The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Timeline: One Week Later

"Want a cupcake?" Pinkie Pie asked, holding out the titular treat on an outstretched hoof.

Twilight gratefully accepted, taking the item in a deep magical glow and holding it in front of her. "So how are the babies getting on?" she asked, trying her best to make small-talk before moving to her main point. Though once she hadn't needed to, Twilight made an effort to not ignore any of her friends. Whether that be a visit to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy, baking with Pinkie, or any number of exciting apple-related activities with Applejack, Twilight tried to make time for everyone, every week, without fail.

"Oh, they're doing great! Pumpkin called me 'Auntie Pinkie' last week!" Pinkie exclaimed, smiling as hard as she could—and much harder than any normal pony could dream of—as she thought about the Cakes' foals.

Twilight had known about the name-calling from Pinkie's I'm an Auntie! party, where Twilight had tried her best to explain the actual meaning of the term 'Auntie' to no avail. "They're growing up so fast, huh?" she said, ending her sentence with a quiet laugh. Everything was growing up so fast. Even though it'd only been a few short years since Twilight's introduction to Ponyville so many things had changed, both for the better and the worse. Maybe one day soon, Applebloom and her friends would finally get their cutie marks.

"Yeah," Pinkie happily sighed, "We're gonna have so much fun! We can play ball, and run around, and roll in the grass, and oh gosh Twilight you should join us!"

"I think I'll be busy," Twilight said, "but thanks for the offer. Anyway Pinkie, I had a question fo-"

"The Equestrian Fair!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, pulling out a poster and pinning it to a nearby wall. Twilight blinked.

"Anyway," she continued after a long and awkward pause, "I've been thinking lately, I want to take Rainbow Dash somewhere nice. Somewhere she'll appreciate and have fun. Any suggestions?"

Pinkie bounced up and down and wordlessly pointed at the poster.

"How did you...?"

"Well, duh, Twilight. Of course you wanna take her somewhere nice! The Equestrian Fair only happens like, once a hundred years, and this year I got to do the catering! So I have two tickets! But I can't go because I have to babysit, so obviously somepony else has to go, so obviously you'd be wanting to take Dash somewhere because it's so convenient that I just happen to have tickets! Otherwise I'd have to find somepony else to take them, and I think we all remember what happens to ponies when tickets are involved." Pinkie's gaze grew dark and serious as she pulled two golden tickets from her mane and pressed them into Twilight's hooves. "Tell nopony of this," she insisted.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. There were some days she thought she'd finally figured Pinkie out, and then there were the days she actually talked to her. She'd never had a friend quite like Pinkie before, she knew that for a fact. "Well, thanks, Pinkie. I think. It sounds wonderful, I'm sure Dash'll love it!"

"Oh, she will! They have cloud-coasters that go all the way up to Cloudsdale!" Pinkie beamed.

"Anyway, I have a report that needs finishing. Thanks again for the tickets, Pinkie!" Twilight said, smiling and waving as she began to walk to the door. Pinkie waved back and watched her talented purple friend vanish in a puff of light.

"That pony is always in such a rush! She should take things slow, like us—right Gummy?"

Twilight raised the thin glass tube to her eye and stared at the compound within. To one side was a stack of notes and measurements from every step of the process, and to the other was a Rainbow Dash carefully monitoring the situation.

After the last few disasters, Rainbow Dash had named herself Safety Director, donned a white lab-coat and goggles, and started watching over Twilight's experimentation with an eagle eye. Twilight should have hated it; she knew what she was doing and didn't need babysitting. However, Dash's concern was matched only by her ignorance of advanced magic, and Twilight was fairly sure that Dash wouldn't recognise a danger until it was actually exploding—at which point, she would appreciate the high-speed rescue.

Rainbow Dash also looked adorable in a lab-coat and goggles.

"So anyway," Twilight absent-mindedly chatted while noting down a few extra numbers and shaking the tube. "Have you heard of the Equestrian Fair?"

"Oh man, yeah!" Dash exclaimed, "It's only meant to be the best fair ever! They only do one every couple of years. There's one this year, but I couldn't get any tickets. Not even when I told them who I was! I'd have loved to go, though."

