She had moved Pinkie to a bed and proceeded to take her temperature, which was well above normal, and after she had assessed all her friend's symptoms, she allowed herself to panic. Her friend's fever was incredibly high, and while somepony might inquire once they noticed the shop was closed all day, Twilight was a wanted mare, and she couldn't be seen, and couldn't be sure anypony would come by if she hid. So she tended her friend until nightfall, gathered her courage with a cloak she found and wrapped about herself, and stepped out into nighttime Manehattan to seek out Rarity, who would, she hoped, be able to get in contact with medical professionals of some sort.
Twilight almost bolted back inside from the relative crowds of ponies, even after nightfall. In Ponyville the streets were deserted after dark, but here in the middle of Manehattan the street-lights never go out, and some businesses are always open. She found the streets patrolled by Royal Guards, but fortunately dark cloaks were appropriate for this late in the season and they never looked twice at her, or at anypony really. They seemed rather fresh and untested, obviously nervous and unused to their armor. She asked a couple ponies for directions, careful to keep in the shadows, lest she be recognized, and eventually found her way to being completely lost.
“Not again...” Twilight groaned, lost for the third time now after yet another set of bad directions, or maybe she just had trouble navigating in a city. The darkness of the alleyway was quite thick, and it was whispering to her softly, despite her best efforts to tune it out. She was startled out of her musings by a scream, a painfully familiar scream from the front of the alley, where a brilliant white unicorn was backing away from two pony silhouettes, shadows against the brilliance of the city beyond. Rarity.
“Step no closer, ruffians! Don't you dare make me ruin my pedicure to push you off, but so help me I'll-” Rarity broke off with a scream as one of the silhouettes bucked at her head, only to find his movement arrested by purple glowing flames that spread from his hoof out to enfold the whole of his body. He screamed and thrashed, but the flames wouldn't let him go, though they didn't burn him. The other thug tried to run, but found himself lifted off the ground along with his companion by the same eldritch fire, and pulled deeper into the darkness of the alleyway. A sense of menace fell over the two of them, the darkness around the thugs seeming to leer at them and grab at their vision, which was drawn inexorably to two points of light in the darkness.
Two glowing purple eyes radiated fury as they regarded the muggers coldly, and then a deep, menacing voice said softly, “You foolish, pitiable ponies,” The sound of the voice was like every terror the muggers had experienced, and their bodies shook with fear as the voice continued, “If you ever, ever attack the Element of Generosity again, not even your dreams will be safe.” One of the two stallions lost control of his bladder as the light from the purple flames showed Twilight's face, the face of a mass murderer, of the most wanted unicorn in Equestrian history, that had been hanged in front of everypony. “I will find you, wherever you go, even in your deepest nightmares. Now run,” and the force holding the muggers dropped them in the middle of the alley, causing them to get tangled in their haste to escape, brushing past the white unicorn at the entrance, who was staring, slack-jawed at the place where Twilight's eyes had filled the alley with light and fear.
Twilight stepped out into the dim illumination offered by the little bit of street-light bleeding into the alley and hesitantly pushed back her hood, smiling at her old friend, “Um... Hi Rarity, I, uh, I'm back! And not the bad me, I mean I'm me, I mean... I didn't... I wasn't the one who...” She trailed off uncertainly, Rarity was still staring and it was a little off-putting. She walked slowly towards Twilight, who kept smiling uncertainly, then, with the air of somepony trying an experiment, kissed Twilight on the lips quickly but deeply then appeared to think about the flavor. Twilight's brain kind of short-circuited, her eyes crossed, and she almost fainted, mumbling wildly, “Wha-... What was tha-” And just as quickly Rarity wrapped her hooves around her friend's neck, hugging her tightly.
“Pinkie was right, oh Celestia above, she was right all this time and we never... But where have you bee-” Rarity started saying, tears filling her tone.
“We don't have time, Rarity,” Twilight interrupted, remembering her task and deciding to ask about the kiss later, “Pinkie just collapsed, before we could open her shop-”
“We?” Rarity interrupted curiously, pulling back from Twilight, “You've been staying with her then?” There was no trace of judgement about her tone, merely surprise. "And she just collapsed?"
Twilight nodded, “Please, just call a doctor or something, she has a fever and is comatose, and...” Twilight started listing the symptoms she found, finishing with, “... And I've made a cold compress for her but that was hours ago, and I couldn't find you and I'm a wanted mare now, I almost got execu-” Rarity held a hoof up to interrupt Twilight and nodded understandingly.
“Of course, I'll call some professionals to help, just go back to the shop, they'll be along soon." Twilight relaxed, and Rarity slowly lowered her hoof with a soft smile at her old friend, "And Twilight, dear, it's so wonderful to see you, I'm just... I can't believe it, but go, we'll talk later, teleport ahead and unlock the door, go!”
Twilight nodded as Rarity dashed off, and teleported to Pinkie's bedside. She hadn't moved, but she was still breathing. Pinkie's usually smiling, open and happy face was drawn and flushed, and sweat streaked her coat in places. Twilight kept her panic down, changed her compress, checked her temperature, then remembered the imminent medical ponies' arrival. She took a moment to conjure a note for the doctors detailing Pinkie's symptoms and suggested treatments, pinned it to Pinkie's covers, then ran downstairs to unlock the door. Right as she was about to unlock the bolt, it was kicked open and two blurs raced in, one blue and one yellow. They flew up the stairs to the bedrooms, and Twilight was left to pick herself up off the floor.
Twilight had almost recovered when the blue blur raced back downstairs. It tackled her to the ground in a spectacular hug, then Twilight felt a pair of blue lips press firmly against hers. Twilight spluttered, thoroughly confused and off-put, “Gah! What is this? Kiss Twilight Day?”
Rainbow Dash licked her lips thoughtfully and seriously, then nodded, “Sorry Twi, had to be sure.” She hugged her friend tight, then backed off, and said, smirking a little as Twilight got to her feet, looking mildly indignant, “You taste like berries, by the way. Anyway Twi,” Dash said, looking professional, “Fluttershy's seeing to Pinkie now, it looks like Rarity told us just in time, and...” She looked down, looking unexpectedly ashamed, “I think we all owe her an apology, none of us believed her when... When she said you'd come back, or that the other Twilight wasn't really you...”
Twilight nodded gently and hugged her friend. She just held Rainbow Dash for a couple of moments, then backed off a bit and asked, “So, what's with the kissing anyway?”