applejack, as much as I would love to debate the pros and cons, I'm afraid we do not have time.” Celestia bit her lower lip and concentrated, raising Rarity up to stand on the small mass of cloud. She was carefully placed between Applejack and Pinkie Pie, pressing between them tight enough to make her uncomfortable.

“Princess, surely we can thin this cloud out a little? I can barely fit on alone, never mind my suitcase!” Rarity struggled for a few moments to free a forehoof, and then casually brushed the side of her mane. “And where are we going to sleep?”

Celestia laughed. “I do enjoy your humour, Rarity. No, the cloud cannot thin any further without losing stability.”

Rarity opened her mouth to complain, but was silenced by a quick jab from Applejack's nose. “Now princess, I understand we're all pressed for time, but this just don't seem safe. Can't we take five more minutes to grab a few of them whisps-” Applejack pointed up high into the atmosphere, where a few stray trails of cloud floated by- “and make some rails, or something?”

Celestia glanced behind herself at the sun. The horizon sliced the perfect circle through its middle, and the sun itself cast a deep orange glow across everything Celestia could see. Her eyelids slid closed, and her head shook. “No.” She trailed off for a few moments, leaving the group in silence. She turned back and looked towards them again. “No, the sun will soon set. If we are to have any hope of reaching my sister in time, we must set off as soon as Fluttershy returns.”

“Fine. Why can't Luna come pick us up anyway? Didn't she leave to go get on that fancy ship of yours yesterday?” Applejack stumbled a step to the side and almost fell from the small cloud as Rarity wriggled to try and find a comfortable spot. She shot the unicorn an accusing look, and received a mouthed “Sorry” in response.

“Applejack!” Pinkie bounced around and laid over Rarity's back, ending up nose-to-nose with Applejack. Rarity squeaked as her legs buckled and they both fell to the surface of the cloud. “Princess Luna is already there, remember? Twilight and Rainbow Dash need us, too!”

“Pinkie-” Rarity gasped- “You're crushing-”

“Now hey there, Pinkie, I didn't say no different!” Applejack towered over her, her face betraying a slight frown. “I just don't quite understand why we gotta go there so soon on this thing, when every other time the princess has needed us anywhere fast, we've had carriages or airships or even awful unicorn telepo-whatnow.” She shrugged. “Something don't seem right, is all.”

Celestia looked over to the side, where Fluttershy was making her way back from her cottage, agonisingly slowly. “Yes, Applejack, you are correct. Many things are not currently right. When this is over I assure you I will fly you in the utmost comfort, but for now I am weak, cannot contact Canterlot, and will soon lose much of my remaining power. The sun is about to set.”

Fluttershy chose that moment to hop onto the cloud, taking her place where Pinkie had stood shortly earlier. “Hello everyone. I've told all the animals that I'm not sure how long I'm going to be away, so um, Angel is going to look after them for a while. Oh, I do hope he'll be okay.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “That bunny? That fella's stubborn as me, a bunch of rowdy animals ain't gonna be a problem.”

Rarity's one free foreleg flailed about. “Pinkie-” She jabbed at Pinkie Pie's chin with the tip of her horn to punctuate every word- “You. Are. Crushing. Me!”

Pinkie blinked, twice, and then looked down between her legs. “Oh gosh, so I am!” She bounced upwards and landed with two hooves on Rarity's back, and two on Fluttershy's. “I totally forgot you were there!”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. Before the situation could escalate further, Applejack butted in. “Hang on just one apple-pickin' minute, princess. If ya'll're about to lose your magic princess stuff, then how are we gonna fly through the night?”

Celestia smacked her lips together for a few moments while she put together an answer. “Well, Applejack. We're going to set off very very fast. Please, my little ponies, hold on tight.”

With that, Celestia placed her forehooves on the side of the cloud, lit her horn, and held herself in the air. She began to adjust her wings to the precise direction required, and held very still. Several moments passed in tense silence.

“Uh, princess?” Applejack tilted her head.

“I'm sure my student has told you that light from the sun takes almost seven minutes to reach Equestria, correct?” Celestia remained very still while talking, not even moving her head.

Applejack nodded.

“I summoned a solar flare six minutes and fifty seconds ago. Give or take a few seconds. You should hold on.”

At that moment, the sun exploded. The light was so potent that Celestia's outstretched wings could find purchase in it, and it drove them forward at speeds even Rainbow Dash would take as a challenge. The four gathered ponies hung on very tight as the sudden jerk stole their breath away.

“Princess, look!” The Chariot's captain pointed out across to the horizon from his position at the top of one of the ship's support ropes, attempting to untie another part of the flight balloon. He needn't have, given what he was pointing at.

