An Unlikely Romance

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Chapter One

“Get the hay outta mah sight, RD, and don’t ya dare ever come back.”

Rainbow Dash’s heart pounded in her chest, a cold sweat matting her fur. Those words sent a sharp, icy arrow of agony straight through her heart. Those words, those horrible words, the words she’d been worrying about for months on end. “B-but Applejack,” she pleaded, flapping her wings, “I-I thought we were friends.”

Applejack’s eyes were dark. “Then you were wrong, Rainbow Dash. Ah’d never be friends with a fillyfooler.”

Rainbow Dash whimpered softly, her ears and head drooping. "Applejack, please," she murmured. "Don't do this."

"If you think Ah'm going to listen to a filthy mare like you, you're sadly mistaken, sugarcube." As each word left the farmer's mouth, she grew. Finally she towered far above Dash, glaring down with eyes of flame. The orchard in the background began to melt away, leaving them standing in a plane of pitch black. The only lights were AJ's eyes, flickering and blazing with all the heat of her anger. She leaned down so her face was right above Dash and snarled, "Now, I'll give you three seconds to run. One..." Fangs sprung out from her gums. "Two..." Rainbow Dash tried to move, only to find herself transfixed by the sight before her. "Three!"

And then Applejack lunged.

Rainbow Dash jolted awake, her eyes shooting wide open as her jaws parted in a raspy scream. After several moments she clamped her mouth shut and went limp, flopping onto her soft bed and staring at the colorless cloud ceiling.

“It was a dream,” she told herself, embarrassed that she’d been so terrified. “Nothing but a dumb old dream.”

And yet…

The look in Applejack’s eyes, the venom in her voice as she spat the word “fillyfooler,” brought ice-cold fear to her heart. If her friends found out that she was…that…who was to say they wouldn’t respond like that? Who was to say they’d want to continue being her friend?

“Stupid Rainbow Dash,” she grumbled, rolling off her bed. “They’re your friends. Of course they’ll accept you.”

But…would they really? After all, Applejack’s family was so old-fashioned, it would be more surprising if she did accept Dash. And Twilight had grown up in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash was almost positive that sort of thing didn’t happen there. And Fluttershy…sweet little Fluttershy…well, she’d probably be embarrassed to death by the conversation, no matter how she felt about it. Rarity could go either way. Heck, the only pony Rainbow Dash was almost sure would accept her was Pinkie Pie.

The mare’s ears twitched as she trotted downstairs to grab some breakfast. Why couldn’t she tell Pinkie? The pink party pony would probably be ecstatic for her. She might even want to throw Dash a huge coming out party.

“No!” Rainbow Dash yelped, losing her footing and crashing in a heap at the bottom of the steps. “No, I can’t tell just Pinkie,” she decided finally. “If I’m going to tell any of them, I have to tell all of them. They’re my friends. They’ll support me no matter what.” After a moment of hesitation, she questioned in a shaky voice, “Won’t they?”

The door to Sugarcube Corner flew open, crashing against the wall with a loud bang. Rainbow Dash came stumbling in, her mane frazzled, dark bags gathering beneath her eyes. She swept her gaze around the store before slogging over to the counter and flopping onto one of the chairs.

Immediately Pinkie Pie came racing out of one of the back rooms. She balanced two trays of cupcakes on her hooves, and she was somehow managing to trot on her hind legs. Flour powdered her face. She was wearing a ragged “Kiss the Cook” apron, and in her mouth she held a whisk dripping with more batter.

“Hi, Dashie!” Pinkie exclaimed, tossing the whisk onto the counter. The trays in her hooves wobbled slightly. “What can I do for you?”

Rainbow Dash stared at the ceiling for several long, awkward moments. When she finally turned to Pinkie to answer, her eyes were hollow and blank, as if her thoughts were miles away. “Hi, Pinkie,” she responded, and her voice sounded just as empty as her eyes appeared. “I just thought I’d…thought I’d drop by. To say hi.”

If the pink mare noticed Dash’s absentmindedness, she didn’t say anything. “You already said hi, silly!” She blinked. “Ooh, want a cupcake? They’re fresh, and I made them just for you!”

Sure enough, the cupcakes were frosted with a rainbow-colored icing and adorned with the daredevil’s cutie mark. But in her anxiety Rainbow didn’t even stop to question the fact that she hadn’t even told Pinkie Pie she was going to stop by.

“Okay.”

Still completely oblivious to her friend’s distress, Pinkie scooped up one of the cupcakes and shoved it in Rainbow’s mouth, her eyes wide as she waited for her to finish.

Once she was done, Rainbow Dash resumed staring at the ceiling. Worry gnawed at her heart like an infection. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, so why was it so hard to just open her mouth and let it out? Why was this so difficult? All she had to do was just say it, and everything would be so much easier. She could then be more open with her friends about, well, everything. About which mares she had a crush on, which mares she’d dated in the past…

“Pinkie?” she croaked.

The pink mare was turned around, scrubbing the flour off her face. She hadn’t heard Dash.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and spoke again. “Pinkie?”

“Yes, Dashie?”

“Well…you’ll always be my friend, right?”

“Of course! You’ll always be my B.P.F.F.N.M.W.H.E.I.T.W.E.C.Y.A.!”

Rainbow blinked, her confusion clear on her face. “Um…what?”

“Best Pony Friend Forever No Matter What Even If The World Ends ‘Cause You’re Awesome, duh!”

“Oh. Good. That’s a relief.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I…I was just wondering.” Why is this so difficult?

“But you have to have a reason, Dashie! Even I have a reason for most of the stuff I do. Except eating cupcakes, ‘cause you don’t have to have a reason for that because they’re just that good.”

Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut. What the hay, Dash? You’re the fastest flyer in all of Equestria, you’ve beat a few practically immortal gods, and yet you can’t work up the courage to tell your best friend you like mares? Some daredevil you are. Suddenly an idea struck her. If she could somehow turn the conversation to fillyfooling, she’d be able to find out Pinkie’s opinion on it. If she was fine with that sort of thing, it’d make it much easier to tell her. “So…um…Pinkie…did you hear Lyra and Bon Bon are going out?”

Pinkie’s face broke out in a huge grin as she turned around. “Yup! They told me last week. I wanted to throw them a huge party for it, but they said they’d rather not and then I got confused because come on, who wouldn’t want one of my parties? But they said that some ponies didn’t really like mares being with other mares and they didn’t want to have to deal with all that stuff even though I don’t get why ponies wouldn’t like that sort of thing because I mean love is love right so if a mare and a stallion can be together why not a mare and a mare and so I said—”

“Okay, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said, the tiniest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I’ve heard enough.” Well, it didn’t take much for my nerves to be completely destroyed.

But the party pony wasn’t finished. She leaned forward so her nose was pressed against Dash’s and widened her eyes, saying softly, “Do you like mares, Dashie?”

Well. The nerves are back. “Uh…” She swallowed and rustled her wings, trying to stall. Her eyes flickered around Sugarcube Corner, hoping desperately that the twins would start crying, or another customer would walk in and ask for some really complicated order, or Discord would escape again and a mutant tarantula would start destroying the town…anything to avoid answering that question. “W-why do you ask?” she finally responded.

Pinkie Pie’s face suddenly grew serious, something that happened only once in a blue moon. “’Cause you’re my friend and you always will be, no matter what. So do you?”

“D-d-do I what?”

“Do you like mares, silly!”

Rainbow Dash’s heart rate skyrocketed. Her stomach began to churn, feeling similar to the time she’d accidentally eaten a two-year-old bagel. But she clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. I’m Rainbow Dash, she reminded herself. I’ve saved the world plenty of times, I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria, and I’m not afraid of anything. Not even coming out to my friends. I can do this. I just need to open my mouth and tell her yes, that I do like mares. It’s so simple…

Pinkie pressed her hooves into the other mare’s cheeks, forcing her to look at her. “Dashie, please tell me! I won’t tell anypony!”

“Pinkie Promise,” she whispered without thinking.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie hesitated. “Well, not a strawberry cupcake; those are way too delicious to put in your eye.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Rainbow Dash said in the quietest voice imaginable, “Yes. I do like mares. But please don’t tell anypony…I don’t want to lose any of my friends…”

Without warning, Pinkie threw her arms around her friend, smiling ear to ear. “Your friends wouldn’t leave you just because you like mares, silly! We would never leave you no matter what. But don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul! Wait, but does that mean I can tell it to things without souls? Okay, I won’t tell a living creature! Oh, but what about Madame La Flour and Sir Lintsalot and Rocky and the others? I won’t tell anything in the entire universe and that’s my final offer! Wait…but what about—”

“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash laughed, wriggling away from the energetic mare. “I get it, don’t worry. But you’re seriously not creeped out or anything? I mean, what about all the times we’ve hugged? And what about all our sleepovers? Don’t all those things seem weird now?”

“You’ve always liked mares, right?”

“Well…yeah, but—”

“Then nothing’s changed about you. If I didn’t think hugging you was weird then, why would I think it’s weird now? And anyway, I’ve hugged Lyra and I’ve hugged Bon Bon even when I knew they liked mares and I didn’t think it was weird. A hug is just a hug!”

“So…you don’t mind that I’m a fillyfooler? Not even the slightest bit?”

“What’s a fillyfooler?”

“Um…a mare that likes mares? Didn’t we just go over this?”

“Ohhh, so that’s what it’s called. Why do you even need to call yourself a fillyfooler? Why can’t you just be Dashie? Just ‘cause I like everypony, do I hafta go around saying, ‘Hi, my name is Pinkie! I’d be fine sleeping with mares or stallions!’ Nope, even though that would be kinda funny. Hey, we should do that for a prank!” Her ear twitched. “Oops, I’m getting off track again. Twilight says I do that a lot, even though I don’t really get what it means. It reminds me of a train. Uh-oh, I just lost my train of thought… Oh, yeah! What I’m saying is, you don’t need to give yourself a label. You’re not a toy, you’re a pony, so why can’t you just be yourself and let the rest take care of itself?”

Rainbow Dash sank back onto her haunches, her eyes huge and her jaw sagging. “Pinkie, but that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said. How do you know all that stuff?”

“Didn’t you just hear me say it? I like mares and stallions. When I was just a little Twinkie Pinkie, I asked my Granny Pie about it, and she told me that stuff I just said. She was really smart about that kind of thing.”

“You…you’re the best friend a pony could ask for,” Rainbow Dash said, her face lighting up with a smile for the first time in what seemed like forever. “Thanks for telling me this, Pinkie Pie.”

“Any time! Are you gonna order something else besides the cupcakes I made you, or can I go help Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the kitchen now? It’s Thunderlane’s birthday today, so we’re making him a huge multi-layer cake!”

Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head, her wings spreading and flapping a few times. “No, I already ate. Well, thanks for the talk, but I have to go practice some of my moves. See ya, Pinkie!”

“See ya, Dashie!”

It had been three weeks since Dash had told Pinkie Pie her secret, and she felt like she was on top of the world. Since then, the two friends had gone to the park several times, watching the ponies that walked by and picking out the hot ones. Once, without realizing it, Rainbow Dash had commented that a unicorn that was passing was the hottest she’d seen so far. The unicorn had looked around, hearing what she had said, and it was none other than Rarity. Rainbow Dash had never felt so embarrassed in her life. She had no clue why she hadn't seen who it was at first. After all, they saw each other almost every week. And how many unicorns were white with a triple-diamond cutie mark? How many unicorns had a perfectly-styled mane like hers? How could she have missed it? Eventually, after pondering over it for as long as she possibly could without going mad, Dash had just shrugged and dismissed it as just another one of the world's mysteries. Luckily for her, Rarity hadn’t noticed her and Pinkie.

Other than that one close call, Rainbow Dash felt like she was doing a pretty good job keeping her secret safe. Half of her was glad that her friends didn’t know, but the other half wished she could tell them. Then she would be able to be more open with them, and, whenever she had a crush, she’d actually be able to tell them about the mare instead of just saying, “Romance isn’t really my thing.”

But at least she had Pinkie Pie to talk to. Some of the mares that Dash had liked at one point or another, Pinkie admitted to liking, too.

Now, Rarity had invited everypony to her house for a sleepover. Rainbow Dash had stopped by Sugarcube Corner to pick up some sweets for all of them, and she and Pinkie were headed to the Boutique with their sleeping bags.

“I can’t wait!” Pinkie chirped, bouncing alongside the pegasus. “We’re going to have so much fun and stay up until the morning and tell ghost stories and play Truth or Dare and maybe we’ll have a pillow fight and oh no wait Rarity wouldn’t like that because it’s her house and she probably just has fancy pillows that aren’t good for pillow fights and…” She trailed off, squeeing. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed halfheartedly. Truth be told, she’d been avoiding her other friends like the plague for the past few weeks. After spending all that time talking with Pinkie Pie about mares, she didn’t trust herself not to let something slip. And she still wasn’t sure how the others would react if they found out she was a fillyfooler. Now, at the sleepover, there was no way to avoid talking with them.

Pinkie stopped jumping and raced in front of RD, forcing her to look her in the eye. “Don’t be all saddy-waddy, Dashie! There’s plenty of time for sulking later, but not at the sleepover. Sleepovers are a time for fun, not sitting in the corner looking sad!”

“Okay.”

“No, that’s not enough. Pinkie Promise you won’t be saddy-waddy at the party!”

“Pinkie, that’s not necess—”

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward. “Pinkie Promise!”

“…Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…”

“Good! Now we can go have some fun!” She stepped back. After a moment a mischievous smile spread across her face. “Hey, Dashie?”

“Yeah?”

“Race you there!” Before she had even finished talking she was off, her mane bobbing around and her hooves barely touching the ground.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. “No fair,” she grumbled, leaping into the air to fly after her. Her wings pumped faster and faster, yet still Pinkie managed to defy all physics and stay ahead of her. Frustration boiled in the cyan mare’s chest. She ignored it, though, trying to focus only on the race.

If they find out, they will hate you, she thought. They’ll never talk to you again.

A familiar tension formed in the air around her.

Stupid, stupid Dash. Focus on the race, you disgusting fillyfooler! You can’t let Pinkie beat you. You’re the fastest pony alive! Or…are you? After all, if a simple earth pony is way ahead of you, how can you possibly be that fast?

A glimmering cone began to shape around her, and she flew even faster, gritting her teeth in anger.

You’re a fraud. You’re just a slow, out-of-shape, sick fillyfooler. You’ll never amount to anything. Damn it, Dash, FOCUS ON THE RACE! She shook her head furiously as if to shake off the bad thoughts. Why did she have to do this now, of all times, and here, of all places? Why couldn't her mind just leave her alone? Because without me to put you in your place, she told herself, who knows what you'd do? Every other time, she or another pony had ended up wounded. Uh-oh, she thought suddenly, her eyes growing wide.

Rainbow Dash screamed as a polychromatic explosion shook the air. She darted past Pinkie, crashing headfirst into a nearby tree. The tree trembled once and toppled down, breaking into a collection of branches and lumber.

“Dashie! That was amazing!” Pinkie shouted, hurrying over. “You did a Sonic Rainboom! Can you believe it? Oh, wow, there’s a crater where it happened!”

“Oooh,” came the pained response. “My everything hurts…”

Pinkie opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a loud call.

“What in the hay happened here?” Applejack hollered, standing many yards away at the crater. “What was that explosion, an’ why’s RD lookin’ all injured like that?”

“You missed it! Dashie did a Sonic Rainboom, and it was AWESOME, but then she accidentally broke this tree! She says her everything hurts.” Pinkie frowned. “I think she should get that checked.”

“Okay, that raises a ton of more questions. Why’d she hafta go an’ do a Sonic Rainboom?”

“We were racing and I was winning and I guess she didn’t like that so she did that and then she got hurt.” Her brow furrowed as she looked down at Dash again. “You won, Dashie,” she added, as if that would help ease the mare's pain.

Rainbow Dash just continued groaning.

Applejack trotted over to her, staring down with her confusion clear on her face. “Y’know, we should probably get some help.”

