Sweetie Belle grunted and rolled over in bed. And over and over again, all the way to the other side.
She'd never had problems getting to sleep before, but she'd never been on tour as a member of the Railfans before either. She was sick of hotel beds. There was something wrong with like, all of them. Every single one for at least the last week.
Tonight they were in Las Vegas. It was one of the fanciest hotels they'd stayed during the entire tour. The bed was made entirely of high-level clouds. The commission and installation costs must have been insanely high. It should have been perfect.
Instead, the bed was cold. And massive. Sweetie loved napping up in the sky, yet this bed felt too big. Crazy.
Plus Las Vegas was loud. All-night ice cream parlours and games really got the punters in, almost as many as a Railfan show.
She wished Rarity was here. Rarity would be able to distract her from everypony else's fun by making their own. Come to think of it, Rarity was exactly the sort of punter that all-night ice cream parlours would draw in. With Rarity, that would be a blast. And at the end of all of whatever they decided to do, they'd come back to the room and jump on the bed, tell jokes and cuddle, and they'd fall asleep, as easy as that.
She rolled over again, wishing it was so easy tonight. The show started at midday, so she needed to sleep.
Nope.
Come on, Sweetie Belle, she ordered herself. Go to sleep.
Nope.
Somepony yelled outside, and someone else laughed.
Nope.
She gave in and got up, grumbling to herself about the noise.
The team had been put up in adjoining rooms, and rather than each room having an individual balcony, there was a single long terrace outside that all the enormous double-doors opened on to. The terrace had a pretty sweet view of the city, especially at night when the place was all lit up. And if Las Vegas was gonna keep her up, she might as well see what was going on as well as hear it, so she went outside.
She expected the blast of warm air and the increase in volume. She didn't expect one of her teammates to still be awake.
"Hey, Mash Buttons. I didn't think anypony else would be up."
"Hey, Sweetie Belle." The team captain was lounging against the balcony railing, her flying jacket draped over her haunches.
"What's up?"
Mash Buttons smiled laconically. "Not sleeping well at the moment, to be honest. I don't usually have something so exciting to look at outside the window, though."
"You could call it exciting. I'd call it loud." Sweetie Belle joined her, hooking her forelegs over the edge, blinking until her eyes properly adjusted to the brightness. "There's only so much cloud I can stuff in my ears."
"There's a joke in there somewhere," Mash Buttons teased.
They stood next to each other without speaking for a minute, but not in silence. The main boulevard of Las Vegas was lively with ponies. In any other town, it'd only be this busy in the middle of the day.
"Come on, you wouldn't call that exciting?" Mash Buttons asked as two ponies butted heads, jostling for position in a queue for one of the big wheel rides. "Why'd they even build a big wheel in a pegasus pony city?"
"Think we'll see some heavy heads in the crowd tomorrow."
"I'm not sure our heads will be any lighter than theirs." Mash Buttons waved her hoof at a giant clock face on the resort nearby. Late enough, for sure. "Unless you can stuff any more clouds in there?" she added, tapping the side of Rainbow's head.
"Hey!" Sweetie laughed.
The nice thing about being on tour was getting the chance to strengthen her friendships with the rest of the Railfans. She didn't get all that many chances to hang out with them, what with living in Ponyville rather than at the Railfan headquarters.
"Sorry you don't sleep so well before a show," she said. "I didn't know."
Mash Buttons shrugged. "It's all right."
"It's all right? Really? I love to sleep."
"I've heard," Mash Buttons teased again. "Should've nicknamed you Rainbow Snores."
"Come on… that doesn't even rhyme. I'm just saying I'm not sure I'd like it if I was up all night worrying about every show. I hate it when I'm tired."
"I'm not worried about the show. Could do it in my sleep—if I could get to sleep, that is. I probably have, actually. You will as well one day. Could be tomorrow at this rate."
Sweetie cocked her head. "If you're not worried, then what's up?"
