“Stop! Thief!”
Rainbow Dash tried not to flinch as the words reached her ears amidst the cacophony of the marketplace. Feigning casualness, she pulled the hood of her cloak further over her head, hiding her blue ears and colorful mane. Her teeth clamped down harder on the paper bag teetering in her mouth, and she cantered through the crowd of shoppers and salesponies in the plaza.
“Help! Guards! It’s that pony in the black cape!”
True to her name, Dash instinctively leaped out from underneath her cloak, earning gasps from the masses of ponies around her. She pounded the air with her broad, azure wings, and soared above the lower homes of Canterlot with her contraband swaying about in her mouth. Her eyes hastily scanned the busy cobblestone streets, searching for a familiar alley. She dove toward a dark passage in between two buildings.
The downtrodden alley was lined with trash, sick beggars and homeless ponies—mostly Pegasi and Earth ponies. Rainbow Dash recognized several of them, and they looked up at her with hopeful, curious eyes as she trotted past them, but she only looked straight ahead. She couldn’t help them all.
She trotted into a disheveled stone shack on the farthest side of the backstreet, and gently pushed the door shut, taking care to slide the lock in behind her. Her excitement growing, she quickly maneuvered over boards of wood, blankets, books, and piles of hay strewn about the floor of the shack, and headed toward the back room.
Dash grinned proudly, dropping the prized paper bag in the doorway. “Look, AJ! I got some of that magic root for—”
Rainbow stopped in her tracks. On a worn mattress in the center of the room lay an orange mare on her side, away from Rainbow, her breathing shallow and strained. Several blankets were amassed around the bed, having long since been kicked to the ground. Her once vibrant coat was now pale and drenched with sweat, sticking to her taut muscles.
Picking up her abandoned cache, Rainbow approached her mate hesitantly. She was reluctant to wake Applejack after she had finally fallen asleep after a long, painful night of migraines and colic.
But Rainbow couldn’t bear to see her marefriend suffer another minute. She never wanted to see Applejack cringing in pain, a forced smile plastered on her face just to try and ease Rainbow’s nerves. She was tired of pacing the shack night after night, hoping against hope that Applejack would make it through until morning.
Rainbow stood above Applejack and nuzzled her neck gently.
“H-hey,” Rainbow uttered softly after she felt her stir. “Feeling any better?”
Applejack rolled sleepily onto her back to face her, and took a deep, trembling breath. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke, “Ah think so. Just a little bit.” She glanced at the paper bag lying beside her on the mattress. “What’s in there?”
“I got you something. They say it’ll make the sickness go away.” Dash opened the bag in question and pulled out what looked like the root of an herb. “It’s magic root. I think you’re just supposed to eat it. Here, it’ll make you better.”
Applejack complied, slowly sitting up. She took the foreign plant from her marefriend’s mouth and began to nibble on it.
“Need me to chew it for you?” Dash asked.
Applejack chuckled softly. “Thanks, but Ah think Ah got it, Sugar.”
She took a few more bites, and frowned at the taste. “’S really bitter. Where’d you find this stuff, anyhow?”
Dash gulped and sat down beside her on the bed. “Well, at the market. This Unicorn was selling them, but he wouldn’t one to give me, so I kinda had to take it myself.”
“Ya didn’t pay for this?”
“I left some bits there, AJ. So technically, I did.”
Applejack looked like she was going to question further, but Dash held a hoof to her mouth.
“And even if I hadn’t paid for it, I’d still take it,” Rainbow continued. “I don’t care what it takes. I’m not going to let you suffer from this any longer than you have to. Now hush up and eat.”
Applejack simply nodded and smiled, finishing up the last of the terribly bitter root. “Thanks, Dash. I’m—”
A raucous knock sounded from the front door of their makeshift home. “Canterlot guard! Open up!”
Applejack glared incredulously at her marefriend. She whispered harshly, “The guards are following you?”
“Heh. Oops?”