“Haven’t you ever just written exactly what you’re thinking about?”

The shack was making noises around them. It sounded like it was trying its hardest to support itself under the snow coming hard and heavy from above. And yet, outside of those noises, there was an icy hush as the snow blotted out the winds like water on fresh ink, molding them together into a massive, undefinable stain. It smelled of hay and fire and tea, and it was a nest of memories for the both of them.

“I haven’t. Not yet,” she replied, frowning. “It’s not in my nature. It wouldn’t make sense – I need an idea, a skeleton to put flesh on.”

“Well,” Twilight replied softly, “if you have no ideas, you can’t really do that.” She shuffled to get comfortable. “What I’m talking about is stream-of-consciousness writing. A lot of authors toss it away, like it’s an exercise, but some say it helps.” She finished with a sigh as though there was more.

“I get what you’re saying, but… you know,” Dash murmured, staring at the pile of empty papers.

Twilight stood, and walked to the back of the shack, stretching until her joints popped. “If you didn’t have any plans, we didn’t have to come out here.”

“Yeah, but it’s a thing now,” Dash said. “I think.” She tapped a hoof on the paper. “Stream of consciousness.”

“Yup. Try it. Try just thinking and letting everything flow out onto the paper. One word at a time.”

Dash groaned, and fell back against the hay. “I need a scene.”

“Pirates.”

“If you’re gonna be a little helpful, do me a favor and go all the way.”

Twilight giggled, and trotted back over, pushing her lightly with a hoof. “You don’t have to do it now. Just sit and think about it, then go. It shouldn’t be that much of a problem for you, if I know you at all.”

“I should hope you know me by this point,” she replied with a grin, and motioned for her to lie down alongside her. She did, after a little look, and Dash threw a foreleg around her. When she closed her eyes and leaned in to breathe that scent of fake pine shampoo and campfire ash, she always lost her way in her mind. Sometimes it took her a minute to find her way out again, even if that minute was only a couple seconds.

There was a sentence there that she’d become acquainted with but had never properly introduced. “… Twilight.”

“Hm?”

“Do you…” She trailed off, losing her words as she felt a soft touch on her side from Twilight’s hoof.

There was silence for a moment, as the wind threw more white against the side of the shack. The layers of wood and snow provided more warmth than one would assume. “… I’m not going to pretend I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“You do know, then.”

“Yes. And, I’ve thought a bit about it. I’m still not sure, though.”

Dash nuzzled closer, opening her eyes to candlelit purple. “Maybe they deserve to be told.”

She chuckled. “What does that mean?”

“Well…” And the words had gone again. Just like they had been, showing up to say hello and disappearing immediately. “I guess nothing. But wouldn’t it be cool to come together publicly and go out and stuff? Without it being weird?"

Twilight frowned. She could feel it on her cheek. “I mean… I don’t need going out and stuff.” She pulled away. “Do you?”

Dash stared for a moment into her eyes, which darted back and forth between her own. Bright, shining, moonlike in a way. Starlike. “I don’t…” she began, with a stutter. “I’m not sure. I couldn’t – I couldn’t tell you, you’re making me blush.”

“By doing what?” Twilight cried with a grin spreading across her face. “Looking at you?”

“Maybe,” Dash replied, laughing and rolling over her.

“Oof. You’re heavy.”

“Not compared to you. I’m light as a… a pegasus.”

Twilight leaned over, reaching a foreleg over her chest and breathing deeply, letting the silence in again to fill the cracks. She leaned forwards, each small movement making Dash’s chest tighter. It still felt new. It was the third time they'd taken this trip, and it honestly almost felt new. She was soft, warm, inviting. Open. Caring. Dash had never wanted anything more. Not really.

“Celestia,” she said under her breath, a hoof migrating to the back of Twilight’s head.

“… What?” she asked momentarily, pulling away.

Dash blinked. “Oh, not actual Celestia. The word. That you say. Never mind.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t work when you know her personally,” Twilight giggled, and returned for another kiss, slower this time. “Wow, doesn’t it feel kind of the same as it did the first time?”

“It’s almost the same environment,” Dash replied. “It’s just what I was thinking about.”

“You’re right. We were in the shack, and it was snowing, and we were on the floor. It…” She trailed off, looking around the small area. “It’s kind of sentimental.”

Dash smiled. Wide. She couldn’t help it. “You’re pretty blunt about that kind of thing.”

“Have you not noticed?” Twilight replied with a chuckle.

“No, I’ve noticed.” Dash muttered, pulling her down for another kiss. “But just come out and say it, why don’t you.”

“Hey.”

“Hm.”

“Talk for me.” The sentence hung for a moment. “Remember how we used to practice? It doesn’t need to mean anything.”

Dash’s smile only grew. “As long as you don’t stop kissing me until I’m done.”

A soft, breathy giggle. “Deal.”

