Twilight opened her eyes to see a fog stained window before her. The unicorn's left cheek was cold and felt oddly numb, perhaps she had fallen asleep during the train ride and not realised it. Twilight turned to see Rarity walking towards her, saddlebags tied around her waist.
“Twilight darling, I was just coming to wake you, we're here.” The white unicorn used her magic to grab Twilight's bag from the overhead compartment.
“We're here already?” Twilight asked. She rubbed her hoof against the window, wiping away the condensation to get a better look outside. Rarity was right, she could see onto the train platform, with various ponies walking past the window. She could even see her friends gathered outside, talking amongst themselves.
Rarity gave her friend a happy smile. “Let me tie your bag for you, stand up for me, dear.”
Twilight got off of her seat and let the fashionista tie the saddlebags around her waist. Twilight had been measured by the unicorn so many times that this hardly felt weird at all, she merely waited compliantly until she felt the belt slip into place.
“Are you losing weight, Twilight? I distinctly remember you complaining the last time I tightened your belt this much.”
“Probably. I've not done anything to purposefully lose weight, sometimes I just forget to eat.”
Rarity pouted. “That's an irresponsible attitude to take, Twilight. I'd rather know you have a diet like Pinkie Pie's than to know you don't eat at all, I'll be having some words with Spike when we get home. As for the duration of this trip, Auntie Rarity will look after you. Now come along, Twilight, it would be rude to tarry.” The white unicorn whipped her mane around and headed out of the train door, waiting patiently for Twilight to follow her.
Twilight stretched her legs, one of which had been on the verge of falling asleep, and walked out of the train through the same door as Rarity. Twilight's first thought upon viewing the full extent of the train station was 'Wow'. There were countless platforms lined up next to each other, some with trains currently waiting to leave or they were empty with ponies stood along the stone platform, waiting for their train to arrive. There were probably more ponies in this building than in a large portion of Ponyville, and this comparison gave the unicorn a new perspective on how small she was when compared to the vastness of the world.
Canterlot was a simple but elegant place, with its ivory towers, understated cafés and dignified art halls. It was also a very clean place, sterile almost. Manehattan on the other hoof... Manehattan had a thoroughly urban feel about it and the train station was a perfect example of that.
The train platforms themselves were made out of a tough, brown stone that felt cold and hard underhoof. It almost felt as though it had been designed that way as a means to tell you that you should be going anywhere that wasn't here. It was a similar story with the rest of the building, giving it an uninviting appeal, it was clear that the train platforms were not a place to linger. It was such a far cry from the simple platform in Ponyville, the little rural hamlet only had need for one platform and it was made from a simple whitewashed wood. Even as a Canterlot native, Twilight felt a dizzying sense of scale that was all too uncomfortable, perhaps it was the crowds she could see rushing between platforms, perhaps it was the sheer size of the building itself.
“Hey, Twilight! Let's go sleepyhead!”
The lavender unicorn turned her head away from the ceiling, Rainbow Dash was waving to her, calling for her to join the rest of their friends.
“We wouldn't want to keep the Princess' hospitality waiting now, would we?” Rarity flashed Twilight a smile and held a hoof on her shoulder for a brief second.
“No, I guess not.” Twilight didn't know what was wrong, but there was an emptiness in her reply, an emptiness that was threatening to drown her mind in itself. 'Pull yourself together, Sparkle.'
With a fresh wave of determination, Twilight held her head up and began walking across the platform, waving for her friends to follow. “The Princess said she had arranged transport from the train station to the hotel, so keep an eye out for anything like that.”
Twilight marched through the crowds, her friends hot on her hooves. Towards the end of the platform was a large staircase leading to an elevated area of the train station. When she reached the top she could see a chain link fence running along the edges of the upper level where she was now standing, it allowed for ponies to see out over the train platforms, but kept them safe from falling over the sides. Twilight couldn't resist taking a look herself.
When the five other ponies caught up with her, they couldn't resist taking a look either.
“Y'all could probably fit half o' Ponyville in this here room alone,” Applejack said, whistling appreciatively. The apple farmer may not like the city ponies, but she could appreciate the hard work that must have been put in to create a building as large as this one.
Fluttershy, apparently eased by the large protective railing, was looking at the trains pulling into the platforms with a silly grin on her face.
