The Frozen North

Chapters

Aurora
Bloom (Day)
Bloom (Night)
Spontaneous Combustion
Confidence (part 1)
Confidence (part 2)
Time (Epilogue)

Aurora

It was such a pure place. White snow blanketed everything in sight, bleaching the colors away with extreme prejudice. The bitter cold seized anything and everything that was unprotected by either thick layers of thermal clothing, or naturally armored from it like the wolves and sparsely scattered great pines. The Frozen North was truly something to behold. As hostile and unforgiving as it was, it was undeniably beautiful. That was what attracted hundreds of ponies each year. That was why we went there.

I was sitting upon a ledge on Topaz Mountain, overlooking the Tourmaline Tundra below. It was a sight to be treasured like the crystals that grew like plants in this harsh mountain range. There were just a few holes in the thick quilt of snow on the open tundra about eight hundred meters below, revealing small patches of flowers that hadn’t been devoured by the frigid powder quite yet. There were mostly purple ones, with a few reds and yellows, and a significant number of whites. But purple remained dominant by a long shot, as they were most resistant to the cruel nips of Windigoes.

I felt something warm place itself upon my back. As I turned to see what it was, a warm, soft mass settled down next to me on the exposed rock. I smiled, my partner having joined me to see this amazing landscape that had unraveled itself before us.

Her lips pressed themselves to my cheek, which had collected a layer of frost in the hours that we'd been out in this frozen wilderness. My face heated up at the touch, my smile broadening.

"Hey," the adorably soft voice greeted. My heart skipped a beat as I felt her wing pull me closer to her warm body. I could do nothing but smile and blush at her straightforwardness.

"Hey," I echoed, shifting my hoof to hold hers. We'd been dating for a few months, and I'll admit it was rather slow by comparison to other relationships I'd observed. We'd barely gotten comfortable kissing each other on the cheeks, having ventured forward that extra step just a week ago, before we came here. But I liked that our relationship moved as slow as it did. It often gave me times like these to revel in the warm feelings. It gave me time to savor every moment I spent with my beautiful marefriend. And after two months of feeling something much warmer than my original feelings, it gave me enough time to finally identify the single greatest feeling I've ever been fortuitous enough to experience: love.

I turned to return the simple yet overpowering gesture of affection, planting my own lips upon her warm cheek. I smiled as I saw her blush intensify from the contact. She hid behind her long pink mane, a timid smile curling her extraordinarily soft lips upwards. I wanted to move forward and feel what they felt like against my own, but I restrained myself. I didn't want to rush. I was barely comfortable kissing cheeks. I could only imagine that she was terrified of actually kissing. The thought almost petrified me like the stare of a cockatrice.

I placed my hoof over hers, making her take a peek from behind her beautiful mane. Her teal eyes froze me quicker than the frigid wind of the Frozen North could ever hope to. They were stunningly beautiful, like the blue-ice walls of deep crevasses in the mountain glaciers and the ice bluffs. They stared into, nay, they stared through me as though I were made of glass. I dared not look away.

I blinked.

In that fifth of a second while my eyes were closed, her face lunged in like a bolt of lightning, targeting mine. Her lips contacted my nose, which was partially numb from the cold, spreading warmth into me. I felt it like liquid fire, washing over me as though I were standing in a warm shower at home in my library. Were my mane any shorter, it would have been standing on end like the rest of my fur. As my eyes opened, I saw her hovering there, her lips just a snowflake's breadth away. I felt the steam of her warm breath crystalize on my muzzle, intoxicating my thoughts as though the vapor was a poison that made me yearn for contact. I felt an electric charge build in my muscles and nerves, every part of myself screaming at me to close the gap. I felt gravity pulling me towards her... Slowly...

Slowly...

Her eyes flitted open like a butterfly's wings, settling half-open to stare through me again. I felt her eyes watching my soul. I was paralyzed. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to. I could have sworn I heard her giggle like a schoolfilly, but it could have been the wind that gusted past us in that moment.

"We should get moving," I whispered as the wind dulled for a moment. "The sun will be setting soon, and I want to get to Diamond Ridge before nightfall."

She simply smiled and pecked my nose again, my cheeks near rupturing from the copious quantities of blood flowing through them to sustain my cherry-red blush. She stood up, her wing folding back up against her side, allowing the brutal wind to stab me with icy tendrils of sheer cold. I stood up, my knees popping loudly like ice cracking under pressure. I turned around, heading back towards our small campsite, which was naught more than a two-pony tent, a fire pit, and a pair of incredibly bulky saddlebags. I made my way to the tent, folding it with the aid of my magic. I placed it back in its bag, harnessing it to my saddlebag after doing so. I doused the fire, putting it out of its misery as the cold had already beaten it within an inch of its life.

We picked up our saddlebags, the warmth of our body heat now unable to be sapped away by the frigid air. Within moments, I felt my natural warmth return. I smiled at the feeling. Though heavy, it kept me warm, and for that I was grateful.

We forged our way onwards, away from the east-facing cliffs of the Quartz Crags. Before us lay a deep ravine between Topaz Mountain, where we were, and the adjacent Sapphire Mountain. We turned to look at each other once more, before we turned back and trudged forward through the hoof-deep snow into the mighty crevasse that was infamously known by climbers as Tanzanite Ravine. It's negative slope intimidated even master climbers with the best gear available. The tear at the top was thin enough to allow twenty minutes of sunlight to hit the chasm floor. Very little snow ever reached the ground in the Ravine, making the floor as slippery as a banana peel. Before us was a split in the path, one sticking to the Ravine floor going straight through, the other veering off to the right. It passed beneath an arch of ice, ascending at a mildly steep incline towards the top of the glacier. I followed the path with my eyes, seeing it switch back a few times where the arches allowed the path to switch which wall it followed. I knew that the lower path would get us to our destination on time, but the echoes of howls and dull thuds of falling ice-boulders made me want to take the high road.

We started forward, side-by-side as we entered what seemed like the maw of an ancient colossus. I could feel my heart freezing in my chest as we heaved through the last few meters of snow-coated ground, but not from cold. Nay, the icy wind couldn't have that effect on me. I could only gulp audibly as my fears began to play like records in my mind. They cast cruel echoes of savage snarls and horrifying elongated screams of terror. Her screams of terror.

I stopped.

Before me was the ice-floor itself. The barrier between myself and the chasm I stood at the maw of, was naught but a line where the snow ended and the ice began.

She stopped too, looking at me, though I dared not turn away to meet her gaze. Before me was a pit that could swallow Canterlot whole if it opened its menacing jaws above wider. I felt the individual muscles in my eyes tense up, my pupils now mere pinpricks. I stood there for what my mind believed was two hours, my hooves frozen into the ice beneath the snow.

A familiar yellow wing draped itself across my back, releasing tension that I never felt until it slowly dissipated like steam. I didn't need to hear her say, "It's okay, Twi," to know that she had said it. Her actions always whispered thousands of pictures worth thousands of words, worth thousands of letters that I'd write and send to her in the Express Mail just to know that she would receive them immediately. They whispered gently, like a mother would to her sleeping foal, and made everyone hear an angel. And in that moment of being held by the angel next to me, my fear withered away like a plant dying of frostbite. My love for her grew just that much more as I noticed that she was being the confident one. I smiled, pecked her cheek, and took the step forward onto the bare ice.

As we approached the fork in the path about two hundred meters in, I moved closer towards the high-road. Though it would take us a mile out of our way, I could count on its safety. At first, Fluttershy walked right with me, her wing draped over me affectionately. As we neared it though, she started to pull left, her wing seeming to shepherd me with her.

"We'll be okay, Twilight," she whispered in response to my questioning look. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

A howl resounded down the narrow chasm, assaulting my ears and compromising my knees. They shook like the wingbeats of a hummingbird, quickly and powerfully, and fragilely as glass. I slipped on the ice because of it.

I didn't understand how she did it. As I fell towards the unforgiving ice, she lunged beneath me. She twisted around like a ferret, taking my fall into her chest. She never gave any indication of pain nor discomfort. Her face remained warm, smiling up at me. With her chest pressed against mine, I felt her heart beat slowly quicken to match mine. I felt her soul pushing at her flesh, as though it wished to break free and join mine, which I could feel attempting to do the same. I looked into her eyes for just a moment, time freezing solid for a moment. They matched the blue ice behind her face and mane almost perfectly, but the ice didn't have the same living quality that her eyes did. I felt her breath on my muzzle again, further intoxicating my thoughts. I glanced down at her lips. They beckoned me closer... They begged me...

She kissed my nose, teasingly close to my lips. I felt a shudder undulate down my spine. She leaned into my ear and whispered tauntingly, "You going to get up?"

"Against my will," I countered, giggling. I shifted my legs around for solid ground to stand upon. When I was sure I had found a hoofhold, I stood up, backing away a few steps so Fluttershy could stand again.

We continued on, walking through the hall of ice, the sky above us beginning to dim. Sunset was approaching quickly, and I could only estimate how much time we had left to reach our destination before the sun slipped out of the sky. As I saw a lazy stratus cloud float by above us, I began to wonder what it would be like to fly like she could... What it would feel like to be able to go anywhere at any time. I wondered what it would feel like to be like her... To have that gift, but choose to not use it like Dash did. I thought about it, and smiled as I came to the same conclusion as I did every time I thought about it. She was a gentle, noble spirit. With the talent and knowledge she had for flight, she could easily be faster and more agile than our prismatic friend. But she chose to stay close to the ground, where her friends, animal or otherwise, lived. She used her wings to help her friends, either to carry them, like she did with Angel when he was sick, or to comfort them, like she was doing with me. I felt a slight blush on my face, thinking about her in such an idealistic light. But at that point, she was ideal. She was perfect.

A low rumbling growl interrupted my thoughts. I shook my head and opened my eyes to a sight I had feared would come. Just ten meters from us, a small pack of wolves stood before us, fangs bared. The one I assumed to be the leader stood in an offensive stance, growling gravely at us for stepping into its territory. My eyes widened as I heard another growl behind us. We were sandwiched between two packs of wolves and two ice cliffs that could not be scaled. My heart was hammering away in my chest like a blacksmith in a forge. Every beat tightened Fear's grip on me.

Fluttershy took a timid step forward, making herself seem small. She looked at the wolves in front of us with a calm nervousness that I had seen but once in my life. She whispered something to them, causing the battle-ready leader to fall back on his haunches, looking at her with wide eyes. His ears perked up, his eyes affixed themselves to hers, and his tail wagged like a pup's. I felt my fear subside as she spoke softly to him with her angelic voice. I flinched slightly as an unseen wolf behind us slunk past me to join his leader, his fur brushing against my side. But I saw that it, too, wanted to hear her voice.

The group of six wolves that were now entirely in front of us turned towards the direction we were headed. The leader looked back over his shoulder, glancing at Fluttershy first and then myself. He looked as though he were smiling at us.

