Twilight woke as the train shuddered to a stop. She had probably slept most of the way to Manehattan. Rainbow Dash was curled up against her again, with a string of drool hanging from her mouth. Twilight couldn't bring herself to wake the pegasus, so she caught the eye of the conductor as he wandered down the aisle waking sleeping passengers who needed to get off the train.
"Excuse me, what stop is this?" Twilight asked softly, careful to keep her voice low.
"We've just pulled into Fillydelphia, Mademoiselle,” the conductor replied in a thick Prancian accent. “We shall remain here for approximately fifteen minutes while we take on fuel and passengers, and then it is an hour to Manehattan. I believe that is your stop, oui?"
"It is, thank you."
The conductor paused before moving on, giving a polite cough, "Will you or your—ahem—friend be wanting anything to drink?"
Twilight blushed. "Oh, no, she's not my marefriend. We're just good friends. Um, no. No I think we'll both be fine."
The conductor raised an eyebrow. "As you wish, Mademoiselle. I did not intend to imply anything untoward. Please forgive me."
He wandered down the aisle waking a sleeping couple a few seats down. A big earth pony stallion and a lithe pegasus mare. She wondered idly how such an ugly stallion wound up with such an attractive mare. It was easier for stallions of course, with the birth rate being what it was, but surely a mare like that could have any stallion she wanted. Or any mare—
No, it was best not to think that way. Twilight wasn't going to meet anypony worth dating on the train. Or in Manehattan for that matter. She couldn't leave her friends in Ponyville. Her romantic aspirations would have to wait until she was back home. But Sweet Celestia, that mare had a fine flank. She was almost as attractive as Rainbow Dash.
Where had that thought come from? Dating your friends was always a bad idea: that’s what all the books and magazines said. And Rainbow was so far out of her league, she’d just be setting herself up for disappointment. It was weird to even think about her friends that way, no matter how lonely she got. Twilight had never had any thoughts like that about Fluttershy or Applejack or Pinkie Pie. And while she'd caught herself admiring Rarity from time to time, she'd moved to Ponyville to escape unicorns like her. Even if Rarity was a dear friend, she was just a little too Canterlot to be anything more than eye candy.
But Rainbow Dash was special. Too special to ruin by developing feelings for her, certainly. Twilight sighed and looked out the window. The train was just starting up again, she watched the bustling station blur into houses which blurred, eventually, into open fields. Rainbow Dash whinnied in her sleep, drawing Twilight out of her reverie. There was definitely a spot of pegasus drool on her shoulder at this point, but she somehow didn't mind.
Twilight levitated a book—Witch-Cults in Western Equestria—out of her bag and held it floating in front of her. It wasn’t quite interesting enough, and her gaze kept falling back across the sleeping rainbow-furred head on her shoulder. By the time they rolled into Manehattan, she’d only read twenty pages, a new low.
#
Rainbow Dash jerked awake as Twilight stood up, removing the comfortable shoulder on which she’d been sleeping.
"Wake up Dash, we're here."
Dash groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Did you find Scootaloo?”
Twilight pawed at the ground and looked away. “I didn’t have time, sorry. Cheerilee said she wasn’t in school and nopony had seen her, so I left the comic book with Sweetie Belle. She promised she’d deliver it for me.” Twilight looked up sheepishly. “I autographed it too. I hope that’s okay?”
“I’m sure she’ll love it.” The fact that the only light in the room was emanating from the glowing walls and ceiling finally registered. "Is it nighttime already? Why is the ceiling lit by magic?"
"Manehattan Central Station is underground. You didn't know that?"
Rainbow felt a twinge of panic, but tried not to show it. She really didn't want Twi to know how she felt about being underground.
Twilight was oblivious as usual, her voice bright with excitement, "Isn't it wonderful, Dash? It took hundreds of earth ponies to hollow out this station. We're right under the center of the city. They even have a team of unicorns to light up the whole ceiling."
"Yeah, it's real neat. Hey! How come they don't have any pegasai doing anything?"
"There is a huge messenger service run by pegasai. They carry hundreds of messages all over the city every day."
Rainbow looked around nervously at the huge crowd of ponies mulling about. There was hardly room to walk, much less fly. "Oh. That’s cool I guess. So how do we get out of this creepy cave?"
