Chapter 122

“I must admit, it does sound quite risqué, darling, and I’d be delighted to try it; however, I am not certain that I am a fan of the term: ‘cum tank.’ Perhaps something a bit less gauche, say, for instance…” Rarity paused for a moment to think, her eyes floating up to the ceiling. Then, with a smirk, she snapped her fingers and pointed at Fluttershy. “Love reservoir. What d’you say to that?”

Fluttershy giggled. “Oh Rare, it doesn’t matter what you call it. It was so hot; you won’t even be thinking about that when you’re laying there with your legs in the air, getting filled like a Boston Cream doughnut three or four times.”

Rarity was quick to shake a finger at her girlfriend, head cocked. “Tut-tut! Éclair, darling!” she sang.

The shy girl tittered once again. Then she wrapped her arms around the fashionista’s shoulders and squeezed her tight, pressing their cheeks together. “Oh goodness, you’re so cute, Rare. I can’t wait to see you taken down a notch when Goldie makes a complete mess of you.”

Rarity set her tea on the table to return the hug, then she faced the shy girl for a quick smooch. “We shall see, darling.”

I was sitting on the couch, shaking my head as I scrolled through my phone. “Uh, you know… that wasn’t even twenty-four hours ago. You’re gonna have to give me at least a day to restock.”

Smirking, Fluttershy and Rarity glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

“Oh Goldie, you know you could do it again if you tried.”

I turned to look over the back of the couch at them. “Pffft! Once… maybe twice, but that’d be it.” I returned my attention to my phone. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We’ve got training tonight, and it’s Dashie’s first night with us, so we gotta be serious and show her what we’re all about.”

Fluttershy crumpled into herself upon hearing her friend’s name. “Ohh… I-I’m so nervous about that,” she whimpered, wringing her hands.

Rarity gave the shy girl a rub between the shoulder blades. “You needn’t worry, darling. I’m sure it’s going to be fine. You two have known each other your whole lives.”

The shy girl fidgeted in her seat. “I know. It’s just… I-I haven’t even seen her since… the hospital. She was so mad at us that day.”

I stood, slipped my phone into my pocket, and then made my way to the table where they were seated. “It’s gonna be fine,” I said, resting my hands on the chair opposite them. “Like I said, I smoothed things over with her. She understands why we did what we did.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment. Then she drew a deep breath and forced a brave smile. “I know. And I’m glad you did it, but… I’m still scared to see her. I feel so bad about what I did.”

I gave her a reassuring smile while Rarity sipped her tea once more.

“Mm!” The fashionista smacked her lips after swallowing. “I simply cannot believe you convinced the princess to come here, Golds. I do wish, though, that you’d waited until we were back. It would have been an absolute delight to see her again.”

I waved her off and reached for my phone. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It sounded like she was game to come back at some point anyway.”

“Hm.” The fashionista took another sip of tea, furrowing her brow as she swallowed. “Speaking of Twilight, will she be joining us tonight?”

I glanced up from my phone. “Yeah—I hope so, at least. Her and Sunny should be here any minute. Then there’s the three of us and Dashie. The only one who can’t make it tonight is AJ.”

Rarity cocked her head. “Applejack’s not coming?”

“Um, her and Pinkie Pie are doing their annual ‘Predator’ marathon tonight,” Fluttershy explained softly.

“Ah.” The fashionista rolled her eyes. “I see. So I take it they’re at Pinkie Pie’s house for the night then?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, they’re doing it at the farm, um, because Applejack didn’t wanna deal with Pinkie’s sisters.”

Rarity raised a brow. “And where is Sonata? At Applejack’s as well?”

“No. I’m not sure where she is, but I know she has Pinkie’s car because Applejack had to go pick her up—um... Pinkie, I mean.”

“Hm… odd,” Rarity muttered, stroking her chin.

“Nah,” I said with a dismissive wave. “She’s been driving Pinks’ car all week. It’s kind of her ‘thing’ lately.”

“Ah.”

During the short silence that followed, the three of us could hear a motorcycle approaching.

“Ah, speak of the demon,” Rarity announced.

Moments later, the illustrious red-head and her studious companion entered, kicking and slipping their boots off and setting their helmets down.

“Hey, guys,” Sunset greeted, using her fingers to ruffle her hair while Twilight straightened hers.

After they’d exchanged quick hellos with Rarity and Fluttershy, Sunset approached me.

“Hey.” She gave me a nudge with her hip and then folded her arms.

