With monumental effort, I force open my eyes. My eyes are treated to a stunning view of an olive green surface of some sort. The thousands of apple-bucking ponies harvesting away inside my skull are making it incredibly difficult for me to tell if I’m looking at a ceiling of some sort, or if Rainbow Dash has me strapped to a cloud for some reason. Neither one really explains why my chest feels like somebody replaced my blood with microscopic shards of glass. Dash might hate me and pull the odd cruel prank to make me feel unwelcome, but I don’t think she’d go so far as to drug, beat the shit out of me, and hang me from a cloud.

Another thing not helping any is the fact that my entire body feels like lead. Okay, scratch that. It’s not glass in my blood; it’s lead. Then again, maybe it isn’t my blood at all—could be the bones. That’d make a bit more sense than it being in my blood. I mean, if there were lead in my blood, I’d be dying of lead poisoning, and that would be silly! Who’s a silly little pony who definitely isn’t dying of lead poisoning? I am! Who’s better than Bad Boy? Nopony!

No, bad pony! Stop being so goofy and think. What happened to you? Where are you? Tell me the last thing you remember! Try as I might, none of those thoughts are readily forthcoming. If anything, the more I try to think, the harder it is for anything more than pain to happen inside my head. That’s quite annoying, if you think about it.

Ugh, don’t tell me I went drinking when I got back last night. I could swear that after my one-night stand with Me-ra and Guy-bon that I promised myself I would never drink again! I know the Everfree was rough, but hell, I never thought it was bad enough to cave in and get blitzed. Wait, Everfree? Oh, that’s right! I was out in the forest yesterday.

I attempt to roll onto my belly, but all attempts are foiled by my leaden limbs and the pain lancing across my chest every time I breathe. It’s just like last night then, when I couldn’t move my legs. Right when the lamia was coming at me, I couldn’t move an inch. Wait... the lamia?

“Son of a bitch!”

A sudden burst of energy propels me off of whatever surface I was on. There’s a good chance I might have even landed in front of the door, if not for my hind legs tangling in the blanket. Instead, my body arcs over what I now realize is the foot of a bed in a hospital room, and I land face-first on the floor. Oh, hello pain! How are you today? What? No, I don’t need your brother discomfort and your sister agony to hug me too—not that they’ll listen any more than you do.

“Silver! You’re okay!” somepony very familiar and dear to me shouts. Oh hey, speaking of hugging and the embrace of pain; before there is even time for me to react to the new sound of a dashing pony, I’m pulled off of the floor and into a very cozy, albeit painful hug by two pale-white arms. “I was so worried!”

Wincing in pain, I allow myself to go limp in her embrace. After all, the pain will only get worse if I struggle. “Oh, hey Blossom! Okay is such a blase word,” I groan, adjusting my chest’s position against her grip. “Alive is probably a more apt term until I know a few things. How am I not dead? Why am I in so much pain—could you loosen your grip on me a bit, by the way? What happened to Silver Spoon, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack? That lamia?”

For a quick moment, Ice Blossom does lessen her grip on me. That quickly changes when she marehandles me until she’s holding me close to her chest not unlike a human might cradle a baby... or a cat. While this position feels a little demeaning, and I’d be mortified—not aroused!—to be seen like this by anypony else, I’m honestly grateful she isn’t openly pissed about me getting eaten.

From this angle, I can clearly see her face, and my heart clenches upon seeing it. Tears stream down her cheeks as her face contorts into a haunted countenance before my eyes whilst her brain processes my questions. Finally, quietly she sobs, “It was horrible!”

After a short bout of hiccups, she regains her composure enough to continue. “It was close to midnight when that Rainbow Dash mare came banging on the door,” she recounts with a faraway look in her eyes. “I was the pony that answered the door, having stayed up to await your return. There was so much blood... She was absolutely covered in it, but would not say who it belonged to or what had happened. All she could do was pant the words ‘Silver, hurt, hospital, quick.’”

Blossom’s heterochromic eyes gaze down into mine, and she sniffled softly before nuzzling my mane. “Upon my arrival, you were already in intensive care, suffering from what the doctors had assumed was some sort of envenomation, only for them to realize almost too late that it was bacterial.”

