The ornate bell hanging over the cheerful entryway of Carousel Boutique chimed brightly, cutting through the crisp late-afternoon air to announce the arrival of another potential client to the shop’s proprietor.
“I’m sorry; we’re closed for the evening,” Rarity called out distractedly, briefly wondering if she’d forgotten to turn the sign to “Closed”. “But please, don’t hesitate to return tomorrow morning. We’ll open at 8 am...”
The rest of her words died in her throat as her eyes narrowed, darting between the carefully-drawn pattern on the desk and the fabric before her. Suspending her needle in midair, she evaluated her work through increasingly critical eyes. Capping off her inspection with a deep frown, her horn faded as she chose to take up the delicate canary cloth in her hooves.
“Oh, I simply cannot believe this!” Rarity rumpled the fabric gently. “How could I have been so careless, using a chain stitch where my design clearly indicated that this particular hem should have a cross stitch instead.”
She rubbed her forehead methodically, scraping the skin with the tip of her hoof.
“Well, I suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now,” she sighed with exasperation, “I’ll just pull it all out and start over again in the morning—”
“Uh, Rarity...”
She froze, startled by the sudden sound. There shouldn’t be anypony else at the boutique at this hour… she thought as she spun on her hooves.
“Applejack!” she said scoldingly, stamping a hoof.
“Ah really hate to interrupt ya in the middle of…well, whatever it is ya’ve got goin’ on over there, but...we gotta talk.”
“Oh, yes, that...ah, well...sorry, I...didn’t notice you were there,” Rarity stammered, a deepening pink stain spreading across her muzzle.
“Aw, it’s no—umph—problem, Rarity. Ah know when you get into your work, you—ergh—really get into it.”
“Um, Applejack, dear?” Rarity said, her eyes widening, “Whatever are you doing with that rope?”
Rarity waved a hoof nonchalantly in Applejack’s general direction, though she certainly felt anything but unconcerned about the situation, whatever it was.
“Oh, that? That’s—ugh—Fluttershy.”
Rarity stared blankly at the farmer.
"Fluttershy? I went to her cottage just yesterday; the poor dear was too sick to even open the door, for fear that she might spread her illness. She even canceled our spa appointment…by messenger pigeon!"
Applejack chuckled. "You tellin me you actually fell for that cough-n-whimper routine—"
"Well, when somepony tells me they aren't feeling well, I tend to take them at their word!” The unicorn’s eyes widened, then immediately narrowed with suspicion. “But...then...do you mean to tell me that you dragged her here tied to a rope, like a dog on a leash?”
Rarity stuck the tip of her hoof firmly into Applejack’s chest, pushing against the firm muscle. She met Applejack’s eyes with a severe glance, and she gritted her teeth as she waited for a reply. Finally, the mare’s eyes fell, and her head bobbed up and down in a guilty nod.
“Really, Applejack? Poor Fluttershy! Did you really believe that was necessary?”
"Ah sure did! After Ah busted her door down, she holed up in a corner so tight there was no gettin her out. At least, not without ropin' her up and draggin' her on over here, which is exactly what I did.”
Applejack’s eyes widened, and without explanation spun around, twisting her head back and forth rapidly, Rarity observing with curiosity.
“The rope!” Applejack cried, reaching out with her forelegs. “Grab it!”
Rarity blinked, following Applejack’s frantic motions until she found their target—the frayed end of the rope, snaking its way up and out of the doorway. Lighting her horn, Rarity grasped the fibers tightly.
“Applejack, dear,” she grunted in a most unladylike fashion, “Though I’m happy to help, is there any reason you couldn’t have just pushed her in here, if you wanted her here so badly?”
“Well, now that’cha mention it, I guess I coulda done that, now couldn’t I? I sure can’t now, though,” Applejack said with more than a hint of annoyance, nodding towards the rope as she reached up to take the end in her mouth. Rather than trailing out the door as before, forming a taut line at her eye level, the rope now took a sharp turn upwards, bending around the doorframe and continuing up…
“Ah, I see.” Rarity rolled her eyes, but just a bit. “And I suppose you’re not able to get her down on your own, are you?”
“Do ya think I’d just be standin’ here like this if I could? Ah can do most of the pullin’ myself, but Ah’ll need ya to do your part too.”
Rarity sighed. “Very well. But do remember, I’m not Twilight, dear. I may be able to suspend small things with my magic with ease, but I can’t very well pull an entire pony from the sky.”
“Well’n, yer just gonna hafta help out anyway ya can.”
Rarity covered her muzzle with a hoof, her fur prickling as Applejack’s meaning dawned on her.
“Surely...you don’t mean…?”
“C’mon now. You jumped in a whole pool of mud, remember? Twice, even. This here...its just a little rope...”
“But Applejack, it’s hardly the same thing at all! You’re telling me you want me to put that...disgusting….thing...in my mouth?”
Applejack raised a pair of dead eyes to meet Rarity’s own.
“Well, maybe...I could try to use more magic first?” Rarity pushed a weak grin to her muzzle.
“Whatever ya say, Rarity. We’re gonna get her down, though, one way or another. We got things we gotta talk about. All of us."
She nodded, closing her eyes. Reaching deep inside, she felt around in the core of her magic until she found the strand of light she was looking for. Briefly, she regretted spending most of her time in magic class sketching out her first designs rather than paying attention to thaumic theory, but she generally knew the magic she needed to. Familiar enough with the shape of it, she grasped as much of it as she could muster into one large mass and focused it directly into her horn.
Almost immediately, something lurched inside her, her stomach souring instantly. The sensation was strong enough that if it persisted, she’d have to excuse herself to avoid fatal embarrassment.
She licked her lips, the saltiness slightly calming her now quite upset stomach, but not nearly enough for her to maintain the level of concentration required to control the building power in her horn. It was truly mind boggling to consider that Twilight used magic at—and above—the level she was currently attempting with regularity.
“Hey, Rare! Everything okay there?”
Rarity snapped her eyes open, looking up to see a thick trail of black smoke swirling up from the point of her horn. She flung a high shriek out her muzzle as she propelled herself through the half-door that led into the kitchen, thrusted her head under the tap of the sink, and waited for cool relief to wash over her.
Relief that never came.
Right, no magic. Clumsily, she reached up with a forehoof towards the small metal faucet handle (of which she had a few words for the designer, who’d clearly not accounted for the use of hooves), as she scrambled with the other to brace herself against some surface that wasn’t quite so slippery.
It was not to be. Her hind legs slipped, slamming her lower jaw closed against the counter, her teeth gnashing together painfully, shooting spikes of pain out from their roots that seemed to reverberate in her skull.
