After packing up Rainbow Dash’s little secret knapsack and putting on their dark disguising robes, they set off along the edge of the Evergreen Forest and decided to head East. Dash was always in the lead or next to the Alicorn, and occasionally they had little fun races where Rainbow could check on Twilight’s progress in flight and give her additional little pointers and tips on how to fly “about 20% more awesome!”
Twilight grinned as she was lectured playfully like this and steadily picked up speed throughout the day, Rainbow Dash laughing as they soared between the clouds, figuratively kicking up dust.
By nightfall, they had come across a small travelers cabin and settled down on the small cliff it was located at, Twilight quickly making a magical outside fire for them. They sat perched on the edge of the cliffside and eating strawberry ice-cream.
Twilight laughed, magically pulling away from her, as Dash stole a bite of her cone. She smirked at the Pegasus, leaning in to kiss the smudge of chocolate off those sweet lips. The latter made a pleased noise in the back of her throat as their mouths remained connected for a delightfully long time before they pulled apart for air.
"Thanks for today," Twilight said, contentedly.
Rainbow scooped up a spoonful using her wing as a hand and offering it to her as she replied, "Anytime."
Before Twilight could bite into it, Dash suddenly straightened, catching her off guard. She looked out above the trees. Tilting her head slightly, listening carefully. She then stood up and flew slowly away from her spot.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"Hey Twi, get up. We've got to get inside."
Twilight quickly got up now as well. She followed her, storing her ice-cream in a Magic portal and feeling a bit confused… until she was suddenly engulfed in a terrific downpour. Then things became abundantly clear.
"Really? Rain?”
Dash retreated into the small tourist cabin they had found, the door not being to creaky as she pushed it back open. This was why they chose to stay here on this particular cliff, and the beds looked comfy enough for the night. The rain came down in torrents behind them, and Twilight was only too glad to be back in the cabin now, quickly moving over to the fireplace and activating the Fire Rune located on the wooden table next to it, causing the mystical flames to immediately appear and start spreading their comforting heat throughout the place.
When she turned back around, she saw Rainbow discarding her soaked coat. The way the rain really soaked her cyan fur to form-hug her athletic figure even more was really distracting, in a welcome way. Twilight let her eyes sweep over her marefriend appreciatively for a moment before busying herself with her own jacket. She easily teleported her wet outfit off her body and floated it to the fireplace, hanging it up on a nearby hook that was installed specifically for this purpose to slowly dry it out along with Dash’s jacket as well.
She soon felt eyes on her now. Looking back, Twilight found the Pegasus looking over her in a similar fashion, only doing it longer and with a smirk.
She chuckled. It was nice to know it wasn't only her. Drying her hooves on the front of the fire, Twilight giggled a bit as she felt Dash come up next to her and start doing the same.
“Y'know, you could probably just warm us right up with a single, I dunno, Drying Spell or something?”
The cyan Pegasus said with a chuckle.
“What? Is the great Rainbow Dash wanting to use Magic to solve her problem of being wet?”
Twilight said with mock surprise and faux shock, and this earned a laugh out of them both.
After another minute, Rainbow then pulled away and retrieved her main piece of property from her sack. It was a small magical mixtape, containing a number of old songs and musical pieces from previous decades before she was born.
Twilight did not fail to notice bow Dash’s entire demeanor had quickly changed at this point, and she was now quieter and more solemn. The Pegasus had a deeply emotional look in her eyes, and she sat next to her marefriend again as she flipped the switch and a song Twilight had never heard before started to softly play.
“My mom created this collection when she was around my age, before she met my dad, you know.”
Twilight smiled, and gently reached out a hoof and rubbed Rainbow’s back.
“Thank you for letting me hear it, Dash. It means the world to me for you to trust me this much.”
“It’s not just about trust, Twilight.”
The Pegasus answered, and the quiet tone of her voice convinced Twilight to simply stay silent and listen to the songs with her. This clearly was very important for Rainbow and a HUGE step forwards in their relationship, and the Pegasus was in a very different mood now than she tended to be when they were together. This was very personal for her.
The mix-tape crackled as the final track came to a close after several long minutes. It made a small magical tinkling sound, then it ejected and Twilight caught the tape and put it down gently on the floor telekinetically. There was now nothing left, but the rush of the rainstorm outside to fill their ears, and she saw that Rainbow was still sitting silently, not moving or speaking.
Twilight looked from Rainbow toward the tape deck. “I should probably give that back, now. Sorry for now doing it earlier.”
She whispered.
Rainbow shook her head and reached for the mix-tape without a word. She picked it up, put the tape back into the device, and now sat down a few hoof-steps from Twilight, holding it in one hoof and running her other one across the writing, along the sides of it. It was her mom's writing.
“It was on the night of their third date that she gave it to him, and he finally knew.”
She said, her voice uncharacteristically soft again.
"Knew what?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow’s eyes flicked up to hers. "That she loved him." She replied. “Would you do something for me? Please?”
She asked, and her face now looked suddenly more vulnerable than Twilight had ever seen it.
