Suits

Rainbow Dash leaned her head up against the cool glass of the train's window. She stared out at the desert landscape speeding past unimpressed. She was bored and this whole vacation she was going to be nothing but boring. 'Vacation' barely even described it. This was a business trip, plain and simple. She sighed out her nose, watching the window fog up momentarily as she did so.

"Cheer up, Rainbow Dash." came a bright voice from her side. She turned to look at Rarity, her travel partner and the reason she was even on this trip in the first place. "Las Pegasus is world renowned as a vacation destination. I'm certain we'll be able to have fun!" Rarity was looking at her sideways, wearing the sort of smile somepony wears when they're trying remain positive for somepony else's sake. "I'll just be tying up loose ends to prepare for the boutique's grand opening. It shouldn't take more than a day, and we've got the entire week reserved in the newest and most luxurious palace of a hotel! Now doesn't that sound exciting?"

Rainbow Dash didn't answer; instead she looked idly back out the window again. In truth: no, it didn't sound exciting. An dreary afternoon as part of the Ponyville Weather Patrol's afternoon drizzle division sounded more exciting than this. Granted, she was a pegasus, and Las Pegasus was (as could be easily deducted) a pegasus town. While pegasi in general typically enjoyed visiting the lofty pegasi settlements located in the clouds, Rainbow Dash would much rather be visiting any other city for any other reason. Though she would never blatantly admit it, she found Rarity's profession very boring. She guessed it was pretty cool and stuff, being able to make clothes for all kinds of ponies and having those clothes be so popular that the demand for them in even the most remote and desolate places in Equestria warranted a store dedicated to them be opened. And Rainbow couldn't deny that Rarity's designs were often about as awesome as Rainbow herself. Creating anything that came even close to Rainbow's level of awesomeness was quite an accomplishment in her eyes.

But regardless of how talented Rarity undoubtedly was, that didn't change the fact that the vast majority of her designs were high-end fru-fru nonsense only sought after by high-end fru-fru ponies. The grand opening of Rarity's boutique would attract those sorts of insufferably boring ponies as well as the sort of scum that infested Las Pegasus. She snorted quietly to herself. Not that she'd admited it to Rarity or anypony for that matter, but she had her own reasons for hating Las Pegasus. The pegasus was no strict follower of rules in any sense (much to the chagrin of friends like Twilight Sparkle or Fluttershy) but even she found Las Pegasus' version of law too lax for her. And by lax, she meant corrupt. It was well-known that ponies who went to the desert town to party went there to party hard. Drink, drugs, sex. It was omnipresent throughout the city and controlled and regulated by whatever shadowy individuals or organizations who stood to profit from them the most with the joke of an EUP outpost there having been bought or threatened into submission long ago.

Rainbow would be a bit hypocritical if she said these were her only reasons for disliking the resort paradise. She was no stranger to black-outs during cider season. She had abused her fair share of substances during her wilder, more youthful days; and in truth, wouldn't be totally adverse to it if somepony were to offer some to her, though she did try to stay clear. She had even been to her fair-share of seedy red-light Canterlot erotic shows, though she had never gone so far as too hire a prostitute. Bits were best spent on Wonderbolts swag, after all. But her greatest and deepest reason for never wanting to visit Las Pegasus was the gambling. Making a gentlemare's wager with Applejack to prove a point was all well and good, but the sort of gambling exclusive to Las Pegasus was far darker and more insidious. She had seen take hold of ponies and change them like some sort of fever, seen ponies obsess over the next spin of the slots or the next roll of the roulette wheel or the next card drawn from the deck as if their lives depended on it. More often than not, you could count on the fact that their lives did depend on it.

Ponies would spiral into debt spending the hard earned bits of of their families and seek out insidious loan sharks to somehow help them out of the hole they'd dug themselves. And the loan sharks would welcome them in like a spider welcoming a fly. Broad gold-toothed smiles and soothing words to get ponies to sign their way to what seemed like a way out. But if one of those ponies missed a payment... the consequences were somewhat... dire. Rainbow shut her eyes tightly. They were stinging now and she pushed the reason for that out of her mind. Instead, she tried to focus on Rarity, who had begun speaking with her again.