Given the situation, she did the only thing a lady could.
She wailed.
Loudly.
“Guess yer not cut out to be an earth pony after all,” Applejack smirked from the doorway, “I coulda toldja that, though.”
Rarity scowled, turning back towards the sink. This is friendship, is it? She stared at her porcelain nemesis, the ache in her skull continuing to grow. Certainly, this day would require a double-length spa treatment to recover from.
Hesitantly, she placed a hoof on the top of the counter (she’d have to get that polished later), and pulled herself awkwardly onto her hind legs. It really seemed a wonder that earth ponies could survive at all. Just to be certain that she wasn’t making a fool of herself for no good reason, Rarity attempted to grasp the handle with her magic once more.
For her efforts, she rewarded with a shower of blue sparks and another zap of lightning trailing down her spine.
Definitely a double.
She reached out with her right forehoof, finally succeeding in pushing the handle far enough that water flowed into the sink. She thrust her head into it, but no relief came.
“Rarity,” Applejack’s voice traveled to her ears, more than a bit of mirth clinging to her words. “Yer danged silly horn stopped smokin’ minutes ago. Now, could ya please stop fooling around in there and get out here and help me?”
“Well, I’ll have you know,” she snapped, emerging from the kitchen with a slow strut, “It would seem that magic is completely out. I, personally, have never been shut down like this before, but I understand it can be a number of days before one recovers from such an event. Indeed, though I was looking forward to an intense spa treatment, I might have to postpone that in favor of a visit to Dr. Horse instead.”
“Well’n, you’ll just hafta do this my way.”
Rarity felt a shudder run through her body, swallowing thickly as her eyes locked onto the cord in front of her. Smears of dirt, grime, and all other manner of contamination were clearly visible, even at her current distance, jammed into its every crevice.
In fact, she swore she felt her face turn the slightest shade of green just thinking about it. Nevertheless, she was not going to be upstaged yet again by the rough-and-tumble farmer, who was surely smirking at her expense even now. Hesitantly, she allowed her jaw to hang slack, her edging forward until the rope hovered in the gap between her lips.
Her breath quickened; even though her tongue had yet to touch the rope, she could feel the filth on it against the warm, fleshy interior of her mouth anyway. But, she reminded herself, the situation was indeed as Applejack had described. She had managed to wade through a mud pit for her sister, and she had even thrown herself into one of her own accord (even if not necessarily in her right mind) a second time for the mere sake of the adoration of Trenderhoof. Surely, for one of her closest friends, she could manage a bit of dirt in her mouth. Sealing her eyes shut with a twist, she clamped her teeth down hard.
Rarity’s body instantly tensed, an expression of horror dripping down from corners of her mouth that the rope emerged from.
She’d expected it to be bad.
It was worse.
So very worse.
Bad didn’t even begin to describe the experience that was brewing in her mouth at that moment. The thought boiled in the back of her mind that she’d have to ask Applejack afterwards exactly what dung heap she’d dragged the nasty thing through, but after only a few moments of consideration, she nearly had cause to summon her fainting couch. The fibers of the terrible twine teased at every surface of her mouth, scraping their filth under her tender taste buds, piercing into her gums, jabbing themselves tightly between her teeth. She could even feel a few little strands sliding slowly down her throat.
The world began to spin again, and she could feel the blood draining from her head as the floor started moving up towards her. There was an orange blur, and then it all went black.
-------------------------
“Mmmmmm…”
Rarity smacked her lips lightly, which were drawn back together by a thick layer of sticky mucus that filled her mouth with a strange metallic flavor. Her throat felt intensely raw yet numb at the same time, her body buzzing with a strange, disconcerting energy. Her mind was just beginning to cut through the mist around it when something cold pressed against her shoulder, her eyes snapping open as she pushed herself up on her hooves, heart racing.
“Wha’...what happened?” she blinked.
“You passed out cold, Rarity. Are you feeling okay?” Applejack’s voice cracked, her brow creased with worry. Rarity had never seen her friend like this before—except, maybe, with Apple Bloom—but it was nice to see a softer side of her.
“Yes, I think so, Applejack,” she said, moving a hoof and promptly slamming into the floor. “Perhaps…a bit dizzy still.”
“Yeah, it looks like it. You just stay put, you hear; I’ll go get the doctor…”
“No!” Rarity blushed, “I mean, no...just, give me a moment. Or...a hoof.” She looked up pleadingly at her friend.
“Rarity, you need somepony who can help you...you’ve never tried that much magic before, you mighta hurt yourself.”
“AJ,” she said, the pet name feeling strange as it rolled off her tongue for the first time. “Please. Fluttershy.” A weary smile spread across the alabaster unicorn’s muzzle, a warmth in her chest preceding it.
Applejack’s jaw snapped shut.
“Don’t say I didn’t try to help you. And as soon as we’re done with all this foolishness, you’re going straight to the hospital, you hear me?”
“Sure, AJ,” her voice drifted out from her lips.
“And stop calling me that—you’re startin’...well, you’re creepin’ me out a bit, to be honest.”
Rarity frowned, her eyes watering slightly. “B-but Rainbow Dash calls you that…”
“Well, yeah...but…”
Rarity squeezed her eyes shut, pulling her body upwards. She nodded curtly, sucking a breath between her barely-open lips, which were drawn in a narrow line. “No need to explain, Applejack. I understand. Now, let’s get to it.”
She walked purposefully around Applejack, taking the rope firmly in her jaw and, this time, focused on ignoring the terrible odors and sensations that threatened at every moment to overtake her. Applejack turned to look at her for a moment, shaking her head, then refocused her attention forward.
“Unnn…”
Rarity watched as Applejack planted herself forcefully, her eyes widening with abject horror as her friend’s chipped hooves dug into the fine Arabian rug that adorned the tiled floor. She had chosen that specific, marvellously fuschia carpeting to coordinate with her interior theme, but not even just that. Although she could sell the occasional dress to a Ponyvillian, they certainly were not a reliable source of income. Instead, she had to attract outside business, such as the Canterlot elite. The rug was just one small piece in the carefully-crafted image she’d built of herself and her business over the years, but not an unimportant one. First impressions were everything, and doubly so when one is attempting sell fine wares in the quaint ‘country’ town of Ponyville. And indeed, it was impossible to miss that beautiful rug from the second one stepped into her shop. To the locals, of course, it was just a rug. But to the clients that Rarity targeted, it represented so much more than that. Her taste, her style, her attention to detail, the quality they could expect...all of it communicated just in that one little detail.
No...no...I will not fail again...she thought, a sound echoing in her ears.
“Rarity…Equestria to Rarity…”
Rarity blinked, her vision filling with orange as her surroundings came back into sharp relief.