Rainbow Dash flew into the air and above the railing to get a clear view. She turned to look down at her friends but something else caught her eye instead, a pony was stood a fair distance away holding a sign that read 'Twilight Sparkle' in his teeth. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called. “There's a guy over here and he has a sign with your name on it.”
The lavender unicorn smiled in recognition. “He must be here to pick us up.” Twilight followed Rainbow's line of sight and began walking away from the railing and further into the train station. “This way, girls.”
It didn't take long to find the pony that Rainbow Dash had spotted, he was stood at the side of a large open area beyond the platforms, it was impossible to miss him seeing as they were walking towards the only exit. It was clear that the pony sent to greet them had been well briefed, he lowered his sign at the first sight of Twilight and waved her over. “Let's get you an' your friends onto the carriage then.” He pulled his chauffeurs cap over his eyes and began walking besides the purple unicorn. “Heard a lot about you, Miss Sparkle. Quite the magician they say, important to the Princess they say.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, if there one thing she didn't need, it was a talkative chauffeur.
It wasn't long before the group had reached a large glass divider between the train station interior and an outside area that, whilst still sheltered by the overarching ceiling, had no covering wall to allow for taxi-carts and personal vehicles to come in and collect ponies before circling back around to leave the station properly. The chauffeur lead them around the glass divider and pointed out the fairly large, regal looking carriage they were to depart in. Three similarly dressed ponies were already hitched up and ready to take off.
The chauffeur galloped over to the door of the carriage and opened it, bowing to each pony in turn. “I'll get myself hitched up and we'll be off in a jiffy. You lot just get comfortable.”
Each pony found a place in the carriage, testing the plush seats and admiring the stylish interior. Pinkie Pie climbed onto the back of her seat, staring out of the small window at the four chauffeurs and waving at them, despite the fact that they were busy making sure the carriage was ready to go and not looking at her.
With a sudden jerk, the carriage set off, wheeling out of the train station and onto the streets of Manehattan. For the ponies inside, it was a strange sight. The buildings were tall and compact, so at times, it was difficult to even get a glimpse of the sky, making the city feel like it had a ceiling. Truly, this place was a concrete jungle, with trees that scraped the sky and wildlife that was just as dangerous in their own way.
Twilight could see that she wasn't the only pony having trouble, Rainbow Dash seemed to be hyper-ventilating, staring at the buildings around the carriage with a wild, panicked expression. The lavender unicorn would have offered a helping hoof if Fluttershy hadn't have gotten there first. The yellow pegasus began whispering quiet, apparently comforting words to her cyan friend. They seemed to work as well, Rainbow Dash began to calm down, her breathing became more regular and she even wore a cautious smile on her face.
This left Twilight alone, she was trying her best to feel positive so her friends wouldn't worry, but the sense of dread she was feeling was constantly threatening to overtake her. It was no longer in her power to believe that she was mistaken, there was a storm brewing in Manehattan. The dark clouds of obscurity were swirling around them and any minute now, the heavens would open, bringing forth the rain. Twilight could only hope that she didn't get caught out in the middle.
==
The carriage stopped in front of the hotel that they must be staying at. The six ponies climbed out of the carriage and just stared at the building, it was so tall that it was difficult for them to see the roof from their vantage point. Even Applejack was silenced by the sheer scale of the place and she had experienced it once before as a filly.
“Let's go then, time's a wastin'.” The chauffeur from the train station had walked past them, holding the front door open and nodding for them to get inside. Rarity moved first, hurrying into the hotel lobby with an excited smile on her face.
The other five ponies followed quickly after. The hotel lobby was very well decorated, with plush sofas to rest on and tasteful art to gaze at. Even the plants that were dotted around the place looked great, sat in ornate ceramic pots with ancient pegasus designs. The carpet felt great underhoof, it was a pleasant experience compared to the train platform from earlier.
“The royal guests,” the chauffeur announced, “I was informed you would have the suite ready, so you can take it from here.” With a curt bow, the chauffeur turned and left the hotel.
The receptionist was the only pony in the lobby at that moment and it was obvious that she had been waiting for something like this to happen. She leaped from behind her desk with surprising grace and began to shake the hoof of each pony present. “I was told you would be arriving today. How lovely it is to meet you all.”
