A little more here, a little more there… Rainbow thought as she packed just enough snow to complete her fort. In the half hour that Scootaloo had been gone, she’d been gathering as much snow as she could to make her walls as big as possible. She had her fort facing Twilight’s straight on, the main wall barely coming up to the tops of her legs.
Rainbow had snuck glances at Twilight’s fort for the first few minutes before she got so focused on making her own fort. She hadn’t heard that much from behind her all throughout her work, and that hadn’t bothered her. In addition to making a basic usable fort, she also made thirty snowballs, split in half for both her and Scootaloo. Now that her work was complete, she sat down and stretched her stiff wings. As she sat back, she looked over her shoulder and looked up, her jaw dropping in surprise.
Twilight’s fort was at least ten times bigger than her own. The main wall was taller than her, and even if she stood up on her hind legs, she still wouldn’t be able to see over the top. From what she could see, the large wall even surrounded the entire front half of the library. On top of that, it had little slits about halfway up the wall, just big enough to throw snowballs through.
“Wha…” she trailed off as she stared at her friend’s fort. She got up, hopped over her own with a flap of her wings, and walked up to it. Upon hearing no sounds come from the other side, she tapped the wall and was surprised to find that it wasn’t just packed snow, but solid ice.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Rainbow heard Twilight ask from beside her. Jumping a little from the sudden surprise, she turned around with a nervous smile.
“Heh, yeah, it’s not bad at all…” Rainbow said as she flapped her wings, propelling herself into the air. She flew around one side of the fort and realized that it surrounded the entire library once she got to the other side. Flying back to where Twilight was sitting, she landed next to her. “Dang, Twi, you really put a lot of effort into this!” she said, her voice full of admiration.
“Yeah, well, a wise pony once said that if you’re going to do something, you gotta do it right,” Twilight said with a dismissive wave of her hoof, earning a playful hit on her shoulder. “Anyways, I’ve been inside for the past ten minutes making hot cocoa for whoever’s all coming over, and Spike’s warming up in his room.” She lit her horn, two steaming cups filled to the brim with hot cocoa appearing in her magical grasp. “Want some?” Twilight held the cup right next to Rainbow as she offered it to her.
“Sure, why not?” Rainbow grabbed the mug and sat down. Before she could raise it to her lips to take a sip, Twilight had sat down right next to her and pressed her coat against hers. “Um… something I can help you with, Twilight?” she asked a little nervously when Twilight wrapped a wing around her.
“Oh, um… not really.” Twilight shrugged as she snuggled a little closer to Rainbow. “Conserving body heat and all, you know. Wouldn’t want to catch a cold, right?” She took a sip from her mug, smiling as the warm drink warmed her insides. She kept her gaze averted, knowing that if she looked at Rainbow now, they’d be muzzle to muzzle from their closeness. As she sat there with her friend, she couldn’t help but remember the night when they shared a kiss in front of their friends. The soft, velvety feel of Rainbow’s lips upon hers for just those few seconds of time had felt like an hour to her, a feeling she wouldn’t mind having again.
“You know we can just warm up in the library, right?” Rainbow asked, breaking Twilight out of her reverie. Turning her head just a little bit, Rainbow felt Twilight shivering just a little bit, so she laid her own wing across her back and pulled her a little closer. As an awkward silence started forming between them, she felt the same sort of excitement that she felt the past couple of times that she’d snuggled with Twilight. While it wasn’t a bad feeling, it still made her feel like butterflies were flitting about in her stomach.
“Yeah, I guess we could… but I’d rather stay out here and wait for Scootaloo and her friends to come over. They should be coming back any minute now,” Twilight said, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she enjoyed the warmth emanating from Rainbow’s wing. She took another sip from her mug and leaned over, putting more of her weight onto Rainbow, smiling when Rainbow tightened her hold on her.
Twilight sighed happily as she relaxed into Rainbow’s embrace. Snuggling with her was one thing, but being held by her was something else entirely. She liked how she felt Rainbow’s chest rise and fall with each breath, and in addition to discovering this new, sensitive side to her otherwise brash and confident friend, she was learning new things about her everyday. “It sure is nice out, isn’t i-”
“Hey, Happy Hearth's Warming Day, you silly fillies!” Pinkie’s voice suddenly yelled from right behind them. Rainbow hopped into the air from instinct alone and accidentally dropped her mug in the snow, whereas Twilight only jumped a little bit.
“Pinkie! Come on, you made me spill my drink!” Rainbow said as she landed back on the ground, right next to Twilight.
“It–it’s no big deal, Rainbow,” Twilight stammered as she collected herself. She took a few slow breaths to calm her racing nerves. “Here, hold mine for a few seconds, and I can go fix another one for you.” When Rainbow grabbed her mug, she teleported away, silently regretting that their small moment was broken so suddenly.