“Oh, oh! I’m...terribly sorry Applejack.”
The farmpony looked none too amused, struggling to keep the rope in her mouth, which seemed to be moving of its own accord.
“Ah said ‘Three’ already...are you sure you’re okay?”
“Oh!”
Rarity smiled broadly, either with excitement or insanity (she would conclude later that the latter was more likely), and gripped the rope with a hunger that she didn’t know she had. Noticing that Applejack had done likewise, though nearly tripping over herself as she attempted to keep up, Rarity did the only thing left to do.
She pulled.
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Fluttershy rubbed the fluffy surface of the cloud with her hooves, breaking off a small ball and polishing it until it formed a perfect circle. Aside from the slight breeze that brushed softly against her fur and through the barbs of feathers, the serenity of her surroundings was nearly perfect.
Or would have been, were it not for the rope still bound tightly around her neck.
She methodically rolled the cloud-ball between her hooves, frowning all the while. She appreciated her friends, but, they sometimes failed to understand that sometimes she needed her own peace, away from all the excitement and noise that typically accompanied her pony friends. Sometimes…it was just too much. Her animal friends were better in that way; even if most considered them to be “less” than ponies, they had a sense about them that seemed to tell them when somepony just needed quiet comfort, space to think, a cup of warm tea…
Poor Angel bunny… at this rate, I’ll miss getting him his dinner.
She tugged at the rope gently, to see if perhaps one of the ponies inside had released their hold on it again, but...no.
Maybe you should just go down there.
“No!” Fluttershy blurted out, eyes widening at her sudden outburst. Her hooves rushed up to her muzzle, her cheeks pinking as she cowered. The very idea, though, that she’d approach them now...well, it was just...
Fluttershy sighed, allowing her muzzle to fall to the cirrus, small wisps of vapor streaming out from beneath her. Applejack means well. But she...just doesn’t understand.
Fluttershy needed space. She needed to be with her animal friends. She needed anything...anything but this. She gazed off into the distance aimlessly, hoping to find peace among the clouds.
Maybe I should just pack up, go to Cloudsdale for a little while. I could stay with my family, Applejack could watch the animals for me…
A high screech broke her silent reverie, followed by the sound of excited voices drifting up to the cloud. Curious, she tiptoed to the cloud’s edge, peering down towards the boutique.
Her shoulders slumped. It was definitely Applejack and Rarity…and they sounded upset. Or angry. She knelt down, straining as she tried to pick out individual words as they floated by. After several minutes, though, it was obvious that any form they’d had had been stolen by the breeze, leaving only unstructured noise to reach her ears.
Regardless of what was being said below, it was quite clear to Fluttershy that something was wrong…and it was her fault. Making friends, maintaining friendships, those were things that had always been difficult for her. She didn’t have to look any further than her speckled history with Rainbow Dash to find evidence of that. It always seemed like, however she chose to react to a situation, it was the wrong one. When she hid from her troubles, ponies pushed her to face them; when she was assertive, it always seemed that meekness would have been the better choice. Her friends probably would have been better off without her altogether…
No, that’s not fair. They chose me as much as I chose them, she thought to herself, kicking up another bit of cloud and rubbing it against her cheek. But avoiding them just makes whatever they’re going through worse.
She picked herself up, placing her hooves confidently on the soft surface of the nebule. Her friends had been there for her when she’d needed them, and even though she was reluctant...it wasn’t fair for them to suffer because she was afraid.
She spread her wings, her lips slowly peaking upwards as she exercised muscles that hadn’t been called upon in weeks. Perching on the edge of the cloud, taking a gentle, shallow breath as gusts of cool air bristled through the spines of her primaries.
This will be okay. I can do this!
She nodded to herself, crouching low in the classic launching position, when the yoke around her neck unexpectedly seized her. Her eyes widened, flaring her wings to hold her position when the lariat tugged sharply against her spine once more. Her resistance was no match for the force, and the smooth surface beneath her slipped away, replaced by the quickly-approaching green of the grass-covered lawn that rushed to meet her instead.
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Rarity’s first jerk had more oomph behind it than Applejack had expected, and, caught off-guard, she stumbled backwards awkwardly. Though the alabaster mare continued her impressively strong efforts from behind, she was able to plant her left foreleg solidly on the floor before she lost her footing altogether, and added her efforts to Rarity’s instead of being bowled over by them. After but a single tug on her part, though, the tension suddenly broke, and Applejack found herself thrown back yet again, this time under her own propulsion. Her ears registered a loud crunching noise outside, but couldn’t give it much attention given her own circumstance, one which quickly resulted in her gliding body slamming into Rarity’s barrel forcefully. The unicorn squealed in disapproval, her foreleg clutching desperately at Applejack’s flank, as the two ponies landed together on the floor in a jumble of limbs and hair.
Applejack groaned.
“Get off!” came a muffled shout from below her rump.
“Oh...oh!” Applejack snickered, a wide grin spreading across her cheeks as she stood. “Like the air down—mmf!”
“Not another word!” Rarity screeched, her hoof firmly planted in the orange mare’s mouth. “We shall never speak of this again. Ever!” Applejack couldn’t help but notice that even though the unicorn’s eyes had widened with evident vitriol, her the blush spreading across her cheeks and the slight upturn in the corners of her lips.
“Mmf-kee,aa-ity,” she muttered through the hoof.
“Good—”
“Rarity!”
Applejack turned in unison with Rarity, in time to see an extremely-rumpled yellow pegasus rushing through the doorway in a direct collision course with the unicorn.
“Oh no...what happened!?” Fluttershy squeaked, her eyes darting between Rarity’s face and the rather blackened horn above it.
“Oh darling, it’s…” Rarity paused, grimacing, “It’s nothing, I’m sure...but what happened to you? That wing...it looks terrible!”
“Oh, well, um, you see, I was...I fell out of a cloud, and there wasn’t enough room for me to correct before…”
“Ya crashed, didn’tcha?” Applejack finished.
“Yes. I’m sure if I was a better flyer, like Rainbow Dash, I’d have been fine...but it’s nothing to worry about, anyway, it’s just dislocated—”
“Dislocated! Darling, we must get you to the hospital at once.”
“Oh, yes, Doctor Horse will have me fixed up in no time, I’m sure. But honestly, I’m more worried about you. What happened to your horn?”
“Well, I may have pushed my magic a bit too far…”
“A bit!” Applejack snorted, “I’m surprised she didn’t burn the whole place down, mahself.”
