The Secret Lives of Doors, A Locked Up Story

"I still can't believe that you didn't pick up on the prank right away." Rainbow Dash teased Twilight with another kiss. "I mean, sure, you couldn't see me-"

The glare Twilight shot up at her stalled that train of thought.

"And I'm awfully sorry that I let you think that for so long."

Twilight laughed. "I'm not angry, Rainbow. Well, maybe a little at myself. I just thought it," she flicked an ear at the now inert lock, "made a good, plausible case. But I-" She blushed and looked away, worrying at her lower lip before looking back. "I haven't been so aroused in a long time. I imagined you were watching me masturbate, and I wanted you to wait, to appreciate how slowly I took myself."

Stray images flittered through her mind, still shots of Twilight's ardor seen through a peephole. She wanted to ravish her, but Twilight had made a lot of sense. Rainbow had never felt more aroused than she did then. Maybe there was something to this 'patience' idea.

She nudged lightly against Twilight's side with her nose, then pushed more firmly to help the Twilight roll over. "Now, just rest a little bit, you don't want to-" She bit her tongue and tried not to say anything when Twilight rolled over all the way onto her front. And you call me impulsive... "Twi, you could use a little patience yourself."

Twilight grunted and tried to sit up, her front legs quivering from the effort. But it was her back that was twitching. "If I stay on the floor, I may not be able to get up without using my magic. And trying to do that might have... consequences." She strained and finally sat up, her coat twitching madly and her ears limp.

Rainbow lowered herself to settle on her haunches, but slowly. The temptation of Twilight's position and her own unrequited sexual desires was too much, and the warmer, coarser fur on Twilight's back felt amazingly good stroking against her own teats.

Patience could take a flying leap. It was just too bad that Twilight's tail was tucked between her legs.The hard ridge amid the silky strands of her tail would have felt amazing right then.

But Rainbow forced herself to settle down and pay attention to Twilight's needs instead of her own. "Maybe next time you masturbate, you should just use your magic and not lay on the floor?" She nibbled lightly at Twilight's ear to take away some of the sting of the suggestion. "I mean, don't get me wrong, that was so-"

She squirmed on the floor, feeling the pattern of the tiling pressing against her aching, ignored sex. The itch to masturbate was long gone, about the time that Twilight had climaxed, and it had been replaced by a steady ache that only anb orgasm could soothe. To distract herself, she shifted focus and nipped lightly at the base of an ear and traced her tongue along the outside of the velvety cup.

Rainbow's reward was a heated whimper and Twilight's rump firmly shoved into the nestled space between her legs. Her body responded, grinding forward into the twitching tail nestled between her teats. It was all Rainbow could do to hold herself back from begging Twilight to take her right there. She knew Twilight would do it...

"I wanted to feel my hoof. Magic's great f-for..." Twilight shuddered and her back lifted against Rainbow's front, but she quivered and fell back down, drawing in deep breaths and snorting them out. "But since the first time we made love, when you insisted I didn't use magic..." She let out a stuttering breath, but continued. "The feeling of the burn of my muscles all over, the hard contact. Dashie, it was glorious." Twilight finally pulled her ear away and turned her head slightly to look Rainbow in they eye.

Rainbow kissed her cheek and smiled. "I know. I was watching the whole time, you know. Now come on, stubborn mare, we've gotta get you on your feet before all the-"

Twilight swayed forward, groaning, but not in pleasure. She lifted a hoof to her forehead and grunted. "Luna darn it. Headrush."

"Yeah, before that."

She'd been afraid of that. Shoving aside her desires, she sat up straighter and pulled Twilight up with her, urging the swooning mare to lean into her. "Come on, lover, just stay still. Dashie's got you." She tugged lightly on Twilight's mane to draw her head back and shifted a wing to act as a pillow.

"Just take it easy," Rainbow whispered into the downy fur where her pert cheeks met the fine boned grace of her muzzle. "I've got ya."

It was impossible to not smell the scents of sex lingering in the unventilated bathroom. She wasn't about to complain about it. Oh, no. Twilight's fresh musk was the most intoxicating scent she'd ever encountered. But it was just the teensiest bit distracting, especially with its source held between her legs.

