When Applejack left the room I felt cold. I knew this was just part of my fear response, but I still felt uncomfortable. I walked over to the bed and pulled the blanket down with my teeth. I wanted to drape it around my shoulders, but I wasn’t coordinated enough with this new body. The blanket fell in a clump and I crawled underneath it until my head poked out the other side. I almost wished AJ would come back and hug me again just for the warmth.
Stupid, stupid, acting like a baby. I shivered and tried to draw the blanket more tightly around myself.
I heard the Crusaders before I saw them. In this world where everyone has both hooves and excellent hearing it must be nigh impossible for ponies to sneak up on each other. Or would that be neigh impossible?
They made a fair amount of noise coming up the stairs, but slowed their pace as they approached the door. Before they entered they stopped and had a whispered conversation but it was too faint of me to make out.
They entered as a pack, none of them wanting to be the first into the room. They didn’t immediately see me hiding under the blanket, so I spoke first.
“Hi girls,” I said.
They turned as one to face me and the first thing I noticed was the bruise on Scootaloo’s face.
“Oh, hi,” Applebloom said, “Er, Green.”
Clearly they were awkward and hesitant around me.
“Thanks for bringing me some cake.” I said, “You can go back to the party if you like, I don’t want you to miss it on account of me.”
“That’s alright,” said Sweetie Belle, “The party wasn’t that fun anyway.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Scootaloo, “It’s a Pinkie party, it’s going to be awesome!”
Sweetie Belle put a fetlock over her face and sighed. “We’re supposed to be making her feel better about missing the party.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo looked flustered, “I mean, uh, it wasn’t that great.”
“I don’t really like parties anyway,” I said.
The three fillies glanced at each other uncertainly. God this was awkward. Right, change the subject. I wanted to ask about the bruise on Scootaloo’s face, but that might be a sore topic.
“Thanks for saving me when I was in the forest, I wasn’t in a good way.”
“Yer welcome.”
“I’m sorry if I said anything... weird.” I apologized. “I wasn’t really thinking clearly.”
“Ya,” Scootaloo rubbed at her face, “We noticed.”
Oh no. My mind made an uncomfortable connection.
“Did you get hurt while you were rescuing me?” I asked.
“You really don’t remember, huh?” Applebloom commented.
I shook my head.
“Look it’s not a big deal!” Scootaloo insisted.
Despite her orange coat, the bruising was clearly visible. It was purplish, probably a few days old. It was a little swollen, but she wasn’t having any trouble opening her eye; probably no facial fracture.
“It looks like you got hit pretty hard. Did you lose consciousness?” I asked.
Scootaloo shook her head.
“Did you have any blurred or double vision, headaches, nausea, vomiting?” I listed off.
“Look you didn’t hit me that hard, okay?” Scootaloo snapped, “It’s fine.”
My throat was tightening. I wanted to apologize, but my body just wanted to cry.
“Oh.” I managed to choke out.
I fought back tears. Stupid body. I tried to breathe, but the lump in my throat was painful and my breath turned into a shudder. I wanted to retreat further under the blanket, but I couldn’t. This wasn’t about me, this was about Scootaloo. I was just making myself the victim by being weak. I’d hurt her and now I was going to steal all the sympathy just because I couldn’t control my emotions.
“I- I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying not to whimper. I didn’t want them to feel sorry for me.
Keep yourself together dammit!
I wasn't sure if they heard me, so I repeated myself as I stood up and shook off the blanket, though I wasn’t able to make eye contact.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my vision was blurry with tears as I hurried out of the room, “I have to go to the-”
As I turned the corner out of the room without looking I ran into a wall of blue fur. I looked up to see Rainbow Dash looking surprised and, for some reason, guilty? I resisted the urge to throw myself into her chest and cry; instead, I just took an awkward step back.
“Oh,” I rasped, “Er, sorry, is there a bathroom on this floor?”
She hesitated and I looked away, too ashamed to make eye contact.
“Sure,” she said, concerned, “It’s just over here. Are you okay?”
She guided me with a wing to another door along the hallway. The wing on my back gave me strength and I remembered back to what Applejack had said earlier. Clearly just keeping my emotions bottled up and under control wasn’t going to work anymore. I had to tell somepony.
I sat down on the floor and looked up at Rainbow, my gaze not quite making it to her eyes, stopping mid-chest.
“No,” I said. “I’m not okay.”
“Oh,” Rainbow had a profound sense of awkwardness in her voice, “Uh, are you having... err... bathroom... problems?”
