//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: The Bet 
// Story: The Games We Play 
// by AbsoluteAnonymous 
//------------------------------//

It was Pinkie Pie's firm belief that every problem she encountered could be solved with a party. Not just any kind of party, of course; it had to be the right one. And there was always a right one, for every situation imaginable.

Whether Twilight was in a panic over her studies, Carrot Top was in a foul mood from having arrived home to discover an empty fridge yet again, Applejack had overworked herself and needed to unwind, or somepony had just had a bad day and needed cheering up, she could always think of a party idea that was bound to make everything better. That was her special talent, after all, and one that she loved putting to good use.

Currently, the pony most desperately in need of a bona fide Pinkie Pie Party was Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had been uncharacteristically sullen, and just generally out-of-sorts for days, so naturally it fell upon Pinkie to cheer up her friend. She'd even gone to the extra effort of delivering the invitations herself, because she knew it was the little touches like that that really made a party special – but for some reason, Rainbow Dash seemed less than excited about it.

Rainbow Dash had been in line at Sugarcube Corner, waiting to reach the counter so that she could grab something for breakfast, when Pinkie had first cornered her. The invites for her emergency parties always played out more like sneak attacks than party invitations, and never failed to take the recipient by surprise – not that she ever noticed.

"Sorry, Pinks, but I'm not exactly in the party mood," Dash had apologized, giving a little shrug, prompting Pinkie Pie to gasp in shock.

"Rainbow Dash! Never say that!" she scolded, sounding comically serious. "Ponies are always ready to party! That's just how we are!"

"It's just that I'm kind of burned out. Y'know?" Rainbow Dash explained, yawning. At first the yawn had been exaggerated for emphasis, but it became real halfway through.

Pinkie Pie could be random, and she could be utterly bizarre, but she definitely wasn't dumb. Even if Rainbow Dash wasn't specifically bringing it up, it was immediately obvious to Pinkie what her friend was talking about. Everypony could see it, after all. For the past week and a half she'd been obsessed with the new Mare Do Well; it was all she talked about, and almost certainly all she thought about.

As far as Pinkie knew, Rainbow Dash hadn't slept in days – a definite sign that something was wrong. Rainbow Dash was a pony who loved her sleep. If something was keeping her awake at night, it must be something serious. That was why Pinkie had wanted to throw the party in the first place – as a distraction, to get her mind off things.

Not that she was going to explain any of that. Not in so many words, at least. Instead Pinkie started to hop in place, bouncing quickly from hoof to hoof, her tail twitching in that spastic way she had.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaashie, c'mon!" Pinkie pleaded, doing her best imitation of Rarity's whining voice. Rainbow Dash flinched at the way it grated against her ears. "My parties are the very bestest parties around! Maybe you're not up for a normal boring party, but you should totally be up for a super-special Pinkie Pie party just for you!"

And then Pinkie suddenly stopped, growing very still.

"Don't you like my parties anymore?" she pouted.

That was all it took for Rainbow Dash to flash back to Pinkie's birthday and the mental image of a deflated Pinkamena sitting alone at a long table, surrounded by and talking to inanimate objects.

"No, your parties are great," Dash said quickly. "Uh, I guess I can probably find time in my very busy schedule... to go... to this one."

"Oh, yay!" Pinkie Pie cried, bounding into the air with a joyful leap. "I need to go deliver the rest of the invitations, now! Bye-bye!"

With that, Pinkie Pie bounced off, literally skipping out of the bakery. The bell chimed as she pushed through the door.

Rainbow had been pretty sure that Pinkie Pie was supposed to work that day, but the pink pony seemed to have a knack for always managing to get time off whenever she decided to throw another one of her parties. It was uncanny. Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash approached the counter, ignoring the way Mrs. Cake was smiling to herself as she placed her order.