"Everypony's heading in one direction, let’s just follow the crowd." They’d been pushed along a bit already, but only now did Rainbow notice the greater pattern to the press of mares and stallions around her. For the most part they just seemed to be crowding together in an attempt to allow her as little personal space as possible.
The crowd eventually washed the two mares up against one of presumably several sets of steep stairs tunneled into the rock wall. The natural marble was polished by millions of hoofsteps into smooth, rounded steps that had a warm glow in the white magic light.
As the closer ceiling of the stairway closed in overhead, Dash felt her muscles tense even more. The walls were close together on either side, almost forcing the ponies into a single-file line, but allowing enough space on each side that there was a jostling for position. She was constantly bumped into from behind, frequently pushing her into Twilight. Dash worried that she’d trip and be trampled underhoof by the stampede ponies behind her. To make matters worse, every so often somepony in a hurry shoved by on her left, knocking her against the wall. She took deep, regular breaths, just barely managing to stay calm.
Twilight spotted Dash’s impromptu blowfish impression and frowned. "Are you okay Dash? Are you claustrophobic or something?"
"Don't know what you're talkin' about Twi."
"You don't always have to put up a facade with me you know. I'm your friend Dash, you can trust me with anything."
"That's nice Twi, but I still have no idea what clawstrawhatsit means."
"It means you don't like tight spaces."
"Oh, that. Yeah I guess I do... I am... whatever you said. But Fluttershy's the only pegasus I know who likes being inside, it’s not weird! And when you're the fastest flyer in Equestria, you don't want to be cooped up. It puts me down on the same level as everypony else."
"That must be horrid." Twilight’s tone was dry and sarcastic. Dash met her friend’s eyes, worried that she’d been bragging too much again, but Twilight was smiling at her.
"Do these stairs ever end?" Rainbow asked. She’d noticed that Twilight was a little out of breath.
"I hope so. I think the top is just ahead."
Sure enough, they soon emerged into open air, the darkening sky above them a welcome relief from the dull magical ceilings. Twilight gave a sigh of relief almost as loud as Rainbow’s. They looked around, enjoying the sky and the sight of tall buildings reaching up toward it. After a minute, they looked at each other and grinned.
“We’re in Manehattan!” Twilight looked as if she were about to start hopping around in a circle. “It’s so much bigger than Canterlot. And so many ponies!”
Dash had taken flight as soon as there was space overhead and was hanging by her wings a few feet above the ground. She noticed a few other pegasai were doing the same thing and suddenly felt a lot better about herself.
It wasn't quite nighttime yet, but the sun was hidden behind the imposing city skyline. Ponies of all shapes and sizes bustled along the wide streets, going in and out of various shops and restaurants. Their constant hoofsteps echoing off the surrounding buildings made it sound as if the city were growling at them, low and dangerous.
Dash broke the silence first, as usual. "So where are we going and how do we find it?"
Twilight levitated a piece of paper out of her saddlebag. "Well, I spoke to Applejack while you were napping and she told me we should stay with her Aunt and Uncle Orange. She wrote us a letter of introduction and gave me directions to their house."
"AJ wants us to stay with her frou-frou relatives? Didn't she move back to Ponyville because she couldn't stand them?"
"I think she just missed her life on the farm. Either way, she insists that no Apple relation would turn away a friend of the family. She wrote them a pretty substantial letter, with pictures of Apple Bloom and all kinds of family news. I don't think they'll mind. I tried to tell Applejack we could just get a hotel, but you know how stubborn she can get."
"Sooooo, how do we get there?"
"Well I've got an address, and AJ told me it's in Princesses, which is on the East side of the city. So I figure we should start walking East until we find somepony we can ask for directions. So if we walk away from the sun, we should be going East. Come on."
Rainbow shrugged and followed Twilight. "Have you been here before Twi?"
"No, but I've read about the city. It's supposed to be much bigger than Canterlot, and it's even more significant as a cultural hub."
"So you really don't know where we're going."
Twilight’s horn glowed softly, extracting a tightly wound scroll from her bags. She unfurled it proudly. "Well I brought a map. It has all the major districts of the city and the most important roads. I’m not exactly sure where we are now, but you can see that walking East, we’ll eventually cross Lunar Avenue, and then we'll be in Princesses. Somepony there should be able to point us to the right street easily."
It didn’t come as a huge surprise to Dash when Twilight’s plan didn’t come together as she’d planned. Many of the streets were unmarked or had street signs painted over with random initials or profanity. Those ponies they could even get to talk to them offered at best vague waves of their hooves when asked for directions. Before long the sun had set and the two mares were completely lost.
