Cold Air

by FabulousNight

Rating: teen
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Romance, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2202

Dash and Twilight are just trying to live their lives, but when Equestria is in disrepair it's hard for any pony just to do that. Will love tug them through this rough patch?

Equestria is in bad shape, many are unemployed and Rainbow & Twilight are no exception. This is a short day in the long lives of two ponies who are madly in love.

Written for the competition hosted by The Abyss.

Published 2015-08-04 20:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-04 20:10:02 UTC

And a Warm Heart

Rainbow Dash woke up on a rough mattress to a cold air and the sound of rain hitting hard against the wooden, faded red framed windows. She moved her cyan body around under the worn Wonderbolt covers to search for a warmer spot. She found the warmth she was seeking emitting off of another pony in her bed, she gently pushed her hoof up the other pony’s back, moving it around onto the other pony’s front, she then moved her legs up to meet the other ponies and squeezed slightly.

Rainbow closed her eyes and sighed. The radiators hadn't worked for months, the kitchen was almost bare of food, and to top it all off the rent on the small, one bedroom flat was far past overdue. Rainbow Dash was the sole breadwinner, and she wasn't doing that awesome of a job of bringing money in. But who could blame her? The economy wasn't doing too great right now, meaning many ponies were either unemployed or in dead-end jobs and earning very little. It truly was a dark moment for the two ponies. But, Dash had always said that no matter what happens, and as long as they enjoyed each other's company, nothing could affect them.

After a while, the other pony woke and shuffled herself in Dash's grasp to face her, looked at Dash with her big dozy lavender eyes and said, with a drowsy voice, "Good morning, my beautiful Dashie".

Rainbow Dash beamed, and touched her nose to her lover's. She then looked into her eyes and said cheerfully "Good morning, Twi," Dash moved her hoof through Twi's mane, playing with it, "So, what do you wanna do today?" Twilight thought about it for a few moments.

"I don't know, maybe reread a few Daring Do books?", Twi responded.

"Sounds awesome, I'll just go get the book", Dash said softly, before kissing Twilight and slouching out of bed and moving towards the door in the corner of the dark room, treading on various objects along the way.

Rainbow Dash trotted out of the small bedroom, flicking her long frayed tail to close the door on the way out, and went into the bathroom. Looking into the broken mirror, which hung on the roughly plastered walls, Dash watched her eyes with her own, just wishing she had a better life. She then took some cold, suspicious looking water from the rusty taps and splashed it at her tired face. She grimaced as the cold water bit at her fur and dripped down onto her chest. Dash pulled a damp towel from wooden towel rack behind her and wiped her face slowly. As she brought the towel down from her eyes, she saw a purple pony behind her. Twilight proceeded to resume the earlier embrace and they just stayed there, hugging each other in silence. After a few minutes, Twilight broke the quiet by asking "How about we go read that Daring Do now then?"

Rainbow replied with a simple and short "Sure."

They spent the first half of the morning lying in bed, holding each other, rereading one of their favourite Daring Do books. For this short time, they were both content and warm, not because the radiators had been fixed, not because the sun had decided it would shine, but because they loved each other and they were together, doing something they both loved. Reading.

In the second half of the morning, the two ponies found themselves indulging in one of their favourite past times; a pile of Daring Do books by the side of the bed, and the strong embrace of a loved one. Around one o'clock, Twilight's stomach began to rumble. This caused Dash to giggle, which in turn caused Twilight to grab a pillow and softly smack Dash in the face with it.

Dash narrowed her eyes, and then said, very boldly, "This is war!" before taking a pillow herself and lightly attacking Twilight with it, down feathers flying out of the pillows. This carried on until Rainbow Dash's stomach started to rumble, and when Rainbow Dash's stomach rumbles, you don't want to be in a 3 mile radius because it rumbles. She ruffled her feathers awkwardly and began to blush. Hiding her red cheeks, she ran to the kitchen shouting "Beat you to the sandwich room."

Twilight had no clue when it came to cooking and neither did Dash, hence the name 'sandwich room', because almost all that was ever made in the kitchen was anything-we-have-in sandwiches. Today's sandwich was to be a lovely concoction of cheese and salt & vinegar crisps. They sat down on the carefully placed red blanket on the cold concrete floor of the kitchen to create a 'Wonderfully authentic picnic feel', as Twilight stated. The rain still hitting hard against the windows, the radiators still broken, the lights of the kitchen flickering slightly, but they still made the most of it. The two ponies sat on that red blanket, chewing their food, talking between bites. Occasionally there would be a chirrpy giggle and a huge smile.

Rainbow Dash finished her spectacular sandwich first and was also the first to burp, causing her to blush slightly. Twilight thought this was really sweet, leaned over to Dash, held her cheek with her hoof.

"I love you so much," she said sweetly, and kissed her lips gently before Dash could reply. Dash sunk into the kiss and put her forelegs on Twilight's shoulders. The cyan pegasus broke the kiss and with her forehead touched Twilight's forehead and rubbed noses.

"I love you too," Dash replied while looking into Twilight's eyes. A feeling of happiness shook Twilight's feathers slightly.

After cleaning up the 'picnic' together, they thought it would be a good idea to play a game of Battleclouds. It was a game of wits, seagulls, and, of course, clouds. They sat either side of the ripped blue settee in the living room with the game placed between them. Rainbow Dash was extremely talented at Battleclouds and had never genuinely lost a game. She was also highly competitive, it was only a relief that Twilight was the exact opposite when it came to competition, otherwise there would most likely be a few more arguments.

