For the first time since leaving the bar yesterday, I feel like I have a purpose, which is to get me and Rarity as far away from those stupid interrogation rooms as possible. There’s no honor guard of friends to escort us down the street this time. It’s just me, Rarity, and Swift Justice trotting along toward the hospital.

Nopony tries to say hi to us. Plenty of them are still staring, but a lot are suddenly finding really interesting clouds or dirt clods to look at. Rarity doesn’t smile or wave to any of them either. We aren’t trying to pretend everything is fine anymore. We might as well have a big banner that says, ‘Something bad happened. We’re dealing with it. We’re still awesome.’ So, everypony can just get on with the gossip already.

All the aches and pains from getting attacked are really starting to settle in, so trotting feels a lot like getting stabbed all over my body every time I take a step. But letting my muscles move and work starts to break up some of the stiffness from laying or sitting around so much today, which hurts but in a familiar way like going for a run after a hard crash.

Being in the street kind of freaks me out. It’s hard to keep my eyes focused on the path ahead of me because I keep wanting to look around to make sure nopony is following us but doing that would totally ruin the vibe we’re trying to give off. The problem is I can’t think about where we’re going either because I really don’t want to get poked and prodded by doctors. At the same time, there’s that pegasus thing deep inside me that is happy to be out in fresh air and to see the sky wide open above me.

It only takes a few minutes to get to the hospital. Once we’re inside, Rarity and Justice go talk to the nurse at the desk while I hang back by the chairs. Redheart gives me a pitying little look and says we have to wait for a few minutes.

“This part will go a lot quicker than the interview,” Justice says when she gets back from the desk. She sounds irritated about how things went down at the office. “I’ll just snap the pics I need and get out of your manes.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“No problem.”

Rares sits in the chair next to me. She looks totally calm, but I can feel her shaking. I catch her eye and reach out for her hoof. We make it look as casual as we can, but we’re squeezing each other as tight as we can without making it obvious. She lets out a deep breath and leans into my shoulder.

We only get a minute to breathe and try to relax. Then a male nurse calls me back. He holds one of the double doors open for us. I can hear the thump thump of my racing heart when my hoofsteps suddenly stall and I stop moving. I try to stay cool, but I can’t make myself walk past him into the hallway.

I glance at Rarity and she effortlessly puts herself between me and the nurse that didn’t do anything wrong except be born a stallion. She takes the door in her magic and says, “You are too kind.” She doesn’t flirt with him or anything, but she does smile appreciatively. “I don’t mean to disregard the chivalry, but would you mind terribly if I asked you to go first? You see, neither I nor my friend is much inclined to have anypony walking behind us just now.”

The stallion was trying not to look at me while Rarity was talking. He almost sounds relieved when he says, “Sure. Sorry.” and bolts through the door.

I’ve always hated hospitals. They’re boring and being in one means I messed up bad enough I’m probably not going to be flying for a few days. This time is even worse, because I feel like all the lights are pointing right at me. It’s like I have a giant spotlight following me around, telling everypony I pass to look at me and see how bad somepony managed to beat up a mare that’s supposed to be one of the toughest in Equestria- not just Ponyville.

“The doctor will be right in,” the nurse says when we get to the room. He gives me the same apologetic look that stallion guard gave me back at the station, then he leaves the room as fast as he can.

“Thank you,” Rarity says as the door closes.

There isn’t much in the room. There’s the normal stuff: a table, a couple chairs, and a sink. That’s it. Rares sits down and so do I.

Somewhere in the back of my brain, I’m able to acknowledge that the nurse and the guard from the station are probably both decent guys. It kinda sucks that they freak me out right now because they’re probably just cool guys with decent stories about weird stuff they have to do for their jobs. If I’d met them a week ago, they probably would have been cool to hang out with. Now they’re always going to remember me as that mare that was terrified of them because somepony else raped her.

“You’d still like for me to stay?” Rarity asks gently pulling me back to the present.

I nod. “Yeah. Please.” There’s a lot more scared pleading in my voice that I’m normally ok with, but today there’s no point in even trying to pretend like I can handle this on my own.

She nods back. “Of course, darling.”

There’s a knock at the door. It opens and a small pegasus mare comes in. I recognize her. She used to be a doctor in Cloudsdale. I think she married a unicorn and moved to Ponyville about the same time I did. She gives me and Rares a weak little smile. Then nods at Justice and says, “Officer.”

“Doc.”

The doctor quickly looks back at me, focusing her warm golden gaze on my eyes. “I’m guessing this has been one hell of a day for you.”

“Pretty much.” I shrug.

