Infinity

Chapters

Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Rarity...

Twilight opened her eyes. All surrounding, impenetrable darkness greeted her. She wiped off her blanket and walked towards the center of the room. Quietly, she closed her eyes and channelled her magic. She summoned an image of Ponyville in her mind, focused on her destination. Then, without a sound, she vanished.

The night was cold, even though it was still late summer and a freezing wind was waving through her mane, whilst all still lay in complete darkness. She shivered. Her destination was only a few steps ahead of her, but every second she felt like knifes were tearing her mind apart. Only... to see her. The imposter, but still a beacon of light. Still her friend.

She raised her front hoof and knocked. One, two, three times. Why bothering to use magic now, where all was soon to be over? But she wasn't there yet. She had to keep it together, these last, faithful seconds. It wouldn't take long...

The door opened. “Twilight?”, Rarity asked. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” she took a closer look. “Why darling, you look terrible. What happened?”

Twilight walked in. Whatever she was planing to do, she wasn't responsible anymore. She leaned herself on her dearest friend, the deceiver, the transformer, the killer. She gave up all self control and was caught in white hooves before touching the floor. It was then that she started crying. Tears came out of her like water out of a spring and for the first time she felt purified. If she died now, killed for taking a glimpse behind the veil of treason, she would do so in the embrace of her friend.

She had done it. She'd come here. Now, all that there was left to do was waiting.

Her eyes closed, she barely felt how she was being held, picked up and carried. A few seconds passed, then she was laid into something warm and soft. Was she going to kill her so quickly? Well, maybe it was for the better.

She opened her eyes. Rarity was lying directly beside her, their heads inches away from each other.

“Twilight?”

The voice was angelic. What a wonderful thing it was to hear it one last time, before the end was coming. Now and here, where there were no burdens left, no tasks, no letters, no weaknesses to overcome, where she could just silently cry and wait for it to finish, she felt a kind of peace which she had lost since her foalhood. If it was for her, it could stay like this for a little more time. Maybe a few more minutes... her last grace.

“Twilight, can you hear me? Look at me. What has happened? Is it something that needs to be taken care of right now? Is somepony in danger? Twilight?”

She was floating away on ancient wings beyond the realms of time, her mind departed from her body, so that she could watch herself fly as an observer... where was she going to? Would she leave this world behind forever?

“Twilight! What happened?”

Rarity... but she wouldn't be able to come with her. Where she was going, nopony could follow her.

“Twilight! Please. Stay with me. What happened?”

Stay with me...

If her friend was asking for her, why didn't she answer?

“Twilight!”

“Nopony is in danger,” she said, quietly and almost indefinable, within short gaps between her quiet sobs. “It's just me. Just me...”

She was talking to a murderer. To the very soul that sealed all her faiths. But she was so precious...

Rarity reached out a hoof, and pulled Twilight's head closer to her chest. Twilight felt the warm skin soaking up her tears.

“Shh... if time isn't short, you can hold it for as long as you like. You are safe here. Shh...”

Twilight smiled. It was this last grace she had been hoping for. These last minutes, when all tasks ahead of her were meaningless, for she would be gone before being affected by any of them. True peace.

She rested. Eyes closed, within the covers of her friend, warm and beyond all fears, she fell in a state on the edge of unconsciousness.

She sat on a beach and watched out across the sea. Wave upon wave quietly hit the sand, all just reaching a line before her. It seemed like she was truly invincible. She was standing in the wonderful gardens of Canterlot. The animals weren't disturbed by her, for she wasn't a physical presence, but merely a shadow. Fluttershy would love to see through her eyes right now. She was lying on a bed in the arms of a murderer, her cheeks touching the soft white skin. And she was in a quiet village, observing other ponies and their daily lives...

When Rarity finally spoke to her, she couldn't tell how much time had passed. It might have been less than a minute and it might have been several hours.

“Twilight?”

“...yes?”

Rarity pulled back just enough to be face to face with Twilight.

“I have to leave,” she said, her voice the faintest whisper in her ear.

“Leave? But why?”

“The order I've been on for the last week. I need to finish it.” her eyes spoke of guilt, but her voice was calm. “Otherwise all will be for nothing and my reputation will be ruined. I know it is a terrible thing to say right now, but I am running out of time.” She lifted Twilight's head with a front hoof. “Twilight, listen to me. I trust you, even now. If you need me, if there's truly no other way, then to hell with this order. It's up to you. Can I do this?”

Twilight looked at her without seeing her. Hidden treasures... stars beyond the veil of night... hounds of the darkness... sail... sail from paradox lost to a paradise found...

Somewhere deep within the corners of her mind, she knew that she was about to lose her sanity.

“Twilight. You need to decide. Please. Please, focus now. Just for a minute.”

All ways in circles, the blind pony would never find a way out, if she was going along walls to find a way out of the labyrinth. But the blind pony only had to turn around and fly away to get off the labyrinth. If she was a pegasus. And if Twilight was the blind pony, she couldn't fly away, because she didn't have wings. But she could use her magic to escape. And outside the labyrinth...

“Twilight, please. I have waited until the last moment to ask you this, to give you as much time as possible. You need to decide now.”

Rarity...

She was drowning, but she pulled back, an effort that spoke derision of all she had encountered in the past. Out of the labyrinth, because she was a unicorn. Because the damn thing was an analogy and not a real thing. She took a few more seconds to make sense out of what Rarity had said. Her giant order... all within a deadline. It didn't matter what she had done to her. Not anymore.

“Finish it,” she said. “I don't know what I will do without you, but you can't lose so much just because of me. Finish it. Just... don't forget me.”

Rarity nodded. “Twilight, do you know a spell to put yourself asleep? I will only need little more than one hour. If you can focus now, you don't have to endure the time.”

Twilight drowned again. She could see the labyrinth just beneath her, but she couldn't give in just yet.

“There... is a spell,” she said.”But I can't do it. Not now.”

“I will link with you.” Rarity tilted her head so that their horns touched just on the edge. “Do it.”

“But... you could be hurt. And do you have enough time?”

“I don't know,” Rarity said bluntly. “I hope so. Twilight, it's a terrible thing to leave you now, if I can help you like this, there is nothing to talk about. Do it.”

Twilight focused. Just this last thing, so she told herself, and it would all be over. She let her magical grasp flow through Rarity's horn and into her mind, and like a cadged she took her strength and she performed the spell whilst still linked to her. A short glow, a flash and she fell through the labyrinth and into nothingness, a dreamless sleep.

She woke up. The first thing she encountered was fear, the greatest fear there was, the fear of being left alone.

Then she felt the warmth comforting her and the soft breathing against her neck. Rarity was lying directly behind her, her hooves wrapped around Twilight's chest.

“You are here,” Twilight said. It was this little statement that meant more to her than she could ever hope to fit into words.

“I am here,” Rarity said, pulling Twilight closer to her.

“Did you make it?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. Thank you, Twilight. You have done so much for me.”

“I am happy for you,” Twilight said. She couldn't remember why Rarity might not have made it or why she was even here. Something terrible had happened, yet it rested behind a layer of thoughts she couldn't get through. But whatever it was, at this moment she just felt happy for her friend. She turned around, so that she could look at her and buried her head in Rarity's chest once again. Rarity said nothing, but pulled her closer, took such good care of the fragile, drowning piece of madness that was Twilight.

Lying here now, unaware of what tragedy had occurred, but knowing that it would consume her to find out, she grasped onto every moment, trying not to think. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be able to hurt her now, not here, not with the shield that was Rarity. She just had to do nothing. Don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think...

As it happened, it happened fast. Within the span of less than ten seconds, Twilight could feel her consciousness coming back to her. She realised where she was, how she got here and who was with her.

“Rarity?” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“I'm... back. If you want, I can leave you now.”

As an answer, Rarity held her even tighter.

“Don't even think about it.”

Twilight raised her head as far as the embrace would let her and caught sight of the rest of the room. Not that there was much too see.

“Can you make some light?”

A few seconds passed, then the curtains were pushed open. Twilight had to cover her eyes while getting used to the sudden brightness in the room. It had to have been hours since she'd woken up.

“Thanks.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Twilight opened her eyes a little, just enough to see the blanket and parts of Rarity. It was now that she realised how wet everything was. She gulped. She hadn't even known that so many tears where there for her to cry out, before she was completely dry.

“I had a nightmare.” She shivered. “The most realistic nightmare I ever had. I couldn't tell that it wasn't real until just now. And then I drifted away because I couldn't face what I thought had happened.” With an hysteric glance, she realised that even Rarity's mane was wet from her crying. “Oh, just look at this mess. Rarity, I am so sorry for all of this.”

“Nonsense. You pulled yourself together, during everything you were going through and allowed me to finish my order. What's a silly blanket compared to that? You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Well, if I hadn't come here, you would've been able to finish your order without having to deal with me in the first place.”

“That's hardly your fault now, is it?” Rarity gently nuzzled Twilight somewhere beside her left ear. “You can't judge yourself for something that happened while you weren't even conscious. But whatever was your dream about to put you in such a condition?”

“You...” Even still, Twilight shivered while remembering it. “I was beside you all the time. You came back to Ponyville years a-after the changeling invasion in Canterlot. During the invasion, you had been taken, then rescued and you had been unable to come back home for years. But meanwhile, one changeling had inherited your place. For years, it pretended to be you and you came back to town to get your revenge. To kill the imposter.”

Twilight pulled back a little and moved into a sitting position. She looked on her hooves while continuing.

“But then you saw how happy the false Rarity has made everypony else. The changeling... it wasn't really evil, it learned how to live it's new life and it was good at it. And you just let it go on. You even lied to it and told it that you had found a husband, a new and happy live, just so it wouldn't feel bad. And then you went home and you took the poison yourself, the poison which was meant for the changeling. All so you would be gone and everypony else would be living a beautiful live... and a lie.”

She almost panicked again. “Rarity, I thought you were dead and that I was visiting the... thing which took your place and that it would kill me for finding out...”

She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. One last sob, one last tear, and she finally stopped crying. She looked up. Talking about it now made the whole situation feel real, for the first time since she'd woken up. Earlier, it had just been like another nightmare, as if she hadn't really awaken but just drifted into an other dimension of her dream.

“Hmm...” Rarity dried her mane with an untouched part of the blanket, while looking towards Twilight, yet apparently without really seeing her. “I think I would indeed act like that,” she said. “If she really made everypony happy, I think I would spare her. I like to believe that I wouldn't commit suicide, but if I were without new friends and unable to get in touch with all of you... I honestly don't know.” she dropped the blanket and focused her sight back on Twilight. “But thank Celestia that's a choice that I don't have to make. It might have been realistic, but it was still just a dream. I am not a changeling and I won't leave any of you anytime soon.”

Twilight shivered, but smiled. The truth that life was not over, that she hadn't even been in real danger, slowly came through to her and against all odds of the situation she felt happy about it. Rarity was there. Rarity was real and it had never been otherwise. Just a dream. An incredibly-crushing-all-borders-realistic dream which completely robbed her of her sanity for while it lasted, but still just a dream. What counted was that Rarity was here, and despite all the mess that Twilight caused she wasn't even angry at her.

Twilight lay down again. She was still utterly exhausted. “You are a wonderful friend, Rarity,” she said. ”I don't think I've ever told you how much you really mean to me. I was a complete mess and you handled me perfectly.”

Rarity lay down before Twilight and brushed through her mane with a gentle hoof.

“You know you are just as good as a friend,” she said. “You would've done the same for me.”

Having had to deal with her own misery up until now, Twilight hadn't taken a closer look upon Rarity yet. It was as she'd just spoken that Twilight realised she too seemed to be exhausted.

“Rarity, are you ok?”

“Not really.” Rarity magically pulled a new, dry blanket out of a cabinet in the back and put it over both of them, while getting the old one out of the way. “What I said at the party yesterday was kind of an understatement. I haven't just worked hard this last week, I've barely slept. I'm... so glad it's finally over. I'd like to just lie here forever.” Rarity chuckled.

“Makes two of us,” Twilight said. She sighed. “Then it means even more that you put up with me so well.”

Rarity looked at her, her eyes sparkling. “Not a problem, dear.”

Twilight pulled closer. She looked directly into the other mares eyes, and she could see an image of her own, exhausted self in it. Slowly, Twilight barely realised what was happening, they moved even closer, until their lips touched. The kiss was soft, without passion, but gentle.

“What are we doing?” Rarity whispered.

“I have no idea,” Twilight whispered back. “Do you mind?”

“No, not really.” Rarity smiled, and leaned in for another kiss. Twilight returned it, and for just a few seconds while their lips met, she lived entirely in that moment. Then, both pulled back at the same time.

“Does this mean anything?” Twilight asked.

“I don't know,” Rarity said. “If you want. If we want. It doesn't have to. None of us can think straight at this moment. For now, let's pretend like nothing has happened and we can talk about it later.”

Twilight nodded. It was the best thing to do. Right now, there was no way of telling whether what she felt was love or even close to it. She knew that she liked mares, but she'd never felt any attraction towards one of her friends before.

Rarity moved into a sitting position again. “Would you like to have...” she laughed. “... breakfast?”

Twilight joined her for a second. “Yes, that would be nice. Actually, now that you mention it, most of all I'm really thirsty.”

Rarity looked at her and at the soaking wet blanket, which she had put beside the bed. “Yes, I can infer.”