It would be days before she could be in the bathroom without smelling Twilight's lust inducing musk. She wanted so badly then to press her nose into Twilights nethers.

But she held back from even asking. Twilight's groaning slackened and her breathing settled more evenly as she recovered, but it would be minutes yet, and Twilight was going to be stiffer than a board come morning if she didn't ease the tension in her back soon.

"Just take it easy, lovermare." She pressed her nose into Twilight's mane and drew in a deep breath. She was still using that apple scented shampoo that Rarity and Applejack were trying to market, and it was a wonder that their campaign wasn't more successful.

Of course, she was probably biased. Twilight smelling like apple cider and sex was probably the next best thing to her naturally light scent, with just a hint of musk. When she was in season...

The first time Twilight had come into season, she'd been sleeping over at Rainbow's house, so as not to bother Spike. It was the first time they made love. That extra tang, the slight bite to her scent...

A soft groan right by her ears brought Rainbow back to the present. "Shh..." She lifted her head slightly to match Twilight's.

Some of the tension started to flow out of Twilight's back, and she responded with a sigh and closed her eyes, relaxing into the embrace.

Rainbow could feel it against her barrel and the way Twilight's hooves and wings drooped to rest over her forelegs. Memories of laying like this filtered in. A long winter night in particular, when both she and Twilight had been reading, huddled together for warmth.

When Twilight set her book down and started to tease Rainbow out of the last chapter of her favorite Daring Do book, things had quickly become much warmer. Much warmer. It was the first time Twilight had tried to give proper attention to Rainbow's wings. She'd been clumsy, uncertain, but that only made the experience...

Okay... Mind out of the gutter for just a few more minutes. Please? It was hard enough sitting there in the bathroom, having just witnessed the most erotic display she'd ever seen, and not say anything. Well, not say anything else.

Her eyes drifted down, completely by their own volition, and took in the mesmerizing tapestry of tiles covered by the shining strands of Twilight's tail, all leading to a clump stuck together, clinging to her dock. Rainbow jerked her gaze back up to the ceiling, but her mind helpfully filled in the missing details. She couldn't see Twilight's sex the way she was sitting, but she could see her belly, rising and falling with every breath...

Twilight's breathing was slowing, deepening, and in the forefront of Rainbow's mind, there was the dimpling of the small paunch that Twilight tried so hard to hide when she sat, and the pair of teats that made her squirm and squeal when Rainbow applied careful lips, teeth and tongue just right.

 In her mind she could see them, focused on them, just rising and falling, begging her...

Rainbow shuddered and let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. "Sweet sisters," she murmured, resting her chin against the base of Twilight's horn.

"You don't have to wait," Twilight murmured back to her, eyes still closed.

"I want to." And she did... She wanted Twilight's tongue in her aching marehood. She wanted those luscious, soft lips on her clit and teats. She wanted to hear herself cry Twilight's name in ecstasy.

She shuddered again and let out a panting breath over Twilight's horn. She felt a wet, slippery heat spreading out over the tile floor, tickling against her sex. It wouldn't take much.

"Did you actually not touch yourself the entire time?"

Then Twi had to ruin her resolve. It was like magic. Every time she tried to not think about sex, there was Twilight being sexy again. Her inner pervert snickered. Shut up, she told it.

"I really didn't." She paused to take a breath, then licked Twilight's horn. Just once.

Twilight shuddered in her embrace. "Rainbow, do you want me to-"

"Twi, please don't finish that question. I won't be able to say no." She shuddered but pulled away and licked her lips. "You have no idea what that did to me... What you're still doing to me. You are so-" She whined and pulled her gaze away from the damp spot at the tip of Twilight's horn. She was desperate, and desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Twi, talk math to me!"

Twilight laughed at her and slipped free of Rainbow's embrace. "You want me to what? Talk math?" She dropped to her hooves and lay down on her front. Her look, a coy glance over her back, was pure mischief, and her half lidded eyes couldn't hide a playful sparkle twinkling in their depths.

"I'm serious!" That tail was still tucked underneath her, thank the sisters, but even the sight of her rump, the edges of her buttocks, the hint of a rising mound, and too much damp mess matting the downy fur covering all of it. Rainbow hunched over, shuddering as her own marehood again demanded attention.