“I’m sorry about that.” She manages to sound professional and sympathetic without being patronizing or condescending. “I’ll do my best to get you out of here quickly.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Will your marefriend be staying?” she gives Rarity a sideways glance and a genuine smile.

“Oh, we-”

“Yeah,” I cut Rarity off and grab her hoof before she can launch into some twisted explanation of what’s really going on. It’s nopony’s business and I don’t feel like wasting that kind of time. “She’s staying.”

The doctor eyeballs our joined hooves for just a second then nods and says, “My name is Aileron Cornu. I think we’ll start by letting Officer Justice get the photos she needs. Then I’ll do a brief exam and we’ll go from there. Alright?”

I sigh, nod, and slowly get to my hooves. Rares gently lifts the jacket off me. The tingle of her magic on my coat feels really good. I close my eyes and focus on the swirling feeling because I don’t want to see the other two react. I don’t need to see them when I can hear them anyway.

The doctor tries to hide her gasp and fails, but Swift Justice clearly says, “Holy shit!” and I flinch.

Rarity stays steady. Her sapphire eyes lock on mine as she tosses the jacket into one of the chairs. All the crap I saw earlier when she got out of her interrogation is gone. It’s like nothing bad has happened to her at all today. Her expression isn’t exactly relaxed, but it’s soft and totally focused on me. I’m not alone. She’s going to stay. I don’t have to do this alone. Rarity will help me handle whatever happens.

The doctor coughs a little, but her voice still catches when she says, “O- officer Justice?”

“Oh, right.” Justice shakes out herself out of the trance staring at my various bruises put her in. “Ms. Dash, can you step over here?”

It’s weird when ponies call me Ms. Dash. Justice is a pony I could be friends with. She shouldn’t be calling me Miss. anything.

“Just call me Dash, k?”

“Sure. Sorry.”

I give Rare one more quick glance then move into the middle of the room. Justice starts taking pictures as soon as I’m holding still. So many damn pictures. I keep my eyes locked on Rarity’s and count our breaths to keep from freaking out.

“Open your wings, please,” Justice says peeking out from behind the camera to give me an apologetic look. It’s easy to tell that she feels bad for asking the question, but I know she doesn’t really have a choice.

“Carefully,” the doctor rushes to say.

“Duh!” I say before I can stop myself. Rarity rolls her eyes at me for being rude.

There’s a good half a second where I smirk and just feel like me, but then I start trying to open my wings. I try to be slow and careful, but it doesn’t work. The pain seems to start before I even start trying to move. Like my body is punishing me for even thinking about trying to spread my wings right now. Actually, trying to move any part of them brings hot tears to my eyes that I can’t stop from spilling over. Hours of sitting with my wings tucked against my sides under a jacket didn’t do me any favors. I bite my lip and try to breathe through the pain, like a mother trying to birth a foal. It doesn’t help.

Rares tears up too. “Can I help?” she asks.

I shake my head but the doctor cuts across me and says, “Do you know a basic numbing spell?”

“Of course.” Rarity’s instant, confident answer surprises me but some things start making more sense, like how she was able to get my wing open with her magic so she could clean it last night without making me bawl like a baby.

“Can you numb her from the wing tips to here?” The doctor points to a place on my back but doesn’t touch me.

Rarity stands up to look. “I believe I can, yes.”

“Would you be alright with that Dash? It’s important that Officer Justice gets good pictures of the damage done to your wings.” For the attempted murder charge. She doesn’t say the last part, but she doesn’t have to.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I answer.

“Do you have a rudimentary chart of the nerves I can look at?” Rarity asks like she’s asking for a dress pattern to look at so she doesn’t screw anything up. For a second she sounds a lot like Twilight, but then I remember that Rares is just as persnickety as Twi. Maybe it’s a unicorn thing. Maybe I should just be grateful that, unlike Twilight, Rares is willing to admit she doesn’t always know everything and ask for help.

The doctor pulls a picture out of a drawer and starts pointing. “Ideally, these three nerve bundles need to be numbed and this muscle magically supported so we don’t cause more damage.”

Rarity’s blue eyes move back and forth from the picture to me a few times before she nods. “Ready, Dashie?”

“Have at it, Marshmallow.” I shrug and close my eyes.

The magic feels good. The cool swirling tingle starts at my the tips of my feathers and creeps carefully in along each feather then seeps into the flesh of my wing and along the bones toward my spine. Then, suddenly I can’t feel anything. All the soothing, tingling, coolness is gone along with everything else. The huge relief of not feeling the aching pain in anymore is almost totally overwhelmed by the total panic that comes from not being able to feel my wings at all.

