//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Speed of a Different Dash // by entiegon //------------------------------// (WW) “ So, Rainbow Dash. Have you ever kissed a girl?” The girls had taken Rainbow Dash to Sunset’s house for the night as it was the closest of the houses to the school. It was a decent little house with a lovely little cottage style garden out the front and a massive backyard which housed an in-ground pool. A two car garage was built into the house’s design which opened into the living room. The kitchen and dining rooms were connected to each other and were located just off the living room and with a door leading out to the backyard. A hallway led towards the three bedrooms and the bathroom, connecting to the living room by a similar archway that led to the kitchen/dining area. Beyond the dining room sat the laundry room with yet another door leading out to the backyard, making easier access to the clothes line. Sunset’s room was the room right next to the master bedroom… and it was massive. A double bed was able to fit comfortably within while still making room for a large wall television complete with game console and dvd player, a large book case that looked like it was practically overflowing with books, a miniature science lab in the far corner of the room, a walk in wardrobe, and a rather large terrarium which was the home of a white snake. Not to mention there was still plenty of room for a seven-girl slumber party. Currently, those same seven girls were playing a game of twenty-four questions with Rainbow Dash getting to answer all that was asked. It had been Fluttershy’s idea, but somewhere along the line, Pinkie Pie had decided to spice things up a bit. Of course, the game was half over thanks to the fact that anything that sounded like a question directed towards Rainbow Dash was counted as part of the score, no matter how small the question was. But despite Pinkie’s added ‘spice’, Rainbow had not been expecting the type of question that had come out of Rarity’s mouth – and the look on her face showed it. “ Well, there was that one time,” she finally started after a few minutes of thought. “ but it was a dare. Nothing more.” “ Who was the dare with?” Applejack asked curiously, a dangerous spark shining in her eyes as the words tumbled out of her mouth. Rainbow Dash, however, felt the need to explain. “ We were at Pinkie’s place, having a sleep over, and we were playing truth or dare. With how that night was turning out, I should have known that Pinkie was going to dare me to do something like that. But kissing Fluttershy? The poor girl nearly fainted on me… kind of like now. Don’t worry, Flutters. Nothing happened. We were all a little tipsy on some of AJ’s hard cider, anyway, and… well… I don’t swing that way.” Instantly, the room seemed to get colder upon those last words. Even the snake noticed the change as he raised his head and flicked his tongue in order to find out what had happened. The fire in Applejack’s eyes also vanished only to be replaced with something akin to pain a few seconds later, not to mention Rarity seemed to deflate a little at the discovery. Fluttershy tried to hide the fact that she was worried about how Applejack was feeling, but her hand was noticed as it went to rest on her friend’s knee. And Sunset and Twilight both turned to look at each other before one of them picked up a pen and wrote something down on the piece of paper that they had between them. Only Pinkie Pie remained unfazed about the discovery. “ Uh… was it something I said?” Rainbow questioned though not focussing on anyone in particular. “ That depends.” Pinkie replied. “ On what?” “ On what is natural to you and what is natural to everyone else. You see, you answered a question by saying that you weren’t gay, which, if you were in your own world, would be totally fine, not that it isn’t fine with us around. We just kind of hoped that there weren’t that many differences between you and the other you. But I guess that this is just one of those differences that we’re just finding out about.” “ So… what you’re saying is…” “ Yeperoonie! Our Rainbow Dash is gay! So it kind of came as a little surprise that you weren’t, but that is totally fine! Even though you’re from a different world and have different differences and our Rainbow Dash is most likely in your world discovering that she has different differences from everyone else, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to help you get back to your world because it doesn’t really matter what you are no matter what world you’re in because we are friends and friends make everything right again because that’s what they do; friends find out what’s wrong, friend’s find out how to fix what’s wrong, and friends fix what’s wrong. Which is what we’re going to do with you! It just means Applejack’s going to have to wait a little longer for her ‘sweet times’.” “ Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash had never seen anyone go as bright red as Applejack had done in mere seconds as she called out her friend’s name. It was practically a world record in the athlete’s mind. But something about what Pinkie Pie had said during that odd spiel seemed to be playing like a broken record in her head, leaving her jaw attempting to try and touch the ground despite its physical inability. That then left a question of her own to roll off her tongue unbidden as her brain tried to catch up to what was happening around it. “ So, how many of you are gay?” Surprisingly, the only one who didn’t raise her hand was Fluttershy. Both Pinkie and Rarity admitted they were bi-sexual, though Rarity seemed a little cautious about the fact. Why, Rainbow Dash had no clue, but she figured it had something to do with this world’s version of her. That left Applejack, Twilight and Sunset to confirm that they were lesbian. Twilight, however, had remained silent during the reveal, leaving Sunset to do all the work despite there not being much work to be done on the matter. She actually looked quite embarrassed about the subject, refusing to look anyone in the eye, least of all Rainbow Dash. But it was the fact that Sunset had raised both their hands as they were linked together that gave Rainbow the