“Wow…” Pinkie murmured as she sat down across from Rainbow, a wide grin plastered on her face.
“Uh… what?”
“You two sure do look like a really cute couple!” Pinkie said. She gave one of her silly smiles and started hopping up and down in place. “I just knew you two were together when I made you guys kiss at my party!”
“Pinkie, we already told you, we’re not a couple!” She paused as she suddenly caught the last part of Pinkie’s sentence, specifically the part about making her kiss Twilight. “Wait, that was you who did that?” Rainbow asked. Before Pinkie could respond, Twilight reappeared in the same spot that she’d just been in, two brand new mugs of hot cocoa held in her hoof.
“Here you are! Oh, and I got one for you too, Pinkie!” Twilight said as she held them out to her friends.
“Heh, thanks,” Rainbow said, glaring at Pinkie Pie with a small smile as she took the mug. Passing Twilight her own, she asked, “So other than that nice little tidbit of information, what’s up, Pinks? You here to help me take down Twilight’s fortress in our next snowball fight?”
“Oh my gosh, you two are gonna have a snowball fight?” Pinkie exclaimed. She brought the mug up to her lips and threw the entire drink back like she was taking a shot of liquor.
“Hmm… Oh, I know! I have a stupendous idea! Give me a little while so I can get everypony to come! And when I mean everypony...” She leaned in until her forehead was pressing against Rainbow’s. “I mean everypony...” Before either Twilight or Rainbow could respond, she darted off in a flash, plowing straight through Rainbow’s fort.
As she watched Pinkie Pie gallop down the street and around the corner, Rainbow stood silently as she stared at the remains of her fort, aghast. As the two of them watched, the rest of her fort slowly crumbled away until there was nothing left but piles of snow.
“Well, there goes half an hour of hard work!” Dash said, throwing her forelegs up in frustration. “Now I have nothing…”
“You know… you can join my side if you want,” Twilight said as she laid her wing over Rainbow’s back again. “If Pinkie Pie said that she’s gonna get everypony, then she’s probably gonna get everypony, if she doesn’t get distracted along the way, that is.” She got up, folding her wing back at her side as she moved to stand in front of Rainbow.
“Rainbow, if you wish to join my side, first you must defect from yours,” Twilight said in a mock military tone as she stood at what she assumed was attention. She tried to stifle a giggle as she tried to remain serious, struggling to stare straight ahead.
Giving a small grin, Rainbow took a few seconds to process this. Finishing off her mug, she nodded a couple times and stood up. Mirroring Twilight’s stance, she brought her hoof up in a salute.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, I, Rainbow Dash, do formally surrender and defect to your side.” She waited until Twilight raised her own hoof in a salute, then they lowered them at the same time, the two of them dissolving into small fits of laughter.
“Rainbow Dash, your surrender and defection is accepted,” Twilight finished saying just as Scootaloo rolled up with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom on her scooter.
“Hey guys!” Rainbow said as she waved at the newcomers. With a flap of her wings, she landed right next to her and gave Scootaloo’s mane a playful tousle. “Glad to see you got back all safe and sound!” She turned to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and sat down. “Everyone having a good Hearth’s Warming Day?”
“Yep!” the three fillies replied in a chorus. A moment later, Apple Bloom scooped up a snowball and hit Sweetie Belle right in the middle of her back.
“Eee! So cold! So cold!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she frantically wiped the snow from her as quickly as she could. Seeing her friend-turned-attacker scamper away, she formed a snowball of her own and threw it, missing by a few inches. “Come back here, you!”
Scootaloo stepped off of her scooter and took off her helmet. “I found these two at Sweet Apple Acres having a snowball fight of their own, and I told them we needed backup to fight against Twilight and Spi–”
“Yeah, about that… Hehe, so listen, I just joined Twilight’s side, okay? That means that we’re all on her side now,” she said with a chuckle, all while scratching the back of her head with a hoof.
“Huh? Why?” Scootaloo peered around Rainbow, her eyes widening as her gaze finally fell upon the library. “Uh… Rainbow? Why is the library a snow fortress now?”
“Um… While you were gone, Pinkie Pie stopped by and said that she’s gonna get everypony in town involved in the snowball fight. So… that means that it’s gonna be, like…” Rainbow counted everypony around them real quick. “Um… the six of us against the rest of the town in an epic snowball fight! You in, or are you and your friends gonna chicken out?” she asked as she gave one of her confident smiles, knowing full well that Scootaloo would never say no to a challenge.
“You kidding? That sounds awesome!” Scootaloo said as she hopped in place, her wings buzzing in excitement. “Come on, let’s go see if we can make the fort even better before everypony gets here!” She grabbed Rainbow’s hoof and pulled the two of them towards the fort.
