Dawny had rushed over to Twilight’s and unsurprisingly, the mare wasn’t there to meet her. Really, the only pony around at this time was Frozen Crispy, the late night ice cream vendor who continued down the road and into the night, delivering delicious treats to any who were around.

Dawny shook her head at the temptation; sadly, she was lacking any bits.

She reached Twilight’s door and there was a note stuck right to it. Curiously, she grabbed the note and read it to herself, “Dear Twilight, we need to talk about a certain closure. We know it was you… signed, The Gardening Club? …What…” Dawny had no idea what that was, maybe Twilight had committed a perennial infraction? Either way, she put the note under her wing for later as she entered the public library.

The room was faintly lit, and a loud snoring came from upstairs. Someone was definitely here and it wasn’t her Twilight. Dawny gulped as she gently eased the door shut, feeling a shiver run down the back of her neck.

Slowly she made her way to the kitchen. The sound was coming from upstairs so there was time to prepare.

She peeked through a couple of doors, barely spotting some candles in the dark room. Fluttering over to one of the closest candles she placed her wing right up against the tip, grunting as she swished her wing over the wick. “Darn it… how is my mom always so good at this?”

A few more fast swipes over the wick, and it finally lit from the friction. “Yay!” Dawny squeaked out; proud that she didn’t catch her wing on fire like last time.

Now that she could actually see, she started searching through the cupboards and drawers. A metal colander was a perfect fit as an armoured helmet. There as just one more thing missing. “A-ha!” she said, grabbing onto a wooden ladle.

With her mighty weapon in hoof, she carefully tip toed up the stairs to stop the snoring evil-doer and save Princess Twilight! Show her she was a worthy knight in shining armour.

The snoring was getting louder and louder with every step. She could feel her heart beating in anticipation, getting ready to smack the sleepy assassin.

She jumped into the room and there it was, just lying there, one leg draped over the basket it was in. The purple dragon was peacefully sleeping right in front of Twilight’s bed.

Dawny stood there awkwardly, feeling a little dumb for almost clobbering Twilight’s… pet? Roommate? What was he? She didn’t know, but stared at Twilight’s unique companion thinking about that for a little longer than she probably should have.

The door opening downstairs shook those thoughts right from her. Her Twilight was here! She turned and glided down the stairs, landing right by the alicorn. “Twilight!” she squeaked out.

“Ah!” Twilight jumped in surprise “O-oh… that was quick. I wasn’t expecting you back so soon and… wearing my...” She paused as she looked the battle ready filly over.

Dawny just blushed realizing the cookware she had on and slowly took the colander off of her head. “I needed it. Trust me,” she said sheepishly. Her attempted good deeds would have to go unnoticed. Thus was the burden of a hero.

“Right…” Twilight skeptically said but ignored it as she looked around the room cautiously. “Anyways, your mother was ok with you staying the night, although she was a bit worried since you missed dinner. How was Sweetie Belle’s?”

“It… was scary, but ok,” Dawny said vaguely and her stomach growled out. Twilight heard it too and Dawny quickly stammered, “Plea-Please don’t feed me!” The alicorn tilted her head in confusion. “I’ve heard how well you cook. They say that you once made soup and a creature jumped out and hugged your face!”

“What?!” Twilight said defensively, “I can cook just fine. Where would you ever hear something like that?”

“All the kids at school think you can’t even make a sandwich without making something horrific.”

“It’s not that bad…” Twilight mumbled as Dawny mention something about a soufflé attacking Spike. “I mean sometimes spells and food create some strange things, but, heh, I think those are just rumors.” Twilight smirked and put her hoof around Dawny, talking in a hushed tone right into the filly’s ear. “So… maybe you want to go grab a nice gooey snack from Carrous to fill you right up?”

Dawny bit her lip and nodded sheepishly as her stomach growled. “Can that really make me not hungry?”

Twilight blushed just thinking about it. “W-well… has it ever came and, umm… filled you?” she said, awkwardly glancing around like anypony could be near; even Spike wasn’t more than thirty feet away.

“Yea, once. And it looked like I was pregnant” Dawny said with a silly little smile as she tried to stick her tummy out and rub it. Unlike Twilight she wasn’t speaking so quietly. “So, if that goo feeds you, then why don’t some ponies just like… live there?”