“Hi,” I replied, giving her a little smirk. “You, uh… gonna be OK tonight or do you need a little top-up?”

Sunset snorted. “With you, there’s no such thing as a little top-up,” she quipped. “But no, I should be fine for tonight.”

I nodded and turned to Twilight as she approached. “Hey.”

“Hi, Golds,” she said with a friendly smile. “How’s it going?”

I gave a little shrug. “Good. You?”

“Not bad,” she replied, smiling again, somewhat awkwardly this time. “Soooo… I hear you got to meet the other ‘me’ this week.”

I paused and then raised a finger. “Uh… yeah, about that: I actually need to talk to you about something—if you don’t mind.”

Twilight cocked her head, not expecting this. “Oh? What about?”

“Eh… it’s kinda personal, actually.” I gestured to the other girls. “Why don’t you three go ahead and make your way out to the field? Me and Twi’ll stay here and... uh, have a little chat while we wait for Dashie.”

“But of course, darling,” Rarity said as she gulped back the rest of the tea, indifferent to the fact that it was still steaming hot. Then she stood to put the cup and saucer on the counter before following Fluttershy and Sunset to the door, where their coats and boots awaited.

*****

Several minutes later, Twilight and I had moved to a more isolated location, away from the front door—just in case Rainbow Dash showed up. As a result, Twilight was now seated on the vanity in Fluttershy’s bathroom, facing me.

“OK, so… wow.” She shook her head incredulously. “The princess actually asked you to...” —she paused and then raised her brows— “provide her with... digital stimulation?”

I drew a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. “Fingerbang, yeah,” I replied somewhat bluntly. “She was all wound-up about everything that was going on, and she had a few drinks in her, so she was a little... confused as to what was going on with her body. So she asked for some help… uh, with that.”

Twilight blinked. “And you did it?”

I nodded. “Why not? Seemed innocent enough.”

“Innocent, wow.” She exhaled through pursed lips and then paused, deep in thought. Then she looked at me again. “What was she like?”

“Just like you, except… a little younger looking. And she had more muscle on her, kinda like Sunny.”

Twilight gave a quick nod and licked her bottom lip. “That’s to be expected; the way of life in Equestria is a bit more… traditional than ours.” She paused for a short moment, brows furrowed. “And… Did you say she was younger than me?”

“Physically, yeah. Something about how time in that world flows differently than ours… I think—I dunno, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Based on what I know of that world, I am quite certain that what you just said is totally incorrect.”

I shrugged. “Whatever. I dunno. Either way, it was a tough night; all that crazy, sexy shit went down right in front of me —because of me, for the most part— and everyone else got off at least once. I was the only one who didn’t.”

Twilight drew a breath and bit her lips together to hold it. “I can see how... mmmm that would be frustrating,” she said after a holding her breath for a moment.

“Ugh…” I shook my head. “Especially after having my fingers in her; I could actually feel it when she came. She was tight as hell, just like you, and hot… and juicy—and that body was so damn young…” I bit my lip and gave my head a shake. “Dammit, Twi, I wanted to fuck her so bad; you have no idea.”

“Mmhh… well, now you pretty much are,” she replied, her eyelids fluttering softly.

I glanced down between her legs to study her anatomy as she said this, those fleshy, violet pedals hugging my length as it disappeared into her yet again. “True.”

As always, it hadn’t taken long for the lavender girl’s excessive tightness to drive me to the brink of release. She knew this; such a thing was not difficult to figure out when the member that filled her depths had grown to such rigidity, eager to release its tension deep inside of her.

“I take it you’re close?”

“How could I not be?” I panted, slowing my pace slightly to savour the moment just a little more.

“Me too, actually,” she replied as her eyes drifted shut. “Just take your time and enjoy it, OK?”

“Oh, I am; trust me.”

“I kn-n-n…” Twilight tensed up suddenly and then gripped my shoulders, squeezing them tightly. “Ohh boy… here it comes!”

Just as I reached my peak, so did she. My length began to throb in synch with the tiny interior that gripped it, filling it with a generous portion of that hot, liquid pleasure. Like our nethers, our mouths came together; my lips locked with hers, our moans resonating in harmony as we panted through our noses, our bodies trembling with that wholly satisfying bliss.

Twilight eventually broke the kiss to latch onto my bottom lip with a gentle bite. Her eyes remained closed as she enjoyed the rest of her climax, thrilled by the sensation of that warm pool she’d received deep down—the final shots of which were gushing in as she flicked my bottom lip with her tongue, her breath hot against my face.