Now it was Rainbow’s turn to look away, as she desperately searched for somepony else to handle the delicate issue. I blushed at that, and it actually helped distract me from my impending breakdown.
“I don’t have to go.” I admitted, “I just didn’t want them to see me cry.”
We both froze as we heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs.
“Rainbow? What-” AJ’s voice turned from surprise to anger as she saw me, “Are you seriously-”
“It’s alright,” Rainbow tried to placate the fuming Earthpony, “We were just talking-”
“No, it ain’t alright,” AJ stood over top of me protectively, “I can understand wanting ta protect yer little sister, but coming up here so you could ambush a little filly and give her a talking to while she’s all alone? Ah thought you were better than this.”
I was frozen. This was all my fault and I couldn’t think of the right words to defuse the situation.
“I would never!” Rainbow had raised herself off the floor, flapping her wings indignantly. “I was just showing her where the bathroom is.”
“Uh-huh.” AJ was unconvinced, “And what were ya doing up here in the first place?”
“I was,” Rainbow’s eyes shifted side to side, as if looking for something, “I was going to use the bathroom up here because the other one had a line.”
Ok. If this was the standard of lying that existed in Equestria I could definitely see why AJ didn’t need psychic powers to be the element of honesty.
AJ shook with rage as she pulled me back behind her foreleg.
“Get out.”
“W-what?” Rainbow dropped out of the air in shock.
“Y’all think ya can lie ta muh face, ambush a little filly on her way ta the bathroom in her own home where she’s suppose’ ta feel safe?” AJ yelled, “Yer no longer welcome here. Get. Out.”
“Twilight,” Rainbow said in a panic, “We have a major friendship problem!”
The Princess immediately looked at Rainbow’s cutiemark, and then to her own to check if they were glowing.
“No, not like that,” Rainbow said in exasperation, “Ugh, look, I bucked up real bad and now AJ won’t speak to me.”
There was a flash of teleportation and the two of them were suddenly standing outside.
“Alright,” said Twilight, “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“Well AJ saw me upstairs talking to Green,” Rainbow explained, “And she completely overreacted!”
“She was so frightened of other ponies she couldn’t even attend her own welcome party and then an adult she doesn’t know comes upstairs to confront her? How did you think she would react, Dash?” Twilight said.
“What?” Rainbow said, “That’s not what happened at all. Green was fine. AJ is the one that overreacted. She said I was trying to ambush a filly!”
“Rainbow, you’ve been ranting about how dangerous Green is and how she hurt Scootaloo, and then you go to confront her while she’s all alone?” Twilight asked, “Did you think for even one minute about how that might make her feel?”
“Green ran into me!” Rainbow responded, “And it looked like she was about to cry, so I asked if she was okay. That’s all that happened!”
“She just happened to bump into you.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Upstairs, away from the party, where you had no reason to be.”
“I was supervising!”
“You were eavesdropping.” Twilight surmised.
“Ugh, fine,” Rainbow admitted. “I just wanted to make sure they were safe, okay?”
“I believe you Rainbow, and I’ll talk to Applejack,” Twilight consoled, “But I think you should probably head home for the night. She’s going to need some time to cool off.”
Fantastic writing, thanks for the update!
It's honestly heartbreaking to see how Green doesn't feel she has the right to be sad. Not when there's literally anything wrong with anyone else. Certainly not when she's the cause, no matter how unintentional.
And Dash... yeah, lapse of judgement there, my mare. Not the time, not the place.
Yay! This just made the morning a little better.
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Rainbow really put her hoof in it when she tried to lie her way out.
I dare say, the bummer of everything that just happened with Dash really is that, of all the Mane 6, I really think the one that Green would actually be the most comfortable dealing with would be RD once they get through the initial awkwardness. Possible Starlight as well if we include her in the mix. Pardon the implied reference to Kamikaze Girls here (Great movie that I now want to watch again), but if Applejack hadn't come stomping up the stairs, I really feel like RD's reaction to hearing Green say "I just didn't want them to see my cry" would be to turn around and reply with something along the lines of "Well, I guess it's a good thing no one is here then."
I absolutely love your work. You never fail to get the emotional rise out of me in these tense situations.
Thank you for another chapter
"I wasn't in a good way" what?
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"S/he's not in a good way" is a euphemism for saying someone is doing very poorly, especially if they are deathly ill or badly injured.
Possibly it's more of a local thing that I thought. Probably more UK/AU and less USA.
