She heard a giggle. That adorable giggle heard in awkward moments you’d expect from a dork, like the unicorn who has given the mild sign of affection to her pegasus friend; the type of affection that surpassed beyond friendship.
As they moved closer, the air thickened around them, heat rising in their cheeks which turned into a subtle red hue. Hesitance increased as personal space decreased, heartbeats moving faster and sweat forming, leaning in to kiss…
~*~*~
“UGH!”
The sky-blue pegasus with a multi-colored mane, hence her name Rainbow Dash, had awakened from her dream of her friend: the lavender unicorn with violet eyes and a mane the color of midnight blue streaked with hot pink, Twilight Sparkle.
It wasn’t the first dream Rainbow Dash had about Twilight. This has been happening nightly. She didn’t care at first because her dreams started off with them as friends. The very first dream was Twilight watching the pegasus practice her stunts she would use to try out for the Wonderbolts and the following were of them doing activities a typical friend would do. More recently, the dreams had them in more intimate situations.
Frustrated, the pegasus lifted her pillow and smacked it on the top of her head. She had no clue why she kept having these dreams of her friend in this way, especially when this friend was such an egghead. She was a world-class athlete with enough agility to break the sound barrier and declared to be the greatest flyer in the land of Equestria. Twilight’s idea of excitement was reading a suspense novel cooped up in her library while writing a letter to her mentor, Princess Celestia. She was not cool in any possible way, and if Rainbow Dash wanted to date anypony it would have to be somepony cool.
The pegasus felt stuffy from being in her bedroom. “Some fresh air might help,” she thought to herself, stretching her wings for take-off. Rainbow Dash flew out of her house, which was sculpted by clouds and adorned with colorful waterfalls, and left her town of Cloudsdale entering the bordering town known as “Ponyville”.
It was normal of Rainbow Dash to use flying as a way to clear her head. There was nothing better for her to pass the time. The speed, wind, and feeling after a workout were a craving for her, releasing an extra-dose of endorphins and adrenaline. She didn’t realize how exhausted she was more than usual. All of her dreams for Twilight left her unable to sleep because of confusion and questioning why it kept happening.
The thought of Twilight herself was enough for Rainbow to feel her stomach twist in a knot. While the lavender unicorn was a dork, she was quite beautiful in shades of violet. Her eyes always showed depths of emotion, whether it was compassion for all the ponies she cared about or rage in which her eyes would burn in flames like an Olympic torch. Her eyes would sparkle of stars seen in the nighttime sky whenever she was happy, gleaming with joy, or sad, which tears would overflow and stream down her cheeks.
Wings rubbing as fast as a hummingbird, Rainbow tried keeping her mind in the present and remembering what it was she had loved about flying. If only she could clear her head of the lavender unicorn and concentrate better…
“RAINBOW DASH!”
Below was a pony in a pink coat with curly strands of magenta hair, tinted blue eyes and the fitting name Pinkie Pie. She was always excited to see her friends and never ran out of anything to say, talking at full speed when she needed to get her message across.
Rainbow Dash sighed. She didn’t hate Pinkie Pie, considering they claimed to be one another’s best friend. She just wasn’t in the mood for a high dose of energy from somepony as hyperactive as the bubblegum colored pony.
The pegasus soared towards the ground near her best friend, landing first on her back hooves then her front hooves.
“Eh, hey, Pinkie.”
“OH MY GOSH! I didn’t expect I would see you around this time! What are you doing right now?” She showed a too-wide goofy grin with animated joy in her eyes, talking much too fast for the pegasus to comprehend the words being thrown at her.
“I just thought I’d have the time to perfect my flying for the Wonderbolts, even if I can’t perfect it that much more,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk, hinting the pride she had in her talents.
“Really, why this late at night?” Pinkie Pie replied, increasing the annoyance Rainbow Dash had for her at the moment.
“Well, why are you still awake?” The pegasus squinted her eyes, showing how annoyed she really was.
Pinkie Pie didn’t waste a minute to explain her excitement and started talking at the speed of the sonic rainboom. “OH-MY-GOSH! I have heard today somepony new is coming, and I CAN’T SLEEP! I want to figure out where they live and throw them a HUGE surprise party along with some CAKE, COOKIES, BALLONS, STREAMERS, CONFETTI-and-AND-“ The pink pony paused from a lack of breath. “Will you come with me to Sugarcube Corner? I would LOVE for you to help me! He or she could be arriving anytime soon, and best friends help each other out! Right?” The bubbly pony finished talking, closing her eyes with a grin on her face and beaming for the expected answer.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, wasn’t up for helping. There was one thing on her mind, much to her dismay, and that was Twilight which frustrated her enough already. Why did she have to do what Pinkie wanted when she randomly popped by for help without regard that she wasn’t interested and preferred peace?
“Sorry, Pinkie Pie, but I’m busy at the moment.”