Twilight suppressed her grin—Pinkie had been right. "Oh, well I was talking to Pinkie earlier—apparently she did the catering. She couldn't use her free tickets, though, so she gave them to me. I was thin-"

"Put that tube down," Dash insisted. Twilight looked at it. It seemed fine.

"Are yo-"

"Down. Now. Safety veto."

Twilight lowered the tube to one of the containers on her desk and carefully set it down, making sure not to disturb the delicate balance of magic and chemical within it. Immediately, Dash pounced. She crashed into Twilight hooves first, slamming both of them into the cold wooden floorboards.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" Dash squealed, grinning and fluttering her wings. "I've wanted to go since I was a filly! Even the Wonderbolts go there! Oh my gosh, Twilight thank you!" She grinned and gave Twilight a strong and forceful kiss.

"It's Pinkie you should be thanking, not me," Twilight said, struggling to find time to speak over Dash's squealing and kissing.

"I should! I could kiss that mare right now! Not- not that I would, of course. Unless you were into that sort of thing."

Twilight stared back at her unamused. "Go on then, I have experiments to finish anyway. I think this batch will increase the transmagic residue containment and ease the energyflow matrix pattern adjustment proto-rune's existential metastasis readthrough effect for a one point seven percent increase in in spell discharge efficiency!" she said. Or something like that, Dash was neither listening nor there, having already left the building. There was a bubbly pink pony who needed a hug, and probably a prank or two.

Rainbow Dash flared her wings and came to a sudden stop, hitting the ground trotting and walking the last few feet over to Pinkie Pie. She had flown straight to Sugarcube Corner, and flipped the sign on the door from Open to Closed as she passed.

The two looked around suspiciously, checking to make sure they were alone. "Cup and Carrot are buying ingredients, we're all alone!" Pinkie exclaimed, pouncing on Dash and knocking her to the floor in an enthusiastic embrace. Dash immediately returned it, wrapping her hooves around Pinkie and squeezing back.

"Thanks, Pinkie," she whispered, "I really owe you one."

"Nuh-uh! I love you, Dashie!" Pinkie said, before gasping and covering her mouth with all four hooves. "I mean in a friend way!"

"I know what you mean, Pinkie." Dash laughed. Pinkie bounced to her feet, and Dash rolled over onto hers. "So, are we go?"

"Project corona is underway!" Pinkie said, in her best secrets voice. "Everything'll be ready for you!"

"Thanks, Pinkie. Really, I mean it, I don't think I can ever pay you back for this."

"Don't be silly, Dash! Knowing you're happy is all the thanks I'll ever need!" Pinkie giggled and bounced over to the door, flipping the sign back. Dash gave her a light nuzzle on the back of the neck on her way out, though her heart was beating faster than on a thousand mile flight. Keeping secrets from Twilight was difficult at the best of times, this one was going to be almost impossible.

A few days later, the purple and blue ponies walked onto the grounds of the Equestrian Fair and stood in awe. The fair was held on the largest unused flat stretch of land Equestria had, and it went as far as the eye could see. Around them stood stalls advertising every possible fairground game, from fishing for parasprites to knocking over a precariously balanced stack of cups with a tiny plastic ball.

Above them hovered Cloudsdale, the mighty cloud-home of the pegasi. Usually it moved across Equestria providing weather and weather support where necessary, but here it was anchored by dozens of cloud-structures spidering off it down to the ground. Everything from cloud-based roller-coasters, to gliders for the less-winged races, to cloud-candy floating down from the sky. The full attentions of the industrial city had turned to entertainment, and it showed.

"Oh my gosh," Dash whispered under her breath, staring outward at the huge tower spiralling down from the centre of the city. The structure was the fair's Pièce de résistance—a several mile free-fall followed by the longest and fastest roller-coaster in Equestria's history.

Twilight Sparkle gulped—she was not good at roller-coasters. She shifted on her hooves and felt the comforting weight of her papers held tightly within her saddlebag. She wanted to do something nice for Dash, but research is safer.

"Where first?" Dash asked, turning around to face Twilight. Their options were innumerable.

"Oh, I'm not sure. There are so many things to do! Why don't you just go off and have fun, and I'll stay here and work on my papers," Twilight suggested.

"Oh, come on, Twi! Let's have some fun!"

"My papers are fun," Twilight muttered quietly. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and pulled her over to one of the nearby stalls.

