-PINKIE PIE-

I groggily groaned as I gathered gumption to get up and, uh… attack the morning… I ran outta G-words. Anyhoo… the first thing I noticed as I slowly woke up and blinked sand out of my eyes was OW I’M IN A TON OF PAIN!!!

The second thing was that I was in the hospital, and while the pain wracking my whole body made my heart try to beat out of my chest, knowing I was safely in the hospital made me feel a little bit relaxed… until the thought occurred to me that maybe I was in critical condition or something and that I would never recover and maybe die!

So naturally I did what anypony would do and PANICKED IMMEDIATELY!

I jumped up suddenly and fumbled around with the sheets covering me as I tried to get onto my hooves but the sheet quickly smothered me and suddenly I was in pain, in the hospital and now blind!

Thankfully all my shenanigans were abruptly stopped when I was softly levitated in the air and separated from the sheet by Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting at my bedside.

“Oh hey, Twilight!” I said cheerfully and waved at her. “I didn’t see you there! Follow up; am I dying?”

“No,” Twilight shook her head with a little chuckle and a sweet smile.

I breathed a loud sigh of relief and Twilight gently placed me on the bed where I quickly collapsed back into rest mode, my minimal measure of strength totally depleted from that whole episode with the sheets just now.

“So, um…” I didn’t know how to ask what I needed to ask, and honestly I didn’t think I really wanted the answer, but… “So what happened? With Team B-Listers? How long have I been asleep even?”

“I don’t know exactly how long you’ve been out,” Twilight looked around her and frowned, “I’m not super great at keeping track of time or anything and it’s been a lot to deal with…” Twilight looked at me and blushed, jumping backward and onto the floor. “N-not that it’s anything compared to what you guys went through!”

“Sure, sure…” I giggled at Twilight’s flustered antics before taking a deep breath and asking again, “And the match?” I grumbled and felt my hair start to deflate. “We lost, didn’t we?”

Twilight’s posture slumped as she answered, “Yeah. You did. Team Rainboom’s now 1-1 with one match left. And it’s tomorrow.”

“WHAT?!” I screamed in shock, jumping straight to my feet but my knees buckled under the sudden pressure causing me to fall on the bed flat on my stomach with a pained whine. “We’re fighting again!? Already?! But how?! We just, we can’t—“

“It’s—it’s gonna be okay, Pinkie,” Twilight said soothingly, awkwardly jumped back into the bedside chair and pat my fluffy hair with her hoof. “These doctors and such are going to take good care of you, I’m sure you’ll be back on your hooves in no time!”

“By tomorrow?” I said grimly, Twilight just glancing awkwardly at the floor. I sighed super droopily. “Rainbow’s gonna be so mad at me…”

“Why would she be mad at you?” Twilight tilted her head. “You were amazing!”

“I lost,” I grumbled grumpily. “I couldn’t even win two fights and I was strung up and humiliated for everyone to see. That’s not really amazing in Rainbow’s book… or mine, to be honest.”

“Pinkie, you can’t beat yourself up over not being able to do the impossible,” Twilight said softly. “Team B-Listers were really strong, it’s frankly impressive you beat even one of them, let alone nearly beating a second. Just because you lost, that doesn’t diminish your efforts.”

I stared blankly at Twilight and then blinked a couple times before bursting into hysterical laughter.

Twilight blushed and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You’re just—“ I wiped a tear from my eye as I tried to stop laughing but it was too funny. I eventually got control of myself and said, “You’re so bad at motivational speeches!”

Twilight blushed and looked away but then she snickered and we started laughing together.

“I really am, aren’t I?” she said with a giggle.

“Just the worst!” I replied. We laughed for a few moments and when we quieted down I said earnestly, “Thank you, Twilight. For being there by my side while I was struggling with those fights. If you hadn’t been there, I would’ve…”

I shuddered to think of how I could’ve possibly managed those grueling fights alone and sighed under my breath when I realized the honest answer was that I just wouldn’t have.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done. It means the world to me that you stuck around.”

“Hey, what are friends for?” Twilight said with a shrug of her hoof and a charming smile.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I smiled brightly, feeling my cheeks heat up and feeling very bashful and grateful that Twilight called me her friend.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

After I was able to get a couple hours of sleep, I asked Rarity to leave me alone in my hospital room for a little bit so I could try walking around, and plus she looked exhausted too and it wasn’t fair to have her just sit at my bedside all night.

I was badly injured from the whole experience with Team Mane-iac so I was a little knock-kneed but I was starting to get my legs back under me. That said, I wasn’t so recovered that I felt comfortable letting other ponies watch me wobble around like a newborn.

Every step was a challenge and the doctors told me I needed a few days of bed rest before I would be recovered enough for any strenuous physical activity, which for my pathetically weak body included walking, but I needed to push myself for Rainbow’s sake. No, I needed to push myself for my own sake too.

If I had been strong enough to defeat Long Face and Pharaoh Phetlock, none of yesterday’s events would have happened. Maybe that was asking the impossible from me, but… I had to try. I needed to be stronger than I was if I was going to keep up with Rainbow and Pinkie, if I wanted to make them proud of me and not let them down again.

I was taking tiny little baby steps from the door to my bed and back again, inch by inch struggling to move without pain. I thought I was doing okay but ‘okay’ wasn’t good enough, I needed to be better. I started taking bigger steps but it wasn’t long before my knees buckled and I fell.