That got Rainbow Dash’s attention. Her eyes flew open and she stumbled to her hooves, shaking herself off like a dog. “Nah, I-I’m fine,” she lied. Truth be told, her leg ached like crazy. But she wasn't about to tell them that. She'd had too many bad experiences in hospitals to risk going to one again. Sure, that one time she'd broken her wing she'd been shacked up in one, but she hadn't had a choice. She'd passed out the second she hit the ground, and her friends weren't about to just let her go without immediate medical care. “H-honest. S-s-see? I’m n-not hurt.” Suddenly she felt something sticky on her flank and turned to see a bunch of smashed cupcakes smeared all over her cutie mark. “C-can’t say the same for these, though. I guess I was still holding them when I did the Sonic Rainboom. N-nopony else got h-hurt, right?”

“Nope. It did leave a pretty big crater, though. Y’all are probably gonna hafta pay to fix it.”

“Horseapples. Pinkie, y-you have our sleeping bags, right?”

The pink mare pulled the two bags seemingly out of nowhere and held them up with a huge grin.

“Good. Can you b-bring them over to Rarity’s and t-tell her I’ll be right there? I-I might t-take a while.”

Before you could even say “cupcakes” Pinkie was off, the sleeping bags stacked up on her back.

Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re all right, sugarcube? That looked like a pretty nasty crash. If you’re hurt, just say so, and we can be on our way to Ponyville Hospital.”

“I-I’m okay, just kinda shaken up,” she said, trying to hide her limp. “I didn’t think I was actually going to do a Sonic Rainboom. It came out of nowhere.” She didn’t tell Applejack the real reason she was shaken up. Why had she been arguing with herself? Why had she said those cruel things about herself? Did she really think she was that worthless? Of course not. She was Rainbow Dash, for crying out loud. She was known for having an ego large enough to put any narcissist to shame. There was no way she thought those things about herself. “A-anyway, Rarity’s probably waiting for us. We should get going.”

The farmer seemed unconvinced. “Sugarcube, you’re way more than shaken up. You’re lookin’ more skittish than a foal that’s just eaten fifty pounds of Pinkie Pie’s double stuffed fudge cookies,” she commented, raising her eyebrows. “If you don’t want to tell me what’s got ya so upset, that’s mighty fine, but Ah’m here for you, no matter what.”

“No matter what?” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but remember the dream she’d had all those nights ago, when Applejack had practically sworn she’d never speak to her again. What if that dream came true? What would happen then?

“No matter what.”

“You’re just saying that,” she argued. “It’s really easy to say you’ll be here no matter what—trust me, I know—but it’s a lot harder to actually mean it. What if I was a changeling this whole time? You wouldn’t be my friend anymore.”

“Yes, Ah would. If you were a changeling this whole time, obviously you’d still have the same personality. You’d still be Rainbow Dash; you’d just be a different species than we thought before.”

“Okay, but what if I had killed somepony? I know for a fact you’d never talk to me ever again.”

“Sure, Ah’d be disappointed in you, but Ah’d still be your friend. You’d still be the same Rainbow Dash. You’d probably go to jail, and the only way Ah’d ever see you would be during visitin’ hours, but you’d still be mah best friend. Or…well…one of ‘em, anyway.” Applejack jabbed a hoof into Dash's ribs. “Look, Rainbow, the point is, you’ll always be mah friend, no matter what—and Ah mean that. So what’s on your mind? Does it have somethin’ to do with why you’ve been avoidin’ all of us for the past few weeks?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Whoa. How’d you know?”

“Ah don’t know. Logic, Ah suppose. So, are ya gonna tell me, or are ya gonna keep me in the dark about whatever it is?”

I have to tell her. She stopped in her tracks and twisted her head toward the orange mare, her wings quivering with nerves. She’s right. We’re best friends, and we’ll always stay that way, no matter what. It’s not right to keep this from her. “I…” Her voice trembled and shook like a branch during a thunderstorm. “W-well, did y-you know that Lyra and B-Bon Bon are d-dating?”

“Of course Ah did. Everyone in town knows by now.”

“Wh-what do you think of that?” She hoped Applejack couldn’t tell how nervous she was. Whatever AJ said now would change everything.

Applejack pondered this for a moment, straightening her Stetson hat. “To be honest,” she began, and paused. “Well, to be honest, Ah don’t much understand how a mare can like another mare.” Noticing Dash’s crestfallen look, she quickly added, “But that don’t mean Ah won’t support them. They’re mah friends, too, and just ‘cause Ah don’t understand something doesn’t mean it ain’t right. If they’re sweet on each other, that’s great, and Ah hope it works out for them, even if Ah don’t like mares myself. Does that answer your question?”

Rainbow Dash felt a wave of relief wash over her, coursing through her to the ends of her hooves. Her wings relaxed and she sighed, beginning to smile. In her relief she forgot about her injured leg, though, and barely kept herself from stumbling. “That’s good to hear. So…what if one of our friends was a…a fillyfooler?”

It was obvious by now that Applejack understood what Dash was hinting at. She gave a sly smile and nudged the pegasus with her shoulder. “Ah’d love them and support them all the same. As a friend, of course. Like Ah said before, we’ll be best friends, no matter what.” Rainbow Dash would’ve been fine if the farmer stopped talking now, but she just kept on going, a teasing tone forming in her voice. “Why? You talkin’ about anyone in particular?”

“Applejack, please don’t make me say it…”

“Think of it as practice for when you tell the others, sugarcube.”

Her wings began to quiver again. A lump formed in her throat. “I-I’m a…I like…you see, the th-thing is…Applejack, please! You already know, just please don’t make me say it!”

Applejack’s smile dropped and her brow furrowed. “Ah’m sorry, Rainbow, Ah didn’t know it made you this nervous. The only other time Ah’ve seen you act this jittery was at the Best Young Flyer’s Competition. Okay, you don’t hafta say it if you don’t want to. But Ah want you to know Ah don’t think any different of you because of this.”

“That’s great, but…isn’t your family really old-fashioned?”

The faintest hint of annoyance flickered across her face. “Oh, not this again. Why does everypony think that just because mah family’s really old-fashioned, we’re a bunch of narrow-minded, homophobic idiots? Of all the… All Ah’m sayin’ is, it’s a bit annoyin’ when everyone thinks we condemn all coltcuddlers and fillyfoolers. Hay, you wouldn’t guess it, but Big Macintosh swings both ways. Now why on earth would we hate coltcuddlers if one of our kin was one? Besides, there ain’t anything wrong with it. Love is love.” She blinked twice. “Oh. Sorry, Dash, Ah got a bit off track there. What were we saying?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Nothing important,” she said sarcastically. Then she laughed. “Wow. I already told Pinkie, but it’s great to be able to tell somepony else about this whole fillyfooling stuff.”

“Is that why you’ve only been hanging with her for the past three weeks?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Another laugh escaped her lips. “Anyway, I know for a fact that Rarity will be waiting for us. We should probably get going, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. Ah can just imagine her face when we walk in half an hour late.”

“Oh, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it’s okay to be fashionably late, but honestly, dears, half an hour? Do you know how many things could get done in half an hour?” Rainbow Dash mocked, making her voice as high pitched as their girly friend’s. “On the bright side, though, we probably missed the makeover part of the sleepover.”

Laughing hysterically, the two friends made their way toward Carousel Boutique, not even looking back toward the humongous crater and destroyed tree. Though Rainbow Dash felt much better after revealing her secret to Applejack, there was still a twinge of dread in her heart. She had a bad feeling that this particular sleepover would turn into a disaster, and she was not eager to find out just how it would be done.

Chapter Two

Rarity ran the brush through Pinkie Pie’s mane again, ignoring her complaints. After several minutes of begging and pleading, Pinkie had finally given in and trotted up to Rarity’s room to get her makeover…for about five seconds. Then she’d begun to squirm and whimper, her tail lashing around, her hooves shuffling impatiently.

“Pinkie, darling,” the unicorn scolded, “please stop moving around like that. I’m almost done with your mane, and then you can move. Until I start on your makeup, that is.”

“But whyyyy?” Pinkie replied, sitting down with a thump. “I don’t see you telling Twilight to sit still!”

“That’s because she’s already sitting still, dear.”

Finally the party pony calmed down enough for Rarity to continue with her mane. While Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight were talking about whatever it was they were talking about, Rarity was left to her own troubled thoughts.

Where are Applejack and Rainbow Dash? she thought, scowling. I know they were slowed down because Rainbow Dash hurt herself a bit when she did a Sonic Rainboom—I was at least able to get that from Pinkie’s jumbled speech—but it’s been over half an hour already. I’m starting to get quite a bit worried for them. What if those nasty Diamond Dogs found their way into town?

Right as she was about to go into her “Worst Possible Thing” speech, the bell by the front door signaled that the door was opening and somepony was entering the shop. Rarity was hardly able to stop herself from dropping what she was doing to check if it was the two tomcolts. That would’ve been unladylike.

“Sorry about that,” came Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice, echoing up the staircase and into Rarity’s bedroom. “We started talking about, uh, stuff, and we kinda got carried away. I’m not hurt anymore, though, so that’s a good thing.”

The cyan mare trotted upstairs, obviously trying to hide a limp, and stopped in the door. Applejack was following close behind. When the two saw Twilight sitting in the corner with a mud facial plastered on her cheeks and her mane in curlers, Fluttershy reading a fashion magazine and sporting a braided mane, and Pinkie shifting impatiently as Rarity styled her mane, they burst out laughing and high-hoofed.

“I was right,” Rainbow snickered. “We did miss the makeover part of the sleepover.”

“Not quite,” Rarity corrected, hiding her relief that they’d shown up. Rainbow Dash had stood her and the others up so many times in the past few weeks that she was actually more surprised that she had arrived. “There are still plenty of things to do before all of you look your best. And Rainbow Dash, dear, if you would just let be brush your mane once…”

Twilight stood, her eyes still covered with cucumbers. “Actually, Rarity, maybe we should move on to something else. My books say that, at sleepovers, if not everypony is enjoying the activity, it’s best to change what you’re doing so all the participants have fun.”

Rarity sighed. “Fine. But mark my words, Rainbow Dash, one day I will convince you to let me style your mane.”

Dash rolled her eyes and exchanged a glance with Applejack. “Yeah, right. Sorry, Rarity, but that’s going to happen when pigs fly.”

“Pigs flew when Discord took over!” Pinkie Pie pointed out.

“That’s not helping, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash stepped further into the room. Out of nowhere she yelped and tumbled to the ground. Blushing with humiliation, she jumped up and smoothed back her mane. She was holding one hoof at an odd angle. Clearing her throat, she looked around, immediately voicing her disapproval of the room’s décor. “Blech. No offense, but this place looks like you took everything girly and just shoved it into one tiny room. I don’t mean to be rude or anything, ‘cause I know you probably like this stuff, but if I had to live in here I would go crazy.”

Rarity halted and glared icy daggers at Rainbow Dash. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash, for pointing that out. I find that quite offensive, seeing as this is, in fact, my room.”

“Sorry, I was just pointing out that it wasn’t for me.”

“In the future, I’d very much appreciate it if you refrain from, as you say, ‘pointing that out.’”

“Don’t get your mane in a tangle. All I did was say that I wouldn’t have decorated it like this if it was my room.”

“But it’s not your room, and you said it in a way that I found very uncouth.” She clenched her teeth and stepped toward Dash, not noticing when Pinkie shook her head furiously to return her mane to normal.

Instinctively, Dash took a step back from the irate mare. “What do you want me to say? Sorry that I don’t filter everything and think it over for an hour before speaking? Sorry for having a speck of personality?”

“What are you implying?”

“Nothing, I just think that some of us could do without having a stick up their ass all the time.”

“I beg your pardon! I do not have a stick up my...rear. I am simply a civilized mare, unlike you. And, since we are now apparently resorting to petty insults, you would not know civilized if it came up and bit you on the nose.”

“Yeah, and that’s because I don’t waste my time with useless things like fashion and manners. I actually have a life!”

“Are you saying I don’t?”

“You make a living selling dresses when hardly anypony even wears clothes, let alone fancy ones!”

“You don’t even make a living!”

“I’m captain of the weather team, and soon enough I’ll be in the Wonderbolts. In case you haven’t noticed, they’re the most famous ponies besides the Princesses! That’s more than you can say!”

“My shop is one of the most famous shops in all of Equestria! I’ve done business with Sapphire Shores and Fancy Pants! And pardon me, but if you’re such an excellent flier, why haven’t you been accepted into the Wonderbolts yet?”

Rainbow Dash winced, and Rarity knew she’d hit a sore spot. “Well—they’re waiting until one of them retires. They’re…they’re full right now. Anyway, it’s none of your business, Miss Snooty! You don’t seem to have any luck with your dream, either.”

“And what that be?”

“Finding a stallion that can stand to be around you for more than five seconds!”

“You don’t have a coltfriend either. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a fillyfooler.” Rarity turned up her nose.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and her ears fell back. For a single fleeting moment Rarity could see tears welling up in her eyes. Then she bared her teeth and hollered, “Shut up! You’re just a stupid drama queen! You don’t know anything!”

“Well, you’re just an arrogant jock that—”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted, her tail lashing angrily. “This is a sleepover. We’re supposed to be having fun, not arguing like foals!”

“We weren’t—” Rainbow Dash and Rarity began at the same time.

Twilight’s horn glowed to life as she zipped both of their mouths shut. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t want to hear either of you say a word to each other until you’ve decided to apologize for being rude. That goes for both of you,” she added, giving Rarity a sharp glance. “Once again, I’m sorry if I sound rude, but since both of you are acting like foals, I have to treat you like foals. Do you understand?”

They swapped glares before Rainbow Dash pointed to her mouth, with was still zipped closed. Twilight paused and unzipped them before repeating her question.

“Yes,” they answered grudgingly. Then, realizing they had spoken at the same time, they continued glaring at each other as they backed away to opposite corners of the room. They were far enough away from each other so that they could not hear what the other was saying, but close enough so they could still glare ceaselessly at each other.

“Can you believe Rarity?” Rainbow Dash growled to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, not tearing her eyes away from the white unicorn. “She overreacts over every little thing. I was just making one simple comment and she had to go and make it into this whole big ordeal. She’s the most annoying pony I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something.”

“Hey now, sugarcube, she’s your friend,” Applejack warned. “Just ‘cause she gets on your nerves every so often doesn’t mean she’s a bad pony. You get on mah nerves a ton, and you’re still one of mah best friends. She’s mah friend, too, and Ah won’t have you talkin’ bad about her behind her back.”

Pinkie nodded. “It’s not good to be angry at your friends. Remember how you promised to not be saddy-waddy? Well I should’ve also made you promise to not be angry-wangry either, ‘cause that’s just as bad. And to be fair, what you said was kinda sorta maybe a little rude.”

“A lot rude.” Applejack rested her hoof on Dash’s shoulder sympathetically. “Ah know you’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and Pinkie knows that too. But you can’t take your anger out on your friends. It’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to you.”

“But she—”

Applejack interrupted, “Ah know what you’re going to say, and she shouldn’t have argued back. Ah’m sure she’ll apologize, too, but Ah think you should be the one to make the first move.”

Rainbow Dash felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She blinked, saying, “Whoa, AJ, we’re not talking about dating, we’re talking about apologizing. What do you mean, make the first move?”

“Ah’m sayin’ you should apologize first is all. Don’t get yourself all worked up, sugarcube.”

She sighed and stared at her hooves. “I guess you’re right,” she admitted reluctantly. “Okay, I’ll apologize, but just give me a minute.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of Rarity’s room, said pony was silently seething at the prismatic mare. Fluttershy and Twilight sat nearby, watching her carefully and occasionally exchanging a worried glance.

She’s so ignorant, Rarity thought. How dare she insult my home like that? If I walked into her room and started criticizing every little thing that was inside it, she wouldn’t speak to me for a month. Why won’t she just think before she speaks? I mean, it’s really not that difficult. And for that matter, why can’t she be less…coltish? Would it kill her to brush her mane or wear a dress every once in a while?

She shook her head slightly, correcting herself. Okay, Rarity, don’t be rude. That’s her job. Wait, it’s not like she can hear me. Oh, but mean thoughts lead to mean actions. No matter what she may say, I am not a mean pony, and nor do I wish to be. But sometimes she makes me wish I were. She’s so infuriating! If I had a penny for every time she’s made me mad, I would have enough money to move to Canterlot and support myself there.

