Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were now alone in the main room of the library. It was a little surprising to him that she had wanted to stay. Rainbow Dash had never really shown an interest in books. In fact, he never remembered seeing her reading much of anything.

"So..." Rainbow Dash started, looking at one of the walls as she spoke, "...that Daring Do book of Twilight's seems pretty interesting." Her wings flickered as she shifted, licking her lips. "I don't suppose you have... like... more of them or anything. You know. In case somepony might want to check them out."

It was kind of cute and funny how awkward she seemed to be about asking. Although he would never say that where Rainbow Dash could hear it. She probably considered being called "cute" a massive insult and would get really mad at anypony who dared to call her such.

"Yeah," Shining Armor answered. "A.K. Yearling is still writing them, but we have all the books that have been released so far." He shifted, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. "So, if you want to borrow one...."

"Maybe. I'll think about."

"Okay."

The two looked at each other. This was starting to get really awkward. Shining got the impression that something was going on with Rainbow, and he could guess what it had to do with a little. The problem was how to get her to talk about. That was if she even wanted to. More than likely, she would talk to Fluttershy about that kind of stuff if anypony.

Although, maybe he was wrong and Fluttershy was the one Rainbow Dash wanted to talk about.

"So, you're staying the night at Fluttershy's?" he asked. It was something to talk about. Plus, if it was her that Rainbow wanted to talk about, it gave her an opportunity.

The question got Rainbow Dash's attention. She turned, looking at him fully as though studying him. Her eyes went wide before narrowing again. She suddenly turned away, ears pinning back against her head as her cheeks turned pink.

"Not like that," she snapped. "Fluttershy and I are just friends. I mean sure we might have..." She shifted and gave a shake of her head. "Never mind. That's none of your business."

"Okay, okay," Shining responded, taking a step back. "I was just wondering. Didn't mean to make you mad."

The blush slowly faded and ears returned to normal. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh as she sagged, her wings drooped down from her sides.

"No," she said softly. "I'm sorry. We experimented when we were younger, but it didn't work out. We both kind of agreed that we were better as just friends."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"Just keep it to yourself. Fluttershy likes to keep her private life to herself. So I'm trusting you to keep your mouth shut."

"Alright," Shining said. "I promise I won't say a word." He got up, moving closer. "But, you are staying the night there, aren't you? Fluttershy wanting you to keep her company after what happened?"

Several seconds passed in silence. Rainbow Dash turned and looked away again. Her hooves moved as she shifted her weight from one to the other. Her eyes darted toward the stallion and away as she chewed on her lip. Closing her eyes, she let out a huff.

"What I'm about to tell you," she said, "is secret between us. If you tell anypony -- and I mean anypony -- I will buck you so hard, you'll end up at Twilight's wedding. Got it?"

"Yeah." Shining Armor took a step back. "I promise I won't tell. Pinkie Promise even. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Once again, Rainbow Dash looked at him. Her eyes were narrow as she moved closer, studying his features. She continued to walk toward him until her nose was nearly touching his. The mare's rose colored eyes stared into the stallion's blue ones. Finally, Rainbow Dash gave a nod and took a step back.

"It's not Fluttershy who didn't want to be alone," she finally said, her voice just above a whisper. "After all that's happened, I didn't really feel like being in my house alone, with everything being big, and empty, and dark..." One of her ears gave a twitch. "So I went to see if I could stay with Fluttershy for a couple nights."

"Do you want to have something to drink and talk about it?"

"...do you have hot chocolate?"

"We don't have any marshmallows," Shining Armor answered, "but I do have milk and chocolate chips."

"Okay," Rainbow Dash agreed.

The two made their way to the kitchen. Rainbow Dash grabbed the milk from the fridge while Shining Armor got a saucepan. The milk was poured in and the stove top turned on. While waiting for the milk to heat up, the two sat down at the table.

"So you're not handling this well?" Shining Armor asked.

"Of course I'm not," Rainbow Dash snapped, slamming a hoof against the table. "Who could possibly handle something like this well? He messed with my head."

"He messed with all our heads."