I closed my eyes as I felt myself falling, bracing myself for the painful impact with the ground, but instead something caught me. Something firm yet soft. I opened my eyes and saw that it was that orange pony that was helping Rainbow Dash earlier, and I struggled to remember her name, but then it suddenly dawned on me.

Applejack!

I hadn’t even seen her come in since I was spending so much energy focusing on just walking.

“Oh! Um, hello,” I said bashfully, blushing as I felt her warm body underneath mine. She helped me back on my hooves and even though I wobbled a bit I was able to stay upright and I fidgeted about with my hair a little bit. “I didn’t see you come in.”

“No problem,” Applejack said casually. “I just came from Pinkie’s room to check up on her—“

“Is she okay?” I worriedly interrupted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.

I was worried about Pinkie since I hadn’t been able to leave my room to see her yet, and I was worried about Rainbow too, but that’s no need to be rude and interrupt; still though, I let my worries get the better of me again and added, “But, um, is Rainbow okay too?”

“Yeh, they’re both fine,” Applejack smiled and waved off my concerns with a hoof, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief that made my whole body feel lighter. “Rainbow’s—” she groaned and rolled her eyes before looking at me with a bemused frown. “How well do you know Rainbow?”

“I’ve only known her for a few days,” I answered honestly, “but I feel like I understand what she’s about, for the most part. She seems pretty straightforward.”

“She is that,” Applejack chuckled. “I guess it won’t surprise you then to know she left her hospital bed ‘gainst doctor’s orders.”

“Oh no!” I said fretfully and started chewing on the edge of my hoof. “What if she hurts herself?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout Rainbow none,” Applejack shook her head slowly. “She’s a strong girl, and me an’ Rarity are lookin’ after her. She’ll be fine. Anyway, you asked about Pinkie and she’s doin’ good too. Twilight’s keepin’ her company so I figured I’d come down this way to see how yer doin’.”

“I’m doin’—uh, doing—”

I blushed as I realized I accidentally copied her accent and then corrected myself like I was mocking her which I wasn’t and I was really embarrassed and I thought she was going to get mad at me for making fun of her even though I didn’t mean to…

But she just laughed and smiled, and her smile was so warm and kind that I… I melted a little bit, which only made me even more flustered so I just started talking to try and distract from what a hopeless mess I was.

“I’m doing quite well, all things considered,” I said meekly, absentmindedly sweeping some hair out of my face.

“That’s good to hear. Oh, hey!” Applejack’s eyes suddenly brightened and I perked up, invested in knowing what had caught her attention so suddenly.

She had a brown plastic bag with her, I hadn’t seen it before she started rifling through it, and procured a bouquet of flowers from it, making me like, super blush.

“These’re from Rarity. She said it’d help liven this place up a bit and smooth yer recovery. She’s smart about stuff like that.”

Applejack trotted past me and headed to the table by the bed, placing the bouquet in a vase that was waiting there.

“It’s always good to have a little greenery in yer surroundin’s but I’d’ve never thought about it myself,” she chuckled. “I’m always so dense when it comes to environment stuff like that. I just don’t ever think about it ‘til somepony brings it up.”

“That’s very thoughtful,” I said with a smile, delighted by the gift but admittedly slightly disappointed that they weren’t from Applejack, which took me by surprise and felt very rude! “Thank you for bringing them.”

“No problem,” Applejack said and trotted back over to where the bag was laying on the ground in front of me, “I got somthin’ else fer ya too.”

She pulled out a red box with a golden ribbon string around it.

“Chocolates?” I said in surprise. “That’s very thoughtful, but it is a rather big box…”

“You wanna eat ‘em together?” Applejack suggested cheerfully, my ears perking up and a warmth caressing my cheeks at the suggestion.

“If you want to…” I said softly and lowered my head, my unkempt mane falling all over my face.

“It’d be my pleasure!” Applejack said with a smile and stamped on the chocolate tray, knocking a candy out of its little cubby into the air and catching it in her mouth. “Good stuff! Try one, Fluttershy!”

“O-okay,” I said nervously, gently taking a candy with a shuddering hoof.

Getting the candies out of the tray and trying to bring them up to my mouth with my shaky, shuddery, wobbly legs was… difficult. I dropped the candy and when I tried to pick it up again I dropped it a second time.

I was so embarrassed and just leaned my head down to grab the candy right off the floor with my mouth but bending my knees to do so made my whole body tense up and I fell over again into a heap. I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to cry.

Applejack, without a word, stepped over to me and gently helped me get back up. She picked the candy off the ground with her hoof and held it in front of me. I blushed and for the briefest second looked her in the eye and saw her kind, warm smile which made me… feel safe.

I ate the candy out of her hoof and it was… really delightful. Soft and warm and chewy… it was wonderful.

“Um, Applejack…” I said nervously.

“What’s up, Fluttershy?” Applejack popped another candy out of the tray and held it in front of me, wiggling her eyebrows as she offered it to me which made me giggle.

I ate the candy from her hoof and enjoyed it slowly, taking my time to take deep breaths and calm my frayed nerves a little bit.

“Will you stay here with me tonight?” my whole face was now cherry red and I quickly added, “Um, if you’re not too busy. I don’t want to impose.”

I took a few steps back and hid my face behind my wings.

“I just… I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“My pleasure, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a smile, popping another candy into her mouth.