Things just get more and more complex when Green is involved. Wonder who thought it was a good idea to send the CMC up in the first place.
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It was AJ, in the previous chapter.
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yea to me it just seems misspelled
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Ah. Forgot that detail. May not have been the best of ideas.
Why is the chapter “Bonus content: What if” in the wrong chapter order?
This story is just amazing! I always find myself wanting more with each chapter, it's just so good. Can't wait for the next update!
Seems like AJ's maternal instincts are kicking in full force. This whole situation makes me feel bad for everybody involved. What Green needed were a blanket and hot cocoa instead of a Pinkie Pie Party™.
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It's also used in the USA. May be a regional thing.
Ah, at it again, Dashie?
Seriously, out of all the Mane 6, RD is the one who consistently repeats the same friendship mistakes.
I'm too used to chapters being longer, however I'm not expecting you to just magic words up, it just ended sooner than I expected and left me chomping at the bit for more.
Silly rainbow got involved at the wrong time.
Very excited to see more from this story!
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No, we say that too. It's just kind of old fashioned (or maybe regional?)
Poor Rainbow. Being accused of doing what she had every intention of doing but didn't get the chance to do. A rousing Chorus of "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me"
O crap Things are going to be bad for a wile before any kind of 'normal day to day' can set in
Rainbowdash was never a suttle character and her lack of common sence is often quite hard to handel/hoof.
Green seem to be more than very emotional Even Fluttershy can do better?
At her current rate she cant even attend school. Probably not really need bullys like Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon to get her emotional stability out the window
Green seriously needs to get it together before she causes an irreparable break among the element bearers.
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It's not that easy. Especially for someone who I suspect has a lot more issues then they let on.
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It's actually a pretty well known saying as far as I'm concerned... I've not only heard it plenty of times from my own family, but also from movies. Granted, I think it's more common amongst poorer people than it is in high society.
For Rainbow... yeah, she messed up by even being there in the first place as she was fully intending to do what AJ accused her of, she just never got the chance to do so. And like you said, her trying to lie her way out initially just made things look worse from AJ's perspective. Though if the CMC were just behind them and heard anything that was said, then there might be some drama about to brew from Scoots direction. I do have to wonder if she picked the fact just how much her snapping at Green made the situation worse?
And regardless of anything else, Green is going to feel horrible. I'm guessing that she'll feel responsible for AJ and RD having their argument, and will probably pick up on AJ saying that bit about RD eavesdropping because she "wanted to protect her little sister". That compounded with how she herself was feeling for hurting Scootaloo in the first place is probably going to screw with her emotions even more.
I don’t think Applejack is a good choice to be the guardian here. Unfortunately Green has many issues that are going unaddressed by the ponies as they are either unaware of or not able to treat. Hopefully as time goes on they will learn how to help Green. A Pinkie party may seem innocent to them but pulling one on her when she has proven to have socializing issues was the complete wrong call.
Welp rainbow isn't in a great predicament
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That's victimblaming. She didn't ask for Pinkies unfitting party. She didn't ask for the crusaders to prevent her from calming down. She didn't ask for Rainbow to do stupid Rainbow things.
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I hear that expression in Canada on rare occasions.
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I get all that. That party should never have happened and Pinkie's friends should have had enough sense to say no, this is a bad idea. And yet, Green by her own inability to speak up causes an already awkward situation to get worse. And let's keep in mind this character had been a capable adult. One moment Green is demonstrating how capable they had been, and the next Green is so totally out of their element that she is incapable of functioning in a rational way. Which of course can only lead to further misunderstandings among the ponies who are undoubtedly certain something truly horrible happened to her. And no, I'm not victim-blaming, it's the reality of the situation with the character. Green is spiraling downward and it's not going to stop any time soon if she's not actively involved in the recovery process.
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Well, Green isn't helping the situation, but i wouldn't say she is responsible (much). Aside from the general situation weighing down on her, her new filly biology seems to heavilly mess with her. She needs help, but nopony seems able to provide much.
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Okay, am I the only one here that doesn't have a single idea of what Rainbow Dash did wrong!? It's legitimately quite frustrating.
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Yeah, I don't know why Luna backed down. No-one does, actually, since we never got to see that for some reason??
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What I think is happening is there is stuff going on in the background that we are not aware of and are only getting some peaks at. Luna was onto something and it would have provided some answers but she was blocked by other parties because they are reacting to the information they have and what they think is going on.
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One does not simply "block" Princess Luna.
imgflip.com/s/meme/One-Does-Not-Simply.jpg
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Just because you have the power to do whatever you want doesn't mean it's always a good idea to use it.