Even though the point of the joke was hardly funny, Twilight found herself giggling. She slid off the bed and followed Rarity downstairs.

“I fear I'm not in a condition to cook anything decent,” Rarity said apologetically. “Actually, I think I'm just gonna go with hay fries.”

“I don't mind,” Twilight said, sitting down on a chair and resting her head on the kitchen table. “I just hope you don't mind if I lack proper table manners.”

“No, I don't think so,” Rarity said. She filled a glass with water and levitated it towards Twilight. “Drink, darling. You lost so much water.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said. She took a sip, realised just how thirsty she really was and emptied the jar in one go. “Not enough,” she said with a crooked smile.

“No problem.” Rarity didn't seem to have expected anything else. She refilled the jar and levitated it back to Twilight. She then put some hay fries on two plates and floated them on the table. “At least this is going fast,” she said drily. “I think that's all we need.

“Almost,” Twilight said and floated the once again empty jar back to Rarity. “Sorry,” she murmured guiltily.

Rarity smiled, filled it for the third time and sat down in front of Twilight. They both started eating, while Twilight thanked Rarity in silence for keeping it so simple. Levitating fries to once's mouth sure wasn't the finest of ways to eat, but it was the least complicated.

The meal passed on in a pleasant silence, none of them finding any need to talk. As they finished, Rarity didn't bother to properly clean up but instead just stacked the plates and moved them to the corner of the table.

“What now?” Twilight asked.

Rarity shrugged. “I'm not gonna leave the boutique today. If you want to keep me company...”

“Of course.”

“... we might as well find something to do. How about some chess?”

“I didn't know you play chess,” Twilight said surprised. “But I wouldn't be a challenge for you.”

“I doubt that,” Rarity said with a chuckle. “I don't play chess either, I haven't touched the board once since I moved in here. And in my current state, I wouldn't be good anyway. So, what do you think?”

“Sure, why not. I think I at least remember the rules. Should I get it for you?”

“No, it's fine,” Rarity said, standing up and walking towards her working room. A few seconds later she returned, the board and a box with the figures floating beside her. She dropped both on the table and she and Twilight started putting the wooden figures on their designed fields.

“Since we are both terrible at this game,” Rarity said while finishing to plant down the line of identical earth ponies in the front row, “how about we change the rules a little? You lose the game when you lost the princess, instead of the guard, and earth ponies can move backwards.”

Twilight laughed. “Yea, why not. That makes more sense anyway, why would a game end when the guard is down?”

“Exactly.”

“But the princess has to beat figures whenever she can,” Twilight said. “Otherwise she would be too hard to catch.”

“Deal.” Rarity moved her leftest earth pony two steps towards Twilight's row of ponies.

Twilight laughed.

“Just you wait, darling” Rarity said, smirking. “In this version of chess that's the best opener.”

“Might be.” Twilight put the pony before her guard two steps forward. “But don't you have to use the guard earlier? I mean, now that you don't rely on him surviving, you can just throw him at your enemy like every other figure.”

“We'll see,” Rarity said and moved the same pony she had been using the first turn one step back. They both laughed.

“Isn't it a little bit racist that the two weakest figures - the colt and the eight basic earth ponies - are, well, both earth ponies?” Twilight asked, while moving another pony forward.

“Maybe a little,” Rarity said. “But since everypony knows that earth ponies are the most important tribe when it comes to survival, I think that's fine. They would have to offer the least in combat, after all.”

“I guess.” Having eaten something, Twilight almost started to feel halfway decent again, or at least a lot better than before dinner. Seemed like Rarity would need more time to recover than her after all.

“Who was your order actually for?” she asked.

“Some stallion from Canterlot called Noblecourt,” Rarity answered. “I happened to be there when he talked about having to find a dressmaker for a huge order and I was stupid enough to offer myself. He warned me that it would be too much for a one-mare business but I insisted on doing it. It's my fault, really.”

“But you pulled it of?”

“Yes, my reputation isn't harmed.” Rarity moved her earth pony two steps forward from the starting position, for the third time. I guess it's even strengthened. But still, it wasn't worth it.”

“Did he come to pick them up while I was there?” Twilight asked.

“He sent someone. I finished all literally a moment before he knocked.” She pointed at one of her figures in the front row. “By the way, you have to beat my earth pony here.”

“Huh?” Twilight looked on the pony in question. Rarity was right, it was on a straight line from her princess. She moved her across the board.

“And I win,” Rarity said, taking out Twilight's princess with her own, which was now just one field apart.

“Twilight laughed. “Did you plan this? Only moving forward and backwards with one pony, and winning like this?”

“No,” Rarity said. “I had no idea what I was doing. But this rule was your idea.” Both of them laughed again.

“Another match?” Rarity asked?

“I think I'll pass,” Twilight said. “You clearly beat me.”

“Yes I did, didn't I?” she smirked, grabbed all figures at once and floated them back into the box. This was impressive to Twilight, since lifting that many different objects at once was fairly hard. Rarity probably had practise with this due to her work.

“I got it,” Twilight said as Rarity was about to stand up again. “I'm actually feeling a lot better already. I think I'll be fine soon enough.” She floated board and box back and positioned them on the floor next to the kitchen door, since she didn't know where exactly Rarity had gotten them from.

“Nice to hear one of us is,” Rarity said quietly. “So, are you gonna leave me now?”

“No. Unless you want me to.”

“Celestia help me, of course I don't. I'm happy for as much company as I can get, but I fear I won't be a very fun pony to have around.” She looked unhappily towards Twilight.

“I'll stay.” Twilight said firmly. “I could read something to you. How does that sound?”

“Mh...” Rarity smiled. “Wonderful. The bookshelf is in my sleeping room. The ones on the left side are the unread ones.”

“Alright, I'll get one.” Twilight walked upstairs, entered the room in question and grabbed one book at random from the five ones on the left side of the shelf. Returning back down with it, Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, Twilight, dear? That's a mare-stallion romance novel.”

Twilight shrugged. “So? You are into stallions as well, aren't you?”

“So I am, but you aren't, or at least that's what I assumed.”

Twilight giggled. “I'm not. But I usually don't read romance stories anyway, so it doesn't make that much of a difference. Never saw the point of it.”

“And you don't mind?” Rarity asked.

“No. And If I did, would you have any other books?”

“... not really.” Rarity blushed and Twilight giggled again.

“So, it's called 'The adventures of the waitress'. Oh, look at the cover art, isn't it pretty?”

“Yes, that's why I initially bought it.”

“Based on the cover.” Twilight laughed. “Oh Rarity.”

“A lady is well advised to follow her instincts when it comes to romantic literature,” Rarity said in a sniffy voice. She then laughed and added: “And I know the author.”

“Well, that's something,” Twilight said. “So, let's see. Chapter one...”

Twilight had read to Rarity until late into the afternoon. Soon they had moved upstairs, Rarity lying down, Twilight sitting beside her. It wasn't until they were halfway through the book, Twilight had just finished a chapter and was about to flip the page, when...

“Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“I think that's enough, I'm really tired.” raising herself into a sitting position, she moved closer to Twilight, leaned her head against her shoulder and sighed. “Without you, it would've been a never ending day of boredom. I would've even been too worn out to read more than a few minutes myself. Thanks, Twilight.”

“You're welcome. It was a pleasure.” Twilight made a mental note to remember the page number, then closed the book and floated it back on the bookstore behind them.

“If that's true,” Rarity joked, “then you have to be in love with me. Otherwise, how could putting up with a fragile mess like me be fun?”

“You're an awfully cute mess,” Twilight teased. Rarity just giggled.

“So...” Twilight stood up. “Then I'm gonna leave now.”

“Yes.” Rarity slid of the bed, shakily standing on four hooves. “Shall we?”

“Oh Rarity, you don't have to come with me downstairs. I think I'll find the way out myself.”

“Nonsense,” Rarity said. “Darling, after all you've done for me, you'll at least let me see you off properly. Besides, I have to get ready for bed, that doesn't work without standing up.”

“But...”

“I insist,” Rarity said emphatically. “And by arguing you will only keep me up longer.”

“Alright alright.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Then come.”

But she observed her friend carefully during the walk downstairs, expecting her to collapse every second. While she had gained her strength back during the day, Rarity only seemed to have gotten weaker. Thankfully, they made it without anything bad happening. Having reached the exit, Twilight smirked and said:

“In that case, I insist on coming back tomorrow. I won't let you have an entire day lying around without having anything to do.”

Rarity didn't object, but smiled instead. “That would be wonderful.”

She leaned forward, giving Twilight the softest kiss on her cheek. “Goodnight,” she whispered.

“Goodnight.”

And finally, Twilight left the boutique, closing the door shut behind her. The evening trees outside whispered in the warm breeze that waved through Ponyville. For Twilight, they only seemed to ask one question.

Did she love Rarity?

Chapter 4

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Pinkie Pie briefly felt a stitch of guilt. She was so much harder to handle than everypony else. She wondered if this was her fault, which it probably was, and if this paragraph was done well, which it probably wasn't. But she was certain nopony would be judgmental. There really was no such thing as a fourth brick.

"Let's bake a portal."

"Uhhh... a what?"

Bounce. Pinkie Pie giggled. "A cupcake, silly."

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash knocked again.

"Rainbow Dash? Is... is that you?"

"Yeah. You're gonna let me in?"

A few seconds passed, then the door was opened by a very messy looking Fluttershy.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry. It's just that I was just feeding some of my more, uh, difficult animal friends and I was embarrassed to show myself to anypony, but of course you can come in anyway..." she twitched. "that is, if you don't mind me like this, of course..."

"Geesh. C'mhere." Rainbow stepped through the door and drew Fluttershy close, hugging her tightly.

"Eeep!" Fluttershy blushed, but shyly returned the hug. "Uh.. th-thanks?"

Dash laughed. "Yea, right." She let go of Fluttershy and flew towards the back side of the room, making herself comfortable on Fluttershy's hoofchair. "Do you have some time to talk?"

"Sure." Fluttershy gently shut the door and sat down on the floor before Dash. "What's the matter?"

"It's..." Rainbow just now realised that she had no idea on how to address the subject. "... stuff." She blushed. "You, uh, didn't you say you had animals to feed? 'cause you totally don't have to delay that for me."

"All taken care of. But I could go outside and pretend to feed some of the moles if that helps."

"Yeah... no thanks." she shook her head. "Say, are you really that considerate or are you just making fun of me?"

"Maybe both." Fluttershy smiled. "So, should I stay?"

"Yea. Sorry." Dash grinned sheepishly. "So... do you... uh... do you remember when talked with Rarity about Thunderlane a few weeks ago... and she, you know, told us... that... stuff...?"

"Oh Rainbow, do you like somepony?" Fluttershy said, sounding excited. "That's wonderful. Who is she?"

Rainbow's face burned instantly. "What? I... no! Well, I don't think so. Maybe?" She flew off the chair and hovered in mid air above it without even noticing. "I didn't say anything about that. And why does everypony think I like mares?"

"Oh, did I say that? I'm sorry..."

Rainbow realised that she wasn't sitting anymore and dropped down again. She threw a gaze to the door. It was locked. She felt that she didn't really want to know the answer, but not as much as she didn't want not to know it.

"How do you know?"

"… um... well..."

"Yeah?"

"It's... obvious? I'm sorry..."

Rainbow Dash groaned. She shouldn't have asked.

"How?"

"Well, you see, different ponies have their own ways of looking at other ponies. And your emotions are relatively easy to read... which is not because they're not deep or complex or anything..." she moved a little "... it's just because you have a very honest and straight forward personality, you aren't trying to hide your emotions like most ponies do... not unconsciously, that is. It's kind of ironic, because consciously, you are trying to hide a lot of things from others, but that's more a developed character trait, it's not something you want to do, just something you do for the sake of your reputation...” Fluttershy stuttered a little, apparently she wasn't comfortable judging Dash like this. “uhm... p- please don't take any of this too hard, it's just my opinion, and you asked... anyhow, most other ponies aren't like you, they instinctively hide private emotions, you know, including myself..." she blushed. "... but you don't, which is why when you're looking at another mare, even if you don't feel anything special for her, your expression is really, um, different from when you look at a stallion... but I don't think a lot of other ponies notice," she added encouragingly, seeing that Dash looked more and more depressed further within her explanation, "I have known you for a long time and I am also pretty good at understanding others... or at least that's what Twilight once told me. She might be wrong, of course..."

"Pinkie knew," Dash said in a flat voice.

"Yes, but I don't think that if Pinkie knows or does things it tells us something about anypony else." Fluttershy stood up and walked towards Dash, putting a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sure that most ponies have no idea. Besides, half of all mares like mares. Would you prefer it if ponies thought you liked stallions?"

"Uww." Rainbow shook her head violently. "Gross. No way."

Fluttershy giggled. "See, so it's all half as bad." She sat back down.

"I guess. So, uh, what about you? Do you like mares or stallions?" she wasn't exactly sure why she asked, but it seemed like the best way to get the conversation off herself.

Fluttershy sighed. "Oh Dash, I've liked you for most of the time we knew each other."

Dash's head skyrocketed upwards. "You what? For real?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"That's... wow. I had no idea."

"I know. It's fine."

"Wow, Flutters. I really had no idea. I'm sorry.”