Thank you I thought to myself as I watched her eat another candy. I let out a disgruntled sigh under my breath, quiet enough that she didn’t hear me, as I bemoaned my stupid brain that equated ‘this person was nice to me once’ with ‘I am head over heels in love with this person now’.

I’m so stupid.

But… maybe… maybe for once… I can just… enjoy having a crush. I don’t have to act on it, it’s not like I’ll be seeing her again anytime soon.

And she was really cute.

****

-RARITY-

“I’ve come to relieve you of your post, darling,” I said with a dainty chuckle as I walked into Pinkie Pie’s hospital room, carrying with my telepathy a plastic bag that had some flowers sticking out of it.

“Yeah, okay,” Twilight yawned, closing her book that she was reading and stumbling sleepily out of her chair.

“Thanks for keeping me company, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said with a delightful smile, Twilight looking back at her and mirroring said smile.

Twilight and I walked past each other and affectionately nuzzled each other’s necks as we walked by, Twilight exiting the room as I took a seat on the chair beside Pinkie’s bedside that Twilight had been using.

“I hope you don’t mind, Pinkie Pie,” I said bashfully. I hadn’t even thought to clear my idea of keeping her company with her fist, and I wouldn’t want to intrude if she desired solitude instead. “I simply didn’t want you or Fluttershy to feel alone, I know how unnerving a hospital stay can be.”

“Eh, I’m pretty used to it,” Pinkie said sadly and shrugged. I was a little taken aback by this, but her cheerful disposition soon returned as quickly as it left. “But thank you, that means a lot that you’d go through that kinda trouble for Fluttershy and me!”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, darling,” I scoffed and batted a hoof dismissively, making Pinkie giggle which made me do the same.

“Besides,” I glanced down at the bag on the ground beside me and used my magic to present a bouquet of flowers, “I brought you flowers to liven up this drab room of yours! Just because you need to relax in a clean environment for recovery does not mean your surroundings shouldn’t be beautiful.”

“Thank you!” Pinkie said gleefully, watching intently as I placed the flowers into a vase sitting on the bedside table and fretted with them for a moment or two to make sure they were absolutely perfect. Between them and Pinkie’s adorable smile the room was already feeling brighter!

“Also…” I procured something else from her bag, a red box with a gold ribbon seal. I opened the box to reveal an assortment of delectable looking chocolates and with a charmed cadence to my voice I said, “I have candies!”

“Gimme the candy!” Pinkie Pie pawed at the air and drooled with the silliest blissful look on her face; it was quite a welcome sight as the image of her face stained with blood and tears as she was brought into the hospital was still fresh in my mind.

“Here you are, darling,” I said happily, gently placing the open box in front of Pinkie Pie as she licked her lips. “I got them all for you, although if you wanted to share, I suppose I couldn’t stop you…” I looked at Pinkie with a coy smirk and she laughed.

“Of course I’ll share, Rarity!” she said, happily handing me a chocolate. “We can go halfsies! I’m just…” I could see that Pinkie was trying to hold back tears in her eyes as she reached for another chocolate. “Thank you so much for this. It means a lot…”

“It is my pleasure, Pinkie Pie,” I said softly, putting a comforting hoof on the mare’s shoulder and eliciting a giggle from her that turned out to be rather infectious.

And then the two of us sat together and ate chocolates, simply enjoying each other’s company for a while and exchanging chatter and small talk as if nothing was wrong, as if neither of us had almost lost their lives earlier that same day.

Talking with her was a welcome reprieve from the stress Bifrost had been putting me under. Pinkie Pie was a kind mare, and I thought it almost a shame that she was shackled to Rainbow Dash. She didn’t deserve that.

****

-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-

I was getting pretty tired and wanted to call it an early night… day? Evening? Honestly the events of the last twenty-four hours sort of destroyed my concept of what time does or is.

Point is I kinda just wandered randomly through the hospital hallways until I found myself in a stairwell heading upwards. I was lost in a fog of thought and sleepiness, not to mention mental preparation since Team Destiny had a fight in the morning, so I wasn’t really sure why I was going up the stairs, but I just let it happen.

When I reached the top I realized that it went to the roof! For some reason I thought the roof of the hospital would be a great place to sleep so I wandered out there and lied down but I suddenly had the feeling somepony was watching me and looked around, and sure enough…

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash, perched on the railing on the edge of the roof, asked me coldly.

“Ehhh…” I tried to think of an honest answer to that question other than ‘I actually have no idea’ but I came up with nothing and just went ‘eehhhhhhhh’ until I totally zoned out. “What are you doing up here?”

“I…” she turned her head back out toward the city below, “I just needed some time alone… to think.”

“What are you thinking about?”

I climbed up onto the roof railing and perched alongside Rainbow, looking over the twinkling lights of Baltimare below. It was a long way down but I knew how to teleport, so it didn’t bother me.

“Your friends really miss you. I guess they haven’t seen you all day? Not since the whole incident?”

“Friends?” Rainbow asked tensely, giving me a sideways glance.

“Pinkie and Fluttershy?” I replied, weirded out by her response.

“Right, yeah…” Rainbow stammered, kicking her hoof softly at the plaster she was sitting on. “My team. They… I don’t want to bother them.”

“I… don’t think it’ll bother them if their teammate visits them in the hospital,” I said curiously, still taken aback by Rainbow’s behavior. I mean, even I had better social grace than her right now! “Come on, what’s really troubling you?”

