Paige bit her lip as she and Harmonious Flash stood outside a room watching Blue Jay slump onto the bed. They waited for a few minutes but Blue Jay didn’t move so the two looked at each other for a second. “Think it’s over?”

“I hope so.” Harmonious Flash replied.

Moving carefully and quietly, Paige entered the room and made her way to the bed. “Blue Jay?” She asked and gentle stroked Blue Jay’s back but the pegasus remained unresponsive.

“Anything?” Harmonious Flash asked quietly from the doorway and Paige shook her head but motioned for her to stay there. Sure, it might not have been fair to Blue Jay to go through that nightmare, but now they had a definitive idea as to what happened that night. Paige said on the edge of the bed and kept her strokes light.

“I’m ready to kill her now.” Paige muttered darkly as she looked at Harmonious Flash, who looked a little uncomfortable with that thought. Turning back, she gasped in surprise when Blue Jay’s eyes snapped open. They went from fearful, shock, and sadness to recognition in a second. When she realized who was next to her, she threw her fore hooves around Paige’s waist as she began sobbing uncontrollably. “You’re safe now, Blue Jay.”

“Stay… stay with me.” Blue Jay pleaded through her sobs.

“Of course we will.” Harmonious Flash said as she approached slowly and sat on Blue Jay’s other side.

“We’ll protect you however we can.” As she spoke, Paige used her magic to hide a piece of parchment and blue quill under the bed while writing something down. Soon the three began feeling drowsy before falling asleep with Blue Jay being the first.

Harmonious Flash opened her eyes and stretched with a big yawn before remembering where she was. Looking down, she saw that she didn’t disturb the other two with her movements. I probably could make it to Canterlot before they’re up. She thought as she climbed off the bed and headed for the hospital café.

“Morning Harmony.” Lyla Firecracker greeted as she walked towards her. “How are you?”

Harmonious Flash greeted her back. “A little disturbed by last night’s event, but fairly well. How about you?”

“Not too bad. A little burned out, but I’ll live.” She punned, earning a groan from harmonious Flash. “Hey, quick question. What did you think of the show?” She asked as they surveyed their options for food.

“I enjoyed it in the beginning, afterwards I was… a little bit preoccupied.

“I heard.” Lyla Firecracker said as she took an apple.

“WHAT? HOW COULD YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT THAT ALREADY?” Harmonious Flash yelled with wide eyes, earning several looks from the others in the café as she thought Lyla Firecracker was referring to last night.

“About how Blue Jay was raped a month ago. Why? What did you think I was talking about?”

Harmonious Flash sighed visibly that it was the first event. “Nothing. My mind jumped to conclusion too quickly.” She picked up some salad and grapes for the three of them. “Please don’t think I’m being rude, but why are you here?”

“I usually check the hospitals after every show. I do what I can to make the fireworks safe as possible, but sometimes accidents do occur.” Lyla Firecracker said as they paid for the food. “But I’m also here because I want to offer my friendship. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten what you said the first time, but I would like to be friends with all of you.”

“Any other reason?”

“Because it feels like… destiny?” Seeing Harmonious Flash’s confused and not totally convinced expression, she hurried on. “I don’t know if destiny is the right word, I can’t describe it but it… I don’t know, just feels right.”

“It’ll be up to Blue Jay ultimately.

“I know. Can you pass the message along please?”

Harmonious flash rolled her eyes. “Geez, I should become a mailmare.” She kept her tone light in a joking manner. “No, I don’t mind.”
“Thanks. I’ll be living here for a few months while I replenish my supply.”

Harmonious Flash nodded and headed back to the room while Lyla sat in one of the chairs. Once she was back, she knocked on the door before entering. “I got us some delicious food.” After setting the tray down, she hovered over to the window and looked out for a moment to enjoy the sun.

“Was I tossing in my sleep?” Blue Jay asked once Harmonious Flash joined them and they began eating.

“Harmony and I think you reacted the entire nightmare last night.” Paige said as Blue Jay shrunk back into the pillow. “How come you didn’t tell us?”

“Because… I was worried I would lose you two… that you wouldn’t want a broken and weak pegasus like me.” Blue Jay paused for a moment. “Plus I thought I could handle it on my own.”

“Good Faust, Blue Jay.” Harmonious Flash groaned. “If that was the case, we wouldn’t be here right now. We want to help you, but we’re not mind readers.”

“Harmony is right, we’re more than willing to help but we’re limited on what we could do.” Paige said and watched Blue Jay lower her head.
“And besides, you’re not weak.” Harmonious Flash smiled. “Sure, you didn’t know how that night would play out, but you went with her and that was a very brave thing to do.” As she spoke, she poked Blue Jay’s stomach lightly with each word and soon had her laughing a little and smiling.

