Just like Rainbow usually liked it, everything was rapidly devolving into a rushed, chaotic situation. Turns out that a pony suddenly finding herself going almost six hundred meters per second wasn't entirely without consequences. I never thought I'd actually consider the physics involved in accelerating a living creature to supersonic speeds without any vehicle until I saw her Sonic Rainboom. This was a whole other issue entirely. In all theory, she should technically be dead, but given that I was no longer surprised to be surrounded by colorful talking ponies, I suppose I had no right to question this either. As I hadn't gotten a measurement prior to her sudden acceleration, I assumed it was about her usual three hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty meters per second top speed. That meant she accelerated an additional two hundred and fifty meters per second in about a tenth of a second. And lived.

Oh, right, those consequences. My barrier was still up as I blinked, uncertain of entirely what had just happened. The glass in front of the barrier was fractured inwards by about an inch, held together by a now discovered thin meshing of magical wires. Huh. They had safety glass. Well, learn something new every day. Apart from learning that a pony can break physics. Again. I learned that almost every day, too, though.

Rainbow had simply disappeared. Well, it looked like she disappeared. The finish line at least registered her as the winner of the race while the magic sensor was still up. The entire finishing line, flag system, sensors, and winner's circle had exploded a second later in an air burst shockwave that fractured every window on the blimps on this side of the tracks. The one next to us was slowly rotating out of position from the force of the blast, and I felt us swaying as well as all four fillies screamed at once. Theirs was accompanied by dozens more outside from surprised ponies all around.

It was far worse off for Spitfire, however. She was at almost point blank range when Rainbow had suddenly sped up like that. Having her tagged, I easily tracked her as her forward momentum was knocked sideways instead, her mouth looking like she was screaming before being sent through the side of the cloud next to the remains of the finish line. Soarin thankfully came out of nowhere and nabbed her out of the air a fraction of a second later.

"Help me!" Rainbow wailed through our link, my positioning detection showing her traveling away from us in a somewhat coherent straight line at a little over six hundred meters per second now. She wasn't stopping, so I assumed she couldn't safely, or didn't know how.

"Rainbow, can you turn off your wing jets?!" Twilight shouted down the link.

"They're not on. This is all her," I corrected an instant later, earning a shocked look from Twilight. Wait. Oh hell. I quickly added, "Don't turn them on, Rainbow!" They were based off her wings' output, but I'd not tested them anywhere near those speeds. Best case scenario, she'd go a lot faster. Worst case scenario, they'd explode. No, wait, there was always a worse worst case scenario. Tear a hole in the fabric of space time and implode all of our existence into a singularity, killing us all instantly? Better... Or was it worse? Meh.

There was a moment of hesitation before Rainbow spoke again with, "W-What am I supposed to do?! I can't slow down or stop, and I'm... I'm starting to get really tired!" Great.

"Turn around in a wide loop, Dash. Head back towards the track, and I'm going to see what I can do from here," I assured, keeping my voice even as I pulled up my root command and turned her connection on fully. We didn't have time to go for the finesse route at this point. An intense panic bombarded us all instantly as I felt Dash slowly turning, heading back towards the track. Alongside it, however, I felt the intense flow of her body's magic supply. She'd somehow caused some sort of chain reaction that was centered right on her mid-back. It was like the magic was continuously exploding and producing more and more energy while slowly draining her reserves as fuel. Brute force, however. I didn't process it, instead passing the sensations right through the other link and into Twilight instead, who widened her eyes.

"Wait, this is an Ether Furnace reaction! How did... what?!" the lavender mare asked in disbelief.

"Ah fix, Twi! Hurry!" Applejack reminded, getting Twilight to shake her head rapidly and snap out of it.

Frowning for a split second, she quickly shot out, "It's not an out of control reaction. The base amount of fuel is still Rainbow's magic supply. If she cuts the link to that, it'll run out of fuel and burn out harmlessly!" Oh, well that was a far better prognosis than I'd anticipated. I wasn't holding my breath, though. It probably wouldn't be that easy.

As anticipated, Rainbow blanked completely. "Uh, what? Just tell me how to turn it off!" she begged, desperation sounding in her voice. I felt her closing in on the track again at record speed and expanded my shield around us completely, getting ready for another potential bombing run.

"No, I'll show you!" Twilight relayed, closing her eyes suddenly. She pushed her mind down the link, and I just let her through me entirely like a weird mental relay station. Broadcasting her to Dash instead, I felt the cyan mare's eyes widen even more as Twilight was suddenly felt all around her.

The platform burned into view through our empathy camera, but Twilight went calm suddenly. "Land," she instructed carefully. Dash started to protest, but her new co-pilot just glared at her and she swallowed, nodding. Trying something new, I turned my processor core on and pulled part of Rainbow's connection through her link as well, making a strange, tangled web of empathy that linked back to me again. I pushed the pedal down on her already heightened adrenalin levels, and pushed all my processing into her sensory input. Everything slowed down as I suddenly saw through her eyes instead.

Rainbow gasped as she suddenly felt like she was moving in hyper slow motion, her heart rate almost doubling. I stayed focused, switching her nanites over to emergency maintenance mode and prepared repairs on standby for a rough landing. Twilight centered herself at the same time, and then both Dash and I felt it.

The lavender mare focused and felt out the link leading to what felt like a condensed pocket of energy right under Rainbow's back, hooked right into her wings. In horror, I recognized the location instantly as where I'd wired up the control core for her wing jets. Her magic flow had adapted. The river had adjusted to the new direction it needed to flow in and improvised. Rainbow had 'grown' another pocket of magic in her, looking like it was made purely for high compression of energy. Then Twilight unplugged it.

The reaction was almost instant as the energy was cut from her 'reactor' core. It slowed down. The reactions started dropping off rapidly, reducing exponentially as it slowed and ran out of energy. Twilight held it there, all of her focus feeling out carefully into the energy reactions firing off. They dwindled until the whole core stopped processing. That's when Twilight reconnected it, and opened her eyes again. Was that it? Did that simple thing actually work?

"It... The jets stopped! I'm gonna try landing!" the pegasus announced, flicking energy back into the wings and burning backwards as she came in at a little over mach one. Still too fast! She pulled a turn that looked almost impossible, gritting her teeth against the g-forces as she went almost at a ninety degree angle. She came in spinning and puffed lightly into the cloud, sliding a few meters on her rump while slowly rotating. Finally she came to a complete stop and blinked twice, looking back at her still lightly glowing wings. Exhaling softly, I killed the connection and Twilight slumped in the chair.

"Twi!" Applejack yelped, hopping forward to catch her as I stabilized her from the side.

She shivered, then smiled weakly before muttering, "Well, at least I know what it feels like to have wings now. Not something I really want to repeat. No offense, Dash. Are you okay?"

Despite the glass having fractured violently, the pieces got larger the further from the center of the pane they got, so I moved over to the left side of the window in order to see properly. Looking back out it, I blinked, then widened my eyes in surprise. Now that nothing was exploding anymore, and the victorious pegasus had landed after her insane burst of speed, the crowd was recovering rapidly... Further, they started cheering hysterically. Rainbow looked sheepish for a moment, a pink tint coming on to her cheeks before she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, waving out to the crowd of ponies.

Spitfire held her head carefully, rubbing the right temple before wiping a bit of blood from her nose. Soarin said something, but she just swatted him away with a hoof and shook her head again, then winced. Well, she was alive, anyway. To my curiosity, she pushed something up on her collar area, and suddenly a mic turned on.

"Wow, that was kinda intense. Ow. My fault, though. I shouldn't have followed that closely behind the mare who's known for moving fast enough to make things explode. Anyway, awesome race, everypony!" Spitfire shouted out loud, waving both hooves into the air. I saw a bit of blood coming out of her ears as well, however. She should really see a doctor...