After the first game, which Dash won quite quickly, Twilight wondered into the kitchen, picked up two plastic wine glasses and a bottle of cheap red wine, poured the wine into the glasses and brought them back into the living room. Twilight and the glasses of wine were greeted with the words "That's great and all, Twi, but where's the cider Applejack left us?"

"You drank it all, you ciderholic," Twilight replied in a jovial tone, "all we have left is wine."

"Fine. I'll drink the fancy alcohol," Dash responded, shooting back on the settee.

As the clocked ticked on, a few hours had past, Twi had drank two glasses of wine, whereas Dash had stopped after her first sip and gave it to Twilight because it was, as she stated, 'Terrible'. Dash had made a mental note to ask for a top-up on Applejack's cider. Five games had been played in those short hours. Obviously Dash had won them all but Twilight didn't care. Dash was happy and that was all that mattered to her, but she would fake a slightly competitive behaviour to make it more enjoyable for Dash and herself.

Twi sent Dash to go and spend some time elsewhere and not to come back until she was called as she wanted to prepare a surprise. After the cyan pegasus had rushed away, Twi proceeded to take out a book which she had hidden in kitchen, behind the microwave. The book was quite large and very thick, the cover was brown, and it was titled 'Bite Me' and the author's name was 'Tu-Maney Cooks.' Twi's unicorn lit up with magic, moving the book onto the counter and opening it to the recipe for spaghetti and a simple tomato sauce.

Throwing the badly chopped tomatoes into a saucepan with some vegetable oil, she turned the gas on full and left it, as it said, for ten minutes. Sitting in the living room, waiting for the the ten minute mark, with an egg timer in her purple magic, watching it intensely. It was only until smoke came billowing from under the marked wooden kitchen door that she began to worry. Twi rushed into the kitchen, moving through impenetrable black smoke, towards the hob to turn the gas off. Twilight then opened all three windows in the kitchen, allowing drops of rain to fall on the surrounding area, including that one window which was so high nopony ever bothered to open it, even with wings. She closed the kitchen door to make sure Dash would not see it.

After the smoke had dissipated, she evaluated the situation and knew that she was in trouble. The tomatoes were absolutely lovely on the top side, but could be likened to charcoal on the other. Twilight decided the meal was a bust, but she had promised Dash a surprise. She rummaged through the cupboards and found a can of tomato soup. It was her only choice.

Twilight opened the can of tomato soup, poured it into a bowl, put it in the white microwave and turned it on. While doing this, she made the spaghetti, which, fortunately, was much easier. The microwave turned to 00:01 as Twilight rushed to prevent it from beeping, as she didn't want her lover to know she had cheated. Twi divided the spaghetti onto two plates and slowly poured the tomato soup onto the spaghetti, attempting to make it look presentable. Suffice it to say, it didn't work.

Twilight reluctantly called Dash back. She had stacked two wooden boxes in the living room, lit a small tea candle in the middle and moved two chairs either side. The meals were arranged on the table with a glass of cider at the side of Dash's meal and a glass of wine at the side of Twilight's. Dash came into a mood lit room and saw the placing.

"Did I miss something?" Dash questioned, looking quite confused.

"It's our anniversary," Twilight said quite happily, "so I thought I'd surprise you!"

Rainbow Dash never remembered their anniversary without being reminded, but every year Twilight would use this to her advantage. Twi had a thing for surprising other ponies, just seeing their faces light up. It made her feel completely satisfied. Dash, who was now starting to tear up, hugged Twilight tightly, her forelegs around Twilight's neck. She whispering into her ear "You always remember." Twilight's got another shock of happiness flow through her, making her feathers shake again.

They sat at the improvised table. Dash immediately noticed the cider but she didn't question it. She just picked it up and took a sip, gazing at Twilight knowingly with a little smile. Then came the fun part, the food. Dash was the first to shove a large quantity into her mouth using her hooves as food plow. She made the usual 'om nom nom' noises as she ate. Twilight giggled quietly to herself as she also took some of the food and ate, thinking to herself 'Not bad.'

Rainbow, forgetting her manners, asked, with her mouth full, "Did you really make this in the sandwich room?" to which Twilight could not lie and replied with "No, I tried to, but burnt the tomatoes." Twi looked apologetic while Dash just burst out laughing repeating the words "Burnt the tomatoes." Twi just glared at Rainbow so Rainbow tried to stop, apologising to Twilight while she was still giggling slightly.

The both enjoyed the meal and Twilight seemed a bit relieved that she wasn't lying anymore. The was no music, just the sound of their giggles, Dash's 'om nom nom', the rain outside, and their conversation. It was bliss for the both of them. To them, life was tough. But, they knew in their hearts they didn't have it that bad, and they would always find a way to make themselves happy. Because they had each other, the occasional crying and the outbursts of anger were always met with a familiar face to calm them down and talk them through it. They loved each other, and that was it.

They had both finished their meals and drinks, leaving a few pieces of spaghetti and streaks of tomato soup. Dash got up from her seat and held out her hoof in front of Twi. "Come on, Egghead," Rainbow said while nodding her head up, "let's dance."

She flicked her tail at the gray plastic cd player, turning on a selection of slow dance music. Twi took Dash's hoof and let Dash lead. Dash raised their entwined hooves up above their heads and began to lead Twilight slowly around the living room. Twilight rested her head on the cyan pony's shoulder and they danced throughout the night.

Author's Note

Hey! Thanks for reading my story.

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