“Tell you what, why don’t the three of us take a train somewhere? We’ll get out of Ponyville and avoid Canterlot, but every other place is fair game.” Paige suggested.

“Actually, might be four of us.” Harmonious Flash said. “I told her it was up to you Blue Jay, but Lyla Firecracker did offer her friendship to us.”
“It’s not out of pity is it?” Blue Jay asked she looked at her friend.

“There was a little bit when we were talking, but it seemed more of a genuine request. I think she’ll understand if you don’t accept it right away, or if you do, she’ll make sure to give you your space.

“I’ll think about it for a bit.” Blue Jay promised as she looked out the window.

“WOW! The view from up here is incredible!” Blue Jay exclaimed as she looked down at Neighagra Falls.

“I wish we could have gotten a little higher floor though.” Lyla Firecracker said as she sat on the couch. As it were, they were in a room on the 48th floor of the hotel they were staying at while visiting Neighagra. Since there was only four of them, they opted to split the cost of one room and sleep with two to a bed. There was a writing desk, an electric fireplace that was burning, and a bed in the two bedrooms with a small hallway connecting them and leading to the bathroom. Mirrors, lamps and pictures help decorate the two bedrooms. The main difference was the room that was closer to the hallway of the hotel had a dresser while the bedroom closer to the window looking out at the Neighagra Falls had a couch and small coffee table.

“This should be fun.” Harmonious Flash said as she stood in the tub and waved at the other three through a large piece of glass. “How embarrassing would it be to be bathing and somepony happened to walk in before see through the glass?”

“You can lower the shade.” Lyla Firecracker said as she walked over and showed the others a button that made a shade come down to offer privacy between the bedroom and the bathroom. Then she pressed the same button and the shade went back up.

“Neat.” Paige said as she tried it a couple times herself. “Say, since we’re all here, who wants which bed?”

“Lyla and I can take the other bed.” Harmonious Flash said as if somepony was going to suggest something different. “That is, if you don’t mind sharing the bed, Lyla?”

“Not at all.” Lyla Firecracker shook her head. “I’m so used to traveling that if there’s a place to sleep, I’ll sleep there.” She glanced at the coffee table and picked up a small note. “It seems we’re in luck. Tonight they’re having a light show and fireworks in front of the falls.”

“I think I’m just going to stay in and read.” Blue Jay said, not too keen on seeing more fireworks.

“That’s cool. I’ll probably stay down there and come back when it’s over.” Lyla Firecracker nodded in understanding, having been told about the second night on the way over.

“And we’ll probably play a board game or something.” Harmonious Flash said as they got ready to go down to see Neighagra Falls.

As they were leaving the hotel, Blue Jay looked up and saw a sign reading “casino” with an arrow pointing towards another hotel. “What’s a casino?”

“A place where you’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Lyla Firecracker said in all seriousness but laughed a second later. “No, I’m just kidding. It’s a place where adult ponies can go and try their luck to earn more bits.” She told them honestly. “Each casino is different, but there are some that’ll allow underage ponies to walk through without stopping.”

“Why would age matter in a place like that?”

“It’s to keep the young fillies and colts out and not get addicted at an early age. To be honest, I don’t think any of us could gamble… not that it’s exactly fun unless you’re winning.” She muttered the last bit and shook her head.

“Could we ask some pony if we could peek in real quick?” Blue Jay asked, curious as to what the place looked like inside.

Paige shook her head. “Maybe tomorrow. She said while Blue Jay hovered besides them and when Paige was sure nopony would see, she smiled at a thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Harmonious Flash asked quietly after seeing the smile.

“Nothing.” Paige replied and trotted to walk besides the other two.

“Whoa!” The four exclaimed when they reached the railing that prevented them from going any further as they watched a ton of water rushing over the edge with the spray creating a faint rainbow and providing a cool breeze in the warm sunlight.

“While the collective name for the three falls is Neighagra Falls. Princess Celestia has named this one the Horseshoe Falls, further down is the Bridal Veil Falls and then Americolt Falls is at the end. For Horseshoe falls, there is a height of 167 feet from top to the whirlpool below, and summertime average 675,000 gallons per second. The first pony to go over the falls –and survive– was an earth colt named Sam Patch, leading to a long list of ponies from all races to try and recreate the event. The first unicorn mare, Annie Edson Taylor, went over in a barrel and came out bleeding, but alive.” Harmonious Flash gave a few more facts about it as she appeared to be looking at the water.

“How in the world do you know all that?” Paige asked with surprise.

“There’s a sign over there that I just read.” Harmonious Flash replied and pointed to a sign that had a more detailed explanation.

“Oh, of course.” Paige replied and pushed her glasses up.

“Hey look.” Lyla Firecracker pointed to the water. “There’s ponies on a boat.”

“Neat. So you can get to see the falls closer than this?” Harmonious Flash grinned. “We are so doing that.”