My eyes snap open and meet Rarity’s calm gaze. It’s Rarity. She doesn’t make mistakes, not with stuff like this. I suck in a couple breaths and look back just to verify that my wings really are still there. Seeing them helps for a second, but then I notice how bad they look and I have to look away again.

“Very impressive,” the doctor says appreciatively as she carefully unfolds one of my wings. “We have residents that can’t perform half as well.”

I focus on the feel of Rarity’s magic where it tickles my back and side at the base of my wing while Justice pictures from every possible angle. Magic kind of feels like air or wind. There’s a tiny rustle to it that I can feel with my coat. I should have paid more attention when it was moving across my feathers. I would’ve been able to feel every little pulse and shimmer.

Rares takes hold of the wing the doctor had, softly folding it in and pinning it to my side. Then she releases the other one into the doctor’s hooves.

Finally, Justice says, “Done with the wings.”

Rarity takes my second wing and carefully folds it back into place.

“It’s probably going to hurt when she releases the magic,” Dr. Cornu warns me.

“Is there any way to avoid that?” Rares asks and I can’t help but smile gratefully at the unmasked concern in her voice.

“Do you think you can do a slow time release on the spell?” the doctor asks with a hopeful little lift to her tone. It’s the same tone I hear from Spitfire when she’s come up with a new move for me to try that’s ridiculously hard, but she’s already pretty sure I can do because I’m awesome like that.

Rarity’s eyebrows knit together while she looks at my wings. The expression is crazy familiar to me. It’s the face she makes when a dress isn’t doing what she wants and she has to figure out how to fix it. Her horn is glowing a steady blue and I feel her aura tingling around in a few different places. Finally, she says, “Yes. I believe I can do that. Rainbow, what do you think?”

“Go ahead and try it,” I say after one second of hesitation. She isn’t Twilight trying some spell she isn’t sure will work, so I don’t feel like I need to be worried that she’s going to screw up too bad. The tingling speeds up then slows down to a steady hum and the aura around her horn fades.

“I’ll have to nudge it along every few minutes,” Rarity says like she needs to be sorry that she can’t just make it happen automatically. “But you won’t have sensation return all at once.”

“Cool.” I try twitching my wings. The muscles of my back respond enough that I feel the tiniest movement of feathers against my coat but no pain. “Thanks, Rare.”

“Beautifully done,” the doctor says, obviously impressed.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Rarity blushes and waves a hoof.

Swift Justice kept snapping pictures during the exchange. Now she’s got the lens trained on my cutie marks. She’s a lot closer to my flanks thank I’m comfortable with, especially now that I’m getting used to the feeling of having numb wings so I’m less distracted. I try to hold still, but can’t stop from shifting anxiously a little on my hooves.

“Just a few more, ok Dash?” Justice says.

“Yeah. Sure,” I say back. It’s not like there’s anything I could do to make her stop anyway.

Rare’s eyes are totally focused on my face. “You’re doing wonderfully,” she assures me.

I nod a little then start staring at a poster on the wall. It’s a generic landscape with a wide, green meadow, a blackish pond, and a blue-gray sky. There’s nothing about it that really stands out, so it isn’t much of a distraction, but it’s better than nothing.

After another minute of camera clicking, Justice sucks in a deep breath then speaks in the most apologetic voice I’ve heard anypony use yet. “I need you to lift your tail,” she says.

“Fuck. No.” I snap my tail down hard and try to ignore the jolt of pain shooting up my spine. It would have radiated out through my wings too if I could feel them. I lean, reaching for Rarity, and she steps forward to let our foreheads touch. I wish I could just let the world shrink down to that one single place and not feel anything else. Tears are streaming down my face as I shake my head against Rarity’s.

“I know, Dashie. You’re being so brave, darling,” she says so softly that I know I’m the only one that heard her and reaches up to stroke my mane. It’s weird to have her call me Dashie. It isn’t bad, just weird, but not weird enough to distract me from what’s happening right now.

“Just kill me, ok?” I tell her.

“No, darling,” she answers seriously. “I don’t think I’ll be doing that. I didn’t go to all this bother just to have to dispose of your corpse.”

“It’s not like you haven’t thought about it,” I chuckle a little. We’re whispering.

“I never!”

“Not even when I broke that window in The Boutique?” I raise my good eyebrow and look at her.

“Which time?” she asks in that perfect mock innocence of hers.

