Rainbow Dash snuck through the streets of Ponyville, slipping in and out of the shadows like a trained ninja. She was silence, she was the night, and if anypony looked for her, she’d just be a whisper on the wind. She was untouchable.
Or at least that’s what she thought. If anypony else had actually seen her, she would have looked like a mad mare rolling around and creeping through back alleys. Luckily for her, everypony was asleep.
But of course they’d be asleep, thought Rainbow. It is nearly three in the Celestia-damned morning. No sane pony would be awake at this time of night. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash is not a sane pony.
The main cause for that being her inability to sleep. She’d always thought of the doll as a sleep enhancer, like some medicine or a knock out spell. She’d never thought she’d actually need it to get a good night’s sleep, but after spending the last four hours tossing and turning on her cloud bed, she knew what she had to do.
Sneak into the library and steal back the action figure. It'll be easy, thought Rainbow. She’d break in, snatch the doll from right under Twilight’s muzzle, sleep, and then deal with the consequences later. Ha, the perfect plan for the perfect. . .
Rainbow stopped. Her sleep-addled mind had remembered a very important detail. Normally, it would be easy, but there was one itty bitty detail standing in her way—Twilight was waiting for her, and that meant that her security system was up and running.
Ever since Rainbow had started making midnight visits to "borrow" the latest Daring Do books, Twilight had put in place an impressive security system. “It’s all Twilight’s fault anyway, making me wait an extra day to check it out.” she grumbled, her head poking out of a barrel.
“’I’m sorry Dash,’” she said, mimicking the purple mare. “’It’s just not fair. You always snatch up the book before anyone else gets a chance to read it.’” Rainbow snorted. Yeah, like she was going to let some little foal stick the pages together before she got to read another Daring Do master piece.
After a few good minutes of ducking and diving about, Rainbow stood in front of the Golden Oaks library. She was at her regular starting point a few feet away from the front door, and although she was faced with the possibility of a sleepless night, (an unthinkable situation) her muscles couldn’t help but tense in excitement.
These capers, heists, whatever you’d like to call them, had become some sort of weird game between the two friends. Sometimes, Rainbow pulled a Daring and left with her treasure in hoof. Other times, she had to accept that Twilight had her beat, and occasionally, wait for Twilight to free her from whatever trap she’d fallen for.
Every time Rainbow came and left without getting caught, Twilight upgraded the security, always leaving small loopholes that Rainbow managed to squeeze through. . . eventually. Rainbow grinned. "That’s the great thing about Twi though. She’s always trying to push me forward, thinking I can do better."
Rainbow shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for that; now was the time for action.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and began. Just getting to Twilight’s door was a challenge, involving a complex sequence of hoof movements. Thanks to a few hints from Twilight, it had only taken Rainbow a week to realize that it was the Hokey Pokey in reverse.
When done correctly, a pony would find themselves magically standing at the front door. Before a pony could enter though, they’d have to strike a specific pose, otherwise their hooves would be trapped in Pinkie’s "special glue". It just so happened that the pose matched perfectly with Dash’s take off pose.
Finally to open the door you had to know a specific knock, which was . . . was, “Damn it, Twi.” Rainbow groaned, thumping her head against the door. “Why did you have to make this so complicated?”
Rainbow sighed, This is almost as bad as when she first put the spell on the door.
Rainbow’s eyes flew open. The spell! Usually, if the door wasn’t touched in the correct pattern, darts with a powerful spell would hit Rainbow in the face, freezing her until morning. And, now that Rainbow thought about it, that would have actually been very helpful, except for the fact they weren’t there.
Rainbow blinked. If that trap's not activated, then maybe. . . Rainbow tested the latch; it was unlocked.
Slowly, she nudged open the door and took a few cautious steps into the darkened library. She waited and . . . . nothing, no freeze spells, net launchers, not even a single, spinning blade of death. "What the heck, Twi?" Rainbow loved the spinning blades of death.
And then, just when she was prepared to go on an inner rant about Twilight getting sloppy, she saw it. "Mini-Twi!" There she was, right where Twilight said it would be, smack dab in the middle of the library.
Rainbow felt like pulling off a sonic rainboom. Never before had she seen anything so beautiful. It was if someone had laid out a limited edition of Daring Do and gift wrapped it for her in her own personal Wonderbolts uniform.
It was just too perfect: Mini-Twi, on a pedestal, dead center in the library, positioned perfectly so that a stray beam from Luna’s moon shined on her just like in the opening of Daring Do and the Raiders of the Lost . . .
Rainbow stopped, “Oh, buck me, it’s a trap.”
“Well duh.” Rainbow had to shield her eyes as the lights flickered on. The image of Mini-Twi faded and standing in its place was her smirking friend, Twilight Sparkle. “Honestly, Dash, I thought you would have figured it out at the door.”
“Well, I haven’t exactly had a good chance to sleep, so excuse me if I’m not thinking straight.” She grumbled. “How’d you know it was mine, anyway?” She demanded.
“Oh, that’s easy. Rarity us told while you were daydreaming.”
“SHE DID WHAT?”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Twilight’s horn lit up, levitating over a small, white envelope. “This is for you.”
Rainbow took the envelope. On it was her name, scrawled in an elegant and graceful hoofwriting that could only belong to one person. “Rarity.” her eyes narrowed as she ripped open the envelope, scanning over the letter.