He and his pack moved forwards, guiding the way through the crevasse. The rest of the journey through the glacier passed by uneventfully. We saw a few other wolves take a look at us in curiosity as we passed by, trailing behind their leader. It took us about ten more minutes to traverse the chasm floor. As we saw the jagged jaws of the glacier begin to slope down towards us, I couldn't help but sigh in relief. We stepped out of the glacier's depths, savoring the soft golden sunlight that hit us. The wolves stopped, and howled loudly into the sunset, which I guessed was their way of saying good-bye. I smiled, and bowed low to the leader, who 'smiled' at me in return. Fluttershy stepped forward, hugging the wolf with her wings. As soon as she let go, he bowed to her as I had to him, and promptly turned and left. He disappeared into the Ravine without a trace of ever meeting us, save for the few paw-prints in the snow at the edge of the chasm.

I saw Diamond Ridge ahead, just a few teleports away. I could have easily burst forward in magic-based stop-motion, reaching our destination, and I say this with scorn for the phrase, in ten seconds flat. But why would I want to rush ahead of the reason I had come here? I was the one who had proposed this venture of ours, planning virtually everything down to the last fleeting seconds of firelight in each camp location. I had planned this event specifically first, so that a sort of domino-effect could, if I had any luck with it, take place and allow certain other events to become feasible options. But it all relied upon the next ninety minutes.

We had crept closer to the Ridge, now half-way between where I'd last checked and the two-kilometer drop-off that was Diamond Ridge. I smiled, seeing a few quartz crystals growing like shrubs out of the snow. I saw bare rocks poking out from the hoof-deep snow, their blackness contrasting heavily with the quilt of powder snow that was the finest in Equestria. Above us were a few scattered stratus clouds, which were sprawled out over a fairly large area. And before us was a glorious sunset, which cast beautiful golden light upon us and long shadows behind us. The light made the pony positively radiant. To any onlooker, the sun made her glow like a warm candle. But to me, it was she who made the sun glow. It was she who made it worth it to rise with the sun, and set long after the sun did. To me, she was the sun, and I would rise and set with her.

"I love you," I whispered, barely audible above the assertive breeze of the mountain summit. A few moments of silence passed awkwardly by, urging one of us to shoo it away. In those moments, I wondered if she had heard me, and what she was thinking if she had. I took her hoof in mine, and she wrapped a wing around me. I loved when she did that... It always sent a warm shiver down my back, making every inch of me yearn for her touch. It was almost as intoxicating to me as her warm breath. I felt the blacksmith in my chest begin working triple-time again. As it forged on, the warmth escaped its forge through my breath.

A minute had passed since I uttered those three words that only a few years ago I'd honestly believed I'd never find somepony to say them to. Now, when I'd finally said them, I was met by silence. I turned to face her.

Something soft assaulted my lips, pressing forward with a force I could not reciprocate. My eyes shot wide open to see Fluttershy kissing me, gently but firmly. A dark red blush painted her face, the stain reaching almost all the way up to her closed eyes. Even against the shock of feeling her lips to mine, my eyes fluttered shut in absolute bliss. I felt the world around us fade away as I found myself kissing back. I smiled through it, as did she.

Eventually she pulled away, reluctantly breaking contact. We hovered next to each other, barely a snowflake's breadth apart. We could feel each other's warm breath against each other's muzzles. The intoxication from her warm breath had more effect than ever as I felt my heart lose track of its rhythm. I could hardly think a straight line, let alone clear my mind from the intense emotions that were buzzing like angry wasps in my heart. What I heard next, just barely audible in the brief moment of silence between soft gusts of wind near stopped my heart altogether.

"I've been waiting, Love..."

As the sun finally slipped under the horizon, a small liquid band of color rippled just a few meters above us. The first one we saw was a soft pink, not unlike her mane. Slowly but surely, my planning fell into place, radiant auroras of greens and blues flowed through the air, changing from green to blue to yellow to red and every imaginable hue between. But there was a moment when the bands of color all aligned just right, a curl of pink here, a splash of yellow there, a dash of lavender nearby, a band of almost indigo next to it. For the briefest of moments, they coiled just perfectly into the shapes of our profiles. I almost missed it when the two bands of color touched for the most fleeting of moments, no doubt the sky's way of congratulating us. We sat there for an hour, simply watching the auroras pass by, lighting the sky with a spectrum of color that could compete with the sonic rainboom. My head tilted and rested on Fluttershy's shoulder, just enjoying the moment and the feelings that I'd forever associate with it.

In the aurora-lit sky, I could have sworn I saw somepony flying through the night. The only reason a bright red heart would take shape in the sky was magic, and I wasn't interfering with the natural processes that were taking place. Looking back on the occurrence, it would make sense that Cadence had created the phenomenon, but at the time, I only thought that Luna would do such a thing during her night. But logic didn't matter then. The only thing I cared about was the pony holding me with her strong but gentle wings, letting me rest my head on her shoulder. I felt unworthy of her, but at the same time I was proud that she had chosen me of all ponies. I vowed that day to live my life with the goal of eventually being worthy of her affections. But in the back of my mind, I knew I'd never see myself as deserving or worthy.

As soon as the heart faded from the sky, I picked my head up to look at her. For a few moments, I watched the reflection of the auroras in her alluring eyes. Before I even knew what I was doing, my free hoof had reached up to her face, pulling it gently towards my own. Though her face turned, her eyes did not. They remained affixed on the ribbons of color in the sky. I smiled slyly, leaning forward with one quick and deliberate motion...

I kissed Fluttershy beneath the auroras.

Author's Note

Yes. All of the adorable TwiShy feels. I've recently been in an extended good mood, and have actually broken out into song at school. Mind you, I sang about my plans to eat peoples' souls, but close enough, right? Anyway, y'all can thank Laarsgaard for prereading this and helping me iron out a few wrinkles in the first few paragraphs (some awkward phrasing issues). He's a great writer, and has been featured for his amazing story, 'Trial of the Champion'.

This story is meant to be a one-shot, but my mind has been coming up with ways to make this a novel-length story. I dunno if I'll do it, but oh well. Thought it fair to let you guys know that.

Thank you all very much for reading this story. I love you guys.

<3 DarqFox

Bloom (Day)

A/N: I'm putting this note here because it is necessary for you to read this warning BEFORE the story, because afterwards will confuse you.
WARNING: THE POINT OF VIEW WILL CHANGE WITHOUT DISTINCT WARNING. PAY ATTENTION TO HINTS IN THE STORY TO KNOW WHO'S POV IT IS.

Without further ado, we shall continue The Frozen North with Bloom.

I remember the time and date of exactly the setting in which I met her. I could recount every detail from the exact shade of blue of the sky down to which leaves had been eaten by growing caterpillars, and maybe further if I strained my mind. I remember the day of June twentieth, of the year one-thousand AB, when I met the love of my life. Of course, it wasn't love at first sight, but that's not the important part. All that matters is that I met her that day at three-oh-nine and twelve seconds in the afternoon, learning her name some time later that I could not distinguish. I was far too nervous to have counted the seconds between the instant I laid eyes on her and the moment she told me her name, expecting me to answer by telling my own. I was surprised I wasn't shaking when I tried to answer. But I saw the inevitable coming, and my nerves cut my voice before I could just utter my own name... I never could have known that my nerves had made the best possible impression on her that day. For once in my life, my nerves had actually repaid me for all the trouble they'd caused over the years.

"Careful, Love, the rock is icy here," her voice snapped me from my memories. I shifted my gaze to the point indicated by one of her lavender hooves. The black rock jutting out from the wall of ice and snow we were descending looked plain enough. But she was right, as I saw multiple icicles that had formed a beard on the rock, and there was no indication that the ice stopped at the base of the hanging cones. I tentatively placed a hoof on the rock, confirming that it had indeed been frozen over. I hopped over the rock, flapping my wings a few times to slow my descent enough to not break the fragile compacted-snow trail we were traversing. I landed directly next to her again, and we continued our descent down the switch-backs of the mountain trail.

Within moments of silence, I sank back into my own consciousness. I went back to the day I met the pegasus that I loved with every last subatomic particle of my being. I had shoved my way through a crowd of bushes, following the sound of orchestrated birdsong. I was growing increasingly frustrated by all of the ponies that kept trying to be my friend. None of them understood that I was a recluse. All I wanted was to return to the Canterlot library, and read until I knew everything there was to know, and then start trying to solve the mysteries that hadn't been solved. All I wanted to do was stay alone so no one could get close.

I remember introducing myself, and being met by silence from the angelic pegasus. I remember that she simply looked away, shuffling the dirt with her hoof. For some reason, I found it incredibly endearing that she was so shy. It was an incredible contrast to the overly-social and friendly ponies around that had been increasingly irksome to me. It was a pleasant change of pace when I asked her name and heard half of it before her timidness choked her back. For most ponies, I'd have been a lot less forgiving of such a display, but she had already started making a positive impression on me, so I asked again. I kept asking until she could only squeak in response. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't learn her name, being the one name I actually wanted to learn that day. But her adorable shyness made it practically impossible to obtain, and at the time I was getting increasingly antsy about the prophecy of Nightmare Moon's return. It was only when I stepped out far enough for her to see Spike that I learned her name, which literally told her personality.

I was jarred back to attention by the feeling of falling. The snow beneath my front right hoof gave way, crumbling like a dried out cake. Five meters of trail fell like sand through an hourglass. I leapt back in panic, distancing myself from what could have been a deadly fall. I took a peek over the new ledge. Judging by the time it took for the sound of the falling bits hitting the ice below to come back up, we were about eight hundred vertical meters from our next destination. I looked over the frozen plains below Diamond Ridge, seeing naught but snow at this time. But I knew that come three in the afternoon, the Malachite Meadow was the place to be.

I reappeared suddenly on the other side of the gap that I had created. I looked back, seeing Fluttershy fly over the gap, gently landing next to me. I smiled, feeling her warm presence less than a hair's breadth away from me, tickling my nerves with nothing but the anticipation of touch. We didn't actually touch in that moment, but the proximity was close enough for my nerves to send the signals to my brain anyway.

If somepony asked me exactly when I realized that I loved the new librarian from Canterlot, I would tell them that it was a long process. It was not like remembering that one had left a door unlocked. It was by no means an abrupt realization. The more I look back on it, the more I believe that I had always loved her. I remember a day where I was finished taking care of my animal friends, and I was just sitting alone on a hill near my cottage with my thoughts. Granted, at the time, Twilight was off searching for a special somepony at the time because of the Changeling Invasion. But my thoughts were centered entirely around her. If somepony said a random word, I would be able to trace it back to Twilight. I remember seeing a cloud floating by in the sky that reminded me of her. I saw her face in the cloud, smiling down at me. I remember feeling a bit lonely because she was searching for love but never thought to come to me about it... I remember Angel having served me a warm cup of tea before I went out to the hill, and the tea tasting ever-so-slightly off, but at the time I didn't really care.