“If you really want to see the falls up close, I recommend taking the walk behind the falls.” A light greyish blue earth mare standing next to them said.

“You can do that?” Blue Jay asked as she looked away from the falls to the mare.

“Yep, the horseshoe falls are the only ones you can go behind. Both the Americolt and Bridal Veil falls you can only get in front of. I’m Minako.” She introduced herself. Her short white mane and tail ended with a charcoal grey tip, her cutie mark was a green-stem pink rose and her eyes were silver with an ash grey earring in her right ear.

“I’m Paige, this is Harmony, Blue Jay, and Lyla.” Paige shook hooves with Minako.

“What’s that?” Blue Jay asked, pointing to Minako’s right foreleg.

“It’s a dragon tattoo.” Minako replied happily and held her leg up to show it off better.

“A mare with the dragon tattoo.” Lyla Firecracker said thoughtfully. “Why does that sound familiar?”

Minako giggled. “It’s the name of my shop actually. Just head back up that way, turn right, walk a few blocks and I’m on the right.”
“Can you do other things besides dragons?” Blue Jay asked curiously.

“Yep. Anything you can think of, I can do. But you have to remember, it’s a permeant thing so I always triple check with my customers to make sure it’s what they really want.” Minako lowered her hoof. “Are you thinking about getting one?”

Blue Jay shook her head. “No, I was just curious. I just never seen something like that.” She missed the look Paige had given her as Blue Jay returned her gaze to the waterfall.

“Thanks for tell us about that.” Harmonious Flash said, clearly wanting to go down there soon as they could.

“No problem. Always glad to help out tourists.” Minako smiled. “If you want to travel behind the falls, then the building over there is the place to go. But with so many ponies wanting to visit, you might be waiting a while.” She watched as they headed towards the building for a moment before she turned and walked back to her shop.

“Excuse me.” Paige tapped an unicorn on the shoulder, who was standing in a line once they entered. “What’s this line for?”

“For the boat ride.” He replied as everypony moved forward a little bit.

“That’s good to know. We want the line that’ll take us behind the falls.”

“Then you’ll want that line over there.” He pointed to a line that was nearly twice as long. “Your best bet is to come early in the morning.”
They thanked him for his time and moved away from the line. “Should we try today or come back tomorrow?” A sadden Harmonious Flash asked as they sat down on a bench.

“Tomorrow might be better.” Lyla Firecracker suggested. “Wish we could go today since we’re here.”

“Yeah.” Blue Jay agreed glumly. “It’s not like this is our only day here though, so we’ll still have plenty of time.” She looked at the time. “Why don’t we wander around, get a bite to eat, and then depending on the time, split to do what we want?” The others agreed and so they trotted outside to take in the sights.

What felt like much too soon, Lyla Firecracker waved good bye to her friends as she planned to stay near the water for the show while the other three headed back to their room.

Blue Jay sat on the couch reading while Paige and Harmonious Flash started playing checkers. At first it was best two out of three, but it soon turned to five out of seven as neither of them gave the other a clear winning streak over the other. The sun was settling and the shadows grew longer as the day was nearly finished. “Hey girls, do you want to watch the light show?”

“We don’t have to.” Harmonious Flash said as she got her first king during the fourth game being played.

“Well, it’s not like we’re in the open this time and far as I know, Feral Lupus doesn’t know we’re here.” Blue Jay said as she closed the notebook. “Plus, I kind of want to watch it.” She admitted and watched as Paige took three of Harmonious Flash’s pieces in a single turn and the latter’s jaw drop.

“Plus we can always lock the door.” Paige said as she won that game and held her hoof out to her friend.

“Couldn’t you have taken it a little easier on me that time?” Harmonious Flash grumbled as she shook Paige’s hoof.

“Next time I will, I promise.” Paige replied and they started another game. “To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”

“Okay. The note said it’ll start fairly soon.” Blue Jay pushed down that memory knowing this time she was safe for sure while she watched her friends play until there was a winner. Harmonious Flash put the pieces away and Paige put the game back where they had found it before motioning Harmonious Flash to follow her.

“Blue Jay, I’m locking the door now.” Paige called out form the other room and slid the chain into place before they checked under the bed. On their way back, they inspected the bathroom and turned off the lights behind them. Though they all knew Feral Lupus was in Canterlot, Harmonious Flash and Paige still checked under the second bed anyway to help put Blue Jay’s mind at ease. “It’s just the three of us for sure.” She said and used her magic to turn off the final light.

