Despite openly scolding Rarity for her jubilation towards Manehattan earlier, now that they were actually in the city, Rainbow was hard pressed to keep an energetic jitter out of her movements. She had seen the city from after countless times, mostly back when she had lived in Cloudsdale as a filly. As the City of Clouds actively traveled over Equestria to ensure that national weather patterns were on schedule and properly managed, it swung by Manehattan at least three times a year. This was a higher statistic than with other cities further inland, due to wild weather from off the coast threatening to throw scheduled plans into disarray without proper maintenance and oversight.
So Rainbow had seen it a lot. From a distance, she thought it looked cool, yeah, but now… “I’m getting dizzy,” she commented before whistling quite audibly, impressed. The buildings were almost impossibly tall and the streets were so packed and crowded with ponies swiftly going about their business that the group of friends fresh off the train had almost been separated right off the bat.
“Ah remember mah first time here,” Applejack nodded along from Rainbow’s right while trotting up. “It was… heh. I darn near passed out from just how busy it all is.”
“I bet. Just look at all of this!” Rainbow continued, gesturing around at the city with a rather large smirk appearing on her face. “I don’t think we’re gonna be hard pressed to keep our cover story intact.”
Twilight lightly jabbed her cyan friend in the ribs with her elbow and a small frown of disapproval. “That’s not something we want to mention in public, Lilac.” she said quietly, looking around a bit.
“Twilight makes a valid point, Rain- er, pardon me, Lilac.” Rarity chimed in before looking forward and drooling. Just a little bit.
“Maybe we should get a room at a hotel, then?” Fluttershy suggested meekly before squeaking behind Applejack when a taxi carriage thundered down the asphalt road directly in front of them.
“Good idea. We should probably get one that’s fairly close to where Starlight lives,” Twilight nodded while reaching into her saddlebags with her magic to retrieve the scrap of parchment that had the address of the unicorn in question written on it. “Let’s find that place first and then find a hotel close by…”
While she looked over the scrap of parchment, committing the address to memory just in case of a mishap, Applejack’s ears splayed back against her head a bit. “Er, that’s a good plan… but do we know where we’re goin’?” the farm mare asked, a small hint of uncertainty filtering into her voice.
“Obtaining a map wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world…” Rarity agreed, rubbing her chin in thought.
“Why don’t we check the stand with the tourist pamphlets over there on the street corner?” Pinkie asked cheerily, pointing to the stand in question. Sure enough, one of many such stands in the area around the train station housed several dozen tourist pamphlets, which presumably would also have maps of the city.
Twilight smiled at the party mare. “Nice catch, Pinkie.”
Pinkie shrugged noncommittally, though she wore a small, smug smirk. “Oh, it was nothing.” she said with no small amount of exaggeration.
In short order, the entire party had their own pamphlet, each one looking through theirs with curiosity and anticipation. While they were here on a serious mission, part of their cover story did permit some sightseeing and browsing. Rarity seemed all too eager for that.
Rainbow Dash, however, contented herself with sidling up next to Twilight and peering over the map held in the unicorn’s magic. “So… is now a bad time to mention that I can’t read city maps?”
Twilight paused and then looked to Rainbow incredulously. “...You serious?”
Rainbow blushed. “H-hey, I can read topographic maps and geographic maps just fine! Hay, those are what I’m best with. But that’s because those are similar to a bird's eye view of a landscape. A city map for a place like Manehattan…” she gestured at the city around them and then back at the map, which itself was mostly grey blocks indicating city blocks with thick white lines indicating streets. “...It’s too artificial, y’know? I mean, I can read them, but it takes a lot more active effort than just looking at a topographic map and then looking around.”
Twilight chuckled slightly to herself. “Heh… you just keep giving me ammo, don’t you?”
“Only because you keep giving me ammo,” Rainbow snorted before peering at the map again. “So… where are we and where are we going?”
“Well,” Twilight poked the map with a hoof. “We’re right here, at the Maneway Station. We need to get to Trotlane Street, which is…” she scrutinized the map for several seconds before poking another spot. “Ah, right here.”