At last, the mutual pulsing faded, and we backed away just enough to watch one another.

She exhaled slowly, followed by a full-bodied shudder and a soft chortle. “I can’t believe you. Even after what you went through last night, you still felt the need for this?”

I brought a hand up, holding my index finger and thumb close to indicate something small. “I just had that one specific little itch left, and it needed some serious scratching. You know?”

She rolled her eyes and smirked. “I guess. Well, I’m glad I was able to scratch it for you.”

“Hopefully it’s not like a mosquito bite: where the more you scratch it, the more it itches.”

“Let’s not go there.”

“Oh, come on. You know you like it.”

She smirked demurely, her cheeks reddening. “Well... it’s not the worst favour someone could ask, I guess. I certainly don’t mind you scratching an itch with me… on occasion.”

“Well you’ve got the princess beat, as far as that goes. I honestly can’t tell if it was her I wanted, or if she was just making me want you.” I reached up to thread my finger through that spiral of hair next to her temple. “Plus, she doesn’t have these cute little curls here,” I said, eliciting a sweet giggle from her.

Just then, we heard the front door open. Twilight and I glanced at one another, listening.

“Sounds like Dashie’s here,” I mumbled, to which she nodded, readying herself for withdrawal.

Then we heard a voice call out—one that did not belong to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! …Is anybody here?“ Then, a gasp. “LINKIE!”

Twilight and I froze. We stared at each other, this time our eyes were wide as saucers.

“Sonata!?” the lavender girl whisper-shouted. “What the heck is she going here!?”

“Shit,” I cursed as Twilight’s arm shot outwards, using her magic to swing the bathroom door shut. While she did that, I grabbed her by that little backside and lifted her from the countertop, shuffling sideways to hold her over the sink so I could pull out.

A thick, white stream ran from her slit when I slipped free of her clutches, splattering quietly into the sink as she quickly reached back to turn the faucet on. “Does she know about the training?” she asked in a panic, glancing down between her legs to make sure the cum was being washed down the drain.

“No, she doesn’t,” I replied as Twilight used her magic to summon a roll of bathroom tissue from the basket next to the toilet. “Uh… you know, we’re kinda contributing that water problem right n—“

“Ugh! This is not the time to worry about that!”

“OK-OK, fine,” I conceded, giving Twilight a shake to see if any extra cum might drip from her, prompting her to grip my shoulder.

“OK, um… Golds? Could you not shake me like that? It’s... kinda weird.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Here,” I said, setting her down on the floor, where she tore off a few pieces of toilet paper and then squatted slightly to wipe between her legs. It wasn't the most ladylike thing I’d ever seen, but time was of the essence and we preferred not to be caught like this by the siren.

*****

Moments later, Twilight and I quietly exited the bathroom, keeping a sharp eye out for the siren.

Fluttershy’s bedroom was empty, so I stepped into the hallway entrance, Twilight trailing close behind. I could see flickers of light in the front room, and there was a gruff voice coming from the TV speakers.

”Coral!”

I turned to look at Twilight. “She’s watching TV,” I whispered.

“Oh. Do you think she’ll know we were engaged in coitus?” she whispered back.

”Coral!”

“I doubt it. She doesn’t even know half the shit you tell her.” I looked back at her once more. “And don’t call it that.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Slowly, we made our way to the front room and approached the couch from behind. Sonata was perched on the center cushion with Link sprawled out beside her, his head nestled in her lap.

I cleared my throat to get her attention.

She didn’t move.

I glanced at Twilight and shook my head. Then I placed my hands on the back of the couch and leaned closer.

“Hey.”

“BAH!” Sonata jumped and spun around, which made Link sit up, annoyed by the interruption. “Ohh! Gold Boy,” she panted, placing a hand on her chest. “You scared me!”

“Sorry, my fault,” I replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh... nothin.” She turned back to face the TV. Seconds later, she turned again, her eyes narrowed on Twilight.

Was she actually suspicious of us? Could she tell we just had sex in Fluttershy’s bathroom?

“Which Twilight are you?”

Nope. Clueless, as usual.

“Uh, not... the princess?” Twilight answered, cringing nervously.

The siren nodded slowly. “Ah. OK.”

I shook my head. “The princess went home, Sonata… like, the same night.”

Sonata stared at me. Then she shrugged and faced the TV again.