“Rarity!” Fluttershy said, leaning over the unicorn to inspect her horn more closely. After a few minutes of rotating her head this way and that, she pulled back, looking at Rarity cynically. “Well, I don’t see any cracks, so you may have gotten lucky this time. But, we should still get it checked by a professional. You know that magical burnout can be quite serious.”
“Oh,” she blushed. “Would, um, someone mind taking this rope off my neck before we go, if it’s not too much of a hassle? I mean,” Fluttershy swallowed deeply, her voice dropping to a whisper, “Some ponies might...get the wrong idea…”
“Fluttershy! You never told me you read those kind of novels. I have a number of recommendations…”
Fluttershy eeped, shrinking against the ground, her wide eyes locked onto Rarity, crying out a desperate, unheard plea.
Rarity blinked. “Nevermind, then. We...should probably be on our way, then…”
The unicorn turned away, trotting towards the open door.
Applejack approached the red-faced pegasus, her own cheeks blushing slightly as she ducked her head to remove the rope. She hadn’t really thought about...well...whatever it was those two were talking about. Granny’d raised her grandchildren right, so of course, any hidden meanings that had crossed between her two friends were completely lost on Applejack.
“Ah’m, ah, sorry about that, Fluttershy.”
“It’s okay, Applejack. I was being pretty silly, hiding in my cottage anyway.” she smiled sweetly, trotting quickly to catch up with Rarity.
“Indeed. Why were you hiding in your cottage, anyway?”
“Oh...um…well…”
“I had honestly thought you were very sick, but it seems,” Rarity looked narrowly towards Applejack, who just smiled in response. “It seems that I was naive to believe you.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth, gnawing gently on the nail tip, “You’re...you’re not angry with me, are you?”
“Not angry, dear, though I must say that I am slightly disappointed that you didn’t feel you could trust us with whatever is on your mind. We are your friends; if something is amiss, you should come to us, not stow yourself away in your little cottage out by that dreadful forest.”
Applejack nodded inattentively, her stomach growling. The scent of fresh hayfries wafted out the doorway of the Hayburger almost irresistibly, and she noted that the sun was now touching the horizon behind them.
“Oh, but I’m not alone out there, you know. I’ve got my animal friends there with me.”
“Fluttershy, dear, you know that is hardly what I meant.”
The yellow mare shuddered, the tears forcing themselves out the corners of her eyes. “Oh, Rarity, I’m such a terrible pony!”
“Why, whatever do you mean?” Rarity blinked away her astonishment.
“It’s all my fault. Pinkie w-w-went c-c-crazy because of Rainbow Dash, I just know it. I know she asked all of us, but I actually could have helped her. I-I-I should have just t-taken her seriously, I should have looked for Rainbow Dash as soon as I could. I could have found her, Rarity, I could have…”
A warm foreleg threw itself over the quaking pegasus’ back. “Fluttershy, ain’t nobody’s fault what happened. We just gotta figure out how to make it right, that’s all.”
Fluttershy looked up into Applejack’s green eyes, drawing in a shaky breath. “I...I just...before Twilight came…I…”
Her voice trailed off again, and she tossed her mane in front of her glistening muzzle. “You know, nopony knew about me, nopony cared about me…I basically, um, well, it was like I didn’t even exist…and it just seemed like...well, like that could happen all over again...”
“Oh, Fluttershy,” Rarity nuzzled her friend, “You know that will never happen. We’ll get everypony back soon, I’m sure. Even Pinkie Pie.”
“Do...do you really think so?” Fluttershy’s face brightened slightly as she wiped her eyes with a fetlock.
“Oh, yes, dear. And that’s not to mention...you!”
“Me?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Yes, you. You’ve grown so, so very much since we first met. Even if you always are a little more socially-averse than the average pony, I don’t think you’ll be invisible ever again.”
“Y’all, I hate to break up this little moment, but we need to get moving,” Applejack broke in, rubbing her displeased abdomen with a hoof, “Y’all need to get yer little problems taken care of and I...I’ve gotta get mahself a little somethin’ to eat, I figure.”
Rarity rolled her eyes.
“You and your beastly appetite. I’d swear, you eat enough for two stallions.”
“And work enough, too. Something that somepony here doesn’t know a lick about.”
Rarity punched Applejack lightly with a forehoof, who winked slyly at her would-be attacker.
“Anyhow, Rarity, what Ah wanted to talk about is...well, ya know, we're down by half now. Three of our friends, gone, and it don't seem like anypony's got the slightest clue where in Equestria they've gone. Ah just figured we should at least try to figure out where in the hay Twilight took off to.”
Rarity rubbed her chest with a hoof.
“Well, Applejack, I don’t have the slightest clue, unfortunately. But...if she stopped at the library before she left—and I’m sure must have—then I’m sure Spike would be able to tell us something.”
“Well then, as soon as we’re done with what we gotta do, we better get on over to the library before the little guy falls asleep. And speaking of which,” Applejack waved a hoof, “We’re here.”
They entered the hospital slowly, the harsh smell of disinfectant filling Applejack’s nostrils. She hated hospitals. Most of them townsponies thought the work she did was nasty, but she just worked with good-old dirt and other normal, natural stuff. Decidedly not like the hospital. Whether with magic or by more…manual means, everything that happened here was decidedly unnatural. And that stinging too-clean smell everywhere, all of it to cover up the smell of death, she figured, even though nopony wanted to say that.
“Excuse me,” Rarity waved beckoningly to the admitting nurse, “Would we possibly be able to see the doctor soon?”
Nurse Blossom nodded, waving the three to a set of chairs in front of them. Uncomfortable chairs, Applejack thought.
“He’ll be with you in just a moment.”
A moment. Applejack harrumphed loudly, drawing an unappreciative glare from the nurse. She glanced unamusedly at the old clock dangling from a small hook on the wall, watching the smallest hand complete its circuit. She liked to think she was a fairly tolerant mare, but hospitals just made her uneasy. She just had too many bad memories attached with the sights and smells of hospital waiting rooms. Too many things she’d rather forget.
She rubbed the tip of her hoof along the edge of Stetson, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. A moment...hardly. She glanced to her friends, who had apparently started up a conversation about proper manecare while her own attentions had been elsewhere.
“...and that’s why I say you should always give yourself a treatment of MareoccanOil as soon as you’ve dried your hair.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy blushed, “I just use a bit of Maretrix Leave-In afterwards—”
“Darling! That simply won’t do! With your beautiful, fine locks—you must have only the best!”
“Well...um, I figured that since they sell it at the spa…”
“On the bargain rack!” Rarity said scoldingly, but her face softened to a look of concern as she looked over the increasingly-embarrassed pegasus. “Fluttershy, I know none of us really understand your, ah, business very well, but, if things are a little slow…”
“Oh no, I’m...fine…”
“Well, I’m just saying, darling, that if you should like, I could purchase you a sample, so that you could try it—”
“No, it’s...fine.”
