Twilight Sparkle turned the final page of the book she was reading, 'The Trees of Equestria', and yawned. Though midnight had come and gone several hours ago, she had not slept, and she knew she had to go soon to meet Fluttershy.
She glanced at the clock and tried to remember when and why she had volunteered to help feed the critters so early, but her brain was too exhausted to think. In fact, she had not had more than an hour's sleep in over a week, and she was beginning to get worried that it would affect her work. Having unsuccesfully tried both books and magic, she had decided that there was simply no other option: she would have to ask for help. She may have been the smart one and Princess Celestia's personal student, but one of the most important things she had learned was to trust her friends' ability to help.
She looked at the clock again, not remembering what it had said before. Spike won't be up yet, she thought.
Calling out quietly, she hoped her night assistant could hear her.
"Owlowiscious?"
After a moment, the nocturnal bird fluttered into the room and came to perch on the end of her bed, landing with a soft hoot. He tilted his head as if awaiting an instruction.
"I want you to fly to the Everfree Forest and deliver a note to Zecora please."
Using her horn, she quickly but neatly scribbled out a short message on a spare scroll. "But don't wake her: just leave it at her door and she'll find it."
"Who?"
"Zecora."
"Who."
"I said Ze- Oh, right, I forgot. I guess that just shows how tired I am."
Handing the note to the owl, who took hold of it carefully with his beak, Twilight sighed heavily and watched as her assistant flapped out the open window.
I really hope she can help, she thought, yawning.
Rubbing her face with her hoof, she turned to stare at the clock again, glaring as she struggled to remember what the numbers meant.
***
Opening the door just in time, Fluttershy let out a small squeal and jumped back as her blue friend narrowly avoided crashing straight into her. Recovering, she remembered her manners.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you're here." She allowed herself a small smile. "I wasn't sure if you would remember to wake up so early."
"Are you kidding me?!"
The other pegasus had picked herself up and was almost exploding with excited energy, despite the early hour.
"The Wonderbolts are holding a one-off dawn show in Cloudsdale, Spitfire herself gave me two tickets for it, and you thought I might be asleep?! Sometimes I think you might be a little crazy Fluttershy!"
The yellow pony giggled. She was secretly very pleased that Rainbow had invited her to go along to the private show. She enjoyed watching the fliers of course, but she really loved spending time with the energetic pegasus, who was never more animated than when talking about flying, which she was bound to do at a Wonderbolt show. There would most likely be a non-stop barrage of commentary, detailing every statistic, fact and piece of trivia imaginable. Fluttershy reckoned she knew more about Spitfire, their captain, than the pony did herself.
"So are ya ready yet? Are ya? Are ya?" Rainbow pranced about a little, her excitement bubbling up in an almost tangible way.
"Not ye-"
"Great! Let's go!"
"Bu-" Too hyper to listen, Rainbow Dash took off and was already zooming out the still open door and flying at top speed through the slowly brightening sky.
Sighing, Fluttershy shook her head and finished her sentence aloud to herself:
"But I have to wait for Twilight to tell her what all the animals need to eat..."
Suddenly she felt a slight nudge on her rear leg. Looking down, she saw a cute white bunny. It pointed to her, then at the door.
"Bu-but Angel, what about all the little animals? Twilight is a very good friend, but she won't know what to give them..."
Once again the small rabbit pointed, this time at itself, then tapped its own head.
"Oh! Angel Bunny, are you saying you'll help Twilight when she gets here?"
He said nothing in reply, but stared at her meaningfully, folding his arms.
"Oh thank you!" Fluttershy bent down and swept the fluffy creature into a warm hug. "I'll write a note for her so she knows that you can help."
She smiled gratefully at her small friend as she carefully wrote down the instruction. Picking up the piece of paper in her mouth, she trotted to the front door and dropped it on the ground where Twilight Sparkle would be sure to see it.
Then, turning her head, she called softly over her shoulder, "Thank you again Angel, Twilight should be here very soon."
