"Tank! I'm home!"
Rainbow Dash flew into her room from her open window, looking around for her beloved pet. Her nerves were still a bit jumbled, her wings shifting a bit as she walked, but she was feeling a bit better at least.
Tank was laying on his bed, but very much awake. He turned his head to her and smiled, happy to see his owner's face.
She returned the smile, but it faded as she saw a familiar rainbow around his mouth. "T-Tank, did you...?!"
She dashed to his side immediately, finding a half-eaten cookie in Tank's bed. A shock went up her spine, and she was quick to hold his face in her hooves. "Tank, buddy! It's gonna be okay! I..."
Her voice trailed off as she noticed his lack of a dead stare. "U-uh... you still with me?"
He blinked at her, confused, but nodded. She let go off his face, her mind was spontaneously filled with questions.
Wait, is Tank not affected at all? If the stuff really does wear off, maybe he just ate that cookie a long time ago? Or, no, then he wouldn't have left half of it alone, right? Maybe it just doesn't work on tortoises?
After a moment, she decided to leave it at that; the idea that it didn't work on him. Her head hurt as it was and she didn't want to spend the rest of the day thinking.
Glad to put the thought out of her head, she got back to "business" and sat down in front of Tank, a hoof reaching over to pet his head.
"Anyway, I'm sorry I got home so late. You wouldn't believe the day I had... but it's okay now. I'm here."
She noticed that Tank was looking at her weirdly, then brought her hoof to her face to wipe away a stray tear. If there was one thing she hated about herself, it was her inability to keep her emotions under control, especially in front of others.
She tried again to console any potential concerns he had, pulling Tank into a hug. "Really... it's okay."
Tank knew his owner well. She wasn't one to let others dwell on her troubles for her, even him. Still, he didn't want to push her, so instead, he rested his head on her, relaxing into the hug. Rainbow eagerly accepted it, tightening her grip, though not too much.
She didn't want to be lost in the moment forever, so she finally released him after roughly a minute. Tank smiled, returning to his place on his bed.
Rainbow Dash watched him, finding it to be a nice distraction, but jumped as a surge of magic suddenly crackled behind her. Though startled, she managed to turn around, seeing Starlight standing there, expression being one she couldn't quite place.
"Oh! Uh... hey, Starlight," she said. "Haven't seen you in a while."
It only just occurred to her that she hadn't even seen Starlight the past night. Had she been away somewhere at the time?
"Hey, Rainbow Dash," Starlight greeted, a bit too formally for Rainbow Dash's tastes. "I just thought I'd check up on you. Is everything okay?"
Rainbow Dash tried not to make a face at her; she didn't want other ponies' pity, at least not like that. "I'm fine, okay? I just passed out, that's all."
"You fainted?!" Starlight asked, mouth agape.
"I-it was just for half a day or something!" Rainbow Dash replied, cheeks colored a light pink. "No big deal..."
"I didn't mean it in that way. I'm just surprised," Starlight assured. "I was checking on you because I thought you'd be mad, and we all know how you get when you're mad; well, at least, I've been told stories. I had no idea you'd fainted."
"Mad? What do I have to be mad for?" Rainbow Dash looked over at Tank, as if he might know something, but he just stared back at her, head tilted.
Starlight raised a brow. "The whole zombie thing didn't get to you?" She sighed heavily, hoof to her face. "And here I went telling Twilight that it was a bad plan; I guess I really don't know my new friends at all..."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "H-hang on, back up a sec. Zombie thing?"
"Y...yeaaaaah?" Starlight gave a slightly wary look, as if realizing that she might've said something she shouldn't. "Twilight... told me that everypony would tell you afterwards. I thought...?"
"N-nopony told me anything," Rainbow Dash told her, eyes moving to the floor.
Starlight bit her bottom lip nervously, seeing the mild distress in Rainbow Dash's eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... I'll just..."
Her horn began to glow, but Rainbow Dash sprang forward and placed her hooves against Starlight's chest. "Wait, Starlight. Tell me the rest. I need to know."
When Starlight didn't respond, Rainbow Dash pushed harder against her. "Please?!"
It was hard to refuse the face that Rainbow Dash was giving her. While not wanting to potentially disobey her mentor, Starlight did want to get this off her chest since that plan had failed like she predicted.
So, the two sat down on Rainbow's bed, Starlight explaining the whole story to her. She explained how Twilight came to her to join, how she thought the plan would work, and every single step involved.
Rainbow Dash listened quietly as she talked, ears slowly pinning themselves down. She just thought that everypony wanted her to try harder. Sure, her friends kind of told her to stop, but the first time, Pinkie Pie was enjoying it and they even egged her on to attempt "better" pranks. And when Pinkie told her the second time? She was already in the middle of a prank, of course she was going to go through with it!
She remembered her friends' faces when she first woke up. Awkward, nervous, and guilty. In that instant, she knew that everything Starlight said what true, and everything she thought she knew about it was a fabricated lie.
Images of a masked pony clad in purple flashed in her mind.
"...And that's it. They definitely didn't mean for you to get so upset about it, but they thought it was the only way."
Rainbow Dash didn't respond at first, but eventually let out a sigh and placed a hoof on Starlight's. "Thanks for telling me."
Starlight smiled, something in her head telling her that she did well. "Happy to help, Rainbow Dash."
After they'd said their goodbyes and Starlight vanished from the scene, Rainbow Dash took a long moment to think to herself. Tank went over to her, nudging her foreleg with his head. She smiled at him, but it faded quickly. She trotted over to her drawers, shifting through them as she began to decide what to do. After fixing her mane in the mirror, she turned to Tank.
"Come on, buddy. We're going."
Tank didn't need to ask why. He went to the contraption that Twilight had designed for him immediately, putting it on as Rainbow Dash gathered her things.
They then flew out together, leaving the house behind.