“Rarity?” Fluttershy whispered inaudibly.

Honestly, I think she’s the most irritating pony in all of Equestria. Applejack used to hold that position, but once I got to know her and Rainbow Dash a bit more, they switched. Now Applejack is one of my closest friends, and Rainbow Dash is…well…Rainbow Dash.

“Rarity,” Fluttershy repeated, a bit louder.

Eventually I’ll snap if I keep spending time with her. I know it. I’ll snap, go insane, light some things on fire, and I’ll have to spend the rest of my life in prison. She’s maddening!

“Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed, shaking her gently. “Snap out of it! Are you okay?”

“Hm? What’s that, darling?” she responded, turning her head toward her fellow unicorn.

“You were glaring at Rainbow Dash and muttering to yourself. You, well, you said something about revenge. Honestly, you were starting to worry Fluttershy and I.”

“I’m fine, dear, although I do appreciate that you clarified it with me. I just…oh, Twilight, please do forgive me, but I believe I am starting to dislike Rainbow Dash!” She put her hooves up to her face as if bracing herself for an attack. When one didn’t come, she lowered them and stared cautiously at Twilight. “You’re not mad? But all of us are supposed to be the best of friends. We’re the Elements of Harmony, and we may not be able to use the Elements if two of us are not on good terms!”

Twilight shook her head. “Rarity, you don’t really dislike Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, but I do. I can’t stand to be near her!”

“Quick question, Rarity. How many times have you actually spent time with Rainbow Dash?”

“More times than I can count. What about all those pet playdates, and the lunches we went to, and the train rides from here to Canterlot, and—?”

“But the others were there, too. How many times has it just been you and Rainbow Dash?”

“Well…” She hesitated before answering, “We went to breakfast one time. Remember? When Spike went on the dragon migration?”

“No, Rarity, you planned to go to lunch. The dragon migration kept you from going, so you never were able to go. You’ve never really gotten to know her, Rarity. I think that if you do, you’ll find that she’s actually pretty good company.”

“Pardon me, Twilight, but that’s a lie. I’ve gotten to know her better than I want to, trust me.”

“What’s her favorite color?”

Rarity grinned. “That’s easy. It’s…” But when she tried to rack her brain, she found that she didn’t have an answer. “I…I don’t know.”

“What are her parents’ names?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does she have any siblings? Does she have any fears? When did she first learn to fly? Who taught her to fly? Where did she go to school? Did she ever—?”

“Okay, Twilight, I’ve heard enough,” Rarity interrupted, her head drooping. “Maybe I don’t know her as well as I had imagined. But how do you suggest I fix that?”

“Well, you can start by apologizing to her.”

“Me? Apologize? What did I do?”

“You fought back. You could’ve just let her blow off some steam and be done, but instead you fueled into her anger, which caused much more damage than it should have.”

“…Fine. I’ll apologize. But then what? Am I just supposed to ask her to tell me her whole life’s story? That won’t end well.”

“Maybe you could…” Hearing Fluttershy speak up, both unicorns whipped their heads around to look at her. The shy mare visibly shrank, her ears folding back. “Oh, I’m sorry for interrupting… I was just saying that, um, maybe to get to know her better you two could, um, go to lunch or help each other with your work or something…” She winced as if expecting to be rebuked. Instead, Twilight visibly brightened.

“That could work,” she mused. “Then you could get to know her and she could get to know you. And then you two wouldn’t argue so much and we’d all be friends again! Ooh, this is perfect!” She clapped her hooves together. “But both of you would have to create a schedule and stick to it. Rarity, would you be up to something like that?”

Rarity cast her gaze toward Rainbow Dash, who was on the other side of the room and looking no happier than she did. “Well…I suppose that might help. But I doubt she’d want to do that.”

“Well, why don’t you find out? Apologize and let her do the same, and then ask her if she’d be up to lunch tomorrow.”

“Okay, but don’t be surprised if she says no,” Rarity said, already trotting over to the cyan pegasus. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. I was just coming over to say—”

“I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash blurted out before she could finish her sentence. “I acted like a jerk and I shouldn’t have insulted your room because it’s your house it’s just that I’ve been thinking about a lot of really stressful stuff lately and I know that’s no excuse but I really really am sorry so will you forgive me?”

She managed all of that in one breath? As much as I hate to admit it, that is quite impressive. “I…I forgive you. And I’d like to say that I’m sorry as well. I fought back. I could’ve just let you blow off some steam and be done, but instead I fueled into your anger, which caused much more damage than I should have let it.” She glanced back at Twilight, hoping the librarian wouldn’t point out that Rarity had used her words.

“Apology accepted,” Rainbow Dash replied, staring at the ground.

“Wait, I’m not done.” Rarity took a deep breath. “To make it up to you, I was wondering if you’d like to go to lunch with me tomorrow at the restaurant of your choice. It’d be a good chance to spend some time together and get to know each other.”

Dash’s wings fluffed out and she blushed slightly. Her jaw gaped open for a few seconds before she shut it and glanced back at Applejack and Pinkie. They grinned and gave her what could be interpreted as a thumbs-up. “I…uh…as friends, right?”

“Of course. What else would we go as?”

“Oh.” She deflated slightly before clearing her throat and smoothing her mane back. “Uh, sure, that sounds great. What time should we head over there?”

“I was thinking about leaving at around 11:45.”

“And…um…you said any restaurant, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“’Cause there’s this new Prench place that opened up, and I’ve kinda been wanting to check it out. It’s a bit expensive, but I could pay for it. Being captain of the weather team has its benefits.”

“That sounds marvelous, Rainbow Dash.”

“Great! So I’ll pick you up around 11:45?”

“It’s a date.”

This seemed to cause Rainbow even more anxiety. She swallowed and plastered an obviously false smile across her face, glancing around. “R-right,” she squeaked. “Can’t wait.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow at her before turning away and nodding to the others. “Now that that’s sorted out, what do you say we move on to some other activities? Perhaps Truth or Dare would be fun?”

Twilight automatically gave a squeal of delight. “I love that game! When it’s played in good nature, of course. Rarity, can you help me get some pillows in a circle for us to sit on?”

“Oh, no, dear, we are not going to use my nice pillows for sitting on.”

“But what about…?”

As the two discussed the technicalities of their game of Truth or Dare, Pinkie slithered over to Rainbow Dash and gave her a sly grin. The pegasus was still staring into space.

“Does Dashie have a crushie?” Pinkie teased, giggling into her hoof.

Dash’s ears shot straight up as she whirled her head around to gawk at her. “Wh-what? No! I just…it was like she was doing it on purpose. I mean, she even said ‘It’s a date.’ Who says that anymore? Besides her, anyway. It—it’s not fair.”

“Then why are you blushing?”

“If you’re suggesting I’d be into someone as prissy as her, you’ve got another thing coming. I’d rather die, honestly. And if I’m blushing, it’s because she was practically flirting with me a second ago.” Rainbow Dash turned her head away from her friend, trying to get the red on her cheeks to go away. Yeesh. Just because Rarity and I made up doesn’t mean we’re all of a sudden in love.

Fluttershy looked between them, her head tilted to one side. “Oh! Um, sorry, but I feel like I’m missing something here.”

Pinkie Pie and Applejack swapped glances before turning their gazes to Rainbow Dash. “You wouldn’t mind if we told Fluttershy, would ya, Rainbow?” Applejack clarified. “Ah know it embarrasses you, but Ah honestly think she won’t hate you for it. After all, she knows about Mac, and she doesn’t hate him now, does she?”

Dash’s heart leapt into her throat. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before managing to croak out, “O-o-okay, b-but if sh-she never talks to m-me again it’s y-your faults.”

Fluttershy’s head drooped. “Oh, no, that’s okay, if you don’t want me to I don’t need to know. But if it makes you feel any better, I could never hate you.”

That’s what they all say, Dash thought bitterly, painful memories clouding her mind for but a moment. Out loud, she said, “No, you deserve to know. AJ, can you…can you tell her for me? I don’t wanna have to say it…”

“Sure thing, sugarcube,” Applejack said, beckoning for Fluttershy to come closer. She bent her muzzle to the shy mare’s ear and whispered for a few moments before pulling away and eyeing her to gauge her reaction.

The slightest hint of a blush appeared on Fluttershy’s cheeks. She looked deep in thought for a moment before saying, “I, um, I wouldn’t have guessed that. But that’s not to say I don’t approve of it. I guess I can sort of relate, kind of.” Now her whole face was turning bright red. “Does anypony else know? I mean, well, I know that Applejack and Pinkie Pie do, but, um…do Twilight and Rarity?”

“No.” Rainbow Dash scowled. “They were kind of the two I thought would approve the least, so I’m putting off telling them. For now, at least.”

“What are we talking about, girls?” Twilight asked suddenly, trotting over. “Did I hear my name?”

“No!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “We were, uh, talking about your…your mom! Twilight Velvet, yeah!”

“…Why exactly were we talking about my mother?”

“W-well, you see, uh…” She trailed off, her gaze wandering past the bookworm and toward Rarity, who was begrudgingly fluffing up some pillows and placing them in a circle. “What are those pillows over there for?”

“They’re for us to sit on when we play Truth or Dare.”

“Okay, cool. Rarity looks like she’s ready with them, so we’d better go over and play. You know, since there are only so many hours in the night for us to play.” Glad for a distraction, the pegasus zoomed over and plopped her haunches down on one of the pillows.

A few moments later the others joined her, Pinkie Pie sitting on one side of her, Rarity sitting on the other. Twilight sat across from them, beaming from ear to ear.

“Okay, so who should start?” the purple unicorn asked cheerfully.

Why does she love Truth or Dare so much? Rainbow Dash thought, rolling her eyes as Pinkie begged to be the first to go.

“Ooh! I have a good one! Okay…hm…Applejack! Truth or Dare?” Pinkie somehow managed to start bouncing in her seat, her eyes eager and bright.

Applejack tapped her hoof to her chin. “Hm…Ah’d have to say Truth. No offense, Pinkie, but your Dares tend to get a bit dangerous.”

“Aww…okay, fine. Is it true you have a crush on somepony?” She leaned forward even more, batting her eyelashes and making smooching noises. It was all Rainbow Dash could do not to burst out laughing.

The normally stoic farmer began to look very flustered. “Oh horseapples, Ah should’ve picked Dare.”

“You have to answer, Applejack. It’s the rules!”

“…Yes. But Ah ain’t tellin’ you who no matter what, y’hear?” She crossed her arms stubbornly. “Mah turn. Pinkie, Truth or—”

“No, no, you can’t do that to the pony that did it to you!” Pinkie interrupted frantically.

“Fine. Twilight, Truth or Dare?”

Twilight seemed surprised that she had been picked. “Um, Dare, I guess. Statistics say that when ponies pick the same thing every round it gets boring more quickly.”

“Ah dare you to walk like a chicken while pretendin’ to write a letter to Princess Celestia!” As the others burst out laughing, Applejack gave a wide smile and leaned back.

“But—oh, fine.” Twilight stood on her shaky hind legs, wobbling for a few moments before she began to balance. She bent her arms to represent chicken wings and proclaimed, “Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that playing Truth or Dare is very dangerous and is to be avoided at all cost. At the moment I’m walking like a chicken while my friends laugh at me—no, with me, to be exact. Do not, I repeat, do not play Truth or Dare in public. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” With that she collapsed and joined in with her friends’ laughter, giggling until tears began to seep out of her eyes.

Once their chuckles had died away she wiped the tears away and sat up. “Okay, Rarity, Truth or Dare?”

“Truth, obviously. I shall not be made to look like a fool.”

“Is it true that you…hmm…give me a second.” Twilight’s forehead and nose wrinkled as she focused on the problem at hoof. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth scrunched up, reminding Rainbow Dash of Derpy Hooves. Finally, after what seemed like hours but in reality was hardly a minute, she straightened up and said triumphantly, “Out of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies, which species do you think would make the best date?”

Rarity frowned. “Dear, that’s not something I feel I should share.”

“Sorry, Rarity, but you have to. It’s the rules.”

“Oh, fine.” She sighed. “Well, obviously I do fancy unicorns, but they’re not the species I find most attractive. Believe it or not, I do enjoy dating pegasi.”

Rainbow Dash unconsciously rustled her wings and smiled.

“But species is not the deciding factor for me,” Rarity went on. “It would make me quite shallow if I only cared whether or not a potential mate had wings. Personality has a lot to do with it. Oh, and fashion sense. Now, is it my turn? Perfect.” A mischievous smirk slithered across her lips. “Rainbow Dash, Truth or Dare?”

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Rainbow Dash’s heart rate skyrocketed. If she picked Dare, the unicorn might ask her to reveal her deepest darkest secret or kiss one of the others or do something else that would require her to reveal she was a fillyfooler. But if she picked Truth, she might have to answer a question like, “If you had to date one pony in this room, who would you date?” Either way, she was going to be humiliated. Either way, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle were probably going to discover that she liked mares. But with Truth, she might have more breathing room to think up excuses. “Truth,” she finally decided.

Rarity swept her gaze around the room, giggling into her hoof. “When was your first kiss, and with whom did you share it?”

Grief stabbed into her heart like a dagger that was dripping with painful memories. Her mind flashed back to Junior Speedsters Flight Camp, and the griffon that had been her whole life. She remembered when Gilda admitted she liked Dash, their first kiss, their first fight, their tearful separation once flight camp ended, and most importantly, when they had finally reunited in Ponyville, only to have Dash find out that the griffon had become a huge jerk. All those memories and more swamped her mind, causing her more pain than she’d have admitted. She gritted her teeth and pressed her hooves over her ears, trying to block them out, but it was no use. She was unable to wash Gilda from her mind.

One particular memory kept drifting into her head. It was the moment Gilda had told Dash she loved her for the first time, and the time she revealed an old griffon secret, the one secret that changed everything.

“Dash,” the young griffon said, her voice ragged, “I have something to tell you.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, leaning her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. “No prob, Gilda. Anything you have to say, I’ll listen to you. That’s why I’m your marefriend, remember?”

“It’s…it’s sort of about that.” She twiddled her claws, avoiding her crush’s gaze. “See, I think that I’m…well, the thing is…oh, Dash, I think I love you. No, I know I love you. At first I thought it was just a crush, y’know, the sort of thing you’d get over in a week or two, but then the more we hung out the more I realized it wasn’t. I’m not going to get all mushy here, ‘cause that’s not my thing, but I just wanted you to know that. And if you don’t feel the same way, that’s okay, because I’ll love you forever.”

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped and she pulled away from Gilda. For a moment she just sat there looking stunned. Then she blinked, turned her head away, and said, “…Whoa. I honestly didn’t expect that. I, um, I appreciate you saying that, but do you really think you’ll love me forever? That’s a really long time."

“Can I tell you something, Dash?”

“Sure.”

“Griffons can only fall in love once.” Gilda winced. “It has something to do with the way we mate for life. Once we fall in love, that’s it. That’s who we’ll love for all of eternity. And I love you, Dash. So when I say forever, I mean it.”

Rainbow Dash just gazed at her with wide, innocent magenta eyes. Her young mind hadn’t fully grasped the concept of love yet. Sure, she knew she liked Gilda much more than a friend, but…did she love her? And how could she tell? So she just stared and blinked, finally saying, “Thank you. Really, thank you, that’s, uh…nice of you? But I don’t know if I feel the same way. I mean, sure I like you a lot, but love is a bit of a…strong word, you know? I don’t mean to be romantic or anything weird like that, but that really does mean a lot to me, and I’ll, um, keep it in mind.”

Anger blazed in Gilda’s eyes for a split second. “Great. That’s cool. No problem. Well, I have something to do somewhere, so…see you, Dash.” And then she flew off, leaving Rainbow Dash to ponder over what had happened.

After that they drifted apart slightly. Rainbow Dash didn’t count it as a real fight, but that spark, that desire to be with each other whenever possible, was gone. Then, when flight camp drew to an end and they were forced to return to their own homes, their parting wasn't nearly as painful as it could’ve been. They still wept like fillies, but after that they accepted the inevitable and broke up, knowing that long-distance relationships hardly ever worked out.