Everypony recovered surprisingly rapidly for there just being a large explosion. Quite a few pegasi had already pushed what was left of the victory circle back together again, with its three sort of raised platforms denoting first, second, and third place. Third looked a bit lopsided, though. Spitfire continued with that, announcing, "By the way, none of the Wonderbolts were actually taking part in the race! None of us registered, and I'm actually the presenter of the trophies. Everypony here raced amazingly, whether they made top three or not, and our goal was to make sure everypony did their best. Well, sometimes you work your hardest by having great adversity. We weren't disappointed!" Heh. Well, that explained them just dropping out left and right as the race neared conclusion.

Rainbow, the link feeling more stable now, looked like she'd already recovered from her sheer panic and was grinning as she trotted up towards the victory circle. Seriously? She was just going to act like all of that was intentional? Upon nearing Spitfire, she instead surprised me by apologizing. "Sorry about the damage, Captain. I wasn't expecting that to happen. I've never used that technique close to things," she admitted, 'technically' telling the truth.

"Does that mean she's done that before?" Twilight asked skeptically, earning a snort from Applejack.

"She ain't lying, but leavin' ah lot o' stuff out. If she tested it before, ya think she'd know how ta turn it off," the orange mare pointed out, rolling her eyes at Rainbow's casual reaction to it all.

Shaking my head, I quickly confessed regardless. "We need to talk after this. I... I think that happened due to prolonged exposure to my enchantment." Applejack looked surprised, but Twilight just smiled and nodded.

"I saw as much. I think I know what happened, too. The only unexplained thing is how she formed an Ether Furnace reaction that small," she revealed, drawing my attention to that term again. I was kind of afraid to ask, as it sounded rather violent.

Scootaloo continued vibrating in place, however. "Who cares?! Did you see how fast she went?! It was like, zoom!" she shouted, wings bursting out with energy as she zipped excitedly into the air. My tentacle shot out and caught her, yanking her back down in an instant just slightly before she hit the ceiling face first.

"No concussions, Scootaloo. You promised," I reminded, giving her a squeeze around the waist as she grinned up at me and rapidly nodded.

In the meantime, three pegasi had already taken their spots up on the winning platforms. My eyes widened and I barely resisted hacking up my lung in surprise when I saw the second place winner was none other than Derpy! Wait, why hadn't I noticed her in the race before?!

"-was quite a good move. Next time, however, you shouldn't fly so aggressively. Getting too close to your fellow racers, while bumping is allowed, can still be risky for both you and them," Spitfire finished explaining to the brownish stallion who sat on the third place pedestal. I recognized him as being one of the group leaders that Misty had helped lead into the final stretch. He rapidly nodded, eyes wide as he stared at Spitfire with what could only be described as creepy adoration.

The yellowish Wonderbolt, now having her hood down, coughed lightly and moved on to Derpy instead. "You flew quite amazingly today, Derpy. Thankfully, nothing in the rulebook says anything against going through the pillars instead, however. Gotta work on that reaction time still, especially when you get excited," Spitfire reminded, giggling as the gray pegasus grinned and nodded to her.

"I know. I just wanted to see the winner as they went across the finish line, so I hurried! I wasn't expecting to place, but so many ponies got blinded by Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom..." she explained, sounding reasonably unfazed by the explosion, too. Huh. Maybe it was a Ponyville thing? Wait, she wasn't blinded?

Spitfire smirked then pointed out, "That's almost cheating, but hey, more power to ya!" Derpy winked to her, her other eye swaying slightly off center as she did. Oh. Wow, that was kind of cheating. But eh, in war, that's called an advantage!

With that, Spitfire moved up to Rainbow, and gave her a long, pointed glare. Dash rubbed the back of her head and gave a sheepish sort of laugh for an awkward three seconds or so before her captain explained, "For future reference, Rainbow, blowing up the finish line so nopony else can cross it isn't a valid tactic." I blinked, and laughter broke out along the crowd before she continued with, "We have ponies with cameras for just that event. Regardless, astounding use of a gravity assisted crash recovery! And your Rainboom was just as impressive as usual, although a moot point since it's unique to you." I almost detected just a tiny bit of jealousy in her statement, but she winked and turned it playful instead.

"I'm sorry! I didn't expect it to do that!" Dash defended, gesturing towards the crater in the cloud now and the bits of flag debris lying about where the finish line had been. Also true.

Spitfire laughed at that, then shook her head as she drifted back down to the now vibrating brown stallion with slightly darker brown mane and tail. "Anyway, as tradition stands, each of the placed winners get a moment with the mic to say anything they wish. Just keep it foal friendly. You're up first... Cresent, uh, Moon, was it?" she asked, face blanking for a moment as she struggled with his name.

"Close enough!" he announced, earning a laugh through the crowd again before he rapidly shot into, "Willyoubeinmyherd?!" Uh...

Spitfire blinked, then asked, "Uh, what was that?" One of those types, huh? Dash rolled her eyes, having gotten the translation through my own link and reaction to it instead.

"Will you be in my herd?!" he repeated, only managing slightly slower than the first time. Rainbow kept a straight face, but I was surprised when Spitfire didn't even miss a beat.

"Nope. Already in one, sorry. But hey, Fleetfoot's single! Bet if you asked nicely, she'll give you her hotel room number," the Wonderbolt captain pointed out, gesturing to the right at Fleetfoot, who flared her wings up, look of surprise on her face.

The brown stallion perked, blinked once, then shrugged before trotting over to her instead, and Spitfire exhaled softly. "Captain!" Fleetfoot hissed, running and hiding behind Soarin instead as the other stallion trotted towards her. Wait, why was she named Fleetfoot if she had hooves? Eh. More laughter regardless from the crowd.

"Derpy! Your turn. What would you like to say? Please don't let it be a proposition," Spitfire half begged as she drifted up to her instead, directing her hoof mic to the pegasus.

The gray mare snickered before assuring, "Nope! Got my eyes on somepony already. I just wanted to thank all of my wonderful friends and family for supporting me through the years! Also, I wanted to officially welcome my newest friend to his new home! Go visit Moon Mender in Ponyville for all your engineering needs, everypony!" What?!

I blanched, and Scootaloo immediately started laughing against my forelegs. Applejack grinned, however, adding, "Bless her heart. She's gettin' at least two dozen apple muffins fer that." Why was she encouraging that?! Wait, I already knew the answer there.

Spitfire momentarily looked surprised before snickering and assuring, "Actually, I already saw the posters up. He's got quite an advertisement campaign going. Might have to drop by myself, actually. On representation of the Wonderbolts, of course. We need a new centrifuge, actually, after Dash blew it up last month."

Rainbow huffed at that, then defended, "I told you, the weather balloon landed on it and exploded! Why do you think I had something to do with it just because I reported the accident?!" A centrifuge? That wouldn't be too hard to make, provided they didn't want a ton of bells and whistles on it. But was it for ponies or scientific research? I was guessing ponies, but was also deathly afraid of assuming.

Soarin loudly cleared his throat, and Spitfire twitched, still glaring at Rainbow. Well, this had gotten awkward. A moment later, the Wonderbolt captain sighed and hovered up to the first place pedestal instead, extending her hoof mic. "Fine. You're still the winner of the race, so you still get your victory announcement. Got anything to say to the crowd, Rainbow?" she asked, quieter with the mic further from her mouth.

To my surprise, Rainbow Dash widened her eyes just a little, then froze completely. Oh! This was the whole reason she wanted to win so badly and practiced for so long! Looking to the right, I saw everypony watching her, including Applejack, who raised an eyebrow at the cyan mare's reaction. Slowly, the pegasus looked up at our booth, her keen eyes undoubtedly able to pick up the individual ponies looking down at her with ease at this distance. Uh oh. I just realized, she burned a ton of energy with that final burst. Did she even have anything left for the sky message?