Twilight was last in line and smiled modestly. “It's nothing really, we're just your average hotel guests.”
“Staying here on appointment by the Princess herself? You are far from normal my dears, I'll make sure your every whim is catered to.” The receptionist, a grey unicorn mare, began walking slowly backwards towards a door to the side of the room. “This way, your suite is on the top floor obviously. We shall take the elevator to save time.”
Once again, Rarity was first to follow. “Lead on, darling!” she said with obvious joy in her voice.
Twilight frowned, Rarity was beginning to enjoy 'the royal treatment' a little too much. Regardless of her thoughts, she realised that it was still technically a short vacation and Rarity had every right to enjoy herself. If that means acting like royalty then so be it. “Come on girls, let's follow them before Rarity gets first dibs on all the best stuff.”
This remark elicited a laugh from Rainbow Dash, “Was that a joke, Twilight? There may still be hope for you yet.” The cyan pegasus hovered a few inches off the ground, spinning upside down for no apparent reason other than to show off. Rainbow Dash would argue that showing off was reason enough. Either way, the pegasus seemed hesitant to follow her friends. “I'll, er... race you to the top floor!” She took off out of the front door where they had entered and disappeared.
“What in the hay was all that about?” Applejack asked upon entering the elevator.
“Perhaps Dashie is feeling flighty today!” Pinkie added, grinning madly.
The apple farmer's hoof connected with her face in an expression of exasperation. “Ah'm jus' sayin', that mare is harder t' figure out than some o' Twilight's fancy magic books.”
There was a brief silence before a small voice said, “Everypony in?” The grey unicorn receptionist smiled politely and upon hearing no disagreements, pushed the button for the top floor. The elevator doors closed slowly, now locked within the elevator, an eerie silence fell over the group. It was made less awkward by the presence of some jazzy elevator music, it was a bland tune that was designed to do little more than fill the background with something other than silence. More than a few odd glances were shared during these brief moments before the elevator doors opened again, the occupants seemed to take a deep breath in relief.
“You guys are so slow, I've been standing here for ages!” Rainbow Dash smirked triumphantly at her friends.
“Congratulations, Rainbow. Ah'd give y'all a medal but ah'm fresh out,” Applejack replied sarcastically.
Rainbow Dash attempted a rebuttal but the laughter of her friends drowned it out. Slightly irritated, the cyan pegasus followed her friends and tried her best to make it seem like nothing was wrong by staying at the back of the group.
The receptionist didn't have to walk for long to find the front door of the suite, in fact, the suite appeared to take up a vast majority of the top floor itself judging by the where the door was. Using a special key-card attached to her hotel waistcoat, the grey unicorn opened the door and allowed the six ponies to enter the room. “You'll find six copies of the key-card I just used on the living room table, one for each of you. Keep them safe, the hotel will not reissue them if lost or damaged. Most of all, enjoy your stay here.” With a final cheery smile, the receptionist backed out of the room and shut the door.
They entered into a small corridor, barely a few metres long, but beyond that was the front room, and it was huge. It was so big in fact that it actually seemed like a waste of space, but something like this room was probably used for fancy parties quite a lot. In the centre of the room was a seating area set out in a circle, it surrounded the large glass table where the key-cards were. Everything else seemed to spread out around the edges of the room; exotic plants, sculptures, paintings and mirrors all adorned the walls, drawing the eye to the neutral wallpaper and finally to the plush, cream coloured carpet.
Twilight Sparkle looked around the room quickly, but her mind wasn't thinking about what was hidden behind the many doors that were visible, instead she was wondering whether the Princess had used this room or ones like it before. If there was one thing that Twilight knew about the Princess, it was that she liked things to be simple, this room seemed too... extravagant for the Princess. 'Maybe she just wanted us to enjoy a little bit of luxury whilst we stayed here.'