”CORAL!”

Twilight and I exchanged glances, then I looked at the TV screen. “What the hell are you watching?”

Sonata turned partway, but kept her eyes glued to the screen. “Uh… AMC’s been doing this ‘Walking Dead’ marathon all weekend.”

“Oh... OK,” I replied, turning to gesture to the table. Twilight took a seat, her back facing the counter. I sat across from her. We’d barely gotten comfortable when the show cut to commercial, and Sonata turned to face us over the back of the couch, folding her arms on the cushion.

“So what’re you guys up to? Where is everybody?”

I hesitated, firing a glance at Twilight. “Uh, I think they went for a walk… maybe. Again, what are you doing here?”

Sonata shrugged. “I dunno. I went to P’s a little while ago, but she wasn’t there. Her fam said she went to Applejack’s to watch movies or something.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “They went to watch some ‘Predator’ shit. Why didn’t you just go there?”

“I don’t know the way,” the siren admitted. “And I didn’t really wanna hang out with P’s family either, so I came here.”

“I can give you directions if—“

“Nah.” She waved me off and faced forward again. “I’d rather just hang out with Linkie, now that I’m here.”

Foiled, I let out a frustrated sigh.

Twilight had folded her hands on the table and was endlessly twiddling her thumbs. She drew a breath and looked in Sonata’s direction. “Uh, so… I hear you hung out with Flash Sentry this week.”

Sonata spun around with a big smile on her face. “Oh yeah! It was totally fun!” She faced me next. “Thanks again for that, by the way.”

I nodded and forced a smile. “No problem. What’d you guys get up to, anyway?”

The siren’s eyes went to the ceiling for a second. “Well... we went to the bowling alley, and I had late-night tacos; Flash had nachos, and then we bowled a few games—his best score was like one-sixty something, and I got a two-eighty-eight.” She paused for a moment to think. “Oh! Then I gave him a handie in the parking lot after they closed.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped.

I brought a hand up, eyes closed. “Whoa! Wait… wait, wait.” I pointed at her before opening my eyes again. “You? … Bowled a two-eighty-eight?”

Twilight looked at me, incredulous.

In truth, it kind of pissed me off that even Flash got to empty his nuts that night, and so I chose not to acknowledge it—although I did just have sex with the inter-dimensional duplicate of the girl he liked, but still…

Sonata laughed. “I know, right? I never even bowled before!”

I cleared my throat and faced the table, folding my arms on it. “Wow. Well, good for you for having fun, I guess.”

“Oh yeah! It was a blast,” she nodded, but then a scowl suddenly came over her face. “Except at the end when he nutted on my boot. That was kinda gross.”

Sonata spin around again to watch the TV, replacing her face with that dazzling, blue bob.

Twilight and I slowly turned to face each other. Then I turned to look over my shoulder toward the door, where Sonata’s boots were sitting—right up against mine.

I faced Twilight again, scowling. She snorted, and then placed her hand over her mouth to stifle it.

Then my phone buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket to see who it was.

RAINBOW DASH: So… is someone coming to pick me up or what?”

I gave my head a shake, brows furrowed. What? I thought as I typed my reply.

ME: Remember that amazing car I built and GAVE you? Can you not drive it out here? That’s kind of the reason we have cars, you know.

A few moments passed with no answer.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked, curious.

I shook my head. “Not sure.”

A reply finally came.

RAINBOW DASH: Yeah…that. Well because I was so mad at you I stopped driving it and…at some point because I hadn’t checked on it for a long time someone kinda stole it.

“SON OF A BITCH!” I yelled, dropping my phone to the table, causing both girls to look at me in surprise.

“What? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Someone stole the Diplomat,” I replied, glaring at the tabletop.

“WHAT!?” Twilight hollered, putting a scowl on her face that was surprisingly intense. “After all that work we did? SON OF A BITCH!”

I huffed and picked the phone up again.

ME: When?

RAINBOW DASH: About a week ago. Maybe more.

With a noisy exhale, I switched to the app and scrolled backwards through the dates to check the camera footage. “Motherfuckers are gonna get it. I’ll do to them whatever they did to that car. They better hope for their sake they didn’t ‘chop-shop’ it or some shit.”

Twilight leaned closer. “Golds? What are you doing?”

“Looking for the car.”

She paused for a moment, rolling her jaw back and forth. “OK.”