Over the course of the next hour, everybody was able to gather enough snow to build two smaller forts, each connected to the main one by ice tunnels. The two smaller forts were in the shape of igloos, with three small slits in the walls just big enough to throw snowballs through. As they were being made, Twilight had the Cutie Mark Crusaders watch out for incoming enemy combatants while she and Rainbow had built them. All throughout this preparation for war, Spike was on snowball construction duty back in the main fort.
Seeing that everything was as good as they were going to get, Twilight whistled, signalling for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fall back. As they scampered past her, Twilight used her magic to create a hole big enough for everypony to walk through, and they all entered the fort. Closing the wall behind them, she went to the closest slot in the wall, which just happened to be where Rainbow was sitting. Perfect… maybe now I can talk to her about Scootaloo living here at the library permanently…
Before she could do that, she felt somepony tug on her tail. Turning around, she saw the three fillies and Spike standing behind her.
“Hey! What do you want us to do?” Sweetie Belle asked eagerly, using her magic to levitate a snowball in the air. “We’re ready for anything!”
“Oh! Um, let’s see… I need you in the smaller forts for now, okay? Quickly now, go in pairs,” Twilight said. She smiled as she watched them trot away, then she turned back around and sat down next to Rainbow.
“So… you see anypony?” Twilight asked as she peered through the slit.
“Nah, not really,” Rainbow said. “Just a few ponies walking around doing errands and stuff.”
“Huh, alright…” Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She knew that Rainbow would react negatively to what she was going to say. Might as well get it over with now…
“Hey, listen, there’s something I want to talk to you about…” Twilight said, picking at the base of the wall with a hoof as she bit her lip, fearing Rainbow’s reaction. “Remember how I said that we can split the time for taking care of Scootaloo up until the court trial?”
“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, keeping her attention locked on their surroundings, her head always on a swivel.
“Yeah, well… I think it’d be best if Scootaloo stayed at the library with me… permanently.” Twilight kept talking even when Rainbow’s head whipped around to face her. “Seeing that she can’t well, um… can’t fly, she–”
“Woah woah woah, hold on!” Rainbow said indignantly. “You saying you think I can’t take care of her?” She turned to face Twilight and stood up, her wings bristling in anger. “After everything I’ve done for her?”
“What?” Twilight stood up as well, shaking her head. “No, of course not, that’s not it at all! It’s just that the other day, I was reading up on how those who got adopted had adapted to their new life, and throughout everything that I read, none of them had the parents split up…” She sat down, motioning for Rainbow to do the same. Only when Rainbow did so did she continue, this time in a softer voice.
“And since we aren’t toge–err, living in the same house, it would make things harder on her if she had to keep switching houses every few days. She’s going through a really rough time right now, and I just want what’s best for her; just like you! Also, just imagine how hard it would be for her if she had to get up to your house when you weren’t there–”
“Pfft, what are you talking about, Twilight? She’s never going to leave my sight, no matter what!” Rainbow stomped on the ground once to emphasize her point.
“You can’t watch her all the time, Rainbow,” Twilight said softly, not wanting to start a confrontation. “What about when she’s done playing with her friends and you’re working? What if she can’t find you?” Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She closed her mouth and turned back to look out the slit in the wall, her ears folding back.
Twilight slid a little closer to her, placing a reassuring hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder when she looked down with a heavy sigh. “You see what I mean? She needs a place that she can access readily and without any trouble at all, and the library is the perfect place for that. I’m always here, and she even has her own bed. On top of that, where’s she gonna keep her scooter?”
“...Fine, I guess you’re right.” Rainbow’s shoulders slumped down in disappointment. “I guess I didn’t think about all of that…”
It pained Twilight greatly to see her friend looking so defeated. “But that doe-doesn’t mean you… you can’t live here with us!” Twilight stammered out, a faint blush tinting her cheeks a soft red. “You know you can always stay here with me–err, with us, I mean… hehe.”
When Rainbow cocked her head to the side with a look of confusion on her face, Twilight continued, “You know, to hang out and read books with us!” And to snuggle, too… She smiled awkwardly, her tail flicking from side to side from her nervousness. Even though it was still pretty cold out, she was surprised to feel a bead of sweat drip down the side of her face. Twilight blinked and her heart skipped a beat when Rainbow looked up at her with a strange look on her face. She wasn’t sure why she’d just thought such a thing, and before she could give it more thought, Rainbow spoke up with a serious tone.
“Twilight, listen, I want you to answer me truthfully, because I’m getting all sorts of mixed signals from you.” Rainbow gulped and felt her heart race faster and faster as she built up the courage to ask her next question. Heh, well, here goes nothing…
Rainbow turned to face Twilight straight on. She looked right into her friend’s eyes and softly asked, “Twilight, are... are you into me?”
pinkie....
smell the awkwardness?
smells great doesn't it?
Yes! finally the question has been asked, amusement shall certainly ensue!