"It's fine. After all, I never told you, so it's really not your fault."

"But... why? What was it that you liked about me?" Rainbow tried to remember back, but she couldn't think of any situation where Fluttershy behaved odd or embarrassed towards her. "I totally wasn't... you know, awesome, back then. Not like now."

Fluttershy chuckled. "You forget that you stood up for me when nopony else did You supported me against those bullies. And you helped me getting my cutie mark." she looked down on her flank, smiling. "And then, when it was my turn to help you, you showed your real side. You were very kind to me. I guess I just started developing feelings for you.”

Rainbow Dash felt a lump in her throat upon hearing that. "But I never even thanked you for everything you did..."

"Oh, but you did," Fluttershy said. "Everytime I helped you out you did."

Dash made a dismissive gesture. "Yea, everytime something happened. But I never thanked you for, you know, everything. I wouldn't have made it though flight camp without you." She looked down on her hooves. "I just always said 'thanks' to not seem rude, but I always left it at that, because I feel uncomfortable thanking others... stupid... stupid..."

"But it's fine, really..:"

"No it's not. And I'll make up for it now." Dash climbed down the chair and sat down beside Fluttershy. "You are a wonderful friend, Fluttershy. You are the best friend I... no, you're the best friend anypony could ever have..." she buried her face in Fluttershy's soft feathers "... thank you, Flutters. Thank you so much... for everything..."

Fluttershy didn't say anything, she just wrapped her wing around Dash and held her close. They stayed like this for several minutes, until Dash loosened herself.

"You, uhm," Dash muffled into Fluttershy's feathers, "you don't like me like that anymore, do you? 'cause otherwise this would be really weird..."

The slightest shadow hushed over Fluttershy's face, but Dash didn't notice it.

"No, I don't think so. I've given up on you some time ago.”

"Mhh..."

"And as I said..." Fluttershy helped Rainbow getting up. She was so weak compared to Dash that the gesture was only of symbolic value, but Dash appreciated it nonetheless "… don't forget that I got my cutie mark because of you. In a way, I owe you everything... as do the other girls."

Rainbow Dash sniffed. "I threw you off a cloud, Fluttershy. That's all I did. I can't take any credit for that. If anything, I should've realised it time and come to safe you."

"I'm glad you didn't." Fluttershy nuzzled her "But should something similar happen, you have my permission to save me next time."

"Promised." Dash smiled. She knew Fluttershy wanted to change the topic to make it easier for her, and it worked, but she had to get the conversation back to the sappy stuff. She didn't like talking about these things – she never had – but she knew she had to anyways, so she'd rather get it over with now.

"So... can you explain why?" she didn't sit back on the hoofchair but instead sat on the floor in front of Fluttershy. "You know, why you really liked me and not somepony else?"

"I... I don't think I can. Sorry." Fluttershy lowered her gaze. "Love can't be explained. Maybe it was just because you were so different from me and yet we became such close friends anyway. Opposites attract... at least sometimes. Though I think it may be similar for you now..."

"Yeah..."

"It's Twilight, isn't it?"

"... yeah."

Fluttershy nodded. "I thought this might happen for a while now."

"I had no idea." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "But if you understand other ponies so well, do you know if she might...?"

"I think so," Fluttershy said.

"Really?" somehow Dash had been certain her answer would've been the opposite.

"Yes. Several times when she was talking about you, I thought to see it in her eyes. I think Twilight liked you for a long time, though she doesn't know it herself. But don't take my word for this, Rainbow. I might be wrong, I don't know Twilight as well as I know you..."

"That's... wow." Dash thought she was supposed to feel really happy now, but at the moment she didn't feel anything. "But I'm not even sure I feel something for her. I mean, I have these feelings, but only since yesterday. Just one day. And it might go away just as quickly. And why would it even come this sudden? It's not like we never talked before..." she thought for a second. "... though, actually, we didn't really spend a lot of time together in the past... not without somepony else being there..."

"I wouldn't try to search for an explanation, Rainbow." Fluttershy gently reached out a hoof and touched Dash on her cheek. "These things just happen. But believe me: what you feel isn't just a crush or something less. You love Twilight."

"I... really?" Rainbow Dash looked around the room without really seeing it. Everything felt really strange. Suddenly, she was scared. It all felt so unreal. The cottage, her talking about love... was this all really happening? Or...

... was she dreaming?

"Fluttershy?"

But there Fluttershy was, right in front of her.

"Yes?"

"Is... is this real?"

"I think so. Are you alright?"

"I..." she tried to remember how she came here. If this was a dream, there would be nothing...

But it was all there, she'd woken up early from yet another weird dream, then she'd eaten something and had gotten all her weather duties done. She'd decided to skip her training for today, which had been a rough decision to make, since originally her plan had been to do a lot of training, and after that she'd come right here...

Yes, this was real. But it didn't feel real.

"I'm sorry,” she said. “It's... complicated. Are you sure?"

"Look at me."

"Huh?" Dash hadn't even realised it, but her gaze had been stuck on the little butterfly engravings that decorated the front door of the cottage. She quickly focused back on her foalhood friend.

"Imagine I were a stranger and you'd have to explain Twilight's most important character trades to me."

"I... okay."

"You, um, you only got a minute."

"Right. Yeah. So..." everything still felt oddly surreal, so Dash decided to just forget her surroundings and focus on the question. "she's really smart, for starters. She's Princess Celestia's personal student. And she's really amazing to talk to, 'cause she'll always listen to you, and even if your stuff is something she doesn't usually deal with, she'll take you seriously. Sometimes, I feel like her time is so valuable, since she has so much work to do, but she always finds some of it to share regardless... which is awesome. Geesh, we're lucky to have her. And she's probably one of the most powerful unicorns alive, she knows so much about magic and how our world works and stuff. And she's totally open about everything. She's not sniffy or full of herself or anything... and she'd really have good reason to, you know? But she just wants to help everypony around her... I think, even though I'm the element of loyalty, she is just as loyal as me. It's like she's not just the element of magic, but she has the qualities of all the six elements... well, maybe except laughter, but even there she's awesome. You'd have to hear it when she's laughing, it sounds incredibly cute... mmmhpf?" Dash was interrupted by Fluttershy's hoof pressing against her mouth.

"I think the answer is yes, Rainbow."

"I..." she looked back at what she'd just said. "Heh... yea. Wow."

"You didn't even call her an egghead,” Fluttershy teased.

"Hey, I would've come to that. You cut me off."

"My apologies." Fluttershy drew her hoof back and ran it through her still messy mane. "I agree with you, bye the way. Uhm, mostly, that is. Twilight really is... nice. We owe her a lot. All of us went further on our way of becoming better ponies, thanks to her. But, at least on a few occasions, she also learned something from us. It always makes me proud to help somepony so special."

"Yeah." Dash pressed her left rear hoof against the floor as hard as she could, just to feel the pressure on it. "She really is... can you imagine how life would be if she had never been send here? I wouldn't be friends with Pinkie any more than anypony else in town and I wouldn't know Rarity at all..."

"Mhh..." Fluttershy said, "do you want some cold water?"

"Uh... huh?"

"There's a well outside." Fluttershy pointed to the door. "If I read you correctly, you aren't feeling that well. I actually had some bad nights too, and from what I have been told, so did several of our friends. I don't know if it's coincidence, but, um, a little bit of really cold water always helped me. It should be just right this time of year." she pulled a little bit closer, watching Dash vigilantly. "aren't you feeling a little bit dried out?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, cold water sounds pretty awesome right now." Dash stood up again. "I'll be right back"

Fluttershy nodded. "Please be."

Twilight gently shut the library door behind her. Yesterday, she'd been using magic to reach her destination right away, but not this time. Today, she looked forward to a little walk, to the fresh air that would hopefully clear her thoughts. She hadn't yet completely comprehended what happened yesterday, she felt like her sanity was hanging on a very thin thread. It had, all in all, been the most frightening day of her life. Even what had happened last spring was different, and in retrospect much less scary, because it felt like she deserved it. She had completely misjudged the situation and her mentor and she herself had caused the catastrophe that made all of Ponyville fighting for her Smartypants Doll. It had been her actions that triggered the problem and she had learned how to avoid similar things in the future. It felt fair.

What happened yesterday though didn't feel fair. She'd just woken up to find her sanity buried under layers of blazing madness. How should she prepare for something like that? Every lesson she learned, every improvement she made to her personality, all that could only take effect if her mind was clear and lucid. If she was herself. Tomorrow, so she decided, she would write a detailed letter to Princess Celestia, explain everything and ask for advice.

But today she'd spend with Rarity. She'd promised her to come back and had no intention to break or soften that promise. Also, if she really had feelings for Rarity, she had to study on it as soon as possible.

Since the library was stationed at the edge of town, Rarity's Boutique near town Square, it was a rather healthy walk for Ponyville standards, though still not something that took more than a few minutes. For the remainder of it, Twilight stayed calm and introverted, trying to get a better grasp of her inner self. If whatever happened yesterday had been caused by lack of self awareness, this was something she'd have to work on in the future.

Reaching the Boutique, Twilight raised her front hoof and knocked three times. It took about half a minute, then an exhausted looking Rarity opened, though her face instantly brightened at the sight of Twilight.

"Good morning, Rarity."

"And the finest on to you, darling." Rarity stepped forward and hugged Twilight gently. "So nice of you to be here. Come in."

Twilight went inside. At this time of year, it was just barely warm enough to not feel uncomfortable when walking outside naked, but the warmth of a solid building was welcoming nonetheless.

"Shall we sit down?" Rarity pointed towards the kitchen. "Seems preferable to my room, while there's such a beautiful day outside.”

Twilight nodded. She followed Rarity and sat down on a chair right beside the big window. She noticed that there already was a plate with cookies waiting, placed on the center of the table.

Rarity seemed to have followed her gaze. "Well, you said you'd visit again," she said, blushing.

Twilight nodded. "So I did. Can I have one?"

Rarity made an inviting gesture; Twilight grasped one via magic and took a bite. It was delicious, and it also was a welcoming dessert after her very brief breakfast.

"So... I didn't want to bring this up yesterday because... well I rather tried to get my mind off it, but did you ever... you know, experience something similar?"

Rarity shook her head. "Some of the worse nightmares I had were in the past two nights, but nothing comparable. It was probably just the result of too much stress."

"Mhh..." Twilight abstractedly examined the inner side of her half eaten cookie. "I was told in the past that I should take things more lightly and not overwork myself, that I would be more focused with a fixed amount of sleep and free time everyday. But I thought I did that." she couldn't help sounding disappointed. "I really payed closer attention to my work schedule. It doesn't make sense for something like this to happen now. It's not fair."

"Well, sometimes life isn't fair..." Rarity answered, her voice quiet.

Twilight made the connection instantly and felt a strong stitch of guilt. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking..."

Rarity wove aside. "I've long forgiven you for that, darling. I didn't mean to imply anything. And as for you, it was probably just a silly coincidence. You can't prepare for everything, so don't work yourself up over it. It's bad enough that you had to go through it once."

"But I hate having things that lie that far out of my control," Twilight mumbled. "You know me..."

Rarity nodded. "I can see why it troubles you. But I'm afraid I don't have a solution. You probably should..."

"... ask Princess Celestia," Twilight finished her sentence. "I know. I was planing to write to her tomorrow." she sighed.

For a few seconds, they both said nothing. Then Rarity spoke up, her voice quiet.

"By the way, Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"About my fashion show... I think you blame yourself too much for what happened. It was Spike who brought Hoity Toity to Ponyville, not you. And even after he did, I still could've prevented the worst. I could've canceled... could've canceled everything in time and apologized to him, told him there is no show and Spike just did a mistake." she stared at her hooves and continued even more quietly, "... but I thought that if you and the other girls all like your dresses so much, maybe I was just blind to their true beauty. And I didn't want to disappoint Spike..."

That last part was a surprise to Twilight. She never actually thought that Rarity cared about Spike in this magnitude.

"Are you angry with him?"

"No." Rarity sighed deeply. "Not anymore. I used to, but I came to realise that he didn't have any bad intentions. None of you did. It all just went... unfortunately. And blaming somepony now doesn't help anypony. So don't worry about it too much anymore, will you?"

"I'll try." Twilight took another cookie. There was something she was curious about now, and she couldn't think of anything that would make the question more fitting, so she might aswell just ask it now...

"Rarity?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I..." she bit her lip. "Look, if you don't want to talk about this, it's fine. We don't have to. But..." it suddenly stroke her that the answer could also affect what happened yesterday. Were she and Spike in the end some kind of rivals? The sheer thought of this idea was absurd. Yet still...

"Do you have feelings for Spike?" she asked carefully.

Rarity closed her eyes. Her head fell on the table; all strength seemed to have left her.

"Rarity?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

Twilight didn't know what she had expected, but Rarity seemed thoroughly crushed by this question. Twilight cautiously reached out a front hoof, unsure what to do.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. I can imagine what you must think about me now, but I think I do... or at least I thought so..."

"Shh... " Twilight gently stroke Rarity's shoulder. "I'm not mad. What happened yesterday just happened. You don't owe me anything." she felt a brief stitch of disappointment upon saying so, but she ignored it. "Just tell me how you're feeling, I won't judge you for it."

