Don't Give Up

Don't Give Up

Chapter 9

It Begins

“Will she be found?”

“Yes, I left her behind the counter and the door unlocked. Her first patient comes in at 9 AM, so we best start on out alibis.”

“Good work, but who is the first patient?”

“An old friend.”

-_-_-_-

“Twi?”

“5 more minutes.” Twilight mumbled, rolling away from the hoof poking at her shoulder, ending up on the floor a second later with thud.

“Twilight! It's past midnight!” The voice galled again. Grumbling, Twilight sat up and opened her eyes, revealing a cyan pegasus standing beside her.

“GAH!” Twilight screamed, scrambling away from the Rainbow maned mare until her back hit the wall.

“Twi?” Rainbow asked, confusion painted across her face.

“I said no, Rainbow, I told you- wait, how did you get out of my room? I thought my door was locked.” Twilight asked, her panic turning to confusion as she momentarily forgot why she was backpedalling from her friend.

“Uh, window?” Dash said, still very confused.

“Wait, you flew? Dash, the doctor said no flying for at least a week! It's been one day!”

“What else was I supposed to do? The door was locked, and for some reason you couldn't hear me.”

“Great, remind me to look over your wings for any new damages later.” Twilight grumbled.

“It hurt like hay, if that's what you mean. Anyway, what happened?”

“Wait, you mean you can't remember?” Twilight asked, sounding almost hopeful.

“Last thing I remember is you taking some of my blood, and something about a cactus.” Dash scratched the back of her neck with a hoof as she tried to remember, though the cactus confused her to no end.

“It's... best that you don't remember, actually.” Twilight giggled nervously, hoping Rainbow wouldn't press the issue. She did.

“Why? I'm pretty sure I would want to know how I ended up on your bedroom floor, locked in, and with no memory.” Dash said, she had a good point.

“Well, you remember drinking my chemical dump, right?” Twilight asked, buying as much time as possible so she could think of an appropriate and believable story.

“Yes, I remember, I also remember that Celestia damned needle, but then it kinda blacks out after that.”

“Well, you started hallucinating after the needle, which is how the cactus comes in, after that I brought you up to my room.” Twilight said, hoping Dash wouldn't notice that the explanation didn't explain waking up on the floor or the lock on the door.

“So that explains why I was in your room, but why was the door locked? And why was I on the floor?” Dash winced as she touched her head with her hoof, “And why is my head so sore?” Dash added, rubbing the back of her head tenderly.

“Um... about that... do you know what an aphrodisiac is?” Twilight asked, her face heating up a bit as she remembered what had happened. Glancing nervously out the window at the night sky, avoiding her friends questioning gaze.

“Aphro-what-now?” Dash asked, cocking her head slightly.

“Well... it... uh... can be a chemical, that causes... uh... you know what? Hold on a minute.” Twilight said, quickly running off to one of the bookshelves, extracting a rather large book, and flipping through it. All the while Dash could have sworn Twilight's face was getting more and more red.

“Twi? You know I hate reading, why can't you just tell me?” Dash said, looking almost appalled by the book.

“Just trust me on this Dash. AH! Here it is, read this.” Twilight said, shoving the book in front of Rainbow. Dash sat back on her haunches, reading the levitating book.

“If you say so, lets see... Aphrodisiacs are chemicals that cause an increase in... oh.” Dash said, her face crimson after reading the rest of the definition.

“I told you it would be better if you didn't know.” Twilight said, turning away from the pegasus in an attempt to hide her blush.

“Uh, wait, so I... that means... then you... I didn't, did I?" Rainbow asked, looking back towards Twilight.

“I had to lock you in my room.” Twilight stated flatly.

“Oh... I need to... I need to go.” Dash said, before quickly running out the front door into the black of night. Face still burning a bright red.

“Dash! Wait!” Twilight called, but it was too late. Rainbow might not be able to fly, but she could still run faster then most.

-_-_-_-

KOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Fluttershy?” Dash called, hoping that the yellow pegasus would let her in.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Fluttershy? Please, let me in.” Dash called again.

"Who is it?” Came a quite, almost inaudible reply.

“It's Rainbow Dash! Can I come in now?” Dash almost sounded desperate.

“Oh, Rainbow, yes of course, come in. But what are you doing here? In the middle of the night? I thought you were staying with Twilight.” Fluttershy asked, opening the door and stepping to the side to allow Rainbow dash into her cottage.

“I was, but something happened, can I stay here? For just one night?” Dash asked, almost pleading, but not quite.

“Of course. But what happened? You two didn't have a fight, did you?” Fluttershy asked, worry thick in her voice.

