He didn’t even realize what happened. The last thing he remembered was that he was rummaging through the bags on top of the carriage when suddenly he got hit by a hard object and landed on his back. He managed to look towards his older brother, his partner in crime, only to see him on the ground, clutching his face and screaming in pain. Apparently he also got hit by something.

Ropes flew around them, carried by purple magic and they soon found themselves tied up tight. One of the mares… the seemingly “scared and weak” mares, as they used to call them everytime they planned a robbery, spoke to the orange one.

“Good thing you brought your ropes, AJ.”

“That’s nothin’. Thanks for saving mah behind. I knew yer heavy books would come in handy someday!”

“Yes well,” replied Twilight, rubbing the back of her head, “I never intended to use them like that!” She then turned towards the guards that were pulling their carriage. “Please, find a way to drag them along. On top of the carriage or tied to a wheel, it doesn’t really matter… the next town should have a ‘proper’ place for them, so they won’t hurt anypony else.”

The guards nodded, embarrassed that they were unable to protect their passengers. “We… we are…” started one of them but he was interrupted by the unicorn, “No need for any apology. It would’ve done us no good if you would’ve gotten hurt trying to escape their knives. This way, all of us reach our destination safely, alright?”

The guards looked at each other then back at Twilight and nodded decisively. Twilight levitated the books she used to attack the thieves and snuck them back into her bag, on top of the carriage. She then entered the vehicle, followed by Applejack and the others.

Rarity had been slightly out of it during the entire unfortunate event. She had been so shocked at the idea of being robbed that she even forgot to play her usual “I am SO fainting now” routine. Or maybe she just didn’t bring her couch along. Whichever the reason, she blinked a few times and followed her friends, thanking Celestia everypony was safe. Pinkie was carefully helping Fluttershy climb as she was still shaking a bit. She will eventually calm down, but right then she needed somepony to look after her for a while. She nodded gratefully towards Pinkie who hugged her gently.

The only one still unable to move was Rainbow.

She… she could’ve been killed. I didn’t… I didn’t react at all.

She called my name. She called MY name! …and I didn’t react.

I couldn’t react… why….. why…what if….

“Miss Dash, we need to get moving,” said one of the guards after tying up the thieves to the top of the carriage. He WAS tempted to tie them to the vehicle’s backside and drag them through the dirt and the mud, but it would’ve gone against his principles.

Rainbow was jerked out of her thoughts. She just nodded and climbed in, quickly closing the door behind her as if she was trying to escape her own thoughts. She rested her forehead on the cold window glass, not being able to look at her marefriend at all. The carriage started moving, the sound of wooden wheels on the rocky road echoing through the night.

The thought was still bugging her.

I..couldn’t… can’t she understand? What if…. What if the others…

She felt so ashamed for thinking this. Why was she thinking this? It shouldn’t have mattered. Applejack was much more important to her than what others thought. Even so… it was all weird, so difficult, fuzzy, blurry… it wasn’t even funny anymore, the way she couldn’t discern between how a friend should react and how a marefriend should be.

What if the others would’ve discovered that we’re together if I had helped her?

This was stupid. SO stupid! That wasn’t a real reason… was it?

Her own mind echoed answers, which turned out to be only more questions. How could they have found out? It was impossible… was it? Would they have seen it as an act of friendship or an inappropriate act of… more than friendship?

Was she afraid?

Was I afraid? Yes. For her? Yes.

…was I more afraid that other ponies might find out?

…yes…

She hated herself for that last answer. She froze back there just because she started desperately analyzing the situation, trying to figure out if a friend would react more than a marefriend and how much would each react. Thinking about it made her angry.

She hated when she rationalized things out of fear of rejection. She did the same thing when she fell for Applejack and that nearly destroyed their chances of being together.

And look at what I’m doing now… the same thing all over again. I haven’t learned anything.

…at all…

Besides, a friend…a TRUE friend would’ve reacted no matter what. I’m not a good marefriend…and apparently I’m even less than a friend…

She glanced outside looking at the stars covering the dark blue sky, sparkling in the distance. Only a few nights ago she and her orange pony climbed on top of the farmhouse to gaze at the night’s sky in peace. It was so beautiful. They brought a blanket and some snacks to their secret picnic. She didn’t even remember what they talked about. She just remembered holding her lover close to her and kissing her gently as the wind was passing gently through their hair, bringing aromas of freshly picked apples and cut grass.

It was one of those nights that she’d always remember… as well as this one, the night in which she failed her partner. A few lights up ahead indicated that they were close to their first destination, a small town called Horngreen. She imagined how she would’ve been making fun of this name with her, figuring out all sorts of ways to mess it up and maybe make fun of the locals. Of course, Applejack would’ve drawn a few politeness-related lines…

Applejack…

Rainbow slowly lifted her gaze to look towards her (hopefully still) marefriend. The orange pony was sitting on the opposite end of the carriage, looking out the window as well. She was quiet, despite Twilight trying to stir up a conversation. There was no trace of bitterness on her face. She was not frowning, nor did she look mad or upset… she was just looking in the distance, lost in her own thoughts.