Luna held up her good leg to shield her eyes from the intense light of a precision-aimed solar flare. A moment later it was over, and she finished her work, slicing through another rope with a single magical blow. “My sister shall be here soon.”

Star Spokes span around and galloped over to Luna's side. “Princess, was that-”

Luna nodded. “Indeed, it appears my sister is having no more luck contacting Canterlot than I have. She is resourceful as ever, however, and I'm sure the entire kingdom knows where we are now. Indeed, where she will no doubt be within several hours.”

Star Spokes whistled through his teeth. “I was unaware she could do that. Very impressive.”

Luna shook her head and smiled. “I'm sure you have spent many hours pouring over her aura, as is expected of any of the Corral. Like all since the group was devised, however, I'm sure you underestimate her.”

“Yes. Some see her as a goddess, others a deity. I thought myself enlightened, thinking her merely a mare of great power and skill, but this?” Star Spokes shook his head. “A goddess is she.”

Luna chucked, pulsing her horn to sever another of the ropes tying the thick balloon to the ship's hull. “Not at all. We are both fallible, if unnaturally potent. Rainbow Dash could arrive faster than her, and Twilight Sparkle could cast a stronger spell. She lacks the sheer force of will to control a dragon, and-” Luna looked around, as if she feared they would be overheard- “though this is a royal secret, and sharing it is punishable by banishment—the royal gardens are not tended by her, for her hoof brings only suffering to plants.”

“But-”

“Yes, 'but'. But she is fallible only in theory, as I myself discovered some thousand years ago.” Luna paused, shifting on her hooves. “It is rare that she makes an action without understanding the consequences, and it is rarer still that she does not pay attention to everything happening. She is not omniscient, she merely has a very good impression of it.”

“You sound almost in awe, princess.” Star Spokes looked away from the sun, staring across the sea. It was starting to grow very dark, and the far side of the ocean was nothing but inky black.

“It is difficult not to be, some days.” The sun flared brighter still. “I think she does it to irritate me.”

“No, no, like this-” Rainbow Dash spread her left wing straight, with the very tip tilted upwards. Twilight Sparkle attempted to do the same, unfurling her wing and jabbing the tip into Rainbow Dash's eye. “Ow! Ow, no, not like that at all!”

Twilight winced. “Sorry!” She frowned at the feathers on her wing and gave another attempt at flapping it. Nothing happened. “This isn't working, Dash, I have no idea how to use this thing.”

Rainbow Dash covered one eye with a hoof and hobbled closer to Twilight, then jabbed her nose under the base of the wing and pushed it up into the right position. “Hold still a moment, Twi.” She grabbed a point midway along the wing, between two major flight feathers, and moved it into position.

She continued along, each time making smaller adjustments, until she reached the end. With one last bite, she took the very tip between her teeth and bent it upwards. “There, perfect!” she mumbled, and then released. “Done!”

Twilight's lips quivered. Her ears twitched, and a second later she began to laugh. Hearty giggles filled the air as Dash joined her a few seconds later, moving her hoof from eye to forehead. Twilight eventually stopped. “I'm sorry, that really tickled. This is ridiculous, Dash, I can't fly.”

Dash stopped laughing. “Yeah, you can. Okay, sure, you won't be as good as me, but if you're even a tenth there, you'll be great.” She shook her head and walked over to Twilight's other side to nudge her other wing into position.

Twilight shook her head. “I'm not getting this at all, Dash. I can't control these yet. I'm honestly surprised I have any control over them at all; my body shouldn't know how to move them.”

Dash snorted. “Yeah, but you're you. Just because something's impossible doesn't mean you won't do it.” Dash roughly shoved her muzzle under Twilight's other wing and began to smooth it out.

“I-” Twilight gulped, trying to ignore the way Dash's tongue tickled her feathers. “I think you're overestimating me. I can only do magic because I understand it, I don't understand my wings at all-”

“My wings.” Dash interrupted. “They're my wings. Remember? C'mon, Twi, you've fixed those things up more times than I can count. If you didn't understand them I wouldn't be here.”

Twilight's horn flashed as a bolt of recognition flowed through her body. “You're right! Oh, Dash, you make me feel stupid sometimes.”

“I uh-” Dash stopped, shook her head, and then nodded. “Yeah, I'm pretty awesome.”

Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Unlike normal, her horn remained dim. Rainbow Dash finished up aligning Twilight's rightmost wing, and moved closer to the tip to give it the slight upwards angle that would let her catch the air. Before her mouth clamped over it, however, the very end of Twilight's wing twitched. Dash pulled back and watched as Twilight strained and panted, and the end of her wing began to wobble.