Later in Rainbow Dash’s life, when she looked back on their relationship, she was finally able to accept the fact that yes, she had loved Gilda, but she had been too terrified of what that meant to admit it—even to herself.

I was doing so well, she thought grimly as the others waited for her answer. It’s been, what, four months since I’ve thought about her? And then they had to go and talk about romance and all this mushy-gushy crap. I know I should just get over that featherbrain, but…I can’t. She was my first love, and besides, I know for a fact she hasn’t gotten over me yet. Griffons fall in love once in their whole life. So why should I do something she doesn’t have to do? Maybe I should get help. Maybe a therapist would be able to—NO! No, I can’t do that. I don’t need help. I can do this on my own. I…can…do…this.

“Rainbow Dash, dear, are you okay?”

Dash yelped and leapt to her hooves, crashing into Rarity. She glanced around, realizing that she’d been curled up in a fetal position for almost ten minutes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that would make you this upset,” Rarity went on, resting her hoof on her shoulder. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, dear.”

The unicorn’s touch sent a ripple down Dash’s spine. She folded her ears back and closed her eyes, saying with renewed determination, “No. You girls deserve to know. It…it was Gilda.”

Chapter Three

All five of Rainbow Dash’s friends’ jaws dropped to the ground. For several long, tedious seconds everything was silent. Then Rarity coughed out, “I beg your pardon?”

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and slumped down, trying to hide her fear. “I already told you. It was Gilda. There, I said it. Are you happy? Can we move on?” Sweat began to drip down her coat as the silence reigned on. Her friends’ shocked faces burned into her. Her wings drooped until the tips of them touched the floor and her pupils shrank. “Girls?” she squeaked, her voice cracking. “Can we please just forget this and move on?”

They’re going to hate you, she thought. Yes, all but Rarity and Twilight know you like mares, but…Gilda? There’s no way they could’ve known about that, and they met Gilda. They hated her. If they know I liked her that much, they might hate me, too! Oh, Celestia, please don’t let me lose my friends just because I’m a bucking idiot!

Her breath was short and ragged. She stood and shuffled her hooves nervously as her stomach began to toss and turn. Frantically she turned in circles, taking in her friends’ expressions.

They hate you they hate you oh my Celestia they’re never going to talk to you again they’re going to kill you GET OUT OF HERE!

“Where’s the bathr—” Before she even finished her sentence she shot off like a rocket, weaving through the halls until she reached the bathroom. Once she had found it she slammed the door and bolted it.

Tears streaming down her face, she sank onto the rug and covered her face with her hooves.

“S-stupid Rainbow Dash,” she whimpered. “Now not only are they g-going to h-hate you because you k-kissed Gilda, but they’re g-going to know you’re a c-crybaby. A s-stupid, immature, weak crybaby.” Her hind legs kicked out as if shoving away all her fears.

She didn’t know how long she’d been crying before she heard a knock on the door. It could’ve been thirty seconds…heck, it could’ve been thirty minutes, for all she knew.

“Dashie? It’s Pinkie. Are you in there?” The party mare’s voice sounded soft and shaky, a stark contrast to her normal bubbly tone.

“G-go away,” Rainbow Dash blubbered, her tail flicking around.

Pinkie continued knocking. “Please come out. I don’t like hearing you crying.”

“I’m not…” She paused to give a loud sob. “I’m not c-c-crying! Leave me alone!”

Hoofsteps sounded and the knocking stopped. A second later, though, Applejack’s voice called through the door. “Rainbow, Ah know why you’re upset. You think we’re going to hate you just ‘cause you kissed Gilda, right? Do you really think we’re that shallow? We’ll never hate you. We just want you to come out of there so we can talk to you.”

“Go away.”

“Goshdarnit, Rainbow, Ah’m not going to do that! Do you know how upset Pinkie is right now? She looked like she was about to cry because you won’t suck it up and come out of there! Ah don’t mean to be rude; you’ve got a right to be upset. But we’re tryin’ to help you.”

Rainbow Dash sniffled. “Pinkie’s upset?”

“Would you please come out of there so we can talk? And just for the record, Rarity and Twilight said they don’t hate you, either.”

Dash set her head down on the fuzzy rug, closing her eyes before standing and wiping her nose. “Okay, fine, I’ll come out. But you can’t make me do anything else.” She unlocked and opened the door, immediately yelping as she came face to face with Applejack. Both mares leapt backwards before averting their gazes.

“They’re still in Rarity’s room,” Applejack told her. As the pegasus began to move, though, she held out a hoof. “Wait. Rainbow Dash, are you okay?”

“I’m better now,” she replied, brushing past the farmer.

“That’s not what Ah meant. Pinkie and Ah heard you talkin’ to yourself, and when you did that Sonic Rainboom earlier… Can Ah ask you somethin’, and will you give me an honest answer?”

“Fine. Sure. Whatever.”

“Do you…Ah mean, what’s your…do you have self-esteem issues?”

“No!” Rainbow Dash hollered immediately. Her wings flared out with desperation. After a moment she sighed and turned her head away, wincing. “I mean…yes. Sort of. But I shouldn’t! I mean, I’m the awesomest pony ever! And why do you care?”

“’Cause Ah’m your friend.” Applejack frowned. “Ah don’t mean to be pushy, but Ah think you should get professional help for that.”

Rage boiled through her blood. She bared her teeth and shoved her muzzle in her friend’s face, her neck veins bulging. “Oh, so as soon as I tell you I kissed Gilda, you say I should get help? Some friend you are. And here I thought I could trust you!”

“Calm down, sugarcube, that ain’t what Ah’m sayin’. Can Ah tell you a secret?”

“Do I have a choice?” she spat.

Applejack ignored her. “Ah used to have a horrible self-esteem. Sometimes it got so bad that—well, never mind. Ah got a head doctor to help me, and it really helped. Now Ah’m perfectly fine. Ah’m not sayin’ you have to do that, Ah’m just sayin’ it might help. Trust me, you’ll feel a lot happier.”

Instead of answering, Rainbow Dash shouldered the farmpony aside. Her face darkened and she snorted through her nostrils a few times, trying to calm her anger, before trudging to Rarity’s room. At the entrance, however, she paused and rested her forehead against the soft oak of the door. She could hear her friends’ subdued murmuring drifting under the door, and occasionally she heard her name tossed into the conversation.

I’m an idiot, she thought, suppressing a sigh. I should’ve just stayed there and explained it all to them instead of running away like a little filly. Now not only will I have to explain what happened with Gilda, but also why I was crying so hard.

Before she could continue with her bitter thoughts, she closed her eyes and drew in several shuddery breaths. No, she corrected. That’s in the past. I can’t change what I did. My dad always told me, “If you’re going to be dumb, you’ve got to be tough.” Besides, Applejack’s sort of right. I do beat myself up a lot. But…I shouldn’t. I’m awesome. I’m Rainbow Dash. There’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t need a head doctor, and I definitely don’t have self-esteem issues. I’ll show her!

She plastered on a cocky grin and stood taller. Without allowing herself a moment to regret it she gave the door a gentle push. It swung open.

“Hey, gals,” Rainbow Dash said, still wearing an obviously phony smile. “Sorry about that, I, uh, had to…use the bathroom. Yeah.” Chuckling nervously, she added, “Hope I didn’t miss anything too important.”

At once Pinkie lunged and threw her arms around Dash, catching the pegasus by surprise. The pink mare’s cheeks were decorated with darker streaks, most likely caused by tears, and her mane was drooping slightly. She closed her eyes and buried her face in Dash’s mane, whimpering softly. After several long moments she drew away and stared up at Rainbow Dash. Her blue eyes were dull and gloomy. “Don’t do that, Dashie,” she whispered. “We were so worried…”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck, swallowing the lump in her throat, trying to act brave for her friend. “Hey, calm down, Pinks,” she urged. “It isn’t like I was in danger or anything. Heck, you weren’t even this upset when I did that Sonic Rainboom into the tree, and I could’ve died. I’m surprised I got away without injury, but hey, I’m Rainbow Dash. What can I say?”

“But that was different. You weren’t sad then. I knew you weren’t hurt. You were crying now, and you wouldn’t come out and talk to me and we were worried we had done something to hurt you and don’t ever do that again!”

“I-I-I wasn’t crying,” Dash insisted, glancing away. “I was just…um…coughing. And stuff. I’m probably coming down with a cold or something stupid like that.”

Pinkie Pie seemed unconvinced. She didn’t press the mare, though, and instead took advantage of the silence to make her way back to her pillow seat. Once there she began staring forlornly at her hooves.

Avoiding her friends’ gazes, Dash trotted over to the pillow she had been sitting at before and sank her haunches back. “So…uh…what happened while I was gone?”

Rarity cleared her throat dramatically as she stood. “Well, Rainbow Dash, we were, in fact, talking about the delightful piece of information you recently disclosed to everypony. Everypony but Twilight and I, that is.”

Rainbow Dash winced. “Oh. Right.”

“And I have just one thing to say on the matter,” the mare continued, making her way over to Dash. She now stood directly in front of her, her nose almost touching the other mare’s. Disapproval glimmered and shone in her pristine blue eyes, and Rainbow Dash braced herself for the worst. What she got instead was a soft hug. Rarity’s warm breath tickled her ear as she murmured, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’m your friend. Faust knows we don’t get along one hundred percent of the time, but I would’ve thought you trusted me enough to tell me you liked mares.”

Rainbow stared at her with her jaw hanging loose.

“I may be a stallion lover myself, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t accept you. Haven’t all of us shown you enough that you can trust us? By no means do I intend to be rude, but if you had just told us from the start, you would have saved yourself a lot of worry. Trust me,” she added, swapping glances with Fluttershy, “I learned that lesson long ago.”

“You don’t hate me,” Rainbow Dash stated, the fact sending a sharp fizz of joy through her. “You don’t hate me!”

“Of course not, Rainbow Dash. Although this certainly explains why you were acting so jumpy before when I asked you to lunch. I must have been sending you the wrong signals. No hard feelings?” Rarity stood back from her and offered her hoof.

Rainbow’s cheeks flushed just the tiniest bit as she shook Rarity’s hoof. “No hard feelings.”

“Wonderful! Now, then, about that question I asked you earlier…and that answer you gave…while I would enjoy hearing an explanation, I can see that it made you quite uncomfortable, so I will drop it. And I do believe Truth or Dare is probably done with tonight, so we shall move on to our next activity—Spin the Bottle!”

A collective wail rose from the group.

Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof and giggled quietly. “Oh, I’m only kidding. Next we’ll make s’mores while we wait for our food to arrive. I ordered in from a fancy restaurant!”

Applejack, who was just entering the room again, mentioned, “Isn’t that sort of backwards? Aren’t you s’posed to eat dinner first and then dessert?”

“Darling, we’re at a sleepover. I never thought I would say this, but…rules don’t apply here.”

Before too long the six of them were clustered around a small fire in Rarity’s backyard, clutching sticks dripping with melted marshmallows in their jaws. Rarity was watching each of them carefully. Every time one of their marshmallows would turn golden-brown she grasped it in her magic and slowly and deliberately placed it in a s’more. This annoyed Rainbow Dash immensely, as she preferred her marshmallows burnt to a crisp.

Soon she found a technique. She’d wait until Rarity was busy making a s’more for one of the others, and then she would stuff her stick in the fire and wait until the flame spread to her sticky treat. Just as Rarity turned back to the blaze Rainbow Dash blew out the fire stuffed the marshmallow in her mouth, ignoring the heat to savor the crispy flavor.

Pinkie had cheered up considerably since they’d come outside. Now she was eyeing Rarity. Just like Dash, every time the unicorn was occupied Pinkie tried to burn her marshmallow. Unlike Dash, however, Pinkie seemed intent on not only burning her marshmallow, but also anything else she could get her hooves on, like a graham cracker, a blade of grass, a shred of newspaper…

“Mmph,” she mumbled over her mouthful of gushy sweetness. “Thish ish really goo!”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow Dash replied, hoofbumping her. “That was a great idea to have us make s’mores, Rarity.”

Rarity didn’t look up from the graham cracker she was placing a marshmallow on. “Oh, nonsense. It was Twilight’s idea.”

“Well, it’s a good one, whoever thought of it.” Rainbow Dash beamed at Twilight, seemingly oblivious to the huge chunks of burnt stuff in her teeth.

The unicorn didn’t respond. She was busy staring into the fire, looking very peeved about something. Since they’d gone outside she hadn’t said a word.

Actually, Dash thought, come to think of it, she hasn’t said anything since…oh, no.

She trotted over to where Twilight was sitting and plopped herself down next to her, whistling a tune. For a moment she just continued whistling. Then she gently reached out the tip of one wing and brushed it against Twilight’s shoulder.

“Gahhh!” Twilight yelped, recoiling from Dash’s touch. Her ears flew down like they’d been shoved. When she saw it was Dash who had poked her, she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly and turned her head away. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. Can I help you?”

It was bound to happen with one of them. I guess I kind of hoped my friends were above that sort of thing, but…that’s okay. I can…I can fix this.

“Hey, Twi. I just wanted to see how you were doing. You haven’t talked much tonight.”

“Fluttershy hasn’t talked much either. Why aren’t you asking her how she’s doing?” Icy venom doused Twilight’s voice.

Well, I can probably fix this. It’s worth a try.

“Twilight,” she began, and stopped. Then she tried again. “Twilight, look, I know what’s got you upset. But it’s not something I can help. If I could change it, buck yeah, I would. I can’t, though. So you’re going to have to accept this, just like I learned to. And if you want me to, I promise I’ll never hit on you or anything like that. See? Nothing to worry about. I’m your friend, and nothing more.”

Twilight’s face contorted in an odd mixture of disgust, alarm, and contemplation. Her tail swept away from Dash and she closed her eyes, saying, “Look, it’s not that you’re not my friend, I just…I need some time to think about this, okay? It’s a lot to take in. In Canterlot, that sort of thing was frowned upon by most. Celestia never told me what she thought of it, but…I just…I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I’m going to need some time before I tell you how I feel about all this.”

Rainbow Dash could feel her tears from earlier threatening to make an appearance again. No, no, I can’t cry! Not now. Not with Applejack over there giving me that stupid look of pity. I hate pity. Pity should go somewhere else and leave me alone! I don’t need pity. I’m not going to cry. I just need to say something, something that’ll convince Twilight that I’m not an enemy. It has to be something intelligent-sounding enough to get her to accept me. “Cool.” Her voice cracked, swerving upward several octaves. …Well. That went horribly.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, sitting across from the troubled mares, leapt to Rainbow Dash’s rescue, drawing her away before she could give herself a chance to let her tears loose.

“Hey, Dashie! Look what happens when you put the marshmallow all the way in the fire!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It gets reeeeeally big and then it melts! See?”

Rainbow Dash watched Twilight for one more moment before making her way over to the excitable earth pony. “That’s…really cool, Pinks.”

“Isn’t it?” Pinkie grinned. Her face fell when she noticed that Rainbow wasn’t responding. Frowning, she nudged Rainbow Dash with her hoof. “Hey, Dashie, remember? No being saddy-waddy tonight. Have fun! That’s the whole point of sleepovers.”

“Sorry, Pinks.” She fixed her gaze intently on the crackling blaze, imagining it spreading through the town, devouring everything in its path. The thought made her chuckle, which scared her.

“I like that nickname!” Pinkie declared. “Ooh, ooh, now give one to Flutters! Oops, I already did. Maybe you can call her…uh…’Shy! Or FS. Or Shyflutter. Or Shutterfly. Or Fluttery!”

“Thanks, Pinkie Pie, but I think I can find my own nicknames for my friends.”

Pinkie’s shoulders slumped. “Aww…” Seconds later, however, she reverted to her normally hyper state, tossing several pieces of chocolate in her mouth at once.

Rainbow Dash could feel a wall of tension form between her and Twilight. Even though they were both doing what they could to ignore each other, Dash knew Twilight was thinking of her, and vice versa. How am I going to convince her I’m not some sick freak if I can’t even convince myself?

