The Secret Lives of Doors, A Locked Up Story

A gentle touch between Twilight's legs began to rouse her from a muzzy afternoon dream of her and Rainbow Dash sleeping together on a cloud.

"Mmmf. Quiddit." She kicked lightly at the source of the disturbance, but didn't hit anything. A quick peek revealed a rainbow maned head looking down at her, blurry and indistinct in the bright light shining down from the frosted glass bubbles in the ceiling.

"I needed to clean you up, but I didn't mean to wake you." Rainbow smiled down at her, maybe. She looked blurry. "But–" Twilight could hear the grin in her voice. "Now that you're awake, you wanna roll over?"

"Mmf... Fine." She opened her eyes wider to try and see where Rainbow was standing.

Too bright... She draped a foreleg over her eyes and curled the other against her chest. Two wiggles and another light kick later, she was settled on her back, hind legs splayed open and tail lazily drifting back and forth.

The touch resumed stroking, warm, fuzzy, and damp against the gummy feeling between her legs. It wasn't a clinical touch, but neither was it meant to arouse. Memories of other times and feelings just like it floated through her mind's eye. It was just Rainbow, taking care of her. She lay still, letting the feeling of being gently cleaned lull her further back into a half sleep.

Of course, Rainbow couldn't resist pressing a lingering kiss to the top of her marehood, tongue touching briefly over top of her clitoris. Her breath caught for half a heartbeat before she let it go again.

"Rainbow..." She wasn't sure if she'd been heard, but she wasn't willing to wake up all the way. Not yet.

She heard, barely, the sound of a deep, slow intake of breath, then the lips left and the cloth returned, sliding between her labia. Her ankles flexed, and she drew in a short breath, then let it out as a small murmur of pleasure with each stroke; once, twice, and then a final time before the cloth left her nethers. Rainbow kissed her ankles, and nibbled at her fetlocks before returning to her marehood.

Rainbow's tongue slid between her lips, following the same path as the fuzzy cloth, but deeper. Twilight shivered, her hind legs tensing, as the tongue traced down almost to slip back inside her, but stopped just shy and pulled back. She felt the heat in her nethers build again, but then faded away when the lips and tongue didn't return immediately.

"Mmf... Rainbow... Tickles." She smiled up into the air as a bead of moisture trickled its way to her tail. She didn't bother to lift her head or remove the hoof blocking out the light.

"Go back to sleep, Twi." Rainbow's smile was audible, and the kiss returned, along with a very slight warm touch from the tip of her tongue.

The cloth left her nethers then, and settled down to her tail, stroking down, then lifting and coming back up to brush the underside of her dock and repeat.

She didn't need any more encouragement. Rainbow's cleaning touches faded away into a dim haze, still arousing, but also deeply calming. She'd done the same, almost ritualistic cleaning for Rainbow plenty of times. It was a quiet moment when the two of them didn't feel the need for ribald passion, but could still enjoy each other's closeness and the shared intimacy of washing up after a night of carnal bliss.

She wasn't sure when the gentle cleanup stopped, but the sound of a rainshower starting in the bathroom brought her closer to waking not long after. That was Rainbow Dash's innovation, a raincloud tucked against the ceiling, constantly refilled by the castle's eclectic water system. It ran hot to cold, thanks to a magic spell of her own innovation, though sometimes the magic of the castle decided that it should make the water hotter or colder despite her spell. It certainly made showertime an interesting event.

Memories of another shower, clouded by the haze of drink and a hangover, began to percolate through her mind, and she found herself dreaming of that memorable morning, when Rainbow Dash had spent all night with her in the bathroom of some hotel, just being there to comfort her.

A weight on her back, moving slowly from below her wings to just before her rump, woke her. A faint sour taste in her mouth brought back scattered images of... of...

She couldn't recall them entirely, and there was a large gap in her memory. Dim memories of a dancer, her mare parts flashing in the strobing lights, surfaced and then ducked back into the recesses of a headache waiting on the horizon. There was Rainbow Dash, strangely quiet, sitting right next to her, barely touching a Thundercloud Blitzer. At least, that's what she thought it was. The name sounded familiar at least.

She remembered, faintly, seeing the dancer disappear into the flashing lights, then reappear not as the creamy colored pegasus, but as a far more familiar sky blue one with a rainbow mane and magenta eyes. Then another flash, and the cream pegasus was back, her legs parting again for another flash at all the mares in the crowds.

The roar of adulation competed for the rushing thump of her heart beating too loudly in her ears, and she remembered catching the attention of a passing waitress with her tail held high and ordering whatever it was Rainbow was having. The rest of the night passed in a blur of sky blue and rainbow colors. She wasn't sure just then if that was the color of her puke or the color of Rainbow Dash's mane.

She must have groaned, because the hoof on her back stopped briefly. Every part of her felt like it hurt, but her head was mostly clear. Faint memories of Rainbow's voice urging her to drink water surfaced and submerged again in the murky confines of her mind.

"Rainbow?" Her voice sounded hoarse, scratchy, and her throat hurt. "Where'm I?" And her tongue felt like it'd been dipped in that sap Minuette had used right before working on a chipped tooth.

"Shhh." Rainbow's softly pressed hoof against her head kept her from lifting it. "You're okay, Twi. I'm here."

Her mouth felt gummy as she became more and more aware of it, and the sour taste grew stronger. "What happened?" It was an effort, but she managed to get the words out clearly, though the effort pushed the headache she felt waiting in the rafters of her mind closer to falling over her.

