//------------------------------//
// Best Friends Forever 
// Story: Non-Compete Clause: Cruel Aftermath 
// by Nebbie 
//------------------------------//

A week had passed in the miserable cell, and the three had adapted to their new life.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were playing a high-stakes game of poker, winner would give the other a dare.

Applejack, meanwhile, was under the covers on the bed, making occasional moaning noises. Rainbow could very easily figure out why, but knew Twilight would scold her for talking about what happens under the covers.

Twilight, who was down a bit on chips, went all-in, looking like she had a pair of aces. "Ready to become a book-studying egghead for a day?"

Before Rainbow could respond, the guard came to the bars. "You have a visitor tonight. Shining Armor will be coming." he trotted back to his post quickly.

Twilight's face turned to a mixture of surprise, elation, and sadness like Rainbow had never seen. In the purple pony's distraction, her cards could just barely be glimpsed...a 7 and a 2, neither making a pair. Rainbow grinned as she matched Twilight's bet on her pair of 8s.

Twilight sighed. "My brother...I hope he can forgive me." She then looked down to see her imminent loss and huffed. "Well, it was worth a shot."

"You almost got me. Almost." replied the pegasus. "Now, you have to..." she pointed towards Applejack, then to Twilight's hoof, then to her crotch.

Twilight was aghast. "What?! Rainbow, that's disgusting!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Would you rather give up books for a day?"

Twilight pondered for a moment. "No, I'll...I'll do it. Just don't make me do it in front of my brother, okay?"

Rainbow laughed loudly. "Givin' me good ideas for next time! Sure thing, we'll do it as soon as Applejack's done."

Twilight nodded. "I guess this is what prison life is really like..."



About an hour later, Rainbow was getting into cuddling position with Applejack, feeling absolutely amazing and a little exhausted, ready for a scheduled therapy session with Luna. Before she could get too comfy, she heard a door open, and then heavy hoofsteps.

Twilight, meanwhile, was furiously washing her hoof in the sink. "I feel so dirty..." she kept on washing and washing for quite a while.

A voice made Twilight jump a little. "Twily..."

She shut off the faucet and turned around, giving Shining Armor a sad look. "Big brother..."

Shining eyed her hoof curiously. "Are you okay? I think that hoof was clean 2 minutes ago."

Twilight shook her head. "Rainbow made me...pleasure her with it. Prison's a lot more degrading than I expected. I miss having privacy...can't even poop without somepony watching."

Shining cringed, but then held the bars with his forehooves and put his snout through the gap. "I still don't understand why you did it."

Rainbow turned around to watch, but kept silent, so as not to interrupt.

Twilight trotted over slowly and put her snout to his. "I never meant to kill her."

Shining sighed as he teared up. "You're still my little sister, best friend forever, you know."

"And you're still my big brother, best friend forever. I'm so sorry about Cadance. If I could undo it, I would, but time travel is...unpredictable." Twilight said in the saddest voice Rainbow had ever heard from her.

It all clicked for Rainbow: Twilight must've fought Cadance to break us out of jail, and committed treason by...killing one of her best friends and orphaning her niece. So that's why she wouldn't tell us what happened...

Shining and Twilight closed their eyes and briefly kissed on the lips. He then he pulled away as his tears hit the floor, and spoke with a shaky voice. "I've...got to go. I can't bear to see you like this, and I need to be there for Flurry Heart. Oh, I didn't want to sentence you to death, Twily!"

Twilight couldn't bear to open her eyes as her own tears trickled out. "You did the right thing. Go. I'll be okay."

Shining bolted, leaving a trail of "liquid pride" that was sure to be the talk of the guards for weeks to come.

Rainbow, seeing Twilight sit dejectedly, slowly got out of bed and wrapped her hooves around her. "Twilight, I'm sorry I treated you like that. It was just...for a moment, I could forget I'm here, forget that I'm gonna die."

Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Rainbow, there's no need to apologize. I deserve every bit of what I've gotten, and if I can make my friends feel better, that's all that matters to me, no matter how unclean I feel."

"Goin' all Fluttershy on me, huh? Well...thanks, it means a lot." Rainbow said, before taking Twilight into bed.

Twilight giggled slightly before cuddling close.



Rainbow was having a great dream about flying ever higher in the night sky, with Luna watching from the moon. She was about to race Twilight when her sleep was interrupted by quite a commotion.

Shouting could be heard, and soon, the door busted open. Rainbow groggily looked out of the cell to see Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity being dragged in by guards. Applejack and Twilight woke up a moment later as the cell doors opened.

Pinkie was tossed in first, followed by Rarity, then Fluttershy. They formed a sort of three-long pony train, head to butt. Rarity, of course, spat a little and spoke up as she lifted her head. "Barbaric! Pinkie, no offense, but you could use a bath. And Fluttershy, you know better than to keep laying there!"

"I'm sorry, I just have trouble getting up after our..." the yellow pony hyperventilated a little just thinking about their sentence.

Applejack chuckled. "It ain't gonna be much better from here on out sugarcube. But uh, why are you three here?"

Pinkie jumped up onto the toilet. "Well, first I was eating a pie when I thought-"

Rarity put a hoof to the pink pony's mouth. "We had Fluttershy ask Discord for help breaking you out and maybe got a little too ahead of ourselves burning half the palace down. Turns out, Celestia had a way to stop him, so now we're going to be beheaded with you. If you ask me, Celestia has become a lot less regal and understanding lately."

Pinkie tried to say more, but was muffled by the hoof.

Twilight sighed. "I can't really blame her, given the circumstances. You didn't hurt anypony, right?"

Rarity had trouble making eye contact. "Uh, well...we certainly didn't mean to..."

Rainbow groaned. "Shut up and get in bed, we can talk about whose fault everything is tomorrow. That is, unless the cutie mark crusaders decide now is a good time to unleash some ancient evil monster of doom."

Applejack took a look around. "Uh, this bed can only hold 4 ponies."

Twilight hopped off the bed. "I can go without the rest of my sleep. Pinkie, you wanna do a super special um, stay awake party with me while the rest of the girls snooze?"

Pinkie hopped to Twilight and hugged her. "You betcha!"

Rainbow took it upon herself to take Fluttershy in, while Rarity slowly got comfy, trying to avoid everypony's hooves.