“No, just... look, I would rather not talk about it, alright?” Dash said, walking into the living room and laying down on the couch, kicking Angel off his favourite spot. An action that got a cold glare from the white bunny.

“Okay, whenever you want to. Can I get you anything? A blanket? Some tea?” Fluttershy asked, ignoring the rabbit tugging on her hoof, trying to make her kick Dash out of his spot.

“No thanks, I just need some sleep.” Dash said, yawning quietly.

“Alright, good night.” Fluttershy said, walking up the stairs to her room, carrying a very annoyed looking Angel with her.

“'Night 'Shy” Dash called, stretching out on the couch, letting sleep take her. Though it refused. Her mind was plagued by thought of what she had tried to do to her purple friend. She had probably completely ruined their friendship, and she couldn't even remember it! Her mind making up the worst possible thing she could have done, and convincing her that she had done it.

“How could I do that?” Dash said to herself. Maybe saying it out loud might help her think. Instead all it did was remind her even more that she had done something to require her being locked in Twilight's room.

Images flew through her mind, her thoughts spinning in her head, what had she done? Would she be forgiven? Should she be forgiven? Why had she done it? What had she done? Her thoughts were going nowhere. She was asking questions she did not have answers for. Somewhere along the line of “She looked like she had been crying when I woke her up” and “Why was she blushing so much” she fell asleep.

-_-_-_-

“Good job, you've really done it now, why did you tell her the truth? You could have said something else.” Twilight told her self, pacing back and forth in front of the couch she had been sleeping on.

“I couldn't lie to her. She didn't deserve to be lied to.” Twilight said, switching directions.

“But then you could have saved your friendship. Just pretend that it never happened.” Twilight said, a groove slowly forming below her.

“No, just because she would never know would not make it better. I would still know, and I don't think I could hide that.” Twilight turned back again, noticing the groove in the floor.

“Great, I really need to stop doing that.” She sighed, jumping out of it and making a note to have it repaired and her checklist for the day.

“Oh, my dental appointment is at 9 AM, I should probably get some sleep.” Twilight sighed again, wandering back over to her couch a laying down. She would have slept in her bed, but the last time she had tried that it still smelt like Rainbow Dash, and that was the last thing she needed to smell after what happened.

So she slept on her couch, her alarm clock on the coffee table and her head on the arm of the couch. Though sleep refused to come to her. Her mind still latched onto the thought of never seeing Rainbow Dash again. It made her feel weird, not the normal feeling of never seeing a friend again, but something stronger then that, though she still couldn't put her hoof on.

“Why did I tell her?” Twilight asked herself quietly, wishing to just go back and stop herself from telling her the truth. Though before she could think anymore sleep finally found her, dragging her into a dream. A dream about a rainbow and light blue sky. Though it was still missing something, and she new exactly what it was.

-_-_-_-

THUD

“What?” Rainbow said groggily, sitting up from her new position on the floor. Light streaming in through the windows of Fluttershy's cottage.

Looking around she spotted the reason she was on the floor; a white rabbit, currently sitting on the couch, sticking his tongue out at her.

“Why you little-” Dash said, jumping up off the floor with a quick flap of her wings, though quickly regretting it as a sharp pain shot through her body. She cried out as she landed back on the floor, her wing limp at her side.

“Dash?” Fluttershy called from the her bedroom, having been awoken by the sudden cry of pain.

“I'm alright.” Dash called back, glaring at the rabbit trying to contain his laughter.

“That's good, what happened?” Fluttershy asked as she came down the stairs, though one look told her everything she needed to know.

“ANGEL! I told you to be nice!” Fluttershy scolded, fluttering over with her wings and picking up the rabbit.

“Hey, thanks for letting me stay, Fluttershy, but I should really go to Twilight's and talk to her. I'll see you later.” Dash called as she walked towards the door, wing still limp at her side. “Great,” she thought, “now I can't use it for anything, with my luck I probably broke it again.”

“Bye Rainbow.” Fluttershy called,  not noticing the wing as she fed her animals their breakfast.

-_-_-_-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Twilight was woken up by the sound of her alarm clock. It read “8 AM”. She normally got up much earlier, but since the only thing she had planned for the first half of her day was her dental appointment she decided she could sleep in a bit. Especially after what had happened the previous day.

Slowly dragging herself off the couch, she walked towards the kitchen, carefully avoiding the groove she had made the previous night. She was surprised when she didn't see Spike already making breakfast.

“Spike?” She called, she got no answer, not even the tell-tale snoring of a baby dragon.

