The train ride had been rather quiet. Rarity and Rainbow Dash had sat across from one another, Rarity reading a travel guide; and Rainbow Dash staring out the window. They were about halfway there, and Dash was starting to get fidgety. An hour sitting still was not the thing a pegasus like Dash enjoyed. So, even though she still was a little agitated, she tried to alleviate some boredom.
"So," Rainbow Dash started, breaking the silence and causing Rarity to look up from the pamphlet "What are ya reading?"
"Oh, I'm just planning where we'll go." She turned the pamphlet around, and it had certain landmarks and areas circled or crossed out. "I've always wanted to have a vacation in Los Pegasus, and seeing how we'll be there for a couple of days, I couldn't resist."
"We? Rarity, I don't think you're idea of fun spots to go to will be the same as mine." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Nonsense," Rarity said, rolling up the paper with her magic and stuffing it into a nearby bag "I picked a few places we can enjoy, and you can pick some more locations."
Rainbow Dash brightened "Really? You'll go to wherever I pick?" Rarity nodded, although with some worry "Sweet! I know some really great spots there!"
"Well, as long as it isn't something too dirty." Rarity frowned.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "Don't worry, Rarity. You're the pony that likes being covered in mud after all." She smirked.
Rarity met Rainbow Dash's playful expression with a glare "Applejack said she wouldn't tell anyone that!"
Rainbow Dash shrugged "Hey, love makes you do crazy things. Or, in your case, a crush gone too far."
Rarity pointed "I was sure he was the one!"
"Just like Blueblood?" Rainbow Dash laughed.
Rarity shook her head "It does seem I have a lot of bad luck when it comes to stallions."
"A relationship with me sounds a lot better now, huh?" Rainbow Dash put her hooves behind her head and reclined on the seat.
"In your dreams." Rarity replied with a wry smile.
~*~
The rest of the train ride was fairly anticlimactic. Rarity and Dash would talk about something or the other, manage to start an argument, and then go silent. This repeated until Dash decided to fall asleep, lamenting her lack of clouds to sleep on instead of the Celestia awful seats.
But she was awoken from her nap when the train screeched to a stop. Well, it was more accurate to say she woke up when her face hit the floor.
"Ow..." Rainbow Dash mumbled making no effort whatsoever to leave the floor "What the hay, Rarity?"
Rarity rolled her eyes, getting off of her own seat without any casualties "Dash, we've arrived! You can sleep once we get to your sisters house."
Rainbow Dash's head jerked up, her eyes wide "Wait, we're staying with Stormy!?"
Rarity frowned "What? I figured it would save us from having to pay for a hotel, and this way you catch up with your sister."
"Do you know how embarrassing it'll be to have to tell I had been lying, and then stay with her!?" Rainbow Dash shook her head "You must be crazy."
"Well, you do have a point. But we can talk about it later, in case you haven't noticed; we've arrived.
"Ugh! Fine!" Rainbow Dash said in defeat. They gathered their suitcases, or in Rarity's case on of many, and they exited the train. The terminal was surprisingly filled for it being barely noon. The platform they were on gave them a vast view of the city, and what a view it was.
It seemed as if every building was competing to be the tallest, and the towering skyscrapers fluttered in the noon sun. Ponies were everywhere, all trying to weave in out of the crowd. It looked like there was a large park near them, filled with lush green and a large marble fountain.
"Wow, I've never seen such a large city." Rarity gazed around, taking everything in but not nearly being able to comprehend all the lights and signs.
"Yeah, Manehatten comes close." Rainbow Dash made a sweeping motion with her hoof "But Los Pegasus is really something. You can stand around and stare like a tourist later, right now I'm hungry" she stated, heading towards the exit.
Rarity looked back at the train, noticing a stallion struggling not to collapse under the weight of a multitude of suitcases.
"Ah, thank you!" Rarity smiled at the stallion "Could you please set my things near the exit?"
The stallion smiled back, sweating furiously, and started his slow walk towards the front of the terminal. With that taken care of, Rarity started to look for a rainbow mane in the crowd. After a few seconds of searching, she found Dash walking up to a food vendor.
Rarity tried her best to wave in and out of the crowd, but she still ended up muttering, almost to herself, 'sorry!' and 'please excuse me!'
By the time she had worked her way over to Rainbow, she was popping some sort of hard candy into her mouth.
"Whant suome?" Rainbow Dash, with a mouth full of candy, asked.
Rarity shrunk back "No thank you, Rainbow Dash. And please eat with your mouth closed next time, okay?"
Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes, by the end of this trip I'll be the best eye-roller in Equestria.
"I'll take that as a maybe." Rarity pointed towards the front of the station "But right now we need to leave if we want to have time for lunch before getting to your sisters."
Rainbow Dash gulped down most of the candy, and this time only popped one red-striped ball into her mouth "Lunch sounds good, ya got any plans?"