She cleared her throat, thinking. Stream of consciousness. Let the words flow, one by one, onto the paper.

“… We were strong, in the day. That’s when we were one and the same,” she began, the words moving like mercury. “And we couldn’t do anything. It was a high time, a great time. We couldn’t play with fire, it was too warm.”

“... Does that mean something?” Twilight interrupted.

Dash opened her mouth to reply with what she thought was an honest ‘no’, but she thought again. “… I’m not sure. It's just images, I think."

Twilight was silent. Dash felt gentle lips against her sternum. “So, go on.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Just do.”

“Um… we –“

“No um.”

She paused, and looked up at the short, dark ceiling, covered in snow she couldn’t see at the moment. She swallowed. “It was a golden time, or a bronze one. Orange. Hot. Then, I guess, the first snow came, and it wiped that away. And we were cold and intimate.”

There was no reply. Just words. Just words, she thought. It was just putting words together like flowers, for Twilight, for herself. “We were… we were pushed out of what we thought we understood. The wind picked up and carried it away.” Her voice had dropped from a scratchy, squeaky, excited voice of Rainbow Dash to a contralto, as she mouthed her way around things she was and wasn’t going to say.

She felt another kiss lightly touch her neck. It sent a shiver up her spine with its heat. “Mm.”

“Keep going.”

“I think all I mean to say… soon it’ll be cold enough to build fires.”

Twilight buried her muzzle into Dash’s neck, humming softly as she did. “I love you.”

Dash didn’t smile, like she normally did. Soon it’ll be cold enough to build fires. “… Kiss me again.”

She did.

“One more time.”

“Why don’t you write?”

Dash laughed, despite herself. It was louder than it was, in the little shack. “First, I had writer’s block. I couldn’t write.” She looked down at Twilight, whose eyes were closed. Her head fit perfectly between Dash’s foreleg and chest. “Now I don’t want to.”

“You get sappy when you’re tired.”

“That is correct.” She kissed her silently on the top of the head. “… Do you want to do anything tonight?”

Twilight sat up suddenly, and stretched again, though no joints popped this time. Dash watched her lean forwards and adjust her position. She turned back, looking at her hooves. “I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are you a lesbian?”

Dash momentarily didn’t have much to say, with amusement and confusion 50/50 on her face. “That’s… that’s an odd question to ask.”

“Yeah.”

Creak.

Dash yawned suddenly, like it came out of nowhere to break the unorthodox moment. “I’d say yeah.”

“So girls – you think about girls. You’re attracted to girls. Right?”

“… Yes. I don’t understand where you’re going with this.”

Twilight shrugged. “Just curious about what you thought. I mean… I don’t think I’m a lesbian.”

“Huh. Really?” Dash asked, with a confused squint.

“Yeah. If anypony ever called something I thought a ‘fantasy’, it would probably concern guys. I don’t know, it’s just… when I’m here, and wherever we’re together, I can’t… this – it’s special to me. It’s mine.”

Dash looked away, her mouth open in thought. “That’s weird, yeah.”

“But –“ she began quickly, leaning forwards again, “don’t think I don’t… don’t think I’m any less close to you. I have a feeling it's a really complicated issue, but... well, I don't really care about figuring it all out. I'm here with you now, and that's enough.”

The conversation had had short holes in it, but this was a long one. Dash stared at Twilight for a moment, and reached up to slowly pull her down onto the hay alongside her. Twilight’s foreleg was around her once more a moment. She was silent, maybe for too long. First it didn’t feel like there was anything to add, and then when she found something, it felt too late to add to the conversation.

“Say something.”

The sentence was anxious. “… What do you want me to say?”

“If – if I made you uncomfortable or something, I’m sorry, I didn’t m-“

“Twilight,” Dash said, with a quiet laugh. “I’m not uncomfortable. I just don’t have anything to say.”

Twilight didn’t reply.

“You know what we’re going to do tomorrow?”

Nothing.

“We’re going to fly over the mountains. We’re going to find a stream that’s not cold and swim in it.”

Twilight levitated the thick quilt over to them, the room momentarily lit with pink. “I’m going to sleep.”

Dash smiled down at her, though her eyes were already closed. Again. “… Okay. Night.”

It took her a few minutes, but she finally lifted herself to her hooves, tucked Twilight in as well as she could, and stepped over to the writing desk. Maybe the words would find her tonight.

It wasn’t cold for the first quarter of the trip. And it was loud – they were on their hooves while the land was flat, to preserve Twilight’s energy, and they were shouting and screaming and singing because they were alone for any number of miles in any direction. There was a breeze flying through the alpine that made up the majority of the post-Capitol north. Around them, almost all the way around them, were walls of mountains ringing the crisp blue sky. There were no clouds.

There was a quiet point as they approached the foothills of the Hawk, where they were both short on breath and high on energy. Dash glanced over at her, and held her look for a moment. She was something. She was beyond her, by far, and Dash knew that logically. But she was still Twilight, and that contrast felt amazing whenever they were together, which wasn’t often.