I glanced up at her. “Alright… why don’t you ‘head out,’ Twi,” I said, tipping my head toward the woods behind the house, signalling her to go out to the Riverfield. “I’m gonna go look for the car.”

Then I stood and headed for the door, typing another message to Rainbow Dash.

ME: OK stay put. I’ll be there in a few hours.

*****

Mid-morning found Rainbow Dash alone, still in her apartment. Her hair was down, spread across her shoulders like a colourful shroud, dressed in minimal clothing as she sat in the centre of her couch, playing video games.

Indestructible, ageless, super fast. These three words now described Rainbow Dash perfectly, having been given the gift of magic and immortality, and this is what she was doing with it. Granted, she was told to stay home and wait—and to be fair, the others didn’t do much with their power either; they spent the majority of their time either watching movies or fucking.

And training. Sometimes.

She was supposed to be training, too. Some first night! She ended up spending it right here, wasting the hours away on the latest ‘Call of Duty’—which she guessed could be considered training… sort of? It was better than nothing, she thought. Plus, she was not looking forward to facing Fluttershy, so it was a relief to be able to postpone that awkward moment just a little longer.

So there she was, slouched down in her seat, resting on the controller on her lap, wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of Spider Man briefs that were meant for young boys—which was admittedly a but weird, but dammit, they fit good! She wasn’t the kind of girl who wore lacy panties, and she hated thongs; they felt too much like they were flossing her ass-crack.

A shot from some random signal in the game’s AI rang out, and her avatar was downed unexpectedly.

“FUCK!”

Rainbow Dash tossed the controller on the cushion beside her, wondering where the round had come from. After a short ponder, she slipped her middle finger through the hole in the front of the underwear and buried it in the warm groove between her legs. Idle touching like this brought about a sense of comfort to the rainbow-haired girl, and she often did this when she ruminated—when she was alone, of course; she did Kegel exercises as well, which she’d been doing for so long that by then, they practically happened on their own whenever she was deep in thought.

Her finger prodded at her hood as she shifted her eyes over to the window. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. It had been unseasonably warm ever since the day Golden Arrow confronted her in the soccer field, and a significant portion of snow had melted away as a result.

The thought of Golds brought her eyes back to the TV screen. I wonder if he’d be any good at this game? she wondered. Then, after a short pause, she withdrew from the briefs and, after a quick sniff of her finger, picked the controller up to start a fresh course.

Before she could press the button, however, her cell phone chimed from the far end of the couch.

DING-A-LING-A-LING!

Rainbow Dash leaned over and watched the screen for a moment.

It was the front foyer.

Curious, she picked it up to answer.

“Hello?”

”Hey, it’s Golds. I’m downstairs.”

“No shit, Sherlock. What’s up?”

”Just get your blue ass down here; it’s been a long night!”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Just give me a minute to get some clothes on.”

”K. See ya.”

*****

Outside, I waited patiently for her to come down, arms folded as I looked down at the pavement, studying the tiny rivers of water that ran from the piles of snow at the edges of the lot to the drains.

She was taking a quite a long time, not unlike the day I took her to unveil the Diplomat. The feeling of déjà vu I got from this was worrying, and illogically so, given the fact that her illness could no longer be repeated.

Then it struck me that if she hadn’t been turned, she would most likely have passed-on by now.

Just as the thought of what that would have been like began to play out in my mind, I heard the familiar rasp of the rainbow-haired girl’s voice from my right, near the front of the building. I turned to look in that direction and found Rainbow Dash standing motionless, mouth agape.

“Hey,” I said, giving her a little smile.

She stared a few seconds longer and then blinked several times. “You… you got it back!?”

I looked behind me at the black-and-rainbow-striped Diplomat, and then back at her again. “Yeah, of course I did. I put a lot of work into this car; I wasn’t about to let some asshole run off with it.”

Rainbow Dash promptly marched over and circled the car once to inspect it, as though she was suspicious that it wasn’t actually the same car. “Is it OK?” she asked, followed by a gasp when she noticed something terrible. “The fuck happened to my wheels!?”

I stepped back and glanced down at the driver’s front tire; unfortunately, the thieves had taken the nice tire and rim package I installed and replaced them with some shitty-looking steel wheels and weather-cracked rubber. “Gone, Dashie. Sorry. I tried to find them, but they must have sold them off or something. You’re lucky, actually; I’m pretty sure they were gonna chop this thing, but judging by all the extra miles on the odometer, they were probably having a bit of fun with it before they did.”