Instead of frustration that I imagined that would cause, a wave of indecision and panic shot down the link from the mare. Fluttershy frowned as she slipped up next to me and whispered, "She's having second thoughts." Oh. Quite a lot of ponies had told her it was a bad idea. But she hadn't backed down even after all that. If she was that determined, she could probably make it work regardless.

Spitfire frowned, expression shifting to concern after seven or eight seconds passed. "Rainbow, are you okay?" she asked a moment later, giving Dash a start as her eyes snapped down to her captain instead. She hesitated, then looked down towards her hooves for a moment, wings folding lightly against her sides. No, she wasn't.

I watched her lips form a smile, even though I couldn't see her expression at this angle. Panic fell away to a lingering sense of sadness almost before she forced her head back up and smiled to the crowd. "Yeah, sorry. Was just thinking. I want to thank my parents for being so supportive of me all the time, even though they couldn't make it to this race. I also wanted to thank my amazing friends who helped me save the world. You've been there for me every time, and I couldn't do this without your support," she spoke, steadily but a little softly into the mic. So that was that, then, huh?

The yellow mare in front of her just watched her for a long moment before asking, "Anything else?" Sharp mare, if she realized Dash hadn't said what she wanted.

Rainbow stared at her for a moment before nodding once and adding, "Thank you for being here as well, Wonderbolts. Encouraging ponies to chase their dreams is something you've done since I was just a filly, and that's why I'm here. Proof that you really can get what you wish for, if you just set your mind to it and keep trying. Thank you." It was kind of ironic for her to say that, admittedly.

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo hissed, frowning in annoyance at her 'big sister' down there. Applejack shook her head, however.

"What was so important 'bout that? Encouragin' tha foals is good an' all, but tha way she talked earlier..." the orange mare asked, raising both hooves up in the direction of Dash while wearing a skeptical expression.

I stood up as the crowd started to cheer, Spitfire shrugging and hovering around, holding both hooves into the air with a smile again. She really knew how to work a crowd. Still... "I'm going to go tell the captain to land at the edge of the cloud. Rainbow shouldn't risk flying to the ground to meet us," I suggested, turning to head for the stairs.

Twilight nodded, looking back over to me with a smile. I started to return it when a flare of pain shot through us all an instant later. My eyes widened and snapped to Rainbow past Twilight's head, the cyan mare wincing and holding a hoof up to her right temple. Each connected mare turned as well afterwards, surprised at the sudden sensation. Pinkie even looked over the rim of the balloon. Dash's eyes widened as she touched her snout with the other hoof, and drew it back covered in blood. Aw, crap.

Another spike of pain hit an instant later, this one intense enough for me to wince and grit my teeth at the sensation. Rainbow gasped, holding both her hooves to her head for a moment as the blinding sensation burned white down the connection. She held it for three full seconds before shuddering once, and then it was gone. Her eyes lost their focus a moment later and she slumped, falling over sideways off the platform, Soarin's eyes widening as he burst past the surprised Spitfire to try to catch her...

There was never a dull moment. If not me, somepony else was almost killing themselves. At least that was an overstatement here. This time. Rainbow rested with her stomach on the gurney, her back legs splayed out to either side of my thighs and her tail haphazardly flopped in my lap as I kneeled behind her, pushing my front hooves down against her back. More energy danced into her tired body and she shivered, eyes fluttering under the deep purple light. Twilight's horn bathed the entire room in a vibrant glow as she kept it solid against Rainbow's forehead, energy seeping into the stubborn mare.

Another shudder, and Dash smiled suddenly. "Getting my body and brain massaged at once feels kinda awesome," she muttered, sounding amused but uncharacteristically worn out.

"This is kinda serious, Dash. We do exercises for this at the academy. Risking your life to win a race that you were going to win anyway was foolish! What if you'd passed out over open sky moving at that speed?!" Spitfire asked, having personally helped haul her into our cabin as it landed, Twilight waving her over. She was followed by the entire medic team, who rode with us all the way down to the ground again, to one of the ground clinics. The IV was still in her arm, replenishing her fluid levels. She also had a few wires connected to her now, running up to the metal frame of monitors next to her. Those I was also interested in, as they appeared to be more of those interesting crystal display things I’d seen before.

"It... It wasn't that bad!" the cyan mare tried to deny, earning a frown from Twilight's focused face.

The lavender mare quickly corrected that statement with, "You drained your energy reserves so badly that it strained your life force, Rainbow. If you pushed much harder to sustain that speed, you'd be in the hospital right now rather than just needing some rest." It was just Twilight and I here with the medical team and Spitfire now, both of us directly able to apply aid to the pegasus and thus, allowed to stay. As team captain, Spitfire also had supervision over her fellow Wonderbolt, reserve status or not, and also stayed, much to Dash's chagrin.

Rainbow fell silent at that for a moment, hesitating before whispering, "You know why it was important to me. And after all that, I didn't even have the guts to go through with it."

Sighing, I pointed out, "Sky writing your message wouldn't have gone very well anyway, Rainbow. You'd have passed out halfway through your name." She shifted to a blank expression for a moment at that, and I almost slapped my forehead, her seriously just now realizing that. Spitfire smirked, however.

"So there was more you were going to say. Ooooh, a long standing secret? A confession?" she asked, switching her mood almost instantly as I blinked in surprise. Rainbow blushed at that, looking away from her now grinning captain. "Ah ha! It was a confession! Well, I hate to say it, but your friend is right. You probably wouldn't have been able to fly again if you were that low on energy. How you were even still standing was beyond me," Spitfire continued, shifting to a confused sort of frown afterwards. Uh...

The nurse didn't miss a beat, however. "Primarily endorphins and adrenaline, actually. Speaking of, her body has restored its natural energy balance now. Your techniques are quite useful," she complimented, nodding to both Twilight and me. Twilight had been working on her mental state while I was injecting energy into key points along her body's natural flow to 'kickstart' it.

Sighing, I nodded and leaned back, having put a bit more energy into that than my normal massages. And by a bit, I meant it felt like I'd gone two days without sleep. Twilight was lucky that she somehow had a small ocean of magical energy to draw upon. Rainbow shifted to a sheepish, weak smile back at me as she undoubtedly felt my tiredness, but Twilight sat up as well, looking none the worse for wear.

"Are we okay to go, then?" Twilight asked, looking to the head nurse who was taking readings still. She peeked at a few more of her monitors, then at her clipboard floating next to her before smiling and nodding to us. Admittedly, it was weird seeing somepony in the medical profession that wasn't my all time favorite nurse, Red. This mare had a white coat, too, but her mane and tail were blue instead, and she had a pair of thick looking glasses on that made it hard to see her eyes. Teal, maybe?

"Her levels are stable again, and her wings show amazing levels of durability and healing. She should be fine to go, but no flying for at least twelve hours," the nurse reported, causing Dash's smile to fall away almost instantly.

"What?! How am I supposed to get back to my home tonight?!" she asked sharply, turning to look at the nurse almost instantly. She then winced as the nurse timed it almost perfectly to slide the intravenous needle out of her foreleg, applying a gauze pad instead with her other hoof.

Twilight rolled her eyes however. "Rainbow, do you honestly think that you can't stay with one of us for the night? Relax," she assured, smiling softly at her friend. Dash relaxed her shoulders slightly, but kept her ears drooped as she absently nodded. At least she was okay.

Focusing, I momentarily slipped inside myself and sent out, "She's going to be fine. She needs to rest for tonight, and needs somepony to stay with." Even though she knew it was just a mental communication, I saw Rainbow's eyes flicker towards me, watching with interest.

Applejack's mental voice came in first. "Whew. Ah'm glad yer doin' okay. Ya can stay with me if ya want, Dash," she offered almost instantly. Predictably, the pegasus blushed lightly at that, but Twilight had started talking verbally again.

"We'll go meet up with the rest of our friends again, then. Stay between us in case you stumble, Rainbow," Twilight suggested, hopping down off the gurney and steadying it with her magic while we got off.