“Well, Ah don’t really know what y’all are talkin’ about, but Ah wash mah hair with Mane n’ Tail and never needed anything else. They sell it over at Barnyard Bargains; a big ole bottle only costs three bits and it lasts me a whole month!”
Rarity’s head swiveled to face Applejack as if propelled by force, her eyes glaring daggers at the farmpony.
“Well, Applejack, although I am quite certain that such a routine works for you, Fluttershy here has far more delicate needs to be attended to.”
“Oh, um…”
“Nah, it’s fine.” Applejack waved dismissively, “Ya’ll have yer little frou-frou talk. I’ll just sit here and...count ceiling tiles or somethin’.”
She scoffed, leaning back in her seat to look at the ceiling, doing her best to block out the chatter beside her.
There sure are a lot of tiles up there, ain’t there? Well...guess I got nothin’ better to do.
After her third time counting the ceiling tiles—all 142 of them—Nurse Redheart emerged, gesturing the ponies back.
Rarity craned her head around at her friends as they entered the corridor leading to their examination room.
“I still think this is much ado about nothing. At least for my part, that is.”
“Rarity…” Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed, but before she could continue, Nurse Redheart thrust herself between the three friends, her eyes fixed on Applejack with laser-like intensity.
“You’ll have to wait back there.”
“But…”
“Sorry, patients and family members only. Hospital rules.” Redheart turned, allowing the doors to slam closed noisily behind her, only inches from Applejack’s snout.
She sighed. It was going to be a long night.
--------------------------------------------------
Applejack belched loudly. Before dinner she’d just been hungry, but she wasn’t sure that was worse than the sour, bloated feeling that seemed to permeate her guts now. The hospital food was just as terrible as she remembered it. The burger was dry, the fries were cold, and to top it off, she couldn’t even get any cider to wash it down! At least, she supposed, her stomach wasn’t rumbling anymore, and it had gotten her out of that Celestia-forsaken waiting room for a little while. It was sure felt like it was taking a whole lot longer than it should’ve if everything was okay.
She scratched her chin nervously.
They’re gonna be fine, right?
“Applejack!” a familiar, shrill voice called out, and Applejack scrambled out of her seat to face her.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You can see your friends now.” Nurse Redheart nodded towards the doors beside her. “Room number 6.”
Applejack’s eyes lit up, and before the last syllable had been spoken, she raced through the open doors—nearly bowling the nurse over in the process. She galloped down the hall...3...4...5…
WHAM! She burst through the whitewashed door, panting loudly as her eyes frantically searched her surroundings.
“Are...are y’all okay?” she stammered, rapidly scanning her wide-eyed friends, “Did they...are you stuck here? Is your wing broken? Your horn, does it work?”
“Shhh…” Fluttershy whispered, folding her unhurt wing over her friend, nodding towards the corner of the room. There, frozen in place with one hoof holding a medical chart and the other on his chin, sat Doctor Horse.
“Well,” he said finally, breaking the silence, “that was...quite the entrance. You and your friends,” he said, eying Applejack cautiously, “are getting quite the reputation around here. But I suppose I should address you in order.”
He moved purposefully towards the center of the small room, which was better suited to serving two ponies than four, hoofing lackadaisically through the stack of papers fastened to the charts he had been carrying.
“First,” Doctor Horse said, pointing to Rarity, “You. You are one lucky unicorn. You could have easily cracked, or even broken, your horn with a power surge like that. We were able to repair the surface damage that was done, as well as provide you with a recharge to your magic while your reserves rebuild, but you need to take it easy. No more tricks.”
The doctor closed Rarity’s dangling jaw with a sharp click. “Oh, we’ve put a palliative spell over you, so you shouldn’t feel any residual pain. But if the headaches come back over the next three days, please come back so we can do a reexamination.”
The doctor turned. “Next, you. Your wing is going to be fine, as you already knew. The magic that I applied to the joint will help the tendons to heal faster than they would on their own. But, please, try to stay off it for the next week or so so that it doesn’t get reinjured while still healing.”
“Now, you!” he said, pointing at Applejack.
“Me?!” she said incredulously, “I’m just fine!”
“Hmph. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” he said, his voice dropping to a growl. “I...look, there’s no easy way to put this. Things get around...and, I’ve got a good idea what’s going on here. And I’m telling you, you gotta be more careful with that filly. I don’t know what exactly you were up to, roping her up, dislocating her shoulder, but…”
“But doc—”
“No buts. Get a safe word, or something.”
“But…”
“Oh, and next time, have the decency to fix her up. Yourself.” he commented as he walked out the door, nodding towards a furiously blushing Fluttershy, who had taken to cowering behind an extra lab coat.
Rarity’s eyes fixed on Applejack, who, with the room now clear, released a deep, prolonged guffaw so pronounced that it could have been heard halfway to Canterlot.
--------------
"Rarity," Spike mumbled, shoving a bright red gem in his mouth, "I awready todja. I donno nottin."
He shook his head with a slight motion. It’s not like she — they — ever came to see just him. It was only when she — they — wanted something that dear ‘Spikey-wikey’ ever mattered to anypony. If Twilight was unavailable, or they needed to ask him something about her, or if they wanted a meal made…
He didn’t mind being her assistant, of course, but he just wished somepony’d actually be interested in just him, for once. Especially if that somepony happened to have a coat of the purest white and eyes deeper than the ocean’s blue.
He blinked, swallowing as he jerked his posture upwards, the sense of a certain unicorn’s glare crawling up his back. He fixed his face with a neutral expression, though, doing his best to remain impassive to her.
"Spike, you must know something. At least, try to tell us what you saw.”
"Twilight flew in, she grabbed a bunch of stuff, and flew out. That was it." Spike shrugged, turning his attentions back to the massive bowl of gems before him. His lips tightened, reaching out with a clawed hand indecisively over the delectable assortment, a trickle of saliva splashing against the table. The moment of indecision quickly passed, though, as a particularly large green gem seemed to speak to him from within the pile. A broad smile began to reach across his face, as he extended himself forward, its fine, sharp flavors already dancing across his tongue.
Instead of grasping the gem, though, he found himself sprawled across the surface of the wooden table. The bowl, and all the gems with it, had seemingly disappeared.
"Awwwww..." he moaned. His eyes scoured the room frantically to locate his missing stash, but his search revealed nothing. Carving a scowl on his face, he slowly tipped his head upwards, the white porcelain holding his treasured jewels gradually entered his vision, suspended several feet above him in a familiar glow. "Rarityyyyy..."