“Ha. Fair enough.” Just like that, the half a second of distraction is gone and I’m back to remembering that there’s somepony waiting for me to lift my tail and show them exactly what happened to me. The rest of me looks really bad, but it could have just happened in a fight or a really bad crash. These are the pictures they need to really confirm that it was rape. I lean into Rare a little harder. “Do I really have to do this?”

“Yes, darling. I’m afraid you do.”

My tail is still tucked firmly between my legs. I know I’m torn. I know I’m bruised. I know that I don’t really know how bad it is down there. Rarity’s seen it, but hasn’t said much, just enough to let me know that it’s really bad.

“Help me?” I ask. I don’t even know how or if she can, but it feels like if there’s a way then Rarity will find it.

“Are you absolutely certain?” She doesn’t even sound surprised. There’s definitely something she can do. It’s probably one more thing neither of us ever thought we’d be ok with, but here we are and she’s the mare with a plan. I nod and move my face to hide in her shoulder.

Magic rolls across my back then wraps gently around my dock. Then everything carefully lifts and there’s a bunch of clicking.

“Sorry, Dash,” Justice says, her voice thick with emotion. “But I need you to open your legs more.”

I widen my stance. It hurts. I almost scream into Rare’s shoulder, but I focus on her instead. I close my eyes and breath in her clean laundry and flower scent. Her coat is soft, but the muscles underneath it are strong. Like all things Rarity, there’s just something about the feel of her that seems carefully maintained.

Her low voice mumbles in my ear, “Shhh. Dashie. It’s almost over. You’re being so brave.” The words don’t make me feel any better, because they don’t mean anything, but the agony in her voice helps because it means I’m not alone.

“I’m so sorry, Dash,” Justice says again, “but you’ve got a lot of bruising. Can you go any wider?”

I want to scream and punch her in the face, but I also want to apologize for putting her through this. No decent mare wants to see another pony like this- no decent stallion does either for that matter. If I was in Justice’s place, having to ask another mare to spread her legs wide and let me take pictures of the evidence that she’s been through one of the worst things a pony can live through would haunt me forever.

I bite down on Rarity’s shoulder to keep myself from screaming and spread my legs as far as I can without falling over. It hurts. Any healing my body had started just got ripped apart.

I feel disgusting. Ruined. What happened was bad, but this is worse. There’s a part of my brain screaming that I should have just stayed at Rarity’s. I should have sworn her to secrecy and never told anypony what happened. It would’ve just taken a few weeks for me to heal and I could have kept my shame a secret. Instead, that one part of me that I never put on display, the one part I kept to myself for myself and the few ponies I ever felt like sharing it with, is splayed for somepony I barely know.

Rares is going to have a gnarly bruise from the bite, but she doesn’t even flinch. Her lips gently press a kiss to the back of my head and her hoof strokes my mane as she rides out the pain. It’s probably only a few seconds but it feels like the longest year of my life.

“Ok,” Justice finally says. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her wiping away tears.

I relax my jaw and instinctively lick the wound I just caused trying to sooth the pain. “Sorry,” I mumble.

Rares kisses my cheek. “It’s nothing,” she says with a smile and a little shrug.

“Still sorry,” I mumble and take a step back.

She gives me a quick little nuzzle. “Truly, Rainbow, it’s fine.”

“I’ve got what I need,” Justice is saying to Doctor Cornu, then she turns to me. “Just so you know, Dash. I’m taking myself off your case after I drop these off.”

“Why?” I ask bewildered and disappointed. Knowing she was working on my case felt awesome because it felt like she believed me. Like there was at least one pony I could trust to be on my side. If she isn’t helping out, then that just leaves that idiot of a captain that obviously thinks I did something to deserve all of this.

“Because I can’t do my job on this one,” she answers wiping a few more tears off her face. “I’m around if you need anything though, ok?”

I sigh because I get it, but it’s still disappointing. “Thanks, buddy,” I say raising a hoof for her to bump. “I appreciate that.”

“No problem. I’ll see you around, Dash.” She walks out, leaving us with the doctor.

The doc needs another moment to collect herself. It’s one of those times when the barriers crack and I remember that guards and doctors are just ponies. They don’t have some special shield that protects them from feeling the heaviness of the stuff they have to see in their jobs. I guess I’m not surprised that all of this is affecting the doctor so much, but I wish it wasn’t. I wish she could just stay in professional mode, so I wouldn’t have to feel bad about giving one more mare and awful memory to haunt her forever.

“It’s pretty bad, huh?” I ask.

“Yes,” she answers honestly after taking a deep breath. “Rape isn’t common in most of Equestria. It’s even less common in Ponyville, as you might expect. Still, I’ve been the consulting physician on a few cases over the years. Yours are by far the worst physical injuries I’ve seen. You’re very lucky the injuries to your wings aren’t any worse.”