Rainbow Dash looked at me listlessly and I could see from her slumped posture and the heaviness of her eyes that she was tired.

Not just tired because of the events of the last twenty-four hours, those were the eyes of someone who was tired from living, someone who carried an enormous burden on their shoulders every day.

And it probably didn’t help that her and the age-old, beaten up bomber jacket that adorned her were both absolutely drenched in rainwater.

She didn’t respond to me except with a half-hearted frown and a slightly shrugged shoulder.

“You don’t have to carry that weight alone, Rainbow Dash.”

I don’t even know where those words came from, I just… had to say them. I wanted someone to say them to me when I was younger, and I couldn’t not say them to her when she was so obviously hurting.

“Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are your friends, they can help you carry your burdens…” I paused for a moment and let a sheepish smile cross my face as I leaned forward to look at Rainbow’s eyes, “…and I’ll help you too, if you’ll let me.”

Rainbow looked at me like she just saw a ghost and I smiled back at her. She scoffed but I could see she was trying to bite down a smile.

“Let me show you how I can help…”

I bathed Rainbow in a violet light. I didn’t move her or budge her though she was fidgety at first, but she looked at my calm smile and reluctantly relaxed as my magic washed over her, drying her fur, feathers and clothing.

“You need to rest, Rainbow Dash. You’ve had a long day.”

“I know.”

Rainbow sighed and nodded, a small but tender smile appearing on her face as she looked down at the ground.

“Thank you…” Rainbow suddenly looked to the black and cloudy night sky and a pained frown marred her face. She looked at me for but a moment and squinted and I just tilted my head in confusion as she flicked her face away from me. “Uh, thank you, um… y-you…”

She blushed and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“My name’s Twilight Sparkle.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up and a light suddenly shined in her eyes. She smiled and pointed a hoof at me. “You’re Rarity’s sister!”

“Y-yeah! I am!” I stuttered, not expecting that reaction at all. “How did you know that?”

“Back when Rarity and I used to, like, actually talk,” Rainbow explained excitedly, “she used to talk about you all the time!”

“When was this?” I said confusedly. It must have been after Rarity ran away from home but before I moved in with her… which would’ve been a while ago; a really, really long while ago.

“It was a really brief time, like a million years ago,” Rainbow said gruffly, her smile quickly fading away, “me and Applejack… we were pretty much inseparable for a while… but then Applejack started dating Rarity…”

“Is that why you guys hate each other so much?” I asked skeptically, “Because Applejack chose Rarity over you?”

“Eh, not exact—”

Rainbow fidgeted around and trailed off. I could tell she wasn’t giving me the whole story but I wasn’t about to pry into hers and Rarity’s business.

She shook her head and groaned. “Point is, it’s nice to finally meet you. And I…” Rainbow spread her wings and flew up into the air behind me, visibly surprised for a second by the ease she did so now that her wings were dry.

She looked down at me with a pained smile, “I hope I can be a good… a good f—“ she groaned again and buried her face in her hooves. “Thanks, Twilight Sparkle. I owe you one.”

“You can pay me back by getting some rest,” I said with a smile, feeling really pleased at Rainbow’s more-or-less acceptance of my friendship.

I didn’t really have any friends outside of Rarity for the longest time… and now I had Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and now Rainbow Dash! It was a little overwhelming and honestly made me really happy and proud of myself!

“After all, you do have a match tomorrow.”

The mood shifted immediately as Rainbow’s wings retracted back onto her back and she fell onto the roof with a thud and a pained grunt.

“WHAT.”

“Geez, am I the only pony that checks the itinerary?” I grumbled and rolled my eyes.

“Been a little busy?” Rainbow snarked. “In the hospital?”

“Fair enough,” I awkwardly tapped my hooves together. “Anyway, Team Rainboom is scheduled for a match in arena A tomorrow morning at nine.”

“That’s…” Rainbow looked around and was visibly panicking. She stomped her hooves and tried to kick up dust behind her, but she just slipped on the rain-slick roof and fell on her chest, quickly taking flight again and brushing herself off. “Already?! We’re in no condition for that!”

“Well, that’s…” I didn’t know what to say exactly that would help, especially since—as Pinkie so eloquently put it—I am disastrously bad at motivation speeches. “You need to get some rest, Rainb—“

“How am I supposed to do that?!” Rainbow yelled. “How am I supposed to rest when I know that my team is gonna get its butt kicked tomorrow?!

“Do you know what that means for me?! It means this whole farce is over! My dream is going down in flames because me and my teammates are path—“

Rainbow scoffed angrily, her face twisting into a furious scowl.

“Because my garbage self can’t just pull itself together! Cuz I wasn’t strong enough to protect them! If I can’t win tomorrow, I’ll…”

Rainbow started looking around frantically and panicking again, slowly descending back down onto the roof.

I jumped off the railing and walked in front of her, tilting her chin up with my hoof. “It’s going to be okay… please. Just trust me.”

Rainbow looked desperately into my eyes and I tried to give the warmest, softest smile I could to maybe ease her fears at least a little. Her furious expression softened but became cold.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

Rainbow nodded and brushed my hoof away, jumping back onto the railing. “I need a little time to gather my thoughts… but then I’ll go to bed. You have my word.”