Her friends had already began their exploration, she could hear Rarity exclaiming loudly about something in one of the rooms, Twilight decided to leave that room for last, choosing one of the other ones to wander into instead. Inside, she could hear a very excited someone listing off what sounded like ingredients. The room was obviously the kitchen, judging by the cupboards, worktops and appliances visible from her vantage point near the door. There was another loud squeal of excitement and Twilight looked further into the room, seeing a familiar pink tail bobbing through the air. Upon further inspection, Twilight found Pinkie Pie attached to it, the pink pony was rooting through the refrigerator. “How did I know you would be the one to find the kitchen, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie's head snapped up, looking around at her lavender friend. “'Cos you're a super smart, smarty pants!” she replied happily, unaware that something had become lodged in her mane from her exploration.
“Er... Pinkie? You have some green stuff in your mane,” Twilight offered, smiling hesitantly.
The pink pony tried to look at it, her eyes straining to reach that far. Once she had gotten sufficiently bored, she found a large reflective pan and held it up in front of her face, staring at her slightly distorted reflection. “So I do.” She poked it experimentally, feeling more bulk than she expected. Pinkie raised an eyebrow and set the pan down, raising her hooves either side of her mane and grabbing the green thing. She pulled slowly, revealing a large spherical vegetable.
Twilight was visibly confused. “Is that a..?” She would have continued if it wasn't for Pinkie's scream of laughter. The earth pony was rolling on the floor and holding the object above her head. When she got up, she walked over to Twilight and held herself closely before whispering, “Lettuce never speak of this again.” She broke out into another fit of giggles.
“Okay then... I'll just leave you be then, shall I?
Pinkie wasn't listening, she had her head rooted in the refrigerator again. “Look what I found!” Between Pinkie's teeth was a huge bottle made of a dark glass, the top was wrapped in gold foil and the label was written in a foreign language, but Twilight had attended enough Canterlot Balls to recognise what it was. “And there's more!”
–
“Would anypony like any more Shampaggen?” Pinkie, who had drunk more than her fair share of the bubbly stuff, asked.
The six ponies' exploration of the suite had ceased when Pinkie Pie ran into the living room brandishing several magnums of champagne and began shouting about “party time”. She had uncorked one and was just about to take a long swig straight from the bottle, but Rarity had other ideas. The unicorn had encased the bottle in her magic and stopped the flow of alcohol, lowering it onto the table in the middle of the room. “Champagne is to be savoured, not merely swallowed like the average tavern swill.”
In the pursuit of good manners, or so Rarity informed her friends, she had procured six champagne flutes, one for each of them and taught them the correct way to drink the expensive beverage. Of course, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack ignored her. Twilight and Fluttershy complied, more so due to embarrassment with their friends ill manners however.
“Pinkie Pie, for the last time, it's pronounced 'sham-pain'. You don't say it as it's spelled.” Twilight had tried and failed to educate her pink friend. The inebriation was most likely a deciding factor, Twilight reasoned.
“And... and for the tast lime, I'm tellin' you... quit nursing your booze and drust jink it already!” Pinkie's cheeks were flushed and her eyes were beginning to droop, obviously she had gone past the point of being merely drunk.
Twilight looked over at Rarity and Fluttershy, the only two other ponies in attendance who had retained a semblance of control. “Let's get her to bed.” She mouthed, waiting for the approving nods from her friends.
“Hey, Pinkie?” Twilight asked quietly. “I think it's time for you to go to sleep, you've had a long day.”
Rarity and Fluttershy walked over as well, helping the earth pony to her hooves and standing either side of her in case she falls over. “It's alright, Twilight, Fluttershy and I will help her from here. Why don't you try a vol-au-vent?” Rarity gave Twilight an encouraging smile before turning back around, helping Pinkie along gently and manoeuvring her towards the bedrooms.
Twilight sat back onto her seat , staring at the mess they had made on the table. There were several plates of party snacks that Pinkie had pulled out of the kitchen, some had been emptied and others had just been picked at. The things that took up the most room however were the bottles of champagne that no one had wanted to clean up, even if they were empty, not to mention the glasses that Rarity had insisted they drink from. Twilight found the plate of food to which Rarity was referring, she regarded the little pastry snacks for a second before deciding they couldn't be that bad. The lavender unicorn grabbed a vol-au-vent in her magic and floated it slowly towards her mouth.
It was enjoyable - light, tasty and hassle free. She glanced to her left for a moment, hearing the giggles of Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
The orange earth pony was sat facing the cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash had her left foreleg held out towards Applejack, the latter had a look of concentration on her face before flinging her hoof at the formers outstretched leg. Oddly enough, the pegasus seemed to still be smiling, albeit with a bit of a wince. “That all you got, AJ? You punch like a sissy!”