“Yeah, lucky.” My words are hollow. I catch Rarity pouting at me for half a second before her face goes back to being carefully calm and supportive. She’s still bugged I didn’t tell her how bad my wings really were. I don’t blame her, but I also don’t feel bad. This whole reporting thing is bad enough now when I’ve had a few hours to try and get myself together. If we’d come in last night I probably would have just freaked out and run away screaming.

“We need to take an x-ray,” The doctor continues. “Then we’ll what we need to do about your other injuries. Miss Rarity, is it safe to assume that you’ll be available to help with Dash’s recovery?”

Rare looks at me and I nod. Then she says, “Yes, of course.”

“Wonderful. I expect that will help speed things along. I’m going to get the x-ray ordered and start writing some homecare instructions for you. Do either of you have any questions for me at this point?”

I shake my head.

“You really are very lucky, Rainbow Dash. To be alive and to have such a talented unicorn as your special somepony.” She smiles weakly at us and walks out the door.

I should laugh, right? The idea that Rarity and me are special someponies is ridiculous. It’s just so wrong. I can’t do it though. We look at each other, but it isn’t the knowing, dismissive look it could be. We both feel it. This new thing between us isn’t even a little romantic, but it isn’t nothing. Rarity is going to be my main mare for a while. She’ll take care of me. She’ll never leave me, but it will never be like that for us. Which is ok, because I’m not even sure I’ll ever be able to get to that place again.

I’ve never really needed to be in a relationship to be happy, but I always knew I’d want one someday. Now, I’m ruined. I can’t imagine letting someone in like that. There’s only one pony I could trust enough for that, and she’s only safe because I know Rarity doesn’t think of me that way.

The more the doctor looks at the x-ray the more she goes on about how it’s more than a miracle I’m alive. The x-ray confirms a few things: pretty much every bone in each of my wings is fractured, broken, or shattered, but somehow none of the major blood vessels in my wings ruptured. There’s plenty of damage to the muscles and tendons, but nothing is torn. The fact that my wings are so strong means that even though tons of stuff is messed up, nothing really shifted much, so it doesn’t look like anything needs to be rebroken and set right.

I have broken ribs on both sides and some internal bleeding that should resolve itself, but the doc wants to keep an eye on it.

Cornu got a good look at my tail end while Justice was taking pictures. She says that I’m torn enough I could benefit from stitches, but she doesn’t think they’re strictly necessary. The idea of having her down there messing with stuff makes me want to puke, so we decide I’m not getting any stitches.

The doctor wants to give me some medicine to make sure I don’t get pregnant until Rarity explains the magic she did to make sure that wasn’t a problem. I think the doctor might be a little in love with Rarity. She won’t shut up about how Rares would make an excellent surgeon, especially since she already knows how to sew.

My prescriptions are simple enough: pain meds, rest, ice -especially on my eye to make the swelling go down- heat, stretching, physical therapy in a few weeks, and Rarity- several daily doses of Rarity. She’s supposed to preen and massage my wings at least once a day. More importantly, it’s her job to make sure that I don’t freak out and get me in to see a counselor as soon as possible.

Rares helps me put the trenchcoat back on for the walk home and we finally get to leave the exam room. It’s late but our friends are in the waiting area, even Applejack. I stop moving when I see her and glance sideways at Rarity. She’s frozen too and looks just as panicked as I feel.

I didn’t realize exactly how scared I was of this moment before. If AJ doesn’t believe me, if she doesn’t believe Rarity, then I don’t know what will happen. I don’t want to lose her. I can’t imagine life without Applejack. But, if she thinks I’m a liar or hates me for ruining her life (and I totally wouldn’t blame her for that second one), then I don’t know how we’ll ever get past it

AJ slowly stands. Rare and I both suck in a breath and hold it as Applejack looks carefully and deliberately from me to Rare and back to me. It feels like she can see right through my jacket to all the bruises and broken bones, but I can’t tell from her face what she thinks about any of it. All I can do is hold my breath and wait for her to decide, but she isn’t giving anything away.

After a few of the longest seconds of my life, AJ takes her hat in her hooves and looks away. Rare and I both let go of the breath we were holding. At least, AJ didn’t start yelling right away. That might not be a good thing, but it means there’s still a chance she’ll believe us.

Rare looks at me with the tiniest question in her eyes. I take another breath, letting my lungs expand painfully until I wince and have to let the air go. Then I nod and we start walking across the waiting room again.