Seeing him standing there, tapping his foot and watching her with his arms folded, she smiled again and began to flap gently but quickly into the sky, eager to follow the rainbow trail that still faintly lingered in the air.
***
"Now just wait one apple-snatchin’ minute, Rarity. I thought you said you needed my help with movin’ somethin’, and I'm sure as shootin’ there ain't nothin’ to move 'round here!"
Rarity waited a moment, continuing her elegant saunter and allowing a long enough pause for the silence to begin to annoy Applejack, before answering.
"Well of course there's something to be moved, dear. All this dirt in your mane and coat is what, and it needs moving off you as soon as possible. You obviously have been working very hard and haven't had time to clean, so I thought I'd do you the favour of bringing you to the best spa in Ponyville." The white unicorn flashed a dazzling smile. "Fluttershy and I come here all the time. It's perfectly fabulous and we'll have you clean in no time. We can't have Ponyville's hardest worker not looking her best."
"That ain’t exactly the kind of thing I'd be worried about," AJ muttered under her breath, but she did her best to smile appreciatively at the compliment so as not to start an argument with her friend. The orange earth pony had had enough of those in recent times, and she was in no mood for another. Besides, it was still quite early, dawn having broken not very long ago. Maybe...
"Rarity, why-"
"Oh, don't worry about the time my dear," Rarity cut in before she had finished the question. "They open quite early here, as they're very dedicated to their clients, and some ponies like to get their treatment done in the morning before work."
"Darn."
AJ's hopes dashed, she dipped her head in defeat a little as she entered the small centre behind the unicorn.
The interior of the spa was wonderfully simple: no lavish flowers or over-expensive furnishing, no gilded carpets or exquisitely adorned tables. It was very modern and very comfortable. One could relax, even in the waiting room, without feeling too pretentious. Even Applejack, who was something of a stranger to these surroundings, felt at ease here.
"I s'pose this don't look too bad..." she murmured to herself, surprised.
Rarity came back from chatting with the spa ponies, who had disappeared into the rear room.
"Now come on Applejack, these lovely dears will take all the stress out of your hooves. I've asked for the full works for both of us, so we can just take it easy for a few hours. Follow me n-"
"A few hours?!" AJ's ears had pricked up at this. "I don't have a few hours! I gotta get back to the farm to help with the buckin’! And I got Twilight comin' down later to help organise a big order that's headed to Canterlot - I gotta be back for her and she ain't ever late!"
She was beginning to panic already, her voice raising in pitch as she thought of all those trees going unbucked, but Rarity just smiled and put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Relax and breathe, dear, relax and breathe. It's all under control." The purple-maned pony's voice seemed to have a calming effect, although her friend's worried expression remained.
"I've asked Sweetie Belle to inform your sister that you will be occupied for the morning, and I’m certain your brother Macintosh won’t mind if you take the morning off. He always says you work too much anyway. In fact, with a small bit of rest and pampering, I’d say you’d be able to work even harder than before! Think how many more apples you can harvest if you manage to recoup some energy like this.”
“Huh. Well, okay then, but what about Twilight?”
"Oh, don't worry, we'll have you back in plenty of time - it won't take that long. Besides, I wouldn't say the dear thing is even awake yet."
Applejack couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so she settled for allowing herself to be mollified.
Rarity’s smile widened, pleased that she had gotten through to the stubborn farmer. “Now, if you’re quite ready, follow me and we shall begin.”
***
Sleepily she shut the door and turned her bleary eyes towards the Everfree Forest. Obviously Zecora had been awake, as Owlowiscious had returned almost straight away with a note from the zebra asking Twilight to meet her immediately. The purple unicorn wasn't sure what was so urgent, but she still had a little time before she was due to meet Fluttershy at her home, and it wasn't like she had much else to do at that hour. Besides, the cottage was close enough to the edge of the forest that it wouldn't take long to get back from Zecora's hut. She had mumbled at her nocturnal assistant an instruction to give the note to Spike if he woke up early, although he knew she was due to help out with the animal feeding anyway.
