Inspired by the episode “Attached” from Star Trek: The Next Generation, directed by Jonathan Frakes, and written by Nicholas Sagan.

Whitetail Wood swayed in the afternoon autumn breeze. The cool day tired as evening drew near. Bright red before deep blue, leaves danced lazily before a clear sky.

High above the treetops glided Rainbow Dash. She stood out as a bright blue form from above the red canopy, and as a dark silhouette from below the blue sky. She would loop back and around so her companion below could keep with her pace. Twilight Sparkle trotted along the forest floor below, her purple unicorn head stuck in a spellbook, and paying no mind to the swift pegasus shadow that swung back and around over her.

The two were hours out of their home in Ponyville. They could only hear the light rustling of leaves and the quaint chirping of birds. Not a soul would hear if they screamed.

Rainbow shouted, “HEY TWILIGHT!” She couldn’t tell if Twilight could hear her, so she started her dive toward her.

Twilight looked up to see a streak of rainbow falling to her. Rainbow Dash zoomed through the branches, sideslipping her way down. Twilight took some steps back away from Rainbow’s landing. Some feet from the ground, Rainbow Dash quickly pulled up—flapping her wings against the ground and blowing away a clearing of leaves on the forest floor. She then let herself fall casually to the ground, her hooves crunching quietly on the leaves. Rainbow’s gust having settled, Twilight lowered her hoof from her face, and the two approached each other.

“What’s up, Rainbow?”

Rainbow glanced around and back to see Ponyville far out of sight. “I dunno, I just didn’t think we’d be out this far.”

Twilight stuffed her spellbook back into her saddlebag. “How long have we been going for?”

“A couple of hours; I dunno.”

Twilight glanced around. “Oh wow, we are pretty far out, aren’t we?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who said we hadta be this far outta town.”

“I know, I know—it’s just much more convenient to test this spell out here away from town.”

“And you needed to see me in action for once! Just you an’ me! No distractions this time!”

“Well, it got me outside, didn’t it?”

“Hell yeah!” Rainbow gave Twilight a little nudge. “About time, you dork!”

Twilight blushed a bit. “It’s only fair, with me keeping you cooped up in the library and all.” Twilight retrieved her spellbook from her bags and started flipping through pages.

“Hey, you’re not keeping me cooped up anywhere.” Rainbow took a defiant stance. “I could stop coming whenever I feel like it!” An awkward pause. Rainbow looked back to see Twilight still engrossed in her reading. “But I don’t, of course.”

“Uh-huh.” Twilight didn’t look up.

“I mean, you got the only Daring Do collection in town, right?” No response. “And, y’know, hangin’ out with you is always pretty cool, so . . . ”

“Yeah, of course.” Half-heartedly.

“Are you even—”

“Alright then, I think we’re ready!” Twilight finally shut her book and went back over to Rainbow.

“Oh, right. So whaddo I have to do with this phycho-brain-thingy?”

“In English?”

“—and you don’t have to be doing much other than breathing really.”

“Well I’m pretty good at that.”

“All it means is that we’ll be able to talk to each other with our minds.”

“And you said this isn’t some mind-reading mumbo-jumbo, right?”

“Exactly. If this works correctly, then the only thoughts we will be able to hear are the ones we choose to send to each other.”

“So I won’t hear if something weird randomly pops up in your head.”

“Right.”

“I mean, unless you wanted me to hear it, right?” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly.

“Uhhh, right . . . And again, we’re only out here so we don’t get any interference from anypony’s minds.”.

“And so you can check out my awesome moves, right?” Rainbow added with a stylish pose.

Twilight assured her, “Of course, Rainbow!” She opened her spellbook again and briefly glanced at it.

Rainbow looked back to Twilight. She had her little nose stuck in that book again. Her horn jutted from that nerdy head of hers out of her mane—pointing to Rainbow. Twilight’s bangs hung long low and swung gently before her face—the little pinkpurple strands of her mane swaying before the little lights in her eyes—tiny dots like spittle twinkling and hiding the reflected words on the page of her book. All a malicious veil to hide the words of her mind.

“Alright!” Twilight shut the book. “Let’s get started!”

Rainbow shook herself to. “Uh . . . right!”

Twilight stepped forward toward Rainbow. Rainbow could feel herself blushing. Twilight shut her eyes and lowered her head—her horn started glowing. Rainbow figured she should shut her eyes too. For a moment, there was a true naturesilence—none of the clanking, clattering, muttering noises of the busy lives in Ponyville. Instead, a soft wind cooing in their ears. A bird tweeting somewhere. The leaves rustling above. A little stream trickling far off.

