Twilight flopped through the front door of her house, her front legs having given out and her rear half getting a nice gust of winter breeze right up her tail, her hind legs not noticing that their companions had given up.
“So tired,” Twilight groaned. Her magically floating luggage fell to the floor with a loud thud, her horn giving up too.
Spike bumped into her rear and fell onto his own with a thump that was drowned out by the wind, the luggage he was carrying also tumbling to the floor. “Please don’t schedule us to stay two whole weeks at your parent’s house ever again,” Spike begged.
“Never again,” Twilight promised. Using her two working legs, she scooted herself further inside and away from the door. “Now shut the door before I freeze my flanks off…!”
“Y-you got it,” Spike said through chattering teeth, shoving the door closed with a tackle and hopping up to click the lock closed.
Twilight sighed in relief after the cold stopped blowing up her rump and rose back to all fours. “We’ll get it later,” she mumbled, more to assure the obsessively tidy part of her brain than Spike. “Let’s just relax for a little while.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Spike said, walking towards the kitchen with dragging feet. “Mind if I snack on some gems? I forgot that Canterlot ponies polish all the flavor out of them, blech.”
“Go ahead, but don’t spoil your dinner,” Twilight weakly warned as she dragged her own hooves up the stairs. No sign of Owlowiscious; probably out grabbing something to eat in the snow, the crazy bird. She hoped that he wouldn’t go too close to Fluttershy’s house. The threat of a restraining order on a pet was not a healthy thing for a friendship.
Twilight stretched her legs and wings, giving each joint a little crack before relaxing and shaking the snow off of her back as she trotted to her room. She didn’t even bother with her magic to open the door, just prodding it open with her nose. The first sign that something was off was the fact that the lights were on, when Owlowiscious never flipped on the lights while she and Spike were gone. The second sign was the fact that the guest bed had been taken out and set on the “ground” floor of her bedroom, not in the loft where she normally slept.
The third sign was, of course, the zebra sleeping in her guest bed.
“Zecora?” Twilight said in confusion, looking the zebra up and down. The striped mare had her head lying on an open book–a novella judging by the thickness of it–and she hadn’t even climbed under the covers.
Twilight couldn’t help but smile a little, listening to Zecora’s gentle breathing, before she trotted up and nudged the sleeping mare with her nose. “Zecora, get up,” she said with a small giggle. “I’m home.”
Zecora stirred in her sleep, muttering something near incomprehensible in her native language. Twilight was still learning it, but she managed to pick up the word “later” and the phrase “ten minutes.”
“Come on, Zecora, if anypony in here should be dead asleep, it’d be me,” Twilight giggled tiredly, gently pushing the sleeping zebra with her hoof.
Zecora only turned over, grumbling in her language again a bit louder. Twilight couldn’t be certain, but she picked out enough words to guess that the zebra was telling Twi to go get her flanks too sunburnt for her to sit for a week.
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “You are way too grumpy in the morning,” she muttered.
The door creaked open and in walked Spike, an amethyst in claw as he took a savoring nibble. “Ready for a nap, Tw- oh, Zecora’s here?” he asked, looking past Twilight.
“Looks like it,” she said, turning a bit to face her assistant. “I think she was waiting for me to get home. She’s not under the covers, and she fell asleep right into a book.”
“Aw, isn’t that just precious?” Spike teased with a mischievous grin.
“Oh, stop it,” Twilight huffed, her cheeks turning red. “Should I wake her up the fun way, or the way that’ll make her less of a morning grump?”
Spike hummed in thought, tapping his chin with the jagged shard of gem he was eating. “Why not both?”
“Both?” Twilight repeated, the gears in her tired brain straining to turn.
The young dragon snickered and waved his little clawed fingers in front of him. “A little tickle work with your wings should wake her right up~!”
Twilight’s lips curled into an impish grin. “You’re getting extra garnets for dessert tonight.”
“As long as she doesn’t know it was my idea,” Spike chuckled as he slipped back out. “I guess I’m gonna go relax in the kitchen. Have fun~!”
Twilight turned her attention back to Zecora with an evil grin, the zebra still blissfully asleep. Quietly, gently, stealthily, she climbed up into bed and stood upright, her legs on either side of Zecora and towering over her. She spread her wings and gave them a little stretch to limber them up before folding the tips down to Zecora’s sides.
Zecora started squirming as Twilight ran the tips of her feathers slowly up and down the zebra’s sides. Twilight quickly picked up the pace, frantically tickling Zecora and waking her up. Zecora devolved into hysterics before she could even get a word out, flailing happily and trying to push Twilight off as the guest bed rocked and creaked loudly under them with the struggle.