Dash laid down a nearby bench, pulling an apple from her saddlebag, "You're sure that wasn't Lunar Avenue we just crossed, the one with all the spruce trees down the middle?"
"No, I'm not sure, Rainbow, but even if it was, we didn't see anypony to ask. No one seems to be talking to us anymore."
Dash shook out her wings, stretching. "You're sure I shouldn't fly up and look around?"
"For what? What do you think you're going to see?"
"Umm. Streets?"
"They won't be labeled from above. And—"
"What is it?" Dash asked, hopping back off the bench and continuing to walk.
"And I don't want to be left alone down here, alright? You make me feel safe." Twilight muttered, looking away from Dash, blushing.
As they passed in front of an alley, Dash noticed an old yellow earth pony quaking in her horseshoes in front of a young, tough-looking light-blue unicorn.
“P-Please don’t hurt me. That’s all the money I have,” the old pony stuttered. No way a real hero would let something like this slide.
“Stop right there criminal scum!” Dash leapt into the air and adopted a cool-looking stance she’d seen Pinkie use once. She took one last bite of her apple and dropped it to the ground. Doing anything in mid-air definitely made it cooler.
“Dash, help!” Twilight cried out. The yellow granny had scampered off already, but Twi’s scream made her forget all about her rescuee. Twilight was in trouble.
Rainbow spun around and saw another unicorn stallion, this one grey with a tan mane, who must have emerged from one of the even smaller alleys branching off this one. He stood near Twilight with a pair of hedge clippers held to her horn. Twilight wasn’t moving at all. She looked terrified, afraid to so much as twitch.
"What are a couple of pretty young things like you doing out here all by yourselves?" The grey unicorn asked, while his light-blue friend edged around behind Dash’s back. She couldn’t take her eyes off those hedge clippers though.
A voice came from behind and somewhat below her. "Would you look at the flank on that pegasus. I don't think I ever had a filly that fine. Then again I ain’t been with a filly since I got out of prison. Maybe I’m just excitable.”
"Bet you got plenty o' love in prison though,” said the stallion who was now just a few feet behind Twilight.
Dash hovered a little to the side, hoping to keep the blue one from getting directly below her. She managed to drift closer to the wall as the other stallion raised his voice and yelled at his friend. "That ain't funny and you know it. I ain't no colt cuddler."
#
Twilight couldn’t believe that two ponies in the midst of threatening her life could be so homophobic. She hoped the one behind her would be distracted enough for her to make a move. All it would take would be an simple teleportation spell. As soon as the first fleck of magic entered her horn, however, she felt the metal brush against her. She shuddered—unicorn horns were very sensitive.
There was a raspy voice right next to her ear. "Now listen here missy, you stop doin' whatever it is you think you was doin'. I see any kinda glow from that horn, and I'm gonna take it off.” He raised his voice to be heard at the other end of the alley. “That goes for you too, Miss Pegasus. You come at me, you run away, you look at me funny, and your girlfriend here is gonna be an Earth Pony."
Dash looked furious. Not terrified, furious. Twilight mustered up bravado she didn’t know she had. "The guards will come running as soon as you do. If they aren’t on their way already."
"It’ll be too late for you though. And we're pretty good at running from the guards."
She was as still as she could manage, but every little twitch set Twilight’s horn against the clippers. That edge scraping against her hurt a bit, but it was somehow more terrifying than fighting Nightmare Moon. If those blades closed she wouldn’t just die, she’d lose her magic. And probably die painfully. Horn injuries were often fatal in their own right. She half-hoped Rainbow would rescue her, half-hoped she would just go along with them and give them what they wanted so Twilight could walk away from this alive.
Rainbow Dash had stopped moving, and looked more thoughtful than she had a few moments ago. Sweet Celestia, she’s planning something. The blue unicorn had moved to where Dash’s saddlebags had fallen when she took off to save the old mare and he was picking through them, presumably looking for anything of value.
Twilight met Dash’s eyes, and the pegasus winked at her. Not sure whether to be more terrified of Dash’s plan or the stallion behind her, Twilight kept still and silent, lest she give the muggers any warning. She needed to be ready in case whatever Dash did gave her an opening. She steadied herself with a deep breath. A unicorn didn’t get her horn cut off without a fight.