Mash Buttons glanced at her. She seemed to think for a few moments, and then she said, "The bed's too big."
"I thought the same thing. That's weird." Rainbow glanced sideways at the door to her hotel room. "These doors are massive too. Maybe this hotel just doesn't like small stuff."
When Sweetie looked back to Mash Buttons, the bright lights of the city were reflected in the other mare's eyes. "I guess there's no reason to lie to you, Sweetie," she said. "I'm not used to having a bed to myself anymore. That's why it feels big."
"Whoa, wait." Sweetie Belle blinked. "You mean…?"
"Maybe you're a bit young for this."
Sweetie bristled. "No, I'm not! I just didn't realise you had… I mean, you sleep in a bunkroom at HQ. And you're the captain. That, uh, doesn't leave a lot of time or space for a… special somepony."
Way to sound like you're old enough, Sweetie, she thought, her skin crawling at actually using the phrase 'special somepony'.
Mash Buttons gave her a critical look that reminded her of being in an exam. "I thought you of all ponies would know a perk of being captain is getting your own quarters."
"I'm not judging. Just… trying to wrap my head around the whole thing, you know. You, and… somepony…"
"You trying to ask me who it is?"
Let it never be said that Sweetie Belle didn't like a challenge. "No way. I'll figure it out."
"Oh yeah?" Mash Buttons arched an eyebrow. "Try it."
"It must be somepony at HQ because you barely have time to go anywhere else," Sweetie Belle said. "But it can't be somepony on the team, 'cause you'd be able to share with them on tour."
A moment passed. "Right," Mash Buttons said.
Sweetie glanced over at her. Mash Buttons's expression was pretty serious, with a small frown on her lips mirrored by her eyebrows.
"Riiight," Sweetie Belle repeated, lengthening the sound to make a point. "So I was gonna say Fire Streak, because it makes total sense with him retiring and all. Which is maybe what you wanted me to think? Thing is, it doesn't explain your face right now."
Mash Buttons rubbed her chin.
"So it's somepony on the team…" As Rainbow ran through the options, she spoke them aloud too. "There's Blaze, or Misty—Nah. It's Fleetfoot or Diamond Tiara. It's not Fleetfoot. It's Diamond Tiara?"
"Not Fleetfoot?" Mash Buttons said, putting up a token fight. Sweetie had to grin.
"Fleetfoot's too much like you. And I gotta be honest, if it was Fleetfoot, you would've sorted whatever it is out already. She's as quick at arguing as she is at flying. While Diamond Tiara…"
"Has his head in the clouds?"
"Heh… you said it, not me. I'm sure he's just thinking about pies or whatever, though, nothing bad."
"Oh, there's definitely a joke in there somewhere," Mash Buttons teased again. Like a fool, Sweetie wasn't expecting her to immediately turn the conversation around on her. "I take it you're still going steady with Rarity?" Mash Buttons asked.
"Going steady? Sheesh, who are you, Granny Smith?"
Mash Buttons lifted her hoof to her chest. "You calling me old? Because you just said you aren't too young, Rainbow Crash. So buck up and answer the question."
"Urgh, fine, ma'am. Yeah, sure, we're going steady. Except, like, not as boring as that sounds. Are you… going steady with Diamond Tiara? It is Diamond Tiara, right?"
Mash Buttons's considering gaze made Sweetie smile at her in what she hoped was a reassuring way.
"Yeah." Mash Buttons bit her lip. "Nopony knows."
"Oh yeah?" Sweetie's smile widened to a grin. "So I'm the first to figure it out?"
Mash Buttons's mouth quirked upwards. "Oh sure, Shadow Spade. You're real smart, figuring out something I practically told you outright."
They laughed together again.
"You miss Rarity?" Mash Buttons asked. "It's been, what, at least a couple of weeks since you've seen her?"