"I told you, I'm fi-" Dash started to repeat before she touched down onto the floor. Her front legs went out from under her, and I ducked down as she yelped. My forelegs caught her under the chest, and I slowed her down, holding her there for a moment as she caught her balance again.

Twilight giggled and helped her stand again before pushing into the other side of her. "Relax. It's okay to get help every once in a while," she assured.

The nurse frowned while watching before asking, "Do you need a wheelchair, Miss Dash?" Further predictably, the cyan mare recoiled at that, rapidly shaking her head.

"No! No, I should be..." she started to assure, trailing off as I rolled my eyes and tucked my head under her right foreleg. She gave a squeak, but let me slip her up onto my back instead. After a moment, she steadied herself and relaxed as I lifted her up fully and she slid her other leg over my back.

"You carried me quite a bit already. Let me do the same in return," I assured. She exhaled quietly, then finally nodded and relaxed, resting her head to the side of my own as I turned to Twilight instead. She gave me a warm smile and turned to the nurse, who nodded towards the door.

She slipped a side sheet of paper out from behind the clipboard, and drifted it over to Twilight. A brief glance showed a number two followed by a rather interesting looking circular symbol that I hadn't seen before yet. It was too wide to be a zero. Maybe it was-? My thought process was interrupted when Twilight nodded and floated her bag open, withdrawing two shiny coins and setting it on the only table this small field medic tent had. Oh! The circle thingy was a bit symbol, then. Wait, how had I been here a month and a half and never noticed that? It had been on Carrot Top's sign, now that I recalled. At a glance, I thought that twenty bits was too high for three carrots.

Exiting the medical tent, I was mildly surprised to see Spitfire following us. Well, continuing to follow us after exiting, rather than, I don't know, take to the sky or something. "Sure you're holding up okay, Rainbow? The team could get you to Ponyville's hospital in short order," she offered, still sounding a little concerned. Well, she was the team captain, so I suppose all of the Wonderbolts, even the reserves, were under her list of responsibilities, too. She seemed to honestly like Dash, though.

"Mmph, everything but my dignity. No offense, Mender," my feathery backpack murmured, sounding disheartened.

"None taken," I assured, used to her blunt, in your face statements at this point.

Spitfire blinked, then perked up a bit. "Oooh, so you're Moon Mender?" she asked. Twilight's expression dropped into a disbelieving one as she glanced past me to the Wonderbolt on the other side.

"Seriously? We were in there the whole time, and said his name while talking to the nurse and confirming he could stay. You didn't hear it then?" she asked, sounding incredulous. Dash smirked, but Spitfire just flicked her bang to the side and huffed.

"I was a bit busy chewing out the reserve for almost flying herself into an early visit to the Ether. I have a lot on my mind!" she defended, turning Rainbow's smirk into an ear flattened scowl.

Thankfully she couldn't stew for long. "Rainbow Dash! You're okay!" came a familiar sounding voice. I turned my head and smiled as Derpy ran in from our front, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie fast on her tail. Rarity was tactfully hanging back, smiling as she watched with a very, very happy looking Spike riding on her back. Oooh, scandalous! Wait, no, that would be snarky. To my slight confusion, a strange brown stallion ran alongside the slowest of the faster approaching ponies, Fluttershy. Who was he? Wait, had I seen him before?

"Ha! The second place winner herself! Oh, and... Uh, you!" Spitfire chirped, frowning as she turned to look at the brown stallion as well. Huh? Oh, right, I had seen him before. Third place winner. He was actually sort of forgettable. Maybe it was his color scheme?

His ears flattened back as he skidded to a stop, now next to Derpy in the front, who gave him a puzzled look as if she'd never seen him before. "Uh, my name is Crescent-" he started to repeat.

"Wait! No, I got this! Crescent... Crescent Mooning?" Spitfire guessed, blinking once in uncertainty. Rainbow shifted a light red hue, her sharp snort barely containing the laughter from blasting across my ear, and Pinkie started giggling regardless.

Crescent Mooning's ears flattened somehow even more, almost straight down against his skull before he corrected, "Crescent Star... Crescent Moon is my brother." Wait, what? But 'Crescent' was a descriptor for a shape and several stages of a moon transition. Stars didn't come in that shape, nor did they have transitions like that. Hmm. Maybe it was a matter of perspective? A star could be eclipsed in various stages by another celestial body, so from the surface of a nearby planet, it could...

He turned slightly sideways and gestured at his flank, showing a Cutie Mark of a crescent moon and three stars near it. Oh. Or that. What did that even mean? Spitfire stared at it for a moment before recovering quickly with, "Right! Star! That was my second guess. Uh, anyway, what are you doing here? Weren't you and Fleetfoot going to-"

"She turned me down. I didn't even realize that hotel hot tubs needed lifeguards!" he exclaimed, blinking once more. They did?

Spitfire stared vacantly at him before snapping out of it and asking in horror, "Oh, of course they do! Ponies can get seriously overheated and pass out in one! Who's going to dive in after them if there's no lifeguard?!" Oh! I hadn't thought about that. Seriously, did they run their hot tubs that hot in Equestria?!

"Ooooh, that does totally make sense! Well, thankfully I remembered Rainbow was hurt soon after and went to see how she was doing, and I was going to ask if she was single before I remembered how horribly scary she is, but then I met Fluttershy here!" he explained, nudging his head towards the yellow mare next to him. Wait, what?

It was Rainbow's turn to glare at him, adding yet another to his 'Definitely Not Friends' list. "Seriously? How am I scarier than Spitfire?! Wait, why are you hitting on Fluttershy?!" my backpack demanded to know. My eyes narrowed sharply at the reminder. That was an extremely important question. One that would potentially get him a high velocity trip off the top of the hill if he answered poorly.

He swallowed before hesitantly glancing between us and finally answering, "Uh, because she's hot? And an ex-model?" Yeah, wrong answer. Wait, Fluttershy used to be a model? The yellow mare, pink from the prior question, now turned red and squeaked, hopping rapidly away from him and scampering forward to hide behind Twilight, who was slightly closer. That lined him up for punting anyway, so I didn't mind.

There was a long, stagnant pause with everypony except Fluttershy and Pinkie viciously staring daggers at him. Understandably, he twitched and started sweating, looking back and forth between us. "Oooh, awkward!" Pinkie chirped gently, now swaying back and forth next to Derpy.

"Seriously bad idea, Dude. You're informed enough to know Fluttershy used to be a model, but not enough to know she's in a herd already with Princess Twilight Sparkle?!" Spitfire asked, gesturing to the now annoyed looking mare to the other side of me. I hesitated and waited for the 'and' to follow Spitfire's query, but predictably, it never came. Ugh.

Twilight shifted to awkward looking instead, apparently also waiting for that non-existent 'and' part. Crescent Stupid Name flailed at that, however. "W-whoa! I didn't realize! Sorry! Ugh. This just isn't my day," he quickly apologized, drooping down a little and almost, just almost, making me feel sorry for him.

Sighing, Applejack rolled her eyes before stepping past the still confused looking Derpy. "Look, Ah see that yer ah little, uh, lonely? Ah can understand that, Ah really do. But well, yer comin' on just ah mite too strong, don't ya think? There's ah real nice mare lookin' fer ya out there, without doubt. Ya just gotta calm down ah little an' try not ta scare ponies, ya know?" she suggested, putting on a rather assuring smile. Yeah, that was quite a solid bit of advice, given his performance so far. I'd add a few suggestions to that, by my inner Rarity suggested it would be too crass.

He blushed lightly, then thoughtfully scratched his chin before nodding to her, causing her to perk and nod back. "Thank you, Applejack. You're, um, a really nice mare. I can see why you're an Element Bearer and-" he started. Twilight promptly slapped her forehead, and Applejack herself coughed slightly.