"Th-thanks, Twilight," Rarity said, her voice dulled by the table, barely understandable. "But I really don't know. I always told myself that there is nothing, but everytime he asks for something I can't help wanting to make him happy. But... argh!" she sat up and hit the table with her front hoof. "He's a dragon! A dragon, Twilight. I don't even know when and how much he will grow. I can't be in love with him. How would that work? But I can't just reject him either, so I try to keep it casual. But how is it supposed to end? Will he just let go someday? And what if he won't?"

She sank back into her seat. Her strength seemed to have left her as fast as it had come to her. "I'm sorry," she said, "that wasn't very ladylike." she chuckled, then continued in a dull voice, "and what if he lets go and I realise that I need him? I know you and the other girls never thought this is a big deal, but it is to me. And I have no idea how to handle it..."

"So..." Twilight said, dropping her cookie on the table, her throat suddenly too dry to eat it. "what happened yesterday between us... it doesn't mean anything?"

Rarity looked at Twilight, her eyes full of regret. "I don't think so.” her voice was merely a whisper. “I thought about it a lot after you left, but... I don't think so." she lowered her gaze. Twilight realised that she was crying, but she didn't try to hide it. She felt a scorching pain in her chest, like if somepony cut through it with a burning knife. Rarity reached out a hoof herself, just barely touching her." You are an amazing pony, Twilight. If love followed logic, we would become a couple... or at least I'd want to..."

Twilight nodded, her eyes wet. "Thanks..." she whispered.

"Did..." Rarity asked carefully, "did it mean so much to you?"

Twilight gulped. "I don't know," she said. "I..." she sniffed. "... I didn't realise it until now, but..."

"I see." Rarity levitated a tissue from somewhere, lending it to Twilight.

"Thanks," Twilight said again, using it to dry her tears. "I really don't know what's gotten into me. Yesterday, I didn't even know that it meant anything. But as you just said it means nothing, I felt like I was losing so much... and I think I felt something yesterday..." she sobbed, even though she'd tried to hold it back. "I never had a relationship, you know. Or a kiss..."

Rarity bit her lip. It was obvious how bad she felt for everything.

"Don't blame yourself, Rarity," Twilight mumbled. "It's not your fault... none of it is. You just took care of me... and you did it well..."

"No Twilight, it was my fault," Rarity said, her voice full of regret. "You just went through something I can't even imagine, none of it can be shoved on you. And all I went through was completely self inflicted. I shouldn't have let it happen." she paused, obviously in conflict with herself. "I knew you never had any kind of romantic experience, Twilight. And one's first kiss doesn't just go away. I should've known better. Don't try to talk this away, it was my fault... and I'm so sorry..."

Twilight thought about it for a second, but against her intentions she had to admit that Rarity was right. Yet there was no anger in her, only sympathy and sorrow. "Well," she said, her voice broken, "so it was your fault. Then I forgive you."

Rarity looked at her, now with wet eyes herself. "But this is something horrible I've done to you, Twilight. You can't forgive me just like that..."

"But I do," Twilight stated bluntly. Somehow, Rarity's desperation seemed to give her new strength. "I don't blame you for it... or at least I don't hold any grudge. Consider it a compensation for your ruined fashion show. And if that doesn't seem like enough, just consider it forgiven."

Rarity looked almost disbelieving. "Really?"

"Yes," Twilight said. "We're friends, Rarity. Very close friends. And I know you didn't have any bad intentions. So who would benefit if I let this come between us?" she picked up the half-eaten cookie from the table. "Though it still hurts, I won't lie..." she put the cookie back down. "And I'm still not hungry..."

For a while, both of them said nothing. Rarity still looked like she hated herself, whilst Twilight was trying not to feel the slowly diminishing pain in her chest and instead think about what Rarity had said. Her first kiss... she did have to admit that she never thought about that until Rarity had just brought it up, but she could at least understand why Rarity felt so bad about it. It was a big deal. But she still didn't feel any anger, just the urge to take some of the guilt away from her friend.

"You know," she said, "there really could be worse ponies to have my first kiss with..."

She looked at Rarity. She had never seen her from this angle before, but Rarity undeniably was one of the most beautiful ponies she had ever met. Yet – did she really love her? Love was such a powerful word. So no, probably not. It was just that, for only one moment, she had imagined a future together with Rarity. And in the same moment the idea was torn to dust. But the kiss itself... she had nothing to compare it to, but still. She couldn't help but to think: "this can't be all..."

Rarity used the already wet tissue to dry her own tears. She had managed a short smile at Twilight's comment, but it was obvious that she felt like she didn't deserve it.

"Will you stop blaming yourself if I told you it would make me feel better?" Twilight asked.

Rarity looked at her for a second, apparently trying to comprehend the question, then she nodded.

"Then come on. I could read to you again. Doesn't that sound like just the right distraction?"

"Are you sure?" Rarity weakly protested. "We haven't even finished talking about Spike..."

"There's nothing to talk about," Twilight said. "Whatever happens, it's not mine to decide. I have faith that you handle it well. Though I will find out more about a dragon life cycle and let you know. Tomorrow is the dragon migration, what better time to ask Princess Celestia?" in a lower voice, she added: "we know unacceptably little about him as it is. He's like a little brother to me, yet I have no idea when and how he will grow."

Rarity shuddered, but nodded. "Thank you, Twilight..."

Over the course of the following hours, it became apparent how weak Rarity still was. It seemed like her little outburst and the many shed tears had taken a lot from her, so much that she was barely able to stand straight anymore; Twilight had to levitate her to her room in order to finish the book. It had an incredibly sappy ending, which was something even Rarity agreed on, though she seemed to have enjoyed it nonetheless. After they finished, Rarity was too tired to do anything else, so Twilight left early, this time without being escorted to the entrance.

Stepping outside, Twilight closed her eyes and just tried to relax. She hadn't promised to come back tomorrow, not because she didn't want to, but simply because she wasn't sure how she would feel about seeing Rarity again. At the moment, she just didn't understand her feelings well enough to be sure of anything.

She sighed. The walk home was something she would skip this time, so she closed her eyes, focused and vanished. The last thought that crossed her mind before reappearing at the library was that, despite how things had turned out, Rarity and she were still friends and as long as that would be the case, any damage that might have been done could be worked out.

"Huh? Rainbow Dash?"

Dash turned around. "Oh, hey Twilight. Thought you'd be walking here."

"I wasn't in the mood for a walk.” Twilight tried to keep her voice friendly; Rainbow wasn't responsible for how she felt and she didn't want to shove her troubles onto her. ”What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to speak with you." Dash seemed nervous. "Spike said you'd be visiting Rarity, so I waited here for you to come back."

"That could've taken several hours longer." Twilight frowned. "Did Spike say I would be back soon? That was rather short minded..."

"Nah, Spike told me he didn't know when you'd be back. But I had nothing better to do anyway."

This seemed so unlike Dash that Twilight just stared at her for a few seconds, almost expecting a prank. Instead, Dash just stood there, almost looking embarrassed.

"Well then," Twilight said, as the silence started to become awkward, "you wanna come in?" she wasn't exactly in the mood for company, but if what Dash had said was true, she could hardly just tell her to leave.

"Yeah." Dash nodded.

Twilight opened the door. Spike was inside, standing on a ladder to reach some of the higher book shelves. At the sound of the door he turned around.

"Hey, Twilight. You're back early."

"Rarity's still not that good," Twilight said. "She went to sleep as I left." she turned to Dash. "So, what's the matter?"

But Dash just threw a nervous gaze at Spike. "Could we..." she paused, then turned to Spike. "Spike, could you maybe wait outside...?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. She looked from Dash to Spike, who seemed curious, but not hurt.

He shrugged. "Why not." He jumped down the ladder. "I'll be in the other room. Got some books there to look up anyway." He left. Twilight waited until he closed the door after him, then she turned to Dash, who looked incredibly relieved at the sound of the closing door.

"Are you okay?" Twilight couldn't help but to sound concerned.

"No idea," Dash said unclearly. For a moment, she looked like she'd regret coming here, but then she seemed to pull herself together. "Twilight...” she swallowed. “Twilight, are you... are you happy? With your life?"

"Huh? Why?"

Dash drew a stop closer. The way she was staring Twilight was almost scary, it was this open yet intense expression that was so unlike her.

"Are you?"

"Yes." Twilight said. She didn't need to think about it to give that answer. She had probably never cried as much in her life as during the last two days, but looking back at her life since she lived in Ponyville, there was no doubt about it. She was happy.

"And do you think I'm happy?"

"I always thought so." Twilight felt her heartbeat accelerating. She didn't know if she had ever seen Rainbow acting this much out of character. Whatever caused it, it had to be something big.

“Aren't you?” she asked.

"I have no idea." Twilight flinched at the sound of Rainbow's voice, it sounded almost desperate.

"Twilight, you care about me, don't you?"

"Of course. You are one of my closest friends." Twilight took a step forward in an attempt to hug Dash, but Dash winced and instantly stepped back, as if she was afraid of the touch.

"I'm sorry. I..." Dash turned her face away. "I didn't mean..:"

Utterly helpless, Twilight had no idea what to do, so she just stood there until Dash looked at her again.

"... I didn't mean like that." she whispered. Her eyes stared right into Twilight's, and they seemed to search for something in them. She drew closer, her expression so tense that it was impossible forTwilight to step back. Rainbow Dash looked her her like she had never looked at her before, and then she reached out to kiss her. Their lips met for only a split second, then Dash jumped back, apparently in shock about what she had done.

"Crap! Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry! Dang it! I had no idea what I was doing..."

And then something behind Twilight's brow burst into flames. An uncontrollable, all overwhelming heat took hold of her. With one mighty burst of magic, she pushed Dash to the back wall, and before she had any chance to realise what she was doing, she reappeared right in front of her. She squeezed Dash against the wall with all her strength and pressed her lips against the mare before her. Hungrily, she drove forward with her tongue. Dash squealed in surprise, but only for a few seconds, then she returned the kiss and somehow, someway, Twilight could feel how happy Dash was, just by being so close to her. With a burst of wind, Rainbow's wings spread out to their full width, but just for a little moment, then she wrapped them around Twilight. For a few seconds they stayed like this, then Twilight lost her balance, and cramped together as they were, they both fell sidewards to the floor. In a split second and purely out of instinct to avoid the impact, Twilight summoned a magical orb surrounding them. Tied closely together, they came to a soft halt, floating inches above the ground.

For a few seconds, they said nothing, both breathing heavily. Then Dash giggled.

"That's not so bad."

Twilight couldn't contradict; the orb was so small that it pressed their bodies towards another, so she could feel every inch of Dash's body more intensely than ever.

"Yes, I think I could get used to this." Though there was barely room to move, their positions hadn't changed and so Twilight could still reach in for another kiss, pressing her lips against Rainbow's, making up for every moment within the last two years they wasted. And Rainbow Dash kissed her back, and somewhere, deep inside her, a sensation of completeness, of true happiness emerged, a feeling that this was what had been missing from her life. She widened the barrier just a little bit, so she had room to wrap her hooves around her marefriend, to draw her even closer, to deepen the kiss even further.

And then, Rainbow Dash passed out. Taken completely by surprise, Twilight slowly drew her tongue back, moving it over her lips, gathering every single bit of what so wondrously tasted like wind, like rain, like weather, like speed.

Or maybe she was just in love.

She abrogated the orb and carefully levitated both of them to the floor. Feeling so much happiness that she thought it couldn't possibly all fit into her, she drew out a hoof and brushed Rainbow's wonderful mane out of her face. She lay down beside her, moved as close as she could get, so her body was pressing against Rainbow's backside. She wrapped all four hooves around the sleek, athletic body before her and buried her face in Rainbow's neck.

She'd gladly wait until Rainbow woke back up. In fact, she wouldn't mind staying like this for a lot of future nights to come.

One thing was certain: it hadn't been all.

Pinkie Pie was busy serving a customer, when she felt the unmistakable symptoms of a combo coming up. For a few seconds, she payed close attention to her body, then she giggled and bounced even higher than usual. A small pirate ship appeared somewhere in her mind and she didn't lose any time getting on it. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww........ that's seven bits, we're closed."

A pink blur and she was out of Sugarcube Corner.

Two years. And all it had taken after she said it was one day. She bounced, giggled, and bounced some more. Library, here I come. Arrrr.

Chapter 1

Rainbow Dash was napping. She lay on a puffy cloud above the town square of ponyville. She was exhausted and wanted to rest badly, however, a disturbing noise kept distracting her: a strange cheeping that wouldn't go away. Eventually, she opened her eyes, trying to locate the troublemaker.

She wanted him to leave and had the words already halfway out, but she paused. There was nothing there, only a small, yellow light, hovering in front of her at eye level. It vibrated strangely and kept humming out its annoying tune.

"What are you? Why are you here?" Dash asked, confused and furious at the same time. It didn't answer, but it changed its movement: instead of just hovering in place and vibrating, it picked up a steady pace, floating away from her. Dash didn't know why she did it, but she followed it without hesitating. They flew away from ponyville into a dark and calm night sky and although Dash had never flown this high before, she wasn't afraid or cold. Eventually, the light came to a halt, forcing Dash to stop and look around. There was nothing, nothing but blackness and in an instant flash of light, the light disappeared. She was alone.

Then, in a never-ending stream, hundreds of them came from everywhere: tiny, yellow bulbs surrounded by a coat of lightness, so bright that it hurt her eyes. Laying in a sea of stars, Dash raised her voice.