This tore up Rainbow inside. She would’ve preferred seeing her mad, hearing her yell. The Pegasus knew she messed up badly and she was ready to accept anything Applejack would’ve thrown at her… but not this. She couldn’t read anything on the earth pony’s face and it was the scariest thing she ever had to confront.

Rainbow felt tears building up in her eyes, so she turned away. She tried focusing on the stars but it was useless. A single thought that seemed to lie in her heart, not her head, kept telling her the same thing over and over again…

I lost her…

I completely lost her…

The carriage skipped to a halt in front of what seemed to be an inn. The only light sources were a few street lamps that were standing a good couple of feet apart and the yellow-lit windows that blessed the road and its travelers with warm rays in the cold night.

Twilight climbed out of the vehicle and checked for a name.

“Trot ‘n Hop Inn”, she mumbled to herself, reading off a plaque. She turned around hearing muffled sounds as the guards were bringing down the two thieves.

“We’ll just take these two straight to the Happy House, Miss Twilight. You six go on ahead and settle in”, said the first guard.

“The Happy House?”, asked the second one. “Aren’t we taking them to the jail, Tons?”

“That IS the jail, Gus, you numbskull! It’s street talk!”

“I’m quite sure that’s street talk for the Nut-House!”

“Well, they can’t have TWO houses, can they…? One of them must be the jail!”, concluded the first guard as both of them started dragging the thieves away, through narrow streets.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Twilight waited for her friends to join her into the inn. As they opened the front door, they were greeted with a familiar, yet rare smell of old wood and traces of hot dinner that has just been taken out of the oven.

A big gray colt, an earth pony, with an equally-appropriate big mustache approached them. He was wearing a dark green vest that went well with his black mane, with an old golden pocket watch attached to it. He appeared to be the inn’s owner.

“Welcome young fillies! What can I do ya for?” he spoke in a gruff but warm voice.

“We’d like to stay at your inn, Sir. There are eight of us… our carriage drivers will be here shortly”, replied Twilight promptly. She was tired, they all were.

The innkeeper didn’t miss a beat. “Of course, of course! We have plenty of rooms to spare. Might I suggest four rooms with two small beds each? We do have bigger two-ponies beds, if you require…”

“The first option is perfect, thank you. We will be paying up front,” said the unicorn, ignoring the innkeeper’s second recommendation and taking out a rather big bag of bits that Princess Celestia gave her. After he counted the bits placed on the counter, the innkeeper smiled, satisfied, and handed them the keys to their rooms.

“I do believe the rooms have all the…sanitary…requirements?” asked Rarity, trying her best not to make it sound like an insult.

The colt gave out a wide smile and made an equally wide gesture with his hoof: “Of couuuurse, young lady! This is the best inn you’ll find in these parts, the only thing we’re missing is a good and fun waterslide for the guests, haha!” He straightened up and glanced towards the semi-confused group. “Uh, but we’re working on that, might add one this summer even!” he quickly added, seeing the expression on Rarity’s face.

The ponies nodded and at least half of them wondered if it would’ve been smarter to check out all the possible inns before picking this one. Either way, judging by the shininess in Pinkie’s eyes and her large grin, she was more than happy to be there. The mere thought of a possible waterslide brightened her mood and spelled ‘trouble’ for her future room-buddy.

Somepony will not be getting much sleep tonight, thought Twilight and quickly added a mental note to remember not to share her room with the cotton-candy-haired pony.

“If I’m not too indiscreet,” the innkeeper started, bringing everypony back with their hooves on the ground, “what was the commotion about, out there?” He mimicked the guards dragging away the thieves when Twilight didn’t understand what he was hinting at.

“Oh… yes, we have been attacked by two burglars… unicorns… a few miles away from here,” she explained as she could’ve sworn she heard a small ‘Yip!’ coming from Fluttershy. “We’re not hurt,” she added seeing the expression of concern on the colt’s face. “The thieves were taken to your jail-house… if you have one.”

“Why, of course we do… but thieves? So close to the town? Outrageous!” he responded, banging his hoof on the counter. “No wonder my clients are getting fewer and fewer these days!”

He recomposed himself and straightened his mustache in an absent gesture as he focused on the mares again.

“Will you be eating as well?” asked the colt, genuinely hoping to receive more bits in this lucky night. After all, he did have a family to raise and every customer was important to him.

“No, thank you. We brought our own,” responded Twilight to the disappointment of both her friends and the innkeeper. She sensed that and she turned to the mares. “Girls, we are not on a vacation. We need to be rational. Every single bit could save our lives later on.”

They were too tired to argue so they just nodded. With an audible sigh, the innkeeper showed them to their rooms upstairs. After regretfully telling Rarity that they had no Jacuzzi, he retreated back to the lobby, leaving the girls to decide how to split up.

“Does it really matter who sleeps with whom? I just want to sleep!” said the white unicorn with her eyelids nearly dropping to the floor. Frankly, she still had enough energy for a long, relaxing bath. Even if it wasn’t taken in a Jacuzzi.