Dash wrinkled her nose and let out an enormous sneeze. Her wings flapped forward in a way that looked to Twilight much more like a flight movement than a reflex. There was a scream from behind and as soon as the pressure from the tool resting on the top of her head let up, she brought her horn down and forward as quickly as she could. Something scraped Twlight’s horn. She screamed.
The pain was sharp and hot but when she put a forehoof to her head, the horn was still there. So was the stallion, presumably. Twilight took her best guess at his location and bucked as hard as she could—like Applejack had taught with her—and felt her hooves connect solidly with something fleshy. There was another scream, a thump, and the clatter of metal skidding across the cobblestones.
Twilight looked up to the other stallion. His horn was glowing and he had a terrifying number of knives floating over his head, aimed at Rainbow Dash. Worse, he was taking a moment to aim, and Dash probably couldn’t see him from her spot above.
"Look out," Twilight screamed. She fired a blast of the first spell that came to mind—a sleep spell—at the remaining unicorn, hoping against hope to catch him before he launched the knives. He crumpled to the ground almost immediately, sparks flying from his horn and de-animated knives skittering across the ground. Twilight’s head felt like it was about to explode.
As she turned around, the grey stallion was struggling to his hooves, blood dribbling down his snout and bruises forming at the front of his chest. Before Twilight could do anything, a rainbow blur swooped down from overhead, slamming into the stallion. His head bounced off the wall and Rainbow Dash hovered over him for a moment before her wings stopped buzzing and she landed beside Twilight.
"I think he's going to stay down, but let's find something to tie him up with—is your horn okay, Twi?"
Twilight's horn did not feel alright. It felt like she was bleeding, but as she felt her forehead with her hoof, she didn't feel anything wet. Her hoof just felt tingly, like her entire foreleg was full of pins and needles. She placed her hoof back on the ground and it almost gave out underneath her. A few seconds later, the feeling returned to her leg, although she was getting a bit dizzy.
Dash ran to her side, her voice quiet and trembling, "You'd better sit down Twilight. You don't look so good."
"What's wrong with me?"
"Well, your horn is sparking all over the place, little purple lightning bolts. You look awfully pale."
"Can you see if there’s any damage to my horn?"
"It's still there if that's what you're asking. I think I see a little scratch on the side of it though. Could that cause something like this?"
Twilight didn’t know her heart could beat any faster, but it did. "Yes. Oh Celestia, yes. If he cut deep enough, I could lose control of my magic forever. I'm going to have to have magic surgery."
"It doesn't look all that bad. I'd better get help though. But... um, Twi?"
"What is it Rainbow?"
"What did you hit this guy with?"
"A simple knock-out spell. Why?"
Twilight dragged herself over to the blue unicorn, still collapsed on the pavement. Every hair on his body was standing on end, blood was dripping out of his ears, and violet lightning crackled across his body.
Dash let out a low whistle. "Remind me never to piss you off."
Twilight glared at her, still shaking, still unsteady on her hooves. "That's not funny Dash. Is he breathing?"
Rainbow knelt and put a hoof to his neck and nodded. "Yeah, he's alive."
"Step away from the body," commanded a gruff voice from behind them—the direction of the main street.
Twilight turned again, her headache getting worse by the moment. A big earth pony in a police uniform stood before her, with a unicorn and a pegasus in identical uniforms standing to either side and slightly back.
Twilight wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or afraid. Before she could make up her mind, Dash spoke up. "Hey, they attacked us!” The police ponies didn’t look convinced. “My friend is hurt, we need to get her to a doctor. I think they cut her horn with those big scissor thingies."
"That may be," said the earth pony, "but we're going to have to take you all in for questioning. From the looks of things, these two need a doctor even more than your friend does."
The unicorn behind him spoke up, low and serious, "Sarge, those sparks aren't good. Classic sign of horn trauma."
The sergeant sighed. "Very well. Order, you escort our hurt little unicorn to the hospital, bring her around to the station once she’s patched up. Law, you stay here with me until the ambulance arrives, make sure these two are cuffed to their beds until we sort this whole thing out. What's your name pegasus?"
Dash puffed out her chest, attempting to recapture her normal air of superiority but suspecting she was too shaken up to be entirely convincing, "I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria. You've probably heard of me."
The sergeant looked unimpressed. "I haven't."