Giggling and holding back hysteric laughter of her own, Twilight folded her wings to her side after a few minutes. She laid down, pinning Zecora under her with their undersides pressed together. “Good morning,” Twilight greeted teasingly with a smile.
“G-good morning, dearest Twilight,” Zecora said, her face red as she tried to swallow down her laughter. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep here last night. I was waiting for you, to surprise you, when by sleep I was taken.” She giggled a little. “Though I guess in trying to surprise you–”
“-you were quite mistaken,” Twilight finished for her, her smirk growing wider still.
Zecora put her forelegs across Twilight’s back and held her close, a smile of her own forming. The alicorn hummed, but it quickly turned into a squeak of confusion. She found gravity reversed, her back against the bed and the zebra lying atop her, a smug grin suddenly on her face. “But the advantage is never yours for long in our little wars,” Zecora giggled. “No, my dear, the biggest mistake, hubris, was yours.”
Twilight’s face grew cherry red as she wiggled under Zecora, the mare’s surprisingly strong legs holding her down. “O-okay, you got me, hon,” she admitted, avoiding eye contact.
“My dear, I believe you’re beginning to sweat.” Zecora cooed atop Twilight, her eyes half-lidded as they looked down at the pinned alicorn. “But no, I haven’t ‘got you’ just quite yet…”
“Zecora!” Twilight hissed quietly, her head so hot she felt it was about to pop. “S-stop that!”
Zecora kissed Twilight’s nose, her wings stiffening a bit against the zebra’s legs. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop being such a horrid tease. But don’t forget that for me, topping you is quite a breeze,” she giggled.
“As if you’d let me forget,” Twilight mumbled, shifting shyly under Zecora. “I guess you’re perky this morning instead of grouchy, right?”
“Is it even morning still? I didn’t even check, I was so caught up in the thrill,” Zecora admitted, looking around for the clock.
“Yeah, it’s morning, though not much longer,” Twilight said with a yawn. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m so ready for bed…”
Zecora chuckled and climbed off of Twilight and the guest bed. Twilight sighed a little in relief and turned over, shamelessly admiring the zebra’s flank with a tired smile. Zecora looked over her shoulder and snickered. “Do you need help getting to bed, my dear mare? Or would you rather lay there all day and stare?”
“Staring sounds nice,” Twilight said, sleep seeping into her voice, “but I’d love somepony to lead me to bed, yes.” With a little giggle shared between the two of them, Twilight climbed out of the guest bed and leaned against Zecora. “Speaking of which… why’d you get out the guest bed? You know you’re welcome in mine,” Twilight half asked, half teased through a renewed blush.
“I did not wish to overstep my bounds, my fair dame,” Zecora said as she lead Twilight along. “Besides, I must admit that without you… it’s just not the same.”
“Aww, how sweet,” Twilight giggled, nuzzling Zecora’s neck.
Zecora playfully nipped Twilight’s ear as they got to the foot of the steps. “I’d say that you’re the one that’s sweet. Every day I see you certainly feels like a treat.”
“Oh, stop,” Twilight said with a giggle and wave of her hoof, starting the ascent to the loft. “If you’re trying to butter me up… well, it’s working, but you really should stop. Spike’s just downstairs and he’d never let me hear the end of it if he found us doing anything mushy or… heated.”
“Very well, I’ll stop the sap, but not forever. If we were to go to my house, however…” Zecora trailed off with a smirk.
“We can go to your house tomorrow,” Twilight said with an affectionate roll of her eyes. They both stepped into the loft and trotted towards the alicorn’s bed. “We’ll have plenty of alone time after I’ve recovered from this trip.”
Twilight crawled into her bed, pulling the covers over herself and nuzzling the pillow with a happy little moan. “Feels so good to be in my own bed again…” she muttered. She looked up to see Zecora wordlessly asking the most natural question in the world, and Twilight just giggled and nodded. Zecora beamed and climbed in behind her, hugging the alicorn firmly and pressing Twilight’s back against her chest and stomach. Another happy little moan escaped Twilight’s lips as she basked in the warmth of Zecora’s fur, the zebra’s chest rising and falling against her neck. The two of them faced the loft’s huge window, watching the snow swirl outside.
“How did the trip to Canterlot go, by the way?” Zecora asked softly with a nuzzle into Twilight’s mane. “I’ve seldom seen you so tired in the middle of the day.”
“It went fine, I guess,” Twilight sighed. “I shouldn’t have gone for two whole weeks, though. I thought that since I love going home so much for Hearth’s Warming, I’d love it even more if I stayed longer than usual, but…” She shook her head and nuzzled into her pillow. “I didn’t expect to want to come back here so badly after only a few days. I think… I think something deep inside finally started recognizing Ponyville as home, not Canterlot. I certainly didn’t last year, or the year before that.”