“Fine”, said Twilight, preparing to use her last strengths to organize them quickly. “Gus and Tons, our drivers, won’t mind sharing a room. Pinkie, you go with Fluttershy. Rainbow you go with—“

The blue pegasus flinched almost unnoticeably. She quickly redressed herself but Applejack already saw that. Even so, the cowpony didn’t react in any way. The best Rainbow could do was to ignore that for the moment, otherwise her body language might trigger something that she didn’t need right now.

“—yeah, Rainbow…” continued Twilight who also noticed her reaction. “You go with me… and Rarity, you go with AJ. Everypony okay with that?”

A general nod and a quick key exchange later, everypony was in their room.

All the rooms looked similar. Two wooden beds, covered in what seemed to be decent mattresses, a carpet that was more or less in good taste and drapes at the windows. They all gave Twilight a cozy feeling which she didn’t quite come across very often when she was sleeping in another pony’s house, let alone an inn. A couple of nightstand lamps were lighting up the simple place. They also had a bathroom that looked very clean despite having one or two small cobwebs around the ceiling’s corners. Nothing that couldn’t be easily adjusted with a bit of magic.

In each of their rooms, everypony unpacked their food, at their own pace, and ate in silence. The place was quiet. If there were other inhabitants in the wooden building, they were probably all fast asleep, unaware of the impending dangers that could hit Equestria at any given moment. Looking out the window as she finished her sandwich, Twilight spotted the drivers entering the inn. Quietly, she casted a small protection spell over their luggage, above the carriage, just to have that one extra measure taken. It won’t help her sleep better, but the last thing they wanted now was to chase around other thieves in these parts.

She turned towards her bed and saw Rainbow laying on hers, with her back towards the purple pony, ears bent towards the back of her head and tail covering her hind legs. She didn’t even cover herself with the blanket. The unicorn got into bed and turned out the lights using her magic.

A few seconds passed in the darkness with only the sound of an old ticking clock filling the room and echoing beyond their thoughts. Twilight had some clues regarding what went wrong that day to put Rainbow in such a bad state of mind… then again, she didn’t really pay close attention to her friends’ relationship. It was not her business anyway and she couldn’t just flank in.

“Rainbow… everything ok?” she calmly spoke.

Silence.

The Pegasus shifted in her bed, but still kept her back towards her friend.

“No… not really,” she answered after a while. The pegasus felt tired. So many thoughts… so much unspoken fear of losing everything.

“Wanna talk about it?” the unicorn asked, trying to keep the necessary distance so Rainbow doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start, Twi… Even though you are a very good friend… and I know I’m not…”

“Rainbow--”

“No, don’t… just… at least I know that I have to talk things over with Applejack, and nopony else. That is the only thing I’m certain of right now.”

Twilight lowered her eyes. She was used to helping ponies and making things right for everypony. She could’ve easily adapted when the answers were not written in a book. She didn’t want to feel… helpless.

“I just…” continued the pegasus, more to herself. “Sorry… I think I just want to sleep.”

Twilight looked towards her and then slowly turned her head the opposite way, finding a comfortable position on her pillow. “I understand… Good night, Rainbow.”

“Good night, Twilight.”

The pegasus knew it won’t be such a ‘good night’. Last time her mind wouldn’t let her sleep was right after the ‘slept-on-best-friend’ accident. She would’ve loved to grab all these thoughts with her pillow sack and hold them tight beneath her head so they can’t escape and bother her. Then, in the morning, she’d let them out gently, one by one, and talk to them, analyze them, reach a consensus.

But that was the trouble with ‘pillow thoughts’… one just couldn’t reason with them. She should’ve known best. And so should’ve the pony next door, the orange pony who was tossing and turning under the blanket.

Applejack missed Rainbow… and hated her… and understood her… and wanted her to never complicate things in the first place. Maybe this was all a big mistake, the biggest mistake she ever made. It wasn’t about the fact that her marefriend did not jump to her aid. Anypony could lose touch with reality in such moments… It was the fact that Applejack knew why Rainbow didn’t jump to protect her.

Same reason… Same reason all over again.

She didn’t even remember when exactly it began. Then again, Rainbow always wanted to impress everypony so it was only natural for her to react this way, thinking she might lose her “coolness” in other ponies’ eyes if they found out about, well, their relationship.

There’s no way Ah’m gonna talk to her. This time, SHE has to come up to me and apologize. Otherwise she’ll never learn.

It hurt her to think this way.

And she also was scared that, at any moment, Rainbow could’ve just given up on all this stress and fly off. Then again, the question still remained: What was worse? To be alone or to be with somepony who won’t stand up for your relationship and whose image was more important to them than their marefriend?

Or… maybe… maybe it wasn’t her image that was important to her…
Or maybe that’s just her way of finding an excuse for Rainbow’ behavior.
…maybe Rainbow just didn’t care that much for her…

She sighed, hoping Rarity would’ve been asleep already so she wouldn’t hear her.