“Since we're more or less on the topic of yelling," Dash began, "I was just wondering. When do you think… the last time you yelled at me was?” Dash asked, some leftovers of the loudness from the past few minutes straining her voice.

Twilight looked back at her, and nearly tripped over a branch from doing so. “Huh. Um… remember when you didn’t want to try out for the stunt group? And I convinced you to eventually? That was yelling."

“Was that the last time? Feels like years ago.”

“It was a couple months ago. Maybe as far back as March or so.” Twilight laughed shortly. “Now that I think about it, we don’t do enough for me to yell at you very much.”

“Well, hey,” Dash replied, straightening her neck as far as it would go, “if you think you’re missing out on me, we can arrange something.”

“Missing out on you?” Twilight repeated with teasing surprise. “Don’t get the wrong idea, you mere mortal.”

Dash laughed. That had become a strain of their banter, mere mortal and, on her part, Your Highness. She opened her mouth to reply with just that, but stopped herself. A couple things connected in her head that she didn’t quite want to. “… You’ve gotten taller.”

“I know. Only by a bit. You remember growing pains? Those are back.”

“Ooh,” Dash winced for her. “That’s not good.”

“Hey, whatever. You take things as they come.” She paused, looking out at the mountains in front of them. “I’m ready.”

“Are you? I’m not catching you.”

“Won’t you?” Twilight whined, leaning over and nuzzling gently against her wing.

Dash felt a smile cross her face, and forced it into a grimace. “Naw. You gotta learn on your own.”

“… Okay, but if I actually fall, you have to –“

“I know. I’m messing with you.” She grinned over at her, more at her reaction than anything. “Looks like about four or five minutes, from where we are. So let’s go.”

Twilight nodded, and splayed her wings.

Dash sighed, and reached a hoof over. “That’s not how you extend to take off.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

The takeoff was the difficult part for her. She always barreled to the right for some reason – maybe she was having a problem with her preening. Regardless, they found their way off the ground, and Dash accompanied her upwards. They tried to shout to each other as the wind picked up, but it was almost useless.

“Your z-axis should be 45 degrees right now!”

“What?!”

Eventually, she just flew over and pushed her around herself until she was as aligned as Dash could get her. And from there, it wasn’t far to the peak. Three minutes can turn into hours to an inexperienced flier, though – Dash kept a close eye on Twilight behind her.

Dash flew ahead and landed first, finding a clear run for her and guiding her down. It didn’t work as smoothly as she’d liked.

SMACK

She tried not to laugh.

“Ow. It isn’t funny, Dash!” Twilight cried, and rolled over into the moss and pine needles and thick grass she’d ground herself into.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Dash replied, trotting over to her and helping her up, holding her close as she got to her hooves. “Shh. Look where we are.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper. It had gotten cold.

Twilight brushed herself off and looked up where Dash was pointing – and stopped. The clouds were just barely above them, and below the clouds lay the Hawk Valley. It was angled inwards, with thousands of pines pointing jaggedly to the river running through the middle. The snow around them was light even at the top of the mountain, and as it climbed down the mountain grew by gradient into green, and blue as the trees in the distance approached the icy horizon.

“It’s... it’s breathtaking, for sure.”

“No, it’s not breathtaking, Twilight. It’s awesome. Look at it. Amazing, not breathtaking. Awesome.” She pulled her close, pressing their cheeks together.

Twilight said nothing for a moment, and Dash pulled back and looked over at her. Her mouth was open. “… I mean, I guess you’re right,” Twilight said, her voice also falling low.

“I know I am.”

They eventually sat together, despite the frozen ground, and stared out at what seemed like an oil painting from somewhere distant.

“You need preening.”

Twilight clicked her tongue. “I know. I’m not good at it.”

Dash chuckled, and moved away, pulling Twilight’s wing out. “You know the difference between one feather and another? Near the front, you got your primary remiges, and on top of those are the primary coverts –“

“I read a couple books, yeah,” Twilight interrupted with a giggle. “They’re tender.”

“They always are. That’s why it’s fun to clean ‘em.”

“Dash –“

“I’m gonna get it done properly, alright?”

Twilight threw a quick smile back at her, and turned away.

Dash stared down at her wings – odd how new they were – and a thought crossed her mind. She kissed Twilight’s back softly. “We might be up here a while. Why don’t you get a fire going so we don’t freeze to death?”

“It’s not that cold,” Twilight replied, shaking her wings.

“It will be once the breeze comes,” Dash insisted, and moved aside some of her lower feathers. “Woah, four of your tertiaries are bent.”

Twilight was levitating nearby sticks over to herself, arranging them in a neat little pile in front of her. “… Tertiaries?”