"... that even some of the elite in Canterlot might have to think twice about once they saw the price tag. Lest we forget, Rainbow, these are high-rollers we're dealing with here." Rarity giggled lightly as she said high-rollers as if the term commanded an odd sort of respect for her. "Celebrities in their own right. And like celebrities they like to both dress and spend extravagantly! Oh yes, Rainbow, I think opening a boutique here could be the start of something great for me! And you know how competitive these casinos are with one another. See something in the other's mall and suddenly they have to have it too; whether they wanted to have it in the first place or not!" Rarity chortled appropriately at the fact. Rainbow's mouth was slightly ajar, her eyes out of focus. It was going to be a whoooooole week of this. "Meaning, of course, that soon enough I might not have just one boutique in Las Pegasus but several! Oh, think of how fabulous everypony will look! Not even to speak for the amount of bits that'll be rolling in for me. Maybe it'll even be enough to work my way out of the debt I'm bound to accrue in the casinos this week." Rarity laughed heartily at her own joke, not noticing how Rainbow had winced.

Had Rarity not been one of Rainbow's best friends, the pegasus would never have even considered going. In truth, friendship alone hadn't enough to persuade her, it was the the fact that Rarity had practically begged her to accompany her. Why she hadn't been more keen to bring along avid-partier Pinkie Pie, cards-playing Applejack, or even earnest spa-goer Fluttershy was beyond Rainbow. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked out the window again. "Yeah, look Rarity, you've got to be careful in a town like Las Pegasus." She said to the passing cacti on the other side of the glass. "Most ponies there... especially when it comes down to bits, well... they're not very nice." she finished lamely.

Rarity raised an eyebrow to her. "I'm more that capable of handling of handling subversive businessponies if that's what you mean." said Rarity steadily, just the faintest hint of indignation showing through her voice.

"That's not really what I meant." said Rainbow. "I mean like the kind of ponies who won't like the fact that you're making more bits than they are. The kind of ponies who would just as soon burn one of your stores to the ground as look at it. It's all about bits to these ponies. They care more about the size of their wallets than the lives of other ponies." She looked grimly round at Rarity, whose eyebrow had been raised even higher.

"Las Pegasus's reputation is... well-known. And not always entirely flattering." she said steadily. "But something you must remember Rainbow, is that every town has its seedy underbelly. Even Ponyville's not immune."

"I've never seen anyone in Ponyville be murdered in cold-blood over a gambling debt." Rainbow muttered darkly.

"Even Ponyville's not immune." Rarity repeated, plowing on stubbornly. "But that's not why I'm here, I'm here for the glitz and glamour of the highlife. For brilliant multicolored neon signs that light up even the fathomless desert night sky. For the adrenaline rush while facing subtle and dignified opponents at the high-stakes tables where charm and tenacity win the day. For the endless parade of culture that the city nurtures with foods and shows. For the way ponies who go there have more fun than they thought possible and return with stories that they'll tell for a lifetime."

Rainbow scoffed. After a visit to Las Pegasus, a lifetime may not be very long at all, Rainbow felt like saying but she held her tongue. She pursed her lips and glared at the floor. Rarity wasn't the kind of mare to just change her mind when she had stars in her eyes like this. Silently, Rainbow Dash hoped that nothing would ever happen to disillusion Rarity and that she would just go on believing that Las Pegasus was the end-all-be-all of high-life, high-fashion, and high stakes. But a small part of her also wished that something would make Rarity see Las Pegasus for what it really was: a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Just as the thought ran through Rainbow's mind, a sudden gasp from Rarity caused her to look up and at the unicorn who was pointing giddily out of the window. Rainbow looked out the window towards where she was pointing to see the object of her woes. Las Pegasus stood (or rather, floated) on a large collection of clouds. However, unlike other pegasus cities located high in the sky, this on floated on ground-level in the middle of a massive desert gulch. The train tracks extended on a bridge over the entirety of the gorge with Las Pegasus acting as a sort of oasis in the chasm. The city itself was dazzling with the many mirrored-windows of the various high-rise hotels reflecting the sun's light.

"It looks like a shimmering diamond beset by pearls!" fawned Rarity.

It looks like a glimmering knife about to be thrust into an innocent pony's back... thought Rainbow.

In a way, they were both right.