"Oh, I can talk math." Twilight's tail twitched, making her mound jump with it. Fresh smells of sex came wafting up to Rainbow from the captivating sight. Twilight smiled. But it couldn't be just a normal smile, no, Twilight had make it a sultry bedroom smile with lips barely parted and eyes half lidded, looking up at her with one brow raised just slightly.

And that voice... low, husky, with a rough purr behind the rolled Rs.  "The square root of three hundred and thirty three is..."

Rainbow did the only thing she could in such a desperate situation, with her lust and Twilight's back on the line. She plugged the source of the sexy chatter with her mouth and swept a wing forward to pull Twilight closer. That turned out to be a huge mistake. The taste of Twilight's lips, the smell of her apple shampoo mixing with the overpowering aroma of arousal. She lost herself in those sensations, eyes sliding closed.

Twilight pulled away first, resting her head back in the nestle of Rainbow's wing, mouth hanging open, and tongue pressed tight to the roof of her mouth. That was how she always won the tongue wrestle. She just refused to play.

"Rainbow, I'm sorry. That wasn't fair of me." She pressed forward to kiss her again lightly.

"S'okay, Twi," she murmured into the kiss. "All's fair in love." The apology settled the matter. She could wait. Twilight was worth it. "Let's get you into bed, okay babe? Then I can give you that massage."

"All's fair in love and war," Twilight corrected her after a long pause. "But I'm happy enough to leave that last part off for the next thousand years."

"Me too. Now stop stalling and get your glorious sparkle butt into bed." She pressed Twilight forward with a hoof to the rear. "Come on."

"Glorious sparkle butt?"

"You heard me."

Twilight laughed. "You are so lucky I love you so much." But she stood up and started her way to the bed, legs stiff and gait stilted.

Rainbow felt a stab of guilt from the way that Twi was moving. It was sort of her fault that Twi had masturbated like that. After all, it wasn't the lock, who'd suggested the floor. But what a glorious sight it had been. She really did have a beautiful rear, and Rainbow felt no shame in admiring it every step of the way to the bed.

Twilight's quick glance behind told Rainbow that she was not oblivious to the attention her rear was getting, and lifted her tail. She did no more than that, but with her stilted, rolling gait, that was all she needed to do.

With every step, the curtain slipped aside and she was able to see the glory of her butt in all of its splendor. She began to follow her, mouth hanging open and eyes locked on the prize Twilight was teasing her with. Or was it teasing?

Rainbow Dash caught her as she slid her barrel onto the bed, and was about to climb up the rest of the way. All it took was a hoof to her flank and she looked back. The look in her eyes was enough. She knew what she'd been doing. She knew how much control Rainbow was expending just to keep from pouncing her.

Twilight hadn't been teasing. It'd been an offer.

Rainbow nosed aside the tail to behold up close the sight she'd only seen in glimpses and through a peephole. At least, that afternoon. Twilight's marehood was familiar to her, but it was a familiarity that only grew deeper and more intoxicating with time. Her breath grew heavier as the scent of Twilight's arousal began to grow stronger.

"Rainbow..." Twilight shivered and stamped a hind hoof.

Rainbow watched, captivated, as a bead of moisture grew and trickled down Twilight's nether lips, clinging to the narrow crevice. Another soon followed it. She let the first trickle down to tease the small, pulsing bud of Twilight's clit, but the second, she caught on her nose.

The silky smooth skin and barest hint of fuzz on her mound was soaked with the smell of Twilight's season, just noticeable this close to the source. The tangy heat of that smell was intoxicating. No wonder she was so ready, she might not have realized it herself even.

Nosing aside the thick outer folds of her mound, Rainbow snorted a gust of cooler air over her delicate inner folds, drawing a shudder and moan from Twilight, and another dollop of her richly scented juices.

Rainbow slid her tongue up between the inner lips, feeling them part and kiss her back before she found Twilight's entrance. She waited there, the tip of her tongue flicking lightly back and forth over the quivering opening.

"Rainbow!" Twilight's pleading squeak made her shudder all over.