"Uh, that's better! Seriously. But, uh, no," Applejack answered without even an instant of hesitation. He drooped his ears again, and Twilight twitched. Before I could even process it, he was enveloped in a magical aura and literally launched at a fraction of the speed of sound off over the track, flailing and screaming.

Everypony stared blankly at her for a moment before she gave an exasperated eye roll. "What?! He has wings, he'll be fine! Probably," she assured, waving her hoof towards me. I shuddered, reminding myself to yet again not make her angry. Landing from that would probably be mildly painful for me, and I'd cause a lot of collateral damage.

"Psh, she's a softy. Featherfall spell on him, too?" Spitfire inquired, holding a hoof over her eyes as she looked off into the distance in the direction he got flung.

Twilight sighed wearily before reminding, "While it might be satisfying to entertain in my head, I'm not going to murder somepony for tactless flirting." Oh, right. She continued a hesitant moment later with, "Plus, the Featherfall spell disrupts the thermals around a pegasus' wings, so he has no choice but to float slowly to the ground. Buys us at least five minutes of peace in case he decides to return." Ooooh! Smart!

Fluttershy shivered before quietly chipping in with, "Oh, and, um, Moon Mender's in our herd, too." I smiled back at her, causing her to blush faintly again and give me a timid one back. Spitfire perked up at that, then rubbed the back of her head before spinning and looking at Twilight instead.

"Wait, seriously? I could have sworn I saw that huge, like, three hundred point newspaper headline about you forming a herd with Fluttershy!" she asked. Ugh. Damn it, Fancypants! My ears drooped again as I was suddenly blatantly reminded of that whole dramatic fiasco. Twilight momentarily looked like Spitfire had just turned and bucked her in the face instead, however.

Spitfire reacted a bit faster this time, scraping the ground with her right front hoof before awkwardly rotating slightly to face me instead. Okay, I really didn't care anymore, and just wanted to stop talking about this... "Okay, sorry, sorry! I'm not batting a thousand tonight, that much is obvious. The paper was out of date, got it!" she deduced correctly, rapidly recovering her composure before continuing with, "So I officially apologize, on behalf of myself and the Wonderbolts, as an organization, and congratulate you! I mean, getting to join a herd full of two smokin' hot mares already, serious props!" I stared blankly at her for a long moment, and her grin faltered a little, but to her credit, she kept up the pose, right foreleg extended out in attempts to get me to shake her hoof.

Derpy finally frowned, then warned, "Um, I might be wrong, but I think Mender was supposed to join the herd at the same time, and the paperwork got messed up." I looked past Spitfire to Derpy and nodded, giving her a weak smile I barely managed to muster. Spitfire's pose didn't change, but her jaw clenched a little as her eyes shifted over to Twilight, who swallowed nervously and nodded. A long, agonizing six seconds later, her eyes slowly shifted back to me, the sound of crickets chirping in the numb silence around us. Huh. Wait...

I looked to my left, where Spitfire had been before violently shoving her hoof down her throat. Pinkie stood there instead, lips pressed together as she made a cricket chirping noise with her mouth, amazingly accurately. She should really show me how she did that, at some point. She stopped and looked at me for a moment after I spotted her, then slowly commented, "Really awkward!" Yes, yes it was.

"Uh, yeah. Thank you, Pinkie," I thanked, shifting to a smile and nod towards her. Somehow, she managed to make me feel just a little better. I chalked it up to that strange Pinkie magic she pulled off all the time.

Spitfire finally managed to snap herself out of that frozen grin, coughing lightly into her hoof she'd retracted now. "Ah, yeah, yeah it was. Possibly the most awkward moment I've had this year. And I'd bet Soarin ten bits that I could get through the event without putting my hoof in my mouth, too! Ah well. Uh, right. Not leaving Cloudsdale without my PR Cheatsheet ever again," she muttered weakly, finally looking away from me.

Shrugging, I admitted, "Awkward moments are something I'm familiar with. To your credit, I would have run away and hid by now." Also the truth, sadly.

She smirked at that and turned back to look at me before shrugging. "Nah. A Wonderbolt never shows their back to a problem. Even if the problem is me making a complete fool of myself! Right, I repeat those formal apologies, with additional from me again. Yeah, definitely going to drop by your place later with some generous commission requests," she apologized yet again. As luck would have it, she blundered into my one weakness, and I twitched. Well, one of my weaknesses, next to mares crying, adorableness, pleading foals, static cling in my fur, conveyor belts, loft lifts, apples, rocks, water, trees, and Rainbow Dash.

"Ah, uh, no, it's okay! We all goof from time to time, and you're right, you do have a lot on your mind! So how about we just start over? I'm Moon Mender," I introduced rapidly, holding my hoof out to her instead.

She gave me a suspicious raised eyebrow before slowly reaching forward and taking it with her opposite, shaking softly. Dash started snickering before explaining, "You tried to pay him. That gets him to give up immediately." Damn it! Spitfire smirked, of course, and I knew it was too late now, so instead, I directed a glare back at my now frustrating feathered backpack. Actually, she was surprisingly light for a full grown pony. How she'd managed to carry me...

Applejack just chuckled softly, then shook her head. "As much as Ah enjoy teasin' Mender an' watchin' him squirm, we should get Dash somewhere where she can relax," she pointed out. I rolled my eyes but just stayed quiet. My mouth had already gotten me in enough trouble.

"I know Pinkie had her heart set on a picnic under the stars, I do believe this time, a soft resting spot would do Rainbow more justice. I doubt Mender will volunteer for the remainder of the evening, so might I suggest returning to the library? You have that lovely couch in the main room near the fire," Rarity directed, turning to look at Twilight instead. I suppose gathering there wasn't that bad of an idea. Wait, where were the Crusaders? They hadn't come to greet us.

Pinkie held her hoof up absently, shaking it back and forth as she smiled. "It's okay! We can always have a nice picnic next spring instead. It is getting a little on the chilly side now," she assured, in a surprisingly calm tone for her.

"Oooh, can I come, too, Twilight? I'll be really good and not bother anypony," Derpy asked, suddenly snapping out of her quiet trance over the course of the last conversation.

Spitfire snickered at that and added, "Sorry, but I have to call it quits at that. Soarin's waiting for my report back at our hotel, and we have an early practice tomorrow before the next day's festivities, so I gotta run." Oh, right! There were festivities running for almost four days. I wondered idly if I'd get to see any tomorrow. Twilight nodded to both of them, regardless.

"It was nice seeing you again, Spitfire," she started, wincing then as the mare blasted off with a sharp grin. After a weaker sigh, she smiled again and turned back to Derpy, with, "Of course you can come. You know you can celebrate with us anytime you want. Uh, where are the Crusaders, though?"

Applejack snickered at that before explaining, "Sent 'em back ta town. We didn't know how long Dash would be in there, so they went back ta pick up some medical supplies from tha market." Twilight lifted an eyebrow at that, earning a cough from the orange mare before she appended, “Yeah, Ah know. Ya have supplies in there. Scootaloo wouldn’t stop talkin’ about what she could do ta help Dash, though.” Aww, that was rather adorable.

Rainbow blushed lightly, but Pinkie nodded and bounced once before furthering, "Yup! We knew the town has lots of medical and repair supplies stockpiled anyway! The mayor was all sighs and complaining about annual injury reports when Twilight gave her the awesome idea of stockpiling things ahead of time!" Oh, that was rather smart. Wait, annual injuries?

The lavender unicorn looked a bit perplexed, however. "Wait, you weren't at the meeting, Pinkie. How did you even... Wait, why am I even asking that? Never mind. Let's just get going back to town. Maybe we can catch the Crusaders and save them a return trip," she reasoned, sighing and starting back down the path off the hill. Hey, I would have liked to hear that explanation. Of course, would Pinkie have even answered? Probably not.