My mind played a nasty trick on me that day, and it wouldn't be until I saw Twilight the next day that I'd realized that I had mentally confirmed with myself that I loved her. I saw Twilight approach me on the hill that day, sitting down next to me. I blushed harder than I ever had before, the air around my face bending light to make it look like the air was water. I remember her whispering something in my ear, but I couldn't understand what she'd said. 'Je t'aime...' she'd said. It sounded like a different language, but I couldn't be sure. I simply blushed harder, and looked into her eyes. Or at least, I tried to... When I looked in her direction, she was gone. Not a trace of having been there. Not even hoofprints.

With comfortable silence, hundreds of meters could pass in what would only feel like seconds. When I snapped from my thoughts for no particular reason, I saw that we were only three-hundred vertical meters from the plains below. I didn't know what was down there that Twilight wanted to see so badly, but she'd shown me the auroras yesterday, and it had been, for lack of a better term, magical. So I trusted her to have a good reason for coming down here. I looked over to her, seeing that she was hopelessly lost in thought. I set my wing around her, wanting nothing more than to hold her close.

I don't know if it was just wild magic that was particularly strong at that point, or if she had activated some sort of spell when I wasn't looking, but I was somehow in Ponyville. I was headed towards the library, and as I saw Granny Smith talking with Filthy Rich, I knew exactly what day it was that I was seeing. I could never forget it so long as I lived. The telltale signs of twelve cirrus clouds in the sky and no Rainbow Dash to be seen gave away that I was remembering the day I asked her out. As if my mind was just remembering that it was supposed to be nervous, the feeling kicked in like Applejack had bucked it into my head. I walked with shaky hoofsteps towards the Golden Oaks Library, some forty meters away. It took me four minutes to get there. I was a nervous wreck. If I didn't look so young, somepony might have thought I was having a heart attack, which based on what I was feeling was entirely plausible.

I knocked gently on the door, managing to make less noise than a rat's footstep. I cursed myself for being so anxious. I understood why, but that didn't make it any less annoying. I tried again, forcing my hoof to make an at least audible sound. I don't know if she was waiting for me, but the door opened not five seconds afterwards.

"Oh, h-hey Fluttershy," she greeted, a minor stutter interrupting her. I found it strange, but dismissed it immediately.

"H-hey, Twilight... I-I... was jus-st..." I started, struggling to remember what I was going to say. Aw, to pony-feathers with it, I thought. "I-I n-need to talk to you about something..."

"U-um... Sure," she chattered with what I could immediately recognize as anxiety. She opened the door further to allow me inside. "I was actually just about to come talk to you..."

I chuckled awkwardly, the statement splitting the atoms of courage I had into nothingness. I felt as though the color was draining from my mane and fur, leaving me pale. I followed her as she took a seat on a loveseat (which did not help my nerves as I mused to myself about it), taking a seat just a foot or two from her. The proximity was enough to make my heart start bludgeoning away like a blacksmith. I felt my blush starting to become visible through my fur. I thanked Celestia that I had my mane to hide behind.

"S-so, Fluttershy... What w-was it that you wanted to t-talk about?" she asked, turning to face me. I peeked out from behind my mane, looking into her eyes. I could tell that she was antsy enough to shiver, but she did very well suppressing the physical sign of anxiety.

Rarity's voice echoed in my mind, If you can describe her like that to me, all you have to do is tell it to her, and the rest will fall into place. For a moment that I knew would be as fleeting as a spark, I steeled my nerves just enough to begin, "You're the single greatest pony I've ever met." My nerves melted again, and I began shaking as though I'd been in the snow too long. She tilted her head slightly, but said nothing. I dared myself to continue, "You're the single greatest pony I've ever met. You're incredibly modest, and kind, and I find it adorable when you're unaware of the common slang, and try to use it." I giggled like a schoolfilly. "You've been able to plan every aspect of your life down to the twinkle of a star in the night, but I don't think those plans are right."

She looked away, towards her clipboard hanging on her fridge. I advanced, drawing her attention back to me as she stared at me like I was crazier than Pinkie on caffeine, "I've been thinking about this too much and I finally steeled my accursed nerves enough to come out here and ask you if you'd like to go out on a date with me...?"

I hid behind my mane again, my courage now extinguished entirely. I couldn't have brought myself to face Angel, I was so distressed.

A hoof brushed my mane away, revealing a smiling Twilight. Tears had formed in her eyes, but she nodded and squeaked the only answer that wouldn't break my heart...

"Yes."

We were on the plains now, and I could feel the vibrations of wild magic through my horn. The sun was at an angle that was almost perfect. I used a bit of mental trigonometry, only rounding to four decimal places to check the time, finding it to be just after two in the afternoon. Less than two degrees left before the wild magic would reach its usual fever-pitch. All we had left to do, was wait.

I sat down, sliding my saddlebags off of my back. Though mildly uncomfortable, my insulation spell kept most of the cold out, allowing me to sit on the snow and not risk frostbite. I relaxed as my incredibly gorgeous marefriend sat next to me, her wing once again resting on my sore back, where my saddlebags had been. The tension dulled a little, but nothing short of a spa day would work the knots away.

Time passed fairly quickly, my feathers itching with anticipation. I had no idea what she had planned that we were waiting for. I looked around for what felt like the hundredth time, seeing absolutely no change in the frozen plains. Oh how quickly it changed...

Just in front of me, something emerged from the snow, pushing through it like a plow. As it emerged, I noticed that it was almost like a sprout of a plant or wild flower. But as it grew, I noticed that it was a crystal. Bright green, almost like jade, but brighter. As the 'sprout' continued its ascent, it branched outward, making tiny 'leaves' as it expanded. I looked up at Twilight for a moment, wondering if she was causing this phenomenon. Her jaw had dropped, leaving a wide smile in its wake on her face. Just beyond her, I saw dozens more of the crystal sprouts rising from the ground like vamponies from their coffins. I turned back to the sprout just in front of me, which had swelled at the top making a bud that was just ready to burst into bloom. I watched carefully, my peripheral vision seeing dozens of dozens more sprouts.

With a loud crack, like that of a tree branch snapping, the crystal flower exploded into a fit of color. The glorious pink petals burst forth, rough as they first came, but refined themselves into cut wonders before they settled into a perfect position. I shifted my gaze to one that had grown but a foot away to the left, catching it just in time as it ruptured itself, allowing spectacular yellow petals to venture forth. I turned to face Twilight again, who was looking on in her own wonder. It was another breathtaking spectacle, one I doubted I'd ever see again, and she was the one who brought me to see it. I softly thanked Celestia for this moment, and for sending the love of my life to Ponyville in the first place.

So we sat there on the snow-quilted tundra, watching flowers made of crystals bloom in vibrant reds, mellow blues, hushed yellows, regal purples, and every color the mind's eye could ever recall. The overwhelming picturesque sight ate away at my ability to hold my head up, making me drop onto Twilight's comfortable shoulder. I felt her smile soften as though to welcome me, and my smile grew as the flowers bloomed.

I saw two late-comers sprout upwards, intertwining as they did, forever entangling themselves together with a bond as strong as diamond. I felt both my gaze and Twilight's shift to the pair, watching as their buds swelled with anticipation, our breaths crystalized in our lungs. I near had a heart attack when I saw them burst, revealing their colors...

A yellow on the left, and lavender on the right.

Author's Note

Headcanon can screw with you when you write things like this. I eventually said "Screw canon, I'll do it how I remember it." So I should be at least semi-accurate with some things. Other than that, I stopped caring about canon. This is my story, and I shall write it how it comes.

In other news, this is a two-part chapter, so expect Bloom (Night) to come around within a week or so.

Also, I just want to send a shout-out to a few of my stalkers... Ahem...

Laarsgaard - Faithful pre-reader who helped me get rid of some awkward phrasing. He managed to catch a grammar error from me. Can you believe that? Love ya like a brother, my fellow ferret. Keep doing what you do.
YayFlutters - He's been a really awesome dude, prereading this because sometimes I get too excited to not share with someone. I try to not make him jelly of the fact that I have been writing a lot... Poor guy.
Timaeus - New stalker of mine that I've seen on LITERALLY almost every fic I've read. I'm his editor now, because apparently I'm awesome. (His words, not mine.) So yeah.

I'm working on Bloom (Night) as you read this. Hope you enjoyed.

<3 DarqFox

Bloom (Night)

It was an awe-inspiring sight. The mass bloom of thousands of crystal flowers just blew me away like a leaf in a storm. Nature had once again shown its beauty, using its own prowess in magic to bring about a faux-spring to an otherwise permanently winter environment. I could feel the wild magic in my wings, tickling my feathers just enough to be felt. I simply sat there with the only thing that I found more beautiful than the meadow we sat in. It was peaceful. It was perfect.

New flowers had stopped appearing, the intertwined lavender and yellow ones having been the last to bloom. I held my gaze upon them, trying to interpret the obvious sign before us. I wondered if it was just coincidence that made those two flowers intertwine, or if some omniscient force was showing us a metaphor of us. Either way, it was nothing short of breathtaking, and I couldn't move, though I noticed that our shadows were growing exponentially longer with each passing minute.

"We should set up camp here for the night," Twilight whispered, not wanting to disturb the peace with the sound of her voice. "This place isn't quite finished."

"How could it get better than this?" I asked incredulously. I picked my head up, looking at her as if she'd lost her mind.

"You'll see, Love," she answered cryptically.

I didn't want to spoil the surprise. She'd proven to have wonderful surprises, and I didn't want to spoil it. That would have been a shame... So I dropped it.

She stood abruptly, my wing trying subconsciously to keep her next to me. As she stretched out, the sun sunk closer and closer to the horizon before us. I stood up just moments later, stretching my own legs that protested the movement. An especially cold breeze swooped down from the mountain behind us, it's icy blades slipping beneath my feathers and sending uncomfortable sensations through my spine. I looked towards the sunset again, observing that it was just barely half an optical inch from the perfectly level horizon, which was defined clearly by the contrast of the sun's golden glow against the blinding white that bleached everything but the crystal flowers.

I moved over to where Twilight had set up the tent with her magic, the bright red sticking out sorely against the snow. With a faint 'pop' and the crunch of snow, a bundle of logs had appeared from seemingly nowhere, due to Twilight's magic. Next to her, a scroll that had once housed meters upon meters of ink was now three-tenths blank. I didn't understand how the magic worked, but somehow it did, so I didn't question it. All I really cared about was that it expressed her ingenuity in a way that I thought the word 'attractive' would be an understatement for. It made me wonder what other wonders she could perform, and just how far she could go. Her future, which I saw a lot of myself in when I imagined it, was brighter than the sun. I smiled at the prospect of sharing that bright future.

The fire roared to life as a magically induced spark caught on the logs and the kindling beneath. Thick warmth exploded outwards, engulfing me in its comfort. I basked in the warmth, still standing, closing my eyes to focus on the sensation.