“Oh, come on please? It’ll be lots of fun, and I love when I get to spend time with my friends even if it is working together!” Pinkie Pie started pouting, tears forming in her eyes.
The pegasus groaned to herself. There was no way out. Bailing Pinkie was out of the question considering how easily she’d become lonely to the edge of losing her sanity…
“Okay, how about this: could I please have half an hour to myself, and then I’ll stop by Sugarcube Corner to help?”
“Okie-dokey-loki!” With that, the pink pony turned her way and headed off to the bakery shop, galloping with a bounce in each step.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, taking off in the sky. Peace and quiet once again. She focused on the sound of her heartbeat and wings rubbing together, trying to clear her head so she could tire herself out and go back to sleep. Looking at the sky, the pegasus noticed the mixtures of black, blue and violet swirled together. “Midnight blue. Just like the color of her-No-No!” Rainbow shook the thoughts from her head, concentrating on her flying and piecing together the path she had formed.
Stars glimmered in the sky, some large and close knitted, others smaller and wide-spread. Being this late at night, most of the homes in Ponyville had the candles blown out, allowing it easier to see the stars. While some had a steady glow, there were others flickering like the light of a firefly. “Never realized how much stars would sparkle. W-wait? Sparkle? I meant ‘twinkle’. Ugh!”
Realizing how distracted she truly was, Rainbow Dash thought of one solution: close her eyes to concentrate better. She had flown around Ponyville over a hundred times and had the map in her head. She could avoid all obstacles with her eyes shut.
At least she thought so.
With her mind still fuzzy from her thoughts, the pegasus flew off course, crashing into a tree. The impact with the tree along with intense speed was enough to knock her out cold, collapse to the ground, and slip away from everything around her.
~*~*~
Surroundings have changed but were still familiar. She was in another dream, and she wasn’t alone.
Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of her, but she wasn’t smiling or giggling. She looked rather suspicious. As if Rainbow was hiding something for her, and she wanted to find out.
Rainbow Dash felt herself shrinking away from the unicorn, confidence draining out of her and Twilight’s stare shaking her up, as if she was piercing through her skin.
“Rainbow Dash, why are you nervous?”
“I-“
“And why does this happen only around me? You’re buddies with Pinkie, competitive with Applejack, annoyed with Fluttershy, and you’re nervous around me. Why?”
“Because-“
The unicorn’s voiced soften, choked up and breaking. “You don’t like me, do you? You don’t talk with me, and you try to avoid me. Being around somebody studious ruins your image, doesn’t it?”
Twilight turned her back, trotting away and was about to fade to white, heading lowering with tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Twilight, please, don’t go!” The pegasus yelled for her friend, her voice with fear and concern. Tears started forming in her eyes too.
Fortunately, Twilight turned back to Rainbow Dash, eyes shining from tears and sorrow.
“I’ve always loved you Rainbow,” Twlight’s voice was very soft that the pegasus almost didn’t hear her. “I should’ve known it wasn’t possible. Since day one, I thought you were amazing. I don’t have the confidence and athleticism you do. All I am is an egghead. The nerd dating the jock never happens except in books, after all.”
Seeing the unicorn lose hope hit it hard for Rainbow Dash. She needed to comfort her friend. Going with her instinct, the pegasus flew as fast as she could to catch Twilight. Rainbow Dash moved in closer, placing her lips upon the unicorn’s mouth and wrapping her hooves around Twilight’s waist. Shocked, Twilight didn’t give a response but when she realized what happened, she returned the kiss.
The kiss started off softly focused only the lips but steadily went deeper. Rainbow Dash brushed off the drying tears on Twilight’s cheeks, while Twilight cradled one of her hooves around the pegasus’ cheek with the other stroking her colorful mane. Rainbow could feel her confidence flow back into her along with a hint of ecstasy. Twilight felt she was about to swoon, but restrained with Rainbow’s strong support around her waist.
Breaking off the kiss, the two ponies backed away slowly but still held each other closely. Rainbow Dash still had tears plastered on her cheeks, but her radiating smile showed she was happy. Twilight’s warm smile grew on her face; her expressive eyes showed the compassion, care, and dedication she had to her friends, especially the pegasus before her.
“I love you too, Twilight.”
~*~*~
“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, RAINBOW DASH! Are you okay?”
Opening her eyes, Rainbow Dash peeked around to see where she was. It turned out she crashed into the library, and the crash managed to wake up Twilight, who was galloping up towards the pegasus. She settled next to Rainbow Dash, placing a hoof around her with an expression of concern. It was then that the pegasus knew she loved this unicorn so much. Rainbow Dash was never that intelligent while Twilight was one of the smartest in Ponyville. She had strengths the pegasus wish she’d have. The way Twilight was dedicated to her friends and would go through depths of danger despite not being very brave made her… kind of cool.
Turning her attention to Twilight and smiling, Rainbow said, “Heh heh, yeah, I’m okay.”