“Alright,” I said softly, trying not to express in my tone that I was worried about her, because I got the feeling she wouldn’t like that. “I’m going to bed now, but… Rainbow?” Rainbow looked back at me with a furrowed brow and dismayed frown and I said with a bright smile, “I trust you.”

Rainbow quickly turned away and didn’t say anything but I could see her body trembling. I wanted to believe I got through to her, at least a little, but I had no way to know.

Still though… I wasn’t lying when I said I trusted her.

****

-RAINBOW DASH-

I was trying to gather my thoughts under the dim glow of the moonlight barely filtering through the clouds. My talk with Twilight gave me a lot to think about.

Friends?

I mean… Pinkie Pie… we’d known each other since childhood…

We were comrades, teammates. But… friends? Did Pinkie see us that way? I… I dunno if I did. Friendship was… it wasn’t something for me.

It wasn’t something I deserved.

And Fluttershy… I barely even knew her. Any yet… I couldn’t help but remember the desperate, terrified look in her eyes when she called out to me in my Nightmare state. Why was she so concerned? Did she care about our enemy? Maybe, but…

I shook my head and growled. It didn’t make any sense to me. People don’t change, and it’s in our natures to use others and take from them to achieve our own goals, and sometimes we allow ourselves to be used either because we’re weak or as payment for using others. That’s all.

Friendship… it isn’t a real thing.

“Thought you’d still be up here.”

Pinkie Pie’s quiet, tired voice distracted me from my thoughts and I turned to face her. Her normally bright smile was missing, instead replaced by a battered and bruised frown that spoke volumes of the burden she’d carried the last twenty-four hours.

“Yeah,” I replied coldly, turning away from her. I had no excuse not to see her or Fluttershy, not to check on them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. “I just—“

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Pinkie sighed before slowly walking over to the railing and climbing up to sit beside me, looking up at the clouded moon. “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?” I asked curiously, looking up at the moon as well.

“Are you aware of the grudge Rarity has?” I was not prepared for Pinkie’s question and I felt a shiver crawl through my entire body. Pinkie looked at me and continued. “The grudge she has against you? How do you feel about her, anyway?”

I felt nauseous and jumped onto the steel roof, pacing back and forth. How did Pinkie Pie know about Rarity? I mean, it didn’t take long for me to put the pieces together, that Rarity and Applejack must’ve been here for Bifrost and if Applejack was here in the hospital, Rarity must have been too… but did she talk to Pinkie Pie? Did she talk to her about me?

Obviously, I didn’t realize it was anything as simple as Rarity told everyone in the giant crowd of spectators how much she hated me. That little revelation would come a bit later.

“I’m… aware of Rarity’s grudge. Never paid it much mind,” I started to sweat as I told that lie, worried that Pinkie would pick up on it. She stared at me, her icy blue eyes feeling like they could peer into my soul.

“Okay,” Pinkie shrugged a shoulder and frowned briefly before forcing a weary smile onto her face. “I trust you.”

“Thanks,” I said bluntly, a pang of guilt burning my throat.

“I think you two would get along, honestly,” Pinkie continued, lying her body down against the railing. “You’re both nice.”

“I guess,” I looked away from Pinkie and started pacing again. I’m not sure which of those sentences I disagreed with more. “Rarity has good reasons not to like me.”

Not even I like me.

“You say that about everyone,” Pinkie grumbled, “and you’re always wrong.”

I looked back at Pinkie and she was staring me dead in the eyes, a frustrated scowl on her face as one foreleg hung limply off the railing and the pale glow of moonlight illuminating her from above gave her bulky frame a really intimidating presence, even with her sluggish posture.

Or maybe I was just intimated because I was afraid of her judgment. Who knows.

Her face softened and she looked at me with a sad smile. “I know you can’t see the good in yourself, Rainbow. I know what that feels like…”

Pinkie sat up and held her front hooves to her heart and started to tear up. I really wanted to fly up there and comfort her but the thought of actually opening up like that, of expressing genuine concern and revealing my real emotions to someone… it terrified me.

“I just want you to know that I love you.”

I froze in my tracks and my whole body stiffened up as Pinkie said those words. She was still smiling sadly, knowing that I could never say them back to her but somewhere deep in her heart she still longed for them and hoped to hear them.

I knew exactly what that felt like.

“We have a match tomorrow,” I said coldly, flying into the air. “You should get some rest.”

And that was all I said as I left, the distant sound of Pinkie crying ringing in my ears as I flew away.

****

-PINKIE PIE-

I’d like to say I ‘stumbled’ out of my hospital bed but it was more like I flopped out and crashed into a puddle on the ground.

But whatever!

I majestically and gallantly regained my regal posture by which I mean I crawled to the door and slowly slid upwards until I could open it and then fell down again in the hall, and ran valiantly to Fluttershy’s room by which of course I mean I fell over a lot and found one of those moving wheely trays that I guess they have in hospitals and flopped on top of one and asked a nice nurse if she would drag me to Fluttershy’s room.

“Are you ready, Fluttershy?!” I said triumphantly as I barged into the room, my body charged with spirit and vigor and also pain but mostly the first two!

Fluttershy nodded and groaned quietly as she stepped gently out of her bed, her legs wobbling as they hit the ground but she had the cutest proud smile on her face when she managed to stop herself from falling over.

“Are we sure about this, Pinkie? I don’t know if either of us can actually win a fight today.”