"What do you want? Why did you bring me here?"

A whisper came, not from one, but from all stars alike, speaking to her.

"We didn't - you came yourself."

"That's not true," Dash shouted accusingly, feeling betrayed. "You lured me."

"..."

Dash paused, awaiting a response.

"...yes. Yes we did. We apologize..."

"Why did you do it?"

"... do you want to leave so badly? We don't mean you any harm."

"Why did you bring me here?"

For several seconds, there came no answer. The stars kept glowing, kept vibrating, kept floating around her.

"... we have been alone so long. We wanted somepony to accompany us."

Dash had wanted to shout at the stars, shout until they brought her back, but now she couldn't. Lost for words, she just said nothing.

"Can't you feel it? Can't you feel our loneliness through our cold light, searching for somepony to share some time with? We have been here for an eternity, waiting for you and now you are here and you want to leave so soon. Did we never mean anything to you? Was it all a lie?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dash cried, carried by anger and fear. "I never met you. I didn't know you until now."

"So you even deny us? Did we never mean anything to you? All this years we tried to come close to you and you made us gain false hopes. So was it all a lie? Everything you said? Everything you've done?"

"NO! I DON'T KNOW YOU! STOP IT!"

"Rainbow Dash!"

"NO! GO AWAY!" Dash shouted, not hearing anything anymore, not realising that the black sky had disappeared, replaced by the blue, sunny sky above ponyville. She lashed out, trying to fight off the stars, but the whisper was gone and the cold, unnaturally bright light had been replaced by the darker, warmer light of the sun, whose rays bounced brightly on the roofs of the grounded buildings and shone tharough the clouds above. It took Dash several seconds to realise that she had been dreaming and that she had just shouted at a gray mare who was now on the retreat, flying slowly and seemingly without a clear path, but away from her.

"No! Ditzy! I'm sorry. I had a bad dream. Please, come back!"

Ditzy stopped in mid air, turning around slowly. A single look on her face told Dash that she had been close to tears.

Instantly, Dash jumped off her cloud, flying towards Ditzy and taking her in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry," she said again. "I was having a nightmare and I didn't realise that it was you and I still thought that it were these things from my dream and I wanted them to go away. I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Ditzy replied in a soft, slurry voice. She waited until Dash let go, then grabbed something out of the bag she was carrying, using her mouth. "I have something for you," she mumbled.

Dash took the letter and put it under her wing, holding it with magic. "Thanks," she said, trying to smile encouragingly. "Are you gonna be ok?"

Ditzy nodded. "I'm fine," she said, returning the smile. "I just had a rough day." She turned to leave.

"Bye Rainbow Dash."

"See you," Dash replied, trying to hide her concern. As the greatest flyer there was and the element of loyalty, she felt responsibility towards every pegasus in ponyville. This had increased significantly as she'd become the leader of the local weather team, regardless of Ditzy being the mailmare and therefore not part of it. Plus, she kind of liked the mare. Sure, Ditzy had her physical disabilities and she was overly sensitive, but a great pony aside from that. Dash knew that many thought of her as mentally disabled, but that just wasn't the case.

She flew back, heading not towards her napping cloud but towards her home, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon. Entering the doorway, she lay down on one of her extra soft clouds, pulled the letter from under her wing and unfolded it, using her teeth. As she caught first glimpse of the written lines, she gasped in shock.

She knew this mouthwriting. She still had a certain piece of paper, which she had spent hours staring on. She would always recognize it.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

We are sending you this letter to invite you to Cloudsdale for the fifth of November.

As you know, we are always looking out for rising talents. The Best Young Flyer Competition is our yearly opportunity to keep track of all the flyers that we think have potential and to look out for newcomers. Given that you won the last one in such dominating fashion, we feel that we have to apology for not contacting you sooner. We want you to know that the problems we have to overcome are in no way related to your physical abilities. In fact, as far as we know, there has been no pony within the last century who had had a comparable amount of flying capability at your age, except for myself. We also think that you as a pony would fit in nicely.

To be straight, the main problem is that you are one of the elements. You may not be aware about the full extent of this problem, but ponies all over Equestria would take notice if you became a part of our team. We can assure you that political influences will not stop us from choosing the best of all participants as our newest member, but there are things we have to talk to you about in person. We await your response soon.

And Dash - I am really sorry about how things have gone so far. I never meant to upset you, please believe that I was not able to write you sooner. I am looking forward to meet you again.

In friendship,

Spitfire

Still holding the letter in her hooves, she sat up and tried to figure out why she didn't feel happier. She just got what she always wanted. She had been invited to Cloudsdale and although she probably wouldn't become a Wonderbolt right away, she had just come a lot closer to her eternal dream. So what was it that was bothering her? What did she feel?

She tried to look inside her. At first, she couldn't find anything clear in the muddle of different emotions, but then, she realised that one thing stuck out. Pride.

...no pony within the last century who had had a comparable amount of flying capability at your age...

She wasn't stupid. She had always known that she had a great amount of talent, but hearing it from her idol was something else. It was similar to what she often felt when she talked to Scootaloo, but 100 times stronger.

Also, there was relief. She knew that, in the past, most ponies who had won a Young Flyers Competition had at least been contacted soon after. In her case, however, it had yet been over half a year and she hadn't been able to help wondering if she'd been forgotten. Now she finally had the counter proof.

So why wasn't she happy? She did feel nervous, but that wasn't it either, neither was it a surprise. After all, she was going to meet Spitfire. And Fleetfoot, of course, and Soarin' and Silver Lining and Misty and Rapidfire and Blaze and all of the others...

No - there was one more thing. It was...

... fear.

But what was it that she was afraid of? This was her dream. She could become a Wonderbolt. Hundreds of ponies would cheer for her. She would be known as the fastest flyer in Equestria. So what was the problem?

She tried to listen to her feelings, to relieve her past in her memories and find whatever was causing the trouble. She tried to imagine everything she might become to see whichever aspect of it would make her unhappy. Finally, she gave up.

She never thought much about such sensible nonsense. In the past, she wouldn't care how exactly she felt about anything. If it had to be done, she would do it - sometimes after taking a nap first. But now... she couldn't just accept the offer without knowing why a part of her was behaving so cowardly. She had to figure this out. And if she couldn't do it by herself, she would have to ask for help from somepony else.

Rainbow Dash was standing in front of the entrance to the library, the letter in a small pocket she was carrying around her neck. She slowly raised her front hoof to knock on the door, but hesitated.

Twilight was smart. She would be able to help her, but still...

At first, she had wanted to talk to Fluttershy, whom she had known for years and who would almost certainly be able to help her, but then she decided otherwise. It was foolish, but she still wanted to look invincible towards Fluttershy. Back in Cloudsdale, when they were both fillies, she once helped Fluttershy standing up against Hoops and Dumb-Bell, two male pegasus bullies, which resulted into her challenging them into a race and her and Fluttershy both getting their cutiemarks.

Ironically, even though Fluttershy fell of a cloud while Dash won the race more than convincingly, they switched places shortly after. Rainbow Dash became Rainbow Crash - her countless crashes and her enormous pride shaped out to be something suited to make fun of. In exchange, Fluttershy was being left in piece after her accident, for one because she almost died and secondly because she earned her cutiemark relativley early, which often helped for such matter, sadly not so for Dash. Being as kind and grateful as she was, however, Fluttershy never forgot Dashs help and supported her during their whole time in Cloudsdale as best as she could. Even after she returned the favor more than enough to be even, she never stopped caring about Dash and was always there to help when Dash received unwanted attention after one of her regular accidents or when she needed somepony to talk to, usually the latter.

Years later, as both of them moved to ponyville together, Dash tried her best not to show emotions to other ponies, creating the image she was now known for in Ponyville: an invincible and loyal hero. Of course she knew that Fluttershy knew her way too well to fall for it. Given what had happened between them in the past, Fluttershy almost had the right to spoil the image or at least use it to tease Dash, yet it was Fluttershy, who instead chose to continue being as supportive as a friend could possibly be; always offering help when needed and never even mentioning anything about the way Dash approached her new life.

And now, she just couldn't bring herself to confessing a weakness like this to her. As she still stood in front of the librarby, she knew that she'd made the right decision to talk to Twilight instead, with her being the thinner barrier for her pride to break - which didn't mean that it was non existent. Even towards Twilight she felt the need to look invincible, although Twilight probably was too smart to be fooled anyway.

It didn't matter, really. Thinking too long about stuff had never been her forte, and it certainly wouldn't get her anywhere now. She just had to get over herself. She had to do this.

She swallowed, then placed her hoof on the door and sent three magical pulses through it. Just a few seconds later, Spike opened.

"Oh, hey Dash!," he greeted her, looking surprised. "Didn't see you here since you borrowed the last Daring Doo book. Need something else to read?"

"Uh, no," Dash said, slightly embarrassed. "Daring Doo was an exception. They were awesome books, but reading is still for eggheads. Boooring."

"Uhu," Spike said sarcastically. "Have you actually tried any other books?"

"Well - no, but..."

"So how do you know that there aren't other stories out there which are just as good as the Daring Doo novel?"

Dash thought about it for a few seconds.

"...look, this is not why I came, ok? I need to see Twilight, is she here?"

"Yup, she's upstairs, practising some weird magic. Doesn't seem to work too well though. If you ask me, she could use some distraction."

"Good," Dash said, entering the doorway. "Twilight?"

A frustrated groan answered her.

"Uhm, I need your help with something. It's kind of important."

"One moment," Twilight answered, then she came down the stairs, looking highly annoyed about something.

"What's up Twi?" Dash asked. "Studies not going well?"

"Urg, I have been working on the same thing I have been at for almost a month now. I haven't made any improvements there yet. But that's okay," she added quickly. "Princess Celestia told me it would take a long time before I accomplish anything in this exercise. It's just frustrating."

"What kind of exercise?" Dash asked curiously.

"Something Celestia told me to do after the wedding of my brother. Do you want something to eat? I haven't had lunch yet."

"Yea, lunch would be nice. Haven't eaten in a while."

"Great," Twilight said. "I think Spike already made some hay fries for me. It's not enough for two but I could make some sandwiches if that's ok. You can have either, I don't mind."

"Hay fries sounds good," Dash said. "But why do you make lunch for yourself? Don't you have enough bits to go eat someplace else?"

Twilight gave her an inflictive look. "I'm not supposed to talk about how much money I get from Celestia, Dash."

"So it's a lot. Hah, I knew it."

"Well, I have no financial issues." She walked in the kitchen, Dash followed her.

"How much?"

"Enough."

"Oh come on, tell me."

Twilight chuckled. "I can't tell you, it would not be honest."

"So you promised not to tell anypony?"

"Well - no, but I promised not to make it public."

"So than where's the problem? I'll keep it a secret. I'm the element of loyalty, remember? No danger in telling me."

Twilight levitated two plates with some sandwiches and the hay fries on the dining table and set down.

"Do you promise not to tell anypony about it?"

"Yea, no problem."

"Pinkie promise!"

Dash groaned. "Oh come on. That's silly."

Twilight giggled. "Well, if you don't want to, we can just forget about it. No problem."

"Yeesh. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She rolled her eyes. "Now tell me."

"Good enough," Twilight said amused. "I get 1200 bits per month plus I can live in the library for free.

"Wow!" Dash had expected a high number, but not that high. "I get merely half as much and I'm captain of the weather team. So why don't you just always go out to eat?"

"Only because I have a lot of bits does not mean I have to throw them away."

"Uh, maybe. But then what are you doing with all the money?"

Twilight shrugged. "Not much, really. Keeping it. If one of our friends gets into financial problems it might become useful."

"But you're working so much," Dash insisted. "Don't you think you deserve a little bit of luxury?

"If any sort of emergency happens, I might regret spending too much on things I don't really need. And I don't mind cooking myself."

Dash paused. It was so typical for Twilight to pass on luxury and comfort just to provide reserves for some unknown problem that might occur in the distant future - or not at all.

"Well, don't you forget scheduling for the next years library cleanup in time," she mumbled fuzzily.

"Anyway, what is it now that you're practising?"

"Princess Celestia told me to try levitating water," Twilight answered. "She said it's a way of practising magical skill and focus, because levitating things becomes harder the more elusive the subject is." She gulped. "She said whether you manage to learn it or not tells a great deal about how talented you really are."

"Well, I'm sure you'll make it," Dash said with an encouraging smile. "Who has more magical talent than you?"

Twilight blushed slightly.

"But I've seen Rarity levitate tea once, as I knocked over my cup. Tea can't be that much easier than water and Rarity spends much less time with magic than you do. So how comes she can do it?"

"She used a spell for it, I guess. Did she tell you that she did it with ordinary levitation magic?"

"Huh? What's the difference?"

Twilight sighed. "Seriously? Do you know anything about magic?"

"Well, I know unicorns can do all kinds of things and pegasi and earth ponies can only push and pull stuff."

Although she didn't know why, she felt curious about the topic. "Can you tell me the basics? You know, a quick runthrough."

"Of course, if you're interested." Twilight sounded positively surprised. She took a large bite, swallowed and then began to explain.