The pegasus officer, however, seemed to know who she was. "Did you say Rainbow Flash? Like in the comics?"
"It's Rainbow Dash,” she huffed. They got my name wrong."
The sergeant growled at her, "I want your real name, missy."
"That is her real name," Twilight finally managed to say, through the thick gauze surrounding her brain and horn. "And I'm Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé to Princess Celestia. My brother is Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard. I swear we didn't mean to hurt those ponies, and if you want a character reference, I urge you to contact the Princess."
"We got us a big-shot here. You'll still have to come to the station miss. We'll check that out, but I don't care who you are, you can't just beat the snot out of somepony in a back alley."
Just then, an ambulance pulled up and disgorged several nurses. "Come along Miss Sparkle, we'll get you seen to at the hospital." The unicorn nudged her toward the ambulance, keeping an eye on the nurses swarming around the two fallen muggers.
"And you can tell us all about what it's like being friends with Rainbow Flash," said the pegasus officer, grinning like a school-colt.
#
Rainbow Dash was standing in a small stone room with one bright light hanging over a table in the center. She refused to sit down at the table, but had been in here so long, she was ready to bounce off the walls. She didn't want to cause trouble though. Twilight had sounded sure the Princess or her brother would get them out, but she didn't want to complicate that.
A key scraped against the lock and the door creaked open. The earth pony sergeant came in and sat in front of the table, gesturing for her to sit down on the hard bench across from him.
"We've been going over your statement, and the captain has been talking to the Canterlot Royal Guard. Over my objection, you and your friend are being released." The scowl on his face suggested that he’d objected very strongly.
Partly out of relief, partly to rub his nose in it, Rainbow let out a victorious whoop, fluttering several feet into the air.
He eyeballed her back onto her seat. "But before we let you go, you and I need to have a little chat. You may be some kind of Very Important Ponies and from the look on the captain’s face when he came back from talking with that Canterlot guard captain you probably are, but you two really did a number on those muggers. That grey unicorn’s eye actually burst, you know. Doctors had to yank it out. On top of that, he's got a concussion and a fractured sternum. He was the lucky one."
Rainbow Dash averted her eyes. She was both ashamed and proud that her micro-gust launched apple seed had been so effective. "What happened to the other one?"
The sergeant looked like he was going to be sick for a moment, before his regularly scheduled glare returned. "Physically, he's fine. But he was in a coma when they got him to the hospital. It took the witch doctors a couple hours to wake him up; and at first glance you’d think he just had some singed hair and minor burns. But he's crying for his Mommy to come kiss his boo-boos and make them better. He can’t remember the last fifteen years, thinks he’s still in magic kindergarten. They say he'll never so much as levitate a quill again. His magic font is completely burned out."
"Twilight wouldn't do that on purpose! The other guy hurt her horn."
"So the doctors say. I'm not sure I believe them. The fact is, we found the comic books in your bags, and combined with the little old mare who says you rescued her, I think you two were running around playing superhero.” He pushed back his bench and stood up.
“Well not in my city, Missy. The Captain may be too afraid to press charges, but if I catch you pulling that crap again, I'll see to it you wind up in front of a judge one way or another. Even if I can't take you in myself, there are precincts in this city where the Captain isn’t afraid of politics. And it’s much easier to get them to listen on a second offense."
"But they attacked us!"
The sergeant huffed, "And some of my officers think those two had it coming, they're both repeat offenders. But mares like you are not the judge, jury, and executioner. Either of those ponies could have died, and all because you couldn’t keep your muzzle out of it. We’d have caught them eventually."
"So this is my fault now? That's what you wanted to tell me? I saved somepony’s life and you’re blaming me for hurting the criminals?"
"If you hadn't jumped into harm's way, we wouldn't have a criminal so brain-damaged we can't prosecute him. That isn't justice. Not for him, and not for any of his victims. It's too soft and too cruel at the same time."
Uncomfortable with that line of argument, especially with somepony who so clearly hated her, Dash asked, "I can leave now, right?"
The sergeant sighed, "Yes. You’re free to go."
"Well then, I'd like my stuff back please."
"You can collect your things at the front desk. But I do not want to see you again, Miss Dash."
"Sucks to be you then. You're gonna see me in the comics, and probably in the news. And in the Wonderbolts some day." Dash gave a little flip of her hair and breezed out of the interrogation room like she hadn't a care in the world. When she was sure she was out of his sight, she touched down again. She wanted to scream, but that would have to wait until she was outside. She shoulder checked the wall instead—much too hard.