Finally, they heard the low hum of Twilight’s horn. Rainbow felt something—some sort of presence in her mind apart from hers was probing her—looking for something to latch on to. It prodded through her mind—poking into the tender folds of her consciousness. Suddenly, she felt a click—like the feeling of stumbling upon an idea—Rainbow sensed the once vague presence lock on to her mind and reveal itself as Twilight’s. Rainbow Dash and this odd sense of Twilight snapped together, and the rope tying their two minds together was pulled taut. She could feel Twilight’s presence in her mind like the feeling of looking into her eyes. This feeling lingered for a long moment of bubbly silence. It was the most intimate, yet so distant feeling—knowing her mind’s every curve, crevice, sound, and smell—yet knowing no thought, thirst, fear, nor fetish therein.

Snap! “GAH!” The two jumped when Twilight’s spell had finished.

Rainbow blinked. “Well, that was weird.”

“It certainly was interesting . . . ”

“So, how does this work, exactly?”

“Well, let’s see!” Twilight stopped to give it a try. “Um, Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Woah!” It was the most bizarre feeling. Rainbow Dash wasn’t hearing Twilight, but it somehow sounded like Twilight’s voice. Moreover, it was a voice in her head that she had no control over, and it was someone else’s voice coming from inside her, rather than outside. The voice didn’t seem to echo either, like she imagined it might—rather, it had a sharp, bright timbre and didn’t seem to reverberate at all.

“That was . . . awesome! I mean—it was weird, but—anyway, how do I do it?”

“Well, the book isn’t really clear . . . It’s sorta like . . . you think about saying something, but instead of actually saying it, you just think about it really hard. But you have to have the intention of me hearing it. Does that make sense?”

“Not really, but I’ll give it a shot!” “Um, hey there.”

“EEK!” Twilight almost jumped. Rainbow Dash laughed out loud. “That is weird!”

“Did I—” Rainbow was still laughing, “—did I freak you out?”

“No,” Twilight was panting now, “I was simply surprised, that’s all.” She could manage a smile.

“Man, that’s just awesome.” Rainbow tried to spook her some more. “Woooo! I’m in your braaain!” Twilight gasped but started giggling. Rainbow laughed again. “Wait, wait—check this out!” Rainbow Dash donned her best faithful-student-Twilight face, batting her eyes and everything, and thought in Twilight’s voice. “Oh dear, I forgot to write my report to my lesbian lover, Princess Celestia!”

“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight started blushing hard behind an embarrassed smile.

“Let’s see here . . . ‘Dear Princess Celestia, Today I learned some blah-blah-blah about some bullshit and how friendship is truly forever! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. P.S. I hope my tardiness means I won’t get any action upon my next visit!’”

“Rainbow! You know I’m not into . . . that stuff!”

“What, chicks?”

“ . . . Yeah, I guess. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but . . . ”

“Whatever, dude.”

“Just because you’re into it, doesn’t mean everyone else is, Rainbow.”

“Hey, what makes you think I am?”

“Oh, nothing really . . . I’m sorry; I don’t even know why I said that . . . ”

“Well!” Rainbow put on a faux-shocked expression, almost channeling Rarity. “Quite frankly, I’m offended that one of my closest friends would make assumptions about my sexual preferences! If she really wanted to know, she would only need to ask!” She looked back at Twilight and gave her a crafty smile. Twilight smiled back and giggled.

“Alright, Rainbow, I won’t bring it up again.”

“Don’t resist the pussy . . . !”

“RAINBOW!”

“Hm?”

“Oh! I almost forgot! We need to test something else with the spell.”

“What is it?”

“Here:” There was a pause. If you can hear this, then I screwed up the spell.

“Huh?”

“Did you hear anything?”

“No. What’s up?”

“I had to test whether we could hear each other’s regular thoughts.”

“The stuff you said we wouldn’t be able to hear?”

“Right. And it looks like the spell worked perfectly.”

“Awesome! No weird shit!”

“Well, I respect your privacy, Rainbow Dash; I wouldn’t force you to share your private thoughts with me.”