“Oh yeah? Well show me how y'all do it then!” Applejack mirrored Rainbow Dash's previous action, holding her foreleg out and awaiting the pegasus to make a move. Rainbow Dash did the same as Applejack, throwing a punch aimed directly for the foreleg. Applejack winced slightly, but laughed it off. “Applebloom hits harder than you, RD. Put some muscle into it or are y'all jus' hot air?”
Twilight seemed to understand what was going on, the two mares had gotten into another competition. Undoubtedly related to handling pain better than the other. 'With the numbing effects of alcohol,' Twilight mused, 'this is undoubtedly going to go on for a while.' Instead of watching her friends consensually beat each other up, she decided to attack another vol-au-vent, finding the party snacks to be quite delicious.
“Enjoying yourself, Twilight darling?”
The lavender unicorn turned to find the fashionista behind her. Embarrassingly for Twilight, she had crumbs all over her face.
“Ah, I can see you are. Nice to see that your appetite is improving.” Rarity sat herself in the seat next to Twilight, taking a vol-au-vent for herself and eating it without any mess. “Pinkie Pie is safely tucked away in bed, the poor dear can't exactly handle her alcohol very well. I'm actually surprised Fluttershy is holding up as well as she is, she seems perfectly lucid.”
The pegasus in question sat down in her seat across from the two unicorns. She looked positively alert, except for a brief flickering of tiredness in her eyes due to the lateness of the hour.
Rarity couldn't let this pass under gaze however. “Fluttershy darling, how exactly do you hold your alcohol so well? Forgive me if I seem insulting, but you don't seem like the type to drink very often.”
“Oh, erm...” Fluttershy fell behind her mane for a few seconds before internally scolding herself. “I didn't want to upset anypony, so I took pretend sips from my glass. I don't really like champagne, but I didn't want to be a bother.” The pegasus mare looked away, suddenly finding a nearby sculpture incredibly interesting. Rarity was having none of it.
“Do I have to look after you as well this weekend? Auntie Rarity will not have Twilight and Fluttershy depriving themselves. I'll get you a clean glass of water Fluttershy, you must be parched.” The white unicorn stood and walked quickly over to the kitchen before the pegasus had any time to dissuade her.
“Rarity is right, you know. If you had only said, we would have been happy to get you an alternative, a nice tea perhaps.” Twilight smiled helpfully, knowing full well that her shy friend wasn't likely to take her advice any time soon.
The white unicorn reappeared not long after, setting the glass of water in front of Fluttershy. The pegasus said thanks and took a big gulp before seeing the look on Rarity's face and returning to the well mannered sip she had been taught.
Just as the three more or less sober ponies were entering a calm quiet, a grunt of pain sounded from nearby, followed swiftly by a “Yeehaw!”
“Ah expected the iron pony t' be made outta tougher stuff,” Applejack said with a smug grin.
Rainbow Dash was rubbing her foreleg, trying to coax some feeling back into it. “Fine, whatever. What's the punishment?”
Twilight had figured out that the grunt of pain had meant that Rainbow Dash lost, but she didn't expect this addition to the rules. “Punishment?” she asked, looking confused.
Applejack turned to the lavender unicorn with a big smile on her face. “We decided at the start that whoever loses has t' do a punishment chosen by the winner.” The apple farmer turned to the pegasus and put on her most mischievous grin. “What will it be then, Rainbow? Should ah make it quick and painless or should ah draw it out a little?”
“Just get on with it, Appleyack.”
Applejack laughed, “Name calling now is it? Well ah remember a certain someone havin' a delightful nickname from her days in flight camp, so why don't y'all share an embarrassing story with the group.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “This is my punishment, telling an embarrassing story?”
“It has t' be really embarrassing. No sissy nonsense about looking stupid in front o' yer fillyhood crush either.”
“Well you're in luck.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. “I've got just the story, it's full of angst and is plenty embarrassing. I believe Fluttershy is already aware of this one.”
The yellow pegasus made a small noise that signalled that she was aware of the story and that she didn't recall it too fondly.