Rarity nodded "We're not too far from this place where we can eat outside and really enjoy the day!"
Rainbow Dash laughed "Okay, if I promise to bring you along whenever I leave Ponyville, will you plan everything?"
"While that is a tempting offer, this was merely a last minute schedule. I don't know too much about Los Pegasus, but I gathered some information." Rarity replied, walking slightly ahead of Dash to lead the way. They fell into silence, their attention on not running into other ponies, or getting run over by other ponies in the street. They continued at a steady pace until Rarity stopped in front of a small cafe.
~*~
It was silent as both Rarity and Rainbow Dash ate their sandwiches. They were sitting outside of the cafe, grateful for the shade given to them by a multicolored umbrella above their table. Rarity's eyes wandered around the street, watching various ponies mill about.
"How's your sandwich?" Rarity asked turning back to look at Dash.
"Its fine." Rainbow Dash replied, laying her head on the table.
"What's the matter?" Rarity asked curiously, taking another small bite of her own food.
"Could you at least play along for a little while?" Rainbow Dash pleaded "Do you know how embarrassing this is going to be?"
Rarity chuckled lightly.
"Oh, do you find my suffering funny?" Rainbow Dash glared.
Rarity shook her head "I'll admit, your pouting is kind of funny." She smiled "But I really think it is funny how you're dead set on making sure your sister doesn't figure out your little lie."
"Well if you were in my place, wouldn't you want the same thing!?" Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up, drawing a few glances from nearby tables.
Rarity paused, what would I do? "I guess it would be pretty embarrassing if I told Sweetie I was lying about dating somepony..."
Rainbow Dash's eyes seemed to light up "See!" She exclaimed "You would want that other pony to help you out! And right now, I need you to help me out! It's not that I don't feel guilty, 'cause I do a little bit, but I really don't want to tell her." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"Listen, I'm not sure if that would be such a good idea. You shouldn't lie to your sister about something like this, and the longer you wait the worse it will get." Rarity frowned slightly "But...I'll let you be the one to tell her. I won't blurt it out, no matter how tempting."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. There has to be some other reason she's so set on trying to get me to play along. I've seen her confess to other lies much easier than this.
Rarity took the last bite of her own dandelion sandwich, enjoying the seasonings on it. Without a word, she got up from the table.
Rarity looked at her friend "I will play along for a little while, if you promise to tell her the truth face to face when we leave tomorrow morning."
"Can't we just cut out that last part?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I have no idea why this is so important to you, but friends help friends in need." Rarity sighed in defeat "But I will make you tell her. This way you won't have to deal with too much embarrassment, since we'll only be staying with her for the night."
"Yes!" Rainbow Dash punched the air in victory "I owe ya one Rares!"
"You bet you do!" Rarity replied, smiling slightly at her friends excitement. "Now then, shall we be off?"
"Let's go." Rainbow Dash unceremoniously jumped up from the table, knocking over her drink and sending their plates to the ground. "Oops..." She looked behind her and saw their waiter.
"Uh, sorry about that dude." She half-grinned before practically launching herself back onto the street.
Rarity gave a nervous laugh "Yes, well...thank you for your service." She floated a little extra tip over to the annoyed stallion, and made a hasty retreat. Soon she found Rainbow Dash on the sidewalk laughing quietly to herself.
Her laughter stopped as a menacing shadow fell over her. Rainbow Dash looked up at her glaring friend.
"Uh, hey Rarity. That was pretty funny, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Rarity grinned coldly "I'm feeling less guilty about making you tell your sister now." Silence fell over the two as they waited for a carriage.
After a few minutes, Rarity managed to flag down a carriage; and Rainbow Dash helped her load their luggage.
"Hello, sir. Could you take us to..." Rarity started, before realizing she had no idea where they were headed.
"Skyline apartments, 37th street." Rainbow Dash stated, crossing her hooves and looked out the window as the stallion nodded, and started their journey.
Save for a few small conversations, Rarity and Rainbow Dash kept themselves occupied by looking at the city around them. It was really beginning to dawn on both of them that even tough they were good friends, they didn't really have too much in common. After a surprisingly long ride, the carriage came to a stop.
The first thing Rarity noticed about the apartment complex was that it was huge. It must've been at least twenty stories tall, and the sun glinting off of some of windows caused her to avert her eyes. Rainbow Dash, however, just looked at it with apathy.
"Well, here we are." Rainbow Dash said "Let's just get this over with."
Rarity picked up her bags, while Rainbow Dash slung hers over her back "I didn't expect your sister to live somewhere this nice!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "Yeah, yeah. It's pretty nice, but excuse me if I'm not to thrilled."
"My, aren't you just sunshiny today." Rarity replied.
Rainbow Dash simply shrugged as she trotted up to the door, and with a deep breath; opened it.