"Yes. Anything.” The Alicorn confessed without missing a beat. Whatever it was, she just felt that Rainbow needed her to say yes to this question, and she meant what she said when she answered.
Rainbow calmly took a few steps closer to her, reached across the space between them… and slipped the mix-tape into Twilight’s own hooves before sitting down again.
"I want you to keep this for me." Rainbow said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Twilight looked down at the mixtape in her hooves and then back up, her wide eyes locking with Rainbow’s surprisingly calm ones.
"Rainbow—" she began, her voice cracking, her heart hammering in her chest.
"— I want you to always have a part of me with you, Twi. To know you're not going to lose me. That I’ll always be with you, even when I’m not physically present the way I am right now.”
"Rainbow..." Twilight rasped. "You can't just say things like that and-and not expect me to come over there."
Rainbow Dash smiled at her and blinked in a flirtatious manner, "Well c'mere to me then."
Twilight gently put the mixtape down and quickly got up and crossed the short distance between them. Taking Rainbow’s face in her hooves, she kissed urgently and deeply, pouring everything she had into it. And as Dash pulled her onto the floor so that Twilight could straddle her, the Alicorn knew she would never think about the mixtape, this location, or even the rain itself in the same way ever again.
Whenever she would think of them in all the years yet to be, she would now only be able to remember this one special night and this one special moment. The first time that she truly knew, without a shadow of doubt…
That Rainbow Dash loved her.
And how she always would.
For a second after she suddenly snapped back to wakefulness, Twilight wasn't sure what had prompted it.
Blinking slowly, she shifted on her resting place and looked around the room, mind and vision still clouded by the deep sleep she had been awakened from. It was still night possibly and the fire was still burning, but there seemed to be another source of light in her face. Blinking a few more times, she realized that this new light coming through the window from the faint beams of sunlight hanging in the sky. So apparently the rain had stopped and the night was over, the dawn being visible on the horizon.
But none of that mattered as she easily remembered about how and why she was here, and her face burned as she felt herself smile.
The memories of the passion that had transpired the night before, on this very floor atop a blanket she had managed to pull from her magical inventory for them, flooded through her mind and made her feel a flock of giant butterflies in her belly trying to find their way out.
Rainbow Dash’s forelegs around her barrel as they held each other tightly.
Those beautiful wings embracing her as well and each feather acting like it’s own separate entity as they ran down her sides and flank.
The Pegasus’s lips on her own, eager, demanding, as they rolled on the floor in front of the roaring fire, taking turns being on top even as the more athletic pony wound up being more dominant and winning more often then not.
The most wonderful actions that took place over the course of the whole night, the taste and feel of the cyan pony, the glorious sounds she'd made and words she’d whispered as they lost themselves in each other.
The pure and utter happiness that Dash’s show of trust and declaration of love had given her.
The unspeakable joy that she had felt as Dash sent her careening over the edge into heavenly oblivion, their intimacy somehow becoming 10,000 times greater by what the Pegasus had given the Unicorn and banished any remotely possible fears and uncertainties of potential abandonment.
The few moments that followed before they slipped into slumber, warm and comfortable, fur pressed to fur, cyan muzzle to lavender cheek, tails and limbs intertwined.
And now this, recognizing the feeling of a kiss on that same cheek and realizing that it was the reason she had woken up after such an intimately exhausting night of love.
Twilight’s face heated up just a little, but then something drew her to look off to the left of her vision, and saw the mare who held her heart in her hooves sitting down and facing away, doing something that the Unicorn could not tell for sure.
Slowly, Twilight rose to her hooves as carefully as she could, biting her lip as she felt her legs wobble just a bit before steadily regaining their overall functionality. She made sure to first be sure that she could stand and walk and would not fall over or anything, and then slowly walked across the room.
She saw one of Dash’s ears twitch two times slightly, an obvious sign that she heard Twilight approaching, but the Pegasus didn’t seem to move much at all, her head still downturned to a minor degree.
Taking a step to the left side to try seeing if she could find out what it was that was taking up Rainbow’s attention so curiously, Twilight could see partially around the left side of Rainbow and realized that she was actually reading a book:
The latest Daring Do book that Twilight had brought here with them and that was the very first copy that had been printed!
Why that little schemer!
“Oh so you’re reading my book before me on the sly, eh?”
She asked with a chuckle. She saw Rainbow Dash twitch once, and the very apparent sound of a barely-concealed laugh reached her own sensitive ears.
Twilight smiled and shook her head, then closed the distance and out a hoof on one of Dash’s shoulders, pulling it slightly, and making the cyan pony turn her head with a slight smile and a twinkle in her beautiful eyes.
The lavender Unicorn didn’t say a word. She simply leaned in forward and pressed her lips to those of her beloved, moving slowly and sensually. The latter’s left foreleg slowly rose up and her hoof pressed against Twilight’s head as she gently stroked the Unicorn’s mane, the book gently laid down on the floor in front of her for now as they continued to move their mouths on each other’s.