Finally, it moved into position. Twilight grinned, then collapsed forward onto the floor. “Got it.” She panted. “Got it.”

Dash leapt into the air and flicked her wings, sending her on a short loop-the-loop. “Awesome! Now we've just gotta get you flapping.”

Twilight's head shot up. “Wait, there's more?” She tried to roll over, but her outstretched wings got in the way. “Can we take a break? Just for a little bit? You know, it's been ages since I did that thing with my tongue…” Twilight turned to stare at Dash, and made her best attempt at a seductive face; Dash was not impressed.

“Twi, how long until Nightmare Moon escapes?” Dash pointed over to the trapped princess, who's cage was glittering with unseen sources of unnatural light.

Twilight sighed. “Only a few hours.”

“So?” Dash put on her best impression of Cheerilee's teaching voice, and placed her forehooves against her hips.

Twilight sighed. “So no breaks. What next?”

Rainbow Dash spread her left wing straight.

Beads of sweat rolled down Twilight Sparkle's face. She frowned in concentration and tried to keep her breathing steady, just like Dash had told her. She kept her wings stretched out by her side and felt the air rush over them, filling her mind with a thousand different signals she couldn't understand. “D- Dash, this is incredible!” Twilight tilted to the left, and a moment later changed direction.

Dash chuckled and clung on to her tighter, flapping hard to keep both of them in the air and listening to the way Twilight's body moved, trying to respond to her desires as quickly as she could. “Yeah, see?” she yelled over the air rushing over their ears. “I told you it was good!”

Twilight craned her neck upwards and to the side, rubbing one ear against Dash's neck. “Thank you, Dash.” She closed her eyes and pointed ahead, trying to understand the sensations running through her mind. After a few laps of the magical shield, she made a decision. “Dash, let go. I want to try it myself now.”

Dash coughed. “I uh, I don't think that's a good idea.”

Twilight groaned. “Come on, Dash, you can't give me this and then not let me try. I can do it, I think. I'm so close, I can feel it.” Twilight fidgeted in Dash's grip.

“Fine, okay. Gimme a sec to fly over somewhere soft.” Dash banked in a moment, almost knocking Twilight dizzy. After a few seconds of flight they were above a clearing, and Dash squeezed Twilight tight. “You ready?”

Twilight nodded and felt Dash's hooves release her. She spread her wings, gave them a testing flap, and slammed into the ground. “O- ow…”

She heard Dash's hooves slam into the soft ground beside her as the flightster landed. “There's more to flight than just feeling it in your wings, Twi, you've gotta feel it in your heart too.”

Twilight's ears collapsed, and her shoulders sagged. She resigned herself to her dirt mound and tried to hide beneath the grass. “Ugh, I'll never get this. Even you don't believe I can anymo-”

Twilight's world flipped upside down as Dash's hooves spun her around and pinned her to the ground. Dash's nose arrived against hers an instant later. “Don't say that.” Dash's voice wavered. “Don't ever say that. It's not true, and it'll never be true, okay?”

Twilight's lips parted, but she couldn't think of any words. She nodded.

“Good. Of course I believe in you, you stupid mare. No wonder I make you feel dumb sometimes if you're getting ideas like that into your head.” Dash frowned, shook her head, and then released Twilight's limbs. She fell on top of her and pushed her forelegs around Twilight's back for a hug. “Stupid mare. Of course I believe in you.”

“I'm sorry,” Twilight whispered. “I didn't mean it. It's just frustrating. You make it look so easy, and I can't even get started. I thought I was making progress, but I still can't do anything.”

Dash laughed, once. “Of course you can't, Twi. I make it look easy because I'm me, but you aren't me. You're you, and you've gotta do things your way. Back in flight school we had all these classes on flight dynamics and stuff, you'd have loved them. I slept through them, if I bothered getting out of bed. First exam came around and I aced it, then had to ace it a few more times until they believed I wasn't cheating.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dash, you're amazing, I know. And I'm not, I'm just- Ow!”

Dash removed her nose from Twilight's neck. “You are amazing. You think somebody like me would marry a lame-o? Nuh-uh. You're just a different kind of amazing. The kind of amazing that spends twelve hours in bed and still wakes up tired because you were reading for half of it. The kind of amazing who can do anything if she understands it.”

Twilight screwed up her eyes and groaned. “But I don't understand it! I don't understand it at all!”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, so that's why I'm gonna be your flight dynamics teacher today. I told you, I aced every test they could throw at me. You've gotta be able to feel flight in your heart, and for most ponies they've either got it or they don't.” Dash extracted her limbs and pushed herself up, staring Twilight in the eyes. Her mane fell down between them, curtaining off the rest of the world. “I think your heart is an unfinished book, and I've got a quill.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Your hoofwriting is terrible, Dash, but thank you. Really.”

