The Game of Estrus

Before either of them could react, a shrill cry came from behind Twilight and Rainbow.

"AAAPPPPLLLEEEJAAACCCKKK!"

They looked round, and barely had time to leap aside as a pink blur came barreling past them, headed towards the trees that Applejack had just disappeared into.

"Pinkie, stop!" Twilight called out to her. "If you go after her now, she'll be forced to fight you!"

Pinkie screeched to a halt, and turned around slowly, huge tears streaming down her face. "I *sniff* know, Twilight! I saw everything, on *sniff* on that moving picture. I just... *sniff* I couldn't... *sniff* I DIDN'T GET TO SAY GOODBYE!" she wailed, collapsing into a sobbing heap.

Rushing over to her side, Twilight knelt down and wrapped her arms around her sobbing friend. "Don't worry, Pinkie... don't worry, it's going to be all right..."

"Yeah," chimed in Rainbow, "'cos we... uh, why is it going to be okay, exactly, Twilight?"

Twilight's eyes narrowed, her hold on Pinkie tightening. "...Because I'm going to make it all right."

"Well, I'll certainly do whatever I can to help you." Film Reel said, as she came trotting over to join them. "Free of charge, just this once."

Twilight offered her a weary smile. "Thank you, Film Reel, that'll be a big help."

Film Reel returned the smile and shrugged. "Hey, us girls've got to stick together."

"Well, that's certainly a different tune to the one you were humming earlier," Rainbow said pointedly.

Film Reel lowered her shoulders, her smile dropping from her face. "Well, I won't pretend to have a good reason. It just all seems more... real, now." She looked down, placing a hoof to the camera that hung around her neck. "When there's a lens between me and an event, then it's just a story to me. But I wasn't able to get any pictures of this one..."

"I should hope not, too!" Rainbow yelled aggressively. "There's no way I'd let you plaster pictures of AJ in a state like that all over your damn paper!"

"Look, what do you want from me?" Film Reel shouted back. "I just said I'm willing to help, didn't I? Without my observational skills, you still wouldn't have any idea what's going on in this town!"

"That's kind of my problem, actually! You saw all those girls in the pictures you showed us, but did you ever actually try and help any of them? Or would that have spoiled your precious story?"

"What was I supposed to do, fly into the sky and catch Aloe as she fell? Go tattling to a bunch of girls who don't know me about the rich guy courting them all?"

"You could've tried to scare off Pokey Pierce at least!"

"You wanted me to spook a guy with a freakin' weapon attached to his face, while he had hold of a hostage? Gee, thanks chief, what other bright ideas you got for me?"

"Knock it off, you two!" Twilight yelled at them, slamming her hoof into the ground. "Look, I know tensions are high right now, but we all need to calm down. We can't afford to turn on each other now."

They each lowered their eyes to the floor, mumbling something in the vein of an apology.

"That's better," Twilight huffed. "Now you two- ah? Pinkie?"

Just then, Twilight was interrupted as Pinkie stood up, gently shrugging off Twilight's embrace. Brushing away her tears, she walked over to Rainbow Dash, and put her arms around her in a hug of her own.

"Ahh, you... okay, Pinkie?" Rainbow asked uncertainly, awkwardly returning the hug.

Pinkie said nothing, and an awkward silence hung in the air for a minute, until she slowly released Rainbow from her embrace, and turned back to face Twilight. Despite the tear tracks that were still fresh on her face, she managed to force a small smile.

"Don't be too hard on her, Twilight," Pinkie said. Her voice was no longer wavering as it had been a minute ago, although she still had to sniff in-between her sentences. "She's probably gonna miss Applejack the most out of all of us."

"Hey, it's not like I..." Rainbow started, but trailed off, looking down at the ground again. "...Yeah, I guess I will. I mean, even if Twi- Even when Twilight manages to find a cure," she corrected, raising her head back up, "AJ'll still be a mother. We won't really be able to compete with each other like we used to..."

Pinkie put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, and gave her a smile that looked truly genuine for a second. "Even if you can't do the same stuff together anymore, you can still be friends." She then turned her attention back to Twilight. "Sorry for making such a fuss... I was just a bit shocked. I do believe in you, y'know? If anypony can crack this thing, it's you!"

Twilight tensed up. No pressure, eh? Nonetheless, she tried her best to give them a reassuring smile. They were counting on her, and now wasn't the time to let them down!