• • •


Rainbow Dash left the bakery carrying a bag with freshly made muffins – loaded with carbs, perfect for getting back her energy. Wanting to be alone was a concept Pinkie Pie seemed to have trouble grasping. In her mind, there was no fate worse than being abandoned, and evasion of any kind was a crime of the highest order. She wasn't exactly known for being subtle, either, and it was obvious that the only reason Pinkie was so insistent that Rainbow Dash attended was because she was worried about her and convinced that a party was exactly what Rainbow needed.

Rainbow Dash went straight home, hoping to escape any further attempts to cheer her up, only be interrupted yet again immediately afterwards – this time by a happy voice chirping "mail call!" from somewhere outside. With a sigh she went to get the door, hooves sinking slightly in the soft masses of clouds that comprised her floor.

The door swung open.

"Hey, Derpy," Rainbow Dash called out upon spotting the gray mail mare.

When Derpy Hooves saw Rainbow Dash, her face broke out into an enormous grin and she pointed at the still-warm bag from Sugarcube Corner. "Muffin?" she asked eagerly.

"Sure," Rainbow Dash answered, digging in to pull one out before tossing it over to her. Derpy caught it gratefully. The look on her face when she took her first bite was one of pure ecstasy. "You got mail for me?"

"Oh! Uh-huh," Derpy answered, nodding importantly before shoving the rest of the muffin in her mouth, then turning to her saddlebag. It was emblazoned with the logo of the Ponyville postal service, and Rainbow Dash never saw her without it, even on days when she wasn't delivering. She took a bite of her own muffin; it was deliciously sweet and fresh-tasting.

"Here ya go!" Derpy announced, pulling something from the bag with her mouth and handing it to Rainbow.

It was a letter, sealed and addressed to her, but with no return address. Rainbow eyed it, frowning, before taking it. It was more traditional for ponies to send mail through scrolls, since sealed envelopes could be tricky for anypony except unicorns. Nopony she knew used them, not even Twilight; they were too much of a hassle. She had to tear at it clumsily with her teeth just to open it, and when she finally did, the letter itself fell out, swaying gracefully in the air. Rainbow Dash caught it neatly before reading it.

I have the flowers, but if you want the moonlight too, you'll have to come get it.

With a cry, Rainbow Dash dropped the note. It floated to the ground, passing through the floor before getting caught in the breeze and carried off on the wind. Derpy watched it get blown away, her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Here," Dash said curtly, shoving the bag with her breakfast forward. "Take them. I'm not hungry anymore."

"Yay – !"

Derpy's exclamation of greedy delight was cut short by the slamming of the door.

Rainbow Dash sunk to her floor – so soft and spongy and comforting – and curled into herself as tightly as she could, trying to ignore the racing of her heart.


• • •


The party that night was like any other Pinkie Pie party, and on any other night, Rainbow Dash might have enjoyed it. There was a whole crowd gathered, and the room had been decorated with Pinkie's trademark flair so that everything in sight was draped with balloons and streamers. The bakery was closed for the night, specifically so that there would be no interruptions. How Pinkie always managed to secure the building for her personal use was beyond her.

A buffet table off to the side was loaded with snacks and drinks, and games stood ready in the corners. Music was pumped out of an invisible source; some ponies were dancing, but all of them were talking and laughing and mingling. All of them except for Rainbow Dash, that is, who couldn't shake how uncomfortable she felt in the crowd for once.

For Pinkie's sake, Rainbow tried her best to fake enthusiasm, but that proved to be much harder than she expected. The strain of acting as energetic as usual when she felt nothing but exhaustion and hesitance was quickly draining what little energy she actually had.

For a little while she almost thought she was pulling it off, until Pinkie appeared out of nowhere and yanked her aside.

"Dashie!" Pinkie hissed in a fierce whisper, before glancing around them to see if anypony was listening. They weren't. "Why are you being such a frowny grumpy pants? What's wrong?"

I have the flowers –

"Nothing," Rainbow Dash answered immediately, feeling the heat rising up her neck.