Dash slumped back down. “Twi, I spent like, ten whole seconds on that metaphor. It was meant to be romantic and stuff. I know where you keep the romance section back home, I know you li- Oh, damnit. I keep forgetting not to mention the library.”

Twilight raised her own forehooves and hugged Dash for a moment, then pushed her back up into position above her. “It was just a tree, Dash.”

Dash shook her head. “It was our home.”

Twilight giggled. “No, Dash. You're home.”

Dash grinned. “See, I said you were a sucker for the romance stuff.” Moments later she found herself the wrong way up, with Twilight's muzzle sticking into her ear. “But we have work to do. C'mon, we have a two year course to cover in the next hour, you'd better take notes. And Sparkle?”

Twilight tilted her head questioningly.

“You can call me Mrs. Rainbow.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and flared her horn; a display board and some chalk appeared behind Dash's back. “Sorry I couldn't bring an apple, miss, I had a little trouble getting to class today.”

Dash began with an introductory course in aerodynamics, from drag theory to magical inertia. From there, she moved between topics as best she could, touching on everything from airsmithing to zero-point turns. Over the next several hours, Dash tried to impart as many dull and boring hard facts as she could, and watched Twilight write notes with glee.

Eventually, finally, Dash gestured to a conjured display board, on which she'd drawn a few crude stick figures and some arrows to denote their movements. “Very good, Sparkle. And the total velocity would be?”

Twilight thought for a moment, scratching her chin with a wing. “One point eight meters a second?”

Dash nodded. “Resulting in a total necessary lift on each flap of?”

Twilight had the answer pre-prepared, and immediately responded, not in words but by leaping into the air and performing the manoeuvre. She flew in a wide circle, almost losing balance several times and never once exceeding the minimum speed required to stay in the air.

Dash smiled and nodded again. “Sloppy, I think you forgot to carry a one somewhere in there, but very good. Class dismissed.” The board vanished behind her, as did the desk Twilight had been sitting at. Dash immediately leapt into the air and tackled Twilight out of it, rolling in motion to cradle the mare in her arms as they struck the ground. “Awesome! I knew you'd get it!”

Twilight nodded. “I'll need a few days to properly highlight and collate my notes before I'm ready for field trials, but I think I have a sound grasp of flight theory now. It would have been much easier if instead of It's something you feel in your heart you'd said Flight is a by-product of subconscious aural shifts catching on the latent magic in the air!”

Dash blinked. “Yeah see I don't even know what that means. I'll keep my heart explanation, I think, you can have the boring science-y one.” She grinned, rubbing Twilight's cheek with a hoof. “You learn fast, Twi, I think we can pull this off now.” She looked up and caught a glimpse of the moon, so large in the sky it eclipsed all else. “Jeez, it's gonna have to be soon, Twi. That moon is getting scary close, and I don't scare easy.”

Twilight shook her head. “I told you, Dash, we don't have to worry about the moon.”

Dash's head shot up and her eyes darted around the sky. “Uh yeah, speaking of that, where's Nightmare Moon?”

Twilight's mouth opened to say something, but before she could utter a single syllable, Rainbow Dash saw something which made her blood freeze in her veins. Nightmare Moon was not only free, but floating barely fifty meters away and staring straight at them with an angry glint in her eye.

“You fools!” She laughed maniacally into the air. “So absorbed in your little games you failed to notice my escape. And now it is you who is trapped in my claws, you strange ponies from a fictional land. Your imprisonment will last forever!”

Dash lowered her head and spoke in hushed tones. “Can you uh, do that thing again?” She stole glances at Nightmare Moon as she spoke, not listening to the tyrant's continued speech.

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, Dash. I'm tired, and the proximity of the moon is both strengthening her and weakening me.”

“Right. Up to me, then.” Dash looked back up at the moon princess and narrowed her eyes.

“Dash! No, she's far too powerful! With the moon this close, she could kill either of us in a single blow!” Twilight gripped on to Dash tighter, trying to hold her in place.

“Whatever. She's gotta hit me for that.” Dash yanked herself out of Twilight's grip and hovered a few feet above her. “You run, okay? As soon as I start, you run and you don't look back. You're gonna need to get started on that storm by yourself. Remember the three Cs of cloudsmithing?”

Twilight nodded, and with a dry mouth recited “Create, Collapse, and Coalesce.” She shook her head and tried to grab Dash in a magic field, but Dash met her grip with a twist and slipped between her tendrils. “Dash, I can't let you do this. I'm not going home without you, not ever.”

