Romantic Getaway (Sort of)

Flash and Twilight have been walking for three hours. After their encounter with the Vaculists, they were stressed, and tired. Not to mention they were very cold from the constant cold weather. They kept their wings around each other to keep warm, but it wasn't enough.

"F- Flash... We n-need to start a f-f-fire. I- I'm freezing." Flash wasn't as cold as Twilight, but he still was. Naturally, stallions had more body heat than mares. He looked at his watch, it was getting late. Though, he didn't think the watch was completely spot on, since they were probably in a different time zone than Equestria, he figured it was about 1500, considering the position of the sun. He adjusted his watch to match the time.

"Yeah, I figured the same thing, let's try to find an appropriate tree to set camp under." Flash said. Twilight complied with a nod. Flash looked around for a good tree. Then, he spotted a perfect one. "Hey, right there. You think that's good?" He pointed it out to Twilight. It had just enough space between the ground and the leaves for them to fit under. Plus it had a lot of leaves, so it could block out snowfall. "I t-thing that's g- good." Twilight said, shivering. "Alright Twilight, you just help me find some dry wood so we can get warm okay?" Twilight nodded. They started looking around for any dry branches they could use.

Twilight found a tree that had some dry branches, she cut them off with Flash's knife. When they fell to the ground, it startled something. Twilight looked to see what it was. There was a silent white bunny sitting under the tree, and it came out looking surprised. Twilight looked at it, and it reminded her of Fluttershy's pet Angel. "Aww, aren't you j- just the c- cutest-" She paused for a moment. She just realized she is holding Flash's knife in her hoof. She was getting nervous...

Wait... no I can't... I must... No I can't!... You are running out of food... Twilight. NO SHUT UP! I CAN'T! She didn't notice, but she was slowly bringing the knife up. Just do it! No... I can't... JUST DO IT- NOOO! Before she could even recollect what she was doing she through the knife into a tree and it stuck to it. She was sweating uncontrollably. She looked to where the bunny was, and it was gone.

Thank Celestia it's gone... I could have... No, I wouldn't have. I was under control... I think. I need to talk to Flash about this... She concluded in her thoughts. She took a deep breath, and went back to gathering wood. Afterwords she went over to where she through the knife and retrieved it. She looked around and realized it was getting pretty dark. She decided she had enough wood, so she put it on her back and trotted back to the camp site. When she arrived, she saw Flash already starting the fire.

"Come on... come on... Ugh! What about..." He tried igniting it from a different angle. "Hey F- Flash." Her voice startled him and he dropped the stick he was using.  "Oh, hey. Sorry you startled me. Oh and you got wood, set it down here." Twilight listened to him and set the wood down where he was trying to start a flame.

Flash growled. "This thing won't start!" He set the stick and bark he was using down. "F- Flash? M- Mind if I try?" Twilight asked. "Oh, yeah sure, here. You know how to do it?" Flash asked. "Yup, I learned how to on a c- camping trip." Twilight said. She rubbed her hooves together and grabbed the stick and bark. She then started swiveling the stick into the bark. And then smoke started to appear. Twilight was going faster, and trying her best to concentrate. Then, there was a spark, and the bark caught fire. However, Twilight wasn't quick enough to set it down and her hoof was burned. She shot her hoof back and dropped the bark into the fire pit. "Agh! Jeeze..." Twilight started to hold her hoof. "You alright Twilight?" Flash knelt down to take a look at her arm. "Ow... Ow. It s- stings." She said.

"Here, just put it in the snow." Twilight complied and buried her hoof in the snow.

"That... Feels better..."

"Well... you did start the fire." Flash pointed a hoof toward the increasingly large flame in the fire pit. "Oh... good I can f- finally get w- warm."

Flash joined her under the tree. "Oh! I almost forgot, look what I found!" Flash took off his saddle bag full of the berries, and showed her what else was inside. She looked in to see cherries, in a perfect shade of red. "Flash... you found more food!" Twilight said, joyed. "Yup, found them while I was looking for wood. These are Frostfire Cherries." Flash said.