Outside the window, they were rewarded with a mostly purplish-black sky with a little red as the sun continued to sink below the horizon while the lights from the carriages, streetlamps and houses gave a soft glow far below them. Of to the left of the window and away from the falls there was a building with a needle coming up from it. The sides of that were lit up with rows of green and red lights depending on which way the outdoor elevators were traveling. Across the river there was a ferris wheel that was lit up with all the colors of the rainbow and changed randomly so one never saw the same combination twice in the same night while a three-quarter moon helped to illuminate the starry sky. Blue Jay hopped down from the couch and sat in front of the window with her friends on either side of her. Paige wrapped a foreleg around Blue Jay’s back and Harmonious Flash wrapped her wing over Paige’s leg and they sat there as the fireworks exploded in the night sky while the lights danced over the falling water.

At the same time Lyla Firecracker was separating from her friends, Minako was cleaning and sterilizing her tattooing guns and other equipment as she got ready to leave for the day. Locking the door absent-mindedly, she walked into the back half of the shop where her office was. Sitting in her chair, she wrote down the client names and the tattoos they had gotten for that day. The last customer, a white stallion with a sandy blond mane wearing a green hat had asked for three triangles that touched each other on his left hoof. The bottom left triangle was gold while the other two were black while his marefirend considered getting something similar to it at a later date.

She heard somepony call out causing her to put her pen down. Didn’t I lock the door already? She asked herself and heard the mare call out again. “Sorry, I’m closed for the evening. Come back tomorrow please.”

“Is that anyway to treat an old friend?” The mare asked causing Minako to get up and walk out to the main area.

“Shadow!” Minako cried happily and quickly hugged her. “Where have you been? How are you? What have you been up to? What happened to you?” She would have asked more questions, but Shadow put a dark greyish black hoof over Minako’s lips. “I see you still have the tattoo I gave you.” She said while removing the hoof from her lips, seeing the black dragon tattoo on the pegasus’ right hoof.

“Of course I do.” Shadow replied with a smile and set her hoof down. Her light grey eyes reflected warmth towards her friend, her long mane and tail were split in half with white on the top and black on the bottom and she wore a single silver earring in her right ear. “I would never get it removed, but check this out.” She turned a little and lifted a wing showing off her yin-yang cutie mark.

“That’s so cool. When did you get it?”

“Shortly after I left to be honest. I was flying one evening and got to thinking about some really deep stuff. I felt something and saw a flash when it appeared.”

“I thought you promised me that you were going to come back once you earned it? It’s been a few months… wait, no, almost a year.”

Shadow sighed and looked down. “I was getting to that. I was so excited that I ran into a little trouble. Got zapped while I was distracted during one of my storm flying days. I woke up with no memory of who I was in a little village and stayed there until I regained my memory.”

“Wow, that’s harsh. What made you remember?”

“Your good luck charm.” Shadow held her hoof up again. “It saved me a few times when I thought I was going to relapse and forget everything again.

“Really?” Minako chuckled and scratched the back of her neck. “I find that a little far-fetched. I mean, that was way back when I was beginning as a tattoo artist.”

“And? That’s what makes it so special. Remember, it’s how you got the job.”

“True. I’m honored that you still have it truthfully.” Minako smiled and hugged her friend again. “Well, I’m done here for the day if you want to hang out.”

Shadow looked at the floor and slipped away from Minako. “Yeah, about that… I came here to show you I finally got my cutie mark and to let you know I was still alive. But I’m not staying.”

“But why?” The smile from Minako’s face faded.

“I have to go back to the village. They took care of me so I kind of owe them to be there.”

“You can’t stay even one night?”

“I’m sorry. It really was nice to see you again.” Shadow turned and walked out the door. “I guess this is good bye. Please, don’t follow me.” She said as the door swung close and when Minako pushed it opened, Shadow was nowhere in sight.

It was only when Minako was locking the door behind her, that she realized neither one of them had unlocked it. With a sigh, she headed towards the falls to clear her head before heading home. She had reached the railing and put her front hooves on it before laying her head on them when she heard her name being spoken. Lifting her head, she looked at the approaching light yellowish-grey pony. “Err… Lyra right?” She asked, hoping she got the name right.

Lyla Firecracker shook her head. “It’s Lyla.” She corrected and stood next to Minako.

“Well I had three of the letters right. You can’t fault me for that.” Minako smiled, but it wasn’t bright and her eyes appeared a little duller than before.

“It’s okay, at least you didn’t call me Rainbow Dash.” Lyla Firecracker said and looked at the mare besides her. “Bit for your thoughts?”

“Just thinking about stuff.” Came the simple reply but nothing more was said as they fell into silence watching the color changing on the water and the fireworks lighting up the sky above them.

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony, Hasbro does.
However, I'm pleased to say I do own Blue Jay, Paige, Harmonious Flash, Kitsune/Feral Lupus, Lyla Firecracker, Minako, and Shadow.

Fainthoof is used with permission from Damien, a good friend of mine.

As always, constructive criticism is welcome. It'll help me to improve my writing and seeing what people liked.

I'll also say, much of the scenes at Neighagra Falls actually does extend from my personal experience. And some is wishful thinking.