As she stumbled along the path, the fresh air started to clear her mind a little, allowing her to begin to think straight. Her organised mind began to grind into action, running through what she had to do and where she had to be for the rest of the day.
"Right. Hopefully Zecora won't need to take too long so I can get to Fluttershy on time, then that's going to take at least an hour and a half, after that Pinkie Pie asked me to try her new shortbread biscuit recipe, and I said I'd help Applejack with organising that big order she has, and then after that I need to see Rarity about picking up my new saddlebags," her old ones had completely ripped through from the weight of all the books she had put in them, "and after that I'll need to get back to keep an eye on the library, but if I'm there I won't be able to get to..."
Her rambling trailed off as she simultaneously realised two things:
She had been talking aloud to herself. Only mad ponies did that, and she was definitely not mad. Yet. She hoped.
She had been so distracted by what was coming up, she had forgotten to look up, and while she had veered off course a little, she had also already reached the edge of the Forest.
Twilight Sparkle looked deep into the trees, straining her eyes to try and see something, anything, but as usual the Everfree proved too dense for her pony sight. She had been here a number of times before, but still she felt nervous entering this domain, especially alone, without her friends to bolster her confidence. Still, she realised time was not on her side this morning, so she trotted onward at a decent pace, hoping to reach the little hut without incident.
***
"This is gonna be so AWESOME!"
Rainbow Dash wasn't even making the slightest effort to contain her excitement. There weren't more than thirty ponies in the small arena, including Princess Luna, who had just set the moon down to allow the sun to rise properly. She looked tired, but still regally impressive, her coat shining its deep, midnight-blue, her wings held proudly aloft and her alicorn horn spiralling beautifully to its point. However, Dash didn't get to admire for very long as she saw the Princess' eyes sweep in her direction, and she quickly shifted her attention back to the centre of the cloud arena, where she could now hear muffled sounds coming from the tunnel, even over the buzz of ponies talking.
Fluttershy was enjoying herself, after having chatted (well, listened) happily to her friend about the Wonderbolts almost non-stop since they had arrived in Cloudsdale. She had also seen Luna's thoughtful gaze and had respectfully (if awkwardly) averted her stare as well.
Her mind, however, did not return to the pending spectacle like Rainbow's did, but to those that had been left below in Ponyville.
I hope Twilight's okay. I know Angel Bunny knows what he's doing but will she understand him? What if she doesn't find the note? What if there's not enough food for everyone? And what about if any of the littler animals get injured and Twilight doesn't know how to look after them? Oh, and how woul-eep!
Her worried thoughts were interrupted suddenly as she felt a hoof grab her own.
"Oh my gosh!" Rainbow Dash was on the verge of shouting. "It's starting!"
Fluttershy tried to bring some order back into the scrambled and confused mess of emotions jumping around her head, demanding attention.
"Oh, umm... That's... great," she said, forcing a smile she hoped looked excited, but felt terrified. Fortunately, Dash, who was still holding her hoof, was too distracted by the awesomery beginning to unfold in the arena to notice the bright flush blazing across the animal-lover's cheeks.
Mind reeling, Fluttershy attempted to focus on the whooshing pegasi flying in front of her, but found it extraordinarily difficult - even when Soarin' flew within hoof's reach of the pair, although Rainbow squealed and giggled like a little filly.
The yellow pegasus sighed, still rather jittery, and with her eyes somehow following the action, she decided to just let her mind wander...
***
The small hut was dug into a tree that, by some magic or miracle, was still alive. Strange, coloured bottles hung by vines from several branches, a scary looking mask was set over the doorway, and as always, spooky light glowed from the few gaps in the bark that served as windows. Twilight had visited Zecora often enough not to be frightened of the unusual ambience surrounding the place she lived, but it still made her feel slightly uneasy, as if something wasn't quite right. Still feeling weary, but mostly alert now, she stepped up and tapped on the hut's liitle door. It swung open easily.
"That's odd," she said to herself before raising her voice.
"Zecora?"
When no reply came she poked her horn around the door, and gasped at what she saw.