"Well then!" she announced, clapping her hooves together. "There's not much point in staying here anymore. Shall we head back to town?"

"Sure," Rainbow nodded. "I'll just go get the cloud."

"Ah, you don't have to!" Twilight said hastily. "We could probably all handle walking back."

"Nah, it's fine. Flying helps clear my head anyway." And with that, she took off, up into the sky in search of a suitable cloud.

Twilight squinted up, watching her until she was out of sight. She noticed that the sky was beginning to get its first tint of orange. "Already evening, huh?" she sighed. It had been a pretty exhausting day.

"Twilight."

She glanced down. Over to the edge of the clearing, Film Reel was stood, beckoning her over.

"I found this," she said, indicating what appeared to be a piece of bark that was lying by her hooves. Picking it up, Twilight brought it up to her face for closer examination.

On the inner side of the bark, there were some odd engravings. It took Twilight a moment to realise that this was probably supposed to actually be writing!

"Wow! Nice find, Film Reel. I'll have to try and decipher this later..."

Film Reel shook her head. "Just hold it up for me. I'm used to writing shorthand, so bad hoofwriting such as this is no problem."

Twilight levitated it up to her face. Film Reel's eyes scanned across the bark, her lips moving silently as she mouthed out the words she was trying to read. After a minute, she pulled out her notebook and pencil, and started scratching down notes as she read.

"Okay, got it!" she finally announced.

"What does it say?" Twilight asked eagerly.

In response, Film Reel simply flipped back her notebook, and passed it over to Twilight. One the page there were a lot of crossings out, but below all this was a paragraph of neat writing, detailing the decyphered message.

Heard everything,
will handle telling family.
Please bring AJ back safe.

Mac

The cloud hovered down in front of Sugarcube Corner, and Film Reel stepped out alongside Pinkie Pie.

"You sure you're fine with getting off here?" Rainbow asked. "It's not too much trouble for me to drop you off at your place."

Film Reel waved her hoof dismissively. "Nah, that's fine. The fastest route is usually the least interesting, after all."

"And Pinkie, you're sure you don't want to stay with us for the night?" Twilight's voice was laden with concern.

"Thanks Twilight, but I'm okay, really," Pinkie told her, managing a smile. "Besides, I don't want to worry Mr and Mrs Cake."

"I'll make sure she gets up to her room all right," Film Reel said reassuringly. "You've got enough on your plate without worrying about everypony else. Go home and get some rest, you'll feel better for it."

"Mmhmm," Twilight mumbled quietly, glancing away. "Well then, we'll come see you in the morning, okay Pinkie?"

"Y-yeah, seeya..." Pinkie replied softly.

"Later, Pinkie," Rainbow added, lifting the cloud back into the sky, before adjusting herself, and heading off in the direction of the library. Contrary to earlier, her speed was now barely faster than a brisk trot.

The two of them flew in silence. Even if either of them had known what to say, they probably wouldn't have had the energy to do so.

Twilight leant her head against the cloud, and allowed her eyes to drift closed. She knew that this would probably be one of the few chances to rest that she'd get for a while. She couldn't fall asleep though! Had to keep thinking... everypony was counting on her... had to keep... thinking...

CRACK!

Something hard smacked her straight in the forehead. She yelled out, curling her hooves around the injury.

"Oh crap, sorry, sorry!" Rainbow Dash said frantically. Twilight blearily opened her eyelids, and saw Rainbow's face above her, staring down with profuse concern.

"Owww... what happened?"

"Sorry," Rainbow apologised again, "I accidentally bumped your head against the door frame. You okay?"

Door frame? Twilight panned her eyes away from Rainbow's face, and took in her current surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was that the two of them were currently hovering at the entryway to Twilight's bedroom. There was moonlight streaming through the window, illuminating the baby dragon already curled up in his crib. The second thing she noticed was that they were indeed hovering... her body was being cradled in Rainbow's front legs, whose wings were currently being used to support herself.

"Oh no," Twilight gasped, "I fell asleep!"

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "You looked so peaceful that I didn't wanna wake you. Guess that didn't uh, turn out so well though... Sorry again. Guess I'm more worn out than I thought."