“I guess a pony could,” Twilight said as she rested a hoof on her chin to contemplate the science. “It is rich enough of a substance to sustain creatures quite well. But, I don’t think anypony could handle being underground with just one other being for so long, even if it felt great all the time. Ponies do have lives outside of the caves too.”

Dawny playfully stuck out her tongue. “I wouldn’t mind living there with you~” she said, winking as seductively as she could.

Twilight giggled a little into her hoof. “Aww Dawny, you’re so cute.” She smirked and motioned towards the door. “Y-you want to get back so we can get some… uh… hehe… ‘food’ in you?”

The filly grabbed her tummy and gave a small nod. “I’m so ready for dinner. B-but… could I um…” She inched closer, glancing at the mare’s lips. “Get a kiss from you right in your home?”

“I uh…” the mare said as she cautiously looked around, making sure nopony was there before giving her a quick peck on the lips. “T-there!” she stammered hoping that it would sate the filly for now, but the way she sounded, who knows where else she’d try in the future.

Dawny gave a happy little whinny hugging onto her mare, happy with her whole world. If this was a technicolour cartoon, she’d have melted into a puddle of joy. But this wasn’t. It was real life, their real life. Slowly the two looked into each other’s eyes, glancing at the door. It was time to go.

Twilight nibbled on the filly’s ears, leading her along until they were out and flying up into the night’s sky. Nopony would have been able to see them in as they flew in the darkness, heading back to the caves.

That night would be one the filly would remember for a long time. The hours flew by during that night of bonding and by the time they were done, she had no idea what day it even was by that point. School was the last thing on her mind, but luckily she had only missed one day’s classes.

It didn’t help that she was tried and exhausted the next morning too. All she wanted to do was just sleep through her boring classes, but Cheerilee kept calling her out on that. Some ponies were even giving her some weird glances, acting a little nervous around her: Sweetie Belle and her friends.

But Dawny didn’t care in the slightest; she had her Twilight to go back to right after school was over.

By the time Dawny finally made to the library, Twilight seemed to have a very elaborate lesson plan in place for her. It was enough to make her groan at the very idea of doing more homework right after school.

Though, Twilight was quick to change her mind as soon as the lesson started. The mare was a lot more hooves-on, and magic-on, and that-thing-under-her-bed-on than any teacher she had before. Twilight time was certainly changing her attitude towards learning over the next few days.

And Twilight seemed to change a little too, when they were lying up against each other for a couple of hours. It wasn’t a bad change; it just felt different being so comfortable in silence while Twilight pet her for the longest time.

Her days at school were unwelcome, but she managed to get through the week even if all the ponies were looking at her weirdly and were whispering about an evil creature behind her back. Even Cheerilee had stopped calling her out, even when she drifted off in thought about tonight’s activities. She hoped she would be ready for that practical exam on those books Twilight had been reading to her every night and thoroughly testing.

By the end of the week Twilight was starting to look a little more frazzled and eager to unwind after whatever issues were plaguing her earlier in the day. To the benefit of both ponies, Twilight even managed to construct a small portal to and from their special room in the caves.

When the weekend evening had finally hit, Dawny was eager to head over for tonight’s Twilight time. She knew the streets in front of the library were sometimes busy, but this mob of ponies standing in front of the door was ridiculous. Many of them were carrying pitchforks, shovels and a whole other host of tools, looking like they were going to do some serious gardening.

Dawny’s eyes widened as she remembered the letter from a week ago and quickly ran back home to grab it and get some answers.

Quickly enough, she was back to the crowd of rabbling ponies and excused herself as she tried pushing through the sea of bodies. The crowd easily moved but slowly started to turn silent as they noticed her, almost looking at her like she was a hurt bird.

The uneasiness made her hurry up and get to the alicorn’s door as fast as possible. She gulped as she opened the door and looked at the crowd staring back at her. “M-mom?!” she whispered in shock when she caught a glance of the mare standing in the mob.

Quickly she closed the door and there was Twilight looking like a disheveled, nervous wreck right now. “T-Twilight? Wha-What’s going on?” she stuttered, not even being able to swallow with that worrying feeling in her tummy.