"I know, I know." With a huff she rubbed her forehead. "But that doesn't really make me feel any better. He convinced me that you guys didn't need me, especially since I couldn't fly! That if I ditched you and got my wings back, I could save Cloudsdale and become a Wonderbolt. I didn't even save Cloudsdale. I just found some bucking random cloud and thought it was." She slammed her hoof down hard on the table again, creating a crack in the wooden surface. "Plus if I had been thinking clearly, I would have realized that even if he was telling the truth, there's no way I would become a Wonderbolt. There's no way they would let a pony who abandoned others onto their team."

Shining Armor got up and headed to the pantry. He grabbed a bag of chocolate chips and found a container of marshmallows behind it. That second part was quite strange because he would swear up and down that there were none. Pulling them out, he set the marshmallows on the counter while taking the chocolate chips. Instead of measuring, Shining Armor started pouring the chips into milk and stirring.

"Well, you managed to come back to your sense and help save the day," he said without looking back. "As for you not needing you... You're our friend. My friend. Nothing's going to change that. Even if we don't need your help, we still want you around."

"Even if I could never fly again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Even then," Shining answered.

The room turned quiet as Shining Armor continued to stir. The milk had turned a pale shade of brown as the chocolate melted and mixed with it. Horny glowing, he grabbed to mugs. Once filled, he brought them to the table.

Rainbow Dash grabbed one mug and the marshmallows. Despite the size of them, she dropped two into her mug, creating a large splash with each. She then took a sip. Shining Armor took only one marshmallow in his before giving a test drink.

"Thanks," Rainbow Dash said. "For listening, I mean. I'm not really used to getting mushy with other ponies, you know."

"I never would have guessed," Shining replied, getting a glare in response. "I mean Rainbow Dash, the rough and tumble tomboy of a mare who always has to look tough doesn't like showing her tender side? Who would have even thought that was possible?"

"Oh, ha ha," Rainbow grumbled, rolling her eyes. "You're a real laugh riot."

"Well I try," Shining responded with a grin. He kept it up as Rainbow continued to glare, even while taking another drink of her hot chocolate.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

The question surprised Shining Armor a little. Setting his mug down, he leaned back and considered it.

We start picking up the pieces.

Rarity stood in the middle of her now devastated boutique. Her horn glowed with magic as she held a broom, sweeping the shards of glass, splinters of wood, and puffs of stuffing. As she continued to work, she turned and looked at the one dummy that seemed to survive. Gently, she lifted it back up and set it back where it belonged.

Salvage what we can.

We try to remember who we are.

Applejack sat on the couch, looking at Granny Smith. The old mare was talking quite animatedly about how the parents of the three young apples had once tried to ride a cart downhill, having realized there was a problem when they had forgotten a vital detail in a little something called "brakes." A small smile spread across Applejack's mouth as she wrapped a hoof around her little sister.

And try to keep working toward who we want to be.

We find others we can depend and rely on.

Pinkie Pie sat on the edge of her bed. A flashlight shined at the underside of her face as she spoke, motioning with her free hoof. On the floor in front of her sat the Cake twins. The pair pressed close to each other, pulling their blankets tight around them. Their eyes were wide as they stared, listening to every word. When Pinkie suddenly lunged toward them, Pound and Pumpkin both screamed out and fell back. The scream soon gave way to laughter.

Ponies we can lean on and who will help us feel better.

Admittedly, things will probably never be the same as they used to.

Fluttershy looked at a picture, letting out a sigh. Setting it down, she went to bed and stretched out, getting comfortable. Angel Bunny jumped up and soon joined her. The little white rabbit pushed to slip himself between her forelegs, curling up tightly against her chest. With a smile, Fluttershy leaned down and kissed the top of the fluffy white head. She then curled up around him, snuggling the rabbit as she began to doze off.

But we can adjust and things will get pretty close to normal again.

Rainbow Dash took one last drink of her hot chocolate, upending the entire cup. When she finished, her upper lip was covered by a chocolaty milk mustache. She gave it a lick before wiping the rest of it off with her one of her forelegs.

"You talk alot," she said.

"You asked." Shining Armor then shrugged and returned to his own drink.

"Yeah. I did." She smiled. "You know, you can be pretty cool." The smile turned into a smirk. "For a know it all egghead, that is." Rainbow Dash let out a chuckle.

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and gave a shake of his head, but said nothing.