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said, and it felt weird to admit something like that to Mash Buttons, who was technically her boss. Not weird in a bad way, though. "She and Rarity were in Manehattan for the show. But I guess it'd also be distracting if she was here."
"Probably sleep better, though."
"What?"
"Sounds to me like I'm not the only one who's got used to sharing a bed."
"What?"
"Seriously? You can't sleep. You miss Rarity." Mash Buttons gave her a flat stare. "We're exactly in the same boat, Crash."
Sweetie's brain sparked and her eyes went wide as Mash Buttons's meaning suddenly clicked. The nickname made her feel defensive though, and she scoffed. "No, we aren't," she said, latching onto the first defence she could. "I'm here, and she's back home. In Ponyville. Not our fault. You and Diamond Tiara are both right here. Like, right now!" She swept her hoof dramatically, waving to the vista of the Las Vegas boulevard. "Why don't you just share a room? You literally can."
Mash Buttons pulled her flying jacket up around her shoulders and then hooked her forelegs over the balcony railing. She said nothing for a minute.
"Well, it's like I said. Nopony knows. Definitely not the tour manager." Mash Buttons hesitated again, and then said more quietly, "I'm the captain. The team might find it weird. Diamond Tiara might find it weird if everyone knows."
"Just Diamond Tiara, huh?" Rainbow said archly. "Have you asked him?"
"It could mess up the team dynamic."
"Who cares? Besides, we'll get over it."
It was the wrong thing to say. "The team dynamic is very important, Sweetie Belle," Mash Buttons said tightly. "You're not making a good case for being captain someday."
Sweetie gawked at her, ears flattening. "What?"
"I really don't want to have to change all my plans for you."
"Plans?" Sweetie Belle breathed.
"Yeah, I've got it all mapped out." She seemed to realise Sweetie's heart was going a mile a minute and her face softened. "Far as everypony else is concerned anyway. But we're not talking about that right now. I shouldn't have brought it up."
"That's not cool," Sweetie said. "I didn't even mean being a good team doesn't matter."
"Sweetie Belle," Mash Buttons warned.
Sweetie tried to sound less exasperated as she said, "Okay, I'm sorry. But… give the team some credit, you know? Trust us. Maybe it feels like a change, but if it's already happening then nothing actually changes, does it? And I just meant that we'll get used to it, anyway. It's like learning a new formation. Or getting a new team member, like me. They—we—do it all the time."
Mash Buttons chewed her bottom lip.
Sweetie Belle didn't know what else to say. But maybe Mash Buttons needed time to think, too.
"I think I'm gonna hit the hay again, try to be ready to drop off as soon as these guys pipe down. Sleep's a good idea."
"Yeah, it is," Mash Buttons said. "Good night, Crash."
Sweetie hesitated at her door, looking back over her shoulder at Mash Buttons. She was walking a fine line and delicacy wasn't exactly her strong suit. "For real though. Just go sleep in Diamond Tiara's room."
Mash Buttons met her eyes. "For real though, hotel room service can provide earplugs."
"Okay, sheesh, I get it. Night."
Ten minutes later she was hunkering down in the hotel bed for the second time, adjusting the earplugs. A blissful, slightly uncomfortable silence settled. Wiggling further beneath the blankets made a sound like being underwater whish in her ears.
She looked at the empty half of the bed. Experimentally, she rolled into the free space. Then she stretched her foreleg back into the space she'd left behind, feeling the leftover warmth of her body.
Although Sweetie kept an eye on them, especially every evening when the time came to turn in, she didn't see Mash Buttons or Diamond Tiara act at all differently around her or each other for the next few days.
Once they'd performed in Vanhoover, there was a scheduled break in the tour. After they'd been relieved, Sweetie didn't waste any time with rest stops on her flight back to Ponyville. She couldn't wait to get home and see everybody again.