"You want the whole sordid story?" Rainbow's hoof left her head and started to stroke down her neck, brushing through her mane. It felt amazingly good.

"Sordid? Are you sure you're Rainbow Dash?"

"Hey, you rubbed off on me. I actually used that dictionary you got me for my birthday... more than once. Sordid kinda stuck out. It sounded sexy."

"Yep. You're Rainbow Dash alright." She wanted to shake her head, but didn't. That headache loomed; along with more questions. "Just give me what's important. Did we..." She couldn't finish the thought and covered her muzzle with her hooves.

"We didn't. But you said some things, Twi. And I want to say a few things of my own now that you're lucid."

"Rainbow... It just sounds so odd hearing you use words like lucid." The whole situation felt surreal, like a fuzzy fever dream. But it was also too real, and the hoof on the back of her neck, just behind her ears, was too comforting for her to want it to be just a dream.

"This is going to be hard enough to say without you being snarky. Just let me get out my two bits and then you can–"

Twilight waited for the end of the sentence. When it didn't come, she lifted her head to look at her friend, jarring the distant ache a little more. "Can what?"

"Nevermind. Look." Rainbow sighed and resumed stroking down her neck. "Twilight Sparkle..."

She tried, and failed to grin at the formality. "Yes, Rainbow Dash?"

"I've had way too much time to think about this, so I'm just gonna say it." Rainbow fell silent again, and her hoof trembled on Twilight's neck.

Twilight looked closer and forced herself to focus on her friend's face. Rainbow Dash was crying. Rainbow Dash almost never cried. She wanted to say something, but nothing felt like it would be right. What did I say last night?

"Twilight," she continued finally, "I like you. I mean, I've always liked you, and you've been the best friend a pegasus could have. You were always there for me, picking me up when I was down, looking after me when my head got too high in the clouds. I mean, maybe you were a bit bossy about it sometimes, but you're Twilight. And I love that about you. I love all of you. I love you." She fell silent again, but it looked like the gush of words, barely comprehensible but also utterly clear in their intent, had unstoppered a well of deep feeling that Rainbow just couldn't, or wouldn't, stopper up again.

"Twilight, I more than love you. I'm in love with you. I want to be with you. It hurts so much being this close to you, and knowing that you don't think you're good enough for me. Twi, it's the other way around. I've been so worried..." What Rainbow would have said was swallowed up by a quavering gasp before she slumped against the wall, then slid to her belly, chin between her hooves.

"Rainbow." Twilight pushed herself up, wings flopping about for a balance that they threw off more than encouraged, and wobbled to her feet, then slumped again, letting her too woozy balance land her against Rainbow's shaking form. "Rainbow, I love you too."

Rainbow's breathing eased, and her wing unfolded to cover Twilight, something that she'd only done as a friendly gesture before. Now it felt like something more.

A thought came, What if all of those little wing snuggles were actually her trying to say something? Which was closely followed by, What did I say last night? She supposed that what she said wasn't all that important. She knew what she felt, and Rainbow Dash had offered her the other side of that feeling.

Rainbow had put her heart on the line because she trusted that Twilight wouldn't hurt it.

And she didn't intend to. Not in public, and certainly not in private. Not here. Not where brash, proud Rainbow Dash melted away, showing the scared mare that just wanted to prove that she was good enough.

"I love you too, Rainbow." She frowned down at her forelegs, and tried to lift one without toppling over. When all she could do was wobble, she used the most basic spell to nudge Rainbow back around to face her. Just using magic, even such a simple spell, threatened to bring the headache crashing down, but she had to. She kissed away the tears, then placed a light kiss on Rainbow's lips. "I'm in love with you. I have been in love with you. Somehow, I think I told you that last night."

Rainbow Dash's laugh told her that she had. Some of her lost confidence crept back into that quirky, smirking smile.

"You were so cute, Twi. You had me confused with Dashie and Rainbow Dash... And you tried to tell Dashie not to tell Rainbow Dash that you loved her. Oh, it was adorable." The smile faded. "But it broke my heart. To see you demean yourself like that, I mean."

"I'm so sorry." She tried to look away, but Rainbow brought her back around with a hoof hooked under her chin.

"Hey, it's okay now. I figured I had to tell you this morning. Or I wouldn't have the courage to, later." Rainbow paused to lick the side of her muzzle, then made a face. "You need a shower. You've still got a little vomit taste on your muzzle."

She laughed. "Okay." The headache that had been descending slowly crashed down, and she groaned, rolling harder into Rainbow's side.

"So... Does this mean we're an item now?"

She couldn't help it, she laughed again, even though the headache felt like a hundred angry pegasi were trying to recreate the second battle of Thunderhill in her brain. It felt good to laugh, in her heart.

"Yes, Rainbow."

Twilight snorted and stretched out on her back in bed as the happy dream faded away into what she remembered had been her first, and worst, hangover. Well, she amended, maybe not the first. Dad certainly thought it was punishment enough after I decided to try testing the effects of alcohol.

She giggled, rolling over to her side, and curled back up to tuck her hind leg over her muzzle. The faint, odiferous whiff of her dried arousal made her jerk back and sneeze, and the sound of the shower came drifting back into her awareness.

The shower'd been going for a while. She smiled to herself and stretched out; wings, forelegs and hind, and her back. A twinge from her spine jangled her all the way out of sleep and onto her side.

Maybe a hot shower will help. And letting Dashie catch up.

Rainbow was two points behind for the day.