Pinkie examined her closely with a suspicious glint in her eyes before hooking a foreleg around Rainbow Dash's neck and practically dragging her upstairs.

Once they were in Pinkie's bedroom, she deposited the pegasus on the bed before yanking the curtains shut and slamming the door. Rainbow Dash watched in bewilderment as Pinkie Pie searched the closet, then the dresser drawers and the wardrobe, and finally under the bed itself. When Pinkie seemed to be satisfied, she plopped down on her haunches before Rainbow Dash.

"Okay, Dashie, we're alone. So what happened?"

For once there was not even a hint of laughter in Pinkie's voice. Only concern. It made Rainbow Dash feel guilty, for some reason.

"Nothing," Dash repeated, looking away. She couldn't handle seeing Pinkie's enormous, piercing blue eyes right then.

The feeling of somepony's hot breath on her neck. Too bad.

Rainbow could feel herself flushing, and she knew her face must have been as red as the streak of color in her mane.

"Nuh uh, not nothing!" Pinkie said, jabbing Rainbow's chest with her hoof. "You've been acting all sad and blushy and weird all day, and the Rainbow Dash I know never does that! Something happened!"

"It's dumb!"

"No, it's not!" Pinkie insisted. She looked and sounded so earnest, like getting Rainbow Dash to spill her guts was the single most important thing she could even imagine doing right then. "If something happened that made you sad, you should tell your friends so we can fix it. As your very bestest best friends in the whole wide world, it's our job to make you feel better when you start going loco in the coco!"

Rainbow Dash considered. On one hoof, Pinkie had a good point. On the other, even thinking about it privately made her insides squirm, so how was she supposed to talk to anypony about it?

"Well," Rainbow began. Then stopped.

Pinkie was gazing up at her with those huge, earnest eyes, but as sincere as she seemed, Rainbow Dash was yet to find a good reason to write Pinkie off her suspects list.

Even just being around any of her friends felt strange, now, because she couldn't erase those nagging suspicions she had – that maybe they were lying to her, that maybe they were all laughing at her behind her back and making fun of how stupid she was for getting so worked up over Mare Do Well when it was just a practical joke. But her last encounter with Mare Do Well changed all of that – now Rainbow Dash felt infinitely more awkward, and every word spoken between them seemed layered with hidden meanings that she couldn't even begin to decipher.

Dash desperately wanted to believe that she was wrong and that Mare Do Well wasn't one of her friends. Not only because she wanted to be able to trust her friends, but because it would make everything between them incredibly weird, now. Yet until she found some concrete evidence pointing one way or the other, she had no choice but to stick with the assumption that Mare Do Well had to be one of them.

"I ran into Mare Do Well again," Rainbow blurted.

For once Pinkie was silent. Grateful, Rainbow Dash found herself continuing, the words spilling out in a rush.

"Not exactly ran into her. More like went looking for her, I guess, but then she showed up, so, yeah. And she said all these really weird things that kind of creeped me out, but I didn't tell anypony because it was really lame and embarrassing, but I can't stop thinking about it now."

"What did she say?" Pinkie asked, sounding curious.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted.

"I asked why she was bugging me, and she said... that... that she wanted to be close to me. Then she got all weird and flirty, with serious personal space issues, before just running off again."

"Close to you?" Pinkie repeated. She'd pulled a bag of popcorn out of nowhere and had crossed her legs in a casual stance as she munched away at it, adopting the air of an enraptured movie-goer. "What does that mean?"

"Well... you know."

"Did she mean like this?" Pinkie Pie asked, and then the popcorn was forgotten on the floor as she bolted forward, suddenly sitting directly beside Rainbow Dash with her side pressed up against Rainbow's.

"No, she meant... like when a pony really likes somepony, and..."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know this story!" Pinkie interrupted. "When a mommy and a daddy like each other very much, they –"

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Close to as in when you really like somepony and always want them around. Not the mommy and daddy kind, though."