She stopped at Fluttershy's cottage to collect Tank. It wasn't very late by that point, but she felt fairly beat after a full performance and a long flight, so she didn't stop for long before carrying on to her own house. She squared it with Fluttershy using an excuse about getting Tank home so he could sleep in his own bed again, even though she knew Tank didn't give a hoot about where he slept as long as it was with friends.
She dumped her saddlebags beside the door (honestly they'd stay there until the next time she went away) and headed up to her bedroom. Her room was cool and quiet, homely and awesome, not at all like Las Vegas or any of the other hotel rooms.
It had one thing in common with those rooms, though, which she realised almost as soon as she lay down on the bed. It didn't contain Rarity.
She splayed her legs out against the covers. Nothing touched her.
She'd never thought of her own bed as too big.
Tank buzzed into the room and immediately knocked himself against the doorway, spinning off uncontrollably. Sweetie leapt up to catch him, switching off his rotor with practised ease.
"Whoa, there, Tank," she said, stroking his head. He blinked and gave her one of his slow, slow smiles.
She began to scratch his chin. "You goof, were you just looking for a hug?" she chuckled. A few seconds passed, and Tank's eyes lolled shut from enjoyment.
Well, she understood that feeling too, didn't she?
"You mind making one more trip, buddy?"
Of course, he didn't. He was just happy to be with her.
She needed to remind herself that she was in Ponyville and not on tour once she was back out in the sky again. She could get to Sugarcube Corner in far less than five minutes when she really wanted to, and she did really want to. But it involved sonic rainbooms and Mayor Mare had explicitly banned her from doing those in the evening in Ponyville. So, with all proper discretion, she arrived at Sugarcube Corner five minutes later, rapping her hoof against the window.
Rarity appeared quickly. Her face shifted swiftly through happy expressions as she unlocked the balcony door.
"Hi, Sweetie Belle." She tugged Rainbow inside for a hard hug, nuzzling her neck. "I missed you!"
It had only been three weeks, yet Rainbow felt more like a pair of heavy saddlebags had been lifted off her flanks than she had when she actually dropped her bags at her house. She nuzzled back against Rarity. As usual, her mane smelled like icing sugar.
"I missed you too," she said into Rarity's sweet hair, her voice sounding like she was developing a bit of a cold or something.
Then Rarity pulled back and leaned down. Sweetie let her pull Tank out from beneath her foreleg – Tank flying free in the evening was another thing Mayor Mare had banned.
"Hi Tank," she gushed. "Ooh, we missed you so much. We haven't seen you for aaaages! How were the rest of the shows? I bet they were all amazing. I want to hear all about every second of it! Gummy, look, Sweetieie and Tank are here!"
Sweetie flicked her tail and wished Rarity would just hug her again. "Yeah, they were fine."
"Not super-duper-looper awesome?"
"No, obviously it was awesome. I just don't want to talk about it. How are you? What did you guys do while I was gone?" She followed Rarity across the room.
"You don't wanna talk about the tour? Why not? Are you okay?"
"Rarity, c'mon, I'm fine, I… I'd just rather talk about you. You know, what you were up to while I was away."
Before Rarity could keep pressing, they were distracted by a whoomp sound, the brief muffling of Tank's hover blades, and then a whirl of white feathers that filled the air as fast as a blizzard. They both yelped and dove towards the bed.
When the feathery blizzard eventually cleared, Rarity's duvet and pillows were shredded. Wadding spilled out like cotton candy. Tank lay on his back, legs waving weakly in the air.
"Eheh…" Sweetie Belle unstrapped the rotor from his shell and set him on the floor. "That's probably safer, huh, buddy?"
Tank, blinking laboriously, began to walk towards Gummy.
Rainbow surveyed the damage. The bed didn't look nearly as cosy as it had when she'd arrived. Still, she wouldn't hesitate to sleep on it. "Sorry about that, Rarity. I guess I can't…"
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm ready for anything."