They would need to return home soon enough today, and so were using what they could of their last minutes and moments of intimacy together alone here, because they would not be able to do any of that anymore once they were back in Ponyville and with their friends and doing their jobs.
Twilight felt it again for the thousandth time as they kissed. That wonderful feeling of warm comfort coursing through her body at the touch of the Pegasus who had somehow managed to take hold of her in a way that was almost impossible to ever see happening to herself.
She loved this mare, everything about her. The way she felt, smelled, tasted. The once infinitely-studious pupil of Princess Celestia had found herself something and someone who could very well challenge her addiction to simply reading and keeping checklists. Rainbow Dash had shown her how truly fun and enjoyable it could be to simply stop thinking about the future and start living in the moment. How much worth there really was in just taking it one day at a time, and that being able to enjoy the simple things in life were just as important as other more complex ones.
Simple things like taking the time to meet with the one you love, and spending time with them in ways that you honestly cannot with anypony else.
But it wasn't just the physical touch and sense of exciting freedom that made everything so very worth it to Twilight, not at all, FAR from it!
It was also the way Rainbow felt pressed against her breast as she held the athlete from behind in a half-hug.
It was the way her hoof tenderly caressed Twilight’s mane as they softly moaned into each other’s mouths and the kiss got just a little more intimate, gently stroking downwards through the smooth hairs with a soft touch that nopony would have believed the competitive Pegasus to be capable of.
It was the way that she felt safer and happier from just a simple glance at any given moment on a random day, and so much more than that when having precious HOURS to spend together alone with her, like right here and now.
It was the way Rainbow would specifically reserve a special smile for her, a special level of touch (like the current mane-stroking) for her, a special way of speaking for her, a special look in her eyes… all for HER. All of this special tenderness and unmatched kindness, given freely by the greatest flyer in all of Equestria who’s sense of loyalty and duty would only end in death… to Ponyville’s resident book-loving introvert, who at one point had never entertained the idea of romantic love for herself but now had to wonder just how she had ever gotten along without it.
Even now, with her mind clouded by all these amazing sensations, all of Twilight’s attention on what they were doing shortly before they would need to leave this special place and head back, she couldn't help but think about how much she loved this special, super competitive fast-flyer. How she made life so much more beautiful and precious better just by being in it.
The way she'd supported the poor over-worried Unicorn ever since they’d first met and embarked on that first mission to defeat Nightmare Moon.
The way she had her back at every turn, fought at her side without hesitation or even asking for a reason why or anything like that.
The way she could be so brusk and tough about a great many things, only to then turn around and become the most attentive and caring soul Twilight had ever met.
The simple things, the little moments they'd spent together, eating, relaxing, just talking. The unbelievable depth of understanding she'd shown for Twilight, for who the Unicorn was, the way she was, the choices she had made.
Rainbow knew her, knew her better than she'd probably ever even been known before(with the probable exception of dear little Spike), and the knowledge that this brave, amazing, talented, wonderful, and totally AWESOME Pegasus wanted Twilight just as much as Twilight wanted her, in every possible way… was nothing short of absolutely incredible. Purely and utterly humbling.
One night. It was more often than not just one night they’d be able to have at a time.
One night to be together, give each other what they'd been so desperately wanting. Needing. Missing.
But it always turned into something so much more special and fulfilling. It felt as if for every time they managed to meet up, they would love a lifetime’s worth.
It was so much more than just physical enjoyment. What they had… Twilight could only best explain it by how she felt about Rainbow Dash herself:
It was everything.
Rainbow Dash… was everything.
Lost in her thoughts, it took Twilight a second to realise when Rainbow had made the kiss turn Prench, named after the country of Prance which was famous for, besides many other things, producing the supermodel Fleur Dis Lee and the highly romantic Prench Kiss.
Her mind nearly short circuited by this turn of events, and increasingly breathed harder through her nostrils as her heart beat ever faster.
As if sensing her turmoil, Rainbow eased the pressure on Twilight’s mouth and pulled back, both their breaths mixing again, before she silently asked, “You OK, Twi?”
It was like she wasn’t really expecting a response. And it was a response that Twilight didn't have anyway, because she had something more, something far better on her mind right now. Something she desperately needed to say.
Slowly, she walked around to face Rainbow and reached up, gently taking her face in her hooves.
"I love you, Rainbow Dash."
The face of the beautiful cyan Pegasus softened even further now with Twilight’s fervent declaration as the Unicorn gently stroked her cheeks with her lavender hooves, her voice soft and yet thick with pure emotion.
“I love you so, so much.”
“Twi, I… I love you so much more than I can ever say.”
Silence fell between them as they gazed into each other's eyes, neither wavering, completely open and vulnerable, both seeing exactly what they were. What they meant to the other.
It was yet another moment Twilight Sparkle would never forget, staring at her beloved Rainbow here and now, knowing that she was looking at her future.
Twilight smiled as tears formed in her eyes, and pressed her forehead to Rainbows. They both just sat there like that.
Sure, they would need to get back home soon and go back to their everyday lives, but for now, they just sat together in peaceful silence…
And then Rainbow kissed her again.