"So, there are 5 different kinds of magic. The first kind is alicorn magic, which only two beings in Equestria are able to perform. The second one comes from the spell that lies on all 3 ponykinds. It allows pegasi to fly, earth ponies to feel a special connection to the earth and their surroundings. That opens up for advanced agriculture, which is why earth ponies, other than pegasi, are necessary for all three tribes to survive..."

"Hey, pegasi are also necessary to survive," Dash protested. "Who else is supposed to make it rain?"

Twilight groaned. "You are leading a weather team, and yet you don't know how rain works?"

"Of course I know. You take a cloud, then you pull it where you want to have it and then..."

"That's not what I meant. What I'm saying is that weather works on itself. If we had no weather team, it would still rain and snow and all, we just had no control over it."

"Really? But we make clouds in weather factories. And only pegasi can run them."

"Weather factories only speed up the natural process. You are making clouds out of water. If you didn't do that, water would just transform into clouds on itself, and then it would rain somewhere randomly."

"Huh. That would be so weird." Dash chuckled. "But doesn't a controlled weather system help with agriculture?"

"Yes, of course." Twilight said quickly. "All three tribes benefit from each other. I never meant to say that pegasi are less important or anything..."

Dash made a dismissive gesture with her front hoof.

"I know you didn't mean it like that. Keep going. What exactly does the spell for unicorns?"

"Well, unicorns are able to extend the cast range for the third kind of magic - which is what everypony can do, you just apply physical pressure on something..."

"So, if I grab things with my hooves, it's the same kind of magic that you are using to levitate stuff?"

"Yes. Our horns are used to cast magic through. I could also pull with any other part of my body, but it's far less effective. And the horn also allows us to perform refined spells, that's the fourth kind of magic. These spells can do almost anything, but we can't use them instinctively, like levitation, we have to study them. Most unicorns only know very few, some to levitate a lot of things at once without having to focus on every one of them, some to apply a lot of pressure on a small area to lift heavy things, and usually several ones related to their special talents."

"So for Rarity it's that gem finding spell which you copied as we rescued her from those stupid diamond dogs?"

"Exactly."

Dash thought about it for a second. "So... that explains pretty much everything ponies do. What's the fifth kind?"

"It's phoenixes. Every other creature in Equestria performs a kind of magic similar to the unicorns, the fourth kind, with the one difference that most other animals are less intelligent and use it instinctively, but pheonixes are entirerly different. Nopony knows what they are capable of, but they can do things that are impossible for even alicorns to accomplish..."

"Like what?"

"Like avoiding death and being reborn." She groaned. "That is scientifically impossible, yet they do it. And they can do much more. Celestia keeps her own pheonix as pet, to study them first hoof."

Dash remembered an orange bird in a small cage. "Oh yea, I saw it on one of her visits in ponyville."

For the next minute, they just sat quietly, Dash thinking about what she had just learned. As they finished lunch, Twilight grabbed the dishes and levitated them towards the kitchen. Dash followed.

"So now. You said you needed my help. What's the matter?"

"Oh..." Dash had completely forgotten why she came to visit Twilight in the first place. She felt unwell about the topic, maybe that was part of the reason why she had been so eager to learn about magic: just to delay the moment she had to talk about what really bothered her.

But she was not going to run away from it now. She needed to know why she felt the way she did.

"I..." She hesitated, swallowed, and then just grabbed the letter out of the pocket, which she had put beside her chair.

"I got this," she said, offering it to Twilight.

Looking curious, Twilight grabbed the letter, unfolded it and started reading.

Dash nervously chewed on her lips. It was almost as if she wrote something and asked Twilight to preread it. Not that she ever would, of course.

After an impressively short time, Twilight lowered the letter and placed it on the table.

"That's... good news," Twilight said. For a brief moment, Dash thought to hear something weak and fragile out of Twilight's voice, but then it was gone and she continued, sounding normal. "Sure there are unsolved problems but they invited you to talk about in person." She hesitated, now seemingly irritated by the lack of excitement Dash was showing. "Did you... just want to show it to me or do you need my help with something?"

"Uh, yea, kind of, I..."

For several seconds she just stood there, fighting with herself.

"Come on Dash," Twilight said. "What is it?"

She winced and hesitated for one last moment, only to finally accept heir faith and spill it out.

"I don't want to go."

"To Cloudsdale?"

"To the meeting. I don't want to become a Wonderbolt. Gosh, I can't believe this. My whole life I dreamed about joining the Wonderbolts and now I don't want it. I have no idea why I don't, but I don't. If I think about that I... go there and they tell me that they take me, I... I don't want it. I just feel scared about it. As I read that letter, I hoped I'd read that they wouldn't take me. I didn't realise it then but I really did. What is wrong with me, Twilight? Why am I scared of living my dream?"

She turned away to hide her tears.

"Rainbow..."

What made Dash turn back around was not defiance or courage, but surprise. There was no doubt, Twilight sounded relieved - even for Dash, who was bad at reading other ponies it was obvious, just from the one word she had just spoken. And as she faced Twilight, she could see relief and... happiness being written all over her face.

Her surprise and rapidly rising anger made her forget about her sadness. "What the hay? Can't you at least pretend to be sorry? Even I would know to be that sensitive. I just told..."

"Rainbow!" Twilight interrupted, now sounding a little bit concerned, but still full of relief. "Listen to me! Please. I can explain everything."

"Oh yea?" Dash said feisty. She could feel a tear running down her cheek which only heightened her anger. "Explain. I am dazzled to hear."

"Rainbow, you..." Twilight had to swallow a giggle. Dash felt her anger go away for some reason, now she just felt endlessly confused. It could not have been more awkward.

"Rainbow, you don't want to leave because you'd miss your friends. You would miss us."

"What? No way! I am Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight burst out in laughter. "Yes, ... you... are," She managed to say between her laughing, which she clearly tried to shut down. "You... " She let out another giggle, then brought herself under control again with obvious effort. Still with gaps, but without laughing, she continued. "You were... not even realising that you would miss us and that's why you didn't talk to us about... it. It's... it's incredible! I know you for one and half a year now but... gosh, how can a pony be as intelligent as you but doesn't get at all what's happening at the same time? What's happening around you and even to yourself?

Rainbow, since the best flyer competition we all have been waiting for something to happen. We knew you would probably have been offered a Wonderbolt spot soon. You have broken the sound barrier, for Celestia's sake. You've performed a Sonic Rainboom, something generations of flyers weren't able to accomplish. We knew we would miss you but we thought that you would probably want to go anyway. We were ready to let you go.

But then you never talked to us. And we started to think that we might mean so little to you that you wouldn't even tell us whether you would leave Ponyville or not. And then months passed by and you were still living in Ponyville like nothing had changed and we started to think that you might have rejected the offer, but you also never stopped talking about joining the wonderbolts. We never brought the topic up cause we thought it was obvious that you didn't want to talk about it, for whatever reason.

And now..." She giggled again. "Now you are telling me you didn't think about it at all? Like, ...." She stopped, panting. Dash already felt her face turning red as she was realising where Twilight was going. "... like not at all? You didn't even realise anything was going on? My. Celestia. That's so... cute." She let out another giggle, just to burst out in laughter again the next second. By now, Dash just was just staring down at her hooves, her cheeks burning like fire. She was back in flightschool all over again and just crashed into something, with dozens of ponies laughing at her - only that it was even worse for some reason.

"I'm so dumb," She mumbled to the rug. It had somehow just become the most beautiful thing in the entire room.

Twilight seemed to have noticed that Dash was not just joking but really down. She walked over to her and lifted Dash's head with her own hoof.

"No, you're not," she said, to Dash's relive now with a completely calm voice.

"Then how comes I didn't realise..."

"Cause you are Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "You didn't realise it cause you never even thought about it, am I right?"

Thinking about it, she knew Twilight was right. Everything was so obvious now that she knew. She nodded.

"So that's not stupidness, that's laziness. It's... well, it's you. The same pony who broke into a hospital to get the first Daring Doo book instead of asking me for it, although it couldn't have been more obvious that we'd know eventually anyway. You are smart, surprisingly so, if you take your time to think about stuff, but that rarely ever happens. Usually you just do things. And that's ok." She smiled. "It's what we love you for."

She looked up. "You really think I'm smart?"

"Yes. Come on, Dash. I thought I'd be send back to magic kindergarten just because I didn't learn anything about friendship for seven days. Everypony else knew that I was freaking out over literally nothing. And then I thought if I made a friendship problem and then solved it it would... oh well. You know." She blushed. "Anyway, the point is, sometimes we all are just blinded. You don't think I'm stupid cause of it either."

Dash thought about it. It did not only make her feel better, but it was also true.

"Yea. You're right. Thanks, I guess."

For a few seconds, they just said nothing. Dash thought about herself, about the wonderbolts and..."

"Oh Celestia. The day after the meeting. I talked to you about the day I spent with the wonderbolts and... oh. Gosh, I really was blind."

"Yea, well, that was the main reason why we all thought it was so obvious that you didn't want to talk about leaving us."

"I..." She bit her lip. She remembered the conversation very well, she had still been in excellent mood from the day before. They had been having their weekly picnic which they had rescheduled so Dash could tell them everything. She could remember that she'd been wondering why everypony seemed to be in twisted mood, almost depressed. To be fair, it was hard to judge Fluttershy, she had only behaved even shyer than usual, but Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack and even Pinkie had seemed nervous about something. She groaned. How could she not have realised something was up when Pinkie wasn't happy?

But she hadn't. She had told them everything: about her time with the wonderbolts and how much she hoped they would invite her soon. How awesome they all were, especially Spitfire. She remembered that she had talked about how she would see Spitfire every day. See Spitfire every day - and not once did it cross her mind that she had to leave Ponyville. Leave her friends.

"I'm going to change this," She suddenly said. "In the future, I'll think about stuff that I do and what consequences it can have. Not as much as you probably, but I'll not miss such obvious things."

"Sounds like a plan," Twilight said. "Now come on. Don't get all worked up over this. You are not leaving us. This is a happy day. Do you have any idea how much we would miss you?" She walked over and nuzzled Dash. "You'll stay now, you hear?"

Dash blushed at the sign of affection, but could not help to smile.

"I don't even deserve friends like you," She mumbled. "You all worried because of me. A fine Element of Loyalty am I."

"Dash, you are loyal enough to let go of your dream because you don't want to leave your friends. Even if you didn't realise it. You are the most loyal friend we could ever ask for, just not the most thoughtful one. And if you think about joining someday, you will talk to us about it, right?"

"Yea." She swallowed. "Yea, if I want to join. But I can't even imagine it, now that I know what's keeping me here."

Realising what she just said, she groaned.

"I never thought this would happen. But it's true."

"Now come on," Twilight said encouragingly. "Let some time pass. You still have time to reconsider and someday you might get used to the thought of leaving us. We won't all live in Ponyville forever. Eventually, things have to change."

"Yea," Dash said despondently. "I don't want to think about it much. I like things as they are now."

"I know," Twilight said with a hollow voice, sounding almost scared. "I know. I've never been happier in my live than I was since I came to Ponyville. I don't want things to change either."

For some time, they just said nothing, each of them lost in her own thoughts. Dash's mind was drifting to Rarity and how she would like to have a big career in Canterlot. She winced. It had to happen eventually. It was going to happen eventually. Rarity simply had too much talent to not become popular. On a contrast, Applejack had a farm to take care of, she would never leave Ponyville. Fluttershy wouldn't want to move and settle in someplace else, for she had to get along with lots of unknown ponies. Fluttershy liked the familiar, she was happy here where most ponies where kind and understanding and she could be around her boring animals the whole day. And Pinkie was even less likely to ever leave, given that she was friends with everypony in town.

Twilight broke the silence.

"So... I think I'm just going to tell Pinkie something nice happened, then she will throw a party and we can tell the news to all our friends."

"Uh, sure. I'll be off 'till then. Still have stuff to do. Thanks for everything."

What about Twilight? She could easily move in somewhere else, every town would be happy to have her. But she was here for her friends. As long as the other five stayed here, Twilight was not going to leave either. Dash left the library and took off instantly. She painted some loops in the air, then headed higher, where there would be less obstacles.

If Twilight was going to tell Pinkie soon, the party would probably be today. She better made good use of the time she had left.

Chapter 2

As Dash walked through the entrance of Sugarcube Corner, the first thing she saw was the banner on the back wall, featuring what seemed to be an image of herself standing next to...

Her vision blurred. She tilted her head, trying to catch the sheet in a proper angle, but to no avail. Was there a problem with her eyes? It couldn't be.

"Twi? Can you tell me what's on that banner back there?”

She turned around, but Twilight wasn't there. Strange - didn't they just enter together?

"Twilight?" She took a few steps outside, but it was late and too dark to see anything.

Dash shrugged. Maybe Twilight had some last minute chore to get to that slipped her mind until just now. Still though, it was untypical for her to just leave.

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Huh? Twilight?"

There was Twilight, panting and running towards her.

"Heh,” Dash said as Twilight reached her. “What was that?"

Twilight gave her a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"You were just..." She blinked. In a flash, Twilight was gone.

"What the...?"

Did she just imagine Twilight? Or was this a prank Pinkie had set up? A prank which involved Twilight using a teleportation spell without any visible effort, as well as a spell to darken the day, 'cause the evening was still young and it shouldn't usually be this dark, yet Dash couldn't even see her own hooves and the doorway of Sugarcube Corner was barely a glimpse in the blackness of...