Dear Rainbow Dash,
Did you honestly think that I would fall for that excuse of yours? I mean really, a foal conveniently left it while they were playing directly under your house. There are so many holes in that story, I don’t even know where to begin. Next time, Darling, just tell the truth.
Love,
Rarity
Rainbow scanned the letter again, frowning. “Next time, I’m going with Operation Desert Shovel."
“What was that?”
Rainbow crumpled the letter “Nothing, Twi, can I just get Mini-Twi and go?”
Twilight snorted, “Mini-Twi?”
“Haha, laugh it up, Miss Smarty Pants. Can I just get the stupid doll, already.”
Twilight’s laughing suddenly stopped. “Oh that, well you see . . . the thing is Rainbow." She ran her hoof through her mane, trying to look innocent. “I may, or may not, have given it to Scootaloo.” she shrugged.
“You what!” screamed Dash.
Twilight smiled sheepishly. “She seemed really interested in it,” She stood up a little straighter, a proud look on her face “Something about me being the second coolest pony in Equestria.”
Rainbow waved her hoof back and forth, “Yeah, yeah, Twi. I’ll have a talk with her about what’s cool later, but what am I going to do now, huh? I need that doll to sleep, Twi. Without it, I don’t think I’m ever going to have a good night’s sleep ever again. I mean, just look at me.”
Twilight grimaced. What her friend said was true. She’d never seen the Pegasus in such a sorry state. Her feathers were ruffled and in need of a good, long preening. Her usually messy, but well maintained, mane was out of control, and to top it all off, Twilight swore she could see the beginnings of bags underneath her eyes.
Twilight sighed. She had caused the problem, and it was only right for her to fix it. And only one solution came to mind. “Alright, Rainbow. You can sleep with me tonight."
Rainbow Dash stared at her friend, not sure she’d heard her correctly. “What was that, Twi?”
“I said, that you can sleep with me tonight. You obviously can’t fall asleep without something to cuddle up with, and so I’m volunteering.” A subtle blush worked its way onto Twilight’s face. “Besides, the last thing Ponyville needs is an exhausted Rainbow Dash, crashing into the ground and breaking her wings again.” said Twilight as she started walking up the stairs to her bedroom.
Rainbow shrugged, “Eh, it wasn’t so bad. If I hadn’t broken my wing, I wouldn’t have found out how much I love reading. Plus, I got to spend a bunch more time with you, so it wasn’t so bad.”
Twilight paused. She was lucky Rainbow couldn’t see her face, or else she might have noticed the full-blown blush that had developed on it. “Uh, you okay, Twi?”
“Yeah, I’m just fine Rainbow, just . . . over-thinking things.”
“Pssh. Whatever, Egghead.”
Rainbow followed Twilight into the darkness of her bedroom, but as Twilight’s horn lit up, igniting the candles, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice something odd.
“Hey, Twi? Where’s Spike?”
Twilight looked over at her dropping the spare pillow from her mouth. “He’s in Canterlot, helping Celestia with something."
“That . . . is strangely convenient.” It sure saves us a lot of explaining. Spike would probably think we were dating, or something. Rainbow giggled. Now that was a silly idea, her and Twilight dating. Or was it?
“Now,” Twilight said, patting the space next to her as she wiggled underneath the covers. ”Are you getting in, or not?”
Rainbow shook her head, “Yeah Twi, just drifting off.”
“Well climb into bed then, Silly. We can’t have you falling asleep on the floor.” Rainbow blushed, and crawled into the bed. As she laid her head down, Rainbow’s eyes started to droop. She was finally getting her much needed sleep, and it was all thanks to Twilight. The purple unicorn was right. Having her here was just like Mini-Twi, only better, for reasons Rainbow couldn’t explain. Rainbow yawned. She'd figure it out in the morning.
“Uhmm, Rainbow.”
Twilight’s voice broke through Rainbow’s comfy haze like a brick meeting a window. For a moment, Rainbow considered ignoring her friend, but in the end her loyalty got the better of her and she sighed, “What is it, Twi?”
“Usually, when ponies cuddle each other, aren’t they, you know . . . closer?”
Rainbow looked, for the first time noticing the space that was between her and her friend. It didn’t really bother her that much, though. There had been plenty of nights where Rainbow didn’t hold Mini-Twi; just having her in the bed was enough, really.
Rainbow was going to explain all of this to Twilight until she saw her friend's face. Twilight was blushing! Rainbow squirmed. This was starting to become really awkward. Rainbow practically never saw Twilight blush, and now here she was, looking like she’d spent a day swimming in the Apple family’s cider reserves.
Twilight’s really trying hard for me, isn't she? I mean, all those years with her muzzle stuck in a book didn’t exactly make her the most sociable pony. Here she is though, sharing her bed with another pony as if its the most natural thing in the world, all to help me sleep.
Rainbow smiled, scooting closer until she could wrap her hooves around the purple alicorn. As she nestled her head into the crook of Twilight’s neck, Rainbow couldn’t help but think about how good this felt, how right it felt.
“Thanks for this, Twi. You’re a really good friend.”
Twilight’s lips curled into a smile. “You’re welcome, Rainbow. You can come to me any time you need a good rest.”
Rainbow yawned, “Thanks Twi, but I don’t wanna bother you."
“I insist, Rainbow. I’m the one who lost Mini-Twi in the first place."
“Nah, just help me steal Mini-Twi from Scoots, and we’ll call it even."
“Sure thing Rain—wait what!"