Twilight smiled as she fell, the wind buffeting at her new wings as she plummeted towards the floor of Ghastly Gorge.

“Come on Twilight, you can do it! Flap those wings!”

Twilight turned slowly in the air, looking over towards the blue pegasus who was plummeting at her side. “You’re going to catch me, right?” she called to her friend, grinning broadly.

“Only if I have to! C’mon, Twilight, I know you can do it! Just spread those wings! If you don’t try to fly, it isn’t exactly a flying lesson.”

Twilight lazily looked back at her wings, tucked in against her sides; how many times had Rainbow Dash told her Fluttershy had taken to spread them even one time? Surely, Rainbow Dash couldn’t begrudge her this. Not when she was so close.

“I can’t! You’re going to have to save me!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, her sigh torn away by the wind as she banked, adjusting her wings just so as she glided over to wrap her hooves around Twilight’s chest, Twilight doing the same as Rainbow Dash began to pull up. Slowly, their momentum reversed, and soon Twilight found herself rising back up through the canyon, wrapped tight in Rainbow Dash’s arms.

“What the heck happened there, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, sticking her head in close to Twilight’s, peering into her eyes. “You didn’t hurt your wings or something, did you?”

“I’m fine, Rainbow,” Twilight said, smiling as she snuggled up against the blue pegasus’s chest. “I just… wanted you to catch me.”

Rainbow Dash stared. “What? Why?”

“I read it in a book once. Rainbow…” Twilight lifted her head to lock eyes with her friend, snouts close enough together she could feel Rainbow Dash’s breath tickling at her lips.

“Twilight, what are you—” Rainbow Dash’s words were lost as their lips met, stiffening as Twilight’s lips molded themselves to her own. Twilight melted into the pegasus, tugging herself up close against Rainbow Dash’s chest and reveling in the moment before she felt a sharp shove. Twilight scrabbled for a hold on her friend, her hooves slipping away as she glimpsed Rainbow Dash’s narrowed eyes and twisted mouth.

Twilight screamed as she fell, spreading her wings, desperately flailing against the wind that whipped at the whole of her body. She couldn’t keep herself straight – first she saw the sky, far above, then the river below, two swaths of blue between the brown of the rock all around. What had she done? Why had she been so stupid? Each pump of Twilight’s wings only seemed to make her tumble in yet another direction, the river growing as the sky shrank with every whirl of her body through the air.

Twilight shrieked again, but it was useless; even if the wind didn’t rip the sounds away the moment they were formed, the only pony who could have possibly heard her hated her now. Twilight had risked everything, but Rainbow Dash didn’t love her, and now she was going to die. Wrapping her hooves around herself, Twilight sobbed brokenly as the roar of the river grew louder in her ears, screwing her eyes shut as she waited for the end.

CRACK!

Twilight’s eyes shot open, finding herself wrapped up in a familiar embrace, a warm body pressing in against her chest even as she felt the spray of the river touch her wings. A sudden jerk in the air, and the pair were coasting a few feet over the churning rapids, a pair of blue hooves locked securely around Twilight’s chest.

Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash as the power of the Sonic Rainboom tore apart the canyon walls, but hope died in her chest as the pegasus looked away, eyes cold and distant as she stared ahead down the gorge. Shuddering, Twilight buried her face against her friend’s soft chest, tears torn away by the wind as Rainbow Dash held her tight, winging away for home.