Twilight cleared the snow with her magic, exposing an area of frozen dirt beneath us, too inhospitable for plantlife. She set a few thick blankets down, just out of range of any chance of catching fire. She nudged my shoulder, and I opened my eyes. We stepped onto the blanket, and lay down together. Her warm body against my side was definitely warmer than the fire was. I like to think that the fire was roaring in jealousy, blazing in anger that she had shown it up that evening. It only roared louder as she curled the far edges of the blanket over us, wrapping us up in a warm bundle. If I had wanted to move away, I certainly couldn't have by that point. The blanket held us together like a burrito, keeping us warm and toasty on the inside, while the blanket took the brunt of the cold. I felt my cheeks flush with color at our proximity. Our entire sides, from shoulder to flank, were pressed tightly together. I felt her heartbeat quickening in her chest through my own ribs. Each beat accelerated like a drumline show, crescendoing to a fever-pitch that blazed in my ears and heart, driving my mind and soul into a sort of insanity that could only be complemented by her own racing mind and heart. I felt nervous but excited, and afraid but happy. My emotions fought like two drum-corps, advancing from end-zone to center-field of the hoofball arena, the active corp forcing the dormant one back with the intensity of their rhythms, only to be repelled at the switching of roles from active to dormant and back again. To make a long story short for myself, the anticipation was an angry bear.

The moon absorbed the last of the daylight, refueling for it's long task of illuminating the night. One by one, it fished stars from the ink, summoning them to join in its vigil. Embers from the flames flew upwards to join their distant friends in the sky. The occasional snaps, crackles, and pops from the fire just a meter and a half away were the loudest sound present, but was buried by the sounds of our breathing. We were in perfect syncopation, my inhales matched precisely by her exhales, her side advancing and retreating in correspondence to mine. The warmth we felt in that blanket made the cold that much more frigid, and our bundle that much more comfy to be in. I debated whether the unicorn directly to my left was insane, having said that there was more magic to happen that night. I debated between her being insane or wrong, and I came to the conclusion that she was insane because she was never wrong. I nuzzled the insane mare that I loved for no reason at all, enjoying every millimeter and second of contact.

She kissed my cheek, her horn beginning to glow almost as brightly as her blush. The fire dimmed to naught more than a flame the size of a hummingbird. The light now gone, I wondered what she was doing.

"Why'd you put the fire down?" I asked curiously.

"We'll need our eyes adjusted to the dark. If we start getting used to it now, we'll be just in time for the show," she whispered back, her tone just ever so slightly sultry. I shivered in delight as her warm breath tickled my ear, and her hoof gently moved to grasp mine. I felt like my heart would burst with the way she was teasing and taunting, coming so close but not touching. But then again, I remembered that I teased her a bit on Topaz Mountain, kissing her nose and hovering when I knew full well how much she wanted to kiss me. I suppose that it was some game of revenge that we had engaged ourselves in. A lover's quarrel to never be tied, always one in the lead, only to be surpassed. I felt like we were an old couple: masters of their own language that no onlooker could decipher.

The dark of the night slowly revealed more of itself. Stars and nebulas once hidden behind the black curtain, now twinkling in the sky. Thousands of the tiny diamonds sparkled, almost arrogantly, showing their beauty to each other. Some were green with envy, others simply blue in sadness, and a few shining an angry red. Every star chose its color, making it known to all who could see them that they were as unique as the ponies who'd first gazed up at them. Every nebula splotched across the ink, bending into soft blankets that smothered the stars they encompassed. I saw a star shoot across the sky, plunging into a nebula before disappearing. I smiled and made a quiet wish.

An hour passed, the time flying away quickly. Both of us were able to see clearly in the dark of the night. The dreamily-lidded half moon watched us as we simply lay there in a warm blanket with the life-draining cold lurking hungrily just a few millimeters from our skin. My eyes had become heavy in that time. The weighted blinds folded down halfway over the windows to my soul, splitting my vision to see two different places. In my half-dream, half-real stupor, I saw us back at home. My home, to be specific. My vision soon shifted entirely to this scene.

We were in my home near the Everfree Forest, enjoying a friendly talk about a few books we both liked over tea. Jovial laughter resounded through the tree, a joke made on a fictional character having just passed between us. I smiled as a tear formed in my eyes. A warm sip of lavender tea soothed my laughter-dried throat, comfortable heat spreading through me. A dull roll of thunder rumbled lowly past, reminding us of the rain outside. I took a cursory glance at the window, seeing a few raindrops clinging to it like leeches. Fresh ones fell from the steel-gray clouds above, tackling the glass with all of their might. But all they did was send a steady roll of percussive taps echoing through the tree.

The entire motion was a blur to me, as it had been a complete surprise. I had been staring out the window, my gaze half-lidded in a rain-induced trance, and the strangest sensation of teasingly light pressure and warmth made itself apparent on my right cheek. My eyes shot open, my mind having instantly caught up with the recent turn of events. I turned to see Twilight looking at me with the most adorable expression of bashful playfulness. Her nose pointed down to the floor, but her eyes stared up at me with a mischievous innocence I'd never seen before in my life. Her cheeks were stained crimson, giving away what she'd just done.

I blinked a few times to wipe the shock from my face. She turned away, thinking she'd overstepped a boundary. I smiled, calculating her field of vision's reaches from where her eyes were pointed. I giggled like a schoolfilly, leaning in quickly and planting a timid kiss upon her blush-stained cheek.

"It's about to start," the almost inaudible whisper boomed in my ear. My memory now shifted back into the vault of my subconscious, I shook my head to clear it. Watching in the grayscale of the crystal meadow, I kept focused for any change in the flowers that shimmered in the night.

The intertwined flowers before us shone brighter than the surrounding flowers, beginning to cast its own light as though it had eaten the sun. Small sparks lazily drifting off the petals. If not for the fact that they did not change direction, I'd have mistaken the specks of light for fireflies. One by one, the flowers of the Malachite Meadow began to light up like torches, casting warm, multicolored splotches of radiance. The warm colored flowers of varying red, oranges, and yellows cast matching fire-like pools of light, the cool blues and greens and purples expelling a contrasting sky-like tone. Sparks of each flower's respective color rose up from them, lethargically climbing up to join the embers and stars in the sky. I followed a pattern of sparks, seeing the potential of a shape in them.

It was perfect. I knew nothing that could ever beat that moment with how utterly breathtaking it was. I swear my smile was larger than Pinkie could ever dream of. I sighed in complete contentment, unable to comprehend the full beauty with my mind.

As the sparks faded away, the lingering reds that drifted upwards slower than the rest formed a shape that seemed to me like a cheesy coincidence one would read about in a corny romance novel. I don't have to mention to anypony what it was, because every time I've told the story, everypony smiled knowingly. I felt the blanket loosen slightly, Twilight's body shifting next to me. Her hoof reached up, curling around my shoulders.

As we lay there in the dark, the cold outside stopped mattering. The world consisted of only me, her, and the blanket we shared. I yawned, sleepiness tugging at me like Angel. I let my eyes flutter closed. Soon, though, my body lost balance, and I tumbled down onto my side. Just before I slipped into sleep, I felt Twilight's hooves wrap around me, her chest pressing into my back. I took her hooves in mine, never wanting her to let go of me, allowing sleep to visit me.

Author's Note

This one took a while to write, but I've been seeing this scene in my head for days. In fact, I had this all in my head since I started Bloom (Day) and have been steering towards ending with cuddling. For all of my TwiShy readers, I started a Contest which I'll be judging. I encourage EVERYONE to participate. (Of course... If you want to... that is...)

I will not be updating this one because I don't quite have a plan for what to do with the next chapter. I have a rough idea, but absolutely no clue what I'm going to do with it. I'll prolly work on The Butterfly Dragon: Legendary.

<3 DarqFox

Spontaneous Combustion

The scent of warm pancakes roused me from my slumber. The crackling fire slowly lulled me awake, trawling me up from the depths of the sweetest dreams. As my mind finally whirred to life, it realized just how delicious the pancakes smelled, making my mouth water. I licked my lips, anticipating the most delectable breakfast with Twilight.

"Oh!" she gasped, realizing I was now awake. "Good morning, Love. Sleep well?"

"Better than I ever have," I answered dreamily. I smiled, remembering the dream I'd had that night. I blushed furiously and tried to push the thoughts away. But to no avail, as they continued their incessant buzzing around my head.

"That makes two of us," she replied. After a moment of silence, she added, "I had a dream about you."

"Oh?"

"I'll tell you on the way to our last stop," she promised, flipping the pancakes onto a set of paper plates. Slowly, I rolled onto my belly, still encompassed by the blanket's warmth. I spread my wings, shedding the blanket, the cold morning air hitting me instantly. I didn't mind much, but I was sad that the warmth was gone so quickly. She floated a plate and silverware my way, setting it down just in front of me. I grinned and licked my lips again at the strong aroma.

Having been taught by Pinkie how to hold things with just one's hooves, I plucked the silverware from the plate, quickly cutting the irresistible meal into bite-sized pieces. I wasted no time in devouring them. If I didn't eat them, the cold would freeze them solid in minutes.

A thermos floated towards me as soon as I finished. I grinned, smelling my favorite morning blend within. I took the thermos and took a long, pleased sip. The flavors of ginseng and a hint of lavender caressed my taste buds, sending gentle shocks of energy to my half-asleep brain.

As I put the lid back on the insulated canteen, I watched as Twilight poured her own morning brew into her thermos. One of our subtle differences made itself apparent as the dark brown, almost black liquid cascaded from the cast-iron kettle into her thermos. She was a morning-coffee pony, where I was a morning-tea pony. She'd tried to convert me, but I found the brew to be far too bitter, even after putting four packets of sugar and three teaspoons of creamer in it. In return, I had her try tea in the morning, but she found it a bit too sweet, and not nearly strong enough to rouse her completely from her all-night study sessions. As much as I wished she was a tea-pony, I didn't complain. It was a trivial matter, and it didn't change anything about her. Besides, thought I, I'll bet it makes for an interesting mix of flavors when we kiss...

Oh my... Did I really just think that?

Yes you did, my inner self giggled, laughing at me. But I suppose that's natural, since you're... I don't know... in love with her?

I guess, I responded. But that doesn't explain the sudden urge to find out. I want to take this slow.

Consciously, you do, the voice responded, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and I'm pretty certain yours wants her tongue in your mouth... Among other places.

I mentally gasped, blushing redder than a beet. My inner self laughed at me, darkening my blush and making my ears feel hot. Oh... My...

You may want to stay slow, but your heart most definitely does not. You remember that dream you had last night. I could feel my inner self smirking as she said it. I hid behind my mane instinctively.

"Fluttershy? You okay?" the calm, but slightly raised voice of Twilight shooed the voice from my head. Sadly, it didn't shoo my blush with it. "You're blushing pretty hard."