“Fucking dicks!” she grumbled as she rounded the front of the car and kicked the tire before standing next to me.

“It could be worse,” I said, facing her. “At least the car’s still in one piece, and they were kind enough to put some wheels on so you can at least drive it. We’ll just have to get you some nice-looking hubcaps in the meantime.” I pointed to the driver’s door. “They also tore the weather strip a bit when they jimmied the lock, but it’s not horrible.”

“Yeah… that’s not too bad,” she replied, leaning closer to inspect it.

“The ignition switch is messed up too; they broke it to get the car started, so it’ll just turn without the key now. I’ll see if I can find you a new one, but until then, I’ll put a security immobilizer in it for you so this doesn’t happen again.”

“OK.” she nodded.

I paused for a quick sigh. “But uh, the only thing is… you’ll have to pay for it.”

She looked at me with a raised brow.

“Ehh…” I rubbed the back of my neck somewhat sheepishly. “I… kinda used up the last of my money when the princess was here.”

Dash rolled her eyes and turned away. “Alright, fine. It’s my car anyway, so I guess it’s only fair.”

I nodded. “Cool.”

She went past me and opened the driver’s door to stick her head inside. “UGH! Those assholes were smoking in here!”

“Yeah,” I muttered as I draped my arm over the top of the open door.

“Still,” she continued, looking around the interior, “at least they left the stereo.”

“Yeah, I was surprised by that, actually.”

“Huh.” Satisfied that all was reasonably well inside the car, she was about to retreat and close the door when she noticed something: a cluster of crimson spots on the front seat. She turned to give me a suspicious look. “Uh… what’s that?”

“What’s what?” I asked, dipping my head to see what she was pointing at. “Oh…” I paused when I saw it. “Uh, yeah… that. I don’t know what that is; that’s kinda weird. Might be ketchup. Yeah, it’s probably ketchup. ... ... ... Nah, it’s blood.”

“Ugh!” Dash slapped a hand over her forehead. “Golds, did you kill someone to get this car back?”

I reached behind my head to scratch it, avoiding eye contact with her. “Uhh, maybe? I don’t really know. I didn’t exactly stop to check on him. I certainly hope he’s dead; I fucked him over pretty good, so his quality of life is gonna suck if he isn’t.”

With a roll of her eyes, Dash shook her head and closed the door. “You better not get caught doing that shit.” She looked at me, frowning. “How did you find this thing, anyway?”

I slipped my hands into my pockets. “That’s actually part of your training. Twilight’ll bring you up to speed on that. Basically, we have access to nearly every outdoor camera in the city, so I went back and checked the footage from a week ago, and I was able to find them breaking into it—and from there I was able to figure out where they took it.” I let out a chuckle as I patted my pocket, where my phone was. “I got there just in time, too; my phone died like ten minutes after I left.

With a brow raised, and she gave an impressed nod. “Huh… not bad.”

I folded my arms and put an index finger to my chin as I studied the car. This was followed by a mildly awkward silence, during which Dash inspected the paint job for scratches, running her fingers along the front fender. Finally, she looked up at me again and paused with her mouth open, ready to say something that seemed like she needed to gather her nerves for.

“Um… thanks, I guess, for getting this back.” She forced a smile. “I’m sorry I was neglecting it; it’s just that I was… kiiiiinda mad at you, and I didn’t really want to drive the car… because of who it was from. But then it got stolen, which served me right, I guess, since I was kinda being a jerk.”

I locked eyes with hers, surprised by the admission. “Eh… you were mad at us, and you had a right to be. We overstepped our boun—”

“No,” she cut in, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Just... Please, let me say this while I’ve got the nerve for it. I—“

A rather annoying chime rang out from Dash’s pocket, interrupting her. She closed her eyes, visibly bothered by the timing of it.

I nodded to her pants. “You gonna answer that?”

After a quick, exasperated sigh, she shook her head. “No. I’ll call them back; I need to say this.”

“OK.”

“Look,” she continued over the ringing of her phone, which eventually ceased on its own—but not before annoying her further. “I, uh… I never really thanked you for, um… saving my life.”

I raised a brow.

She gave an uneasy scratch to her earlobe. “I just… I mean, yeah, I was mad, but also… I’ve been pretty ungrateful; I get why you guys did what you did, and there was no way you could have known that I didn’t want help—which was… kinda messed up, now that I think about it. I was being kinda dumb about the whole thing.”