It seemed like forever before Rarity finally suggested they get some shut-eye. They put out the fire, cleaned up outside, and headed up to Rarity’s room to get ready for bed.

“I’ll sleep between Dashie and Applejack,” Pinkie offered cheerfully, dragging her gruesomely pink sleeping bag over to Rainbow Dash’s. “I don’t know why, but they seem a teensy-weensy bit upset with each other and that’s not good because friends shouldn’t argue and I hope they make up soon but that’s not of my business so I’ll sleep between them so they don’t argue tonight.”

Rainbow Dash, lying on her back on her Wonderbolt-emblazoned sleeping bag, didn’t respond. She just folded her ears as to block out all sounds and sighed. Why was life so difficult for her? Half of her friends were upset with her—Applejack because Rainbow had snapped at her when she offered to help, Twilight Sparkle because Dash was a fillyfooler, and Rarity because the two had argued intensely earlier that night. The only ponies who didn’t seem angry with her at the moment were Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and even Pinkie had been upset by Dash’s crying fit from before.

“Hey, Fluttershy, wanna sleep here?” Rainbow Dash patted the space on the other side of her.

The shy pony nodded silently and dragged her bag over. It was pale yellow, like her, and covered in woodland creatures.

“’Cause everypony but you and Pinkie seems upset with me, and I don’t want…” She trailed off, sighing. “Never mind. You probably get it.”

Fluttershy crawled over to Dash and sat beside her. One of her wings gently reached out and curled around her. “I understand. Are you okay?”

Rainbow Dash glanced around. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were brushing their teeth in the other room, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie were busy talking about who-knows-what. Finally she sighed dejectedly, “No. No, I’m not okay. Why the hay do all of our friends suddenly hate me? What did I do wrong? It’s not because I’m a fillyfooler…I mean, with Twilight it is, but not Rarity and Applejack, I don’t think. It’s not fair! I’ve even managed to upset Pinkie Pie today, and that’s saying something. The only pony I haven’t hurt yet is you, and I bet that won’t last long. What did I do wrong?”

“Well…um…”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What? Spit it out.”

“Oh, um, I don’t want to be rude.”

“Just tell me, Flutters.” She smiled. “I kind of like that nickname. Anyway, just say it. I won’t get offended, I swear.”

“Rarity’s upset because you didn’t trust her before now, and you two were arguing earlier and you both said things that were kind of mean. Applejack’s upset because…well, I don’t really know for sure, but, um, I think you two argued before you came back from the bathroom. Twilight grew up being told that fillyfooling is wrong and so she sort of thinks it’s bad that you like mares, and Pinkie Pie was really depressed because you were upset earlier and you promised you wouldn’t be sad tonight. She also doesn’t like it when you’re hurting.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and stared at her. “…Oh. Right.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened and concern jolted across her face as she said, “Oh, no, I’m sorry, that was mean of me to tell you…”

“No, it wasn’t. I sort of already guessed all that.” She withdrew from Fluttershy’s hug and flopped backwards onto her sleeping bag again. “Flutters, do you…do you hate me?”

“Oh, no! I could never hate you.”

“Thanks.” She faked a yawn. “Well, I’m really tired now, so, uh, I think I’m gonna hit the hay. G’night.” Slipping into the sleeping bag, she pretended to snore.

Fluttershy backed away. “Okay. Goodnight, Rainbow Dash.”

For a few minutes she lay there, fake snoring. Then, once she was sure the others thought she was asleep, she pulled the covers far over her head and tucked her face away. Her snoring faded to soft breathing.

She didn’t know how long it was until the others finally fell asleep. When they did, she sat up and looked around. They all looked so…peaceful. Every once in a while one of their ears would twitch, or they’d roll onto their side, or scratch their nose. But other than that, everything was silent and still.

Rainbow Dash remembered her earlier thought that the sleepover would turn out to be a disaster. What with her and Rarity’s argument, her forced coming out, Applejack thinking she needed a head doctor, Twilight turning out to be homophobic, and her hoof aching like crazy, well…she had pretty much been spot on.

“Called it,” she laughed quietly to herself.

At the sound of her friend’s voice, Pinkie Pie blinked her eyes open. “Dashie?” she groggily mumbled. “Why are you still awake? I thought you went to sleep a long time ago. Were you faking?” As she spoke she clambered over to Rainbow’s sleeping bag and sat next to her.

“I couldn’t fall asleep.” She averted her eyes. “I know I promised not to be sad and stuff at the party, but, uh…”

Pinkie wrapped her arms around Dash in response. “I know, Dashie. It’s okay, you can be sad now if it makes you feel better.”

“Thanks, Pinks.” Her eyes slid closed as she leaned her head on the pink pony’s shoulder. Her lip trembled and tears began to fall silently. “I-I knew you’d understand.”

“Dashie?”

“Y-yeah?”

“I know it’s none of my business but I couldn’t help it because you were so sad so I asked Applejack what happened between you two and she said you argued because she thought you had self-esteem issues.”

Rainbow Dash remained silent, not trusting herself to speak anymore.

“And I know you probably don’t want to say out loud if you do, but I don’t like to see you upset. You’re the toughest pony ever on the outside, and even though it’s kinda sweet to see your soft side, I think it makes you saddy-waddy.”

You can say that again, she thought.

“So I think you should take her advice.”

…Okay, please don’t say that again.

“She might’ve said it in a way that made you think she was talking down to you and making fun of you, but she really, really did have a good point. You’re Rainbow Dash! It’s not like you to be crying.” Pinkie Pie’s voice began to quiver. “Dashie, please get somepony who can help you with this. Don’t do it for me, or Applejack, or Rarity, or anypony else. Do it for yourself. Please, just do it so you can be happy again.”

Rainbow Dash, finished with her muted sobbing, wiped her nose, saying, “Pinkie Pie…why is it that you always seem to have the best advice? You’re so random.”

“Does that mean you’ll take AJ’s advice?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Suddenly her voice took on a hard edge. “But if you tell her I am, I’ll just deny it, so…don’t tell anypony, okay?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie’s face split open in a wide grin, and she pulled Dash into yet another hug. “So now will you go to sleep? You have your not-really-but-sort-of-in-a-way-date tomorrow. You won’t want to fall asleep during it ‘cause then you might fall into your soup or whatever you order and you’re meant to eat it, not breathe it, silly!” Returning to her own sleeping bag, Pinkie Pie giggled softly. “Oops. I’m being too loud. Well, good night, Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, slithering under the covers. A yawn snuck out of her parted jaws. Her eyelids began to droop. “G’night, Pinks. Thanks for letting me be ‘saddy-waddy.’”

The last thing she heard before she slipped into slumber was, “It was the least I could do, Dashie-Washie.”

Chapter Four

Rainbow Dash glanced at the clock on the wall for what felt like the millionth time. It read 10:31. Though it had only been a few hours since she’d left the sleepover, it felt like forever. Of course Pinkie had insisted on tagging along so she could help Dash get ready for her “date”—(“Pinkie, for the thousandth time, it’s not a date!” “Oh, but you two would be sooooo adorable together!”)—and the pink mare had done nothing but talk and bounce around the entire time. Somehow she had found a way to walk on clouds without using Twilight’s cloud-walking spell. It creeped Rainbow Dash out more than she would admit, but she didn’t press the issue, knowing Pinkie Pie would probably use some weird excuse as to why she wasn’t falling straight through Rainbow Dash’s floor.

“…And then she said, ‘Nope, it was the pudding!’” Pinkie burst out with hysterical laughter as she rolled across the puffy clouds that made up Dash’s floor. “Isn’t that hilarious?”

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow Dash said. Her eyes flickered around her house, searching and searching for anything that resembled a mirror. Do I even own a mirror? she wondered. I guess I never needed one before now. Heck, I don’t even really need one now, I just…well, Rarity’s so focused on looks. If I don’t try at all to match her standards, I won’t have a chance.

Then she caught herself. Wait, what am I saying? I don’t need her to think I look good. It doesn’t even matter. This isn’t an actual date. If it were, hay yeah, I’d try to look as hot as possible. But it’s not. So I shouldn’t be worrying about that.

“But you can still at least brush your mane,” Pinkie complained.

“Huh?”

“Oh, sorry, were you talking to yourself?”

“I wasn’t…” She trailed off, turning red. “Oh, horseapples, was I saying all that out loud?”

“Yup!” Out of nowhere Pinkie pulled a brush and began to run it through Rainbow Dash’s mane. She pulled away. “Aw, c’mon, Dashie, please won’t you let me brush your mane just a teensy weensy little bit?”

“No.” An image of Rarity’s perfectly coiffed mane flashed in her mind, and she sighed. “Okay, fine, but just a little.”

“Yay!”

Rainbow Dash winced as the soft brush was caught momentarily on one of the many tangles in her multicolored mane. Within moments, though, it had loosened the knot and moved past it. Trying to distract herself from the fact that Pinkie Pie was practically…ugh…giving her a makeover, Dash turned her thoughts back to that morning.

She was the last to awaken, the smell of haybacon and eggs teasing her nostrils and wrenching her from her sleep. The others were already in Rarity’s kitchen, making a greasy mess while the unicorn looked on in disgust, unwilling to ask them to stop in fear that she would upset one of them. After the way they’d all been acting the night before, it was actually surprising that more of them weren’t at ends with each other.

Rainbow Dash lay in her sleeping bag for but a moment, staring groggily at the ceiling, before the smell registered in her mind and she went barreling through the hallways to the kitchen. Without even saying a word she scooped up a hoofful of haybacon and shoved it in her mouth, chewing noisily.

Once she had finished she took the time to fill an actual plate with the scrumptious breakfast food. As she made her way to the ornate table in the corner, she almost bumped into Twilight Sparkle, who was looking thoroughly miffed about something.

“Oh, hey, Twilight,” she greeted. “Are you still mad at me ‘cause I like mares?”

Instead of answering, Twilight brushed past her and went to stand next to Fluttershy.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Rainbow Dash lowered herself into the seat, ready to take a bite of the still-smoking eggs, when Pinkie appeared in front of her, her eyes wide and pleading.

“I tried to talk to her,” Pinkie explained softly, dropping some neatly chopped fruit onto the pegasus’ plate. “She said she needs some time to think.” When Rainbow’s gaze dropped forlornly to the floor, Pinkie reached a hoof forward and lifted her chin to look her in the eye. “I don’t think she hates you, Dashie. She’s just confused.”

“She probably thinks I’m the one who’s confused,” Dash retorted. “I’ve heard it all. ‘Oh, Rainbow Dash, it’s just a phase.’ ‘Oh, Dash, you don’t really like mares, you just think you do.’ ‘Maybe you just haven’t met the right stallion yet.’ Trust me, I know her type. Even if she says she’s accepted me eventually, in her eyes there’ll always be that shadow of doubt. Nothing will ever be the same between us again. If I ever compliment her or hug her or even just offer her some help, she’ll assume I’m hitting on her and widen the gap between us. Nothing we can say or do will change her mind. That’s why I’m not that upset about this. I know that there’s nothing I can do. I’ve accepted it, and so should you!” Her scowl deepening, Rainbow Dash shoveled the contents of her plate into her maw, half out of hunger, and half out of reluctance to speak any longer.

Pinkie Pie moved her hoof away and tilted her head to one side. Her eyes shone with sympathy. “You seem to know exactly what you’re talking about.”

“Of course I do!” Rainbow Dash snapped, her mouth still full of food. “Raindrops—” Immediately she broke off, her eyes doubling in size. “Never mind.”

“What—?”

“I said never mind.”

Pinkie tapped her hoof to her chin, thinking. Then she stood and walked over to Twilight, asking, “Twilight, are we friends?”

Twilight glanced past her at Rainbow Dash before saying without hesitation, “Of course, Pinkie Pie. Nothing could ever break apart our friendship.”

“I like mares and stallions,” Pinkie informed her, and then she trotted back to Dash. “See, Dashie? Now we can go through this together. She’ll come around. Don’t worry.” After a moment she added slyly, “And I know you won’t be happy with this, but eventually I will get you to tell me what makes you think she’ll never accept this.”

“I meant that, Dashie,” Pinkie said, pausing in her efforts to style Rainbow Dash’s mane. “Once you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll get you to tell me what happened.”

“Gah!” Rainbow yelped, flinching away. Her rosy eyes studied Pinkie cautiously. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” After a moment realization flickered across her face. “Ohhh. Were you talking to yourself again?”

“I wasn’t talking, I was thinking.”

“But then why did you say that stuff out loud? You really gotta work on that, Dashie.”

“I don’t—argh!” She crossed her arms stubbornly. “Never mind.”

Pinkie was silent for a few moments before she gave a huge grin. “Well, I think you’re done! Your mane looks great!” With a giggle she put on her best seductive look and added, “Rarity won’t be able to keep her hooves off you.”

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash gagged and clutched feebly at her throat as if she were choking on the sheer grossness of it all. “That’s disgusting, Pinkie Pie. We’re just going to lunch. As friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Heck, we wouldn’t even be doing this if Twilight hadn’t suggested it. It’s not a date, and for the last time, I do not like Rarity!”

“Whatever you say,” Pinkie laughed. She grabbed Rainbow’s hoof and pulled the poor mare after her into the bathroom before promptly placing her in front of the mirror and pointing with her hoof. “Look!”

Huh, what do you know? Rainbow Dash thought. I do own a mirror.

“Of course you do, silly!”

“…” Instead of answering, Rainbow Dash peered closely at her reflection. After a moment of shocked silence her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged out of her head. Is that me?! she thought, the corners of her mouth melting into a smile. Her mane fell in silken waves around her, dancing in the gentle whoosh of the air conditioning. Not a single hair was out of place. Her bangs were brushed slightly to the side, and the rest of her mane was spread in the middle so half fell on one side of her neck, the other half falling opposite of it. Every inch of her mane shimmered and glistened, giving it the appearance of a…well…rainbow.

Soon, though, she coughed into her hoof and tore her eyes away. “Yeah, I look okay, I guess. But who even cares? It doesn’t matter. As soon as I fly it’ll get messed up again, anyway.” Secretly, though, she enjoyed seeing her mane look like that. It made her feel proud.

Pinkie’s face fell. “You don’t like it?”

Rainbow Dash wanted to kick herself. Instead, she placed her hooves on Pinkie’s shoulders and gave her a warm smile. “Pinks, that’s not what I meant. It looks great! I’m just wondering how I’m supposed to keep it looking great until my d—until my lunch with Rarity. But really, it looks amazing. I look hot!”

“You always look hot,” Pinkie Pie assured her, flashing a smile.

Did she just…? Shaking it off, Rainbow Dash trotted out to her living room and once again checked the clock. Now it read 11:08. “Ugh,” she groaned, making a face. “You know what? I’m just going to go. Maybe I can walk around Ponyville for a bit, ‘cause I don’t want my mane to get messed up.” Realizing what she’d just said, she chuckled, “I sounded exactly like Rarity right there.”

Pinkie bounced over. “Can I come too? Just until you go pick her up, I mean.”

“Sure. Wait, don’t you have stuff to do at Sugarcube Corner? Like taking care of the twins, watching the shop while Mr. and Mrs. Cake are delivering that cake they had to make…”

“Oh yeah.”

“Don’t worry, Pinks, I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Pinkie lunged forward and pulled her into a hug. This time she seemed to linger, her eyes squeezed shut and her face buried in Dash’s mane—thankfully she didn’t mess it up. Finally she let go and galloped out to Rainbow Dash’s porch, where her strange machine was waiting to bring her back to the ground.

“Um, bye?” Rainbow mumbled, raising an eyebrow. The pink pony was already halfway down by now.

With a halfhearted shrug, Rainbow, too, trotted to her porch and leapt gracefully into the air. The wind whistled over her wings, and the crisp atmosphere caressed her lungs, filling her with that special contentment she only felt when flying. When she closed her eyes she could almost imagine she was all alone, with nothing but the sky spread around her for miles and miles. She rather enjoyed flying with her eyes closed. Contrary to what non-pegasi might believe, it wasn’t any more difficult than flying with them open, and it was much, much more fun. She could imagine anything she wanted. She could be the captain of the Wonderbolts, soaring with her teammates after a long day of training. She could glide alongside Daring Do, listening to the heroine’s tales of glory. She could be a superhero, gifted with super speed and the ability to fly forever. Today, gliding past the fluffy clouds that shattered the flat blue sky, she imagined she was flying with her friends. They’d all been given wings for reasons that didn’t matter, and now they flapped alongside Rainbow Dash, laughing and chatting as if it was normal, as if they did this every day.