Her tail snapped involuntarily and settled aside again. She couldn't help but hike her own rear in the air. Nopony was there, but the cooler air made her shudder and stamp her hind legs in turn. She wanted Twilight back there, she wanted to feel Twilight's tongue against her clit, inside her, outside her, between her wings...

She pulled back briefly to rest her already wet muzzle beside Twilight's stiffly raised tail and smirked. "Yes, Sparkle Butt?"

Twilight glared back at her, but it was hilariously ineffective with her mouth dropped open. Perhaps it was the leg Rainbow was slowly stroking between her teats, not quite touching either one, but only the deeper valley between them. Or perhaps it was the nibble at the base of her tail. Twilight's curtain of a tail jumped against the back of Rainbow's head as her tail strained to be higher, stiffer.

The glare faded, replaced by a pleading look. She wanted it just as much as Rainbow. She only huffed when Rainbow repeated the nibble and followed with a slow lick from the crease at the base up to where her gorgeous tail hairs began.

She finished the lick and rested her muzzle beside the twitching tail. "As her Highness, the Glorious Sparkle Butt commands?"

The glare came back, but also a panting laugh. "A-as I command!" Her following whimper was barely audible, but the intent was clear.

There was a great temptation for Rainbow to tease her some more. Part of the joy of sex with Twilight was the noises she made... Instead, she ducked back under the curtain of Twilight's tail. She paused and shuddered. A stream of dew ran from Twilight's twitching nethers, just beginning to trail down her inner thighs. Somepony loved tail play a little more than she probably even knew. Rainbow would have to remember that for later.

The pulsing, stiff clit called to her first, and she kissed it lightly, then cupped Twilight's mound with her tongue and nosed aside the plush, smooth outer lips, letting them brush against her sensitive nose and drew her tongue up in a long, slow, steady stroke.

Twilight's reaction was everything Rainbow could have hoped for. Her back dipped, pushing her rear more firmly into the slow stroke between her lips. More juices trickled from her sex, fresh and hot and beaded their way across Rainbow's already soaked muzzle.

She found the source and drew her tongue back, then teased the opening again with a flick of the tip, eliciting a stamp of Twilight's impatient hoof. She didn't wait for another command or a more forceful reminder of Twi's lusty desire, and slipped her tongue in.

The smooth entrance parted before the press of her tongue, contracting and pulsing as Rainbow pushed against the slick contours of Twilight's depths. The heat, the heady aroma, and the myriad of ways in which she could tease Twilight's body always intoxicated her, and this afternoon was no different.

The feeling of Twilight's sex pulsing around her, so familiar, and always so intriguing, captured her attention for half a breath before she curled her tongue and pressed the tip hard up into the contracting flesh, drawing fewer and fewer moans the more fervently she pushed.

The muffled groans became breathier, more heated. She slipped her tongue free and ducked her head to push her lips down around around Twilight's hooded clit. With a touch of her tongue, she pushed aside the fold and stroked lightly across the bare nub once, then again and again.

Twilight's breathy pants crescendoed in a way that only Twilight could, growing heavier and heavier with less and less of a voice behind them. She could almost see Twilight's muzzle hanging open, tongue just barely hanging out, could almost feel her forelegs pressing down, urging Rainbow on.

Rainbow held herself back at the last moment and instead of flicking her tongue against Twilight's clit, instead she pressed her tongue firmly against it and just held it there.

And Twilight responded just as she had in the bathroom, her thighs tightening and her sex ground against Rainbow's tongue. The strained mewl Twilight made as she slipped into blissful pleasure, the way her whole body strained... All of it was beautiful.

And then it passed. Rainbow stopped teasing her clit and instead started to suckle on the flesh around it, easing into the afterglow without just stopping. That was something else she learned, that just stopping was good, but the slow release was far more intimate.

Twilight's body twitched less, and her groans became heavier and louder, the whimpers turning into throaty sighs. Her sex twitched in Rainbow's mouth, and a few more droplets of Twilight's dew tickled down as her tail descended to brush against Rainbow's wings.

Finally, she stopped, and pulled away, but not very far. She licked slowly along the crease between her buttock and sex, then lapped once at the base of her tail. Twilight only groaned once.