"So she likes you?" Pinkie asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

"I... think so," Dash answered, voice low. Her cheeks were flaring up again, heat rushing to her face. Even thinking about it was enough to make her completely shut down from shock, but apparently Pinkie didn't feel the same way, since she laughed instead.

"So? Big deal!" Pinkie giggled. "Lots of ponies like other ponies, Rainbow Dash. I bet lots of ponies like you. I mean, I like you, right?"

"Not that kind of like," Rainbow explained, sounding like she was growing irritated, which she was. Having conversations with Pinkie Pie were rarely worth it, and tended to leave one exhausted from the skipping around from topic to topic and ridiculous misunderstandings that so often occurred.

Pinkie's face went blank. Then she jumped in the air and gasped, one of those patented heart-stopping Pinkie Pie gasps that made Rainbow Dash jump as well.

"You mean K-I-S-S-I-N-G?!" Pinkie squealed, looking scandalized. "The kissy face smoochies kind of like?!"

"...Maybe?"

"Dashie, no!" Pinkie wailed, stricken. "You can't do kissy face smoochies with Mare Do Well! That's... that's..."

"I'm not! I don't even want to be, I just meant that she was kind of acting like she wanted to!"

"Oh." Pinkie paused. She blinked a few times, just staring, before settling back down on the floor. "You don't?"

"No."

"Okay then!"

And that seemed to be all it took for Pinkie Pie to revert back to her normal, cheery self.

Rainbow Dash deliberated over whether or not to keep talking, but in the end, decided not to. Pinkie Pie wasn't exactly the best pony for deep heart-to-heart conversations; she either got distracted too easily, or took everything said literally and became obsessed with the smallest details. So she pushed off from the bed and swooped over to the door, preparing to leave, before turning back and seeing Pinkie Pie watching her go.

"Um, Pinks? Before I go, I had a question."

"A question? Sure thing, Dashie! What is it?" Pinkie asked, springing to her hooves in a spry movement.

"How did Gummy eat your costume?"

Pinkie giggled, bringing a hoof to her mouth in an exaggerated attempt to stifle it. "With his mouth, silly! How else would –"

"No," Rainbow Dash cut her off. "You said it was ripped to pieces, but how did he do that without any teeth?"

A silence fell over the two of them.

Rainbow Dash floated by the door and Pinkie Pie looked up at her, smile frozen on her face. Her expression was unchanging, but she seemed lost for words for once. The only sound in the room came from the beating of Rainbow's wings and the steady tock tock tock of the clock on the wall.

"Gee, um, I dunno," Pinkie giggled. "I said the wrong thing, duh. You know how I get, Dashie. I get mixed up a lot. I'm a topsy-turvy kind of pony."

"Was your costume really ruined?"

"Yeah-huh!" Pinkie immediately answered with an emphatic nod. "It totally was! See, he was chewing on it, and I felt sorry for him because he only has his gummies to chew with, so I was all, don't worry, buddy, I'll help you. Like this! Grr!" She sprung backwards, leaping onto the bed and taking up a mouthful of blanket, whipping her head around furiously while Rainbow Dash watched, bewildered. Then she spat it out and grinned up at the pegasus. "See? And then when we stopped, I saw that it was all in pieces and that he'd swallowed a bunch, so I threw the rest out."

Rainbow Dash stared at her.

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random." Rainbow finally sighed. "I'm gonna go now. I need some fresh air."

And she flapped out of Pinkie's bedroom.

It might have been her imagination, but she almost thought she saw Pinkie look relieved before she left, as if she'd been carrying some sort of tension and had only just let herself relax. Or maybe she was reading too much into things.


• • •


Rainbow Dash left Sugarcube Corner while the party was still in full swing, not bothering to stop and make her goodbyes. She wasn't leaving, not really; she just needed to step outside, maybe take a quick flight. It was like she'd said to Pinkie; she needed some fresh air.