"I'm fine," I answered, barely above a whisper. "Just thinking..."

"About what?"

"It's nothing..." I pecked her cheek lightly so she wouldn't persist. "I'll bring it up later."

My peck having done its job, she desisted. She simply folded up the tent that we didn't sleep in, put out the fire, and otherwise made it appear as thought we'd never been there in the first place. "Let's get moving. We don't have too far to go, but it's definitely worth it to get there and spend the whole day there."

I smiled, taking a moment to wonder what surprise she had in store for me now. I could only guess randomly, throwing my wildest ideas against the wall and hoping a theory or two would stick. They ranged from a simple, majestic view from a cliffside, to an elaborate display of wild magic not unlike the previous night's display. For all I knew, she could have been in cahoots with Princess Luna, plotting a visit to the moon. All I could do was wonder.

We picked up our saddlebags, covering our backs from the biting cold. I felt like mine was significantly lighter, and I wondered for a moment what had changed. The hypothesis of Twilight's magic being the culprit sprang to mind fairly quickly, and was accepted as fact as the memory of us packing for the trip came to the forefront.

As Twilight reorganized everything, she plucked a blank scroll from a shelf. She rolled it out to a length of about five meters, and set it down on the floor. I watched on, curious. She had ten bundles of logs, which were too heavy for even Applejack to carry without a cart. She placed each bundle along the scroll, spaced evenly apart. With a quick flash, a bundle of logs was gone, replaced by a spiderweb of ink symbols and runes I couldn't read. The other nine bundles were quick to follow.

"I can promise you'll enjoy this," she said, planting a peck on my cheek.

We walked on into the frozen plains, moving towards a gleaming mountain speckled with green. A few hundred meters of walking later, the snow gave way to a frozen lake that was far wider than the eye could see. Its surface was smooth as glass, and almost looked to be glass, but was given away by the shadows of fish beneath it. I placed a tentative hoof on the surface, which slipped nearly immediately. I backed away from it, unsure of how we'd cross the ice.

A scroll lifted itself from my saddlebag, encased in my marefriend's magenta aura. It unravelled itself to reveal a complex set of runes and characters I didn't know. I didn't understand the whole process, but in a flash, four pairs of ice-skates appeared from nowhere, leaving the scroll devoid of ink. I got the hint, and plucked the set I assumed to be mine from her magical grasp. Or at least, I tried to. The set of skates flew down to my hooves, nudging me to lift them. I did so, letting Twilight help me with my skates.

"A bit of a different way of getting around, but it'll work," I said, a few snowflakes drifting listlessly past me through the air. After securing her own skates, we lunged forwards onto the ice. The rush of a light breeze past my face helped the sip of tea wake me up. The hiss of ice being carved by metal echoed across the beautiful frozen wastes. She smiled, drifting closer to me. With a well executed spin, she planted a peck upon my lips, and dashed away. After a moment of confusion, I saw her look back and wink at me.

A blaze ignited within me, and I felt like I imagined Rainbow would when faced with competition. I turned my left hind leg so the blade of the skate was sideways. I shoved as hard as I could into the ice, adding a significant amount of momentum to my already brisk pace. I lunged forward in great strides, accelerating quicker than she was, closing the distance. Jumping with thrust from my wings, I tucked the blades away so as to not accidentally hurt her, and aimed carefully for where I was to land. I spun once around, landing mere inches in front of her, and tagged her back with my lips before veering off to the right.

I never thought I'd ever enjoy being chased, let alone want to be caught by whatever was chasing me, but Twilight changed that. I dodged her with every trick I had, save for the use of my wings, praying that she'd out maneuver me, cursing myself when she didn't. But I smiled every time she giggled, and I'd squeal every time she tried to catch me by the tail. After two minutes of being unable to catch me, she decided to cheat and use magic to help her. One moment she'd been nipping at my tail, and the next, her lips were firmly planted on my own. She opened her eyes and smirked slyly, making an expression that I'd expect from Rainbow or Applejack that said, Tag, you're it.

She teleported away, landing five meters behind me. I turned sharply, spraying a fine powder of ice away with a harsh mix of hiss and crunch. Accelerating once more, I dashed forward towards her as she lunged away. Within moments, both of us were at our top speeds, traveling across the ice neither gaining nor losing ground to the other. I grinned smugly, flapping my wings to give me the necessary power. Inch by frosty inch, I tore forwards, gaining ice on my beloved.

Just as I was within reach, she spun around to face me. Before I could react, my lips met hers before our eyes could shut. It was just a little bit awkward to kiss with our eyes open, but as we both melted into it, we settled on a half-lidded stare of the purest love that could ever exist. We stopped caring that we were sliding across the ice with virtually no friction to stop us. We stopped caring that she was moving backwards. We stopped caring about the world around us, and simply engrossed ourselves in each other's eyes and lips. Somehow, we both agreed upon the simple pleasure of the half-eyed kiss, without so much as a breath to tell the other how much we enjoyed it.

It was only when we were abruptly thrown into a tumble in the snow that the world came back to us. We spun in cartwheels, head over fetlocks, clinging to each other. I started worrying for my sanity when I realized that we were laughing merrily the entire time. As we came to a halt next to a stone wall, Fate decided to place us in a rather... evocative position. The skates having flown off into the snow to be forgotten, I landed on top of her with my right forehoof resting gently on her chest. My left forehoof had wrapped itself around her waist, and her arms had wrapped tightly around my shoulders. Her legs wrapped around my hips, making the scene appear quite suggestive to any onlooker, which I was glad there were none of.

A bird interrupted us with a sharp trill. The sound sliced through the still air, bringing the world back to full capacity. After both of us got back up we laughed and kissed again.

"It's not much further now," she mentioned. "It's just up this ridge."

Finally unable to contain myself, I spread my wings and lifted off with one powerful flap. I lifted myself over my marefriend's back and wrapped my hooves around her barrel. With another grand flap, I plucked her from the ground, extra weight and all. She squealed in surprise, but dared not struggle. I grinned like a fox as I ascended, slowly rising above the ice-glazed ridge we'd landed against. Within twenty seconds, we touched down on the snowy ledge of the ridge that would have taken twenty minutes of hiking to get to on hoof.

A small cave, just big enough for two ponies to squeeze through side-by-side, opened before us. The ground in front of the entrance bore no snow, though nothing was jutting out of the stone wall above to block it. As I stared apprehensively at it, I saw the air around the entrance bending the air like water. It must be very warm in there, I thought to myself.

"This is it," she chirped brightly, stepping forwards.

I looked at her like she was crazy. But then I let it turn into a smile, mentally arguing, If she's crazy, then I never want her to be sane.

I ambled forwards with her, keeping my steps in time with hers. The light of her magic twinkled in the corner of my eye, signaling the end of her insulation spell, just as we crossed the threshold into the cave. A few moments later, a ball of light formed at the tip of her horn, casting a beautiful magenta glow into the darkness of the warm cavern.

A warm, earthy scent made itself known about fifty meters in. The humid air carried it like saddlebags packed with dirt. I felt my feathers twitching into new positions to account for the heat and humidity. A few more meters in, we saw light from the end of the tunnel, given off by crystals. I felt her pace quicken, so I matched it.

A large open space expanded before us. A large pool, perhaps even a small lake, of steaming water sprawled out in the cavern, leaving one meter of rock between its edge and the walls. Crystals hung from the ceiling, and sprouted from the walls and floors, some even reaching into or out of the water, casting a mystic green light everywhere. The rippling reflections off the calmly undulating water only served to add to the mysteriously beautiful serenity. A light gurgle echoed through the massive expanse of the cavern. I could feel my heart slow to what I'd normally feel just before I'd fall asleep, and my breathing become more relaxed, simply by the effects of the tranquil atmosphere provided by the hot springs.

Having shed her saddlebag, Twilight was already stepping into the water. Where I thought she'd only sink down to her knees, the water reached up to brush against her belly. I watched her eyes roll back in her head, a pleased smile curling up on her face like a cat for a nap. Her long sigh of pleasured relief was the only convincing I needed to shed my own saddlebag and join her.

I stepped in gently, the hot water working its way through my leg fur as my hoof sunk to the floor beneath the water's surface. I smiled myself, stepping further into the deceptively deep water. Just three steps into the comfortably hot water, and the water was at my belly. I dared take one more step. The water lunged upwards to the base of my wings, which had involuntarily flared upwards to prevent themselves from being soaked. I forced my wings back down, leaving them just an inch above the steamy water's glossy surface. I slowly dragged the tip of my right wing across the water, shivering in delight at the sensation that shot through my nerves. Against my instincts, I forced my wings down into the water, sending tidal waves of hot pleasure through my wings as the water seeped between my feathers. Never before had I felt anything so amazing through my wings. Neither fluffy cloud, nor the wind in my wings could beat the feeling of soaking them in the hot springs.

A relaxed moan escaped my throat, summoning a giggle from the unicorn that had brought me here. I turned around to see that Twilight's mane was already soaked and clinging to her neck. Seeing as my own mane was halfway in the water already, I decided to dive under and finish the job. Imagining that I was catching a fish for a stork, I plunged my face into the water. The warmth hit me like a brick, curling the smile on my face further upwards. My mane began to expand in every possible direction as the water soaked into my mane and forced each strand apart.

I gasped for air as I came back up. The relative coolness of the air soothed my lungs which burned after holding my breath for so long. I looked over to where Twilight was only to find that she wasn't there. Something heavy tackled me into the water from behind me... Something that vaguely felt like my marefriend.

I twisted on the way down into the water again, landing on Twilight's soft belly instead of water. Both of us giggled uncontrollably as foal-like playfulness took over once again. I wriggled free from her tight embrace, flapping my wings to paddle more powerfully to the surface. As soon as I took a new breath of air, I dove down again to retaliate. Her eyes widened in mock fear and she turned to swim away as fast as she could. But my wings gave me an advantage of speed and agility in the water, and I soon caught her. I twirled her around as though we were slow-dancing, bringing her to face me. As soon as I had a clear shot, my lips connected with hers.

But there was something different about that kiss. I didn't know if it was that we were underwater, or that the water was so hot, or that we were completely alone where nopony could possibly see or hear us, but it felt different. It felt... like it was missing something. It felt incomplete, as though it were a delicious cake batter, but there was an ingredient missing.

Cursing my need to breathe, I broke the kiss and pulled her with me to the surface. As soon as we alleviated the burn in our lungs, Twilight pushed towards the water's edge. It was only when I felt the stone against my back that I really noticed or questioned what she was doing. But before I had time to voice an inquiry to ask, her lips quickly silenced me, and brought my train of thought to a screeching halt.

No matter how many times we'd kiss, the first thing I ever thought of was how she was able to keep her lips as soft as they were. The way they seemed to melt against mine always sent a shiver down my spine. But it still felt like something was missing.

Something poked at my lips timidly. At first, I was confused as to what could possibly be poking me, but after a second poke, I realized what it was: her tongue.