“We have to win, Fluttershy!” I pleaded desperately. “Rainbow Dash is counting on us! I totally blew the Team B-Listers fiasco, so I gotta make amends here! And I need your help!”

“I know you’re right, but…” Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. She puffed up her cheeks and looked at me with a tiny determined fire in her eyes. “No, you are right, Pinkie Pie! We just need to believe in ourselves and muster up some kind of super hidden strength! We can do this!”

“That’s right!” I jumped into the air and immediately regretted it when I hit the ground and a wave of pain shot through my body. Through gritted teeth I cheered, “For Rainbow Dash!”

“For Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said confidently. “And for us too!”

“Right!” I said, trying to raise a hoof into the air but only managing to barely get it off the ground before it got too heavy and I had to drop it back to the ground. “All we have to do is just pretend our bodies aren’t completely broken! No problem!”

“R-right…” Fluttershy said with markedly less confidence. She glanced around nervously and said, “Do, um… do you know who we’re fighting today?”

“Nope!” I said cheerfully, Fluttershy sighing dismally in response. “But hey! We can beat ‘em, right?”

“Right,” Fluttershy took a deep breath to calm her nerves and nodded stalwartly. “Right!”

And with that, the two of us headed to the arena.

Rainbow Dash was waiting for us in front of the waiting room as we arrived, the two of us just barely making it in time since for some reason we were really slow to walk from the hospital to the arena.

“Glad you guys could make it,” Rainbow said with a proud smirk.

I beamed back at her and Fluttershy bowed her head bashfully.

“I know our last match was-” Rainbow bitterly sighed “-not great,” she drew herself up and cleared her throat, “but this is it, you guys! This is the last match of the preliminaries, at least for us. If we win this, we won’t have to worry about another fight until next month, but if we lose… then that’s it. All of this will be for nothing.”

“No pressure or anything though,” I laughed awkwardly, Rainbow sighing bleakly and Fluttershy just shaking like a leaf and trying not to cry.

“We’re…” Fluttershy whimpered. She took a deep breath and puffed up her cheeks. “We’re ready, Rainbow Dash. We’re scared, nervous and in a lot of pain still, but we’re ready. We won’t let you down, promise.”

“What she said!” I added loudly, puffing up my chest proudly.

“That’s my girls!” Rainbow said excitedly, pumping a hoof into the air. “Let’s go in there and show everypony what Team Rainboom is capable of!”

The three of us boldly stepped into the large waiting room, expecting to see our opponents waiting for us and trying to intimidate them with our impressive posture… but only Starlight Glimmer was sitting in the room instead.

“Oh, hey you guys!” she said cheerfully, the three of us looking at each other confusedly. “Congratulations on making it past the first preliminaries!”

“W-what?” Rainbow stuttered, her eye twitching and taking a few angry steps toward Starlight.

“Your opponents forfeited the match so you win by default,” Starlight explained with a cute smile on her face and shrugged. “Good for you!”

“What?!” Rainbow shouted irritably, stomping a hoof on the ground which made Fluttershy and me jump, but Starlight just looked vaguely annoyed. “They forfeited?! Why?! What coward just forfeits a match like that?!”

“Um, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy timidly chimed in, “maybe we shouldn’t argue this… it’s kind of a good thing?”

“I don’t need pity, Fluttershy!” Rainbow snapped, making Fluttershy whimper and take a step back, and I put a consoling hoof on her shoulder and glared at Rainbow behind her back.

“Your friend’s right, you know,” Starlight chimed in, “I mean, look at the state your teammates are in.”

It was obvious to anypony that Fluttershy and I weren’t in any condition to win a fight but I was still feeling pretty proud of myself for making it to the arena regardless, especially now that I knew we didn’t actually have to fight anyone!

Rainbow ignored Starlight and just kept yelling at her, “Why did the team forfeit? Who were these cowards anyway that they didn’t even bother to show up?!”

“Why don’t you ask them yourself?” Starlight, having heard quite enough of Rainbow’s ranting, said flippantly.

Starlight took a deep breath and something about it put me on edge, like it was a bad omen or something. And the next words that she said put a pit in my stomach that justified that edgy feeling pretty hard.

“I mean, you’re familiar with Team Destiny, right?”

****

-RARITY-

“Are you sure about this, Rarity?” Twilight asked anxiously as we departed from the arena, or at least the officiating area where we registered our desire to forfeit our match with Team Rainboom.

“I am,” I said sternly.

I couldn’t exactly blame Twilight for feeling uncertain, I wasn’t terribly confident myself… but I had to believe I was making the right choice.

“I have no desire to take advantage of the weakened state of Rainbow’s team, and I can’t allow a horrible circumstance beyond their control to ruin the dreams of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.”

And as for Rainbow Dash, well… I don’t know.

I had stated, over and over again, that my desire was to crush her and ruin her dream, yet here I was turning my nose up at an opportunity— one which was nothing short of miraculous— to do just that.

Circumstances like this would not present themselves to me again, and yet as soon as I saw that our battle today was supposed to be up against those three ponies, I knew right away that the only way I could proceed in good faith was to forfeit.

Twilight had given me the fight schedule earlier this morning, clearly written on it was ‘Team Destiny vs. Team Rainboom’ and the thought of standing over a broken, pitiable Rainbow Dash while a crowd of onlookers observed my glorious victory tore through my mind instantly.

And it sickened me.

“It’s gonna put us in an awkward spot fer our next match,” Applejack stated brusquely, tearing me out of my recollection.