She stepped the rest of the way forward and slid her cheek along Twilight's flank. She was content to listen to the slowing heartbeat thumping just under her ear and feel the heat and wet bliss against her chest.

The warmth, and slowing pulse of Twilight's fading orgasm only made Rainbow's sex ache even more for her tongue and hooves.

But she held herself back. Patience. It was harder than she would have thought. Twilight had made going slow look easy through the peephole, but it would take Rainbow time to get used to the idea. But the results spoke, or groaned, for themselves.

Hours, minutes, or seconds later, she couldn't be sure, Twilight interrupted her careful concentration of not thinking about sex by thinking about all the ways that she could get Twilight to pleasure her. To be fair to her inner pervert, many of them actually involved things not directly related to sex.

"Rainbow..." Twilight shifted her rear, "Get up here and help me up. Can't move. Something's holding me down."

"That's me, babe."

"Then get up here and help me up. Princess Sparkle Butt demands it."

"Yes, your highness." She was sorely tempted to climb up and plant her rear right in front of Twilight, demanding the payment of the toll, but Twilight would be stiffer than ever now. She needed to have those muscles relaxed and her own sexual urges came a distant second to a discomfort that she'd been mostly the cause of.

Twilight had most of the covers bunched up under her hooves, evidence of how passionate she could be when she got going. Bite marks and wet spots on the pleats in the covers showed further evidence of just how much Rainbow had been able to drive her. She'd forgotten how energetic things could get be when Twilight was in her season.

She trotted around to the other side of the bed and clambered up to link hooves with her. "Come on, Sparkle Butt." Slowly, she backed up, dragging Twilight's stiff body along until she was laying fully stretched out on the bed, her fore and hind legs stretched out front and behind.

When she was laid out fully stretched, it was easy to see how sleekly beautiful she was. The look of her, tired, beautiful, and worn out eased the burning desire in her nethers somewhat. She was just so... so Twilight.

Rainbow sidled alongside her, lifting a wing to stroke her side as she did. Her barrel had broadened with the development of her flight muscles, but that initial broadness was growing sleeker as her musculature toned down to just the muscles she used most often.

And her wings were fuller and broader than Rainbow's pegasus wings, the feathers more deeply tinted in the same shade as her coat. It was a joy to fly with her, even to watch her fly, and much more of late she was pushing herself to her limits lately, and striving to catch up to Rainbow.

One thing Twi certainly had going for her was the drive to learn, and when she put her mind to flight... Rainbow saw that same nervous drive to please, the uncertainty, and the adoration that went from student to teacher.

Rainbow Dash was proud to be that teacher. Of course, Twilight was also her teacher.

She had introduced her to the world of books, and Rainbow hadn't looked back on her book free life since. Even the very Twi-ish Flight Mechanics book that Twilight had given her on their first monthiversary was something that she'd taken a keen interest in. Even if she didn't understand all the words. Or the math.

But she'd gotten the gist of it. And now, every time she flew with Twilight, she could see that the same things hinted, tried, and sometimes discarded, in her understanding of the book. Even if it had been a re-gift, it was still a very special gift that continued to bring them closer together. Twilight knew the mechanics, and was learning the heart. Rainbow was approaching from the other direction.

Sometimes, when she looked at Twilight, at their time together, she felt like both of their lives could be summed up by that idea. And somewhere, there in the middle, they'd found each other.

"You are so awesome," Rainbow murmured, slipping a hoof free to cup Twilight's chin and ducked down to kiss her nose.

Twilight smiled lazily up at her, her eyes half lidded still. She looked tired, sleepy. And she was glowing. "So are you, Rainbow."

Rainbow could have happily spent all day in that glow.

She wanted, so badly, to turn and present herself. Twilight wouldn't hesitate to satiate her lust, and that was the hardest part of sliding around, away from the promise of fulfilled desires. That was another thing that Twilight had taught her, had been teaching her ever since they'd first met. Self control.

"Spread your wings out, then just let them relax." A trickle of wanton need teased its way down her sex and her own wings began to rise. Just the look of Twilight's wings made her want Twilight's mouth and hooves between hers. The former unicorn didn't share that kink, and it had baffled Rainbow until Twilight pointed out one night that pegasi grew up with them. That didn't mean that she didn't indulge Rainbow regularly.

