Infinity

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 ...