...and I need something more, from you.
Twilight was boiling water for tea, as was customary for company. Even if said company despised tea. Twilight swore to look into the origin and function of some social customs one of these days, but more pressing matters awaited her attention, as interesting as the purpose of serving tea to any houseguest one may have could be.
“You know this has to stop, Rainbow. She’s killing you.” She called out from the kitchen and her social obligation.
“I’ll be just fine. And I told you, I don’t want any damn tea, just an ice pack or whatever’s frozen”
“No, you will NOT be ‘fine’, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight slammed the kettle and the china she had been preparing down “Your girlfriend hits you. That is, by no measure of anypony’s sanity, an okay thing!” Twilight Sparkle was now closing the gap between kitchen stove and dinner table cum family room.
“Look, Gilda and I are just…different.” Rainbow hesitated, searching for the appropriate wording that would give as little ground to argument as possible “We’re both just very passionate, and sometimes…shit gets heated.”
“I have had heated debates with the greatest minds Equestia has ever known, and none of them have ever come anywhere close to two black eyes.” Twilight said as she leaned over exceedingly close to Rainbow’s face.
“You act like this is such a huge deal!” Rainbow shouted as she tossed her forelegs up in the air, as if to say ‘here’s your open target, I dare you to take a shot’.
“It IS a huge deal when you will not let me take you to the hospital because TWO black eyes might mean you have a subdural hematoma, and subsequently brain damage!” Twilight replied, as she reclined to her haunches and folded her forelegs in a gesture that suggested she had just played a move in a chess game against an Equestrian grand master that would be studied for decades to come.
“No, griffons have a size advantage AND they have talons! You can smack someone with a hoof all you want, but that shit doesn’t have the force behind it that a balled fist does, believe that.” Rainbow pointed accusingly, “And you KNOW her personality! She’s just as fiery as I am, and that’s why I love her. So back the fuck off!”
During Rainbow’s tirade of self defense, Twilight merely raised an eyebrow in disbelief and mulled over what she had been told. “So…following your logic, if you won an argument with Gilda, you’d go ahead and beat the piss out of her for no other reason than ‘you were right’ in the argument”.
Check.
“WHAT!? I would NEVER, in a million years, hit her!”
“…then what makes it okay for her to hit you?” Twilight asked in a demure voice, barely above a whisper.
“It’s not okay to hit me.” Rainbow replied confidently, puffing out her chest at the sheer absurdity that anything could be allowed to walk all over the world famous Pegasus.
“Oh yeah? Then why am I here, week after week, treating another black eye? Or another dislocated wing? Or any other injury you never admit she causes but any idiot who was taught base evidence gathering and pattern recognition could conclude?”
“…there’s a difference between being okay and having happened” Rainbow sighed as she deflated, her egotistical shield now thoroughly punctured and deflated.
“Rainbow, listen to me.” Twilight cupped Rainbow’s muzzle in her hooves and forced her gaze to meet hers “I only want what’s best for you. I want to see you be happy. And I mean really, truly, care-free happy. I can see how fake the smile you put on is, especially when you come here instead of the hospital, because I ask fewer questions.”
“Ya did until today, egghead. Now I’m reconsidering coming here” Rainbow replied, pulling away from the grip with an attitude.
Twilight knew she had gambled on saying anything. It had been eleven months, nearly a year, since Gilda and Dash had gotten back together. Seven months since she had started showing up with bruises that Twilight knew weren’t from crashes. You don’t get a vertical series of three bruises and cuts along with a bruise and cut that was level to the middle of the series by accident. Especially on the upper limb, repeatedly. It had only been two months since Dash had admitted the injuries weren’t from flying.
It had been ten months since Twilight realized she had a massive crush on the Pegasus.
“Look, I’m not trying to pry. I know what I know, and that’s a secret I will take to the grave. But if this is beyond what I’m able to treat then we need to go to the emergency room! If I see signs of cerebral edema then I will not let it go by in someone I care about!”
“I said it’s FINE! Why do you care so fucking much about my health?” Rainbow shouted, as she closed the distance between them again, this time with purpose and anger “HUH!? TELL ME THAT!”
“You want to know why I care so much, Rainbow?”
“Yes! Yes I do, because you seem VERY interested in my relationship all the sudden!”
“BECAUSE YOU DESERVE BETTER! YOU DESERVE SOMEPONY WHO DOESN’T HIT YOU WHEN YOU TWO DISAGREE! WHO ACTUALLY GIVES A SHIT IF YOU’RE HURT! SOMEPONY WHO DOESN’T LOCK YOU OUT OF YOUR OWN FUCKING HOME WHEN YOU MIGHT HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE THAT THEY CAUSED! AND MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE I WANT TO DO THOSE THINGS! EVER THINK OF THAT ONE, JOCKTARD?!”
Rainbow fell to her haunches, stunned. She had hardly ever seen Twilight actually angry, let alone shouting, in the years they had known each other. And she’d bet every last bit she had that in that tirade there was an admission of something, otherwise she wouldn’t be looking away with tears in her eyes.
“I think I’m starting to get it, nerd.” Rainbow muttered, without malice but with a new understanding.
“No, you don’t.” Twilight strained to say. An internal war of wills had come to a decisive battle at a pass; only one side could win out and proceed to more defensible ground. This day, the much smaller force of emotion had defeated the greater empire of logic at the pass. “Because as many hints as I have dropped, I have not alluded to even a tenth of what I actually feel.”
“Then just say it you nerd!”
“I FUCKING LOVE YOU AND I WISH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, OKAY!?” Twilight shouted out as tears streamed from her eyes, mucus ran from her nostrils, and saliva had swung as if guided by Tarzan himself to the corners of her mouth.
Twilight lowered her head so she didn’t have to look at the stunned Pegasus out of shame. “I knew it would never work with us. We’re just too different, you know? I was actually happy when you got back together with Gilda, all the girls were. However, I was the lucky one to not only harbor a secret crush on you without knowing if you even liked girls, and the one you’d come to for medical advice and patch ups when she beat the tar out of you…” Twilight trailed off.
“You could have said something, you know. A year ago. If it was between you and G, I’d have picked you, you know. Shit, I should just leave that bitch’s ass and ask you out. But I roll different. I haven’t dumped anypony or anyone ever, not going to now. I just gotta focus on making myself be what Gilda wants, ya know?”
“That’s not fair! A relationship isn’t about bending yourself until you break to meet the other’s needs! It’s about middle ground, and compromise!” Twilight pleaded for sanity and reason’s sake.
“Well…for me, it’s making G happy any way that I can. And if it’s telling her that the Barons are better than the ‘Bolts, then so be it.” Rainbow sighed, as she headed for the door “Maybe someday you’ll get your chance. Maybe someday I’ll get tired of her nonsense and I’ll ask you out.”
Rainbow retreated from the door towards Twilight, and gave her a soft, yet lingering, peck on the cheek.
“I’ll see you around, egghead. Thanks for the ice. Who knows what tomorrow brings? Maybe she’ll dump me tomorrow.” Rainbow leaned her forehead against Twilight’s, “But I swear, you better make a move fast or I’ll lose all respect for you.”
Before Twilight could even formulate a coherent thought following the kiss, Rainbow was gone out the door, leaving Twilight with the stark words she had said and a desperate ache in her heart. She would surely cry herself to sleep again that night.