"Rainbow Dash!"

Dash flinched at the sudden scream coming out of what had to be Sugarcube Corner, but leaped in the air instantly to be able to reach whoever it was in time. Launching towards it, she accelerated as fast as she could, avoiding the thick trees of the Everfree forest, which seemed to be darker and more threatening than usual, heading towards the distant point from where she suspected the voice to have come from.

But the faster she got, she could see her target fading away. How could she even be sure to still fly towards it? Back at Sugarcube Corner, it hadn't seemed to be that far off, yet she'd been flying for almost a minute already and she could have sworn that she didn't even get closer. Had she missed it? But then why was the howling still there, right in front of her, coming from a tiny purple pegasus lying in a bed of snow, looking almost like...

"Twilight? Is... is that you? But, you were just..."

She blinked. The filly stopped crying and looked at her with wet eyes.

It couldn't be Twilight, it was a barely three year old pegasus. Yet she looked exactly like her. What happened? Had Discord come back into her world and put it upside down? Did he turn Twilight into a filly? And...

"Waah! My wings!”

With horror, she watched her wings crumbling before her eyes. She tried to lift them, but she'd lost all control.

"Still admiring yourself, I see?"

"Huh?"

The Twilight-pegasus-filly was standing in front of her, not crying anymore, but looking at her accusingly. Dash took a glimpse back at her wings, which seemed to be back to normal. She tried flapping them and the well-known feeling of air pressing against the sensitive skin came as a gigantic relief. She turned back to the filly, which was still looking at her, now with open animosity.

"So, you decided to come for help, but now you are not even bothering to look how I'm doing? Why did you even come here in the first place?"

"I..." Dash began, uncertain how to react. She felt the need to explain and defend herself. "I'm sorry, it was dark and as I came here I felt like my wings..."

"Dark? It's not dark."

Dash looked around. Sure enough, Celestias sun was doing a fine job lightening up Ponyville, she could see Sugarcube Corner just a few steps in front of her as clearly as ever. She could even hear dulled voices from what had to be her party. This meant she was late. But she was the element of loyalty. How could she be late? Would her friends be disappointed? She had to go there immediately.

A scornful voice from the filly made her turn around. The way she was staring at Dash made her cringe, it was totally unlike every look she'd ever received from Twilight. Sure enough, with her strange, dark eyes she looked less and less like Twilight every second.

"Sorry," Dash said, "but I have to go, you see, my friends are waiting for me."

"So you just leave me alone. Did you ever really care about me?"

"But I don't even know how to help you. And if I don't go..."

"So you abandon me,” the filly said, her voice sad and hollow. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you do, you are Rainbow Dash, I'm nothing to you." She started sobbing again, quietly and without looking up.

"But, I...” She bit her lip. What kind of element was she if she just abandoned a helpless foal?

“All right, I'll stay with you. Let me just tell my friends first..."

But her voice was swallowed by an intense humming which suddenly clung to the air. She felt herself being pushed towards the entrance of Sugarcube Corner. Turning around, she saw an unnaturally bright light from the doorway, as if a hundred lamps were glowing inside. But there was also the little filly, still crying, who now just seemed innocent and hurt, so Dash tried to walk back towards her.

"Don't..." She squeezed out, trying to fight the force that pushed her towards the light. It was to no avail, however, and she soon found herself close to the entrance. As she burst through, the light exploded in a final flash of brightness, only to disappear split of a second later; and next she knew she was sitting upright in her bed of extra soft clouds, her head burning and her heart beating.

"Friggin'... nightmares..."

She groaned. Having not just one, but two nightmares at one day wasn't like her at all, and it wasn't something she welcomed. Her usual dreams about flying and all were fine, but this one... even after she'd woken up, a baleful feeling from the image of her crumbling wings remained. There weren't many things that frightened her, but not being able to fly anymore someday was one of them.

She should get her mind off those thoughts. She'd done enough self-discovering for one day, it was now time to go to Pinkie's and enjoy the rest of the evening at the party. Coming to think of it, however, she didn't know for sure if there even was a party. Pinkie could've been busy with – well, something. Pinkie stuff. She should head to Twilight first to be sure.

She leaped off. The familiar feeling of air pushing against her skin finally made her relax, just as it always did. Only this time, thinking clearly meant admitting that the day had been a complete bust, at least as far as her flying practise was concerned. She hadn't been able to get anything new done, neither had she gone through her daily practise routines properly.

The only bright side was the all-around free sky that was scheduled for tomorrow. Getting rid of stuff was usually easy and clouds made no exception, so she'd need very little time to get her job done, which meant that there was all the more time left to practise – and hopefully make up for today. The fact that she'd lost her desire to join the wonderbolts didn't mean she'd lessen her efforts to become the best flyer she could. After all, she was going to meet Spitfire for the third time in her life (the night at the Gala didn't count) and she was sure to do all she could to impress her as much as possible.

The library was right below her now. She let gravity take over until she was almost at ground level, then spread out her wings to stave off the momentum of her fall, coming to a soft landing in front of the entrance. Since the door was left ajar, she didn't care to knock. Pushing it open, she was greeted with the sight of five smiling ponies and a baby dragon.

“Surprise!”

“Whew!” She grinned, being caught off guard by the sudden but pleasant change of events. “Hey guys.”

“See? I told you I'd manage to surprise her even though she already knew a party was coming.” Pinkie beamed. “I never fail to surprise a pony with my parties unless it's myself, since it's always hard to keep something from myself. Not that I didn't try, but never works out: even if I manage to forget it, I can't be surprised by it, 'cause then there is no party. I also tried to make Gummy organize them instead, but that didn't work either, even though he is really smart.” Her faced switched into a musing expression. “I think he had problems hanging up the balloons. That must be really hard for him, since he's so small. Maybe he needs some help? Fluttershy, do you think your animals could hang up balloons?”

The pony in question crouched uncomfortably. “Um... I'm not sure...”

Twilight stepped in. “Didn't you want to congratulate Dash?” she reminded Pinkie.

“Ah, yes,” Pinkie said. “Sorry, Dashie. Congratulations – you realised that you like your friends. Granted, you're a little bit late, but don't worry about it, we understand.”

“Gnnnhh... that wasn't it.” Dash wasn't exactly sure how serious Pinkie had been but it couldn't hurt to make things clear. “I know that I like you guys, but I was... uh...”

“Too busy showing off and practising fancy flying moves?” Applejack asked.

“Oh. Oh. Don't forget all her napping,” Pinkie threw in. “How is a pony supposed to have time to think if she's barely awake? Oh well, I think Gummy does it, but he's an alligator, so it's not really the same. And I'm not exactly sure how much he sleeps, anyway. Sometimes he's just pretending.”

“Uh...” Dash couldn't think of anything to say in response.

“Let's not talk about it any further,” Rarity said. “Rainbow Dash learned her lesson. I'm sure she will be more considerate next time.”

“Yeah. I will,” Dash confirmed. Eager to change the topic towards less dicey subjects, she asked: “So, you found time to come? 'cause a few days ago you said you had to work full time.”

“Oh, I had to make a break. I've probably never worked as much before as during the last week. I couldn't possibly continue like this for yet another night.” she sighed dramatically. “This mess certainly taught me not to take on more than I can chew. I quite frankly don't know what I was thinking. But with the amount of work I've manage to get done these last days I should be fine taking an evening off. Actually, I'm almost finished.”

The sudden appearance of music out of Pinkie's record player spared Dash the need to answer.

“Let's Party!”

As the sun sank lower and the evening grew older, things quiet down to a more somber and relaxing atmosphere, at it was usual for Pinkie's parties. The music, dancing and games gave way for light conversations in small groups, and soon Dash found herself sitting near the stairs with Twilight, listening to some of her projects with a new and unexpected curiosity. Applejack and Rarity were standing on the other side of the room, seemingly not having any sort of argument this time, but enjoying a pleasant chat and Pinkie was busy with some left over cake.

“... but I actually think the whole idea was primarily meant do distract me, so I had less time to think about Pinkie and her Pinkie sense.” Twilight giggled. “I was so deadlocked to find out how it worked, I even neglected some of my practise routines. I think Spike gave Celestia a hint and she made sure I had other things to work on.”

“But Pinkie told me you eventually believed in her powers.” Dash remembered how proud Pinkie had been of having success in persuading Twilight. “And that they aren't explainable. She said you've been convinced that they're real after the incident at Froggy Bottom Squawk.”

“Bog.” Twilight corrected.

“Whatever. By the way, you should've called me before you went there. I could've kept all of you save.”

“We had to hurry, Dash.” Twilight reminded her. “Pinkie said something unexpected was going to happen and we had to make sure Fluttershy was okay.”

“Eh, maybe. But I could've totally dealt with the Hydra. Or at least distracted her long enough. And I could've flown you over the cutting.”

“Really?” Twilight sounded surprised. “You can fly while carrying another pony?”

“Sure. I could totally take you for a flight if you want.”

Twilight smiled. “Maybe I'll take you up on that offer someday.”

“So what about the Pinkie sense now?” Dash asked. “Did you just tell Pinkie you believed her so she wouldn't be hurt?”

“No! Of course not. I really did believe her, I even wrote a letter about it to Princess Celestia. It's just... well, I almost died that day, I wasn't in a state to think calm and logical. The next day I quickly realised that there had to be an explanation for her powers. I didn't doubt anymore that she had powers, but I couldn't believe that there's no explanation. And I still don't,” she added in a stern voice. “I might have given up on finding it, but there is one. We just lack knowledge to find out what it is.”

“Well, if you say so, Twi.” Dash yawned. These last two naps really hadn't been very recreative. “I've long given up on understanding anything about that pony. Heck, she's an earth pony, she shouldn't be able to do any magic.” Thinking about their talk from earlier, she added quickly: “Well, no magic-magic.”

Twilight nodded. “It's not that kind of magic. It's... something different...” Her voice trailed off.

“You know,” Dash said after a short pause. “I've always been wondering about all your magic spells and practise and what not. How tiring is it? Do you get really exhausted when you practise a lot, just like others do after hard training?”

“Well,” Twilight answered, “it's not exactly the same feeling, but yes. It depends a little on the kind of spells I perform, but generally magic is as exhausting as physical struggles. At some point I always have to stop and make a break. I guess the only difference is that the break has to be a lot longer. If I really burn out myself, It takes at least eight to ten hours until I can practise again. Hm... but I try to avoid that anyway.”

“Why?” Dash asked. “That's healthy. Only way to keep improving is to keep pushing your limits.”

“Well...” Twilight said, sounding a little bit tormented, “I would like to, but it seems like I have greater responsibility. This past year, Ponyville has functioned as a magnet for all sorts of trouble. If I overdo it with my practise, I might not be able to be of any help in case of an emergency.”

“Emergency?” Dash asked. “You mean like as the Ursa Minor attacked Ponyville a year ago?”

Twilight didn't answer immediately, and Dash thought to see her shiver ever so slightly. As she finally spoke, it seemed like she was far away.

“Yes. Yes, the Ursa...”

“What's the deal? You took care of him, didn't you?”

“Well - yea, but do you have any idea how close it was?”

Dash shrugged. “All I remember is that you made him fall asleep and floated him back into the forest. I couldn't tell how hard it was for you.”

“Well, usually it wouldn't be that hard,” Twilight explained. “Granted, the Ursa was really big, so accordingly the spell requires a lot of power, but even still it's just levitation magic, which is really easy to channel correctly. If I'd been fully rested, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. But I wasn't, in fact, I had been practising magic tricks for the better part of the day. As I had to deal with the Ursa, I almost didn't make it. It was really close. And really dangerous. Ponies could've died that day.”

“But after he was gone, you said he was just a baby,” Dash reminded her.

“He was. That's exactly why he was so dangerous. He'd been woken up and was upset about it, like if you take the toy from a newborn foal. He might be big, but his mind was very young. I'm sure he had no idea what he was doing.”

Dash tilted her head. “So, if he really was just a baby, how big is a full-grown Ursa?”

“A full-grown one? Big. Really big. According to what I've read, they never stop gaining size. The really old ones must be over twenty meters tall.”

That came as a surprise. “Wow. And I always thought dragons are the biggest creatures in Equestria. Heh, just imagine how it would feel like if you were that big and everything else that small. How would you ever find enough food? They must spend hours eating stuff.” She chuckled. Twilight rolled her eyes, but could not hold back a laugh at the imagination.

“They aren't eating,” she said. “They feed of starlight.”

“Huh? How does that work?”

“How does eating food work?” Twilight countered.

“Heh. Good Point.”

For a few moments, they both said nothing and Dash's gaze drifted across the room. Applejack was still talking to Rarity, while Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike were right next to the entrance. Just now, Fluttershy picked up Spike ever so gently, holding him and carefully flying him upstairs to take him to bed.

“So... anyway,” Dash said, focusing back on the conversation at hoof. “You showed the Ursa who's boss, close or not. Half of Ponyville was watching, while you saved them, demonstrated your talent and showed of Trixie. And then you picked up the crazy idea that we might hate you for it,” she added, “but still, it was pretty awesome.”