Why not? my inner voice whispered. Go for it.

I let go of every inhibition I had. Every restriction I had was blown wide open, and I'd never felt so... aggressive. I opened my jaw and shot into her mouth, rushing past hers. Every crevice I could find, I explored with a lust I'd never allowed myself to experience. And it was wonderful... The sweetness of my tea and the earthy bitterness of her coffee mixed just so perfectly that I couldn't help but let out a muffled moan. Oh my... was the only coherent thought that made its way through my head as I wrestled her tongue with my own. My wings flared unevenly, rolling us over so that she was beneath me. I didn't know why I liked being on top, but I enjoyed it very much. My wings soon wrapped around her, pulling her closer.

As soon as we broke apart, we gasped for air to quench the fire in our lungs. Our breaths were steamy with an intoxicating vapor of lust-inducing chemicals. My thoughts became blurry and illogical, almost drunken, focusing entirely on the lavender unicorn that I'd pinned in the gently oscillating waters. Our eyes opened lazily, only halfway. We stared into each other's eyes with intense desire for the other. We smiled at each other, understanding each other perfectly without words.

"That..." she panted, "was... indescribable!"

I simply nodded in agreement, my mind still processing all of the new sensations.

She leaned up to kiss me, but was too slow, even for my sluggish mind. With a sly grin plastered to my face, I blocked her advancing lips with my wing. I leapt back into the water, swimming away while beckoning to her. She followed, her gaze glossed over as though I were a mermaid. As she approached reaching distance, I dove beneath her. I released the air in my lungs in a steady flurry of bubbles, swimming directly beneath her as I did so. The steadily ascending spheres bombarded her underside with light tickles and caresses that summoned squeals of delight from her. I resurfaced on the other side for a breath of air, and just after I did so, she tackled me full force with another fiery kiss. Having most likely planned the assault in her mind, she took advantage of my open mouth, shoving her tongue in as her lips sealed around mine. Her tongue felt as ravenous as my own had been, quickly darting around to find and mentally map each crevice it could find. I could do nothing against the forceful, but not unwelcome invasion.

However, whatever plan she'd made did not account for the depth of the water. We sunk beneath the water sometime between when she'd initiated the attack, and when I realized that I needed another breath. I didn't want to break the kiss that felt so simply divine, but my lungs screamed to do so. I unfurled my wings again, and gave one upward paddle to break the surface. As soon as we did, we mutually broke apart to breathe. She grinned, her horn beginning to glow. I felt a tingle on my neck, and saw the magical glow form on hers as well. There was a slight tickle, like a zipper being opened, and then the magical sensation left. Still staring at her neck, I watched the flesh on her neck part on either side. I shivered a little bit.

"Now..." she began. "Where were we before our lungs so rudely interrupted us?"

Our lips made contact once again, mutually opening. Our tongues wrestled like playing kittens, rolling back and forth across the blurred border of where her mouth connected to mine. All the while, the water opened its mighty maw and swallowed us again. I felt water seep into my neck where it had, I assumed, parted like hers. It was a strange sensation to say the least. Within two minutes, my lungs protested at my refusal to use them, setting themselves alight with fiery and prickly pain. I spread my wings to resurface again. Noticing this, she wrapped her hooves around me, refolding my wings. I let a groan out, trying to tell her I needed air, but she simply smiled through the kiss.

My instincts took over, and I broke the kiss to take a breath, even though I was still six feet below water. Water flooded my lungs, bringing the sediments of fear. I felt panic overcome my mind as I thought I was going to drown. It was only when I felt her hoof take hold of mine that the fear began to subside. I watched her breathe normally, the slits on her neck flaring with each inhale.

Gills?! I thought as I exhaled.

You have to admit that that is incredibly crafty of her, my inner self replied smugly.

It is, I concurred. It's one of the many reasons I love her...

Trusting her spell, I breathed as normally as I could. Water flowed like slow, thick air past my new gills, quenching the flames in my lungs. I smiled, adding a hint of mischief before taking hold of her and pecking her lips. As if we were in a musical, I took a lung-full of water, and let loose my singing voice. I did not need lyrics or words. I did not need to dampen the incessant hammering of my love-powered heart. I didn't need words to express how I felt because words were not capable of carrying the message I wished to convey. But it was a simple melody that I'd not thought of or planned in advance. I just listened to and repeated what my heart sang. My eyes closed, allowing my mind to flood with images of us together in various settings, some innocent and heart-wrenchingly adorable, some quite steamy, bordering erotic.

Her voice entranced me the instant the water carried it to my unworthy ears. Each note, each trembling vibrato and breathy falsetto, each held pitch pulling every ounce of attention I had. I was fairly certain I'd stopped breathing to focus on the voice of the angel that I called my marefriend. She hit another long note, her wings splaying outwards slowly as the note held out. The glow of the crystal behind her was blocked by her gently flowing mane and flared wings, dazzling my mind with a second sense that it struggled to comprehend. In the back of my mind, images of us together in various settings flooded my imagination. Some of them were innocent and sickeningly sweet, while some were almost embarrassingly erotic. From park bench in spring to my bedroom on a warm summer's night, mental illustrations of just us made themselves known, scratching and clawing every inch of the way from the back to the front of my mind.

It was only when she came in for another gentle kiss that I noticed she'd stopped singing. I let go of a breath of fresh water I didn't realize I was holding, "Beautiful..."

She blushed modestly, turning away from me without a word. I allowed myself to sink to the floor of the hot spring, and I pulled her gently down with me by way of lip contact. The softness was familiar by now, but still strange and interesting to me. The way our lips melted together just so, and moved in perfect harmony blew me away every time. It set my heart to the maximum tempo it could handle without leaping from my chest. It made my head distinctly clear, yet hazy on everything but her. As she poked my lips with her tongue, I felt an entirely new anticipation well up inside. I promptly allowed her gently aggressive tongue in, letting it overwhelm me with its thorough exploration. I felt her lay me down on the stone, and climb on top of me, and I felt dirty for thinking what I did, but I thought anyway. The way her hooves ran up and down my chest sent shivers down my spine. The way her weight made our synchronized heartbeats apparent for us made my chest burn with a mix of love and lust that I'd never experienced before in my life, and it was truly amazing enough to force a pleased moan from me.

In the shortest possible way to explain how I felt as we lay at the bottom of a hot spring, making out on top of each other, six words were all I needed.

I never want this to end...

Author's Note

Dear sweet mother of Luna. 4600 words?! What the hell, brain!

Anyway, you know those make-out scenes with all of the super-descriptive woodwind-y goodness? Yeah, I wrote all of those blind. That's right, I've never experienced any of that myself. Haven't even had a regular kiss, let alone French. Let me know how well I did with that, because DEAR LUNA those are making me a bit antsy.

Hope you enjoyed the steaminess. That's as far as I go. (I don't do clop.)

The next chapter is a two-parter, and will be the final chapter. I'm looking forwards to writing it because I have some fun stuff planned for it that I think you guys will love.

<3 DarqFox

Musical inspiration for the former half of this chapter: The Garden
Musical inspiration for the latter half of this chapter: Zora's Domain

Confidence (part 1)

Having gills was very strange to say the least. The water I breathed filled my lungs in addition to sliding through the slits in my neck. It was a completely foreign feeling. A fish-out-of-water, or in my case pony-in-water, experience. But as strange as it felt, it did feel natural after a while, and I had to admit that it was helpful when we made out. From the time we'd begun, we'd been at it for three hours without breaking apart, let alone feel tired in any sense.

It took a light rumble through the cavern to truly catch enough of our attention to start feeling exhausted. In a matter of seconds, fatigue washed over me, loosening my hold on her. Within a minute, our kiss diminished itself to light, elongated pecks. Twenty seconds later, we were simply laying together, staring into each other's eyes with an exhausted satisfaction and bliss that could only be out-matched by one thing.

She stroked a hoof along my side, her stunning violet eyes saying the only words I ever needed to hear. All I wanted in that moment was her, and have her I did. I thanked Celestia for having sent her to Ponyville in the first place. I made a mental note to thank the princess personally when I had the opportunity.

Sensing she wanted to get up, I rolled over, sinking to the stone floor. My forehooves curled up on my chest, and I breathed heavily. I felt more exhausted than any other time in my life, and it felt so good. My chest felt as though it had been filled with stones, and my limbs felt immovable and heavy. My wings fell limp against the floor, molding with it like clay. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to.

So Twilight moved me. The tingle of magic soon enveloped me entirely, and I felt the solid floor retreat from beneath me. My wings limply drooped to reach for the floor, the tip feathers dragging along the rocks as my marefriend carried me up from the depths.

The chill of air finally hit my face again after close on half an hour of being submerged in the hot spring. I exhaled my breath of water, resisting the urge to cough as the water was purged from my lungs. The next breath of air stung a little bit, but I had expected as much after getting used to the warm water in my lungs. It took all of my self-control to not cough and gag as my body readjusted to the much thinner air.

"I love you," I huffed, my voice trembling just a little. "I don't even know where to begin explaining how amazing that was..."

"Then don't explain," she replied with a smirk. She lit her horn and with another ticklish zipper-like feeling, our gills were gone. "Don't try to explain things that words can't do justice to. I can't explain how much I love you, so I don't try. I can't explain the feeling I get when I'm with you, or how that kiss felt, or how good it felt when you were stroking my chest just the way you were, or how much I enjoyed your weight gently pressing down on me, so I don't try to. All I can explain is that I love you, and I don't know many things that can beat those feelings."

I hesitated a bit, digesting her monologue. It was when she said 'many' that my brow furrowed in thought. "Don't know many? What could possibly trump the rush I got from that kiss, or the high I felt when your hooves rubbed my sides?"

"Remember when I told you I had a dream about you?" she asked, seemingly going off on a tangent.

"...yes...?"

Her blush intensified enough to shine through her soaked fur, and the dim lighting. She shifted nervously, turning her head away like I would, "Well... It was a bit of a... rather... erotic one..."

My muscles instantly tensed and locked. I looked at her in disbelief. Her face was facing completely away from me, her blush threatening to boil the remaining water off of her, and her eyes fixated on a single pebble on the ground.

Well that's a queer twist of fate, now isn't it? my inner self teased. Twilight had a dream about you at the exact same time that you were having one about her. And might I add that both of you were having erotic dreams about each other?

"Oh my..." I thought out loud. "I don't even..."

"I'm sor-"

I pushed her jaw closed with a hoof, turning her head to face me. Her eyes avoided mine at all costs, darting from the floor, to the ceiling to the pebble to everywhere but my eyes. I touched my nose to hers, and her brilliant azure eyes finally met mine. I gave her a light peck. "I feel honored to be the object of your desire," I whispered seductively into her ear. I felt her shiver as the words made their mark. Her blush could not have gotten redder than they were as the words sunk in.