The shaking mare tried a breathing exercise but it didn’t seem to help, so Dawny tightly held onto Twilight’s hoof, hoping that she could make her feel better somehow.

“W-well… as you probably know by now. Everypony knows of what Carrous did to you and well… they’re not too happy about it,” Twilight started to say as angry shouts in the crowd about Carrous and monster could be heard. “Actually, they are furious.” She looked away and sniffed before looking back to Dawny as a tear rolled down her cheek. “D-Dawny… they’re planning to destroy Carrous!”

The filly’s jaw dropped, as did her heart. “Wai-wait, no! I… I lied!” Dawny shouted as she leapt up in a panic. “Did they find downstairs? Tell me they didn’t find the way downstairs!” she blurted out as she took off running and jumped down the stairs, swooping down and right through the basement portal.

“Staph!” Dawny cried as soon as she was out on the other side, hoping to stop the mob of ponies she expected to be there.

But besides the sprawling vines in her special room, nopony was around. “Stop what Dawny?” Carrous asked, blissfully unaware of the dangers ahead.

Dawny let out a relieved sigh as she landed daintily onto her hooves. “Carrous, are any ponies coming through the entrance?! Can you hide?!” she said, peering through the long tunnel ahead and hoping that everything was calm.

Carrous sounded a little confused. “Umm… I don’t know what kind of game you want to play. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I can’t really move around all very well.” The vines however were starting to come closer to her, eager to start playing a more familiar game. “And nopony is around either, just the two of us.”

Dawny double face hoofed before trying to shoo away the vines with a hoof. “No wait! Carrous, I… I lied, and now and angry mob is going to come through this portal and destroy you!” Dawny blurted out, earning a surprised gasp from the creature.

“Can you just pull all your vines away and… and I’ll try to talk them down? Ok?”

“I… I could do that...” Carrous started to say as a few of the vines started to slither out and down towards the main room she had spent most of her time here in. “B-but why would they-“

“Ok! Now stay here!” Dawny cut the creature off as she looked back at the portal hoping it wasn’t too late, picturing the mob breaking down Twilight’s door and heading right for here. “Awe horsefeathers,” she cursed as ran for the portal again.

“Y-yea… I don’t really have anywhere else to go right now-“ Carrous replied as Dawny jumped right back thorough the portal. “…and you’re gone…”

“Twilight!” she yelled as soon as she was on the other side. She ran up the stairs desperately searching for the mare and hoping there wasn’t a wall of ponies in her way.

The purple alicorn was in the main room, looking forlorn as she stared through the window. “Twilight?” she hesitantly asked, noticing that it was a lot quieter right now. The loud shouts from the outside mob were completely gone.

“Come on Twilight!” She grabbed the mare’s hoof. “We can go and stop this. I promise! Please, come along!” She offered a reassuring smile even though she was deeply worried on the inside.

The mare sighed and looked away. “I… I can’t let them see me defending Carrous…” she said meekly, thinking about how bad it would look if she was defending a filly fiddling creature like that. Even Dawny’s mother was on the mob’s side.

“Just… just admit that you made me lie!” Dawny said. “Listen… I was really angry that Carrous violated me, and I… I was naïve! I was so focused on getting revenge, but now I know that it’s wrong to lie to get what you want... you should’ve learned that… my mom didn’t…” she grumbled under her breath at that last part.

The filly peeked out of the window a little and the mob was nowhere to be found. Her fears were starting to happen seeing an ominous glow in the distance heading into the forest. “Come on!” Dawny said in a panic as she tugged at the mare’s hoof and finally got her to budge a little. “If we just go and say that you made me lie, I’ll tell them the truth, that I loved it. That wouldn’t look so bad, right?”

Twilight looked unsure about the whole thing, but went along with it in theory. However, there was something that still wasn’t right. “But Dawny… Carrous did do those things to you,” Twilight stated. “You didn’t lie about that.”

“Uh... erm, yea?” the filly stammered. “Ok, that’s true… b-but, um… I can lie about that!” She tugged the mare’s hoof a few more times to get her to hurry up. “What’s worse? You supporting a filly getting violated, or you making a child lie? Come on! This is more than just Carrous here. It’s about both of you. And I’m going to protect both of you, cause… cause I love both of you!”

