//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: All Was Quiet 
// Story: Mare Do Better 
// by Cynical 
//------------------------------//

Friday

The clock tolled midnight; the sonorous bells rang out across the deserted town below.

Twelve headaches later, a pair of ponies pulled their hooves away from their ears only to hear the world ring afterwards.

“Remind me why we had to camp out up here?” one of them asked, her bronzed cloak reflecting slightly in the light.
Mare Do Better sighed, “Because it’s the highest viewpoint we have available whilst still remaining invisible.”
“I still think you should have let me get a few clouds together…” the other cloaked pony replied, turning a white mask towards the town below again.

Mare Do Better chuckled to herself, shaking her head slightly.
“So Twi?”
“Mare Do Better, Rainbow, secret identities remember,”
The other pony shrugged, “Same difference, anyway… I think I have a name for myself.”
Mare Do Better turned to face her partner, her brow raised under the mask.
“How about… The Pegasus Falcon?”

She couldn’t help it, Mare Do Better laughed.
“What’s so funny about it?” the self-proclaimed falcon demanded.
Mare Do Better snickered, trying desperately to stifle her laughter before she spoke again, “Nothing, it’s actually quite a good name.”
“Then why the laughter?” The Pegasus Falcon shot back.

“Come on, you have to admit it’s not what anypony would expect you to pick,” Mare Do Better snorted, “what happened to ‘Daring Dash’ or ‘The Wonderbolt’?”
“Hey!” The Pegasus Falcon protested, “I thought you said we needed to have secret identities or whatever, anyone who knows me will know who Daring Dash or The Wonderbolt is straight away.”

“Alright, alright,” Mare Do Better replied, smiling beneath her mask and raising a hoof in surrender.
The Pegasus Falcon chuckled softly, “Happy birthday by the way.”
“Thanks Rainbow, I-”
“Falcon.”
“Yes, yes. Anyway, I could definitely use something a bit more mundane after this week.”

The Pegasus Falcon snorted loudly, “Mundane? You were the one that let Rarity go to Canterlot to design something for your birthday, that’s almost like asking for froufrou and glitter.”
“I’m rolling my eyes Falcon,” Mare Do Better dictated.
“Sure you are, just like I’m rolling my own.”

Mare Do Better just smiled and shook her head slightly, letting the silence rest around them for a while before speaking up again, “Actually… everything seems pretty quiet tonight, why don’t we just drop the names and the masks? It’s pleasant enough out here to warrant it.”
The Pegasus Falcon sighed happily, immediately setting about trying to tug off her mask, “Thought you’d never ask… I still can’t get used to calling you Mare Do Better.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled under the mask, using her magic to remove her own hood followed by Rainbow’s.
Rainbow’s mess of colourful bangs flopped out of the hood in one great lump and she shook her head vigorously, “Finally, I know Rarity’s one for fashion and all, but would it kill her to make something breathable too?”
Twilight chuckled again, her own mane falling flat over her head almost immediately, “That depends on how many colours breathable fabrics are available in.”

Rainbow laughed, “Yeah, that’s true,” she started, trying to speak around the giggles, “I don’t envy you for when you get Rarity’s present, you’re going to be a walking peacock.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “But I’ll be a walking birthday peacock,” she stressed, almost hiding her smirk, “and since you’re so quick to doubt Rarity’s present, what did you get me?”
“Not saying,” Rainbow replied, sticking her tongue out at Twilight, “you’re not getting it until later, you know, when everyone else gives you their presents.”

Twilight let out a loud and mournful groan of disappointment.
“I’m serious,” Rainbow chuckled, “I’ll give it to you later or else it’ll make everyone else’s presents look rubbish compared to mine.”
Twilight turned to look at Rainbow, pouting slightly.
Rainbow stuck her tongue out in response, to which Twilight only returned Bambi eyes.

“We-ell…” Rainbow started, finally unable to meet Twilight’s gaze anymore, “I could give you that other present that I might have had for you…”
Almost immediately, Twilight’s face split into a grin, “Another present?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head self-consciously, “Well, yeah. I mean, the other one’s still going to completely blow your mind, but this one’s pretty awesome too I suppose.”

“Alright, so where is it?”
Rainbow laughed, “And you call me impatient?” a glance towards Twilight revealed that the Bambi eyes had made a reappearance, “But alright… close your eyes and I’ll give you your present.”
Twilight’s eyes snapped shut moments later, engulfing her in darkness as she waited eagerly for her first birthday present of the day.

There was almost a lull in the night air as the world fell silent for a few moments, then she felt something press into her cheek, gentle but deliberate, and her mind stopped working shortly afterwards. Several long moments later, her cheek was bared to the night air once more. She thought she knew what had happened, but the conclusion it left her with was somewhat absurd.

When she opened her eyes again, she stared, flabbergasted, at Rainbow Dash who was blushing slightly. “Did you- Did you just-”
“Kiss you?” Rainbow cut in, smirking as her blush died down, “Yeah… I guess I just did.”
Twilight let her jaw hang loosely as she tried to process the information, almost certain that Rainbow could hear the frantic passage of thoughts shooting between synapses in her brain.

“Uh… Twi?”
Twilight blinked and looked around wildly, blushing madly and realising how badly she’d just zoned out.
She shook her head suddenly, trying to clear away the haze that had accrued itself before she spoke, “Um… what was that for?”

Rainbow rubbed her head, smiling somewhat self-consciously, “Well, it was my thank you for the past week I guess.”
“You mean the week that was a waste of time?” Twilight asked with a sly smirk.
Rainbow just shot her a look, “Yeah, yeah, that week that was such a waste of time that I’m thanking you for it right now.”

Twilight chuckled and the conversation fell into a lull for another few moments.

“So… what did you think?”
“About the…” Twilight let her words drop off as Rainbow nodded slightly, “Well… um- Aside from being somewhat unexpected,” she started, watching Rainbow’s reaction as she did likewise, “It was… nice?”

“Not awesome?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight shook her head solemnly and Dash’s own head drooped visibly, “I think I might know a way to improve it though…”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow as Twilight got to her hooves and offered Rainbow a hoof which she grasped and pulled herself up.

Twilight just smiled again and lit her horn, causing the hatch into the clock tower to swing open.

Almost mesmerised, Rainbow followed Twilight into the relative darkness of the clock tower and into the centre of the clocks.

The hatch swung shut behind them.