"Welcome, welcome, madam and ma'am, to our game of skill and chance!" the stallholder announced, grinning and twirling his hat around on his horn. "The goal of the game, you see, is to throw this here ball-" He produced a small plastic ball from behind the counter and placed it on the stall- "into those there cups, and win prizes!"

The prize stand contained everything from woollen jumpers to life-size pony dolls as prizes for sending some, or all, of the cups tumbling. "Just a bit a ball, ladies—can you afford not to try?"

Rainbow Dash grinned and pulled a metal coin from her saddlebag, flipping it up into the air to land on the stall's surface. "Hey Twi, which one do you want?" she asked.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "You can't win it, Dash, these are all rigged! The cups are probably glued together or something."

"Well, duh. Which one do you want, I'm gonna win it anyway."

Twilight shook her head. There was no getting through to that point. "Any of them would be lovely, but a full-size doll for experimenting on would be very useful."

Rainbow Dash nodded and took the ball beneath her teeth. She turned her neck to one side, and flung the ball as hard as she could straight at the centremost cup. Architecture wasn't really Dash's strong suit, but she knew enough about how it worked in clouds to tell that one was a load-bearing cup, and with it gone the rest would clatter to the floor.

Her senses heightened as she watched the ball zip through the air. She watched the stallholder like a hawk, ensuring there was no foul-play, and followed the ball's path along the air. Though the whole thing only took a fraction of a second, Dash was good at working at high speeds.

The ball deformed with the force of impact, squashing slightly as it struck the cup. The tremors shook out along the thin plastic surfaces and the entire structure wobbled. A single cup from the very top fell down and tinkled against the floor.

"Told you," Twilight said, breaking the silence a few moments later. Dash couldn't believe it; her mouth hung open in surprise.

"But..."

"Like I said, they're rigged. It was sweet of you, but let's just go grab some cloud-candy or something. Pinkie Pie recommended it specifically!"

Rainbow Dash's head fell.

"Don't worry, you still get a prize! Now, do you want this wonderful toothpick, or this incredible scarf?"

"Rarity always says you look good in a scarf, Rainbow," Twilight suggested. Rainbow Dash was not convinced, and she shook her head.

"I don't want it. Give me another ball."

Twilight spoke up, "Dash, they're ri-"

"Nuh-uh. I said I was gonna win you something nice. Can you take a look at those cups and see what's holding them together?"

"That's cheating!" Twilight protested, as if that wasn't the first thing she'd done upon seeing it. "But okay, it's glue. Strong, but flexible, the most you're going to be able to do is make it wobble."

Rainbow Dash disagreed, and took the second ball in her mouth. Without warning, she took off, soaring into the skies with a single beat of her wings. She flew far enough that she was barely a speck in the distance, and hovered there. Then she started to get closer, picking up speed all the while.

Twilight realised what she was about to do. "You should get out of the way," she shouted at the unlucky stall-keeper, before taking a few steps backwards as Rainbow Dash zoomed overhead. An instant later the ball, now travelling at a high fraction of the speed of sound, smashed through the troublesome cups, and the wooden stall, and the stall behind it, and the stall behind that.It finally came to rest embedded a few inches under the ground some twenty meters away, and Rainbow Dash victoriously set foot on the ground once more.

"So how'd I do?" she asked, grinning triumphantly. Twilight lit her horn and cleared away the smoke and dust to allow Rainbow Dash to see the chaos she had unleashed. Most importantly, to allow her to see the perfectly round, ball-shaped hole in the perfectly steady pyramid of cups. "I... Twi, can you just knock that down before anypony notices?"

Twilight laughed and complied. It wasn't like a little extra damage would be noticed anyway. The thick glue dissolved in a harsh red field, and the cups came clattering down onto the ground.

"Aw yeah, we make quite a team!" Dash grinned and hopped over the devastated stall to grab the thankfully unharmed doll. "And now we've got you a test dummy!"

She walked away and Twilight quickly followed. Hopefully nobody would notice. As soon as they'd reached a minimum safe distance—around the corner, hiding behind another stall—Dash pulled the pony plush from her back and handed it to Twilight.

"Thanks, Dash." She smiled, picking the toy up and inspecting it. "This'll do perfect for some of my experiments. You're gonna fly, little guy." Twilight lifted it onto her back and positioned it snugly. It reminded her of the moment before being carried by Dash, though of course the faux-filly was going nowhere of its own volition.