AJ keeps looking anywhere but at me until I’m right in front of her. I’m right on the edge of freaking out. Part of me just wants to know already. If she’s going to tell me I’m a liar or that I deserved it for always being such a show-off, then I just want her to get on with it. But, if there’s a chance she’ll believe me, even if all she can say is that she doesn’t know anything for sure yet, then I can wait. I can feel Rarity’s perfectly calm and patient presence next to me and I focus on trying to mirror it.

Finally, with her ears pressed flat against her, AJ nods sadly at the floor then looks me square in the face. I let myself breathe and feel the biggest rush of relief I’ve had since Rarity agreed to take me home last night instead of bringing me to the hospital. The acceptance and apologies are all right there in those honest eyes. Applejack believes me. Or, she believes me enough that she isn’t going to yell at me for getting her brother in trouble.

“Look,” she says, wiping her muzzle a little to brush away any tears that might have been trying to sneak out of her eyes. “I know you don’t want me here and I can’t say I blame you. I just….” Her eyes move across my jacket again. “Well, I just hoped that it would be alright. You don’t have to say nothin’. I’m sure you’re plum sick of talkin’. And thanks for not yellin’ at me for showin’ up. Like I said, I don’t blame you a’tall for not wantin’ me here. I just wanted to see that you’re managin’. Now that I have, I’ll stay away until-”

“Shut up,” I cut her off and pull her into a hug. It’s the first hug from anypony besides Rarity that feels right. AJ smells like dirt, and trees and fresh air. It distracts me from the crappy hospital smell and I take as deep a breath as I can manage. She squeezes me too hard and buries her muzzle in my shoulder. I feel her shudder and hear her breath catch.

“I- I can’t-” she tries to spit out, but the tears break through and her voice catches in her throat. I squeeze her with everything I’ve got but she doesn’t squeeze back any harder. She eases up instead but doesn’t actually let go. So, there’s one more thing about all of this that sucks. For the first time ever, Applejack is afraid of hurting me.

I know what I’m going to see when she pulls away and I hate it, even if I can’t blame her for it. She’s going to look at me differently. From now until forever, AJ is going to look at me like somepony that got beat. She won’t mean it to be a loss of respect, but that’s how it’s going to feel. I’m never going to be able to make up for this. She won’t let me because she’ll want to protect me instead.

Suddenly, the hug is way too much and I have to pull away. I’m careful to keep my eyes on the ground, so I don’t have to see the change in AJ’s face. Maybe if I don’t see it, then it won’t be real.

Applejack lets me go and turns to Rarity. “Rare...I...I just can’t even….”

Rarity gives AJ a little nuzzle, but I can feel her eyes on me. “It’s alright, darling,” Rare says. “We’re alright.”

Another quick round of hugs and checking in with everypony and we leave for Rarity’s. Twilight and Fluttershy are keeping to themselves, which is totally fine with me. I know neither of them has intentionally tried to piss me off today, but I don’t care very much about their intentions. I don’t even care about very much about what they’ve done. It’s not like they can go back and change it. Well, Twilight could but she won’t. I care about what they do. It’s the vibe coming from them that bugs me now. Twilight keeps doing stuff that makes it seem like she isn’t totally on my side, and she doesn’t act like that pattern is going to change anytime soon. And Fluttershy keeps defending her. They have their reasons, and they’re probably good ones, but I’m too tired and worn out to care. Tonight, it bugs me and I don’t think I can handle any more of their crap without totally freaking out at them.

So, I walk next to Rare and lean wearily against her. She takes my weight like I’m nothing more than a saddle bag and gently encourages me to keep putting one hoof in front of the other.

AJ is on my other side. I still haven’t looked at her face, but out of the corner of my eye, I see her give me and Rare the eyebrow for just a sec. Then she shakes out her head like whatever’s going on isn’t something she wants to try and understand right now, so she’s just going to go with it.

Nopony talks and it’s late enough that we don’t run into anypony in the street as we take the back way to The Boutique. The only sound is our hooves crunching through the dirt.

When we get to the back door, Rarity asks, “How is everypony getting home?”

“I’m staying at Twilight’s,” Fluttershy answers simply. She doesn’t blush, even though Rarity and AJ both give her a questioning look. I’m guessing she’s choosing to call it a functional choice. She probably really does want to stick close in case I need something, but I’m guessing she also wants to try and take care of Twilight since I’m not letting her take care of me. They’re both bugging the feathers off me I’m glad nopony has to deal with this shit show alone.

“I’ll just be walkin’ home,” AJ says.

“I’ll walk with you,” Pinkie offers. “Nopony should be walking by themselves in the dark tonight.”

