Starlight awoke to yelling interspersed with frantic hushes. She rolled over. The lantern flickered, casting dancing shadows across the room. Anonymous was standing between beds, his back to her, gesturing for lower volume. Rainy was in what should have been his bed, tied down by the magical chains Starlight insisted they use, struggling and repeating the saltiest of curses. The kind unique to pegasus airships.

“We had to so you wouldn’t kill us in our sleep,” Anon said in the pitch of a whisper, but volume above speaking voice.

“And you had to imprison me here, too? I know what this is, an interrogation!” Rainy yelled.

“What? What would we even interrogate you for?” Anon said.

“I know what you two have been up to here.” Her voice grew louder the more she spoke. “But you won’t stop me from bringing you to justice and— mmfhmfh!”

“That’s enough of that,” Starlight said, horn warm with magic.

Anon slumped and sat down on her bed. She could see from his eyes that he hadn’t slept much, if at all. She still couldn’t fathom why he was going through the trouble of keeping Rainy Days around. The latter had done two things in the time they’d known her, nearly killed him and displayed stalker-like persistence. But Starlight also felt a tinge of pride. She imagined how the other Elements of Harmony must have thought the same when Twilight took a similar risk on her behalf. Maybe the human was learning more about friendship than either Starlight or Twilight expected.

Starlight sat up and pressed into his side. He squeezed his brow between his middle finger and thumb. A quick tap at the door made them both jump and sent Rainy into another round of frantic struggling. Starlight and Anon looked at one another. He grabbed the blanket on Starlight’s bed and draped it over Rainy. Starlight hopped down and walked to the door. When he nodded at her, she cracked it open and stuck out her head. Swift Service was standing in the hall, a lantern raised in one of her hooves and curlers in her hair.

“Is everything alright in there, hon? I heard yelling from clear down the hall.”

“Oh yeah, everything’s fine! We were just, um…” Starlight looked back to Anon.

“We were just doing a bit of roleplaying,” Anon called.

“Roleplaying?” Swift Service repeated.

Starlight flattened her ears and laughed nervously. “Uh, yeah… Roleplaying. I guess it got out of hoof. We’ll try to keep it down, so sorry to bother you.”

“Right… Well do be quiet about it. Other guests are trying to sleep,” Swift said, trying to peek further in, but Starlight blocked her.

“Yes, of course. So sorry. You won’t hear a peep from us the rest of the night,” Starlight said.

“I hope not…” Swift Service said. She turned and walked down the hall, muttering something about “fillies and their kinks” to herself.

Starlight sighed and closed the door. She turned toward Anon. “Roleplaying?”

“It was all I could think of,” Anon said as he pulled the blanket off Rainy Days and tossed it onto Starlight’s bed.

“Now she thinks I’m some kind of pervert,” Starlight said as she walked toward him.

“Better than thinking we’re ponynappers.”

“Aren’t we, though?” Starlight said, standing in front of the bed to which Rainy was tied.

“No! I mean… Kinda? But it’s not like we had a choice.”

“We could turn her over to the royal guard. I’m sure they’d like to hear about her role in training the Stableton militia.”

Rainy emitted a muffled scream and continued fighting her bindings.

“In fact, we’ll have to if you can’t calm down a second,” Starlight glared at her.

Rainy quieted, but continued to fidget against her chains. Starlight propped her hooves on the bed.

“I’ll unseal your mouth, but on one condition: No more yelling. I just want to talk. After that…” Starlight looked at Anon, then back to Rainy. “We’ll let you go.”

“Sure that’s a good idea?” Anon asked.

“We can’t keep her here forever. It’s better she goes free on our terms than get released if the innkeeper gets wind of this.”

Anon nodded. Starlight tilted her head, looking into Rainy’s eyes. “Do we have a deal?”

Rainy looked away, her face scrunched in anger, but nodded.

Starlight channeled magic into her horn and lifted the seal on Rainy’s mouth. The pegasus gritted her teeth.

“The truth comes out. This is an interrogation,” Rainy said.

Starlight shook her head. “No, you don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to. I’m just curious, how did you find us?”

Rainy snorted. “I was raised in the Silverback mountains. Foals there learn basic tracking skills before they learn to walk.”

“So, you followed our trail?” Starlight asked.

“No, that wasn’t necessary. To find you I only needed to ask if anypony had seen a pink unicorn traveling with a hairless ape.”

“So much for handsome sasquatch…” Anon said.

“Appearances can be deceiving, monster. For instance, we thought she,” Rainy turned her head to Starlight, “was a noble leader returning from a long journey. Not a heartless witch seeking to undo everything she’d created.”

