Where the Gentle Wing Rests

WHERE THE GENTLE WING RESTS

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun,

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

                - Robert Frost

Prologue: Promontory

The seconds lasted forever.

“Twilight.”

Higher, higher, up, up, up oh Celestia too high please stop Dash, no don’t do that, stop Dash,

please stop. STOP.

“Twi.”

Stomach churning, spinning and more spinning, nausea and then blackness, forever blackness, safe here, dark murky abyss but it feels so good. Turning now, turning, grasp harder, not safe, push, push, PUSH. Oh Celestia I am going to die.

“Twilight!”

Twilight snapped her eyes wide open and strained to keep them focused. The wind slammed fist after fist into her shaky eyeballs, jerking tears from her eyelids. She tightened her grip on Rainbow, and weathered out the hurricane trying to scrape her off the pegasus’s back. Everywhere she looked she saw nothing but blue; the midday sun was anchored somewhere above them. The golden orb was swallowed whole by the expanse that surrounded them on all sides. Down below-

She slammed her eyes closed. They were who-knows how many miles above the ground and looking down was NOT a good idea.

Dash laughed out something muffled and unintelligible; the message was garbled by the screaming tempest.

Twilight risked a peek. “What!” she flung back into the gale. Her vocal chords scorched with the effort.

Dash threw the shout again, and this time she managed to catch a whiff of the message.

Your mane looks like cotton candy.

Twilight scowled. Who CARES what my mane looks like?! The ever-present risk of falling to her death was far more concerning. She crammed her vision to the sides of her eye sockets and sought a glimpse of her mane. A tattered, purple glob flapped in and out of sight, and Twilight made a mental note to perform the funeral rites. Not even Rarity's ‘emergency cosmetic resuscitation’ procedures were capable of miracles.

And the wind wasn't done with her yet.

The gale flattened her ears and buckled her skin. Ripples swept throughout her flesh where the cyclonic sledgehammer pulverized her again and again. She gasped and caught a mouthful of the icy currents which threatened to tear the lips off her face. She burrowed her face back into Rainbow’s coat, seeking some form of refuge. The wonders of flight were magical and all, but she didn’t mind missing out and her stinging face agreed.

A sharp shoulder blade nudged her chin, stealing her attention back to her marefriend. Rainbow was watching her over her shoulder, waiting for a response. Twilight shook her head, unsure of what was expected of her.

Dash tossed her a smirk and gestured downwards with a side movement of her head, and Twilight followed her gaze.

The earth far below them zipped past, stuck forever on fast forward. The endless patchwork greens and browns of the farms melted together with the canopies of the forests, the earthen colors occasionally streaked with the wooden and metallic flashes of towns and cities. Ponyville was a smear of rooftops collected around the towering spire that could only be the town hall.

Realizing what Rainbow meant, she locked eyes with her and flurried her head in a nod. Rainbow plunged and they left the sun behind.

A sharp whistle accompanied the sharp contrails marking their descent through the sky. Twilight’s eardrums had had enough; they shattered. Vertigo shook her vision as the pair cut their way through the iron sky on their long descent back to Ponyville. A patch of crimson roofs clashed with a field of green as the many cottages of the town rolled into view.

But Twilight was blind to the scenery.

Her mind wandered elsewhere, lost in the depths of her own private world. The crest of a fierce, passionate wave rose to meet her, and she threw herself under it. The powerful drug flung her into a whirlpool of frolic fervor. Round and round she spun, Rainbow Dash opposite her, as her heart sped out of control. Caution was cast aside, useless, lost in the rush. It didn’t matter if it was ever found or not.

A year’s worth of spilled tears, sunken heartbreak, and crushing solitude crumbled and cascaded into chalk. Joy trampled underfoot the pain, and left nothing where misery had once stood.

The wind swept the ashes before her.

The wind . . .

The wind loosened its relentless howl, and Twilight glided back into the present. She clung to Rainbow in a desperate bid for dear life as the latter extended her wings. Powerful gusts of wind collided in their undercarriage and Twilight’s teeth rattled to pieces.