Books were strewn across the floor, broken vials lay in pools of multicoloured liquid, and the zebra's favourite cauldron was upside-down in the corner of the room.
"Ze-Zecora?" Twilight called again, anxious now. What could have happened? She took a step backwards, in the direction of the exit, while looking around, searching for some clue as to what had happened, or where her striped friend had gone. She would have to run back to Ponyville and get he- wait! What was that on the floor?
Is that... is that Zecora's earring?
Twilight felt a shock run through her system. This was proof that something really bad must have happened, because the zebra never took that off, ever! Twilight wasn't even sure if she could.
She turned then, picking up the small gold ring with magic and meaning to gallop with it as fast as she could back to Ponyville, when she suddenly realised she wasn't alone. Somepony, or something, was there with her, standing in the doorway. She raised her head, veerrrrry slowly, to look at the something in front of her, a sense of fear building up deep inside her.
"Good morning, Twilight Sparkle."
*BOUNCE* *CLATTER* *BOUNCE* *CRASH*
"Uhh..." Scootaloo could hear a lot of noise coming from inside the shop, and began to wonder if this was really the best, no, safest pony to ask. However, after hesitating a moment, she tried to think of what Rainbow Dash would do, and stepped up to the front door and knocked twice.
From inside came the sounds of humming. "Hmhmhmhmhmmhmhmhmmhmmhmmhmmm add it to the mix!"
Scootaloo swallowed, but she steeled her nerves and knocked again, louder this time.
Without warning, the door flew open, knocking and ringing the little bell that hung over it, and Scootaloo was suddenly face to face (literally noses touching) with one of the scariest ponies in all of Ponyville: Pinkie Pie.
"Oh hi there you silly filly! You know you don't have to knock because this is a cake shop and you don't normally knock on shop doors or at least I don't I just walk in and start looking around the shop or talking to the owner which actually now that I think about it is kinda rude and I don't want to be a rudey mcrude pony so maybe I should knock on the doors..."
"Uhh... Pinkie Pie?"
"...but I said to her, 'This is my most favouritest door I've ever seen ever!' and it was the best door ever, except maybe for that one I saw at that party in Canterlot when I was like 'AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!' and that was a really great party because the cake was so amazing..."
"Pinkie Pie!" Scootaloo shouted in an effort to stem the endless tide of words crashing into her.
She suddenly noticed the silence as the party pony sat back and looked at her with huge eyes and a matching smile.
"Yes?"
"Um, I just came to see if you know where Rainbow Dash is? She's not at home and she's not clearing the sky, and I was hoping to watch her practise her routine today..." Her voice trailing off a bit lamely, she looked up hopefully.
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know where she is, but I do know how we can find her!"
"Really?" The small orange pegasus perked up. "How? How?"
"By throwing a PARTY! Then when Dashie gets the invite she'll show up at the party because she never misses my parties, she's like my best friend, well one of them anyway, the others are Rarity, Applejack, oh and Fluttershy, and..."
"Ugh! No, Pinkie Pie, that won't work! And I know your friends too! Sheesh, you are so random!" Scootaloo turned to leave, obviously not going to make any progress there. Hey, maybe Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom would be able to help her!
"Hey!"
She stopped.
"Don't you want to try my super duper special sweet sugary shortbread? I made it fresh." Pinkie grinned at the filly.
"Uhh... Maybe next time Pinkie. I got, um, stuff to do, so... see ya!"
Scootaloo galloped for her scooter, jumped on and began to zip away as fast as she could in the direction of Sweetie Belle's home, eager to at the very least go on a Cutie Mark Crusade, even if she couldn't find the most awesome pegasus in Equestria.
"Okie dokie pony pokey!" Pinkie Pie called after her with a wave, giggling.
Turning, she bounced back to the kitchen and decided to make another batch of those yummy shortbreads so that if Twilight was really hungry when she got there, there would be plenty enough to eat. "I'd better hurry though because Twilight is never late thanks to her being so smarty smart smart and always knowing where to be."