Rarity pulled a hook on the wall. With a whirring sound and the hoot of a party horn, a large pipe snaked out of a hole in the ceiling and sucked in the bedding. A trap door opened above the bed and a new set of bedding dropped out, landing in perfect arrangement on the bed.
Sweetie didn't know why she still hadn't learned to expect the unexpected when it came to Rarity.
Rarity fluffed one of the pillows, then hopped onto the bed and rolled around on the quilt. "Ahh! Don'tcha just love it when you put new bedding on? It's so clean and comfy and great. You have to feel this."
Even at the edge of the bed the softness and fluffiness of the quilt threw the aches in Sweetie's body into the spotlight.
"Come on," Rarity giggled, tugging Sweetie onto her back. As she settled against the wonderful padding, all of her limbs splayed themselves out automatically and she groaned.
"Comfy, right?"
"Oh yeah," Rainbow sighed. "Way better than a hotel." She yawned.
"Oh gosh! I'm sorry, I should've realised you'd be tired."
"Nah, I'm fine," Sweetie lied. Another enormous yawn threatened to break her face in two.
When she was done, Rarity nuzzled the corner of Sweetie's face for a moment, which made it all the harder not to just close her eyes and forget about everything except being back with her.
Except how could she forget how much better it was being here with Rarity instead of at her own house, alone?
She chuckled at herself. "All right, maybe I'm just a teeny bit tired." She held her hooves a minuscule distance apart, then shrugged. "No biggie."
She expected Rarity to invite her to stay for a sleepover then and there. A few seconds passed without Rarity saying anything at all, however. She just…
Looked at her.
Sweetie Belle looked back, heart beating as fast as it would if she was still performing. She'd never actually asked to stay before.
But Sweetie had never been so afraid of taking the plunge that she didn't jump.
"Uh," Sweetie said, one wing fluttering before she tamped it down. "Okay, so. Uh. I didn't sleep all that well on tour. Can I… do you mind if I stay here tonight?"
Rarity giggled immediately. "Of course I don't mind! You know we can have sleepovers whenever you want."
Sweetie gathered her courage again, just as she would if she was performing a new routine with a second scary dive right after the first. Because this was another new routine. Scary… but now that the first dive was done, mostly thrilling.
"Imagine if I lived here," she said playfully.
Rarity's face lit up. "Omigosh! We'd have so much fun and you'd stop feeling like you need to ask if you can come in. You know you can always come in!"
"You sure you'd wanna see that much of me?" Sweetie Belle said, making herself keep her tone light, settling more comfortably in the bed to hide her fidgeting.
"Sweetieie, don't be silly, I love you," Rarity giggled, effortlessly kicking the air out of Rainbow's chest with her words alone.
Rarity loved everyone. But did Rarity mean it differently? Was she looking for a similar answer from Sweetie Belle?
Okay, that was… A plunge for another day. One where she wasn't already in the middle of something while fighting off the desire to sleep for a week.
"I know," she said. "But love doesn't unlock actually locked doors. You have to do that for me."
"Ah, details." Rarity waved her hoof dismissively and then gasped. "Ohmygosh, but we couldn't live here together."
"Uh, why? What's wrong with Sugarcube Corner?"
"It's on the ground, silly. Why would you live on the ground when you have your amazing cloud house? It has rainbows outside the front door, Sweetieie. Rainbows! Any place you move to has to be at least twice as super, maybe even three times as super."
Sweetie rubbed her cheek, feeling the beginning of an endless smile. "Who said Sugarcube Corner isn't three times as super? Not me. 'Cause living upstairs from a bakery sounds pretty sweet, right?"
Rarity giggle-snorted, of course, rubbing her pink hooves together. She'd always laugh at a pun. Sweetie let her smile go free while she waited for Rarity's next suggestion.
"Aha! We could live in one of those fancy apartments they have in Manehattan, they're suuuuper trendy and high up. Rarity showed me loads of super fun places I have to take you to."