“Yeah. They connect the wing to the joint.” Dash looked over her shoulder, catching her eye. “… What anatomy were you studying?”

Twilight looked down at the wood pile and chuckled. “Birds.”

Dash sat back and laughed, her stomach starting to hurt after a moment. “Birds?”

“Yeah. We have similar wing anatomies.”

“But they’re birds!”

Twilight smirked. “I get it. Hilarious.”

“I can’t believe how new you are at being a pegasus.”

“Just do the thing so we can go.”

She kissed her back again. “What did I say? I might need a couple minutes.”

“For preening?”

“For fixing. I have to set some feathers.”

Twilight groaned, and started the fire with a burst of pink magic. In a moment, the area was crowded with warmth. Dash gently rested her chin on Twilight’s shoulder. “See what I mean? Relax for a bit.” She turned back to her feathers, and her mouth fell open in a surprised half-smile. “You know how feathers work, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been aligning some of these on the wrong side of the wing.”

Twilight turned back to her, flapping them shut, and laughed. “I didn’t know I could do that.”

Dash pushed her back and re-extended her wings. “Yup. You did. Hold on.”

She took a pair in her teeth and in an instant shoved them back into place.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

They spent a minute or so in silence, the only sounds the wind and Twilight’s short, periodic groans of pain. Dash took a moment to look up, past Twilight’s shoulder and out into the valley. “… Does that feel better,” she murmured.

“Yeah. Come to think of it, I was getting stiff back there every once in a while. It didn’t feel settled right.”

Dash patted on her wings, and stared at them for a moment, a bit of a breathtaking realization occurring in less than a second – she grew those – before it went away. She sat forwards and scooted up beside her, even though she wasn’t even near finished. She rested back on her hooves, smiling inwardly at the warmth against her side.

“Are we good to go?” Twilight’s voice came suddenly, clearly.

Dash glanced over at her, and turned back to the valley. She was actually genuinely beautiful, just the way she was. Something about her resonated realism, something Dash had a bit of a hidden attraction towards. Show business, and showiness in general, was a façade, and a fun one. But somepony being real? It felt proper. It felt right.

“I… this is a weird question. You don’t have to answer it.”

Twilight reached a wing around her, gasping as something popped into place. “Shoot.”

She swallowed, and looked down at her back hooves framing the valley like it was a painting. “Do you… are you actually – ” She swallowed again, unsure whether she was actually trying to speak or whether she was holding herself back.

“Come on, out with it, mortal,” Twilight said with a giggle. “Unless you believe I know all,” she added, in a false mystical voice.

Dash found a chuckle, but her face fell right back. “Are you actually attracted to me?”

She could feel Twilight looking at her. “Dash…” Twilight pulled her closer, and Dash felt herself blush and looked away. “Give me some credit.”

“I mean, ‘cause you said you didn’t think you were into girls. That is what you said, right?”

“Dash, we’ve been together for two years now. Really think about what you’re asking.” There was a smile on the end of her voice, but an edge, too.

So she played it off. “… Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she replied with a chuckle.

Twilight sighed melodramatically. “Fine. Yes, Rainbow Dash, you are attractive to me. I didn’t think I had to spell it out.”

She felt a gentle hoof on her chest, pushing her back. Soon, they were lying together in front of the fire, Dash tightly wrapped in Twilight’s large violet wing. She heard a giggle escape her when Twilight pressed a hoof against her stomach. “That tickles. Don’t – don’t do that.”

“Make me.”

“Make you don’t?”

“Sure.”

Dash grinned, and leaned forwards for a kiss. It was supposed to be quick and loving, but she was suddenly pulled in, hard. Twilight was closer than she’d been during a kiss in probably months. She felt a leg over her stomach, a foreleg behind her back, feathers all around. Twilight pulled away slowly, flipping her mane out of her face and taking Dash’s head in her hooves. Dash couldn’t look away from her eyes, every word she could use to describe them speeding through her mind. “… Is that enough proof?”

Dash grinned, and kissed her again, taking her time, with the same passion. She remained close to her face, and opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, but the words ran away from her again.

“Love you,” Twilight whispered.

She felt that smile that she'd been holding back begin to surface. "You mean it, don't you?"

"Hm?"

Another slow, gentle kiss. "You can call me cute all you want - I won't mind - but 'I love you' is something else, isn't it?"

A knowing sort of grin grew across Twilight's face. "Yeah, it is."

"Well," Dash replied quietly, watching her bright violet eyes flicker back and forth between her own, "I love you, too." She put a hoof tenderly on her neck. "I love your eyes. Your lips. The way you sneak a glance at me when we're out together somewhere." Her voice began growing quieter. "I love the way you talk about me, and the way you... move a little in the middle of the night. I think you're asleep, but you sort of get comfortable and twitch around a little." She closed her eyes as it started to dawn on her that she hadn't stopped speaking yet.