Twilight could sense something off about her lover. While normally she was eager to please, there was almost a tinge of desperation in her voice; as if winning a cheap doll was somehow important. A stealthy once-over with a magic field confirmed it—Dash's heart rate was well above normal and her muscles were tense. There was so much adrenaline running through her system Twilight could have sworn she was getting ready to fight.

"You okay, Dash? You seem tense," she asked, resting a hoof on Dash's neck. The blue pony shied away, as if the contact made her uncomfortable, and blushed almost imperceptibly—Twilight could only detect it because she was still concentrating so hard on Dash's body.

"Yeah, just after-flight nerves. Hey! Let's go get some cloud-candy!" Dash exclaimed, spotting a stall off in the distance and running off, forcibly changing the subject. Twilight followed with an awkward and unsteady canter as she adjusted to the weight on her back.

By the time she arrived, Dash had already sneaked to the front of the queue and was walking away with two treats in her mouth. She mumbled something around them, but Twilight couldn't make out a word.

Eventually, Twilight realised the difficulty Dash would have eating those—a revelation aided by the constant meaningful stare—and plucked them from her grip, helpfully holding them under the cyan mare's nose.

"Thanks," Dash said. "That one's for you."

Twilight took her treat and left Dash's hovering just in front of her while they walked, looking around at the rides and wondering what to do first. She took a small bite an-

"Eugh! This is awful!" Dash exclaimed. "This is just clouds and sugar! Who eats clouds?"

"I don't think it's so bad," Twilight replied, "but then I've never had one before."

Rainbow Dash stopped and looked straight at Twilight. "You've never had a proper cloud-candy before? Never ever?"

"Nope!"

"Right, come on, there's gotta be somewhere around here that does good ones."

Twilight Sparkle sat in the cool shade of Cloudsdale sipping a steaming cup of tea and snacking on a bowl of oats. She was writing away at yet another blank sheet of paper, expanding her hypothesis' and collating her evidence. She was coming close to a publishable theory of crystal-smithing, she was sure of it.

On the far side of the fair, many miles up, Rainbow Dash paid for two authentic cloud-candies from her favourite stand—one not built for tourists and amateurs, but one built for connoisseurs such as herself. She dived and glided down to where she'd left her purple friend calmly sipping on a hot drink.

As she set foot on the ground, she noticed something was wrong—there was a crowd surrounding where Twilight had been. "Oh, great," Dash muttered, and pushed her way through the crowd, taking great care to keep the candies safe. When she reached the centre she saw the reason for the commotion—Twilight had encased herself in a magical shield and was fiercely writing away.

"She's crazy!" one onlooker shouted.

"I've never seen anything like it!" another called.

Rainbow Dash jumped on top of the glowing sphere. "Hey!" she shouted, catching everybody's attention. "Leave her alone, she's just working."

"She wouldn't answer any of our questions, and then she did this! We just want to know what she's doing!" a crowd member shouted. Rainbow Dash bared her teeth and stared at them. The crowd slowly began to disperse until Twilight and Dash were left quite alone. Twilight didn't notice.

Rainbow Dash rapped against the side of the shield, hoping her knocks would resonate within and alert the busy librarian. They did, and Twilight lowered her shield.

"Hey Dash!" she casually said, as if the situation was perfectly normal, and took one of the candies. "Mmm, delicious!" she replied after taking a quick bite. "You're right, these are good."

"So uh, what was that all about?"

"Oh, they just wouldn't leave me alone. Honestly, I just want to write in peace!"

"Well, we are at a fair. Y'know, fun and games and stuff?"

"This is fun!" Twilight insisted.

"Yeeeaaaah, no. Come on, you ever been on a roller-coaster?"

Twilight Sparkle's eyes grew wide as she looked upon the rickety wooden structure in front of her.

"It's called a roller-coaster," Princess Cadence explained, "Do you want to try? I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Yes!" Twilight nodded, jumping aboard the structure and letting Cadence strap her in. She trusted her foalsitter and was sure their time at one of Canterlot's fairs would be enjoyable.

The ride started with a lurch, forcing Twilight back into the unpadded wooden seat. Within moments her cart was chugging down the track.