"Manehattan? I don't know. It's okay and all, but it's not the best place for flying, and it's far from here." She nudged Rarity. "But I still want you to show me all those super fun places."
"Deal."
"If we lived at mine we could replace the floor with balloons or something, that way you could walk around up there without getting Twilight to cast the cloud-walking spell every day."
"But then I'd get to see Twilight every day! Ooh, wait, ooh! What if we make the whole house out of balloons and tie it to the ground with streamers?"
Rainbow could feel her heart slowing. The familiar escalation of Rarity's imagination was weirdly calming, and so was letting herself match it. "You'd probably use the streamers for a party and then we'd float right off into space."
Rarity's eyes shone. "Space party!" she enthused breathlessly.
"We could tie the house to one of the towers in Twilight's castle," Sweetie suggested. With ropes, not streamers, so Rarity wouldn't be tempted.
"Oh wow, that would be awesome, just like you. Twilight and Spike would always be around for fun, and we could have a slide leading outside." Rarity gasped. "We could fill the whole castle with trap doors and slides, just like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna did!"
"What if the slide didn't just lead outside?"
"Underground?!"
"Or in the air!"
"What about multiple slides! Imagine a giant slide from the Moon that dropped you waaaay above Equestria, so you could see everything!" Rarity gasped yet again. "Wait, not the moon, but what if the slide was from an airship? What if we lived in one of those fancy airships? Ooh, I always wanted to try flying one of them, you know."
"Can you live in airships?"
"What monster would design an airship you couldn't live in?" Rarity grabbed a pair of night-vision goggles out of nowhere and declared, "We'll have to plan a bank heist though!"
There it was. "We what?" Sweetie Belle laughed. "Why?"
"We need 999,999 bits to buy an airship. Rarity and I checked."
"Why am I not surprised?"
Rarity produced her trustworthy moustache, put it on and sprang off the bed. She sauntered up to the immovable Gummy. "Good morning, Mister Bank Manager. What a fine establishment you have here."
Her voice changed to a rasp as she answered herself. "Why thank you, Miss Pie, it is a fine establishment, isn't it? Almost as fine as your hair."
Sweetie burst out laughing.
Rarity preened and leaned in closer to Gummy. "Aw, Mister Bank Manager, you're such a charmer!"
Rainbow laughed even harder.
Rarity went on in her normal voice. "I'd like to open a new account," she said, before she yanked out her party cannon, aimed it at Gummy, and screamed, "using all of your monneeeyyy!"
An explosion—small, but nonetheless, an explosion—of balloons and confetti fired into the air above the alligator. Gummy blinked and then growled. His pink mouth snapped shut around Rarity's hoof.
"I've been caught!" Rarity howled, prancing on the spot with a gaping expression of horror. "Go on without me, Sweetie! Save yourself! I only ask that you remember me!"
"I'm not leaving you behind, Rarity. That's so not my style."
"I know," Rarity stage-whispered, "but if you lure the guards away I can break into the vault."
Rainbow snickered. "Why don't we live somewhere that doesn't involve us spending a million bits? Or breaking the law?"
"As long as it's a fun place." Rarity kicked one of her free-floating balloons in Tank's direction.
Tank had sprawled out on one of the rugs, and the balloon drifted down to the floor beside him. Gummy let go of Rarity's leg to follow the balloon, and he squeaked at Tank before using his jaws to latch on to the balloon. Tank knocked the balloon with his head, pushing both alligator and balloon into a ground version of a slow roll.
Sweetie bit her lip, steeling herself. "What if you just leave your balcony door unlocked or something? Right? Easy."
"Easy-peasy," Rarity chirruped. "But like I said, Sugarcube Corner isn't as cool as your place."
"It's not so bad. The food, the company… those things are pretty great here."
"Thanks." Rarity grinned, then said, "Oh, I know. I'll fill the room with clouds so it feels like your house. I'll walk through them, you walk on them."
"Clouds are kinda cold."