Pinkie had almost sounded jealous when she'd told her about what had happened with Mare Do Well, but when Rainbow had confronted her about her Gummy alibi, her story had quickly fallen apart, and she'd sure looked guilty under Rainbow Dash's stare. Or maybe Rainbow Dash was just seeing guilty faces and incriminating evidence everywhere, now.

Before Rainbow flew off, she needed to stop and take a quick breather. She rounded the corner of the bakery, slumping against the wall and sinking to the grass.

She took a deep breath. In, and then out. In and out, and again. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall.

It didn't surprise her when she heard that now-familiar thump of hooves landing on the road, but it still made her wince in anticipation. She didn't speak, just kept her eyes screwed shut and her head against the wall, ignoring the sound of approaching hoofsteps as the intruder on her private moment drew near. Maybe if she pretended she didn't notice her, Mare Do Well would lose interest and go away.

Instead, she felt something brush against the top of her head.

"Gah!" Rainbow Dash cried out, quickly jerking back from the touch. Her hooves flew to her mane, scrambling to figure out what Mare Do Well had done to it. "What was that?"

"I told you I had the flowers," Mare Do Well answered smoothly. "I also said that if you wanted the moonlight, too, you'd have to come and get it. And here we are." She lifted her head, turning her gaze to the sky, and Rainbow Dash followed suit. The moon was practically directly overhead.

"I didn't come out here on purpose," Rainbow Dash muttered. "What..."

She had continued to feel her mane, trying to find what Mare Do Well had done, but just then, her hooves reached it.

Her mane had a flower tucked in it.

Her first instinct was to tear it out and throw it on the ground so that she could stomp it under her hooves and grind it into mulch, but for some reason, Rainbow couldn't move right away. She could feel herself growing stiffer under Mare Do Well's stare, her entire body freezing tighter and tighter until she couldn't move or speak as long as the other mare was around. If Dash had tried to talk right then, her throat would've seized up and she would've choked, spluttering her words incoherently.

"I would've gotten you roses, but that seemed a little overdone," Mare Do Well said conversationally, completely ignoring the way Rainbow Dash was fumbling with her hooves to pull the flower out, but she waited for Rainbow to do so before continuing. Rainbow Dash threw it angrily onto the ground, refusing to say anything about it, but Mare Do Well nodded at it. It was a red blossom, and if Mare Do Well hadn't specifically told her it wasn't a rose, she might've assumed it was one. Rainbow Dash had never been one for keeping track of things like that.

"Red carnations," Mare Do Well explained. "If you have a favorite flower, I'll be sure to get you those for next time. But for now, I chose them based on the meaning."

"I don't have a favorite flower," Rainbow Dash snapped. "Flowers are stupid. I don't waste my time on them. And even if I did like them, I wouldn't want you to get them for me. What are you even doing here? Isn't your whole shtick supposed to be that you heroically leap in to come to the rescue whenever things get dangerous? I'm not exactly in peril right now," she added sarcastically, eyes fixed on the broken flower in front of her.

"You're upset, and it's my fault," Mare Do Well said simply. "I wanted to see if you were all right."

When Rainbow Dash didn't answer right away, the mare walked forward and knelt on the grass beside her. They sat side-by-side like that for a moment, neither of them speaking.

Rainbow Dash felt paralyzed. She almost wanted to kick Mare Do Well, or at least scoot a little further away so that they weren't sitting quite so close. But she couldn't move.

"Why do you keep coming back?" Rainbow finally managed to ask, careful not to let her eyes wander over to her new companion accidentally.

"I care about you."

"I don't want you to."

"That doesn't matter."

"Right now, I'm pretty sure you're one of my friends, which only makes this whole thing a heck of a lot weirder. But when I look at you, I can't really see any of them in you," Rainbow Dash said in a last-ditch attempt to change the subject. "It's hard to believe any of them would do something like this for any reason at all, especially when I keep telling you to cut it out and I keep asking them to either stop it or fess up. And you don't really act like any of them, either."

"Oh?"