Starlight didn’t like the many assumptions Rainy was making, but the reminder that she was responsible for what Stableton had become still stung. She shook the thought from her head. “But why come after us? You had to know how this would end.”

Rainy remained silent.

“Alright. What did you mean about ‘what we’re up to’, then?” Starlight asked.

This seemed to surprise Rainy, if for a moment. “The story is already all over the city. The creature that attacked Stableton is here.”

Starlight looked at Anon, then back to Rainy. She laughed. Hard. “There’s so much wrong with that, I can’t. First of all, you know what happened in Stableton. Second, this,” she put a hoof on Anon’s leg, “crass idiot isn’t a creature. He’s my pet sasquatch.”

She felt Anon’s cold stare on her and relished needling him.

“What I know is that he’s the one responsible for burning Stableton, and now ponies here are going missing.”

“Huh? Since when?” Anon asked.

“Well… For a while. But everypony suspects it’s related to Stableton. And I know you’re a violent monster. It makes sense to me.”

Starlight thought for a moment. She suspected the princesses would keep news of a rebellion to a minimum. But Stableton was a local trading hub, so it would be hard to cover up everything. Rumor must have filled the gaps. But that left a lot unanswered. Why did nopony mention Anon’s presence if fear of a monster was rampant? Granted, Equestria had a lot of weird creatures, many far more monstrous than him, but there should have been some suspicion. Unless…

“Rainy, when you heard these rumors, did you ever bother to get a description of said monster?”

“No… I just assumed because of the rumors…”

“And you know we’ve only been here for a day, right? Not even that long yet,” Starlight continued.

“That’s impossible!” Rainy spat. “I learned you were traveling here by train almost a week ago. That trip is at maximum six or seven hours.”

“Yeah, that’s not a train ride we really completed,” Starlight said, narrowing her eyes in Anon’s direction. He looked away. “But think about it. You followed us half the day yesterday. Did you, even once, see anypony running in fear of this supposed monster?” She gestured in Anon’s direction.

“No, but…”

“That’s because it’s not him. You’ve got the wrong pony, er, creature. And violent?” Starlight blew air between her lips. “You know he carried you here, right? Made sure you weren’t passed out by the docks.”

“And so, what?” Rainy said. “Because of him, because of both of you, I can’t go back home. I’ve seen manticore purr. No beast rampages all the time. He’s already proven what he is. You both have.”

Starlight was starting to understand this pony. So, this was why Twilight always solved problems by talking instead of using her infinite mana pool. Why did she have to keep relearning the same lesson?

“You’re right about one thing, Rainy,” Starlight said, “we could have handled things differently.” Starlight’s horn warmed and the chains around Rainy Days dissipated. “But we also did what we felt we needed to protect our friends.”

Rainy sat up, ears pulled back. “At the expense of mine.”

“Didn’t you say everyone lived though,” Anon said.

“What kind of life is occupation by the royal guard? Silver Bell disappeared, and the town is a military outpost. And I can’t go back. Who knows what they’ll do to me.”

“Rainy,” Starlight said, “do you not have any place to stay?”

Rainy looked away. “That’s not true… shut up.”

“You know, I’m pretty close to Twilight Sparkle. I bet I could get you off the hook for any punishment if you became my student.”

“Say what?” Anon said. “I’m all for clemency and whatnot, but student? There are like… A million things wrong with that suggestion. Like, what is she going to do, travel with us?” Anon paused for a moment, then looked at Rainy. “Actually, I’m okay with that.”

Starlight didn’t bother wondering what he was thinking.

“I couldn’t make up for what I did in Stableton. For what I did to Stableton. But maybe I can make up for what I did to you.” Starlight reached a hoof out to Rainy. “So what do you say? Want to make some new friends?”

Rainy looked at Starlight’s hoof. Her hoof flinched, then she reached out, too… And slapped Starlight’s away. “Never. I will never forgive you.” Rainy stood and glared at them both. “You freed me, so I won’t try to take you out. Not now anyway.” She hopped off the bed and went to the door, then pulled it open. She paused in the doorway and turned toward them. “But if I find out what you’ve said is a lie, that you’re responsible for what’s going on here, I’ll be back for you. Both of you.” She left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Starlight stared after her, mouth open. She felt Anon’s hand on her withers.

“Eh, we tried. Can’t win them all,” Anon said.

“It’s not that…” Starlight sat down and looked up at the ceiling. “I wasn’t sure, but now I am. She really reminds me of myself.”