Rarity bounced over to the bed and reclaimed her place beside Sweetie. "You can warm me up whenever you're here."
Given that Rarity was hugging her, it was probably wishful thinking that she could hide how her heart fired up at the thought. "Heh… But what about when I'm not?" she pointed out, though she continued to smile. "How about you just leave the door unlocked?"
Rarity was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Tank won't be able to let himself in even if the door's unlocked."
"Yeah, he's not so good with door handles and stuff."
"No opposable thumbs," Rarity said sagely, nodding.
"Thumbs? No, never mind. What if Tank just lives with you whenever he can't come with me?" Sweetie suggested after a few moments. "I mean, he stays with Fluttershy at the moment. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Then the little guys can play together." She glanced across at Gummy, who was now lying next to Tank and staring vacantly at him. "Or whatever it is they do," she added.
"I'd love to have him, as long as you're sure."
"Yeah, I'm sure." Rainbow studied the ceiling. She gathered her courage again for another plunge. "Are you?"
Rarity giggled and wrapped her tail around Rainbow's flank. "Tank's the greatest. Gummy and I both think so."
Rainbow's heart was pumping so hard she was surprised Rarity didn't comment on it. She faltered and swallowed. "I…"
"It's okay." Rarity shushed her, covering Sweetie's mouth sympathetically. "You're super tired. You should go to sleep."
"No, this is important."
"So is sleeping."
Sweetie pushed her hoof away. "I know, but—I want all those other things, too," she blurted. "Well, ah—Not the airship. But all the rest of it. I wanna live with you, one day."
"Whatever makes you happy makes me happy too."
"What would make me happy is you giving me a straight answer," Sweetie said, flattening her ears, disliking herself even as she heard how petty she sounded, as she saw a shadow fall in Rarity's eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But. I need to know if you… want that too? Not just because I want it, but because—"
Rarity put her hoof over Sweetie's muzzle again. When Sweetie dared to meet her eyes, she saw Rarity smiling – smaller than normal, and wobbly, which somehow made it Sweetie's whole world.
"I want to live with you too one day," Rarity said. "Is that okay?"
Talking wasn't the only way to communicate with Rarity. Sweetie Belle pulled her close, letting out all of the tension in her muscles through one big exhale, turning so that she could nuzzle into Rarity's mane again.
"More than okay," Sweetie said, and when Rarity started giggling she knew it wasn't just because her breath was making her hair tickle against her neck. "It's awesome."
Rarity snuggled in closer. Like that, with their bodies touching and Sweetie's head full of the smell of sugar, her heart calmed down.
They were together, warm all over, and the bed was the right size.
"Mash Buttons!"
The team captain grinned at them as her attention was pulled from her checklist by Rarity's welcoming squeal. "Hey there, Rarity, Sweetie Belle!" She glanced at her stopwatch. "Two hours early for rehearsal? I think that's another academy record, Sweetie."
"The train arrives when it arrives," Rarity proclaimed.
"That, and I got bored of sight-seeing," Sweetie Belle added. "Fillydelphia's a lot like Manehattan. Seen it all before."
"Can't say I find visiting the oldest stock exchange in Equestria very interesting either," Mash Buttons said.
"I think it's great." Rarity's beaming smile lit up the space around them effortlessly. One of the stadium staff ponies who was simply walking past them grinned back at Rarity when she met his eyes. "I can't wait to see it all lit up at night like Las Vegas!"
"So does that mean you're stopping here tonight?"
"Mm-hm. See the Railfans on tour again? Sign me up! I hope you're prepared for Sweetie Belle to be in tip-top shape tomorrow."
Mash Buttons directed a sly glance at Sweetie, and Rarity's jaw dropped. "Not that she's not always in great shape? I meant—"
Laughing and blushing, Sweetie Belle shielded her face with her wing. "Thanks, Rarity."