“Ow,” she said. She slammed into the wall three more times.
#
The unicorn doctor glanced at his charts and then up at Twilight, "Well Miss Sparkle, you shouldn't have any long-term side-effects, but you need to limit your magic usage over the next few weeks, and avoid it altogether for at least two or three days. For a unicorn of your strength even the smallest spell could leak enough magic to make the damage permanent."
"So she's healthy enough to leave the hospital?" Constable Order looked hopeful, horn injuries were a source of universal sympathy among unicorns.
The doctor nodded, "Yes. I can't say the same for those muggers though. I know it isn't right to wish harm on anypony, but with the number of mares we've had in here hurt by those two or ponies like them, I'm glad to see they got what was coming to them."
Twilight put her head in her hooves, wishing she could stop thinking about what she’d done, "I didn't mean to hurt him so badly! It was just a sleep spell!"
The constable gave Twilight a comforting pat on her back, "Well between that and the arrest record those two have got—and a sternly worded series of letters from Canterlot—no one is going to press charges. You and your friend are free to go. So now I'm free to ask you and Rainbow Dash to autograph my Mare Do Well comics!" Constable Order fluttered his eyelids at her and she couldn’t help but giggle as the police stallion pulled a small stack of comic books out of his saddlepack.
“So Rainbow is coming here soon?” Suddenly the world seemed a little brighter.
"Yeah, I just got off the phone with headquarters. They released her a few minutes ago. She apparently got directions and took off for here as soon as she got outside."
As if summoned by the sound of her name, a slightly breathless blue pegasus galloped into the room. "Sorry. Came as fast as I could. Are you gonna be okay Twi?" Dash flung her hooves around Twilight’s neck.
Twilight felt her cheeks redden. She made a brief attempt at fighting off the pegasus before returning the hug. Dash probably needed this as much as she did, even if the stubborn featherbrain would never admit it. "I'm fine Dash, but it's sweet of you to worry. I don't suppose you'd mind signing a few comic books with me? It seems you have quite a fan in Constable Order here."
Dash brightened up at the prospect of attention, "As long as you're okay Twi, I'll do whatever you want. Although you know how I hate having fans." She made and obviously fake scowl and picked up a quill.
"That reminds me, officers, do you know where we could stay?” Twilight asked. “We were looking for some relatives of a friend of ours, but at this time of night I'd feel terrible about waking them. Are there any decent hotels in the area? Safe but not too expensive?"
Constable Law rubbed his wingtip against his chin thoughtfully then said, "There isn't much near the hospital. We'd be happy to escort you wherever you need to go, of course. But if you want to get to bed soon, there’s the Best Pegasus. They're open all night, but they don't cater to the less reputable patrons most of the twenty-four hours joints prefer. It's a little pricey, but so is everything in Manehattan that isn't overrun with horse fleas."
Constable Order exchanged a glance with his colleague. "We'll take you there on one condition."
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"You let us take a picture with you!" the lawponies chorussed, as if they’d rehearsed this scenario a dozen times.
Twilight facehoofed.
#
Rainbow Dash adjusted her pose nervously on the single bed in the hotel room. She shifted from faking sleep to a goofy over-the-top glamorous pose, and back to the original exaggerated relaxation she'd initially gone with. Twilight was taking an awfully long time on the stairs, maybe she should go help. But no, Dash had made her decision when she snatched the key in her mouth and flew up ten flights of stairs to their room. Going back now would be decidedly uncool.
She probably shouldn't have raced ahead up the stairs, but the knowing look they'd been getting from that bellhop had driven her crazy. Winking at her like she and Twi were here on some date-gone-very-well or something. It was rather late. And maybe he'd caught the way she was looking at Twilight, or just had a dirty mind about what two mares would get up to in a room with just one bed. Dash had to admit, If it were up to her he'd be right. But really they just hadn't had enough money for a double room, and Twilight had pointed out, quite reasonably, that they'd slept next to each other plenty of times. Like the other night. Rainbow let out a wistful sigh she hadn't known she'd been building up.
Twilight hadn't even noticed the blushing bellhop of course. She was so cool about those kinds of things; Twilight cared so little about what people thought of her, she didn't even bother noticing. She could be a little neurotic about what her friends or the Princess thought, sure, but who wouldn't be?