“Twilight, I-”

“No, shut up, Dash. I don't care, the two weeks I spent without you were the worst of my life. It's not like going back to before you, because you've changed me in so many ways. I could write a book on love now—well, I actually am—and chapter one is that I can never lose you. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there.” Twilight choked back a sob so she could continue speaking without allowing Dash to interrupt. “You've entwined yourself with every part of my life now, and I can't imagine doing any of it without you. If you want to sacrifice yourself to save me, then I can't let you. We'll go out together, or not at all. I promised never to leave you, and I won't.”

Dash licked her lips and nodded. “You done? You're damn right you're not going home without me. You run as fast as you can and start that storm, I'll catch up in a few minutes, and then we'll blast out of this sun-forsaken place so fast our feathers catch fire, deal?”

Twilight caught her sob with a laugh, and nodded. “Deal. Stay safe, Dash.”

Dash shrugged. “'Course, why in Equestria would I go getting myself killed when I have you waiting for me? Think, Sparkle.” She turned to stare at Nightmare Moon, who had at some point stopped monologuing and settled for staring at the pair until they were done.

“Your love!” Luna clutched at her heart. “It melts this old and bitter heart! Go free, ponies, and live the rest of your lives in peace.”

Dash frowned. “Really?”

Luna laughed. “No.” She took aim and unleashed a bolt of lightning at Dash's chest. Dash dodged it and darted towards her, sparing one last glance behind herself to ensure Twilight had begun to run. She had, and Dash looked back up, twirling in the air to avoid another bolt of lightning.

Magical walls began to close around her as she triggered the traps Luna had set around them. She ducked between converging planes of energy, jumped between expanding bubbles of frozen time, and flew straight through areas of space so dense that light itself bent around it. Her body seemed to throb with adrenaline, and she knew she was in the zone. Twilight would have said her aura was aligned with the resonant frequency of the world, but Twilight Sparkle still didn't understand flight at its best.

Dash was within a meter of Luna now. An alicorn at the height of her power could rip the world in two, and yet Rainbow Dash could see her attacks coming before they happened. She spun around vortexes so tight they left a trail of broken reality in their wake. She received an unwanted haircut from a beam of pure wrath that glowed like a moonlight spear, a blow which left a scar on the forest floor a hundred feet deep. She had to close her eyes after the full power of the tides began to act even on the moisture coating her eyeballs, but that was okay. Vision was too slow anyway; she reacted based on the slightest changes in the air or simply on gut instinct.

Dash dodged, ducked, dived, and twisted to avoid every attack that could be thrown at her, each time getting a little closer to Luna. Any attack that forced her to fall back was met with a dart forward the instant after as she tried to get close enough to fight.

After what seemed like an eternity, but to an outside observer measured under five minutes, Dash landed on Luna's back. The wind around them whipped past as huge changes in temperature forced the air itself to rearrange. The ground beneath them burned and twisted. Dash used her fraction of an instant of peace on a quick prayer for Twilight's safety, and then brought her hoof down on the closest thing to a god the world had.

Luna flinched, giving Rainbow Dash a precious few more moments. Her hoof screamed through the air, passing through Nightmare Moon's mane and ignoring the burning sensation. She struck the one part of her body which wasn't protected by inch-thick armour—the long, black horn on the Nightmare's head.

Luna screamed into the endless night. “My- My horn! You shall pay for this with your life, foul creature!” She span around in the air, catching Dash with a wing and flinging her to the side, out of control. She pointed her horn at the pegasus's chest and cast her killing blow.

Nothing happened. “I- What is this?”

Dash regained control immediately and gave a mock salute. “You learn a lot about unicorns from living with one. For example, hit a unicorn's horn while they're casting a spell and it'll stop the spell. Hit it in the right place just as they're casting it, though, and they won't be able to use magic for minutes.” Dash chuckled to herself. “Twi wasn't happy with me when I found that out. Totally didn't mean to hit her, by the way, it was an accident.”

Nightmare Moon screamed. “If I cannot strike you down with lightning, then I shall impale you all the same!” She charged, bursting forward with sudden speed and lowering her head, aiming to skewer Dash through the stomach.

Rainbow Dash slid to one side, letting Nightmare Moon's horn graze her side. She grabbed hold of it and pulled, unbalancing the alicorn and sending her tumbling. “You don't get it, do you? I’m Rainbow Dash! I am the fastest thing in the skies, no matter who's skies they are! And you're just another pony who made the worst mistake anypony can make.”

Nightmare Moon almost managed to regain control before striking the ground. Instead, she smashed into it backwards, and was left dazed and staring up at Dash high above. “W- what is that?”