Rainbow blanched. “That’s kinda far away.”
“We can do some sightseeing on the way,” Twilight said with a smile while folding up the map back into the pamphlet. “I imagine Rarity would like that.”
“OH YES PLEASE!” Rarity all but squealed in absolute joy, making everypony but Spike cringe and wince away as their ears were violently assaulted. Spike simply toughed it out to save face.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Well, that answers that, ah guess. Lead on, Twi.”
“Gladly. Right this way, everypony.” Twilight said, briefly putting on a fancy tour pony voice, eliciting some giggles from the ensemble of friends before they began on their way.
It had been noon-ish when they first arrived in the city. They didn’t rush their trip, making more than a few pit stops in street-side shops and establishments to browse and even buy a few knick knacks or cool items. Pinkie had gotten a few souvenirs, but thus far seemed to be scouring for the perfect gift for Rainbow Dash. She also dropped some not so subtle hints at Lilac for certain other items she could get as a gift.
Applejack had only gotten a couple new pans that she figured would be good replacements for a few back at the farm that, much to her dismay, had lost most, if not all, of their practicality over the many years she had used them. Beyond that, she was being pretty conservative with her bits, although she had no qualms about looking around and taking in the sights as they went.
They wound up stopping in a fast-food joint for lunch a couple of hours into their meanderings, Rainbow arguing that her access to her portion of the royal treasury was off-limits for this trip. She could only use what she had brought along, so they needed to be somewhat careful with their spending.
Following a greasy lunch, they moved further on. Rarity absolutely lost it when they arrived on Bridleway, cooing, shrieking and yapping on and on with delight at all of the various, amazing things presently showing. It had taken almost an hour to coerce her away from that street sow they could get a move on.
Eventually, the afternoon began to wind down, and the pale arcs of sunlight across the city began to lose some of their intensity, gradually turning orange. By now, they were only a few blocks away from where they needed to be, but they were all tired. Surprisingly, it was Rainbow Dash who finally spoke up about it. “Hey, guys?” she called to the rest of the group, a carriage driving by on the street next to them.
Still, they heard her and turned to look at her. “Something wrong, sugercube?” Applejack asked curiously.
“Not really. I’m just thinking that maybe we should stop and sit down for a little bit. We’ve been on our hooves all day. I’m not used to using my legs this much, you know?” Rainbow admitted sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head. She looked around a bit before gesturing to her left. “Uh, there’s a park right over there. Maybe we can find a spot to just sit down and rest for a few minutes?”
Pinkie shot forward and grabbed Rainbow Dash by the face. “You’re wanting to slow down?!” she demanded in mock shock. “What have you done with our Rainbow Dash?!”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow immediately snapped, stuffing a hoof in the pink mare’s mouth. “We’re in public.” she followed up with a quiet hiss.
Pinkie’s ears flattened and she nodded. “Oh, right. Sorry.” she apologized with a sheepish grin.
“Besides, even I get tired sometimes, Pinkie. Let’s take ten, okay?” Rainbow looked past Pinkie to voice her question.
“Hey, ah ain’t complaining.” Applejack gave a nod and warm smile.
“It sounds like a splendid idea, Lilac. Let’s go!” Rarity chimed in, sharing Applejack’s expression.
“I’d like that. My legs do kind of hurt.” Fluttershy offered up with her typical shy smile.
“Just so long as we don’t fall asleep by accident, okay? I’d rather sleep in a bed.” Spike snarked out, though he still wore an approving look.
Pinkie just shrugged and nodded.
Twilight nodded as well. “Sounds fine to me. I guess it’s settled. Let’s find a good spot.”
It didn’t take them long to find a comfortable spot on the grass, still warmed up by the slowly fading rays of sunlight while the celestial object dipped closer and closer to the horizon. They were lucky to find themselves the only ones here in the park, and any pedestrians trotting by were too far away to hear any discussions. Most of them found their own spots to just settle down and relax, with Twilight keeping tabs on a small, cheap watch she had purchased earlier to ensure they wouldn’t lose track of time.
