So last chapter, I'll bet you all were wondering: what happened to Twilight?

Well I have answers!

However, I won't reveal them to you right now. So on with the story!

Cobalt was sure that the invitation he got in the mail was a trap as soon as he got it. If the huge Eggman logo that covered it didn't give it away, then perhaps the text of the letter did. It read:

My dear friend Cobalt Spikes,

It is my great pleasure to announce that I no longer enjoy my evil ways, and have turned good. In this invitation, I cordially invite you to the amusement park I have built when it opens, free of charge. Opening is in one week, and entrance is in the space elevator near what you call the 'Everfree Forest.'

Ciao, Doctor Eggman

If that didn't ring a funny bell, then nothing did. Eggman would never stop being evil, and even he couldn't build an amusement park in one day. He'd just sent Metal Sonic to eliminate Cobalt yesterday, and if the dark blue pegasus was reasoning right, that didn't add up. Evil one day and not the next wasn't possible if a not evil project was going on while Eggman was evil. Therefore the park was evil, and therefore some sort of trap.

On top of that, Twilight had disappeared the day before. She had never missed getting back to the library before about two in the morning, so when she was still gone in the morning with no trace of having visited the previous night, Cobalt knew something was up. And that tied in with the fact that he'd received the amusement park invitation right after she'd disappeared, it meant trouble.

So he made his way to the Everfree Forest and found the elevator, and another, quite unexpected presence.

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash growled, narrowing her eyes.

"Investigating this." Cobalt said with a scowl in response to her unprovoked hostility, holding up the letter he'd gotten. "What about you?"

"Same as you." Rainbow flashed an identical letter. "I don't believe this crap for a second."

"Neither do I." Cobalt replied, feeling a stab of pain in his heart at her irritated expression. It hurt him more than he could convey to see her angry with him. He… sweet Celestia, he loved her. And to have her turn on him with such fury, it gave him more pain inside than that creature that lived in his head could ever cause him.

"We should work together." He said slowly. "There's strength in numbers."

"Tactical." She muttered, nodding in grudging agreement. "Fine. Let's go with that."

Cobalt glanced up at the park above. "Let's get going. I don't like the look of this thing if it gets any farther along."

Rainbow trotted up to the elevator door and pushed the button, causing it to slide open. "Come on, I don't want to do this any longer than I have to." She grumbled.

"Ladies first." Cobalt said with a small smile.

She sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Don't try to make me laugh, Cobalt. Please, just don't. It hurts." She glanced up again with fresh fire in her eyes. "Now are you getting in or am I going solo?"

Cobalt didn't respond, but quietly walked into the polished steel cylindrical shaft that was the elevator and stood next to his friend.

What could she have meant? It hurt her when he tried to make her laugh. That meaning had been clear, but why would she say that now. It had never bothered her before when he'd gotten her to crack up over some dumb joke. But then again, that had been before their falling out.

Soft elevator music played a soothing song as the capsule ascended at a subsonic rate up into space, but it didn't do much to calm the tension between the two pegasi, who were standing at a very close and very uncomfortable distance away from each other.

Cobalt looked over at Rainbow and noticed something odd about her demeanor. Instead of being calm and collected, as he'd thought she'd be, she was instead nervously glancing over at him every few seconds… and did he see a pink tinge spreading on her face?

No, he had to be imagining it.

But even so, he still felt his wings involuntarily stiffening at the thought of what he'd seen, and breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't notice… or at least didn't mention it. However, the next time he looked over at her, her blush (it was definitely so at this point) had grown even bigger.

A couple of seconds later, just when the two felt that if the air didn't move, the elevator would blow up, the doors slid open again, and they walked together out into the theme park in space.

And that's where I leave it for now. Gosh dang cliffhangers. I can't resist.

Ciao! Radicool223 out!