“I suppose,” I huffed, “but it doesn’t change that much. It just means we lose our safety net and have to make sure we bring our A game to our final encounter.”

“I agree,” Twilight, bless her heart, was trying to sound confident but her voice was shaky. “And honestly, I’m glad we did this. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy seem like super nice girls, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for stomping them out of the competition. Besides, trans solidarity, right?”

“Couldn’t agree more, to be honest,” Applejack laughed heartily, and I couldn’t help but crack a smile myself. In a way, trans solidarity had brought the three of us together, and it was a major part of why Fluttershy—and by extension, myself—was even here at Bifrost to begin with. Certainly, it wouldn’t let me down now.

“We can afford to lose this match and they can’t,” I explained at length to my comrades as we walked down the lightly raining streets of Baltimare looking for a place to hole up and gather ourselves, “and in their weakened state there’s no way they could’ve beaten us. I think this was the right thing to do.”

Applejack added with a good-humored sigh, “To be honest, even if we had gone through with the fight I probably would’ve just forfeited myself.”

I stopped in my tracks and smiled to myself, turning to my two companions behind me with a faint smile.

“Thank you both,” I said softly, “it means the world to me that you two would both have my back on this matter. I admit I was a little worried that you both would be upset, but I… I just couldn’t continue this fight in good faith.”

That image, the one of me standing over a broken Rainbow Dash, flashed through my mind again and I felt an intense pang of heat and nausea rip through my stomach.

Twilight and Applejack simply smiled kindly at me, Twilight nodding approvingly and Applejack tipping her hat. Seeing the unconditional support my team gave me made me very emotional. I couldn’t help smiling ear to ear, and I could have sworn I felt the presence of tears gracing my eyes, before rather suddenly…

“RARITY!!”

Rainbow Dash’s voice cut through the crowded city streets like a lighthouse beacon in the middle of a dead fog, which was fitting considering the fog lingering in the air was even thicker than the crowds.

“What is the matter with you!?” Rainbow screamed at me as she landed directly in front of me, the two of us staring each other down with fire in our eyes.

I didn’t know what exactly I expected from my belated reunion with the blue pegasus, but here it was, and here we were; staring each other down with irritated, furious glares.

It almost made me giddy to see her direct actual anger at me instead of just wry dismissal, and this time when the thought of her broken under my hooves crossed my mind, I almost regretted my decision to forfeit.

“Listen here, Rainbow,” Applejack said curtly and stood between Rainbow and I, taking a defensive stance on my behalf, “think about yer teammates! Ya really think they could’ve survived a match with us in their condition?!”

“That’s not the point!” Rainbow sneered and pointed an accusing hoof past Applejack and toward me. “I don’t need pity! Least of all from someone like you, Rarity! If my team can’t win even in their current state…” Rainbow grit her teeth and snarled before stomping her forelegs on the ground and screaming, “then we’re just too weak!”

“Rainbow Dash…” Applejack growled through gritted teeth.

“Applejack, Twilight,” I said coolly with my head poised in an elegant manner, flicking a hoof nonchalantly through my mane. “Will you two please leave Rainbow and I to discuss this matter in privacy?” I looked around at the crowds of ponies whose attention had been drawn by the sudden shouting match and sighed, “For given value of ‘privacy’, obviously.”

“Really?” Applejack looked back at me with a confused and frustrated expression.

“Uh, if you’re sure, Rarity,” Twilight said, trotting over to Applejack and nudging her. Applejack simply groaned in frustration and walked away with Twilight, looking back once to glare at Rainbow who returned the favor before the pegasus settled her furious gaze on me.

“This was the right decision, Rainbow Dash,” I said firmly, staring down into the woman’s fiery violet eyes.

Seeing those eyes so close to me again after so many years sent a flood of memories coursing through me, of shared laughter and heartache, but then just as quickly the memories turned to ones of bitterness and hatred.

“Why am I even alive?”

I remembered thinking those words while I laid in the shallow river underneath a bridge, having been thrown there by the pegasus as her idea of a cruel joke. The older she got, the more her ‘jokes’ went from humorous pranks to cruel bullying.

She obviously wasn’t the only reason why my late teens and early twenties were spent flirting with suicide, but she certainly played her part.

“I did not do this for you,” I said in the present, glaring coldly at my hated enemy and former friend, “but for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.” Rainbow clicked her tongue and scoffed, and I just groaned irritably and rolled my eyes at the childlike tantrum she was throwing. “They’re too good for you, you know.”

And to this, the pegasus responded.

She recoiled, took two steps back, and grit her teeth into a snarl. “You don’t know what you’re talking abo—“

“Don’t I though?” I responded with a disgusted sneer. “You think I don’t remember the person that you used to be? The person that you still are if this little tantrum of yours is any indication?”

“You don’t know anything about me!” Rainbow snapped and stomped her hoof.

“I know that you’re a cruel, heartless little demon!” I shouted in return, stomping my own hoof toward the woman who flinched reflexively. I took a step back and sighed, keeping unbroken eye contact with the pegasus as I did so.

Rainbow shook her head and growled, “Why did you do this? Just for Fluttershy’s sake? You don’t owe us anything… even if she’s your friend, she’s still your rival. She chose me over you… so why are you… helping us—her. Why are you helping her?”