Twilight’s head drooped but she nodded along in thought. “Alright! Alright! Let’s go…” she finally said, walking a little more confidently down the stairs and to the portal. “This… this is crazy through…”

“Yea, well, we’re all crazy,” Dawny said they went through the portal together.

“We need to hurry before they get inside the tunnels!” Dawny said as she glided down the dark passage as soon as they were out.

Twilight was galloping along, easily keeping pace as they raced to save the day. It actually brought a smirk to her face from the nostalgia, like she was doing this with her friends. But this was Dawny, and this was her mission.

Their special room was deep inside the earth and quite a distance away from the main room. It was a lot easier when Carrous was carrying them both where ever they wanted to go. Dawny just hoped they could make it in time. “S-so… I’ll say that that you made me lie… and um… what will you say?”

“I… I don’t know!” Twilight said, trying to think on the move. “I… I could explain the misunderstanding. Or maybe, we could just do what we were previously planning and seal the cave off? Put up a sign and make this place a sanctuary?” The mare started to smile a bit, feeling a little more hopeful in a plan that was more than trying to talk down an angry mob.

Dawny frowned a little, remembering how much of a battle that caused between the two of them and how it almost tore them apart. But she kept on gliding, feeling like they were getting closer to the main room. “What’s the Gardening Club all about?”

“It’s a group of influential and some normal ponies who use Carrous. Like a committee,” Twilight said casually, not thinking much of it since most ponies knew about it anyways. “Why? Where’d you hear of it?”

“W-well here I-“ Dawny said as she looked for the letter under her wing but it was gone. “Oh… I must have dropped it.” She shrugged. “There was some kind of letter thingy on your door and I forgot to tell you. But I brought it over today when I remembered about it.”

“What?! You took my mail?” Twilight said as she looked at the filly with a bit of annoyance.

“I didn’t take your mail!” Dawny defended. “It was on your door, and I was curious, so I had to pull it down to read it! Then uh… I read it! Then, erm… put it under my wing and forgot… about it… and didn’t tell you.” Dawny blushed finally realizing her mistake. “S-sorry!”

“Well… if it was from them it doesn’t matter now,” Twilight said calmly. “I forgive you.”

“Wait… why doesn’t it matter? And if there are influential ponies there, were you not one of them?” Dawny questioned.

“They were kind of against me for wanting the cave closed, or to protect it,” Twilight explained. “It’s was just a group of ponies, but that kind of went out the window this week. They were a pro-Carrous group, but now they disbanded and well… some are probably coming here for the exact opposite reasons right now.”

All the ponies that were suddenly turning Carrous like that almost made Dawny’s eyes want to well up. “…I still love you and Carrous. If I had any doubts in my mind, I would have been happy crusading on like in the beginning. But I…” The filly let out a pained sigh, “…I was wrong about Carrous.”

Twilight gave a small smile as they were reaching the main room. “It’s ok, Carrous knows we both love it too. Now it’s time to protect it.”

They didn’t talk as they navigated down the dark passage towards the exit. Even in the dark, Twilight could still navigate the caves surprisingly well, knowing exactly where she was going. Dawny had to stop and trot beside the alicorn, not really liking the idea of blindly flying into a wall.

The route there had significantly fewer vines going to the exit; Carrous had most of the vine bundled up against the already enormous mass.

When they arrived at the entrance they could already hear the angry sound of the mob yelling and rabbling out in the distance. Twilight’s demeanor changed instantly, her voice sounded like it was ready for a fight. “They’re here.”

Dawny’s heart pounded in her chest hearing those chilling sounds getting closer. Nighttime was fast approaching, but the darkness was quickly pushed back from the orange and red hues of burning torches.

“I w-wanna take all the blame for this that I can… I-I don’t want you to be punished…” Dawny softly mumbled under her breath.

She could hear several hooves on the stone steps as they came down, pouring from the sides and started to form a group right in front of the entrance. They looked like they were going to charge right in, but were quickly taken aback by the princess standing in their way and giving them a look that made them think twice.