“You threatened my wife. Nopony gets away with that. Ever.” Dash brushed an imaginary piece of dust from her shoulder and took a long look at her hoof. “But today's your lucky day. I gotta admit, I kinda like the Luna we have back home, so I don't wanna have to remember beating you up everytime I look at her. I'm gonna let you just lie there, and I'm going to go find Twilight and get the hay out of this place.”

Dash turned to leave, but then suddenly turned, darted over to Luna, and stared her straight in the eyes. “But if I ever see you again, I won't go easy on you. Heck, if you even think about harming a hair on Twilight's coat, you're over. Get it?” Dash jabbed her hoof into Luna's chest. Even through the armour, she noticeably recoiled.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Dash turned and flew, looking around for the telltale signs of a monster storm.

Fluttershy clung to the cloud with all her might. The five ponies soared across the sky so quickly that taking breath was a challenge. Nobody spoke, for words were simply stolen away by the wind before they could be heard.

Celestia gripped onto the edge of the cloud with her wings spread, trying to stay awake and ride the wind. The moon towered above them, continuing along its agonisingly slow path across the sky. The ground beneath them had long since given way to ocean, and the only cloud in the sky was just popping up over the horizon, with a strange wooden structure held aloft on its top.

Celestia tilted her wings, aiming to catch the air instead of gliding through it. She held on tight and began to slow the cloud. As they approached the Chariot, their travels became slow enough they could once more talk.

“Everypony, I may have made a slight miscalculation when we set off. I'm afraid we will be passing several feet above the surface of the airship, and we will have to jump at the correct time.” Celestia tried to slow the cloud further, but the structure was so fragile that pulling any harder would break it.

Fluttershy squeaked. “Um, when is that, exactly?”

“Ah, now.” Celestia yanked back on the cloud and watched it disintegrate, sending the four ponies atop it tumbling to the surface of the ship. Celestia glided after them and set foot aboard the wooden planks.

The captain immediately ran over. “Princess! Luna warned us you were coming. How was your-”

Celestia took one step forward and then collapsed forward, falling into slumber before she even hit the deck.

“-trip. Oh dear.”

Rarity screamed. “My mane! My tail! My everything! You-” She pointed at the captain. “Where is your nearest mirror?”

Air Haddock took a step backwards at the force of the question. “'fraid not, ma'am. We had a mite troublesome journey, and mirrors are mighty breakable under that sort of pressure. For the record, you look just fine.”

Rarity blushed. “Ah- Well, I would still prefer a properly styled mane.”

“I assure you, ma'am, as soon as I am able I shall have you in the finest airdock Equestria has to offer.”

Rarity nodded. “Well yes, nothing less would suit for a lady, such as myself.”

Air Haddock nodded. “Undoubtably. Now, are your companions alright?”

Rarity turned around, and extended a hoof to help Fluttershy up. Applejack was already struggling to stand, and Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to land bouncing.

Fluttershy rubbed one of her legs. “Oh, thank you, Rarity. Gosh, that fall was awful, are you alright? Your mane looks- oh my.”

Rarity frowned. “Well, some ponies think it looks fine. I shall have to call it a new fashion, perhaps it will take hold.”

“Oh, um, okay.” Fluttershy looked around, before spotting Celestia. “My! Is the princess alright?”

Luna walked out of the cabin. Her broken leg was healing fast, and already she walked more comfortably, though still with the splint. “She will be fine. Even she has her limits.”

Applejack frowned. “Now here, I thought we were in a rush? There ain't time for sleep, our friends are in danger! They need us! Somebody wake 'er up!”

Luna shook her head. “Calm yourself, farmer. Celestia has, as always, put the pieces in play. We have not been idle these past hours. Indeed, Star Spokes believes his notes here can shine new light on many aspects of magical theory, and perhaps provide a stepping stone between our current understanding, and Twilight Sparkle's notebook.”

Applejack snorted and walked up to Luna, staring up at her with a growl. “Twilight Sparkle can tell us about Twilight Sparkle's notebook when we get her back. Now are we gonna do this, or not?”

Luna shook her head. “No, not yet. As I say, we have been monitoring the magical anomaly that you, no doubt, do not see behind us. It remains inactive, nopony is attempting to travel through it. When Twilight Sparkle attempts, we will have enough warning to wake my sister and aid her.”

Applejack shook her head. “Well, yer wrong about one thing, princess.”

Luna smiled. “And what might that be?”

“I can see that huge… magic-looking… thing just fine!” Applejack pointed over to the hole between dimensions. It looked black—though at night, so did everything else—and occasionally shone with an otherworldly light. It was remarkably unremarkable for a tear in reality.