With this in mind Pinkie began to hum again. "Hmmmhmhmhmm the ghostly..."
***
"Aw, horse-feathers! Where could that pony be?"
Applejack was galloping towards the library at full tilt, as she was afraid to leave the farm for very long with all the work that needed doing. Of course, there was even more than normal now, since she had spent the morning relaxing at the spa. "Not that I'm not grateful to Rarity," she reminded herself. "I really did enjoy myself, but I gotta lot of catchin' up to do now, and where the hay is Twilight?"
The purple unicorn had promised that she would help AJ out with organising a big order that was to go to Canterlot, but she hadn't shown up, and the farm pony was beginning to get worried. "Course, I could handle that order on my own, but Twilight said she'd be there and she ain't, so somethin' musta happened to her. She ain't the type to just go messin' with a pony like that. And - woaah... Hey there Spike."
As she skidded to a halt outside the library, she noticed the baby dragon pacing about in front of the door, looking quite anxious.
"Applejack! Have you seen Twilight?"
"What? No, I came to try and find out where she's at, 'cause she was s'posed to be helpin' me out right about now. Why? Is she missin'?"
Suddenly twice as alert, the orange mare swung her head from side to side, looking around, just in case the unicorn was hiding behind a bush somewhere.
Spike stopped pacing and looked at the pony. He would have laughed at her expression if he wasn't so worried.
"Well, you see, Twilight had a pretty busy schedule today, and she wasn't here when I woke up so I have no idea where she is. She was supposed to go and help Fluttershy really early, so I thought maybe she'd just left a bit earlier than she said she was going to, but one of the animals came over a while ago with a note from Fluttershy to Twilight and he started jumping up and down and pointing at Twilight's name on the note, like he was looking for her."
"Who?"
"I think his name is Angel Bunny, bu-"
"Who."
"The little white rabbit, you know the one-"
"That ain't me sugarcube." Applejack pointed. "Look there."
Spike turned, and sure enough, an extremely tired-looking owl sat perched on a branch beside them, clutching something in his claw.
"Oh, hey Owlowiscious. What are you doing up? Do you know what happened to Twilight?"
The bird tilted his head. He had obviously been woken up by the commotion, and now seemed determined to deliver his message before returning to sleep. He fluttered over to the pair, dropped the piece of paper he was carrying on top of Spike, and flapped away again, flying out of sight.
Confused, the baby dragon pulled the note off his head and looked at it as if it were some rare gem to be examined (or eaten). Suddenly, he looked up at Applejack.
"What? What does it say?" She wasn't a pony known for her patience.
"It's a letter from Zecora, asking Twilight to meet her right away, 'while the morning is still dark'. She must have gone there before Fluttershy's! Which means..."
"She must've gotten lost in the Everfree Forest!" AJ exclaimed. "She wouldn't let her meetin' with Zecora make her late for helpin' Fluttershy, unless... unless somethin' bad happened to her... Aw shoot! We gotta go find her!"
"Find who? Is it Twilight?" A new voice piped up.
"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?"
The pink earth pony had bounced up to the spot where they were standing without either of them noticing.
"The same as you - duh!" She stopped bouncing for a moment and frowned, a sign she truly was concerned.
"Twilight Sparkle said she would taste my super sweet shortbread, she even made a Pinkie Pie promise, but she still hasn't arrived, so I thought something bad must have happened to her and I thought 'hmm, if something bad happened to me, what would I want?' So I decided if she couldn't come to me to try my sweets, I could bring the sweets to her! See?" Opening her saddlebag, she removed a small box filled with delicious looking treats. "But I guess she's not here either..."
Applejack saw the disappointment in her friend's eyes.
"No, she ain't, but we think we might know where she is: the Everfree Forest!"
"WHAT?!" Pinkie Pie jumped clear off the ground with shock. "Well, what are we still doing here? We have to go find her!"
Without waiting for Applejack's reaction she sprinted away in the direction of the forest.
"Pinkie Pie, wait! ... Shoot, she's gone. Spike, you better stay here in case Twilight finds her way back on her own."
