The wind is bitingly cold as you step through the doorway of the library. Thankfully Rarity had been good enough to put a fur lining on your coat but that still couldn't have prepared you for the Equestrian winter. Trust the ponies, with their thick coats, to not notice how bad it can be. That and the heavy snowfall that's moved in while you were conducting your business, Rainbow Dash deliberating between reading right there and heading home for the evening.
"Whoah, I'd forgotten about this." The mare in question comes up beside you, tugging her blue and white scarf tightly around her neck. You'd expressed some concern about flying in such weather and despite her protestations about being fine, you still couldn't help but commission the garment from Rarity. "C'mon, Anon, I'll walk you home; no way you're gonna make it without my help.
True enough, you can barely see five feet in front of yourself but she should be getting herself home first.
Shucking the jacket about your shoulder, you turn and look down to the pegasus. "Dash, I'm fine. It's only on the edge of town, I'm not going to get lost." You punctuate that with a short laugh that you hope sounds more confident than you feel.
She scrutinises you for a moment after, rose eyes carefully looking your face over before Rainbow shakes her head and tugs the door shut after herself. "What kinda friend would I be if I let you try to get home in this?" She waves a hoof up at the thick clouds that blanket the sky to such a degree that it almost looks like night. "I should've warned you about this."
Experience has taught you that she can be stubborn when she wants to, especially in matters where her friends and their safety are concerned. So with no other choice left to you, you simply nod and hold a hand out indicating for her to lead on. It's a second before she does so, looking from you out to the blizzard and all the while snow collects on the wings tucked tightly by her sides.
The trek through town isn't quite perilous but more than once, discomfort grips you as you realise Rainbow might not know exactly where she's going either. Only sticking close and her constant stops to turn about and make sure you're still there ensure that you don't lose sight of her. Once, she flicks her tail up for you to take hold of but you can't bring yourself to. The expression that passes over her face is unreadable through the thick snowfall.
After what feels like far too long for the distance it is, you arrive at the path leading to the front door of your house. Despite the look you shoot her, Rainbow continues on along it with you until you've got your keys out.
Shivering, Rainbow smiles and nods towards the door. "L-Looks like y-you've made it s-s-safe and sound!" Which is more than can be said for her. "I-I need to-to... to get h-home before this g-gets worse."
And then she turns, slowly, baring her rear to you and extending her wings. That is the point where you reach out and grab a strand of her mane, whipping in the wind. "Dash, for God's sake, you can't be serious about flying into that squall!" You have to yell it to her, to be heard over the violent gusts.
Rainbow looks about herself; to you and then to your house and back. "I-I can't j-j-just stay o-out here!"
Cursing under your breath at her bull-headedness, you turn back to the door and jam the key in. It takes some jiggling--your hands are shaking enough to rattle the key in the hole--but you manage to twist it and throw the door open. A flurry of snow follows in its wake and you wave the pegasus towards the opening.
"Dash, c'mon, you can stay with me." Unlike all those other times.
Rather than rushing in out of the cold as you expected, Rainbow continues to stand there and lightly shakes her head. "I c-c-can't!"
"This storm isn't going to let up any time soon, you know that!" You bellow, struggling to hold the door in place. "Just stay the night with me, just until it clears!"
A deep frown creases Rainbow's brow. She looks off in the direction that you think her cloud-home may lie--it's impossible to tell through the storm--and then suddenly turns and leaps through the doorway. You're left to follow after, slamming it shut tight against the wind and cold and to look upon Rainbow still covered in snow and shivering.
Between a mix of she shaking herself and you rubbing her down, gently, the worst of it is knocked off and, still shivering, you lead her into the living room. Thankfully you'd been able to have a home built to better service your needs, which included better insulation than most ponies required. So you sit the chilly pegasus down at the front of the fireplace, promising to return quickly while you get some firewood and tinder. Your snow-covered coat is discarded but it takes a moment longer for the chill to leave you.
A part of you is ashamed to say you rather like the prospect of an evening with just the two of you together. There are so many times when her duties or practise--which you, admittedly, did watch from time to time--or even her other friends call her away. Even today, going along with her to pick out the latest Daring Do turned into a mammoth task as you were cajoled into trying the series too. Ultimately, it meant that you couldn't make the weekly trip to the Hay Bale for drinks.
"H-H-Hey." It's almost unnatural to hear Rainbow chattering like that and even unsettling to see her shiver. The sight is softened somewhat by the smile she wears. "Th-Thanks for letting m-me stay."
With the tinder in the grate, alight and flames slowly rising, you pat her withers and grin back. "Friends help each other out, right?" And she was a good friend.
Though there's a brief pause before Rainbow responds. Her eyes meet your own and hold the gaze for a moment. "R-Right."
"Hang on one second." It's amazing that you didn't think of this first.
"Hey... Wh-Where're you going?"