She tenses up, her eyes locking on the door. Following her line of sight, I quickly spot a familiar looking unicorn doctor. “There were no less than fifty different kinds of recorded bacteria found in your blood culture. It was nothing heavy antibiotics and emergency blood filtering couldn’t fix,” the caramel colored stallion comments. “It is amazing that you’re alive at all, given that your heart gave out no less than three times over the last day. Your heart is surprisingly weak for a pony of your age.”

“Bad case of alchemical poisoning resultant of a typo in instructions during a safety lesson,” I rasp. “Speaking of alchemy, there should have been a blood-tailored cleansing potion in the right saddlebag. Didn’t anypony think to check those?”

The doctor frowns and shakes his head. “There wasn’t much left of your saddlebags when you were brought in,” he replies, levitating the tattered and stained remains of my bag from beneath the hospital bed. They’ve definitely seen much better days than this. While my normal bag is only horrible stained and crumpled, the potion bag is absolutely shredded through and through. “The only things salvageable were a rejuvenation potion, and a cooling draught. In your other bag, there was a ruined pair of sunglasses—”

“Damn it, I liked those sunglasses!” I shout without thinking. “Stupid lamia.”

From a drawer, near the door, the doctor levitates a very familiar looking vial. “I felt it might be pertinent to save your rejuvenation potion for you when you woke up, as you are no doubt feeling weak,” he explains, with an expectant glint in his eye. When I don’t rise to whatever bait he had apparently included in his explanation, he adds, “You have been unconscious for the better part of two days, and clinically speaking, you are free to go.”

That’s it, huh? Nearly die at least four times in only two days, and I’m free to go? “Before I go anywhere, Doctor—”

“Stable.”

“—Doctor Stable, what other work did you end up doing?” I ask, morbidly curious. “Don’t suppose I’d be so lucky as to having been accidentally spayed or given a surprise boob job...”

I’m certain if either Blossom or Stable had been drinking anything, my comment would evoke a spit take. “What? No! Nothing of the sort,” he protests, red-faced. “We did have to excise a lot of necrotic tissue from around your wounds, so there will probably be a fair amount of scarring. I’d ask you not to do too much strenuous activity, so as to not tear out your stitches, but in my experience, asking a pegasus to sit still for too long is like asking her to stop breathing. Please be careful.”

Before I can protest any strenuous activity I might or might not partake in, Blossom speaks up. “Do not worry, Doctor Stable,” she says in a firm but soft voice. “I shall make sure she comes to no harm until her wounds are healed.”

I’m in huge trouble, aren’t I?

The walk—ride, rather; even with a rejuvenation potion, I can't really stand on my own four hooves, never mind walk on them, so Blossom has me draped across her back—to Lyra and Bon-Bon’s dwelling is marred by an uncomfortable silence. It’s obvious that she wants to chew me out so badly for nearly getting myself killed, but at the same time, she looks like she’s ready to hug me again and never let go.

So how do I comfort her? Is there really anything I can say to alleviate any fear that I’m doomed to throw myself into danger for the first pony who needs help? Luna preserve me, I’m such a damn bonehead. She’s probably pissed at me for being lethally selfless, but with all the shit that keeps happening, can I really keep myself out of danger?

“Listen, Blossom, I—”

“I’m not angry,” she says with a sigh. I won’t lie; hearing her say that has me thrown for a loop. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard her use a contraction of any type; did two nights with Lyra and Bon-Bon somehow fix that, or is it because she’s upset? “I’m upset, yes, but I can’t bring myself to be angry with you.”

“You should be,” I mutter. “I didn’t once think of your feelings when I went galavanting around the Everfree, fighting monsters and saving ponies. Not once did I think, ‘How will Ice Blossom feel if I die, right here, right now.’ Absorbed in the moment—that's me.”

“You saved a filly’s life, not once but twice!” she counters, firmly. “To be angry with you for thinking only of the child during that time would be selfish of me and—”

“Maybe I want you to be selfish!” I whimper, nuzzling the nape of her neck. “It’s like my life has two damn settings: FUBAR, and SNAFU. I’m either finding some way to nearly get myself killed, hurt, or otherwise in trouble, or things are always just going perfectly in such a way that it’s driving me crazy!”