"What are you doing?!" Candence shouted towards the ride operator, "I can't let her go alone! She's not even taller than the line!"

"Sorry ma'am, you can't get off Mr. Pones' Wild Ride." he replied, shaking his head. "Ain't no way to make it stop."

"Twilight! Just hold on!" Cadence shouted, hoping she wasn't drowned out by the clattering cacophony of wood against metal. Twilight clung to the cart with all her might, but the ride just kept getting faster.

The fair was held at the very edge of Canterlot, on one of the gardens overlooking the kingdom. A few meters away was a thousand feet of empty air: a very long drop. As luck would have it, the ride was damaged and one of the rails didn't quite fit.

As the ride built up speed on a descent, it suddenly jerked as one of the rails was pulled free and the cart escaped the tracks. Momentum alone kept it travelling, and it continued up the track to fly off into open air. Twilight screamed as the cart plunged, quickly falling beneath Canterlot and rapidly approaching the ground.

"Gotcha!" Cadence shouted, plucking the terrified filly from her deathtrap moments before it hit the ground. "Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry! I'll never let you go alone again!"

"Wow, that's..." Rainbow Dash trailed off.

"Yeah. But don't let me spoil your fun, I'll be fine here, really! I need to solve the covariant matr-"

"No!" Dash interrupted. "Come on, Twi, give it a try! It'll be fine, these ones don't even have rails!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, they're clouds. Mostly. Mostly clouds. There's nothing to go wrong!"

"Well..."

"Come oooooooon! What's the worst that can happen? If we fall off, I'll catch you!"

"What about Terry?"

"Who?"

Twilight pointed at the pony doll.

"You named it? Whatever, yeah, sure, I'll catch Terry too. Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Fine, fine, just let me finish up here okay?"

Rainbow Dash grinned—it was going to be so much fun!

"Next!" the ride attendant called as Twilight and Dash reached the start of the line and were offered a place on one of the carts. Twilight had been assured that the clouds had been enchanted by the best unicorns in Cloudsdale—who were, by definition, good at their trade—and it was highly unlikely she'd fall through, but she'd still enchanted herself to make sure.

"We paid for that tea, right? I should go back and che-"

"Yes, we paid. No, you don't have any excuses left," Dash replied, pushing her onto the cart and pulling the cloud-strap over her body, locking her in place. Twilight's expression twisted with concern as she tested the strap and found it was slightly loose.

Before she could say anything, however, Rainbow Dash jumped aboard and strapped herself in. The other carts were filled with happy and chattering ponies of all races and backgrounds, all happy to be at the fair.

Twilight was clutching at the side of the cart and shivering.

"Twi, it'll be fine. You can probably fly with your magic anyway now," Dash soothed, checking her own strap and sitting back, waiting for the ride to begin. It was true—after Twilight's last near-death fall she'd been inspired to practise more slow-fall and parachute spells, just in case. Rainbow Dash had approved, and helped her test them, and even if the ride did—somehow—break down, Twilight would be fine.

"Dash, I want to get off."

"Twilight, it'll be fine," Dash insisted, resting a hoof on Twilight's foreleg.

"Dash, I wa-" Twilight's request was cut off as the ride slid into motion. "Oh Celestia," Twilight whispered under her breath, and closed her eyes. The clouds took a winding path up towards Cloudsdale, generously dispensing stomach-wrenching drops alongside the ascent. Twilight's purple exterior took on a green tinge and she found herself almost frozen with fear.

"See, it's fun, isn't it?" Dash asked, shouting over the winds. "Twi?" she asked again, after a few seconds without a response. She looked over and found her partner shivering and locked in place. "Twilight?"

The ride dropped, hard. The clouds were almost as high as Cloudsdale itself one second, and the next second they weren't—tumbling down towards the ground in a pattern so well orchestrated Dash could have sworn it was freefall.

Dash looked back towards Twilight, wanting to check on her and hoping she was okay. She wasn't okay, but more importantly she wasn't there. Her belt hung in tatters. An instant later, Dash had ripped her own belt off and sped into the air, frantically looking downwards to spot the tumbling Twilight.

"Sorry!" she heard, almost a whisper carried on the wind. Most ponies wouldn't have even heard it, but Dash never had been most ponies. It had come from above. Dash flipped over and saw Twilight slowly floating downwards on a thin film of magic. "Sorry, I just couldn't... I'm sorry for ruining your day, Dash!"