When she opened them again after a moment, Twilight's cheeks were bright pink and her smile was coy. "What's up with you recently?"

She stared for a moment while Twilight fell back to lean against her foreleg. "... I was thinking that maybe you would want to start doing something serious."

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked in about the same tone, but the coy smile became a rather confused one.

A cold wind blew down across the ring of mountain peaks on either side of the clearing, carrying some snowdrift and a change of subject. "Let's go find that stream, huh?"

"No, one second," Twilight interjected, placing a hoof on her chest to stop her from getting up. "I want to know what you mean."

The scene dissolve didn't save her. "I... I don't know," she murmured, looking back at her.

"Well, you had an idea, or you wouldn't have said anything."

"That's not true," Dash retorted. "I talk without thinking a lot."

"Dash."

She frowned, and stared forwards at the dying little fire. The wind was pushing its flames down to the kindling, making it seem self-contained rather than wild like a fire should seem. "It's nothing."

For a moment, it was silent again, and they were simply together alone at the crown of the world.

Then Twilight stood, kicking out the fire. "I don't want to have to work it out of you," she began quietly, her words forming some kind of wall against the increasing howl of wind from around them, forcing itself to be heard. "But I know better than to force it."

She stepped hesitantly over and offered a hoof. For a moment, as Dash accepted it, she thought Twilight was going to recant and maybe say something sweet or at least conclusive. Instead came a quiet "We should get going."

She hadn't made much progress on her new story throughout the week so far. It was another adventure, even though everypony had suggested against it. The critics had begun to pick on the fact that there wasn't all that much variety in what she did (apparently). But this one was meant to be different. This was going to be a character study. The words that were to be the spine had already come to her, and she wrote them down on a separate sheet. They were words like anxious, morality, smiling, stitches, concern. She wanted something more real than what she'd been putting out, and she didn't know entirely where this shift of intent came from.

They hadn't yet found that stream. They might not, considering how cold it was out this year. Even in front of the fire, as evening came around, they'd sat together and had thrown several of their quilts over the both of them. Dash was surprised that for the rest of the day Twilight hadn't brought up the 'serious' thing she'd been talking about. It wasn't all that much, maybe. Maybe she'd even bring it up when they were about to go to bed. It wasn't like she was proposing. It wasn't all that much.

"Out of curiosity," Dash began, breaking the relative quiet of the fire flickering and the wind howling in the far distance. For a moment, she lost her train of thought. "... Out of curiosity, what's being a princess like?"

Twilight sighed, long, and curled up against her a little closer. Dash put a foreleg around her almost instinctively. "Well, it's... it's pretty middle-of-the-road, as occupation goes. There's a little paperwork, and I have research grants I can get concerning, like, friendship magic and such, but it's not really all that amazing."

"You can go to nice dinners and stuff, right? Like, politics?"

She snorted. "Since when did you care about fancy dinners?"

"I don't. I figured you d-"

"No."

She chuckled, and nuzzled her quickly. "Alright. Sounds like a blast."

"Oh, absolutely," Twilight replied with her unrefined brand of sarcasm. "I hope I got that across well enough."

"Are you mad?" Dash asked shortly, playfully, and nuzzled her again.

"No, and I'm not ticklish either," she replied as Dash dug a hoof into her ribs. "You are, though."

"Wait -" She was interrupted by a quick, similar retaliation, and broke into laughter, falling backwards off of the log they were using as a bench and onto the icy dirt. "Wait, stop," she tried to say as Twilight, laughing as well, followed her to the ground and refused to let up. "N-no, let's get to the tent," she managed to sputter. It earned her enough time to scramble to her hooves and shoot into the tent, preparing her lungs for the possibility of more.

"Hey, hey, truce," Twilight called as she flicked the tent flap out of the way with a burst of bright pink magic. She stepped into the tent with a forehoof in the air in surrender.

"B-but you were winning!"

"It wasn't a war, it was a slaughter," she replied with a giggle, and stepped forwards into a close kiss.

She wasn't expecting it, and certainly wasn't expecting to be led to fall onto the sleeping bags nearby. She smiled into it, pulling away for a moment and feeling the light, warm breath on her cheek. That ended quickly, though, as Twilight stood straight and shivered. "... I'm going to go grab the blankets. And put out the fire."

"Right," Dash muttered, and rose to sit on one of the sleeping bags as Twilight ducked out of the tent. As soon as she was gone, the idea became concrete. You're going to tell her as soon as she walks back in. It's not even all that much.

For a couple seconds, quiet settled oddly through the enclosed space, and Dash slowly moved her forelegs in-between her back ones, compacting herself, folding her wings tighter. As soon as that bright violet hoof came fully through the flap again, she would tell her.

"Temperature might drop even further tonight," Twilight said as she walked back in, the blankets levitating before her in a warm pink glow. "I brought some extra bl-"

"I was thinking that we could move in together."