“Huh, he must have stayed at Rarity's last night. I don't blame him, I was little hard on him.” Twilight thought, making a mental note to apologize the next time she saw him.

Sighing, she found some left over pancakes on the fridge and heated them up with her magic. Sitting down and eating them like a machine. Her thoughts consumed by thoughts of Rainbow Dash. Worry for where her friend had gone. Worry that she would never see her again. She had decided not to go after the pegasus, deciding that both Rainbow Dash and herself needed some time alone. Though she was already regretting it as her imagination filled with worst case scenarios.

What if she got lost? Pony napped? Did she try to fly and crash somewhere? Twilight tried to shake the thoughts from her mind as she finished eating, glancing at the clock: 8:23.

“Dash will be fine. She knows what she's doing.” Twilight tried to convince herself as she walked up her stairs to the bathroom. Quickly setting about the task of brushing her teeth.

Rinsing and spitting into the sink, she looked at the clock she kept in her hallway: 8:28.

“Lets see, it takes me 15 minutes to walk there, and my appointment is at 9, and I like to be 10 minutes early, that leaves me 7 minutes before I need to go.” Twilight thought to herself, calculating her day down to the minute. It felt good to be on a schedule, since she had barely followed hers while Rainbow Dash was in the hospital.

She walked back down the stairs and sat on her couch, levitating over a book to read for her 7 minutes of free time.

-_-_-_-

Rainbow Dash galloped through the town towards the library. Looking back to the clock tower as she ran: 8:34.

“Almost there.” Dash thought to herself as she dashed through the streets, most being empty because of the early time of day and the fact that it was a Sunday.

She finally rounded the last corner, the Golden Oaks library at the end of the street. 8:40.

Bursting through the door into the main room, she looked around. All she could see was a groove in the floor and a plate in the sink. Twilight was nowhere to be found.

“Twi?” Dash called, still no answer.

“Great. What do I do now? I guess I'll just wait here until she gets back.” Dash thought to herself, sighing as she sat on the couch. It still smelled like the purple unicorn; Rainbow liked that.

“Well, not much to do until she gets back. I could use a nap.” Dash thought, already stretching out on the couch. Letting sleep once again take her away, though the smell on the couch was still present in her dreams.

-_-_-_-

Twilight trotted through the town, her dental office already in sight. She had left her house 14 minutes ago, the dental office less then a minute trot down to street.

As she approached it she noticed something was off, the lights were all off, even though the sign on the door said open. Concern spread through her mind when she opened the door and saw that there were no lights anywhere in the building.

“Colgate?” She called out to her dentist, the only one in  Ponyville, but got no answer.

“Hello?” She called again, steeping into the office a little further, straining her eyes to see in the dark. She caught a glimpse of something shiny behind the counter. Curiosity overriding her fear, she reached out with her magic, locating the candles and lanterns around the room and igniting them until she could see.

“C-Colgate?” Twilight gasped. The dentist was behind the counter, ice covering her body, the only thing not covered was her face, which was contorted in an expression of pain. Then she realized something else: She was dead.

-_-_-_-

Rainbow woke up to the sound of screaming. More specifically; Twilight screaming.

“Twilight?” Rainbow called, forcing herself awake out of fear that something had happened to her friend. Suddenly the door was flung open, Twilight running inside and slamming it shut, tears streaming down her face.

“Twi? What's wrong?” Dash asked, stepping towards the unicorn. Before she knew what was happening Twilight had run forward and rapped her legs around Dash's neck, forcing the pegasus into an embrace. Confusing her to no end.

“Dash... it's terrible...” Twilight said into Rainbow's cyan coat, Rainbow still stunned and confused.

“It's... it's Colgate... she... she's dead, Dash... somepony k-killed her.” Twilight sniffled into cyan fur. Dash finally snapped out of her confusion with those last 3 words.

“WHAT!?” Dash said, immediately returning the hug.

“Did they hurt you? Did you see who did it? Do the police know? Are you alright?” Dash rattled off question after question, all the while trying her best to comfort the purple unicorn in her arms.

“No, I'm fine, she was already... gone, when I got there.” Twilight sniffled again, though she was slowly starting to calm down with the aid of a blue hoof slowly rubbing her back in a circular motion.

“Okay. Just calm down. It's alright, it'll be alright.” Dash said in the most comforting tone she could manage while her mind tried to comprehend what this meant. That last time somepony had been murdered in Ponyville was... never, as far as Dash could remember.

“I know Dash... it's just... I didn't know what to do. I panicked when I saw her.” Twilight said, she had stopped crying but still help the pegasus close.

“It's okay, Twilight.” Dash comforted, slowly calming the panicked mare.

“It's okay.”