“It all started at flight camp. I had already met and kinda become friends with Fluttershy at this point, I say kinda because, no offence, Fluttershy wasn't the type of pony I wanted hanging around me at this point of my life. Let me say now that I was a stupid filly.”
Applejack giggled a little. “Was?”
“Shut up, Applehick. You ain't exactly following in Twilight's hoofsteps yourself.” Rainbow Dash calmed herself down with a deep breath. “Anyway, as I was saying. I was friends with Fluttershy, but she mostly just followed me around and didn't say much. I suspect in the beginning it was pretty much because I was the only pony who would stand up to the bullies.”
The other ponies looked towards the yellow pegasus, who nodded. “Rainbow Dash was... nice. She also kept the bullies away.”
“Either way,” Rainbow Dash said loudly, drawing the attention back to her. “I had my skill with flying, I had a friend, but I wanted a lot more. I wanted all the cool pegasus ponies to respect me, I was freakin' Rainbow Dash, I did a sonic freakin' rainboom! Everypony at flight camp decided to believe those idiots I raced though, they said that I was making it up to get some attention because... let's be serious, who would think a filly could do something adult pegasi have tried to do for years.”
Twilight nodded. “I've done the math. On paper, it's a long shot.”
Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a blank stare. “Are we done with the interruptions? This isn't exactly easy to talk about you know.”
Each pony in attendance made a 'zipping it up' gesture with their hooves, smiling innocently at the cyan pegasus.
“As I was saying, I wanted to be recognised by the cool pegasi, but they all thought I was an attention seeking liar. It didn't help that my only friend was Fluttershy, the only filly in flight camp that had yet to complete the beginner's flight course.”
Fluttershy's head fell into the awaiting embrace of her hooves, the shy pegasus was beginning to wonder who this story was more embarrassing for.
“So I wasn't even cool by association, it was quite the opposite. From that point, I did the only thing I could think of, I ignored the taunts and continued excelling in my lessons. I had to show the other ponies that despite not believing me about the sonic rainboom, I was still good enough to deserve respect. Towards the end of camp, the instructors even said that I was good enough to join the Junior Speedsters.” Rainbow Dash chuckled randomly. “I remember just after the instructor gave me the Speedsters leaflet, Fluttershy walked by and he gave her a pat on the head and told her, 'you did your best'. Still makes me laugh.”
The yellow pegasus fell sideways on the couch, mortified.
“When the other pegasi found out that I had received a leaflet for the Junior Speedsters, they suddenly wanted to talk to me. They said that they always knew I had talent, but that I was being held back by Fluttershy, who always needed my help for something or other. That if I let her go, I could be friends with those guys.” The cyan pegasus sighed. “Don't judge me for this, I know I was being an idiot. I agreed and left with the popular pegasi, I never even told her that I wasn't being friends with her any more, I just left.”
“For about an hour, it was great, the pegasi seemed to like me and things went well. After that I started to feel as though something was wrong, it felt completely different than any time I had spent with Fluttershy, when we would laugh and joke. With them, it felt forced and that stuck in my mind. It didn't make any difference in the end though, I was too far gone with visions of popularity.”
Rainbow Dash began fidgeting in her seat, trying and failing to find a comfortable position to sit in. “The next part is the bit I don't like. The other pegasi invited me to the old stadium for some races, it was pretty dark out by this point so the place was deserted. They told me to get some stuff out of the equipment shed so they could make the race a little more interesting. That was when it happened, I felt myself being pushed from behind, I fell into the equipment shed and the door was shut behind me. I heard it lock and I heard the laughs of my so called friends as they celebrated their prank.”
The cyan pegasus brought her hooves to her temples and rubbed them a little. With a loud sigh, she went on. “At that point I was laughing to myself, it was just a prank, right? Just a little initiation into the group, they'd let me stew for a few minutes but then let me out. Time went by and I'd completely abandoned the 'friendly prank' theory, they obviously hadn't wanted to be my friend, they just wanted a chance to pull a prank on me before camp ended. Then I started to worry, there was no reason for anypony to be in the stadium at the time that it was and it was unlikely anypony would arrive until the morning. I started to freak out... as in, real scared. I honestly don't remember being more scared than in that moment. I'm Rainbow Dash, I can fly really well, but I'm useless in confined spaces.” Rainbow Dash fell backwards onto the couch, her eyes on the ceiling as if she could see into the sky above.