I shook my head. “Your feelings, and what you wanted to do with your life isn’t dumb, Dashie. We should have taken more time to consider whether or not you would want to commit to an existence that never ends.”

“I know, and… to be honest, the thought of that scared the crap outta me, but… it’s better than being dead, I guess. For now. And I get that Fluttershy didn’t wanna let me die—heh! She’s kind of a softie like that.” She ended with a nervous cringe.

I smirked. “She’s a sweetheart. And she loves you, Dashie. So... yeah.”

Dash smiled and then looked down at the ground, rubbing her forearm. “I… honestly don’t know what I was trying to prove; like, I was willing to let myself suffer and die. And for what? Because I was jealous of you?” She paused to rub her forehead. “Ugh… god, I was being pretty ridiculous. Some Element of Loyalty I am.”

I leaned with my back against the car, hands in my pockets. “It’s not ridiculous. People do all kinds of weird things when they have terminal diseases; some just give in, some fight to the bitter end, some won’t tell anyone and would rather be left alone—maybe because they don’t want to be treated differently. Who knows? There’s all kinds of reasons that people do what they do. It doesn’t always make sense, nor does it have to. When they know the end is coming, everything else just becomes less important.”

“Yeah but, the end didn’t have to co—“

DING-A-LING-A-LING!

Rainbow Dash and I deadpanned as her phone cried out for attention a second time, and we glanced around the parking lot impatiently, waiting for it to end.

When it was finally finished, I drew a breath to speak. “You were saying?”

“Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “Um… so anyway, I was gonna say that the end didn’t have to come; I had a way to fix it…” —her eyes rose to meet mine, then she quickly looked away— “b-but I chose not to, because I as acting all weird about... everything.”

I gave a shrug. “It’s fine, Dashie. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened to me.”

“I know, it’s just… I’m sorry I treated you like that. Now that I’m like you, it doesn’t really feel the way I thought it would; it’s like… I dunno. I kinda like it, though—other than not being able to take naps.”

“Yeah, well… I’m sorry about that, but I’m sure you feel a lot better now than you did before,” I said, to which she nodded. “Don’t worry. With time, you’ll come to realise that—”

DING-A-LING-A-LING!

“Jesus!” I waved my hand and turned away. “Just answer the fuckin thing, Dashie.”

She huffed noisily, reaching into her pocket to yank her phone out. Without even looking at it, she tapped the screen and brought it to her ear. “WHERE’S THE FUCKING FIRE!?” After a few seconds, her expression dropped and she rolled her eyes. “Ugh… sorry, AJ. What’s up?”

I let out a snicker and shook my head, watching as she stared at the ground, listening.

“Yeah… ... I’m at home,” she answered, pausing to listen. “Uhh, I dunno. I’m outside, actually. In the parking lot with Golds.” She glanced up at me. “Yeah, he’s right here.” Then she rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t have a bee in my bonnet about that anymore.”

I smirked and fished around in my pocket, but then I stopped when I remembered that my phone was dead. I looked at Rainbow Dash again, watching as she turned and ambled away, holding the phone to her ear.

“No, his phone’s dead. Why, what’s up?... … Who?” She continued to pace as she listened, but after a few steps, she stopped suddenly, her head perking up. “When?” she asked. “Last night?”

She turned around again, staring at the ground. Seeing her face, I was quick to notice her expression: her brow was marked with concern; whatever she was being told, it appeared to be quite alarming.

“Holy shit. Do they know what happened?” she asked, rolling her jaw as she listened. Then she shook her head. “Jeez.”

By then, I was watching intently, wondering what was going on.

Dash nodded, and then inhaled deeply. “OK. OK. Uh… what room is she in?” She listened, and then nodded again. “OK. Yeah, we’re gonna head over there now. ... Yeah. Thanks, AJ.”

Rainbow Dash lowered the phone to end the call. Then she stared at the ground, chewing her lip.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She glanced up at me suddenly, as if she’d forgotten I was there. “Oh, uh… Maud’s in the hospital.”

I cocked my head. “Maud… Pie?”

She nodded.

“What happened?”

Dash shook her head. “Pinkie found her outside when AJ dropped her off this morning, laying in the grass by the side of the house. I guess she was all messed up or something.”

“Messed up how?”

“I dunno. She didn’t really say. But we gotta go; I told AJ we would meet them at the hospital as soon as we can.”

I stood and opened the car door. “OK. You wanna drive?”