"I am sorry for this, but we need you need to focus—on us, not your dinner. Now, then, you said before that when Twilight came in, she 'grabbed a bunch of stuff and left'?"
"Pretty much," he growled. Why does it always have to go like this? Frustrated, he stood on the back of the chair, leaping towards the bowl, but the bowl darted away every time one of his claws sliced through the blue aura surrounding it.
"Well, what kind of 'stuff' did she take with her, Spikey-wikey?"
Rarity batted her eyes suggestively at him, and though his cheeks warmed, his focus was on the meal that had been rudely snatched away from him.
Huh. She thinks she can play off my feelings to get what she wants, does she? Two can play this game…
Spike folded his arms stubbornly across his chest, turning away from the mare of his dreams. "I dunno. Stuff."
"C’mon, now, Spike," Applejack chimed in, stepping towards the small dragon. "You can’t possibly tell me you don’t remember anything else."
He sighed. "Nope. Just, Twilight-kind-of-stuff. Paper, quills, books, that kind of thing."
"Books!" Rarity lunged towards him, her large, beautiful blue eyes filling his vision. She was so close, in fact, that he could feel her warm breath shooting from her nostrils, filling his senses with her sweet perfume. His heart leapt into his throat, and it was all he could to to swallow it down into place. Just when he felt he could no longer contain himself, the ivory muzzle in front of him opened.
"Her own personal books, or books from the library? You must tell me, Spike, you must!"
"Uh...library books, I guess." Spike waved haphazardly at the shelves, hoping nopony noticed the hot blush spreading across his face. "Yeah, that's right, she came down the stairs and just started ripping books from the shelves. Made a huge mess out of things, if you ask me. It took four hours for me to reshelve it all. Alone. Since, you know, Twilight..."
"Yes...yes!" Rarity beamed, clopping her hooves together rapidly. "And do you remember, Spike, what the books that she took were?"
Spike couldn’t help but notice that all of his friends were staring intently in his direction, and he brought a claw to his chin, as though there were a memory he was working to retrieve, but lay just outside his grasp. The expectant ponies leaned in, and he had to extinguish a chuckle that had risen halfway up his throat, so that the moment might hold just a bit longer.
"Nope!" he finally said with satisfaction. "But…there is a way you can figure it out..."
Spike waved at the shelves of books, a sly grin creeping across his face. "Everything that's checked out is recorded here in the register. Twilight, organization, you know how she is. Anyway, all you have to do is match the books we have against what’s recorded here, and whatever's left is probably what Twilight took!"
He couldn’t help but find a bit of gratification in the horrified looks that were now spreading across the three mares’ faces, each tightly-packed bookshelf that their eyes fell upon increasing the enormity of the task ahead of them.
"Just...make sure you reshelve it all when you're done. I don't want to have to reorganize these books for a third time this week," Spike added, taking his first step up the stairs, where his inviting bed awaited. "I'll be up here, napping, if you need me. Good luck."
-------------
“For corn’s sake…I thought this pile of Celestia-forsaken books would never end! How many more do we got on the shelves?”
The carefully-stacked books formed a veritable wall between Rarity and her somewhat grumpier friend, each pile representing the contents of a particular bookshelf. Once they were finished, Rarity hoped she’d be able to reshelve the carefully sorted piles in only a matter of minutes. Applejack couldn’t see it due to the obstruction between them, but Rarity was fairly certain that the text Fluttershy was ever-so-carefully lowering to the top of a particularly tall pile was, in fact, the final item from all the shelves in the library. Nevertheless, there was no harm in a little fun, right?
“Oh,” she said, eyeing Fluttershy’s cautious delivery as she scanned the library, “I don’t know, perhaps, two or three more shelves? Yes, three shelves, I do believe.”
“Alright, then,” the predictably discouraged voice groaned from the other side of the wall. “Once ‘Shy gets that book placed, go ahead and magic the next pile on over here.”
Rarity smirked mischievously, though Fluttershy was beginning to give her the slightest amount of concern. The poor pegasus was doing her very best to be gentle, as they’d been so careful through the entire process to maintain order. Even so, the piles flexed under the new weight, and Fluttershy’s eyes widened with horror. Rarity’s breath stuck in her throat, and she locked her eyelids closed, unable to watch the unfolding tragedy. After a few moments cleared without hearing the rumble of a paper avalanche, she allowed herself a peek. Indeed, it looked as though the wall had stabilized, and she finally let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Fluttershy flashed a self-assured grin at her success, but, noticing Rarity’s attention, she withdrew her enthusiasm and fluttered back down behind the stack.
“Oh Applejack…” she called out with a smile. “I do believe I was mistaken. It seems those books are Twilight’s private collection, and therefore are not recorded in the register.”
There was a pause, followed by a hesitant “Oh yeah? So...that means we’re done then, right?”
“Hmmm...yes, I do believe that to be the case, darling”
“YEE HAW!”
Rarity’s ears rang from the sudden outburst, but that paled in comparison to what happened next. Unexpectedly, Applejack followed her voice through the tower, propelling books in all directions. The stacks of books gave up a great rumble; the pony shaped hole in the middle holding for a moment before collapsing, filling with texts of all shapes and sizes. Rarity’s eyes darted between the worst. possible. thing. in front of her and the mare responsible for it, panic swelling in her mind.
“Uh, oops?” Applejack grimaced, tugging her hat firmly onto her skull as the remainder of the books tumbled across the room, eventually settling in a veritable ocean that covered them all.
“Oops? Oops!” Rarity buried her muzzle in her hooves, her teeth audibly gnashing together. “Three hours of careful, delicate work wasted—all because somepony can’t keep their brash enthusiasm in check. And all she has to say is: oops!”
“Well Ah—”
“Ah..oh...oh my…” Fluttershy’s head poked out from the sea of books.
“Oops…” Rarity squeaked again, her eye twitching erratically. A sea of books…hours...days...weeks it will take us…
“Rarity, are ya—”
“Oops…”
-------------------
“Ah think Ah broke her,” Applejack said, turning to Fluttershy, who was still cowering amongst the texts.
"Oooooooops....oooopsie!" a tittering voice wound out from behind them.
"I...um, yes—"
A sudden stinging pain radiating from the back of Fluttershy’s neck cut off her reply. She turned, only to find herself face-to-face with Rarity, who seemed to be randomly gathering books in her forelegs by the dozen and then proceeding to fling them in all directions.
"Um...Rarity?" Fluttershy turned to her friend. She'd seen Rarity get upset like this before, and it was almost never pretty.
"Hee hee hee...ooooooopsie!" Rarity's eyes twitched more, vacantly staring in front of her.