To distract herself, she focused on Twilight's back, though her eyes wanted to slide up just a little. The muscles under her hooves were stiff and resisted Rainbow's firm strokes. Her wings flexed, but she kept them locked close to her sides while she worked. And while she did, her thoughts began to drift.

"Do you remember the first night I dragged you out to experience Cloudsdale?" The question surprised her. But perhaps it shouldn't have. She'd ended up stroking Twilight's back in much the same manner on their first 'date.'

"Mmm?" Twilight's purr was heavenly to her ears, just what Rainbow wanted to hear. "Of course." She laughed throatily, the sound of sleep just under the surface. "How could I forget that night?"

"You were so cute and so  nervous going out with me on fillyfooler night. I still don't know why you accepted my invitation."

"You and I remember our first 'date' quite differently." Twilight turned her head and looked up at her, face obscured by the edge of a wing. "As I recall, you begged me to go with you. I was nervous because..." One of her hind legs quivered and what she was going to say was lost to a throaty purr. "Mmm... Don't stop...."

Rainbow coughed. "Heh, yeah." It hadn't been the smoothest way to show her interest in Twilight. But she'd needed to know that Twi was into mares before risking her heart and asking for real. In hindsight, it had not been the most cunning plan, but it had worked. Sort of. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too." Twilight yawned and tucked her muzzle under the edge of her wing. Her muffled voice came up after a few seconds, thick and mumbling, "Could you tell me what I said that convinced you to ask me out on a real date? I can't seem to remember."

"Of course." She waited, though, watching Twilight's breathing slow  and feeling the strain of muscles stretched taut relaxing more easily under the firm strokes. She would tell Twilight later, when she was awake.

But the memories swam up through her mind anyway, and she welcomed them. They were happy, if awkward memories. Her hooves slowed, but kept stroking Twilight's back. They knew her body almost as well as Rainbow knew her own.

"R-remind me why I'm here a-again."

Rainbow Dash could barely hear Twilight over the rushing thump of the music, but her words filtered through all the same. She'd been on edge ever since Twilight started drinking heavily. Her fourth Thundercloud Blitzer rocked back and forth under her hoof, the ice glass drained already. She'd knocked back the entire thing in one long pull, then gone back to trying, ineffectively, to hide the fact that she was ogling the flutter dancer on stage.

She leaned in closer to shout at her, "I wanted to show you a good time, Twi. You know, Cloudsdale style."  Perhaps her cunning plan had worked a little too well.

"A goo-" Twilight belched up a cloud of foul smelling alcoholic fumes, but continued without pausing, "-oood time?" She pointed a hoof at the stage. "If I wanted to watch this, then-" Her eyes widened and the hoof came back to slap against her muzzle just as her cheeks puffed out. The smell of alcohol intensified and Twilight swayed out of the chair, her stomach heaving and rushed to the bathrooms.

Rainbow sighed and went after her. Her chances at a relationship with Twilight might be dashed, but she was still a friend, and Twi was going to have a rough night and an even rougher morning. She could be there for her, even though it would break her heart.

The sounds of retching greeted her as soon as she pushed aside the curtain of mist separating the main part of the Tall Tails club from the bathroom. She supposed it was luck, or maybe just the line at the door to the mare's room, that Twilight had run into the stallion's side, practically empty on fillyfooler night. There was still a stall at the end of the rows where more intimate sounds came, but it was the one open stall with a tail trailing out that held her attention.

Twilight was crouched over the hole in the floor groaning, her sides twitching and her wings loose against her sides. Even as Rainbow closed the door behind her, Twilight's groans were cut off with another retch. The sight of Twilight, the mare she had fallen in love with, in discomfort because of her, twisted at her heart.

"Twilight?" She didn't want to push herself any more than she already had. Why couldn't you just ask her, you dolt? The worst she could have said was 'No.'

"D-don't l-loooo-" Another retch, a dry heave from the sound of it, cut her off. "D-" She coughed shakily, spat and looked down into the abyssal hole.