"If I told Pinkie that I didn't think a joke was funny, she'd cut it out, because she only likes pranks that don't hurt anypony. Applejack would never deceive anypony for any reason. Twilight's way too smart to treat a friend this way. Fluttershy would never do something so mean. And Rarity – um, I can't really think of anything good to say about her generosity, but she wouldn't act this way either. At least, I don't want to think that."

"How do you even know I'm one of your friends? I've been careful so far. I doubt I've slipped up enough times for you to really know for sure yet."

"Who else could you be? Scootaloo?"

Mare Do Well snorted, but tried to hide it by covering her mouth with a hoof in an attempt to muffle the laugh. "I think she might be a little young for you."

Rainbow Dash almost grinned before remembering who she was talking to. She caught herself just in time to turn the smile into a scowl.

"Well, what am I supposed to think?" Rainbow growled. "I don't know anything about you, and you keep showing up out of nowhere and then running off."

"If you really want to know who I am, why don't you just tear off my mask right now?" Mare Do Well asked conversationally. "Nothing's stopping you."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond, then shut it, dumbfounded, when she realized she had nothing to say to that. They were alone, and Mare Do Well was making no move to pull away, not even looking at Dash when she spoke. It would have been so easy to reach over right then, tear off that stupid mask, and put an end to the whole charade.

But she just couldn't do it.

When Rainbow hesitated, Mare Do Well continued, still using that easy, light-hearted manner that was at such a direct contrast with her gruff, low voice. "The first time we ran into each other, that was the first thing you did, and I backed away because you took me by surprise. But last time you didn't even try. I don't think I would've fought you if you had."

"Oh, yeah, you're one to talk about getting taken by surprise. And what's that supposed to even mean? Are you trying to say that you don't want to be in disguise anymore, or something? Why bother wearing one in the first place if you wouldn't care if somepony unmasked you?"

"Have you ever wanted to be somepony else?"

She sounded wistful.

Rainbow Dash turned to look at her.

"Huh?"

"Wearing a mask feels... safe. Nopony knows who I really am, so I can be whoever I want. I get tired of myself sometimes; being Mare Do Well gives me a chance to try something new. But I wouldn't mind if you unmasked me because a part of myself wants you to know the real me, even if I hide it from everypony else."

Strangely enough, Rainbow Dash actually knew what she was talking about. Not that she'd ever tried actually taking on a new identity before, but she could remember feeling that way back in flight camp, during her days as Rainbow Crash. She'd never donned a real disguise, but she'd worn a mask of sorts. She'd hated being the filly that was victimized by the bullies and snobs that chose to taunt her, and had instead chosen to act the role of the cocky show-off instead – the filly that never let anything get to her. Because if she played the part long enough, then maybe it would start to sink in, and that's who she'd become.

"I guess... I can understand that. But if you wouldn't mind me unmasking you, then why don't you just come clean on your own? Right here, right now?"

"Because I'm a coward, and hiding is easier than trying to face the truth. I like you and I want you to like me, but I'm afraid you won't. So I stopped being me, and became somepony that could be more confident, who wouldn't be afraid of things changing. And then I could be free to pursue you like I wanted."

"Changing?" Rainbow Dash repeated. "We had a prior relationship, that might change? So I do know you!"

Mare Do Well didn't answer.

"One slip-up," she finally said. "Just one. And is that really all you heard of what I said?"

Rainbow Dash ignored her, dodging the question by answering an earlier one. "You asked why I didn't just rip off your mask. I guess probably because it doesn't really seem fair."

"Since when did you ever care about playing fair?" Again, Rainbow Dash could practically hear the smile in Mare Do Well's voice and felt her feathers bristle.

"I mean, you're right there, you wouldn't fight me off... what's the point? It wouldn't be a real victory."

"Victory?" Mare Do Well asked, sounding intrigued.

"Yeah. You said before that whatever we're doing here is like a game. And if I find out who you really are, then I win. But if I just pounce on you and make you take the costume off, then it seems kind of like an empty victory, I guess."