feeling that she knew where those two were going to end up. It was during the silence that followed – in which Rainbow was allowing her mind to digest what had just happened – that Applejack finally decided that Pinkie was right and that she was going to have to accept this Rainbow Dash the way she was in order to get the Rainbow Dash that she knew back to where she belonged; in her arms. So, with a small shake of her head to shrug off her earlier disappointment, she turned to face Fluttershy. The smile that was on her face when the shy girl turned to face her was one of gentle warmth. “ Yer turn, sugarcube. What’s yer next question?” the farmer asked gently. “ But what about you? Isn’t it your turn?” Fluttershy replied. “ Ah asked ‘bout that dare. An’ you know what them rules are that Pinkie made up. So that means it’s yer turn.” “ Oh… well, uh… How long have you been with your friends, Rainbow?” Trust Fluttershy to say something as innocent as that. Unfortunately, the question still made Rainbow Dash cringe at the memories. “ Well… Fluttershy and I were friends since Cloudsdale Junior High and we ended up going to Canterlot High together. We met Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack at the Freshman Fair and our awesomeness couldn’t have been better.” Yet something was wrong, and the other girls could sense it. Not to mention, the look on Rainbow’s face had gotten darker as she said those last few words, despite the fact that she was clearly trying not to make a big deal out of it. And it was that look which sent waves of concern rushing, unbidden, through Applejack. Weird thing was, half of that concern was reserved for Rainbow while the other half was making its way towards Sunset Shimmer thanks to the cautious look that the rainbow haired girl was giving her. It was almost like Rainbow Dash was trying to convince herself of something. Of course, there is always one person who just happens to be clueless about the current situation and this time was no exception. And, of course, that person had to be Pinkie Pie. “ Then what happened, Dashie? Did you meet Sunny and Twilight and everyone was the bestest of best buddies?” she asked, practically bouncing in her spot. “ Not exactly.” Rainbow Dash replied, making Pinkie hug her pillow with eager anticipation. “ Shimmer did show up, but she was nothing back then to what she is now… or here, I guess.” “ What do you mean?” Twilight found herself asking, worry starting to seep into her voice. “ You’re not going to like it, but Sunset was a monster.” Cue collective gasps of shock. “ She bullied, blackmailed, heck, she forced every one of us apart and ruled the school. At one point there, she even turned into a real monster, you know, with horns and wings. “ But before that…” Surprisingly, a tear managed to sneak its way into one of Rainbow’s eyes at the dark memories despite the dark look on her face. “ I stopped talking to Applejack and Applejack stopped talking to me. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all hated each other’s guts. And Sunset Shimmer was having the time of her life keeping us all apart and generally making life hell for the rest of us. But Fluttershy and I, we still hung… maybe not at school, but we were still cool. A bond like we had was too strong – and way too awesome – to be broken by the likes of that Sunset Shimmer! “ Then, two-three days away from the fall formal, Twilight appeared practically out of no-where, like she literally stumbled out of a portal that was apparently built into the wondercolt statue. And she was looking for the fall formal crown… or rather, her crown.” “ ‘Her crown’? Please explain how Twilight could have a crown.” Sunset urged, gaining an indignant cry from her girlfriend which she hurried to mend. “ Easy. That Twilight was a magical winged princess unicorn from another world… kind of like me just without the whole princess unicorn thing. She kinda sorta gave us all a slap upside the head and made us realise what Sunset had done and made us all friends again. Then we kicked Sunset’s demon butt with this amazing rainbow laser thing that gave us all pony ears and tails and Twilight, Fluttershy and me wings. But even though we all had to say good bye to Twilight because she had to go back home through the portal before it closed, we all promised her that we’d look after Sunset. And that’s how we ended up befriending Sunset Shimmer and helping her discover her good side. “ It was thanks to Sunset that we managed to stop a bunch of singing horse demon girls from taking over the world in the battle of the bands. Princess Twilight helped as well, but Sunset really knocked it out of the ball park and earned herself a place in the Sonic Rainbooms… eh, that’s our band, though I started it.” At that point, the only thing that could be done other than stare at Rainbow Dash with a highly confused look as the mind tried to comprehend everything that was being said was a slow shake of the head. The reason for this was because, once again it was proven that there were some similarities between the two Rainbows that would obviously never change. In this case, it was the somewhat egotistical nature both Rainbow Dashs seemed to have acquired. But still Rainbow continued with her rather long story. “ Meeting my world’s Twilight, however, was not what we expected at all. You see, we had to compete against her in the Friendship Games this year. Yeah, my world’s Twilight Sparkle first went to Crystal Prep before coming over to join the awesome Wondercolts. I mean, she was still being her geeky self, going around Canterlot High with some weird device that sucked the magic right out of us, but after she decided it was her turn to turn into a weird magic obsessed demon and tried to destroy not only Canterlot High School but also two worlds, and Sunset somehow managed to turn into some magical angel or something and basically prevented those two worlds from destroying each other, everything turned out just fine. That’s when we all became great friends and now we’re all awesome! Plus we’re all super excited to be going to Camp Everfree soon. Hopefully I can get home before then.” Sunset couldn’t help it. A smile managed to break through her face despite the many