"Twilight," Dash said, shaking her head and smiling, "you di-"

Twilight vanished in a burst of light, leaving Dash alone in the sky. "-n't ruin my day," she finished, before sighing. "Great, what now?"

Though Dash's eyesight was almost unparalleled, she couldn't see through walls. She also couldn't see through the ground, and she knew how far Twilight could teleport now. If she didn't want to be found, it would be almost impossible to find her. Rainbow Dash began the long and lonely glide back to the ground, returning to the ride's entrance to grab Terry from their storage.

"Ooh! Who's your new friend, Dashie?" Pinkie gasped as Dash walked through the door of the kitchens, where Pinkie was organising the food, baking the food, sorting the food, serving the food, as well as a host of other jobs that would usually take many ponies to perform.

"Oh," Dash replied dejectedly, "I won him for Twilight."

"Aww, that's so sweet! You two are so great together!"

Rainbow Dash sighed. "I wish. I only won this because I didn't listen to her. She said not to bother, and then we had to cheat to win. Then just now I made her do something she really didn't want to do, and now I don't know where she is. I really screwed this one up, Pinkie."

Pinkie pulled out two chairs and a small table. "Why don't'cha tell Auntie Pinkie all about it?"

"I'm older than you, Pinkie."

Pinkie reached forward and prodded Dash on the end of the nose. "I can still be an aunt, silly! Twilight was explaining all about it last week. That pony is such an egghead!"

"That's my girl you're talking about, there," Dash jokingly warned, her face breaking into a small smile for just a moment. "Or was, anyway. Damnit, Pinkie, me and my big mouth."

"Well, you're gonna have to tell me what happened! The suspense is killing me!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Twilight had a really bad time with roller-coasters when she was a filly, and I practically forced her to go on one, even though she's terrified of them. Then she ran off, and I don't know where she is. That's about it. Damnit, I should have listened."

"Did she actually say she was scared of them?"

"Well, no, but-"

"And can you really force her into anything? That pony can be stubborn as a mule when she wants to be!"

"Well, true, but-"

"And I know where she is!"

"What?! Where?"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not telling you. It's not your fault, Rainbow, she wouldn't have tried if she didn't think it'd be fun! So it wasn't, so what? We all have some things we don't find fun!"

"Really?" Dash asked, surprised that Pinkie could find anything she didn't enjoy.

"Yeah! I don't find LOTS of things fun! Like fighting and screaming and not being happy, they're no fun at all!"

"So, you gonna tell me where she is or what?" Dash impatiently asked.

"She's outside sitting at one of the tables. But first, I have some advice! A good relationship is a lot like a cupcake-"

Rainbow Dash had already left, shaking the table and casting a strong breeze throughout the entire room as she darted through to the main building the kitchen served. She immediately spotted the lavender mare sitting quietly at a table writing, though she had none of her earlier enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash took a seat opposite her.

"I'm sorry," they both said at exactly the same time.

"Wait, what?" Dash snapped, "What are you sorry for? You've got nothing to be sorry for! This is my fault, not yours!"

"No, Dash, it's not your fault. It's mine, I thought I could do it if you were there. I was wrong. I'm sorry, I should trust you more, I just..."

"Hay-bales! I made you do it, it's my fault. I should have listened to you!"

"No, I didn't stop you. It's my fault."

"It's my fault!" Pinkie suddenly announced, popping up from beneath the table. "I gave you the tickets! Now will you two stop arguing and make up already?"

Dash spoke, "Pinkie, I-"

"Make up," she threatened, narrowing her eyes and staring at both of them simultaneously.

"Okay. Look, Dash, I'm sorry I didn't make it more clear. I'll forgive me if you forgive you."

"Deal."

"Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now kiss!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight snapped. Pinkie's ears dropped and she slowly retracted below the table, vanishing.

"I will never understand that mare." Dash sighed and shook her head.

"Nor I. Mostly I'm sorry about ruining your day, Dash. I wanted this to be special. I've not been showing you you're special lately, and I wanted today to be different, and I've gone and ruined it. Here we are at the fair, and I hate it and just want to work, and I'm sorry. You deserve better than that."