“I don’t under—”

“This! You’re trying to be so understanding—so accommodating! I can tell you’re still not one hundred percent on this whole relationship, but you’re not even angry that I put what we had in jeopardy on a whim?” She turns her head ever so slightly, and I look into her yellow eye. “I need you to be angry. I’ve been a bad filly and I need to be punished!” I shout before contemplating the repercussions. Open mouth; insert hoof. “That sounded much better in my head.”

Just like that, the awkward silence returns. Only now, it’s not uncomfortable because of my nearly dying, but instead because of the bizarre connotations of what I just said. At least the walk doesn’t last all that much longer. As Blossom carries me to the end of the cul-de-sac, I spot Lyra and Bon-Bon on the lawn in front of their home.

At first, I could swear Lyra is completely livid and maybe having some sort of aneurism, but as we get closer, my face contorts into a rictus of horror. It’s not anger on Lyra’s face but pain. She’s having the goddamn foal right there on the front lawn, where everypony can see. While initially, my thoughts stray to why she isn’t at the meadow she’d mentioned before, all I can really think about is the accusatory look in her eyes that screams ‘You did this to me!’ At least she can’t rightly hurt me from all the way over h—

“Ack!” Without warning, I’m yanked into the air by my tail. My whole body is just dangling there held up by a glimmering amber aura. “Ha ha, Lyra, this is funny and all, but can you put me down now?” I whimper, feeling all of my blood redistributing to my head as I float ever closer to Bon-Bon and her laboring unicorn lover.

Breathing heavily, Lyra glares at me. “Do you have any bucking clue how worried we all were?” she shouts before letting loose a guttural cry of agony. Although she looks ready to collapse from exhaustion already, her legs are locked firmly in place, her stifles standing as a testament to the strengths of equine physiology. “You made us wait up all night, missed the wonderful—” A raised eyebrow from Bon-Bon causes Lyra to rethink her words. “You missed the supper I put my heart into making, and then it turns out you got yourself eaten by some Everfree beast! Do you know how long it took me to think of a meal that didn’t involve pickles and ice-cream?”

I wince in pain, feeling the pressure of my body mass in the grip of gravity against my damaged flesh. “Lyra, c—nnngh—can you please put me down?”

“No!” she says angrily, instead levitating me behind her, and rotating me to face her back end. “You’ve been horrible to all of us, and now you have to be punished!” Somehow, I don’t think this is quite what I had in mind when I mentioned punishment earlier. “You did this to me, so now you have to watch.”

“Lyra, what the fuck!” I grunt, cringing away as I see her vagina parted by the white bubble of what I can only assume is the amniotic membrane. At least, I hope it is. Celestia, is that thing coming out head first? “This is cruel and highly unusual! I’m also pretty sure there’s some sort of law against torturing a cripple, which I technically am at this very moment!” I shoot Bon-Bon an apologetic look before continuing, “Besides, I was only the surrogate. Bonnie’s your stud, so technically she did it.”

“Cram it, you!” she cries, letting out another scream of pain. She turns her head to address me with a very disturbing look. “You had just as much a part in all of this. You’ll be lucky if I don’t cast a spell on you and cram you in there once the baby’s out.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” I rasp, my chest clenching in fear. Looking in horror at Bon-Bon and Ice Blossom, I reiterate my statement, “She wouldn’t! She can’t!”

A worried look crosses Bon-Bon’s queasy face. “She might,” she admits, breaking eye-contact. “She threatened to make me gestate a pumpkin when I let slip that she wouldn’t be able to wear a certain dress on a date...”

Well you’re no help! Quickly, I shift my attention solely to Blossom. “Please, you gotta help me!” I cry. “Tell her she can’t do it because I’m not hers—that only you have the right to unbirth me!”

Immediately after I make the comment, I regret ever speaking. I’ve seen her countenance take on so many different hues, but this shade of ashen pink is something entirely new. Between her bulging eyes and this new color, I can only assume that I’ve horrified or embarrassed her beyond all belief. One of her ears is even twitching spastically. Note to self, breaking your only source of support is never a good decision in the field of battle.

“That’s not the sound of you watching the foaling!” Lyra comments suddenly, giggling in a way that sends chills down my spine. Did she somehow give herself an epidural or something? Where is she getting all the focus to levitate me back here? This mare scares the fuck out of me. Why are unicorns all crazy? “We can’t have that.”