“But then won’t you just have to walk home in the dark, Pinkie?” Applejack counters.

“Yeah, but only for a second. I’m way faster than you are, and I can always dip into the tunnels if I need to.”

“Tunnels?” I ask.

“I’ve been working on a network of party tunnels from my super secret party planning laboratory. I got the idea after I dug that tunnel when Fluttershy turned into Flutterbat. There’s a tunnel entrance at Sweet Apple Acres. Nopony knows about the tunnels, so I’ll be safer than spinach at a cupcake party. Plus, I can swing by Twilight’s on my way back to Sugarcube Corner, just to be extra bonus leveled up to the max safe.”

“Pinks?”

“Yeah, Dashie?”

“I love you,” I say with a smile.

“I love you too!” She moves to hug me but waits for my nod before squishing me gently. She’s one crazy-ass pony, but she really is my best friend.

Applejack coughs, as Pinkie lets me go. I catch those green eyes and see the look I’ve been trying to avoid. It isn’t a huge change. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if I wasn’t already hyper-aware of everything. But, there it is and it sucks. I look away and lean on Rarity a little more. Rare gives me a quick look, that I don’t respond to.

AJ’s cough is hanging in the air like a warning. This is that moment when we go our separate ways, but she’s got something to say. She’s nervous, pawing awkwardly at the ground. “I need y’all to know somethin’ before I go,” she finally says with a sigh.

“Go ahead, Applejack. We’re all friends here,” Rarity says in her soothing voice.

“Thanks, Rare,” AJ says appreciatively. “I just wanted you and Dash to know that Mac isn’t gettin’ any sort of help from me or Granny. She already sent a letter out to the entire family sayin’ that if anypony wants to help him, then they can consider themselves cut off from the Ponyville Apples.”

Twilight starts to say something, but AJ waves her off. “Don’t even go there Twi. There ain’t no innocent until proven guilty in the Apple family, not when it comes to this. Granny and me seen enough this mornin’ to be convinced Mac done some serious wrong. That’s what I was yellin’ when y’all showed up. Gran kept askin’ all mornin’ what happened and he wouldn’t say a world, which was enough for Granny. So, even if them guards hadn’t shown up and carted Mac off, there still would’ve been hell to pay. As it is, we spent the day boxin’ up his stuff, and writin’ to some of the cousins about comin’ to pick up the slack around the farm.”

A weight settles over me like a heavy blanket. As relieved and happy as I am that Applejack believes me, I also feel really bad for Mac. He’s got no one. “AJ…” I start but don’t know what else to say.

She raises a hoof to stop me anyway. “Now ain’t the time, Dash. I reckon I’ll hear the full story eventually, and in the end, we’ll all be sick of talkin’ about it. If I was you I'd already be sick of talkin’ about it. But, there’s somethin’ else y’all should know before I go,” Applejack says. Her voice is heavy and exhausted, but still strong. “Mac’s been assigned some public defender. Don’t know much about him, but what we know don’t sound good.”

“He’s really going to try and defend himself?” Pinkie asks. “That meanie mcstupid evilface. Sorry AJ.”

“It’s fine, Pinkie,” AJ gives a sad little chuckle. “I’ve been callin’ him a lot harsher words all day. But, yeah. Least, according to the letter his lawpony sent Granny this afternoon.” Applejack pauses to look apologetically at me and Rarity. “Sounds like he’s gonna try and say that Dash and Rarity set him up and that Rare used more magic than she should have.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asks.

“It’s the best defense they’ve got,” Twilight interjects before Applejack can answer.

“What do we do about it?” Rarity sounds a little concerned, but mostly she sounds tired.

“Let the evidence speak for itself,” Twilight says simply. “I don’t know what possible motive he could claim the two of you had for framing him. Unless he’s willing to risk some really big lies.”

“Like what?” I ask.

“If Mac could find a way to convince the judicial committee and the jury that the two of you were dating and Rarity got jealous, then he will have a premise to explain why Rarity went after him. Or, could claim that one of you had some long-standing grudge against him.”

“Huh.” I glance quickly at Rarity. “That makes some of the questions they asked me start to make a lot more sense.”

“But how will that explain away the rape?” Fluttershy asks.

“He’d probably say that Rainbow just likes it rough,” Twilight shrugs and I vomit a little in my mouth.

“This is all speculation at this point, of course,” Rarity offers in an attempt to soothe the group and close the conversation.