A hill situated at the edge of the Whitetail pines drew closer; the mound of earth overlooked the town amidst rolling carpets of grass. Dash ground to a halt mere feet atop the crest of the hill, and the ground came into sharp focus.

Twilight gazed out at the whole world that reflected off her lavender irises. Her eyes drank in the sights and sounds.

Lilacs and grass blanketed the soil as ladybugs took flight and traced lazy arcs in the air; the scenery was colored green as far as the eye could see. Tufts of wind combed the grass, stripping dandelions of their seeds. The sky was planted with streaks of white as they took flight.

Gilded pollens drifted by, their mellow tones matched by the golden rays the sun cast down upon the earth. The light illuminated the trees, plant life, and seedlings for the chorus of birds that filled the world.

Spring was in full swing; the ground beckoned.

Rainbow's wings worked their way down to a steady tempo, and gravity began to overtake them, pulling them back towards the soil.

A gentle thud vibrated its way up to Twilight; they stood once again on solid ground. She raised a shaky leg and attempted to dismount Dash. Halfway through a wave of vertigo rattled her, and she tumbled. The grass swarmed her vision as the ground rushed up to greet her face.

Slam.

Her nose pulsed a steady throb, and her eyes were caked with thick soil. Her ears reported someone above her wheezing with laughter. She cracked open an eye through the dusty film and peered at the shameless individual.

Rainbow was doubled over, her voice shattering into giggles.

Twilight anchored her hooves into the grass, scowling. Her legs quivered with the effort. She shot Rainbow an irritated look, one that the pegasus noticed.

Dash glanced left and right. “Well hey don't look at me, it was your idea to go up there.”

“You could at least lend a hoof! I mean look at me.” Twilight teetered on unstable legs, her head close to the ground for comfort. Earthquakes rippled through her body, testing her foundations. She shook off the last of the adrenaline burning out in her system.

She intensified her glower. It helped keep her mind off her physical appearance. I look like a wildebeest. Fresh out of the savanna after a century of recluse.

She wasn’t kidding. Her mane hung in tattered ruins, blasted apart during their little joy ride. The dirt coated snout did little to improve her appearance, the addition of which upgraded her to an erstwhile clown who had seen better days. A marked improvement from a wandering wild animal.

Rainbow huffed on her hoof and polished her coat. “Yeah, I tend to have that effect on others.”

Twilight arched her eyebrows. That line was so cheesy she could taste the cheddar flowing from Dash's mouth.

“Oh yeah? You must have dozens of kills under your belt then.” The vertigo had dissipated a little; at least the ground wasn’t spinning anymore.

Rainbow shrugged. “What can I say? Its not my fault these looks are lethal.”

A sharp sting struck her nose as Rainbow turned and her tail flicked into the unicorn’s snout. Golden sweat ran in trickles over her athletic curves,  glistened by the sunlight. A breeze rolled by and picked up loose strands of her hair, splitting her mane into a prismatic glow.

Twilight remained unimpressed.

“Then why am I still standing?”

Rainbow cast an amused glance over her, a wicked grin sharpening her mouth. She brushed aside clumps of grass as she paced towards her unicorn target, hooves bent low to the ground. Classic predatory tactics, stalking prey amidst dense tropical foliage. Rainbow must have been reading her reference guides on savannahs.

“Maybe it’s because I haven't decided if you’re worth the effort. Eggheads aren’t really my type, you know?”

Twilight snapped a hoof to her chest in mock surprise. Oh she did know. “Really? Because If I recall it wasyou who approached me first.”

Rainbow stood, her face struck with alarm. Her cover was blown, and she scrambled to find a comeback.

“Oh yeah? Well . . . I rejected you! I wasn’t always crazy about you.”

Twilight's flashed a triumphant smirk. She loved these little games they played. Her horn glowed as she sneaked a tendril of magic around Rainbow's hooves.

“Proved you wrong didn't I?”

She jerked the glowing lasso, sending an unsuspecting Dash crashing to the ground. The earth rumbled as the mighty oak collapsed with a thunderous roar. She dug a trail through the meadow as she dragged Rainbow under her own form, until the unicorn loomed over her squirming feathered captive.