"It's okay, Twi. I shouldn't have brought you here." Twilight's mane had mostly been spared from the mess that spattered around the edge of the hole in the back of the stall, but she was starting to droop. Rainbow pulled back her lovely mane as another series of dry heaves left her panting and shaking all over.

After she was done, her friend looked up at her. Trails of tears matted the fur on her cheeks and her eyes were red from more than just the alcoholic binge. Why was she crying? Rainbow couldn't think of any reason for her to be sad. Angry, yes. Uncertainty percolated through her mind, warring with guilt.

"Dashie..." Twilight choked, more tears spilling down her cheeks. Her sides heaved again and she bent to the hole in the floor again. When that passed, she stayed low, her head turned aside from Rainbow, and her body shook with silent sobs.

"Hey now." She held back the mane in her hoof and leaned forward to nuzzle Twilight's ear. "What's wrong?"

"Do-on't patronize me, Rainbow Dash." Her head came up, but she kept her eyes turned away from Rainbow. "I k-know why you brought me here. You know my secret..."

"Secret? Twi, I didn't bring you here to-"

"I like mares! There! Are you happy?"

"Wait... I'm confused, Twilight. Why wouldn't I be happy?" Her heart jumped, if she liked mares, then there was a chance. "I lo-" She bit her lip. She still couldn't say it. It would be too tacky, too strange to say it here.

Twilight didn't seem to notice the slip. "I couldn't stop watching her. She's so beautiful, so graceful. How could I not feel attracted to her?" Her wings fluttered, and she turned her head to look at Rainbow, but her eyes were wandering. Twilight was beyond plastered. "And the way she's always there for me, always ready to pick me up out of the dumps, always there with a prank or a joke right when I need it."

"Okay, now I'm really confused." Was Twilight talking about her? Or did she mean the flutter dancer?

"But she can't know that, Dashie. Rainbow Dash can't know that I feel that way about her." Well, that answered one question. "What if she knew? She wouldn't want a stodgy priss like me weighing her down. Egghead Twilight. Bookworm Twilight. What does that have anything to do with the daring Rainbow Dash?"

"Now listen here! I won't let you talk about yourself like that. Twilight, I lo-"

"No! I'm not done." And she wasn't. She retched again, but nothing came up. Panting, she spat again into the abyss. "Listen to me, Dashie. You can't ever, ever tell Rainbow Dash that I love her. This is just between you... a-and me."

"Twi-"

"Promise me! Please, Dashie... You're my best friend. She can't know... What would she think of me?"

"If you'd stop interrupt-"

"Plea-ea-ease, Dashie."

"This is the last time I take you out for a drink."

Twilight looked up at her, lower lip quivering and tears already starting to trail down her cheeks again.

Even if it was because of a drunken stupor, seeing Twilight in pain hurt. "Okay." Her hoof pulled Twilight's mane back a little more and she kissed her cheek. "I promise."

"Thank you, Dashie. You have no idea how much I appreciate you..." She hiccuped, and her eyes crossed. "How much I love you."

Oh, sweet sisters, Twi. You had to find the most unconventional way to express your love. "I love you too," she whispered, too quietly for Twilight to hear. There, she'd said it. It felt good.

Twilight closed her eyes and leaned into Rainbow's side. "I know..."

Rainbow glanced at her and sighed. Even with spittle flecked across her lips and the smell of acid and alcohol strong in the tiny stall, Twilight had never looked more beautiful. She probably wouldn't even remember in the morning, and that hurt. But... Twilight was her best friend.

"Come on... Let's get you back to the hotel. You and-" She sighed. "Rainbow Dash can go back to being best friends in the morning if you want, but Dashie needs to get you cleaned up, okay?"

"Okay."

The memory faded, leaving a smile behind. It hadn't been the most romantic way to discover Twilight's love. But, looking back on it, she wouldn't change anything about the way she had found out. Well... Maybe she would have kept Twi from having that last blitzer. Her hangover the next morning had been the stuff of legends.

Underneath Rainbow's stroking hooves, Twilight shifted as a stubborn knot of muscle finally relaxed. The wing covering her face shifted and her eyes cracked open for just a moment to look up at Rainbow.

"I love you, Dashie."