All at once, I feel the almost paresthetic sensation of magic enveloping my head, redirecting my vision back to her hind quarters. The bubble of amniotic membrane is now elongated in a manner that gives me the impression of forehooves, but I really don’t want to be watching this—especially not with the blood from what I’m assuming is a perineal laceration... and why do I know all of this? Damn it Twilight! This is all your fault, too!

“What’s going on h—um nope!” the voice of somepony well above me squeaks in surprise. An upward flick of my eyes reveals a disgusted looking Rainbow Dash hovering beside a cloud. “I don’t want to know!”

The rainbow maned pegasus quickly begins to push her cloud—assumedly appropriated for a nap—away, not once looking back. “Rainbow Dash, wait!” I shout pathetically. “Save me, please! She’s gone crazy! Crazy unicorn’s threatening to unbirth me!”

Some time later, Rainbow Dash and I are situated on a cloud floating above Sweet Apple Acres, just quietly watching as the blonde-maned siblings below go about their apple harvest. After everything that’s been going on, the peace is nice—no lamia; no filly to chase around the Everfree; no crazy unicorn threatening to stuff me into her vagina. Even if I am sitting beside the mare that has every right to hate me, I feel happy.

“So Rainbow,” I rasp, unable to bring my voice above the level of a hoarse whisper. “I wanted to thank you.”

Caught off guard by my sudden comment, the blue mare looks at me with a raised eyebrow before turning a bit green. “Nopony should have to suffer that, even if she was only joking,” she groans, sticking her tongue out to accentuate her distaste. “Especially after you just got out of the hospital. You’d think they’d all be thankful you’re okay, not doing—” She shudders, and her rainbow tail flicks against my side in agitation. “—that, whatever it was.”

If I weren’t already sprawled out on a cloud—by Jove the cloud is a blessing on my chest-wounds—I would probably be floored. Rainbow Dash being humble? I mean, seriously! There’s no other way I could have possibly gotten out of that monster’s gullet. How else except Dash and Applejack? Before I can help myself, I’m giggling like a fool. “Wow, Rainbow Dash,” I snicker. “I’ve never known you to not take credit for doing something awesome.”

A cocksure look crosses Rainbow’s face, but quickly fades into one of confusion. “I know I’m awesome, but what am I supposed to take credit for?”

I frown at her tone; she sounds completely serious, and I never had her pegged as an academy award winning actress. “Um... You pulled me out of the lamia, didn’t you?” My self-assurance that I’d been saved by her shatters. “You’re not telling me Applejack did that all by herself, are you? I know that she’s built like a panzer, but—”

She shakes her head, and gives me this serious, appraising look. “Dude... Neither of us saved you.”

“I didn’t know Silver Spoon had it in her...”

“No!” Rainbow Dash shouted, trying to stifle a laugh at the mental image I’ve probably locked in her mind. “I’m saying that nopony saved you, Silver.”

“But... If nopony saved me, how am I here? There’s no explanation for how I could have gotten out!” I mutter. Feeling an inescapable feeling of panic, my mind flashes back to my saddlebags, torn and stained in blood. To have torn like that, I would have had to have caught on the lamia’s fangs. I don’t even notice my dimming vision as I recall the tears shredding through both sides. The bandaging on my barrel encompasses the side matching where my saddlebag had been, too.

The last words to escape my mouth before I plummet away from consciousness are, “I’m dead, aren’t I?”

The sound of breaking tree branches and parted foliage sounds off in the distance, flooding my system with danger sense and paralyzing fear, like some sort of corruption of adrenaline. Just hearing the ever approaching cacophony of destruction has my hackles bristling. Surely it’s not...

“Oh no...” I whisper, looking fearfully toward Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the cart bearing Silver Spoon. The compulsion to warn them to flee fills my mind, but no matter how hard I try, I can only breathe hoarsely. That same fear that has me rooted to the spot has seemingly frozen my vocal cords.

“You are mine, pegasus!” the lamia screams, announcing herself and proving my fear a reality. In an explosion of splintered wood and leaves, the half-equine monstrosity emerges from the treeline to my right. The impossibly large creature—she must be ancient to have grown that large!—rises on its serpentine coils, brushing away a dusting of splinters covering her horribly burned face with one hoof. “I am going to enjoy showing you eternity, child.”