Rarity piped up. “Yes, as can I.”

Fluttershy squeaked. “Um, I wasn't going to mention anything, but I see it too.”

Pinkie leapt out of a nearby barrel. “Me four!”

Luna took a step back. “Incredible. Could it be that-”

Star Spokes looked up from his notebook. “Yes, of course. That's the final piece of the puzzle! Why, I could kiss you girls-”

Rarity giggled. “Darling, buy me dinner, first.”

Star Spokes blushed slightly, but continued anyway. “Yes, quite. Anyway, that explains it. Everything we know about dimensional theory says this hole shouldn't be here. The walls should close up almost straight away—the world heals quickly—and yet it is shrinking very slowly. Why, we have almost an hour before it's gone entirely.”

Applejack jumped into the air. “An hour?! Why the hay're we standing around talking if we only got an hour?”

Star Spokes ignored her. “It's the elements of harmony keeping it open. You girls all have a strong connection to each other, and apparently one strong enough to hold universes together. For a little while, at least. Were you able to bring the elemental jewellery?”

Rarity shook her head. “I'm afraid we didn't have time. Why we keep them in Canterlot I'm not entirely sure, they're never around when we need them.”

Luna shook her head. “They don't matter. They are magically inert chunks of metal and gemstone unless touching their bearer.”

Rarity frowned. “Are we going to need them?”

Pinkie Pie leapt out of another barrel and span around in the air, then landed on the deck. “Nuh-uh, Rarity! The elements are inside all of us!”

Luna nodded. “Close. The elements are you. Their power is always yours to wield in times of great need, and I suppose this is their greatest need of all.”

Behind her, the gateway to the void became far less unremarkable. It began to throb with increasing speed, and beams of light flew from it at every angle. Luna turned around, looked, and then nodded. “Wake Celestia. It's time.”

Twilight screamed through the air in a far different fashion to how Rainbow Dash usually travelled. Her throat felt hoarse, each yell making it a little drier. Despite the constant yelps of fear and terror, however, Twilight's storm was starting to take shape. She created the clouds from nothing but the moisture of the air, collapsed them to create denser storm clouds, and coalesced the whole mass into one great clump of dark, angry material. Though flight took most of her concentration, wisps of magic flew through the air to bring the clouds in line.

The rains had begun almost immediately, and the lightning bolts followed soon after. Twilight couldn't split her concentration between increasing the storm and collecting the lightning, so that energy went to waste. She silently pleaded for Dash to return soon, not even entertaining the possibility of her not.

Twilight had, true to her word, ran, and not looked back. No matter how terrifying the noises from behind became, she continued, taking to the air after a few steps and flying as fast as her unskilled wings could take her.

A bolt of lightning burst out of a cloud towards the ground, only barely missing Twilight's wing. She gulped and tried to leave the more dangerous areas. Unfortunately, every area was dangerous.

“Hey!” Dash's voice called out across the sky. Twilight turned to look, her face breaking out into a smile as Dash zoomed through the rain. Bolts of lightning tried to stop her, but she dodged so quickly Twilight's eyes could hardly follow.

Dash struck Twilight in mid air and held her tight. “Okay, Nightmare Moon won't be a problem for a few minutes at least. How're we doing?” The rain was heavy enough that both of their manes were sodden, and even fifty feet up the roar of raindrops hitting the ground was loud enough they had to yell to be heard.

“I- I think okay? I'm losing control of the storm, it's changing… by itself.” Twilight looked around. Her eyes darted around in fear. “Almost like it's trying to help.”

Dash grinned. “See, even the world wants to help.”

Luna's voice boomed out across the storm. “Or perhaps I simply want you gone.”

Dash released Twilight from her embrace and pulled herself into a combat pose, minimising visible surface area and keeping herself aerodynamically unstable enough to flick away in an instant. “I told you I wouldn't go easy this time.”

Luna shook her head. “I am not here to fight. I do not know what you are or who you are, but you have told me what you want. If you require a storm to leave my world, then I shall provide you with the largest storm in my world's history. Begone, and never return.” She spat. Dash watched the glob of saliva fall for a few moments.

The three hung in the air for several moments until Dash finally nodded. “Okay. Give us a storm. If you try anything-”

“Yes, I know. I know you most likely know that were I to attack, I would aim for the one who cannot evade. The one who is apparently your wife. I also know that were I to succeed, I would not survive. I would like nothing more than to strike her down where she so inexpertly hovers, simply to see the expression on your broken face.” Luna bared her teeth and snarled. “However, I wish to see my kingdom prosper more. You are both perfectly safe by this token. Just… leave me alone.”