Of course, Twilight ignores her and plows ahead like swarm of parasprites. “Yes, but I’ve heard about this public defender before. He’s well-known for being relentless and unscrupulous. He’ll try anything to get his clients acquitted, and he’s surprisingly good at what he does.” She pauses to look right at Rarity with a meaningful gaze before saying, “That is, of course, unless they decide to go the more traditional route.”

“What’s that?” AJ asks.

“To blame the victim,” Fluttershy hisses quietly and it makes my hair stand on end.

“How could the blame Dashie?” Pinkie asks. “I mean...just look at her? I know plenty of ponies that like to play rough, none of them look like that at the end of a party.”

Twilight sighs. She tries to look at me, but shies away at the last second and looks at Rarity instead.

“You might as well explain, darling,” Rare encourages. “I think it’s the more likely scenario. As we’ve said, they’d have to tell a rather impressive series of lies to make the case another way.”

I grunt in agreement. I think I can guess what Twilight is about to say and I really don’t want to hear it. It’s too close to a lot of the stuff I’ve been thinking on my own.

Twi sighs again then stands a little taller and starts explaining, “Generally, when these issues arise the offending pony’s first line of defense is saying that they were confused. Essentially, to claim that the victim first invited and consented to the sexual contact and then changed their mind after the fact.”

“Ain’t nopony gonna believe that Dash said yes to some stallion mountin’ her,” AJ blurts. The words sound gross and make me gag, but I’m still super glad she said them. She obviously thinks what Twi said is ridiculous and that makes me feel a little better.

“Correct. Anypony that knows Rainbow would never believe it, but the case isn’t being tried in Ponyville. It’s being tried by a group of magistrates and judges that don’t know her,” Twilight answers back.

“Yeah,” I grumble under my breath. “Whose fault is that?”

“Princess Celestia’s.” Rarity’s voice stops me before I can complain anymore. “Celestia is the one insisting the case move through the system as it has. As much as I wish you could be spared any further trauma, Rainbow, I must admit that I quite agree with her. It isn’t exactly convenient for anypony, but it’s the surest way to deal with the matter once and be done with it.”

“Exactly.” Twilight nods in support of Rarity’s explanation.

“So, if they can’t just say that Dashie wanted to be with Mac then changed her mind, then what will they say?” Pinkie asks.

“They’ll say she had it coming,” Fluttershy says quickly. The explanation flows out of her like a flash flood. Her voice still has all of the acid it had before. “They’ll say Dashie is a flirt and a show off that invites everypony to look at her, and that is what confused Mac. They’ll say she’s competitive, so the idea that she might try to wrestle somepony bigger than her makes sense. They’ll say she’s fast enough to get away from him without even trying, so the fact that she let him catch up to her means she must have wanted it. They’ll say that Mac knew she hates to lose, so when she said stop he just thought she was complaining because he was winning their little game.”

The silence that presses in on us feels is thick and heavy. What little color and bounce Pinkie’s mane had recovered since this morning drains away. We all feel it. Fluttershy just explained an argument Mac could make that even ponies who know me might believe.

“Is there any way to stop it?” I ask, my voice rasping and cracking in my throat.

“Convince Mac to plead guilty instead,” is Twilight’s immediate response. “His sentence will likely be much more lenient if he does that anyway. The really tricky part is that the case is going to be very high profile. I seriously doubt that the magistrates will accept any deal or plea they haven’t fully constructed themselves.”

“High profile?” Rarity shudders.

“Son of founding family, accused of raping one of the Element Bearers? Element of Generosity Delivers Beating? The headlines write themselves.” Twi shrugs.

My brain freezes. Court? Yeah, I knew that was coming. Mac blaming me for everything? Sure. I’ve been doing that too. Rare getting charged with assault? It’s stupid, but Rare doesn’t seem super bugged by it, so I was able to deal with it. But knowing that every pony in Equestria is going to know what happened, and they’re all going to know it happened to me, and they’re all going have stuff to say about it… It’s finally too much. My legs give out. but I’m caught on a tingly blue aura-cushion before I fall more than an inch. I actually don’t even fall enough for anypony to notice, but everypony looks at Rarity to try and figure out why her horn suddenly lit up.

“Well, on that dreadful note,” Rare says opening the door and starting to turn lights on in her kitchen, all while keeping me perfectly supported for the few seconds it takes me to find my hooves again. “I think it’s time to call it a night. Twilight, will you please send a note when you know everypony is home safe and sound?”

“Of course,” Twi answers.

“Thank you.”

There’s another round of hugs. I let these ones last a little longer, even though they freak me out. I start to stumble toward the door, but Rares is still supporting me with her magic, so I kind of let myself collapse and she basically levitates me inside.