Cracking my back lightly, I shifted to make sure Rainbow was still on my back safely, then started after Twilight and the others, resuming my place towards the back of our group. My newfound favorite position held many benefits, greatest of which was them catching any potential attention first and foremost, be it media ponies or otherwise. I ultimately preferred being in the background if at all possible. Some days, it felt like something was conspiring against that. It was almost as if some invisible or impossible to realize camera was following me around wherever I went.

Shaking off the surreal sensation, I was reminded of the other reason I liked this placement, eyes locking on to Twilight's swaying hips as she walked down the path, the subtle muscles shifting underneath as she braced against the hill so she didn't fall victim to gravity and slip, bonking her head off the ground and rolling into a crumpled heap at the bottom or... Nope, sexy thoughts gone. Damn it! It was only because I did exactly that before, too!

Sadly, I forgot how close Rainbow was in link proximity until I felt her grin against the back of my neck. "Oooh, I hate it when that happens. Nice, tasty thought, and then bam, totally derailed," she mused back into my mind, barely a whisper as she pushed it only to me. Hey, she'd realized how to do that! Finally...

"Shush. I think I fell down this hill before on my way to Ponyville the day I landed," I warned, right back into her head. She smirked regardless, and I saw it coming. Well, 'felt' it more so at this range.

"Still, good reasons to stay in the rear. To check out the other rears, ya know? Twilight's is nice, but Applejack's is so much, mmm, fuller!" she pointed out, gesturing towards the orange rump with blond tail thankfully hiding more choice bits. I blushed, then she outright grinned. "Ah ah! Eyes only, Mister! She's so mine," she mentally reminded, earning a still blushing glare from me.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow finally, glancing back as she probably felt my flood of embarrassment. Too late. The pegasus was going to pay now. "Oh? Here I thought you'd more want us to share you?" I inquired, as deep into her mind as I could launch it, supplemented with pictures.

Rainbow's wings shot to full extension almost as fast as her eyes did. Her cheeks did their best attempt to quickly follow, at least matching her eye color, until she winced. Oh, right, her wings hurt. Fluttershy tilted her head as Rainbow glared at me, still flushed. Heh. Oops...

Admittedly, this was a lot better than out in the chilly winds for the picnic, and we already had the food all packed! Now everypony had settled in to the lounge at the bottom of the library, with Rainbow resting on the couch, of course. It was rather large, however, and Applejack was resting to her left, and Rarity to her right. Spike sat at the bottom of the couch, right underneath Rarity, of course, and looking quite pleased as to his spot.

Fluttershy sat in the large sofa behind me. Well, she was more lying down in it. Her head was tucked up against my cheek as I leaned back on it. Twilight sat to my right, looking more interested in her book than the events in front of us, despite doing so well herself. Pinkie sat to my left, wiggling in excitement every time a new turn came up. It was kind of cute, honestly. To her left sat all four Crusaders, frequently changing places in order to gain what they hoped was an edge, it would seem. Derpy was to Twilight's right, completing the circle on the other side. Pinkie giggled in amusement as her turn came up again, having completed the task of somehow juggling three tennis balls with just her tongue. She reached out and gave the bottle in the center a healthy spin.

Rarity had requested a simple, low key game so we all could continue eating while playing, which certainly hadn't hurt my feelings. Pinkie looked a bit disappointed, however, as she put away the volleyball. How she expected us to play that in Twilight's library was beyond me, but at least she had a backup option with Twilight's enchanted bottle. It was simple magic to detect various biological functions keyed in to somepony potentially lying. I said potentially, due to the fact that somepony simply freaking out in panic would also probably set it off, hence special precautions were taken with Fluttershy's turns.

So far, it had been a significantly less painful experience than the last time we'd played Truth or Dare. There were no frogs this time, either, thankfully. Apart from the tongue juggling experience, Twilight had also proved she could balance one of the tennis balls perfectly fine on the tip of her horn without using magic, which was also impressive. Rarity had further revealed that she sometimes slept with a coat of beauty cream on in order to prevent 'wrinkles', despite being only twenty. Derpy had shown us her ability to uncannily fly upside down for extended periods of time, which seemed practically impossible, and Applejack openly admitted to getting the cider supplies from Big Mac's stash, with explicit permission. Rainbow was a bit disappointed in that answer, apparently having hoped to get the secret location of Applejack's stash instead. Although at this point, aforementioned cider already had everypony a little flushed, being of the 'hard' variety. Minus me, of course. Yet another thing being a cyborg took away from me... Although maybe that was for the better, lest I go into some horrible downward spiral of alcoholism in order to forget being a planet eating abomination. Heh.

Regardless, on my only turn so far, I'd been dared rather strangely by Rarity to use my rather prehensile tongue to try to tie together two ribbons she pulled out of her bag. Derpy didn't even seem to blink at mention that my tongue was different, so I didn't really mind. She wouldn't spread around that I was a 'mutant' or anything, so it wasn't that worrying. Far more worrying was the surprising amount of attention such a simple dare got me, as everypony stared intently at my long tongue curling around to tie a nice bow in the two ribbons. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow also started blushing, and I didn't even want to ask. Probably some secret culture thing I was missing.

Slowly, the bottle slipped back around and headed right back towards Pinkie again. What happened if you spun yourself? Eh, there was probably just a rule in place to spin again. Regardless, it slipped past Pinkie herself, slowly crawled just past Fluttershy, and came up right to the edge of my back hoof, which I kept intentionally extended to minimize Fluttershy's hit zone.

"Ha! Your leg's out again, Mender! Your turn!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards my back leg. She hadn't caught on yet.

"Oh, oops. It's hard to keep it under me sometimes. Look at that," I muttered, glancing down at it. Fluttershy blushed lightly, and Pinkie just giggled before asking her question.

"So, truth or dare?!" she asked, grinning in amusement. Well, I'd taken a dare before and it had gone rather weirdly, so maybe it was a truth time?

Sighing, I answered with, "Truth, this time." This would come back to bite me, I just knew it.

Pinkie grinned, and I braced for impact before Twilight coughed sharply. Eh? The lavender mare quickly reminded, “Young ears, Pinkie. Keep it clean.” Huh? A glance showed three of the four Crusaders all leaning in closer. Spotted, they toppled over each other to go back to sitting normal, failing miserably and ending up a big pile of multi-colored limbs.

The pink one pouted for a moment before continuing with, “Oh fine. Truth, then. What’s the time where you’ve had the most fun here in Ponyville so far? I gotta take notes!” That one caught me off guard, as I was expecting something embarrassing or horrifying, and I momentarily hesitated. Most fun? It didn’t surprise me when Pinkie actually reached over into Twilight’s saddlebag and grabbed a notepad.

“To be honest, times like these are my favorite. When we can all just relax as a group, let things slow down, and just enjoy each other’s company. Emphasis on the ‘slow down’ part,” I answered a moment later, knowing exactly what I’d wanted before she asked. That made being honest rather easy, in this case.

“Aww!” Derpy chirped, smiling at me warmly. Rainbow rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion, but I just stuck my tongue out at her. I had the right to want to slow down, having thwarted an alien invasion, built two upgrades to a barn, gotten blown up, having fought off an alien invader, having found out I was a cyborg, finding out who my real parents were, and falling for two amazing and lovely mares, all in the space of a month and a half. Damn. Just listing all that tired me out.