Dawny’s jaw dropped. This was insane for the filly to stand against the entire town of Ponyville. She could see glimpses of their threatening tools and even some small bottles with rags sticking out from them. “Uh-uh-uh-uh…” she stammered, but unlike where she flopped in front of Sweetie’s home, she had Twilight there to steady her.

The filly clutched Twilight’s hoof as tight as possible as she opened her mouth to speak. “P-ponies… p-please… d-don’t… hurt Carrous… I… I lied…” she said but nopony could hear her as they loudly rabbled on. Dawny’s ears folded back. It was no use.

She stared at the dancing lights in front of her, the torches making it almost impossible to make out individuals. They all looked like one angry form.

Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground and a magical flare shot out from her horn, exploding in the air above. The boom silenced everypony. Twilight spoke out in a voice that was almost built for this. “Ponies! This is not the way! Destroying Carrous is not the answer. Look at all of you coming here in anger, ready to charge up and fight a creature that this town has loved so much.”

“Dawny, the filly you all know who was in here, the reason you are all up in arms. Listen to her! She doesn’t want this!” Twilight said, looking back at the filly and encouraging her to speak up with a little nudge.

Dawny looked up at Twilight with wide eyes. How in the flipping hay was she supposed to match that?!? But the pegasus closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting a small breathing exercise that she was recently taught. “I-I lied… about being… w-well violated.” Dawny visibly shuddered as her eyes slowly started to open up. “I… only claimed Carrous did that s-so… so I could force Twilight into loving me… but, my lie… kinda got out… and that’s why you are all here.”

Dawny somehow squeezed Twilight’s hoof even tighter as she continued, “Y-yes… Carrous took my virginity… b-but it was in no way bad because I really, really loved it… my lie has made Twilight a victim… Carrous a victim… and all of you victims to hate. And I apologize for being so… greedy… for trying to have everything.”

The crowd murmured on, talking to each other. Some sounded like they were accepting it, but other angry voices were getting louder, sounding like they were turning the crowd back.

Twilight seemingly calm and imposing state remained as she squeezed Dawny’s hoof back in kind. “I know some of you ponies are scared of Carrous now. It’s scared of you too! But fighting it is not the answer.”

“I propose that we seal off the entrance to this cave. I’ve done it before, you all know that! Then nopony will be able to get in here, and nopony will ever be hurt by Carrous again!” Twilight said as she stomped her hoof down.

The crowd just sat there in silence, looking purposeless now. The flames of the mob slowly died down as small murmurs started as they discussed amongst themselves.

Dawny tried adding her meek two cents to things. “And, um... when I grow up, maybe… you can reopen it and see if she has learned anything from her timeout?” She bit her lip feeling like nopony really paid attention to that as she shuffled closer to Twilight.

Some of the ponies in the crowd were heading to the stairs, looking like they really didn’t want to be here anymore. Though, most of the crowd remained, spectating now more than anything.

Twilight walked to the side and guided Dawny along. Soon the alicorn’s horn started to light up as the same boulder from earlier started to come back through the forest with a purple glow around it.

There weren’t any cheers of victory or boos of hate and disappointment, there was just a silence that filled everypony as one important piece of the town’s history was sealed off in front of their eyes. Soon another spell came from the alicorn as a purple half-dome started to grow off the boulder, the shield shimmering brightly for a moment before turning invisible.

“P-please everypony… I’m sorry for using you all in a lie… a-and now you all hate Twilight because I lied and used her… this is all my fault… a-and I am the one to blame,” Dawny said to the remaining ponies in the crowd.

But the disappointment lingering in the air sent a few more ponies walking towards the stairs, and the soon the others followed along. Dawny caught her mother’s eye as the mare left and the filly tried hiding behind Twilight, hoping that her mother somehow didn’t notice her through the entire speech. They hadn’t really spoken in the past week, being a lot more distant since she was over at Twilight’s house.

Soon though, everypony was gone up the steps heading back to town, leaving the two of them in darkness now that all the torches were gone. Twilight just hung her head, looking about as disappointed as the crowd felt.

Dawny slowly walked up to the alicorn and nuzzled against her cheek, “Is… is everything ok?”

“Yea… now it is,” Twilight said with a grim smile as she turned towards the stairs. “Well… let’s get back to town then.”