"Rarity. Stop."
Fluttershy let her teeth rest on her tongue, carefully following Rarity’s erratic, darting glances as she approached.
“Oopsie!” Rarity swung her forelegs wildly in front of her, the crack of a breaking binding echoing throughout the library.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy stopped in front of her friend, placing a hoof squarely on her forehead, just at the base of her horn. She looked directly into the pony’s eyes, reaching deep inside her for the strength that nopony, least of all she, actually believed she had. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth slowly.
“Stop.”
Rarity gazed blankly, then blinked a couple of times.
“Yes. Stop.”
She shook her head again, and the strangeness in her eyes faded. Fluttershy took a step backwards, giving her her space.
“Right. Terribly sorry about that. Anyhow,” she turned back to the farmpony, her voice curt. “Yes, Applejack, we’re done, though we certainly have substantially more work to do, since somepony came and ruined everything we’d worked so hard on.”
Rarity stumbled across the books, reaching the desk and clearing the extraneous books off it with a swipe of her foreleg. She looked down at the register, flipping through pages quickly.
“Based on our accounting...hm...there’s one copy of the Karmare…” A blush began to spread across Rarity’s cheeks, and her voice dropped to a mutter. “Oh, never mind; that certainly was not Twilight's doing. Let’s see, what else…”
“Hey Rares, what about this!” Applejack shouted excitedly into Rarity’s ear, shoving a hoof at the page as the alabaster pony cringed. “From what you got written here, both Travel to...Baltimare! and Marewolves of Baltimare seem to be missing! That’s gotta be the clue, right?”
“Applejack, darling, do you really think a trashy novel like Marewolves of Baltimare is something that our dear Twilight would have even the slightest bit of interest in?”
Applejack blushed. “Ah well, Ah guess Ah hadn’t thought about that.”
“Um…Spike did say she was in a hurry. Maybe she just...uh...took the first two books that looked like they were useful, right?”
“Hmmm...” Rarity paused, rubbing her hooftip along her bottom lip, “I suppose that does make good sense — good thinking, Fluttershy! Spike! SPIIIIIIIKE!”
“Yeah?” Spike stumbled down the stairs after a few moments, rubbing his eyes with balled-up fists, “What’s up? You find it?”
“We think so,” Applejack replied, nodding towards Rarity. “You got any idea why Twilight would be interested in Baltimare of all places?”
“Uhhh...nope!” Spike tapped his chin, “But I think I know who might!”
“Oh?” Rarity blinked.
“Yeah, Lyra Heartstrings.” he said, receiving three pairs of blank stares in response. Spike sighed. “You know, green unicorn, musician, hangs out with Bon Bon,”
“Oohhhh…”
“Right. Well. She’s been poking around here the last few days. A lot. And it isn’t to check out a book, I’ll say that. She’s asked me once or twice about Twilight, but there’s been a few times I’ve caught her...snooping around in here, but she’s always bolted out the door before I can talk to her.”
“Well, girls,” Rarity turned away from the dragon, grinning triumphantly. “I think we know exactly what to do next!”
“Heeeyyy…” Spike lifted a warning claw, his other hand placed firmly on his hips, “Don’t forget that you have to clean all this up.”
Rarity nodded distractedly, again noticing the disaster they had wrought upon the library.
“Right. Uh…just one other thing, though. Does anypony know where exactly this Lyra lives…?”
-------------
“Twilight,” Rainbow sniffled, breaking the long silence, “I was thinking…”
“Yes?” Twilight absent-mindedly scratched her jaw.
“Well, about Pinkie…”
Twilight’s face fell. She looked at her friend intently, eyes darting over her figure. “Yes?”
“Well, it’s just...my dreams. You don’t think…”
“No!” Twilight blurted out suddenly, then clamped her mouth shut with a hoof, startled by her own conviction. “No. She would never…”
Twilight allowed her teeth rest gently against her tongue, swallowing thickly. Rainbow’s eyes still bore directly into Twilight’s own, desperate and despairing, seeking answers that Twilight could not give her. She closed her eyes, forcing her breath out in a slow, controlled stream.
“Maybe…we should just worry about getting through this part first,” she said tiredly, a vacant look filling her eyes.
“R-right,” Rainbow choked out, “Well, then...I guess, what’s next?”
“Well, I know you don’t want to hear this…”
“Uh huh…”
Twilight glared.
“But, you’re just going to have to get comfortable here for a few days. I’ll talk to the judge tomorrow, and try to get a better idea of what we’re looking at from that perspective.” Twilight tapped the floor unsteadily, her jaw jittering slightly. “Otherwise, I’ll spend the rest of the day...”
“...nose-deep in your books, right?” Rainbow goaded, a mischievous look momentarily masking her sadness.
“Yeah,” Twilight said gently, her voice falling to barely above a whisper, “Nose-deep.”
She lifted her head up, running a hoof down the length of the rugged rainbow mane, the hairs rough and broken against her flesh.
“Don’t lose hope, Rainbow. We’ll get this sorted out. I promise.”
“Okay. I trust you,” Rainbow replied, nodding lamely. “Get comfortable. Don’t lose hope. Got it.”
The alicorn turned as if to walk away, but hesitated, looking back over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, one last thing..."
"Oh yeah. What's that?" Rainbow chirped.
“What do you have against fillyfoolers?”
“Uh...what?”
“You’d said that ‘you’re no fillyfooler’, and, well, I want to know why.” Noting the flat look on her friend’s face, Twilight added, “You know, for science.”
Rainbow groaned. “Twilight, I really hate all the sappy stuff, you know that. Haven’t we had enough tears for one day?”
Twilight giggled. “Hm...No, I guess we haven’t.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs, backing away from the bars and flapping up again. She seemed to stare at one of the bricks in front of her, as though awaiting some kind of revelation from it.
“Just spit it out. You’ll feel better.”
“Fine,” Rainbow slapped a hoof against the thick cell wall. “I guess I don’t have much better to do anyway.”
“Exactly!”
Rainbow Dash pulled herself as upright as she could manage, thrusting her chest out boisterously.
“Well, just look at me.”
Twilight tapped her chin with the edge of her hoof. “Uh...okay.”
“Well, what do you see?” Rainbow spread her wings to their full extent, as if it made her point clearer.
“Um...Rainbow Dash…I guess?”
“What?”
“You. That’s what I see."
Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof directly between her eyes. "Ow – geeze, Twi', I'm dead serious. Look at me. I'm brash. I'm bold. I'm, well, I'm a tomfilly, always have been. And, everypony knows that all tomfillies are..."
"Now, Rainbow," Twilight chided, "Don't you think you're being a little...stereotypical?"