“I was sat in that glorified footlocker for hours, I had given up hope of being found before morning. I remember being curled up in a ball, hugging myself for warmth in the biting cold, I don’t know what I was shaking with more, the cold or just plain fear. I was a filly and the summer flight camp was my first time outside of home on my own, I was already scared enough as it was just being away from home, but at that moment I was being kept away from my surrogate home at camp, I was being kept away from the one other filly who was my real friend. I’m not ashamed to say that I would have cried myself to sleep that night, because the tears weren’t stopping. Luckily, there are some things that I learned you can always count on. Your friends.”
“I started to hear noises from outside, quiet murmurs of ‘Rainbow Dash’ and some gentle sobbing. I had an idea of who it was, but at that moment I didn’t care if it was Nightmare Moon herself, I was banging my hooves against that equipment shed door so hard and yelling at the top of my lungs. Then the doors opened and staring at me was Fluttershy, she had been worried about me when I didn't get back to the cabin at night. She told me that she had been asking everyone to see if they knew where I had gone, that she even went up to strangers and asked them if they’d seen me. Fluttershy of all ponies had been so worried about my safety that she fought against her own fears to find me. She showed me the true value of friendship that day, that loyalty to your friends is the most important thing... and I'll forever be in her debt for that.”
A small silence followed the end of Rainbow Dash's story where each pony seemed to thinking to themselves.
“That was a sweet story.” Twilight had a goofy smile on her face, perhaps a combination of alcohol and friendship had allowed her to calm down a little. “I love hearing stories about you guys from before I came to Ponyville. I sometimes feel like there's a lot I don't know about you guys and stuff like this fills in those gaps.”
“Well, I'm glad somepony enjoyed it, I sure as hay didn't.” Rainbow Dash sat back up and glared at the lavender unicorn.
Twilight merely stood up and walked over, giving the cyan pegasus a big hug. “It's okay, Rainbow.” Soon enough the other had joined in with the hug. Their thoughts then turned to the one pony who wasn't with them, a certain pink pony who would have enjoyed a group hug.
Twilight backed out of the hug and stretched her legs a little. “I suppose it's about time we got to bed, we have a big day ahead of us.”
The cyan pegasus stood up as well. “Yeah, that sounds good, reliving your past is tiring work.”
Applejack clapped a foreleg around Rainbow Dash’s shoulder and began laughing genially. “That was a mighty fine story, RD.” With another laugh she began a slightly stumbling walk towards the bedrooms. “See y’all in the morning.”
Soon enough the living room was free of ponies, leaving Twilight all alone amongst the scattered debris of their party. The lavender unicorn yawned and followed her friends, the mess could be cleared up in the morning, not to mention that if Twilight made any noise coming into the bedroom and Rarity was trying to get to sleep, things could get messy. It was best being in bed before the fashionista had a chance to get ready.
Regardless, Twilight found her bedroom door and pushed it open slowly, taking her first chance to peek around the door to find out if she was safe. “Rarity?” she whispered, looking for the white unicorn in the gloom.
“Yes, Twilight darling?”
Twilight sighed in relief. “Just wanted to see if you had gone to sleep yet, I wouldn’t want to wake you.”
Rarity, who had commandeered the bedroom desk to keep track of all of her beauty supplies, turned in her seat and faced the lavender unicorn. “Nonsense. I want to see that you’re enjoying yourself on this vacation and tonight was a brilliant start.”
“You’re too kind, Rarity, but I don’t want you to worry too much on my account.” Twilight walked over towards her bed and threw back the covers, climbing inside to get warm. “I’m fine.”
Rarity laughed quietly, her smile turning into a slightly devious one. “Applejack is a better liar than you. Auntie Rarity will make sure you have fun even if it means she has to sacrifice her own.” She walked across the room and got into her own bed. “Goodnight Twilight.”
Twilight muttered a response almost automatically, she wasn’t paying attention to much else other than her own sense of dread at the moment. The feeling had just come back and this time it was worse than ever. The lavender unicorn swallowed her fear, trying her best to get to sleep.
* * *
Massive thanks to Therizzen for pre-reading. Therizzen is best pony,