Too soon, Rainbow Dash felt her hooves brush against soft grass as she touched down. She was right beside Town Hall, so she turned her gaze to the huge clock in the center. It read 11:25.

“I’ve still got time,” she mused. “I may as well start heading toward Carousel Boutique, but I don’t have to rush. That’s a good thing.”

It hadn’t been twenty seconds before a familiar gray pegasus crash-landed not a foot in front of her. Her blonde mane was ragged and disheveled, and her gold eyes were crossed as usual.

“Rainbow Dash,” Derpy Hooves panted, “I’ve been looking all over for you! You didn’t show up to work today and Raindrops had to take over and she wasn’t as good as you so we had to work extra hard to clear all the clouds and they’re still not all gone! Where were you?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I took a day off, Derpy. Remember? I called in this morning.” The moment Derpy had said the word “Raindrops,” though, her stomach lurched and pain shot through her. She ignored the grief and extended her hoof to help Derpy to her hooves.

“Oh.” She shuffled her hooves. “Well, uh, where are you headed now?”

“I’m having lunch with Rarity at that new Prench restaurant.”

“You mean L'amour Est Dans L'air?”

“Yup, that’s the one!”

Derpy raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Rainbow Dash, that means ‘love is in the air.’”

“…Oh. Horseapples.”

“It’s not an actual date, is it?” She smiled and patted her on the back. “Good job! Rarity’s quite the catch. Although I didn’t think she was really your type.”

Rainbow Dash blushed and drew away. “She’s not! It’s not! We’re—argh! We’re just going as friends.”

“You’re going to a restaurant called Love is in the Air as friends?”

“I didn’t know that was what it meant!” Furious, Rainbow Dash whirled around and galloped away. Why did everypony just assume that she was going on a date with Rarity? Sure, she liked mares. Sure, she thought Rarity was hot. Sure, the restaurant had a romantic name. Sure, her mane was styled for once. But that didn’t mean anything! It frustrated her to no end, so much so that she didn’t even notice that she had already arrived at Carousel Boutique until she reached to ring the doorbell.

She caught herself just in time, her breath coming in short, hoarse gasps. Her vision blurred as a red haze spread over it, and anger shot through her, so powerful in fact that her teeth began to unconsciously grind together. Her hoof, still raised to press the button, trembled like a leaf in the wind. For a moment she could feel a strangled howl rising in her throat, much like that of a madman.

Just as soon as the anger came, it vanished, leaving her weak, shaky, and terrified.

What just happened? she thought, the sentence barely a whisper among the many chaotic thoughts clouding her mind. One second I was fine, the next I was acting like a…a…well, something that’s really angry. And dangerous. And insane… What’s wrong with me?

So perturbed was she that even the sound of the door crashing open was hardly enough to pull her from her daze.

Rarity stood in the doorway looking even prettier than normal. Her lips were dabbed with a touch of red lipstick, her eyes were outlined in dark black, and she was wearing a very fancy outfit that made Rainbow Dash feel plain and boring in contrast. When she caught sight of the pegasus she gave a shocked gasp. For a moment Rainbow Dash thought her mane had become messy once again; a quick check showed otherwise.

“Rainbow Dash, dear,” Rarity finally said, “was that you I heard screaming just now?”

“Nope.” Rainbow Dash glanced away, hoping with all her mind Rarity wouldn’t press the issue further. “Uh, you look great.”

Rarity beamed and struck a pose. “Why thank you, dear. Pardon me, for this is going to sound very cliché and cheesy, but you look dashing!”

For reasons unknown, Rainbow Dash felt herself blushing. “What, you mean my mane? Naw, it’s just something Pinks and I threw together last minute.” Then, not wanting to sound like she hadn’t taken their lunch seriously, she added quickly, “I’m not saying we didn’t try, though. We, uh, worked very hard to get it to look like this.”

“All that work certainly paid off.” Rarity gave her a friendly smile. After the coldness of Twilight, the annoyed attitude of Applejack, and the pain that Pinkie Pie kept showing, the smile was rather refreshing, like stumbling upon an icy cold mountain spring after hiking for miles. “Shall we get going? I must say I am rather excited to go to L'amour Est Dans L'air. You do know that means—?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Derpy already told me. Just for the record, though, I had no clue until I already made the reservations.”

“So you’re not interested in me like that?” The previous humor in Rarity’s voice was replaced with a sharp seriousness.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Of course not. No offense. I mean, sure, you’re hot and nice and funny and generous and talented and all of that, but you’re not really my type.”

They began to walk in the general direction of the Prench restaurant. “If you do not mind my asking, what is your type?”

She shrugged. “Dunno. I never really thought about it. I guess I usually just go with the flow. Whoever I have a crush on, I have a crush on. I don’t really stop to think about the why of it, y’know? In my opinion, life’s way too short to be asking pointless questions.”

Rarity was silent. At last she said, “I’m sorry if you were offended when I asked if you liked me. While I am not scornful of fillyfooling like Twilight, I am definitely a stallion sort of mare myself. Don’t take it personally.”

“Why would I?” she asked feebly. For some reason the unicorn’s response felt to her like rubbing salt in a wound. “I’m not into you.”

She hesitated, then nudged her teasingly. “Are you sure? When I asked you to lunch, you seemed pretty excited.”

“Well—I was just—I mean…”

“I’m only joking, Dashing.” Her ears perked up. “Oh! I rather like that nickname. It suits you. Do you mind if I call you that from now on, since we are going to be seeing each other more often?”

“Why are we going to be—oh, right. Twilight’s idea.” She looked away. “Uh, sure, you can call me that. But—not in front of the others! I don’t want them to get the wrong idea, y’know? Besides, I’m not all frou-frou and girly like you are. Dashing is a cool nickname, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kind of…um…Rarity-ish. You know what I’m saying, don’t you?”

Rarity started to nod, then shook her head apologetically. “Not a clue.”

“Never mind. Yeah, Dashing’s fine.”

They walked on in silence after that, both ponies doing their best not to look at each other. Every once in a while they’d glance over at the other, and twice or thrice their eyes met; they immediately averted their gazes and pretended to be enthralled with whatever patch of grass or clump of dirt caught their eye.

Finally they reached L'amour Est Dans L'air. A line of well-dressed ponies stretched through the street, curving around buildings every so often. Each customer was trying their best to convince the ponies by the door that they had made reservations, and each customer was failing.

Rainbow Dash took one look at them and, grinning smugly, trotted to the front of the line. “The reservation should be made under ‘Dash’,” she told the muscular earth pony standing by the entrance.

He glanced down at the list before nodding to them and letting them in. Seeing this, the entire line of ponies began shouting that they, too, had made a reservation under the name ‘Dash,’ and therefore should be allowed in.

The interior of the restaurant was decorated with more fancy things than Rainbow Dash had seen in one place, ever—and she’d been to the Grand Galloping Gala. There were ornately patterned statues of all of Equestria’s legends—the Wonderbolts, the Princesses; they even had a statue of each Element of Harmony—and windows yawned from floor to ceiling. A red-and-gold plush carpet crept its way across the floor, wreathing the bases of the tables. Giant chandeliers dangled from the painted ceiling, the light they gave off bouncing off their many diamonds. Not a single pony—besides Rainbow Dash or Rarity, of course—dared enter without draping themselves in the fanciest item of clothing they owned. Within moments Dash was able to pick out which outfits had been fashioned by Rarity. Not surprisingly (as she was the only non-expensive seamstress in all of Ponyville), all but two or three of them wore garments made by the Element of Generosity.

As the two—not dating—mares made their way to their reserved booth, Rainbow Dash felt her eyes drawn to Rarity. What was it about her appearance that made Rainbow Dash feel so peculiar? Finally she decided she must be jealous that her friend was such a looker and added it to the ever-growing list of insecurities she had.

Their booth looked, from the outside, on the small side. Inside, though, it looked enormous. Brilliantly embroidered cushions sat gently on top of red velvet seats. The table was a deep, rich mahogany, and crisscrossing patterns danced across its surface. The window allowed them to see out onto the exterior of the restaurant, which included a fountain that spewed crystalline water and a garden filled with lush flowers of all shapes and sizes.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash breathed, sliding into the seat. It felt like she was sitting on pure bliss. “This makes my butt feel amazing!”

A teenager, sitting in a booth adjacent to theirs, leaned over and giggled, “That’s what she said.”

Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at him, turning back to Rarity. “Teenagers,” she scoffed, ignoring the fact that had it been her, she would have said the same thing. “So what now? Do we wait for someone to come over, or…?”

Before she had even finished her sentence, a peppy young unicorn came trotting gracefully over. She was a light cream color, with a long, silky brown mane. Her eyes were a brilliant blue. She was wearing a very fancy golden outfit that glistened and glimmered with more glittery substances than Rainbow Dash knew the names of. Everything about her seemed to radiate life and joy.

“My name is Maxie,” she said cheerfully. Grinning wider than was previously thought possible, she placed a menu in front of each mare. “I’ll be your waitress this evening. To start, would you like something to drink? Some hard cider, perhaps? Or maybe you’d like to go for something a little easier to take. Water, for example. Or maybe,” she added with a wink, “you’d enjoy our Lover’s Special?”

Rainbow Dash was too busy gawking at the mare to speak. So Rarity rolled her eyes and said with a huff, “We are not lovers, nor do we wish to be. In other words, no, we would not like your Lover’s Special.”

Maxie nodded. “My apologies, mademoiselle.”

“I would like some iced tea, please.”

At this Maxie frowned and looked away. “Pardon me, but we don’t carry that.”

“…You don’t carry iced tea?”

“I’m afraid not, mademoiselle.”

“…Water shall have to do…”

Maxie turned her gaze to Rainbow Dash, smiling sweetly. “And for you?”

It took Rainbow Dash several seconds to realize the pretty mare had asked her a question. Stammering and blushing, she said quickly, “W-water’s good for me, too.”

With a polite nod the unicorn hurried away.

Rarity laughed softly. “My, my, I suppose they spent all their money on the décor. If they don’t even carry iced tea, I wonder how the food will be? Hay fries and grassburgers, I expect, all deep fried and smothered with salt.” When Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, Rarity gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time. “Rainbow Dash, dear, are you honestly so smitten with our waitress you won’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the mare you’re having lunch with?”

That caught her attention. She finally tore her eyes away from where the waitress had disappeared and fixed her gaze on the fancy placemat before her. “Sorry. Just—you know. She was…wow.”

“Mm. I rather prefer that stallion over there.” She beckoned with a hoof to where a pure black stallion with a white crescent moon cutie mark was bringing a platter full of steaming food to a nearby table. “He’s quite attractive, if I do say so myself. But enough of that. What will you be ordering?”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her menu. It may as well have been written in Zebra, for all she got from it. “Uh…to be honest, I don’t know what half this stuff means.”

“I’m getting the cheese ravioli. You at least know what that is, don’t you, dear?”

“Yeah, but…where do you even see that? It doesn’t say that anywhere on here!”

“It’s the raviolis au fromage, Dashing. They just translate the names of the dishes to Prench to make them sound fancier.” Turning up her nose and looking around, she added, “I must say, though I am quite impressed with the way the place is decorated, so far the actual dining has not been extraordinary.”

At that moment Maxie returned, just in time to catch the end of Rarity’s critique. She gave yet another apologetic smile—by now she had done it so often that it seemed to be her signature expression—and said in that sickeningly sweet voice of hers, “Well, I hope that the yummy-ness of the food will be enough to change your mind.” She hovered the mares’ waters over. “Are you two ready to order quite yet?”

Rainbow Dash’s ear twitched and her nostrils flared ever so slightly. “Yeah, we’ll both be having the raviolis au fromage.”

“Wonderful! I’ll be right back with your meals.” With that she was gone again, her tail swishing behind her.

Once she had vanished Rainbow crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Ugh. Did she just say ‘yummy-ness’? Well, I’m over her.”

Rarity giggled quietly. For a few moments they sat in silence until she remembered her conversation with Twilight at the sleepover. A scowl flashed across her lips briefly. Staring into the water’s depths, she swirled around her cup and asked, “Just out of curiosity, darling, what’s your favorite color?”

“Is rainbow a color?” she said automatically. Then she blushed and looked away. “Er, sorry. I know it’s not, I just… Whatever.”

“My dear, if you say rainbow’s a color, then by all means I agree.”

“Oh. Okay. So, um, what’s yours?”

She burst out laughing. “Ha, ha! Asking me to pick my favorite color is like asking Pinkie Pie her favorite sweet! It really depends on the mood I’m in, the time of day, the color scheme of the place I’m in…right now I’d have to say red. One, because of the way this place is decorated and two, because it can represent love.”

“…Okay, now I have a ton of other questions.”

“Everypony seems to think we’re on a date. That’s all I meant by it, Dashing. You can pin your wings back now.”

Rainbow Dash hadn’t even realized they’d shot out. Turning gradually redder, she folded them and sank down in her seat. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s perfectly fine. Also just out of curiosity, what are your parents named?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Firefly and Spectrum Dash. Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Yeah, but you never show this much interest in my life.” It took her a moment to realize what she’d said. Then her eyes widened and she sat up straighter, shaking her head quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that…well…maybe I did mean it like that, but I’m not trying to be rude, I just—well, we don’t really get along that well!”

Rarity placed her hoof gently on Rainbow’s lips to keep her from speaking any longer. “Don’t worry, Dashing, I understand. The truth is, I haven’t shown much interest in your life. That was wrong of me. Though we are as different as night and day, we are still friends, and to ignore you like that…I may as well have betrayed you. But no longer! I, Rarity Belle, hereby vow to get to know my dear Dashing as much as possible! Never again shall I neglect her so!”

Rainbow Dash brushed her hoof away and cocked one eyebrow. “Uh, Rarity? Isn’t that a bit…dramatic?”

“Dramatic is my middle name. No, honestly. I’m Rarity Dramatic Belle.” She perked up significantly. “Ooh! There’s a good place to start. What’s your middle name?”

“…Uh…”

“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

“…It’s Glittery…”

Rarity’s face went blank. Then, slowly, a snicker began to rise in her throat. Finally she gave in to the laughter. When it died down she giggled, “How unfitting of a name could your parents possibly give you? Rainbow Glittery Dash. Oh, my. I much prefer my nickname for you, Dashing.”

Dash pinned her ears back. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Funny thing is, my sister—she was also named Rainbow Dash, which made my childhood pretty complicated—her middle name was Daring. What’s funny about it is that she was the girliest pony I’ve ever met. Yeah, including you. So we had Rainbow Daring Dash the fashion diva and Rainbow Glittery Dash the daredevil athlete. We had some good times, her and I. Yeah, we had our differences, but deep down she was really a good pony.” A wistful look painted her face. “I miss her.”

“What happened to her?”

“We don’t know. Nopony knows. One day she was just…gone. We sent search parties out looking for her, but with nothing to give us any clue as to where she went, it was pretty much a guarantee we wouldn’t find her. Eventually we just accepted the fact that she had probably… That she was most likely…” She tore her gaze away, swallowing the growing lump in her throat. “Whatever. There’s no use crying over something you can’t change, right?” Even as she spoke her voice began to quiver like a leaf in the wind.

Rarity said nothing, instead reaching a comforting hoof out and placing it on Dash’s.

They sat like that, Rainbow Dash quietly keeping herself from crying, until the waitress decided to use that moment to interrupt them.

Maxie came trotting over, two full plates hovering in her magic glow. “Hello again, you two,” she greeted cheerfully. The plates lowered down to the table. As she caught sight of their hooves—Rarity’s resting soothingly on top of Rainbow Dash’s—she smirked and teased, “Yes, you’re obviously not lovers.”

Rainbow Dash snorted angrily. She pulled her hoof away as if an invisible force was pulling it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just a dumb waitress, so shut your trap and leave us alone.”