Dash sighed again and flipped onto her stomach. She spread the newest Mare Do Well comic out in front of her—nice and relaxed—and flicked her tail up just a bit. That looked almost too suggestive though, even with the comic. Twilight must really be taking her time on those stairs. Dash felt a pang of guilt. She should go and help. Twilight could still be sore from the fight, or maybe she was injured and hadn’t said anything. Just then, Dash heard a knocking at the door.
Horsefeathers. There was only one key. She felt like such an idiot. As she stood up, she took a minute to flip her mane off to the side in a way she hoped looked good, took a deep breath, and opened the door. There was a disappointing lack of Twilight.
It was just the bellhop, who looked a trifle nervous. "Excuse me Miss, I...well I think your marefriend needs your help."
"What! What happened to her?" Rainbow grabbed the poor earth pony by the coat and held him hovering a foot off the ground.
The bellhop pony’s eyes went wide, voice trembling, "She isn't hurt. She's just crying in the stairwell. I tried to move her but the Maitre d'Hotel said I should get you. Someone she trusts and all that." The bellhop sputtered for a moment, "Could you put me down p-please?"
"Oh, sorry." Dash grabbed the room key and sped out the door and down the stairs. Her draft pulled the door shut behind her and knocked the already-nervous bellhop off his hooves. She was two floors down when it hit her—he'd thought they were dating! Seriously dating! And she hadn’t remembered to correct him.
#
Twilight sat sobbing into her hooves on the third floor landing. She wasn't a hero; she was a monster. What kind of hero went around erasing people's brains? No matter what that stallion had been planning to do, she should have kept control of her magic. She should have felt for horn damage before she cast her spell, or just let Rainbow Dash dodge him. She had worried he was going to hurt Rainbow, and she hadn't thought. If she'd taken time to think, she could have levitated him or turned him into a geranium. Something less dangerous.
But no, she had to go around blasting ponies without thinking things through. She knew what kind of pony did that. A villain. Like Nightmare Moon or Discord or the Fuchsia Foalnapper. Those damn comics had it wrong. The shadowy secret societies weren't the ones who turned ponies into drooling husks—it was Mare Do Well. The real villain.
And now Dash had run off again, leaving her alone in the creepy hotel. Too ashamed to be seen with her. Only someone like Twilight could manage to drive away the very embodiment of the Element of Loyalty. Twilight felt a wing wrap around her and looked up into a pair of worried magenta eyes.
Twilight let out a sob and pressed her face into her friend's fuzzy chest. "Oh Dash, I'm so sorry."
"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Twi. You saved my life. That stallion was bad news and if you hadn't blasted him, he'd have stabbed me. I know you didn't mean to screw him up forever like that, but you know what? He had it coming. He hurt a lot of ponies, and he was gonna hurt us and you showed him what happens when you mess with mares from Ponyville." Dash puffed out her chest a little at this, but Twilight just started crying harder.
Possibly sensing she’d made a mistake, Dash deflated and tried to comfort Twilight with a slow stroke of her hoof down her back, "Don't cry Twilight. I... I know I said he was screwed up forever, and yeah he probably is, but that does not make you a bad pony."
Twilight sobbed, "Yes it does! It does make me a bad pony. It makes me evil."
"It's not evil if you're protecting your friends. You weren't thinking about how much you liked hurting him, you were thinking about me. That just makes you a good friend."
"That's exactly the kind of thinking that starts wars, Dash. If you start killing ponies to protect your loved ones, you can justify anything."
"You weren't just killing random ponies that didn't like me, Twi. You zapped a pony who was actively trying to hurt me, at that moment. And you didn't kill him."
Twilight sniffled and mumbled out into Dash’s coat, "Same thing."
"No! It isn't! You messed up because his buddy had already hurt you and you couldn't control your power. You weren't even trying to hurt him. And let's face it, Twi, we both know you could have killed him if you wanted to."
Twilight tried to shove herself away from Dash, feeling sick to her stomach. She was unworthy of Dash’s comfort, of her touch. "That's just it, I did want to. On one hoof, he's unlucky that I didn't stop and think and turn him into a potted plant or something, on the other hoof, he's lucky my instinct was to use a sleep spell. He's lucky magic comes from the brain and not the heart.”