For a quick run, you think to yourself. That's all it is to the top of the stairs and then a few steps into the airing cupboard where you can grab a clean blanket that's been freshly washed. It almost smells like her - that same light, summery scent that follows rainfall. Petrichor, Twilight called it; you had a different word for it.
Taking up the slack from your absent-mindedness, Rainbow's moved a couple of the logs into the fire where they've started to burn already. She's still shivering but thankfully not quite so much as before and while you make no secret of walking to her, Rainbow still jumps lightly when you lower the blanket around her.
"Oh w-wow; thanks, Anon!" Blue hooves clasp around the fabric, pulling it tight to her shivering body.
Kneeling down next to her, you can already feel the warmth rolling out from the grate.
"There's just one last thing missing." The pegasus looks at you blankly, pulling the blanket up around her chin. "A nice hot cup of glögg."
Rainbow's ears prick up at the sound of an unusual word and her lips work for a few seconds wordlessly. "What... W-What is that?" She's barely chattering now though a light shiver still runs through her now and then.
"Hot, spiced port. I figure since we didn't get out to the bar, I'll bring it to us. Sound good?"
Rainbow grins at you, nodding. "S-Sounds awesome!"
Grinning, you get back up and make for the kitchen. Thankfully Equestria has a close enough approximation of cloves so this should work. The rest of the spices you've picked up over time at the market and a couple from the zebra that makes her home in the woods the rest of the ponies avoid. Her voice is always slow and soft and the rhymes she speaks in are... oddly captivating.
The wine in the pot slowly heats as you stir and you keep an eye to Rainbow who still sits at the fire with the blanket tight to her body. The smells of the drink and the spices fill the air around you in a sort of intoxicating scent that's sure to apeal to the mare. All the while, your spoon makes a soft sound as it swirls through the mixture and grinds against the pot.
When it's finally at the right temperature, you grab two mugs and fill them. This time, she looks around as you enter and it's with a smile; unable to hold your own back, the two of you end up grinning widely at each other until you pass Rainbow the mug which she holds tightly in her hooves. There's no reason to sit on one of the chairs so you get down next to her, enjoying the warmth.
"Hey." Her voice sounds calmer yet more assured now. "Why don'tcha get under this?" Rainbow holds out the blanket, indicating what she wants you to do.
You hesitate a moment before taking hold of the edge she proffers. Should you be doing it? There's something unmistakably intimate to the act but then again... She's your friend. She cares about you, naturally.
So smiling, you take hold of the blanket and pull it over your shoulders as you move in next to her. And it may well have simply ended there if you hadn't felt how cold she was through your shirt. There's a light shiver running through her body, not enough to see but this close you can feel it.
It's because of that, you tell yourself, that you extend an arm around the mare and pull her close to your warmer body.
"Anon?" Rainbow looks up to you with a little indecision in her voice.
"Just getting you warm. The coat let me weather that better than you." Your grip around her loosens slightly. "But if you'd like I'll stop."
There's a moment of her looking up to you, that unreadable expression still on her face before she turns back to look at the fire. "Nah." More surprising is how you feel her lean against you slightly.
Rainbow takes a sip from her mug, a little sigh of pleasure coming from her along with a smile to you. You take a drink from your own, noting that the spices aren't too overpowering. They just add a little strength to it, a little warmth that would be missing otherwise.
"Hey Anon?" The pegasus swills the wine in her mug, not looking back up to you but instead watching what she's doing. "Have you ever, um... thought about settling down here?"
"What, and have the Cutie Mark Crusaders practically shack up here, looking for advice?" The two of you share a laugh at that. True enough, the girls had picked up a habit of seeking ideas from the alien who was sure to have some they could never have thought of. But then in this weather they'd be home among their own families.
Rainbow takes another sip from her mug, leaning against you more freely. "Really, have you?" Her voice is quieter this time but the look she gives you isn't at all as relaxed as the laugh you've just shared.
"Where's this coming from?" You'd never made any indication that you were moving anywhere. why would you?
"I dunno." Her gaze shifts to the fire, watching as a log cracks and splits, sparks gushing from it. "I guess I was just thinkin' it's really great havin' you around and I didn't want to lose that. Y'know?" She's still watching the fire but there's an intentness to her gaze that's out of place for the sight.
"Yeah." You take another sip, considering your life here.
It's been one hell of a ride with her; more excitement from her activities in one weekend than you'd have found in an entire month back home. Funny how you can think about that now without those old pangs of regret but then that was her doing, as well. She was always there to pull your mind away from it and keep you in high spirits. So then... Did you owe it to her to stay here, for all she's done? Did you owe it to her to maintain this?
"Alright, let's say I do stay here." She looks up at you, not quite revealing her thoughts. "Would you make plans to find some hunky pegasus stallion and make for Cloudsdale?" You instantly recognise that off-kilter set of her mouth. "What? Applejack has what'shisname, you're probably going to find some cute stallion soon, too." Not that she wouldn't deserve it.