She saw Twilight freeze, their eyes locking. The quiet returned little by little.

In a moment, it was undone. "... Really?"

Dash pursed her lips for a moment, still climbing over that hill herself. "... That's what I meant when I asked whether you wanted to do something serious."

The blankets continued their movement after a moment, coming to rest next to where Dash was sitting. Twilight was still staring down at her, her eyes taking a hint of yellow from the candlelight. Hesitating briefly for whatever reason, she walked over to Dash and sat in front of her. "You mean it."

Dash felt a grin. It wasn't anything big. "Yeah."

Twilight didn't return the grin. Her mouth was still open a bit, as though she didn't know how to continue. "... Do you think we're at that point?" she asked softly.

For a moment, Dash thought that the question carried an implied answer. Do you really think we're at that point. But Twilight didn't work like that. Twilight wasn't like the legions of ponies who used their words so pointedly. Twilight was genuine. That's why she was in love. And that's why she couldn't think of an answer beyond a short, delicate kiss.

Twilight reciprocated. She still didn't have an answer when it ended, so she returned for another one, a bit longer, a bit closer. The warmth spread through her in ripples, slowly driving the ice and the apprehension out one wave at a time. Eventually, she led Twilight down to the sleeping bag, and leaned over her, keeping a hoof on her cheek as she pulled away. Twilight's eyes were still closed.

There was the answer. "I want to be at that point."

There it was, indeed. Twilight's eyes flickered open, and she finally returned that grin. "You... just want to move into the library?"

"That's the only thing that makes sense, right?" Dash asked, lightly brushing her lips against her marefriend's velvet-soft cheek.

"I... I guess, yeah." She felt hooves on her back, reaching around her wings. "I guess everypony would put two and two together at that point, huh."

She raised her head. "That's not even important anymore. That's not even on the radar. I've never gotten to the point of moving in with anypony else."

"Me neither," Twilight replied quietly, with another kiss. "... You know, I need to plan. We can't just immediately do this."

Dash chuckled. "Oh, I know," she replied simply. "I'm prepared to give you, uh... two days."

"Dash -"

"Or so."

"Dash," Twilight giggled. For a moment, their eyes locked once more, then Dash felt herself drawn slowly into a gentle embrace. She returned it, finding that familiar spot between the neck and shoulder to bury her muzzle. She felt a tender kiss on her neck and heard Twilight whisper, "I didn't expect this."

"Well," Dash replied, cuddling next to her and pulling the blankets over both of them, "you weren't expecting me to kiss you that night two years ago, were you."

"That's true," she murmured. "But I'm glad you did." She settled against Dash's chest, reaching her front hooves around her back. "Now that I'm thinking about it, how's the writing going?"

Dash opened her mouth for a second, unsure how to proceed. "... Fine."

"Well, how far along are you?"

"I don't know," Dash muttered. "A couple pages, maybe."

"What's it about?"

Dash was quiet for a moment, and rolled over onto her back. She thought for a while that she was sure, that she had a great idea. It still was a pretty good idea, but how she was going to frame it, how she was going to phrase it, was still a long way away. "Uh... you'll figure it out when you read it, I guess."

Twilight laid a gentle hoof on her chest. "How far do you think you'll get by the time we leave?"

"Not far at all, probably," Dash replied, sighing, watching the cloud of her breath dissipate slowly in the cold night air. "I'm still thinking about it more than I am writing it."

Another moment of silence.

"You know," Twilight began lowly, "I, uh, was thinking that this is our second anniversary, isn't it?"

Dash felt a smile come on, and turned to her. "I guess it is."

"Well," she continued, "I, um, I got something for you."

She sat up. "Twilight, you didn't have... I didn't get anything, though. I wasn't thinking about it."

"That's fine," she replied quickly, "I didn't expect you to. I mean, you know, it wasn't something - it wasn't an event, is what I mean. I just wanted to... get something for you, so I did," she continued, levitating a small black box from her pack near the door. "I just sort of used the trip as an excuse."

"Twi..." Dash began, trailing off into a sigh. "You really didn't have to."

She grinned. "I did, though. Open it."

Dash gave her a flat look, and opened the little box slowly, not entirely sure what to expect.

"... Do you like it?"

It was bright silver, shining even in the dim candlelight. On its front, in a row, lay seven level-cut stones, each a different colour, all reflecting the flickering light internally and glimmering, winking up at her. She subconsciously raised a hoof to her chin, her mouth hanging open.

"I don't, um - I know that non-unicorns sometimes, uh, propose with a necklace, but that's not what I was trying to do. I mean, I just thought it looked nice. You know, it, uh, seemed right for you." She paused. "I know you don't usually wear jewellery, but -"

"Twilight, it's beautiful," she breathed, touching it and watching the silver string move like mercury. "... You... didn't have to," she repeated again under her breath, partially unaware of what she was saying.

