Of All The Things We Love

Rainbow Dash froze. "What?" she asked, desperately hoping she misheard.

"P-please don't make me repeat it," sobbed Fluttershy, desperately trying to hold it together.

"H-how?" asked Dash, not faring much better then her fellow pegasus. "How did he... y'know..."

Fluttershy just shook her head solemnly. "I- we don't know. All t-that we know is w-what Spike told us," she explained.

"Is Twilight okay?" asked Dash, immediately concerned for her friend, possible crush.

The question made the yellow mare visibly deflate even more. "She hasn't left her palace. Spike didn't make it sound like she was doing too well..." she trailed off.

Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "I have to go see her." She made to go by Fluttershy, ready to take off, but the shy pegasus held her back with a surprising amount of force.

"No, Rainbow!" she said. "She said that she didn't want anypony coming to see her. She wouldn't even let Spike in!" She gently pushed Dash back into her home.

"A-alright," she said defeated. "Thank you for telling me Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus gave a small nod, and after a brief hug, left.

Rainbow returned to her bed, and lay down. She felt broken. There was no possible way that her lavender friend would easily be able to deal with this. Not only had her brother, and best friend, died so unexpectedly, but she had her love rejected not two days earlier. And to top it all off, she was quite possibly pregnant.

That was a lot of stress to deal with. Not even to begin on how depressed the poor alicorn must feel. Rainbow didn't think that she herself would be able to live through that. Suddenly, she sat upwards as a horrible thought raced through her mind.

She didn't think that Twilight was the type of pony to consider suicide, but she had been surprised by her actions before. "Oh no, Twi... please be alright," prayed Rainbow as she flew out her window, and rocketed towards the massive crystal palace at the edge of Ponyville. While her feelings to Twilight were still uncertain, one thing was certain.

Nothing would be able to comfort Twilight, but there was one thing that could come as close as you could get. Rainbow Dash knew that in her heart, she had forgiven the Princess, and could qualm the fears the lavender mare had of forever losing a friend.

The cyan pegasus landed softly on a balcony, right outside the doors that she had shot out of two days prior. Fluttershy had known that Twilight was locked in her bedroom, so this was probably the only way in at the moment. Slowly and quietly she eased the door open, and peeked into the dark room.

The only source of light was a beam from the partially opened door, riding across the room, and coming to rest on the still figure of a winged pony lying on the bed. "Twi?" called out Rainbow as she hesitantly stepped further into the room. No answer returned to her. She trotted up to the bed, and gently shook the mare. "Twi? P-please answer me..." said Dash as she began to tear up, her worst fears seeming to come true. Then Twilight stirred.

"R-rainbow Dash?" said Twilight as she rolled over to face her disturbance. And she instantly began to apologize. "I- I'm so s-sorry..." she said, beginning to cry, uttering apology after apology. Rainbow just hugged the apologetic mare close to her.

"Twi, it's alright," she said softly, rubbing Twilight's back. "I'm here now."

Twilight's crying gradually slowed and she sniffled. "I s-said that I d-didn't want to see a-anypony," she mumbled.

Rainbow only held her weeping friend tighter. "Twi, you need somepony right now. And also, I should be the one saying I'm sorry, not you." She nuzzled Twilight affectionately. "I'm sorry, Twi."

The lavender alicorn's bawling came back in full force, soaking the cyan pegasus's shoulder. "W-why did he h-have t-to die?" she choked into the comforting embrace. "Why d-did they k-kill him?"

Dash was taken aback by the last thing Twilight spluttered. But she knew that now wasn't the appropriate time to question. All that she could do now was provide comfort. And in doing so, began to heal the wounds that she had created.

"W-why did you come b-back?" sniffled Twilight, rubbing her nose with a hoof as she separated from the pegasus. "Don't you... don't you hate me?"

Dash looked at her hooves fiddling with the bed sheets. "Do you want the easy version... or the long one?" she asked, hesitant to bring the subject up while her friend was in this weakened state.

"I just want the truth, Rainbow."

The cyan pegasus sighed. "Well, I went home that morning after... y'know. And I cried. A lot. I really just couldn't believe that one of my friends had used me. Especially you." Twilight's eyes teared up again at that, threatening to break into another bout of all-out sobbing. Rainbow noticed this, and hastily threw a wing around the mare while she continued.

"I couldn't help but be angry with you, and part of me wanted to reject you as a friend," she said sadly. As the alicorn's sobs came in earnest this time, she quickly continued while pulling Twilight closer to her side. "But, another, better part of me knew I could never hate you."

Rainbow looked down at the crying mare. "That part of me spent two days trying to come up with a reason for why you did what you did. It tried so hard, Twilight. And because it was trying to hard, I realized something." She lifted the lavender mare's head up with a hoof. "It made me realize... it made me realize that I may like you as more than a friend, too."

Part of Dash wanted to kiss Twilight then and there. To feel the touch of her newly found love's lips on her own. But she didn't think it was the right time. Twilight must have been thinking something along the same lines, because she leaned forward slightly, but hesitated, her eyes still teary, but a beaming blush creeping over her face. Rainbow somehow knew that a kiss would probably make Twilight feel so much better, and relieve some of the immense pain she must be feeling.

'Oh what the buck, we've already had freaking sex!' thought Dash as she closed the remaining distance, gently pushing the two mare's lips together in a loving, long kiss. 'Plus, she looked like she needs it...'

The lavender mare's eyes widened as Dash's lips pushed into hers. This feeling, she could live in it forever. It didn't take away the pain, but it dulled it to the point where it didn't matter anymore. Some naughty part of her meaninglessly wondered why she didn't attempt to kiss the mare two night ago.

Neither mare sought entry into the other's mouth. Both were content with the simple kiss, holding the two of them close together. As they broke apart, they looked into each others eyes, Twilight whispering a silent "thank you" to the mare.

"I-I suppose I should tell you about that night," mumbled Twilight, but the pegasus quickly put a cyan hoof to her lips.

"Shhhhh. Not now. For now, let's just pretend it never happened, alright?" she smiled softly at the relieved mare. "You can tell me later, after all of this is over. It can be years from now. It doesn't matter if you take the secret to your grave." Rainbow pulled Twilight closer to her, allowing the alicorn to bury her weeping head in her fuzzy breast. "All that matters to me is the present."

As Twilight gently drifted off to sleep, finally content in the loving arms of her new marefriend, she couldn't help but think one final, saddening thought.

'Why did it take the death of my big brother for her to discover her feelings.'

She couldn't bear the thought, because if that were indeed true, it could also be true that Rainbow's feelings for her weren't entirely genuine. For not the first time that week, Twilight softly cried herself to sleep.