“The head is a stubborn thing, and has always been so. I think your heart accepted this town a long, long time ago,” Zecora said with a nuzzle, placing a hoof close to Twilight’s chest.
“I think you must be right,” Twilight hummed. “I love this place, and all the ponies in it, especially you. I guess part of me still refused to believe this was anything but a temporary assignment… even though I’ve been here for three years.”
Zecora let out a thoughtful little hum, the sort of hum she always made when something was bothering her. A little twinge of anxiety went through Twilight’s heart before the zebra actually asked, “I am glad you discovered so much about yourself, Twilight… but you did finally tell your parents about us, right?”
Twilight took a deep breath and shook her head. “No… I lost the nerve. I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “We’ve been dating for so long and I still can’t even tell my parents I’m with a mare.”
Zecora sighed as well, nuzzling Twilight’s mane more insistently. “My dear Twilight, of all your parent’s possible gripes, I am more afraid the biggest will be… well, my stripes.”
“I know,” Twilight said softly with a little shiver before cuddling closer to her marefriend’s warm body. “I know. And… I’m scared, too. My parents aren’t Canterlot nobility, so they aren’t as conservative or traditional, but they’re still Equestrian.” She closed her eyes and curled up a little. “I keep telling myself that I should expect it. It’d make sense culturally because much of our history has involved protecting this country from outside forces after we unified. It’d make sense biologically because we’re a prey species; herd instincts and distrust of difference is only natural for our evolutionary psychology. But that doesn’t really help my nerves… nor does it excuse their behavior, if it does turn out that way.”
“Please, my sweet, do not fret,” Zecora begged softly, holding her tighter still. “We do not even know yet.”
“But it’s unfair to keep you waiting like this,” Twilight muttered, ears flattening. “It’s unfair to both of us. Hay, I haven’t even told the girls yet. What kind of marefriend am I if I can’t admit what I’m feeling in public?”
“A mortal one, an earthly one, loving but heavily flawed,” Zecora said, “who still wants love from parents and friends, even if behind a façade. But it’s a desire that I can truly understand; few would want any less, here or in any other land.”
Muscles that Twilight didn’t even know were tense relaxed, but she shook her head all the same. “Thank you, but please… stop. I can only imagine how hard it’s been for you in this country full of ponies. I don’t want to detract from that. My problems are… trivial, compared to what you must have gone through.”
There was a bout of silence, the only sound between them their own breathing, neither daring to move. Time irrelevant passed before Zecora finally said, softly, meekly, “No matter how much that may be true, what matters most to me right now is you. Living here is harder on my kind, on that we can agree, but your happiness truly, deeply, means so much to me.” She gave Twilight’s neck a gentle little kiss before nuzzling back into her mane. “Your fear and doubt make me unhappy as well, so please, on my hardship or your advantage, do not dwell.”
“I…” Twilight sighed, a small smile finding its way on her muzzle. “Thank you… thank you so much. I know I can’t offer much in return, but if my parents have a problem with it… if anyone does… you can bet that I’ll be the first one to stand up for you, no matter what I might lose. Always.”
“That’s as much as I could hope for, and I’d never ask for anything more,” Zecora whispered softly, kissing into Twilight’s mane.
Silence came once again between them, though it settled over them instead of falling atop them. The only sounds were their gentle breathing, the muffled song of the white wind outside, the sound of their fur against the covers and each other as they shifted to get more comfortable, and the occasional little hum or squeak when there was a nip or rub between them. After what felt like a small little vacation in bliss, Twilight felt her eyes starting to truly droop.
“Spike’s been left waiting a while,” Twilight said, biting back a yawn. “He might already be asleep. Either way, make sure he gets in here in his basket, okay? We both need some proper sleep.”
“In a heartbeat, my sweet,” Zecora hummed, kissing her neck. She moved to climb out of bed, but Twilight cuddled closer.
“Not… not just yet, okay?” Twilight softly begged. “I missed your touch so much… just wait until I’m asleep.”
Zecora nuzzled the back of Twilight neck with a giggle and cuddled back in. “Whatever you decide, I will provide,” she whispered.
Twilight smiled and let out a little happy moan as she let her eyes finally close. Wrapped in the warm covers of her bed and pressed against the warmth of her lover, she felt sleep slowly start to take her. “I love you,” the alicorn mumbled as she drifted off.
Right before she faded away, she could’ve sworn she heard a short, sweet, uncomplicated, “I love you too.”