Using her coiled body like a spring, the lamia propels herself through the air like a simultaneously furry and scaly ballistic missile. Even if I weren’t paralyzed with fear, my limbs are too leaden by exhaustion and hunger to safely ferry me out of her way. All I can do is stare—like a deer at the approaching headlights of an oncoming semi—at the viciously fanged maw flying toward me.

“Son of a bitch!” Those four little words feel like a massive under representation of my emotional state. Feeling the slimey, warm embrace of the lamia’s cavernous mouth close around me leaves an insurmountable regret blanketing my heart. There’s so much I’ve yet to do—so much to study and learn! I haven’t even had sex with Ice Blossom; I know that’s not important, but still!

As I struggle against my slippery confines, I buck against the creatures hard palate repeatedly, wishing I had the oxygen to spare for some witty one-liner. In response, my hungry captor shifts her positioning, altering how gravity affects me until I should be just sliding down her throat. Show me eternity my left hoof!

Like hell! I’m not going to go down without a fight, you fuck! I twist around with adrenaline-induced vigor, and bite down hard on her massive, writhing tongue. The lamia shrieks, nearly deafening me, but for the slightest moment there’s the glint of torchlight between her parted lips. For good measure, I bite into her tongue again.

Big mistake! In addition to screaming, the lamia tosses its head sideways, sending me careening into a row of its many short, narrow fangs. I can’t help but cringe as one of my saddlebags catches on a fang. Darn! That’s my potion bag, I realize upon hearing the tinkling of breaking glass. Damn it! If I get out of here, I—I scream in pain. The fang that tore through my potion bag slices into my side like some sort of serrated edge, sending rivulets of fresh blood running down my side.

Hanging from the lamia’s fangs by only a saddlebag and a thin layer of untorn skin, I can’t help but feel resignation. Everypony—no, everyone—I know would probably slap me for giving up, but I’m being a realist. Barring some sort of literary deus ex machina, it’s not like there’s any way I can be expected to get out of here. It just can’t be done!

At least with my sacrifice, AJ, Rainbow Dash, and Silver Spoon have a reasonable chance to escape. They can... let my loved ones know that I didn’t die in vain. Sure, I didn’t do what I want with my life—hell, I didn’t even get a chance to play around with Zecora’s recipe—but what I did here today is meaningful, right? I gave a filly, as bratty as she might be, another chance at life. Yeah, that definitely means something to me, and that’s all that really matters in the end.

Well, I suppose I can be glad that an Equestrian lamia has hooves and not digits. This way, she can’t just force me off of her fangs. Her tongue might do the job, but I think she knows I’ll just keep biting if she uses it on me. Maybe she’s trying to sweat me out by raising her body temperature instead. That’d certainly explain why it’s getting... hotter? Wait! She’s mostly reptilian, and reptiles can’t regulate their body temperatures with only their metabolisms. Given that it’s night, wouldn’t that mean she should be getting cooler or finding a warm place?

I puzzle over the problem for a few precious moments before I realize what has happened. The tinkling sound of shattering glass returns to the forefront of my mind. That’s definitely the sound one of my flasks would make upon shattering. Does that mean the warming potion was the one to break open? If that does anything to raise this fucker’s metabolism, I’m fucked.

“Or maybe,” I mutter, wincing as I turn my head to nuzzle the flap off of the potion bag. Sure enough three flasks remain undamaged in the bag. Sure, it’s dim here in the lamia’s maw, but it’s for reasons like this—okay, not necessarily getting eaten by a fucking lamia—that I paid extra to have glowing runes etched on the lids of my containers before I left. Even with the blood and saliva in my eyes, it’s hard not to make out the red cross and crimson drop adorning the top of one flask among the other two—a blue snowflake and a purple cross.

That one marking, that red cross and blood drop, represents a lesson hard-learned. The concoction, a blood tailored cleansing potion that has never received a name, represents the care I promised Gale I would take of myself and the caution I would take in alchemy and living. Sure, I could very well have settled for carrying around a flask of Mother’s Kiss, but why limit the utility in case of emergency? Upon entering the bloodstream, this potion cleans all impurities from the body—it doesn't matter if the impurity is alchemical, viral, bacterial, or foreign completely foreign matter—and leaves the drinker completely healthy.