"Nah, I don't think I could just do that." A tiny grin tugs her lips back as she turns to the fire. "Really not my type."
Sure. She's got too much in her to just settle down like that. You like to think you understand that better than most ponies.
Suddenly, the wind picks up from outside and batters snow against the window. The sound rings through the small room and the two of you instinctively pull the blanket tighter and lean in just a little closer to the fire. For all its bad points, it's still nice to be able to enjoy a little time here with her, like this.
Still, maybe it's just the weather or maybe she's tired from the day but the conversation between you is unusually subdued. At least that's your summation.
"Got your eyes on anypony?" May as well test the waters, see if she really is considering it ore not.
You weren't expecting her to look up quite so suddenly, though, nor to near slosh some of the wine over the edge of her mug. A light blush plays across her cheeks in a way that you might call cute. Even you had to admit she had a certain attractiveness.
"Well." She starts in an exaggerated manner. "There is this one guy but... Eh, he's kinda oblivious to it."
The scents of clove and anise, cinnamon and vanilla rise from the mug. It's an interesting play of delicate flavours that come together to form something wonderful. A little like her, in all she is and does. from the way her rainbow mane and tail perfectly complement her coat to how her brash attitude contrasts against the way she can just sit and read with you and Twilight.
"Well, have you tried telling him?" You can't keep yourself from smirking at the way she splutters suddenly.
"Dude, Anon, I can't just come out and say something like that!" Frowning, Rainbow repositions the mug between her hooves, shifting her weight from side to side.
"Why not?" You don't like poking her so but sometimes, with her, you have to. "Do you think he'd reject you?"
There's no answer. For a moment, you're worried you may have touched a nerve or worse still, insulted her with that. You want to ask again, try to find a better, more delicate way of phrasing it but it eludes you.
"I... I don't know." It's not often she bares herself so plainly but you recognise it when you hear it.
Rainbow is looking back to her mug again, scrutinising it but her eyes keep floating up towards the fire. You can practically feel the shift in the air.
"I'm just." She sighs, shuffling and leaning back against you. "What if he thinks I'm weird? Or some kinda... freak?" That last word comes out as a squeak and Rainbow retreats down into herself, moving further in against you.
An ember splits off from the log, red like the streak of colour in her mane. It's mesmerising in the same way and you can't keep your eyes off it as you respond to her.
"Do you really think anyone would say that about you?" You give her a gentle squeeze, catching her eyes in your own. "You are an incredible pony and any stallion would be lucky to be the one you love."
There's another long pause but it doesn't feel quite as awkward. Rainbow doesn't actively keep her eyes off you, you can see her thinking something through. This is the kind of silence you don't want to interrupt.
"What if it isn't a stallion?" Rainbow takes a hurried sip from her mug, looking at you from the corner of her eye.
"What if it isn't?" She doesn't respond straight away but sits there, slowly swirling the rest of the wine in the mug.
"Would you still think I'm not a freak?" There's more confidence behind her voice than the earlier questions but her eyes still won't meet yours.
The question tumbles about in your mind as you search for an answer. You'd like to be able to say it's difficult, that you're not just dancing around the obvious. That the ethics are too complicated and too rigid to be so easily figured out.
"Never."
But then it's only ever as complicated as we make it for ourselves.
Rainbow shuffles against you suddenly, slowly unfurling a wing to extend it over your back. She's heated up a lot in the time you've been talking and having that part of her resting against you is a pleasant sensation. And it's not the first time she's done this, you aren't jumping away in surprise or shocked concern for how it might look.
"What if..." She clears her throat, the wing coming tightly around you. "What if it was you?"
You look back into the fire to see that the ember you'd watched earlier is now gone. It's faded, fallen behind a log. The red streak of colour is still in her mane.
"Would I think you're a freak?" Both of you speak quietly now, now that the fire's gone down somewhat.
There's a pregnant pause, one where you feel Rainbow's wing trembling lightly on your back. She takes a breath, moving a hoof until you feel it gently bump against you leg.
"Would you reject me?"
Ah. That old dilemma again. Relationships between ponies and the other species of this world aren't unheard of but they're not exactly commonplace, either. Enough so that it's upsetting her. So this is... An attempt to find some common ground? And then you have to ask yourself: would it be worth crushing her fragile spirit for...
For what? Would it be so terrible if she did say she loved you?
"I couldn't say no."
A long, shuddering breath comes from her and then she pushes in against you. It's not contact that you care to shy away from, nor she when you lean just as readily against her.
Under the blanket, with the snow still falling outside, the two of you stayed there that night. None knew of the warmth that passed between you and none needed to. The smiles you both wore so often together were rekindled, silence moving in while the two of you were content to merely be together.