The sultriness in her voice was as virulent as a scorpion's sting, petrifying as a cockatrice's glare, and entirely out-of-character for the endearingly shy pegasus mare I'd fallen for. I felt nearly all of my blood rush to my cheeks, displaying what I assumed to be the single most powerful blush in the history of Equestria. Celestia's sun couldn't hold a candle to how intensely hot my cheeks felt.

A shudder of what I assumed to be anticipation undulated its way down my spine, prickling up the hairs along my back until it flicked my tail. It felt wrong to imagine her in such... vulgar ways, but the statement that she'd near moaned into my ear was enough to turn the gears in that section of my imagination. I tried to suppress the thoughts so that perhaps my body wouldn't make it obvious that I was thinking that way about her. I tried with every ounce of mental strength I had, but not even reciting the Laws of Magic could distract me from the beautiful mare laying mere inches in front of me.

Dear sweet Celestia, did she really just say that?

Well why else would you be imagining her li-

I'm not imagining! ...I'm fantasizing...

I shook my head again in another attempt to think clearly. After finally managing to do so, I quickly recalled my mental checklist.

Auroras... Check.

Malachite Meadow... Check.

Emerald Springs... Definitely check.

Now we just have that to do.

And that's only if she wants to.

"A bit for your thoughts," her whisper tickled my ear. I smiled lightly, looking into her teal eyes.

"Oh, just planning our final activity before we leave," I replied dreamily, struggling to keep my thoughts in order. "We're only ten miles from being within eyeshot of the Crystal Empire Station. We're leaving tomorrow."

"Oh? So what do you have planned, if I might be so bold as to ask?"

"Something no less than breathtaking."

She scooted closer to me, her face a pebble's width away and blushing as powerfully as I had been a few moments ago. She exhaled slowly, intoxicating steam hanging heavily in her breath as she used a voice that sent chills throughout my body. With a raspy almost-moan, she whispered, "I have a better plan..."

Before I could even blush, she lunged forward in a playfully aggressive semi-tackle. The force behind it bowled me over like a pin in an alley, allowing her to quickly clamber her way over me. She situated herself atop me, pinning me between her incredibly soft and deceptively toned belly, and the warm ground. Her wings wrapped tightly around my barrel, pulling me ever closer to her pounding heart that threatened to burst from her chest. Her right hoof gently trailed down my own chest, sending tingles up my spine.

It was downright aggressive. Every move she was making blazed with intensity, overwhelming me by sheer force. Try as I might to struggle against her, she was far too powerful to overcome. It was a side of Fluttershy I'd never seen, but definitely wanted to experiment with. So rather than uselessly wriggle beneath her onslaught of passionate gestures, I simply laid back my head against the floor as her lips came like a tsunami towards me.

Had I not braced myself for her assault, I figured I'd have gotten a concussion from my head hitting the ground, or whiplash from how quickly it moved. I could feel heat in her lips, burning like an inferno of love and lust that had just been sparked with more fuel at the ready than the sun would know what to do with. It near seared my lips, but I wouldn't have minded if it did. But the way my lips melted to hers was immensely satisfying, and started to heat my own desires up. As soon as her tongue poked my lips for entry, I allowed it, permitting an unrelenting assault to explode its way into my mouth. The sweet taste of her tongue immediately filled my mouth, working its way into every crevice there was. I shuddered in delight, an involuntary moan escaping my throat as I felt my tongue being bullied by hers.

I managed to free myself from her blazing lips for only enough time to ask, "Are you sure?"

She looked at me, as though I were insane, and simply giggled seductively before continuing her assault of my lips.

It was when her lips started traveling down my neck that I began agreeing with her look. There we lay, the sweetest, kindest, most gentle pony laying on top of me, methodically planting tiny kisses all the way down my neck, pausing at my collarbones before heading back up the other side. By then, my breaths were short, ragged gasps.

I felt her free left hoof snake its way down my back, every inch of her touch igniting my skin with sensations of want and need for her. It hesitated at the small of my back, as though asking permission to continue. As though to say yes in a defiant manner, I gently dragged my hooves all the way from her shoulders down to her hips. And when I reached her perfectly accentuated hips, I surpassed them, continuing down her rump, earning a short squeal as I turned around to cup her cutie marks. Within moments, I felt her mirror my actions, earning a lustful moan from me.

She started kissing down my neck again, making me squirm like a trapped lizard beneath her dominant presence. But where I expected her to turn back around, she kept descending. And descending...

And descending...

Oh my goo-OH DEAR CELESTIA!

The overwhelming scents of our musk was mingled into one, making it impossible to distinguish the individual aromas. It permeated the air, hanging in the steam of the hot springs. It was a scent I'd come to love more than the smell of old books and oak sap. I inhaled deeply, savoring the sweet aroma. It was distinctly... us.

As we lay there, myself now on top of her, we inhaled the scent of us. It was a warm and sweet smell, almost like hot maple syrup, but not quite. It forced my exhausted face into a smile.

There was no better feeling in the world. No book could describe it. The way my body felt like it was on fire was an understatement for how immensely hot I felt. If somepony were to pour batter on my belly, they could easily cook pancakes in seconds.

I rolled off of my not-as-innocent-as-I-had-once-thought marefriend-now-mate, landing on the ground with an unceremonious thump that echoed percussively through the musk-filled steam. It took me seven minutes to slow my breathing from full-blown hyperventilation to a light pant. It took twice as long for my heart to slow down enough for me to feel the individual pounds against my chest. I turned my head to face her, my eyes still clouded with unprecedented ecstasy. I looked into her eyes, seeing them blaze with the same bliss I was feeling. Her cheeks were stained with a fading blush that refused to disappear entirely. I smiled weakly, my strength barely allowing my lips to move.

"Nothing... short of... magical..." she whispered, scalding steam on her musk-scented breath. I smiled a little stronger, closing my eyes for a moment. "I'm so glad I'm yours..."

It made perfect sense in that moment. Every aggressive action, every verbal response enticed, every movement she made was because I was her first. I was no Dash, but I could have come in dead last in every science fair for the rest of time itself and not given a single bit because I'd been first for Fluttershy. And as I reveled in that fact, I started hatching plans to be her first and only.

"As I am yours," I replied with a smirk. With what little strength I had, I pushed myself along the floor, inch by inch towards the water that now seemed chilled in comparison to the heat our bodies were holding. I slid sluggishly into the water, the once warm-feeling water washing sweat, fatigue, and musk from my coat as I dissolved into it with a blissful, "Mmmmmmhhh..."

"I love you, Twily," she said.

"I love you too, 'Shy," I returned, sprawling out in the water. She dragged herself into the water to join me, melting on contact, separating her from the sweat and musk that coated her fur. A visible cloud of the mixture had formed around us, and we both enjoyed the scent.

For many other couples, this was the peak of the relationship. But for us...

We'd only just begun climbing.

Confidence (part 2)

The chill hit me like a brick, sapping the warmth from my skin quicker than Dash could clear the sky. I quickly focused my magic, casting the insulation spell I'd used for the past few days to keep from catching hypothermia. I smiled as the cold was immediately blocked by my magic. The warmth that still clung to my body like leeches expanded to entangle me in a thin layer of precious heat.

The previous night had been the single greatest night of my life, and I had discovered a significant number of things about Fluttershy and myself, like the fact that as far as... intimacy... goes, she prefers the dominant position. I had also discovered that where I once thought I would have taken said position, I actually preferred the submissive position. But that was something to dwell upon later. There was a train to arrive at noon at the station in the Crystal Empire, and we were to be on it. And at the moment, I wanted to share the news to our friends about how we'd finally broken down the barriers on our relationship. I wanted to make Rarity jealous that I had gotten... intimate... before she had found a coltfriend. I wanted to make Rainbow gag at Fluttershy and I kissing. I wanted the world to know that I was on top of it. However, I still wanted Fluttershy to be comfortable with it. I was unsure of whether or not she'd want anypony to know, so I resolved to ask her about it on the train.

"Oooohhhh... I can't wait to tell our friends!" she squealed excitedly next to me. I looked over to her, wondering if I'd heard her correctly. I made a mental note that my eyes instantly gravitated towards her flank...

"I can't wait to see their faces! Rarity will be so jealous!" she gushed. "And don't even get me started on how Rainbow will react!" As if noticing me looking at her funny, she added a timid, "I mean... unless you don't want to tell them yet..."

I burst into laughter, cackling madly like a hyena at the thought that my beautiful, adorable, overwhelmingly kind marefriend wanted to be so... bold and flagrant about our love life. I pondered whether she had gone insane up here in the Frozen North, and quickly shot the idea down. Nay, she wasn't crazy, but maybe I was. But then again, there were many ponies in Canterlot that would call me crazy for dating and... sleeping with... another mare. So I decided that if I was crazy for loving her, then I should be locked in an asylum for eternity, because even after I died and decomposed, I'd still love her, and never want to be 'sane' or 'normal' because that would take away my angelic pegasus... lover...

"Oh, I definitely want to," I chuckled out, my lungs still heaving with laughter. "Maybe we could make a date out of it."

"I'd love that," she sighed contentedly, pecking my cheek.

So we set off from the cliffside, following the mountain trail down the low ridge to the plains once more. The walls of rock to our right was coated in blue ice, from which giant trees of emeralds grew. With each crunch of snow beneath our hooves, we closed the distance between ourselves until her wing was draped around me. I smiled warmly, not wanting her to ever let go. I mentally cursed my saddlebags for not allowing her much closer.

And then... Inspiration.

"Wait," I barked, halting my steps. She stopped with me, and looked at me. I gently shrugged her wing off, reaching back into my saddlebags, from which I plucked a quill and a bottle of ink I didn't think I'd need.

"What are those for?"

"I don't like that our saddlebags aren't letting us get closer," I said, smiling almost deviously at her. "I had an idea of how to fix it. Take yours off." I blushed after realizing how that could have been interpreted had there been other ponies around. She did so without question, simply going with it. I opened the ink, and dipped the quill in. "Lay down, belly up."

Why she obeyed without question baffled me. I thought I sounded insane, and the whole while, both of us were blushing like madmares. But as I approached, holding the quill in my magic, she stared into my eyes, trusting me with her mind, body, and her very soul. When I made the first stroke, she shivered, almost messing up the first rune. I continued, cautiously, making every effort to not tickle her too much. And the whole time I drew into her skin, she stared up into my eyes, and I stared back, letting my magic work itself. In the space between us, our souls danced before our very eyes. Fiery and passionate like a tango, and strangely calm and loving at the same time, like a slow waltz. I was fairly certain that they had coalesced, becoming one distinct ethereal entity. But as the final rune was drawn on her soft belly, they split apart, returning to our respective bodies. Our breaths steamed from the cold, but I believed that it was the sultry, heated situation that I had managed to put us in.

I placed our saddlebags on her belly, at the center of the spiderweb of runes I had scrawled out on her belly. Together, they were about as heavy as I was, but she nary twitched a muscle, save for her eyes that tracked my every movement.