Maxie’s eyes filled with hurt. Without saying another word she turned and trotted away.

Once she was gone Rainbow said, “I know you’re going to say that was rude of me, Rares, but I don’t want to hear it.”

“Actually,” Rarity corrected with a small smile, “I was going to tell you that I would have said that, too, were I less concerned with my reputation. She had no right to come barging into our conversation and tease us like that. However, I would have worded it in a less…rude manner.”

“Okay then, how would you have worded it?”

“I would have said something along the lines of, ‘I believe you are forgetting it is us who control your pay, so I suggest you turn that pretty tail of yours around and march back to the kitchen before we do something we shall regret.’”

Rainbow Dash grinned despite herself. “Y’know, Rares, you aren’t as bad as I thought.”

“Oh? And how bad did you think I was?”

“There’s no way I can answer that safely.” She bent to take a bite of her meal and frowned. There were only two small squares on her plate, dripping with sauce. How is this supposed to be enough? I’m an athlete! I eat like a pig! This—this couldn’t even feed a piglet. Her frown deepened as she looked up to see Rarity happily eating her own portion. She seems fine with it. But of course she does. She’s a unicorn, not a pegasus like me. Ugh, whatever. I’ll just have to get some more food to eat once I get home.

They ate in silence, each content with her own thoughts. It took Dash no time flat to finish her meal; within two mouthfuls it was gone.

Rarity, however, was another story. She insisted on taking tiny nibbles, infrequent so to let her swallow, and boy, did she take a long time to chew. Rainbow Dash felt herself watching, partially in awe and partially in frustration. It must’ve taken years of practice to eat that slowly, she thought to herself.

Finally, though, Rarity finished her lunch and patted her mouth daintily with a napkin. “Well,” she said, “I can honestly say that that was worth it. That was one of the best cheese raviolis I’ve ever had.”

“Really?” Dash scratched her ear and yawned. “I didn’t notice.”

“That’s because you gulped yours down without savoring it.” Rarity reached forward and rested her hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder. “One of the many lessons I’ve learned in life is that when something is special, you must savor it, or else its beauty and splendor will be lost in history.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Rares. It’s just cheese ravioli.”

“That’s what they all say.” A grim seriousness danced across her face as her frown deepened. Her eyes narrowed to dark slits and her lips slowly curled into a fierce snarl. However, she hardly kept that pose for a second before laughter exploded from her mouth.

A slight giggle escaped Dash’s lips, too. “You really had me going there, Rares. I thought you were serious!”

“Oh, Dashing, I may be dramatic, but I’m not that dramatic!”

“Of course you’re not.” Rainbow Dash smirked.

Just as Rarity opened her mouth to retort, a new waiter trotted over, ironically the black stallion that Rarity had noticed earlier. He was carrying a receipt in his magical glow, which he laid on the table before trotting away.

Rainbow Dash turned pale. “…Uh, Rarity?”

“Yes?”

“I…uh…I didn’t bring any…” She gestured to the receipt.

Rarity caught on fast. Nodding understandingly, she pulled out her wallet—covered in a ridiculous amount of gems—and counted the cash, placing it in a neat pile atop the receipt. “I’ll pay this time,” she assured her friend. “Next time, however, you may not be so lucky.”

Rainbow Dash slid out of the booth, her hooves sinking into the soft rug. “Next time?”

The unicorn joined her and they began to slowly make their way toward the front of the restaurant. “Of course. Twilight wanted us to get to know each other, and that entails us getting together on more than one occasion.”

Maxie, the waitress, was waiting by the door. When she saw them she whimpered, tucked her tail beneath her legs, and held the door open for them. Her eyes were fixed pointedly on the floor.

When they trotted past her, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and told her, “We are not a couple.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Maxie whispered.

Finally they were outside. Rainbow Dash gave a sigh of relief and leapt into the sky. The wind in her mane, the fresh air filling her lungs, the distinct lack of fancy ponies—it was heaven for her. Unable to contain her excitement, she did a quick series of spins and landed on the ground before her friend.

“Ugh,” she scoffed. Her hooves shifted impatiently on the soft grass. “That was cool and all, but I really don’t want to go back there. Our waitress was a nosy jerk, the food took forever to get to us, and when it did, there was barely anything there! Besides, it smelled like soap and candles in there.” She wrinkled her nose. “Blech.”

“Dashing, you do realize you were the one to suggest L'amour Est Dans L'air?”

“Whatever.”

Rarity smiled and glanced at the huge clock on Town Hall. Immediately her eyes grew wide. “Oh, my. I’m sorry, I wish I could stay and chat some more, but I’m terribly late for my weekly spa appointment with Fluttershy! We shall have to continue this some other time. How does Thursday sound to you?”

Thursday. That’s five days away. “Uh, sure. That’s cool.”

“Splendid! Goodbye, Dashing.” Without waiting for a response Rarity whirled around and broke into a graceful gallop.

“Wait—Rarity!” Rainbow Dash called, her wings flapping frantically. “I don’t even know where we’re supposed to…” But it was too late. Rarity was already too far gone, racing toward the spa as if her life depended on it. “…go.”

She pinned her ears back and scowled. “Horseapples.”

Chapter Five

No matter how hard she tried, Rainbow Dash could not get to sleep that night.

She tried drinking warm milk. All that did was make her stomach hurt. She tried fluffing her pillows and swapping her blankets. That just made her toss and turn even more. She even tried flying laps around her house to use up some of her energy, but that sent adrenaline pumping through her veins, making it near impossible for her to sit still for more than a few seconds.

It didn’t matter what she tried to do. She just couldn’t fall asleep.

Finally, more out of boredom than anything, she flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

I don’t know how this is supposed to make time pass faster, she thought. The flat white clouds above her had no pattern, no detail, that could catch her attention. Maybe I should get someone to professionally dye it like Spitfire. That would be pretty interesting, I guess.

She stretched her wings out and dangled them on either side of her bed, swirling the clouds around slightly. When she lost interest with that—which only took a few seconds—she rolled onto her stomach, rested her chin on her pillow, and watched Tank, who was sleeping soundly in the corner. His small nostrils flared and shrank in slow motion, a soft snoring sound escaping him. That quickly grew dull, so she gave a growl of frustration and trudged to her kitchen.

“A midnight snack might help,” she said to herself.

Her fridge was empty.

“You’ve got to be bucking kidding me! Why can’t I just get what I bucking want?”

In a spurt of anger she bucked her hind legs out, plunging them through her wall and leaving a large, gaping hole. That just fueled her irritation.

Before she knew what she was doing she dove through the hole and into the sky, her wings stiff with anger and her tail lashing back and forth.

The crisp night air helped clear her head, but only a little. There was still a livid red fog draped over everything, and she could still feel her hooves twitching with the urge to lash out. Her breath came in ragged bursts.

Up and up she flew until her house, as huge as it was, was only a speck down below. The moon loomed large and proud in her face, so close she felt as if she could reach out and touch it. Quickly she glanced around before stretching her hoof out as far as it would go and pretending that it was resting on the moon’s ashen surface.

The gesture curbed her anger and slowed her heart rate back to normal. When she was a filly she used to beg her parents frequently to fly her up there and let her try to touch it. Her sister, the other Rainbow Dash—or Rainy, as her family called her—had been an earth pony. It had always been Firefly carrying Rainy, Spectrum carrying Dash, and Gilda flying alongside.

Gilda… It seemed like they’d been friends forever…

Every time, Dash insisted she was getting closer.

“Next time I’ll be able to reach it, I swear!” she would say. “One day I’ll get so close I’ll be able to jump right on it!”

“And then what, darling?” Rainy would ask.

Now, Rainbow Dash found herself repeating the words she said so often as a filly. “I’ll reach down and pull you up, Rainy. And then we’ll rule it together, just you and me. We’ll be the awesomest rulers the moon has ever seen!”

Immediately as she spoke she felt silly. Rainy was gone. Her parents were Celestia knows where, and Gilda wanted nothing to do with her. The past was gone, done, over with. So what was the use of mourning? Nopony would hear her. Nopony would comfort her. Nopony would care.

Her previous anger began to boil in her blood once more, and she felt like tiny needles were poking into the back of her eye. Hot, salty tears stung her cheeks.

“Celestia damn it,” she swore, wiping them away with the back of her hoof. “What am I, a filly? Hell no. I’m Rainbow Dash! I do not cry because of something so stupid as trying to touch the moon.”

Glaring at the moon, she shot toward the ground. Just before she hit she pulled up. Her belly fur brushed against the grass.

She didn’t know where to go, just that she had to go somewhere, anywhere, to get her mind off…everything.

Maybe you should talk to one of your friends, a tiny voice in her mind suggested.

“But who?” she asked aloud. “Applejack’s mad at me, I just saw Rarity a few hours ago, Twilight thinks I’m disgusting…the only ponies I could really talk to are Pinkie and Fluttershy, and they’re probably sleeping.”

Pinkie, sleeping? Please. She’d probably be grateful for a reason to wake up. And to talk to you.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Nothing. I just think you should go talk to Pinkie. She always has the best advice, remember? It’s weird, but it helps, and no offense, but you seem like you need some help right now.

“Hey!”

Okay, let’s examine this. You just spent the last few hours watching your pet tortoise sleep, staring at the ceiling, and walking in circles. You kicked a hole in your house once you found out your fridge was empty for some reason, and then you flew up to the moon, tried to touch it, and started crying. Now you’re flying in circles in a field, literally talking to yourself. Yeah, you need a bit of help.

“Buck you,” she told herself, but flew off toward Sugarcube Corner without another word.

Once there, she was surprised to see that Pinkie’s light was off.

“Okay, she’s probably asleep, I shouldn’t bother her. I’ll just be going…”

She flew up and knocked on the window.

For a minute all was still, and Rainbow Dash was afraid she hadn’t heard her. But then the window slowly creaked open and Pinkie stuck her head out, wearing a cute blue-and-yellow cap. When she saw Dash she brightened and broke into a sleepy grin.

“Hi, Dashie Washie! What brings you here so late? Or early. It depends on how you look at it. Did you want to buy something? ‘Cause we don’t open until morning.”

“No, I was just…” She trailed off, her gaze dropping forlornly to the ground far below. “I couldn’t fall asleep, so I thought…”

“Say no more!” Pinkie pushed the window, sending it crashing against the wall outside her room. With a sheepish grin she backed up and spread her arms wide as if inviting Rainbow Dash to enter. “Come in!”

Dash nodded gratefully and clambered in, landing with a thump on her haunches. She sat up and looked around. When Pinkie flicked on the lights her jaw dropped.

The place was a mess! There were candy wrappers, cupcake wrappers, and pieces of uneaten sweets. It was like a bomb had gone off, splattering everything in sight with a bright pink. Her covers were strewn everywhere, and drawings of her and her friends littered the wall. Another prominent theme of Pinkie’s bedroom was Gummy. She had drawings, toys that she had made, tons of squeaky toys that said “Property of Gummy”, and what looked to be an edible statue of Gummy underneath a glass case.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said, raising an eyebrow. “I… Just wow. You’ve, uh, redecorated since the last time I was here.” She rested her hoof over a drawing of her and Pinkie pranking Spike. “Hey, when did you take up drawing? These look…actually good, surprisingly.”

Pinkie trotted around, plucking some of the trash off the floor and placing it in a can in the corner. Her ears remained angled toward Rainbow Dash. “Oh, I’ve always loved drawing. It’s just so much fun! I especially love drawing my bestest friends in the entire world!” A moment of thought later, she explained, “That’s you and the girls, in case you were wondering. And Gummy.”

The baby gator, hearing his name, crawled out from under the bed and waddled over to her. She extended her hoof, which he took in his mouth lovingly.

“I love you, Gummy!” She lifted him up and pressed him against her cheek, making little noises as if she were talking to a puppy. “You’re a cutie-patootie, snuggly-wuggly gator-bator, that’s what you are! Yes you are, Gummy, yes you are! I love you so much!”

Rainbow Dash, feeling slightly as if she were intruding, pretended to study the drawings on the wall carefully. One thing she did notice was that she was the central focus of most of the pictures. She decided not to press the issue, though, knowing that Pinkie would probably just make up some weird story as to why that was.

“Dashie?”

“Huh?”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Were you even listening? I was asking what you wanted to talk about—duh!”

“Sorry, I sort of zoned out. Well…um…anything, I guess.”

Upon hearing this, Pinkie gave a small squeal of delight and was on her bed in a single bound. She patted the space next to her, urging Rainbow Dash to sit down. Once both mares were comfortably seated, Pinkie began to squirm happily, saying, “So, how was your date?” The eagerness in her voice was painfully obvious.

Rainbow Dash sighed and slapped her hoof to her face. “Pinkie Pie, how many times do I have to tell you? It wasn’t a date.”

“Fine, Ms. Party Pooper. How was your completely platonic lunch?”

“It was fine.”

Pinkie Pie blinked. “And?”

“And…nothing. The restaurant was average, our waitress was hot but annoying, and Rarity was fun to talk to. That’s all there was to it.”

“Awww, c’mon, Dashie, please tell me more! What did you two talk about?”

“Just normal stuff.”

“Are you being this vague on purpose?”

“Maybe.” She deadpanned, only to break out in a raspy laugh moments later. “No, I’m just messing with you, Pinks. Let’s see…well, she had a ton of questions about me, like my favorite color, my parents’ names, my middle name, all that kinda stuff.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh! Dashie! You know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“I don’t know any of that stuff! I mean, I know your favorite color—it’s rainbow, right?—but I don’t know who your parents are or what your middle name is or your favorite food or—or anything! I’m a bad friend!” Her brows furrowed into a frown and she wilted visibly.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Pinks, you don’t know because I’ve never told you.”

“Tell me now!”

“…Okay? My parents are named Firefly and Spectrum Dash. Yup! I told you all there is to know. So, uh, let’s talk about—um—weather! Yes. Weather. That’s a good topic. Did you hear we weather ponies are planning a storm for next week?”

Pinkie groaned. “Dashie, are you trying to change the subject?”

“Yes! I mean—no!”

“What’s your middle name?”

“Glittery!” At once she covered her mouth with her hooves. “Urp! No it isn’t! You have no proof!”

“Why would your parents name you that?” Pinkie giggled.

Rainbow Dash considered denying it again, and then realized it was useless. She may as well just explain now. “My sister’s middle name was Daring. I guess they thought I’d grow up to be the girly one and she’d grow up to be the daredevil." Her face melted into a fond smile. "And let me tell you, they were so wrong.”

Pinkie Pie tipped her head to one side and widened her eyes, saying softly, “I didn’t know you have a sister.”

“Had,” Rainbow Dash corrected instinctively. “I had a sister.”

“Well then what happened to her?”

The hair along Rainbow’s spine began to bristle. Her lip curled into a snarl and she leapt to her hooves, snapping, “It’s none of your bucking business what happened to her!” Then, with an angry sigh, she flopped back onto the bed and rolled so her back was to her friend. She immediately regretted her outburst.

Pinkie began to sniffle quietly. “O-okay,” she whispered, her voice cracking more than Sweetie Belle’s ever did. “I u-understand.”

Damn it! Now I went and made one of the only ponies in the world that doesn’t hate my guts cry. What kind of a sick, twisted pony am I? She frowned and sat up, her ears twitching awkwardly and her wings rustling. “I’m sorry, Pinkie, it’s just that that’s a bit of a sore subject for me. There was no way you could’ve known, but she…she disappeared near Cloudsdale a while back. We sent out search party after search party, made posters asking for ponies to help bring her back…we even asked Princess Celestia for help. That went on for years. Eventually we just kind of had to accept the fact that she was probably…d-dead…and move on. Gilda and I enrolled in flight school to take our mind off of Rainy—that’s what I liked to call my sister—and my parents moved to Celestia knows where. They didn’t come back, not even after flight school was over, and I still don’t know where they are.”

“Why did they try to get rid of you, too?”

“Huh?”

Pinkie wiped her tears away and inched closer to Dash. “Well, they already lost one daughter. So why didn’t they take you with them?”