Spike snapped his best salute. "Can do, ma'am"
Satisfied, Applejack turned and raced after her crazy pink friend.
***
The purple unicorn shrieked, leaping into the air. Landing on her hind legs, she began immediately gibbering from the shock.
"I'm sorry... I don't know why... I mean... I heard you... But..."
"Be at peace, Twilight Sparkle. You have nothing to fear from me."
"I know Princess, I just didn't expect anypony else to be here."
The glow from the few candles dotted about the hut caught the alicorn's midnight-blue coat and made it glisten eerily. Her starry mane and tail waved gently by themselves, despite there not being a breeze inside. Eyes flashing brightly, Princess Luna smiled widely at Celestia's student.
"What about anyzebra?"
Twilight swallowed and allowed her front hooves to drop to the floor as an intense frown creased her forehead.
"Well... yes, actually. This is Zecora's home, and she sent me a note saying to meet her urgently, so I sort of thought she would be here."
"A reasonable assumption, yet apparently an incorrect one."
"But why are you here Princess? Do you know what happened to her? Look, I found her earring - I think something bad must have happened to her!"
The taller pony lost her grin, replacing it with a scowl as Twilight nervously floated the golden object between their faces. Shadows flickered around her body while the light from the candles threw strange shapes on the walls. She took the ring in her own magic and placed it back down on the ground.
"Twilight Sparkle, I need your help."
The request surprised Twilight, her mind kicking up all sorts of questions, none of which made it out of her mouth. Why me? What about Zecora? How did she even know I'd be here this morning?!
"Umm, well, I'm a bit busy toda- wait, what am I saying? Of course, Princess. What do you need me to do?"
Rather than answer her, Luna trotted to the entrance of the hut, looked out, then pulled the door closed with her mouth. She turned and looked Twilight dead in the eye before speaking.
"Do you remember when you banished the darkness from my soul, removing the shadow and separating Nightmare Moon from Princess Luna?"
Twilight was once again shocked by the alicorn's question.
"O-of course I do, Your Highness. It wasn't something that's easy to forget."
"And do you remember before that, when Nightmare Moon ruled for a short time?"
"Uh, yes?" Twilight hoped she was answering correctly.
"Most importantly, can you remember how Equestria felt then?"
For the third time in the few short minutes since she had entered the small hut in the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle was thrown by the taller pony's question. She couldn't understand what Luna was asking her at all. How had Equestria felt? What sort of question was that? She must have misheard her. How could a pony feel Equestria?
"Wh-what?"
"How did the air feel? The ground? The water? What were the sounds like, and the smells?"
"Well... They felt... Equestrian. I mean, it was kinda dark, and a bit cold, what with the whole 'Eternal Night' thing going on, but apart from that I can't recall anything unusual."
"So nothing felt... wrong to you at all?"
Twilight stared at the Princess, casting her mind back and trying to figure out what Luna was talking about.
"No? Let me try to refresh your memory." The alicorn stepped to the door once again, then looked back at Twilight, who hadn't moved. "Come," she said, pulling the door open wide and striding out.
Twilight looked about herself at the mess that was left inside Zecora's hut. It really was pretty torn apart. Her eyes caught on a darker stain she hadn't noticed earlier, right in the corner of the room, and she quickly looked away. She didn't want to know what that was. Taking a deep breath to calm the bubble of fear she felt rising inside of herself, she carefully trotted around the debris to join the Princess outside the hut.
Luna stood a little to the right as she exited, waiting patiently for her. The alicorn motioned for Twilight to stand beside her, before pointing with a hoof to something between the trees. Twilight peered into the dense tangle of trees but could see nothing other than... more trees. Dawn was only just breaking over Equestria (not that it made much difference in the Everfree Forest), and the darkness that surrounded them wan't helping her at all. She wondered whether this was some sort of test of her magical abilities. If so, she was failing, because she had no idea what she was meant to be doing.