“Meh, you wouldn’t be interested anyway.” Rainbow looked down disinterestedly, and kicked some dirt with her hoof. There was a brief silence—undisturbed by conversation or the sound of each other’s thoughts. Their conversation had changed endlessly over the past minutes, but the sounds of the forest were the same. A soft wind cooing in their ears. A bird tweeting somewhere. The leaves rustling above. A little stream trickling far off. The cloudless sky, in its rich blue, held gently the whole of the forest in a red stillness. The two friends had some sense that this stillness was just the way things were supposed to be.

“Anyway,” Twilight opened up her saddlebag, “I need to take notes on our experiment, so if you could just wait—”

“But first—” Rainbow interrupted while assuming a take-off pose, “—you gotta see my moves up there!”

“Actually, that’d be great! I need to test the range of this telepathy spell anyway, so—” but with a dash, Rainbow had thrust her legs off the ground and taken off—tossing up clouds of dirt and leaves on the forest floor. Dammit, Rainbow . . . Twilight puffed a sigh upwards, tossing up the bangs of her mane. She took out her notepad, quill and ink.

Dash heaved and beat her wings and shred through the sticks and leaves—while the wind zipped and flipped past her ears and through her mane. She tore past the red treetops—shot straight up—then let herself stall high in the afternoon blue. She hung there in the sun for a moment, then let herself tumble up and around over herself—only to get the lift back under her wings and soar onward, laughing and cheering.

Twilight, meanwhile, had been detailing the success in her telepathy spell. She looked from her notes, pondering for a second, tapping her quill to her pursed lips. Then she remembered Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!”

Dash was still whooshing above the forest, her hooves stretched forward. “What’s up, Twi?”

“Can you hear me from up there?”

Oh right, her stupid magic stuff. Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I can hear ya just fine.”

“Great! Um, would you happen to know how high you are right now?”

Rainbow Dash looked down. “I dunno. About 200 feet?”

“Excellent! Thanks, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight turned back to her notes to record her data.

“Now that you’re done with that, you gotta check this out!”

“Rainbow w—” Twilight spoke aloud accidentally. “Wait a sec, Rainbow Dash—!” “Ugh!”

Dash was flying along, above the treetops, picking up speed. Her mind was elsewhere.

That time a couple of weeks ago. When I came over. ‘Oh hi, Rainbow Dash! I didn’t expect you this early.’ That big pile of books she had. ‘Sorry about the mess.’ Books everywhere. ‘Here, Dashie, I’ll get you something to drink—WHAA—!’ She trips. That plot in the air. Her legs spread out. I can see everything. That tight pussy. Almost right in front of me. Can’t say anything. Just laugh. She covers herself with her tail. She’s adorable. Later. That book. Spells for Sensual Satisfaction. ‘Strictly for research purposes, of course.’ She’s red.

That one night. ‘Y’know, I don’t mind you staying over this late, Rainbow. Things can get lonely around here after Spike goes to bed . . . No, I haven’t had a boyfriend, really . . . I’ve just been too busy for that kinda stuff, I guess . . . ’ She looks away. No one’s looking. I hug her. ‘Oh, Rainbow Dash . . . ’ She hugs back. ‘Always be there for me, will you?’

Rainbow dash was now tearing across the treetops, blowing away the branches in her wake. She took her path in a big circle so Twilight could still see. She brought herself lower and lower, until she could kick off on the tree branches and come back up. She did this again and again—bouncing up and down on the forest canopy.

“Rainbow, could you maybe fly a bit higher and tell me if you can still hear me?” Twilight had gone back briefly to her notes. Just for a sec. Surely she hasn’t started without me. Wait . . . “Rainbow Dash? Can you hear me?”

Dash was near top speed—then she pulled up—jerking her body backwards and heaving her wings back against her momentum—crashing through twigs and branches—until she took off near top speed again in the other direction—then upward—plowing through a cloud and dragging a trail of it in a huge downward spiral—back down to the treetops—and shooting straight up through the middle of the spiral—coming to a halt at the top.

Rainbow grinned, panting as she hovered in the high skies. The cool wind whipped about in her mane. She dripped from cloud water and sweat. She breathed it all in.

“Hey Twilight, you see that?”

Twilight had opened back to her spellbook. No, that’s not it . . . Oh! I hear her now. I’ll respond in a sec, just gotta record this . . .

Was she not watching? Maybe I went too high for the spell. Dash flapped herself lower—a bit closer to the ground. “Hello!? Twilight!?” Still nothing. She’s still ignoring me? Dash sighed with a little pout, and started her dive down to Twilight. Still calling her with her mind, Dash tried calling to Twilight aloud, “HEY, EGGHEAD!”

Oh, dear, gotta respond now . . .