“But Twilight... Carrous is all ours, and you’re not hated,” Dawny said trying to smile back.

“Yea, it’s all ours.” Twilight sighed. “It looks like it worked out in the end, though all those ponies are probably not going to be too happy for the next little while. I guess small sacrifices…”

Dawny walked along and put her head against Twilight’s shoulder. “They didn’t seem to have a problem with us… being together either.” She looked up with hopeful eyes but Twilight still looked down.

“I don’t think that was really on their mind right now,” Twilight said. ”But… I’m still wanting to keep this quiet… sorry Dawny.”

It was hard to look at Twilight feeling so defeated, even if they technically won. Dawny looked at the mare and realized something. Something she never thought Twilight would need cause she’s a big pony. But, she had to try.

Dawny jumped in front of Twilight’s path and leapt forward to hug her tightly. “It’s going to be ok…” she whispered, giving her mare the best mother to daughter like hug she could manage. Hoping it would bring some comfort and peace like it did when her own mother held her like this.

The mare’s eyes couldn’t help but well up as she hugged back tightly for who knows how long.

Dawny didn’t say a word as Twilight slowly breathed into her mane. Soon, Twilight was first to break the silence as she let out a big, shaky sigh of relief. “T-thank you Dawny…” she whispered, “I… I love you.”

“I love you too,” Dawny replied as she stood back on her four hooves to see the princess smile once more. “You look your best when smiling,” she said as she smiled right back. “…wanna… go home? To my place? It’s not that far and you can relax there.”

“I can finally make you that cheer up soup!” Dawny said as they trotted along. “And then we could relax… cuddle maybe… maybe even give you a nice massage?”

Twilight smiled at the enticing proposal, “That sounds great.”

The two trotted slowly back to the filly’s humble home. She even opened the door with the hidden key and showed Twilight exactly where it was in case she wanted to stop by anytime. She held open the door for her princess. “Welcome home, Twilight.”

The filly’s quaint little home was much smaller than the giant tree library, but had a nice charm to it. The house was quiet and Dawny’s mother was either asleep, or at the very least, not in the house. But they still quietly snuck over to Dawny’s room.

“Follow me to my royal bedroom your highness,” Dawny playfully offered, earning a muffled giggle from Twilight. Dawny quickly went in and lit up a lamp before sliding under the covers. She hoped Twilight didn’t notice how messy her room was with toys and plushies all over the place, or the fact that they would have to be sleeping extra close in this tiny bed.

Twilight admired her filly’s own room, surprised that she hadn’t seen inside here yet, even though she totally shouldn’t have anyways. But her magic lit up as something caught her eye. “This…” Twilight said slowly, “Looks nothing like me.”

The off-purple imitation for a princess toy floated in front of the real pony as she observed every little detail about it, especially how there was only a single cutie mark on only one of the toy’s flanks.

“It’s part of a set…”Dawny mumbled, hoping that she didn’t see the other Elements of Harmony that were hiding about here somewhere, or the pink coated Celestia one. If only her mother could afford those better Build-A-Pony plushies.

Twilight smirked as she set the toy down before lying down in the bed and nuzzling against her filly. It would be a close sleep, but neither of them looked opposed to that.

“Um... c-could you put your w-wing over me?” Dawny asked cutely, looking up with her adorable little eyes.

“Only if you do the same,” Twilight replied as her larger, alicorn wings curled around the filly’s small form and brought her in for a hug.

Dawny internally d’aww’d at that request, but she had to do one last thing. She started to wiggle up, moving around a lot and being disturbing, but she had to do this. Something she always loved when her mother did it.

She leaned down and kissed the goddess’s forehead. “Good night Twily,” she whispered softly as she wiggled back down, resting her chin on the alicorn’s chest as both her wings tired their best to hug the larger mare.

“Good night… D-Dawn… -y,” Twilight quietly said as she laid there, almost getting too tired to register the cuteness. Her eyes fell shut, tightly cuddling Dawny on the tiny bed as she slowly drifted off to sleep, towards new days, new adventures, and new fun with her little filly friend.

Author's Note

This was a long adventure that I really wanted tell to others and finally got put into a story. If you’ve read this far, I thank you for taking the time and hope you enjoyed it.