These sorts of potions aren’t as popular for a very specific reason, however. They are incredibly dangerous for others to drink. Seeing as it’s made using a sample of the intended recipient’s blood, it only recognizes that individual’s make-up as acceptable. All tissues not belonging to them, be it a donor organ or an entire body, ends up being attacked and destroyed—usually quite violently—by the potion. Any foal might accidentally consume the potion like they would...

“Yes, this will definitely work,” I mutter through clenched teeth, wincing both in pain and at the monetary setback this will all have been. Cost is another reason the potion has fallen out of vogue in favor of the Mother’s Kiss; one of these potions costs what it would take for five doses of the more popular curative.

Pulling the flask from the bag, I cringe in pain as the flesh on my side begins to tear free from the lamia’s fang. Using all of my strength, I slam the glass flask against the calcified construct with my hoof, forcing the last bit of flesh holding me to the tooth. A pained grin envelops my countenance as I finally begin my descent into the lamia’s belly.

Fighting the effects of blood loss and fuck-knows what else, I speak. “I might be the worlds biggest idiot, trapped in the body of one of the most harmless creatures in the universe, but you understand this, lamia,” I scream in spite of my fluid-filling lungs. “I come from a race of the most dangerous motherfuckers in this universe and another. You think I’m just going to let myself become a snack and let down all of my friends? Just who the hell do you think I am?”

... and then I smile weakly the lamia explodes into a gory mess around me.

“Well! Look’s like somepony’s feeling better,” Rainbow Dash’s confident voice filters through my ears as I began to grin. “You look like the colt who ate the cookie!”

Opening my eyes, I blink in confusion at Rainbow Dash. “You mean the cat who ate the canary, right?”

“Whatever,” she says, waving a hoof. “All I’m saying is you look pretty smug for somepony who just blacked out from a panic attack. What gives? Have a good dream or something?”

My smile returns as I stop to think. Is what I experienced really a dream? Maybe it was actually a memory. “Depends,” I comment wryly. “How badass did the exploding lamia look from the outside?”

A number of expressions flick across Dash’s face as she thinks, before settling on amusement. “Okay, so that WAS pretty awesome and a good reason to look smug.” Hi pot, this is kettle. “How does that even work though? You’re not a unicorn, and I’m pretty sure Discord’s off somewhere doing something or other for the princesses.”

“Magic,” I answer coyly. Sure, it’s just plain evil to leave it like that, but the expression on Rainbow’s face is worth every bit of regret I might feel. Sure, she has the Sonic Rainboom as a feather in her cap, but she’s probably going to be pondering this for weeks... or at least until she asks Twilight how a scrawny pegasus like me could make an overgrown lamia explode.

“Fine, have your secrets,” she pouts, sticking her tongue out at me. “It’s not like I would have shown you how to do my signature moves anyway.”

Before too long, the two of us are snickering and giggling at the prospect of me doing anything that Dash can do. At most times, I’m about as graceful as an eagle flying a blimp so the thought of me pulling off a triple loop-de-loop followed by a double corkscrew is quite humorous. Granted, if Dash were teach me a few moves, flying more than just adequately would come naturally. “That’d be a hoot to see, but I imagine I’d have quite a bit of hospital time,” I snort. “Besides, how would you ever have time to teach Scootaloo?”

“True enough.” She nods rather sagely. “I mean, sure you have the wings of a grown pegasus, but...”

I stare at Rainbow Dash, ignoring her words. In spite of everything I’ve put her and her friends through, here she is acting as friendly as she would with any of her friends. If nothing else, she is surprisingly trusting of me. Is it because I’ve earned it? Or does she not mind the fact that I went too far in showing her how I felt? Perhaps being the embodiment of loyalty means being able to look past the bad in those she might consider friends and latching onto their virtues.

“Rainbow Dash,” I interrupt with barely a whisper. “You’re the loyalest pony I know, so I have to ask you something serious.” Her face sobers, and she raises an eyebrow questioningly. “As the Element of Loyalty, if a friend told you about something terrible that had happened to them, and then made you promise to keep quiet about it and not to do anything, would you follow their wishes, even though all of your instincts tell you to act?”

“Pinkie taught me that not keeping your promises is the easiest way to ruin a friendship,” she responds flatly. “If one of my friends came to me with such a problem, I’d take it to my grave. Sure, I’m brash most of the time, but if somepony makes you make a promise, there’s usually a really good reason for it.”