Twilight hopped down from Rainbow's grip. "That's all right, Rainbow. In fact, if you hadn't bumped my head, I might have slept for the entire night, so I should probably be thanking you." She covered her mouth as she yawned, then started to slowly trot back down the stairs.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a sec!" Rainbow planted herself down in front of Twilight, blocking the stairway. "You are going to sleep for the whole night. You need to rest, you look exhausted!"

"I can't, Rainbow. Every second I waste could be a second too late for somepony. I have to figure this out." Her horn sparkled, and she zapped herself down into the main portion of the library.

Rainbow quickly rejoined her. "But you've been working yourself to the bone since yesterday! If there's an easy solution, you'd have found it by now!"

"Exactly why I need to work harder. The solution isn't going to just come to me on its own." She started pulling books from the shelves, piling them up haphazardly.

"But Twilight," Rainbow persisted, "if you're so tired you can barely think, you're never going to get anywhere!"

"I'm fine, Rainbow!" Twilight snapped. "The only thing interrupting my thoughts at the moment is your incessant nagging!"

Rainbow flinched. "...S-sorry... I was just worried about you..."

Twilight sighed. "Look, I'm fine, really. Why don't you just head on home for tonight?"

"H-home?" Rainbow froze up suddenly. "Can't I crash here? I mean," she laughed nervously, "what if you have a break-in? You'll uh, need me here to protect you, right? Safety in numbers, and all that..."

"I'm sorry Rainbow, but I really need to concentrate." Seemingly satisfied with the books she had collected, Twilight picked up one from the top, and started to leaf through it.

"...Please."

Whether she didn't hear her or just chose to ignore her, Twilight continued to flick through the textbook.

"Please!"

Twilight turned towards Rainbow in irritation. "Oh, what is it Rainb-" Cut short, her tone changed immediately once she saw the state her friend was in. "Rainbow?"

Rainbow was shaking uncontrollably, a small trickle of tears streaming down her face. "Please..." she whispered again. "Please, don't make me leave... I'll be quiet, I promise. I just... I don't wanna be alone... I... I..." She trailed off, pausing for a moment, as if she were fighting a battle in her mind regarding what she was about to say.

"I'm scared..."

Thunk.

The book in Twilight's spell clattered to the ground, as in a flash she crossed the room, wrapping her arms around Rainbow and pulling her in tight.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Rainbow. I didn't mean to shut you out like that..."

After a moment, Rainbow returned the hug, awkwardly at first, but then tightening her embrace to match Twilight's. "It's 'kay..." she sniffed.

"No, it's not," Twilight said. "Everypony might be counting on me to fix this big problem, but that doesn't mean I should stop paying attention to my friends' own smaller problems." She gave a small half-laugh, releasing Rainbow from her embrace. "Although this is a new one. I always thought you were completely fearless."

Rainbow chuckled too, brushing away a few of her tears. "Well duh, I'm fine when I'm awake. It's being vulnerable while I'm asleep that gives me the creeps. A guy could just come... and cum... without me even realising it." She swallowed, and looked Twilight in the eye. "So please, just until this whole thing's over... could I stay with you?"

Twilight smiled, and gave her another hug. "Of course you can, Rainbow."

"Phew, great! I promise I won't get in your way. We can stay up as late as you... Twilight?"

There was no response for a moment, but Rainbow felt Twilight lean her head against her soft feathered wings, followed by a distinct "zzzzzz..."

Rainbow chuckled. Looks like she had been right after all. But now, what should she do? Twilight might be mad if she let her sleep. But on the other hoof, she really needed this. She was clearly pushing herself way too hard. Yeah, better to let her sleep for now, have her at her full potential by tomorrow.

That did of course lead to another question, that being what she should do with the sleeping Twilight. Last time she'd tried to carry her hadn't gone so well, and she didn't want to risk it again. In fact, even moving her at all might cost her her last chance at sleep for the night.

Sighing, she lay down on the floor, keeping Twilight's head resting against her back. With her wing, she gently guided Twilight down with her, until they were both in a comfortable-ish position, Rainbow's wing acting as a blanket for Twilight, while her body served as the pillow.

It was rather intimate, but given the circumstances, she was too worn out to consider whether this counted as copping a feel, and she doubted Twilight would even think about it that way when she woke up. Still, Twilight's warm breath on her neck was rather soothing, and as she rested her head on her hooves, she felt herself drifting off as well.

Knock, knock.