"Victory."

"Uh, yeah?"

"I have a proposition for you."

Mare Do Well rose to her hooves, but Rainbow Dash stayed put. For some reason, the mare seemed incredibly tall when they were positioned that way, even though they were the same height when both were standing. Rainbow Dash rose as well, just to restore the balance of heights.

"This is a game, isn't it?" the other mare mused, bringing a hoof to her chin in a thoughtful stance. "I said that, true. And you're right; if you find out who I am, you win. So how would I go about winning?"

"I wasn't serious," Rainbow Dash said quickly. "I didn't mean that I was literally gonna win, with a trophy and stuff. It was just a figure of speech. You don't –"

"If you discover my identity, you win. And if I can get you to fall in love with me, I win."

Love. For all of her teasing words and dangerously flirtatious behavior, Mare Do Well had been yet to use that particular word even once around Rainbow Dash. The shock of hearing it made her entire body seize up with that paralyzing terror that had been striking her so often lately, wings stretching fully erect.

"What?" Rainbow Dash squeaked.

"It'll be a game. A real game, not just a metaphor. No cheating, though; I know how you get with competitions, and I don't want you to have any unfair advantages."

"Unfair...?"

"We'll see who can accomplish their goal first. You'll try and figure out who I am, but you're restricted from tackling me and forcibly unmasking me. Like you said before, it would be unsporting, and the victory would be hollow. And I'll try and win you over, but I'm not allowed to, say, drug you and carry you off to a secluded prison somewhere where I can keep you to myself forever."

"What?"

Mare Do Well turned to look at her, and Rainbow Dash was certain that she would've been smiling if her face hadn't been hidden. As it was, it looked more like Mare Do Well was staring at her expressionlessly, making her words sound all the more ominous.

"You want me to leave you alone, and I don't want to do that," the other mare explained patiently. "If you can find out who I am, I'll disappear quietly, and then you'll never have to deal with Mare Do Well ever again. You'll get what you want. If I can convince you to want something else, then that in itself will be enough of a prize for me."

Rainbow Dash swallowed. It felt like there was a sudden lump in her throat that words couldn't get around, and when she tried to open her mouth to speak it just hung open helplessly until she shut it again.

"Buh," she finally managed to splutter.

"Are you turning down a challenge?"

"No!" Rainbow said quickly. Mare Do Well seemed to have a knack for sending her temper flaring; that single question was all it took for the lump to vanish and for her body to unseize. "No, if that's all it takes to make you go away, then fine, you're on! This'll be such a snap, it's not even fair. To you. Like you said, I don't play fair."

"Neither do I."

The two of them stood together, face to face, Mare Do Well's mask as blank as ever and Rainbow Dash glaring, but with the slightest hint of a grin tugging at her mouth. She could feel that old, familiar rush of adrenaline that always went hand-in-hand with the possibility of winning some kind of competition. It didn't even matter what, really, as long as she could beat somepony at something.

"Rainbow Dash?"

At the sound of Twilight's voice, both Rainbow Dash and Mare Do Well whipped around, only to see her rounding the corner of the bakery to approach them. Brandishing her cape with a flourish, Mare Do Well was gone, quick as a flash. Rainbow Dash didn't even see where she went.

Twilight did a double take. "Was that – ?"

"What's up?" Dash interrupted.

"Nothing." Twilight blinked, then shook her head a little. "Uh, we were just wondering where you went off to. Pinkie was kind of upset."

"Oops. Sorry. I just stepped outside for a minute, but I guess I'm ready to go back inside now." Rainbow Dash walked past Twilight, who followed her with a curious gaze, back to the scene of the party.

Earlier that night, she'd seemed so unsettled. But now, Rainbow's eyes were narrowed in determination, and she wore just a trace of that old cocky smile. In place of doubt, she now felt anticipation, the way she always did before any major race.

This back and forth she had going on with Mare Do Well – just like she'd said. It was a game. And she liked winning.