Dash flinched. “I don’t know. They wrote often, and it said the address on the letters, but to be honest, I never really looked at it. During flight school I was really busy, and afterwards they never wrote anymore.” She scratched the back of her neck with a hoof. “I guess if I really wanted to I could write to Celestia and she could help me find them, but I’m happy here, and to tell you the truth, we were never really that close in the first place.”

A gasp shattered the silence that followed. “Dashie! How can you not want to find your parents again? Parents are amazing! I write to my biological parents every single day, and I see Mr. and Mrs. Cake every day, too, even thought they’re not really my parents but they’re still important to me. I want you to get your butt off my bed and write to Celestia this instant, and ask her to find your parents!”

Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. “Whatever.”

“Don’t you ‘whatever’ me, missy!” Pinkie’s hurt from before seemed to have vanished into thin air, only to be replaced by frantic concern. “See? Parents are great for saying that! They comfort you, take care of you, make sure you go to sleep on time—”

“And I don’t need them,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Can we not talk about my parents right now?”

“Okay, fine…” Suddenly she brightened, as if stricken by an ingenious idea. “Dashie! I just realized something else!”

“What?”

“You said you liked to call your sister Rainy.”

“Yeah? And?”

She leaned so her face was mere inches from Dash’s. “Is your sister that Raindrops you were talking about, Dashie?”

Her hackles began to rise again. “What? No! There’s no way Rainy would ever stoop so low as to do what Raindrops did. Well, does. Whatever! The only reason I called her Rainy was because her name was Rainbow Dash, too, and so to tell who was who we called her Rainy and me Dashie.”

“Just like me! I call you Dashie! I’m psychic!”

“Or a good guesser.”

“Or psychic!”

“…”

“Dot dot dot!”

“What?”

Rainbow Dash groaned and trotted over to the window, sticking her head out and purposefully ignoring Pinkie Pie, if only for the sake of preserving her sanity. Instead, she studied the stars, a secret interest of hers that she hoped Twilight would never, ever find out.

They were pretty tonight; a peaceful array of glistening diamonds. Sort of like Rarity’s cutie mark—but millions and millions of them! she thought, grinning to herself. Her love of the night’s display reached all the way to her foalhood, when she, Gilda, and Rainy had used to sneak out at night, sit on whatever cloud they would find, and search for constellations. Dash would never admit it to anypony, though. That was between her, Gilda, and her most likely dead sister.

“Dashie?”

Why did everything all of a sudden remind her of Rainy? It may have been because they’d just been talking about her, but still… It was almost uncanny.

“Dashie.”

Tonight, not only were the stars countless, but also they were colorful. Just from her view from the window, blocked by a thin layer of pale clouds, she could see stars of every color. They’d begun to regain their rainbow quality after Luna had escaped from the moon; being the Princess of the Night, Luna’s nights were undoubtedly prettier. Not that Rainbow Dash cared about things being pretty.

“Dashie!”

Giving up, Dash turned to Pinkie Pie, surprised to see that she had joined her at the window. “What is it, Pinks?”

“I’m sorry I brought up your sister again.”

“It’s fine. It just hurts to think about her, y’know, and this is the second time today I’ve had to explain everything to somepony. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Second time?”

She fixed her gaze on the stars again. “Yeah. At my lunch with Rarity she asked about my family, so I told her.”

“Oh.” Pinkie’s voice was drenched with bitterness, though only for a moment before it returned to its normal peppy state. “Well then let’s do something really fun to get your mind off it. Like—like flying! Oooh, Dashie, can you take me flying with you?”

“You don’t have wings.”

“You could carry me!”

Rainbow Dash thought about it, then shrugged. “Yeah. I could.” Pinkie continued giving her the best puppy-dog eyes she could manage until finally Rainbow sighed and conceded, “Fine.”

Before either she or Pinkie could change their minds, Rainbow scooped Pinkie up and darted out the window, soaring into the dark sky beyond. Only once they were above the first layer of foggy clouds did she decide to reposition Pinkie.

“I’m going to throw you upwards, but I’ll catch you on my back, so don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash told her. “It’s bad for a pony’s legs to be carried like I’m carrying you.”

Without further ado she tossed her into the air; Pinkie landed with a jolt on Dash’s back, holding on for dear life.

“You alright, Pinks?” Dash laughed.

Instead of answering, Pinkie bobbed her head up and down swiftly. Really, she was terrified, but the urge to find out how it felt to ride a pegasus was too great to give up now.

“Good. You can hold on, but don’t touch my wings no matter what, and please don’t choke me. It’s going to feel weird when I start flying faster, because of the way my wings move and whatnot, but no matter what, don’t let go. You ready?”

This time Pinkie Pie tried to speak. “Y-yes—”

“Perfect!” Before she even finished her sentence, Rainbow Dash shot off like a rocket, weaving and ducking and tumbling and swerving like she was performing some weird ritual. The clouds around them vaporized wherever they hit, and Pinkie could hear the wind whistling around Rainbow’s wings. To Rainbow everything was perfect—the stars gleamed, the wind sang, and the night air smelled faintly of rain—but to Pinkie Pie it was just the opposite. The stars, to her, were a jumbled smear of silver movement, the wind snarled and howled like some kind of creature, and the air whipped by so fast that even if she did manage to take a quick breath, she could smell nothing. It took her a while, but she eventually realized that when she closed her eyes and pinned her ears back, it was pretty fun. It was like a roller coaster; thrilling, unpredictable, and fierce.

They flew like this for some time, Rainbow Dash bobbing around like she was caught in the path of a tidal wave and Pinkie trying her best to hold on. Then, at last, Rainbow Dash calmed down and slowed her pace to a peaceful glide.

“Well?” the pegasus panted. “What did you think?”

Pinkie Pie opened her eyes and looked down. The ground was mere feet away from them. “That…was…AWESOME!”

“Your eyes were closed,” Rainbow Dash accused.

“When they were open I felt sort of dizzy. But it was still awesome! You were like—ZOOM! And then you were like—TWIST! SWERVE! ZOOM! And that was so fun! It felt like a roller coaster. Ooh, they should make a roller coaster where it’s like you’re flying on a pegasus and there’s a thunderstorm and lots of lightning and stuff. I would so ride that! Wouldn’t you? Oh, wait, you’re a pegasus. You’ve probably already been in a thunderstorm. Oh, well, you could still ride it! That was fun! But I’m not tired anymore. I don’t think I’d be able to go to sleep if I went back to Sugarcube Corner.”

Rainbow Dash touched her hooves to the ground. “Then do you want to walk around Ponyville? It’s really cool at night. Sure, hardly anything’s open, but it’s still fun.”

“Well…okay, but instead of walking around, can we fly around? That was super duper awesome.”

“If you say so!” Once again the pegasus lifted into the air, this time with an air of peace to her. Rather than flapping her wings and causing her passenger discomfort, she let the air currents lift her into the air, pulling her higher and higher until Ponyville was just a cluster of bright lights down below.

“It’s pretty,” Pinkie Pie breathed.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t listening. She scanned the streets down below until something caught her eye. Then, with a broad smile, she began to glide down toward it. “Look, Pinks, it’s Rarity. What’s she doing up at this time of night?”

“Probably taking a walk alone. We shouldn’t bother her.”

It was too late. Rainbow Dash had made up her mind. As they drew closer, she waved and hollered, “Rarity! Hey, Rarity! Look up!”

The white unicorn tilted her head back. Seeing Pinkie riding on Rainbow Dash’s back as Rainbow gestured frantically appeared to surprise her. “Dashing, is that you? Whatever are you doing up at this time of night?”

Rainbow landed with a thump in front of her, allowing Pinkie to climb off. “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing, Rare.”

Rarity smiled and tossed her mane. “As a matter of fact, I rather enjoy going for late night walks when I am unable to fall asleep. And you?”

“Couldn’t sleep, visited Pinkie Pie, took her flying with me. You know. Pretty much the same as you.” She smirked, stretching her wings out and flapping them a few times. “Hey, speaking of which, do you want me to take you for a ride? I forgot how fun it is to take ponies flying with me, and Pinks already got a turn.” Seeing Rarity’s doubtful expression, she added quickly, “I promise I won’t do anything too dangerous.”

“I shouldn’t. I couldn’t.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, looking to Pinkie for help. “Pinks, tell her how awesome it was.”

Pinkie, not taking her eyes off Rarity for a second, said, “It was really awesome, but I don’t know if you would like it. It was kind of like a roller coaster, and no offense, but you don’t seem like a roller coaster kind of pony.”

Rarity laughed, “Pinkie Pie, dear, you don’t think I’ve ridden my share of roller coasters? While I do prefer browsing the gift shops, from time to time I enjoy a good ride.”

Rainbow’s cocky smirk slowly drooped into a dark scowl. Pinkie was obviously upset for some reason; the air crackled with tension like they were in the midst of a thunderstorm, though she couldn’t for the life of her think why. To try to lighten the atmosphere, she elbowed Pinkie and said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get another ride soon enough. So, how about it, Rare? You up for a ride on the Dashing 5000?”

“I suppose so.” She reached her hoof forward and pulled Rainbow’s face to her, adding in a low voice, “But if I say stop, you stop, are we clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

In a flash Rainbow Dash had repeated the whole process from Pinkie’s ride; warning Rarity, tossing her up, and catching her in a position that would be more comfortable for both of them. Instead of resting the mare on her back, though, she opted to cradle her in her arms like she would a foal. And, surprisingly, Rarity didn’t protest.

“Please keep your hooves and tail inside the vehicle at all times,” Dash commanded in a robotic voice. “And enjoy your ride!”

They soared higher and higher, the sky gradually growing inkier, and throughout it all Rarity kept surprisingly quiet. Rainbow Dash would’ve expected her to be squealing in fright by now. After all, they were pretty high up. Ponyville looked like a village of ants down below, and she couldn’t even see Pinkie anymore.

This reminded her of the olden days, with Rainy and Gilda and her parents. Only this time, it wasn’t her being carried in somepony else’s arms.

The nostalgia, however bitter, gave her an idea. Her previous grin returned and she shot straight up; she could feel Rarity shivering slightly from the cold, yet still remaining silent.

Up and up they went, until the clouds rushed in and blocked Ponyville from view. Around them was a pale cascade of stars—close enough that Rainbow Dash swore she could smell them, even though she knew that was impossible. Only then, the moonlight pooling around them, did she stop and look down at Rarity.

“You all right, Rare?” she said, tearing her eyes away and glancing around. The nearby clouds were too thin for a normal non-pegasus pony to walk on. But if she used some of her weatherpony techniques…

Carefully she gathered a few armfuls of them; using her wings, of course. Then she began to pat them together until they formed a small, compact wad. She repeated the process several times, only stopping once the wad became a cluster large enough to fit a full-grown mare.

It was a trick she had learned long before, in her first few years of bucking clouds. They had actually been teaching it to her to keep her from accidentally bundling them up instead of bucking them, but she had morphed it to her own uses. She often used this when bringing her flightless friends for a little ride. Though she would never admit it, carrying a pony while flying was difficult, too difficult to do for a long period of time without taking a break.

It was true that normally non-pegasi couldn’t walk on clouds, but there was some scientific mumbo-jumbo and equations and a whole bunch of other stuff that Rainbow Dash had never really cared about. And honestly, to her it didn’t matter how it happened. All that mattered was that it happened, and it happened well enough that her friends wouldn’t fall to their doom.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now,” Rainbow Dash teased, setting Rarity down on the makeshift platform.

Rarity huffed indignantly; she insisted fervently that she had indeed not been closing her eyes, but her jumpiness and frequent glances downward said otherwise.

Dash, not needing to make her seat quite so compact, dragged a cloud over and sat by her friend. “Hey, just don’t look down, and you’ll be fine. Look at the stars, or the moon, or the clouds…just don’t look down. It makes things a lot more complicated.”

A minute or two later Rarity had calmed down. Now she fixed her gaze on the stars spread out above them. Her deep blue eyes widened and caught the light, and she gave a small shiver. “Oh, my. I find myself watching the stars quite often, but I have never, ever seen a sky quite like this.”

“Yeah. It’s one of the perks of being a pegasus. I might even go so far as to say that this sky tonight isn’t as awesome as it usually is.” It was a blatant lie, of course. The way the stars glistened and twinkled tonight…well, Rainbow Dash would be lucky if she saw another sky half as good as that in her lifetime.

“Well, then, you’ll have to take me up here some other time when it is that awesome,” Rarity said, smiling.

“Heh, heh. Yeah.”

A comfortable silence weaved its way between them until Rarity’s small sigh broke it. “Dashing, dear, please tell me I wasn’t the only one to notice how Pinkie was acting earlier.”

Rainbow Dash scowled. Pinkie’s tension hadn’t been lost on her. “Yeah. What do you think was up with her? She’s not usually like that.”

“Well, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I believe she may be a bit…jealous.”

“Jealous? Of who?”

“'Whom' would be correct in that situation. And I think it may be all of us.”

“What?”

Rarity pursed her lips, deep in thought. Finally she said, “Let me put it this way. Who do you think she considers her best friend?”

“All of us.”

“Rainbow Dash…”

“Okay, fine, me. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“For the past few weeks, who has been the pony that she’s hung out with the most?”

“Me.”

“And who’s the pony that, out of nowhere, seemed to want to invest all her time in their other friends, somewhat neglecting Pinkie?”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes slid over the edge of her cloud, breaking her own rule as she tried to make out Ponyville far below. “So you’re saying she’s upset because I’m not spending as much time with her?”

“Precisely.”

“But that doesn’t make sense! I spend plenty of time with her. I mean, when I couldn’t sleep, who was the first pony I went to for help? Pinkie! Heck, she even helped me get ready for our da—er—completely platonic lunch.”

Rarity reached over and rested her hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “And yet as soon as you saw me, you pretty much abandoned her. And Dashing, tell me, did you take Pinkie up this high to show her the stars? Or did you just fly around doing tricks to burn off some steam?”

To that, Dash had no answer.

“That’s what I thought. All I’m suggesting is that perhaps she’s feeling a bit mistreated at the moment, and you should take that into consideration. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Yeah, well maybe you should just keep your nose out of other ponies’ business and stop trying to control my life,” Rainbow Dash said quietly, a sudden rush of indignation spurring her to raise her defenses.

“Pardon?”

“Never mind.” Suddenly Dash wanted nothing more than to curl up in her own bed at home, with Tank and her Wonderbolts posters, with Rarity and Pinkie Pie far away and nothing more than dreamlike wisps. “We should probably fly back down now.”

Rarity touched her hoof to Rainbow Dash’s, her eyes filled with concern. “I’m sorry, Dashing. I didn’t mean to make you think I was trying to control your life. I had no way of knowing this was a sensitive topic for you. Our friends want us to connect more, though, and it was my impression that this entails helping each other when needed. While you might not think this is a huge problem now, it may very well become one, and I’m simply trying to nip it in the bud, so to speak.”

“Whatever. You’re not my mom, so stop telling me what to do.”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s hardly fair. All I did was—”

“Look, Rare,” Dash interrupted with a sigh, “I’m really tired and grouchy and all I really want right now is to lay down and go to sleep, so can we just go back down to the ground? I’m sorry to be so rude, but this is something I can handle on my own.”

Rarity looked like she wanted to say more; to Rainbow Dash’s relief, she just shut her muzzle and nodded, allowing Dash to lift her from the clouds and begin to carry her down.

The descent was nowhere near as exciting as the ascension. It was spent in cold, sleepy silence.

At last they touched down. To neither of their surprise, Pinkie was there waiting for them, shivering from the cold but happy nonetheless. She kept saying something excitedly to Rainbow Dash, but Dash didn’t hear her. Everything was a blur now; whether it was from exhaustion or frustration she did not know, but what she did know what that if she spent one more second away from her bed she was going to pass out.

So she brushed past Pinkie—somewhat rudely—and took off, the calming allure of her destination calling to her like a song.

She didn’t know what time it was; she didn’t know how long the flight had taken; she didn’t remember trotting inside; but what she did know was that she suddenly found herself sliding under the covers of her own cloudy bed, the sound of Tank’s snoring filling her ears and the Siren-like murmurs of slumber fogging her mind.

And then she let the darkness take her as she drifted asleep.