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Judging from her and Twilight's conversation, because Green hurt Scootaloo during her rescue, Rainbow's been biased against her, and it wouldn't be out of character for her to be stupidly confrontational to someone who doesn't deserve it("Are you a spy!?"). So when she followed the Crusaders upstairs to listen in on their meeting with Green, when Green ran out of the room and straight into Rainbow, and then AJ walked in on this, to AJ it LOOKED like Rainbow was ambushing Green.
Applejack cool off. i have a cure for that .. take her out back of the woodshed and pound some dame stupid out of her ass.
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sorry i just don't like AJ she comes off like the rich snobs ,, my shit don't stink,, just cant stand her.
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RD followed the CMC upstairs to look out for them, and because Green gave Scoots a pretty serious wallop when she was rescued, everyone assumed Rainbow was going up there because she thought Green was going to turn violent and she had to "protect" Scootaloo for future attacks...
Honestly, it wouldn't be out of character for early days RD, but this seems to be a bit later on, and it seems more like AJ just assumed the worst of her, and kicked off right in front of Green who is probably going to have something approaching a nervous meltdown from this conflict.
Oh man, right as i was getting into it again. I dont know if its just me but this chapter felt shorter than usual.
Nice
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I don't understand. You think AJ is a snob?
The three fillies glanced at each other uncertainly. God this was awkward. Right, change the subject. I wanted to ask about the bruise on Scootaloo’s face, but that might be a sore topic.
I see what you did there.
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that is a kind way to say it , i don't mean in your story i mean in the show,
This story is so awesome, cant wait to read what happens next !
(What I like about this is that it fits and works with everything.
Scootaloo does not have tact, and she's getting annoyed that Green's drawing attention to the bruise on her face because she's a "tough filly" and doesn't like to admit that things hurt. Unfortunately, she also let it slip that Green did it, and Green was in no emotional state for interaction with her. Or anypony. The last thing she needed was a crowd, and other ponies present on the premises. She needs to be alone and to gather herself, she's had too much stress in too little time. She needs privacy to recollect herself away from prying eyes and words and... people.
Or at least, that's what I would need. I can't take continuous social interaction with strangers when I'm off, I can barely handle it when I'm stable. But, yeah... she doesn't need cake, she doesn't need the crusaders, and she doesn't even need A.J., she needs to be alone and just... relax. Destress, and recenter.
As for Rainbow Dash... it is completely in character for her to do something that STUPID. The lying part was particularly stupid, she could have gotten away with things if she admitted that she was just eavesdropping on the conversation to make sure Scootaloo was okay when Green came barreling out the door. With that said, A.J.'s timing was terrible. I feel as though if anypony could understand not wanting others to see them weak, it's Rainbow. Could have been an opportunity for connection there.
Then Twilight is nice and rational, like how she cuts to the heart of the matter quickly. And A.J... I don't blame her. I know how it looks, and she's got a good and protective heart. It's a reasonable response given the circumstances, though when her temper flares back down she and Rainbow will need to talk again. Misunderstandings are terrible things to end relationships over.
Now, as to Green... that filly biology is really screwing up their coping mechanisms. Heightened emotions from youth, a literal body change, and they don't have as good a handle on their emotions as before. It makes sense, in many ways, that they'd not be able to handle these things when they could manage it in the previous body. And the self-blame... yeah, that's a bitch. It's not her fault of course. Rainbow's decision was Rainbow's, she was delirious with the Crusaders, and A.J.'s response is their own. But she'll blame herself for everything, and that... that is always ugly... ... the challenge with Green is going to be letting her know that she's ALLOWED to be happy and NOT take the blame for everything that goes wrong... and, I'm willing to bet, she's going to have a heck of a hard time accepting compliments and letting herself feel like she did a good job... just a hunch.)
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In many ways, Pinkie is uncomfortably close to being a mean-spirited parody of extroverts written by introverts (as in her characterization is mean spirited, not Pinkie herself). Even after the Cranky Doodle episode, Pinkie tends to come off as being categorically unable to comprehend that not everyone is outgoing and social the way she is.
In this case, however, it really looks like nopony even tried to tell Pinkie that Green is shy and insecure.
Wow, amazing as usual. This was a potent chapter. Rainbow was there to be not nice and ended up almost being nice accidentally, then AJ showed up. This was a courus of opsie doopsie, my bad, and lies. Really wack, but well written. Keep on kepin on. :)