"Do you really like it?" Twilight asked. Dash glanced up, struck with the sincerity of the question. Real didn't begin to describe her. What was a good word? "Let me put it on for you," Twilight continued, scooting forwards.

She turned around, and felt the tickle of magic push her mane out of the way followed by a light weight resting across her chest. With that, she shook her mane back into place and turned to face her.

Twilight's mouth was open as well. "... Oh, Dash. It... you're - you look amazing," she murmured.

"Aw, come on," she began, but was cut off with a soft, firm embrace. "Are you, uh, alright?" she asked cautiously, returning the hug nonetheless.

For a moment, it was silent in the tent. The sound of no sound grew more intense as the seconds passed, pressuring her to speak, make noise, something.

"... You were right." She was almost whispering.

She swallowed. "Um..."

"I don't spend enough time with you. You were right," she continued, her voice still and unchanging. "It's been two years and we've spent time together so little."

"Twilight," Dash interjected, drawing a hoof along her back, under her wings. "I'm content with the time we spend together. I am."

"I've been convincing myself that we should keep this to ourselves. I don't know why. I'm scared, maybe." She shivered, nuzzling further into her neck. "I don't know," she repeated, her voice dipping into an inaudible register for a moment. "You're my friend. I'm a princess. You're..."

Dash held her tighter, her mouth running dry as the thought passed through her head. "... A mare."

Twilight pulled away, her eyes wide and yellow-tinted. Her mouth moved as though to respond, but hung there. Her cheeks grew to a dull crimson.

"It's okay, Twi." She was falling to a whisper now. "It really is. When..." she trailed off, the story that she felt a second ago to be so accessible suddenly echoing with pain she thought long-dead. "... When I was in school, I... well, I mean, you can guess, right? Sporty, rainbows, that kind of thing. I - Twilight, I never wanted to be this."

Twilight finally looked back up at her, her eyes wet.

"I never wanted to be me." There it was. "I never wanted to give them what they expected. I - I mean, my friends even threw a jab at me every once in a while, because I guess that's what friends do, but..." she trailed off again, a tingle running through her chest.

Twilight swallowed her lips and looked away. "It's not that, though."

Dash reached her hoof again around her back. "Are you sure?"

Her eyes sparkled golden. "N-no," she whimpered, shivering again.

"Come here," she murmured, drawing her back into the warm embrace. "I understand."

"I feel disloyal," Twilight said into her shoulder. "Awful. I feel awful. I love you."

Dash pressed her closer. "I know you mean it, Twi. I do, too." She pulled back, and kissed her once, briefly, meaningfully. "Let's try to tell our friends first, and then see how you feel."

A few tears finally found their way out. "I would understand if you were angry with me."

"I'm not, though," she replied, wiping her tears gently away. "So let's move in together."

Twilight laughed suddenly, quickly wiping away her tears. "You know, you really do know how to talk to me, for a mere mortal and all."

"I'm glad," Dash replied with a small smile of her own, and kissed her again. "And I really can't wait."

She giggled, wiping again at her eyes. "Me neither."

The next day was warmer, but not enough to swim in anything. It was time to start their two-day journey back out of the valley. It was relatively uneventful, on the whole. On the way out, she'd come up with a rough draft of her first few pages, and Twilight was impressed, which was a rare thing to say the least. And then they were back in Ponyville, as familiar as it was a world away.

It was four in the afternoon. The snowfall from the morning had turned into slush and was melting gradually back into the soil, but its smell drifted through the town for a long while yet. They returned to no welcome party - since last year they'd requested against it.

"I have to get back to the library, check on Spike and the books," Twilight was saying, and nodded towards the center of town. "Do you want to come along? I can wash your blankets for you."

"Hold up," Dash replied. She couldn't have planned it better. Fluttershy was across the way and hand noticed them yet - her saddlebags looked to be full of parcels of seed and wheat, and she was looking through a store window. "Fluttershy's over there."

Twilight blinked, and followed her hoof. "That she is."

Dash grinned, and motioned again to their friend, who hadn't noticed them yet. "So, do you wanna try telling her?"

She pursed her lips. "... Let's go back to the library, Dash."

"It would probably be best to get over this thing while it's still, like, fresh, you know?"

"No, I know, it's -" She stopped herself. "I have to, um... just come with me back to the library, alright?" She glanced quickly back in Fluttershy's direction. "I have something to say."

Dash cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I was just thinking about our conversation the other day, and I just need to talk to you some more," she continued, her voice dropping.

She looked back at Fluttershy herself, who was still unaware of them. "Alright, I guess. Let's go."

They slipped through the light crowd and made for the center of town, silent for a minute or so. "... So, um, what's this about?"

"I want to talk about it in private," Twilight replied under her breath. "It's about all that drama a couple days ago, and about that - uh - that thing you suggested."