"Twilight, I don't care about roller-coasters! I care about you!" Dash snapped, almost angry that Twilight could have thought different. "I don't care whether we're eating cloud-candy, or on a roller-coaster, or standing by your desk doing things I don't really understand. Don't you get it, Twilight? I love you, I don't care what we do. That's not important, okay? You are."

Twilight sniffed. "I- I know, but I just wanted to give you a really nice day. I know you're not really all that interested in my work, even if you're happy to help. I just thought-"

"Then stop thinking!" Dash interrupted. "Your heart is what matters here, not your head. My heart says I love you, and my head isn't smart enough to disagree." Dash chuckled at her own weak joke.

Twilight looked down. "Would it disagree if you were smarter?"

"If it did, I'd fly head-first into walls until it didn't," Dash promised. "Now, come on, repeat after me: I love you."

Twilight smiled. "Do I really have to say it, Dash? You know, right?"

"Come on, I want to hear it."

"I love you."

"That's my girl. You ready to go back out? We could do something a little slower if you want, or just walk around a bit—maybe win a few more prizes?"

"I think we're banned from winning those now, Dash. But okay, let's go," Twilight replied, picking her stuff up and stashing it away in her saddlebag.

Unbeknown to her, Rainbow Dash wanted it to be a special day too. The specialest of days.

"So, what's this one?" Twilight asked as the two joined one of the many queues lining the grounds, to one of the many rides.

"Gliding!" Dash replied. "You're carried up in one of those gliders, and then let go, and you get to fly to the ground. A chance to get a glimpse of how awesome it is to be me!"

"But you carry me all the time, Dash."

"It's not the same, you're not in control. Just, come on, try it. If you want to, y'know. I'm not gonna force you again."

"You'll catch me if I fall, right?" Twilight asked, though she already knew the answer. Dash grinned and nodded, knowing that Twilight would only ask that if she'd already agreed to do it.

"Next!" the attendant called. Twilight stepped forward, and was quickly strapped into the glider. It wrapped around her torso like a saddle, and the wings stuck out several meters to each side. Dash approved of the aerodynamic stability and was happy with the build quality—not that she'd ever mention it in those words, lest she feel like a nerd. It was something she felt safe sending Twilight up in, though.

"Next!" the attendant called again, ushering Twilight on to one of the pegasi who would carry her up into the air. The attendee looked at Rainbow Dash and raised an eyebrow. "Ma'am, you already have wings," she deadpanned.

"Uh-huh."

"You don't need a glider."

Dash nodded. "Yeah. I have a reservation, name's Rainbow Dash. Hurry up about it, too."

The attendant checked her list, scrutinising the series of names until she came across the desired entry: Dash, Rainbow. One bag of rainbow.

The attendant handed the closed bag to Rainbow Dash, and she took off. Her heart was beating like a drum and her hooves were almost shaking, but she managed to stay in control. Twilight was almost at the top, where she would be released and allowed to glide back down. Dash needed to beat her there, so doubled her wingbeats and shot upwards in chase of her.

"Hey, Dash!" Twilight waved. Her legs dangled in the air as she was raised ever higher, and the winds had begin to ruffle her mane and chill her coat. "How do I work this thing?"

"What?" Dash asked, roused from her distraction. "Oh, it's easy. Lean left to go left, right to go right, forward to go down, so on. Can't go wrong!" Dash added under her breath a moment later, so quietly Twilight couldn't hear, "Better not go wrong."

All of a sudden, Twilight was released. She shot forward, gliding through the air with all the grace of a spectacularly agile hippo.

"Aaaagh!" she screamed, leaning left and right at random and twisting through the air. "Aaaaaaaaaagh!"

Dash rolled her eyes and flew alongside, positioning herself underneath Twilight and helping to stabilise her. "You're overcompensating for your rolls, Twilight! Turn more smoothly!"

"I don't know what that means!" she yelled back.

"Now you know how I feel. Just be calm and try not to lean too far!" Dash instructed, feeling Twilight's glider begin to slow its spin and return to a relatively stable descent. "Yeah, just like that! Think you can keep this up?"

"M- maybe?" Twilight replied, entirely unsure. She was used to doing things with her mind, and even then entirely with her hooves on the ground, not with the wind whipping into her face and the ground so very far down.

"Twilight?" Dash yelled, wanting to make sure the anxious mare could hear her properly.