Best/Worst...Cliffhanger...EVER! And I know, I've written some doozies.
All I gotta say, though...is we better get an answer in the next chapter.
Stopping the chapter there?!
Don't make me beg for the next update! I will! For this story, I really will!
Well, Duh Rainbow, she's mad for you.
Dun dun dun duuuun...
WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS PUT SO MANY CLIFFHANGERS ALL THE TIME??!!!
EVERYONE?
Yes, she is. And that colts and fillies, is another story, not one for your ears.
I hope you realize that there's a special ring in hell for cliffhangers like that, along with their authors.
Audible Gasp!
My mind, it's broken..... Why do you hurt me? So, how long until the next chapter? I'm sure you get tired of hearing that question, but ending like that? It's just cruel.
*Grin*
I have literally hundreds of shipfics under my belt, probably well over a thousand by now. I've seen this kind of cliffhanger a lot. I usually don't care, but this one did made me grin and think "you tease!" Not sure why... Maybe because until the very last line or two it seems as if they will dance around the subject for a little longer at least.
Ohhhhh! xD
Enough said.
4467685 ...Please Tell Me That's A YGXTAS Reference.
*screams*
This is it, isn't it.
This is the focal point of the storyline.
This will end the "will they won't they" relationship.
I've been preparing for this day. Collecting all the cuteness I could from the previous chapters.
*Straps on armor made of Scootacute*
I'm ready.
PS:
Easter Egg?
Oh for buck's sake... Well, at least they're finally getting somewhere besides denial and obliviousness. I mean, of course Twi is in to you Rainbow!
Cliffhanger....
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Why?,
Anyways, this story is getting better and better... i can´t wait to read the next chapter
Twilight: Let me put it this way: If I was anymore into you, I would be a stallion and we couldn't have Spike or the fillies around us because of it.
4467634 this romance amuses you? I for some reason feel that is an insult to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, oh well.
HOLY SHIT BIG REVEALER
4467669 it needs a spinoff series called how I met your other mother
Someone pass me a rope so I can hang myself off this cliff...
th05.deviantart.net/fs70/150/i/2013/020/6/2/rainbow_dash_by_mrcbleck-d5s5kxv.png
Heh, now I know what it's like for readers to wait for the next chapter of one of my stories!
Buckin' cliffhangers!
4467946 Can you put all of that in between the spoiler tags? I don't want the entire chapter to be ruined for everyone who has yet to read it.
I love how you were building up to this, not a lot of ships I've read do this.
"Do you want my sexy bod, Twilight?"
4467882 thank you, your comment made my day
WHHYY!? I demand the next chapter! (Not really, I'm just excited and kind of frustrated because you left it there )
4467973 My pleasure.
Oh and look, found the rope...
i.imgur.com/6Ovn1ds.png
bout time one of them came out with it, what a cliffhanger though.
Omg Rainbow... Why did you actually say that?
4467882
Hey, we're all on the same cliff here. Do you really think any of us brought a rope?
Fermion cliff hangers great story though
4468057 I found one already
Suddenly... Epic snowball fight appears and uses distraction... It was superly dupperly effective!!
You had to stop it there?? Agk how dare you?
Start of next chapter:
Twilight looked Rainbow in the eyes and replied, "Rainbow, I -" **SPLAT**
Both ponies sat there in shock as they heard Pinkie scream, "ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
YAY! A cliffhanger!
thaddeusphipps.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/june_30_thaddeus_phipps.png
I like them, they help build suspense.
Well, looks like s*** finally hit the fan. Can't wait for the next chapter.
Yusss! Lets get this ship launched.
I'm calling it now. Something, probably a snowball, is going to interrupt before she can answer.
They'll still have to have the talk eventually, of course, but I don't think it will happen at the start of the next chapter.
4468153
That picture. THERE ARE NO WORDS.
You, sir or madam, have MADE MY DAY. Thanks for that!
Chapter made my day, too. Been WANTING more of this fic for a few weeks, now -- the sheer SQUEE and HNNNNG and THE FEELS... nevah enuff. Like dakka, it is.
4468270 Glad I could do that for you!
And it would be sir.
4467824 That's from Code Geass Agrideged with PurpleeyesFTW, but I do like that abridged series as well.
YES!! FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!
Still, NOOOO!!! CLIFFHANGER!!
I await the next chapter with great anticipation
Holy beast core a snowball war oh I don't pity the mayor with the resulting paperwork here. But man this is awesome to the delta infinate. Just please make sure pinkie doesn't acidently use ice in her snowballs that would not be fun andwill cause unintended injury there.
The time has come.
big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/excitedguy.gif
Aaaaaahhh yah.
4467958
Yeah, my bad. No clue what I was thinking. All the shame emotes.
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/tumblr_medjpanOtH1r72gk7o3_250.gif
Now everyone hates me...