Pinkie blinked, then grinned at that. “Likes cuddles and snuggle time. That’s super easy to remember! I didn’t need this after all…” she confirmed before shoving the pad of paper back in Twilight’s bag. I was a bit surprised that the lavender mare didn’t even seem to care. Less surprised when Pinkie slid over and pounced me from the side, tackling both Twilight and me while burying her face under my chin. “Cuddles I can do anytime! We don’t even need a party for that,” she proclaimed, as if it was some astounding and miraculous revelation. Oh Pinkie…

Applejack snickered at her antics before pointing out at the glowing green bottle. “Honest it would seem, not that Ah doubted him. But he can’t exactly spin tha bottle with ya flattenin’ him inta tha floor,” she pointed out, grinning at us. Instead of doing the easy thing and just sitting up again, Pinkie instead nodded twice and shuffled a little to the side, moving our pile closer to the middle of the area and near the bottle. Of course…

With the scents of freshly baked cookies wafting up into my nose from the pink mare’s mane, I shifted to the right and flailed my right foreleg out a bit, missing twice before whacking the nozzle of the bottle on my third flick. Pinkie giggled from my chest while Twilight rolled her eyes to my vague right side, still smiling, however, as she wrapped her forelegs around both of us instead.

The bottle spun rapidly, drifting a bit off center due to my inaccurate, flailing impact on it. Not too much thankfully, and it rotated slowly around, heading for Applejack. Oh boy. The farm mare grinned, sitting up as she prepared undoubtedly for another dare, when the glass rolled over slightly. The raised writing on it must have tipped over at just the perfect time, and the nozzle shifted another inch to the right instead.

Rainbow’s eyes widened, the nozzle directed at her right foreleg now. I looked at her, and she looked at me, a sudden frown of annoyance shifting onto her face. In her two turns so far, she’d gleefully indicated that she had wanted revenge for the wing thing on our way over here, but had spun me on neither turn. This was ironic…

“Psh, fine. Do your worst. Dare,” Dash announced, smirking confidently at me. Brat…

Narrowing my eyes at her, I reminded, “Fine. I’ll get revenge for your last dare against me, then. Getting my stomach pumped wasn’t pleasant.” Or seeing frogs. Or blathering on about all of my secrets in front of the whole party.

Her eyes shot open in surprise, and I felt Pinkie’s face heat up, her front hooves rubbing together weakly. “Um, that was kinda my fault, too,” she reminded quietly, sounding like she still felt bad about it. Although to be honest, somepony would have had to get their stomach pumped, so at least it was the cyborg who didn’t realize he was a cyborg at that time. It might have made somepony else really sick.

“It’s okay, Pinkie. I’ll get you back later. For now, it’s Rainbow’s turn!” I declared, earning a giggle and nod surprisingly from the pink mare against my chest. Dash puffed up, eyes narrowing as she partially sat up again.

“Bring it! I’m feeling a lot better now, and can handle any dare you throw at me!” she assured, starting to grin.

Derpy leaned over to Twilight instead, however, and asked, “Stomach pump?”

Despite being upside down to Derpy, Twilight snickered and shook her head up at her. “Long story. It was an accident on Pinkie’s part for the ‘punishment’ of backing down from the dare to kiss Fluttershy, which was technically against the rules anyway. He really shouldn’t have been punished…” she explained.

“Oh yeah. That was ah lot o’ vomitin’…” Apple Bloom suddenly commented, earning a shudder from Sweetie next to her. I had no luck with potions at all. Still!

I smirked, and Rainbow hesitated, but it was far too late. There was a line that nopony could back down from, and I’d crossed it. “Fine. I dare you to kiss Applejack,” I finally ordered. Pinkie gasped against me, putting both hooves to her mouth as she looked over at the couch. For just a second, it didn’t register, and then Rainbow’s confident smirk fell away into a thousand pieces, her eyes widening drastically almost as fast as the flush of color entered her cheeks. Applejack froze next to her as well, cup partially to her mouth for another drink of cider. Her eyebrow lifted at that, but her expression remained neutral as her eyes shifted to look at Dash instead.

“W-What?!” Rainbow asked, red coloring flushing up her whole face as her eyes glanced just slightly over at the orange mare, suddenly afraid of eye contact as I felt her heart try to pound through her chest down the link. Okay, maybe that had been unfair…

Smirking, Twilight flipped three pages and looked at ‘Truth or Dare Rules’ listing. Figured she’d have a book for having a party. “Mmm, technically any dare including another pony needs to have their express consent, and no acts of intimacy are allowed unless that’s the setting… Although, she DID attempt to do that to you last time, so I’d have to rule this one time as fair game,” the lavender mare concluded, which was impressive for reading sideways.

“But that was different! That was… uh…” Dash tried to defend, flailing her forelegs before hesitantly glancing over at the orange mare next to her, who was smiling gently now.

“Ah consent,” she assured, taking a big swig of her cider before setting it down and shivering. She sounded more amused than anything as Rainbow’s ears dropped down, somehow getting the red flush all the way to them, now. Apple Bloom was watching her sister in surprise now, both forehooves up on her muzzle. The little orange filly next to her was slightly less reserved, her wings buzzing quietly on her back as she looked back and forth between the two of them.

Rarity blushed just slightly as well, stirring her cider a bit while smirking. “You did say anything he could throw at you,” she murmured, sounding far too entertained by this to be healthy.

It looked more like Rainbow found herself backed into a corner, her wings twitching behind her as she looked around at the group of mirthful looking ponies all staring at her. Even Scootaloo was grinning as she sat up, watching her sister like a hawk now. Applejack buried the hatchet, however, an instant later.

“Ya don’t have ta, o’ course. If yer chicken, ya can just give up instead an’ go fer whatever Pinkie has planned,” the orange mare reminded, gesturing towards the sack Pinkie had next to her. Whatever she had in it was leaking something green out the side of the bag, which was actually rather disgusting. Pinkie gasped at that and sat up, grinning as she reached for the bag.

The shift in Rainbow’s expression was instant, eyes flicking down into a narrow glare as she looked over at Applejack instead. “What?! No way am I backing down from this! It just… It surprised me, is all! Ugh, fine!” she rapidly denied, shakily sitting up again. Her orange friend smirked at that and sat up as well, turning to watch Rainbow with tentative curiosity. Oh boy. Was she really going to do it? Admittedly, I had no idea what Dash was going to do when I’d dared her.

“Yer hesitatin’…” Applejack chirped, blushing a little herself and smirking, after three seconds went past. I couldn’t tell if she was blushing, though, or just flushed from the alcohol she’d been consuming most of the night.

Rainbow let out a growling noise before closing her eyes and shivering, then lunging forward like a cobra. Applejack’s eyes widened and she backed away a little, fearing a head butt instead of a kiss by the looks of it, but Dash slowed and shifted to the side, putting a light peck on the surprised mare’s left cheek.

“T-There! Ha!” Dash announced, pointing her hoof and grinning at me, entire face almost matching her eyes, although slowly receding now. The orange mare next to her shifted to a slightly annoyed look instead, however.

I blinked, then smiled and nodded at her. “Not quite what I meant, but I was vague, so that counts,” I admitted, causing her to visibly relax and smirk. Twilight started to nod, but Applejack actually snorted and started snickering outright.

It was interesting to watch Rainbow’s right ear twitch in the direction of the snickering, followed by her head as she shifted back to a glare. Thankfully, the orange mare explained her mirth a moment later. “Ya called that ah kiss? Ah’ve gotten better smooches on mah cheek from Apple Bloom! Haha! It was kinda cute, actually. Still, that was kinda pathetic, too,” she pointed out, smashing Rainbow in the face with the rather harsh statement. I winced, and Rainbow’s eyes widened drastically, the red shooting back into her face. Twilight looked a bit surprised at that, and Fluttershy shook her head quickly.

“It, um, technically counts, Applejack. You shouldn’t be so mean, though. I mean, Mender didn’t specifically ask for-“ Fluttershy started to defend.

Applejack shook her head and sat up fully, holding a hoof out to Fluttershy to stop. She over-corrected a little, but focused more, then smirked up at Rainbow instead. “Nah, Ah’m sorry. That was mean, Ah know. Hmm. Maybe Rainbow doesn’t know what ah real kiss is like? Ah’m sorry, Dash. Ah didn’t mean ta tease ya,” she assured, nodding twice and looking amused again. Was she… Was that mocking? I couldn’t tell! I’d never seen such a sly way of doing it if it was...