With another flash of magic, the saddlebags were gone. Nothing was left behind to remind us of their existence, save for the runes upon her belly. I smiled, lightly lowering my face to hers and planting a small kiss on her nose.

"All fixed," I whispered into her ear, teasingly nudging it. I couldn't help but giggle foalishly as her ear twitched beneath my touch. She rolled out from beneath me, standing up next to me. The instant her wing draped itself across my back again, it pulled me close to her. I smiled contentedly at the feeling of her warm sides against mine. We walked together, moving in perfect sync down the trail. Every muscle from our shoulders to our flanks moved in harmony, never rubbing, only pressing gently against the other.

We covered miles upon miles of ice and snow walking together, enjoying perfect silence and the simple bliss of physical contact. Fluttershy was lost in thought, a dreamy smile plastered to her adorable face. Each blink she subconsciously made was slow and lethargic, defiantly staying closed for seconds at a time. Her breaths were slow and full, as though she were peacefully asleep in my hooves. I counted each breath, breathing in when she exhaled, exhaling myself whenever she drew breath so that the contact of our bellies would never be severed by our biological need of oxygen. I counted each step from the legs we shared contact with. I counted each blink, and the seconds her eyes stayed closed. One by one, I counted my blessings, smiling as I noted that I was counting the fractions of the one true blessing in my life.

I checked the horizon again, finally seeing the top of the enviro-dome that had been set up to keep the weather in the capital of the Crystal Empire as it was in Ponyville. I smiled and nudged my marefriend, dredging her up from the depths of her thoughts. She shook her head clear, looking at me before noticing where I was looking. She smiled, yawning.

Before my mind could process it, I was plucked from the ground like a carrot. Feeling nothing beneath my hooves near set me in panic. But as my mind began taking in all sensations, I realized that there were hooves around me. I smiled, feeling the wind rush through my mane as we rapidly approached the Crystal Empire's capital. But all the while, I wondered why she was in such a rush.

The train isn't till noon, and surely our friends aren't waiting... at the...

Oh. My brother. That's right. My brother kinda lives here now, I mentally slapped myself for having forgotten such a simple fact. Well, looks like Shiny's getting a big bomb of adorable today.

We arrived in relatively quick fashion, passing through the barrier into a sunny and warm environment. A flash of light from Twilight's horn told that her insulation spell had deactivated. My wings itched with anticipation, guiding me towards the massive tower of diamond in the center of the city. As we closed that final distance, the city's natural crystalline magic took its effect. I felt the tingle of magic wash over me, but I dared not look.

"Halt! This is a restricted area!" a particularly hefty guard in bronze armor hollered as I set Twilight down on the balcony of the tower. I landed next to her just moments later, folding my aching wings to my sides.

"We're here to visit Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence," I said casually, not caring that the guard was holding a spear in his wing, pointing it at us.

"Not just anypony can waltz on into the palace," he barked gruffly.

"Stand down, Quartz," a more relaxed, but definitely male voice called from behind the wall. "Don't you recognize your heroes?" A white unicorn stallion that appeared made of diamond with a sapphire mane stepped out onto the balcony, a brilliant smile upon his muzzle.

Only moments later, Princess Cadence in her own crystalline magnificence trotted casually out to the balcony, gently admonishing the guard, who promptly left, for not recognizing us. I heard her and Twilight sing their signature greeting, giggling like schoolfillies whilst Shining Armor took the opportunity to approach me.

"It's a great surprise to see you again, Twilight!" her elder brother began. "But why are you here in the first place?"

"Vacation," she answered, glancing towards me.

I simply stared at the effects of the crystalline magic. Her coat, once silky smooth and beautiful in its own right, was now gleaming brightly as amethyst. From horn to tail, the glow and shine of her enchanted coat dazzled me near senseless. I felt a little drool collect in the corner of my mouth, but I didn't care enough to do anything about it. Little by little, everything they were saying stopped hitting my ears. For all I cared, they could have been screaming at me. I just wanted to bask in Twilight's beauty.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight's angelic voice snapped me from my reverie.

"Oh, um, yes?" I asked, my usual timidness returning.

"Would you like to tell them the point of our vacation, or shall I?" she asked with a smirk. Cadence and her husband exchanged confused glances.

"Why don't we both?" I suggested.

We exchanged devious smirks, turning back to look at the royal couple. If looks made us what we were, we most likely would have become devils from our smirks. For but seconds, we looked at them with knowing grins, almost forcing Shining Armor back a step. And with perfect precision that only lovers could achieve, we excitedly blurted, "We're marefriends."

The initial reaction was almost exactly what I had expected: shock. Their maws hung agape, almost hitting the floor. Their eyes opened wide, and their pupils shrunk to pinholes. Cadence's wings unfurled slightly,holding onto her husband for support. They held stone still for thirty seconds before Twilight piped up again.

"If you don't approve, I don't care," she near hissed, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. "Ponies in Canterlot call me horrible things, ponies in Ponyville call me terrible things, and I don't care if the whole of the Crystal Empire joins them in calling me cruel things just because I love another mare, nay, because I love Fluttershy. I don't care if the world turns and hates us for loving each other, but just as surely as Celestia will raise the sun each day, I will love her with every strand in my mane, with every blink of my eyes, with every breath I draw, with every last subatomic particle that composes my being. So go ahead and oust me from your kingdom. Disown me, berate me, I don't care. I love Fluttershy with my body, mind, heart, and soul, and I refuse to stop loving her."

Even I was stunned stiff by her rant. I mean, sure, I'd been berated for being a fillyfooler and loving Twilight, but I always shrugged it off. To know that it hurt her enough to come erupting forth with the force of a volcano... I swore to protect her from those cruel ponies. I wrapped my wing around her to comfort her, shielding her from anything that wanted to hurt her.

"I am..." Shining Armor began, "...indescribably proud of you, Twily. I'm proud, and happy for you. How does it feel?"

"Like I'm invincible when she's around..." she whispered dreamily, a tear rolling down her face. I quickly lifted my wing to brush it away.

"And you, Fluttershy. How do you feel?" Cadence inquired.

"Like she's my heartbeat," I answered in my own dreamy tone. "Like if she's not around, I'm not quite alive."

They exchanged askance glances, grinning like foxes. Cadence spoke, "That is all we needed to hear. Twilight, I'm the princess of love. I don't care who loves whom. I'm just happy that you found love. Perhaps stronger love than ours." She gestured to her husband, who pawed at the balcony floor. "Congratulations to both of you."

Without warning, she tackled both of them in a hug that put Pinkie's to shame. She cried happily into their crystalized coats, her smile big enough to be seen on the back of her head. I smiled happily as well, stepping forth, and hugging them as well. It was a great day. An amazing week. I could not have been happier.

We waved goodbye as the train lurched forward. We were somehow in a car completely alone. For a moment, I wondered if her brother and sister-in-law had planned this, but quickly dismissed it. I didn't care. It was dimly lit by candles, and the shades were drawn to block the sunlight, making it feel like nighttime. I felt myself getting warm, and twice I caught myself staring at her flank. I blushed furiously, realizing that she was staring at me too.

"You know... We fell asleep before I could repay the favor," she whispered into my ear. I shuddered, feeling warm tingles undulate up and down my spine. I felt her hoof gently brush against my wing, making it twitch in anticipation. Within moments, she was planting rows of kisses on my neck, drawing an involuntary moan from my throat. I felt my heart quicken as she gently lowered her kisses to my wing, gently stretching it out to its full length.

"I've heard that preening can be incredibly sensual, when done right," she moaned softly, her voice sultry and hot against my wing. "I want to practice what I've been reading..."

Every word she breathed sent a new surge of heat through me, marring every thought in my mind save for the simple few that were relevant to what Twilight was doing to me.

"Ooooohhh..." I gasped as her lips parted my feathers, allowing her tongue to sweep up the debris. Needless to say, I melted almost instantly. I felt to the floor of the car in a mushy heap of pleasure, her ministrations sending wave after wave of scalding hot pleasure down my spine. I felt her hooves run down my back, stopping to trace my cutie mark.

She rolled me onto my back, spreading my wings out on the floor like the pages of a book, her eyes reading them like scrolls containing vast knowledge she didn't yet possess. Slowly, teasingly, she lowered herself to my other wing, preening them with absolute precision. The light pinches of loose and damaged feathers added to the searing waves of pleasure racing through me. I moaned with each pinch, and squealed at each tiny lick to the sensitive skin beneath my feathers, and so great were the waves they accompanied that I didn't notice her hoof gliding down my belly until...

"Twili-AAAAAAHHH!"

"Think they're having a good time on their own private and sound-proof car?" Cadence asked, a devilish smirk on her muzzle.

Quoth her husband, "Eeyup."

Author's Note

Well. There will be a tiny epilogue, which I'm sure will blow your puny minds. You will absolutely love it. I swear on Celestia's mane.

Anyway, seeing as this is the final few chords of my beautiful chorale, and I wanted them to pop a bit, I threw in my brass. I'm not sure if it was used properly/effectively. I was going for a solidification of the fact that Twilight and Fluttershy love each other enough to give zero fucks about who hates on them.

Time (Epilogue)

A month had passed from our trip to the Frozen North, and we were just laying in the library, reading together. She was reading a rather large book, most likely containing hundreds of spells that she could master just by reading. I, however, was reading a famous novel about a Prench ex-convict that had been released, and hunted by one of the guards from prison. Of course, Twilight probably knew far more Prench than I did, but I knew enough for the book to make sense enough.

Silence was tangible in the library, our breathing and the occasional page turn being the only sounds that boomed in the otherwise mute library. Every so often, a whisper that sounded like a giggle tickled my ears, pulling my chin up to look at the only other living being in the library with me. But no evidence of her giggling was ever apparent, so I'd go back to reading.

"I'll be right back, Love," she whispered, setting her book down, cover-side up. She walked past me, disappearing behind a corner. Seeing my chance, I stood and crept over to her book.

As I lifted it, I saw a travel magazine hidden behind it. A stunning picture of deep indigo waters and pebbled beaches struck my eyes, capturing my attention. I looked up at the caption, engraving it into my mind:

La Côte d'Azure

But more prominent than the caption was the fact that it was circled in red ink more than twenty times consecutively, leaving a vortex of ink around the picture. Just below the circle, was inscribed:

SOON

Author's Note

Your mind is now blown from the implications. And yes, if you're thinking what you should be thinking, then your mind is blown. If not, allow me to clarify.

SEA.
QUILL.

Take a wild gander at the title. :3

Shoutouts: Thank you Nightroad, for all of your compliments and constructive criticism. You help me grow.
Laarsgaard: The dude I show tidbits to. Basically, my bro and prereader.
Appledashfan132: Most avid follower of the story. Thank you so much for your reviews and comments. <3 You make me feel special.

Thus ends The Frozen North. I hope you've enjoyed it.

<3 DarqFox