With a sad smile, I ask, “Am I your friend?”

“Silver, listen, I know you didn’t mean for what happened in the market the other day to get where it did, and to be fair, I suppose I have been a bit hard on you, but do you really want to confide something so important in me?” she responds, unsure. “You have a griffon and a cute marefriend! Surely they’d be much better choices than me.”

“Please, Dashie,” I whimper. “They’re too close to everything for me to tell them. I mean Gale already knows in part, but... she might do something if I tell her.”

To my surprise, Rainbow Dash musses my mane gently with a hoof. “It’s okay,” she says in a nurturing tone I’d never expected to hear from her. “I’ll listen.”

Through clenched eyes and gritted teeth, I tell her everything. From the first day of living in Canterlot leading up to the event with Aqua Regia, I spare her no detail. All of my self-doubts and the mounting fear of unicorn magic are bared to Rainbow Dash as I quiver there on the cloud. Even though her breathing becomes heavy with anger as I explain Aqua Regia’s constant bullying over those months, she remains quiet.

“When I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, she did something completely unforgivable during my first estrus,” I open my eyes and blink away some tears. “She assaulted me with her magic, in the bathroom. I almost wish that she’d just had her goons beat me that day. Not only did she violate me, she tried to force me to reciprocate—to pleasure her in return!”

Rainbow Dash just stared wordlessly at me. Theres a look in her eye of pity and apology and rage. “Gale found me, thankfully before I did anything I thought I might regret,” I continue in a husky voice. “I thought maybe since I hurt her in return for hurting me, the things might have cancelled each other out—I mean, I practically made sure she wasn’t going to enjoy any stallions any time soon—but now I’m not so sure.

“For a while, she left me alone. At most, she’d give me dirty looks or spread some rumors about me. It’s not like she or her ‘friends’ could say anything without confessing to rape,” I mutter. “Honestly though? I should have gone straight to the guard, if not directly to Princess Luna herself, right then and there. There’s no point in going now, I fear, as Aqua’s family holds a lot of influence.

“Even if I had somepony delve into my mind for the truth, I think the memories would be too contaminated by emotions and time. I mean, anypony can beat a lie detector if they convince themselves that something is true, so how hard could it possibly be for a memory to be manufactured?

“That’s not even the worst part. Ever since then, I’ve been unnecessarily skittish around unicorn magic, even with ponies I’m familiar with and trust! I’m scared of my own friends because of her,” I croak. “And then, Not too long ago, Aqua saved my life. Twisted as she is, she probably sees things as even, if not me being fair game. I mean, I haven’t acted, and by all indications I haven’t even told anypony! There’s nothing to stop her from doing anything like that again and that scares me most of all, not because she might do something to me, but because she might do something to Blossom just to get at me!”

As she stares off toward Canterlot in the distance, her wings twitching almost imperceptibly, I worry that Rainbow Dash is about to forget that given the context of our discussion, she just promised not to act on what I said, and fly off in search of a mare she’s never seen. Sure, seeing her break Aqua Regia’s horn off would be plenty satisfying, but the resulting backlash would probably ruin her chances of getting in the Wonderbolts, not to mention her life. No amount of satisfaction is worth that.

Finally, though, she sighs and looks back at me. “Silver, if I’d known,” she trails off, gingerly draping a wing over me in what I’ve come to recognize as a form of comfort among winged ponies. “Wow, no wonder you blew up at me.”

I look down at the cloud, wishing I could hide myself in it. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she says, smiling half-heartedly. “Right now, though, I don’t think you want to be here with me. Hopefully things have died down at Lyra’s place by now, ‘cause if there’s anypony you should be with, I think it’s Ice Blossom.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the delay on this one, guys. I didn't mean for it to be this long a wait, but I've been pretty busy over the last few weeks, what with my entry to the contest in Futaquestria, and all the odd jobs around the home that stem from a house being on the market. I'll try to make sure that the next chapter doesn't take as long as this one did, but truthfully? This one was more than half finished for at least half the month. I just kept getting distracted or interrupted, etc etc whine whine whine.

I'd like to thank E3gner, Vilcor, and DarkxRedemption for their help in either editing or idea bouncing for this chapter. It came out far longer than I anticipated it, but I don't regret the extra length in the least.

I hope you all enjoy!