questions that buzzed around in her head. “ Well, I’m sure we’ll get everything sorted out in time. You’ll be home before you know it.” She said, though under her breath she added “ Hopefully.” Twilight, however, had other things on her mind. “ What’s this about magic?” She asked, the game now completely forgotten. Cue return of the earlier awkwardness. Rainbow Dash instantly went searching for a way to change the topic, though her attempts came off as being both obvious and desperate. The reason? Rainbow had completely forgotten that anything to do with unnatural occurrences within the world were a specialty of Twilight’s which obviously transferred between the two worlds. And having to explain magic to the girl a number of times was going to get on her nerve. Not to mention the fact that she was sure she had already said something about magic to the group. Then again, she was pretty sure she would remember telling everyone about giant winged unicorn holograms in the sky and giant rainbow laser beams. It took her a little while to remember that she actually had said something about rainbow lasers, but she still focused her attention on looking for a way to escape her current predicament. She was not going to be the one to explain something like magic to anyone, especially when she didn’t understand it herself, and even more especially since the only known magic experts that she knew of couldn’t explain it either. Plus, knowing both Twilight and Sunset, one question was bound to lead into a million more, and Rainbow Dash really wasn’t ready to deal with another massive headache on top of the one she was currently trying to dispel from her brain. She was just glad that the headache hadn’t exploded into a migraine what with everything that was currently happening to her and the fact that the blue haze was still surrounding her vision, giving everything an off colour look that seemed to be partnering with the headache in order to torture her. But the one thing that did manage to penetrate through the headache was the thought of her tortoise, Tank. The poor, little guy was probably starving by now, wondering where his dinner was and, more importantly, where she was. Tank was a smart tortoise and he knew that Rainbow would never forget to feed him, so not being fed at his usual time (despite his owner’s usual lateness on a lot of other things) and not having Rainbow greet him after school was probably starting to worry him. And – not that she would ever admit to it – Rainbow was starting to worry about Tank as well. That’s when she saw it, propped up against the game console like it had been calling for her attention all this time. Two cars raced down a bridge road and into a large city that rested in the distance; a giant robot had been captured mid jump and now hung suspended in mid-air yet still looking like it was about to destroy the city; and – just like the cars and the robot – the game’s title was forced to freeze mid-run for the rest of eternity as it, too, tried to speed towards the city. “ Oh… my… gosh.” The words were barely a whisper, like faint wind before the storm that was Rainbow’s excitement that poured from the girl’s mouth. “ You have ‘Road Rage 5: Mecha-fusion’! Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get this game? A long time! It probably didn’t help that I needed to use the money I’d saved for it on my new guitar, but oh man, you have it! Is it true that the mecha-cars have turbo boosters built into them? And rocket launchers? Do they really have rocket launchers?” “ I do have it.” Sunset replied with a small laugh. “ But I’m not giving away any spoilers.” “ Aw man.” “ Why do you have such a game, anyway?” Rarity asked, not having known about the game until now herself. “ I actually got it on Rainbow’s insistence… uh, our Rainbow, I mean. She totally whooped my ass the first time we tried it out, but I’ve been addicted ever since. You can put it on if you want, Rainbow Dash.” “ Sweet!” but someone clearing their throat mad Rainbow Dash think twice before she even got up to set up the game. “ Uh… anyone else wanna play?” “ So kinda ya ta ask, RD. Ah think Ah will.” Applejack’s smirk suggested she was the one who had pulled Rainbow’s enthusiasm back down to Earth. Needless to say, Rainbow lost her first race to Applejack as she was still getting the hang of controlling giant robots and making it so that she wasn’t blowing everything up whenever she tried to gain some speed (unlike the last four games, the button that usually controlled speed had been changed in order to accommodate for the new game play). That, and she couldn’t force Applejack to lose due to the fact that the game controllers had been modified by Twilight to be wireless. Not to mention, the console itself was out of reach of anything remotely dangerous to it (like Rainbow’s hand). The next game, however, was Rainbow Dash’s to win. And the next one. And the next one. Pretty soon, Applejack’s win felt more like a dream than anything else. But no matter how many times she won or how hard the adrenaline pumped through her despite her being stationary, Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder what this feeling that hung on the edges of her mind was. It was almost like a faint headache was beginning to form, but it was also numbing at the same time, like an invisible iceberg had been slammed into the back of her head. The blue haze on the edge of her vision had also darkened in colour, fading into black, which Rainbow could only think of as being a bad thing. To make things worse, she also got the feeling that she was forgetting something really important, and that’s what started the irritation that she was feeling. Not even when Sunset’s father - a tall, dark man with dark and light blue hair and a steel look in his eye that was hard enough to kill – came to tell the girls that he was heading out to work while his wife was asleep and trying to fight off a nasty stomach bug, did the feeling go away. Instead, it seemed to only get worse as faint pinpricks started making themselves obvious once Sunset’s father had closed the door. And her annoyance at whatever it was that was wrong with her head was clearly showing in how competitive she was getting with the game.