A little frown came from Rainbow, and it looked like she couldn’t decide which it was either. Thankfully she didn’t need to wait long. “But ya ain’t off tha hook fer that pathetic little smooch. Here’s how ya kiss somepony fer real,” Applejack warned. Uh, what?

Applejack moved in and closed the gap instead, and almost everypony’s eyes widened at the same time, including Rainbow’s as her muzzle came into contact with the orange mare’s. Pinkie let out a squeak, hooves still on both sides of her muzzle as she blushed, watching the two tentatively kiss for a moment before Applejack’s eyes shifted more hungry than anything and she pushed Rainbow back against the side of the sofa. Rarity’s eyes widened as her cider spilled, and she slid off the side of her cushion and off the sofa completely in order to avoid being landed on as the cyan pegasus was pinned to the fabric. The pegasus’ look of intense shock slowly melting into a bubbly heat coming from down her link, that flush expanding across her cheeks as her eyes closed as well. Holy hell!

All four fillies slipped into a shocked blush as they remained glued to staring. I could clearly see tongues moving now as Applejack let out a weak groan, Rainbow shivering under her as her wings seemed permanently stuck rigid to either side of her. Twilight had her jaw dropped, staring at the two as they made out on her sofa. Her surprise didn’t last long, however, as she shifted to looking at the spilled cider with a slight frown instead. Figured. Spike had been even more surprised as the cup almost landed on him, but now slid away from the sofa and was grinning as he watched the two of them. Okay, color me surprised!

After a long twenty seconds, Applejack raised her head up again, smirking down at the blissed out yet stunned pegasus, now staring wide eyed up at her. “That’s how ya kiss somepony, Dashie. Ya better practice some,” she muttered, earning a wider flush from Rainbow.

There was slight hesitation before a sudden smirk shifted up onto Rainbow, and I felt a mixture of intense relief and searing happiness come from her. It was rather infectious as I started smiling, too. She nodded, then said, “Okay. You’ll have to let me get more practice in, then.” Applejack smirked once before Dash pulled her back down, kissing her again.

This one was much shorter lived, however, as Twilight huffed. “Take it upstairs if you two are going to continue. Plus, you’re getting your mane in the cider that Rarity just spilled on my sofa,” she pointed out, gesturing to the expanding puddle of fluid coming from the mug on the floor. I’d be more at ease if the only comfortable piece of furniture upstairs hadn’t been our bed.

Both mares blushed this time, but reluctantly broke apart as Applejack helped the still sore pegasus up. Rainbow hesitated, however, before asking, “Uh, not to be uncool or anything but, well, does this mean…?” Oooo.

Her newly minted fillyfriend just smirked, however, and nodded before tacking on, “Ah was just waitin’ fer ya ta ask, Silly. Ya were kinda obvious about it.” Ha! Okay, it was true, though. Rainbow must have known it was true, too, and just blushed a little, looking away for a second before smirking outright again, unable to stop the happiness from swelling up in her.

“Okay, then! I guess I shall let you be my totally awesome fillyfriend,” she assured, earning a skeptical grin from Applejack, who then hauled her over next to her as Rarity levitated, then flipped her cushion over with her magic.

“Yes!” Scootaloo instantly cheered, hopping up and down with her forehooves up in the air. Oddly, Sweetie gave her a pointed glare at that.

Twilight exhaled a moment later, horn lighting up as a smaller side closet opened nearby, showing cleaning supplies in it. Spike stood, however, and shook his head in her direction. “It’s okay, Twi. I got it,” he assured, walking over towards the closet instead and grabbing a mop out of it. I sat up off Twilight finally, who smiled warmly up at me and lifted her hoof. Hooking it, I pulled her to her haunches, and was surprised as she kept going and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“Well, I’m happy for you two. Knowing what I know now, I know it’s nice not to be lonely,” the lavender unicorn congratulated, surprising me a little further. I was about to open my mouth and mirror her congratulations when we were all interrupted instead by three loudish knocks to the front door. Eh?

Twilight frowned, everypony turning to look at the front door. The knocks didn’t repeat, and I couldn’t see anything through the window next to it, mostly because it was night now. “Wait, who could that be? It’s almost midnight now…” she muttered, standing and walking towards the door. Frowning as well, I stood and followed after her.

“Twi, wait,” I warned quickly, causing her to stop and look back at me. Her eyes widened at my expression, but then she nodded as I moved past her, guard going up as her horn started to glow. Even lightly buzzed from the cider, I was more than confident in her prowess as I felt her following behind me. Derpy looked more confused by our cautious demeanor than anything, but I couldn’t afford to take chances. My inner armor folded up as well, just in case.

Reaching the door, I hesitated as I touched the door knob. I was facing away from Derpy, the only one in the room who didn’t know, so I took a moment to flash an ion scan through the door, my eyes flickering blue for just a moment. The readings showed only a single, smaller sized pony standing on the other side, more slender form probably belonging to a mare. Huh.

Bracing, I simply opened the door up, Twilight standing to my right with her horn glowing subtly. In front of me was an oh so familiar looking white unicorn, dressed in a more casual looking button up vest and tiny pair of ear muffs over her ears. She was sitting on the step to the library, and perked and smiled upon seeing me, brushing her light green mane out of her face.

“Oh, it’s you again. Is there something you need?” Twilight asked, looking surprised. I suddenly noticed that her new outfit didn’t hide her Cutie Mark, like the last one did. It was a golden framed oval mirror, with the actual glass made out of a yellow and green shading.

The mare nodded softly, then apologized with, “I’m terribly sorry it’s so late. After the races, I couldn’t find where you ponies went, and looked everywhere for you until I asked a nice green mare where you’d gone. She said over here, so I went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, then came over here! I mean, it’s better to catch you now rather than wait until tomorrow and risk you having left again to some of the other festivities and me missing my chance to meet you officially yet again. That would just be downright-“

“Ah, uh, right! Um, would you like to come in?” Twilight asked, cutting her off before she rambled until morning. Backed up with our new conclusion that the slightly crazy unicorn probably wasn’t BEID, I relaxed a little and stepped backwards, letting the mare come inside. The only active danger with her so far seemed to be her slightly slow rambling draining all the energy out of a pony as they tried to listen to it…

She stepped inside momentarily, then shivered before lighting her horn up with soft green energy and lifting her ear muffs off her head. Huh. Her magic was the same color as her eyes, just like Rarity’s. But Twilight had a bit more red in hers. No, focus! “Brr. It’s already so chilly this time of year. Canterlot’s usually much warmer, surprisingly,” she murmured, relaxing a little from her tense posture on the step. She was nervous? Although now that I thought about it, her speaking was a little bit faster than it was earlier at the shop.

“Oh, the barrier that’s under Canterlot and most of the energy the city uses runs on geothermal power from the mountain, which lightly magnifies the temperature, keeping it a little warmer than the surrounding area due to the heat output of the generators,” Twilight explained, easily shifting into her familiar scientific mode.

The mare giggled and smiled to her before nervously glancing at me instead. Spike trotted over to us as well, mop still in hand, and I saw everypony in the lounge area now watching and listening. Right. “Twilight said you were looking for me? Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, why is that?” I inquired, trying to get to the point of the visit so I could at least ascertain her goal.

To my surprise, the mare fidgeted, looking suddenly extremely nervous. “I… uh… oh Celestia, this probably going to sound completely nuts…” she muttered, not giving me much faith in how this was going to go. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as the mare composed herself and lifted a hoof up to me.

Hesitantly, I took her hoof and shook it, and she smiled again, then introduced in a surprisingly perky tone, “My name is Auramirror. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’m sorta your great, great, great grandniece. It’s nice to finally meet you, Mister Moon Mender.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and my mind blanked completely. What?