Night. Rainbow hated nighttime. Since she didn’t have a body, she couldn’t sleep, so she had to be awake the entire ten hours or so when Twilight was asleep. And when you didn’t have a body, there was only so much you could do. She couldn’t even go around pranking people, because she had to be within a certain proximity of the locket. So mostly, she’d end up lying back, and getting lost in her thoughts for nine hours or so. After which she just talked to herself.
However, tonight she didn’t have much to think about, since they were following a lead for this sapphire, so that only kept her occupied for about six hours. Plus she only had so much to talk about, so that only took up two. Giving her a full two hours of boredom before she could wake up Twilight.
She looked over at the unicorn on her right. She was so cute when she asleep. She liked to ball herself up if it was cold out, which tonight, it was. She almost reminded Dash of a cat. A purple, sexy cat, with a horn and a cutie mark.
Maybe not too much like a cat.
Rainbow reached out for Twilight’s mane to run her hoof through it, but her hoof passed right through. She sighed.
“I should plan something special for when I get my body back,” She smiled. “Maybe…we could…,”
If she could, Dash would’ve blushed. If she could feel, her mouth would feel dry. And if she could, she’d probably be sweating a bit. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t do any of those things, so she’d have to make do with her imagination.
She turned toward the window, and looked up at the stars. That was the only thing she enjoyed about the night, the stars. The little shining spheres in the sky always seemed so carefree. It made her wish that she could share in that emotion. One thing was for sure, she was probably the only pony in Equestria who truly appreciated Princess Luna’s night.
She looked up to the moon, and looked three stars over. According to Twilight, the night after Dash died, that star appeared in the sky. That exact star, was Rainbow’s star. Celestia had even formerly named at the funeral.
“Rainbow Dash, the star,” She smiled “That’s got a nice ring to it,” Dash leaned back on the bed, and relaxed.
Twilight’s eyes drifted open, and her retinas were instantly greeted by bright sunlight.
“You finally woke up, did you?” Teased a raspy, but feminine voice that could only belong to Rainbow Dash.
“Apparently,” Twilight sat up. “What time is it?”
Dash looked up at the analog clock on the wall. “Eight hours, Celestial shift. The train leaves in an hour,”
Twilight yawned. “That gives us an hour until the train, huh?” She grabbed the notebook next to her bed. “Which means time for a meal,”
Dash smiled. She felt a slight pang of jealousy towards Twilight. She hadn’t tasted anything in a little more than seven months. The moment she had he body back she was going to have to get Twilight to buy her dinner. Something absolutely amazing. She licked her lips.
Twilight tapped four digits on the pad next to the bed, typed an underscore, and then two digits.
“What did you order?”
“Toast, eggs and some orange juice,”
“…I miss orange juice,” Dash looked solemnly at the clock on the wall. “You know you should probably change back to Navy Pure,”
Twilight looked blankly into Rainbow’s eyes. Then hopped up suddenly. “Oh yeah! Totally forgot!” She pointed a hoof at herself. “Wanted fugitive,” Her horn glowed momentarily, and then she slowly transformed into a black earth pony with a grey mane. She pointed towards herself again. “Insignificant background filler,”
Rainbow giggled. “You make it sound like a book,”
“Yeah, it takes the edge of the whole ‘Wanted across Equestria’ thing,” She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “Celestia knows it’s going to be wonderful when you get your body back,”
“Agreed,” Dash looked over at the nightstand. “You should probably put on the locket,”
“Hm?” Navy gave her a blank look again. “Oh, Right!” She floated the locket off the small table, and put it around her neck. She opened the latch. Inside and on the left side was her favorite picture she had ever taken with Dash. It was her and Rainbow sitting under a tree at sunset, cuddling. On the left, it read “My heart will always be yours,”, and every time she read it, she began to tear up. Up until the moment she received that locket, Navy had never pegged Dash as a romantic. It was unfortunate that she only realized how wrong she was when Rainbow was on her deathbed.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Asked Rainbow, concerned. Navy looked down, and saw that her fur and the carpet beneath her had darkened with tears.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” *knock knock* Navy turned to the door, and opened it. There was a fairly short, grey mare on the other side carrying a small tray.
“Your meal, ma’am,”
“Thanks,” Navy tossed a few bits over to the mare.
“It was nothing, thank you,”
She gently closed the door. And walked back to the bed. “You wanna watch something on the projector?”
“I would, but,” She looked the mechanism in front of her over. “Where is the actual projector?”
Navy giggled. “It’s self-screened. The projection unit is behind the screen, and it projects the images onto the semi-transparent screen with a mirrored nozzle,”
“Wow, I wonder why nopony thought of that until recent?”
“It’s because it didn’t occur to anyone until you said we should move my projector up to the bedroom. I wouldn’t have thought of it otherwise,”
“Oh come on, that’s not true,”
“But it could be,”
“I guess,”
“It looks there’s local news, you alright with that?”
“Sure,”
Navy started up the projector, and the program started up. “-of that at noon. Yesterday, at ten Lunar shift, ten ponies were arrested for assaulting a group of Canterlot guards on vacation. They claimed that they had to pay back the, quote, oppressive and lying monarchy, close quote,” Rainbow and Navy exchanged a glance. “Just a half hour before the attack, there was a public speaker who claimed that Celestia and Luna needed to be brought down. It is assumed that these ponies were members of the audience. The speaker has yet to be found. And now we go over to-,” Navy shut of the projector.
“Perhaps, it’s time we left,”
“Eight thirty, we’ll have to sit and wait for a bit,”
“It’ll be worth it,” Navy smiled, grabbed her cloak, and transformed it into a saddle bag filled with artwork.
Rainbow smiled. “Alright then,” She condensed herself into the locket.
Navy stepped out into the hallway, and closed the door behind her. She trotted down the hall, down the stairs, and into the lobby, where she stopped. There were two guards there, talking to the stallion at the counter. She acted quickly, and cast a temporary invisibility spell, she walked up behind a mare who was heading out, and slipped out the door behind her.
The moment she was past the door, Navy took off running. “Rainbow, time?”
“Eight thirty-four,” Said the voice in the back of Navy’s head.
“Then we have time for a detour,” The invisibility spell wore off, and Navy jumped for a nearby awning. She used it as a springboard, launched across the way, and grabbed the flagpole on the building she jumped for. She then climbed up onto the roof, and began jumping from one building to the next. She took a sharp left, and dropped down into an alley.
“Time?”
“Eight forty-six,” Navy smiled.
“Plenty of time,” She trotted out into the town square, and started for the train station.
She bought one ticket, walked on board, and sat in the middle of the train, in a seat next to the platform.
“Time?”
“Eight fifty, nicely done,”
“Thank you,” Dash uncondensed herself, and sat down next to Navy. The two smiled. “Next stop, Ponyville,”
Dash snorted. “In ten minutes,”
“Well, yeah but-,” The train lurched forward, knocking Navy’s jaw into the seat in front of her, causing to bite down on her own tounge.
Her mouth began to taste like metal. “What the hell was that? The train isn’t supposed to be leaving until nine!”
“What an observant mare,” A unicorn at the front stood up. Several of the other passengers in the train started to look around, frightened. “Alright, listen up! We are the Equestrian Ponies Republic, all of you are here as hostages. There will be no heroes, or every last one of you burns,” His horn lit up orange. “Any questions?”
Navy looked at Rainbow, who nodded. Navy raised her hooves in the air, as a surrender.