Dash stared in reply. When she'd first mentioned the 'conversation', Dash hadn't really synthesized any memories about it or its content, but now that she'd said 'drama', it was coming back to her. So she left it alone.

It took them less than ten minutes to reach the library, and she followed Twilight into the basement, still quiet, still thinking. As soon as they arrived, Twilight levitated Dash' saddlebags over and pulled out the three quilts she'd brought, then the wash tub, then the board, and began busying herself with the preparations. Still quiet.

The room began to settle, and Dash was struck with a familiarity, almost a deja vu. Last year, as they were packing up their campsite, they'd discussed something - something probably unimportant, given that she had so few memories of it - and Dash had accidentally caught her in a corner logically. It fell silent, and Twilight began levitating the entire setup into their bags, all at once, shaking out the tent and dousing the embers of the fire. And then, ten minutes later, found a response. So, as Twilight scrubbed earnestly and solidly at her blankets, she took a seat by the door and waited.

It took a few minutes. The quilts were probably clean much sooner, but Dash wasn't about to interrupt her. Eventually, though, her speed slowly dropped, and she began hanging them up in the corner. As the magic surrounding the third one melted away, Twilight stared, her back to Dash, her ears low.

"... You ready?" she asked softly, walking up behind her. It sounded too blunt. That wasn't intentional.

"I - I f-" she began, stopping herself. Her stare shifted from the quilt to the floor, and from the floor finally back to Dash. "... You know when we were talking about, um, whether... what we're attracted to?"

"Yeah." For a moment, Twilight didn't continue. "Look, you don't have to beat yourself up over it. It's okay."

"I figured it out." She looked away again. "It may be... it may be because I was raised in Canterlot."

"Really?"

"Maybe. Because - I mean, you've been there. It's not a place for romance. Not really. You know?" She paused. "I wasn't used to it by the time I was supposed to be used to it, and by the time I figured out that... that I liked girls, I'd already figured what somepony like that was supposed to be."

The end of her sentence descended into a whisper. Perhaps she thought Dash understood, but she'd never spent all that much time examining the love life of the Canterlot elite. "... And that's bad?"

"It's terrible," she cried, and turned again, their eyes meeting. Hers seemed still in the middle of surprise. "It's the worst. They're either elitists who separate themselves from the lower classes by exclusively dating mares, or they're political and they're making a statement about stallions. It's - it's immature," she said. "Maybe I would have been into it in college, but I'm an adult now, and I love you, and I have to be okay with that."

Dash opened her mouth to respond, but quickly lost her thought, stricken by her ultimatum. Her standard wasn't herself - her goal wasn't to discover what she really felt. It was about them. And at that thought, she closed her mouth, trying badly to suppress a grin.

"What?" Twilight asked, her voice dropping. "Is that funny?"

"No, no," Dash chuckled. "Maybe a bit, but that's not your fault." Even frustrated, confused - even hurt - she was still herself. "Hey," she murmured automatically, and leaned forwards into a quick nuzzle. "It doesn't matter, okay? It's... just not important how this happened."

"I think it is. What if I'd realized instead that I was never actually attracted to girls at all, and I was just using you? Everypony should know themselves first."

"Well... I mean, I get it, but that didn't happen." She stepped back, a hoof still over Twilight's shoulder, resting gently on her back still in a semi-hug. She was prepared to reply with perhaps her own ultimatum, something as definite and lovey and emotional, but - again - those eyes caught her off-guard, and instead she murmured "And I love you." Then, noticing her mirroring with a grin, added, "And I'm okay with that."

Dash smiled before Twilight, and let out another soft chuckle. It took another few moments for Twilight to find her words again. "... I'll start working on the whole moving-in thing sometime this week."

"Alright." She cocked her head. "Sounds good, but... is that all? We're just going to leave this conversation alone? You're good?"

"I'm good." The small smile grew. "In a roundabout way, you kind of did answer my question."

"Huh. Didn't even realize it. I'm a pro," she joked, and stepped forwards a bit to kiss her. "Do you think everypony's gonna freak out when they put two and two together?"

"I can think of one or two who are," she answered with another kiss. "We can hang out for the afternoon, if you want."

"I didn't think 'hang out' was in your vocabulary."

"I learned it from watching you."

Dash laughed. "I'm a bad influence."

They moved in together two days later. Twilight was right - Pinkie and Rarity were all over it, each in their own way, and Applejack and Fluttershy were more or less happy for them but otherwise kept to themselves. For a while, it seemed as though Twilight's frustrations were solved. However, when they resurfaced the next month, Dash knew what to say. She learned quickly how to hold her, and how to kiss her, and Twilight learned quickly how to express herself more neatly. And, as the flares settled down, they grew cold and intimate.

The book was not a success. It didn't fail, and it wasn't panned, but despite a solid 7/10 concensus from the critics it was a commercial letdown. And Dash was back to the pen-and-paper. But this time, she had something to write about.