Twilight blushed. “Thanks, Dash. I'm just glad nopony was hurt. Snips and Snails really outdid themselves there. Running into the forest alone is bad enough, but actually waking an Ursa up from its nap on purpose and luring it into Ponyville... that has to be one of the most reckless and suicidal things anypony has ever managed to pull off.” She paused to take a sip from a cup beside her. “And I still have no clue how they even found one,” she added. “Ursas are extremely rare. Apparently there are only a few dozens left in all of Equestria.”

“I asked Spike about that, actually,” Dash said. “He used to hang out with them. Seems like they just randomly walked into the Everfree Forest and found one in the first cage they went into.”

“What? You can't be serious.”

“Well, at least that's what Spike's told me Snips told him.”

She shook her head. “If that's true, they've been really lucky.”

“Or unlucky.”

“Or unlucky. In any case, it's an extremely unlikely coincidence.” She took another gulp. “So, Spike runs away to hide in a cave, and there's a full-grown dragon. Applebloom and her friends run into the forest to search for a chicken and they instantly come across a cockatrice. And Snips and Snails find an Ursa without even having a clue where to look for it. There really aren't that many dangerous creatures in there, you know? Destiny seems to be bored.”

“Um... am I interrupting?”

Dash turned around. Fluttershy approached them from halfway up the stairs, apparently she'd taken care of Spike and had been waiting for Twilight to finish.

“Not at all.” Twilight said friendly.

“Have a seat.” Dash moved a little to make room for her. “What's up?”

“I was just wondering, if you, um, still want to go to Cloudsdale. Even if you don't want to join the wonderbolts anymore, I figured you might still want to go, you know, to be able to talk to them and, well, explain yourself... if you want.”

“Yeesh. What do you think? 'course I'll go. I'm not gonna miss an opportunity to talk to Spitfire. And if they really want me to try, I'd like them trying to persuade me.” She grinned.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Fluttershy asked. “As a moral support, I mean. Only if you like, of course, I'm not sure how difficult it is for you. Um, you know, telling them that you don't want to join...”

Twilight chuckled. “That's a nice way to deal with her overconfidence.”

“Hey! What do you mean?”

It took a few seconds for her to realise that Fluttershy had just neglected her last sentence entirely.

“So, um...” Fluttershy continued, not showing any reaction to Twilight's comment. “What do you think?”

What did she think? Certainly not that it was necessary. On the other hoof, based on what had happened recently, she apparently didn't know herself very well. And it would be nice to have Fluttershy with her, regardless of the occasion.

Also, Fluttershy really had to get out more.

“Sure, if you want to,” she said. “No troubles.”

“Oh, can I come too?” Twilight asked, sounding excited. “I'd love to meet some of the wonderbolts in person. After all, they've been really important to you for a long time. Getting to know them will be interesting, and it might make a good letter to the princess, depending on how you take things.”

Dash shrugged. “Sure.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said, nuzzling Dash affectionately.

“Tell us when you go then, um, if that's okay with you,” Fluttershy said. “We can fly there together and Twilight can... eeep!”

Pinkie Pie was suddenly in between them, bouncing and grinning and apparently unaware that she was interrupting something.

“Twilight, why are there more mares than stallions?”

“I, uh, what?”

“I was just thinking about how Spike left early to get some extra sleep and how he seems to need more sleep than us and how different kinds of creatures have different kinds of habits, and then I thought that we can't actually know for sure if Spike really needs more sleep than us just 'cause he's a dragon, you know, since we don't know any other dragons, so it might just be coincidence, but probably not, 'cause he is different from us in a lot of things, so it's likely that he needs more sleep, and then...” she paused, thinking. A few seconds of silence passed.

“Nah, I forgot.” She started bouncing again. “But anyway, why are there more mares than stallions?”

“Gosh, Pinkie, I don't know,” Twilight said. “It's how our race has always been, I doubt that even Princess Celestia could give you a proper answer.”

“Hm...” Pinkie said, seemingly deep in thoughts. “How many more mares are there? And does it fit, you know, with couples, 'cause if there are more mares there have to be a lot of couples with two mares, and I know that there are, but doesn't that mean that there can't be any couples with two stallions? Oh my gosh, that's really unfair. What if a stallion likes an other stallion, but they can't go out together 'cause there are only so few stallions? Wouldn't that be terrible? Oh, oh, that's so sad.”

She stopped, staring into the air with a desperate expression on her face. Dash giggled, but also felt slightly embarrassed, even though she wasn't even part of the conversation. Meanwhile, Fluttershy seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

“Well,” Twilight said, an amused tone to her voice. “I know as much about it as I've been told from Celestia. Out of four ponies, three are mares and one's a stallion. A little bit less than half of all mares like other mares, an equal amount likes stallions and some like both, so it fits pretty well. And as far as I know, there are no stallions who like other stallions, so I don't think you have to pity them for that.”

“Or maybe they just don't want to admit it 'cause it's not common and they don't want to seem weird!” Pinkie half-screamed, her voice rising in volume with every word.

“I'm sure if two stallions were in love, other ponies would accept it,” Twilight said patiently. “Ponies are tolerant creatures.”

“Hm... so since you and Dash like mares, you might actually become a couple?” In an instant, her face brightened. “OhmygoshthatwouldbesocuteIcan'tbeliveIneverthoughtaboutthisbeforeyoutotallyhavetostartgoingouttogether!”

“What?” In the split of a second, Dash was standing upright, her cheeks burning. “Pinkie, what the hay? I never told you that I like mares!” Twilight, in the meantime, was staring at the floor, using her front hoof to swallow a giggle.

“But it's super-duper obvious, duh!”

“What? Why? It's not!”

“It is.”

“It's not!”

“It is.”

“It's not!”

“So do you like stallions?”

“I... uh...” Dash didn't know how to answer. “Um... maybe?”

“Oh Dashie, you don't have to be embarrassed,” Pinkie said, patting Dash's front hoof like she were a little filly. “We're friends, after all. These things are natural.”

With that, she bounced away, humming something which Dash recognized as her no-fear song, which she once performed as they were hunting Nightmare Moon.

“How does she do these things?” Dash asked, still feeling embarrassed. This was a topic she almost never talked about, with any of her friends.

But still, now that Pinkie had brought it up, she did feel curious.

“Was she, um, right... about... you know?” Dash asked carefully.

“Well, she was right about me,” Twilight said lightly, apparently not feeling uncomfortable at all.

“Heh... right.” Dash tried to sound as if it had been a joke. Was she sweating? No, that couldn't be. Oh gosh, was Twilight going to ask her if she was...?

But Twilight just smirked knowingly, took one last sip and levitated the now empty cup towards the kitchen.

“So...” Dash said, desperately trying to change the subject, “I'll write back to Spitfire later tonight, and once I know where we're going to meet with them I'll let you know.”

Twilight smiled. “That would be nice.”

Dash swallowed nervously. She had to come up with something else, otherwise Twilight might pick up on the mare thing again.

But she was spared to think of anything. Twilight let out a long yawn and threw a wistful gaze towards the stairs.

“I think I'll hit the hay now.” She smiled. “It was a nice evening. And don't feel pressured to leave, you and the others can stay here for as long as you want.”

“Oh, yea.” Dash said, relieved but also slightly disappointed. “Good Night. And thanks for everything.”

“No problem. What are friends for.”

She left. Dash watched her walking upstairs, a warm feeling in her chest. Twilight really was smart. And considerate. She didn't ask Dash whether she liked mares or not, something which Dash was more than grateful for. She remembered what Rarity had said after the Ursa accident: “We're proud to have such a talented unicorn as our friend.” She smiled. It really was true, after all, not everypony was friends with the Princess personal student and probably the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria.

But then again, not everypony was friends with the worlds fastest pegasus either, so they were pretty even.

Looking across the room, she decided to check on Applejack and Rarity. Pinkie and Fluttershy also were still there, but it was probably safer not to talk to Pinkie right now. Celestia knew with what she might come up next.

“... and so I was going to tell her some stuff about proper sisterly behaviour,” Applejack just said. “But then she just pretended like nothing had happened. Didn't even admit it as I asked her directly. That was when I really lost it. Mhh... wasn't pretty. But she learned her lesson. Never lied to me again in all them years.”

“And that was the worst thing that ever happened?”

“Yup.”

“Well...” Rarity chuckled guiltily. “You certainly handled things better than I did with Sweetie Belle. I can't count how many times I had to shout at her.” She looked unhappily on her front hooves.

“Ah, don't feel too bad about it,” Applejack said. “To be honest, I think I've gotten the easier task handling Applebloom. Don't know how I would've done with a more difficult sister. Heya, Rainbow.”

“Hi AJ, Rares. How're y'all doing?”

“I'm fine,” Applejack said. “But I think Rarity has seen better days.”

That much was obvious. Rarity looked utterly exhausted, in a way that went way beyond what was normal for her.

“What's the problem?” Dash asked. “Rough day?”

“Rough week,” Rarity said in a pale voice. “I overplayed this time. Too much work. I wanted to proof that I could handle it so I took the order, but it was a mistake. I'll have to take a few days off after I'm done tomorrow.”

“That bad?” Dash asked. “But earlier this evening you seemed to be doing fine.”

“Well, I didn't realise how bad it really was while I was still at work. And then I guess it just carried over for some more time. But still... I wouldn't have been able to work through another night, even if it had been necessary.” she closed her eyes for a second, looking completely depleted. “I probably shouldn't be here either, but make up for some lost sleep instead.”

“Well, if you want you can leave anytime,” Applejack said. “You don't have to stay just to be polite.”

“Yea,” Dash confirmed. “Feel free to leave if you need your sleep.”

“No, it's alright.” Rarity said. “I'm almost done, it'll take little more than one and half an hour to finish all... tomorrow. I'll just stand up and get it done and out of my life. And after that I won't be good for anything anyway, so at this point half an hour more or less won't make any difference.” Her voice was so flat that it almost got Dash scared. “Don't worry, I'll be fine.”

“If you're sure.” Dash yawned again. “And how're you doing AJ?”

“I'm all fine and dandy.” Applejack said. “Don't have that much work to do at this time of year, so I got a lot of time to spend with Granny and Applebloom. Could also hang out with you some more and help you with flying stuff if you want.”

“Hah, I'll definitely take you up on that.” Dash grinned. “I really need a fast pony for some of my new tricks. Sure, I can ask Scootaloo, but she's not always helpful, since I need her to keep up with me and all. And she often messes up things 'cause she's trying to hard. Need to be calm and focused to be of real help.”

“But you are patient when dealing with her, aren't you?” Rarity asked. “That filly looks up to you. Being too harsh might cause a lot of harm.”

If her voice was supposed to sound fierce, the effect was lost completely, since it was so quiet that Dash had trouble to even understand her.

“'course I am,” she answered. “Heh, sometimes I even ask her to help me with really easy stuff that I could really do alone, just so she thinks she's doing a great job. That filly needs more confidence.” She thought for second. “Or at least I used to,” she then corrected herself. “Haven't asked her in a while, now that I'm thinking about it.”

Applejack let out a disapproving sound, but Rarity seemed to be soothed.

“Well, as long as you don't overdo it so it becomes an obvious act, I think that's really kind of you. And I'm sure it...” she paused for a moment. “...means a lot to Scootaloo.” she finished after a few seconds. “Excuse me, I was feeling really dizzy for a moment.”

Dash and Applejack shared a nervous gaze, but neither of them commented on it.

“Heya Dashie.”

“Whaa!”

Having leaped off ground a few inches out of the pure shock, Dash turned around furiously.

“Pinkie, don't sneak up on me! What do you even want?”

“Just telling you that Fluttershy and I are leaving.” Pinkie said in a voice that shouldn't be allowed to sound innocent “Night guys.”

“I'll, um, hear from you about our trip?” Fluttershy asked.

“What?” Dash landed back on the ground. “Uh, yea. Right.”

“Wonderful. Good night, Rainbow.”

“Yea. You too.”

“Have a nice sleep,” Rarity said.

“Y'all have a good night.”

They left. Dash threw a gaze at Applejack and instantly knew that the other mare was thinking the same thing.

“So,” Applejack said, taking matters off Dash's hooves. “I think I'm also gonna hit the hay now. Was a nice party, but I gotta be out in time tomorrow. You both have a good night too.”

“Works for me,” Dash said. “Should I bring you home?” she asked Rarity.

“No, I'm fine. But thank you for the offer.”

They both left. Dash took one last look around the room to make sure none of the books had been hit during the earlier part of the party, then turned off the light, closed the door behind her and leaped off into the now cool and dark night sky.

Twilight really wasn't as boring as she always thought. Sure, an egghead, but cool in her own way. And she had no idea where she would be now without Twilight's help.

Maybe they could hang out some more tomorrow...

Twilight gently nuzzled Spike, but made sure not to wake him, before lying herself down in her own bed. She quickly went through her end-of-day checklist, satisfied that everything was taken care of, then magically turned off the light. She let out a long breath and tried to relax.

What an eventful day it had been. Getting to know Dash's motives for her past behaviour had been a big relief, and talking to her had been really nice. She'd even said some really cute stuff. Twilight hadn't known that Dash thought so highly of her, and it was a wonderful thing to find out.

She moved a little, trying to find the most comfortable position. She smiled. Really, she was very lucky to have a life as happy as hers.

Nothing pointed towards the upcoming pain, as she slowly fell into what was going to be a long and relaxing sleep. All was warm and comfortable...

… Ponyville greeted her like a long-lost friend. She trotted down the stairs from the train depot in the morning light ...