"Yeah?"

"I've got something to say." Dash's throat felt dry and speaking almost hurt. Her body shivered and tensed as the adrenaline rushed through her, and she closed her eyes in the hope that fewer distractions would help her through.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," Twilight joked.

"I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but I can't imagine life without you," Dash said, looking straight forward and holding Twilight steady. Her body felt like it was on fire and every muscle told her to run, but she knew this was more important. "These past few months have been the best I've ever had, and I don't ever want that to change. I'll always love you, Twilight. I've always loved you. I never believed in fate before you, it always seemed too girly. Something Rarity would like, along with pretty dresses and makeup." Dash bit her lower lip to try and clear her head—she had something important to say, she wasn't here to gush about Twilight.

Twilight listened intently, but didn't say anything. She couldn't handle the mental load of listening, maintaining her flight, and talking. Her hooves were lightly shaking partly through fear, partly through adrenaline, and partly through the anticipation of not knowing where Dash was going with her tirade.

"But anyway, I think we were brought together for a reason. I don't care if that reason was to kick some ass, as far as I care that doesn't even matter." Dash squeezed a little tighter and fluttered her wings slightly as if she were preparing to stop gliding. "We came together because of us, and I don't ever want that to change, so..."

Rainbow Dash let go and dropped, falling a good few dozen meters before spreading her wings and taking flight. She quickly sped away, reminding Twilight just how impressive Dash's flight was. Her own felt like she was going a million miles an hour in the middle of a chaotic storm, and Dash outstripped that a hundred times over and made it look effortless. As she flew, Twilight noticed a bag in her forelegs. She opened it, and her rainbow trail suddenly became more solid, hanging in the air without dissipating.

After a few moments, Twilight realised Dash was writing something in the air, but her angle was wrong and she couldn't make out what. Worse, she was flying away from it, and didn't trust herself to turn around.

"Okay, come on, Twilight. Remember what Dash said, take it slow," Twilight whispered to herself, closing her eyes as she tilted to the side. She felt her entire world turn as the glider began to rotate, and soon she was facing the opposite direction and managed to steady herself once again.

She opened her eyes and read the message in front of her, written in fifty-foot letters above one of the biggest events of the year, attended by ponies from all over the kingdom.

Twilight Sparkle, the message read, Marry me?

Far below them, the ponies milling around on the ground looked up. There was a message in the sky.

A moment later, the keener-sighted of them noticed something else. A lone glider, far outside of the designated gliding zone, was in trouble. She was flailing about and falling fast, and it was unlikely any of the fair safety technicians would be fast enough to catch her.

Luckily for all involved, another pony was there to save her. Her rainbow-streak trail soared across the sky and picked up the distressed mare, holding her in the air for just a few seconds. An instant later, they both sped away—the pegasus carrying the glider. A huge explosion rocked the sky and blew away the message with its shockwave, and a rainbow began to form on the horizon.

It took the form of a message.

She said yes

A few minutes, and many miles, later, Twilight lay cradled in Dash's wings on top of a slowly drifting cloud. Her saddlebag had been discarded and throw off to the side to lay forgotten, and Terry was in the capable hooves of Pinkie Pie.

"Aren't I meant to have a ring?" Twilight teased, tilting her head back and resting it on Dash's neck. "There was always a ring in my books."

"Heh, yeah. We'll get one, I just didn't really know what you wanted."

"You."

Dash blushed and hugged a little harder. "So, Rainbow Sparkle or Twilight Dash?" Dash asked, mostly joking. "Man, both of those sound awful."

"Yeah, probably best if we don't. There's a lot to think about, though."

"Not to me," Dash replied, "Looks simple from where I'm standing. I'm already yours, I just wanna make it official."

"That's sweet, Dash, but weddings are a lot of work! We'll need food, music, guests, dresses, a venue, a time, a photographer, everything!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "We'll clear those clouds when we come to them," she said, "but for now-" Dash leant down and gave Twilight a light kiss on the side of her mouth- "just enjoy it, okay? Nothing's gonna ruin today."

The two stared out across the kingdom. On one end of the horizon hung Cloudsdale, and on the other, Canterlot. Somewhere in-between the two was their little bit of it—the small area that they could call theirs. That was enough for them, because no matter that was to come in the future, they knew they'd always have each other.