"Frostfire? Why are they called that?" Twilight asked. "These cherries grow in cold environments, hence 'Frost' and the're taste has a bit of a spice to them, hence 'Fire'. Here, try one. They are actually really good." Flash gave a couple to Twilight. She took one off it's stem and chewed it. "Wow, these are good! We finally found some real food- Oh yeah..." Twilight remembered her previous encounter with the bunny. "Twilight... what's wrong?" Flash seemed concerned. "Well... while I was looking for firewood... I may have ran into... a bunny..." Twilight said. "You thought about... killing it... didn't you..." Flash confirmed. "I did... And the scary part was it reminded me of Fluttershy's pet, Angel..." Flash scooted closer to her and put a wing around her. "Twilight, I'm sorry... This is my fault, I shouldn't have brought that scenario up in the first place." Flash said, feeling guilty. "No Flash... no it wasn't your fault. You were just warning me. I'm not mad at you, so please don't feel that way." Twilight reassured Flash, and she put her head on his shoulder. Flash could hear thundering in the distance. "Sounds like one heck of a storm." He said. "What do you think we should do?" Twilight asked.

Flash thought for a moment. "Well... we can't travel in it. We would surely freeze if we were caught outside while it was happening. So I think the best option would be to try and build upon our camp site tomorrow to prepare for it." Twilight nodded. "Sounds good... Ouch!" Twilight put her hoof on her flank. "Jeeze, it still hurts?" He asked. Twilight nodded. "Do you mind if I take a look?" Twilight shook her head and she laid down.

Flash unraveled her bandages, and looked at her gash.

"Hmm... it looks fine. Sometimes it hurts a bit when it's healing. Just needs some new bandages." Flash discarded the old bandages into the firewood pile for fuel, he took out some new bandages and wrapped her wound. "There... that should do it. I am going to start some more water."

By now, it was almost completely dark outside. Flash took out the empty bottle he had, filled it with snow, and set it by the fire. He returned to sit with Twilight, who was now chowing on some of the Frostfires. He pulled some out himself, and started eating. Flash heard Twilight yawn. Soon after he yawned too.

Wow, it IS contagious...

"We should get some sleep, it's getting late and we need to prepare for the storm tomorrow." Flash suggested. "Oh yeah... um... about that..." Twilight was blushing, and circling her hoof on the ground. Again. "Twilight?"

"Um... Flash... that last nightmare I had... was... I can't... I can't... I don't want to have it again..."

"Twilight..."

"I mean... I figured that um... maybe you could... uh..." She was blushing furiously now.

"You... what?" Flash was getting a weird feeling.

"Well... I think that... maybe if you uhh... H- held me tonight... while you were sleeping... maybe it would help?" Flash blushed and sat there with a blank face. "I mean... I would understand if you were... uncomfortable... but it's just..." Flash interrupted her. "Twilight... I am completely okay with it. I love you, so you don't have to feel so nervous about asking me that." Flash gave her a pat on the shoulder. And gave her a small nip on the cheek. "Thank you... Flash... It means a lot."

He trotted over to a suitable spot to sleep and laid down. Twilight did the same close to him, and snuggled up against his chest. Flash put a wing around her so she would stay warm. "Hey Twilight?"

"Yes Flash?"

"Was the whole nightmare thing just an excuse to cuddle with me, or are you telling the truth?" Flash asked with a smirk.

"What? No! I mean, not that I wouldn't like cuddling with you, wait no I would hate it! Wait! Agh! That's not what I meant!"

Flash chuckled. "Twilight, I know you were telling the truth. I was just messing with ya." He smirked again.

"Oh, whatever." Twilight playfully elbowed him in the chest.

"Well... Goodnight Flash..."

"Goodnight... Twilight..."