“Nothing has changed between us, Rainbow Dash,” I rolled my eyes. “Clearly. But Fluttershy is my friend and Pinkie Pie…”

I became sad thinking about my encounter with the pink pony last night— the one who pushed her body and mind to the limit and ended up in the hospital all for Rainbow’s sake, and Rainbow didn’t even have the good sense to see how she was doing— and shook my head miserably.

“She deserves better than the treatment she’s received. She pretends she isn’t broken but I recognize the brokenness in her like I’m staring into a mirror.”

A moment of silence passed as a chill winter’s wind blew through Baltimare.

With nothing left to say, Rainbow Dash simply turned and walked, disappearing into the morning fog. I sat on my haunches and released a tense breath I didn’t even realize I had been holding as I wondered what I was doing.

That was the pony for whom I held so much rage? That girl, broken into shards of self-loathing and regret, who could barely lift her own body under the burdens of her life? That was who I was so angry at? No matter how much I hated Rainbow, it was obvious it could never be more than she hated herself; a feeling I understood quite intimately.

I felt my hoof reflexively brushing up against the pink ring around my neck underneath my soaking wet scarf.

That woman deserved neither my pity nor my sympathy, but curse her and curse me too, for she had them both. My sympathy did not outweigh my rage, nor did it absolve Rainbow of the damage she had done to me— damage that I was not able or willing to look past— but how could I not sympathize at least a little when there but for the grace of the Goddesses go I?

There was no room in my heart for someone who had hurt me so thoroughly, and there was absolutely nothing about that girl that persuaded me to the idea that she wasn’t every bit as awful as I remembered her being, but perhaps…

Perhaps I need a different motivation. I don’t know…

This one’s a little bit pathetic.

****

-RAINBOW DASH-

The rain was picking up again and the fog was getting heavier as I paced back and forth on the docks. I wanted so badly to return to my hotel room and talk to Pinkie and Fluttershy, to apologize for being just the WORST, but I…

I just…

I was too much of a coward.

Thinking about the things Rarity said, and the things I said to her, I started feeling panicked. I wasn’t dense, I knew the thing Rarity did for me and my teammates was a generous, kind thing I should be grateful for but I just…

“I don’t need pity!”

I groaned as I thought back on that horrible line. What was I thinking saying that to her?

I’m the worst.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy’s voice surprised me and I jumped, turning around quickly to see her and Pinkie Pie, their rain-drenched manes covering their faces, approaching me from the docks.

“Guys, I…” any normal pony could have just said ‘I’m sorry’ but a garbage pony like me just choked and hacked instead. “I don’t know what to say…”

That’s a lie.

“I don’t know… how to be.”

At least that’s true.

“Yeah,” Pinkie chuckled, her eyes totally invisible past the waterfall of wet hair in her face, “I know that feeling.”

“Same here,” Fluttershy added with a half-amused sigh. “Rainbow, we’re your friends and we care about you. We want you to succeed and to realize your dream, and we’re both happy to stand by your side to help you do it. You don’t need to be afraid of us or worry that we’ll turn on you.”

“That’s right!” Pinkie said with a beaming smile, which with her eyes hidden behind her hair looked really silly and made me snicker. “But we’re not gonna take any guff from you either! We’re all adults and we’re all friends, we gotta act like it!”

“I can’t…”

I started getting really choked up, nauseated and panicked all at the same time. I sharply exhaled and forced myself to just let it all go. For one single second I forced myself to let go of all the baggage and the fear and the anger and the uncertainty.

“I can’t pretend I’m not broken.”

“No one’s asking you to,” Pinkie walked toward me and lifted her hoof to touch my chin but she couldn’t actually see me past her hair so she just kinda batted around in the air for a second before I grabbed her hoof and guided it over to me. “But you aren’t the only one who’s broken and none of us can play pretend forever. Maybe being broken together can be the first step to not being broken.”

“I would…” Fluttershy said timidly, nervously approaching the two of us on the edge of the dock, “I want to help you both. None of us are the ponies we want to be. We’re all too weak and too damaged but… I believe that people can change. And I joined you, Rainbow Dash, because I think we can help each other to change… to become better.”

“You guys…” I said, breathing heavily and blushing.

If my broken heart had allowed me to cry there would’ve been tears in my eyes. Instead I walked away from the two, lifted my head to look into the dark rain clouds as they poured over me, and then looked back at my two sorry companions… my friends.

“Thank you both. I still don’t know how to be, but… somehow I’ll figure it out for your guys’ sake.”

“We all have a lot to learn together,” Fluttershy said with a soft giggle.

“Yup!” Pinkie added with a bright beaming smile, bouncing in place. “But for now…” Pinkie collapsed onto the ground in a heap. “I think we need a vacation or something.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled and walked toward Pinkie, helping her off the ground with my snout and then getting underneath her and picking her up onto my back, “let’s get some rest you guys. You’ve… we all have really earned it.”

With Pinkie clinging to my back, me and Fluttershy flew back to the hotel and headed straight into our room, the three of us collapsing on the beds waiting for us there.

And we just… slept. For as long as our bodies would allow us.

Another fave title of mine tbh.

Is the Appleshy in this too obvious? Is it too clichéd or forced? Too soon, perhaps?
*welcome to the black parade voice* I! DON’T! CARE!

Oh and hey, psst! Just so y'know, I live for that sweet, sweet Validation(tm) so if y'all like my story, please leave a comment! It'll make my day, I promise!