Rainbow hooves stilled, and her eyes expanded until two luminous magenta disks stared up at her captor. Rainbow Dash never admitted defeat, and Twilight was all too aware that this was a precious moment.

Twilight's lips lowered towards Dash; her hot breath collided against the pegasus’s mouth in steamy puffs. Words huffed out of her mouth, and the gentle breeze dispersed them into the hill.

“Face it Dashie, this egghead captured you.”

The statement carried a hidden irony, tucked away in a night Dash would never recall. Too bad Rainbow would never realize the full extent of what she had meant. Some things were best left that way. She swallowed a knowing smile.

Rainbow’s eyes, meanwhile, flashed in irritation. “Oh for Luna's sake!”

How Rainbow could find Twilight attractive given her grotesque appearance was anyone’s guess. She surged upwards and ensnared her in a kiss, dirty nose and all. Twilight wasn’t complaining. The tables had turned on the unicorn, and the huntress became the prey as Rainbow dragged her down into a nest of feral affection.

It was by no means the first kiss, that hallmark in time having taken place a few weeks ago. Since then there had been many like it, and Twilight at first had kept a log, documenting each kiss in a catalog of rare, precious finds. She had stopped after the first fifty-two or so. If she had kept it up any longer, Ponyville would have been sucked dry of quills and ink.

The useless jabber of her technical mind faded away; she chose instead to listen to the fascinating arguments that Rainbow's tongue presented a mouth's distance away.

Rainbow shoved more of her tongue into the unicorns mouth, deepening the embrace. Twilight arched her back in deep surrender as Rainbow scooped her up and lowered her closer to the earth. The swaying vegetation tickled her ears as her head hovered above the soil, her frame held aloft by the gentle touch of the pegasus.

Twilight lifted her eyelids, and found a pair of magenta colored ones fixed unto hers with a hawk-like focus. They dove into the the deep, lavender pool of her eyes, plunging down to her core and igniting a spark she hoped would never burn out. A heat glowed inside her that challenged the sun for supremacy.

The symphonic No. 9 blared to life in her ears. Her body resonated with the deep tones, and her spirit soared to new heights with each octave. The magical music reached its climax as her legs gave out, and Dash, not able to cope with the added weight, tumbled with her to the ground amidst the chorus of violins and horns trumpeting to new heights and expending their energy in one final eruption.

They broke the kiss.

First came the sounds of panting, the two winded after their brief exercise in breath control. For the briefest of moments, silence rushed to fill the void left by the gasps; right before jovial laughter rolled down the hill and filled the trees with the special kind of spirit that Spring bears witness to.

The rest of the afternoon lounged past as they rolled amongst the grass and the hills, sticking close to the ground. Flying could wait for another day.

As the evening drew closer, they made their way back into town. They treaded the age-old trail that meandered through the trees of the Whitetail forest, and chatted away against the backdrop of the sun sinking into the earth.

The final beams of light touched down on the horizon and vanished into the night as they stepped into the Library, wasting no time in climbing the stairs into Twilight's bedroom. Together they poised at the edge of her bed, grinning stupidly at each other before back flipping onto the sheets. Their combined laughter rocked the bed.

Dash's reckless nature ensured that a pillow fight was soon underway. The sounds of battle were no doubt going to illicit a few huffy complaints from the napping dragon downstairs in the morning.

They didn’t care.

They relished the moment, and as Twilight lay in bed later that night, watching her marefriend's chest rise and fall with each breath, she thought back to that evening several weeks ago. It was amazing, what desperation could drive someone to do.

Everything could have gone wrong that night.

Cold light filtered through the lone window in the room. The moonlight illuminated Rainbow's features and cast a gleam upon her face. Her mane cascaded in rivers over her eyes and ears, spilling onto the bedsheets. The smile that tugged at her dormant lips shone in the darkness.

It had been worth it, all of it, even if she had been forced to bend the rules and commit acts others would be quick to denounce. It didn't matter what those miserable creatures thought, they would never uncover this joy she had unearthed.

She would sacrifice the moon and stars, and cast the world into darkness if it meant one more heartbeat spent beside Dash.

It was for the best.

Yes, she mused.

It was going to be a wonderful life.