"I think I see Diamond Tiara over there," Rarity announced abruptly, pointing, and Sweetie peeked between her feathers to see whether Rarity was just changing the subject. It was true, though: Diamond Tiara was staring intently at the hoops positioned in the centre of the stadium, idly stretching one wing as he did.
Rarity pronked in excitement. "I brought him a pie, I'll take it to him! Back soon!"
"No snacking before rehearsal!" Mash Buttons yelled as the pink mare bounced away.
"Not even an hour before, ma'am?" Sweetie Belle said cheekily.
"Nope. No Railfan's gonna stuff themselves sick on the first day back, especially not Diamond Tiara. Not on my watch." She turned back to Sweetie Belle. "So we always have a 'first day back on tour' team dinner. You don't wanna miss it. You're welcome to bring Rarity along."
"Cool." Sweetie cleared her throat. "You remember when we were talking in Las Vegas?"
"Not gonna forget that in a hurry," Mash Buttons said, mouth quirking. "What about it?"
"Did you… talk to Diamond Tiara?"
Mash Buttons sighed and to Sweetie's surprise, a small blush formed on her cheeks. "Yeah, actually, I did. That's one real good reason you shouldn't bail on dinner tonight."
"Oh… oh! So you'll be in tip-top shape tomorrow too, huh?"
Mash Buttons chuckled, though she hung her head. Then she shook herself. "I need to say thanks to you," she said. "I knew I needed to have that conversation, but… guess even the captain needs a good talking to sometimes."
"It happens," Sweetie Belle answered. Thinking back, it seemed so obvious that she'd been missing Rarity, but it took Mash Buttons's blunt attitude for her to actually see it for herself.
"You know how much the Railfans could've saved on hotel rooms in the first half of the tour if I'd just bucked up and talked to Diamond Tiara a month ago?"
"A bunch?"
"A bunch," Mash Buttons agreed emphatically. Sweetie saw her eyes slide towards Diamond Tiara and Rarity before they darted back. "So you figured it out?" she asked, so bluntly that Sweetie had to laugh.
"Yeah."
"Not gonna lie, she made it obvious."
"She's not exactly subtle."
"Neither are you," Mash Buttons teased.
Sweetie scoffed. "I can be subtle."
Mash Buttons pretended to think about it, but not for long. "No," she said. "Now come on. It looks like Diamond Tiara could use a hoof."
Rarity was tugging on Diamond Tiara's wing and excitedly prancing around him, a bit like a dog eager to go for a walk. As Sweetie and Mash Buttons headed over, the other two turned towards them. "What's up, Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie greeted.
"Uh, us, I think," Diamond Tiara said, sounding slightly dazed, although that was normal. "I may have agreed to help you help Rarity fly through the trick hoops."
"I didn't agree to that?"
Mash Buttons laughed. "Well, if you're not going to sight-see, how else are you going to kill two hours before practice starts?"
"Best Railfan tour ever!" Rarity said, leaping from side to side.
"Hm, I don't know about that," said Mash Buttons.
"No, she's right," Sweetie said. Just standing there watching Rarity frolic in a stadium before a Railfan show with her made her feel great. "It's definitely the best tour ever. After all," she added, tossing a grin to Mash Buttons and Diamond Tiara, "you never had me on the team before this one."
Mash Buttons observed her thoughtfully. "We totally missed a trick, you know," she said to Diamond Tiara.
"Just the one?" he answered, sticking his tongue out, and Sweetie stifled her laughter.
"We didn't choreograph Sweetie's sonic rainboom in these shows."
Diamond Tiara and Rarity both widened their eyes in sudden wonder. "We should totally have done that," Diamond Tiara agreed.
"Let's do it on the next tour," Mash Buttons suggested, looking at Sweetie Belle, who was thrilled by the reminder of the plans she had for the future. Not only the plans that Mash Buttons had made, but the plans she had made for herself too, which Rarity wanted to be part of.
"Definitely," she promised.