Dash snarled and looked back towards Twilight. “Okay, looks like we have some help. You take this half of the sky, and I’ll take that half, okay?”

Twilight Sparkle nodded and looked around herself, then pulled away and slowly flew up to the cloud layer to begin enchanting the clouds into even greater ferocity. Dash zipped away across the sky to start pulling stormclouds together in new locations. After a few minutes of work, the skies were in turmoil and the winds were almost strong enough to knock Twilight Sparkle from the air. Lightning hammered the ground, striking so often that once-fields now looked closer to a dragon’s home.

A flash shone throughout the sky. A bolt of lightning seemed to bend in the air, seeking Dash out. A moment before it struck, Dash felt the raw heat on her back and darted away. The bolt followed, but she stretched out a wing and snapped it from the air. Energy flowing freely through her body, she turned and shot it back towards Nightmare Moon, blowing a hole through her billowing mane. A sharp glance with narrow eyes said more than words ever could, and the alicorn seemed to shrink backwards.

Dash flew back towards Twilight, her course taking her so close to Luna that the princess was almost knocked from the sky, and held on tight. She grinned. “You ready to get out of here? What's the next step?”

Twilight closed her eyes and shone her horn, turning in the air until she found what she was looking for. “We entered over there, above Canterlot. We're going to need to achieve a sonic rainboom perfectly within the tear, and we're going to have to do it while strengthening our bond.”

“Huh?” Dash tilted her head.

“The only thing keeping that tear open is the bond we share with our friends. If we're going to push it open and fly through, we're going to have to get in there and use those bonds. The good news is that as soon as we're inside, our friends will be able to see us.”

“Then they can pull us through, right?” Dash darted forward and pulled Twilight a few inches closer to her, just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike where Twilight had been.

“Thanks.” Twilight shook her head. “They'll be able to see us, that's all. We're going to have to do something that strengthens our bonds just from them seeing it.”

“Okay, any ideas?”

Twilight carefully turned herself around in the air and flew right at Dash's side.

“Hey, careful, you're in my airspace-” Dash tried to pull back, but Twilight grabbed hold of her and held her in place. She slipped closer, until one of Dash's wings was across her back, and one of her wings was across Dash's.

“I was thinking we could sonic rainboom like this.” Twilight leant against Dash and tried to synchronise her flaps so they could stay in the air. Their flight was shaky and uncertain, but they didn't drop.

“Are you serious, Twi? You learned how to fly like, fifteen minutes ago, and now you want to do a sonic rainboom?” Dash wanted to pull back to see Twilight's face more clearly, but was forced to keep her head so close their cheeks kept brushing together.

“I- yeah. With you at my side, I feel like I can do anything, and if I understand my flight theory right that means there's a good chance this will work. It's all in the heart, right?”

Dash spluttered. “I- Well- Yeah, but-”

“Then let's do it. You told me I could do anything, but I only realised why I disagreed when I was scared you wouldn't make it back. I can't do everything, but when you're watching me I feel like I can. That's the only me you ever see. When you're around, I'm at my best, so… no wonder you think I can do it. When you're around, I can. So come on, let's do it.”

Dash hung her head and sighed. “You're serious, aren't you?”

Twilight grinned and nodded. “Yeah. You know, I've spent our entire marriage not really understanding why you put up with me, but I think I get it now.”

“It's because I love you, you dork.” Dash rolled her eyes.

“And I love you. So come on, let's fly.” Twilight took off as fast as she could, flying towards Canterlot airspace. Dash reacted almost before Twilight had even begun, keeping perfect time and driving them forward ever faster. Twilight leaned in harder and rested her head against Dash's neck as their speeds grew closer and closer to the threshold they needed to break.

The tear loomed closer every instant, but the pair didn't slow down. Bolts of lightning coursed out of the clouds around them, only to be redirected in mid air to strike the glowing cone of energy forming around Twilight and Dash's forehooves. They simultaneously gritted their teeth and powered on, striking the tear at the very moment of breaking the sound barrier.

The concentric ring of the sonic rainboom was caught within it, and the swirling power before them pierced it. The tear began to open up.

Dash grunted. “Twilight, air's getting pretty thin in here. Wings can't keep grip for much longer.”

Twilight nodded. “I know. Hold your breath, Dash, it won't be much longer.”

Dash shook her head. “Breathing doesn't matter, without any air we're not gonna be able to maintain this speed. We'll fall back!”

Twilight struggled and brought a forehoof across Dash's back, hugging her close. “Flight's all in the heart, Dash. I don't need air, because you're the wind beneath my wings.”