No way she just said that—

Huh? “How—?” Twilight turned around to respond, only to take a tackle face-first from a pissed pegasus. They tumbled, Twilight plopping on her plot, Rainbow skidding skillfully behind her.

“What the fuck was that about!?” Dash demanded.

Twilight groaned, rubbing her head. “I should be asking you that!” Geez, Rainbow, that hurt . . .

“What’s with the dicky comments, then? And at least talk to me for real instead of your psycho brain shit.” Fucking nerd . . .

“Oh, well you’re one to talk, Rainbow.” Twilight struggled up to face Rainbow Dash. “Wait, what the heck? You just did the same thing!” Oh, I hope this isn’t a concussion . . .

“Pfft. A concussion? Well, serves you right, Egghead.”

“Wait, how—?” No way. “Oh God.”

Oh God. “No way.”

The mental link— “Something must have happened to our mental link. It must have happened when you were diving at me so fast. It’s somehow deepened, and now our minds are transmitting deeper brain activity—the activity we have less control over.” Not good . . .

Really not good . . . “So, you can really hear my thoughts now? Like, all of them?” Don’t think anything weird, don’t think anything weird . . . Crap, now I thought about thinking about it!

“That seems to be the case . . . ” Think, Twilight! There’s gotta be a fix . . .

“There better be a fix!”

Sever it! That’s all! “Calm down, Rainbow. All I have to do is sever the link, and we won’t have any connection between our minds.” Twilight lowered her head and her horn glowed, sparkled sizzled and flickered.

This better work. This is getting really weird . . . Just don’t think about her; she won’t find out. No, there’s nothing to think about! I’m not into that! Gah, don’t think about it! Stop! Telling myself to stop may distract me enough. Maybe she’s too distracted to pay attention now. Like always. She’s taking a while—I hope it’s working . . .

Oh dear, I’m not sure about this . . .

Crap.

Twilight released her magic and raised her head panting.

“You still hear me, Twilight?”

I guess it didn’t work.

Crap.

“Yeah, I heard you. I guess you heard me too?”

“Yeah . . . Whad’we do now?”

“Well, just staying here won’t do anything . . . ”

“And you don’t know any spells that could fix this?”

“I don’t think so . . . ”

How could she not know any?

There’s always . . . “I do know of a spell . . . It’s a specific kind of despell for neural magic like this, but it’s back at the library . . . ”

“The library? You mean back in Ponyville?”

“I’m afraid so . . . ”

“That’s HOURS from here!”

“I know . . . ”

“Why can’t I just fly back myself and get it?”

That’d be great . . . “I’m sorry, I locked everything up before we left. We’ll just have to walk.”

“God dammit, Twilight!” This is all her fault. What a waste of a day.

“Rainbow, it’s the only way we’re gonna get outta this mess!” She’s the one who screwed up the spell.

“How is this MY fault!?”

“Rainbow, stop! Fighting won’t solve anything!”

“You expect me to just ignore what you say about me!?”

“I didn’t say it; I thought it! I don’t have control over that!” I think.

“Yeah,” Rainbow scoffed and turned her rear to Twilight with a flick of her tail, “right.” They stood for another silent moment. A soft wind cooed in their ears. A bird tweeted somewhere. The leaves rustled above. A little stream trickled far off.

Twilight sighed. “Look, unless you have any better ideas, making it back to Ponyville is our only solution.”

I want her to think of a better idea.

“So we need to get going before it gets dark.” Twilight replaced her notebook in her saddlebag. I’m not gonna give her any more attention. With that, she got her bearings, then started trotting eastward to Ponyville.

Rainbow looked back to Twilight as she left. She heaved a bigger sigh. “Fine.” She galloped her way to catch up with Twilight. Rainbow joined her on her left and the two went along their way east through the forest. Their little rumps bobbed up and down as they trotted along the forest path. They trod upon crunching leaves and snapping twigs, making their way under the red vault of a corridor of maples, away from the setting sun.

Author's Note

I actually told myself I prolly wouldn't write another fic. Then I churn out this monstrosity.

I only decided to split it into "chapters" when importing it here, so I'm not sure if Imma keep it that way. I just thought it'd be nicer for readers so they didn't have this monolith of text to read.

TELL ME IF NOTHING MAKES SENSE BECAUSE THAT IS LIKELY.

Also I had trouble tagging this, and I have no idea what groups it might belong to. Anyway. This has consumed my life for way to long, so yeah. Also I still don't know who my audience is.