"Yeah. Whatever. I've lived it. Everypony growing up called me a fillyfooler."
"Everypony?"
"Sheesh, get off my wings already. Look, Fluttershy wasn't the only one who had it bad in flight school, okay?"
Rainbow’s eyes examined the worried face of her friend closely, but though she felt a knot growing in her chest, she wasn’t about to let it show.
"Maybe I'm a lot more selfish than everybody thinks.” She held a hoof out, silencing her friend. “Don’t worry, I know how everypony thinks of me. I wouldn’t have it any other way, really. After all, I’m awesome, right.” Rainbow smiled weakly, but her eyes didn’t show it.
“But this—this was different. I’ve had plenty of time to think….about it. And...I think, maybe, some part of me only helped her out because I figured if I could defend her, I could defend myself, too. Heh. Turns out I was wrong about that."
"Twilight..." Rainbow’s voice cracked, and she bit her bottom lip nervously. "I've...never told anypony about this before."
Twilight nodded gently, drawing her friend to the ground with a hoof.
"I’ve told you all about how I did my...the...first Sonic Rainboom, of course. Which was awesome and all...but, unless Fluttershy…” she paused, awaiting a response that didn’t come. “You've never heard the story of what happened after."
Twilight stared intently at Rainbow Dash with wide and expectant eyes, like a pupil at storytime. Were it not for the somber subject she was about to address, her saccharine expression would have been more than enough to push Rainbow over the edge into wild laughter.
"Okay...so, after the race was over, I wanted to talk to Fluttershy, but she'd disappeared. You know, falling through the clouds and all that, but I didn’t know that. I figured that all my awesome moves must have scared her, and that I'd find her hiding somewhere, so I went off looking for her in her usual hiding spots. I didn't know that I was being followed, though, when I began searching behind the school..."
"Hey, Rainbow Crash!" Hoops mocked, a caustic grin across his cocky face, "That was a nice show you put on for little Eepysqueak there. I guess chivalry's not dead after all."
"Feather off." Rainbow stamped a hoof, turning her back to the three approaching colts. “And, you know, her name’s Fluttershy, or are you too stupid to understand that?”
Billy landed in front of her loudly, his hooves sinking several inches into the cloudtop. He looked over her with predatory eyes, flashing a thin smile that chilled her to the bone.
"Brave words, Crash. But I guess I'd be feeling brave too if I'd just given it to little Eepy over there."
"WHAT!?"
Her voice caught in her throat, scratching its way to the surface, leaving her with a raw, burning feeling throughout.
"Oh, c'mon Rainbow," Hoops slammed down beside his friend, "Everypony knows."
"Yeah. Everypony knows," Quarterback echoed, approaching Rainbow from the left as the other two cornered her, "You're the biggest fillyfooler in Cloudsdale. Maybe even Equestria."
"I...I...Take it back!" she stammered. Her head buzzed, suddenly feeling untethered. Maybe the Rainboom had taken more out of her than she’d thought. Something didn’t feel right, that was for sure.
"So…why don’t you give us a little lesson on what two little fillies like yourselves would do, anyway?"
Billy’s voice dripped with malice as he stalked towards her, and Rainbow’s heart pounded in her head.
"Maybe she just needs a couple of stallions to straighten her out, eh, boys?” Quarterback added as the three closed the circle around her.
Rainbow Dash was now surrounded, and this time, the boys looked like the meant business. The race, at least, had taken place in a fairly public area. But here...here they were frighteningly alone. It made sense. The school wasn’t open, and the school grounds weren’t a usual place for ponies to gather. Unless somepony happened to pass overhead and glance down at them, they could have stayed there unnoticed for hours, but looking up, there didn’t seem to be anypony approaching from that direction either.
She drew her attention back to the situation at hand, she quickly measured up the ponies that were now only a few hooves away. They were all a few years older than her, that she already knew, built quite a bit larger than she was, as colts typically were anyway. Even so, she was confident she could have taken one of them on by himself. Three, though, it was clear she didn’t stand a chance against.
Three grinning, hungry, vengeful colts.
She blinked away the wetness she could feel pooling in the corners of her eyes, crouching aggressively.
“You won’t get away with this!”
Billy smirked, looking down at her hungrily. “Really? Who, exactly, is going to stop us?”
Rainbow turned her head, looking behind her. She hadn’t considered it as an option before...but she could escape that way. True, the school building was there, and she’d certainly catch hell for flying through it. It would take weeks, or even months, to repair the damage. But it was about the only option that she had, other than allowing the boys to exact...well, whatever it was they’d come to do. Building or no, she had to get away, so she crouched low, spreading her wings to prepare for flight.
"What, you’re actually going to just blow through the flight school administration building?" questioned Billy with a chuckle, turning to look at Hoops.
"You know, I heard you're on thin cirrus with the principal. A stunt like that, in your position, I don't think that ends well for you. You’ll get kicked out of flight school, for sure. The Wonderbolts…" Hoops snickered, as the other two mockingly masked their muzzles with their hooves, “The Wonderbolts don’t take dropouts, you know.”
“I will be a Wonderbolt!” Rainbow shouted resolutely, her voice echoing across the empty field.
"Then you’ll do exactly what we tell you. As long as you’re a good little filly, this will be all over soon."
Billy winked to his friends, a satisfied smile spreading on their faces, before they turned back to face Rainbow Dash. She swallowed, dropping her wings back to her sides.
"Please...don't..." she squeaked. Frozen in place, she closed her eyes, turning her head away from Billy and his gang.
"Oh, it's too late for-"
Rainbow was breathing sharp and heavy, but screwed her jaw in place once more.
"You know what: I don't think I want to talk about what happened next. Not right now," she said, her body stiffening suddenly.
Twilight let out the breath she'd been holding loudly into Rainbow's ear; Rainbow hadn't realized it, but as she’d talked, Twilight had again become entangled in her forelimbs. Her friend now moved to extricate herself, however, standing up tall with a strangely stoic expression on her face.
"Rainbow," Twilight's tone was a bit harder would have been expected, "You said you'd never told anypony about this. Does that mean, like, anypony, anypony? Did they...Did you...like, they just got away with it!?"
Dash didn't respond audibly, but a slight nod of her head was all Twilight needed to see.
"Rainbow Dash! I...I can't believe you! What...what was it, stubborn pride that kept you from letting anypony help you? They should have been punished!"
Twilight paused, but the only answer she received was silence. Taking a deep breath, she continued.
"Just letting them go; Rainbow Dash, even for you, that’s just irresponsible! I knew..."
With a sickening crack, a hoof connected with its target, and a pony fell to the floor.