"In this direction," Luna announced, "lies the castle where you fought the dark creature known as Nightmare Moon, using the Elements of Harmony."
Twilight nodded, not entirely sure as to what exactly she was supposed to do with that information.
"Now tell me," the Princess said with a voice like silk, "what do you feel?"
***
"...amazing, wasn't it Fluttershy?"
"Huh, what?"
The yellow pegasus pulled herself out of her daydream, realising simultaneously that the show was over and that they were the last ones left in the arena. She really had zoned out, and had missed most of the show. She didn't mind too much though - as long as Rainbow Dash had enjoyed herself, then she would be happy too. Hopefully she hadn't seemed too distant while her mind was on... other topics.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy! Do you read me?" Rainbow grinned at her friend. She knew the timid pegasus wasn't really that interested in the flying show, and she appreciated her agreeing to come along. Dash hated doing things alone. Except being awesome, she could do that all by herself. Grateful as she was though, she was still going to have to tease the poor pegasus mercilessly for not paying attention.
"Repeat, this is Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy, Cloudsdale calling! Nope, sorry Sarge - doesn't look like there's anypony there. Guess she fell asleep."
Fluttershy blushed a bright pink and tried to hide behind her mane, mumbling an embarrassed apology as she edged out of her seat and began trotting towards the exit.
"Nope! Still not picking up any readings, Sarge. I guess I'm just going to have to go in and look for her myself."
With that, Rainbow took off and flew up high, before turning and swooping down to (gently) tackle Fluttershy to the cloud-ground.
"Caught her Sarge! She was trying to sneak away!"
Fluttershy found her voice a she picked herself up. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash..."
"Aw, it's okay 'Shy. I know you didn't really want to be here, I'm just glad you were able to come with me."
"Oh, but I did want to be here!" the yellow pegasus protested. "Well, maybe not so much for the actual show, but I really enjoyed spending some time with you."
Rainbow tilted her head and gave her a strange look.
"Well, you know... We always do things as a big group with all six of us, not that that's a bad thing, I mean I love all our friends, but I just think it'd be nice if we could spend some more time alone together..."
Fluttershy trailed off, blushing furiously and staring at the ground as she realised how bold she was being. You're being too obvious! I can't let her know yet - I'm not ready. What if she's not like that? What if she laughs? What if she hates me?!
Dash didn't seem to notice her internal predicament though. Instead, she wrapped a wing around her friend (causing Fluttershy to nearly suffer a mild heart attack), and pulled her towards the exit again.
"Well why didn't you say you wanted to hang out with me more often? I am pretty cool after all, and it's only natural that you'd want to..." She lost track of her thoughts and stopped as they entered the corridor that led out of the arena and spotted Princess Luna chatting to Spitfire and Soarin at the other end. To leave, they would need to pass the alicorn and two of Rainbow's heroes. A starry look came into her eyes at the chance to talk to them. Fluttershy saw it and sighed a little before putting on a happy smile.
"You go talk to them," she murmured kindly. "I'll see you back in Ponyville."
"Really? That would be awe-" She stopped as she caught her friend's expression. A small twinge of guilt passed through her and she shook her head. "No, Fluttershy. I think we should hang out together, just you and me. Like you said, we never get to do that, and you're one of my oldest friends."
Fluttershy's head swung up to look at Rainbow as the blue pegasus began trotting forward again.
"Oh, thank you Dash!" she whispered not quite loudly enough to be audible, a smile lighting up her face. "You have no idea how much it means to me..."
Neither of the Wonderbolts looked up as the pair cantered past them, despite Rainbow's wistful glances in their direction. Luna, however, gave Fluttershy an unfathomable yet somehow knowing stare as they passed, that made the pegasus want to curl up in an embarrassed ball and hide for some reason.
As they made it outside, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, putting the thoughts of her idols behind her.
"So, what do you wanna do Fluttershy?"
"Umm..." The yellow mare rubbed her leg with a hoof.
Dash facehoofed, but put on an encouraging smile for her friend.
"Come on, let's go have some fun around Cloudsdale!"