She had to admit what was bothering her most. “As soon as I saw him pulling that knife on you, I wanted to burn him into cinders so small a phoenix couldn't come back from them. I wanted to rain fire from the sky until he was just a charred hunk of meat. I've never felt that way before, Dash. We've fought much worse monsters than those unicorns and I've always been scared or angry or thoughtful. I usually feel almost at peace when that moment comes, just doing what I have to do. But today it was all I could do to just knock him out. And I didn't even do that right. I'm worried I'm turning evil, Dash. I'm worried I'm more of a villain than a hero."
Rainbow Dash had tears in her eyes too. Twilight wasn't sure if they were sad or happy tears; maybe a bit of both.
Dash spoke softly, her words pitched with some emotion Twilight couldn’t immediately identify, "I care about you too Twi. I felt the same way when he hurt your horn. It made me even more angry than when someone upsets Fluttershy." Rainbow stared at her with those big magenta eyes, looking like she wanted to say something and couldn't find the words. She glanced away for a second and then continued, "I could carry you up the stairs if you want. If you're too tired.”
Twilight sniffled, rubbing her nose, "That's okay Rainbow. I think I can manage."
Dash looked vaguely disappointed for some reason.
"But I do have one favor to ask..."
"Anything, Twilight."
"Can I have first shower?"
Rainbow Dash grinned and nodded. But she still looked sad somehow. Maybe she wanted a shower as much as Twilight did.
#
Rainbow tried to finish the most recent comic as she waited for her turn in the shower, but she was unable to focus. She had to figure out a way to tell Twilight how she felt without making things awkward between them. It probably wasn't a good idea to say anything right before they had to spend the night sleeping next to each other in such a small bed, but tomorrow she would definitely say something. She just didn't know what.
The rushing water sounds ceased, and a moment later the bathroom door creaked open. Rainbow took an awkwardly long moment admiring the sleek wet fur and dripping mane of her purple friend before glancing away to hide her blush. As usual, Twilight seemed not to notice any of this.
Twilight gave a much brighter smile than she’d had before, finally reganing a little of her usual pep, "The shower is all yours Dash. It really is very relaxing. I'm not sure if that's due to the higher water pressure or just the unusual level of tension between traveling and getting into that—"
"Thanks Twi." Rainbow zipped into the bathroom without so much as touching the floor the moment Twilight stepped out of the way. She slammed the door behind her and turned the water on cold. After a few shivering moments failed to calm her down, she resignedly dialed the water back up to warm and let out a long sigh. The increased pressure really was relaxing.
#
Twilight toweled off and then curled her hooves up underneath her on the bed. She hadn't finished the newest comic either, and despite her own worries about whether or not she was a good pony, she was curious about what happened next. Things were so much simpler in the comics.
By the time she finished reading, Twilight was blushing rather strongly. She knew comics were supposed to be a fantasy, but the development implied by the final page had left her breathless. Mare Do Well and Flash had woken up in the same bed! To be fair she and Dash would be waking up in the same bed the next morning, so that was accurate. But she was pretty sure they wouldn't conclude their own night of crime fighting in the steamy way implied by the prior few pages. The comic didn't actually show anything lewd of course, but it was all there in the kiss they shared, and the content looks on their faces the next morning. Where did the author, whoever he was, come up with filth like this?
Twilight paused for a minute in her mental tirade. She was fairly certain they both liked mares, so maybe it wasn't that far fetched. But neither friend thought of the other that way, did they? She thought of the toned lines of Dash's flanks as she had galloped back up the stairs ahead of her, the cute little smirk she wore whenever Twilight met her eyes, like they were sharing some private joke. She thought of the way Rainbow had held and comforted her on the stairway. She was a really good friend. And maybe she did have nice flanks. But no, Dash could never fall for a nerdy mare like her; best to keep all such thoughts banished to dreams and fantasies.
Rainbow Dash must have really wanted a shower, she'd been in there almost half an hour. Twilight surreptitiously closed the comic and put it on the nightstand on her side of the bed. She wiggled her way under the covers and tried to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Dash. She rolled over onto her side and riffled through her saddlebags until she found the book she had brought with her: Pre-Celestian Earth Pony Religion and Religious Practices. As she heard the door open, she quickly finished the section she was reading, inserted a bookmark, and closed the book, placing it gently on the floor beside her. She felt herself release a tension she hadn't known she was holding in as the pegasus snuggled in beside her. Twilight felt truly safe for the first time since the attack. She closed her eyes and fell immediately to sleep.