Rainbow, from a little ways away, looked over to Twilight and sighed softly. There she went again, burying her nose in something. Twilight was clearly eager to get on the move again, with their destination so nearby. She was practically not looking anywhere but the watch. After several seconds of silent contemplation, Rainbow stood and slowly made her way over to Twilight.
“You gonna put that thing down?” she asked softly, causing Twilight to jump slightly. While she shot a nasty look at Rainbow, Twilight set the watch down next to her forehoof.
“I just want to make sure we aren’t wasting any time. We only have so much time left in the day.” she admitted quietly with a small sigh.
“Well we don’t have to drop into la-la land the second mom lowers the sun,” Rainbow pointed out while settling down next to Twilight. “And speaking of, just look at that sunset. Mom didn’t hold back today…”
Twilight looked, careful not to look directly into the sun. “Yeah… it’s beautiful.”
For a second, the two were silent.
“Twi… I’ve got something I wanna ask you,” Rainbow said quietly, looking down a bit while the unicorn glanced at her, a curious glint in her eyes. “...Are you okay? You’ve been kind of intense ever since we were on the train, and you got even more intense when we got here.”
Twilight shrugged slightly. “...We’re on a serious mission, Rainbow. I’m trying to keep us focused is all.”
Rainbows ears fell a bit. “Yeah, I can see that…”
“...All of this stuff with Starlight Glimmer scares you. A lot,” Twilight continued in a whisper, closing her eyes. “And I have never seen you so scared of something like this before. You’ve always been so confident and sure of yourself over the years I’ve known you…” she opened her eyes and glanced in Rainbow’s direction. “Back at the library, when you were having your hangover and explained all of this to me… Seeing you so shaken by even the thought of what Starlight could do… it hurts me to see you like that. I want to help you and put all of this behind us as soon as possible. I want my confident, funny and energetic Rainbow Dash back… doing this mission seems like the quickest way to do that.”
Rainbow stiffened slightly before a small, quivering smile appeared on her lips. “Hey, Twilight…?”
“Huh?” Twilight glanced back at Rainbow and her eyes widened when she saw tears in the cyan pegasus’ eyes.
“Get the o-onions out of here, would ya?” she asked in a shaky voice before gently play-punching Twilight in the shoulder.
Twilight grinned before reaching out and playfully pulling Rainbow Dash in for a noogie. “Yeah, I’ll get on that just as soon as you stop acting all sad and stuff. Deal?” she asked with a large grin.
“Hey, let go! Twilight, not in front of the girls! Ow!”
“Do we have a deal or not?” Twilight pressed, not relenting in her hold.
“Ack! Yeah yeah, deal!” Rainbow squawked in surprise and agitation before Twilight released her with a pleasant chuckle. Rainbow pouted and glared at Twilight. “I’m getting you back for that.”
Twilight wiggled her eyebrows provocatively. “Bring it.” she challenged with a grin.
Rainbow flared her wings, a small grin appearing on her face. “Oh, I’m gonna bring it alright.”
Twilight’s hoof suddenly reached out and poked Rainbow on the tip of her nose, making her go cross-eyed. She blinked and shook her head before pouting at Twilight again. Twilight, however, wore a much softer smile now. “That right there? That confidence and eagerness? That was the Rainbow Dash I want back.” she said simply before resting her hoof down again.
Rainbow blinked, her wings slowly folding back up at her sides. “...Right.”
“Ahem…” somepony cleared their throat behind the two. Both mares locked up and slowly turned to the rest of their group, who were all looking on with expressions ranging from mischievous, amused and charmed. Rarity waved daintily. “...Maybe we should get a move on. You two seem to have your spark back.”
Twilight and Rainbow shared a look before getting back up and brushing themselves down. “I guess. Alright. How much farther to Starlight’s place, Twi?” Rainbow asked with a small frown as their mission was once again pushed into the forefront of all of their minds.
Twilight withdrew her map and scanned it one more time before looking up and nodding. “One block north. Let’s go,” she said, snapping the map closed and leading the way for the abode of Starlight Glimmer.